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Treatise Of Saint Cyprian Of Carthage: On The Our Father
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2. He, among the rest of His salutary admonitions and divine precepts wherewith He counsels His people for their salvation, Himself also gave a form of praying— Himself advised and instructed us what we should pray for. He who made us to live, taught us also to pray, with that same benignity, to wit, wherewith He has condescended to give and confer all things else; in order that while we speak to the Father in that prayer and supplication which the Son has taught us, we may be the more easily heard. Already He had foretold that the hour was coming when the true worshippers should worship the Father in spirit and in truth;
John 4:23 and He thus fulfilled what He before promised, so that we who by His sanctification have received the Spirit and truth, may also by His teaching worship truly and spiritually. For what can be a more spiritual prayer than that which was given to us by Christ, by whom also the Holy Spirit was given to us? What praying to the Father can be more truthful than that which was delivered to us by the Son who is the Truth, out of His own mouth? So that to pray otherwise than He taught is not ignorance alone, but also sin; since He Himself has established, and said, You reject the commandments of God, that you may keep your own traditions.
3. Let us therefore, brethren beloved, pray as God our Teacher has taught us. It is a loving and friendly prayer to beseech God with His own word, to come up to His ears in the prayer of Christ. Let the Father acknowledge the words of His Son when we make our prayer, and let Him also who dwells within in our breast Himself dwell in our voice. And since we have Him as an Advocate with the Father for our sins, let us, when as sinners we petition on behalf of our sins, put forward the words of our Advocate. For since He says, that whatsoever we shall ask of the Father in His name, He will give us,
John 16:23 how much more effectually do we obtain what we ask in Christ’s name, if we ask for it in His own prayer!
4. But let our speech and petition when we pray be under discipline, observing quietness and modesty. Let us consider that we are standing in God’s sight. We must please the divine eyes both with the habit of body and with the measure of voice. For as it is characteristic of a shameless man to be noisy with his cries, so, on the other hand, it is fitting to the modest man to pray with moderated petitions. Moreover, in His teaching the Lord has bidden us to pray in secret — in hidden and remote places, in our very bed-chambers — which is best suited to faith, that we may know that God is everywhere present, and hears and sees all, and in the plenitude of His majesty penetrates even into hidden and secret places, as it is written, I am a God at hand, and not a God afar off. If a man shall hide himself in secret places, shall I not then see him? Do not I fill heaven and earth?
Jeremiah 23:23-24 And again: The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.
Proverbs 15:3 And when we meet together with the brethren in one place, and celebrate divine sacrifices with God’s priest, we ought to be mindful of modesty and discipline — not to throw abroad our prayers indiscriminately, with unsubdued voices, nor to cast to God with tumultuous wordiness a petition that ought to be commended to God by modesty; for God is the hearer, not of the voice, but of the heart. Nor need He be clamorously reminded, since He sees men’s thoughts, as the Lord proves to us when He says, Why do you think evil in your hearts?
Matthew 9:4 And in another place: And all the churches shall know that I am He that searches the hearts and reins.
Revelation 2:23
5. And this Hannah in the first book of Kings, who was a type of the Church, maintains and observes, in that she prayed to God not with clamorous petition, but silently and modestly, within the very recesses of her heart. She spoke with hidden prayer, but with manifest faith. She spoke not with her voice, but with her heart, because she knew that thus God hears; and she effectually obtained what she sought, because she asked it with belief. Divine Scripture asserts this, when it says, She spoke in her heart, and her lips moved, and her voice was not heard; and God did hear her.
1 Samuel 1:13 We read also in the Psalms, Speak in your hearts, and in your beds, and be pierced.
The Holy Spirit, moreover, suggests these same things by Jeremiah, and teaches, saying, But in the heart ought God to be adored by you.
6. And let not the worshipper, beloved brethren, be ignorant in what manner the publican prayed with the Pharisee in the temple. Not with eyes lifted up boldly to heaven, nor with hands proudly raised; but beating his breast, and testifying to the sins shut up within, he implored the help of the divine mercy. And while the Pharisee was pleased with himself, this man who thus asked, the rather deserved to be sanctified, since he placed the hope of salvation not in the confidence of his innocence, because there is none who is innocent; but confessing his sinfulness he humbly prayed, and He who pardons the humble heard the petitioner. And these things the Lord records in His Gospel, saying, Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood, and prayed thus with himself: God, I thank You that I am not as other men are, unjust, extortioners, adulterers, even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. But the publican stood afar off, and would not so much as lift up his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me a sinner. I say unto you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the Pharisee: for every one that exalts himself shall be abased; and whosoever humbles himself shall be exalted.
Luke 18:10-14
7. These things, beloved brethren, when we have learned from the sacred reading, and have gathered in what way we ought to approach to prayer, let us know also from the Lord’s teaching what we should pray. Thus,
says He, pray:—
Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, as in heaven so in earth. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And suffer us not to be led into temptation; but deliver us from evil. Amen.
Matthew 6:9
8. Before all things, the Teacher of peace and the Master of unity would not have prayer to be made singly and individually, as for one who prays to pray for himself alone. For we say not My Father, which art in heaven,
nor Give me this day my daily bread;
nor does each one ask that only his own debt should be forgiven him; nor does he request for himself alone that he may not be led into temptation, and delivered from evil. Our prayer is public and common; and when we pray, we pray not for one, but for the whole people, because we the whole people are one. The God of peace and the Teacher of concord, who taught unity, willed that one should thus pray for all, even as He Himself bore us all in one. This law of prayer the three children observed when they were shut up in the fiery furnace, speaking together in prayer, and being of one heart in the agreement of the spirit; and this the faith of the sacred Scripture assures us, and in telling us how such as these prayed, gives an example which we ought to follow in our prayers, in order that we may be such as they were: Then these three,
it says, as if from one mouth sang an hymn, and blessed the Lord.
They spoke as if from one mouth, although Christ had not yet taught them how to pray. And therefore, as they prayed, their speech was availing and effectual, because a peaceful, and sincere, and spiritual prayer deserved well of the Lord. Thus also we find that the apostles, with the disciples, prayed after the Lord’s ascension: They all,
says the Scripture, continued with one accord in prayer, with the women, and Mary who was the mother of Jesus, and with His brethren.
Acts 1:14 They continued with one accord in prayer, declaring both by the urgency and by the agreement of their praying, that God, who makes men to dwell of one mind in a house,
only admits into the divine and eternal home those among whom prayer is unanimous.
9. But what matters of deep moment are contained in the Lord’s prayer! How many and! How great, briefly collected in the words, but spiritually abundant in virtue! so that there is absolutely nothing passed over that is not comprehended in these our prayers and petitions, as in a compendium of heavenly doctrine. After this manner,
says He, pray: Our Father, which art in heaven.
The new man, born again and restored to his God by His grace, says Father,
in the first place because he has now begun to be a son. He came,
He says, to His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe in His name.
John 1:11 The man, therefore, who has believed in His name, and has become God’s son, ought from this point to begin both to give thanks and to profess himself God’s son, by declaring that God is his Father in heaven; and also to bear witness, among the very first words of his new birth, that he has renounced an earthly and carnal father, and that he has begun to know as well as to have as a father Him only who is in heaven, as it is written: They who say unto their father and their mother, I have not known you, and who have not acknowledged their own children these have observed Your precepts and have kept Your covenant.Deuteronomy 33:9 Also the Lord in His Gospel has bidden us to call no man our father upon earth, because there is to us one Father, who is in heaven.
Matthew 23:9 And to the disciple who had made mention of his dead father, He replied, Let the dead bury their dead;
Matthew 8:22 for he had said that his father was dead, while the Father of believers is living.
10. Nor ought we, beloved brethren, only to observe and understand that we should call Him Father who is in heaven; but we add to it, and say our Father, that is, the Father of those who believe— of those who, being sanctified by Him, and restored by the nativity of spiritual grace, have begun to be sons of God. A word this, moreover, which rebukes and condemns the Jews, who not only unbelievingly despised Christ, who had been announced to them by the prophets, and sent first to them, but also cruelly put Him to death; and these cannot now call God their Father, since the Lord confounds and confutes them, saying, You are born of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do. For he was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him.
John 8:44 And by Isaiah the prophet God cries in wrath, I have begotten and brought up children; but they have despised me. The ox knows his owner, and the ass his master’s crib; but Israel has not known me, and my people has not understood me. Ah sinful nation, a people laden with sins, a wicked seed, corrupt children! You have forsaken the Lord; you have provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger.
Isaiah 1:3 In repudiation of these, we Christians, when we pray, say Our Father; because He has begun to be ours, and has ceased to be the Father of the jews, who have forsaken Him. Nor can a sinful people be a son; but the name of sons is attributed to those to whom remission of sins is granted, and to them immortality is promised anew, in the words of our Lord Himself: Whosoever commits sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abides not in the house for ever, but the son abides ever.
John 8:34
11. But how great is the Lord’s indulgence! How great His condescension and plenteousness of goodness towards us, seeing that He has wished us to pray in the sight of God in such a way as to call God Father, and to call ourselves sons of God, even as Christ is the Son of God, -a name which none of us would dare to venture on in prayer, unless He Himself had allowed us thus to pray! We ought then, beloved brethren, to remember and to know, that when we call God Father, we ought to act as God’s children; so that in the measure in which we find pleasure in considering God as a Father, He might also be able to find pleasure in us. Let us converse as temples of God, that it may be plain that God dwells in us. Let not our doings be degenerate from the Spirit; so that we who have begun to be heavenly and spiritual, may consider and do nothing but spiritual and heavenly things; since the Lord God Himself has said, Them that honour me I will honour; and he that despises me shall be despised.
1 Samuel 2:30 The blessed apostle also has laid down in his epistle: You are not your own; for you are bought with a great price. Glorify and bear about God in your body.
1 Corinthians 6:20
12. After this we say, Hallowed be Your name;
not that we wish for God that He may be hallowed by our prayers, but that we beseech of Him that His name may be hallowed in us. But by whom is God sanctified, since He Himself sanctifies? Well, because He says, Be holy, even as I am holy,
Leviticus 20:7 we ask and entreat, that we who were sanctified in baptism may continue in that which we have begun to be. And this we daily pray for; for we have need of daily sanctification, that we who daily fall away may wash out our sins by continual sanctification. And what the sanctification is which is conferred upon us by the condescension of God, the apostle declares, when he says, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor deceivers, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such indeed were you; but you are washed; but you are justified; but you are sanctified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the Spirit of our God.
1 Corinthians 6:9 He says that we are sanctified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the Spirit of our God. We pray that this sanctification may abide in us and because our Lord and Judge warns the man that was healed and quickened by Him, to sin no more lest a worse thing happen unto him, we make this supplication in our constant prayers, we ask this day and night, that the sanctification and quickening which is received from the grace of God may be preserved by His protection.
13. There follows in the prayer, Your kingdom come. We ask that the kingdom of God may be set forth to us, even as we also ask that His name may be sanctified in us. For when does God not reign, or when does that begin with Him which both always has been, and never ceases to be? We pray that our kingdom, which has been promised us by God, may come, which was acquired by the blood and passion of Christ; that we who first are His subjects in the world, may hereafter reign with Christ when He reigns, as He Himself promises and says, Come, you blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom which has been prepared for you from the beginning of the world.
Matthew 25:34 Christ Himself, dearest brethren, however, may be the kingdom of God, whom we day by day desire to come, whose advent we crave to be quickly manifested to us. For since He is Himself the Resurrection, since in Him we rise again, so also the kingdom of God may be understood to be Himself, since in Him we shall reign. But we do well in seeking the kingdom of God, that is, the heavenly kingdom, because there is also an earthly kingdom. But he who has already renounced the world, is moreover greater than its honours and its kingdom. And therefore he who dedicates himself to God and Christ, desires not earthly, but heavenly kingdoms. But there is need of continual prayer and supplication, that we fall not away from the heavenly kingdom, as the Jews, to whom this promise had first been given, fell away; even as the Lord sets forth and proves: Many,
says He, shall come from the east and from the west, and shall recline with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Matthew 8:11 He shows that the Jews were previously children of the kingdom, so long as they continued also to be children of God; but after the name of Father ceased to be recognised among them, the kingdom also ceased; and therefore we Christians, who in our prayer begin to call God our Father, pray also that God’s kingdom may come to us.
14. We add, also, and say, Your will be done, as in heaven so in earth;
not that God should do what He wills, but that we may be able to do what God wills. For who resists God, that He may not do what He wills? But since we are hindered by the devil from obeying with our thought and deed God’s will in all things, we pray and ask that God’s will may be done in us; and that it may be done in us we have need of God’s good will, that is, of His help and protection, since no one is strong in his own strength, but he is safe by the grace and mercy of God. And further, the Lord, setting forth the infirmity of the humanity which He bore, says, Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me’ and affording an example to His disciples that they should do not their own will, but God’s, He went on to say, Nevertheless not as I will, but as You will.
Matthew 26:39 And in another place He says, I came down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of Him that sent me.
John 6:38 Now if the Son was obedient to do His Father’s will, how much more should the servant be obedient to do his Master’s will! As in his epistle John also exhorts and instructs us to do the will of God, saying, Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world is the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the ambition of life, which is not of the Father, but of the lust of the world. And the world shall pass away, and the lust thereof: but he that does the will of God abides for ever, even as God also abides forever.
1 John 2:15-17 We who desire to abide for ever should do the will of God, who is everlasting.
15. Now that is the will of God which Christ both did and taught. Humility in conversation; steadfastness in faith; modesty in words; justice in deeds; mercifulness in works; discipline in morals; to be unable to do a wrong, and to be able to bear a wrong when done; to keep peace with the brethren; to love God with all one’s heart; to love Him in that He is a Father; to fear Him in that He is God; to prefer nothing whatever to Christ, because He did not prefer anything to us; to adhere inseparably to His love; to stand by His cross bravely and faithfully; when there is any contest on behalf of His name and honour, to exhibit in discourse that constancy wherewith we make confession; in torture, that confidence wherewith we do battle; in death, that patience whereby we are crowned — this is to desire to be fellow-heirs with Christ; this is to do the commandment of God; this is to fulfil the will of the Father.
16. Moreover, we ask that the will of God may be done both in heaven and in earth, each of which things pertains to the fulfilment of our safety and salvation. For since we possess the body from the earth and the spirit from heaven, we ourselves are earth and heaven; and in both — that is, both in body and spirit — we pray that God’s will may be done. For between the flesh and spirit there is a struggle; and there is a daily strife as they disagree one with the other, so that we cannot do those very things that we would, in that the spirit seeks heavenly and divine things, while the flesh lusts after earthly and temporal things; and therefore we ask that, by the help and assistance of God, agreement may be made between these two natures, so that while the will of God is done both in the spirit and in the flesh, the soul which is new-born by Him may be preserved. This is what the Apostle Paul openly and manifestly declares by his words: The flesh,
says he, lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh: for these are contrary the one to the other; so that you cannot do the things that you would. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; adulteries, fornications, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, murders, hatred, variance, emulations, wraths, strife, seditions, dissensions, heresies, envyings, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in times past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, magnanimity, goodness, faith, gentleness, continence, chastity.
Galatians 5:17-22 And therefore we make it our prayer in daily, yea, in continual supplications, that the will of God concerning us should be done both in heaven and in earth; because this is the will of God, that earthly things should give place to heavenly, and that spiritual and divine things should prevail.
17. And it may be thus understood, beloved brethren, that since the Lord commands and admonishes us even to love our enemies, and to pray even for those who persecute us, we should ask, moreover, for those who are still earth, and have not yet begun to be heavenly, that even in respect of these God’s will should be done, which Christ accomplished in preserving and renewing humanity. For since the disciples are not now called by Him earth, but the salt of the earth, and the apostle designates the first man as being from the dust of the earth, but the second from heaven, we reasonably, who ought to be like God our Father, who makes His sun to rise upon the good and bad, and sends rain upon the just and the unjust, so pray and ask by the admonition of Christ as to make our prayer for the salvation of all men; that as in heaven — that is, in us by our faith— the will of God has been done, so that we might be of heaven; so also in earth — that is, in those who believe not — God’s will may be done, that they who as yet are by their first birth of earth, may, being born of water and of the Spirit, begin to be of heaven.
18. As the prayer goes forward, we ask and say, Give us this day our daily bread.
And this may be understood both spiritually and literally, because either way of understanding it is rich in divine usefulness to our salvation. For Christ is the bread of life; and this bread does not belong to all men, but it is ours. And according as we say, Our Father,
because He is the Father of those who understand and believe; so also we call it our bread,
because Christ is the bread of those who are in union with His body. And we ask that this bread should be given to us daily, that we who are in Christ, and daily receive the Eucharist for the food of salvation, may not, by the interposition of some heinous sin, by being prevented, as withheld and not communicating, from partaking of the heavenly bread, be separated from Christ’s body, as He Himself predicts, and warns, I am the bread of life which came down from heaven. If any man eat of my bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread which I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world.
John 6:58 When, therefore, He says, that whoever shall eat of His bread shall live for ever; as it is manifest that those who partake of His body and receive the Eucharist by the right of communion are living, so, on the other hand, we must fear and pray lest any one who, being withheld from communion, is separate from Christ’s body should remain at a distance from salvation; as He Himself threatens, and says, Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, you shall have no life in you.
John 6:53 And therefore we ask that our bread — that is, Christ — may be given to us daily, that we who abide and live in Christ may not depart from His sanctification and body.
19. But it may also be thus understood, that we who have renounced the world, and have cast away its riches and pomps in the faith of spiritual grace, should only ask for ourselves food and support, since the Lord instructs us, and says, Whosoever forsakes not all that he has, cannot be my disciple.
Luke 14:33 But he who has begun to be Christ’s disciple, renouncing all things according to the word of his Master, ought to ask for his daily food, and not to extend the desires of his petition to a long period, as the Lord again prescribes, and says, Take no thought for the morrow, for the morrow itself shall take thought for itself. Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof.
