Worth Revisiting - Zeal For The Salvation Of Souls

Thank you once again, Allison Gingras at Reconciled To You  and Elizabeth Riordan at Theology Is A Verb  for hosting Worth Revisiting each week. It is a privilege to share our work with you and your followers.

Zeal For The Salvation of Souls

(Originally posted on July 24, 2011)

(Image Source: Wikimedia Commons)

When I asked rhetorically just a few days ago, “What happened to the zeal for the salvation of souls?” I was not intending to revisit that issue so quickly despite the fact that I and every one else reading this blog are sinners. Several recent experiences dictate that I do so.

In 1946, Pope Pius XII warned us that “The sin of the century is the loss of the sense of sin.” Similar sentiments have been expressed by many, including Fulton J. Sheen, Blessed John Paul II and our current Pope. Their observations are verified by the simple and undisputed fact that relatively few Catholics go to confession anymore.

Current polling data suggests that Catholics are just as likely as their non-Catholic friends to support, among other things, cohabitation, contraception, embryonic stem cell research, human cloning, sex between unmarried men and women, and gay or lesbian relationships.

Yet the truth is that there is a hell and those who engage in or support any of these practices would objectively be in a state of mortal sin and subject to the loss of their immortal souls should they die unrepentant and without Sacramental confession.  

Moreover, the majority of those calling themselves Catholic do not attend Sunday Mass and a substantial majority of those that do, no longer believe in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Sacred Eucharist or in the existence of hell.  Far too many Catholics reject these and other Truths of their Faith. Their eternal souls are in danger.

Years ago, the late Father Winfrid Herbst, S.D.S. clearly addressed the issue of sin and its eternal consequences when he reminded his readers, “After death comes the particular judgment; and with the judgment comes the sentence that can never be changed.  It will either be heaven or hell…There will be no appeal…”

When have you last heard any of these Truths preached in your parish? Today’s Gospel (Matthew 13:44-52) provided an ideal time to do so since verses 47 through 50 clearly speak to the eternal consequences of sin.  What a great opportunity to discuss these Truths and to encourage regular use of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Why then, I must ask, were parishes given the option of not reading those verses?

Were you blessed to hear these words of Scripture today? Did the homily address these Forgotten Truths?

Yes, Our God is a God of infinite Mercy. But He is also a God of Justice. Both of these Truths must be preached and understood.  When we speak of one, we should also discuss the other. "Now," St. Thomas Aquinas reminds us, "is the time of mercy; then, there will be only the time of justice. This is why we have to live in the present moment and transform it into the moment of God."

What happened at your parish today?

(To be continued..).

.

Pondering Tidbits of Truth - March 9, 2017

Pondering Tidbits of Truth is my simple and inadequate way of providing nuggets of spiritual wisdom for you to chew on from time to time.




Francis Joseph Sheed

"I cannot say how often I have been told that some old Irishman saying his rosary is holier than I am with all my study. I daresay he is. For his own sake, I hope he is. But if the only evidence is that he knows less theology than I, then it is evidence that would convince neither him nor me. It would not convince him, because all those rosary-loving, tabernacle-loving old Irishmen I have ever known (and my own ancestry is rich with them) were avid for more knowledge of the Faith. It does not convince me because while it is obvious that an ignorant man can be virtuous, it is equally obvious that ignorance is not a virtue; men have been martyred who could not have stated a doctrine of the Church correctly, and martyrdom is the supreme proof of love: yet with more knowledge of God they would have loved Him still more." 

(From Theology for Beginners)

Worth Revisiting - Above All - Do Not Close Our Church Doors

Thanks to the generosity and encouragement of Allison Gingras and Elizabeth Riordan, an ever-expanding group of Catholic bloggers take the time each week to re-post their favorite articles on “Worth Revisiting”. 

Do yourself a favor- go there now (and every Wednesday) and let these authors bless and challenge you in Faith journey.

During the rest of each week. visit Allison at  Reconciled To You and Elizabeth at Theology Is A Verb.  You will be pleased with what they share.

Here is what I am sharing this week:

Above All - Do Not Close Our Church Doors

(Originally posted October 23, 2014)

[One is left to ponder how different our Church would be today had we listened to the Holy Pontiff. It is not too late to open the doors and encourage us to visit He Who Is Love.]

(Image Source-Wikimedia Commons)

"Above all, do not allow - as some do, who are deceived under the pretext of restoring the liturgy or who idly claim that only liturgical rites are of any real value and dignity - that churches be closed during the hours not appointed for public functions, as has already happened in some places: where the adoration of the august Sacrament and visits to our Lord in the tabernacles are neglected; where confession of devotion is discouraged; and devotion to the Virgin Mother of God, a sign of 'predestination' according to the opinion of holy men, is so neglected, especially among the young, as to fade away and gradually vanish. Such conduct most harmful to Christian piety is like poisonous fruit, growing on the infected branches of a healthy tree, which must be cut off so that the life-giving sap of the tree may bring forth only the best fruit."

(Pope Pius XII - "Mediator Dei" 1947)

Pondering Tidbits of Truth-June 2, 2016

(Image source: Wikimedia Commons)

Pondering Tidbits of Truth is my simple and inadequate way of providing nuggets of spiritual wisdom for you to chew on from time to time.

Pope Pius XII

"God lets Himself be seen by those who are able to see Him because they have the eyes of their soul open. Everyone has eyes, but the eyes of some are blinded  as it were in darkness and they cannot see the light of the sun. But the light of the sun does not cease to shine simply because these sightless ones fail to see it; rather is this darkness due to their own inability to see."

(From Encyclical Humani generis, August 15, 1950)

Blessed Alvaro del Portillo

"It is only  in prayer, in the intimacy of a face-to-face and personal dialogue with God which opens up the mind and heart (cf Acts 16:14), that the man of faith can deepen his understanding of God's will with respect to his own life."

(From On Priesthood)

St. Theophilus of Antioch

"Man, influenced by prejudices or stirred up by his passions or bad will, is not only able to deny the evidence of external signs plain to be seen before his very eyes, but can also resist and reject the higher inspirations God infuses into his soul."

(From Book I, 2,7)

Eucharistic Reflection - Above All Do Not Close Our Church Doors

[One is left to ponder how different our Church would be today had we listened to the Holy Pontiff. It is not too late to open the doors and encourage us to visit He Who Is Love.]

(Image Source-Wikimedia Commons)

"Above all, do not allow - as some do, who are deceived under the pretext of restoring the liturgy or who idly claim that only liturgical rites are of any real value and dignity - that churches be closed during the hours not appointed for public functions, as has already happened in some places: where the adoration of the august Sacrament and visits to our Lord in the tabernacles are neglected; where confession of devotion is discouraged; and devotion to the Virgin Mother of God, a sign of 'predestination' according to the opinion of holy men, is so neglected, especially among the young, as to fade away and gradually vanish. Such conduct most harmful to Christian piety is like poisonous fruit, growing on the infected branches of a healthy tree, which must be cut off so that the life-giving sap of the tree may bring forth only the best fruit."

(Pope Pius XII - "Mediator Dei" 1947)

Revisiting Monday Musings - Cardinal Pacelli Was Worried. Why Wasn't The Rest of The Church?

Shortly after posting this on Monday Musings earlier this week, I visited Creative Minority Report (CMR) and discovered yet another prophet whose voice we ignored - Eugene Cardinal Pacelli (Pope Pius XII). 

I suspect that neither this blogger nor the Archbolds over at CMR will ever have much difficulty finding and sharing further examples of how often we, as individuals and Church, have neither heard nor heeded the clear and unambiguous warnings of our loving Lord and His Most Blessed Mother: