Category Archives: bible

Ascension Thursday: “I am with you always…” Pray for the Church, Urgently!

May 21, 2020 By in bible, Bishops, Blessed Sacrament, Canon Law, Dogma of Infallibility, hierarchy, Papacy, Pope Francis, Uncategorized Tags: , , , 34 Comments

Comment: 

Our Lord’s final words on this earth were an exhortation to go out into the whole world, bringing souls into the Church, and a promise to be with His Church “…always, even to the consummation of the world.”  (Matt 28:20)

But who believes that any more?  Where are the bishops and priests today who believe they have a duty to seek converts to the Faith? Who actually believes that Christ’s promise to be with His Church always still holds good, given that the widespread apostasy (notably the manifest loss of faith in key dogmas such as the Real Presence of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament) is hiding in plain sight… How can we claim that Christ is still “with His  Church”?  

If so, why are bishops and priests so keen to spread false religions?  If you haven’t signed this petition to stop the public broadcast of the Muslim Call to Prayer,  please do so now, because this will not be a temporary measure for  Ramadan in Lockdown – this will remain as a permanent feature of life in those particular London boroughs and will likely spread from there to other parts of the UK.   No doubt about it. 

There’s no need to ask  whether or not Catholic clergy approve this – that’s a given.  Otherwise, what’s with all the ecumenical and inter-faith dialogue over years now? 

So, today, on this important Feast of the Ascension of Our Lord into Heaven, let us pray especially for Holy Mother Church, so betrayed in our times by faithless religious leaders, even to the very top of the Church.  On this important Feast, then, we offer the following prayers for the Church and the Pope…

Almighty and Everlasting God, have mercy on Thy servant Francis our Supreme Pontiff, and direct him, according to Thy loving kindness, in the way of eternal salvation, that with Thy help he may ever desire that which is pleasing to Thee and accomplish it with all his strength. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

A PRAYER TO SAINT GREGORY VII, POPE AND CONFESSOR

O invincible defender of Holy Church’s freedom, Saint Gregory of great renown, by that firmness thou didst show in maintaining the Church’s rights against all her enemies, stretch forth from Heaven thy mighty arm, we beseech thee, to comfort her and defend her in the fearful battle she must ever wage with the powers of darkness. Do thou, in an especial manner, give strength in this dread conflict to the venerable Pontiff who has fallen heir not only to thy throne, but likewise to the fearlessness of thy mighty heart; obtain for him the joy of beholding his holy endeavors crowned by the triumph of the Church and the return of the lost sheep into the right path. Grant, finally, that all may understand how vain it is to strive against that faith which has always conquered and is destined always to conquer: “this is the victory which overcometh the world, our faith.” This is the prayer that we raise to thee with one accord; and we are confident, that, after thou hast heard our prayers on earth, thou wilt one day call us to stand with thee in Heaven, before the eternal High Priest, Who with the Father and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth world without end. Amen.

Note:  although we are dispensed from the obligation to attend Mass at this time, live-streamed Masses can be found if you search on YouTube.   

Coronavirus Cure: Should Catholics Refuse Forced or Unethical Vaccine?

May 19, 2020 By in Abortion, bible, Bishops, Crime and Punishment, Morals, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , 37 Comments

Comment: 

A reader emailed over the weekend to express concerns about the possibility of a vaccine being produced using material from aborted babies, and she included the following extract from an email reply from an SSPX priest, to an enquiry about this subject [note: she was not the immediate recipient of the email from the priest, but a friend forwarded it to her, and she sent it on to me…]:

“…Voluntarily using a vaccine made from aborted babies is a material, remote cooperation in an abortion. The principle of double effect shows that this is a grave sin…”    [A priest of the Society of St Pius X – SSPX]

On those grounds, then, that we would be co-operating in abortion, Catholics should, surely, refuse the vaccine if it has been made using material from aborted babies. 

There are other issues, too, arising from the possibility of the Government requiring or forcing us to have the vaccine…

The following extract from The New American examines this issue. While referring to America, its thesis is also applicable to the UK:

Conditioning, Then Control

A first step toward implementing a vaccine-based ID scheme is conditioning people to accept the idea that they will need to prove their vaccination and health status before being allowed by government to engage in any activities that, heretofore, were exercised without restriction by a free people. This is perfect for the age of COVID-19, when mainstream media organs and government “experts” have worked overtime to instill extreme levels of fear into the American people, forcing them into what amounts to house arrest to fight the “war” on the virus. Now, to regain freedom, it has been suggested that people will need to prove that they have gained immunity to the virus. To this end, Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and a key member of the Trump administration’s coronavirus task force, admitted that the federal government is considering forcing citizens to use coronavirus immunity cards.
“You know, that’s possible,” Fauci told CNN. “I mean, it’s one of those things that we talk about when we want to make sure that we know who the vulnerable people are and [are] not,” he continued. “This is something that’s being discussed. I think it might actually have some merit, under certain circumstances.”   Click here to read entire article 

Share your thoughts about whether or not you would (a) accept a vaccine made from material taken from aborted babies, despite clear Catholic teaching about the immorality of doing so and (b) whether or not you would refuse a forced vaccine – that is, if the Government requires us to take the vaccine and/or decides to link having the vaccine with our freedom to engage in previously unrestricted activities.  

