I STAND IN SUPPORT OF FATHER RAY BLAKE

PLEASE OF YOUR CHARITY PRAY FOR FATHER RAY BLAKE WHO HAS BEEN UNSCRUPULOUSLY MALIGNED BY A 'JOURNALIST'.

SO WHO ARE THESE TRIUMPHALISTS THE HOLY FATHER IS REFERRING TO?

FROM THE 'CREATIVE MINORITY' BLOG

WHO DID THE POPE JUST ATTACK?

Truth is, I am not really sure. Did he mean me?

(Vatican Radio) Christians are called to proclaim Jesus without fear , without shame and without triumphalism . Those were the words of Pope Francis at Mass this Tuesday morning at the Casa Santa Marta. The Pope also stressed the risk of becoming a Christian without the Resurrection and reiterated that Christ is always at the center of our life and hope. Lydia O’Kane reports.

“Jesus is the Winner who has won over sin and death.” Those were the words of Pope Francis on Tuesday morning during his Homily at morning Mass. He was referring to the Letter of St. Paul to the Colossians in which the Saint recommends we walk with Jesus " because he has won, and we walk with him in his victory “firm in the faith."

This is the key point, the Pope stressed: "Jesus is risen .

"But, the Holy Father continued, it is not always easy to understand . The Pope then recalled that when St. Paul spoke to the Greeks in Athens he was listened to with interest up to when he spoke of the resurrection. "This makes us afraid , it best to leave it as is." Pope Francis said.

Continuing his Homily the Pope recalled the Apostles, who closed themselves up in the Upper Room for fear of the Jews, even Mary Magdalene is weeping because they have taken away the Lord's Body . " …they are afraid to think about the Resurrection." The Pope noted that “there are also the Christians who are embarrassed. They are embarrassed to "confess that Christ is risen.

Finally, said Pope Francis there is the group of Christians who "in their hearts do not believe in the Risen Lord and want to make theirs a more majestic resurrection than that of the real one . These, he said are the “triumphalist” Christians.

"They do not know the meaning of the word ' triumph ' the Pope continued, so they just say “triumphalism”, because they have such an inferiority complex and want to do this ...

When we look at these Christians , with their many triumphalist attitudes , in their lives, in their speeches and in their pastoral theology, liturgy, so many things, it is because they do not believe deep down in the Risen One. He is the Winner, the Risen One. He won.

"This, the Holy Father added, is the message that Paul gives to us " Christ "is everything," he is totality and hope , "because he is the Bridegroom , the Winner " .

Again, I admit that I don't really understand to whom the Pope refers.

I know that that in the past, progressives have used the term 'triumphalist' as a derogatory term for traditionalists. If this is the Pope's intent, I am just as confused as alarmed.

First let me say, I am not a fan of this style of speaking. The use of shortcut terms with a history of derogatory use does not seem fitting for use by the Holy Father. Additionally, the true target of his critique is obscured by its use. I have been reading around to try and see if anyone had more insight than I, but it seems that the confusion is general.

"They do not know the meaning of the word ' triumph ' the Pope continued, so they just say “triumphalism”

I suppose if this were true, that certain Christians repeatedly used the word triumphalism as their banner, this general confusion woudl not exist.

When we look at these Christians , with their many triumphalist attitudes , in their lives, in their speeches and in their pastoral theology, liturgy, so many things, it is because they do not believe deep down in the Risen One. He is the Winner, the Risen One. He won. 

Reading these specific words, I think they could easily apply to progressives within the Church who think that the simple message of Christ's birth, death, and resurrection and the redemption offered to us is insufficient. They believe that more is needed, that it is their human creativity that is needed to seal the deal. This attitude is reflected in their pastoral theology and constantly reinvented liturgy.

Alas, I doubt that this was the Pope's intended target.

