Fr. Amorth Contra Wizards and Fortune-Tellers

One cannot speak of magic without speaking of wizards or sorcer­ers, those who are particularly adept at attracting and influencing the misfortunates who turn to them in a state of prostration over a personal matter or for the other superstitious attitudes already mentioned. They receive their clients in a study purposely decked out with small statues of our Lady, the saints, candles, incense, soft light, and everything that serves to create a magical, esoterical atmosphere, so useful in subjugating the naive adventurers.

No one doubts that there are many braggarts, false charismatics, and false wizards in circulation. They may even be the majority. They advertise on television, in magazines, and today, above all, on the Internet. They are swindlers who make money at the expense of the poor simpletons who entrust themselves to them to resolve their problems. The false wizards complete their rites without obtaining any evident result. For example, they give a charm or an amulet (at a high price obviously) in order to protect the client from something, or they hand him a sack filled with dirt taken from a cemetery and flavored with the bones of the dead and menstrual blood — and all without resolving anything. Above all, in order keep a hold on the client, they make him return each month to “recharge” and to pour out more change.

On the other hand, there are true wizards and witches who are often disguised as “seers” who practice occultism, spiritism, and Satanism as a true and proper profession. Perhaps they are a minority, but they are extremely effective. Through their ritu­als and the action of Satan, these people truly obtain what they seek — that is, the misery of their misfortunate victims through sickness, the loss of a job, the breakup of relationships or forced marriages or engagements, the collapse of business affairs, and physical and psychological illnesses. 

The history of cases is infi­nite. 

What is certain is that they turn to the occult forces, seek­ing their services. They are the idolaters and the worshippers of false gods who consistently try to gain some personal advantage. They are apostates because they favor the action of the devil, who, although he has already been defeated by the Resurrection of Christ and its effects in the Church, is still operative in the world, thanks also to their perfidy.

This article is from a chapter in An Exorcist Explains the Demonic. Click image for more information.

The dramatic increase in the number of possessed persons and spiritual disturbances makes me say that the malice and supersti­tion of those who resort to them — including those who, even as a joke, practice forms of occultism, such as séances — has grown in correspondence with the generalized decline of the Faith and the spreading of a culture favoring magic. 

Television series such as Witches and films such as Harry Potter are in my view a devas­tating means of sowing suspicion in the minds of young people (and the not so young) and of cultivating a magical mentality. What is a magical mentality, if not thinking that reality can be modified with the wave of a wand?

Also relevant to the topic is how one becomes a wizard. There is a type of bona fide initiation, along with courses that introduce a person to this “art.” One does not learn in the blink of an eye how to recite formulas, perform rituals, or use instruments of healing or prediction, such as pendulums, palm reading, divining, and fortune-telling cards. I believe that the paths of initiation are very diverse because they involve occult­ists, who do not wish to operate in the light of day. There is also the Book of Commands, a very ancient text of black magic that is accessible to those who are entrusted with the transmission of its very powerful formulas.

Wizards work mostly at night. After appeasing Satan with some “appropriate” rites of adoration, they act on photographs, puppets, or other objects belonging to the one who will be struck; then, through the intervention of the spirits the wizards invoke, the spiritually negative effects ritually propitiated on such ob­jects will be transferred to the person himself.

It is necessary to clarify that all the consequences of the oc­cult — possessions, obsessions, the evil eye, strange powers, and similar things — having been caused by the influence of Satan and activated by wizards, cannot, evidently, be reversed by them. On the contrary, their intervention would only worsen things. At times they boast of being exorcists, but what they claim as powers of liberation from evil spells are nothing but a product of Satan. In the end, one is always worse than before, and with the additional weight of a personal tie to a wizard. It is necessary to distrust a wizard who boasts of such powers. A demon is not chased away with a demon, only with prayer. In these cases it is necessary to resort to a priest, an exorcist, or the prayer groups of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal.

Finally, I am often asked if wizards can go back to the Faith. Wizards — like exorcists, even if obviously on the completely op­posite side — touch the invisible world with their hands. When a true wizard sells himself to Satan, his reasoning is no longer his own, and normally he does not have the strength to liberate himself. For this reason, I believe that it is difficult to convert back to God. God will seek to redeem him, even to the end, as He does with all His children. 

An exorcist related to me the case of a witch who remained in agony on her deathbed for many hours and who, amid great pains and sufferings, was unable to die. By chance, the exorcist had found himself at the hospital where the witch was languishing and did an exorcism on her, and after a while she expired — reconciled with God, we hope.

https://catholicexchange.com/fr-amorth-contra-wizards-fortune-tellers-and-witchcraft

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This article is from a chapter in Fr. Amorth’s An Exorcist Explains the Demonic: The Antics of Satan and His Army of Fallen Angels. It is available through Sophia Institute Press.

