tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319395333393239242024-03-21T23:56:57.083-04:00Traditional Catholic ApologeticsTraditional Catholic Faith - Apologetics and Refuting Various Heresies Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger58125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-831939533339323924.post-64459470348190231972022-02-10T20:39:00.001-05:002022-02-11T01:22:52.974-05:00Sedevacantism<p> </p><h2 style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 18pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 31px; margin: 0px; text-align: center; text-decoration-line: underline;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.americamagazine.org%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fmain_image%2Fvon-arx-vatican-assemblee-1870-119120.jpg&f=1&nofb=1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="547" data-original-width="800" height="219" src="https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.americamagazine.org%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fmain_image%2Fvon-arx-vatican-assemblee-1870-119120.jpg&f=1&nofb=1" width="320" /></a></div><br />What is Sedevacantism?</span></h2><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Sedevacantism comes from the Latin <i>sede vacante</i>, which means “seat vacant.” It is the position held by traditional Catholics who claim that the Papal Seat, the Holy See, has been vacant since the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958. Sedevacantists believe that the subsequent claimants to the papal office — John XXIII (1958–1963), Paul VI (1963–1978), John Paul I (1978), John Paul II (1978–2005), Benedict XVI (2005-2013), and Francis (since 2013) — have been neither true Catholics nor true, legitimate popes. Sedevacantism owes its origins to the rejection of the theological and disciplinary changes implemented following the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965). Sedevacantists reject this Council and all its decrees, most notably its documents on ecumenism and religious liberty, which contradicts the traditional teachings of the Catholic Church and denies the unique mission of Catholicism as the one true religion, outside of which there is no salvation. Sedevacantists also reject the New Mass of Paul VI, promulgated on 3 April 1969, as invalid since it has changed the words of consecration and deviated from the tradition of the Church.</span></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; line-height: 40px; margin-top: 0.7cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="Common-Objections-Against-Sedevacantism" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a><span style="font-size: 22pt;"><b>Answers to the Most Common Objections Against Sedevacantism</b></span></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; line-height: 16.45pt; margin-bottom: 14pt;"><span class="MsoHyperlink"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">This article contains content used from authors: Brother Peter Dimond and Brother Michael Dimond of Most Holy Family Monastery / mostholyfamilymonastery.com</span></i></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 6cm;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Pope Vigilius, <i>Second Council of Constantinople</i>, 553: “… we bear in mind what was promised about the holy Church and Him who said <i><b>the gates of Hell will not prevail against it </b></i><b>(</b><u><b>by these we understand the death-dealing tongues of heretics</b></u><b>)</b>…”<sup>1</sup></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">There are many objections launched against the sedevacantist position – that is, the position expounded in this book according to which the Chair of St. Peter is vacant because the post- Vatican II “popes” are not true popes, but non-Catholic antipopes. We will now address all of the major objections that are launched against this position.</span></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="Objection-1" style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-size: 16px; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"></span></span><p style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: 16px; line-height: 0.8cm; margin-left: 5.3cm; padding: 0.15cm;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Objection 1): The Gates of Hell cannot prevail against the Church, as Christ (Matthew 16). He said He would be with His Church the end of the world (Matthew 28). What you are saying is contrary to the promises of Christ.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-top: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Answer: No, indefectibility (the promise of Christ to always be with His Church, and that the gates of Hell will not prevail against it) means that the Church will, until the end of time, remain essentially what she is. The indefectibility of the Church requires that <i>at least a remnant </i>of the Church will exist until the end of the world, and that a true pope will never authoritatively teach error to the entire Church. It <u>does not</u> exclude antipopes posing as popes (as we’ve had numerous times in the past, even in Rome) or a counterfeit sect that reduces the adherents of the true Catholic Church to a remnant in the last days. This is precisely <i>what is predicted </i>to occur in the last days and what happened during the Arian crisis.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 6cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Athanasius: “<b>Even if Catholics faithful to tradition are reduced to a handful, they are the ones who are the true Church of Jesus Christ</b>.”<sup>2</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Further, it should be noted that the Church has defined that heretics are the gates of Hell which Our Lord mentioned in Matthew 16!</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 6cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Vigilius, <i>Second Council of Constantinople</i>, 553: “… we bear in mind what was promised about the holy Church and Him who said <i><b>the gates of Hell will not prevail against it </b></i><b>(</b><u><b>by these we understand the death-dealing tongues of heretics</b></u><b>)</b>…”<sup>3</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 6cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope St. Leo IX, Sept. 2, 1053: “The holy Church built upon a rock, that is Christ, and upon <i>Peter</i>… because by <u><b>the gates of Hell, that is, by the disputations of heretics</b></u><b> </b>which lead the vain to destruction, it would never be overcome.”<sup>4</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 6cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Thomas Aquinas (+1262): “Wisdom may fill the hearts of the faithful, <b>and put to silence the dread folly of heretics, fittingly referred to as the gates of Hell.”</b><sup><b>5</b></sup> (<i>Intro. To Catena Aurea</i>.)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Notice that heretics are the gates of Hell. Heretics are not members of the Church. That’s why a heretic could never be a pope. The gates of Hell (heretics) could never have authority over the Church of Christ. It’s not those who expose the heretical Vatican II antipopes who are asserting that the gates of Hell have prevailed against the Church; it’s those who obstinately defend them as popes, even though they can clearly be proven to be manifest heretics.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 6cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Innocent III, <i>Eius exemplo</i>, Dec. 18, 1208: “By the heart we believe and by the mouth we confess <u><b>the one Church, not of heretics</b></u>, but the Holy Roman, Catholic, and Apostolic Church outside of which we believe that no one is saved.”<sup>6</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 6cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Francis De Sales (17<sup>th </sup>century), Doctor of the Church, <i>The Catholic Controversy</i>, pp. 305-306: “<u><b>Now when he [the Pope] is explicitly a heretic, he falls </b></u><i><u><b>ipso facto </b></u></i><u><b>from his dignity and out of the Church</b></u>...”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">There is not one teaching of the Catholic Church that can be quoted which is contrary to the fact that there is presently a counterfeit sect which has reduced the true Catholic Church to a remnant in the days of the Great Apostasy, which is presided over by antipopes who have falsely posed as popes. Those who assert that the Vatican II sect is the Catholic Church assert that the Catholic Church officially endorses false religions and false doctrines. This is impossible and would mean that the gates of Hell have prevailed against the Catholic Church.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="Objection-2" style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-size: 16px; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"></span></span><p style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: 16px; line-height: 0.8cm; padding: 0.15cm;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Objection 2): What’s your authority for making these judgments? Your use of dogmatic statements is private interpretation.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-top: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Answer: The authority a Catholic has to determine that heretics are not members of the Church is Catholic <i>dogma</i>, which teaches us that those who depart from the Faith are considered alien to the Church.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Leo XIII, <i>Satis Cognitum </i>(# 9), June 29, 1896: “The practice of the Church has always been the same, as is shown by the unanimous teaching of the Fathers, who were wont to hold as outside Catholic communion, AND ALIEN TO THE CHURCH, WHOEVER WOULD RECEDE IN THE LEAST DEGREE FROM ANY POINT OF DOCTRINE PROPOSED BY HER AUTHORITATIVE MAGISTERIUM.”<sup>7</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Moreover, to assert that adhering to this Catholic dogma is to engage in private interpretation, as this objection does, is to assert precisely what Pope St. Pius X condemned in his Syllabus of Errors against the Modernists.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope St. Pius X, <i>Lamentabile</i>, The Errors of the Modernists, July 3, 1907, #22: “<u><b>The dogmas</b></u><b> which the Church professes as revealed are not truths fallen from heaven, </b><u><b>but they are a kind of interpretation</b></u><b> </b>of religious facts, which the human mind by a laborious effort prepared for itself.”- <u><b>Condemned</b></u><sup>8</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Pius X, <i>Lamentabile</i>, The Errors of the Modernists, July 3, 1907, #54: “<u><b>The dogmas</b></u><b>, </b>the sacraments, the hierarchy, <b>as far as pertains both to the notion and to the reality, </b><u><b>are </b></u><u><b>nothing but interpretations</b></u><b> </b>and the evolution of Christian intelligence, which have increased and perfected the little germ latent in the Gospel.”- <u><b>Condemned</b></u><sup>9</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Notice, the idea that dogmas are interpretations is condemned. But that’s exactly what this objection is asserting, whether those who make it will admit it or not. They are saying that to apply the truth of a dogma is “private interpretation.” Further refuting this objection is the fact that, in its <i>Decree on the Sacrament of Order</i>, the Council of Trent solemnly declared that the dogmatic canons are for the use of <u>all</u> the faithful.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Pius IV, <i>Council of Trent</i>, Sess. 13, Chap. 4: “These are the matters which in general it seemed well to the sacred Council to teach to the faithful of Christ regarding the sacrament of order. <b>It has, however, resolved to condemn the contrary </b><u><b>in definite and appropriate canons in the following manner</b></u><b>, </b><u><b>so that all, making use of the rule of faith</b></u><b>, with the assistance of Christ, </b><u><b>may be able to recognize more easily the Catholic truth in the midst of the darkness of so many errors</b></u>.”<sup>10</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The word “canon” (in Greek: <i>kanon</i>) means a reed; a straight rod or bar; a measuring stick; something serving to determine, rule, or measure. The Council of Trent is infallibly declaring that its canons are measuring rods for “<u><b>all</b></u><b>” </b>so that they, <u>making use</u> of these <u>rules of Faith,</u> may be able to recognize and defend the truth in the midst of darkness! This very important statement <u>blows away</u> the claim of those who say that using dogmas to prove points is “private interpretation.” Catholic dogma is the authority of all who come to these correct conclusions.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Gregory XVI, <i>Mirari Vos </i>(# 7), Aug. 15, 1832: “… nothing of the things appointed ought to be diminished; nothing changed; nothing added; <b>but they must be preserved both as regards expression and meaning</b>.”<sup>11</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="Objection-3" style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-size: 16px; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"></span></span><p style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: 16px; line-height: 0.8cm; padding: 0.15cm;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Objection 3): You cannot know if someone is a heretic or denounce him as such without a trial and declaratory sentence.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-top: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Answer: Not so. The declaratory sentence which follows an automatic excommunication is merely a legal recognition of something which already exists. If this were not true, the automatic excommunication would be meaningless.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Canon 2314, 1917 Code of Canon Law: “All apostates from the Christian faith and each and every heretic or schismatic: 1) Incur <i>ipso facto </i>[by that very fact] excommunication…”<sup>12</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The excommunicated person is already severed from the Church. Most heretics are known to be heretics without a trial or declaratory sentence, and must be denounced as such.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Pius VI, <i>Auctorem fidei</i>, Aug. 28, 1794: “47. Likewise, <b>the proposition which teaches that it is necessary, according to the natural and divine laws, </b><u><b>for either excommunication or for suspension, that a personal examination should precede</b></u>, and that, therefore, <b>sentences called ‘ipso facto’ </b>have no other force than that of a serious threat without any actual effect” – <u><b>false</b></u><b>, rash, pernicious, injurious to the power of the Church, erroneous</b>.<sup>13</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>As we see here, the Catholic Church teaches that formal processes and judgments are </b><u><b>not</b></u><b> necessary for </b><i><b>ipso facto </b></i><b>(by that very fact) excommunications to take effect. </b>They are very often, as in the case of the heretic Martin Luther, formal recognitions of the <i>ipso facto </i>excommunication that has already occurred. This should be obvious to a Catholic; but to illustrate this point, here is what Martin Luther said before he was formally condemned as a heretic by the pope.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Martin Luther, <u>speaking before the Bull of Pope Leo X giving him the final sixty days</u> to retract before a declaration of excommunication was published: “As for me, the die is cast: I despise alike the favor and fury of <b>Rome</b>; <b>I do not wish to be reconciled with her, or ever to hold any communion with her. Let her condemn and burn my books; I, in turn, unless I can find no fire, will condemn and publicly burn the whole pontifical law, that swamp of heresies</b>.’”<sup>14</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Are we to believe that the man who uttered this quotation (well before he was formally condemned as a heretic by a declaratory sentence) was a Catholic or could have been considered one? If such an idea isn’t patently absurd, then nothing is. Obviously, Martin Luther was a manifest heretic prior to the formal declaration, and any Catholic aware of his beliefs could have and <i>should have </i>denounced him as a manifest heretic once that Catholic encountered his outrageously heretical views.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">That’s why, prior to the trial of Luther, Cardinal Cajetan “contacted Elector Frederick, Luther’s sovereign and protector, urging him not to ‘disgrace the good name of his ancestors’ by supporting a heretic.”<sup>15</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The same principle applies to a heretic such as John Kerry, the notorious supporter of abortion. Almost all conservative-minded professing Catholics would immediately agree that John Kerry is a heretic and not a Catholic, since he obstinately rejects Catholic teaching against abortion. <b>But they are making this “judgment” on their own, since no declaratory sentence has ever been issued against him</b>. They are thus proving the point that a declaration is not necessary to condemn a heretic. Most heretics in Church history, and almost all heretics in the world today, have been and must be considered heretics without any declaration by virtue of their heresy being manifest.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">When the heresy is manifest and clearly obstinate, as in the case of Luther or Benedict XVI (who says we shouldn’t convert non-Catholics and takes active part in Synagogue worship), Catholics not only can denounce him as a non-Catholic without a trial, but must do so. That is precisely why St. Robert Bellarmine, Doctor of the Church, <u>in addressing this precise question</u>, states unequivocally that the manifest heretic is deposed and must be avoided as a non-Catholic with no authority <u><b>before any “excommunication</b></u><b> </b>or judicial sentence.” In this context, St. Robert uses the word “excommunication” to refer to the <i>ferendae sententiae </i>penalty (the formal declaration by the pope or judge).</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Robert Bellarmine, <i>De Romano Pontifice</i>, II, 30, speaking of a claimant to the Papal Office: "For, in the first place, <b>it is proven with arguments from authority and from reason that the manifest heretic is 'ipso facto' deposed</b>. The argument from authority is based on St. Paul (Titus 3:10), who orders that the heretic be avoided after two warnings, that is, after showing himself to be manifestly obstinate - <u><b>which means before any excommunication or judicial sentence</b></u>. And this is what St. Jerome writes, adding that the other sinners are excluded from the Church by sentence of excommunication, but the heretics exile themselves and separate themselves by their own act from the body of Christ."</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Let us repeat that: WHICH MEANS BEFORE ANY EXCOMMUNICATION OR JUDICIAL SENTENCE! So, we can see that non-sedevacantists, in arguing that Catholics cannot denounce manifest heretics such as Benedict XVI since there hasn’t been a formal trial, have gotten it all wrong. Their conclusion makes a complete mockery out of the unity of Faith in the Church. In case we have forgotten, there is a unity of Faith in the Catholic Church (as in <b>one</b>, holy, Catholic and apostolic.)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Pius XII, <i>Mystici Corporis Christi </i>(# 22): “As therefore <b>in the true Christian community </b>there is only one Body, one Spirit, one Lord, and one Baptism, so <b>there can be only one faith</b>. And therefore if a man refuse to hear the Church let him be considered – so the Lord commands – as a heathen and a publican. It follows that <b>those who are divided in faith or government cannot be living in the unity of such a Body</b>, nor can they be living the life of its one Divine Spirit.”<sup>16</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">According to the non-sedevacantists’ conclusion, Catholics would have to affirm communion with a man who publicly avowed that he wanted no communion with the Catholic Church, and held that the whole Pontifical law is a swamp of heresies; or a man who is obstinately pro- abortion, just because no formal declaration was made against him. To state that Catholics should hold communion with such a manifest heretic because no process against him had been completed, is contrary to Catholic teaching, Catholic Tradition and Catholic sense.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Robert Bellarmine, <i>De Romano Pontifice</i>, II, 30: “… for men are not bound, or able to read hearts; BUT WHEN THEY SEE THAT SOMEONE IS A HERETIC BY HIS EXTERNAL WORKS, THEY JUDGE HIM TO BE A HERETIC PURE AND SIMPLE, AND CONDEMN HIM AS A HERETIC.”</span></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;">DOES IT REQUIRES FORMAL HERESY IN THE EXTERNAL FORUM TO SEVER A MAN FROM THE BODY OF THE CHURCH?</span></b></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Robert Siscoe, <em>The Remnant</em>, “Sedevacantism and the Manifest Heretic”: “Formal heresy in the internal forum only severs a man from the <em>soul</em> of the Church. It requires formal heresy in the external forum to sever a man from <em>the body</em> of the Church and, without getting too far ahead of ourselves, formal heresy in the external forum is <em>declared</em> heresy – either declared by the proper authorities, or else ‘declared’ by the individual himself who becomes a notorious and publicly manifest heretic (more on this point later). In all the discussions this author has had with defenders of the sedevacantist position, only two have been aware of this important point. <strong><u>All others erroneously believe that the </u></strong><em><u>sin of heresy</u></em><strong><u> (internal forum), and consequent loss of faith, severed a man from the body of the Church</u></strong>, <strong>thereby causing a pope who loses the faith to lose his office</strong>.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">To sum up their position very simply: according to Siscoe and <i>The Remnant</i>, if you claim to be a Catholic (and thus have not declared yourself a heretic by openly leaving the Church) and if you have not been declared a heretic by a Church authority, you cannot be considered a heretic who is separated from the Body of the Catholic Church no matter what you say, do or believe. That’s their position. That’s what they are peddling in this article. It’s preposterous. Consider its implications.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Since basically no one in the world today has been declared a heretic by the Vatican II sect, and <i>the only other way</i> to become a declared heretic (according to them) is to openly leave the Catholic Church for a non-Catholic sect, that means that Siscoe and <i>The Remnant</i> regard as Catholics and members of the Body of the Church <i>essentially everyone in the world who claims to be Catholic, no matter what </i><i>they believe</i>. That’s their position. If <i>The Remnant</i> or the author of the article respond by denying that this is their position, they would then be lying and contradicting what they published. Their position is directly contrary to what the Church has always taught, as we will see.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">For example, Pope Leo XIII teaches the following:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Leo XIII, <i>Satis Cognitum</i> (# 13), June 29, 1896: “<b>You are not to be looked upon as holding the true Catholic faith if you do not teach that the faith of Rome is to be held</b>.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Francis does not teach that the faith of Rome (the Catholic faith) is to be held (as we will see). He teaches the opposite. For instance, in a recent meeting with a Protestant named Brian Stiller (<i>The Global Ambassador of the World Evangelical Alliance</i>), Antipope Francis stated this:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">“<b>I’m not interested in converting Evangelicals to Catholicism</b></span><span style="font-size: medium;">. I want people to find Jesus in their own community. There are so many doctrines we will never agree on. Let’s not spend our time on those. Rather, let’s be about showing the love of Jesus.” </span><span style="font-size: medium;">(Dispatches from Brian, 2014/07/09, “Lunch with the pope”)</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Antipope Francis has taught this heresy numerous times before, as proven in the article below. He has explicitly rejected converting atheists, Jews, schismatics and others many times, but this is another very bold expression of his complete rejection of Catholic teaching. He therefore teaches that non-Catholics do not need to hold the faith of Rome. According to Catholic teaching, he is not to be considered a Catholic. It’s that simple.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Pius XII, <em>Mystici Corporis Christi</em> (# 23), June 29, 1943: “For not every <strong><u>offense</u></strong>, although it may be a grave evil, <u>is such as by its very own nature</u> <u><b>to sever a man </b></u><em><u><b>from the Body of the Church</b></u></em><u><b> [</b></u><em><u><b>ab Ecclesiae Corpore</b></u></em><strong><u><b>]</b></u></strong><u><b>, </b></u><strong><i><u><b>as does </b></u></i></strong><i><u><b>schism or </b></u></i><strong><i><u><b>heresy </b></u></i></strong><i><u><b>or apostasy</b></u></i>.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Notice that Pius XII teaches that <em>the offense of heresy itself</em>, <em>by its very own nature</em> [<em>suapte natura</em> in Latin], severs a man, not just from the <i>Soul</i> of the Church, as Siscoe and <em>The Remnant</em> assert, but from <em>the Body of the Church</em>. Pius XII therefore directly contradicts what <em>The Remnant</em> and Siscoe published. In fact, he contradicts it almost word for word. It’s a remarkable example of blindness that Siscoe (and <em>The Remnant</em>) would publish an article that so blatantly contradicts the teaching of Pius XII in <em>Mystici Corporis</em>: i.e., that the offense of heresy, <em>by its very own nature</em> – in other words, before any declaration – severs a man from the <em><u>BODY</u></em><u> (not just the Soul)</u> of the Church. Remember, Siscoe falsely claimed that the sin of heresy does <i>not</i> sever a man from the Body of the Church, but that only declared heresy does. He is completely wrong. This passage from the teaching of <em>Mystici Corporis</em> destroys his entire article and reveals his entire misunderstanding of this issue.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">An automatic excommunication incurred for heresy, schism or apostasy <i>that by its very own nature severs a member from </i><i><u>the body of the Church</u></i> is not made just for show without anything actually happening to the excommunicated individual, as Pope Pius VI in his encyclical <i>Auctorem fidei</i> makes perfectly clear:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“<u><b>Likewise, the proposition which teaches that it is necessary, according to the natural and divine laws, for either excommunication or for suspension, that a personal examination should precede, and that, therefore, sentences called ‘ipso facto’ [by that very fact; </b></u><u><b>automatically] have no other force than that of a serious threat without any actual effect” – false, rash, pernicious, injurious to the power of the Church, erroneous</b></u>.” (Pope Pius VI, Auctorem fidei, #47, Aug. 28, 1794)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Likewise, here’s an interesting quote from Anne Catherine Emmerich demonstrating this fact further:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“<u><b>I see many excommunicated ecclesiastics who do not seem to be concerned about it, nor even aware of it. Yet, they are [ipso facto, by that very fact] excommunicated whenever they cooperate to enterprises, enter into associations [with heretics or other evil people such as Freemasons], and embrace opinions on which an anathema has been cast. It can be seen thereby that God ratifies the decrees, orders, and interdictions issued by the Head of the Church, and that He keeps them in force even though men show no concern for them, reject them, or laugh them to scorn</b></u>.” (Anne Catherine Emmerich, Yves Dupont, Catholic Prophecy, p. 69)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Precisely because God’s Laws and Judgments are always present and in force, so too, then, are the obligations which accompany those laws, valid and in force, <b>even </b><b>if</b><b> the see of St. Peter is vacant </b><i><u><b>and no formal excommunication has been made</b></u></i>.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">If you claim that you can judge a devil-worshiper to be outside the Church and Communion, then, you can also judge someone who professes to be a Catholic, yet who holds to one or more heresies. But this is common sense, unless one is a liar.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Leo X, <i>Fifth Lateran Council</i>, Session 11 (1512-1517): “THE PENALTIES TO BE INCURRED, <u><b>AUTOMATICALLY AND WITHOUT THE NEED FOR ANY FURTHER </b></u><i><u><b>DECLARATION</b></u></i>, for each and all of the aforesaid persons, if they act to the contrary (though may they not!), are immediate <b>major excommunication</b>, the incapacity for all and singular legal acts of any kind, being branded as infamous, and the penalties expressed in the law of treason;”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Here we see Pope Leo X affirming the dogmatic principle that some penalties are “<i><u>incurred automatically and without the need for any further declaration</u></i>” <b>whenever one has committed a crime </b><u><b>to which such an excommunication is attached</b></u>. The 1917 Code of Canon Law lists some of these crimes:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">1917 Code of Canon Law, Canon 2335: “<u>Those who join a Masonic sect or other societies of the same sort</u>, which plot against the Church or against legitimate civil authority, incur ipso facto [by that very fact] an excommunication simply reserved to the Holy See.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">1917 Code of Canon Law, Canon 2314: “<u><b>All apostates from the Christian faith and each and every heretic or schismatic</b></u><b>: 1) Incur ipso facto [by that very fact] excommunication</b>…”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Benedict XIV also made note of the term major excommunication:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Benedict XIV, <i>Ex Quo Primum</i> (# 23), March 1, 1756: “<i><b>Moreover heretics and schismatics are subject to the censure of </b></i><i><u><b>major</b></u></i><i><b> excommunication by the law of Can. de Ligu. 23, quest. 5, and Can. Nulli, 5, dist. 19</b></i>. But the sacred canons of the Church forbid public prayer for the excommunicated as can be seen in chap. A nobis, 2, and chap. <i>Sacris</i> on the sentence of excommunication. Though this does not forbid prayer for their conversion, <b>still such prayer must not take the form of proclaiming their names in the solemn prayer during the sacrifice of the Mass</b>.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">As we have seen already, people excommunicated in this way are <u>majorly excommunicated</u>, which means that they <b>must be </b><i><b>shunned</b></i> <b>for religious purposes and the sacraments</b>.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Thomas Aquinas, <i>Summa Theologica</i>, Suppl., Part, Q. 23, Art. 1: “The other is <i><b>major excommunication</b></i> <u>which deprives a man of the sacraments of the Church and of the communion of the faithful</u> [prayers, religious gatherings, etc.]. <u><b>WHEREFORE IT IS NOT LAWFUL TO COMMUNICATE WITH ONE WHO LIES UNDER SUCH AN EXCOMMUNICATION</b></u>.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="Objection-4" style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-size: 16px; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"></span></span><p style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: 16px; line-height: 0.8cm; padding: 0.15cm;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Objection 4): What about material heresy? Can’t the Vatican II Popes only be material heretics?</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-top: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Answer: A “material” heretic is a Catholic erring in good faith about a dogmatic issue. The Vatican II antipopes are without doubt real heretics. They cannot be material heretics (Catholics erring in good faith) for many reasons, most important among those reasons being: 1) they don’t hold the essential mysteries of Faith; 2) they reject obvious dogmas of which they are fully aware.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“Material heretic” is a term used by theologians to describe a Catholic erring in good faith regarding some Church teaching, who has not denied it deliberately. The only way that one can be a “material heretic” is by being unaware that the position that he holds is contrary to the teaching of the Church. Such a person would change his position immediately upon being informed of the Church’s teaching on the matter. Thus, a so-called “material heretic” is not a heretic, but rather a confused Catholic who denies nothing of that which he knows the Church to have taught. <u>The fact that a so-called “material heretic” is not a heretic is proven by the fact that a so-called “material heretic” does not cease to be part of the Church</u>; and we have already shown by many quotations that <u>all</u> heretics cease to be members of the Church.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Eugene IV, <i>Council of Florence</i>, “Cantate Domino,” 1441: “The Holy Roman Church firmly believes, professes and preaches that <b>all those </b><u><b>who are outside the Catholic Church</b></u>, not only pagans <b>but also </b>Jews or <u><b>heretics</b></u><b> </b>and schismatics…”<sup>17</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Furthermore, a so-called “material heretic” (an erring Catholic) does not bring down on his head eternal punishment for denying the faith; and <u>all</u> heretics bring down on their heads eternal punishment for denying the faith.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope St. Celestine I, <i>Council of Ephesus</i>, 431: “… <u>ALL</u> HERETICS corrupt the true expressions of the Holy Spirit with their own evil minds and they draw down on their own heads an inextinguishable flame.”<sup>18</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A material heretic, therefore, is <u>not a heretic</u>, but a Catholic who is innocently mistaken about some Church teaching. Hence, <b>those who claim that Benedict XVI is unaware of all of the dogmas that </b><b>he denies, and is therefore only a “material heretic” (in other words, a mistaken Catholic) are not only arguing that which is absurd, but that which is IMPOSSIBLE. </b>It is impossible that Benedict XVI is only a so-called “material heretic” for three reasons:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Number 1): It is a fact that Benedict XVI knows of the many dogmas of the Church which he denies. He knows more about Catholic teaching than almost anyone in the world. He discourses on the Church’s dogmatic pronouncements – the very same ones he contradicts and rejects, such as Vatican I – all the time.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm; margin-top: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Benedict XVI, <i>Principles of Catholic Theology </i>(1982), p. 239: “Anyone who inquires about the Church’s teaching with regard to holy orders finds at his disposal a relatively rich supply of source materials; <b>three councils have spoken extensively on the subject: Florence, Trent, and Vatican II. </b>Mention should also be made of the important apostolic constitution of Pius XII (<i>Sacramentum ordinis</i>) of the year 1947.”<sup>19</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Benedict XVI, <i>Principles of Catholic Theology </i>(1982), pp. 197-198: “<b>On the part of the West, </b><u><b>the maximum demand would be that the East recognize the primacy of the bishop of Rome in the full scope of the definition of 1870</b></u><b> [Vatican I] </b>and in so doing submit in practice, to a primacy such as has been accepted by the Uniate churches… <u><b>none of the maximum solutions offers any real hope of unity</b></u>.”<sup>20</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In these quotations we see just a glimpse of Benedict XVI’s familiarity with Catholic teaching, including the very councils he denies. The same applies to John Paul II and his “predecessors.” For example, in the 1999 agreement with the Lutheran Church on Justification, approved by John Paul II, John Paul II agreed that the Council of Trent no longer applies.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Vatican-Lutheran Agreement on the Doctrine of Justification, approved by Benedict XVI: “# 13. <u><b>IN LIGHT OF THIS CONSENSUS, THE CORRESPONDING DOCTRINAL CONDEMNATIONS OF THE 16TH CENTURY</b></u><b> </b>[i.e., the canons of the Council of Trent] <u><b>DO NOT APPLY TO TODAY’S PARTNER</b></u><b>.”</b><sup><b>21</b></sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It goes without saying that he cannot be unaware of the Council of Trent if he agrees that it no longer applies. Further, <b>Benedict XVI holds several doctorates in theology and has written many books dealing with the intricacies of Catholic dogma. One of us has read 24 of his books, and can say that Benedict XVI is more familiar with what the Catholic Church teaches than almost anyone in the world</b>. To assert that Francis I, Benedict XVI or John Paul II or Paul VI or John XXIII remained unaware of the simplest Church teachings which they denied on Our Lord, against Protestantism, on salvation, against false religions, on religious liberty, etc. is false and <u><b>ridiculous in the highest degree</b></u>. To assert, for instance, that Benedict XVI is unaware of the dogma that Protestants are bound under pain of heresy to accept the Papacy – remember that he teaches just the opposite – is <u>pure insanity</u>. It’s equivalent to asserting that one can be the head chef at a five star restaurant and not know what lettuce is. But that’s exactly what those who advance the “material heretic” argument would have us believe.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Number 2): It’s impossible for Benedict XVI to be only a “material heretic” or a mistaken Catholic because – supposing for a moment that he were unaware of the many dogmas which he denies (which, as we have stated, is definitely not true) – being a man who claims to be a bishop and the pope, he is bound to have learned them. Therefore, there is no excuse for him on the grounds that he is unaware of the fundamental Church dogmas which he denies.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-top: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A canon law manual: “<b>If the delinquent making this claim be a cleric, his plea for mitigation must be dismissed, </b>either as untrue, or else as indicating ignorance which is affected, or at least crass and supine… His ecclesiastical training in the seminary, with its moral and dogmatic theology, its ecclesiastical history, not to mention its canon law, all insure that the Church’s attitude towards heresy was imparted to him.”<sup>22</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Number 3): It is impossible that Benedict XVI is merely a “material heretic” because there are certain things that every adult must hold by a necessity of means in order to be a Catholic, and Benedict XVI doesn’t hold those things. Every adult Catholic must believe in the Trinity, the Incarnation, that Jesus Christ and His Church are true, and that other religions outside of Jesus Christ are false. These essential mysteries must be known by <i>a necessity of means</i>.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm; margin-top: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Benedict XIV, <i>Cum Religiosi </i>(# 1), June 26, 1754: “We could not rejoice, however, when it was subsequently reported to Us that in the course of religious instruction preparatory to Confession and Holy Communion, it was very often found that these people were ignorant of the mysteries of the faith, <b>even those matters which must be known by </b><i><b>necessity of means</b></i>; consequently they were ineligible to partake of the Sacraments.”<sup>23</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In other words, every Catholic above the age of reason must have a positive knowledge of certain mysteries of faith to be saved. There are no excuses, even for ignorance. Thus, if one holds a belief which destroys faith in those mysteries, even if he has been taught incorrectly, he is not a Catholic.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Benedict XIV, <i>Cum Religiosi </i>(# 4): “… confessors should perform this part of their duty whenever anyone stands at their tribunal who does not know <b>what he must by </b><i><b>necessity of means </b></i><b>know to be saved…”</b><sup><b>24</b></sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope St. Pius X, <i>Acerbo Nimis </i>(# 2), April 15, 1905: “And so Our Predecessor, Benedict XIV, had just cause to write: ‘We declare that a great number of those who are condemned to eternal punishment suffer that everlasting calamity <b>because of ignorance of those mysteries of faith which must be known and believed in order to be numbered among the elect.’”</b><sup><b>25</b></sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">For instance, if one really believes in three different gods and not <i>one God in three divine persons</i>, then he is not a Catholic – period. This is true even if he was never taught the true doctrine on the Trinity. He is not a Catholic, since his belief contradicts an <i>essential mystery </i>he must possess to hold the true Faith.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Likewise, if one believes that other religions, such as Islam, Judaism, etc. are also good, then one doesn’t believe that Christ (and, by extension, His Church) is the only truth. If one doesn’t believe that Christ (and, by extension, His Church) is the only truth, then one doesn’t have the Catholic Faith – period. This is true even if he was never taught the true doctrine on this matter, which is why Pope Pius XI says that all who hold the opinion that all religions “are more or less good and praiseworthy” have abandoned the true religion – period.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Pius XI, <i>Mortalium Animos </i>(# 2): “… Certainly such attempts can nowise be approved by Catholics, founded as they are on <u><b>that false opinion which considers all religions to be more </b></u><u><b>or less good and praiseworthy</b></u>, since they all in different ways manifest and signify that sense which is inborn in us all, and by which we are led to God and to the obedient acknowledgment of His rule. <u><b>Not only are those who hold this opinion in error and deceived, but also in distorting the idea of true religion they reject it</b></u>, and little by little, turn aside to naturalism and atheism, as it is called; <b>from which it clearly follows that one who supports those who hold these theories and attempt to realize them, is altogether abandoning the divinely revealed religion.”</b><sup><b>26</b></sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Well, we have shown that Benedict XVI and his “predecessors” believe that Judaism, Islam, etc. are good. Benedict XVI was even initiated into Islam in a mosque on Nov. 30, 2006. He and his “predecessors” praise these religions. Benedict XVI specifically called Islam “noble” and said that it represents “greatness.” It’s not possible for him to believe this and be a Catholic “material heretic,” since he doesn’t believe in an <i>essential mystery </i>he must possess to hold the true Faith: that Christ is the only truth. Therefore, Benedict XVI is not a Catholic – period.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This is also proven from another angle. Since it’s an essential mystery of Catholic Faith that Christ (and, by extension, his Church) is the only truth, it follows that those who believe this mystery also hold that <i><u>Christ’s Church must be believed</u></i>. This is the teaching of Pope Leo XIII.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Leo XIII, <i>Satis Cognitum </i>(# 13), June 29, 1896: “<b>You are not to be looked upon as holding the true Catholic faith </b><u><b>if you do not teach that the faith of Rome is to be held</b></u><b>.</b>”<sup>27</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">If one holds that the Catholic religion doesn’t have to be accepted by non-Catholics, then one is not a Catholic. As we’ve shown, the Vatican II antipopes teach that the Catholic religion doesn’t have to be accepted by non-Catholics; they specifically teach that the Eastern Schismatics don’t need to convert to the Catholic Faith.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Paul VI, Joint Declaration with the Schismatic “Pope” Shenouda III, May 10, 1973: “Paul VI, Bishop of Rome and Pope of the Catholic Church, and <b>Shenouda III, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark</b>… In the name of this charity, <b>we reject all forms of proselytism… Let it cease, where it may exist</b>…”<sup>28</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">John Paul II, <i>Homily</i>, Jan. 25, 1993: “’<b>The way to achieve Christian unity, in fact,’ says the document of the Pontifical Commission for Russia, ‘</b><u><b>is not proselytism but fraternal dialogue</b></u><b>...</b>”<sup>29</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Benedict XVI, <i>Address to Protestants at World Youth Da</i>y, August 19, 2005: “And we now ask: What does it mean to restore the unity of all Christians?... <u><b>this unity does not mean what could be called ecumenism of the return</b></u><b>: that is, </b><u><b>to deny and to reject one’s own faith history</b></u><b>. </b><u><b>Absolutely not</b></u><b>!”</b><sup><b>30</b></sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Furthermore…</span></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; line-height: 28px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 16pt;"><b>The law of the Church presumes pertinacity in heresy unless the contrary is proven.</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In addition to the above facts which demonstrate that the Vatican II antipopes are definitely formal heretics, the presumption of the law is against them:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Canon 2200.2, 1917 Code of Canon Law: “<u><b>When an external violation of the law has been committed</b></u><b>, </b><u><b>malice is presumed</b></u><b> </b>in the external forum until the contrary is proven.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A commentary on this canon by Rev. Eric F. Mackenzie, A.M., S.T.L., J.C.L, states:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“<b>The very commission of any act which signifies heresy, e.g., the statement of some doctrine contrary or contradictory to a revealed and defined dogma, gives sufficient ground for juridical presumption of heretical depravity… </b>[E]xcusing circumstances have to be proved in the external forum, and <b>the burden of proof is on the person whose action has given rise to the imputation of heresy. In the absence of such proof, all such excuses are presumed not to exist.”</b><sup><b>31</b></sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Not only have the Vatican II antipopes made literally hundreds of statements contrary to revealed and defined dogma, but they have also explicitly declared themselves to be in communion with – in the same Church as – schismatics and heretics. They have, furthermore, confirmed these statements with acts which further manifest their adherence to heresy, such as <i>communicatio in sacris </i>(communication in sacred things) with various false religions. It is not, therefore, the law or the spirit of the Church to exonerate someone publicly spewing heresy, but rather to presume him guilty.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Innocent IV, <i>First Council of Lyons</i>, 1245: “The civil law declares that <b>those are to be regarded as heretics, and ought to be subject to the sentences issued against them, who even on slight evidence are found to have strayed from the judgment and path of the Catholic religion.”</b><sup><b>32</b></sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Robert Bellarmine explains why this must be.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Robert Bellarmine, <i>De Romano Pontifice, II, 30</i>: “… for men are not bound, or able to read hearts; but <b>when they see that someone is a heretic by his external works, they judge him to be a heretic pure and simple, and condemn him as a heretic.”</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A simple illustration will also demonstrate why this must be.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Suppose you had some sheep and you appointed a shepherd to watch over them. Suppose one day the shepherd <u>became a wolf and began eating the sheep and tearing them to pieces</u>. Would you, looking after the welfare of these sheep, <b>maintain the wolf as head of the sheep</b>? Would you demand that <u>the other sheep not yet eaten subject themselves to the wolf</u>, and thus place themselves in proximate danger of being eaten? Of course you wouldn’t, and neither would God.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">God could never allow one who is promulgating manifest heresy in the external forum to maintain authority in the Church or be able to demand the submission of Catholics, regardless of what his intentions are. Remember, heresy kills souls. Suppose the wolf in our story is just hungry, or having a bad day. Does this change the fact that the sheep are being eliminated? No.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Furthermore, what wolf who was trying to deceive people would openly declare himself to be a non-Catholic or an enemy of the Church?</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Matthew 7:15- “Beware of false prophets, <i>who come to you in clothing of sheep</i>, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">There is no more effective way to assist a false prophet than to insist that he, despite his public profession of heresy, maintains authority in the Church. <b>Pope St. Celestine authoritatively confirms the principle that we cannot regard a public heretic as a person with authority when dealing with the case of the heretic Nestorius</b>. Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople, began to preach the heresy that Mary was not the Mother of God. The faithful reacted by breaking communion with him, having realized that since Nestorius was preaching public and notorious heresy he could not have authority in the Catholic Church. The following quote from Pope St. Celestine is found in <i>De Romano Pontifice</i>, the work of St. Robert Bellarmine.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope St. Celestine: “<b>The authority of Our Apostolic See has determined </b>that the bishop, cleric, or simple Christian who had been deposed or excommunicated by Nestorius or his followers, <b>after the latter began to preach heresy </b><i><b>shall not be considered deposed or excommunicated</b></i><b>. </b><u><b>For he who had defected from the faith with such preachings, cannot depose or remove anyone whatsoever</b></u>.”<sup>33</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Pius IX confirms this principle by teaching that one is considered a heretic or a schismatic even if one has not yet been declared as such by the Holy See.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Pius IX, <i>Quartus Supra </i>(# 12), Jan. 6, 1873: “Since the faction of Armenia is like this, <b>they are schismatics even if they had not yet been condemned as such by Apostolic authority.”</b><sup><b>34</b></sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This is why the saints, theologians, doctors, canonists and popes who speak to the issue of a “heretical pope” avoid the terms “material” and “formal” heresy, for these are terms that imply a judgment of the internal forum. Rather, they use the words public, manifest, notorious, etc. – terms corresponding to the external forum.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">F.X. Wernz, P. Vidal (1943): “Through <u><b>notorious</b></u><b> </b>and openly revealed heresy, <b>the Roman Pontiff, should he fall into heresy, by that very fact is deemed to be deprived of the power of jurisdiction even before any declaratory judgment of the Church</b>…”<sup>35</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Canon 192, <i>1917 Code of Canon Law:</i> “A person may be <b>unwillingly deprived </b>of, <b>or removed from, an office, either by operation of law </b>or an act of the lawful superior.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Canon 188.4, <i>1917 Code of Canon Law:</i> “There are certain causes which effect the tacit (silent) resignation of an office, <b>which resignation is accepted in advance by operation of the law, and hence is effective without any declaration</b>. These causes are… (4) <u>if he has publicly fallen away from the faith.</u>”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">What is a public defection from the faith?</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Canon 2197.1, <i>1917 Code of Canon Law:</i> “A Crime is <i>public</i>: (1) if it is already commonly known or the circumstances are such as to lead to the conclusion that it can and will easily become so…”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Thus, we have shown in great detail why it’s utterly false to assert that the Vatican II antipopes are merely “material heretics.” They cannot be material heretics because 1) they know very well of the dogmas which they deny; 2) they are bound to know the Catholic Faith as “bishops,” especially the dogmas which they deny; and 3) they lack and contradict the essential mysteries of Faith which one must hold to be a Catholic.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="Objection-5" style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-size: 16px; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"></span></span><p style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: 16px; line-height: 0.8cm; padding: 0.15cm;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Objection 5): The Church cannot exist without a pope, or at least it cannot exist for 40 years without a pope, as sedevacantists say…</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-top: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Answer: The Church has existed for years without a pope, and does so every time a pope dies. The Church has experienced a papal interregnum (i.e. period without a pope) over 200 different times in Church history. The longest papal interregnum (before the Vatican II apostasy) was between Pope St. Marcellinus (296-304) and Pope St. Marcellus (308-309). It lasted for more than three and a half years.<sup>36</sup> Further, theologians teach that the Church can exist <i><u>for even decades without a pope</u></i>.</span></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;">FR. EDMUND JAMES O’REILLY CRUSHES THE NON-SEDEVACANTISTS’ MAIN ARGUMENT ON THE LENGTH OF A PAPAL INTERREGNUM (PERIOD WITHOUT A POPE) BY TEACHING THAT THE CHURCH CAN EXIST FOR DECADES WITHOUT A POPE</span></b></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Fr. Edmund James O’Reilly was an eminent theologian who lived at the time of Vatican I. Writing <i><u><b>after</b></u></i><i><b> </b></i>Vatican I and its definitions on the perpetuity of the Papal Office, he taught that God could leave the Church without a pope for over 39 years – e.g., during the entire span of the Great Western Schism (1378-1417). Here is a quote from Father O’Reilly’s discussion of the Great Western Schism:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“We may here stop to inquire what is to be said of the position, at that time, of the three claimants, and their rights with regard to the Papacy. In the first place, there was all through, from the death of Gregory XI in 1378, a pope – with the exception, of course, of the intervals between deaths and elections to fill up the vacancies thereby created. There was, I say, at every given time a pope, really invested with the dignity of the Vicar of Christ and Head of the Church, whatever opinions might exist among many as to his genuineness; <u><b>not that an interregnum covering the whole period would have been impossible or inconsistent with the promises of Christ, for this is by no means manifest</b></u>, but that, as a matter of fact, there was not such an interregnum.”<sup>37</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>Fr. O’Reilly says that an interregnum (a period without a pope) covering the entire period of the Great Western Schism is by no means incompatible with the promises of Christ about His Church</b>. The period Fr. O’Reilly is speaking about began in 1378 with the death of Pope Gregory XI and ended essentially in 1417 when Pope Martin V was elected. <b>That would be a 39-year interregnum (period without a pope). </b>And Fr. O’Reilly was one of the most eminent theologians of the 19<sup>th </sup>Century.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It’s obvious that Fr. O’Reilly is on the side of those who, in rejecting the Vatican II antipopes, hold the possibility of a long-term vacancy of the Holy See. In fact, on page 287 of his book, Fr. O’Reilly gives this prophetic warning:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.01cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“The great schism of the West suggests to me a reflection which I take the liberty of expressing here. <b>If this schism had not occurred, the hypothesis of such a thing happening would appear to many chimerical [absurd]. They would say it could not be; God would not permit the Church to come into so unhappy a situation</b>. Heresies might spring up and spread and last painfully long, through the fault and to the perdition of their authors and abettors, to the great distress too of the faithful, increased by actual persecution in many places where the heretics were dominant. <b>But that the true Church should remain between thirty and forty years without a thoroughly ascertained Head, and representative of Christ on earth, this would not be</b>. <u><b>Yet it has been</b></u><u>; </u><u><b>and we have no guarantee that it will not be again</b></u>, though we may fervently hope otherwise. What I would infer is, that <b>we must not be too ready to pronounce on what God may permit. We know with absolute certainty that He will fulfill His promises</b>… We may also trust that He will do a great deal more than what He has bound Himself by His promises. We may look forward with cheering probability to exemption for the future from some of the trouble and misfortunes that have befallen in the past.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm; margin-top: 0.01cm; text-indent: 1cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“<b>But we, or our successors in the future generations of Christians, shall perhaps see stranger evils than have yet been experienced</b>, even before the immediate approach of that great winding up of all things on earth that will precede the day of judgment. I am not setting up for a prophet, nor pretending to see unhappy wonders, of which I have no knowledge whatever. <u><b>All I mean to convey is that contingencies regarding the Church, not excluded by the Divine promises, cannot be regarded as practically impossible, just because they would be terrible and distressing in a very high degree</b></u>.”<sup>38</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This is an excellent point. Fr. O’Reilly explains that if the Great Western Schism had never occurred, Catholics would say that such a situation (three competing claimants to the Papacy with no thoroughly ascertained head for decades) is impossible – just like those today who say the sedevacantist “thesis” is impossible, even though the facts prove that it is true.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Great Western Schism did happen, Fr. O’Reilly says, and we have no guarantee that <u>worse</u> things, that are not excluded by divine promises, won’t happen. There is nothing contrary to indefectibility in saying that we haven’t had a pope since the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958. <b>There is everything contrary to the indefectibility of the Catholic Church in asserting that true popes could promulgate Vatican II, officially endorse false and pagan religions, promulgate the Protestant New Mass, and hold that non-Catholics don’t need to convert for salvation</b>. Leaving the Church without a pope for an extended period of the Great Apostasy is the punishment inflicted by God on our generation for the wickedness of the world.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Prophecy of St. Nicholas of Fluh (1417-1487): “The Church will be punished because the majority of her members, high and low, will become so perverted. <b>The Church will sink deeper and deeper until she will at last seem to be extinguished, and the succession of Peter and the other Apostles to have expired</b>. But, after this, she will be victoriously exalted in the sight of all doubters.” <sup>39</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="Objection-6" style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-size: 16px; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"></span></span><p style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: 16px; line-height: 0.8cm; padding: 0.15cm;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Objection 6): Vatican I’s definitions on the perpetuity of the Papal Office contradict the claims of the sedevacantists.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-top: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Answer: Vatican I’s dogmas <u>don’t</u> contradict a vacancy of the Papal See; in fact, it’s only those who reject the Vatican II antipopes who can consistently accept these papal dogmas, since Benedict XVI utterly rejects them.</span></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;">ANSWERS TO SPECIFIC PASSAGES FROM VATICAN I CITED BY NONSEDEVACANTISTS – AND THE ABSURDITY OF A “POPE” WHO DOESN’T BELIEVE IN VATICAN I</span></b></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">People attempting to refute sedevacantism often cite three passages from Vatican I. We will specifically address all three of those passages. Before we do that, we must emphasize the fact we just discussed: there have been long periods of time when the Church has had no pope. We’ve already mentioned the three and a half year interregnum between Pope St. Marcellinus and Pope St. Marcellus.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Although Pope St. Gregory VII died on May 25, 1085, it was not until almost two years later - May 9, 1087 - that his successor, Pope Victor III, was elected. On June 25, 1243, Pope Innocent IV became the 179th successor to St. Peter; his immediate predecessor, Pope Celestine IV, however, had died over a year and a half before - November 10, 1241. Later in the same century, Catholics would be forced to wait nearly three years as the Church, upon the death of Pope Clement IV on November 29, 1268, delayed naming a new Pope until St. Gregory X was picked on September 1, 1271. Other examples of a year or more space between popes can be cited, the point here being that while the quick transfer of papal power has been common, exceptions are to be found. <b>Today’s crisis, then, certainly is not the first time in which the Church has suffered for a significant period of time without a pope</b>.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">We’ve already discussed antipopes who reigned from Rome while posing as the pope, something we saw in the case of Anacletus II and the Great Western Schism. There is also a theological axiom, “plus or minus does not mutate the species, a change in degree does not affect the principle.” If the Church did not defect or lose perpetual papal succession during a 3 year and 7 month vacancy, then the Church will not defect or lose perpetual papal succession during a 40 year vacancy. The principle is the same, unless one can cite a specific teaching of the Church which declares a limit to a papal interregnum.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Since there is <u>no teaching which puts a limit on such a papal interregnum</u> (a period without a pope), <u>and since the definitions of Vatican I on the perpetuity of Papal Office make absolutely no mention of papal vacancies</u> or how long they can last, if the definitions of Vatican I disprove the sedevacantist position (as some claim), then they also disprove the indefectibility of the Catholic Church – every single time the Church finds itself without a pope. But this is impossible and ridiculous, of course.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>Thus, in order to be consistent</b>, non-sedevacantists who quote Vatican I against the sedevacantist “thesis” must argue that the Church can never be without a pope, not even for a moment (a patent absurdity). But this is exactly what one of them argued in a very interesting slip-up in an article. This serves to reveal his profound bias and the errors at the heart of his position:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Chris Ferrara, “Opposing the Sedevacantist Enterprise,” Catholic Family News, August 2005, p. 19: “<u><b>Never</b></u><b> in Her history has the Church, </b><u><b>even for a moment</b></u><b>, been without a successor to Peter</b>, validly elected upon the death of his validly elected predecessor.”<sup>40</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This is obviously absurd and completely false. The writer knows that this is false because, in the next sentence, he declares:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Ferrara: “Indeed, <b>the longest interregnum between two popes in Church history was only two years and five months</b>, between the death of Pope Nicholas IV (1292) and the election of Pope Celestine V (1294).”<sup>41</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">First, the interregnum he mentions was not the longest in Church history (as we saw above). Second, he admits that the Church existed without a pope for years. So there have been quite a few “moments” in Church history that the Church has been without a pope. Why would he say that the Church cannot be without a pope “even for a moment” when he knows that this is not true?</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Now that the fact that the Church can be without a pope for a long period of time has been established, let’s look at the passages of Vatican I:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">1. Vatican I declares that the Papacy is the Perpetual Principle and Visible Foundation of Unity</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Vatican I, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church of Christ, Sess. 4, July 18, 1870: “But, that the episcopacy itself might be one and undivided, and that the entire multitude of the faithful through priests closely connected with one another might be preserved in the unity of faith and communion, <u><b>placing Peter over the other apostles He established in him the perpetual principle and visible foundation of both unities</b></u>, upon whose strength the eternal temple might be erected, and the sublimity of the Church might rise in the firmness of this faith.”<sup>42</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">That what Christ instituted in St. Peter (THE OFFICE OF PETER) remains the perpetual principle and visible foundation of unity <u>EVEN TODAY, AND WHEN THERE IS NO POPE</u>, is proven every time a Catholic who is a sedevacantist converts an Eastern “Orthodox” Schismatic to the Catholic Faith.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Catholic (who is a sedevacantist) charitably informs the Eastern Schismatic that <u>he (the Eastern Schismatic) is not in the unity of the Church</u> because he doesn’t accept what Christ instituted in St. Peter (the office of the Papacy), in addition to not accepting what the successors of St. Peter have bindingly taught in history (the Council of Trent, etc.). <u><b>This is a clear example of how the Office of the Papacy still serves – and will always serve – as the perpetual principle of visible unity, distinguishing the true faithful from the false (and the true Church from the false)</b></u>. This is true when there is no pope, and for the sedevacantist today. This dogmatic teaching of Vatican I doesn’t exclude periods without a pope and it is not contrary to the sedevacantist thesis in any way.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In fact, while this definition remains true for the sedevacantist, it must be stated clearly that <u><b>THIS DEFINITION OF VATICAN I ONLY REMAINS TRUE FOR THE SEDEVACANTIST</b></u><b>. </b>THIS DEFINITION OF VATICAN I ON THE PAPACY BEING THE PERPETUAL PRINCIPLE AND VISIBLE FOUNDATION OF UNITY IS MOST CERTAINLY NOT TRUE FOR THOSE UNDER BENEDICT XVI. This teaching of Vatican I only remains true for the sedevacantist (not those under Benedict XVI) because Vatican II teaches just the opposite:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Vatican II document, <i>Lumen Gentium </i>(# 15): “<u>For several reasons the Church recognizes that it is joined to those who</u>, though baptized and so honoured with the Christian name, <u>do not profess the faith in its entirety or do not preserve communion under the successor of St. Peter</u>.”<sup>43</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">We see that Vatican II teaches that the Papacy is not the visible foundation of the unities of faith and communion. It teaches that those who reject the Papacy are in communion with the Church. Since this is the official teaching of the Vatican II sect and its antipopes, those who adhere to them contradict the above teaching of Vatican I.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Second, the teaching of Vatican I on the perpetuity of the Papal Office only remains true for the sedevacantist because <u><b>Benedict XVI explicitly teaches that accepting the Papacy is not essential for unity</b></u>!</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Benedict XVI, <i>Principles of Catholic Theology</i> (1982), p. 198: “<b>Nor is it possible, on the other hand, for him to regard as the only possible form and, consequently, </b><u><b>as binding on all Christians the form this primacy [the Papacy] has taken in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries</b></u>. <u>The symbolic gestures of Pope Paul VI and, in particular, his kneeling before the representative of the Ecumenical Patriarch [the schismatic Patriarch Athenagoras] were an attempt to express precisely this</u>…”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">We’ve already shown – but it was necessary to quote it again here – that Benedict XVI specifically mentions, and then bluntly rejects, the traditional teaching of the Catholic Church that the Protestants and Eastern Schismatics must be converted to the Catholic Faith <u>and accept Vatican I (“the full scope of the definition of 1870”</u>) for unity and salvation. He specifically rejects that the dogmatic definition of Vatican I (accepting the Papacy, etc.) is binding for Church unity. Besides the fact that this is another clear example of manifest heresy from the Vatican II antipopes, <b>this proves that BENEDICT XVI (THE MAN THEY ACTUALLY CLAIM IS THE “POPE”) DENIES THE VERY DOGMA FROM VATICAN I THAT THIS OBJECTION BRINGS FORWARD</b>!</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">2. The Papacy will endure forever</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Vatican I, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church of Christ, Sess. 4, Chap. 2: “Moreover, <b>what the Chief of pastors and the Great Pastor of sheep, the Lord Jesus, established in the blessed Apostle Peter </b>for the perpetual salvation and perennial good of the Church, this by the same Author <b>must endure always in the Church which was founded upon a rock and will endure firm until the end of ages</b>.”<sup>45</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Yes, what Christ instituted in St. Peter (i.e., THE OFFICE OF THE PAPACY) must endure always until the end of ages. What is the Office of the Papacy? The Office of the Papacy is the office of</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Peter which is occupied by every true and lawful Bishop of Rome. This means and guarantees that every time there is a true and valid occupant of the office he is endowed by Christ with infallibility (in his authoritative and binding teaching capacity), he is endowed with supreme jurisdiction over the universal Church, and he is the visible head of the Church. <b>That remains true for every true and lawful occupant of the Papal Office until the end of time. This doesn’t mean that the Church will always have such an occupant, as Church history and more than 200 papal vacancies prove</b>, nor does it mean that antipopes reigning from Rome are an impossibility (such as Antipope Anacletus II, who reigned in Rome from 1130-1138). This definition proves nothing for the non-sedevacantist, so let’s move on.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">3. Peter will have perpetual successors in the Primacy over the Universal Church</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Pius IX, <i>First Vatican Council</i>, Sess. 4, Chap. 2, [Canon]. “<u>If anyone then says that it is not</u> from the institution of Christ the Lord Himself, or <u>by divine right that the blessed Peter has perpetual successors in the primacy over the universal Church</u>, <u>or that the Roman Pontiff is not </u><u>the successor of blessed Peter in the same primacy</u>, let him be anathema.”<sup>46</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This is the favorite canon of those who argue against the sedevacantist “thesis”; but, as we will see, it also proves nothing for their position. Words and distinctions are very important. Understanding distinctions and words can often be the very difference between Protestantism and Catholicism.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The canon from Vatican I condemns those who deny “<i>that Peter has </i><i><u>perpetual successors in the primacy</u></i><i> over the universal Church</i>.” Notice the phrase “perpetual successors <b>IN THE PRIMACY</b>.” This, as we have seen, does not mean and cannot mean that we will always have a pope. That is why it doesn’t say that “we will always have a pope.” It’s a fact that there have been periods without a pope. So what does the canon mean?</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In understanding this canon, we must remember that there are schismatics who hold that St. Peter himself was given the primacy over the universal Church by Jesus Christ, <u>but that the primacy over the universal Church stopped with St. Peter</u>. <b>They hold that the Bishops of Rome aren’t successors to the same primacy that St. Peter had</b>. They hold that the full-blown force of the primacy doesn’t descend to the popes, even though they succeed St. Peter as Bishop of Rome. <b>Again: the “Orthodox” schismatics </b><u><b>would admit that the Bishops of Rome are successors of St. Peter in a certain way</b></u><b> because they succeed him as Bishops of Rome, </b><u><b>but not successors with the same jurisdictional primacy</b></u><b> </b>over the universal Church which St. Peter held in his life. This is the heresy that is the subject of the canon above.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This heresy – which denies that a pope is the successor of St. Peter <u>in the same primacy </u><i><u>perpetually</u></i> <i>(that is, every time there is a pope until the end of time, he is a successor in the same primacy</i>, with the same authority as St. Peter possessed) – is precisely what this canon condemns.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Pius IX, <i>First Vatican Council</i>, Sess. 4, Chap. 2, [Canon]. “<u>If anyone then says that it is not</u> from the institution of Christ the Lord Himself, or <u>by divine right that the blessed Peter has perpetual successors in the primacy over the universal Church</u>, or that the Roman Pontiff is not the successor of blessed Peter <u>in the same primacy</u>, let him be anathema.”<sup>47</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">When we understand this we clearly see the meaning of this canon. This is emphasized at the end by the words “or that the Roman Pontiff is not the successor of blessed Peter <u><b>in the same primacy</b></u>” let him be anathema. The canon is <u>not </u>declaring that we will have a pope at all times or that there won’t be gaps, as <u>we clearly have had</u>. The meaning of the canon is clear from what it says. It condemns those who deny that Peter has perpetual successors in the primacy – that is, those who deny that every time there is a true and lawful pope until the end of time he is a successor in the same primacy, with the same authority that St. Peter possessed.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This canon proves nothing for the non-sedevacantist, but it does prove something for us. Remember, Benedict XVI also rejects this dogma on the primacy of the popes!</span></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">BENEDICT XVI COMPLETELY REJECTS THIS CANON AND VATICAN I</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Benedict XVI, <i>Principles of Catholic Theology </i>(1982), p. 198: “<u><b>Nor is it possible, on the other hand, for him to regard as the only possible form and, consequently, as binding on all Christians the form this primacy has taken in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries </b></u><i><u>[ed.- This means the schismatics don’t have to accept Vatican I]</u></i><i>. </i><u><b>The symbolic gestures of Pope </b></u><u><b>Paul VI and, in particular, his kneeling before the representative of the Ecumenical Patriarch [the schismatic Patriarch Athenagoras] were an attempt to express precisely this</b></u><b> </b>and, by such signs, to point the way out of the historical impasse... <u><b>In other words, Rome must not require more from the East with respect to the doctrine of the primacy than had been formulated and was lived in the first millennium</b></u>. <b>When the Patriarch Athenagoras </b>[the non-Catholic, schismatic Patriarch], on July 25, 1967, on the occasion of the Pope’s visit to Phanar, <b>designated him as the successor of St. Peter, as the most esteemed among us, as one who presides in charity, </b><u><b>this great Church leader was expressing the ecclesial content of the doctrine of the primacy as it was known in the first millennium</b></u><b>. </b><u><b>Rome need not ask for more</b></u><u>.</u>”<sup>48</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This means, once again, that <b>according to Benedict XVI all Christians are </b><u><b>not</b></u><b> bound to believe in the Papacy as defined by Vatican I in 1870. This means that the “Orthodox” schismatics are free to reject the Papacy. </b>This is a blatant denial of Vatican Council I and the necessity of accepting the primacy by the man who claims to be “the pope.” Who will cry out against this abominable madness?</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Pius IX, <i>Vatican Council I</i>, 1870, Sess. 4, Chap. 3, ex cathedra: "… <u><b>all the faithful of Christ must believe that the Apostolic See and the Roman Pontiff hold primacy over the whole world</b></u><b>, and the Pontiff of Rome himself is the successor of the blessed Peter, the chief of the apostles, and is the true vicar of Christ and head of the whole Church</b>... Furthermore We teach and declare that the Roman Church, by the disposition of the Lord, holds the sovereignty of ordinary power over all others… <u><b>This is the doctrine of Catholic truth from which no one can deviate</b></u><b> and keep his </b><i><b>faith </b></i><b>and salvation</b>."<sup>49</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Moreover, notice that Benedict XVI admits that Paul VI’s symbolic gestures with the schismatic Patriarch “were an attempt to express precisely this” – that is to say, his gestures (such as kneeling before the representative of the non-Catholic, schismatic Patriarch Athenagoras) expressed that the schismatics <u>don’t</u> have to believe in the Papacy and Vatican I! Consider this a smashing vindication of all that we have said with regard to John Paul II’s incessant gestures toward the schismatics: giving them relics; giving them donations; praising their “Churches”; sitting on equal chairs with them; signing common declarations with them; lifting the excommunications against them.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">We pointed out again and again that these actions alone (not even considering his other statements) constituted a teaching that the schismatics don’t have to accept the dogma of the Papacy. Countless false traditionalists and members of the Vatican II Church denied this and tried to explain these gestures away as either merely scandalous or something else, but not heretical. Well, here we have Ratzinger – now Benedict XVI, the new “head” of the Vatican II Church – admitting precisely what we said.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In the section on Benedict XVI’s heresies, we covered in even more detail his other denials of Vatican I. We will not repeat all of that here; please consult that section for more.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">So, please tell me, dear reader: who denies Vatican I? Who denies the dogmas on the perpetuity, authority, and prerogatives of the Papal Office? Who denies what Christ instituted in St. Peter?</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Is it the sedevacantists, who correctly point out that a man who denies Vatican I is outside the Church, outside of the unity – since he rejects, among other things, the perpetual principle of unity (the Papacy) – and therefore cannot occupy an office or head a Church which he doesn’t even believe in?</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Robert Bellarmine (1610), Doctor of the Church: "<b>A pope who is a manifest heretic automatically (</b><i><b>per se</b></i><b>) ceases to be pope and head</b>, just as he ceases automatically to be a Christian and a member of the Church. Wherefore, he can be judged and punished by the Church. <u>This is the teaching of all the ancient Fathers</u> who teach that manifest heretics immediately lose all jurisdiction."</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Francis De Sales, Doctor of the Church: “<b>It would indeed be </b><u><b>one of the strangest monsters that could be seen</b></u><b> – </b><u><b>if the head of the Church </b></u><i><u><b>were not of the Church</b></u></i>.”<sup>50</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Or are the real deniers of the Papacy and Vatican I those who profess union with a man who clearly doesn’t even believe in Vatican I; a man who doesn’t even believe that the Papacy and Vatican I are binding on all Christians; a man who doesn’t even believe that the Papacy was held in the first millennium?</span></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">FRANCIS COMPLETELY REJECTS THIS CANON AND VATICAN I</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Francis, May 10, 2013 Greeting to schismatic “Orthodox Pope” of Alexandria, Egypt</i>: “Your <u><b>Holiness</b></u>, in sincerely assuring you of my prayers <u><b>that the whole flock entrusted to your pastoral care</b></u> may be ever faithful to the Lord’s call, <b>I invoke the protection of both St. Peter and St. Mark</b>.” <i>L’ Osservatore Romano</i>, May 15, 2013, p. 3.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Francis calls the schismatic “Holiness”, thus calling schism “holy”, and says God entrusts his flock to a schismatic. He also calls him a pastor which means he believes the schismatic leader is a true jurisdictional leader and true spiritual guide of the one true Church of Christ.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Eastern Schismatics (the so-called “Orthodox”, whose leader Francis calls “holiness”) reject the dogma of the Papacy, which means that they reject the supreme authority of all the true popes in history. They reject the dogma of Papal Infallibility: the truth that a pope teaches infallibly when speaking from the Chair of Peter. They reject the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, they refuse to accept the last 13 Councils of the Roman Catholic Church, they deny that the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Second person of the Trinity (the Son), and they allow divorce and re-marriage.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Leo XIII, <i>Satis Cognitum</i> (# 15): “From this it must be clearly understood that Bishops are deprived of the right and power of ruling, <b>if they deliberately secede from Peter and his successors</b>; <b>because, by this secession, they are separated from the foundation on which the whole edifice must rest. They are therefore outside the edifice itself</b>…”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In <i>On Heaven and Earth</i>, pp. 217-218, Francis recommends that different denominations “walk together in a reconciled diversity… by doing things together, by praying together… <u>without nullifying the diverse traditions</u>”.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Here Francis promotes the heresy that we should not convert non-Catholics but walk and pray together with them <b>without nullifying their diverse heretical and schismatic traditions</b>.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Here are the words of a real Catholic pope, Pope Benedict XIV, on the exact same topic.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Benedict XIV, <i>Allatae Sunt </i>(# 19), July 26, 1755: “First, the missionary who is attempting with God’s help to bring back Greek and eastern schismatics to unity <b>should devote all his </b><b>effort to the single objective of delivering them from doctrines at variance with the Catholic faith</b>.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Benedict XIV, <i>Allatae Sunt </i>(# 19): “<b>For </b><u><b>the only work entrusted to the missionary</b></u> is that of recalling the Oriental to the Catholic faith…”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">One can easily see the difference between the two religions: the Catholic religion teaches that all of its teachings must be accepted and that non-Catholics need to be converted. The non-Catholic religion of Antipope Francis (the Vatican II religion) teaches that the Catholic faith is meaningless and that non-Catholics should not be converted.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Pius XI, <i>Mortalium Animos</i> (# 10), Jan. 6, 1928: “… <u><b>for the union of Christians can only be promoted by promoting the return to the one true Church of Christ of those who are separated from it</b></u>…”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">On p. 9 of the <i>Thinking Faith</i> interview with Antonio Spadaro, Francis is asked about his ecumenism and the schismatic “Orthodox” who don’t accept Papal Infallibility and the Papal Primacy of Jurisdiction. He says:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“Maybe it is time to change the method of the Synod of Bishops, because it seems to me that the current method is not dynamic. This will also have ecumenical value, especially with our Orthodox brethren. From them we can learn more about the meaning of episcopal collegiality and the tradition of synodality.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">He goes on to say that it is important to “<b>recognize what the </b><u><b>Spirit has sown in the other as a gift</b></u><b> for us</b>.” <i>Thinking Faith</i>, Sept. 19, 2013, p. 9.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Before I continue, note he’s saying that the <u><b>Holy Spirit</b></u> sows things in schismatics <u>who reject Catholic dogma</u>. <u><b>To reject Catholic dogma is to reject Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, the Faith, etc</b></u>. He’s saying we should learn from them how to work on the local level, how to use synods etc.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope St. Celestine I, <i>Council of Ephesus</i>, 431: “… <u>ALL</u> HERETICS <u>corrupt the true expressions of the </u><u><b>Holy Spirit</b></u> with their own evil minds and they draw down on their own heads an inextinguishable flame.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">He goes on to say:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“I want to continue the discussions that was begun in 2007 by the joint [Catholic-Orthodox] commission on how to exercise the Petrine Primacy, which led to the signing of the Ravenna Document.” <i>Thinking Faith</i>, Sept. 19, 2013, p. 9.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In 2007, a commission under Benedict XVI officially approved the Ravenna Document. The Ravenna Document was a joint statement by the Vatican II sect and the schismatic Orthodox. This statement <u>officially approved the “Orthodox” view of the Church</u>, how they work locally; it clearly teaches that they’re in the Church, since they have the Eucharist, etc. That’s a heresy that’s also taught in Vatican II.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It praises autocephalous Churches, that is schismatic independent churches, <u>which reject the Papacy and appoints its own head</u>, not subject to the authority of an external patriarch or archbishop. <u>It says </u><u>that they are an expression of the Spirit of the Church</u>, and it <u>denies the necessity for the schismatics to embrace Catholic teaching on the Papacy</u> in various ways. <b>It’s complete heresy and schism. </b><u><b>Francis says that’s the way to go... That heresy and schism is the way!</b></u></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">But that’s not even the worst thing he says about schismatic Orthodox in this passage, or the most theologically significant thing.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The most important thing he says comes next. He is then asked how he envisions the future unity of the Church in the light of these comments. He answers, “<b>We must walk united with our differences: </b><u><b>there is no other way to become one</b></u><b>. This is the way of Jesus</b>.” <i>Thinking Faith</i>, Sept. 19, 2013, p. 10.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">That’s an open blatant statement that the schismatic Orthodox do not need to be, and shall not be converted to the Catholic Faith. He says that there is no other way to achieve unity; no other way to become one, <u>to walk united with our differences</u>, <u>that is with their rejection of the Papacy</u>.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">That is total heresy! It’s a denial of many Catholic dogmas, the necessity of the Catholic Faith for salvation, the necessity of the schismatics to convert, and it’s exactly opposite of what Pope Pius XI taught in <i>Mortalium Animos</i> in 1928. He said:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“… <b>for the union of Christians </b><u><b>can only be promoted by promoting the return to the one true Church of Christ of those who are separated from it</b></u>...”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Notice that Francis not only blatantly denies that teaching, proving that he’s a heretic, but, Pius XI says that the <u>only way to promote Christian unity is by telling them to convert</u>, whereas Francis says that the only way to promote unity is to walk united in differences. So he’s not only denying the Catholic teaching, he is saying that his view, his heretical view, <u>is the only way that must be followed</u>. It’s just total heresy and blasphemy!</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The answer is obvious to any sincere and honest person who considers these facts. It is Antipope Francis, Benedict XVI, John Paul II etc., and all who obstinately insist on union with him, who deny the Papacy; it is the sedevacantists who are faithful to the Papacy.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="Objection-7" style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-size: 16px; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"></span></span><p style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: 16px; line-height: 0.8cm; padding: 0.15cm;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Objection 7): No one can judge the Holy See… thus the Vatican II popes are true popes.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-top: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Answer: <u>First</u>, people need to understand what the teaching “No one can judge the Holy See” means. It comes from the early Church. In the early Church, when a bishop was accused of a crime, there would sometimes be a trial presided over by other bishops or by a patriarch of greater authority. These bishops would sit in judgment on the accused bishop. The Bishop of Rome, however, since he is the supreme bishop in the Church, cannot be subjected to any trial by other bishops or by other people.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope St. Nicholas, epistle (8), <i>Proposueramus quidem</i>, 865: “… Neither by Augustus, nor by all the clergy, nor by religious, nor by the people will the judge be judged… ‘<b>The first seat will not be judged by anyone</b>.’”<sup>51</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This is what “No one can judge the Holy See” means. It does not refer to recognizing a manifest heretic who claims to be the pope as one who is not a true pope. And this brings us to the second point, which is the most important in this regard.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><u>Second</u>, <b>the Holy See has told us that no heretic can be accepted as the valid occupant of the Holy See (the Pope)! </b>With the fullness of his authority, Pope Paul IV defined that anyone who has been promoted to the Papacy as a heretic is not a true and valid pope, and that he can be rejected as a warlock, heathen, publican and heresiarch.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Paul IV, Bull <i>Cum ex Apostolatus Officio</i>, Feb. 15, 1559: “6. In addition, [by this Our Constitution, which is to remain valid in perpetuity, We enact, determine, decree and define:] <u>that if ever at any time it shall appear that any Bishop, even if he be acting as an Archbishop, Patriarch or Primate; or any Cardinal of the aforesaid Roman Church, or, as has already been mentioned, any legate, </u><u><b>or even the Roman Pontiff, prior to his promotion or his elevation as Cardinal or Roman Pontiff, has deviated from the Catholic Faith or fallen into some heresy</b></u><b>:</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">(i<u>) the promotion or elevation, even if it shall have been uncontested and by the unanimous assent of all the Cardinals, shall be null, void and worthless</u>;</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">(ii) it shall not be possible for it to acquire validity (nor for it to be said that it has thus</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">acquired validity) through the acceptance of the office, of consecration, of subsequent authority, nor through possession of administration, nor through the putative enthronement of a Roman Pontiff, or Veneration, or obedience accorded to such by all, nor through the lapse of any period of time in the foregoing situation;</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">(iii) it shall not be held as partially legitimate in any way…</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">(vi) <u>those thus promoted or elevated shall be deprived automatically, and without need for any further declaration, of all dignity, position, honour, title, authority, office and power</u>…</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">7. Finally, [by this Our Constitution, which is to remain valid in perpetuity, We] also [enact, determine, define and decree]: that <u>any and all persons who would have been subject to those thus promoted or elevated if they had not previously deviated from the Faith</u>, become heretics, incurred schism or provoked or committed any or all of these, be they members of anysoever of the following categories:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">(i) the clergy, secular and religious; (ii) the laity; (iii) the Cardinals [etc.]… <u>shall be permitted at any time to withdraw with impunity from obedience</u> and devotion to those thus promoted or elevated <u>and to avoid them as warlocks, heathens, publicans, and heresiarchs</u> (the same subject persons, nevertheless, remaining bound by the duty of fidelity and obedience to any future Bishops, Archbishops, Patriarchs, Primates, Cardinals and Roman Pontiff canonically entering).</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">10. No one at all, therefore, may infringe this document of our approbation, re- introduction, sanction, statute and derogation of wills and decrees, or by rash presumption contradict it. If anyone, however, should presume to attempt this, let him know that he is destined to incur the wrath of Almighty God and of the blessed Apostles, Peter and Paul.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Given in Rome at Saint Peter's in the year of the Incarnation of the Lord 1559, 15th February, in the fourth year of our Pontificate.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">+ I, Paul, Bishop of the Catholic Church…”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Thus, one is obeying and adhering to the teaching of the Holy See in rejecting as invalid the heretical post-Vatican II claimants. They are not true popes, according to the teaching of the Holy See.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Third, it was near the beginning of this Bull, prior to the declaration that the faithful can reject as totally invalid the “election” of a heretic, that Pope Paul IV repeated the teaching that no one can judge the pope.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Paul IV, Bull <i>Cum ex Apostolatus Officio</i>, Feb. 15, 1559: “1. In assessing Our duty and the situation now prevailing, We have been weighed upon by the thought that a matter of this kind [i.e. error in respect of the Faith] is so grave and so dangerous that <b>the Roman Pontiff, who is the representative upon earth of God and our God and Lord Jesus Christ, who holds the fullness of power over peoples and kingdoms, </b><u><b>who may judge all and be judged by none in this world</b></u>, may nonetheless be contradicted if he be found to have deviated from the Faith.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Could there be a more stunning confirmation that the sedevacantist position doesn’t contradict the teaching that “No one can judge the pope or the Holy See” than the fact that Pope Paul IV’s Bull repeats this teaching about no one judging the pope <u><b>immediately prior to declaring that the faithful must recognize as invalid the election of a heretic</b></u><b>!</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-top: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Paul IV, unlike non-sedevacantists who use the “no one can judge the Holy See” argument, correctly distinguishes between a true Catholic pope whom none can judge, and a manifest heretic (e.g. Benedict XVI) who has shown himself to be a non-Catholic <u>who is not the pope,</u> since he is outside of the true Faith. This is striking proof that sedevacantists who hold as invalid the “election” of the manifest heretic Joseph Ratzinger <u>are not judging a pope</u>.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Moreover, in judging that Francis I, Benedict XVI etc., is a heretic and is not the Pope (and is therefore an Antipope), one is not judging the Holy See; rather, as the teaching already quoted shows, one is correctly identifying that a manifest heretic is outside the Church and therefore cannot occupy the Holy See.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Pius XII, <i>Mystici Corporis Christi </i>(# 23), June 29, 1943: “For not every sin, however grave it may be, is such as of its own nature <b>to sever a man from the Body of the Church, as does schism or heresy or apostasy.”</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">We can see that it’s the teaching of the Catholic Church that a man is severed from the Church and Salvation by heresy, schism or apostasy.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In two of his coronation sermons, Pope Innocent III (1198-1216) - considered one of the greatest canonists of his time - explained how a pope can “wither away into heresy” and “not believe” the Faith and that a pope who falls into the sin of heresy is already “judged.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Innocent III: “Without faith it is impossible to please God.’… And so the faith of the Apostolic See never failed, even in the most trying circumstances [turbatione], but always continued intact and undiminished, so that the privilege of Peter remained constant and unshaken. “To this end faith is so necessary for me that, though I have for other sins God alone as my judge, <u>it is alone for a sin committed against faith that I may be judged by the Church</u>. [propter solum peccatum quod in fide commititur possem ab Ecclesia judicari.] <u><b>For ‘he who does not believe is already judged</b></u>’.” (Sermo 2: In Consecratione, PL 218:656)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Innocent III: “You are the salt of the earth… <b>Still less can the Roman Pontiff boast, for he can be judged by men — or rather he can be shown to be judged, </b><u><b>if he manifestly ‘loses his savor’ in heresy</b></u>. [quia potest ab hominibus judicari, vel potius judicatus ostendi, si videlicet evanescit in haeresim.] For he who does not believe is already judged.” (Sermo 4: In Consecratione, PL 218:670)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Another translation of Sermon 4 reads:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Innocent III: “The Roman Pontiff has no superior but God. Who, therefore, (should a pope ‘lose his savor’) could cast him out or trample him under foot—since of the pope it is said ‘gather thy flock into thy fold’? Truly, he should not flatter himself about his power, nor should he rashly glory in his honor and high estate, because the less he is judged by man, the more he is judged by God. Still the less can the Roman Pontiff glory because he can be judged by men or rather, <b>can be shown to be already judged, </b><u><b>if, for example, he should wither away into heresy</b></u>; because “he who does not believe is already judged.” (St. John 3:18) In such a case it should be said of him: ‘If salt should lose its savor, it is good for nothing but to be cast out and trampled under foot by men.’” (Sermo 4: In Consecratione, PL 218:670)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A pope who commits the sin of heresy, then, can indeed be “shown to be judged.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Robert Bellarmine: “<b>A pope who is a manifest heretic automatically (</b><i><b>per se</b></i><b>) ceases to be pope and head</b>, just as he ceases automatically to be a Christian and a member of the Church. <b>Wherefore</b>, <b>he can be judged and punished</b> by the Church. <i>This is the teaching of all the ancient Fathers</i> who teach that manifest heretics immediately lose all jurisdiction.” (<i>De Romano Pontifice</i>, II, 30)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And the truth expressed by these saints, such as St. Robert Bellarmine, that a heretic cannot be the Pope, is not merely their fallible opinion, as some defenders of Francis or Benedict XVI have argued; rather, the teaching expressed by these saints is a dogmatic fact. It is rooted in the infallible dogma that heretics cannot be members of the Catholic Church, which is why Pope Innocent III taught that a Pope is “already judged, if, for example, he should wither away into heresy.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Therefore, to hold the position that a heretic can be the Pope is heretical. So let no defender of Francis or Benedict XVI tell you that it does not matter whether or not he is a heretic, or that even if he is a heretic he can still be the Pope. No, this is not true, as we have proven. If Francis or Benedict XVI is the Pope, he cannot be a heretic. He must be a Catholic and a member of the Catholic Church. But, as we have shown, Francis or Benedict XVI is definitely neither a Catholic nor a member of the Catholic Church. Therefore, he absolutely cannot be its head.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Fourth, many of the people who attempt to defend the Vatican II “popes” by saying “no one can judge the Holy See” are themselves guilty of judging the most authoritative actions of the men they think occupy the Holy See. Most of the traditionalists reject Vatican II, the “canonizations” of the Vatican II “popes,” etc. This is a schismatic position, which rejects the authoritative actions of that which they deem to be the Holy See. It proves that these “popes” are not popes at all and do not, in fact, occupy the Holy See.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="Objection-8" style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-size: 16px; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"></span></span><p style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: 16px; line-height: 0.8cm; padding: 0.15cm;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Objection 8): St. Robert Bellarmine said that one cannot depose a pope, but that one can licitly resist him. Sedevacantists judge, punish and depose the pope…</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm; margin-top: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Robert Bellarmine, <i>De Romano Pontifice</i>, Book II, Chap. 29: “Just as it is licit to resist the Pontiff who attacks the body, so also is it licit to resist him who attacks souls or destroys the civil order or above all, tries to destroy the Church. I say that it is licit to resist him by not doing what he orders and by impeding the execution of his will. <b>It is not licit, however, to judge him, to punish him, or to depose him</b>.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Answer: Many of those who believe Benedict XVI is the pope, yet reject the official actions of his “Church,” such as Vatican II, attempt to see a justification for their false position in this passage from St. Robert Bellarmine. In fact, this passage is one of the most commonly used pieces of evidence that people attempt to throw against the sedevacantist position. Unfortunately, <b>the passage has been completely misapplied and distorted</b>.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">First, in the chapter immediately following the above quote from Bellarmine, he teaches this:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“<b>A pope who is a manifest heretic automatically (</b><i><b>per se</b></i><b>) ceases to be pope and head</b>, just as he ceases automatically to be a Christian and a member of the Church. <b>Wherefore</b>, <b>he can be judged and punished </b>by the Church. <i>This is the teaching of all the ancient Fathers </i>who teach that manifest heretics immediately lose all jurisdiction.”<sup>52</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Now, hold on a second. In chapter 29 (the quote cited in objection 2), St. Robert says that you cannot “judge, punish or depose” the pope. In chapter 30, he says that a manifest heretic ceases to be pope (i.e., he is deposed) and he can be “judged and punished” by the Church.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">My question to the objector is this: <i>Is St. Robert Bellarmine an idiot?</i></span></p><center style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"><table border="1" bordercolor="" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" style="background-color: transparent; border-spacing: 0px; empty-cells: hide; width: 85%px;"><colgroup><col width="122*"></col><col width="134*"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr valign="TOP"><td width="48%"><p><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Robert Bellarmine, <i>De Romano Pontifice</i>, chapter 29:</span></p></td><td width="52%"><p><u><b><span style="font-family: arial;">One cannot “judge, punish or depose” a pope</span></b></u></p></td></tr><tr valign="TOP"><td width="48%"><p><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Robert Bellarmine, <i>De Romano Pontifice</i>, chapter 30</span></p></td><td width="52%"><p><u><b><span style="font-family: arial;">A pope who is a manifest heretic is deposed, “judged and punished”</span></b></u></p></td></tr></tbody></table></center><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-top: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Robert Bellarmine is neither an idiot nor contradicting himself. He is a doctor of the Church, and knows exactly what he is trying to say. It is blatantly obvious, therefore, that <u><b>he is not speaking about a manifestly heretical pope in chapter 29</b></u>, but rather a true pope who gives bad example, who is not a manifest heretic. The context of the chapter confirms this beyond any doubt.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Chapter 29 involves St. Robert’s lengthy refutation of nine arguments favoring the position that the pope is subject to secular power (emperor, king, etc.) and to an ecumenical council (the heresy of conciliarism). During the Middle Ages, the heresy of conciliarism (subjecting a pope to an ecumenical council) became a major problem. In contradiction to this heresy, St. Robert Bellarmine says that while a Catholic can resist a bad pope, he cannot depose him, even if the pope gives bad example, disturbs the state or kills souls by his action. He is speaking of a bad pope <u>who is not a manifest heretic</u>; for he deals with the proper reaction to manifest heresy in the next chapter! It’s quite simple. He says that a manifest heretic is considered not to be the pope in the next chapter!</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">With this in mind, the objection raised from Bellarmine against sedevacantism is refuted. He is not talking about a manifest heretic in chapter 29, but a true pope who acts inappropriately; for he explains that a manifestly heretical pope <i>is </i>deposed, judged and punished in chapter 30. It is a mortal sin of omission for “Catholic” writers to quote over and over again the passage of chapter 29, without ever giving St. Robert’s statement on manifestly heretical popes in chapter 30. Among such people we include those who write for some of the more popular “traditional” publications. These writers suppress St. Robert’s teaching in chapter 30, along with all the other saints, popes and canonists who teach that manifestly heretical popes lose their office, because they want to deceive their readers into thinking that St. Robert condemns sedevacantism, when in reality he and <i>all the early Church Fathers </i>support the fact that a manifest heretic is not a pope.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Robert Bellarmine, <i>De Romano Pontifice</i>, II, 30: “For, in the first place, <b>it is proven with arguments from authority and from reason that the manifest heretic is ‘ipso facto’ deposed</b>. The argument from authority is based on St. Paul (Titus 3:10), who orders that the heretic be avoided after two warnings, that is, after showing himself to be manifestly obstinate – <b>which means before any excommunication or judicial sentence</b>. And this is what St. Jerome writes, adding that the other sinners are excluded from the Church by sentence of excommunication, but the heretics exile themselves and separate themselves by their own act from the body of Christ.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And again St. Robert Bellarmine teaches:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“<b>This principle is most certain</b>. <b>The non-Christian cannot in any way be Pope</b>, as Cajetan himself admits (ib. c. 26). The reason for this is that he cannot be head of what he is not a member; now he who is not a Christian is not a member of the Church, <u><b>and a manifest heretic is not a Christian</b></u>, <b>as is clearly taught by St. Cyprian (lib. 4, epist. 2), St. Athanasius (Scr. 2 cont. Arian.), St. Augustine (lib. De great. Christ. Cap. 20), St. Jerome (contra Lucifer.) and others; </b><u><b>therefore the manifest heretic cannot be Pope</b></u>.”<sup>53</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="Objection-9" style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-size: 16px; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"></span></span><p style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: 16px; line-height: 0.8cm; padding: 0.15cm;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Objection 9): Pope Liberius gave in to the Arian heretics and excommunicated St. Athanasius, yet he remained the pope…</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-top: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Answer: It is <u>not true</u> that Pope Liberius gave in to the Arians, signed any Arian formula, <u>or even excommunicated St. Athanasius</u>. Pope Liberius was a staunch defender of the truth during the Arian crisis, but his return from exile gave some the idea that he had compromised, when, in fact, he had not. We quote Pope Pius IX.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Pius IX, <i>Quartus Supra </i>(# 16), January 6, 1873, On False Accusations: “And previously <u>the Arians falsely accused Liberius</u>, also Our predecessor, to the Emperor Constantine, because <i><b>Liberius refused to condemn St. Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, and refused to support their heresy.”</b></i><sup><i><b>54</b></i></sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Benedict XV, <i>Principi Apostolorum Petro </i>(# 3), Oct. 5, 1920: “Indeed, lest they should prove faithless from their duty, <u>some went fearlessly into exile, as did Liberius</u> and Silverius and Martinus.”<sup>55</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">According to Pope Pius IX and Pope Benedict XV, Pope Liberius didn’t falter in any way during the Arian crisis, and was <u>falsely accused</u> by the Church’s enemies for standing firm. Pope St. Anastasius I bears witness to this as well.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope St. Anastasius I, epistle <i>Dat mihi plurimum</i>, about 400 AD: “For at this time when Constantius of holy memory held the world as victor, the heretical African faction was not able by any deception to introduce its baseness because, as we believe, our God provided that the holy and untarnished faith be not contaminated through any vicious blasphemy of slanderous men… <i><u><b>For this faith those who were then esteemed as holy bishops gladly endured exile, that is</b></u></i><i><b> Dionysius, thus a servant of God, prepared by divine instruction, or those following his example of holy recollection, </b></i><i><u><b>LIBERIUS bishop of the Roman Church</b></u></i>, Eusebius also of Vercelli, Hilary of the Gauls, to say nothing of many, on whose decision the choice could rest to be fastened to the cross rather than blaspheme God Christ, which the Arian heresy compelled, or call the Son of God, God Christ, a creature of the Lord.”<sup>56</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It was not Pope Liberius, but the pseudo-bishop Ischyras, who, before he usurped the See of Alexandria, ejected St. Athanasius from his See.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Pius VI, <i>Charitas </i>(# 14), April 13, 1791: “Perhaps in appreciation of these actions, the bishop of Lidda, Jean Joseph Gobel, was elected Archbishop of Paris, while the archbishop was still living. <b>He is following the example of Ischyras, who was proclaimed bishop of Alexandria at the Council of Tyre as payment for his sinful service in accusing St. Athanasius and ejecting him from his See.”</b><sup><b>57</b></sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="Objection-10" style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-size: 16px; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"></span></span><p style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: 16px; line-height: 0.8cm; padding: 0.15cm;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Objection 10): Pope Pius XII declared in <i>Vacantis Apostolicae Sedis </i>that a cardinal, no matter what excommunication he’s under, can be elected pope.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm; margin-top: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Pius XII, <i>Vacantis Apostolicae Sedis</i>, Dec. 8, 1945: "34. None of the cardinals may in any way, or by pretext of any excommunication, suspension, or interdict whatsoever, <i><b>or of any other ecclesiastical impediment</b></i>, be excluded in the active and passive election of the Supreme Pontiff. We hereby suspend such censures solely for the purposes of the said election; at other times they are to remain in vigor (AAS 38 [1946], p. 76)."</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">ANSWER: As we’ve already shown, it’s a dogma that 1) heretics are not members of the Church; and 2) that a pope is the head of the Church. It is a dogmatic fact, therefore, that a heretic cannot be the head of the Church, since he is not a member of it.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">What, then, does Pope Pius XII mean in <i>Vacantis Apostolicae Sedis? </i>First off, one needs to understand that excommunication can be incurred for many things. <b>Historically, excommunications were distinguished by the terms </b><i><b>major </b></i><b>and </b><i><b>minor</b></i>. Major excommunications were incurred for heresy and schism (sins against the faith) and certain other major sins. Those who received major excommunication for heresy were not members of the Church (as we have just proven at length). Minor excommunication, however, <i>did not remove one from the Church</i>, but forbade one to participate in the Church's sacramental life. Pope Benedict XIV made note of the distinction.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Benedict XIV, <i>Ex Quo Primum </i>(# 23), March 1, 1756: "<i><b>Moreover heretics and schismatics are subject to the censure of </b></i><i><u><b>major</b></u></i><i><b> excommunication by the law of Can. de Ligu. 23, quest. 5, and Can. Nulli, 5, dist. 19</b></i><b>.</b>"<sup>58</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Minor excommunication, on the other hand, was incurred for things such as violating a secret of the Holy Office, falsifying relics (c. 2326), violating a cloister (c. 2342), etc. These are all ecclesiastical or Church penalties. Such actions, though gravely sinful, <i>did not separate a person from the Church</i>. And though the terms major and minor excommunication are no longer used, it remains a fact that <b>a person could incur an excommunication (for something other than heresy) which would </b><u><b>not</b></u><b> separate him from the Church</b>, and he could incur an excommunication for heresy which would separate him from the Church.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>Therefore, a cardinal who receives an excommunication </b><u><b>for heresy</b></u><b> is no longer a cardinal </b>because heretics are outside the Catholic Church (<i>de fide</i>, Pope Eugene IV). But a cardinal who receives an excommunication for something else is still a cardinal, though in a state of grave sin.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">So when Pope Pius XII says that all <u>cardinals</u>, whatever <i><u>ecclesiastical impediment</u></i><i> </i>they are under, can vote and be elected in a Papal conclave, <b>this presupposes cardinals who have received an excommunication for something other than heresy, since a cardinal who has received an excommunication for heresy is not a cardinal at all</b>. The key point to understand is that <u>heresy is not merely an </u><i><u>ecclesiastical impediment</u></i> – thus it is not what Pius XII is talking about – but an impediment by divine law.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The canonist Maroto explains: “<b>Heretics and schismatics are barred from the Supreme Pontificate </b><u><b>by the divine law itself</b></u>… they must certainly be regarded as excluded from occupying the throne of the Apostolic See…”<sup>59</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Notice, heretics are not excluded from the Papacy by merely ecclesiastical impediments, but impediments flowing from the divine law. Pius XII’s legislation doesn’t apply to heresy because he was speaking about ecclesiastical impediments: “…or any other <i><u>ecclesiastical </u></i><u>impediment</u>…”. Thus, his legislation does not show that heretics can be elected and remain popes, which is why he didn’t mention heretics. Pope Pius XII was referring to <u>Catholic cardinals</u> who may have been under excommunication.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">To further prove the point, let’s assume <i>for the sake of argument </i>that Pope Pius XII’s legislation did mean that a heretical cardinal could be elected pope. Notice what Pius XII says:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“We hereby suspend such censures solely for the purposes of the said election; <b>at other times they are to remain in vigor</b>.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pius XII says that the excommunication is suspended <i>only for the time of the election</i>; at other times it remains in vigor. This would mean that the excommunication for heresy would fall back into force immediately after the election and then the heretic who had been elected pope would lose his office! Thus, no matter what way you look at it, a heretic could not be validly elected and remain pope.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Antoninus (1459): "<b>In the case in which the pope would become a heretic, he would find himself, by that fact alone and without any other sentence, separated from the Church</b>. A head separated from a body cannot, as long as it remains separated, be head of the same body from which it was cut off. A pope who would be separated from the Church by heresy, therefore, would by that very fact itself cease to be head of the Church. <b>He could not be a heretic and remain pope, because, since he is outside of the Church, he cannot possess the keys of the Church</b>." (<i>Summa Theologica</i>, cited in <i>Actes de Vatican I</i>. V. Frond pub.)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">If a heretic (one who denies the faith) could be the head inside the Church, then the dogma that the Church is <b>one in faith </b>(as in <i><b>one</b></i><i>, holy, Catholic and apostolic</i>) would be false.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="Objection-11" style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-size: 16px; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"></span></span><p style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: 16px; line-height: 0.8cm; padding: 0.15cm;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Objection 11): What does it matter whether or not Francis I or Benedict XVI is a pope? The issue does not concern me.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-top: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Answer: If whether or not Francis I or Benedict XVI is a pope does not matter, then the non-Catholicism of the Vatican II sect does not matter, the New Mass doesn’t matter, etc. One cannot separate one from the other. You cannot separate pope and Church. Furthermore, to maintain that Francis I or Benedict XVI is the head of the Catholic Church is to assert that the gates of Hell have prevailed against Her.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Further, to obstinately recognize Francis I or Benedict XVI as the pope is to commit a sin against the Faith; for it is to assert that one has the true Faith who, in fact, is a manifest heretic and apostate against it. Moreover, to recognize Francis I or Benedict XVI and the other Vatican II antipopes as true popes is to scandalize non-Catholics; it is to be unable to consistently present the Faith to a non-Catholic. On this point, we must now see <i>The Devastating Dilemma </i>to demonstrate just how much this issue matters.</span></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; line-height: 28px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 16pt;"><b><i>The Devastating Dilemma</i>: Why Catholics cannot even present the Faith to a Protestant if they accept the Vatican II antipopes as true popes</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Suppose that tomorrow you encounter a well-informed Protestant who is interested in becoming a Catholic. While this man claims to be interested in becoming “Catholic,” he has major problems with the teaching of the Catholic Church on justification: he rejects the canons and decrees of the 16th century Council of Trent. As he explains his position you think to yourself: “How does this man expect to become Catholic when he doesn’t believe in the teaching of the Council of Trent on justification?”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">So you, being a charitable Catholic, inform him that if he wants to become Catholic he <i><u><b>must</b></u></i><i><b> </b></i>accept and believe the Council of Trent’s teaching on justification and repudiate Luther’s view of justification by faith alone (<i>sola fide</i>), since the Catholic Church (not to mention scripture – James 2:24) condemns the idea of justification by faith alone.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Paul III, <i>Council of Trent</i>, Session 6, Chap. 10, <i>ex cathedra</i>: “‘You see, that by works a man is justified <b>AND NOT BY FAITH ALONE’ (James 2:24).”</b><sup><b>60</b></sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">But the Protestant responds by saying:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“Excuse me sir, I do not have to accept and believe the Council of Trent’s teaching on justification to become Catholic. Nor do I have to believe that justification by faith alone is a heresy, as you say. Your pope, Benedict XVI, and his predecessor, John Paul II, who are both Catholics agree with and have approved of a document that says that faith alone is not a heresy, and that Trent’s canons on justification do not apply to the Lutheran explanation of justification.” And he proceeds to make three points in succession to prove this.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">#1) The Protestant first cites the <i>Joint Declaration with the Lutherans on the Doctrine of Justification</i>, approved by the Vatican on Oct. 31, 1999. He quotes two selections from the <i>Joint Declaration with the Lutherans on the Doctrine of Justification</i>, which he happens to have in his briefcase.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>Joint Declaration With Lutherans: “# 5. THE PRESENT JOINT DECLARATION </b>has this intention: namely, to show that on the basis of their dialogue the subscribing Lutheran churches and the Roman Catholic Church are now able to articulate a common understanding of our justification by God’s grace through faith in Christ. It does not cover all that either church teaches about justification; it does encompass a consensus on basic truths of the doctrine of justification and <u><b>SHOWS THAT THE REMAINING DIFFERENCES ARE NO LONGER THE OCCASION FOR DOCTRINAL</b></u><u> CONDEMNATIONS</u>.”<sup>61</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">After citing this, the Protestant correctly explains that this rules out any condemnation of the Lutheran view of justification (<i>faith alone</i>, etc.). He then cites # 13.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Joint Declaration With Lutherans: “# 13. IN LIGHT OF THIS CONSENSUS, THE CORRESPONDING DOCTRINAL CONDEMNATIONS OF THE 16TH CENTURY DO NOT APPLY TO TODAY’S PARTNER.”<sup>62</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">After citing this, the Protestant rightly explains that this also means that Trent’s condemnations (in the 16th century) of the Lutheran view of justification no longer apply.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">#2) To further substantiate his point, the Protestant proceeds to cite two more selections from the same Joint Declaration With the Lutherans.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Joint Declaration With Lutherans: “# 41. Thus the doctrinal condemnations of the 16<sup>th </sup>century, in so far as they are related to the doctrine of justification, appear in a new light: <u>THE TEACHING OF THE LUTHERAN CHURCHES PRESENTED IN THIS DECLARATION DOES NOT FALL UNDER THE CONDEMNATIONS FROM THE COUNCIL OF TRENT.</u>”<sup>63</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Protestant points out the obvious fact that this means that none of the Lutheran teaching contained in the Joint Declaration is condemned by the Council of Trent. He then proves that justification by <i>faith alone </i>is among the teaching of the Lutheran churches in the Joint Declaration.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>Joint Declaration With Lutherans: “# 26. </b><u><b>ACCORDING TO THE LUTHERAN UNDERSTANDING, GOD JUSTIFIES SINNERS IN FAITH ALONE</b></u><b> (</b><i><b>sola fide</b></i><b>). </b>In faith they place their trust wholly in their Creator and Redeemer and thus live in communion with him.”<sup>64</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">He concludes, with perfect logic, that according to the Vatican’s own agreement with the Lutherans on justification, faith alone is most assuredly not condemned by the Council of Trent. Thus, he says to you:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“<b>You see, sir, the Catholics who adhere to and believe in the </b><i><b>Joint Declaration with the Lutherans on the Doctrine of Justification </b></i><b>do not hold that faith alone is a heresy that is anathematized </b>infallibly by decree of the Council of Trent, as you claim a Catholic must believe in order to be Catholic.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">#3) Finally, this smart Protestant knows that you will try to say that John Paul II and Benedict XVI didn’t sign the <i>Joint Declaration with the Lutherans on the Doctrine of Justification</i>. So he points out that the Joint Declaration was signed under John Paul II’s auspices and repeatedly approved by Benedict XVI.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">John Paul II, Jan. 19, 2004, <i>At a Meeting with Lutherans From Finland</i>: “… I wish to express my gratitude for the ecumenical progress made between Catholics and Lutherans in the five years <u><b>since the signing of the </b></u><i><u><b>Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification</b></u></i>.”<sup>65</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Benedict XVI, <i>Address to Methodists</i>, Dec. 9, 2005: “<b>I have been encouraged by the initiative which would bring the member churches of the World Methodist Council into association with </b><u><b>the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, signed by the Catholic Church</b></u><b> and the Lutheran World Federation in 1999</b>.”<sup>66</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Protestant concludes his presentation by saying:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“Benedict XVI (and, before him, John Paul II) is a Catholic and adheres to the Joint Declaration with the Lutherans on the doctrine of justification, <b>which declaration explicitly teaches that faith alone is not anathematized by Trent, and that the remaining differences between Lutherans and Catholics on justification are not the occasion for any doctrinal condemnations</b>. <b>Therefore, when I become a Catholic, I will hold the same position as Benedict XVI and as the Joint Declaration with the Lutherans sets forth. I will hold that faith alone justifies, and </b><u><b>I will not</b></u><b> hold that it is an anathematized heresy! </b>And I will <u>not</u> embrace the canons and decrees of the Council of Trent, because John Paul II and Benedict XVI have accepted, endorsed and agreed with the Joint Declaration, which explains that Trent’s canons are no longer in force.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Protestant also adds:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">“<b>I’m not interested in converting Evangelicals to Catholicism</b></span><span style="font-size: medium;">. I want people to find Jesus in their own community. There are so many doctrines we will never agree on. Let’s not spend our time on those. Rather, let’s be about showing the love of Jesus.” </span><span style="font-size: medium;">(Dispatches from Brian, 2014/07/09, “Lunch with the pope”)</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">You know that as a Catholic, you have a strict obligation to try to convert him and tell him that belief in faith alone and belief in the Catholic religion are incompatible. So what do you say in response?</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><b>If you hold that </b></i><i><b>Francis I,</b></i><i><b> Benedict XVI and John Paul II are/were valid popes</b></i>, you spit back the following response, which is the only thing that you can think of:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“<i>John Paul II, Benedict XVI </i><i>and Francis I</i><i> are wrong. They aren’t infallible in everything they say or do. The Joint Declaration is </i><i><u>not infallible</u></i><i>. The Council of Trent is infallible.</i>”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And the smart Protestant, <u>quickly detecting the flaws in this illogical and poor response</u>, replies: “<i>Sir, I never said that the Joint Declaration is infallible. Infallibility has nothing to do with our discussion. </i><i><b>The bottom-line is that </b></i><i><u><b>you admit that Benedict XVI is a Catholic with whom you are in communion</b></u></i><i>, and with whom every Catholic must be in communion. </i><i><b>You admit that he is not a heretic who is outside the communion of the Catholic Church for embracing the Joint Declaration with the Lutherans on the Doctrine of Justification,</b></i><i><u><b> so you must admit that I will also be a Catholic in communion with the Church (not a heretic) when I take the same position.</b></u></i><i>”</i></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>If you hold that Benedict XVI is a valid pope, you would then have nothing to say in response to this Protestant. </b>The debate is over, and you have lost. You cannot on the one hand say that acceptance of <i>faith alone and the Joint Declaration With the Lutherans on the Doctrine of Justification </i>is incompatible with this Protestant’s entrance into the Catholic Church (which you must as a Catholic, since this was defined infallibly at Trent), while you simultaneously give obedience to Benedict XVI as head of the Catholic Church, who has demonstrated his acceptance of the <i>Joint Declaration with the Lutherans on the Doctrine of Justification </i>quite publicly. <u>The Protestant has cornered you and you are forced to admit that he can indeed become Catholic and hold to what is taught in the Joint Declaration</u>. This proves that those who accept Benedict XVI as the pope cannot even consistently present the Catholic Faith to a Protestant. <b>THEY MUST ADMIT THAT ONE CAN BE A “CATHOLIC” AND HOLD THAT FAITH ALONE IS NOT AN ANATHEMATIZED HERESY, AND THAT TRENT’S CANONS DO NOT APPLY TO THE LUTHERAN VIEW OF JUSTIFICATION</b>.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">As long as one acknowledges Benedict XVI as the Catholic pope, he is defending a Church that has repudiated the Council of Trent, a “Church” that is, by definition, a non-Catholic Church – a Church of heretics.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Innocent III, <i>Eius exemplo</i>, profession of faith, Dec. 18, 1208: “By the heart we believe and by the mouth we confess <b>THE ONE CHURCH, </b><u><b>NOT OF HERETICS</b></u>, but the Holy Roman, Catholic, and Apostolic Church outside of which we believe that no one is saved.”<sup>67</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The same judgment and authority by which you determined that this non-denominational Protestant was a heretic and outside the Catholic Church – a judgment you made upon meeting him and finding out what he believed and how he repudiated the Council of Trent – is the same exact judgment that you absolutely are forced to make about Francis I, Benedict XVI and the other Vatican I antipopes. It should hit you in a striking and illuminating way that you are not guilty of judging the Holy See or a pope when you correctly judge that Francis I or Benedict XVI is a non-Catholic; rather, you are identifying a non-Catholic for what he is, just as you correctly identified the non-denominational Protestant you met as a non-Catholic, as well as any Calvinist, Methodist or Episcopalian.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="Objection-12" style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-size: 16px; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"></span></span><p style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: 16px; line-height: 0.8cm; padding: 0.15cm;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Objection 12): How could the entire Church and all the cardinals recognize an antipope, such as in the case of John XXIII (1958-1963)?</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-top: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Answer: Pope Paul IV declared that Catholics could not accept such a heretical claimant, <b>even if obedience were given to him by "</b><u><b>all</b></u><b>" – indicating by such a statement that </b><u><b>all</b></u><b> giving obedience to such an antipope is a possibility.</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Paul IV, Bull <i>Cum ex Apostolatus Officio</i>, Feb. 15, 1559: “6. <b>In addition, [by this Our Constitution, which is to remain valid in perpetuity We enact, determine, decree and define:] </b>that if ever at any time it shall appear that… the Roman Pontiff, prior to his promotion or his elevation as Cardinal or Roman Pontiff, has deviated from the Catholic Faith or fallen into some heresy… (ii) <b>it shall not be possible for it to acquire validity (nor for it to be said that it has thus acquired validity) through the acceptance of the office, of consecration, of subsequent authority, nor through possession of administration, </b><u><b>nor through the putative enthronement of a Roman Pontiff, or Veneration, or obedience accorded to such by all</b></u><b>, nor through the lapse of any period of time in the foregoing situation;…”</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">But we’ve already had a situation where all of the cardinals recognized an antipope! As covered earlier in the book, during the Great Western Schism <b>15 of the 16 cardinals who had elected Pope Urban VI withdrew from his obedience </b><u><b>on the grounds that the unruly Roman mob had made the election uncanonical</b></u>. The one cardinal who did not repudiate Pope Urban VI was Cardinal Tebaldeschi, but he died shortly thereafter, on Sept. 7 – <u><b>leaving a situation where not one of the cardinals of the Catholic Church recognized the true pope, Urban VI</b></u>. <b>All of the living cardinals then regarded his election as invalid.</b><sup><b>68</b></sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In the 12<sup>th </sup>century, Antipope Anacletus II – who reigned eight years in Rome while rivaling the true Pope, Innocent II – gained the majority of the cardinals, the Bishop of Porto, the Dean of the Sacred College, and the entire populace of Rome as his supporters.<sup>69</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="Objection-13" style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-size: 16px; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"></span></span><p style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: 16px; line-height: 0.8cm; padding: 0.15cm;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Objection 13): John XXII was a heretic, who was even denounced by Cardinal Orsini as a heretic, yet he remained the pope.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm; margin-top: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Chris Ferrara, “Opposing the Sedevacantist Enterprise,” Catholic Family News, August 2005, p. 21: “<b>Compare the [Sedevacantist] Enterprise’s lack of success in finding ‘manifest’ heresy in the pronouncements of the conciliar popes with the historical example of Pope John XXII. In 1331, certain French theologians and Cardinal Orsini denounced John XXII as a heretic when, in a series of sermons, he taught that the souls of the blessed departed, after finishing their appointed time in Purgatory, do not see God until after the last judgment. Cardinal Orsini called for a general council to pronounce the Pope a heretic</b>… Confronted in this public manner, John XXII replied that he had not intended to bind the whole Church to his sermons, and he impaneled a commission of theologians to consider the question. The commission informed the Pope that he was in error, and he did retract the error several years later, the day before his death. <u><b>Yet despite being denounced as a heretic and threatened with a general council to declare his heresy</b></u>, John XXII never ceased to be regarded by the Church as Pope, and Church history duly records him as such.”<sup>70</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Answer: John XXII was not a heretic, and his reign is no proof that heretics can be popes. First, we want the reader to notice something very interesting: when Ferrara (the person launching this objection) is discussing John XXII, notice that the affair is exaggerated. He doesn’t hesitate to label it as an example of actual heresy. But when he is addressing the clear heresies of the Vatican II “popes,” they are all diminished so much that he denies that any of them even constitute heresy. For instance:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Chris Ferrara, “Opposing the Sedevacantist Enterprise,” Catholic Family News, August 2005, p. 21: “But <b>the [Sedevacantist] Enterprise does not even get to first base since</b>, as we shall see, despite its indefatigable efforts <u><b>it has failed to identify any ‘manifest’ heresy among the many ambiguous pronouncements and disturbing (even scandalous) actions of John Paul II or Paul VI</b></u>...”<sup>71</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Okay, so none of the clear heresies from John Paul II and Paul VI (e.g., teaching that there are saints in other religions; stating that we shouldn’t convert non-Catholics; etc.) even constitute heresy, according to Ferrara; but the case of John XXII <i>certainly </i>rose to the level of heresy. What complete nonsense! Does anyone not see the profound hypocrisy and utter dishonesty here? When Ferrara and other non-sedevacantists feel that it is an advantage to belittle the heresy, they raise the bar for heresy, so that basically nothing rises to the level of actual heresy. But when they deem it useful to exaggerate a heresy (as in the case of John XXII), because they think it will successfully oppose sedevacantism, they overstate it and make it seem much worse than it was.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The fact of the matter is that John XXII was not a heretic. John XXII’s position that the souls of the blessed departed don’t see the Beatific Vision until after the General Judgment was not a matter that had yet been specifically defined as a dogma. This definition occurred two years <u>after</u> Pope John XXII’s death by Pope Benedict XII in <i>Benedictus Deus</i>,<sup>72 </sup>but apparently Ferrara didn’t feel that it was important to mention that fact.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The fact that Cardinal Orsini denounced John XXII as a heretic doesn’t prove anything, especially when we consider the context of the events. To provide a brief background: <b>John XXII had condemned as heretical the teaching of “the Spirituals.” </b>This group held that Christ and the apostles had no possessions individually or in common. John XXII condemned this view as contrary to Sacred Scripture, and declared that all who persistently adhere to it are heretical.<sup>73 </sup>“The Spirituals” and others like them, including King Louis of Bavaria, were condemned as heretics.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">When the controversy about John XXII’s statements on the Beatific Vision occurred, the Spirituals and King Louis of Bavaria profited by it and accused the pope of heresy. <b>These enemies of the Church were supported by Cardinal Orsini, the man Ferrara mentions in his article.</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>The Catholic Encyclopedia</i>, “John XXII,” Vol. 8, 1910, p. 433: “<b>The Spirituals, always in close alliance with Louis of Bavaria, profited by these events to accuse the pope of heresy, </b><u><b>being supported by Cardinal Napoleon Orsini</b></u><b>. </b><u><b>In union with the latter</b></u><b>, King Louis wrote to the cardinals, urging them to call a general council and condemn the pope</b>.”<sup>74</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">With this background, we can see that Ferrara’s statement that “Cardinal Orsini called for a general council to pronounce the pope a heretic…” takes on a different light: Yes, Cardinal Orsini and his good friends, the excommunicated heretics. In fact, even Ferrara’s own “pope,” in his book <i>Dogmatic </i><i>Theology</i>, notes that the scandal was exploited by the enemies of the Church for political ends:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“Cardinal” Joseph Ratzinger (Benedict XVI), <i>Dogmatic Theology</i>, 1977, p. 137: “<b>The scandal [of John XXII] </b><u><b>was exploited for political ends in the accusation of heresy</b></u><b> brought by the pope’s Franciscan opponents </b>[the Spirituals] in the circle of William of Ockham at the court of the emperor Louis of Bavaria.”<sup>75</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Ferrara places himself right in the company of the enemies of the Church with his exaggeration of the case of John XXII. John XXII was not a heretic. <b>In addition to the fact that the matter had not yet been specifically defined as a dogma, John XXII also made it clear that he bound no one to his (false) opinion and was not arriving at a definitive conclusion on the matter</b>:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>The Catholic Encyclopedia</i>, on Pope John XXII: “<u><b>Pope John wrote to King Phillip IV on the matter (November, 1333), and emphasized the fact that, as long as the Holy See had not given a decision, the theologians enjoyed perfect freedom in this matter</b></u>. In December, 1333, the theologians at Paris, after a consultation on the question, decided in favor of the doctrine that the souls of the blessed departed saw God immediately after death or after their complete purification; <b>at the same time they pointed out that the pope had given no decision on this question but only advanced his personal opinion</b>, and now petitioned the pope to confirm their decision. John appointed a commission at Avignon to study the writings of the Fathers, and to discuss further the disputed question. <b>In a consistory held on 3 January, 1334, the pope explicitly declared that he had never meant to teach anything contrary to Holy Scripture or the rule of faith and in fact had not intended to give any decision whatever</b>. Before his death he withdrew his former opinion, and declared his belief that souls separated from their bodies enjoyed in heaven the Beatific Vision.”<sup>76</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">All of this serves to show that John XXII was not a heretic. He held a personal opinion that was dead wrong, one which he explicitly declared was nothing more than opinion. In fact, despite his significant error, John XXII was quite vigorous against heresy. His condemnation of the Spirituals and King Louis of Bavaria is proof that he did condemn heresy. To compare him to the Vatican II antipopes who don’t even believe that heresy exists is utterly ridiculous. As established already, Benedict XVI doesn’t even believe that Protestantism is heresy! What a satanic joke that anyone would <i>obstinately </i>(in the face of these facts) assert that this man is a Catholic! The fact is wherever non-sedevacantists want to turn (to the dogma of the Papacy, or the actions of Luther, etc.), they are refuted. For instance, since we’re on the topic of John XXII and the General Judgment, it should be remembered that Benedict XVI denies perhaps the most central Catholic dogma regarding the General Judgment: the Resurrection of the Body, as we demonstrated in the previous section on his heresies.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Benedict XVI, <i>Introduction to Christianity</i>, 2004, p. 349: “<u><b>It now becomes clear that the real heart of faith in the resurrection does not consist at all in the idea of the restoration of bodies</b></u>, to which we have reduced it in our thinking; such is the case even though this is the pictorial image used throughout the Bible.”<sup>77</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Benedict XVI, <i>Introduction to Christianity</i>, 2004, pp. 357-358: “To recapitulate, <u><b>Paul teaches, not the resurrection of physical bodies</b></u>, but the resurrection of persons…”<sup>78</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">So, when non-sedevacantists bring up the issue of John XXII and the Last Judgment, they do nothing except remind us of another dogma which Benedict XVI denies and another proof why he is not the pope.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="Objection-14" style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-size: 16px; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"></span></span><p style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: 16px; line-height: 0.8cm; padding: 0.15cm;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Objection 14): Pope Honorius was condemned for heresy by a general council after his death, yet the Church does not consider him to have ceased to be pope, even though he was accused of heresy during his reign.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-top: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Answer: As we have already seen, it’s a dogmatic fact that a heretic cannot be the pope, since it’s an infallibly defined dogma that a heretic is not a member of the Catholic Church.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Eugene IV, <i>Council of Florence</i>, <i><b>ex cathedra</b></i>: “The Holy Roman Church firmly believes, professes and preaches that <b>all those who are outside the Catholic Church</b>, not only pagans <b>but also </b>Jews or <b>heretics </b>and schismatics …”<sup>79</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The case of Pope Honorius doesn’t prove that a heretic can be the pope. Since Honorius was a validly elected pope (which is why he is listed in the list of true popes), <u>if he became a true heretic during his reign then he did lose the Papal Office</u>; for, as even non-sedevacantists who make this argument admit, “<u><b>heretics are not Catholics, and non-Catholics cannot be popes</b></u><u>.</u>”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Further, there still remains some confusion among people (including among Honorius’s successors) as to whether Pope Honorius had been a heretic or merely guilty of failing to stamp out heresy or whether he had been completely misunderstood, as <i>The Catholic Encyclopedia </i>of 1907 states. Certain scholars who have even studied the question in great detail remain unconvinced that Honorius was condemned as a true heretic by the <i>III Council of Constantinople</i>. Their argument rests in the fact that <b>Pope St. Agatho, who was alive during the council, died before it was over</b>. Since a council’s decrees only possess the authority which are given to them in the confirmation by the pope, they argue that Pope St. Leo II, the pope who actually confirmed the council, <i>only confirmed the condemnation of Honorius in the sense that he failed to stamp out heresy</i>, and therefore allowed the faith to be polluted. This confusion is surely why we see that St. Francis De Sales says what he says (see below) about Honorius.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In order to further differentiate the case of Honorius from the Vatican II antipopes, it’s important to point out that Honorius’s two letters which supposedly favored the monothelite heresy (written in 634) were letters to Sergius, the Patriarch of Constantinople. These letters were not only almost completely unknown at the time, but were also defended by a pope who reigned just after Honorius.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">For instance, <b>Pope John IV (640-643), who was the second pope to reign after Pope Honorius, </b><u><b>defended Honorius from any charge of heresy</b></u>. Pope John IV was convinced that Honorius had not taught the monothelite heresy (that Christ has only one will), but that Honorius merely emphasized that Our Lord doesn’t have two contrary wills.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope John IV, “Dominus qui dixit” to Constantius the Emperor, Regarding Pope Honorius, 641: “…So, <b>my aforementioned predecessor [Honorius] said </b>concerning the mystery of the incarnation of Christ, that there were not in Him, as in us sinners, contrary wills of mind and flesh; <u><b>and certain ones converting this to their own meaning, suspected that he taught one will of His divinity and humanity which is altogether contrary to the truth</b></u>.”<sup>81</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">With these facts in mind, one can see: 1) the case of Pope Honorius doesn’t prove that heretics can be popes, since the Church dogmatically teaches that a heretic cannot be the pope (so if he became a true heretic during his reign then he did lose the Papal Office for the last three and a half years of his thirteen-year reign); and 2) <b>the facts of the case of Pope Honorius are drastically different from the case of the Vatican II antipopes</b>. To compare Pope Honorius’s two letters to the acts and statements of the manifest heretics Paul VI, John Paul II and Benedict XVI is like comparing a grain of sand to the seashore.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Finally, if you want further confirmation that heretics <i>ipso facto </i>cease to be popes, <b>and that the case of Pope Honorius provides no evidence to the contrary</b>, you don’t have to take our word for it.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Francis De Sales (17<sup>th </sup>century), Doctor of the Church, <i>The Catholic Controversy</i>, pp. 305- 306: "<b>Thus we do not say that the Pope cannot err in his private opinions, as did John XXII; or be altogether a heretic, </b><u><b>as perhaps Honorius was</b></u><u>. </u><u><b>Now when he [the Pope] is explicitly a heretic, he falls </b></u><i><u><b>ipso facto </b></u></i><u><b>from his dignity and out of the Church</b></u>..."<sup>82</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In <u>the same paragraph in which St. Francis De Sales (Doctor of the Church) mentions Pope Honorius</u>, <b>he states unequivocally that a pope who would become a heretic would cease to be pope</b>. St. Francis De Sales wasn’t sure if Pope Honorius was a heretic or merely failed to stamp out heresy; but, whatever it was, St. Francis knew the case of Honorius didn’t affect the truth that heretics cannot be popes.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Robert Bellarmine and St. Alphonsus were also familiar with the case of Pope Honorius. His case didn’t cause them to hesitate in declaring:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Robert Bellarmine (1610), Doctor of the Church: "<b>A pope who is a manifest heretic automatically (</b><i><b>per se</b></i><b>) ceases to be Pope and head, just as he ceases automatically to be a Christian and a member of the Church</b>. Wherefore, he can be judged and punished by the Church. <u>This is the teaching of all the ancient Fathers</u> who teach that manifest heretics immediately lose all jurisdiction."</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Alphonsus Liguori (1787), Doctor of the Church: "<b>If ever a pope, as a private person, should fall into heresy, he would at once fall from the Pontificate</b>."<sup>83</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">With these facts in mind, we can see that the argument from Honorius doesn’t prove anything for the non-sedevacantist; but rather it reminds us of the Doctors of the Church who, while recalling his case, simultaneously declared that heretics cannot be popes.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="Objection-15" style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-size: 16px; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"></span></span><p style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: 16px; line-height: 0.8cm; padding: 0.15cm;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Objection 15): The Church and the hierarchy will always be visible. If the Vatican II Church is not the true Catholic Church, then the Church and hierarchy are no longer visible.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-top: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Answer: 1) People misunderstand in what the visibility of the Church consists; 2) the Vatican II sect cannot be the visible Church of Christ; and 3) the Vatican II sect denies this very teaching on the visibility of the Church.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">No one denies that the Catholic Church could cease to exist in all the countries of the world except one. The visibility of the Church does not require that the faithful or the hierarchy be seen in every single geographical location around the globe. This has never been the case. Simply, the visibility of the Church signifies real Catholic faithful who externally profess the one true religion, even if they are reduced to a very small number. These faithful who externally profess the one true religion will always remain the visible Church of Christ, even if their ranks are reduced to just a handful.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And that is <u>precisely what is predicted to happen</u> at the end of the world.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Athanasius: "Even if Catholics faithful to tradition are reduced to a handful, they are the ones who are the true Church of Jesus Christ.”<sup>84</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Our Lord Himself indicates that the size of the Church will become frighteningly small in the last days.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Luke 18:8: “<b>But yet, when the Son of man cometh, shall He find, think you, faith on earth?”</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Apocalypse of St. John seems to indicate the same.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Apocalypse 11:1-2: “And there was given me a reed like unto a rod, and it was said to me: Arise, and measure the temple of God, and <i><b>the altar</b></i>, and them that adore in it. But the court, which is without the temple, cast out, and measure it not, because it is given to the Gentiles…”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The <i>Haydock version of the Douay-Rheims Bible</i>, a popular compilation of Catholic commentary on the Scriptures by Rev. Fr. Geo. Leo Haydock, contains the following comment on Apoc. 11:1-2.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Catholic Commentary on Apoc. 11:1-2, <i>Haydock version of the Douay-Rheims Bible</i>: “<b>The churches consecrated to the true God, are so much diminished in number, that they are represented by St. John as one church; its ministers officiate at </b><i><b>one altar</b></i><b>; and all the true faithful are so few, with respect to the bulk of mankind, that the evangelist sees them assembled in one temple, to pay their adorations to the Most High</b>. - Pastorini.”<sup>85</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Magisterium of the Catholic Church has never taught that there must always be a certain number of bishops or faithful for the Church to exist. As long as there is at least one priest or bishop and at least a few faithful, the Church and the hierarchy are alive and visible. Today there is much more than a handful of faithful left who maintain the unchanging Catholic Faith. Thus, the argument of our opponents from the standpoint of visibility lacks any merit and is contrary to the prophecies of Sacred Scripture.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Further, during the Arian crisis the true Faith was eliminated from entire regions, so much so that there were hardly any Catholic bishops to be found anywhere.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Fr. William Jurgens: “At one point in the Church’s history, only a few years before Gregory’s [Nazianz] present preaching (+380 A.D.), <u>perhaps the number of Catholic bishops in possession of sees, as opposed to Arian bishops in possession of sees, was no greater than something between 1% and 3% of the total</u>. <b>Had doctrine been determined by popularity, today we should all be deniers of Christ and opponents of the Spirit</b>.”<sup>86</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Fr. William Jurgens: “In the time of the Emperor Valens (4<sup>th </sup>century), Basil was virtually the only orthodox Bishop in all the East who succeeded in retaining charge of his see… If it has no other importance for modern man, <u><b>a knowledge of the history of Arianism should demonstrate at least that the Catholic Church takes no account of popularity and numbers in shaping and maintaining doctrine</b></u><b>: </b>else, we should long since have had to abandon Basil and Hilary and Athanasius and Liberius and Ossius and call ourselves after Arius.”<sup>87</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Arian heresy became so widespread in the 4<sup>th </sup>century that the Arians (who denied the Divinity of Christ) came to occupy almost all the Catholic churches and appeared to be the legitimate hierarchy basically everywhere.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Ambrose (+382): “<b>There are not enough hours in the day for me to recite even the names of all the various sects of heretics</b>.”<sup>88</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Things were so bad that St. Gregory Nazianz felt compelled to say what the Catholic remnant today could very well say.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Gregory Nazianz, “Against the Arians” (+380): “Where are they who revile us for our poverty and pride themselves in their riches? <u><b>They who define the Church by numbers and scorn the little flock</b></u><b>?”</b><sup><b>89</b></sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This period of Church history, therefore, proves an important point for our time: If the Church's indefectible mission of teaching, <i>governing </i>and sanctifying <u>required</u> a governing (i.e., jurisdictional) bishop for the Church of Christ to be present and operative in a particular see or diocese, then one would have to say that the Church of Christ <u>defected</u> in all those territories where there was no governing Catholic bishop during the Arian heresy. However, it is a fact that in the 4<sup>th </sup>century, <u>where the faithful retained the true Catholic faith, even in those sees where the bishop defected to Arianism</u>, the faithful Catholic remnant constituted the true Church of Christ. In that remnant, the Catholic Church existed and endured in her mission to teach, govern and sanctify without a governing bishop, thus proving that <b>the Church of Christ's indefectibility and mission to teach, govern and sanctify does not require the presence of a jurisdictional bishop</b>.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It should also be noted that the hierarchy can be defined in two ways: the jurisdictional hierarchy and the ecclesiastical hierarchy.<sup>90</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Pius XII, <i>Ad Sinarum gentum </i>(# 13), Oct. 7, 1954: “Besides – as has also been divinely established – <b>the power of orders (through which the ecclesiastical hierarchy is composed of bishops, priests, and ministers) comes from receiving the Sacrament of Holy Orders</b>.”<sup>91</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Only those who have ordinary jurisdiction (i.e., jurisdiction which is attached to an office) constitute the jurisdictional hierarchy. All valid Catholic priests, on the other hand, constitute parts of the ecclesiastical hierarchy. It is possible that as long as the ecclesiastical hierarchy remains the hierarchy exists.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Non-sedevacantists who raise this objection cannot point to one real Catholic bishop with ordinary jurisdiction. To whom are they going to point? Are they going to point to "Bishop" Bruskewitz, who conducted an interfaith Seder Supper with a group of rabbis in his own cathedral during Holy Week?<sup>92 </sup>Are they going to point to "Cardinal" Mahony or "Cardinal" Keeler?</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">If it’s true that there must be one bishop with ordinary jurisdiction somewhere (which is something that has not been proven), then he is somewhere. But it doesn’t change the fact that Benedict XVI and his apostate bishops are not Catholic and therefore not part of the hierarchy. Against a fact there is no argument; against this fact there is no argument.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Moreover, here is an interesting quote from the Lay Investiture crisis (1075-1122). During this crisis the evil King of Germany, Henry IV, instituted an antipope (who was supported by many German bishops). Henry also appointed his own bishops who were also subject to the antipope. The result was <u><b>two bishops in most dioceses and massive confusion</b></u>.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 8, 1910, “Investitures,” p. 86: “There was now much confusion on all sides… <u><b>Many dioceses had two occupants</b></u>. Both parties called their rivals perjurers and traitors…”<sup>99</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The point is: while we are currently dealing with an unprecedented apostasy, the Church has seen confusing times before, including those in which the true hierarchy was not easily ascertainable.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="Objection-16" style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-size: 16px; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"></span></span><p style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: 16px; line-height: 0.8cm; padding: 0.15cm;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Objection 16): The Vatican II popes haven’t taught manifest heresy, because their statements are ambiguous and require commentary.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm; margin-top: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Chris Ferrara, <i>Catholic Family News</i>, “Opposing the Sedevacantist Enterprise, Part II,” Oct. 2005, p. 8: “<b>Now that which is manifest – i.e., plain, evident, obvious, unmistakable and undoubted – </b><u><b>requires no explanation</b></u>. The very quality of not needing to be explained is what makes a thing manifest. Thus, before the Enterprise can even get to first base, it must show us not merely papal statements made openly, but statements whose alleged heresy requires no explanation to demonstrate. <b>The papal words themselves – not sedevacantist </b><i><b>interpretations </b></i><b>of those words – must denote heresy</b>.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“<b>If a Pope were to proclaim to the whole Church in some document or public pronouncement ‘There is no Holy Trinity. There is only God the Creator, just as the Muslims believe!’ his heresy would be manifest in the full and correct sense of the word</b>.”<sup>100</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Answer: The one making this objection, Chris Ferrara, is completely wrong, as usual. First, there are many examples of manifest heresies from the post-conciliar antipopes which require no explanation or commentary, as we have seen. Second, papal authority teaches us that some heresies do require explanation, deep study and analysis to uncover and condemn, as we will also see.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Before we expand on those two points, it is necessary for the reader to examine the example of heresy that Ferrara gives. Ferrara gives the example of heresy: “There is no Holy Trinity.” According to Ferrara, this is an undeniable example of manifest heresy. He is correct that this statement is heretical, but notice that <b>even in this example we are not dealing with an exact </b><i><b>word-for-word </b></i><b>denial of a </b><b>dogmatic definition</b>. As far as we’re aware, there is no dogmatic definition on the Holy Trinity which states “There is a Holy Trinity.” There are definitions, such as the following:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Gregory X, <i>Council of Lyons II</i>, 1274, ex cathedra: “<b>We believe that the Holy Trinity, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, is one God omnipotent</b>…”<sup>101</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Of course, Catholics immediately recognize that the statement “There is no Holy Trinity” <i>equates </i>to a direct denial of this dogmatic definition, even though it doesn’t deny the dogmatic definition <i>verbatim</i>. So, <b>in giving his single example of heresy </b>– a single example Ferrara probably concocted because he feels confident that that the sedevacantists can produce no equivalent heresy on the Trinity from Benedict XVI – <b>Ferrara proves our point: statements that equate to a direct denial of dogma, even though they are not </b><u><b>exact word-for-word</b></u><b> denials of a dogmatic definition, are examples of manifest heresy</b>.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">So, just as Catholics immediately recognize that the statement “There is no Holy Trinity” is a manifest heresy, even though there is no dogma declaring <i>exactly the opposite word-for-word</i>, they likewise immediately recognize that Benedict XVI’s declaration that <b>Protestantism is not heresy </b>is, of course, a direct denial of the Catholic dogmas which condemn Protestant teachings as heresies. Thank you for proving our point again, Mr. Ferrara.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">We will now quote more than 10 statements from Benedict XVI, eight from Francis I (and just one from John Paul II) and give no commentary whatsoever. Everyone who is sincere and honest will see that they equate to direct rejections of Catholic dogma without any analysis being required.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“Cardinal” Joseph Ratzinger, <i>The Meaning of Christian Brotherhood</i>, pp. 87-88: “The difficulty in the way of giving an answer is a profound one. Ultimately it is due to the fact that <u><b>there is no appropriate category in Catholic thought for the phenomenon of Protestantism today </b></u><u>(one could say the same of the relationship to the separated churches of the East). </u><u><b>It is obvious that the old category of ‘heresy’ is no longer of any value</b></u>… <b>Protestantism has made an important contribution to the realization of Christian faith, fulfilling a positive function </b>in the development of the Christian message… <u><b>The conclusion is inescapable, then: Protestantism today is something different from heresy in the traditional sense, a phenomenon whose true theological place has not yet been determined</b></u>.”<sup>102</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">No comment necessary.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Joseph Ratzinger, <i>Theological Highlights of Vatican II</i>, pp. 61, 68: “… <b>Meantime </b><u><b>the Catholic Church has no right to absorb other Churches</b></u>. The Church has not yet prepared for them a place of their own, but this they are legitimately entitled to… <u><b>A basic unity – of Churches that remain Churches, yet become one Church – must replace the idea of conversion</b></u>, even though conversion retains its meaningfulness for those in conscience motivated to seek it.”<sup>103</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">No comment necessary.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Francis, <i>statement to Brian Stiller</i>: “<b>I’m not interested in converting Evangelicals to Catholicism</b>. I want people to find Jesus in their own community. There are so many doctrines we will never agree on. Let’s not spend our time on those. Rather, let’s be about showing the love of Jesus.” (Dispatches from Brian, 2014/07/09, “Lunch with the pope”)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">No comment necessary.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Benedict XVI, <i>Principles of Catholic Theology</i> (1982), p. 198: “<b>Nor is it possible, on the other hand, for him to regard as the only possible form and, consequently, </b><u><b>as binding on all Christians the form this primacy [the Papacy] has taken in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries</b></u>. <u>The symbolic gestures of Pope Paul VI and, in particular, his kneeling before the representative of the Ecumenical Patriarch [the schismatic Patriarch Athenagoras] were an attempt to express precisely this</u>…”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">No comment necessary.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Francis, On Heaven and Earth,</i> pp. 12-13: “<b>I do not approach the relationship </b><u><b>in order to proselytize, or convert the atheist</b></u><b>; I respect him</b>… <u>nor would I say that his life is condemned</u>…”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">No comment necessary.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“Cardinal” Joseph Ratzinger, <i>God and the World</i>, 2000, p. 209: “<u><b>It is of course possible to read the Old Testament so that it is not directed toward Christ; it does not point quite unequivocally to Christ</b></u><b>. And if Jews cannot see the promises as being fulfilled in him, this is not just ill will on their part, but genuinely because of the obscurity of the texts and the tension in the relationship between these texts and the figure of Jesus. Jesus brings a new meaning to these texts – yet it is he who first gives them their proper coherence and relevance and significance. </b><u><b>There are perfectly good reasons,</b></u> then, for denying that the Old Testament refers to Christ and for saying, No, that is not <u><b>what he said</b></u><b>. And there are also good reasons for referring it to him – that is what the dispute between Jews and Christians is about</b>.”<sup>105</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">No comment necessary.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“Cardinal” Ratzinger, <i>Principles of Catholic Theology </i>(1982), p. 377: “…<b>There is an obsession with the letter that regards the liturgy of the Church as invalid and thus puts itself outside the Church. It is forgotten here that </b><u><b>the validity of the liturgy depends primarily, not on specific words, but on the community</b></u><b> </b>of the Church...”<sup>106</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">No comment necessary.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“Cardinal” Ratzinger, <i>Principles of Catholic Theology </i>(1982), p. 202: “<b>It means that the Catholic does not insist on the dissolution of the Protestant confessions </b>and the demolishing of their churches <b>but hopes, rather, that they will be strengthened in their confessions and in their ecclesial reality</b>.”<sup>107</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">No comment necessary.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">John Paul II, <i>Ut Unum Sint </i>(# 84), May 25, 1995: “…[Speaking of non-Catholic “Churches”] <u><b>These </b></u><i><u><b>saints </b></u></i><u><b>come from all the Churches and Ecclesial Communities</b></u><b> WHICH GAVE THEM ENTRANCE INTO THE COMMUNION OF SALVATION.”</b><sup><b>108</b></sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">No comment necessary.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Francis, <i>Evangelii Gaudium</i> (# 254), Nov. 24, 2013: “<u><b>Non-Christians</b></u> <b>[such as atheists </b><b>and pagans</b><b>], by God’s gracious initiative, </b><u><b>when they are faithful to their own consciences</b></u><b>, </b><i><u><b>can live “justified by the grace of God</b></u></i><i><b>”</b></i><b>, and thus be “associated to the paschal mystery of Jesus Christ”... to the sacramental dimension of </b><u><b>sanctifying grace</b></u><b>... to live our own beliefs</b>.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">No comment necessary.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“Cardinal” Joseph Ratzinger, <i>Principles of Catholic Theology</i>, 1982, p. 381: "<b>If it is desirable to offer a diagnosis of the text [of the Vatican II document, Gaudium et Spes] as a whole, </b><u><b>we might say that (in conjunction with the texts on religious liberty and world religions) it is a revision of the Syllabus of Pius IX</b></u>, <u><b>a kind of counter syllabus</b></u>… <b>As a result, the one-sidedness of the position adopted by the Church under Pius IX </b>and Pius X in response to the situation created by the new phase of history inaugurated by the French Revolution <u><b>was, to a large extent, corrected</b></u><b> </b><i>via facti</i>, especially in Central Europe, but there was still no basic statement of the relationship that should exist between the Church and the world that had come into existence after 1789."<sup>109</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">No comment necessary.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“Cardinal” Joseph Ratzinger, <i>Co-Workers of the Truth</i>, 1990, p. 217: “<u><b>The question that really concerns us, the question that really oppresses us, is why it is necessary for us in particular to practice the Christian Faith in its totality; why, when there are so many other ways that lead to heaven and salvation</b></u>, it should be required of us to bear day after day the whole burden of ecclesial dogmas and of the ecclesial ethos. And so we come again to the question: What exactly is Christian reality? What is the specific element in Christianity that not merely justifies it, but makes it compulsorily necessary for us? <b>When we raise the question about the foundation and meaning of our Christian existence, </b><u><b>there slips in a certain false hankering for the apparently more comfortable life of other people who are also going to heaven</b></u>. We are too much like the laborers of the first hour in the parable of the workers in the vineyard (Mt. 20:1-16). Once they discovered that they could have earned their day’s pay of one denarius in a much easier way, they could not understand why they had had to labor the whole day. <u><b>But what a strange attitude it is to find the duties of our Christian life unrewarding just because the denarius of salvation can be gained without them</b></u><b>! </b>It would seem that we – like the workers of the first hour – want to be paid not only with our own salvation, but more particularly with others’ lack of salvation. That is at once very human and profoundly un-Christian.”<sup>110</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">No comment necessary.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“Cardinal” Joseph Ratzinger, <i>Co-Workers of the Truth</i>, 1990, p. 29: “To borrow Congar’s cogent phrase, <b>it would be both foolish and perverse to identify the efficacy of the Holy Spirit with the work of the ecclesial apparatus</b>. <u><b>This means that even in Catholic belief the unity of the Church is still in the process of formation; that it will be totally achieved only in the eschaton</b></u><b> </b>[the end of the world], just as grace will not be perfected until its effects are visible – although the community of God has already begun to be visible.”<sup>111</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">No comment necessary.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“Cardinal” Joseph Ratzinger, <i>Introduction to Christianity</i>, 2004, p. 349: “<u><b>It now becomes clear that the real heart of faith in the resurrection does not consist at all in the idea of the restoration of bodies</b></u>, to which we have reduced it in our thinking; such is the case even though this is the pictorial image used throughout the Bible.”<sup>112</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">No comment necessary.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Francis, <i>La Repubblica</i>, October 1, 2013: “<b>And I believe in God. </b><u><b>Not in a catholic God</b></u><b>; </b><u><b>a catholic God does not exist</b></u><b>; God exists. And I believe in Jesus Christ, his incarnation. Jesus is my master/teacher and pastor, but God, the Father, Abba, is the light and the Creator</b>. This is my Being. Do you think we are very far apart?” Francis said in the interview with the Italian newspaper <i>La Repubblica.</i></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">No comment necessary.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>The Jewish People and the Holy Scriptures in the Christian Bible</i>, Section II, A, Prefaced by Benedict XVI: “<u><b>Jewish messianic expectation is not in vain</b></u>... <u>to read the Bible as Judaism does necessarily involves an implicit acceptance of all its presuppositions</u>… <u><b>which exclude faith in Jesus as Messiah and Son of God… Christians can and ought to admit that the Jewish reading of the Bible is a possible one</b></u>…”<sup>113</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">No comment necessary.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Francis, <i>Evangelii Gaudium</i> (# 247), Nov. 24, 2013: “<b>As Christians, we cannot consider Judaism as a foreign religion</b>; <u>nor do we include the Jews among those called to turn from idols [false gods] </u><i><u><b>and to serve the true God</b></u></i>... <u>With them, we believe in the one God</u> who acts in history, and with them we accept his revealed word.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">No comment necessary.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Francis, <i>Evangelii Gaudium</i> (# 247), Nov. 24, 2013: “<b>We hold </b><u><b>the Jewish people</b></u><b> in special regard because their </b><u><b>covenant with God has </b></u><i><u><b>never been revoked</b></u></i>...”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">No comment necessary.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Francis, <i>Evangelii Gaudium</i> (# 252), Nov. 24, 2013: “<b>Islam... they “profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and </b><u><b>together with us they adore the one, merciful God, </b></u><i><u><b>who will judge humanity on the last day</b></u></i>...”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">No comment necessary.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Francis, <i>Thinking Faith</i>, Sept. 19, 2013, p. 7-8: “In Buenos Aires I used to receive letters from homosexuals persons who are ‘socially wounded’ because they tell me that they feel like <i>the church has always condemned them</i>. <u>But the church does not want to do this</u>. <b>During the return flight from Rio de Janeiro </b><u><b>I said that if a homosexual person is of good will and is in search of God, I am no one to judge</b></u>.” He goes on to say, “it is not possible to interfere spiritually in the life of a person.” He then re-quotes something he said previously about homosexuals: “A person once asked me, in a provocative manner, if I approved of homosexuality. I replied with another question: “‘<u><b>Tell me: when God looks at a gay person, does he endorse the existence of this person with love, or reject and condemn this person?</b></u>’ We must always consider the person.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">There are <u>many</u> others, but these constitute more than ten examples of manifest heresies which equate to a direct denial of Catholic dogma without any commentary being necessary.</span></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;">CHRIS FERRARA VS. POPE PIUS VI ON AMBIGUITY IN HERESY = A KNOCKOUT FOR POPE PIUS VI</span></b></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In addition to the fact that there are manifest heresies which require no commentary from the Vatican II antipopes, as we saw above, <b>WHAT UTTERLY DESTROYS FERRARA’S POINT is the fact that Pope Pius VI teaches exactly the opposite of Ferrara on heresy and ambiguity. Pope Pius VI declares that heretics, such as Nestorius, have always camouflaged their heresies and doctrinal errors in self-contradiction and ambiguity!</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Pius VI, condemning the Synod of Pistoia, Bull “Auctorem fidei," August 28, 1794: “<b>[The Ancient Doctors] knew the capacity of innovators in the art of deception. </b>In order not to shock the ears of Catholics, they sought to hide the subtleties of their tortuous maneuvers by the use of seemingly innocuous words such as would allow them to insinuate error into souls in the most gentle manner. Once the truth had been compromised, they could, by means of slight changes or additions in phraseology, distort the confession of the faith which is necessary for our salvation, and lead the faithful by subtle errors to their eternal damnation. This manner of dissimulating and lying is vicious, regardless of the circumstances under which it is used. For very good reasons it can never be tolerated in a synod of which the principal glory consists above all in teaching the truth with clarity and excluding all danger of error.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">"Moreover, if all this is sinful, <u><b>it cannot be excused</b></u><b> in the way that one sees it being done, </b><u><b>under the erroneous pretext that the seemingly shocking affirmations in one place are further developed along orthodox lines in other places</b></u><u>, </u><u><b>and even in yet other places corrected</b></u><b>; </b><u><b>as if allowing for the possibility of either affirming or denying the statement</b></u><b>, or of leaving it up to the personal inclinations of the individual – </b><u><b>such has always been the fraudulent and daring method used by innovators to establish error</b></u><b>.</b> <u>It allows for both the possibility of promoting error and of excusing it</u>.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">"It is as if the innovators pretended that they always intended to present the alternative passages, especially to those of simple faith who eventually come to know only some part of the conclusions of such discussions which are published in the common language for everyone's use. Or again, as if the same faithful had the ability on examining such documents to judge such matters for themselves without getting confused and avoiding all risk of error. <b>It is a most reprehensible technique for the insinuation of doctrinal errors and one condemned long ago by our predecessor Saint Celestine who found it used in the writings of Nestorius, Bishop of Constantinople, and which he exposed in order to condemn it with the greatest possible severity. Once these texts were examined carefully, the impostor was exposed and confounded, for he expressed himself in a plethora of words, </b><u><b>mixing true things with others that were obscure</b></u>; <u><b>mixing at times one with the other in such a way that he was also able to confess those things which were denied while at the same time possessing a basis for denying those very sentences which he confessed</b></u>.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">"In order to expose such snares, something which becomes necessary with a certain frequency in every century, no other method is required than the following: <u>WHENEVER IT BECOMES NECESSARY TO EXPOSE STATEMENTS WHICH DISGUISE SOME SUSPECTED ERROR OR DANGER UNDER THE VEIL OF AMBIGUITY, ONE MUST DENOUNCE THE PERVERSE MEANING UNDER WHICH THE ERROR OPPOSED TO CATHOLIC TRUTH IS CAMOUFLAGED</u>.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Pius VI teaches us that if someone veils a heresy in ambiguity, as heretics have done throughout the ages, a Catholic must hold him to the heretical meaning and denounce the heretical meaning which is camouflaged in ambiguity! <b>This alone blows Chris Ferrara’s entire series of articles and objections against sedevacantism out of the water</b>. (And please note an important distinction: we are not asserting that documents or statements that are merely ambiguous, but which teach no clear doctrinal contradiction of Catholic Faith, are heretical; no, we are asserting with Pope Pius VI that documents which contain heretical statements or assertions which <u>clearly</u> contradict Catholic dogma (“shocking affirmations,” according to Pius VI) but which <i>also </i>contain self-contradiction and ambiguity along with those heretical statements, are still just as heretical despite the ambiguity and self-contradiction that accompanies the heresy. An example would be an alleged “Catholic” who consistently supports abortion, but sometimes says that he accepts Church teaching on abortion. This person is a manifest heretic, despite the self-contradiction and ambiguity that his position implies. Another example would be a man who states that we shouldn’t convert Protestants (a manifest heresy), but who also states that the Catholic Church alone is the fullness of the Christian Faith which all should embrace. He is a manifest heretic, despite the fact that the latter statement seems to some to contradict the former statement. Heretics are dishonest and liars, so they often attempt to contradict or mitigate the offensiveness of their heresies through subtle tactics of self-contradiction and accompanying ambiguity; that is the point of Pope Pius VI.)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Notice how directly Chris Ferrara contradicts the teaching of Pope Pius VI.</span></p><table border="1" bordercolor="" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="background-color: white; border-spacing: 0px; color: black; empty-cells: hide; font-size: 16px; width: 100%px;"><colgroup><col width="128*"></col><col width="128*"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr valign="TOP"><td width="50%"><p style="margin-left: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Chris Ferrara, <i>Catholic Family News</i>, “Opposing the Sedevacantist Enterprise, Part II,” Oct. 2005, p. 25: “<b>Thus, we are dealing with a document [</b><i><b>Dignitatis Humanae </b></i><b>of Vatican II] that contains apparent self-contradictions</b>, which seem to have resulted from the Council’s attempt to appease both conservative and liberal factions among the Council Fathers<b>. </b><u><b>A document that contradicts itself by appearing to uphold and negate the traditional teaching at one and the same time can hardly be said to constitute a manifest contradiction of the traditional teaching</b></u>… <b>For what is at issue are ambiguities, internal inconsistencies</b>, and novelties…”</span></p></td><td width="50%"><p style="margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Pius VI: "Moreover, if all this is sinful, <u><b>it cannot be excused in the way that one sees it being done, under the erroneous pretext that the seemingly shocking affirmations in one place are further developed along orthodox lines in other places</b></u><u>, </u><u><b>and even in yet other places corrected</b></u><b>; </b><u><b>as if allowing for the possibility of either affirming or denying the statement</b></u><b>, or of leaving it up to the personal inclinations of the individual – </b><u><b>such has always been the fraudulent and daring method used by innovators to establish error</b></u><b>. </b><u><b>It allows for both the possibility of promoting error and of excusing it</b></u><b>.</b></span></p><p style="margin-left: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">"It is a most reprehensible technique for the insinuation of doctrinal errors and one condemned long ago by <u><b>our predecessor Saint Celestine who found it used in the writings of Nestorius, Bishop of Constantinople, and </b></u><u><b>which he exposed in order to condemn it with the greatest possible severity</b></u>…”</span></p></td></tr></tbody></table><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-top: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Obviously, Pope Pius VI is correct and Chris Ferrara is completely wrong. Notice that Pius VI also says that some of these doctrinal errors (<b>which are also </b><u><b>heresies</b></u><b> in this case, since he is referring to the </b><i><u><b>heresies</b></u></i><i><b> </b></i><b>of the </b><i><b>arch-heretic </b></i><b>Nestorius</b>) were <u>only uncovered through careful study and analysis</u>!</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pius VI: “It is a most reprehensible technique for the insinuation of doctrinal errors and one condemned long ago by our predecessor Saint Celestine who found it used in the writings of Nestorius, Bishop of Constantinople, and which he exposed in order to condemn it with the greatest possible severity. <u><b>Once these texts were examined carefully</b></u>, <b>the impostor was exposed and confounded</b>, for he expressed himself in a plethora of words, <u>mixing true things with others that were obscure</u>; <u>mixing at times one with the other in such a way that he was also able to confess those things which were denied while at the same time possessing a basis for denying those very sentences which he confessed</u>.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">But we thought that such analysis and study wouldn’t be needed for manifest contradictions of Catholic teaching? That’s what Chris Ferrara said.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Chris Ferrara, <i>The Remnant</i>, Sept. 30, 2005, p. 18: “…where are the objectively heretical statements? If they exist, it should be a simple matter to quote the heretical propositions uttered… <u><b>The heresies’ should speak for themselves without any helpful ‘commentary’ by sedevacantist accusers</b></u>.”<sup>114</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Chris Ferrara couldn’t be more wrong. Heretics deceive through contradictions and ambiguity because heresy itself is a lie and a contradiction.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Pius XI, <i>Rite expiatis </i>(# 6), April 30, 1926: “…<span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b>heresies gradually arose and grew in the vineyard of the Lord, propagated either by open heretics or by sly deceivers</b></u></span><b> </b>who, because they professed a certain austerity of life and gave a false appearance of virtue and piety, easily led weak and simple souls astray.”<sup>115</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Notice, <u><b>heresies</b></u><b> </b>arise both through open and undeceiving heretics as well as by <u>sly deceivers, such as Benedict XVI</u>, who mixes in conservative statements and actions among his astounding and undeniable heresies. Illustrating this point again is the fact that the arch-heretic Arius got himself approved by Constantine by giving him an <u>ambiguous</u> profession of faith. St. Athanasius was not fooled, however, and refused to consider him a Catholic.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“<b>Arius presented himself </b>with Euzoios, his ally in doctrine and exile. <u><b>He left with the Emperor [Constantine] a wary profession of Faith which could be interpreted either in the Arian or the orthodox sense but which did not contain the word ‘consubstantial</b></u><b>.’ Constantine was content, revoked his sentence of exile, and ordered that Arius should be readmitted to his rank in the clergy. Arius’ ecclesiastical superior, </b><u><b>Athanasius, however, refused to accept him</b></u>.”<sup>116</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">According to Chris Ferrara, Catholics should have accepted the Christ-denier Arius as a Catholic, as Constantine did, since his profession was ambiguous. <b>Chris Ferrara is the perfect dupe of Satan; all the Devil needs to have the heretic do after teaching his heresy is spice in a little ambiguity, and pepper in a little contradiction, and he will be telling the world to follow the heretic and remain under his aegis</b>. And that is exactly <u>how</u> the Devil has been so successful in keeping people in the apostate, manifestly heretical Vatican II sect. People see a few conservative statements or actions from the heretics, and they convince themselves that they couldn’t be malicious heretics, even though they are denying and destroying the Faith all around them, as we’ve shown. In this way, the Devil wins.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">To further illustrate the “patent absurdity” of Chris Ferrara’s “theology” John Doe could write a document which denies that Our Lady is immaculate over and over again, and then state at the end that he upholds Church teaching on the Immaculate Conception, and the document wouldn’t be manifestly heretical because it contains “self-contradiction.” Could anything be more stupid? Ferrara applies this false theology, which is directly contrary to the teaching of Pope Pius VI (as we saw above), to his analysis of Vatican II’s Declaration on Religious Liberty.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Chris Ferrara, <i>Catholic Family News</i>, “Opposing the Sedevacantist Enterprise, Part II,” Oct. 2005, p. 25: “<b>The [Sedevacantist] Enterprise’s claim of manifest heresy </b>in DH [<i>Dignitatis Humanae</i>, Vatican II’s Declaration on Religious Liberty] <u><b>becomes even weaker when one considers that Article 1 of DH states that the Council ‘leaves untouched traditional Catholic doctrine</b></u><b> on the moral duty of men and societies toward the true religion and toward the one Church of Christ</b>.’”<sup>117</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Vatican II’s Declaration on Religious Liberty contains clear heresy against the Church’s dogma that the State has the right to repress the public expression of false religions. The fact that Vatican II’s Declaration on Religious Liberty claims to “leave untouched traditional Catholic doctrine” means absolutely nothing. The “Old Catholics” said exactly the same, as did heretics throughout history.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Pius IX, <i>Graves ac diuturnae </i>(# 2), March 23, 1875: “<b>They [the ‘Old Catholics’] repeatedly state openly that they do not in the least reject the Catholic Church </b>and its visible head <u><b>but rather that they are zealous for the purity of Catholic doctrine</b></u>… But in fact they refuse to acknowledge all the divine prerogatives of the vicar of Christ on earth and do not submit to His supreme Magisterium.”<sup>118</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">According to Ferrara, then, the case that the “Old Catholics” are heretics is invalid, for they repeatedly state that they are zealous for the purity of Catholic doctrine, and they openly declare that they don’t reject Catholic teaching. But no, the Catholic Church teaches that they are manifest heretics, and all who adhere to their teachings and sect are considered heretics.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Pius IX, <i>Graves ac diuturnae </i>(#'s 1-4), March 23, 1875: "… the new heretics who call themselves 'Old Catholics'... these schismatics and heretics... their wicked sect... these sons of darkness... their wicked faction… this deplorable sect… This sect overthrows the foundations of the Catholic religion, shamelessly rejects the dogmatic definitions of the Ecumenical Vatican Council, and devotes itself to the ruin of souls in so many ways. <b>We have decreed and declared in Our letter of 21 November 1873 that </b><u><b>those unfortunate men who belong to, adhere to, and support that sect should be considered as schismatics and separated from communion with the Church</b></u>." <sup>119</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Pius IX, <i>Quartus Supra </i>(# 6), Jan. 6, 1873: “It has always been the custom of heretics and schismatics to call themselves Catholics and to proclaim their many excellences in order to lead people and princes into error.” <sup>120</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">We can see that Chris Ferrara’s “theology” is directly at variance with not only the teaching of the popes, but common sense. In fact, the satanic idiocy of Ferrara’s (and many others’) position – that the Vatican II apostates and antipopes are not manifest heretics because they sometimes contradict themselves and employ ambiguity along with their astounding heresies – is perhaps best exemplified by looking at the case of the apostate John Kerry.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">We would doubt that almost anyone reading this article believes that John Kerry is a Catholic. Even the people at Franciscan University admit that: “<b>You cannot be a Catholic and be pro- abortion</b>,” as their signs declared in protest when he spoke in Ohio. <b>But John Kerry states that he accepts Catholic teaching</b>, even though he consistently votes in favor of abortion.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">During the 2004 Presidential Debate with George W. Bush, John Kerry stated: “<b>I cannot impose </b><u><b>my</b></u><b> article of faith on someone else</b>.” Did you get that? John Kerry has stated publicly that the Church’s teaching against abortion is <u>his</u> article of faith, but that he simply cannot apply that or impose that in the public sphere. His argument is absurd, a lie, <u>a contradiction</u>, of course – as all heresies are. But according to Chris Ferrara, John Kerry must be considered a Catholic, for something that:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“… <u><b>contradicts itself by appearing to uphold and negate the traditional teaching at one and the same time can hardly be said to constitute a manifest contradiction of the traditional teaching</b></u>…”<sup>121</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">We can see that this statement is pure nonsense. If it were true, then John Kerry can hardly be said to be a manifest heretic when he publicly affirms that Church teaching against abortion is <u>his</u> article of faith, but contradicts that by adamantly supporting abortion. John Kerry must be considered a Catholic, according to the despicable perversion of Catholic teaching, inspired by Satan, that the heretic Chris Ferrara is peddling in “traditional” publications. This conclusion would also put Ferrara at variance with another of his colleagues and good friends, Michael Matt, who declared unequivocally (on his own authority, since this has not been declared by his “pope”) that John Kerry is an apostate.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Michael Matt, <i>The Remnant</i>, April 15, 2004, p. 5: “<b>Take Senator John F. Kerry, for example, the first Catholic nominated for the presidency by either major party since 1960. </b>Kerry, whose paternal grandparents were Jewish, by the way, is doing a remarkably good Kennedy impersonation these days: ‘We have a separation of Church and state in this country,’ Kerry recently told <i>Time </i>magazine. ‘As John Kennedy said very clearly, I will be a President who happens to be Catholic, not a Catholic president.’ On that, at least, we can agree with the gentleman from Massachusetts! <u><b>In fact, we would take it one step further by noting that presidential candidate Kerry isn’t Catholic at all.</b></u></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><u>“</u><u><b>Oh, yes, the former altar boy says he’s Catholic; he allegedly complains when his staff doesn’t leave adequate time on his schedule for Sunday Mass; his official web site announces that ‘John Kerry was raised in the Catholic faith and continues to be an active member of the Catholic church.’ But he’s not Catholic, and neither is his wife</b></u><b> </b>– another anti-Catholic who claims to be a practicing one. John Kerry’s description of himself and his wife is simply untrue: ‘[I’m a] believing and practicing Catholic, married to another believing and practicing Catholic.’ Sounds nice. Trouble is, <u><b>John Kerry is an apostate</b></u>.’”<sup>122</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It seems that Ferrara and Matt have some talking to do. And really, the case of John Kerry proves the point, for if you cannot say that Benedict XVI, who takes active part in Jewish worship, doesn’t believe that Jesus is necessarily the Messiah and Son of God, teaches that we shouldn’t convert Protestants, was initiated into Islam, etc. can’t be considered a heretic – then you have no justification whatsoever to label John Kerry one. In fact, the dogmas that Benedict XVI denies have been defined far more times than the dogma that Kerry denies.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="Objection-17" style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-size: 16px; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"></span></span><p style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: 16px; line-height: 0.8cm; padding: 0.15cm;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Objection 17): Both the 1917 and 1983 Codes of Canon Law teach that a declaration is needed for one to lose his office due to heresy.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm; margin-top: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Chris Ferrara, “A Challenge to the Sedevacantist Enterprise, Part II,” <i>The Remnant</i>, Sept. 30, 2005, p. 18: “<b>Indeed, </b><u><b>both the 1917 and 1983 codes</b></u><b> of canon law provide that no one may insist that an ecclesiastical office has been lost due to heresy unless this has been established by a declaration of the competent authority</b>.”<sup>123</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Answer: This is simply not true. Antipope John Paul II’s heretical and invalid 1983 Code states that such a declaration is necessary in Canon 194 § 3. But the 1917 Code doesn’t. The 1917 Code’s parallel canon to canon 194 is canon 188. <b>Canon 188 of the 1917 Code does not contain this provision</b>, but simply declares that a cleric who “Publicly defects from the Catholic faith” (188 § 4) loses his office by that very fact “without any declaration.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Canon 188.4, <i>1917 Code of Canon Law:</i> “There are certain causes which effect the tacit (silent) resignation of an office, <b>which resignation is accepted in advance by operation of the law, and hence is effective </b><u><b>without any declaration</b></u>. These causes are… (4) <u>if he has publicly fallen away from the faith.</u>”<sup>124</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Notice that the 1917 Code doesn’t say anything about a declaration being necessary; it says just the opposite – “without any declaration”! When one compares the two canons, one sees the glaring difference.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Canon 194.1-3, <i>1983 Code of Canon Law: “</i>One is removed from an ecclesiastical office by the law itself: … 2- who has publicly defected from the Catholic faith or from the communion of the Church… The removal from office referred to in nn. 2 and 3 can be enforced <u>only if it is established by the declaration of a competent authority</u>.”<sup>125</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This is probably why Ferrara provides no citation to the 1917 Code in his footnote; he only provides a reference to the 1983 code. Thus, we are dealing with <u>another blatant falsehood from Ferrara</u>.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="Objection-18" style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-size: 16px; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"></span></span><p style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: 16px; line-height: 0.8cm; padding: 0.15cm;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Objection 18): The Council of Constance condemned the idea that a heretic would cease to be the pope.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm; margin-top: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Errors of John Hus, Condemned by the Council of Constance: “#20. <b>If the Pope is wicked </b>and especially if he is foreknown (as a reprobate), then as Judas, the Apostle, he is of the devil, a thief, and a son of perdition, <b>and </b><u><b>he is not the head of the holy militant Church, since he is not a member of it.</b></u><b>"</b><sup><b>126 </b></sup><b>– Condemned</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Answer: No, the Council of Constance didn’t condemn the idea that a heretic would cease to be the pope at all. This is a serious misunderstanding of this proposition. As we see clearly above, the Council condemned something significantly different. It condemned the proposition that <u><b>a wicked man</b></u><b> </b>would cease to be the head of the Church, since he is not a member of it. The proposition from the heretic Hus rightly asserts that one who is not a member of the Church cannot be the head of the Church, but it falls into trouble by stating that the pope ceases to be a member if he is “wicked.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Pius XII, <i>Mystici Corporis Christi </i>(# 23), June 29, 1943: “For <u>not every sin, however grave it may be</u>, is such as of its own nature <b>to sever a man from the Body of the Church, as does schism or heresy or apostasy.”</b><sup><b>127</b></sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A merely wicked pope doesn’t cease to be pope, but <u>a heretic or schismatic does</u>. This is because heresy and schism and apostasy separate one from the Church, while other sins (no matter how grave or wicked they are) do not. Thus, we can see clearly that the proposition is condemning the idea that wickedness separates one from the Church. It is not condemning the truth that a heretic ceases to be the pope. In fact, many of the other propositions from John Hus which were condemned by the Council of Constance repeat the false idea expressed above in different ways: that the wicked are not part of the Church.<sup>128</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Robert Bellarmine, <i>De Romano Pontifice</i>, Book II, Chap. 30: “<b>This principle is most certain. The non-Christian cannot in any way be pope, as Cajetan himself admits (ib. c. 26). The reason for this is that he cannot be head of what he is not a member; </b>now he who is not a Christian is not a member of the Church, <b>and a manifest heretic is not a Christian, as is clearly taught by St. Cyprian (lib. 4, epist. 2), St. Athanasius (Scr. 2 cont. Arian.), St. Augustine (lib. De great. Christ. Cap. 20), St. Jerome (contra Lucifer.) and others; </b><u><b>therefore the manifestheretic cannot be pope.”</b></u></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="Objection-19" style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-size: 16px; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"></span></span><p style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: 16px; line-height: 0.8cm; padding: 0.15cm;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Objection 19): The Joint Declaration with the Lutherans is not manifest heresy because John Paul II and Benedict XVI didn’t sign it.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-top: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Answer: The Joint Declaration with the Lutherans by itself proves that the Vatican II “popes” are non-Catholic antipopes. The fact that John Paul II and Benedict XVI neither wrote the document nor signed it is completely irrelevant. <u><b>They both approved of it publicly numerous times</b></u>, and agreed with it.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">John Paul II, Jan. 19, 2004, <i>At a Meeting with Lutherans From Finland</i>: “… I wish to express my gratitude for the ecumenical progress made between Catholics and Lutherans in the five years <u><b>since the signing of the </b></u><i><u><b>Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification</b></u></i>.”<sup>129</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Benedict XVI, <i>Address to Protestants at World Youth Da</i>y, August 19, 2005: “… <b>the important Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (1999)</b>…”<sup><b>130</b></sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">James Smith could draw up a document denying the Immaculate Conception, and if you were to go around giving speeches about how great Smith’s document is, that would make you a manifest heretic. The fact that you didn’t write Smith’s document or sign it means nothing; you publicly approved of it. John Paul II and Benedict XVI publicly approved of the <i>Joint Declaration with the Lutherans on Justification</i>, which teaches that the worst Lutheran heresies are not condemned by the Council of Trent. They are manifest heretics.</span></p><table border="1" bordercolor="#000000" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="background-color: white; border-spacing: 0px; color: black; empty-cells: hide; font-size: 16px; width: 100%px;"><colgroup><col width="256*"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr><td valign="TOP" width="100%"><p align="CENTER"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 16pt;">There is No Reason not to accept the Sedevacantist Position</span></p></td></tr></tbody></table><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-top: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">We have addressed in much detail the major objections launched against the sedevacantist position. We can see that there is nothing in the teaching of the Catholic Church which should cause one not to accept the undeniable fact that the Vatican II sect is not the Catholic Church, and that the men who have headed this sect (the post-Vatican II “popes”) are not popes at all, but non-Catholic antipopes. On the contrary, there is undeniable proof for this position and every reason to accept it.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;">Endnotes for Section 21:</span></b></p><p style="background-color: white; border-bottom: 1px solid; border-left: none; border-right: none; border-top: none; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.07cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>1 </sup><i>Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils</i>, Sheed & Ward and Georgetown University Press, 1990, Vol. 1, p. 113.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>2 </sup><i>Coll. Selecta SS. Eccl. Patrum</i>. Caillu and Guillou, Vol. 32, pp 411-412</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>3 </sup><i>Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils</i>, Vol. 1, p. 113.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>4 </sup>Denzinger, <i>The Sources of Catholic Dogma</i>, B. Herder Book. Co., Thirtieth Edition, 1957, no. 351.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>5 </sup><i>The Sunday Sermons of the Great Fathers</i>, Regnery, Co: Chicago, IL, 1963,Vol. 1, pp. xxiv.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>6 </sup>Denzinger 423.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>7 </sup><i>The Papal Encyclicals</i>, by Claudia Carlen, Raleigh: The Pierian Press, 1990,Vol. 2 (1878-1903), p. 393.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>8 </sup>Denzinger 2022.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>9 </sup>Denzinger 2054.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>10 </sup>Denzinger 960.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>11 </sup><i>The Papal Encyclicals</i>, Vol. 1 (1740-1878), p. 236.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>12 </sup><i>The 1917 Pio-Benedictine Code of Canon </i>Law, translated by Dr. Edward Von Peters, San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press, 2001, canon 2314, p. 735.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>13 </sup>Denzinger 1547.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>14 </sup><i>The Catholic Encyclopedia</i>, “Luther,” Robert Appleton Company, 1910, pp. 445-446.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>15 </sup>Warren H. Carroll, <i>A History of Christendom</i>, Front Royal, VA: Christendom Press, 2000, Vol. 4 (<i>The Cleaving of Christendom</i>), p. 10.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>16 </sup><i>The Papal Encyclicals</i>, Vol. 4 (1939-1958), p. 41.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>17 </sup><i>Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils</i>, Vol. 1, p. 578.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>18 </sup><i>Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils</i>, Vol. 1, p. 74.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>19 </sup>Benedict XVI, <i>Principles of Catholic Theology</i>, Ignatius Press, 1982, p. 239.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>20 </sup>Benedict XVI, <i>Principles of Catholic Theology</i>, pp. 197-198.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>21 </sup><i>L’Osservatore Romano</i>, Special Insert, Joint Declaration of the Doctrine of Justification, November 24, 1999, #13.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>22 </sup>G. McDevitt, <i>The Delict of Heresy</i>, 48, CU, Canon Law Studies 77. Washington: 1932.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>23 </sup><i>The Papal Encyclicals</i>, Vol. 1 (1740-1878), p. 45.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>24 </sup><i>The Papal Encyclicals</i>, Vol. 1 (1740-1878), p. 46.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>25 </sup><i>The Papal Encyclicals</i>, Vol. 3 (1903-1939), p. 30.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>26 </sup><i>The Papal Encyclicals</i>, Vol. 3 (1903-1939), pp. 313-314.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>27 </sup><i>The Papal Encyclicals</i>, Vol. 2 (1878-1903), p. 399.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>28 </sup><i>L’Osservatore Romano</i> (the Vatican’s Newspaper), May 24, 1973, p. 6.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>29 </sup><i>L’Osservatore Romano</i>, Jan. 27, 1993, p. 2.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>30 </sup><i>L’Osservatore Romano</i>, August 24, 2005, p. 8.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>31 </sup>Eric F. Mackenzie, A.M., S.T.L., J.C.L. Rev., <i>The Delict of Heresy</i>, Washington, D.C.: The Catholic Univ. of America, 1932, p. 35. (Cf. Canon 2200.2).</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>32 </sup><i>Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils</i>, Vol. 1, p. 283.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>33 </sup>St. Robert Bellarmine, <i>De Romano Pontifice</i>, II, 30.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>34 </sup><i>The Papal Encyclicals</i>, Vol. 1 (1740-1878), p. 416.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>35 </sup><i>Ius Canonicum</i>. Rome: Gregorian 1943. 2:453.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>36 </sup>Denzinger 51-52e; Warren H. Carroll, <i>A History of Christendom</i>, Vol. 1 (<i>The Founding of Christendom</i>), p. 494; J.N.D. Kelly, <i>Oxford Dictionary of Popes</i>, Oxford University Press, 2005, p. 25.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>37 </sup>Fr. Edmund James O’Reilly, <i>The Relations of the Church to Society – Theological Essays</i>, 1882.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>38 </sup>Fr. O’Reilly, <i>The Relations of the Church to Society – Theological Essays, </i>p. 287.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>39 </sup>Yves Dupont, <i>Catholic Prophecy</i>, Rockford, IL: Tan Books, 1973, p. 30.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>40 </sup>Chris Ferrara, “Opposing the Sedevacantist Enterprise,” <i>Catholic Family News</i>, Niagra Falls, NY, August 2005, p. 19</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>41 </sup>Chris Ferrara, “Opposing the Sedevacantist Enterprise,” <i>Catholic Family News</i>, August 2005, p. 19</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>42 </sup>Denzinger 1821.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>43 </sup><i>Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils</i>, Vol. 2, p. 860.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>44 </sup>Benedict XVI, <i>Principles of Catholic Theology</i>, pp. 197-198.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>45 </sup>Denzinger 1824.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>46 </sup>Denzinger 1825.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>47 </sup>Denzinger 1825.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>48 </sup>Benedict XVI, <i>Principles of Catholic Theology</i>, p. 198.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>49 </sup>Denzinger 1826-1827.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>50 </sup>St. Francis De Sales, <i>The Catholic Controversy</i>, Tan Books, 1989, p. 45.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>51 </sup>Denzinger 330.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>52 </sup>St. Robert Bellarmine, <i>De Romano Pontifice</i>, II, 30.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>53 </sup>St. Robert Bellarmine, <i>De Romano Pontifice</i>, II, 30.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>54 </sup><i>The Papal Encyclicals</i>, Vol. 1 (1740-1878), p. 417.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>55 </sup><i>The Papal Encyclicals</i>, Vol. 3 (1903-1939), p. 195.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>56 </sup>Denzinger 93.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>57 </sup><i>The Papal Encyclicals</i>, Vol. 1 (1740-1878), p. 180.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>58 </sup><i>The Papal Encyclicals</i>, Vol. 1 (1740-1878), p. 84.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>59 </sup><i>Institutiones Iuris Canonici</i>, 1921.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>60 </sup><i>Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils</i>, Vol. 2, p. 675.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>61 </sup><i>L’Osservatore Romano</i>, Special Insert, Joint Declaration of the Doctrine of Justification, November 24, 1999, #5.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>62 </sup><i>L’Osservatore Romano</i>, Special Insert, Joint Declaration of the Doctrine of Justification, November 24, 1999, #13.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>63 </sup><i>L’Osservatore Romano</i>, Special Insert, Joint Declaration of the Doctrine of Justification, November 24, 1999, #41.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>64 </sup><i>L’Osservatore Romano</i>, Special Insert, Joint Declaration of the Doctrine of Justification, November 24, 1999, #26.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>65 </sup><i>L’Osservatore Romano</i>, Jan. 28, 2004, p. 4.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>66 </sup><i>L’Osservatore Romano</i>, Dec. 21/28, p. 5.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>67 </sup>Denzinger 423.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>68 </sup>Warren H. Carroll, <i>A History of Christendom</i>, Vol. 3 (<i>The Glory of Christendom</i>), pp. 432-434.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>69 </sup><i>The Catholic Encyclopedia</i>, Vol. 1, p. 447.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>70 </sup>Chris Ferrara, “Opposing the Sedevacantist Enterprise,” Catholic Family News, August 2005, p. 21.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>71 </sup>Chris Ferrara, “Opposing the Sedevacantist Enterprise,” Catholic Family News, August 2005, p. 21</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>72 </sup>Denzinger 530.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>73 </sup>Denzinger 494.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>74 </sup><i>The Catholic Encyclopedia</i>, “John XXII,” Vol. 8, 1910, p. 433.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>75 </sup>Benedict XVI, <i>Dogmatic Theology</i>, The Catholic University of America Press, 1977, p. 137.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>76 </sup><i>The Catholic Encyclopedia</i>, Vol. 8, p. 433.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>77 </sup>Benedict XVI, <i>Introduction to Christianity</i>, p. 349.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>78 </sup>Benedict XVI, <i>Introduction to Christianity, </i>pp. 357-358.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>79 </sup><i>Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils</i>, Vol. 1, p. 578; Denzinger 714.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>80 </sup><i>Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils</i>, Vol. 1, pp. 125-126.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>81 </sup>Denzinger 253.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>82 </sup>St. Francis De Sales, <i>The Catholic Controversy</i>, pp. 305-306.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>83 </sup><i>Oeuvres Complètes</i>, 9:232.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>84 </sup><i>Coll. Selecta SS. Eccl. Patrum</i>, Caillu and Guillou, Vol. 32, pp 411-412.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>85 </sup><i>The Douay-Rheims New Testament with a Catholic Commentary</i>, by Rev. Leo Haydock, Monrovia, CA: Catholic Treasures, 1991, p. 1640.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>86 </sup>Jurgens, <i>The Faith of the Early Fathers</i>, Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1970, Vol. 2, p. 39.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>87 </sup>Jurgens, <i>The Faith of the Early Fathers</i>, Vol. 2, p. 3.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>88 </sup>Jurgens, <i>The Faith of the Early Fathers</i>, Vol. 2, p. 158.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>89 </sup>Jurgens, <i>The Faith of the Early Fathers</i>, Vol. 2, p. 33.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>90 </sup>Donald Attwater, <i>A Catholic Dictionary</i>, “Hierarchy,” Tan Books, p. 229.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>91 </sup><i>The Papal Encyclicals</i>, Vol. 4 (1939-1958), p. 267.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>92 </sup><i>Catholic Family News</i>, January, 1999.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>93 </sup><i>Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils</i>, Vol. 2, p. 908.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>94 </sup><i>The Encyclicals of John Paul II</i>, Huntington, IN: Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division, 1996, p. 918.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>95 </sup><i>The Papal Encyclicals</i>, Vol. 2 (1878-1903), p. 388.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>96 </sup><i>The Papal Encyclicals</i>, Vol. 3 (1903-1939), p. 317.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>97 </sup><i>The Papal Encyclicals</i>, Vol. 4 (1939-1958), p. 50.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>98 </sup><i>The Papal Encyclicals</i>, Vol. 2 (1878-1903), p. 388.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>99 </sup><i>The Catholic Encyclopedia</i>, Vol. 8, 1910, “Investitures,” p. 86</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>100 </sup>Chris Ferrara, <i>Catholic Family News</i>, “Opposing the Sedevacantist Enterprise, Part II,” Oct. 2005, p. 8.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>101 </sup>Denzinger 461.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>102 </sup>Benedict XVI, <i>The Meaning of Christian Brotherhood</i>, pp. 87-88.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>103 </sup>Benedict XVI, <i>Theological Highlights of Vatican II</i>, New York: Paulist Press, 1966, pp. 61, 68.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>104 </sup>Benedict XVI, <i>Principles of Catholic Theology </i>(1982), pp. 197-198.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>105 </sup>“Cardinal” Joseph Ratzinger, <i>God and the World</i>, Ignatius Press, 2000, p. 209.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>106 </sup>“Cardinal” Ratzinger, <i>Principles of Catholic Theology</i>, p. 377.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>107 </sup>“Cardinal” Ratzinger, <i>Principles of Catholic Theology</i>, p. 202.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>108 </sup><i>The Encyclicals of John Paul II</i>, p. 965.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>109 </sup>“Cardinal” Joseph Ratzinger, <i>Principles of Catholic Theology</i>, p. 381.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>110 </sup>“Cardinal” Joseph Ratzinger, <i>Co-Workers of the Truth</i>, Ignatius Press, 1990, p. 217.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>111 </sup>“Cardinal” Joseph Ratzinger, <i>Co-Workers of the Truth</i>, p. 29.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>112 </sup>“Cardinal” Joseph Ratzinger, <i>Introduction to Christianity</i>, Ignatius Press, 2004, p. 349.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>113 </sup><i>The Jewish People and the Holy Scriptures in the Christian Bible</i>, Section II, A, Prefaced by Benedict XVI, www.vatican.va.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>114 </sup>Chris Ferrara, <i>The Remnant</i>, Forest Lake, MN, Sept. 30, 2005, p. 18.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>115 </sup><i>The Papal Encyclicals</i>, Vol. 3 (1903-1939), p. 294.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>116 </sup>Abbot Ricciotti, <i>The Age of Martyrs</i>, Tan Books, p. 275; see also Fr. Laux, <i>Church History</i>, Tan Books, 1989,</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">p. 113; Warren H. Carroll, <i>A History of Christendom</i>, Vol. 2 (<i>The Building of Christendom)</i>, p. 18.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>117 </sup>Chris Ferrara, <i>Catholic Family News</i>, “Opposing the Sedevacantist Enterprise, Part II,” Oct. 2005, p. 25.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>118 </sup><i>The Papal Encyclicals</i>, Vol. 1 (1740-1878), p. 451.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>119 </sup><i>The Papal Encyclicals</i>, Vol. 1 (1740-1878), pp. 451-452.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>120 </sup><i>The Papal Encyclicals</i>, Vol. 1 (1740-1878), p. 414.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>121 </sup>Chris Ferrara, <i>Catholic Family News</i>, Oct. 2005, p. 25.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>122 </sup>Michael Matt, <i>The Remnant</i>, April 15, 2004, p. 5.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>123 </sup>Chris Ferrara, “A Challenge to the Sedevacantist Enterprise, Part II,” <i>The Remnan</i>t, Sept. 30, 2005, p. 18.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>124 </sup><i>The 1917 Pio-Benedictine Code of Canon </i>Law, translated by Dr. Edward Von Peters, p. 83.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>125 </sup><i>The Code of Canon Law</i> (1983), A Text and Commentary, Commissioned by the Canon Law Society of America, Edited by James A. Coriden, Thomas J. Green, Donald E. Heintschel, Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1985, p. 111.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>126 </sup>Denzinger 646.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>127 </sup><i>The Papal Encyclicals</i>, Vol. 4 (1939-1958), p. 41.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>128 </sup>Denzinger 627 ff.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>129 </sup><i>L’Osservatore Romano</i>, Jan. 28, 2004, p. 4.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>130 </sup><i>L’Osservatore Romano</i>, August 24, 2005, p. 8.</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-831939533339323924.post-64995905666027096662022-01-06T23:38:00.002-05:002022-01-06T23:38:12.187-05:00Mary is Co-Redeemer<p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"></span></b></span></span></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftaylormarshall.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F12%2FOur-Lady-of-Guadalupe.jpg&f=1&nofb=1" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="633" height="200" src="https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftaylormarshall.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F12%2FOur-Lady-of-Guadalupe.jpg&f=1&nofb=1" width="158" /></a></span></b></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><br />Why Catholic Teaching shows us that Mary is to be considered Co-Redeemer</span></b><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"><br />People who are against the title Co-Redemptrix (such as the Dimonds of MHFM) will admit that the actual meaning of it is not heretical, it’s the title of Co-Redemptrix that they believe is heretical</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"> </span><b style="color: black; font-size: 16px;">even if the meaning of it is orthodox</b><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;">. Their position is that it’s heretical to believe she also redeemed mankind like how Christ did (and we agree that this is heretical). But their position is also that it’s heretical to even give Mary the title of Co-Redemptrix</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"> </span><b style="color: black; font-size: 16px;">even if the meaning is orthodox</b><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;">(they believe it can only be interpreted the heretical way), they have acknowledged this in the debate video on this issue and in their articles, as we will see. Peter Dimond said:</span></span><p></p><center style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"><table bgcolor="#ffffcc" border="2" bordercolor="" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="4" style="background-color: transparent; border-spacing: 0px; empty-cells: hide; width: 592px;"><colgroup><col width="560"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr><td valign="TOP" width="560"><p><span style="font-family: arial;">“The position of Co-Redemptrix is not that <u><b>Mary</b></u> is in a category with the saints under the one Redeemer, and <u><b>can be called co-redeemer</b></u> in a sense just like St. Paul is said to help fill up the work of Redemption. No, the position of Co-Redemptrix is that Mary is in a unique category with Jesus as the Redeemer – a category which does not include St. Paul or any other saint. Therefore, one cannot try to substantiate the “Co-Redemptrix” position by appealing to how other saints participate in the work of Redemption under the one Redeemer. That’s illogical and fallacious.” (Mary is not the Co-Redeemer (Co-Redemptrix); cf. Why Catholic teaching shows us that Mary is not to be considered Co-Redemptrix or Co-Redeemer)</span></p></td></tr></tbody></table></center><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In the debate video, their opponent continually says that it depends on how one defines Co-Redemptrix that determines whether it is to be considered heretical or orthodox and he explains it several times, but Peter continues to treat the title of Co-Redemptrix to mean something that it does not mean, even after their opponent in the video explained the true meaning, and Peter even acknowledged it in the video but he still continued to treat the title Co-Redemptrix to mean something that it does not mean even after it was explained to him. Peter Dimond said:</span></p><center style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"><table bgcolor="#ffffcc" border="2" bordercolor="" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="4" style="background-color: transparent; border-spacing: 0px; empty-cells: hide; width: 592px;"><colgroup><col width="560"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr><td valign="TOP" width="560"><p><span style="font-family: arial;">“<b>Mary was integral to the events that led up to the redemption</b> but Christ alone is the redeemer and he alone redeemed the world, and therefore the title Co-Redemptrix, is a false title. … <u>there is no other reason to apply the term Co-Redemptrix to her <b>unless you are promoting the idea that she played an integral role in the actual specific </b></u><i><u><b>formal act of redemption</b></u></i>.” (Mary is not the Co-Redeemer (video))</span></p></td></tr></tbody></table></center><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The correct meaning of the title Co-Redemptrix does not even mean the way that he obstinately interprets it to mean, but he claims that there is no reason to apply the term Co-Redemptrix to her unless you’re promoting it the heretical way! This is dishonesty to the max.</span></p><center style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"><table bgcolor="#ffffcc" border="2" bordercolor="" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="4" style="background-color: transparent; border-spacing: 0px; empty-cells: hide; width: 592px;"><colgroup><col width="560"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr><td valign="TOP" width="560"><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Peter Dimond, <i>Is Our Lady the Co-Redeemer?</i>: “These facts considered, it is contrary to Catholic Teaching to say that Mary is Co-Redemptrix. Certainly, it’s possible for people to express themselves erroneously on this topic in good faith before the specific dogmatic definitions above are presented to them. <b>But once they have seen these dogmatic definitions [“Jesus Christ our Lord, who </b><i><b>alone</b></i> <b>is our redeemer and Savior…” (Council of Trent, sess. xxv)]</b> they must reject this idea; it is, strictly speaking, <u>a heresy</u> which contradicts the dogmatic teaching of Trent and Florence.”</span></p></td></tr></tbody></table></center><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">First, when Peter himself has <b>admitted that there is an orthodox and non-heretical view to the title of Co-Redemptrix or Co-Redeemer</b>, then it is obviously illogical of him to conclude that it must be heretical to apply <b>the </b><i><u><b>non-heretical</b></u></i><u><b> and </b></u><i><u><b>orthodox</b></u></i><u><b> term</b></u> <b>of Co-Redemptrix to Mary</b>.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Second, Popes and Holy Scripture teaches infallibly that all men have sinned without mentioning any exceptions. That did not mean there were no exceptions, and it did not mean the popes believed Christ and Mary had sinned, only they saw no need to mention the exception in the infallible decree, because the exceptions were already mentioned elsewhere. The Bible is the primary infallible source of revelation and it teaches, “all men have sinned” without mentioning the two exceptions of Jesus and Mary.</span></p><center style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"><table bgcolor="#ffffcc" border="2" bordercolor="" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="4" style="background-color: transparent; border-spacing: 0px; empty-cells: hide; width: 592px;"><colgroup><col width="560"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr><td valign="TOP" width="560"><p><span style="font-family: arial;">“Wherefore as by one man sin entered into this world and by sin death: and so death passed upon <u>all men</u>, in whom <u>all have sinned.</u>” (Rom. 5:12)</span></p></td></tr></tbody></table></center><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This must me taken in context. It is not meant to include Jesus and Mary although it does not mention them as exceptions. Other sources of revelation have to be looked at, either other places in the Bible or the oral traditions of the original apostles. We see the same thing in the Council of Trent.</span></p><center style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"><table bgcolor="#ffffcc" border="2" bordercolor="" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="4" style="background-color: transparent; border-spacing: 0px; empty-cells: hide; width: 592px;"><colgroup><col width="560"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr><td valign="TOP" width="560"><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Council of Trent, On Original Sin, sess. V: “2. If any one asserts, that the prevarication of Adam injured himself alone, and not his posterity; and that the holiness and justice, received of God, which he lost, he lost for himself alone, and not for us also; or that he, being defiled by the sin of disobedience, has only transfused death, and pains of the body, into <u>the whole human race</u>, but not sin also, which is the death of the soul; let him be anathema:--whereas he contradicts the apostle who says; By one man sin entered into the world, and by sin death, and <u>so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned</u>. [Rom. 5:12]” (D. 789)</span></p></td></tr></tbody></table></center><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The exception was not mentioned at all in this paragraph. <b>In a different paragraph within the same decree later on</b> <b>there is mention that Mary is not included in this decree</b>. But the exception of Jesus Christ is not mentioned at all. This same above decree is found word for word in the Council of Orange II, 529, Original Sin, Grace, Predestination, and <b>it never mentions any exceptions</b>.