If his real target is traditionalists, I think it would be better if he just said so. If traditionalists are the target, as many suspect, then I don't think that the critique hits its mark. For sure, there may be some few on the fringes that think every action of the Church infallible and put the 'triumph' of the Church ahead of the 'triumph' of the Resurrection, but I do not see this is not mainstream traditionalist thought. If aimed at a fringe subset of a subset, the critique hardly seems worth it and might serve to unfairly label many.

I am particularly alarmed by the Pope's reference to 'triumphalist' liturgies. Are we to suppose that anyone attached to the Extraordinary form should now be suspected of 'triumphalist' tendencies.

All in all, I do not see these comments as clear and their murkiness serves only to muddy.

PAPA FRANCESCO TO RECEIVE GUSTAVO GUTIERREZ

FROM THE BRAZILIAN BLOG 'FRATRES IN UNUM' :

Good evening to you.

Pope Francisco will receive Gustavo Gutierrez in audience soon. it's what was announced yesterday in Mantua (that saint Giuseppe Sarto (Pius X), its former bishop, does not send fire from heaven), Bishop Gerhard Müller , co-author of a boring and unsuccessful book with Gutiérrez in 2004 reheated last week by the Osservatore Romano. Müller was received last Friday by the Holy Father, some imagined that he could have been called to receive an earful for the attempted rehabilitation of Liberation Theology. With the information that will be received by Francisco Gutierrez, this hypothesis seems unlikely.

Ah, yes. Müller also stated that Archbishop Oscar Romero will be beatified soon.

Good evening to you, good for us recess.

The Inconvenient Memoirs of Cardinal Biffi

I hope that this book will one day soon this book will be published in English. Below you will find a quote from the book regarding the post conciliar malaise:




"In order to bring a bit of clarity to the confusion that afflicts Christianity in our time, one must first distinguish very carefully between the conciliar event and the ecclesial climate that followed. They are two different phenomena, and require distinct treatment.


Paul VI sincerely believed in Vatican Council II, and in its positive relevance for Christianity as a whole. He was one of its decisive protagonists, attentively following its work and discussions on a daily basis, helping it to overcome the recurrent difficulties in its path.

He expected that, by virtue of the joint effort of all the bishops together with the successor of Peter, a blessed age of increased vitality and of exceptional fecundity must immediately benefit and gladden the Church.


Instead, the "postcouncil," in many of its manifestations, concerned and disappointed him. So he revealed his distress with admirable candor; and the impassioned lucidity of his expressions struck all believers, or at least those whose vision had not been clouded over by ideology.


On June 29, 1972, on the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, speaking off the cuff, he went to the point of saying that he had "the sensation that through some fissure, the smoke of Satan has entered the temple of God. There is doubt, uncertainty, trouble, disquiet, dissatisfaction, confrontation. The Church is not trusted . . . It was believed that after the Council there would be a day of sunshine for the history of the Church. What has come instead is a day of clouds, of darkness, of seeking, of uncertainty . . . We believe that something preternatural (the devil) has come into the world to disturb, to suffocate the fruits of the Ecumenical Council and to prevent the Church from bursting into a hymn of joy for having regained full awareness of itself." These are painful and severe words that deserve painstaking reflection.


How could it have happened that from the legitimate pronouncements and texts of Vatican II, a season followed that was so different and distant?


The question is complex, and the reasons are multiform; but without a doubt one influence was a process (so to speak) of aberrant "distillation," which from the authentic and binding conciliar "reality" extracted a completely heterogeneous mentality and linguistic form. This is a phenomenon that pops up here and there in the "postcouncil," and continues to advance itself more or less explicitly.


We can, in order to make ourselves understood, hazard to illustrate the schematic procedure of this curious "distillation."

The first phase lies in a discriminatory approach to the conciliar pronouncements, which distinguishes the accepted and usable texts from the inopportune or at least unusable ones, to be passed over in silence.


In the second phase what is acknowledged as the valuable teaching of the Council is not what it really formulated, but what the holy assembly would have produced if it had not been hampered by the presence of many backward fathers insensitive to the breath of the Spirit.


