I, Father Joseph, received this email, February
23, 2015, from a neocatecumen in a community that I help out from
2005 to 2015.
Dear Father Joe,
Do you think to carry forth your pastoral mission
instead of continuing to spread these inaccuracies by way of Facebook
and by way of email, and to pass so much time in the digital world…..
you do not share our Way… you are free to do so … remember though
how you helped us for years and this instrument, in the hands of the
CHURCH, helped you for years … you are such an intelligent person
that you are not able to see the good that this Way produces in the
people and in the ordained persons and also in the church … I wish
you a good pilgrimage of life, hoping to see you again soon …
Peace, David
- - - - - - -
The reply of Father Joseph Dwight:
Dear David,
Thank you for your email. I thank you also for
your concern for me and for others.
But I am sorry that you do as so many others, to
not want to consider another point of view in a true dialogue, with
the true motive of seeking the truth together, with trust in our Holy
Mother Church. Every morning for the Office of Readings, we pray the
Invitatory Psalm which invites us to trust in God and it reminds us
of all the benefits of God and to “listen to his voice! Harden not
your hearts as at Meribah, as on that day at Massah in the desert…”!
How easy it is to do as the Israelites, with harden hearts!
A great number of people in ecclesial movements
are attached to feeling important or fulfilled or to be part of an
important movement in the Church, and do not want to consider any
other point of view or another explanation; they want to defend
at all costs their group and their movement and their experience.
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger said on May 27 1998: “…
THERE IS MANIFESTED MANY DANGERS, as well as the ways of overcoming,
in the (ecclesial) Movement. THERE IS THE THREAT OF UNILATERALITY
which leads to exaggerating the specific mandate which has its origin
in a given period or in strength of a particular charism … is a
fact THAT CAN LEAD TO ABSOLUTIZING ones own movement, which ends up
identifying itself with the Church herself, to understand itself as
the way for all while in fact this one way can be made known in
different ways.”
(http://www.rns-italia.it/vademecum/Vademecum.htm).
THERE IS A STRONG TENDENCY FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE
ECCLESIAL MOVEMENTS TO “ABSOLUTIZING ONES OWN MOVEMENT”
especially today when we find ourselves more than ever in a social,
cultural and spiritual crisis at all levels. But we priests must seek
that maturity to not run from this lack of maturity which suffocates
the life which is there, but to stand with Mary at the foot of the
cross, waiting with patience and with our example, their Christian
maturity. One makes a journey of faith and maturity together, each
respecting the role and vocation of the other. (see also:
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_jp-ii_exh_30121988_christifideles-laici_en.html).
(Visit also in Italian: “Il
Dio Infinito Fra Noi”;
http://cibo-spir.blogspot.it/2014/01/il-dio-infinito-fra-noi.html).
Do we want to help each other reciprocally to seek
what God wants in this situation, or do we only want to label
(“digital world”) each other in order not to listen to one
another so as not to consider what one says or writes, and to defend
our position at all costs?
God can reveal the truth in the dense fog
by way of people that God chooses, often with instruments who are
small and humble and with less intelligence. “For I tell you, God
is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham” (Mt
3:9).
Why did you not have the courage to enter into
what I had written, some phrase that I wrote, and to explain to
me that a phrase that I wrote was not in harmony with a document of
the Magisterium of the Church, instead of criticizing everything in a
general way? This would be a mature way, a true act of love for me
and for others! If one writes: “to pass so much time in the digital
world”, is this not a general judgment, diversion to lead us
further away from the fundamental discourse in order not to confront
that which we do not want to confront in a dialogue (also by email)
based on the documents of the Church? Or to write: “to carry forth
your pastoral mission instead of continuing to spread these
inaccuracies by way of Facebook and by way of email”. But do you
have the courage to explain “these inaccuracies” not according to
relativism of your head or of others around you, but according to the
documents of the Magisterium of the Church, and the writings of the
popes and of the saints? You were very concerned because I put my
article on Facebook, but for you is the Truth important for you? What
is more important, to defend the importance, the prestige of your
group, or to defend and to follow the Truth which is crucified on the
cross?
You, like so many others, do not want to consider
the possibility of the seriousness of the situation, today in the
Church and in the world, as well as the situation of the
Neocatecumenal Way. After having written quite a bit in my two
previous emails, I finished the second email with the phrase:
“I AM TRULY CONVINCED that if Kiko,
Carmen and Father Mario might have trusted in God, in the Magisterium
of the Church, instead of themselves, they would have helped many in
the Neocatecumenal Way to not gently slide into apostasy (2Thess
2:3-4) in this period of the “great tribulation” (Mt 24:21)!”