</span></p><center style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"><table bgcolor="#ffffcc" border="2" bordercolor="" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="4" style="background-color: transparent; border-spacing: 0px; empty-cells: hide; width: 592px;"><colgroup><col width="560"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr><td valign="TOP" width="560"><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Council of Orange, Canon 2 (A.D. 529): “If anyone asserts that Adam’s sin affected him alone and not his descendants also, or at least if he declares that it is only the death of the body which is the punishment for sin, and not also that sin, which is the death of the soul, passed through one man to the <u>whole human race</u>, he does injustice to God and contradicts the Apostle, who says, “Therefore as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all men sinned” (Rom. 5:12).”</span></p></td></tr></tbody></table></center><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Boniface II confirmed the Council of Orange. Footnote 1, Denzinger 175: “Orange in Gaul. This Council approved by Boniface II [See D. n. 200 a. f.] <b>obtained such authority in the Church that it is worthily held as an infallible rule</b>.” (D. 175) As a side note this is a Regional Council that was made infallible by a pope.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Catholic Encyclopedia explains: “The acts of the council, which were signed by the bishops, the pretorian prefect Liberius and seven other distinguished laymen, <b>were forwarded to Rome and approved by Boniface II on 25 January, 531. They consequently </b><u><b>enjoy œcumenical [infallible] authority</b></u> and are printed in Denzinger’s "Enchiridion Symbolorum" (10th ed., nos. 174-200).” (<i>The Catholic Encyclopedia</i>, Vol. 11, "Councils of Orange", 1911)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Clement VIII also taught that “all sinned” without mentioning any exceptions.</span></p><center style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"><table bgcolor="#ffffcc" border="2" bordercolor="" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="4" style="background-color: transparent; border-spacing: 0px; empty-cells: hide; width: 592px;"><colgroup><col width="560"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr><td valign="TOP" width="560"><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Clement XIII, A Quo Die, 1758: “8. …Let us not think that our true, solid, and serious glory comes from the lips of men. <u>We have all sinned</u>, and we all need the glory of God.”</span></p></td></tr></tbody></table></center><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Did the infallible Council of Orange and Pope Clement mean that Christ and Mary had sinned? And did the infallible Council of Trent mean that Christ has sinned (or that Mary sinned until it made her an exception three paragraphs later)? Of course not. It is understood they did not mean to include them, because the exceptions were so well taught elsewhere.</span></p><center style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"><table bgcolor="#ffffcc" border="2" bordercolor="" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="4" style="background-color: transparent; border-spacing: 0px; empty-cells: hide; width: 592px;"><colgroup><col width="560"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr><td valign="TOP" width="560"><p style="margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Peter Dimond, <i>Is Our Lady the Co-Redeemer?</i>: “Those who have a problem with the fact that we have said that Mary is not Co-Redemptrix or Co-Redeemer don’t have a problem with us; <b>they have a problem with the dogmatic Council of Trent</b>, <b>the teaching of the Holy Catholic Church, which erred </b><u><b>according to them</b></u> <b>when it infallibly defined that Jesus </b><u><b>alone</b></u> <b>is our Redeemer</b>. Further, look at the context of this dogmatic definition of the Catholic Church. The context deals with devotion to Our Lady and the Saints; and yet not only does it not say that Our Lady is Co-Redemptrix, it specifically contradicts the idea by infallibly declaring that Christ <u>alone</u> is Our Redeemer.</span></p><p style="margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Pius IV, <i>Council of Trent</i>, Sess. 25, On Invocation, Veneration and Relics of Saints, and on Sacred Images, <i>ex cathedra</i>: “…the saints, who reign with Christ, offer up their prayers to God for me; and that it is good and useful to invoke them suppliantly and, in order to obtain favors from God through His Son <b>JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD, </b><u><b>WHO ALONE IS OUR REDEEMER</b></u> and Savior….<b>But if anyone should teach or maintain anything contrary to these decrees, let him be anathema</b>.” (Denz. 984-987)</span></p></td></tr></tbody></table></center><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">As we have seen already, the point is that just because a certain infallible text does not mention an exception does not mean there is <u>not an exception</u>. Other sources of revelation have to be looked at, either other places in the Bible or the oral traditions of the original apostles, or other infallible Councils and decrees. The Holy Bible has many such examples. I relate this to the dogma “Outside the Church there is no salvation,” because those who deny the dogma say that there are exceptions to the words of Popes Innocent III in the <i>Fourth Lateran Council</i>, Boniface VIII in the Bull <i>Unam Sanctum</i>, and Pope Eugene IV in the <i>Council of Florence</i>. But search as they may they will find no exceptions mentioned elsewhere, not in the same decrees or any other decrees by these popes or their predecessors.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Peter then said: “there is no other reason to apply the term Co-Redemptrix to her <u>unless you are promoting the idea that she played an integral role in the actual specific formal act of redemption</u>.” The Blessed Virgin obviously was a partner in the redemption—not an equal partner but a lesser partner. That is why she is called the Co-Redeemer and Jesus is called the Redeemer. Christ redeemed men from their sins but not without a partner from which He could take on human flesh. This partner, Mary, is correctly titled the Co-Redeemer because she played a vital role in the remission of men’s sins, <b>while Jesus is the sole Redeemer whose death remitted men’s sins</b>. Just because Mary’s title has the word “redeemer” in it does not mean she usurps Jesus’ title as the sole redeemer whose death remitted men’s sins.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Just as the Blessed Virgin Mary is the Mediatrix, she also is the Co-Redemptrix or Co-Redeemer. The principle is the same. <b>Just as Mary’s title of Mediatrix does not deny Jesus Christ’s title as sole mediator before men and God the Father, Mary’s title of Co-Redeemer does not deny Jesus Christ’s title as the sole redeemer</b> whose sacrifice remits sins and thus redeems men: “In whom we have redemption through his [Jesus’] blood, the remission of sins.” (Eph. 1:7)</span></p><h3 class="western" style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 21px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 26px; margin: 25px auto -5px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="How-the-Council-of-Trent-is-to-be-understood" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a>How the Council of Trent is to be understood</span></h3><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>The Council of Trent</i>: “Jesus Christ our Lord, <u>who alone is our redeemer</u> and Savior…” (sess. xxv)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Council of Trent uses the word “redeemer” to mean the one who redeems men from their sins and thus reunites them to God and offers them eternal life. However, the Bible also refers to other redeemers; but these redeemers did not effect the remission of sins. <b>For instance, Moses was also called a redeemer</b>: “<i>This Moses… God sent to be prince and redeemer, by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the burning bush.” </i>(Acts 7:35)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Rheims New Testament</i>, 1582, annotation on Acts 7: 35: “<b>Christ is our Redeemer, and yet </b><u><b>Moses is here called redeemer</b></u>. So Christ is our Mediator and Advocate, and yet <u>we may have Saints as our inferior mediators and advocates</u>. (See Annot. 1 John 2:1)”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Further, in the continuation of Council of Trent, Session 25 (that Peter quotes to deny Mary as Co-Redeemer), it says concerning “the one mediator of God and men, Jesus Christ” that:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“Jesus Christ our Lord, <u>who alone is our redeemer</u> and Savior; <b>and that they think impiously</b> who deny that the saints who enjoy eternal happiness in heaven are to be invoked, or who assert that they do not pray for men, or that our invocation of them to pray for each of us individually is idolatry, or <b>that it is opposed to the word of God and </b><u><b>inconsistent with the honor of the ONE MEDIATOR OF GOD AND MEN, JESUS CHRIST</b></u>…” (Council of Trent, Session 25)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">So the Council of Trent just said infallibly that it’s <i><u>not</u></i> opposed <b>to the word of God</b> <i>to invoke the saints in heaven</i> and that this is <i><u>not</u></i> “<u><b>inconsistent</b></u> <b>with the honor of the </b><i><u><b>ONE</b></u></i><u><b> MEDIATOR</b></u> <b>OF GOD AND MEN, JESUS CHRIST</b>…”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>Hence Moses’ title as redeemer </b><u><b>does not deny Christ’s title as the sole redeemer</b></u> <b>as referred to in the Council of Trent because Trent’s use of the word “redeemer” is in reference to the ultimate redemption, </b><u><b>the salvation of souls</b></u>. <u>The same applies to Christ’s title as sole mediator before God</u>. This title does not mean there cannot be other mediators, such as the Blessed Virgin Mary and the good angels and the saints, <u>all who are mediators between men and Christ, as we have just seen.</u> So, indeed, Moses was truly a redeemer, but an inferior redeemer to Christ. Moses’ title as redeemer was in reference to the temporary salvation of God’s chosen people from slavery and other hardships imposed on them by the Egyptians. Moses’ redemption also prepared God’s chosen people for the ultimate redemption when Christ died on the cross:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Catholic commentary on Acts 7: “Ver. 35. … <i>Redeemer. </i>In the Greek <i>Lutroten; </i>Protestant version, <i>Deliverer; </i>though the learned Polus, in his Synopsis Criticorum, on this place, says, ‘that no greater injury is done to God, by calling Moses a <i>Redeemer, </i>in this place, than by calling him a <i>Mediator, </i>in Galatians iii. 19. He is called a Redeemer…in as much as he led forth, and preserved the people of God safe by the blood of a lamb, and this exhibited a figure of the true redemption, through the blood of Christ.’”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Council of Florence taught the same. It declared that Jesus Christ alone by His death redeemed the human race and “<b>opened the entrance to the kingdom of heaven</b>.” Thus, when the Councils use the word “redeemer”, it is in reference to the ultimate redemption, <b>the salvation of souls and the opening of the kingdom of heaven</b>.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Eugene IV, <i>Council of Florence</i>, “Cantate Domino” 1441, ex cathedra: “The Holy Roman Church firmly believes, professes, and teaches that no one conceived of man and woman was ever freed of the domination of the Devil, except through the merit of the mediator between God and men, our Lord Jesus Christ; <b>He who was conceived without sin, was born and died, </b><u><b>through His death alone</b></u> <b>laid low the enemy of the human race by destroying our sins, </b><u><b>and opened the entrance to the kingdom of heaven, which the first man by his own sin had lost</b></u>…” (Denz. 711)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It’s interesting that the <i>Catechism of the Council of Trent</i> also teaches that Christ alone redeemed us and “<b>reconciled us to the heavenly Father through His blood</b>.” While the catechism is not infallible, it reiterates the truth that was solemnly defined in the aforementioned councils.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Catechism of the Council of Trent</i>, Part III: The Decalogue – First Commandment – Thou Shalt not Have Strange Gods, etc. – Objections Answered: “True, there is but one Mediator, <u><b>Christ the Lord, who alone has reconciled us to the heavenly Father through His blood</b></u>, and who, having obtained eternal <i><b>redemption</b></i>, and having entered once into the holies, ceases not to intercede for us.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>All of the above quotes that we have looked at, the Dimonds use to “prove” that “</b><i><b>Christ “alone” redeemed us and that Christ “alone” is the Redeemer”</b></i>, <u>which no one is denying</u>, and they focus solely on the “alone” part completely ignoring what the quotes and councils <u>means with their statements</u>.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Peter Dimond: “The bottom-line is that there is no way of getting around the dogmatic definitions which declare that Jesus Christ <i>alone</i> is the Redeemer.” (Mary is not the Co-Redeemer (Co-Redemptrix))</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Let’s see Council of Trent’s own answer to Peters protestant objection of Christ “alone” this, or Christ “alone” that when this exact same term is applied to the “<i><u>ONE</u></i><u> MEDIATOR</u> OF GOD AND MEN, JESUS CHRIST”:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>The Council of Trent</i>: “Jesus Christ our Lord, <u>who alone is our redeemer</u> and Savior; <b>and that they think impiously</b> who deny that the saints who enjoy eternal happiness in heaven are to be invoked, or who assert that they do not pray for men, or that our invocation of them to pray for each of us individually is idolatry, or <b>that it is opposed to the word of God and </b><u><b>inconsistent with the honor of the ONE MEDIATOR OF GOD AND MEN, JESUS CHRIST</b></u>…” (sess. xxv)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">All who read this text should know that Mary is the “Mediatrix of all Graces” according to Catholic teaching, which means that She is a Mediator in the work of salvation of man. But according to the false logic of the teaching of MHFM, this would deny Trent.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Therefore the Council of Trent’s reference to Jesus as the only redeemer must be taken in correct context or one might deny the Bible verse that says Moses is also a redeemer, or deny that Mary can be Co-Mediator. Hence the Bible, councils and popes never meant to teach that there cannot be other types of redeemers or mediators, such as Moses, or that there cannot be a co-redeemer or co-mediator, such as the Blessed Virgin Mary.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">As the First Vatican Council declared on January 6, 1870 concerning understanding the dogmas as the Church has understood and understands:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“<u><b>If anyone says that it is possible</b></u> that at some time given the advancement of knowledge, <u><b>a sense may be assigned to the dogmas propounded by the Church which is different FROM THAT WHICH THE CHURCH HAS UNDERSTOOD AND UNDERSTANDS</b></u>: let him be anathema.” (Pope Pius IX, <i>Vatican Council I</i>, Session 3, On Faith and Reason, 4:3)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus is the sole redeemer who redeemed men from their sins. However, the redemption did not happen without a woman who was worthy enough to conceive God in her womb so that the redemption could take place. This woman is the Immaculate Virgin Mary! Christ died for our sins, but without Mary there is no Christ to die for our sins. Christ’s death redeems men, but without Mary there is no Christ to redeem men. Therefore without Mary, there is no redemption. Hence Mary is truly and properly the Co-Redeemer! Christ redeemed men, but He would not redeem men without the help of Mary whose flesh He took and who offered her Son to God as Abraham offered Isaac. It is in this sense that Mary is truly the Co-Redeemer, which does not conflict with the Bible or infallible papal decrees or councils when taken in correct context and understood as the Church understands it. Indeed, popes, saints and other Catholic writers have taught that Mary is Co-Redeemer:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Life of St. Anthony of Padua (1195-1231): “The first word [St. Anthony] uttered was the holy name of Mary… His most powerful and moving sermons were preached in her honor. In his writings are to be found the doctrines of her Immaculate Conception and glorious Assumption; and he never tired of speaking of her as the Mediatrix of All Graces, <u>nor of dwelling upon her part in the redemption</u>.” (<i>Saints to Know and Love</i>, by The Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, St. Anthony of Padua)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.01cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Alphonsus Liguori, <i>The Glories of Mary</i>, Chapter IV, Section II — Mary, our Mediatress — The Necessity of the Intercession of Mary for our Salvation: “Saint Bernard says, ‘that as a man and a woman cooperated in our ruin, <u>so it was proper that another man and another woman should cooperate in our redemption; and these two were Jesus and his Mother Mary</u>.’ ‘There is no doubt,’ says the Saint, ‘that Jesus Christ alone was more than sufficient to redeem us; but it was more becoming that both sexes should cooperate in the reparation of an evil in causing which both had shared.’ Hence blessed Albert the Great calls Mary ‘the helper of redemption:’ and this Blessed Virgin herself revealed to Saint Bridget, that ‘as Adam and Eve sold the world for an apple, so did she with her Son redeem it as it were with one heart.’ This is confirmed by Saint Anselm, who says, ‘that although God could create the world out of nothing, yet, when it was lost by sin, He would not repair the evil without the cooperation of Mary.’</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.01cm; margin-left: 1.25cm; margin-top: 0.01cm; text-indent: 1cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“Suarez says, ‘that Mary cooperated in our salvation in three ways; first, by having merited by a merit of congruity the Incarnation of the Word; secondly, by having continually prayed for us whilst she was living in this world; thirdly, by having willingly sacrificed the life of her Son to God.’ For this reason our Lord has justly decreed, that as Mary cooperated in the salvation of man with so much love, and at the same time gave such glory to God, so all men through her intercession are to obtain their salvation.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 1.25cm; margin-top: 0.01cm; text-indent: 1cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“Mary is called ‘the cooperator in our justification; for to her God has intrusted all graces intended for us;’ and therefore Saint Bernard affirms, ‘that all men, past, present, and to come, should look upon Mary as the means and negotiator of the salvation of all ages.’ … And shall we scruple to ask her to save us, when ‘the way of salvation is open to none otherwise than through Mary?’ as a certain author remarks. And before him Saint Germanus had said the same thing, speaking of Mary: ‘No one is saved but through thee.’ … And as we have access to the Eternal Father, says Saint Bernard, only through Jesus Christ, so have we access to Jesus Christ only through Mary: ‘By thee we have access to the Son, O blessed finder of grace, bearer of life, and mother of salvation, that we may receive Him by thee, Who through thee was given to us.’”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Pius IX, <i>Ineffabilis Deus</i>, 1854: “All our hope do we repose in the most Blessed Virgin—in the all fair and immaculate one who has crushed the poisonous head of the most cruel serpent <u>and brought salvation to the world</u>: in her who is the glory of the prophets and apostles, the honor of the martyrs, the crown and joy of all the saints; in her who is the safest refuge and the most trustworthy helper of all who are in danger; in her who, with her only-begotten Son, is the most powerful Mediatrix and Conciliatrix in the whole world; in her who is the most excellent glory, ornament, and impregnable stronghold of the holy Church.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.01cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Pius X, <i>Ad Diem Illum Laetissimum, </i>1904: “6. Could not God have given us, in another way than through the Virgin, the Redeemer of the human race and the Founder of the Faith? Hence whenever the Scriptures speak prophetically of the grace which was to appear among us, <u>the Redeemer of mankind is almost invariably presented to us as united with His mother</u>. …Now the Blessed Virgin did not conceive the Eternal Son of God merely in order that He might be made man taking His human nature from her, <u>but also in order that by means of the nature assumed from her He might be the Redeemer of men</u>. …</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.01cm; margin-left: 1.25cm; margin-top: 0.01cm; text-indent: 1cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“12. Moreover it was not only the prerogative of the Most Holy Mother to have furnished the material of His flesh to the Only Son of God, Who was to be born with human members, of which material should be prepared the Victim for the salvation of men; but <u>hers was also the office of tending and nourishing that Victim, and at the appointed time presenting Him for the sacrifice</u>. …When the supreme hour of the Son came, beside the Cross of Jesus there stood Mary His Mother, not merely occupied in contemplating the cruel spectacle, but rejoicing that her Only Son was offered for the salvation of mankind, and so entirely participating in His Passion, that if it had been possible she would have gladly borne all the torments that her Son bore. And from this community of will and suffering between Christ and <u>Mary she merited to become most worthily the Reparatrix</u><sup><u>[1]</u></sup><u> [Co-Redeemer] of the lost world</u> and Dispensatrix of all the gifts that Our Savior purchased for us by Death and by His Blood…</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 1.25cm; margin-top: 0.01cm; text-indent: 1cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“14. We are…very far from attributing to the Mother of God a productive power of grace—a power which belongs to God alone. Yet, since Mary carries it over all in holiness and union with Jesus Christ, and has been associated by Jesus Christ in the work of redemption, she merits for us ‘de congruo,’ in the language of theologians, what Jesus Christ merits for us ‘de condigno,’ and she is the supreme Minister of the distribution of graces.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><sup>[1]</sup> The Latin word “reparo” means to restore, renew, or purchase. Hence the pope refers to Mary as a partner with Jesus in renewing men to eternal life and restoring a fallen world by purchasing or redeeming men’s sin debt, which means Jesus is Redeemer and Mary is Co-Redeemer.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>The Sources of Catholic Dogma</i>, Denzinger: “In the decree of the Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office (section on indulgences), <i>Sunt quos amor</i>, June 26, 1913 (AAS 5 (1913) 363), he [Pope Benedict XV] praises the custom of adding to the name of Jesus the name of ‘His Mother, our coredemptor, the blessed Mary’; cf. also the prayer enriched by the Holy Office with an indulgence, in which the Blessed Virgin Mary is called ‘coredemptress of the human race.’ (Jan. 22, 1914; AAS 6 [1914] 108).”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Benedict XV, <i>Inter solalicia</i>, 1918: “The Blessed Virgin suffered with her suffering Son and nearly died with Him when He died; she abdicated her maternal rights over her Son for the salvation of men, and so far as it appertained to her she immolated her Son to placate the divine justice; so that <u>she may rightly be said to have redeemed the human race with Christ</u>.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Pius XI, <i>Miserentissimus Redemptor</i>, 1928: “And now lastly may the most benign Virgin Mother of God smile on this purpose and on these desires of ours; for since she brought forth for us Jesus our Redeemer, and nourished Him, and offered Him as a victim by the Cross, <u>by her mystic union with Christ and His very special grace she likewise became and is piously called a reparatress</u> [Co-Redemptrix].”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Pius XI, <i>Auspicatus profecto</i>, 1933: “[Mary became the Mother of Jesus] in order that <u>she might become a partner in the redemption of the human race</u>.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Pius XI, <i>Explorata res</i>, 1923: “<u>The Virgin participated with Jesus Christ in the very painful act of the redemption</u>.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In a book series on the Catholic faith called “The Library Of Catholic Knowledge”, in the book about the Blessed Virgin Mary, it explains Co-Redemptrix, and it goes onto say: “It belongs to the Church to fix the language of her theology, and to judge whether or not any confusion is likely to occur in certain cases; and in authorized documents the magisterium of the Church tends increasingly to favour the expression Co-redemptrix to express this doctrine. It has now received “the freedom of the city” so to speak, and it remains for us to explain what it involves.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The book then goes onto explain in detail Co-Redemptrix. So when it comes down to it, the Church has most certainly allowed the idea and it has been around for hundreds and hundreds of years, and, as we have seen, at least 3 Popes have taught it, and the medieval Franciscans support it too and so did Saints, <b>and the main thing is that the term is not heretical because what it MEANS is not heretical!</b> The Dimonds in their pride (yet again) have lied and have given themselves far too much confidence on this. For them to condemn anyone who holds it (the correct meaning), is absolutely absurd.</span></p><ul style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px;"><li><p><b><span style="font-family: arial;">In Reparation for Insults Offered to the Blessed Virgin Mary (Taken from the Raccolta)</span></b></p></li></ul><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">O blessed Virgin, Mother of God, look down in mercy from Heaven, where thou art enthroned as Queen, upon me, a miserable sinner, thine unworthy servant. Although I know full well my own unworthiness, yet in order to atone for the offenses that are done to thee by impious and blasphemous tongues, from the depths of my heart I praise and extol thee as the purest, the fairest, the holiest creature of all God’s handiwork. I bless thy holy Name, I praise thine exalted privilege of being truly Mother of God, ever Virgin, conceived without stain of sin, <u>Co-Redemptrix of the human race</u>. I bless the Eternal Father who chose thee in an especial way for His daughter; I bless the Word Incarnate who took upon Him our nature in thy bosom and so made thee His Mother; I bless the Holy Spirit who took thee as His bride. All honor, praise and thanksgiving to the ever-blessed Trinity who predestined thee and loved thee so exceedingly from all eternity as to exalt thee above all creatures to the most sublime heights. O Virgin, holy and merciful, obtain for all who offend thee the grace of repentance, and graciously accept this poor act of homage from me thy servant, obtaining likewise for me from thy divine Son the pardon and remission of all my sins. Amen.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">An indulgence of 500 days (Holy Office, Jan. 22, 1914; S. P. Ap., Dec. 4, 1934). The Raccolta, translated into English from the 1938 edition by The Rev. Joseph P. Christopher, Ph.D., and The Very Rev. Charles E. Spence, M.A. (Oxon.) By authorization of the Holy See.</span></i></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-831939533339323924.post-79190221171795987462021-12-17T17:04:00.005-05:002022-01-06T23:39:33.278-05:00St. Maria Goretti<p><u style="background-color: white;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"></span></b></u></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><u style="background-color: white;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEipjGy8tx-_sSPAs125rDAfCvyMslSbhaIVQIoGu_kHuRajOxTTNmO5JjIFPKwEGhlraeY4JziBOLQ7QVTJmBLEzUKPgdrPuouFDMX9XbB3jvPmvOPoz4ut3b7acXdvkXol8vL8UHqrvMFYdbLFQf90Qn38a7fl5j-dZRYpDdnoKY5-PmTE0gBQHmTr=s718" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="718" data-original-width="650" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEipjGy8tx-_sSPAs125rDAfCvyMslSbhaIVQIoGu_kHuRajOxTTNmO5JjIFPKwEGhlraeY4JziBOLQ7QVTJmBLEzUKPgdrPuouFDMX9XbB3jvPmvOPoz4ut3b7acXdvkXol8vL8UHqrvMFYdbLFQf90Qn38a7fl5j-dZRYpDdnoKY5-PmTE0gBQHmTr=w181-h200" width="181" /></a></span></b></u></div><u style="background-color: white;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br />St. Maria Goretti</span></b></u><p></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Maria Goretti (October 16, 1890 – July 6, 1902) is an Italian virgin-martyr of the Roman Catholic Church, and is one of its youngest canonized saints. She died from multiple stab wounds inflicted by her attempted rapist after she refused him because of love of Jesus and her loyalty to the Ten Commandments. Goretti was born Maria Teresa Goretti on October 16, 1890 in Corinaldo, in the Province of Ancona, then in the Kingdom of Italy, to Luigi Goretti and Assunta Carlini. She was the third out of six children. Her sisters were named Teresa and Ersilia; her brothers were Angelo, Sandrino, and Mariano.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">"By the loving providence of God, we have assisted this evening at the supreme exaltation of a humble daughter of the people, in a ceremony whose solemnity and dignity are unique in the history of the Church.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">For tonight's canonization has been held in this vast and inviting place of mystery, made for the occasion into a sacred temple whose vault is the open heaven that proclaims the glories of Almighty God—a choice for which you first expressed the desire before We had decided to make the disposition.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The concourse of the faithful coming here for the occasion, exceeds anything that has ever been witnessed at any other occasion. You have been lured here, we might almost say, by the entrancing beauty and intoxicating fragrance of this lily mantled with crimson whom we, only a moment ago, had the intense pleasure of inscribing in the roll of the saints; the sweet little martyr of purity, Maria Goretti."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Assunta Goretti, Maria's mother, must have had many thoughts and mixed emotions as she listened to His Holiness, Pope Pius XII deliver this homily. More than 250,000 people had gathered in the piazza, St. Peter's Square on the evening, June 24, 1950 to participate in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, to pray, and to honor Assunta’s canonized daughter. Any mother would be transported back in time, the early days of marriage, young children, family, familiar surroundings...</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">...To the never-ending winter of 1897. The blustery Alpine cold whipped down along Italy's eastern edge. Italy's backbone, the Apennine Mountains, deflect all the warmth from the Mediterranean and the African Continent. Luigi Goretti, Assunta's hard working farmer husband, was discouraged. The pure mountain air, steep paths and craggy landscape were appealing. Even the beauty of the Adriatic could be seen from the church tower in their little village of Corinaldo. But it was not enticing now. Enduring the long winters of heavy snows and bitter cold wind while gathering precious fuel was no way to live. Luigi was a man of action. God helps those who help themselves. He wanted more for his family than the meager existence the mountains provided. Assunta felt a knot of fear and panic at the thought of leaving her ancestral home. But Luigi, in his youthful travels as a soldier, had seen what lay beyond the mountains. There was the milder Mediterranean climate, fertile plains, and a chance for a man to make a living for his family, rather than the constant battle against nature.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Luigi and Assunta packed what little they had, along with their four children, Angelo, nine, Maria, six, Marino, four and new born Allesandro. Across the Apennines they traveled, two hundred miles in two weeks, due westward on steep, treacherous mountain paths until at last the Roman Campagna spread before them.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Into the city they headed, overwhelmed by the size, the multitudes of people and a strange, noisy life. They found comfort inside the city's numerous churches, praying, lighting candles, imploring the saints for guidance that they would find fruit and not folly in their adventure.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">By chance they learned of rich farm lands owned by Count Mazzoleni south west of the city near the coastal town of Nettuno. They were told to stop and inquire at Ferriere. The land could be rented reasonably, or perhaps worked on a profit-sharing basis. The family was eager to settle. The boys were becoming restless. Only Maria remained sweet and uncomplaining as the city pavement fell away to a landscape of vineyards, and fields of wheat and corn. But as they continued, the Mediterranean coastal plain was very different. The "fertile" farmland had to be wrestled away from marshes and swamps. The air was hot and always heavy and damp from the sea.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">It was mid afternoon when they entered the village of Ferriere on the edge of the Pontine Marshes. Not a soul was on the street to greet them; no church, no shops.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The heat of the day was intense, the children thirsty and tired after the day's journey.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Luigi swallowed his disappointment as he knocked on a door. Looking around him he felt unwelcome, as if all the sidewalks had been pulled up and locked away.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Finally after several attempts to arouse someone, Luigi heard the slow shuffling of feet. An elderly woman unbolted the door and directed him in the direction of the Count's "estate": the "old cheese factory" at the end of town. The Goretti's found the oblong two story building perched on a small rise surrounded by flat, swampy, treeless land. The outbuildings consisted of a shed, stable and hen house, abandoned, empty of all life. With minimal fuss and bother, the Goretti's became sharecroppers for Count Mazzoleni. Assunta quickly took over the cares of the house and made it home for her family.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Luigi began to work immediately to make a success of his endeavor. His first project was to drain the neglected land. All summer he continued with tireless effort and by fall had tilled enough land to plant eight acres of wheat and barley. But the summer of backbreaking work, the change in climate and the proximity of the malarial-infested Pontine had put Luigi in grave danger. At first, he ignored a slight chill and fever. With so much to be done how could he rest? There was work at the quarry to patch the roadway, hedges to trim, firewood to secure, buildings and roofs to repair, lofts to clean, and task after task after task. A troublesome cough followed him day and night, but he never stopped. Harvest time came and Count Mazzoleni came to inspect the yield. He found Goretti's grain half cut, limp in the fields. The Count angrily stormed into the house.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Luigi lay ill, prostrate with fever. He could only admit that he could not bring in the harvest by himself. Without waiting for further explanation, the Count said he would send Giovanni Serenelli and his son to complete the work for a share of the crop. Luigi fought back bitter disappointment. Now he must share half his harvest and expect Assunta to care for two more people. How could he ask his lovely Assunta to do more? Already she was overburdened with his illness, the children, a new baby, and the cares of the farm. As Luigi and Assunta prayed together before retiring, Luigi knew he must tell Assunta, but first he must sleep.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Early the next morning, the Serenelli's arrived. Giovanni was a man about sixty and his youngest son, Alexander, was a strong and well-built young man of eighteen. Giovanni hailed from Assunta's own country and spoke lovingly of the people and places that were dear to her heart. He also had a well-practiced and touching litany of his own miseries: his wife's death in the asylum and a son's confinement there, his other children following their own lives back home. He was now left with his youngest, destitute and alone, but willing to work with Luigi—for half of the profits and a communal life with the Goretti's. As the Serenelli's diligently began to work to get the harvest under control, a bit of joy returned to the Goretti household. Assunta prepared her best meals. The children were happily amused with Alexander's prowess at catching birds and making reed whistles. But as autumn's labors turned to the rainy, idle days of winter, the Serenelli's dispositions soured.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Giovanni had taken a liking to the strong, local wines and became irritable and overbearing. Alexander began to act vile, hostile and sullen, the result of years of maternal neglect and a youthful, depraved apprenticeship among the stevedores. He now shunned the children and spent his time locked in his room brooding over seamy magazines. Assunta discovered his hoard of pornographic books as she cleaned his room one day. She worried about Alexander's influence on her oldest son, Angelo, but unwilling to start a quarrel, she swallowed her first impulse to burn every piece of trash she found. Their home did not need more trouble. Luigi regretted their move from the mountains and especially repented of taking these two strangers into his home. The malaria was doing its subtle job through the winter. As spring beckoned with endless work, Luigi attempted to meet its rigors uncomplainingly. He came in from the fields pallid and exhausted. Each night the children knelt about the bed in prayer; Luigi looked at his beautiful little Maria, with her limpid eyes and rosy cheeks. Why had he not noticed her maturity and grace? Silently she prayed and wept for her family. As April 1902 ended, so did Luigi's earthly life. As he lay surrounded by family and neighbors, he whispered haltingly to Assunta: "Go back to Corinaldo..."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Giovanni Serenelli became master of the farm. He was harsh and ruthless. He allowed Assunta and the children to stay and work for him. She desperately longed to go back to home and family, back to the fresh mountain life. She could not fulfill Luigi's dying wish now. A woman traveling over two hundred miles alone with seven young children and no money was unthinkable. Giovanni insisted Maria, now twelve, assume all the household duties while Assunta worked in the fields. Her father's illness and death, the Serenelli's sinister cruelty, the never-ending labors of the farm had made Maria far too serious for her age. Her devotion to Jesus and her obedience to her mother was extraordinary. Even the other village children noticed her piety as she walked to town to sell eggs. It was with admiration and a touch of envy that they referred to Maria as "The Little Old Lady."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">It was now July 1902. Only a few months before, Maria, though illiterate, had completed her Catechism instructions in order to receive her First Holy Communion. How she had longed to take Jesus into her heart often! Once a week on Sunday just did not seem like enough. Maria managed the rigors of life because she had her Jesus for strength. This serious little girl had matured spiritually beyond her years, too. Assunta noticed her young daughter's character changing. There was no childish playfulness left in Maria. The cares of the world clouded her eyes with sadness. Her night prayers become longer. She examined her conscience repeatedly for occasions of sin, her small body trembled with fear and bitter sobs. Alexander Serenelli had been stalking her for months now, prowling about with evil in his heart, threatening to kill her if she told a soul. She did not take Assunta into her confidence for fear of burdening her mother with more cares and creating more trouble with the Serenelli's.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The intense summer sun burned down on the farm yard. Assunta watched her children playfully helping with the threshing. She gazed upon them with intense love. They were her last joy left in this life. Maria was up on the porch outside of the kitchen, fingers flying with needle and thread, baby Theresa asleep at her feet. Maria was lost in thought, too. She was rejoicing in eager anticipation of going to Mass. Tomorrow was Sunday and the Feast of the Precious Blood of Jesus. How she longed to share herself with Him in Confession and Communion. Then suddenly, Maria was startled by the sound of footsteps behind her. It was Alexander. He demanded she come into the kitchen. She froze in terror. Maria's silence further inflamed his foul passions. He grabbed her arm, dragged her into the kitchen, pressed a dagger to her throat and bolted the door. She fought him fiercely and screamed, "No! No Alexander! It is a sin. God forbids it. You will go to hell, Alexander. You will go to hell if you do it!" All went unseen and unheard. Maria awoke with the sun streaming through the kitchen window. She heard the children playing and the monotonous sound of the threshing. The baby Theresa was crying at the edge of the porch. Maria attempted to lift herself to the open kitchen door. Her call for help was more a submission to the searing pain. A napping Giovanni heard the infant crying, and in an instant of exasperation for what he thought was Maria's neglect, headed up the stairs. His shout brought Assunta and the neighbors running, hearts pounding. They found Maria, tortured with pain, badly bruised and lying in a pool of blood. Assunta, recovering from shock questioned her sweet Maria, who answered, "It was Alexander, Mama... Because he wanted me to commit an awful sin and I would not."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Maria was laid tenderly on a bed while a neighbor summoned the ambulance. Assunta tried to soothe her daughter's agony as the ambulance wagon bumped along on that torturous trip to the hospital in Nettuno. The doctors attempted to repair the extensive damage, but could give Assunta no encouragement. Maria unconsciously cried as she resisted Alexander's demands over and over. When she opened her eyes, they were transfixed upon the Statue of Our Lady placed at the foot of her bed. Awake she seemed to remember nothing of the previous day's horrors and wished only to know of the well being of her family. The parish priest came in to offer her Viaticum, but first she took time to reflect on the good Father's reminder that Jesus had pardoned those who had crucified Him. As she gazed at the crucifix on the far wall, she said without anger or resentment, "I, too, pardon him. I, too, wish that he could come some day and join me in heaven." Assunta's tears flowed hot and heavy as she gave her sweet Maria her last mortal mother's kiss. As the bells throughout the city were proclaiming the vespers hour, Jesus came to gather sweet Maria into His eternal protection, her reward for strength and virtue beyond her tender years.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Back to the Present "...Why does this story move you even to tears? Why has Maria Goretti so quickly conquered your hearts, and taken first place in your affections?</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Assunta listened as the Holy Father's words continued, "The reason is because there is still in this world, apparently sunk and immersed in the worship of pleasure, not only a meager little band of chosen souls who thirst for heaven and its pure air—but a crowd, nay, an immense multitude on whom the supernatural fragrance of Christian purity exercise an irresistible and reassuring fascination." Assunta must have found great joy in knowing that her sweet, little Maria could be a guiding force of goodness in the souls of youth. But on that July day, so many years ago... Assunta Goretti, now eighty-two years old listened with two of her children at her side as the Holy Father concluded.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">"During the past fifty years, coupled with what was often a weak reaction on the part of decent people, there has been a conspiracy of evil practices, propagating themselves in books and illustrations, in theaters and radio programs, in styles and clubs and on the beaches, trying to work their way into the hearts of the family and society, and doing their worst damage among the youth, even among those of the tenderest years in whom the possession of virtue is a natural inheritance. "Dearly beloved youth, young men and women, who are the special object of the love of Jesus and of us, tell me, are you resolved to resist firmly, with the help of divine grace, against every attempt made to violate your chastity?</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">"You fathers and mothers, tell me—in the presence of this vast multitude, and before the image of this young virgin who by her inviolate candor has stolen you hearts...in the presence of her mother who educated her to martyrdom and who, as much as she felt the bitterness of the outrage, is now moved with emotion as she invokes her tell me, are you ready to assume the solemn duty laid upon you to watch, as far as in you lies, over your sons and daughters, to preserve and defend them against so many dangers that surround them, and to keep them always far away from places where they might learn the practices of impiety and of moral perversion? "Finally, all of you who are intently listening to our words, know that above the unhealthy marshes and filth of the world, stretches an immense heaven of beauty. It is the heaven which fascinated little Maria; the heaven to which she longed to ascend by the only road that leads there, which is, religion, the love of Christ, and the heroic observance of his Commandments.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">"We greet you, O beautiful and lovable saint! Martyr on earth and angel in heaven, look down from your glory on this people, which loves you, which venerates, glorifies and exalts you. On your forehead you bear the full brilliant and victorious name of Christ. In your virginal countenance may be read the strength of your love and the constancy of your fidelity to your Divine Spouse. As his bride espoused in blood, you have traced in yourself His own image. To you, therefore, powerful intercessor with the Lamb of God, we entrust these our sons and daughters who are present here, and those countless others who are united with us in spirit. For while they admire our heroism, they are even more desirous of imitating your strength of faith and your inviolate purity of conduct. Fathers and mothers have recourse to you, asking you to help them in their task of education. In you, through our hand, the children and the young people will find a safe refuge, trusting that they shall be protected from every contamination, and be able to walk the highways of life with that serenity of spirit and deep joy which is the heritage of those who are pure of heart. Amen." (Homily of Pope Pius XII, June 24, 1950) Epilogue</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Assunta Goretti, unable to bear the weight of her daughter's murder alone, soon returned to her family in Corinaldo with her six remaining children.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Alexander Serenelli was quickly apprehended, tried and convicted of murder. He was sentenced to thirty years solitary confinement. His sour and uncooperative character changed approximately eight years after his incarceration. He claimed, under oath, that he had a dream of Maria gathering lilies. As she handed them to him, the lilies took on a heavenly radiance and he felt the peace of forgiveness. He became an exemplary prisoner and was freed from prison three years early. Maria and her mother had forgiven Alexander; however the community could not and he spent the rest of his days, an outcast, a gardener at local monasteries. He died at the age of 87, May 6, 1969 in a Capuchin Monastery.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">We advise everyone to home-school your children so that the wickedness of the world will not effect or hurt them.</span></span><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-831939533339323924.post-53500100379187028742021-12-13T03:40:00.005-05:002021-12-16T04:40:18.078-05:00Exorcism & Demonic Possession<h1 style="font-size: 26px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; height: auto; line-height: normal; margin: 0px auto 10px; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Times New Roman", Arial, Georgia, "Arial Black", Verdana; font-weight: normal; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEih9FJMMVgd6Zcd6BXiLjmpVOHIDqpWdhY1wil8OvTWl5f7yZB9cdP1T-xLf8NRcGzY_3tr5subefPCzOPQR0vwcxdyp7gPFXRNNsxcTCMi2DRvCMhPagveh-AHdR6QISO5U6OyhzuHh8YJcHA9E1CN3aAIvfCY7kayLmBP3NFwHc6xfnGSs6g5MO8G=s895" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="505" data-original-width="895" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEih9FJMMVgd6Zcd6BXiLjmpVOHIDqpWdhY1wil8OvTWl5f7yZB9cdP1T-xLf8NRcGzY_3tr5subefPCzOPQR0vwcxdyp7gPFXRNNsxcTCMi2DRvCMhPagveh-AHdR6QISO5U6OyhzuHh8YJcHA9E1CN3aAIvfCY7kayLmBP3NFwHc6xfnGSs6g5MO8G=s320" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Exorcism and Demonic Possession</span></h1><h2 class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 22px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 28px; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><p style="font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Exorcism (from Late Latin <i>exorcismus</i>—to adjure) is the practice of evicting demons or other evil spiritual entities from a person or place which they are believed to have possessed. The practice is quite ancient and still part of the belief system of many religions. The person performing the exorcism, known as an exorcist, is often a priest, or any individual thought to be graced with special powers or skills. In Christianity, exorcisms are performed in the name of Jesus Christ. A Distinction is made between a formal exorcism, which can only be conducted by a priest during a Baptism or with the permission of a Bishop, and "prayers of deliverance" which can be said by anyone. In general, possessed persons are not regarded as evil in themselves, nor wholly responsible for their actions.</span></p></h2><h2 class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 22px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 28px; margin: 0px; text-align: center; text-decoration-line: underline;"><span style="font-family: arial;">What is Exorcism?</span></h2><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Exorcism is (1) the act of driving out, or warding off, demons, or evil spirits, from persons, places, or things, which are believed to be possessed or infested by them, or are liable to become victims or instruments of their malice; (2) the means employed for this purpose, especially the solemn and authoritative adjuration of the demon, in the name of God, or any of the higher power in which he is subject (an angel, a saint, the Blessed Virgin etc.). In short, it is a ritual performed by a Catholic priest to expel the devil from a person, place or thing.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The word, which is not itself biblical, is derived from <i>exorkizo</i>, which is used in the Septuagint (Genesis 24:3 = cause to swear; III(I) Kings 22:16 = adjure), and in Matthew 26:63, by the high priest to Christ, "<i>I adjure thee by the living God</i>. . ." The non-intensive <i>horkizo</i> and the noun exorkistes (exorcist) occur in Acts 19:13, where the latter (in the plural) is applied to certain strolling Hebrews who professed to be able to cast out demons. Expulsion by adjuration is, therefore, the primary meaning of exorcism, and when, as in Christian usage, this adjuration is in the name of God or of Christ, exorcism is a strictly religious act or rite. But in ethnic religions, and even among the Isrælites from the time when there is evidence of its being vogue, exorcism as an act of religion is largely replaced by the use of mere magical and superstitious means, to which non-Catholic writers at the present day sometimes quite unfairly assimilate Christian exorcism. Superstition ought not to be confounded with religion, however much their history may be interwoven, nor magic, however white it may be, with a legitimate religious rite.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In the early church the casting out of demons was widely accepted and an exorcism could be performed by anyone. Why then has this practice changed? It has been found that in severe cases if the one who is casting out the demons is not experienced or grounded in faith and does not have sufficient spiritual protection it can be harmful for both the victim and the so called exorcist. We find in Matthew 17:20-21 a case in which the apostles could not cast out a demon from the epileptic demoniac. Jesus rebuked them for not being prepared and told them only through prayer and fasting could this demon be cast out.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">There are several types of exorcism in the Roman Catholic Church:</span></p><ul style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></ul><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><li><strong style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;">Baptismal exorcism</strong><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><b>- </b>blessing an infant prior to baptism to cleanse it of evil resulting from original sin;</span></li><li><strong style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;">Simple exorcism</strong><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><b>- </b>blessing a place or thing to rid it of evil influence;</span></li><li><strong style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;">Real exorcism</strong><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><b>- </b>performing the Rite of Exorcism to rid a human being of diabolical possession.</span></li></span></ul></span><ul style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;"><div style="margin-left: 5.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="Baptismal-exorcism" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a></span></div></ul><ul style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;"><div style="margin-left: 5.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="Simple-exorcism" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a></span></div></ul><ul style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><div style="margin-left: 5.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="Real-exorcism" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a></span></div></ul><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A "real exorcism" is what most<b> </b>of us think of when we think of exorcism. In this case, the priest-exorcist is dealing with a human being who is possessed by the devil or a demon who is inhabiting this person's body.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">According to the Church, telltale signs of demonic possession include:</span></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Speaking or understanding languages which the person has never learned (different from "speaking in tongues," which is considered a sign of religious ecstasy, not possession);</span></span></li><li><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Knowing (and revealing) things the person has no earthly way of knowing;</span></span></li><li><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Physical strength beyond the person's natural physical makeup;</span></span></li><li><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A violent aversion to God, the Virgin Mary, the cross and other images of Catholic faith.</span></span></li></ul><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 20pt;"><b>History of Exorcism</b></span></p><hr style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.7cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="Exorcism-among-the-Jews" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a><span style="font-size: 17pt;"><b>Exorcism among the Isrælites</b></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">There is no instance in the Old Testament of demons being expelled by men. In Tobias 8:3, is the angel who "<i>took the devil and bound him in the desert of upper Egypt</i>"; and the instruction previously given to young Tobias (6:18-19), to roast the fish's heart in the bridal chamber, would seem to have been merely part of the angel's plan for concealing his own identity. But in extra-canonical Hebrew literature there are incantations for exorcising demons, (estimated to be from the seventh century A.D.) preserved in the Royal Museum in Berlin; and inscriptions from the collection have been published, translated by Wohlstein in the "<i>Zeitschrift für Assyriologie</i>" (December, 1893; April, 1894).</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The chief characteristics of these Hebrew exorcisms is their naming of names believed to be efficacious, i.e., names of good angels, which are used either alone or in combination with El (=God); indeed reliance on mere names had long before become a superstition with the Hebrews, and it was considered most important that the appropriate names, which varied for different times and occasions, should be used. It was this superstitious belief, no doubt, that prompted the sons of Sceva, who had witnessed St. Paul's successful exorcisms in the name of Jesus, to try on their own account the formula, "<i>I conjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth</i>", with results disastrous to their credit (Acts 19:13). It was a popular Hebrew belief, accepted even by a learned cosmopolitan like Josephus, that Solomon had received the power of expelling demons, and that he had composed and transmitted certain formulæ that were efficacious for that purpose. The historian records how a certain Eleazar, in the presence of the Emperor Vespasian and his officers, succeeded, by means of a ring applied to the nose of a possessed person, in drawing out the demon through the nostrils — the effect of the ring being due to the fact that it enclosed a certain rare root indicated in the formulaæ of Solomon, and which it was exceedingly difficult to obtain (Ant. Jud, VIII, ii, 5; cf. Bell. Jud. VII, vi, 3).</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.7cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="Exorcism-in-the-New-Testament" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a><span style="font-size: 17pt;"><b>Exorcism in the New Testament</b></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Assuming the reality of demoniac possession, for which the authority of Christ is pledged, it is to be observed that Jesus appealed to His power over demons as one of the recognised signs of Messiahship (Matthew 12:23, 28; Luke 11:20). He cast out demons, He declared, by the finger or spirit of God, not, as His adversaries alleged, by collusion with the prince of demons (Matthew 12:24, 27; Mark 3:22; Luke 11:15, 19); and that He exercised no mere delegated power, but a personal authority that was properly His own, is clear from the direct and imperative way in which He commands the demon to depart (Mark 9:24; cf. 1:25 etc.): "<i>He cast out the spirits with his word, and he healed all that were sick</i>" (Matthew 8:16). Sometimes, as with the daughter of the Canaanean woman, the exorcism took place from a distance (Matthew 15:22 sqq.; Mark 7:25). Sometimes again the spirits expelled were allowed to express their recognition of Jesus as "<i>the Holy One of God</i>" (Mark 1:24) and to complain that He had come to torment them "<i>before the time</i>", i.e the time of their punishment (Matthew 8:29 sqq; Luke 8:28 sqq.). If demoniac possession was generally accompanied by some disease, yet the two were not confounded by Christ, or the Evangelists. In Luke 13:32, for example, the Master Himself expressly distinguishes between the expulsion of evil spirits and the curing of disease.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It is implied in Christ's answers to the Pharisees, who accused Him of casting out demons by the power of Beelzebub, that some jews in His time successfully exorcised demons in God's name: "<i>and if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out?</i>" (Matthew 12:27). It does not seem reasonable to understand this reply as mere irony, or as a mere argumentum ad hominem implying no admission of the fact; all the more so, as elsewhere (Mark 9:37-38) we have an account of a person who was not a disciple casting out demons in Christ's name, and whose action Christ refused to reprehend or forbid.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-family: arial;">Christ also empowered the Apostles and Disciples to cast out demons in His name while He Himself was still on earth (Matthew 10:1 and 8; Mark 6:7; Luke 9:1; 10:17), and to believers generally He promised the same power (Mark 16:17). But the efficacy of this delegated power was conditional, as we see from the fact that the Apostles themselves were not always successful in their exorcisms: certain kinds of spirits, as Christ explained, could only be cast out by prayer and fasting (Matthew 17:15, 20; Mark 9:27-28; Luke 9:40). In other words the success of exorcism by Christians, in Christ's name, is subject to the same general conditions on which both the efficacy of prayer and the use of charismatic power depend. Yet conspicuous success was promised (Mark 16:17). St. Paul (Acts 16:18; 19:12), and, no doubt, the other Apostles and Disciples, made use of regularly, as occasion arose, of their exorcising power, and the Church has continued to do so uninterruptedly to the present day.</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 17pt;"><b>Ecclesiastical Exorcisms</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Besides exorcism in the strictest sense — i.e. for driving out demons from the possessed — Catholic ritual, following early traditions, has retained various other exorcisms, and these also call for notice here.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="Exorcism-of-the-Possessed" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a><b>Exorcism of the Possessed</b><br />We have it on the authority of all early writers who refer to the subject at all that in the first centuries not only the clergy, but lay Christians also were able by the power of Christ to deliver demoniacs or energumens (possessed people), and their success was appealed to by the early Apologists as a strong argument for the Divinity of the Christian religion (<i>Justin Martyr, First Apology 6; Dialogue with Trypho 30 and 85; Minutius Felix, Octavius 27; Origen, Against Celsus I.25; VII.4; VII.67; Tertullian, Apology 22, 23</i>; etc.). As is clear from testimonies referred to, no magical or superstitious means were employed, but in those early centuries, as in later times, a simple and authoritative adjuration addressed to the demon in the name of God, and more especially in the name of Christ crucified, was the usual form of exorcism.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">But sometimes in addition to words some symbolic action was employed, such as breathing (insufflatio), or laying of hands on the subject, or making the sign of the cross. St. Justin speaks of demons flying from "<i>the touch and breathing of Christians</i>" (<i>Second Apology 6</i>) as from a flame that burns them, adds St. Cyril of Jerusalem (<i>Catechetical Lectures 20.3</i>). Origen mentions the laying of hands, and St. Ambrose (<i>Paulinus, Vit. Ambr., n. 28, 43, P.L, XIV, 36, 42</i>), St. Ephraem Syrus (<i>Gregory of Nyssa, De Vit. Ephr., P.G., XLVI, 848</i>) and others used this ceremony in exorcising. The sign of the cross, that briefest and simplest way of expressing one's faith in the Crucified and invoking His Divine power, is extolled by many Fathers for its efficacy against all kinds of demoniac molestation (<i>Lactantius, Divine Institutes IV.27; Athanasius, On the Incarnation of the Word 47; Basil, In Isai., XI, 249, P.G., XXX, 557, Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures 13.3; Gregory Nazianzen, Carm. Adv. iram, v, 415 sq.; P.G., XXXVII, 842</i>). The Fathers further recommend that the adjuration and accompanying prayers should be couched in the words of Holy Writ (<i>Cyril of Jerusalem, Procatechesis 9; Athanasius, Ad Marcell., n. 33, P.G., XXVII, 45</i>). The ancient rite of exorcism as given in the Roman Ritual fully agrees with patristic teaching and is a proof of the continuity of Catholic tradition in this matter.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="Baptismal-Exorcism" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a><b>Baptismal Exorcism</b><br />At an early age the practice was introduced into the Church of exorcising catechumens as a preparation for the Sacrament of Baptism. This did not imply that they were considered to be obsessed, like demoniacs, but merely that they were, in consequence of original sin (and of personal sins in case of adults), subject more or less to the power of the devil, whose "<i>works</i>" or "<i>pomps</i>" they were called upon to renounce, and from whose dominion the grace of baptism was about to deliver them.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Exorcism in this connection is a symbolical anticipation of one of the chief effects of the sacrament of regeneration; and since it was used in the case of children who had no personal sins, St. Augustine could appeal to it against the Pelagians as implying clearly the doctrine of original sin (<i>Ep. cxciv, n. 46. P.L., XXXIII, 890; C. Jul. III, 8; P.L., XXXIV, 705</i>, and elsewhere). St. Cyril of Jerusalem (<i>Procatechesis 14</i>) gives a detailed description of baptismal exorcism, from which it appears that anointing with exorcised oil formed a part of this exorcism in the East. The only early Western witness which treats unction as part of the baptismal exorcism is that of the <i>Arabic Canons of Hippolytus</i> (<i>n. 19, 29</i>). The Exsufflatio, or out-breathing of the demon by the candidate, which was sometimes part of the ceremony, symbolized the renunciation of his works and pomps, while the Insufflatio, or in-breathing of the Holy Ghost, by ministers and assistants, symbolised the infusion of sanctifying grace by the sacrament. Most of these ancient ceremonies have been retained by the Church in her rite for solemn baptism.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="Other-Exorcisms" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a><b>Other Exorcisms</b><br />According to Catholic belief demons or fallen angels retain their natural power, as intelligent beings, of acting on the material universe, and using material objects and directing material forces for their own wicked ends; and this power, which is in itself limited, and is subject, of course, to the control of Divine providence, is believed to have been allowed a wider scope for its activity in the consequence of the sin of mankind. Hence places and things as well as persons are naturally liable to diabolical infestation, within limits permitted by God, and exorcism in regard to them is nothing more than a prayer to God, in the name of His Church, to restrain this diabolical power supernaturally, and a profession of faith in His willingness to do so on behalf of His servants on earth.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The chief things formally exorcised in blessing are water, salt, oil, and these in turn are used in personal exorcisms, and in blessing or consecrating places (e.g. churches) and objects (e.g. altars, sacred vessels, church bells) connected with public worship, or intended for private devotion. Holy water, the sacramental with which the ordinary faithful are most familiar, is a mixture of exorcised water and exorcised salt; and in the prayer of blessing, God is besought to endow these material elements with a supernatural power of protecting those who use them with faith against all the attacks of the devil. This kind of indirect exorcism by means of exorcised objects is an extension of the original idea; but it introduces no new principle, and it has been used in the Church from the earliest ages.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="What-is-Possession?" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a><span style="font-size: 20pt;"><b>What is Possession?</b></span></span></p><hr style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Possession is when Satan enters and takes over the physical and mental capabilities of a victim, however, the soul and will remains free. Satan acts through the victim without the victim's consent, thus the victim is morally blameless. Satan does not act alone when he possesses an individual. He works side by side with many evil spirits such as spirits of lust, hate, destruction, suicide, revenge, anger, anxiety, desperation, death, torment, etc. Such an example is found in Luke 8:30 the case of the possessed man in the territory of the Gerasenes: "Then Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" He replied, "Legion," because many demons had entered him".</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Descriptions of demonic possessions often include erased memories or personalities, convulsions, "fits" and fainting as if one were dying. Other descriptions include access to hidden knowledge (gnosis) and foreign languages (glossolalia), drastic changes in vocal intonation and facial structure, the sudden appearance of injuries (scratches, bite marks) or lesions, and superhuman strength. Unlike in channeling or other forms of possession, the subject has no control over the possessing entity and so it will persist until forced to leave the victim, usually through a form of exorcism.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Man is in various ways subject to the influence of evil spirits. By original sin he brought himself into "captivity under the power of him who thence [from the time of Adam's transgression] had the empire of death, that is to say, the Devil" (Council of Trent, Sess. V, de pecc. orig., 1), and was through the fear of death all his lifetime subject to servitude (Hebrews 2:15). Even though redeemed by Christ, he is subject to violent temptation: "<i>for our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places</i>" (Ephesians 6:12). But the influence of the demon, as we know from Scripture and the history of the Church, goes further still. He may attack man's body from without (<i>obsession</i>), or assume control of it from within (<i>possession</i>).</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span lang="en-US"></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span lang="en-US">Satan's army of evil, torment many unknowing lost souls to the point of destruction of others and of themselves. Today a more favorable climate exists for cases of possession and obsession then ever before. Our world has become a playground of pornography, sex, money, material possessions, drugs, and alcohol. There are so many instruments to spread these Satanic messages such as </span>television<span lang="en-US">, </span>video games<span lang="en-US">, Internet, radio, </span>music<span lang="en-US">, and even the </span>clothing<span lang="en-US"> we wear; thus our children are exposed to a multitude of temptations and are wide open to evil. The "predominant" Gods of of this age we live in include money, television, music, thrill seeking, and sex. Unfortunately, the "cure"-exorcism, is considered an "ancient" ritual and is snubbed by most religious leaving many victims to suffer indescribable torments, and in some instances, even suicide.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> <b style="background-color: white; font-size: 20pt;">Cases of Possession</b></span></p><hr style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Among the ancient pagan nations diabolical possession was frequent, as it is still among their successors. In the Old Testament we have only one instance, and even that is not very certain. We are told that "<i>an evil spirit from the Lord troubled</i>" Saul (1 Samuel 16:14). The Hebrew rûah need not imply a personal influence, though, if we may judge from Josephus (Ant. Jud., VI, viii, 2; ii, 2), the Jews were inclined to give the word that meaning in this very case. In New-Testament times, however, the phenomenon had become very common. The victims were sometimes deprived of sight and speech (Matthew 12:22), sometimes of speech alone (Matthew 9:32; Luke 11:14), sometimes afflicted in ways not clearly specified (Luke 8:2), while, in the greater number of cases, there is no mention of any bodily affliction beyond the possession itself (Matthew 4:24; 8:16; 15:22; Mark 1:32, 34, 39; 3:11; 7:25; Luke 4:41; 6:18; 7:21; 8:2). The effects are described in various passages. A young man is possessed of a spirit "<i>who, wheresoever he taketh him, dasheth him, and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away</i>, . . . <i>and oftentimes hath he [the spirit] cast him into the fire and into waters to destroy him</i>" (Mark 9:17, 21). The possessed are sometimes gifted with superhuman powers: "<i>a man with an unclean spirit, who had his dwelling in the tombs, and no man now could bind him, not even with chains. For having been often bound with fetters and chains, he had burst the chains, and broken the fetters in pieces, and no one could tame him</i>" (Mark 5:2-4). Some of the unfortunate victims were controlled by several demons (Matthew 12:43, 45; Mark 16:9; Luke 11:24-26); in one case by so many that their name was Legion (Mark 5:9; Luke 8:30). Yet, evil as the possessing spirits were, they could still help testifying to Christ's Divine mission (Matthew 8:29; Mark 1:24, 34; 3:12; 5:7; Luke 4:34, 41; 8:28). And they continued to do so after His Ascension (Acts 16:16-18).</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 20pt;"><b>Demonic Possession in the Bible</b></span></p><hr style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Bible gives some examples of people possessed or influenced by demons. From these examples we can find some symptoms of demonic influence and gain insight as to how a demon possesses someone. Here are some of the biblical passages:</span></p><ul style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><li><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Matthew 9:32-33: "And when they were gone out, behold they brought him a dumb man, possessed with a devil. And after the devil was cast out, the dumb man spoke, and the multitudes wondered, saying, Never was the like seen in Israel."</span></p></li><li><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Matthew 12:22: "Then was offered to him one possessed with a devil, blind and dumb: and he healed him, so that he spoke and saw."</span></p></li><li><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Mark 5:1-20: "And they came over the strait of the sea into the country of the Gerasens. And as he went out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the monuments a man with an unclean spirit, Who had his dwelling in the tombs, and no man now could bind him, not even with chains. For having been often bound with fetters and chains, he had burst the chains, and broken the fetters in pieces, and no one could tame him. And he was always day and night in the monuments and in the mountains, crying and cutting himself with stones.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">"And seeing Jesus afar off, he ran and adored him. And crying with a loud voice, he said: What have I to do with thee, Jesus the Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God that thou torment me not. For he said unto him: Go out of the man, thou unclean spirit. And he asked him: What is thy name? And he saith to him: My name is Legion, for we are many. And he besought him much, that he would not drive him away out of the country.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">"And there was there near the mountain a great herd of swine, feeding. And the spirits besought him, saying: Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them. And Jesus immediately gave them leave. And the unclean spirits going out, entered into the swine: and the herd with great violence was carried headlong into the sea, being about two thousand, and were stifled in the sea. And they that fed them fled, and told it in the city and in the fields. And they went out to see what was done: And they came to Jesus, and they see him that was troubled with the devil, sitting, clothed, and well in his wits, and they were afraid.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">"And they that had seen it, told them, in what manner he had been dealt with who had the devil; and concerning the swine. And they began to pray him that he would depart from their coasts. And when he went up into the ship, he that had been troubled with the devil, began to beseech him that he might be with him. And he admitted him not, but saith to him: Go into thy house to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had mercy on thee. And he went his way, and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him: and all men wondered."</span></p></li><li><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Mark 7:26-30: "For the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophenician born. And she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter. Who said to her: Suffer first the children to be filled: for it is not good to take the bread of the children, and cast it to the dogs. But she answered and said to him: Yea, Lord; for the whelps also eat under the table of the crumbs of the children. And he said to her: For this saying go thy way, the devil is gone out of thy daughter. And when she was come into her house, she found the girl lying upon the bed, and that the devil was gone out."</span></p></li><li><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Luke 4:33-36: "And in the synagogue there was a man who had an unclean devil, and he cried out with a loud voice, Saying: Let us alone, what have we to do with thee, Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the holy one of God. And Jesus rebuked him, saying: Hold thy peace, and go out of him. And when the devil had thrown him into the midst, he went out of him, and hurt him not at all. And there came fear upon all, and they talked among themselves, saying: What word is this, for with authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they go out?"</span></p></li><li><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Luke 22:3: "And Satan entered into Judas, who was surnamed Iscariot, one of the twelve."</span></p></li><li><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Acts 16:16-18: "And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain girl, having a pythonical spirit, met us, who brought to her masters much gain by divining. This same following Paul and us, cried out, saying: These men are the servants of the most high God, who preach unto you the way of salvation. And this she did many days. But Paul being grieved, turned, and said to the spirit: I command thee, in the name of Jesus Christ, to go out from her. And he went out the same hour."</span></p></li></ul><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In some of these passages, the demon possession causes physical ailments such as inability to speak, epileptic symptoms, blindness, etc. In other cases, it causes the individual to do evil, Judas being the main example. In Judas case, he opened his heart to evil—in his case by his greed (John 12:6). So it may be possible that if one allows his heart to be ruled by some habitual sin, it becomes an invitation for a demon to enter. In Acts 16:16-18, the spirit apparently gives a slave girl some ability to know things beyond her own learning. The demon-possessed man of the Gadarenes, who was possessed by a multitude of demons (Legion), had superhuman strength and lived naked among the tombstones. King Saul, after rebelling against the Lord, was troubled by an evil spirit (1 Samuel 16:14-15; 18:10-11; 19:9-10) with the apparent effect of a depressed mood and an increased desire to kill David.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Thus, there is a wide variety of possible symptoms of demon possession, such as a physical impairment that cannot be attributed to an actual physiological problem, a personality change such as depression or aggression, supernatural strength, immodesty, antisocial behavior, and perhaps the ability to share information that one has no natural way of knowing. It is important to note that nearly all, if not all, of these characteristics may have other explanations, so it is important not to label every depressed person or epileptic individual as demon-possessed. On the other hand, western cultures probably do not take satanic involvement in people's lives seriously enough.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In addition to these physical or emotional distinctions, one can also look at spiritual attributes showing demonic influence. These may include a refusal to forgive (2 Corinthians 2:10-11) and the belief in and spread of false doctrine, especially concerning Jesus Christ and His atoning work (2 Corinthians 11:3-4, 13-15; 1 Timothy 4:1-5; 1 John 4:1-3).</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">From missionaries' experiences, demon possession also seems to be related to the worship of heathen idols and the possession of occult materials. Scripture repeatedly relates idol worship to the actual worship of demons (Leviticus 17:7; Deuteronomy 32:17; Psalm 106:37; 1 Corinthians 10:20), so it should not be surprising that involvement with idolatry could lead to demon possession.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Based on the above scriptural passages and some of the experiences of missionaries, we can conclude that many people open their lives up to demon involvement through the embracing of some sin or through cultic involvement (either knowingly or unknowingly). Examples may include immorality, drug/alcohol abuse that alters one's state of consciousness, rebellion, bitterness, and transcendental meditation.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">There is an additional consideration. Satan and his evil host can do nothing the Lord does not allow them to do (Job 1-2). This being the case, Satan, thinking he is accomplishing his own purposes, is actually accomplishing God's good purposes, as in the case of Judas' betrayal. Some people develop an unhealthy fascination with the occult and demonic activity. This is unwise and unbiblical. If we pursue God, if we are clothing ourselves with His armor and relying upon His strength (Ephesians 6:10-18), we have nothing to fear from the evil ones, for God rules over all!</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="How-Do-People-Become-Possessed-by-Demons?" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a><span style="font-size: 20pt;"><b>How Do People Become Possessed by Demons?</b></span></span></p><hr style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Demonic spirits are also referred to as evil spirits and are depicted in the bible as fallen angels. These are the angels who took side with Lucifer (Satan) in his rebellion against God. (Rev. 12:4)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Specialists in the area of demonology have categorized the state of demon possession into two groups: "Demonic oppression" and complete "Demonic possession."</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Demonic oppression is said to be a mild to severe harassment by demonic spirits which often comes as a result of doors that have been opened in an individual's life through voluntary sin which leads to manipulation in different areas of that life by evil spirits.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A complete demonic possession on the other hand is a state in which one or several demonic spirits have gained access to the body of an individual and then proceeds to takes full control over the person's will. In such a condition, the demonic spirits uses the body of the individual to express its personality and to carry out its evil intent.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="How-do-demons-enter?" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a><b>How do demons enter?</b><br />Demonic spirits gain access into the life of an individual through what is known as a door way. A door way is a vulnerable area in the life of a person that becomes open to the access of evil spirits whether through voluntary or involuntary means.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span lang="en-US">These doorways can stem from different level of involvement in the occult, traumatic occurrences, taking of drugs, generational curse, and different situation which triggers intense negative emotional reactions. A persons voluntary sins can also have an affect if a person is to become demon possessed. In most cases of demonic possession, a steady prayer life (like praying the fifteen decades of the </span>Rosary each day), and the abstaining from sins, especially mortal sins (fornication, masturbation, heresy, pride, anger, etc.), is for most people enough to free themselves from the demonic influences.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>Nature of Demonic spirits</b><br />Demonic spirits are merciless beings that will not hesitate to try and take advantage of the lives of humans with every opportunity they get. Whether it is through a willful act that creates an open door in the life of an individual, or through a traumatic experience... a Demonic spirit will seek to take full advantage of those moments and will try to gain access in the life of a person.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span lang="en-US">Dabbling in the </span>occult<span lang="en-US"> is by far the quickest way for demons to gain entrance in the lives of humans. This is because most occult activities involve having direct contact with demonic spirits. Whether it's dabbling with </span>Tarot cards<span lang="en-US">, </span>Ouija boards<span lang="en-US">, Necromancy, </span>Witchcraft<span lang="en-US">, or any other means of consulting evil spirits, will certainly open up the door way to demonic bondage.</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Using drugs also increases susceptibility to demonic invasion in a person's life. Because drugs disrupt the coherent state of the mind and will open up an individual to be controlled by Demonic spirits. By use of drugs is a person putting himself into a state in which he can see and have access to demonic entities. In the Apocalypse (e.g., chapter 9, verse 21) the word sorceries is used. It's from the Greek "pharmakeia," which includes the use of drugs to achieve hallucinations, as part of witchcraft, evil arts, etc. The point is that there is a biblical connection between drug use, and sorcery (access to evil spirits). It's therefore no surprise that people who are using drugs see evil spirits. A person who uses drugs is definitely opening himself up to becoming possessed.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="Involuntary-entry-point-of-demons" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a><b>Involuntary entry point of demons</b><br />In instances where demons enter the life of an individual through involuntary means, are usually during those times when a person goes through a traumatic experience, which causes intense negative emotional reactions that are above normal. This can be an overwhelming response to an experience which causes one to be completely overcome by fear, deep depression, deep sorrow, very deep emotional pains and different negative emotions which are above normal.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="Anger" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a><b>Anger</b><br />Anger is also another emotion which demons tend to feed off, especially when a person decides to dwell on being angry by choosing to hold on to whatever is making them angry. This will open the door for demonic spirits to come in and influence them to do different deeds by further fueling their anger into rage.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="Generational-curse" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a><b>Generational curse</b><br />A generational curse is also another involuntary way in which demons enter into the life of an individual. As mentioned in the bible that God will visit the iniquity of the parents on to the children and their children's, children. This is often evident when a child grows up and seems to inherit bad habits, addictions or conditions from their parents or past relatives they may even have never met.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This could be drug addiction, addiction to alcohol, many different addictions and different sicknesses and diseases. It could be something that is passed on to only one individual in the family, or something that every member of the family seems to have inherited.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span lang="en-US">Demonic spirits have been around for many years and are still constantly going around looking for their next target. As the Bible says, the Devil goes around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. To guard ourselves from demonic oppression and possession, we have to stay clear away from the occult and drugs and mortal sins. Also don't dwell too much on negative emotions. For instances where we feel overwhelmed, it's important to seek counseling and if necessary, seek also godly </span>spiritual help<span lang="en-US">.</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 17pt;"><b>How Do Evil Spirits Enter Us?</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Evil spirits enter us through many ways as indicated in the examples below.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="Those-Cursed-or-Held-Guilty-by-Original-Sin" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a><b>Those Cursed or Held Guilty by Original Sin</b><br />In some cases, evil spirits enter an apparently innocent victim or a victim held guilty by original sin. The victim may be an unborn baby who is cursed from the mother's womb. The curse can be from original sin or from a jealous relative, friend, enemy, or even the child's own parents.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In reality, there are no such thing as an "innocent victim" with regard to demonic possession. Excluding those victim souls God allows to be possessed and tormented for the sake of their own and the salvation of others, only those people who are actually guilty of mortal sin (or even deliberate venial sin) can become possessed by evil spirits. All unbaptized infants and adults are held guilty through original sin and are under the dominion of the devil until they have received baptism. This is the infallible teaching of the Catholic Church.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Eugene IV, <i>Council of Florence</i>, Session 11, Feb. 4, 1442, ex cathedra: “Regarding children, indeed, because of danger of death, which can often take place, when no help can be brought to them by another remedy than through the sacrament of baptism, <b>through which they are snatched from the domination of the Devil [original sin]</b> and adopted among the sons of God, it advises that holy baptism ought not be deferred for forty or eighty days, or any time according to the observance of certain people…” (Denz. 712)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Here comes a good example from St. Bridget's revelations about the efficacy of baptism against the influences of the Devil:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span lang="en-US"></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Christ describes why a three year old boy is tormented by a demon</i>: “Even though the boy is born by the seed of the father and mother, the devil still has the greatest power over him, for he is not reborn through the true baptism, but is only baptized in the way that women are accustomed to baptize, who do not know about the words of the Holy Trinity. That is why the boy may be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; then he will be cured.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Victims of demonic oppression/possession may also include children who are not loved, who are mistreated or abused or rejection by other children, siblings, parents, etc. The abuse can range from sexual abuse, mental abuse, or physical abuse.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="Those-who-Choose-Evil" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a><b>Those who Choose Evil</b><br />In other cases, an evil spirit may enter us because of involvement in evil practices such as the occult. The occult is any practice that involves ceremonies, rituals, chants, magic, or activities that are obviously not God centered. These activities or rituals can change the course of nature, the lives of those who are involved in such practices, and of course, the so-called innocent victims.</span></p><ul style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><li><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span lang="en-US">The </span>Ouija board<span lang="en-US"> is a popular occult board game and there is also Dungeons and Dragons. Satan's main target in Dungeons and Dragons game is our youth. With Dungeons and Dragons, the most powerful and successful players are those who use magic. There is a Dungeons Master Guide that even teaches new beginners how to communicate with the dead, cast spells, and learn to chant. </span><span lang="en-US">In fact, most if not </span><span lang="en-US">all role-playing and fantasy games includes the evil practice of magic</span><span lang="en-US">--</span><span lang="en-US">in addition to being </span><span lang="en-US">extremely </span><span lang="en-US">violent </span><span lang="en-US">games</span><span lang="en-US"> </span><span lang="en-US">(</span><span lang="en-US">for example, hav</span><span lang="en-US">ing</span><span lang="en-US"> as </span><span lang="en-US">one of their</span><span lang="en-US"> main </span><span lang="en-US">plot</span><span lang="en-US"> going around killing people </span><span lang="en-US">or creatures </span><span lang="en-US">by magic and by the use of weapons)</span><span lang="en-US">; </span><span lang="en-US">all such and like games </span><span lang="en-US">are therefore evil and forbidden to play and find enjoyment in. </span><span lang="en-US">T</span><span lang="en-US">hey also invites demons into one's soul.</span></span></p></li><li><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span lang="en-US">The use of magic revolves around evil spirits, </span>psychic<span lang="en-US"> abilities and contacting spirits. Magic is a power that does not involve God. It is a power that is derived from such things as voodoo, sorcery, </span>witchcraft<span lang="en-US">, </span><span lang="en-US">primitive religions and </span>Satanism<span lang="en-US">. Most witches who use magic swear that they do not worship Satan but worship the gods and goddesses of nature (The gods and goddesses of nature are hardly Jesus Christ! Of course they worship Satan! Do not let someone who practices this occult </span><span lang="en-US">practice</span><span lang="en-US"> tell you otherwise!). Many of these individuals are unknown because they blend in quite well. They can be found attending </span><span lang="en-US">religious</span><span lang="en-US"> services in every denomination and they practice their magic on the side. If someone tells you white magic is ok</span><span lang="en-US">--</span><span lang="en-US">don't believe them.</span></span></p></li><li><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span lang="en-US">Use of </span><span lang="en-US">occult/new age</span><span lang="en-US"> tools such as crystals, divination, </span>astrology<span lang="en-US">, </span>tarot cards<span lang="en-US">, crystal balls, </span>reincarnation<span lang="en-US">, pendulums, </span>Yoga<span lang="en-US">, Transcendental Meditation.</span></span></p></li><li><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Those who make a pact with Satan or attend Satanic services or rituals.</span></p></li><li><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span lang="en-US">Going to Séances, </span>fortune tellers<span lang="en-US">, </span>Horoscopes<span lang="en-US">, or spiritualist meetings for the purpose of contact </span><span lang="en-US">the dead.</span></span></p></li><li><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span lang="en-US">Those who use </span><span lang="en-US">or abuse</span><span lang="en-US"> alcohol or mind changing drugs such as LSD, cocaine, marijuana </span><span lang="en-US">(see </span>Smoking and Drugs<span lang="en-US">)</span><span lang="en-US">. If someone tells you </span><span lang="en-US">using</span><span lang="en-US"> </span><span lang="en-US">drugs</span><span lang="en-US"> is ok--</span><span lang="en-US">run away from</span><span lang="en-US"> them.</span></span></p></li><li><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span lang="en-US">Sex out of wedlock</span><span lang="en-US">, </span><span lang="en-US">adultery, </span>homosexuals<span lang="en-US"> </span><span lang="en-US">(also the </span><span lang="en-US">homosexual </span><span lang="en-US">orientation)</span><span lang="en-US">, </span>masturbation<span lang="en-US">, </span>foreplay<span lang="en-US">, </span>sensual kisses and touches<span lang="en-US">, </span><span lang="en-US">giving consent to </span>impure and illicit thoughts<span lang="en-US">, </span>contraception<span lang="en-US">, </span>Natural Family Planning (NFP)<span lang="en-US">.</span></span></p></li><li><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span lang="en-US">Those who have an </span>abortion<span lang="en-US">.</span></span></p></li><li><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span lang="en-US">Those who try to commit </span>suicid<span lang="en-US">e</span><span lang="en-US"> or have suicidal tendencies.</span></span></p></li></ul><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span lang="en-US">You can renounce a spirit through personal deliverance prayers</span><span lang="en-US"> but in order for you to achieve freedom you must be spiritually prepared by making a commitment to God. You must stop any </span><span lang="en-US">and all</span><span lang="en-US"> sinful acts</span><span lang="en-US"> and confess your sins. </span><span lang="en-US">If you don't stop leading a sinful life, being temporally freed from the might of the devil for a little while while on earth will benefit you absolutely nothing in the end</span><span lang="en-US">--</span><span lang="en-US">and for eternity.</span><span lang="en-US"> Before you can renounce evil in your life you must want to change and follow God where ever </span><span lang="en-US">H</span><span lang="en-US">e leads you.</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 20pt;"><b>Signs of Possession</b></span></p><hr style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="The-Extraordinary-Activities-of-Satan-Defined" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a><span lang="en-US"><b>The Extraordinary Activities of Satan Defined</b></span><span lang="en-US"> - The following is taken from Fr. Gabriele Amorth's second book "An Exorcist More Stories." Fr. Amorth's book is published by IGNATIUS released in 2002. Fr. Amorth is a member of the </span><a href="http://www.trusaint.com/vatican-ii/" rel="nofollow" style="color: blue; display: inline; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; text-align: center; width: 100%;" target="_blank">Vatican II Sect</a><span lang="en-US">. The boundaries between one category and another are not clear-cut, because there is a lot of mingling and compounding of symptoms.</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="External-Pain" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a><span lang="en-US"><b>External Pain</b></span><span lang="en-US"> - deals strictly with physical suffering. This includes the beatings, scourging, and injuries caused by inexplicable pushing, falling objects, and so on, that we read about in the lives of many saints, such as the </span><a href="http://www.trusaint.com/saints/st-john-vianney.php" rel="nofollow" style="color: blue; display: inline; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; text-align: center; width: 100%;" target="_blank">Curé of Ars</a><span lang="en-US">. Saint Paul of the Cross, and </span><a href="http://www.trusaint.com/saints/padre-pio.php" rel="nofollow" style="color: blue; display: inline; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; text-align: center; width: 100%;" target="_blank">Padre Pio</a><span lang="en-US">. These occurrences are not as rare as we may think, and the demon's activity is usually confined to external activity; internal activity, if any, is only temporary and limited to the duration of a particular disturbance.</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="Diabolic-Possession" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a><b>Diabolic Possession</b> - is the gravest form of demonic activity, which allows a continuing presence of a demon in a human body. The evil symptoms do not have to be continuous but can alternate between periods of crisis and periods of rest. Possession implies intervals of temporary suspension of mental, intellectual, affective, and volitive faculties. Symptoms can include the knowledge of languages unknown to the victim, superhuman strength, and the ability to know the occult or someone else's thoughts. Typically, there is an aversion to anything sacred, often in conjunction with blasphemy. There are also frauds who pose as demoniac; therefore, we need to be extremely wary.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="Diabolic-Oppression" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a><b>Diabolic Oppression</b> - is a ransom discomfort. We must remember that symptoms and gravity differ greatly case by case. This oppression can strike health, job, affections, relationship with others, and so on. Its symptoms include unexplainable rages and a tendency to complete isolation. Oppression can affect both individual and groups (even very large groups).</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="Diabolic-Obsession" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a><b>Diabolic Obsession</b> - causes an almost split personality. Our will remains free, but it is oppressed by obsessive thoughts. The victim experiences thoughts that may be rationally absurd but of such a nature that he is unable to free himself. The obsessed person lives in a perpetual state of prostration, with persistent temptations to suicide. We must be aware that the temptation to commit suicide is also present in diabolic possession and diabolic oppression. [Suicide is a mortal sin and one must never give in to this diabolical deception.]</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="Diabolic-Infestation" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a><b>Diabolic Infestation</b> - In this case, the malefic activity is directed toward places (houses, offices, stores, fields), objects (cars, pillows, mattresses, dolls) and animals, therefore it only indirectly affects man. Origen tells us that the early Christians resorted to exorcisms in these situations.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="Diabolic-Subjugation" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a><b>Diabolic Subjugation</b> - The term indicates a voluntary pact--implicit or explicit--with Satan, by which we submit to the lordship of the demon. There are also involuntary times with the evil one; these cases fall into the preceding categories, especially the most severe: possession.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.7cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="How-Does-One-Become-Possessed?" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a><span style="font-size: 17pt;"><b>How Does One Become Possessed?</b></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Below, Fr. Amorth explains that there are four principal causes that may cause one to fall victim to these evils.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="Pure-Divine-Permission" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a><b>Pure Divine Permission</b><br />Clearly, nothing happens without divine permission, but God never wills evil, suffering, or temptation. He gave us freedom and allows the existence of evil, but knows how to turn it into good. When he gives the demon his permission to torment us, he does so to strengthen us in virtue, as in the biblical example of Job, as well as of many blesseds and saints. We must keep in mind that sometimes diabolical harassment in itself has nothing to do with the state of grace of its victims. [However, in almost all cases people definitely become possessed or obsessed by demons because of mortal sin.]</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="Subject-to-a-Curse" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a><b>Subject to a Curse</b><br />Here, too, the victim is innocent [may be innocent if it is only oppressed, that is, tempted or harassed,] but there is culpability on the part of whoever casts and/or commissions the curse. [Generally, no one ever actually becomes possessed by a demon unless they are living in, and are guilty of, mortal sin.] By the word curse, I mean the intention of harming others through demonic intervention. This can be achieved in many ways: malefice (or spell), binding, evil eye, malediction, and so on. The matter is serious, but we need to be on guard against misconceptions. By their nature, curses lend themselves to all sorts of abuses, especially when we consider the current escalation in the number of frauds, suggestions, manias, and more.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="Grave-Hardening-of-Sin" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a><b>Grave Hardening of Sin</b><br />Judas Iscariot is the classical Gospel example. The many individuals who abandon themselves to sexual perversions, violence, and drugs fall into this group. The heinous crime of abortion aggravates this situation; its terrible repercussions are clearly seen during exorcisms, because to liberate a victim who is guilty of abortion usually requires a very long period of time. Due to the current devastation of the family and the laxity of morals, the repercussions that stem from the scourge of abortion are much more common than in the past. When we take all these factors into account, we can understand why the number of individuals stricken by evil ailments has multiplied.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="Proximity-to-Evil-Places-or-Persons" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a><b>Proximity to Evil Places or Persons</b><br />This includes attending spiritualistic session, dabbling in magic, or consulting magicians, witch doctors, and some card readers; also, practicing the occult, belonging to satanic sects, or practicing in rites that climax with black masses, and so on, put us at great risk.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span lang="en-US"></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span lang="en-US">To this category we can add the influence of mass media, such as pornographic shows and violent horror movies broadcast by many TV stations. We witness the effects of the widespread presence of rock music, culminating in satanic rock performed in what we could easily refer to as "churches or rock", such as stadiums, parks, and discothèques. We should not be surprised that, today, there is an explosion of these activities: a decline in faith life is directly connected to an increase in superstitions. I </span><span lang="en-US">will not tire or repeating that members of the clergy have done nothing to oppose, or at least warn against, all these evils, because they are completely ignorant even of what the Bible explicitly says on the subject </span><span style="color: red;"><span lang="en-US">[expect nothing but indifferentism and laxiety from the faithless non-Catholic </span>Vatican II<span lang="en-US"> heretics, whether they be </span><span lang="en-US">called </span><span lang="en-US">priests or laymen]</span></span><span lang="en-US"><span style="color: red;">. This forth category has greatly contributed to the increase in evil ailments in the last decades, especially among the young.</span> Taken from (An Exorcist More Stories by Fr. Gabriele Amorth).</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> <b style="background-color: white; font-size: 20pt;">Exorcist</b></span></p><hr style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">(1) In general, any one who exorcises or professes to exorcise demons (cf. Acts 19:13); (2) in particular, one ordained by a bishop for this office, ordination to which is the second of the four minor orders of the Western Church.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The practice of exorcism was not confined to clerics in the early ages, as is clear from Tertullian (Apology 23; cf. On Idolatry 11) and Origen (Against Celsus VII.4). The latter expressly states that even the simplest and rudest of the faithful sometimes cast out demons, by a mere prayer or adjuration (Mark 15:17), and urges the fact as a proof of the power of Christ's grace, and the inability of demons to resist it. In the Eastern Church, a specially ordained order of exorcists (or of acolytes, or door-keepers) has never been established but in the Western Church, these three minor orders with that of lectors as a fourth) were instituted shortly before the middle of the third century. Pope Cornelius (251-253) mentions in his letter to Fabius that there were then in the Roman Church forty-two acolytes, and fifty-two exorcists, readers, and door-keepers (Eusebius, Church History VI.43), and the institution of these orders, and the organization of their functions, seems to have been the work of Cornelius's predecessor, Pope Fabian (236-251).</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The fourth Council of Carthage (398), in its seventh canon, prescribes the rite of ordination for exorcist; the bishop is to give him the book containing the formulae of exorcism, saying, "Receive, and commit to memory, and possess the power of imposing hands on energumens (a person thought to be possessed by an evil spirit), whether baptized or catechumens"; and the same rite has been retained, without change, in the Roman Pontifical, except that instead of the ancient Book of Exorcisms, the Pontifical, or Missal, is put into the hands of the ordained. From this form it is clear that one of the chief duties of exorcists was to take part in baptismal exorcism. That catechumens were exorcised every day, for some time before baptism, may be inferred from canon of the same council, which prescribed the daily imposition of hands by the exorcists. A further duty is prescribed in canon 92, viz: to supply food to, and in a general way to care for, energumens who habitually frequented the Church. There is no mention of pagan energumens, for the obvious reason that the official ministrations of the Church were not intended for them. But even after the institution of this order, exorcism was not forbidden to the laity, much less to the higher clergy, nor did those who exorcised always use the forms contained in the Book of Exorcisms. Thus the Apostolic Constitutions (VIII.26) say expressly that "the exorcist is not ordained", i.e. for the special office of exorcist, but that if anyone possess the charismatic power, he is to be recognized, and if need be, ordained deacon or subdeacon. This is the practice which has survived in the Eastern Schismatic "Orthodox" Church.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">As an example of the discretion allowed in the West, in the use of the means of exorcising, we may refer to what Sulpitius Severus relates of St. Martin of Tours (Dial., III (II), 6; P.L., XX, 215), that he was in the habit of casting out demons by prayer alone without having recourse to the imposition of hands or the formulae usually employed by the clergy. After a time, as conditions changed in the Church, the office of exorcist, as an independent office, ceased altogether, and was taken over by clerics in major orders, just as the original functions of deacons and subdeacons have with the lapse of time passed to a great extent into the hands of priests; and according to the later discipline of the Catholic Church, it is only priests who are authorized to use the exorcising power conferred by ordination. The change is due to the facts that the catechumenate, with which the office of exorcist was chiefly connected, has ceased, that infant baptism has become the rule, and that with the spread of Christianity and the disappearance of paganism, demonic power has been curtailed, and cases of obsession have become much rarer. It is only Catholic missionaries labouring in pagan lands, where Christianity is not yet dominant, who are likely to meet with fairly frequent cases of possession.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In Christian countries authentic cases of possession sometimes occur and every priest, especially if he be a parish priest, or pastor, is liable to be called upon to perform his duty as exorcist. In doing so, he is to be mindful of the prescriptions of the Roman Ritual and of the laws of provincial or diocesan synods, which for most part require that the bishop should be consulted and his authorization obtained before exorcism is attempted. The chief points of importance in the instructions of the Roman Ritual, prefixed to the rite itself, are as follows:</span></p><ul style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><li><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Possession is not lightly to be taken for granted. Each case is to be carefully examined and great caution to be used in distinguishing genuine possession from certain forms of disease.</span></p></li><li><p><span style="font-family: arial;">The priest who undertakes the office should be himself a holy man, of a blameless life, intelligent, courageous, humble, and he should prepare for the work by special acts of devotion and mortification, particularly by prayer and a fasting (Matthew 17:20).</span></p></li><li><p><span style="font-family: arial;">He should avoid in the a course of the rite everything that savours of superstition, and should leave the medical aspects of the case to qualified physicians.</span></p></li><li><p><span style="font-family: arial;">He should admonish the possessed, in so far as the latter is capable, to dispose himself for the exorcism by prayer, fasting, confession, and communion, and while the rite is in progress to excite within himself a lively faith in God's goodness, and a patient resignation to His holy will.</span></p></li><li><p><span style="font-family: arial;">The exorcism should take place in the Church or some other sacred place, if convenient; but if on account of sickness or for other legitimate reasons, it takes place in a private house, witnesses (preferably members of the family) should be present: this is specially enjoined, as a measure of precaution, in case the subject is a woman.</span></p></li><li><p><span style="font-family: arial;">All idle and curious questioning of the demon should be avoided, and the prayers and aspirations should be read with great faith, humility, and fervour, and with a consciousness of power and authority.</span></p></li><li><p><span style="font-family: arial;">The Blessed Sacrament is not to be brought near the body of the obsessed during exorcism for fear of possible irreverence; but the crucifix, holy water, and, where available, relics of the saints are to be employed.</span></p></li><li><p><span style="font-family: arial;">If expulsion of the evil spirit is not obtained at once, the rite should be repeated, if need be, several times.</span></p></li><li><p><span style="font-family: arial;">The exorcist should be vested in surplice, and violet stole.</span></p></li></ul><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.7cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="Procedure-of-the-Exorcist" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a><span style="font-size: 17pt;"><b>Procedure of the Exorcist</b></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The appendix of the Roman Ritual has the longer rite of exorcism and states that the exorcist should "<i>Superpelliceo et stola violacea indutus</i>," (wear an alb and a purple stole) right before the part of the prayer that begins "<i>Ecce crucem domine, fúgite partes advérsae</i>." The priest is instructed to "<i>imponat extreman parte stolae ejus</i>" (having made the sign of the cross over the victim, place the ends of the stole around this person's neck).</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">One may have two normal sized stoles sewn together in order to have a very long stole to extend from the priest to the victim's neck. It is truly amazing how the blessed stole calms and controls the possessed person. Certainly one initially may encounter violent reactions, but that is to be expected. The stole not only symbolizes, but demonstrates the power of the priesthood. Jesus binds the evil spirits with the use of this sacramental.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Ritual next instructs the priest to place his right hand on the head of his victim. Of course, the imposition of hands was used by Jesus to heal the sick. The church mimics this use in the Sacrament of the Sick and in other ways. Jesus blessed children in this way. It has been noted by many individuals that hands of the priest's calm or burn them. If an assistant priest is present, they also may place hands on the person's head. A Bible containing both the Old and New Testaments should be on hand when questioning and commanding the demons to respond. After invoking the Holy Spirit, there is surprising response and confirmation, which are keys to opening up and freeing the person. For example, a woman who had been a war orphan revealed through scripture that she was not baptized. Another woman opened the Bible to Tobias where it stated that she was not married in the church. A couple opened the Bible to the Old testament reading on abortion, which confirmed, at some point to unforgiven sin. Others opened to a passage focusing on a generational curse. While still others read a verse on incest in the family. One girl indicated the story of Jacob and Essau. Her twin brother was murdered at three months of age. She was the second to be born and like Jacob became the first through infanticide. Others have indicated a need for greater humility, faith and fasting. The Rite of Exorcism uses passages from Jn. 1:1-14; Mk. 16:15-18; Lk. 1:17-20; Lk. 11:14-22; also use what ever passage the Holy Spirit inspires. This can hasten along deliverance and yield many crucial answers to the puzzle. It is always good to have on hand a collection of prayers that may be said both by the exorcist and those assisting. The Raccolta has a fine collection, as do other prayer books.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The rules for exorcism state that one should have relics of the saints at hand. Not all relics are of equal worth. First class relics are to be preferred. The greater the sanctity of the saint the more powerful the cure. One can tell by the reactions of the demons which relic gives better results.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">According to the Act of the Apostles, handkerchiefs that were touched to Saint Paul and carried back to the sick curing them (remember the sick woman who was cured by touching the hem of Jesus?). The shadow alone of Saint Peter healed many. Although the Blessed Sacrament is the Body and Blood of Jesus, True God and True Man, and not any mere sacramental, it is an excellent practice to use it to bless the sick and possessed. The rules of exorcism in number 13 of the Roman Ritual states, "<i>Sanctissima vero Eucharistia super caput obssessi, aut aliter ejus corpori ne admoveatur, ob irreverentiae periculum</i>" (The Blessed Sacrament should not be placed on the head or any other part of the body of the possessed persons, due to the possibility of desecration). This rule or admonition need not apply in those cases where there is no danger or irreverence, that is cases in which the person's actions are nonviolent.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It is truly astounding to observe how many days (when proper use of the Blessed Sacrament is applied to the body of the possessed), can be taken off the whole length of time needed to dislodge the demons. It shortens the process. It may be wise in other cases for the priest himself to carry around his neck the Blessed Sacrament in a Pyx. This may prove at times, necessary for protection.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A Franciscan named Father Dominic Szymanski (1899 - 1951) (a one time companion of Maximilian Kolbe (1894 - 1941)) was working with a Benedictine priest, when Fr. Dominic asked the Benedictine if he was wearing the medal of St. Benedict. The Benedictine responded, "Yes, I am." Father Szymanski told him that he saw the devil in the form of a blue light going around him in circles, and that the evil spirit was unable to touch him because he was wearing the medal.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The St. Benedict medal can be pinned to the clothes of infants who are agitated, pregnant mothers or anyone who wants protection from evil. The use of the scapular of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel and the Rosary are two other sacramentals effective against the attacks of the demons. The blessing of the rosary states, "<i>Nos eriperes de potestate diaboli</i>" Our Lord Jesus Christ through His life, death and resurrection has "snatched us from the power of the devil." Abundant graces are granted through proper recitation of the rosary, "<i>Ab omni hoste visibili et invisibili et ubíque in hoc sáeculo liberetur</i>" (from every enemy both visible and invisible and everywhere in this lifetime be freed). St. Dominic freed a heretic from 15,000 devils, when the man had blasphemed the Blessed Mother and the Rosary. St. Dominic preached on the fifteen mysteries of the rosary and asked the faithful to pray and meditate. For every mystery, 1,000 demons left him in the form of burning coals until he was delivered. The rosary is the chain that Our Lady uses to bind Satan. It is often seen in a possessed individual, that the demon is irritated and they complain that the rosary burns them and they often destroy the rosary.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Another medal of great importance which was used in the conversion of the worldly Jew, Alphonse Ratisbone, propagated by Maximillian Kolbe, and used by the founder of the Legion of Mary-Frank Duff-is the Miraculous Medal (Medal of the Immaculate Conception of Mary). While placing the medal around the neck, the Presider prays, "<i>Ut piisima et Immaculáta caelórum Domina vos prótegat atique defendat</i>'' (May the Holy and Immaculate heavenly Lady protect and defend you). Our Lady promises special graces to those who wear this medal around their neck. The same is true for the scapular. If worn with faith, "They shall not suffer the eternal flames of Hell" [provided they die in state of grace] and "shall be delivered from Purgatory on the Saturday after their death."</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Then there is the crucifix, which should always be present. The victim will often stare at the cross and be forced to look away. The cross is symbolic of the defeat of Satan through the death of Christ. The long prayer for Solemn Blessing of the Crucifix, "<i>Ut quóties triúmphum divínae humnilitátis, quae </i><i>supérbiam nostri hostis dejecit</i>" and (how often the divine humility has triumphed casting out the pride of our enemy). "<i>Dignáre respícere, bene + dícere et Sancti + ficáre hanc creaturm incensi, ut omnes languores, omnesque imfirmitates, atque insidiar inimici, odorem ejus sentientes, efffugiant, et separatur a plasmate tuo; ut num quam lædatur amorsu antiqui serpentes</i>" (Deign to care for bless and sanctify those being inflamed by passion and weakness, any sickness, deceits of the foe and suspicious resentments felt by them. Be cast out and driven away from your creature) and "<i>Numquam lædatur a morsu antiqui derpentis</i>" (Never to be hurt by the bite of the ancient serpent).</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The following are selected paragraphs pertaining to the instruction of the Exorcist as indicated in the Old Rite - Rules of the Roman Ritual of Exorcism.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="RULE-1" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a><b>(RULE 1)</b> The priest who with the particular and explicit permission of his Bishop is about to exorcise those tormented by Evil Spirit, must have the necessary piety, prudence and personal integrity. He should perform this most heroic work humbly and courageously, not relying on his own strength, but on the power of God; and he must have no greed for material benefit. Besides, he should be of mature age and be respected as a virtuous person.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="RULE-5" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a><b>(RULE 5)</b> Let the exorcist note for himself the tricks and deceits which evil spirits use in order to lead him astray. For they are accustomed to answering falsely. They manifest themselves only under pressure--in the hope that the exorcist will get tired and desist from pressuring them. Or they make it appear that the subject of Exorcism is not possessed at all.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="RULE-6" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a><b>(RULE 6)</b> Sometimes, Evil Spirit betrays its presence, and then goes into hiding. It appears to have left the body of the possessed free from all molestation, so that the possessed thinks he is completely rid of it. But the exorcist should not, for all that, desist until he sees the signs of liberation.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="RULE-10" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a><b>(RULE 10)</b> The Exorcist must remember, therefore, that Our Lord said there is a species of Evil Spirit which cannot be expelled except by prayer and fasting. Let him make sure that he and others follow the example of the Holy Fathers and make use of these two principal means of obtaining divine help and of repelling Evil Spirit.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="RULE-20" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a><b>(RULE 20)</b> During Exorcism, the exorcist should use the words of the Bible rather than his own or somebody else's. Also, he should command Evil Spirit to state whether it is kept within the possessed because of some magical spell or sorcerer's symbol or some occult documents. For the exorcism to succeed, the possessed must surrender them. If he has swallowed something like that, he will vomit it up. If it is outside his body in some place or other, Evil Spirit must tell the exorcist where it is. When the exorcist finds it, he must burn it.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In order for Satan to be driven out of the possessed, the exorcist must be humble. He must rely on God and only God for his answers and direction. Sometimes God forces the demon inside the possessed to reveal truths. However, the exorcist must be careful not to believe all that the demon possessing the victim might say. The demon will reveal exactly what the exorcist wants to hear even though it is not the truth, in order to side track him. The exorcist, out of his own curiosity, should not ask questions to the possessed regarding matters other than the exorcism at hand. Only through much prayer, fasting and humility of the exorcist along with the willingness of the victim, and of course, the grace and Will of God, can one be freed of this affliction.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="Sacraments" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a><span style="font-size: 20pt;"><b>Sacraments</b></span></span></p><hr style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">When praying with a person for healing and deliverance, it is helpful to use sacramentals. The use of sacramentals affects cures and expels the enemy.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The use of blessed olive oil is particularly effective, because it contains the prayer of exorcism at the very beginning. "<i>Exorcizo te, creatura olei</i>" (I exorcise, creature oil). "<i>Omis virtus adversarii, omnis exceritus diaboli, omnis incúrus, omne phatasma Satanæ eradicare</i>" (All power of the adversary, all diabolical armies, all hostile attack, eliminating every satanic apparition). "<i>Uf fiat ómnibus, qui eo usuri sunt, salus menti et corporis</i>" (and all who would use this would have health of mind and body). Further into the prayer, it states that all those who are sick would be free of "<i>Ab omni languore</i>" (all weakness, languor, listlessness), "<i>omni qui infirmitate</i>" (all sickness) and "<i>insidiis inimici liberéntur</i>", (freed of any snares of the enemy). And "<i>cunctae adversitates separéntur a pusmate tuo</i>" (all of the opposing powers that separate your creature from you).</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Quite often, when using the sacramental, a person blessed or having consumed the blessed oil will have a reaction. This sacramental is very much hated by evil spirits and sometimes cures diseases and states of depression and oppression.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">An amber colored glass of blessed oil and an identical glass containing holy water were placed in front of a year and a half-old child. The child refused the blessed oil, whereas she always chose the holy water. This experiment was repeated two dozen times, and despite not being able to see the contents, the child would not touch the oil. A four-year-old boy, in a guttural voice said, "I'm going to destroy that blessed oil," despite his not knowing that the exorcist had blessed the household kitchen oil. Another instance using blessed oil involved a high school student with a high fever. After administering the oil, his fever instantaneously disappeared.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">For people who may not be candidates for the sacrament of the sick, this sacramental can be used, even if they are not in the state of grace.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Another sacramental feared by demons is holy water, which one can be sprinkled with or drink. "<i>Benedictio aquae in vigilia Ephipaniae Domini</i>" (The blessing of water in the vigil of the Epiphany of the Lord) contains multiple exorcisms and should be used if time allows, especially in the case of a solemn public exorcism. The blessing in the Roman Ritual is titled, "<i>Benedicto auri, thuris et myrahae in Festo Ephiphaniæ</i>" (Blessing of gold, frankincense and myrrh on the Feast of Epiphany). The blessing on the Feast of the Epiphany also has the longest blessing of water and contains all of the exorcisms of the water and salt. This blessing seems to be more effective than just an ordinary blessing (salt should also be included).</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Incense is very annoying to evil spirits. It is also good to have blessed candles, especially if blessed on the Feast of St. Blaise.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Another sacramental that is especially efficacious against the devil is the Medal of St. Benedict. Priest should use the long form of the St. Benedict prayer, which contains a prayer of exorcism. This is the only medal in the Roman Catholic Church that has an exorcism prayer on the medal. It begins: "<i>Exorcizo vos, numísmata</i>,…" (I exorcise you medal) Once petitioning the Holy Trinity to eliminate all the power of the enemy. Then "<i>Ut fiant ómnibus, qui eis usuri sunt, salus mentis et corporis</i>" (That all those who would use it would have health of mind and body). The medal itself has initials inscribed that form a prayer of exorcism as indicated below.</span></p><div style="background-color: white; float: right; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img alt="The Medal of St. Benedict, Back" height="225" src="http://www.trusaint.com/exorcism-and-demonic-possession/stben-front.jpg" style="border: 0px;" width="225" /><br /></span></div><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In the angles of the cross are found these four letters: C.S.P.B. They stand for the words: <i>Crux Sancti Patris Benedicti</i> --"The Cross of the Holy Father Benedict."</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">On the vertical bar of the cross itself are found the letters: C.S.S.M.L., and on the horizontal bar of the cross: N.D.S.M.D. They signify: <i>Crux Sacra Sit Mihi Lux, Non Craco Sit Mihi Dux</i> --"May the holy Cross be my light. Let not the dragon be my guide."</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Round the margin of the Medal, beginning at the right hand on top, are the following letters: V.R.S.N.S.M.V.--S.M.Q.L.I.V.B They stand for the verses: <i>Vade Retro, </i><i>S<img align="LEFT" alt="The Medal of St. Benedict, Front" border="0" height="210" src="http://www.trusaint.com/exorcism-and-demonic-possession/stben-front.jpg" style="border: 0px;" width="236" />atana! Nunqum Suade Mihi Vana. Sunt Mala Quae Libas; Ipse Venena Bibas</i>. --"Begone, Satan! Suggest not vain things to me. Evil is the cup thou offerest; Drink thou thine own poison."</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In most instances, the medal produces a tranquilizing effect when worn. Some individuals experience the opposite--a burning sensation.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Blessing and imposition of the scapular of Saint Michael the Archangel is another practice very much feared and detested by evil spirits. This scapular takes the shape of a shield with one cord being black and the other blue. On the shield we read the words "<i>Quis et Deus</i>" ("I am like God"). This was Michael's reply to Lucifer, who stated "<i>non serviam</i>" (I will not serve). Michael means "<i>Quis ut Deus</i>" (Who is like unto God).</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.7cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="Blessing-of-the-Medal-of-St-Benedict" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a><span style="font-size: 17pt;"><b>Blessing of the Medal of St. Benedict</b></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The exorcism prayers below in both English and Latin can be said by any priest or layman.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="English-version" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a><span style="font-size: 15pt;"><b>English version</b></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">V. Our help is in the name of the Lord</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">R. Who made heaven and earth.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In the name of God the Father + Almighty, who made heaven and earth, the seas and all that is in them, I exorcise these medals against the power and attacks of the evil one. May all who use these medals devoutly be blessed with health or soul and body. In the name of the Father + Almighty, of his Son + Jesus Christ our Lord, and of the Holy + Spirit the Paraclete, and in the love of the same Lord Jesus Christ who will come on the last day to judge the living and the dead, and the world by fire. R. AMEN</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Let us pray. Almighty God, the boundless source of all good things, we humbly, ask that, through the intercession of St. Benedict, you pour out your blessings + upon these medals. May those who use them devoutly and earnestly strive to perform good works, be blessed by you with health of soul and the help of your merciful love, resist the temptations of the evil one and strive to exercise true charity and justice toward all, so that one day they may appear sinless and holy in your sight. This we ask through Christ our Lord. R. AMEN</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The medals are then sprinkled with holy water.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="Latin-version" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a><span style="font-size: 15pt;"><b>Latin version</b></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">V. Adjutórium nostrum in nómine Dómini</span></i></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">R. Qui fecit cælum et terram.</span></i></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">Exorcízo vos, numísmata, per Deum + Patrem omnipoténtem, qui fecit cælum et terram, mare et ómnia, quæ in eis sunt. Omnis virtus adversárii, omnis exércitus diáboli et omnis incúrsus, omne phantásma sátanæ, eradicáre et effugáre ab his numismátibus: ut fiant ómnibus, qui eis usúri sunt, salus mentis et córporis: in nómine Pa + tris omnipoténtis, et Jesu + Christi Fílii ejus, Dómini nostri, et Spíritus + Sancti Parácliti, et in caritáte ejúsdem Dómini nostri Jesu Christi, qui ventúrus est judicáre vivos et mórtuos, et sæculum per ignem.</span></i></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">R. AMEN</span></i></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">Kýrie, eléison. Christe, eléison. Kýrie, eléison.</span></i></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">V. Dómine, exáudi oratiónem meam.</span></i></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">R. Et clamor meus ad te véniat</span></i></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">V. Dóminus vobíscum.</span></i></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">R. Et cum spíritu tuo.</span></i></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">Orémus.</span></i></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">Oratio</span></i></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">Deus omnípotens, bonórum ómnium largítor, súpplices te rogámus, ut per intercessiónem sancti Benedícti his sacris numismátibus tuam bene + dictiónem infúndas, ut omnes, qui ea gestáverint ac bonis opéribus inténti fúerint, sanitátem mentis et córporis, et grátiam sanctificatiónis, atque indulgéntias (nobis) concéssas cónsequi mereántur, omnésque diáboli insídias et fraudes, per auxílium miscericórdiæ tuæ, stúdeant devitáre et in conspéctu tuo sancti et immaculáti váleant apparére. Per Christum Dóminum nostrum.</span></i></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">R. AMEN.</span></i></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-831939533339323924.post-72742005742521185862021-12-12T04:06:00.005-05:002021-12-12T04:07:46.943-05:00Ghosts, Spirits, & Demons<p><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2F4.bp.blogspot.com%2F-pjHDrPapM24%2FTWw3mNbRTDI%2FAAAAAAAAC5Q%2F2w8eHfYJqLw%2Fw1200-h630-p-k-no-nu%2Fbasement-apparition.jpg&f=1&nofb=1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500" height="240" src="https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2F4.bp.blogspot.com%2F-pjHDrPapM24%2FTWw3mNbRTDI%2FAAAAAAAAC5Q%2F2w8eHfYJqLw%2Fw1200-h630-p-k-no-nu%2Fbasement-apparition.jpg&f=1&nofb=1" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />In Christian terminology, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person, taken to be capable of appearing in visible form or otherwise manifesting itself to the living. Descriptions of ghosts vary very much: the specific way of manifestation can vary from an invisible presence to translucent or wispy shapes, to realistic, life-like visions that attack, hurt or even kill human beings. The deliberate attempt to contact the spirit of a deceased person by way of occult means is known as necromancy, or in spiritism as a séance, and is strictly forbidden in Christianity under pain of death.</span><p></p><p></p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Humanity has believed in the presence of spirits or ghosts of different kinds from the very beginning. Ghosts are generally described as solitary essences that haunt particular locations, objects, or people with which they were associated in life, though stories of phantom armies, ghost trains, phantom ships, and even ghost animals have also been recounted. Mostly, it is very difficult to distinguish if the ghost that is manifesting is good or evil. The Catholic belief has always been that it is gravely and mortally sinful to contact these ghosts or spirits by way of occult means, but that those of the faithful who died as a member of the Church could be prayed for.</span></span><p></p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Bible contain few references to ghosts, but there are a few noteworthy ones. The most notable reference is in the First Book of Samuel (1 Samuel 28:3-19), in which a disguised King Saul has the Witch of Endor summon the Ghost of Samuel. This horrible deed by Saul was punished with capital punishment both during the Old Testament time and through the Middle Ages until when recently it sadly became commonly accepted and allowed by the unchristian or atheistic states.</span></span><p></p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">[3] Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel mourned for him, and buried him in Ramatha his city. And Saul had put away all the magicians and soothsayers out of the land. [4] And the Philistines were gathered together, and came and camped in Sunam: and Saul also gathered together all Israel, and came to Gelboe. [5] And Saul saw the army of the Plilistines, and was afraid, and his heart was very much dismayed. [6] And he consulted the Lord, and he answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by priests, nor by prophets. [7] And Saul said to his servants: Seek me a woman that hath a divining spirit, and I will go to her, and inquire by her. And his servants said to him: There is a woman that hath a divining spirit at Endor. [8] Then he disguised himself: and put on other clothes, and he went, and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night, and he said to her: Divine to me by thy divining spirit, and bring me up him whom I shall tell thee. [9] And the woman said to him: Behold thou knowest all that Saul hath done, and how he hath rooted out the magicians and soothsayers from the land: why then dost thou lay a snare for my life, to cause me to be put to death? [10] And Saul swore unto her by the Lord, saying: As the Lord liveth there shall no evil happen to thee for this thing.</span></span><p></p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">[11] And the woman said to him: Whom shall I bring up to thee? And he said, Bring me up Samuel. [12] And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice, and said to Saul: Why hast thou deceived me? for thou art Saul. [13] And the king said to her: Fear not: what hast thou seen? And the woman said to Saul: I saw gods ascending out of the earth. [14] And he said to her: What form is he of? And she said: An old man cometh up, and he is covered with a mantle. And Saul understood that it was Samuel, and he bowed himself with his face to the ground, and adored. [15] And Samuel said to Saul: Why hast thou disturbed my rest, that I should be brought up? And Saul said, I am in great distress: for the Philistines fight against me, and God is departed from me, and would not hear me, neither by the hand of prophets, nor by dreams: therefore I have called thee, that thou mayest shew me what I shall do.</span></span><p></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: red;">[14] "Understood that it was Samuel" … It is the more common opinion of the holy fathers, and interpreters, that the soul of Samuel appeared indeed: and not, as some have imagined, an evil spirit in his shape. Not that the power of her magic could bring him thither, but that God was pleased for the punishment of Saul, that Samuel himself should denounce unto him the evils that were falling upon him. See Eccli. 46. 23.</span><span style="background-color: white;"></span></span><p></p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">[16] And Samuel said: Why askest thou me, seeing the Lord has departed from thee, and is gone over to thy rival: [17] For the Lord will do to thee as he spoke by me, and he will rend thy kingdom out of thy hand, and will give it to thy neighbour David: [18] Because thou didst not obey the voice of the Lord, neither didst thou execute the wrath of his indignation upon Amalec. Therefore hath the Lord done to thee what thou sufferest this day. [19] And the Lord also will deliver Israel with thee into the hands of the Philistines: and tomorrow thou and thy sons shall be with me: and the Lord will also deliver the army of Israel into the hands of the Philistines. [20] And forthwith Saul fell all along on the ground, for he was frightened with the words of Samuel, and there was no strength in him, for he had eaten no bread all that day.</span></span><p></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: red;">[19] "With me" … That is, in the state of the dead, and in another world, though not in the same place [as Samuel].</span><span style="background-color: white;"></span></span><p></p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In the New Testament, Jesus has to persuade the Disciples that he is not a ghost following the resurrection, Luke 24:37-39. Likewise, Jesus' Apostles at first believe him to be a ghost when they see him walking on water.</span></span><p></p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Christian Church considers ghosts as beings who though they appear on the earth, no longer live on the material plane. On occasion, God would allow the souls in this state to return to earth to warn the living of the need for repentance and give them good advice how they should amend their ways. One example of deceased persons appearing in the New Testament is when Jesus speaks with Elia and Moses on the Mountain, and this shows that it not always evil or sinful to speak with a deceased person's spirit or ghost. Nevertheless, Christians are taught that it is sinful to attempt to conjure or control spirits by way of occult means in accordance with Deuteronomy 18:9-12.</span></span><p></p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Most of the ghosts are actually demons in disguise, who the Church teaches, in accordance with 1 Timothy 4:1, that they "come to deceive people and draw them away from God and into bondage." As a result, attempts to contact the dead in an occult way may lead to unwanted contact with a demon or an unclean spirit.</span></span><p></p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">According to Christian belief, appearances of orbs of light, a common paranormal phenomenon attributed to ghosts, can be explained by 2 Corinthians 11:14, which states that "even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light." If you should happen to see a ghost of any kind, it is much more probable that it is a fallen angel (demon) or an evil spirit which comes for the express purpose of deceiving you in any way. Therefore, when such a thing happens, do not pay too much heed to the Spirit or Ghost, but turn your mind to the Lord, and ask him to protect you if this is an evil being that is trying to deceive you. Try to ignore it as much as you can, and use Holy Prayers such as the Rosary in order to protect yourself.</span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-831939533339323924.post-29413422540546228722021-12-03T22:19:00.006-05:002021-12-09T00:09:08.303-05:00Catholic End-Times Prophecies<p><b style="background-color: white; font-size: 20pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b style="background-color: white; font-size: 20pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhmYM9wGAa_HqH2V2cUYsFQHuwcOHlXaFgk7o6J9h-6Et-Cc3iQV5MFYxXK2vZ0Q4rZ2q9E_VOvTx5Y7JIKpoDe5PSlCahc96sfT52-1qkhgK22IDZ5Kq-AhAL9I4SP51XhSM8t0udr5Adfc9vvGAFfULHmIt-c-tgkc3eJ-e6CveLrcWZXOxAZyp7c=s472" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="472" data-original-width="380" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhmYM9wGAa_HqH2V2cUYsFQHuwcOHlXaFgk7o6J9h-6Et-Cc3iQV5MFYxXK2vZ0Q4rZ2q9E_VOvTx5Y7JIKpoDe5PSlCahc96sfT52-1qkhgK22IDZ5Kq-AhAL9I4SP51XhSM8t0udr5Adfc9vvGAFfULHmIt-c-tgkc3eJ-e6CveLrcWZXOxAZyp7c=w161-h200" width="161" /></a></span></b></div><b style="background-color: white; font-size: 20pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />Various Catholic Prophecies on the Advent of Antichrist and the Last Days</span></b><p></p><h3 style="background-color: white; font-size: 21px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 26px; margin: 25px auto -5px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Nilus Prophecies the Advent of Antichrist</span></h3><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">St. Nilus must be counted as one of the leading ascetic writers of the fifth century. His feast is kept on November 12th in the Byzantine Calendar; he is commemorated also in the Roman Martyrology on the same date. St. Nilus probably died around 430 as there is no evidence of his life after that.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Now the prophecy:</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“</span><i style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">After 1900, toward the middle of the 20th century, the people of that time will become unrecognizable. When the time for the Advent of the Antichrist approaches, people's minds will grow cloudy from carnal passions, and dishonor and lawlessness will grow stronger. Then the world will become unrecognizable. People's appearances will change, and it will be impossible to distinguish men from women due to their shamelessness in dress and style of hair. These people will be cruel and will be like wild animals because of the temptations of the Antichrist. There will be no respect for parents and elders, love will disappear, and Christian pastors, bishops, and priests will become vain men, completely failing to distinguish the right-hand from the left. At that time the morals and traditions of Christians and of the Church will change. People will abandon modesty, and dissipation will reign. Falsehood and greed will attain great proportions, and woe to those who pile up treasures. Lust, adultery, homosexuality. secret deeds and murder will rule in society.<br /><br />At that future time, due to the power of such great crimes and licentiousness, people will be deprived of the grace of the Holy Spirit, which they received in Holy Baptism, and equally of remorse.<br /><br />The Churches of God will be deprived of God-fearing and pious pastors, and woe to the Christians remaining in the world at that time; many will completely lose their Faith because they will lack the opportunity of seeing the light of knowledge from anyone at all.<br /><br />Then they will separate themselves out of the world in holy refuges in search of lightening their spiritual sufferings, but everywhere they will meet obstacles and constraints.<br /><br />And all this will result from the fact that the Antichrist will want to be Lord over everything and become the ruler of the whole universe, and he will produce miracles and fantastic signs. He will also give depraved wisdom to an unhappy man so that he will discover a way by which one man can carry on a conversation with another from one end of the earth to the other. At that time men will also fly through the air like birds and descend to the bottom of the sea like fish. And when they have achieved all this, these unhappy people will spend their lives in comfort without knowing, poor souls, that it is deceit of the Antichrist. And, the impious one! - he will so complete science with vanity that it will go off the right path and lead people to lose faith in the existence of God and in the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity.<br /><br />Then the all-good God will see the downfall of the human race and will shorten the days for the sake of those few who are being saved, because the enemy wants to lead even the chosen into temptation, if that is possible ... then the sword of chastisement will suddenly appear and kill the perverter and his servants</i><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Realizing that St. Nilus is scarcely known to a large part of the Church, a brief sketch of his life, taken from the Catholic Encyclopedia (1911 edition) is related below:</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">St. Nilus was one of the many disciples and fervent defenders of St. John Chrysostom. He was an officer at the Court of Constantinople, married, with two sons. While St. John Chrysostom was patriarch, before his exile (398-403), he directed Nilus in the study of Scripture and in works of piety. St. Nilus left his wife and one son and took the other, Theodulos, with him to Mount Sinai to be a monk. The Bishop of Eleusa ordained both St. Nilus and his son to the priesthood. The mother and other son also embraced the religious life in Egypt.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">From his monastery at Sinai, St. Nilus was a well-known person throughout the Eastern Church; by his writings and correspondence he played an important part in the history of his time. He was known as a theologian, Biblical scholar and ascetic writer, so people of all kinds, from the emperor down, wrote to consult him. His numerous works, including a multitude of letters, consists of denunciations of heresy, paganism, abuses of discipline and crimes, of rules and principles of asceticism, especially maxims about the religious life. He warns and threatens people in high places, abbots and bishops, governors and princes, even the emperor himself, without fear. He kept up a correspondence with Gaina, a leader of the Goths, endeavoring to convert him from Arianism. He denounced vigorously the persecution of St. John Chrysostom both to Emperor Arcadius and to his courtiers.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /></span><h3 style="background-color: white; font-size: 21px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 26px; margin: 25px auto -5px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Various Catholic Prophecies</span></h3><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><b style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">St. Anthony the Abbot (4th Century)</b><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“Men will surrender to the spirit of the age. They will say that if they had lived in our day, faith would be simple and easy. But in their day, they will say, things are complex; the Church must be brought up to date and made meaningful to the day's problems. When the Church and the world are one, then those days are at hand.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><b style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">St. Senanus (6th Century)</b><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“Falsehood will characterize that class of men who will sit in judgment to pass sentence according to law: between the father and his son, litigations will subsist. The clergy of the holy church will be addicted to pride and injustice. Women will abandon feelings of delicacy, and cohabit with men out of wedlock.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><b style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">St. Columcille or Columba (521-597)</b><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“Seven years before the last day, the sea shall submerge Eirin [Ireland] in one inundation.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><b style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Saint Hildegard (12th Century)</b><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“The time is coming when princes and peoples will reject the authority of the Pope. Some countries will prefer their own Church rulers to the Pope. The German Empire will be divided [WW2].</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Before the comet comes [Nibiru aka Planet X?], many nations, will be scourged by want and famine. The great nation in the ocean [USA?] that is inhabited by people of different tribes and descent will be devastated by earthquakes, storms and tidal waves. It will be divided [New Madrid Fault?] and, in great part, submerged. The comet will by its tremendous pressure force much of the ocean and flood many countries, causing much want and many plagues. All coastal cities will live in fear, and many of them will be destroyed by tidal waves, and most living creatures will be killed, and even those who escape will die from horrible diseases. For in none of those cities does a person live according to the Laws of God.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><b style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Mother Shipton Prophecies (Sixteenth Century)</b><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Contrary to popular claim, there are no real evidence of Mother Shipton being a witch. She is stated to have been born in July 1488 and to have been baptized a Catholic named Ursula Sonthiel.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Now, some of her prophecies.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“A fiery dragon will cross the sky six times before the earth shall die. Mankind will tremble and frightened be for the six heralds in this prophecy. For seven days and seven nights man will watch this awesome sight. The tides will rise beyond their ken. To bite away the shores and then the mountains will begin to roar and earthquakes split the plain to shore. And flooding waters rushing in, will flood the lands with such a din that mankind cowers in muddy fen and snarls about his fellow men.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“The chastisement will come when carriages go without horses and many accidents fill the world with woe. It will come when thoughts are flying around the earth in the twinkling of an eye, when long tunnels are made for horseless machines, when men can fly in the air and ride under the sea, when ships are wholly made of metal, when fire and water great marvels do, when even the poor can read books, and when many taxes are levied for war.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“When pictures look alive, with movement free, When ships like fish swim beneath the sea, When man outstripping birds can soar the sky, Then half the world deep drenched in blood shall die.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><b style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Bishop Christianos Ageda (12th Century)</b><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“In the 20th century there will be wars and fury that will last a long time; whole provinces shall be emptied of their inhabitants, and kingdoms shall be thrown into confusion. In many places the land shall be left untilled, and there shall be great slaughters of the upper class. The right hand of the world shall fear the left, and the north shall prevail over the south.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><b style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Johannes Friede (1204-1257)</b><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“When the great time will come, in which mankind will face its last, hard trial, it will be foreshadowed by striking changes in nature. The alteration between cold and heat will become more intensive, storms will have more catastrophic effects, earthquakes will destroy great regions, and the seas will overflow many lowlands. Not all of it will be the result of natural causes, but mankind will penetrate into the bowels of the earth and will reach into the clouds, gambling with its own existence. Before the powers of destruction will succeed in their design, the universe will be thrown into disorder, and the age of iron will plunge into nothingness.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">When nights will be filled with more intensive cold and days with heat, a new life will begin in nature. The heat means radiation from the earth, the cold the waning light of the sun. Only a few years more and you will become aware that sunlight has grown perceptibly weaker. When even your artificial light will cease to give service, the great event in the heavens will be near.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><b style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">St. Vincent Ferrer (14th Century)</b><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“In the days of peace that are to come after the desolation of revolutions and wars, before the end of the world, the Christians will become so lax in their religion that they will refuse to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation, saying, ‘It is an unnecessary Sacrament.’”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><b style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">John of the Cleft Rock (14th Century)</b><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“Towards the end of the world, tyrants and hostile mobs will rob the Church and the clergy of all their possessions and will afflict and martyr them. Those who heap the most abuse upon them will be held in high esteem. The sufferings of the Church will be much greater than at any previous time in her history. But God will raise a holy Pope, and the Angels will rejoice. Enlightened by God, this man will rebuild almost the whole world through his holiness. He will lead everyone to the true Faith.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><b style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Maria Laach Monastery (16th Century)</b><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“The twentieth century will bring death and destruction, apostasy from the Church, discord in families, cities and governments; it will be the century of three great wars with intervals of a few decades. They will become ever more devastating and bloody and will lay in ruins not only Germany, but finally all countries of East and West.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">After a terrible defeat of Germany will follow the next great war. There will be no bread for people anymore and no fodder for animals. Poisonous clouds, manufactured by human hands, will sink down and exterminate everything. The human mind will be seized by insanity.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><b style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Venerable Bartholomew Holzhauser (17th Century)</b><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“The fifth period of the Church, which began circa 1520, will end with the arrival of the holy Pope and of the powerful Monarch who is called "Help From God" because he will restore everything. The fifth period is one of affliction, desolation, humiliation, and poverty for the Church. Jesus Christ will purify His people through cruel wars, famines, plagues, epidemics, and other horrible calamities. He will allow the affliction and weakening of the Latin Church with many heresies. It is a period of defections, calamities and exterminations. Those Christians who survive the sword, plague and famines, will be few on earth.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">During this period, many men will abuse of the freedom of conscience conceded to them. It is of such men that Jude the Apostle spoke when he said, "These men blaspheme whatever they do not understand; and they corrupt whatever they know naturally as irrational animals do." They will ridicule Christian simplicity; they will call it folly and nonsense, but they will have the highest regard for advanced knowledge, and for the skill by which the axioms of law, the precepts of morality, the Holy Canons and religious dogmas are clouded by senseless questions and elaborate arguments.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">These are the evil times, a century full of dangers and calamities. Heresy is everywhere, and the followers of heresy are in power almost everywhere. God will permit a great evil against His Church: Heretics and tyrants will come suddenly and unexpectedly; they will break into the Church.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><b style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Venerable Mary of Agreda (17th Century)</b><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“It was revealed to me that through the intercession of the Mother of God, all heresies will disappear. This victory over heresies has been reserved by Christ for His Blessed Mother... Before the Second Coming of Christ, Mary must, more than ever, shine in mercy, might and grace in order to bring unbelievers into the Catholic Faith.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><b style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Sister Marianne de Jesus Torres (17th Century)</b><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“The most Holy Trinity confirmed the desire of my Queen, assuring that God will bless all those who, by their support and help, contribute in the making of the Holy Statue, as well as all those who help spread this devotion [to Our Lady of Good Success] throughout the centuries, making known its origin and these apparitions in the 20th century. This will be a time of great corruption of customs. The sacred sacrament of Holy Orders will be ridiculed, oppressed and despised, for in doing this, one scorns and defiles the Church of God, and even God Himself, represented by His priests. The Demon will try to persecute the Ministers of the Lord in every possible way.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><b style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Blessed Rembordt (18th Century)</b><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“God will punish the world when men have devised marvelous inventions that will lead them to forget God [prophecy of media that many people waste much time on?]. They will have horseless carriages; they will fly like birds.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><b style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Ecstatic of Tours (19th Century)</b><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“Before the war breaks out again, food will be scarce and expensive. There will be little work for the workers, and fathers will hear their children crying for food. There will be earthquakes and signs in the sun. Toward the end, darkness will cover the earth. When everyone believes that peace is ensured, when everyone least expects it, the great happening will begin. Revolution will break out in Italy almost at the same time as in France. For some time the Church will be without a Pope.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><b style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Pope Pius XII (1876–1958)</b><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">There were occasional rumors of visions and "angelic" phenomena associated with Pius XII during the entire duration of his papacy (1939-58). After one of these mystical visions he reportedly told one of his assistants, “Mankind must prepare itself for sufferings such as it has never before experienced.” He expressed dismay at what he saw facing humanity in the not so distant future, describing those times as “the darkest since the deluge.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><b style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Pope Pius IX (1792-1878)</b><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“Since the whole world is against God and His Church, it is evident that He has reserved the victory over His enemies to Himself. This will be more obvious when it is considered that the root of all our present evils is to be found in the fact that those with talents and vigor crave earthly pleasures, and not only desert God but repudiate Him altogether.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Thus it appears they cannot be brought back in any other way except through an act that cannot be ascribed to any secondary agency, and thus all will be forced to look to the supernatural...</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">There will come a great wonder, which will fill the world with astonishment. This wonder will be preceded by the triumph of revolution. The church will suffer exceedingly. Her servants and her chieftain will be mocked, scourged, and martyred.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><b style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Blessed Anna Maria Taigi (19th Century)</b><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“God will send two punishments: one will be in the form of wars, revolutions and other evils; it shall originate on earth. The other will be sent from Heaven. There shall come over the whole earth an intense darkness lasting three days and three nights. Nothing can be seen, and the air will be laden with pestilence which will claim many. It will be impossible to use any man-made lighting during this darkness, except blessed candles. He, who out of curiosity, opens his window to look out, or leaves his home, will fall dead on the spot. During these three days, people should remain in their homes, pray the Rosary and beg God for mercy. The air shall be infected by demons who will appear under all sorts of hideous forms.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><b style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Marie-Julie Jahenny (19th Century)</b><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“The crisis will explode suddenly; the punishments will be shared by all and will succeed one another without interruption. The three days of darkness will be on a Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. During these three days of terrifying darkness, no windows must be opened because no one will be able to see the earth and the terrible color it will have in those days of punishment without dying at once.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">No one outside a shelter will survive... red clouds like blood will move across the sky. The crash of the thunder will shake the earth and sinister lightning will streak the heavens out of season. The earth will be shaken to its foundations. The sea will rise, its roaring waves will spread over the continent. The bodies of the wicked and the just will cover the ground. Three-quarters of the population of the globe will disappear. Half the population of France will be destroyed.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /></span><h3 style="background-color: white; font-size: 21px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 26px; margin: 25px auto -5px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Prophecies of St Bridget of Sweden (died 1373)</span></h3><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">This little dynamo of a saint was witness to many visions and revelations. She was very instrumental in Church reforms in the courts, abbeys and episcopal palaces and even with the Holy See. She also founded the Religious Order of the Most Holy Savior. The Secrets of Heaven were manifested to her in her many revelations which can be read </span>here<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">. She made many pilgrimages to the sanctuaries of Italy and Palestine with her daughter St. Catherine.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Now, some of her prophecies.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">a) “The time of Antichrist will be near when the measure of injustice will overflow and when wickedness has grown to immense proportions, when Christians love heresies and the unjust trample underfoot the servants of God.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">b) “At the end of this age, the Antichrist will be born. As Christ was born from the highest type of womanhood (Virgin), so Antichrist will be born from the lowest (prostitute). He will be a child-wonder at birth. His mother will be an accursed woman, who will pretend to be well informed about spiritual things, and his father an accursed man, from the seed of whom the Devil shall form his work. The time of this Antichrist, well known to Me, will come when iniquity and impiety shall above measure abound, when injustice shall have filled the measure to overflowing, and wickedness shall have grown to immeasurable proportions.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">It is not in the time described by the brother whose books, thou has seen. Before, however, Antichrist arrives, the gate of Faith will be opened to some nations, and Scripture shall be verified. People without intelligence will glorify Me, and deserts shall be inhabited. Hence, when many Christians will be lovers of heresies, and wicked men will persecute the clergy and trample spirituality and justice under foot, this should be the sign that Antichrist shall come without delay.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">c) “Lastly, he shall arrive, the most wicked of men, and, helped by the Jews, he will fight against the whole world; he will reign during three years, and shall have dominion over the whole earth; he will make every effort to abolish from the earth the Christian name, and very many Christians shall be killed.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">d) "In the year 1980 the wicked shall prevail; they will profane and sacreligiously defile the churches, by erecting in them altars to idols and to Antichrist, whom they will worship, and will attempt to force others to do the same.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">e) “Rome will be visited by sword and fire and plowed under.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">(St. Frances of Rome also foretells this catastrophe, as well as many other prophets, however, St. Benedict of Nursia says that Rome will not be destroyed by outside powers, but die from within, by natural causes such as storms, whirlwinds, and earthquakes.)</span></span><h3 style="background-color: white; font-size: 21px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 26px; margin: 25px auto -5px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“In the year 1980 the wicked will prevail”</span></h3><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">In a prophecy about the last days, Saint Bridget of Sweden, known to have the prophetic chrism, states that the last battle in the history of the world will be forty years long. Further, she makes the following incredible prophesy:</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><i style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“In the year <b>1980</b> the wicked will prevail. They will sacrilegiously profane and defile the churches by erecting in them altars to idols and to Anti-Christ, whom they will worship and attempt to force others to do the same.”</i><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">I wonder what that could be? Whatever it is, it is now in our past. (Idolatry includes any worship of God that is inauthentic.) Of note is the fact that my “Catholic” Almanac reports that the “Apostolic Constitution” on the Novus Ordo Missae was signed by Paul VI on April 3, 1969 (which was Passover in that year) </span><b style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">and that the Novus Ordo Mass (the new revolutionary invalid Vatican II Mass which completely changed the century old original Catholic Traditional Mass) was made mandatory in its final form on December 1st, 1974.</b><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Now our current reckoning has a strange anomaly; there is no year -0-. We proceed directly and immediately from December 31st, 1 B.C. to January 1st, 1 A.D. This is to say that B.C. events are 1 year less removed from us than the sum total of the two integers. The majority opinion on the year of Christ’s birth is that it occurred 2 to 3 years prior to Herod the Great’s death. Herod’s death date is one of the most certain in all of antiquity, owing to Josephus who states that it took place in the 36th year of Herod’s reign, contemporaneously (at the same time) with a lunar eclipse visible from Jerusalem, which event was followed closely by a Passover. The date of that eclipse and Herod’s death is Tuesday March 13th 4 B.C. at about 1:28 A.M. (Julian Calendar). Further, the triple conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in the constellation of Pisces in 7 B.C. is understood by the majority of the scholarly community to meet Matthew’s account of the “star” of Bethlehem. </span><b style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">This would place the 1980th anniversary of the NATIVITY in our year 1974 A.D.</b><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Interesting....minimally for some of us who still have regard for private revelation.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><i style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">For those into detail, the evidence is that “Dennis the little” who is responsible for giving us our present year reckoning, intended to make year 1 of the Christian era the first full year following the year that saw the event of the Nativity of Christ. If the year 7 B.C. was the year that indeed contained the event of the Nativity, 6 B.C. would be the year that Dennis intended (although he didn’t accomplish it) to be year 1, and December 31st 1974 would be the end of the year of Christ 1980. There are some versions of the aforementioned prophecy of Saint Bridget that start, “In the year of Christ 1980...” as though Saint Bridget were drawing a distinction between the true year 1980 and our year 1980, which are not the same.</i><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><i style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Matt 24:15, with the parallel passage in Mark 13:14</i><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">, </span><b style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“When you therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place: he that readeth, let him understand.”</b><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">For those who don’t know. The Novus Ordo (New Mass promulgated by the Vatican II sect) replaced the original stone altars containing the relics of martyrs and saints with a common wood table.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><i style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Revelation 6:9-10</i><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> “And when he had opened the fifth seal, </span><b style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held</b><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">: And they cried with a loud voice, </span><u style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth</u><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">?”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held (saints and martyrs) are rightfully </span><b style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">crying out for vengeance “from under the altar”</b><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> which has been removed and replaced with an Invalid New Mass and a common wood table.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><b style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Not even one of the mandatory requirements developed over 2,000 years to ensure that the altar is of fitting dignity has been retained in the New Mass.</b><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">When the Protestants split from the Catholic Church in England in the 16th century, they changed the Mass to reflect their heretical beliefs. The altars were replaced by tables. Latin was replaced by English. Statues and icons were removed from the churches. The Last Gospel and the Confiteor were abolished. “Communion” was distributed in the hand. Mass was said out loud and facing the Congregation. Traditional music was discarded and replaced with new music. Three-fourths of the priests in England went along with the New Service.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">This is also precisely what happened in 1969, when </span>Paul VI<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> promulgated the New Mass, the Novus Ordo Missae. The similarities between the 1549 Anglican Prayer Book and the New Mass are striking. One expert noted:</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><i style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“The extent to which the Novus Ordo Mass departs from the theology of the Council of Trent can best be gauged by comparing the prayers which the Consilium removed from the liturgy to those removed by the heretic Thomas Cranmer. <b>The coincidence is not simply striking – it is horrifying</b>. It cannot, in fact, be a coincidence.”</i><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">In order to emphasize their heretical belief that the Mass is not a sacrifice, but just a meal, the Protestants removed the altar and put a table in its place. In Protestant England, for example, “On November 23, 1550 the Privy Council ordered all altars in England destroyed and replaced by communion tables.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The chief Protestant heretics declared: “</span><b style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The form of a table</b><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> shall more move the simple from the superstitious opinions of the popish Mass unto the right use of the Lord’s Supper. For the use of an altar is to make sacrifice upon it: the use of a table is to serve men to eat upon.” The Welsh Catholic martyr, Richard Gwyn, declared in protest against this change: “</span><b style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">In place of an altar there is a miserable table</b><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">, in place of Christ there is bread.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">And St. Robert Bellarmine noted: “…</span><b style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">when we enter the temples of the heretics, where there is nothing except a chair for preaching and a table</b><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> for making a meal, we feel ourselves to be entering a profane hall and not the house of God.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Just like the new services of the Protestant revolutionaries, the </span>New Mass<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> is celebrated on a table.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><i style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“How could a successor of Peter have caused in so short a time more damage to the Church than the Revolution of 1789?... the deepest and most excessive in Her history… what no heresiarch has ever succeeded in doing?... Do we really have a pope or an intruder sitting on the Chair of Peter?”</i><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> (Marcel Lefebvre, commenting on Paul VI’s reign in 1976)</span></span><h3 style="background-color: white; font-size: 21px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 26px; margin: 25px auto -5px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Some Apparitions and Prophecies of Other Catholics</span></h3><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><b style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Sister Elena Aiello (1895-1923 Century, Italy)</b><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“Pray, and loose no time, lest it be too late; since dense darkness surrounds the earth and the enemy is at the doors!”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“Tremendous scourges are impending over the world, and various nations are struck by epidemics, famines, great earthquakes, terrific hurricanes, with overflowing rivers and seas, which bring ruin and death.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“If people do not recognize in these scourges [of nature] the warnings of Divine Mercy, and do not return to God with truly Christian living, another terrible war will come from the east to the west. Russia with her secret armies will battle America; will overrun Europe. The river Rhine will be overflowing with corpses and blood. Italy, also, will be harassed by a great revolution, and will suffer terribly.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“Spread the devotion to my Immaculate Heart, in order that many souls may be conquered by my love, and that many sinners may return to my Maternal Heart. Do not fear, for I will accompany with my maternal protection my faithful ones, and all those who accept my urgent warnings, and they - especially by the recitation of my Rosary - will be saved.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“Satan goes furiously through this disordered world, and soon will show all his might. But, because of my Immaculate Heart, the triumph of Light will not delay in its triumph over the power of darkness, and the world, finally, will have tranquility and peace.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><i style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Sorrowful Madonna speaks:</i><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“People pay no attention to my motherly warnings, and thus the world is falling headlong into an abyss of iniquity. Nations shall be convulsed by terrible disasters, causing destruction and death. Russia, spurred on by Satan, will seek to dominate the whole world and, by bloody revolutions, will propagate her false teachings throughout all the nations, especially in Italy. The Church will be persecuted and the Pope and the priests shall suffer much [prophecy of world war 2].”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><i style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Sister Elena Aiello speaks:</i><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“Flagstaffs (flying the Red Flag over St. Peter’s dome and elsewhere) collapse, and power is gone out of the clubs of those evil brutes. These atheists are ever shouting: ‘We don’t want God to rule over us; we want Satan to be our master!’”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“Russia will march upon all the nations of Europe, particularly Italy, and will raise her flag over the dome of St. Peter’s. Italy will be severely tried by a great revolution, and Rome will be purified in blood for its many sins, especially those of impurity.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><i style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Our Blessed Mother speaks again:</i><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“My daughter, Rome will not be saved, because the Italian rulers have forsaken the Divine Light and because only a few people really love the Church. But the day is not far off when all the wicked shall perish, under the tremendous blows of Divine Justice.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><b style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">St. Francis of Assisi (12th Century)</b><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“There will be an uncanonically elected Pope who will cause a great schism [Antipope </span>John XXIII<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> promulgated the heretical Second Vatican Council], there will be diverse thoughts preached which will cause many, even those in the different orders to doubt, yea, even agree with those heretics which will cause my Order to divide, then will there be such universal dissensions and persecutions that if those days were not shortened even the elect would be lost.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><b style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Pope Leo XIII (1810-1903)</b><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">On October 13, 1884, Leo had just completed a celebration of Mass in one of the Vatican’s private chapels. Standing at the foot of the altar, he suddenly turned ashen and collapsed to the floor. After a few minutes spent in what seemed like a coma, he revived and remarked to those around him, “Oh, what a horrible picture I was permitted to see!” What Leo had apparently seen, as described later by those who talked to him at the time of his vision, was a period of about one hundred years when the power of Satan would reach its zenith. That period was to be the twentieth century. Leo was so shaken by the specter of the destruction of moral and spiritual values, both inside and outside the Church, that he composed a prayer which was to be said at the end of each Mass celebrated anywhere in the Catholic Church. This prayer to Michael the Archangel was said continuously until the Mass was restructured in the Second Vatican council.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><u style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Vision Of Pope Leo XIII</u><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">October 13, 1884</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Exactly 33 years to the day prior to the great Miracle of the Sun in Fatima, that is, on October 13, 1884, Pope Leo the 13th had a remarkable vision. When the aged Pontiff had finished celebrating Mass in his private Vatican Chapel, attended by a few Cardinals and members of the Vatican staff, he suddenly stopped at the foot of the altar. He stood there for about 10 minutes, as if in a trance, his face ashen white. Then, going immediately from the Chapel to his office, he composed the prayer to St. Michael, with instructions it be said after all Low Masses everywhere. When asked what had happened, he explained that, as he was about to leave the foot of the altar, he suddenly heard voices - two voices, one kind and gentle, the other guttural and harsh. They seemed to come from near the tabernacle. As he listened, he heard the following conversation:</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><i style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The guttural voice, the voice of Satan in his pride, boasted to Our Lord</i><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">:</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“I can destroy your Church.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><i style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The gentle voice of Our Lord</i><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">:</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“You can? Then go ahead and do so.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><i style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Satan</i><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">:</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“To do so, I need more time and more power.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><i style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Our Lord</i><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">:</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“How much time? How much power?”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><i style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Satan</i><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">:</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“75 to 100 years, and a greater power over those</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">who will give themselves over to my service.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><i style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Our Lord</i><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">:</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“You have the time, you will have the power.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Do with them what you will.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">-----</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">This happened in 1884. The devil said he needed 75 to 100 years. Well, 75 years from 1884 is 1959. On January 25, 1959, John XXIII publicly summoned the heretical Second Vatican Council.</span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-831939533339323924.post-29914069621136477402021-11-27T16:25:00.003-05:002021-11-28T00:33:47.940-05:00The Bible Condemns Racemixing<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><b></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhOWT7TzTNBY84mu7FpqkF_5aw4Hdv-BDYEFb2gccrsViLMsVxMrp9e3OXO17impqmuNko72RZ_Dl2gd-csAF4IGnllk6C02XoH6oxvXTo5S_QUGRtvJcUCXxWt-Fv0lphiIMn283HQKhr9UQgXeOtKlyB_zlPnwhe8JvNm1tuDzm9acKl_WdRn5iAF=s1200" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="920" data-original-width="1200" height="245" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhOWT7TzTNBY84mu7FpqkF_5aw4Hdv-BDYEFb2gccrsViLMsVxMrp9e3OXO17impqmuNko72RZ_Dl2gd-csAF4IGnllk6C02XoH6oxvXTo5S_QUGRtvJcUCXxWt-Fv0lphiIMn283HQKhr9UQgXeOtKlyB_zlPnwhe8JvNm1tuDzm9acKl_WdRn5iAF=s320" width="320" /></a></b></span></div><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><b>The Bible Condemns Miscegenation</b></span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">God wills all races, and all various ethnicities within those races, to be as He made them. Firstly, every creature created by God, including man, is commanded to reproduce after its own kind. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Genesis 1:11-12-"And He said: Let the earth bring forth the green herb, and such as may seed, and the fruit tree <b>yeilding fruit after its kind, which may have seed in itself upon the earth.</b> And it was so done. And the earth brought forth the green herb, and such as yieldeth seed according to its kind, and the tree that beareth fruit, having seed according to its kind. And God saw that it was good."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Genesis 6:20-"Of fowls according to their kind, and of beasts in their kind, and of everything that creepeth on the earth according to its kind; two of every sort shall go in with thee, that they may live."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Genesis 7:14-"They and every beast according to its kind, and all the cattle in their kind, </span><span style="font-family: arial;">and every thing that moveth upon the earth according to its kind, and every fowl according </span><span style="font-family: arial;">to its kind, all birds, and all that fly,"</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">God originally determind the bounds, borders, and dwelling places of the habitations of nations, so they would be saved.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span>Acts 17:26-"<span style="background-color: white;">And hath made of one, all mankind, to dwell upon the whole face of the earth, determining appointed times, <b>and the limits of their habitation</b>."</span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span><span style="background-color: white;"><span>Genesis 10:5-32-"</span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><b>By these were divided the islands of the Gentiles in their lands, every one according to his tongue and their families in their nations...</b></span></span></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><span style="background-color: white;">And Chanaan begot Sidon, his firstborn, the Hethite, </span><span style="background-color: white;">And the Jebusite, and the Amorrhite, and the Gergesite, </span><span style="background-color: white;">The Hevite and the Aracite: the Sinite, </span><span style="background-color: white;">And the Aradian, the Samarite, and the Hamathite: and afterwards the families of the Chanaanites <b>were spread abroad</b>. </span><span style="background-color: white;"><b>And the limits of Chanaan</b> were from Sidon as one comes to Gerara even to Gaza, until thou enter Sodom and Gomorrha, and Adama, and Seboim even to Lesa. </span><span style="background-color: white;"><b>These are the children of Cham in their kindreds, and tongues, and generations, and lands, and nations..</b></span><span class="text Gen-10-29" id="en-DRA-263">. </span><span class="text Gen-10-30" id="en-DRA-264">And their dwelling was from Messa as we go on as far as Sephar, a mountain in the east. </span><span class="text Gen-10-31" id="en-DRA-265"><u>These</u> <u>are the children of Sem according to their kindreds and tongues, and countries in their</u> <u>nations. </u></span><span style="background-color: white;"><u>These are the families of Noe, <i>according to their peoples and nations.</i></u><b><i> By these were the nations divided</i></b> on the earth after the flood.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white;">Genesis 11:8-"</span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And so the Lord scattered them from that place into all lands,"</span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Deuteronomy 32:8-"</span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">When the Most High <b>divided the nations:</b> when he separated the sons of Adam,<b> he appointed the bounds of people</b> according to the number of the children of Israel."</span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;">Direct Proof against Racemixing</span></b><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Abraham forbade Eliezer to take a wife for Isaac of Canaanites (Gen. 24:1-4). God </span><span style="font-family: arial;">was so pleased with this that He directed whom to get (Gen. 24:7, 12-67). </span><span style="font-family: arial;">Isaac forbade Jacob to take a wife of the Canaanites (Gen. 27:46-28:7). </span><span style="font-family: arial;">Abraham sent all his sons of the concubines, and even of his second wife, far away </span><span style="font-family: arial;">from Isaac so their descendants would not mix (Gen. 25:1-6). </span><span style="font-family: arial;">Esau, the predecessor of the apostate jews, disobeying this law brought the final break between him and his father after </span><span style="font-family: arial;">lifelong companionship with him ( Gen 25:28, 26:34-35, 27:46, 28:8-9). </span><span style="font-family: arial;">The two branches of Isaac remained segregated forever (Gen. 36:1, Gen. 46:8-26). </span><span style="font-family: arial;">Ishmael and Isaac's descendants remained segregated forever (Gen. 25:12-23, 1 </span><span style="font-family: arial;">Chron. 1:29). </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Jacob’s sons destroyed a whole city to maintain segregation (Gen 34). </span><span style="font-family: arial;">God forbad intermarriage between Israel and all other nations (Ex. 34:12-16, Deut. </span><span style="font-family: arial;">7:3-6). </span><span style="font-family: arial;">Joshua forbad the same thing on sentence of death (Josh. 23:12-13). </span><span style="font-family: arial;">God cursed angels for leaving their own "first estate" and "their own habitation" to </span><span style="font-family: arial;">marry the daughters of men (Gen 6:1-4, 2 Pet 2:4, Jude 6 and 7). </span><span style="font-family: arial;">Miscegenation caused Israel to be cursed (Judges 3:6-7, Num. 25:1-8). Note that </span><span style="font-family: arial;">Phinehas' act was righteous (Ps. 106:30).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">This was Solomon's sin (1 King 11) </span><span style="font-family: arial;">This was the sin of Judahites returning from Babylon (Ezra 9:1-10, Ezra 2:10-18, 44, </span><span style="font-family: arial;">Neh. 13:1-30). </span><span style="font-family: arial;">God commanded Israel to be segregated (Lev. 20:24, Num. 23:9, 1 King 8:53). </span><span style="font-family: arial;">Israelites recognized as a separate people in all ages because of God's choice and </span><span style="font-family: arial;">command (Matt. 10:6, John 1:11). Equal rights in the gospel gives no one the right to </span><span style="font-family: arial;">break this eternal law. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Segregation between Israelites and all other nations to remain in all eternity ( Is 2:2-</span><span style="font-family: arial;">4,Ezek 37, 47:13-48, Zech 14:16-21, Matt 19:28, Luke 1:32-33, Rev 7:1-8, 14:1-5) </span><span style="font-family: arial;">All nations will remain segregated from one another in their own parts of the earth </span><span style="font-family: arial;">forever ( Acts 17:26, Gen 10:5, 32, 11:8-9, Deut. 32:8, Dan 7:13-14, Rev 11:15, 21:24). </span><span style="font-family: arial;">Certain people in Israel were not even to worship with others ( Deut. 23:1-3, Ezra </span><span style="font-family: arial;">10:8, Nehemiah 9:2, 10:28, 13:3). </span><span style="font-family: arial;">Even in heaven certain groups will not be allowed to worship together (Rev. 7:7-17,</span><span style="font-family: arial;">14:1-5, 15:2-5). </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Segregation in the O.T. was so strong that an ox and an ass could not be worked </span><span style="font-family: arial;">together (Deut. 22:10). </span><span style="font-family: arial;">Miscegenation caused disunity among God's people (Num 12). </span><span style="font-family: arial;">Stock was forbidden to be bred with other kinds (Lev 19:19). </span><span style="font-family: arial;">Sowing mixed seed in the same field was unlawful (Lev 19:19)</span><span style="font-family: arial;">. Different seeds were forbidden to be planted in the same vineyards. (Deut. 22:9). </span><span style="font-family: arial;">Wearing garments of mixed fabrics forbidden (Deut. 22:11, Lev 19:19). </span><span style="font-family: arial;">Christians and certain other people of a like race are to be segregated based upon </span><span style="font-family: arial;">behavior (Matt. 18:15-17, 1 Cor. 5:9-13, 6:15, 2 Cor. 6:14-18, Eph 5:11, 2 Thess. 3:6-</span><span style="font-family: arial;">16, 1 Tim 6:5, 2 Tim 3:5)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Numbers 25:6-11-"One of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianites woman. And Phinehas took a javelin in his hand; and he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly. So, the plague was stayed from the children of Israel." Note, it was a plague of different-people marriage.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Deuteronomy 7:3-"After taking the land God has given thee: "Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shall not give unto his son, nor his daughter shall thou take unto thy son." </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Ezra 9:2, Ezra 9:12-"For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons; so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands." "Now therefore give not your daughters unto their sons, neither take their daughters unto your sons.”</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Ezra 10:2-3-"We have taken strange wives of the people of the land, yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing. Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them." </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Genesis 24:3-4-"And I will make thee swear by the Lord, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell: But thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac." </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Genesis 26:34-35-"And Esau was forty years old when he took to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri, the Hittite, and Bashemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite: Which were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah." </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Genesis 27:46-"And Rebekah said to Isaac, I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth: if Jacob take a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these which are of the daughters of the land, what good shall my life do me?"</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Genesis 28:1, Gen. 28:8-9-"And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan." "And Esau seeing that the daughters of Canaan pleased not Isaac his father; then went Esau unto Ishmael, and took unto the wives which he had Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abrahams son, the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Deuteronomy 23:2-"A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the Lord." </span></p><p><i><span style="color: red; font-family: arial;">In Hebrew, from Strong`s Concordance, bastard means mamzer, which means mongrel. In this text it means Israelite father, non-Israelite mother (do not mistake the word Israelite with the word Jew - genetically, in 2002, they are not the same people). In Webster’s 1828 dictionary, mongrel is defined: Of a mixed breed, of different kinds.</span></i></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Proverbs 23:27-33-"For a whore is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit." "At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. Thine eyes shall behold strange women and thine heart shall utter perverse things." </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Exodus 33:16-"...so shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Deuteronomy 17:15-"Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the Lord thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee; thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother." </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Nehemiah 13:3-"So it came about, that when they heard the Law, they excluded all foreigners from Israel."</span></p><p><b><span style="font-family: arial;"><u>What is the punishment for the transgression against the commandants above? A few of the many examples are listed below. One can easily see the lessons, once again un-learned, in modern America.</u></span></b></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Joshua 23:12-13-"Else if ye do in any wise go back, and cleave unto these that remain among you, and shall make marriages with them, and go in unto them, and they to you: Know for a certainty that the Lord your God will no more drive out any of these nations from before you; but they shall be snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land which the Lord your God hath given you." </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Psalms 106:34-42-"They did not destroy the nations concerning whom the Lord commanded them: But were mingled among the heathen, and learned their works ... and went a whoring with their own inventions. And he gave them into the hand of the heathen; and they that hated them ruled over them. Their enemies also oppressed them, and they were brought into subjection under their hand."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Ezekiel 28:7-"I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations: and they shall draw swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness." </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Joel 1:4-"That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left the caterpillar eaten." These insects are all symbolic of alien people.</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-831939533339323924.post-72125008114491019252021-11-19T01:01:00.003-05:002021-11-19T01:01:10.889-05:00The Novus Ordo is Invalid<p><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjXhgmvT5RhHJWQ0e_F9rspYTHXGcl-X7_7b_RXlxJILZ2Sz1a05FkZbjfEQvcGP7PwYzhfiTMCGbjn7HL6nHj9nqpeEVLSv_ehEAe_OjIDc_zFMaKTawe4H3T-lycdc_k6aXhtWZ6r_4RjBaSoC9E4gGnKpQi4XnaU9zkRTjVn9J8AT9m_ks5M3hAt=s760" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="629" data-original-width="760" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjXhgmvT5RhHJWQ0e_F9rspYTHXGcl-X7_7b_RXlxJILZ2Sz1a05FkZbjfEQvcGP7PwYzhfiTMCGbjn7HL6nHj9nqpeEVLSv_ehEAe_OjIDc_zFMaKTawe4H3T-lycdc_k6aXhtWZ6r_4RjBaSoC9E4gGnKpQi4XnaU9zkRTjVn9J8AT9m_ks5M3hAt=w200-h166" width="200" /></a></div><br />THE NEW MASS VS. THE TRADITIONAL MASS<p></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">The Traditional Latin Mass, the most holy act of worship of the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church, was codified by Pope St. Pius V in his Bull <i>Quo Primum </i>in 1570.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="368" name="grafik27" src="http://i.imgur.com/J0a0D.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="220" /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">In his famous Bull <i>Quo Primum</i>, Pope St. Pius V forbade changing the traditional Latin Mass.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Pope St. Pius V, <i>Quo Primum Tempore</i>, July 14, 1570: “Now, therefore, in order that all everywhere may adopt and observe what has been delivered to them by the Holy Roman Church, Mother and Mistress of the other churches, it shall be unlawful henceforth and forever throughout the Christian world to sing or to read Masses according to any formula other than this Missal published by Us… <u><b>Accordingly, no one whosoever is permitted to infringe or rashly contravene this notice of Our permission, statute, ordinance, command, direction, grant, indult, declaration, will, decree, and prohibition. Should any venture to do so, let him understand that he will incur the wrath of Almighty God and of the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul.”2</b></u></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">On April 3, 1969, Paul VI replaced the Traditional Latin Mass in the Vatican II churches with his own creation, the New Mass or <i>Novus Ordo</i>. Since that time, the world has seen the following in the Vatican II churches which celebrate the New Mass or Novus Ordo:</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">The world has seen Clown Masses, in which the “priest” dresses as a clown in utter mockery of God.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="328" name="grafik28" src="http://i.imgur.com/l1AZr.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="376" /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-top: 0.04cm;">The world has seen a priest dressed as Dracula; in a football jersey accompanied by cheerleaders; a cheese-head…</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="394" name="grafik29" src="http://i.imgur.com/XXNax.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="300" /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">…driving a Volkswagen down the aisle of church as the people sing hosanna. There have been disco Masses…</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="268" name="grafik30" src="http://i.imgur.com/GbY50.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="375" /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">...gymnastic performances during the New Mass; balloon Masses; Carnival Masses;</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-top: 0.04cm;"></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="379" name="grafik1" src="http://i.imgur.com/ZrpeB.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="500" /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">…nude Masses, at which scantily clad or nude people take part. The world has seen juggling Masses, at which a juggler performs during the New Mass.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="276" name="grafik31" src="http://i.imgur.com/OK9kI.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="420" /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">The world has seen priests celebrate the New Mass with Dorito Chips;</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="331" name="grafik32" src="http://i.imgur.com/cix8e.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="220" /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">…with Mountain Dew; on a cardboard box; with cookies; with Chinese tea accompanied by ancestor worship; with a basketball as the priest bounces it all over the altar; with a guitar as the priest plays a solo performance. The world has witnessed the New Mass with a priest almost totally nude as he dances around the altar or with other high-wire abominations…</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="336" name="grafik33" src="http://i.imgur.com/gO1Rs.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="500" /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">The world has seen New Masses with priests dressed in native pagan costumes;</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="658" name="grafik2" src="http://i.imgur.com/FyA00.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="400" /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">…with a Jewish Menorah placed on the altar;</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="221" name="grafik34" src="http://i.imgur.com/Ul3R2.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="312" /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">…with a statue of Buddha on the altar; with nuns making offerings to female goddesses; with lectors and gift bearers dressed up as voodoo Satanists. The world has seen the New Mass at which the performer is dressed in a tuxedo and tells jokes. The world has seen rock concerts at the New Mass;</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="294" name="grafik35" src="http://i.imgur.com/93YZm.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="380" /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">…guitar and polka New Masses;</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="402" name="grafik36" src="http://i.imgur.com/9CSKZ.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="440" /></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="301" name="grafik37" src="http://i.imgur.com/EqAFo.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="400" /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">…a puppet New Mass; a New Mass where the people gather round the altar dressed as devils;</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="761" name="grafik37" src="http://i.imgur.com/nIFZm.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="500" /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">…a New Mass where people perform lewd dances to the beat of a steel drum band. The world has seen a New Mass where nuns dressed as pagan vestal virgins make pagan offerings.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="269" name="grafik38" src="http://i.imgur.com/fKFFE.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="450" /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="399" name="grafik5" src="http://i.imgur.com/nszrW.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="540" /><br clear="LEFT" /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">The world has also seen New Masses incorporating every false religion. There have been Buddhist New masses;</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="367" name="grafik39" src="http://i.imgur.com/Ky1s2.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="500" /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-top: 0.04cm;">…Hindu and Muslim New Masses;</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="328" name="grafik6" src="http://i.imgur.com/VIeyh.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="400" /><br clear="LEFT" /></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="299" name="grafik7" src="http://i.imgur.com/ghy7z.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="450" /><br clear="LEFT" /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">…New Masses where Jews and Unitarians offer candles to false gods. There are churches where the entire congregation says Mass with the priest;</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="453" name="grafik40" src="http://i.imgur.com/cGwKd.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="580" /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">…where the priest sometimes talks to the people instead of saying Mass.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><b>What we have catalogued is just a tiny sampling of the kind of thing that occurs in every diocese in the world where the New Mass is celebrated, to one degree or another</b>. Our Lord tells us, “By their fruits you shall know them” (Mt. 7:16). The fruits of the New Mass are incalculably scandalous, sacrilegious and idolatrous. This is because the New Mass itself, is a false, invalid Mass and an abomination.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="516" name="grafik41" src="http://i.imgur.com/9jKbj.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="630" /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Even <i>an organization which defends the New Mass was forced to admit </i>the following about the typical New Mass – i.e., the New Mass normally offered in the churches (without even necessarily considering the aforementioned abominations and sacrileges that are commonplace): “Most of the New Masses we’ve attended… are happy-clappy festivities, the music is atrocious, the sermons are vacuous, and they are irreverent...”<sup>3</sup></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="334" name="grafik42" src="http://i.imgur.com/PKfgq.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="500" /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">When the New Mass came out in 1969, Cardinals Ottaviani, Bacci, and some other theologians wrote to Paul VI about it. Keep in mind that what they said about the New Mass concerns the Latin Version, the so-called “most pure” version of the New Mass. Their study is popularly known as <i>The Ottaviani Intervention</i>. It states:</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">“ The Novus Ordo [the New Order of Mass] represents, both as a whole and in its details, a striking departure from the Catholic theology of the Mass as it was formulated in Session 22 of the Council of Trent.”<sup>4</sup></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">They could clearly see that the Latin version of the New Mass was a striking departure from the teaching of the Council of Trent. Of the twelve offertory prayers in the Traditional Mass, only two are retained in the New Mass. The deleted offertory prayers are the same ones that the Protestant heretics Martin Luther and Thomas Cranmer eliminated. The New Mass was promulgated by Paul VI with the help of six Protestant Ministers.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: -0.3cm;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="368" name="grafik43" src="http://i.imgur.com/edNko.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="460" /></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">The six Protestant Ministers who helped design the New Mass were: Drs. George, Jasper, Shepherd, Kunneth, Smith and Thurian.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Paul VI even admitted to his good friend Jean Guitton that his intention in changing the Mass <u>was to make it Protestant</u>.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-size: 15pt;">Jean Guitton (an intimate friend of Paul VI) wrote: “The intention of Pope Paul VI with regard to what is commonly called the [New] Mass, was to reform the Catholic liturgy in such a way that it should almost coincide with the Protestant liturgy. There was with Pope Paul VI an ecumenical intention to remove, or, at least to correct, or, at least to relax, what was too Catholic in the traditional sense in the Mass and, I repeat, to get the Catholic Mass closer to the Calvinist Mass.”<sup>5</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Paul VI removed what was too Catholic in the Mass in order to make the Mass a Protestant service.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">A study of the propers and orations of the Traditional Mass versus the New Mass reveals a massacre of the Traditional Faith. The traditional Missal contains 1182 orations. About 760 of those were dropped entirely from the New Mass. Of the approximately 36% which remained, the revisers altered over half of them before introducing them into the new Missal. Thus, <u><b>only som</b>e <b>17% of the orations from the Traditional Mass made it untouched into the New Mass</b></u>. What’s also striking is the content of the revisions that were made to the orations. The Traditional Orations which described the following concepts were specifically abolished from the New Missal: the depravity of sin; the snares of wickedness; the grave offense of sin; the way to perdition; terror in the face of God’s fury; God’s indignation; the blows of His wrath; the burden of evil; temptations; wicked thoughts; dangers to the soul; enemies of soul and body. Also eliminated were orations which described: the hour of death; the loss of heaven; everlasting death; eternal punishment; the pains of Hell and its fire. Special emphasis was made to abolish from the New Mass the orations which described detachment from the world; prayers for the departed; the true Faith and the existence of heresy; the references to the Church militant, the merits of the saints, miracles and Hell.<sup>6 </sup>One can see the results of this massacre of the Traditional Faith from the propers of the New Mass.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="352" name="grafik44" src="http://i.imgur.com/Grt1a.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="520" /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">The New Mass is fraught with sacrileges, profanations and the most ridiculous abominations imaginable because it reflects a false religion which has abandoned the traditional Catholic Faith.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="473" name="grafik8" src="http://i.imgur.com/37FHj.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="500" /><br clear="LEFT" /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">The false religion the New Mass reflects is one reason why it is completely empty; it is why the fruits are utterly desolate, barren and almost unspeakably bad. The religion practiced at the churches where the New Mass is said, simply put, is a complete sacrilege and an empty celebration of man.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="248" name="grafik9" src="http://i.imgur.com/TYGbe.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="313" /><br clear="LEFT" /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Even Dietrich von Hildebrand, a supporter of the Vatican II religion, said about the New Mass:</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">“Truly, if one of the devils in C.S. Lewis’ <i>The Screwtape Letters </i>had been entrusted with ruin of the liturgy could have done better.”<sup>7</sup></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="459" name="grafik45" src="http://i.imgur.com/AjAhk.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="400" /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">With the exception of a single genuflection by the celebrant after the consecration, virtually every sign of respect for the Body and Blood of Christ which characterized the Traditional Mass has either been abolished or made optional for the New Mass.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="309" name="grafik10" src="http://i.imgur.com/P0nu7.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="500" /><br clear="LEFT" /></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="351" name="grafik11" src="http://i.imgur.com/9U3F8.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="440" /><br clear="LEFT" /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">It’s no longer obligatory for the sacred vessels to be gilded if they are not made of precious metals. Sacred vessels, which only the anointed hands of a priest could touch, are now handled by all.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="258" name="grafik46" src="http://i.imgur.com/Lsv6t.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="382" /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">The priest frequently shakes hands before distributing the host.<sup>8 </sup>The General Instruction for the New Mass also declares that altars no longer need to be of natural stone; that an altar stone containing the relics of martyrs is no longer required; that only one cloth is required on the altar; that it is not necessary to have a crucifix or even candles upon the altar.<sup>9</sup></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><b>Not even one of the mandatory requirements developed over 2,000 years to ensure that the altar is of fitting dignity has been retained in the New Mass.</b></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 3cm;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="429" name="grafik47" src="http://i.imgur.com/Rx6qf.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="400" /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">When the Protestants split from the Catholic Church in England in the 16<sup>th </sup>century, they changed the Mass to reflect their heretical beliefs. The altars were replaced by tables. Latin was replaced by English. Statues and icons were removed from the churches. The Last Gospel and the Confiteor were abolished. “Communion” was distributed in the hand. Mass was said out loud and facing the Congregation. Traditional music was discarded and replaced with new music. Three-fourths of the priests in England went along with the New Service.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">This is also precisely what happened in 1969, when Paul VI promulgated the New Mass, the <i>Novus Ordo Missae</i>. The similarities between the 1549 Anglican Prayer Book and the New Mass are striking. One expert noted:</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">“ The extent to which the Novus Ordo Mass departs from the theology of the Council of Trent can best be gauged by comparing the prayers which the Consilium removed from the liturgy to those removed by the heretic Thomas Cranmer. <b>The coincidence is not simply striking – it is horrifying</b>. It cannot, in fact, be a coincidence.”<sup>10</sup></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">In order to emphasize their heretical belief that the Mass is not a sacrifice, but just a meal, the Protestants removed the altar and put a table in its place. In Protestant England, for example, “On November 23, 1550 the Privy Council ordered all altars in England destroyed and replaced by communion tables.”<sup>11</sup></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: -0.3cm;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="271" name="grafik48" src="http://i.imgur.com/vlBoz.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="350" /></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">A Vatican II church with a Protestant-like table for its new Protestant “Mass”</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">The chief Protestant heretics declared: “<b>The form of a table </b>shall more move the simple from the superstitious opinions of the popish Mass unto the right use of the Lord’s Supper. For the use of an altar is to make sacrifice upon it: the use of a table is to serve men to eat upon.” <sup>12 </sup>The Welsh Catholic martyr, Richard Gwyn, declared in protest against this change: “<b>In place of an altar there is a miserable table</b>, in place of Christ there is bread.”<sup>13</sup></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">And St. Robert Bellarmine noted: “…<b>when we enter the temples of the heretics, where there is nothing except a chair for preaching and a table </b>for making a meal, we feel ourselves to be entering a profane hall and not the house of God.”<sup>14</sup></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="303" name="grafik49" src="http://i.imgur.com/LSGXX.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="370" /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Just like the new services of the Protestant revolutionaries, the New Mass is celebrated on a table.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="311" name="grafik50" src="http://i.imgur.com/wwrVY.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="440" /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">The 1549 Anglican Prayer Book was also called “The Supper of the Lord, and the holy Communion, commonly called the Mass.” <sup>15 </sup>This title emphasized the Protestant belief that the Mass is just a meal, a supper – and not a sacrifice. When Paul VI promulgated the General Instruction for the New Mass, it was entitled exactly the same way. Its title was: “The Lord’s Supper or Mass.”<sup>16</sup></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="307" name="grafik51" src="http://i.imgur.com/hCH5J.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="520" /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><table align="CENTER" border="1" bordercolor="#000000" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; width: 572px;"><colgroup><col width="562"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr><td valign="TOP" width="562"><p align="LEFT" style="margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm;">The 1549 Anglican Prayer Book removed from the Mass the psalm <i>Give Judgment for me, O God</i>, because of its reference to the altar of God. This psalm was also suppressed in the New Mass.</p><p></p><p align="LEFT" style="margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm;">The 1549 Anglican Prayer Book removed from the Mass the prayer which begins <i>Take away from us our sins</i>, because it evokes sacrifice. This was also suppressed in the New Mass.</p><p></p><p align="LEFT" style="margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm;">The prayer which begins <i>We beseech Thee, O Lord, </i>refers to relics in the altar stone. This prayer has been suppressed in the New Mass.</p><p style="margin-right: 1.25cm;"></p><p align="LEFT" style="margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm;">In the 1549 Anglican Prayer Book the <i>Introit, Kyrie, Gloria, Collect, Epistle, Gospel and Creed </i>were all retained. They have all been retained in the New Mass.</p><p></p><p align="LEFT" style="margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm;">The equivalent to the Offertory Prayers: <i>Accept, O holy Father…O God, Who has established the nature of man…We offer unto Thee, O Lord…In a humble spirit…Come, Thou Sanctifier, almighty… and Accept, most holy Trinity, </i>were all suppressed in the 1549 Anglican Prayer Book. They have all been suppressed in the New Mass, except for two excerpts.</p><p></p><p align="LEFT" style="margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm;">In the 1549 Anglican Prayer Book, the <i>Lift up your hearts </i>dialogue, <i>Preface </i>and <i>Sanctus </i>were all retained. They have been retained in the New Mass.</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="455" name="grafik52" src="http://i.imgur.com/e5hQy.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="600" /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">The Roman Canon was abolished by the 1549 Anglican Prayer Book. It has been retained only as an option in the New Mass.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: -0.3cm;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="344" name="grafik53" src="http://i.imgur.com/wm4Mk.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="500" /></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Arch-heretics of the Protestant revolution:<br />Thomas Cranmer (left) and Martin Luther (right)</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">In fact, the Novus Ordo Mass also removed the traditional Good Friday prayer for the conversion of the Jews. This prayer has been replaced with a prayer, not that the Jews convert, but that they “grow” in faithfulness to His covenant! Thus, there is an expression of apostasy right in the official Good Friday prayer of the New Mass. It’s a promotion of Judaism and the heresy that the Old Covenant is still valid.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><b>Two different Good Friday prayers for the Jews for two different religions</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><table border="1" bordercolor="#000000" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; width: 600px;"><colgroup><col width="300"></col><col width="300"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr valign="TOP"><td width="300"><p style="margin-left: 0.3cm; margin-right: 0.3cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;">On Good Friday, the Novus Ordo religion prays: “<i>for the Jewish people, the first to hear the word of God, <b>that they may continue to grow in the love of his name and in faithfulness to His covenant</b></i>.”</span></p></td><td width="300"><p style="margin-left: 0.3cm; margin-right: 0.3cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;">But the Catholic Church prays on Good Friday: “for the perfidious Jews: that Our Lord and God may lift the covering off their hearts, so that they may acknowledge Jesus Christ Our Lord.”</span></p></td></tr></tbody></table><div dir="LTR" id="Område1" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.55cm;">The 1549 Anglican Prayer Book abandoned the discipline of the Roman Rite in distributing Communion under one kind and gave Communion under both kinds. At the New Mass Communion under both kinds is distributed in many places in the world.</p><p></p><p align="CENTER"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="220" name="grafik54" src="http://i.imgur.com/ZfOjQ.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="300" /></p><p></p><p>The 1552 version of the Anglican Prayer Book instructed that Communion was to be given in the hand to signify that the bread was ordinary bread and that the priest did not differ in essence from a layman.<sup>18</sup></p><p></p><p align="CENTER"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="280" name="grafik12" src="http://i.imgur.com/RnFv3.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="400" /><br clear="LEFT" /></p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område2" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p></p><p>The New Mass implements Communion in the hand in almost every place in the world, and it even goes farther than Cranmer by allowing communicants to stand and receive from a lay minister.</p><p></p><p align="CENTER"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="416" name="grafik13" src="http://i.imgur.com/W591p.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="350" /><br clear="LEFT" /></p><p>The prayers in the Traditional Mass which begin with: <i>What has passed our lips as food </i>and <i>May Thy Body, O Lord, which I have eaten </i>both make explicit reference to the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Both have been suppressed in the New Mass.</p><p></p><p>The prayer which begins <i>May the tribute of my worship be pleasing to thee, most holy Trinity, </i>was the least acceptable prayer after Communion to all the Protestants, because of its reference to propitiatory sacrifice. Martin Luther, and Cranmer in his Anglican Prayer Book, suppressed it. Following their lead, it was suppressed in the New Mass.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område3" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p></p><p>Now to the Last Gospel. If the Last Gospel, which closes the Traditional Mass, had been included in the New Mass, then the New Mass would have clashed with the pattern of Protestant services, which conclude with a blessing. So it was not included in the New Mass.</p><p></p><p>The prayers after the Traditional Mass, the Leonine Prayers, including the <i>Hail Mary; </i>the <i>Hail Holy Queen; </i>the <i>O God our refuge</i>; the prayer to St. Michael; and the appeal to the Sacred Heart, formed, in practice, an important part of the liturgy. Five prayers less compatible with Protestantism could hardly be imagined. They have all been suppressed in the New Mass.</p><p></p><p>Considering all of this, even Michael Davies agreed: “<b>It is beyond dispute that… the Roman Rite has been destroyed</b>.”<sup>19</sup></p><p></p><p>Besides the fact that the New Mass is a Protestant service, there is also the fact that the Novus Ordo churches bear a striking and undeniable resemblance to Freemasonic lodges. Look at the pictures. Here is a Freemasonic lodge:</p><p></p><p align="CENTER"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="342" name="grafik55" src="http://i.imgur.com/Dj7Ym.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="500" /></p><p></p><p>And here is a Novus Ordo church:</p></div><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="320" name="grafik56" src="http://i.imgur.com/ZLcxn.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="475" /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">The two are almost indistinguishable; the focus of both is on man, with the Presider’s Chair in the middle and a circular emphasis. Perhaps this is because the primary architect of Paul VI’s New Mass was Cardinal Annibale Bugnini, who was a Freemason.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: -0.3cm;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="349" name="grafik57" src="http://i.imgur.com/BMvHa.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="280" /></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 2.2cm;">Annibale Bugnini, primary architect of the New Mass and a Freemason</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">“Cardinal” Annibale Bugnini was Chairman of the Consilium which drafted Paul VI’s New Mass. Bugnini was initiated into the Masonic Lodge on April 23, 1963, according to the Masonic Register in 1976. <sup>20</sup></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">In addition to all of these problems with the New Mass, there is one that looms even larger. The biggest problem with the New Mass is that it is not valid. Jesus Christ is not present in the New Mass because the New Mass has altered the very words of consecration.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><b>PROOF THAT THE NEW MASS IS NOT VALID – THE WORDS OF CONSECRATION HAVE BEEN CHANGED</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">A sacrament is said to be valid if it takes place. The Sacrament of the Eucharist is valid if the bread and wine become the actual Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ. In order for any sacrament to be valid, matter, form, minister and intention must be present.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Pope Eugene IV, <i>Council of Florence</i>, 1439: "All these sacraments are made up of three elements: namely, things as the <u>matter</u>, words as the <u>form</u>, and the person of the <u>minister</u> who confers the sacrament with the <u>intention</u> of doing what the Church does. <b>If any of these is lacking, the sacrament is not effected."</b><sup><b>21</b></sup></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">The problem with the validity of the New Mass comes with the form, those <u>words</u> necessary to confect the Sacrament of the Eucharist. The form necessary to confect the Eucharist in the Roman Rite was declared by Pope Eugene IV at the Council of Florence.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Pope Eugene IV, <i>Council of Florence</i>, Cantate Domino, 1441: “…the holy Roman Church, relying on the teaching and authority of the apostles Peter and Paul… uses this form of words in the consecration of the Lord's Body: <span style="font-size: 15pt;"><i>FOR THIS IS MY BODY.</i></span> And of His blood: <span style="font-size: 15pt;"><i>FOR THIS IS THE CHALICE OF MY BLOOD, OF THE NEW AND ETERNAL TESTAMENT: THE MYSTERY OF FAITH, WHICH SHALL BE SHED FOR YOU AND FOR MANY UNTO THE REMISSION OF SINS.”</i></span><sup><b>22</b></sup></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">In Pope St. Pius V’s Decree <i>De Defectibus</i>, we find the same words repeated:</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Pope St. Pius V, <i>De Defectibus</i>, chapter 5, Part 1: "The words of Consecration, which are the FORM of this Sacrament, are these: <span style="font-size: 15pt;"><i>FOR THIS IS MY BODY</i></span>. And: <span style="font-size: 15pt;"><i>FOR THIS IS THE CHALICE OF MY BLOOD, OF THE NEW AND ETERNAL TESTAMENT: THE MYSTERY OF FAITH, <u>WHICH SHALL BE SHED FOR YOU AND FOR MANY UNTO THE REMISSION OF SINS</u>.</i></span><i> </i>Now if one were to remove, or change anything in the FORM of the consecration of the Body and Blood, and in that very change of words the [new] wording would fail to mean the same thing, he would not consecrate the sacrament.”<sup>23</sup></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">This teaching appeared in the front of every Roman Altar Missal from 1570 to 1962. We can see that the same words mentioned by the Council of Florence are declared to be necessary by Pope St. Pius V. This is why all of these words of consecration are bolded in Traditional Roman Altar Missals, and why the Roman Missal instructs priests to hold the chalice until the completion of all these words.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><b>Pope St. Pius V’s teaching states that if the words of consecration are changed so that the meaning is altered, the priest does not confect the Sacrament</b>. In the New Mass the words of consecration have been drastically changed, and the meaning has been altered.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">First, the original Latin version of the New Mass has removed the words <i>mysterium fidei </i>– “the mystery of Faith” – from the words of consecration. This causes a grave doubt, because “<i>mysterium fidei</i>” is part of the form in the Roman Rite. Though the words “<i>mysterium fidei</i>” are not part of some of the Eastern Rite formulas of consecration, they have been declared to be part of the Roman Rite. They are also found in some Eastern Rites. Pope Innocent III and the Canon of the Mass also tell us that the words “<i>mysterium fidei</i>” were given by Jesus Christ Himself.