St Gertrude, Virgin

         SAINT GERTRUDE, VIRGIN

The Liturgical Year – Ven. Dom Prosper Guéranger

The school which is founded upon the rule of the great Patriarch of the Monks of the West, began with St. Gregory the Great. Such was the independent action of the Holy Spirit who guided it, that in it women have prophesied as well as men. It is enough to mention St. Hildegarde and St. Gertrude, with whom we may fitly associate St. Mechtilde and St. Frances of Rome. Any one who has tried modern methods will find, on making acquaintance another atmosphere, and is urged onward by a gentle authority which is never felt, but which allows no rest. He will not find that subtlety, that keen and learned analysis, he has met with elsewhere, and which rather weary than aid the soul. The pious and learned Father Faber has brought out, with his characteristic sagacity, the advantages of that form of spirituality which gives the soul breadth and liberty, and so produces in many persons effects which some modern methods fail of producing No one, says he, can be at all acquainted with “the old-fashioned Benedictine school of spiritual writers, without perceiving and admiring the beautiful liberty of spirit which pervades and possesses their whole mind. It is just what we should expect from an order of such matured traditions. St. Gertrude is a fair specimen of them. She is thoroughly Benedictine A spirit of breadth, a spirit of liberty, that is the Catholic spirit; and it was eminently the badge of the old Benedictine ascetics. Modern writers for the most part have tightened things, and have lost by it instead of gaining. By frightening people, they have lessened devotion in extent; and by overstraining it, they have lowered it in degree.

In any case, there are many ways, and every way is good which brings men back to God by a thorough conversion of heart. But we are sure that those who may be led to commit themselves to the guidance of a saint of the old school will not lose their time; and that if they meet with less philosophy and less psychology on their way, they will be subdued by the simplicity and authority of her language, and be moved and melted as they contrast their own souls with that of their saintly guide. And this blessed revolution will take place in almost every, soul that follows St. Gertrude in the week of Exercises she proposes to them, if only they really desire to draw yet more closely the ties which unite them to God, if their intention be fixed aright, and their souls truly recollected in God. We may almost venture to assure such persons that they will come forth from these Exercises transformed in their whole being. They will return to them again and again with ever increasing pleasure; for they will have no discouraging memory of fatigue, nor of the slightest constraint laid upon their liberty of spirit. They will feel confounded, indeed, to be admitted so near the inmost heart of so great a saint; but they will also feel that they have been created for the same end as that saint, and that they must bestir themselves, and quit all easy, dangerous ways, which lead to perdition.

And if we be asked whence comes that wonderful influence which our Saint exercises over all who listen to her, our answer would be: from her surpassing holiness. She does not prove the possibility of spiritual movement and advance; she moves and advances. A blessed soul, sent down from heaven to dwell awhile with men, and speaking the language of the heavenly country in this land of exile, would doubtless, utterly transform those who heard its speech. Now St. Gertrude was admitted to such familiar converse with the Son of God, that her words have just the accent of such a soul; and this is why they have been and are like winged arrows, which pierce and wound all within their range. The understanding is enlarged and enlightened by her pure and elevated doctrine, and yet St. Gertrude never lectures or preaches ; the heart is touched and melted, and yet St. Gertrude speaks only to God ; the soul judges itself, condemns itself, renews itself by compunction, and yet St. Gertrude has made no effort to move or convict it.

And if we ask what is the source of the special blessing attached to the language of St. Gertrude, the answer is, that it blesses because it is so impregnated with the divine Word, not only with the revelations which St. Gertrude received from her heavenly Spouse, but with the sacred Scriptures and the liturgy of the Church. This holy daughter of the cloister drank in light and life day by day from the sources of all true contemplation, from the very fountain of living waters which gashes forth from the psalms and the inspired words of the divine Office. Her every sentence shows how exclusively her soul was nourished with this heavenly food. She so lived into the liturgy of the Church that we continually find in her revelations that the Saviour discloses to her the mysteries of heaven, and the Mother of God and the saints hold converse with her on some Antiphon, or Response, or Introit, which the Saint is singing with delight, and of which she is striving to feel all the force and the sweetness.

Hence that unceasing flow of unaffected poetry which seems to have become quite natural to her, and that hallowed enthusiasm which raises the literary beauty of her writings almost to the height of mystical inspiration. This child of the thirteenth century, buried in a monastery of Suabia, preceded Dante in the paths of spiritual poetry. Sometimes her soul breaks forth into tender and touching elegy; sometimes the fire which consumes her bursts forth in transports of fervour; sometimes her feelings clothe themselves quite instinctively in a dramatic form; sometimes she stops short in her sublimest flights, and she who almost rivals the seraphim, descends to earth, but only to prepare herself for a still higher flight. It is as though there had been an unending struggle between the humility which held her prostrate in the dust and the aspirations of her soul, panting after Jesus, who was drawing her, and who had lavished on her such exceeding love. In our opinion the writings of St. Gertrude lose nothing of their indescribable beauty, even when placed beside those of St. Teresa. Nay, we think that the saint of Germany is not unfrequently superior to her sister of Spain. The latter, full of impetuous ardour, has not, it is true, the tinge of pensive melancholy which colours the writings of the former; but St. Gertrude knew Latin so well, and was so profoundly versed in the letter and the spirit of the holy Scriptures, that we do not hesitate to pronounce her style superior in richness and in force to that of St. Teresa.

Still we pray the reader not to be frightened at the thought of being placed under the guidance of a seraph, when his conscience tells him that he has still so much to do in the purgative way, before he can venture to enter upon paths which may never open to him on earth. Let him simply listen to St. Gertrude, let him fix his eye upon her, and have faith in the end she proposes to him. When the holy Church puts in our mouths the language of the Psalms, she knows full well that that language is often far beyond the feelings of our soul; but if we wish to bring ourselves up to the level of these divine hymns, our best method is certainly to repeat them frequently in faith and humility, and await the transformation they will assuredly effect. St. Gertrude detaches us gently from ourselves, and brings us to Jesus by going before us herself, and by drawing us after her, though at a great distance. She goes straight to the heart of her divine Spouse, and she might well do so; but will it not be an inestimable blessing if she bring us to his feet like Magdalen, penitent and transformed by love?

Even when she writes for her sisters alone, let us not suppose that these exquisite pages are useless to those of us who are living in the midst of the world. The religious life, when expounded by such an interpreter, is a spectacle as instructive as it is striking. Need we say that the practice of the precepts of the Gospel becomes more easy to those who have well pondered and admired the practice of its counsels? What is the Imitation of Christ but a book written by a monk for the use of monks; and yet who is not familiar with its teaching? How many seculars delight in the writings of St. Teresa; and yet the holy Carmelitess makes the religious life the one theme of her teaching.

We will not now speak of her wonderful style of expression. We are so unused to the decided and elevated language of the ages of faith, that some readers, accustomed to modern books alone, may be startled, and even pained, by St. Gertrude. But what is the remedy for this inconvenience? If we have unlearned the language of that antique piety which fashioned saints, surely our best way is to learn it again as soon as we can; and St. Gertrude will give us wonderful help in doing so.

The list of the devoted admirers of her writings would be long and imposing. But there is an authority far higher still—that of the Church herself. That mother of the faithful, ever guided by the Holy Ghost, has in her holy liturgy set her seal upon St. Gertrude. The Saint herself, and the spirit which animated her, are there for ever recommended and glorified in the eyes of all Christians, in virtue of the solemn judgment contained in the Office of her festival.

The life of Gertrude the Great, as she has merited to be distinguished among the Saints of the same name, was humble and obscure. (1256—1302). At five years of age she entered the Abbey of Helfta near Eisleben, and there she remained hidden in the secret of God’s face. For several centuries, by an error which has also found its way into the Legend of the feast, she was confounded with the Abbess Gertrude of Hackeborn, who governed the monastery during our Saint’s life-time, and was herself favoured with divine gifts. It was not until Gertrude’s sublime Revelations, contained in the five books of the Legatus divinae pietatis, or Legate of divine love, had at length been published, that in 1677 her name was inscribed in the Roman Martyrology. In the following century (1738) Clement XII, ordered her feast to be celebrated, as a Double, by the whole Church. The West Indies chose her as patroness; and a town in New Mexico bears her name.

In order to furnish the faithful with an expression of their piety towards St. Gertrude, we offer them the following beautiful Hymn, Antiphon and Collect, taken from the Benedictine Breviary.

O, Gertrude, shrine of the Divinity, united to the Spouse of virgins; grant us to celebrate the chaste love of thy espousals. Scarcely hadst thou completed thy fourth year when thou wast espoused to Christ, and didst flee to the shelter of the cloister. Thou didst put from thee the breast of thy nurse, and seek the divine kiss of thy Spouse. Like a fair spotless lily thou dost give forth a perfume which gladdens heaven; and the splendour of thy virgin beauty draweth to thee the King of Saints. He who dwelleth in the bosom of the Father, surrounded with everlasting glory, deigns to take his repose in thy love. Thou woundest Jesus with love; and he woundeth thee in return, and deeply graveth on thy heart the marks of his sacred Passion. O peerless love, O wondrous interchange; he it is who breatheth in thy heart, and thy life hangeth on the breath of his mouth. Let the blessed choirs of virgins sing thy praise, O Jesus, Spouse of virgins; and equal glory be ascribed to Father and to Paraclete. Amen.

ANTIPHON

O most worthy spouse of Christ, on whom the prophetic light hath shone, whose heart an apostolic zeal inflamed, whose head the wreath of virgins hath crowned, whom the glowing fire of divine love consumed.

PRAYER

O God, who hast prepared for thyself a dwelling-place of delights in the most pure heart of the blessed virgin Gertrude ; deign, we beseech thee, through her merits and intercession, to wipe away all stains from our hearts, that they may become meet abodes of thy divine majesty. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

O revealer of the Sacred Heart, what better prayer could we offer in thine honour than to say with thee to the Son of the Blessed Virgin:

O thou my soul’s calm untroubled Light! 0 dawn of morning, soft-gleaming with thy beauteous light, become in me the perfect day. 0 my Love, who dost not only enlighten but deify, come unto me in all thy might; come and gently melt my whole being. May all that is of me be destroyed utterly; may I wholly pass into thee, so that I may no more find myself in time, but may be already and most intimately united to thee for all eternity. Thou hast first loved me; it is thou who hast chosen me, and not I who have first chosen thee. Thou art he who of his own accord runneth towards his thirsting creature; and on thy kingly brow gleams the fair splendour of the everlasting light, how me thy countenance, and let me gaze upon thy beauty. How mild and full of charms is that face, all radiant with the rosy light of the dawn of the divine Sun! How can the spark live and glow far from the fire that gave it being? Or how can the drop of water abide far from the spring from whence it was taken? 0 compassionate Love, why hast thou loved a creature so defiled and so covered with shame, but that thou hast willed to render it all fair in thee? O thou delicate flower of the Virgin Mary, thy goodness and thy tender mercy have won and ravished my heart. O Love, my glorious noontide, to take my rest in thee, gladly would I die a thousand deaths. O Charity, O Love, at the hour of my death thou wilt sustain me with thy words, more gladdening far than choicest wine. Thou wilt then be my way, my unobstructed way, that I may wander no more nor stray. Thou wilt aid me then, O love, thou queen of heaven; thou wilt clear my way before me to those fair and fertile pastures hidden in the divine wilderness, and my soul shall be inebriate with bliss; for there shall I see the face of the Lamb, my Spouse and my God. 0 Love, who art God, thou art my best beloved possession. Without thee neither earth nor heaven could excite in me one hope, nor draw forth one desire: vouchsafe to effect and perfect within me that union which thou thyself desirest: may it be the end, the crown, and consummation of my being. In the countenance of my God thy light beameth soft and fair as the evening star. O thou fair and solemn Evening, let me see thy ray when my eye shall close in death. O Love, thou much-loved Evening-tide, at that dread moment let the sacred flame, which burneth evermore in thy divine essence, consume all the stains of my mortal life. 0 thou my calm and peaceful Evening, when the evening-tide of my life shall come, give me to sleep in thee in tranquil sleep, and to taste that blissful rest which thou hast prepared in thyself for them that love thee. With thy serene, enchanting look vouchsafe to order all things and prepare all things for my everlasting espousal. O Love, be thou unto me an eventide so bright and calm, that my ravished soul may bid a loving farewell to its body, and return to God who gave it, and rest in peace beneath thy beloved shadow!

Eleison Comments – Issue CDXXXIV (434)

Vatican II Uprooted

A God diminished, emptied out, cut down, Will not appeal.

Christ must regain his crown.

I have just been re-reading Michael Davies’ Pope John’s Council, written in 1977 and hardly needing to be up-dated nearly 40 years later. If anything, Michael Davies was too kind to the Council, but there are many home truths in the book, so that it can be warmly recommended to anybody beginning to study the Council. Especially interesting is the Appendix VI consisting of a review by Professor Louis Salleron from 1936 of the French philosopher Jacques Maritain’s (1882–1973) then recently appeared book, Integral Humanism. This book so interested an Italian priest, Giovanni-Battista Montini, that he translated it into Italian. Later he became Pope Paul VI, the main architect of Vatican II. Thus Salleron uncovers the roots of the Council, 26 years before it began.

Integral Humanism presents Maritain’s vision of a new future for a remodeled Christendom. Bourgeois civilization is doomed, but instead of the Church continually condemning the man-centered humanism which gave rise to the French Revolution (1789) which gave rise to that bourgeoisie, the Revolution needs to be recognised as part of an on-going and inevitable historical process with which Christianity can and must come to terms. By this means, while the whole course of modern history cannot be stopped, nevertheless by Christ the humanism can be made truly, fully human, becoming “integral humanism.” Christianity thus rebuilt on modern foundations will bring Christ to modern man and modern man to Christ, the admirable intention of Maritain and Paul VI and Bishop Fellay.