With the third phase, there is the insinuation that the true doctrine of the Council is not that which is canonically formulated and approved, but what would have been formulated and approved if the fathers had been more enlightened, more consistent, more courageous.

With such a theological and historical methodology – never expressed in such a clear fashion, but no less relentless for this reason – it is easy to imagine the results: what is adopted and exalted in an almost obsessive manner is not the Council that in fact was celebrated, but (so to speak) a "virtual Council"; a Council that has a place not in the history of the Church, but in the history of ecclesiastical imagination. Anyone who dares to dissent, however timidly, is branded with the infamous mark of "preconciliar," when he is not in fact numbered among the traditionalist rebels, or the despised fundamentalists.

And because the "counterfeit distillates" of the Council include the principle that by now there is no error that can be condemned in Catholicism, except for sinning against the primary duty of understanding and dialogue, it becomes difficult today for theologians and pastors to have the courage to denounce vigorously and tenaciously the toxins that are progressively poisoning the innocent people of God."

http://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/1345582?eng=y

BIRTHDAY OF OUR LADY

FROM KANKAKEE TRADITIONAL LATIN MASS BLOG

Reposting for the Birthday of Our Lady

Posted on September 7, 2013 by Fiat

From The life of the Blessed Virgin Mary, by Msgr. R. Gentilucci

It is a common opinion that Mary was born the eighth day of the month of September, which corresponds to the beginning of the month Tisri, that is to say, the first day of the civil year of the Jews, just when the smoke of the holocaust was rising to heaven in expiation for the sins of the people.  And in this agree perfectly the Greek and Latin churches,…*Holding for certain that this “little pillar of smoke,” as Ezechiel calls it, or this “light cloud,” as Elias calls it, came to the light, in the year 3987 of the creation of the world, we shall here give some pious opinions touching this happy birth, relying upon what some of the Fathers, Greek as well as Latin, tell us.

Mary was born in autumn, when nature, more than in any other season, is wont to repay the toil of the husbandmen by giving them the ripened clusters.  “Rejoice, O earth,” says St. John Damascenus, “because from the womb of Anne, as from a fertile vine, has sprung a sweet ripe cluster.  To the harvesting of this vineyard all are invited, none is excluded, it is the joy of all.”  Mary too is born in the autumn,…because it was proper that the new Eve, the mother of the Redeemer, should change tears into joy, at the same time in the year as the first Eve had changed joy into tears.

As the beatitudes are eight in number, this eighth day of the month when she was…born, was admirably chosen, since by her was the whole world to know all beatitude, and since by her, as mother of the Redeemer, were all the elect to be ushered into the glory of heaven, there to enjoy supreme felicity.  She was born, as Luchesino remarks, on the Sabbath, the day when God rested, to show that the human race, at the glorious birth of the Virgin, was to enjoy a real repose.  Hence Saturday is a kind of festival especially consecrated to devotion to our august Lady.

As to the hour of that fortunate day which beheld the birth of Mary, St. Peter Damian believes that it was at daybreak.  Others add, that the sun that day shone with a twofold light, and that on the night preceding her birth, the moon shone with an extraordinary brilliancy, almost like that of the sun, and that for some time, far from showing usual spots, a refulgent star sparkled upon her disc.

St. John Damascenus cries joyfully:  “Yes, by Mary’s birth the human race has been restored, by it the sadness caused by Eve is changed into a perfect joy.”  St. Bernardine of Sienna,…observes joyfully, “that heaven made earth an inestimable present,” and the Abbot Rupert says:  “The nativity of the Virgin is the end of sorrow and the beginning of joy.”