Matthew 6:34 With reason, then, does Christ’s disciple ask food for himself for the day, since he is prohibited from thinking of the morrow; because it becomes a contradiction and a repugnant thing for us to seek to live long in this world, since we ask that the kingdom of God should come quickly. Thus also the blessed apostle admonishes us, giving substance and strength to the steadfastness of our hope and faith: We brought nothing,
says he, into this world, nor indeed can we carry anything out. Having therefore food and raiment, let us be herewith content. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many and hurtful lusts, which drown men in perdition and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all evil; which while some coveted after, they have made shipwreck from the faith, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
1 Timothy 6:7
20. He teaches us that riches are not only to be contemned, but that they are also full of peril; that in them is the root of seducing evils, that deceive the blindness of the human mind by a hidden deception. Whence also God rebukes the rich fool, who thinks of his earthly wealth, and boasts himself in the abundance of his overflowing harvests, saying, You fool, this night your soul shall be required of you; then whose shall those things be which you have provided?
Luke 12:20 The fool who was to die that very night was rejoicing in his stores, and he to whom life already was failing, was thinking of the abundance of his food. But, on the other hand, the Lord tells us that he becomes perfect and complete who sells all his goods, and distributes them for the use of the poor, and so lays up for himself treasure in heaven. He says that that man is able to follow Him, and to imitate the glory of the Lord’s passion, who, free from hindrance, and with his loins girded, is involved in no entanglements of worldly estate, but, at large and free himself, accompanies his possessions, which before have been sent to God. For which result, that every one of us may be able to prepare himself, let him thus learn to pray, and know, from the character of the prayer, what he ought to be.
21. For daily bread cannot be wanting to the righteous man, since it is written, The Lord will not slay the soul of the righteous by hunger; Proverbs 10:3 and again I have been young and now am old, yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging their bread. And the Lord moreover promises and says, Take no thought, saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the nations seek. And your Father knows that you have need of all these things. Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.
Matthew 6:31 To those who seek God’s kingdom and righteousness, He promises that all things shall be added. For since all things are God’s, nothing will be wanting to him who possesses God, if God Himself be not wanting to him. Thus a meal was divinely provided for Daniel: when he was shut up by the king’s command in the den of lions, and in the midst of wild beasts who were hungry, and yet spared him, the man of God was fed. Thus Elijah in his flight was nourished both by ravens ministering to him in his solitude, and by birds bringing him food in his persecution. And — oh detestable cruelty of the malice of man!— the wild beasts spare, the birds feed, while men lay snares, and rage!
22. After this we also entreat for our sins, saying, And forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors.
After the supply of food, pardon of sin is also asked for, that he who is fed by God may live in God, and that not only the present and temporal life may be provided for, but the eternal also, to which we may come if our sins are forgiven; and these the Lord calls debts, as He says in His Gospel, I forgave you all that debt, because you desired me.
Matthew 18:32 And how necessarily, how providently and salutarily, are we admonished that we are sinners, since we are compelled to entreat for our sins, and while pardon is asked for from God, the soul recalls its own consciousness of sin! Lest any one should flatter himself that he is innocent, and by exalting himself should more deeply perish, he is instructed and taught that he sins daily, in that he is bidden to entreat daily for his sins. Thus, moreover, John also in his epistle warns us, and says, If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us; but if we confess our sins, the Lord is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.
In his epistle he has combined both, that we should entreat for our sins, and that we should obtain pardon when we ask. Therefore he said that the Lord was faithful to forgive sins, keeping the faith of His promise; because He who taught us to pray for our debts and sins, has promised that His fatherly mercy and pardon shall follow.
23. He has clearly joined herewith and added the law, and has bound us by a certain condition and engagement, that we should ask that our debts be forgiven us in such a manner as we ourselves forgive our debtors, knowing that that which we seek for our sins cannot be obtained unless we ourselves have acted in a similar way in respect of our debtors. Therefore also He says in another place, With what measure you measure, it shall be measured to you again.
And the servant who, after having had all his debt forgiven him by his master, would not forgive his fellow-servant, is cast back into prison; because he would not forgive his fellow-servant, he lost the indulgence that had been shown to himself by his lord. And these things Christ still more urgently sets forth in His precepts with yet greater power of His rebuke. When you stand praying,
says He, forgive if you have anything against any, that your Father which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive you your trespasses.
There remains no ground of excuse in the day of judgment, when you will be judged according to your own sentence; and whatever you have done, that you also will suffer. For God commands us to be peacemakers, and in agreement, and of one mind in His house; and such as He makes us by a second birth, such He wishes us when new-born to continue, that we who have begun to be sons of God may abide in God’s peace, and that, having one spirit, we should also have one heart and one mind. Thus God does not receive the sacrifice of a person who is in disagreement, but commands him to go back from the altar and first be reconciled to his brother, that so God also may be appeased by the prayers of a peace-maker. Our peace and brotherly agreement is the greater sacrifice to God — and a people united in one in the unity of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
24. For even in the sacrifices which Abel and Cain first offered, God looked not at their gifts, but at their hearts, so that he was acceptable in his gift who was acceptable in his heart. Abel, peaceable and righteous in sacrificing in innocence to God, taught others also, when they bring their gift to the altar, thus to come with the fear of God, with a simple heart, with the law of righteousness, with the peace of concord. With reason did he, who was such in respect of God’s sacrifice, become subsequently himself a sacrifice to God; so that he who first set forth martyrdom, and initiated the Lord’s passion by the glory of his blood, had both the Lord’s righteousness and His peace. Finally, such are crowned by the Lord, such will be avenged with the Lord in the day of judgment; but the quarrelsome and disunited, and he who has not peace with his brethren, in accordance with what the blessed apostle and the Holy Scripture testifies, even if he have been slain for the name of Christ, shall not be able to escape the crime of fraternal dissension, because, as it is written, He who hates his brother is a murderer 1 John 3:15 and no murderer attains to the kingdom of heaven, nor does he live with God. He cannot be with Christ, who had rather be an imitator of Judas than of Christ. How great is the sin which cannot even be washed away by a baptism of blood — how heinous the crime which cannot be expiated by martyrdom!
25. Moreover, the Lord of necessity admonishes us to say in prayer, And suffer us not to be led into temptation.
In which words it is shown that the adversary can do nothing against us except God shall have previously permitted it; so that all our fear, and devotion, and obedience may be turned towards God, since in our temptations nothing is permitted to evil unless power is given from Him. This is proved by divine Scripture, which says, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem, and besieged it; and the Lord delivered it into his hand.
2 Kings 24:11 But power is given to evil against us according to our sins, as it is written, Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to those who make a prey of Him? Did not the Lord, against whom they sinned, and would not walk in His ways, nor hear His law? And He has brought upon them the anger of His wrath.
Isaiah 13:24 And again, when Solomon sinned, and departed from the Lord’s commandments and ways, it is recorded, And the Lord stirred up Satan against Solomon himself.
1 Kings 11:14
26. Now power is given against us in two modes: either for punishment when we sin, or for glory when we are proved, as we see was done with respect to Job; as God Himself sets forth, saying, Behold, all that he has I give unto your hands; but be careful not to touch himself.
Job 1:12 And the Lord in His Gospel says, in the time of His passion, You could have no power against me unless it were given you from above.
John 19:11 But when we ask that we may not come into temptation, we are reminded of our infirmity and weakness in that we thus ask, lest any should insolently vaunt himself, lest any should proudly and arrogantly assume anything to himself, lest any should take to himself the glory either of confession or of suffering as his own, when the Lord Himself, teaching humility, said, Watch and pray, that you enter not into temptation; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak; Mark 14:38 so that while a humble and submissive confession comes first, and all is attributed to God, whatever is sought for suppliantly with fear and honour of God, may be granted by His own loving-kindness.
27. After all these things, in the conclusion of the prayer comes a brief clause, which shortly and comprehensively sums up all our petitions and our prayers. For we conclude by saying, But deliver us from evil,
comprehending all adverse things which the enemy attempts against us in this world, from which there may be a faithful and sure protection if God deliver us, if He afford His help to us who pray for and implore it. And when we say, Deliver us from evil, there remains nothing further which ought to be asked. When we have once asked for God’s protection against evil, and have obtained it, then against everything which the devil and the world work against us we stand secure and safe. For what fear is there in this life, to the man whose guardian in this life is God?
28. What wonder is it, beloved brethren, if such is the prayer which God taught, seeing that He condensed in His teaching all our prayer in one saving sentence? This had already been before foretold by Isaiah the prophet, when, being filled with the Holy Spirit, he spoke of the majesty and loving-kindness of God, consummating and shortening His word,
He says, in righteousness, because a shortened word will the Lord make in the whole earth.
Isaiah 10:22 For when the Word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, came unto all, and gathering alike the learned and unlearned, published to every sex and every age the precepts of salvation He made a large compendium of His precepts, that the memory of the scholars might not be burdened in the celestial learning, but might quickly learn what was necessary to a simple faith. Thus, when He taught what is life eternal, He embraced the sacrament of life in a large and divine brevity, saying, And this is life eternal, that they might know You, the only and true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.
John 17:3 Also, when He would gather from the law and the prophets the first and greatest commandments, He said, Hear, O Israel; the Lord your God is one God: and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment. And the second is like it, You shall love your neighbour as yourself.
Matthew 12:29-31 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Matthew 22:40 And again: Whatsoever good things you would have men do to you, do even so to them. For this is the law and the prophets.
Matthew 7:12
29. Nor was it only in words, but in deeds also, that the Lord taught us to pray, Himself praying frequently and beseeching, and thus showing us, by the testimony of His example, what it behooved us to do, as it is written, But Himself departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.
Luke 5:16 And again: He went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.
But if He prayed who was without sin, how much more ought sinners to pray; and if He prayed continually, watching through the whole night in uninterrupted petitions, how much more ought we to watch nightly in constantly repeated prayer!
30. But the Lord prayed and besought not for Himself — for why should He who was guiltless pray on His own behalf?— but for our sins, as He Himself declared, when He said to Peter, Behold, Satan has desired that he might sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith fail not.
Luke 13:31 And subsequently He beseeches the Father for all, saying, Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe in me through their word; that they all may be one; as You, Father, art in me, and I in You, that they also may be one in us.
The Lord’s loving-kindness, no less than His mercy, is great in respect of our salvation, in that, not content to redeem us with His blood, He in addition also prayed for us. Behold now what was the desire of His petition, that like as the Father and Son are one, so also we should abide in absolute unity; so that from this it may be understood how greatly he sins who divides unity and peace, since for this same thing even the Lord besought, desirous doubtless that His people should thus be saved and live in peace, since He knew that discord cannot come into the kingdom of God.
31. Moreover, when we stand praying, beloved brethren, we ought to be watchful and earnest with our whole heart, intent on our prayers. Let all carnal and worldly thoughts pass away, nor let the soul at that time think on anything but the object only of its prayer. For this reason also the priest, by way of preface before his prayer, prepares the minds of the brethren by saying, Lift up your hearts,
that so upon the people’s response, We lift them up unto the Lord,
he may be reminded that he himself ought to think of nothing but the Lord. Let the breast be closed against the adversary, and be open to God alone; nor let it suffer God’s enemy to approach to it at the time of prayer. For frequently he steals upon us, and penetrates within, and by crafty deceit calls away our prayers from God, that we may have one thing in our heart and another in our voice, when not the sound of the voice, but the soul and mind, ought to be praying to the Lord with a simple intention. But what carelessness it is, to be distracted and carried away by foolish and profane thoughts when you are praying to the Lord, as if there were anything which you should rather be thinking of than that you are speaking with God! How can you ask to be heard of God, when you yourself do not hear yourself? Do you wish that God should remember you when you ask, if you yourself do not remember yourself? This is absolutely to take no precaution against the enemy; this is, when you pray to God, to offend the majesty of God by the carelessness of your prayer; this is to be watchful with your eyes, and to be asleep with your heart, while the Christian, even though he is asleep with his eyes, ought to be awake with his heart, as it is written in the person of the Church speaking in the Song of Songs, I sleep, yet my heart wakes. Song of Songs 5:2 Wherefore the apostle anxiously and carefully warns us, saying, Continue in prayer, and watch in the same;
Colossians 4:2 teaching, that is, and showing that those are able to obtain from God what they ask, whom God sees to be watchful in their prayer.
32. Moreover, those who pray should not come to God with fruitless or naked prayers. Petition is ineffectual when it is a barren entreaty that beseeches God. For as every tree that brings not forth fruit is cut down and cast into the fire; assuredly also, words that do not bear fruit cannot deserve anything of God, because they are fruitful in no result. And thus Holy Scripture instructs us, saying, Prayer is good with fasting and almsgiving.
Tobit 12:8 For He who will give us in the day of judgment a reward for our labours and alms, is even in this life a merciful hearer of one who comes to Him in prayer associated with good works. Thus, for instance, Cornelius the centurion, when he prayed, had a claim to be heard. For he was in the habit of doing many almsdeeds towards the people, and of ever praying to God. To this man, when he prayed about the ninth hour, appeared an angel bearing testimony to his labours, and saying, Cornelius, your prayers and your alms are gone up in remembrance before God.
33. Those prayers quickly ascend to God which the merits of our labours urge upon God. Thus also Raphael the angel was a witness to the constant prayer and the constant good works of Tobias, saying, It is honourable to reveal and confess the works of God. For when you prayed, and Sarah, I did bring the remembrance of your prayers before the holiness of God. And when you buried the dead in simplicity, and because you did not delay to rise up and to leave your dinner, but went out and covered the dead, I was sent to prove you; and again God has sent me to heal you, and Sarah your daughter-in-law. For I am Raphael, one of the seven holy angels which stand and go in and out before the glory of God.
Tobit 12:12-15 By Isaiah also the Lord reminds us, and teaches similar things, saying, Loosen every knot of iniquity, release the oppressions of contracts which have no power, let the troubled go into peace, and break every unjust engagement. Break your bread to the hungry, and bring the poor that are without shelter into your house. When you see the naked, clothe him; and despise not those of the same family and race as yourself. Then shall your light break forth in season, and your raiment shall spring forth speedily; and righteousness shall go before you, and the glory of God shall surround you. Then shall you call, and God shall hear you; and while you shall yet speak, He shall say, Here I am.
Isaiah 58:6-9 He promises that He will be at hand, and says that He will hear and protect those who, loosening the knots of unrighteousness from their heart, and giving alms among the members of God’s household according to His commands, even in hearing what God commands to be done, do themselves also deserve to be heard by God. The blessed Apostle Paul, when aided in the necessity of affliction by his brethren, said that good works which are performed are sacrifices to God. I am full,
says he. having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to God.
Philippians 4:18 For when one has pity on the poor, he lends to God; and he who gives to the least gives to God — sacrifices spiritually to God an odour of a sweet smell.
34. And in discharging the duties of prayer, we find that the three children with Daniel, being strong in faith and victorious in captivity, observed the third, sixth, and ninth hour, as it were, for a sacrament of the Trinity, which in the last times had to be manifested. For both the first hour in its progress to the third shows forth the consummated number of the Trinity, and also the fourth proceeding to the sixth declares another Trinity; and when from the seventh the ninth is completed, the perfect Trinity is numbered every three hours, which spaces of hours the worshippers of God in time past having spiritually decided on, made use of for determined and lawful times for prayer. And subsequently the thing was manifested, that these things were of old Sacraments, in that anciently righteous men prayed in this manner. For upon the disciples at the third hour the Holy Spirit descended, who fulfilled the grace of the Lord’s promise. Moreover, at the sixth hour, Peter, going up unto the house-top, was instructed as well by the sign as by the word of God admonishing him to receive all to the grace of salvation, whereas he was previously doubtful of the receiving of the Gentiles to baptism. And from the sixth hour to the ninth, the Lord, being crucified, washed away our sins by His blood; and that He might redeem and quicken us, He then accomplished His victory by His passion.
35. But for us, beloved brethren, besides the hours of prayer observed of old, both the times and the sacraments have now increased in number. For we must also pray in the morning, that the Lord’s resurrection may be celebrated by morning prayer. And this formerly the Holy Spirit pointed out in the Psalms, saying, My King, and my God, because unto You will I cry; O Lord, in the morning shall You hear my voice; in the morning will I stand before You, and will look up to You.
And again, the Lord speaks by the mouth of the prophet: Early in the morning shall they watch for me, saying, Let us go, and return unto the Lord our God.
Hosea 6:1 Also at the sunsetting and at the decline of day, of necessity we must pray again. For since Christ is the true sun and the true day, as the worldly sun and worldly day depart, when we pray and ask that light may return to us again, we pray for the advent of Christ, which shall give us the grace of everlasting light. Moreover, the Holy Spirit in the Psalms manifests that Christ is called the day. The stone,
says He, which the builders rejected, has become the head of the corner. This is the Lord’s doing; and it is marvellous in our eyes. This is the day which the Lord has made; let us walk and rejoice in it.
Also the prophet Malachi testifies that He is called the Sun, when he says, But to you that fear the name of the Lord shall the Sun of righteousness arise, and there is healing in His wings.
Malachi 4:2 But if in the Holy Scriptures the true sun and the true day is Christ, there is no hour excepted for Christians wherein God ought not frequently and always to be worshipped; so that we who are in Christ — that is, in the true Sun and the true Day — should be instant throughout the entire day in petitions, and should pray; and when, by the law of the world, the revolving night, recurring in its alternate changes, succeeds, there can be no harm arising from the darkness of night to those who pray, because the children of light have the day even in the night. For when is he without light who has light in his heart? Or when has not he the sun and the day, whose Sun and Day is Christ?
36. Let not us, then, who are in Christ — that is, always in the lights cease from praying even during night. Thus the widow Anna, without intermission praying and watching, persevered in deserving well of God, as it is written in the Gospel: She departed not,
it says, from the temple, serving with fastings and prayers night and day.
Let the Gentiles look to this, who are not yet enlightened, or the Jews who have remained in darkness by having forsaken the light. Let us, beloved brethren, who are always in the light of the Lord, who remember and hold fast what by grace received we have begun to be, reckon night for day; let us believe that we always walk in the light, and let us not be hindered by the darkness which we have escaped. Let there be no failure of prayers in the hours of night — no idle and reckless waste of the occasions of prayer. New-created and newborn of the Spirit by the mercy of God, let us imitate what we shall one day be. Since in the kingdom we shall possess day alone, without intervention of night, let us so watch in the night as if in the daylight. Since we are to pray and give thanks to God for ever, let us not cease in this life also to pray and give thanks.
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Sunday Sermon: Malice Of Mortal Sin
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” Behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. 1 LUKE ii. 48.
MOST holy Mary lost her Son for three days: during that time she wept continually for
having lost sight of Jesus, and did not cease to seek after him till she found him.
grace; and instead of weeping for so great a loss, sleep in peace, and make no effort to recover
so great a blessing? This arises from their not feeling what it is to lose God by sin. Some say: I
commit this sin, not to lose God, but to enjoy this pleasure, to possess the property of
another, or to take revenge of an enemy. They who speak such language show that they do
not understand the malice of mortal sin.
Second Point. It is a great offence offered to God.
mortal sin, after they had been created by him, nourished with his blood, and exalted to the
dignity of his adopted children. ”Hear, O ye Heavens, and give ear, Earth; for the Lord hath
spoken. I have brought up children _ and exalted them; but they have despised me.” (Isa. i. 2.)
Who is this God whom sinners despise?; He is a God of infinite majesty, before whom all the
kings of the Earth and all the blessed in Heaven are less than a drop of water or a grain of
sand. As a drop of a bucket, . . . as a little dust. ” (Isa. xl. 15.) In a word, such is the majesty of
God, that in his presence all creatures are as if they did not exist. ”All nations are before him
as if they had no being at all.” (Ibid. xl. 17.) And what is man, who insults him? St. Bernard
answers: ”Saccus vermium, cibus vermium.” A heap of worms, the food of worms, by which
he shall be devoured in the grave. ”Thou art wretched and miserable, and poor, and blind,
and naked.” (Apoc. iii. 17.) He is so miserable that he can do nothing, so blind that he knows
nothing, and so poor that he possesses nothing. And this worm dares to despise a God, and
to provoke his wrath. ”Vile dust,” says the same saint, ”dares to irritate such tremendous
majesty.” Justly, then, has St. Thomas asserted, that the malice of mortal sin is, as it were,
infinite: ”Peccatum habet quandam infinitatem malitiae ex infinitatem divine majestatis.”
(Par. 3, q. 2, a. 2, ad. 2.) And St. Augustine calls it an infinite evil. Hence Hell and a thousand
Hells are not sufficient chastisement for a single mortal sin.
good.” St. Thom., par. 1, q. 24, a. 4; a turning ones back on the sovereign good. Of this God
complains by his prophet, saying: ”Thou hast forsaken me, saith the Lord; thou art gone
backward. ” (Jer. xv. 6.) Ungrateful man, he says to the sinner, I would never have separated
myself from thee; thou hast been the first to abandon me: thou art gone backwards; thou hast
turned thy back upon me.
law, he loses the divine grace. “By transgression of the law, thou dishonourest God.” (Rom.
ii. 23.) God is the Lord of all things, because he has created them. ”All things are in thy
power… Thou hast made Heaven and Earth.” (Esth. xiii. 9.) Hence all irrational creatures the
winds, the sea, the fire, and rain obey God, ”The winds and the sea obey him.” (Matt. viii.
27.)”Fire, hail, snow, ice, stormy winds, which fulfil his word.” (Ps. cxlviii. 8.) But man, when
he sins, says to God: Lord, thou dost command me, but I will not obey; thou dost command
me to pardon such an injury, but I will resent it; thou dost command me to give up the
property of others, but I will retain it; thou dost wish that I should abstain from such a
forbidden pleasure, but I will indulge in it.
the desert, the sinner answers: “Who is the Lord, that I should hear his voice, and let Israel
go ?” (Exod. v. 2.)
sinners offend him. ”Wherefore hath the wicked provoked God.” (Ps. x. 13.) For what do so
many offend the Lord? For a little vanity; for the indulgence of anger; or for a beastly
pleasure. ”They violate me among my people for a handful of barley and a piece of bread.”
(Ezec. xiii. 19.) God is insulted for a handful of barley for a morsel of bread! God! why do we
allow ourselves to be so easily deceived by the Devil?”There is,” says the Prophet Osee, “a
deceitful balance in his hand.” (xii. 7.) We do not weigh things in the balance of God, which
cannot deceive, but in the balance of Satan, who seeks only to deceive us, that he may bring
us with himself into Hell. ”Lord,” said David, ”who is like to thee ?” (Ps. xxxiv. 10.) God is an
infinite good; and when he sees sinners put him on a level with some earthly trifle, or with a
miserable gratification, he justly complains in the language of the prophet: ”To whom, have
you likened me or made me equal? saith the Holy One.” (Isa. xl. 25.) In your estimation, a vile
pleasure is more valuable than my grace. Is it a momentary satisfaction you have preferred
before me?”Thou hast cast me off behind thy back.” (Ezec. xxiii. 35.) Then, adds Salvian,
”there is no one for whom men have less esteem than for God.” (Lib. v., Avd. Avar.) Is the
Lord so contemptible in your eyes as to deserve to have the miserable things of the Earth
preferred before him?
to give them to the holy martyr if he would renounce the faith of Christ. The saint heaved a
sigh of sorrow at the sight of the blindness of men, who put earthly riches in comparison
with God. But many sinners exchange the divine grace for things of far less value; they seek
after certain miserable goods, and abandon that God who is an infinite good, and who alone
can make them happy. Of this the Lord complains, and calls on the Heavens to be astonished,
and on its gates to be struck with horror: ”Be astonished O ye Heavens, at this; and ye gates
thereof, be very desolate, saith the Lord.” He then adds: ”For my people have done two evils:
they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and have digged to themselves cisterns
broken cisterns that can hold no water.” (Jer. ii. 12 and 13.) We regard with wonder and
amazement the injustice of the Jews, who, when Pilate offered to deliver Jesus or Barabbas,
answered: ”Not this man, but Barabbas.” (John xviii. 40.) The conduct of sinners is still
worse; for, when the Devil proposes to them to choose between the satisfaction of revenge a
miserable pleasure and Jesus Christ, they answer: “Not this man, but Barabbas.” That is, not
the Lord Jesus, but sin.
for God is the only last end of all: ”Quidquid homo Deo anteponit, Deum sibi facit.” And St.
Jerome says: ”Unusquisque quod cupit, si veneratur, hoc illi Deus est. Vitium in corde, est
idolum in altari.” (In Ps. Ixxx.)The creature which a person prefers to God, becomes his God.Hence, the holy doctor adds, that as the Gentiles adored idols on their altars, so sinners worship sin in their hearts.
When King Jeroboam rebelled against God, he endeavoured to make the people imitate him in the adoration of idols. He one day placed the idols before them, and said: “Behold thy gods, Israel!” (3 Kings xii. 28.) The Devil acts in a similar manner towards sinners: he places before them such a gratification, and says: Make this your God.
Behold! this pleasure, this money, this revenge is your God: adhere to these, and forsake the
Lord. When the sinner consents to sin, he abandons his Creator, and in his heart adores as his
god the pleasure which lie indulges. ”Vitium in corde est idolum in altari. ”
7. The contempt which the sinner offers to God is increased by sinning in God’s presence.
According to St. Cyril of Jerusalem, some adored the sun as their god, that during the night
they might, in the absence of the sun, do what they pleased, without fear of divine
chastisement. “Some regarded the sun as their God, that, after the setting of the sun, they
might be without a God.” (Catech. iv.) The conduct of these miserable dupes was very
criminal; but they were careful not to sin in presence of their god. But Christians know that
God is present in all places, and that he sees all things. ”Do not I fill Heaven and Earth? saith
the Lord,” (Jer. xxiii. 24); and still they do not abstain from insulting him, and from
provoking his wrath in his very presence: “A people that continually provoke me to anger
before my face.” (Isa. Ixv. 3.) Hence, by sinning before him who is their judge, they even
make God a witness of their iniquities: ”I am the judge and the witness, saith the Lord.” (Jer.
xxix. 23.) St. Peter Chrysologus says, that, “the man who commits a crime in the presence of
his judge, can offer no defence.” The thought of having offended God in his divine presence,
made David weep and exclaim: ”To thee only have I sinned, and have done evil before thee.”
(Ps. i. 6.) But let us pass to the second point, in which we shall see more clearly the enormity
of the malice of mortal sin.
Second Point. Mortal sin is a great offence offered to God.
8. There is nothing more galling than to see oneself despised by those who were most
beloved and most highly favoured. Whom do sinners insult? They insult a God who
bestowed so many benefits upon them, and who loved them so as to die on a cross for their
sake; and by the commission of mortal sin they banish that God from their hearts. A soul that
loves God is loved by him, and God himself comes to dwell within her. ”If any one love me,
he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and will make
our abode with him.” (John xiv. 23.) The Lord, then, never departs from a soul, unless he is
driven away, even though he should know that she will soon banish him from her heart.
According to the Council of Trent, ”he deserts not the soul, unless he is deserted.”
9. When the soul consents to mortal sin she ungratefully says to God: Depart from me. “The
wicked have said to God: Depart from us.” (Job xxi. 14.) Sinners, as St. Gregory observes, say
the same, not in words, but by their conduct. ”Recede, non verbis, sed moribus.” They know
that God cannot remain with sin in the soul: and, in violating the divine commands, they feel
that God must depart; and, by their acts they say to him: since you cannot remain any longer
with us, depart farewell. And through the very door by which God departs from the soul, the
Devil enters to take possession of her. When the priest baptizes an infant, he commands the
demon to depart from the soul: ”Go out from him, unclean spirits, and make room for the
Holy Ghost.” But when a Christian consents to mortal sin, he says to God: Depart from me;
make room for the Devil, whom I wish to serve.
10. St. Bernard says, that mortal sin is so opposed to God, that, if it were possible for God to
die, sin would deprive him of life;”Peccatum quantum in se est Deum perimit.” Hence,
according to Job, in committing mortal sin, man rises up against God, and stretches forth his
hand against him: ”For he hath stretched out his hand against God, and hath strengthened
himself against the Almighty.” (Job. xv. 25.)
11. According to the same St. Bernard, they who wilfully violate the divine law, seek to
deprive God of life in proportion to the malice of their will;”Quantum in ipsa est Deum
perimit propria voluntas.” (Ser. iii. de Res.) Because, adds the saint, self-will”would wish
God to see its own sins, and to be unable to take vengeance on them.” Sinners know that the
moment they consent to mortal sin, God condemns them to Hell. Hence, being firmly
resolved to sin, they wish that there was no God, and, consequently, they would wish to take
away his life, that he might not be able to avenge their crime. “He hath,” continues Job, in his
description of the wicked, ”run against him witb his neck raised up, and is armed with a fat
neck.” (xv. 26.) The sinner raises his neck; that is, his pride swells up, and he runs to insult his
God; and, because he contends with a powerful antagonist, ”he is armed with a fat neck.”“A
fat neck” is the symbol of ignorance, of that ignorance which makes the sinner say: This is not
a great sin; God is merciful; we are flesh; the Lord will have pity on us. O temerity! illusion!
which brings so many Christians to Hell.
Moreover, the man who commits a mortal sin afflicts the heart of God. “But they provoked to
wrath, and afflicted the spirit of the Holy One.” (Isaias Ixiii. 10.) “What pain and anguish
would you not feel, if you knew that a person whom you tenderly loved, and on whom you
bestowed great favours, had sought to take away your life! God is not capable of pain; but,
were he capable of suffering, a single mortal sin would be sufficient to make him die through
sorrow. ”Mortal sin,” says Father Medina, ”if it were possible, would destroy God himself:
because it would be the cause of infinite sadness to God.” As often, then, as you committed
mortal sin, you would, if it were possible, have caused God to die of sorrow; because you
knew that by sin you insulted him and turned your back upon him, after he had bestowed so
many favours upon you, and even after he had given all his blood and his life for your
salvation.
(Make An Act Of Contrition}
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Instruction On The Lord’s Prayer: The Our Father
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Q1. Say The Our Father
A. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.
Q2. Who made the Lord’s Prayer?
Q23. Should we seek temptation for the sake of overcoming it?
A24. We ask to be delivered from every evil of body and mind, but particularly to be delivered from sin, which is the greatest of all evils.
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Pope St. Leo The Great On The Mother Of God
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On the Festival of the Nativity, VIII.
I. The Incarnation an unceasing source of joy
Though all the divine utterances exhort us, dearly beloved, to rejoice in the Lord always Philippians 4:4,
yet today we are no doubt incited to a full spiritual joy, when the mystery of the Lord’s nativity is shining brightly upon us , so that we may have recourse to that unutterable condescension of the Divine Mercy, whereby the Creator of men deigned to become man, and be found ourselves in His nature whom we worship in ours. For God the Son of God, the only-begotten of the eternal and not-begotten Father, remaining eternal in the form of God,
and unchangeably and without time possessing the property of being no way different to the Father He received the form of a slave
without loss of His own majesty, that He might advance us to His state and not lower Himself to ours. Hence both natures abiding in possession of their own properties such unity is the result of the union that whatever of Godhead is there is inseparable from the manhood: and whatever of manhood, is indivisible from the Godhead.
II. The Virgin’s conception explained
In celebrating therefore the birthday of our Lord and Saviour, dearly beloved, let us entertain pure thoughts of the blessed Virgin’s child-bearing, so as to believe that at no moment of time was the power of the Word wanting to the flesh and soul which she conceived, and that the temple of Christ’s body did not previously receive its form and soul that its Inhabitant might come and take possession but through Himself and in Himself was the beginning given to the New Man, so that in the one Son of God and Man there might be Godhead without a mother, and Manhood without a Father. For her virginity fecundated by the Holy Spirit at one and the same time brought forth without trace of corruption both the offspring and the Maker of her race. Hence also the same Lord, as the Evangelist relates, asked of the Jews whose son they had learned Christ to be on the authority of the Scriptures, and when they replied that the tradition was He would come of David’s seed, How,
says He, does David in the Spirit call Him Lord, saying, the Lord said to my Lord: sit on My right hand till I place your enemies as the footstool of your feet ?
And the Jews could not solve the question put, because they did not understand that in the one Christ both the stock of David and the Divine nature were there prophesied.
III. In redeeming man, justice as well as mercy had to be considered
But the majesty of the Son of God in which He is equal with the Father in its garb of a slave’s humility feared no diminution, required no augmentation: and the very effect of His mercy which He expended on the restitution of man, He was able to bring about solely by the power of His Godhead; so as to rescue the creature that was made in the image of God from the yoke of his cruel oppressor. But because the devil had not shown himself so violent in his attack on the first man as to bring him over to his side without the consent of His free will, man’s voluntary sin and hostile desires had to be destroyed in such wise that the standard of justice should not stand in the way of the gift of Grace. And therefore in the general ruin of the entire human race there was but one remedy in the secret of the Divine plan which could succour the fallen, and that was that one of the sons of Adam should be born free and innocent of original transgression, to prevail for the rest both by His example and His merits. Still further, because this was not permitted by natural generation, and because there could be no offspring from our faulty stock without seed, of which the Scripture says, Who can make a clean thing conceived of an unclean seed? Is it not You who is alone Job 14:4?
David’s Lord was made David’s Son, and from the fruit of the promised branch sprang One without fault, the twofold nature joining together into one Person, that by one and the same conception and birth might spring our Lord Jesus Christ, in Whom was present both true Godhead for the performance of mighty works and true Manhood for the endurance of sufferings.
IV. All heresies proceed from failure to believe the twofold nature of Christ
The catholic Faith then, dearly beloved, may scorn the errors of the heretics that bark against it, who, deceived by the vanity of worldly wisdom, have forsaken the Gospel of Truth, and being unable to understand the Incarnation of the Word, have constructed for themselves out of the source of enlightenment occasion of blindness. For after investigating almost all false believers’ opinions, even those which presume to deny the Holy Spirit, we come to the conclusion that hardly any one has gone astray, unless he has refused to believe the reality of the two natures in Christ under the confession of one Person. For some have ascribed to the Lord only manhood , others only Deity. Some have said that, though there was in Him true Godhead, His flesh was unreal. Others have acknowledged that He took true flesh but say that He had not the nature of God the Father; and by assigning to His Godhead what belonged to His human substance, have made for themselves a greater and a lesser God, although there can be in true Godhead no grades: seeing that whatever is less than God, is not God. Others recognizing that there is no difference between Father and Son, because they could not understand unity of Godhead except in unity of Person, have maintained that the Father is the same as the Son : so that to be born and nursed, to suffer and die, to be buried and rise again, belonged to the same Father who sustained throughout the Person of both Man and the Word. Certain have thought that our Lord Jesus Christ had a body not of our substance but assumed from higher and subtler elements : whereas certain others have considered that in the flesh of Christ there was no human soul, but that the Godhead of the Word Itself fulfilled the part of soul. But their unwise assertion passes into this form that, though they acknowledge the existence of a soul in the Lord, yet they say it was devoid of mind, because the Godhead of Itself was sufficient for all purposes of reason to the Man as well as to the God in Christ. Lastly the same people have dared to assert that a certain portion of the Word was turned into Flesh, so that in the manifold varieties of this one dogma, not only the nature of the flesh and of the soul but also the essence of the Word Itself is dissolved.
V. Nestorianism and Eutychianism are particularly to be avoided at the present time
There are many other astounding falsehoods also which we must not weary your ears, beloved, with enumerating. But after all these various impieties, which are closely connected by the relationship that exists between one form of blasphemy and another, we call your devout attention to the avoiding of these two errors in particular: one of which, with Nestorius for its author, some time ago attempted to gain ground, but ineffectually; the other, which is equally damnable, has more recently sprung up with Eutyches as its propounder. The former dared to maintain that the blessed Virgin Mary was the mother of Christ’s manhood only, so that in her conception and childbearing no union might be believed to have taken place of the Word and the Flesh: because the Son of God did not Himself become Son of Man, but of His mere condescension linked Himself with created man. This can in no way be tolerated by catholic ears, which are so imbued with the gospel of Truth that they know of a surety there is no hope of salvation for mankind unless He were Himself the Son of the Virgin who was His mother’s Creator. On the other hand this blasphemous propounder of more recent profanity has confessed the union of the two Natures in Christ, but has maintained that the effect of this very union is that of the two one remained while the substance of the other no longer existed, which of course could not have been brought to an end except by either destruction or separation. But this is so opposed to sound faith that it cannot be entertained without loss of one’s Christian name. For if the Incarnation of the Word is the uniting of the Divine and human natures, but by the very fact of their coming together that which was twofold became single, it was only the Godhead that was born of the Virgin’s womb, and went through the deceptive appearance of receiving nourishment and bodily growth: and to pass over all the changes of the human state, it was only the Godhead that was crucified, dead, and buried: so that according to those who thus think, there is no reason to hope for the resurrection, and Christ is not the first-begotten from the dead Colossians 1:18;
because He was not One who ought to have been raised again, if He had not been One who could be slain.
VI. The Deity and the Manhood were present in Christ from the very first
Keep far from your hearts, dearly beloved, the poisonous lies of the devil’s inspirations, and knowing that the eternal Godhead of the Son underwent no growth while with the Father, be wise and consider that to the same nature to which it was said in Adam, You are earth, and unto earth shall you go Genesis 3:19,
it is said in Christ, sit on My right hand.
According to that Nature, whereby Christ is equal to the Father, the Only-begotten was never inferior to the sublimity of the Father; nor was the glory which He had with the Father a temporal possession; for He is on the very right hand of the Father, of which it is said in Exodus, Your right hand, O Lord, is glorified in power Exodus 16:6;
and in Isaiah, Lord, who has believed our report? And the arm of the Lord, to whom is it revealed Isaiah 53:1?
The man, therefore, assumed into the Son of God, was in such wise received into the unity of Christ’s Person from His very commencement in the body, that without the Godhead He was not conceived, without the Godhead He was not brought forth, without the Godhead He was not nursed. It was the same Person in the wondrous acts, and in the endurance of insults; through His human weakness crucified, dead and buried: through His Divine power, being raised the third day, He ascended to the heavens, sat down at the right hand of the Father, and in His nature as man received from the Father that which in His nature as God He Himself also gave.
VII. The fullness of the Godhead is imparted to the Body (the Church) through the Head, (Christ)
Meditate, dearly beloved on these things with devout hearts, and be always mindful of the apostle’s injunction, who admonishes all men, saying, See lest any one deceive you through philosophy and vain deceit according to the tradition of men, and not according to Christ; for in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you have been filled in Him Colossians 2:8-10 .
He said not spiritually
but bodily,
that we may understand the substance of flesh to be real, where there is the dwelling in the body of the fullness of the Godhead: wherewith, of course, the whole Church is also filled, which, clinging to the Head, is the body of Christ; who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Ghost, God for ever and ever. Amen.
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A Forgotten Feast Day: Saint Sylvester Day: In Honor Of Pope St. Sylvester I
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We have arrived at December 31st, the secularists call this New Years Eve. They will spend all day drinking & other stuff waiting for a very expensive glass ball to drop to bring in 2026. We too in the Church have forgotten what this day is, the day to honor Pope St. Sylvester I; called Saint Sylvester Day!
Let me share his biography:
“Saint Sylvester was born in Rome. When he reached the age to dispose of his fortune, he took pleasure in giving hospitality to Christians passing through the city. He would take them with him, wash their feet, serve them at table, and in sum give them in the name of Christ, all the care that the most sincere charity inspired. One day Timothy of Antioch, an illustrious confessor of the Faith, arrived in Rome. No one dared receive him, but Sylvester considered it an honor. For a year Timothy, preaching Jesus Christ with unflagging zeal, received at Sylvester’s dwelling the most generous hospitality. When this heroic man had won the palm of martyrdom, Sylvester took up his precious remains and buried them during the night. But he himself was soon denounced to the prefect and accused of having hidden the martyr’s treasures. He replied, “Timothy left to me only the heritage of his faith and courage.” The governor threatened him with death and had him imprisoned, but Sylvester said to him, “Senseless one, this very night it is you who will render an account to God.” And the persecutor that evening swallowed a fish bone, and died in fact that night.
Fear of Heavenly chastisements softened the guardians, and the brave young man was set at liberty. Sylvester’s courageous acts became known to Saint Melchiades, Pope, who elevated him to the diaconate. He was a young priest when persecution of the Christians grew worse under the tyrant Diocletian. Idols were erected at the street corners, in the market-places, and over the public fountains, so that it was scarcely possible for a Christian to go abroad without being put to the test of offering sacrifice, with the alternative of apostasy or death. During this fiery trial, Sylvester strengthened the confessors and martyrs, and God preserved his life from many dangers. It was indeed he who was destined to succeed the Pope who had recognized his virtues.
His long pontificate of twenty-one years, famous for several reasons, is remembered in particular for the First Council of Nicaea, the Baptism of Constantine, and the triumph of the Church. Some authors would place Constantine’s Baptism later, but there are numerous and serious testimonies which fix the emperor’s reception into the Church under the reign of Saint Sylvester, and the Roman Breviary confirms that opinion. Constantine, while still pagan and little concerned for the Christians, whose doctrine was entirely unknown to him, was attacked by a kind of leprosy which soon covered his entire body. One night Saint Peter and Saint Paul, shining with light, appeared to him and commanded him to call for Pope Sylvester, who would cure him by giving him Baptism. In effect, the Pope instructed the royal neophyte and baptized him. Thus began the social reign of Jesus Christ: Constantine’s conversion, culminating in the Edict of Milan in 313, had as its happy consequence that of the known world.”
In the commemorative reading from today’s Office, we hear from his contemporary, Eusebius of Caesarea, and his history of the Church, of all the glorious celebrations which followed upon Constantine’s ‘Edict of Milan’:
For us above all, who had placed our hopes in Christ, there was inexpressible joy and a heavenly happiness shone on every face. Every place that a short time before had been laid waste by the tyrants’ wickedness we now saw restored to life, recovering, as it seemed, from a long and deadly disease. Churches were once again rising from the ground high into the air, far surpassing in splendour and magnificence the ones that had previously been stormed and destroyed.
In honor of Saint Sylvester, let us defend the Papacy and the Church as he did growing up in Rome, by defending the newly elected Hildebrand & praying for him.
May one day as Eusebius Of Caesarea says that the Churches will once again raise from the ground, high into the air, once the enemies of God & His Church are beaten & tossed out of Rome & Hildebrand accepted by all as the rightful heir to Saint Peter.
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Prayer: The Great Means Of Salvation By Saint Alphonsus Liguori
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“Introduction
NECESSARY TO BE READ
I have published several spiritual works,—–on visiting the Blessed Sacrament, on the Passion of Jesus Christ, on the Glories of Mary, and, besides, a work against the Materialists and Deists, with other devout little treatises. Lately I brought out a work on the Infancy of our Saviour, entitled Novena for Christmas; and another entitled Preparation for Death, besides the one on the Eternal Maxims, most useful for meditation and for sermons, to which are added nine discourses suitable during seasons of Divine chastisements. But I do not think that I have written a more useful work than the present, in which I speak of prayer as a necessary and certain means of obtaining salvation, and all the graces that we require for that object. If it were in my power, I would distribute a copy of it to every Catholic in the world, in order to show him the absolute necessity of prayer for salvation.
I say this, because, on the one hand, I see that the absolute necessity of prayer is taught throughout the Holy Scriptures, and by all the holy Fathers; while, on the other hand, I see that Christians are very careless in their practice of this great means of salvation. And, sadder still, I see that preachers take very little care to speak of it to their flocks, and confessors to their penitents; I see, moreover, that even the spiritual books now popular do not speak sufficiently of it; for there is not a thing preachers, and confessors, and spiritual books should insist upon with more warmth and energy than prayer; not but that they teach many excellent means of keeping ourselves in the grace of God, such as avoiding the occasions of sin, frequenting the sacraments, resisting temptations, hearing the Word of God, meditating on the eternal truths, and other means,—–all of them, I admit, most useful; but, I say, what profit is there in sermons, meditations, and all the other means pointed out by masters of the spiritual life, if we forget to pray? since our Lord has declared that he will grant his graces to no one who does not pray. “Ask and ye shall receive.” [John 16: 24] Without prayer, in the ordinary course of Providence, all the meditations that we make, all our resolutions, all our promises, will be useless. If we do not pray, we shall always be unfaithful to the inspirations of God, and to the promises we made to him. Because, in order actually to do good, to conquer temptations, to practice virtues, and to observe God’s law, it is not enough to receive illumination from God, and to meditate and make resolutions, but we require, moreover, the actual assistance of God; and, as we shall soon see, he does not give this assistance except to those who pray, and pray with perseverance. The light we receive, and the considerations and good resolutions that we make, are of use to incite us to the act of prayer when we are in danger, and are tempted to transgress God’s law; for then prayer will obtain for us God’s help, and we shall be preserved from sin; but if in such moments we do not pray, we shall be lost.
My intention in prefacing my book with this sentiment is, that my readers may thank God for giving them an opportunity, by means of this little book, to receive the grace of reflecting more deeply on the importance of prayer; for all adults who are saved, are ordinarily saved by this single means of grace. And therefore I ask my readers to thank God; for surely it is a great mercy when he gives the light and the grace to pray. I hope, then, that you, my beloved brother, after reading this little work, will never from this day forward neglect to have continual recourse to God in prayer, whenever you are tempted to offend him. If ever in times past you have had your conscience burdened with many sins, know that the cause of this has been the neglect of prayer, and not asking God for help to resist the temptations that assailed you. I pray you, therefore, to read it again and again with the greatest attention; not because it is my production, but because it is a means that God offers you for the good of your eternal salvation, thereby giving you to understand that he wishes you to be saved. And after having read it yourself, induce as many of your friends and neighbors as you can to read it also. Now let us begin in the name of the Lord.
DEFINITION OF PRAYER
The Apostle writes to Timothy: “Beseech, therefore, that first of all supplications, petitions, and thanksgivings be made. [1 Tim. 2: 1] St. Thomas explains, that prayer is properly the lifting up of the soul to God. [2. 2. q. 83, a. 17] Petition is that kind of prayer which begs for determinate objects; when the thing sought is indeterminate [as when we say, “Incline to my aid, O God!”] it is called supplication. Obsecration is a solemn adjuration, or representation of the grounds on which we dare to ask a favor; as when we say, “By Thy Cross and Passion, O Lord, deliver us!” Finally, thanksgiving is the returning of thanks for benefits received, whereby, says St. Thomas, we merit to receive greater favors. Prayer, in a strict sense, says the holy Doctor, means recourse to God; but in its general signification it includes all the kinds just enumerated. It is in this latter sense that the word is used in this book.
PLAN OF THE WORK
In order, then, to attach ourselves to this great means of salvation, we must first of all consider how necessary it is to us, and how powerful it is to obtain for us all the graces that we can desire from God, if we know how to ask for them as we ought. Hence, in the first part, we will speak first of the necessity and power of prayer; and next, of the conditions necessary to make it efficacious with God. Then, in the second part, we will show that the grace of prayer is given to all; and there we will treat the manner in which grace ordinarily operates.”
The Books He Mentions
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SUNDAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE OF THE NATIVITY – IN WHAT TRUE WISDOM CONSISTS
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34.
infant Jesus. Among other things which he then foretold, he declared that “this child was set
for the fall and for the resurrection of many in Israel.” In these words he extols the lot of the
saints, who, after this life, shall rise to a life of immortality in the kingdom of bliss, and he
deplores the misfortune of sinners, who, for the transitory and miserable pleasures of this
world, bring upon themselves eternal ruin and perdition. But, notwithstanding the greatness
of his own misery, the unhappy sinner, reflecting only on the enjoyment of present goods,
calls the saints fools, because they seek to live in poverty, in humiliation, and self-denial. But
a day will come when sinners shall see their errors, and shall say. “We fools esteemed their
life madness, and their end without honour.” (Wis. v. 4.) We fools; behold how they shall
confess that they themselves have been truly fools. Let us examine in what true wisdom
consists, and we shall see, in the first point, that sinners are truly foolish, and, in the second,
that the saints are truly wise.
First Point. Sinners are truly foolish.
1. What greater folly can be conceived than to have the power of being the friends of God,
and to wish to be his enemies? Their living in enmity with God makes the life of sinners
unhappy in this world, and purchases for them an eternity of misery hereafter St. Augustine
relates that two courtiers of the emperor entered a monastery of hermits, and that one of
them began to read the life of St. Anthony. “He read, ” says the saint, “and his heart was
divested of the world.” He read, and, in reading, his affections were detached from the Earth.
Turning to his companion he exclaimed: ”What do we seek? The friendship of the emperor is
the most we can hope for. And through how many perils shall we arrive at still greater
danger? Should we obtain his friendship, how long shall it last ?” Friend, said he, fools that
we are, what do we seek? Can we expect more in this life, by serving the emperor, than to
gain his friendship? And should we, after many dangers, succeed in making him our friend,
we shall expose ourselves to greater danger of eternal perdition. What difficulties must we
encounter in order to become the friend of Caesar!”But, if I wish, I can in a moment become
the friend of God.” I can acquire his friendship by endeavouring to recover his grace. His
divine grace is that infinite treasure which makes us worthy of his friendship. “For she is an
infinite treasure to men, which they that use become the friends of God” (Wis. vii. 14.)
2. The Gentiles believe it impossible for a creature to become the friend of God; for, as St.
Jerome says, friendship makes friends equal. “Amicitia pares accipit, aut pares facit.” But
Jesus Christ has declared, that if we observe his commands we shall be his friends. “You are
my friends, if you do the things I command.” (John xv. 14.)
3. How great then is the folly of sinners, who, though they have it in their power to enjoy the
friendship of God, wish to live in enmity with him! The Lord does not hate any of his
creatures: he does not hate the tiger, the viper, or the toad. ”For thou lovest all things that
are, and hatest none of the things which thou hast made.” (Wis. xi. 25.) But he necessarily
hates sinners. ”Thou hatest all the workers of iniquity.” (Ps. v. 7.) God cannot but hate sin,
which is his enemy and diametrically opposed to his will; and therefore, in hating sin, he
necessarily hates the sinner who is united with his sin. “But to God the wicked and his
wickedness are hateful alike. ” (Wis. xiv. 9.)
God has not created us, nor does he preserve our lives, that we may labour to acquire riches
or earthly honours, or that we may indulge in amusements, but that we may love and serve
him in this world, in order to love and enjoy him for eternity in the next. “And the end life
everlasting.” (Rom. vi. 22.) Thus the present life, as St. Gregory says, is the way by which we
must reach Paradise, our true country. ”In the present life we are, as it were, on the road by
which we journey to our country.” (St. Greg. hom. xi. in Evan.)
5. But the misfortune of the greater part of mankind is, that instead of following the way of
salvation, they foolishly walk in the road to perdition,. Some have a passion for earthly
riches; and, for a vile interest, they lose the immense goods of Paradise: others have a passion
for honours; and, for a momentary applause, they lose their right to be kings in Heaven:
others have a passion for sensual pleasures; and, for transitory de lights, they lose the grace
of God, and are condemned to burn for ever in a prison of fire. Miserable souls! if, in
punishment of a certain sin, their hand was to be burned with a red-hot iron, or if they were
to be shut up for ten years in a dark prison, they certainly would abstain from it. And do they
not know that, in chastisement of their sins, they shall be condemned to remain for ever in
Hell, where their bodies, buried in fire, shall burn for all eternity? Some, says St. John
Chrysostom (Hom. de recup. Laps.), to save the body, choose to destroy the soul; but, do
they not know that, in losing the soul, their bodies shall be condemned to eternal
torments?”If we neglect the soul, we cannot save the body”
6. In a word, sinners lose their reason, and imitate brute animals, that follow the instinct of
nature, and seek carnal pleasures without ever reflecting on their lawfulness or unlawfulness.
But to act in this manner is, according to St. Chrysostom, to act not like a man, but like a
beast. ”Hominem ilium dicimus” says the saint, “qui imaginem hominis salvam retinet: qua
autem est imago hominis? Rationalem esse” To be men we must be rational: that is, we must
act, not according to the sensual appetite, but according to the dictates of reason. If God
gave to beasts the use of reason, and if they acted according to its rules, we should say that
they acted like men. And it must, on the other hand, be said, that the man whose conduct is
agreeable to the senses, but contrary to reason, acts like a beast. He who follows the dictates
of reason, provides for the future. “Oh! that they would be wise, and would understand, and
would provide for their last end.” (Deuter. xxxii. 29.) He looks to the future that is, to the
account he must render at the hour of death, after which he shall be doomed to Hell or to
Heaven, according to his merits, ”Non est sapiens” says St. Bernard, ”qui sibi non est.” (Lib.
de consid.)
7. Sinners think only of the present, but regard not the end for which they were created. But
what will it profit them to gain all things if they lose their last end, which alone can make
them happy. ”But one thing is necessary.” (Luke x. 42.) To attain our end is the only thing
necessary for us: if we lose it, all is lost. What is this end? It is eternal life. “Finem vero vitam
æternam.” During life, sinners care but little for the attainment of their end. Each day brings
them nearer to death and to eternity; but they know not their destination. Should a pilot who
is asked whither he is going, answer that he did not know, would not all, says St. .Augustine,
cry out that he was bringing the vessel to destruction?”Fac hominem perdidisse quo tendit, et
dicatur ei: quo is? et dicat, nescio: nonne iste navem ad naufragium perducet ?” The saint
then adds: ”Talis est qui currit præter viam.” Such are the wise of the world, who know how to acquire wealth and honours, and to indulge in every kind of amusement, but who know
not how to save their souls. How miserable the rich glutton, who, though able to lay up
riches and to live splendidly, was, after death, buried in Hell! How miserable Alexander the
Great, who, after gaining so many kingdoms, was condemned to eternal torments? How
great the folly of Henry the Eighth, who rebelled against the Church, but seeing at the hour
of death that his soul should be lost, cried out in despair: ”Friends, we have lost all!” O God,
how many others now weep in Hell, and exclaim: ”What hath pride profited us? or what
advantage hath the toasting of riches brought us? All those things are passed away like a
shadow.” (Wis. v. 8.) In the world we made a great figure we enjoyed abundant riches and
honours; and now all is passed away like a shadow, and nothing remains for us but to suffer
and weep for eternity. St. Augustine says, that the happiness which sinners enjoy in this life
is their greatest misfortune, “Nothing is more calamitous than the felicity of sinners, by
which their perverse will, like an internal enemy, is strengthened.” (Ep. v. ad Marcellin.)