But “the way to Hell is paved with good intentions,” says the wise old proverb. Salleron admires all kinds of things in the book of Maritain, who was a philosopher skilled in Thomism and knew well, says Salleron, how to present any idea in such a way as not to contradict Catholic doctrine. But Salleron objects strongly to Maritain’s reading of modern history and calls it “Marxist.” Karl Marx (1818–1883) also started out from the rot of bourgeois civilisation but concluded that it must be completely torn down by on-going Revolution to make way for the dream of the classless society, which worked out in reality as the nightmare of Communism. So Maritain rejected Marx’ conclusion but accepted his analysis of history, so as to fashion a new compromise Christianity that would work for modern man: neither modernity on modern foundations (Marx – and Wagner), nor Christ on Christ’s foundations (Pius X – see especially his Letter on the Sillon – and Archbishop Lefebvre), but Christ on modern foundations. The result is that Newchristianity which is to be found throughout the documents of Vatican II, namely Christ is the true fulfillment of man – not man is ordered to Christ and to God, but God and Christ are ordered to man.

Alas, compromise solutions do not work with Our Lord. He says, “Let your speech be yes, yes or no, no: and that which is over and above these, is of evil” (Mt. V, 37). And “He that is not with me, is against me” (Mt. XII, 30). A man-centred religion of the true God is a contradiction in terms. Salleron points out that there is nothing inevitable in the march of modern history such as Marx and Maritain imagined. If modern man is going to the Devil, it is by man’s own free choice. What liberals like Maritain and Paul VI and Bishop Fellay do not grasp is the reality of evil. They do not grasp that modern man simply does not want Christ, and God will not force man to do so. Liberals will diminish God so as to make him appealing to modern man, but most modern men will turn away, in indifference or disgust. Vatican II has been a colossal failure, and “integral humanism” has been just one more example of disintegrating humanism, because it is not centered on God.

Politics, economics, the banks, finance, the arts, medicine, law, agriculture, the whole of modern society must come back under the Social Kingship of Christ the King. That was Archbishop Lefebvre’s solution. It is the only solution.

Kyrie eleison.

French priest smashes statue of Jesus!

From the Great St. Alphonsus Liguori, on blasphemy

”Nothing,” says the holy doctor, “is more horrible than blasphemy; for every sin, compared with blasphemy, is small.” And here it is necessary to observe, that blasphemies against the saints, against holy things or holidays such as the sacraments, the Mass, Easter Sunday, Christmas Day, Holy Saturday are of the same species as blasphemies against God; for St. Thomas teaches, that, as the honour paid to the saints, to holy things, and holidays, is referred to God, so an insult offered to the saints is injurious to God, who is the foundation of sanctity.

Thus, from the works of St. Jerome we may infer, that blasphemy is more grievous than theft, than adultery, or murder. All other sins, says St. Bernardine proceeds from frailty or ignorance; but the sin of blasphemy proceeds from malice. For it proceeds from a bad will, and from a certain hatred conceived against God. To the malice of blasphemy is added the malice of scandal, which generally accompanies blasphemy; for this sin is ordinarily committed externally and in presence of others. Woe to blasphemers, eternal woe to them: for, according to Tobias, they shall be condemned. ”They shall be condemned that blaspheme thee.

‘Stressed’ French priest smashes statue of Jesus!!!

A French village priest who smashed a statue of Jesus in his church has blamed the stress and fatigue of his job for an act which shocked his congregation.

Jean-Jacques Le Roy, 55, a priest in Plestin-les-Greves in Brittany, shouted out “one less!” as he threw the statue to the ground last Thursday during a visit by a sacred art commission.

Vicar-general Gerard Nicole said Le Roy did not like the style of sculpture and local media said he had previously smashed a religious statue in front of a future married couple.

However Le Roy said his act was not deliberate but that he had pushed the statue too hard while checking if it was properly attached to a wall.

“In our ministry, we are called upon from all directions, there aren’t many priests, there is a certain fatigue, irritation, stress, it all came together at that moment,” he told AFP. (?!!)

He apologized to those present, but his congregation wrote a letter to the bishop to complain.

“We can understand that people are shocked,” said Nicole. “I don’t rule out a moment of difficulty, of distress.”

Nicole said that Le Roy had been summoned to explain himself to the local bishop.

Source

 

Two ‘moles’ arrested as fresh scandal hits Vatican!!

SACRILEGE: Consecrated hosts in a plastic cup or highball glass. Bishop Vallejo Balda, Francesca Chaouqui. and 150 VIP’s. Unsaints Cononization of John Paul II and Pope John XXIII.

Vatican City (AFP) – The Vatican has arrested a Spanish prelate and a social media expert for allegedly stealing and leaking classified documents in the second such scandal to hit the secretive institution in three years.

Monsignor Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda , 54, who served on a special commission set up by Pope Francis to advise him on economic reform within the Vatican, was arrested along with a second member of the commission, Francesca Chaouqui.

The arrests were part of a several months-long investigation into the “misappropriation and disclosure of classified documents and information”.

They followed Italian media reports at the weekend that Vatican police were investigating the attempted theft of a laptop belonging to Libero Milone, the head of the city state’s new finance office.

Both Vallejo Balda and social media expert Chaouqui, 33, were arrested but Chaouqui was released by Vatican prosecutor Roberto Zannotti on Monday because she agreed to collaborate with investigators and was not considered a flight risk.

Francesca Chaouqui hand-picked from Anti-pope Bergoglio

Chaouqui’s appointment to the economic commission, which was handpicked by the pope, caused no little embarrassment in 2013 when it emerged she had been highly critical of the Vatican on Twitter.

Vallejo Balda, who is currently languishing in a Vatican jail, belongs to a priestly society linked to conservative Catholic movement Opus Dei, which expressed “surprise and pain” at his arrest.

A furious Vatican also denounced the expected publication this week of two new books believed to be based on leaks from hackers releasing information regarding the famously murky world of its finances.

And it referred to the last time employees aired the centuries-old institution’s dirty laundry.

– ‘Defusing the bomb’ –

In 2012, Pope Benedict XVI’s butler engineered a series of leaks that revealed fierce infighting in the highest echelons of the Catholic Church and allegations of serious fraud in the running of the Vatican.

Butler Paolo Gabriele was sentenced to 18 months in prison for stealing secret papal memos but pardoned by Pope Benedict, who nonetheless banished his once loyal servant from the Vatican for good.

“As far as the books announced for the coming days go, it is clear that this time too, just as in the past, they are the fruit of a serious betrayal of the pope’s trust,” the Vatican statement said.

Italian journalist Emiliano Fittipaldi, who is releasing “Avarice: Documents Revealing Wealth, Scandals and Secrets of Francis’ Church”, writes for L’Espresso newsweekly, an avid publisher of leaks in recent years.

“Merchants in the Temple”, by Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi, follows his 2012 book which was based on information gathered from Benedict’s butler in a scandal some believe was the reason behind the pontiff’s historic resignation.

Nuzzi is reported to be friends with Chaouqui, who hit the headlines again in 2014 when she was suspected of having organised a lavish party for the rich and famous on a Vatican terrace at the Holy See’s expense — much to Francis’s fury.