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Pope Innocent III, <i>Cum Marthae circa</i>, Nov. 29, 1202, in response to a question about the form of the Eucharist and the inclusion of ‘mysterium fidei’: "You have asked (indeed) who has added to the form of words which Christ Himself expressed when He changed the bread and wine into the Body and Blood, that in the Canon of the Mass which the general Church uses, which none of the Evangelists is read to have expressed... <b>In the Canon of the Mass that expression, ‘mysterium fidei,’ is found interposed among His words... Surely we find many such things omitted from the words as well as from the deeds of the Lord by the Evangelists</b>, which the Apostles are read to have supplied by word or to have expressed by deed... Therefore<b>, we believe that the form of words, as they are found in the Canon, the Apostles received from Christ</b>, and their successors from them."<sup>24</sup></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">The words “the mystery of faith” in the consecration are a clear reference to the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. These words were also removed by the heretic Thomas Cranmer in his 1549 Anglican Prayer book because of their clear reference to the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.<sup>25 </sup>When words are removed from a rite because the meaning they express contradicts the intended meaning of the rite, a doubt is caused. More could be said on this matter, but we must now move to the crushing blow to the validity of the New Mass.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">In almost all vernacular translations of the New Mass in the world, the words of consecration read as follows:</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><u>FORM OF CONSECRATION IN THE NEW MASS</u></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-size: 15pt;">“For this is my body. For this is the chalice of my blood, of the new and eternal testament. It shall be shed for you and FOR ALL SO THAT SINS MAY BE FORGIVEN.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">The words “for you and for many unto the remission of sins” have been changed to <i><b>for you and for all so that sins may be forgiven</b></i>. The word “many” has been removed and replaced with the word “all.” This huge change invalidates all the New Masses. First, the word <i>many </i>was used by Jesus to institute the sacrament of the Eucharist, as we see in Matthew 26:28: “For this is my blood of the new testament, which shall be shed for <b>many </b>unto remission of sins.” The words used by Our Lord, “<i>for many unto remission of sins,</i>” represent the efficacy of the blood that Jesus shed. Jesus’s blood is effective for the salvation of <i>many, </i>not all men. In the process of explaining this, <i>The Catechism of the Council of Trent </i>specifically states that Our Lord did not mean “all” and therefore didn’t say it!</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><i>The Catechism of the Council of Trent</i>, On the Form of the Eucharist, p. 227: "The additional words <i>for you and for many</i>, are taken, some from Matthew, some from Luke, but were joined together by the Catholic Church under the guidance of the Spirit of God. <b>They serve to declare the fruit and </b>advantage <b>of His Passion</b>. For if we look to its value, we must confess that the Redeemer shed His Blood for the salvation of all; but if we look to the fruit which mankind has received from it, <b>we shall easily find that it pertains not unto all, but to many </b>of the human race. When therefore (our Lord) said: <i>For you</i>, He meant either those who were present, or those chosen from among the Jewish people, such as were, with the exception of Judas, the disciples with whom He was speaking. <b>When He added, </b><i><b>And for many</b></i><b>, He wished to be understood to mean the remainder of the elect </b>from among the Jews and Gentiles. <u><b>WITH REASON, THEREFORE, WERE THE WORDS </b></u><i><u><b>FOR ALL </b></u></i><u><b>NOT USED</b></u>, as in this place the fruits of the Passion are alone spoken of, and to the elect only did His Passion bring the fruit of salvation."<sup>26</sup></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">As we can see, according to <i>The Catechism of the Council of Trent </i>the words “for all” were specifically not used by Our Lord because they would give a false meaning.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">St. Alphonsus De Liguori, <i>Treatise on the Holy Eucharist</i>: "The words <i>for you and for many </i>are used to distinguish the virtue of the Blood of Christ from its fruits: for the Blood of Our Savior is of sufficient value to save all men but its fruits are applied only to a certain number <u>and not to all</u>, and this is their own fault...<b>”</b><sup><b>27</b></sup></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">The use of “all” changes the meaning of the form of consecration. No one, not even a pope, can change the words that Jesus Christ specifically instituted for a sacrament of the Church.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Pope Pius XII, <i>Sacramentum Ordinis </i>(# 1), Nov. 30, 1947: "…the Church has no power over the 'substance of the sacraments,' that is, over those things which, with the sources of divine revelation as witnesses, Christ the Lord Himself decreed to be preserved in a sacramental sign..."<sup>28</sup></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Since “all” doesn’t mean the same thing as “many,” the sacrament is not confected in the New Mass.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Pope St. Pius V, <i>De Defectibus</i>, chapter 5, Part 1: "The words of Consecration, which are the FORM of this Sacrament, are these: FOR THIS IS MY BODY. And: FOR THIS IS THE CHALICE OF MY BLOOD, OF THE NEW AND ETERNAL TESTAMENT: THE MYSTERY OF FAITH, WHICH SHALL BE SHED FOR YOU AND FOR MANY UNTO THE REMISSION OF SINS. <b>Now if one were to remove, or change anything in the FORM of the consecration of the Body and Blood, and in that very change of words the [new] wording would fail to mean the same thing, he would not consecrate the sacrament</b>." 29</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><b>ANOTHER ANGLE TO THIS ISSUE ABSOLUTELY PROVES THAT THE NEW MASS IS INVALID</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">There is another angle to this issue that we must now examine. In his famous Bull, <i>Apostolicae Curae </i>in 1896, Pope Leo XIII teaches:</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Pope Leo XIII, <i>Apostolicae Curae, </i>Sept. 13, 1896<i>: </i>“All know that <b>the sacraments of the New Law</b>, as sensible and efficient signs of invisible grace, <b>must both signify the grace which they effect and effect the grace which they signify</b>.”<sup>30</sup></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">If it does not signify the grace which it effects and effect the grace which it signifies it is not a sacrament – period. So, what is the grace effected by the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist?</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Pope Eugene IV, <i>Council of Florence</i>, “Exultate Deo,” <b>On the Eucharist</b>, 1439: “Finally, <b>this is a fitting way to signify </b><u><b>the effect of this sacrament, that is, the union of the Christian people with Christ</b></u>.”<sup>31</sup></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">St. Thomas Aquinas, <i>Summa Theologica</i>, Pt. III, Q. 73, A. 3: “Now it was stated above that <u><b>the reality of the sacrament [of the Eucharist] is the unity of the mystical body</b></u><b>, </b>without which there is no salvation…”<sup>32</sup></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">As the Council of Florence, St. Thomas Aquinas, and many other theologians teach, the grace effected by the Eucharist is the union of the faithful with Christ. St. Thomas calls this grace “the unity of the Mystical Body.” The <i>grace effected </i>by the Eucharist (<b>the union of the faithful with Christ or the unity of the Mystical Body</b>) must be carefully distinguished from the Eucharist itself: the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Since <i>the union of the faithful with Christ is the grace effected by the Sacrament of the Eucharist </i>– or what is also called the reality of the Sacrament or the grace proper to the Sacrament of the Eucharist – this grace must be signified in the form of the consecration for it to be valid, as Pope Leo XIII teaches. Okay, so we must look at the traditional form of consecration and find where this grace – the union of the faithful with Christ – is signified.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">The traditional form of consecration, as declared by Pope Eugene IV at the <i>Council of Florence </i>and Pope St. Pius V in <i>De Defectibus, </i>is as follows:</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">“ FOR THIS IS MY BODY. FOR THIS IS THE CHALICE OF MY BLOOD, OF THE NEW AND ETERNAL TESTAMENT: THE MYSTERY OF FAITH, WHICH SHALL BE SHED FOR YOU AND FOR MANY UNTO THE REMISSION OF SINS.”</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Note again: we are looking for that part of the form which signifies that the person who receives this sacrament worthily becomes united or more strongly united with Jesus Christ and His Mystical Body.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Do the words “<i><b>OF THE NEW AND ETERNAL TESTAMENT”</b></i> signify the union of the faithful with Christ/the Mystical Body? No<i>. </i>These words do not signify the Mystical Body, but rather they contrast the temporary and prefiguring sacrifices of the Old Law with the eternal and propitiatory sacrifice of Jesus Christ.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Do the words “<i><b>THE MYSTERY OF FAITH”</b></i> signify the union of the faithful with Christ/the Mystical Body? No<i>. </i>These words signify the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, as Innocent III teaches; they do not signify the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Do the words <b>“</b><i><b>WHICH SHALL BE SHED” </b></i>signify the union of the faithful with Christ/the Mystical Body? No. These words denote true sacrifice.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">The only words left in the form of consecration are: “<i><u><b>FOR YOU AND FOR MANY UNTO THE REMISSION OF SINS.</b></u><b>”</b></i></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">The <i><b>remission of sins </b></i>is necessary for <b>incorporation into the Mystical Body</b>, and remission of sins is an indispensable component of true justification, <u>by which one is fruitfully united to Jesus Christ</u>. The words <b>“for you and for many” </b>denote <b>the members </b>of the Mystical Body who have received such remission.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">The words “<i><u><b>FOR YOU AND FOR MANY UNTO THE REMISSION OF SINS</b></u><b>” </b></i>are the words in the form of Consecration which signify the union of the faithful with Christ/the union of the Mystical Body of Christ, which is the grace proper to the Sacrament of the Eucharist.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Now, if we look to the Novus Ordo form of consecration, do we find the Mystical Body/the union of the faithful with Christ (the grace proper to the Sacrament of the Eucharist) signified? Here is the form of consecration in the New Mass or Novus Ordo:</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">New Mass form: “This is my body. This is the cup of my blood, of the new and eternal testament. It shall be shed <u>for you and for all</u> so that sins may be forgiven.”</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Is the union of the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ signified by the words “<i>for you and for all so that sins may be forgiven</i>”? No. Are all men part of the Mystical Body? No. Are all men part of the faithful united with Christ? No. We can see very clearly that the New Mass or Novus Ordo most certainly <u>does not</u> signify the union of the Mystical Body (the grace proper to the Sacrament of the Eucharist), and therefore it is not a valid sacrament!</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">One does not have to say anything more… the New Mass is not valid!</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Pope Leo XIII, <i>Apostolicae Curae</i>, 1896: “All know that <u>the Sacraments of the New Law</u>, as sensible and efficient signs of invisible grace, <u>must both signify the grace which they effect and effect the grace which they signify.</u>”<sup>33</sup></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Pope Leo XIII, <i>Apostolicae Curae</i>, 1896: “That form cannot be considered apt or sufficient for a Sacrament which omits that which it must essentially signify.”<sup>34</sup></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Pope Eugene IV, <i>Council of Florence</i>, “Exultate Deo,” 1438: “…this is a fitting way to signify the effect of this sacrament, that is, the union of the Christian people with Christ.”35</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">To further prove the point, we should note that in all the formulas of consecration in the liturgical rites of the Catholic Church, whether it is the Armenian Liturgy, the Coptic Liturgy, the Ethiopic Liturgy, the Syrian Liturgy, the Chaldean Liturgy, etc. the union of the faithful with Christ/the Mystical Body is signified in the form of consecration. No liturgy that has ever been approved by the Church fails to signify the union of the faithful with Christ.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><table align="CENTER" border="1" bordercolor="#000000" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; width: 575px;"><colgroup><col width="565"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr><td valign="TOP" width="565"><p style="margin-left: 0.3cm; margin-right: 0.3cm; margin-top: 0.01cm;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><b>Here are the portions of the forms of consecration of the Wine used in Eastern Rites which signify what the Traditional Mass does and what the New Mass doesn’t: the union and members of the Church</b></span></p></td></tr></tbody></table><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 0.48cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">THE ARMENIAN LITURGY: “….shed <i>for you and for many for the expiation and forgiveness of sins</i>.”</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Note that the union and members of the Mystical Body are signified by the words “<i>for you and for many for the expiation and forgiveness of sins</i>.”</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">THE BYZANTINE LITURGY: “… shed <i>for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins</i>.”</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Note that the union and members of the Mystical Body are signified.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">THE CHALDEAN LITURGY: “…shed <i>for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins</i>.”</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Note that the union and members of the Mystical Body are signified.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">THE COPTIC LITURGY: “…shed <i>for you and for many unto the forgiveness of sins</i>.”</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Note that the union and members of the Mystical Body are signified.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">THE ETHIOPIC LITURGY: “… shed <i>for you and for many for the forgiveness of sin</i>.”</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Note that the union and members of the Mystical Body are signified.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">THE LITURGY OF MALABAR: “… shed <i>for you and for many for the remission of sins</i>.”</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Note that the union and members of the Mystical Body are signified.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">THE MARONITE LITURGY: (this form is identical to that which was always used in the Roman Rite)</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">The formula of consecration in all Catholic liturgies signifies the union of the faithful with Christ/the Mystical Body of Christ, as we can see. The New Mass, which says, “for you and for all so that sins may be forgiven,” does not signify the Mystical Body, since all do not belong to the Mystical Body. Thus, the New Mass does not signify the grace which the Eucharist effects. It is not valid.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><b>Therefore, a Catholic cannot attend the New “Mass” under pain of mortal sin. </b>Those who persist in doing so are committing idolatry (worshipping a piece of bread). Jesus Christ is not present there. The host is merely a piece of bread, not Our Lord’s Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. The Church has always taught that to approach a doubtful sacrament (which employs doubtful matter or form) is mortally sinful. In fact, Pope Innocent XI, <i>Decree of the Holy Office</i>, March 4, 1679,<sup>36 </sup>even condemns the idea that Catholics can receive "<i>probable</i>" sacraments. And the New Mass is not merely doubtful, it is invalid, since it does not signify the grace it is supposed to effect. It is actually worse than a Protestant service; it is an abomination, which falsifies the words of Jesus Christ and the Catholic Faith.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Note: At the time we are writing this there is some talk that the Vatican, in order to deceive traditionalists back into the Counter Church and the false New Mass, is planning to correct the “for all” error in the form of consecration. The fact that the Vatican is going to do this proves that “for all” gives, as we’ve said, a false signification. Even if they do this, a Catholic would still have to avoid all New Masses under pain of mortal sin because the New Mass itself is a non-Catholic service, it would still be missing the words “mysterium fidei” in the consecration, and most of the “priests” celebrating it are invalid anyway (as the next section proves).</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><b>Endnotes for Section 9:</b></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><sup>1 </sup>The words of Dietrich Von Hildebrand, who was, nevertheless, a supporter of the Vatican II religion but felt compelled to make such a statement about the New Mass. Quoted by Michael Davies, <i>Pope Paul’s New Mass</i>, Kansas City, MO: Angelus Press, 1980, p. 80.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-top: 0.04cm;"><sup>2 </sup>Pope St. Pius V, <i>Bull Quo Primum</i>, July 14, 1570.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-top: 0.04cm;"><sup>3 </sup><i>New Oxford Review</i>, Berkeley, CA, November, 2006, “Notes.”</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-top: 0.04cm;"><sup>4 </sup><i>The Ottaviani Intervention</i>, Rockford, IL: Tan Books.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-top: 0.04cm;"><sup>5 </sup>Rama Coomeraswamy, <i>The Problems with the New Mass</i>, Tan Books, p. 34.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-top: 0.04cm;"><sup>6 </sup>Fr. Anthony Cekada, <i>The Problems With the Prayers of the Modern Mass</i>, Tan Books, 1991, pp. 9-13.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-top: 0.04cm;"><sup>7 </sup>Michael Davies, <i>Pope Paul’s New Mass</i>, Kansas City, MO: Angelus Press, p. 80.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-top: 0.04cm;"><sup>8 </sup>Michael Davies, <i>Pope Paul’s New Mass</i>, p. 126.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-top: 0.04cm;"><sup>9 </sup>Michael Davies, <i>Pope Paul’s New Mass</i>, p. 395.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-top: 0.04cm;"><sup>10 </sup>Michael Davies, <i>Pope Paul’s New Mass</i>.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-top: 0.04cm;"><sup>11 </sup>Warren H. Carroll, <i>A History of Christendom</i>, Vol. 4 (<i>The Cleaving of Christendom</i>), Front Royal, VA: Christendom Press, 2000, p. 229.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-top: 0.04cm;"><sup>12 </sup>Michael Davies, <i>Cranmer’s Godly Order</i>, Fort Collins, CO: Roman Catholic Books, 1995, p. 183.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-top: 0.04cm;"><sup>13 </sup>Michael Davies, <i>Pope Paul’s New Mass</i>, p. 398.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-top: 0.04cm;"><sup>14 </sup><i>Octava Controversia Generalis</i>. Liber Ii. Controversia Quinta. Caput XXXI.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-top: 0.04cm;"><sup>15 </sup>Michael Davies, <i>Cranmer’s Godly Order</i>, p. 65.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-top: 0.04cm;"><sup>16 </sup>Michael Davies, <i>Pope Paul’s New Mass</i>, p. 285.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-top: 0.04cm;"><sup>17 </sup>Michael Davies, <i>Pope Paul’s New Mass</i>, p. 320.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-top: 0.04cm;"><sup>18 </sup>Michael Davies, <i>Cranmer’s Godly Order</i>, p. 210.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-top: 0.04cm;"><sup>19 </sup>Michael Davies, <i>Pope Paul’s New Mass</i>, p. 504.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-top: 0.04cm;"><sup>20 </sup>Also discussed in <i>Pope Paul’s New Mass</i>, pp. 102; 504-505.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-top: 0.04cm;"><sup>21 </sup>Denzinger, <i>The Sources of Catholic Dogma</i>, B. Herder Book. Co., Thirtieth Edition, 1957, 695.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-top: 0.04cm;"><sup>22 </sup><i>Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils</i>, Vol. 1, p. 581; Denzinger 715.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-top: 0.04cm;"><sup>23 </sup>A common translation, found in many publications, of the Latin words from the Roman Altar Missal, in <i>De Defectibus</i>, Chap. 5, Part 1.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-top: 0.04cm;"><sup>24 </sup>Denzinger 414-415.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-top: 0.04cm;"><sup>25 </sup>Michael Davies, <i>Cranmer’s Godly Order</i>, p. 306.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-top: 0.04cm;"><sup>26 </sup><i>The Catechism of the Council of Trent</i>, Tan Books, 1982, p. 227.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-top: 0.04cm;"><sup>27 </sup>St. Alphonsus De Liguori, Treatise on <i>The Holy Eucharist</i>, Redemptorist Fathers, 1934, p. 44.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-top: 0.04cm;"><sup>28 </sup>Denzinger 2301.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-top: 0.04cm;"><sup>29 </sup>A common translation, found in many publications, of the Latin words from the Roman Altar Missal, in <i>De Defectibus</i>, Chap. 5, Part 1.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-top: 0.04cm;"><sup>30 </sup>Denzinger 1963.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-top: 0.04cm;"><sup>31 </sup>Denzinger 698.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-top: 0.04cm;"><sup>32 </sup>St. Thomas Aquinas, <i>Summa Theologica</i>, Allen, TX: Christian Classics, Pt. III, Q. 73, A. 3.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-top: 0.04cm;"><sup>33 </sup>Denzinger 1963.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-top: 0.04cm;"><sup>34 </sup><i>The Great Encyclical Letters of Pope Leo XIII</i>, Tan Books, 1995, p. 401.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-top: 0.04cm;"><sup>35 </sup>Denzinger 698.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-top: 0.04cm;"><sup>36 </sup>Denzinger 1151.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-831939533339323924.post-71607240230131999602021-11-15T15:48:00.006-05:002021-11-15T15:51:28.630-05:00St. Bridget Revelations - Book 6<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEizA9gAE14NAT6svCLGxtyxHLirzY3b7BEbCU59prueY6VEhKKa_26OV-RB7jKIvI1PpevbawX3JsAgcGE597NQg3EBR1G76bSKwTb6jalTnWMom0KXnX1CMxDbcfZt5RwL6rzIRxwnlpSHw_EXTEY6RiN7JdT9PtlLYiR95jrxkD9qmHBZ8AMsnQ7W=s693" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="693" data-original-width="474" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEizA9gAE14NAT6svCLGxtyxHLirzY3b7BEbCU59prueY6VEhKKa_26OV-RB7jKIvI1PpevbawX3JsAgcGE597NQg3EBR1G76bSKwTb6jalTnWMom0KXnX1CMxDbcfZt5RwL6rzIRxwnlpSHw_EXTEY6RiN7JdT9PtlLYiR95jrxkD9qmHBZ8AMsnQ7W=s320" width="219" /></a></div><br /> <u style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Bridget's Revelations - Book 6: On the Punishments of Hell</span></u><p></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Our Lord tells Saint Bridget by example that nothing pleases God so much as that he be loved above all things.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 50</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Mother of God speaks to the spouse of Christ, Saint Bride, and says: ”Nothing pleases God so much as that man love him above all things. See, I shall tell you by the example of a heathen woman who knew nothing of the Christian faith; but she thought thus to herself: 'I know', she says, 'of what matter I am, and how I came to be in my mother's womb. I believe also that it is impossible for me to have a body, joints, bowels, and senses, unless someone had given these to me. And therefore there is some creator and maker who made me so fair a person of mankind, and would not make me as foul as worms and serpents.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Therefore it seems to me that though I had many husbands, if they all called me, I should rather go at one call from my maker than at the calling of them all. I have also many sons and daughters, yet if I see them with food in their hands and I know that my maker was hungry, truly I would take away the food from my children's hands and gladly give it to my maker. I have also many possessions which I dispose of at my own will. Yet if I knew the will of my maker, I would most desire to leave my own will and dispose of them according to his praise'.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">But see, daughter, what God did with this heathen woman. Truly, he sent his friend to her, who informed her in the holy faith. And God himself visited her heart, and you may well understand by the woman's words, for when that man of God preached to her that there was one God without beginning and end who is the Creator of all things, she answered: 'It is well to be believed, that he who made me and all things has no maker above him. And it is likely true that his life is everlasting who could give me life'.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">When this woman heard that the same Creator took mankind of a Virgin and preached with his own mouth, she answered: 'It is well to believe all virtuous works are of God. But, Friend of God, tell me what are the words that come from my Creator? For I will leave my own will and obey his according to all his words'.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Then, the Friend of God preaching to her of his Passion, Crucifixion and Resurrection, she answered with weeping eyes and said: 'Blessed is that God who so patiently showed his charity on earth that he had for us in heaven. Therefore if I have loved him first, for he made me, now I am much more bound to love him, for he showed me the right way and bought me with his holy blood. I am also bound to serve him with all my might and all my limbs, for he bought me with all his limbs. And furthermore, I am bound to put away from me all my own will and desire that I previously had for my goods, possessions, children, family relations and friends, and only to desire my Creator in his bliss and in that life that never ends' ”.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Then said the Mother of God: ”See, daughter, this woman obtained a many fold reward for her love, and so is each day reward given to each one after that time that God had lived in this world”.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">This is a revelation sent to the holy spouse of Christ, Saint Bridget, in which our Lady Saint Mary reproached the pride of women in their stance, bearing, speech, dress, and other behavior, with the example of three wretched women: of which one was in Hell, another in Purgatory, and the third, alive.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 52</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The holy spouse of Christ, Saint Bridget, spoke to our Lord Jesus Christ words of love and praise for the great grace that he shaped with her, and said: ”Praise to you, almighty God, for all the things that have been made, and praise for all your virtues. Service be rendered to you by all creatures for your great love and charity. I, therefore, always unworthy and sinful from my childhood, thank you, my God, that you do not deny grace to any sinner who asks for it. But you spare and have mercy for all. O my sweetest God, it is truly marvelous that you work with me; for when it pleases you, you bring my body into a spiritual sleep, and then you excite and raise up my soul to see and hear and feel spiritual things.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">O my most sweet God, how sweet have been your words to my soul, which swallows them as the most sweet food. And then enter with joy into my heart, for when I hear your words, I am both full and hungry; full, because nothing delights me except your words; hungry, because the more I hear them the more fervently I want them. Therefore, blissful God, give me help always to do your will”.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Our Lord Jesus Christ answered and said: ”I am without beginning and without end. And all things which are are made by my power; all things are disposed by my wisdom and all things are governed by my judgement and will; and all my works are ordered by charity. Therefore for me there is nothing that is impossible. But that heart is over-hard which neither loves me nor fears me, since I am ruler of all things and Judge. And yet man fulfills the will rather of the devil, who is my tormentor and a deceiver, who gives out venom largely through the world, for which souls may not live, but they are drowned down into the death of Hell. This venomous sin, which, though it is bitter to the soul, yet to many tastes sweet, and each day it is drawn out of the devil's hand upon many people.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">But who ever heard any such things, that life is offered to all, and they choose death rather than life. Nevertheless I, God of all, am patient and have compassion on their wretchedness. For I do as a king who sends wine to his servants and says: 'Pour it forth to many, for it is wholesome. It gives health to the sick, mirth to them who are depressed, and a courageous heart to those who are whole.' But yet the wine is not sent but by an appropriate vessel. So I have sent my words, which are like wine, to my servants by you, who are my vessel, which I will fill and draw out after my own will. My Holy Spirit shall teach you where you will go and what you shall say. Therefore speak joyfully and without fear the things that I order; for there is no one who shall prevail against me”.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Then answered the spouse, Saint Bridget: ”O king of all glory and bliss, giver of all wisdom and granter of all virtues, why do you choose me for such work, who has wasted my body in sins? I am like a donkey, unlearned and unwise and defective in virtues; and I have trespassed in all things and amended nothing”.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Our Lord Jesus Christ answered: ”If money or other metal were presented to a lord, who should marvel, though he made of it for himself crowns or rings or coins to his own profit. So it is no marvel though I receive the hearts of my friends presented to me and do my will in them. And just as much as one has less understanding and another more, so do I use the conscience of each as is expedient to my praise. For the heart of a rightful man is my money; therefore be firm and ready to do my will”.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Then spoke the Mother of God to Saint Bridget, saying: ”What do the proud women say in your kingdom?” Saint Bridget answered: ”O Lady, I am one of them, and therefore I am ashamed to speak in your presence”. ”Though I know it better than you, yet I would hear it from you”.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Saint Bridget answered: ”When”, she said, ”true humility was preached to us, we said that our ancestors willed to us and gave us in heritage great possessions and a good education as to behavior and class. Why therefore should I not follow them? My mother sat with the first and the highest and was clad and arrayed nobly, having many servants and educating them with praise. Why should I not also pass on such things to my daughter, who has learned to bear herself nobly and to live with bodily joy and to die with great praise from the world?”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Mother of God answered: ”Each woman who has these words and follows them in deed goes by the true way to Hell. And therefore such an answer is very difficult. What does it profit to have such words, when the Creator of all things suffered his body to live and dwell on earth in all humility from the time of his birth until his death, and never wore upon himself the clothing of pride. Truly, such women do not consider his face, how he stood living and dead upon the cross, bloody and pale from pain; nor those who reckon nothing of the criticism which he heard, nor of his despicable death which he chose; neither have they in mind the place where he gave up the spirit, for where thieves and robbers had received many wounds, there was my Son wounded.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">And I, who before all creatures, am most dear to him, and in me is all humility, was present there. And therefore they who did such proud and pompous things, and given other occasion to follow them, are like a sprinkler, which, when it is filled with a burning liquid, burns and befouls all of them whom it sprinkles. Right so do the proud give examples of pride and very grievously they burn souls by evil examples.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">And therefore I will now do like a good mother, who, fearing for her children, makes them see the rod, which the servants also see. But the children, seeing the rod, fear to offend their mother, thanking her for threatening them but not beating them. The servants fear to be beaten if they trespass. And so from dreading the mother the children do more good deeds than they did before, and the servants do less evil.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">So truly, because I am the mother of mercy, therefore I will show you the reward of sin, that the friends of God may be more fervent in the charity of God. And sinners, knowing their peril, flee from sin, at least, from fear. And in this way I have mercy on both good and evil; on the good people, that they may obtain and get more crowns and rewards in heaven, on the wicked, that they suffer less pain. And there is none who is so great a sinner, but I am ready to help him; and my Son to give him grace, if he ask mercy with charity”.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">After this, there appeared three women: that is to say, the mother, and the daughter, and the niece, that is, that daughter's daughter. But the mother and the granddaughter appeared dead, and the daughter appeared to be alive. The said dead mother seemed to come creeping out of a foul and dark clay ditch; her heart was drawn out of her body, her lips cut off, and her chin trembled; her teeth, shining, white and long, ground and chattered together; her nostrils were all gnawn; her eyes were put out, hanging down on her cheeks between sinews; her forehead was hollow; and instead of her forehead there was a great and dark depth.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">In her head the head pan failed and had fallen away, and the brain boiled up as if it had been lead, and flowed out like black pitch. Her neck turned about like wood that is turned in the instrument of a joiner, against which was set a blade of the sharpest iron, cutting and shaving away without any comfort. Her breast was open and full of worms long and short; and each of them wallowed hither and thither upon each other. Her arms were like the hafts or handles of a grinding stone. Her hands were like keys full of knots and long. The chines or vertebrae of her back were all dissolved, each from the other; and one going up, another going down, they never ceased moving. A long and large serpent came forth from the nether part of her stomach to the other parts; and joining the head and tail together as a round bow, went round about her bowels continually, like a wheel. Her hips and her legs seemed like two rough staves of thorns full of most sharp prickles. Her feet were like toads.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Then this dead mother spoke to her daughter who was alive saying: ”Hear you, altogether my tom and venomous daughter. Woe is me that I was ever your mother. I am she who set you in the nest of pride, in which you, made hot, grew until you came of age. And then it was pleasing to you that you had spent your time in that nest. Therefore I say to you that as often as you turn your eyes to look at, or see pride, which I taught you, so often cast you boiling venom in my eyes with insufferable burning heat. As often as you speak words of pride which you learned from me, so often swallow I most bitter drink. As often as your ears are filled with the wind of pride which the waves of arrogance and pride excite and stir up in you, that is to say, to hear praise of your own body and to desire praise from the world, which you learned from me, so often comes to my ears a fearful and dreadful sound, with blowing and burning wind.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Woe, therefore, to me, who am poor and wretched; poor because I have nor feel anything of good, and wretched because I have abundance and plenty of evil. But you, daughter, are like the tail of a cow which, going in foul clay, as often as she moves her tail, as often does she befoul and sprinkles those near her. So you, daughter, are like a cow; for you have no goodly wisdom, and you go after the works and impulses of your body.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Therefore as often as you follow the works of my custom, that is to say, those sins which I taught you, so often is my pain renewed, and the more grievously it burns upon me. Therefore, my daughter, why are you proud of your generation and parentage? For it would be honor and respect to you that the uncleanliness of my bowels was your pillow, my shameful member was your birthing, and the uncleanness of my blood was your clothing when you were born? Therefore, now, my womb, in which you lay, is altogether eaten by worms.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">But why, daughter, do I complain to you, when I ought more to complain about myself? Because there are three things which torment me most grievously in my heart. The first is that I, made by God for heavenly joy, misused my conscience and have disposed myself to the sorrows of Hell. The second is that while God made me fair as an angel, I deformed and misshaped myself so that I am more like the devil than an angel of God. The third is that in the time given to me, I made a very evil change. For I received a little thing, short and transitory, that is to say, delight in sin, for which now I feel endless evil, that is, the pain of Hell”.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Then said this dead mother to the spouse of Christ, Saint Bridget: ”You”, she said, ”who see me, see me not but by bodily likeness. For if you should see me in that form in which I am, you would die from fear; and all my members are devils. And therefore the Scripture is true which says that as rightful men are members of God, so sinners are members of the devil. Right so I now experience the devil's arms fastened into my soul; for the will of my heart has disposed me to so much filth, deformity and misshapenness. But hear now more. It seems to you that my feet are toads. That is because I stood firmly in sin; therefore now fiends stand firmly in me. And always biting and gnawing at me, they are never full. My legs and my thighs are as staves full of prickly thorns, for I had a will after fleshly delight and my own lust.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">That each chine of my back is loose, and each of them moves against the other; that is therefore because the joy of my lust sometimes went too much upward for worldly solace and comfort, and sometimes too much downward because of too much depression, grouching, and wrath because of the adversity and disease of the world. And there as the back is moved and stirred after the motions of the head, so ought I to have been stable and moveable according to God's will, who is the head of all good. But because I did not do so, therefore I justly suffer these pains which you now see.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">That a serpent creeps forth from the lower parts of my stomach to the higher parts, and standing like a bow turned about as a wheel, is because my lust and delight were inordinate; and my will would have had all the world's goods in its possession; and in many ways to have spent them, and indiscreetly. Therefore the serpent now searches about in my entrails without comfort, gnawing and biting without mercy.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">That my breast is open and altogether gnawn with worms, shows the true justice of God, for I loved foul and rotten things more than God; and the love of my heart was all given to transitory and passing things of the flesh and of the world. And therefore as from small worms are brought longer worms, right so is my soul; for the foul stinking things which I loved are filled with devils. My arms seem as if they are beams; that is because I had my desire like two arms; that is to say, because I desired a long life, that I might have lived longer in sin.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">I would also and desired that the Judgement of God had been easier than the Scripture said. Nevertheless, my conscience told me very well that my time was short and the Judgement of God insufferable. But again my desire and delight that I had in sinning stirred me to think that my life should be long and the Judgement of God bearable. And of such suggestions my conscience was subverted and turned upside down, and my will and reason followed lust and delectation. And therefore the devil is now lodged in my soul against my will, and my conscience understands and feels that the Judgement of God is right.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">My hands are like long keys. And that is because the precepts and commandments were not pleasing to me; and therefore my hands are now to me a great burden, and lack any use. My neck is turned like wood which is placed against a sharp blade; that is because the words of God were not sweet to me to swallow and taste them in the charity and love of my heart; but they were too bitter, for they argued and criticized the delight and will of my heart; and therefore now a sharp blade stands at my throat.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">My lips are cut off, for they were ready with vain, joking, and dishonest words of pride; but they failed and found it irksome to speak the words of God. My chin appears to be trembling, and my teeth grind and beat together; that is because I was wilfull in giving food to my body, so that I might seem fair and desirable, whole and strong to all the delights and pleasures of the body. And therefore now my chin trembles and quakes without comfort, and my teeth beat together; for all that they wasted was but unprofitable work as far as being fruit for the soul.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">My nose is cut off; because amongst you it is done to them who trespass in such a case to their greater shaming, right so is the mark of my shame set upon me for ever. That my eyes hang down by sinews upon my cheeks is correct for, just as the eyes joyed in the fairness of my cheeks for ostentation and showing-off from pride, so now from much weeping they are put out and hang down to my cheeks with shame and confusion. And right so is my forehead hollow, and instead of it there is a great darkness. For about my forehead was set the veil and array of pride; and I would appear glorious, and be seen of fairness, and seem fair. And therefore is my forehead now dark and foul, deformed and misshapen. That my brain boils up and flows out like lead and pitch, is well deserved. For as lead is soft and may be bent according to the will of him who uses it, so was my conscience, which lay in my brain, bowed to the will of my heart, although I understood well the things that I should have done.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">And the Passion also of the Son of God was in no way fastened in my heart, but it flowed out like a thing that I knew well and took no heed of. And furthermore, of that holy blood which flowed out of the members of the Son of God, I took no more heed than of pitch, and fled, as if they were pitch, from the words of charity and of the love of God, lest they should convert me or trouble me from the delights of the body. Nevertheless, sometimes I heard the words of God to the shame of man; but as quickly as they entered, so quickly went they out of my heart again. And therefore now my brain flows out like burning pitch, with extremely hot boiling. My ears are stopped with hard stones, for words of pride entered in them joyfully, and softly and sweetly they went down into the heart, for the charity of God was closed out of my heart. And because I did all that I could for pride and for the world, therefore now joyful words have been shut out from my ears.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">But you may ask if I did any meritorious or good deeds. And I answer you I did as does a money changer, who clips and cuts the money; and then reassigns or takes it again to the lord to whom it belongs. So I fasted and made alms and such other good works; but I did them for fear of Hell, and to escape the adversities and disease of the body. But because the charity and the love of God was cut off from my deeds, therefore such deeds were not valuable to me for obtaining Heaven, although they were not without reward. You might also ask how I am within in my will, when so much foulness and distortion is without. I answer: My will is as the will of a manslayer or of him who would gladly slay his own mother. So I covet and desire the worst evil to God, my Creator, who has been to me the best and most sweet”.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Then the dead granddaughter, that is, the daughter's daughter of the same dead Beldame, spoke to her own mother who was still alive, saying: ”Hear, you scorpion, my mother, woe is me, because you have evilly deceived me. For you showed me your merry face, but you pricked me very grievously in my heart. Three counsels you gave me of your mouth, three things I learned of your works. And three ways you showed me in your process and going out. The first counsel was to love bodily in order to get carnal love and fleshly friendship. The second was to spend temporal goods over abundantly for praise from the world. The third was to have rest for the delectation and delight of the body.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">These counsels were very harmful to me and a great hindrance. For I loved carnally, therefore I now have shame and spiritual envy. And because I spent temporal goods wastefully, therefore was I deprived of grace and the gifts of God in my life, and after my death I have obtained great confusion and shame. For I delighted in the quest and rest of the flesh in my life, therefore in the hour of my death began the unrest of my soul without comfort.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Three things also I learned of your works. The first was to do some good deeds, and nevertheless use them and not to leave that sin which delighted me: as a man should do who mixed honey with venom, and offered it to a Judge; and he, moved by that to anger, dropped it on him who offered it. So am I now expert in many fold anguish and tribulation.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The second is that I learned from you a marvelous manner of clothing myself; that was to conceal my eyes with a kerchief, to have sandals on my feet, gloves on my hands and the neck all naked in front. This kerchief concealing my eyes means the fairness of my body, which so obscured my spiritual eyes that I took no heed nor saw not the fairness of my soul. The sandals, which protect the feet underneath and not above, mean the holy faith of the Church, which I held faithfully, but there followed no fruitful works. For as sandals furthered my feet, right so my conscience, standing in the faith, promoted my soul. But because good works did not follow, therefore my soul was naked.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The gloves on the hands mean a vain hope I had; for I extended my works which are meant by the hands, into so great and large mercy of God, which is signified in the gloves, that, when I groped for the justice of God, I felt it not nor took any heed of it. Therefore I was overbold in sinning. But when death came, then the kerchief fell down from my eyes upon the earth, that is to say, upon my body. And then the soul saw and knew itself as naked, for few of my deeds were good, and my sins were many. And for shame I might not stand in the palace of the eternal king of bliss, because I was shamefully clothed. But then devils drove me into hard punishment, where I was scorned with shame and confusion.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The third thing, mother, that I learned of was to clothe the servant in the lord's clothes, and to set him in the lord's seat, and to praise him as a lord, and to minister to the lord the reliefs of the servant and all things that were despicable. This lord is charity and the love of God. The servant is a will to sin. Truly in my heart where ought to have reigned godly charity was set the servant, that is, delight and lust of sin, whom I clothed then when I turned my will to all temporal things that are made. And the reliefs and parings and the most abject things I gave to God, not out of charity, but out of fear. So therefore was my heart glad of fulfilling and delight of my own will, for the charity and love of God was excluded from me, and the good Lord cast out and the evil servant closed within. See, mother, these three things I learned from your doings.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Three ways you showed me also in your going out. The first was bright. But when I entered in it, I was blinded by its brightness. The second was compendious and slippery as ice, in which, when I went one step forward, I slid again backward a whole step. The third was very long, in which, when I went forth, there came after me a sudden rushing flood and bore me over a hill into a deep ditch.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">In the first way is noted the going forth of my pride, which was too much; for the ostentation and showing which proceeded from my pride shone so much in my eyes that I did not think about the consequences of it, and therefore I was blind.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">In the second way is noted that disobedience in this life is not long; for after death a man is compelled to obey. Nevertheless, to me it was long, for when I went one step forward in meekness of confession, I slid backward a step. Because I would that the sin confessed have been forgiven, but after making confession, I would not flee from the sin. And therefore I did not stand firmly in the step of obedience, but I slid again into sin, as does he who slides upon ice; because my will was cold and would not get up and flee from the things which delighted me. So therefore when I went a step forward, confessing my sins, I slid a step backward; because I would fall again to those sins and delectations that delighted me, of which I had made confession.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The third way was that I hoped for a thing which was impossible; that is to do more sin and not have lengthy pain; also to live longer, and the hour of death not be near. And when I went forth by this way, there came after me a hasty rushing flood; that is to say, death, which from one year to another caught me and turned my feet upside down with pain of illness.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">What were these feet, but when sickness comes about, I might take little heed of the profit of the body and less to the health of the soul? Therefore I fell into a deep ditch, when my heart that was high in pride and hard in sin burst, and the soul fell down low into the ditch of pain for sin. And therefore this way was long; for after the life of the body was ended, soon there began a great pain. Woe, therefore, to me, my mother; for all those things that I learned from you with joy, now I wail about them with weeping and sorrow”.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Then spoke this same dead daughter to the spouse of Christ, Saint Bridget, who saw all these things, saying: ”Hear, you who see me. To you it seems that my head and my face as like thunder, thundering and lightning within and without; and my neck and my breast as it were put into a hard press, with long sharp pricks; my arms and my feet are as it were long serpents; and my womb is smitten with hard hammers; my thighs and my legs are as it were flowing water out of the gutters of a roof, and my feet are frozen together.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">But yet there is one pain within that is more bitter to me than all these. Right as if there were any person of whom all the breaths of his living spirits were stopped and all the veins, filled with wind, pressed up to the heart, which for violence and strength of those winds should begin to burst; so am I disposed within very wretchedly for the wind of my pride, which was to me much cherished. Nevertheless, yet I am in the way of mercy, for in my most grievous sickness I was confessed in the best manner I could, for fear of pain. But when death came near, than came to my mind the consideration and vision of the Passion of my God, how that was much more grievous and more bitter than all that I was worthy to suffer for my sins and demerits. And with such consideration, I became tearful and wept and wailed that the charity and the love of God was so much to me and mine so little to him.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Then I beheld him with the eyes of my conscience and said: 'O Lord, I believe you, my God. O you Son of the Virgin, have mercy upon me for your bitter Passion; for now from henceforth would I amend my life, if I had time, very willingly'. And in that point of time was there lit and kindled in my heart a spark of charity, by which the Passion of Christ seemed more bitter to me than my own death. And so then burst my heart, and my soul come into the hands and power of devils to be presented to the Judgement of God.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Therefore it came into the hands of devils, because it was not worthy that the angels of fairness should come near the soul of so much foulness. But in the Judgement of God, when the devils cried and asked that my soul should be judged and damned to Hell, the Judge answered: 'I see', he said, 'a spark of charity in the heart which ought not to be quenched, but it must be in my sight. Therefore I judge the soul to Purgatory, until the time that it be so worthily purged and made clean that it deserve and have forgiveness'.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">But now you might ask if I shall have part of all the goods and good deeds that were done for me. I answer you with a parable. Just as if you saw two balances hanging, and in that one were naturally bearing downward and in the other were some light thing going upward, the greater things and fair that were put in the empty balance, so much the rather should they lift up the other balance that is heavy and of great weight. It is so with me; for the deeper that I was in sin, the more grievously am I gone down into pain. And therefore what ever is done to the praise of God for me, it lifts me up from pain; and specially that prayer and good that is done by rightful men and the friends of God, and benefits that are done by well-gotten goods and deeds of charity. Such things, truly, they were that make me each day become closer to God”.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">After this spoke the holy Mother of God to the spouse of Christ, Saint Bridget, and said: ”You marvel how I, who am Queen of Heaven, and you who live in the world, and that soul which is in Purgatory, and that other which is in Hell, speak together. This I shall tell you. I, truly, never go from Heaven, for I shall never be departed from the sight of God. Nor that soul which is in Hell shall not be separated from pain. Nor that soul which is in Purgatory, neither, until it is purged clean. Nor shall you come to us before the departure of your bodily life.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">But your soul with your understanding, by virtue of the spirit of God, is lifted up to hear the words of God in Heaven: and you are allowed to know some pains in Hell and in Purgatory, for warning and amendment of evil livers and to the comfort and profit of them who are good. Nevertheless, know that your body and your soul are joined together on earth, but the Holy Spirit who is in Heaven gives you understanding to understand his will”.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">EXPLANATION</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">After this, the third woman who was alive left all the world and entered into the religious life, and lived all her life after in great perfection and holiness.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Our Lord Jesus Christ teaches Saint Bride how active life and contemplative ought to be kept through the example of Mary and Martha; and first, of contemplative life.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 65</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Son of God says: ”Bride, there are two lives which are compared to Mary and Martha; which lives, if a man or a woman would follow he must first make clean confession of all his sins, being himself truly sorry for them, having the desire never to sin again. The first life, as the Lord bears witness, Mary chose; and it leads to the contemplation of heavenly things; and this is the best part and day's journey to everlasting health. Therefore every man and woman who desires to take and hold to the life of Mary, it is enough for him to have two things that are necessary to the body; that is, clothing without vanity or showing of pride, and food and drink in scarceness and not in superfluity.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">He must also have charity without any evil delight, and reasonable fasting after the rules of holy Church. And in his fasting he must take heed that he not become ill from unreasonable abstinence, unless by such sickness his prayers or preaching or other good deeds thereby are lessened, by which he might profit both his neighbour and himself. He must also carefully examine himself, that by his fasting he is neither made dull nor hasty to the rigor of justice or slow to the works of pity, to punish those who are rebellious, and to make unfaithful men subject to the yoke of faith, It is necessary to have bodily strength as well as spiritual. Therefore anyone who is sick or feeble, who would rather fast to my praise than eat, he shall have as great reward for his good will as does he who fasts reasonably for charity. And in the same way he who eats out of holy obedience, willing rather to fast than to eat, shall have the same reward as he who fasts.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Second, Mary ought not to delight in the praise of the world nor of its prosperity; nor ought he to sorrow at its adversity, except in that he ought to delight when wicked men are made devout and that lovers of the world are made lovers of God, and when good men profit in goodness and, by labouring in the service of God, are made more devout. Of this also ought he who is Mary to sorrow; that sinners fall into worse sin, and that God is not loved by his creature, and that God's commandments are despised and not kept.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Third, Mary ought not to be idle any more than is Martha; but after he takes his necessary sleep, he ought to rise, and with inward attentiveness of heart thank God who of his charity and love made everything from nothing; and of that same charity, taking the body of man, he made all things again; showing by his Passion and death his love for man, more than you who might not be. Mary must also thank God for all those who are saved; and for all who are in Purgatory, and for them who are in the world, praying God humbly that he suffered them not to be tempted beyond their strength.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Mary must also be discreet in prayer, and orderly in the praising of God, for if he has the necessities of life without business, he ought to make longer prayers. And if he grows bored with praying, and temptations grow upon him, then he may labour with his hands at some honest and profitable work, either to his own profit if he have need, or else to the profit of others. And if he is weary and bored both in prayer and in labour, then he may have some honest occupation, or hear words of others' edification with all seriousness, and without dissolution and vanity, until the body and soul be made more able and quick to the service of God.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">If he who is Mary be such that he has not bodily sustenance but of his own labour, then he must make his prayer shorter for such needful work; and that same labour shall be profiting and increasing of prayer. If Mary can not work, or may not, then be not too ashamed or despairing about begging, but rather joyful; for then he follows me, the Son of God; for I made myself poor that man should become rich. And if he who is Mary be subject to obedience, he should live in obedience to his prelate, and the crown of reward shall be double the more than he was at his own liberty.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Fourth, Mary ought not to be covetous, no more than was Martha. But he ought to be truly generous; for Martha gives temporal goods for God, so ought Mary to give spiritual goods. And therefore, if Mary has loved God entirely in his heart, he should be careful of that word that many have in their mouths, saying: 'It is nothing to me, if I may help my own soul, What do I care about the works of my neighbours?' Or this: 'I am good: why should I care about how other men live?'</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">O daughter, they who say and think such words, if they see their friend troubled or dishonestly treated, they should risk their deaths to deliver their friend from tribulation. So must Mary do; he ought to sorrow that his God is offended, and that his brother, or his neighbour, is hurt; or if any fall into sin, Mary ought to labour as much as he may that he be delivered - nevertheless, with discretion. And if for that Mary is persecuted, he must seek another more secure place. For I myself who am God have said so: 'Si vos persecuti fuerint in una civitate fugite in aliam'; that is, if they persecute you in one city, flee to another. And so did Paul, for it became necessary at one time; and therefore he was let down over the wall in a basket.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Therefore, that Mary be generous and merciful, five things are necessary to her: first, a house in which guests can sleep; second, clothes to cloth the naked; third, food to feed the hungry; fourth, fire to make the cold hot and warm; fifth, medicine for the sick.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The house of Mary is his heart, whose wicked guests are all the things that come to him and trouble his heart, such as anger, despair, sloth, greed, pride, and many others, which enter in by the five senses. Therefore all these vices, when they come, ought to lie as guests who sleep at rest. For as an innkeeper receives guests both good and bad with patience, so ought Mary to suffer all things for God by the virtue of patience, and not consent to sin nor delight in it, but remove it from his heart as much as he may little by little with the help of God's grace; and if he may not remove them and put them away, let him endure them patiently against his will, as guests knowing certainly that they will reap him more rewards, and in no ways to damnation.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Second, Mary ought to have clothes to clothe his guests, that is, humility, inward and outward, and compassion of heart for the disease of one's fellow Christian. And if Mary is despised by men, then he should think how I, God, was despised, taunted and suffered it patiently: how I was judged and spoke not; how I was scourged and crowned with thorns, and did not complain. Mary must also take heed that he show no tokens of wrath or impatience to them who taunt him or despise him; but he ought to bless them who persecute him, so that they who see it may bless God, whom Mary follows; and God himself shall return blessings for curses.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Mary also must beware that he neither backbite nor criticize those who burden him or trouble him. For it is damnable to backbite and to hear a backbiter and to criticize his neighbour impatiently; and therefore, that Mary may have the gift of meekness perfectly, he must study to admonish and to warn them of the perils for backbiting others, exhorting them with charity by speech and example to true humility. Also the cloth of Mary ought to be compassion; for if he sees his fellow Christian sin, he ought to have compassion on him, and to pray to God to have mercy on him. And if he sees his neighbour suffer wrong or harm or be taunted, he ought to be sorry for that, and to help him with his prayers and other help and actions. Yes, against the great men of the world; for true compassion seeks not what he wants for himself, but for his fellow Christian.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">But if Mary is such who is not heard amongst princes and great men and at leaving his cell gains nothing, then he should pray to God carefully for those who are in pain; and God, beholder of the heart, shall for the charity of him who prays turn the hearts of men to peace which are diseased. And either he shall be delivered of his tribulation, or else God shall give him patience, so that his reward in heaven shall be doubled. Therefore such a cloth of humility or of compassion ought to be in Mary's heart. For there is nothing which draws God so into a soul as humility and compassion for his fellow Christian.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Third, Mary must have food and drink for guests. For grievous guests are lodged in Mary's heart, when the heart is ravished out of itself and desires to see delectable things in this world and to have temporal possessions; when his ear desires to hear his own praises; when the flesh seeks to delight in fleshly things; when the spirit pretends to be frail and excuses sin; when there is tardiness to do good and forgetfulness of things that are to come; when good deeds are considered to be many and the evil thought to be few and forgotten.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Against such guests Mary has need of counsel, that he dissemble not nor fall asleep. Therefore Mary, heartened with faith, must rise firmly and answer thus to these guests: 'I will not have any temporal things, except those which are necessary to sustain the body. I will not spend the best hour or time, except to praise God. Nor will I take heed of fair or foul, nor what is profitable or unprofitable to the flesh, nor what is savory or unsavory to the taste, except only the pleasure of God and profitable to the soul; for I do not wish to live hour by hour, except to praise God'. Such a will is food to guests who may come, and such an answer quenches inordinate delights.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Fourth, Mary must have a fire to make her guests warm, and to give them light. This fire is the heat of the Holy Spirit; for it is impossible for any man to forsake his own will or the carnal affection of his friends or the love of riches, but by the working inspiration and heat of the Holy Spirit. Neither may Mary himself, be he never so perfect, begin nor continue any good life without sweetness and information of the same Holy Spirit. Therefore, that Mary illumines and lights the guests that come first, he must think thus: 'God made me for that skill that I should praise him, love him and dread him above all things; and he was born of a Virgin to teach the way to heaven, which I should follow with humility. And after, with his death, he opened heaven, that by desiring and advancing I should haste there'.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Mary must also examine all his works and thoughts and desires, and how he has offended God, and how patiently God suffered man, and how in many ways God calls man to him. For such thoughts and others like them are the guests of Mary, which are all in darkness; but if they are lightened with the fire of the Holy Spirit, which fire comes to the heart when Mary thinks it is reasonable to serve God, and when he would rather suffer all pain than wittingly provoke God to anger, by whose goodness his soul is made and bought again with his blessed blood. The heart also is lit by this good fire, when reason thinks and discerns by what intent each guest, that is, each thought, comes, when the heart examines if the thought goes to everlasting joy or to transitory joy; if it leave no thought undiscussed, none unpunished, none without dread.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Therefore, that this fire may be got, and kept when it is obtained, it is necessary for Mary to gather together dry wood, by which this fire is fed; that is, that he be concerned about the stirrings of the flesh, that the flesh begin not to be wanton; and that he put to all diligence, that the works of pity and devout prayer be enlarged and increased, in which the Holy Spirit delights. But above all it is to know and see that where fire is kindled in a close vessel and has no ash, the fire is soon quenched and the container becomes cold. And so is it with Mary; for if Mary desires to live only to praise God, then it is necessary for him that his mouth be opened and the fame of his charity to go out. Then is the mouth opened, when by speaking in fervent charity he gets spiritual sons for God.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">But Mary must be very careful that he open the mouth of his preaching when they who are good may be made more fervent, and they who are wicked may be amended, where righteousness may be increased and evil habits removed. For my Apostle Paul would sometimes have spoken; but he was forbidden by my Spirit, and therefore at the right time he was still, and at the convenient time he spoke; and sometimes he used soft words, and sometimes sharp; and all his words and deeds were to the praise of God and to strengthen faith.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">But if Mary may not preach, and has the desire and the knowledge how to preach, he must do so as a fox that goes about seeking many places with his feet; and when he finds the best and most suitable places, there he makes a den to rest in. So Mary must with words, examples, and prayers try the hearts of many; and when he finds hearts more able to receive the word of God, there must he stay and rest, admonishing and stirring whom he may. Mary must also work that a fitting show be given to his flame of fire: for the greater the flame is, the more people are illumined and enflamed by it. The flame has then a fitting show, where Mary neither dreads criticism nor shame, nor seeks his own praise, when he dreads neither contrarious things, nor delights in wealth and prosperity. And then it is more acceptable to God that Mary do his good deeds in the open rather than in private, to that extent that they who see them may praise and worship God.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Also, Mary ought to give out two flames, one in private, another openly: that is, to have double humility; the first in the heart, inwardly, the other outwardly. The first is that Mary thinks himself unworthy and unprofitable in all goodness, and that he prefers not nor exhalts himself in his own conceit above any person; and that he does not desire to be seen and praised, but that he flees from all pride and haughtiness, desiring God above all things and following his words. If Mary send out such a flame in his deeds, then shall his heart be lit with charity, and all contrary things that come to him shall be overcome and easily endured.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The second flame must be in the open; for if true humility is in the heart, it ought to appear in clothing and to be heard in the mouth and to be fulfilled in deeds. True humility is in the clothing when Mary chooses cloth of less price, from which he may gain warmth and profit, rather than cloth of more value, of which he might be proud and show off. For cloth which is cheap and is called by men vile and abject is truly fair to God because it provokes humility. But that cloth which is bought with great price and is called fair is foul to God; for it takes away the fairness of angels, which is humility. Nevertheless, if Mary is compelled by any reasonable cause to have better clothing than he would want, be not troubled therefore; for by that shall his reward be greater.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Also Mary ought to be meek in mouth, speaking humble words; fleeing from vain words and such as cause laughter; being careful of much speech; not using subtle nor pretty words; nor professing his own will or words before the comprehension and feeling of those who are better. And if Mary is praised for any good deed, he should not be exalted thereby with pride, but should answer thus: 'Laus sit deo qui dedit omnia', that is, praising God who gave all goodness. For what am I but dust before the face of the wind; or what good comes of me, earth without water? And if he is criticized, he should not be downcast but answer thus: 'It is appropriate; for I have so often offended in the sight of God and not done penance for which I should earn greater torment. Therefore pray for me that by enduring temporal reprimands, I may escape everlasting ones'.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">If Mary is provoked by wrath to any misjudgment of his fellow Christian, he must be prudently careful of any indiscreet answer; for pride is often associated with wrath, and therefore it is wholesome advice that when wrath and pride come about, that he hold his lips tightly together until he can ask for help from God for endurance and patience; and until he may be advised what and how to answer; or until he may overcome himself. For then wrath is quenched in the heart and men may answer wisely to those who are unwise.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">You know also that the devil is greatly envious of Mary; and therefore if he may not stop him by breaking God's commandments, then he stirs him to be easily moved with great wrath, or else to the dissoluteness of vain mirth, or else to dissolute and playful words. Therefore Mary must ask for help from God that all his words and deeds may be governed by God and addressed to God. Also Mary must have meekness in his actions, that he does the right not because of earthly praise; that he attempt nothing new, that he be not ashamed of being humble; that he flee singularity in his works, that he respect all; and that in all things he consider himself unworthy.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Also Mary ought rather to sit with the poor than with the rich; rather he should obey than be obeyed; rather to be silent than to speak; rather to be alone solitary than be constantly amongst the great of the world and among his worldly friends. Mary must hate his own will and think always on his death. Mary ought not to be idle, nor complain, nor be forgetful of the justice of God and of his own affections. Mary must be fervent in confession, careful concerning temptations, desiring to live for the right and for nothing else but the praise of God and that the health of souls be increased and enlarged.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Therefore, if Mary, who is thus disposed as I have now said, be chosen by Martha, and obeying, for the love of God takes the rule of many souls, there shall be given to him a double crown of reward, as I show you in a parable. There was a certain lord of great power who had a ship filled with precious merchandise, and said to his servants: 'Go to such a harbour, and you shall gain much for me, and glorious fruit. If the wind rises against you, work hard and do not become weary; for your reward shall be great'. Then the servants sailed away.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">And the wind became strong, and tempests arose, and the ship was grievously battered. Because of this the ship's captain was exhausted and all despaired of their lives. And then they agreed to come to any harbour that the wind could blow them to, and not to the haven that the lord had assigned to them. When one of the servants who was more loyal than the others heard this, he wailed and out of fervent love and zeal that he had for his lord, he violently seized hold of the steering board of the ship and with great strength he brought the ship to the harbour the lord desired. Therefore this man who thus manfully brought the ship to the harbour is to be rewarded with more singular rewards than any other.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">It is the same with a good priest who for love of God and salvation of souls takes charge of the steering, not paying heed to fame, for he shall be doubly rewarded: first, because he shall be partner of all the good deeds of those whom he has brought to the haven; second, because his joy and bliss shall be increased without end. And so shall it be against those who desire fame and responsibility; for they shall be partner to all the pains and sins of those that they have chosen to govern. Second, for their confusion shall be without end.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">For the priests who desire fame are more like whores than priests. For they deceive souls with their evil words and examples; and they are unworthy to be called either Mary or Martha, unless they make amends with penance.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Fifth, Mary ought to give his guests medicine; that is, delight and comfort them with God's words. For to all things that ever happen to him, whether they be joyful or burdensome, he ought to say: 'I will this; whatever God wills, I will do; and to his will I am readily obedient; though I should go to Hell'. For such a will is medicine against evil things that occur to the heart, and this will is delight in tribulation and a good restraint in prosperity. But because Mary has many enemies he must therefore make his confession frequently. For as long as he remains in a state of sin and could have confessed and is negligent and takes no heed, then is he rather to be called an apostate before God than Mary”.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Of the deeds of the active life which are understood by Martha. ”You must know also that though the part of Mary is best, yet the part of Martha is not evil, but praiseworthy and very pleasing to God. Therefore I shall tell you how Martha ought to be governed. For he ought to have five good things as well as Mary. First, the right faith regarding God's Church. Second, to know the commandments of the Godhead and the counsels of the truth of the Gospel; and these he ought perfectly to keep in thought and deed. Third, he ought to keep his tongue from evil words that are against God and his neighbour, and his hand from all dishonest and unlawful actions, and his heart from too much greed and pleasure. He ought also to be content with the goods God has given him, and not to desire superfluous things.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Fourth, he ought to fulfill the deeds of mercy reasonably and modestly, that in doing those deeds he offends in no way. Fifth, he ought to love God above all things and more than himself. So did Martha, for he gave joyfully of himself, following my words and deeds; and after she gave all her goods for my love. And therefore she loathed temporal things, and sought heavenly things, and suffered heavenly things patiently, and took heed and care of others as of herself. And therefore she thought always on my charity and Passion; and she was glad in tribulation and loved all as a mother.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The same Martha also followed me every day, desiring nothing but to hear words of life. She had compassion on those who were grieving; she comforted the sick; she neither cursed nor said evil to any. But she did not imitate the pushiness of her neighbour and prayed for all. Therefore every man who desires charity actively ought to follow Martha in loving his neighbour, to bring him to heaven, but not in favoring and nourishing his vices and sins. He ought also to flee his own vanity, pride and doubleness. Also he ought not to use wrath or envy.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">But mark well that Martha, praying for her brother Lazarus when he was dead, came first to me. But her brother was not yet raised until Mary came after, when she was called. And then for both sisters their brother was raised from the dead to life. So in spiritual life he who perfectly desires to be Mary must first be Martha, labouring physically to my praise. And he ought first to learn how to withstand the desires of the flesh and the temptation of the fiend and afterwards he may with deliberation ascend up the height of Mary. For he who is unproved and tempted, and he who has not overcome the lusts of his flesh, how may he continually heed and choose heavenly things?</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Who is the dead brother of Mary and Martha, but an unperfect work? For often a good work is done with an indiscreet intent and with an ill advised heart, and therefore it is done dully and slowly. But for the working of good deeds to be acceptable to me, it must be raised and quickened by Martha and Mary; that is, when the neighbour is clearly loved for God and to God, and God alone is desired above all things. And then every good work of man is pleasing to God. Therefore I said in the Gospel that Mary chose the better part; for then the part of Martha is also good, when he grieves for the sins of his fellow Christians; and then is the part of Martha better, when he labours that men may continue in the good life wisely and honestly, and that only for the love of God.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">But the part of Mary is best when he beholds only heavenly things and the profit of souls. And the Lord enters into the house of Martha and Mary when the heart is fulfilled with good affections; and at peace away from the noise of worldly things; and thinking of God as always present; and not only contemplating and meditating on his love, but labouring in that day and night”.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">How our Lady and Saint Peter kept a woman from falling into sin, by whose counsel she changed her life, and of special grace she fell ill, and so was purged and went to Heaven.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 93</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The spouse of Christ, Saint Bride, saw spiritually a woman sitting in a rope whose one end a fair man held up, and a virgin of great beauty held up the other end.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Then our Lady appeared and said: ”This lady whom you know is wound up in much business of the flesh and the world, and it is miraculous that she has balanced herself so well that she has not fallen. For she has often desired to sin, but never had the place nor the time to do so. And that caused the prayer of the Apostle Peter to be made by my Son, whom this woman loved. Sometimes she had time and space, but not the will; and that was made by the love of me who am the Mother of God.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">And therefore now because her time draws near, Saint Peter counseled her to take upon her some harshness in clothing and wearing, putting away soft garments. For he was the chief Apostle; and yet he endured nakedness, prison and hunger, although he was mighty in heaven and on earth. I also, Mother of God, who never passed an hour on earth without tribulation and discomfort of heart, counsel her that she not be ashamed to be meek and to obey the friends of God”.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">After this soon Saint Peter the Apostle appeared and said to Saint Bride: ”You, now, spouse of our lord God, go and ask of this woman whom I have loved and preserved, if she will wholly be my daughter”.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">When Saint Bride had asked, and she consenting, said, ”I will, with all my heart”, Saint Peter answered: ”I shall arrange for her as for my daughter, Peronell, and take her into my charge”. Then, as soon as this lady heard this, she changed her life. And not long after, she fell ill, which continued for the rest of her life, until she was purged and with very great devotion gave up her spirit. For, when she came to the end of her life, she saw Saint Peter arrayed like a bishop, and Saint Peter Martyr in the habit of the Friars Preachers, for he was of that Order, both of whom she had loved entirely during her life.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">And then she said openly: ”Who are these lords?” When the ladies and women who stood about her asked her what she saw, she answered: ”I see”, she said, ”marvelous things. For I see my lords, Peter the Apostle dressed pontifically and Peter the Martyr in the habit of the Preachers, whom I have always loved and always hoped for their help”. And then, crying: ”Blessed be God. See: I come”, she passed to our Lord.</span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-831939533339323924.post-2259933205014540472021-10-28T08:02:00.003-04:002021-10-28T08:02:42.359-04:00Euthanasia Condemned <p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://i1.wp.com/famvin.org/en/files/2017/05/euthanasia-facebook.jpg?resize=1024%2C538" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="420" data-original-width="800" height="168" src="https://i1.wp.com/famvin.org/en/files/2017/05/euthanasia-facebook.jpg?resize=1024%2C538" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><p></p><h2 class="western" lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 22px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 28px; margin: 0px; text-align: center; text-decoration-line: underline;"><span style="font-family: arial;">What is Euthanasia?</span></h2><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>Euthanasia</b> (from Greek: <i>ευθανασία -ευ</i>, eu, "good," <i>θάνατος</i>, thanatos, "death") is the practice of terminating the life of a human being or animal with an incurable disease, "intolerable" suffering, or a possibly undignified death in a painless or minimally painful way, for the purpose of limiting suffering. It is a form of homicide or self-suicide, which is what it is—self-murder.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Euthanasia refers both to the situation when a substance is administered to a person with intent to kill that person or, with basically the same intent, when removing someone from life support.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"></p><h2 class="western" lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 22px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 28px; margin: 0px; text-align: center; text-decoration-line: underline;"><span style="font-family: arial;">What is Mercy Killing?</span></h2><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">"Mercy killing" is simply another word for "euthanasia" in most English-language dictionaries. Euthanasia and, therefore, mercy killing is "the act of putting a person or animal to death painlessly or allowing them to die by withholding medical services, usually because of a painful and incurable disease."</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Greek word euthanasia translates to "good death," making it and mercy killing terms that can be comforting in the face of difficult medical situations. When any person, especially a family member or close friend, is experiencing pain, mental degeneration, or other adverse condition, our instinct is to relieve the person in any way possible. Sometimes, this desire to alleviate pain can become so strong in the caregiver or patient that it overrides our deeper natural impulse to preserve life and survive.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><h2 class="western" lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 22px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 28px; margin: 0px; text-align: center; text-decoration-line: underline;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Not By Emotion, But By God's Will</span></h2><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">However reasonable or logical mercy killing may seem to us, we do not live by emotion or by our own logic (Jeremiah 17:9) but by natural law and faith (Romans 1:17) and obedience to God and His Church (1 Samuel 15:22; Matthew 18:17). God has plans and an understanding we can never grasp. He is the Giver and Sustainer of life (Nehemiah 9:6), and we do not have the right to usurp His authority by ending our own life either by suicide or euthanasia. Near the end of Job's story in the Bible, his friend Elihu warns him, "Beware of turning to evil, which you seem to prefer to affliction" (Job 36:21). It is not our place to decide the time or manner of our own death. Mercy killing and euthanasia is a sin against God's plan and power. However, this does not mean that it is a sin to ask God for an early death if we desire to be united with Him in heaven—provided this be asked for in good faith and with pure motives and with an intention that God's will be done and not ours.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">We all know that from nature God is the One who opens the womb, the One who killeth and maketh alive. Thus, the right to the end of life is reserved only for God, because only God knows the goal toward which a life is being directed. God alone wishes to be the one who justifies or rejects a life.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">1 Kings 2:6: "<i>The Lord killeth and maketh alive, he bringeth down to hell, and bringeth back again."</i></span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.7cm;"></p><h2 class="western" lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 22px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 28px; margin: 0px; text-align: center; text-decoration-line: underline;"><span style="font-family: arial;">What Does The Bible Say About Euthanasia And Suffering?</span></h2><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Euthanasia and suffering can be a very difficult issue for some. However, the overriding truth that drives the conclusion that God is opposed to euthanasia and for suffering is His sovereignty and infinite knowledge of what is best for us. We know that physical death and suffering is inevitable (Psalm 89:48; Hebrews 9:27) and even necessary (John 12:24; Luke 14:27). However, God alone is sovereign over when and how a person's suffering or death occurs. Job testifies in Job 30:23, "I know you will bring me down to death, to the place appointed for all the living." Ecclesiastes 8:8 declares, "No man has power over the wind to contain it; so no one has power over the day of his death." God has the final say over death (see also 1 Corinthians 15:26, 54-56; Hebrews 2:9, 14-15; Revelation 21:4). Euthanasia is man's way of trying to usurp that authority from God.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This struggle of death and suffering is not new to humanity. In fact, one of the oldest stories in the Bible tells of Job's desire for death in the midst of his suffering. Job laments his life, even requesting God to kill him rather than allow his pain – emotional, physical and spiritual – to continue (Job 6:8-11). Most pertinently, Job declares, "I prefer strangling and death, rather than this body of mine. I despise my life; I shall now live no longer. Let me alone; my days have no meaning" (Job 7:15-16).</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Does the Bible endorse Job's feelings? It certainly recognizes that such feelings exist. Other characters in Scripture have, in desperation, asked for an early end to their lives, including Elijah (1 Kings 19:4) and Saul (1 Chronicles 10:4). However, the evil king Saul did not ask God to end his life, as did the holy prophet Elijah.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Death is a natural occurrence. Sometimes God allows a person to suffer for a long time before death occurs; other times, the person's suffering is cut short. No one but the greatest of saints enjoys suffering, but that does not make it right to determine that a person is ready to die. Often God's purposes are made known through a person's suffering. "When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider: God has made the one as well as the other…" (Ecclesiastes 7:14). Romans 5:3 teaches that tribulations bring about perseverance. God cares about those who are crying out for death to end their suffering. God gives purpose to life even to the end. Only God knows what is best, and His timing, even in the matter of one's death, is perfect.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Consider this: If Christ was the "man of sorrows" (Isaiah 53) by whose blood we have been washed and regenerated, what does this imply? How will he make us participants of the fruit of his blood, except by his sorrows? Did He not Himself declare: "And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:27). What will be the reason of our similarity with Him, if not the stigmas and wounds of His passion, marked upon ourselves? For there are no more secure and authentic signs of our predestination than this—patience in suffering. The apostle tells us, that by many tribulations we should enter the kingdom. And it was announced that Christ would not take any other path: "Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and so to enter into his glory?" (Luke 24:26).</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">--- "Therefore suffer manfully until death, and this will be for me a proof that you love me, and you should not turn back for any creature whatsoever, nor for any tribulation that you suffer; rather you should rejoice in them." --- Jesus speaking to St. Catherine of Siena</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.7cm;"></p><h2 class="western" lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 22px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 28px; margin: 0px; text-align: center; text-decoration-line: underline;"><span style="font-family: arial;">What Does The Bible Say About Suicide?</span></h2><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Bible mentions seven specific people who committed suicide: Abimelech (Judges 9:54), Saul (1 Samuel 31:4), Saul's armor-bearer (1 Samuel 31:4-6), Ahithophel (2 Samuel 17:23), Zimri (1 Kings 16:18), Razias (2 Maccabees 14:37-46), and Judas (Matthew 27:5). Five of them were wicked, sinful men (although not enough is said regarding Saul's armor-bearer to make a judgment as to his character). Haydock Bible commentary however relates "that to avoid a little shame and temporal punishment, they [both] rushed into those [punishments] which are inconceivably great and eternal [i.e., hell]"). Concerning Razias (2 Maccabees 14:37-46), Challoner Bible commentary relates, "St. Augustine (Epist. lxi. ad Dulcitium et lib. 2. cap. 23. ad Epist. 2. Gaud.) discussing this fact of Razias, says that the holy Scripture relates it, but doth not praise it, as to be admired or imitated, and that it was not well done by him, or at least not proper in this time of grace." And Calmet discussing this fact of Razis, says, "that we do not know whether he was thus inspired [by God] or not." Some consider Samson an instance of suicide (Judges 16:26-31), but Samson's goal was to kill the Philistines, not himself. His "desire of revenge was out of zeal for justice against the enemies of God and his people; and not out of private rancour and malice of heart" (Challoner). "He was judge of his people, and concerned for their wrongs: God, by miracle, testified that he approved of his sentiments" (Calmet). The Bible views suicide as equal to murder, which is what it is—self-murder. God is the only one who is to decide when and how a person should die.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">That suicide is unlawful and a mortal sin is the teaching of Holy Scripture and of the Church, which condemns the act as a most atrocious crime and, in hatred of the sin and to arouse the horror of its children, denies the suicide Christian burial—thus affirming his eternal condemnation. Moreover, suicide is directly opposed to the most powerful and invincible tendency of every creature and especially of man, the preservation of life. Finally, for a sane man deliberately to take his own life, he must, as a general rule, first have annihilated in himself all that he possessed of spiritual life, since suicide is in absolute contradiction to everything that the Christian religion teaches us as to the end and object of life and, except in cases of insanity, is usually the natural termination of a life of disorder, weakness, and cowardice.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">People will definitely lose their soul by committing suicide. Suicide is the ultimate statement of unbelief. People commit suicide because they don't have faith that God will help them, and we are saved by faith. One must persevere and trust God to the end, not end their lives through suicide.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.7cm;"></p><h2 class="western" lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 22px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 28px; margin: 0px; text-align: center; text-decoration-line: underline;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Patience in Suffering</span></h2><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Sometimes it is difficult to submit to God's will. However, He will give us sufficient grace to do what he requests. "My grace is sufficient for you" (2 Corinthians 12:9). He does not want us to be discouraged, even when we have to carry a great cross of suffering. In order to obey and submit to the Father's will, Christ Himself sweat blood by suffering for all of humanity in the garden of Gethsemani. The result of submitting to God's will and suffering with Christ, will be a magnificent triumph, a victory that Our Lady herself promised us at Fatima in 1917.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.01cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">---- "Pray, pray a great deal, and make sacrifices for sinners, for many souls go to hell, because they have no one to pray and make sacrifices for them."</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; margin-top: 0.01cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">--- The Blessed Virgin Mary at Fatima: August 19, 1917</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.01cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">---- "Why do you fear to take up the cross, when through it you can win a kingdom? In the cross is salvation, in the cross is life, in the cross is protection from enemies."</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; margin-top: 0.01cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">--- Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, Bk. 2, Ch. 12</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.01cm; margin-top: 0.01cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.01cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">---- "If you meet Me, you meet the Cross, and when you find the Cross, it is I whom you have found. ..... My Cross is the door of true life, that is why it is illuminated. And the soul that knows how to accept and love it, just as I have chosen it for her, will enter by it into the glory of life eternal.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.01cm; margin-top: 0.01cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Do you now understand how precious the Cross is? Do not shun it. Love it, for it comes from Me, and I shall never leave you without the strength to bear it. I bore it for love of you, will you not bear it for love of Me?"</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; margin-top: 0.01cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">--- Words of Christ to Josefa Menendez: May 20, 1923. Poitiers, France. Way of Divine Love, p. 328</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.7cm;"></p><h2 class="western" lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 22px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 28px; margin: 0px; text-align: center; text-decoration-line: underline;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Our Lady Of Fatima's Plea For Sacrifice</span></h2><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The most blessed Mary was the woman predicted in Scripture (Gen. 3:15), who was to crush the serpent's head, who is a murderer and liar from the beginning. She was the woman addressed by Jesus from the cross, left to us as His last will and testament as our mother (John 19:27). And she was the same woman clothed with the sun in the 12th chapter of the Apocalypse, who was also seen at Fatima clothed with the sun. At Fatima she said that men must cease offending God and do penance. Up to now, the majority has not paid attention to her request, and they persist in their mortal sins. She also solicited prayers and sacrifices for souls, because many go to perdition and eternal condemnation, because they have no one to pray and make sacrifices for them. With these words she was reminding us of the dogma of the communion of saints, that members of the church can help others by their prayers, sacrifices, sufferings, and reparation. "We, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another." (Rom. 12:5) She entreated the three seers of Fatima to offer themselves to suffer, and they responded, offering themselves in expiation. One of them, merely a child, attained heroism in suffering. Through these simple souls she is speaking to all of us, to submit to the will of Her Son, and to offer ourselves in reparation. Suffering and prayer is our one hope, our only hope and our last hope, for peace and salvation. If we do not pay attention to her request for prayer and sacrifices to save ourselves and souls from hell, there is no hope of victory.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.7cm;"></p><h2 class="western" lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 22px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 28px; margin: 0px; text-align: center; text-decoration-line: underline;"><span style="font-family: arial;">What Does The Bible Say About Animal/Pet Euthanasia?</span></h2><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">While the Bible nowhere explicitly addresses animal/pet euthanasia, there are definitely some biblical principles that apply. In Genesis 1:26 God declares, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." Essentially, as the highest order of created beings on the earth, humanity has full authority over all other creatures on the planet. While having dominion over the animals includes the right to kill animals for food (Genesis 9:2), it goes far beyond that. We are caretakers/stewards of God's creation. We are all, in a sense, to be shepherds over the creatures that share this planet with us.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Bible makes it clear that we are to treat animals with dignity, respect, and mercy. Proverbs 12:10 states, "A righteous man cares for the needs of his animal…" The responsibility to be merciful to animals was exempt from the command to not work on the Sabbath day: "If one of you have an ass or an ox that falls into a pit on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull him out?" (Luke 14:5). The Bible also indicates that when an animal is a threat to people or other animals, it should be put to death (Exodus 21:28-35).</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">With these principles in mind, a biblical practice of animal/pet euthanasia can be developed. We are to be merciful to animals, and we have the authority to end the lives of animals. So, if euthanizing an animal would be a merciful act, there is absolutely nothing wrong with it. If we see an animal suffering, with no hope of recovery, the most merciful thing we could do is quickly and as painlessly as possible end its life. We are also free to do everything we can to preserve an animal's life. But, again, when the time comes, and the most reasonable and merciful thing to do is to euthanize the animal, it is absolutely a decision God has given us the authority to make.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.7cm;"></p><h2 class="western" lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 22px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 28px; margin: 0px; text-align: center; text-decoration-line: underline;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Our Salvation is in the Cross - By St. Alphonsus de Liguori</span></h2><h3 class="western" lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 21px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 26px; margin: 25px auto -5px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">XI. Our Salvation is in the Cross.</span></h3><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“Behold the wood of the cross, on which hung the salvation of the world!” So sings the holy Church on Good Friday. In the cross is our salvation, our strength against temptations, our detachment from earthly pleasures; in the cross is found the true love of God. We must, therefore, resolve to bear with patience that cross which Jesus Christ sends us, and to die upon it for the sake of Jesus Christ, as he died upon his cross for the love of us. There is no other way to enter heaven but to resign ourselves to tribulations until death. And thus may we find peace, even in suffering. When the cross comes, what means is there for not loving peace, except the uniting of ourselves to the divine will? If we do not take this means, let us go where we will, let us do what we may, we shall never fly from the weight of the cross. On the other hand, if we carry it with good-will, it will bear us to heaven, and give us peace upon earth.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“What does he gain who refuses the cross? He increases its weight. But he who embraces it, and bears it with patience, lightens its weight, and the weight it self becomes a consolation; for God abounds with grace to all those who carry the cross with good-will in order to please him. By the law of nature there is no pleasure in suffering; but divine love, when it reigns in a heart, makes it take delight in its sufferings.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“Oh, that we would consider the happy condition we shall enjoy in Paradise, if we be faithful to God, in enduring toils without lamenting; if we do not complain against God, who commands us to suffer, but say with Job, “Let this be my comfort, that he should not spare in afflicting me, nor contradict the words of the Holy One.” If we are sinners and have deserved hell, this should be our comfort in the tribulations which befall us, that we should be chastised in this life; because this is the sure sign that God will deliver us from eternal chastisement.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“Miserable is that sinner who prospers in this world! Who ever suffers a bitter trial, let him cast a glance at the hell which he has deserved, and thus the pains he endures will seem light. If, then, we have committed sins, this ought to be our continual prayer to God, O Lord, spare not pains, but give me, I pray Thee, strength to endure them with patience, that I may not oppose myself to Thy holy will. I will not oppose the words of the Holy One; in everything I unite myself to that which Thou wilt appoint for me, saying always, with Jesus Christ, Even so, Father; for so hath it seemed good to Thee.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“The soul which is governed by divine love seeks only God. When a man has given all the substance of his house for love, he will despise it as nothing. He that loves God despises and renounces everything that does not help him to love God; and in all the good works that he does, in his penitential acts and his labors for the glory of God, he seeks not consolations and sweetnesses of spirit; it is enough for him to know that he pleases God. In a word, he ever strives in all things to deny himself, renouncing every pleasure of his own; and then he boasts of nothing and is puffed up with nothing; but calls himself an unprofitable servant, and, setting himself in the lowest place, he abandons himself to the divine will and mercy.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“We must change our tastes in order to become saints. If we do not arrive at a state in which bitter appears sweet, and sweet bitter, we shall never attain to a perfect union with God. In this consist all our security and perfection: in suffering with resignation all things that are contrary to our inclinations, as they happen to us day by day, whether they are small or great. And we must suffer them for those purposes for which the Lord desires that we should endure them: (1) to purify our selves from the sins we have committed; (2) to merit eternal life; (3) to please God, which is the chief and most noble end at which we can aim in all our doings. Let us, then, ever offer ourselves to God, to suffer every cross that he may send us; and let us take care to be ever ready to endure every toil for the love of him, in order that, when it comes we may be ready to embrace it, saying, as Jesus Christ said to Peter when he was taken in the garden by the Jews to be led to death, “The cup which My Father hath given Me, shall I not drink it?” God hath given me this cross for my good, and shall I say to him that I will not receive it?</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“And whenever the weight of any cross seems very heavy, let us immediately have recourse to prayer, and God will give us strength to endure it meritoriously. And let us then recollect what St. Paul said, that no tribulation of this world, however grievous it may be, can be compared with the glory which God prepares for us in the world to come. Let us, therefore, reanimate our faith whenever tribulations afflict us; let us first cast our eyes upon the crucified One, who was in agonies for us upon the cross, and let us look also at Paradise, and on the blessings that God prepares for those who suffer for his love; and thus we shall not be faint-hearted, but shall thank him for the pains he gives us to suffer, and shall desire that he may give us more to suffer. Oh, how the saints rejoice in heaven, not that they have possessed honors and pleasures upon earth, but that they have suffered for Jesus Christ! Everything that passes is trifling; that only is great which is eternal, and never passes away.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“O my Jesus! how comforting is that which Thou sayest to me, “Turn unto Me, and I will turn to you.” For the sake of creatures, and of my own miserable tastes, I have left Thee; now I leave all, and turn to Thee; and I am confident that Thou wilt not reject me, if I desire to love Thee; for Thou hast told me that Thou art ready to embrace me. Receive me, then, into Thy grace; make me know the great good that Thou art, and the love that Thou hast borne to me, that I may no more leave Thee. O my Jesus! pardon me; O my beloved! pardon me the offences I have committed against Thee. Give me the love of Thee, and then do with me what Thou wilt. Chastise me as much as Thou wilt; deprive me of every thing, but deprive me not of Thyself. Were the whole world to come and offer me all its blessings, I declare that I desire Thee alone, and nothing more. O my Mother! recommend me to thy Son—he giveth thee whatever thou askest; in thee I trust.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><h3 class="western" lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 21px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 26px; margin: 25px auto -5px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">XII. How much it Pleases Jesus Christ that we Suffer for the Love of Him.</span></h3><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“If any one will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” It will be useful to make a few reflections on these words of Jesus Christ. He says, “If any one will come after Me;” he does not say, “to me,” but, “after me.” The Lord desires that we should come close after him; we must therefore walk in the same road of thorns and sufferings in which he walked. He goes before, and does not rest until he reaches Calvary, where he dies; therefore, if we love him, we must follow him even to death. And thus it is necessary that every one should deny himself; that is, that he should deny himself everything that self-love demands, but that is not pleasing to Jesus Christ.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“Our Lord says further, “Let him take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” Let us consider these last words one by one. Let him take up; it avails little to carry the cross by compulsion; all sinners bear it, but without merit; to bear it with merit, we must embrace it voluntarily. His cross; under this word is implied every kind of tribulation, which is called a “cross” by Jesus Christ, in order that the name may render it sweet, from the thought that he died on the cross for love of us.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“He also says, “his cross.” Some persons when they receive spiritual consolations, offer themselves to suffer as great things as were endured by the martyrs, hot irons, piercing nails, and tortures; but then they cannot endure a headache, the carelessness of a friend, the ill temper of a relative. My brother, my sister, God does not ask you to endure hot irons, piercing nails, and tortures; but he desires that you should suffer patiently this pain, this annoyance, this contempt. A certain nun would fain go to suffer in a desert; she would perform great acts of penance; but yet she cannot endure such a one for her Superior, or such a one for her companion in her duties; but God desires that she should bear that cross which he gives her to suffer, and not that which she would herself choose.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“He says daily. Some persons embrace the cross at the beginning, when it reaches them; but when it lasts long, they say, “Now I can bear no more.” Yet God wills that we should go on to endure it with patience, and even that we should bear it continually, even till death. See, then, that salvation and perfection consist in these three words, let him deny; we must deny to our self-love whatever is not right: let him take up; we must embrace the cross that God gives us: let him follow; we must follow the footsteps of Jesus Christ even to death.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“Let us be persuaded that for this end God keeps us in the world, that we may bear the crosses he sends us; and in this consists the merit of our life. Therefore our Saviour, because he loves us, came into this world, not for enjoyment, but to suffer, in order that we might follow in his steps. “To this end you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving you an example that you should follow his steps.” Let us watch him, as he goes before with his cross, to point out the road by which we must follow him, if we would be saved. Oh, what a joy it is, in every trouble that befalls us, to say to Jesus Christ, “Lord, is it Thy will that I should endure this cross? I accept it, and will endure it as long as it pleases Thee.”</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“Many persons are delighted to hear one speak of prayer, of peace, of love to Jesus Christ; but they find little pleasure in hearing one speak of crosses or of suffering. These are satisfied so long as the wind breathes with spiritual delights, but if it ceases, and there comes some adversity or desolation, in which the Lord hides himself in order to prove them, and deprives them of their usual comfort, they leave off prayer, Communion, and mortifications, and abandon themselves to ill-humor and lukewarmness, seeking their pleasure from earthly things. But these souls love themselves more than Jesus Christ; while they who do not love him with an interested love,—for the sake of consolations, but with a pure love, and only because he is worthy of hove,—do not leave their usual devout exercises for any dryness or weariness which they experience, being content to please God; and they offer themselves to suffer this desolation even till death, and through all eternity, if God so will it. Jesus Christ, says St. Francis de Sales, is as kind in desolation as in consolation. Souls that love God find their comfort and sweetness in suffering; in recollecting that they suffer for his love, and say, “How sweet it is, O my Lord! to those who love Thee to suffer for Thee! Oh, that I might die for the love of Thee, my Jesus, who hast died for me!” All this, and still more, is claimed from us by Jesus Christ, who chose a life of pains, and a bitter death, without the slightest relief, for love of us; in order to teach us that if we would love him, we must love him as he loved us. Oh, how dear to Jesus Christ is a soul which suffers and loves! O divine gift! gift, above every other gift; to love in suffering, and to suffer in loving!</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“O my Jesus! Thou alone hast been able to teach us these maxims of salvation, all contrary to the maxims of the world; and Thou alone canst give us strength to suffer crosses with patience. I do not pray Thee to exempt me from suffering; I only pray Thee to give me strength to suffer with patience and resignation. O Eternal Father, Thy Son has promised that whatever we ask Thee in his name, Thou wilt give it us. Behold, we ask this of Thee: give us grace to endure with patience the pains of this life; hear us for the love of Jesus Christ. And Thou, O my Jesus! pardon me all the offences I have committed against Thee, in that I have not been willing to suffer with patience the troubles Thou hast sent me. Give me Thy love, that it may give me strength to suffer all for love of Thee. Deprive me of everything, of every earthly good, of relatives, friends, health of body, of every comfort; deprive me even of life; but not of Thy love. Give me Thyself, and I ask no more. O most holy Virgin! obtain for me an enduring love for Jesus Christ, even till death.” (St. Alphonsus de Liguori - The Ascetical Works. Volume II. The Way of Salvation and of Perfection.)</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-831939533339323924.post-49034199478881981522021-10-28T07:29:00.003-04:002021-10-28T07:30:13.487-04:00St. Bridget Revelations Book 5<span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><u><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjjvFEXqGT4wmzzaZvbH34ZdjkbKejUfQqyoaat77GnnNjvV9lxWmXguC6GG1UXGMftGuQ3jpWoX-F_-KSsNVi1IhZQBxwFVZsTinoF8BQHHXvqiacKbPmVxXkYgxEZwywtxXRrSBdK3RlX7mOXuK5TrerWAYd62T48ifHHhvhZaklJfqq-RSe5cPz1=s566" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="566" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjjvFEXqGT4wmzzaZvbH34ZdjkbKejUfQqyoaat77GnnNjvV9lxWmXguC6GG1UXGMftGuQ3jpWoX-F_-KSsNVi1IhZQBxwFVZsTinoF8BQHHXvqiacKbPmVxXkYgxEZwywtxXRrSBdK3RlX7mOXuK5TrerWAYd62T48ifHHhvhZaklJfqq-RSe5cPz1=s320" width="226" /></a></div><br />St. Bridget's Revelations - Book 5 “The Book of Questions”</u></span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Prologue</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Here begins the prologue to the fifth book of heavenly revelations which is called the Book of Questions.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Here begins the fifth book of Christ's heavenly revelations to blessed Birgitta of the kingdom of Sweden. It is deservedly entitled the Book of questions because it proceeds by means of questions to which Christ the Lord gives wonderful solutions. It was revealed to that same lady in a wonderful way, as she and her confessors often testified in their own words. For it once happened that on a certain day, she was riding horse and traveling to her castle at Vadstena in the company of many members of her household who were riding along with her. Then, as she was thus riding along the road, she began to raise her mind to God in prayer. And at once she was caught up in spirit and went, as it were, outside herself, alienated from the senses of her body and suspended in an ecstasy of mental contemplation. She saw then, in spirit, a ladder which was fixed in the earth and whose top touched the sky. And at its top, in the sky, she saw the Lord Jesus Christ seated on a wonderful throne like a judge judging. At his feet stood the Virgin Mary; and round about the throne, there was an infinite army of angels and a teeming multitude of saints. And, in the middle of that same ladder, the aforesaid Lady Birgitta saw a certain religious, known to her and at that time still alive in the body - a man of great erudition in the science of theology but full of guile and diabolic malice. Because of his extremely impatient and restless gestures, this man looked more like a devil than a humble religious. And then the said lady saw the thoughts and all the internal affections of the heart of that religious and how he manifested them with inordinate and restless gestures, by means of questions, to Christ the Judge seated on the throne - as follows below. And then the Lady Birgitta herself saw and heard in spirit how Christ the Judge, with most meek and dignified gestures, replied briefly to each question with great wisdom and how, at times, our Lady, the Virgin Mary, spoke some words to the same Lady Birgitta - as this book will show in greater detail below.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Moreover, after the lady had in her mind, in a single instant, the whole of this book by means of one and the same revelation and why she was now approaching the aforementioned castle, the members of her household grasped the bridle of her horse and began to shake her and, as it were, to awaken her from that rapture. And when she had returned to herself, she was exceedingly grieved by the fact that she was now deprived of such divine sweetness. This Book of Questions then remained fixed in her heart and her memory as effectively as if it had all been carved on a marble tablet.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">But she herself immediately wrote it out in her own language; and he confessor translated it into the literary tongue, just as he had been accustomed to translate the other books of revelations.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">FIRST INTERROGATION</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">I saw a throne in the sky, and on it sat the Lord Jesus Christ as Judge. Before his feet sat the Virgin Mary; and around the throne, there was an army of angels and an infinite multitude of saints. A religious, very learned in theology, stood on a high rung of a ladder which was fixed in the earth and whose summit touched the sky. His gestures were very impatient and restless, as if he were full of guile and malice. He questioned the Judge, saying:</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">First question. "O Judge, I ask you: You have given me a mouth. May I not say the things that please me?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Second question. "You have given me eyes. May I not see with them those things that delight me?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Third question. "You have given me ears. Why am I not to hear with them those things that please me?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Fourth question. "You have given me hands. Why am I not to do with them what agrees with me?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Fifth question. "You have given me feet. Why shall I not walk with them as I desire?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Christ's response to the first question. The Judge, who sat on the throne and whose gestures were meek and very dignified, replied: "Friend, I gave you a mouth that you might speak rationally about things that are useful for your body and soul and about things that belong to my honor."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the second question. "Second, I gave you eyes that you might see evils to be fled and healthful things to be kept."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the third question. "Third, I gave you ears that you might hear those things that belong to truth and honesty."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the fourth question. "Fourth, I gave you hands that with them you might do those things that are necessary for the body and not harmful to the soul."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the fifth question. "Fifth, I gave you feet that you might draw back from love of the world and go to your soul's rest and love and to me, your Creator and Redeemer."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">SECOND INTERROGATION</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">First question. Again the same religious appeared on his rung as before and said: "O Christ, Judge, you voluntarily bore most bitter pain. Why my I, for that reason, not treat myself honorably and take pride in this world?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Second question. "Item. You have given me temporal goods. Why then may I not possess those things that I crave?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Third question. "Item. Why have you given me limbs for my body if I am not to move them and exercise them as I will?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Fourth question. "Item. Why have you given law and justice if not for doing vengeance?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Fifth question. "Item. You have permitted us to have rest and quiet. Why have you arranged for us to feel weariness and tribulation?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the first question. The Judge replied: "Friend, man's pride is long tolerated out of my patience in order that my humility may be exalted and my virtue may be manifested. And because pride was not created by me but was invented by the devil, it therefore must be fled because it leads to hell. But humility must be practiced because it leads to heaven. And I, God, have taught it by my word and my example."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the second question. "Item. I have given and entrusted temporal goods to man that man might have the use of them in a rational way and that he might exchange these created things for that which is uncreated - namely, for me, the Lord and Creator - by praising and honoring me for my good things and by not living in accord with the desire of the flesh."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the third question. "Item. The body's limbs are given to man so that they may represent for the soul a similitude of the virtues and be for the soul, as it were, its instruments for duty and virtue."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the fourth question. "Item. Justice and law have been instituted by me that they may be accomplished with supreme charity and compassion and that divine unity and concord may be strengthened among humans."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the fifth question. "Item. I enabled man to have bodily rest and quiet in order to strengthen the weakness of the flesh and to make the soul gain power and strength. But because the flesh is sometimes imprudently insolent, one must cheerfully tolerate tribulations and all those things by which the flesh may be corrected."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">THIRD INTERROGATION</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">First question. Again the same religious appeared on his rung as before and said: "O Judge, I ask you: Why did you give us bodily senses if we are not to move and live according to the feelings of the flesh?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Second question. "Item. Why have you given us things to nourish and sustain the flesh - namely, foods and other delights - if we are not to live to our own satisfaction according to our carnal appetites?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Third question. "Item. Why have you given us free will if not to follow our own choice?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Fourth question. "Item. Why have you given men and women sexual organs and the seed for intercourse if it may not be spilt according to the appetites of the flesh?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Fifth question. "Item. Why have you given a heart and a will if not to like that which tastes sweeter and love that which is more delightful to enjoy?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the first question. The Judge replied: "Friend, I gave man sense and intelligence that he might consider and imitate the ways of life, and flee the ways of death."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the second question. "Item. I gave foods and the necessities of the flesh for the body's moderate sustenance and so that it might more vigorously execute the virtues of the soul and not be weakened by excessive consumption."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the third question. "Item. I gave man free will for this reason: that he himself might abandon his own will because of me, his God, and that thereby, man might gain greater merit."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the fourth question. "Item. I gave the seed for intercourse for this reason: that it might germinate in the proper way and in the proper place and that it might bear fruit for a just and rational cause."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the fifth question. "Item. I gave man a heart so that he might enclose in it me, his God, who am everywhere and incomprehensible, and so that his delight might be in thinking of me."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The first revelation in the Book of Questions - made to Lady Birgitta by the Virgin Mary - in which Mary informs her about five virtues which she ought to have inside herself and five others outside.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Mother speaks: "Daughter, you must have five inward things and five outward. First outwardly: a mouth clean of all detraction, ears closed to idle talk, modest eyes, hands busy with good works, and withdrawal from the world's way of life. Item. Inwardly, you must have five things: namely, fervent love for God, a wise longing for him, the distribution of your temporal goods with a just and right intention and in a rational way, humble flight from the world, and a long-suffering and patient expectation of my promises."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">FOURTH INTERROGATION</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">First question. Again the same religious appeared on his rung as before and said: "O Judge, why should I search for God's wisdom when I have the wisdom of the world?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Second question. "Why should I mourn and weep when the world's joy and glory are mine in abundance?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Third question. "Item. Tell me why or how I ought to rejoice in the afflictions of the flesh."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Fourth question. "Item. Why should I fear when I have the force of my own strength?</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Fifth question. "Item. Why am I to obey others if my will is in my own control?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the first question. The Judge replied: "Friend, everyone is wise toward the world is blind toward me, his God. And therefore, to acquire my divine wisdom, it is necessary that one seek after it with diligence and humility."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the second question. "Item. Everyone who has the world's honors and its joy is driven by various cares and is involved in bitter things that lead to hell. Therefore, in order not to deviate from the way of heaven, it is necessary to be devoutly cautious, to weep, and to pray."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the third question. "Item. It is very useful to rejoice amidst the affliction and infirmity of the flesh because my mercy draws near to one who has afflictions of the flesh; and through that mercy, such a person more easily approaches eternal life."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the fourth question. "Item. Everyone who is strong gets his strength from me, and I am stronger than he. Therefore, one must everywhere fear that strength will be taken away."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the fifth question. "Item. Whoever has free will in his own hands ought to fear and truly understand that nothing so easily leads to eternal punishment as one's own will without a leader. Therefore, one who relinquishes his own will to me, his God, and obeys me will have heaven without punishment."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">FIFTH INTERROGATION</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">First question. Again, the same religious appeared as before and said: "O Judge, why have you created worms which can harm and cannot profit?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Second question. "Item. Why have you created ferocious beasts that also harm human beings?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Third question. "Item. Why do you send infirmities and pains into bodies?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Fourth question. "Item. Why do you suffer the iniquity of unjust judges who afflict their subjects and scourge them as if they were bought slaves?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Fifth question. "Item. Why is man's body troubled even in the moment of death?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the first question. The Judge replied: "Friend, I, God and Judge, created heaven and earth and all that is in them - but nothing without a reason and nothing without a similarity to spiritual things. For, just as the souls of the saints resemble the holy angels who have life and happiness, so the souls of the unjust resemble the demons who have everlasting death. Therefore, because you have asked why I created worms, I answer you that I created them to show the manifold power of my wisdom and goodness. For even though they can harm, nevertheless they do not harm except by my permission and because sin requires it in order that man, who scorns submission to his own superior, may groan over his ability to be troubled by this lowest of things and thus may know that he is nothing without me, whom even irrational things serve and at whose beckoning all things stand."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the second question. "Item. As to why I created ferocious beasts, I answer: All that I created was not only good, but even very good, and was created either for man's benefit and testing or for the good of the other creatures and so that man, being so much happier than all others, might serve me, his God, all the more humbly. Moreover, beasts do harm in temporal things for two reasons: first, for the recognition and reproof of wickedness so that the wicked may understand from their scourges that they must obey me, their superior. Second, beasts also harm the good in order to advance their virtue and to purge them. And because man, by sinning, has raised himself up against me, his God, therefore all things which had been subject to man have been raised up against him."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the third question. "Item. As to why infirmity comes to the body, I answer: This happens as a major warning and also because of the vices of incontinency and excess, in order that man may learn spiritual moderation and patience by bridling his flesh."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the fourth question. "Item. Why is there toleration for unjust judges? This happens for the purging of others and because of my own patience. Just as gold is purged in the fire, even so, through the malice of the wicked, souls are purged and educated and drawn back from things that must not be done. Therefore, I patiently tolerate the wicked so that the ears of the devil's grain may be separated from the wheat of the good and so that out of my hidden and divine justice their desire may be fulfilled."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the fifth question. "Item. Why does the body suffer punishment in death? It is just that man be punished in ways similar to the ways of his sinning. And because he sins through inordinate pleasure, it is right that he be stricken with a measure of bitterness and pain. Therefore, for some, death begins here - a death that will endure without end in hell. For others, death ends in purgatory; and then begins everlasting joy."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The second revelation in the Book of Questions, in which the Virgin Mary speaks to blessed Birgitta and says that one who desires to taste divine sweetness must first endure bitterness.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Mother speaks: "Which of the saints had the sweetness of the Spirit without first experiencing bitterness? Therefore, one who craves sweetness must not flee away from things that are bitter."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">SIXTH INTERROGATION</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">First question. Again there appeared on the rung the same man as before, and he said: "O Judge, I ask you why one infant comes forth alive from its mother's womb and obtains baptism while another, after receiving a soul, dies within its mother's viscera?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Second question. "Item. Why, for the just, do many things have an untoward outcome while, for the unjust, all things are as they wish?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Third question. "Item. Why do plagues and famines come - and the inconveniences that afflict the body?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Fourth question. "Item. Why does death come so unexpectedly that it can very rarely be foreseen?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Fifth question. "Item. Why do you suffer men to go to war with deliberate wrath and envy and in a spirit of vengeance?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the first question. The Judge replied: "Friend, you question not out of charity but only because I permit it. And that is why I answer you in a way that resembles words. You ask why one infant dies within its mother's viscera and another comes forth alive. The reason is this. All the strength of a child's body is taken from the seed of its father and mother; but if it is conceived without due strength because of some infirmity of the father or the mother, it quickly dies. As a result of the parents' neglect or lack of care - and also as a result of my divine justice - many things happen so that what was joined together quickly separates. Nevertheless, although the soul had no longer time to vivify the body, it will not therefore meet with a harsh punishment but rather with a mercy known to me. When the sun streams into a house, its rays alone are seen. Only those who gaze at the sky see the sun as it is in its beauty. So it is with the souls of such children. Because they lack baptism, they do not see my face. Nevertheless, they do draw nearer to mercy than to punishment - although not in the same way as my elect."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the second question. "Item. As to why untoward things befall the just, I answer: My justice is that every just man should obtain what he seeks. But no man is just who does not desire to suffer untoward things for the sake of obedience and the perfection of justice and who does not do good to his neighbor out of divine charity. My friends consider what I, their God and Redeemer, have done for them and what I have promised to them; and also they attentively see the wickedness in the world. Therefore, as a precaution, they more gladly seek - for my honor, for their own salvation, and for the avoidance of sin - the untoward things of the world rather than its prosperity. And therefore I permit tribulations to befall them.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">If some of them suffer with too little patience, I do not permit this to happen without a reason; and I stand by them in their trouble. When a son, in his boyhood, is rebuked by a charitable mother, he does not know enough to thank her because he cannot weigh the cause for which he is being reproved; but when he has reached the age of discretion, he thanks his mother because through her instruction he has been drawn away from wrongdoing and has become accustomed to discipline and good behavior. I treat my elect in a similar way. Because they entrust their will to me and love me above all things, they have tribulations for a time. And although, at present, they may not fully understand my benefactions, nevertheless I am doing what is best for them in the future.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">But because the impious do not care about justice and are not afraid to inflict injuries and because they seek the transitory things of the world and love earthly delights, therefore, out of my justice, they prosper for a time, free from scourges, lest they sin the more if they be touched by untoward things. However, not all the wicked are given what they desire - in order that they may know that it lies within my power to give gifts to whomever I will. For I grant good things even to the ungrateful and although they do not deserve them."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the third question. "Item. As to why plagues and famines come, I answer: It is written in the law that one who commits a theft must give back more than he took. Because the ungrateful accept my gifts and abuse them and do not pay me the honor that is my due from them, I therefore exact of their bodies more trouble in the present in order to spare their souls in the future. Sometimes, too, I spare the body and punish man in and through that which he loves so that he, who would not acknowledge me when he was happy, may recognize and understand me when he is troubled."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the fourth question. "Item. As to why death comes suddenly, I answer: If man knew the time of his death, he would serve me out of fear and faint with sorrow. Therefore, in order that man might serve me out of charity and that he might always be solicitous about himself and secure about me, the hour of his exit is uncertain - and deservedly so. For, when man deserted that which was certain and true, it was necessary and right that he be afflicted with uncertainty."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the fifth question. "Item. As to why I permit men to proceed to war while filled with wrath, I answer: Everyone who has the full intention of harming his neighbor is like the devil and is the devil's member and his instrument. I would be doing an injury to the devil if I deprived him of his servant without justice. Therefore, even as I use an instrument of my own for whatever pleases me, so it is justice that in one who would rather be the devil's member than mine the devil operates and does his own deeds either for the purgation of others or for the completion of his malice - but only as I permit and as sin demands."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">SEVENTH INTERROGATION</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">First question. Again, the same religious appeared on his rung as before, and said: "O Judge, I ask you. Why are ugliness and beauty spoken of in the world?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Second question. "Item. Why must I hate the world's beauty when I myself am beautiful and of noble descent?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Third question. "Item. Why may I not extol myself above others although I am rich?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Fourth question. "Item. Why may I not prefer myself to others although I am more honorable than they?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Fifth question. "Item. Why may I not seek my own praise although I am good and praiseworthy?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Sixth question. "Item. Why am I not to demand remuneration if I do convenient things for others?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the first question. The Judge replied: "Friend, the ugliness and the beauty of this world are like bitterness and sweetness. The ugliness of the world - which is its contempt and its adversity - is a profitable sort of bitterness that heals the just. The world's beauty is its prosperity; and this is a flattering sort of sweetness, but false and seductive. Therefore he who flees the beauty of the world and spits out its sweetness will not come to the ugliness of hell or taste its bitterness, but will ascend to my joy. Therefore, in order to escape the ugliness of hell and to acquire the sweetness of heaven, it is necessary to go after the world's ugliness rather than its beauty. For even though all things were well created by me and are all very good, nevertheless one must beware especially of those things which can furnish an occasion for the loss of the souls of those who use my gifts irrationally."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the second question. "Item. As to why you must not glory in your descent, I answer that what you received from your father was worthless, putrid, and dirty; and that in your mother's womb you were as if dead and totally unclean. It was not in your power to be of born of noble or ignoble parents, but it was my pity and my goodness that brought you into this light. Therefore, you who call yourself noble, humble yourself under me, your God, who arranged for you to be born of nobles. Conform yourself to your neighbor; for he is of the same matter as you - although by my providence you have come from what is, in the eyes of the world, a lofty lineage and he from a lowly one. O you noble! Fear even more than he who is not noble, for the nobler and richer you are, the stricter will your accounting be and the greater your judgment because you have received more."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the third question. "Item. As to why you must not take pride in riches, I answer: The world's riches are yours only for your necessary nourishment and clothing. The world was made in order that man - having sustenance for his body - might return, by means of labor and humility, to me, his God, whom he disobediently despised and for whom, in his pride, he had no care. Moreover, if you say that temporal goods are yours, I tell you for very certain that you, as it were, violently usurp for yourself all those things that you have beyond your necessities.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">For all temporal goods ought to be common and, out of charity, equal for those in need. But you superfluously usurp for yourself things that should be given to others out of compassion. And yet, it is reasonable that many people have much more than others; they own it rationally and they distribute it with discretion. Therefore, lest you be reproved more gravely at the judgment because you have received greater things than others, you are advised not to put yourself above others by boasting and by hoarding. For delightful as it is in this world to have more temporal things than others and to enjoy an abundance, at the judgment it will be a fearsome and exceedingly grave matter if one has managed even licit things unreasonably."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the fourth and fifth questions. "Item. As to why one must not seek personal praise, I answer: No one is good of himself except me, God alone; and everyone who is good has received that goodness from me. If then you, who are nothing, seek your own praise and not the praise of me, to whom belongs every perfect gift, false is your praise and you do an injustice to me, your Creator. Since all the goods that you have are from me, you should give to me all praise. And since I, your God, bestow upon you all temporal things - strength and health, conscience and discretion to think of what is more beneficial to yourself, and time and life - it is I who should be honored for all these things that have been given to you, if you manage them well and reasonably. But if you manage them badly, the fault and the ingratitude are yours alone."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the sixth question. "Item. As to why one must not seek a temporal reward for good deeds in the present, I answer you: If anyone does good to others with the intention of caring not for a recompense from man but only for such as I, God, choose to give him, such a person shall have much in return for little, the eternal in place of the temporal. But he who seeks something earthly in exchange for something temporal will have what he desires but will lose what is everlasting. Therefore, in order to obtain the eternal in exchange for what is transitory, it is better to seek recompense not from man but from me."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">EIGHTH INTERROGATION</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">First question. Again the same religious appeared on his rung as before and said: "O Judge, I ask you: Why do you permit it that gods are placed in temples and honored as yourself when your kingdom is nobler than any other?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Second question. "Item. Why do you not cause your glory to be seen by humans in this life so that they may more fervently desire it?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Third question. "Item. Since your saints and angels are more noble and more holy than all other creatures, why are they not seen by humans in this life?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Fourth question. "Item. Since the pains of hell are incomparably horrible, why do you not cause them to be seen by humans in this life so that they may be fled?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Fifth question. "Item. Since the demons are so incomparably deformed and horrible, why do they not appear to humans in a visible way? For then no one would follow them or consent to them."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the first question. The Judge answered: "Friend, I am God, the Creator of all. I do not act less justly to the wicked than to the good; for I am justice itself. My justice decrees that entrance into heaven must be obtained through steadfast faith and rational hope and fervent charity. That which is more fervently loved by the heart is more frequently thought of and more diligently adored. Such is the case with the gods that are placed in temples although they are neither gods nor creators; for there is only one sole Creator - namely, I, God, the father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Nevertheless, the people and the owners of the temples love these gods more than they love me - their purpose being prosperity in this world and not life with me. Therefore, if I were to annihilate those things which humans love more than they love me and if I were to permit myself to be adored against their will, I would indeed do them an injustice by taking away their free will and desire. And so, because they do not have faith in me, and since they have in their hearts something more delightful than I, it is therefore reasonable for me to permit them to fashion externally what they love and long for in their minds. They love created things more than me, the Creator, whom they can know in a provable way from signs and deeds if only they would use their reason. Therefore, since they are blinded, cursed are their created works and cursed are their idols. They will be put to shame and judged for their foolishness because they are unwilling to understand how sweet am I, their God, who with fervent love created man and redeemed him."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the second question. "Item. As to the reason why my glory is not seen, I answer: My glory cannot be spoken, and it cannot be compared to any other sweetness or goodness. Therefore, if my glory were to be seen as it is, then man's perishable body would weaken and fail as did the senses of those who saw my glory on the mountain. And also because of the soul's joy, the body would faint from its labor and would be incapable of physical activities. Therefore, because there is no entrance into heaven without the labor of charity, and so that faith may have its reward and the body may be capable of work, my glory is hidden for a time in order that, through desire and faith, it may be seen all the more fully and happily forever."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the third question. "Item. As to why the saints are not seen as they now exist, I answer: If my saints were seen openly and visibly spoke, they would be honored as I myself; and then too, faith would have no merit. Nor would the frailty of flesh be strong enough to see them. Moreover, my justice does not will that such brightness be seen by such frailty. Therefore, my saints are not heard or seen, as they now exist, in order that all honor may be shown to me and that man may know that no one is to be loved above me. However, if my saints do sometimes appear, they do so, not in that form of glory in which they truly exist, but in that form in which - by hiding the fullness of their virtue - they can be seen without disturbing a corporeal intelligence."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the fourth question. "Item. As to why the pains of hell are not seen, I answer: If hell's pains were visibly seen as they now exist, man would be totally frozen with fear and would seek heaven out of fear and not out of love. Since no one ought to seek heavenly joy out of fear of punishment but rather out of divine charity, these pains are therefore now hidden. Indeed, before the separation of soul and body, those who are good and holy cannot taste that ineffable joy as it is; nor can the wicked taste their punishments. But when the soul has been separated from the body, then they will feel and experience what they were unwilling to probe with their understanding when it was still possible."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the fifth question. "Item. As to why the demons do not appear visibly, I answer: If their horrible deformity were seen as it now exists, a soul seeing this would go out of its mind at the very sight; the whole body would begin to quiver like a trembling man's; drained by fear, the heart would die; and the feet would not be strong enough to support the other limbs. Therefore, in order that the soul may remain stable in its sense, that the heart may be vigilant in its love for me, and that the body may be capable of laboring in my service, the demons' deformity is hidden - and so that the demons' evil endeavor may be restrained."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The third revelation, in which Christ speaks to his bride, blessed Birgitta, and gives her - in a similitude - instruction concerning a true physician who is a healer, a false physician who is a murderer, and a man who makes a guess. He says that if a man takes responsibility for sinners and gives them help or opportunity for sinning and if they then die in sin, God will exact an account of the death of those souls at his hand. But if he takes responsibility for them in order that they may cease from sinning and that they may be instructed by him in the virtues and if, through his teaching, they do amend, then he and they shall have a great reward from God.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Son of God speaks: "When there is a sick man in the house, if a professional physician goes in to see him, the physician quickly considers, from outward signs, what sickness the man has. Therefore, if a physician who knows the sick man's illness gives him a remedy which results in death, he is denounced as a murderer and is not a true physician. If someone knows how to cure and practices medicine for the sake of worldly repayment, he will receive no recompense from me. But if someone practices medicine for love of me and for my honor, then I am obligated to give him recompense. If someone who is not a master of medicine believes, according to his own guesswork, that this or that is good for the sick man and gives him something with a kind intention, then he must not be declared a murderer if the sick man dies - but rather, a presumptuous fool. If, however, the sick man recovers as a result of the fool's medicine, then the fool must have the reward, not of a master, but of a guesser; for he gave the medicine, not out of knowledge, but only according to his own guesswork.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">"Behold, I will tell you what these things mean. Those people known to you are spiritually sick and are inclined to pride and cupidity through following their own will. Therefore, if their friend - whom I compare to a physician - grants them help and advice which causes them to transgress through pride and ambition and to die spiritually, then I will indeed exact an account of their death at his hand. For, although they die of their own iniquity, nevertheless - because he has been the minister and the cause of their death - he shall not be immune from punishment. If, however, led by natural love, he coddles them and raises them up in the world for his own comfort and for worldly honor, he is not to hope for recompense from me. But if, like a good physician, he thinks of them wisely and says to himself: 'These people are sick and need medicine. Therefore, although to them my remedy may seem bitter, nevertheless - because it is healthful - I will give it to them in order that they may not die a hard death. Therefore, while restraining them, I shall give them food lest they faint from hunger; and I shall give them clothes that they may walk honestly in accord with their station; I shall keep them under my regimen that they may not become insolent; I shall also provide for their other needs in order that they may not be lifted up by pride or grow dissolute through presumption or have occasion to do harm to others.'</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Such a physician as this will have a large recompense from me, for such admonishment is pleasing to me. However, if their friend - thinking to himself - says this: 'I will give them the necessities, but I do not know whether this is expedient for them or not. Nevertheless, I do not believe that I am displeasing God or hindering their health;' and if they then die - or rather, transgress - because of his gift, their friend will not be declared a murderer. Moreover, although the friend will not have a full recompense, nevertheless - to the extent that he loves their souls - his good will and kindly affection will relieve the sick and will cause them to grow toward that health that they would have more difficultly obtained without the cooperation of his charity. However, one piece of advice is necessary here. For according to a popular proverb, a harmful kind of animal cannot do injury if it is enclosed; and being enclosed and receiving the necessities, it becomes just as strong and fat as the animal that lives at large and on its own. Now, since these people are the kind whose heart and blood seek lofty things and whose will thirsts more the more it drinks, therefore their friend is not to give them any occasion to transgress; for they desire to inflame their appetites but lack the strength to extinguish them."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">THE NINTH INTERROGATION</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">First question. When these things had been said, the same religious appeared on his rung as before and said: "O Judge, I ask you: Why do you seem so unfair in your gifts and graces that you preferred your mother Mary to every other creature and exalted her above the angels?</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Second question. "Item. Why did you give the angels a spirit without flesh and the gift of being in heavenly joy, whereas to man you gave an earthen vessel and a spirit - and birth with wailing, life with labor, and death with sorrow?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Third question. "Item. Why did you give man a rational intellect and senses, whereas to animals you did not give reason?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Fourth question. "Item. Why did you give life to animals, but not to the other created things that lack senses?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Fifth question. "Item. Why is there not such light at night as there is in the day?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the first question. The Judge replied: "Friend, in my Godhead all that is going to exist or happen is foreseen and foreknown from the beginning as if it had already occurred. The fall of man was foreknown, and out of God's justice it was permitted; but it was not caused by God and did not have to happen because of God's foreknowledge. Foreknown too from eternity was man's liberation, which was to happen out of God's mercy. You now ask why I preferred my mother Mary to all others and loved her more than any other creature. It was because the special mark of virtues was found in her. When a fire is kindled and many logs surround it, the log most apt and efficient for combustion will be the quickest to catch the flame and burn. So it was with Mary. For when the fire of divine love - which in itself is changeless and eternal - began to kindle and appear and when the</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Godhead willed to become incarnate, no creature was more apt and efficient for receiving this fire of love than the Virgin Mary; for no creature burned with such charity as she. And although her charity was revealed and shown at the end of time, it was nevertheless foreseen before the beginning of the world. And so, from eternity, it was predetermined in the Godhead that as no one was found comparable to her in charity, so too no one would be her equal in grace and blessing."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the second question. "Item. As to why I gave the angel a spirit without flesh, I answer: In the beginning and before time and the ages, I created spirits in order that of their own free choice they might live according to my will and thus rejoice in my goodness and glory. But some of them took pride in their goodness and did evil to themselves by using their free will in an inordinate way. And because there was nothing evil in nature and creation except the inordinacy of their individual wills, they therefore fell. But other spirits chose to take their stand in humility under me, their God; and therefore they merited eternal stability. For it is right and just that I, God, who am an uncreated spirit and the Creator and Lord of all, should also have in my service spirits more subtle and swift than other creatures. And because it was not fitting for me to have any diminishment in my hosts, I therefore created, in place of those who fell, another creature - namely, man - who, through his free choice and his good will, might merit the same dignity that the angels deserted. And so, if man had a soul and no flesh, he would not be able to merit so sublime a good nor even be able to labor. The body was joined to the soul for the attainment of eternal honor. Therefore, man's tribulations increase in order that he may experience his free will and his infirmities, to the end that he may not be proud. And so that he may desire the glory for which he was created and that he may undo the disobedience that he voluntarily committed, he has therefore been given, out of divine justice, a tearful entrance and a tearful exit and a life full of toils."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the third question. "Item. As to why animals do not have a rational intellect as man does, I answer you: Everything that has been created is for man's use or for his needs and sustenance or for his instruction and reproof or for his consolation and humiliation. But if brutes had intelligence as man does, they would certainly be a trouble to him, causing harm rather than profit. Therefore, in order that all things may be subject to man - for whom all things were made - and that all things might fear him, while he himself is to fear no one but me, his God, animals have not been given a rational intellect."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the fourth question. "Item. As to why insensate things have no life, I answer: Everything that lives is going to die, and every living thing moves unless it is impeded by some obstacle. If, therefore, insensate things had life, they would move against man rather than for him. And so, in order that everything might be for man's solace, higher beings - namely, the angels, with whom man shares reason and immortality of the soul - have been given to man for his protection; and lower beings, whether they are sensate or not, have been given to him for his use and sustenance and instruction and training."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the fifth question. "Item. As to why it is not always daylight, I will answer you by means of an example. Under every vehicle, i.e., a cart, there are wheels so that the burden placed upon it may be more easily moved; and the back wheels follow those in front. A similarity exists in spiritual matters. For the world is a great burden, burdening man with worries and troubles. And no wonder; for when man disdained the place of rest, it was right that he experienced a place of work. Therefore, in order that the burden of this world may be more easily borne by man, mercifully there comes a change and alternation of times - namely: day and night, summer and winter - for the sake of man's exercise and his rest. When contrary things come together - namely, the strong and the weak - it is reasonable to condescend to the weak so that it can exist beside the strong; otherwise the weak would be annihilated. So it also is with man. Even though, in the strength of his immortal soul, man could continue forever in contemplation and labor, nevertheless the strength of his weak body would fail. For this reason, light has been made so that man, who has a common bond with higher and lower beings, may be able to subsist by laboring in the day and remembering the sweetness of the everlasting light that he lost. Night has been made that he may rest his body with the will of coming to that place where there is neither night nor labor, but rather everlasting day and eternal glory."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The fourth revelation in the Book of Questions, wherein Christ most beautifully praises all the limbs of his Virgin Mother Mary - moralizing the said limbs in a spiritual way by comparing them to virtues - and he pronounces this same Virgin most worthy of her queenly crown.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Son speaks: "I am a crowned king in my Godhead, without beginning and without end. A crown has neither beginning nor end, thus signifying my power which had no beginning and shall have no end. But I had still another crown in my keeping; and this crown is I myself, God. This crown was prepared for the one who had the greatest love for me; and you, my sweetest Mother, won it and drew it to yourself with your justice and your charity. For the angels and the other saints bear witness to the fact that in you there was a love for me more ardent than any other and a chastity more pure; and this pleased me more than all else. Truly, your head was like gleaming gold and your hair like the rays of the sun. For your most pure virginity - which in you is, as it were, the head of all your virtues - and your freedom from all illicit impulses pleased me and shone in my sight with all humility. Therefore, you are deservedly called a crowned queen over all that is created: "queen" because of your purity and "crowned" because of your excellent dignity. Your brow was of an incomparable whiteness - signifying the modesty of your conscience, in which resides the fullness of human knowledge and in which the sweetness of divine wisdom shines upon all. Your eyes were so lucid in my Father's sight that in them he gazed upon himself; for, in your spiritual vision and in your soul's intellect, the Father saw all your will - that you wanted nothing but him and desired nothing which did not please him. Your ears were most pure and were open like the fairest windows when Gabriel made my will known to you and when I, God, became flesh in you. Your cheeks were of the finest color - namely, white and ruddy - for the fame of your praiseworthy deeds and the beauty of your character daily burning within you pleased me.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">At the beauty of your character, God my Father truly rejoiced; and he never turned his eyes away from you. And, out of your love, all have obtained love. Your mouth was like a lamp - burning within and shining without - because the words and affections of your soul burned inwardly with divine understanding and shone outwardly in the praise-worthy control of your bodily motions and in the lovely harmony of your virtues. Truly, dearest Mother, the word of your mouth drew, in a way, my Godhead into you; and the fervor of your godly sweetness never separated me from you; for your words are sweeter than the honey and the comb. Your neck is nobly erect and beautifully elevated because the righteousness of your soul is entirely directed upward to me and moves in accord with my will, and has never inclined to any wickedness of pride. For just as the neck curves with the head, so your every intention and operation bows to my will. Your breast was so full of all the sweetness of the virtues that there is no good in me that would not be in you; for you drew all good into yourself through the sweetness of your character when it pleased my divinity to enter into you and my humanity to dwell with you and drink the milk of your breasts.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Your arms were beautiful through your true obedience and your tolerance of labors. Your bodily hands touched my humanity and I rested in your arms with my divinity. Your womb was as perfectly clean as ivory and shone like a place built of exquisite stones; for your constancy of conscience and of faith never cooled and could not be spoiled by tribulation. Of this womb - i.e., of your faith - the walls were like the brightest gold; and on them was inscribed the fortitude of your virtues and your prudence and justice and temperance and your perfect perseverance; for all these virtues of yours were perfected by divine charity. Your feet were clean and washed and drenched, as it were, with fragrant herbs; for your soul's hope and affections were directed to me, your God, and were fragrant with good example for others to imitate. To me, this place of your womb - the spiritual as well as the corporeal - was so desirable and your soul was so pleasing that I did not disdain to come down to you from high heaven and tarry within you. No! This deed was my sweetest delight. Therefore, dearest Mother, that crown which I had in my keeping - that crown which is I myself, God, who was to take flesh - was not to be placed on anyone but you because you are truly a mother and a virgin."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">TENTH INTERROGATION</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">First question. Again the same religious appeared on his rung as before and said: "O Judge, I ask you: Since you are most mighty, most beautiful, and most virtuous, why did you cloak your divinity - which shines incomparably brighter than the sun - in such sackcloth - namely, your humanity?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Second question. "Item. How does your Godhead enclose all in itself and yet not be enclosed by anything? How does it contain all and yet not be contained by anything?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Third question. "Item. Why did you will to lie so long a time in the Virgin's womb? Why did you not come forth as soon as you had been conceived?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Fourth question. "Item. Since you can do all things and are everywhere present, why did you not immediately appear in the stature that you had when you reached your thirtieth year?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Fifth question. "Item. Since you were not born of Abraham's seed through a father, why did you will to be circumcised?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Sixth question. "Item. Since you were conceived and born without sin, why did you will to be baptized?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the first question. The Judge answered him: "Friend, I answer you with an example. There is a certain kind of grape whose wine is so strong that it comes forth from the grape without the touch of man. When the attentive owner sees the time of ripeness, he places a vessel down below. The wine is not waiting for the vessel, but the vessel for the wine. But if several vessels are placed below, the wine pours into the vessel that is nearest. This grape is my Godhead, which is so full of the wine of divine charity that all the choirs of angels are replenished with it, and of it, all existing things partake. But through disobedience, man made himself unworthy of that grape. Therefore, when at the time foreseen from eternity God my Father willed to display his charity, he sent his wine - i.e., me, his Son - into the vessel that stood nearest, expecting the advent of the wine, namely, into the womb of the Virgin, who had a love for me more fervent than that of any other creature. This Virgin so loved and desired me that there was no hour in which she did not seek me out of longing to become my handmaid. Therefore she received the choice wine; and this wine had three traits: first, strength, because I came forth without the touch of man; second, a most beautiful color because I, fair in beauty, came down from high heaven to fight; third, a most excellent sweetness, inebriating with its supreme blessing.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">And so that wine - which is I myself - entered a virginal womb so that I, the invisible God, might be made visible and so that lost man might be liberated. I could quite well, indeed, have taken on another form; but it would not have been justice in God if form were not given for form and nature for nature, and if the manner of satisfaction did not accord with the manner of fault. Moreover, which of the wise could have believed or guessed that I, God almighty, would will so to humble myself that I would take on the sackcloth of humanity, except for the fact of my incomprehensible love, because of which I willed to live visibly with man? Because I saw that the Virgin burned with so fervent a love, my divine severity was conquered and my love was shown in order that man might be reconciled to me. Why do you marvel? I, God - who am love itself and who hate none of the things that I have made - arranged to give man not only my best gifts but also myself, as his price and his prize, so that all the proud and all the devils might be cast into confusion."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the second question. "Item. As to how my Godhead encloses all things in itself, I answer: I, God, am spirit. I speak and it is done. I instruct and all things obey me. Truly, I am he who gives existence and life to all. Before I made the sky and the mountains and the earth, in myself I AM. I am above all and beyond all. I am within all; and all are in me; and, without me, there is nothing. And because my spirit breathes where it will; because it can do all things when it will; because it knows all things and is more swift and agile than all the spirits; because it has all strength and sees all things - present, past, and future - therefore my spirit, i.e., my Godhead, is deservedly incomprehensible even while it comprehends all."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the third question. "Item. As to why I lay so long a time in the Virgin's womb, I answer: I am the establisher of all nature; and for each nature I have arranged a due manner, time, and order of birth. Thus, if I, the establisher, had gone forth from the womb as soon as I was conceived, I would have acted against my arrangement of nature; and my assumption of humanity would have been fantastical and untrue. I willed to be as long a time in the womb as other children so that even I myself might comply with the arrangement of nature that I had made and ordained so well."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the fourth question. "Item. As to why, at the time of my nativity, I was not immediately as large as I was in my thirtieth year, I answer: If I had done this, all would have wondered and feared, following me out of fear - and because they saw miracles - rather than out of love. How then would the prophets' words have been fulfilled? They had foretold that as a child I would be placed in a manger among animals and be adored by kings and be offered in the temple and be persecuted by enemies. Therefore, to show that my humanity was real and that the prophets' words were fulfilled in me, my limbs grew through the intervals of time - but in fullness of wisdom I was as great at the beginning of my birth as at the end."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the fifth question. "Item. To your questioning why I was circumcised, I answer: Although I was not of Abraham's lineage through a father, nevertheless I was of that lineage through my Mother, although without sin. Because I instituted the law in my divinity, I willed also to suffer the law in my humanity that my enemies might not slander me by saying that I had given precepts that I myself would not fulfill."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the sixth question. "Item. As to why I willed to be baptized, I answer: Everyone who wills to establish or begin a new way must himself - as the establisher and beginner of that way - walk on it ahead of others. Now, to the ancient People, there was given a carnal way, namely, circumcision, as a sign of obedience and future purgation. In faithful persons who kept the law, it wrought some effect of the future grace and promise before there came that promised truth - namely, I, the Son of God. Because the law was only, as it were, a shadow, it had been determined in eternity that with the coming of truth the ancient way would retire, lacking its effect. Therefore, that the truth might appear, the shadow yield, and an easier way to heaven be shown, I, God and man, born without sin, willed to be baptized out of humility and as an example to others and so that I might open heaven to those who believe. As a sign of this, when I had been baptized, the heavens were opened; the Father's voice was heard; the Holy Spirit appeared in the form of a dove; and I, God's Son, was shown in a true human being in order that all the faithful might know and believe that the Father opens heaven for the faithful who have been baptized.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Holy Spirit is with the baptizer, and the virtuous power of my humanity is in the element, although in the Father and in Me and in the Holy Spirit there is only one operation and one will. And so, with the coming of truth - i.e., when I, who am truth, came into the world - then, at once, the shadow vanished; the shell of the law was broken and the kernel appeared; circumcision gave way and in me baptism was confirmed - by means of which, heaven is opened for the young and the old; and the children of wrath become children of grace and of life everlasting."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The fifth revelation in the Book of Questions, in which Christ speaks to his bride, blessed Birgitta, instructing her not to be worried about the care of earthly riches and informing her of the patience to be had in times of tribulation together with the virtues of perfect self-denial and humility.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Son of God speaks to the bride and says: "Be diligently attentive to yourself!" She answers: "Why?" The Lord says to her: "Because the world is sending to you four servants who wish to deceive you. The first is the worry of riches. When he comes, answer him: 'Riches are transitory; and the greater their abundance, the greater the accounting of them that one must give. Therefore, I do not care about them because they do not follow their owner, but leave him.' The second servant is the loss of riches and the deprivation of things that had been bestowed. Answer him thus: 'He who gave the riches has himself taken them away. He knows what is expedient for me. May his will be done!'</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The third servant is the tribulation of this world. Speak to him thus: 'Blessed be you, my God, who permit me to be troubled. For through tribulations I know that I belong to you because you permit tribulation in the present that you may spare in the future. Therefore, distribute to me patience and strength to endure.' The fourth servant is scorn and insults. Answer them thus: 'God alone is good, and to him all honor is due. But I, who have done all wicked and worthless deeds, whence or why should I have honor? I am worthy, rather, of every insult because the whole of my life has blasphemed God. Why does honor mean more to me than insult? For it only excites pride and diminishes humility: and God is forgotten. Therefore, to God be all honor and praise.' For the sake of these reasons, stand fast against the servants of the world; and love me, your God, with all your heart."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">ELEVENTH INTERROGATION</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">First question. Again the same religious appeared on his rung as before and said: "O Judge, I ask you: Since you are both God and man, why did you not show your divinity as well as your humanity? Then all would have believed in you."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Second question. "Item. Why did you not cause all your words to be heard in a single moment? Then it would not have been necessary for them to be preached through the intervals of time."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Third question. "Item. Why did you not do all your works in one hour?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Fourth question. "Item. Why did your body grow through the intervals of time and not in one moment?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Fifth question. "Item. At the approach of death, why did you not show yourself in the might of your divinity; and why did you not show your severity on your enemies when you said, 'All is consummated'?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the first question. The Judge answered: "O Friend, it is you that I answer - and yet, not you. On the one hand, I answer you in order that the malice of your thought may be noted by others. On the other hand, it is not you that I answer, for these things are shown, not for your own improvement, but as a benefit and as a warning for others in the present and in the future. For you do not intend to alter your obstinacy; and therefore you will not pass over from your death into my life because in your own life you hate true life. Nevertheless, others who have heard about your life - I should say: your 'death' - will pass over and will fly to my life because, as it is written, for the saints, all things work together for good; and God permits nothing without a cause. Therefore, when spiritual things are discussed between us, I answer you, not as those who speak in human fashion, but in order that what you think and crave may be expressed in similitudes for others.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">"You ask, therefore, why I did not openly show my divinity as well as my humanity. The reason is that the divinity is spiritual and the humanity is corporeal. Nevertheless, the divinity and the humanity are, and were, inseparable from the first moment that they were joined. The Godhead is uncreated, and all things that exist were created in it and through it, and all perfection and beauty is found in it. If, therefore, such great beauty and perfection were to be shown visibly to eyes of clay, who would endure the sight? Who could look at even the material sun in its clarity? Who would not be terrified by the sight of lightning and the sound of thunder? How much greater the fear if the Lord of lightnings and Creator of all were seen in his glory!</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Thus it was for a two-fold cause that my Godhead was not shown openly. First, because of the weakness of the human body, which is earthen in its substance. If any human's body were to see the Godhead, it would melt like wax before a fire; and the soul would rejoice with such great exultation that the body would be annihilated like a cinder. Second, because of the divine goodness and its immutable stability. For if I showed to corporeal eyes my Godhead, which is incomparably more splendid than fire or the sun, I would be acting contrary to myself; for I said: 'No human shall see me and live.' Not even the prophets saw me as I am in the nature of my Godhead; for even those who heard the voice of my Godhead and saw the smoking mountain were terrified and said: 'Let Moses speak to us, and we shall hear him.' Therefore, in order that man might better understand me, I, God the merciful, showed myself to him in a form like himself that could be seen and touched - namely, in my humanity, in which the Godhead exists but, as it were, veiled - in order that man might not be terrified by a form unlike himself. For, insofar as I am God, I am not corporeal and not corporeally portrayed; therefore, it was in my humanity that I could be heard and seen more tolerably by man."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the second question. "Item. As to why I did not speak all my words in one hour, I answer you: Just as, materially, it goes against the body for it to take in one hour as much food as might content it for many years, so it is against the divine arrangement that my words, which are the food of the soul, would all have been spoken in one hour. But just as bodily food is taken in little by little, to be chewed and, when chewed, to be carried to the interior, so my words were not to be spoken in one hour, but rather through the intervals of time, in accord with the intelligence of those who were making progress, in order that the hungry might have something by which to be satisfied and that when satisfied, they might be excited to higher things."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the third question. "Item. As to why I did not do all my works in one moment, I answer: Of those who saw me in the flesh, there were some who believed and some who did not believe. For those who believed, it was necessary that they be instructed in words, through the intervals of time, and be occasionally aroused by examples and strengthened by works. As for those who did not believe, it was just that they showed their malicious disposition and were tolerated as long as my divine justice might permit. If I had done all my works in a single moment, all would have followed me out of fear rather than out of love. And how, then, would the mystery of man's redemption have been fulfilled? Therefore, just as at the beginning of the world's creation, everything was brought to pass at distinct hours and in distinct ways - although everything that was to be made existed then, at one and the same time, without change, in my divine foreknowledge - so also, in my humanity, all things were to be done rationally and distinctly, for the salvation and instruction of all."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the fourth question. "Item. As to why my body grew for a number of years and not in one moment, I answer: The Holy Spirit, who is eternally in the Father and in me, the Son, showed to the prophets what I would do and suffer when I came in the flesh. Therefore it pleased the Godhead that I should take on such a body, in which I could labor from morn to evening and from year to year, even to the end of death. Therefore, lest the prophets' words seemed empty, I, the Son of God, took on a body like Adam except for sin - a body in which I would be like those whom I was going to redeem - in order that through my charity, man, who had turned away, might be led back; that man, who had died, might be revived; that man, who had been sold, might be redeemed."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the fifth question. "Item. As to why I did not show the power of my Godhead and the truth of my divinity to all when, on the cross, I said: 'It is consummated,' I answer: All that was written about me had to be fulfilled. Therefore, I fulfilled all those things even to the last point. But, because many things had been foretold about my resurrection and ascension, it was therefore necessary that these words too should have their effect. If the power of my Godhead had been shown at my death, who would have dared to take me down from the cross and bury me? In the end, it would have been a very small matter for me to come down from the cross and scatter my crucifiers; but how, then, would prophecy have been fulfilled; and where, then, would the virtue of my patience be? And if I had come down from the cross, would then all have really believed? Would they not have said that I had used the evil art? For if they were indignant because I raised the dead and healed the sick, they would have said even worse things if I had come down from the cross. Therefore, that captives might be loosed, I - the free - was captured; and that the guilty might be saved, I - the guiltless - stood fast upon the cross. And through my steadfastness, I steadied all that was unstable and strengthened the weak."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The sixth revelation in the Book of Questions in which Christ speaks to his bride, blessed Birgitta, and teaches her - saying that in the spiritual life, labor and vigorous perseverance and humble acquiescence in an elder's advice and manly resistance to temptations will gain, for her, repose of mind and eternal glory. He proposes as an example Jacob, who worked as a servant to win Rachel. He says that for some the strongest temptations come at the beginning of their conversion to the spiritual life; for others, in the middle of the spiritual life or at its end. Therefore one must fear and, with humility, persevere in virtues and in labor to the very end.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Son speaks: "It is written that Jacob worked as a servant for Rachel's sake and that the days seemed few to him because of his great love; for the greatness of his love lightened his labors. But when Jacob believed that he had attained his desire, he was outwitted; nevertheless, he did not yet cease from his labor because love does not debate about difficulty until it reaches what it desires. So it is in spiritual matters. To obtain the things of heaven, many labor manfully in prayers and pious works; but when they think that they have attained the repose of contemplation, they become involved in temptations. Their tribulations increase; and just when they are considering themselves almost perfect, they find that they are totally imperfect. And no wonder; for it is temptations that probe and purge and perfect man. And so for some, temptations increase in the beginning of their conversion to the spiritual life; and such persons are more perfectly strengthened in the end.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Others are more gravely tempted in the middle of their lives and at the end. These must look to themselves carefully, never having any presumption about themselves, but laboring all the more bravely. As Laban said: 'It is the custom to take the elder sister first.' It was as if he were to say: 'First practice labor, and afterward you will have the repose you desire.' Therefore, daughter, you are not to marvel if even in old age temptations increase. For as long as life is permitted, temptation too is possible. The devil never sleeps, because temptation is an opportunity for perfection so that man may not presume. Behold, I show you the example of two persons. One was tempted at the beginning of his conversion, and he persisted and progressed and attained what he sought. The other experienced in his old age grave temptations that he had little known in his youth. He became so involved in them that he almost forgot all prior ones. But because he stood by his resolve and did not cease to labor - even though he had become cold and tepid - therefore he came to his desires and to repose of mind. He recognized in his own case that the judgments of God are hidden and just and that if it had not been for those temptations, he would have had difficulty in reaching eternal salvation."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">TWELFTH INTERROGATION</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">First question. Again the religious appeared, standing on his rung as before and saying: "O Judge, I ask you: Why did you prefer to be born of a virgin rather than of another woman not a virgin?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Second question. "Item. Why did you not show with a visible sign that she was both a mother and a pure virgin?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Third question. "Item. Why did you so hide your nativity, which was known to but a very few?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Fourth question. "Item. Why did you flee before Herod into Egypt, and why did you permit innocent boys to be killed?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Fifth question. "Item. Why do you allow yourself to be blasphemed and falsehood to prevail over truth?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the first question. The Judge replied: "O friend, I preferred to be born of a virgin rather than of a woman not a virgin because for me, God the most pure, all purest things are fitting. As long as man's nature remained in the order of its creation, it had no deformity; but when my command was violated, there arose at once a certain ability to blush for shame - as happens to persons who sin against their temporal lord and who blush even at the limbs with which they sinned. With the arrival of shame for the violation, inordinate impulses soon increased, and most of all in that organ which was set in place for the sake of fruitfulness. But so that this impulse might not be fruitless, by the goodness of God it was converted into something good; and through the institution of a divine command, the work of carnal intercourse was granted as the means by which nature could bear fruit.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">However, it is more glorious to extend oneself beyond a command by doing whatever additional good one can out of love; and this is virginity. For it is more virtuous and more magnificent to be in the fire of tribulation and not burn, than to be without fire and yet wish to be crowned. Now, since virginity is a most beautiful path to heaven - while marriage is, as it were, a road - it befitted me, God the most pure, to rest in the purest virgin. Just as the first man was made from the earth when it was, in a way, a virgin - for it had not yet been polluted with blood - and because Adam and Eve sinned while their nature was still healthy, so too I, God, willed to be received by the purest receptacle so that through my goodness all things might be reformed."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the second question. "Item. As to why I did not show by open signs that my Mother was both mother and virgin, I answer: I made all the mysteries of my incarnation known to the prophets so that it might be all the more firmly believed, the longer it had been predicted. That my Mother truly was a virgin both before and after childbirth was sufficiently attested to by Joseph, who was the guardian and the witness of her virginity. Even if her chastity had been shown by a more evident miracle, the distrustful, in their malice, would still not have ceased from blasphemy. They distrust that a virgin conceived through the power of the Godhead because they do not attend to the fact that it is easier for me, God, to do this than it is for the sun to penetrate glass. It was an act of my divine justice that me mystery of God's incarnation was hidden from the devil and from mankind, to be revealed in the time of grace. Now, however, I say that my Mother truly is a mother and a virgin. Just as, in the molding of Adam and Eve, there was the wonderful power of the Godhead and, in their cohabitation, a delightful honesty, even so, in my Godhead's approach to the Virgin, there was a wonderful goodness - for my incomprehensible divinity descended into that closed vessel without doing it violence. And that place was a delightful habitation for me; for I, God - who was everywhere in my divinity - was, in my humanity, enclosed. Here, too, there was wonderful power; for I, God, who am bodiless, went forth with a body from her womb, while preserving her virginity. Because man made difficulties about believing and because my Mother is a lover of total humility, it therefore pleased me to hide her beauty and her perfection for a time in order that my Mother too might have some merit with which she might be more perfectly crowned and in order that I, God, might be more fully glorified at that time in which I would fulfill my promises of reward for the good and retribution for the wicked."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the third question. "Item. As to why I did not show my nativity to mankind, I answer: Although the devil lost the dignity of his previous rank, he did not lose his knowledge, which he possesses for the testing of the good and for his own confusion. Therefore, in order that my human nature might grow and might reach the predetermined time, the mystery of my pity had to be concealed from the devil because I willed to come in secrecy to make war on the devil and because I chose to be despised in order to subdue the arrogance of mankind. The very teachers of the law, who read about me in their books, despised me because I came in humility; and because they were proud, they would not hear the true justice that comes from faith in my redemption. Therefore they shall be confounded when the son of perdition comes in his pride.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">But if I had come with great power and honor, how then would the proud have been humbled? Or will the proud now enter heaven? Not at all! And so I came humbly in order that man might learn humility; and I hid myself from the proud because they wished to understand neither my divine justice nor themselves."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the fourth question. "Item. As to why I fled into Egypt, I answer: Before the violation of the commandment, there was a single way to heaven, broad and bright: broad in its abundance of virtues and bright with divine wisdom and with the obedience of a good will. And when that will had changed, two ways began. One led to heaven; the other led away. Obedience led to heaven; disobedience led astray. Therefore, because it was in the power of man's free will to choose good or evil - namely, to obey or not to obey - he sinned because he willed otherwise than I, God, wanted him to will. In order that man might be saved, it was just and right that someone came able to redeem him - someone who would possess perfect obedience and innocence and, in whose regard, those who so wished could show love and those who so wished could show malice. But in order to redeem mankind, it was not an angel that ought to be sent; for I, God, do not grant my glory to another. Nor was there any human found who could placate me on his own behalf, much less for others. Therefore, I, God, who alone am just, came to justify all. The fact that I fled into Egypt showed the weakness of my humanity and fulfilled a prophecy. And I also gave an example to coming generations: that sometimes persecution must be eluded for the greater glory of God in the future. Because I was not found by my pursuers, my divine plan prevailed over that of men; for it is not easy to fight against God. The fact that the infants were slain was a sign of my future passion and a mystery of election and divine charity. Although these speechless infants did not bear witness to me with their voices or their mouths, they did so through their death, as befitted my own speechless infancy; for it had been foreseen that God's praise would be accomplished even in the blood of the Innocents.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">For, although the malice of the unjust afflicted them unjustly, nevertheless it was my divine permission, always kind and just, that exposed them, not without justice, in order to show the malice of mankind and the incomprehensible counsel and pity of my Godhead. Therefore, where unjust malice boiled up against the children, there merit and grace justly abounded; and where confession of the tongue and age were lacking, there the blood that had been shed accumulated a most perfect goodness."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the fifth question. "Item. As to why I allow myself to be blasphemed, I answer: It is written that when King David eluded his son's persecution, a certain man cursed him on the way; and when his servants wanted to kill that man, David prohibited them for a double reason: first, because he had hope of returning; second, because he considered his own weakness and sin, the foolishness of the curser, and God's patience and goodness towards himself. Figuratively, I am David. Man truly persecutes me with his evil deeds - as the servant persecuted his lord - casting me out of my kingdom, i.e., out of his soul, which I created and which is my kingdom. Then he rebukes me for being unjust in judgment and even blasphemes me because I am patient.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Indeed, because I am meek, I suffer their foolishness; and because I am a judge, I await their conversion even to the very last moment. Finally, because man believes falsehood rather than truth - loving the world more than me, his God - it is therefore no wonder if the wicked man is tolerated in his wickedness; for he wills neither to seek the truth nor to recover from his evil."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The seventh revelation in the Book of Questions, in which Christ speaks to his bride, blessed Birgitta, and praises frequent confession in order that man may not lose the divine grace that he has.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Son of God speaks: "When there is a fire in the house, it is necessary to have a venthole through which the smoke can go out so that the inhabitant may enjoy the warmth. Thus, for everyone who desires to keep my Spirit and my divine grace, frequent confession is useful so that through it, the smoke of sin may escape. For although my divine Spirit is in itself unchangeable, nevertheless it quickly withdraws from the heart that is not guarded by humble confession."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The eighth revelation in the Book of Questions, in which Christ speaks to the bride and says of those who find their pleasure in carnal and earthly delights - neglecting heavenly desires and charity and the memory of his passion and of eternal judgment - that their prayer is like the sound of stones colliding and that they will be abominably cast forth from God's sight as if they were an abortion or the soiled napkin of menstruous woman.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">"That man sang: 'Deliver me, O Lord, from the unjust man.' This voice is in my ears like the sound of two stones struck together. Indeed, his heart calls to me as if with three voices. The first says: 'I want to have my will in my own hands; I want to sleep and to arise and to talk of pleasant things. I shall give nature what it craves. I long for money in my purse and the softness of garments on my back. When I have these and other things, I count them a greater happiness than all of the soul's other spiritual gifts and virtues.' His second voice is this: 'Death is not too hard, and judgment is not as severe as it is written. We are threatened with harsh things as a precaution, but they are mitigated out of mercy. Therefore, if I can have my will in the present, let my soul pass over as best it can in the future.' The third voice is this: 'God would not have redeemed man if he did not wish to give man heavenly things; nor would he have suffered if he did not wish to lead us back to our Father's home. Why, indeed, did he suffer? Who ever compelled him to suffer?</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Obviously, I have no intelligence of heavenly things except by hearsay; and whether one should trust the Scriptures is something that I do not know. If I could only have my will, I would take it in place of the heavenly kingdom.' Behold, such is that man's will. Therefore, in my ears his voice is like the sound of stones. "But, O friend, I answer your first voice: 'Your way does not tend toward heaven, and the passion of my charity is not to your taste. Therefore hell has opened for you; and because you love things base and earthly, you will therefore go to the regions below.'</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">To your second voice, I answer: 'Son, death will be hard for you, judgment unendurable, and flight impossible, unless you amend yourself.' To your third voice, I say: 'Brother, all my works were done out of charity in order that you might be like me and, though turned away, might come to me again. But now my works are dead in you, my words are burdensome, and my way is neglected. And so what awaits you is punishment and the company of the demons because you turn your back to me, you trample underfoot the signs of my humility, and you give no attention to the state in which I stood before you - and for you - on the cross.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">In a threefold state, I stood there for your sake: first, as a man whose eye was penetrated by a knife; second, as a man whose heart was perforated by a sword; third, as a man whose every limb trembled with the pain of pressing tribulation. Indeed, my passion was to me more bitter than a puncture in the eye; yet I suffered it out of charity. My Mother's sorrow moved my heart more than my own; yet I bore it. For a long time, all my inner and outer parts trembled out of pressing pain and suffering; and yet I did not dismiss it or draw back. Thus I stood fore you, but all this you forget and neglect and despise. Therefore you shall be cast forth as an abortion; and, like the napkin of a menstruous woman, you will be cast out.'</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">THIRTEENTH INTERROGATION</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">First question. Again the same religious appeared on his rung as before and said: "O Judge, I ask you: Why is your grace so quickly withdrawn from some while others are long tolerated in their wickedness?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Second question. "Item. Why is grace granted to some in their youth while others, in old age, are deprived of it?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Third question. "Item. Why are some troubled beyond measure while others are, as it were, secure from tribulation?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Fourth question. "Item. Why are some given intelligence and an incomparable genius for learning while others are like asses without intellect?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Fifth question. "Item. Why are some excessively hardened while others rejoice in wonderful consolation?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Sixth question. "Item. Why is greater prosperity given in this world to the wicked rather than to the good?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Seventh question. "Item. Why is one called in the beginning and another toward the end?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the first question. The Judge replied: "Friend, all my works are in my foreknowledge from the beginning; and all things that have been made were created for the solace of man. But because man prefers his own will to my will, therefore, out of justice, the goods gratuitously given to him are taken from him in order that man may know that with God all things are rational and just. And because many are ungrateful for my grace and become more undevout the more their gifts are multiplied, the gifts are therefore quickly taken from them in order that my divine plan may be more swiftly manifested and lest man abuse my grace to his own greater doom. Item. As to why some are long tolerated in their wickedness, the reason is that amidst their evils, many have some tolerable trait. For either they are of profit to some, or they are a caution to others. When Saul was denounced by Samuel, Saul's sin seemed slight in the sight of men while David's sin seemed greater. However, under the pressure of testing, Saul disobediently abandoned me, his God, and consulted the pythoness. But David, in temptation, became more faithful, patiently enduring the things that bore down upon him and considering that they befell him for his sins. The fact that I patiently endured Saul demonstrates Saul's ingratitude and my divine patience. The fact that David was chosen shows my foreknowledge and David's future humility and his contrition."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the second question. "Item. As to why grace is taken away from some in their old age, I answer: All are given grace in order that the Giver of grace may be loved by all. But because many, toward their end, are ungrateful for my divine grace - as Solomon was - it is therefore just that what was not carefully kept before the end should, in the end, be withdrawn. For my gift and my divine grace are taken away sometimes because of the recipient's negligence in attending to what he has received and to what he should give in return, sometimes as a caution for others so that everyone in the state of grace may always fear and feel dread at the fall of others. For even the wise have fallen through negligence; and even some, who seemed to be my friends, have been supplanted because of their ingratitude."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the third question. "Item. As to why some have greater tribulation, I answer: I am the Creator of all. Therefore no tribulation comes without my permission, as it is written: I am God 'creating evil' - i.e., permitting tribulation - because no trouble befalls even the gentiles without me or without a rational cause. For my prophets foretold many things concerning the adversities of the gentiles in order that they, being negligent and abusive of reason, might be taught by scourges and in order that I, God - permitting all - might be known and glorified by every nation. If therefore I, God, do not spare the pagans from scourges, far less will I spare these who have more copiously tasted of the sweetness of my divine grace.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The fact that some have less tribulation, and others more, occurs so that mankind may turn away from sin and may, after troubles in the present, obtain consolation in the future. For all who are judged and who judge themselves in this age will not come to future judgment. As it is written: They will pass 'from death into life.' The fact that some are protected from the scourge occurs lest, having been scourged, they murmur and thus incur a heavier judgment, for there are many who do not deserve to be scourged in the present. There are even some in this life who are not weighed down by any bodily or spiritual annoyance and who live as carelessly as if God did not exist or as if God spares them because of their works of justice. But they should be greatly afraid and should grieve lest I, God, who spare them in the present, come unforeseen and damn them more harshly because they have no compunction.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">There are some who have health in the flesh but are troubled in soul because of their contempt for God. Others enjoy neither bodily health nor inner consolation of soul, and yet they persevere in serving and honoring me according to their ability. Indeed, some - from their mother's womb and right up to the end - are afflicted by infirmities. But I, their God, so moderate the tribulations of all these people that nothing happens without a cause and a recompense, for of those who slept before their temptations the eyes of many are opened in tribulation."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the fourth question. "Item. As to why some have greater intelligence, I answer: The abundance of one's wisdom does not profit the soul toward eternal salvation unless the soul also shines with a good life. On the contrary, it is more useful to have less knowledge and a better life. Therefore, each person has been given a measure of rationality by means of which he can obtain heaven if he lives piously. However, rationality varies in many according to their natural and spiritual dispositions. For just as, by means of divine fervor and the virtues, man makes progress toward perfection of the virtues, so too through bad will and bad disposition of nature and wrong upbringing, man descends into vanities.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Many times nature suffers a defect when one strives against nature and one sins. Therefore, it is not without cause that in some, rationality is great but useless, as in those who have knowledge but not life. In others, there is less knowledge but better practice. In some, of course, rationality and life are in agreement; but in others, on the contrary, there is neither rationality nor life. This variety comes from my well-ordered and divine permission - sometimes, for the benefit of humans or for their humiliation and instruction; sometimes, because of ingratitude or temptation; sometimes, because of a defect of nature or latent sins; sometimes, in order to avoid the occasion of a greater sin; and sometimes, because a nature is not suited to receive anything greater. Let everyone who has the grace of intelligence therefore fear that, because of it, he will be judged more heavily if he is negligent. Let him who has no intelligence or talent rejoice and do as much as he can with the little that he has; for he has been freed from many occasions of sin. In youth, Peter the apostle was forgetful and John was no trained expert; but they grasped true wisdom in their old age because they sought wisdom's beginning.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">When young, Solomon was docile and Aristotle was subtle; but they did not grasp the beginning of wisdom because they neither glorified the Giver of knowledge as they ought, nor imitated the things that they knew and taught, nor learned for themselves, but for others. Balaam, too, had knowledge but did not follow it; and therefore the she-ass rebuked his folly. Daniel when young, judged his elders. Erudition, without a good life, does not please me; therefore, it is necessary that those who abuse rationality be corrected. For I, the God and Lord of all, give knowledge to mankind; and I correct both the wise and the foolish."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the fifth question. "Item. As to why some are hardened, I answer: The fact that Pharaoh was hardened was his own fault, and not mine, because he would not conform himself to my divine will. For obduracy is nothing other than the withdrawal of my divine grace; and grace is withdrawn because man has not given to me, God, that free thing he has, namely, his own will, as you will be able to understand through an example.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">There was a man who possessed two fields, of which the one remained uncultivated and the other, at certain times, bore fruit. His friend said to him: 'Since you are wise and wealthy, I wonder why you do not cultivate your fields more diligently or hand them over to others for cultivation.' He answered: 'One of these fields - no matter how much diligence I display - produces nothing but very bad herbs - which noxious beasts seize upon, and then the beasts befoul the place. If I apply an enrichment, the field grows so insolent and wanton that even if it produces a modicum of grain, even more weeds spring up, which I disdain to gather because I desire no grain unless it is pure. Therefore, the better plan is to leave such a field uncultivated; for then the beasts do not occupy the place and the beasts do not hide in the grass. And if some bitter herbs do sprout, they are useful for the sheep, for after tasting them, the sheep learn not to be fastidious about things that are sweet.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The other field is laid out according to the temperature of the seasons. A part of it is stony and needs enrichment; another part is moist and needs warmth; another part is dry and needs moisture. For that reason, I will to regulate my work according to the field's condition.' I, God, am like that man. The first field is the free movement of the will given to man. He moves it more against me than for me. And if man does some things that please me, in many more things he provokes me, for man's will and mine are not in agreement. So too Pharaoh acted, for, although through sure signs he recognized my power, nonetheless he strengthened his resolution of standing fast in his wickedness against me. Therefore, he experienced my justice, for it is just that he who does not make good use of trifles should not pride himself on things that are very great.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The second field is the obedience of a good mind and the rejection of one's own will. If such a mind is dry in devotion, it must wait for the rain of my divine grace. If it is stony through impatience or obduracy, it must, with composure, endure purgation and rebuke. If it is moist through carnal wantonness, let it embrace abstinence and be like an animal prepared for its owner's will; for in such a mind I, God, take much glory. Therefore, the fact that some become hardened is caused by man's will being contrary to mine. For even though I will that all be saved, nevertheless this is not accomplished unless man has personally cooperated by making his entire will conform to my will. The fact that not all are given equal grace and progress is an act of my hidden judgment, for I know and I regulate for each person what is expedient and necessary for him; and I restrain man's attempts lest he fall too deeply. For many have the talent of grace and would be able to work; but they refuse. Others abstain from sin out of fear of punishment or because they do not have the means to sin or because sin does not amuse them. Therefore, to some, greater gifts are not given because I, who alone know the minds of human beings know how to distribute my gifts."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the sixth question. "Item. As to why the wicked sometimes have greater prosperity in the world than the good, I answer: This is an indication of my great patience and charity and a testing for the just. For if I gave temporal goods only to my friends, the wicked would despair and the good would grow proud. Therefore, temporal goods are given to all so that I, the Creator and giver of all, may be loved by all and so that, when the good grow proud, they may be instructed in justice by means of the wicked. Indeed, let all understand that temporal things are not to be loved or preferred to me, God, but are to be had for sustenance alone; and let them be all the more fervent in my service, the less the stability that they find in temporal things."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the seventh question. "Item. As to why one is called at the beginning and another at the end, I answer: I am like a mother who sees in her children the hope of life and gives stronger things to some and lighter things to others. With those for whom there is no hope she also sympathizes, and she does for them as much as she can. But if the children become worse from the mother's remedy, what need is there then to labor? This is the way I deal with man. One, whose will is foreseen as more fervent and whose humility and stability are foreseen as more constant, received grace in the beginning; and it will follow him to the end. Another, who, amidst all his wickedness, still attempts and strives to become better, deserves to be called toward the end. But he who is ungrateful does not deserve admission to his mother's breasts."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The ninth revelation in the Book of Questions, in which Christ speaks to his bride, blessed Birgitta, and shows her that she has already been rescued and delivered from the house of the world and of vices and that she has now been brought to dwell in the mansion of the Holy Spirit. And therefore he warns her to conform herself to that same Spirit by always persevering in purity, humility, and devotion.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Son speaks to the bride: "You are she who was nurtured in a house of poverty and then came into the society of the great. In a house of poverty, there are three things, namely, stained walls, harmful smoke, and pervasive soot. But you have been led into a house where there is beauty without stain, warmth without smoke, and sweetness that fills without cloying. The house of poverty is the world. Its walls are pride, oblivion of God, abundance of sin, and disregard of the future.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">These walls stain because they annihilate good works and hide God's face from mankind. The smoke is love of the world. It harms the eyes because it darkens the soul's understanding and causes the soul to worry about superfluous things. The soot is pleasure; for even if it delights for a time, it never satisfies or replenishes with eternal goodness. From these things, therefore, you were drawn away; and you were led into the mansion of the Holy Spirit. He is in me, and I am in him, and he encloses you in himself. He, indeed, is most pure and most beautiful and most steadfast; for he sustains all things. Therefore, conform yourself to the Inhabitant of the house by remaining pure, humble, and devout."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">FOURTEENTH INTERROGATION</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">First question. Again the same religious appeared on his rung as before and said: "O Judge, I ask you: Why do animals suffer inconveniences when they will not have eternal life and do not have the use of reason?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Second question. "Item. Why are all things born with pain when there is no sin in the birth of anything?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Third question. "Item. Why does an infant carry the sin of its father when it does not know how to sin?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Fourth question. "Item. Why does the unforeseen so frequently occur?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Fifth question. "Item. Why does a wicked man die a good death like the just; and the just sometimes a bad death like the unjust?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the first question. The Judge replied: "Friend, although this inquisition of yours does not come from love, nevertheless I do answer you so that others may love. You inquire why animals suffer infirmities. It is because in them - as in everything else - all things are disordered. For I am the establisher of all natures, and I gave to each nature its own temperament and order by which each thing might move and live. But after man - because of whom all things were made - opposed his lover, i.e., me, his God, all other things began to take on his disorder; and all that should have revered him began to oppose and resist him.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Therefore, it is out of this vice of disorder that so very many annoyances and adversities befall both man and the animals. However, animals also sometimes suffer because of the intemperance of their own nature - sometimes for the mitigation of their wildness and the purging of nature itself; sometimes because of mankind's sins so that, when the things that man loves are plagued or withdrawn, man himself may attentively consider what great punishment he deserves, for he has the use of a greater thing, reason. Indeed, if mankind's sins did not demand it, the animals that are in man's hands would not be so singularly afflicted. But not even they suffer without great justice.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">For either it will be to them for a swifter end of life, or for less labor of misery and consumption of strong nature, or because of the change of seasons or out of the carelessness of man when labor is forthcoming. Let man therefore fear me, his God, more than everything else and be all the more gentle toward my creatures and animals, on whom he must have mercy for the sake of me, their Creator. For this reason, I, God, gave man the precept concerning the Sabbath, for I care about everyone of my creatures."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the second question. "Item. As to why all things are born with suffering, I answer: When man scorned the most beautiful delight, he immediately incurred a toilsome life. And because disorder began in man and through man, it is my justice that the other creatures too - which exist for man's sake - should have some bitterness for the tempering of their delight and the fostering of their nourishment. Therefore, man is born with pain and makes progress with labor so that he may be eager to hasten to his true rest. He dies naked and poor so that he may bridle his inordinate impulses and so that he may fear future examination. And thus, even animals give birth with pain so that bitterness may temper their excesses and so that they may be partners with man in labor and pain. Therefore, man, who is so much nobler than the animals, should all that more fervently love me, the Lord God, his Creator."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the third question. "Item. As to why the child carries the sins of the father, I answer: Could anything that comes from something unclean be clean itself? Therefore, when the first man lost the beauty of innocence because of his disobedience, he was cast out of the paradise of joy and became involved in unclean things. No one was found able, of himself, to recover this innocence. Therefore I, the merciful God, came in the flesh and instituted baptism, by means of which a child is liberated from wrong uncleanness and from sin. Because of this, the son will not carry the sin of the father; but each one will die in his own sin.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">However, it happens many times that children imitate the sins of their parents; and therefore the parents' sins are sometimes punished in the children. This is not because the sins of the parents will not be punished in the parents themselves, although the punishment of these sins may be deferred for a time. But each one will die in, and be punished for, his own sin. Sometimes, too, the sins of the fathers - as it is written - are visited even upon the fourth generation; for when the children do not endeavor to mitigate my wrath in their own behalf or on behalf of their parents, it is my divine justice that they be punished together with the parents whom they followed against me."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the fourth question. "Item. As to why the unforeseen soul frequently comes about, I answer: It is written that man shall be punished through those things through which he sins. And who shall be able to understand the plan of God? Many seek me, not in accordance with knowledge, but for the sake of the world. Some fear more than is right; others presume too much; others are proud in their designs. Therefore, I, God, who work the salvation of all, cause sometimes the occurrence of that which man most fears: sometimes, the removal of a thing that is loved more than is right; sometimes, the delay of a thing that is too anxiously anticipated and desired, in order that, above all things, man may always fear, love, and acknowledge me, his God."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the fifth question. "Item. As to why a wicked man dies a good death like the just, I answer: The wicked sometimes have certain good traits and do certain works of justice for which they are to be repaid in the present. Similarly, too, the just sometimes do certain bad things for which they are to be scourged in the present, or they should be expected to be. Therefore, because at present all things are uncertain and all things are reserved for the future and because there is one entrance for all, therefore there must also be one exit for all, for it is not the exit but the life that makes a man blessed. However, the fact that the wicked meet with an exit like that of the just is a result of my divine providence, for they themselves desired that exit. The devil, foreseeing the exits of his friends, sometimes foretells to them their time of death to cause in them presumption and vainglory and the deception - as it is found in those books entitled Apocrypha - that after death they will be praised as if they were just.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">On the other hand, the just sometimes meet with a lamentable exit for their own greater merit so that they who, in their lifetime, always were careful about the virtues, may, through a contemptible death fly free to heaven - insofar as not even offscourings would be found in need of cleansing. As it is written, a lion killed a disobedient prophet and did not eat of the cadaver but guarded it. In that the lion killed the body, what else is hinted at if not my divine permission that the prophet's disobedience be punished? That the lion did not eat of the cadaver was a showing of the prophet's good works so that purged in the present, he might be found to be just in the future. Therefore, let each one fear to examine my judgments; for even as I am incomprehensible in virtue and power, so am I terrible in my plans and my judgments. Indeed, some who wished to comprehend me in their wisdom have failed in their hope."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The tenth revelation in the Book of Questions, in which Christ speaks to the bride and warns her not to be disturbed if his divine words, given to her in revelations, are found to be sometimes obscure, sometimes dubious, and sometimes uncertain; for this happens from certain causes designated here and out of the hidden justice of God. He advises, however, that the events and promises of his words must always be awaited with patience and fear and humble perseverance lest the promised grace be revoked for ingratitude. He says also that many things, said in a corporeal way, will not be accomplished in the body but in the spirit.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Son speaks to the bride: "Be not disturbed if I speak one word obscurely and another more expressly; or if I now say that someone is my servant or son and friend and, another time, the contrary is found. For my words can be interpreted in diverse ways: just as I said to you of one man that his hand would become his death, and of another, that he would approach my table no more. These things are said either because I am going to tell you why I have spoken thus or because you, in fact, will see the final truth - just as it is now clear in the case of those two. Sometimes, too, I say things obscurely in order that you may both fear and rejoice - fearing that they may come to pass in another way because of my divine patience, which knows the changes of hearts, and rejoicing too because my will is always fulfilled. So too, in the Old Law, I said many things that were to be understood more spiritually than corporeally - as concerning the temple and David and Jerusalem - in order that carnal mankind might learn to desire spiritual things.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">For to test faith's constancy and the solicitude of my friends, I said and promised many things which, according to the diverse effects of my Spirit, could be understood in different ways by the good and the wicked, and so that in their different states they each might have opportunities in which they could be trained and tested and taught by me. That some things have been said obscurely happens out of my justice so that my plan may be hidden, and so that each one may patiently await my grace lest, perchance - if my plan were always made known with a definite date - all might grow tepid while waiting. And I have promised many things that have been withdrawn because of man's ingratitude; and many things have been said corporeally which shall be accomplished in a spiritual way, as concerning Jerusalem and Zion. For the Jews are, as it is written, the blind and deaf People of the Lord."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">FIFTEENTH INTERROGATION</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">First question. Again the same religious appeared, standing on his rung as before, and said: "O Judge, I ask you: Why have many things been created that seem to be of no usefulness?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Second question. "Item. Why are souls - remaining in the body or going forth from the body - not commonly seen?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Third question. "Item. Why are your praying friends not always heard?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Fourth question. "Item. Why are many who want to do evil not given permission?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Fifth question. "Item. Why do evils come upon some who do not deserve them?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Sixth question. "Item. Why do those who have the Spirit of God sin?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Seventh question. "Item. Why does the devil adhere to some, being always present to them, but never to others?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the first question. The Judge replied: "Friend, just as my works are many, so too they are wonderful and incomprehensible. And, many though they are, none are without cause. Man, indeed, is like a boy nurtured in a prison, in darkness. If one were to tell him that light and stars exist, he would not believe because he has never seen. Similarly, ever since man deserted the true light, he delights only in darkness in accord with the popular saying: To a man accustomed to evil, evil seems sweet. And so, although man's intellect is darkened, nevertheless there is no shadow or change in me. I do arrange, and have arranged, all things so temperately and honestly and wisely that nothing has been made without a cause or a use, not the highest mountain, nor the desert, nor the lakes; not the beasts, nor even the venomous reptiles. I provide for the usefulness of all creatures as well as of mankind.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">I am like a man who has certain places for strolling; other places for keeping utensils; other places for animals, tame and wild; other places for fortifications or for the mysteries of his council; other places because of the congruent position of the land; other places for mankind's reproof. Thus I, God, have arranged all things in a rational manner: some things for man's use and delight, some to be refuges for animals and birds, some for the training and bridling of human cupidity, some for the harmony of the elements, some for the admiration of my works, some for the punishment of sin and for the harmony of things higher and lower, some for a cause known and reserved to me alone.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">For behold: the bee - so brief and small - knows how to extract much from many sources for the confecting of honey. So too the other creatures, both minute and large, surpass man in the shrewd distinguishing of herbs and in the consideration of their usefulness; and there are many things profitable for them which are harmful to man. What wonder then if man's sense is weak in discerning and understanding my marvels, since he is already surpassed by the tiniest creatures? Behold: what is more ugly than a frog or a serpent; what is more contemptible than a burr or a nettle or similar things? And yet they are very good for those who know how to discern my works. And so, whatever exists is of use for something; and each thing that moves knows how its own nature will be able to subsist and gain strength. Therefore, because all my works are wonderful and all praise me, let man, who is so much more beautiful and preferred than the others, know that he is all that more obligated than the others to honor me.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Moreover, if the impact of the waters were not confined by some boundary of mountains, where would mankind dwell in safety? And if the beasts had no refuge, how would they escape the insatiable greed of man? And if man had everything as he wished, would he then require the things of heaven? But if the beasts neither toiled nor feared, they would grow dissolute and infirm. Therefore, very many of my works are in concealment in order that I, the wonderful and incomprehensible God, may be known and honored by mankind out of admiration for my wisdom in the creation of my so many creatures."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the second question. "Item. As to why souls are not seen by man, I answer: the soul is of a far better nature than the body because it is from the power of my Godhead and is immortal, having a partnership with the angels, and more outstanding than all the planets and nobler than the whole world, Therefore, because the soul is of a most noble and fiery nature - giving the body life and warmth - and because it is spiritual, it can in no way be seen by corporeal beings except through corporeal similitudes."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the third question. "Item. As to why my friends, petitioning me in their prayers, are not always heard by me, I answer: I am like a mother who sees her son making a request contrary to his welfare and puts off listening to his petition while stemming his tears with some indignation. Indeed, such indignation is not anger but great mercy. Thus I, God, do not always hear my friends because I see - better than they themselves would see - the things that are more useful for their welfare.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Did not Paul and others pray with energy and yet were not heard? But why? Because amidst their abundant virtues, my friends themselves have certain weaknesses and things to be purged; and therefore they are not heard in order that they may be all that more humble and fervent toward me, the more lovingly they are defended by me and preserved unscathed in temptations to sin. It is therefore a token of great love that the prayers of my friends are not always heard - for the sake of their greater merit and for the proving of their constancy. For just as the devil tries, if possible, to spoil the life of the just through some sin or through a contemptible death in order that the constancy of the faithful may thus grow tepid, so too I permit, not without cause, the testing of the just in order that their stability may be known to others and that they themselves may be more sublimely crowned. And just as the devil does not blush to tempt his own because he sees that they are quite prompt in sinning, so for a time I do not spare my elect because I see that they are prepared for all good."