8. In fine, the words of Solomon are fulfilled with regard to all who neglect their salvation:
”Mourning taketh hold of the end of joy.” (Prov. xiv. 13.) All their pleasures, honours, and
greatness, end in eternal sorrow and wailing. “Whilst I was yet beginning, he cut me off.” (Is.
xxxviii. 12.) Whilst they are laying the foundation of their hopes of realizing a fortune, death
comes, and, cutting the thread of life, deprives them of all their possessions, and sends them
to Hell to burn for ever in a pit of fire. What greater folly can be conceived, than to wish to be
transformed from the friend of God into the slave of Lucifer, and from the heir of Paradise to
become, by sin, doomed to Hell? For, the moment a Christian commits a mortal sin, his name
is written among the number of the damned! St. Francis de Sales said that, if the angels were
capable of weeping, they would do nothing else than shed tears at the sight of the destruction
which a Christian who com mits mortal sin brings upon himself.
9. Oh! how great is the folly of sinners, who, by living in sin, lead a life of misery and
discontent! All the goods of this world cannot content the heart of man, which has been
created to love God, and can find no peace out of God. What are all the grandeurs and all the
pleasures of this world but “vanity of vanities!” (Eccl. i. 2.) What are they but “vanity and
vexation of spirit?” (Ibid. iv. 16.) Earthly goods are, according to Solomon, who had
experience of them, vanity of vanities; that is mere vanities, lies, and deceits. They are also
a”vexation of spirit :” they not only do not content, but they even afflict the soul; and the
more abundantly they are possessed, the greater the anguish which they produce. Sinners
hope to find peace in their sins; but what peace can they enjoy?”There is no peace to the
wicked, saith the Lord.” (Is. xlviii. 22.) I abstain from saying more at present on the unhappy
life of sinners: I shall speak of it in another place. At present, it is enough for you to know
that God gives peace to the souls who love him, and not to those who despise him. Instead of
seeking to be the friends of God, sinners wish to be the slaves of Satan, who is a cruel and
merciless tyrant to all who submit to his yoke. “Crudelis est et non miserebitur.” (Jer. vi. 23.)
And if he promises delights, he does it, as St. Cyprian says, not for our welfare, but that we
may be the companions of his torments in hell: ”Ut habeat socios pœna, socios gehenæ”.
Second Point. The saints are truly wise.
10. Let us be persuaded that the truly wise are those who know how to love God and to gain
Heaven. Happy the man to whom God has given the science of the saints. “Dedit illi scientiam sanctorum” (Wis. x. 10.) Oh! how sublime the science which teaches us to know how to love God and to save our souls! Happy, says St. Augustine, is the man “who knows God, although he is ignorant of other things.” They who know God, the love which he merits, and how to love him, stand not in need of any other knowledge. They are wiser than
those who are masters of many sciences, but know not how to love God. Brother Egidius, of
the order of St. Francis, once said to St. Bonaventure: Happy you, Father Bonaventure, who
are so learned, and who, by your learning, can become more holy than I can, who am a poor
ignorant man. Listen, replied the saint: if an old woman knows how to love God better than
I do, she is more learned and more holy than I am. At hearing this, Brother Egidius
exclaimed: ”poor old woman! poor old woman! Father Bonaventure says that, if you love
God more than he does, you can surpass him in sanctity.”
11. This excited the envy of St. Augustine, and made him ashamed of himself. ”Surgunt
indocti,” he exclaimed, “et rapiunt cœlum.” Alas! the ignorant rise up, and bear away the
kingdom of Heaven; and what are we, the learned of this world, doing? Oh! how many of the
rude and illiterate are saved, because, though unable to read, they know how to love God;
and how many of the wise of the world are damned! Oh! truly wise were St. John of God, St.
Felix of the order of St. Capuchins, and St. Paschal, who were poor lay Franciscans, and
unacquainted with human sciences, but learned in the science of the saints. But the wonder
is, that, though worldlings themselves are fully persuaded of this truth, and constantly extol
the merit of those who retire from the world to live only to God, still they act as if they
believed it not.
12. Tell me, brethren, to which class do you wish to belong to the wise of the world, or to the
wise of God? Before you make a choice, St. Chrysostom advises you to go to the graves of the
dead! “Proficiscamur ad Sepulchra” Oh! how eloquently do the sepulchres of the dead teach
us the science of the saints and the vanity of all earthly goods!”For my part,” said the saint, ”I
see nothing but rottenness, bones, and worms. ” As if he said: Among these skeletons I
cannot distinguish the noble, the rich, or the learned; I see that they have all become dust and
rottenness: thus all their greatness and glory have passed away like a dream.
13. What then must we do? Behold the advice of St. Paul: “This, therefore, I say, brethren: the
time is short: it remaineth that . . . they that use this world BE as if they used it not; for the
fashion of this world passeth away.” (1 Cor. vii. 29-31.) This world is a scene which shall
pass away and end very soon . “The time is short.” During the days of life that remain, let us
endeavour to live like men who are wise, not according to the world, but according to God,
by attending to the sanctification of our souls, and by adopting the means of salvation; by
flying dangerous occasions; by practising prayer; joining some pious sodality; frequenting
the sacraments; reading every day a spiritual book; and by daily hearing Mass, if it be in our
power; or, at least, by visiting Jesus in the holy sacrament of the altar, and some image of the
most holy Mary. Thus we shall be truly wise, and shall be happy for time and eternity.
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Blessed Christmas To You All
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Christmas Sermon Of Pope St. Gregory The Great
Because by the Divine Bounty we are on this day thrice to celebrate the sacred mysteries of the Liturgy, we cannot therefore speak at length on the Gospel lesson. But the Birth of Our Redeemer Himself demands of us that we say something for the occasion, however briefly.
Why was it that at the time when the Lord was to be born, the whole world was enrolled, unless that it so might openly be declared, that He had appeared in the flesh Who would enroll His elect for all eternity? Against which is the sentence spoken by the prophet concerning the wicked: Let them be blotted out of the book of the living ; and with the just let them not be written. [Psalm 68:29]
Also was he, fittingly, born in Bethlehem ; since Bethlehem is interpreted as the House of Bread. For this is He Who says: I am the Living Bread, which came down from Heaven.
The place therefore in which the Lord was born was formerly called the House of Bread, because there it was to be that He would appear in future times, in the substance of our flesh, Who would fill the hearts of the faithful with inward abundance.
And He was born, not in the house of His parents, but upon a journey that He might truly show, that because of the humanity He had taken to Himself, He was born as it were among strangers. Strange, I say, not to His Power, but to His Nature. For of His Power it is written.: He came into His own. In His own Nature He was born before all time ; in ours He came to us in time. To Him therefore Who while remaining Eternal hath appeared in time, strange must the place be where He has descended.
And because the prophet says: All flesh is grass [Isa. 40:6], becoming man He has changed this our grass into wheat Who has declared of Himself: Unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, itself remaineth alone [John 12:24].
Hence when he was born He was laid in a manger so that He might nourish with the Wheat of His flesh the beasts that He sanctifies, that is, all the faithful so that they may not be left hungry for the food of eternal knowledge.
And what does it mean that an angel appears to the watching shepherds, and that the Brightness of God shone round about them, if not mystically signifying that they, more than others, shall merit the vision of heavenly things, who have learned to rule carefully over their faithful flocks? For while they are devoutly keeping watch over them, the divine favor shines abundantly upon them.
The Angel announces that a King is born, and the choirs of angels unite their voice with his, and rejoicing all together they sing: Glory be to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will.
Before the Redeemer was born in the flesh, there was discord between us and the angels, from whose brightness and holy perfection we stood afar, in punishment first of original sin, and then because of our daily offenses. Because through sin we had become strangers to God, the angels as God’s subjects cut us off from their fellowship. But since we have now acknowledged our King, the angels receive us as fellow citizens.
Because the King of heaven has taken unto Himself the flesh of our earth, the angels from their heavenly heights no longer look down upon our infirmity. Now they are at peace with us, putting away the remembrance of the ancient discord ; now they honor us as friends, whom before they beheld weak and despised below them.
Hence was it that both Lot and Joshua adored the angels [Gen. 19:1; Jos. 5:15], and were not forbidden to adore. But when John, in his Apocalypse, wished to adore the angel, this same angel forbade him to adore, saying: See thou do it not, for I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren. [Rev. 22:9]
What is the significance of this, that before the coming of the Redeemer angels were adored by men, and the angels were silent ; and after, they turned away from being adored ; unless that our nature which they before despised, they see now is raised above themselves, and fear exceedingly to see it prostrated before them? Nor dared they now look down on that as beneath them, which they venerate as far above them, in the King of Heaven. Nor do they refuse to accept us as equals, who now adore God made man.
Let us then be careful, dearest Brethren, that no uncleanness shall defile us, who, in the divine foreknowledge, are destined to be the subjects of God’s heavenly Kingdom, and the equal of His angels.
Let us prove our worthiness by the manner of our lives. Let no sensuality soil us, no evil purpose come to accuse us ; let malice not devour your hearts, nor pride exalt it, nor the desire of worldly gain blow it about in every direction, nor anger inflame it. For men are called to be as Gods.
Defend then the honor of God within you, O Man, against these vices, since it was because of you that God became man, who liveth and reigneth for ever. Amen.
Given to the People in the Basilica of the Blessed Virgin Mary on the day of the Nativity of Our Lord.
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Why Does No One Go To The Sources Anymore?
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It is Christmas Season, which means everyone is doing a Biblical, Historically and Dogmatically Error Filled Version Of The Nativity, either in play, movie or short story movie, where it shows Mary feeling birth pains. Birth Pains were given after the Original Sin, but Mary was kept free from Original Sin and so she would not have felt birth pains.
Secondly, as she conceived Our Lord miraculously, so too she gave birth in that fashion, He came out of her: as St. Maximus The Confessor writes, “As Miraculously he was conceived, he appeared outside the womb on her lap.”
He had historical sources we can only dream of. He wrote the first full length autobiography of Our Lady. Next thing, she too, was of the House Of David and she had to go to Bethlehem & Yes, her family went ahead, including St. Elizabeth mother of St. John The Baptist.
Get this amazing book, in the back of it, there is a liturgical calendar so one can read it and follow it along
It’s $32.50 Hardcover On Amazon: Click Book Image To Get A Copy
Now, Regarding A Sermon By Father John Paul Mary of the EWTN Friars, he was quoting what Cardinal Prevost said about St. Teresa de Jesus and how he compared her to how we can be saints in everyday ordinary life, but that sounds more like the Opus Dei founder Josemaria Escriva and what the French Nuns made up about St. Therese Of The Child Jesus.
Click Image To See The Readings & Fr. John Paul Mary’s Sermon
UPDATE: EWTN Edited Out His Remarks About St. Teresa Of Avila
St. Teresa de Jesus’ spirituality is way more complex & if you want to learn about it, you need to know about her uncle, who joined the Hieronymites or The Order Of Saint Jerome in Toledo Spain. He gave her a book, The Third Spiritual Alphabet by Francisco de Osuna; at the time the Spanish Inquisition had a list of books burned, they had this book burned, but it was not considered illegal by the Church and was reviewed by the Friars Minor and found it had no errors and is entirely Catholic.
To even see her come to life, get a copy of the Spanish Miniseries Teresa de Jesus, which EWTN used to play often. It is powerful. I left my bed when watching Sunday Mass when Fr. John Paul Mary was speaking wrongfully about St. Teresa Of Avila, I went looking for my copy of the miniseries, her image portrayed by the actress caught my face and she guided me to her DVD. She does still respond, if you have a relationship with her, like you do for favorite Saint.
Once Again, we have people making movies or sermons without going to the sources, only using second to third hand or further down the line “sources.” Why do people not read and do research or in her case, watch the miniseries?
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4th Sunday Of Advent: ON THE LOVE OF JESUS CHRIST FOR US, & ON OUR OBLIGATIONS TO LOVE HIM
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By Saint Alphonsus Liguori
THE Saviour of the world, whom, according to the prediction of the prophet Isaias, men were
one day to see on this Earth “and all flesh shall see the salvation of God,” has already come.
We have not only seen him conversing among men, but we have also seen him suffering and
dying for the love of us. Let us, then, this morning consider the love which we owe to Jesus
Christ at least through gratitude for the love which he bears to us. In the first point we shall
consider the greatness of the love which Jesus Christ has shown to us; and in the second we
shall see the greatness of our obligations to love him.
First Point. On the great love which Jesus Christ has shown to us.
1 . ”Christ,” says St. Augustine, ”came on Earth that men might know how much God loves
them.” He has come, and to show the immense love which this God bears us, he has given
himself entirely to us, by abandoning himself to all the pains of this life, and afterwards to
the scourges, to the thorns, and to all the sorrows and insults which he suffered in his
passion, and by offering himself to die, abandoned by all, on the infamous tree of the cross.
”Who loved me, and delivered himself for me.” (Gal. ii. 20.)
2. Jesus Christ could save us without dying on the cross, and without suffering. One drop of
his blood would be sufficient for our redemption. Even a prayer offered to his Eternal Father
would be sufficient; because, on account of his divinity, his prayer would be of infinite value,
and would therefore be sufficient for the salvation of the world, and of a thousand worlds.
”But” says St. Chrysostom, or another ancient author, ”what was sufficient for redemption
was not sufficient for love.”
but the entire of it, by dint of torments.
This may be inferred from the
words which he used on the night before his death: “This is my blood of the new testament,
which shall be shed for many. ” (Matt. xxvi. 28.) The words shall be shed show that, in his
passion, the blood of Jesus Christ was poured forth even to the last drop. Hence, when after
death his side was opened with a spear, blood and water came forth, as if what then flowed
was all that remained of his blood. Jesus Christ, then, though he could save us without
suffering, wished to embrace a life of continual pain, and to suffer the cruel and ignominious
death of the cross. ”He humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross.” (Phil. ii. 8.)
3. ”Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (John
xv. 13.) To show his love for us, what more could the Son of God do than die for us? What
more can one man do for another than give his life for him? “Greater love than this no man
hath.” Tell me, my brother, if one of your servants if the vilest man on this Earth had done
for you what Jesus Christ has done in dying through pain on a cross, could you remember his
love for you, and not love him?
4. St. Francis of Assisium appeared to be unable to think of anything but the passion of Jesus
Christ; and, in thinking of it, he continually shed tears, so that by his constant weeping he
became nearly blind. Being found one day weeping and groaning at the foot of the crucifix,
he was asked the cause of his tears and lamentations. He replied: ”I weep over the sorrows
and ignominies of my Lord. And what makes me weep still more is, that the men for whom
he has suffered so much live in forgetfulness of him.”
5. O Christian, should a doubt ever enter your mind that Jesus Christ loves you, raise your
eyes and look at him hanging on the cross. Ah! says St. Thomas of Villanova, the cross to
which he is nailed, the internal and external sorrows which he endures, and the cruel death
which he suffers for you, are convincing proofs of the love which he bears you: “Testis crux,
testes dolores, testis amara mors quam pro te sustinuit.” (Conc. 3.) Do you not, says St.
Bernard, hear the voice of that cross, and of those wounds, crying out to make you feel that
he truly loves you?”Clamat crux, clamat vulnus, quod vere dilexit.”
6. St. Paul says that the love which Jesus Christ has shown in condescending to suffer so
much for our salvation, should excite us to his love more powerfully than the scourging, the
crowning with thorns, the painful journey to Calvary, the agony of three hours on the cross,
the buffets, the spitting in his face, and all the other injuries which the Saviour endured.
According to the Apostle, the love which Jesus has shown us not only obliges, but in a certain
manner forces and constrains us, to love a God who has loved us so much. ”For the charity
of Christ presseth us.” ( 2 Cor. v. 14.) On this text St. Francis de Sales says: ”We know that
Jesus the true God has loved us so as to suffer death, and even the death of the cross, for our
salvation. Does not such love put our hearts as it were under a press, to force from them love
by a violence which is stronger in proportion as it is more amiable?”
7. So great was the love which inflamed the enamoured heart of Jesus, that he not only
wished to die for our redemption, but during his whole life he sighed ardently for the day on
which he should suffer death for the love of us. Hence, during his life, Jesus used to say: ”I
have a baptism wherewith I am to be baptized; and how am I straitened until it be accomplished.” (Luke xii. 50.)
In my passion I am to be baptized with the baptism of my own
blood, to wash away the sins of men. ”And how am I straitened!” How, says St. Ambrose,
explaining this passage, am I straitened by the desire of the speedy arrival of the day of my
death? Hence, on the night before his passion he said: ”With desire I have desired to eat this
pasch with you before I suffer.” (Luke xxii. 15.)
8. ”We have,” says St. Lawrence Justinian, ”seen wisdom become foolish through an excess of
love.” We have, he says, seen the Son of God become as it were a fool, through, the excessive
love which he bore to men. Such, too, was the language of the Gentiles when they heard the
apostles preaching that Jesus Christ suffered death for the love of men. ”But we,” says St.
Paul, ”preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews indeed a stumbling block, unto the Gentiles
foolishness.” (1 Cor. i. 23.) Who, they exclaimed, can believe that a God, most happy in
himself, and who stands in need of no one, should take human flesh and die for the love of
men, who are his creatures? This would be to believe that a God became foolish for the love
of men. “It appears folly,” says St. Gregory, ”that the author of Life should die for men.”
(Hom vi.) But, whatever infidels may say or think, it is of faith that the Son of God has shed
all his blood for the love of us, to wash away the sins of our souls. ”Who hath loved us, and
washed us from our sins in his own blood.” (Apoc. i. 5.) Hence, the saints were struck dumb
with astonishment at the consideration of the love of Jesus Christ. At the sight of the crucifix,
St. Francis of Paul could do nothing but exclaim, love! love! love!
9. ”Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them unto the end. ” (John xiii. 1.)
This loving Lord was not content with showing us his love by dying on the cross for our
salvation; but, at the end of his life, he wished to leave us his own very flesh for the food of
our souls, that thus he might unite himself entirely to us. ”Take ye and eat, this is my body.”
(Matt. xxvi. 26.) But of this gift and this excess of love we shall speak at another time, in
treating of the most holy sacrament of the altar. Let us pass to the second point.
Second Point. On the greatness of our obligations to love Jesus Christ.