+++++++++++++

*The menology of St. Basil places the birth of the Blessed Virgin on the 8th of September.  This date is also given in the menology translated into Latin by Cardinal Sorlet, and published by Henry Canisius in his Thesaurus.  The same thing is said in the edict of the Emperor Manuel Comnenus, which fixes the days for the various festivals.  In the Nomocanon of Photius (In Scholiiad ut VII.,) we read:  “Natalis itaque dies purissimae Dominae ac Dei Genitricis, qui est octavus Septembris, feriatus est.”  We find the same day set down in many other Greek authors, as well as in the Latin.

Teilhard de Chardin, between myth and heresy

a free translation from the italian traditional blog 'cordialiter'

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2013

Teilhard de Chardin, between myth and heresy

Years ago I bought from a dealer in antique books a booklet entitled

 "Teilhard de Chardin, between myth and heresy," written by P. 

Hyacinth Scaltriti OP and published with ecclesiastical imprimatur

 in the early '60s.In the book, the learned Dominican priest's

 thesis refuted some of the famous Jesuit theologian's

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin's thesis, considered one of the greatest

 exponents of the "new theology."

Some will say that what Fr Scaltriti thought about it matters little, because

 what really matters is what the Holy See says. Well, the Supreme 

Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office, at the time under the

 leadership of the heroic Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani, published

 a "Monitum" signed by Bishop Sebastiano Masala, to warn the bishops,

 superiors of religious institutes, rectors of seminaries and 

Directors of the University, about the dangers of the works of P.

 Theilard de Chardin, because (and I quote) "in the field of philosophy

 and theology is clearly seen that the works mentioned contain such

 ambiguities and even errors so serious, that offend Catholic doctrine."

On the same day in which the Monitum was published (30 June 1962),

 "L'Osservatore Romano" published an article in which was refuted

 some theses teilhardiane. Here are some: "[...] the dangerous

 ambiguities and errors that occur in certain expressions of Teilhard 

about the traditional Catholic concept of creation (move back to

 the Fourth Lateran Councils and Vatican I). [...] In his conception 

of the relationship between God and the Cosmos, Teilhard de Chardin 

has weaknesses that can not be passed over in silence. He, it is true,

 explicitly states and over the necessity and transcendent personality

 of God, however, in the logic of his thought Teilhardian divine

 transcendence is not expressed in a sufficient way.God is portrayed

 as supreme unity that somehow is incorporated in the universe, 

so the divine unity in some way becomes a participant of the cosmic

multiplicity and God in a sense is made a more perfect assimilation 

of the Cosmos. [...] In the essay already quoted, "The Christique," 

reads even - and says "en vrai sens" - a "troisième nature" of Christ, 

not human, not divine, but "cosmic"! We do not want to take the letter

 and "en vrai sens" as Teilhard writes at this point, otherwise it would

 be pure heresy. [...] We also know that Teilhard did not infrequently 

make statements not entirely consistent, if not sometimes contrary 

or contradictory, and we want to concede that the thought 

of Teilhard remained in a phase of distress. However, his writings

 in many places are always more or less mixed with Catholic doctrine.

 [...] Truly our century has a great need of authentic witnesses to Christ,

 but we hope that they do not have to inspire the "system" 

scientific-religious Teilhard. We felt it necessary to express our criticism 

of the thought, not the person - repeat - to warn scholars, and

 especially the young, against the errors and ambiguities contained 

in the writings of Teilhard. And making our reflections, we believe we have

 acted in the mind of Monitum, which is published today in our newspaper. "

Sancte Pie Decime gloriose Patrone, Ora, ora pro nobis

The Eponymous Flower: The Jacobin "Spirit of the Council"

The Eponymous Flower: The Jacobin "Spirit of the Council": According to Cardinal Suenens the II. Vatican Council had been the '1789' of the Church. Is Liberté the same as indifferentism, éga...

