‘A new commandment I
give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you,
that you also love one another’ (Jn 13:34).
THE WORDS “LOVE”
AND “MERCY” ARE USED BY THE CULTURE
OF LIFE AS WELL AS THE CULTURE OF DEATH. “Satan disguises
himself as an angel of light” (2Cor 11:14). We
as Catholics are very fortunate to have the guidance of the One True
Church that Jesus Christ founded, the Catholic Church, with “the
means of sanctification” in the Sacraments and the
fullness of the Truth from Divine Revelation through the
guidance of the magisterium of the Church (VCII: LG 8) by which the
faithful may be configured to Christ.
THOMAS AQUINAS TELLS US: “RARELY
AFFIRM, SELDOM DENY, ALWAYS DISTINGUISH.” Few Catholics today
distinguish the difference between changing Church discipline and
changing Church doctrines which come from God Who is the immutable
and absolute Truth, and thus can never be changed. And still more, a
great number of so-called Catholics today do not distinguish between
deepening and expressing better in human language the Absolute Truth
which cannot changed, with changing the Absolute Truth (Modernism,
etc.)! The Church is like the waiter but God is the Cook; the waiter
must not change the meal prepared by the divine Cook but must deliver
the Truth, as God has revealed it, to the clients, to the faithful.
WE ARE LIVING IN ONE OF THE MOST
CONFUSING TIMES IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD AND OF THE CHURCH; this
confusion has been well orchestrated by the puppets of the father of
lies (Jn 8:44) especially in recent times, due to the great lack of
prayer and almost total disregard for sin. But notwithstanding this
grave danger, very few Catholics even have a copy of the Catechism of
the Catholic Church in their homes; even worse is the fact that a
great number of catechists in the parishes do not have a copy of this
precious gift of our catechism first published in 1992. Do we believe
that God gave us the 10 Commandments and all of Divine Revelation
only to torture us or for our true good?!? Do we trust ourselves or
do we trust our Creator Who loves each of us immensely?!?
SOME OF THE
HOTTEST ISSUES BEING DISCUSSED TODAY
are about the sanctity of life as well as the pastoral care for
homosexuals and divorced and remarried Catholics. Contrast the
following quotes from Church documents with the confusion being
disseminated outside and inside the Catholic Church today (read these
documents in their entirety!):
“A
new cultural climate is developing and taking hold, which gives
crimes against life a new and-if possible-even more sinister
character, giving rise to further grave concern.” (No. 4). “There
is an even more profound aspect which needs to be emphasized: freedom
negates and destroys itself, and becomes a factor leading to the
destruction of others, when it no longer recognizes and respects its
ESSENTIAL LINK WITH THE TRUTH.
When freedom, out of a desire to emancipate itself from all forms of
tradition and authority, shuts out even the most obvious evidence of
an objective and universal truth, which is the foundation of personal
and social life, then the person ends up by no longer taking as the
sole and indisputable point of reference for his own choices the
truth about good and evil, but only his subjective and changeable
opinion or, indeed, his selfish interest and whims.” (No. 19;
EVANGELIUM VITAE; To
the Bishops, Priests and Deacons, Men and Women religious, lay
Faithful, and all People of Good Will, on the Value and Inviolability
of Human Life;
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_25031995_evangelium-vitae_en.html).
POPE
JOHN PAUL II (AMONG MANY OTHER OCCASIONS) SPOKE FIRMLY TO THE US
BISHOPS AGAINST THIS "PICK AND CHOOSE SMORGASBORD TYPE
CATHOLICISM" in LA in his September 1987 visit: "It is
sometimes reported that a large number of Catholics today do not
adhere to the teaching of the Church on a number of questions,
notably sexual and conjugal morality, divorce and remarriage. Some
are reported as not accepting the Church's clear position on
abortion. It has also been noted that there is a tendency on the
part of some Catholics to be selective in their adherence to the
Church's moral teachings. It is sometimes claimed that dissent from
the Magisterium is totally compatible with being a “good Catholic”
and poses no obstacle to the reception of the sacraments. THIS
IS A GRAVE ERROR that challenges the
teaching office of the bishops of the United States and elsewhere. I
wish to encourage you in the love of Christ to address this situation
courageously in your pastoral ministry, relying on the power of God's
truth to attract assent and on the grace of the Holy Spirit which is
given both to those who proclaim the message and to those to whom it
is addressed."