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the fourth question. "Item. As to why some who wish to do evil are not given permission, I answer: If a father has two sons, the one obedient and the other disobedient, that father resists the disobedient one as much as he can, lest the son transgress with malice. But the father tests the obedient son and urges him on to greater things so that by his activity even the disobedient son may also be incited toward better things. So too I, many times, do not permit the wicked to sin, because in the midst of their evils they do some good things by which they profit either themselves or others. Therefore, justice demands that they not be handed over to the devil at once and that they not always have success in fulfilling their will."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the fifth question. "Item. As to why evils come upon some who do not deserve them, I answer: Only I, God, know how good each person is and what each one deserves. Because many things appear beautiful when they are not, even gold is proved in the fire. Therefore, the just man is sometimes troubled as an example to others and for a crown for himself. So too Job was tested. He was good before his scourges; but during and after them, he became more known to mankind. And yet, who would want to examine why I scourged him? Who could know it but I myself, who anticipated with my blessings and preserved him from sinning and upheld him in temptations? And just as, without merits of his own, I anticipated him with my grace, so too I tested him with justice and mercy; for no one will be justified in my sight except through my grace."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the sixth question. "Item. As to why those who had my Spirit sin, I answer: The Spirit of my Godhead is not bound but blows where it will and draws back when it will. It does not dwell in a vessel which is subject to sins but in one which has charity. For I, God, am charity; and where I am, there is freedom. Therefore he who accepts my Spirit has the ability to sin if he wishes, because every human being has free will. And so, when man moves his will against me, then my Spirit, which is in him, withdraws from him; or man himself is rebuked in order that he may correct his will. Thus, Balaam willed to curse my people; but I did not permit him. For although he was a wicked and covetous prophet, nevertheless he sometimes spoke good things, not of himself, but from my Spirit. Many times, the gift of my Spirit is given to the good and to the wicked. Otherwise, those great and eloquent speakers would not have disputed about such lofty things if they had not had my Spirit; nor would they have raved so foolishly against me if their thoughts had not been contrary to me and if they had not inclined toward pride, wanting to know more than they ought."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the seventh question. "Item. As to why the devil is more present to some and adheres to them, I answer: The devil is, as it were, the lictor and the examiner of the just. Therefore, with my permission, he vexes the souls of certain people; he overshadows the consciences of others; and of some he vexes even the bodies. He vexes the souls of those who sin against reason and give themselves over to every impurity and infidelity. He disturbs the consciences and bodies of those who are purged and vexed, in the present, for some sins.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Indeed, such vexation also comes upon infants of either sex - whether pagan or Christian - either because of the parents' lack of care or a defect of nature, or for the terror and humiliation of others, or because of some sins. But my justice mercifully arranged that these infants, who are spared the occasions of sin, either are not too gravely punished or are more sublimely crowned. Similarly, many such things also happen to brutes either for the punishment of others, or for a quicker end to life, or because of the intemperance of their own nature. Therefore, that the devil adheres to some and is nearer to them is the result of my permission, either for greater humiliation and caution; or for a greater crown and a greater solicitude in seeking me; or because of sins to be purged in the present; or because, through the demands of their guilt, the punishment of some begins in the present and will endure without end."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The eleventh revelation in the Book of Questions, in which Christ speaks to his bride, blessed Birgitta, and tells her why and when he began to administer and infuse into her the words of divine revelations in spiritual vision. And he tells her that the aforementioned words of the revelations, which are contained in these books, have principally these four virtues: they spiritually satisfy one who thirsts for true charity, they warm the cold, they gladden the disturbed, and they heal weak souls.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Son of God speaks: "By means of natural things, a healthful drink can be made - namely, of cold iron and hard stone, of a dry tree and a bitter herb. But how? Certainly, if steel were to fall upon a sulphurous mountain with force, then fire would go forth from the steel to ignite the mountain. Out of its warmth, an olive tree planted nearby - outwardly dry but inwardly full of unction - would begin to flow so greatly that the bitter herb, planted at the olive's foot, would be sweetened by the downflow of oil; and thence a healthful drink could be made. This is what I have done for you in a spiritual way. For your heart was as cold toward my love as steel; and yet, in it there moved a modest spark of love for me, namely, when you thought me worthy of love and honor above all others.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">But that heart of yours then fell upon the sulphurous mountain when the glory and delight of the world turned against you and when your husband, whom you carnally loved beyond all others, was taken from you by death. In truth, mundane pleasure and delight are well compared to a sulphurous mountain; for they are accompanied by swollenness of the soul, the stench of concupiscence, and the burning of punishment. And when at your husband's death your soul was gravely shaken with disturbance, then the spark of my love - which lay, as it were, hidden and enclosed - began to go forth, for, after considering the vanity of the world, you abandoned your whole will to me and desired me above all things. And so, because of that spark of love, you relished the dry olive tree, i.e., the words of the gospels and the conversation of my Doctors, and abstinence so pleased you that all the things that previously seemed bitter began to be sweet for you. And when the oil began to flow and the words of my revelations came down upon you in spirit, then one stood upon the mountain and cried, saying: 'By this drink, thirst is quenched; the cold are warmed; the disturbed are gladdened; and the infirm convalesce.' It is I myself, God, who cry. My words - which you hear from me frequently in spiritual vision - like the good drink, satisfy those who thirst for true charity; second, they warm those who are cold; third, they gladden those who are disturbed; and fourth, they heal those who are weak in soul."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">SIXTEENTH INTERROGATION</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">First question. Again the same religious appeared, standing on his rung as before and saying: "O Judge, I ask you: Why, according to the word of the Gospel, will the goats be placed at your left and the sheep at your right? Surely, you do not delight in such things?" Second question. "Item. Since you are God's Son, coequal to the Father, why is it written that neither you nor the angels know the hour of judgment?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Third question. "Item. Since your Holy Spirit spoke in the evangelists, why is there such great discrepancy in the gospels?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Fourth question. "Item. Since, in your incarnation, there is so great a salvation for the whole human race, why did you delay so long a time to take on flesh?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Fifth question. "Item. Since man's soul is better than the whole world, why do you not send your friends and preachers everywhere and at all times?"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the first question. The Judge answered: "Friend, you do not ask in order to know but so that your malice may be known. Now then, in the Godhead there is nothing carnal, or carnally portrayed, because my Godhead is spirit. And with me, the good and the wicked cannot dwell together at one time any more than light can dwell together with darkness. Neither is there in my Godhead a right or a left - portrayed, as it were, corporeally - nor will they be happier for being at my right rather than at my left. These things have been said as a similitude. For, by 'right,' the loftiness of my divine glory is understood; by 'left,' the lack and loss of all good. Neither sheep nor goats exist in that wonderful glory of mine, where there is nothing corporeal or stained or changeable. However, the behavior of mankind is many times described in similitudes and in the figures of animals.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Just the sheep signifies innocence, the goat signifies wantonness, i.e., incontinent mankind, and must be placed at the left where there is a lack of all good. Therefore, know that I, God, sometimes use human words and similitudes in order that the little one may have something to suck and that the perfect may become more perfect and for the fulfillment of the Scripture, which says that the Son of the Virgin has been set in place for contradiction so that out of many hearts thoughts may be revealed."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the second question. "Item. As to why I, the Son of God, said that I was ignorant of the hour of judgment, I answer: It is written that Jesus advanced in age and wisdom. Everything that waxes and wanes has mutability; but the Godhead is immutable. Therefore, the fact that I, God's Son, coeternal with the Father, advanced was the result of my human nature. What I did not know was what my humanity did not know. In my Godhead, I knew and know all things. For the Father does nothing other than the things that I, the Son, do. Or does the Father know things unknown to me, the Son, and to the Holy Spirit? Not at all. But only the Father - with whom I the Son, and the Holy Spirit are one substance, one Godhead, and one will - knows that hour of judgment - not the angels and not any creature."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the third question. "Item. If the Holy Spirit spoke in the evangelists, why is there such great discrepancy among them? I answer: It is written that the Holy Spirit is manifold in his operations; for to his elect he distributes his gifts in many ways. Indeed, the Holy Spirit is like a man who has a pair of scales in his hand, and, in many ways, balances and adjusts its extremities until the very movement of the scales arrives at stability. Such a pair of scales is handled in different ways by those accustomed to it and by those not accustomed, in different ways by the strong and by the weak. So too the Holy Spirit - in the manner of the scales - now ascends in human hearts and now again descends. He ascends when he elevates the mind through subtlety of understanding and through devotion of soul and through the inflaming of spiritual desire. He descends when he permits the mind to be involved with difficulties, to be worried by superfluous matters, and to be perturbed by tribulations. And as the scales have no fixity without the moderation of their loads and the application of the hand that controls them, so too, in the operation of the Holy Spirit, moderation is necessary, and a good life and simplicity of intention and discretion of works and virtues.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Therefore, when I, God's Son, visible in the flesh, preached different things in different places, I had different imitators and hearers; for some followed me out of love, others to find opportunity and because of curiosity. And some of those who followed me were subtle by nature; others were simpler. Therefore, I spoke simple things by which the simple were instructed; and I also spoke higher things at which the wise wondered. Sometimes, too, I spoke in parables and obscurely - about which some received an opportunity of speaking. Sometimes I repeated things previously said, and sometimes I expanded or condensed them. Therefore, it is no wonder if those who arranged the narrative of the gospels have set down things that are different, but nevertheless true, because some of them set down word for word and others set down the sense of the words, but not the words themselves. Some wrote things that they had heard but had not seen. Others wrote earlier things later. Some wrote more about my divinity. And each one of them wrote just as the Holy Spirit enabled him to speak. However, I want you to know that acceptance is to be given only to those evangelists whom my Church accepts.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Many who had zeal tried to write, but not in accordance with my own knowledge. For behold, I said that which was read today: 'Destroy this temple and I shall rebuild it.' Those who testified that they had heard these things were truthful according to the word that they had heard, but they were false witnesses because they did not attend to the sense of my words. For I spoke that word that it might be understood in reference to my body. Similarly, when I said: 'If you do not eat my flesh, you shall not have life,' many went away because they did not pay attention to the conclusion that I spoke: 'My words are life and spirit,' i.e., they have spiritual meaning and power. It is no wonder that they erred, for they did not follow me out of love. And so the Holy Spirit, in the manner of the scales, ascends in the hearts of mankind, now speaking corporeally and now spiritually. He descends when man's heart is hardened against God or becomes involved in heresies or worldly things and is darkened."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Then, at that same moment, the Judge said to the inquisitive religious, who was sitting on a rung of the ladder: "You, O friend, have so often asked me subtle questions. Now, for the sake of my bride who is present nearby, I ask you: Why does your soul - which has discretion and understanding of good and evil - love decadent things more than the things of heaven and not live in accord with those things that it understands?" That religious mentioned above answered: "Because I act against reason, and I make the senses of the flesh prevail over reason." Christ said: "Your conscience, then, shall be your judge." Finally, Christ said to the bride: "Behold, daughter, how greatly there prevails in man not only the devil's malice but also a depraved conscience! This comes about from the fact that man does not wrestle against his temptation as he ought. But this was not the behavior of that Master known to you. In his case, the Spirit descended by testing him with temptations to such an extent that it was as if all the heresies stood before him and said, as it were, with one mouth: 'We are truth.' However, he did not trust his senses and did not think thoughts that were beyond him. Therefore he was liberated and was made knowledgeable from 'In the beginning' right through to 'Alpha and O,' just as it was promised to him."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the fourth question. "Item. As to why I delayed my incarnation for so long a time, I answer: My incarnation was truly necessary; for through it the curse was undone and all things were pacified in heaven and on earth. Nevertheless, it was necessary that man first be taught through the natural law and, then, through the written law. For through the natural law, the quantity and quality of man's love appeared. Through the written law, man understood his weakness and misery and then began to require medicine. It was therefore just that the physician came then, when the infirmity was aggravated, so that where disease abounded, medicine might even more abound. Nevertheless, both under the natural law and under the written law, there were many who were just; and many had the Holy Spirit and foretold many things and instructed others in all that was honest and waited for me, the Savior. These met with my mercy and not with eternal punishment."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Response to the fifth question. "Item. As to why, since the soul of man is better than the world, preachers are not sent everywhere and at all times, I answer: Truly, the soul is more worthy and more noble than the whole world and more stable than all things. It is more worthy because it is spiritual and equal to the angels and created for eternal joy. It is more noble because it was made, in the image of my Godhead, both immortal and eternal. Therefore, because man is more worthy and more noble than all creatures, man ought to live more nobly than all; for he, in preference to others, has been enriched with reason. But if man abuses reason and my divine gifts, what wonder is it if, at the time of justice, I punish that which was passed over in the time of mercy?</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Therefore, preachers are not sent everywhere and at all times because I, God, foresee the hardness of many hearts and spare the labors of my elect lest they be troubled for an empty purpose. And because many who sin intentionally and with sure knowledge deliberately resolve to persevere in their sins rather than be converted, they are not worthy to hear the messengers of salvation. But, O friend, now I will end, with you, my response to your thoughts; and you shall end your life. Now you shall experience the profit that you have had from your wordy eloquence and the favor of man. Oh how happy you would be if you had paid attention to your profession and your vow!"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Item. The Spirit said to the bride: "Daughter, he who was seen to have asked such things at such length lives still in the body; but he is not going to remain alive one day. The thoughts and affections of his heart have been shown to you through similitudes, not for his greater reproach but for the salvation of the souls of others. But behold: together now with his thoughts and his affections, his hope and his life will end."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The twelfth revelation in the Book of Questions, in which Christ speaks to his bride, blessed Birgitta, and says to her that she must not be disturbed by the fact that he does not do justice at once in the case of a man who is a great sinner. For he defers the sentence of his justice in order that his justice - which is to be done in this man's case - may be made manifest to others. He also says that his divine words which are contained in this book of Heavenly Revelations must first grow and bear fruit even to full maturity and, afterwards, produce the effect of their virtue in the world. Indeed, these words are like oil in a lamp, i.e., in a virtuous soul, which they enrich with their unction and which, with the Holy Spirit coming upon it, they make to burn and shine with wonderful splendor. He adds that the said words of the revelations will first rise up and bear fruit in a place other than the kingdom of Sweden, where they began to be revealed by God to that same bride.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Son of God speaks: "Why are you disturbed because I put up with that man so patiently? Do you not know that it is a grave thing to burn eternally? Therefore, even to the last point, I suffer him in order that in him my justice may be manifested to others. And so, wherever dye-plants have been sown, if they are cut before their time, they do not have the strength to color a thing as well as if they were cut in due time. Thus, my words - which are to be manifested with justice and mercy and ought to grow and bear fruit even to the fullness of maturity - then indeed will be more fit for the thing to which they will be applied and will fittingly color my virtue. However, why are you disturbed because that man distrusts my words unless more evident signs be shown? Was it you that bore him, or do you know his interior as I do?</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Indeed, this man is, as it were, a burning and radiant lamp. When fat is put into it, the wick soon draws near, firmly adhering to it. Thus he is a lamp of virtues, a lamp fit to receive my divine grace. As soon as my words will be poured into him, they will liquify completely and will descend to the interior of his heart. And what wonder is it if the fat liquifies when fire burns in the lamp - a fire that liquifies the fat and makes the lamp burn? Truly, that fire is my Spirit, which exists and speaks in you; and the very same Spirit also exists and speaks in him, although in a more hidden and, for him, more useful way.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">This fire kindles the lamp of his heart to labor in my honor. It also kindles his soul to receive the tallow of my grace and of my words, by which the soul is sweetly sustained and more fully fattened, when it comes to works. Therefore, do not fear; but persist steadfastly in faith! If these words came from your own spirit or from the spirit of this world, then deservedly you would have to dread. But, because they are from my Spirit, which the holy prophets also had, you must, therefore, not fear but rejoice, unless, perhaps, you are more afraid of the empty name of the world than of the postponement of my divine words.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">"Listen further to what I say: This kingdom is entangled in a great and long-unpunished sin. Therefore my words cannot yet rise up and bear fruit here; as I shall now make clear to you, speaking by means of a similitude. If a nut had been planted in the earth and something heavy had been placed over it so that it could not rise up, the nut, being naturally sound and fresh, but hindered in its ascent by the pressing weight above it, searches about in the earth for a place to rise where there is less weight. There it fixes roots so deep and stable that it not only produces most beautiful fruit but also grows a strong trunk that annihilates all that impedes its ascent and extends itself over that heavy object. Thus, this nut signifies my words, which due to sin would not now be able to have their rise conveniently in this kingdom and will first rise up and make progress in another place until the hardness of this kingdom's earth decreases and mercy can be disclosed."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The thirteenth revelation in the Book of Questions, in which God the Father speaks to blessed Birgitta and subtly informs her about the virtue of those five sacred places which are in Jerusalem and Bethlehem, and about the grace received by pilgrims who, with devout humility and true charity, visit those places. He says that in the said places there was a vessel that was closed and not closed, a lion born that was seen and not, seen, a lamb that was shorn and not shorn, a serpent placed that lay and did not lay, and an eagle that flew and did not fly. He expounds all these things figuratively, and there follows an exposition and clarification of the figurative words aforesaid.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">God the Father speaks: "There was a certain lord whose servant said to him: 'Behold, your fallow land has been cultivated; and the roots have been pulled out. When is the wheat to be sown?' The lord said to him: 'Even though the roots seem to have been pulled out, nevertheless the hardened old trunks and stumps are still left. In spring, the rains and the winds are going to loosen them. Therefore, patiently await the time for sowing.' To this, the servant replied: 'What am I to do between the seasons of spring and harvest?' The lord said to him: 'I know five places. Everyone who goes to them shall have fivefold fruit if only he comes pure and empty of pride and warm with charity. In the first place, there was a vessel, closed and not closed; a vessel, small and not small; a vessel, luminous and not luminous; a vessel, empty and not empty; a vessel, clean and not clean. In the second place, there was born a lion that was seen and not seen, that was heard and not heard, that was touched and not touched, that was recognized and was not known, that was held and not held. In the third place, there was a lamb, shorn and not shorn; a lamb, wounded and not wounded; a lamb, calling and not calling; a lamb, suffering and not suffering; a lamb, dying and not dying. In the fourth place, there was put a serpent that lay and did not lay, moved and did not move, heard and did not hear, saw and did not see, felt and did not feel. In the fifth place, there was an eagle that flew and did not fly, and that came to a place from which it has never withdrawn, that rested and did not rest, that was renewed and not renewed, that rejoiced and did not rejoice, that was honored and not honored.'"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The exposition and clarification of the things said figuratively above.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Father speaks: "That vessel of which I spoke to you was Mary, Joachim's daughter, the mother of Christ's human nature. She was indeed a vessel closed and not closed: closed to the devil but not to God. For just as a torrent - wishing to enter a vessel opposed to it and not being able - seeks other ways in and out, so the devil, like a torrent of vices, wished to approach Mary's heart by means of all his inventions; but he never was able to incline her soul toward even the slightest sin because it had been closed against his temptations. For the torrent of my Spirit had flowed into her heart and filled her with special grace.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Second, Mary, the mother of my Son, was a vessel small and not small: small and modest in the contempt of her lowliness; great and not small in love for my Godhead. Third, Mary was a vessel empty and not empty: empty of all hedonism and sin; not empty but full of heavenly sweetness and all goodness. Fourth, Mary was a vessel luminous and not luminous: luminous because every beautiful soul is created by me; but Mary's soul so grew toward the full perfection of light that my Son fixed himself in her soul, at whose beauty heaven and earth rejoiced. But this vessel was not luminous in the sight of mankind because she scorned the world's honors and wealth.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Fifth, Mary was a vessel clean and not clean: truly clean because she was all beautiful and because there was not found in her even enough uncleanness in which to fix the point of a needle; not clean because she came forth from Adam's root and was born of sinners, although herself conceived without sin in order that, of her, my Son might be born without sin. Therefore, whoever comes to that place, namely, where Mary was born and reared, will not only be cleansed but will also be a vessel to my honor.</span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-831939533339323924.post-85074571311101457722021-10-27T02:00:00.003-04:002021-10-27T02:00:20.808-04:00"Yoga" Condemned<p><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhI9ve3tKi323YpD5rUmCWX8x4dWgusRJ6bE2g-jDhAYlnFO69VkVUu8pKCzprVdDXoBDQFG9cO5iI_STbYGYRGvCx3xS2RxyY7gXJaWRtnPUle0uT-HRwbiIBvb39puGWN2BqKte-slStVmFCKfI2K6DMlUlwlRKFq8mcVCvduc6mnu0R1IfNhbzYq=s800" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="469" data-original-width="800" height="188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhI9ve3tKi323YpD5rUmCWX8x4dWgusRJ6bE2g-jDhAYlnFO69VkVUu8pKCzprVdDXoBDQFG9cO5iI_STbYGYRGvCx3xS2RxyY7gXJaWRtnPUle0uT-HRwbiIBvb39puGWN2BqKte-slStVmFCKfI2K6DMlUlwlRKFq8mcVCvduc6mnu0R1IfNhbzYq=s320" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />Yoga is a group of spiritual practices originating in India. Many Dharmic scriptures discuss different aspects of Yoga. In the context of the Bhagavad Gita, the Yoga describes a unified outlook, serenity of mind and action and the ability to stay attuned to the glory of the Self (Atman).</span><p></p><p class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">For many in the West who don't understand the history behind it, yoga is simply a means of physical exercise and strengthening and improving flexibility of the muscles. However, the philosophy behind yoga is much more than physically improving oneself. It is an ancient practice derived from India, believed to be the path to spiritual growth and enlightenment.</span></p><p class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Mayor branches of Yoga are: Hatha Yoga, Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, and Raja Yoga. The most popular one in the West is Hatha Yoga and is practiced mainly for mental and physical health.</span></p><p class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Hatha Yoga is seen in Hinduism as a convenient way to the heights of Raja Yoga (school of Hindu philosophy); it is a preparatory stage of physical practice that renders the body fit for meditation.</span></p><p class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><h2 class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 22px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 28px; margin: 0px; text-align: center; text-decoration-line: underline;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="The-Meaning-of-Yoga" style="color: blue;"></a>The Meaning of Yoga</span></h2><p class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Yoga is a Sanskrit word which literally means 'yoking' and it refers to practices – originated from Hinduism – whose purpose is to unite the individual's mind with the Divinity, that is, the only true reality which is called Brahman. In other words, yoga consists of some practices which are designed specifically to induce a state of trance which supposedly allows the mind to be drawn upward into a yoking with Brahman. It is a means of withdrawal from the world of illusion (for according to Hinduism all is illusion) to seek the only true Reality.</span></p><p class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Yoga consists of eight steps whose aim is to free the individual's mind from its impurities which hinder man from realizing and knowing the Atman which is within him. According to Hinduism, Atman is the God that is within all human beings, which is nothing but what is called Brahman (the universal Atman which pervades the universe) for Atman and Brahman are one thing. Therefore, at the core of yoga – no matter what kind of yoga – is the following doctrine: the Divinity is within every man, and unless one purifies (or frees) his mind from all the impurities which hinder him from realizing his Divinity he cannot realize that he is divine. Yoga is a means through which a man can realize that he is Brahman (which is falsely called God). Furthermore, it must be said that yoga is strictly linked with the doctrine of reincarnation for it is the means through which one can attain moksha, that is, the liberation from the cycle of reincarnation. This liberation is achieved when one realizes his essential union with Brahman.</span></p><p class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The eight steps of yoga are these: yamas, niyamas, asanas, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana, and samadhi. The yamas and the niyamas are the major do's and don'ts. The asanas are meditative postures. Pranayama is breath control. Pratyahara is the withdrawal from the senses; that is the stage at which an adept learns how to control the 'tentacles' of consciousness that are called 'indriyas' in Sanskrit. Dharana is the discipline of concentration. Dhyana is the discipline of meditation which leads into samadhi. Samadhi is a consciousness of pure detachment from the world in which the soul abides in its essence alone, and in which the yogi discovers his true identity as transcendent spirit and perceives the basic unity of existence. Afterwards, the yogi gets to Nirvana, which is a stable Mergence with the Consciousness of God. The term "Nirvana" means 'complete burning away', i.e. obliteration of one's individuality in the Mergence with God; at that a man, having expanded and dissolved in Him, feels that he is God.</span></p><p class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Through samyama (that is, through dharana, dhyana and samadhi) one can obtain some occult powers. In addition to this, it must be said that the aim of pranayama is not only to control prana, that is, the vital energy, but also to arouse the kundalini. Kundalini is the latent power believed to rest at the base of the spine. When aroused it rages like a vicious serpent inside a person with a force "that it is impossible to resist." The kundalini produces supernatural psychic powers having their source in demonic beings.</span></p><p class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">There are about ten forms of yoga. The names of some of them are: raja-yoga, bhakti-yoga, jnana-yoga, karma-yoga, tantra-yoga, kundalini-yoga, and hatha-yoga. The most famous form of yoga in the Western world is hatha-yoga, which many consider merely a neutral form of exercise, a soothing and effective alternative for those who abhor jogging.</span></p><p class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><h2 class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 22px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 28px; margin: 0px; text-align: center; text-decoration-line: underline;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="What-is-the-Christian-view-of-Yoga?" style="color: blue;"></a>What is the Christian view of Yoga?</span></h2><p class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">For many Christians in the West who don't understand the history behind it, yoga is simply a means of physical exercise and strengthening and improving flexibility of the muscles. However, the philosophy behind yoga is much more than physically improving oneself. It is an ancient practice derived from India, believed to be the path to spiritual growth and enlightenment.</span></p><p class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The word "yoga" means "union," and the goal is to unite one's transitory (temporary) self with the infinite Brahman, the Hindu concept of "God." This god is not a literal being, but is an impersonal spiritual substance that is one with nature and the cosmos. This view is called "pantheism," the belief that everything is God and that reality consists only of the universe and nature. Because everything is God, the yoga philosophy makes no distinction between man and God.</span></p><p class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Hatha yoga is the aspect of yoga which focuses on the physical body through special postures, breathing exercises, and concentration or meditation. It is a means to prepare the body for the spiritual exercises, with fewer obstacles, in order to achieve enlightenment. The practice of yoga is based on the belief that man and God are one. It is little more than self-worship disguised as a high level of spirituality.</span></p><p class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The question becomes, is it possible for a Christian to isolate the physical aspects of yoga as simply a method of exercise, without incorporating the spirituality or philosophy behind it? Yes, but then it wouldn't be called Yoga, it would simply be called normal stretching and breathing exercise. Everything in Yoga that is related to the pagan philosophy, i.e., the strange postures, the breathing exercises a person makes to become "high", and the self meditations or out of body experiences or trances, must be completely avoided by Christians. Yoga originated with a blatantly anti-Christian philosophy, and that philosophy has not changed. It teaches one to focus on oneself instead of on the one true God. It encourages its participants to seek the answers to life's difficult questions within their own mind instead of in the Word of God and the Church. It also leaves one open to deception from God's enemy, who searches for victims that he can turn away from God (1 Peter 5:8).</span></p><p class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Whatever we do should be done for God's glory (1 Corinthians 10:31), and we would be wise to heed the words of the apostle Paul: "Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise" (Philippians 4:8).</span></p><p class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><h3 class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 21px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 26px; margin: 25px auto -5px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Yoga: a Hindu (pagan) spiritual discipline</span></h3><p class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Yoga is a Hindu (pagan) spiritual discipline which attempts to unite one with the divine within oneself and unite one with all of creation through breathing, physical exercises, concentration, etc. The idea that the divine is to be sought for and found within oneself is, of course, occultic. The idea that the divine permeates all of creation -- the idea upon which the practice of yoga is based and toward which it is geared -- is pantheism, reprobated by Vatican I and other councils and teachings of the Church:</span></p><p class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“The holy, Catholic, Apostolic, Roman Church believes and confesses that there is one, true, living God, Creator and Lord of heaven and earth... Who, although He is one, singular, altogether simple and unchangeable spiritual substance, must be proclaimed distinct in reality and essence from the world...” (<i>Constitutio Dogmatica de Fide Catholic</i>, Sess. III, Cap. i)</span></p><p class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">God is distinct in reality and essence from His creation. Pantheism teaches that God and the universe are one. Pantheism teaches that the grass, trees, rivers, lakes, oceans, etc., were all united with Christ by virtue of the Incarnation. Pantheism "divinizes" the material world and leads to the "Gaia" belief of the New Agers that the material world lives and has a soul, and to environmental radicalism, in which trees and whales have more rights that human babies.</span></p><p class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Since the practice of yoga is based on the idea of union with the divine within oneself and within all of creation, the practice of yoga is therefore an expression of belief in the condemned pantheistic heresy that God and His creation are a single thing. Practicing yoga, therefore, is practicing a false religion and expressing belief in a false god.</span></p><p class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The practice of yoga is pagan at best, and occult at worst... For the first time in history, it is being widely practiced throughout the Western world and America. It is ridiculous that even yogi masters wearing a cross or a Christian symbol deceive people by saying that yoga has nothing to do with Hinduism and say that it is only accepting other cultures. Some have masked yoga with Christian gestures and call it "Christian yoga." Here it is not a question of accepting the culture of other people; it is a question of accepting another religion. Yoga is evil because it leads to a worship of Hinduism and other pagan Eastern religions.</span></p><p class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><h2 class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 22px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 28px; margin: 0px; text-align: center; text-decoration-line: underline;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="The-Dangers-of-Yoga" style="color: blue;"></a>The Dangers of Yoga</span></h2><p class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Yoga is of the devil for its purpose is to lead man to realize that he is God (that is, he and God are one and the same) or to discover within himself his godhood. Yes, because according to the philosophy that underlies yoga man is ignorant of his divine nature and thus he needs to discover it, and yoga is the means which will lead him to this discovery! Listen to what brother Rabindranath R. Maharaj, who used to practice yoga every day when he was a guru, says in his book <i>Death of a Guru</i>:</span></p><p class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">"What I experienced in meditation agreed with the Vedic teaching about Brahman, but my experience of life at other times disagreed. In Yogic trance I felt a oneness with the whole universe; I was no different from a bug or cow or distant star. We all partook of the same Essence. Everything was Brahman, and Brahman was everything. 'And that thou art!' said the Vedas, telling me that Brahman was my true Self, the god within that I worshiped sitting in front of a mirror." (Rabindranath R. Maharaj with Dave Hunt, Death of a Guru, Hodder and Stoughton, Great Britain 1986, page 97)</span></p><p class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Whereas the Holy Scripture teaches that man is just a creature of God and can never become God (although we can become like unto God by being made partakers of His glory), and that those who believe they are God are God's enemies for they are full of pride. In ancient times God rebuked sharply the prince of Tyre for he believed that he was God, as it is written in the book of the prophet Ezekiel:</span></p><p class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">"The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying, Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God: Behold, thou art wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that they can hide from thee: With thy wisdom and with thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures: By thy great wisdom and by thy traffick hast thou increased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches: Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God; Behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness. They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the seas. Wilt thou yet say before him that slayeth thee, I am God? but thou shalt be a man, and no God, in the hand of him that slayeth thee. Thou shalt die the deaths of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD." (Ezekiel 28:1-10)</span></p><p class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Some decades ago, God rebuked also Rabindranath R. Maharaj for the same reason, that is, because he believed he was God. Pay attention to what he says in his book <i>Death of a Guru</i>:</span></p><p class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">"At the end of my third year in high school, Ma and Aunt Revati invited a large group of neighbors and relatives to join us in a special puja in our home. Those arriving approached to make their respectful bows and to reminisce a bit upon my father's greatness. Their comments, overheard here and there as the room filled, bore out the admiration I read in their appraising eyes. I was a Yogi who would bring fame to our town, a guru who would one day have many, many followers. My inner conflicts were forgotten in the sheer pleasure of being worshiped. Although I was not quite 15, I knew that already I had attained a status among Hindus that was the envy of some pundits. It gave me a good, honest feeling to know that I was not among the hypocrites my Uncle Deonarine despised. Our Baba, Pundit Jankhi Prasad Sharma Maharaj, my spiritual adviser and greatest inspiration, the acknowledged Hindu leader for all of Trinidad, performed the elaborate ceremony. Proudly I assisted. It was a great occasion for me. Fingering a large, fragrant garland of flowers around my neck, I stood near the altar greeting the guests after the ceremony. A neighbor laid several pieces of money one after another at my feet, and bowed to receive my blessing – the Shakti pat that every worshiper craved because of its supernatural effect. I knew her to be a poor widow who earned pitifully little for her long hours of hard labor. The offerings I received at one ceremony would far exceed her wages for a month. The gods had decreed this system of giving to Brahmins, and the Vedas declared it to be of great benefit to the giver, so why should I feel guilty? Uncle Deonarine's words rose vividly before me in all their venom: 'It's a business with all of them; they do nothing without pay … mainly from the poor!' I glanced at her small offering of coins uncomfortably. Of course I had much to give her in exchange. Reaching out to touch her forehead in bestowal of my blessing, I was startled by a voice of unmistakable omnipotent authority: 'You are not God, Rabi!' My arm froze in midair. 'You … are … not … God!' The words smote me like the slash of a cutlass felling the tall green cane. Instinctively I knew that the true God, the Creator of all, had spoken these words, and I began to tremble. It was a fraud, a blatant deception to pretend to bless this bowing woman. I pulled back my hand, acutely aware that many eyes were watching and wondering. I felt that I must fall at the holy feet of the true God and ask his forgiveness – but how could I explain that to all these people!' Abruptly I turned and pushed my way through the crowd, leaving that poor woman staring after me in bewilderment. Inside my room, I locked the door, tore the garland of flowers from around my neck with trembling fingers, flung it to the floor, and fell across my bed, sobbing." (Rabindranath R. Maharaj with Dave Hunt, Death of a Guru, Hodder and Stoughton, Great Britain 1986, pages 107-108)</span></p><p class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">As you can see, God resists those who believe they are God. And since the purpose of yoga is to lead men to believe they are God, we conclude that the father of yoga is the devil.</span></p><p class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Yoga is of the devil because through it a man reaches an altered state of consciousness, which is the doorway to the occult. In other words, yoga is of the devil because it enables those who practice it to contact evil spirits (demons), that is, to see them, to talk with them, and to receive occult powers from them. In some cases yoga leads to demon-possession, as in the case of those in whom the kundalini power is aroused. I will cite again some words of brother Rabindranath R. Maharaj, who used to practice yoga every day when he was a guru, to show you how dangerous is the practice of yoga:</span></p><p class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">"Before the age of ten, in addition to my daily meditation, I practiced Yoga – the positions, breathing exercises, and meditation – on the veranda outside my room from midnight to 1:30 A. M., when everyone else was asleep. I did either Brumadhya Drishti or Madhyama Drishti. This concentration, combined with the breathing exercises, projected me into realms of consciousness totally unrelated to the world around me. Through Yoga I experienced increasingly the presence of spirit beings who were guiding me and giving me psychic powers. The gods were real!" (Rabindranath R. Maharaj, op. cit., pages 89-90); "Nothing was more important than our daily transcendental meditation, the heart of Yoga, which Krishna advocated as the surest way to eternal Bliss. But it could also be dangerous. Frightening psychic experiences awaited the unwary meditator, similar to a bad trip on drugs. Demons described in the Vedas had been known to take possession of some Yogis. Kundalini power, said to be coiled like a serpent at the base of the spine, could produce ecstatic experiences when released in deep meditation – or, if not properly controlled, it could do great mental and even bodily harm. The line between ecstasy and horror was very fine. For that reason we initiates were closely supervised by the Brahmacharya and his assistant. During the daily meditation I began to have visions of psychedelic colors, to hear unearthly music, and to visit exotic planets where the gods conversed with me, encouraging me to attain even higher states of consciousness. Sometimes in my trance I encountered the same horrible demonic creatures that are depicted by the images in Hindu, Buddhist, Shinto, and other religious temples. It was a frightful experience, but the Brahmacharya explained that it was normal and urged me to pursue the quest for Self-realization. At times I experienced a sense of mystical unity with the universe. I was the universe, Lord of all, omnipotent, omnipresent." (Ibid., 56-57); "Often while I was in deep meditation the gods became visible and talked with me. At times I seemed to be transported by astral projection to distant planets or to worlds in other dimensions. It would be years before I would learn that such experiences were being duplicated in laboratories under the watchful eyes of parapsychologists through the use of hypnosis and LSD. In my Yogic trances most often I would be alone with Shiva the Destroyer, sitting fearfully at his feet, the huge cobra coiled about his neck staring at me, hissing and darting out its tongue threateningly." (Ibid., page 75).</span></p><p class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Having demonstrated then that through yoga one is led to believe that he is God (as well as that through it one can achieve the liberation from the cycle of reincarnation, which is another lie), and that yoga induces a state of trance in which demons manifest themselves by appearing to those who practice yoga and by taking possession of them, it is evident that every Christian must flee yoga, lest he give place to the devil.</span></p><p class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Let no one deceive you with vain words such as "You can practice yoga apart from the philosophical and religious beliefs that are behind it!", for it is not possible to separate yoga from the philosophy which is behind it.</span></p><p class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Know this, that there is but one way to have access to God, and this way is Jesus Christ. If a man wants to know the only true God who created the universe (but He is not the universe), whose throne is in heaven, he must repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Only in this way he can unite himself with the Lord and become "one spirit with Him" (1 Corinthians 6:17). Of course, he will not become God, for he will remain a creature of God separated from His Creator. All the other ways, yoga included, are ways which don't lead man to the knowledge of God nor to the union with Him. If a man has already come to the knowledge of God through Christ, he can have access to God only by His Son, for Paul says that in Christ Jesus "we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him" (Ephesians 3:12). Note that it is through faith in Jesus – and not through a practice such as yoga – that we have access to the Father. I say this because there are some people who have created the so called "Christian yoga," through which – they claim – a Christian can have access to God. Brothers, let no one deceive you. Draw near to the Father through Christ, that is, in His name; whether you pray or sing do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, but do not resort to this so called "Christian yoga" in order to draw near to God, for yoga – being an eastern practice rooted in occultism – cannot become a Christian practice, just as spiritism cannot become a Christian practice. Know this, that there is no such thing as "Christian yoga," just as there is no such thing as "Christian spiritism". If a practice is Christian, that is, if a practice is biblical and thus we are allowed to follow it, it can't be influenced by Hinduism nor by occultism, for everything the Bible and the Church commands us to do is pure and just, free from all kinds of errors or superstitions. So I warn you against the so called Christian yoga, for it is a device of the devil to introduce into the Church the Hindu philosophy which is rooted in occultism.</span></p><p class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p class="western" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Remember that in the days of the prophet Isaiah God forsook the Israelites for they were "filled with eastern ways" (Isaiah 2:6).</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-831939533339323924.post-20310632073209499102021-10-25T02:42:00.002-04:002021-10-25T02:42:17.450-04:00In Support of Capital Punishment<p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhA3kXNUiHPM8KriHc24Mnxru29C0U-iD-qBouQCgi1bICZXSn7MdV519mmKC-Dus53ztfdhLdIm5Suk9BpYfyUl4VHQiAvqL-GLl9bxRL3ZvYNbmZcRxCxAWsmpwX6jIuGH3EseR5xPbjwMF6PXJsaqW1U0843YI-rJ8kTFJPX7JopA15yoQhm5jCv=s800" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="508" data-original-width="800" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhA3kXNUiHPM8KriHc24Mnxru29C0U-iD-qBouQCgi1bICZXSn7MdV519mmKC-Dus53ztfdhLdIm5Suk9BpYfyUl4VHQiAvqL-GLl9bxRL3ZvYNbmZcRxCxAWsmpwX6jIuGH3EseR5xPbjwMF6PXJsaqW1U0843YI-rJ8kTFJPX7JopA15yoQhm5jCv=s320" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />The Catholic Church and the Bible has always supported the legitimacy of the death penalty for extremely grave crimes. In fact, God Himself sanctioned the death penalty not only in the Old Testament, but in the New Testament as well (see Acts 5:1-11).</span><p></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 0.7cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Old Testament law commanded the death penalty for various acts: murder (Exodus 21:12), kidnapping (Exodus 21:16), bestiality (Exodus 22:19), adultery (Leviticus 20:10), homosexuality (Leviticus 20:13), being a false prophet (Deuteronomy 13:5), prostitution and rape (Deuteronomy 22:24), and several other crimes.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 0.7cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">God is the One who instituted capital punishment: “Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God He made man” (Genesis 9:6). Jesus would support capital punishment in some instances. Jesus also demonstrated grace when capital punishment was due (John 8:1-11). The apostle Paul definitely recognized the power of the government to institute capital punishment where appropriate (Romans 13:1-7).</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 0.7cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In the Catholic Church, canon law has always forbidden clerics to shed human blood and therefore capital punishment has always been the work of the officials of the State and not of the Church. Even in the case of heresy, the functions of ecclesiastics were restricted invariably to ascertaining the fact of heresy. The punishment, whether capital or other, was both prescribed and inflicted by civil government. The infliction of capital punishment is not contrary to the teaching of the Catholic Church, and the power of the State to visit upon culprits the penalty of death derives much authority from revelation and from the writings of theologians. The advisability of exercising that power is, of course, an affair to be determined upon other and various considerations.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 0.7cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Thomas Aquinas, <i>Summa Theologica</i>, Second Part of the Second Part, Q. 11, Art. 3: “I answer that, With regard to heretics... they deserve not only to be separated from the Church by excommunication, but also to be severed from the world by death. For it is a much graver matter to corrupt the faith which quickens the soul, than to forge money, which supports temporal life. Wherefore if forgers of money and other evil-doers are forthwith condemned to death by the secular authority, much more reason is there for heretics, as soon as they are convicted of heresy, to be not only excommunicated but even put to death.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 0.7cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">One of the first Popes to take a stand in favor of the death penalty was Innocent I in the year 405. In response to a query from the Bishop of Toulouse, Pope Innocent I based his position on Paul’s <i>Letter to the Romans</i>. He wrote:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 0.7cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“It must be remembered that power was granted by God [to the magistrates], and to avenge crime by the sword was permitted. He who carries out this vengeance is God’s minister (Rm 13:1-4). Why should we condemn a practice that all hold to be permitted by God? We uphold, therefore, what has been observed until now, in order not to alter the discipline and so that we may not appear to act contrary to God’s authority.” (Pope Innocent I, <i>Epist</i>. 6, C. 3. 8, ad <i>Exsuperium, Episcopum Tolosanum</i>, 20 February 405, PL 20,495)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 0.7cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Innocent III (1161-1216) likewise taught:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 0.7cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“The secular power can without mortal sin carry out a sentence of death, provided it proceeds in imposing the penalty not from hatred but with judgment, not carelessly but with due solicitude.” (Pope Innocent III, Denzinger 795; 425)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 0.7cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Pius XII (1876-1958) in more recent times also defended the legitimacy of the death penalty:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 0.7cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“Even in the case of the death penalty the State does not dispose of the individual’s right to life. Rather public authority limits itself to depriving the offender of the good of life in expiation for his guilt, after he, through his crime, deprived himself of his own right to life.” (Pope Pius XII, Address to the First International Congress of Histopathology of the Nervous System, 14 September 1952, XIV, 328)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 0.7cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In the <i>Catechism of the Council of Trent</i> (1566), it says:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 0.7cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“The power of life and death is permitted to certain civil magistrates because theirs is the responsibility under law to punish the guilty and protect the innocent. Far from being guilty of breaking this commandment [Thou shall not kill], such an execution of justice is precisely an act of obedience to it. For the purpose of the law is to protect and foster human life. This purpose is fulfilled when the legitimate authority of the State is exercised by taking the guilty lives of those who have taken innocent lives. In the Psalms we find a vindication of this right: “Morning by morning I will destroy all the wicked in the land, cutting off all evildoers from the city of the Lord” (Ps. 101:8).” (<i>Roman Catechism of the Council of Trent</i>, 1566, Part III, 5, n. 4)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 0.7cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">How should a Christian view the death penalty? First, we must remember that (1) God has instituted capital punishment in His Word, and (2) the Church has approved of this practice; (3) therefore, it would be presumptuous of us to think that we could institute a higher standard. God has the highest standard of any being; He is perfect. This standard applies not only to us but to Himself. Therefore, He loves to an infinite degree, and He has mercy to an infinite degree. We also see that He has wrath to an infinite degree, and it is all maintained in a perfect balance.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 0.7cm;"><span><span style="font-family: arial;">Second, we must recognize that God has given the Church and government the authority to determine when capital punishment is due (Genesis 9:6; Romans 13:1-7). It is therefore unbiblical and heretical to claim that God opposes the death penalty in all instances or that the Church disapproves of it. Christians should never rejoice or be happy about that someone is killed when the death penalty is employed, but should rather acknowledge and be happy about that justice is being served; but at the same time, Christians must not fight against the government’s right to execute the perpetrators of the most evil of crimes.</span></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-831939533339323924.post-2357664104559022642021-10-24T08:00:00.003-04:002021-10-24T08:00:26.552-04:00Antipope Benedict XVI Condemned<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjWEVB5L9BS0z7JUwzI2uDp4tybNlc9jiaROWA-Oq-GLLw1Swsg8qnKNPtTk8zjwBJidntnxjcDjIb_K3mwCEXh6xvCnEEXbYmlYO2e4J7MyT7nhsnMXmcKVfYTDugNY00qRK-IeC2pABNwGBbZ3phYArojHRc2VKRf4E_vo0C0LRvEp2-_PzvgGTau=s980" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="751" data-original-width="980" height="245" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjWEVB5L9BS0z7JUwzI2uDp4tybNlc9jiaROWA-Oq-GLLw1Swsg8qnKNPtTk8zjwBJidntnxjcDjIb_K3mwCEXh6xvCnEEXbYmlYO2e4J7MyT7nhsnMXmcKVfYTDugNY00qRK-IeC2pABNwGBbZ3phYArojHRc2VKRf4E_vo0C0LRvEp2-_PzvgGTau=s320" width="320" /></a></div><span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;"><p><span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;"><br /></span></p>Benedict XVI “Hailed for Praying like Muslims Toward Mecca,” Dec 1, 2006 —ISTANBUL</span><span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;"> </span><b style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">(Reuters) – “ <u>Pope Benedict ended a sensitive, fence-mending visit to Turkey on Friday amid praise for visiting Istanbul's famed Blue Mosque and praying there facing toward Mecca ‘like Muslims.</u>’</b><span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">… ‘The Pope’s dreaded visit was concluded with a wonderful surprise,’ wrote daily Aksam on its front page. ‘</span><u style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;"><b>In Sultan Ahmet Mosque, he turned toward Mecca and prayed like Muslims</b></u><b style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">,’</b><span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">...’”[1]</span><p></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: -0.3cm;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="252" name="grafik108" src="http://i.imgur.com/fpKuL.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="376" /></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Benedict XVI praying like Muslims toward Mecca in a mosque, with arms crossed in the Muslim prayer gesture called “the gesture of tranquility,” on Nov. 30, 2006</p><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;" /><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="266" name="grafik116" src="http://i.imgur.com/ogFbH.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="376" /></p><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;" /><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><b>BENEDICT XVI’S HERESIES ON THE JEWS</b></span></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="273" name="grafik79" src="http://i.imgur.com/GzHNK.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="376" /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Based on Scripture and Tradition, the Catholic Church teaches infallibly that it is necessary for salvation to believe in Jesus Christ and the Catholic Faith.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">John 8:23-24-“… for if you believe not that I am He, you shall die in your sin.”</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Pope Eugene IV, <i>Council of Florence</i>, 1439, <i>ex cathedra</i>: “Whoever wishes to be saved, needs above all to hold the Catholic faith… it is necessary for eternal salvation that he faithfully believe also in the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ... the Son of God is God and man...”[2]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">The Catholic Church also teaches infallibly that the Old Covenant ceased with the coming of Christ, and was replaced with the New Covenant. The Council of Florence taught that those who practice the Old Law and the Jewish religion are sinning mortally and are “<u><b>alien to the Christian faith and not in the least fit to participate in eternal salvation</b></u>, unless someday they recover from these errors.”[3]</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; padding: 0.25cm;">In 2001, however, the Pontifical Biblical Commission released a book entitled <i><b>The Jewish People and Their Sacred Scriptures in the Christian Bible</b></i><b>.</b> This book rejects the dogma that the Old Covenant has ceased. <b>It teaches that the Old Covenant is still valid, and that the Jews’ wait for the Coming of the Messiah (which was part of the Old Covenant) is also still valid. It teaches that Jesus doesn’t have to be seen as the prophesied Messiah; it is possible to see Him, as the Jews do, as not the Messiah and not the Son of God.</b></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">In section II, A, 5, <i>The Jewish People and their Sacred Scriptures in the Christian Bible</i> states:</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">“<b>Jewish messianic expectation is not in vain</b>...”[4]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">In section II, A, 7, <i>The Jewish People and their Sacred Scriptures in the Christian Bible</i> states:</p><p align="JUSTIFY" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">“…to read the Bible as Judaism does necessarily involves <u><b>an implicit acceptance of all its presuppositions</b></u><b>, </b>that is, the full acceptance of what Judaism is, in particular, the authority of its writings and rabbinic traditions, <u><b>which exclude faith in Jesus as Messiah and Son of God</b></u><b>… Christians can and ought to admit that </b><u><b>the Jewish reading of the Bible is a possible one</b></u>…”[5]</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; padding: 0.25cm;">So, according to this Vatican book, Christians can and ought to admit that the Jewish position that Jesus is not the Son of God and the prophesied Messiah is a possible one! <b>The preface for this totally heretical book was written by none other than Joseph Ratzinger, the now Benedict XVI</b>.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">This is antichrist!</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">1 John 2:22 – “... he who denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist…”</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Heresy is a rejection of a dogma of the Catholic Faith; apostasy is a rejection of the entire Christian Faith. This book contains both heresy and apostasy, fully endorsed by Benedict XVI.</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><b>Benedict XVI teaches that Jesus doesn’t have to be seen as the Messiah</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: 0.55cm;">Benedict XVI teaches the same denial of Jesus Christ in a number of his books:</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>God and the World</i>, 2000, p. 209: “<u><b>It is of course possible to read the Old Testament so that it is not directed toward Christ; it does not point quite unequivocally to Christ</b></u><b>. And if Jews cannot see the promises as being fulfilled in him, this is not just ill will on their part, but genuinely because of the obscurity of the texts… </b><u><b>There are perfectly good reasons, then, for denying that the Old Testament refers to Christ and for saying, No, that is not what he said</b></u><b>. And there are also good reasons for referring it to him – that is what the dispute between Jews and Christians is about.</b>”[6]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Benedict XVI says that there are perfectly good reasons for <u>not</u> believing that the Old Testament refers to Christ as the prophesied Messiah. He says that the Old Testament doesn’t point unequivocally to Our Lord as the Messiah. This is another total denial of the Christian Faith.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">What makes this apostasy all the more outrageous is the fact that the New Testament is filled with passages which declare that Our Lord is the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. To quote just <i>one passage of many</i>, in John 5 Our Lord specifically tells the Jews that what is written in the Old Testament concerning Him will convict them.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">John 5:39, 45-47 – “<b>Search the scriptures, for you think in them to have life everlasting; and the same are they that give testimony of</b> <b>me</b>… <b>the one who will accuse you is Moses</b>, in whom you have placed your hope. For if you had believed Moses, you would have believed me, <b>because he wrote about me</b>.”</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">But, according to Benedict XVI, all of these Biblical declarations that Our Lord is the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies, including Our Lord’s own words, may be false. According to Benedict XVI, the Jewish reading that Our Lord is <u>not</u> the Messiah, not the Son of God, and not foretold in the Old Testament, is possible and valid. This is totally heretical, apostate and antichrist.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Benedict XVI also denies Jesus Christ in his book <i>Milestones</i>:</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>Milestones</i>, 1998, pages 53-54: “I have ever more come to the realization that <u><b>Judaism</b></u><b>… </b><u><b>and the Christian faith</b></u> described in the New Testament are two ways of appropriating Israel’s Scriptures, <u><b>two ways that, in the end, are both determined by the position one assumes with regard to the figure of Jesus of Nazareth</b></u><b>. </b><u><b>The Scripture we today call Old Testament is in itself open to both ways</b></u>…”[7]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Benedict XVI again declares that Scripture is open to holding the Jewish view of Jesus, that Jesus is not the Son of God. This is precisely why Benedict XVI repeatedly teaches the heresy that Jews don’t need to believe in Christ for salvation.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>Zenit News story</i>, Sept. 5, 2000: “[W]e are in agreement that <u>a Jew</u>, and this is true for believers of other religions, <u>does not need to know or acknowledge Christ as the Son of God in order to be saved</u>…”[8]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>God and the World</i>, 2000, pages 150-151: “…<b>their [the Jews] No to Christ brings the Israelites</b> into conflict with the subsequent acts of God, but at the same time we know that they are assured of the faithfulness of God. <u><b>They are not excluded from salvation</b></u>…”[9]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">This is a total rejection of Catholic dogma.</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; padding: 0.2cm;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><b>Benedict XVI’s Public Act of Apostasy at the German Synagogue</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">All of this is why on August 19, 2005 – a Friday at noon, the same day and hour that Jesus was crucified – Benedict XVI arrived at the Jewish Synagogue in Cologne, Germany and took active part in a Jewish worship service. To take active part in non-Catholic worship is a sin against the divine law and the First Commandment, as was always taught before Vatican II.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">St. Ambrose, <i>Sermo 37</i>, <i>The Two Ships</i>: “<b>The faithlessness of the Synagogue is an insult to the Savior</b>. Therefore He chose the bark of Peter, and deserted that of Moses; that is, <b>He rejected the faithless Synagogue, and adopts the believing Church</b>.”[10]</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: -0.3cm;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="531" name="grafik109" src="http://i.imgur.com/s79Yl.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="716" /></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Benedict XVI in the synagogue of the Jews, taking active part in Jewish worship on Aug. 19, 2005[11]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">In taking part in a Jewish worship service, Benedict XVI committed a public act of apostasy. At the synagogue, Benedict XVI was seated prominently near the front. The synagogue was packed with Jews who were there to see him. Benedict XVI was not only an integral part of the Jewish worship service, he was its main feature. This is without any doubt <i><u>active participation</u></i> in the Jewish religion.</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="208" name="grafik80" src="http://i.imgur.com/S5thp.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="643" /><br clear="LEFT" /><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="208" name="grafik83" src="http://i.imgur.com/fgtjl.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="643" /><br clear="LEFT" /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Very close to Benedict XVI, the cantor of the synagogue prayed and sang Jewish prayers <i>at the top of his lungs</i>. Benedict made gestures, such as bowing his head and clapping his hands, to show his approval and participation in the Jewish service. He joined the Jews in the <i>Kaddish prayer</i>, and Yiddish music blared in the background.</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="209" name="grafik84" src="http://i.imgur.com/yCYVQ.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="643" /><br clear="LEFT" /><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="209" name="grafik85" src="http://i.imgur.com/3BjGY.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="643" /><br clear="LEFT" /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">When Benedict XVI rose to speak (and eventually to pray) in the synagogue, the entire synagogue rose to its feet and applauded him – applauded him for his acceptance of their religion. <b>Everyone on earth who saw this event knows that it had one meaning: Benedict XVI has no problem with Jews who reject Jesus Christ, and (according to him) they have no obligation to accept Jesus Christ to be saved</b>.</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="444" name="grafik92" src="http://i.imgur.com/lToKc.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="643" /><br clear="LEFT" /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Benedict XVI teaches that Jews can be saved, that the Old Covenant is valid, and that Jesus Christ is not necessarily the Messiah. He is a bold heretic against the Gospel and the Catholic Faith.</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="137" name="grafik171" src="http://i.imgur.com/BQZEb.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="539" /><br clear="LEFT" /><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="138" name="grafik172" src="http://i.imgur.com/SQ8NI.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="539" /><br clear="LEFT" /><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="138" name="grafik173" src="http://i.imgur.com/XB2De.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="539" /><br clear="LEFT" /><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="138" name="grafik174" src="http://i.imgur.com/m60LG.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="539" /><br clear="LEFT" /><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="137" name="grafik175" src="http://i.imgur.com/P7RD3.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="539" /><br clear="LEFT" /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Pope Eugene IV, Council of Florence, “Cantate Domino,” 1441, <i>ex cathedra</i>: “The Holy Roman Church firmly believes, professes and preaches that <b>all those who are outside the Catholic Church</b>, not only pagans <u><b>but also Jews</b></u> or heretics and schismatics, <b>cannot share in eternal life and will go into the everlasting fire</b> which was prepared for the devil and his angels, unless they are joined to the Church before the end of their lives…”[12]</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: 0.55cm;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><b>Benedict XVI encourages the Chief Rabbi of Rome in his “mission”</b></span></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: -0.3cm;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="313" name="grafik110" src="http://i.imgur.com/TvKGA.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="500" /></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Benedict XVI exchanges a gift with rabbis at Castelgandolfo, Sept. 15, 2005[13]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>Address to Chief Rabbi of Rome</i>, Jan. 16, 2006: “<b>Distinguished Chief Rabbi, you were recently entrusted with the spiritual guidance of Rome’s Jewish Community</b>; you have taken on this responsibility enriched by your experience as a scholar and a doctor who has shared in the joys and sufferings of a great many people. <b>I offer you </b><u><b>my heartfelt good wishes for your mission</b></u>, and I assure you of my own and my collaborators’ cordial <b>esteem</b> and friendship.”[14]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">This is apostasy. Benedict XVI encourages the Chief Rabbi in his “mission”! He also expresses his esteem for the Rabbi and his Christ-rejecting apostolate.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>General Audience</i>, Jan. 17, 2007: “<b>For almost 20 years now the Italian Bishops’ Conference has dedicated </b><u><b>this Judaism Day to furthering knowledge and esteem for it</b></u> and for developing the relationship of reciprocal friendship between the Christian and Jewish communities, a relationship that has developed positively since the Second Vatican Council and <b>the historic visit of the Servant of God John Paul II to the Major Synagogue in Rome</b>…. <b>Today I invite you all to address an ardent prayer to the Lord that Jews and Christians may</b> respect and <b>esteem one another</b>…”[15]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">He speaks positively of a day dedicated to Judaism. This day, according to Benedict XVI, is to further esteem for Judaism (a false religion which rejects Christ). This is an utter rejection of the Catholic Faith and Jesus Christ.</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: 0.55cm;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><b>BENEDICT XVI TEACHES THAT PROTESTANTS AND SCHISMATICS DON’T NEED TO BE CONVERTED</b></span></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: -0.3cm;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="487" name="grafik176" src="http://i.imgur.com/CUH5Y.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="643" /><br clear="LEFT" />Benedict XVI as a “cardinal” in 1984 meeting with Syrian schismatic Patriarch Zakka</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Heretics and schismatics, such as Protestants and the Eastern Orthodox, are outside the Catholic Church and must be converted to the Catholic Faith for unity and salvation. It’s necessary for them to accept all the Catholic dogmas and councils, including the dogmatic definitions at Vatican I in 1870. This is infallible Catholic teaching.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">However, Benedict XVI teaches that Protestants and Eastern Schismatics don’t need to be converted, and don’t need to accept Vatican Council I. He says that non-Catholics are not required to accept the Papal Primacy:</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>Principles of Catholic Theology</i> (1982), p. 198: “<b>Nor is it possible, on the other hand, for him to regard as the only possible form and, consequently, </b><u><b>as binding on all Christians the form this primacy [the Papacy] has taken in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries</b></u>. <u>The symbolic gestures of Pope Paul VI and, in particular, his kneeling before the representative of the Ecumenical Patriarch [the schismatic Patriarch Athenagoras] were an attempt to express precisely this</u>…”[17]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Benedict XVI is referring to the Papal Primacy here, and he says that all Christians are not bound to believe in the Papal Primacy as defined by Vatican I in 1870! This means that Benedict XVI claims to be a Catholic and the pope while he holds that heretics and schismatics are not bound to believe in the Papacy! This is one of the greatest frauds in human history. Further, <b>notice that Benedict XVI even admits that Paul VI’s ecumenical gestures with the schismatics were meant to show precisely that the schismatics don’t have to accept the Papal Primacy</b>. This is a blatant denial of Vatican Council I.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Pope Pius IX, <i>Vatican Council I</i>, ex cathedra: "… <u>all the faithful of Christ must believe that the Apostolic See and the Roman Pontiff hold primacy over the whole world</u>… <u>This is the doctrine of Catholic truth from which no one can deviate</u> and keep his faith and salvation."[18]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">The Church itself was founded by Our Lord upon the Papal Primacy, as the Gospel declares (Matthew 16:18-20) and as Catholic dogma defines:</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Pope Boniface VIII, <i>Unam Sanctam</i>, Nov. 18, 1302, <i>ex cathedra</i>: “…we declare, we proclaim, we define that it is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff..”[19]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">People need to seriously meditate on how bad this is that Benedict XVI holds that all Christians are <u>not</u> required to accept the primacy of the popes. It alone proves that he is a manifest heretic. But it gets even worse…</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: 0.55cm;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><b>Benedict XVI not only denies the dogma that non-Catholics need to believe in the Papacy, but questions whether popes have supreme jurisdiction in the Church at all!</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">For long sections of his book, <i>Principles of Catholic Theology</i>, Benedict XVI engages in detailed discussions of issues dealing with the Eastern “Orthodox” (the schismatics), as well as Luther, the Protestants, etc. These discussions are fascinating for our purposes, since they constitute a veritable position paper of Benedict XVI on these topics. In his discussion concerning the “Orthodox,” one discovers that Benedict XVI doesn’t even believe in the dogma of the Papacy. <b>It is important to remember that the Eastern Schismatics (the so-called “Orthodox”) often readily admit that the popes are the successors of St. Peter as Bishops of Rome. Many of the “Orthodox” also say that the pope, as the Bishop of Rome, is “the first among equals” with a “primacy of honor”</b>; but they deny – and in this consists their chief heresy and schism – that the popes have a primacy of <u>supreme jurisdiction</u> from Christ to rule the entire Church.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Pope Pius XI, <i>Mortalium Animos</i> (# 7), Jan. 6, 1928, speaking of heretics and schismatics: “<b>Among them there indeed are some, though few, who grant to the Roman Pontiff a primacy of honor</b> or even a certain jurisdiction or power, but this, however, they consider not to arise from the divine law but from the consent of the faithful.”[20]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Benedict XVI discusses the position of these schismatics, which rejects the primacy of supreme jurisdiction of the popes, and here’s what he says:</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>Principles of Catholic Theology</i> (1982), pp. 216-217: “Patriarch Athenagoras [the non-Catholic, schismatic Patriarch] spoke even more strongly when he greeted the Pope [Paul VI] in Phanar: ‘Against all expectation, <b>the bishop of Rome is among us, the first among us in honor, ‘</b>he who presides in love’<b>.’ </b><u><b>It is clear that, in saying this, the Patriarch [the non-Catholic, schismatic Patriarch] did not abandon the claims of the Eastern Churches or acknowledge the primacy of the west</b></u>. Rather, he stated plainly what the East understood as the order, the rank and title, of the equal bishops in the Church – <u><b>and it would be worth our while to consider whether this archaic confession, which has nothing to do with the ‘primacy of jurisdiction’ but confesses a primacy of ‘honor’ and agape, might not be recognized as a formula that adequately reflects the position that Rome occupies in the Church</b></u> – ‘holy courage’ requires that prudence be combined with ‘audacity’: ‘The kingdom of God suffers violence.’”[21]</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; padding: 0.25cm;">The above is an astounding and explicit denial of the dogma of the Papacy and the infallible canon below! Benedict XVI announces the position of the schismatic patriarch, which acknowledges no primacy of supreme jurisdiction of the popes, and he not only tells us that the position of the schismatic is acceptable (as we saw already), but that <u>the schismatic position may in fact be the true position</u> on the Bishop of Rome! In other words, the Papacy (the supreme jurisdiction of the popes over the universal Church by the institution of Christ as successors of St. Peter) may not exist at all! This is an astounding, incredible and huge heresy!</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">The fact that this man now claims <i>to be</i> the pope when he doesn’t even believe in the Papacy is surely one of the greatest frauds in human history. Those who obstinately hold that this non-Catholic is the pope assist in perpetuating that monumental fraud.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Pope Pius IX, <i>Vatican Council I</i>, Sess. 4, Chap. 3, Canon, <i>ex cathedra</i>: “If anyone thus speaks, that the Roman Pontiff has only the office of inspection or direction, <u>but not the full and supreme power of jurisdiction over the universal Church</u>, not only in things which pertain to faith and morals, but also in those which pertain to the discipline and government of the Church spread over the whole world; or, that he possesses only the more important parts, but not the whole plenitude of this supreme power… let him be anathema.”[22]</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: 0.55cm;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><b>Benedict XVI also denies that the Papacy was even held in the first millennium and tells us that this is why we cannot bind the schismatics to believe in it!</b></span></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="225" name="grafik177" src="http://i.imgur.com/xnHDo.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="643" /><br clear="LEFT" /><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="223" name="grafik178" src="http://i.imgur.com/goyFu.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="643" /><br clear="LEFT" />Benedict XVI with schismatic Patriarch Mesrob II, rejecter of the Papacy and head of the Turkish Armenian schismatic Orthodox sect</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>Principles of Catholic Theology</i> (1982), pp. 198-199: “… <u><b>In other words, Rome must not require more from the East with respect to the doctrine of the primacy than had been formulated and was lived in the first millennium</b></u>. <b>When the Patriarch Athenagoras</b> [the non-Catholic, schismatic Patriarch], on July 25, 1967, on the occasion of the Pope’s visit to Phanar, <b>designated him as the successor of St. Peter, as the most esteemed among us, as one who presides in charity, </b><u><b>this great Church leader was expressing the ecclesial content of the doctrine of the primacy as it was known in the first millennium</b></u><b>. </b><u><b>Rome need not ask for more</b></u>.”[23]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">This is another astounding major heresy against the Papacy and Vatican I. Benedict XVI again says that the schismatic position of the non-Catholic Patriarch Athenagoras, which rejects the Papacy and merely acknowledges the Bishop of Rome as the successor of St. Peter with a primacy of honor <u>BUT NOT OF SUPREME JURISDICTION</u>, is sufficient. Further, Benedict XVI says that the reason we cannot expect the “Orthodox” to believe in the Papacy (the primacy of <u>supreme jurisdiction of the popes</u>, not just a primacy of honor) <b>is because it wasn’t even held in the first millennium (according to him)!</b> Therefore, Benedict XVI holds that the primacy of <u>supreme jurisdiction</u> conferred by Jesus Christ upon St. Peter and his successors is just a fiction, an invention of later ages, not held in the early Church. <b>He says that the schismatic position of Athenagoras – holding that the successor of St. Peter possesses a mere primacy of honor – is “the doctrine of the primacy as it was known in the first millennium” </b>and that “Rome need not ask for more”! Notice how directly Benedict XVI denies Vatican I, which defined that <i>in all ages</i> the primacy of jurisdiction was recognized:</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Pope Pius IX, <i>Vatican Council I</i>, Sess. 4, Chap. 2, <i>ex cathedra</i>: “<u><b>Surely no one has doubt, rather all ages have known</b></u> <b>that the holy and most blessed Peter</b>, chief and head of the apostles and pillar of faith and foundation of the Catholic Church, <b>received the keys of the kingdom from our Lord Jesus Christ</b>, the Savior and Redeemer of the human race; <b>and he up to this time and always lives and presides and exercises judgment in his successors</b>, the bishops of the holy See of Rome, which was founded by him and consecrated by his blood. <u><b>Therefore, whoever succeeds Peter in this chair, he according to the institution of Christ Himself, holds the primacy of Peter over the whole Church</b></u>.”[24]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Ratzinger (now Benedict XVI) totally rejects this dogma and the entire Catholic Faith.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Moving back to Benedict XVI’s heretical teaching that non-Catholics are not <i>bound</i> to believe in the Papacy, this has also been taught by Benedict XVI’s Prefect for Promoting Christian Unity, “Cardinal” Walter Kasper.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">“Cardinal” Walter Kasper: “… <u><b>today we no longer understand ecumenism in the sense of a return, by which the others would ‘be converted’ and return to being Catholics</b></u><b>. This was expressly abandoned by Vatican II</b>.”[25]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Kasper’s statement is so heretical that even many of the defenders of Benedict XVI have labeled Kasper a heretic. But as we’ve seen, Benedict XVI believes the exact same thing. In the following quote, we see that Benedict XVI uses basically the exact same words as Kasper in rejecting Catholic dogma!</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>Address to Protestants at World Youth Da</i>y, August 19, 2005: “And we now ask: What does it mean to restore the unity of all Christians?... <u><b>this unity does not mean what could be called ecumenism of the return</b></u><b>: that is, </b><u><b>to deny and to reject one’s own faith history</b></u><b>. </b><u><b>Absolutely not</b></u><b>!”</b>[26]</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: 0.55cm;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><b>“CARDINAL” KASPER AND BENEDICT XVI BOTH REJECT THE ECUMENISM OF THE RETURN – CONVERTING PROTESTANTS</b></span></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"></p><center style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><table border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" style="width: 600px;"><colgroup><col width="291"></col><col width="299"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr valign="TOP"><td width="291"><p>“Cardinal” Walter Kasper: “… today <u>we no longer understand ecumenism in the sense of a return, by which the others would ‘be converted</u>’ and return to being Catholics. <b>This was expressly abandoned by Vatican II</b>.”[27]</p></td><td width="299"><p>Benedict XVI, <i>Address <u>to Protestants</u> at World Youth Da</i>y, August 19, 2005: “And we now ask: What does it mean to restore the unity of all Christians?... <u><b>this unity does not mean what could be called ecumenism of the return</b></u><b>: that is, </b><u><b>to deny and to reject one’s own faith history</b></u><b>. </b><u><b>Absolutely not</b></u><b>!”</b>[28]</p></td></tr></tbody></table></center><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">As this comparison shows clearly, just like the notorious heretic “Cardinal” Kasper, Benedict XVI blatantly rejects the “ecumenism of the return,” that is, that non-Catholics need to return to the Catholic Church by conversion and reject their heretical sects. They both reject the teaching of Pope Pius XI word for word.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Pope Pius XI, <i>Mortalium Animos</i> (# 10), Jan. 6, 1928: “… the union of Christians can only be promoted by promoting the <i><u>return</u></i> to the one true Church of Christ of those who are separated from it…”[29]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Benedict XVI is formally heretical. He holds that Protestants and Eastern Schismatics don’t need to be converted and accept Vatican I. He is a blatant rejecter of the necessity of the Catholic Faith for salvation, and the dogmatic teaching of Vatican I.</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: 0.55cm;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><b>That is why Benedict XVI joins Paul VI and John Paul II in praising the overturning of the excommunications against the “Orthodox” – and therefore in denying Vatican I</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>Ecumenical Message to Schismatic Patriarch of Constantinople</i>, Nov. 26, 2005: “This year we commemorate the 40<sup>th</sup> Anniversary of 7 December 1965, that day on which Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras, <b>dissatisfied with what had occurred in 1054, decided together at Rome and Constantinople ‘to cancel from the Church’s memory the sentence of excommunication which had been pronounced.’</b>”[30]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">In the year 1054, the Patriarch of Constantinople, Michael Cerularius, broke communion with the Catholic Church and the pope of Rome. Cerularius rejected the supreme authority of the pope and closed Roman Rite churches in Constantinople. Cerularius was excommunicated by Pope St. Leo IX, and the Great Schism of the East was formalized.[31]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><b>Thus, what “occurred in 1054,” mentioned by Benedict XVI above, refers to the excommunications leveled by the Catholic Church against those who followed Michael Cerularius into schism and into a rejection of the Papacy</b>. Paul VI “lifted” these excommunications at the end of Vatican II, and John Paul II praised and commemorated the lifting of them many times. Now we see that Benedict XVI follows John Paul II’s example and also commemorates the event.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">All of this simply means that Paul VI, John Paul II and now Benedict XVI have attempted to overturn <u>the Papacy as a dogma</u> which must be believed <u>under pain of heresy and excommunication</u>. But as we saw already, Vatican I declared many times and in many ways that those who reject the dogma of the Papacy are anathematized, cut off from the Faith. Hence, to attempt to overturn the excommunications against those who still reject the Papacy is simply to boldly reject the teaching of Vatican I. It’s formal heresy and schism signified in word and deed.</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="479" name="grafik179" src="http://i.imgur.com/3fTdu.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="608" /><br clear="LEFT" />Benedict XVI with Lutheran “minister”</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: 0.55cm;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><b>Benedict XVI prays ecumenical Vespers with schismatics and Protestants and says he loves the schismatic Orthodox Church</b></span></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="269" name="grafik180" src="http://i.imgur.com/VpeUk.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="643" /><br clear="LEFT" /><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="269" name="grafik181" src="http://i.imgur.com/Ccjdp.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="643" /><br clear="LEFT" />Benedict XVI praying ecumenical Vespers on Sept. 12, 2006.[32] This is active participation in non-Catholic worship. It is a manifestation of heresy by deed.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>Address during ecumenical Vespers service</i>, Sept. 12, 2006: “Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ! We are gathered, <u>Orthodox Christians, Catholics and Protestants – and together with us there are also some Jewish friends</u> – to sing together the evening praise of God… This is an hour of gratitude for the fact that <u><b>we can pray together in this way</b></u> and, by turning to the Lord, at the same time grow in unity among ourselves… Among those gathered for this evening’s Vespers, I would like first to greet warmly the representatives of the Orthodox Church. I have always considered it a special gift of God’s Providence that, as a professor at Bonn, <u><b>I was able to come to know and to love the Orthodox Church</b></u>, personally as it were, through two young Archimandrites, Stylianos Harkianakis and Damaskinos Papandreou, both of whom later became Metropolitans… <b>Our koinonia [communion] is above all communion with the Father</b> and with his Son Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit; it is communion with the triune God, made possible by the Lord through his incarnation and the outpouring of the Spirit. This communion with God creates in turn koinonia among people, as a participation in the faith of the Apostles…”[33]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">This is another major heresy of Benedict XVI. First, he takes active part in the prayer and worship of non-Catholics, which is condemned in Catholic teaching.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Pope Pius XI, <i>Mortalium Animos</i> (# 10): “So, Venerable Brethren, it is clear why <b>this Apostolic See has never allowed its subjects to take part in the assemblies of non-Catholics</b>…”[34]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Second, <b>he says that he loves the Orthodox Church</b> – a schismatic and heretical non-Catholic sect. What can be more heretical than saying: “I love the schismatic Church”? He then indicates that he, the schismatics, and the Protestants have a communion with God, communion with each other, and communion with the Faith of the Apostles. This is all totally heretical. Benedict XVI is a public heretic in communion with non-Catholics.</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: 0.55cm;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><b>Benedict XVI’s worst heresy? He prays with the leader of the world’s “Orthodox” schismatics and signs a Joint Declaration with him telling him he’s in the Church of Christ</b></span></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="241" name="grafik112" src="http://i.imgur.com/SRVHG.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="300" /></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><img align="RIGHT" border="0" height="281" name="grafik113" src="http://i.imgur.com/sD28q.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="300" /><br />Benedict XVI embracing the leader of the world’s Eastern “Orthodox” schismatics, Bartholomew I, in his Nov. 2006 visit to Turkey</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">BBC News, Nov. 29, 2006 –“Benedict XVI has met Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I in Turkey, on the second day of a landmark visit to the largely Muslim country. The Istanbul talks with the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians aimed to heal an old rift. <u><b>The two leaders began their meeting by holding a joint prayer service at the St George [Orthodox] Church in Istanbul</b></u>.”[35]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">During his 2006 trip to Turkey, Benedict XVI went into two schismatic cathedrals and met with three schismatic patriarchs, including the leader of the world’s schismatics: Eastern Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I. Benedict XVI not only committed a forbidden act of communication in sacred things with the schismatic, but he may have committed his worst heresy in his joint declaration with him.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>Joint Declaration with Schismatic Patriarch Bartholomew</i>, Nov. 30, 2006: “This fraternal encounter which brings us together, Pope Benedict XVI of Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, is God's work, and in a certain sense his gift. We give thanks to the Author of all that is good, who allows us once again, in prayer and in dialogue, to express the joy we feel as brothers and to renew our commitment to move towards full communion. This commitment comes from the Lord's will and <u><b>from our responsibility as Pastors in the Church of Christ</b></u>… As far as relations between the Church of Rome and the Church of Constantinople are concerned, we cannot fail to recall the solemn ecclesial act effacing the memory of the ancient anathemas which for centuries had a negative effect on our Churches.”[36]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Did you get that? He says: “… <i>our responsibility as pastors IN THE CHURCH OF CHRIST</i>”! What could be more heretical than: declaring <b>in a joint declaration with the leader of the world’s schismatics that the schismatic leader, who rejects the Papacy and Papal Infallibility, is “</b><u><b>in the Church of Christ</b></u><b>”?</b></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Benedict XVI made this formally heretical declaration <i>in a schismatic cathedral </i>as part of a joint declaration <i>during a divine liturgy with a notorious schismatic</i>! Thus, it’s official: Benedict XVI has declared in a public joint declaration that one can reject the Papacy, Papal Infallibility, Vatican I, etc. and be <b>in the Church of Christ</b>. He is without any doubt a public heretic. Anyone who denies this, in light of these facts, is also a heretic. Even the most dishonest and hardened defender of Antipope Benedict XVI will find it impossible to explain this one away.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Pope Leo XIII, <i>Satis Cognitum</i> (#15), June 29, 1896 – <b>Bishops Separated from Peter and his Successors Lose All Jurisdiction</b>: “From this it must be clearly understood that <b>Bishops are deprived of the right and power of ruling, if they deliberately secede from Peter and his successors</b>; because, by this secession, they are separated from the foundation on which the whole edifice must rest. <u><b>They are therefore outside the edifice itself</b></u>; <b>and for this very reason they are separated from the fold</b>, whose leader is the Chief Pastor; they are exiled from that Kingdom, the keys of which were given by Christ to Peter alone… <b>No one, therefore, unless in communion with Peter can share in his authority, since it is absurd to imagine that he who is outside can command in the Church</b>.”[37]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">All of this heresy from Benedict XVI <u>is also a total mockery of the saints and martyrs</u> who suffered because they refused to become Eastern “Orthodox,” as was covered earlier in the section entitled: <b>Catholics who were tortured and martyred because they refused to become Eastern Schismatics.</b></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: 0.55cm;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><b>That is why Benedict XVI even encourages the Schismatic Patriarch to Resume His Ministry</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>Address</i>, Nov. 12, 2005: “In this regard, <b>I ask you, venerable Brothers, to convey my cordial greeting to Patriarch Maxim, First Hierarch of the Orthodox Church of Bulgaria</b>. <b>Please express to him my best wishes for his health </b><u><b>and for the happy resumption of his ministry</b></u>.”[38]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Benedict XVI encourages the non-Catholic, schismatic patriarch to <u>resume</u> his non-Catholic and schismatic ministry. Further, on his trip to Turkey, Benedict XVI recalled John Paul II’s gesture of giving relics to the schismatics. Benedict XVI said that such an action is a sign of communion.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>Speech to schismatic patriarch Bartholomew,</i> Nov. 29, 2006: “… St. Gregory of Nazianzus and St. John Chrysostom… <b>Their relics rest in basilica of St. Peter in the Vatican, and a part of them were given to your Holiness as a sign of communion</b> by the late Pope John Paul II for veneration in this very cathedral.”[39]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">This proves again that the “gestures of ecumenism” signify a rejection of the dogma that schismatics must accept the Papal Primacy to be in communion with the Church.</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: 0.55cm;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><b>Benedict XVI’s incredible heresy on the schismatic “Archbishop” of Athens</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>Address,</i> Oct. 30, 2006: “<b>I am also pleased to address my thoughts and </b><u><b>good wishes to His Beatitude Christodoulos, Archbishop of Athens and All Greece</b></u>: <b>I ask the Lord to sustain his farsightedness and prudence in carrying </b><u><b>the demanding service that the Lord has entrusted to his care</b></u><b>.</b> <b>Through him I wish to greet with deep affection the holy synod of the Orthodox Church of Greece and the faithful whom it serves lovingly and with apostolic dedication</b>.”[40]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Benedict XVI says that Christodoulos, the schismatic, <u>non-Catholic</u> “Orthodox” bishop in Greece, has authority over all of Greece! He also indicates that the schismatics are the “faithful” and that the Lord entrusted the schismatic bishop with a “demanding service.” Further, notice the amazing headline which appeared in the official Vatican newspaper when this non-Catholic bishop came to visit Benedict XVI. The official Vatican newspaper (quoting Benedict XVI) referred to this non-Catholic schismatic “archbishop” in Greece as the "Archbishop of Athens and All Greece" in huge headlines which were repeated throughout its newspaper. All of this is an utter rejection of Catholic dogmatic teaching on the unity of the Church.</p><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="391" name="grafik182" src="http://i.imgur.com/VvbnH.jpg" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; padding: 5px;" width="633" /><br clear="LEFT" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;" /><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: 0.55cm;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><b>MORE HERESIES WITH THE PROTESTANTS FROM BENEDICT XVI</b></span></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><img align="CENTER" border="0" height="408" name="grafik183" src="http://i.imgur.com/ou5wo.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="434" /><br clear="LEFT" /></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: 0.55cm;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><b>Benedict XVI’s ecumenical prayer meeting in the Lutheran church: he powers ahead with major ecumenical heresy</b></span></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: -0.3cm;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="498" name="grafik114" src="http://i.imgur.com/rDAzQ.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="590" /></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Benedict XVI in common prayer during an Ecumenical Meeting at a Lutheran temple in Warsaw on May 25, 2006 – don’t be confused by the crucifix; many Lutheran churches use crucifixes</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>Address at Ecumenical Meeting in Lutheran church in Warsaw</i>, May 25, 2006: “Together with you I give thanks <b>for the gift of this encounter of </b><u><b>common prayer</b></u>… our ecumenical aspirations must be steeped in prayer, in <b>mutual forgiveness</b>… The words of the Apocalypse remind us that we are all on a journey towards the definitive encounter with Christ, when he will reveal before our eyes the meaning of human history… <u><b>As a community of disciples</b></u>, we are directed towards that encounter, <u><b>filled with hope and trust that it will be for us the day of salvation</b></u>, the day when our longings will be fulfilled, thanks to our readiness to let ourselves be guided by the mutual charity which his Spirit calls forth within us… Allow me to recall once more the ecumenical encounter that took place in this church with the participation of your great compatriot John Paul II…</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">“Since that encounter [with John Paul II in the Lutheran church], much has changed. God has granted us to take many steps towards mutual understanding and rapprochement. Allow me to recall to your attention some ecumenical events which have taken place in the world during that time: the publication of <b>the Encyclical Letter </b><i><b>Ut Unum Sint</b></i>… <b>the signing at Augsburg of the ‘Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification’</b>; the meeting on the occasion of the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 and <b>the ecumenical memorial of 20</b><sup><b>th</b></sup><b>-century witnesses of the faith</b> [Protestant martyrs]; the resumption of Catholic-Orthodox dialogue on the world level… <b>the publication of the ecumenical translation of the New Testament</b> and the Book of Psalms… We note much progress in the field of ecumenism and yet we always await something more.”[42]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 2.54cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">There’s quite a bit of heresy in this speech that Benedict XVI gave <i>in</i> the Lutheran church. Allow us to quickly summarize the main points. First, Benedict XVI goes to the Lutheran temple and takes active part in a “common prayer” service (his words) with Lutherans, other Protestants and “Orthodox” schismatics. This is a manifestation of heresy by deed – attendance at a non-Catholic Lutheran temple.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Second, he mentions the Second Coming of Christ, and says: “<i>we [i.e., he and the Lutherans and “Orthodox”] are directed towards that encounter, filled with hope and trust <u><b>that it will be for us the day of salvation</b></u></i>”; in other words, the Protestants and schismatics to whom he was speaking will have salvation. This is complete heresy.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Third, he describes himself and the Lutherans and “Orthodox” as a single community of disciples: “<u><b>As a community of disciples</b></u>…” This shows that Benedict XVI is part of the same Church as the Lutherans and the schismatics; that is, he is part of a non-Catholic sect.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Fourth, Benedict XVI recalls many false ecumenical achievements, including the totally heretical, Council-of-Trent-trashing <i>Joint Declaration with the Lutherans on Justification</i>. He also recalled the “<b>ecumenical memorial of 20</b><sup><b>th</b></sup><b>-century witnesses of the faith,” </b>which was the commemoration of non-Catholics as martyrs for the Faith. He also recalled <i>Ut Unum Sint</i>, which is filled with heresies, including the idea that there are non-Catholic saints. He also <b>promotes a new ecumenical translation of the Bible. </b>Benedict XVI is a manifestly heretical non-Catholic antipope.</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: 0.55cm;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><b>Benedict XVI encourages the invalid head of the Anglican Church in his “ministry” and says the Anglican Sect is grounded in Apostolic Tradition</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>Address to Anglican “Archbishop of Canterbury</i>,” Nov. 23, 2006: “<b>It is our fervent hope that the Anglican Communion</b> <b>will remain grounded in the Gospels and the Apostolic Tradition</b> which form our common patrimony… The world needs our witness… May the Lord continue to bless you and your family, and <b>may he strengthen you in your ministry to the Anglican Communion!”</b>[43]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">The Anglican Sect is grounded, not in Apostolic Tradition, but in the “tradition” of Henry VIII’s adultery and schismatic break from the Catholic Church. Benedict XVI encourages the schismatic and heretical head of the Anglican Sect in his “ministry,” and mocks all the saints and martyrs who suffered and died as martyrs because they wouldn’t become Anglicans.</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: 0.55cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>AT VATICAN II, BENEDICT XVI ALSO DENIED THAT NON-CATHOLICS SHOULD BE CONVERTED</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>Theological Highlights of Vatican II</i>, 1966, pages 61, 68: “… <b>Meantime </b><u><b>the Catholic Church has no right to absorb other Churches</b></u>. … <u><b>A basic unity – of Churches that remain Churches, yet become one Church – must replace the idea of conversion</b></u>…”[44]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Benedict XVI is not even remotely Catholic.</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: 0.55cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>BENEDICT XVI PRAISES THE “GREATNESS” OF LUTHER’S “SPIRITUAL FERVOR”</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Martin Luther was one of the worst heretics in Church history. Luther attacked the Catholic Church and its dogmas with ferocity. While never denouncing Luther as a heretic, Benedict XVI often speaks positively of Luther’s views and even praises him.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120813111848/http://www.nationalcatholicreporter.org/word/word081205.htm#protestant" rel="nofollow" style="color: #cc6611; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">At Vatican II, Benedict XVI even complained <i>that the document Gaudium et Spes</i> relied too much on Teilhard de Chardin and not enough on Martin Luther</a>.[45] Benedict XVI is also credited with saving the 1999 <i>Joint Declaration with the Lutherans on Justification</i>, which declared that Luther’s heresy of Justification by faith alone (and many others) are somehow no longer condemned by the Council of Trent.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>Principles of Catholic Theology</i> (1982), p. 263: “<b>That which in Luther makes all else bearable because of </b><u><b>the greatness of his spiritual fervor</b></u>…”[46]</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: 0.55cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>BENEDICT XVI ENCOURAGES METHODISTS TO ENTER INTO THE TOTALLY HERETICAL JOINT DECLARATION WITH THE LUTHERANS ON JUSTIFICATION, WHICH REJECTS THE COUNCIL OF TRENT</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>Address to Methodists</i>, Dec. 9, 2005: “<b>I have been encouraged by the initiative</b> which would bring the member churches of the World Methodist Council into association with the <b>Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification</b>, <b>signed by the Catholic Church</b> and the Lutheran World Federation in 1999.”[47]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">As covered already, the <i>Joint Declaration with the Lutherans on Justification</i> totally rejects the Council of Trent by teaching that its infallible canons no longer apply to the Lutherans. Benedict XVI adheres to this Protestant agreement and asserts that it was signed by “the Catholic Church.”</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: 0.55cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>BENEDICT XVI PRAISES THE NON-CATHOLIC ECUMENICAL MONASTERY OF TAIZE AND SAYS MORE SHOULD BE FORMED</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">The ecumenical Monastery of Taize is located in France. It is a <b>monastery made up of over a hundred brothers from various non-Catholic denominations, including Protestants</b>.[48]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>Principles of Catholic Theology</i> (1982), p. 304: “…<b>Taize has been, without a doubt, the leading example of an ecumenical inspiration</b>… <u><b>Similar communities of faith and of shared living should be formed elsewhere</b></u>…”[49]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">So, more non-Catholic ecumenical monasteries should be formed, according to Benedict XVI.</p><p align="LEFT" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: 0.55cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>BENEDICT XVI GAVE COMMUNION TO THE PROTESTANT FOUNDER OF TAIZE</b></span></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: -0.3cm;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="413" name="grafik115" src="http://i.imgur.com/PqEEL.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="462" /></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Benedict XVI giving Communion to public heretic, Bro. Roger Schutz, the Protestant founder of Taize[50]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Benedict XVI gave Communion to Bro. Roger, the Protestant founder of the Taize community, on April 8, 2005. And when Bro. Roger died in August, 2005, Benedict XVI said that this Protestant heretic went immediately to heaven.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, Aug. 17, 2005, on Bro. Roger: "<b>Bro. Roger Schutz</b> [<b>founder of a non-Catholic sect</b>] is in the hands of eternal goodness, of eternal love; <b>he has arrived at eternal joy</b>…"[51]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">So much for the fact that Bro. Roger left the Catholic Church, rejected its dogmas for decades and became the founder of his own non-Catholic sect. He still went to Heaven, according to Benedict XVI. This is manifest heresy. Benedict XVI even said that the heretic Bro. Roger is guiding us from on high.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>Address to Protestants at World Youth Da</i>y, August 19, 2005: “<b>Bro. Roger Schutz</b>… <b>He is now visiting us and speaking to us from on high</b>.”[52]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Benedict XVI also praised Bro. Roger’s “witness of faith.”[53] If you believe that Benedict XVI is a Catholic pope, you might as well attend the Protestant church.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Pope St. Gregory the Great: “The holy universal Church teaches that it is not possible to worship God truly except in her <b>and asserts that all who are outside of her will not be saved.”</b>[54]</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: 0.55cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>BENEDICT XVI TEACHES THAT THE PROTESTANT “EUCHARIST” IS A SAVING EUCHARIST!</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>Pilgrim Fellowship of Faith,</i> 2002, p. 248: “<b>Even a theology along the lines of the concept of [apostolic] succession, as is in force in the Catholic and in the Orthodox Church, </b><u><b>should in no way deny the saving presence of the Lord in the Evangelical Lord’s Supper</b></u>.”[55]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">John 6:54- “Amen, amen I say to you: except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you.”</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; padding: 0.2cm;">Protestants don’t have a valid Eucharist. They don’t have valid bishops and priests, since they lack apostolic succession. But Benedict XVI says above that even if one accepts the Catholic dogma of apostolic succession, one should in NO WAY DENY THE SAVING PRESENCE OF THE LORD <u>IN THE EVANGELICAL PROTESTANT “LORD’S SUPPER</u>.” According to Benedict XVI, the Protestants are not deprived of the saving Eucharistic Presence. <b>This means that you can get the saving Eucharistic presence at the local Protestant church. This is astounding heresy.</b></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: 0.55cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>BENEDICT XVI TEACHES THAT PROTESTANTISM (EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANITY) SAVES</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="color: maroon;">Benedict XVI, <i>Pilgrim Fellowship of Faith,</i> 2002, p. 251: “… the burdensome question of [apostolic] succession <u><b>does not detract from the spiritual dignity of Evangelical Christianity, or from the saving power of the Lord at work within it</b></u>…”[56]</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">This is a bold rejection of the dogma Outside the Church There is No Salvation. If it were true, there would be absolutely no reason to be Catholic.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Pope Gregory XVI, <i>Summo Iugiter Studio</i> (# 2), May 27, 1832:</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">“Finally some of these misguided people attempt to persuade themselves and others that men are not saved only in the Catholic religion, <u>but that even heretics may attain eternal life</u>.”[57]</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: 0.55cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>BENEDICT XVI SAYS THAT PROTESTANTISM IS NOT HERESY</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>The Meaning of Christian Brotherhood</i>, pp. 87-88: “The difficulty in the way of giving an answer is a profound one. Ultimately it is due to the fact that <u><b>there is no appropriate category in Catholic thought for the phenomenon of Protestantism today</b> (one could say the same of the relationship to the separated churches of the East). <b>It is obvious that the old category of ‘heresy’ is no longer of any value</b>. <b>Heresy, for Scripture and the early Church, includes the idea of a personal decision against the unity of the Church, and heresy’s characteristic is </b></u><i><u><b>pertinacia</b></u></i><u><b>, the obstinacy of him who persists in his own private way. This, however, cannot be regarded as an appropriate description of the spiritual situation of the Protestant Christian</b></u><b>.</b> In the course of a now centuries-old history, <b>Protestantism has made an important contribution to the realization of Christian faith, fulfilling a positive function</b> in the development of the Christian message and, above all, often giving rise to a sincere and profound faith in <b>the individual non-Catholic Christian, whose separation from the Catholic affirmation has nothing to do with the </b><i><b>pertinacia </b></i><b>characteristic of heresy.</b> Perhaps we may here invert a saying of St. Augustine’s: that an old schism becomes a heresy. The very passage of time alters the character of a division, so that an old division is something essentially different from a new one. Something that was once rightly condemned as heresy cannot later simply become true, but it can gradually develop its own positive ecclesial nature, with which the individual is presented as his church and in which he lives as a believer, not as a heretic. This organization of one group, however, ultimately has an effect on the whole. <u><b>The conclusion is inescapable, then: Protestantism today is something different from heresy in the traditional sense, a phenomenon whose true theological place has not yet been determined</b></u>.”[58]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Protestantism is the rejection of <i>many</i> dogmas of the Catholic Faith. Protestantism is not only heresy, but the most notorious collection of heresies with which the Church ever had to contend.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Pope Pius XI, <i>Rerum omnium perturbationem</i> (# 4), Jan. 26, 1923: “… <u><b>the heresies begotten by the [Protestant] Reformation</b></u><b>. It is in these </b><u><b>heresies</b></u><b> that we discover the beginnings of that apostasy of mankind from the Church</b>, the sad and disastrous effects of which are deplored, even to the present hour, by every fair mind.”[59]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">But Benedict XVI tells us that Protestants are not heretics, and that <u>Protestantism itself is not heresy</u>. This is undeniable proof that Benedict XVI is not a Catholic, but a complete heretic. This is one of Benedict XVI’s worst heresies.</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: 0.55cm;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><b>BENEDICT XVI’S HERESIES AGAINST THE SACRAMENTS</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">In 2001, the Vatican approved a document with the Assyrian Schismatic Church of the East. The document says that members of the Vatican II Church can go to the schismatic church and receive Communion and vice versa. The document was approved by Benedict XVI. The problem with this document, besides the fact that the Assyrian schismatics are not Catholics, is that this schismatic liturgy has <u>no words of consecration</u>, no “institution narrative.” Benedict XVI mentioned the problem in his book <i>Pilgrim Fellowship of Faith</i>:</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>Pilgrim Fellowship of Faith,</i> 2002, p. 232: “…<u><b>This case needed special studies to be made, because the Anaphora of Addai and Mari most commonly in use by the Assyrians does not include an institution narrative. But these difficulties were able to be overcome</b></u>…”[62]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Benedict XVI admits that this schismatic liturgy has no “institution narrative,” which is the words of consecration. But he still approved receiving Communion at this schismatic liturgy which has <u>no words of consecration</u>.</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="79" name="grafik184" src="http://i.imgur.com/DrG2S.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="643" /><br clear="LEFT" /><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="80" name="grafik185" src="http://i.imgur.com/XZVXS.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="643" /><br clear="LEFT" /><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="80" name="grafik186" src="http://i.imgur.com/Yg3ce.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="643" /><br clear="LEFT" /><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="80" name="grafik187" src="http://i.imgur.com/9HZz8.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="643" /><br clear="LEFT" /><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="80" name="grafik188" src="http://i.imgur.com/E0hsV.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="643" /><br clear="LEFT" /><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="79" name="grafik189" src="http://i.imgur.com/acBBN.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="643" /><br clear="LEFT" /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Benedict XVI came to this incredible decision because he denies that words are necessary for a valid consecration!</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>Principles of Catholic Theology</i> (1982), p. 377: “…we are witnesses today of <b>a new integralism</b> [read: traditionalism] that may seem to support what is strictly Catholic <b>but in reality corrupts it to the core</b>. It produces a passion of suspicions, the animosity of which is far from the spirit of the gospel. <b>There is an obsession with the letter that regards the liturgy of the Church as invalid and thus puts itself outside the Church. It is forgotten here that </b><u><b>the validity of the liturgy depends primarily, not on specific words, but on the community</b></u> of the Church...”[63]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">This is a total rejection of Catholic sacramental teaching.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Pope Eugene IV, Council of Florence, 1439: “<u><b>All these sacraments are made up of three elements</b></u>: namely, things as the matter, <u><b>words as the form</b></u>, and the person of the minister who confers the sacrament with the intention of doing what the Church does. <b>If any of these is lacking, the sacrament is not effected</b>.”[64]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">The fact that Benedict XVI holds that Masses without any words of consecration are valid proves that he doesn’t even have a whiff of the Catholic Faith. He is a manifest heretic against the Church’s sacramental teaching. And this heresy is repeated in a number of his books.</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: 0.55cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>BENEDICT XVI SAYS THAT INFANT BAPTISM HAS NO REASON TO EXIST</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>Principles of Catholic Theology</i>, 1982, p. 43: “<b>The conflict over infant baptism shows the extent to which we have lost sight of the true nature of faith</b>, baptism and membership in the Church… It is obvious also that the meaning of baptism is destroyed wherever it is no longer understood as an anticipatory gift but only as a self-contained rite. <u><b>Wherever it is severed from the catechumenate, baptism loses its </b></u><i><u><b>raison d’etre</b></u></i><b> </b>[its reason to be].”[65]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">This is an incredible, astounding and gigantic heresy! Benedict XVI says that wherever baptism is severed from the catechumenate – for example, in infant baptism – it loses its reason to be. Infant baptism has no meaning or purpose, according to Benedict XVI. That is why in his book <i>God and the World, </i>Benedict XVI <b>REJECTS THE NECESSITY OF INFANT BAPTISM AS “UNENLIGHTENED.”</b></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>God and the World</i>, 2000, p. 401: “Q. …<i>what happens to the millions of children who are killed in their mothers’ wombs</i>? A. …<b>the question about children who could not be baptized because they were aborted then presses upon us that much more urgently. Earlier ages had </b><u><b>devised</b></u><b> a teaching </b><u><b>that seems to me rather unenlightened</b></u>. They said that baptism endows us, by means of sanctifying grace, with the capacity to gaze upon God. Now, certainly, the state of original sin, from which we are freed by baptism, consists in a lack of sanctifying grace. Children who die in this way are indeed without any personal sin, so they cannot be sent to Hell, but, on the other hand, they lack sanctifying grace and thus the potential for beholding God that this bestows. They will simply enjoy a state of natural blessedness, in which they will be happy. This state people called limbo. In the course of our century, <b>that has gradually come to seem problematic to us</b>. <u><b>This was one way in which people sought to justify the necessity of baptizing infants as early as possible, but the solution is itself questionable</b></u><b>.”</b>[66]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">He says that earlier ages “had devised” (not received from Christ) the teaching about the necessity of baptizing infants for them to attain sanctifying grace. He says that this teaching is “unenlightened”! This is gross heresy. It was infallibly defined by the Councils of Florence and Trent that the Sacrament of Baptism is necessary for salvation, and that infants who die without the Sacrament of Baptism cannot be saved.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Some may wonder why, then, Ratzinger practices infant baptism? It’s because he sees no problem practicing and going through the motions with something that, to him, has no meaning or purpose. In the same way, he poses as “the pope” even though he doesn’t even believe in the primacy of supreme jurisdiction of the popes, as proven already. In the same way, he poses as the head of the Church of Jesus Christ when he doesn’t even believe that Jesus Christ is necessarily the Messiah, as proven already.</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: 0.55cm;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><b>BENEDICT XVI’S HERESIES AGAINST SACRED SCRIPTURE</b></span></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="386" name="grafik190" src="http://i.imgur.com/dRyeE.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="524" /><br clear="LEFT" /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">The Catholic Church teaches that Sacred Scripture is the infallible and inerrant word of God. Vatican I also declared that all those things in the written word of God must be believed with divine and Catholic Faith.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Pope Pius IX, <i>Vatican I</i>, Sess. III, Chap. 3, <i>ex cathedra</i>: “Further, by divine and Catholic faith, <b>all those things must be believed which are contained in the written word of God</b> and in tradition, and those which are proposed by the Church, either in a solemn pronouncement or in her ordinary and universal teaching power, to be believed as divinely revealed.”[67]</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: 0.55cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>BUT BENEDICT XVI SAYS THAT SACRED SCRIPTURE’S CREATION ACCOUNT IS BASED ON PAGAN CREATION ACCOUNTS</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="color: maroon;">Benedict XVI, <i>A New Song for the Lord,</i> 1995, p. 86: “<u><b>The pagan creation accounts on which the biblical story is in part based</b></u> end without exception in the establishment of a cult, but the cult in this case is situated in the cycle of the <i>do ut des</i>.”[68]</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">If the biblical creation account in the book of Genesis is based in part on pagan creation accounts, this means that the biblical account is neither original nor inspired directly by God. This statement from Benedict XVI is heresy and shows again that he is a faithless apostate.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Pope Leo XIII, <i>Providentissimus Deus</i> (# 20), Nov. 18, 1893: “<b>For all the books which the Church receives as sacred and canonical, are written wholly and entirely, with all their parts, at the dictation of the Holy Ghost</b>; and so far is it from being possible that any error can co-exist with inspiration, that inspiration not only is essentially incompatible with error, but excludes and rejects it as absolutely and necessarily as it is impossible that God Himself, the supreme Truth, can utter that which is not true. <b>This is the ancient and unchanging faith of the Church, solemnly defined in the Councils of Florence and of Trent</b>, and finally confirmed and more expressly formulated by the Council of the Vatican.”[69]</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: 0.55cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>BENEDICT XVI CALLS INTO DOUBT THE STONE TABLETS OF THE EXODUS ACCOUNT</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">In Exodus 31, we read that God gave Moses two stone tablets written with the finger of God.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Exodus 31:18- “<u>And the Lord</u>, when He had ended these words in mount Sinai, <u>gave to Moses two stone tables of testimony, written with the finger of God</u>.”</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>God and the World</i>, 2000, pp. 165-166, 168: “Q. …<i>Were these laws really handed over to Moses by God when he appeared on Mount Sinai? As stone tablets, on which, as it says, ‘the finger of God had written</i>?’… <i>to what extent are these Commandments really supposed to come from God</i>? A. [p. 166] …This [Moses] is the man who has been touched by God, and on the basis of this friendly contact he is able to formulate the will of God, of which hitherto only fragments had been expressed in other traditions, in such a manner that we truly hear the word of God. <u><b>Whether there really were any stone tablets is another question</b></u>… [p. 168] <b>How far we should take this story literally is another question</b>.”[70]</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: 0.55cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>BENEDICT XVI TEACHES THAT SENTENCES IN THE BIBLE ARE NOT TRUE</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>God and the World</i>, 2000, p. 153: “It is another thing to see the Bible as a whole as the Word of God, in which everything relates to everything else, and everything is disclosed as you go on. It follows straightaway that neither the criterion of inspiration nor that of infallibility can be applied mechanically. <b>It is quite impossible to pick out one single sentence and say, right, you find this sentence in God’s great book, so it must simply be true in itself</b>…”[71]</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>BENEDICT XVI ON EVOLUTION</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>God and the World</i>, 2000, p. 76: “<i>Q. In the beginning the earth was bare and empty; God had not yet made it rain, is what it says in Genesis. <b>Then God fashioned man,</b> and for this purpose he took ‘dust from the field and blew into his nostrils the breath of life; thus man became a living creature.’ The breath of life – is that the answer to the question of where we come from? </i>A<b>. </b>I think we have here a most important image, which presents a significant understanding of what man is. It suggests that man is one who springs from the earth and its possibilities. <b>We can even read into this representation something like evolution</b>.”[72]</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: 0.55cm;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><b>BENEDICT XVI’S HERESIES AND APOSTASY WITH ISLAM</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Islam is a false religion which rejects the Trinity and the Divinity of Our Lord. The Catholic Church officially teaches that Islam is an abomination – a false religion from which people need to be converted and saved.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Pope Eugene IV, <i>Council of Basel</i>, 1434: “… there is hope that very many from <b>the abominable sect of Mahomet </b>will be converted to the Catholic faith.”[74]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Pope Callixtus III: “I vow to… exalt the true Faith, and to extirpate <b>the diabolical sect of the reprobate and faithless Mahomet</b> [Islam] in the East.”[75]</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>BENEDICT XVI HAS “DEEP RESPECT” FOR THE FALSE RELIGION OF ISLAM</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>General Audience</i>, Sept. 20, 2006: “<b>I hope that in the various circumstances during my Visit – </b>for example, when in Munich I emphasized how important it is to respect what is sacred to others – <b>that my deep respect for the great religions, and especially the Muslims, who ‘worship God…’ appeared quite clear</b>!”[76]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Notice that he has “deep respect” for not only the false religion of Islam, but other false religions. This is apostasy. Also notice that he considers respect for the false religion itself as the same thing as respecting Muslim “believers.” He speaks of the two interchangeably, as we see. This is important to keep in mind because Benedict XVI frequently says that he respects Muslim believers or <i>Muslims as believers</i>. In so doing he is respecting their false religion, as we see proven clearly in the next quote.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>Address</i>, Dec. 22, 2006: “My visit to Turkey afforded me the opportunity to show also publicly <u><b>my respect for the Islamic Religion</b></u>, <b>a respect, moreover, which the Second Vatican Council (declaration </b><i><b>Nostra Aetate</b></i><b> #3) pointed out</b> to us as an attitude that is only right.”[77]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Notice that Benedict XVI admits here that Vatican II itself teaches respect for the false religion of Islam.</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>BENEDICT XVI SAYS THERE IS A NOBLE ISLAM</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>Salt of the Earth</i>, 1996, p. 244: “And, to prescind from the schism between Sunnites and Shiites, it [Islam] also exists in many varieties. <u><b>There is a noble Islam</b></u>, embodied, for example, by the King of Morocco, and there is also the extremist, terrorist Islam, which, again, one must not identify with Islam as a whole, which would do it an injustice.”[78]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">He is saying that a false religion is good. This is apostasy.</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>BENEDICT XVI SAYS MUSLIMS ARE BELIEVERS</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>Address to Representatives of Islam</i>, August 20, 2005: “<u><b>The believer – and all of us, as Christians and Muslims, are believers</b></u> – … <u><b>You guide Muslim believers and train them in the Islamic faith...</b> <b>You, therefore, have a great responsibility for the formation of the younger generation</b></u>.”[80]</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>BENEDICT XVI ESTEEMS FALSE RELIGIONS</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>Catechesis</i>, August 24, 2005: “This year is also the 40th anniversary of the conciliar Declaration <i>Nostra Aetate</i>, which has ushered in a new season of dialogue and spiritual solidarity between Jews and Christians, as well as <u><b>esteem for the other great religious traditions</b></u>. <b>Islam occupies a special place among them</b>.”[81]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Notice that Benedict XVI doesn’t merely esteem the members of false religions, but the false religions themselves. This is apostasy. He also says that Islam and Judaism, two false religions which rejects the Divinity of Jesus Christ and the entire Catholic Faith, represents “great religious traditions.” This is apostasy. <b>Islam and Judaism represents infidelity, the rejection of the Trinity and darkness</b>.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>Address</i>, Sept. 25, 2006: “<b>I would like to reiterate today all the esteem and the profound respect that I have for Muslim believers</b>, calling to mind the words of the Second Vatican Council which for the Catholic Church are the magna Carta of Muslim-Catholic dialogue: ‘The Church looks upon Muslims with respect. They worship the one God living and subsistent… At this time <b>when for Muslims the spiritual journey of the month of Ramadan is beginning, I address to all of them my cordial good wishes</b>, praying that the Almighty may grant them serene and peaceful lives. May the God of peace fill you with the abundance of his Blessings, together with the communities you represent!”[82]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Benedict XVI respects the believers of this diabolical sect; he says they worship God; he wishes them God’s blessings during their “spiritual journey” of Ramadan. This is simply apostasy.</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>BENEDICT XVI ESTEEMS ISLAMIC CIVILIZATIONS</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Benedict XVI, <i>General Audience</i>, Dec. 6, 2006: “ <b>I thus had the favorable opportunity to renew my sentiments of <u>esteem for the Muslims and for the Islamic civilizations</u>.”</b>[84]</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Islamic civilizations are among the most evil and anti-Christian things in history. This statement by Benedict XVI, therefore, is complete apostasy.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>Address in Turkey to Muslim figures</i>, Nov. 28, 2006: “… I was pleased to express my profound esteem for all the People of this great Country and to pay my respects at the tomb of the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk… <b>I extend my greetings to all the religious leaders of Turkey, especially the Grand Muftis</b> of Ankara and Istanbul. In your person, Mr. President, <b>I greet all the Muslims in Turkey with particular esteem</b> and affectionate regard… <u><b>This noble Land has also seen a remarkable flowering of Islamic civilization</b></u> in the most diverse fields… <b>There are so many Christian and Muslim monuments that bear witness to Turkey’s glorious past. You rightly take pride in these</b>, preserving them for the admiration of the ever-increasing number of visitors who flock here… <b>As believers, we draw from our prayer the strength that is needed </b>to overcome all traces of prejudice and to bear joint witness to our firm faith in God.”[85]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">He first mentions that he paid respects at the tomb of the nonbeliever Ataturk. He then says that he esteems <i>all the Muslims in Turkey</i>. To esteem someone is to admire him. This means that he admires all the Muslims in Turkey. That means that he not only admires millions who reject Christ, but even the criminals among the Muslims in Turkey; for certainly there are some. He then praises the “remarkable flowering of Islamic civilization,” which keeps millions in darkness and infidelity. He then praises <i>the Muslim monuments</i> of the past, and says that Muslims “rightly take pride in these.” Finally, he says that as “believers” Muslims can draw strength from their prayer – indicating that the practice of Islam is true and authentic. Benedict XVI is a complete and utter apostate.</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: 0.55cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>BENEDICT XVI TEACHES THAT ISLAM AND CHRISTIANITY HAVE THE SAME GOD</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="color: maroon;">Benedict XVI, <i>Pilgrim Fellowship of Faith,</i> 2002, p. 273: “… <b>Islam, too</b>, … <b>has inherited from Israel and the Christians the same God</b>…”[86]</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Islam and Christianity don’t have the same God. The followers of Islam reject the Trinity. Christians worship the Trinity.</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: 0.55cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>BENEDICT XVI SAYS HE RESPECTS THE KORAN AS THE HOLY BOOK OF A GREAT RELIGION</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>speech apologizing for his comments on Islam</i>, Sept. 2006: “In the Muslim world, this quotation has unfortunately been taken as an expression of my personal position, thus arousing understandable indignation. I hope that the reader of my text can see immediately that this sentence does not express <b>my personal view of </b><u><b>the Qur’an, for which I have the respect due to the holy book of a great religion</b></u>.”[87]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Benedict XVI respects the Koran as a holy book of a great religion. The Koran blasphemes the Trinity, denies the Divinity of Christ, and says those who believe in it are as excrement. It also says that all Christians are damned. This statement by Benedict XVI is total apostasy. We already covered how John Paul II kissed the Koran; this is to kiss the Koran in words.</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: 0.55cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>BENEDICT XVI GOES INTO A MOSQUE AND PRAYS TOWARD MECCA LIKE THE MUSLIMS</b></span></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="51" name="grafik191" src="http://i.imgur.com/zbVWb.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="643" /><br clear="LEFT" /><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="52" name="grafik192" src="http://i.imgur.com/4bFkB.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="643" /><br clear="LEFT" /><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="52" name="grafik193" src="http://i.imgur.com/XGY0T.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="643" /><br clear="LEFT" /><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="52" name="grafik194" src="http://i.imgur.com/3sPJ7.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="643" /><br clear="LEFT" /><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="52" name="grafik195" src="http://i.imgur.com/MAU8N.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="643" /><br clear="LEFT" /><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="52" name="grafik196" src="http://i.imgur.com/t85k4.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="643" /><br clear="LEFT" /><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="52" name="grafik197" src="http://i.imgur.com/YGc8m.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="643" /><br clear="LEFT" /><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="52" name="grafik198" src="http://i.imgur.com/QRG5m.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="643" /><br clear="LEFT" /><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="51" name="grafik199" src="http://i.imgur.com/XYg9a.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="643" /><br clear="LEFT" /></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="333" name="grafik200" src="http://i.imgur.com/2JOuf.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="497" /><br clear="LEFT" /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">On Nov. 30, 2006, during his trip to Turkey, Benedict XVI took off his shoes and entered the Blue Mosque. He followed the Muslim’s command to turn toward “the Kiblah” – the direction of Mecca. Then the prayer began. Benedict XVI prayed like the Muslims toward Mecca in the mosque. He even crossed his arms in the Muslim prayer gesture called “the gesture of tranquility.” This incredible act of <u>apostasy</u> was reported and shown all over the mainstream media. It’s no exaggeration to say that Benedict XVI was initiated into Islam.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI “Hailed for Praying like Muslims Toward Mecca,” Dec 1, 2006 —ISTANBUL <b>(Reuters) – “</b><u><b>Pope Benedict ended a sensitive, fence-mending visit to Turkey on Friday amid praise for visiting Istanbul's famed Blue Mosque and praying there facing toward Mecca ‘like Muslims.</b></u><b>’</b>… ‘The Pope's dreaded visit was concluded with a wonderful surprise,’ wrote daily Aksam on its front page. ‘<u><b>In Sultan Ahmet Mosque, he turned toward Mecca and prayed like Muslims</b></u><b>,’</b> the popular daily Hurriyet said, using the building's official name… ‘I would compare the Pope's visit to the mosque to Pope John Paul's gestures at the Western Wall,’ said veteran Vatican mediator Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, referring to Pope John Paul II's prayers at Jerusalem's Western Wall in 2000. ‘Yesterday, Benedict did with the Muslims what John Paul did with the Jews.’”[88]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">This absolutely proves that Benedict XVI is an apostate. This is one of the most scandalous actions in human history.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">St. Thomas Aquinas, <i>Summa Theologica</i>, Pt. I-II, Q. 103., A. 4: “All ceremonies are professions of faith, in which the interior worship of God consists. <u>Now man can make profession of his inward faith, by deeds as well as by words</u>: and in either profession, if he make a false declaration, he sins mortally.”</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">St. Thomas Aquinas, <i>Summa Theologica</i>, Pt. II, Q. 12, A. 1, Obj. 2: “… <b>if anyone were to… worship at the tomb of Mahomet, he would be deemed an apostate.”</b></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">St. Thomas says that one who worships at the tomb of Mahomet is to be deemed an apostate; <b>praying in a mosque, and toward Mecca like the Muslims, is much worse. </b>That’s why no pope in history <i>ever even went into a mosque</i>; they all knew that to even go there would be to signify the acceptance of the false religion. With this action, <b>the debate about whether Benedict XVI is the pope is utterly and completely over</b> for anyone familiar with these facts and in possession of a modicum of good will. Tell your friends and relatives: Benedict XVI is a heretic, an apostate and therefore an antipope.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>General Audience</i>, Dec. 6, 2006: “<b>In the area of interreligious dialogue, </b>divine Providence granted me, almost at the end of my Journey, <b>an unscheduled Visit which proved rather important: my Visit to Istanbul’s famous Blue Mosque. Pausing for a few minutes of recollection in that place of prayer</b>, I addressed the one Lord of Heaven and Earth, the Merciful Father of all humanity.”[89]</p><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="177" name="grafik201" src="http://i.imgur.com/BUizf.jpg" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; padding: 5px;" width="585" /><br clear="LEFT" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;" /><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="177" name="grafik202" src="http://i.imgur.com/3h9I6.jpg" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; padding: 5px;" width="585" /><br clear="LEFT" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;" /><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><br /></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><b>BENEDICT XVI’S HERESIES WITH PAGANISM</b></span></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="601" name="grafik203" src="http://i.imgur.com/yRbOL.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="471" /><br clear="LEFT" /></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><b>BENEDICT XVI FULLY FAVORS ECUMENISM AND THE DEVIL-WORSHIPPING ECUMENICAL CEREMONIES AT ASSISI</b></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">We’ve already covered John Paul II’s notorious ecumenical gatherings at Assisi in 1986 where he prayed with over 130 different religious leaders of all kinds of false and demonic religions, putting the true religion on a par with idol worship. This activity is totally condemned by Catholic Tradition. It was denounced as apostasy by Pope Pius XI.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Well, the train that took the false religious leaders from the Vatican to the 2002 Assisi event (the repeat performance) was described by Benedict XVI as “<b>a symbol of our pilgrimage in history</b>… the <b>reconciliation </b><u><b>of peoples and religions</b></u><b>, a great inspiration…</b>”[90]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">In 2006, Benedict XVI also praised the 1986 interreligious prayer meeting at Assisi.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, Message, Sept. 2, 2006: “<b>This year is the 20</b><sup><b>th</b></sup><b> anniversary of the </b><i><b>Interreligious Meeting of Prayer for Peace</b></i>, desired by my venerable Predecessor John Paul II on 27 October 1986 in Assisi. It is well known that he did not only invite Christians of various denominations to this Meeting but also <b>the exponents of different religions</b>. <b>It constituted a vibrant message</b> furthering peace and an event that left its mark on the history of our time… attestations of the close bond that exists between the relationship with God and the ethics of love are recorded in <b>all great religious traditions</b>.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">“Among the features of the 1986 Meeting, it should be stressed that <b>this value of prayer in building peace was testified to by the representatives of different religious traditions</b>, and this did not happen at a distance but in the context of a meeting… We are in greater need of this dialogue than ever… <b>I am glad, therefore, that the initiatives planned in Assisi this year are along these lines</b> and, in particular, that the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue has had the idea of applying them in a special way for young people… I gladly take this opportunity to greet the representatives of <u><b>other religions</b></u> who are taking part in one or other of the Assisi commemorations. Like us Christians, <u><b>they know that in prayer it is possible to have a special experience of God</b></u> and to draw from it effective incentives for dedication to the cause of peace.”[91]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Benedict XVI is in favor of the apostate ecumenical gatherings at Assisi where John Paul II prayed with leaders of all kinds of demonic and idolatrous religions – where John Paul II had the crucifixes removed from Catholic rooms so that pagans could worship false gods. Notice that Benedict XVI says that other religions know that prayer gives them an experience of God. This means that their religious experiences, such as worshipping false gods in prayer, are true.</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: 0.55cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>BENEDICT XVI CRITICIZES AS “HOTHEADS” THOSE WHO DESTROYED PAGAN TEMPLES</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>God and the World</i>, 2000, p. 373: “<b>There were in fact Christian hotheads and fanatics who destroyed temples, who were unable to see paganism as anything more than idolatry</b> that had to be radically eliminated.”[92]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Those “hotheads” whom he criticizes would include St. Francis Xavier and St. Benedict.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">St. Francis Xavier [regarding the heathen children he had converted to the Catholic faith, +1543): “<b>These children… show an ardent love for the Divine law, and an extraordinary zeal for our holy religion and imparting it to others. </b><u><b>Their hatred for idolatry is marvelous</b></u><b>. They get into feuds with the heathens about it</b>… <u><b>The children run at the idols, upset them, dash them down, break them to pieces, spit on them, trample on them, kick them about, and in short heap on them every possible outrage</b></u>.”[93]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">St. Benedict overthrew a pagan altar and burned the groves dedicated to Apollo when he first arrived at Mount Cassino:</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Pope Pius XII, <i>Fulgens Radiatur</i> (# 11), March 21, 1947: “… he [St. Benedict] went south and arrived at a fort ‘called Cassino situated on the side of a high mountain; <b>on this stood an old temple where Apollo was worshipped by the foolish country people, according to the custom of the ancient heathens</b>. Around it likewise grew groves, in which even till that time <b>the mad multitude of infidels used to offer their idolatrous sacrifices.</b> <u>The man of God coming to that place broke the idol, overthrew the altar, burned the groves, and of the temple of Apollo made a chapel of St. Martin</u>. Where the profane altar had stood he built a chapel of St. John; and by continual preaching he converted many of the people thereabout.’”[94]</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: 0.55cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>BENEDICT XVI TELLS US THAT PAGAN AND IDOLATROUS RELIGIONS ARE HIGH AND PURE</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>Salt of the Earth</i>, 1996, p. 23: “And so we can also see that <u><b>in the Indian religious cosmos (‘Hinduism’ is a rather misleading designation for a multiplicity of religions) there are very different forms: very high and pure ones</b></u> that are marked by the idea of love, but also wholly gruesome ones that include ritual murder.”[95]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">He says that idolatrous religions are high and pure. This is heresy and apostasy.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">1 Cor. 10:20- “… the things which the heathens sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God.”</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Pope Leo XIII, <i>Ad Extremas</i> (#1), June 24, 1893: “… the blessed Apostle Thomas who is rightly called the founder of preaching the Gospel to the Hindus. Then, there is Francis Xavier… Through his extraordinary perseverance, <b>he converted </b><u><b>hundreds of thousands of Hindus from the myths and vile superstitions of the Brahmans to the true religion</b></u>.”[96]</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>BENEDICT XVI HAS A PROFOUND RESPECT FOR FALSE FAITHS</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>Homily</i>, Sept. 10, 2006: “We do not fail to show respect for other religions and cultures, <u><b>we do not fail to show profound respect for their faith</b></u>…”[97]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Notice that Benedict XVI doesn’t merely respect the members of false faiths, but he shows PROFOUND RESPECT for the <u>false faiths</u> themselves! This is apostasy. This means that he respects the denial of Christ, the rejection of the Papacy, the endorsement of contraception and abortion, etc. (which are all part of the teaching of other “faiths”).</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Pope Leo XIII, <i>Custodi di Quella fede</i> (# 15), Dec. 8, 1892: “Everyone should avoid familiarity or friendship with anyone suspected of belonging to masonry or to affiliated groups. Know them by their fruits and avoid them. <b>Every familiarity should be avoided, not only with those impious libertines who openly promote the character of the sect, but also with those who hide under the mask of universal tolerance, </b><u><b>respect for all religions</b></u>...”[98]</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: 0.55cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>BENEDICT XVI SAYS THE PRESENCE OF FALSE RELIGIONS IS A SOURCE OF ENRICHMENT FOR ALL</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>Speech</i>, Nov. 28, 2006: “… I am certain that religious liberty is a fundamental expression of human liberty and that <b>the active presence of religions in society is a source of progress and enrichment for all</b>.”[99]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">This means that the various false religions are a source of progress and enrichment for all! This is apostasy.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Pope St. Pius X, <i>Pascendi</i> (# 14), Sept. 8, 1907: “<b>[According to the Modernists] It is this </b><i><b>experience</b></i><b> which, when a person acquires it, makes him properly and truly a believer</b>. How far off we are here from Catholic teaching we have already seen in the decree of the Vatican Council. We shall see later how, with such theories, added to the other errors already mentioned, the way is opened wide for atheism. Here it is well to note at once that, <b>given this doctrine of </b><i><b>experience</b></i><b> united with the other doctrine of </b><i><b>symbolism</b></i><b>, every religion, even that of paganism, must be held to be true. What is to prevent such experiences from being met within every religion? In fact that they are to be found is asserted by not a few. And with what right will Modernists deny the truth of an experience affirmed by a follower of Islam? With what right can they claim true experiences for Catholics alone?</b> Indeed Modernists do not deny but actually admit, some confusedly, others in the most open manner, that all religions are true. That they cannot feel otherwise is clear.”[101]</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: 0.55cm;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><b>BENEDICT XVI DENYING OUTSIDE THE CHURCH THERE IS NO SALVATION</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">What we have seen thus far proves many times over that Benedict XVI rejects the defined dogma Outside the Catholic Church There is No Salvation. Benedict XVI holds that we shouldn’t even convert heretics and schismatics. But here are some more examples of heresy where Benedict XVI specifically addresses and denies this crucial dogma.</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: 0.55cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>BENEDICT XVI ADDRESSES OUTSIDE THE CHURCH THERE IS NO SALVATION AND COMPLETELY REJECTS IT</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>Salt of the Earth</i>, 1996, p. 24: “Q. <i><b>But could we not also accept that someone can be saved through a faith other than the Catholic?</b></i> A. That’s a different question altogether. <b>It is definitely possible for someone to receive from his religion directives that help him become a pure person, which also, if we want to use the word, help him please God and reach salvation. This is not at all excluded by what I said; on the contrary, </b><u><b>this undoubtedly happens on a large scale</b></u>.”[102]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">The Church teaches that there is <u>no</u> salvation outside of the Church. Benedict XVI teaches that there is undoubtedly salvation outside the Church on a large scale. This is a bold rejection of the dogma Outside the Church There is No Salvation.</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>BENEDICT XVI SAYS THAT THERE ARE PAGAN SAINTS</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>Truth and Tolerance</i>, 2004, p. 207: “<b>The fact that in every age there have been, and still are, ‘pagan saints’ </b>is because everywhere and in every age – albeit often with difficulty and in fragmentary fashion – the speech of the ‘heart’ can be heard, because God’s Torah may be heard within ourselves...”[103]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">This is bold heresy. Remember, Pope Eugene IV infallibly defined that all who die as “pagans” are not saved.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Pope Eugene IV, <i>Council of Florence</i>, <i>ex cathedra</i>: “…all those who are outside the Catholic Church, not only <u><b>pagans</b></u> but also Jews or heretics and schismatics, cannot share in eternal life…”[104]</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: 0.55cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>BENEDICT XVI TEACHES THAT THERE ARE MANY WAYS THAT LEAD TO HEAVEN BESIDES THE CHRISTIAN FAITH</b></span></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="499" name="grafik204" src="http://i.imgur.com/jFKyX.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="429" /><br clear="LEFT" /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="color: maroon;">Benedict XVI, <i>Co-Workers of the Truth,</i> 1990, p. 217: “<u><b>The question that really concerns us, the question that really oppresses us, is why it is necessary for us in particular to practice the Christian Faith in its totality; why, when there are so many other ways that lead to heaven and salvation</b></u>, it should be required of us to bear day after day the whole burden of ecclesial dogmas and of the ecclesial ethos. And so we come again to the question: What exactly is Christian reality? What is the specific element in Christianity that not merely justifies it, but makes it compulsorily necessary for us? <b>When we raise the question about the foundation and meaning of our Christian existence, </b><u><b>there slips in a certain false hankering for the apparently more comfortable life of other people who are also going to heaven</b></u>. We are too much like the laborers of the first hour in the parable of the workers in the vineyard (Mt. 20:1-16). Once they discovered that they could have earned their day’s pay of one denarius in a much easier way, they could not understand why they had had to labor the whole day. <u><b>But what a strange attitude it is to find the duties of our Christian life unrewarding just because the denarius of salvation can be gained without them</b></u><b>!</b> It would seem that we – like the workers of the first hour – want to be paid not only with our own salvation, but more particularly with others’ lack of salvation. That is at once very human and profoundly un-Christian.”[105]</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Benedict XVI asks that all-important question: Why is it necessary to practice the Christian Faith if there are other ways to salvation? Benedict XVI answers the question by admitting that there are many other ways besides the Christian Faith that lead to salvation. He even criticizes people for asking such a question.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Benedict XVI has bluntly rejected a revealed truth of the Catholic Faith: Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation, and the Catholic Faith is necessary for salvation.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Pope Leo XII, <i>Ubi Primum</i> (# 14), May 5, 1824: “… by divine faith we hold one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and that no other name under Heaven is given to men except the name of Jesus Christ in which we must be saved. This is why we profess that there is no salvation outside the Church.”[106]</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: 0.55cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>BENEDICT XVI TEACHES THAT ALL RELIGIONS CAN LEAD TO GOD</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>Salt of the Earth</i>, 1996, p. 29: “… <u><b>in all religions there are men of interior purity who through their myths somehow touch the great mystery and find the right way of being human</b></u>.”[107]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">This is <u>totally</u> heretical.</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><b>BENEDICT XVI INSULTING CATHOLIC DOGMA</b></span></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: 0.55cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>BENEDICT XVI INSULTS THE COUNCIL OF TRENT’S DECREE ON THE EUCHARIST</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="color: maroon;">Benedict XVI, <i>Feast of Faith,</i> 1981, p. 130: “<b>The Council of Trent concludes its remarks on Corpus Christi with something which offends our ecumenical ears and has doubtless contributed not a little toward discrediting this feast</b> <b>in the opinion of our Protestant brethren. But </b><u><b>if we purge its formulation</b></u> of the passionate tone of the sixteenth century, we shall be surprised by something great and positive.”[108]</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Benedict XVI says the Council of Trent’s infallible declaration “offends” his ecumenical ears and that its “formulation” needs to be “purged,” which means to <i>make clean</i> or <i>rid of objectionable elements</i>! This is totally heretical.</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: 0.55cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>BENEDICT XVI SAYS THAT TRENT’S DOCTRINE ON THE PRIESTHOOD WAS WEAK AND DISASTROUS IN ITS EFFECT</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>Principles of Catholic Theology</i> (1982), pp. 247-248: “… [Talking about the Protestant versus Catholic views of the Priesthood] <b>The Council of Trent did not attempt here a comprehensive treatment of </b><u><b>the problem</b></u><b> as a whole. </b><u><b>Therein lies the weakness of the text it promulgated, the effect of which was all the more disastrous…</b></u>”[109]</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>BENEDICT XVI TOTALLY BLASPHEMES CHURCH TRADITION</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>Principles of Catholic Theology</i> (1982), p. 100: “… the problem of tradition as it exists in the Church…The Church is tradition… into which – let us admit – much human pseudotradition has found its way; so much so, in fact, that even, and even precisely, <b>the Church has contributed to the general crisis of tradition that afflicts mankind</b>.”[110]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">This is a repudiation of one of the two sources of Revelation, Sacred Tradition.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Pope Pius IX, <i>Vatican I</i>, ex cathedra: “…all those things must be believed which are contained in the written word of God and in <b>tradition</b>…”[111]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>Principles of Catholic Theology</i>, 1982, p. 378: “<b>Not every valid Council in the history of the Church has been a fruitful one; in the last analysis, many of them have been just a waste of time</b>.”[112]</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: 0.55cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>BENEDICT XVI TEACHES THAT THE TERM “ORIGINAL SIN” IS FALSE</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="color: maroon;">Benedict XVI, <i>In the Beginning,</i> 1986, p. 72: “…<u><b>Theology refers to this state of affairs by the certainly misleading and imprecise term ‘original sin</b></u><b>.</b>’”[113]</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">The Council of Trent promulgated an infallible “Decree on Original Sin” in which it used the term “original sin” no fewer than four times.[114]</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>BENEDICT XVI CRITICIZES THE APOSTLES’ CREED</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>Introduction to Christianity</i>, 2004, p. 326: “… <u><b>Perhaps it will have to be admitted that the tendency to such a false development</b></u>, which only sees the dangers of responsibility and no longer the freedom of love, <u><b>is already present in the [Apostles’] Creed</b></u> …’”[115]</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: 0.55cm;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><b>BENEDICT XVI ADMITTING THAT VATICAN II HAS CHANGED OR REJECTED CATHOLIC DOGMA</b></span></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: 0.55cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>BENEDICT XVI BLUNTLY ADMITS THAT VATICAN II CONTRADICTS THE INFALLIBLE TEACHING OF POPE PIUS IX ON RELIGIOUS LIBERTY AND FALSE RELIGIONS</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>Principles of Catholic Theology</i>, 1982, p. 381: "<b>If it is desirable to offer a diagnosis of the text [of the Vatican II document, </b><i><b>Gaudium et Spes</b></i><b>] as a whole, </b><u><b>we might say that (in conjunction with the texts on religious liberty and world religions) it is a revision of the Syllabus of Pius IX</b>, <b>a kind of counter syllabus</b></u>… <b>As a result, </b><u><b>the one-sidedness of the position adopted by the Church under Pius IX</b></u><b> and Pius X in response to the situation created by the new phase of history inaugurated by the French Revolution,</b> <u><b>was, to a large extent, corrected</b></u>..."[116]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Benedict XVI could not be more formally heretical. He is admitting that Vatican II’s teaching (which he adheres to) is directly contrary to the teaching of the Magisterium in the Syllabus of Errors condemned by Pope Pius IX. We have shown that Vatican II’s teaching on religious liberty contradicts traditional Catholic teaching. Benedict XVI just admitted it. One could hardly ask for more of a confirmation that the teaching of Vatican II is heretical. In his book, Benedict XVI repeats this again and again, calling the teaching of Vatican II “the countersyllabus,” and saying that there can be no return to the Syllabus of Errors.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>Principles of Catholic Theology</i>, 1982, p. 385: "By a kind of inner necessity, therefore, the optimism of <u><b>the countersyllabus</b></u><b> gave way</b> to a new cry that was far more intense and more dramatic than the former one."[117]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>Principles of Catholic Theology</i>, 1982, p. 391: "The task is not, therefore, to suppress the Council but to discover the real Council and to deepen its true intention in the light of present experience. <u><b>That means that there can be no return to the </b></u><i><u><b>Syllabus</b></u></i>, which may have marked the first stage in the confrontation with liberalism and a newly conceived Marxism but cannot be the last stage."[118]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">This is astounding heresy!</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: 0.55cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>BENEDICT XVI ACKNOWLEDGES THAT THE VATICAN II SECT HAS ABANDONED THE CATHOLIC CHURCH’S TRADITIONAL PROHIBITION OF CREMATION</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>God and the World</i>, 2000, p. 436: “Q. <i>Is it permissible to have dead bodies cremated, or is that just a heathen ritual</i>? A. … <b>Right up to the Second Vatican Council, cremation was subject to penalties. In view of all the circumstances of the modern world, </b><u><b>the Church has abandoned this</b></u>.”[119]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">The Church’s traditional law condemns cremation, and forbids ecclesiastical burial to those who requested it.</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><b>BENEDICT XVI’S HERESIES AGAINST THE CHURCH</b></span></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: 0.55cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>BENEDICT XVI SAYS THAT CHURCH TEACHING DOESN’T EXCLUDE THOSE WHO HOLD OPPOSING VIEWS</b></span></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>Principles of Catholic Theology</i> (1982), p. 229: “The statement of the Congregation… <b>proposes to meet the crisis by a positive presentation especially of those points of Church doctrine that are under dispute and to establish the identity of Catholicism, </b><u><b>not by excluding those who hold opposing views</b></u>…”[120]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">This is blatantly heretical.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Pope Eugene IV, <i>Council of Florence</i>, 1441: “Therefore the Holy Roman Church condemns, reproves, anathematizes and <u><b>declares to be outside the Body of Christ</b></u>, which is the Church, <b>whoever holds </b><u><b>opposing</b></u><b> or contrary views</b>.”[121]</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: 0.55cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>BENEDICT XVI TEACHES THAT THE “CHURCH” EXISTS OUTSIDE THE CHURCH</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="color: maroon;">Benedict XVI, <i>Co-Workers of the Truth,</i> 1990, p. 29: “… there neither can nor should be any disavowal of the presence of Christ and of Christian values among separated Christians… <u><b>Catholic theology must state more clearly than ever before that,</b> <b>along with the actual presence of the word outside her boundaries, ‘Church’ is also present there in one form or another</b></u>…”[122]</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Benedict XVI <u><b>states that the Church itself exists outside of the Church</b></u>. This is heretical nonsense which denies that there is only one Church.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">The Nicene-Constantinople Creed, 381, <i>ex cathedra</i>: “<b>We believe in… </b><u><b>one</b></u> holy Catholic and apostolic Church.”[123]</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: 0.55cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>BENEDICT XVI TOTALLY REJECTS THE UNITY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">The unity or oneness of the Catholic Church is a very important dogma. It’s one of the four marks of the Church, as in <i>one, holy, Catholic and apostolic</i>. When heretics form sects, they don’t break the unity of the Catholic Church, since the unity of the Church cannot be broken. They simply leave the Catholic Church.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Pope Leo XIII, <i>Satis Cognitum</i> (# 4), June 29, 1896: "<b>The Church in respect of its unity belongs to the category of</b> <b>things indivisible by nature…</b>"[124]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Pope Leo XIII, <i>Satis Cognitum</i> (# 5): " … <b>This unity cannot be broken, nor the one body divided by the separation of its constituent parts.</b>"[125]</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><b>OTHER HERESIES OF BENEDICT XVI</b></span></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>BENEDICT XVI SAYS JUDAS MIGHT NOT BE IN HELL</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, Oct. 18, 2006: “This poses two questions when it comes to explaining what happened [with Judas]. The first consists in asking ourselves how it was possible that Jesus chose this man and trusted him. In fact, though Judas is the group's administrator (cf. John 12:6b; 13:29a), in reality he is also called "thief" (John 12:6a). The mystery of the choice is even greater, as Jesus utters a very severe judgment on him: "Woe to that man by whom the son of man is betrayed!" (Matthew 26:24). <b>This mystery is even more profound if one thinks of his eternal fate</b>, <b>knowing that Judas "repented and brought back the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, saying 'I have sinned in betraying innocent blood</b>'" (Matthew 27:3-4). <b>Though he departed afterward to hang himself (cf. Matthew 27:5), </b><u><b>it is not for us to judge his gesture, putting ourselves in God's place, who is infinitely merciful and just</b></u>.”[129]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">These words of Benedict XVI indicate that he holds that Judas might not be in Hell. This is a denial of the Gospel. If Judas is not in Hell (as Benedict XVI indicates is possible), then Our Lord’s words in Matthew 26:24 (quoted below) would be false.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">"Woe to that man by whom the Son of man shall be betrayed: <u><b>it were better for him, if that man had not been born</b></u>" (Matthew 26:24).</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">If Judas didn’t go to Hell, then he went to Purgatory or Heaven. In that case, Our Lord (the all knowing God) could not have said that it is better for Judas not to have been born. That’s very clear and very simple; but these simple truths of the Catholic Faith are all thrown out the window by the non-Catholic Vatican II sect.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">It’s quite interesting that, in this speech, Benedict XVI quotes the first part of Matthew 26:24 ("Woe to that man by whom the son of man is betrayed!"), but not the last part (“<u><b>it were better for him, if that man had not been born</b></u>”). You can see his omission of that critical part of the passage in the citation above. That’s a striking example of a heretic cutting out the part of the Gospel that he doesn’t like or is about to deny!</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Further refuting Antipope Benedict XVI is the fact that Our Lord also says that Judas is “lost” and calls him the “son of perdition,” which means “the son of damnation.” Judas also ended his life with the mortal sin of suicide.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">John 17:12- "<b>None of them is lost, but the son of perdition</b>, that the scripture may be fulfilled.”</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">The Catholic Church has always held that Judas went to Hell, based on the clear words of Our Lord.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">St. Alphonsus, <i>Preparation For Death</i>, p. 127: “<u><b>Poor Judas! Above seventeen hundred years have elapsed since he has been in Hell</b></u><b>, and his Hell is still only beginning.</b>”[130]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">But just like the other defined dogmas on salvation, even the clearest words and messages of the Gospel are denied by the non-Catholic, manifestly heretical Vatican II sect and its antipopes.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Pope St. Pius X, <i>Pascendi </i>(# 3), Sept. 8, 1907: “<b>Moreover, they [the Modernists] lay the ax not to the branches and shoots, but to the very root, that is, to the faith and its deepest fibers</b>. And once having struck at this root of immortality, they proceed to diffuse poison through the whole tree, so that <u><b>there is no part of Catholic truth which they leave untouched, none that they do not strive to corrupt</b></u>.”[131]</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: 0.55cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>BENEDICT XVI RESPECTS HANS KUNG’S PATH OF DENIAL OF JESUS CHRIST!</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">For those who don’t know, Hans Kung denies Papal Infallibility and the Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, among other things.</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="503" name="grafik205" src="http://i.imgur.com/5YDCR.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="529" /><br clear="LEFT" />Hans Kung</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Hans Kung can correctly be described as an Arian, since he denies that Our Lord is of the same substance as the Father.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>Salt of the Earth</i>, 1996, pp. 95-96: “Q. And about Hans Kung’s path? I mean, he now hopes for a rehabilitation. A. … <b>he [Hans Kung] has taken back nothing of his contestation of the papal office; indeed, he has further radicalized his positions. In Christology and in trinitarian theology he has further distanced himself from the faith of the Church. </b><u><b>I respect his path</b></u><b>, which he takes in accord with his conscience</b>, but he should not then demand the Church’s seal of approval but should admit that in essential questions he has come to different, very personal decisions of his own.”[132]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Benedict XVI doesn’t merely say that he respects Hans Kung, which would be bad enough; he says that he respects his path – that is, the denial of Jesus Christ! This is total apostasy.</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: 0.55cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>BENEDICT XVI SAYS IT’S IMPORTANT THAT EVERY PERSON CAN BELONG TO THE RELIGION OF HIS CHOICE</b></span></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>Address</i>, May 18, 2006: “Likewise, peace is rooted in respect for religious freedom, which is a fundamental and primordial aspect of the freedom of conscience of individuals and the freedom of peoples<b>. </b><u><b>It is important that everywhere in the world every person can belong to the religion of his choice</b></u><b> </b>and practice it freely without fear, <b>for no one can base his life on the quest of material being alone.</b>”[133]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">According to Benedict XVI, it’s important that every person can belong to the religion of his choice. This is more religious indifferentism. Benedict XVI then explains his reason for saying this: “<i><b>for no one can base his life on the quest of material being alone</b></i><b>.” </b>In other words, life is more than material being; there is a spiritual reality, so it’s important to embrace a religion – any religion of your choice! What an apostate.</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: 0.55cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>BENEDICT XVI UTTERS MORE HERESY ON RELIGIOUS LIBERTY, DIRECTLY CONTRADICTING THE DOGMATIC TEACHING OF POPE PIUS IX</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>Address to ambassador of Spain</i>, May 20, 2006: “<u><b>The Church also insists on the inalienable right of individuals to profess their own religious faith without hindrance, both publicly and privately</b></u>, as well as the right of parents to have their children receive an education that complies with their values and beliefs without explicit or implicit discrimination.”[134]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">This is precisely the opposite of the infallible teaching of the Catholic Church. The Church condemns the very thing he said the Church insists! See for yourself how clearly opposed Benedict XVI’s teaching is to the dogmatic teaching of Pope Pius IX. Notice especially <u>the underlined portion</u>, and compare it to the teaching of Benedict XVI:</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Pope Pius IX, <i>Quanta Cura</i> (#’s 3-6), Dec. 8, 1864, <i><b>ex cathedra</b></i>: “From which totally false idea of social government they do not fear to foster that erroneous opinion, most fatal in its effects on the Catholic Church and the salvation of souls, called by Our predecessor, Gregory XVI, an insanity, <b>NAMELY, THAT ‘LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE AND WORSHIP IS EACH MAN’S PERSONAL RIGHT, WHICH OUGHT TO BE LEGALLY PROCLAIMED AND ASSERTED IN EVERY RIGHTLY CONSTITUTED SOCIETY</b>; and that a right resides in the citizens to an absolute liberty, which should be restrained by no authority whether ecclesiastical or civil, <u><b>WHEREBY THEY MAY BE ABLE OPENLY AND PUBLICLY TO MANIFEST AND DECLARE ANY OF THEIR IDEAS WHATEVER</b></u><b>, EITHER BY WORD OF MOUTH, BY THE PRESS, OR IN ANY OTHER WAY</b>. But while they rashly affirm this, they do not understand and note that they are preaching liberty of perdition… Therefore, <u><b>BY OUR APOSTOLIC AUTHORITY, WE REPROBATE, PROSCRIBE, AND CONDEMN ALL THE SINGULAR AND EVIL OPINIONS AND DOCTRINES SPECIALLY MENTIONED IN THIS LETTER</b>,</u> AND WILL AND COMMAND THAT THEY BE THOROUGHLY HELD BY ALL THE CHILDREN OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AS REPROBATED, PROSCRIBED AND CONDEMNED.”[135]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI vs. <i>ex cathedra</i> Catholic teaching</p><center style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><table border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" style="width: 600px;"><colgroup><col width="291"></col><col width="299"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr valign="TOP"><td width="291"><p><u>The Church also insists on the inalienable right of individuals to profess their own religious faith without hindrance, both publicly and privately</u></p></td><td width="299"><p>…that a right resides in the citizens …<u><b>WHEREBY THEY MAY BE ABLE OPENLY AND PUBLICLY TO MANIFEST AND DECLARE ANY OF THEIR IDEAS WHATEVER</b></u><b>…</b>, <u><b>BY OUR APOSTOLIC AUTHORITY, WE REPROBATE, PROSCRIBE, AND CONDEMN [such an evil opinion]</b></u></p><u><b></b></u></td></tr></tbody></table></center><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>BENEDICT XVI DENIES THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">The Resurrection of the Body is a very important dogma. Besides being part of the Apostles’ Creed, <u>this dogma has been defined more than almost any other dogma</u> of the Faith.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Pope Gregory X, <i>Second Council of Lyons</i>, 1274, <i>ex cathedra</i>: “The same most holy Roman Church firmly believes and firmly declares that nevertheless on the day of judgment <b>all men will be brought together </b><u><b>with their bodies</b></u> before the tribunal of Christ to render an account of their own deeds.”[136]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Pope Innocent III, 1215, <i>ex cathedra</i>: “…all of whom will rise with <b>their bodies which they now bear</b>…”[137]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Pope Benedict XII, 1336, <i>ex cathedra:</i> “… <u><b>all men with their bodies</b></u> will make themselves ready to render an account of their own deeds …”[138]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Benedict XVI blatantly denies this dogma and proves again that he is a manifest heretic.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>Introduction to Christianity</i>, 2004, p. 349: “<u><b>It now becomes clear that the real heart of faith in the resurrection does not consist at all in the idea of the restoration of bodies</b></u>, to which we have reduced it in our thinking; such is the case even though this is the pictorial image used throughout the Bible.”[139]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>Introduction to Christianity</i>, p. 353: “The foregoing reflections may have clarified to some extent what is involved in <b>the biblical pronouncements about the resurrection: their essential content is </b><u><b>not the conception of a restoration of bodies to souls</b></u> after a long interval…”[140]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>Introduction to Christianity, </i>2004, pp. 357-358: “To recapitulate, <u><b>Paul teaches, not the resurrection of physical bodies</b></u>, but the resurrection of persons…”[141]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">We can see that Benedict XVI denies this dogma in his book <i>Introduction to Christianity</i> (as quoted above) by teaching that St. Paul <u>doesn’t</u> teach the resurrection of physical bodies, and that the resurrection does <u>not</u> consist in the restoration of bodies. This is astounding heresy.</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><span style="font-size: large;">CONCLUSION ABOUT BENEDICT XVI</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><b>Benedict XVI is a manifest heretic</b>. We have proven this without any doubt. He teaches that Our Lord may not be the Messiah; that the Old Covenant is valid; that Jews and others can be saved without believing in Christ; that schismatics and Protestants don’t need conversion; that non-Catholics are not bound to accept Vatican I; that Protestant Monasteries should be formed; that Protestantism is not even heresy; that Mass is valid without words of consecration; that infant baptism has no purpose; that Scripture is filled with myths; that the false religion of Islam is noble; that pagan religions are high; that salvation can be had outside the Church; that Catholic dogmas need to be purged; that Vatican II rejected Catholic teaching on religious liberty; that the unity of the Church does not exist; and that the Resurrection of the Body will not occur, <i>just to name a few.</i></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><b>Since he is a heretic, he could not have been a validly elected pope. </b>As quoted already, Pope Paul IV solemnly taught in his Feb. 15, 1559 Bull, <i>Cum ex Apostolatus officio</i>, that it is impossible for a heretic to be validly elected pope.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Therefore, <u><b>according to the teaching of the Catholic Church, Benedict XVI is not a pope, but a non-Catholic antipope whom Catholics must completely reject</b></u>. He presides over the new religion of Vatican II, a counterfeit Catholicism that has abandoned the Catholic Church’s traditions and dogmas.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">One of Benedict XVI’s main characteristics is that he is a deceiver. While he teaches undeniable, astounding and manifest heresies, one of the ways by which he has convinced so many that he is conservative is that, among these astounding heresies in his writings, there are many conservative passages. But this is nothing new. Pope Pius VI pointed out that heretics, inspired by the Devil, have always used such tactics to inculcate heresies and deceive people.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Pope Pius VI, Bull “Auctorem fidei," August 28, 1794: “<b>[The Ancient Doctors] knew the capacity of innovators in the art of deception.</b> In order not to shock the ears of Catholics, <b>they sought to hide the subtleties… by the use of seemingly innocuous words such as would allow them to insinuate error into souls in the most gentle manner</b>. Once the truth had been compromised, they could, <b>by means of slight changes or additions in phraseology, distort the confession of the faith</b> which is necessary for our salvation, and lead the faithful by subtle errors to their eternal damnation.”</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Pope Pius VI points out that camouflaging the heresies in statements that are ambiguous or seemingly conservative or contradictory was the tactic of the heretic Nestorius, and that Catholics cannot allow heretics to get away with this or deceive them by it. They must hold such heretics to their heresies regardless:</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Pope Pius VI, “Auctorem fidei": “… it cannot be excused in the way that one sees it being done, <b>under the erroneous pretext that the seemingly shocking affirmations in one place are further developed along orthodox lines in other places, and even in yet other places corrected; as if allowing for the possibility of either affirming or denying the statement… such has always been the fraudulent and daring method used by innovators to establish error. It allows for both the possibility of promoting error and of excusing it.</b></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">"…It is a most reprehensible technique for the insinuation of doctrinal errors and one condemned long ago by our predecessor Saint Celestine who found it used in the writings of Nestorius, Bishop of Constantinople, and which he exposed in order to condemn it with the greatest possible severity. Once these texts were examined carefully, the impostor was exposed and confounded, for he expressed himself in a plethora of words, <u>mixing true things with others that were obscure</u>; <u>mixing at times one with the other in such a way that he was also able to confess those things which were denied while at the same time possessing a basis for denying those very sentences which he confessed</u>.”</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Heretics have always used ambiguity and deception to insinuate their heresies and make them seem not quite as bad. In fact, the more deceptive the heretic is usually equates to how successful he is for the Devil. The heretic Arius effectively spread his denial of the Divinity of Christ because he impressed people with his appearance of ascetism and devotion.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Pope Pius XI, <i>Rite expiatis</i> (# 6), April 30, 1926: “…<b>heresies gradually arose and grew in the vineyard of the Lord, propagated either by open heretics or by sly deceivers</b> who, because they professed a certain austerity of life and gave a false appearance of virtue and piety, easily led weak and simple souls astray.”[143]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Pope Pius VI concludes his point by giving Catholics instructions on how to deal with such deception or ambiguity among the writings of heretics:</p><table border="1" bordercolor="#000000" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; width: 100%px;"><colgroup><col width="256*"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr><td valign="TOP" width="100%"><p style="margin-left: 0.25cm; margin-right: 0.25cm;">“In order to expose such snares, something which becomes necessary with a certain frequency in every century, no other method is required than the following: <u><b>WHENEVER IT BECOMES NECESSARY TO EXPOSE STATEMENTS WHICH DISGUISE SOME SUSPECTED ERROR OR DANGER UNDER THE VEIL OF AMBIGUITY, ONE MUST DENOUNCE THE PERVERSE MEANING UNDER WHICH THE ERROR OPPOSED TO CATHOLIC TRUTH IS CAMOUFLAGED</b></u><b>.”</b></p></td></tr></tbody></table><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Pope Pius VI teaches us that if someone veils a heresy in ambiguity, a Catholic must hold him to the heretical meaning and denounce the heretical meaning which is camouflaged in ambiguity. But this is only common sense: if a man says that he is against abortion, but repeatedly votes in favor of it, he is a supporter of abortion and a heretic. The fact that he sometimes claims to hold Church teaching against abortion means nothing.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Likewise, the fact that Benedict XVI says some conservative, ambiguous or contradictory things doesn’t change the fact that he teaches astounding heresies and is not a Catholic.</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: 0.55cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>BENEDICT XVI’S RETRACTION OF HIS STATEMENT ON ISLAM REVEALS HIS TRUE NATURE AS A DECEIVER</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Almost all of those who are reading this book probably heard about Benedict XVI’s controversial remarks about Muhammad in a speech in Bavaria on Sept. 12, 2006. In this now-famous speech, Benedict XVI quoted a medieval emperor who denounced Muhammad’s policy (and therefore Islam) as evil and inhuman.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>Speech in Bavaria</i>, Sept. 12, 2006: “In the seventh conversation... the emperor touches on the theme of the holy war… saying: ‘<u><b>Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached</b></u>.’ <b>The emperor, after having expressed himself so forcefully, goes on to explain in detail the reasons why spreading the faith through violence is something unreasonable</b>. <b>Violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul</b>. ‘God,’ he says, ‘is not pleased by blood - and not acting reasonably is contrary to God's nature.’”[144]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">In context, we can clearly see that Benedict XVI doesn’t merely quote the statement from the emperor against Muhammad’s policy, but he endorses the statement of the emperor.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">So, why would Benedict XVI make a statement against Islam? Is it because he believes that Islam is evil? Of course not. Benedict XVI has said that Islam represents “greatness” (<i>Truth and Tolerance</i>, p. 204). Benedict XVI fully endorses Vatican II’s teaching in favor of Islam, as we saw already. Benedict XVI thinks that John Paul II – who loved the false religion of Islam and committed countless acts of apostasy praising it – was a great pope worthy of canonization. The reason that Benedict XVI made this one statement is simply because his mission is, as we’ve pointed out, <i>to occasionally make some conservative statements and do some conservative things in order to deceive traditionalist-minded folks</i> back into the clutches of the false Church – all the while preaching the Vatican II apostasy. And this one conservative statement had its intended effect, <i>until God allowed it to backfire on him</i>.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Immediately after Benedict XVI’s Sept. 12 speech got around, we were contacted by individuals who had, in the past, struggled with issues pertaining to whether or not the antipopes are true popes. One of the individuals wrote to us and made reference to Benedict XVI’s speech on Islam; his faith against the Counter Church was clearly weakening. It’s truly pathetic and actually <i>disgusting</i> that one conservative statement or action here or there from the antipope – even though the antipope denies Christ, worships at the synagogue, says we shouldn’t convert Protestants, etc., etc., etc. – is all this person’s weak faith needed to see to be obliterated.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">But that’s the way it is with many. They don’t have a true faith in Christ, they don’t hate evil, or their faith is as fragile as a reed. Many of them can be swept away by a single conservative statement here or there, <i>even from a well-documented public heretic and apostate who doesn’t even believe that Jesus is the Messiah</i>, as we’ve proven. That’s why Benedict XVI, who is thoroughly under the power of the Devil, does this type of thing.</p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: 0.55cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>THE TRUTH COMES OUT: BENEDICT XVI APOLOGIZES FOR HIS SPEECH ON ISLAM AND SAYS THAT THE STATEMENT AGAINST MUHAMMAD’S TEACHING DOESN’T “IN ANY WAY EXPRESS” HIS PERSONAL THOUGHT!</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Benedict XVI, <i>Apology for his Sept. 12, 2006 speech</i>: “At this time, I wish also to add that I am deeply sorry for the reactions in some countries to a few passages of my address at the University of Regensburg, which were considered offensive to the sensibility of Muslims. <u><b>These in fact were a quotation from a medieval text, which do not in any way express my personal thought</b></u>.”[145]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">This is very, very interesting on a number of levels.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><u>First</u>, this is ABSOLUTE PROOF THAT BENEDICT XVI IS A LIAR AND A DECEIVER. It proves that he is a liar because <u>we already saw that Benedict XVI clearly endorsed the quote from the emperor</u> in the speech on Sept. 12. That is undeniable. <b>But now he is saying that the statement from the emperor </b><u><b>doesn’t in any way express his personal thought</b></u>, which totally contradicts the Sept. 12 speech. Thus, no matter which way you look at it, <b>Benedict XVI is caught in a huge lie</b>.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Second, in addition to PROVING that Benedict XVI is a public liar and a deceiver, his statement that the quote from the emperor doesn’t in any way express his personal thought proves that he is an apostate. For in the face of the reaction to his speech, he had every chance to stand by his ostensible position that Islam is evil. He was presented with a great opportunity during the swirling controversy to persuade people that the position of his speech was proven true by the Muslims’ evil reaction and desire to kill; but no… he repudiated the statement against Islam instead. He followed it up by being initiated into Islam by prayer toward Mecca in a mosque with a mufti on Nov. 30, 2006.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Thus, what was originally surely intended as a neat plan by the Devil, through his Antipope Benedict XVI, to make a conservative statement which would deceive certain “traditionalists” was foiled when God allowed the plan to backfire after the Muslim reaction became so volatile that Benedict XVI had to apologize and reveal his true feelings – <u><b>thus obliterating his credibility with anyone who has eyes to see what a liar he therefore has proven himself to be</b></u>.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">So don’t be fooled if the manifest heretic and raging liar, Antipope Benedict XVI, says or does something else that is conservative with the intention of deceiving traditionalists. <b>Don’t be fooled if Benedict XVI grants a universal indult to say the Latin Mass at a time when most of the priests are invalid and would have to accept the Vatican II apostasy to take advantage of it. The Devil will concede all of this as long as one accepts Benedict XVI’s new religion, or accepts Benedict XVI and his apostate Bishops as Catholics while they teach that Jesus Christ and the Catholic Faith are meaningless. Don’t be fooled if he reaches out in other ways to traditionally-minded groups to keep them under, or bring them back to, the Vatican II sect.</b></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">It won’t change the fact that he is a manifest heretic who presides over a non-Catholic sect.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">This is all part of the deception of the last days which is predicted in Catholic prophecy.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Our Lady of La Salette, France, Sept. 19, 1846: “<b>Rome will lose the Faith and become the seat of the Anti-Christ… the Church will be in eclipse.”</b></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">This prophecy of La Salette coincides with the prophecies in Sacred Scripture (Apocalypse 17 and 18) that the city of seven hills (Rome) will become a harlot (a counterfeit Church), as we will cover later. The great harlot prophesied in the Bible is not the Catholic Church; it is the counterfeit Catholic Church (the Vatican II sect), the apostate, phony bride which arises in the last days to deceive Catholics and eclipse the true Church which has been reduced to a remnant.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">We have shown that Our Lady’s message at La Salette has been fulfilled before our very eyes: Benedict XVI and the Vatican II sect teach that Jews are perfectly free not to believe in Jesus Christ. This is published in Benedict XVI’s and the Vatican’s own books; it proves that Rome has become the seat of antichrist. A series of antipopes reigning from Rome has made Rome the seat of the Antichrist.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Our Lord also indicates that in the last days there will be “the abomination of desolation” “<u>in the holy place</u>” (Mt. 24:15). He tells us that there will be a deception so profound that, if it were possible, even the elect would be deceived (Mt. 24:24). He even asks if there would be any Faith left on the earth:</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm;">Luke 18:8 “But yet the Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, faith on earth?”</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><b>This deception will happen in the very heart of the Church’s physical structures –</b> <b>in “the Temple of God” (2 Thess. 2:4) and “the holy place” (Mt. 24:15)</b> – and will arise because people receive not the love of the truth. God allows this as the supreme punishment for the world’s sins. We are currently living through this apostasy and deception. People need to completely reject Antipope Benedict XVI, the other Vatican II antipopes, and the new Vatican II religion.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Benedict XVI is one of the most wicked men in human history, for he alleges to wield the authority of the Church of Christ while teaching that one is free to deny Jesus Christ. He alleges to be the pope while he teaches that people are free to reject the Papacy. He alleges to be the leader of the Christian Faith, while teaching that Our Lord Jesus Christ doesn’t even have to be seen as the Messiah.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><b>Endnotes for Section 20:</b></p><div dir="LTR" id="Område4" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[1] Reuters, Fri, Dec. 1, 2006.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område5" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[2] Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, Sheed & Ward and Georgetown University Press, 1990, Vol. 1, pp. 550-553; Denzinger, The Sources of Catholic Dogma, B. Herder Book. Co., Thirtieth Edition, 1957, no. 39-40.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område7" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[3] Denzinger 712.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område8" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[4] http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/pcb_documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20020212_popolo-ebraico_en.html</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område12" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[5] http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/pcb_documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20020212_popolo-ebraico_en.html</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område13" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[6] Benedict XVI, God and the World, San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press, 2000, p. 209.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område14" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[7] Benedict XVI, Milestones, Ignatius Press, 1998, pp. 53-54.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område15" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[8] Zenit News Report, news story for Sept. 5, 2000.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område16" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[9] Benedict XVI, God and the World, p. 209.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område17" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[10] The Sunday Sermons of the Great Fathers, Regnery, Co: Chicago, IL, 1963, Vol. III, p. 223.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område18" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[11] Synagogue photos: European Jewish Press.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område19" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[12] Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, Vol. 1, p. 578; Denzinger 714.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område20" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[13] America, October 3, 2005.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område21" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[14] L’Osservatore Romano (the Vatican’s Newspaper), Jan. 25, 2006, p. 2.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område22" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[15] L’Osservatore Romano, Jan. 24, 2007, p. 11.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område23" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[16] Benedict XVI, Principles of Catholic Theology, Ignatius Press, 1982, pp. 197-198.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område24" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[17] Benedict XVI, Principles of Catholic Theology, p. 198.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område25" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[18] Denzinger 1826-1827.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område26" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[19] Denzinger 469.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område27" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[20] The Papal Encyclicals, by Claudia Carlen, Raleigh: The Pierian Press, 1990, Vol. 3 (1903-1939), p. 315.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område28" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[21] Benedict XVI, Principles of Catholic Theology, pp. 216-217.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område29" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[22] Denzinger 1831.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område30" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[23] Benedict XVI, Principles of Catholic Theology, pp. 198-199.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område31" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[24] Denzinger 1824.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område32" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[25] Adista, Feb. 26, 2001.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område33" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[26] L’Osservatore Romano, August 24, 2005, p. 8.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område34" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[27] Adista, Feb. 26, 2001.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område35" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[28] L’Osservatore Romano, August 24, 2005, p. 8.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område36" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[29] The Papal Encyclicals, Vol. 3 (1903-1939), p. 317.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område37" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[30] L’Osservatore Romano, Dec. 7, 2005, p. 4.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område38" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[31] Fr. John Laux, Church History, Rockford, IL: Tan Books, 1989, pp. 295-296.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område39" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[32] L’Osservatore Romano, Sept. 20, 2006, p. 10.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område40" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[33] L’Osservatore Romano, Sept. 20, 2006, p. 10.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område41" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[34] The Papal Encyclicals, Vol. 3 (1903-1939), p. 317.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område42" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[35] BBC News, Nov. 29, 2006.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område43" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[36] Zenit News Report, Nov. 30, 2006.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område44" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[37] The Papal Encyclicals, Vol. 2 (1878-1903), pp. 400-401.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område45" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[38] L’Osservatore Romano, Nov. 23, 2005, p. 9.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område46" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[39] L’Osservatore Romano, Dec. 6, 2006, p. 6.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område47" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[40] L’Osservatore Romano, Nov. 15, 2006, p. 5.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område48" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[41] Benedict XVI, Principles of Catholic Theology, p. 202.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område49" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[42] L’Osservatore Romano, May 31, 2006, p. 3.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område50" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[43] L’Osservatore Romano, Nov. 29, 2006, p. 6.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område51" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[44] Quoted in Catholic Family News, “Father Ratzinger’s Denial of Extra Ecclesia [sic] Nulla Salus,” July 2005, Editor’s Postscript, p. 11.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område52" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[45] https://web.archive.org/web/20120813111848/http://www.nationalcatholicreporter.org/word/word081205.htm#protestant</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område53" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[46] Benedict XVI, Principles of Catholic Theology, p. 263.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område54" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[47] L’Osservatore Romano, Dec. 21/28, p. 5.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område55" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[48] The Taizé Community</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område56" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[49] Benedict XVI, Principles of Catholic Theology, p. 304.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område57" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[50] Catholic News Service, 2005</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område58" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[51] L’Osservatore Romano, August 24, 2005, p. 19; Zenit News Report, Aug. 17, 2005.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område59" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[52] L’Osservatore Romano, August 24, 2005, p. 9.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område60" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[53] Benedict XVI, General Audience, Aug. 16, 2006; L’Osservatore Romano, August 23, 2006, p. 11.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område61" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[54] Quoted by Pope Gregory XVI in Summo Iugiter Studio #5, May 27, 1832: The Papal Encyclicals, Vol. 1 (1740-1878), p. 230.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område62" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[55] Benedict XVI, Pilgrim Fellowship of Faith, Ignatius Press, 2002, p. 248.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område63" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[56] Benedict XVI, Pilgrim Fellowship of Faith, p. 251.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område64" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[57] The Papal Encyclicals, Vol. 1 (1740-1878), p. 229.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område65" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[58] Benedict XVI, The Meaning of Christian Brotherhood, Ignatius Press, pp. 87-88.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område66" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[59] The Papal Encyclicals, Vol. 3 (1903-1939), p. 242.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område67" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[60] L’Osservatore Romano, August 30, 2006, pp. 6-7.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område68" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[61] L’Osservatore Romano, Nov. 29, 2006, p. 2.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område69" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[62] Benedict XVI, Pilgrim Fellowship of Faith, p. 232.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område70" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[63] Benedict XVI, Principles of Catholic Theology, p. 377.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område71" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[64] Denzinger 695.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område72" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[65] Benedict XVI, Principles of Catholic Theology, p. 43.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område73" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[66] Benedict XVI, Principles of Catholic Theology, p. 401.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område74" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[67] Denzinger 1792.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område75" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[68] Benedict XVI, A New Song for the Lord, New York, NY: Crossroad Publishing, 1995, p. 86.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område76" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[69] The Papal Encyclicals, Vol. 2 (1878-1903), p. 335.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område77" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[70] Benedict XVI, God and the World, pp. 165-166, 168.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område78" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[71] Benedict XVI, God and the World, p. 153.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område79" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[72] Benedict XVI, God and the World, p. 76.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område80" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[73] Benedict XVI, God and the World, p. 139.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område81" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[74] Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, Vol. 1, p. 479.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område82" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[75] Warren H. Carroll, A History of Christendom, Front Royal, VA: Christendom Press, 1993, Vol. 3 (The Glory of Christendom), p. 571.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område83" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[76] L’Osservatore Romano, Sept. 27, 2006, p. 11.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område84" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[77] L’Osservatore Romano, Jan. 3, 2007, p. 7.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område85" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[78] Benedict XVI, Salt of the Earth, Ignatius Press, 1996, p. 244</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område86" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[79] Benedict XVI, Truth and Tolerance (Christian Belief and World Religions), Ignatius Press, 2004, p. 204</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område87" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[80] L’Osservatore Romano, August 24, 2005, p. 9.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område88" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[81] L’Osservatore Romano, August 31, 2005, p. 11.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område89" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[82] L’Osservatore Romano, Sept. 27, 2006, p. 2.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område90" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[83] L’Osservatore Romano, Oct. 25, 2006, p. 1.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område91" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[84] L’Osservatore Romano, Dec. 13, 2006, p. 11.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område92" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[85] L’Osservatore Romano, Dec. 6, 2006, p. 2.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område93" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[86] Benedict XVI, Pilgrim Fellowship of Faith, p. 273.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område94" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[87] http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2006/september/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20060912_university-regensburg_en.html#_ftn3</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område95" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[88] Reuters, Fri, Dec. 1, 2006.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område96" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[89] L’Osservatore Romano, Dec. 13, 2006, p. 11.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område97" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[90] Zenit News Report, Feb. 21, 2002.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område98" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[91] L’Osservatore Romano, Sept. 13, 2006, p. 3.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område99" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[92] Benedict XVI, God and the World, 2000, p. 373</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område100" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[93] The Life and Letters of St. Francis Xavier by Henry James Coleridge, S.J. (Originally published: London: Burns and Oates, 1874) Second Reprint, New Delhi: Asian Educational Services, 2004, Vol. 1, p. 154.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område101" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[94] The Papal Encyclicals, Vol. 4 (1939-1958), p. 113.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område102" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[95] Benedict XVI, Salt of the Earth, p. 23.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område103" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[96] The Papal Encyclicals, Vol. 2 (1878-1903), p. 307.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område104" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[97] L’Osservatore Romano, Sept. 13, 2006, p. 7.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område105" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[98] The Papal Encyclicals, Vol. 2 (1878-1903), p. 304.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område106" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[99] L’Osservatore Romano, Dec. 6, 2006, p. 4.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område107" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[100] L’Osservatore Romano, Sept. 20, 2006, p. 11.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område108" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[101] The Papal Encyclicals, Vol. 3 (1903-1939), p. 76.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område109" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[102] Benedict XVI, Salt of the Earth, p. 24.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område110" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[103] Benedict XVI, Truth and Tolerance, 2004, p. 207.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område111" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[104] Denzinger 714.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område112" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[105] Benedict XVI, Co-Workers of the Truth, Ignatius Press, 1990, p. 217.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område113" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[106] The Papal Encyclicals, Vol. 1 (1740-1878), p. 201.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område114" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[107] Benedict XVI, Salt of the Earth, p. 29.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område115" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[108] Benedict XVI, Feast of Faith, Ignatius Press, 1981, p. 130.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område116" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[109] Benedict XVI, Principles of Catholic Theology, pp. 247-248.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område117" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[110] Benedict XVI, Principles of Catholic Theology, p. 100.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område118" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[111] Denzinger 1792.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område119" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[112] Benedict XVI, Principles of Catholic Theology, p. 378.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område120" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[113] Benedict XVI, In the Beginning (A Catholic Understanding of the Story of Creation and the Fall), Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1986, p. 72.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område121" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[114] See Session V of the Council of Trent (June 17, 1546), Denzinger 787.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område122" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[115] Benedict XVI, Introduction to Christianity, Ignatius Press, 2004, p. 326.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område123" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[116] Benedict XVI, Principles of Catholic Theology, p. 381.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område124" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[117] Benedict XVI, Principles of Catholic Theology, p. 385.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område125" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[118] Benedict XVI, Principles of Catholic Theology, p. 391.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område126" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[119] Benedict XVI, God and the World, p. 436.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område127" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[120] Benedict XVI, Principles of Catholic Theology, p. 229.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område128" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[121] Denzinger 705.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område129" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[122] Benedict XVI, Co-Workers of the Truth, p. 29.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område130" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[123] Denzinger 86.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område131" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[124] The Papal Encyclicals, Vol. 2 (1878-1903), p. 389.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område132" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[125] The Papal Encyclicals, Vol. 2 (1878-1903), p. 390.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område133" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[126] Benedict XVI, Principles of Catholic Theology, p. 121.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område134" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[127] Benedict XVI, Principles of Catholic Theology, p. 148.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område135" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[128] The Papal Encyclicals, Vol. 3 (1903-1939), p. 315.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område136" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[129] L’Osservatore Romano, Oct. 25, 2006, p. 11.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område137" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[130] St. Alphonsus Liguori, Preparation for Death, Tan Books, Abridged Version, p. 127.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område138" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[131] The Papal Encyclicals, Vol. 3 (1903-1939), p. 72.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område139" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[132] Benedict XVI, Salt of the Earth, pp. 95-96.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område140" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[133] L’Osservatore Romano, May 24, 2006, p. 5.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område141" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[134] L’Osservatore Romano, June 7, 2006, p. 4.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område142" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[135] Denzinger 1690, 1699.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område143" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[136] Denzinger 464.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område144" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[137] Denzinger 429.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område145" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[138] Denzinger 531.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område146" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[139] Benedict XVI, Introduction to Christianity, p. 349.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område147" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[140] Benedict XVI, Introduction to Christianity, p. 353.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område148" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[141] Benedict XVI, Introduction to Christianity, pp. 357-358.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område149" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[142] Texe Marrs, Codex Magica, Austin, TX: Rivercrest Publishing, 2005, pp. 120, 134.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område150" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[143] The Papal Encyclicals, Vol. 3 (1903-1939), p. 294.</p></div><div dir="LTR" id="Område151" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[144] BBC News, Sep. 15, 2006.</p></div><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[145] BBC News, Sep. 17, 2006.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[146] EKD Bulletin.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><i>Contains material from MHFM (vaticancatholic.com)</i></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-831939533339323924.post-47758332008888970052021-10-19T02:10:00.002-04:002021-10-19T02:11:00.328-04:00St. Bridget Revelations Book 1<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEikZ68lyF1lV7-B3qFoJ-5fSFfmw_f94y91uNorzs6OA2L7QCTZSqdIlAzmgFuM6XyS87FOouk98ojs6J-c9y66POjMRXNyDc0Q_4IoOUjpx7Fs1UPltpBJw_ez-UoSrlUNoUxo6O-XEoBzFxjid84eiVdSHLKg__Q1tIcxJs7MZiFZ3siN0UfuxDJ_=s631" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="631" data-original-width="474" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEikZ68lyF1lV7-B3qFoJ-5fSFfmw_f94y91uNorzs6OA2L7QCTZSqdIlAzmgFuM6XyS87FOouk98ojs6J-c9y66POjMRXNyDc0Q_4IoOUjpx7Fs1UPltpBJw_ez-UoSrlUNoUxo6O-XEoBzFxjid84eiVdSHLKg__Q1tIcxJs7MZiFZ3siN0UfuxDJ_=w150-h200" width="150" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><u>The Prophecies and Revelations of Saint Bridget (Birgitta) of Sweden - Book 1</u></span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The words of our Lord Jesus Christ to His chosen and dearly beloved bride, Saint Bridget, about the proclamation of His most holy Incarnation and the rejection, desecration and abandonment of our faith and baptism, and how He bids His beloved bride and all Christian people to love Him.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 1</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“I am the Creator of the heavens and the earth, one in Divinity with the Father and the Holy Spirit. I am the one who spoke to the patriarchs and the prophets and the one whom they awaited. For the sake of their longing and in agreement with my promise, I assumed flesh without sin and concupiscence, by entering the womb of the Virgin like the sun shining through the clearest gem. For just as the sun does not damage the glass by entering it, likewise the virginity of the Virgin was not lost when I assumed Manhood. I assumed flesh in such a way that I did not have to forsake my Divinity, and I was no less God - with the Father and the Holy Spirit, governing and upholding all things - although I was in the womb of the Virgin in my human nature. Just as brightness is never separated from fire, so too, my Divinity was never separated from my Humanity, not even in death.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Thereafter I allowed my pure and sinless body to be wounded from the foot to the head, and to be crucified for all the sins of mankind. That same body is now offered each day on the altar so that mankind might love me more and remember my great deeds more often. But now I am totally forgotten, neglected, despised, and expelled as a king is from his own kingdom and in whose place the most wicked robber has been elected and honored.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">I have indeed wanted my kingdom to be within man, and by right I should be King and Lord over him, for I made him and redeemed him. However, now he has broken and desecrated the faith which he promised me in his baptism, and he has broken and spurned my laws and commandments which I prescribed and revealed to him. He loves his own will and refuses to hear me. In addition, he exalts the most wicked robber, the devil, above me and has given him his faith. The devil really is a robber, since he steals for himself, by way of evil temptations, bad councils, and false promises, the human soul that I redeemed with my blood. But he does not do this because he is mightier than me; for I am so mighty that I can do all things with a word, and so just, that even if all the saints asked me, I would not do the least thing against justice.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">But, since man, who has been given free will, willfully rejects my commandments and obeys the devil, it is only right that he also experiences his tyranny and malice. This devil was created good by me, but fell by his own wicked will, and has become, so to speak, my servant for inflicting vengeance on the workers of evil.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Yet, even though I am now so despised, I am still so merciful that whoever prays for my mercy and humbles himself in amendment shall be forgiven his sins, and I shall save him from the evil robber - the devil. But to those who continue despising me, I shall visit my justice upon them, so that those hearing it will tremble, and those who feel it will say: “Woe, that we were ever conceived or born! Woe, that we ever provoked the Lord of majesty to wrath!”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">But you, my daughter, whom I have chosen for myself, and with whom I now speak in spirit: love me with all your heart - not as you love your son or daughter or parents, but more than anything in the world - since I, who created you, did not spare any of my limbs in suffering for your sake! Yet, I love your soul so dearly that, rather than losing you, I would let myself be crucified again, if it were possible. Imitate my humility; for I, the King of glory and of angels, was clothed in ugly, wretched rags and stood naked at the pillar and heard all kinds of insults and ridicule with my own ears. Always prefer my will before your own, because my Mother, your Lady, has, from the beginning to the end, never wanted anything but what I wanted.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">If you do this, then your heart shall be with my heart, and it will be inflamed by my love in the same way that anything dry becomes rapidly inflamed by fire. Your soul shall be so inflamed and filled with me, and I will be in you, so that everything worldly becomes bitter to you and all fleshly lusts like poison. You will rest in the arms of my Divinity, where no fleshly desires exist, but only spiritual delight and joy which fill the delighted soul with happiness - inwardly and outwardly - so that it thinks of nothing and desires nothing but the joy which it possesses. So love me alone, and you will have all the things you want, and you will have them in abundance. Is it not written that the oil of the widow did not decrease until the day the rain was sent to earth by God according to the words of the prophet? I am the true prophet! If you believe my words and follow and fulfill them, the oil - joy and jubilation - shall never decrease for you for all eternity.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Our Lord Jesus Christ’s words to his daughter - whom He now had taken as His bride - about the articles of the true faith, and about what kind of adornments, tokens and desires the bride must have in order to please the Bridegroom.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 2</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“I am the Creator of the heavens and the earth, and the sea and of all the things that are in them. I am one with the Father and the Holy Spirit - not like the gods of stone nor the gods of gold, as were used by people of old, and not several gods, as people once thought - but one God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, three persons but one in divine nature, the Creator of all but created by none, unchangeable and almighty, everlasting - without beginning or end. I am the one who was born of the Virgin, without losing my Divinity but joining it to my Manhood, so that I, in one person, should be the true Son of God and the Son of the Virgin. I am the one who hung on the cross and died and was buried, yet my Divinity remained unharmed. For even though I died in the Manhood and flesh that I, the only Son, had assumed, yet I lived on in my Divinity, being one God with the Father and the Holy Spirit. I am the same one who rose from the dead and ascended into Heaven, and who now speaks with you in my Spirit. I have chosen you and taken you to myself as my bride in order to show you the ways of the world and my divine secrets, for this pleases me. You are also mine by right; for when your husband died, you entrusted all your will into my hands and, after his death, you also thought and prayed about how you should become poor and abandon all things for my sake. For this reason, you are mine by right because of this great love of yours, and I will provide for you because of this.