The Vatican said it was considering taking legal action against the journalists.

Religious expert John Allen, writing for the Crux Now website, said that it was “a new proactive strategy for the Vatican”.

“Rather than waiting for the bomb to go off before trying to defuse it, this time the Vatican is trying to shift the conversation before the books even come out.

“How successful that strategy will be may depend on exactly what the books contain,” he said, adding that the Vatican had in any case “all but guaranteed these arrests will be a media sensation”.

Francis was tasked by his cardinal electors to stamp his authority on the bickering Curia, the Church’s governing body, and clean up the Vatican bank — but the fresh leaks looked set to fuel criticisms of his reform programme.

His drive for transparency at the bank, once renowned for shady dealings, has ruffled feathers and supporters say the pontiff has been targeted by revengeful mudslingers — including those behind a rumour last month, denied by the Vatican, that Francis has a benign brain tumour.

Source

RELATED:  Bishop Vallejo Balda, who brought to the roof of the 150 VIP’s the consecrated hosts in a plastic cup or highball glass. Monsignor Vallejo Balda is one of the handpicked stewards of Pope Francis. Chaouqui again made ​​by Vallejo Balda last summer career in the Vatican.

Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda

OFFICE OF THE DEAD – MATINS

       OFFICE OF THE DEAD

       MATINS OF THE DEAD

             Lessons 1 – 6

As early as the ninth century, Amalarius remarked the similarity between the dirge and the Office which commemorates the death of our Lord. There is the same lack of hymns, doxologies, absolutions, and blessings; the same suppression of the customary introduction Domine labia men aperies, Dens in adjutorium meum intende. There is this difference however: that the Office of Holy Week has no Invitatory; while that of the Dead has either always kept it, or long ago taken it up again. This Invitatory, like the first Psalm of Vespers, is a song of love and hope: Come, let us adore the King, to whom all things live. Beyond the tomb, as well as on this side of it, all men are living in the sight of him who is one day to raise them up again. In the language of the Church, the grave-yard is the cemetery, that is the dormitory where her children sleep; And they themselves are defuncti, labourers who have finished their task and are awaiting their recompense. Rome has been better inspired than some other churches, where the Antiphon chosen as refrain to the joyous Venite exmltemus was: Circumdederunt me gemitua mortis; dolores inferni circumdederunt me. Were we to make an historical study of the Office of the Dead, which however is beyond the limits of the present work, we should find innumerable instances of such variations, always to the advantage of the mother-church.

 Invitatory                       

Ant. Come, let us adore the King, to whom all things live.

Come let us rejoice in the Lord, let us make a joyful noise to God our Saviour: let us approach his presence in praise, and let us sing joyfully in psalms to him. Come, let us adore the King, to whom all things live. Because the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods: because the Lord repels not his people, for in his hands are all the bounds of the earth: and he beholds the heights of the mountains.

Ant. Come, let us adore.

Because the sea is his, and he made it, and his hands formed the dry land: come, let us adore, and fall down before God: let us lament before the Lord that made us: because he is the Lord our God: and we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Ant. Come let us adore the King, to whom all things live*

To-day, if you shall hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, according to the day of temptation in the wilderness: where your fathers tempted me, they proved, and saw my works.

Come, let us adore. Forty years was I nigh to this generation, and said, they always err in their hearts: and have not known my ways, to whom I swore in my wrath, that they should not enter into my rest.

Ant. Come, let us adore the King, to whom all things live.

Grant them eternal rest, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine on them.

Ant. Come, let us adore.

Ant. Come, let us adore the King, to whom all things live.

This opening of the Office shows us what prominence the Church gives to thanksgiving and praise in her prayers for the dead.

        FIRST NOCTURN

The first Psalm expresses the overflowing gratitude and praise of the soul escaped from the snares of sinners, at that first dawn of her eternally secured salvation, when she took her place among the holy ones in Purgatory. With what confidence she entrusts to our Lord the care of directing her along the painful and purifying way, which is to lead her to the very entrance of God’s house!

Ant. Direct, O Lord, my God, my way in thy sight.

    Psalm 5 – Verba mea

Give ear, O Lord, to my words: hearken to my cry. Attend to the voice of my prayer: my King and my God.

Because I will pray to thee: O Lord, in the morning thou wilt hear my voice. In the morning I will stand by thee and will see: for thou art not a God that wiliest iniquity. Neither shall the wicked dwell near thee: nor the unjust abide before thy eyes. Thou hatest all that work iniquity: thou wilt destroy all that speak lies.

The bloody and deceitful man the Lord will abhor: but I, in the multitude of thy mercies, Will enter into thy house:

I will adore at thy holy temple in thy fear. Conduct me, O Lord, in thy justice: because of my enemies, direct my way in thy sight. Because there is no truth in their mouth: their heart is vain. Their throat is a gaping sepulchre, they dealt deceitfully with their tongues: judge them, O God. Let them fail in their designs: according to the multitude of their impieties expel them, for they have provoked thee, O Lord. And let all be glad that hope in thee, they shall rejoice for ever: and thou wilt dwell in them. And all that love thy name shall glory in thee, because thou wilt bless the just.

Lord, as with a shield of thy good-will thou hast crowned us.

Grant them eternal rest, O Lord: And let perpetual light shine on them.

Ant. Direct, O Lord, my God, my way in thy sight.

The soul has been heard: the time of mercy being at an end, justice has laid hold of her. Under the terrible grasp of this her new guide, and placed in the irresistible light of God’s infinite purity, which lays open her most secret recesses, the flaws in her virtues and every remaining trace of ancient stains, the poor soul feels all her strength fail her. Trembling, she beseeches God not to confound her, in his wrath, with those cursed for ever, whose proximity increases her torment. But her supplication and her fear are still full of love: Lord, save me; for there is none in that death who will be mindful of praising thee.

This Psalm is the first of the seven Penitentials.

Ant. Turn, O Lord, and deliver my soul: for there is none in death who will be mindful of thee.

             Psalm 6

Lord, rebuke me not in thy fury, nor ohastise me in thy wrath. Have mercy on me, O Lord, because I am infirm: heal me, O Lord, because my bones are disordered. And my soul is very much troubled: but thou, 0 Lord, how long P Turn, O Lord, and deliver my soul: save me for thy mercy’s sake.

Because there is none in death that is mindful of thee, and in hell who will praise thee? I have laboured in my sighing, every night I will wash my bed: I will water my couch with my tears. My eye is troubled with fury; I am grown old among all my enemies. Depart from me, all ye that work iniquity: because the Lord has heard the voice of my weeping. The Lord has heard my petition: the Lord has received my prayer.

Let all my enemies blush, and be troubled exceedingly: let them be turned back and ashamed very speedily.

Grant them eternal rest, O Lord: And let perpetual light shine on them.

Ant. Turn, O Lord, and deliver my soul: for there is none in death who will be mindful of thee.