A Sign of Faith

It is edifying to me that there are still those whose faith is deep & abiding enough to think to build such a beautiful monument as a public showing of Catholic faith. My father many years ago told me as a boy about such monuments to Catholic faith he saw in Germany. It impressed him that people came to care for these places and pray at them. This is a translation taken from Echo Newspaper of Bensheim, Germany

A sign of faith

Portrait: Markus Pietschmann has set up a self-built wayside cross in Gross Rohrsheim - Cross consecration on 21 May

Gross-Rohrheim.

| | 

Markus Pietschmann has handcrafted himself a wayside Cross, and it has placed it on the road in the  Jahn-strasse in Gross-Rohrheim. On 21 May, it will be consecrated. Photo: Sabine Weidner

"I was raised Catholic and field wayside crosses I have always liked - a given for me," says Markus Pietschmann. 
fields and roadside wayside crosses are visible signs of our ancestors and their religious faith. They are regarded as monuments, places of refuge and places for prayers. Even 50 years ago, no one in rural areas passed by a wayside cross, without having to cross themselves. , the 34-year-old man said: "Only around Biblis, Wattenheim, Gernsheim and the other predominantly Catholic places in the marsh are such places of rest and peace." Granted However, Gross-Rohrheim has been Protestant since the reformation. Shortly after the war in the years 1945/1946, when a group of German refugees from Catholic areas in eastern Europe established themselves here, the Catholic faith took root. There was recently celebrated the 15th Consecration feast of St. Theresa of the child Jesus Catholic Church.  Pietschmann was there as a singer in the "choir of the parish." Another weakness of the industrial mechanic who also supports the Quartet is the football club Alemannia Gross- Rohrsheim. Sporty Markus Pietschmann and is also active in the local gymnastics club. Yet how did he get the idea of such a large piece of handwork with this cross? "I've looked at all the roadside crosses and thought in Gross-Rohrsheim something is missing, a quote for the cross I had already picked out from the choral literature," says the young man from Gross-Rohrheim. The project is to produce a home made cross. A coincidence led him to the Christmas market in Einhausen to a stonemason. With his help, he even learned how to immortalize characters on the curved sandstone. In a quarry in Lower Franconian Miltenberg he acquired the main piece of sandstone for his wayside Cross. However, only a roughly cut into a three-meter square block - the parts were given with chisels, hammers, files and grinding into their material form. The base is adorned with the inscription: "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." "In the barn, it looked much bigger than out here," Pietschmann said a few days after transport. He has found at the flea market the figure of Jesus. Filigree works with a height of 2.40 meters, a cross width of 85 centimeters and a base side length of about 80 centimeters, and two volutes (worm-like flourishes) to the junction of the base and cross structure, it is now on the extended Jahn Street, in Gross-Rohrheim. On he has the cross, which originated in countless hours in the local barn, placed on a foundation plith with his property - for all walkers, hikers and cyclists. "And someone has already been the first one to place flowers on the cross," he says. Even the cross has served its purpose. Allows people to rest and commune with God . A special moment to bless the cross will on 21 Mai (Saturday). "Then a priest Fr Ludger Maria Reichert will come, there will be a brief reflection, the FC-quartet singing and the choir of the parish," says Pietschmann. , and we will have a little party startng at 16.30 clock. 

PASSIONATE OPEN LETTER TO PAPA FRANCESCO FROM AN ITALIAN

A very hard hitting open letter to the holy father from a passionate Italian. A free translation from the Italian blog messa in latino. 

"We need a Pope ready for martyrdom." Open Letter to Pope Francis (De Mari)

Without our commentary. There is no need. (Our italics and underscores).

