The Rosica Factor: When Priests Threaten to Sue Faithful Catholics

Looks like a new trend is arising amongst priests who threaten lawsuits against any Catholic lady or gent of the laity who call them on their error(s). If this keeps up, the trend may well be called "The Rosica Factor" (see a bit of the Fr. Rosica story-background here).

 The Rosica controversy reached such a height that
"American Cardinal Raymond Burke, who formerly served as the head of the Vatican’s high court until Pope Francis appointed him patron of the Order of Malta, joined the discussion to defend the blogger," according to the article linked above. This time, however, the one being threatened by a Catholic priest is a Catholic wife and mother of three children.

My initial thought was to wonder at the coincidence (or is it one?) that this story came out on the Feast of the Virgin-Martyr, St. Joan of Arc. Anyone familiar with the life of St. Joan should recognize the implicit reference to the abuse she suffered under the hand of Church prelates. It went so far that she was martyred---while in the custody of Catholic bishops who abused their authority. It was they who martyred the saint. History has proven who was on the side of God---the great Saint Joan---and who was on the side of politics and religious respect----the bishops of England. And lest we forget, the imprisonment, maltreatment, and martyrdom of St. Joan (at the hands of the Catholic clergy who proved themselves guilty of human respect) occurred before the Protestant Revolt.
 
To return to the incident with the Catholic blogger (who also happens to be a wife and mother), she includes screenshots as proof: Catholic Priest Threatens Mum of 3 with legal action, because she told him off for saying that the Holy Spirit is female, and then he lies on Twitter about her!

Your thoughts?

The Visitation of the Virgin and the Hidden Jesus

"Thy Blood, the price of our redemption, O Lord Jesus, is indeed most precious and deserving of our special veneration because of its immaculate origin in Mary, thy spotless Mother, on account of its surpassing innocence and its union with Thy divinity."

---From a prayer to the Most Precious Blood of Jesus

Today is the Feast of the Visitation of Our Lady, in which the Church remembers the Virgin's unsurpassed charity and humility as she made haste to visit her older and expectant cousin, Elizabeth. Hidden behind this mystery of the Virgin's visit to St. Elizabeth are many rich teachings and examples. One such mystery is the sanctification of St. John Baptist in the womb at the very moment the Virgin Mary spoke to his mother.

Let's see what the Gospel of Luke (Ch. 1: 26-57) records of these wondrous events, beginning with the Incarnation of Christ, which the Church celebrates on March 25, the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin:

[26] And in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee, called Nazareth, [27] To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin' s name was Mary. [28] And the angel being come in, said unto her: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. [29] Who having heard, was troubled at his saying, and thought with herself what manner of salutation this should be. [30] And the angel said to her: Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found grace with God.

[31] Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a son; and thou shalt call his name Jesus. [32] He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the most High; and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David his father; and he shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever. [33] And of his kingdom there shall be no end. [34] And Mary said to the angel: How shall this be done, because I know not man? [35] And the angel answering, said to her: The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the most High shall overshadow thee. And therefore also the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

[36] And behold thy cousin Elizabeth, she also hath conceived a son in her old age; and this is the sixth month with her that is called barren: [37] Because no word shall be impossible with God. [38] And Mary said: Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her. [39] And Mary rising up in those days, went into the hill country with haste into a city of Juda. [40] And she entered into the house of Zachary, and saluted Elizabeth. 

[41] And it came to pass, that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the infant leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: [42] And she cried out with a loud voice, and said: Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. [43] And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? [44] For behold as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. [45] And blessed art thou that hast believed, because those things shall be accomplished that were spoken to thee by the Lord.
 
[46] And Mary said: My soul doth magnify the Lord. [47] And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. [48] Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid; for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. [49] Because he that is mighty, hath done great things to me; and holy is his name. [50] And his mercy is from generation unto generations, to them that fear him.

[51] He hath shewed might in his arm: he hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart. [52] He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble. [53] He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away. [54] He hath received Israel his servant, being mindful of his mercy: [55] As he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed for ever.

[56] And Mary abode with her about three months; and she returned to her own house. [57] Now Elizabeth' s full time of being delivered was come, and she brought forth a son.

First, the Annunciation, when Jesus incarnated in the womb of the Virgin, is the greatest mystery of the universe. There is much that could be said of this portion of St. Luke's Gospel, but let it suffice for now to say that the Virgin was greeted by the angel (sent by God) with the name by which God Himself considers her:  "Hail, full of grace." This Virgin was the one chosen by God to be the Mother of God, the Word, and hence, she is the grace-filled Mother of God.

Second, St. Ambrose remarks that when Our Lady visited Elizabeth, it was she who first greeted her older cousin. There is no snobbery on the chosen Virgin's part, even though she knows that she is the chosen Mother of the Messiah. It is she who hastens to visit her older cousin who is six months with child; it is the Virgin who enters the house and immediately offers the first sincere "hello." It could have gone quite differently; she could have gone to help her cousin but upon the way, reflecting upon her own prerogatives, pride might have slipped in. She could have treated Elizabeth in a manner that made clear what a great favor she was bestowing on her older cousin simply by visiting her. But that is not what happened.

God had prepared Mary to become the Mother of the Son. She was conceived without sin so that Christ could assume from her His human nature - Body and Blood. Her soul had to be immaculate, because God is holy.  Like Her Son, she never committed any sin but grew in wisdom and grace. She was the first Tabernacle of Jesus Christ.

And so Mary's visit to Elizabeth "brought with it an accumulation of graces," as writes St. Alphonsus de Liguori. "The moment she entered that dwelling, on her first salutation, Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost; and St. John was cleansed from Original Sin, and sanctified; and therefore gave this mark of joy by leaping in his mother's womb, wishing thereby to manifest the grace that he had received by the means of the Blessed Virgin, as St. Elizabeth herself declared: As soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy."

Third, while there are many more doctrinal depths to these passages of St. Luke's, may it suffice to say that there are many reasons why we call the Blessed Virgin Mary by the title of "Our" Lady, for the one hailed by an angel as "full of grace" is truly a "channel of grace" to lead others to her Divine Son.

Last but not least, since this is the month of July, the month of the Precious Blood of Jesus, which he assumed from His Virgin Mother, it would not be remiss, when contemplating the mystery of the Visitation, to also consider the following  prayers:

O Father, Son, and Holy Ghost! O Jesus! O Mary! All ye blessed angels of God and saints of Paradise, obtain for me these graces which I ask through the Most Precious Blood of Jesus:

1. Ever to do the holy will of God.
2. Ever to live in union with God.
3. Not to think of anything but God.
4. To love God alone.
5. To do all for God.
6. To seek only the glory of God
7. To sanctify myself solely for God.
8. To know well my own utter nothingness.
9. Ever to know more and more the will of my God.
10. (Here ask for any special grace)

O Mary most holy, offer to the Eternal Father the Most Precious Blood of Jesus for my soul, for the poor souls in Purgatory, for the needs of the Holy Church, for the conversion of sinners, and for the entire world. Amen.


 

This article is linked to the Catholic Bloggers Network Linkup Blitz

 

De Novissimis: Remember Your Four Last Things

“Here is a short medicine,” wrote St. Thomas More, “containing only four herbs, and they are common and well known: death, judgment, pain, and joy. This short medicine has a marvelous potency: the ability to keep us, all our life, from sin.” [1] To this the saint added, “The Scriptures do not bid you to know the four last things, but to remember your four last things.” [2]

Perhaps only the cheerful and witty St. Thomas More could describe the recollection of the four last things as a “short medicine” (an effective herbal remedy, comprised of a short list of ingredients, to cure illness – hence, “short medicine”). While it is true that we are not explicitly bidden to know the four last things, they have been made known to us. Death is something which all mankind experiences, and the knowledge of the other three – judgment, Hell, or Heaven – were received through Divine Revelation.