10. He who loves wishes to be loved. “When,” says St. Bernard, ”God loves, he desires
nothing else than to be loved.” (Ser. Ixxxiii., in Cant.) The Redeemer said: ”I am come to cast
fire upon the Earth, and what will I but that it is kindled”(Luke xii. 49.) I, says Jesus Christ,
came on earth to light up the fire of divine love in the hearts of men and what will I but that
it be kindled ?” God wishes nothing else from us than to be loved. Hence the holy Church
prays in the following words: ”We beseech thee, Lord, that thy Spirit may inflame us with
that fire which Jesus Christ cast upon the Earth, and which he vehemently wished to be
kindled. ”Ah! what have not the saints, inflamed with this fire, accomplished! They have
abandoned all things delights, honours, the purple and the sceptre that they might burn with
this holy fire. But you will ask what are you to do, that you too may be inflamed with the
love of Jesus Christ. Imitate David: ”In my meditation a fire shall flame out. ” (Ps. xxxviii).
Meditation is the blessed furnace in which the holy fire of divine love is kindled. Make
mental prayer every day, meditate on the passion of Jesus Christ, and doubt not but you too
shall burn with this blessed flame.
11. St. Paul says, that Jesus Christ died for us to make himself the master of the hearts of all.
“To this end Christ died and rose again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.” (Rom. xiv. 9.)
single exception, that not even one should live any longer to himself, but that all might live
only to that God who condescended to die for them. “And Christ died for all, that they also
who live may not now live to themselves, but unto him who died for them.” (2 Cor. v. 15.)
12. Ah! to correspond to the love of this God, it would be necessary that another God should
die for him, as Jesus Christ died for us. ingratitude of men! A God has condescended to give
his life for their salvation, and they will not even think on what he has even done for them!
Ah! if each of you thought frequently on the sufferings of the Redeemer., and on the love
which he has shown to us in his passion, how could you but love him with your whole
hearts? To him who sees with a lively faith the Son of God suspended by three nails on an
infamous gibbet, every wound of Jesus speaks and says: ”Thou shalt love the Lord thy God.”
Love, man, thy Lord and thy God, who has loved thee so intensely. “Who can resist such
tender expressions?”The wounds of Jesus Christ,” says St. Bonaventure, ”wound the hardest
hearts, and inflame frozen souls.”
13. ”Oh! if you knew the mystery of the cross! said St. Andrew the Apostle to the tyrant by
whom he was tempted to deny Jesus Christ. tyrant, if you knew the love which your Saviour
has shown you by dying on the cross for your salvation, instead of tempting me, you would
abandon all the goods of this Earth to give yourself to the love of Jesus Christ.
14. I conclude, my most beloved brethren, by recommending you henceforth to meditate
every day on the passion of Jesus Christ. I shall be content, if you daily devote to this
meditation a quarter of an hour. Let each at least procure a crucifix, let him keep it in his
room, and from time to time give a glance at it, saying: “Ah! my Jesus, thou hast died for me,
and I do not love thee. ” Had a person suffered for a friend injuries, buffets, and prisons, he
would be greatly pleased to find that they were remembered and spoken of with gratitude.
But he should be greatly displeased if the friend for whom they had been borne, were
unwilling to think or hear of his sufferings. Thus frequent meditation on his passion is very
pleasing to our Redeemer; but the neglect of it greatly provokes his displeasure. Oh! how
great will be the consolation which we shall receive in our last moments from the sorrows
and death of Jesus Christ, if, during life, we shall have frequently meditated on them with
love! Let us not wait till others, at the hour of death, place in our hands the crucifix; let us not
wait till they remind us of all that Jesus Christ suffered for us.
that we may live and die with him.
He who practises devotion to the passion of our Lord, cannot but be devoted to the
dolour’s of Mary, the remembrance of which will be to us a source of great consolation at the
hour of death, how profitable and sweet the meditation of Jesus on the cross! Oh! how happy
the death of him who dies in the embraces of Jesus crucified, accepting death with
cheerfulness for the love of that God who has died for the love of us!
Views: 29
Third Sunday Of Advent: ON THE MEANS NECESSARY FOR SALVATION
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SERMON III. THIRD SUNDAY OP ADVENT. – ON THE MEANS NECESSARY FOR SALVATION By Saint Alphonsus Ligouri
“I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness: Make straight the way of the Lord.” John i. 23. ALL would wish to be saved and to enjoy the glory of Paradise; but to gain Heaven, it is necessary to walk in the straight road that leads to eternal bliss. This road is the observance of the divine commands. Hence, in his preaching, the Baptist exclaimed: “Make straight the way of the Lord.” In order to be able to walk always in the way of the Lord, without turning to the right or to the left, it is necessary to adopt the proper means. These means are, first, diffidence in ourselves; secondly, confidence in God; thirdly, resistance to temptations. First Means. Diffidence in ourselves. 1. ”With fear and trembling,” says the Apostle, ”work out your salvation.” (Phil. ii. 12.) To secure eternal life, we must be always penetrated with fear, we must be always afraid of ourselves (with fear and trembling), and distrust altogether our own strength; for, without the divine grace we can do nothing. ”Without me,” says Jesus Christ, ”you can do nothing.” We can do nothing for the salvation of our own souls. St. Paul tells us, that of ourselves we are not capable of even a good thought. ”Not that we are sufficient to think anything of ourselves, as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God.” (2 Cor. iii. 5.) Without the aid of the Holy Ghost, we cannot even pronounce the name of Jesus so as to deserve a reward. ”And no one can say the Lord Jesus, but by the Holy Ghost” (1 Cor. xii. 8.)
- Miserable the man who trusts to himself in the way of God. St. Peter experienced the sad effects of self-confidence. Jesus Christ said to him: ”In this night, before cock-crow, thou wilt deny me thrice.” (Matt. xxvi. 31.) Trusting in his own strength and his goodwill, the Apostle replied: ”Yea, though I should die with thee, I will not deny thee.” (v. 35.) What was the result? On the night on which Jesus Christ had been taken, Peter was reproached in the court of Caiphas with being one of the disciples of the Saviour. The reproach filled him with fear: he thrice denied his Master, and swore that he had never known him. Humility and diffidence in ourselves are so necessary for us, that God permits us sometimes to fall into sin, that, by our fall, we may acquire humility arid a knowledge of our own weakness. Through want of humility David also fell: hence, after his sin, he said: ”Before I was humbled, I offended.” (Ps. cxviii. 67.) 3. Hence the Holy Ghost pronounces blessed the man who is always in fear: ”Blessed is the man who is always fearful.” (Prov. xxviii. 14.) He who is afraid of falling distrusts his own strength, avoids as much as possible all dangerous occasions, and recommends himself often to God, and thus preserves his soul from sin. But the man who is not fearful, but full of selfconfidence, easily exposes himself to the danger of sin: he seldom recommends himself to God, and thus he falls. Let us imagine a person suspended over a great precipice by a cord held by another. Surely he would constantly cry out to the person who supports him: Hold fast, hold fast; for Gods sake, do not let go. We are all in danger of falling into the abyss of all crime, if God does not support us. Hence we should constantly beseech him to keep his hands over us, and to succour us in all dangers. 4. In rising from bed, St. Philip Neri used to say every morning: Lord, keep thy hand this day over Philip; if thou do not, Philip will betray thee. And one day, as he walked through the city, reflecting on his own misery, he frequently said, I despair, I despair. A Certain religious who heard him, believing that the saint was really tempted to despair, corrected him, and encouraged him to hope in the divine mercy. But the saint replied: “I despair of myself, but I trust in God.” Hence, during this life, in which we are exposed to so many dangers of losing God, it is necessary for us to live always in great diffidence of ourselves, and full of confidence in God. Second Means. Confidence in God. 5. St. Francis de Sales says, that the mere attention to self- diffidence on account of our own weakness, would only render us pusillanimous, and expose us to great danger of abandoning ourselves to a tepid life, or even to despair. The more we distrust our own strength, the more we should confide in the divine mercy. This is a balance, says the same saint, in which the more the scale of confidence in God is raised, the more the scale of diffidence in ourselves descends. 6. Listen to me, O sinners who have had the misfortune of having hitherto offended God, and of being condemned to hell: if the Devil tells you that but little hope remains of your eternal salvation, answer him in the words of the Scripture: ”No one hath hoped in the Lord, and hath been confounded. ” (Eccl. ii. 11.) No sinner has ever trusted in God, and has been lost. Make, then, a firm purpose to sin no more; abandon yourselves into the arms of the divine goodness; and rest assured that God will have mercy on you, and save you from Hell. ”Cast thy care upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee.” (Ps. liv. 23.) The Lord, as we read in Blosius, one day said to St. Gertrude: ”He who confides in me, does me such violence that I cannot but hear all his petitions” 7. ”But,” says the Prophet Isaias, ”they that hope in the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall take wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint.” (xl. 31.) They who place their confidence in God shall renew their strength; they shall lay aside their own weakness, and shall acquire the strength of God; they shall fly like eagles in the way of the Lord, without fatigue and without ever failing. David says, that”mercy shall encompass him that hopeth in the Lord.” (Ps. xxxi. 10.) He that hopes in the Lord shall be encompassed by his mercy, so that he shall never be abandoned by it. 8. St. Cyprian says, that the divine mercy is an inexhaustible fountain. They who bring vessels of the greatest .confidence, draw from it the greatest graces Hence the Royal Prophet has said: “Let thy mercy Lord be upon us, as we have hoped in thee.” (Ps. xxxii. 22.) Whenever the Devil terrifies us by placing before our eyes the great difficulty of persevering in the grace of God in spite of all the dangers and sinful occasions of this life, let us, without answering him, raise our eyes to God, and hope that in his goodness he will certainly send us help to resist every attack. “I have lifted up my eyes to the mountains, from whence help shall come to me.” (Ps. cxx. 1.) And when the enemy represents to us our weakness, let us say with the Apostle “I can do all in him who strengtheneth me. ” (Phil. iv. 13 ) Of myself I can do nothing; but I trust in God, that by his grace I shall be able to do all things. 9. Hence, in the midst of the greatest dangers of perdition to which we are exposed, we should continually turn to Jesus Christ, and. throwing ourselves into the hands of him who redeemed us by his death, should say: Into thy hands I commend my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O Lord, the God of truth.” (Ps. xxx. 6.) This prayer should be said with great confidence of obtaining eternal life, and to it we should add: “In thee, O Lord, I have hoped; let me not be confounded forever” (Ps. xxx. 1.) Third Means. Resistance to temptations. 10. It is true that when we have recourse to God with confidence in dangerous temptations, he assists us; but, in certain very urgent occasions, the Lord sometimes wishes that we cooperate, and do violence to ourselves, to resist temptations. On such occasions, it will not be enough to have recourse to God once or twice; it will be necessary to multiply prayers, and frequently to prostrate ourselves and send up our sighs before the image of the Blessed Virgin and the crucifix, crying out with tears: Mary, my mother, assist me; Jesus, my Saviour, save me, for thy mercy‟s sake do not abandon me, do not permit me to lose thee. 11. Let us keep in mind the words of the Gospel: “How narrow is the gate and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it.” (Matt. vii. 14.) The way to Heaven is strait and narrow: they who wish to arrive at that place of bliss by walking in the paths of pleasure shall be disappointed: and therefore few reach it, because few are willing to use violence to themselves in resisting temptations.: “The kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away.” (Matt. xi. 12.) In explaining this passage, a certain writer says: ”Vi queritur, invaditur, occupatur.” It must be sought and obtained by violence: he who wishes to obtain it without inconvenience, or by leading a soft and irregular life, shall not acquire it he shall be excluded from it. 12. To save their souls, some of the saints have retired into the cloister; some have confined themselves in a cave; others have embraced torments and death. ”The violent bear it away”Some complain of their want of confidence in God; but they do not perceive that their diffidence arises from the weakness of their resolution to serve God. St. Teresa used to say: “Of irresolute souls the Devil has no fear” And the Wise Man has declared, that “desires kill the slothful. ” (Prov. xxi. 25.) Some would wish to be saved and to become saints, but never resolve to adopt the means of salvation, such as meditation, the frequentation of the sacraments, detachment from creatures; or, if they adopt these means, they soon give them up. In a word, they are satisfied with fruitless desires, and thus continue to live in enmity with God, or at least in tepidity, which in the end leads them to the loss of God. Thus in them are verified the words of the Holy Ghost, “desires kill the slothful.” 13. If, then, we wish to save our souls, and to become saints, we must make a strong resolution not only in general to give ourselves to God, but also in particular to adopt the proper means, and never to abandon them after having once taken them up. Hence we must never cease to pray to Jesus Christ, and to His holy Mother for holy perseverance.
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The Second Sunday Of Advent: Sermon By Saint Alphonsus Liguori
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In tribulations God enriches his beloved souls with the greatest graces. Behold, St. John in his chains comes to the knowledge of the works of Jesus Christ: ” When John had heard in prison the works of Christ.” Great indeed are the advantages of tribulations. The Lord sends them to us, not because he wishes our misfortune, but because he desires our welfare.
Hence, when they come upon us we must embrace them with thanksgiving, and must not only resign ourselves to the divine will, but must also rejoice that God treats us as he treated his Son Jesus Christ, whose life, upon this earth was always full of tribulation. I shall now show, in the first point, the advantages we derive from tribulations; and in the second, I shall point out the manner in which we ought to bear them.
1. “What doth he know that had not been tried? A man that hath much experience shall think of many things, and he that hath learned many things shall show forth understanding.” (Eccl. xxxiv. 9.) They who live in prosperity, and have no experience of adversity, know nothing of the state of their souls. In the first place, tribulation opens the eyes which prosperity had kept shut. St. Paul remained blind after Jesus Christ appeared to him, and, during his blindness, he perceived the errors in which he lived. During his imprisonment in Babylon, King Manasses had recourse to God, was convinced of the malice of his sins, and did penance for them. “And after that he was in distress he prayed to the Lord his God, and did penance exceedingly before the God of his fathers.” (2 Paral. xxxiii. 12.) The prodigal, when he found himself under the necessity of feeding swine, and afflicted with hunger, exclaimed: ”I will arise and go to my father.” (Luke xv. 18.)
2. Secondly, tribulation takes from our hearts all affections to earthly things. When a mother wishes to wean her infant she puts gall on the paps, to excite his disgust, and induce him to take better food. God treats us in a similar manner: to detach us from temporal goods, he mingles them with gall, that by tasting its bitterness, we may conceive a dislike for them, and place our affections on the things of Heaven. ”God,” says St. Augustine, ”mingles bitterness with earthly pleasures, that we may seek another felicity, whose sweetness does not deceive.” (Ser. xxix., de Verb. Dom.)
3. Thirdly, they who live in prosperity are molested by many temptations of pride, of vainglory; of desires of acquiring greater wealth, great honours, and greater pleasures. Tribulations free us from these temptations, and make us humble and content in the state in which the Lord has placed us. Hence the Apostle says: ”We are chastised by the Lord that we may not be condemned with this world.” (1 Cor. xi. 32.)
4. Fourthly, by tribulation we atone for the sins we have committed much better than by voluntary works of penance. “Be assured,” says St. Augustine, “that God is a physician, and that tribulation is a salutary medicine.” Oh! how great is the efficacy of tribulation in healing the wounds caused by our sins! Hence, the same saint rebukes the sinner who complains of God for sending him tribulations. ”Why,” he says, ”do you complain? What you suffer is a remedy, not a punishment.” (In Ps. lv.) Job called those happy men whom God corrects by tribulation; because he heals them with the very hands with which he strikes and wounds them. “Blessed is the man whom God correcteth. . . . For he woundeth and cureth. He striketh, and his hand shall heal.” (Job v. 17, 18.) Hence, St. Paul gloried in his tribulations: ”Gloriamur in tribulationibus.” (Rom. v. 3.)
5. Fifthly, by convincing us that God alone is able and willing to relieve us in our miseries, tribulations remind us of him, and compel us to have recourse to his mercy. ”In their affliction they will rise early to me.” (Osee vi. 1.) Hence, addressing the afflicted, the Lord said: ”Come to me, all you that labour and are burdened, and I will refresh you.” (Matt. xi. 28.) Hence he is called”a helper in troubles.” (Ps. xlv. 1 .) “When,” says David,” he slew them, then they sought him, and they returned.” (Ps. lxxvii. 34.) When the Jews were afflicted, and were slain by their enemies, they remembered the Lord, and returned to him.
6. Sixthly, tribulations enable us to acquire great merits before God, by giving us opportunities of exercising the virtues of humility, of patience, and of resignation to the divine will. The venerable John d’Avila used to say, that a single blessed be God: in adversity, is worth more than a thousand acts in prosperity. ”Take away,” says St. Ambrose, ”the contests of the martyrs, and you have taken away their crowns.” (In Luc., c. iv.) Oh! what a treasure of merit is acquired by patiently bearing insults, poverty, and sickness! Insults from men were the great objects of the desires of the saints, who sought to be despised for the love of Jesus Christ, and thus to be made like unto him.
7. How great is the merit gained by bearing with the inconvenience of poverty. ”My God and my all,” says St. Francis of Assisium: in expressing this sentiment, he enjoyed more of true riches than all the princes of the Earth. How truly has St. Teresa said, that”the less we have here, the more we shall enjoy hereafter.” Oh! how happy is the man who can say from his heart: My Jesus, thou alone art sufficient for me! If, says St. Chrysostom, you esteem yourself unhappy because you are poor, you are indeed miserable and deserving of tears; not because you are poor, but because, being poor, you do not embrace your poverty, and esteem yourself happy.”“Sane dignus es lachrymis ob hoc, quod miserum te extimas, non ideo quod pauper es.” (Serm, ii., Epis. ad Phil.)
8. By bearing patiently with the pains of sickness, a great, and perhaps the greater, part of the crown which is prepared for us in Heaven is completed. The sick sometimes complain that in sickness they can do nothing; but they err; for, in their infirmities they can do all things, by accepting their sufferings with peace and resignation. ”The Cross of Christ,” says St. Chrysostom, ”is the key of Paradise.” (Com. in Luc. de vir.)
9. St. Francis de Sales used to say . ”To suffer constantly for Jesus is the science of the saints; we shall thus soon become saints.” It is by sufferings that God proves his servants, and finds them worthy of himself. ”Deus tentavit es, et invenit eos dignos se.” (Wis. iii. 5) “Whom,” says St. Paul, “the Lord loveth, he chastiseth; and he scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.” (Heb. xii. 6.)