In the following Psalm, David accused by his enemies cries to the Lord against their calumnies. The fear, which causes the soul in Purgatory to prostrate with a holy trembling before God’s justice, has no more shaken her hope than her love; nay, she trusts to the very sentence of her Judge and to the help sought from him, that she may be able to cope with the infernal lion, who pursues her with his roaring in the midst of her poverty and desolation.

Ant. Lest at any time the enemy snatch my soul as a lion, whilst there is none to redeem, nor to save it.

              Psalm 7 – Domine, Deus meus.

O Lord my God, I have hoped in thee: save me from all that persecute me, and deliver me. Lest at any time he snatch away my soul as a lion: whilst there is none to redeem, nor to save it. O Lord my God, if I have done this: if there be iniquity in my hands: If I have repaid to them that returned me evils: let me deservedly fall empty before mine enemies. Let the enemy persecute my soul, and seize it, and tread down my life on the earth; and bring down my glory into dust. Arise, O Lord, in thy wrath; and be exalted in the borders of my enemies. A d arise, O Lord my God, in the precept which thou hast commanded: and an assembly of people shall encompass thee. And for this return on high: the Lord judges the people. Judge me, O Lord, according to my justice: and according to my innocence upon me. The wickedness of sinners shall be consumed, and thou wilt direct the just: who searohest the hearts and reins, O God. My just help is from the Lord: who saves the right of heart. God is a just judge, strong and patient: is he angry every day? Except ye be converted, he will shake his sword: he has bent his bow, and prepared It: And in it he has prepared weapons of death: he has made his arrows with fiery points. Behold he has bred injustice: he has conceived sorrow, and brought forth iniquity. He has opened a pit and digged it up: and he is fallen into the ditch which he made. His sorrow shall be turned upon his head: and his iniquity shall descend upon his crown. I will praise our Lord according to his justice: and will sing to the name of the most high Lord.

Grant them eternal rest, O Lord: And let perpetual light shine on them.

Ant. Lest at any time the enemy snatch my soul as a lion, whilst there is none to redeem, nor to save it.

From the gates of hell. Deliver their souls, O Lord.

After this cry has escaped from the maternal heart of the Church, the whole assembly prays in silence, offering to God the Lord’s Prayer for the departed, who are struggling with the powers of hell. And now, from the midst of this recollected silence rises the single voice of the lector. He receives no benediction, for he is speaking in the name of the holy souls, who have no longer the same right as we have to ask a blessing from the Church. He borrows the accents of the afflicted Job, in order to relate their overwhelming sufferings, their invincible faith, their sublime prayer.

As in the ancient tragedy, the choir intervenes after each Lesson with a Responsory, whose melody is marvellously in keeping with these echoes from beyond the tomb. At one time it is man taking up the words of the dead and making them for his own, or supporting their prayers with his own supplications; at another, terrified at God’s rigour towards souls that are so dear to him, and that are sure of loving him eternally, he trembles for himself a sinner, whose judgment is still uncertain. According to St. Antoninus and Demochares quoted by Gavanti, some of these admirable Responsories were composed by Maurice de Sully, the Bishop of Paris who began to build the Cathedral of Notre-Dame; the greater number, however, were already to be found in earlier Gregorian manuscripts. Other Books of Holy Scripture, besides that of Job, and also the works of St. Augustine, were long used in various places to furnish the Lessons of the Dirge; and it was customary in divers churches to conclude them with the formula: Beati mortui qui in Domino moriuntur. Blessed are the dead, who die in the Lord.

Lesson one – Job 7

Spare me, O Lord, for my days are nothing. What is man, that thou magnifiest him? or why settest thou thy heart towards him? Thou dost visit him early, and suddenly thou provest him: how long dost thou not spare me, nor suffer me to swallow my spittle? I have sinned: what shall I do to thee, O keeper of men? Why hast thou set me contrary to thee, and I am become burdensome to myself? Why dost thou not take away my sin, and why dost thou not take away my iniquity? Behold now I shall sleep in the dust, and if thou seek me in the morning, I shall not be. I believe my Redeemer liveth, and that in the last day I shall rise from the earth, and in my flesh I shall see my Saviour.

I believe my Redeemer liveth, and that in the last day I shall rise from the earth, and in my flesh I shall see my Saviour.

Whom I myself shall see, and not another, and my eyes shall behold. And in my flesh.

Lesson Two – Job 10

My soul is weary of life, I will let my speech loose against myself, I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. I will say to God, Condemn me not; show me why thou judgest me so. Does it seem good to thee, if thou calumniate me, and oppress me, the work of thy hands, and help the design of the impious? Hast thou eyes of flesh; or as a man sees, shalt thou also see? Are thy days as the days of man; and are thy years as the times of men, that thou shouldst seek my iniquity, and search my sin? And thou mayst know that I have done no impious thing; whereas there is no man that can escape out of thy hand.

Thou who didst raise Lazarus fetid from the grave. Thou, O Lord, give them rest, and a place of pardon.

Who art to come to judge the living and the dead, and the world by fire.  Thou, O Lord.

Lesson Three – Job 10

Thy hands have made me, and framed me, wholly round about; and dost thou thus suddenly cast me down headlong? Remember, I beseech thee, that as clay thou didst make me, and into dust thou wilt bring me again. Hast thou not milked me like milk, and curdled me like cheese? With skin and flesh hast thou clothed me: with bones and sinews hast thou bound me. Life and mercy thou hast given me, and thy visitation has kept my spirit.

O Lord, when thou shalt come to judge the earth, where shall I hide myself from the face of thy wrath? * For I have sinned exceedingly in my life.

I dread my misdeeds, and blush before thee: do not condemn me, when thou shalt come to judge. For I have sinned exceedingly in my life.

Grant them eternal rest, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine on them.

For I have sinned exceedingly in my life.

            SECOND NOCTURN

Our astonishment at finding the following Antiphon in the Office of the Dead might elicit from the dear souls the reply: “I have meat to eat which you know not.” And, being just and holy, they might add with our Lord: “My meat is to do the will of my Father.” Seen from such a height in the light of our Antiphon, what a place of pasture is Purgatory! O Lord, who guidest me, who by thy grace deignest to be with me in the midst of this shadow of death; thy rod, by striking me, comforts me; my resignation to thy justice is the oil which flows from my head, and, anointing all my members, strengthens them for battle; my heart, thirsting for submission, has found its inebriating cup. St. John Chrysostom informs us that in his time this Psalm was chanted at Christian funerals, together with the Dilexi our first Psalm of Vespers.

Ant. In a place of pasture, he has put me there.

Psalm 22 – Dominus regit me. 

The Lord rules me, and I shall want nothing: in a place of pasture, he has put me there. Near the refreshing waters, he has brought me up: and has converted my soul. He has conducted me in the paths of justice, for his name’s sake. For though I shall walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will not fear evils: because thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff: they have comforted me.

Thou hast prepared in my sight a table: against them that afflict me. Thou hast anointed my head with oil: and my inebriating cup, how excellent is it! And thy mercy shall follow me: all the days of my life.

And that I may dwell in the house of the Lord: for length of days.