In the last decade or so, there developed a motto of sorts, “It’s the journey that matters. To the journey! ” That modern maxim is true, “as such” - but to be entirely truthful, it needs an important clarification: “It’s the journey that matters – because the path we choose determines our final destination. To the journey! ”

Above and beyond this, Jesus our Savior instructs us, “Enter ye in at the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth unto destruction, and many there are that go in thereat. How narrow is the gate and strait is the way that leadeth unto life, and few there are that find it!” [4]

Preoccupied as we are with the joys and sorrows of this life, we are prone to forgetfulness. We forget that God gave us a specific road to travel and that He Himself assists us through the valley of tears. We forget that He created us to know Him, love Him and serve Him in this world so as to be happy with Him in the next world. We forget that, as St. Jean Marie Vianney wrote, “man, gifted with reason and a free will, is in his nature the image of God. Endowed with reason we must perceive the truth, investigate and distinguish lies from truth. And endowed with will power, we must choose, love and perform the good…Furthermore, we sin against reason which makes us the image of God, if we do not endeavor to attain that knowledge which is necessary for every Christian to his calling.” [5]

To soberly reflect on the four last things helps us to practice well the Holy Ghost’s gift of Fear of the Lord, as well as His other six gifts: Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, and Piety. All of these gifts, if used rightly, “help us by making us more alert to discern and more ready to do the will of God.” [8]

So we should not shrink in pondering the four last things, because they are four realities. As St. Alphonsus de Liguori is so careful to remind us, “The business of eternal salvation is to us the most important of all affairs; but it is also the most neglected by Christians…It is the most important affair, because if the soul is lost, all is lost.” [9]

Passing from this Life“To die and to be dead are not one and the same,” reflected St. Thomas More. “It is true that we are never dead while we live; but it is, it seems to me, just as true not only that we die while we live, but also that we die all the while we live. For what is dying? Is it anything other than the passing and going out of this life?" [10]

Death, the separation of soul from the body, is the first herb of our “short medicine.” God creates each person as body and soul, which “are united in a substantial union to form one complete human nature.” [11] It was never Our Lord and Creator’s positive Will that body and soul should be cleaved apart. Death is a consequence of Adam’s sin by his own free will. [12] With the fall of Adam, God in His Justice allowed the terrible sentence of physical death to fall upon the entire human race.

That which with the Holy Trinity had bestowed upon Adam and Eve elevated their natural condition to the supernatural. The gift of sanctifying grace made them children of God and gave them the right to heaven. As the Baltimore Catechism explains, “It raises men to the supernatural order, conferring on them powers entirely above those proper to human nature. Together with sanctifying grace, God gave Adam and Eve the supernatural virtues and the gifts of the Holy Ghost.” [13] 

The first man and woman also possessed preternatural gifts – the Garden of Paradise, integrity (complete control of the faculties, passions, and appetites by reason and the free will), immortality, and impassibility (freedom from suffering and death).[14] Before creating Eve, the “Lord God took man, and put him into the paradise of pleasure, to dress it, and to keep it.” [15] Then God said to Adam, “Of every tree of paradise thou shalt eat; but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat. For in what day soever thou shalt eat of it, thou shalt die the death.” [16] The Holy Bible does not reveal for how long Adam and Eve obeyed this command, thus enjoying the Garden of Paradise, but we do know that God allowed them to be tested.

“Ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil,” [17] said the tempter to Eve and, in this, he told a half-truth, for “the gods of the earth” [18] are demons. Our first parents failed a very simple test of fidelity to God; both Adam and Eve abused the gifts of reason and free will through pride, which led to ingratitude of heart, and then disobedience.

But when Adam fell, so did all mankind. As head and father of the human race, Adam knowingly threw away the chief gift of sanctifying grace, thereby losing the friendship of God and the right to Heaven. This holy inheritance was lost not only to Adam but to all of his descendants. After all, Adam could not give to his children what he no longer possessed; he could only bequeath Original Sin, so-called because “it comes down to us through our origin, from Adam.” [19]

Since that terrible moment in our history, every human being is subject to the consequences of disease, suffering, and death. Earthly life became a painful period of probation, and the soul’s passing from this life to the next became known as “the death agony.”

“We know from the testimony of Our Redeemer Himself that no agony is like the agony of death,” wrote Fr. Martin von Cochem, 19th century author of The Four Last Things. “Nowhere do we find that at any period of His life the greatness of the pains He bore extorted from Our Lord a cry of anguish. But when the moment came for Him to expire, and the ruthless hand of death rent His Heart asunder, we read that He cried out with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost. Hence it is evident that at no period of the Passion did Christ suffer so acutely as at the most painful separation of His sacred soul from His blessed body.” [20]

Above all things, the thought that our dear Jesus – God Himself – cried out at the moment of His own death should not incite fear but both compunction of heart and solace. Through His Death and Resurrection, He has offered us the means to a happy death.

What Our Lord said to the grieving sister of Lazarus, He also says to us: “I am the Resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, although he be dead, shall live. And every one that liveth, and believeth in me, shall not die for ever. Believest thou this?” [21]

In the Twinkling of an Eye: From Death to Judgment
The infallible Scriptures teach, “…it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this judgment.” [22] The time of merit and trial is over, and at the very moment life ends, the immortal soul remains in the state in which death claimed it. [23] “In the place where the tree falls, there it will lie.” [24]

A compelling meditation was presented by Fr. von Cochem, the 15th century priest previously mentioned, when he wrote:

“Consider, first of all, what a strange new sensation it will be for thy soul, when she finds herself separated from the body, in an unknown world. Hitherto she has known no existence apart from the body; now she is suddenly separated from it.”

“Hitherto she was in time; now she has passed into eternity.”

“Now for the first time her eyes are opened, and she sees clearly what eternity is, what sin is, what virtue is, how infinite is the being of the Deity, and how wondrous is her own nature.”

“All this will appear so marvellous to her that she will be almost petrified with astonishment. After the first instant of wonder, she will be conducted before the tribunal of God, that she may give an account of all her actions; and the terror that will then seize upon the unhappy soul surpasses our powers of conception.” [25]

What is called “the Particular Judgment” of each soul takes place at the very moment of death.[26] Jesus Himself is the Judge, as the Gospel of St. John reveals: “Neither does the Father judge any man, but all judgment He has given to the Son.” [27] We also know that each soul will give Jesus Christ an account of its earthly life.