In an article, to which I made reference, one
finds the seriousness of the situation according to Pope Benedict:
“ROME, April 11, 2012 – With a letter written
personally to Cardinal William J. Levada, Benedict XVI has ordered
the congregation for the doctrine of the faith to examine whether the
Neocatechumenal Masses are or are not in keeping with the liturgical
teaching and practice of the Catholic Church.”
“A "PROBLEM," IN THE POPE'S
JUDGMENT, THAT IS "OF GREAT URGENCY" FOR THE WHOLE CHURCH.”
“Benedict XVI has been ALARMED for some
time about the particular ways in which the communities of the
Neocatechumenal Way celebrate their Masses, on Saturday evening, in
separate locations.”
“In reality, the danger feared by Benedict XVI
and by many bishops – as demonstrated by the many complaints that
have been made to the Vatican – is that the particular ways in
which the Neocatechumenal communities all over the world celebrate
their Masses may introduce into the Latin liturgy a new de facto
"rite" artificially composed by the founders of the Way,
foreign to the liturgical tradition, full of doctrinal ambiguities
and a source of division in the community of the faithful.”
As I had included in my last email:
Also Pope John Paul II gave the same recall to the
Neocatecumens:
“Celebrate the Eucharist and, above all, Easter,
with true piety, with great dignity, with love for the liturgical
rites of the Church, with exact observance of the established
norms by the competent authority, with the will of communion with
all the brothers…” (In Italian: Osservatore
Romano, 11 febbraio 1983;
http://www.geocities.ws/Athens/Delphi/6919/OR110283.htm).
According to you David, these two popes, John
Paul II and Benedict, they are not very enlightened or not guided
by the Holy Spirit or they have even made a mistake because they both
said to the neocatecumens to observe the established norms, the
liturgical books, with fidelity as is required of all the other
Catholics in the whole world?
How easy it is for us to put this “great
urgency”, this “alarm” of Pope Benedict into the category of an
exaggeration of Pope Benedict or of others like Father Joe. Are
we attached to something that we want and thus we are not willing to
consider another point of view, even from the Vicar of Christ! Do we
believe to be above the guidance of the Catholic Church? Do we use
all of our intelligence in order to justify our position without
taking the risk to have a true dialogue, seeking the truth without
personal attachments, putting on the table the documents of the
Magisterium of the Church, and the writings of the popes and of the
saints? When we are attached to something that we do not want to
loose, very often we ask questions not to learn something from
someone who is not in agreement with us, but rather to put in place
the other person according to our thought or idea, as did the
Pharisees with Jesus with the questions (the snares). This is how so
many lawyers do in order to defend their client at all costs, without
seeking the truth, without considering the possibility that the
client is not saying the truth. I met here in Italy one of the
lawyers of the famous trial case in California more than twenty years
ago, of O.J. Simpson. What a spectacle on American TV everyday for
several months; what a mockery of justice!
Reading your email, I do not believe you are
willing, like so many others, to consider the point of view of Pope
John Paul II and Pope Benedict to “follow faithfully the
liturgical books” for the whole Church, and even less, to obey
the Magisterium of the Church. If the founders of the movement do not
obey the Magisterium of the Church, the Neocatecumenal Way is not as
you wrote: “this instrument, in the hands of the CHURCH” if the
founders obey only that which they are in agreement with the
Magisterium of the Church! I have a very strong impression, after
having helped out the neocatechumens for ten years, that what Kiko
says is much more important than what the Magisterium of the Church
says for the great majority of the neocatecumens, just like their
leader, Kiko!
The great majority of Catholics today see
religion, the parish, the pastor, ecclesial movements, as something
that might be useful for themselves, rather than something that might
help them to discover the will of God and to help them to do the will
of God! Thus they are looking in the wrong direction, they are
not interested in a point of view that does not lead them to what
they want! Without a fundamental change in direction, without a
fundamental change in where they put their trust (in ourselves or in
God), all the books and documents of the Church will not help people
to realize that they are not living the “Our Father”: “Thy will
be done”, not mine!
God said to Moses: “Behold, I will rain bread
from heaven for you… that I may prove them, whether they will walk
in my law or not. … I have heard the murmurings of the people of
Israel…” (Ex 16:4,11). The people of Israel murmured even after
God gave them bread from heaven, as so many Catholics do not respect
the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ in the
Eucharist. After the resurrection of Jesus, God speaks by way of the
Magisterium of the Church. There has been more murmurings against the
Magisterium of the Church in the last 50 years (Humanae Vita,
Memoriale Domini!) than ever before in the history of the Church. It
is very interesting what Saint Francis of Assisi prophesied:
“2. The power of the demons will be greater than
usual, the immaculate purity of our religious community and of
others, will withered to the point that very few Christians will want
to obey the true Sovereign Pontiff and the Roman Church with a
sincere heart and perfect charity. At the decisive moment of this
crisis, a personage not canonically elected, raised to the
Pontificate, will endeavor to administer shrewdly to many the
mortal poison of his error.”