Hence, Jesus Christ once said to St. Teresa: ”Be assured that the souls dearest to my Father are those who suffer the greatest afflictions.” Hence Job said: ”If we have received good things at the hand of God, why should we not receive evil ?” (Job. ii. 10.) If we have gladly received from God the goods of this Earth, why should we not receive more cheerfully tribulations, which are far more useful to us than worldly prosperity? St. Gregory informs us that, as flame fanned by the wind increases, so the soul is made perfect when she is oppressed by tribulations. ”Ignis flatu premitur, ut crescat.” (Ep. xxv.)
10. To holy souls the most severe afflictions are the temptations by which the Devil impels them to offend God: but they who bear these temptations with patience, and banish them by turning to God for help, shall acquire great merit. ”And,” says St. Paul, ”God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able, but will also make issue with the temptation that you may be able to bear it.” (1 Cor. x. 13.)
God permits us to be molested by temptations, that, by banishing them, we may gain greater merit. ”Blessed,” says the Lord, ”are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. ”(Matt. v. 5.) They are blessed, because, according to the Apostle, our tribulations are momentary and very light, compared with the greatness of the glory which they shall obtain for us for eternity in Heaven. ”For that which is at present momentary and light of our tribulation, worketh for us above measure exceedingly an eternal weight of glory” (1 Cor. iv. 17.)
11. It is necessary, then, says St. Chrysostom, to bear tribulations in peace; for, if you accept them with resignation, you shall gain great merit; but if you submit to them with reluctance, you shall increase, instead of diminishing, your misery”Si vero ægre feras, neque calamitatum minorem facies, et majorem reddes procellam” (Hom. Ixiv., ad Pop.) If we wish to be saved, we must submit to trials. ”Through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God.” (Acts xiv. 21.)
A great servant of God used to say, that Paradise is the place of the poor, of the persecuted, of the humble and afflicted. Hence St. Paul says: “Patience is necessary for you, that, doing the will of God, you may receive the promise.” (Heb. x. 36.) Speaking of the tribulations of the saints, St. Cyprian asks”What are they to the servants of God, whom Paradise invites ?” (Ep, ad Demetr.) Is it much for those to whom the eternal goods of Heaven are promised, to embrace the short afflictions of this life?
12. In fine, the scourges of Heaven are sent not for our injury, but for our good. ”Let us believe that these scourges of the Lord, with which, like servants, we are chastised, have happened for our amendment, and not for our destruction.” (Judith viii. 27.)”God,” says St. Augustine, ”is angry when he does not scourge the sinner.” (In Ps. Ixxxix.)
When we see a sinner in tribulation in this life, we may infer that God wishes to have mercy on him in the next, and that he exchanges eternal for temporal chastisement. But miserable the sinner whom the Lord does not punish in this life! For those whom he does not chastise here, he treasures up his wrath, and for them he reserves eternal chastisement.
13. ”Why,” asks the Prophet Jeremiah, ”doth the way of the wicked prosper?” (xii. 1.) Why, Lord, do sinners prosper? To this the same prophet answers: ”Gather them together as sheep for a sacrifice, and prepare them for the day of slaughter.” (Tb. v. 3.) As on the day of sacrifice the sheep intended for slaughter are gathered together, so the impious, as victims of divine wrath, are destined to eternal death. “Destine them,” says Du Hamel, in his commentary on this passage, “as victims of thy anger on the day of sacrifice.”
14. When, then, God sends us tribulations, let us say with Job: “I have sinned, and indeed I have offended, and I have not received what I have deserved.” (Job xxxiii. 27.) O Lord, my sins merit far greater chastisement than that which thou hast inflicted on me. We should even pray with St. Augustine, ”Burn cut spare not in this life, that thou mayest spare for eternity.”
How frightful is the chastisement of the sinner of whom the Lord says: “Let us have pity on the wicked, but he will not learn justice.” (Is. xxvi. 10.) Let us abstain from chastising the impious: as long as they remain in this life they will continue to live in sin, and shall thus be punished with eternal torments. On this passage St. Bernard says: “Misericordiam hanc nolo, super omnem iram miseratio ista.” (Serin, xlii., in Cant.) Lord, I do not wish for such mercy, which is a chastisement that surpasses all chastisements.
15. The man whom the Lord afflicts in this life has a certain proof that he is dear to God. ”And,” said the angel to Tobias, ”because thou wast acceptable to God, it was necessary that temptations should prove thee.” (Tob. xii. 13.) Hence, St. James pronounces blessed the man who is afflicted: because after he shall have been proved by tribulation, he will receive the crown of life.” (Jam. i. 12.)
16. He who wishes to share in the glory of the saints, must suffer in this life as the saints have suffered. None of the saints has been esteemed or treated well by the world all of them have been despised and persecuted. In them have been verified the words of the Apostle: “All that will live godly in Christ Jesus, shall suffer persecution.” (2 Tim. iii. 12.) Hence St. Augustine said, that they who are unwilling to suffer persecutions, have not as yet begun to be Christians. “Si putas non habere persecutiones, nondum cæpisti esse Christianus.” (In Ps. Iv.) “When we are in tribulation, let us be satisfied with the consolation of knowing that the Lord is then near us and in our company. ”The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a contrite heart.” (Ps. xxxiii. 19.)”I am with him in tribulation.” (Ps. xc. 15.)
17. He who suffers tribulations in this world should, in the first place, abandon sin, and endeavour to recover the grace of God; for as long as he remains in sin, the merit of all his sufferings is lost. ”If,” says St. Paul, ”I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.” (1 Cor. xiii. 3.) If you suffered all the torments of the martyrs; or bore to be burned alive, and were not in the state of grace, it would profit you nothing.
18. But, to those who can suffer with God, and with resignation for God’s sake, all the tribulations shall be a source of comfort and gladness. ”Your sorrow shall be turned into joy.” (John xvi. 20.) Hence, after having been insulted and beaten by the Jews, the apostles departed from the council full of joy, because they had been maltreated for the love of Jesus Christ. ”And they indeed went from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were accounted worthy to suffer reproach for the name of Jesus.” (Acts v. 41.)
Hence, when God visits us with any tribulations, we must say with Jesus Christ: ”The chalice which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it ?” (John xviii. 11.) It is necessary to know that every tribulation, though it may come from men, is sent to us by God.
19. When we are surrounded on all sides with tribulations, and know not what to do, we must turn to God, who alone can console us. Thus King Josaphat, in his distress, said to the Lord: “As we know not what to do, we can only turn our eyes to thee.” (2 Par. xx. 12.) Thus David also in his tribulation had recourse to God, and God consoled him: “In my trouble I cried to the Lord, and he heard me.” (Ps. cxix. 1.) We should turn to God, and pray to him, and never cease to pray till he hears us.
”As the eyes of the handmaid are on the hands of her mistress, so are our eyes unto the Lord our God, until he have mercy on us.” (Ps. cxxii. 2.) We must keep our eyes continually raised to God, and must continue to implore his aid, until he is moved to compassion for our miseries. We must have great confidence in the heart of Jesus Christ, and ought not to imitate certain persons, who instantly lose courage because they do not feel that they are heard as soon as they begin to pray. To them may be applied the words of the Saviour to St. Peter: “0 thou of little faith! why didst thou doubt?” (Matt. xiv. 31.) When the favours which we ask are spiritual, or can be profitable to our souls, we should be certain of being heard, provided we persevere in prayer, and do not lose confidence. ”
All things whatsoever you ask when ye pray, believe that you shall receive, and they shall come unto you.” (Mark xi. 24.) In tribulations, then, we should never cease to hope with confidence that the divine mercy will console us; and if our afflictions continue, we must say with Job: ”Although he should kill me, I will trust in him.” (xiii. 15.)
18. Souls of little faith, instead of turning to God in their tribulations, have recourse to human means, and thus provoke God’s anger, and remain in their miseries. “Unless the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it. Unless the Lord keep the city, he watcheth in vain that keepeth it.” (Ps. cxxvi. 1.) On this passage St. Augustine writes: “Ipse ædificat, ipse intellectum aperit, ipse ad finem applicat sensum vestrum: et tamen laboramus et nos tanquam operarii, sed nisi Dominus custodierit civitatem,” etc. All good all help must come from the Lord. Without him creatures can give us no assistance.
19. Of this the Lord complains by the mouth of his prophet: ”Is not,” he says, ”the Lord in Sion? . . .Why then have they provoked me to wrath with their idols. . . Is there no balm in Galaad? or is there no physician there? Why then is not the wound of the daughter of my people closed?” (Jer. viii. 19, 22.) Am I not in Sion? Why then do men provoke me to anger by recurring to creatures, which they convert into idols by placing in them all their hopes? Do they seek a remedy for their miseries? Why do they not seek it in Galaad, a mountain full of balsamic ointments, which signify the divine mercy?
There they can find the physician and the remedy of all their evils. Why then, says the Lord, do your wounds remain open? Why are they not healed? It is because you have recourse not to me, but to creatures, and because you confide in them, and not in me.
20. In another place the Lord says: “Am I become a wilderness to Israel, or a late ward springing land? Why then have my people said: We are revolted; we will come to thee no more ?. .But my people have forgotten me days without number.” (Jer. ii. 31, 32.) God complains, and says: ”Why, my children, do you say that you will have recourse to me no more?
Am I become to you a barren land, which gives no fruit, or gives it too late? Is it for this reason that you have so long forgotten me? By these words he manifests to us his desire that we pray to him, in order that he may be able to give us his graces; and he also gives us to understand that when we pray to him, he is not slow, but instantly begins to assist us.
21. The Lord, says David, is not asleep when we turn to his goodness, and ask the graces which are profitable to our souls: he hears us immediately, because he is anxious for our welfare. “Behold, he shall neither slumber nor sleep that keepeth Israel.” (Ps. cxx. 4.) When we pray for temporal favours, St. Bernard says that God”will give what we ask, or something more useful.”
He will grant us the grace which we desire, whenever it is profitable to our souls; or he will give us a more useful grace, such as the grace to resign ourselves to the divine will, and to suffer with patience our tribulations, which shall merit a great increase of glory in Heaven. [Act of sorrow and amendment, prayer to Jesus and Mary.]
Please Join Me In Praying The Christmas Prayer To St. Andrew
Novena
Hail and blessed be the hour and moment in which the Son of God was born of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, in Bethlehem, in the piercing cold. In that hour vouchsafe, I beseech Thee, O my God, to hear my prayer and grant my desires, [here mention your request] through the merits of Our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of His blessed Mother. Amen.
First Sunday Of Advent: Sermon Of Pope St. Gregory The Great
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First Sunday Of Advent: Sermon By Pope St. Gregory The Great
Blessed Feast Of The First Called Andrew The Apostle and First Sunday Of Advent.
Let us hear from a real Pope on this Sunday and First Sunday Of Advent
HOMILY BY POPE ST. GREGORY,
PREACHED IN THE CHURCH OF ST. PETER.
FIRST HOMILY ON THE GOSPELS.
I. As our adorable Saviour will expect at His coming to find us ready, He warns us of the terrors that will accompany the latter days in order to wean us from the love of this world; and He foretells the misery which will be the prelude to this inevitable time, so that, if we neglect in the quietness of this life to fear a God of compassion, the fearful spectacle of the approaching last judgment may impress us with a wholesome dread. A short time before He had said: Nation shall vise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there shall be great earth quakes in divers places, and pestilences and famines (Luke 21:10, 11). Now He added: And there shall be signs in the sun and in the moon and in the stars, and upon the earth distress of nations. Of all these events we have seen many already fulfilled, and with fear and trembling we look for the near fulfillment of the rest. As for the nations which are to rise up one against the other, and the persecutions which are to be endured on earth, what we learn from the history of our own times, and what we have seen with our own eyes, makes a far deeper impression than what we read even in Holy Scripture. With regard to the earthquakes converting numberless cities into lamentable heaps of ruins, the accounts of them are not unknown to you, and reports of the like events reach us still from various parts of the world. Epidemics also continue to cause us the greatest sorrow and anxiety; and though we have not seen the signs in the sun and in the moon and in the stars, mentioned in Holy Scripture, we know, at least, that fiery weapons have appeared shining in the sky, and even blood, the foreboding of that blood which was to be shed in Italy by the invading barbarian hordes. As to the terrible roaring of the sea and of the waves, we have not yet heard it. However, we do not doubt that this also will happen; for, the greater part of the prophecies of our Lord being fulfilled, this one will also see its fulfillment, the past being a guarantee for the future.
II. Moreover, we say this, beloved brethren, to encourage you to unceasing watchfulness over yourselves, so that no false confidence may take possession of your souls, leaving you to languish in ignorance; but that, on the contrary, a true and wholesome fear may drive you on to do good, and strengthen you in the carrying out of good works. Take special notice of the following, added by our Saviour: Men shall wither away for fear and expectation of what shall come upon the whole world. For the powers of heaven shall be moved. What is meant by our heavenly Teacher when speaking of the powers of heaven, but the angels and archangels, the thrones, principalities and powers, that will appear on the day of vengeance of that severe Judge, Who will then demand from us with severity the homage and submission, which He now, as our Creator, although unseen, asks for in love as His due. Then they shall see the Son of Man coming in a cloud, with great power and majesty. Which means that the people will then see Him, whom in His meekness and humiliations they would neither listen to nor recognize, coming in power and majesty. In that day they will feel the more compelled to acknowledge His power, since in the present time they deny Him, and refuse to submit themselves to His yoke, to which He so patiently invites them.
III. As, however, these words of our Saviour are spoken to the lost, so are the following uttered for the comfort of the elect: When these things begin to come to pass, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is at hand. Truth Itself teaches the chosen ones in these words, and seems to say to them: When you see the calamities which portend the end of the world increasing; when fear of that awful judgment-day takes possession of even the bravest hearts at the sight of the shaken powers of heaven, then lift up your heads, that is, rejoice with your whole heart, because the end of this world, so little loved by you, announces to you the wished-for freedom to be enjoyed by you hereafter. The head is often used in Holy Scripture for the soul, and in this way, by warning us to lift up our heads, it reminds us to rouse up our souls to the thought of the heavenly home which is awaiting us. Those, therefore, who love God, are commanded to rejoice when they see the end of the world approaching, because, when this world, which they have not loved, is destroyed, they will find themselves in possession of Him, Who is the one true object of their love. We are assured that among these true believers, who have a real longing to see God, there is not one who will not be deeply moved by the fearful events accompanying the end of the world. For we know from Holy Scripture that Whosoever will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God. (James iv. 4.) Therefore, to show no pleasure at the approach of the end of the world is as much as to declare that we love this world, and that we are the enemies of God. This wicked clinging to the world must be far removed from the hearts of good Christians, and of those who by faith are convinced that there is another life, and by their good works deserve that life. Let those weep over the destruction of the world, whose hearts are given to it, and whose hopes are fixed upon it, and who, far from seeking this new life, refuse to believe that there will be another life. As for us who believe in this heavenly home and in its eternal bliss prepared for us, let us hasten to reach them. We should wish to attain this home as soon as possible, and endeavor to find the shortest way thither. For, are we not surrounded in this world by a great many misfortunes? Do we not experience many troubles and calamities? What, indeed, is this mortal life but a painful way? Consider, beloved brethren, what folly it would be in a man walking along a toilsome and difficult road until overcome with fatigue, and yet not wishing to see the end of it! Moreover, our Saviour teaches us by His wise similitude that this world does not deserve our affection, but that, on the contrary, we should despise it. He says: See the fig-tree and all the trees. When they now shoot forth their fruit, yon know that summer is nigh. So yon also, when you shall see these things come to pass, know that the kingdom of God is at hand. Is it not as though He said: In the same way that you conclude by the trees bearing fruit that summer is near, so by the downfall of the world you will know that the kingdom of God is not far off? These words show us plainly enough that the fall and destruction of this world are its real fruits, since its rise and increase are closely connected with its fall, and since it brings forth those things only which are destined to perish. If, on the contrary, we consider the kingdom of God, we are aware that we may in all truth compare it with the summer, when all the clouds of our afflictions will be dispersed and be followed by happy days, lighted up by a never disappearing sun of bliss.
IV. And that we should never doubt these truths, our Lord confirms them with an oath, saying: Amen, I say to you, this generation shall not pass away, till all things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away. Among all corporeal things and beings nothing is more durable than heaven and earth; in the same way nothing disappears more quickly than the word. Before the word is expressed it exists, and hardly is it said than it has disappeared; for the word cannot attain its perfection without at the same instant losing its existence. Now heaven and earth shall pass away, says the oracle of eternal truth, Int My words shall not pass away. It is as if our Saviour said: Learn ye, that everything among you, that seems to be durable, has not been made to last for ever or to continue without any change; whereas what seems to pass away quickly, is firmly and for ever established. For even the words I speak, and which fly away, contain in themselves irrevocable utterances.
V. Now, beloved brethren, to return to what you have heard about this world being filled with continual daily increasing evils, consider what remains of the immense nation that has sustained the calamities of which I am speaking. Meanwhile, the troubles have not yet left us; we are still oppressed by lamentable and unforeseen calamities, and we are grieved and afflicted by new losses. Strip, therefore, your hearts from the love of this world which you enjoy so little ; and for this purpose take to heart the precept of the Apostle: Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him (1 John 2:15). What we have experienced these last three days is not unknown to you; how suddenly raging storms have rooted out the largest and strongest trees, have pulled down houses and destroyed churches! Many of the inhabitants, who at the end of the day quietly and in good health projected new plans for the morrow, were taken away by a sudden death during the night, and buried under the ruins of their dwellings.