Grant them eternal rest, 0 Lord: And let perpetual light shine on them.

Ant. In a place of pasture, he has put me there.

The sins of my youth and my ignorances remember not, O Lord. Would to God that we now examined our conscience as seriously as we shall be forced to do in the place of expiation, in order to repair our present negligence in that respect! Ignorance, which is now considered so excusable, will be a sad thing for those, whose neglect to seek instruction has darkened their faith, lulled their hope to sleep, cooled their love, and falsified on a thousand points their Christian life. Then too must be paid, to the last farthing, the debts of penance accumulated by so many sins, which have been forgiven, it is true, as to the guilt, perhaps long ago, and as long ago entirely forgotten. O God, see my humiliation and my labour!

Ant. The offenses of my youth, and my ignorances remember not, O Lord.

         Psalm 24 – Ad te, Domine.

To thee, 0 Lord, I have lifted up my soul: my God, in thee I put my trust, let me not be ashamed. Neither let my enemies insult over me: for all that hope in thee shall not be confounded. Let all be confounded: who vainly do unjust things. Show me thy ways, O Lord: and teach me thy paths.

Direct me in thy truth, and teach me: because thou art God my Saviour, and thee I have expected all the day. Remember thy compassions, O Lord: and thy mercies that are from the beginning of the world.

The sins of my youth: and my ignorances, remember not.

According to thy mercy do thou remember me: for thy goodness’ sake, 0 Lord.

The Lord is sweet and righteous: for this cause he will give a law to them that sin in the way. He will direct the mild in judgment: he will teach the meek his ways. All the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth: to them that seek his testament and his testimonies. For thy name, 0 Lord, thou wilt be propitious to my sin: for it is great. Who is the man that fears the Lord? He appoints him a law in the way he has chosen. His soul shall abide in good things: and his seed shall inherit the land. The Lord is a support to them that fear him: and that his testament may be manifested to them. My eyes are always towards the Lord: because he will deliver my feet out of the snare.

Look upon me: and have mercy on me: because I am alone and poor. The tribulations of my heart are multiplied: deliver me from my necessities. See my humiliation and my labour: and remit all my sins. Look upon my enemies, for they are multiplied: and with unjust hatred they hated me. Keep my soul, and deliver me: I shall not be ashamed, because I have hoped in thee, The innocent and righteous have adhered to me: because I have expected thee. Deliver Israel, O God, out of all his tribulations.

Grant them eternal rest, O Lord: And let perpetual light shine on them.

Ant. The offenses of my youth, and my ignorances, remember not, O Lord.

On Good Friday the 26th Psalm was sung, to express the unfailing confidence of the Messias throughout his Passion. It was repeated at the Matins of the morrow, to announce his approaching deliverance; and on this latter occasion it was accompanied by the very Antiphon we are now about to sing. As the dwellers in Limbo on the great Saturday when our Saviour was among them, so the souls in Purgatory unite themselves to their divine Head in his expectation of a return to light and life. Their prayer, which the Church also makes her own, is such as may well touch the Heart of our Lord.

Ant. I believe I shall see the good things of the Lord, in the land of the living.

Psalm 26 – Dominus illuminatio.

The Lord is my light and my salvation: whom shall I fear? The Lord is the protector of my life: who shall make me tremble? Whilst the wicked approach to me: to devour my flesh. My enemies that afflict me: themselves are weakened and are fallen. If camps stand against me: my heart shall not fear. If battle rise up against me: in this will I hope. One thing have I asked of the Lord, this will I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. That I may see the delight of the Lord: and visit his temple. Because he has hid me in his tabernacle: in the day of evils he has protected me in the secret of his tabernacle. On a rock he has exalted me: and now he hath exalted my head above my enemies. I have gone round, and have immolated in his tabernacle a host of loud acclamation: I will sing and say a psalm to the Lord. Hear my voice, O Lord, wherewith I have cried to thee: have mercy on me, and hear me. My heart has spoken to thee, my face has sought thee out: thy face, O Lord, I will seek. Hide not thy face from me: turn not away in wrath from thy servant.

Be thou my helper: forsake me not, nor despise me, O God my Saviour.

Because my father and my mother have forsaken me: but the Lord has received me. Set me a law, O Lord, in thy way; and direct me in the right paths, because of my enemies. Deliver me not to the will of them that afflict me; because unjust witnesses have risen up against me, and iniquity has lied to itself. I believe I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living. Expect the Lord, do manfully: and let thy heart take courage, and expect thou the Lord. Grant them eternal rest, O Lord: And let perpetual light shine on them.

Ant. I believe I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living.

May the Lord place them with the princes. With the princes of his people.

The Choir having echoed in the Versicle the desire of the holy souls, the Pater noster is once more recited in secret. It was at the commencement of the following Lesson, that took place the terrifying scene immortalized by the pencil of Le Sueur in his Life of St. Bruno. According to a tradition preserved in his Order, St. Bruno, while yet a secular, was assisting in Notre Dame at Paris at the funeral service of a renowned Doctor, Raymund Diocres; when at the words:

Responde mihi, quantas habeo iniquitates et peccata, the dead man raised himself upon the bier and uttered the words: “I am accused by the just judgment of “God. So great was the universal consternation, that the Office was deferred to the following day; when in answer to the same question, the dead man again sat up and said: “I am judged by the just judgment “of God.” The interrupted service was begun again on the third day; when at the same juncture, the voice of the unhappy man was heard once more, petrifying the assembly with terror by the awful words: “l am condemned by the just judgment of God.”

Lesson Four – Job 8

Answer me; how many iniquities and sins I have: my crimes and my offenses show me. Why dost thou hide thy face, and esteem me thy enemy? Against the leaf that is carried away with the wind, thou showest thy power, and pursuest a dry straw. For thou writest bitter things against me, and hast a mind to consume me for the sins of my youth. Thou hast put my feet in the stocks, and hast observed all my paths, and hast considered the steps of my feet. Who as rottenness am to be consumed, and as a garment that is eaten by the moth.

Remember me, O God, because my life is but wind: nor may the sight of man behold me.From the depths I have cried to thee, O Lord: Lord, hear my voice. Nor may the sight of man behold me.

Lesson Five – Job 14

Chapters 1-12

Man born of a woman, living a short time, is filled with many miseries. Who as a flower comes forth, and is destroyed, and flies away as a shadow, and never abides in the same state. And dost thou count it a worthy thing, to open thy eyes on such a one, and to bring him with thee into judgment? Who can make him clean that is conceived of unclean seed? Is it not thou who only art? The days of man are short, the number of his months is with thee; thou hast appointed his limits, which cannot be passed. Depart a little from him, that he may rest, till his wished-for day comes, even as that of the hired man.

Woe is me, O Lord, because I have sinned exceedingly in my life: O wretch, what shall I do, whither shall I fly but to thee, my God? Have mercy on me when thou comest at the latter day.