Finally, if there are statements from any UK bishops – or from Pope  Francis – on the concerns surrounding the ethics of a Coronavirus vaccine, please let us know in the comments below.  So far, the US Bishop in the video above seems to be the only one expressing concerns on the record – in other words, he seems to be the only Bishop proclaiming Catholic morality in the matter of the proposed vaccination programme.  If that changes, let’s record it for posterity.  Not that posterity has ever done anything for us 😀 

Lent – Time To Prepare For Death… 

February 26, 2020 By in bible, devotions, Fatima, Our Lady, saints, sin, Uncategorized Tags: , , , 35 Comments

Comment: 

I remember as a young person hearing the priest exhort us to make a good Lent because “for someone in this congregation it will be their last Lent.”  And he was always right. 

Certainly, the obvious time of year to examine our sinful ways has to be the penitential season of Lent which begins today, Ash Wednesday.  The clue is in those sobering words which the priest says as he places the ashes on our forehead:  “Remember, soul, that thou art dust, and unto dust thou shalt return.”

Trying to find something imaginative to post here, I visited a site listing one hundred possible Lenten penances, every one of which began with the words “Give up…”  Chocolate was on that list.   Can you believe it? 

Seriously, small sacrifices are, of course, important,  but is there another angle?   All ideas welcome…  

Reminder:  we always close to blog to comments for the duration of Holy Week. 

Coronavirus Connected To Fatima?

February 24, 2020 By in bible, Bishops, Fatima, Miracles, Our Lady, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , 58 Comments

From Rorate Caeli – What does a Catholic bishop do when government orders the end of gatherings in times of Coronavirus? This:

Northern Italy is in a state of semi-lockdown due to the spread of the current most dangerous strain of the Coronavirus, as large public gatherings have been forbidden for several days in most of the regions — including Lombardy, Veneto, Liguria, Piedmont, CEmilia-Romagna.

Since some of the local “ordinanze” (decrees) include the prohibition of “religious” gatherings, and getting ahead of the public authorities, several dioceses in the region have suspended religious activities.

Now, as the very high death toll in a few days (over 50 so far, in only a week) in the Islamic Shia center of Qom, in Iran, has shown, religious gatherings can indeed lead to widespread infection and high mortality rates. But what if there is a way to keep the worship of God while complying with public demands to avoid contagion?

The Bishop of Pavia, in Lombardy, Corrado Sanguineti, shows that is possible. His pastoral letter on the matter is a lesson in common sense, and in particular we call your attention to this paragraph:

While unfortunately having to suspend the celebration of the Holy Masses until further notice, I order that Churches remain open, for the personal prayer of the faithful, and I ask that, even on weekdays, priests celebrate daily Mass, behind closed doors, praying in the name of the whole community, signaling with the sound of the bells that the Eucharist is being offered for the living and the dead: even if we cannot celebrate publicly, the liturgical prayer must not fail, which for us priests is a daily appointment of life and is an inexhaustible source of grace for all the people of God. Priests must keep in touch with the faithful, and must not fail to continue their presence among the sick and the elderly in homes and welcoming structures.

Of course, private daily Masses “without the people” are a traditional practice, and well known to Traditional Catholics, but not very common among large numbers of clergy raised with the Novus Ordo, so the reminder is necessary.   Ends

Comment: 

There’s another very interesting article on the subject of the Coronavirus over at Rorate Caeli – well worth reading right through, but for now, here’s an extract from the close of the piece, where the author links the miracle of the Archangel St Michael in ending that plague with the apparition of the same Archangel at Fatima…

Pope Gregory I was canonized, proclaimed Doctor of the Church and went down in history known as the “Great”. After his death the Romans  began calling the Hadrian Mausoleum “Castel Sant’Angelo” and, in remembrance of the miracle, placed at the top of the castle, the statue of St. Michael, head of the heavenly militia, in the act of sheathing his sword. Still today in the Capitoline Museum a circular stone with foot-prints is kept, which according to tradition, had been left by the Archangel when he stood to declare the end of the plague. Also Cardinal Cesare Baronio (1538-1697), considered one of the greatest historians of the Church for the rigor of his research, confirms the apparition of the Angel on top of the castle. (Odorico Ranaldi, Annali ecclesiastici tratti da quelli del cardinal Baronio, anno 590, Appresso Vitale Mascardi, Roma 1643, pp. 175-176).

We note only that if the Angel, thanks to the appeal of St. Gregory, sheathed his sword, it means that it had been first drawn to punish the sins of the Roman people. The Angels in fact are the executors of divine punishments on people, as the dramatic vision of the Third Secret of Fatima reminds us, by calling us to repentance: “an Angel with a flaming sword in his left hand; flashing, it gave out flames that looked as though they would set the world on fire; but they died out in contact with the splendor Our Lady radiated towards him from her right hand: pointing to the earth with his right hand, the Angel cried out in a loud voice ‘Penance, Penance, Penance!’”