(http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2013/11/prophecy-st-francis.html).
I repeat the urgency, and the great danger:
“I AM TRULY CONVINCED that if Kiko,
Carmen and Father Mario might have trusted in God, in the Magisterium
of the Church, instead of themselves, they would have helped many in
the Neocatecumenal Way to not gently slide into apostasy (2Thess
2:3-4) in this period of the “great tribulation” (Mt 24:21)!”
“Cardinal Ivan Dias often
cited the phrase of Pope John Paul II: “We are standing before
today the greatest fight that humanity has ever seen. I do not
believe that the Christian community has totally understood this. We
are today before the FINAL CONFRONTATION
between the Church and the anti-Church, between the Gospel and the
anti-Gospel”
(http://www.lastampa.it/2007/12/13/blogs/san-pietro-e-dintorni/lotta-finale-all-anticristo-VjY7tBXJk6gNU3YmWcyOvN/pagina.html).
Strongly surrounded by the atmosphere
of relativism today, it is easy to let our hearts to become attached
to so many things, not only material, but also our importance before
other creatures, and thus we have learned many ways to put aside the
writings of the Magisterium of the Church and of the saints and of
the popes, in order to justify: “Ignorance is bliss”!
Our Lady at Akita, Japan, said
(October 13, 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
Church will be full of those who accept compromise
…” (http://www.miraclerosarymission.org/akita.htm).
I understand this “great urgency”, this
“alarm” of Pope Benedict! This is why I also put my article
on Facebook. With every member of the Neocatecumenal Way, going door
to door for two years in their formation, the Neocatecumenal Way has
grown quickly, precisely within the Church, but without obedience to
the Church, to the Magisterium of the Church. The way of celebrating
the Holy Mass is fundamental (“Lex orandi, lex credenda”!)! If
one obeys the liturgical books of the Church, one maintains and one
helps to grow the cult of God; if one does not obey the liturgical
books of the Church, one slowly goes, in an imperceptible way, toward
the cult of man, which is the fundamental strategy of the prince of
the world, Satan!
David, you wrote: “you are such an intelligent
person that you are not able to see the good that this Way produces
in the people and in the ordained persons and also in the church”.
And so according to you, Pope Benedict and Pope John Paul II are
at least a little crazy and not balanced, as you believe to be,
and do not see things in the right way? According to you, Satan is no
longer able to “disguise himself as an angel of light”, or
perhaps Satan converted?!? The masters of spirituality have always
explained to us that this “angel of light always offers us at least
90% of the truth to destroy us, like a drop of poison in a nice glass
of red wine; otherwise who would fall into his traps?!? Behold the
importance of obedience to the Magisterium of the Church!
According to you David, the truth is
established by the majority of the people in the group or by the
Catholics or by God? And if you respond by God, how can one discover
the truth? By the vote of the people, or by the polls, or …??? You
as a Catholic, why did Jesus found a Church? Of what use is the
Magisterium of the Church, according to you, or according to the
great majority of the Catholics today? “Who do men say…?”
“Now when Jesus came into the district of
Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do men say that
the Son of man is?" And they said, "Some say John the
Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the
prophets." He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"
Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the
living God." And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you,
Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but
my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, * and on
this rock * I will build my church, and the powers of death * shall
not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of
heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and
whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven”." (Mt
16:13-19).
The “men” had an opinion, but the first
pope, Peter, did not offer an opinion. Why David do you believe more
the opinions of the people in the community, or the other catechists,
or even the founders of the Neocatecumenal Way, more than the
Magisterium of the Church???
I come from the United States where there are more
than 30,000 independent protestant groups who believe in the same
Jesus Christ, the same God, but interpret the same Bible in
different ways, often in contradictory ways. Do you believe David
that Jesus did not know about this problem? Do you believe that Jesus
who said to us that the “Truth shall set you free”, who said that
“I am the Truth”, that Jesus did not offer the possibility for
those of good will to discover and to live the Truth who is Jesus
Christ? Behold the Magisterium of the Church!
David, after 15 years in the Way, you have heard
many catechesis, you gave many catechesis, but after everything, for
you, of what use is the Church, what is the Church? The
documents are only a collection of opinions??? The Catechism of the
Catholic Church for adults is only a summary of many opinions
gathered together in 2000 years?!?