“The Church's
teaching on marriage and on the complementarity of the sexes
reiterates a truth that is evident to right reason and recognized as
such by all the major cultures of the world. Marriage is not just any
relationship between human beings. It was established by the Creator
with its own nature, essential properties and purpose. No ideology
can erase from the human spirit the certainty that marriage exists
solely between a man and a woman, who by mutual personal gift, proper
and exclusive to themselves, tend toward the communion of their
persons. In this way, they mutually perfect each other, in order to
cooperate with God in the procreation and upbringing of new human
lives.” (No. 2; Congregation For The Doctrine Of The Faith;
Considerations Regarding Proposals To Give
Legal Recognition To UNIONS BETWEEN
HOMOSEXUAL PERSONS; June 3, 2003;
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20030731_homosexual-unions_en.html).
Chastity and
homosexuality; CCC 2357-2359.
“But we wish to
make it clear that DEPARTURE FROM THE CHURCH'S TEACHING, OR SILENCE
ABOUT IT, in an effort to provide pastoral care is neither caring nor
pastoral. ONLY WHAT IS TRUE CAN
ULTIMATELY BE PASTORAL. The neglect of
the Church's position prevents homosexual men and women from
receiving the care they need and deserve.” (No. 15; Congregation
For The Doctrine Of The Faith; Letter To
the Bishops of the Catholic Church: On the Pastoral Care of
Homosexual Persons; 1 October 1986; Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger,
Prefect;
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19861001_homosexual-persons_en.html).
After a leading
German bishop questioned the Church’s teaching on DIVORCE
AND REMARRIAGE, the Vatican’s
newspaper today published AN ESSAY BY POPE BENEDICT XVI, then
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, that called the teaching compassionate and
pastoral because it is true to the teaching of Christ:
“Assuredly, the
word of truth can be painful and uncomfortable. But it is the way to
holiness, to peace, and to inner freedom,” said Pope Benedict in
1998. “A PASTORAL APPROACH WHICH TRULY
WANTS TO HELP THE PEOPLE CONCERNED MUST ALWAYS BE GROUNDED IN THE
TRUTH,” because “in the end, only the truth can be pastoral,”
he wrote, quoting the Gospel promise of Christ that “you will know
the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Throughout his 1998
work, Pope Benedict—who was Prefect of the Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith at the time—explained that the recent
documents of the Church on such matters “bring together the demands
of truth with those of love in a very balanced way.”
So while at times in the past “love shone forth too little in the
explanation of the truth,” so today, there is a great danger that
“in the name of love, truth is either to be silenced or
compromised.”
(http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/vatican-paper-refutes-critics-of-divorce-and-remarriage-teaching/).
This essay
by Pope Benedict XVI, then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, can be found in
Italian at the Web Site of the Osservatore Romano
(http://www.osservatoreromano.va/it/news/la-pastorale-del-matrimonio-deve-fondarsi-sulla-ve#.UzU6atfqUxA),
but when one clicks on the English version at this site, one receives
the following message: Error 404 - Page not
found.
“Regarding the
wild proposals
of Cardinal Kasper made
before the last Consistory of Cardinals regarding legitimizing by way
of Eucharistic communion the "remarriage" of divorced
couples (we could call the Kasper
Doctrine of "mariages
sauvages"), Cardinal Carlo
Caffarra, Archbishop of Bologna, had the firmest possible words in an
interview to Matteo Matzuzzi published this Saturday in Il
Foglio: …”
(http://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2014/03/cardinal-caffarra-firm-stance-on.html;
http://catholicism.org/cardinal-caffarra-gives-strong-warning-against-kaspers-rovings-on-divorcees-and-communion.html).
Our Lady of Akita,
Japan (1973): “The work of the devil will
infiltrate even the Church in such a way that one will see CARDINALS
OPPOSING CARDINALS, bishops against
other bishops. The priests who venerate Me will be scorned and
opposed by their conferees… churches and altars sacked, the Church
will be full of those who accept compromise …”
(http://www.miraclerosarymission.org/akita.htm).
Jesus told us: “What
therefore God has joined together, let not
man put asunder” (Mt 19:6)! These words of Christ are thoroughly
explained by the teachings of the Church (CCC 2331-2336).
More and more there
is a great rebellion against the Absolute Truth Who is Jesus Christ
(Jn 14:6)! The Truth (big “T”) here on earth, in this “dour
combat” (CCC 409) is always accompanied by the cross of Christ in
the present moment, but leads to true joy, peace and freedom. The
truth (small “t”) of relativism, rejects suffering in the present
moment, but leads to sorrow, unrest and slavery. “We do not
need a Church that is moved by the world, but a Church that moves the
world” – G.K. Chesterton. I do not think it was by chance that
when Pope John Paul II was asked toward the end of his life to offer
one verse from the entire Bible for the people of God, he responded
without hesitation: “THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE” (Jn
8:32; Jer 6:16)!
In order to arrive to heaven one must
seek the Truth outside of ones head and live the Truth with the help
of God by way of prayer and the Sacraments. The great majority of
people today do not even take the first step in seeking the
uncomfortable Truth, with effort and perseverance. How can one
pretend to pass eternity with the Truth, Who is Jesus Christ (Jn
14;6)?!?
My dear brothers and
sisters in Christ, dead bodies float downstream; TO
GET TO HEAVEN WE MUST SWIM UPSTREAM AGAINST A VERY STRONG SECULAR
CURRENT TODAY IN STRUGGLING IN THIS “DOUR COMBAT” (CCC 409) of
life! We must struggle to seek, find and live the Truth Who is Jesus
Christ, even if we must suffer and even die
as Jesus did for each of us. “THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE”
(Jn 8:32; Jer 6:16)!
“THE DREAM OF ST. JOHN BOSCO” of
the two pillars indicates to us the great importance of staying very
close to Jesus in the Eucharist (while it is still possible) with our
Rosary in hand.
- - -
To continue this
development of thought, go to the next “Spiritual Food”:
- - - - - - -
An Experience of Life:
At about
20 years of age, Luca Del Vecchio, now twenty-seven, a very bright
and communicative boy, in his environment was a "successful"
PR (Public Relations) at the discotheque, good looking, many girls
around, a wealthy family that never left him wanting in anything.
Luke, however, tells
how, the heart of his twenty years, was beset by a deep inner
restlessness. "One night, returning from yet another disco party
- he says - I found myself in bed in tears, I was aware of feeling
fundamentally alone and I was terrified by the loneliness."
For Luke, the first
escape route was drugs - ecstasy and cocaine
in particular - that "helped me to strengthen my mask, the image
of a person who is always cheerful and successful", which was a
palliative to the constant threat of loneliness.
It was precisely at
the moment of maximum contradiction and despair that Luke began to
change his attitude and clothing, taking on the image of "dark".
One day, an aunt,
having an intuition of the state of inner
prostration of Luke, invited her nephew to a prayer vigil and then a
pilgrimage to Medjugorje. "As I normally do, I took that
proposal as a challenge and I went, involving a large group of
friends," says the young man.
Once at
Medjugorje, Luke began to fast and asked God for a sign of His
presence which soon arrived: at the end of a long line for the
confession, he came to a young priest. It was Father David Banzato
who introduced him to New Horizons,
the movement founded by Chiara Amirante.
Thus began the summer
of 2007, the second life of Luke, now in charge of the New
Evangelization for New Horizons
in Lazio, Italy.
(from Zenit)