Is the spread of the Coronavirus related in some way to the vision of the Third Secret? The future will tell us. However the appeal to penance remains of prime urgency for our age and the prime remedy to guarantee our salvation, in time and eternity. The words of St. Gregory the Great must resound again in our hearts: “What will we say of the terrible events of which we are witnesses if not that they are predictions of a future wrath? Think then dearest brothers, with extreme care to that day, correct your lives, change your habits, defeat with all your might the temptations of evil, punish with tears, sins committed” (Omelia prima sui Vangeli, in Il Tempo di Natale nella Roma di Gregorio Magno, Acqua Pia Antica Marcia, Roma 2008, pp. 176-177).

It is these words, not the dream of Amazzonia felix, that today are needed in the Church which appears the way St. Gregory described it in his times: “A very old ship, horrifically gashed; waves and rotted planks getting in everywhere; shaken everyday by a violent tempest, foreshadowing a shipwreck (Registrum I, 4 ad Ioann. episcop. Constantinop.)”. But way back then Divine Providence called forth a helmsman, who, as St. Pius X states: “amid the raging waves was able not only to dock in the harbor, but also secure the ship from future storms” (Enciclica Jucunda sane del 12 marzo 1904).  Ends.

So… Is the Catholic response to the Coronavirus simply prayer and penance?  Really?  Why?  

Is God in Charge of the Weather?

February 14, 2020 By in bible, Pope Francis, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , 47 Comments

With yet another storm (Dennis) due to hit the UK this weekend, let’s challenge the secular wisdom, reinforced by Pope Francis that humans are causing extreme weather because we insist  on using plastic bags and drive petrol cars.  IS this erratic and often treacherous weather due to human behaviour, or is God telling us something about the way we are living – and I don’t mean that He wants us to start buying electric cars…   

There is no shortage of biblical evidence that God controls the weather, although there is a manifest shortage of Catholic websites and videos reflecting that truth.  God  has established what we think of as scientific laws and principles governing the weather but He remains in charge.  God can dispense with His laws for His own purposes, when He sees fit.  Is that what is happening now, with professional weather forecasters struggling to explain what is going on these days?  

Is “Storm Dennis” on its way because God wants to remind  us of something?  If so, what?  

Modern Catholics Discuss Liturgical Abuses in New Mass – You Just Couldn’t Make This Stuff Up…Honest!

January 23, 2020 By in bible, Canon Law, liturgy, novus ordo mass, Priesthood, Real Presence, sacraments, Tradition, Uncategorized Tags: , , , 57 Comments

Comment: 

This group takes too long to get into the discussion (at least five minutes) but once they get going, it’s very interesting indeed to hear them objecting to some of the very things which were defended and promoted by fellow-parishioners when some of us were doing the complaining.  It’s also interesting to see how the standards have shifted (mostly in a downward direction).  In the end, it dawns on Catholics who are truly thinking it all through, that there is no option but to move on to the traditional Mass – back to the future…  It seems clear that the growth is to be found where the traditional Latin Mass is being offered, so pray for the trio in the video. They obviously mean well.  I liked them as people – so much so that, but for the geography, I’d invite them out for Haggis and Neeps 😀

Anyway, in summary, below are the 15 things which the group in the video argue need to stop happening… or not;  there is some disagreement within the group which offers food for thought, not least because, notably, it is the priest [“Richard” or “Rich” as he seems to introduce himself] who does the disagreeing.  

1  Clapping (applause)

2 Too many Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion

3 Receiving from the Chalice (“cup”) when sick

4 Leaving seats at sign of peace to “share the peace” with people across the church

5 Socialising before (and after) Mass

6 Phone ringing 

7 Not donating

8 Leaving Mass early

9 Bad preaching (lack of “fire”, not inspiring or nourishing)  [worryingly, the priest in the video is open to laity, including women, preaching.)

10 Receiving Holy Communion in mortal sin

11 Dressing inappropriately – not dressing up for Mass

12 No sanctus bells 

13 Genuflecting to the altar when the Tabernacle is somewhere else

14 I couldn’t hear anything specific, but the conversation went on to discuss baptism/use of “lemonade” type jug  (If I’ve missed something, tell me in the comments…) 

15. Holding hands during Our Father

My own predominant  thought listening to the conversation was that any hope for the future in that diocese lies with the laity, as represented by the two lads on the video not the clergy, as represented by the [very nice and doubtless well-meaning]  priest in the video –  a manifestly modernist priest but one who likes Cardinal Ratzinger!  How much more confusing can this mess get! 

Share your thoughts – politely!  I’ll be posting the link to this thread on their YouTube channel, below the above video, to be precise., so don’t be too hard on these good souls, who are all far too young to have been taught the Faith properly.  They are typical New Catholics tailor made for the New Mass, the New Liturgy, the New Sacraments, the New Catechism, the New Rosary, the New Evangelisation, the New Morality, the New Politically Correct  Pontiff, the New Canonisations, the New Commandments (minus idolatry and adultery) … and the New – you name it.