                                                                                                                                                   Roberto  

Letter to Francis Pope:
we need a Pope ready for martyrdom to save the persecuted Christians in the world, and not dedicated to the pursuit of popularity even among football fans 
by Silvana De Mari , from IoAmol'Italia of 14/08/2013

 

      Dearest Papa Francesco,

    I address you in a way so familiar because now I realize how much you love being an ordinary person, without frills, without gold and without ermine, an ordinary person, like many others. 
An ordinary person who like many watch football. 
An ordinary person who like many in an airplane chat amiably.
A common person like many others.  We need a Pope .      Forgive me, dear Papa Francesco, is not even to call your Holiness, I believe you to be a delightful person, the ideal neighbor, but we need a Pope.  They kill Christians as dogs.  Holiness, between a football game and a kiss of a disabled child and the other, could you do something a little 'more in hue with your role ? Only in the last hours 10 churches have been burned in Egypt. Could you do something? Perhaps get on your trappings, the gold and ermine, which are not junk Holiness, but are symbols of 2000 years of history and with that stuff on go to Egypt instead of watching football? It's only Balotelli who want so much to talk to you, there are also the parish priests of the Catholic churches in Nigeria that would have something to tell you, I mean those who survived, those already dead have nothing to say.     At a time when Christianity is under attack as never before, we need Holiness a Pope.  We need someone to appoint as the first problem the Christians massacred in Nigeria and Christians massacred in Pakistan during an Easter homily, because the dead were men, and why Holiness they were killed and with them freedom to human dignity. Holiness, I would not want to teach you the way to do so, I understand that you are a professional when it comes to Christianity and I a fledgling amateur, but sometimes it happens that amateurs are shinier in judgment. Noah's Ark, for example, was built and run by amateurs, the Titanic built guided by professionals. I do not want to jinx it with the comparison, but Christianity gives me the impression of the Titanic. the iceberg is called Islam , you say it's so good and spiritual, if you say that as an expert, it will be so, but, I insist, he was also an expert, one of the best, who was the captain of the Titanic. He who was an amateur, however, was St. Peter, for half his life he'd been a fisherman, zero theological studies, a duckling compared to you. St. Peter said to the Romans that they, as human beings, of course, were brothers, sons of the same God, but that their religion was false. His task was to convert them or die in the attempt of converting them to the one true faith, not finding merits in a false faith so that those who are born into it never leave it. St Peter died in the attempt, but eventually converted them. should not this be your role? Convert to Christianity. Or die in the attempt .   On the island of Lampedusa you need had to utter a single sentence I bring the love of God. Throughout the Koran the word love is not mentioned once. It would have sufficed. On Lampedusa you bowed in front of the "spirituality" of Ramadan, you bowed to Islam, and you represent Christ. He Who represents Christ does not bow before anyone . I am the way , the Truth and the Life. I am the Life, the Truth and the Way, but no matter what efforts to evangelize, even to proselytize, because it appears so much all religions are equal, Your Holiness, in my Gospel it does not say this. Or your's is a different one, or there is an excess of professionalism that is crushing.      St. Peter to the Romans had said that they, of course, were brothers, but that their religion was false. He was killed because of saying this.    Holiness people die. People are murdered. People die a horrible death. You goe to watch football. We need a Pope . Someone who is the heir of Jesus Christ and St. Peter, someone who is willing to be hated . Because it's all here. Jesus Christ was killed by people who hated him. St. Peter was killed by people who hated him. Anyone Who is fighting for a cause, will be hated.  Martin Luther King and Gandhi were so hated that they killed them. Unarmed prophets certainly not tolerant leaders. Whoever tolerates everything the opposite of everything with the usual happy face is a conniving. We cannot be loved by all, if we stand for something. If I remember correctly it is also written in the Gospels. Do not be afraid to be hated. Your predecessor was hated a lot. Also sentenced to death by a fatwa after his Regensburg speech, Osama Bin Laden had decreed his death.      You are loved by all, Your Holiness. You sure that's an advantage? I think the time has come to be hated. Put on all your trappings, which are not trash but symbols of 2,000 years of history, give the weight of those 2000 years, and go to Cairo, and fight for Coptic Christians, and weep over their churches burned and then go to Syria and later in Pakistan. Then, if you have time, you can also go to the game but I do not think that the time will allow for it. It is the darkest moment of Christianity since the beginning of time. We need a Pope .