If the authority of the Church, as God
intended, matters very little to you, that which I wrote matters
even less to you. I can make many references to the documents of the
Church, but we do not realize how far we have slid into the
atmosphere of relativism which totally surrounds us today. Relativism
is like acid rain, which destroys everything, and we do not realize
how far we have slid into relativism without a lot of sincere prayer,
in true humility, with the help of our Eucharistic Lord and Mary. You
have your opinion and I have mine, and the Church has her opinion,
and each pope has his opinion. We are all happy and full of
exuberance! But if all is relative, then
also relativism is relative, an inherent contradiction! There is
no longer the absolute Truth; how nice, what freedom; we are free
from the absolute Truth! And thus the documents are not important.
God must change according to what the world wants in each epoch.
Surrounded by this atmosphere of relativism, I understand why you
think something is missing in the brain of Father Joe, a little
stupid, or he has lost some balance in his closure in the “digital
world”, because Father Joe makes references to the documents of the
Church when the whole world today is totally into relativism and thus
everything changes as we wish. G.K. Chesterton wrote: “We do not
need a Church that is moved by the world, but a Church that moves the
world.”
On “The World Over April 9, 2010: George Weigel
& Frank Cottrell Boyce”
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NUgaRrHj8k),
George Weigel said: “Christianity, and specifically the Catholic
Church, is the last obstacle still standing on the chess board to
a sweep of the board by the forces of what Pope Benedict called the
dictatorship of relativism. The marriage question is engaged here,
life issues are engaged here. This is all of a
piece…”
If a person does not do as the huge herd
running in the world of relativism, toward the cult of man, then he
is labels outside of the world, “not politically correct”.
But God is outside of the world, and how can we discover the
mentality of God when our criteria is based on what the majority of
the people think, above all today in the most wicked generation in
the history of the world? According to you David, all of the hermits
are crazy because they detached themselves from the mentality of the
world? How many times in history the world drifted far from God but
some saint succeeded in escaping from the “wicked generation (Mt
17:17; Lk 9:41), precisely to save himself and that wicked
generation?!? GOD IS NEEDED! Saint Anthony, Abbot, went into
the desert; Saint Benedict went to Subiaco; Saint Francis went to
Laverna! According to the mentality of the world, they are all crazy
because they did not embrace the mentality of the world? After my
decision to no longer celebrate a Mass not approved by the
Magisterium of the Church, a few people telephoned me to ask me how I
was. When I responded well, they asked me if that is the truth, with
an attitude or even the hope that I was not doing ok, because how is
this possible since I am detached from their special group!?! They
must convince themselves that Father Joe is not well in order to
justify not listening to what I want to say and their way of doing
things. The cult of man! Is not my desert, my Subiaco, my
Laverna, my Mount Tabor, an hour everyday before the infinite God in
the Tabernacle, one hour beyond the time of the Holy Mass and of the
Liturgy of the Hours? The saints passed as much time as possible
before the infinite God in the Tabernacle! If God is not before the
neighbor, the love that we believe to have for the neighbor is
totally human love, nothing divine!
It seems to me that to have lived in two cultures,
with two languages, helps a lot to open ones mental horizons,
to be able to see the culture of origin from another point of view
and to be able to see another culture from the point of view of the
first culture. So many insecure people do not listen to another point
of view but rather criticize, and even condemn, those who do not
think like they do! When we have an experience of only one ecclesial
movement there is the great tendency and danger of “absolutizing
ones own moment” and to judge everything from one point of view!
Archbishop Fulton Sheen, commenting on the Magi and the pastors at
the birth of Our Lord, said that the Magi read many books and thus
understood that they did not know everything; the people who have
read only one book believe to know everything!
Are the saints who left the world all crazy and
full of pride according to you, David, because they did not follow
the mentality of the world, the herd that stampedes with the cult
of man, because they entered into another type of “digital
world”, and then they were criticized and condemned by the world?
My aunt, Mother Agnes of Divine Love, a cloistered nun, Carmelite,
was not prudent or wise according to the people of the world? The
world says that these nuns do not concretely contribute something to
the world, and thus they have wasted their lives, which are not worth
anything! But to the contrary, the Church says that the life of
prayer and penance and sacrifice, like the Carmelite nuns, is the
higher vocation! But all the saints had in common humility and
obedience to the Magisterium of the Church, not to themselves and
neither to a group that does not obey the Magisterium of the
Church!!!
Behold “What
the devil dislikes”:
F) “I am very vexed by those little
servants with the head covered who abandon all and everything in
order to close themselves within four walls, in order to sacrifice
all that is beautiful and good for that God that only I have
succeeded in defeating… Day and night they mortify themselves with
night prayers and reckless and insubstantial fasting, they do not
sleep sufficiently, they do not eat according to the needs of the
appetite and of the body which demands the necessary diet, they do
not speak freely anywhere and always… taciturn… sulky looking…
full of sadness, the most inhuman… they pray, they sing and all
this sacrifice they do for who? For what particular motive, for what
ends, for what results? Fortunately the vast majority are not very
intelligent… dull witted… lacking in willpower who let themselves
be dragged in by some dissatisfied priests… poor sissies who do not
know the true pleasure of sex with all of its relative pleasures…!
Poor little servants, who have never felt the sensations of the
flesh, by way of intercourse and by the kisses of my men…! And yet
how many of them I cause to fall, I reduce them to a wretched life,
sterile, deprived of all fervor, throwing them into the greatest
lukewarmness… Yes, I butcher them… because above all I fear
the cloistered ones… I fear greatly…! They are my most
terrible and well-trained enemies, they rip from my hands so many
souls of every sex, of every class and condition… What terrible
enemies… when they begin to pray for the conversion of a soul to
snatch from me, they no longer stop, no longer… no longer… they
are tenacious and obstinate! And then if it is not enough the long
and exhausting prayers to their false crucified God, who they
shamelessly call their SPOUSE, they then begin with the arduous
penances of every type… what enemies… what storm troopers! I have
tried many times to diminish the vocations to this stupid life… but
unfortunately I have not yet succeeded… there are still too many
stupid little and foolish women, even though many times they have
college degrees… What enemies…!” (“Likes
and Dislikes of the Devil”;
http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2014/01/likes-and-dislikes-of-devil.html).
I realize that my two previous emails that I
already sent are worth very little for the great majority of people
in the Catholic Church and in the Neocatecumenal Way, and among a
great number of priests and bishops today who no longer obey the
Magisterium of the Church. Because by now, totally surrounded by
the atmosphere of relativism, like the air we breath, the documents
of the Magisterium of the Church do not count for much at all!
What then is our criteria of discernment, if not the Magisterium of
the Church?!? If we put aside the law of God explained in its
fullness in the documents of the Church, who wins the argument or
establishes the law of the land? The strongest one!?! Behold the
“dictatorship of relativism”, as Pope Benedict told us!
The devil leads us to look at the exterior
things only, which become a distraction, a diversion, so as not
to look at the interior content, to not look at everything from the
point of view of the Creator of the universe. Thus one does not
consider what the person is trying to say, but one looks at how the
person is not like the others, he is not normal (like all the
prophets!), he must have a problem, he has made mistakes in the past,
so it is not taken into consideration what the person is trying to
say. But normally God chooses the most ill-fated to do His work for
two reasons: 1) only God could have done this with such a miserable
instrument, 2) God works only in the humble because the humble trust
in God, they make room inside of themselves for God instead of for
themselves, and thus they become instruments of God and not of
themselves!
“Cursed is the man who trusts in man… Blessed
is the man who trusts in the Lord” (Jer 17:5,7)!
The devil plays the same game of distractions,
of diversion regarding the Church, disseminating slander and
lies; he shows us only the sinners in the Church and in the history
of the Church – the scandals of some priests, the false
presentation of the crusades – so that the people do not arrive at
the content, that is, God has given us a guide, a Church made up of
sinners, not by perfect angels from heaven, as the critics believe to
be! One of the fundamental trials for each one of us is to seek out
and find the pearl of great price (Mt 13:46), the “hidden treasure”
(Mt 13:44) inside the Church, not withstanding all the filth around
that pearl, that treasure, that diamond inside the box often covered
with the excrements of the sinners and of the scandals! The
protestants and the sects believe to be better, more perfect, and
thus have refused the true Church and have lost the fullness of the
means of sanctification, the sacraments and especially the Eucharist,
and the fullness of the truth with the guidance of the Magisterium of
the Church (Lumen Gentium 8) made up of fragile and weak men. One of
the strongest proofs that the Catholic Church is the true Church is
precisely this, that notwithstanding all the negative things outside
and inside the Church, she is still here on the earth after 2000
years, with the Truth that does not change! How else could Jesus
assure us that “the Truth shall set you free” (Jn 8:32), or “I
am the Truth” (Jn 14:6)?!? It is very important to study the true
history! Only God could do this miracle. When Napoleon said to a
cardinal that he will destroy the Church, the cardinal responded: “If
we bishops have not succeeded in destroying the Church in 1900 years,
how do you think you can do it?” The Mass is valid even if the
priest is a great sinner and in the state of mortal sin. But the
people, again, look at the exterior, and many do not go to the Mass
of that priest, even though in that Mass the bread and wine become
the Body and the Blood of Jesus Christ, while the poor priest, not
repentant, commits a personal sacrilege! When Saint Francis met a
scandalous priest, he did not reprimand that priest as the people
expected, but he knelt down before that poor priest, kissed his
hands, and said to the people around him that from these hands I
receive my Lord in the Eucharist and the pardon of my sins”! After
this, that poor priest sent away the women in his house and converted
with much penance.
Seventy years ago, many Catholics trusted the
Church without explanation. Now we must, with great effort,
rediscover that God gave us only one Church to guide us in the “dour
combat” (CCC 409) of life, in this “valley of tears”, in this
“cold and dense fog” in the Catholic Church, provoked by the
father of lies (Jn 8:44) who sows many deceptions and lies
continuously, as an “angel of light” (2Cor 11:14). The Israelites
abandoned God many times, and every once in a while they surrendered
to the man of God that God had given them, that is, the judges and
the prophets. In the book of Judges alone, the Israelites went
through this cycle of abandoning and returning to God seven times!
Our Lady revealed to Father Stefano Gobbi
(02-09-1985): “Darkness, with A THICK, COLD FOG, has entered
the Church, obscuring it in the splendor of its truth. For this
reason, every day, my word is forming you to the spirit of wisdom,
that you may always see, in the light, the truth which my Son has
taught you and proclaim it with courage to all in its integrity.”
“From some crevice, the smoke of Satan has
entered the temple of God” (Pope Paul VI; June 29, 1972;
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/homilies/1972/documents/hf_p-vi_hom_19720629_it.html).
Certainly there are the sects. But according to
the world today, totally immersed into relativism, almost all of the
saints had the sectarian mentality, because their gaze was
totally and continuously turned to God. Look at how many saints left
the world to find God! How many people, according to their personal
vocation, do not have this courage because human respect is so
important to them. “If any one comes to me and does not hate his
own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters,
yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple” (Lk 14:26).
Jesus is very demanding, more than any other founder of a religion
because Jesus is God and can offer heaven! The world believes that
Jesus is truly crazy, a fundamentalist, according to the mentality
today.
In a certain sense it is a miracle to get to
paradise, because it is necessary to detach oneself from the
mentality of the world (Jn 17:6; Rm 12:2) which means to not go along
with the vast majority. There is always the temptation to judge
others who do not believe as we do. But
Jesus is radical! There is no doubt!
According to the world all of the true Christians are in a cult
because Jesus asks for everything, even to loose our friends and
relatives. And even to be despised as a egotist and crazy person by
the people who surround us. We are truly in the times when the true
followers of Christ will be killed in the name of God. “Indeed, the
hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering
service to God” (Jn 16:2; Mt 24:9)!
“6. Those who preserve their fervor and adhere
to virtue with love and ZEAL FOR THE TRUTH, will suffer
injuries and, persecutions as rebels and schismatics; for
their persecutors, urged on by the evil spirits, will say they are
rendering a great service to God by destroying such pestilent men
from the face of the earth. But the Lord will be the refuge of the
afflicted, and will save all who trust in Him. And in order to be
like their Head, [Christ] these, the elect, will act with confidence,
and by their death will purchase for themselves eternal life;
choosing to obey God rather than man, they will fear nothing, and
they will prefer to perish rather than consent to falsehood and
perfidy.” (“The “Prophecy” of Saint
Francis (Assisi)”;
http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2013/11/prophecy-st-francis.html).
And so, if it is difficult to
distinguish between people who are in the cults not of God and those
who truly follow Jesus totally even to the point of despising the
world and even their life, who can help
us to distinguish the difference, the right path? The
opinion of the majority of the people? If we throw out the guidance
of the Magisterium of the Church, what do you offer me David to help
me to discern, to distinguish between good and evil? Your
opinion? The descision of a founder of a movement? What does
2000 years of history tell us when there were moments and situations
similar to what we see today in the Church?
The devil has worked hard to undermine
authority, non only that of the Church but also of parents, so
that children follow the mentality of the world, not of the parents.
But who is the prince of the world (Jn 12:31; 14:30)? If the devil
has led us to not care about the documents of the Church nor the
Catechism of the Catholic Church for adults, we will be formed by
who, by which group? In the end there is only heaven or hell for all
eternity! In heaven there is the Truth (Jn 14:6); in hell there is
“the father of lies” (Jn 8:44)!
DAVID, HOW CAN WE DISCERN IN THIS SITUATION,
THE NEOCATECUMENAL MASS? Behold the fundamental question! What
are the fundamental guide posts? Have we slowly embraced the agenda
of Freemasonry to throw out the absolute Truth so that the
Freemasonry can form our brains, and to lead us where their head,
Satan, decides? If we do not have the anchor of the Church, the
guidance of the Church which explains to us the Truth of God which
does not change, then where are we going, how do we decide things,
how can we discern good or evil, for our true good, and for the good
of our children and of the society? Without this anchor in the great
storm on the sea of life, this “dour combat” (CCC 409), where is
our little boat of our life going, or the boat of our community, or
the boat of an ecclesial movement? Is there a better anchor than the
Magisterium of the Church, David? The Church is not the Author of
Truth but the handmaid of Truth!