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Therefore, I take you to myself as my bride and for my own pleasure, the kind that is becoming for God to have with a chaste soul. It is the obligation of the bride to be ready when the bridegroom wants to celebrate the wedding so that she will be properly dressed and pure. You purify yourself well if your thoughts are always on your sins, on how I cleansed you in baptism from the sin of Adam, and how often I have been patient and supported you when you fell into sin. The bride should also have the insignia of her bridegroom on her chest, which means that you should observe and take heed of the favors and good deeds which I have done for you: such as how nobly I created you by giving you a soul and body, how nobly I enriched you by giving you health and temporal things, how lovingly and sweetly I redeemed you when I died for you and restored your heavenly inheritance to you - if you want to have it. The bride should also do the will of the Bridegroom. But what is my will, except that you should want to love me above all things and not desire anything but me?</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">I created all things for the sake of mankind, and placed all things under his authority, but he loves all things except me, and hates nothing but me. I bought back the inheritance for him which he had lost because of his sin. But he is so foolish and without reason that he prefers this passing glory - which is like the foam of the sea that rises up for a moment like a mountain, and then quickly falls down to nothing - instead of eternal glory in which there is everlasting good.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">But if you, my bride, desire nothing but me, if you despise all things for my sake - not only your children and relatives, but also honor and riches - I will give you the most precious and lovely reward! I will not give you gold or silver, but myself, to be your Bridegroom and reward - I, who am the King of Glory. But if you are ashamed of being poor and despised, then consider how I, your God, walked before you, when my servants and friends abandoned me in the world; for I was not seeking earthly friends, but heavenly friends. And if you now are troubled and afraid about the burden and difficulty of work and sickness, then consider how difficult and painful it is to burn in hell! What would you not deserve if you had offended an earthly master as you have me? For even though I love you with all my heart, still I do not act against justice in the least point.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Therefore, as you have sinned in all your limbs, so shall you also make satisfaction and penance in every limb. But, because of your good will and your purpose of atoning for your sins, I shall change my justice into mercy by foregoing painful punishment for but a little penance. Therefore, embrace and take upon yourself a little work, so that you may be made clean of sin and reach the great reward sooner. For the bride should grow tired working alongside her bridegroom so that she may all the more confidently take her rest with him.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Our Lord Jesus Christ’s words of wisdom to His bride about how she should love and honor Him, the Bridegroom, and about how the evil love the world and hate God.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 3</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“I am your God and Lord, whom you worship and honor. I am the one who upholds heaven and earth with my power; they are not upheld by any pillars or anything else. I am the one who is handled and offered up each day on the altar under the appearance of bread as true God and true man. I am the same one who has chosen you. Honor my Father! Love me! Obey my Spirit! Honor my Mother as your Lady! Honor all my saints! Keep the true faith which you shall learn by him who experienced within himself the battle of the two spirits - the spirit of falsehood and the spirit of truth - and with my help won. Maintain true humility. What is true humility if not to behave as one really is, and to give praise to God for the good things he has given us?</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">But now, there are many who hate me and my deeds, and who account my words as sorrow and vanity, but instead, with affection and love, embrace the whoremonger: the devil. Whatever they do for my sake is done with grumbling and bitterness. They would not even confess my name or serve me, if they did not fear the opinion of other men. They love the world with such fervor that they never tire of working for it night and day, always burning with their love for it. Their service is as pleasing to me as that of someone who gives his enemy money to kill his own son! This is what they do to me. They give me some alms and honor me with their lips in order to gain worldly success and to remain in their honor and in their sin. The good spirit is therefore hindered in them and they are prevented from making any progress in doing good.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">However, if you want to love me with all your heart and to desire nothing but me, I will draw you to myself through love, just as a magnet draws iron to itself. I will place you on my arm, which is so strong that no one can stretch it out, and so firm that, once outstretched, no one is able to bend it back, and is so sweet that it surpasses every fragrance and is beyond comparison to any sweet thing or delight of this world.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">EXPLANATION</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">This man, who was the teacher of the bride of Christ, was the holy theologian and canon of Linkoping, named Master Mathias of Sweden. He wrote an excellent commentary on the whole Bible. He was ingenuously tempted by the devil with many heresies against the Catholic faith. However, he overcame all of them with the help of Christ and could not be conquered by the devil, as is shown in the written biography of Saint Bridget. It was this Master Mathias who composed the prologue to these books which begins thus: “Stupor et mirabilia,” etc. He was a holy man with great spiritual power in both word and deed. When he died in Sweden, the bride of Christ was living in Rome. While she was praying, she heard a voice saying to her in spirit: “Happy are you, Master Mathias, for the crown that has been prepared for you in heaven! Come now to the wisdom that will never end!”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">One may also read more about Master Mathias in this Book (in chapter 52), in Book V (in the answer to question 3 in the last interrogation), and in Book VI (chapters 75 and 89).</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Our Lord Jesus Christ’s words to His bride about how she should not fear or think that the revelations told to her by Him come from an evil spirit, and about how to discern an evil spirit from a good one.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 4</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“I am your Creator and Redeemer. Why did you fear and doubt my words? Why did you wonder whether they came from a good or an evil spirit? Tell me, what have you found in my words that your conscience did not tell you to do? Or have I ever commanded you anything against reason?</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The bride answered: “No, all you told me was completely true and reasonable and I was badly mistaken.” The Bridegroom, Jesus, answered her: “I showed you three things from which you could recognize the good spirit: I invited you to honor your God, who made you and gave you all the good things you have; your reason also tells you to honor him above all things. I further invited you to keep the true faith, that is, to believe that nothing has been created without God nor may be made without God. I also invited you to love reasonable work and continence in all things, for the world was created for man’s sake, in order that he may use it according to his reasonable needs, and not in excess.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">In the same way, you may also recognize the unclean spirit, the devil, from three opposing things: He tempts and advises you to seek and desire your own praise, and to be proud of the things given you. He also tempts you into unbelief and intemperance in all your limbs and in all things, and makes your heart inflamed by them. Sometimes he also deceives men under the guise of a good spirit. This is why I commanded you to always examine your conscience and reveal it to spiritual men of wisdom!</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Therefore, do not doubt that the good spirit of God is with you when you desire nothing but God and are completely inflamed by him! Only I can do this, and it is impossible for the devil to come near you then. He also cannot come near to any evil man unless I allow it, either because of his sins, or some secret judgment that is known only to me. For he is my creature like all other things - he was created good by me, but made himself evil by his own malice – therefore, I am Lord over him.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Therefore, those who accuse me do so falsely when they say that those who serve me with great and godly devotion are insane and possessed by the devil. They consider me to be like a man who gives his chaste and trusting wife over to adultery. Such a one should I be, if I allowed a righteous and God-loving man to be handed over to the devil! But because I am faithful, the devil will never rule over the soul of any man who devoutly serves me. Although my friends sometimes seem to be insane or senseless, it is not because the devil is tormenting them, or because they serve me with fervent and godly devotion. It is rather because of some defect or weakness in the brain, or some other hidden reason, which serves to humble them. It may also happen, sometimes, that the devil receives power from me over the bodies of good men for the sake of their future reward, or that he darkens their consciences. But he can never rule the souls of those who have faith in me and who love me.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The loving words of Christ to His bride in the wonderful parable of a lovely castle, which signifies the holy Church militant, and about how the Church of God will be rebuilt by the prayers of the glorious Virgin and of the saints.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 5</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“I am the Creator of all things - I, the King of Glory and the Lord of Angels! I built for myself a lovely castle and placed my chosen men in it, but my enemies undermined the foundation and overpowered my friends so much so that the marrow is violently forced out of my friends’ feet as they sit chained to the wooden stocks. Their mouth is beaten by stones, and they are tortured by hunger and thirst. Moreover, enemies are persecuting their Lord! My friends are now praying with tears and groans for help, and justice is calling for vengeance, but mercy says to forgive.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Then God said to his heavenly host that stood around him: “What do you think about these who have conquered my castle?” They all answered as with one voice: “O Lord, all justice is in you, and in you we see all things. You are without beginning and without end, the Son of God, and all judgment is given to you. You are their judge.” He answered: “Although you know and see all things in me, still for the sake of my bride who stands here, tell me the just sentence.” They said: “This is justice: that those who undermined the wall should be punished as thieves, that those who persist in evil should be punished as intruders and violent criminals, and that those who are captive should be freed and the hungry be filled.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Then Mary, the Mother of God (who until now had remained silent) spoke: “Oh, my Lord and most dear Son, You were in my womb as true God and man. By your grace you sanctified me, who was but an earthen vessel. I beg you, have mercy on them once more!” Then the Lord answered His Mother: “Blessed be the words of your mouth that ascend like a sweet fragrance to God. You are the Queen and glory of angels and all saints because, by you, God and all the saints are made happy! Because your will was as my own from the beginning of your youth, I will do as you wish once more.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Then He said to the host of saints: “Because you have fought manfully, and for the sake of your love, I will let myself be appeased for now. Behold, I will rebuild my wall because of your prayers. I will liberate and heal those who were oppressed by force, and honor them a hundredfold for the indignity they have endured. But if the violators and wrong-doers pray for my mercy, I will give them peace and mercy. However, those who despise my mercy will feel my justice.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Then he said to his bride: “My bride, I have chosen you and brought you into my Spirit. You hear my words and those of my saints. Although the saints see all things in me, nevertheless, they have spoken for your sake so that you might understand, since you, who are still in the flesh, cannot see all things in me in the same way as they who are spirits. I will now also show you what all these things signify.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The castle I spoke about previously is the Holy Church and the souls of Christians, which I built with my own blood and that of the saints. I cemented and joined it with my love and placed my friends and chosen men in it. The foundation is true faith, that is, to believe that I am a righteous and merciful judge.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Now, however, this foundation is undermined because all believe and preach that I am merciful, but almost no one preaches or believes me to be a righteous judge. They view me as an unjust judge! Unjust and unrighteous, indeed, would the judge be who, out of mercy, allowed the unrighteous to go unpunished, so that they could oppress the righteous even more! But I am a righteous and merciful judge; for I do not let even the least sin go unpunished, nor the least good go unrewarded. By the undermining of this wall’s foundation, there entered into the Holy Church people who sin without fear, who deny that I am a righteous judge, and who torment my friends as severely as those who are placed in the stocks. My friends have no joy or consolation given to them but, instead, every kind of mockery and torment are inflicted upon them as if they were possessed by the devil. When they tell the truth about me, they are rejected and accused of lying. They have a fervent desire to hear or speak the truth about me, but there is no one who listens to them or speaks the truth to them. And I, the Lord and Creator of all things, am being blasphemed and rejected, for they say: ‘We do not know if he is God and, if he is God, we do not care!’ They overthrow my banner and trample it under their feet calling out: ‘Why did he suffer? What benefit is it to us? If he wants to satisfy our lust and will, it is enough for us. He may keep his kingdom and heaven!’ I want to go into them, but they say: ‘We would rather die before giving up our own will!’</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Behold, my bride, what kind of people they are! I made them, and could destroy and damn them with a word if I wanted to. How bold and arrogant they are toward me! But because of the prayers of my Mother and of all the saints, I am still so merciful and patient that I will send them the words of my mouth and offer them my mercy. If they want to accept it, I will be appeased. Otherwise, they will come to know my justice and be publicly humiliated like thieves in front of all angels and men, and be judged by every one of them. For just as the men who are hanged on gallows are devoured by ravens, they will also be devoured by demons, yet not die. Just as those who are punished in the stocks have no rest, they too, will have pain and bitterness all around them. The most burning river will flow into their mouths, but their bellies will not be filled, and their punishment will be renewed each day.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">But my friends will be redeemed and consoled by the words that come from my mouth. They will see my justice joined with my mercy. I will clothe them in the weapons of my love and make them so strong that the adversaries of the faith will fall back like filth and feel ashamed for all eternity when they see my justice. Yes, they will surely be ashamed for having abused my patience.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The words of Christ to His bride about how His Spirit cannot remain with the unrighteous, and about the separation of the unrighteous from the good, and how good men, armed with spiritual weapons, are sent to war against the world.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 6</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“My enemies are like the most violent beasts that can never be filled or have rest. Their heart is so empty of my love that they never allow the thought of my suffering into it; and not once has a word like this been uttered by their inmost heart: “O Lord, you have redeemed us, may you be praised for your bitter suffering!” How could my Spirit remain with the people who have no divine love for me, and who willingly betray others in order to satisfy their own will? Their heart is full of vile worms, that is, full of worldly desires. The devil has left his filth in their mouths, and that is why my words do not please them.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Therefore, I will sever them from my friends with my saw, and just as there is no more bitter way to die than to be sawn asunder, so there will not be a punishment in which they will not partake. They will be sawn in two by the devil and separated from me! They are so abhorrent to me that all who cling to them and agree with them will also be severed from me.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Therefore, I send out my friends in order that they might separate the devils from my members, for they are truly my enemies. I send my friends like knights to war. Anyone who mortifies and subdues his flesh and abstains from forbidden things is my true knight. For their lance, they will have the words that I spoke with my own mouth and, in their hands, the sword of the true faith. Their breasts will be covered with the armor of love, so that no matter what happens to them, they will love me no less. They shall have the shield of patience at their side, so that they may suffer and endure all things patiently. I have enclosed them like gold in a vessel; they should now go forth and walk in my ways.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">According to the ways of justice, I could not enter into the glory of majesty without suffering tribulation in my human nature, so then, how else will they enter into it? If their Lord endured pain and suffering, it is not surprising that they also suffer. If their Lord endured beatings and torture, it is not too much for them to endure words and contradictions. They should not fear, for I will never abandon them. Just as it is impossible for the devil to touch and divide the heart of God, so it is impossible for the devil to separate them from me. And since they are like the purest gold in my sight, I will never abandon them, even though they are tested with a little fire, for the fire is given to them for their greater reward and happiness.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The words of the glorious Virgin to Saint Bridget about how to dress and with what kind of clothes and ornaments her daughter should be adorned and clothed.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 7</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“I am Mary who gave birth to the Son of God, true God and true man. I am the Queen of Angels. My son loves you with all of his heart. Therefore, you should love him. You should be adorned with the most proper clothes, and I will show you how and what kind they should be. Just as before you had an undershirt, a shirt, shoes, a cloak, and a brooch on your chest, so now you shall have spiritual clothes.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The undershirt you shall have is contrition for your sins; for just as an undershirt is closest to the body, so contrition and confession are the first way of conversion to God. Through these the mind, which once enjoyed sin, is purified, and the unchaste flesh restrained from evil lusts. The two shoes are two intentions: namely, the will to make amendment for your past sins, and the will to do good and refrain from evil. Your shirt is hope in God; and just as a shirt has two sleeves, so may justice and mercy be paired with your hope, so that you will hope for the mercy of God, yet not forget his justice. Think about his justice and harsh judgment in such a way that you do not forget his mercy, for he does not work justice without mercy, or mercy without justice. The cloak is faith, for just as the cloak covers everything and everything is enclosed in it, man can likewise comprehend and attain all things by faith. This cloak should be decorated with the tokens of your Bridegroom’s love - namely, how he created you, how he redeemed you, how he raised you and led you into his spirit and opened your spiritual eyes. The brooch, which should always be on your chest, is the frequent consideration of his suffering: how he was mocked and scourged, how he stood alive on the cross, bloody and wounded in all his limbs, how in death his whole body shook from the most bitter pain and anguish, and how he commended his spirit into the hands of his Father. May this brooch always be on your chest! There should also be a crown on your head, which means that you should be chaste in your desires, so much so, that you would rather endure a beating and pain than to be further stained.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Therefore, be modest and polite and do not think about or desire anything but your God and Creator - for when you have him, you have everything! Adorned in this way, you shall await your Bridegroom.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The words of the Queen of Heaven to her beloved daughter, Saint Bridget, teaching her how she should love and praise the Son of God together with his blessed Mother.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 8</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“I am the Queen of Heaven. You are concerned about how you should praise and honor me. Know and be certain that all praise of my Son also is praise of me, and those who dishonor him also dishonor me. This is so because I loved him and he loved me so ardently that both of us were like one heart. He so magnificently honored me, who was an earthen vessel, that he raised me above all the angels. Therefore, you should praise me like this: “Blessed be you, God, Creator of all things, who deigned to descend into the womb of the Virgin Mary! Blessed be you, God, who wished to be within the Virgin Mary without burdening her, and deigned to take immaculate flesh from her without sin! Blessed be you, God, who came to the Virgin, bringing joy to her soul and her whole body, and who went out of her without sin, to the joy of her whole body! Blessed be you, God, who after your heavenly ascension gladdened the Virgin Mary, your Mother, with continuous comforts and visited her with your consolation! Blessed be you, God, who assumed the body and soul of the Virgin Mary, your Mother, into heaven and honorably placed her above all the angels next to your Divinity! Have mercy on me for the sake of all her prayers!”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The words of the Queen of Heaven to her beloved daughter about the wonderful love the Son had for His Virgin Mother, and about how the Mother of Christ was conceived within the most chaste marriage and sanctified in the womb. She tells how she was assumed, body and soul, into Heaven, and about the power of her name, and about the good and evil angels assigned to men for their protection or trial.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 9</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“I am the Queen of Heaven. Love my Son, for he is most worthy; when you have him, you have all that is worthwhile. He is also most desirable; when you have him, you have all that is desirable. Love him, too, for he is most virtuous; when you have him, you have every virtue. I want to tell you how wonderful his love for my body and soul was and how much he honored my name. My Son loved me before I loved him, since he is my Creator.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">He united my father and mother in a marriage so chaste that there could not be found a more chaste marriage at that time. They never wanted to come together except in accordance with the Law, and only then with the intention to bring forth offspring.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">When an angel revealed to them that they would give birth to the Virgin from whom the salvation of the world would come, they would rather have died than to come together in carnal love; lust was dead in them. I assure you that when they did come together, it was because of divine love and because of the angel’s message, not out of carnal desire, but against their will and out of a holy love for God. In this way, my flesh was put together by their seed and through divine love. Then, when my body had been made and formed, God infused the created soul into it from his divinity, and the soul was immediately sanctified along with the body, and the angels guarded and served it day and night. When my soul was sanctified and joined to its body, my mother felt such great joy that it would have been impossible to describe it!</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Afterwards, when my lifetime had been accomplished, my Son first raised up my soul - for it was the mistress of the body - to a more excellent place than others in heaven, right next to his Divinity. Later, he also raised up my body in such a manner that no other creature’s body is so close to God as mine. See how much my Son loved my soul and body! Yet, there are some people with a malevolent spirit who deny that I was assumed into Heaven, body and soul, and also others who simply do not know any better. But this is a most certain truth: I, with body and soul, was assumed to the Divinity!</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Hear now how much my Son honored my name! My name is Mary, as it is said in the Gospel. When the angels hear this name, they rejoice in their mind and thank God for the great mercy that he worked through me and with me and because they see my Son’s Humanity glorified in his Divinity. Those within the fire of purgatory rejoice exceedingly, just like a sick and bedridden man does if he receives a word of comfort that pleases his soul: he is suddenly overjoyed! When the good angels hear my name, they immediately move closer to the righteous for whom they are guardians, and rejoice over their progress in good deeds and virtues.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">All humans have been given both good angels for their protection, and bad angels to test them. The good angels are not separated from God; they serve the soul without leaving God. They are constantly in his sight. Yet they work to inflame and incite the soul to do good. All the demons, however, shudder with fear at the name of Mary! When they hear the name, “Mary”, they immediately release a soul out of the claws with which they had held her. Just as a bird or hawk, with its claws and beak embedded into its prey, releases it immediately if it hears a sound, but soon returns when it sees that no action follows, so do the demons - frightened when they hear my name – release the soul. But they return and fly back as fast as an arrow if no improvement follows.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">No one is so cold in his love of God (unless he is damned) that he will not experience the devil releasing him from his habitual sins if only he invokes my name with the true intention of never returning to his evil deeds. The devil will never return to him unless he resumes the will to commit mortal sins. Sometimes, though, the devil is allowed to trouble him for the sake of his greater reward. However, the devil shall never own him.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The words of Virgin Mary to her daughter, presenting a useful lesson about how she should live, and describing many wonderful things about the suffering of Christ.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 10</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“I am the Queen of Heaven, the Mother of God. I told you to wear a brooch on your chest. I will now show you more fully how, from the beginning, when I first heard and understood that God existed, I always, and with fear, was concerned about my salvation and my observance of his commandments. But when I learned more about God - that he was my Creator and the judge of all my actions - I loved him more dearly, and I was constantly fearful and watchful so as to not offend him by word or deed.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Later, when I heard that he had given the Law and the commandments to the people and worked such great miracles through them, I made a firm decision in my soul to never love anything but him, and all worldly things became most bitter to me. When still later I heard that God himself would redeem the world and be born of a Virgin, I was seized by such great love for him that I thought of nothing but God and desired nothing but him. I withdrew myself, as much as I was able, from the conversation and presence of parents and friends, and I gave away all my possessions to the poor, and kept nothing for myself but meager food and clothing.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Nothing was pleasing to me but God! I always wished in my heart to live until the time of his birth, and perhaps, deserve to become the unworthy handmaid of the Mother of God. I also promised in my heart to keep my virginity, if this was acceptable to him, and to have no possessions in the world. However, if God wanted otherwise, my will was that his will, not mine, be done; for I believed that he could do all things and wanted nothing but what was beneficial and best for me. Therefore, I entrusted all my will to him.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">When the time approached for the virgins to be presented in the temple of the Lord, I was also among them due to the devout compliance of my parents to the Law. I thought to myself that nothing was impossible for God, and since he knew that I wanted and desired nothing but him, I knew that he could protect my virginity, if it pleased him. However, if not, I wanted his will to be done. After I had heard all the commandments in the temple, I returned home, burning even more now than ever before with the love of God, being inflamed daily with new fires and desires of love.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">For this reason, I withdrew myself even more from everyone, and was alone day and night, fearing greatly, and most of all, that my mouth should say anything, or my ears hear anything against the will of my God, or that my eyes see anything alluring or harmful. I was also afraid in the silence, and very worried that I might be silent about things of which I should, instead, have spoken.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">While I was worried in my heart like this, alone by myself and placing all my hope in God, an inspiration about God’s great power came over me, and I recalled how the angels and everything created serve him, and how his glory is indescribable and unlimited. While I was thus fascinated by this thought, I saw three wonderful things: I saw a star, but not the kind that shines in the sky; I saw a light, but not the kind that shines in this world; I smelled a fragrance, but not of herbs or anything else of this world. It was most delightful and truly indescribable, and it filled me up so completely that I jubilated with joy!</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">After this, I immediately heard a voice - but not from a human mouth - and when I heard it, I shuddered with the great fear that it might be an illusion, or a mockery by an evil spirit. But shortly after this, an angel of God appeared before me; he was like the most handsome of men, but not in the flesh as is the body of a created man, and he said to me: ‘Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee!’ When I heard this, I wondered what he meant and why he had come to me with such a greeting, for I knew and believed that I was unworthy of any such thing - or any good thing! However, I also knew that nothing is impossible for God, if he desires it.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Then the angel spoke again: ‘The child to be born in you is holy and will be called the Son of God. May his will be done as it pleases him.’ But, not even then did I consider myself worthy, and I did not ask the angel why, or when, this would happen. Instead I asked him how it could be that I, an unworthy maiden, who did not know any man, should become the Mother of God. The angel answered me (as I have just said): ‘Nothing is impossible for God, for whatever he wants to do will be done.’</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">When I had heard these words of the angel, I felt the most fervent desire to become the Mother of God, and my soul spoke out of love and desire, saying: ‘See, here I am; your will be done in me!’ With these words, my Son was conceived in my womb to the indescribable joy of my soul and my every limb! While I had him in my womb, I bore him without any pain, without any heaviness or discomfort. I humbled myself in all things, knowing that he whom I bore was the Almighty!</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">When I gave birth to him, it was also without any pain or sin, just as I had conceived him, but with such exaltation and joy of soul and body that my feet did not feel the ground where they had been standing because of this indescribable joy! Just as he had entered my limbs to the joy of all my soul, he left my body, leaving my virginity intact, and my soul and whole body in a state of indescribable joy and jubilation.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">When I gazed upon and contemplated his beauty, joy seeped through my soul like dewdrops and I knew myself to be unworthy of such a son. But when I considered the places where (as I had learned from the predictions of the prophets) nails would be pierced through his hands and feet at the crucifixion, my eyes filled with tears and my heart was almost torn apart by sorrow.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">When my Son saw my weeping eyes, he became almost deathly saddened. However, when I considered his divine power, I was consoled again in knowing that this was what he wanted and that it should happen in this way, and I joined all my will to his. So my joy was always mixed with sorrow.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">When the time of my Son’s suffering arrived, his enemies seized him and struck him on the cheek and neck, spat at him and ridiculed him. Then he was led to the pillar of torture where he voluntarily removed his clothes and placed his hands around the pillar, and his enemies then mercilessly bound them. When he stood bound at the pillar, he had no covering at all, but stood naked as he had been born, suffering the shame of his nakedness.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Then all my Son’s friends fled from him, and his enemies came together from all directions and stood there, scourging his body, which was pure from every stain and sin. I was standing nearby, and at the very first lashing, I fell down as if I were dead. When I regained consciousness, I saw his body whipped and scourged so badly that the ribs were visible! What was even more terrible – when the whip was pulled out, his flesh was furrowed and torn by it, just as the earth is by a plough! As my Son was standing there, all bloody and wounded, so that no place could be found on him that was still intact and no sound spot could be scourged, then someone present there, aroused in spirit, asked: ‘Are you going to kill him before he is even judged?’ And he cut off his bonds immediately.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Then my Son put his clothes back on, and I saw that the place where he had been standing was filled with blood! By observing my Son’s footprints, I could see where he had walked because the ground was bloody there as well. They did not even wait for him to get dressed, but pushed and dragged him to make him hurry up. While my Son was being led away like a robber, he wiped the blood from his eyes. When he had been sentenced to death, they placed the cross on him so that he could carry it to the place of suffering. When he had carried it for a while, a man came along and took the cross to carry it for him. As my Son was going to the place of suffering, some people hit him on the neck, while others hit him in the face. He was so brutally and forcefully beaten that, although I did not see who hit him, I heard the sound of the blow clearly. When I reached the place of suffering with him, I saw all the instruments of his death lying there ready. When my Son got there, he took off his clothes by himself.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The executioners and the crucifiers said to each other: ‘These are our clothes! He will not get them back because he is condemned to death!’ As my Son was standing there, naked as he had been born, a man came running up and handed him a cloth with which he joyfully covered his private parts. Then the cruel executioners seized him and stretched him out on the cross. First, they fastened his right hand to the wooden beam (which was fashioned with holes for the nails), piercing the hand at the place where the bone was most solid and firm. Then they pulled out his other hand with a rope and fastened it, in a similar way, to the beam. Next they crucified the right foot - with the left foot on top of it - with two nails, so that all his sinews and veins were stretched so much that they burst. After they had done this, they put the crown of thorns[1] on his head. It cut into my Son’s venerable head so deeply that his eyes were filled with blood as it flowed down, his ears were blocked by it, and his beard was totally soaked with it. As he stood there, so bloody and pierced, he felt sorry for me, for I was standing nearby and crying. Looking with his blood-filled eyes upon my nephew, John, he commended me to his care. At that moment I heard some people saying that my Son was a robber! Others said that he was a liar, and others that no one deserved to die more than did my Son!</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">My sorrow was renewed from hearing all this. And, as I said before, when the first nail was driven into him, I became overwhelmed by the sound of the first strike and fell down as if dead with darkened eyes, trembling hands, and faltering legs. In my bitter pain and great sorrow, I was not able to look up again until he had been completely nailed to the cross. But when I got up, I saw my Son hanging pitifully, and I, his most sorrowful Mother, was so grieved and heartbroken that I could barely stand up because of my great and bitter sorrow. When my Son saw me and his friends in inconsolable tears, he called out with a loud and sorrowful voice to his Father, saying: ‘Father, why have you forsaken me?’ It was as if he wanted to say: ‘There is no one who pities me but you, Father.’</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">By this time, his eyes seemed half-dead. His cheeks were sunken, his face was sorrowful, his mouth open, and his tongue was bloody. His stomach was pressed in towards his back because of all the liquid that had been lost. It was as if he had no intestines. All of his body was pale and languid because of the loss of blood. His hands and feet were very rigidly outstretched, for they had been extended and made to conform to the shape of the cross. His beard and hair were completely soaked with blood. When my Son stood there so bruised and pale blue, only his heart was still vigorous, for it was of the best and strongest nature. He had taken from my flesh the most pure and well-wrought body. His skin was so thin and tender that blood flowed out of it instantly if he was scourged even slightly. His blood was so fresh that it could be seen inside the pure skin. And because he had the very best constitution, life contended with death in his pierced body. Sometimes the pain from his pierced limbs and sinews rose up to his heart, which was still completely vigorous and unhurt and tormented it with the most unendurable pain and suffering. Sometimes the pain descended from his heart into his wounded limbs and, in so doing, prolonged his bitter death.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Surrounded by these pains, my Son beheld his weeping friends who, with his help, would rather have suffered his pain themselves or have burned in hell for all time than to see him tortured in this way. His sorrow over his friends’ sorrow exceeded all the bitterness and grief which he had endured in body and heart, for he loved them so tenderly. Then, out of the exceedingly great suffering and anguish of his body, he cried out on account of his Manhood to the Father: ‘Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.’ When I, his most sorrowful Mother heard his voice, my whole body trembled in the bitter pain of my heart. As often as I later thought on this cry, it was as if still present and fresh in my ears.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">When his death drew near, his heart burst because of the violence of the pain. His whole body convulsed, and his head raised itself a little, and then dropped down again. His mouth was open and his tongue was completely bloody. His hands retracted a little from the place of the nail holes, and his feet were made to bear more of the weight of his body. His fingers and arms were stretched out somewhat, and his back was tightly pressed against the cross.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Then some people said to me: ‘Your Son is dead, Mary!’ But others said: ‘He is dead, but he will rise again.’ When everyone was going away, a man came and thrust his spear into his side so forcefully that it almost went out the other side! When the spear was pulled out, its point appeared to be red with blood. It seemed to me then, when I saw my beloved Son’s heart pierced, that my own heart had been pierced as well!</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Then he was taken down from the cross and I received his body onto my lap. He looked like a leper, and was completely covered with bruises and blood. His eyes were lifeless and filled with blood, his mouth as cold as ice, his beard like string, his face paralyzed, and his hands were so stiffened that they could not be bent over his chest, but only over his stomach, near the navel. I had him on my knee just as he had been on the cross: stiffened in all his limbs.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">After this, they laid him in a clean linen cloth and I dried his limbs with my own linen cloth and closed his eyes and mouth, which he had opened when he died. Then they laid him in the grave. I would willingly have been placed alive in the grave with my Son if it had been his will! When these things were done, good John came and brought me home. Behold, my daughter, what my Son has endured for you, and love him with all your heart!</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">[1] Explanation from Book 7 - Chapter 15: "Then the crown of thorns, which they had removed from his head when he was being crucified, they now put back, fitting it onto his most holy head. It pricked his awesome head with such force that then and there his eyes were filled with flowing blood and his ears were obstructed."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Our Lord Jesus Christ’s words to His bride about how He willingly delivered himself up to be crucified by His enemies, and about the way to be abstinent in all members of the body from all illicit movements after His most sweet example of suffering.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 11</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Son of God spoke to his bride, saying: “I am the Creator of the heavens and the earth and all the things that are in them, and it is my true body that is consecrated on the altar. Love me with all your heart, for I have loved you, and I delivered myself up to my enemies willingly, while my friends and my Mother remained in the most bitter sorrow and weeping. When I saw the spear, the nails, the whips, and the other instruments of torture there ready, I still went on, no less joyful, to suffer. And when my head was bleeding on all sides from the crown of thorns, and the blood was flowing on all sides, then, even if my enemies had gotten hold of my heart, I would have, still, rather allowed it to be wounded and torn asunder than lose you. For that reason, you are extremely ungrateful, if you do not love me for such a great love.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">For if my head was pierced and bent down on the cross for your sake, your head should be bent down toward humility. Since my eyes were filled with blood and tears, your eyes should abstain from pleasurable sights. Since my ears were filled with blood and had to hear blasphemous and scornful words, your ears should be turned away from frivolous and foolish talk. Since my mouth was given the most bitter drink and was denied the good one, you should keep closed your mouth from all evil and open it for good. Since my hands were outstretched and pierced by nails, your deeds, which are symbolized by the hands, should be stretched out to the poor and to my commandments. Your feet, in other words, the desire with which you should walk to me, should be crucified and abstain from all evil lusts. As I have suffered in all my limbs, so may all your limbs be ready for my service. For I demand more service of you than of other people, since I have granted more mercy to you.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">About how an angel prays for the bride of God, and how Christ asks the angel what it is that he prays for the bride and what is good for her.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 12</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The good angel that was the guardian of the bride appeared praying to Christ for her. Our Lord answered the angel and said: “One who wants to pray for another should pray for the other’s health and salvation. You are like a fire that is never extinguished, constantly burning with my love. You see and know all things when you see me. You want nothing but what I want. Therefore tell me, what is good for this new bride of mine?” The angel answered: “Lord, you know all things.” The Lord said to him: “In truth, all that has been or will be is eternally in me. I know and understand all things in heaven and on earth and there is no change in me. But so that the bride may understand my will, tell me now while she is listening what is good for her.” The angel said: “She has a proud and arrogant heart and therefore a cane is needed for her so that she may be tamed.” Then our Lord said: “What then do you ask for her, my friend?” The angel said: “My Lord, I beg for your mercy with the rod.” Our Lord said: “For your sake, I will do so with her, that I never practice justice without mercy. Therefore, my bride should love me with all her heart and with a good will.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">About how the enemy of God has three devils in himself and about the terrifying judgment passed on him by Christ.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 13</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“My enemy has three devils in himself. The first sits in his sexual organ, the second in his heart, the third in his mouth. The first is like a skipper who lets water in through the keel; the water, rises by increasing gradually, and then fills up all of the ship. Then the water floods over and the ship sinks down. This ship is his body that is harassed by the temptations of devils and by his own lusts as though by tempestuous waves.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">First, the evil lust entered into his body through the keel, that is, through the evil desire with which he took delight in bad thoughts. And since he did not resist through repentance and penance and did not repair his body’s ship with the nails of abstinence, the water of lust increased daily while he gave his consent to evil. Then the belly of the ship filled with evil desires, and the water flooded over and drowned the ship with lust so that it was unable to reach the haven of salvation.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The second devil sits in his heart and is like a worm lying inside an apple. The worm first eats the core of the apple and then leaves its filth there and crawls around inside the whole apple until it is completely useless. This is what the devil does: First, he destroys the man’s will and good desires, which are like the core where all the soul’s strength and all goodness reside, and when the heart has been emptied of these goods, the devil then leaves in their place in his heart worldly thoughts and desires that he had loved more. The devil now drives his body to what pleases him, and for this reason, his strength and understanding are diminished and he begins to hate life. This man is indeed an apple without a core, that is to say, a man without a heart, for he enters my church without a heart since he has no love of God.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The third devil is like an archer who looks out through the windows and shoots at the careless. How can the devil not be in him who never speaks without mentioning the devil? That which is loved more is mentioned more often. His bitter words, with which he hurts others, are like arrows shot through as many windows as the number of times the devil is mentioned, and innocent people take offense at his words.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Therefore do I, who am the Truth, swear by my truth that I shall condemn him like a whore to the sulfurous fire, like a deceitful traitor to the mutilation of all his limbs and like a scoffer of the Lord to eternal shame! However, as long as his soul and body are united, my mercy stands ready for him. What I demand of him is that he should attend the divine services and prayers more often, not to fear any humiliation or desire any honor, and that evil or bad words will never be mentioned by his mouth.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Explanation</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">This man was an abbot of the Cistercian order. He buried an excommunicated person. When he had read the last funeral prayer over him, Saint Bridget heard in ecstasy of spirit the following words of our Lord: “This man did as he should not have done and buried an excommunicated man. But now you should know and be sure that he is the one that is going to be buried first after the departed. For he sinned against the Father, who told us to never show respect to persons against justice or to honor the rich unjustly. But he honored the unworthy for a small perishable thing and laid him among the worthy, as he should not have done. He also sinned against the Holy Spirit, who is the communion and fellowship of the righteous, when he buried an unrighteous man with the good and righteous. He also sinned against me, the Son, for I have said: “The one who rejects me shall be rejected.” But this man honored and exalted the one whom my church and my Vicar had rejected.” When the abbot heard these words, he was stricken with remorse and repented from his sins and then died on the fourth day.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The words of Christ to his bride about the method and the veneration she should maintain in prayer, and about the three kinds of people who serve God in this world.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 14</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“I am your God who was crucified on the cross; true God and true man in one person who is present everyday in the hands of the priest. When you pray any prayer to me, always end your prayer with the intention that my will always shall be done and not yours. For when you pray for the already condemned, I do not hear you. Sometimes you also pray for some things that are against your own welfare and that is why it is necessary for you to entrust your will to me, for I know all things and do not provide you with anything but what is beneficial. Many pray without the right intention and that is why they do not deserve to be heard.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">There are three kinds of people who serve me in this world: The first are those who believe me to be God, the Creator and giver of all things and mighty ruler over everything. They serve me with the intention of gaining honor and worldly things, but the things of heaven are considered as nothing to them so that they would gladly do without it if they, instead, could gain the perishable and present things. According to their desire, worldly pleasure falls to them in everything and so they lose the eternal things, but I recompense them with worldly benefits for all the good things they have done for my sake right down to the last farthing and the very last moment.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The second are those who believe me to be God almighty and a strict judge, and these serve me because of fear of punishment but not out of love for the heavenly glory. If they were not afraid of suffering, they would not serve me.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The third are those who believe me to be the Creator of all things and true God and who believe me to be just and merciful. These do not serve me because of any fear of punishment but because of divine love and charity. Rather, they would prefer and endure every punishment, if they could bear it, than to even once provoke me to wrath. These truly deserve to be heard in their prayers, for their will is according to my will.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">But the ones who belong to the first kind shall never escape from the place of punishment and torment or get to see my face. The ones who belong to the second kind shall not be punished and tormented as much, but will still be unable to see my face, unless he corrects his fear through penitence and amendment.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The words of Christ to his bride wherein he describes himself as a great king, and about the two treasuries symbolizing the love of God and the love of the world, and a teaching about how to proceed and improve in this life.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 15</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“I am like a great and mighty king. Four things belong to a king: First, he must be rich; second, generous; third, wise and fourth, charitable. I am in truth the King of the angels and of all Humanity. I also have those four qualities that I mentioned: First, I am the richest of all, for I give to everyone according to their needs but possess after this donation not less than before. Second, I am the most generous, since I am ready to give to anyone who prays with love for my mercy. Third, I am the wisest of all, since I know what is best for each and everyone. And fourth, I am charitable, since I am more ready to give than anyone is to ask.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">I have, as it were, two treasuries. The first treasury stores heavy things as lead, and the house where they are stored is surrounded with sharp and stinging spikes. But to the one who first begins to turn and roll these heavy things, and then learns how to carry them, they seem as light as feathers. And so the things that before looked heavy, become very light, and the things that before were thought to be bitter and stinging, become sweet. The second treasury stores things that seem to be like shining gold with precious stones and delicious drinks. But the gold is really filth and the drinks are poison. There are two ways into these treasuries, even though there used to be only one way.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">At the crossroads, that is, at the beginning of these two ways, there stood a man who cried out to three men who were walking on a different way, and he said: ‘Hear, hear my words! But if you do not want to hear with your ears, then at least see with your eyes that what I say is true. But if you do not want hear or see, then at least use your hands to touch and prove that my words are true and not false.’ Then the first of them said: ‘Let us hear and see if his words are true.’ The second man said: ‘All he says is false.’ The third said: ‘I know that everything he says is true, but I do not care about what he says.’</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">What are these two treasuries if not my love and the love of the world? There are two ways into these two treasuries: privation and a complete denial of one’s own will lead to my love, while the fleshly lust and a man’s own will lead to the love of the world. To some people, my love appears to be a heavy burden of lead, for when they should be fasting or keeping vigil in my service or restrain their flesh from sinful desires, they feel as if they are carrying heavy lead. And if they have to hear words or insults, they think it is heavy and hard, or if they must spend time in purity or prayer, it is as if they were sitting between spikes or thorns and they worry every moment.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The one who wants to remain in my love should first begin to lift and turn the burden over, that is, he should attempt to do the good through his good will and constant desire. Then he should gradually lift the burden a little, that is, do the good he can do, thinking thus to himself: ‘This I can do well if God gives me his help and grace.’ Then he may persevere in the undertaken task and with great joy bear that which before seemed heavy to him so that every trouble in fasts and vigils or any other trouble will seem to be as light as feathers to him.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">My friends rest in such a place, which, to the wicked and lazy, seems to be surrounded with things like spikes and thorns, but to my friends it is as the highest peace and soft as roses. The right way into this treasury is to deny and despise your own will, which happens when a man contemplates my suffering and my love, and does not care about his own will or lust but resists it with all his power and might and constantly strives for the things that are higher and better. And although this way is somewhat heavy in the beginning, it pleases so much in the continuation of it that the things that before seemed impossible to bear later become very light, so that he can rightfully say to himself: ‘The yoke and work of God is good and sweet.’</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The second treasury is the world. In it there are gold, precious stones, and drinks that seem delicious and pleasant-smelling but are bitter as poison when they are tasted. Each and everyone who carries and owns this gold, must - when his body is weakened and his limbs lose their strength, when his marrow is wasted and his body falls dead to the ground - leave the gold and the precious stones behind for they are of no more use to him than filth. And the drinks of the world, that is, her delights, seem delicious, but once in the stomach, they make the heart heavy and the head weak and ruin the body, and then man dries and withers away like grass, and when the pangs of death approach, all these pleasures become as bitter as poison. The way leading to this treasury is his self-will and lust, whenever a man does not care about resisting his evil desires and does not contemplate on what I have commanded or done, but immediately does whatever comes to mind, whether it may be licit or not.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Three men are walking on this way, and by these I mean all evil and unrighteous men who love the world and all their self-will. I cried out to these three men as I stood at the crossroads or the beginning of the ways, for when I came to the world in human flesh and body, I showed mankind two ways, as it were, namely, the one to follow and the one to avoid, in other words, the way leading to life and the one to death. For before my coming in the flesh, there was only one way, and on it, all men - good and bad - wandered toward hell.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">I am the one who cried out, and my cry was this: ‘People, hear my words that lead to the way of life, for they are true! Use your senses to understand that what I say is true. If you do not want to hear my words or cannot listen to them, then at least see them, that is, with faith and reason, see that my words are true. For just as something visible can be discerned with the eyes of the flesh, so too can invisible things be discerned and believed by the eyes of faith. There are many simple men in the Church and Christendom who do few good deeds but still are saved through their faith wherein they believe me to be the Creator of all things and the Redeemer of souls. There is no one who cannot understand and believe that I am God, if he considers how the earth bears fruit and how the heavens give rain, how the trees bloom, how each and every animal exists in its own kind, how the stars serve man, and how troubles and sorrows come and often happen against the will of man. From all these things, man can see that he is mortal and that it is God who arranges and directs all these things. For if God did not exist, everything would be disorganized. Thus, all things are of God, and everything is rationally arranged for the use and knowledge of mankind. And there is not the least little thing that is created or exists in the world without reasonable cause.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">So, if a man cannot understand or comprehend my virtues and powers as they are because of his weakness, he can still see them with faith and believe. But if you people in the world do not want to use your reason to consider my power, you can still use your hands to touch and sense the deeds that I and my saints have done. They are namely so obvious that no one can doubt them to be the deeds of God. Who raised the dead and gave sight to the blind if not God? Who cast out the evil devils from men if not God? What have I taught if not things beneficial for the prosperity of soul and body and easy to bear?</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">But what the first man said means that some people say: ‘Let us listen and test if what he says is true!’ They stand a while in my service, not for the sake of love or charity but as an experiment and to imitate others; and they do not give up their own will but exercise it along with my will. They are in a dangerous position, for they want to serve two masters, even though they can serve neither one well. When they are called, they shall be rewarded by the master that they have loved the most.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">What the second man said means that some people say: ‘All his words are false and the Scripture is false.’ I am God and the Creator of all things and without me nothing has been made. I laid down the New and the Old Laws; they came out of my mouth, and there is no falsehood in them because I am the Truth. Therefore, those who say that I have spoken falsely and that the Holy Scripture is false shall never see my face; for their conscience tells them that I am truly God, since all things happen according to my will and ordination. The sky gives them light, nor can they give any light to themselves. The earth bears fruit, the air makes the earth fertile, all the animals have a specific ordinance, the devils fear and confess me to be God and righteous men suffer incredible things for their love of me. All these things they see, and yet they do not see me. They could also see me and understand my justice, if they considered and thought on how the earth swallowed the ungodly and how the fire consumed the unrighteous. So could they likewise see me in my mercy when the water flowed for the righteous out of the rock or the water of the ocean parted for them, when the fire avoided harming them or when heaven gave them food like the earth. Because they see all these things and still say I am a liar, they shall never see my face.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">What the third man said means that some people say: ‘We know full well that he is the true God, but we do not care about it.’ These people will suffer and be tormented for all eternity, because they despise me, who am their God and Lord. Is it not a great contempt of them to use my good gifts but nonetheless refuse to serve me? For if they had earned these things by their own diligence and not wholly and entirely from me, their contempt would be small.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">But I will give my grace to those who begin to turn over my burden, that is, to those who voluntarily and with a passionate desire attempt to do the little good they can. I will work with the people who lift my weights, that is, those who advance in good deeds day by day for the sake of my love, and I will be their strength and enlighten them so that they will want to do more good. But those who sit in the place that seems to sting them, but really is most peaceful, they work patiently day and night without tiring, increasing more and more in the ardent fire for my honor, thinking that what they do for my sake is very little. These are my most dear friends, and they are very few, since the drinks found in the other treasury are more pleasing to the others.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">About how the bride perceived a saint speaking to God about a woman who was being horribly tormented by the devil and who was later delivered from him through the prayers of the glorious Virgin Mary.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 16</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The bride saw a saint speaking to God, saying: “Why is the soul of this woman so afflicted by the devil when you have redeemed her by your blood?” The devil replied instantly and said: “Because she is mine by right.” Then our Lord said: “With what right is she yours?” The devil answered: “There are two ways; one leads to the kingdom of Heaven and the other to hell. When she saw these two ways, her conscience and reason told her that she should choose my way. And since she had a free will for choosing the way that she wanted, it seemed to her more beneficial to turn her will toward committing sin, and so she began to walk on my way.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Thereafter, I deceived her with three sins: namely, gluttony, love of money, and sensuality. Consequently, I now dwell in her belly and in her nature, and I hold her with five hands. With the first hand I hold her eyes, so she will not see spiritual things. With my second hand I hold her hands, so she will not do any good deeds. With the third hand I hold her feet, so she will not walk to that which is good. With the fourth hand I hold her reason and understanding, so she will not be ashamed to sin. And with the fifth hand I hold her heart, so she will not return to the right way through remorse and penance.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Then the Blessed Virgin Mary said to her dear Son: “My beloved Son, compel him to tell the truth about the things I want to ask him.” The Son said: “You are my Mother, you are the Queen of Heaven and the Mother of mercy, you are the consolation of the souls in purgatory and the joy of those who make their way in the world; you are the Mistress of the angels and the most Holy before God, and you are also in authority over the devil. Therefore, command this devil what you want, and he will answer you.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Then the Holy Virgin Mary asked the devil, saying: “Tell me, devil, what intention had this woman before she entered the church?” The devil answered her: “She had an intention to abstain from sin.” Then the Virgin Mary said to the devil: “Since the will that she previously had led her to hell, tell me now, where does the will that she presently has lead her - namely, her will to abstain from sin?” The devil answered reluctantly: “This will of abstaining from sin leads her toward Heaven.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Then the Virgin Mary said: “Because you accepted that it was your just right to lead her away from the way of the Holy Church because of her former will to sin, then it is now right and just that her present will shall lead her back to the Church and to the mercy of God. But now, devil, I will ask you another question. Tell me, what intention does she have in her present state of conscience?” The devil answered: “She has remorse in her mind for the things she has done, and great sadness, and resolves to never again commit such sins but wants to amend as much as she is able.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Then the Virgin Mary asked the devil: “Tell me, could these three sins, namely, sensuality, gluttony, and greed, exist together in a heart at the same time as the three good deeds of remorse, sorrow, and the resolution to improve oneself?” The devil answered: “No.” The Holy Virgin Mary then said: “Therefore, tell me, which of these should flee and vanish from her heart, the three virtues or the three vices and sins; for you are saying that they cannot occupy the same heart or place together.” The devil said: “I say that the sins must give way.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Then the Virgin Mary answered: “Therefore, the way to hell is closed to her and the way to the kingdom of Heaven is open.” Now the Holy Virgin Mary asked the devil further: “Tell me, if a robber was waiting outside the house of the bride and wanted to rob and rape her, what should the bridegroom do?” The devil answered: “If the bridegroom is good and noble-minded, he should defend her and risk his life for her life.” The Virgin Mary then said: “You are the wicked robber, and the soul is my Son’s bride, for he redeemed her with his own blood. You violated and seized her by force. But since my Son is the Bridegroom of the soul and Lord over you, then it is right for you to flee from him.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">EXPLANATION</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">This woman was a harlot. She wanted to return to the world because the devil tormented her day and night, so much so that he visibly pressed down her eyes, and in the sight of many, dragged her out of bed. Saint Bridget then said openly in the presence and hearing of many trustworthy men: “Move away, devil, for you have troubled and occupied this creature of God enough!” After she had said this, the woman laid a half hour as if dead with her eyes to the ground, and then she got up and said: “In truth, I saw the devil going out through the window in the most hideous of shapes, and I heard a voice saying to me: ‘You are in truth liberated from the devil, woman!’” From that moment on, this woman was delivered from all impatience and suffering and was no longer tormented by impure thoughts, and then she died a good death.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The words of our Lord Jesus Christ to his bride wherein he compares a sinner to three things: namely, an eagle, a fowler, and a fighting man.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 17</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“I am Jesus Christ who am speaking with you. I was in the womb of the Virgin as true God and true man but was, nonetheless, with the Father and controlled and ruled all things, although I was in the Virgin. This most wretched enemy of mine is like three things: First, he is like an eagle that flies in the air while other birds fly under it. Second, he is like a fowler that gently blows and plays on a pipe plastered with glue, causing the birds to be enchanted by his tunes so that they fly toward the pipe and get stuck in the glue. Third, he is like a fighting man who is first in every battle.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">He is like an eagle, because in his pride he cannot tolerate anyone being over him, and he injures everyone he can reach with his claws of malice. Therefore, I will cut off the wings of his violence and pride. I will remove his malice from the earth and give him over to the unquenchable boiling kettle, which is the suffering of hell, where he will be tormented without end, if he does not better himself.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">He is also like a fowler because he attracts everyone to himself with sweet words and promises, so that anyone who comes to him gets caught in damnation and perdition and can never escape from it. Therefore, the birds of hell shall destroy his eyes so that he will never see my glory but only the eternal darkness of hell. They shall cut off his ears so that he will not hear the words of my mouth. They shall inflict him with pain and bitterness from the feet to the head so that he will endure as many torments as the number of men he led to damnation.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">He is also like a fighting man who is first in all evil, not willing to give way to anybody but determined to press everyone down. Therefore, he shall be first in every torment; his suffering shall always be renewed and his lament will never end. However, my mercy stands ready for him as long as his soul is with the body.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">EXPLANATION</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">This man was a very powerful knight who hated the church and the priesthood greatly and inflicted it with insulting words. The previous revelation is about him as well as the following. The Son of God says: “O worldly knight, ask the wise about what happened to prideful Haman who despised my people. Did he not die shamefully and with great disgrace? Likewise does this man scoff at me and my friends. Just as the people of Israel did not mourn Haman’s death, so will my friends not mourn this man’s death, but he will die a most bitter death if he does not better himself.” This is what happened to him.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The words of Christ to his bride about how there should be humility in the house of God, and about how such a house signifies purity of life, and about how buildings and alms should be donated only from goods that are righteously acquired, and about how to restore wrongly acquired goods.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 18</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“In my house should all humility be, which now is completely rejected. There should be a strong wall between the men and the women, because even though I am able to defend everyone and hold them all without a wall, still, for the sake of precaution and because of the devil’s cunning, I want that a wall should separate the two dwelling-houses. It should be strong, and not very high but moderate. The windows should be very simple and clear, and the roof moderately high, so that nothing can be seen there that does not belong to humility. For those who now build houses for me are like master builders, who, when the lord or the master of the house enters into them, grab him by the hair and trample him under their feet; they raise the filth up high and trample the gold underfoot. This is what many do to me now.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">They build up the filth, that is, they build up perishable and worldly things to the sky, but the souls that are more precious than all gold, they could not care any less about. If I want to go in to them through my preachers or through good thoughts, they grab me by the hair and trample me under their feet, that is, they insult me and consider my deeds and my words to be as despicable as filth. They consider themselves to be much wiser. But if they wanted to build up things for me and for my honor, they should first build up the souls to the kingdom of Heaven.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The one who wants to build my house should, with the utmost precision, take care about not letting a penny that has not been properly and justly acquired, go to the building. There are indeed many who know full well that they have wrongly acquired goods and yet are not sorry for it nor have the will of making restitution or giving it back to the people they have cheated and plundered, although they could give it back and make restitution for the injustice if they wanted. But since they know and think to themselves that they cannot keep these things forever, they give a part of their wrongly acquired goods to the churches or monasteries, as if they wanted to appease me by their gift. But the other goods that are properly acquired, they keep for their descendants. In truth, this does not please me.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The one who wants to please me with his gifts should first have the will to better and correct himself and then do the good deeds he is able to do. He should also cry and mourn over the evil things and deeds he has done and then make restitution if he can; and if he cannot, he should have the will of making restitution for the deceitfully acquired goods. Thereafter, he should take great care to never again commit such things. But if it is not possible to find anyone to give back the unlawfully acquired goods to, then he could give it to me, for I am able to pay back everyone what is theirs. If he cannot give it back but has the intention of humbling and improving himself before me with a broken heart, then I am rich enough to give it back and I can restore the property of all those who have been cheated, either now in this world or in the next to come.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">I want to explain to you the meaning of the house that I want to build. This house is the life of purity, and I myself, who created all things and through whom all has been made and exists, am its foundation. There are four walls in this house. The first is my justice, by which I will judge those who are adversarial to this house. The second wall is the wisdom by which I will enlighten the builders of this house with my knowledge and understanding. The third wall is my power, by which I will strengthen them against the temptations of the devil. The fourth wall is my mercy, which receives everyone who prays for it. In this wall is the door of grace through which all, who pray for it, are accepted in. The roof of this house is the love with which I cover the sins of those who love me so that they will not be judged for their sins. The window of the roof, whereby the sun enters, is the thought and consideration of my mercy, and through it the warmth of my Divinity is let in to the builders of the house. But that the wall should be strong and big means that no one is able to undermine my words or overthrow them. That the wall should be moderately high means that my wisdom can be understood and perceived in part, but never fully. The simple but clear windows mean that my words are simple, yet through them the light of divine knowledge is let into the world. The moderately high roof means that my words shall be revealed, not in an incomprehensible way, but in an understandable way that one may easily perceive and comprehend.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The words of our God and Creator to his bride about the splendor of his power, wisdom, and virtue, and about how those who are now called powerful and wise, sin the most against him.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 19</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“I am the Creator of the heavens and the earth. I have three qualities: I am most mighty, most wise, and most virtuous. I am namely so mighty that all the angels in Heaven honor me, the demons in hell dare not look upon me, and all the elements obey my command. I am also so wise that no one can fathom or understand my wisdom, and I have so great insight that I know all that has been and will come to be. I am thereto so rational that not the least little worm or any other animal, no matter how ugly it may seem, has been made without a cause. I am also so virtuous that all good flows from me as from a good spring, and all sweetness emanates from me as from a good wine. Therefore, no one can be mighty, wise, or virtuous without me.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">And therefore do the mighty men of the world sin against me very much, for I gave them strength and power so they could honor and glorify me; but they awarded the honor to themselves, as if they had it from themselves. These miserable wretches do not realize their own powerlessness: for if I were to send them the least sickness, they would immediately wither away and everything would become worthless to them. How then could they be able to withstand my strength and power or the eternal torments? But even more do those, who are now said to be wiser than others, sin against me. For I gave them mental powers, understanding, and wisdom so they would love me, but they do not want to understand anything other than that which is to their own temporal benefit and greed. They have their eyes in the back of their head and look only to their own lusts and pleasures, and they are so blind in serving me that they do not give thanks to me, who gave them everything. For no one, neither good nor bad, could feel and understand anything without me, although I allow the wicked to turn their will to their desires. Moreover, no one can be virtuous without me.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Therefore, I could now use the words of the proverb that everyone commonly cites: ‘The patient man is despised by everyone.’ So am I now considered by mankind to be utterly foolish for my patience, and that is why I am despised by everyone. But woe to them, when my time of patience is over and they will come to know my judgment! They will then be like mud before me that falls down to the deepest depths and does not stop until it comes down to the lowest part of hell.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Virgin Mother’s and the Son’s pleasant dialogue with each other and with the bride, and about how the bride should prepare herself for the wedding.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 20</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Mother of God, the Virgin Mary appeared saying to her Son: “O my Son, you are the King of glory. You are Lord over all lords. You created heaven and earth and all the things in them. Therefore, may your every desire be done, may all your will be done!”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Son answered: “It is an ancient proverb that says that what a youth learns in his youth, he preserves in his old age. So have also you, my dear Mother, from your youth learned to follow my will and to surrender all your will for my sake. Therefore you did well to say: ‘May your will be done.’ You are like precious gold that is laid on a hard anvil and hammered, for you were hammered with every kind of tribulation, and through my suffering you endured more pain than anyone before. For when my heart burst from the violent pain and bitterness on the cross, your heart was also wounded as if by the sharpest steel, and you would have willingly let it be cut into pieces, had that been my will. But even if you had been able to stop my suffering and wished for my life, still you did not want to if it was not my will. Therefore you did well to say: ‘Your will be done.’</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Thereafter, the Virgin Mary said to the bride of God: “My Son’s bride, love my Son, for he loves you, and honor his saints who stand in his presence, for they are like countless stars whose light and brilliance cannot be compared to any worldly light. Just like the light of the world differs from darkness, yet even more does the light of the saints differ from the light of this world. In truth, I tell you that if the saints were seen in their brightness as they really are, no human eye could set eyes on them or endure it without losing their sight and life.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Thereafter, the Son of God spoke to his bride and said: “My bride, you should have four qualities: First, you should be ready for the wedding of my Divinity wherein no fleshly lusts are found, but only the most sweet spiritual desire, the one that is becoming for God to have with a chaste soul. The love for your children, your friends, or your temporal belongings should not draw you away from my love. May it not happen to you what happened to those foolish virgins who were not ready when the Lord wanted to call them to the wedding and were therefore excluded.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Second, you should believe my words, for I am the Truth, and from my mouth has never anything come but truth, and nobody can find anything other than truth in my words. Sometimes I have a spiritual meaning with what I am saying, and sometimes I expressly mean what the words say, and my words should then be understood as they are, without any interpretation. Therefore, no one can justly accuse me of lying.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Third, you should be obedient in order for you to do righteous penance and reparation in all the limbs with which you sinned; for even though I am merciful, I do not forego justice. Therefore, obey with humility and gladness those whom you are charged to obey, so that you do not do even the things which seem beneficial and reasonable to you if it goes against obedience. For it is better to surrender your own will for the sake of obedience, even if it is good, and to follow the will of your superior, as long as it does not go against the salvation of the soul or is unreasonable in any other way.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Fourth, you should be humble, for you are united in a spiritual marriage. Thus, you should be humble and modest at the arrival of your bridegroom. Your handmaid should be sober and restrained, which means that your body should be abstinent from all superfluous things and well disciplined. For you will become fruitful with spiritual offspring for the benefit and good of many, just as a shoot is grafted onto a dry stem and makes the stem begin to blossom; so through my grace you shall bear fruit and blossom. My grace will gladden and intoxicate you, and the whole host of Heaven will rejoice because of the sweet wine I will give you. You must not lack trust in my goodness.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">I assure you that just as Zechariah and Elizabeth rejoiced in their souls with an unspeakable joy over the promise of a future child, you too, shall rejoice over my grace that I want to give you, and thereto, others will rejoice through you. With these two, Zechariah and Elizabeth, an angel spoke; but I, the God and Creator of the angels, want to speak to you. These two, Zechariah and Elizabeth, gave birth to my most dear friend John, but I want many sons to be born to me through you, not of the flesh but of the spirit. In truth, I tell you, John was like a tube or flower full of sweetness and honey, for never did anything unclean or superfluous enter his mouth, and he never received the necessities of life over the limits of what he needed. And semen never went out of his body and that is why he can rightly be called an angel and a virgin for the divine life that he lived.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Bridegroom’s words to his bride found in the most delightful parable about a sorcerer by which the devil is ingeniously signified and described.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 21</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Bridegroom of the kingdom of Heaven, Jesus, spoke to his bride in a parable presenting the example of a frog and said: “Once there was a sorcerer who had the most shining gold. A simple and mild man came to him and wanted to buy this gold from him. The sorcerer said to the simple man: ‘You will not receive this gold, unless you give me better gold and in larger quantity.’ The man said: ‘I have such a great desire for your gold that I will give you what you want rather than losing it.’ He then gave the sorcerer better gold and in larger quantity and received the shining gold from him and put it in a casket, thinking of making himself a ring from it for his finger.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">After a short time, the sorcerer approached that simple man and said: ‘The gold you bought from me and laid in your casket is not gold, as you thought, but the most ugly frog. It has been fostered in my chest and fed with my food. And in order for you to test and know that this is true, you may open the casket and you will see how the frog will jump to my chest where it was fostered.’ When the man wanted to open it and find out if it was true, the frog appeared in the casket. The cover of the casket was hanging on four hinges that were about to break and fall off soon. Immediately when the cover of the casket was opened, the frog saw the sorcerer and jumped into his chest.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">When the servants and friends of the simple man saw this, they said to him: ‘Lord, this most fine gold is in the frog, and if you want, you can easily get the gold.’ The man said: ‘How can I get it?’ They replied: ‘If someone took a sharp and heated spear and thrust it into the hollow part of the frog’s back, he would quickly get the gold out. But if he cannot find any hollow in the frog, he should then, with the greatest force and effort, thrust his spear into it, and this is how you will get back the gold you bought.’</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Who is this sorcerer if not the devil, inciting and counseling mankind to fleshly lusts and honor, which are nothing else but vanity and destruction? He promises that what is false is true and makes what is true seem to be false. He possesses this most precious gold, namely, the soul, who I, through my divine power, created more precious than all the stars and planets. I created it immortal and imperishable and more pleasing to me than everything else and I prepared for her an eternal resting place with me. I bought her from the violence of the devil with better and more valuable gold when I gave my own flesh for her, spotless from every sin, and suffered such a bitter torment that none of my limbs were without wounds or pain. I placed the redeemed soul in the body as in a casket, until the time when I would place her in the presence of my divine honor and glory in the kingdom of Heaven. But now, the redeemed soul of man has become like the most ugly and shameless frog, jumping in its arrogance and living in filth through its sensuality. She has taken my gold away from me, that is, all my justice.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">That is why the devil rightly can say to me: ‘The gold you bought is not gold but a frog, fostered in the chest of my lust. Separate therefore the body from the soul and you shall see that she will jump directly to the chest of my lust where it was fostered.’ My answer is this: ‘Since the frog is hideous to look at, frightful to hear, and poisonous to touch, and does not bring me any good nor any pleasure or comfort but only does so for you, in whose chest she was fostered, you can have it, since she is yours by right. And when the door is opened, that is, when the soul is separated from the body, she will fly directly to you to remain with you for all eternity.’</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Such is the soul of the man I am talking about to you. She is namely like the most vile frog, full of filthiness and lust, fostered in the chest of the devil. To the casket, that is, to his body, I am now coming closer through his coming death. The casket is hanging by four hinges that are about to fall off, for his body is supported by four things: namely, strength, beauty, wisdom, and sight, which are all now beginning to perish and fade for him. When his soul begins to separate from the body, she flies straightaway to the devil on whose milk it was fostered, that is, his lust, since she has forgotten my love with which I took upon myself the suffering and pain she deserved. She does not repay my love with love, and deprives me of my rightful possession, because she should love me more than anyone else since I redeemed her. But she finds a greater pleasure in the devil. The voice of her prayer is like the voice of the frog, and her appearance is abominable and hideous in my sight. Her ears will never hear my joy, and her poisoned senses will never feel my Divinity.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">But, I am still merciful, and if anyone were to touch his soul, even though she is unclean, and examine her to see if there is any remorse or good will in it, and thrust a sharp and burning spear into his mind, which means the fear of my severe judgment, then he could still find my mercy, if he only would obey me. And if there is no remorse and love in him, still there is hope, if someone were to pierce him with a sharp and bitter correction and rebuked him strictly. For as long as the soul lives with the body, my mercy is open and ready for everyone.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Consider therefore how I died because of my love, and yet nobody repays me with love, but they even take from me what is mine by right; for it would be true justice if men improved their lives in proportion to the pain and suffering of their redemption. But now they want to live all the worse in proportion to the bitter pain and death I suffered when redeeming them; and the more I show them the hatefulness and ugliness of sin, the more boldly they want to sin. Behold, therefore, and consider that I do not get angry without cause, for they have changed my mercy into wrath. I redeemed them from sin, and they entangle themselves even more in sin.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">But you, my bride, give me what you are obliged to give me, that is, may you keep your soul pure for me, because I died for you in order that you might keep her pure for me.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Mother’s most lovely question to the bride, the humble answer of the bride to the Mother, and the Mother’s useful answer to the bride, and about the improvement of good people among the evil.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 22</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Mother of God spoke to her Son’s bride, saying: “You are my Son’s bride. Tell me what is on your mind and what you are praying for.” The bride answered: “My Lady, you know it very well, for you know all things.” Then the Holy Virgin said: “Even though I know all things, I would still like to hear you tell me while those standing here present are listening.” The bride said: “My Lady, I fear two things: First, for my sins, for which I do not cry and make amends for as I would like. Second, I am sad because your Son’s enemies are so many.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Then the Virgin Mary answered: “In regard to the first one, I give you three cures: First, think about how all things that have spirit, such as frogs and other animals, have troubles sometimes, and yet their spirits do not live eternally but die with the body. But your soul and every human soul does live forever. Second, think about the mercy of God, because there is no man who is so sinful that his sin is not immediately forgiven, if he only prays for God’s forgiveness with an intention to better himself and with true repentance for his former sins. Third, think and visualize about how great the glory of the soul is when she lives forever with God and in God.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">And regarding the second, namely, that the enemies of God are so many, I give you three cures also: First, consider that your God and your Creator and theirs is judge over them, and they will never judge him again, even though he patiently bears their malice for a time. Second, consider that they are the sons of damnation and how heavy and intolerable it will be for them to burn for all eternity in hell. They are like the most wicked servants who will lose the inheritance of the kingdom of Heaven, while the sons will partake of the inheritance. But now maybe you will say: ‘Should not one preach to them?’ Yes, of course one should preach to them! Consider how good people are often found among the evil, and that the sons of evil sometimes turn away from the good, just like the prodigal son who demanded his inheritance from his father and went away to a faraway kingdom and lived an evil life. But sometimes they are seized by remorse through the preaching and return to the Father, and they are more welcome to him then as if they had never been sinful before. Therefore, one should preach especially to them, because, even though the preacher almost only sees evil people, he, nonetheless, thinks to himself: ‘Perhaps there are some among them who will become the sons of my Lord; I will therefore preach to them.’ This kind of preacher will receive the greatest reward. Third, consider that the wicked are allowed to live as a trial for the good, so that, if they are sorrowful for the behavior of the wicked, they might be rewarded with the fruit of patience, as you will understand better by the following parable.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The rose smells sweet, is beautiful to look upon, is soft to the touch, and yet it only grows among thorns that are sharp to the touch, hideous to look upon, and do not have a pleasant scent. Similarly, good and righteous men, even though they are soft in their patience, beautiful in their virtues, and sweet smelling in their good example, still cannot become perfected or be put to the test except among the evil. Sometimes the thorn also protects the rose so that it will not be picked before it has bloomed; likewise, the evil give the good an occasion and a reason not to fall into sin, and sometimes the good are restrained by their malice so that they do not fall into immoderate cheerfulness or lust or any other sin. A wine will never become good unless it is stored in the dreg, and neither can the good and righteous remain and improve in virtues if they are not tested through afflictions and persecutions by the unrighteous. So tolerate willingly the enemies of my Son, and remember that he is their judge, and that he, if justice demanded to destroy them all, could easily exterminate them in a moment. Therefore, may you tolerate them as long as he tolerates them.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The words of Christ to his bride about a false man, who is called an enemy of God, and about his hypocrisy and all his characteristics.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 23</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“This man appears to the people to be a well-dressed, strong, and attractive man, who is brave in his Lord’s battle, but when his helmet is removed from his head, he is ugly and disgusting to look at and is useless for work. His brain is seen to be bare. His ears are on his forehead and his eyes are in his neck. His nose is dissevered and his cheeks are altogether sunken like those of a dead man. On the right side, his chin and half of his lips have all fallen off, so that nothing is left on the right side except his throat which is seen to be all uncovered. His chest is full of swarming worms and his arms are like two snakes. The most poisonous scorpion lives in his heart. His back is like burnt coal. His intestines are stinking and rotting like pus-filled, unclean flesh. His feet are dead and useless to walk with.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">I will tell you what all this signifies. On the outside he appears to people to be decorated with good habits, wisdom and bravery in the service and honor of me, but he is by no means like that. For if the helmet were removed from his head, that is, if it were shown to people how he really is spiritually in his soul, he would be uglier than all men. His brain is bare because his foolish customs and frivolity clearly demonstrate to good men that he is unworthy of such an honor. For if my wisdom pleased him, he would understand how much his honor is greater than others, thereby clothing himself in the most rigorous of conduct and divine virtues as compared to others.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The ears are on his forehead because, instead of having the humility due to his high dignity in being a light for others to teach them good things, he only wants to hear about his own praise and glory, thereby becoming so prideful that he only wants to be called great and good by everyone. He has eyes in his neck, because all his thoughts are turned to the present instead of the eternal. He thinks about how to please men and about the requirements for the needs of the flesh, but not about how he may please me and benefit souls. His nose is dissevered, since he has lost all rational discretion whereby he might see and distinguish between sin and virtue, between worldly honor and eternal honor, between worldly and eternal riches, between the short pleasures of the world and the eternal pleasures.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">His cheeks are sunken, that is, all the veneration he should have for me, with the beauty of the virtues whereby he might please me, are entirely dead in the service of me: for he is ashamed to sin in front of men but not in front of me. One part of his cheekbone and lips has fallen off so that nothing remains except for his throat, for the imitation of my works and the preaching of my words, in addition to a divine and fervent prayer, have totally fallen off from him so that nothing remains in him except his gluttonous throat. But to imitate the wicked and to be involved in worldly affairs seems altogether healthy and beautiful to him.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">His chest is full of worms, because in his chest, where the remembrance of my suffering and the thought and consideration of my deeds and commandments should be, there is only a care for the things of the world with the desire and greed of the world, which are like worms devouring his conscience so that he does not think of spiritual or divine things. In his heart, where I would wish to dwell and my love should be, there now sits the most evil scorpion with a stinging tail and an enticing face and tongue; because pleasing and reasonable words proceed from his mouth, but his heart is full of injustice and deceit, because he does not care if the church he is supervising gets destroyed, as long as he can fulfill his own will.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">His arms are like two snakes, because in his malice he reaches out his arms to the simple-minded and calls them to himself with simplicity, but, when he gets a suitable opportunity, he causes them to fall pitifully. Like a snake, he coils himself into a ring, because he hides his malice and unrighteousness, so that barely anyone can understand his treacherous plans. He is like the most vile snake in my sight, for just as the snake is more detestable than any other animal, so is he more ugly in my sight than any other man, since he counts my justice as nothing and holds me to be as a man who is unwilling to judge righteously.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">His back is like coal, but it should be like ivory since his deeds should be more mighty and pure than others in order to be able to better carry the weak through his patience and his example of a good life. But now he is like coal, because he is too impatient to endure a single word for my honor, unless he benefits from it. Yet he seems to be mighty to the world. Therefore, when he thinks he stands, he will fall, since he is as hideous and lifeless as coal before me and my saints.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">His intestines stink, because his thoughts and desires smell like rotting flesh before me with a stench that no one can tolerate. Neither can any of my saints tolerate him, but everyone turns his face away from him and demands a judgment over him. His feet are dead. His two feet are his two dispositions towards me, that is, his will to make amends for the sins he has done and his will to do good deeds. But these feet are altogether dead in him, because all the marrow of love is consumed in him and nothing is left in him except the hardened bones. And in this way he stands before me. However, as long as the soul is with the body, he can find my mercy.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">EXPLANATION</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Saint Lawrence appeared and said: “When I was in the world, I had three things: self-purity, mercy to my neighbor, and love of God. Therefore I preached the word of God fervently, distributed the goods of the Church wisely, and suffered the scourging, fire, and death gladly. But this bishop tolerates and pretends not to notice the incontinence of the clergy, and he liberally distributes the goods of the Church to the rich and shows love only toward himself and his own friends. Therefore, I declare to him that the lightest cloud now has ascended into heaven, but dark smoke of fire overshadows it so that it cannot be seen by many. This cloud is the prayer of the Mother of God for the Holy Church. The fire of greed, ungodliness, and unrighteousness darken it so much that the mercy of the Mother of God cannot easily enter the hearts of the wretched. Therefore, let the bishop quickly turn to the divine love by correcting himself and his subordinates, admonishing them with his good example and word, and leading them to a better life. Otherwise, he will feel the hand of the judge which is his vengeance and justice, and his church will be purged by fire and the sword and afflicted by plundering and tribulation so that it will be a long time before anyone consoles her.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">God the Father’s words before the host of the kingdom of Heaven, and the answer of the Son and Mother to the Father asking for mercy for the daughter, that is, the Church.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 24</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">God the Father spoke while the whole host of heaven was listening, and said: “Before you all, I complain over giving my daughter to a man who tortures her greatly and without measure, crushing her feet in the stocks so severely that all the marrow has gone out of her feet.” The Son answered him: “Father, she is the one I redeemed with my blood and espoused to myself, but now she has been brutally violated.” Then the Mother of God spoke and said: “You are my God and my Lord, and your blessed Son’s limbs were enclosed within my body, who is your true Son and my true Son. I refused you nothing on earth. Have mercy on your daughter for the sake of my prayers.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Thereafter the angels spoke, saying: “You are our Lord and Creator; in you we possess every good thing, and we need nothing but you. We all rejoiced when your bride went forth from you, but now we are rightly sad, because she has been given into the hands of the worst man who insults her with all kinds of mocking and abuse. Have mercy on her for the sake of your great mercy, for her misery is very great, and there is no one to console and save her but you Lord, God Almighty.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Then God the Father answered the Son, saying: “O my Son, your grievance is my grievance, your word my word, your deeds my deeds. You are in me and I am in you inseparably. Your will be done!” Then he said to the Mother of the Son: “Since you did not refuse me anything on earth, I will not refuse you anything in heaven, and your will shall be fulfilled.” Then he said to the angels: “You are my friends, and the flame of your love burns in my heart. Therefore, I shall have mercy on my daughter for the sake of your prayers.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The words of the Creator to his bride about how His justice endures evil men for a threefold reason, and how His mercy spares the evil for a threefold reason.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 25</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“I am the Creator of the heavens and the earth. You wondered, my bride, why I am so patient with the evil. That is because I am merciful: for my justice endures and spares them for a threefold reason and my mercy spares them for a threefold reason. First, my justice endures them so that their time may be fully completed. For just as a righteous king might be asked, if he holds someone imprisoned, why he does not put them to death, and he answers: ‘Because it is not yet time for the inquisition of the court where they may be heard so that those who hear it can take greater warning.’ In this way do I tolerate the evil until the time comes for their malice to be made known to others as well. Did I not foretell the rejection of Saul and that he would be expelled from his kingdom and dethroned long before it was made known to men? And I tolerated him for a long time so that his malice would be shown and proven to others. Second, because of the few good deeds that the evil do for which they should be rewarded even down to the last farthing, there shall not be the least little good they have done for me that will go unrewarded; herein they will receive their wage for the good they have done. Third, in order to reveal God’s glory and patience. It was for this reason that I tolerated Pilate, Herod, and Judas, even though they were evil and damned. And if anyone questions why I tolerate this or that person, let him regard Judas and Pilate.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">My mercy also spares the evil for a threefold reason: First, because of my great love, for their eternal torment will be long. For that reason, because of my great love, I tolerate them until the last moment so that their torment will be delayed by the long extension of time here in the world. Second, so that their nature will be consumed by the sins, because the human nature gets consumed by sin so that they would experience the bodily death more bitterly if their nature was healthier and stronger. For a healthy nature dies a more prolonged and bitter death. Third, for the improvement and strength of good people and the conversion of some of the evil. For when good and righteous people are tormented by the evil, it benefits the good and righteous since it helps them to abstain from sin or to gain greater merit.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Likewise, the evil sometimes live for the good of other evil persons. For when the evil reflect on the fall, wickedness, and heinous deeds of some people, they think to themselves and say: ‘What good does it do us to follow them or to live like them? While our Lord is so patient, it is better for us to repent.’ And in this way they sometimes return to me, because they fear to do the things those evil men did, and their conscience tells them they should not do these things. Therefore, it is said, that if someone has been stung by a scorpion, he can be cured by being anointed with the oil wherein another reptile has died. In the same way, sometimes an evil man, who sees another person who is also evil fall and beholds his unrighteousness and vanity, is struck by remorse for his sins and is cured by the mercy and grace of God.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The angelic host’s words of praise to God, and about how children would have been born if the first parents had not sinned, and about how God showed miracles to the people through Moses and also later through himself to us on his own coming; and about the breakdown of the bodily marriage in this time, and the conditions of a spiritual marriage.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><a name="book1-chapter26" style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-size: 16px; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 26</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The angelic host was seen standing before God, and the entire host said: “Praised and honored be you, Lord God, who are and were without end! We are your servants and we praise and honor you for a threefold reason: First, because you created us to rejoice with you and gave us an indescribable light in which to rejoice forever. Second, because all things are created and maintained by your goodness and constancy, and all things stand according to your will and remain through your word. Third, because you created mankind and took Manhood for their sake! We rejoice greatly for this Manhood, and also for your most chaste Mother who was worthy to bear you whom the heavens cannot comprehend and enclose. Therefore, your honor and blessing are above all things for the dignity of the angels that you have exalted greatly in honor. May your everlasting eternity and constancy be over all things that are and can be constant! May your love be over mankind whom you created! O Lord God, you alone should be feared for your great power, you alone should be desired for your great love, you alone should be loved for your constancy. May all praise and honor be to you forever without end. Amen!”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Then our Lord answered: “You honor me worthily for every created creature. But, tell me, why do you praise me for mankind which has provoked me to wrath more than any other creature? I created him more superior and dignified than all the lower creatures under the sky, and for none else did I suffer such indignities as for mankind and none was redeemed at so great a cost. Or what creature does not abide by its created order other than man? He inflicts me more with sorrow than any other creature. For just as I created you to praise and honor me, so I made man to honor me. I gave him a body like a spiritual temple, and I made and placed the soul in it like a beautiful angel, for the human soul has power and strength like an angel. In this temple, I, the God and Creator of mankind, wished to be like the third so that he would enjoy me and find delight in me. Then I made him another temple, similar to himself, out of his rib.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">But now, my bride, for whose sake all these things are being said and shown, you might ask, how children would have been born by them if they had not sinned? I shall answer you: In truth, by the love of God and the mutual devotion and union of the flesh wherein they both would have been set on fire internally, love’s blood would have sown its seed in the woman’s body without any shameful lust, and so the woman would have become fertile. Once the child was conceived without sin and lustful desire, I would have sent a soul into the child from my divinity, and the woman would have carried the child and given birth to it without pain. When the child was born, it would have been perfect like Adam when he was first created. But this honor was despised by man when he obeyed the devil and coveted a greater honor than I had given to him. After the disobedience was enacted, my angel came over them and they were ashamed over their nakedness, and they immediately experienced the lust and desire of the flesh and suffered hunger and thirst. Then they also lost me, for when they had me, they did not feel any hunger or sinful fleshly lust or shame, but I alone was all their good and pleasure and perfect delight.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">But when the devil rejoiced over their perdition and fall, I was moved with compassion for them and did not abandon them but showed them a threefold mercy: I clothed them when they were naked and gave them bread from the earth. And for the sensuality the devil had aroused in them after their disobedience, I gave and created souls in their seed through my Divinity. And all the evil the devil tempted them with, I turned to good for them entirely.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Thereafter, I showed them how to live and worship me, and I gave them permission to have relations, because before my permission and the enunciation of my will they were stricken with fear and were afraid to unite and have relations. Likewise, when Abel was killed and they were in mourning for a long time and observing abstinence, I was moved with compassion and comforted them. And when they understood my will, they began again to have relations and to procreate children, from which family I, their Creator, promised to be born. When the wickedness of the children of Adam grew, I showed my justice to the sinful, but mercy to my elect; of these I was appeased so that I kept them from destruction and raised them up, because they kept my commandments and believed in my promises.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">When the time of mercy came, I showed my mighty miracles and works through Moses and saved my people according to my promise. I fed them with angel manna and went before them in a pillar of cloud and fire. I gave them my Law and revealed to them my secrets and the future through my prophets. Thereafter, I, the Creator of all things, chose for myself a virgin born of a father and mother; and from her did I take human nature and condescended to be born of her without sin. Just like the first children would have been born in paradise through the divine love of their father’s and mother’s mutual love and affection without any shameful lust, so my Divinity took Manhood from a virgin without any shameful lust and without hindering or damaging her virginity.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">I came in the flesh as true God and man and fulfilled the Old Law and all the scriptures just as it earlier had been prophesied about me, and I initiated the New Law, for the Old Law was narrow and hard to bear and was nothing but a figure of future things to come. For in the Old Law it had been allowed for a man to have several wives, so that the people would not be left without any offspring or would have to intermarry with the gentiles. But in my New Law it is permitted for one man to have one wife, and it is forbidden for him during her lifetime to have several wives. Those who unite with divine love and fear for the sake of procreation and to raise children for the honor of God are my spiritual temple where I wish to dwell as the third with them.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">But people in this age are joined in marriage for seven reasons: First, because of facial beauty. Second, because of wealth. Third, because of the despicable pleasure and indecent joy they get out of their impure intercourse. Fourth, because of feasts with friends and uncontrolled gluttony. Fifth, because of vanity in clothing and eating, in joking and entertainment and games and other vanities. Sixth, for the sake of procreating children but not to raise them for the honor of God or good works but for worldly riches and honor. Seventh, they come together for the sake of lust and they are like brute beasts in their lustful desires.[1]</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">They come to the doors of my church with one mind and consent, but all their desires and inner thoughts are completely against me. They prefer their own will, which aims at pleasing the world, instead of my will. If all their thoughts and wishes were directed toward me, and if they entrusted their will into my hands and entered into wedlock in fear of me, then I would give them my consent and be as the third with them. But now is my consent, which should be their most precious thing, gone from them, because they have lust in their heart and not my love. Thereafter, they go up to my altar where they hear that they should be one heart and one soul, but then my heart flees from them because they have not the warmth of my heart and know not the taste of my body.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">They seek the warmth and sexual lust that will perish and love the flesh that will be eaten by worms. Therefore do such people join in marriage without the bond and union of God the Father and without the Son’s love and without the Holy Spirit’s consolation. When the couple comes to the bed, my Spirit leaves them immediately and the spirit of impurity approaches instead because they only come together for the sake of lust and do not discuss or think about anything else with each other. But my mercy is still with them if they will be converted to me. Because of my great love, I place a living soul created by my power into their seed. Sometimes I let evil parents give birth to good children, but more often, evil children are born of evil parents, since these children imitate the evil and unrighteous deeds of their parents as much as they are able and would imitate it even more if my patience allowed them. Such a married couple will never see my face unless they repent. For there is no sin so heavy or grave that penitence and repentance does not wash it away.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">For that reason, I wish to turn to the spiritual marriage, the kind that is appropriate for God to have with a chaste soul and chaste body. There are seven good things in it opposed to the evils mentioned above: First, there is no desire for beauty of form or bodily beauty or lustful sights, but only for the sight and love of God. Second, there is no desire to possess anything else than what is needed to survive, and just the necessities with nothing in excess. Third, they avoid vain and frivolous talk. Fourth, they do not care about seeing friends or relatives, but I am their love and desire. Fifth, they desire to keep the humility inwardly in their conscience and outwardly in the way they dress. Sixth, they never have any will of leading lustful lives. Seventh, they beget sons and daughters for their God through their good behavior and good example and through the preaching of spiritual words.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">They preserve their faith undefiled when they stand outside the doors of my church where they give me their consent and I give them mine. They go up to my altar when they enjoy the spiritual delight of my Body and Blood in which delight they wish to be of one heart and one body and one will with me, and I, true God and man, mighty in heaven and on earth, shall be as the third with them and will fill their heart. The worldly spouses begin their marriage in lustful desires like brute beasts, and even worse than brute beasts! But these spiritual spouses begin in love and fear of God and do not bother to please anyone but me. The evil spirit fills and incites those in the worldly marriage to carnal lust where there is nothing but unclean stench, but those in the spiritual marriage are filled with my Spirit and inflamed with the fire of my love that will never fail them.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">I am one God in three Persons, and one in Divinity with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Just as it is impossible for the Father to be separated from the Son and the Holy Spirit to be separated from them both, and as it is impossible for warmth to be separated from fire, so it is impossible for these spiritual spouses to be separated from me; I am always as the third with them. Once my body was ravaged and died in torments, but it will never more be hurt or die. Likewise, those who are incorporated into me with a true faith and a perfect will shall never die away from me; for wherever they stand or sit or walk, I am always as the third with them.</span></span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Arial, Verdana; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Arial, Verdana; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Arial, Verdana; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Virgin Mary’s words to the bride about how there are three things in the dance and company of the world, and about how this world is symbolized by the dance, and about Mary’s suffering at her Son’s death.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 27</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Virgin Mary, the Mother of God spoke to the bride and said: “My daughter, I want you to know that where there is a dance, there are three things: namely, empty joy, loud shouting, and useless and vain work. But when someone enters the dance house sorrowful or sad, then his friend, who attends in the joy of the dance sees his friend coming there sad and sorrowful, immediately leaves the joy of the dance and separates himself from the dance and mourns with his sorrowing friend.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">This dance is this world that is always caught up in trouble, even though it seems like joy to foolish men. In this world there are three things: empty joy, frivolous words, and useless work, because everything that a man gathers by his work he must leave behind himself. The one who joins in this worldly dance should consider my labor and sorrow and then mourn with me, who was separated from all worldly joy, and then separate himself from the world.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">At my Son’s death I was like a woman whose heart had been pierced by five spears. The first spear was his shameful and blameworthy nakedness, for I saw my most beloved and mighty Son stand naked at the pillar without any clothing to cover him at all. The second spear was the accusation against him, for they accused him of being a traitorous betrayer and liar, him, whom I knew to be righteous and true and never to have offended or wished to offend or injure anyone. The third spear was his crown of thorns that pierced his sacred head so violently that the blood flowed down into his mouth and his beard and ears. The fourth spear was his sorrowful voice on the cross with which he cried out to the Father, saying: ‘O Father, why have you abandoned me?’ It was as if he wanted to say: ‘O Father, there is no one who pities me but you.’ The fifth spear which pierced my heart, was his most bitter and cruel death. My heart was pierced with as many spears as the arteries from which his most precious blood flowed out of him. In truth, the pain in his pierced sinews, arteries, feet, hands and body went mercilessly to his heart and from the heart back to his sinews; for his heart was healthy and strong and of the finest nature, and life contended long with death; and thus his life was prolonged in the midst of the most bitter pain.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">But when his death drew near and his heart burst from the unendurable pain, then his whole body shook and his head, which was bent backwards, raised itself a little. His half-closed eyes opened, and likewise his mouth was opened so that his bloodied tongue was seen. His fingers and arms, which were as if paralyzed, stretched themselves out. But when he had given up his spirit, his head sank toward his chest, his hands lowered themselves a little from the place of the wounds and his feet had to bear most of the weight of the body.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Then my hands became numb, my eyes were darkened, and my face became pale as a dead man. My ears could hear nothing, my mouth could not speak, my feet trembled, and my body fell to the ground. When I got up from the ground and saw my Son looking horribly disfigured and more miserable than a leper, I submitted my entire will to his knowing with certainty that everything had happened according to his will and could not have happened unless he had allowed it. I therefore thanked him for everything, and so there was always some joy mixed with my sadness, because I saw that he, who had never sinned, had, in his great love, wanted to suffer this much for the sins of mankind. Therefore, may all those who are in the world contemplate how I suffered when my Son died and always have it in front of their eyes and in their thoughts!”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The words of the Lord to the bride about how a man came to be judged before God’s tribunal, and about the fearsome and horrendous judgment passed on him by God and all the saints.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 28</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The bride of Christ saw God looking angry, and he said: “I am without beginning and without end. There is no change in me either of year or day, but all time in this world is like a single second or moment to me. Everyone who sees me, sees and knows and understands everything that is in me in a moment. But since you, my bride, are in a material body, you cannot perceive and understand like a spirit, and therefore, for your sake, I will explain to you what has happened.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">I was seated as a judge, for all judgment has been given to me, and a man came before my judgment seat to be judged. The voice of the Father thundered and said to him: ‘Woe unto you that you ever were born!’ God did not say this because he had repented of having created him, but it was just like anyone mourning for another and feeling compassion for him. Thereafter, the voice of the Son answered saying: ‘I shed my blood for you and suffered the most bitter and harsh pain for you, but you have separated yourself entirely from it and will have nothing to do with it.’</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The voice of the Holy Spirit said: ‘I have searched all the corners of his heart to see if I might find some tenderness or love in his heart, but he is as cold as ice and as hard as stone, and I have nothing to do with him.’ These three voices have not been heard audibly as if there were three gods, but they were heard for your sake, my bride, because you would not be able to understand these spiritual mysteries otherwise.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Thereafter, the three voices of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit were immediately transformed into a single voice, and this voice thundered and said: ‘By no means shall the kingdom of Heaven be given to you!’ The Mother of mercy, the Virgin Mary, was silent and did not open up her mercy, for he who was to be judged was unworthy to receive or enjoy her mercy; and all the saints cried out with one voice saying: ‘It is divine justice for him to be eternally exiled and separated from your kingdom and from your joy.’</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">All those who were in the fires of purgatory said: ‘No pain here is so bitter or harsh that it is enough to punish your sins; you deserve to endure much greater torments and you will therefore be severed from us.’ But then the wretched man himself cried out in a fearsome voice, saying: ‘Woe, woe for the seed that came together in my mother’s womb and from which I received my body!’ He called out a second time, saying: ‘Accursed be the moment when my soul was joined to my body and accursed be he who gave me a body and soul!’ He called out a third time: ‘Accursed be the moment when I came forth alive from the womb of my mother!’</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Then came three horrendous voices against him from hell saying: ‘Come to us, accursed soul, like liquid copper draining down, to eternal death and life everlasting!’ They called out a second time: ‘Come, accursed soul, empty of all goodness, and receive our malice! For there will be none of us who will not fill you with his own malice and pain.’ They called out a third time: ‘Come, accursed soul, heavy like the stone that sinks down perpetually and never reaches the bottom where it can rest! You will sink deeper into the deep than we, so that you will not stop until you have reached the lowest part of hell.’</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Then our Lord said: ‘Just like the man who had several wives who sees one of them fall away from him and turns away from her, and turns to the others who remain steadfast in his will and rejoices with them, so too have I turned my face and my mercy away from him, and I turn to my servants and rejoice with them. Therefore, when you have heard of his fall and misery, you shall serve me with so much greater sincerity and purity in proportion to the greater mercy I have shown to you. Flee the world and her desire! I did not accept such a bitter suffering for the sake of worldly glory or because I was unable to fulfill it more quickly or easily, - for I could have – but, justice demanded that because humanity sinned in every limb, so must also satisfaction be made in every limb. This was why the Divinity felt compassion for mankind, and in his burning and great love for the Virgin, assumed Manhood from her through which he would suffer all the punishment mankind was destined to suffer. Since I took your punishment upon me out of love, you should remain in true humility, just like my servants, so that you will not be ashamed before anyone and fear nothing but me. Guard your mouth in such a way that, if such were my will, you would never speak. Do not be saddened about worldly things, for they will perish, and I am able to make whomever I want rich or poor. Therefore, my bride, place all your hope in me and I will help you”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">EXPLANATION</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">This man whose judgment is here proclaimed was a nobleman, canon and subdeacon, who received a false dispensation and married a rich virgin but was surprised by a sudden death and thus lost what he desired.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The words of the Virgin to the daughter about two wives, one of whom is called Pride and the other Humility (the latter signifying the most sweet Virgin Mary), and about how the Virgin Mary comes to meet those who love her at the moment of their death.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 29</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Virgin Mary, the Mother of God spoke to the Son’s bride and said: “There are two wives. One of them has no special name, because she is too unworthy to have a name. The other wife is Humility, and she is called Mary. The devil himself is lord over the first wife because he has control over her. This wife’s knight said to her: ‘O my wife, I am ready to do anything I can for you, if only I can satisfy my sexual lust with you just once. I am mighty and strong and brave of heart, I fear nothing and am ready to go to my death for you.’ She answered him: ‘My servant, your love for me is great. But I am seated on a high throne, and I have only this one throne, and there are three gates between us.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The first gate is so narrow that all that a man is wearing on his body gets pulled off and torn to pieces if he enters by this gate. The second one is so sharp that it cuts through even to the very sinews of the man. The third gate is burning with such a fire that there is no escape or rest for him from its heat but, instead, anyone entering through this gate is immediately melted down like copper. In addition, I am seated so high up on my throne that anyone who wants to sit next to me – for I have only one throne – will fall down into the greatest depth under me.’ The knight answered her: ‘I will give my life for you and the fall does not bother me.’</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">This wife is Pride and the one who wants to come to her must go, as it were, through three gates. Through the first gate enters the one who gives all he has for human praise and for the sake of pride. And if he does not own anything, he uses all of his will to have a reason to be proud and win praise of men. Through the second gate enters the one who sacrifices all his work and everything he does, all his time and all his thoughts and all his strength so that he may fulfill his pride. And even if he could give his own flesh over to be wounded for the sake of pride and honor and riches, he would do so willingly. Through the third gate enters the one who never rests or has peace but entirely burns like fire with the thought of how he may attain some honor or something he may feel worldly pride over. But when he attains his desire, he cannot stay in the same state but falls painfully and miserably; however, pride still remains in the world.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“But I,” Mary said, “am the one who is most humble. I am seated on a spacious throne and above me there is neither sun nor moon nor stars nor even a sky, but a wonderful and unimaginable clear light proceeding from the beauty of God’s majesty. Below me there is neither earth nor stone but only an incomparable sweet rest in God’s virtue. Around me there is neither barrier nor wall but only the glorious host of angels and holy souls. And although I am seated so high, I still hear my friends who are in the world, daily pouring out their sighs and tears to me. I view their work and their perfection to be greater than that of those who fight for their wife Pride.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">I shall therefore visit them with my mercy and help and place them near me on my throne, for it is very spacious and can house everyone. But they cannot come to me or sit with me yet, for there are still two walls between us which I shall lead them securely over so that they may come to my throne. The first wall is the world, and it is narrow. Therefore, my servants in the world shall be consoled by me. The second wall is death. Therefore, I, their most dear Lady and Mother, shall come to meet them and run to them at their death, so that even in death they will feel encouraged and consoled! I will place them together with me on the throne of heavenly joy, so that they, in limitless joy, may rest eternally in the delight of God and in his sweet arms and love of eternal glory and unimaginable joy.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The words of our loving Lord to his bride about how the many false Christians are being multiplied, and about how they are crucifying him again, and about how he is still prepared to suffer death once more for the sake of sinful people, if this were possible.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 30</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“I am the God who created all things for the benefit of man in order that all things should serve and help him. But mankind misuses all the things I created for his benefit unto his own damnation, and he cares less about God and loves him less than the created world. The Jews prepared three kinds of torture tools for my suffering: First, the wood on which I, scourged and crowned, was crucified. Second, the iron by which they pierced through my hands and feet. Third, the gall that they gave me to drink. Thereafter, they insulted me calling me a fool because of the death I gladly endured, and they called me a liar because of my teachings. Such men are now many in the world and there are very few who console me.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">They crucify me on the wood through their will to sin, they scourge me through their impatience (no one can namely endure a single word for my sake) and they crown me with the thorns of their pride when they want to be raised higher and have more honor than I want them to have. They pierce my hands and feet with hardened iron when they praise their sin and harden themselves so that they should not have to fear me. As the drink of gall, they offer me sorrow. They call me a liar and a fool for the suffering which I went to and gladly endured.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">I am powerful enough to kill and drown all my enemies and the entire world in one moment for the sake of their sins, if I wanted. But if I did drown them, the ones remaining would serve me out of fear, and that would not be right, because mankind should serve me out of love and not because of fear. If I myself came to them in a visible shape, their eyes would not endure to see me or their ears to hear me. For how could a mortal human endure to look upon an immortal? Truly, in my love, I would gladly die again for the sake of mankind, if it were possible.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Then the Holy Virgin Mary appeared and the Son of God said to her: “What do you wish, my chosen Mother?” And she said: “O my Son, have mercy on your creation for the sake of my love.” He answered: “I will show them my mercy once again, for your sake.” Thereafter, our Lord spoke to his bride and said: “I am your God and the Lord of the angels. I am Lord over life and death. I myself want to live in your heart. See what a great love I have for you! The heavens and the earth and all the things in them cannot contain me, and yet I want to live in your heart, which is only a little piece of flesh. Whom could you then fear or what could you need when you have inside you God Almighty in whom all good things are?</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">There should be three things in the heart where I live: First, there should be a bed where we may rest. Second, there should be a seat where we may sit. Third, there should be a lamp that gives us light. In your heart there should be a bed to rest in so that you can rest from evil thoughts and worldly desires and always remember and contemplate the joy of eternity. The seat should be your will of staying close to me, even if it sometimes happens that you have to go out. For it is against nature to be always standing or sitting. But the one who is always standing is the one who always has the will of being with the world and never to sit with me. The light shall be the faith by which you believe that I am able to do all things and am almighty over all things.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">About how the bride saw the most sweet Virgin Mary adorned with a crown and other adornments of indescribable beauty, and about how Saint John the Baptist explains to the bride the meaning of the crown and the other adornments.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 31</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The bride of God saw the Queen of Heaven, the Mother of God, wearing a priceless and beautiful crown on her head and her wonderfully shining and indescribably beautiful hair hanging down over her shoulders, with a golden tunic shining with an indescribable light, and a blue mantle of the color azure or a clear sky. When the bride of God, Saint Bridget, was full of wonder at such a lovely sight, and in her wonderment was standing there totally enraptured and amazed, then blessed John the Baptist appeared to her and said: “Listen closely to what all this signifies. The crown signifies that she is the Queen and Lady and Mother of the King of angels; the hair hanging down signifies that she is an unstained and pure virgin; the sky colored mantle signifies that all worldly things were as dead in her heart and will; the golden tunic signifies that she was fervent and burning in the love of God, both inwardly and outwardly. Her Son, Jesus Christ, placed seven lilies in her crown, and between the lilies he placed seven gems.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The first lily is her humility; the second lily is her fear; the third, her obedience; the fourth, her patience; the fifth, her steadfastness; the sixth, her kindness, for she is kind and gives to all who beg of her with love and a will to amend; the seventh, her mercy in difficulties, for in whatever difficulty a man may be in, if he calls on her with all his heart, he will receive mercy and help from her because she is full of compassion and mercy.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Between these shining lilies her Son placed seven precious gem stones. The first gem is her incomparable virtue, for there is no virtue in any other spirit or in any other body, which she does not have in a higher fashion. The second gem is her perfect purity, for the Queen of the kingdom of Heaven was so pure that from her first entrance into the world up to the final day of her death, not a single stain of sin was ever to be found in her; and none of all the devils could ever find enough impurity in her to fit on the head of a needle-point. She was truly the most pure, for it was not fitting for the King of glory to lie in any vessel but the purest, chosen before all angels and men and more pure than they. The third gem was her beauty, for God is praised constantly by his saints for his Mother’s beauty, and all the holy angels and holy souls are filled with joy over her beauty. The fourth precious gem in the crown is the Virgin Mother’s wisdom, for she is filled with all divine wisdom in God and all wisdom is fulfilled and perfected through her. The fifth gem is her power and might, for she is so powerful and strong with God in her that she can subdue anything that has been created. The sixth gem is her clarity, for she shines so clear that she even illuminates the angels, whose eyes are clearer than light, and the devils do not dare to look upon her clarity. The seventh gem is the fullness of every delight and joy and all spiritual sweetness, for her fullness is such that there is no joy that she does not increase, no delight that is not made fuller and more perfect by her and through the blessed vision of her, for she is filled with grace and mercy above all the holy saints. She is the most pure vessel in which the Bread of angels laid and in which all sweetness and all beauty is found.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Between the seven lilies in her crown, her Son placed these seven gemstones. Therefore may you, her Son’s bride, honor and praise her with all your heart, for she is in truth worthy of all praise and all honor with her Son!”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">About how, on God’s exhortation, the bride of Christ chose poverty for herself and renounced riches and carnal behavior, and about the truth of the things revealed to her, and about three remarkable things that Christ showed her.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 32</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Our Lord said to his bride: “You should be like a person who leaves and like one who gathers. For you should leave riches and gather virtues, leave perishable things and gather eternal things, leave visible things and gather invisible. I shall namely give you the exultation of the soul instead of the pleasures of the flesh, the joy of heaven instead of the joy of the world, the honor of the angels instead of the honor of the world, the sight of God instead of the sight of your friends; I, the giver and Creator of all good things, will give you myself, instead of the possession of worldly goods.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Answer me on the three things I am going to ask you. First, do you want to be rich or poor in this world?” She answered: “O my Lord, I would rather be poor since riches do me no good; instead they bother and distract me very much and draw me away from serving you.” “Tell me, second, do you find anything reprehensible or false according to your conscience and heart in the words that you heard from my mouth?” She answered: “Certainly not, all your words are reasonable.” Our Lord said for the third time: “What delights you more, the sensual lust of the flesh you earlier had or the spiritual consolation and delight that you now have?” She answered: “I feel ashamed and disgraced in my heart to think of my earlier fleshly lust and it is now to me like poison and tastes all the more bitter in proportion to my earlier ardent love for it. I would rather die than ever return to such a lust; it cannot be compared to this spiritual delight and happiness.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“Thus,” our Lord said, “you confess in your mind that all the things I have told you are true. Why then are you afraid and worried that I am delaying the things I told you would happen? Behold the prophets and remember the apostles and the holy teachers of the Church. Did they find anything in me except the truth? That is why they did not care about the world or the desire for it. Why else did the prophets foretell the future things so far in advance unless it was because God wanted them first to proclaim the words with the deeds coming after so that the ignorant should be taught in the faith? In truth, all the mysteries of my Holy Incarnation were proclaimed to the prophets before I assumed manhood and became man, even the star that went before the three kings. They believed the words of the prophet and deserved to see what they believed in, and they were made certain immediately after they saw the star. In the same way now, my words should first be announced so that, when the deeds come later, they will be believed more surely.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">I showed you three things. First, the conscience of a man whose sin I revealed and proved to you by the most clear and evident signs. But why did I do so? Could I not have killed him myself? Or could I not have drowned him in a moment, if I wanted? Of course I could have. But, so that others may be instructed and my words revealed showing how just and patient I am and how unhappy this man is whom the devil rules, I endure him still. Because of his evil will of remaining in sin and through his sinful lust in it, the devil’s power over him has increased so much that neither gentle words nor harsh threats nor the fear of hell can make him turn back from his sin. And this is true justice too, because, since he always had the will of sinning, even though he did not fulfill his sin by deed, he rightly deserves to be handed over to the devil for all eternity. For the smallest sin, lusted after, is enough to damn anyone from the kingdom of Heaven, who does not repent.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">I showed you two others. The devil tormented the body of one but was not in his soul. He darkened the other’s conscience through his intrigues and yet did not get into his soul and had no power over him. But now you might ask: ‘Is not the soul the same as the conscience? Is the devil not in the soul when he is in the conscience?’ By no means! The body has two eyes to see with, and even if they lose their sight, the body can still be healthy. So it is with the soul. For even though the reason and conscience are sometimes distracted and troubled, nevertheless, the soul does not always get hurt by the sin. And thus, the devil had power over his conscience but not over his soul.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">I shall show you a third man whose soul and body are completely ruled by the devil, and unless he is forced by my power and by my special grace, he will never be expelled from the man or leave him. From some people, the devil goes out willingly and quickly, but out of others, only reluctantly and by force. For in some people the devil enters because of the sin of their parents or because of some hidden judgment of God; this happens for example with children and witless men. He enters into others because of their infidelity or for the sake of some other sin. From these, the devil goes out willingly if he is exorcised by people who know conjurations or the art on how to exorcise devils. If they undertake such an exorcism for the sake of vainglory or for some worldly gain, then the devil has the power of entering into the one exorcising him, or again, into the same person he got exorcised from, for neither of them had any love of God. From those whose soul and body the devil possesses completely, he never goes out, unless he is forced through my power. Just as vinegar, if mixed with a sweet and good wine, spoils all the sweetness of the wine and can never be separated from it, so too will the devil not go out of the soul whom he possesses, unless he is forced through my divine power.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">What is this wine if not the human soul that was sweeter to me above all created beings and so dear to me that I let my sinews be slashed and my body lacerated to the ribs for her sake? I suffered death for her sake rather than lose her. This wine was conserved in dregs, for I placed the soul in a body where it was kept according to my will as in a sealed vessel. But now this sweet wine has been mixed with the worst vinegar, that is, with the malice of the devil, whose evilness is more bitter and abominable to me than any vinegar. By my power, this vinegar shall be separated from this man whose name I will tell you, so that I may show my mercy and wisdom through him, but my judgment and justice through the former man.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">EXPLANATION</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The first man was a high-born and proud cantor who, without the pope’s permission, went to Jerusalem and was attacked by the devil. About this demon-possessed man more can be read in book III, chapter 31 and in book IV, chapter 115. The second demon-possessed man in the same chapter became a Cistercian monk. The devil tormented him so much that four men could barely hold him down. His outstretched tongue looked like an ox tongue. The shackles on his hands were invisibly broken in pieces. After a month and two days this man was cured by Saint Bridget. The third demon-possessed man was a bailiff of Ostergotland. When he was admonished to do penance, he said to the one advising him: “Cannot the owner of the house sit where he likes? The devil has my heart and my tongue, how can I do penance?” He also cursed the saints of God and died the same night without the sacraments and confession.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Our Lord’s words of admonishment to the bride about true and false wisdom, and about how good angels aid the wise who are good while devils aid the wise who are evil.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 33</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“My friends are like scholars who have three things: First, a reasonable understanding above what is natural to the brain. Second, wisdom without human aid, for I myself teach them inwardly. Third, they are full of the sweetness and divine love with which they defeat the devil. But nowadays people study in a different way. First, they want to be wise out of vainglory in order to be called good clerks and masterly scholars. Second, they want to be wise in order to own and win riches. Third, they want to be wise in order to win honors and privileges.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">That is why I leave them when they go to their schools and enter there, since they study because of pride, but I taught them humility. They enter the schools for the sake of greed, but I had no place to rest my head. They enter in order to win privileges, envying those more highly placed than themselves, but I was judged by Pilate and mocked by Herod. That is why I will leave them, because they are not learning my wisdom. But, since I am good and kind, I give each one what he prays for. The one who prays for bread will receive bread. And the one who prays for straw will be given straw.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">My friends pray for bread, because they seek and learn the wisdom of God where my love is. But others, however, pray for straw, that is, worldly wisdom. For just as straw is useless for man to eat but, is instead, the food of irrational animals, so too there is neither use for the worldly wisdom that they seek nor nourishment for the soul, but only a small name and useless work. For when a man dies, all his wisdom is eradicated into nothing and he can no longer be seen by those who used to praise him.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">I am like a mighty lord with many servants who, on their lord’s way, give to the people what they need. In this way the good angels and the evil angels stand in my service. The good angels minister to those who study my wisdom, that is, those who work in my service, nourishing them with consolation and pleasing work. But the worldly wise are assisted by evil angels who inspire them with what they want and form them after their will, inspiring them with thoughts of great speculation with much work. But if they would look to me, I could give them bread and wisdom without any work or trouble and a sufficient amount of the world to satisfy them. But they can never be filled of the world, since they turn that which is sweet into bitterness for themselves.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">But you, my bride, should be like cheese, and your body like the mold wherein the cheese is formed until it has received the form of the mold. In this way, your soul, which is as delightful and sweet to me as cheese, must be tried and cleansed in the body, until body and soul united agree to maintain the same form of abstinence, so that the flesh obeys the spirit and the spirit leads the flesh toward all virtues.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The teaching of Christ to his bride about how she should live, and also about how the devil admits to Christ that the bride loves Christ above all things, and about how the devil asks Christ why he loves her so much, and about the love that Christ has for the bride.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 34</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“I am the Creator of the heavens and the earth. I was true God and true man in the Virgin’s womb and I rose from the dead and ascended into heaven. You, my new bride, have come to an unknown place. Therefore, you must do four things: First, you must know the language of the place. Second, you must have proper clothes. Third, you must know how to organize your days and your time according to the custom of the place. Fourth, you must become accustomed to the new food.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">So, since you have come from the instability of the world to stability, you must learn a new language, that is, the abstinence from useless and vain words and sometimes even from permissible ones in order to observe the importance and virtue of silence. Second, your clothes should be humble both in the interior and exterior so that you do not extol yourself inwardly as being holier than others nor are outwardly ashamed to be seen as humble before people. Third, your time should be ordered in such a way that, just as you before used to have much time for the needs of the body, so now you should only have time for the soul, that is, to never again want to sin against me. Fourth, your new food is abstinence from gluttony and from delicacies with all prudence, as far as your human nature can endure it. The abstinence that goes beyond the capacity of human nature is not pleasing to me, for I demand the rational and the taming of lusts.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Then the devil appeared in the same moment. Our Lord said to him: “You were created by me and have seen all justice in me. Answer me now whether this new bride of mine is lawfully mine by proven justice. For I allow you to see and understand her heart so that you may know how to answer me. Does she love anything else as much as me or would she take anything in exchange for me?”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The devil answered: “She loves nothing as much as you, and rather than losing you, she would suffer any torment, if only you gave her the virtue of patience. I see like a bond of fire descending from you to her and it ties her heart so much that she thinks of and loves nothing but you.” Then our Lord said to the devil: “Tell me how she pleases your heart or how you like this great love I have for her.” The devil said: “I have two eyes; one is corporeal, although I am not corporeal, and with this eye I perceive temporal things so clearly that there is nothing so secret or dark that it could hide itself from me. The second eye is spiritual, and I see so clearly with it that there is no pain so small that I cannot see and understand to which sin it belongs. And there is no sin so small or slight that I do not see it, unless it has been purged by repentance and penance. But, although there are no body parts more sensitive and vulnerable than the eyes, I would still much rather desire that two burning torches without end penetrated my eyes than for her to see with the eyes of the spirit.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">I also have two ears. One is corporeal, and no one can speak so secretly and silently that I do not immediately hear and know it through this ear. The second ear is spiritual, and no one can have such a secret thought or desire for any sin, that I do not hear it through this ear, unless it has been washed away by penance. And I would gladly prefer that the suffering of hell, surging forward like a stream and spreading the most terrible hot fire without end flowed through my ears than that she should hear anything with the ears of the spirit. I also have a spiritual heart, and I would gladly let it be ceaselessly cut to pieces and constantly renewed to the same suffering in order for her heart to grow cold in your service and love.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">But, since you are righteous, I now have a question for you that you may answer. Tell me, why do you love her so much? Why did you not choose someone holier, richer and prettier for yourself?” Our Lord answered: “Because justice demanded this. You were created by me and have seen all justice in me. Tell me, while she is listening, why it was justice that you should have such a bad fall and what you were thinking when you fell!”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The devil answered: “I saw three things in you. I saw your glory and honor being above all things, and I thought about my own glory. For this reason I became proud and decided to not merely become your equal, but to be even higher than you. Second, I saw that you were mightier than all others, and therefore I desired to be more mighty than you. Third, I saw what would happen in the future, and since your glory and honor are without beginning and would be without end, I envied you and thought that I would gladly be tortured forever by the most bitter punishment if, thereby, you would die. And with such thoughts and desires I fell, and immediately hell was created.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Our Lord answered: “You asked me why I love my bride so much. Assuredly, it is because I change all your malice into good. For since you became proud and did not want to have me, your Creator, as your equal, therefore, humiliating myself in all things, I gather sinners to myself and make myself their equal by giving them my glory. Second, since you had such an evil desire that you wanted to be more mighty than I, therefore I make sinners more mighty than you and partakers in my power. Third, because of your envy against me, I am so full of love that I offered myself up and sacrificed myself for the sake of everyone through my death.” Thereafter, our Lord said: “Now, devil, your dark heart is enlightened. Tell me, while she is listening, what love I have for her.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The devil answered: “If it were possible, you would gladly suffer the same pain in each and every limb just as you once suffered on the cross in all your limbs, before losing her.” Then our Lord answered: “Since I am so merciful that I do not refuse my mercy and forgiveness to anyone asking for it, ask me then humbly for mercy yourself, and I will give it to you.” The devil answered: “Never shall I do this. For when I fell, a punishment was established for every sin and for every worthless word and thought. And every spirit or devil that fell will have his punishment. And before I would bend my knee before you, I would rather swallow all the punishments in me, as long as my mouth could be opened and closed in punishment, so that my punishment would be forever renewed.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Then our Lord said to his bride: “See how hardened the lord of the world is and how mighty he is against me because of my hidden justice. I could indeed destroy him in a moment through my power, but I do no more injustice to him than to a good angel in the kingdom of Heaven. But when his time comes, and it is now approaching, I shall judge him with his followers. Therefore, my bride, may you always persevere in good deeds. Love me with all your heart. Fear nothing but me. I am namely the Lord over the devil and over all things created.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Virgin Mary’s words to the bride about her own sorrow at the suffering of Christ, and about how the world was sold through Adam and Eve and bought back as with one heart through Christ and his Virgin Mother.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 35</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Mary, the Mother of God spoke to the bride of Christ and said: “My daughter, consider the suffering of my Son, for his limbs were like my own limbs and his heart like my own heart. For just as other children use to be carried in the womb of their mother, so was he in me. But he was conceived through the burning charity of God’s love. Others, however are conceived through the lust of the flesh. Thus, John the evangelist, his cousin, rightly says: ‘The Word was made flesh.’ He came through love and was in me. The Word and love created him in me. He was truly for me like my own heart. For when I gave birth to him, I felt as though half my heart was born and went out of me. And when he endured suffering, it felt like my own heart was suffering. Just as when something is half inside and half outside - the half outside feels pain and suffering, but the inside also feels a similar pain - so it was for me when my Son was scourged and wounded; it was as if my own heart was scourged and wounded.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">I was also the one closest to him at his suffering and I was never separated from him. I stood very near his cross, and just like that which is closest to the heart stings the worst, so his pain was heavier and worse for me than for others. When he looked at me from the cross and I saw him, then tears flowed from my eyes like blood from veins. And when he saw me so stricken with pain and overwhelming sorrow, he felt such a sorrow over my pain that all the pain of his own wounds became as subsided and dead for the sake of the pain he saw in me. I can therefore boldly say that his pain was my pain since his heart was my heart. For just as Adam and Eve sold the world for an apple, so my Son and I bought back the world as with one heart. Consider therefore, my daughter, how I was at the death of my Son, and it will not be hard for you to give up the world and her cares.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Our Lord’s answer to an angel who was praying that sorrow in body and soul should be given to the bride, and about how even greater sorrow should be given to more perfect souls.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 36</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">An angel was praying for his Lord’s bride and our Lord answered him: “You are like a knight of the Lord who never took off his helmet for the sake of sloth and who never turned his eyes away from the battle for the sake of fear. You are steadfast as a mountain and burning like a flame. You are so pure that there is no stain in you. You beg me to have mercy on my bride. You know and see all things in me. Nevertheless, while she is listening, tell me what kind of mercy you are asking for her; for mercy is namely threefold.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">One is the mercy by which the body is punished and tortured and the soul is spared, as it happened with my servant Job whose flesh had to suffer all kinds of pain and torment but whose soul was protected. The second mercy is the one by which soul and body are spared from torment, as it was in the case of the king who lived in all sorts of lust and worldly pleasure and had no pain either in body or soul while he lived in the world. The third mercy is the one by which soul and body are punished, so that they have distress in their flesh and sorrow in their heart, as it happened with Peter and Paul and other saints.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">For there are three states for humans in the world: The first state is that of those who fall into sin and get up again; these do I sometimes allow to suffer in their bodies so that they may be saved. The second state is that of those who would gladly live forever to be able to sin forever and who have all of their will and thought directed to the world, and if they do anything for me at any time, they do it with the intention of their worldly possessions growing and prospering. Neither punishment of the body nor very much pain of the heart is given to these people, but instead they are allowed to follow their own power and will, because they will receive a reward here for the least little good they have done for me to then be tormented for all eternity. For since their will to sin is everlasting, their torment shall also be everlasting. The third state is that of those who are more afraid of sinning against me and offending me than they fear any torment. They would rather endure to be tortured with unbearable pain in eternity than consciously provoke me to wrath. Sorrow of body and heart are given to these men, as with Peter and Paul and other saints, so that they may amend for all their sins in this world, or so that they may be chastised for a time for the sake of their greater glory and as an example to others. I have shown this threefold mercy to three persons in this kingdom whose names are well known to you.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">But now, my angel and servant, tell me, for what kind of mercy do you pray for my bride?” He answered: “I pray for the mercy of her soul and body, so that she may amend for all her sins in this world and so that none of her sins may come before your judgment.” Our Lord answered: “May it be done according to your will.” Then he said to the bride: “You are mine and I will do with you as I please. Love nothing as much as me. Purify yourself constantly from sin every hour according to the advice of those I have entrusted you to. Hide no sin! Leave nothing unexamined! Do not consider any sin to be light or worthy of disregard! For anything you forget, I will remind you of and judge. None of the sins you have done will come before my judgment if they are punished and expiated through your penance while you live. But those sins for which you made no penance will be purged either in purgatory or by some secret judgment of mine, unless you make a full satisfaction and amendment for them here in the world.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The words of the Virgin Mother to the bride about the excellence of her Son, and about how Christ is now being crucified more cruelly by his enemies, the evil Christians, than he once was by the Jews, and about how such people will receive a harder and more bitter punishment.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 37</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Queen of Heaven said: “My Son had three good things: The first one was that no one ever had such a beautiful body as he did, since he had two perfect natures, namely, his Divinity and Manhood. His body was so pure that, just as no stain can be found in the clearest of eyes, so not a single defect could be found on his body. The second good was that he never sinned. Other children, however, sometimes bear the sins of their parents and sometimes their own; but he never sinned and yet bore the sins of everyone. The third good was that some men die for the sake of God and to receive a greater reward, but he died just as much for the sake of his enemies as for me and his friends.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">When his enemies crucified him, they did four things to him: First, they crowned him with a crown of thorns. Second, they pierced his hands and feet. Third, they gave him gall to drink. Fourth, they pierced his side. But now I complain that the enemies of my Son, who are now in the world, crucify him more cruelly in a spiritual sense than the Jews who crucified his body. For even though the divinity is unable to suffer and die, still they crucify him through their own vices and sins. For if a man insults and injures an image of his enemy, the image does not feel the damage done to it; nevertheless, the perpetrator should be accused and judged for his evil intention to do harm as though it was a deed. In the same way, the vices and sins by which they crucify my Son spiritually are more abominable and heavy to him than the vices of those who crucified his body.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">But now you may ask: ‘How do they crucify him?’ First off, they fasten him on the cross they have prepared for him when they do not heed the commandments of their Creator and Lord, but dishonor him when he warns them through his servants to serve him, and they despise this and instead do what pleases them. Then they crucify his right hand when they hold justice to be as injustice, saying: ‘Sin is not so heavy and abominable to God as it is said. God does not punish anyone for all eternity; he only threatens us with these hard things to scare us. Why else would he redeem man if he wanted us to perish?’ They do not consider that the least little sin a man finds delight in is enough to damn him to an eternal torment, and that God does not let the least little sin go unpunished, just like he does not let the least little good deed go unrewarded.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Therefore, they shall be tormented for all eternity because of their constant intention of sinning, and my Son, who sees the heart, counts that as a deed. For they would fulfill their will with deeds if my Son tolerated or allowed it. Then they crucify his left hand when they turn virtue into sin and the will to continue in sin until the end, saying: ‘If we just once say at the end of our life, “O God, have mercy on me,” God’s mercy is so great that we will be forgiven.’ But this is not virtue - to want to sin without bettering oneself, and wanting to receive a reward without having to work for it, not unless a real contrition is found in the heart that the man wants to change if only he could do so were it not for illness or some other hindrance.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Thereafter, they crucify his feet when they take pleasure in sinning without once thinking of my Son’s bitter suffering or without once thanking him from their inmost heart with words like these: ‘My Lord and God, how bitter your suffering was, praise and honor be to you for your death’ – such words are never heard from their mouth. They then crown him with the crown of derision when they mock his servants and consider it useless to serve him. They give him gall to drink when they rejoice and glory in sin. And not once does the thought arise in their heart of how grave and manifold and dangerous this sin is. They pierce his side when they have the will to continue in sin.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">In truth, I tell you - and you can say this to my friends - that such people are more unjust in the sight of my Son than those who judged him, more unkind than those who crucified him, more shameless than those who sold him, and they shall therefore receive a greater torment than the others. Pilate knew very well that my Son had not sinned and did not deserve to die. But he, nonetheless, felt compelled to judge my Son to death because he feared the loss of his worldly power and the revolt of the Jews. But what would these have to fear if they served my Son, or what honor or dignity would they lose if they honored him? They will therefore be judged with a more severe sentence than Pilate’s, for they are worse than him in my Son’s sight. For Pilate judged him because of the request and will of others and due to fear, but these judge him for their own advantage and without any fear when they dishonor him by committing the sin that they could abstain from if they wanted. But they do not abstain from sin nor are they ashamed of the sins that they have done, for they do not consider that they are unworthy of the good deeds of the One whom they do not serve.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">They are also worse than Judas, for when Judas had betrayed his Lord, he knew very well that he was God and that he had sinned heavily against him, but he despaired and hastened his days toward hell, thinking himself to be unworthy to live. But these know their sin very well and yet they continue in it without feeling any remorse about it in their hearts. They want to take the kingdom of Heaven with violence and power when they think they can get it, not through their good deeds but through a vain hope, but it is only given to those who work and suffer something for the sake of God.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">They are also worse than those who crucified my Son. For when these saw the good works of my Son, namely, the raising of the dead and the cleansing of leapers, they thought to themselves: ‘This man does unheard of and extraordinary miracles. He overcomes anyone he wants with a word, he knows all our thoughts, and he does whatever he wants. If he is successful, we will all have to submit to his power and become his subjects.’ Therefore, in order to avoid being subjected to him, they crucified him because of their envy. But if they had known that he was the King of glory, they never would have crucified him.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">But these people see his great deeds and miracles everyday, and they take advantage of his good deeds and hear how they should serve him and come to him, but they think to themselves: ‘If we must leave all our temporal belongings and follow his will and not our own, it would be heavy and unbearable.’ They despise his will so that it should not be placed over their own will, and crucify my Son through their hardened heart when they add sin upon sin against their conscience. They are worse than those who crucified my Son, for the Jews did it for the sake of envy and because they did not know that he was God, but these know him to be God, and yet, in their own malice and presumption and greed, they crucify him spiritually more cruelly than the Jews did physically. For they themselves have been redeemed, but the Jews had not yet been redeemed. Therefore, my bride, obey my Son and fear him, for just as he is merciful, he is also just.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The most pleasant conversation of God the Father with the Son, and about how the Father gave the new bride to the Son, and how the Son received her with pleasure to himself, and about how the bridegroom teaches the bride about patience, obedience and simplicity through an example.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 38</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Father spoke to the Son, saying: “I came with love to the Virgin and took your true body from her. You are therefore in me and I in you. Just as fire and heat are never separated, so it is impossible to separate the Divinity from the Manhood.” The Son answered: “May all glory and honor be to you Father; may your will be done in me and mine in you.” The Father answered him again: “Behold, my Son, I am entrusting this new bride to you like a sheep to be guided and educated. As the owner of the sheep, you will get from her cheese to eat and milk to drink and wool to clothe yourself with. But you, bride, should obey him. You have three things you must do: you have to be patient, obedient and willing to do what is good.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Then the Son said to the Father: “Your will with power, power with humility, humility with wisdom, wisdom with mercy; may your will be done, which is and always will be without beginning or end in me. I take her to myself into my love, into your power and into the guidance of the Holy Spirit, which are not three gods but one God.” Then the Son said to his bride: “You have heard how the Father entrusted you to me like a sheep. You must therefore be simpleminded and patient like a sheep and fruitful in producing food and clothing.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Three people are in the world. The first is completely naked, the second is thirsty, and the third is hungry. The first signifies the faith of my Church, and it is naked because everyone is ashamed and afraid to speak of the true faith and of my commandments. And if some people do speak or teach about such things, they are despised and accused of being liars. Therefore, my words which proceed from my mouth, should clothe this faith like wool. For just as wool grows on the body of a sheep by the heat, so too my words proceed from the heat of my Divinity and Manhood to your heart. They will clothe my holy faith with the testimony of truth and wisdom and prove that the faith which is now regarded as vain is true, so that the ones who, up to now, have been lazy in clothing their faith in deeds of love after hearing my words of love, will be converted and enkindled again in order to speak with certitude of faith and act with power.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The second one signifies my friends who have a thirsting desire to make my honor perfect and are saddened at my dishonor. They shall be filled with the sweetness that they heard in my words, and enkindled with a greater love for me, and along with them, others who are now dead in sin, will also be enkindled in my love, when they hear of the mercy I have done with sinners.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The third one signifies those who think thus in their hearts: ‘If only we knew the will of God and how we should live, and if anyone taught us about the good way, we would gladly do what we could for the honor of God.’ These are hungry to get to know my way and will, but no one feeds them, since no one shows them completely what they should do, and if they are shown or taught what to do, no one lives according to the words with their deeds. And for this reason, the words seem as dead to them. Therefore, I myself shall show and teach them what they should do and I will fill them with my sweetness.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">For worldly things, which are seen and desired now almost by everyone, cannot fill mankind but only arouse his desire and greed of the world to win more and more things. But my words and my love will feed men and fill them with an overflowing consolation. Therefore, my bride, who are my sheep, you must take great care to keep your patience and obedience. You are all mine by right and should therefore follow my will. The one who wants to follow the will of another should have three things: First, he should have the same will and opinion as the other; second, have similar deeds; third, he should move away from his enemies. But who are my enemies if not pride and every sin? You should therefore move away from them, if you desire to follow my will.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Christ speaks about how faith, hope and love were found perfectly in him at the moment of his death and are found imperfectly in us wretches.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 39</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Son of God said: “I had three things in my death: First, faith, when I bent my knees and prayed to the Father, knowing that he was able to save me from the suffering. Second, hope, when I steadfastly waited and said: ‘Not as I will.’ Third, love, when I said: ‘Thy will be done.’ I also had bodily agony from the natural fear of suffering when the sweat of blood went out of my body. Thus, in order that my friends should not fear that they are abandoned when the moment of tribulation comes to them, I showed them in myself that the weak flesh always flees from suffering.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">But now you may ask how the sweat of blood went out of my body. Just like the blood of a sick person dries up and is consumed in all his veins, so was my blood consumed by the natural fear of death. My Father wanted to show the way by which Heaven would be opened and the exiled man to be able to enter therein, and therefore he delivered me out of love to my suffering in order that my body would be glorified in honor after the suffering had been fulfilled. For justice did not allow my Manhood to enter into glory without suffering, although I was able to do so by the power of my Divinity.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">How then should those deserve to enter into my glory who have little faith, vain hope, and no love? If they believed in the eternal joy of Heaven and in the horrific torments of hell, they would desire nothing but me. If they believed that I see and know all things and have power over all things and that I demand a judgment over all, they would hate the world, and they would fear more to sin before me than before men. If they had a firm and steadfast hope, then their every thought and desire would be directed toward me. If they had a divine love for me, then they would at least think in their soul about what I did for their sake, how much I labored in preaching, how great my pain was in my suffering and how great my love was at my death when I preferred to die rather than to lose and forsake them.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">But their faith is sick and wavering, threatening to fall soon, because they believe only when suffering and temptation does not attack them, and they lose their hope as soon as they are met with adversity. Their hope is vain, because they hope that their sin will be forgiven without justice and a right judgment. They hope with self-reliance to receive the kingdom of Heaven for nothing and wish to receive my mercy without the severity of justice. Their love for me is completely cold, for they are never enkindled in seeking or calling me unless they are forced to it by tribulation. How can I be warmed by such people who have neither a right faith nor a firm hope nor a burning love for me?</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">And therefore, when they cry out to me and say ‘O God, have mercy on me’, they do not deserve to be heard or to enter into my glory since they did not want to follow their Lord in suffering, and, therefore, they should not follow him to the glory. For no knight can please his Lord and be taken back into his mercy after his fall, unless he first humbles himself in penance for his contempt.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Our Creator asks three questions of his bride. The first is about the servitude of the husband and the dominion of the wife; the second about the work of the husband and the spending of the wife; and the third about the contempt of the Lord and the honoring of the servant.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 40</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“I am your Creator and Lord. Answer me on the three things I am going to ask you. How is the state of the house where the wife is dressed like a lady and her husband like a slave? Is this right? She answered in her conscience: “No Lord, it is not right.” Our Lord said: “I am the Lord of all things and the King of angels. I dressed my servant, namely, my Manhood, with only usefulness and necessity, for I desired nothing from this world except meager food and clothing. But you, who are my bride, want to live like a lady, and wish to have wealth and honor and be held in honor. What is the benefit of all these things? All things are indeed vanity and all things must be left. Mankind was not created for any superfluity but only to have what the necessity of nature requires. This superfluity was invented by pride and it is now held and loved as the law.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Second, tell me if it is right for the man to work from morning to evening and then for the wife to spend everything that has been gathered in a single hour?” She answered: “No, this is not right; the wife is instead obliged to live and act after the will of her man.” Our Lord said: “I acted like the man who works from morning to evening, for from my youth up to the time of my suffering, I worked in showing the way to Heaven by preaching and by fulfilling what I preached with deeds. But the wife, that is, the soul, who should be like my wife, wastes all my work when she lives frivolously so that nothing of what I have done and suffered for her sake can benefit her; nor do I find any virtue in her in which I can delight in.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Third, tell me, is it not wrong and abominable for the master of the house to be despised and for the slave to be honored?” She answered: “Yes, it indeed is.” Our Lord said: “I am the Lord of all things. My house is the world, and mankind should, by right, be my servant. But I, the Lord, am now despised in the world and the man honored. Therefore shall you, whom I have chosen, take care to do my will, because everything in the world is nothing but sea foam and a false dream.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Our beloved Creator’s words in the presence of the heavenly host and the bride, in which he complains about five men signifying the pope and his clergy, the evil laity, the Jews and the heathens; and also about the help he sends to his friends, signifying all mankind, and about the harsh judgment he executes on his enemies.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 41</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“I am the Creator of all things. I was born of the Father before Lucifer. I am inseparably in the Father and the Father in me and one Spirit in us both. Accordingly, there is one God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - and not three gods. I am the one who promised the eternal inheritance to Abraham and led my people out of Egypt through Moses. I am the one who spoke through the prophets. The Father sent me to the womb of the Virgin without separating himself from me but remaining inseparably with me so that mankind, who had abandoned God, would return to God through my love.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">But now, in your presence, my heavenly host, although you see and know all things in me, yet for the sake of the knowledge and teaching of my bride standing here, who cannot understand spiritual things except through a corporal parable, I make a complaint before you over these five men who are standing here, for they provoke me to wrath in many ways. Just as I, once, in the Law, with the name of Israel, signified the whole Israelite nation, so now by these five men I signify every man in the world.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The first man signifies the leader of the Church and his priests; the second, the evil laity; the third, the Jews; the fourth, the heathens; and the fifth, my friends. But from you, Jew, I exclude all the Jews who are Christians in secret and who serve me secretly in a pure love, a right faith, and a perfect deed. And from you, heathen, I exclude all those who would gladly walk in the way of my commandments, if they only knew and were taught how they should walk and live, and who with their deeds do as much as they know and are able. These shall by no means be judged with you. I now complain over you, o head of my Church, who sit on my seat which I gave to Peter and his successors to sit on with a threefold dignity and power: First, so that they would have the power of binding and loosing souls from their sins. Second, so that they would open Heaven for the penitent. Third, so that that they would close Heaven to the damned and to those who despise my Law. But you, who should be healing souls and presenting them to me, you are in truth a murderer of souls. I appointed Peter as shepherd and guardian of my sheep. But you, however, scatter and wound them. You are worse than Lucifer. For he was envious of me and desired to kill none but me so that he could rule in my place. But you are so much worse, for you do not only kill me by driving me off from yourself by your bad deeds, but you also kill souls by your bad example. I redeemed the souls with my blood and entrusted them to you as to a faithful friend, but you deliver them back again to the enemy from whom I redeemed them. You are more unrighteous than Pilate. He judged no one else but me to death, but you not only judge me as if I were a powerless lord and worthy of no good thing, no, you also judge and condemn the souls of the innocent and let the guilty go free without any rebuke. You are more cruel than Judas who only sold me, but you not only sell me, but also the souls of my chosen men for your own shameful profit and vain name’s sake. You are more despicable than the Jews, for they only crucified my body, but you crucify and torture the souls of my chosen men for whom your malice and your sins are more bitter than from any wound from a sword. And so, since you are like Lucifer and more unrighteous than Pilate and more cruel than Judas and more despicable than the Jews, I complain over you with justice.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">To the second man, that is, to the laity, our Lord said: “I created all things for your benefit. You gave your consent to me and I to you. You gave me your faith and promised by oath that you would serve me. But now, you have deserted me like a man who does not know his God. You hold my words for a lie and my deeds as vanity, and you say that my will and my commandments are too heavy. You have violated the faith you promised me. You have broken your oath and abandoned my name. You have separated yourself from the number of my saints and have come to belong to the number of the devils and you have become their friend. You think that no one is worthy of praise and honor but yourself. Everything that belongs to me and that you are bound to do for me appears heavy and bitter for you, but the things that please yourself are very easy for you. Therefore, I complain over you with right, for you have broken the faith you gave me in baptism and later; and for the love I have shown you in word and deed, you mock me and call me a liar, and for my suffering you call me a fool.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">To the third man, that is, to the Jews, he said: “I began my deed of love with you and I chose you as my people. I led you out of slavery, I gave you my Law, I brought you into the land I had promised your fathers, and I sent you prophets to console you. Thereafter, I chose a virgin for myself from among you from which I assumed Manhood. But now I complain over you since you do not want not believe in me, but say: ‘The Christ has not yet come; he is still to be expected.’ ”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Our Lord said to the fourth man, that is, to the heathens: “I created and redeemed you like the Christian man, and I created all good things for your sake. But you are like a man out of his senses, because you do not know what you are doing. You are also like a blind man, because you do not see where you are going. You honor and worship the created things instead of the Creator, and the false instead of the true, and you bend your knee before things that have less worth than yourself. That is why I complain about you.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">To the fifth man, he said: “My friend, come closer!” And he directly said to the heavenly host: “My beloved friends, I have a friend with which I signify and mean many friends. He is like a man trapped among evil people and harshly shackled in captivity. If he speaks the truth, they beat his mouth with stones. If he does something good, they thrust a spear into his breast. Alas, my friends and saints, how long shall I endure such men, and how long shall I tolerate such contempt?”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Saint John the Baptist answered: “You are like the most pure mirror, for we see and know all things in you as in a mirror without any help of words and speech. You are the sweetness that no one can describe in which we taste all good things. You are like the sharpest of swords for you judge in righteousness.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Our Lord answered him: “Indeed, my friend, you said the truth, for my chosen men see all goodness and righteousness in me, and even the evil spirits see it in their own conscience but not in the light. Just like a man placed in a dark prison, who had earlier learned the letters, knows that which he had learned before even though he is in darkness and currently cannot see, so it is with the devils. Even though they do not see my righteousness in the light of my clarity, they still know and see it in their conscience. I am also like a sword that separates things into two parts. In this way I give each and every person what they deserve.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Then Our Lord said to Saint Peter: “You are the founder and defender of the faith and of my Church. While my host is listening, state the sentence of the five men!” Peter answered: “O Lord, all praise and honor to you, for the love you have shown to your earth. Blessed be you by all your host, for you allow us to see and know all things in you that have been and will be, and that is why we see and know all things in you. It is true justice that the first man who sits upon your seat, while having the deeds of Lucifer, should shamefully lose the seat he dared to sit on and become a partaker in the torment of Lucifer. The right judgment of the second man is that he, who has fallen away from your faith, should fall down to hell with his head down and feet up, for he loved himself and despised you who should have been his head. The right judgment of the third man is that he will not see your face and that he should be tormented for his malice and greed, since unbelievers do not deserve to see your glory and beauty. The right judgment of the fourth is that he should be locked up like a man out of his senses and banished to the city of darkness. The right judgment of the fifth is that help should be sent to him.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Then our Lord answered: “I swear by God the Father, whose voice John the Baptist heard in the Jordan; I swear by the body which John baptized, saw, and touched in the Jordan; I swear by the Holy Spirit who revealed himself in the form of a dove at the Jordan, that I shall do justice with these five men.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Then our Lord said to the first of these five men: “The sword of my severity will go into your body; it shall enter at the top of your head and penetrate you so deeply and violently that it can never be drawn out. Your chair will sink like a heavy stone and never stop before it comes to the lowest of depths. Your fingers, that is, your assistants and advisers, will burn in the inextinguishable sulfurous fire. Your arms, that is, your office-holders, who should have reached out for the help and benefit of souls but instead reached out for worldly honor and profit, will be judged to the torment and suffering of which David speaks: ‘His sons shall be fatherless and his wife a widow and others shall take his property.’ Who is ‘his wife’ if not the soul which shall be excluded from the glory of Heaven and be widowed and lose God? ‘His sons’, that is, the virtues they appeared to have, and my simple and humble men who were under them, shall be separated from them. Their honor and property will be given to others, and they will inherit eternal shame instead of their dignity and glory. Their headgear will sink down into the filth of hell, and they will never be able to get up out of it. Just as they rose above others through their honor and pride, so in hell they will sink so much deeper than others so that it will be impossible for them to ever stand up again. Their limbs, that is, all the priests who followed and helped them in wickedness, will be cut off from them and severed just like the wall that is torn down where not a single stone is left upon another stone and the cement no longer adheres to the stones. No mercy will come to them, for my love will never warm them nor restore or build them up into an eternal house in Heaven, but instead they shall be excluded from all good and endlessly tormented with their headmen and leaders.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">But to the second I say: Since you do not want to keep the faith you promised me and have love toward me, I shall send an animal to you that will rise from the surging torrent, and it shall swallow you. Like the torrent always flows downward, so this animal will drag you down to the lowest hell, and just like it is impossible for you to travel upstream against the surging torrent, it will be just as hard for you to ever ascend from hell.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">To the third I say: Since you, Jew, do not want to believe that I have come, you will see me when I come on judgment day, but not in my glory but in your conscience, and you will come to know that all the things I said were true. Then there is nothing left for you but to be tormented as you deserve.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">To the fourth I say: Since you do not care to believe and do not want to know me, your darkness will become light for you, and your heart will be enlightened so that you may know that my judgments are true, but you will still not come to the light.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">To the fifth I say: I shall do three things to you. First, I shall fill you inwardly with my fervor. Second, I shall make your mouth harder and firmer than any stone, so that the stones turn back to the ones throwing them at you. Third, I shall arm you with my weapons so well that no spear will harm you but instead everything will melt before you like wax in the heat of the fire. Be therefore made strong and stand like a man. For just like a knight in battle who hopes for help of his lord and continues fighting as long as he still has some life-force in him, so may you too stand firm and fight like a man; for the Lord, your God, whom none are able to withstand, will give you help. And since your number is small, I will honor you and multiply you greatly. Behold, my friends, you see these things and know them in me, and in this way they stand before me.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The words I have now spoken will be fulfilled. But these other men shall never enter my kingdom, as long as I am King, unless they better themselves. For Heaven will only be given to those who humble themselves and to those who mourn over their sins with penance.” Then all the host answered: “Praise be to you, Lord God, who are without beginning and without end.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Virgin Mary’s words of advice to the bride about how she should love her Son above all things, and about how every virtue and gift of grace is contained in the glorious Virgin.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 42</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Mother of God spoke: “I had three things by which I pleased my Son: First, humility in such a way that no created creature, whether angel or man, was more humble than I. Second, I had obedience, for I strove to obey my Son in all things. Third, I had a special charity.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">For this reason I am honored threefold by my Son: First, I have been made more honorable than angels and men, so that there is no virtue in God that does not shine in me, even though he is the source and beginning of all virtues and the Creator of all things; but I, however, am the creature to whom he has given more grace than all others. Second, for my obedience I received such power that there is no sinner so unclean that he will not receive forgiveness if he turns to me with a will and purpose of amendment and a contrite heart for his sins. Third, for my charity, God is so close to me that the one who sees God sees me, and the one who sees me can see the Divinity and the Manhood in me and me in God as though in a mirror. For the one who sees God, sees three persons in him, and the one who sees me, sees, as it were, three persons. For the Divinity enclosed me in soul and body in himself and filled me with every virtue, so that there is no virtue in God that does not shine and appear in me, although God himself is the Father and giver of all virtues. For as it is with two bodies joined together, that whatever one body receives the other body also receives, so God has done with me.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">There is no sweetness that is not found in me. It is like someone who has a sweet nut and gives a part of it to another. My soul and body are clearer than the sun and purer than a mirror, and just as three persons would be seen in the mirror if they stood near it, so the Father and Son and Holy Spirit may also be seen in my purity since I once had my Son in my womb with his Divinity. He is now seen in me with his Divinity and Manhood as in a mirror, for I have been glorified with the honor and glory of the resurrection. Therefore may you, my Son’s bride, strive to follow my humility and love nothing but my Son.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The words of the Son to his bride about how people may rise up from a small good deed to the highest good and fall down from a small evil to the greatest punishment and torment.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 43</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Son of God said to his bride: “A great reward sometimes arises from a little good. The date-palm has a wonderful smell, and in its fruit there is a stone. If it is planted in rich soil, it feels well, blossoms and makes good fruit and grows into a great tree. But if it is planted in dry soil, it dries out. Very dry and empty of all goodness is the soil that delights in sin, and it does not become better even if the seed of the virtues is sown in there. But rich is the soil of the mind that understands and confesses its sin and cries over their sin which has provoked their Creator to anger. If the date-stone, that is, if the thought of my severe judgment and power is sown in such a mind, it immediately strikes three roots in the mind.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The first one is that he thinks about how he can do nothing without my help, and for this reason he opens his mouth in prayer to me. The second is that he begins to give some small alms to me for the sake of my honor. The third is that he separates himself from worldly affairs in order to better serve me. He then begins to restrain himself from superfluities through daily fasting and abstains from and denies his own will and lust, and this is the trunk of the tree.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">After this, the branches of love grow when he leads and draws everyone he can toward the good. Then the fruit grows when he also instructs others in goodness as much as he can and with all piety tries to find ways of increasing my honor. Such a fruit is the best one and most pleasing to me. And so, from a small good, man rises up to perfection. When he first takes root through a little piety, the body grows through abstinence, the branches are multiplied through charity and the fruit is increased through preaching.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">In the same way, a man falls down from a small evil to the greatest damnation and torment. Do you know what the heaviest burden is for the things that grow? Surely it is the child who is conceived but cannot be born and dies inside the womb of the mother. And because of this the mother also ruptures and dies, and the father carries her and the child to the grave and buries her with the rotting fetus. This is what the devil does to the soul. The iniquitous soul is indeed like the wife of the devil: she follows his will in everything, and she conceives a child with the devil when sin pleases her and she rejoices in it.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">For just as a mother conceives a child and bears fruit through the little seed that is nothing but an unclean rottenness, so too, the soul bears much fruit for the devil when she delights in sin. Thereafter, the strength and limbs of the body get formed as sin gets added to sin and increases daily. When the sins increase, the mother swells up and wants to give birth, but cannot, since her nature is consumed in sin, and her life becomes detestable. She would gladly desire to sin even more, but she cannot, and it is not allowed by God.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Then the fear arrives because she cannot fulfill her will, and her strength and joy are gone. Pain and sorrow are everywhere. While she is now despairing of being able to do any good thing or any good deed, her womb ruptures, and she dies while blaspheming and insulting God’s judgment and punishment. Then she is dragged by her father, the devil, down to the grave of hell where she is buried for all eternity with the rot of her sin and the child of her evil lust. Behold how sin increases from a small evil and grows unto damnation.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Creator’s words to his bride about how he is now despised and reproached by men who pay no attention to what he did in love for them, when he admonished them through the prophets and suffered for their sake, and about how they do not care about the anger he exercised against the stubborn by punishing them severely.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 44</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“I am the Creator and Lord of all things. I created the world and the world despises me. I hear a voice from the world like that of a bumblebee who gathers honey on the earth. For when a bumblebee is flying and begins to land on the ground, it emits a very raspy voice. I now hear this raspy and ignorant voice in the world, saying: ‘I do not care what comes after this.’ In truth, now everyone is shouting: ‘I do not care what comes after this and may I have my own will!’</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Indeed, mankind does not care about what I did for the sake of love by preaching and suffering for them and by admonishing them through the prophets, and they do not care about what I did in my anger by executing my vengeance upon the evil and disobedient. They see that they are mortal and that death can strike them unexpectedly, but they do not care. They hear and see my justice which I exercised on Pharaoh and on Sodom for the sake of sin, and how I execute vengeance on other kings and rulers, and how I daily allow it to happen through the sword and other afflictions, but it is as if they were blind to all these things.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">And for this reason they fly like bumblebees wherever they desire, and sometimes they fly as if they were jumping and running, for they exalt themselves in their pride, but they come down quickly by returning to their lust and gluttony. They also gather sweetness for themselves from the earth, for man works and gathers for the needs of the body and not for the soul, and for worldly honor but not the eternal. They transform the temporal things into a suffering for themselves, and what is useless, into eternal torment. But, for the sake of the prayers of my Mother, I will send my clear voice to these bumblebees, from which my friends are excluded (for they are in the world only in body), and it shall preach mercy. If they will listen to it, they will be saved.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The answer of the Virgin Mother and the angels, the prophets, the apostles, and the devils to God, in the presence of the bride, testifying about his many virtues and his perfection in creation, incarnation and redemption, and about how evil men nowadays contradict all these things, and about the severe judgment they receive.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 45</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Mother of God said: “Bride of my Son, clothe yourself and stand firm, for my Son is approaching you. His flesh was pressed as in a winepress. For since mankind sinned in all limbs, my Son made atonement in all his limbs. His hair was pulled out, his sinews extended, his joints were dislocated, his bones mangled, and his hands and feet were pierced through. His mind was saddened, his heart afflicted by sorrow, his intestines was forced in toward his back, for mankind had sinned in all limbs.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Then the Son spoke, while the heavenly host was present, and he said: “Although you know all things in me, still I speak for the sake of my bride standing here. I ask you, angels: What is it that was without beginning and shall be without end? And what is it that created everything and was created by none? Proclaim it and give your testimony!” All the angels answered as with one voice and said: “Lord, it is you. We give testimony to you about three things: First, that you are our Creator and that you created all things in Heaven and on earth. Second, that you are without beginning and will be without end, and your kingdom and power will stand for all eternity. Without you nothing has been created and without you nothing can be created. Third, we testify that we see all justice in you and all the things that have been and will be, and all things are present to you without beginning or end.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Then he said to the prophets and patriarchs: “I ask you: Who brought you out of slavery into freedom? Who divided the waters for you? Who gave you the Law? Who gave you the prophetic spirit to speak about future things?” They answered him, saying: “You, Lord. You brought us out of slavery. You gave us the Law. You moved our spirit to speak and prophesy about future things.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Then he said to his Mother: “Give true testimony about what you know of me.” She answered: “Before the angel, whom you sent, came to me, I was alone in soul and body. But after the angel’s words, your body was within me with Divinity and Manhood, and I felt your body in my body. I bore you without pain and suffering. I gave birth to you without anguish and travail. I wrapped you in poor clothes and I fed you with my milk. I was with you from your birth until your death.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Thereafter he said to the apostles: “Say who it was that you saw, heard, and touched?” They answered: “We heard your words and wrote them down. We heard and saw the great works that you did when you gave us the New Law. You commanded the demons with one word to leave humans and they obeyed you and went out, and with your word you raised the dead and healed the sick. We saw you in a human body. We saw your great power and divine glory with your human nature. We saw you handed over to your enemies and we saw you hanging on the cross. We saw you suffer the most bitter pain and we saw you be laid in the grave. We touched you when you were raised from the dead. We touched your hair and your face. We touched the place of your wounds and your limbs. You ate with us and you gave us your eloquence. You are truly the Son of God and the Son of the Virgin. We also observed when you ascended with your Manhood to the right hand of the Father where you now are and will be without end.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Then God said to the unclean demon spirits: “Although you hide the truth in your conscience, still I now command you to say the truth about who it was that reduced your power.” They answered him: “Just like thieves do not tell the truth unless their feet are pressed in the hard wood, so we do not speak the truth unless we are forced by your divine and formidable power. You are the one who, with your power, descended into hell. You reduced our power in the world. You took out from hell what was yours by right, namely, your friends.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Then our Lord said: “Behold, all those who have a spirit and are not clothed in a body, bear witness to the truth for me. But those who have a spirit and a body, namely humans, contradict me. Some know the truth of me but do not care about it. Others do not know it and, therefore, they do not care about it but say it is all false.” He again said to the angels: “They say that your witness is false, that I am not the Creator of all things and that all things are not known in me. Therefore, they love the created things more than me, who am the Creator.” He said to the prophets: “They contradict you and say that the Law is useless, that you can be saved through your own power and wisdom, that the spirit was false and that you spoke according to your own will.” He said to his Mother: “Some say that you are not a Virgin and others, that I did not take a body from you. Others know it but do not care about it.” He said to the apostles: “They contradict you, for they say that you are liars and that the New Law is irrational and useless. Others believe it to be true but do not care about it. I ask you now: Who will be their judge?”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">They all answered him, saying: “You, God, who are without beginning and without end. You, Jesus Christ, who are with the Father, to you is all judgment given by the Father; you are their judge.” Our Lord answered: “I who grieved for them am now their judge. But even though I know and can do all things, still, give me your judgment over them.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">They answered him: “Just as the whole world perished once at the beginning of the world in Noah’s flood, so too now the world deserves to perish by fire, since the wickedness and injustice are much greater now than what it was then.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Then our Lord answered: “Since I am just and merciful, I shall make no judgment without mercy nor mercy without justice, and therefore, I will once more send my mercy to the world for the sake of the prayers of my Mother and my saints. But if they do not want to listen, the most severe and harsh justice will follow and come to them.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The words of praise of the Mother and the Son to each other in the presence of the bride, and about how Christ is now regarded as shameful, dishonest, and despicable by people, and about the horrifying and eternal damnation of these people.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 46</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Queen of Heaven spoke to her Son and said: “Blessed be you my God, who are without beginning and without end. You had the most noble and beautiful body. You were the most brave and virtuous man. You are the most worthy creature.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Son answered: “The words proceeding from your mouth are sweet to me and delight my inmost heart like the sweetest drink. You are more sweet to me than any other creature in existence. For just as different faces can be seen in a mirror by a person but none pleases him more than his own, so too, even though I love my saints, I love you with a special love, because I was born from your blessed flesh. You are like myrrh whose fragrance ascended up to the Divinity and led the Divinity to your body. This same fragrance drew your body and soul up to God, where you now are with soul and body. Blessed be you, for the angels rejoice in your beauty and all are saved by your virtue and power when they call on you with a sincere heart. All the demons tremble in your light and do not dare to stay in your splendor, for they always want to be in darkness.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">You gave praise to me for a threefold reason, for you said that I had the most noble body; second, that I was the most brave man; and third, you said that I was the most worthy creature. These three things are only contradicted by those who have a body and soul, that is, human beings. They say that I have a shameful body and that I am the most despicable man and the lowliest of creatures. For what is more shameful than to tempt others to sin? For they claim that my body tempts to sin when they say that sin is not as abominable or displeasing to God as much as is said. They say that nothing exists unless God wants it to be so and that nothing is created but by him. ‘Why should we not use the created things to our benefit? Our natural frailty demands it and this is how everyone has lived before us and still do live.’ This is how people now speak about me and my Manhood, in which I, the true God, appeared among men. For I advised them to abstain from sinning and showed what a serious and grave matter it is, and this they say was shameful, as if I had advised them to do something useless and shameful. They say that nothing is honorable but sin and that which pleases their will.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">They also say that I am the most shameful man. For what is more shameful than someone who, when he speaks the truth, gets his mouth beaten with stones and gets hit in the face and, on top of that, hears people insulting him, saying: ‘If he were a man, he would revenge himself over such an injustice.’ This is what they do to me. I speak to them through the learned fathers and Holy Scripture, but they say that I lie. They beat my mouth with stones and their fists when they commit adultery, murder, and lying, saying: ‘If he were manly, if he were the almighty God, he would revenge himself for such sins and transgressions.’ But I endure this with patience, and everyday I hear them saying that the torment is neither eternal nor as severe and bitter as it is said, and my words are judged and said to be lies.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Third, they judge me to be the most ugly and worthless creature. For what is more worthless in the house than a dog or a cat that someone would be glad to exchange for a horse, if he could? But mankind holds me to be of less worth than a dog, for he would not wish to take me if it meant that he would lose the dog, and he would reject and deny me before losing the dog’s hide. What is the thing that pleases the mind so little that one does not think of it and desires it more fervently than me? For if they regarded me more worthy than any other created creature, they would love me more than other things. But now they have nothing so small that they do not love it more than me. They grieve over everything but me. They grieve for their own and their friends’ losses. They grieve for an injurious word. They grieve over offending or hurting people more highly placed and powerful than they, but they do not grieve about offending or hurting me, who am the Creator of all things. What man is so despicable that he is not listened to if he begs about something and is not given a gift in return if he has given something? But I am utterly vile and despicable in their eyes, for they do not consider me worthy of any good, even though I have given them all good things.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">But you, my most dear Mother, have tasted more of my wisdom than others, and never has anything but the truth ever left your mouth, just as nothing but the truth has ever left my own mouth. I will now justify myself in the sight of all the saints. First, against him, who said that I had a shameful body. I shall prove that I indeed have the most noble body without deformity or sin, and he shall fall into eternal shame and reproach which all will see. To the one who said that my words were a lie and that he did not know if I was God or not, I shall prove that I truly am God, and he will flow down like mud to hell. But the third, who regarded me as useless, I shall judge to eternal damnation so that he will never see my glory and my joy.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Thereafter he said to his bride: “Stand firm in my service. You have come to a wall, as it were, in which you are enclosed, so that you cannot flee nor dig through its foundations. Endure this small tribulation willingly, and you will experience eternal rest in my arms. You know the will of the Father, you hear the words of the Son, you feel my Spirit, and you have delight and consolation in the conversation with my Mother and my saints. Therefore, stand firm, or else you will come to feel my justice by which you will be forced to do what I am now kindly urging you to do.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Our Lord’s words to his bride about the contempt of the New Law, and about how that same Law is now rejected and despised by the world, and about how bad priests are not God’s priests but God’s betrayers, and about the punishment and damnation they receive.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 47</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“I am the God who in ancient days was called the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. I am the God who gave the Law to Moses. This law was like clothing. For as a mother with her child in the womb prepares her infant’s clothing, so too I, God, prepared the New Law, for the Old Law was nothing but the clothing and shadow and sign of future things to come. I clothed and wrapped myself in the clothing of this Law. And then when a boy grows up somewhat, his old clothes are laid down and new clothes are taken up. In this way, I fulfilled the Old Law when I put aside the used clothing of the Old Law, and assumed the new clothing, that is, the New Law, and I gave this clothing and myself to everyone who wanted to have it. This clothing is not very tight nor difficult to wear but is well suited everywhere. For my Law does not order people to fast or work too much nor to kill themselves or to do anything beyond the limits of possibility, but it is beneficial for the soul and conducive to the restraining, mortification, and chastisement of the body. For when the body gets too attached to sin, then sin consumes the body.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Two things are found in the New Law: First, a prudent temperance in soul and body and the right use of all things. Second, a readiness for heeding and keeping the Law; for the person who cannot endure to stay in one thing can stand in another. Hereby follows that a person who cannot endure to be a virgin can live in an honorable marriage, and he who falls into sin may get up again and better himself.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">But this Law is now rejected and despised by the world. For they say that the Law is narrow, heavy, and ugly. They say it is narrow, for the Law orders one to be satisfied with the necessary and to flee the superfluous. But they want to have all things without reason like senseless cattle and above the necessity of the body, and that is why the Law is too narrow for them. Second, they say it is heavy, because the Law says that one should have enjoyment with reasonable temperance and at established times. But they want to fulfill their lust more than what is good and more than what is established. Third, they say it is unsightly, because the Law bids them to love humility and to accredit every good to God. But they want to be proud and exalt themselves for the good things that God has given them, and that is why the Law seems ugly and vain to them.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">See how despised and maltreated my clothes are. I fulfilled everything in the Old Law before I began the New Law. For the Old Law was too difficult, and my intention was that the New Law should remain until I came in judgment. But they shamefully threw away the clothing with which I covered the soul, that is, the right faith. And above this, they add sin to sin, since they also want to betray me. Does not David say in the psalm: ‘He who ate my bread thought treason against me’? In these words I want you to note two things. First, he does not say “thinks” but “thought”, as if it had already happened. Second, he denotes one man as a betrayer. But I say that it is those who are now present who betray me, not those who have been or who will come, but those who are now alive. I also say that it is not only one man but many.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">But now you may ask me: ‘Are there not two kinds of bread, one invisible and spiritual, of which angels and saints live, and the other earthly, by which men are fed? But angels and saints do not want anything other than that which is according to your will, and men can do nothing other than that which pleases you. How, then, can they betray you?’</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">I will answer you in the presence of my heavenly host who knows and sees all things in me, but I say this for your sake so that you may understand: There are indeed two kinds of bread. One is that of the angels who eat my bread in my kingdom so that they may be filled with my indescribable joy. They do not betray me, since they want nothing other than what I want. But those who betray me are the ones who eat my bread at the altar. I truly am that bread. This bread has three characteristics: form, flavor, and roundness. I am indeed the Bread. And, like the bread, I have three things in me: flavor, form, and roundness. I have flavor, for just as all food is tasteless without bread and gives no strength, so without me, everything that exists is tasteless, powerless, and vain. I have also the form of the bread, since I am of the earth. I was born of the Virgin Mother, and my Mother is of Adam, and Adam is of the earth. I have also roundness wherein there is no end or beginning, since I am without beginning and without end. And no one is able to see or find an end or beginning in my wisdom, power, or charity. I am in all things, over all things, and outside of all things. Even if someone were to fly like the fastest arrow perpetually without end, he would still never find an end or a limit to my power and virtue on account of these three things: namely, flavor, form, and roundness. I am that bread that is seen and touched on the altar and is transformed into my body that was crucified. For just as a dry and easily inflammable piece of wood is quickly consumed if it is placed on the fire, and nothing remains of the wood but all of it is fire, so when these words are said, ‘This is my body,’ that which before was bread instantly becomes my body, but is not inflamed by fire like wood but by my Divinity.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">That is why those who eat my bread betray me. What murder could be more unmanly and abhorrent than when someone kills himself? And what betrayal is worse than when two are joined by an indissoluble bond, and one betrays the other, as is the case of married people? But what does the man do in order to betray his wife? Indeed, he insincerely says to her: ‘Let us go to such and such a place so I can fulfill my will with you.’ She goes with him in true simplicity, ready for her husband’s every wish. But when he finds the proper time and place, he brings against her three means of betrayal: Either something so heavy that it kills her with one blow, or something so sharp that it cuts right through her intestines, or something to smother the spirit of life in her directly. Then, when she is dead, the betrayer thinks to himself: ‘Now I have done wrong. If my crime becomes known publicly, I will be judged to death.’ Therefore, he goes and lays his dead wife’s body in some hidden place, so that his sin may not be revealed.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">This is what the priests who are my betrayers do to me. For they and I are joined together by a single bond when they take the bread and pronounce the words that change it into my true body, which I assumed from the Virgin. No angel could do this, for I gave this dignity to priests alone and elected them for the highest office. But now they act towards me like betrayers, for they show me a happy and kind face and lead me to a hidden place to betray me. These priests show me a happy face when they appear to be good and simple, and they treacherously lead me to a hidden place when they approach the altar. There I am ready like a bride or bridegroom to do all of their will, but they betray me.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">First they lay something heavy over me when the divine office, which they say for me, is heavy and burdensome to them. They would rather speak a hundred words for the honor of the world than one for my honor. They would rather give a hundred coins of gold for the glory of the world than one penny for my sake. They would rather work a hundred times for their own benefit and that of the world than once for my honor. They press me down with this heavy burden, so that it is as though I am dead in their hearts. Second, they pierce me with a sharp blade that penetrates the intestines whenever the priest goes to the altar with the knowledge that he has sinned and repented, but yet is firmly resolved to sin again when his office is done, thinking thus to himself: ‘I truly repent of my sin, but I will not give up the woman with whom I have sinned so that I may not be able to sin any longer with her.’ These priests pierce me with the sharpest blade. Third, they smother the spirit when they think inwardly to themselves in this way: ‘It is good and delightful to be with the world and good to live in lust and I cannot restrain myself. I will do my will in my youth; when I grow old, I will become restrained and better myself.’ And by this wretched thought the spirit of life is smothered.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">But now you may ask how their hearts becomes so cold and tepid toward me and everything good so that they can never be warmed or rise again to my love. Just as ice cannot catch fire even if it is laid on the fire, but only melts into water, so too, even if I give them my grace and they hear my words of admonishment, they cannot rise up to the warmth of life, but wither and fade away from everything good.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">See how they betray me in that they show themselves to be simple without being so, and are burdened and depressed of my honor, which they instead should delight and rejoice in, and also in that their will is to sin and to continue in sin until the end. They conceal me and place me in a hidden place, when they think to themselves: ‘I know I have sinned greatly, but if I refrain from my office, everyone will reproach and condemn me as evil.’ And so they shamelessly go up to the altar and place me before them and touch me, who am true God and true man. I am as it were in a hidden place with them, since no one knows or sees how evil and abominable they are. I, true God and man, lie there as in a hidden place, for even if the worst priest said the words “This is my body,” he still consecrates my true body, and I, true God and true man, would lie there before him. But when he puts my body to his mouth, then I am no longer present to him through the grace of my Divinity and Manhood; only the form and flavor of bread remain for him, but not because I am not truly present for the evil as with the good due to the office of the sacrament, but because the evil and good do not gain the same benefit or perfection from my body. Behold how these priests are not my priests but true betrayers, since they sell and betray me like Judas. I observe the pagans and the Jews, but I do not see anyone worse than these priests, for they are in the same sin that made Lucifer fall from Heaven.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">But now I will also tell you their judgment and whom they are like. Their judgment is damnation. David condemned those who were disobedient to God, and because he was a righteous prophet and king, he did not condemn out of wrath or bad will or impatience, but out of divine justice. So do I too, who am better than David, condemn those who are now priests, not out of wrath or bad will but out of justice.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Accursed be therefore everything of what they take from the earth for their own benefit, for they do not praise their God and Creator who has given them this. Accursed be their food and drink that enters their mouths and nourishes their bodies to become food for worms and destines their souls for hell. Accursed be their bodies that will rise again in hell to suffer and burn for all eternity. Accursed be the years in which they lived uselessly. Accursed be the moment that begins hell for them and that never will end. Accursed be their eyes with which they saw the light of Heaven. Accursed be their ears with which they heard my words and did not care. Accursed be their taste with which they tasted my gifts. Accursed be their touch with which they touched me. Accursed be their smell with which they smelled the delightful things of the world and forgot me, the most delightful of all.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">But now you may ask: How will they be accursed spiritually? Well, their sight will be accursed, because they shall not see the vision of God in himself but only the darkness and sufferings of hell. Their ears will be accursed, because they shall not hear my words but only the screams and horrors of hell. Their taste will be accursed, because they shall not taste my eternal goods and joy but only eternal bitterness. Their touch will be accursed, because they shall not touch me but only eternal fire in hell. Their smell will be accursed, because they shall not smell the sweet smell of my kingdom that surpasses all sweet scents, but only have the foul stench of hell which is more bitter than bile and worse than sulfur. They shall be accursed by Heaven and earth and all brute creatures, for these obey God and glorify him, whereas they reject him.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Therefore, I who am the Truth, swear in my truth, that if they die like this and in such a disposition that they are in now, neither my love nor my virtue will ever encompass them, but instead, they will be damned for all eternity, and not only priests, but also everyone who rejects the commandments of God!</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">About how, in the presence of the heavenly host and of the bride, the Divinity spoke to the Manhood against the Christians, just as God spoke to Moses against the people of Israel, and about how damned priests love the world and despise Christ, and about their condemnation and damnation.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 48</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">A great host was seen in Heaven and God said to it: “My friends, who know and understand and see all things in me, I am speaking in your presence, for the sake of my bride standing here, like someone who speaks to himself, for in this way does my Divinity converse with my Humanity. Moses was with God on the mountain forty days and nights, and when the people saw that he had been gone so long, they took gold and threw it into the fire and shaped a calf out of it, calling it their god.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Then God said to Moses: ‘The people have sinned. I will wipe them out, just like something written is erased from a book.’ Moses answered: ‘No, my Lord, do not. Remember that you led them up from the Red Sea and worked wonders for them. If you erase and destroy them, where is your promise then? I beg you, do not do this, for then your enemies will say: The God of Israel is evil who led the people up from the sea but killed them in the desert.’ And God was appeased by these words.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">I am this Moses, figuratively speaking. My Divinity speaks to my Manhood just as to Moses, saying: ‘Behold what your people have done and see how they have despised me. All the Christians shall be killed and their faith eradicated.’ My Humanity answers: ‘No, Lord. Remember that I led the people through the sea in my blood when I was bruised from the top of my head to the sole of my foot. I have promised them eternal life; have mercy on them for the sake of my suffering.’ After hearing these words the Divinity was appeased and said: ‘Thy will be done, for all judgment is given to you.’ See what love, my friends!</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">But now in your presence, my spiritual friends, angels and saints, and in the presence of my bodily friends who are in the world and yet not in the world except with their body, I complain that my people are gathering firewood and lighting a fire, throwing gold into the fire so that a calf emerges for them to adore and worship as a god. It stands like a calf on four feet having a head, a throat, and a tail. When Moses delayed on the mountain a long time without returning, the people said: ‘We do not know what may have happened to him after this long time.’ And they were displeased that he had led them out of captivity and slavery, and they said: ‘Let us find another god to go before us.’</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">This is what these damned priests are now doing to me. For they say: ‘Why should we have a more austere life than others? What is our reward for this? It is better for us to live in peace and as we want. Let us love the world that we are certain about, for we are uncertain about his promise.’ Then they gather firewood when they devote all their senses to the love of the world. They light a fire when they have a complete desire for the world. They burn when their lust glows in their mind and proceeds in an act. They throw in gold, which means that all the honor and love they should show to me, they show to get the honor of the world.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Then the calf emerges, which means a complete love of the world. It has four feet of sloth, impatience, superfluous rejoicing, and greediness. For these priests who should be my servants are slothful in honoring me, impatient in suffering anything for my sake, excessive in rejoicing, and never satisfied with the things they have. This calf also has a head and throat, which means a complete will for gluttony that can never be satisfied, not even if the whole sea were to flow into it. The tail of the calf is their malice, for they do not let anyone keep his property if they can take it from him. By their bad example and their contempt, they injure and pervert everyone who serves me. Such is the love for the calf that is in their hearts, and in such they rejoice and lust. They think about me as those others did about Moses, and say: ‘He has been gone for a long time. His words appear vain and his deeds burdensome. Let us have our own will, let our power and will be our god.’ And they are not even satisfied by these things and forget me entirely, but instead, they have me as their idol.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The heathens used to worship wood and stones and dead men, and among others, an idol called Beelzebub was worshipped whose priests used to offer him incense with devotional genuflections and shouts of praise. And everything in their offering that was useless, they dropped on the ground, and the birds and flies ate it up. But everything that was useful, the priests hid away for themselves. They locked the door on their idol and kept the key for themselves so that nobody could go in.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">This is what the priests are doing to me in this time. They offer me incense, that is, they speak and preach beautiful words in order to win praise for themselves and some temporal benefit, but not out of love of me. Just as the scent of the incense cannot be captured but only felt and seen, so their words do not attain any benefit for souls so that it can take root and be kept in their hearts, but they are only heard and seem to please for a short time. They offer me prayers, but not the kind that are pleasing to me. Like those who shouts praise with their mouths and are silent in their hearts, they stand next to me shouting with their mouths while in their hearts and thoughts they wander around in the world. But if they were speaking with a mighty or powerful man, then their hearts would follow their own speech and words so that no one would be able to remark on them.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">But in my presence the priests are like men who are mentally deranged, for they say one thing with their mouths and have another in their hearts. No one who hears their words can be certain about their meaning. They bend their knees for me, that is, they promise me humility and obedience, but in truth, their humility is as Lucifer’s, and they are obedient to their own desires and not me. They also lock me in constantly and keep the key for themselves. They open up for me and praise me when they say: ‘Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’ But then they lock me in again by fulfilling their own will, while my will is as an imprisoned and powerless man who can neither be seen nor heard. They keep the key for themselves when they, by their bad example, also lead astray others who want to do my will. And, if they could, they would gladly forbid my will from being fulfilled and accomplished, except when it suits their own will. They also hide anything in the offering that is necessary and useful to them, that is, they demand all their honor and privileges, but the human body, who falls to the ground and dies and for which they should offer the best sacrifice, him they consider as useless and leave the body to the flies, that is, to the worms on the ground. They do not care or bother about their obligation for the salvation of souls.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">But what was said to Moses? ‘Kill those who made this idol!’ And some were killed, but not all. In the same way, my words will now come and kill them, some in body and soul by eternal damnation, others unto life so that they should convert and live, others through a fast death, for these priests are altogether abhorrent to me. But what shall I liken them to? They are indeed like the fruit of the thorn-bush, which is beautiful and red on the outside, but inside is full of impurity and stinging thorns. In the same way, these come to me as men who are red with love, and they seem to be pure to men, but inside they are full of all filth. If this fruit is laid in the earth, other thorn-bushes grow up from it. In the same way, these hide their sin and malice in their heart as in the earth, and they become so rooted in evil that they do not even blush to appear in public and boast about their sin. Hence other men not only find a reason to sin but also become deeply wounded in their souls, thinking thus to themselves: ‘If priests do this, it is even more permitted for us to do it.’ And they are not only like the fruit of the thorn-bush, but also the thorns, for they disdain to be moved by reproach and admonition, and they consider no one to be as wise as them and think that they can do everything they want.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Therefore, I swear by my Divinity and Manhood, in the hearing of all the angels, that I shall break down the door they have closed on my will, and my will shall be fulfilled, and their will shall be annihilated and locked in eternal torment and anguish. For as it was once said: ‘I shall begin my judgment with the priests and at my altar.’”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The words of Christ to his bride about how Christ is likened to Moses, in a figurative way, leading the people out of Egypt; and about how the damnable priests, whom he chose in the place of the prophets as his most beloved friends, now cry: “Depart from us!”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 49</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Son of God spoke: “Earlier, I likened myself to Moses in a figurative way. When he led the people out, the water stood like a wall to the right and to the left. I am in truth this Moses, figuratively speaking, who led my Christian people out, that is, I opened heaven for them and showed them the way. But now I have chosen other friends for myself more loved and intimate than the prophets, namely, my priests, who not only hear my words and see, when they see me myself, but also touch me with their hands, which none of the prophets or angels could do.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">These priests, whom I have chosen in place of the prophets as my friends, cry out to me, but not with such desire and love as the prophets did, no, the priests and the prophets cry out with two opposing voices. For the priests do not cry out as the prophets did: ‘Come, Lord, for you are sweet,’ but they cry out: ‘Depart from us, for your words are bitter and your deeds heavy and they make us ashamed!’ Hear what these accursed priests say! I stand before them like the most meek and gentle sheep from which they get wool for their clothing and milk for their food, and yet they despise me for such a great love. I stand before them like a guest saying: ‘Friend, give me the necessities of life for my body, for I need it, and you will receive the greatest reward from God in return!’</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">But even though I appeared with the simplicity of a sheep, they drive me away as a wolf lying in wait for the master’s sheep. They do not want to show me any hospitality and refuse to take me into their house, but instead, they affront me like a traitor unworthy of receiving hospitality from them. But what will the guest do when he has been rejected? Should he not bring out arms against the master of the house who drove him away? By no means, for this would not be just since the owner can deny or give his belongings to whomever he wants. But what shall then the guest do? He should indeed say to the one who drove him away: ‘My friend, since you do not want to take me into your house, I will go to another who will show mercy to me.’ And when he comes to another, he hears him saying: ‘You are welcome, my Lord, all that I have is yours. You shall now be the Lord, and I want to be your servant and guest.’ Those are the kind of lodgings I am pleased to stay in, where I hear such a voice.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">I am indeed like a guest driven away by men. But even though I can enter any place by my power, still, on account of justice I do not, but I only enter to those who receive me with a good will as their true Lord, not as a guest, and entrust all their will into my hands.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Mother and Son’s words of blessing and praise for each other, and about the grace granted by the Son to his Mother for the souls in purgatory and those in this world.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 50</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Mother of God spoke to her Son and said: “Blessed be your name, my Son, without end and blessed be your Divinity that is without beginning and without end! In your Divinity there are three wonderful things: namely, power, wisdom, and virtue. Your power is like the most violently burning fire before which everything that is solid and strong is reckoned as dry straw in a fire. Your wisdom is like the ocean that can never be emptied because of its greatness and vastness, and which, when it rises up and flows over, covers valleys and mountains. Neither can your wisdom be comprehended nor fathomed about how wisely you created mankind and placed him over all your creation. How wisely you arranged the birds in the air, the animals on the earth and the fishes in the sea, giving to each one its own time and order. How marvelously you give life to everything and take it away! How wisely you give wisdom to the unwise and take it away from the proud! Your virtue is like the light of the sun which shines in the sky and fills the earth with its light. Likewise, your virtue satisfies high and low and fills all things. Therefore, blessed be you, my Son, for you are my God and my Lord!”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Son answered: “My most dear Mother, your words are sweet to me, for they come from your soul. You are like the dawn that breaks forth with clarity. You outshine all the heavens and your light and your clarity surpass all the angels. By your clarity, you drew to yourself the true sun, that is, my Divinity, so much so that the sun of my Divinity came to you and settled on you. By his warmth you are warmed in my love over all others and by his splendor you are enlightened in my wisdom more than all others. The darkness of the earth was chased away and all the heavens were enlightened through you. I say in my truth that your purity pleased me more than all the angels, and it drew my Divinity to you so that you were enkindled by the warmth of my Spirit; and through it you enclosed the true God and Man in your womb whereby mankind has been enlightened and the angels made joyful. Therefore, may you be blessed by your blessed Son! And for this reason, no prayer of yours will ever come to me without being heard, and through you, anyone who prays for mercy with the intention of mending their sinful ways will receive grace for your sake. For just as heat comes from the sun, so too all mercy is given through you. You are like a filled and flowing spring from which mercy flows to the help of the wretched.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Mother answered the Son: “All virtue and glory be yours, my Son! You are my God and my mercy; all good that I have comes from you. You are like the seed that was never sown but still grew and gave fruit a hundredfold and a thousandfold. For all mercy comes from you and since it is innumerable and ineffable, it can indeed be signified by the number one hundred, which signifies perfection, for all perfection comes from you and everyone is perfected in virtue by you.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Son answered the Mother: “Indeed, my Mother, you likened me rightly to the seed that was never sown but still grew, since I came with my Divinity to you, and my Manhood was not sown by intercourse but still grew in you, and from it mercy flowed out from you to all. Therefore, you have spoken rightly. Since you now draw mercy out of me with the most sweet words of your mouth, ask me what you want, and it shall be given to you.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Mother answered: “My Son, since I have won mercy from you, I beg for mercy and help for the wretched. For there are namely four places: The first is Heaven, where the angels and the souls of the saints need nothing but you whom they have - for in you they have every good. The second place is hell, and those who stay there are filled with malice and excluded from all mercy. Therefore, nothing good can enter into them any more. The third is the place of those being purged in purgatory, and those who stay there need a threefold mercy since they are tormented in a threefold way. They suffer through their hearing, for they hear nothing but pain, sorrow, and misery. They suffer through their sight, for they see nothing but their own misery. They are tormented through their touch, for they feel the heat of the unbearable fire and of the harsh torment. My Lord and my Son, give them your mercy for the sake of my prayers!”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Son answered: “I will gladly give them a threefold mercy for your sake. First, their hearing shall be relieved, their sight will be eased, and their torment will be reduced and relieved. And all those who are in the greatest and most severe torment of the fires of purgatory shall from this moment come to the middle torment; those who are in the middle torment shall come to the lightest; and those who are in the lightest torment shall come home to rest.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Mother answered: “Praise and honor to you, my Lord!” And she immediately said to her Son: “My beloved Son, the fourth place is the world, and its inhabitants are in need of three things: First, repentance for their sins. Second, penance and atonement. Third, the strength to do good deeds.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Son answered: “Everyone who calls on your name and has hope in you along with a purpose of amendment for his sins shall be given these three things as well as the kingdom of Heaven. Your words are so sweet to me that I cannot deny you anything you plead for, for you want nothing other than what I want. You are indeed like a shining and burning flame by which the extinguished lights are enkindled and the burning lights are strengthened, for by your love which arose in my heart and drew me to you, those who are dead in sin will come to life again and those who are tepid and black like smoke will become strong in my love.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Mother blesses the Son in the hearing of the bride, and about how the glorious Son makes a wonderful comparison of his most sweet Mother to a flower that grew in a valley but rose up over mountains.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 51</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Mother of God spoke to her Son and said: “Blessed be your name, my Son Jesus Christ, and all honor to your Manhood above all that is created! Glory to your Divinity above all good things, which are one God with your Manhood!” The Son answered: “My Mother, you are like a flower that grew in a valley. Around the valley there were five high mountains, and the flower grew out of three roots with a straight stem without any knots. This flower had five leaves that were filled with all sweetness. The valley with its flower grew above these five mountains, and the leaves of the flower spread themselves above every height of heaven and above all the choirs of angels. My beloved Mother, you are this valley for the sake of the great humility you had in comparison with all others. Your humility grew higher than five mountains.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The first mountain was Moses because of his power. For he had power over my people through the Law, as if it were enclosed in his hand. But you enclosed the Lord of all law in your womb and, therefore, you are higher than this mountain. The second mountain was Elijah, who was so holy, that he with soul and body, was assumed into my holy place. But your soul, my most dear Mother, was assumed above all the choirs of angels to the throne of God along with your most pure body. You are therefore higher than Elijah. The third mountain was the strength of Samson that surpassed all other men. Yet the devil defeated him with his treachery. But you defeated the devil with your strength and power. You are therefore stronger than Samson. The fourth mountain was David, who was a man according to my heart and will, but yet fell into sin. But you, my beloved Mother, followed my will in all and never sinned. The fifth mountain was Solomon, who was full of wisdom but nevertheless was fooled. But you, my Mother, were full of all wisdom and were never fooled or deceived. You are therefore higher than Solomon.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The flower grew from three roots, because of the three things you had from your youth: obedience, charity, and divine understanding. Out of these three roots grew the most straight stem without any knots, which means that your will was never bent to anything but my will. This flower also had five leaves that grew above all the choirs of angels. My dear Mother, you are indeed the flower with these five leaves.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The first leaf is your nobleness, which is so great that my angels, who are noble before me, when seeing and considering your nobleness, saw that it was above them and more eminent than their holiness and nobleness. You are therefore higher than the angels. The second leaf is your mercy, which was so great that you, when you saw the misery of all the souls, had compassion over them and suffered the greatest torment at my death. The angels are full of mercy, and yet they never endure sorrow or pain, but you, my loving Mother, were merciful to the wretched when you felt all the sorrow and torment of my death, and you wanted to suffer torment for the sake of mercy rather than being separated from it. Therefore, your mercy surpassed the mercy of all the angels. The third leaf is your loving kindness. The angels are loving and kind and want good for everyone, but you, my dearest Mother, had before your death a will like an angel in your soul and body and did good to everyone. And still you do not refuse anyone who reasonably prays for his own good. Therefore, your kindness is higher and greater than the angels. The fourth leaf is your beauty. The angels behold the beauty of each other and wonder over the beauty of all souls and all bodies, but they see that the beauty of your soul is above all that is created and that the nobleness of your body surpasses all created beings. And so, your beauty surpassed all the angels and everything created. The fifth leaf was your divine joy, for nothing pleased you but God, just as nothing but God delights the angels. Each and every one of them knows and knew his own joy in himself, but when they saw the joy in you to God, they beheld in their conscience how their joy flamed up in them like a light in the love of God. They saw that your joy was like a flaming bonfire, burning with the hottest fire, with flames so high that it came near to my Divinity. And for this reason, my most sweet Mother, your divine joy burned well above all the choirs of angels. Since this flower had these five leaves, namely, nobleness, mercy, loving kindness, beauty, and the highest joy in God, it was full of all sweetness.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">But the one who wants to taste of its sweetness should approach the sweetness and assume it into himself. This is also what you did, my most sweet Mother. You were so sweet to my Father that he assumed all of you into his Spirit, and your sweetness delighted him above all other things. The flower also bears a seed by the heat and power of the sun and from it grows a fruit. In this way the blessed sun, my Divinity, assumed Manhood from your virginal womb. For just as the seed makes and grows flowers of the same kind as the seed wherever it is sown, so my limbs were like yours in shape and appearance, even though I was a man and you a woman and a virgin. This valley was uplifted with its flower above all mountains when your body together with your most holy soul was lifted up above all the choirs of angels.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Mother blesses her Son and prays to him that his words might be spread all over the world and take root in the hearts of his friends. And about how the Virgin is compared to a wonderful flower growing in a garden, and about the words of Christ that were sent through the bride to the pope and to other prelates of the Church.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 52</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Holy Virgin spoke to the Son and said: “Blessed be you, my Son and my God, Lord of angels and King of glory! I beg of you that the words that you have spoken may take root in the hearts of your friends and that their minds may cling as firmly to these words as the pitch with which Noah’s ark was plastered, which neither storm-waves nor winds could break and dissolve. May they be spread out all over the world like branches and sweet flowers whose fragrance is spread far and wide, in order that they also may bear fruit and become sweet like the date whose sweetness delights the soul exceedingly much.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Son answered: “Blessed be you, my most beloved Mother! My angel Gabriel said to you: “Blessed art thou, Mary, among women!” And I bear witness to you that you are blessed and most holy above all the choirs of angels. You are like a flower in a garden that is surrounded by other fragrant flowers, but surpasses them all in scent, beauty, and virtue. These flowers are all the chosen men from Adam to the end of the world which were planted in the garden of the world and shone and smelled in manifold virtues. But among all of those who were and who will afterward come, you were the greatest in the fragrance of humility and a good life, in the beauty of the most pleasing virginity, and in the virtue of abstinence. For I bear witness to you that you were more than any martyr at my suffering, more than any confessor in your abstinence, and more than any angel in your mercy and good will. Therefore, for your sake, I will enroot and fasten my words like the strongest pitch in the hearts of my friends. They shall spread out like fragrant flowers and bear fruit like the sweetest and most wonderful date-palm.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Thereafter, our Lord spoke to his bride: “Tell my friend, your father, whose heart is according to my heart, that he carefully present these written words to his own father and also give them to the archbishop and later to the other bishop. And when these have been thoroughly instructed, he may send them to the third bishop. Tell him also on my behalf: “I am your Creator and the Redeemer of souls. I am God whom you love above all things. See and consider how the souls which I redeemed with my blood are like the souls of men who know nothing about God, and they are imprisoned by the devil in such cruelty that he torments them in all their limbs as in a hard press. Therefore, if you savor my wounds in your soul, and if you account anything of the scourging and suffering that I endured as precious, then show by your deeds how much you love me. The words that I have spoken with my own mouth shall be made known publicly and brought to the head of the Church.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">I shall namely give you my grace and my Spirit so that, wherever there is a quarrel between two, you may be able to reconcile them in my name through the power given to you, if they believe in my words. And as a further clarification of my words, you shall bring to the pope the testimonies of those who taste and delight in my words. For my words are like fat which melts more quickly when the warmth is greater inside, but if no warmth is found, the fat is thrown up and does not reach the intestines. This is how my words are, since the more a man eats and chews on them with a burning love for me, the more he is fed with the desire for heaven and the sweetness of the divine inner love, and the more he burns in my love and charity. But those who do not delight in my words may be likened to having lard in their mouths which they immediately spit out of their mouths and trample under their feet once they have tasted it. Some people despise my words in this way because they have no taste for the sweetness of spiritual things. But the lord of the land, whom I have chosen as my member and made truly mine, will help you manfully and provide you with the necessary things for your journey out of righteously acquired goods.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Mother and Son’s words of blessing for each other, and about how the Virgin is likened to the ark wherein the staff, the manna, and the tablets of the Law were, and many wonderful things are revealed in this comparison.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 53</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Virgin Mary spoke to the Son and said: “Blessed be you, my Son, my God, and Lord of angels! You are the one whose voice the prophets heard, whose body the apostles saw, and the one whom the Jews and your enemies laid their hands on. You are one God with your Divinity and Manhood and Holy Spirit. For the prophets heard the Spirit, the apostles saw the glory of your Divinity, and the Jews crucified your Manhood. Therefore, may you be blessed without beginning and without end.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Son answered: “Blessed be you, for you are Virgin and Mother. You are the Ark of the Old Law in which there were three things: the staff of Aaron that blossomed, the manna of angels, and the tablets of the Law.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Three things were done with the staff: First, it was transformed into a snake without venom. Second, the ocean was divided by it. Third, it brought forth water out of the rock. I, who lay in your womb and assumed Manhood from you, liken myself with this staff. First, I am as terrifying to my enemies as the snake was to Moses. For they flee from me as from the sight of a snake, and they are terrified of me and abhor me like a venomous snake; and yet I am without the venom of malice and am instead all full of mercy. I allow myself to be held by them, if they want. I return to them if they search for me. I run to them like a mother to her lost and recovered son, if they call on me. I give them my mercy and forgive their sins, if they cry out to me. This is what I do for them, and yet they abhor me like a venomous snake.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Second, the ocean was divided by this staff when the way to heaven, which was closed for the sake of sin, was opened through the shedding of my blood and my pain. The ocean was indeed divided and a way was made, where there before had been no way, when the pain in all my limbs went to my heart, and my heart burst from the violence of the pain. Later, when the people had been led through the ocean, Moses did not lead them to the promised land immediately but to the desert, so that they would be tested and instructed there. This is how it is now, for when the people have accepted my faith and my commandments, they are not led into heaven immediately; for it is necessary that men should be tested in the desert - that is, in the world - as to how much they love God.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">However, the people provoked God into anger by three things in the desert: First, because they made an idol and prayed to it. Second, because they longed after the fleshpots that they had in the land of Egypt and third, through their pride, when they, without the will of God, wanted to go and fight against their enemies. People sin against me even now in the world in the same way.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">First, they honor and worship an idol: for they love the world and all the things in it more than me, who am their Creator. Therefore, the world is their god, and not I. For I said in my gospel: “Where a man’s treasure is, there his heart is also.” So, mankind’s treasure is the world, since their heart yearns towards it and not to me. Therefore, just as the Jews fell in the desert with a sword in their bodies, so too shall these people fall with the sword of eternal damnation in their soul and they shall live in damnation without end.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Second, they sinned through their longing for fleshpots. I gave mankind everything he needed to use in an honorable and moderate way, but he wants to have all things without moderation and reason. For, if his bodily nature could bear it, he would without end have sex, drink without restraint, desire without measure and limit, and, as long as he could sin, he would never desist from sin. Therefore, the same thing will happen to them that happened to the Jews in the desert, that is, they will die a sudden death in their body. For what is this temporal life other than a single moment compared to eternity? For this reason, they shall die a sudden death in their bodies to be torn away from this short life and live with torment in their souls for all eternity.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Third, they sinned in the desert through their pride, since they wanted to go to battle without God’s will. Likewise, people want to go to Heaven through their pride, and they do not trust in me but in themselves, doing their own will and abandoning mine. Therefore, they shall be killed in their souls by devils just as the Jews were killed by their enemies, and their torment shall be everlasting. They thus hate me like a snake, worship an idol instead of me, long for their own desires more than me, and love their own pride instead of my humility. Yet, I am still so merciful that I will turn to them like a loving father and take them to me if they turn to me with a repentant heart.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Third, the rock gave water through this staff. This rock is the hard heart of mankind, for if it is pierced with my fear and love, there immediately flow tears of repentance and penance out of it. No one is so unworthy and no one is so evil that he will not have tears flowing from his eyes and all his limbs awakened to devotion if he turns to me in a heartfelt contemplation of my suffering and bethinks how my power and goodness makes the earth and trees bear fruit.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Second, the manna of angels lay in the ark of Moses. So, too, in you my beloved Mother and Virgin, lay the bread of angels and of holy souls and of righteous men on earth, whom nothing pleases but my sweetness; for all of the world is dead to them, so that they would gladly go even without bodily nourishment if it were my will.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Third, in the ark were the tablets of the Law. So, too, in you lay the Lord of all laws. Therefore, may you be blessed above everything created in Heaven and on earth!”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Then Christ spoke to his bride and said: “Tell my friends three things. When I was bodily in the world, I adjusted my words so that good men were made stronger and more fervent in doing good things, and evil men became better, as was seen in the conversion of Magdalene, Matthew, and many others. I also adjusted my words so that my enemies were not able to refute them. For that reason, may they to whom my words are sent, work with fervor, so that through my words, the good may become more ardent in goodness, the evil repent from wickedness, and that they themselves be on guard against my enemies so that my words are not obstructed. In truth, I do no greater injustice to the devil than to the angels in Heaven. For if I wanted, I could speak my words so that the whole world hears them. I could also open up hell so that everyone may see its torments, but this would not be justice, since all men would then serve me out of fear, when they should serve me out of love. For no other than the one who has love shall enter the kingdom of Heaven. For I would be doing injustice to the devil if I took away from him one who is rightfully his, because of sin, and who is devoid of good deeds. I would also do injustice to the angel in Heaven, if I placed the spirit of an unclean man as an equal to the one who is pure and most fervent in my love.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Therefore, no one shall enter Heaven, but the one who has been purged like gold in the fire of purgatory or who has proved himself over a long duration of time in good deeds on earth so that there is no stain in him left to be purged away. If you do not know to whom my words should be sent, I will tell you: The one who is worthy to have my words is the one who wants to gain merit through good deeds in order to come to the kingdom of Heaven or who already has deserved it with their good deeds in the past. To such as these shall my words be opened up to and enter into them. Those who have a taste for my words and who humbly hope that their names are written in the Book of Life keep my words. But those who have no have taste for my words, consider them first, but then throw up and vomit them out immediately.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The words of an angel to the bride about whether the spirit of her thoughts is good or bad, and about how there are two spirits, one uncreated and one created, and about their characteristics.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 54</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">A holy angel spoke to the bride and said: “There are two spirits, one uncreated and one created. The uncreated Spirit has three characteristics: First, he is hot; second, sweet; and third, pure. First, he gives off warmth, and his warmth does not come from created things but from himself, since he, together with the Father and the Son, is Creator of all things and Almighty. He gives off warmth when the whole soul burns for the love of God. Second, he is sweet, when nothing pleases the soul and nothing delights it but God and the recollection of his deeds. Third, he is so pure that no sin can be found in him, nor any deformity or corruption or mutability. He does not give off warmth like earthly fire, and he does not make things melt like the visible sun, but his warmth is the inner love and desire of the soul that fills the soul and engrosses her in God. He is sweet to the soul, not as a desirable wine or fleshly lust or any other worldly thing, but instead, the sweetness of this Spirit is incomparable to all temporal sweetness and unimaginable to those who have not tasted it. Third, this Spirit is as pure as the rays of the sun in which no blemish can be found.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The second spirit that is created also has three characteristics. He is burning, bitter, and unclean. First, he is burning and consuming like fire, for he completely enkindles the soul he possesses with the fire of lust and evil desire, so that the soul that is filled by him can neither think nor desire anything other than fulfilling this desire; and the consequence of this is that her temporal life is sometimes lost along with all honor and consolation. Second, he is bitter as gall, since he so inflames the soul with his evil lust, that future joys seem like nothing to her and eternal goods but foolishness. And all the things that are of God and which she, the soul, is obligated to do for God, become as bitter and despicable to her as vomit and gall. Third, he is unclean, since he makes the soul so vile and inclined to sin that she does not feel ashamed for any sin, and she would not abstain from any sin, if she did not fear being shamed and judged before men more than before God. This is why this spirit is like a burning fire, because he burns of desire to do evil and enkindles others along with itself. This is why he is bitter, because all good is bitter to him and he wants to make it bitter for others as well as for himself. This is why he is unclean, because he delights in impurity and wants that others shall become like himself.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">But now you might ask and say to me: “Are you not also a created spirit like him? Why, then, are you not like that?” I answer you: I am indeed created by the same God as he, for there is only one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and these are not three gods, but one God. Both of us were well made and created for the good, since God has created nothing but good. But I am like a star, for I remained in the goodness and love of God in which I was created. He, however, is like coal, since he left the love of God. Just as a star has brightness and splendor, whereas coal has blackness and filth, so the good angel, who is like a star, has his splendor, that is, the Holy Spirit - since everything he has, he has from God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, from whose love he becomes set on fire and from whose splendor he shines - constantly clinging to him and conforming himself after his will without ever wanting anything other than what God wants. And this is why he is burning; this is why he is pure.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The devil however is like ugly coal, and is uglier and more deformed than any other created creature. For just as he once was more beautiful than others, so he had to become uglier than others since he opposed himself against his Creator. Just as the angel of God shines with the light of God and burns incessantly by his love, so the devil is always burning and anguishing in his malice. His malice is insatiable, just as the goodness and grace of the Holy Spirit are inexpressible. For no one in this world is so rooted in the devil that the Holy Spirit does not sometimes visit and touch his heart. Likewise is no one so good that the devil does not gladly try to touch him with temptation. Many good and righteous men are tempted by the devil with God’s permission, and this is not because of their wickedness but for their greater glory. Indeed, the Son of God, who is one in Divinity with the Father and the Holy Spirit, was tempted when he had assumed Manhood; and how much more should not his elect be tempted then, so that their reward and glory may become greater!</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Again, many good people sometimes fall into sin, and their conscience is darkened by the treachery of the devil, but then they get up again, being stronger and more steadfast than before through the virtue and power of the Holy Spirit. There is no one who does not understand in his conscience whether the suggestion of the devil leads to the ugliness of sin or to the good, if he would only think about and examine his conscience carefully. Therefore may you, bride of my Lord, not doubt whether the spirit of your thoughts is good or bad, for your conscience tells you which things to exclude and which to do.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">But what should the one who is full of the devil do, since the good Spirit cannot enter him who is full of evil? He should do three things: First, he should make a pure and complete confession of his sins. Even if he cannot directly feel a complete remorse for his sins due to his hardened heart, still the confession will benefit him so much that the devil ceases with his treachery and yields to the good spirit. Second, he should be humble and wish to amend for all the sins he has committed and do the good deeds he can, and then the devil will begin to leave. Third, he should beseech God with humble prayer in order that he may get the good Spirit back and have contrition for the sins he has committed along with true divine love, since the love for God kills the devil. This devil is so envious and full of malice that he would rather die a hundred times than see someone do God the least little good deed out of love.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Thereafter, the Holy Virgin spoke to the bride, saying: “New bride of my Son, put on your clothes and fasten your brooch, that is, my Son’s suffering!” She answered her: “My sweet Lady, put it on me yourself.” And the Virgin said: “Yes, I shall do it. I also want to tell you how my Son was disposed and why the holy fathers longed for him so fervently. He stood, as it were, in between two great cities, and a voice from the first city cried out to him saying: “O man, standing in between the cities, you are a wise man, for you know how to beware of coming dangers and injuries. You are also strong in the suffering of overhanging evils, and you are brave as well since you fear nothing. We have longed for and awaited you. Therefore, open our gate, for our enemies are besieging it so that it cannot be opened.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">A voice from the second city was heard saying thus: “You, the most kind and strong of men, hear our complaint and lament! We sit in darkness and suffer unbearable hunger and thirst. Consider our misery and our great distress. We are beaten like grass cut by a scythe. All goodness has dried and withered away in us; and all our strength has faded away in us. We beg you to come to us and save us, for you alone are the one we have awaited and hoped for as our liberator! Come and release us from our distress, turn our lamentation into joy, and be our help and salvation! Come, most blessed and worthy body, which proceeded from the pure Virgin!” My Son heard these two voices from the two cities, that is, from Heaven and hell. That is why he had mercy on them and opened up the gates of hell through his most bitter suffering and the shedding of his blood and brought his friends out of there. He opened up Heaven, too, to the joy of the angels, and led the ones into Heaven whom he had rescued from hell. My daughter, think on these things and have them always before your eyes!”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">About how Christ is likened to a mighty lord who built a great city and a marvelous castle, signifying the world and the church, and how the judges and defenders and workers in the church of God have been changed into a bad bow.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 55</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Our Lord Jesus Christ said: “I am like a powerful lord who built a great city and named it after himself. Thereafter, he built a castle in the city in which there were many rooms for storing all kinds of useful necessities. Then, when he had built the castle and arranged all his things, he divided his people into three groups, saying: ‘I am going away to a far away country. Stand firm and work manfully for my glory! I have made arrangements for your food and your necessities, and you have judges to judge you and defenders to defend you from your enemies. I have also arranged for working men who shall feed you and give me a tenth part of their work, saving it for my use and my honor.’</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">But after some time had gone by, the name of the city was forgotten. Then the judges said: ‘Our lord has traveled to a far away country. Let us judge righteous judgments and do justice so that, when our lord returns, we may not be punished and be accused but receive honor and blessing.’ Then the defenders said: ‘Our lord trusts us very much and has left the defense of his house to us. Let us therefore abstain from superfluous food and drink so that we may not become unfit for battle. Let us also abstain from excessive sleep so that we may guard ourselves and not be trapped unawares. May we be well armed and constantly watchful so that we may not be found unprepared when enemies come. The honor of our lord and the salvation of our people depend very much on us.’ Then the workers said: ‘The glory of our lord is great and his reward is glorious and grand. Let us therefore work mightily and give him not only a tenth of our work but also offer him everything above our living expenses! Our reward shall become more glorious the greater the love he sees in us.’</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Thereafter, some time went by, and the name of the city and the lord of the castle became forgotten. Then the judges said to themselves: ‘The delay of our lord is long, and we do not know if he will return or not. Let us therefore judge according to our own will and do what we please.’ The defenders said: ‘We are fools, because we work and know not what reward we shall receive. Let us enter into a covenant with our enemies instead and sleep and drink with them, for we do not care about whose enemies they have been.’ Thereafter, the workers said: ‘Why do we save our gold for others, when we do not know who will get it after us? It is better that we use it ourselves and dispose of it after our own will. Let us therefore give the tenth to the judges and placate them so that we then can do what we want.’</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">In truth, I am like this mighty lord, for I built myself a city, that is, the world, and placed a castle there, that is, the church. The name of the world was divine wisdom, for the world had this name from the beginning, since it was created in divine wisdom. This name was venerated by all, and God was praised in his wisdom and wondrously proclaimed by his creatures. But now the name of the city has been dishonored and changed, and a new name has been taken, that is, human wisdom.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">For the judges, who before had made judgments in righteousness and the fear of the Lord, have now turned to pride and are trying to deceive simple men. They desire to be eloquent so that they may win human praise, and they speak and preach that which pleases men so that they may obtain favors. They tolerate calmly all words so that they may be called good and patient, and they accept bribes to overturn righteous judgments. They are wise for the sake of their own temporal benefit and their own will, but dumb when it comes to my praise. They trample and press down simple men under their feet and force them into silence. They extend their greed to all and make right into wrong. This is the kind of wisdom that is loved now, while my wisdom is forgotten.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The defenders of the church, who are the noblemen and knights, see my enemies and the attackers of my Church but do not care about it. They hear their words of blasphemy and mockery but do not care about it. They perceive and understand the deeds of those who attack my commandments and still bear them patiently. They behold them daily committing all kinds of mortal sins, as if they were allowed, and feel no compunction about it, but sleep and associate with them, binding themselves by oath to their company.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The workers, that is, the entire people, reject my commandments and withhold my gifts and my tenth. They offer gifts to their judges and show them honor and reverence in order to win their favor and goodwill. In truth, I can boldly say that the sword of fear for me and for my Church is thrown away in the world, and that a sack of money has been put in its place.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The words in which God explains the nearest preceding chapter, and about the judgment that he makes against such people, and about how God for a while endures the evil for the sake of the good.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 56</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“I told you before that the sword of my Church is thrown away and that a sack of money has been put in its place, which is open at one end. The other end is so deep, that whatever one puts into it never reaches the bottom, and so the sack never gets filled. This sack is greed, which exceeds all measures and now has become so powerful that the Lord is scorned and nothing is desired but money and the selfish will of man. But I am like a lord who is both father and judge. When he shall go forth and judge, the bystanders say to him: ‘Lord, proceed quickly and make your judgment!’ The Lord answers them: ‘Wait a little until tomorrow, because perhaps my son will still amend himself in the meantime.’</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">When he comes back the next day, the people say to him: ‘Proceed, Lord, and make your judgment! Why are you postponing the judgment for so long and do not judge the guilty?’ The Lord answers them: ‘Wait a little while longer, to see if my son betters himself, and if he then does not repent, I shall make a just judgment over him.’ In this way I patiently endure mankind even until the last moment, since I am both father and judge. But my justice is unchangeable, and even though it sometimes is postponed a long time, I will still either punish sinners who do not better themselves or show them mercy if they amend themselves.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">I also told you before that I divided the people into three groups: namely, judges, defenders, and workers. What do these judges signify if not the priests who have turned the divine wisdom into an evil and useless wisdom? Like clerks who take many words and assemble them into a few words, which say the same thing as the many did, so too have these present-day clerics taken my ten commandments and assembled them into a single one. And what is this single word if not: ‘Reach out your hand and give us money!’ This is their wisdom, to speak beautifully, to act badly and to pretend to be my servants while yet acting maliciously against me. For the sake of gifts, they gladly put up with sinners in their sins and bring about the downfall of simpleminded people through their bad example. Furthermore, they hate those who walk on my way. Second, the defenders of the Church, that is, the knights, are unfaithful, since they have broken their promise and their oath and gladly endure those who sin against the faith and law of my Holy Church. Third, the workers, that is, the whole people, are like untamed bulls which have three things: First, they dig the earth with their feet; second, they fill themselves to satiety; third, they fulfill their own lusts according to their own desire. Likewise does now the whole people crave after temporal goods with all of their desire, filling itself with immoderate gluttony and worldly vanity and practicing its carnal lust and delight without reason.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">But even though my enemies are many, I still have many friends among them, although hidden. As it was said to Elijah, who thought none of my friends were left in the world but himself: “I have seven thousand men who have not bowed their knees to Baal.” So, even though my enemies are many, I still have some friends hidden among them who cry daily because my enemies are superior and because my name is despised. Therefore, for the sake of their prayers, I shall do like a charitable and good king who knows the evil deeds of the city but patiently endures its residents and sends letters to his friends to forewarn them of their danger. In this way I send my words to my friends; and they are not so obscure as the words in the Apocalypse which I revealed to John in an obscure way in order that they would be interpreted by my Spirit at the time that pleased me. Nor are they so hidden that they cannot be proclaimed - as when Paul saw many of my hidden secrets that he was not allowed to speak about - but they are so plain, that all, both small and big, can understand them, and so easy, that all who want to, can grasp and understand them.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Therefore, let my friends see to it that my words reach my enemies, so that they, perhaps, convert themselves and feel sorrow and remorse for their sins, when their peril and my judgment are made known to them. Otherwise, the city will be judged so severely that, just as a wall is torn down without leaving stone upon stone, so that not even two stones join to each other in the foundation, so shall it be with the city, that is, with the world.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The judges shall burn in the hottest fire. There is no fire hotter than the one that is fed with some fat. These judges were fat, since they had more opportunities of fulfilling their lust and will than others; they surpassed others in honor and temporal abundance, and abounded more in malice and unrighteousness. Therefore, they will burn in the hottest pan, that is, in the torments of hell!</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The defenders shall be hanged on the highest gallows. A gallows consists of two vertical timber beams with a third placed above the others horizontally. This gallows with two wooden beams signifies their cruel and severe torment, which is, so to speak, made from two pieces of wood. The first beam signifies that they did not hope for my eternal reward nor worked for it with their good deeds. The second beam signifies that they did not trust in my power and goodness, when they thought I was not able to do all things or did not want to provide for them sufficiently. The wooden crossbeam signifies their evil conscience, for they understood very well what they should do but, instead, did evil and felt no shame about acting against their conscience. The rope of the gallows signifies the everlasting fire which can neither be extinguished by water nor cut by scissors nor be destroyed and broken by old age. On this gallows of the most cruel torment and inextinguishable fire, they will hang and feel shame and distress like unhappy traitors, since they were disloyal. They will hear insults, since my words displeased them. A woe shall be in their mouths, since their own honor and praise delighted them. They shall be mangled on this gallows by living crows, that is, by devils who can never get their fill, and even though they be wounded, they shall never be consumed, but they shall live in torment without end and their torturers shall also live without end. There shall be a woe that will never end and a misery that will never be mitigated. Woe unto them, that they were ever born! Woe unto them, that their life was so long!</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">And lastly concerning the workers, their just sentence will be the same as for bulls. For the bulls have very hard flesh and skin. Therefore, their judgment shall be the sharpest steel. This most sharp steel is the death of hell that will torment those who scorned me and loved their own will instead of my commandments.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The letter, that is, my words, are now written. May my friends work wisely and reasonably so that it comes to my enemies, for perhaps they will want to hear them and repent from their wickedness. But if some, after having heard my words, should say: “Let us wait a little moment, the judgment is not yet coming, it is not yet his time,” then I swear by my Divinity which cast out Adam from paradise and sent ten plagues over Pharaoh, that I will come to them faster than they think.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">I swear by my Manhood, which I assumed without sin from the Virgin for the salvation of mankind, and in which I endured sorrow in my heart and suffered bodily torment and death for the eternal life of men, and in which I rose again from the dead and ascended into heaven and am seated at the right hand of the Father, true God and true Man in one person, that I shall fulfill my words.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">I swear by my Spirit, which descended over the apostles on the day of Pentecost and inflamed them so that they spoke in the language of all peoples, that unless they better themselves and return to me like weak servants, I shall execute vengeance over them in my wrath. Then there shall be a woe in soul and body! Woe unto them that they came alive into the world and lived in the world! Woe unto them, for their lust was small and vain but their torment shall be everlasting! Then they shall perceive what they now scorn to believe, namely, that my words were words of love. Then they shall understand that I admonished them like a father, even though they did not want to hear me. In truth, if they do not want to believe in my words of goodwill, they will have to believe in the deeds when they come.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The words of our Lord to the bride about how he is loathsome and despicable food for the souls of Christians, and how the world, instead, is loved and found to be delightful by them, and about the terrifying judgment that is executed over such people.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 57</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Son of God spoke to his bride: “Christians are now acting towards me as the Jews acted towards me. The Jews drove me out of the temple and had a complete will to kill me, but since my hour had not yet come, I escaped from their hands. Christians act towards me in the same way now. They drive me out of their temple (that is, out of their soul, which should be my temple) and they would gladly want to kill me if they could. I am like rotten and stinking flesh in their mouths. I seem, to them, to be like a man who utters lies, and they do not care about me at all. They turn their backs to me, but I will turn my neck to them, since there is nothing but craving in their mouths and irrational beastly lust in their flesh. Only pride is delightful in their ears, only the lust of the world delights their eyes. My suffering and my love are detestable to them and my life heavy and burdensome. Therefore, I shall do as the animal which had many dens: when hunters pursued and drove it from one den, it escaped into another. This is what I will do, because Christians are chasing me away with their bad deeds and driving me out of the den of their hearts.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Therefore, I want to go to the heathens in whose mouths I am now bitter and distasteful, but I will become sweeter than honey in their mouths. Nevertheless, I am still so merciful that I will happily receive each and everyone who begs for my forgiveness and says: ‘Lord, I know that I have sinned severely and I gladly want to better myself through your grace. Have mercy on me for the sake of your bitter suffering.’ But to those who harden themselves in their evil, I shall come like a warrior that has three characteristics: namely, dreadfulness, strength, and severity. I shall come and be so terrifying to the Christians that they will not dare to move the least finger against me. I shall also come to them with such strength that they will be like mosquitoes before me. Third, I shall come to them with such severity that they will feel a woe in this world and a woe without end.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The words of the Mother to the bride about how sweet the Mother and the Son are to each other. How Christ is bitter, bitterer, and most bitter for the evil, and how he is sweet, sweeter, and most sweet for the good.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 58</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Mother of God said to the bride: “Consider, new bride of my Son, the suffering of my Son, which surpassed in bitterness the suffering of all the saints. Just as a mother would feel the most bitter sorrow and anguish if she saw her son being cut to pieces alive, so, too, was I grieving at the torments of my Son when I saw his bitter sufferings.” Then she spoke to her Son, saying: “Blessed be you, my Son, for you are holy, as it is sung: ‘Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Sabaoth.’ Blessed be you, for you are sweet, sweeter, and most sweet! You were holy before you assumed Manhood, holy in my womb, and holy after you assumed Manhood. You were sweet before the creation of the world, sweeter to the angels, and most sweet to me when you assumed Manhood from me.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Son answered: “Blessed be you, my beloved Mother, above all the angels. Just as I, in a threefold way, was most sweet for you, as you were saying now, so I am bitter, bitterer, and most bitter for the wicked. I am bitter for those who say I have created many things without a reason and who scornfully say I have created mankind for death and not for life. What a miserable and foolish thought! Did I, who am the most righteous and virtuous, create the angels without a reason? Would I have enriched mankind with so many good things if I had created him for damnation? By no means! I created all things well and gave every good to mankind out of my love. But he, however, turned all good things into evil for himself. It is not because I created anything evil, but mankind moves his will in another way than he should, and not according to God’s law, and this is evil.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">But I am bitterer for those who say that I have given them a free will to sin and not to do good, who say I am unjust since I condemn some and justify others, and who blame me for their own wickedness because I withhold my grace from them. I am most bitter for those who say that my law and commandments are exceedingly harsh and difficult and that no one is able to keep them, who say my suffering is worth nothing for them, and who therefore count it for nothing.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Therefore, I swear by my life, as once I swore through the prophets, that I shall justify myself before the angels and all my saints. Those for whom I am bitter shall understand that I created all things reasonably and well for the use and education of mankind, and that not the smallest worm exists without a reason. Those for whom I am bitterer shall understand that I wisely gave men a free will for their own good. They will also know that I am just, giving the eternal kingdom to good men, but everlasting torment to the wicked. For it would not be proper for the devil, who was created good by me but who fell through his own malice, to have fellowship with the good. The wicked will also understand that it is not my fault that they are evil, but their own fault. For if it were possible, I would gladly take upon myself the same torment for each and every man that I once suffered on the cross for all, if thereby they could return to their promised inheritance. But the will of mankind is always opposed to mine. I gave him liberty to serve me, if he would, and to gain the eternal reward; but if he does not want to, he should be tormented together with the devil and his followers, for whose malice, hell was justly created.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">But because I am full of charity, I do not want mankind to serve me out of fear or be forced to do so like an irrational animal but out of love for God, for no one who serves me unwillingly or out of fear of torment can see my face. But those for whom I am most bitter will understand in their consciences that my law was most easy and my yoke most sweet. They will feel inconsolable sadness that they despised my law and instead loved the world, whose yoke is heavier and much more difficult than my yoke.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Then the Mother of God answered: “Blessed be you, my Son, my God, and my Lord! Since you were most sweet for me, I beg of you that others may be made partakers of my sweetness!” The Son answered: “Blessed be you, my most dear Mother! Your words are sweet and full of love. Therefore shall each and everyone who takes your sweetness into his mouth and keeps it perfectly be benefited thereby. But the one who takes it and spits it out again will be tormented all the more bitterly.” Then the Virgin answered: “Blessed be you, my Son, for all your mercy and love!”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The words of Christ, in the presence of the bride, about how Christ is likened to a peasant, good priests to a good shepherd, bad priests to a bad shepherd, and good Christians to a wife. Many useful things are also explained in this parable.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 59</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">“I am the one who never said anything false. The world considers me to be a peasant whose name seems contemptible. My words are counted as foolish and my house is considered a despicable shed. This peasant had a wife who wanted nothing other than what he wanted, who owned everything with him and had him as her master, obeying him in all things as her master. This peasant also had many sheep, and he hired a shepherd to watch over them for five gold coins and for the necessities of his bodily needs. Since this was a good shepherd, he used the gold to his benefit and the food for his sustenance. After some time had gone by, this shepherd moved and another shepherd came who was worse, who bought himself a wife with the gold and brought her his food, constantly taking his rest with her without caring about the sheep that were being lamentably scattered by cruel beasts.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">When the peasant saw how his sheep were being scattered, he cried out saying: ‘My shepherd is unfaithful to me! My sheep are scattered by the most cruel beasts. Some of them are completely devoured by the beasts with body and fleece, while others are dead but their bodies left uneaten.’ Then the wife said to her husband the peasant: ‘My Lord, it is certain that we will not get back the bodies that are devoured, but the bodies who have remained unharmed, even though they are without life, should be brought home and made use of by us. For it would be unbearable for us if we lost everything.’ The husband answered her: ‘But what shall we do? Since the animals had venomous teeth, the flesh of the sheep has also become poisoned with deadly venom, the hide is ruined, and the wool is all tangled.’ The wife answered: ‘If everything is infected and ruined and everything taken from us, what shall we then live on?’</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The husband answered her: ‘I see that there are sheep still alive in three places. Some are like the dead sheep and do not dare to breathe out of fear. Other sheep are lying deep in filth and cannot raise themselves up. Still others lie in hiding places and dare not come forth. Come therefore, my wife, and let us lift up the sheep that are trying to raise themselves up but cannot do so without help, and let us make use of them to our own benefit.’</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Behold, I the Lord am this peasant, for men consider me to be a donkey raised in its stall according to its ways and habits. My name is the foundation of the Holy Church, but she is now considered to be contemptible, since the sacraments of the Church, namely baptism, confirmation, anointing, penance, and matrimony, are taken, as it were, with derision and given to others for the sake of greed. My words and deeds are considered and judged to be foolish and vain, for the words that I spoke in parables with my own mouth, have now been converted from a spiritual understanding to temporal entertainment. My house is looked on as contemptible, for the things of the earth are loved instead of the things of Heaven.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">With this first shepherd I had, I symbolize my friends the priests, which I used to have in the Holy Church; for by a single word, I mean and signify many. I entrusted them with my sheep, that is, to consecrate my most venerable body and to rule and defend the souls of my chosen ones. I also gave them five good things more precious than all gold: First, an insight and understanding about all abstruse things so that they will be able to distinguish between good and evil, and between truth and falsehood. Second, I gave them understanding and wisdom in spiritual things; this has now been forgotten and human wisdom is loved instead. Third, I gave them chastity; fourth, temperance in all things and abstinence for the restraining and guidance of their body; fifth, steadfastness in good habits, words, and deeds.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">After this first shepherd, that is, after these friends of mine, who used to be in my Church in days of old, other unrighteous shepherds came that bought a wife for themselves with the gold, that is, they took to themselves the body of a woman and intemperance instead of chastity and these five good things, and that is why my Spirit departed from them. For when they have a complete will to sin and to satisfy their wife, that is, to satisfy their lust, then my Spirit is absent from them, since they do not care about the perdition of the sheep so long as they can fulfill their evil lust. But the sheep that are completely devoured are those whose souls are in hell and whose bodies are buried in the grave awaiting the resurrection of the eternal damnation. The sheep whose flesh remains but whose spirit is taken away, are those who neither love me nor fear me nor feel any devotion or care toward me. My Spirit is far away from them, since their flesh is poisoned by the venomous teeth of the beasts, that is, their soul and their thoughts, which are symbolized by the sheep’s flesh and intestines, are in every way as disgusting to me and as repulsive to taste as is poisoned meat. From their hide, that is, from their body, has all goodness and charity dried out and it is unfit for any service in my kingdom and shall be delivered to the everlasting fire of hell after the judgment. Their wool, that is, their deeds, are so altogether useless that there is nothing in them that would make them worthy to receive my love and grace.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">But what shall we do then, my wife, that is, good Christians, whom the wife symbolizes, what should we do? I see that sheep are alive in three places. Some of them look like the dead sheep and do not dare to breathe out of fear. These are the gentiles who would gladly have the right faith, if only they knew how, but who do not dare to breathe, that is, they do not dare to leave the faith that they have and take the right faith. The second sheep are those lying in hiding places who do not dare to come forth, and these are the Jews who live, so to speak, under a veil, and who would gladly come forth if they knew for certain that I was born. They namely hide themselves under a veil, since their hope for salvation is in the figures and signs that used to symbolize me in the Old Law but which in truth have been fulfilled in me, and because of this vain hope they are afraid to come forth to the right faith. The third sheep that lie in the filth are Christians in the state of mortal sin. They would gladly raise themselves up because of their fear of the torment, but they cannot due to their heavy sins and because they have no divine love. Therefore, my wife, that is, good Christians, help me! For just as a wife and a man should be one flesh and one limb, so the Christian is my limb and I am his, since I am in him and he is in me.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Therefore, o wife of mine, that is, good Christians, run with me to the sheep that still have a breath of life and let us lift them up and refresh them! Have compassion on me, for I bought them at a very high price! Let us lift them up, you with me and me with you, you at the back and I at the head! I gladly carry them with my hands. Once I carried them all on my back when it was all lacerated and fastened to the cross. O my friends, I love these sheep so dearly that, if it were possible for me to suffer such a death for each sheep as I once suffered on the cross for all of them, I would rather redeem them than want to lose them. That is why I cry out to my friends with all my heart that they should not spare goods or work for my sake; for if I was not spared from reproaching and insulting words while I was in the world, they should not spare themselves in speaking the truth about me. I was not ashamed to suffer a contemptible death for their sake, but stood there naked, just as I was born, before the eyes of my enemies. I was struck in the teeth with their fists. I was dragged by the hair with their fingers and scourged by their scourges. I was fastened to the cross with their tools, and I hung on the cross between thieves and robbers. Therefore, my friends, do not spare yourself in working for me since I endured such things out of love for you. Work manfully and bring help to all my sheep in distress.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">I swear by my Manhood, which is in the Father as the Father is in me, and by my Divinity, which is in my Spirit as the Spirit is in the Divinity and the same Spirit is in me and I in him, and these are one God in three persons, that I shall run out to meet those halfway who work in carrying my sheep with me and help them, and I shall give them the most precious reward, namely, myself unto their everlasting joy.”</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The words of the Son to the bride about the three kinds of Christians that are symbolized by the Jews living in Egypt, and about how the things which have been revealed to the bride should be transmitted, published and preached to ignorant persons by the friends of God.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Chapter 60</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Son of God spoke to the bride and said: “I am the God of Israel and the one who spoke with Moses. When Moses was sent to my people, he begged for a sign, saying: ‘The people will not believe me otherwise.’ But if the people to whom Moses was sent were the Lord’s people, why did they not believe? You should know that this people consisted of three kinds of men: Some believed in God and Moses. Others believed in God but distrusted Moses, in that they thought that he, perhaps of his own invention and presumption, had presumed to say and do these things. The third were those who neither believed in God nor in Moses.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">In the same way, there are now three kinds of men among Christians who are symbolized by the Hebrew people: There are some who rightly believe in God and in my words. There are others who believe in God but distrust my words, because they cannot distinguish between the good and the evil spirit. The third are those who neither believe in me nor in you to whom I have spoken my words. But, as I said, even though some of the Hebrews distrusted Moses, nevertheless they all went through the Red Sea with him and into the desert where those who had not believed worshipped idols and provoked God into wrath, which is why they also died in the most miserable of deaths. But only those who had an evil faith did so.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Therefore, my friend shall carry my words to those who believe him, since the human soul is slow to believe. And these shall afterwards spread them to others who do not know how to distinguish between the good and the evil spirit. But if the hearers beg them for a sign, let them show those men the staff, just as Moses did, that is, let them explain my words to them. For just as the staff of Moses was straight and terrifying (for it was transformed into a snake), so are my words straight so that no falsehood can be found in them. They are terrifying, since they proclaim the righteous judgment. Let them also explain and testify that, by a word and sound of a single mouth, the devil yielded from the creature of God - he who could move mountains, if he were not restrained by my power. What kind of power belonged to him when, with God’s permission, he was driven away by the sound of a single word?</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Therefore, just as those Hebrews, who neither believed in God nor in Moses, yet went out of Egypt for the promised land when they, as it were, were forced along together with the others, so too, many Christians go out unwillingly together with my chosen men since they do not trust in my power to heal them. They do not believe in my words and they have a false hope in my power. Nevertheless, my words shall be fulfilled without their will and shall be, as it were, forced along to fulfillment until they get to the place that pleases me.”</span></span></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-831939533339323924.post-53942091016967699862021-10-19T01:29:00.002-04:002021-10-19T01:29:29.220-04:00Gay "Marriage" Condemned<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiy8LxWOX6pMnIepClt8eCpSXwqm69s5r2C1muFXhECbFc3R4c-unHg7RtjlKV_AsSbhOqvRWZmnVW1SGo1HkReHWG-Qt2tChIMUTEZ0XlGJeOFAGMZQTe6uCITyYZAD7pbnL5CMKmbl9uFd3i9CyjbpuptArXfo3sIgZ-oUQkpPOXqNCtMQDA3hnwk=s640" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="498" data-original-width="640" height="249" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiy8LxWOX6pMnIepClt8eCpSXwqm69s5r2C1muFXhECbFc3R4c-unHg7RtjlKV_AsSbhOqvRWZmnVW1SGo1HkReHWG-Qt2tChIMUTEZ0XlGJeOFAGMZQTe6uCITyYZAD7pbnL5CMKmbl9uFd3i9CyjbpuptArXfo3sIgZ-oUQkpPOXqNCtMQDA3hnwk=s320" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>Gay "marriage"</b> (more commonly known as <b>same-sex "marriage"</b>) is a so-called marriage between two persons of the same sex or gender. Gay "marriage" is a proposed redefinition or variation on the traditional concept of marriage, granting same-sex unions the same legal status as heterosexual marriage. Another similar system is civil unions. Like polygamy, it replaces the pattern of "one man, one woman" which is considered a divine mandate by most modern religious people. The proposal is outrageously unacceptable to true Christians, and most members of Judaism and Islam, because it uses the force of secular law to justify what the scripture of most modern religions has clearly labelled a sin worthy of death: i.e., homosexuality. Hate speech rules and laws are already in place which restrict criticism of same-sex unions.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Since 2001, eleven countries have begun allowing same-sex couples to "marry" nationwide: Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, South Africa, the United States and Sweden. Same-sex "marriages" are also performed and recognized in Mexico City. Some jurisdictions that do not perform same-sex "marriages" recognize same-sex "marriages" performed elsewhere: Israel, the Caribbean countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and all states of Mexico. Australia recognises same-sex "marriages" only by one partner "changing" their sex after "marriage." As of 2012, proposals exist to introduce same-sex "marriage" in at least ten other countries.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In May 2012, voters in North Carolina banned both same-sex "marriage" and gay "unions." North Carolina thereby became the 29th state in the United States to pass an amendment against gay "marriage," by a huge 61-39% margin.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><h2 class="western" lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 22px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 28px; margin: 0px; text-align: center; text-decoration-line: underline;"><span style="font-family: arial;">10 Reasons Why Homosexual "Marriage" is Harmful and Must be Opposed</span></h2><h3 class="western" lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 20px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 24px; margin: 25px auto -3px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">1. It Is Not Marriage</span></h3><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Calling something marriage does not make it marriage. Marriage has always been a covenant between a man and a woman which is by its nature ordered toward the procreation and education of children and the unity and wellbeing of the spouses.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The promoters of same-sex "marriage" propose something entirely different. They propose the union between two men or two women. This denies the self-evident biological, physiological, and psychological differences between men and women which find their complementarity in marriage. It also denies the specific primary purpose of marriage: the perpetuation of the human race and the raising of children.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Two entirely different things cannot be considered the same thing.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><h3 class="western" lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 20px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 24px; margin: 25px auto -3px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">2. It Violates Natural Law</span></h3><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Marriage is not just any relationship between human beings. It is a relationship rooted in human nature and thus governed by natural law.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Natural law's most elementary precept is that "good is to be done and pursued, and evil is to be avoided." By his natural reason, man can perceive what is morally good or bad for him. Thus, he can know the end or purpose of each of his acts and how it is morally wrong to transform the means that help him accomplish an act into the act's purpose.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Any situation which institutionalizes the circumvention of the purpose of the sexual act violates natural law and the objective norm of morality.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Being rooted in human nature, natural law is universal and immutable. It applies to the entire human race, equally. It commands and forbids consistently, everywhere and always. Saint Paul taught in the Epistle to the Romans that the natural law is inscribed on the heart of every man. (Rom. 2:14-15)</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><h3 class="western" lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 20px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 24px; margin: 25px auto -3px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">3. It Always Denies a Child Either a Father or a Mother</span></h3><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It is in the child's best interests that he be raised under the influence of his natural father and mother. This rule is confirmed by the evident difficulties faced by the many children who are orphans or are raised by a single parent, a relative, or a foster parent.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The unfortunate situation of these children will be the norm for all children of a same-sex "marriage." A child of a same-sex "marriage" will always be deprived of either his natural mother or father. He will necessarily be raised by one party who has no blood relationship with him. He will always be deprived of either a mother or a father role model.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Same-sex "marriage" ignores a child's best interests.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><h3 class="western" lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 20px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 24px; margin: 25px auto -3px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">4. It Validates and Promotes the Homosexual Lifestyle</span></h3><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In the name of the "family," same-sex "marriage" serves to validate not only such unions but the whole homosexual lifestyle in all its bisexual and transgender variants.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Civil laws are structuring principles of man's life in society. As such, they play a very important and sometimes decisive role in influencing patterns of thought and behavior. They externally shape the life of society, but also profoundly modify everyone's perception and evaluation of forms of behavior.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Legal recognition of same-sex "marriage" would necessarily obscure certain basic moral values, devalue traditional marriage, and weaken public morality.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><h3 class="western" lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 20px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 24px; margin: 25px auto -3px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">5. It Turns a Moral Wrong into a Civil Right</span></h3><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Homosexual activists argue that same-sex "marriage" is a civil rights issue similar to the struggle for racial equality in the 1960s.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This is false.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">First of all, sexual behavior and race are essentially different realities. A man and a woman wanting to marry may be different in their characteristics: one may be black, the other white; one rich, the other poor; or one tall, the other short. None of these differences are insurmountable obstacles to marriage. The two individuals are still man and woman, and thus the requirements of nature are respected.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Same-sex "marriage" opposes nature. Two individuals of the same sex, regardless of their race, wealth, stature, erudition or fame, will never be able to marry because of an insurmountable biological impossibility.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Secondly, inherited and unchangeable racial traits cannot be compared with non-genetic and changeable behavior. There is simply no analogy between the interracial marriage of a man and a woman and the "marriage" between two individuals of the same sex.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><h3 class="western" lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 20px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 24px; margin: 25px auto -3px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">6. It Does Not Create a Family but a Naturally Sterile Union</span></h3><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Traditional marriage is usually so fecund that those who would frustrate its end must do violence to nature to prevent the birth of children by using contraception or NFP. It naturally tends to create families.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">On the contrary, same-sex "marriage" is intrinsically sterile. If the "spouses" want a child, they must circumvent nature by costly and artificial means or employ surrogates. The natural tendency of such a union is not to create families but to gratify passion, selfishness, and lust.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Therefore, we cannot call a same-sex union marriage and give it the benefits of true marriage.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><h3 class="western" lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 20px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 24px; margin: 25px auto -3px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">7. It Defeats the Church's and State's Purpose of Benefiting Marriage</span></h3><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">One of the main reasons why the Church and State bestows numerous benefits on marriage is that by its very nature and design, marriage provides the normal conditions for a stable, affectionate, and moral atmosphere that is beneficial to the upbringing of children—all fruit of the mutual affection of the parents. This aids in perpetuating the nation and strengthening society and in rearing children for Heaven, an evident interest of the Church and State.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Homosexual "marriage" does not provide such conditions. Its primary purpose, objectively speaking, is the personal gratification of two individuals whose union is sterile by nature. It is not entitled, therefore, to the protection the Church and State extends to true marriage.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Only in eternity shall we know the immortal souls who have been denied a chance at Heaven because of this selfish behavior. The only thing that can foil the will of the all-powerful God is the will of His puny creatures; for He will not force offspring on anyone, just as He will not violate anyone's free will.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><h3 class="western" lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 20px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 24px; margin: 25px auto -3px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">8. It Imposes Its Acceptance on All Society</span></h3><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">By legalizing same-sex "marriage," the State becomes its official and active promoter. The State calls on public officials to officiate at the new civil ceremony, orders public schools to teach its acceptability to children, and punishes any state employee who expresses disapproval.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In the private sphere, objecting parents will see their children exposed more than ever to this new "morality," businesses offering wedding services will be forced to provide them for same-sex unions, and rental property owners will have to agree to accept same-sex couples as tenants.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In every situation where marriage affects society, the State will expect Christians and all people opposing homosexual unions to betray their consciences by condoning, through silence or act, an attack on the natural order and Christian morality.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><h3 class="western" lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 20px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 24px; margin: 25px auto -3px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">9. It Is the Cutting Edge of the Sexual Revolution</span></h3><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In the 1960s, society was pressured to accept all kinds of immoral sexual relationships between men and women. Today we are seeing a new sexual revolution where society is being asked to accept sodomy and same-sex "marriage."</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">If homosexual "marriage" is universally accepted as the present step in sexual "freedom," what logical arguments can be used to stop the next steps of incest, pedophilia, bestiality, and other forms of unnatural, damnable behavior? Indeed, radical elements of certain "avant garde" subcultures are already advocating such aberrations.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The railroading of same-sex "marriage" on the American people makes increasingly clear what homosexual activist Paul Varnell wrote in the Chicago Free Press:</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">"The gay movement, whether we acknowledge it or not, is not a civil rights movement, not even a sexual liberation movement, but a moral revolution aimed at changing people's view of homosexuality."</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><h3 class="western" lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 20px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 24px; margin: 25px auto -3px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">10. It Offends God</span></h3><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This is the most important reason. Whenever one violates the natural moral order established by God, one sins and offends God. Same-sex "marriage" does just this. Accordingly, anyone who professes to love God must be opposed to it.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Marriage is not the creature of any State. Rather, it was established by God in Paradise for our first parents, Adam and Eve. As we read in the Book of Genesis: "God created man in His image; in the Divine image he created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them, saying: 'Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it.'" (Gen. 1:28-29)</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The same was taught by Our Savior Jesus Christ: "From the beginning of the creation, God made them male and female. For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother; and shall cleave to his wife." (Mark 10:6-7).</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Genesis also teaches how God punished Sodom and Gomorrah for the sin of homosexuality: "The Lord rained down sulphurous fire upon Sodom and Gomorrah. He overthrew those cities and the whole Plain, together with the inhabitants of the cities and the produce of the soil." (Gen. 19:24-25)</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.7cm;"></p><h2 class="western" lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 22px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 28px; margin: 0px; text-align: center; text-decoration-line: underline;"><span style="font-family: arial;">What does the Bible say about Same-Sex "Marriage"?</span></h2><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">While the Bible does address homosexuality, it does not explicitly mention same-sex "marriage." It is clear, however, that the Bible condemns homosexuality as an immoral and unnatural sin. Leviticus 18:22 identifies homosexual sex as an abomination, a detestable sin. Romans 1:26-27 declares homosexual desires and actions to be shameful, unnatural, lustful, and indecent. First Corinthians 6:9 states that homosexuals are unrighteous and will not inherit the kingdom of God. Since both homosexual desires and actions are condemned in the Bible, it is clear that homosexuals "marrying" is not God's will, and would be, in fact, invalid and sinful.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Whenever the Bible mentions "marriage," it is between a male and a female. The first mention of marriage, Genesis 2:24, describes it as a man leaving his parents and being united to his wife. In passages that contain instructions regarding marriage, such as 1 Corinthians 7:2-16 and Ephesians 5:23-33, the Bible clearly identifies marriage as being between a man and a woman. Biblically speaking, marriage is the lifetime union of a man and a woman, primarily for the purpose of building a family for Heaven and providing a stable environment for that family.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Bible alone, however, does not have to be used to demonstrate this understanding of marriage. The biblical viewpoint of marriage has been the universal understanding of marriage in every human civilization in world history. History argues against same-sex "marriage." Modern secular psychology recognizes that men and women are psychologically and emotionally designed to complement one another. In regard to the family, psychologists contend that a union between a man and woman in which both spouses serve as good gender role models is the best environment in which to raise well-adjusted children. Psychology argues against same-sex "marriage." In nature/physicality, clearly, men and women were designed to "fit" together sexually. With the "natural" purpose of sexual intercourse being procreation, clearly only a sexual relationship between a man and a woman can fulfill this purpose. Nature argues against same-sex "marriage."</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Everyone inherently knows that homosexuality is immoral and unnatural, and the only way to suppress this inherent knowledge is by normalizing homosexuality and attacking any and all opposition to it. The best way to normalize homosexuality is by placing same-sex "marriage" on an equal plane with traditional opposite-gender marriage. Romans 1:18-32 illustrates this. The truth is known because God has made it plain. The truth is rejected and replaced with a lie. The lie is then promoted and the truth suppressed and attacked. The vehemence and anger expressed by many in the gay rights movement to any who oppose them is, in fact, an indication that they know their position is indefensible. Trying to overcome a weak position by raising your voice is the oldest trick in the debating book. There is perhaps no more accurate description of the modern gay rights agenda than Romans 1:31, "they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless."</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">To give sanction to same-sex "marriage" would be to give approval to the homosexual lifestyle, which the Bible clearly and consistently condemns as sinful. Christians should stand firmly against the idea of same-sex "marriage." Further, there are strong and logical arguments against same-sex "marriage" from contexts completely separated from the Bible. One does not have to be a Christian to recognize that marriage is between a man and a woman.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">According to the Bible, marriage is ordained by God to be between a man and a woman (Genesis 2:21-24; Matthew 19:4-6). Same-sex "marriage" is a perversion of the institution of marriage and an offense to the God who created marriage. As Christians, we are not to condone or ignore sin. Rather, we are to share the love of God and the forgiveness of sins that is available to all, including homosexuals, if they wish to turn away from their sin, through Jesus Christ and baptism. We are to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15) and contend for truth with "gentleness and respect" (1 Peter 3:15). As Christians, when we make a stand for truth and the result is personal attacks, insults, and persecution, we should remember the words of Jesus: "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you" (John 15:18-19).</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-831939533339323924.post-6561296036548584522021-10-09T16:59:00.003-04:002022-06-24T22:27:10.146-04:00Illuminati/New World Order<p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjmpBDxTJ4Q-TLh_HScL-ZXZ_UliBzR9IcX8sBarT0mGRDINs3EdYuLPrijIO2wy82q8yiS87-y_Swct2amDos_CXd7QMutzdWjKjUfHqGskX1T2L3fQh4NWvm8yJh8A5cAmNSWxPH1mIwXNX7Ftr_DKs4zm-oxF17mu42oWVNfxFK6bbzm6YqZbaAl=s499" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="474" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjmpBDxTJ4Q-TLh_HScL-ZXZ_UliBzR9IcX8sBarT0mGRDINs3EdYuLPrijIO2wy82q8yiS87-y_Swct2amDos_CXd7QMutzdWjKjUfHqGskX1T2L3fQh4NWvm8yJh8A5cAmNSWxPH1mIwXNX7Ftr_DKs4zm-oxF17mu42oWVNfxFK6bbzm6YqZbaAl=w190-h200" width="190" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><p></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Order of the Illuminati is often at the center of debates about the impact of secret societies on human history. Is the Illuminati a myth or does it truly secretly rule the world? As the number of people asking that question has grown, facts about the Order have become diluted with misconceptions and disinformation, making objective research on the subject difficult. This article attempts to shed some factual light on the Order of the Illuminati by reviewing some of the most important documents on the subject.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The word “Illuminati” is thrown around rather freely to describe the elite group that is secretly running the world. Most have a general idea of the meaning of the term, but are confused about the concepts and the ideas relating to it. Is the Illuminati the same thing as Freemasonry? What are their goals? What are their beliefs? Why do they act in secret? Do they practice occultism? Attempting to objectively research the subject can become an arduous task as most sources end up being either dismissive disinformation pieces that deny (and even ridicule) anything related to the Illuminati or, at the other end of the spectrum, espouse ill-informed fear mongering based on rumors and misconceptions. In both cases, the researcher ends up with the same result: a distorted version of the truth.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Considering that Secret Societies are supposed to be, by definition, secret, and that history is often rewritten by those in power, obtaining the unbiased truth about the Illuminati is a challenge. This article does not claim to “reveal” or “expose” everything that is to be known about the Illuminati; it rather attempts draw a more precise picture of the Order by citing authors who have extensively studied the subject. Whether they are, at the end of the day, critics or apologists of the Illuminati, these authors base their thoughts on credible facts. Some of the most interesting documents on the Illuminati were written by initiates of Secret Societies as they understood the philosophical and spiritual undercurrent driving the movement forward. Using these works, we will look at the origins, the methods and the impacts of the Illuminati on world history.</span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><h3 class="western" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 26px; margin: 25px auto -5px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a name="Types-of-Secret-Societies" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a>Types of Secret Societies</span></h3><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Although several groups called themselves “Illuminati” in the past, the most influential and memorable of them was the Bavarian Illuminati. Founded on May 1, 1776, the organization created by Adam Weishaupt blurred the line between “spiritual” and “political” Secret Societies. By mixing the occult sciences of Freemasonry and Rosicrucianism while conspiring to achieve precise political goals, the Illuminati became an actor on the world stage. While most Secret Societies of the time catered to rich people and their fascination with occultism, the Bavarian Illuminati actively sought to profoundly change the world.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Secret Societies have existed throughout the course of history, each of them with different aims and with different roles in society. While the Egyptian mystery schools were part of the Egyptian institution, other groups were secret due to their subversive and conspiratorial aims. These two next quotes, written by two famous political figures, describe these opposing views on Secret Societies:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“<i>Did Zanoni belong to this mystical Fraternity, who, in an earlier age, boasted of secrets of which the Philosopher’s Stone was but the least; who considered themselves the heirs of all that the Chaldeans, the Magi, the Gymnosophists, and the Platonists had taught...”</i></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm; margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">- Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, 1884<sup>1</sup></span></i></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm; margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“<i>The governments of the present day have to deal not merely with other governments, with emperors, kings and ministers, but also with the secret societies which have everywhere their unscrupulous agents, and can at the last moment upset all the governments’ plans.”</i></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm; margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">- British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, 1876</span></i></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">These quotes describe different realms of influence of Secret Societies. The first one refers to the spiritual side while the second describes the political side. Not all Secret Societies dwell in the spiritual and not all of them get involved in political machinations. The Bavarian Illuminati operated in both realms.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm; margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“<i>... Political brotherhoods [are comprised] of power-seekers who cloak their manipulative agenda in darkness. (…)</i></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm; margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm; margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">The Illuminati are perceived by many as spanning the chasm between the spiritual and the political secret society. Often credited (or blamed) for influencing the French Revolution in 1787, the Illuminati taught a doctrine of social and political liberation that hinged on the equality of man, the embrace of rationalism, and the denial of crown and church as the legitimate institutions for the regulation of social and moral values. (…) the European revolutions they are believed to have encouraged degenerated into brutal bloodbaths whose singular lack of moral compass was appalling.”<sup>2</sup></span></i></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Manly P. Hall, a 33rd Degree Freemason and prolific author, described in his pamphlet “Masonic Orders of Fraternity” an “Invisible Empire” that has been silently working for centuries towards social change. It periodically became visible throughout History, through different organizations who bore different names. According to him, these groups have a great yet silent impact on society, even transforming the educational system to form future generations.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm; margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“<i>The direct descent of the essential program of the Esoteric Schools was entrusted to groups already well-conditioned for the work. The guilds, trade unions, and similar protective and benevolent Societies had been internally strengthened by the introduction of a new learning. The advancement of the plan required the enlargement of the boundaries of the philosophic overstate. A World Fraternity was needed, sustained by a deep and broad program of education according to the “method”. Such a Fraternity could not immediately include all men, but it could unite the activities of certain kinds of men, regardless of their racial or religious beliefs or the nations in which they dwelt. These were the men of “towardness”, those sons of tomorrow, whose symbol was a blazing sun rising over the mountains of the east. (…)</i></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm; margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm; margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">It was inevitable that the Orders of Fraternity should sponsor world education. (…) The program included a systematic expansion of existing institutions and the enlargement of their spheres of influence.</span></i></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm; margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm; margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">Slowly, the Orders of Universal Reformation faded from public attention, and in their places appeared the Orders of World Brotherhood. Everything possible was done to prevent the transitions from being obvious. Even history was falsified to make certain sequences of activity unrecognizable. The shift of emphasis never gave the impression of abruptness, and the motion appeared as a dawning of social consciousness. The most obvious clues to the secret activity have been the prevailing silence about the origin and the impossibility of filing the lacunae in the records of seventeenth- and eighteenth- century fraternal Orders. (…)</span></i></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm; margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm; margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">The Orders of Fraternity were attached by slender and almost invisible threads to the parent project. Like earlier Schools of the Mysteries, these Fraternities were not in themselves actual embodiments of the esoteric associations, but rather instruments to advance certain objectives of the divine plan.“<sup>3</sup></span></i></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Here, Hall mentions a “silence” and lack of information regarding the workings of Secret Societies during the 17th and 18th century, the epoch during which the Bavarian Illuminati was active. It is during this time period that Secret Societies took action, causing revolutions, overthrowing Monarchical and Papal powers and taking hold of the banking system. Was the Bavarian Illuminati part of the Invisible Empire described by Hall? Is it still active today? Let’s first look at Adam Weishaupt and his infamous Secret Society.</span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><h3 class="western" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 26px; margin: 25px auto -5px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a name="Adam-Weishaupt" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a>Adam Weishaupt</span></h3><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Adam Weishaupt was born in Ingolstadt, Bavaria on February 6, 1748. His father died when he was seven. As Adam Weishaupt pursued his studies, he also became knowledgeable in occult mysteries and Hermetism. He understood that Masonic lodges would be the ideal venue to propagate his views. He therefore sought to become a Freemason, but was quickly disenchanted with the idea.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm; margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“<i>His imagination having taken heat from his reflections upon the attractive power of the Eleusinian mysteries and the influence exerted by the secret cult of the Pythagoreans, it was first in Weishaupt’s thought to seek in the Masonic institutions of the day the opportunity he coveted for the propagation of his views. From this, original intention, however, he was soon diverted, in part because of the difficulty he experienced in commanding sufficient funds to gain admission to a lodge of Masons, in part because his study of such Masonic books as came into his hands persuaded him that the “mysteries” of Freemasonry were too puerile and too readily accessible to the general public to make them worthwhile”.<sup>4</sup></i></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Weishaupt soon realized that, to achieve his aims, it would be necessary for him to create his own secretive group, composed of powerful individuals who would embrace his views and help him propagate them.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The goal of Weishaupt’s organization was simple yet monumental: to overthrow all political and religious institutions in order to replace it with a group of Illuminati initiates. On May 1, 1776, the Order of the Illuminati was founded.</span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><h3 class="western" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 26px; margin: 25px auto -5px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a name="The-Bavarian-Illuminati" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a>The Bavarian Illuminati</span></h3><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Weishaupt’s Illuminati began humbly with only five members, but after a few years and with powerful connections, the Order became a major political force across the world. Influential deciders, rich industrials, powerful noblemen and mysterious occultists joined the Order and participated in its conspiratorial objectives. Some historians claim that the Order’s quick rise to success was due to a secret meeting between Weishaupt and a mysterious figure named Cagliostro, the most powerful occultist of the time.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm; margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“<i>In Ingolsstadt, Cagliostro is believed to have met Adam Weishaupt, professor of philosophy and canon law at the university, who in 1776, had founded the sect of Illuminati. Calling themselves heirs to the Knights Templar, they declared their interest in using celestial intervention as achieved by Cagliostro for the furtherance of a program of worldwide religious reform, but one more radical than Cagliostro’s, “committed to avenging the death of the Templar’s Grand Master Molay by reducing to dust the triple crown of the popes and disposing of the last of the Capet Kings.”</i></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm; margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm; margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">Cagliostro obliged, and described in prophetic detail the decapitation of Louis XVI, an event hardly to be envisaged at that time as anything but improbable.”<sup>5</sup></span></i></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Bavarian Illuminati was originally comprised of three primary grades: Novice, Minerval and Illuminated Minerval. Each grade was designed to achieve particular objectives while assuring complete control and dominance to the apex of the pyramid.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">From this basic structure, the Illuminati began its expansion. Everything was in place for Weishaupt to achieve an important goal: the infiltration of Freemasonry.</span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><h3 class="western" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 26px; margin: 25px auto -5px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a name="Infiltration-of-Freemasonry" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a>Infiltration of Freemasonry</span></h3><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In 1777, the year following the creation of the Illuminati, Weishaupt joined the Masonic lodge of Theodore of Good Counsel in Munich. Not only did he successfully propagate his views into the lodge, he also managed to get the lodge to be ”<i>virtually absorbed into the Illuminist order almost immediately</i>”.<sup>6</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A definite alliance between the Illuminati and Freemasonry became possible in 1780 when a prominent figure by the name of Baron Adolf Franz Friederich Knigge was initiated into Weishaupt’s Order. The German diplomat’s Masonic connections and organizational skills were promptly put to use by the Order. Knigge would go on to accomplish two important tasks for the Illuminati: He revised the hierarchy of the Order, created new higher grades and allowed the full integration of Masonic lodges into the system.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm; margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“<i>Two weighty consequences promptly followed as the result of Kinigge’s advent into the order. The long-sought higher grades were worked out, and an alliance between the Illuminati and Freemasonry was effected.”<sup>13</sup></i></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Knigge’s influence upon the Order was profound and immediate. The new system he devised attracted Freemasons and other powerful figures, which gave the movement great momentum. Knigge’s kept the Order’s original grades untouched but added new grades above them. The second level of the Illuminati incorporated the grades of Freemasonry making therefore the Brotherhood simply a part of the wider Illuminist superstructure.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The highest grades of the Order were restricted to a select few and included powerful individuals and influential figures. The grade of Prince held within its ranks National Inspectors, Provincials, Prefects and Deans of the Priests. At the top of the pyramid were the Magus (also known as Areopagites), which comprised the supreme heads of the Order. Their identities were safely guarded and are still difficult to confirm today.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Knigge’s strategy gave impressive results and allowed the Illuminati to become an extremely powerful movement.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm; margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“<i>The new method of spreading Illuminism by means of its affiliation with Masonic lodges promptly demonstrated its worth. Largely because of the fine strategy of seeking its recruits among the officers and other influential personages in the lodges of Freemasonry, one after another of the latter in quick succession went over to the new system. New prefectures were established, new provinces organized, and Provincials began to report a steady and copious stream of new recruits. (…) Students, merchants, doctors, pharmacists, lawyers, judges, professors in gymnasia and universities, preceptors, civil officers ... — all were generously represented among the new recruits. Distinguished names soon appeared upon the rosters of the lodges of the new system. Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick, Duke Ernst of Gotha, Duke Karl August of Saxe-Weimar, Prince August of Saxe-Gotha, Prince Carl of Hesse, Baron Dalberg, the philosopher Herder, the poet Goethe, the educationist Pestalozzi, were among the number enrolled, By the end of 1784 the leaders boasted of a total enrollment of between two and three thousand members 106. and the establishment of the order upon a solid foundation seemed to be fully assured.”<sup>8</sup></i></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Weishaupt, however, did not enjoy his Order’s success for long. Suspicions of Illuminati conspiracy against governments and religious arose across Europe. Seeing a credible threat against its power, the Bavarian government launched an edict outlawing all communities, societies and brotherhoods that existed without due authorization of the law. Furthermore, internal disagreements between Weishaupt and the higher ups of his Order lead to disputes and dissension. In the midst of it all, some members went directly to the authorities and testified against the Order, an opportunity that was not missed by the Bavarian government.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">By 1788, through the use of aggressive legislation and criminal charges, the Bavarian Illuminati was apparently dissipated and destroyed by the government. While some see here the conclusion of the story of the Illuminati, one must not forget that the tentacles of Illuminism had the time to spread way beyond to confines of Bavaria to reach Masonic lodges across Europe. In other words, the Illuminati was never destroyed, it simply went underground. A year later, an important event would prove that Illuminism was more alive and potent then ever: the French Revolution.</span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><h3 class="western" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 26px; margin: 25px auto -5px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a name="The-French-Revolution" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a>The French Revolution</span></h3><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The violent overthrow of the French Monarchy in 1789 symbolizes to many the victory of Jacobinism and Illuminism over the traditional institutions of the time. The adoption of the Declaration of Human Rights officially recorded Masonic and Illuminist values into the core of the French government. The country’s new motto “Liberté, Égalité et Fraternité” (Freedom, Equality and Brotherhood) was said to be a famous Masonic saying that was used in French lodges for centuries.</span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><h3 class="western" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 26px; margin: 25px auto -5px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a name="BACKLASH-AGAINST-ILLUMINISM" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a>BACKLASH AGAINST ILLUMINISM</span></h3><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">If though Bavarian Illuminati was said to be dead, the ideas it promoted still became a reality. The Freemasons and Rosicrucians were still thriving, and the Illuminati appeared to be living through them. Europe was undergoing profound turmoil as a new class of people took the helms of power. Critics began to emerge, revealing to the masses the secret forces behind the changes they were witnessing.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Leopold Hoffman, a Freemason, published a series of articles in his journal entitled Wiener Zeitschrift. He claimed that the lower grades of the Illuminati had been dissolved, but the highest degrees were still active. He also added that Freemasonry was being “subjugated by Illuminism” and transformed to serve its ends. He also stated that the French Revolution was the result of years of Illuminist propaganda.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In 1797, John Robinson, a Scottish physician, mathematician and inventor (he invented the siren) published a book entitled “Proofs of a Conspiracy against All the Religions and Governments of Europe, carried on in the Secret Meetings of the Free Masons, Illuminati, and Reading Societies”. This devout Freemason became disenchanted when he realized that his brotherhood had been infiltrated by the Illuminati. Here’s an excerpt of his book:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm; margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“<i>I have found that the covert of a Mason Lodge had been employed in every country for venting and propagating sentiments in religion and politics, that could not have circulated in public without exposing the author to great danger. I found, that this impunity had gradually encouraged men of licentious principles to become more bold, and to teach doctrines subversive of all our notions of morality... I have been able to trace these attempts, made, through a course of fifty years, under the specious pretext of enlightening the world by the torch of philosophy, and of dispelling the clouds of civil and religious superstition which keep the nations of Europe in darkness and slavery.</i></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm; margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm; margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">I have observed these doctrines gradually diffusing and mixing with all the different systems of Free Masonry; till, at last, AN ASSOCIATION HAS BEEN FORMED for the express purpose of ROOTING OUT ALL THE RELIGIOUS ESTABLISHMENTS, AND OVERTURNING ALL THE EXISTING GOVERNMENTS OF EUROPE. I have seen this Association exerting itself zealously and systematically, till it has become almost irresistible: And I have seen that the most active leaders in the French Revolution were members of this Association, and conducted their first movements according to its principles, and by means of its instructions and assistance, formally requested and obtained: And, lastly, I have seen that this Association still exists, still works in secret, and that not only several appearances among ourselves show that its emissaries are endeavouring to propagate their detestable doctrines, but that the Association has Lodges in Britain corresponding with the mother Lodge at Munich ever since 1784. . . The Association of which I have been- speaking is the order of ILLUMINATI, founded, in 1775 [sic], by Dr. Adam Weishaupt, professor of Canon-law in the University of Ingolstadt, and abolished in 1786 by the Elector of Bavaria, but revived immediately after, under another name, and in a different form, all over Germany. It was again detected, and seemingly broken up; but it had by this time taken so deep root that it still subsists without being detected, and has spread into all the countries of Europe”<sup>9</sup></span></i></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Augustin Barrel, a French Jesuit priest also published in 1797 a book linking the French Revolution to the Bavarian Illuminati. In “<i>Mémoires pour servir à l’histoire du Jacobisime</i>”, he traced back the slogan “Liberty and Equality” back to the early Templars and claimed that, in the higher degrees of the order, liberty and equality is explained not only by “war against kings and thrones” but by “war against Christ and his altars”. He also provided details pertaining to the Illuminist take-over of Freemasonry.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“<i>Barruel charged that not only the lower order of Masonry were duped by Weishaupt, but also those of Weishaupt’s own Illuminati, for whom he had provided another top-secret level of direction known as the Aeopagus, a withdrawn circle of directors of the whole order, who alone knew its secret aims. To Barruel, such revolutionary leaders as La Rochefoucauld, Lafayette, and the duc d’Orléans, had become Illuminati agents and dupes of more extreme radicals such as Danton, provocateurs who sparked the Illuminati-directed rebellion. Barruel further charged that the entire French Masonic establishment had been converted to Weishaupt’s revolutionary ideas, its lodges turned into secret committees which planned bloodshed.”<sup>10</sup></i></span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><h3 class="western" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 26px; margin: 25px auto -5px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a name="Propagation-in-America" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a>Propagation in America</span></h3><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Most of America’s Founding Fathers were part of Secret Societies, whether the Freemasons, the Rosicrucians or others. Some of them travelled to Europe and were well versed in the doctrines of the Illuminati.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">From 1776 to 1785 – when the Bavarian Illuminati was openly active – Benjamin Franklin was in Paris serving as the ambassador of the United States to France. During his stay, he became Grand Master of the lodge Les Neufs Soeurs which was attached with the Grand Orient of France. This Masonic organization was said to have become the French headquarters of the Bavarian Illuminati. It was particularly influential in organizing of the French support for the American Revolution and was later part of the process towards the French Revolution.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In 1799, when German minister G.W. Snyder warned George Washington of the Illuminati plan “<i>to overthrow all governments and religion</i>”, Washington replied that he had heard “<i>much of the nefarious and dangerous plan and doctrines of the Illuminati</i>“. He however concluded his letter by stating: “<i>I believe notwithstanding, that none of the Lodges in this country are contaminated with the principles ascribed to the society of Illuminati</i>“.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In another letter to Snyder, written a month later, Washington continued on the topic:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm; margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“<i>It was not my intention to doubt that, the Doctrines of the Illuminati, and principles of Jacobinism had not spread in the United States. On the contrary, no one is more truly satisfied of this fact than I am.</i></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm; margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm; margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">The idea that I meant to convey, was, that I did not believe that the Lodges of Free Masons in this Country had, as Societies, endeavoured to propagate the diabolical tenets of the first, or pernicious principles of the latter (if they are susceptible of separation). That Individuals of them may have done it, or that the founder, or instrument employed to found, the Democratic Societies in the United States, may have had these objects; and actually had a separation of the People from their Government in view, is too evident to be questioned.”</span></i></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Judging by this letter, George Washington was obviously well aware of the doctrines of the Illuminati and even if he did not believe that the Masonic institutions of the United States propagated its doctrines, he concedes that individuals might have undertaken that endeavour.</span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><h3 class="western" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 26px; margin: 25px auto -5px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a name="After-the-Bavarian-Illuminati" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a>After the Bavarian Illuminati</span></h3><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Today, the term Illuminati is used to loosely describe the small group of powerful individuals who are working towards the creation of a World Government, with the issue of a single world currency and a single world religion. Although it is difficult to determine if this group descends directly from the original Bavarian Illuminati or that it even uses the term Illuminati, its tenets and methods are in perfect continuation of it. As stated above, the name that is used to describe the occult elite can change. And, ultimately, the name is irrelevant; what needs to be recognized is the underlying current that has existed for centuries.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">According Manly. P Hall, the Bavarian Illuminati was part of what he calls the “Universal Brotherhood”, an invisible Order at the “source” of most Hermetic Secret Societies of the past. It has worked for centuries towards the transformation of mankind, guiding it through a worldwide alchemical process. The same way the alchemical Great Work seeks to turn crude metals into gold, it claims to work towards a similar metamorphosis of the world. According to Hall, the Universal Brotherhood sometimes makes itself visible, but under the guise of different names and symbols. This would mean that the Knights Templars, Freemasons, Rosicrucians, and Illuminati are temporary visible manifestations of an underlying force that is infinitely more profound and more powerful. However, human beings being what they are – weak toward greed and power-lust – these movements often become more corrupted and end up conspiring against the masses for more power and material gain.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Hall concludes that the Illuminati existed long before the advent of Weishaupt’s Order and that it still exists today. It was under the guise of defeat and destruction that the Illuminati realized its greatest victories.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm; margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“<i>Weishaupt emerged as a faithful servant of a higher cause. Behind him moved the intricate machinery of the Secret School. As usual, they did not trust their full weight to any perishable institution. The physical history of the Bavarian Illuminati extended over a period of only twelve years. It is difficult to understand, therefore, the profound stir which this movement caused in the political life of Europe. We are forced to the realization that this Bavarian group was only one fragment of a large and composite design.</i></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm; margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm; margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">All efforts to discover the members of the higher grades of the Illuminist Order have been unsuccessful. It has been customary, therefore, to assume that these higher grades did not exist except in the minds of Weishaupt and von Knigge. Is it not equally possible that a powerful group of men, resolved to remain entirely unknown, moved behind Weishaupt and pushed him forward as a screen for its own activities?</span></i></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm; margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm; margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">The ideals of Illuminism, as they are found in the pagan Mysteries of antiquity, were old when Weishaupt was born, and it is unlikely that these long-cherished convictions perished with his Bavarian experiment. The work that was unfinished in 1785 remains unfinished in 1950. Esoteric Orders will not become extinct until the purpose which brought them into being has been fulfilled. Organizations may perish, but the Great School is indestructible”.<sup>11</sup></span></i></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Great Seal of the United States features the unfinished Great Pyramid of Giza, a symbol of the unfinished work of the Esoteric Orders: a New World Order. The Seal was adopted on the American dollar by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a 32nd Degree Freemason and a Knight of Pythias with ties to Manly P. Hall.</span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><h3 class="western" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 26px; margin: 25px auto -5px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a name="The-Illuminati-Today" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a>The Illuminati Today</span></h3><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">If the Illuminist Agenda is still alive today, what form does it take? From the esoteric and spiritual point of view, some modern Secret Societies such as the O.T.O. (Ordo Templi Orientis) have claimed to be the heirs of Illuminism. Other researchers stated that there exists hidden Orders above the 33 “visible” degrees of Freemasonry that form the Illuminati. As they are, by definition, secret, obtaining details about these Orders is quite difficult.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The political side of modern Illluminism is a lot more visible and its plans are obvious. An increasingly restrictive and concentrated group is being entrusted with the creation of important decisions and policies. International committees and organizations, acting above elected officials are today creating social and economic policies that are applied on a global level. This phenomenon is rather new in world history as a rather than kingdoms or nation-states, a non-elected shadow government, composed of the world’s elite, is gradually becoming the center of world power.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm; margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“<i>On another political plane are ideological groups such as the Council on Foreign Relations, or participants in the World Economic Forum. Here we find leaders in politics, business, finance, education, and the media who share a belief in the value of global solutions; are in position of high authority and influence; and represent different levels of involvement with the inner circle of the group. Most members simply welcome the opportunity to associate with other well-known luminaries and are honored by being offered membership or attendance privileges. Yet, the ideology at the highest levels of such groups supports a world government – to be administered by a class of experts and planners, entrusted with running centrally organized social and political institutions. Although members may be persuaded to add their considerable voices to certain transnational political and economic policies, they may bot be as supportive (or even aware) of the long-range ambitions of the inner circle. While these groups quite often hold their meetings in secret, their membership lists are a matter of public record. It is the central agenda that is disguised.”<sup>12</sup></i></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The main elite groups and councils are: the International Crisis Group, the Council on Foreign Relations, the World Economic Forum, the Brookings Institution, Chatham House, the Trilateral Commission and the Bilderberg Group. The Bohemian Club is known to hold informal gatherings of the world elite punctuated with strange ceremonies and rituals. The Club’s insignia is an Owl similar to the one found on the Bavarian Illuminati’s Minerval seal.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">If one would carefully study the members and attendees of these exclusive clubs, one would notice that they combine the most powerful politicians, CEOs and intellectuals of the time with lesser known individuals with famous names. They are descendants of powerful dynasties that rose to power by taking over vital aspects of modern economies, such as the banking system, the oil industry or mass media. They have been associated with game changing events, such as the creation of the Federal Reserve in 1913. This act completely modified the banking system of the United States, placing it in the hands of a few elite corporations. A proof of this is the court decision of 1982 stating that “<i>The Reserve Banks are not federal instrumentalities for purposes of the FTCA [the Federal Tort Claims Act], but are independent, privately owned and locally controlled corporations</i>“.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In his book “Bloodlines of the Illuminati”, controversial author Fritz Springmeier claims that today’s Illuminati is formed from the descendants of thirteen powerful families whose ancestors had close or distant ties to the original Bavarian Illuminati. According to Springmeier, the 13 bloodlines are: the Astors, the Bundys, the Collins, the DuPonts, the Freemans, the Kennedys, the Li, the Onassis, the Reynolds, the Rockefellers, the Rothschilds, the Russells and the Van Duyns.<sup>13</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">There is no doubt that by virtue of the material and political resources they own, some of these families have a great deal of power in today’s world. They appear to form the core of what we call today the Illuminati. However, are they conspiring to create a New World Order? Here’s a quote from David Rockefeller’s memoirs that might answer some questions:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“<i>For more than a century, ideological extremists at either end of the political spectrum have seized upon well-publicized incidents such as my encounter with Castro to attack the Rockefeller family for the inordinate influence they claim we wield over American political and economic institutions. Some even believe we are part of a secret cabal working against the best interests of the United States, characterizing my family and me as ‘internationalists’ and of conspiring with others around the world to build a more integrated global political and economic structure – one world, if you will. If that is the charge, I stand guilty, and I am proud of it.”<sup>14</sup></i></span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><h3 class="western" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 26px; margin: 25px auto -5px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a name="In-Conclusion" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a>In Conclusion</span></h3><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Today’s political atmosphere is quite different from the time of Weishaupt and the American Founding Fathers, yet there are still many similarities. While the Bavarian Illuminists purportedly denounced the political and religious oppression of the Vatican, another kind of oppression is taking form. As democracies merge into a single world government, as privacy and freedoms become replaced by “security” and high tech surveillance, as schools crack down on critical thinking, as mass media dumbs-down and disinforms the masses, as secret operations carry out crimes against humanity and as all major protests get violently repressed by a growing police state, it is easy to draw the conclusion that a similarly repressive system is currently being instated by the Illuminati.</span></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><h2 class="western" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 28px; margin: 0px; text-align: center; text-decoration-line: underline;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a name="Albert-Pikes-Amazing-Predictions-Of-Three-World-Wars" style="color: blue;"></a>Albert Pike's Amazing Predictions Of Three World Wars</span></h2><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Albert Pike was a 33rd degree Mason, was one of the founding fathers, and head of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, being the Grand Commander of North American Freemasonry from 1859 and retained that position until his death in 1891. In 1869, he was a top leader in the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. He received a vision, which he described in a letter that he wrote to Mazzini, dated August 15, 1871. This letter graphically outlined plans for three world wars that were seen as necessary to bring about the One World Order, and we can marvel at how accurately it has predicted events that have already taken place.</span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><h3 class="western" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 26px; margin: 25px auto -5px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a name="Pikes-Letter-to-Mazzini" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a>Pike's Letter to Mazzini</span></h3><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It is a commonly believed fallacy that for a short time, the Pike letter to Mazzini was on display in the British Museum Library in London, and it was copied by William Guy Carr, former Intelligence Officer in the Royal Canadian Navy. The British Library has confirmed in writing to me that such a document has never been in their possession. Furthermore, in Carr's book, Satan, Prince of this World, Carr includes the following footnote:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm; margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">"The Keeper of Manuscripts recently informed the author that this letter is NOT catalogued in the British Museum Library. It seems strange that a man of Cardinal Rodriguez's knowledge should have said that it WAS in 1925".</span></i></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It appears that Carr learned about this letter from Cardinal Caro y Rodriguez of Santiago, Chile, who wrote The Mystery of Freemasonry Unveiled.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">To date, no conclusive proof exists to show that this letter was ever written. Nevertheless, the letter is widely quoted and the topic of much discussion.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Following are apparently extracts of the letter, showing how Three World Wars have been planned for many generations.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm; margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">"The First World War must be brought about in order to permit the Illuminati to overthrow the power of the Czars in Russia and of making that country a fortress of atheistic Communism. The divergences caused by the "agentur" (agents) of the Illuminati between the British and Germanic Empires will be used to foment this war. At the end of the war, Communism will be built and used in order to destroy the other governments and in order to weaken the religions."</span></i></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Students of history will recognize that the political alliances of England on one side and Germany on the other, forged between 1871 and 1898 by Otto von Bismarck, co-conspirator of Albert Pike, were instrumental in bringing about the First World War.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm; margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">"The Second World War must be fomented by taking advantage of the differences between the Fascists and the political Zionists. This war must be brought about so that Nazism is destroyed and that the political Zionism be strong enough to institute a sovereign state of Israel in Palestine. During the Second World War, International Communism must become strong enough in order to balance Christendom, which would be then restrained and held in check until the time when we would need it for the final social cataclysm."</span></i></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">After this Second World War, Communism was made strong enough to begin taking over weaker governments. In 1945, at the Potsdam Conference between Truman, Churchill, and Stalin, a large portion of Europe was simply handed over to Russia, and on the other side of the world, the aftermath of the war with Japan helped to sweep the tide of Communism into China.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">(Readers who argue that the terms Nazism and Zionism were not known in 1871 should remember that the Illuminati invented both these movements. In addition, Communism as an ideology, and as a coined phrase, originates in France during the Revolution. In 1785, Restif coined the phrase four years before revolution broke out. Restif and Babeuf, in turn, were influenced by Rousseau - as was the most famous conspirator of them all, Adam Weishaupt.)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm; margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">"The Third World War must be fomented by taking advantage of the differences caused by the "agentur" of the "Illuminati" between the political Zionists and the leaders of Islamic World. The war must be conducted in such a way that Islam (the Moslem Arabic World) and political Zionism (the State of Israel) mutually destroy each other. Meanwhile the other nations, once more divided on this issue will be constrained to fight to the point of complete physical, moral, spiritual and economical exhaustion. [sic] We shall unleash the Nihilists and the atheists, and we shall provoke a formidable social cataclysm which in all its horror will show clearly to the nations the effect of absolute atheism, origin of savagery and of the most bloody turmoil. Then everywhere, the citizens, obliged to defend themselves against the world minority of revolutionaries, will exterminate those destroyers of civilization, and the multitude, disillusioned with Christianity, whose deistic spirits will from that moment be without compass or direction, anxious for an ideal, but without knowing where to render its adoration, will receive the true light through the universal manifestation of the pure doctrine of Lucifer, brought finally out in the public view. This manifestation will result from the general reactionary movement which will follow the destruction of Christianity and atheism, both conquered and exterminated at the same time."</span></i></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Since the terrorist attacks of Sept 11, 2001, world events, and in particular in the Middle East, show a growing unrest and instability between Modern Zionism and the Arabic World. This is completely in line with the call for a Third World War to be fought between the two, and their allies on both sides. This Third World War is still to come, and recent events show us that it is not far off.</span></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; line-height: 32px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a name="The-Freemasonic-Infiltration-of-the-Catholic-Church" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a><span><b>7. The Church’s enemies, Communists and Freemasons, made an organized effort to infiltrate the Catholic Church</b></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Leo XIII, <i>Dall’Alto </i>(# 2), Oct. 15, 1890: “<b>It is needless now to put the Masonic sects upon their trial</b>. They are already judged; their ends, their means, their doctrines, and their action, are all known with indisputable certainty. <b>Possessed by the spirit of Satan, whose instrument they are, they burn like him with a deadly and implacable hatred of Jesus Christ and of His work; and they endeavor by every means to overthrow and fetter it</b>.”<sup>1</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Leo XIII, <i>In Ipso </i>(# 1), March 3, 1891: “Nevertheless, it grieves us to think that <b>the </b><u><b>enemies of the Church, joined in most wicked conspiracy, scheme to weaken and even, if possible, utterly wipe out</b></u><b> that wondrous edifice which God Himself has erected as a refuge for the human race</b>.”<sup>2</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It’s a well known fact that Communists and Freemasons made organized efforts to infiltrate the Catholic Church. They sent large numbers of their own men into the priesthood hoping to weaken and attack her by moving these men to high positions.</span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Mrs. Bella Dodd spent most of her life in the Communist Party of America and was Attorney General designate had the Party won the White House. After her defection, she revealed that one of her jobs as a Communist agent was to encourage young radicals (not always card-carrying Communists) to enter Catholic seminaries. She said that before she had left the Party in the U.S. she had encouraged almost 1,000 young radicals to infiltrate the seminaries and religious orders; she was only one Communist.</span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Brother Joseph Natale, was present at one of Bella Dodd’s lectures in the early 1950’s. He stated:</span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“I listened to that woman for four hours and she had my hair standing on end. Everything she said has been fulfilled to the letter. You would think she was the world’s greatest prophet, but she was no prophet. She was merely exposing the step-by-step battle plan of Communist subversion of the Catholic Church. She explained that of all the world’s religions, the Catholic Church was the only one feared by the Communists, for it was its only effective opponent.”<sup>3</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Bella Dodd converted to Catholicism at the end of her life. Speaking as an ex-Communist, she said: “<b>In the 1930’s, we put eleven hundred men into the priesthood in order to destroy the Church from within</b>.” The idea was for these men to be ordained, and then climb the ladder of influence and authority as monsignors and bishops. Back then, she said: “Right now they are in the highest places in the Church. They are working to bring about change in order that the Catholic Church would not be effective against Communism.” She also said that these changes would be so drastic that “you will not recognize the Catholic Church.” (This was 10 to 12 years before Vatican II.)</span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Brother Joseph went on relating what Bella Dodd had said: “<b>The whole idea was to destroy, not the institution of the Church, but rather the Faith of the people, and even use the institution of the Church, if possible, to destroy the Faith through the promotion of a pseudo-religion</b>: something that resembled Catholicism but was not the real thing. Once the Faith was destroyed, she explained that there would be a guilt complex introduced into the Church… to label the ‘Church of the past’ as being oppressive, authoritarian, full of predjudices, arrogant in claiming to be the sole possessor of truth, and responsible for the divisions of religious bodies throughout the centuries. This would be necessary in order to shame Church leaders into an ‘openness to the world,’ and to a more flexible attitude toward all religions and philosophies. The Communists would then exploit this openness in order to undermine the Church.”<sup>4</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>Freemasons made similar attempts to infiltrate the Catholic Church </b>and elevate their own to the highest levels. The Luciferian secret society, the Carbonari, known as the <i>Alta Vendita</i>, wrote a set of <i>Permanent Instructions</i>, or Code of Rules, which appeared in Italy in 1818. It stated:</span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“… It becomes the duty of the secret societies to make the first advance to the Church, and to the pope, with the object of conquering both. The work for which we gird ourselves is not the work of a day, nor of a month, nor a year. It may last for many years, perhaps a century… <b>What we must ask for, what we should look for and wait for, as the Jews wait for the Messiah, is a pope according to our wants</b>. We require a pope for ourselves, if such a pope were possible. With such a one we shall march more securely to the storming of the Church, than with all the little books of our French and English brothers.”<sup>5</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The same Freemasonic document made this striking prediction:</span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“In a hundred years time… <b>bishops and priests will think they are marching behind the banner of the keys of Peter, when in fact they will be following our flag</b>… The reforms will have to be brought about in the name of obedience.”<sup>6</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">These organizations and the individuals who belong to them are agents which the Devil uses to attack the true Church of Christ.</span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Ephesians 6:12- “For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in high places.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">On April 3, 1844, a leader of the <i>AltaVendita </i>named Nubius wrote a letter to another highly-placed mason. <b>The letter spoke again about the plan to infiltrate the Catholic Church, and the attempt to insert a masonic “pope,” </b>who would promote the religion of Freemasonry. “Now then, in order to ensure a pope in the required proportions, we must first of all prepare a generation worthy of the kingdom of which we dream… <b>Let the clergy move forward under your banner (the masonic banner) always believing they are advancing under the banner of the apostolic keys</b>. Cast your net like Simon Bar Jonas; spread it to the bottom of sacristies, seminaries, and convents … You will have finished a revolution dressed in the pope’s triple crown and cape, carrying the cross and the flag, a revolution that will need only a small stimulus to set fire to the four corners of the earth.”<sup>7</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Freemason Eliph Levi said in 1862: “<b>A day will come when the pope… will declare that all the excommunications are lifted and all the anathemas are retracted</b>, when all the Christians will be united within the Church, when the Jews and Moslems will be blessed and called back to her . . . she will permit all sects to approach her by degrees and will embrace all mankind in the communion of her love and prayers. Then, Protestants will no longer exist. Against what will they be able to protest? The sovereign pontiff will then be truly king of the religious world, and he will do whatever he wishes with all the nations of the earth.”<sup>8</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">An apostate priest and former canon-lawyer,<sup>9 </sup>named Fr. Roca (1830-1893), after being excommunicated said: “The papacy will fall; it will die under the hallowed knife which the fathers of the last council will forge.”<sup>10 </sup>Roca also said: “You must have a new dogma, a new religion, a new ministry, and new rituals that very closely resemble those of the surrendered Church. <b>The divine cult directed by the liturgy, ceremonial, ritual and regulations of the Roman Catholic Church will shortly undergo transformation at an ecumenical Council</b>.”<sup>11</sup></span></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="vertical-align: super;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>Endnotes</b>:</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-family: arial;">1 Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, Zanoni</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-family: arial;">2 James Wasserman, The Mystery Traditions</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-family: arial;">3 Manly P. Hall, Masonic Orders of Fraternity</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-family: arial;">4 Stauffer, Op. Cit.</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-family: arial;">5 Tompkins, op. cit.</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-family: arial;">6 Hall, op. cit.</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-family: arial;">7 Ibid.</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-family: arial;">8 Ibid.</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-family: arial;">9 John Robinson, Proofs of a Conspiracy</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-family: arial;">10 Tompkins, op. cit.</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-family: arial;">11 Hall, op. cit.</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-family: arial;">12 Wasserman, op. cit.</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-family: arial;">13 Fritz Springmeier, The Bloodlines of the Illuminati</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-family: arial;">14 David Rockefeller, Memoirs</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white;"><sup><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><br /></span></sup></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="vertical-align: super;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;">Endnotes for Section 7:</span></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">1 The Papal Encyclicals, by Claudia Carlen, Raleigh: The Pierian Press, 1990, Vol. 2 (1878-1903), p. 226.</span></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-family: arial;">2 The Papal Encyclicals, Vol. 2 (1878-1903), p. 237.</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-family: arial;">3 Statements of Bro. Joseph Natale relating what former Communist Bella Dodd said.</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-family: arial;">4 Statements of Bro. Joseph Natale relating what former Communist Bella Dodd said.</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-family: arial;">5 The Permanent Instruction of the Alta Vendita.</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-family: arial;">6 The Permanent Instruction of the Alta Vendita.</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-family: arial;">7 NUBIUS, Secret Instructions on the Conquest of the Church, in Emmanuel Barbier, Les infiltrations maconiques dans i’Eglise, Paris/Brussels: Desclee de Brouwer, 1901, p.5).part of this also in Piers Compton, The Broken Cross, Cranbrook, Western Australia: Veritas Pub. Co. Ptd Ltd, 1984, p. 15-16.</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-family: arial;">8 Dr. Rara Coomaraswamy, The Destruction of the Christian Tradition, p. 133.</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-family: arial;">9 Piers Compton, The Broken Cross, Cranbrook, Western Australia: Veritas Pub. Co. Ptd Ltd, 1984, p. 42.</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-family: arial;">10 Dr. Rudolf Graber, Athanasius and the Church of Our Time.</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-family: arial;">11 Piers Compton, The Broken Cross, p. 42.</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white;"><sup><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><br /></span></sup></p><p style="background-color: white;"><sup><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><br /></span></sup></p><p style="background-color: white;"><sup><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><br /></span></sup></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Arial, "Times New Roman", Verdana;"><sup><br /></sup></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-831939533339323924.post-83892284645491644622021-10-05T16:56:00.005-04:002022-05-19T20:20:33.251-04:00Infanticide (Abortion) Condemned<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHGYVaqbDKto0jrviDYiO7RQbbqJYfMgKSKX1uoAsCZBbx9oxRwzPbxPR-o-dT925IVaPc5XbEmcbihOWNx8NStYvvu3z4R_XLxAoqRJo81_GcdZ3TjOcl68k4SN3VqD3YdixLeLqQxC0/s478/13.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="478" data-original-width="474" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHGYVaqbDKto0jrviDYiO7RQbbqJYfMgKSKX1uoAsCZBbx9oxRwzPbxPR-o-dT925IVaPc5XbEmcbihOWNx8NStYvvu3z4R_XLxAoqRJo81_GcdZ3TjOcl68k4SN3VqD3YdixLeLqQxC0/w198-h200/13.jpg" width="198" /></a></div><p></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>Abortion</b> is the medical term for the induced termination of a pregnancy. A more proper term for abortion is the slaughter and murder of a real human being—an infant during pregnancy—by the dismantling and removal of actual parts of the child's body while it is still alive in the mother's womb, resulting in real and actual horrifying pain on the child while yet alive, eventually resulting in its immediate horrific death and murder.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">As of 2012, it is estimated there has been over 54 million babies murdered by abortion in the United States since 1973.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Abortion is a billion-dollar industry in the United States and Western Europe except for Ireland, Malta and Poland, where it has been largely abolished. Abortion in Poland declined by 99% after communism was overthrown, and women's health has dramatically improved there due to fewer abortions.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">About 80% of women who see an ultrasound of their fetus (unborn child) decide not to abort. Millions of women who had an abortion later suffer psychologically or physically from it, and support groups exist to help. Many victims of abortion find healing by speaking out against, and discouraging, similar harm to other mothers and their children.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">"Abortion doesn't solve your problems, it only creates different ones," warned a full-page ad by many women who had abortions. Many women begin regretting their abortion before they even leave the abortion clinic. In some cases, women begin regretting their abortion just before it is performed, but are told by abortionists that it is too late to change their mind because they already signed a consent form (which is a lie - it is never too late to withdraw consent for an abortion).</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Abortion always ends the life of the unborn child, typically by dismemberment. Abortion increases the risk of breast cancer, future premature birth, mental illness, and other long-term health problems for the mother. Sometimes women die from abortion. Since abortion is deliberate and thought about in advance, it is rightly comparable to a premeditated murder.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">"A woman who had an abortion met Padre Pio. She said, "I never knew abortion was a sin." He replied: "What do you mean, you didn't know that this was a sin? That's killing… it's a sin, a great sin." (Bernard Ruffin, <i>Padre Pio: The True Story</i>, Our Sunday Visitor, Huntington, IN. p. 297.)</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.7cm;"></p><h2 class="western" lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 22px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 28px; margin: 0px; text-align: center; text-decoration-line: underline;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="Child-Sacrifice-and-Abortion" style="color: blue;"></a>Child Sacrifice and Abortion</span></h2><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">"They served their idols, which became a snare to them. They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons; they poured out innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted with blood."</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">–Psalm 106:36-38</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">History is replete with civilizations which have held morally repugnant attitudes concerning infants and children. Exposing an unwanted child to the elements was a common practice throughout the Roman Empire.The Aztecs and Mayans sacrificed their children to their pagan gods. Perhaps the most infamous example from the ancient world are the Carthaginians of North Africa, who inherited their barbaric practices of child sacrifice from their ancestors in Canaan/Phoenicia.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Old Testament passages referring to child sacrifice are numerous and somber. The Israelites, delivered from the bondage of Egypt by the holy and mighty hand of the LORD of heaven and earth, were not just guilty of idolatry and unfaithfulness. They were guilty of adopting the horrific Canaanite practice of child sacrifice. In some cases, they attempted to attach this practice to worship of the Lord (Ezekiel 23:39). In other cases, they rejected Yahweh worship altogether, and fully turned themselves over to the gods of Canaan (2 Kings 17:17). Some Israelites stood by and did nothing (Leviticus 20:1-5). As a result, God brought dreadful judgment upon their entire nation (Jeremiah 19:3-6).</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">January 22, 2022 will be the 49th anniversary of the infamous Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision to legalize abortion throughout the United States. Since then, 54 million unborn childrens' lives have been snuffed out… at the hands of their own parent(s) and so-called physicians. Two parties who are endowed with the moral responsibility to protect children, not destroy them. With the explicit support of politicians, judges, bureaucrats and millions from the American electorate, modern day child sacrifice is afforded legal protection and government sanction, just as it was in Canaan and Carthage….</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I remember seeing a presentation by a former abortionist that committed more than 75,000 infanticides; of a real time ultra sound video showing a 12 week old baby girl in 1978, who was getting aborted. Before the infanticide occurred, the former abortionist began explaining the ultra sound footage, and the baby girl was actually sucking her thumb and moving in the womb, and when the abortionist's suction tube tried getting the baby, the baby girl began moving violently and tried dodging the suction tube. Her heart raced from 140 beats per minute, to 200. Her mouth was actually open crying, and finally when the baby girl's limbs were grabbed she let out a silent scream and the mouth could be seen wide open in agony, while she was ripped. Then the infanticide practitioner crushed the baby girls' head with forceps. To further dehumanize the baby, instead of the head of the baby being called a head, it is instead called "number 1" - "the abortionist crushes number 1." Infanticides and their accompaniment markets and experimentations are Satanic Rituals, there to venerate and pay homage to Satan. These rituals are unspeakable and unimaginable abominations.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It needs to also be said when it comes to abortion, that it is demonically inspired, instituted and supported by Satan and all the legions of Hell. It is Satanic to the core in its foundation and continuation and I have heard it said before from the lips of videotaped Satanists that there are abortion "doctors" who are Satanists who perform abortions because they see it as a way to offer human sacrifices to Satan legally and perpetually to curry his favor more than any other of his followers and get paid for it to boot.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><h2 class="western" lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 22px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 28px; margin: 0px; text-align: center; text-decoration-line: underline;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="Statistics" style="color: blue;"></a>Abortion Statistics</span></h2><h3 class="western" lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 21px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 26px; margin: 25px auto -5px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="Worldwide" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a>Worldwide</span></h3><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">According to WHO, every year in the world an estimated 40-50 million women faced with an unplanned pregnancy decide to have an abortion. This corresponds to approximately 125,000 abortions per day.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Russia has the highest number of abortions per woman of child-bearing age in the world according to UN data. However, in terms of the total number, China has reported that it has over 13 million annual abortions, far surpassing the 1.3 million annual abortions Russia has, and India has an estimated 11 million, although accurate data is difficult to obtain.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">83% of all abortions are obtained in developing countries and 17% occur in developed countries.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><h3 class="western" lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 21px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 26px; margin: 25px auto -5px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="United-States" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a>United States</span></h3><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">According to the Guttmacher Institute, there were 1.21 million abortions performed in the United States in 2008, the most recent year for which data is available. This amounts to 3,322 abortions per day. In 1996 there were approximately 1.37 million abortions. This amounts to approximately 3,700 abortions per day</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">52% of women obtaining abortions in the U.S. are younger than 25: Women aged 20-24 obtain 32% of all abortions; Teenagers obtain 20% and girls under 15 account for 1.2%.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">While white women obtain 60% of all abortions, their abortion rate is well below that of minority women. Black women are more than 3 times as likely as white women to have an abortion, and Hispanic women are roughly 2 times as likely.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">64.4% of all abortions are performed on never-married women; Married women account for 18.4% of all abortions and so-called divorced women obtain 9.4%.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Women identifying themselves as Protestants obtain 37.4% of all abortions in the U.S.; Women identifying themselves as Catholic obtain 31.3%, Jewish women account for 1.3%, and women with no religious affiliation obtain 23.7% of all abortions. 18% of all abortions are performed on women who identify themselves as "Born-again/Evangelical".</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Women with family incomes less than $15,000 obtain 28.7% of all abortions; Women with family incomes between $15,000 and $29,999 obtain 19.5%; Women with family incomes between $30,000 and $59,999 obtain 38.0%; Women with family incomes over $60,000 obtain 13.8%.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">1% of all abortions occur because of rape or incest; 6% of abortions occur because of potential health problems regarding either the mother or child, and 93% of all abortions occur for social reasons (i.e. the child is unwanted or inconvenient).</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">52% of all abortions occur before the 9th week of pregnancy, 25% happen between the 9th and 10th week, 12% happen between the 11th and 12th week, 6% happen between the 13th and 15th week, 4% happen between the 16th and 20th week, and 1% of all abortions (16,450/yr.) happen after the 20th week of pregnancy.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">An estimated 43% of all women will have at least 1 abortion by the time they are 45 years old. 47% of all abortions are performed on women who have had at least one previous abortion.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">48% of all abortion facilities provide services after the 12th week of pregnancy. 9 in 10 managed care plans routinely cover abortion or provide limited coverage. About 14% of all abortions in the United States are paid for with public funds, virtually all of which are state funds. 16 states (CA, CT, HI, ED, IL, MA , MD, MD, MN, MT, NJ, NM, NY, OR, VT, WA and WV) pay for abortions for some poor women.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.7cm;"></p><h2 class="western" lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 22px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 28px; margin: 0px; text-align: center; text-decoration-line: underline;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="Abortion-is-Wrong-and-Against-the-Natural-Law" style="color: blue;"></a>Abortion is Wrong and Against the Natural Law</span></h2><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Abortion is child sacrifice. It is murdering one's baby to make one's own life "better". Not only to free oneself of the burden of a child, but to make sure that child is murdered and cannot have a life with anyone else either, can never experience love on this earth from anyone else either. Cannot become who God created that person to be. Cannot be the child a childless couple would love to love. Cannot cure cancer, or whatever plan God had for that child. Abortion is probably the worst sin because it is murder of the innocent, from the very one God enlisted to love and protect, the mother. It is capital punishment of the innocent on the selfish whim of its mother as if she is Lord and God over the real Lord and God who alone should be the giver and taker of life.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">As if murder ever made anything better. The guilt and pain of abortion has haunted many people for the rest of their lives. Not even the wicked people in the Old Testament was as evil or wicked as the selfish bastards living today. They at least were killing their children to appease a false god, while those who abort today kills them for purely selfish motives.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Adoption is always a better option. It is a win for everyone involved. Give the baby to someone who wants it, will love and cherish it. Abortion is the ultimate in selfishness, hatred of one's own child, denying one's own child the most important and basic right of all, the right to live. That child could have a wonderful life in the home of adoptive parents and could find the cure for cancer, who knows what God has in mind for that child. "The Lord gives and takes away" (Job 1:21). "The LORD brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises up" (1 Samuel 2:6). It is never the right of a human being to murder another, much less their own innocent child.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">As has been said many times before, abortion is murder plain and simple. It is against the natural law and against the God who sends life. A baby is a human being weather born or unborn, and to kill him/her is murder. And God said in Exodus 20:13 "Thou shall not murder". Abortion is not even justified if the death of the mother—or a serious disease and/or death of the child—is a certainty. The child may live, even with a disease, and if the mother dies, she has died fulfilling her duty in life.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Scriptures teaches that a woman can be saved through child-bearing (if she is in the state of grace). Therefore, a woman has absolutely nothing to fear from child-bearing, even if her life is threatened.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">1 Timothy 2:15- "<u><b>Yet she shall be saved through child-bearing</b></u>; if she continue in faith, and love, and sanctification, with sobriety."</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Better to keep God's commandments, die, and go to Heaven than to commit a grievous mortal sin and certainly go to Hell.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Pius XI, <i>Casti Connubii</i>: "<b>As to the 'medical and therapeutic indication' to which, using their own words, we have made reference, Venerable Brethren, however much we may pity the mother whose health and even life is imperiled in the performance of the duty allotted to her by nature, nevertheless, </b><u><b>what could ever be a sufficient reason for excusing in any way the direct murder of the innocent? This is precisely what we are dealing with here</b></u>. Whether inflicted upon the mother or upon the child, <u>it is against the precept of God and the law of nature</u>: "<u><b>Thou shalt not kill</b></u>". <u><b>The life of each is equally sacred, and no one has the power, not even the public authority, to destroy it</b></u>… Holy Mother Church very well understands and clearly appreciates all that is said regarding the health of the mother and the danger to her life. And who would not grieve to think of these things? Who is not filled with the greatest admiration when he sees a mother risking her life with heroic fortitude, that she may preserve the life of the offspring which she has conceived? God alone, all bountiful and all merciful as He is, can reward her for the fulfillment of the office allotted to her by nature, and will assuredly repay her in a measure full to overflowing."</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">If the wife's life is threatened by child bearing, then either the marital act is abstained from altogether by honorable continence, or it is done with the hope of conception if God so wills it, being ready to bear the consequences of the death of the mother.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Roman Catholic Church has consistently condemned abortion — the direct and purposeful taking of the life of the unborn child. In principle, Catholics believe that all life is sacred from conception until natural death, and the taking of innocent human life, whether born or unborn, is always morally wrong.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Caesarius of Arles, <i>Sermons 1:12</i>, A.D. 522: "Who is he who cannot warn that no woman may take a potion so that she is unable to conceive or condemns in herself the nature which God willed to be fecund? <b>As often as she could have conceived or given birth, of that many homicides she will be held guilty, and, unless she undergoes suitable penance, she will be damned by eternal death in hell</b>. If a woman does not wish to have children, let her enter into a religious agreement with her husband; for chastity is the sole sterility of a Christian woman."</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">All human life has as its author the one God whose creative power produces the child in the mother's womb and brings it step-by-step to full life. The Old Testament revelation which the Church inherited and accepted gives clear evidence that life in the womb was considered as sacred. Moses proclaimed, "When you hearken to the voice of the Lord, your God, all these blessings will come upon you and overwhelm you: May you be blessed in the city, and blessed in the country! Blessed be the fruit of your womb, the produce of your soil and the offspring of your livestock, the issue of your herds and the young of your flocks! Blessed be your grain bin and your kneading bowl! May you be blessed in your coming in and blessed in your going out!" (Deuteronomy 28:2-6). The angel told the mother of Sampson, "As for the son you will conceive and bear, no razor shall touch his head, for this boy is to be consecrated to God from the womb" (Judges 13:5). Job stated, "Did not he who made me in the womb make him? Did not the same one fashion us before our birth?" (Job 31:15). In Psalm 139:13, we pray, "Truly you have formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother's womb."</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Old Testament also testifies how God had specially marked individuals for an important role of leadership from the very first moment of their lives: "Beloved of his people, dear to his Maker, dedicated from his mother's womb, consecrated to the Lord as a prophet, was Samuel, the judge and priest" (Sirach 46:13). The prophet Isaiah proclaimed, "Hear me, O coastlands, listen, o distant peoples. The Lord called me from birth, from my mother's womb He gave me my name. He made of me sharp-edged sword and concealed me in the shadow of His arms. He made me a polished arrow; in His quiver He hid me. You are my servant, He said to me, Israel, through whom I show my glory. Though I thought I had toiled in vain, and for nothing, uselessly spent my strength, yet my reward is with the Lord, my recompense is with my God. For now the Lord has spoken who formed me as His servant from the womb, that Jacob may be brought back to Him and Israel gathered to Him, and I am made glorious in the sight of the Lord, and my God is now my strength!" (Isaiah 49:1-5). Likewise, the prophet Jeremiah recalled, "The word of the Lord came to me thus: Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you" (Jeremiah 1:4-5).</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Given the revelation of the Old and New Testaments, with special emphasis on the mystery of the incarnation, the Roman Catholic Church has condemned the practice of abortion. Several examples of teaching which span the first three hundred years of our Church include the following: The "Didache" ("The Teachings of the Twelve Apostles," c. 80 A.D.) asserted, "You shall not procure abortion. You shall not destroy the newborn child." The "Epistle of Barnabas" (138) also condemned abortion. Athenagoras (177) in his "A Plea on Behalf of Christians" emphasized that Christians consider as murderers those women who take medicines to procure an abortion; he condemns the killer of children, including those still living in their mother's womb, "where they are already the object of the care of divine providence." Tertullian, (197) in his "Apologeticum" likewise asserted, "To prevent birth is anticipated murder; it makes little difference whether one destroys a life already born or does away with it in its nascent stage. The one who will be man is already one." In the year 300, the Council of Elvira, a local church council in Spain, passed specific legislation condemning abortion (Canon 63).</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">After the legalization of Christianity in 313, the condemnation against abortion remained. For instance, St. Basil in a letter to Bishop Amphilochius (374) clearly pronounces the Church's teaching: "A woman who has deliberately destroyed a fetus must pay the penalty for murder" and "Those also who give drugs causing abortions are murderers themselves, as well as those who receive the poison which kills the fetus."</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">While many other examples could be offered, the key point is that the Roman Catholic Church from the beginning has consistently upheld the sanctity of the life of the unborn child and condemned the act of abortion. To oppose this teaching contradicts the revelation of Sacred Scripture and Christian tradition.</span></p><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-831939533339323924.post-2204210867540720112021-09-26T19:01:00.013-04:002021-09-27T05:40:12.664-04:00Important Dogma you Must Believe<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgJIAq3Qdwcpq095pRUdCk8zYU1pxcNZ7YUH9Jwa7vDljM2h92NuqUx9mubjWwEEEF4w4FXoagz19qwm-h0ZaIkQ0YhprhSfgFxSLrfrOvWK9wHAYKjS7A69X1lvGeKUB3TZR9l4SdTp8/s1280/1280px-La_conversi%25C3%25B3n_de_san_Pablo_Murillo.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="951" data-original-width="1280" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgJIAq3Qdwcpq095pRUdCk8zYU1pxcNZ7YUH9Jwa7vDljM2h92NuqUx9mubjWwEEEF4w4FXoagz19qwm-h0ZaIkQ0YhprhSfgFxSLrfrOvWK9wHAYKjS7A69X1lvGeKUB3TZR9l4SdTp8/s320/1280px-La_conversi%25C3%25B3n_de_san_Pablo_Murillo.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: center;"><b><u style="background-color: white;">Important Dogma you Must Believe</u></b></div></span><p></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><span style="background-color: white;">The unchanging dogma Outside the Catholic Church There is No Salvation and the necessity of the Sacrament of Baptism for Salvation, was defined as a truth by our first pope St. Peter himself:</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"></span></span></p><div style="text-align: center;"><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">“… <i>the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ… <b>Nor is there salvation in any other</b>. For there is no other name, under heaven, given to men, whereby we must be saved.</i>” (Acts 4:12).</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">There is no salvation outside of Jesus Christ, and the Catholic Church is His Mystical Body. Since there is no entering into the Catholic Church of Christ without the Sacrament of Baptism, this means that only baptized Catholics who die in the state of grace (and those who become baptized Catholics and die in the state of grace) can hope to be saved.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">“<i>If anyone abideth not in me, he shall be cast forth as a branch, and shall wither, and they shall gather him up, and cast him into the fire, and he burneth.” (John 15:6)</i></span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><i><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Pius XII, Mystici Corporis (# 22), June 29, 1943: “<b>Actually only those are to be numbered among the members of the Church who have received the laver of regeneration [water baptism] and profess the true faith</b>.”</span></i></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Pius XII, <i>Mystici Corporis</i> (# 27), June 29, 1943: “He (Christ) also determined that <b>through Baptism (cf. Jn. 3:5) those who should believe would be incorporated in the Body of the Church.”</b></span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div><h2 style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; margin: 0px; position: relative; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16pt;">THE KEYS OF ST. PETER AND HIS UNFAILING FAITH</span></h2><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">It is a fact of history, scripture and tradition that Our Lord Jesus Christ founded His universal Church (the Catholic Church) upon St. Peter.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Matthew 16:18-19-“And I say to thee: <b>That thou art Peter: and upon this rock I will build my Church</b>, <b>and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it</b>. <b>And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven.</b> And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Our Lord made St. Peter the first pope, entrusted to him His entire flock, and gave him supreme authority in the universal Church of Christ.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">John 21:15-17-“<b>Jesus saith to Simon Peter</b>: Simon, son of John, lovest thou me? He saith to him: Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. <b>He saith to him: <u>Feed my lambs</u></b>. He saith to him again: Simon, son of John, lovest thou me? He saith to him: Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. <b>He saith to him: <u>Feed my lambs</u></b>. He saith to him a third time: Simon, son of John, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved, because he had said to him the third time: Lovest thou me? And he said to him: Lord, thou knowest all things: thou knowest that I love thee. <b>He said to him: <u>Feed my sheep</u></b>.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">And with the supreme authority that Our Lord Jesus Christ conferred upon St. Peter (and his successors, the popes) comes what is called Papal Infallibility. Papal Infallibility is inseparable from Papal Supremacy – there was no point for Christ to make St. Peter the head of His Church (as Christ clearly did) if St. Peter or his successors, the popes, could err <u>when exercising that supreme authority to teach on a point of Faith</u>. The supreme authority must be unfailing on binding matters of Faith and morals or else it is no true authority from Christ at all.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Papal Infallibility does not mean that a pope cannot err at all and it does not mean that a pope cannot lose his soul and be damned in Hell for grave sin. It means that the successors of St. Peter (the popes of the Catholic Church) cannot err <u>when authoritatively teaching on a point of Faith or morals to be held by the entire Church of Christ</u>. We find the promise of the unfailing faith for St. Peter and his successors referred to by Christ in Luke 22.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Luke 22:31-32- “And the Lord said: Simon, Simon, behold Satan hath desired to have all of you, that he may sift you as wheat: <b>But I have prayed for thee, <u>that thy faith fail not</u>:</b> and thou, being once converted, confirm thy brethren.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Satan desired to sift all the Apostles (plural) like wheat, but Jesus prayed for Simon Peter (singular), that his <u>faith fail not.</u> Jesus is saying that St. Peter and his successors (the popes of the Catholic Church) have an unfailing faith when authoritatively teaching a point of faith or morals to be held by the entire Church of Christ.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Pius IX, <i>Vatican Council I</i>, 1870, <i>ex cathedra</i>:“<u><b>SO, THIS GIFT OF TRUTH AND A NEVER FAILING FAITH WAS DIVINELY CONFERRED UPON PETER AND HIS SUCCESSORS IN THIS CHAIR</b></u><b>…</b>”Pope Pius IX, <i>Vatican Council I</i>, 1870, <i>ex cathedra</i>:“…<u> <b>the See of St. Peter always remains unimpaired by any error</b></u>, according to the divine promise of our Lord the Savior made to the chief of His disciples: ‘<u><b>I have prayed for thee [Peter], that thy faith fail not</b></u> ...’”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">And this truth has been held since the earliest times in the Catholic Church.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope St. Gelasius I, epistle 42, or Decretal <i>de recipiendis et non recipiendis libris</i>, 495: “Accordingly, <b>the see of Peter</b> the Apostle of the Church of Rome is first, <i><b>having neither spot, nor wrinkle, nor anything of this kind</b></i> (Eph. 5:27).”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">The word “infallible” actually means “cannot fail” or “unfailing.” Therefore, the very term <i>Papal Infallibility</i> comes directly from Christ’s promise to St. Peter (and his successors) in Luke 22, that Peter has an unfailing Faith. Though this truth was believed since the beginning of the Church, it was specifically defined as a dogma at the First Vatican Council in 1870.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Pius IX, <i>Vatican Council I</i>, 1870, Session 4, Chap. 4: the Roman Pontiff, when he speaks <i>ex cathedra </i>[from the Chair of Peter], that is, when carrying out the duty of the pastor and teacher of all Christians in accord with his supreme apostolic authority he explains a doctrine of faith or morals to be held by the universal Church... <b>operates with that infallibility</b> with which the divine Redeemer wished that His Church be instructed in defining doctrine on faith and morals; <b>and so such definitions of the Roman Pontiff from himself, but not from the consensus of the Church, are unalterable</b>.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">But how does one know when a pope is exercising his unfailing Faith to infallibly teach from the Chair of St. Peter? The answer is that we know from the language that the pope uses or the manner in which the pope teaches. Vatican I defined two requirements which must be fulfilled: 1) when the pope is carrying out his duty as pastor and teacher of all Christians <u>in accord with his supreme apostolic authority</u>; 2) when he explains a doctrine on faith or morals to be held by the entire Church of Christ. A pope can fulfill both of these requirements in just one line, by anathematizing a false opinion (such as many dogmatic councils) or by saying “By our apostolic authority we declare…” or by saying “We believe, profess, and teach” or by using words of similar importance and meaning, which indicate that the pope is teaching the whole Church on Faith in a definitive and binding fashion.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">So, when a pope teaches from the Chair of Peter in the manner stipulated above he cannot be wrong. If he could be wrong, then the Church of Christ could be officially led into error, and Christ’s promise to St. Peter and His Church would fail (which is impossible). That which is taught from the Chair of Peter by the popes of the Catholic Church is the teaching of Jesus Christ Himself. To reject that which is taught by the popes from the Chair of Peter is simply to despise Jesus Christ Himself.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Luke 10:16- “He that heareth you, heareth me: and he that despiseth you despiseth me…”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Matthew 18:17 -“And if he will not hear the church, let him be to thee as the heathen and publican.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Leo XIII, <i>Satis Cognitum</i>, 1896: <b>“…Christ instituted a living, authoritative and permanent Magisterium… If it could in any way be false, an evident contradiction follows; for then God Himself would be the author of error in man.”</b></span></p></div><div><h2 style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; margin: 0px; position: relative; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16pt;">NO SALVATION OUTSIDE OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH</span></h2><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">The following statements on Outside the Catholic Church There is No Salvation are from the highest teaching authority of the Catholic Church. They are <i>ex cathedra</i> Papal decrees (decrees from the Chair of St. Peter). Therefore, they constitute the teaching given to the Catholic Church by Jesus Christ and the Apostles. Such teachings are unchangeable and are classified as part of the solemn magisterium (the extraordinary teaching authority of the Catholic Church).</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Eugene IV, <i>Council of Florence</i>, “Cantate Domino,” 1441, <i><b>ex cathedra ( infallible statement from the chair of Peter)</b></i>: <b>“The Holy Roman Church firmly believes, professes and preaches that all those who are outside the Catholic Church, not only pagans but also Jews or heretics and schismatics, cannot share in eternal life and will go into the everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels, unless they are joined to the Church before the end of their lives</b>; that the unity of this ecclesiastical body is of such importance that only for those who abide in it do the Church’s sacraments contribute to salvation and do fasts, almsgiving and other works of piety and practices of the Christian militia produce eternal rewards; and that <b>nobody can be saved, no matter how much he has given away in alms and even if he has shed blood in the name of Christ, unless he has persevered in the bosom and unity of the Catholic Church.”</b></span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">As we can see from this infallible statement from the chair of Peter, no one at all can be saved <b>unless they are joined to the Church before the end of their lives</b>.. Yet, many people today who call themselves Catholic or Christian, boldly and obstinately assert the direct opposite of this statement and claim that protestants, heretics, Jews, schismatics and even Pagans can attain eternal life.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Gregory XVI, <i>Summo Iugiter Studio</i> (# 2), May 27, 1832: <b>“Finally some of <u>these misguided people attempt to persuade themselves and others that men are not saved only in the Catholic religion</u>, </b>but that even heretics may attain eternal life.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Eugene IV, <i>Council of Florence</i>, The Athanasian Creed, Sess. 8, Nov. 22, 1439, <i>ex cathedra</i>: “<b>Whoever <i>wishes</i> to be saved, needs above all to hold the Catholic faith; unless each one preserves this whole and inviolate, he will without a doubt perish in eternity</b>.”<i> (Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils</i>, Vol. 1, pp. 550-553; Denzinger 39-40.)</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Innocent III, <i>Fourth Lateran Council</i>, Constitution 1, 1215, <i><b>ex cathedra</b></i>: “<b>There is indeed one universal Church of the faithful, outside of which nobody at all is saved</b>, in which Jesus Christ is both priest and sacrifice.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Boniface VIII, <i>Unam Sanctam</i>, Nov. 18, 1302, <i><b>ex cathedra</b></i>: “With Faith urging us we are forced to believe and to hold the one, holy, Catholic Church and that, apostolic, and we firmly believe and simply confess <b>this Church</b> <b>outside of which there is no salvation nor remission of sin… Furthermore, we declare, say, define, and proclaim to every human creature that they by absolute necessity for salvation are entirely subject to the Roman Pontiff.”</b></span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Those who refuse to believe in the dogma Outside the Church There is No Salvation until <i>they</i> understand how there is justice in it <u>are simply withholding their Faith in Christ’s revelation</u>. Those with the true Faith in Christ (and His Church) accept His teaching <u>first</u> and understand the truth in it (i.e., <i>why</i> it is true) second. A Catholic does not withhold his belief in Christ’s revelation until he can understand it. That is the mentality of a faithless heretic who possesses insufferable pride. St. Anselm sums up the true Catholic outlook on this point. </span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">St. Anselm, Doctor of the Church, <i>Prosologion</i>, Chap. 1: “<b>For I do not seek to understand that I may believe, but <u>I believe in order to understand</u></b>. For this also I believe, that <b>unless I believed, I should not understand</b>.”</span></p></div><div><h2 style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; margin: 0px; position: relative; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16pt;">CONCERNING THOSE BAPTIZED VALIDLY AS INFANTS BY MEMBERS OF NON-CATHOLIC SECTS</span></h2><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">The Catholic Church has always taught that anyone (including a layman or a non-Catholic) can validly baptize if he adheres to proper matter and form and if he has the intention of doing what the Church does.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Eugene IV, Council of Florence, “Exultate Deo,” 1439: “In case of necessity, however, not only a priest or a deacon, but even a layman or woman, yes even a pagan and a heretic can baptize, so long as he preserves the form of the Church and has the intention of doing what the Church does.” (Denzinger 696)</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">The Church has always taught that infants baptized in heretical and schismatic churches are made Catholics, members of the Church and subjects of the Roman Pontiff, even if the people who baptized them are heretics who are outside the Catholic Church. This is because the infant, being below the age of reason, cannot be a heretic or schismatic. He cannot have an impediment which would prevent Baptism from making him a member of the Church.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Paul III, Council of Trent, Sess. 7, Can. 13 on the Sacrament of Baptism: <b>If anyone shall say that infants,</b> because they have not actual faith, <b>after having received baptism are not to be numbered among the faithful</b>… let him be anathema.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">This means that all baptized infants wherever they are, even those baptized in heretical non-Catholic churches by heretical ministers, are made members of the Catholic Church. They are also made subject to the Roman Pontiff (if there is one). So, at what one point does this baptized Catholic infant become a non-Catholic – severing his membership in the Church and subjection to the Roman Pontiff? After the baptized infant reaches the age of reason, he or she becomes a heretic or a schismatic and severs his membership in the Church and severs subjection to the Roman Pontiff <i>when he or she obstinately rejects <u>any</u> teaching of the Catholic Church or loses Faith in the essential mysteries of the Trinity and Incarnatio</i>n.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Clement VI, <i>Super quibusdam</i>, Sept. 20, 1351: “…We ask: <b>In the first place whether you and the Church of the Armenians which is obedient to you, believe that <u>all those who in baptism have received the same Catholic faith</u>, <u>and afterwards have withdrawn and will withdraw in the future from the communion of this same Roman Church</u>, which one alone is Catholic,<u> are schismatic and heretical, if they remain obstinately separated from the faith of this Roman Church</u></b>. In the second place, we ask whether you and the Armenians obedient to you believe that no man of the wayfarers outside the faith of this Church, and outside the obedience of the Pope of Rome, can finally be saved.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">So, one must be clear on these points: 1) The unbaptized (Jews, Muslims, pagans, etc.) must all join the Catholic Church by receiving Baptism and the Catholic Faith or they will <i>all</i> be lost. 2) Among those who are baptized as infants, they are made Catholics, members of the Church and subjects of the Roman Pontiff by Baptism. They only sever that membership (<i>which they already possess</i>) when they obstinately reject any Catholic dogma or believe something contrary to the essential mysteries of the Trinity and Incarnation. In the teaching of Pope Clement VI above, we see this second point clearly taught: all who receive the Catholic Faith in Baptism lose that Faith and become schismatic and heretical if they become “obstinately separated from the faith of this Roman Church.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">The fact is that all Protestants who reject the Catholic Church or its dogmas on the sacraments, the Papacy, etc. have obstinately separated from the Faith of the Roman Church and have therefore severed their membership in the Church of Christ. The same is true with the “Eastern Orthodox” who obstinately reject dogmas on the Papacy and Papal Infallibility. They need to be converted to the Catholic Faith for salvation.</span></p></div><div><h2 style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; margin: 0px; position: relative; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16pt;">MATERIAL HERESY</span></h2><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">The children or people that are baptized in heretical communities cannot become heretics until they reach the age of reason or until they adopt any heretical views that are opposed to the Catholic Church. This means that some of those baptized persons who are now going to a heretical or schismatic “Church” might not yet be heretics even if everyone else in the same Church are heretics. However, when these children reach the age of reason, many of them might fall into an error called “material heresy.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">The term “material heresy” is used to describe persons who believe in a heresy without knowing that they are contradicting the Catholic Church’s official and infallible teaching. There’s no such thing as a material heretic in the dogmatic teaching of the Church. There are heretics; there are schismatics; and there are Catholics. <i>Material heretic</i> is simply a name for a Catholic who is erring in good faith about a dogma. In other words, it’s another name for a mistaken Catholic. It’s a person who is holding a false position – one that is strictly incompatible with Catholic dogma. However, that person is not obstinate against that dogma. He would change his position immediately upon being informed of the true position. The “material heretic” is a Catholic. This is very important to understand. Many Catholic saints have been material heretics. <b>St. Thomas, for example, did not believe that Mary was conceived immaculately</b> (<i>Summa Theologica</i>, Part. III, Q. 14, Art. 3, Reply to Obj. 1) even though it is now a defined dogma that Mary was conceived immaculately, and no wonder that even Saints have erred in their teaching, for it is very hard to imagine that a human can know every Church teaching that exists.</span></p><h2 style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; margin: 0px; position: relative; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16pt;">THE NATURAL LAW</span></h2><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">The natural law is written on the heart of all men, so that all men know that certain things are against God’s law and that certain things are in accordance with the natural law of charity, etc.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">As the <i>Haydock Bible and Commentary</i> correctly explains about Romans 2:14-16,</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">“<i>these men are a law to themselves, and have it written in their hearts, as to the existence of a God, and their reason tells them, that many sins are unlawful: they may also do some actions that are morally good, as by giving alms to relieve the poor, honoring their parents, etc. <b>not that these actions, morally good, will suffice for their justification of themselves, or make them deserve a supernatural reward in the kingdom of heaven; but God, out of His infinite mercy, will give them some supernatural graces</b></i>” which if they continue to cooperate with they will get more graces and eventually be exposed to the Catholic Faith, which they must have to be saved.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">All baptized <i>infants</i> are Catholics, <b>even if they are baptized in a Methodist church-building</b>, etc. This is <i>de fide</i>. These baptized Catholics, when they reach the age of reason in a Protestant building, if they hold the Trinity and the Incarnation (which are the two essential mysteries of the Catholic Faith) hold the absolutely essential mysteries of the Catholic Faith.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Eugene IV, <i>Council of Florence</i>, Athanasian Creed, Sess. 8, Nov. 22, 1439, <i>ex cathedra</i>: “Whoever <i><u>wishes</u></i> to be saved, needs above all to hold the Catholic faith; unless each one preserves this whole and inviolate, he will without a doubt perish in eternity.– But <u><b>the Catholic faith is this, that we worship one God in the Trinity, and the Trinity in unity</b></u><b>.</b>.. But <u>it is necessary for eternal salvation that he faithfully believe also in the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ</u>...the Son of God is God and man... <b>This is the Catholic faith</b>; unless each one believes this faithfully and firmly, he cannot be saved.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b>If they don’t know about any <i>other</i> Catholic dogmas (other than the Trinity and Incarnation) then they are not heretics but Catholics</b> [Christians], <u><b>unless</b></u> they hold a position that is incompatible with Faith in the Trinity and Incarnation or deny a truth that all know about God and the natural law or deny something that they know to be clearly taught in Scripture. For instance, if the baptized person described above claims to believe in the Trinity and Incarnation but holds that all religions are more or less good, then he is a heretic and does not have the Catholic Faith (<i>even before he knows that such a position is condemned by the Church</i>) <b>because his belief is incompatible with true Faith in the Trinity as the one true God, </b>which belief he must have to be said to have the Catholic Faith in its simplest components.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Pius XI, <i>Mortalium Animos</i> (# 2), Jan. 6, 1928: “…that false opinion which considers all religions to be more or less good and praiseworthy... <u>Not only are those who hold this opinion in error and deceived, <b>but also in distorting the idea of true religion they reject it</b>.</u>..”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Another example would be if the baptized person who believes in the Trinity and the Incarnation <b>(which are the simplest components of the Catholic Faith)</b> and has never heard of <i>other</i> Catholic dogmas holds that man does not have free will (which some Protestants teach). This person would also become a heretic even before he has seen his position condemned by the Church and before he has heard of <i>other</i> Catholic dogmas (other than the Trinity and Incarnation) <b>because he is rejecting a truth which all know to be true from the natural law, namely, that man has a free will</b>. Thus, he is denying a truth all know about man from the natural law and he is a heretic.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Another example would be if the baptized person who believes in the Trinity and Incarnation (the Catholic Faith in its simplest components) and has never heard of <i>other</i> Catholic dogmas refuses to believe that God is a rewarder and a punisher. This person is a heretic, even though he has never seen that his position is condemned by the Church and has never heard of <i>other </i>Catholic dogmas, because he rejects a truth he knows to be true from the natural law, that God is a rewarder and a punisher of our actions (see Heb. 11:6).</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">A large majority of Protestants today believe in the doctrines of “faith alone” and “eternal security.” These doctrines contradict both the natural law and reason which says that every man shall be rewarded or punished for his deeds. It also contradicts, word for word, the teaching of James 2 in scripture, which teach that faith without works is dead, and that man is not saved by faith alone. This person who believes in faith alone or eternal security is a heretic, even though he has never seen that his position is condemned by the Church and has never heard of <i>other </i>Catholic dogmas, because he rejects a truth he knows to be true from the natural law, that God is a rewarder and a punisher of our actions, and that faith alone does not justify a man only, but our deeds also.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Other common heresies against the natural law is to hold that birth control or natural family planning, also called nfp, which many “Catholics” practise to avoid conception, (which makes them guilty of the mortal sin of contraception) is acceptable, or if a person is to hold that abortion is acceptable, or if a person is to hold that the consuming of mind altering drugs to the point where the conscience is impeded is acceptable. These examples would all fall under the category of deadly sin, because he is rejecting a truth which all know to be true from the natural law, namely, 1) that abortion is murder, 2) that contraception or nfp deliberately frustrates the natural power to generate life, 3) and that mind altering drugs such as smoking marijuana is a mortal sin, just like getting drunk is.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Pius XII, <i>Mystici Corporis Christi </i>(# 23), June 29, 1943: “For not every sin, however grave it may be, is such as of its own nature <b>to sever a man from the Body of the Church, as does schism or heresy or apostasy.”</b></span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">We can see that it’s the teaching of the Catholic Church that a man is severed from the Church and Salvation by heresy, schism or apostasy.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><b><span style="background-color: white;">The baptized children who reach the age of reason in Protestant, Eastern Schismatic, etc. church buildings and believe in the Trinity and the Incarnation (the essential components of the Catholic Faith) and <u>who don’t reject any Catholic dogma because they don’t know of any other than the Trinity and Incarnation</u>, <u>and</u> who don’t embrace any of the positions like those described above, which are directly incompatible with Faith in God, Jesus Christ, the Trinity, the Natural Law or what they know to be clearly taught in Scripture, would be Catholics in a heretical church building.</span></b></p></div><div><h2 style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; margin: 0px; position: relative; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16pt;">THERE IS NO SALVATION FOR MEMBERS OF ISLAM, JUDAISM OR OTHER HERETICAL OR SCHISMATIC NON-CATHOLIC SECTS</span></h2><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">So far we’ve seen that it’s an infallibly defined dogma that all who die as non-Catholics, including all Jews, pagans, heretics, schismatics, etc. cannot be saved. They need to be converted to have salvation. Now we must take a brief look at more of what the Church specifically says about some of the prominent non-Catholic religions, such as Judaism, Islam, and the Protestant and Eastern schismatic sects. This will illustrate, once again, that those who hold that members of non-Catholic religions can be saved are not only going against the solemn declarations that have already been quoted, but also the specific teachings quoted below.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><span style="background-color: white;"><br style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;" /></span><h3 style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; margin: 0px; position: relative; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14pt;"><a name="catholic-teaching-against-judaism"></a>SPECIFIC CATHOLIC TEACHING AGAINST JUDAISM</span></h3><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Jews practice the Old Law and reject the Divinity of Christ and the Trinity. The Jews reject Our Lord Jesus Christ and call him a deceiver, yet many “Christians” say that they are good? This is mind-blowing! The Church teaches the following about the cessation of the Old Law and about all who continue to observe it:</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Eugene IV, Council of Florence, 1441, <em>ex cathedra</em>: “<strong>The Holy Roman Church firmly believes, professes and teaches that the matter pertaining to the law of the Old Testament, the Mosaic law, which are divided into ceremonies, sacred rites, sacrifices, and sacraments… after our Lord’s coming… ceased,</strong> and the sacraments of the New Testament began, and that whoever, even after the passion, placed hope in these matters of the law and submitted himself to them as necessary for salvation, as if faith in Christ could not save without them, <u><b>sinned mortally</b></u><b>.</b> All, therefore, who after that time (the promulgation of the Gospel) observe circumcision and the Sabbath (not to be mistaken with the Christian Sabbath) and the other requirements of the law, the holy Roman Church declares alien to the Christian faith and not in the least fit to participate in eternal salvation.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Many people, who call themselves Catholic, do also boldly assert in contradiction of this infallible statement by Pope Eugene IV in the Council of Florence, that Jews who either reject Christ or who have not found or accepted Christ as their Messiah, can be saved. They also contradict our Lord’s words in the gospel.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;"><i>John 3:36</i> “He that believeth in the Son, hath life everlasting; but he that believeth not the Son, shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">St. Thomas Aquinas, <i>Summa Theologica</i>, Pt. I-II, Q. 103, A. 4: “In like manner the ceremonies of the Old Law betokened Christ as having yet to be born and to suffer: whereas our sacraments signify Him as already born and having suffered. Consequently, just as it would be a mortal sin now for anyone, in making a profession of faith, to say that Christ is yet to be born, which the fathers of old said devoutly and truthfully; so too it would be a mortal sin now to observe those ceremonies which the fathers of old fulfilled with devotion and fidelity.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Benedict XIV, <i>Ex Quo Primum</i> (# 61), March 1, 1756: “<b>The first consideration is that the ceremonies of the Mosaic Law were abrogated by the coming of Christ and that <u>they can no longer be observed without sin after the promulgation of the Gospel</u>.”</b></span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Pius XII, <i>Mystici Corporis Christi</i> (#’s 29-30), June 29, 1943: “And first of all, by the death of our Redeemer, <b>the New Testament took the place of the Old Law which had been abolished</b>… on the gibbet of His death <b>Jesus made void the Law with its decrees</b> [Eph. 2:15]… establishing the New Testament in His blood shed for the whole human race. ‘<b>To such an extent, then,’ says St. Leo the Great, speaking of the Cross of our Lord, ‘was there effected a transfer from the Law to the Gospel, from the Synagogue to the Church</b>, from many sacrifices to one Victim, that, as our Lord expired, that mystical veil which shut off <b>the innermost part of the temple and its sacred secret was rent violently from top to bottom.’</b> <b>On the Cross then the Old Law died</b>, soon to be buried and to be a bearer of death…”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Thus, those who obstinately defends that faithless Jews who reject Christ can be saved and willfully contradict these infallible teachings of the Church, is a heretic, and will receive the full force of the automatic condemnation.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Eugene IV, <i>Council of Florence</i>, “Cantate Domino,” 1441, <i>ex cathedra</i>: “The Holy Roman Church firmly believes, professes and preaches <u><b>that all those who are outside the Catholic Church</b></u>, not only pagans but also <u><b>Jews</b></u> or heretics and schismatics, <u><b>cannot share in eternal life and will go into the everlasting fire</b></u> which was prepared for the devil and his angels, unless they are joined to the Church before the end of their lives...”</span></p><span style="background-color: white;"><br style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;" /></span><h3 style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; margin: 0px; position: relative; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14pt;"><a name="catholic-teaching-against-islam"></a>SPECIFIC CATHOLIC TEACHING AGAINST ISLAM</span></h3><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Eugene IV, <i>Council of Basel</i>, Session 19, Sept. 7, 1434: “… there is hope that very many from <u><b>the abominable sect of Mahomet</b></u> will be converted to the Catholic faith.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Callixtus III, 1455: “I vow to… exalt the true Faith, and to extirpate <b>the diabolical sect of the reprobate and faithless Mahomet</b> [Islam] in the East.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">The Catholic Church considers Islam an “abominable” and “diabolical” sect. [Note: the Council of Basel is only considered ecumenical/approved in the first 25 sessions, as <i>The Catholic Encyclopedia</i> points out in Vol. 4, “Councils,” pp. 425-426.] An “abomination” is something that is abhorrent in God’s sight; it’s something that He has no esteem for and no respect for. Something “diabolical” is something of the Devil. Islam rejects, among many other dogmas, the Divinity of Jesus Christ and the Trinity. Its followers are outside the pale of salvation so long as they remain Muslims.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Clement V, <i>Council of Vienne</i>, 1311-1312: “<b>It is an insult to the holy name and a disgrace to the Christian faith</b> that in certain parts of the world subject to Christian princes where Saracens [i.e., the followers of Islam, also called Muslims] live, sometimes apart, sometimes intermingled with Christians, the Saracen priests, commonly called Zabazala, in their temples or mosques, in which the Saracens meet to adore <b>the infidel Mahomet</b>, loudly invoke and extol his name each day at certain hours from a high place… There is a place, moreover, where once was buried a certain Saracen whom other Saracens venerate as a saint. <u><b>This brings disrepute on our faith and gives great scandal to the faithful.</b> <b>These practices cannot be tolerated without displeasing the divine majesty</b></u>. We therefore, with the sacred council’s approval, strictly forbid such practices henceforth in Christian lands. <b>We enjoin on Catholic <u>princes</u>, one and all</b>… They are to remove this offense together from their territories and take care that their subjects remove it, so that they may thereby attain the reward of eternal happiness. <u><b>They are to forbid expressly the public invocation of the sacrilegious name of Mahomet</b></u>… Those who presume to act otherwise are to be so chastised by the princes for their irreverence, that others may be deterred from such boldness.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">While the Church teaches that all who die as non-Catholics are lost, it also teaches that no one should be forced to embrace baptism, since belief is a free act of the will. </span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Leo XIII, <i>Immortale Dei</i> (#36), Nov. 1, 1885: “And, in fact, the Church is wont to take earnest heed that no one shall be forced to embrace the Catholic faith against his will, for, as St. Augustine wisely reminds us, ‘Man cannot believe otherwise than of his own will.’”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">The teaching of the <i>Council of Vienne</i> that Christian princes should enforce their civil authority to forbid the public expression of the false religion of Islam shows again that Islam is a false religion which leads souls to Hell (not Heaven) and displeases God.</span></p><span style="background-color: white;"><br style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;" /></span><h3 style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; margin: 0px; position: relative; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14pt;"><a name="protestant-and-schismatic-sects"></a>SPECIFIC CATHOLIC TEACHING AGAINST PROTESTANT AND SCHISMATIC SECTS</span></h3><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">The Catholic Church also teaches that those baptized persons who embrace heretical or schismatic sects will lose their souls. Jesus founded His Church upon St. Peter, as we saw already, and declared that whoever does not hear the Church be considered as the heathen and publican (Matthew 18:17). He also commanded His followers to observe “all things whatsoever” He has commanded (Matthew 28:20). The Eastern schismatic sects (such as the “Orthodox”) and the Protestant sects are breakoff movements that have separated from the Catholic Church. By separating themselves from the one Church of Christ, they leave the path of salvation and enter the path of perdition.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">These sects obstinately and pertinaciously reject one or more of the truths that Christ clearly instituted, such as the Papacy (Matthew 16; John 21; etc.), Confession (John 20:23), the Eucharist (John 6:54), and other dogmas of the Catholic Faith. In order to be saved one must assent to all the things which the Catholic Church, based on Scripture and Tradition, has infallibly defined as dogmas of the Faith.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Below are <i>just a few</i> of the infallible dogmas of the Catholic Faith which are rejected by Protestants and (in the case of the Papacy) by the Eastern “Orthodox.” The Church “anathematizes” (a severe form of excommunication) all who obstinately assert the contrary to its dogmatic definitions. </span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">"To understand the word anathema…we should first go back to the real meaning of <i>herem</i> of which it is the equivalent. <i>Herem</i> comes from the word <i>haram,</i> to cut off, to separate, to curse, and indicates that which is cursed and condemned to be cut off or exterminated, whether a person or a thing, and in consequence, that which man is forbidden to make use of. This is the sense of anathema in the following passage from Deut., vii, 26: ‘Neither shalt thou bring anything of the idol into thy house, lest thou become an anathema like it. Thou shalt detest it as dung, and shalt utterly abhor it as uncleanness and filth, because it is an anathema.’”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Thus, a Protestant or an “Eastern Orthodox” who obstinately rejects these dogmatic teachings is anathematized and severed from the Church, outside of which there is no salvation. It’s quite interesting that, in issuing these dogmatic canons, the Church says: “If anyone shall say…. let him be anathema [<i>anathema sit</i>]” as opposed to “If anyone shall say… <i>he is</i> anathema [<i>anathema est].</i>” This qualification of “let him be” allows room for those Catholics who may be unaware of a particular dogma and would conform to the teaching of the canon as soon as it were presented to him. The person who is obstinate, however, and willfully contradicts the dogmatic teaching of the Church receives the full force of the automatic condemnation.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">The point here is that if one is able to reject these dogmas and still be saved, <i>then these infallible definitions and their accompanying anathemas have no meaning, value or force</i>. But they do have meaning, value and force – they are infallible teachings protected by Jesus Christ. Thus, all who reject these dogmas are anathematized and on the road to damnation.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Pius XI, <i>Rerum omnium perturbationem</i> (#4), Jan. 26, 1923: “The saint was no less a person that Francis de Sales… <b>he seemed to have been sent especially by God to contend against <u>the heresies begotten by the [Protestant] Reformation</u>. It is in these <u>heresies</u> that we discover the beginnings of that apostasy of mankind from the Church</b>, the sad and disastrous effects of which are deplored, even to the present hour, by every fair mind.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Julius III, <i>Council of Trent</i>, Session 13, Can. 1 on the Eucharist, <i>ex cathedra</i>:"<b>If anyone denies that in the sacrament of the most holy Eucharist there are truly, really, and substantially contained the Body and Blood</b> together with the soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, and therefore the whole Christ, but shall say that He is in it as by sign or figure, or force, <b>let him be anathema</b>."</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Julius III, <i>Council of Trent</i>, Session 14, Canon 3 on the Sacrament of Penance: “If anyone says that the words of the Lord Savior: ‘Receive ye the Holy Ghost; whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins ye shall retain, they are retained’ [John 20:22 f.], <b>are not to be understood of the power remitting and retaining sins in the sacrament of penance</b>… <b>let him be anathema</b>.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Julius III, <i>Council of Trent</i>, Session 14, on Extreme Unction and Penance: “These are the things which this sacred ecumenical synod professes and teaches concerning <b>the sacraments of penance and extreme unction</b>, and it sets them forth to be believed and held by all the faithful of Christ. Moreover, the following canons, it says, must be inviolately observed, and <u><b>it condemns and anathematizes forever those who assert the contrary</b></u>.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Paul III, Council of Trent, Session 6, Chap. 16, <i>ex cathedra</i>:"<u><b>After this Catholic doctrine of justification</b></u><b> - which, <u>unless he faithfully and firmly accepts, no one can be justified</u> </b>- it seemed good to the holy Synod to add these canons, so that all may know, not only what they must hold and follow, but also what they ought to shun and avoid."</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Pius IX, <i>Vatican Council I</i>, 1870, Sess. 4, Chap. 3, ex cathedra: "… <u><b>all the faithful of Christ must believe that the Apostolic See and the Roman Pontiff hold primacy over the whole world</b></u><b>, and the Pontiff of Rome himself is the successor of the blessed Peter, the chief of the apostles, and is the true vicar of Christ and head of the whole Church</b>... Furthermore We teach and declare that the Roman Church, by the disposition of the Lord, holds the sovereignty of ordinary power over all others… <b>This is the doctrine of Catholic truth from which no one can deviate and keep his faith and salvation</b>."</span></p></div><div><h2 style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; margin: 0px; position: relative; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16pt;">THE SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM IS NECESSARY FOR SALVATION</span></h2><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">To further show that the Sacrament of Baptism is necessary for salvation, I will quote numerous infallible statements from the Chair of St. Peter.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Paul III, <i>The Council of Trent</i>, Sess. 7, Can. 5 on the <u>Sacrament</u> of Baptism, <i><b>ex cathedra</b></i>: “<b>If anyone says that baptism [the Sacrament] is optional, that is, not necessary for salvation (cf. Jn. 3:5): let him be anathema.”</b></span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">This infallible dogmatic definition from the Chair of St. Peter condemns anyone who says that the Sacrament of Baptism is not necessary for salvation. The Sacrament of Baptism is necessary for all for salvation, first of all, because, as the Council of Trent defines, all men (except the Blessed Virgin Mary) were conceived in a state of original sin <u>as a result of the sin of Adam, the first man</u>. The Sacrament of Baptism is also necessary for all for salvation because it is the means by which one is marked as a member of Jesus Christ and incorporated into His Mystical Body. And in defining the truth that all men were conceived in the state of Original Sin, the Council of Trent specifically declared that the Blessed Virgin Mary was an exception to its decree on Original Sin. But in defining the truth that the Sacrament of Baptism is necessary for salvation, the Council of Trent made no exceptions at all.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Eugene IV, <i>The Council of Florence</i>, “Exultate Deo,” Nov. 22, 1439: “Holy baptism, which is the gateway to the spiritual life, holds the first place among all the sacraments; through it we are made members of Christ and of the body of the Church. <b>And since death entered the universe through the first man, ‘<u>unless we are born again of water and the Spirit, we cannot,’ as the Truth says, ‘enter into the kingdom of heaven’</u> [John 3:5].</b> The matter of this sacrament is real and natural water.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Innocent III, <i>Fourth Lateran Council</i>, Constitution 1, 1215, <i>ex cathedra</i>: “<b>But the sacrament of baptism is consecrated in water at the invocation of the undivided Trinity – namely, Father, Son and Holy Ghost – and brings salvation to both children and adults</b> when it is correctly carried out by anyone in the form laid down by the Church.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Pius XI, <i>Quas Primas </i>(# 15), Dec. 11, 1925 : “Indeed this kingdom is presented in the Gospels as such, into which men prepare to enter by doing penance; <u><b>moreover, they cannot enter it except through</b></u> <b>faith and baptism</b>, which, although <u><b>an external rite</b></u>, yet signifies and effects an interior regeneration.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">We see here that one cannot enter the kingdom of Heaven without faith and the external rite of baptism (i.e., the Sacrament of Baptism). Ignorant people nowadays contradict this fact and claim that people can reach heaven without a real and actual water baptism. One could easily understand if a person were ignorant of these facts and believed that a person or infant could be Saved without the sacrament of baptism since many have been wrong on this issue, even Saints. But when one has seen these infallible dogmatic declarations from the Popes, and still obstinately hold to the position that people or infants can be saved without real and actual water baptism, he is a heretic. A heretic is a person who obstinately, willfully and knowingly hold an opinion which he knows to be in opposition with what the Church teach.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Paul III, <i>The Council of Trent</i>, Can. 2 on the Sacrament of Baptism, Sess. 7, 1547, <i>ex cathedra</i>: “<b>If anyone shall say that real and natural water is not necessary for baptism, <u>and on that account those words of Our Lord Jesus Christ: ‘Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Spirit’ [John 3:5], are distorted into some sort of metaphor</u></b>: let him be anathema.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Benedict XIV, <i>Nuper ad nos</i>, March 16, 1743, Profession of Faith: “<b>Likewise (I profess) that baptism is necessary for salvation, and hence, if there is imminent danger of death, it should be conferred at once and without delay, </b>and that it is valid if conferred with the right matter and form and intention by anyone, and at any time.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Catechism of the Council of Trent, <i>Baptism made obligatory after Christ’s Resurrection</i>, p. 171: “<u>Holy writers are unanimous in saying that after the Resurrection of our Lord</u>, when He gave His Apostles the command to go and teach all nations: <i>baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost</i>, <b>the law of Baptism became obligatory on all who were to be saved.”</b></span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">For a person to assert that salvation can be attained invincibly or ignorantly by Jews, pagans, heretics or schismatics without baptism or the Catholic Faith, is truly the most evil of doctrine since it renders Faith in Jesus Christ and the true Catholic Faith meaningless. According to this erroneous world view, anyone who is “good” can attain eternal life.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Many people like to object against these truths as “bitter” or “uncharitable.”But this is not true. The “foundation of charity is <u>faith pure and undefiled</u>” (Pope Pius XI, <i>Mortalium Animos</i>, #9). Some will also say that they cannot understand the justice behind these infallible declarations by God through the Popes. But it is not our job to question God’s laws and decrees. Our job is to believe first and understand second. Yet, if one looks at this situation clearly, one can understand the justice behind it. Adam and Eve brought death and original sin on every human being through their sin of eating the forbidden fruit. Did they fall for just desiring the fruit? NO! They fell after eating a real physical fruit. If you cannot accept that all of humanity must be baptized in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, how can you accept that all of humanity fell into sin because of Adam and Eve ate a physical fruit?</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Here are some very relevant quotes from the Revelations of St. Bridget that describes the power of a real baptism and how real water must be joined to the sacrament of baptism for baptism to be efficacious:</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">“The Mother appeared again and said: “My son, you still have need of a horse and saddle. The spiritual signification of the horse is baptism. Just as a horse has its four legs and carries a man on the journey he must accomplish, so too baptism, as signified by the horse, carries a man in the sight of God and has four spiritual effects. The first effect is that the baptized are liberated from the devil and bound to the commandments and service of God. The second effect is that they are cleansed from original sin. The third is that they are made God's children and coheirs. The fourth is that heaven is opened to them. Yet how many there are today who, having reached the age of reason, pull the reins on the horse of baptism and ride it off on a false path! The baptismal path is true and rightly followed when people are instructed and upheld in good moral habits before reaching the age of reason and when, upon reaching the age of reason and carefully considering what was promised at the baptismal font, they keep their faith and love of God intact. However, they ride away from the right path and rein the horse in when they prefer the world and the flesh to God. The saddle of the horse or of baptism is the effect of the bitter passion and death of Jesus Christ, which gave baptism its efficacy. What is water if not an element? As soon as God's blood was poured out, God's word and the power of God's outpoured blood entered into the element. Thus, by the word of God, the water of baptism became the means of reconciliation between humankind and God, the gate of mercy, the expulsion of demons, the way to heaven, and the forgiveness of sins. So those who would boast of the power of baptism should first consider how the effect of baptism was instituted through bitter pain. When their mind swells up with pride against God, let them consider how bitter their redemption was, how many times they have broken their baptismal vows, and what they deserve for their relapses into sin.” <i>The Revelations of St. Bridget, Book 4, Chapter 74</i></span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">As we can read from this splendid teaching by our Holy Mother, the water received the blood of our Lord when he died for our sins, and that is why the water can have such a great efficacy that it can even wash away original sin when it is used with the invocation of the name of the Holy Trinity. Here comes another good example from St. Bridget's revelations about the efficacy of baptism:</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Christ describes why a three year old boy is tormented by a demon: “And even though the boy is born by the seed of the father and mother, the devil still has the greatest power over him, for he is not reborn through the true baptism, but is only baptized in the way that women are accustomed to baptize, who do not know about the words of the Holy Trinity. That is why the boy may be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; then he will be cured.”</span></p></div><div><h2 style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; margin: 0px; position: relative; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16pt;">BELIEVE DOGMA AS IT WAS ONCE DECLARED</span></h2><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">There is only one way to believe dogma: as holy mother Church has once declared.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Pius IX, <i>First Vatican Council</i>, Sess. 3, Chap. 2 on Revelation, 1870, <i>ex cathedra</i>: “<b>Hence, also, that understanding of its sacred dogmas must be perpetually retained, which Holy Mother Church <u>has once declared</u>; and there must never be a <u>recession</u> from that meaning under the specious name of a deeper understanding.”</b></span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">One of the main problems with most traditional “Catholic” groups and the heretical Second Vatican Council - the Vatican II “Church” - is the constant and obstinate deviation from the true literal meaning as the dogmas once was infallibly declared. As we learn above, there can never be a recession from the true meaning of the dogmas as they were once declared <i>under the specious name of deeper understanding</i>. Thus we are forced to accept the dogmas as they are written under pain of mortal sin.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">This definition of the First Vatican Council is critically important for dogmatic purity, because the primary way the Devil attempts to corrupt Christ’s doctrines is by getting men to <u>recede</u> (move away) from the Church’s dogmas <i>as they were once declared</i>. There is no meaning of a dogma other than what the <b>words themselves state and declare</b>, so the Devil tries to get men to “understand” and “interpret” these words in a way that is different from how holy mother Church has declared them.