VI. I beseech you, beloved brethren, be careful! If the invisible Judge is letting loose the stormy winds in order to produce these terrible effects; if He only needs to move the clouds of heaven and thus to shake the whole earth, and to overthrow and ruin the strongest buildings; what can we expect from this Judge when in His wrath He comes to take revenge and to punish sinners? If a mere cloud raised by Him against us is sufficient to strike us down, how shall we be able to resist His almighty power? St. Paul, thinking of the infinite power of the Judge appearing on this awful day, exclaims: It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Heb 10:31). The Royal Prophet expresses himself with the same force, when in his psalm he says: The God of gods, the Lord hath spoken; and He hath called the earth. From the rising of the sun, to the going down thereof, God shall come manifestly: our God shall come, and shall not keep silence. A fire shall burn before Him; and a mighty tempest shall be round about Him. He shall call heaven from above, and the earth, to judge His people. Gather ye together His saints to Him; and the heavens shall declare His justice, for God is Judge. Hear, O My people, and I will speak; O Israel, and I will testify to thee; I am God thy God. Understand these things you that forget God; lest He snatch you away, and there be none to deliver you (Ps. xlix.). It is not without a special reason that this severe judgment will be accompanied by fire and storms; for it will weigh, as in scales, men who were devoured by the natural fire. Therefore, beloved brethren, keep this great day before your mind s eye, and whatever seems difficult and troublesome, will soon become light and easy, when you compare the one with the other. The prophet Sophonias says to us: The great day of the Lord is near, it is near and exceeding swift; the voice of the day of the Lord is bitter; the mighty man shall there meet with tribulation. That day is a day of wrath, a day of tribulation and distress, a day of calamity and misery, a day of darkness and obscurity, a day of clouds and whirlwinds; a day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high bulwarks (Soph 1:14-16). And the Lord God has spoken of this day through His prophet: Yet one little while, and I will move the heaven, and the earth, and the sea,and the dry land (Agg 2:7). But, as we have already remarked, if the earth could not resist the force of the wind set in motion, how will man be able to resist the motions of the heavens? For what are all these terrible events causing us so much uneasiness and fear, but heralds announcing to us the wrath of God following them? From all this we conclude that between the evils oppressing us now, and those which will come in the latter days, there is as great a difference as between the power of the highest Judge and the power announcing Him. Therefore, beloved brethren, think of the last day with renewed attention; amend your lives; steadfastly resist all temptations leading you to sin, and wipe out with your tears the sins you have committed. Then the more you have endeavored, through salutary fear, to anticipate the severity of His judgments, the greater will be the confidence with which you will witness the coming of this Immortal King.
Please Join Me In Praying The Christmas Prayer To St. Andrew
Novena
Hail and blessed be the hour and moment in which the Son of God was born of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, in Bethlehem, in the piercing cold. In that hour vouchsafe, I beseech Thee, O my God, to hear my prayer and grant my desires, [here mention your request] through the merits of Our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of His blessed Mother. Amen.
Recite the above prayer 15 times a day from November 30 to December 24
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I Welcome Those From The Blog From Rome To OMC Radio TV
My name is Aj Baalman; short for Andrew Jerome; I am the studio manager of OMC Radio TV and we mostly do video programs & with us now taking up the slack for From Rome, we will also do written posts so they may be translatable for you all to read.
I want to set things clear, My Sole Reason to support this new Pontiff whomever the People Of Rome has selected, is because the Conclave was not ran, managed as it is set down in Universi Dominici Gregis by His Holiness Pope John Paul II and that 133 Cardinal Electors were permitted into Conclave, breaking the law in paragraph 33 of Chapter 1, Part Two: The Election Of The Roman Pontiff: The Electors:
“33. The right to elect the Roman Pontiff belongs exclusively to the Cardinals of Holy Roman Church, with the exception of those who have reached their eightieth birthday before the day of the Roman Pontiff’s death or the day when the Apostolic See becomes vacant. The maximum number of Cardinal electors must not exceed one hundred and twenty. The right of active election by any other ecclesiastical dignitary or the intervention of any lay power of whatsoever grade or order is absolutely excluded.”
We have the detractors in both Trad Inc and Alternate Trad Inc who call us traitors to the Church for not going along with the illegal Conclave & they have no problem not reading Papal Law or quoting Papal Law to see they are in the wrong.
Here we will be doing articles more and videos on our one video a week schedule. Please Share Them, Please Support Us As You’ve Supported Br. Alexis, in either being a monthly subscriber or help fund to build our physical studio and keep the servers upgraded.
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Exposing The Fake Opposition Among Catholic Media
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Watch On Rumble
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The Information
The reason they have so many followers is not because they say the truth, but because they say what is popular, and that in truth they are salesmen and actors, not really reporters. Grifting here and there too.
They have big profit sharing agreements with the platforms they are on, so they are really NOT independent at all. And they agree to have their viewers data scrapped and sold and used to monitor them.
And if they invite anyone on, it’s always to boost their own viewership. Whether its for the truth or for justice is only a secondary term in the equation. Their views are definitely NOT organic. They are promoted freely by platforms who are making huge AD revenue off their viewers.
Candace got 130000 in September alone for live chat donations & 39000 of that went to YouTube.
She made $91,000.
Breaking News
Arbitrated Barnhardt discloses that “Chris Jackson” is a faker
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This Man Kidnapped A Girl From The Vatican, Do You Recognize Him?
This Man in the Sketch who Kidnapped Emauela Orlandi was 35 years old, Slim build and balding
The Man viewing the Sketch is Emanuela’s Brother, Peter.
It is From The Documentary: Kidnapped From The Vatican: The Emanuela Orlandi Story
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Alt Trad Inc, An Influence Operation By Mossad?
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Michael Hichborn: The Lepanto Institute: His surname before Hichborn was Dietz,
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St. John of Damascus’ The Heresy Of The Ishmaelites or Islam
There is also the superstition of the Ishmaelites which to this day prevails and keeps people in error, being a forerunner of the Antichrist. They are descended from Ishmael, [who] was born to Abraham of Agar, and for this reason they are called both Agarenes and Ishmaelites. They are also called Saracens, which is derived from Sarras kenoi, or destitute of Sara, because of what Agar said to the angel: ‘Sara hath sent me away destitute.’ [99] These used to be idolaters and worshiped the morning star and Aphrodite, whom in their own language they called Khabár, which means great. [100] And so down to the time of Heraclius they were very great idolaters. From that time to the present a false prophet named Mohammed has appeared in their midst. This man, after having chanced upon the Old and New Testaments and likewise, it seems, having conversed with an Arian monk, [101] devised his own heresy. Then, having insinuated himself into the good graces of the people by a show of seeming piety, he gave out that a certain book had been sent down to him from heaven. He had set down some ridiculous compositions in this book of his and he gave it to them as an object of veneration.
He says that there is one God, creator of all things, who has neither been begotten nor has begotten. [102] He says that the Christ is the Word of God and His Spirit, but a creature and a servant, and that He was begotten, without seed, of Mary the sister of Moses and Aaron. [103] For, he says, the Word and God and the Spirit entered into Mary and she brought forth Jesus, who was a prophet and servant of God. And he says that the Jews wanted to crucify Him in violation of the law, and that they seized His shadow and crucified this. But the Christ Himself was not crucified, he says, nor did He die, for God out of His love for Him took Him to Himself into heaven. [104] And he says this, that when the Christ had ascended into heaven God asked Him: ‘O Jesus, didst thou say: “I am the Son of God and God”?’ And Jesus, he says, answered: ‘Be merciful to me, Lord. Thou knowest that I did not say this and that I did not scorn to be thy servant. But sinful men have written that I made this statement, and they have lied about me and have fallen into error.’ And God answered and said to Him: ‘I know that thou didst not say this word.” [105] There are many other extraordinary and quite ridiculous things in this book which he boasts was sent down to him from God. But when we ask: ‘And who is there to testify that God gave him the book? And which of the prophets foretold that such a prophet would rise up?’—they are at a loss. And we remark that Moses received the Law on Mount Sinai, with God appearing in the sight of all the people in cloud, and fire, and darkness, and storm. And we say that all the Prophets from Moses on down foretold the coming of Christ and how Christ God (and incarnate Son of God) was to come and to be crucified and die and rise again, and how He was to be the judge of the living and dead. Then, when we say: ‘How is it that this prophet of yours did not come in the same way, with others bearing witness to him? And how is it that God did not in your presence present this man with the book to which you refer, even as He gave the Law to Moses, with the people looking on and the mountain smoking, so that you, too, might have certainty?’—they answer that God does as He pleases. ‘This,’ we say, ‘We know, but we are asking how the book came down to your prophet.’ Then they reply that the book came down to him while he was asleep. Then we jokingly say to them that, as long as he received the book in his sleep and did not actually sense the operation, then the popular adage applies to him (which runs: You’re spinning me dreams.) [106]
When we ask again: ‘How is it that when he enjoined us in this book of yours not to do anything or receive anything without witnesses, you did not ask him: “First do you show us by witnesses that you are a prophet and that you have come from God, and show us just what Scriptures there are that testify about you”’—they are ashamed and remain silent. [Then we continue:] ‘Although you may not marry a wife without witnesses, or buy, or acquire property; although you neither receive an ass nor possess a beast of burden unwitnessed; and although you do possess both wives and property and asses and so on through witnesses, yet it is only your faith and your scriptures that you hold unsubstantiated by witnesses. For he who handed this down to you has no warranty from any source, nor is there anyone known who testified about him before he came. On the contrary, he received it while he was asleep.’
Moreover, they call us Hetaeriasts, or Associators, because, they say, we introduce an associate with God by declaring Christ to the Son of God and God. We say to them in rejoinder: ‘The Prophets and the Scriptures have delivered this to us, and you, as you persistently maintain, accept the Prophets. So, if we wrongly declare Christ to be the Son of God, it is they who taught this and handed it on to us.’ But some of them say that it is by misinterpretation that we have represented the Prophets as saying such things, while others say that the Hebrews hated us and deceived us by writing in the name of the Prophets so that we might be lost. And again we say to them: ‘As long as you say that Christ is the Word of God and Spirit, why do you accuse us of being Hetaeriasts? For the word, and the spirit, is inseparable from that in which it naturally has existence. Therefore, if the Word of God is in God, then it is obvious that He is God. If, however, He is outside of God, then, according to you, God is without word and without spirit. Consequently, by avoiding the introduction of an associate with God you have mutilated Him. It would be far better for you to say that He has an associate than to mutilate Him, as if you were dealing with a stone or a piece of wood or some other inanimate object. Thus, you speak untruly when you call us Hetaeriasts; we retort by calling you Mutilators of God.’
They furthermore accuse us of being idolaters, because we venerate the cross, which they abominate. And we answer them: ‘How is it, then, that you rub yourselves against a stone in your Ka’ba [107] and kiss and embrace it?’ Then some of them say that Abraham had relations with Agar upon it, but others say that he tied the camel to it, when he was going to sacrifice Isaac. And we answer them: ‘Since Scripture says that the mountain was wooded and had trees from which Abraham cut wood for the holocaust and laid it upon Isaac, [108] and then he left the asses behind with the two young men, why talk nonsense? For in that place neither is it thick with trees nor is there passage for asses.’ And they are embarrassed, but they still assert that the stone is Abraham’s. Then we say: ‘Let it be Abraham’s, as you so foolishly say. Then, just because Abraham had relations with a woman on it or tied a camel to it, you are not ashamed to kiss it, yet you blame us for venerating the cross of Christ by which the power of the demons and the deceit of the Devil was destroyed.’ This stone that they talk about is a head of that Aphrodite whom they used to worship and whom they called Khabár. Even to the present day, traces of the carving are visible on it to careful observers.
As has been related, this Mohammed wrote many ridiculous books, to each one of which he set a title. For example, there is the book On Woman, [109] in which he plainly makes legal provision for taking four wives and, if it be possible, a thousand concubines—as many as one can maintain, besides the four wives. He also made it legal to put away whichever wife one might wish, and, should one so wish, to take to oneself another in the same way. Mohammed had a friend named Zeid. This man had a beautiful wife with whom Mohammed fell in love. Once, when they were sitting together, Mohammed said: ‘Oh, by the way, God has commanded me to take your wife.’ The other answered: ‘You are an apostle. Do as God has told you and take my wife.’ Rather—to tell the story over from the beginning—he said to him: ‘God has given me the command that you put away your wife.’ And he put her away. Then several days later: ‘Now,’ he said, ‘God has commanded me to take her.’ Then, after he had taken her and committed adultery with her, he made this law: ‘Let him who will put away his wife. And if, after having put her away, he should return to her, let another marry her. For it is not lawful to take her unless she have been married by another. Furthermore, if a brother puts away his wife, let his brother marry her, should he so wish.’ [110] In the same book he gives such precepts as this: ‘Work the land which God hath given thee and beautify it. And do this, and do it in such a manner” [111]—not to repeat all the obscene things that he did.
Then there is the book of The Camel of God. [112] About this camel he says that there was a camel from God and that she drank the whole river and could not pass through two mountains, because there was not room enough. There were people in that place, he says, and they used to drink the water on one day, while the camel would drink it on the next. Moreover, by drinking the water she furnished them with nourishment, because she supplied them with milk instead of water. Then, because these men were evil, they rose up, he says, and killed the camel. However, she had an offspring, a little camel, which, he says, when the mother had been done away with, called upon God and God took it to Himself. Then we say to them: ‘Where did that camel come from?’ And they say that it was from God. Then we say: ‘Was there another camel coupled with this one?’ And they say: ‘No.’ ‘Then how,’ we say, ‘was it begotten? For we see that your camel is without father and without mother and without genealogy, and that the one that begot it suffered evil. Neither is it evident who bred her. And also, this little camel was taken up. So why did not your prophet, with whom, according to what you say, God spoke, find out about the camel—where it grazed, and who got milk by milking it? Or did she possibly, like her mother, meet with evil people and get destroyed? Or did she enter into paradise before you, so that you might have the river of milk that you so foolishly talk about? For you say that you have three rivers flowing in paradise—one of water, one of wine, and one of milk. If your forerunner the camel is outside of paradise, it is obvious that she has dried up from hunger and thirst, or that others have the benefit of her milk—and so your prophet is boasting idly of having conversed with God, because God did not reveal to him the mystery of the camel. But if she is in paradise, she is drinking water still, and you for lack of water will dry up in the midst of the paradise of delight. And if, there being no water, because the camel will have drunk it all up, you thirst for wine from the river of wine that is flowing by, you will become intoxicated from drinking pure wine and collapse under the influence of the strong drink and fall asleep. Then, suffering from a heavy head after sleeping and being sick from the wine, you will miss the pleasures of paradise. How, then, did it not enter into the mind of your prophet that this might happen to you in the paradise of delight? He never had any idea of what the camel is leading to now, yet you did not even ask him, when he held forth to you with his dreams on the subject of the three rivers. We plainly assure you that this wonderful camel of yours has preceded you into the souls of asses, where you, too, like beasts are destined to go. And there is the exterior darkness and everlasting punishment, roaring fire, sleepless worms, and hellish demons.’
Again, in the book of The Table, Mohammed says that the Christ asked God for a table and that it was given Him. For God, he says, said to Him: ‘I have given to thee and thine an incorruptible table.’ [113]
And again, in the book of The Heifer, [114] he says some other stupid and ridiculous things, which, because of their great number, I think must be passed over. He made it a law that they be circumcised and the women, too, and he ordered them not to keep the Sabbath and not to be baptized.
And, while he ordered them to eat some of the things forbidden by the Law, he ordered them to abstain from others. He furthermore absolutely forbade the drinking of wine.
End Notes
99. Cf. Gen. 16.8. Sozomen also says that they were descended from Agar, but called themselves descendants of Sara to hide their servile origin (Ecclesiastical History 6.38, PG 67.1412AB).
100. The Arabic kabirun means ‘great,’ whether in size or in dignity. Herodotus mentions the Arabian cult of the ‘Heavenly Aphrodite’ but says that the Arabs called her Alilat (Herodotus 1.131)
101. This may be the Nestorian monk Bahira (George or Sergius) who met the boy Mohammed at Bostra in Syria and claimed to recognize in him the sign of a prophet.
102. Koran, Sura 112.
103. Sura 19; 4.169.
104. Sura 4.156.
105. Sura 5.Il6tf.
106. The manuscripts do not have the adage, but Lequien suggests this one from Plato.
107. The Ka’ba, called ‘The House of God,’ is supposed to have been built by Abraham with the help of Ismael. It occupies the most sacred spot in the Mosque of Mecca. Incorporated in its wall is the stone here referred to, the famous Black Stone, which is obviously a relic of the idolatry of the pre-Islam Arabs.
108. Gen. 22.6.
109. Koran, Sura 4.
110. Cf. Sura 2225ff.
111. Sura 2.223.
112. Not in the Koran.
113. Sura 5.114,115.
114. Sura 2.
From Writings, by St John of Damascus, The Fathers of the Church, vol. 37 (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 1958), pp. 153-160. Posted 26 March, 2006.
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The Real Prophecy Of Saint Hildegard Von Bingen About A Comet Hitting Earth
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“Finally, when the terrible nations of unbelievers, as described above, attack on all sides the faculties and possessions of the churches and eagerly seek their complete extermination, like vultures and hawks they will squeeze what they hold beneath their wings and talons. And when the Christian people, exhausted in every way in penance for their sins and no longer frightened by bodily death, tries to resist in arms, a very strong wind will come from the north with a great cloud and denst dust, and strike its blast against those unbelievers in divine judgment, to choke their throats with the cloud and fill their eyes with dust, so that they leave off their wildness and are rendered into great stupor.” Page 459 Paragraph 24
From The Scivas by Saint Hildegard Von Bingen
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Why Is EWTN Going To The Deep State For Their Family Celebration?
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John Henry Weston Fired or Was He Fired?
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Catholic Media Promoting A Foreign Agent To Interfere In American Elections
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Nine Years Of Ordo Militaris Catholicus: What Has Been Done In These Nine Years?
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LinkedIn Protecting Azerbaijan and Their War Crimes Against The Armenian People
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The Devil and Chicago: Why They Get Corrupt Bishops
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Satan’s War and The 100+ Year Decline Of The Papacy
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Did You Know, In 1953 The USA Declared War On The Catholic Church?
The Men Behind Vatican II & Firing General Douglas MacArthur
Summer Of 1976 and Wojtyla’s Recruitment To The CIA
Immoral Investment Strategy Of Bernardino Nogara
The Secrets Of The Vatican Bank
The Red Pilled Truth On A Biblical Scale
The Real Terrorist Organization Skull and Bones
Christendom or Skull and Bones College?
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Lifesite News Dumps Westen! Why?
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What Will Happen If The Papacy Ends?
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Revolution Since 1953! The Takeover Of The Catholic Church!
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Learn How The U.S. Government Declared War On The Church
Architect Of The U.S. War On The Catholic Church
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The Men Behind Vatican II & Firing General Douglas MacArthur
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How To Retake The Church From The Masonic Elite With A Catholic Pope
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Mafioso Running The Church, How To Remain A Faithful Catholic These Days
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