“Each individual,” said St. Jerome, “will see what he has done.” [28] Every thought, every word, every action, and every neglect will be judged in the balance of God’s Justice.[29] Nothing will remain hidden, as St. Alphonsus reminds us, and he also writes, “Consider the accusation and scrutiny: The judgment sat and the books were opened. (Dan. 7:10)…In the balance of divine justice…works only will have weight.” [30] As St. Paul wrote, “Each one will receive his pay, according to his works.” [31]

“Let us remember,” observes the catechism My Catholic Faith, “that even while the relatives gather around the bed of the departed one, even while his body is still warm, the particular judgment is gone through and finished; the judgment is passed, and the soul gone to his reward or punishment. If we remember this, we shall be more fervent in praying for the dead, in helping others die a happy death, so that they may meet God at the judgment without fear.” [32]

The Particular Judgment will give only one of two possible verdicts: eternal salvation or everlasting perdition. Salvation is for the soul who either dies in baptismal innocence, or has already offered complete reparation for confessed and absolved sins; such a soul will be sent at once to Heaven. The soul who dies in the state of grace but in venial sin, or who has not fully atoned for repented and confessed sins, is also among the saved; this soul will first make expiation in Purgatory (which is not, properly speaking, one of the four last things, because souls do not endure Purgatory forever). Last, the soul “who dies in mortal sin will be sent at once to hell.” [33]

“Eternity! Eternity! Heaven or Hell, one of the two we must choose by our lives,” exclaims the author of Charity for the Suffering Souls .[34] “For the things which are seen, are temporal; but the things which are not seen, are eternal.” [35]

Fr. Arminjon, whose written conferences so greatly inspired St. Therese the Little Flower, provides sound spiritual advice when he counseled, “Let us say with the prophet, ‘I consider the days of old; the years long past I remember.’[36] Let us judge ourselves severely, and we shall not be judged. Let us live with the Lord Jesus all the days of our life, and then we shall be freed from all fear, for there is no condemnation upon those who dwell with the Lord.” [37]

“Remember the last things, and you will never sin.” (Sirach 7:36)
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This article was first published in Catholic Family News, November 2010 issue. All Rights Reserved world-wide by the author.
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Notes


[1] St. Thomas More, The Four Last Things: The Supplication of Souls; A Dialogue on Conscience. [New York/Princeton, NJ: Scepter Publishers, 2002]: p. 12.
[2] Ibid., p. 22. [Emphasis in the original.]
[3] Fr. Charles Arminjon, The End of the Present World and the Mysteries of the Future Life. [French original published 1881 under the title Fin du Monde Présent et Mystèries de la vie Future. English translation published in Manchester, NH: Sophia Institute Press, English translation by Susan Conroy and Peter McEnerny 2008]: Foreward, p. xix.
[4] Matt. 7:13-14. (The Holy Bible, Douay-Rheims version, with Challoner Revisions 1749-52; 1899 Edition of the John Murray Company).
[5] St. Jean Marie Vianney, Sermons of the Cure of Ars [Long Prairie, MN: The Neumann Press, 1995. Reprinted from the 1901 edition]: p. 290.
[6] Ps. 110:10.
[7] Ecclus. 1: 16.
[8] Baltimore Catechism and Mass, # 3 [Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America, 1949]: p. 71.
[9] St. Alphonsus de Liguori, Preparation for Death [Republished in Brooklyn, NY: Redemptoris Fathers, 1926]: pp. 126-127.
[10] More, op. cit., p.33.
[11] Baltimore Catechism #3, op. cit., p.32.
[12] Gen. 2:17, Rom. 5: 12.
[13] Baltimore Catechism #3, op. cit., p. 33.
[14] Canon George D. Smith et al, The Teaching of the Catholic Church, Vol. I [NY: The MacMillan Co., 1959): p. 323.
[15] Gen. 2: 15.
[16] Gen.2: 16-17.
[17] Gen. 3:5.
[18] Soph. 2:11.
[19] Most Rev. Louis LaRavoir Morrow, D.D., Bishop of Krishnagar, My Catholic Faith: A Manual of Religion [Kansas City, MO: Sarto House, 2003. Reprinted from the 1954 edition]: p. 41.
[20] Father Martin von Cochem, O.S.F.C., The Four Last Things: Death, Judgment, Hell and Heaven [15th century manuscript republished in New York: Benziger Brothers, 1899]. Contributed by Derrick D’Costa to the Catholic Tradition website [http://www.catholictradition.org/Classics/4last-things1d.htm]
[21] Jn. 11: 25-26.
[22] Heb. 9:27
[23] 2 Cor. 5:10; Jn. 9:4; Lk. 12:40; Lk. 16:19.
[24] Eccl. 1:13
[25] Fr. Martin von Cochem, op. cit. [http://www.catholictradition.org/Classics/4last-things1e.htm]
[26] Lk., 16:22, Lk. 23:43, Acts 1:25.
[27] Jn. 5:22.
[28] St. Jerome, as cited by St. Alphonsus de Liguori, op. cit., p. 244.
[29] Matt. 12:36, Lk. 12:48.
[30] St. Alphonsus di Liguori, op. cit. p. 244.
[31] 1 Cor 3:8.
[32] Most Rev. Morrow, op.cit., p. 155.
[33] Ibid.
[34] Rev. John A. Nageleisen, Charity for the Suffering Souls: An Explanation of the Catholic Doctrine of Purgatory [Rockford, IL: TAN Books & Publishers, 1982. Reprinted from the 1895 edition]: p. 5.
[35] 2 Cor. 4:18.
[36] Ps.77:6.
[37] Fr. Charles Arminjon, op. cit., pp. 107-108.

Purgatory: The Dogma of God's Mercy and Justice

For the sake of souls living in an age permeated by the modernist heresy, it is not by chance that, at Fatima, Heaven highlighted the Church’s doctrines and dogmas so frequently undermined. Perhaps foremost among these ignored truths is Purgatory, a dogma pertaining to the interior life of the soul and the mercy and the justice of God.

The word purgatory comes from the Latin purgare, which means “to purify” or “to cleanse.” “The word Purgatory is sometimes taken to mean a place, sometimes as an intermediate state between Hell and Heaven,” explains Fr. Schouppe, S.J., author of Purgatory – Explained by the Lives and the Legends of the Saints.[1]

“It is, properly speaking, the condition of souls which, at the moment of death, are in the state of grace, but which have not completely expiated their faults, nor attained the degree of purity necessary to enjoy the Vision of God.” [2] Fr. Schouppe continues, “Purgatory is a transitory state which terminates in a life of everlasting happiness. It is not a trial by which merit may be gained or lost, but a state of atonement and expiation.” [3]

The dogma of Purgatory reinforces the necessity of the three conversions of the interior life, for “it forms one of the principal parts of the work of Jesus Christ, and plays an essential role in the economy of the salvation of man.” [4]

We may think otherwise, but sanctity is not impossible, for Jesus Himself encourages and instructs us, “Be you therefore perfect, as also your Heavenly Father is perfect.” [5] Neither can we reach spiritual perfection by our own efforts, but “with God, all things are possible.” [6] For the living, each day of earthly life is “a time of trial, a time of merit for the soul” [7]- and at the very moment life ends, the immortal soul remains in the state in which death claimed it.

While we hope that our merits will gain us heaven, we must also remember that what we deem as only trivial faults are not small in God’s eyes. In considering Purgatory, our frail human nature frequently tends to think only of God’s mercy, simultaneously preferring to forget His Justice. Regardless of our personal opinions, God has revealed that His two attributes of Mercy and Justice are never separated.

Like the slightest shadow which must disappear before the sun’s bright light, “no shadow of sin can endure before His Face.” [8] Souls who depart this life in a state of sanctifying grace are saved and will attain Heaven, but if there is any debt still remaining for absolved sins – any slight lack of perfect charity in love for God or neighbor – then God’s Mercy and Justice allows the saved soul to expiate its sins in Purgatory.