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Many of us have dealt with people who have attempted to explain away the clear meaning of the definitions on Outside the Church There is No Salvation by saying, “you must <i><u>understand</u></i> them.” What they really mean is that you must understand them in a way <i>different from what the words themselves state and declare</i>. And this is precisely what the First Vatican Council <u>condemns</u>. It condemns their moving away from the understanding of a dogma which holy mother Church has once declared to a different meaning, under the specious (false) name of a “deeper understanding.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Besides those who argue that we must “understand” dogmas in a different way than what the words themselves state and declare, there are those who, when presented with the dogmatic definitions on Outside the Church There is No Salvation, say, “that is your interpretation.” They belittle the words of a dogmatic formula to nothing other than one’s private interpretation. And this also is heresy. For its not our own interpretation which defines the dogmas, the dogmas define themselves, as have been shown. A person claiming otherwise will make himself guilty of bearing false witness. And this also is mortal sin.</span></p><h2 style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; margin: 0px; position: relative; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16pt;">THOSE WHO DIE IN ORIGINAL SIN OR MORTAL SIN DESCEND INTO HELL</span></h2><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">As I have proven above, there is no possible way for children to be freed from original sin other than through the Sacrament of Baptism. This, of course, proves that there is no way for infants to be saved other than through the Sacrament of Baptism. So the following definitions merely affirm what has already been established: no child can possibly enter the kingdom of Heaven without receiving water baptism, but will rather descend into Hell.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Eugene IV, <i>Council of Florence</i>, “Letentur coeli,” Sess. 6, July 6, 1439, <i>ex cathedra</i>: “We define also that… <b>the souls of those who depart this life in actual mortal sin</b>, <u><b>or in original sin alone</b></u><b>, go straightaway to hell</b>, but to undergo punishments of different kinds.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Pius VI, <i>Auctorem fidei</i>, Aug. 28, 1794: “26. <b>The doctrine which rejects as a Pelagian fable, that place of the lower regions (which the faithful generally designate by the name of the limbo of the children) in which the souls of those departing with the sole guilt of original sin are punished with the punishment of the condemned, exclusive of the punishment of fire</b>, just as if, by this very fact, that these who remove the punishment of fire introduced that middle place and state free of guilt and of punishment between the kingdom of God and eternal damnation, such as that about which the Pelagians idly talk” – <b>Condemned </b>as false, rash, injurious to Catholic schools.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Here Pope Pius VI condemns the idea of some theologians that infants who die in original sin suffer the fires of Hell. At the same time, he confirms that these infants do go to a part of the lower regions (i.e., Hell) called the limbo of the children. They do not go to Heaven, but to a place in Hell where there is no fire. This is perfectly in accord with all of the other solemn definitions of the Church, which teach that infants who die without water baptism descend into Hell, but suffer a punishment different from those who die in mortal sin. Their punishment is eternal separation from God.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Pius XI, <i>Mit brennender Sorge </i>(# 25), March 14, 1937: “‘<b>Original sin’</b> is the hereditary but impersonal fault of Adam’s descendants, who have sinned in him (Rom. v. 12). <b>It is the loss of grace, and therefore eternal life</b>, together with a propensity to evil, which everybody must, with the assistance of grace, penance, resistance and moral effort, repress and conquer.”</span></p></div><div><h2 style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; margin: 0px; position: relative; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16pt;">THE UNBAPTIZED CHILDREN AND THE LIMBO OF THE CHILDREN</span></h2><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">The Catholic Church teaches that aborted children and infants who die without baptism descend immediately into Hell, but that they do not suffer the fires of Hell. They go to a place in Hell called the limbo of the children. The most specific definition of the Church proving that there is no possible way for an infant to be saved without the Sacrament of Baptism is the following one from Pope Eugene IV.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Eugene IV, <i>Council of Florence</i>, Session 11, Feb. 4, 1442, <i>ex cathedra</i>: “<u><b>Regarding children</b></u>, indeed, because of danger of death, which can often take place, <u><b>when no help can be brought to them by another remedy than through the sacrament of baptism</b></u>, <b>through which they are snatched from the domination of the Devil [original sin] and adopted among the sons of God</b>, it advises that holy baptism ought not be deferred for forty or eighty days, or any time according to the observance of certain people…” (Denz. 712)</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Eugene IV here defined <i>from the Chair of Peter</i> that there is <i><u>no other remedy</u></i> for infants to be snatched away from the dominion of the devil (i.e., original sin) other than the Sacrament of Baptism. This means that anyone who obstinately teaches that infants can be saved without receiving the Sacrament of Baptism is a heretic, for he is teaching that there is <i><b>another remedy</b></i> for original sin in children other than the Sacrament of Baptism.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Martin V, <i>Council of Constance</i>, Session 15, July 6, 1415 - Condemning the articles of John Wyclif - Proposition 6<i>: “</i><u><b>Those who claim that the children of the faithful dying without sacramental baptism will not be saved, are stupid and presumptuous in saying this</b></u>.” - <b>Condemned</b></span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">The arch-heretic John Wyclif was proposing that those (such as ourselves) are stupid for teaching that infants who die without <i><u>water</u></i> (<i>i.e., sacramental)</i> baptism cannot possibly be saved. He was anathematized for this assertion, among many others. And here is what the Council of Constance had to say about John Wyclif’s anathematized propositions, such as #6 above.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Martin V, <i>Council of Constance</i>, Session 15, July 6, 1415: “The books and pamphlets of John Wyclif, <u>of cursed memory</u>, were carefully examined by the doctors and masters of Oxford University… <b>This holy synod, therefore, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, repudiates and condemns, by this perpetual decree, the aforesaid articles and each of them in particular; and it forbids each and every Catholic henceforth, under pain of anathema, to preach, teach, or hold the said articles or any one of them.”</b></span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">So those who criticize Catholics for affirming the dogma that no infant can be saved without the Sacrament of Baptism are actually proposing the anathematized heresy of John Wyclif. Here are some other dogmatic definitions on the topic:</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope St. Zosimus, <i>The Council of Carthage</i>, Canon on Sin and Grace, 417 A.D.- “<b>It has been decided likewise that if anyone says </b>that for this reason the Lord said: ‘<i>In my Father’s house there are many mansions’ </i>[John 14:2]:<b> that it might be understood that in the kingdom of heaven there will be some middle place or some place anywhere where the blessed infants live who departed from this life without baptism, without which they cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven, which is life eternal, let him be anathema</b>.” (Denz. 102, authentic addition to canon 2.)</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Paul III, <i>The Council of Trent</i>, On Original Sin, Session V, <i>ex cathedra</i>: “If anyone says that recently born babies should not be baptized even if they have been born to baptized parents; <b>or says that they are indeed baptized for the remission of sins, but incur no trace of the original sin of Adam <u>needing to be cleansed by the laver of rebirth</u> for them to obtain eternal life</b>, with the necessary consequence that in their case there is being understood a form of baptism for the remission of sins which is not true, but false: <b>let him be anathema.” (Denz. 791)</b></span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">This means that anyone who asserts that infants don’t need the “laver of rebirth” (water baptism) to attain eternal life is teaching heresy. St. Augustine was perhaps the most outspoken proponent of the apostolic truth that infants who die without Baptism are excluded from the Kingdom of Heaven (since they have original sin).</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">St. Augustine, A.D. 415: “<u><b>Anyone who would say that infants who pass from this life without participation in the Sacrament [of Baptism] shall be made alive in Christ truly goes counter to the preaching of the Apostle and condemns the whole Church</b></u>, where there is great haste in baptizing infants because it is believed without doubt that there is no other way at all in which they can be made alive in Christ.” (Jurgens, <i>The Faith of the Early Fathers</i>, Vol. 3: 2016.)</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;"><i>The Revelations of St. Bridget</i> also corroborates this infallible dogmatic truth revealed by God in Book 5, Interrogation 6:</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;"><i>First question</i>. Again he appeared on his ladder as before, saying: "O Judge, I ask you: Why does one infant emerge alive from the mother's womb and obtain baptism, while another, having received a soul, dies in the mother's belly?"</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;"><i>Answer to the first question</i>. The Judge answered: "You ask why one infant dies in the mother's belly while another emerges alive. There is a reason. All the strength of the child's body comes, of course, from the seed of its father and mother; however, if it is conceived without due strength, because of some weakness of its father or mother, it dies quickly. As a result of the negligence or carelessness of the parents as well as of my divine justice, many times it happens that what was joined together comes apart quickly.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Yet a soul is not brought to the harshest punishment for this reason, however little time it had for giving life to the body, but, rather, it comes to the mercy that is known to me. Just as the sun shining into a house is not seen as it is in its beauty - only those who look into the sky see its rays - so too the souls of such children, though they do not see my face for lack of baptism, are nevertheless closer to my mercy than to punishment, but not in the same way as my elect." <i>- The Revelations of St. Bridget, Book 5, Interrogation 6, Question 1</i></span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">More proof:</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">“But consider my goodness and mercy! For, as the teacher says, I give virtue to those who do not have any virtue. By reason of my great love I give the kingdom of heaven to all of the baptized who die before reaching the age of discretion. As it is written: It has pleased my Father to give the kingdom of heaven to such as these. By reason of my tender love, I even show mercy to the infants of pagans. If any of them die before reaching the age of discretion, given that they cannot come to know me face to face, they go instead to a place that it is not permitted for you to know but where they will live without suffering.” - <i>The Revelations of St. Bridget, Book 2, Chapter 1</i></span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">These fascinating sentences clearly affirm infallible Catholic dogma by teaching that no one can see God's face without water baptism. Yet, they also give us explicit confirmation that these children are in a state of light and mercy, though not in the same way as those in Heaven.</span></p><h2 style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; margin: 0px; position: relative; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16pt;">BAPTISM OF BLOOD AND BAPTISM OF DESIRE – ERRONEOUS TRADITIONS OF MAN</span></h2><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">In this document, I have shown that the Catholic Church infallibly teaches that the Sacrament of Baptism is necessary for salvation. I have also shown that it is only through receiving the Sacrament of Baptism that one is incorporated into the Catholic Church, outside of which there is no salvation. I have also shown that the Catholic Church infallibly teaches that the words of Jesus Christ in John 3:5 – <i>Amen, amen I say unto thee, unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God</i> – are to be understood literally: as they are written. <b>This is the infallible teaching of the Church and it excludes any possibility of salvation without being born again of water and the Holy Ghost</b>. However, throughout the history of the Church, many have believed in the theories called baptism of desire and baptism of blood: that one’s desire for the Sacrament of Baptism or one’s martyrdom for the faith supplies for the lack of being born again of water and the Holy Ghost. Those who believe in baptism of blood and baptism of desire raise certain objections to the absolute necessity of receiving the Sacrament of Baptism for salvation. I will respond to some of the major objections made by baptism of desire and blood advocates; and in the process, I will give an overview of the history of the errors of baptism of desire and baptism of blood. In doing this I will demonstrate that neither baptism of blood nor baptism of desire is a teaching of the Catholic Church.</span></p><span style="background-color: white;"><br style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;" /></span><h2 style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; margin: 0px; position: relative; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16pt;"><a name="the-fathers-against-baptism-of-blood-and-desire"></a>THE FATHERS ARE UNANIMOUS FROM THE BEGINNING</span></h2><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">The Fathers (or prominent early Christian Catholic writers) are unanimous from the beginning that no one enters heaven or is freed from original sin without water baptism.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">In <u>140 A.D</u>., the early Church Father Hermas quotes Jesus in John 3:5, and writes: </span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">“They had need to come up through <u>the water</u>, so that they might be made alive; <b>for they could not otherwise enter into the kingdom of God</b>.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">This statement is obviously a paraphrase of John 3:5, and thus it demonstrates that from the very beginning of the apostolic age it was held and taught by the fathers that no one enters heaven without being <i>born again of water and the Spirit</i> based specifically on Our Lord Jesus Christ’s declaration in John 3:5.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">In <u>155 A.D</u>., St. Justin the Martyr writes:</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">“… they are led by us to a place where there is water; and there they are reborn in the same kind of rebirth in which we ourselves were reborn… in the name of God… they receive the washing of water. For Christ said, ‘<i><b>Unless you be reborn, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven</b></i><b>.’ The reason for doing this we have learned from the apostles</b>.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Notice that St. Justin Martyr, like Hermas, also quotes the words of Jesus in John 3:5, and based on Christ’s words he teaches that it is from apostolic tradition that no one at all can enter Heaven without being born again of water and the Spirit in the Sacrament of Baptism.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">In his dialogue with Trypho the Jew, also dated <u>155 A.D</u>., St. Justin Martyr further writes:</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">“… hasten to learn in what way forgiveness of sins and a hope of the inheritance… may be yours. <u><b>There is no other way than this</b></u><b>: acknowledge Christ, be washed in the washing announced by Isaias [Baptism]</b>…”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">St. Cyril of Jerusalem, <u>350 A.D</u>.:</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">“He says, ‘<i>Unless a man be born again’</i> – and He adds the words ‘of <i>water and the Spirit’</i> – <i>he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God</i>…..if a man be virtuous in his deeds, but does not receive <u>the seal</u> by means of the water, shall he enter into the kingdom of heaven. <b>A bold saying, but not mine;</b> <u><b>for it is Jesus who has declared it</b></u>.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">We see that St. Cyril continues the apostolic Tradition that no one enters heaven without being born again of water and the Spirit, based again on an absolute understanding Our Lord’s own words in John 3:5.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope St. Damasus, <u>382 A.D</u>.:</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">“<b>This, then, is the salvation of Christians</b>: that believing in the Trinity, that is, in the Father, and in the Son and in the Holy Spirit, <u><b>and baptized in it</b></u>…”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">St. Ambrose, <u>387 A.D</u>.:</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">“… <b>no one ascends into the kingdom of heaven except through the Sacrament of Baptism</b>.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">St. Ambrose, <u>387 A.D</u>.:</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">“‘<b>Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.’</b> No one is excepted: not the infant, not the one prevented by some necessity.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">St. Ambrose, <i>De mysteriis</i>, <u>390-391 A.D</u>.:</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">“You have read, therefore, that the three witnesses in Baptism are one: water, blood, and the spirit; and if you withdraw any one of these, the Sacrament of Baptism is not valid. For what is water without the cross of Christ? A common element without any sacramental effect. <b>Nor on the other hand is there any mystery of regeneration without water: for ‘unless a man be born again of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.’ [John 3:5]</b> <u><b>Even a </b></u><i><u><b>catechumen</b></u></i> believes in the cross of the Lord Jesus, by which also he is signed; but, unless he be baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, <i><u>he cannot receive the remission of sins</u></i> nor be recipient of the gift of spiritual grace.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">St. John Chrysostom, <u>392 A.D</u>.:</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">“Weep for the unbelievers; weep for those who differ not a whit from them, those <b>who go hence without illumination, without the seal!</b> … They are outside the royal city…. with the condemned. ‘<b>Amen, I tell you, if anyone is not born of water and the Spirit, he shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.”</b></span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">St Augustine, <u>395 A.D</u>.:</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">“… <b>God does not forgive sins except to the baptized</b>.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope St. Innocent, <u>414 A.D</u>.:</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">“But that which Your Fraternity asserts the Pelagians preach, <b>that even without the grace of Baptism infants are able to be endowed with the rewards of eternal life, is quite idiotic</b>.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope St. Gregory the Great, c. <u>590 A.D</u>.:</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">“<b>Forgiveness of sin is bestowed on us <u>only by the baptism of Christ</u></b>.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Theophylactus, Patriarch of Bulgaria, c. <u>800 A.D</u>.:</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">“<i>He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved</i>. <b>It does not suffice to believe; he who believes, and is not yet baptized,</b> <b>but is only a catechumen</b>, has not yet fully acquired salvation.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Many other passages could be quoted from the fathers, but it is a fact that the fathers of the Church are unanimous from the beginning of the apostolic age that no one at all can be saved without receiving the Sacrament of Baptism, based on the words of Jesus Christ in John 3:5. The eminent Patristic Scholar Fr. William Jurgens, <u>who has literally read thousands of texts from the fathers</u>, was <i>forced</i> to admit the following (even though he believes in baptism of desire) in his three volume set on the fathers of the Church.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Fr. William Jurgens: “<b>If there were not <u>a constant tradition</u> in the Fathers that the Gospel message of ‘<i>Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost he cannot enter into the kingdom of God’</i> is to be taken absolutely</b>, it would be easy to say that Our Savior simply did not see fit to mention the obvious exceptions of invincible ignorance and physical impossibility. <u><b>But the tradition in fact is there</b></u><b>; and it is likely enough to be found <u>so constant as to constitute revelation</u></b>.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">The eminent scholar Fr. Jurgens is admitting here three important things:</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">1) The fathers are <u>constant</u> in their teaching that John 3:5 is absolute with no exceptions; that is, no one at all enters heaven without being born again of water and the Spirit;</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">2) The fathers are so constant on this point that it likely constitutes divine revelation, without even considering the infallible teaching of the popes;</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">3) The constant teaching of the fathers that all must receive water baptism for salvation in light of John 3:5 excludes exceptions for the “invincibly ignorant” or “physically impossible” cases.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">And based on this truth, declared by Jesus in the Gospel (John 3:5), handed down by the Apostles and taught by the fathers, the Catholic Church has infallibly defined as a dogma (as we have seen already) that no one at all enters heaven without the Sacrament of Baptism.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Paul III, <i>The Council of Trent</i>, Canon 5 on <u>the Sacrament</u> of Baptism, <i><b>ex cathedra</b></i>: “<b>If anyone says that baptism is optional, that is, not necessary for salvation (John. 3:5): let him be anathema.”</b></span></p><span style="background-color: white;"><br style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;" /></span><h2 style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; margin: 0px; position: relative; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16pt;"><a name="not-all-of-the-fathers-remained-consistent"></a>NOT ALL OF THE FATHERS REMAINED CONSISTENT WITH THEIR OWN AFFIRMATION</span></h2><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Despite the fact that there is a constant tradition from the beginning that no one at all is saved without water baptism, not all of the fathers always remained consistent with their own affirmation on this point. <b>And that is where we come across the theories of “baptism of blood” and “baptism of desire.”</b> It must be understood that the fathers of the Church were mistaken and inconsistent with their own teaching and the apostolic Tradition on <u>many points</u> – since they were fallible men who made many errors.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">The fathers of the Church are only a definite witness to Tradition when expressing a point held <u>universally</u> and constantly or when expressing something that is in line with defined dogma. Taken individually or even in multiplicity, they can be dead wrong and even dangerous. St. Basil the Great said that the Holy Ghost is second to the Son of God in order and dignity, in a horrible and even heretical attempt to explain the Holy Trinity.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">St. Basil (363): “The Son is not, however, second to the Father in nature, because the Godhead is one in each of them, and plainly, too, in the <u>Holy Spirit, even if in order and dignity He is second to the Son (yes, this we do concede</u>!), though not in such a way, it is clear, that He were of another nature.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">When St. Basil says above that the Godhead is one in Father, Son and Holy Spirit, he is correctly affirming the universal, apostolic Tradition. But when he says that the Holy Spirit is second in <i>dignity</i> to the Son he ceases to remain consistent with this Tradition and falls into error (material heresy, in fact). And the fathers made countless errors in attempting to defend or articulate the Faith.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">St. Augustine wrote <u>an entire book of corrections</u>. St. Fulgentius and a host of others, including St. Augustine, held that it was certain that infants who die without <i>baptism descend into the fires of Hell, </i>a position that was later condemned by Pope Pius VI. As Pope Pius VI confirmed, unbaptized infants go to Hell, but to a place in Hell where there is no fire.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">But St. Augustine was so outspoken in favor of this error that it became the common and basically unchallenged teaching for more than 500 years, according to <i>The Catholic Encyclopedia</i>.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 9, “Limbo,” p. 257: “<b>On the special question, however, of the punishment of original sin after death, <u>St. Anselm was at one with St. Augustine in holding that unbaptized infants share in the positive sufferings of the damned; and Abelard was the first to rebel against the severity of the Augustinian tradition on this point</u></b>.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">This is why Catholics don’t form definite doctrinal conclusions from the teaching of a father of the Church or a handful of fathers; a Catholic goes by the infallible teaching of the Church proclaimed by the popes; and a Catholic assents to the teaching of the fathers of the Church when they are in <u>universal and constant agreement</u> from the beginning and in line with Catholic dogmatic teaching.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Benedict XIV, <i>Apostolica </i>(# 6), June 26, 1749: “<b>The Church’s judgment is preferable to that of a Doctor</b> renowned for his holiness and teaching.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;"><i>Errors of the Jansenists</i>, #30: “<b>When anyone finds a doctrine clearly established in Augustine, he can absolutely hold it and teach it, disregarding any bull of the pope</b>.”- <u><b>Condemned</b></u><b> by Pope Alexander VIII</b></span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Pius XII, <i>Humani generis</i> (# 21), Aug. 12, 1950: “<b>This deposit of faith our Divine Redeemer has given for authentic interpretation not to each of the faithful, <u>not even to theologians</u>, but only to the Teaching Authority of the Church.’”</b></span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">The Catholic Church recognizes infallibility in no saint, theologian or early Church father. It is only a pope operating with the authority of the Magisterium who is protected by the Holy Ghost from teaching error on faith or morals. So, when we examine and show how Churchmen have erred on the topics of baptism of desire and blood this is 100% consistent with the teaching of the Church, which has always acknowledged that any Churchman, no matter how great, can make errors, even significant ones.</span></p><span style="background-color: white;"><br style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;" /></span><h2 style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; margin: 0px; position: relative; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16pt;"><a name="the-theory-of-baptism-of-blood"></a>THE THEORY OF BAPTISM OF BLOOD – A TRADITION OF MAN</span></h2><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">A small number of the fathers – <b>approximately 8 out of a total of hundreds</b> – are quoted in favor of what is called “baptism of blood,” the idea that a catechumen (that is, one preparing to receive Catholic Baptism) who shed his blood for Christ could be saved without having received Baptism. It is crucial to note at the beginning that <b>none of the fathers considered anyone but a catechumen as a possible exception to receiving the Sacrament of Baptism; they would all condemn and reject as heretical and foreign to the teaching of Christ the modern heresy of “invincible ignorance</b>” saving those who die as non-Catholics. So, out of the fathers, approximately 8 are quoted in favor of baptism of blood for catechumens. And, <b>only 1 father out of hundreds, St. Augustine, can be quoted as clearly teaching what is today called “baptism of desire”:</b> the idea that a catechumen could be saved by his explicit desire for water baptism. This means that with the exception of St. Augustine, <u>all of the few fathers who believed in baptism of blood actually rejected the concept of baptism of desire</u>. Take St. Cyril of Jerusalem, for example.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">St. Cyril of Jerusalem, 350 A.D.: “<b>If any man does not receive baptism, he does not receive salvation</b>. <u>The only exception is the martyrs</u>...”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Here we see that St. Cyril of Jerusalem believed in baptism of blood, but rejected baptism of desire. St. Fulgence expressed the same.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">St. Fulgence, 523: “From that time at which Our Savior said: “<i>If anyone is not reborn of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven</i>,’ no one can, without the sacrament of baptism, <u>except those who, in the Catholic Church, without Baptism pour out their blood for Christ</u>…”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Here we see that St. Fulgence believed in baptism of blood but rejected the idea of baptism of desire. And what’s ironic and particularly dishonest is that the baptism of desire apologists (such as the priests of the Society of St. Pius X) will quote these patristic texts (such as the two above) in books written to prove <i>baptism of desire</i>, without pointing out to their readers that these passages actually deny baptism of desire; for we can see that St. Fulgence, while expressing belief in baptism of blood, rejects baptism of desire, only allowing martyrs as a possible exception to receiving baptism. (What would St. Fulgence say about the modern version of the heresy of baptism of desire, also taught by such priests of the SSPX, SSPV, CMRI, etc. whereby Jews, Muslims, Hindus and pagans can be saved without Baptism?)</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">It is also important to point out that some of the fathers use the term “baptism of blood” to describe the Catholic martyrdom of one already baptized, <u><b>not as a possible replacement for water baptism</b></u>. This is the only legitimate use of the term.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">St. John Chrysostom, <i>Panegyric on St. Lucian</i>, 4<sup>th</sup> Century AD: “Do not be surprised that I call martyrdom a Baptism; for here too the Spirit comes in great haste and there is a taking away of sins and a wonderful and marvelous cleansing of the soul; and just as those being baptized are washed in water, so too those being martyred are washed in their own blood.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">St. John is here describing the martyrdom of <u>a priest St. Lucian</u>, a person already baptized. He is not saying that martyrdom replaces baptism. St. John Damascene describes it the same way:</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">St. John Damascene: “These things were well understood by our holy and inspired fathers --- thus they strove, <u><b>after Holy Baptism</b></u>, to keep... spotless and undefiled. Whence some of them also thought fit to receive <u><b>another</b></u> Baptism: I mean that which is by blood and martyrdom.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">This is important because many dishonest scholars today (such as the priests of the Society of St. Pius X) will distort the teaching on this point; they will quote a passage on baptism of blood where St. John is simply speaking of baptism of blood as a Catholic martyrdom for one already baptized, and they will present it as if the person were teaching that martyrdom can replace baptism – when such is not stated anywhere.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Some may wonder why the term <i>baptism of blood</i> was used at all. I believe that the reason the term “baptism of blood” was used by some of the fathers was because Our Lord described His coming passion as a baptism in Mark 10:38-39.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">“And Jesus said to them: You know not what you ask. Can you drink the chalice that I drink of: or be baptized with the baptism wherewith I am baptized? But they said to him: We can. And Jesus saith to them: You shall indeed drink of the chalice that I drink of: and with the baptism wherewith I am baptized, you shall be baptized.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">We see in the aforementioned passage that Our Lord, although already baptized by St. John in the Jordan, refers to another baptism which He must receive. This is His martyrdom on the cross, not a substitute for baptism of water. It is His “second baptism,” if you will, not his first. Thus, baptism of blood is described by Our Lord in the same way as St. John Damascene<i>, </i>not to mean a substitute baptism for an unbaptized person, but rather a Catholic martyrdom which remits all the fault and punishment due to sin.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">The term <i>baptism</i> is used in a variety of ways in the scriptures and by the Church fathers. The baptisms: of water, of blood, of the spirit, of Moses, and of fire are all terms that have been implemented by Church Fathers to characterize certain things, but not necessarily to describe that an unbaptized martyr can attain salvation. Read the verse of scripture in which the term <i>baptism</i> is used for the Old Testament forefathers:</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">1Cor. 10:2-4: “And all in Moses were BAPTIZED, in the cloud, and in the sea: And did all eat the same spiritual food, And all drank the same spiritual drink: (and they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ.)”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">I believe this explains why a number of fathers <b>erred</b> in believing that baptism of blood supplies the place of baptism of water. They recognized that Our Lord referred to His own martyrdom as a baptism, and they erroneously concluded that martyrdom for the true faith can serve as a substitute for being born again of water and the Holy Ghost. But the reality is that there are no exceptions to Our Lord’s words in John 3:5, as the infallible teaching of the Catholic Church confirms. <b>Anyone of good will who is willing to shed his blood for the true faith will not be left without these saving waters.</b> <b>It is not our blood, but Christ’s blood on the Cross, communicated to us in the Sacrament of Baptism, which frees us from the state of sin and allows us entrance into the kingdom of Heaven.</b></span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Eugene IV, “Cantate Domino,” <i>Council of Florence</i>, <i>ex cathedra</i>: “<b>No one, whatever almsgiving he has practiced, <u>even if he has shed blood for the name of Christ</u></b>, can be saved, unless he has persevered within the bosom and unity of the Catholic Church.”</span></p><span style="background-color: white;"><br style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;" /></span><h2 style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; margin: 0px; position: relative; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16pt;"><a name="the-facts-on-baptism-of-blood"></a>SUMMARIZING THE FACTS ON BAPTISM OF BLOOD</span></h2><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">As stated already, the theory of baptism of blood <u>has never been taught by one pope, one council or in any Papal Encyclical</u>. At least 5 dogmatic councils of the Catholic Church issued detailed definitions on Baptism, and not one ever mentioned the concept or the term baptism of blood. The Council of Trent had 14 canons on Baptism, and baptism of blood is mentioned nowhere. And, in fact, various infallible statements from the popes and councils exclude the idea.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Eugene IV, “Cantate Domino,” <i>Council of Florence</i>, <i>ex cathedra</i>: “<b>No one, whatever almsgiving he has practiced, <u>even if he has shed blood for the name of Christ</u>, can be saved, unless he has persevered within the bosom and unity of the Catholic Church.”</b></span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Eugene IV explicitly excludes from salvation even those who “shed blood for the name of Christ” unless they are living within the bosom and unity of the Church! And, as proven already, the unbaptized are not living within the bosom and unity of the Church (<i>de fide</i>)! The unbaptized are not subjects of the Catholic Church (<i>de fide, Council of Trent</i>, Sess. 14, Chap. 2); the unbaptized are not members of the Catholic Church (<i>de fide, Pius XII</i>, <i>Mystici Corporis # 22)</i>; and the unbaptized do not have the mark of Christians (<i>de fide, Pius XII</i>, <i>Mediator Dei</i> # 43).</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">If “baptism of blood” truly served as a substitute for the Sacrament of Baptism, God would never have allowed the Catholic Church to understand John 3:5 <i>as it is written</i> in its infallible decrees, as He has (Pope Eugene IV, <i>The Council of Florence</i>, “Exultate Deo,” Nov. 22, 1439, etc.). This is certain, because the Church’s official understanding of the scriptures cannot err.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Furthermore, God would never have allowed the infallible Council of Trent to completely pass over any mention of this “exception” in its canons on baptism and its chapters on justification as an alternative way of achieving the state of grace. He would never have allowed all of the infallible definitions from popes on <i>only one baptism</i> to avoid any mention of “the baptism of blood.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">And God would not have allowed Pope Eugene IV to define that nobody, even <i>if he has shed blood in the name of Christ, can be saved unless he is in the bosom and unity of the Catholic Church</i>, without mentioning the exception of “baptism of blood.” <b>God has never allowed the theory of baptism of blood to be taught in one council, by one pope, or in one infallible decree, but only by fallible theologians and fallible early Church fathers</b>. All of this is because baptism of blood is not a teaching of the Catholic Church, but the erroneous speculation of certain fathers <u>who also erred frequently in the same documents.</u> Besides, there would be no need for God to save anyone by baptism of blood (or “baptism of desire”), since He can keep any sincere souls alive until they are baptized.</span></p><span style="background-color: white;"><br style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;" /></span><h2 style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; margin: 0px; position: relative; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16pt;"><a name="the-theory-of-baptism-of-desire"></a>THE THEORY OF BAPTISM OF DESIRE – A TRADITION OF MAN</span></h2><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Those who have been brainwashed by apologists for the theory of baptism of desire may be surprised to learn that of all the fathers of the Church, <b>only 1 can even be brought forward by baptism of desire advocates as having taught the concept. </b>That’s correct, only one, St. Augustine. The baptism of desire advocates will make a feeble attempt to bring forward a second father, St. Ambrose, as we will see; but even if that were true, that would make only two fathers out of hundreds who can be quoted as ever having speculated on the concept of baptism of desire. So then, what is one to say about the following statements of the priests of the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), who have written three separate books on “baptism of desire”?</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Fr. Jean-Marc Rulleau (SSPX), <i>Baptism of Desire</i>, p. 63: “This baptism of desire makes up for the want of sacramental baptism… The existence of this mode of salvation is a truth taught by the Magisterium of the Church and held from the first centuries <u><b>by all the Fathers</b></u>. <b>No Catholic theologian has contested it</b>.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Fr. Francois Laisney (SSPX), <i>Is Feeneyism Catholic?</i>, p. 79, on Baptism of desire: “<b>It is not only the common teaching, but <i><u>unanimous</u></i></b><b> teaching</b>; it is not only since the early part of this millennium, but rather from the beginning of the Church…”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">These statements are totally false and grievous <u>lies</u> which completely misrepresent the teaching of Tradition and corrupt people’s faith, as we already have seen. <b>The fathers are unanimously <i>against</i> </b>the concept that anyone (including a catechumen) could be saved without water baptism. But let us examine the teaching of the <i><u>one</u></i> father, St. Augustine, who did express belief (at least at times) in the idea that a catechumen could be saved without the Sacrament of Baptism by his desire for it.</span></p><span style="background-color: white;"><br style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;" /></span><h2 style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; margin: 0px; position: relative; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16pt;"><a name="st-augustine"></a>ST. AUGUSTINE (354-430)</span></h2><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">St. Augustine is quoted in favor of the concept of baptism of desire, but he admittedly struggled with the issue, sometimes clearly opposing the idea that unbaptized <b>catechumens</b> could achieve salvation, and other times supporting it.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">St. Augustine, 400: “That the place of Baptism is sometimes supplied by suffering is supported by a substantial argument which the same Blessed Cyprian draws…<u><b>Considering this over and over again</b></u><b>, <u>I find</u></b> that not only suffering for the name of Christ can supply for that which is lacking by way of Baptism, but even faith and conversion of heart, if… recourse cannot be had to the celebration of the Mystery of Baptism.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">There are two interesting points about this passage. The first relates to baptism of blood: notice that Augustine says that his belief in baptism of blood is supported by an inference or an argument that St. Cyprian made, not anything rooted in the Tradition of the Apostles or the Roman Pontiffs. </span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">St. Cyprian, <i>To Jubaianus </i>(254): “… <i>in regard to what I might think in the matter of the baptism of heretics… <u>This baptism we cannot reckon as valid</u></i>…”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">As we saw already, many of the inferences of St. Cyprian showed themselves to be quite wrong, to put it nicely, such as his “inference” that it was from “apostolic Tradition” that heretics cannot confer baptism, which is wrong, since even heretics can baptize validly. Thus, St. Augustine is revealing by this statement a very important point: <b>that his belief even in baptism of blood is rooted in fallible human speculation, not in divine revelation or infallible Tradition. He is admitting that he could be wrong and, in fact, he is wrong</b>.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Secondly, when Augustine concludes that he also believes that faith (that is, faith in Catholicism) and a desire for baptism could have the same effect as martyrdom, he says: “<i>Considering this over and over again</i>…” By saying that he considered this over and over again, St. Augustine is admitting that his opinion on <i>baptism of desire</i> is also something that he has come to from <u>his own consideration</u>, not through infallible Tradition or teaching. It is something that he admittedly struggled with and contradicted himself on. All of this serves to prove again that baptism of desire, like baptism of blood, <u>is a tradition of man</u>, born in erroneous and fallible human speculation (albeit from some great men), and not rooted in or derived from any Tradition of the Apostles or of the popes.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Out of the hundreds of fathers of the Church, the only other one that the baptism of desire advocates <i>even try</i> to quote is St. Ambrose. They think that in his funeral speech for his friend (the Emperor Valentinian) he taught that the emperor (who was only a catechumen) was saved by his desire for baptism. But St. Ambrose’s funeral speech for Valentinian is extremely ambiguous and could be interpreted in a variety of ways. It is thus gratuitous for them to assert that it clearly teaches the idea of “baptism of desire.”</span></p><span style="background-color: white;"><br style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;" /></span><h2 style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; margin: 0px; position: relative; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16pt;"><a name="burial-tradition"></a>LITURGICAL TRADITION AND APOSTOLIC BURIAL TRADITION</span></h2><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Besides these clear testimonies of the fathers against the theory of baptism of desire, perhaps most striking is the fact that in the history of the Catholic Church <b>there is not a single tradition that can be cited for praying for – or giving ecclesiastical burial to – catechumens who died without baptism</b>. <i>The Catholic Encyclopedia</i> (1907) had the following to say about the actual Tradition of the Church in this regard:</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">“A certain statement in the funeral oration of St. Ambrose over the Emperor Valentinian II has been brought forward as a proof that the Church offered sacrifices and prayers for catechumens who died before baptism. <b>There is not a vestige of such a custom to be found anywhere</b>… <u>The practice of the Church is more correctly shown in the canon (xvii) of the Second Council of Braga</u> (572 AD): ‘<b>Neither the commemoration of Sacrifice</b> [<i>oblationis</i>] <b>nor the service of chanting</b> [<i>psallendi</i>] <b>is to be employed for catechumens who have died without baptism</b>.’”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">There you have the teaching of Catholic Tradition! No catechumen who died without the Sacrament of Baptism received prayer, sacrifice or Christian burial! The Council of Braga, in 572 A.D., forbade prayer for catechumens who died without Baptism. Pope St. Leo the Great and Pope St. Gelasius had earlier confirmed the same Church discipline – which was the universal practice – forbidding Catholics to pray for unbaptized catechumens who had died. <b>This means that the belief in the early Church was that there was no such thing as baptism of desire</b>. The theory of baptism of desire didn’t become a widespread belief until the middle ages, when St. Thomas Aquinas and some other eminent theologians made it their own, which caused many theologians to subsequently adopt that position out of deference to them, a position on the possible salvation of catechumens who died without baptism which was contrary to the overwhelming belief and liturgical tradition of the early Church, not to mention the Church’s later infallible teaching on the scripture John 3:5.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">The true teaching of apostolic and Catholic tradition on this topic is also seen from the teaching of the Catholic Liturgy, which all worshipping Catholics in the early Church acknowledged and believed: namely, that no unbaptized catechumen or unbaptized person was considered part of <i>the faithful</i>. That unbaptized catechumens are not part of the faithful was held by all of the fathers because it was taught to all Catholics in the liturgy.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Dr. Ludwig Ott, <i>Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma</i>, Membership in the Church, p. 309: “3. The Fathers <u>draw a sharp line of separation</u> between Catechumens and ‘the faithful.’”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">This means that no unbaptized person can be saved, because Catholic dogma has defined that no one is saved outside the one Church of the faithful.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Gregory XVI, <i>Summo Iugiter Studio</i>, May 27, 1832, on no salvation outside the Church: “Official acts of the Church proclaim the same dogma. Thus, in the decree on faith which Innocent III published with the synod of Lateran IV, these things are written: ‘<i><b>There is one universal Church of all <u>the faithful</u> outside of which no one is saved</b></i><b>.’”</b></span></p><span style="background-color: white;"><br style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;" /></span><h2 style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; margin: 0px; position: relative; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16pt;"><a name="pope-st-siricius"></a>POPE ST. SIRICIUS (384-398)</span></h2><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">In his letter to the Bishop of Tarragona in the year 385, Pope St. Siricius also shows how the belief in the early Church rejected any concept of baptism of desire.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope St. Siricius, 385, [Concerning the necessity of baptism] “Therefore just as we declare that respect for the Easter sacrifice [Paschal time] should not be lessened in the case of any person, in like manner <b>we wish help to be brought with all speed to children who because of their age cannot yet speak, and to those who in any emergency are in need of the water of holy baptism, lest it should lead to the destruction of our souls if, <u>by refusing the water of salvation to those who desire it, each of them, when taking leave of this world, should lose both the kingdom and life</u></b>. Indeed whoever suffers the peril of shipwreck, an enemy attack, the danger of siege or desperation resulting from some bodily infirmity, and so <b>asks for what in their faith is their only help</b>, <b>let them receive at the moment of their request the reward of regeneration that they beg for</b>. This much should suffice for my digression on this subject; now let all priests who do not wish to be wrenched from the firmly-fixed rock of the apostles, on which Christ built his universal church, hold fast to the aforesaid rule.” (Latin found in Denzinger-Schonmetzer, Latin Edition, 1962, no. 184; an English Translation found in <i>The Christian Faith</i>, Sixth Revised and Enlarged Edition, Staten Island, NY: Alba House, 1996, p. 540.)</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">I hope that the baptism of desire advocates read this one very carefully. The Pope declares that the man who begs for regeneration and desires water baptism is still denied heaven if he dies without it! This quotation from Pope St. Siricius is striking in that it again clearly shows how the early Church rejected belief in the concept of baptism of desire. The Pope begins by affirming that the observance of Paschal time should not be relaxed. (He is referring to the fact that Baptisms were historically performed during Paschal time.) <b>After affirming that this tradition should be maintained, the Pope warns that infants and those in any necessity or danger should be baptized immediately, lest <u>those who desire baptism die and are “deprived of the Kingdom</u> and life” for not having received water baptism </b>which they desired. This is a clear rejection of the idea of baptism of desire.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">This point is made again by the Pope in the second half of the quotation, where he says that when those unbaptized persons “<u><b>ask for what in their faith is their only help</b></u>, <b>let them receive at the very moment of their request the reward of regeneration they beg for.” </b>This means that receiving water Baptism is the <i>only help to salvation</i> for such persons who earnestly desire to receive Baptism. There is no help to salvation for such persons in their desire or martyrdom, but only in receiving the Sacrament of Baptism.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Paul III, <i>The Council of Trent</i>, Can. 2 on the Sacrament of Baptism, Sess. 7, 1547, <i>ex cathedra</i>: “<b>If anyone shall say that real and natural water is not necessary for baptism, <u>and on that account those words of Our Lord Jesus Christ: ‘Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Spirit’ [John 3:5], are distorted into some sort of metaphor</u></b>: let him be anathema.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">As you can see, you are anathematized if you assert that baptism of desire is a Catholic doctrine!</span></p><span style="background-color: white;"><br style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;" /></span><h2 style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; margin: 0px; position: relative; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16pt;"><a name="major-objections"></a>MAJOR OBJECTIONS</span></h2><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><span style="background-color: white;"><br style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;" /></span><h3 style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; margin: 0px; position: relative; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14pt;"><a name="sess-6-chap-4-of-the-council-of-trent"></a>SESS. 6, CHAP. 4 OF THE COUNCIL OF TRENT</span></h3><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b>OBJECTION</b>- In Session 6, Chapter 4 of its decree on Justification, the Council of Trent teaches that justification can take place by the water of baptism or the desire for it! So there!</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;"><u><b>ANSWER</b></u>- [<b>Preliminary Note</b>: If Sess. 6, Chap. 4 of Trent were teaching what the baptism of desire advocates claim (<u>which it isn’t</u>), then it would mean that every man must receive baptism <u>or at least have the actual desire/vow for baptism to be saved</u>. It would mean that it would be <u><b>heresy</b></u> to say that any unbaptized person could be saved if he doesn’t have at least the desire/vow <u>for water baptism</u>. But 99% of the people who quote this passage in favor of baptism of desire don’t even believe that one must desire baptism to be saved! They believe that Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, etc. can be saved <u>who don’t desire water baptism</u>. Thus, 99% of those who quote this passage <b>reject even what they claim it is teaching.</b> Frankly, this fact just shows the dishonesty and the bad will of most baptism of desire advocates in attempting to quote this passage as if they were devoted to its teaching when, in fact, they don’t believe in it at all and are in heresy for teaching that non-Catholics can be saved who don’t even desire water baptism.]</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">That being noted, this passage of the Council of Trent does <u>not</u> teach that Justification <u>can</u> take place by the water of baptism or the desire for it. It says that justification in the impious <u><b>CANNOT TAKE PLACE WITHOUT</b></u> the water of baptism or the desire for it. This is totally different from the idea that justification <u>can</u> take place by the water of baptism or the desire for it.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Paul III, <i>Council of Trent</i>, Sess. 6, Chap. 4: “In these words there is suggested a description of the justification of the impious, how there is a transition from that state in which a person is born as a child of the first Adam to the state of grace and of adoption as sons of God through the second Adam, Jesus Christ our savior; indeed, this transition, once the gospel has been promulgated, <b>CANNOT TAKE PLACE WITHOUT</b> the laver of regeneration or a desire for it, <u><b>AS IT IS WRITTEN</b></u>: <i><b>Unless a man is born again of water and the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God</b></i><b> (John 3:5).”</b></span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">First off, the reader should note that this crucial passage from Trent has been horribly mistranslated in the popular English version of Denzinger, the Sources of Catholic Dogma, which is cited above.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">The critical phrase, “<i>this transition, once the gospel has been promulgated, <b>cannot take place <u>without</u></b> the laver of regeneration or a desire for it” </i>has been mistranslated to read: “<i>this transition, once the gospel has been promulgated, <b>cannot take place <u>except through</u> </b>the laver of regeneration or a desire for it…” </i>This mistranslation of the Latin word “<i>sine</i>” (without) – which is found in the original Latin – to “except through” completely alters the meaning of the passage to favor the error of baptism of desire. This is important to keep in mind because this mistranslation is still being used all the time by baptism of desire apologists (often deliberately), including in recent publications of the SSPX and CMRI. That being mentioned, I will proceed to discuss what the council actually says here. </span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b>Looking at a correct translation, which is found in many books, the reader also should notice that, in this passage, the Council of Trent teaches that John 3:5 is to be taken <i><u>as it is written</u></i></b><b> </b>(<b>Latin: <i>sicut scriptum est)</i>, which excludes any possibility of salvation without being born again of <u>water</u> in the Sacrament of Baptism</b>. There is no way that baptism of desire can be true if John 3:5 is to be taken as it is written, because John 3:5 says that every man must be born again of <u>water</u> and the Spirit to be saved, which is what the theory of baptism of desire denies. The theory of baptism of desire and an interpretation of John 3:5 as it is written are mutually exclusive (they cannot both be true at the same time) – and every baptism of desire proponent will admit this. That is why all of them must – and do – opt for a <u>non-literal</u> interpretation of John 3:5.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">But what does the passage in Trent that we just discussed say: It says infallibly, “<i><u><b>AS IT IS WRITTEN</b></u></i>, <i>UNLESS A MAN IS BORN AGAIN OF WATER AND THE HOLY GHOST, HE CANNOT ENTER INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD</i>.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">But what about the claim of the baptism of desire people: that the use of the word “or” (Latin: <i>aut</i>) in the above passage means that justification <i><u><b>can</b></u></i> take place by the water of baptism or the desire for it. A careful look at the correct translation of this passage shows this claim to be false. Suppose I said, “<i>This shower cannot take place <u>without</u> water or the desire to take one</i>.” Does this mean that a shower can take place by the desire to take a shower? No it doesn’t. It means that both (water and desire) are necessary.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Or suppose I said, “<i>There cannot be a wedding <u>without</u> a bride or a groom</i>.” Does this mean that you can have a wedding with a groom and not a bride? Of course not. It means that both are necessary for the wedding. One could give hundreds of other examples. Likewise, the passage above in Trent says that Justification <u><b>CANNOT</b></u><b> TAKE PLACE <u>WITHOUT</u></b> water or desire; in other words, both are necessary. It does <u>not</u> say that Justification <i>does take place</i> by either water or desire!</span></p><span style="background-color: white;"><br style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;" /></span><h3 style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; margin: 0px; position: relative; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14pt;"><a name="the-catechism-of-the-council-of-trent"></a>THE CATECHISM OF THE COUNCIL OF TRENT</span></h3><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;"><u><b>OBJECTION</b></u>- The Catechism of the Council of Trent taught that one’s determination to receive baptism could avail him to grace and righteousness if it is impossible for him to receive baptism.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Catechism of the Council of Trent, <i>Ordinarily They Are Not Baptized At Once, </i>p. 179: “On adults, however, the Church has not been accustomed to confer the Sacrament of Baptism at once, but has ordained that it be deferred for a certain time. The delay is not attended with the same danger as in the case of infants, which we have already mentioned; should any unforeseen accident make it impossible for adults to be washed in the salutary waters, their intention and determination to receive Baptism and their repentance for past sins, will avail them to grace and righteousness.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;"><u><b>ANSWER</b></u>- The Catechism of the Council of Trent is not infallible. Fathers John A. McHugh, O.P. and Charles J. Callan, O.P. wrote the introduction for a common English translation of the Catechism of the Council of Trent. Their introduction contains the following interesting quote from Dr. John Hagan, Rector of the Irish College in Rome, about the Catechism’s authority.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;"><i>Catechism of the Council of Trent- Fifteenth printing, TAN Books, Introduction XXXVI: “Official documents have occasionally been issued by Popes to explain certain points of Catholic teaching to individuals, or to local Christian communities; whereas <u>the Roman Catechism</u> comprises practically the whole body of Christian doctrine, and is addressed to the whole Church.</i> <b>Its teaching is not infallible</b>; <i>but it holds a place between approved catechisms and what is de fide.”</i></span></p><span style="background-color: white;"><br style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;" /></span><h3 style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; margin: 0px; position: relative; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14pt;"><a name="the-catechism-attributed-to-st-pius-x"></a>THE CATECHISM ATTRIBUTED TO ST. PIUS X</span></h3><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">The Catechism attributed to Pope St. Pius X repeats for us the same <i>de fide</i> teaching of the Catholic Church on the absolute necessity of water baptism for salvation.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">The Catechism of Pope St. Pius X, <i>The Sacraments</i>, “Baptism,” Q. 16: “Q. Is Baptism necessary to salvation? A. <u><b>Baptism is absolutely necessary to salvation</b></u><b>, for Our Lord has expressly said: ‘<i>Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God</i></b>.’”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">So, contrary to popular belief, those who reject “baptism of desire” <u>actually follow the teaching of the Catechism attributed to Pope St. Pius X</u> on the absolute necessity of water baptism. They don’t follow, however, the teaching of this <i>fallible</i> Catechism when it proceeds to contradict this truth on the absolute necessity of water baptism for salvation.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">The Catechism of Pope St. Pius X, <i>The Sacraments</i>, “Baptism,” Q. 17: “Q. Can the absence of Baptism be supplied in any other way? A. <b>The absence of Baptism can be supplied </b>by martyrdom, which is called Baptism of Blood, or by an act of perfect love of God, or of contrition, along with the desire, at least implicit, of Baptism, and this is called Baptism of Desire.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">This again is a total contradiction to what is stated in Question 16. It should be noted that this catechism, while attributed to Pope St. Pius X, <u>did not come from his pen and was not solemnly promulgated by him</u>. There is no Papal Bull from him promulgating the catechism, so it is just a fallible catechism that went out during his reign and was given his name. But, even if St. Pius X had himself authored the above words (which he didn’t), it wouldn’t make a bit of difference to the points I’ve made. This is because a pope is only infallible when speaking magisterially. This catechism is not infallible because it wasn’t promulgated solemnly from the Chair of Peter or even specifically by the pope. Further, this catechism is proven not to be infallible by the fact that it teaches the abominable heresy that there is salvation “outside” the Church (as I will show)!</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">But I will first quote where the catechism affirms the dogma.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">The Catechism of Pope St. Pius X, <i>The Apostles’ Creed</i>, “The Church in Particular,” Q. 27: “Q. Can one be saved outside the Catholic, Apostolic and Roman Church? A. <b>No, <u>no one can be saved outside the Catholic, Apostolic Roman Church</u>, just as no one could be saved from the flood outside the Ark of Noah, which was a figure of the Church</b>.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Here the Catechism attributed to Pope St. Pius X reaffirms the defined dogma. But it proceeds to deny this dogma just two questions later!</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">The Catechism of Pope St. Pius X, <i>The Apostles’ Creed</i>, “The Church in Particular,” Q. 29: “Q. But if a man through no fault of his own is <u><b>outside</b></u><b> </b>the Church, can he be saved? A. <b>If he is <u>outside the Church</u> through no fault of his, that is, if he is in good faith, </b>and if he has received Baptism, or at least has the implicit desire of Baptism; and if, moreover, he sincerely seeks the truth and does God’s will as best as he can, <u>such a man is indeed separated from the body of the Church</u>, but is united to the soul of the Church and consequently is on the way of salvation.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Here we see this fallible Catechism <u>word for word</u> denying the dogma Outside the Church There is No Salvation! It teaches that there can be salvation “outside” the Church, which directly denies the truth it taught to the people in Question 27. This statement is so heretical, in fact, <b>that it would be repudiated even by most of the crafty heretics of our day, who know that they cannot say that people are saved “outside,” so they argue that non-Catholics are not “outside” but are “inside” somehow</b>. So even those crafty heretics who reject the true meaning of Outside the Church There is No Salvation would have to admit that the above statement is heretical!</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Further, notice that the catechism attributed to St. Pius X teaches the heresy that persons can be united to the “Soul” of the Church, <u>but not the Body</u>. As proven already, the Catholic Church is a Mystical <u>Body</u>. Those who are not part of the Body are no part at all.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Pius XI, <i>Mortalium Animos</i> (# 10), Jan. 6, 1928: “For since the mystical body of Christ, in the same manner as His physical body, is one, compacted and fitly joined together, it were foolish and out of place to say that <u>the mystical body</u> is made up of members which are disunited and scattered abroad: <u><b>whosoever therefore is not united with the body is no member of it</b></u><b>, neither is he in communion with Christ its head</b>.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">This discussion on the catechisms should demonstrate to the reader how the rampant denial of Outside the Church There is No Salvation and the necessity of Water Baptism has been perpetuated through <u>fallible texts with imprimaturs</u> and why it has been imbibed today by almost all who profess to be Catholic. It has been perpetuated by fallible documents and texts which contradict themselves, which contradict defined dogma, and which teach heresy, and which – all the while – elsewhere affirm the immutable truths of the absolute necessity of the Catholic Church and water baptism for salvation. And this is why Catholics are bound to adhere to <u>infallibly defined dogma</u>, not fallible catechisms or theologians.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b>Pope Pius IX, </b><i>Singulari Quadem</i>: “For, in truth<i>, </i>when released from these corporeal chains, ‘we shall see God as He is’ (1 John 3:2), we shall understand perfectly by how close and beautiful a bond divine mercy and justice are united; but, as long as we are on earth, weighed down by this mortal mass which blunts the soul, <b>let us hold most firmly that, in accordance with Catholic teaching, there is ‘one God, one faith, <u>one baptism</u>’ [Eph. 4:5]; <u>it is unlawful to proceed further in inquiry</u></b><i>.</i>”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Paul III, <i>The Council of Trent</i>, Can. 5 on the <u><b>Sacrament</b> </u>of Baptism, <i>ex cathedra</i>: “<b>If anyone says that baptism [the sacrament] is optional, that is, not necessary for salvation (cf. Jn. 3:5): <u>let him be anathema</u>.”</b></span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">How many infallible statements from Popes have we not seen, which absolutely proves that a real psychical water-baptism is necessary for salvation? Anyone denying this fact is simply a liar and a heretic who obstinately adhere to fallible sources instead of infallible ones, and imagines himself (or some other man, or some other fallible source) to be the source of truth, thus putting man in the place of God (the infallible Popes, through whom God's truth is revealed). When such a person above described prays the "Our Father" he is a hypocrite, because he himself has no intention of doing the will of God!</span></p><span style="background-color: white;"><br style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;" /></span><h3 style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; margin: 0px; position: relative; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14pt;"><a name="the-trinity-and-the-incarnation"></a>THE ABSOLUTE NECESSITY FOR EVERYONE ABOVE THE AGE OF REASON TO KNOW ABOUT THE TRINITY AND THE INCARNATION TO BE SAVED</span></h3><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;"><i>John 3:36-</i> “He that believeth in the Son, hath life everlasting; but he that believeth not the Son, shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">The Catholic Church also teaches that it is absolutely necessary for everyone above reason to positively know about the most holy mysteries of our great religion in order to be saved. These mysteries are the Trinity and the Incarnation. Those who speak about invincible ignorance and that ignorance about the Catholic faith can somehow save a person are thoroughly refuted by these words below. They are also refuted by Our Lord’s words in the Gospel!</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Eugene IV, <i>Council of Florence</i>, Sess. 8, Nov. 22, 1439, <i>ex cathedra</i>: “<b>Whoever <i><u>wishes</u></i></b><b> to be saved, needs above all to hold the Catholic faith; unless each one preserves this whole and inviolate, he will without a doubt perish in eternity.</b>– But the Catholic faith is this, that we worship one God in the Trinity, and the Trinity in unity; neither confounding the persons, nor dividing the substance; for there is one person of the Father, another of the Son, another of the Holy Spirit, their glory is equal, their majesty coeternal...and in this Trinity there is nothing first or later, nothing greater or less, but all three persons are coeternal and coequal with one another, so that in every respect, as has already been said above, both unity in Trinity, and Trinity in unity must be worshipped. <b>Therefore let him who wishes to be saved, think thus concerning the Trinity.</b></span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">“<b>But it is necessary for eternal salvation that he faithfully believe also in the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ...the Son of God is God and man...</b> <b>This is the Catholic faith; unless each one believes this faithfully and firmly, he cannot be saved</b>.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Some will state that dogmas of the Catholic Church that true non heretical Popes have pronounced are somehow their own interpretation of how things work and that the Popes are not inspired by God when they speak infallibly from the chair of Peter. Such nonsense would mean that no foundation of truth could ever exist since there would be no infallible declarations by the Popes to rely on to explain Scripture to us. These woeful wretches are also condemned by our saintly Pope St. Pius X!</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope St. Pius X, <i>Lamentabile</i>, The Errors of the Modernists, July 3, 1907, #22: “<u><b>The dogmas which the Church professes as revealed are not truths fallen from heaven</b></u><b>, but they are a kind of interpretation</b> of religious facts, which the human mind by a laborious effort prepared for itself.”- <u><b>Condemned</b></u></span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;"><u><b>Dogmas are truths fallen from heaven which cannot possibly contain error</b></u>. They are not merely human statements, written to warn non-Catholics, which are subject to correction and qualification. Dogmas are infallible definitions of the truth which can never be changed or corrected, and have no need to be changed or corrected since they cannot possibly contain error. Dogmas are defined so that Catholics must know <u>what they must believe as true from divine revelation</u> without any possibility of error.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Leo XII, <i>Ubi Primum </i>(# 14), May 5, 1824: <b>“It is impossible for the most true God</b>, who is Truth itself, the best, the wisest Provider, and the Rewarder of good men, <b>to approve all sects who profess false teachings </b>which are often inconsistent with one another and contradictory, <b>and to confer eternal rewards</b> <b>on their members</b>… <b>by divine faith we hold one Lord, one faith, one baptism</b>… <b>This is</b> <b>why we profess that there is no salvation outside the Church.”</b></span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Innocent III, <i>Fourth Lateran Council</i>, Constitution 1, 1215, <i>ex cathedra</i>: <b>“</b>There is <u>indeed</u> one universal Church of the faithful, <u>outside of which nobody at all is saved</u>, in which Jesus Christ is both priest and sacrifice.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Boniface VIII, <i>Unam Sanctam</i>, Nov. 18, 1302:“With Faith urging us we are forced to believe and to hold the one, holy, Catholic Church and that, apostolic, and we firmly believe and simply confess <b>this Church</b> <b>outside of which there is no salvation <u>nor remission of sin</u></b>.”</span></p><span style="background-color: white;"><br style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;" /></span><h3 style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; margin: 0px; position: relative; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14pt;"><a name="invincible-ignorance"></a>INVINCIBLE IGNORANCE</span></h3><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">2 Corinthians 4:3: “<i><b>And if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost</b>, in whom the god of this world [Satan] hath blinded the minds of unbelievers, that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not shine unto them</i>.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Paul III, <i>Council of Trent</i>, Sess. 6 on Justification, Chap. 15: “…it must be maintained that the grace of justification, although received, is lost not only by infidelity, whereby even faith itself is lost, but also by any other mortal sin, although faith be not lost, <b>thereby defending the doctrine of the divine law <u>which excludes from the kingdom of God not only the unbelievers</u></b>, but also the faithful who are ‘fornicators, adulterers, effeminate, liers with mankind, thieves, covetous, drunkards, railers, extortioners’ [1 Cor. 6:9], and all others who commit deadly sins…”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">The dogma Outside the Catholic Church There is No Salvation has been solemnly defined at least seven times by popes speaking from the Chair of St. Peter. Never once were any exceptions mentioned about “invincible ignorance.” In fact, it is just the opposite: <u>all exceptions were always excluded</u>.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Innocent III, <i>Fourth Lateran Council</i>, Constitution 1, 1215, <i>ex cathedra</i>: “There is indeed one universal Church of the faithful, outside of which <u>nobody at all is saved</u>, in which Jesus Christ is both priest and sacrifice.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Thus, the idea that a non-Catholic who is ignorant of the Faith can be saved is <u>heretical</u>; it is contrary to the dogma that “<i><b>no one</b></i>,” (Pope Pius IV; Benedict XIV; Pius IX) “<i><b>nobody at all</b></i><b>,”</b> (Innocent III) “<i><b>nobody</b></i><b>, </b>even if he shed his blood in the name of Christ” (Eugene IV) can be saved as a non-Catholic. It is a denial of the dogma that “<b>every human creature”</b> (Boniface VIII) must be a Catholic, and that “<i><b>only those</b></i>” (Eugene IV) inside the bosom and unity of the Church can achieve salvation.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Those who insist that “invincible ignorance” can possibly save a person who dies as a non-Catholic simply depart from and deny the dogmatic teaching of the Catholic Church.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Fr. Francisco de Vitoria, O.P., a famous 16th century Dominican theologian, summed up the traditional teaching of the Catholic Church on this topic very well. Here is how he put it: “<b>When we postulate invincible ignorance on the subject of baptism or of the</b> <b>Christian faith, it does not follow that a person can be saved without baptism</b> <b>or the Christian faith</b>. For the aborigines to whom no preaching of the faith or Christian religion has come will be damned for mortal sins or for idolatry, but not for the sin of unbelief. As St. Thomas says, however, if they do what in them lies [in their power], accompanied by a good life according to the law of nature, it is consistent with God’s providence that he will illuminate them regarding the name of Christ.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Fr. Michael Muller, C.SS.R., <i>The Catholic Dogma</i>, pp. 217-218, 1888: “<b>Inculpable or invincible ignorance has never been and will never be a means of salvation</b>. To be saved, it is necessary to be justified, or to be in the state of grace. In order to obtain sanctifying grace, it is necessary to have the proper dispositions for justification; that is, true divine faith <b>in at least the necessary truths of salvation</b>, confident hope in the divine Savior, sincere sorrow for sin, together with the firm purpose of doing all that God has commanded, etc. <b>Now, these supernatural acts of faith, hope, charity, contrition, etc., which prepare the soul for receiving sanctifying grace, <u>can never</u> be supplied by invincible ignorance; and if invincible ignorance cannot supply the preparation for receiving sanctifying grace, much less can it bestow sanctifying grace itself. ‘Invincible ignorance,’ says St. Thomas, ‘is a punishment for sin.’</b> (De, Infid. Q. x., art. 1).</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">All the people who die in cultures which have never been penetrated by the Gospel go to Hell for sins against the natural law and the other grave sins which they commit – which bad will and failure to cooperate with God’s grace is the reason He does not reveal the Gospel to them. The First Vatican Council defined infallibly, based on Romans 1, that the one true God can be known with certitude by the things which have been made, and by the natural light of human reason.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">St. Paul, <i>Romans 1:18-20</i>: “For the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and injustice of those men that detain the truth of God in injustice: Because that which is known of God is manifest in them. For God hath manifested it to them. <b>For the invisible things of him, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made; his eternal power also, and divinity: </b><u>so that they are inexcusable</u>.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Everyone can know with certainty that there is a supreme spiritual being, Who is the One True God and the Creator of the world and all that it contains. Everyone knows that God is not something that they have carved out of wood or jade or stone. They know that God is not the tree that they worship or the river they worship or the rock or the snake or the sacred tree frog. They know that these things aren’t the Creator of the universe. Every such person knows that he is worshipping a creature rather than the Creator. They are, as St. Paul says in verse 20, without excuse. St. Augustine explains this well in reference to persons who died ignorant of the Faith and without baptism.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">St. Augustine (+428): “… <b>God foreknew that if they had lived and the gospel had been preached to them, they would have heard it without belief</b>.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">St. Thomas Aquinas<i>, De Veritate</i>, 14, A. 11, ad 1: Objection- “<b>It is possible that someone may be brought up in the forest, or among wolves; such a man cannot explicitly know anything about the faith.</b> St. Thomas replies- It is the characteristic of Divine Providence to provide every man with what is necessary for salvation… provided on his part there is no hindrance. In the case of a man who seeks good and shuns evil, by the leading of natural reason, <b>God would either reveal to him through internal inspiration what had to be believed, or would send some preacher of the faith to him</b>…”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">St. Thomas Aquinas, <i>Sent. II, 28, Q. 1, A. 4, ad 4</i>: “If a man born among barbarian nations, does what he can, God Himself will show him what is necessary for salvation, either by inspiration or sending a teacher to him.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">St. Thomas Aquinas, Sent. III, 25, Q. 2, A. 2, solute. 2: “<b>If a man should have no one to instruct him, God will show him, </b>unless he culpably wishes to remain where he is.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">In his Encyclical Letters, dated Dec. 8, 1849; Dec.. 8, 1864; and Aug. 10, 1863, and in his Allocution on Dec. 9, 1854: Pope Pius IX. says:</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">"It is not without sorrow that we have learned another not less pernicious error, which has been spread in several parts of Catholic countries, and has been imbibed by many Catholics, who are of opinion that all those who are not at all members of the true Church of Christ, can be saved: Hence they often discuss the question concerning the future fate and condition of those who die without having professed the Catholic faith, and give the most frivolous reasons in support of their wicked opinion . . . ."</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">"We must mention and condemn again that most pernicious error, which has been imbibed by certain Catholics, who are of the opinion that those people who live in error and have not the true faith, and are separated from Catholic unity, may obtain life everlasting. Now this opinion is most contrary to Catholic faith, as is evident from the plain words of our Lord, (Matt. xviii. 17 ; Mark xvi. 16; Luke x. 16; John iii. 18) as also from the words of St. Paul, (II. Tim. Iii. 11) and of St. Peter (II. Peter. ii. 1). To entertain opinions contrary to this Catholic faith is to be an impious wretch."</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">"We therefore again reprobate, proscribe, and condemn all and every one of these perverse opinions and doctrines, and it is our absolute will and command that all sons of the Catholic Church shall hold them as reprobated, proscribed, and condemned. It belongs to our Apostolic office to rouse your Episcopal zeal and watchfulness to do all in your power to banish from the minds of the people such impious and pernicious opinions, which lead to indifference of religion, which we behold spreading more and more, to the ruin of souls. Oppose all your energy and zeal to these errors and employ zealous priests to impugn and annihilate them, and to impress very deeply upon the minds and hearts of the faithful the great dogma of our most holy religion, that salvation can be had only in the Catholic faith. Often exhort the clergy and the faithful to give thanks to God for the great gift of the Catholic faith."</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">St. Augustine, <i>Tractate 89</i>, on John 15:22-23- “<b>What, then, does He [Jesus] mean by the words, <i>If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin</i>? [John 15:22] Was it that the Jews were without sin before Christ came to them in the flesh? Who, though he were the greatest fool, would say so</b>?... But when He went on to say, <i>But now they have no excuse for their sin</i>, some may be moved to inquire whether those to whom Christ neither came nor spoke, have an excuse for their sin. For if they have not, why is it said here that these had none, on the very ground that He did come and speak to them? And if they have, have they it to the extent of thereby being barred from punishment, or of receiving it in a milder degree? To these inquiries, with the Lord's help and to the best of my capacity, I reply, that such have an excuse, <i><b>not for every one of their sins, but for this sin of not believing on Christ</b></i><b>,</b> inasmuch as He came not and spoke not to them.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Gregory XVI, <i>Summo Iugiter Studio</i>, May 27, 1832, on no salvation outside the Church: <b>“Finally some of these misguided people attempt to persuade themselves and others that men are not saved only in the Catholic religion</b>, <i><b>but that even heretics may attain eternal life</b></i>… You know how zealously Our predecessors taught <u>that article of faith which these dare to deny</u>, namely the necessity of the Catholic faith and of unity for salvation… Omitting other appropriate passages<i> which are almost numberless in the writings of the Fathers</i>, We shall praise St. Gregory the Great who expressly testifies that <u>THIS IS INDEED THE TEACHING OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.</u> He says: ‘<i>The holy universal Church teaches that it is not possible to worship God truly except in her and asserts that <u>all who are outside of her will not be saved</u></i>.’</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;"><a name="salvationforiireduced"></a><br /></span></p><h3 style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; margin: 0px; position: relative; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14pt;"><a name="pope-pius-ix-and-invincible-ignorance"></a>THE DOGMA, POPE PIUS IX AND INVINCIBLE IGNORANCE</span></h3><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;"><u><b>OBJECTION</b></u>- What about Pope Pius IX? Isn’t it true that he taught that the invincibly ignorant could be saved in two documents? What about <i>Singulari Quadem</i> and <i>Quanto Conficiamur Moerore?</i></span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;"><u><b>ANSWER</b></u>- Confusion on this topic has increased as a result of a few misunderstood statements from Pope Pius IX. As we analyze these statements, <b>it is imperative to keep in mind that, even if Pope Pius IX had taught that the invincibly ignorant could be saved on these two occasions, it wouldn’t mean that such a position is true, because they were <u>fallible</u> documents which could have contained error</b>. No pope can change or contradict dogma. Pope Honorius, who reigned in the 7<sup>th</sup> century, was, in fact, later condemned for propagating heresy, though not in his solemn capacity teaching to the universal Church, further proving how even a pope can err or teach heresy in his fallible capicity. Thus, no one, not even a pope, can change the dogma that no one who dies outside the Catholic Church, ignorant or not, can be saved. Here are some more quotes on ignorance.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Benedict XV, <i>Humani Generis Redemptionem</i> (# 14), June 15, 1917: “…‘<b>Ignorance is the mother of all errors,’ as the Fourth Lateran Council so truthfully observes.”</b></span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;"><i>The Errors of Peter Abelard</i>, Condemned by Innocent II, July 16, 1140, #10: “That they have not sinned who being ignorant have crucified Christ, <b>and that whatever is done through ignorance must not be considered sin.” - Condemned</b></span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">The first of the documents from Pope Pius IX, frequently quoted by those who believe in salvation outside the Church, is <i>Singulari Quadem</i>, an allocution (a speech to the cardinals) given December 9, 1854:</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">“<i>....those who are affected by ignorance of the true religion, if it is invincible ignorance, are not subject to any guilt in this matter before the eyes of the Lord.”</i></span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">First of all, this is a <u>speech</u> of Pope Pius IX to the cardinals. It is not a dogmatic pronouncement, not even an encyclical, nor even an encyclical addressed to the entire Church.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">But is Pope Pius IX saying that the invincibly ignorant can be justified and saved in their condition? No. Rather, he is stating that the “invincibly ignorant” will not be held accountable for the sin of infidelity, but they will still go to Hell. Read carefully the last part of the sentence, “are not subject to any guilt <u>IN THIS MATTER</u>,” that is, in the matter of infidelity. St. Thomas Aquinas explains that <b>unbelievers who have never heard of the Gospel are damned for their other sins</b>, which cannot be remitted without Faith, not because of the sin of infidelity (or disbelief in the Gospel). These other sins of the unbelievers serve as the reason why God does not reveal the Gospel to them and which ultimately excludes them from salvation. If one among them, however, were truly sincere and of good will, and cooperating with the natural law, then God would send a preacher (even miraculously, if necessary) to bring the Catholic Faith and baptism to him. Pope Pius IX goes on to say in the same allocution concerning a person of good will who is invincibly ignorant:</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">“<i>the gifts of heavenly grace will assuredly not be denied to those who sincerely want and pray for refreshment by the divine light…</i>”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">St. Thomas Aquinas, Sent. III, 25, Q. 2, A. 2, solute. 2: “<b>If a man should have no one to instruct him, God will show him, </b>unless he culpably wishes to remain where he is.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">St. Augustine, <i>Tractate 89</i>, on John 15:22-23- “<b>What, then, does He [Jesus] mean by the words, <i>If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin</i>? [John 15:22] Was it that the Jews were without sin before Christ came to them in the flesh? Who, though he were the greatest fool, would say so</b>?...To these inquiries, with the Lord's help and to the best of my capacity, I reply, that such have an excuse, <i><b>not for every one of their sins, but for this sin of not believing on Christ</b></i><b>,</b> inasmuch as He came not and spoke not to them.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Thus, Pope Pius IX was not teaching that people who are ignorant of the Catholic Faith can be saved; he was, rather, stating that such unbelievers are not damned for the matter of infidelity. The fact that <u>all</u> who die as ignorant non-Catholics are not saved is the affirmation of all of Catholic Tradition and all the saints, besides being the dogmatic teaching of the Catholic Church.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Pius IX proceeded to speak about the invincibly ignorant again seven years later in his encyclical <i>Quanto Conficiamur Moerore</i>, August 10, 1863. <i>Quanto Conficiamur Moerore </i>does not meet the requirements for infallibility; it is addressed only to the cardinals and bishops of Italy<i>.</i></span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Pius IX<i>, Quanto Conficiamur Moerore: “And here, beloved Sons and Venerable Brothers, <b>We should mention again and censure a very grave error in which some Catholics are unhappily engaged, who believe that men living in error, and separated from the true faith and from Catholic unity, can attain eternal life</b>. Indeed, this is certainly quite contrary to Catholic teaching. It is known to us and to you that they who labor in invincible ignorance of our most holy religion AND WHO ZEALOUSLY KEEPING THE NATURAL LAW AND ITS PRECEPTS ENGRAVED IN THE HEARTS OF ALL BY GOD, AND BEING READY TO OBEY GOD, LIVE AN HONEST AND UPRIGHT LIFE, can, by the OPERATING POWER OF DIVINE LIGHT AND GRACE, attain eternal life since God...will by no means suffer anyone to be punished with eternal torment who has not the guilt of deliberate sin.”</i></span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;"><u>First</u>, notice that Pope Pius IX specifically condemns the idea that a man “living in error and separated from the true Faith” can be saved. What, may I ask, is the idea of salvation for the “invincibly ignorant”? Why, of course, it is the idea that a man living in error and separated from the true Faith can be saved. So, the very concept of salvation for the “invincibly ignorant” is condemned as QUITE CONTRARY TO CATHOLIC TEACHING in this very document of Pope Pius IX.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;"><u>Second</u>, notice again that Pope Pius IX does not say anywhere that the invincibly ignorant can be saved where they are. Rather, he is reiterating that the ignorant, if they cooperate with God’s grace, keep the natural law and respond to God’s call, they can by God’s “<i>operating power of <u>divine light</u> and grace” [being enlightened by the truth of the Gospel] </i>attain eternal life, since God will certainly bring all of his elect to the knowledge of the truth and into the Church by baptism. <u><b>According to the specific definition of Sacred Scripture, “</b></u><i><u><b>divine light”</b></u></i><u><b> is the Gospel truth of Jesus Christ</b></u> (the Catholic Faith) which removes the ignorant from darkness.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Ephesians 5:8 “For <b>you were heretofore darkness, <u>but now light in the Lord</u>.</b> Walk then as children of the light.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">1 Thess. 5:4-5 “But you, <b>brethren [believers]</b>, are not in darkness… For all <u><b>you are the children of the light</b></u>.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">So, we must not interpret Pius IX’s words in <i>Quanto Conficiamur Moerore</i> about the good-willed ignorant being saved by receiving “divine light and grace” contrary to their clear scriptural and Traditional meaning, which is that divine light and grace is received by hearing of the Gospel, believing it and being baptized. Thus, in <i>Quanto Conficiamur Moerore</i>, Pius IX is saying that the good-willed, sincere person who is ignorant of the Faith will be “illuminated” by receiving the “divine light” (hearing the Gospel) and will enter the Catholic Church so that he can be saved.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">I realize that Pope Pius IX was not nearly as clear as he could have been in the second half of <i>Quanto Conficiamur Moerore</i>. The heretics have had a field day with it, because they think that they can exploit its wording to favor their heresy that there is salvation outside the Church. If Pope Pius IX had repeated in a strong way the previous definitions of the popes, without any ambiguous language, he would have avoided the danger of modernists <i>misinterpreting</i> his words. This is a shame because almost all of his statements on this topic do very clearly affirm Church dogma without any ambiguity that heretics can jump on.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Pius IX, <i>Nostis et Nobiscum </i>(# 10), Dec. 8, 1849: “In particular, <b>ensure that the faithful are deeply and thoroughly convinced of the truth of the doctrine that the Catholic faith is necessary for attaining salvation</b>. (This doctrine, received from Christ and emphasized by the Fathers and Councils, is also contained in the formulae of the profession of faith used by Latin, Greek and Oriental Catholics).”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Pius IX, <i>Ubi primum </i>(# 10), June 17, 1847: “<b>For ‘there is one universal Church outside of which <u>no one at all</u> is saved</b>; it contains regular and secular prelates along with those under their jurisdiction, <b>who all profess one Lord, one faith and one baptism.”</b></span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Pius IX- <i>Syllabus of Modern Errors</i>- Proposition 16, Dec. 8, 1854: “Man may, in the observance of any religion whatever, <u>find the way of eternal salvation</u>, and <u>arrive</u> at eternal salvation.” – <b>Condemned</b></span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b>Notice again that the concept of salvation for the “invincibly ignorant” is condemned here.</b> The concept of salvation for the “invincibly ignorant,” as it is held by almost everyone who holds it today, is that some men – including those who observe non-Catholic religions – <u>can find and arrive at salvation in these religions</u> because they are “without fault of their own.” But this is heretical and condemned by Pius IX’s own Syllabus of Errors above.</span></p><span style="background-color: white;"><br style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;" /></span><h2 style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; margin: 0px; position: relative; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16pt;"><a name="absurd-principle"></a>SALVATION FOR THE “INVINCIBLY IGNORANT” REDUCED TO ITS ABSURD PRINCIPLE</span></h2><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Invincible ignorance becomes a destructive heresy, obliterating the necessity of the catholic faith all over the world. The theory that “invincible ignorance” saves can also be refuted by reducing it to its absurd principle, which is this: If being ignorant of the Savior could render one worthy of salvation, then Catholics are actually doing non-Christians a disservice in preaching Jesus Christ to them. St. Paul, St. Vincent Ferrer, St. Francis Xavier, Fr. Pierre De Smet, the North American Martyrs and the other countless heroic missionaries in Church history, who suffered mind-boggling hardships to preach the Gospel to the ignorant pagans, <i>were simply making these people more culpable and more guilty before God</i>, according to the modern heresy of salvation for the “invincibly ignorant.” If the missionaries had just stayed home, according to the invincible ignorance heresy, the sincere pagans could have been saved for never having heard of Christ through <i>no fault of their own</i>. But by making the effort to preach Christ to them, as the missionaries did, they were – according to the invincible ignorance heresy – rendering these persons <i>without excuse</i> if they failed to live up to the obligations of the Gospel or rejected it altogether. Thus, preaching the Gospel to the non-Christians, according to the heretical “invincible ignorance” theory, puts the pagans in a situation in which it is more likely that they are going to be damned. Thus, the modern heresy of salvation by being “invincibly ignorant” actually makes preaching to the pagans <i>counterproductive</i> for the salvation of souls. But such a notion is absurd, of course, and proves the illogical and false nature of the invincible ignorance heresy.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">But, in fact, the heresy has gotten so bad today in the time of the Great Apostasy in which we live that most “Catholics” today readily profess that pagans, Jews, Buddhists, etc. who know of the Gospel <i>and reject it</i> can also be saved by “invincible ignorance.” But this is only the necessary result of the invincible ignorance heresy; for if pagans who’ve never heard of Christ can be saved “in good faith,” then pagans who reject Christ could also be in good faith too, for how much does one have to hear to lose his “invincible ignorance”? Once one strays from the principle – that is to say, once one rejects the divinely revealed truth – that <i><u>all</u> who die as pagans are definitely lost</i> <i>without exception</i> (Pope Eugene IV, <i>de fide</i>), the clear cut lines of demarcation are rejected, and a gray area necessarily takes over, a gray area according to which <i>one cannot possibly know or set limits on who is possibly in good faith and who is not</i>.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Gregory XVI, <i>Mirari Vos</i> (# 13), Aug. 15, 1832: “With the admonition of the apostle that ‘there is one God, one faith, one baptism’ (Eph. 4:5) <b>may those fear who contrive the notion that the safe harbor of salvation is open to persons of any religion whatever. </b>They should consider the testimony of Christ Himself that ‘those who are not with Christ are against Him,’ (Lk. 11:23)<b> </b><u>and that they disperse unhappily who do not gather with Him.</u> <b> Therefore, ‘<u>without a doubt, they will perish forever, unless they hold the Catholic faith whole and inviolate</u></b>” <b>(Athanasian Creed)</b>.</span></p><h2 style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; margin: 0px; position: relative; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16pt;">GIFTS, DONATIONS AND WILLS</span></h2><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Catholics should neither will things nor give gifts/donations to those who are heretics or non-Catholics. This would include those who profess to be traditional Catholics, but don’t hold the correct positions. Well, here are some interesting canons we’ve recently come across in study. They come from the regional councils in Africa around the year 419 A.D. They inculcate the same ancient Christian concept:</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Canons of the African Code, 419 A.D., Canon 22: “And that to those who are not Catholic Christians, even if they be blood relations, <b>neither bishops nor clergymen shall give anything at all by way of donation of their possessions</b>.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Canons of the African Code, 419 A.D., Canon 81: “It was ordained that <b>if any bishop should prefer to his Church strangers to blood relationship with him, or his heretical relatives, or pagans as his heirs</b>, he shall be anathematized even after his death…”</span></p></div><div><h2 style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; margin: 0px; position: relative; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16pt;">AUTOMATIC EXCOMMUNICATION FOR ALL HERETICS, SCHISMATICS AND APOSTATES WITHOUT EXCEPTION</span></h2><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">The declaratory sentence which follows an automatic excommunication is merely a legal recognition of something which already exists. If this were not true, the automatic excommunication would be meaningless. Canon 2314, of the 1917 Code of Canon Law, although not infallible, is perfectly in line with Catholic teaching: “All apostates from the Christian faith and each and every heretic or schismatic: 1) Incur <i>ipso facto </i>[by that very fact] excommunication…”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Pius XII, <i>Mystici Corporis Christi</i> (# 23), June 29, 1943: “For not every sin, however grave it may be, is such as of its own nature <u><b>to sever a man from the Body of the Church, as does schism or heresy or apostasy.</b></u><b>”</b></span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;"><u><b>Pope Leo XIII, </b></u>Satis Cognitum <u><b>(# 9), June 29, 1896: </b></u>“The practice of the Church has always been the same, as is shown by the unanimous teaching of the Fathers, who were wont to hold as outside Catholic communion, AND ALIEN TO THE CHURCH, WHOEVER WOULD RECEDE IN THE LEAST DEGREE FROM ANY POINT OF DOCTRINE PROPOSED BY HER AUTHORITATIVE MAGISTERIUM.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Pius VI, <i>Auctorem fidei</i>, Aug. 28, 1794: <u><b>“47. Likewise, the proposition which teaches that it is necessary, according to the natural and divine laws, for either excommunication or for suspension, that a personal examination should precede, and that, therefore, sentences called ‘ipso facto’ have no other force than that of a serious threat without any actual effect” – false, rash, pernicious, injurious to the power of the Church, erroneous.”</b></u></span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">The heretical person is already severed from the Church. Most heretics are known to be heretics without a trial or declaratory sentence, and must be denounced as such. As we see here, the Catholic Church teaches that formal processes and judgments are not <b>necessary for <i>ipso facto </i>(by that very fact) excommunications to take effect. </b>They are very often, as in the case of the heretic Martin Luther, formal recognitions of the <i>ipso facto<b> excommunication that has already occurred. This should be obvious to a Catholic.</b></i></span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;"><i><b>Pope Pius XII, Mystici Corporis Christi (# 22):</b></i> “As therefore <b>in the true Christian community </b>there is only one Body, one Spirit, one Lord, and one Baptism, so <b>there can be only one faith</b>. <u>And therefore if a man refuse to hear the Church let him be considered – so the Lord commands – as a heathen and a publican</u>. It follows that <b>those who are divided in faith or government cannot be living in the unity of such a Body</b>, nor can they be living the life of its one Divine Spirit.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">St. Robert Bellarmine, <i>De Romano Pontifice, </i>II, 30: “… for men are not bound, or able to read hearts; BUT WHEN THEY SEE THAT SOMEONE IS A HERETIC BY HIS EXTERNAL WORKS, THEY JUDGE HIM TO BE A HERETIC PURE AND SIMPLE, AND CONDEMN HIM AS A HERETIC. For, in the first place, <b>it is proven with arguments from authority and from reason that the manifest heretic is ipso facto deposed</b>. The argument from authority is based on St. Paul (Titus 3:10), who orders that the heretic be avoided after two warnings, that is, after showing himself to be manifestly obstinate <b>which means before any excommunication or judicial sentence</b>. And this is what St. Jerome writes, adding that the other sinners are excluded from the Church by sentence of excommunication, but the heretics exile themselves and separate themselves by their own act from the body of Christ.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b>As we’ve already shown, it’s a dogma that 1) heretics are not members of the Church; </b>and 2) that a heretic is automatically excommunicated (ipso facto) without any further declaration. It is a dogmatic fact, therefore, that a heretic cannot be a part of or govern the Church, since he is not a member of it. To state that Catholics should hold communion with a manifest heretic because no process against him had been completed, is contrary to Catholic teaching, Catholic Tradition and Catholic sense.</span></p><h2 style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; margin: 0px; position: relative; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16pt;">THE NECESSITY AND OBLIGATION FOR ALL TO JUDGE AND CONDEMN HERESY OR SCHISM</span></h2><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">“<b>We have decreed and declared in Our letter of 21 November 1873 that <u>those unfortunate men who belong to, adhere to, and support that sect should be considered as schismatics and separated from communion with the Church</u></b>." (Pope Pius IX, <i>Graves ac diuturnae</i> (#'s 1-4), March 23, 1875)</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Here we clearly see that Pope Pius IX gives every man and woman the authority to condemn and judge people who have separated themselves from the bosom and unity of the Catholic Church. This is a command, and not something which people can choose to do. You must defend the true faith whenever your behavior, silence or omission would imply that you deny the faith or agree with heresy. Every evasion you’ll make from denouncing heresy or heretics will torment you for all eternity in the fires of hell, as the Catholic Church have always taught.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b>Pope St. Felix III (5th Century):</b> "<u><b>Not to oppose error is to approve it; and not to defend truth is to suppress it, and, indeed, to neglect to confound evil men - when we can do it - is no less a sin than to encourage them</b></u>."</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Here is another quote from the Council of Trent which proves that one can and must decide what is and what is not of the Catholic Faith, by one's own judgment.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope Pius IV, <i>Council of Trent</i>, Sess. 13, Chap. 4: “These are the matters which in general it seemed well to the sacred Council to teach to the faithful of Christ regarding the sacrament of order. <b>It has, however, resolved to condemn the contrary <u>in definite and appropriate canons in the following manner</u>, <u>so that all, making use of the rule of faith</u>, with the assistance of Christ, <u>may be able to recognize more easily the Catholic truth in the midst of the darkness of so many errors</u></b>.”</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">This proves that everyone are allowed to decide when someone have fallen in heresy or not, since the canon would never have said: “<u><b>so that all, making use of the rule of faith</b></u><b>, with the assistance of Christ, <u>may be able to recognize more easily the Catholic truth in the midst of the darkness of so many errors,</u></b>” without actually permitting people to judge what is a heresy, or who is a heretic. Without this truth, people are forced to profess communion with everyone: Protestants, Muslims, Devil-worshipers and so on. If you claim that you can judge a devil-worshiper to be outside the Church, then you can also judge someone who professes to be a Catholic, yet who holds to one or more heresies. But this is common sense, unless one is a liar.</span></p><h2 style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; margin: 0px; position: relative; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16pt;">THE NECESSITY TO STUDY AND KNOW THE CATHOLIC FAITH</span></h2><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b>St. Thomas Aquinas, <i>Summa, Prima Secunda Pars, </i>Q. 76, Art. 2:</b> "Now it is evident that whoever neglects to have or do what he ought to have or do, commits a sin of omission. Wherefore <b>through negligence, ignorance of what one is bound to know, is a sin; whereas it is not imputed as a sin to man, if he fails to know what he is unable to know</b>. Consequently ignorance of such like things <b>is called </b>"invincible,"<b> because it cannot be overcome by study</b>. For this reason such like ignorance, not being voluntary, since it is not in our power to be rid of it, is not a sin: Wherefore it is evident that no invincible ignorance is a sin. On the other hand, <b>vincible ignorance is a sin, if it be about matters one is bound to know; but not, if it be about things one is not bound to know.</b>"</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Truly, one is bound to know the Catholic Faith well enough to be able to spot heresy when it is presented. So then - in accordance with the Angelic Doctor - if we know that our priest, bishop, etc. is heretical or schismatical, but we adhere to him anyway, then we indeed share in his sin of heresy or schism, whereby we would then be labouring <u><b>OUTSIDE</b></u> the true religion. Invincible ignorance on the other hand - ignorance that is not able to be overcome by any well ordered human effort - is a different matter, and is totally excusable, unless we are speaking about the essential mysteries (the Trinity and the Incarnation), and the natural law, which must be known explicitly by everyone above the age of reason for salvation. When people break the natural law it’s always a sin, and cannot be excused, since this law is written by God on every man’s heart. Ignorance of the Trinity and the Incarnation, however, is not a sin in itself, but God withholds this knowledge of the essential mysteries from many people since He foreknew that they would reject His offer of salvation.</span></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: start;"></p><p class="western" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1.25cm; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pope St. Pius X, <i>Acerbo Nimis</i> (# 2), April 15, 1905: “And so Our Predecessor, Benedict XIV, had just cause to write: ‘<b>We declare that <u>a great number of those who are condemned to eternal punishment suffer that everlasting calamity</u></b><u> <b>because of ignorance</b></u> <b>of <u>those mysteries </u>of faith <u>which must be known and believed in order to be numbered among the elect</u>.’”</b></span></p></div><div><b><br /></b></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-831939533339323924.post-26041281002949406852021-09-25T14:32:00.001-04:002021-09-26T18:50:17.946-04:00On Drug Abuse & Alcoholism<p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBTh_e-bhCBuSsB0Ba1WxDRS-7x-ISRk-msvvN6g-588VuLk8xyJRsD6bxDq1I-AE_T7kNIwZ3M-Jyjf9aYDm4ZZHDi0gW6K1BpMz7vcY7ZG4RW0b2M4xzM51XWEcRibwhkiwRmi3rILc/s2048/iStock-691610192.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBTh_e-bhCBuSsB0Ba1WxDRS-7x-ISRk-msvvN6g-588VuLk8xyJRsD6bxDq1I-AE_T7kNIwZ3M-Jyjf9aYDm4ZZHDi0gW6K1BpMz7vcY7ZG4RW0b2M4xzM51XWEcRibwhkiwRmi3rILc/w200-h133/iStock-691610192.jpg" width="200" /></span></a></div><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><span style="font-family: arial;">A drug is, in the broadest of terms, a chemical substance that has known biological effects on humans or other animals. Foods are generally excluded from this definition, in spite of their physiological effects on human and animal species.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">In pharmacology, a drug is "a chemical substance used in the treatment, cure, prevention, or diagnosis of disease or used to otherwise enhance physical or mental well-being." Drugs may be used for a limited duration, or on a regular basis for chronic disorders.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Recreational drugs are chemical substances that affect the central nervous system, such as opioids or hallucinogens. Alcohol, nicotine, and caffeine are the most widely consumed psychotropic drugs worldwide.</span></p><p><b><i><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></i></b></p><p><b><i><span style="font-family: arial;">Drug Abuse is a Mortal Sin and Against Nature</span></i></b></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Everyone knows in their conscience that the consuming of mind altering drugs such as smoking marijuana or taking LSD or ecstasy is a mortal sin just like getting drunk is a mortal sin, because when “a man willingly and knowingly deprives himself of the use of reason, whereby he performs virtuous deeds and avoids sin... he sins mortally by running the risk of falling into sin. For [Saint] Ambrose says (De Patriarch. [De Abraham i.]): "We learn that we should shun drunkenness, which prevents us from avoiding grievous sins. For the things we avoid when sober, we unknowingly [or knowingly] commit through drunkenness." Therefore drunkenness, properly speaking, is a mortal sin.” (St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Second Part of the Second Part, Question 150, Article 2. Whether drunkenness is a mortal sin?)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">A person who uses a drug that makes him intoxicated needs an absolutely necessary reason (such as a grave illness) to excuse his usage of the drug from being a sin, and when he does not have such an absolutely necessary excuse to excuse his drug usage, he commits the sin of drug abuse. A sick person is allowed by God’s permission to take drugs in order to lessen his pain. But when this sick person uses more drugs than he needs in order to get intoxicated and for mere pleasure, or continues to use the drug after he gets well, he commits the sin of drug abuse. This is a perfect example of those who use drugs for the mere sake of pleasure. They are gluttonous or overindulgent in their sensual appetite, and are thus sinning against their reason and the Natural Law. For “the sin of lust [or pleasure seeking] consists in seeking venereal pleasure not in accordance with right reason...” and “lust there signifies any kind of excess.” (St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Second Part of the Second Part, Q. 154, Art. 1)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Alphonsus Liguori, one of the most well known doctors of the Church, in his masterpiece “The True Spouse of Jesus Christ”, shows us the inherent evil of acting in accordance to our sensual desires: “Pope Innocent XI Odescalchi has condemned the proposition which asserts that it is not a sin to eat or to drink from the sole motive of satisfying the palate. However, it is not a fault to feel pleasure in eating: for it is, generally speaking, impossible to eat without experiencing the delight which food naturally produces. But it is a defect to eat, like beasts, through the sole motive of sensual gratification, and without any reasonable object. Hence, the most delicious meats may be eaten without sin, if the motive be good and worthy of a rational creature; and, in taking the coarsest food through attachment to pleasure, there may be a fault.” (The True Spouse of Jesus Christ, p. 282)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">We don’t know if smoking in very small amounts once in a while is a sin. But we believe that smoking habitually or regularly is a sin, and it definitely cuts out graces from people’s lives. We don’t see how those who smoke habitually, for example throughout the day, would be any different from people who eat candy all day and thus try to constantly gratify themselves in that way. This is not even to get into the issue that we know it’s horrible for health and leads to death. If you are smoking, you are giving a horrible example to people, tempting them to start smoking which is highly addictive and lethal. Smoking is so addictive that medical scientists have compared the addiction to Heroin addiction. Most people who get addicted to cigarettes will never be able to stop and will be life long slaves under a most filthy, evil and grace diminishing habit.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">The same can be said of all addictive substances that you don’t need to survive, such as: coffee, candy, chips, cookies, soda, good meats etc... If you can’t abstain from these substances for even a few days, then you are addicted to them and need to learn to abstain from them. Good days for learning to abstain from one’s own desires are Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Fridays has always been a day of abstinence in the Catholic Church – since Our Lord suffered and died on that day – which means that one cannot eat anything containing meat under pain of mortal sin (there is no obligation of fast or abstinence on a holy day of obligation such as Christmas, even if it falls on a Friday). One should of course also abstain from other superfluous substances. While some substances may appear to be harmless, grace is highly diminished in people who always uses things which are superfluous.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Francis of Assisi was well aware of the truth that seeking pleasure corrupts the soul. St. Francis even used to put ashes in his food in order to make it taste bad since he understood that the five senses and the search to gratify them made the soul weaker. Someone might ask: “Does that mean that eating good things is a sin?” The answer is of course that eating good things in itself is no sin. However, one should definitely try to avoid all things that are tasty and addictive, such as superfluous and tasty foods, meats, beverages, cigarettes, candy, chips, cakes, spices, sauces, dressings, etc. The reason why man should do his utmost to avoid pleasurable things is because the five senses of man, after the fall, was corrupted by self-love and self-gratification. That’s precisely why countless saints have refused to eat food that taste good. However, no one should get the idea that it’s sinful to eat tasty foods, but understand that people who always want to eat these foods will fall into sin, for gluttony and lack of moderation is certainly sinful.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Alcoholism is a chronic disorder or so-called disease in which your body becomes dependent on alcohol. When you have alcoholism, you lose control over your drinking. You may not be able to control when you drink, how much you drink, or how long you drink on each occasion. If you have alcoholism, you continue to drink even though you know it's causing problems with your relationships, health, work or finances. People suffering from alcoholism are often called "alcoholics". The World Health Organization estimates that there are 140 million people with alcoholism worldwide.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">It's possible to have a problem with alcohol but not have all the symptoms of alcoholism. This is known as "alcohol abuse," which means you drink too much and it causes problems in your life although you aren't completely dependent on alcohol. If you have alcoholism or you abuse alcohol, you may not be able to cut back or quit without help. A number of approaches are available to help you recover from alcoholism, including prayer, medications, counseling and self-help groups.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><i>Long-term Consequences of Alcohol Abuse</i></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Like any drug, alcohol will affect different people in different ways. The long-term effects of alcohol therefore vary from person to person and there is no way of knowing exactly how the drug will affect an individual in the long-term.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Everyday people are putting themselves at risk of alcohol-related harm in the long-term through alcohol misuse, binge drinking and drink driving. Excessive drinking and drinking long-term can increase the health risks of alcohol, such as damage to the liver, heart or pancreas. Damage to some body organs can be permanent.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Drinking a lot of alcohol regularly over time is likely to cause physical, emotional or social problems. These may include:</span></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Cirrhosis of the liver</span></li><li>Cancer, especially of the mouth, pharynx, larynx, oesophagus, bowel (in men) and breast (in women)</li><li>A range of diseases affecting the heart and blood, and including stroke and hypertension</li><li>Problems with the nerves of the arms and legs</li><li>Alcohol-related brain injury</li><li>Alcohol dependence</li><li>Harm to the unborn baby through mixing alcohol and pregnancy or alcohol and breastfeeding</li><li>Poor diet</li><li>Stomach problems</li><li>Frequent infections</li><li>Skin problems</li><li>Reproduction issues, such as sexual impotence and a reduction in fertility</li><li>Concentration and term memory problems</li><li>Depression</li><li>Family and relationship problems</li><li>Poor work performance</li><li>Legal and financial difficulties</li><li>Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse Facts</li></ul><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Alcohol abuse is a disorder that is characterized by the sufferer having a pattern of drinking excessively despite the negative effects of alcohol on the individual's work, medical, legal, educational, and/or social life.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Alcohol abuse affects about 10% of women and 20% of men in the United States, most beginning by their mid teens.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Signs of alcohol intoxication include the smell of alcohol on the breath or skin, glazed or bloodshot eyes, the person being unusually passive or argumentative, and/or a deterioration in the person's appearance or hygiene.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Almost 2,000 people under 21 years of age die each year in car crashes in which underage drinking is involved. Alcohol is involved in nearly half of all violent deaths involving teens.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Alcoholism is a destructive pattern of alcohol use that includes a number of symptoms, including tolerance to or withdrawal from the substance, using more alcohol and/or for a longer time than planned, and trouble reducing its use.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Alcohol, especially when consumed in excess, can affect teens, women, men, and the elderly quite differently.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Risk factors for developing a drinking problem include low self-esteem, depression, anxiety or another mood problem, as well as having parents with alcoholism.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">There are thought to be five stages of alcoholism.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">There are numerous individual treatments for alcoholism, including individual and group counseling, support groups, residential treatment, prayer and spiritual help, medications, drug testing, and/or relapse-prevention programs.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Some signs of a drinking problem include drinking alone, to escape problems, or for the sole purpose of getting drunk; hiding alcohol in odd places; getting irritated when you are unable to obtain alcohol to drink; and having problems because of your drinking.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">While some people with alcohol dependence can cut back or stop drinking without help, most are only able to do so temporarily unless they get treatment.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">There is no amount of alcohol intake that has been proven to be generally safe during pregnancy.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">The long-term effects of alcohol abuse and alcoholism can be devastating and even life threatening, negatively affecting virtually every organ system.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Codependency is the tendency to interact with another person in an excessively passive or caretaking manner that negatively affects the quality of the codependent individual's life.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Adequate supervision and clear communication by parents about the negative effects of alcohol and about parental expectations regarding alcohol and other drug use can significantly decrease alcohol use in teens.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">With treatment, about 70% of people with alcoholism are able to decrease the number of days they consume alcohol and improve their overall health status within six months.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><i>The Bible and Alcohol</i></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Scripture has much to say regarding the drinking of alcohol (Leviticus 10:9; Numbers 6:3; Deuteronomy 29:6; Judges 13:4, 7, 14; Proverbs 20:1; 31:4; Isaiah 5:11, 22; 24:9; 28:7; 29:9; 56:12). However, Scripture does not necessarily forbid a person from drinking beer, wine, or any other drink containing alcohol. In fact, some Scriptures discuss alcohol in positive terms. Ecclesiastes 9:7 instructs, "Drink your wine with a merry heart." Psalm 104:14-15 states that God gives wine "that makes glad the heart of men." Amos 9:14 discusses drinking wine from your own vineyard as a sign of God's blessing. Isaiah 55:1 encourages, "Yes, come buy wine and milk…"</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">What God commands all people regarding alcohol is to avoid drunkenness (Ephesians 5:18). The Bible condemns drunkenness and its effects (Proverbs 23:29-35). All people, and especially Christians, are also commanded to not allow their bodies to be "mastered" by anything (1 Corinthians 6:12; 2 Peter 2:19). Drinking alcohol in excess is undeniably addictive and unhealthy. Scripture also forbids a Christian from doing anything that might cause scandal to another believer or encourage them to sin against their conscience: "Wherefore, if meat scandalize my brother, I will never eat flesh, lest I should scandalize my brother" (1 Corinthians 8:9-13). In light of these principles, it would be extremely difficult for any believer to say he is drinking alcohol in excess to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus changed water into wine. Even Jesus drank wine on occasion (John 2:1-11; Matthew 26:29). In New Testament times, the water was not very clean. Without modern sanitation, the water was often filled with bacteria, viruses, and all kinds of contaminants. The same is true in many third-world countries today. As a result, people often drank wine (or grape juice) because it was far less likely to be contaminated. In 1 Timothy 5:23, Paul was instructing Timothy to stop drinking the water (which was probably causing his stomach problems) and instead drink wine. In that day, wine was fermented (containing alcohol), but not necessarily to the degree it is today. It is incorrect to say that it was grape juice, but it is also incorrect to say that it was the same thing as the wine commonly used today. Again, Scripture does not forbid anyone from drinking beer, wine, or any other drink containing alcohol. Alcohol is not, in and of itself, tainted by sin. It is drunkenness and addiction to alcohol that all people must absolutely refrain from (Ephesians 5:18; 1 Corinthians 6:12).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><i>Is Alcoholism and Drunkenness a Mortal Sin?</i></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Drunkenness is definitely a mortal sin. There are about three places where St. Paul gives a list of some of the main mortal sins which exclude people from Heaven. These lists do not comprise every mortal sin, of course, but some of the main ones.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Galatians 5:19-21: "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are fornication, uncleanness, immodesty, luxury, idolatry, witchcrafts, enmities, contentions, emulations, wraths, quarrels, dissensions, sects, envies, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like. Of the which I foretell you, as I have foretold to you, that they who do such things shall not obtain the kingdom of God."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">1 Corinthians 6:9-11: "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Ephesians 5:5-8: "For this ye know, that no fornicator, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of unbelief. Be not ye therefore partakers with them. For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:"</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Haydock Bible Commentary explains Ephesians 5:3-5: </span><span style="font-family: arial;">"Ver. 3. <i>Covetousness.</i> The Latin word is generally taken for a coveting or immoderate desire of money and riches. St. Jerome and others observe, that the Greek word in this and divers other places in the New Testament may signify any unsatiable desire, or the lusts of sensual pleasures [i.e., drunkenness]; and on this account, St. Jerome thinks that it is here joined with fornication and uncleanness [i.e., sexual sins]. --- Ver. 5. Nor covetous person, which is a serving of idols. It is clear enough by the Greek that the covetous man is called an idolater, whose idol is mammon; though it may be also said of other sinners, that the vices they are addicted to are their idols. (Witham)"</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Now, alcohol is not evil in and of itself, but the abuse of alcohol makes it serious (grave) matter, just as if we were to abuse something else that is good (e.g., eating too much). But, alcohol also has a second effect on us. It can cause us to lose control of our free will and reason when we drink to excess. And the fact that we loose our reason--or free will if you will--does not take away our responsibilities from the sins that are committed since this action of getting drunk (or high) was by our own choosing. Thus, it is possible to freely give away the gift of our freedom by abusing alcohol. If we ever freely choose to do this, it will be gravely immoral and a mortal sin. Thus, temperance (not too much or too little) is the virtue and goal we are aiming for.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">The other problem with getting drunk is that, apart from being unhealthy, it can lead you to the occasion of other sins. St. Thomas Aquinas talks about it in the Summa Theologica. He says that if a man knowingly gets drunk, it is grave matter.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, II:II, Q. 150, Art. 2, Whether drunkenness is a sin?: "I answer that, The sin of drunkenness, as stated in the foregoing Article, consists in the immoderate use and concupiscence of wine. Now this may happen to a man in three ways. First, so that he knows not the drink to be immoderate and intoxicating: and then drunkenness may be without sin, as stated above (Article 1). Secondly, so that he perceives the drink to be immoderate, but without knowing it to be intoxicating, and then drunkenness may involve a venial sin. Thirdly, it may happen that a man is well aware that the drink is immoderate and intoxicating, and yet he would rather be drunk than abstain from drink. Such a man is a drunkard properly speaking, because morals take their species not from things that occur accidentally and beside the intention, but from that which is directly intended. On this way drunkenness is a mortal sin, because then a man willingly and knowingly deprives himself of the use of reason, whereby he performs virtuous deeds and avoids sin, and thus he sins mortally by running the risk of falling into sin. For Ambrose says (De Patriarch. [De Abraham i.]): "We learn that we should shun drunkenness, which prevents us from avoiding grievous sins. For the things we avoid when sober, we unknowingly commit through drunkenness." Therefore drunkenness, properly speaking, is a mortal sin."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Thus, to give up the gift of free will or reason willingly is to sin gravely. "The drunken man is a living corpse" (St. John Chrysostom).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><i>Overcoming Alcoholism</i></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Men and women are given over to addictions and demonic oppression/possession for inundating themselves in mortal sin, especially sins of impurity – thereby worshipping the flesh rather than God – and for this they get possessed by the demon of oppression, which takes them over, weakens their will and corrupts them.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">If an alcoholic ceases to commit all mortal sins and changes his or her life; if he or she holds the fullness of the Catholic Faith without compromise, which includes a profession of faith; if he or she makes a sincere confession of all mortal sins; if he or she has a strong prayer life and a true devotion to the Mother of God and the holy Rosary, then he or she will be delivered from alcoholism without any doubt. Our Lord tells us that: "And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32). By knowing the truth and by employing the means to deliver themselves, alcoholics can and will be delivered from their alcoholism.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">All who die in mortal sin will go to Hell forever. Mortal sins include pride, envy, gluttony, lust, anger, greed, sloth, hatred, murder, fornication (i.e. sexual acts outside of marriage or acts leading up to sex outside of marriage such as lustful kisses and touches), lying, drunkenness, drug abuse, consenting to impure thoughts, masturbation, looking at pornography, adultery, cheating, taking God's name in vain, birth control (NFP) or artificial contraception, sexual sins within marriage (i.e., anal or oral sex, for-or-after play, masturbation of self or spouse, striptease, dressing/talking sensual, and all other immoral acts performed for the sole sake of enhancing pleasure such as lewd kisses and touches), assisting the propagation of heresy, funding heretics, dishonoring the Sabbath, breaking the commandments, etc. If someone were to commit a mortal sin and then go to Confession, he must have the firm resolution never to commit the sin again. This is called the firm purpose of amendment. If a person commits a mortal sin and doesn't have the firm purpose of amendment when he goes to Confession, he commits a sacrilege and the Confession is invalid. Most souls go to Hell because of sins of the flesh. Those who are committing sins of the flesh need to stop immediately if they don't want to perish forever in the fires of Hell.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Regarding the Holy Rosary, the real Sister Lucia told Father Fuentes in a famous 1957 interview: </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">"Look, Father, the Most Holy Virgin in these last times in which we live has given a new efficacy to the recitation of the Holy Rosary. She has given this efficacy to such an extent that there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, whether temporal or above all, spiritual, in the personal life of each one of us, of our families, of the families of the world, or of the religious communities, or even of the life of peoples and nations that cannot be solved by the Rosary. There is no problem I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary. With the Holy Rosary, we will save ourselves. We will sanctify ourselves. We will console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-831939533339323924.post-31200180695927972252021-09-23T05:37:00.010-04:002021-09-25T14:32:21.225-04:00Homosexuality Condemned<p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Arial, "Times New Roman", Verdana; font-size: 16px;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 16px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzzQ7oHh4yy-awEGiNv6MqW6bVP5uORUri6MzTDiQ1urhQNSceIcywHlMpo3wyWXvihMECF7iwcuQsD7L-t54Z46aYbDOySa_xYkIcjbocMInLmXa1L9VS-qQXbKnhYxWCw1t5MeJYPYE/s400/magdalen102.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="301" data-original-width="400" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzzQ7oHh4yy-awEGiNv6MqW6bVP5uORUri6MzTDiQ1urhQNSceIcywHlMpo3wyWXvihMECF7iwcuQsD7L-t54Z46aYbDOySa_xYkIcjbocMInLmXa1L9VS-qQXbKnhYxWCw1t5MeJYPYE/s320/magdalen102.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 16px;"><br />The Bible and nature consistently tells us that homosexual activity is a sin (Genesis 19:1-13; Leviticus 18:22; 20:13; Romans 1:26-27; 1 Corinthians 6:9). Romans 1:26-27 teaches specifically that homosexuality is a result of idolatry and denying and disobeying God. When people continue in sin and unbelief, God "gives them over" to even more wicked and depraved sin in order to show them the futility and hopelessness of life apart from God. 1 Corinthians 6:9 proclaims that homosexual "offenders" will not inherit the kingdom of God.</span><p></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">God does not create a person with homosexual desires. The Bible tells us that people become homosexuals because of sin (Romans 1:24-27) and ultimately because of their own choice. Homosexuality is one of the things listed in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 that will keep a person from the kingdom of God. According to the Bible, God's forgiveness is just as available to a homosexual as it is to an adulterer, idol worshipper, murderer, thief, etc. God also promises the strength for victory over sin, including homosexuality, to all those who will believe and trust in Jesus Christ for their salvation and ceases to commit all mortal sins and changes his or her life (1 Corinthians 6:11; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Philippians 4:13). A person who has a strong prayer life and a true devotion to the Mother of God and the holy Rosary will be delivered from homosexuality without any doubt.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Does God approve of homosexuality? Absolutely not. Can a person be Saved and at the same time engage in acts of homosexuality; or have a homosexual orientation not hated, resisted or overcomed? No (1 Corinthians 6:9).</span></p><h3 class="western" lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 21px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 26px; margin: 25px auto -5px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The statistics on homosexuality and its effects</span></h3><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Some statistics about the homosexual lifestyle:</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><ul style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><li><p lang="en-US"><span style="font-family: arial;">One study reports 70% of homosexuals admitting to having sex only one time with over 50% of their partners.</span></p></li></ul><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><ul style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><li><p lang="en-US"><span style="font-family: arial;">One study reports that the average homosexual has between 20 and 106 partners per year. The average heterosexual has 8 partners in a lifetime.</span></p></li></ul><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><ul style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><li><p lang="en-US"><span style="font-family: arial;">Many homosexual sexual encounters occur while drunk, high on drugs, or in an orgy setting.</span></p></li></ul><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><ul style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><li><p lang="en-US"><span style="font-family: arial;">Many homosexuals don't pay heed to warnings of their lifestyles: "Knowledge of health guidelines was quite high, but this knowledge had no relation to sexual behavior".</span></p></li></ul><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><ul style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><li><p lang="en-US"><span style="font-family: arial;">Homosexuals got homosexuality removed from the list of mental illnesses in the early 70s by storming the annual American Psychiatric Association (APA) conference on successive years. "Guerrilla theater tactics and more straight-forward shouting matches characterized their presence". Since homosexuality has been removed from the APA list of mental illnesses, so has pedophilia (except when the adult feels "subjective distress").</span></p></li></ul><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><ul style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><li><p lang="en-US"><span style="font-family: arial;">Homosexuals account for 3-4% of all gonorrhea cases, 60% of all syphilis cases, and 17% of all hospital admissions (other than for STDs) in the United States, yet they make up only 1-2% of the population.</span></p></li></ul><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><ul style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><li><p lang="en-US"><span style="font-family: arial;">Homosexuals live unhealthy lifestyles, and have historically accounted for the bulk of syphilis, gonorrhea, Hepatitis B, the "gay bowel syndrome" (which attacks the intestinal tract), tuberculosis and cytomegalovirus.</span></p></li></ul><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><ul style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><li><p lang="en-US"><span style="font-family: arial;">73% of psychiatrists say homosexuals are less happy than the average person, and of those psychiatrists, 70% say that the unhappiness is NOT due to social stigmatization.</span></p></li></ul><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><ul style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><li><p lang="en-US"><span style="font-family: arial;">25-33% of homosexuals and lesbians are alcoholics.</span></p></li></ul><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><ul style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><li><p lang="en-US"><span style="font-family: arial;">Of homosexuals questioned in one study reports that 43% admit to 500 or more partners in a lifetime, 28% admit to 1000 or more in a lifetime, and of these people, 79% say that half of those partners are total strangers, and 70% of those sexual contacts are one night stands. Also, it is a favorite past-time of many homosexuals to go to "cruisy areas" and have anonymous sex.</span></p></li></ul><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><ul style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><li><p lang="en-US"><span style="font-family: arial;">78% of homosexuals are affected by STDs.</span></p></li></ul><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><ul style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><li><p lang="en-US"><span style="font-family: arial;">Judge John Martaugh, chief magistrate of the New York City Criminal Court has said, "Homosexuals account for half the murders in large cities".</span></p></li></ul><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><ul style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><li><p lang="en-US"><span style="font-family: arial;">Captain William Riddle of the Los Angeles Police says, "30,000 sexually abused children in Los Angeles were victims of homosexuals".</span></p></li></ul><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><ul style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><li><p lang="en-US"><span style="font-family: arial;">50% of suicides can be attributed to homosexuals.</span></p></li></ul><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><ul style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><li><p lang="en-US"><span style="font-family: arial;">Dr. Daniel Capron, a practicing psychiatrist, says, "Homosexuality by definition is not healthy and wholesome. The homosexual person, at best, will be unhappier and more unfulfilled than the sexually normal person". For other psychiatrists who believe that homosexuality is wrong, please see National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality.</span></p></li></ul><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><ul style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><li><p lang="en-US"><span style="font-family: arial;">It takes approximately $300,000 to take care of each AIDS victim, so because of the promiscuous lifestyle of homosexuals, medical insurance rates have been skyrocketing for all of us.</span></p></li></ul><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><ul style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><li><p lang="en-US"><span style="font-family: arial;">Homosexuals were responsible for spreading AIDS in the United States, and then raised up violent groups like Act Up and Ground Zero to complain about it. Even today, homosexuals account for well over 50% of the AIDS cases in the United States, which is quite a large number considering that they account for only 1-2% of the population.</span></p></li></ul><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><ul style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><li><p lang="en-US"><span style="font-family: arial;">Homosexuals account for a disproportionate number of hepatitis cases: 70-80% in San Francisco, 29% in Denver, 66% in New York City, 56% in Toronto, 42% in Montreal, and 26% in Melbourne.</span></p></li></ul><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><ul style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><li><p lang="en-US"><span style="font-family: arial;">37% of homosexuals engage in sadomasochism, which accounts for many accidental deaths. In San Francisco, classes were held to teach homosexuals how to not kill their partners during sadomasochism.</span></p></li></ul><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><ul style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><li><p lang="en-US"><span style="font-family: arial;">41% of homosexuals say they have had sex with strangers in public restrooms, 60% say they have had sex with strangers in bathhouses, and 64% of these encounters have involved the use of drugs.</span></p></li></ul><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><ul style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><li><p lang="en-US"><span style="font-family: arial;">Depending on the city, 39-59% of homosexuals are infected with intestinal parasites like worms, flukes and amoebae, which is common in filthy third world countries.</span></p></li></ul><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><ul style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><li><p lang="en-US"><span style="font-family: arial;">The median age of death of homosexuals is 42 (only 9% live past age 65). This drops to 39 if the cause of death is AIDS. The median age of death of a married heterosexual man is 75.</span></p></li></ul><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><ul style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><li><p lang="en-US"><span style="font-family: arial;">The median age of death of lesbians is 45 (only 24% live past age 65). The median age of death of a married heterosexual woman is 79.</span></p></li></ul><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><ul style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><li><p lang="en-US"><span style="font-family: arial;">Homosexuals are 100 times more likely to be murdered (usually by another homosexual) than the average person, 25 times more likely to commit suicide, and 19 times more likely to die in a traffic accident.</span></p></li></ul><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><ul style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><li><p lang="en-US"><span style="font-family: arial;">21% of lesbians die of murder, suicide or traffic accident, which is at a rate of 534 times higher than the number of white heterosexual females aged 25-44 who die of these things.</span></p></li></ul><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><ul style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><li><p lang="en-US"><span style="font-family: arial;">50% of the calls to a hotline to report "queer bashing" involved domestic violence (i.e., homosexuals beating up other homosexuals).</span></p></li></ul><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><ul style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><li><p lang="en-US"><span style="font-family: arial;">About 50% of the women on death row are lesbians.</span></p></li></ul><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><h4 class="western" lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 25px auto -5px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The homosexual agenda</span></h4><ul style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><li><p lang="en-US"><span style="font-family: arial;">The homosexual agenda includes desensitizing the public. Here is a quote of how they operate: "The first order of business is desensitization of the American public concerning gays and gay rights.....To desensitize the public is to help it view homosexuality with indifference instead of with keen emotion. Ideally, we would have straights register differences in sexual preferences the way they register different tastes for ice cream or sports games....At least in the beginning, we are seeking public desensitization and nothing more. We do not need and cannot expect a full 'appreciation' or 'understanding' of homosexuality from the average American. You can forget about trying to persuade the masses that homosexuality is a good thing. But if only you can get them to think that it is just another thing...then your battle for legal and social rights is virtually won".</span></p></li></ul><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><ul style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><li><p lang="en-US"><span style="font-family: arial;">Part of the homosexual agenda is to get the public to affirm their filthy lifestyle, as one homosexual admitted in the October 1987 homosexual rally on Washington: "We are no longer seeking just a right to privacy and a protection from wrong. We also have a right -- as heterosexual Americans already have -- to see government and society affirm our lives".</span></p></li></ul><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><ul style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><li><p lang="en-US"><span style="font-family: arial;">Part of the homosexual agenda is to turn people from Christianity and morality: "The teaching that only male-female sexual activity within the bounds and constraints of marriage is the only acceptable form should be reason enough for any homosexual to denounce the Christian religion".</span></p></li></ul><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><ul style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><li><p lang="en-US"><span style="font-family: arial;">Homosexuals knowingly lied (and still lie) about the 10% figure (i.e., homosexuals make up 10% of the population). As Tom Stoddard (formerly of the Lambda Legal Defense Fund) said, "We used that figure when most gay people were entirely hidden to try to create an impression of our numerousness".</span></p></li></ul><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><h4 class="western" lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 25px auto -5px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="The-true-number-of-homosexuals" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a>The true number of homosexuals</span></h4><ul style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><li><p lang="en-US"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Kinsey study of 1948, which homosexuals often cite to say that 10% of the population is homosexual, actually says that only 4% of the population is exclusively homosexual. This study involved a disproportionate number of people who had been in jail for sex crimes (hardly a random sample of the population). Kinsey also did perverse studies involving young boys and pedophiles.</span></p></li></ul><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><ul style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><li><p lang="en-US"><span style="font-family: arial;">Current research shows that the true percentage of homosexuals is in the 1-2% range. Consider how small this number is when compared to most of the numbers above.</span></p></li></ul></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><h4 class="western" lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 25px auto -5px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Homosexuals prey on children</span></h4><ul style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><li><p lang="en-US"><span style="font-family: arial;">33% of homosexuals ADMIT to minor/adult sex.</span></p></li></ul><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><ul style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><li><p lang="en-US"><span style="font-family: arial;">There is a notable homosexual group, consisting of thousands of members, known as the North American Man and Boy Love Association ( NAMBLA). This is a child molesting homosexual group whose cry is "OPPOSING AGE-OF-CONSENT LAWS... EDUCATING THE GENERAL PUBLIC ON THE BENEVOLENT NATURE OF MAN/BOY LOVE." This group can be seen marching in most major homosexual parades across the United States.</span></p></li></ul><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><ul style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><li><p lang="en-US"><span style="font-family: arial;">Homosexuals commit more than 33% of all reported child molestations in the United States, which, assuming homosexuals make up 2% of the population, means that 1 in 20 homosexuals is a child molestor, while 1 in 490 heterosexuals is a child molestor.</span></p></li></ul><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><ul style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><li><p lang="en-US"><span style="font-family: arial;">73% of all homosexuals have had sex with boys under 19 years of age.</span></p></li></ul><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><ul style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><li><p lang="en-US"><span style="font-family: arial;">Many homosexuals admit that they are pedophiles, hebephiles, and ephebophilias: "The love between men and boys is at the foundation of homosexuality".</span></p></li></ul><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><ul style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><li><p lang="en-US"><span style="font-family: arial;">Childhood sexual abuse is well attested to demonstrate a correlation to the incidence of homosexuality among those affected by it. A large national survey of almost 35,000 Americans showed that more than three times as many men and women who had been sexually abused as children became homosexuals, versus that of heterosexuals. Another study reported that 58 percent of male adolescents who later became homosexuals suffered sexual abuse as children, while 90 percent who did not suffer sexual abuse identified themselves as heterosexuals. In addition, 43 percent of male homosexuals reported sexual activity with another male during the ages of 10-12, versus 9 percent of heterosexuals.</span></p></li></ul><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><ul style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><li><p lang="en-US"><span style="font-family: arial;">Because homosexuals can't reproduce naturally, they resort to recruiting children. Homosexuals can be heard chanting "TEN PERCENT IS NOT ENOUGH, RECRUIT, RECRUIT, RECRUIT" in their homosexual parades. A group called the "Lesbian Avengers" prides itself on trying to recruit "new" members, though, they also joined to meet girls. They print "WE RECRUIT" on their literature. Some other homosexuals aren't as overt about this, but rather try to infiltrate society and get into positions where they will have access to the malleable minds of young children (e.g., the clergy, teachers, Boy Scout leaders, etc.).</span></p></li></ul><div><h2 class="western" lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 22px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 28px; margin: 0px; text-align: center; text-decoration-line: underline;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Does God Create Homosexuals?</span></h2><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A commonly held false idea in our day is that God creates some people homosexual (or that homosexuality is a result of some sort of "psychological" problem). In fact, it is apparent that many people believe that there is nothing wrong with the homosexual orientation, but only in homosexual acts. The truth is that God doesn't create anyone with a homosexual orientation and that all those who are truly homosexuals (even those who are not engaging in homosexual acts) are homosexuals because of a demonic takeover and mortal sin. Those who scoff at this statement are simply faithless liberals who don't want the truth and have no concept of the supernatural world.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Romans 1, "Because that, when they knew God, they have not glorified him as God, or given thanks; but became vain in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened... <u><b>who changed the truth of God into a lie; and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator</b></u>, who is blessed for ever. Amen. <u><b>For this cause God delivered them up to shameful affections</b></u><b>. For their women have changed the natural use into that use which is </b><u><b>against nature</b></u><b>. And, in like manner, the men also, leaving the natural use of the women, have burned in their lusts one towards another, men with men working that </b><b>which is filthy, and receiving in themselves the recompense which was due to their </b><b>error</b>... they who do such things, are worthy of death; and not only they that do them, but they also that consent to them that do them."</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Romans 1 clearly teaches that because these persons "worshipped and served the creature rather than the creator" and "changed the truth of God into a lie" God gave them up to homosexuality, which is described as a SHAMEFUL AFFECTION. Further, Romans 1 clearly teaches that homosexuality is "against nature," which means that this orientation is foreign to man's nature, that is, it is NOT INSTILLED BY GOD.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Men and women are given over to homosexuality for inundating themselves with sins of impurity (masturbation, sexual sins within and without of marriage) – thereby worshipping the flesh rather than God – and for this they get possessed by the demon of lust, which takes them over and corrupts their entire orientation. (And they can be cured of this.) People also become homosexuals by engaging in idolatry or by harboring a perverse fascination with human beings over God – thereby worshipping the creature rather than the Creator. The fact that all homosexuals are spiritually possessed by a demonic spirit is corroborated by the fact that most homosexual males can be identified by their effeminate external mannerisms. What explains this? It's obviously the demon's presence in the person manifesting itself externally – the external, unnatural mannerisms revealing the internal corruption of the soul.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Isaias 3:9 "<i><u><b>The shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom</b></u></i>, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! For they have rewarded evil unto themselves."</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Notice that the prophet Isaias, referring to homosexuals, says that "they have <i>rewarded</i> evil unto themselves." This is strikingly similar to Romans 1 above, where St. Paul says that homosexuals have received "in themselves the <i>recompense</i> [reward] which was due to their error." The truth that all homosexuals are spiritually possessed by a demonic spirit is also corroborated by the fact that society has recently seen an incredible increase in the number of people who consider themselves homosexuals. This is easily explained by the fact that, with the advent and explosion of the internet and other technological means which make access to pornography and impurity easy, millions more people are committing sins of impurity, millions more people are becoming possessed, and countless more are becoming homosexuals. (And, of course, not all who commit mortal sins of impurity become homosexuals, so those who somehow think they are okay because they are not homosexuals, even though they are committing sins of impurity, are sorely deceived and are also on the road to Hell and in bondage to the Devil.)</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">But today all we hear from "Christians" is that homosexual acts are wrong, but that the homosexual orientation is okay – i.e., it is not their fault that they are homosexual. This is a falsehood which advances the cause of the Devil and the homosexual agenda. It also doesn't help the homosexuals themselves. The idea that there is nothing wrong with the homosexual orientation (which contradicts Romans 1) is responsible for the fact that: 1) Novus Ordo seminaries are spilling over with homosexuals; 2) Homosexuals have gained such an ascendancy in society that their lifestyles and "homosexual persons" are accepted on mainstream television; 3) Gay "marriage" has become legal in certain places. If the truth that all homosexuals are spiritually possessed – and that homosexuality is a result of grave sin – had not been compromised by those who profess to be "Catholics" or "Christians," none of this would have happened. It should also be noted that people who become homosexuals at a very young age are simply spiritually possessed by a demonic spirit early on in life.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Homosexuality is condemned throughout the Bible. Sodomy is one of the sins that cries to heaven for vengeance. God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah for this very sin.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Jude 1:7, "<b>As Sodom and Gomorrah, and the neighboring cities, in like manner, having given themselves to fornication, and </b><u><b>going after strange flesh</b></u>, were made an example, <b>suffering the punishment of eternal fire</b>."</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Leviticus 18:22, "Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: <b>it is abomination</b>."</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Leviticus 20:13, "<b>If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination</b>: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them."</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Deuteronomy 23:17, "There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, <b>nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel</b>."</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">1 Kings 14:24, "And there were also <b>sodomites in the land: and they did according to all the abominations of the nations</b> which the LORD cast out before the children of Israel."</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">1 Kings 15:11-12, "And Asa did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, as did David his father. And <b>he took away the sodomites out of the land</b>, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made."</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span lang="en-US">So when we see the acceptance and promotion of homosexuality rampant among the </span>Vatican II<span lang="en-US"> and other "Christian" sect members, know that they are accepting and promoting an abomination. When we see them tolerating and even celebrating the homosexual orientation in persons not practicing homosexual acts, know that they are tolerating and celebrating demonic takeover of a soul.</span></span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">1 Corinthians 6:9-11, "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? <b>Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate</b>, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, <b>shall inherit the kingdom of God</b>. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God."</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><h2 class="western" lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 22px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 28px; margin: 0px; text-align: center; text-decoration-line: underline;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Overcoming Homosexuality</span></h2><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">One of the earliest historical records of the existence of ex-homosexuals is found in the letter of the Apostle Paul to the Corinthian Church (approx. 59 AD).</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">1 Corinthians 6:9-11, "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such <b>were</b> some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God."</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In his 1980 work <i>Overcoming Homosexuality</i>, Robert Kronemeyer writes: "Homosexuals are made, not born 'that way.' I firmly believe that homosexuality is a learned response to early painful experiences and that it can be unlearned. For those homosexuals who are unhappy with their life and find effective therapy, it is 'curable.'"</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Similarly, in a 1989 USA Today article, San Francisco State University professor of psychology John DeCecco, and the former editor of the 25-volume, <i>Journal of Homosexuality</i>, stated, "The idea that people are born into one type of sexual behavior is entirely foolish". Homosexuality is "a behavior, not a condition," and something that some people can and do change, just like they sometimes change other tastes and personality traits."</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Today people still report leaving homosexuality and becoming heterosexual through repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">By telling homosexuals the truth that their perverse orientation is not natural, we do them a great charity and show a true love for their souls. We give them the knowledge and the means to cure themselves. And they don't need an exorcism to cure themselves. If a homosexual ceases to commit all mortal sins and changes his or her life; if he or she holds the fullness of the Catholic Faith without compromise, which includes a profession of faith; if he or she makes a sincere confession of all mortal sins; if he or she has a strong prayer life and a true devotion to the Mother of God and the holy Rosary, then he or she will be delivered from homosexuality without any doubt. Our Lord tells us that: "And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32). By knowing the truth and by employing the means to deliver themselves, homosexuals can and will be delivered from their perverse orientation.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Regarding the Holy Rosary, the real Sister Lucia told Father Fuentes in a famous 1957 interview:</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">"Look, Father, the Most Holy Virgin in these last times in which we live has given a new efficacy to the recitation of the Holy Rosary. She has given this efficacy to such an extent that <u><b>there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, whether temporal or above all, spiritual, in the personal life of each one of us, of our families, of the families of the world, or of the religious communities, or even of the life of peoples and nations that cannot be solved by the Rosary</b></u>. There is no problem I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary. With the Holy Rosary, we will save ourselves. We will sanctify ourselves. We will console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls."</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">If you are unsure about what you believe, we invite you to say the following prayer to God; "God, help me to know what is true. Help me to discern what is error. Help me to know what is the correct path to salvation." God will always honor such a prayer.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span lang="en-US">If you want to receive the faith and Jesus as your Savior, simply speak to God, verbally or silently, receive </span>baptism<span lang="en-US">, obey </span>His Church<span lang="en-US"> and </span>His Law<span lang="en-US">, and tell Him that you want to receive the free gift of salvation through Jesus, Our Lord and Savior. If you want a prayer to say, here is an example: "God, thank you for loving me. Thank you for sacrificing yourself for me. Thank you for providing for my forgiveness and salvation. I want to accept the gift of </span><span lang="en-US">salvation through Jesus. I want to receive Jesus as my Savior. Amen!"</span></span></p></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-831939533339323924.post-33107977389279836242021-09-22T23:37:00.004-04:002021-09-22T23:38:04.545-04:00You Must Desire Children to perform the Conjugal Act<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinFvvQsRYZiq81QOBIHJgXsVJAh8AKfBWfSBupMV8P4-1MgX8y8yWiOYVXioTxocEYNCn3KnF6NnI3I4Ly6r6okG6MN6zEJ0BARerkG408J9RawGYt4VarbdxLj6kQhJoCGj3K2ePe1U0/s1200/Peter-Paul-Rubens-The-Adoration-of-the-Magi_1200x.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="920" data-original-width="1200" height="245" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinFvvQsRYZiq81QOBIHJgXsVJAh8AKfBWfSBupMV8P4-1MgX8y8yWiOYVXioTxocEYNCn3KnF6NnI3I4Ly6r6okG6MN6zEJ0BARerkG408J9RawGYt4VarbdxLj6kQhJoCGj3K2ePe1U0/s320/Peter-Paul-Rubens-The-Adoration-of-the-Magi_1200x.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">See Main Article: <a href="https://vaticancatholic1830.blogspot.com/2021/09/natural-family-planning-nfpbirth.html">NFP/Birth Control Condemned</a></span></p><p><i style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 16px;">Casti Connubii</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 16px;"> is an encyclical addressed to the </span><b style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 16px;">entire Church</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 16px;">. In this encyclical, Pius XI plainly states what the </span><b style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 16px;">Faith of the Church is on Christian Marriage</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 16px;">. </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 16px;">His teaching shows that </span><b style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 16px;">all forms of birth prevention are evil</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 16px;">. </span><b style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 16px;">In addition, there is solemn language used by Pope Pius XI in <i>Casti Connubii</i> which constitutes a solemn and infallible (ex cathedra) pronouncement. Note the bolded and underlined portions.</b></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Pius XI, <i>Casti Connubii</i> (#’s 53-56), Dec. 31, 1930: “And now, Venerable Brethren, we shall explain in detail the evils opposed to each of the benefits of matrimony. First consideration is due to the offspring, which many have the boldness to call the disagreeable burden of matrimony and which they say is to be carefully avoided by married people not through virtuous continence (which Christian law permits in matrimony when both parties consent) but by frustrating the marriage act. Some justify this criminal abuse on the ground that they are weary of children and wish to gratify their desires without their consequent burden. Others say that they cannot on the one hand remain continent nor on the other can they have children because of the difficulties whether on the part of the mother or on the part of the family circumstances.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm; text-indent: 1cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“<b>But no reason, however grave, may be put forward by which anything intrinsically against nature may become conformable to nature and morally good. Since, therefore, the conjugal act is destined primarily by nature for the begetting of children, those who in <i>exercising it deliberately</i> frustrate its natural powers and <i><u>purpose</u></i> sin against nature and commit a deed which is shameful and intrinsically vicious.</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm; text-indent: 1cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“Small wonder, therefore, if Holy Writ bears witness that the Divine Majesty regards with greatest detestation this horrible crime and at times has punished it with death. As St. Augustine notes, ‘<b>Intercourse even with one’s legitimate wife is unlawful and wicked where the conception of offspring is prevented.</b> Onan, the son of Judah, did this and the Lord killed him for it (Gen. 38:8-10).’</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm; text-indent: 1cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“<b><u>Since, therefore, openly departing from the uninterrupted Christian tradition <i>some recently have judged it possible solemnly to declare another doctrine regarding this question</i>, THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, TO WHOM GOD HAS ENTRUSTED THE DEFENSE OF THE INTEGRITY AND PURITY OF <i>MORALS</i>, standing erect in the midst of the moral ruin which surrounds her, in order that she may preserve the chastity of the nuptial union from being defiled by this foul stain, <i>raises her voice in token of her divine ambassadorship and through Our mouth proclaims anew</i>: ANY USE WHATSOEVER OF MATRIMONY EXERCISED IN SUCH A WAY THAT THE ACT IS <i>DELIBERATELY</i> FRUSTRATED IN ITS <i>NATURAL POWER</i> TO GENERATE LIFE IS AN OFFENSE AGAINST THE LAW OF GOD AND OF NATURE, AND THOSE WHO INDULGE IN SUCH ARE BRANDED WITH THE GUILT OF A GRAVE SIN</u></b>.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm; text-indent: 1cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Catholic dogma teaches us that the primary purpose of marriage (and the conjugal act) is the procreation and education of children.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Pius XI, <i>Casti Connubii</i> (# 17), Dec. 31, 1930: “<b><u>The primary end of marriage is the procreation and the education of children</u></b>.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Pius XI, <i>Casti Connubii</i> (# 54), Dec. 31, 1930: “Since, therefore, <b><u>the conjugal act is destined primarily by nature for the begetting of children</u></b>, those who in exercising it deliberately frustrate its natural powers and <i><u>purpose</u></i> sin against nature and commit a deed which is shameful and intrinsically vicious.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Besides this primary purpose, there are also secondary purposes for marriage, such as mutual aid, the quieting of concupiscence and the cultivating of mutual love. <b><u>But these secondary purposes must always remain subordinate to the primary purpose of marriage (the procreation and education of children)</u></b>.<b> </b><u>This is the key point</u> to remember in the discussion on NFP.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Pius XI, <i>Casti Connubii </i>(# 59), Dec. 31, 1930: “For in matrimony as well as in the use of the matrimonial right there are also secondary ends, such as mutual aid, the cultivating of mutual love, and the quieting of concupiscence which husband and wife are not forbidden to consider <b><u>SO LONG AS THEY ARE SUBORDINATED TO THE PRIMARY END <span style="text-transform: uppercase;">[THAT IS, PROCREATION OF CHILDREN]</span></u></b> and so long as the intrinsic nature of the act is preserved.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The best example of God’s utter hatred and detestation of all those who perform the marital act while trying to thwart the procreation of the children that God wanted to bless them with, is found in <i>The Book of Genesis,</i> where God Himself directly killed a man named Onan for practicing contraception. The reason Onan in <i>The Book of Genesis</i> was killed was because “<i>He knowing that the children should not be his, when he went in to his brother’s wife, spilled his seed upon the ground, lest children should be born in his brother’s name.”</i> Notice how clearly the biblical text shows that the reason he did this “detestable thing” was “lest children should be born in his brother’s name”, thus showing us that the act of performing the marital act while taking steps to hinder procreation is hated by God. This absolutely proves that the act of trying to hinder conception (in action or thought) is condemned and sinful according to God’s Holy Law.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Genesis 38:8-10 “Juda, therefore said to Onan his son: ‘<u>Go in to thy brother’s wife and marry her, that thou mayst raise seed to thy brother</u>.’ He knowing that the children should not be his, when he went in to his brother’s wife, spilled his seed upon the ground, <b><u>lest children should be born in his brother’s name.</u></b> And therefore the Lord slew him, because he did a detestable thing.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">What deed was Onan killed for by God? Obviously, <b>he was killed for the wicked and selfish deed of having sexual relations while practicing contraception; and for being against conception; for,</b> “As St. Augustine notes, ‘<b>Intercourse even with one’s legitimate wife is unlawful and wicked where the conception of offspring is prevented.</b> <u>Onan, the son of Judah, did this and the Lord killed him for it</u> (Gen. 38:8-10).’” (Pope Pius XI, <i>Casti Connubii</i> # 55; St. Augustine, <i>De Conjugiis Adulterinis</i>, Book II, Chapter 12)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Since Onan wanted to selfishly and lustfully enjoy the sex act without intending having children as God’s holy law requires, the evil angel Asmodeus that kills lustful and wicked people, was permitted by God to slay him (cf. Tobias 3:8). Haydock commentary explains: “[Genesis 38] Ver. 10. <i>Slew him</i>, perhaps by the hand of <i>evil angels</i>, Psalm lxxvii. 49. <u>Asmodeus, &c., who slew the libidinous husbands of Sara</u>. (Tobias iii. 7[8].) (Menochius)”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In addition to this irrefutable biblical example from <i>The Book of Genesis</i> that shows that contraceptive marital sexual acts are hated by God, we read in the biblical <i>Book of Tobias </i>or <i>Tobit</i> (which not surprisingly is missing from most protestant “bible” versions, whereas in the few versions they are included, these verses shown below are nevertheless missing) that the holy youth Tobias was explicitly commanded by almighty God through the Archangel Raphael to never perform the marital act for the sake of lust and that “thou shalt take the virgin with the fear of the Lord, <b>moved rather for love of children than for lust</b>, that in the seed of Abraham thou mayest obtain a blessing in children.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Tobias who was a holy and virtuous person consented to this admonishment by the holy angel and answered God in his prayer that “<b>not for fleshly lust do I take my sister to wife, <u>but only for the love of posterity</u></b>”.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Holy Bible, Tobias 6:22; 8:9 “And when the third night is past, thou shalt take the virgin with the fear of the Lord, <b>moved rather for love of children than for lust</b>, that in the seed of Abraham thou mayest obtain a blessing in children… [Tobias said:] And now, Lord, thou knowest, that <b>not for fleshly lust do I take my sister to wife, but <u>only for the love of posterity</u></b>, in which thy name may be blessed for ever and ever.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This makes it perfectly clear that spouses must approach the marital sexual act with a will to beget children “moved rather for love of children than for lust” as well as with a “fear of the Lord” so that they do not allow their lust to erupt or gain a control over their minds by acts of non-procreative, unlawful or excessive sexual acts, such as sensual kisses and touches between two married spouses performed<b> <i><u>“for the sake of the carnal and sensible delight which arises from the kiss”</u></i></b> which is condemned as a mortal sin for both the married and the unmarried people alike (Pope Alexander VII, <i>Various Errors on Morals Condemned in Decree</i> #40, September 24, 1665; Denz. 1140).</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The holy youth Tobias approached his bride Sara after three days of prayer in chastity and abstinence from the marital act, not for fleshly lust but only for the love of posterity, <u>having been instructed by the Archangel Raphael that to engage in the marital act he shall “be moved rather for love of children than for lust</u>”.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">According to God’s will, spouses are to engage in the marital act for the “love of posterity” (children), not for lust. No, contrary to what most people today say, the Holy Bible is clear that spouses are to come together “<b><u>only</u> for the love of posterity</b>” if they want to please Our Lord Jesus Christ. The Holy Word of God in the Bible is indeed true when it says that “<b>the devil has power</b>” over all spouses who selfishly come together for the purpose of gratifying their fleshly pleasures, giving “<b>themselves to their lust, as the horse and mule, which have not understanding</b>” instead of being “<b>moved rather for love of children than for lust”</b> when they perform the marital act that Our Lord commands.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Tobias 6:16-17 “Then the angel Raphael said to him [Tobias]: Hear me, and I will show thee who they are, over whom the devil can prevail. <b>For they who in such manner receive matrimony, as to shut out God from themselves, and from their mind, and to give themselves to their lust, as the horse and mule, which have not understanding, <u>over them the devil hath power</u></b>.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Haydock Commentary adds about: “<b>Verse 17.</b> <i>Mule</i>, which are very libidinous, [Showing excessive sexual drive; lustful.] Psalm xiii.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The interesting thing about the sexual connection of a horse and a mule is that they cannot produce offspring, thus making their sexual relations completely sterile and unproductive. So what does this mean for marriage? It means that this verse alone proves that God’s Holy Word in the Bible condemns as sinful and unlawful all human sexual relations or acts that (1) are performed for the sole sake of lust; (2) that cannot produce offspring naturally (not referring to natural infertility or defects); and (3) that are done with an intention or mindset opposed to procreating offspring. St. Paul in the New Testament also connects the will to bear children to salvation, teaching that a woman: “<b><i><u>shall be saved through child-bearing</u></i></b><i>; if she continue in faith, and love, and sanctification, with sobriety.”</i> (1 Timothy 2:15)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">We also see in <i>The Book of Tobit</i> that the Holy Bible teaches that both the intention as well as the act against procreation of children is damnable and a mortal sin since we see described in the Bible that the devil is able to both gain control and prevail over those vile and wretched people who commit lustful acts of birth control either in thought or deed. And so, it is certain that all spouses who are opposed to procreation while at the same time desiring to perform the marital act are committing a mortal sin. In truth, “I will show thee who they are, over whom the devil can prevail” and who “give themselves to their lust, as the horse and mule, which have not understanding” that the “the devil hath power” over. “<b>For they who in such manner receive matrimony, as to shut out God from themselves, and from their mind, and to give themselves to their lust, as the horse and mule, which have not understanding, over them the devil hath power</b>.” (Tobias 6:16-17)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">God’s words are clear. Spouses are to engage in the marital act moved rather for love of children than for lust. So when a married couple goes out of its way to avoid children by deliberately avoiding the fertile times and restricting the marriage act exclusively to infertile times, they are committing a sin against nature – they are sinning against the God whom they know sends life.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Second, we must also learn about the truth about that the Holy Fathers, Popes and Saints of the Catholic Church <b><u>unanimously condemns all forms of birth control and contraception (in deed as well as in thought) as not only intrinsically evil and mortally sinful, but also as an act worthy of hellfire</u>, since it is of the divine law that “<u>the conjugal act is destined primarily by nature for the begetting of children</u>”<i> </i></b>(Pope Pius XI, <i>Casti Connubii</i>). Thus, anything or any act that is opposed to the primary end of marriage, is a sin against nature.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Augustine, <i>De Conjugiis Adulterinis</i>, Book II, Chapter 12, A.D. 396: “… <b>intercourse, even with one’s lawfully wedded spouse, can take place in an unlawful and shameful manner, <u>whenever the conception of offspring is avoided</u></b>. Onan, the son of Juda, did this very thing, and the Lord slew him on that account. <b><u>Therefore, the procreation of children is itself the primary, natural, legitimate purpose of marriage</u></b>. Whence it follows that those who marry because of their inability to remain continent ought not to so temper their vice that they preclude the good of marriage,<b> <u>which is the procreation of children</u></b><u>.</u>”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Epiphanius, <i>Medicine Chest Against Heresies</i>, A.D. 375: “They [certain Egyptian heretics] exercise genital acts, <b><u>yet prevent the conceiving of children. Not in order to produce offspring, but to satisfy lust, are they eager for corruption</u></b>.” (<i>Panarion</i> or <i>Medicine Chest Against Heresies</i>, Book I, Chapter 26:5:2.--Epiphanius Against the Gnostics, or Borborites)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Epiphanius, <i>Medicine Chest Against Heresies</i>, A.D. 375: “<b>There are those who when they have intercourse <u>deliberately prevent having children</u></b>. They indulge in pleasure not for the sake of offspring but to satisfy their passion. To such an extent has the devil deceived these wretched people that they betray the work of God by perverting it to their own deceits. <b>Moreover, they are so willing to satisfy their carnal desires as to <u>pollute each other with impure seed, <i>by which offspring is not conceived</i></u> but by their own will evil desires are satisfied</b>.” (<i>Panarion</i> or <i>Medicine Chest Against Heresies</i>, Book I, Chapter 26:5:2-3.--Epiphanius Against the Gnostics, or Borborites)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Clement of Alexandria, <i>The Paedagogus</i> (c. 198 A.D.): “Because of its divine institution for the propagation of man, <b><u>the seed is not to be vainly ejaculated, nor is it to be damaged, nor is it to be wasted</u></b>.” (<i>The Paedagogus</i> or <i>The Instructor</i>, Book II, Chapter X.--On the Procreation and Education of Children)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. John Chrysostom, <i>Homilies on Matthew </i>28:5, A.D. 391: “… <b>and that which is sweet, and universally desirable, <u>the having of children, they esteem grievous and unwelcome. Many at least with this view have even paid money to be childless, and have mutilated nature, not only killing the newborn, but even acting to prevent their beginning to live [by birth control methods such as NFP or contraception]</u></b>.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. John Chrysostom, <i>Homilies on Romans </i>24, A.D. 391: “<b>Why do you <u>sow where the field is eager to destroy the fruit</u> [NFP], <u>where there are medicines of sterility</u> [oral contraceptives], where there is murder before birth? [birth prevention] You do not even let a harlot remain only a harlot, but you make her a murderess as well… Indeed, <u>it is something worse than murder</u>, and I do not know what to call it; <u>for she does not kill what is formed <i>but prevents its formation</i></u>. What then? Do you condemn the gift of God and fight with his [natural] laws, and follow after what is a curse as if a blessing, and make the chamber of procreation a chamber for murder</b>...”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Caesarius of Arles [A.D. 468-542],<i> Sermon </i>51:4: “They sin still more grievously when they kill the children who are already conceived or born, <b><u>and when by taking impious drugs to prevent conception they condemn in themselves the nature which God wanted to be fruitful. Let them not doubt that they have committed as many murders as the number of the children they might have begotten</u></b>. … As many as they kill after they are already conceived or born, before the tribunal of the eternal Judge they will be held guilty of so many murders. If women attempt to kill the children within them by evil medicines, and themselves die in the act, they become guilty of three crimes on their own: suicide, spiritual adultery, and murder of the unborn child.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Caesarius of Arles, <i>Sermon</i> 1:12, A.D. 522: “Who is he who cannot warn that no woman may take a potion so that she is unable to conceive or condemns in herself the nature which God willed to be fecund? <b><u>As often as she could have conceived or given birth, of that many homicides she will be held guilty, and, unless she undergoes suitable penance, she will be damned by eternal death in Hell.</u></b> If a woman does not wish to have children, let her enter into a religious agreement with her husband; for chastity is the sole sterility of a Christian woman.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Hippolytus, <i>Refutation of All Heresies</i> 9:7, A.D. 225: “<b><u>Whence women, reputed believers, began to resort to drugs for producing sterility</u></b>, and to gird themselves round, so to expel what was being conceived <b><u>on account of their not wishing to have a child</u></b> either by a slave or by any paltry fellow, for the sake of their family and excessive wealth. <b><u>Behold, into how great impiety that lawless one has proceeded, by inculcating adultery and murder at the same time!</u></b>”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span class="Q"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Hippolytus, <i>Refutation of All Heresies</i> 9:12, A.D. 225: “… <b><u>the so-called faithful want no children [but want to have sexual relations]</u></b>… [so] they use drugs of sterility or bind themselves tightly in order to expel a fetus which has already been engendered.”</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">John the Faster, Patriarch John IV of Constantinople (6th century): “If someone to satisfy his lust or in <b><u>deliberate</u></b> hatred does something to a man or woman <b><u>so that no children be born</u></b> of him or her, or gives them to drink (pharmakon), <b><u>so that he cannot generate or she conceive</u></b>, <b><u>let it be held as homicide</u></b>.” (Penitential of John IV Nesteutes)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. John Climacus (c. 525-606 A.D.): “God neither caused nor created evil and, therefore, those who assert that certain passions come naturally to the soul are quite wrong. What they fail to realize is that we have taken natural attributes of our own and turned them into passions.<b> <u>For instance, the seed which we have for the sake of procreating children [which is the natural attribute of the sexual act] is abused by us for the sake of fornication [or by any sexual act without intending having children]</u></b>.” (<i>The Ladder of Divine Ascent</i>, "Step 26: On Discernment," by St. John Climacus, p. 251)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Lactantius, <i>Divine Institutes</i>, Book VI, Chapter 23, A.D. 307: “God gave us eyes not to see and desire pleasure, but to see acts to be performed for the needs of life; so too, the genital [generating] part of the body, as the name itself teaches, has been received by us for<b> <u>no other purpose than the generation of offspring</u></b><u>.</u>”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Jerome, <i>Letter 22:13, To Eustochium</i>, A.D. 384: “<b>Some go so far as to take potions, that they may insure barrenness, <u>and thus murder human beings almost before their conception</u></b>.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Caesarius of Arles [A.D. 468-542],<b> </b><i>Sermon</i> 44: “<b>Moreover, women must not take diabolical draughts [contraceptive drugs] <u>with the <i>purpose</i> of not being able to conceive children</u>. <u>A woman who does this ought to realize that she will be guilty of as many murders as the number of children she might have borne</u></b>.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Epiphanius, <i>Medicine Chest Against Heresies</i>, A.D. 375: “The like of this fornication and licentiousness may be seen in the extremely dreadful snake the ancients called the pangless viper. For the nature of such a viper is similar to the wickedness of these people. <b>In performing their filthy act</b> either with men or with women <b><u>they forbear insemination, rendering impossible the procreation God has given his creatures</u></b>—as the apostle says, "receiving in themselves the recompense of their error which was meet" [Rom. 1:27], and so on.” (<i>Panarion</i> or <i>Medicine Chest Against Heresies</i>, Book I, Chapter 26:5:19:2-3.--Epiphanius Against the Gnostics, or Borborites)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Epiphanius, <i>Medicine Chest Against Heresies</i>, A.D. 375: “<b>But if the apostle <u>says to bear children</u> [1 Tim. 5:11; 14], <u>but they decline procreation</u>, it is the enterprise of a serpent and of false doctrine</b>. <u>Because they are mastered by the pleasure of fornication</u> [fornication is often mentioned by the Fathers as the desire for sexual relations but without desiring or intending having offspring] <u>they invent excuses for their uncleanness</u>, so that their licentiousness may appear to fulfill Paul’s commandment. Really these things should neither be said nor considered worth mentioning in treatises, but buried like a foul corpse exuding a pestilent vapour, to protect people from injury even through their sense of hearing. <b>And if a sect of this kind [which teaches the heresy that non-procreative sexual acts are moral or that they are without sin] had passed away and no longer existed, it would be better to bury it and say nothing about it at all. But since it does exist and has practitioners, and I have been urged by your Honors to speak of all the sects, I have been forced to describe parts of it, in order, in all frankness, not to pass them over but describe them, for the protection of the hearers—but for the banishment of the practitioners</b>.” (<i>Panarion</i> or <i>Medicine Chest Against Heresies</i>, Book I, Chapter 26:5:14:3-5.--Epiphanius Against the Gnostics, or Borborites)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Thus, since the Fathers of the Church unanimously teaches that contraception or birth control in all its forms are mortally sinful in deed as well as in thought, this doctrine is infallible according to the councils of Trent and Vatican I. And this is not even mentioning the fact that the Holy Bible and the Papal Magisterium of the Church infallibly condemns birth control as well, as we have seen!</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><b><u><span style="font-family: arial;">The Church and the fathers infallibly and unanimously teaches that spouses who intend to get married and have sexual relations must desire to beget and educate children</span></u></b></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Third, we must also learn about the truth that the Fathers, Popes and Saints of the Catholic Church all teach that people who choose to get married (and that desire to have sexual relations)<span style="color: red;"> </span>must also desire to beget and educate children in the Catholic religion for the glory and honor of God, since it is of the Divine Law and the teaching of the Church and of Pope Pius XI that “<b>Christian parents <i><u>must</u></i> also understand that they are destined not only to propagate and preserve the human race on earth, indeed not only to educate any kind of worshippers of the true God, but children who are to become members of the Church of Christ, to raise up fellow-citizens of the Saints, and members of God’s household, that the worshipers of God and Our Savior may daily increase</b>.” (Pope Pius XI, <i>Casti Connubii</i>, #13)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This is also expressed succinctly in <i>The 1917 Code of Canon Law</i>: “The primary purpose of marriage is the procreation and education of children.” (Canon 1013) The following Fathers and Saints of the Church teach the same as Pope Pius XI and <i>The 1917 Code of Canon Law</i>.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Augustine, <i>Sermons on the New Testament</i>, Sermon 1:22: “<b>The [marriage] contract is read... in the presence of all the attesting witnesses... <u>that they marry "for the procreation of children</u>;" and this is called the marriage contract.</b> <b><u>If it was not for this that wives were given and taken to wife, what father could without blushing give up his daughter to the lust of any man?</u></b> But now, that the parents may not blush, and that they may give their daughters in honorable marriage, not to shame, the contract is read out. <b><u>And what is read from it?--the clause, "for the sake of the procreation of children."</u></b> And when this is heard, the brow of the parent is cleared up and calmed. Let us consider again the feelings of the husband who takes his wife. The husband himself would blush to receive her with any other view, if the father would blush with any other view to give her.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Justin Martyr, <i>First Apology</i>, Chapter 29 (c. 160 A.D.): “We <b><u>Christians either marry only to produce children</u></b>, or, if we refuse to marry, are completely continent.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><em><span style="font-style: normal;">St. John Chrysostom, A.D. 347-407, </span>Homilies on Colossians<span style="font-style: normal;">:</span></em> “<b>Thou marriest a wife for chastity <u>and procreation</u></b>.” (Homily XII; PG 62.386; NPNF p. 318)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Ignatius of Antioch, <i>Epistle to the Philadelphians</i>, Chapter IV, A.D. 107: “For I pray that, being found worthy of God, I may be found at their feet in the kingdom, as at the feet of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob; as of Joseph, and Isaiah, and the rest of the prophets; as of Peter, and Paul, and the rest of the apostles, that were married men. <b><u>For they entered into these marriages not for the sake of appetite, but out of regard for the propagation of mankind</u></b>.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><em><span style="font-style: normal;">St. Clement of Alexandria, </span>The Paedagogus<span style="font-style: normal;"> (c. 198 A.D.): </span></em>“<b><u>The procreation of children is the remit and ordinance of those who are joined together in marriage; and their objective is that their children be good.… It is lawful for you to take sensual pleasures only from your wife in order to beget legitimate offspring, for only these pleasures are lawful according to the Word</u></b>.... For this reason, Moses himself prohibited his people from sleeping even with their own wives in cases where they were subject to menstrual flows.… For pleasure alone, when experienced in marital intercourse, is unlawful, unjust and foreign to reason. Again, Moses ordered men not to sleep with pregnant women until they gave birth.… In fact, it [sexual pleasure] spreads a cloud over the senses and weakens one’s strength.... However, marriage is indeed allowed and accepted: for the Lord wishes the human race to be replenished; but He does not say, "Be lustful", nor is it his will that you be dedicated to pleasure as if you were born for intercourse.... <b><u>However, to have intercourse for purposes other than to beget children is to do an injury to nature</u></b>.... Marriage constitutes an endeavour to beget children, not an undisciplined ejaculation of semen, which is unlawful and foreign to reason....”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Robert Bellarmine, <i>The Art of Dying Well</i>, Chapter XV, On Matrimony, A.D. 1619: “There are three blessings arising from Matrimony, if it be made a good use of, viz: Children, fidelity, and the grace of the sacrament. <b><u>The generation of children, together with their proper education, must be had in view, if we would make a good use of matrimony; but on the contrary, he commits a most grievous sin, who seeks only carnal pleasure in it.”</u></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;"><u></u></span></b></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. John Damascene (c. 676-749 A.D.), On Marriage: “<b><u>Marriage was devised that the race of men may be preserved through the procreation of children</u></b><u>.</u>” (<i>An Exposition of the Orthodox Faith</i>, Book IV, Chapter XXIV)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Caesarius of Arles (c. 470-543 A.D.), <i>Sermon</i> 44:3: “<b><u>A man takes a wife for the procreation of children, not for the sake of lust. Even the marriage rite mentions this: ‘For the procreation of children,’ it says. Notice that it does not say for the sake of lust, but ‘for the procreation of children.’</u></b> I would like to know, dearly beloved, what kind of a harvest a man could gather if he sowed his field in one year as often as he is overcome by dissipation and abuses his wife without any desire for children. If those <i>who are unwilling to control themselves</i> plowed and sowed repeatedly their land which was already sown, let us see in what kind of fruit they would rejoice. As you well know, no land can produce proper fruit if it is sown frequently in one year. Why, then, does a man do with his body what he does not want done with his field?”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Augustine, <i>On the Good of Marriage</i>, Section 6, A.D. 401: “Therefore <b>married persons <u>owe</u> one another not <u>only the faith of their sexual intercourse itself for the begetting of children</u></b>, which is the first fellowship of the human kind in this mortal state; but also, in a way, a mutual service of sustaining one another’s weakness, [that is, paying the marital debt when it is asked for] in order to shun unlawful intercourse.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Irenaeus, <i>Against Heresies</i> (c. 180 A.D.): “<b>God made the male and female <u>for the propagation of the human race</u></b>.” (Book I, Chapter XXVIII, Section 1)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. John Chrysostom<em><span style="font-style: normal;">, A.D. 347-407</span></em>, <i>On Virginity</i>, #19: “<b><u>So marriage was granted for the sake of procreation</u></b>...”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Clement of Alexandria, On Marriage (<em><span style="font-style: normal;">c. 199 A.D.):</span></em> “<b><u>Marriage is the first union of man and woman for the procreation of legitimate children</u></b>.” (<i>The Stromata</i> or <i>Miscellanies</i>, Book II, Chapter XXIII)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Augustine, <i>On the Good of Marriage</i>, Section 32, A.D. 401: “<b>Therefore that <u>marriage takes place for the sake of begetting children</u>, the Apostle is a witness thus, "I will," says he, "that the younger women be married." And, as though it were said to him, "For what purpose?" Straightway he added, "to have children, to be mothers of families."</b> … <u>All these are goods, on account of which marriage is a good; offspring, faith, sacrament</u>. But now, at this time, not to seek offspring after the flesh, and by this means to maintain a certain perpetual freedom from every such work, and to be made subject after a spiritual manner unto one Husband Christ, is assuredly better and holier...”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><em><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-style: normal;">St. Clement of Alexandria, On Marriage (c. 199 A.D.): “<b>For every one is not to marry, nor always</b>. But there is a time in which it is suitable, and a person for whom it is suitable, and an age up to which it is suitable. <b>Neither ought every one to take a wife</b>, nor is it every woman one is to take, nor always, nor in every way, nor inconsiderately. <b>But only he who is in certain circumstances, and such an one and at such time as is requisite, <u>and for the sake of children</u></b>, and one who is in every respect similar, and who does not by force or compulsion love the husband who loves her.” (</span>The Stromata<span style="font-style: normal;"> </span><span style="font-style: normal;">or </span>Miscellanies<span style="font-style: normal;">, </span><span style="font-style: normal;">Book II, Chapter XXIII)</span></span></em></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><em><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-style: normal;">St. Methodius (died c. 311 A.D.), On Genesis 1:28: “<b><u>Increase and multiply is the command</u>, and we may not spurn the command [if we are married and intend to perform the marital sexual act]</b>.” (</span>Symp<span style="font-style: normal;">., 31; SC 95, p. 70; Musurillo (1958), p. 49)</span></span></em></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><em><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-style: normal;">St. John Chrysostom, A.D. 347-407, </span>Homilies on Timothy<span style="font-style: normal;">: “<b>Shall not women then be saved? <u>Yes, by means of </u></b></span><b><u>children</u></b><b><u><span style="font-style: normal;">.</span></u></b><span style="font-style: normal;"> For it is not of Eve that he says, "If they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety." [1 Tim. 2:15] What faith? what charity? what holiness with sobriety? It is as if he had said, "Ye women, be not cast down, because your sex has incurred blame. <b><u>God has granted you another opportunity of salvation, by the bringing up of children</u></b>, so that you are saved, not only by yourselves, but by others." [cf. 1 Tim. 2:15]” (</span>Homilies on the First Epistle of St. Paul to Timothy<span style="font-style: normal;">, Homily IX, 1 Timothy 2:11-15)</span></span></em></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Augustine, <i>On the Good of Marriage</i>, Section 19, 32, A.D. 401: “<b><u>Marriage itself indeed in all nations is for the same cause of begetting sons, and of what character soever these may be afterward, yet was marriage for this purpose instituted</u></b>, that they may be born in due and honest order… <u>Therefore the good of marriage throughout all nations and all men stands in the occasion of begetting [children]</u>, and faith of chastity: but, so far as pertains unto the People of God, also in the sanctity of the Sacrament, by reason of which it is unlawful for one who leaves her husband, even when she has been put away, to be married to another, so long as her husband lives, no not even <b><u>for the sake of bearing children: and, whereas this is the alone cause, wherefore marriage takes place</u></b><u>...</u>”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The main reason why the Church and Her Popes and Saints all teach that a man and a woman who intends to marry <b>and have sexual relations</b> must also desire to beget children and educate them in the Catholic religion for the glory and honor of God, is that a “marriage” without this desire would be similar to the cohabitation of unmarried people who only live with each other for the motive of gratifying their sensual desires. In truth, “<b>the aforesaid [marital sexual] act does not differ from the act of fornication... But the act of fornication is always evil. Therefore the marriage act also will always be evil unless it be excused</b>...” (St. Thomas Aquinas, <i>Summa Theologica, Supplement</i>, Q. 49, Art. 5) Thus, what separates fornication from a true marriage is the active wish to beget and educate children for the love and honor of Our Lord Jesus Christ.<span style="color: red;"> </span>This is also why St. Augustine writes that “<b>the [marriage] contract is read... in the presence of all the attesting witnesses... that they marry ‘for the procreation of children’” </b>(<i>On the New Testament</i> 1:22).</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A good advice to all men and women who intend to marry (or who are already married) is that they read the marriage vows several times either with their future spouse or by themselves, and seriously considers the reason for their marriage, so that they know what is obligated of them when they get married. It is important for all who intend to marry to know that marriage is about a lot of obligations, and that spouses many times are forced to be without sex for the rest of their life if the other spouse dies, or gets hurt or suffer some other debilitating problem or illness that hinders them from being able to perform the marital act, so that this does not come as a shock when trouble happens. Marriage was never intended to be about selfishness or sensuality, but rather about family, companionship and responsibility, so people who intend to marry must make sure that they adopt the life of marriage in order to love and serve their spouse, instead of seeing or treating their spouse as a fleshly object given to them to satisfy their sensual longings. “Marriage constitutes an endeavour to beget children, not an undisciplined ejaculation of semen, which is unlawful and foreign to reason... It is therefore not just to be held bound by sexual things, nor to cling stupidly to lusts, nor to be moved by appetites that are foreign to reason, nor to desire to be defiled. It is permitted to him alone who has married a wife... to sow his seed, when the time allows him to sow.” (<em><span style="font-style: normal;">St. Clement of Alexandria, </span>The Paedagogus<span style="font-style: normal;">, A.D. 198)</span></em></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The necessity to beget and educate one’s offspring in the true Catholic Faith cannot be understated; and especially so today since almost all people reject the true Catholic Faith, which is also why the world has been allowed to fall into such degradation. Pope Leo XIII in his encyclical <i>Arcanum</i> (<b>on Christian Marriage</b>) teaches that: “the Christian perfection and completeness of marriage are not comprised in those points only which have been mentioned. For, first, there has been vouchsafed to the marriage union a higher and nobler purpose than was ever previously given to it. By the command of Christ, <b>it not only looks to the propagation of the human race, but to the bringing forth of children for the Church, ‘fellow citizens with the saints, and the domestics of God’; so that ‘a people might be born and brought up for the worship and religion of the true God and our Saviour Jesus Christ</b>.’”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Clement of Alexandria further explains that, “for the married He [the Lord] goes on to say, "My elect shall not labour in vain nor bear children to be accursed; for they are a seed blessed by the Lord." [Isaiah 65:23] <u>For him who begets children and brings them up and educates them in the Lord, just as for him who begets children by means of the true teaching, a reward is laid up, as also for the elect seed</u>. … Those who are in truth the Lord’s elect neither teach doctrines nor beget children to be accursed, as the [heretical] sects do.” (<i>The Stromata</i> or <i>Miscellanies</i>, Book III, Chapter XV, Section 98)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">If we take upon us the heavy burden of Matrimony, we are obligated under pain of mortal sin to educate our children in the Catholic Faith. “For a person does not become a father simply because he helped to bring about the birth of a child, but by raising the child correctly.” (St. Chrysostom, <i>Sermon regarding Anna, Homily 1</i>, PG 54, 636) In truth, St. Chrysostom is completely right in saying that those who refuse to educate their children in the true Catholic Faith are the very reason for all kinds of evils in society. “The reason for the overturning of all things is that we aren’t caring for our own children. We take care of their bodies, but we ignore the upbringing of their souls.” Chrysostom goes on to ask, “Do you want a child that is obedient? From their first steps, feed them on the wisdom and counsels of the Lord.” If we showed the same interest in the spiritual education of children as we do in their education in other spheres, we would forestall many evils. “When the father of a very gentle child only gives him sweets, refreshments, and whatever he likes when he’s ill, but not what he actually needs for his sickness; or if a doctor checks him out and confesses, "What can I do? I can’t stand to see the child cry." Poor, foolish traitor! The only name I can’t give such a person is that of father. How much better it would be for you if you upset your child a little bit so that he might be healthy for all time, rather than making this fleeting pleasure the foundation for continuous sorrow.” (St. Chrysostom, <i>On the Acts of the Apostles, Homily 30</i>, PG 60, 226) With the satisfaction of the child’s every desire, we make him egocentric, and with such a character, he will be unhappy in the world. The Saint encourages us to “be like sculptors and make every effort to make your children wonderful sculptures that look like God. It will happen if you take away everything that is unnecessary, if you add whatever is necessary, and if you check daily to see what physical defects they have that you can fix.” (St. John Chrysostom, <i>On Vanity and the Upbringing of Children</i>)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>The Constitutions of the Holy Apostles </i>also teaches us that all parents who disregard correcting and educating their child in the Lord “will be guilty of their souls”, thus showing us that educating our children in the Lord is not something we choose to do, but something we are obligated to do under pain of mortal sin:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“Ye fathers, educate your children in the Lord, bringing them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord; and teach them such trades as are agreeable and suitable to the word, lest they by such opportunity become extravagant, and continue without punishment from their parents, and so get relaxation before their time, and go astray from that which is good. Wherefore be not afraid to reprove them, and to teach them wisdom with severity. For your corrections will not kill them, but rather preserve them. As Solomon says somewhere in the book of Wisdom: "Chasten thy son, and he will refresh thee; so wilt thou have good hope of him. Thou verily shalt smite him with the rod, and shall deliver his soul from death." (Prov. 29:17, 19:18, 23:14.) And again, says the same Solomon thus, "He that spareth his rod, hateth his son;" (Prov. 13:24) and afterwards, "Beat his sides whilst he is an infant, lest he be hardened and disobey thee." (Ecclus. 30:12) He, therefore, that neglects to admonish and instruct his own son, hates his own child. Do you therefore teach your children the word of the Lord. Bring them under with cutting stripes, and make them subject from their infancy, teaching them the Holy Scriptures, which are Christian and divine, and delivering to them every sacred writing, "not giving them such liberty that they get the mastery," (Ecclus. 30:11) and act against your opinion, not permitting them to club together for a treat with their equals. For so they will be turned to disorderly courses, and will fall into fornication; and if this happen by the carelessness of their parents, those that begat them will be guilty of their souls. For if the offending children get into the company of debauched persons by the negligence of those that begat them, they will not be punished alone by themselves; but their parents also will be condemned on their account. For this cause endeavour, at the time when they are of an age fit for marriage, to join them in wedlock, and settle them together, test in the heat and fervour of their age their course of life become dissolute, and you be required to give an account by the Lord God in the day of judgment.” (<i>Constitutions of the Holy Apostles</i>, Book IV, Section II, Chapter XI.--On Domestic and Social Life Of Parents and Children)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Pius XI also teaches this noble truth in great detail in his marvelous Encyclical called <i>Casti Connubii</i>, which means “Chaste Marriage”.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Pius XI <i>Casti Connubii</i> (#’s 10-13), Dec. 31, 1930: “Now when We come to explain, Venerable Brethren, <b>what are the blessings that God has attached to true matrimony, and how great they are</b>, there occur to Us the words of that illustrious Doctor of the Church whom We commemorated recently in Our Encyclical <i>Ad salutem</i> on the occasion of the fifteenth centenary of his death: “These,” says St. Augustine, “are all <b>the blessings of matrimony on account of which matrimony itself is a blessing; <u>offspring</u>, conjugal faith and the sacrament</b>.” And how under these three heads is contained a splendid summary of the whole doctrine of Christian marriage, the holy Doctor himself expressly declares when he said: “By conjugal faith it is provided that there should be no carnal intercourse outside the marriage bond with another man or woman; <b>with regard to offspring, that children should be begotten of love, tenderly cared for and educated in a religious atmosphere;</b> finally, in its sacramental aspect that the marriage bond should not be broken and that a husband or wife, if separated, should not be joined to another even for the sake of offspring. This we regard as the law of marriage by which the fruitfulness of nature is adorned and the evil of incontinence is restrained.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm; text-indent: 1cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“<b><u>Thus amongst the blessings of marriage, the child holds the first place</u></b>. And indeed the Creator of the human race Himself, Who in His goodness wishes to use men as His helpers in the propagation of life, taught this when, instituting marriage in Paradise, He said to our first parents, and through them to all future spouses: “Increase and multiply, and fill the earth.” As St. Augustine admirably deduces from the words of the holy Apostle Saint Paul to Timothy when he says: “<b><u>The Apostle himself is therefore a witness that marriage is for the sake of generation</u></b>: ‘I wish,’ he says, ‘young girls to marry.’ And, as if someone said to him, ‘Why?,’ he immediately adds: ‘To bear children, to be mothers of families’.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm; text-indent: 1cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“How great a boon of God this is, and how great a blessing of matrimony is clear from a consideration of man’s dignity and of his sublime end. For man surpasses all other visible creatures by the superiority of his rational nature alone. Besides, <b>God wishes men to be born not only that they should live and fill the earth, but much more that they may be worshippers of God, that they may know Him and love Him and finally enjoy Him for ever in heaven; and this end, since man is raised by God in a marvelous way to the supernatural order, surpasses all that eye hath seen, and ear heard, and all that hath entered into the heart of man. From which it is easily seen how great a gift of divine goodness and how remarkable a fruit of marriage are children born by the omnipotent power of God through the cooperation of those bound in wedlock.</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm; text-indent: 1cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“But Christian parents <b><i><u>must</u></i></b> also understand that they are destined not only to propagate and preserve the human race on earth, indeed not only to educate any kind of worshippers of the true God, but children who are to become members of the Church of Christ, to raise up fellow-citizens of the Saints, and members of God’s household, that the worshippers of God and Our Savior may daily increase.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>The 1917 Code of Canon Law</i> also accurately describes the nature of the Sacrament of Marriage: “Marital consent is an act of the will whereby each party grants and accepts a permanent and exclusive right over the body regarding its acts which are of themselves apt for the generation of offspring.” (<i>Codex Iuris Cononici</i>, 1081.2) Thus, marriage is understood as a lawful contract in which the two parties handed over to each other the right to use one another for acts suitable for the generation of children. If two persons were to use the vocabulary of the Church’s canonical definition in their wedding vows, the bride and groom might say to each other, “I understand our marrying as an act in which I hand over to you the right to use my body for acts that are apt for generating children. I want to do this in a contractual context before these gathered witnesses.” Canon 1013 fittingly combined the teachings of both St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, teaching that: “The primary end of marriage is the procreation and education of children; its secondary end is mutual help and the remedying of concupiscence.” (<i>Codex Iuris Cononici</i>, 1013)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Augustine, <i>On the Good of Marriage</i>, Section 1, A.D. 401: “The first natural bond of human society is man and wife. Nor did God create these each by himself, and join them together as alien by birth: but He created the one out of the other, setting a sign also of the power of the union in the side, whence she was drawn, was formed. For they are joined one to another side by side, who walk together, and look together whither they walk. Then follows the connexion of fellowship in children, which is the one alone worthy fruit, not of the union of male and female, but of the sexual intercourse. For it were possible that there should exist in either sex, even without such intercourse, a certain friendly and true union of the one ruling, and the other obeying.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Gregory XVI in his encyclical <i>Mirari Vos</i>, which exposed liberalism and religious indifferentism explains that those marriages that are devoid of the “<b><u>thought of the sacrament and of the mysteries signified by it [that is, the procreation and education of children, faithfulness, and mutual love and help]</u></b>” or that was entered into because of <i>“<b><u>concupiscence alone,</u></b>”</i> will have <i>“<b>an unhappy ending</b>”</i> since these kinds of selfish, lustful and impious “marriages” in effect are nothing but fornication in disguise of a marriage, thus firmly contradicting and exposing the modernistic and heretical teachings of certain impious men and women who dared to assert that one could marry for mere selfish, lustful or worldly motives, rather than for pious and good motives that a true and honorable marriage always is based on.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="par121" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p class="MsoBodyText" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Gregory XVI, <i>Mirari Vos</i> (# 12), Aug. 15, 1832: “Now the <b>honorable marriage</b> of Christians, which Paul calls "a great sacrament in Christ and the Church,"[Heb. 13:4, Eph. 5:32] demands our shared concern lest anything contrary to its <i>sanctity</i> and <i>indissolubility</i> is proposed. Our predecessor Pius VIII would recommend to you his own letters on the subject. However, troublesome efforts against this sacrament still continue to be made. The people therefore must be zealously taught that a marriage rightly entered upon cannot be dissolved; for those joined in matrimony God has ordained a perpetual companionship for life and a knot of necessity which cannot be loosed except by death. Recalling that matrimony is a sacrament and therefore subject to the Church, let them consider and observe the laws of the Church concerning it. Let them take care lest for any reason they permit that which is an obstruction to the teachings of the canons and the decrees of the councils. <b><u>They should be aware that those marriages will have an unhappy end which are entered upon contrary to the discipline of the Church or without God’s favor or because of concupiscence alone, with no thought of the sacrament and of the mysteries signified by it.”</u></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In truth, Pope Gregory IX (1145-1241) also affirms the Church’s teaching on the sacrament of marriage, saying that: “As much as the contract of marriage is favored, it <u>lacks effect if conditions are stipulated against the substance of marriage</u>. For example, <b>if one says to the other, “I contract with you if you will <i>prevent the conception of children</i></b>,” or, “until I find another woman more worthy in honor or riches,” or, “if you will sell yourself in adultery for money.”” (<span class="Q">Gratian, <i>Marriage Canons From The Decretum</i></span>, Case Thirty-Two, Question IV, Conditions Set in Betrothals or Other Contracts)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Gregory IX’s three examples here shows us the three goods of marriage: <i>proles</i> (offspring), <i>sacramentum</i> (indissolubility), and <i>fides</i> (fidelity) without which a marriage contract is invalid. “It seems evident that a woman taken merely to have sex is not a wife, because God instituted marriage for propagation, not merely for satisfying lust. For the nuptial blessing is, “Increase and multiply.” [Gen. 1:28] … It is shameful for a woman when her marriage bears no fruit, for this alone is the reason for marrying. … bearing children is the fruit of marriage and the blessing of matrimony is without doubt the reason that [the Blessed Virgin] Mary’s virginity defeated the Prince of this World [the Devil]. Thus anyone who joins himself to another, not for the sake of procreating offspring, but rather to satisfy lust is less a spouse than a fornicator. … As no congregation of heretics can be called a Church of Christ because they do not have Christ as their head, so no matrimony, where one has not joined her husband according to Christ’s precept, can properly be called marriage, but is better called adultery.” (<span class="Q">Gratian, <i>Marriage Canons From The Decretum</i>, Case Thirty-Two, Question II)</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span class="Q"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Augustine, <i>Against Julian</i>, Book V, Chapter 12:46, A.D. 421: “Nevertheless, because human soundness agrees that the motive in taking a wife is the procreation of offspring, regardless of how weakness yields to lust, I note, in addition to the faithfulness which the married owe to each other so that there be no adultery, and the offspring, for whose generation the two sexes are to be united, that a third good, which seems to me to be a sacrament, should exist in the married, above all in those who belong to the people of God, so that there be no divorce from a wife who cannot bear, and that a man not wishing to beget more children give not his wife to another for begetting, as Cato is said to have done [Plutarch,<i> In vita Catonis</i>; Lucan 2]. … I say that there is another way in which marriage is good when offspring can be procreated only through intercourse. If there were another way to procreate, yet the spouses had intercourse, then they evidently must have yielded to lust, and made evil use of evil. But, since the two sexes were purposely instituted, man can be born only from their union, and thus spouses by their union for this purpose [of procreation] make good use of that evil [of lust]...”</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Thus, Pope St. Gregory the Great (c. 540-604), in his work <i>“Pastoral Rule”</i>, which deals with sexual sins from a biblical perspective, could rightly admonish Christians to never marry or perform the marital act for carnal or lustful motives: “<b><u>The married must be admonished to bear in mind that they are united in wedlock for the purpose of procreation, and when they abandon themselves to immoderate intercourse, they transfer the occasion of procreation to the service of pleasure</u></b>. Let them realize that though they do not then pass beyond the bonds of wedlock, yet in wedlock they exceed its rights. Wherefore, it is necessary that they efface by frequent prayer what they befoul in the fair form of conjugal union by the admixture of pleasure. For hence it is that the Apostle, skilled in heavenly medicine, did not so much lay down a course of life for the whole [of humanity] as point out remedies to the weak when he said, "It is good for a man not to touch a woman: but on account of fornication let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband" (1 Cor. 7:1-2). For in that he premised the fear of fornication, he surely did not give a precept to such as were standing [in the greater and more blessed life of chastity], but pointed out the bed to such as were falling, lest haply they should tumble to the ground. Whence to such as were still weak he added, "Let the husband render unto the wife her due; and likewise also the wife unto the husband" (1 Cor. 7:3). And, while in the most honorable estate of matrimony allowing to them something of pleasure, he added, "But this I say by way of indulgence, not by way of command" (1 Cor. 7:6). Now where indulgence is spoken of, a fault is implied; but one that is the more readily remitted in that it consists, not in doing what is unlawful, but in not keeping what is lawful under control.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm; text-indent: 1cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“Which thing Lot expresses well in his own person, when he flies from burning Sodom, and yet, finding Zoar, does not still ascend the mountain heights. For to fly from burning Sodom is to avoid the unlawful fires of the flesh. But the height of the mountains is the purity of the continent. Or, at any rate, they are as it were upon the mountain, who, though cleaving to carnal intercourse, still, beyond the due association for the production of offspring, are not loosely lost in pleasure of the flesh. For to stand on the mountain is to seek nothing in the flesh except the fruit of procreation. To stand on the mountain is not to cleave to the flesh in a fleshly way. But, since there are many who relinquish indeed the sins of the flesh, and yet, when placed in the state of wedlock, do not observe solely the claims of due intercourse, Lot went indeed out of Sodom, but yet did not at once reach the mountain heights; because a damnable life is already relinquished, but still the loftiness of conjugal continence is not thoroughly attained... married life is neither far separated from the world, nor yet alien from the joy of safety... They are therefore to be admonished that, if they suffer from the storms of temptation with risk to their safety, they should seek the port of wedlock. For it is written, "It is better to marry than to burn" (1 Cor. 7:9). They come, in fact, to marriage without blame, if only they have not vowed better things [chastity].” (Pope St. Gregory the Great, <i>Pastoral Rule</i>, Book III, Chapter XXVII.--How The Married And The Single Are To Be Admonished.)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">While there are many dangers and temptations in marriage, there are also good things, such as faithfulness, offspring, and the Sacrament: “Now this is threefold, faithfulness, offspring, and the Sacrament. For faithfulness, it is observed, that there be no lying with other man or woman, out of the bond of wedlock: for the offspring, that it be lovingly welcomed, kindly nourished, religiously brought up: for the Sacrament, that marriage be not severed, and that man or woman divorced be not joined to another even for the sake of offspring. This is as it were the rule of Marriages by which rule either fruitfulness is made seemly, or the perverseness of incontinence is brought to order.” (St. Augustine, <i>On Genesis</i>, Book 9, Chapter 7) However, even though marriage is good, the marital act is still intoxicating and shameful, which are truly evil defects that men must endure, and this shows us that children “<span class="Q">is the one alone worthy fruit... of the sexual intercourse”. Thus, the motive of</span> “<span class="Q">children, which is the one alone worthy fruit, not of the union of male and female, but of the sexual intercourse” must excuse the marital act. (St. Augustine, <i>On the Good of Marriage</i>, Section 1)</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In A.D. 191 St. Clement of Alexandria (a Greek theologian of considerable influence in the early Church) referred to Onan’s evil act in these words: “He broke the law of coitus.” (St. Clement of Alexandria, <i>Comments on Genesis 6</i>, PG 69:309) He went on to explain that “Because of its divine institution for the propagation of man, the seed is not to be vainly ejaculated, nor is it to be damaged, nor is it to be wasted.” (St. Clement of Alexandria, <i>Pedagogus</i>, "The Educator", 2.10.91.2)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Clement of Alexandria (c. 150-215) agrees with the Popes and Saints of the Church in this regard concerning the procreation and education of children, teaching us that: “it remains for us now to consider the restriction of sexual intercourse to those who are joined in wedlock. Begetting children is the goal of those who wed, and the fulfillment of that goal is a large family, just as hope of a crop drives the farmer to sow his seed, while the fulfillment of his hope is the actual harvesting of the crop. But he who sows in a living soil is far superior, for the one tills the land to provide food only for a season, the other to secure the preservation of the whole human race; the one tends his crop for himself, the other, for God. We have received the command: "Be fruitful" [Gen. 1:28], and we must obey. In this role man becomes like God, because he co-operates, in his human way, in the birth of another man.” (<i>The Paedagogus</i> or <i>The Instructor</i>, Book II, Chapter X) And so, it should be absolutely clear to all pure servants of Christ that “Marriage is the first conjunction of man and woman for the procreation of legitimate children. Accordingly Menander the comic poet says: "For the begetting of legitimate children, I give thee my daughter."” (St. Clement of Alexandria, "On Marriage", <i>The Stromata</i> or <i>Miscellanies</i>, Book II, Chapter XXIII)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Origen (a theologian of the early 3rd century Alexandrian Church considered by many to be the most accomplished biblical scholar of the early church) refuted the teachings of the pagan philosopher Celsus by reference to God’s people in the Old Testament: “nor were there among them women who sold their beauty to anyone who wished to have sexual intercourse without offspring, and to cast contempt upon the nature of human generation.” (Origen, <i>Contra Celsum</i>, Book 5, Chapter 42) In the early Church it was clear that <b>to have sexual intercourse without wishing to beget offspring was to commit an evil act</b>.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">One of the earliest extant documents of formal Church legislation (that we know of) on the use of contraceptives comes in the sixth century. Its originator in canonical form was St. Martin, Archbishop of Braga in Spain (520-580). Drawing on previous episcopal synods of the East and West, he simplified the existing laws and codified them for the people of Portugal and Spain.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Martin’s condemnation of contraception and the contraceptive intent first occurred in the famous collection <i>Capitula Martini</i>. It was later incorporated in the laws of the Second Council of Braga (June, 572), at which he presided as the head of twelve bishops.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">His reference to <i>earlier</i> more severe penalties implies that ecclesiastical authority had condemned the practice long before the sixth century.