Lesson Six – Job 14

Chapters 13 – 16

My soul is greatly troubled; but thou, O Lord, succour it. Have mercy on me. Who will grant me this, that in hell thou protect me, and hide me till thy fury pass away, and appoint me a time wherein thou wilt remember me? Shall a man that is dead, thinkest thou, live again? All the days, in which I am now in warfare, I expect till my change comes. Thou shalt call me, and I shall answer thee: to the work of thy hands thou shalt stretch out thy right hand. Thou indeed hast numbered my steps, but spare my sins.

Remember not my sins, O Lord, when thou shalt come to judge the world by fire.

V. Direct, O Lord my God, my way in thy sight. When thou shalt come to judge the world by fire.

Grant them eternal rest, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine on them: When.

Here the Lands are recited, when the second Nocturn only is said.

The Liturgical Year – Very Ven. Dom Prosper Gueranger, O.S.B.

Eleison Comments by Mgr. Williamson – Number CDXXXIII (433)

Again, Culture

Catholics, be willing pagans to discuss –

Augustine said, “All truth belongs to us.”

A reader of the ‘Comments’ questions again the value of non-Catholic culture when she attacks them for praising Wagner (EC 9) and T.S. Eliot (EC 406, 411). For her, T.S. Eliot is to be dismissed as a Protestant, while Wagner is a Jacobin devil in love with Buddhism, whose music is loaded with gnostic impurity. Now both Eliot and Wagner have their faults, grave faults when measured against the fullness of Catholic truth, as the ‘Comments’ mentioned above pointed out. But in our sick age they have their utility, which can be summed up in a few words, attributed to St Augustine:

“All truth belongs to us Christians.”

Eliot and Wagner both belong to yesteryear’s “culture.” Culture we will define for our purposes here as the stories, music and pictures that men of all ages need, to nourish their minds and hearts. Thus defined, culture reflects and reveals, it teaches and molds. It reflects, because it is the product of some writer, musician or artist who had the talent to give expression to what was going on in the souls of his contemporaries. If it was popular in its time, it revealed part of what was going on in their souls, and if it has become a classic since, like Eliot and Wagner, that is because it reflects and reveals part of what goes on in the souls of men of all time. Thus Eliot from the very poverty of his Unitarian upbringing was enabled to draw his daunting portrait of modern man, while Wagner by a towering talent, aside from any buddhism or gnosticism, filled his operas with a wealth of true human psychology that thousands of commentators have not ceased to interpret since.

Culture also molds and teaches, because the writer or musician or artist gives expression and form to movements, until then formless, in the minds and hearts of his contemporaries. Shelley called poets “the unacknowledged legislators of the world.” Elvis Presley and the Beatles had a huge influence on modern youth, for generations to come. Picasso almost created modern art, and thereby fashioned to a large extent how modern people visualize the world around them. These modern examples of the huge influence of literature, music and the arts on human beings are hardly rejoicing because modern man is so godless, and there is in him so little of value to be reflected or expressed, but the huge influence cannot be denied.

In brief, culture is based in, and issues from, men’s souls. And the Catholic Church is in the business of saving men’s souls. So how could it neglect culture? Its own writers have directed men’s thoughts, and its artists and musicians have filled its churches with beauty to uplift men’s souls to God ever since the Church began. Of course that is true for Catholic culture, somebody might object, but neither Eliot nor Wagner were Catholics. Then of what use can they be to the Church?

In man there are three things: grace, sin and nature. As coming from God, our basic nature can only be good, but as flawed by original sin it is weak and inclines to evil. Nature is like the battlefield of the war to eternity between grace and sin for the possession of that nature. Grace lifts it up and heals that nature. Sin pulls it down. Hence the never-ending war. Now Eliot and Wagner may have been lacking in grace, but they were given by God to be masters of nature. The Church is commander-in-chief on the side of saving souls. How could it fail to study the battlefield, and to draw all possible profit from the masters of nature, to know the souls of the time and to teach them?

Kyrie eleison.

Eleison Comments – Number CDXXXII (432)

Bishops’ Synod

God’s Law belongs to God and not to man.

Man must, with Christ, obey as best he can.

When the three-week meeting of Catholic bishops from all over the world opened in Rome on October 4 to discuss questions on the family, many Catholics feared that it would undermine the Church’s unchangeable moral doctrine, especially since Pope Francis is so intent on reaching out to immoral modern man. However, traditionally minded Catholics have been encouraged by the emergence before and during the Synod of substantial resistance by many Newchurch prelates to any such undermining. Only tomorrow will the Synod’s results be known, but certain things are clear, whatever those results may be.

Firstly, let nobody say that there is nothing Catholic left in the mainstream Catholic Church. Conciliarism may well have infected the faith and morals of many, even most, of its prelates, but to claim that all of them are utterly corrupt is a gross injustice and over-simplification. Obviously a number of them are doing their best to uphold God’s moral law. 

Secondly, however, these (in this respect) good men are fighting from a weak position because dogma is the foundation of morals, and with Vatican II the Newchurch abandoned dogma. Dogma founds morals because, for instance, if God, Heaven and Hell (dogma) do not exist, then why should I obey the Ten Commandments (morals)? And Vatican II by its Declaration on Religious Liberty wrecked dogma because if, as it taught, a State must recognize the right of all its citizens to practice in public the religion of their choice, then Jesus Christ cannot be God, because if he is, then the State, coming from God just as much as all the men composing it come from God, can grant no such right to religions denying that he is God, and for it to grant such a right is implicitly to deny that Jesus is God. Thus 50 years before the Synod, Vatican II undermined in advance all subsequent defenders of Christian morals, however decent as men they may be, unless they repudiate Vatican II.

That is why, thirdly, as John Vennari argues (one need not agree with everything he says), the essential trick of those at the Synod seeking to change Catholic morals has been the “turn towards man” underlying all of Vatican II. Here is the trick: “God’s Church is for man. True, God cannot change, but his Law must fit man, and yesterday’s Law no longer fits today’s man. Therefore that Law must be adapted to modern times.” However the Catholic Church was purchased by the Blood of Christ not to pull God down to man, but to raise man up to God, and to provide him through Christ with the means of being thus raised.

And fourthly, as Michael Voris says (one need not agree with everything he says), the Synod has been full of “bishop babble.” This is because many Newbishops will never have been properly taught Catholic doctrine, in fact they may well have learned that there is no such thing as unchanging truth. Thanks to Vatican II their minds are ad rift among the morals and anti-morals of all the religions of the world. It can be no wonder then if they are hardly capable of thinking, and if they run loose at the mouth.

And fifthly, as an ‘honorable colleague from the Society of St Pius X’ says (he has been criticized before now in these “Comments”), even if the Synod were to close tomorrow with entirely Catholic conclusions, still God’s moral law will have been undermined by the mere fact of its having been questioned on major points for a length of time, officially and in public. Moreover this Synod seems sure to rest even true conclusions not on their objective truth, but on the bishops’ vote, so that the liberals can come back next year or the year after, for one vote after another, until they finally get what they want. Today the voting game belongs to them.

Kyrie eleison.

The Church is making life ‘hell’ for millions of gay Catholics even though the clergy is ‘full of homosexuals!’