Purgatory: A Teaching from Antiquity
From the ancient tradition of the Jews, to the time of Christ and from the earliest days of His one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church, “the people of God had no hesitation in asserting the efficacy of prayers offered for the dead in order that those who had departed this life might find pardon for their sins and the hope of eternal resurrection.”[9]

With infallible examples from the Holy Scriptures and Tradition, the witness of the early Church, the Holy Ghost makes clear that forgiven sins can and will be atoned, either in this life or in the next:

• The Old Testament clearly states in Macabees, “It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins.” [10] This passage tells of an offering of silver “to Jerusalem for sacrifices to be offered for the sins of the dead, thinking well and religiously concerning the resurrection. For if he (Judas of the Macabees) had not hoped that they that were slain should rise again, it would have seemed superfluous and vain to pray for the dead.” [11]

• In Zacharias, the Holy Ghost speaks of the purification of souls in the next life, “I will refine them as silver refined, and I will try them as gold is tried.” [12] Gold and silver are burned in the fire to be freed from dross; similarly, souls are tried and purified in fire by the Lord.[13]

• Our Lord Himself affirms that there is a place of expiation after death, likening it to a prison: “I say to thee, thou shalt not go out from thence till thou repay the last farthing.” [14] Jesus refers not to hell, which is eternal, but teaches “distinctly of a temporary place…of purification, where the souls of the just can be freed…and purified for their entrance into heaven.”[15]

• Our Divine Savior also reveals: “And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him: but he that shall speak against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, nor in the world to come.” [16]

Repented sins can be forgiven, and expiated in this world or the next, but the sin against the Holy Ghost is the terrible exception of which Christ warned the peoples of all ages - “persistent impenitence, the sin of one who rejects conversion and dies in mortal sin. One guilty of this sin can never obtain forgiveness of God, because at the hour of death he continues to thrust God away from him.” [17] The reason this sin is not forgiven in this world or the next is only because the individual person continues to reject God, even at death! Is it any wonder why Our Lady of Fatima so often stressed sacrifice for the conversion of our fellow sinners?

• St. Paul speaks of the exact way by which souls are freed from repented sins not yet atoned: “For other foundation (sic) no man can lay, but that which is laid; which is Christ Jesus…Every man’s work shall be manifest: for the day of the Lord shall declare it, because it shall be revealed in fire, and the fire shall try every man’s work, of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide, which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work burn, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire.”[18]

The Catholic Encyclopedia (1911) explains, “While this passage presents considerable difficulty, it is regarded by many of the Fathers and theologians as evidence for the existence of an intermediate state in which the dross of lighter transgressions will be burnt away, and the soul thus purified will be saved.”[19]

• St. John the beloved disciple, in offering hope and consolation to those who live in the valley of tears and faithfully endure all of life’s trials and tribulations, reveals: “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and death shall be no more; nor mourning, nor crying, nor sorrow shall be any more.”[20] In speaking of Heaven, however, St. John also reminds the elect, “There shall not enter into it anything defiled.” [21]

• St. Augustine of Hippo teaches, “That there should be some fire even after this life is not incredible, and it can be inquired into and either be discovered or left hidden whether some of the faithful may be saved, some more slowly and some more quickly, in the greater or less degree in which they loved the good things that perish – through a certain purgatorial fire.”[22]

• Because the doctrine of Purgatory has been held throughout the ages, the Council of Trent declared: “Since the Catholic Church, instructed by the Holy Ghost has, following the sacred writings and the ancient tradition of the Fathers, taught in sacred councils and very recently in this ecumenical council, that there is a Purgatory, and that the souls there detained are aided by the suffrages of the faithful and chiefly by the Acceptable Sacrifice of the Altar, the Holy Council commands the bishops that they strive diligently to the end that the sound doctrine of Purgatory, transmitted by the Fathers and the sacred councils, be believed and maintained by the faithful of Christ, and be everywhere taught and preached.”[23]

• Finally, in recent times, Our Lady Herself referred to Purgatory when, at the first Fatima apparition in May 1917, She was asked by the child Lucia about the souls of two young village ladies who had recently died.

The Virgin answered that the first girl, Maria das Nevas, who died when about 16 years of age, was in Heaven. But of Amelia, a young woman of 18 years at her death, Our Lady said, “She will be in purgatory until the end of the world.” [24]

The Fate of Two Souls Revealed
The latter disclosure about Amelia’s prolonged period of expiation never fails to shock and trouble those who first hear of it. While mere curiosity should not instigate the inquiry, it appears there is one immediate and common question about this revelation:

What did Amelia do? That is, what forgiven sin(s) committed by a young person (a “teenager” by today’s standards), who lived in a remote village without any modern conveniences or amusements, could lead to a Purgatory of such time and duration?

The only answer upon which we can assuredly rely comes from Sr. Lucia when, years later, she was asked by Fr. Thomas McGlynn, O.P, about certain details regarding Amelia. Sr. Lucia’s charitable, prudent, and brief response was befitting of a Servant of God: “Amelia was eighteen years old, Father, and, after all, for one mortal sin a soul may be in Hell forever.” [25]

“Just” one mortal sin! Was Lucia’s response a delicate hint that it was one mortal sin, obviously repented, for which Amelia would endure a Purgatory incomprehensible to our minds? Did Our Lady make this known to Lucia? If such is the case, it still remains that we do not know the details of Amelia’s solitary mortal sin - but neither do we need to know.

Instead, we should consider the reasons why Our Lady allowed to be made public the state of two souls, one who was already in Heaven (a revelation which many overlook) and one who would be in Purgatory until the end of time.

“What is certain is that Our Lady wanted us to know this for our instruction, and it would be foolish presumption to pretend to dispute the judgments of God,” observes Fatima historian, Frère Michel de la Sainte Trinité. “He alone, Who intimately knows each soul, the abundance of graces He has given to it, the degree of knowledge it had of its fault and the quality of its repentance, is the judge of the gravity of sin.” [26]

Frère Michel also wisely notes that we may rarely think about Maria das Nevas, the young soul of whom Our Lady said so simply, “She is in heaven.” No, we are not inclined to ponder much about Maria, for today we are misled to believe that Heaven is our natural “right.” Perhaps, too, we make light-hearted jokes like, “Well, at least in Purgatory, I’ll be with friends.” Yet the sufferings of Purgatory are not objects of jest, especially because the straight and sure path to Heaven is made known to us: Pick up your cross daily and follow Me.[27]

Should we not first contemplate the teenaged Maria, if only for a few moments, and wonder: How did she fulfill God’s Commandments? What heroic virtues did she practice? Did she endure Purgatory at all – or was her soul taken straight to Heaven? Were inquiries ever made about the details of her life or death? Is there anything really known about this young lady, other than her name and age? Or was her hidden and humble interior life - in which (as it seems) no one showed interest, even when her glorious state in Heaven became known - meant as a lesson in itself?

Since it appears no questions about Maria were ever asked, we have no details. What we do have, however, is Our Lady’s word that Maria is in Heaven, and that is enough to tell us two simple and beautiful things about Maria – “she was a good girl and a good Christian.” [28]

Out of the Depths I Have Cried to Thee, O Lord…
But we do not forget Amelia, who died in the state of grace and is saved, nor should we forget her. It is, after all, our “sacred duty to pray for and make sacrifices on behalf of the Poor Souls in Purgatory.” [29]

We call these souls “poor” because they can do nothing for themselves, relying always on our charity offered on their behalf; we call them “holy” because there is no question that they are among the saved. Cherished by God and assured of their salvation, they can and do intercede for us with their prayers.

However, while the poor souls can pray for us but no longer gain merit for themselves, and since the saints in Heaven pray for them but cannot acquire any indulgences for them, those who languish in Purgatory rely on the charity of the living.

This is the beautiful “secret” regarding Purgatory, as St. John Chrysostom reminds us, “Not by weeping, but by prayer and almsgiving are the dead relieved.” [30] It is only we, the Church Militant, who can obtain many indulgences (plenary and partial) for the faithful departed. [31]

We have three central means at our disposal to offer them relief and deliverance: The Holy Mass, the Holy Rosary, and almsgiving (fasts, penances, and sacrifices). For the benefit of our own souls and those in Purgatory, there exist many other highly indulgenced prayers and practices, including but not limited to:

The Brown Scapular of Mt. Carmel: To those who wear this Scapular with devotion, Our Lady promises, “Whosoever dies wearing this Scapular shall not suffer eternal fire.” Too, a pious kiss given to the Brown Scapular offers 500 days’ indulgence, which we can offer for the Poor Souls.

The Sabbatine (Saturday) Privilege, also granted to those who wear the Brown Scapular: “I, the Mother of Grace, shall descend on the Saturday after their death and whosoever I shall find in Purgatory, I shall free, so that I may lead them unto the holy mountain of life everlasting.”

A Thousand Souls (the Prayer of St. Gertrude), by which Christ revealed He would release 1,000 souls from Purgatory, each time the prayer is offered: “Eternal Father, I offer thee the Most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with all of the Masses said throughout the world today – for all the holy souls in purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the universal Church, for those within my own home and within my own family. Amen.” [31]

Since God’s generosity can never be out-done, He not only allows all of our offerings to help the souls in Purgatory, but He also grants that these same actions “gain us merit, an increase in sanctifying grace, a higher degree of charity, closer union with God, and thus a higher degree of glory in Heaven for all eternity.”[33]

There is much more that Our God has revealed about Purgatory, but what is most important is to follow the charitable advice of the eternal Church, and which is so beautifully summarized by St. Augustine: “Forget not the dead and hasten to pray for them!”[34]

~About this Article and its Author~
Secrets of the Catholic City is the name of Mrs. Bartold's new column, published by Catholic Family News (CFN). "Purgatory: The Dogma of God's Mercy and Justice" was published in CFN's November 2009 issue. All Rights Reserved World-wide by the author.

Marianna Bartold, founder of Keeping It Catholic, is the author of “The Age of Mary” Study Guides, a series of “digitally delivered” Catholic unit studies for homeschooled teens - as well as adults or anyone who wishes to grow closer “to Jesus through Mary.” Her other works include the upcoming digital Return of the King (The Lord of the Rings) Catholic Study Guide. She is the author of the Keeping It Catholic Home Education Guide books (Volumes I and II). Mrs. Bartold was the original homeschool editor of Sursum Corda and the founding publisher of The Catholic Family's Magnificat! Magazine.

~Notes~
[1] Fr. F.X. Schouppe, S.J., Purgatory - Explained by the Lives and Legends of the Saints [1893 original edition republished in Rockford, IL: TAN Books and Publishers, 1986.]: p.6
[2] Ibid., p.7. (Emphasis in the original)
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid., p. 3.
[5] Matt. 5:48.
[6] Matt 19: 26.
[7] Ibid.
[8] Fr. F.X. Schouppe, S.J., op cit., p. 4.
[9] Edward Hanna, “Purgatory,” The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 12. [New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911] Accessed Sept. 15, 2009 at
[10] 2 Mach. 12:46.
[11] 2 Mach. 12:43-45.
[12] Zach. 13:9.
[13] “Sermons for the Feast Days of the Year,” anonymous contributor. Included in The Sermons of the Curé of Ars [1901 original republished in Long Prairie, MN: The Neumann Press, 1991]: Part II, p. 10.
[14] Matt. 5: 26.
[15] “Sermons for the Feast Days of the Year,” op. cit., Part II: p. 11.
[16] Matt. 12: 32.
[17] My Catholic Faith: A Manual in Religion [Reprinted from the 1954 edition in Kansas City, MO: Sarto House, 2003.]:p. 151.
[18] 1 Corinthians 3: 11-15. [Emphasis added.]
[19] Hanna, loc. cit.
[20] Apoc. 21:4.
[21] Apoc. 21: 27.
[22] St. Augustine of Hippo, cited by William A. Jurgens, The Faith of the Early Fathers, Vol. 3. [Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1979]: p. 149.
[23] Decree Concerning Purgatory, The Council of Trent, Session XXV (December 4, 1563). Also see Denzinger, "Enchiridon", #983.
[24] Fatima in Lucia’s Own Words: Sr. Lucia’s Memoirs [Fatima, Portugal: Postulation Centre, 1976]: p. 161.
[25] John J. Delaney (editor), A Woman Clothed With the Sun [New York: Image Edition, published by Doubleday, 1990]: p. 184. [Emphasis added.]
[26] Frère Michel de la Sainte Trinité, The Whole Truth about Fatima: Science and the Facts, Vol. I [Buffalo, NY: Immaculate Heart Publications, English translation copyright by the author, 1989]: p. 128.
[27] Lk. 9:23, Matt. 16:24, Mk. 8:34. (paraphrased)
[28] Frère Michel, op. cit., p. 129.
[29] Fr. F. X. Schouppe, op. cit., Publisher’s Preface, p. xxviii. [Emphasis in the original]
[30] My Catholic Faith, loc. cit. p. 159.
[31] An indulgence is the remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven. A plenary indulgence remits all punishment; a partial indulgence remits some part of it. That the Church has the power and authority to grant indulgences is a matter of faith, defined at the Council of Trent, Session XXV, December 4, 1563.
[32] Approval and recommendation signed by M. Cardinal Pahiarca at Lisbon, Portugal, March 4, 1936.
[33] Fr. F. X. Schouppe, op. cit., Publisher’s Preface, p. xxix.
[34] “Sermons for the Feast Days of the Year,” op. cit., Part II, p. 13. [Emphasis in the original]

Catholic Christmas Traditions Rekindled! (A Round Robin for Catholic Blogs)

Keeping It Catholic (KIC) has initated our Catholic Christmas Traditions Rekindled! (A Round Robin for Catholic Blogs)! It informally began back in 1999, with KIC list members sharing Christmas traditions on our email list. In this, our 12th year on the Net, we renew it and extend the invitation to all Catholic visitors, blog-owners and websites (with appropriate content, of course) so we may encourage each other to "Keep It Catholic at Christmas" and throughout the true Christmas season, which ends February 2. And KIC is sharing "theme" ideas for those who join our "round robin"!



So - please join our Catholic Christmas Traditions Rekindled! (A Round-Robin for Catholic Blogs) Share with us your family's Catholic Christmas Traditions for our 'ongoing' 2008-early 2009 KEEPING IT CATHOLIC AT CHRISTMAS digital newsletter, which will be freely sent throughout the entire traditional Christmas season to our entire Keeping It Catholic Email List and also posted here on Keeping It Catholic - the Blog!


---If you're a blog or list reader, just email me with your traditions and I'll be happy to add them to the Keeping It Catholic at Christmas installments at the appropriate time.


---If you're a Catholic blog-writer and would like to join, please create a section on your blog called Catholic Christmas Traditions Rekindled! (This is where you'll list other Catholic blogs who belong to our Round Robin). List Keeping It Catholic - the Blog! and keep it at the top of your list. Also copy and paste this page (along with this page's link) so others will know about and join. Then email me about your posts that match our following themes. Your blog must, of course, be faithfully Catholic, with no inappropriate content. If your blog fits the requirements, the the KIC Blog will link back to you!


The upcoming themes and deadline dates (listed below) are for email submissions to our bi-weekly "Keeping it Catholic at Christmas" digital installments. Catholic blog owners who join Catholic Christmas Traditions Rekindled will find it helpful as they write articles for collective "Round Robin" themes! (Of course, the deadline dates for submissions don't apply for Catholic blog writers who will simply alert me by email about their new articles so I can list them on this blog.)


