Showing posts with label The Day Is Now Far Spent. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Day Is Now Far Spent. Show all posts

Worth Revisiting - May We Open Our Eyes and Ears

Thank you 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.  
Here is my contribution:
May We Open Our Eyes and Ears
(Originally posted on January 13, 2020 

God always sends prophets and teachers to safeguard His people. Unfortunately, over the centuries, man has far too often turned a deaf ear to the wisdom God has placed in the mouth of those He selected as His messengers. Robert Cardinal Sarah is one of His contemporary servants. Please God that we may open our eyes and ears to your faithful and courageous Cardinal.

 

(Image Source: Wikimedia Commons)
"The sign of Satan is division. Today there are serious conflicts within the clergy. And the devil is partying. The devil loves to divide the Church. The prince of darkness wants first to sow opposition among us. He sets a terrible trap for us through the media amplification of the least important episcopal statements. Everyone is ordered to take sides, to choose his camp. But in the Church, there are no sides! There are no camps! Synods are not political assemblies. Is each Christian supposed to judge everything? Have an opinion about everything? This sometimes hysterical politicization of what ought to remain a calm debate among theologians who love the same God is the mark of the demon. He lures us into his own terrain. He leads us toward hatred, invective, manipulation and Machiavellian calculation. Must we give up denouncing error? Certainly not! But we must do so in a spirit that is Catholic, in other words, profoundly supernatural and benevolent...

He [Satan] loves to utilize confusion. Dominican Father Marie-Dominique Molinie declared: 'The devil's tactic is to propose to us what is 'reasonable'. Yes, he is the prince of lukewarmness, the king of compromise. His aim is to not make us fall into specific errors but, on the contrary, to leave us in vague uncertainty: because it is impossible to stake one's life on vague ideas and consequently, to become a saint in those circumstances'.


He [Satan] tries to make us believe that there is nothing serious about sin and that we can transgress God's law without worrying too much. Satan loves to muddle our correct perception of God in his relations with mankind. He deceives us and tranquilizers us so that the reign of sin can extend its night... 

The devil tries to tear the Church apart, first by attacking the priesthood. Satan intends to destroy priests and the teaching of doctrine.  He is horrified by the liturgy, the sacraments, and the apostolic succession. In trying to take out his hatred on consecrated persons he means to ridicule the Church. Priests frighten him because they are the ministers of mercy. He knows that he will be vanquished by mercy. He seeks to instill lukewarmness and doubt in priests. He seeks to win the hearts of some and to draw them to renounce chastity..."

Pondering Tidbits of Truth - January 30, 2020



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.






Archbishop Luis M. Martinez

"For worldly people, the will of God is often a tragic hardship; for imperfect souls, it is a motive for resignation; for saints, it is Heaven. Why so many diverse effects from one thing? Simply because each soul receives the will of God according to its relations with the Holy Spirit."

(From True Devotion to the Holy Spirit)


Robert Cardinal  Sarah

"It is time for the faith to become for Christians their most intimate, most precious treasure. Think of all the martyrs who died for the purity of their faith at the time of the Arian crisis: because they professed that the Son is not only similar to the Father but of one substance with him; how many bishops, priests, monks, and simple believers suffered torture and death! What is at stake is our relationship with God, not just some theological quarrels. You can gauge by our apathy regarding doctrinal deviations the lukewarmness that has set in among us. It is not uncommon to see serious errors being taught in the Catholic universities or in officially Christian publications. No one reacts! We bishops content ourselves with prudent, fearful clarifications. Beware, one day the faithful will demand an accounting of us. They will accuse us before God of having handed them over to the wolves, of having deserted our post as pastor defending the sheepfold. I am not calling here for a reinstatement of the Inquisition! My cry is a cry of love! Our faith affects our love for God. To defend the faith is to defend the weakest, the simplest, and to help them love God in truth.

Dear brother bishops, priests, and all you baptized persons: we must burn with love for our faith. We must not tarnish it or dilute it in worldly compromises. We must not falsify or corrupt it. It is a mater of the salvation of souls: ours and those of our brethren! 'The day when you no longer burn with love, others will die of cold,' Francois Mauriac wrote. The day when we no longer burn with love for our faith, the world would die of cold, deprived of the most precious good. It is up to us to defend and proclaim the faith!"

(From The Day Is Now Far Spent



Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI 
 
"God has done everything; He has done the impossible: He was made flesh. His all-powerful love has accomplished something which surpasses all human understanding: the Infinite has become a child, has entered the human family. And yet, this same God cannot enter my heart unless I open the door to Him." 

(From  Christmas Message 2012)

Monday Musings - May We Open Our Eyes And Ears

[God always sends prophets and teachers to safeguard His people. Unfortunately, over the centuries, man has far too often turned a deaf ear to the wisdom God has placed in the mouth of those He selected as His messengers. Robert Cardinal Sarah is one of His contemporary servants. Please God that we may open our eyes and ears to your faithful and courageous Cardinal.


(Image Source: Wikimedia Commons)
"The sign of Satan is division. Today there are serious conflicts within the clergy. And the devil is partying. The devil loves to divide the Church. The prince of darkness wants first to sow opposition among us. He sets a terrible trap for us through the media amplification of the least important episcopal statements. Everyone is ordered to take sides, to choose his camp. But in the Church, there are no sides! There are no camps! Synods are not political assemblies. Is each Christian supposed to judge everything? Have an opinion about everything? This sometimes hysterical politicization of what ought to remain a calm debate among theologians who love the same God is the mark of the demon. He lures us into his own terrain. He leads us toward hatred, invective, manipulation and Machiavellian calculation. Must we give up denouncing error? Certainly not! But we must do so in a spirit that is Catholic, in other words, profoundly supernatural and benevolent...

He [Satan] loves to utilize confusion. Dominican Father Marie-Dominique Molinie declared: 'The devil's tactic is to propose to us what is 'reasonable'. Yes, he is the prince of lukewarmness, the king of compromise. His aim is to not make us fall into specific errors but, on the contrary, to leave us in vague uncertainty: because it is impossible to stake one's life on vague ideas and consequently, to become a saint in those circumstances'.

He [Satan] tries to make us believe that there is nothing serious about sin and that we can transgress God's law without worrying too much. Satan loves to muddle our correct perception of God in his relations with mankind. He deceives us and tranquilizers us so that the reign of sin can extend its night... 

The devil tries to tear the Church apart, first by attacking the priesthood. Satan intends to destroy priests and the teaching of doctrine.  He is horrified by the liturgy, the sacraments, and the apostolic succession. In trying to take out his hatred on consecrated persons he means to ridicule the Church. Priests frighten him because they are the ministers of mercy. He knows that he will be vanquished by mercy. He seeks to instill lukewarmness and doubt in priests. He seeks to win the hearts of some and to draw them to renounce chastity...

Eucharistic Reflection - Would A Stranger Know?

  "The Eucharist is alive. If a stranger who knew nothing about the Eucharist were to watch the way we receive, would he know...