The Church is making life ‘hell’ for millions of gay Catholics even though the clergy is ‘full of homosexuals’ says priest fired by the Vatican after coming out! 

• Father Krzystof Charamsa stripped of post on the day he said he was gay

• In furious letter to Pope Francis, he has accused the Vatican of hypocrisy

• Condemned Church for causing ‘immeasurable suffering’ to gay Catholics

• Called on ‘gay cardinals, bishops and priests’ to abandon ‘brutal’ Church

• Italian court annuls marriages of hundreds gay couples who wed abroad

A high-ranking Polish priest who was fired after coming out as gay has accused the Catholic Church of making life ‘hell’ for millions of homosexuals.

Father Krzystof Charamsa was stripped of his post earlier this month on the day he announced he was in a relationship with another man.

In a scathing letter to Pope Francis, he accused the Vatican of hypocrisy because he said the clergy was ‘full of homosexuals’.

He also condemned the Church for causing ‘immeasurable suffering’ to homosexual Catholics and their families.

Polish priest Krzystof Charamsa (left) has accused the Catholic Church of making life ‘hell’ for millions of homosexuals after he was fired on the day he announced he was in a relationship with another man

In the letter, released to the BBC, he said he had taken the decision to ‘publicly reject the violence of the Church towards homosexual, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual and intersexual people’.

He called on ‘all gay cardinals, gay bishops and gay priests to have the courage to abandon this insensitive, unfair and brutal Church.’

Pope Francis has not yet responded to the letter.

But the Vatican’s anger contrasted with the news of Francis’s still close relationship with an old Argentinian friend and his gay partner, who were hugged by the pontiff in the United States last month.

Father Charamsa has written a letter to Pope Francis, saying he had taken the decision to ‘publicly reject the violence of the Church towards homosexual, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual and intersexual people’

The Pontiff has also previously said that the Church must have ‘its doors open to welcome all those who knock’ and not ‘point the finger in judgement’ of others. 

Earlier this month, Father Charamsa rubbished claims that there was a ‘gay lobby’ trying to influence the church.

It came after the Pope made comments in the past that suggested there was a gay network in the Church.

In 2013 he famously said ‘Who am I to judge?’ when asked about homosexuals in the Church and the rumoured network of gay Vatican leaders.

But Father Charamsa denied the rumours.

‘I met homosexual priests, often isolated like me… but no gay lobby,’ he said, adding that he also met gay priests who were ‘homophobes’ and had ‘hatred for themselves and others’.

Charamsa said he wrote a letter to Pope Francis asking him to convey his spirit of openness to bishops at the synod, where Church leaders discussed marriage and family teachings.

Since 2005, the Church has forbidden the ordination of priests with homosexual tendencies.

But this rule is applied in different ways, with many bishops turning a blind eye as long as priests remain celibate.

Charamsa says he has stayed faithful to his vow of celibacy because he has ‘never touched a woman’.

Read more:

• Gay priest decries ‘inhuman’ treatment of homosexual Catholics – BBC News

Source

Pope Francis’s enemies inside the church leaked false story that he had a brain tumor!

The blame game… 

Most Vatican observers said they believed that if it really was engineered by insiders, it may have been the work of conservatives at the Synod!

Pope Francis’s enemies inside the church leaked false story that he had a brain tumor, enraged Vatican says!!

The Vatican alleged Thursday that Pope Francis was the victim of an internal conspiracy to undermine his authority after a false story was leaked claiming he had a brain tumor.

The front-page story was published by Quotidiano Nazionale, an Italian newspaper, on Wednesday, but indignantly denied by Vatican spokesmen.

Cardinals and others within the Catholic Church hierarchy suggested that the unfounded story was an attempt by “enemies” of the 78-year-old Pope to discredit him and to suggest his judgment was impaired.

They said the timing of the leak was deeply suspicious as it came just days before the conclusion of the Synod, a three-week meeting of 270 bishops and cardinals which has been discussing delicate issues such as divorce and the Church’s attitude to homosexuality.

L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, said: “The moment (that was) chosen reveals an attempt to raise a cloud of dust in order to manipulate.” Walter Kasper, a liberal cardinal closely in step with the Pope’s views, said: “Certain people, both inside and outside the Church, are nervous about the outcome of the Synod.” 

The tumor story was an attempt to “upset” the final days of deliberation at the gathering, the cardinal added.

Italian newspapers speculated about “the shadow of a plot”. “Who wants the Pope dead?” read the headline of Il Giornale, a conservative daily, which said the Church was “in chaos”.

Massimo Franco, a leading Vatican expert, said that whoever had leaked the tumor story was aiming to undermine the “legitimacy” of the Pope.

“This nasty story seems to have been concocted by the enemies of Jorge Mario Bergoglio to let him know that he is in their sights,” he wrote in Corriere della Sera.

The underlying aim may have been to cast doubt on the Pope’s mental acuity, insinuating that his actions and statements were a result of “his brain not functioning properly”, Mr Franco suggested. It remained unclear who exactly was behind the alleged plot. Most Vatican observers said they believed that if it really was engineered by insiders, it may have been the work of conservatives at the Synod!

In its story, Quotidiano Nazionale claimed that the Pope had been secretly visited at the Vatican by a Japanese surgeon who had found a benign, treatable, brain tumour.

The Holy See issued three increasingly exasperated denials of the story and the named brain cancer specialist, Dr Takanori Fukushima, released a statement saying that he had never medically examined the Pope.

The Rev Federico Lombardi, the chief Vatican spokesman, said: “As all can see, the Pope continues to exercise his intense activity without interruption and in an absolutely normal way.”

However, Quotidiano Nazionale stood by its story. Andrea Cangini, the editor, said his journalists had worked for months to double-check the information and make sure their sources were reliable.

Source

THE SACRILEGE OF JORGE BERGOGLIO, A.K.A. POPE FRANCIS KNOWS NO BOUNDS!!

Anti-Pope Bergoglio is our Chastisement!!

Bergoglio casually passing Holy Communion into a crowd?

I first saw the YouTube film from which these photographs are taken over a year ago. I’m surprised it hasn’t gained wider currency. It appears to show the future Pope Francis, then Cardinal Bergoglio, distributing Holy Communion to a crowd at a Mass at San Cayetano, Buenos Aires. On the film, he hands the hosts (i.e., the consecrated wafers that Catholics believe are the body of Christ) to people in the middle of the crowd who stick out their hands. He doesn’t check what happens to them; indeed, the hosts are apparently passing hand to hand.

For traditional Catholics, this is a shocking way of distributing communion that breaks every rule in the book. I suspectany English priest caught doing it would be hauled in front of his bishop. Think about it: the host could end up anywhere, unconsumed and desecrated. But the film – which must surely be genuine – may throw light on the Pope’s opinions on who is entitled to receive the sacrament. Anyone, judging by this.

 You can  see for yourselves if you fast-forward to eight minutes in.

Here’s my attempt to follow the progress of a particular communion wafer (marked in red).

What we don’t know, of course, is whether any of the communicants were divorced and remarried…

Source