Deadline Date for the 1st (Email) Installment:
Today through Monday, December 15, 2008 - Share Catholic traditions about the Season of Advent (the season of the "absence of Jesus," of anticipation, abstinence and penance, as we spiritually prepare anew for the coming of Jesus, the Light of the World), "Christmastide" which begins Christmas Eve (Vigil of the Nativity), Midnight Mass, Feast of the Nativity (Christmas, holy day of obligation); Traditional recipes for early Christmas morning "breaking-the-fast" recipes; St. Stephan (first Catholic martyr, December 26); St. John the Beloved Apostle (December 27), the Holy Innocents (December 28); St. Thomas of Canterbury, Bishop and Martyr (December 29), Eve of the Nativity Octave (December 31), Octave of the Nativity (January 1, holy day of obligation) and The Epiphany of Our Lord (January 6). Installment is set for digital publication during the December 20-21 weekend.


Deadline Date for 2nd (Email) Installment:
From December 16th through Monday, December 29, 2008 - Share more Catholic traditions about the Epiphany, the "ferial" days, the Feast of the Holy Family (first Sunday after the Epiphany) and the Baptism of the Lord (January 13), and the end of Christmastide (8 days after the Epiphany). The first few weeks of January are usually a quiet month in which many people feel "let down" after the holidays. In reality, these quieter days are perfect for prayer, spiritual reading and meditation because Jesus is the reason for every season - and the Christmas season is still in effect all through January and early February! Installment is set for digital publication during the January 3-4 weekend.


Deadline Date for 3rd (Email) Installment:
From December 30 through Monday, January 5, 2009 - The perfect time to share traditions about the last few weeks of the Christmas season, which concludes with Candlemas (Purification of the Virgin and The Presentation of the Christ Child in the Temple) on February 2nd. Themes are Christ the Light of the World, a revelation to the Gentiles, the glory of His people, Israel and the the humble obedience of the Virgin Mother of God. Installment is set for digital publication during the January 17-18 weekend.

Deadline Date for 4th (Email) Installment:

From Epiphany through Monday, January 19, 2009 - A last chance to share Candlemas traditions - as well as Church traditions for Septuagesima and Lent (this year, Ash Wednesday falls on February 25)! Theme: Glory, Praise and Honor to Thee, O Christ the King! Installment is set for digital publication during the January 31st-February 1 weekend.


FOR EMAIL SUBMISSIONS:

Privately email me to share your CATHOLIC family Christmas traditions, according to the deadline dates and themes listed above. Unless you request otherwise, I'll include your name with your anecdote (which can be brief or long, your choice!). If you prefer a first name and last initial, that's fine, too. (No anonymous submissions please. They will not be published.) In general, our first theme might be summed up as follows:

- Beautiful tips for the holy, penitential and anticipatory season of Advent, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, January 1st

- Fast and abstinence recipes (and for those of you who have KIC's "Keepsake Collection of Recipes," our downloadable ebook, don't forget to check "Keepsake" to further assist you!)


-'Breaking the fast' on Christmas Day recipes


- How you "Keep Christ in Christmas" during the entire liturgical season (for example, did you know that - in the centuries-old liturgical calendar - the Christmas season ends on Candlemas, the Feast of the Purification of the Virgin Mary, on February 2? That is exactly "40 days" from Christmas Day! Sadly, cutting short the Holy Season of Christmas is one of the innovations of our own era).


- Anything else appropriate for the Catholic category of "Keeping Christ in Christmas."


Some examples from past submissions:

-One that comes to mind is the family that bakes a Christmas "birthday" cake for the Baby Jesus, singing a birthday song to the Infant Jesus - all before opening presents on Christmas day.

-Another is the family who always covers the creche with cotton and straw, uncovering it when the family returns from Christmas Eve Midnight Mass. (That's what we've always done, too!)

-Yet another couple said they give their children a specific number of gifts per season - three, to be exact, as Jesus Himself received three gifts from the Wisemen.

-Another celebrates St. Nicholas Day in early December; for those with an Italian background, they celebrate the day of "la Befana" on the Epiphany. (My dad, now passed from this world 36 years ago, told me about "le Befana.")

As you can see, sharing your tradition needn't be a long letter (if that sort of thing inhibits your from writing!)...just a few lines to share what you do to "Keep Christ in Christmas." Of course, longer submissions are very welcome!

Remember: Our goal is to encourage each other to "Keep it Catholic at Christmas"!

A most blessed Advent to you and yours,
Marianna Bartold, Keeping It Catholic

A Thousand Souls: St. Gertrude's Prayer

In the Church, November is especially dedicated to suffrages made on behalf of the poor souls in Purgatory. The most efficacious prayer, of course, is that of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, followed by the daily Rosary.

Still, there are other sacrifices we can also offer. One prayer, most commonly called "St. Gertrude's Prayer," was dictated by Our Lord to St. Gertrude the Great, a Benedictine cloistered nun and a mystic. In the twelfth century, the Lord told the Saint that this prayer (approved and recommended by M. Cardinal Pahiarca of Lisbon, Portugal on March 4, 1936) releases 1,000 Souls from Purgatory each time it is offered.

"Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the Masses said throughout the world today, for all the holy souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the universal church, those in my own home and within my family. Amen."

Isn't it a most wonderful prayer to add to the conclusion of our family Rosaries? It is true that the Rosary itself is such a powerful prayer to the Holy Trinity, that by itself it can empty Purgatory. Yet making use of the St. Gertrude Prayer also helps us further develop a holy compassion for the poor souls, who always await our spiritual assistance. Furthermore, it is such a brief prayer that we can offer it many times throughout the day. At whatever time we pray it, whether during the day or at the beginning or end of our Rosaries, we should never forget: For each person who prays the St. Gertrude Prayer just once, there are 1,000 souls released from the fires of Purgatory into the glories of Heaven. Why not offer it at least five times in succession, in honor of Christ's Holy Wounds, every day? Each member of the family who does so will daily assist five thousand souls.

St. Gertrude's life was the mystic life of the Cloister – a Benedictine nun. She meditated on the Passion of Christ, which many times brought a flood of tears to her eyes. She did many penances and Our Lord appeared to her many times. She had a tender love for the Blessed Virgin and was very devoted to the suffering souls in Purgatory. She died in 1334. Her feast day is November 16th. (From Prayer of St. Gertrude the Great)

Out of the Depths: De Profundis

Out of the depths have I cried to Thee, O Lord...

This one line, which comes from the prayer De Profundis, played an important part in the movie, The Sixth Sense. De Profundis (Psalm 129) is the prayer of the holy souls in Purgatory, which we may also pray for them, especially when attending at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass or at the end of our daily Rosary. In Latin, the Psalm begins De Profundis clamavi ad te, Domine (Out of the depths I have cried to Thee, O Lord). It is also a prayer of hope and repentance which we may offer in thanksgiving after a sincere Confession. "We have committed sins; we confess we have sinned. But God grants pardon to him who repents." (Roman Catholic Daily Missal, 1962) Finally, De Profundus was also a prophecy of the coming Messiah ("His word"), who offers us His mercy and "plentiful redemption."


De Profundis

Out of the depths have I cried to Thee, O Lord; Lord, hear my voice.

Let Thine ears by attentive to the voice of my supplication.

If Thou, O Lord, shalt observe iniquities; Lord, who shall endure it?

For with Thee there is merciful forgiveness, and by reason of Thy law
I have waited for Thee, O Lord.

My soul hath relied on His word; my soul hath hoped in the Lord.

From the morning watch even until night
Let Israel hope in the Lord.

For with the Lord there is mercy,
and with Him plentiful redemption.

And He shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.

V. Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord.
R. And let the perpetual light shine upon them.
V. May they rest in peace.
R. Amen.