David, are you trying to discover together what
Jesus wants, or what you want, and therefore you do not want to
have an open and sincere dialogue with the risk of discovering
something that you do not want? I am not saying that I have all the
answers in my pocket, and neither are you saying this. But I am
saying “dialogue” as Pope John Paul II encouraged us many times
to do. A sincere dialogue is to not ask questions to put in line the
other person according to our head and without reference to the
documents of the Magisterium of the Church, but rather to allow each
one to offer his thoughts based on documents and on reality, not
according to relativism, of which Pope Benedict said that it is "the
most profound difficulty of our time”.
In his homily at the Mass
preceding the conclave that quickly elected him Pope Benedict XVI,
then Cardinal Ratzinger said: “Today, having a clear faith based on
the Creed of the Church IS OFTEN LABELED
AS FUNDAMENTALISM. Whereas relativism,
that is, letting oneself be "tossed here and there, carried
about by every wind of doctrine", seems the only attitude that
can cope with modern times. We are
building a dictatorship of relativism
that does not recognize anything as definitive and whose ultimate
goal consists solely of one's own ego and desires.”
(http://www.vatican.va/gpII/documents/homily-pro-eligendo-pontifice_20050418_en.html;
http://www.ignatiusinsight.com/features2005/colson_relativism_may05.asp).
To some parishioners who
grumble because I do not preach or bless a Christianity without the
cross of which they are used to, I say: “If
I preach according to my head and not according to the Catechism of
the Catholic Church for adults, I, Father Joe, will go to hell, and I
will not go to hell for anyone!”
Today, more than ever, there are a great number of priests who do not
preach according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church for adults
and they risk going very deeply into hell, and they lead with them
many souls, all those who believed and lived their easier and more
comfortable lies. This is exactly what Our Lady had Saint Michael the
Archangel communicate at Garabandal, Spain, in 1965, precisely when
there was a great rebellion at all levels of the Church against
Humanae Vitae! The family is the fundamental cell of society and from
which every human person has his origins. Behold the fundamental
attack of our enemy, who wants to destroy us! If one parent
encourages the children to follow Christ’s commandments with the
cross, and the other parent says that this is not necessary because
God loves you, who will the children follow? The easier way! If one
priest in a zone of 10 priests preaches the whole Gospel, without
remaining silent about the more difficult parts of the Gospel
explained by the Magisterium of the Church, which priest will the
people follow, and which priest will the people criticize?
A great number of people are on broad road,
“covered with sand and flowers, full of joy, music and all sorts of
pleasures. People walked along it, dancing and enjoying
themselves. They reached the end without realizing it. And at the end
of the road there was a horrible precipice; that is, the abyss of
hell. The souls fell blindly into it; as they walked, so they fell.
And their number was so great that it was impossible to count them.
And I saw the other road, or rather, a path, for it was narrow and
strewn with thorns and rocks; and the people who walked along it had
tears in their eyes, and all kinds of suffering befell them. Some
fell down upon the rocks, but stood up immediately and went on. At
the end of the road there was a magnificent garden filled with all
sorts of happiness, and all these souls entered there. At the very
first instant they forgot all their sufferings” (Diary of Saint
Faustina, no. 153). “Today, I was led by an
Angel to the chasms of hell… But I noticed one thing: that most of
THE SOULS THERE ARE THOSE WHO DISBELIEVED THAT THERE IS A HELL”
(Diary, 741) (http://www.saint-faustina.com/Diary/DMIMS1.shtml).
“Ignorance is bliss”!
But if one does like this one does not unmask the “angel of light”
(2Cor 11:14), one does not go toward true liberty, because the
uncomfortable truth sets us free, not the truth according to our
heads of relativism, or according to the world, that is, according to
the prince of this world, Satan (Jn 12:31; 14:30)!
Take courage David,
seek the uncomfortable truth by way of dialogue even with those who
are not in agreement with you!
Do we want reality and the
truth as we want it, or do we confront
reality as the reality is, and as the truth is, as do mature
adults?!? Unfortunately, the devil has ferociously attacked, in a
very underhanded and sly way, the fathers of the families, the
priests and the bishops, to lead them to not live their vocation from
God, as men, to not be ready to offer the uncomfortable truth on the
cross, to not be ready to sacrifice themselves for their wives, for
their families, for their parishes, for their dioceses, for the
society and for the whole world. And thus many youth and adults today
did not have a father or a pastor as an evangelical model, like
Jesus, in order to assimilate and to imitate this male model of God
in the period of formation especially as a child up to 12 years of
age, when the child is fundamentally formed. The television today
presents males as misfits, wimps, and cowards, and it strongly pushes
us to be “politically correct”, but not correct according to
Divine Revelation, not according to a true man of God! Today there is
greatly lacking personal discipline to be able to seek and to do and
to proclaim the crucified Truth, and to be ready to remain alone on
the cross with Jesus abandoned, or at the foot of the cross with Mary
desolate, for the true good of others, for the redemption of the
world!
Dear David, for your own good I write these
things. How many children, today more than ever, did not have a
father who loved his children enough to discipline his children?
It was recounted on EWTN (TV) that a man in prison for more than 20
years said that his Dad did not love him because his Dad never gave
him discipline as a true father, who loves his children (Heb 12:6;
Prov 3:12). Children often rebel at discipline from Dad, but children
do not respect a Dad who does not discipline his children.
The Servant of God, Archbishop Fulton Sheen used
to say: “The truth is the truth even if no one believes it; error
is error even if everyone believes it”! The films 60 years ago
often gave us this evangelical model of a man, for example, the
sheriff in the film: “High Noon” (1952)! Many fake being true
males but only up to the point that they do not have to loose
something to which they have let their hearts become attached to,
especially, the glory before people, slowly sliding into
blindness with each compromise in order to defend these attachments.
The most true Man was totally humiliated on the cross 2000 years
ago; this is the model of the authentic man which today the
world, which surrounds us and influences us, does not at all
understand, as so many Catholics today! Also how many wives have not
put God, the Truth, before her husband or her mother or any other
person or thing (Mt 10:37; Lk 14:26)?
The reality today is so overwhelming that
without God it is impossible to confront the reality and the truth as
it is! Behold the fundamental necessity of humility before the
Eucharist with the help of Mary, because without humility, God does
not help us, He goes away from us! Jesus said to Saint Faustina: “The
greatest misery does not stop Me from uniting Myself to a soul, but
where there is pride, I am not there” (Diary, no. 1563). But with
God, all is possible (Mt 19:26), even to act as men of God, even if
we have not received this formation from our Dad as children.
Dear David, life is tough! It is tough for
everyone today because so many Catholics did not pray in the last
decades and we have arrived to this point, the period of the “great
tribulation” (Mt 24:21)!
But as other saints tell us for these our times,
Sister Lucy of Fatima said to Father Agostino Fuentes, the postulator
of the cause of beatification of Giacinta e Francesco (December 26,
1957): “Father, it is urgent that we realize this terrible reality.
We do not want to fill the souls with fear, but only it is urgent a
recall to reality. From when the Holy Virgin gave such a great
efficaciousness to the Rosary, there does not exist any material,
spiritual, national or international problem that cannot be resolved
with THE HOLY ROSARY AND WITH OUR SACRIFICES. To recite it with
devotion will be to consol Mary and to wipe away so many tears from
her Immaculate Heart. … Our Lady expressly said: “We are
approaching the end times”.”
SAINT PADRE PIO
said: "It would be easier for the world to survive without the
sun than to do so without the HOLY
MASS." This saint also said: “The
ROSARY is
the weapon for these times”!
Saint Louis de Montfort, in his book
“True Devotion to Mary” (no. 47), wrote:
“I said that this will happen especially towards
the end of the world, and indeed soon, because Almighty God and
his holy Mother are to raise up great saints who will surpass in
holiness most other saints as much as the cedars of Lebanon tower
above little shrubs. This has been revealed to a holy soul whose
life has been written by M. de Renty.”
So David, take courage. Spend as much time as
possible on your knees before the infinite God in the tabernacle with
the Rosary, and “there does not exist any material, spiritual,
national or international problem that cannot be resolved”!
Rest assured of my prayers and sacrifices for you.
Don Jo (Joseph) Dwight
- - - - - - -
An Experience of Life:
During my years of university I
committed some crimes. For this I was tried and convicted. Now I am
serving my sentence. A few Christians came to visit us in jail. I was
impressed by the way they talked about the Gospel . Above all they
stated that the Gospel can be " put into practice". They
used this expression. "Putting it into practice"? I never
thought that the Gospel could be even outside the churches. One of
them quoted a sentence: "Love your neighbor as yourself."
"Like myself," I repeated to myself almost like a mantra.
The thought hammered into me that I – really I - could begin to
love. To love? I do not know how to do that. I'm not used to showing
affection, not even to my parents, to my family, to my friends . And
then "who" to love?
I looked up, in front of me was my
cellmate. Shortly after arrived the meal. He was hungrier than me.
Had I been in his shoes, I would have liked to eat more. I shared
with him my ration. Then I realized: my stomach was more empty, but
my heart was much fuller than before! Perhaps this is what “to
love” means?
- - - - - - -