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Martin, Archbishop of Braga, <i>Second Council of Braga</i>, Canon 77, June, 572: “If any woman has fornicated and has killed the infant who was born of her; or if she has tried to commit abortion and then slain what she conceived; <b>or <u>if she contrives to make sure <i>she does not conceive</i></u>, either in adultery or <u>in legitimate intercourse</u></b>—regarding such women the <i>earlier</i> canons decreed that <i>they should not receive communion even at death</i>. However, we mercifully judge that both such women and their accomplices in these crimes shall do penance for ten years.” (Mansi IX, 858)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In truth, “she (the wife) is the only one with whom it is lawful to enjoy the pleasures of the flesh for the purpose of begetting lawful heirs. This is to share in God’s own work of procreation, and in such a work the seed ought not to be wasted nor scattered thoughtlessly nor sown in a way it cannot grow.” (St. Clement of Alexandria, <i>The Paedagogus</i> or <i>The Instructor</i>, Book II, Chapter X.--On the Procreation and Education of Children, A.D. 198)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p align="center" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm; text-align: center;"><b><u><span style="font-family: arial;">POPE SIXTUS V CONDEMNS BIRTH CONTROL</span></u></b></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In the late sixteenth century, Pope Sixtus V (1521-1590) passed a series of laws to curb the immorality of his day. Among these laws was one that simultaneously covered abortion and contraception.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">There is nothing new about the legislation, except the added solemnity of its being passed by direct order of the pope. Abortion and contraception are equally called crimes.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Sixtus V, <i>Bull Effranatum</i>, Oct. 27, 1588: “Who does not abhor the lustful cruelty or cruel lust of impious men, a lust which goes so far that they procure poisons to extinguish and destroy the conceived fetus within the womb, <b>even attempting by a wicked crime to destroy their own offspring <u>before</u> it lives</b>, or, if it lives, to kill it before it is born?”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Sixtus V: “Who, finally, would not condemn with the most severe punishments the crimes of those who by poisons, potions and evil drugs induce sterility in women, <b>so that they might <u>not</u> conceive</b> or, by means of evil-working medication, that they might not give birth?” (Quoted in <i>Bullarium Romanum</i>, Vol. 1)</span></p><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><p align="center" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm; text-align: center;"><b><u><span style="font-family: arial;">THE HOLY OFFICE UNDER POPE PIUS IX CONDEMNS CONTRACEPTION AND THE CONTRACEPTIVE INTENT AS A SIN AGAINST THE NATURAL LAW</span></u></b></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">During the pontificate of Pius IX (1792-1878), at least five decisions were made by the Holy See with regard to contraception in one or another form. The following was made by the Holy Office and approved by the Pope. It touches on one type of contraception, but in doing so clarifies two important elements: that Onanism is against the Natural Law, and that confessors have a duty to inquire about this practice if they have a good reason to suppose that it is being done.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The question is asked what theological note the following three heretical propositions deserve:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><ul style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0.5em 0px; padding: 0px 2.5em;"><ol><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><p style="margin-bottom: 0.01cm; margin-top: 0.01cm;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">It is permissible for spouses to use marriage the way Onan did, if their motives are worthy.</span></p></li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><p style="margin-bottom: 0.01cm; margin-top: 0.01cm;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">It is probable that such use of marriage is not forbidden by the natural law.</span></p></li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><p style="margin-bottom: 0.01cm; margin-top: 0.01cm;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">It is never proper to ask married people of either sex about this matter, even though it is prudently feared that the spouses, whether the wife or the husband abuse matrimony.</span></p></li></ol></ul><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The officials of the Holy Office ordered the following to be stated:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><ul style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0.5em 0px; padding: 0px 2.5em;"><ol style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><p style="margin-bottom: 0.01cm; margin-top: 0.01cm;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">The first proposition is scandalous, erroneous, and contrary to the natural right of matrimony.</span></p></li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><p style="margin-bottom: 0.01cm; margin-top: 0.01cm;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">The second proposition is scandalous, erroneous, and elsewhere implicitly condemned by Innocent XI: “Voluptuousness is not prohibited by the law of nature. Therefore if God had not forbidden it, it would be good, and sometimes obligatory under pain of mortal sin” [Condemned Statement by Innocent XI] (March 4, 1679).</span></p></li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><p style="margin-bottom: 0.01cm; margin-top: 0.01cm;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">The third proposition, as it stands, is false, very lax, and dangerous in practice (<i>Decisiones S. Sedis de Usu et Abusu Matrimonii</i>, Rome, 1944, pp. 19-20; May 21, 1851).</span></p></li></ol></ul><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div></div><div><p align="center" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm; text-align: center;"><b><u><span style="font-family: arial;">CONCLUSION</span></u></b></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Fathers as well as the tradition of the early Church are so unanimous in interpreting the Bible as condemning as sinful and forbidden the evil use of birth control that it is unbelievable how some people calling themselves “Christian” or “Catholic” can deny that it is sinful, evil or condemned, and especially so, since <i>The Councils of Trent</i> and <i>Vatican I</i> infallibly teaches that the Fathers must be obeyed when their teachings unanimously agree with one another. In this context, Saint Jerome condemns all those who see nothing wrong about fornication, or contraception or even abortion.<span style="color: red;"> </span><i>St. Jerome’s letter to Eustochium</i> contains a typical patristic condemnation of contraception. It is associated with the defection from the Church of those women who find the Church’s position on chastity too demanding.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">First he cites those who have intercourse out of wedlock, but make sure they do not become pregnant by taking appropriate drugs to prevent conception. Others become pregnant and then commit abortion to avoid exposure of their guilt.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Most pertinent is Jerome’s quoting such women as saying they see nothing particularly wrong about fornication, or contraception or even abortion. Their conscience approves of what they are doing; so how can these be sins?</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The final reference to food and drink points out the fact that these women are critical of those who practice mortification. Consistent with their attitude on sex, they argue that all of this is God’s gift—so why not use it?</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Q">St. Jerome, <i>Letter</i> 22:13, To Eustochium, </span><span class="Q">A.D. 384</span><span class="Q">: “</span>It becomes wearisome to tell how many virgins fall daily; what important personages Mother Church loses from her bosom; over how many stars the proud enemy sets up his throne <span class="Q">[Isaiah 14:13]</span>; how many rocks the serpent makes hollow and then enters through their openings. You may see many who were widowed before they were wed, shielding a guilty conscience by a lying garb. Did not a swelling womb or the crying of their infant children betray them, they would go about with head erect and on skipping feet. <span class="Q">But others drink potions to ensure sterility and are guilty of murdering a human being not yet conceived. Some when they learn they are with child through sin, practice abortion by the use of drugs. Frequently they die themselves and are brought before the rulers of the lower world guilty of three crimes: suicide, adultery against Christ, and murder of an unborn child. These are the women who are accustomed to say: “‘Unto the pure all things are pure.’ [Titus 1:15] The approval of my conscience is enough for me. A pure heart is what God desires. Why should I abstain from foods which God created to be used with thanksgiving?” [1 Timothy 4:3] And whenever they wish to appear bright and festive, and have drowned themselves in wine, they say—adding sacrilege to drunkenness: “God forbid that I should abstain from the blood of Christ.” And whenever they see a woman pale and sad, they call her a poor wretch, a nun, and a Manichean: and with reason, for according to their belief fasting is heresy.”</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Another good quotation from St. Caesarius of Arles condemns all spouses that are against procreation and that practice abortion and says that “the only sterility of a very pious wife is chastity”. The second passage from Caesarius deals with abortion, but of a contraceptive kind. Some women took medication to destroy unborn life already conceived in the womb. Others took drugs by anticipation; they would not mind becoming pregnant, but provided that the child would not reach viability.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Caesarius of Arles, <i>Sermon</i> 52:4: “Does not the Devil clearly exercise his deceits still further, dearly beloved, when he persuades some women, after they have had two or three children, to kill either any more or those already born, by taking an abortion draught? Apparently, such women fear that if they have more children they cannot become rich. For, what else must they think when they do this, except that God will not be able to feed or direct those whom He has commanded to be born? Perhaps some are killed who could serve God better or obey those same parents with a perfect love. Instead, by an impious, murderous practice women take poisonous draughts to transmit incomplete life and premature death to their children through their generative organs. By such an exigency they drink a cup of bereavement with the cruel drug. O sad persuasion! They maintain that the poison which has been transmitted through their drinking is unconnected with them. Moreover, they do not realize that they conceive in sterility the child which they receive in death, because it was conceived in their flesh. However, if there is not yet found a tiny infant that could be killed within the womb of its mother, it is no less true that even the natural power (of generation) within the woman is destroyed. Why unhappy mother—or, rather, not even the step-mother of a new-born son—why did you seek, from outside, remedies that would be harmful for eternity? You possess within you more salutary remedies, if you wish. You do not want to have a child? Settle a pious agreement with your husband; let him agree to an end of childbearing in accord with the virtue of chastity. The only the sterility of a very pious wife is chastity.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p class="WW-Default" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;">All other quotations from the Popes, Fathers and the Saints of the Church unanimously teach the same on the subject of the primary end or purpose of marriage and the marital act. Not a single one of them teaches that God allows spouses to have marital relations while also hindering conception from taking place.</span></b></p><p class="WW-Default" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p class="WW-Default" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Saint Augustine sums it up as follows: “It is, however, one thing for married persons to have intercourse only for the wish to beget children, which is not sinful: <u>it is another thing for them to desire carnal pleasure in cohabitation, but with the spouse only, <b>which involves venial sin</b>.</u> <i>For although propagation of offspring is not the motive of the intercourse</i>, <u>there is still no attempt to prevent such propagation</u>, either by wrong desire or evil appliance. They who resort to these, although called by the name of spouses, are really not such; they retain no vestige of true matrimony, but pretend the honourable designation as a cloak for criminal conduct. Having also proceeded so far, they are betrayed into exposing their children, which are born against their will. They hate to nourish and retain those whom they were afraid they would beget. This infliction of cruelty on their offspring so reluctantly begotten, unmasks the sin which they had practised in darkness, and drags it clearly into the light of day. The open cruelty reproves the concealed sin. Sometimes, indeed, this lustful cruelty, or, if you please, cruel lust, resorts to such extravagant methods as to use poisonous drugs to secure barrenness; or else, if unsuccessful in this, to destroy the conceived seed by some means previous to birth, preferring that its offspring should rather perish than receive vitality; or if it was advancing to life within the womb, should be slain before it was born. Well, if both parties alike are so flagitious, they are not husband and wife; and if such were their character from the beginning, they have not come together by wedlock but by debauchery. But if the two are not alike in such sin, I boldly declare either that the woman is, so to say, the husband’s harlot; or the man the wife’s adulterer.” (St. Augustine, <i>On Marriage and Concupiscence</i>, Book 1, Chapter 17, A.D. 419.--What is Sinless in the Use of Matrimony? What is Attended With Venial Sin, and What with Mortal?)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The intention, deed or <i><u>desire</u></i> of the spouses that conception does not occur during conjugal relations is the crux of the matter, the root of the mortal sin of contraception. Even before conjugal relations, spouses have committed the mortal sin of contraception if they had planned or only desired that conception should not take place during conjugal relations. Jesus teaches that sin is first committed in the heart even before a man carries out his sinful deed. He says, “<i>You have heard that it was said to them of old: Thou shalt not commit adultery. But I say to you, that whosoever shall look on a woman to lust after her, hath already committed adultery with her in his <u>heart</u>.”</i> (Matthew 5:27-28)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Tragically, however (as if the proof wasn’t clear enough already), some bad willed people will indeed try to excuse themselves and object to these clear statements, some perhaps by saying that the Holy Bible and Apostolic Tradition, as well as all the Popes, Fathers and Saints of the Catholic Church couldn’t have referred to the modern practice of NFP (since it was invented by modern science), and hence that their condemnation couldn’t have been about NFP, but about something else, such as Onanism, sterilization, drugs and potions.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">However, this objection is easily refuted for just because men have invented new ways to commit murder, such as with modern weapons that didn’t exist in the days of many of the saints and Catholic writers, doesn’t mean that men who commit murder with these weapons are not guilty since the saints or Church tradition did not specifically condemn murder by the use of these new killing methods. (St. Augustine however did condemn a timing-based method of contraception, as we saw before.) It is the same with NFP. Spouses commit the mortal sin of contraception no matter what weapon (method) they use to attempt to prevent conception during conjugal relations. If people cannot see this, it is because they are like the evil, blind, and obstinate Pharisees during Jesus’ first coming who made laws to break God’s laws and thus lost all common sense. NFP contradicts reason, the law in our heart, the Word of God (the Bible) and the teachings of the ordinary and solemn magisterium. The gift of many children from the Lord is truly a great blessing, and it is truly vile and unnatural to try to hinder this blessing from Our Lord by selfish and lustful acts inspired by the devil. “Far more excellent, in my opinion, than the seeds of wheat and barley that are sown at appropriate seasons, is man that is sown, for whom all things grow; and those seeds temperate husbandmen ever sow. Every foul and polluting practice must therefore be purged away from marriage; that the intercourse of the irrational animals may not be cast in our teeth, as more accordant with nature than human conjunction in procreation. Some of these, it must be granted, desist at the time in which they are directed, leaving creation to the working of Providence.” (St. Clement of Alexandria, "On Marriage", <i>The Stromata</i> or <i>Miscellanies</i>, Book II, Chapter XXIII)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Jerome, <i>Against Jovinianus</i>, Book 1, Section 27, A.D. 393: “Adam was first made, then the woman out of his rib; and that the Devil could not seduce Adam, but did seduce Eve; and that after displeasing God she was immediately subjected to the man, and began to turn to her husband; and he points out that she who was once tied with the bonds of marriage and was reduced to the condition of Eve, might blot out the old transgression by the procreation of children: provided, however, that she bring up the children themselves in the faith and love of Christ, and in sanctification and chastity… For if the woman is saved in child-bearing, and the more the children the greater the safety of the mothers, why did he add "if they continue in faith and love and sanctification with chastity"? [1 Tim. 2:15]”</span></p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-831939533339323924.post-8004431885628095742021-09-21T21:27:00.004-04:002021-09-21T21:27:57.245-04:00"Natural Family Planning (NFP)"/Birth Control Condemned<p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV54L2WcAjK4UOOcDb1mjjwK6piik7TyLGE6c4Rod3lMHTyDxHV778muHwJYpqEiBtxKhA9tG6828VASXYo_saZRSvHhzK-7hCF9lz5u9ibYyybjnbhkAszP9LBRNR5MtHK9LJD4xLvUg/s900/the-nativity-le-nain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="661" data-original-width="900" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV54L2WcAjK4UOOcDb1mjjwK6piik7TyLGE6c4Rod3lMHTyDxHV778muHwJYpqEiBtxKhA9tG6828VASXYo_saZRSvHhzK-7hCF9lz5u9ibYyybjnbhkAszP9LBRNR5MtHK9LJD4xLvUg/s320/the-nativity-le-nain.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><p><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></p>Natural Family Planning (NFP) is the practice of deliberately restricting the marital act exclusively to those times when the wife is infertile so as to avoid the conception of a child. NFP is used for the same reasons that people use artificial contraception: to deliberately avoid the conception of a child while carrying out the marital act.</span></span><p></p><p align="center" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm; text-align: center;"><b><u><span style="font-family: arial;">WHY IS NFP WRONG?</span></u></b></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">NFP is wrong because it’s birth control; it’s <i>against </i>conception. It’s a refusal on the part of those who use it to be open to the children that God planned to send them. <b><u>It’s no different in its purpose from artificial contraception</u></b>, and therefore it’s a moral evil just like artificial contraception. Since the Church infallibly teaches that <b>“the conjugal act is destined primarily by nature for the begetting of children”</b> and that “those who in exercising it deliberately frustrate its natural powers and <b><u>purpose</u></b> sin against nature and commit a deed which is shameful and intrinsically vicious” (Pope Pius XI, <i>Casti Connubii</i>, #54) in addition to teaching that “<i>any use</i> whatsoever of matrimony exercised in such a way that the act is <i>deliberately</i> frustrated in its <i>natural power</i> to generate life is an offense against the law of God and of nature, and those who indulge in such are branded with the guilt of a grave sin” (<i>Ibid</i>), this makes it perfectly clear to us that NFP is not only a very serious mortal sin according to the teaching of the Church, but also a sin against the Natural Law that can never be excused or changed.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Catholic Church has always been officially opposed to contraception or birth control in all its forms, but contrary to the practice of the Catholics of the first 1900 years of the Church, the great majority of self professed Catholics living in our debauched era in time, ignore this prohibition. However, as we will see from the teaching of the Church in addition to the Natural Law and the Holy Bible as well as the teaching of all the Saints and Church Fathers, the Catholic Church infallibly and officially condemns all forms of contraception as a heinous mortal sin against God, life and nature, thus firmly declaring that those who practice any kind of contraception, such as NFP, will lose their souls.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Indeed, <i>The Holy Bible</i> directly commands spouses when they perform the marital sexual act that “thou shalt take the virgin with the fear of the Lord, <b><u>moved rather for love of children than for lust</u></b>, that in the seed of Abraham thou mayest obtain a blessing in children” (Tobias 6:22), and this totally condemns all contraceptive acts, such as NFP. As a matter of fact, the Holy Word of God in the Bible explicitly condemns spouses who are opposed to procreation, teaching that “<b>the devil has power</b>” over all spouses who selfishly come together for the purpose of gratifying their fleshly pleasures, giving “<b>themselves to their lust, as the horse and mule, which have not understanding</b>” instead of being “<b>moved rather for love of children than for lust”</b> (Tobias 6:17) when they perform the marital act that Our Lord commands.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The best biblical example of God’s utter hatred of all forms of contraceptive acts is found in <i>The Book of Genesis</i>, where God Himself directly killed a man named Onan for practicing contraception: “<i>He knowing that the children should not be his, when he went in to his brother’s wife, <u>spilled his seed upon the ground, lest children should be born in his brother’s name</u>. And therefore the Lord slew him, because he did a detestable thing.”</i> (Genesis 38:8-10) Notice how clearly the biblical text shows that the reason he did this “detestable thing” was “lest children should be born in his brother’s name”, thus showing us that the act of performing the marital act while taking steps to hinder procreation is hated by God.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p align="center" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm; text-align: center;"><b><u><span style="font-family: arial;">PROCREATION IS THE PRIMARY PURPOSE OF MARRIAGE</span></u></b></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It is a divine law, a dogma of the faith (<i>de fide</i>), that the primary end of marriage is procreation (bearing children) and the education of children. Pope Pius XI decrees it “is beyond the power of any human law” to teach otherwise.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Pius XI, <i>Casti Connubii</i> (# 8), Dec. 31, 1930: “To take away from man the natural and primeval right of marriage, to circumscribe in any way the principal ends of marriage laid down in the beginning by God Himself in the words ‘Increase and multiply,’ is beyond the power of any human law. … This is also expressed succinctly in the [1917] Code of Canon Law [Canon 1013]: ‘The primary end [or purpose] of marriage is the procreation and the education of children.’”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: blue;"></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A Practical Commentary on Canon 1013 explains that: “there can be no controversy over the primary object of marriage. The perpetuation of the human race is willed by the Creator, who from the creation of mankind appointed the means for this purpose… The Holy Office condemned the opinion defended by some recent authors who deny that the procreation of children is the primary end of matrimony, and regard its secondary ends not subordinate to its primary end but independent of it.” (April 1, 1944; <i>Acta Ap. Sedis</i>, XXXVI, 103.)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It could not be more clear from both the Natural Law as well as the teachings of the Church that “The primary purpose of marriage is the procreation and education of children.” (<i>The 1917 Code of Canon Law</i>, Canon 1013) Therefore, it is heresy to teach that procreation and education of children is not the only primary end of marriage. Any deliberate plan by man to frustrate the marital act by attempting to make conception impossible is a grave sin against this primary purpose of marriage.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>The 1917 Code of Canon Law</i>, Canon 1081: “The matrimonial consent is an act of will by which each party gives and accepts the perpetual and exclusive right to the body for the performance of actions that of their nature pertain to the procreation of children.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: red;"></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A Practical Commentary on Canon 1081 explains that: “The Canon, in specifying the purpose for which the right to the body exchanged, also indicates what is lawful and what is unlawful in this matter for married persons. Whatever contributes to the procreation of children is licit, while whatever use of each other’s body impedes procreations is illicit.” Any plan by spouses to prevent conception when they engage in the marital act is illicit. Since it impedes procreation, it does not contribute to the procreation of children, but works against it.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><b><u><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="text-decoration-line: none;"></span></span></u></b></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p align="center" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.3pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.3pt; text-align: center;"><b><u><span style="font-family: arial;">THE TEACHING OF THE SOLEMN AND INFALLIBLE MAGISTERIUM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH CONDEMNS ALL FORMS OF BIRTH CONTROL AS WELL AS THE INTENTION THAT IS OPPOSED TO PROCREATING CHILDREN AS A MORTAL SIN AGAINST NATURE</span></u></b></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A pope can teach infallibly, not just in matters of faith, but also in matters of morals.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Pius IX, <i>First Vatican Council</i>, Session 4, Chapter 4. <b>Definition of infallibility</b>: “… we teach and define as a divinely revealed <b>dogma</b> that when the Roman pontiff speaks <b>EX CATHEDRA</b>, that is, when, <b>1. in the exercise of his office as shepherd and teacher of <i><u>all Christians</u></i>, 2. in virtue of his <i><u>supreme apostolic authority</u></i>, 3. <u>he defines a doctrine concerning <i>faith or morals</i> to be held by the <i>whole church</i></u>, he possesses, by the divine assistance promised to him in blessed Peter, that <u>infallibility</u> which the divine Redeemer willed his church to enjoy in defining doctrine concerning <u>faith or morals</u></b>. Therefore, such definitions of the Roman pontiff are of themselves, and not by the consent of the church, <b>irreformable</b>. So then, should anyone, which God forbid, have the temerity to reject this definition of ours: <b>let him be anathema</b>.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A doctrine of faith or morals becomes part of the Solemn (Extraordinary) Magisterium when a pope infallibly defines it and hence makes it a dogma of faith or morals. Not only the Ordinary Magisterium (non-infallibly defined doctrines) but also the Solemn Magisterium (dogmas of faith), by an infallible definition from Pope Pius XI’s encyclical <i>Casti Connubii</i> in 1930, condemns the contraceptive intent and hence any method used to carry out that intent (which includes any new methods that science and medicine had not yet invented, such as birth control pills that were introduced to the public in the early 1960’s.)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Casti Connubii</i> is an encyclical addressed to the <b>entire Church</b>. In this encyclical, Pius XI plainly states what the <b>Faith of the Church is on Christian Marriage</b>. When a Pope <b>plainly and authoritatively states what the Faith of the Church is</b> in an encyclical to <b>the entire Church</b>, that represents the teaching of the <b>Ordinary and Universal Magisterium</b>, to which a Catholic is <b>bound</b>. His teaching shows that <b>all forms of birth prevention are evil</b>. (We quote a long excerpt from his encyclical which sums up the issue below.) <b>In addition, there is solemn language used by Pope Pius XI in <i>Casti Connubii</i> which constitutes a solemn and infallible (ex cathedra) pronouncement. Note the bolded and underlined portions.</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Pius XI, <i>Casti Connubii</i> (#’s 53-56), Dec. 31, 1930: “And now, Venerable Brethren, we shall explain in detail the evils opposed to each of the benefits of matrimony. First consideration is due to the offspring, which many have the boldness to call the disagreeable burden of matrimony and which they say is to be carefully avoided by married people not through virtuous continence (which Christian law permits in matrimony when both parties consent) but by frustrating the marriage act. Some justify this criminal abuse on the ground that they are weary of children and wish to gratify their desires without their consequent burden. Others say that they cannot on the one hand remain continent nor on the other can they have children because of the difficulties whether on the part of the mother or on the part of the family circumstances.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm; text-indent: 1cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“<b>But no reason, however grave, may be put forward by which anything intrinsically against nature may become conformable to nature and morally good. Since, therefore, the conjugal act is destined primarily by nature for the begetting of children, those who in <i>exercising it deliberately</i> frustrate its natural powers and <i><u>purpose</u></i> sin against nature and commit a deed which is shameful and intrinsically vicious.</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm; text-indent: 1cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“Small wonder, therefore, if Holy Writ bears witness that the Divine Majesty regards with greatest detestation this horrible crime and at times has punished it with death. As St. Augustine notes, ‘<b>Intercourse even with one’s legitimate wife is unlawful and wicked where the conception of offspring is prevented.</b> Onan, the son of Judah, did this and the Lord killed him for it (Gen. 38:8-10).’</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm; text-indent: 1cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“<b><u>Since, therefore, openly departing from the uninterrupted Christian tradition <i>some recently have judged it possible solemnly to declare another doctrine regarding this question</i>, THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, TO WHOM GOD HAS ENTRUSTED THE DEFENSE OF THE INTEGRITY AND PURITY OF <i>MORALS</i>, standing erect in the midst of the moral ruin which surrounds her, in order that she may preserve the chastity of the nuptial union from being defiled by this foul stain, <i>raises her voice in token of her divine ambassadorship and through Our mouth proclaims anew</i>: ANY USE WHATSOEVER OF MATRIMONY EXERCISED IN SUCH A WAY THAT THE ACT IS <i>DELIBERATELY</i> FRUSTRATED IN ITS <i>NATURAL POWER</i> TO GENERATE LIFE IS AN OFFENSE AGAINST THE LAW OF GOD AND OF NATURE, AND THOSE WHO INDULGE IN SUCH ARE BRANDED WITH THE GUILT OF A GRAVE SIN</u></b>.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">These sentences fulfill the conditions of an infallible teaching regarding a doctrine of morals. The Pope is addressing the <b><i><u>Universal Church</u></i></b>, “the Catholic Church.” He makes it clear he is <b><i><u>proclaiming a truth</u></i></b>, “Our mouth proclaims.” The topic deals with <b><i><u>morals</u></i></b>, “the Catholic Church, to whom God has entrusted the defense of the integrity and the purity of morals.” And lastly, he <b><i><u>binds Catholics to this teaching</u></i> under pain of grave sin</b>, “those who indulge in such are branded with the guilt of a grave sin.” <b>This is infallible, <i>ex cathedra</i> language</b>; anyone who denies this simply doesn’t know what he is talking about. This also serves to refute those many voices today who say things such as: “there have only been two infallible statements in Church history, the Assumption and the Immaculate Conception.” That is complete nonsense, of course, but one hears it quite frequently.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">One can see that Pope Pius XI condemns <u>all</u> forms of contraception as mortally sinful because they frustrate the marriage act. Does this condemn NFP? Yes it does, but the defenders of Natural Family Planning say “no.” They argue that in using Natural Family Planning to avoid conception they are not <i>deliberately frustrating</i> the marriage <i>act</i> or designedly depriving it of its natural <i><u>power</u></i> to procreate life, as is done with artificial contraceptives. They argue that NFP is “natural.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Common sense should tell those who deeply consider this topic that these arguments are specious because NFP has as its entire purpose the avoidance of conception. However, the attempted justification for NFP – the claim that it doesn’t interfere with the marriage act <i>itself</i> and is therefore permissible – must be specifically refuted. This claim is specifically refuted by a careful look at the teaching of the Catholic Church on marriage and <u>ITS PRIMARY PURPOSE</u>. It is the teaching of the Catholic Church on the <u>primary</u> purpose of marriage (and the marriage act) which condemns NFP.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Catholic dogma teaches us that the primary purpose of marriage (and the conjugal act) is the procreation and education of children.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Pius XI, <i>Casti Connubii</i> (# 17), Dec. 31, 1930: “<b><u>The primary end of marriage is the procreation and the education of children</u></b>.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Pius XI, <i>Casti Connubii</i> (# 54), Dec. 31, 1930: “Since, therefore, <b><u>the conjugal act is destined primarily by nature for the begetting of children</u></b>, those who in exercising it deliberately frustrate its natural powers and <i><u>purpose</u></i> sin against nature and commit a deed which is shameful and intrinsically vicious.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Besides this primary purpose, there are also secondary purposes for marriage, such as mutual aid, the quieting of concupiscence and the cultivating of mutual love. <b><u>But these secondary purposes must always remain subordinate to the primary purpose of marriage (the procreation and education of children)</u></b>.<b> </b><u>This is the key point</u> to remember in the discussion on NFP.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Pius XI, <i>Casti Connubii </i>(# 59), Dec. 31, 1930: “For in matrimony as well as in the use of the matrimonial right there are also secondary ends, such as mutual aid, the cultivating of mutual love, and the quieting of concupiscence which husband and wife are not forbidden to consider <b><u>SO LONG AS THEY ARE SUBORDINATED TO THE PRIMARY END <span style="text-transform: uppercase;">[THAT IS, PROCREATION OF CHILDREN]</span></u></b> and so long as the intrinsic nature of the act is preserved.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Therefore, even though NFP does not directly interfere with the marriage <i>act itself</i>, as its defenders love to stress, it makes no difference. <b>NFP is condemned because it subordinates the primary <u>end</u> (or <u>purpose</u>) of marriage and the marriage act (the procreation and education of children) to the secondary ends</b>.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">NFP subordinates the primary end of marriage to other things, by deliberately attempting <u>to avoid children</u> (i.e., to avoid the primary end) while having marital relations. NFP therefore inverts the order established by God Himself. It does the very thing that Pope Pius XI solemnly teaches <u>may not lawfully be done</u>. And this point <b><i><u>crushes</u></i></b> all of the arguments made by those who defend NFP; because all of the arguments made by those who defend NFP focus on the marriage act itself, while they blindly ignore the fact that it makes no difference if a couple does not interfere with the act itself <i>if they subordinate and thwart the primary PURPOSE of marriage</i>.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">To summarize, therefore, the only difference between artificial contraception and NFP is that artificial contraception frustrates the power of the marriage <i>act itself</i>, while NFP frustrates its primary purpose (by subordinating the procreation of children to other things).</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p align="center" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.3pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.3pt; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><b><u><span style="font-family: arial;">THE HOLY BIBLE INFALLIBLY CONDEMNS ALL FORMS OF BIRTH CONTROL AND TEACHES THAT BOTH THE INTENTION AS WELL THE ACT AGAINST PROCREATION OF CHILDREN IS DAMNABLE AND A MORTAL SIN</span></u></b></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: red;"></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The best example of God’s utter hatred and detestation of all those who perform the marital act while trying to thwart the procreation of the children that God wanted to bless them with, is found in <i>The Book of Genesis,</i> where God Himself directly killed a man named Onan for practicing contraception. The reason Onan in <i>The Book of Genesis</i> was killed was because “<i>He knowing that the children should not be his, when he went in to his brother’s wife, spilled his seed upon the ground, lest children should be born in his brother’s name.”</i> Notice how clearly the biblical text shows that the reason he did this “detestable thing” was “lest children should be born in his brother’s name”, thus showing us that the act of performing the marital act while taking steps to hinder procreation is hated by God. This absolutely proves that the act of trying to hinder conception (in action or thought) is condemned and sinful according to God’s Holy Law.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Genesis 38:8-10 “Juda, therefore said to Onan his son: ‘<u>Go in to thy brother’s wife and marry her, that thou mayst raise seed to thy brother</u>.’ He knowing that the children should not be his, when he went in to his brother’s wife, spilled his seed upon the ground, <b><u>lest children should be born in his brother’s name.</u></b> And therefore the Lord slew him, because he did a detestable thing.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">What deed was Onan killed for by God? Obviously, <b>he was killed for the wicked and selfish deed of having sexual relations while practicing contraception; and for being against conception; for,</b> “As St. Augustine notes, ‘<b>Intercourse even with one’s legitimate wife is unlawful and wicked where the conception of offspring is prevented.</b> <u>Onan, the son of Judah, did this and the Lord killed him for it</u> (Gen. 38:8-10).’” (Pope Pius XI, <i>Casti Connubii</i> # 55; St. Augustine, <i>De Conjugiis Adulterinis</i>, Book II, Chapter 12)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Since Onan wanted to selfishly and lustfully enjoy the sex act without intending having children as God’s holy law requires, the evil angel Asmodeus that kills lustful and wicked people, was permitted by God to slay him (cf. Tobias 3:8). Haydock commentary explains: “[Genesis 38] Ver. 10. <i>Slew him</i>, perhaps by the hand of <i>evil angels</i>, Psalm lxxvii. 49. <u>Asmodeus, &c., who slew the libidinous husbands of Sara</u>. (Tobias iii. 7[8].) (Menochius)”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In addition to this irrefutable biblical example from <i>The Book of Genesis</i> that shows that contraceptive marital sexual acts are hated by God, we read in the biblical <i>Book of Tobias </i>or <i>Tobit</i> (which not surprisingly is missing from most protestant “bible” versions, whereas in the few versions they are included, these verses shown below are nevertheless missing) that the holy youth Tobias was explicitly commanded by almighty God through the Archangel Raphael to never perform the marital act for the sake of lust and that “thou shalt take the virgin with the fear of the Lord, <b>moved rather for love of children than for lust</b>, that in the seed of Abraham thou mayest obtain a blessing in children.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Tobias who was a holy and virtuous person consented to this admonishment by the holy angel and answered God in his prayer that “<b>not for fleshly lust do I take my sister to wife, <u>but only for the love of posterity</u></b>”.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Holy Bible, Tobias 6:22; 8:9 “And when the third night is past, thou shalt take the virgin with the fear of the Lord, <b>moved rather for love of children than for lust</b>, that in the seed of Abraham thou mayest obtain a blessing in children… [Tobias said:] And now, Lord, thou knowest, that <b>not for fleshly lust do I take my sister to wife, but <u>only for the love of posterity</u></b>, in which thy name may be blessed for ever and ever.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This makes it perfectly clear that spouses must approach the marital sexual act with a will to beget children “moved rather for love of children than for lust” as well as with a “fear of the Lord” so that they do not allow their lust to erupt or gain a control over their minds by acts of non-procreative, unlawful or excessive sexual acts, such as sensual kisses and touches between two married spouses performed<b> <i><u>“for the sake of the carnal and sensible delight which arises from the kiss”</u></i></b> which is condemned as a mortal sin for both the married and the unmarried people alike (Pope Alexander VII, <i>Various Errors on Morals Condemned in Decree</i> #40, September 24, 1665; Denz. 1140).</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The holy youth Tobias approached his bride Sara after three days of prayer in chastity and abstinence from the marital act, not for fleshly lust but only for the love of posterity, <u>having been instructed by the Archangel Raphael that to engage in the marital act he shall “be moved rather for love of children than for lust</u>”.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">According to God’s will, spouses are to engage in the marital act for the “love of posterity” (children), not for lust. No, contrary to what most people today say, the Holy Bible is clear that spouses are to come together “<b><u>only</u> for the love of posterity</b>” if they want to please Our Lord Jesus Christ. The Holy Word of God in the Bible is indeed true when it says that “<b>the devil has power</b>” over all spouses who selfishly come together for the purpose of gratifying their fleshly pleasures, giving “<b>themselves to their lust, as the horse and mule, which have not understanding</b>” instead of being “<b>moved rather for love of children than for lust”</b> when they perform the marital act that Our Lord commands.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Tobias 6:16-17 “Then the angel Raphael said to him [Tobias]: Hear me, and I will show thee who they are, over whom the devil can prevail. <b>For they who in such manner receive matrimony, as to shut out God from themselves, and from their mind, and to give themselves to their lust, as the horse and mule, which have not understanding, <u>over them the devil hath power</u></b>.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Haydock Commentary adds about: “<b>Verse 17.</b> <i>Mule</i>, which are very libidinous, [Showing excessive sexual drive; lustful.] Psalm xiii.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The interesting thing about the sexual connection of a horse and a mule is that they cannot produce offspring, thus making their sexual relations completely sterile and unproductive. So what does this mean for marriage? It means that this verse alone proves that God’s Holy Word in the Bible condemns as sinful and unlawful all human sexual relations or acts that (1) are performed for the sole sake of lust; (2) that cannot produce offspring naturally (not referring to natural infertility or defects); and (3) that are done with an intention or mindset opposed to procreating offspring. St. Paul in the New Testament also connects the will to bear children to salvation, teaching that a woman: “<b><i><u>shall be saved through child-bearing</u></i></b><i>; if she continue in faith, and love, and sanctification, with sobriety.”</i> (1 Timothy 2:15)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">We also see in <i>The Book of Tobit</i> that the Holy Bible teaches that both the intention as well as the act against procreation of children is damnable and a mortal sin since we see described in the Bible that the devil is able to both gain control and prevail over those vile and wretched people who commit lustful acts of birth control either in thought or deed. And so, it is certain that all spouses who are opposed to procreation while at the same time desiring to perform the marital act are committing a mortal sin. In truth, “I will show thee who they are, over whom the devil can prevail” and who “give themselves to their lust, as the horse and mule, which have not understanding” that the “the devil hath power” over. “<b>For they who in such manner receive matrimony, as to shut out God from themselves, and from their mind, and to give themselves to their lust, as the horse and mule, which have not understanding, over them the devil hath power</b>.” (Tobias 6:16-17)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">God’s words are clear. Spouses are to engage in the marital act moved rather for love of children than for lust. So when a married couple goes out of its way to avoid children by deliberately avoiding the fertile times and restricting the marriage act exclusively to infertile times, they are committing a sin against nature – they are sinning against the God whom they know sends life. NFP is therefore a sin against God and nature, since God is the author of life, and NFP thwarts His designs. <b>This is so obvious that one can only marvel at how utterly unreasonable and stupid all those NFP defenders are who claim that one can practice birth control in one way, but not in another; and that by doing it in one way (which they deem lawful) one is not committing a sin, but while doing it in another way (which they deem unlawful) one is committing a sin! But is not the motive, purpose or intention exactly the same in both cases? Of course they are! How then can one be lawful and the other not lawful? Greater stupidity and unreasonable thinking is hard to imagine!</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: red;"></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It is not a complicated matter to understand that using Natural Family Planning to avoid pregnancy is wrong. It is written on man’s heart that such activity is wrong. It is also clear from the infallible word of God and the Bible that all forms of birth control are inherently evil and against nature.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Genesis 30:1-2 “And Rachel seeing herself without children, envied her sister, and said to her husband: ‘Give me children, otherwise I shall die.’ <b>And Jacob being angry with her, answered: ‘<u>Am I as God, who hath deprived thee of the fruit of thy womb?</u>’”</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">We all know that God is the One who opens the womb, the One who killeth and maketh alive. “<i>The Lord also remembering Rachel, heard her, <b>and opened her womb</b>.”</i> (Genesis 30:22) In truth, “<i>The Lord killeth and maketh alive, he bringeth down to hell, and bringeth back again</i>.” (1 Kings 2:6)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">So why would a woman who desires to fulfill the will of God make a systematic effort to avoid God sending her a new life? What excuse could such a person possibly make for going out of her way to calculate how to have marital relations without getting pregnant with the child God was going to send? Why would a woman (or a man) who believes that God opens the womb try to avoid His opening of the womb by a meticulous and organized effort, involving charts, cycles and thermometers? The answer is that those who engage in such behavior as NFP selfishly turn from God (which is the essence of sin) and refuse to be open to His will.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">God, and not man, is the only one that can lawfully decide whether a couple shall receive a child or not. Can you imagine what Jacob would have said to Rachel if she had discovered a new way to avoid “the Lord opening her womb?” He would probably have rebuked her as an infidel.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Is the purpose of marriage to have children? Yes. The answer to this question can be found right in <i>The Holy Bible.</i> “And God blessed them saying: ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it.’” (Genesis 1:28) “Be fruitful and multiply” is a command of God, indeed the first command to a married couple. Birth control obviously involves disobedience to this command, for birth control attempts to prevent being fruitful and multiplying. Therefore birth control is evil, because it involves disobedience to the Word of God. Nowhere is this command done away with in the entire Bible; therefore it still remains valid for us today.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Contrary to the many heretics of our times, The Holy Bible does have quite a lot to say about the greatness and blessing of receiving children from God. The Bible presents children as a gift from God (Genesis 4:1; Genesis 33:5), a heritage from the Lord (Psalm 127:3-5), a blessing from God (Luke 1:42), and a crown to the aged (Proverbs 17:6). God sometimes blesses barren women with children (Psalm 113:9; Genesis 21:1-3; 25:21-22; 30:1-2; 1 Samuel 1:6-8; Luke 1:7, 24-25). God forms children in the womb (Psalm 139:13-16). God knows children before their birth (Jeremiah 1:5; Galatians 1:15).”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Birth control is a contravention of God’s purpose for marriage and that all children conceived during routine sexual intercourse (without regard to time of the month during the ovulation cycle or other matters) should be welcomed as blessings. Based upon Bible verses that describe God acting to “open and close the womb” (see Genesis 20:18, 29:31, 30:22; 1 Samuel 1:5-6; Isaiah 66:9), all members of the Christian Church must believe that Divine Providence alone should control how many and how often children are conceived and born. It is a sad fact of our times, but use of birth control is directly and intimately connected with modern feminism, an anti-child mentality, worldliness, as well as abortion, because birth control is used for the same reasons why a woman aborts her child. When people who use birth control get pregnant, the chance for them getting an abortion is undoubtedly much higher than for those good and virtuous spouses who wish to get a child.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">If you were to list all the reasons why so called Christians use birth control, you would see that they are the same reasons why a woman aborts her child. The number one reason (according to all studies ever done) a woman aborts her child is because the child is an inconvenience. The child interferes with the mother’s (or the father’s) pursuit of happiness or possessions. When we use birth control, we are embracing the same anti-child mentality. We are saying that our pursuit of so called happiness, our pursuit of possessions, is more important than obeying God. The question is, “How can we abrogate God’s design for marriage and expect to really be happy?”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p></p><p></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="The-unanimous-consent-of-the-Fathers" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a></span><p></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0.3pt 0cm; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The first thing we must recognize is that children are a gift from God (Psalm 127:3-5). They are not burdens to bear, but blessings to receive with joy. From a biblical perspective, every married couple should “expect” to have children and at least be prepared for the possibility. The inability to have children was considered a curse, and the ability to conceive a joy. No one was ever recorded in the Bible as being unhappy about bearing children.</span></p><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><b><u><span style="font-family: arial;">The Church and the fathers infallibly and unanimously condemns all forms of birth control as evil and a mortal sin</span></u></b></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Second, we must also learn about the truth about that the Holy Fathers, Popes and Saints of the Catholic Church <b><u>unanimously condemns all forms of birth control and contraception (in deed as well as in thought) as not only intrinsically evil and mortally sinful, but also as an act worthy of hellfire</u>, since it is of the divine law that “<u>the conjugal act is destined primarily by nature for the begetting of children</u>”<i> </i></b>(Pope Pius XI, <i>Casti Connubii</i>). Thus, anything or any act that is opposed to the primary end of marriage, is a sin against nature.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Augustine, <i>De Conjugiis Adulterinis</i>, Book II, Chapter 12, A.D. 396: “… <b>intercourse, even with one’s lawfully wedded spouse, can take place in an unlawful and shameful manner, <u>whenever the conception of offspring is avoided</u></b>. Onan, the son of Juda, did this very thing, and the Lord slew him on that account. <b><u>Therefore, the procreation of children is itself the primary, natural, legitimate purpose of marriage</u></b>. Whence it follows that those who marry because of their inability to remain continent ought not to so temper their vice that they preclude the good of marriage,<b> <u>which is the procreation of children</u></b><u>.</u>”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Epiphanius, <i>Medicine Chest Against Heresies</i>, A.D. 375: “They [certain Egyptian heretics] exercise genital acts, <b><u>yet prevent the conceiving of children. Not in order to produce offspring, but to satisfy lust, are they eager for corruption</u></b>.” (<i>Panarion</i> or <i>Medicine Chest Against Heresies</i>, Book I, Chapter 26:5:2.--Epiphanius Against the Gnostics, or Borborites)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Epiphanius, <i>Medicine Chest Against Heresies</i>, A.D. 375: “<b>There are those who when they have intercourse <u>deliberately prevent having children</u></b>. They indulge in pleasure not for the sake of offspring but to satisfy their passion. To such an extent has the devil deceived these wretched people that they betray the work of God by perverting it to their own deceits. <b>Moreover, they are so willing to satisfy their carnal desires as to <u>pollute each other with impure seed, <i>by which offspring is not conceived</i></u> but by their own will evil desires are satisfied</b>.” (<i>Panarion</i> or <i>Medicine Chest Against Heresies</i>, Book I, Chapter 26:5:2-3.--Epiphanius Against the Gnostics, or Borborites)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Clement of Alexandria, <i>The Paedagogus</i> (c. 198 A.D.): “Because of its divine institution for the propagation of man, <b><u>the seed is not to be vainly ejaculated, nor is it to be damaged, nor is it to be wasted</u></b>.” (<i>The Paedagogus</i> or <i>The Instructor</i>, Book II, Chapter X.--On the Procreation and Education of Children)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. John Chrysostom, <i>Homilies on Matthew </i>28:5, A.D. 391: “… <b>and that which is sweet, and universally desirable, <u>the having of children, they esteem grievous and unwelcome. Many at least with this view have even paid money to be childless, and have mutilated nature, not only killing the newborn, but even acting to prevent their beginning to live [by birth control methods such as NFP or contraception]</u></b>.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. John Chrysostom, <i>Homilies on Romans </i>24, A.D. 391: “<b>Why do you <u>sow where the field is eager to destroy the fruit</u> [NFP], <u>where there are medicines of sterility</u> [oral contraceptives], where there is murder before birth? [birth prevention] You do not even let a harlot remain only a harlot, but you make her a murderess as well… Indeed, <u>it is something worse than murder</u>, and I do not know what to call it; <u>for she does not kill what is formed <i>but prevents its formation</i></u>. What then? Do you condemn the gift of God and fight with his [natural] laws, and follow after what is a curse as if a blessing, and make the chamber of procreation a chamber for murder</b>...”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Caesarius of Arles [A.D. 468-542],<i> Sermon </i>51:4: “They sin still more grievously when they kill the children who are already conceived or born, <b><u>and when by taking impious drugs to prevent conception they condemn in themselves the nature which God wanted to be fruitful. Let them not doubt that they have committed as many murders as the number of the children they might have begotten</u></b>. … As many as they kill after they are already conceived or born, before the tribunal of the eternal Judge they will be held guilty of so many murders. If women attempt to kill the children within them by evil medicines, and themselves die in the act, they become guilty of three crimes on their own: suicide, spiritual adultery, and murder of the unborn child.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Caesarius of Arles, <i>Sermon</i> 1:12, A.D. 522: “Who is he who cannot warn that no woman may take a potion so that she is unable to conceive or condemns in herself the nature which God willed to be fecund? <b><u>As often as she could have conceived or given birth, of that many homicides she will be held guilty, and, unless she undergoes suitable penance, she will be damned by eternal death in Hell.</u></b> If a woman does not wish to have children, let her enter into a religious agreement with her husband; for chastity is the sole sterility of a Christian woman.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Hippolytus, <i>Refutation of All Heresies</i> 9:7, A.D. 225: “<b><u>Whence women, reputed believers, began to resort to drugs for producing sterility</u></b>, and to gird themselves round, so to expel what was being conceived <b><u>on account of their not wishing to have a child</u></b> either by a slave or by any paltry fellow, for the sake of their family and excessive wealth. <b><u>Behold, into how great impiety that lawless one has proceeded, by inculcating adultery and murder at the same time!</u></b>”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span class="Q"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Hippolytus, <i>Refutation of All Heresies</i> 9:12, A.D. 225: “… <b><u>the so-called faithful want no children [but want to have sexual relations]</u></b>… [so] they use drugs of sterility or bind themselves tightly in order to expel a fetus which has already been engendered.”</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">John the Faster, Patriarch John IV of Constantinople (6th century): “If someone to satisfy his lust or in <b><u>deliberate</u></b> hatred does something to a man or woman <b><u>so that no children be born</u></b> of him or her, or gives them to drink (pharmakon), <b><u>so that he cannot generate or she conceive</u></b>, <b><u>let it be held as homicide</u></b>.” (Penitential of John IV Nesteutes)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. John Climacus (c. 525-606 A.D.): “God neither caused nor created evil and, therefore, those who assert that certain passions come naturally to the soul are quite wrong. What they fail to realize is that we have taken natural attributes of our own and turned them into passions.<b> <u>For instance, the seed which we have for the sake of procreating children [which is the natural attribute of the sexual act] is abused by us for the sake of fornication [or by any sexual act without intending having children]</u></b>.” (<i>The Ladder of Divine Ascent</i>, "Step 26: On Discernment," by St. John Climacus, p. 251)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Lactantius, <i>Divine Institutes</i>, Book VI, Chapter 23, A.D. 307: “God gave us eyes not to see and desire pleasure, but to see acts to be performed for the needs of life; so too, the genital [generating] part of the body, as the name itself teaches, has been received by us for<b> <u>no other purpose than the generation of offspring</u></b><u>.</u>”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Jerome, <i>Letter 22:13, To Eustochium</i>, A.D. 384: “<b>Some go so far as to take potions, that they may insure barrenness, <u>and thus murder human beings almost before their conception</u></b>.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Caesarius of Arles [A.D. 468-542],<b> </b><i>Sermon</i> 44: “<b>Moreover, women must not take diabolical draughts [contraceptive drugs] <u>with the <i>purpose</i> of not being able to conceive children</u>. <u>A woman who does this ought to realize that she will be guilty of as many murders as the number of children she might have borne</u></b>.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Epiphanius, <i>Medicine Chest Against Heresies</i>, A.D. 375: “The like of this fornication and licentiousness may be seen in the extremely dreadful snake the ancients called the pangless viper. For the nature of such a viper is similar to the wickedness of these people. <b>In performing their filthy act</b> either with men or with women <b><u>they forbear insemination, rendering impossible the procreation God has given his creatures</u></b>—as the apostle says, "receiving in themselves the recompense of their error which was meet" [Rom. 1:27], and so on.” (<i>Panarion</i> or <i>Medicine Chest Against Heresies</i>, Book I, Chapter 26:5:19:2-3.--Epiphanius Against the Gnostics, or Borborites)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Epiphanius, <i>Medicine Chest Against Heresies</i>, A.D. 375: “<b>But if the apostle <u>says to bear children</u> [1 Tim. 5:11; 14], <u>but they decline procreation</u>, it is the enterprise of a serpent and of false doctrine</b>. <u>Because they are mastered by the pleasure of fornication</u> [fornication is often mentioned by the Fathers as the desire for sexual relations but without desiring or intending having offspring] <u>they invent excuses for their uncleanness</u>, so that their licentiousness may appear to fulfill Paul’s commandment. Really these things should neither be said nor considered worth mentioning in treatises, but buried like a foul corpse exuding a pestilent vapour, to protect people from injury even through their sense of hearing. <b>And if a sect of this kind [which teaches the heresy that non-procreative sexual acts are moral or that they are without sin] had passed away and no longer existed, it would be better to bury it and say nothing about it at all. But since it does exist and has practitioners, and I have been urged by your Honors to speak of all the sects, I have been forced to describe parts of it, in order, in all frankness, not to pass them over but describe them, for the protection of the hearers—but for the banishment of the practitioners</b>.” (<i>Panarion</i> or <i>Medicine Chest Against Heresies</i>, Book I, Chapter 26:5:14:3-5.--Epiphanius Against the Gnostics, or Borborites)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Thus, since the Fathers of the Church unanimously teaches that contraception or birth control in all its forms are mortally sinful in deed as well as in thought, this doctrine is infallible according to the councils of Trent and Vatican I. And this is not even mentioning the fact that the Holy Bible and the Papal Magisterium of the Church infallibly condemns birth control as well, as we have seen!</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><b><u><span style="font-family: arial;">The Church and the fathers infallibly and unanimously teaches that spouses who intend to get married and have sexual relations must desire to beget and educate children</span></u></b></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Third, we must also learn about the truth that the Fathers, Popes and Saints of the Catholic Church all teach that people who choose to get married (and that desire to have sexual relations)<span style="color: red;"> </span>must also desire to beget and educate children in the Catholic religion for the glory and honor of God, since it is of the Divine Law and the teaching of the Church and of Pope Pius XI that “<b>Christian parents <i><u>must</u></i> also understand that they are destined not only to propagate and preserve the human race on earth, indeed not only to educate any kind of worshippers of the true God, but children who are to become members of the Church of Christ, to raise up fellow-citizens of the Saints, and members of God’s household, that the worshipers of God and Our Savior may daily increase</b>.” (Pope Pius XI, <i>Casti Connubii</i>, #13)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This is also expressed succinctly in <i>The 1917 Code of Canon Law</i>: “The primary purpose of marriage is the procreation and education of children.” (Canon 1013) The following Fathers and Saints of the Church teach the same as Pope Pius XI and <i>The 1917 Code of Canon Law</i>.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Augustine, <i>Sermons on the New Testament</i>, Sermon 1:22: “<b>The [marriage] contract is read... in the presence of all the attesting witnesses... <u>that they marry "for the procreation of children</u>;" and this is called the marriage contract.</b> <b><u>If it was not for this that wives were given and taken to wife, what father could without blushing give up his daughter to the lust of any man?</u></b> But now, that the parents may not blush, and that they may give their daughters in honorable marriage, not to shame, the contract is read out. <b><u>And what is read from it?--the clause, "for the sake of the procreation of children."</u></b> And when this is heard, the brow of the parent is cleared up and calmed. Let us consider again the feelings of the husband who takes his wife. The husband himself would blush to receive her with any other view, if the father would blush with any other view to give her.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Justin Martyr, <i>First Apology</i>, Chapter 29 (c. 160 A.D.): “We <b><u>Christians either marry only to produce children</u></b>, or, if we refuse to marry, are completely continent.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><em><span style="font-style: normal;">St. John Chrysostom, A.D. 347-407, </span>Homilies on Colossians<span style="font-style: normal;">:</span></em> “<b>Thou marriest a wife for chastity <u>and procreation</u></b>.” (Homily XII; PG 62.386; NPNF p. 318)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Ignatius of Antioch, <i>Epistle to the Philadelphians</i>, Chapter IV, A.D. 107: “For I pray that, being found worthy of God, I may be found at their feet in the kingdom, as at the feet of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob; as of Joseph, and Isaiah, and the rest of the prophets; as of Peter, and Paul, and the rest of the apostles, that were married men. <b><u>For they entered into these marriages not for the sake of appetite, but out of regard for the propagation of mankind</u></b>.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><em><span style="font-style: normal;">St. Clement of Alexandria, </span>The Paedagogus<span style="font-style: normal;"> (c. 198 A.D.): </span></em>“<b><u>The procreation of children is the remit and ordinance of those who are joined together in marriage; and their objective is that their children be good.… It is lawful for you to take sensual pleasures only from your wife in order to beget legitimate offspring, for only these pleasures are lawful according to the Word</u></b>.... For this reason, Moses himself prohibited his people from sleeping even with their own wives in cases where they were subject to menstrual flows.… For pleasure alone, when experienced in marital intercourse, is unlawful, unjust and foreign to reason. Again, Moses ordered men not to sleep with pregnant women until they gave birth.… In fact, it [sexual pleasure] spreads a cloud over the senses and weakens one’s strength.... However, marriage is indeed allowed and accepted: for the Lord wishes the human race to be replenished; but He does not say, "Be lustful", nor is it his will that you be dedicated to pleasure as if you were born for intercourse.... <b><u>However, to have intercourse for purposes other than to beget children is to do an injury to nature</u></b>.... Marriage constitutes an endeavour to beget children, not an undisciplined ejaculation of semen, which is unlawful and foreign to reason....”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Robert Bellarmine, <i>The Art of Dying Well</i>, Chapter XV, On Matrimony, A.D. 1619: “There are three blessings arising from Matrimony, if it be made a good use of, viz: Children, fidelity, and the grace of the sacrament. <b><u>The generation of children, together with their proper education, must be had in view, if we would make a good use of matrimony; but on the contrary, he commits a most grievous sin, who seeks only carnal pleasure in it.”</u></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;"><u></u></span></b></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. John Damascene (c. 676-749 A.D.), On Marriage: “<b><u>Marriage was devised that the race of men may be preserved through the procreation of children</u></b><u>.</u>” (<i>An Exposition of the Orthodox Faith</i>, Book IV, Chapter XXIV)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Caesarius of Arles (c. 470-543 A.D.), <i>Sermon</i> 44:3: “<b><u>A man takes a wife for the procreation of children, not for the sake of lust. Even the marriage rite mentions this: ‘For the procreation of children,’ it says. Notice that it does not say for the sake of lust, but ‘for the procreation of children.’</u></b> I would like to know, dearly beloved, what kind of a harvest a man could gather if he sowed his field in one year as often as he is overcome by dissipation and abuses his wife without any desire for children. If those <i>who are unwilling to control themselves</i> plowed and sowed repeatedly their land which was already sown, let us see in what kind of fruit they would rejoice. As you well know, no land can produce proper fruit if it is sown frequently in one year. Why, then, does a man do with his body what he does not want done with his field?”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Augustine, <i>On the Good of Marriage</i>, Section 6, A.D. 401: “Therefore <b>married persons <u>owe</u> one another not <u>only the faith of their sexual intercourse itself for the begetting of children</u></b>, which is the first fellowship of the human kind in this mortal state; but also, in a way, a mutual service of sustaining one another’s weakness, [that is, paying the marital debt when it is asked for] in order to shun unlawful intercourse.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Irenaeus, <i>Against Heresies</i> (c. 180 A.D.): “<b>God made the male and female <u>for the propagation of the human race</u></b>.” (Book I, Chapter XXVIII, Section 1)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. John Chrysostom<em><span style="font-style: normal;">, A.D. 347-407</span></em>, <i>On Virginity</i>, #19: “<b><u>So marriage was granted for the sake of procreation</u></b>...”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Clement of Alexandria, On Marriage (<em><span style="font-style: normal;">c. 199 A.D.):</span></em> “<b><u>Marriage is the first union of man and woman for the procreation of legitimate children</u></b>.” (<i>The Stromata</i> or <i>Miscellanies</i>, Book II, Chapter XXIII)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Augustine, <i>On the Good of Marriage</i>, Section 32, A.D. 401: “<b>Therefore that <u>marriage takes place for the sake of begetting children</u>, the Apostle is a witness thus, "I will," says he, "that the younger women be married." And, as though it were said to him, "For what purpose?" Straightway he added, "to have children, to be mothers of families."</b> … <u>All these are goods, on account of which marriage is a good; offspring, faith, sacrament</u>. But now, at this time, not to seek offspring after the flesh, and by this means to maintain a certain perpetual freedom from every such work, and to be made subject after a spiritual manner unto one Husband Christ, is assuredly better and holier...”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><em><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-style: normal;">St. Clement of Alexandria, On Marriage (c. 199 A.D.): “<b>For every one is not to marry, nor always</b>. But there is a time in which it is suitable, and a person for whom it is suitable, and an age up to which it is suitable. <b>Neither ought every one to take a wife</b>, nor is it every woman one is to take, nor always, nor in every way, nor inconsiderately. <b>But only he who is in certain circumstances, and such an one and at such time as is requisite, <u>and for the sake of children</u></b>, and one who is in every respect similar, and who does not by force or compulsion love the husband who loves her.” (</span>The Stromata<span style="font-style: normal;"> </span><span style="font-style: normal;">or </span>Miscellanies<span style="font-style: normal;">, </span><span style="font-style: normal;">Book II, Chapter XXIII)</span></span></em></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><em><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-style: normal;">St. Methodius (died c. 311 A.D.), On Genesis 1:28: “<b><u>Increase and multiply is the command</u>, and we may not spurn the command [if we are married and intend to perform the marital sexual act]</b>.” (</span>Symp<span style="font-style: normal;">., 31; SC 95, p. 70; Musurillo (1958), p. 49)</span></span></em></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><em><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-style: normal;">St. John Chrysostom, A.D. 347-407, </span>Homilies on Timothy<span style="font-style: normal;">: “<b>Shall not women then be saved? <u>Yes, by means of </u></b></span><b><u>children</u></b><b><u><span style="font-style: normal;">.</span></u></b><span style="font-style: normal;"> For it is not of Eve that he says, "If they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety." [1 Tim. 2:15] What faith? what charity? what holiness with sobriety? It is as if he had said, "Ye women, be not cast down, because your sex has incurred blame. <b><u>God has granted you another opportunity of salvation, by the bringing up of children</u></b>, so that you are saved, not only by yourselves, but by others." [cf. 1 Tim. 2:15]” (</span>Homilies on the First Epistle of St. Paul to Timothy<span style="font-style: normal;">, Homily IX, 1 Timothy 2:11-15)</span></span></em></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Augustine, <i>On the Good of Marriage</i>, Section 19, 32, A.D. 401: “<b><u>Marriage itself indeed in all nations is for the same cause of begetting sons, and of what character soever these may be afterward, yet was marriage for this purpose instituted</u></b>, that they may be born in due and honest order… <u>Therefore the good of marriage throughout all nations and all men stands in the occasion of begetting [children]</u>, and faith of chastity: but, so far as pertains unto the People of God, also in the sanctity of the Sacrament, by reason of which it is unlawful for one who leaves her husband, even when she has been put away, to be married to another, so long as her husband lives, no not even <b><u>for the sake of bearing children: and, whereas this is the alone cause, wherefore marriage takes place</u></b><u>...</u>”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The main reason why the Church and Her Popes and Saints all teach that a man and a woman who intends to marry <b>and have sexual relations</b> must also desire to beget children and educate them in the Catholic religion for the glory and honor of God, is that a “marriage” without this desire would be similar to the cohabitation of unmarried people who only live with each other for the motive of gratifying their sensual desires. In truth, “<b>the aforesaid [marital sexual] act does not differ from the act of fornication... But the act of fornication is always evil. Therefore the marriage act also will always be evil unless it be excused</b>...” (St. Thomas Aquinas, <i>Summa Theologica, Supplement</i>, Q. 49, Art. 5) Thus, what separates fornication from a true marriage is the active wish to beget and educate children for the love and honor of Our Lord Jesus Christ.<span style="color: red;"> </span>This is also why St. Augustine writes that “<b>the [marriage] contract is read... in the presence of all the attesting witnesses... that they marry ‘for the procreation of children’” </b>(<i>On the New Testament</i> 1:22).</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A good advice to all men and women who intend to marry (or who are already married) is that they read the marriage vows several times either with their future spouse or by themselves, and seriously considers the reason for their marriage, so that they know what is obligated of them when they get married. It is important for all who intend to marry to know that marriage is about a lot of obligations, and that spouses many times are forced to be without sex for the rest of their life if the other spouse dies, or gets hurt or suffer some other debilitating problem or illness that hinders them from being able to perform the marital act, so that this does not come as a shock when trouble happens. Marriage was never intended to be about selfishness or sensuality, but rather about family, companionship and responsibility, so people who intend to marry must make sure that they adopt the life of marriage in order to love and serve their spouse, instead of seeing or treating their spouse as a fleshly object given to them to satisfy their sensual longings. “Marriage constitutes an endeavour to beget children, not an undisciplined ejaculation of semen, which is unlawful and foreign to reason... It is therefore not just to be held bound by sexual things, nor to cling stupidly to lusts, nor to be moved by appetites that are foreign to reason, nor to desire to be defiled. It is permitted to him alone who has married a wife... to sow his seed, when the time allows him to sow.” (<em><span style="font-style: normal;">St. Clement of Alexandria, </span>The Paedagogus<span style="font-style: normal;">, A.D. 198)</span></em></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The necessity to beget and educate one’s offspring in the true Catholic Faith cannot be understated; and especially so today since almost all people reject the true Catholic Faith, which is also why the world has been allowed to fall into such degradation. Pope Leo XIII in his encyclical <i>Arcanum</i> (<b>on Christian Marriage</b>) teaches that: “the Christian perfection and completeness of marriage are not comprised in those points only which have been mentioned. For, first, there has been vouchsafed to the marriage union a higher and nobler purpose than was ever previously given to it. By the command of Christ, <b>it not only looks to the propagation of the human race, but to the bringing forth of children for the Church, ‘fellow citizens with the saints, and the domestics of God’; so that ‘a people might be born and brought up for the worship and religion of the true God and our Saviour Jesus Christ</b>.’”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Clement of Alexandria further explains that, “for the married He [the Lord] goes on to say, "My elect shall not labour in vain nor bear children to be accursed; for they are a seed blessed by the Lord." [Isaiah 65:23] <u>For him who begets children and brings them up and educates them in the Lord, just as for him who begets children by means of the true teaching, a reward is laid up, as also for the elect seed</u>. … Those who are in truth the Lord’s elect neither teach doctrines nor beget children to be accursed, as the [heretical] sects do.” (<i>The Stromata</i> or <i>Miscellanies</i>, Book III, Chapter XV, Section 98)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">If we take upon us the heavy burden of Matrimony, we are obligated under pain of mortal sin to educate our children in the Catholic Faith. “For a person does not become a father simply because he helped to bring about the birth of a child, but by raising the child correctly.” (St. Chrysostom, <i>Sermon regarding Anna, Homily 1</i>, PG 54, 636) In truth, St. Chrysostom is completely right in saying that those who refuse to educate their children in the true Catholic Faith are the very reason for all kinds of evils in society. “The reason for the overturning of all things is that we aren’t caring for our own children. We take care of their bodies, but we ignore the upbringing of their souls.” Chrysostom goes on to ask, “Do you want a child that is obedient? From their first steps, feed them on the wisdom and counsels of the Lord.” If we showed the same interest in the spiritual education of children as we do in their education in other spheres, we would forestall many evils. “When the father of a very gentle child only gives him sweets, refreshments, and whatever he likes when he’s ill, but not what he actually needs for his sickness; or if a doctor checks him out and confesses, "What can I do? I can’t stand to see the child cry." Poor, foolish traitor! The only name I can’t give such a person is that of father. How much better it would be for you if you upset your child a little bit so that he might be healthy for all time, rather than making this fleeting pleasure the foundation for continuous sorrow.” (St. Chrysostom, <i>On the Acts of the Apostles, Homily 30</i>, PG 60, 226) With the satisfaction of the child’s every desire, we make him egocentric, and with such a character, he will be unhappy in the world. The Saint encourages us to “be like sculptors and make every effort to make your children wonderful sculptures that look like God. It will happen if you take away everything that is unnecessary, if you add whatever is necessary, and if you check daily to see what physical defects they have that you can fix.” (St. John Chrysostom, <i>On Vanity and the Upbringing of Children</i>)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>The Constitutions of the Holy Apostles </i>also teaches us that all parents who disregard correcting and educating their child in the Lord “will be guilty of their souls”, thus showing us that educating our children in the Lord is not something we choose to do, but something we are obligated to do under pain of mortal sin:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“Ye fathers, educate your children in the Lord, bringing them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord; and teach them such trades as are agreeable and suitable to the word, lest they by such opportunity become extravagant, and continue without punishment from their parents, and so get relaxation before their time, and go astray from that which is good. Wherefore be not afraid to reprove them, and to teach them wisdom with severity. For your corrections will not kill them, but rather preserve them. As Solomon says somewhere in the book of Wisdom: "Chasten thy son, and he will refresh thee; so wilt thou have good hope of him. Thou verily shalt smite him with the rod, and shall deliver his soul from death." (Prov. 29:17, 19:18, 23:14.) And again, says the same Solomon thus, "He that spareth his rod, hateth his son;" (Prov. 13:24) and afterwards, "Beat his sides whilst he is an infant, lest he be hardened and disobey thee." (Ecclus. 30:12) He, therefore, that neglects to admonish and instruct his own son, hates his own child. Do you therefore teach your children the word of the Lord. Bring them under with cutting stripes, and make them subject from their infancy, teaching them the Holy Scriptures, which are Christian and divine, and delivering to them every sacred writing, "not giving them such liberty that they get the mastery," (Ecclus. 30:11) and act against your opinion, not permitting them to club together for a treat with their equals. For so they will be turned to disorderly courses, and will fall into fornication; and if this happen by the carelessness of their parents, those that begat them will be guilty of their souls. For if the offending children get into the company of debauched persons by the negligence of those that begat them, they will not be punished alone by themselves; but their parents also will be condemned on their account. For this cause endeavour, at the time when they are of an age fit for marriage, to join them in wedlock, and settle them together, test in the heat and fervour of their age their course of life become dissolute, and you be required to give an account by the Lord God in the day of judgment.” (<i>Constitutions of the Holy Apostles</i>, Book IV, Section II, Chapter XI.--On Domestic and Social Life Of Parents and Children)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Pius XI also teaches this noble truth in great detail in his marvelous Encyclical called <i>Casti Connubii</i>, which means “Chaste Marriage”.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Pius XI <i>Casti Connubii</i> (#’s 10-13), Dec. 31, 1930: “Now when We come to explain, Venerable Brethren, <b>what are the blessings that God has attached to true matrimony, and how great they are</b>, there occur to Us the words of that illustrious Doctor of the Church whom We commemorated recently in Our Encyclical <i>Ad salutem</i> on the occasion of the fifteenth centenary of his death: “These,” says St. Augustine, “are all <b>the blessings of matrimony on account of which matrimony itself is a blessing; <u>offspring</u>, conjugal faith and the sacrament</b>.” And how under these three heads is contained a splendid summary of the whole doctrine of Christian marriage, the holy Doctor himself expressly declares when he said: “By conjugal faith it is provided that there should be no carnal intercourse outside the marriage bond with another man or woman; <b>with regard to offspring, that children should be begotten of love, tenderly cared for and educated in a religious atmosphere;</b> finally, in its sacramental aspect that the marriage bond should not be broken and that a husband or wife, if separated, should not be joined to another even for the sake of offspring. This we regard as the law of marriage by which the fruitfulness of nature is adorned and the evil of incontinence is restrained.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm; text-indent: 1cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“<b><u>Thus amongst the blessings of marriage, the child holds the first place</u></b>. And indeed the Creator of the human race Himself, Who in His goodness wishes to use men as His helpers in the propagation of life, taught this when, instituting marriage in Paradise, He said to our first parents, and through them to all future spouses: “Increase and multiply, and fill the earth.” As St. Augustine admirably deduces from the words of the holy Apostle Saint Paul to Timothy when he says: “<b><u>The Apostle himself is therefore a witness that marriage is for the sake of generation</u></b>: ‘I wish,’ he says, ‘young girls to marry.’ And, as if someone said to him, ‘Why?,’ he immediately adds: ‘To bear children, to be mothers of families’.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm; text-indent: 1cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“How great a boon of God this is, and how great a blessing of matrimony is clear from a consideration of man’s dignity and of his sublime end. For man surpasses all other visible creatures by the superiority of his rational nature alone. Besides, <b>God wishes men to be born not only that they should live and fill the earth, but much more that they may be worshippers of God, that they may know Him and love Him and finally enjoy Him for ever in heaven; and this end, since man is raised by God in a marvelous way to the supernatural order, surpasses all that eye hath seen, and ear heard, and all that hath entered into the heart of man. From which it is easily seen how great a gift of divine goodness and how remarkable a fruit of marriage are children born by the omnipotent power of God through the cooperation of those bound in wedlock.</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm; text-indent: 1cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“But Christian parents <b><i><u>must</u></i></b> also understand that they are destined not only to propagate and preserve the human race on earth, indeed not only to educate any kind of worshippers of the true God, but children who are to become members of the Church of Christ, to raise up fellow-citizens of the Saints, and members of God’s household, that the worshippers of God and Our Savior may daily increase.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>The 1917 Code of Canon Law</i> also accurately describes the nature of the Sacrament of Marriage: “Marital consent is an act of the will whereby each party grants and accepts a permanent and exclusive right over the body regarding its acts which are of themselves apt for the generation of offspring.” (<i>Codex Iuris Cononici</i>, 1081.2) Thus, marriage is understood as a lawful contract in which the two parties handed over to each other the right to use one another for acts suitable for the generation of children. If two persons were to use the vocabulary of the Church’s canonical definition in their wedding vows, the bride and groom might say to each other, “I understand our marrying as an act in which I hand over to you the right to use my body for acts that are apt for generating children. I want to do this in a contractual context before these gathered witnesses.” Canon 1013 fittingly combined the teachings of both St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, teaching that: “The primary end of marriage is the procreation and education of children; its secondary end is mutual help and the remedying of concupiscence.” (<i>Codex Iuris Cononici</i>, 1013)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Augustine, <i>On the Good of Marriage</i>, Section 1, A.D. 401: “The first natural bond of human society is man and wife. Nor did God create these each by himself, and join them together as alien by birth: but He created the one out of the other, setting a sign also of the power of the union in the side, whence she was drawn, was formed. For they are joined one to another side by side, who walk together, and look together whither they walk. Then follows the connexion of fellowship in children, which is the one alone worthy fruit, not of the union of male and female, but of the sexual intercourse. For it were possible that there should exist in either sex, even without such intercourse, a certain friendly and true union of the one ruling, and the other obeying.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Gregory XVI in his encyclical <i>Mirari Vos</i>, which exposed liberalism and religious indifferentism explains that those marriages that are devoid of the “<b><u>thought of the sacrament and of the mysteries signified by it [that is, the procreation and education of children, faithfulness, and mutual love and help]</u></b>” or that was entered into because of <i>“<b><u>concupiscence alone,</u></b>”</i> will have <i>“<b>an unhappy ending</b>”</i> since these kinds of selfish, lustful and impious “marriages” in effect are nothing but fornication in disguise of a marriage, thus firmly contradicting and exposing the modernistic and heretical teachings of certain impious men and women who dared to assert that one could marry for mere selfish, lustful or worldly motives, rather than for pious and good motives that a true and honorable marriage always is based on.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="par121" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p class="MsoBodyText" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Gregory XVI, <i>Mirari Vos</i> (# 12), Aug. 15, 1832: “Now the <b>honorable marriage</b> of Christians, which Paul calls "a great sacrament in Christ and the Church,"[Heb. 13:4, Eph. 5:32] demands our shared concern lest anything contrary to its <i>sanctity</i> and <i>indissolubility</i> is proposed. Our predecessor Pius VIII would recommend to you his own letters on the subject. However, troublesome efforts against this sacrament still continue to be made. The people therefore must be zealously taught that a marriage rightly entered upon cannot be dissolved; for those joined in matrimony God has ordained a perpetual companionship for life and a knot of necessity which cannot be loosed except by death. Recalling that matrimony is a sacrament and therefore subject to the Church, let them consider and observe the laws of the Church concerning it. Let them take care lest for any reason they permit that which is an obstruction to the teachings of the canons and the decrees of the councils. <b><u>They should be aware that those marriages will have an unhappy end which are entered upon contrary to the discipline of the Church or without God’s favor or because of concupiscence alone, with no thought of the sacrament and of the mysteries signified by it.”</u></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In truth, Pope Gregory IX (1145-1241) also affirms the Church’s teaching on the sacrament of marriage, saying that: “As much as the contract of marriage is favored, it <u>lacks effect if conditions are stipulated against the substance of marriage</u>. For example, <b>if one says to the other, “I contract with you if you will <i>prevent the conception of children</i></b>,” or, “until I find another woman more worthy in honor or riches,” or, “if you will sell yourself in adultery for money.”” (<span class="Q">Gratian, <i>Marriage Canons From The Decretum</i></span>, Case Thirty-Two, Question IV, Conditions Set in Betrothals or Other Contracts)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Gregory IX’s three examples here shows us the three goods of marriage: <i>proles</i> (offspring), <i>sacramentum</i> (indissolubility), and <i>fides</i> (fidelity) without which a marriage contract is invalid. “It seems evident that a woman taken merely to have sex is not a wife, because God instituted marriage for propagation, not merely for satisfying lust. For the nuptial blessing is, “Increase and multiply.” [Gen. 1:28] … It is shameful for a woman when her marriage bears no fruit, for this alone is the reason for marrying. … bearing children is the fruit of marriage and the blessing of matrimony is without doubt the reason that [the Blessed Virgin] Mary’s virginity defeated the Prince of this World [the Devil]. Thus anyone who joins himself to another, not for the sake of procreating offspring, but rather to satisfy lust is less a spouse than a fornicator. … As no congregation of heretics can be called a Church of Christ because they do not have Christ as their head, so no matrimony, where one has not joined her husband according to Christ’s precept, can properly be called marriage, but is better called adultery.” (<span class="Q">Gratian, <i>Marriage Canons From The Decretum</i>, Case Thirty-Two, Question II)</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span class="Q"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Augustine, <i>Against Julian</i>, Book V, Chapter 12:46, A.D. 421: “Nevertheless, because human soundness agrees that the motive in taking a wife is the procreation of offspring, regardless of how weakness yields to lust, I note, in addition to the faithfulness which the married owe to each other so that there be no adultery, and the offspring, for whose generation the two sexes are to be united, that a third good, which seems to me to be a sacrament, should exist in the married, above all in those who belong to the people of God, so that there be no divorce from a wife who cannot bear, and that a man not wishing to beget more children give not his wife to another for begetting, as Cato is said to have done [Plutarch,<i> In vita Catonis</i>; Lucan 2]. … I say that there is another way in which marriage is good when offspring can be procreated only through intercourse. If there were another way to procreate, yet the spouses had intercourse, then they evidently must have yielded to lust, and made evil use of evil. But, since the two sexes were purposely instituted, man can be born only from their union, and thus spouses by their union for this purpose [of procreation] make good use of that evil [of lust]...”</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Thus, Pope St. Gregory the Great (c. 540-604), in his work <i>“Pastoral Rule”</i>, which deals with sexual sins from a biblical perspective, could rightly admonish Christians to never marry or perform the marital act for carnal or lustful motives: “<b><u>The married must be admonished to bear in mind that they are united in wedlock for the purpose of procreation, and when they abandon themselves to immoderate intercourse, they transfer the occasion of procreation to the service of pleasure</u></b>. Let them realize that though they do not then pass beyond the bonds of wedlock, yet in wedlock they exceed its rights. Wherefore, it is necessary that they efface by frequent prayer what they befoul in the fair form of conjugal union by the admixture of pleasure. For hence it is that the Apostle, skilled in heavenly medicine, did not so much lay down a course of life for the whole [of humanity] as point out remedies to the weak when he said, "It is good for a man not to touch a woman: but on account of fornication let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband" (1 Cor. 7:1-2). For in that he premised the fear of fornication, he surely did not give a precept to such as were standing [in the greater and more blessed life of chastity], but pointed out the bed to such as were falling, lest haply they should tumble to the ground. Whence to such as were still weak he added, "Let the husband render unto the wife her due; and likewise also the wife unto the husband" (1 Cor. 7:3). And, while in the most honorable estate of matrimony allowing to them something of pleasure, he added, "But this I say by way of indulgence, not by way of command" (1 Cor. 7:6). Now where indulgence is spoken of, a fault is implied; but one that is the more readily remitted in that it consists, not in doing what is unlawful, but in not keeping what is lawful under control.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm; text-indent: 1cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“Which thing Lot expresses well in his own person, when he flies from burning Sodom, and yet, finding Zoar, does not still ascend the mountain heights. For to fly from burning Sodom is to avoid the unlawful fires of the flesh. But the height of the mountains is the purity of the continent. Or, at any rate, they are as it were upon the mountain, who, though cleaving to carnal intercourse, still, beyond the due association for the production of offspring, are not loosely lost in pleasure of the flesh. For to stand on the mountain is to seek nothing in the flesh except the fruit of procreation. To stand on the mountain is not to cleave to the flesh in a fleshly way. But, since there are many who relinquish indeed the sins of the flesh, and yet, when placed in the state of wedlock, do not observe solely the claims of due intercourse, Lot went indeed out of Sodom, but yet did not at once reach the mountain heights; because a damnable life is already relinquished, but still the loftiness of conjugal continence is not thoroughly attained... married life is neither far separated from the world, nor yet alien from the joy of safety... They are therefore to be admonished that, if they suffer from the storms of temptation with risk to their safety, they should seek the port of wedlock. For it is written, "It is better to marry than to burn" (1 Cor. 7:9). They come, in fact, to marriage without blame, if only they have not vowed better things [chastity].” (Pope St. Gregory the Great, <i>Pastoral Rule</i>, Book III, Chapter XXVII.--How The Married And The Single Are To Be Admonished.)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">While there are many dangers and temptations in marriage, there are also good things, such as faithfulness, offspring, and the Sacrament: “Now this is threefold, faithfulness, offspring, and the Sacrament. For faithfulness, it is observed, that there be no lying with other man or woman, out of the bond of wedlock: for the offspring, that it be lovingly welcomed, kindly nourished, religiously brought up: for the Sacrament, that marriage be not severed, and that man or woman divorced be not joined to another even for the sake of offspring. This is as it were the rule of Marriages by which rule either fruitfulness is made seemly, or the perverseness of incontinence is brought to order.” (St. Augustine, <i>On Genesis</i>, Book 9, Chapter 7) However, even though marriage is good, the marital act is still intoxicating and shameful, which are truly evil defects that men must endure, and this shows us that children “<span class="Q">is the one alone worthy fruit... of the sexual intercourse”. Thus, the motive of</span> “<span class="Q">children, which is the one alone worthy fruit, not of the union of male and female, but of the sexual intercourse” must excuse the marital act. (St. Augustine, <i>On the Good of Marriage</i>, Section 1)</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In A.D. 191 St. Clement of Alexandria (a Greek theologian of considerable influence in the early Church) referred to Onan’s evil act in these words: “He broke the law of coitus.” (St. Clement of Alexandria, <i>Comments on Genesis 6</i>, PG 69:309) He went on to explain that “Because of its divine institution for the propagation of man, the seed is not to be vainly ejaculated, nor is it to be damaged, nor is it to be wasted.” (St. Clement of Alexandria, <i>Pedagogus</i>, "The Educator", 2.10.91.2)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Clement of Alexandria (c. 150-215) agrees with the Popes and Saints of the Church in this regard concerning the procreation and education of children, teaching us that: “it remains for us now to consider the restriction of sexual intercourse to those who are joined in wedlock. Begetting children is the goal of those who wed, and the fulfillment of that goal is a large family, just as hope of a crop drives the farmer to sow his seed, while the fulfillment of his hope is the actual harvesting of the crop. But he who sows in a living soil is far superior, for the one tills the land to provide food only for a season, the other to secure the preservation of the whole human race; the one tends his crop for himself, the other, for God. We have received the command: "Be fruitful" [Gen. 1:28], and we must obey. In this role man becomes like God, because he co-operates, in his human way, in the birth of another man.” (<i>The Paedagogus</i> or <i>The Instructor</i>, Book II, Chapter X) And so, it should be absolutely clear to all pure servants of Christ that “Marriage is the first conjunction of man and woman for the procreation of legitimate children. Accordingly Menander the comic poet says: "For the begetting of legitimate children, I give thee my daughter."” (St. Clement of Alexandria, "On Marriage", <i>The Stromata</i> or <i>Miscellanies</i>, Book II, Chapter XXIII)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Origen (a theologian of the early 3rd century Alexandrian Church considered by many to be the most accomplished biblical scholar of the early church) refuted the teachings of the pagan philosopher Celsus by reference to God’s people in the Old Testament: “nor were there among them women who sold their beauty to anyone who wished to have sexual intercourse without offspring, and to cast contempt upon the nature of human generation.” (Origen, <i>Contra Celsum</i>, Book 5, Chapter 42) In the early Church it was clear that <b>to have sexual intercourse without wishing to beget offspring was to commit an evil act</b>.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">One of the earliest extant documents of formal Church legislation (that we know of) on the use of contraceptives comes in the sixth century. Its originator in canonical form was St. Martin, Archbishop of Braga in Spain (520-580). Drawing on previous episcopal synods of the East and West, he simplified the existing laws and codified them for the people of Portugal and Spain.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Martin’s condemnation of contraception and the contraceptive intent first occurred in the famous collection <i>Capitula Martini</i>. It was later incorporated in the laws of the Second Council of Braga (June, 572), at which he presided as the head of twelve bishops.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">His reference to <i>earlier</i> more severe penalties implies that ecclesiastical authority had condemned the practice long before the sixth century.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Martin, Archbishop of Braga, <i>Second Council of Braga</i>, Canon 77, June, 572: “If any woman has fornicated and has killed the infant who was born of her; or if she has tried to commit abortion and then slain what she conceived; <b>or <u>if she contrives to make sure <i>she does not conceive</i></u>, either in adultery or <u>in legitimate intercourse</u></b>—regarding such women the <i>earlier</i> canons decreed that <i>they should not receive communion even at death</i>. However, we mercifully judge that both such women and their accomplices in these crimes shall do penance for ten years.” (Mansi IX, 858)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In truth, “she (the wife) is the only one with whom it is lawful to enjoy the pleasures of the flesh for the purpose of begetting lawful heirs. This is to share in God’s own work of procreation, and in such a work the seed ought not to be wasted nor scattered thoughtlessly nor sown in a way it cannot grow.” (St. Clement of Alexandria, <i>The Paedagogus</i> or <i>The Instructor</i>, Book II, Chapter X.--On the Procreation and Education of Children, A.D. 198)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p align="center" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm; text-align: center;"><b><u><span style="font-family: arial;">THE FIRST COUNCIL OF NICAEA EXCOMMUNICATED ALL PRIESTS THAT DELIBERATELY CASTRATED THEMSELVES</span></u></b></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>The First Council of Nicaea</i> (which is the first Ecumenical Council in Church history) rejected already in the Fourth Century priests who had consented to the act of <b>castrating themselves</b>. This teaching is very relevant for our time since many people nowadays perform operations or undergo different procedures castrating themselves.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>The First Council of Nicaea</i>, Canon 1, A.D. 325: “<b>[I]f anyone in sound health has castrated himself</b>, it behooves that such a one, if enrolled among the clergy, should cease [from his ministry], and that from henceforth no such person should be promoted. <b><u>But, as it is evident that this is said of those <i>who willfully do the thing</i> and presume to castrate themselves</u></b>, so if any have been made eunuchs by barbarians, or by their masters, and should otherwise be found worthy, such men this canon admits to the clergy.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p align="center" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.3pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.3pt; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><b><u><span style="font-family: arial;">SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS CONDEMNS NFP AND BIRTH CONTROL AS A SIN SECOND IN NATURE ONLY TO MURDER</span></u></b></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), who is considered as one of the most important doctors of the Church, is abundantly clear on that any completed sex act without the proper goal of procreation is sinful.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Thomas Aquinas, <i>Summa Contra Gentiles</i>, Section 1.3.122: “<b>Hence it is clear that every emission of the semen is contrary to the good of man, which takes place in a way whereby generation is impossible; and <u>if this is done on purpose, it must be a sin</u></b>.” He concludes: “… the inordinate emission of the semen is repugnant to the good of nature, which is the conservation of the species. <u>Hence, after the sin of murder</u>, whereby a human nature already in actual existence is destroyed, <u>this sort of sin seem to hold the second place, whereby the generation of human nature is precluded</u>. The above assertions are confirmed by divine authority. The unlawfulness of any emission of semen, upon which offspring cannot be consequent, is evident from such texts as these: Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind: Thou shalt not lie with any beast (Levit. xviii, 22, 23): Nor the effeminate, nor sodomites, shall possess the kingdom of God (1 Cor. Vi, 10).”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Thus, it is clear that St. Thomas teaches that: “Matrimony was instituted for the begetting of children.” (St. Thomas Aquinas, <i>Summa Theologica</i>, Supp., Q. 42, Art. 2) “Therefore, since in matrimony man receives by Divine institution the faculty to use his wife <b><u>for the begetting of children</u></b>, he also receives the grace without which he cannot becomingly do so.” (St. Thomas Aquinas, <i>Summa Theologica</i>, Supp., Q. 42, Art. 3)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p align="center" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.3pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.3pt; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><b><u><span style="font-family: arial;">THE CATECHISM OF THE COUNCIL OF TRENT CONDEMNS ALL FORMS OF BIRTH CONTROL AS A “WICKED CONSPIRACY TO COMMIT MURDER”</span></u></b></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">We also find some references in the 16th century Roman Catechism of the Council of Trent, designed for parish priests. In the section on the Sacrament of Matrimony, the section on the use of marriage teaches spouses to abstain from the marriage debt before they will receive the Body of Our Lord in the Most Holy Eucharist. For instance, there is to be no marital sexual relations before Communion since, “<b><u>The dignity of so great a Sacrament also demands that married persons abstain from the marriage debt for some days previous to Communion</u></b><u>.</u> This observance is recommended by the example of David, who, when about to receive the showbread from the hands of the priest, <u>declared that he and his servants had been clean from women for <b>three days</b></u>.” (<i>The Catechism of the Council of Trent</i>, Preparation Of Body) Married as well as unmarried are also taught to “<u>approach the Holy Table fasting, having neither eaten nor drunk anything at least from the preceding midnight until the moment of Communion</u>.” (<i>The Catechism of the Council of Trent</i>, Preparation Of Body) The unitive and natural aspect is mentioned, under the <b>Motives and Ends of Marriage</b>: “First of all, nature itself by an instinct implanted in both sexes impels them to such companionship.” Desire of family and avoiding lust is also mentioned. Though there is a reminder that “<b>marriage is not to be used for purposes of lust or sensuality</b>, but that its use is to be restrained within those limits which, as we have already shown, have been fixed by the Lord” and “therefore married persons who, <u>to prevent conception</u>… are guilty of a most heinous crime—<b><u>nothing less than wicked conspiracy to commit murder</u></b>.” (<i>The Catechism of the Council of Trent</i>, The Motives And Ends Of Marriage) Wikipedia also makes the interesting claim that “[all] Canon law until 1917 labeled contraception as murder.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>The Catechism of the Council of Trent</i>: “The faithful are moreover to be taught, that there are three advantages of marriage — <b>offspring</b>, faith, the sacrament — which alleviate, by compensating for, those disadvantages which the Apostle points out in these words: "Such [that is, married people who perform the sexual act] shall have tribulation of the flesh " (1 Corinthians 7:28); and by which sexual intercourse, which, without marriage, would be deservedly reprobated, becomes an honourable union. <b><u>The first advantage, then, is offspring, that is, children begotten from a true and lawful wife; an advantage so highly appreciated by the Apostle, that he says: "The woman shall be saved by bearing children"</u></b> (1 Timothy 2:15). <u>This, however, is not to be understood solely of the procreation of children, but also of the education and discipline by which children are reared to piety</u>. Thus the Apostle immediately subjoins: "If she continue in faith;" for the Scripture admonishes: "Hast thou children? Instruct them, and bow down their neck from their childhood" (Ecclestiasticus 7:25). The Apostle teaches the same; and of such an education the Scripture affords the most beautiful examples in the persons of Tobias, Job, and other Patriarchs eminent for holiness. But what are the duties of parents and children shall be more fully explained in the exposition of the fourth commandment.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm; text-indent: 1cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“… Matrimonial faith also demands, that husband and wife be united by a certain singular, and holy, and pure love, a love not such as that of adulterers, but such as that which Christ cherishes towards his Church; for this is the model which the Apostle proposed, when he said: "Husbands, love your wives, as Christ also loved the Church" (Ephesians 5:25); <b>and very great indeed was the love with which Christ embraced his Church, not a selfish love, but a love that proposed to itself the sole interest of his spouse</b>...” (<i>Catechism of Trent – </i>What Are The Advantages Accruing To Married Persons From This Sacrament)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm; text-indent: 1cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">One of the earliest extant documents of formal Church legislation (that we know of) on the use of contraceptives comes in the sixth century. Its originator in canonical form was St. Martin, Archbishop of Braga in Spain (520-580). Drawing on previous episcopal synods of the East and West, he simplified the existing laws and codified them for the people of Portugal and Spain.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Martin’s condemnation of contraception and the contraceptive intent first occurred in the famous collection <i>Capitula Martini</i>. It was later incorporated in the laws of the Second Council of Braga (June, 572), at which he presided as the head of twelve bishops.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">His reference to <i>earlier</i> more severe penalties implies that ecclesiastical authority had condemned the practice long before the sixth century.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Martin, Archbishop of Braga, <i>Second Council of Braga</i>, Canon 77, June, 572: “If any woman has fornicated and has killed the infant who was born of her; or if she has tried to commit abortion and then slain what she conceived; <b>or <u>if she contrives to make sure <i>she does not conceive</i></u>, either in adultery or <u>in legitimate intercourse</u></b>—regarding such women the <i>earlier</i> canons decreed that <i>they should not receive communion even at death</i>. However, we mercifully judge that both such women and their accomplices in these crimes shall do penance for ten years.” (Mansi IX, 858)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In truth, “she (the wife) is the only one with whom it is lawful to enjoy the pleasures of the flesh for the purpose of begetting lawful heirs. This is to share in God’s own work of procreation, and in such a work the seed ought not to be wasted nor scattered thoughtlessly nor sown in a way it cannot grow.” (St. Clement of Alexandria, <i>The Paedagogus</i> or <i>The Instructor</i>, Book II, Chapter X.--On the Procreation and Education of Children, A.D. 198)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p align="center" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm; text-align: center;"><b><u><span style="font-family: arial;">THE FIRST COUNCIL OF NICAEA EXCOMMUNICATED ALL PRIESTS THAT DELIBERATELY CASTRATED THEMSELVES</span></u></b></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>The First Council of Nicaea</i> (which is the first Ecumenical Council in Church history) rejected already in the Fourth Century priests who had consented to the act of <b>castrating themselves</b>. This teaching is very relevant for our time since many people nowadays perform operations or undergo different procedures castrating themselves.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>The First Council of Nicaea</i>, Canon 1, A.D. 325: “<b>[I]f anyone in sound health has castrated himself</b>, it behooves that such a one, if enrolled among the clergy, should cease [from his ministry], and that from henceforth no such person should be promoted. <b><u>But, as it is evident that this is said of those <i>who willfully do the thing</i> and presume to castrate themselves</u></b>, so if any have been made eunuchs by barbarians, or by their masters, and should otherwise be found worthy, such men this canon admits to the clergy.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p align="center" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.3pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.3pt; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><b><u><span style="font-family: arial;">SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS CONDEMNS NFP AND BIRTH CONTROL AS A SIN SECOND IN NATURE ONLY TO MURDER</span></u></b></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), who is considered as one of the most important doctors of the Church, is abundantly clear on that any completed sex act without the proper goal of procreation is sinful.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Thomas Aquinas, <i>Summa Contra Gentiles</i>, Section 1.3.122: “<b>Hence it is clear that every emission of the semen is contrary to the good of man, which takes place in a way whereby generation is impossible; and <u>if this is done on purpose, it must be a sin</u></b>.” He concludes: “… the inordinate emission of the semen is repugnant to the good of nature, which is the conservation of the species. <u>Hence, after the sin of murder</u>, whereby a human nature already in actual existence is destroyed, <u>this sort of sin seem to hold the second place, whereby the generation of human nature is precluded</u>. The above assertions are confirmed by divine authority. The unlawfulness of any emission of semen, upon which offspring cannot be consequent, is evident from such texts as these: Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind: Thou shalt not lie with any beast (Levit. xviii, 22, 23): Nor the effeminate, nor sodomites, shall possess the kingdom of God (1 Cor. Vi, 10).”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Thus, it is clear that St. Thomas teaches that: “Matrimony was instituted for the begetting of children.” (St. Thomas Aquinas, <i>Summa Theologica</i>, Supp., Q. 42, Art. 2) “Therefore, since in matrimony man receives by Divine institution the faculty to use his wife <b><u>for the begetting of children</u></b>, he also receives the grace without which he cannot becomingly do so.” (St. Thomas Aquinas, <i>Summa Theologica</i>, Supp., Q. 42, Art. 3)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p align="center" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.3pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.3pt; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><b><u><span style="font-family: arial;">THE CATECHISM OF THE COUNCIL OF TRENT CONDEMNS ALL FORMS OF BIRTH CONTROL AS A “WICKED CONSPIRACY TO COMMIT MURDER”</span></u></b></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">We also find some references in the 16th century Roman Catechism of the Council of Trent, designed for parish priests. In the section on the Sacrament of Matrimony, the section on the use of marriage teaches spouses to abstain from the marriage debt before they will receive the Body of Our Lord in the Most Holy Eucharist. For instance, there is to be no marital sexual relations before Communion since, “<b><u>The dignity of so great a Sacrament also demands that married persons abstain from the marriage debt for some days previous to Communion</u></b><u>.</u> This observance is recommended by the example of David, who, when about to receive the showbread from the hands of the priest, <u>declared that he and his servants had been clean from women for <b>three days</b></u>.” (<i>The Catechism of the Council of Trent</i>, Preparation Of Body) Married as well as unmarried are also taught to “<u>approach the Holy Table fasting, having neither eaten nor drunk anything at least from the preceding midnight until the moment of Communion</u>.” (<i>The Catechism of the Council of Trent</i>, Preparation Of Body) The unitive and natural aspect is mentioned, under the <b>Motives and Ends of Marriage</b>: “First of all, nature itself by an instinct implanted in both sexes impels them to such companionship.” Desire of family and avoiding lust is also mentioned. Though there is a reminder that “<b>marriage is not to be used for purposes of lust or sensuality</b>, but that its use is to be restrained within those limits which, as we have already shown, have been fixed by the Lord” and “therefore married persons who, <u>to prevent conception</u>… are guilty of a most heinous crime—<b><u>nothing less than wicked conspiracy to commit murder</u></b>.” (<i>The Catechism of the Council of Trent</i>, The Motives And Ends Of Marriage) Wikipedia also makes the interesting claim that “[all] Canon law until 1917 labeled contraception as murder.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>The Catechism of the Council of Trent</i>: “The faithful are moreover to be taught, that there are three advantages of marriage — <b>offspring</b>, faith, the sacrament — which alleviate, by compensating for, those disadvantages which the Apostle points out in these words: "Such [that is, married people who perform the sexual act] shall have tribulation of the flesh " (1 Corinthians 7:28); and by which sexual intercourse, which, without marriage, would be deservedly reprobated, becomes an honourable union. <b><u>The first advantage, then, is offspring, that is, children begotten from a true and lawful wife; an advantage so highly appreciated by the Apostle, that he says: "The woman shall be saved by bearing children"</u></b> (1 Timothy 2:15). <u>This, however, is not to be understood solely of the procreation of children, but also of the education and discipline by which children are reared to piety</u>. Thus the Apostle immediately subjoins: "If she continue in faith;" for the Scripture admonishes: "Hast thou children? Instruct them, and bow down their neck from their childhood" (Ecclestiasticus 7:25). The Apostle teaches the same; and of such an education the Scripture affords the most beautiful examples in the persons of Tobias, Job, and other Patriarchs eminent for holiness. But what are the duties of parents and children shall be more fully explained in the exposition of the fourth commandment.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm; text-indent: 1cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“… Matrimonial faith also demands, that husband and wife be united by a certain singular, and holy, and pure love, a love not such as that of adulterers, but such as that which Christ cherishes towards his Church; for this is the model which the Apostle proposed, when he said: "Husbands, love your wives, as Christ also loved the Church" (Ephesians 5:25); <b>and very great indeed was the love with which Christ embraced his Church, not a selfish love, but a love that proposed to itself the sole interest of his spouse</b>...” (<i>Catechism of Trent – </i>What Are The Advantages Accruing To Married Persons From This Sacrament)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm; text-indent: 1cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p align="center" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm; text-align: center;"><b><u><span style="font-family: arial;">POPE SIXTUS V CONDEMNS BIRTH CONTROL</span></u></b></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In the late sixteenth century, Pope Sixtus V (1521-1590) passed a series of laws to curb the immorality of his day. Among these laws was one that simultaneously covered abortion and contraception.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">There is nothing new about the legislation, except the added solemnity of its being passed by direct order of the pope. Abortion and contraception are equally called crimes.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Sixtus V, <i>Bull Effranatum</i>, Oct. 27, 1588: “Who does not abhor the lustful cruelty or cruel lust of impious men, a lust which goes so far that they procure poisons to extinguish and destroy the conceived fetus within the womb, <b>even attempting by a wicked crime to destroy their own offspring <u>before</u> it lives</b>, or, if it lives, to kill it before it is born?”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Sixtus V: “Who, finally, would not condemn with the most severe punishments the crimes of those who by poisons, potions and evil drugs induce sterility in women, <b>so that they might <u>not</u> conceive</b> or, by means of evil-working medication, that they might not give birth?” (Quoted in <i>Bullarium Romanum</i>, Vol. 1)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p align="center" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm; text-align: center;"><b><u><span style="font-family: arial;">THE HOLY OFFICE UNDER POPE PIUS IX CONDEMNS CONTRACEPTION AND THE CONTRACEPTIVE INTENT AS A SIN AGAINST THE NATURAL LAW</span></u></b></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">During the pontificate of Pius IX (1792-1878), at least five decisions were made by the Holy See with regard to contraception in one or another form. The following was made by the Holy Office and approved by the Pope. It touches on one type of contraception, but in doing so clarifies two important elements: that Onanism is against the Natural Law, and that confessors have a duty to inquire about this practice if they have a good reason to suppose that it is being done.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The question is asked what theological note the following three heretical propositions deserve:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><ul style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><ol><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0.01cm; margin-top: 0.01cm;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">It is permissible for spouses to use marriage the way Onan did, if their motives are worthy.</span></span></p></li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0.01cm; margin-top: 0.01cm;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">It is probable that such use of marriage is not forbidden by the natural law.</span></span></p></li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0.01cm; margin-top: 0.01cm;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">It is never proper to ask married people of either sex about this matter, even though it is prudently feared that the spouses, whether the wife or the husband abuse matrimony.</span></span></p></li></ol></ul><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The officials of the Holy Office ordered the following to be stated:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"></p><p style="margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><ul style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><ol style="font-size: 16px;"><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0.01cm; margin-top: 0.01cm;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">The first proposition is scandalous, erroneous, and contrary to the natural right of matrimony.</span></span></p></li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0.01cm; margin-top: 0.01cm;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">The second proposition is scandalous, erroneous, and elsewhere implicitly condemned by Innocent XI: “Voluptuousness is not prohibited by the law of nature. Therefore if God had not forbidden it, it would be good, and sometimes obligatory under pain of mortal sin” [Condemned Statement by Innocent XI] (March 4, 1679).</span></span></p></li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0.01cm; margin-top: 0.01cm;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">The third proposition, as it stands, is false, very lax, and dangerous in practice (<i>Decisiones S. Sedis de Usu et Abusu Matrimonii</i>, Rome, 1944, pp. 19-20; May 21, 1851).</span></span></p></li></ol></ul><div><p align="center" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.3pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.3pt; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><b><u><span style="font-family: arial;">THE CHURCH ALWAYS PUNISHED THOSE WHO COMMITTED THE SIN OF BIRTH-CONTROL WITH EXCOMMUNICATION FOR A LONG TIME</span></u></b></p><p class="MsoBodyText" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: blue;"></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span class="Q"><span style="font-family: arial;">From the very beginning of the Catholic Church, anyone who dared to commit the act of birth-control while they chose to perform the marital act had to do penance for a long time since this was considered such an evil act.</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Around the year 1000, <i>The Decretals of Burchard</i> was compiled by Burchard, (965-1025) Bishop of Worms in Germany. This collection of canon law called the <i>Decreta</i> exercised great influence for centuries in the history of the Church. Several features of the following legislation are significant. The penalty is less severe than it had been, i.e., ten years of penance instead of pardon only at death; abortion and contraception are equally reprehended; and a distinction is made in the culpability (always grave) of a woman who aborts or interferes with conception because she is poor, and a woman who does the same to avoid the humiliation of having a child out of wedlock:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“Have you done what some women are accustomed to doing when they fornicate and wish to kill their offspring; they act with their poisons (<i>maleficia</i>) and their herbs to kill or cut out the embryo, or, if they have not yet conceived they contrive not to conceive? If you have done so, or consented to this, or taught it, you must do penance for ten years on legal ferial days. Legislation in former days excommunicated such persons from the Church till the end of their lives. As often as a woman prevented conception, she was guilty of that many homicides. It makes a great deal of difference, however, whether the woman in question is a pauper who acted the way she did for lack of means to nourish (her offspring) or whether she did so to conceal the crime of her fornication.” (<i>The Decretals of Burchard</i>, <i>Decreta</i>, num. 19; PL 140, 972)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The evilness of all forms of birth-control cannot be understated, and that is also why the Church from the beginning severely punished all Her children who committed this crime. It is an act that is similar to playing God, an outright mockery of God and His creation and a perversion of nature. Just as we ourselves wish to continue to live, so we have no right to hinder another soul from also living. Thus, “He who does this [that is, he who drinks a contraceptive potion] in order not to have children shall do penance for twelve years. (<i>Poenitentiale Vigilanum</i>, num. 79-80 (A.D. 850); PL 129, 1123ff.)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p align="center" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm; text-align: center;"><b><u><span style="font-family: arial;">CONCLUSION</span></u></b></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Fathers as well as the tradition of the early Church are so unanimous in interpreting the Bible as condemning as sinful and forbidden the evil use of birth control that it is unbelievable how some people calling themselves “Christian” or “Catholic” can deny that it is sinful, evil or condemned, and especially so, since <i>The Councils of Trent</i> and <i>Vatican I</i> infallibly teaches that the Fathers must be obeyed when their teachings unanimously agree with one another. In this context, Saint Jerome condemns all those who see nothing wrong about fornication, or contraception or even abortion.<span style="color: red;"> </span><i>St. Jerome’s letter to Eustochium</i> contains a typical patristic condemnation of contraception. It is associated with the defection from the Church of those women who find the Church’s position on chastity too demanding.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">First he cites those who have intercourse out of wedlock, but make sure they do not become pregnant by taking appropriate drugs to prevent conception. Others become pregnant and then commit abortion to avoid exposure of their guilt.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Most pertinent is Jerome’s quoting such women as saying they see nothing particularly wrong about fornication, or contraception or even abortion. Their conscience approves of what they are doing; so how can these be sins?</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The final reference to food and drink points out the fact that these women are critical of those who practice mortification. Consistent with their attitude on sex, they argue that all of this is God’s gift—so why not use it?</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Q">St. Jerome, <i>Letter</i> 22:13, To Eustochium, </span><span class="Q">A.D. 384</span><span class="Q">: “</span>It becomes wearisome to tell how many virgins fall daily; what important personages Mother Church loses from her bosom; over how many stars the proud enemy sets up his throne <span class="Q">[Isaiah 14:13]</span>; how many rocks the serpent makes hollow and then enters through their openings. You may see many who were widowed before they were wed, shielding a guilty conscience by a lying garb. Did not a swelling womb or the crying of their infant children betray them, they would go about with head erect and on skipping feet. <span class="Q">But others drink potions to ensure sterility and are guilty of murdering a human being not yet conceived. Some when they learn they are with child through sin, practice abortion by the use of drugs. Frequently they die themselves and are brought before the rulers of the lower world guilty of three crimes: suicide, adultery against Christ, and murder of an unborn child. These are the women who are accustomed to say: “‘Unto the pure all things are pure.’ [Titus 1:15] The approval of my conscience is enough for me. A pure heart is what God desires. Why should I abstain from foods which God created to be used with thanksgiving?” [1 Timothy 4:3] And whenever they wish to appear bright and festive, and have drowned themselves in wine, they say—adding sacrilege to drunkenness: “God forbid that I should abstain from the blood of Christ.” And whenever they see a woman pale and sad, they call her a poor wretch, a nun, and a Manichean: and with reason, for according to their belief fasting is heresy.”</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Another good quotation from St. Caesarius of Arles condemns all spouses that are against procreation and that practice abortion and says that “the only sterility of a very pious wife is chastity”. The second passage from Caesarius deals with abortion, but of a contraceptive kind. Some women took medication to destroy unborn life already conceived in the womb. Others took drugs by anticipation; they would not mind becoming pregnant, but provided that the child would not reach viability.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Caesarius of Arles, <i>Sermon</i> 52:4: “Does not the Devil clearly exercise his deceits still further, dearly beloved, when he persuades some women, after they have had two or three children, to kill either any more or those already born, by taking an abortion draught? Apparently, such women fear that if they have more children they cannot become rich. For, what else must they think when they do this, except that God will not be able to feed or direct those whom He has commanded to be born? Perhaps some are killed who could serve God better or obey those same parents with a perfect love. Instead, by an impious, murderous practice women take poisonous draughts to transmit incomplete life and premature death to their children through their generative organs. By such an exigency they drink a cup of bereavement with the cruel drug. O sad persuasion! They maintain that the poison which has been transmitted through their drinking is unconnected with them. Moreover, they do not realize that they conceive in sterility the child which they receive in death, because it was conceived in their flesh. However, if there is not yet found a tiny infant that could be killed within the womb of its mother, it is no less true that even the natural power (of generation) within the woman is destroyed. Why unhappy mother—or, rather, not even the step-mother of a new-born son—why did you seek, from outside, remedies that would be harmful for eternity? You possess within you more salutary remedies, if you wish. You do not want to have a child? Settle a pious agreement with your husband; let him agree to an end of childbearing in accord with the virtue of chastity. The only the sterility of a very pious wife is chastity.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p class="WW-Default" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;">All other quotations from the Popes, Fathers and the Saints of the Church unanimously teach the same on the subject of the primary end or purpose of marriage and the marital act. Not a single one of them teaches that God allows spouses to have marital relations while also hindering conception from taking place.</span></b></p><p class="WW-Default" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p class="WW-Default" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Saint Augustine sums it up as follows: “It is, however, one thing for married persons to have intercourse only for the wish to beget children, which is not sinful: <u>it is another thing for them to desire carnal pleasure in cohabitation, but with the spouse only, <b>which involves venial sin</b>.</u> <i>For although propagation of offspring is not the motive of the intercourse</i>, <u>there is still no attempt to prevent such propagation</u>, either by wrong desire or evil appliance. They who resort to these, although called by the name of spouses, are really not such; they retain no vestige of true matrimony, but pretend the honourable designation as a cloak for criminal conduct. Having also proceeded so far, they are betrayed into exposing their children, which are born against their will. They hate to nourish and retain those whom they were afraid they would beget. This infliction of cruelty on their offspring so reluctantly begotten, unmasks the sin which they had practised in darkness, and drags it clearly into the light of day. The open cruelty reproves the concealed sin. Sometimes, indeed, this lustful cruelty, or, if you please, cruel lust, resorts to such extravagant methods as to use poisonous drugs to secure barrenness; or else, if unsuccessful in this, to destroy the conceived seed by some means previous to birth, preferring that its offspring should rather perish than receive vitality; or if it was advancing to life within the womb, should be slain before it was born. Well, if both parties alike are so flagitious, they are not husband and wife; and if such were their character from the beginning, they have not come together by wedlock but by debauchery. But if the two are not alike in such sin, I boldly declare either that the woman is, so to say, the husband’s harlot; or the man the wife’s adulterer.” (St. Augustine, <i>On Marriage and Concupiscence</i>, Book 1, Chapter 17, A.D. 419.--What is Sinless in the Use of Matrimony? What is Attended With Venial Sin, and What with Mortal?)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The intention, deed or <i><u>desire</u></i> of the spouses that conception does not occur during conjugal relations is the crux of the matter, the root of the mortal sin of contraception. Even before conjugal relations, spouses have committed the mortal sin of contraception if they had planned or only desired that conception should not take place during conjugal relations. Jesus teaches that sin is first committed in the heart even before a man carries out his sinful deed. He says, “<i>You have heard that it was said to them of old: Thou shalt not commit adultery. But I say to you, that whosoever shall look on a woman to lust after her, hath already committed adultery with her in his <u>heart</u>.”</i> (Matthew 5:27-28)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Tragically, however (as if the proof wasn’t clear enough already), some bad willed people will indeed try to excuse themselves and object to these clear statements, some perhaps by saying that the Holy Bible and Apostolic Tradition, as well as all the Popes, Fathers and Saints of the Catholic Church couldn’t have referred to the modern practice of NFP (since it was invented by modern science), and hence that their condemnation couldn’t have been about NFP, but about something else, such as Onanism, sterilization, drugs and potions.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">However, this objection is easily refuted for just because men have invented new ways to commit murder, such as with modern weapons that didn’t exist in the days of many of the saints and Catholic writers, doesn’t mean that men who commit murder with these weapons are not guilty since the saints or Church tradition did not specifically condemn murder by the use of these new killing methods. (St. Augustine however did condemn a timing-based method of contraception, as we saw before.) It is the same with NFP. Spouses commit the mortal sin of contraception no matter what weapon (method) they use to attempt to prevent conception during conjugal relations. If people cannot see this, it is because they are like the evil, blind, and obstinate Pharisees during Jesus’ first coming who made laws to break God’s laws and thus lost all common sense. NFP contradicts reason, the law in our heart, the Word of God (the Bible) and the teachings of the ordinary and solemn magisterium. The gift of many children from the Lord is truly a great blessing, and it is truly vile and unnatural to try to hinder this blessing from Our Lord by selfish and lustful acts inspired by the devil. “Far more excellent, in my opinion, than the seeds of wheat and barley that are sown at appropriate seasons, is man that is sown, for whom all things grow; and those seeds temperate husbandmen ever sow. Every foul and polluting practice must therefore be purged away from marriage; that the intercourse of the irrational animals may not be cast in our teeth, as more accordant with nature than human conjunction in procreation. Some of these, it must be granted, desist at the time in which they are directed, leaving creation to the working of Providence.” (St. Clement of Alexandria, "On Marriage", <i>The Stromata</i> or <i>Miscellanies</i>, Book II, Chapter XXIII)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.3pt 0cm 0.3pt 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Jerome, <i>Against Jovinianus</i>, Book 1, Section 27, A.D. 393: “Adam was first made, then the woman out of his rib; and that the Devil could not seduce Adam, but did seduce Eve; and that after displeasing God she was immediately subjected to the man, and began to turn to her husband; and he points out that she who was once tied with the bonds of marriage and was reduced to the condition of Eve, might blot out the old transgression by the procreation of children: provided, however, that she bring up the children themselves in the faith and love of Christ, and in sanctification and chastity… For if the woman is saved in child-bearing, and the more the children the greater the safety of the mothers, why did he add "if they continue in faith and love and sanctification with chastity"? [1 Tim. 2:15]”</span></p></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-831939533339323924.post-44591444009512180292021-09-20T02:06:00.004-04:002021-09-20T02:54:19.142-04:00Seventh Day Adventism Exposed & Condemned<p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv2Akf1TXH4dHd56_VHFuOvil8V_X2jbZ7zZCdrbGxDJ3Xc0A0nJdMRjs5r3EKzzZK4qtjTdajO_pxIduySrKSwoKh258I3pEYLI46o7XdM295mDP40vHSMumKV7UCf2OeDrIy7TwYhag/s1024/download+%25281%2529.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="683" data-original-width="1024" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv2Akf1TXH4dHd56_VHFuOvil8V_X2jbZ7zZCdrbGxDJ3Xc0A0nJdMRjs5r3EKzzZK4qtjTdajO_pxIduySrKSwoKh258I3pEYLI46o7XdM295mDP40vHSMumKV7UCf2OeDrIy7TwYhag/s320/download+%25281%2529.jpeg" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />The Seventh-Day Adventist church traces its roots to American preacher William Miller (1782–1849), a<span style="background-color: white;"> </span>Baptist<span style="background-color: white;"> </span><span style="background-color: white;">who predicted the Second Coming would occur between March 21, 1843, and March 21, 1844. Because he and his followers proclaimed Christ's imminent advent, they were known as "Adventists."</span></span><p></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">When Christ failed to appear, Miller reluctantly endorsed the position of a group of his followers known as the "seventh-month movement," who claimed Christ would return on October 22, 1844 (in the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar).</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">When this didn't happen either, Miller forswore predicting the date of the Second Coming, and his followers broke up into a number of competing factions. Miller would have nothing to do with the new theories his followers produced, including ones which attempted to save part of his 1844 doctrine. He rejected this and other teachings being generated by his former followers, including those of Ellen Gould White.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Miller had claimed, based on his interpretation of Daniel and Revelation, that Christ would return in 1843–44 to cleanse "the sanctuary" (Dan. 8:11–14, 9:26), which he interpreted as the earth. After the disappointments of 1844, several of his followers proposed an alternative theory. While walking in a cornfield on the morning of October 23, 1844, the day after Christ failed to return, Hiram Edson felt he received a "spiritual" revelation that indicated that Miller had misidentified the sanctuary. It was not the earth, but the Holy of Holies in God's heavenly temple. Instead of coming out of the heavenly temple to cleanse the sanctuary of the earth, in 1844 Christ, for the first time, went into the heavenly Holy of Holies to cleanse it instead.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Another group of Millerites was influenced by Joseph Bates, a retired sea captain, who in 1846 and 1849 issued pamphlets insisting that Christians observe the Old Testament Sabbath—Saturday—instead of worshipping on Sunday. This helped feed the intense anti-Catholicism of Seventh-Day Adventism, since they blamed the Catholic Church for changing the day of worship from Saturday to Sunday.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">These two streams of thought—Christ entering the heavenly sanctuary and the need to keep the Hebrew Sabbath—were combined by White, who claimed to have received many visions confirming these doctrines. Together with Edson and Bates, she formed the Seventh-Day Adventist denomination, which officially received its name in 1860.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Today the denomination reports that it has 780,000 members in the United States and 7.8 million members elsewhere, many in so called Catholic countries.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.7cm;"></p><h2 class="western" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 28px; margin: 0px; text-align: center; text-decoration-line: underline;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><a name="Adventist-Beliefs" style="color: blue;"></a>Adventist Beliefs</span></h2><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Seventh-Day Adventists agree with many Catholic doctrines, including the Trinity, Christ's divinity, the virgin birth, the atonement, a physical resurrection of the dead, and Christ's Second Coming. They use a valid form of baptism. They believe in original sin and reject the Evangelical teaching that one can never lose one's salvation no matter what one does (i.e., they <em>correctly </em>reject the heresy of eternal security ["once saved, always saved"]).</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Unfortunately, they also hold many unbiblical, false and strange doctrines. Among these are the following: (a) the Catholic Church is the Whore of Babylon; (b) the pope is the Antichrist; (c) in the last days, Sunday worship will be "the mark of the beast"; (d) there is a future millennium in which the devil will roam the earth while Christians are with Christ in heaven; (e) the soul sleeps between death and resurrection; and (f) on the last day, after a limited period of punishment in hell, the wicked will be annihilated and cease to exist rather than be eternally damned.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Many Adventists insist that, as a matter of discipline (not doctrine), one must not eat meats considered unclean under the Mosaic Law (many endorse total vegetarianism), and one must avoid card-playing, dancing, smoking, drinking, reading non-religious books, listening to non-religious music, watching non-religious television, going to the movies, etc.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Adventists also subscribe to the two unbiblical pillars of Protestantism, <em>sola scriptura</em> (the Bible is the <em>sole</em> rule of faith) and <em>sola fide</em> (justification is by faith alone). Other Protestants, especially conservative Evangelicals and Fundamentalists, often attack Adventists on these points, claiming they do not really hold them, which is often used as "proof" that they are "a cult." However, along the spectrum of Protestantism (from high-church Lutherans and Anglicans to low-church Pentecostals and Baptists), there is little agreement about the meaning of these two phrases or about the doctrines they are supposed to represent.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.7cm;"></p><h2 class="western" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 28px; margin: 0px; text-align: center; text-decoration-line: underline;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><a name="Is-Saturday-or-Sunday-the-Holy-Day?" style="color: blue;"></a>Is Saturday or Sunday the Holy Day?</span></h2><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.45pt; margin-bottom: 14pt;"><span class="MsoHyperlink"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">By Bro. Peter Dimond of Most Holy Family Monastery / mostholyfamilymonastery.com</span></i></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">-Why true Christians (i.e., Catholics) dedicate Sunday specifically to God, rather than Saturday. Refuting Seventh-Day Adventists and Seventh-Day Baptists from the Bible-</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Exodus 20:8-11- "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and made it holy."</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In Exodus 20, we find the commandment to keep holy the Sabbath. In the Old Testament, Sabbath meant "rest" or "cessation" on the seventh day of the Hebrew week – Saturday. A sizable number of Protestants argue that people are still bound by the commandment to set Saturday apart for God. They believe that Catholics break this commandment by recognizing, in accordance with the Tradition of the Church and the teaching of the New Testament, that the prerogatives of the Sabbath have been transferred to Sunday in the New Covenant. The following considerations should show any sincere person why Seventh-Day Adventists and Seventh-Day Baptists are wrong. God Himself, through the Church He established, transferred the prerogatives of the Sabbath to Sunday, in honor of the day on which Jesus rose again.</span></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">THE COMMANDMENT TO KEEP HOLY THE SABBATH IS DIFFERENT IN NATURE FROM THE OTHER COMMANDMENTS</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Of all the 10 commandments, <u><b>the one to keep holy the Sabbath is different in nature from the rest</b></u>. This is a very important point. It's different because it's the only one of the Ten Commandments that pertains to the ceremonial, not the moral and natural law. For instance, man knows in his heart that he should not murder, that he should not steal, etc. But the natural law itself doesn't teach him that he must worship God on a particular day as opposed to another day. That must come from external revelation and precept.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In fact, keeping holy the Sabbath or Seventh Day only started after the Exodus. It wasn't done before that or from the very beginning. It's part of the ceremonial, not the natural law that must always be observed. Since it's a commandment of <i>the ceremonial law</i>, not the natural law, God can change the day on which He is to be specifically honored. Protestants who contend that the Saturday Sabbath law remains in force do not follow other aspects of the Old Testament ceremonial law. They don't consider circumcision or ritual sacrifices to be binding anymore, but they consider the ceremonial Sabbath law to be binding. This is both unscriptural and illogical.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Just as circumcision, the ritual sacrifices, and other parts of the ceremonial law have ceased with the coming of Christ, the ceremonial requirement to set Saturday apart for God has passed away. It has been replaced by God and His Church with the requirement to specifically honor Sunday.</span></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">THE APOSTLES AND THE EARLY CHURCH CELEBRATED SUNDAY, NOT SATURDAY</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Apostles clearly honored Sunday, not Saturday. We read that they met for the Eucharist and the breaking of bread on the first day of the week, Sunday, the day of the Lord's Resurrection.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Acts 20:7- And <u><b>upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread</b></u>, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight."</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">We see that the Christians came together to worship on Sunday. This day was set apart by the Apostles.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">1 Corinthians 16:1-2- "Now concerning the collections that are made for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, so do ye also. <u><b>On the first day of the week</b></u> let every one of you put apart with himself, laying up what it shall well please him; that when I come, the collections be not then to be made."</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This next verse is particularly important.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Colossians 2:16-17- "<u><b>Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days</b></u>: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ."</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Here we see St. Paul specifically teaching that the festival and ceremonial laws (including the observance of the Sabbath!) pertained to the Old Testament period and are no longer binding after the coming of Christ. How clear does it have to be?</span></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">GOD GAVE THE CHURCH THE AUTHORITY TO TRANSFER THE SABBATH TO SUNDAY IN HONOR OF HIS RESURRECTION</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Matthew 16:18-19- "And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and <b>whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven</b>."</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Matthew 18:17-18- "And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto <b>the church</b>: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican. Verily I say unto you, <i>Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven</i>."</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">That's why the early Christians met on Sunday (the Lord's Day) to celebrate the Eucharist. That's why the most ancient fathers, such as St. Ignatius of Antioch writing about 110 A.D., recognized that Sunday was the day, not Saturday.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Ignatius of Antioch, <i>Epistle to the Magnesians</i>, no. 9, 110 A.D.: "If then they who walked in ancient customs came to a new hope, <u><b>no longer living for the Sabbath, but for the Lord's Day</b></u>, on which also our life sprang up through him and His death – though some deny Him – and by this mystery we received faith, and for this reason also we suffer…"</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This is a clear proof that Seventh-Day Adventists and Seventh-Day Baptists are following a man-made perversion of Scripture which was foreign not only to the Apostles but to the most ancient Christians. Many other fathers could be quoted.</span></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">THERE'S MORE: GOD'S DAY OF REST IS CONNECTED WITH HIS CREATION;<br />HE RESTS AFTER HIS WORK OF CREATION IS FINISHED</span></p><p align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">THE RESURRECTION SIGNIFIES THE COMPLETION OF THE NEW CREATION,<br />AND THUS IT MARKS HIS NEW DAY OF REST</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Genesis 2:1-2- "So the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the furniture of them. And <b>on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made: and he rested</b> on the seventh day from all his work which he had done."</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">We read that God's rest is connected with His completion of work. God finished His work, and then He rested on the seventh day. But the entire creation was ruptured by the sin of Adam. That's why Romans 8 teaches that all of creation was waiting in expectation for the Redemption of Christ. His Redemption would repair the creation that had been ruptured.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Romans 8:22-23- "For <b>we know that </b><u><b>the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now</b></u>. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, <u><b>waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption</b></u> of our body."</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Christ's Redemption is, therefore, a new creation. That's why we read:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">2 Corinthians 5:17- "Therefore <b>if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature</b>: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Hebrews 9:11-12- "But Christ, being come an high priest of the good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hand, that is, not of this creation: Neither by the blood of goats, or of calves, but by his own blood, entered once into the holies, having obtained eternal redemption."</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Christ's new work of creation – of repairing the creation that had been ruptured by Adam – was accomplished on the Cross and it culminated with His Resurrection. That's why we find the interesting subtle identification of Jesus with the gardener. When Mary Magdalene saw the risen Lord on the day of His Resurrection, she mistook Him for the gardener. This true event was also meant to indicate that Jesus was in the new garden – the restored Garden of Eden (paradise) which had been previously forfeited by the sin of Adam.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">John 20:15- "Jesus saith to her: Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? <u><b>She, thinking it was the gardener</b></u>, saith to him: Sir, if thou hast taken him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away."</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Genesis 2:8- "And <b>the Lord God planted </b><u><b>a garden eastward in Eden</b></u>; and there he put the man whom he had formed."</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus' Redemption and Resurrection restored paradise and repaired the garden that had been corrupted; for He is the new and greater Adam.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">1 Corinthians 15:45- "And so it is written, the first man Adam was made a living soul; <b>the last Adam [Christ] </b>was made a quickening spirit."</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Romans 5:14- "Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of <b>Adam's transgression, who is the figure [</b><i><b>type</b></i><b>] of him that was to come [Jesus]</b>."</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Romans 5:19- "For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous."</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Thus, it makes perfect sense that the Lord's Day (Sunday, the day of His Resurrection) – which marked the end of His new work of creation – would become the new day of rest.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.7cm;"></p><h2 class="western" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 28px; margin: 0px; text-align: center; text-decoration-line: underline;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><a name="Is-Hell-Eternal?" style="color: blue;"></a>Is Hell Eternal?</span></h2><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Seventh-day Adventists believe that the wicked will be punished in the lake of fire, before ultimately being destroyed. Their reading of biblical texts that are used in support of the traditional doctrine of hell is that these texts can be harmonized with this particular annihilationist understanding of hell. The Seventh-day Adventist view is that these biblical texts refer to the destructive forces that are employed and the results of this punishment as being eternal, and not that the wicked specifically experience conscious torment throughout eternity.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Cecil Perry, president of the Seventh-day Adventists in England, issued a warning that Hell should not be preached. He was responding to a report issued in April 2000 by the Evangelical Alliance of the United Kingdom that describes Hell as a physical place that is occupied by unrepentant sinners. Perry took issue with that, saying, "The message of hell is in stark contrast to the message of hope and love and tends to engender fear" ("British Seventh-day Adventists Warn Against 'Stoking' Hell Fires," Religious News Service, April 2000).</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Ellen G. White too rejected the eternal hell and immortal soul concept as can be seen in her book.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Ellen White, <i>The Great Controversy</i>: "How repugnant to every emotion of love and mercy, and even to our sense of justice, is the doctrine that the wicked dead are tormented with fire and brimstone in an eternally burning hell. . . . And how utterly revolting is the belief that as soon as the breath leaves the body the soul of the impenitent is consigned to the flames of hell! ... the doctrine of natural immortality first borrowed from pagan philosophy, and in the darkness of the great apostasy incorporated into the Christian faith, has supplanted the truth. . . . The theory of eternal torment is one of the false doctrines that constitute the wine of the abomination of Babylon. . . . But those who have not, through repentance and faith, secured pardon, must receive the penalty of transgression ... covered with infamy, they sink into hopeless, eternal oblivion. . . . There will then be no lost souls to blaspheme God as they writhe in never- ending torment; no wretched beings in hell will mingle their shrieks with the songs of the saved" (The Great Controversy, pp. 469, 470, 477, 478, 483)."</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Regardless of whether it rubs uncomfortably against human reason, the Bible teaches that the unsaved must endure eternal conscious torment. Proof for this is found in Matthew 25:46, in which eternal life is compared to eternal punishment in duration and state. "And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous unto life eternal."</span></p><h3 class="western" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 26px; margin: 25px auto -5px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><a name="The-Reality-of-Hell" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a>The Reality of Hell</span></h3><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">One of the great dangers of this century, and thus one of the great triumphs of Satan, has been the growing disbelief in the existence of Hell. For many, Hell has become a fable, a myth, an outdated holdover from "the Old Testament God of fire, brimstone and judgment." Urged on by false doctrines and a want to believe that there can be no such thing as eternal punishment for serious wrongs "when Jesus is a God of love and kindness," many have thrown Hell out the window – along with concern for sin. After all, if there is no Hell, then why need there be concern for sin? Unfortunately, they forget that "I am the Lord and I change not" (Malachi 3:6). Hell has not suddenly evaporated because we would prefer it so. How subtle Satan is in these times. He increasingly tricks people into his web by disguising its very existence. He wants you to let your guard down. Please do not be deceived. Hell, eternal punishment for serious sins, exists. Scripture, the Church and reports of modern-day visionaries all confirm that Hell is a reality – never-ending reality for those souls who must reside there with Satan and all the other damned forever, because by their own free will and choice they rejected God while on earth and excluded themselves from communion with Him.</span></p><h3 class="western" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 26px; margin: 25px auto -5px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><a name="The-Bible-and-Hell" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a>The Bible and Hell</span></h3><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">There are over thirty repeated references to the existence of Hell in the Old Testament alone. For instance: "The sorrows of death have compassed me: and the perils of hell have found me" (Psalms [D-R] 114:3). "For the Lord Almighty will take revenge on them. In the day of judgment he will visit them: for he will give fire and worms into their flesh, that they may burn, and may feel for ever" (Judith 16:20 -21). "Depart from me, come not near me, because thou art unclean: these shall be smoke in my anger, a fire burning all the day" (Isaias 65:5). "A fire is kindled in my wrath, and shall burn even to the lowest hell...I will heap evils upon the transgressors of my law, and will spend my arrows among them" (Deut. 32:22-23). "The congregation of sinners is like tow heaped together, and the end of them is a flame of fire" (Ecclesiasticus 21:10). "He shall be punished for all he did, and yet shall not be consumed:...he shall burn, and every sorrow shall fall upon him...All darkness is hid in his secret places: a fire that is not kindled shall devour him" (Job 20:18,22,26).</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In the Gospels, Jesus speaks of Hell more than of Heaven. In St. Matthew's Gospel, Jesus says "But I say to you, that whosoever is angry with his brother, shall be in danger of the judgment....And whosoever shall say, you fool, shall be in danger of hell fire" (St. Matt. 5:22). "The Son of Man shall send his angels and they will collect out of his kingdom all who cause others to sin and all evildoers. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth" (St. Matt. 13:41-42). In St. Mark's Gospel, Jesus warns: "And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire..." (St. Mark 9:42).</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A description of the last judgment in the Book of Apocalypse clearly makes the point: "And I saw the dead, great and small, standing in presence of the throne, and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which was the book of life; and the dead were judged by those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and hell gave up their dead that were in them; and they were judged every one according to their works. And hell and death were cast into the pool of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life, was cast into the pool of fire" (Apoc. 20:12-15).</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus describes in St. Matthew's Gospel the last judgment as His separation of the sheep (those who loved God and neighbor) from the goats (those who did not). To the goats, Jesus says His indictment will be: "Depart from Me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. ...And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life" (St. Matt. 25:41,46). Jesus Christ could not have been more clear that each of us, by our choices and conduct, risks eternal punishment after death – Hell.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In Chapter 16 of the Gospel of St. Luke, Jesus tells a parable on Hell. A rich man who has died and is in Hell pleads with God to send the poor man Lazarus, who has gone to Heaven (or Abraham's bosom), back from the dead to warn his five brothers that Hell really exists. God replies: "If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead." However, God is so merciful that He has allowed certain of the damned in Hell to return to earth to witness to others that there truly is a place of eternal suffering – Hell – for those who disobey God and His commandments. We will look at some of these apparitions at the end of this article.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">To deny the eternity of Hell is a condemned heresy and is simply said to deny the Bible.</span></p><h3 class="western" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 26px; margin: 25px auto -5px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><a name="Why-Hell-Must-be-Eternal" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a>Quick Thoughts on Why Hell Must be Eternal</span></h3><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.45pt; margin-bottom: 14pt;"><span class="MsoHyperlink"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">Originally published by Brother Peter Dimond of vaticancatholic.com, slightly edited by me</span></i></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">There is at least one main reason <u>why Hell must be eternal</u>. That the pains of Hell are eternal is, of course, part of the faith. Jesus makes that quite clear in numerous places (Mt. 25:41; Mark 9:44). It's dogmatically reaffirmed by the Catholic Church. Even though people know that it's taught in the Bible, many are still deeply disturbed by the consideration of this mind-boggling truth. They wonder how such an unimaginable punishment could be just. In response many will bring up the idea that an offense against Infinite Majesty (God) deserves infinite punishment. However, we would like to consider this issue from another angle. The following is simply our quick take on why <i>it makes perfect sense</i> that the pains of Hell are eternal.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A primary reason that Hell must be eternal is that <b>the only condition that matters to man is the present condition</b>. But the <i>real reason why Hell is eternal</i> is because <b>at death the </b><u><b>will will be fixed for eternity</b></u>. "It is because our wills" a lost soul said "were fixed for eternity at the moment of death. We had made our final choice. Our obstinacy will never leave us." (Cry of a Lost Soul). Thus, the damned will never repent and will never cease to hate God and will never seek forgiveness for their sins even if it were granted to them, "because he [the soul] was rejected by Him [God], such a person cannot but hate Him with all the strength of his wicked will. We died with willful resolve to be separated from God. Do you now understand why hell lasts forever!" (Cry of a Lost Soul). <b>This is the </b><i><b>real</b></i> <b>reason why Hell must be eternal</b>.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">However, regarding the argument that the only condition that matters to man is the present condition. For instance, suppose you live in a frigid area of the world. Suppose that you had heat for the past ten years, but this year catastrophe has struck your area and left you without any heat in the depths of winter. You are freezing, shivering, etc. <b>Will the fact that you had heat for the last ten years make you happy while you are freezing this winter? No. It won't help you at all. </b><u><b>All that matters is that you don't have heat this winter</b></u><b>. It's true to say that </b><u><b>all that matters to you is your present condition</b></u><b>.</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Likewise, suppose that you did not have heat for the past ten years, but finally got it this year. Will the fact that you did not have heat last year, and the year before, etc. make you unhappy while you sit comfortably and warmly now? No. All that matters is that you are warm and comfortable now. All that matters is your present condition.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The same truth applies to everything, including to the passing pleasures desired by worldly people. (It must be pointed out that none of these passing pleasures can bring true happiness, for man was created for God and can only be fulfilled in Him. But the point holds true for these matters as well.) For instance, those who glory in their present state of great fame or great wealth or great success or great beauty are not troubled by the fact that they did not possess this ten or twenty years ago. All that matters to them is that they are famous or successful or wealthy, etc. now. All that matters to man is the present condition.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Therefore, <u>if the pains of Hell did end at some point, then at that very point the condition of the person would be free of punishment. He would suffer no pain at all</u>. Since all that matters to man is the present condition, the end result would be that man would not be punished at all.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Thus, when it is considered deeply, <b>it is true to say that a punishment that is not eternal is, in the end, actually no real punishment at all</b>. For if it ends at any point, then the final condition of man (which is all that will matter to him) is one without punishment.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Objection: What about the punishments in Purgatory? They end at some point, but they are true punishments.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Response: The answer to this is that the Purgatorial punishments can end in no punishment (but happiness) because they are actually equivalent to loving discipline meant for our greater good. They are purifying punishments meant for God's friends—for those who died in state of grace but without fully satisfying for their sins in this life. They are meant to make a person worthy to enter Heaven after being purified, just like gold is purified in the fire, ultimately to end in a greater and lasting happiness and reward, <u>not to make him experience a real and lasting condition of unhappiness that are due only to the damned</u>. Thus, they are not punishments of the same category as vindictive punishments which God inflicts on those who die in mortal sin, and with a will to be eternally separated from God.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">See: <b><a href="https://vaticancatholic1830.blogspot.com/2021/06/purgatory-and-prayers-for-faithful.html">Scriptural Proof for Purgatory</a></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">But those who die in a state of mortal offense against God's dignity must be punished in a real and vindictive way. The punishment inflicted on those who die in mortal sin is meant to pour out God's wrath on His enemies. It's meant to inflict a true and lasting condition of unhappiness on those who have mortally offended His dignity without true repentance.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Deuteronomy 32:35- "<b>Revenge is mine, and I will repay them in due time</b>, that their foot may slide: the day of destruction is at hand, and the time makes haste to come."</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Such a punishment can only be real if the end result equals punishment, not a state of no punishment. The only way that the vindictive punishment can have an end result which equals punishment, rather than no punishment, is by an ongoing present condition of unhappiness. That's why Hell must be eternal.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.7cm;"></p><h2 class="western" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 28px; margin: 0px; text-align: center; text-decoration-line: underline;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><a name="Adventist-Anti-Catholicism" style="color: blue;"></a>Adventist Anti-Catholicism</span></h2><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">As is clear from some of the beliefs listed above, Adventist theology is unbiblical and intensely anti-Catholic. Many Catholics who do not frequently come in contact with Adventists or their literature do not realize just how hostile they can be toward the Church.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Trying to give others the benefit of the doubt, Catholics may suppose that anti-Catholicism is part of Adventism's radical fringe. Unfortunately, this is untrue. Adventists who are moderate on Catholicism are a minority. Anti-Catholicism characterizes the denomination because it is embraced in White's heretical writings. A few illustrations help indicate the scope of the problem:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">"Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots . . . is further declared to be 'that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.' Revelation 17:4–6, 18. The power that for so many centuries maintained despotic sway over the monarchs of Christendom is Rome. The purple and scarlet color, the gold and precious stones and pearls, vividly picture the magnificence and more than kingly pomp affected by the haughty see of Rome" (<em>The Great Controversy</em>, 338).</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">"It is one of the leading doctrines of Romanism that the pope is the visible head of the universal Church of Christ . . . and has been declared infallible. He demands the homage of all men. The same claim urged by Satan in the wilderness of temptation is still urged by him [Satan] through the Church of Rome, and vast numbers are ready to yield him homage" (ibid., 48).</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">"Marvelous in her shrewdness and cunning is the Roman Church. She can read what is to be. She bides her time, seeing that the Protestant churches are paying her homage in their acceptance of the false Sabbath. . . . And let it be remembered, it is the boast of Rome that she never changes. The principles of Gregory VII and Innocent III are still the principles of the Roman Catholic Church. And has she but the power, she would put them in practice with as much vigor now as in past centuries. . . . Rome is aiming to reestablish her power, to recover her lost supremacy" (ibid., 507–8).</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">"God's word has given warning of the impending danger; let this be unheeded, and the Protestant world will learn what the purposes of Rome really are, only when it is too late to escape the snare. She is silently growing into power. Her doctrines are exerting their influence in legislative halls, in the churches, and in the hearts of men. She is piling up her lofty and massive structures, in the secret recesses of which her former persecutions will be repeated. Stealthily and unsuspectedly she is strengthening her forces to further her own ends when the time shall come for her to strike. All that she desires is vantage ground, and this is already being given her. We shall soon see and shall feel what the purpose of the Roman element is. Whoever believe and obey the word of God will thereby incur reproach and persecution" ( ibid., 508–9).</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Unfortunately, most Adventists believe this. Bear in mind that these quotes are not taken from an obscure work of White's that nobody ever reads. They are from what is probably her single most popular volume, <em>The Great Controversy</em>.</span></p><h3 class="western" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 26px; margin: 25px auto -5px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><a name="Is-the-Catholic-Church-the-Whore-of-Babylon?" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a>Is the Catholic Church the Whore of Babylon?</span></h3><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Protestants throughout the centuries, including Ellen G. White, have accused the Catholic Church of being the Whore of Babylon. But the Protestants are wrong, of course, because the Catholic Church is the immaculate Bride of Christ, the one true Church He founded. What <b>the Whore of Babylon describes, however, is </b><i><b>a counterfeit Bride – a Counter-Catholic Church</b></i> – which arises in the last days in order to deceive Catholics (the true faithful), tread upon the faith and commit spiritual fornication.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In the Gospel, Jesus Christ not only informs us that in the last days the true faith would hardly be found on the Earth, but that "in the holy place" itself there will be "the abomination of desolation" (Mt. 24:15), and a deception so profound that, if it were possible, even the elect would be deceived (Mt. 24:24). St. Paul says that the man of sin will sit "in the temple of God" (2 Thess. 2:4). The Apocalypse describes in detail the Whore of Babylon, a false bride (i.e. a Counter Church) which arises in the last days in the city of seven hills (Rome) and which spreads spiritual fornication all over the Earth. <b>The fact that the last days are characterized by a spiritual deception intending to ensnare Catholics proves, rather than disproves, the authenticity of the Catholic Church.</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">See: <b><a href="https://vaticancatholic1830.blogspot.com/2021/09/the-whore-of-babylon.html">The Whore of Babylon</a> </b>and <b><a href="https://vaticancatholic1830.blogspot.com/2021/07/vatican-ii-exposed-and-condemned.html">Vatican II's Many Heresies Exposed</a></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="color: red; font-family: arial;"><u><b>Pope Leo XIII's supernatural experience and Original Prayer to St. Michael a prophecy of an apostasy in Rome in the last days</b></u></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Leo XIII's <i>Prayer to St. Michael </i>the Archangel is prophetic. Composed over 100 years ago, and then suppressed, Pope Leo XIII's original <i>Prayer to St. Michael </i>is a very interesting and controversial prayer relating to the present situation in which the true Catholic Church finds itself.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Matthew 24:15- "<b>When therefore you shall see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, </b><u><b>standing in the holy place</b></u>: he that readeth let him understand."</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Matthew 24:24-25- "For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, <b>insomuch as to deceive (if possible) even the elect</b>. Behold I have told it to you, beforehand."</span></p><h3 class="western" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 26px; margin: 25px auto -5px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><a name="What-About-Papal-Infallibility?" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a>What About Papal Infallibility?</span></h3><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Protestants throughout the centuries, including Ellen G. White, has criticized the biblical teaching of papal infallibility.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It is a fact of history, scripture and tradition that Our Lord Jesus Christ founded His universal Church (the Catholic Church) upon St. Peter.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Matthew 16:18-19- "And I say to thee: <b>That thou art Peter: and upon this rock I will build my Church</b>, <b>and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it</b>. <b>And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven.</b> And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven."</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Our Lord made St. Peter the first Pope, entrusted to him His entire flock, and gave him supreme authority in the universal Church of Christ.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">John 21:15-17- "<b>Jesus saith to Simon Peter</b>: Simon, son of John, lovest thou me? He saith to him: Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. <b>He saith to him: </b><u><b>Feed my lambs</b></u>. He saith to him again: Simon, son of John, lovest thou me? He saith to him: Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. <b>He saith to him: </b><u><b>Feed my lambs</b></u>. He saith to him a third time: Simon, son of John, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved, because he had said to him the third time: Lovest thou me? And he said to him: Lord, thou knowest all things: thou knowest that I love thee. <b>He said to him: </b><u><b>Feed my sheep</b></u>."</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And with the supreme authority that Our Lord Jesus Christ conferred upon St. Peter (and his successors, the popes) comes what is called Papal Infallibility. Papal Infallibility is inseparable from Papal Supremacy – there was no point for Christ to make St. Peter the head of His Church (as Christ clearly did) if St. Peter or his successors, the popes, could err <u>when exercising that supreme authority to teach on a point of Faith</u>. The supreme authority must be unfailing on binding matters of Faith and morals or else it is no true authority from Christ at all.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Papal Infallibility does not mean that a pope cannot err at all and it does not mean that a pope cannot lose his soul and be damned in Hell for grave sin. It means that the successors of St. Peter (the popes of the Catholic Church) cannot err <u>when authoritatively teaching on a point of Faith or morals to be held by the entire Church of Christ</u>. We find the promise of the unfailing faith for St. Peter and his successors referred to by Christ in Luke 22.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Luke 22:31-32- "And the Lord said: Simon, Simon, behold Satan hath desired to have all of you, that he may sift you as wheat: <b>But I have prayed for thee, </b><u><b>that thy faith fail not</b></u><b>:</b> and thou, being once converted, confirm thy brethren."</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Satan desired to sift all the Apostles (plural) like wheat, but Jesus prayed for Simon Peter (singular), that his <u>faith fail not.</u> Jesus is saying that St. Peter and his successors (the popes of the Catholic Church) have an unfailing faith when authoritatively teaching a point of faith or morals to be held by the entire Church of Christ.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Pius IX, <i>Vatican Council I</i>, 1870, <i>ex cathedra</i>: "<u><b>SO, THIS GIFT OF TRUTH AND A NEVER FAILING FAITH WAS DIVINELY CONFERRED UPON PETER AND HIS SUCCESSORS IN THIS CHAIR</b></u>…"</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Pius IX, <i>Vatican Council I</i>, 1870, <i>ex cathedra</i>: "… <u><b>the See of St. Peter always remains unimpaired by any error</b></u>, according to the divine promise of our Lord the Savior made to the chief of His disciples: '<u><b>I have prayed for thee [Peter], that thy faith fail not</b></u>...'"</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And this truth has been held since the earliest times in the Catholic Church.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope St. Gelasius I, epistle 42, or Decretal <i>de recipiendis et non recipiendis libris</i>, 495: "Accordingly, <b>the see of Peter</b> the Apostle of the Church of Rome is first, <i><b>having neither spot, nor wrinkle, nor anything of this kind</b></i> (Eph. 5:27)."</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The word "infallible" actually means "cannot fail" or "unfailing." Therefore, the very term <i>Papal Infallibility</i> comes directly from Christ's promise to St. Peter (and his successors) in Luke 22, that Peter has an unfailing Faith. Though this truth was believed since the beginning of the Church, it was specifically defined as a dogma at the First Vatican Council in 1870.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Pius IX, <i>Vatican Council I</i>, 1870, Session 4, Chap. 4: the Roman Pontiff, when he speaks <i>ex cathedra </i>[from the Chair of Peter], that is, when carrying out the duty of the pastor and teacher of all Christians in accord with his supreme apostolic authority he explains a doctrine of faith or morals to be held by the universal Church... <b>operates with that infallibility</b> with which the divine Redeemer wished that His Church be instructed in defining doctrine on faith and morals; <b>and so such definitions of the Roman Pontiff from himself, but not from the consensus of the Church, are unalterable</b>."</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">But how does one know when a pope is exercising his unfailing Faith to infallibly teach from the Chair of St. Peter? The answer is that we know from the language that the pope uses or the manner in which the pope teaches. Vatican I defined two requirements which must be fulfilled: 1) when the pope is carrying out his duty as pastor and teacher of all Christians <u>in accord with his supreme apostolic authority</u>; 2) when he explains a doctrine on faith or morals to be held by the entire Church of Christ. A pope can fulfill both of these requirements in just one line, by anathematizing a false opinion (such as many dogmatic councils) or by saying "By our apostolic authority we declare…" or by saying "We believe, profess, and teach" or by using words of similar importance and meaning, which indicate that the pope is teaching the whole Church on Faith in a definitive and binding fashion.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">So, when a pope teaches from the Chair of Peter in the manner stipulated above he cannot be wrong. If he could be wrong, then the Church of Christ could be officially led into error, and Christ's promise to St. Peter and His Church would fail (which is impossible). That which is taught from the Chair of Peter by the popes of the Catholic Church is the teaching of Jesus Christ Himself. To reject that which is taught by the popes from the Chair of Peter is simply to despise Jesus Christ Himself.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Luke 10:16- "He that heareth you, heareth me: and he that despiseth you despiseth me…"</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Matthew 18:17 -"And if he will not hear the church, let him be to thee as the heathen and publican."</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pope Leo XIII, <i>Satis Cognitum</i>, 1896: "…<b>Christ instituted a living, authoritative and permanent Magisterium… If it could in any way be false, an evident contradiction follows; for then God Himself would be the author of error in man."</b></span></p><h2 class="western" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 28px; margin: 0px; text-align: center; text-decoration-line: underline;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">Apparitions of the Damned from Hell</span></h2><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">As said before, God is so merciful that He has allowed certain of the damned in Hell to return to earth to witness to others that there truly is a place of eternal suffering – Hell – for those who disobey God and His commandments. The following are a few examples of many such occurrences – documented in the annals of private revelation.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Francis Jerome and the Obstinate Sinner</span></b></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In the year 1707, St. Francis. Jerome was preaching, as was his wont, in the neighborhood of the City of Naples. He was speaking of Hell and the awful chastisements that await obstinate sinners. A brazen courtesan (prostitute), who lived there, troubled by a discourse which aroused her remorse, sought to hinder it by jests and shouts, accompanied by noisy instruments. As she was standing close to the window, the Saint cried out: "Beware, my daughter, of resisting grace; before eight days God will punish you." The unhappy creature grew only more boisterous. Eight days elapsed, and the holy preacher happened to be again before the same house. This time she was silent; the windows were shut. The hearers, with dismay on their faces, told the Saint that Catherine (that was the name of the bad woman) had a few hours before died suddenly. "Died!" he repeated. "Well, let her tell us now what she has gained by laughing at Hell. Let us ask her." He uttered these words in an inspired tone, and everyone expected a miracle. Followed by an immense crowd, he went up to the death chamber, and there, after having prayed for an instant he uncovered the face of the corpse, and said in a loud voice, "Catherine, tell us where art thou now." At this summons, the dead woman lifted her head, while opening her wild eyes; her face borrowed color, her features assumed an expression of horrible despair, and in a mournful voice, she pronounced these words: "In Hell; I am in Hell." And immediately, she fell back again into the condition of a corpse.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">"I was present at that event," says one of the witnesses, "but I could never convey the impression it produced on me and the bystanders, nor that which I still feel every time I pass that house and look at that window. At the sight of that ill-fated abode, I still hear the pitiful cry resounding: 'In Hell, I am in Hell.'" With fear and trembling work out your salvation (Philip. 2:12).</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;">Sister Josefa Menendez's Description of Hell</span></b></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">One of the greatest mystics of this century was Sister Josefa Menendez, who died in 1923 at the age of 33. This young Spanish sister, who had a short religious life of great suffering, experienced revelations throughout much of her life, compiled in <i>The Way Of Divine Love</i>. More than once, she was taken to Hell to witness and feel the suffering first-hand. Sister Josefa was reluctant to write on the subject of Hell, and did so only to conform to Our Lord's wishes. Sister Josefa repeatedly dwelt on what she described as the greatest torment of Hell, namely, the soul's inability to love. One of these damned souls cried out: "This is my torture...that I want to love and cannot; there is nothing left me but hatred and despair. If one of us could so much as make a single act of love...But we cannot, we live on hatred and malevolence..." (March 23, 1922).</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">She records, too, the accusations made against themselves by these unhappy souls: "Some yell because of the martyrdom of their hands. Perhaps they were thieves, for they say: 'Where is our loot now?' ...Cursed hands... Others curse their tongues, their eyes...whatever was the occasion of sin... 'Now, O body, you are paying the price of the delights you granted yourself!...and you did it of your own free will...'" (April 2, 1922).</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">"I saw several souls fall into Hell, and among them was a child of fifteen, cursing her parents for not having taught her to fear God nor that there was a Hell. Her life had been a short one, she said, but full of sin, for she had given in to all that her body and passions demanded in the way of satisfaction... <span style="color: #cc0000;">[all must of course understand that masturbation (also in marriage) is a mortal sin that will damn an unrepentant soul or couple to eternal Hell]</span>" (March 22, 1923).</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">"My soul fell into abysmal depths, the bottom of which cannot be seen, for it is immense. . . ; Then I was pushed into one of those fiery cavities and pressed, as it were, between burning planks, and sharp nails and red-hot irons seemed to be piercing my flesh. I felt as if they were endeavoring to pull out my tongue, but could not. This torture reduced me to such agony that my very eyes seemed to be starting out of their sockets. I think this was because of the fire which burns, burns. . . not a finger nail escapes terrifying torments, and all the time one cannot move even a finger to gain some relief, not change posture, for the body seems flattened out and [yet] doubled in two. Sounds of confusion and blasphemy cease not for an instant. A sickening stench asphyxiates and corrupts everything, it is like the burning of putrefied flesh, mingled with tar and sulfur. . . a mixture to which nothing on earth can be compared. . . although these tortures were terrific, they would be bearable if the soul were at peace. But it suffers indescribably. . . All I have written," she concluded, "is but a shadow of what the soul suffers, for no words can express such dire torment." (September 4, 1922).</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">"Today, I saw a vast number of people fall into the fiery pit . . . they seemed to be worldlings and a demon cried vociferously: 'The world is ripe for me . . . I know that the best way to get hold of souls is to rouse their desire for enjoyment . . . Put me first . . . me before the rest . . . no humility for me! but let me enjoy myself . . . This sort of thing assures victory to me . . . and they tumble headlong into hell.' " (October 4, 1923)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">"Tonight I was transported to a place where all was obscure. . . Around me were seven or eight people; I could see them only by the reflections of the fire. They were seated and were talking together. One said: 'We'll have to be very careful not to be found out, for we might easily be discovered.'</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">"The devil answered: 'Insinuate yourselves by inducing carelessness in them. . . but keep in the background, so that you are not found out. . . by degrees they will become callous, and you will be able to incline them to evil. Tempt these others to ambition, to self-interest, to acquiring wealth without working, whether it be lawful or not. Excite some to sensuality and love of pleasure. Let vice blind them. . . As to the remainder. . . get in through the heart . . . you know the inclinations of their hearts. . . make them love. . . love passionately. . . work thoroughly. . . take no rest . . . have no pity. Let them cram themselves with food! It will make it all the easier for us. . . Let them get on with their banqueting. Love of pleasure is the door through which you will reach them . . .' " (February 3, 1923).</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;">The Fatima Children Are Shown Hell</span></b></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In 1917, during World War I and that "hell on earth," the Virgin Mary appeared to three children at Fatima, Portugal, on the 13th of the month from May through October. During her appearance on July 13th, 1917, she showed these three young children, ages 7 to 10, a vision of Hell. Lucia, the oldest of the three children, relates that the Blessed Virgin Mary opened her hands, and "rays of light seemed to penetrate the earth, and we saw, as it were, a sea of fire. Plunged in this fire were demons and souls in human form, like transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze, floating about in the conflagration, now raised into the air by the flames that issued from within themselves together with great clouds of smoke, now falling back on every side like sparks in huge fires, without weight or equilibrium, amid shrieks and groans of pain and despair, which horrified us and made us tremble with fear. (It must have been this sight which caused me to cry out, as people say they heard me.) The demons could be distinguished by their terrifying and repellent likeness to frightful and unknown animals, black and transparent like burning coals. Terrified and as if to plead for help, we looked up at Our Lady, who said to us so sadly: "You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. Thus, when you say the rosary, say after each mystery: O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of Hell and lead all souls to Heaven, especially those most in need of Thy Mercy." After this vision, the children lived dramatic lives of sacrifice and penance so that sinners might be converted and saved from the fires of Hell that God had shown them through His heavenly Prophetess.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;">Boy Raised from the Dead by St. John Bosco</span></b></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A fifteen-year-old boy in Turin was about to die. He called for Don Bosco, but the saint was not able to make it in time. Another priest heard the boy's confession and the boy died. When Don Bosco returned to Turin, he set out at once to see the boy. When told that the boy was dead, he insisted that it was "just a misunderstanding." After a moment of prayer in the room of the dead child, Don Bosco suddenly cried out: "Charles! Rise!" To the utter amazement of all present, the boy stirred, opened his eyes, and sat up. Seeing Don Bosco, his eyes lit up.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">"Father, I should now be in Hell!" gasped the boy. "Two weeks ago I was with a bad companion who led me into sin and at my last confession, I was afraid to tell everything . . . Oh, I've just come out of a horrible dream! I dreamt I was standing on the edge of a huge furnace surrounded by a horde of devils. They were about to throw me into the flames when a beautiful Lady appeared and stopped them. 'There's still hope for you, Charles,' she told me. 'You have not yet been judged!' At that moment I heard you calling me. Oh, Don Bosco! What a joy to see you again! Will you please hear my confession?"</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">After hearing the boy's confession, Don Bosco said to the boy, "Charles, now that the gates of Heaven lie wide open for you, would you rather go there or stay here with us?" The boy looked away for a moment and his eyes grew moist with tears. An expectant hush fell over the room. "Don Bosco", he said at last, "I'd rather go to Heaven." The mourners watched in amazement as Charles leaned back on the pillows, closed his eyes, and settled once more into the stillness of death.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;">The Old General and The Count</span></b></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In Russia shortly before the horrible military campaign between Napoleon and Russia in 1812, two high-ranking military men, one a Count and the Military Governor of Moscow and the other a General, were scoffing over drinks about the existence of God, life after death and Hell. They made a mocking "pledge of honor": if there were a Hell, the first there would come to inform the other of it. A few weeks later, the General departed for the front. One morning, while the Count was lying in bed, the General suddenly appeared before him, pale, with his right hand on his breast, declaring: "What do we do now? There is a Hell and I am there! What do we do now?" He then disappeared. The Count ran to friends, eyes wild, hair on end, and exclaimed what had just happened. Two weeks later, word was received in Moscow that the General had died in battle – on the same day and at the very hour he appeared to the Count. He had kept his word of honor: Hell exists.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;">The Young Lord and His Mistress</span></b></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In London during the winter of 1847-1848, a wealthy young widow in her late 20's suddenly found herself in an illicit relationship with a young lord. Late one night as she was falling asleep, a glimmer of light started to grow and expand at her door. To her astonishment the door started to slowly open, and there was the young lord. He approached, grabbed her left wrist, and hissed: "There is a Hell." The pain in her wrist was so great she lost consciousness. When she came to, she had a terrible burn into her wrist down to the bone. The carpet also was scorched where his footsteps had come and gone. The next day she learned that the night before, her lord had been found drunk and had died in his servants' arms. She apparently lived the rest of her life with her charred scar as a reminder.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;">A Soul From Hell</span></b></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A widow who was a sleazy slumlord and porno dealer for 30 years became a God-fearing pillar of society overnight – after her husband paid her a visit from Hell! "I'm a changed woman," trembling Sophia Neri, 53, told reporters in Rome, Italy. "I've had a glimpse of Hell through my husband's eyes, and I'll do anything to keep from joining him there."</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Before her eerie encounter, the widow operated a small empire of rat-infested slum apartments outside Rome and ran an underworld porno ring that produced magazines for sale overseas. "My husband Sal and I ran the business together before he died last year," Sophia recalled. "We lived in style, but we were living off the misery and appetites of others. After Sal died, I took over the entire operation myself and was pleased with the life I was leading."</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">But all that changed the day Sal appeared in Sophia's bedroom. His eyes burning like coals. "He stood before me a shrunken, broken soul, so different from the cocky, confident man I knew for 30 years," the reformed porno queen told reporters. "He told me he had been condemned to a life in Hell. He said it was far worse than anything he had imagined – and he warned me I would be joining him there if I didn't mend my ways. 'To live in Hell is to have a body that is constantly on fire,' he said. Then he pressed the palm of his hand against a heavy wooden door and his palm burned into the wood like a branding iron. A moment later he vanished leaving his handprint behind as a reminder of his warning. But believe me, that terrifying message burned itself into my mind as clearly as his handprint had burned into the door. I wasn't about to forget."</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">That night, Sophia visited a priest to confess her sins and beg for forgiveness. "She took me to her home and showed me the handprint on the door" [now at the Purgatorial Museum in Rome], said Father Angelo Macchi. "After seeing that and hearing her story, I have no doubt her husband paid her a visit from Hell." The next day, the shaken lady disbanded her illegal pornography operation and began turning her run-down tenement into luxury apartments, which she gave to the city to be used as low-rent housing for the poor.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">"Sophia made a full confession of her activities to the police," Father Macchi said. "But so far nothing has come of it because she is living the life of a model citizen. She has given her money to charity and lives in a tiny apartment right next door to my church. She is a woman who truly [or apparently so, and so we hope] has found God – and probably just in the nick of time."</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;">Revelations of St. Teresa of Avila, Mystic</span></b></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">"While I was at prayer one day, I found myself in a moment, without knowing how, plunged apparently into Hell. I understood that it was Our Lord's Will that I should see the place which the devils kept in readiness for me, and which I had deserved by my sins. It lasted but for a moment, but it seems to me impossible that I should ever forget it even if I were to live many years.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">"The entrance seemed to be by a long narrow pass, like a furnace, very low, dark, and close. The ground seemed to be saturated with water, mere mud, exceedingly foul, sending forth pestilential odors, and covered with loathsome vermin. At the end was a hollow place in the wall like a closet, and in that I saw myself confined. All this was ever pleasant to behold in comparison with what I felt there. There is no exaggeration in what I am saying.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">"But as to what I then felt, I do not know where to begin if I were to describe it; it is utterly inexplicable. I felt a fire in my soul but such that I am still unable to describe it. My bodily sufferings were unendurable. I have undergone most painful sufferings in this life, and, as the physicians say, the greatest that can be borne, such as the contraction of my sinews when I was paralyzed, without speaking of other ills of different types – yet, even those of which I have spoken, inflicted on me by Satan; yet all these were as nothing in comparison with what I then felt, especially when I saw that there would be no intermission nor any end to them.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">"These sufferings were nothing in comparison with the anguish of my soul, a sense of oppression, of stifling, and of pain so acute, accompanied by so hopeless and cruel an infliction, that I know not how to speak of it. If I say that the soul is continually being torn from the body it would be nothing – for that implies the destruction of life by the hands of another – but here it is the soul itself that is tearing itself in pieces. I cannot describe that inward fire or that despair, surpassing all torments and all pain. I did not see who it was that tormented me, but I felt myself on fire, and torn to pieces, as it seemed to me; and I repeat it, this inward fire and despair are the greatest torments of all.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">"Left in that pestilential place, and utterly without the power to hope for comfort, I could neither sit nor lie down; there was no room. I was placed as it were in a hole in the wall; and those walls, terrible to look on of themselves, hemmed me in on every side. I could not breathe. There was no light, but all was thick darkness. I do not understand how it is; though there was no light, yet everything that can give pain by being seen was visible.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">"Our Lord at that time would not let me see more of Hell. Afterwards I had another most fearful vision, in which I saw the punishment of certain sins. They were the most horrible to look at, but because I felt none of the pain, my terror was not so great. In the former vision Our Lord made me really feel those torments and that anguish of spirit, just as if I had been suffering them in the body there. I know not how it was, but I understood distinctly that it was a great mercy that Our Lord would have me see with my own eyes the very place from which His compassion saved me. I have listened to people speaking of these things and I have at other times dwelt on the various torments of Hell, though not often, because my soul made no progress by the way of fear; and I have read of the diverse tortures, and how the devils tear the flesh with red-hot pincers. But all is as nothing before this. It is a wholly different matter. In short, the one is a reality, the other a description; and all burning here in this life is as nothing compared with the fire that is there.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">"I was so terrified by that vision – and that terror is on me even now as I write – that though it took place nearly six years ago, the natural warmth of my body is chilled by fear even now when I think of it. And so, amid all the pain and suffering which I may have had to bear, I remember no time in which I do not think that all we have to suffer in this world is as nothing. It seems to me that we complain without reason. I repeat it: this vision was one of the grandest mercies of God. It has been to me of the greatest service, because it has destroyed my fear of trouble and of the contradictions of the world, and because it has made me strong enough to bear up against them, and to give thanks to Our Lord who has been my Deliverer, as it now seems to me, from such fearful and everlasting pains.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">"Ever since that time, as I was saying, everything seems endurable in comparison with one instant of suffering such as those I had then to bear in Hell. I am filled with fear when I see that, after frequently reading books which describe in some manner the pains of Hell, I was not afraid of them, nor made any account of them. Where was I? How could I possibly take any pleasure in those things which led me directly to so dreadful a place? Blessed forever be Thou, O my God! And oh, how manifest is it that Thou didst love me much more than I did love Thee! How often, O Lord, didst Thou save me from that fearful prison! And how I used to get back to it contrary to Thy Will.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">"It was that vision which filled me with very great distress which I felt at the sight of so many lost souls, especially of the Lutherans – for they were once members of the Church by Baptism – and also gave me the most vehement desires for the salvation of souls; for certainly I believe that to save even one from those overwhelming torments, I would willingly endure many deaths. If here on earth we see one whom we specially love in great trouble or pain, our very nature seems to bid us compassionate him; and if those pains be great, we are troubled ourselves. What, then, must it be to see a soul in danger of pain, the most grievous of all pains, forever? It is a thought no heart can bear without great anguish. Here we know that pain at last ends with life, and that there are limits to it, yet the sight of it moves us so greatly to compassion; that other pain has no ending, and I know not how we can be calm when we see Satan carry so many souls daily away.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">"This also makes me wish that, in a matter which concerns us so much, we did not rest satisfied with doing less than we can do on our part – that we left nothing undone. May Our Lord vouchsafe to give us His Grace for that end."</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;">Conclusion</span></b></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Dear fellow Christians, Father Lombardi, in his public debate with Italian Communist leader Velio Spano in Cagliara on December 4, 1948, stated, "I am horror-struck at the thought that if you continue in this manner, you will be condemned to hell." Spano replied, "I do not believe in hell." Father Lombardi replied, "Precisely, and if you continue, you will be condemned; for to avoid being condemned, one must believe in hell." Hell is a grave reality that is easily forgotten in today's Godless and apathetic society. This is all the more reason why we should fear for our salvation and do all that we can to make sure that we are one of the elect. St. Leonard of Port Maurice said, "To be saved for all eternity, to be damned for all eternity, and to not make your every effort to avoid the one and make sure of the other, is something inconceivable." Do not let your life pass before it is too late; focus on saving your soul to the exclusion of all other unnecessary things, lest you find yourself forever in the eternal fires after your judgment.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">To deny the eternity of Hell is heresy and is simply said to deny the Bible.</span></p><div><br /></div><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Arial, "Times New Roman", Verdana; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.7cm;"></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-831939533339323924.post-14047420218428001862021-09-18T22:24:00.006-04:002022-01-23T01:13:05.009-05:00Lutheranism Exposed & Condemned<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzUqz3Z6smfCft7iMt0GDbvdZ70n2vzhNMVv4zJ7kWm2zxaAuyTwz_Ghm9DtX6orIXvf7x81mJIyBddeKDyd06945_1q-uehcwwQMpC4H1gvFkjkk6MUMgb1I7aP7ym8UxQPsm0Iq9hEs/s575/lutheran-church.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="575" data-original-width="344" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzUqz3Z6smfCft7iMt0GDbvdZ70n2vzhNMVv4zJ7kWm2zxaAuyTwz_Ghm9DtX6orIXvf7x81mJIyBddeKDyd06945_1q-uehcwwQMpC4H1gvFkjkk6MUMgb1I7aP7ym8UxQPsm0Iq9hEs/w119-h200/lutheran-church.jpg" width="119" /></a></div><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">The Lutheran "Church" is actually many different bodies, all of which base their teachings and practice to some degree on the work of Martin Luther. There is such a wide variance in their particular beliefs that it would be difficult to address them all, but this article will attempt to outline those most commonly held.</span><p></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Though there are quite a few organized Lutheran groups around the world, the two main bodies in America are the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA), and the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS). The ELCA has roughly 5 million members in 10,500 churches, and the LCMS has roughly 2.3 million members in 6,167 churches. The ELCA was formed in 1988 by a merger of the American Lutheran Church, the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches, and the Lutheran Church in America. The LCMS was formed in 1847 by Saxon (German) Lutherans who came to America to escape persecution and the detrimental effects of German Rationalism on their faith. Both churches hold to the Augsburg Confession, which teaches that all men are born in sin, and therefore need to be justified through faith in Christ's sacrifice on the cross. Along with faith in Christ, baptism is "necessary for salvation" and therefore "children should be baptized, for being offered to God through baptism they are received into his grace" (Art. IX). The church teaches that all men have some measure of freedom of the will—which is ironic considering Luther comes to the opposite conclusion in one of his most famous books, <i>The Bondage of the Will</i>. Lutherans also believe that, without God's grace and help, given by the Holy Spirit, man is incapable of fearing or believing in God.</span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Many of the ceremonies and liturgies of the Catholic Church have been carried over into the Lutheran Church, with modifications to reflect their distinct doctrines. Some of the differences between the ELCA and LCMS stem from their divergent views on the Bible. While the LCMS affirms that the Bible is infallible in all areas (Psalm 19:7; 2 Timothy 3:16), the ELCA states that it is possible for the Bible to be in error concerning some areas, like science or history. In general, all Lutheran churches teach salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, but the manner in which that faith is lived out can vary from an empty participation in ceremonies to a very personal relationship with God.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.7cm;"></p><h2 class="western" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 28px; margin: 0px; text-align: center; text-decoration-line: underline;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><a name="Doctrine-and-Practices:An-Examination" style="color: blue;"></a>Doctrine and Practices – An Examination</span></h2><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Lutheranism affirms the ultimate authority of the Word of God (as found in the Bible) in matters of faith and Christian life and emphasizes Christ as the key to the understanding of the Bible.</span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="Salvation-by-Faith" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a><b>Salvation by Faith</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Salvation, according to Lutheran teaching, does not depend on worthiness or merit but is a gift of God's sovereign grace. All human beings are considered sinners and, because of original sin, are in bondage to the powers of evil and thus unable to contribute to their liberation. Lutherans believe that faith, understood as trust in God's steadfast love, is the only appropriate way for human beings to respond to God's saving initiative. Thus, "salvation by faith alone" became the distinctive and controversial slogan of Lutheranism.</span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Opponents claimed that this position failed to do justice to the Christian responsibility to do good works, but Lutherans have replied that faith must be active in love and that good works follow from faith as a good tree produces good fruit.</span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Catholics believe in saved by grace. But it is a faith that is not separated from works (per James). Faith inherently includes these works. But we're not saved by faith alone (that's where Lutheranism and Protestantism errs); we're saved by grace alone. That is the Catholic teaching. Grace is primary in the whole process, so in that very real sense we can say "saved by grace alone" (i.e., without separating works of course) -- whereas we can never say "saved by faith alone" (i.e., with works playing no part at all) -- which is classic Lutheran and Protestant heresy, or "saved by works alone" (i.e., without grace) -- which is the Pelagian heresy. The true Catholic position will always include the works alongside grace and faith.</span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The majority of Protestants not only believe in faith alone, but also in eternal security, which means that according to them, a true believer cannot lose his salvation. These doctrines contradict both the natural law and reason which says that every man shall be rewarded or punished for his deeds. It also contradicts, word for word, the teaching of James 2 in scripture, which teach that faith without works is dead, and that man is not saved by faith alone. A person who believes in faith alone or eternal security is a heretic, because he rejects a truth he knows to be true from the natural law, that God is a rewarder and a punisher of our actions, and that faith alone does not justify a man only, but our deeds also.</span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Galatians 5:19-21 "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are fornication, uncleanness, immodesty, luxury, Idolatry, witchcrafts, enmities, contentions, emulations, wraths, quarrels, dissensions, sects, Envies, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like. Of the which I foretell you, as I have foretold to you, that <b>they who do such things shall </b><u><b>not</b></u><b> obtain the kingdom of God</b>."</span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">How clear does it have to get? You can lose your salvation if you do certain things.</span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="Worship" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a><b>Worship</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Lutheran church defines itself as "the assembly of believers among which the Gospel is preached and the Holy Sacraments are administered according to the Gospel" (Augsburg Confession, VII). From the beginning, therefore, the Bible was central to Lutheran worship, and the sacraments were reduced from the traditional seven to baptism and the Lord's Supper (Eucharist), because, according to the Lutheran reading of the Scriptures, only these two were instituted by Christ. Worship was conducted in the language of the people (not in Latin as had been the Roman Catholic tradition), and preaching was stressed in the divine service.</span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a name="Eucharist" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: underline;"></a><b>Eucharist</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In the Lutheran celebration of the Eucharist, the elements of bread and wine are given to all communicants, whereas Roman Catholics had allowed the wine commonly only to priests. In contrast to other Protestants, particularly the Anabaptists, however, Lutherans affirm the real bodily presence of Christ "in, with, and under" the elements of bread and wine at the Lord's Supper. Christ is sacramentally present for the communicant in the bread and the wine because of the promise he gave at the institution of Holy Communion, when he said, "This is my body" and "This is my blood" (Matthew 26:26-28).</span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">However Luther explicitly rejected the dogma of transubstantiation, believing that the bread and wine remained fully bread and fully wine while also being fully the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Luther instead emphasized the sacramental union (not exactly the consubstantiation, as it is often claimed). Lutherans believe that within the Eucharistic celebration the body and blood of Jesus Christ are objectively present "in, with, and under the forms" of bread and wine (cf. Book of Concord). They place great stress on Jesus' instructions to "take and eat", and "take and drink", holding that this is the proper, divinely ordained use of the sacrament, and, while giving it due reverence, scrupulously avoid any actions that might, according to them, indicate or lead to superstition or unworthy fear of the sacrament.</span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p class="western" lang="en-US" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Protestants do not believe that the Eucharist is the actual body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ. Catholics believe that after the consecration at Mass, “the Lord Jesus Christ, true God and true man, is truly, really, and substantially contained” in the Eucharist under the appearance of bread and wine (<i>Council of Trent, Decree on the Eucharist</i>). The Catholic view of the Eucharist was unanimously held for the first 1,500 years of Christianity. The biblical support for the Catholic teaching on the Eucharist is overwhelming and undeniable.</span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p class="western" lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">John 6:51-58 “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and <b>the bread that I will give is my flesh</b>, which I will give for the life of the world. The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. <b>Whosoever eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life</b>; and I will raise him up at the last day. <b>For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood</b>, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so <b>he that eateth me, even he shall live by me</b>. This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p class="western" lang="en-US" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus says over and over again, in the clearest terms, that His flesh is food and His blood is drink. He says that unless you eat His flesh and drink His blood you shall not have life in you.</span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p class="western" lang="en-US" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Non-Catholics claim that the words of Jesus in John 6 are not meant to be understood literally. They claim that Jesus was speaking only metaphorically or symbolically. Such an interpretation is not justified by the context of John 6. Furthermore, it is clearly refuted by what Jesus said to the Jews immediately after expressed their disbelief at the idea of eating His flesh.</span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p class="western" lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; margin-left: 1cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">John 6:52-53 “The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, <b>How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.”</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p class="western" lang="en-US" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Jews did not believe that it was possible (or that Jesus could really mean) that He would give them His flesh to eat. They said exactly what the Protestants are saying today. If Jesus had been speaking in purely metaphorical (rather than literal) terms, as the Protestants say, then here was the perfect opportunity for Him to assure them that their fears were unfounded. It was the perfect moment for Jesus to explain that He didn’t really mean that people would eat His flesh, but that He meant something else.</span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p class="western" lang="en-US" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">So what does Jesus say to them? In response to their disbelief, we see that Jesus repeats the same message, that it’s necessary to actually eat His flesh and drink His blood, but in even stronger terms. He tells them that if they don’t eat His flesh and drink His blood they will not have life in them (John 6:53).</span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p class="western" lang="en-US" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus says that people need to eat His flesh and drink His blood (and that His flesh is food) approximately ten times in this chapter. Not once does He indicate that His meaning is not literal; nor does He do so here.</span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p class="western" lang="en-US" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Rather, by emphasizing to them that what He said about His flesh and blood is “spirit and life,” Jesus was dispelling their notion that all they should be concerned with is having flesh to eat for the sustenance of physical life. <b>The Eucharist is the actual flesh and blood of Jesus (as He makes clear), as well as His soul and divinity, </b><u><b>but it primarily brings a spiritual endowment</b></u>. It is spirit and life. It is primarily for the sustenance of spiritual life and having eternal life.</span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p class="western" lang="en-US" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It is not received for the purpose of filling a hungry stomach, but for the inestimable spiritual life and graces that it brings. That’s what Jesus was telling them. This is confirmed by the next point, which shows that <i>even after His words in John 6:63</i>, many of Jesus’ followers left Him over the “hard saying” about His flesh and blood. They realized that Jesus was telling them that they must eat His flesh and drink His blood, but they simply refused to accept it.</span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p class="western" lang="en-US" style="background-color: white; margin-left: 1cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">John 6:60-68 “<b>Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is a hard saying; who can hear it?</b> When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you? ... <b>From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him</b>. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p class="western" lang="en-US" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">If Jesus did not really mean that people would eat His flesh and drink His blood, then He would have clarified His meaning and stopped these disciples from leaving Him over a misunderstanding. He would have said something like this: “<i>Wait, you misunderstood me. I was only speaking symbolically. I didn’t really mean that people would eat my flesh and drink my blood</i>.” But He doesn’t do anything of the sort. He lets everyone who cannot accept His message walk away. This is an overwhelming contextual indication that everyone understood that Jesus was speaking literally of the necessity to eat His flesh and drink His blood. They simply couldn’t accept it, and Jesus wasn’t going to deny the truth or modify what He had told them.</span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p class="western" lang="en-US" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The fact that many of Jesus’ followers left Him over the necessity to eat His flesh and drink His blood is sadly illustrative of how this issue would, at different times in Church history, be a prime cause of people leaving the true faith of Jesus. It happened again in the 16<sup>th</sup> century, when many left Jesus and His true faith because they refused to believe that the Eucharist is the actual body and blood of Jesus Christ.</span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p style="background-color: white;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;">Baptism</span></b></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Lutheranism correctly affirms the traditional practice of infant baptism as a sacrament in which God's grace reaches out to newborn children. For Lutherans, baptism signifies God's unconditional love, which is independent of any intellectual, moral, or emotional achievements on the part of human beings.</span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p style="background-color: white;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;">Doctrinal Texts</span></b></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Although Lutherans accept the canonical books of the Bible as "the only rule and norm according to which all doctrines and teachers alike must be judged" (Formula of Concord), they also recommend the books which the Protestant calls the Apocrypha (and which Catholics call the Deuterocanonical books and which is part of the true Biblical Canon) of the Old Testament for Christian edification and have traditionally included them in vernacular versions of the Bible. Lutherans accept the authority of the three ecumenical creeds (Apostles', Nicene, Athanasian) and use the first two regularly in worship services. The special doctrinal statements of Lutheranism are Luther's Schmalkald Articles (1537), Small Catechism (1529), and Large Catechism (1529); Melanchthon's Augsburg Confession (1530), Apology of the Augsburg Confession (1531), and Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope (1529); and the Formula of Concord (1577), which was written by a commission of theologians after the deaths of the original reformers. Together with the creeds, these documents constitute <i>The Book of Concord</i>, adopted by Lutheran princes and cities in 1580. Only the creeds, the Augsburg Confession, and Luther's two catechisms, however, have been recognized by all Lutheran churches.</span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">According to Luther, the Bible teaches that Scripture (the written word of God) is the only rule of faith for a Christian. Along with Justification by faith alone (sola fide), Scripture alone (sola scriptura) was one of the central tenets of the Protestant reformation.</span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">However, the truth is that the Bible does not teach that Scripture is the only rule of faith for a Christian. The Bible teaches that both Scripture and apostolic tradition are sources of Christ's revelation, and that one must accept both of them along with the Church. That's why the Catholic Church has always taught that there are two sources of divine revelation (Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition); and that the Church instituted by Jesus Christ was given authority to determine the authentic meaning of Scripture and Tradition.</span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">If the Bible is the only rule of faith for a Christian, then logically the Church or tradition would not be a rule of faith for a Christian. However, the Bible clearly teaches that one must hear the Church and follow tradition.</span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Matthew 18:17 "And if he shall neglect to hear them, <b>tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man</b> and a publican."</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-left: 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">2 Thessalonians 2:15 "Therefore, brethren, <b>stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word</b>, or our epistle."</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-left: 1.25cm;"></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Luke 10:16 "<b>He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me</b>; and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me."</span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This teaching of Jesus, that one must hear the Church under pain of being considered a heathen, refutes the entire idea of Scripture alone.</span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus' condemnation of the "tradition of men" (Matthew 15:9, Mark 7:8, etc.) had nothing to do with the true apostolic tradition, which the Bible says we must accept. Jesus was condemning the man-made practices of the Pharisees.</span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">2 Thessalonians 3:6 "Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye <b>withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us</b>."</span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Further, the bible teaches that the church, not the bible, is the pillar and foundation of the truth.</span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">1 Timothy 3:15 "But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is <b>the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth</b>."</span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">As one former Protestant minister (who eventually saw the falsity of Protestantism) put it: "If I were writing that verse [1 Tim. 3:15] as a Protestant, I would have said that the Bible, not the Church, is the pillar and ground of the truth. But St. Paul says it's the Church. This means that the Church must be every bit as infallible as the Bible, and that it must present something unique by way of presenting the truth of Jesus Christ."</span></p><p style="background-color: white;"></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The unique role of the Church and the Pope is that it sets forth the true meaning of Scripture and Tradition in precise terms and dogmas, something the Bible was not intended to do in all of its passages, which should be obvious to any honest person considering the issue. All the thousands of sects that has been created throughout the ages, and especially after the Protestant reformation, simply because they didn't know how to interpret scripture correctly, undeniably proves this fact. Moreover, if the Church is infallible and the pillar of truth, there must obviously be a way of recognizing its infallible teaching by means of a continued succession of authority which would safeguard the truth and exercise its authority.</span></p><div><br /></div><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Arial, "Times New Roman", Verdana; font-size: 16px;"></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0