Let us pray: - O God, the Giver of Pardon and Lover of man's salvation, we beseech Thee in Thy mercy to grant our brethren, kinsfolk, and benefactors who have passed out of this life may, by the intercession of the blessed Mary every Virgin and of all Thy Saints, partake of everlasting bliss. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Catholic Homeschooling: While the Eyes of the Great are Elsewhere

At the start of the Catholic homeschooling year, we may start with high expectations or we may begin anew with another sense - one of "Oh, my, it starts again!" We may have begun the 'homeschooling journey' with a hobbit-like thought of "Great! Where are we going?" or we may have understood from the very beginning the seriousness of the mission. After living, parenting and homeschooling for many years, we know that (for better or worse) our circumstances and outlooks may differ, and our interior or physical strengths may alter, but the Truth, which is the reason for the journey, never changes.

Objective truth is not a matter of what we may 'believe," by which I do not only mean "assent of the intellect." Rather I refer to that false but popular definition that belief is a matter of opinion, a tenacious clinging to one's own ideas. As St. Thomas wrote in explaining what objectivity means in relation to truth, "It is what it is." That is why we are taught that the meaning of life is to KNOW (not just believe) God, love God, and serve God. But if we do not yet know such things as we ought, we shall if we trust and give our assent to faith.

Catholic home life and Catholic home education is really about "knowing" God. It is about loving and serving God. Always keeping in mind that Our Lord, Jesus Christ, IS the WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE is what keeps us to our moorings. Our Lord's dogmas and doctrines are deposited in His Church via Divine Revelation. For all Catholic parents (homeschooling or not), Our Lord's doctrines on marriage and education are found within the Church - and they exist to guide us on the straight way. We need not 'seek' the path of Truth; we already possess it. We only need follow it!

As we begin the journey for the first time, or start it anew, it cannot be denied that September, the month of Our Lady's Sorrows, is another chance in which to ponder the beauties of the Faith and grace. Thus it is a perfect time to recall what led each of us to Catholic home education. The years pass by and circumstances are constantly changing, sometimes to our liking but more often not. What matters is our charity and perseverance.

Our answers will prove how matters change from year to year, and yet - come what may - the noble task of Catholic education continues in our homes. For example:

1. Who are we formally teaching this year? The whole kit and caboodle of our blessings or some of them? An eldest child who has reached grade school age? Are the older children at an outside school while some of the younger children at home or visa versa? Are any of us assisting in the Catholic home education of grandchildren? Is this our first year of homeschooling? Are we nervous, a bit trepiditious, afraid of failing? Is this our twentieth year of homeschooling? Are we getting a bit lackadaiscal about the whole process? Are we seeing the first fledglings try their wings? Have some already left the nest? How are we interiorly dealing with all the changes?

To that end, let's consider a few other matters (things which apply not only to the lives of Catholic homeschoolers; these questions might be slightly revised to apply to our lives as Catholics. In other words, 'what' we are really doing with our time, what books or newspapers do we we read, etc.):

2. What materials are we using? Old favorites? What is new? Are we not amazed at the times spontaneous discussions arise, either related to (or a tangent of) the lesson plans? Was there a problem we recognized last year, one that we are attempting to resolve this year?

3. When do we homeschool? All day? Half a day? In-between other things that seem to keep interupting? Five days a week, or four days a week, with Fridays as a 'reward' day if tests are done well that morning? And then there is the same question as asked before in regard to materials: Was there a scheduling problem last year that we are now attempting to rectify?

4. Above all, WHY do we homeschool? Have we ever deeply thought of the answer to that question? Have we ever written it down, to remind ourselves of it on the more trying days? Do we often discuss those reasons with our spouses and our children? Do we KNOW the good that Catholic home education can bring to the whole family - all it needs, like everything else in regard to God's Will, is our free will cooperation.

5. Finally, how we answer the previous questions are tied to this last question: HOW do we homeschool? Do we make honest attempts to keep fast to the Church's doctrine on education? Do we grasp "the importance of religious instruction"? (1) Have we accepted the Church's perennial truth that dogma and doctrine are not subject to personal interpretation but must be understood in the light of Divine Revelation, which is found in Tradition and Scripture? For the "sacred dogmas must be perpetually maintained, which Holy Mother Church has once declared; and there must never be a recession from that meaning under the pretext of a deeper understanding." (2)

Personal interpretation of doctrine is a serious error issuing from an over-confidence in the individual intellect. For though we accept faith through the intellect, the truth remains: "Intellect is a guide, though, that, if it lack its companion light, the knowledge of divine things, will be only an instance of the blind leading the blind so that both will fall into the pit." (3) In a word, the intellect must be illuminated with the Church's scholastic philosophy, for knowledge is only the beginning of wisdom. And wisdom is only one of many virtues which we must practice.

On the other hand, Catholic parents who, for whatever reasons, lack confidence in their own training, their virtues (especially patience!), or perceive any other lacks which may hinder their ability to teach the truth of Religion - the Religion which must permeate the curriculum (4) - may take solace in this explanation to the universal Church on teaching Christian doctrine:

"No matter what natural facility a person may have in ideas and language, let him always remember that he will never be able to teach Christian doctrine to children or to adults without first giving himself to very careful study and preparation. They are mistaken who think that because of inexperience and lack of training of the people the work of catechizing can be performed in a slipshod fashion. On the contrary, the less educated the hearers, the more zeal and diligence must be used to adapt the sublime truths to their untrained minds; these truths, indeed, far surpass the natural understanding of the people, yet must be known by all - the uneducated and the cultured - in order that they may arrive at eternal happiness." (5)

The Church's encyclical on teaching Christian doctrine, addressed to the patriarchs, primates, bishops, archbishops and other ordinaries in peace and communion with the Apostolic See, contained a reminder to the hierarchy of the Church's duty to Her members. Those words are a great comfort to those of us living in this age permeated with modernism, for the sublime truths exist and always will. Still, it is difficult to accomplish the mission without the necessary cooperation, zeal, and diligence of all the pastors.

"Yet hope remains while the company is true," said Lady Galadriel as she looked upon the ever-faithful Samwise. Each faithful Catholic family is a 'little company' (a Fellowship, as it were) of the Church Militant, and so we take upon ourselves the full responsibility of our children's education, even as the shadows of Mordor lengthen. We do so with little help from those from whom we should expect it, but we will find such help in a tiny band of faithful priests and laypeople (and with many graces from God, if only we remember to ask for them).
We parents may rest assured that the 'careful study and preparation" necessary to teach Christian doctrine (and all other 'subjects') will be ours as we teach our children. For as Catholics, we are so very akin to the hobbits in The Lord of the Rings, who did not know the faith and fortitude that was already in them, who did not realize they would overcome their fears, who did not expect to be separated from good and faithful kin and friends, who did not know in what forms would they face many terrible dangers to body and soul. Neither did they know they would receive refuge in Rivendell and Lothlorien, that they would be given "gifts of grace," or find unexpected help and friends along the way. Like the task of the Fellowship, our "homeschooling journey" is an important chapter - not only in our own story but also of "the story" of the world, even when our part is over.

All that we do and learn on that journey is what people mean when they speak about "the beauties of Catholic homeschooling." Still, there are days in which it seems we take this task upon ourselves all alone, thinking ourselves too small to do what must be done. But remember the insightful words of Lord Elrond, gifted with foresight yet echoing what has always been true: "Small hands do them because they must, while the eyes of the great are elsewhere."

"ORA et LABORA" (Pray and work) means prayer and sacrifice. Those actions sum up the lives of all faithful Catholics, including Catholic homeschooling families!

~+~+~+~+
Footnotes
1. Pope St. Pius X, Acerbo Nimis (On Teaching Christine Doctrine, 1905): para. 17
2. Vatican Council 1, can. 3
3. Pope St. Pius X, op. cit., para. 3
4. Pope Leo XIII, Militantis Ecclesiae (On St. Peter Canisius, 1897): para. 18
5. Pope St. Pius, para. 26

Fatima: How a Specific Lack Affects Your Daily Life

"If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer…"
~Our Lady of Fatima, July 13, 1917

It is vitally important that we understand the yet-to-be-accomplished collegial consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary has always affected and continues to affect our own personal lives.

In a word, the Church's traditional dogmas, doctrines, "rubrics," traditional pious devotions, and truly charitable actions et al, collectively suffer from an almost total eclipse of the modernist heresy, as is evident by the following (admittedly incomplete) list:

-The pervasive denial of the dogma of the Faith, even by Catholics - e.g., that "the Church" founded by Jesus Christ is the Catholic Church and only the Catholic Church, which alone is the means of salvation.

-The astounding number of progressives (what modernists sometimes call themselves; unfortunately, they are now being dubbed 'conservatives') in key positions within the Church.

-"Ecumenism the euphemism" [catchy, isn't it? Forgive the pun, because ecumenism is catchy, like a nasty virus coursing through the Mystical Body]. It's an old word given a new definition, which is now nothing more than "religious indifferentism." In addition to dismissing the centuries-old definition of "the Church," the new ecumenism demands rejection of "the dogma of the faith" –e.g., that Catholicism is the one truth faith that offers salvation. Thus it follows that so-called "churches" not in union with Her are, objectively speaking, no more than groups of individuals who share similar heretical beliefs.

-The refusal to define the dogma of Mary, Mediatrix of All Graces, for fear it would offend those outside the Church.

-The alleged need for a "reform" of the Church (which led to the use of words like "traditional" or "perennial" to lead lay Catholic 'luminaries' to mock fellow Catholics who "hold fast" to tradition)

-The subsequent need for a "reform of the reform"

-The modernist changes made to all of the traditional Rites of the Seven Sacraments

-The same modernist changes made to the traditional definitions of all Seven Sacraments – e.g., Holy Eucharist fallaciously became a meal instead of the unbloody Sacrifice of the Lord's Body, Blood,Soul and Divinity; Baptism makes one only a member of the people of God instead of washing away Original Sin (although leaving its effects) and thus becoming an adopted child of God; Confirmation is now the "sacrament of personal responsibility," etc.

-The resistance that quickly arose against the Pope's "Motu Propio" of July 7, 2007.

-The tragic fact that the "Motu Propio" was even needed in the first place.

-The redefining and alterations [Can you say 'Aggiornomento!'?] of every Church doctrine, made under the excuse of a "deeper understanding," including but not limited to the following:

***Charity, the highest virtue, substituted for a politically-correct "social justice" in which God and His Truths are noted only by their absence.

***Charity, defined as a holy love (of the whole heart, mind, soul and strength) which first is given to to God and secondly our neighbor for love of God, is now subjugated to and superseded by a heretical definition of obedience.

***The Magisterium also redefined, again by the heresy of modernism. The brief definition is as follows: "the authority of the Church, by divine appointment, to teach the truths of religious belief; the commission of the Church to teach; the teaching office of the Church; the teaching and interpreting of the doctrines of faith carried on by the Church through the Pope and bishops andthose commissioned by them." (The Concise Catholic Dictionary)

***Papal infallibility also heretically redefined to mean that the Vicar of Christ is "only" first among the bishops, possessing no higher prerogatives than any other bishop. However, the new definition insists that he must always submit to "collegial authority" [authority now redefined as subjective opinion of the majority].

NOTE: INFALLIBILITY is a special prerogative of the Church as a teacher by which, being guided by the Holy Ghost, when she actively defines revealed truths, she is protected from error or the possibility of error. It is also a prerogative of the Pope when he DEFINES a matter of faith and morals with the intention that the definition is to be held by all the faithful. Too many sources explaining infallibility wrongly use the word 'teaches' instead of 'defines,' and there is a huge difference between the two. To teach [in a homily, a speech, a prepared statement] is not the same as to define!

-At the same time, the error of what Dr. William Marra called "papalotry" simultaneously arose with the redefining of "papal infallibility." The result is that many Catholics have tragically yet ironically assimilated the erroneous, terribly-skewed Protestant outlook in regard to the Holy Father's office – e.g., Protestants believe that the Holy Father may arbitrarily hold and express a personal view or make a practical decision on any matter, with the result that his personal view or action then becomes "a matter of faith" binding upon all Catholics. Such a belief is far removed from the true definition of "papal infallibility"!

To clarify this point, an alarmingly high number of contemporary Catholics have been led to believe the absurd Protestant definition (without even realizing it is a Protestant view on "papal infallibility") is, indeed, the Church's definition. Once more, that definition is not a true one; that insulting,derogatory view of the pope, his holy office and the filial duties of the Catholic faithful was originally held and spread by the apostate priest, Martin Luther. It then spilled over to other (and likewise new) Protestant sects. This skewed outlook upon the Holy Father and his prerogatives is the primary excuse of most Protestant sects which hate the Church and specifically despise the office of the Pope, if not also his person.

-The erroneous definitions above also support the total disregard that each reigning pope is 1) the Vicar of Christ and 2) the most highly placed monarch on earth, for his reign is not only temporal but more importantly is intended to guard and transmit the Deposit of the Faith, whole and intact, for the salvation of souls.

-Related to papalotry, there also arose another misguided, non-Catholic notion (related to the "new" and heretical definition of "collegiality"). That false notion is that any clergyman (priest, bishop, cardinal) must be perceived to be an oracle of the Holy Ghost; this is in direct contradiction to the traditional doctrine that, while a priest is "another Christ," especially when he offers the Sacraments, he, too, is a soul working out his salvation (hopefully, as the Scriptures phrase it, "in fear and trembling." That means a correct fear of God, fear of his faults, fear of abusing grace, fear of presumption, etc.)

-On the other side of this same coin [modernism being a heresy that seemingly contradicts itself], there is also opposition to the same false notion directly above, because most parishes possess a plethora of "ministries" (headed by lay people) and to which the pastor must submit himself!

-The alarming number of Catholics who, in recent decades, "voted with their feet" and left the Church.

-The willful blindness of family, friends and neighbors who, either with guile or direct openness, actively despise the Truths of Divine Revelation.

-The 1960's "Sexual Revolution." Result: The pervasive depth and breadth of sexual sins in world-wide society

-The euphemisms that accompany the most "popular" sins, which no longer cause Catholics to even blink their eyes – e.g., "living together" replaces the sin of fornification, "live-in girlfriend" replaces concubine, "live-in boyfriend" replaces a word that cannot be used in polite company, and "open marriage" replaces adultery - etc., etc., etc.!

-The ever-growing numbers of youth who do not know the Faith in which they were baptized, do not want to, have abandoned it, and are disrespectful to all authority, including that which they owe to their own parents.

-Continuing injustices and expectations against the family in various forms, including faithful Catholic men and women placed in horrific, sinful work situations (making it practically impossible to avoid "near occasions of sin"), enduring pay too low for the husband and father to adequately meet his family's needs, the financial necessity forcing mothers to work outside the home, lack of job security, etc.

-The spread of Communism throughout the world, just as Our Lady of Fatima foretold.

-Wars and skirmishes that have continued throughout the world since World War I.

-Lack of personal safety in our own neighborhoods, towns and states.

-The dire spiritual necessity to provide our children with a sound Catholic education at home .

We've never known a world any different, but that can all change if each one of us does all we spiritually can to follow all that Our Lady of Fatima requested...please join us in our Collegial Consecration Campaign!