By Fr. Gabriele Amorth

A priest of the Congregation of San Paolo, Fr. Gabriele Amorth (1925-2016) was internationally recognized as the world’s greatest exorcist. His mission of expelling the devil through incessant dedication has earned the gratitude of thousands of believers and the esteem of the most important authorities of the Catholic Church. He has written various successful works and has a very popular radio program on Radio Maria in Rome.

Make the Church Mystical Again

People are typically afraid of things they do not fully comprehend. Growing up I remember watching the television show Unsolved Mysteries. The demeanor of the host, combined with the eeriness of the music and stories, make it an intriguing, yet creepy show. 

In my college years and mid-twenties, I became obsessed with watching the X-Files. The incompleteness of the stories and the shadowy involvement of the government covering up the existence, or non-existence, of aliens captured my attention from episode to episode, season to season.

Mystery is Amazing and Frightening

Discussion of the mysteries of the world (and world to come) always provoke a sense of wonder, astonishment, amazement, and yes, in many cases, fear. Recently, I taught a lesson on the Holy Trinity for my 3^rd and 4^th grader religious education students. I asked them, “When I say the word mystery what do you think of?” Answers included: “something we cannot understand fully” and “relating to the mysteries of faith”. I had one student tell me that she thinks that “mysteries are creepy”. Her response took me off guard for a bit and it has stuck with me since.

Today is the feast day of St. Teresa of Avila, a Spanish mystic saint and Doctor of the Church. Battling illnesses and loss of family a large portion of her life, Teresa’s sufferings formed the basis of her spirituality. Her most famous work Interior Castle speaks of how prayer is like entering a castle with many, many rooms. The closer the soul goes toward the center of the castle the closer it gets to be in union with God. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI describes this great spirit in this way in his February 2^nd, 2011 General Audience,

It is a reinterpretation of her own spiritual journey and, at the same time, a codification of the possible development of Christian life towards its fullness, holiness, under the action of the Holy Spirit.

Teresa refers to the structure of a castle with seven rooms as an image of human interiority. She simultaneously introduces the symbol of the silk worm reborn as a butterfly, in order to express the passage from the natural to the supernatural.

Do you need a spiritual cleaning?

I first truly encountered the applicable reality of St. Teresa’s imagery of the spiritual life as entering a house (castle or mansion) a few years ago when I was doing some fall cleaning. A “neat freak” would not be the most accurate description of my desire to maintain order. Cleaning ninja would be a more apt to describe me. I am passionate about decluttering, sorting, and cleaning dusty crevices in my house. Yet, when it comes to the spiritual life, why do I occasionally lack the same fervor that I have cleaning my physical house?

The Catholic Church across the world needs a massive cleaning, reform, and return to mysticism. Vatican II’s reform opened the fortress Church to invite the world in. Unfortunately, I think that pendulum-swing toward being inviting to the world caused the Church to turn Her backs away from some of the mysterious elements of our faith. Don’t get me wrong, there were some much needed reforms, but the implementation and communication of the material in the conciliar documents could have been done in a more balanced approach.

Holiness begins at home. The family unit is the domestic church. Scandals rocked the Church over the course of the centuries, but the Holy Spirit has raised up reformers like St. Teresa to remind the Body of Christ to unite again with Christ the Head.

Does the current state of affairs in the Church seem hopeless? Is the faith life in your domestic in need of a much-needed cleaning? Do you need to turn away from the familiarity of the world or sin?

Patience in All Things

Reform takes time. Going through the recesses of your interior life to de-clutter the sinful habits you collected over the days, months, or years, will take time. The first step is to start. Ask the Holy Spirit for the gifts of patience and strength.

 St. Teresa’s assertion that “patience obtains all things” prompts me to pause. Patience is a virtue that seems undervalued compared to courage, justice, and faith. However, all problems in my life could either resolve themselves or lessen greatly if exercised patience more. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church paragraph 736, “By this power of the Spirit, God’s children can bear much fruit. He who has grafted us onto the true vine will make us bear “the fruit of the Spirit:. . . love, joy, peace, patience, By this power of the Spirit, God’s children can bear much fruit.”

Make the Church mystical again. A great motto to say. It is ultimately fruitless unless we cooperate with God. Ponder the Mystery of the Holy Trinity and the Incarnation daily. Go to confession to confess your sins. Receive the Body and Blood of Christ to provide nourishment for your soul in this time of interior reform. Read the mystical works of St. Teresa of Avila to help draw you further into the communion with God.

Without a thorough examination of oneself and spiritual guidance we are not able to recognize the graces God grants us daily and gives ways for us to clear out the “dustiness” of our soul. Just like how my home needs frequent seasonal cleanings, the Church in Her wisdom has seasonal cleanings as well for us to grow in holiness.

https://catholicexchange.com

By Matthew Chicoine

Matthew Chicoine is a free-lance writer, a faithful Catholic, and an avid truth seeker. Matthew has written book reviews for Homiletic and Pastoral Review and published works for Catholic Insight Magazine as well. He earned an M.A. in theology from the Franciscan University of Steubenville in 2014. Please feel free to visit his blog at https://thesimplecatholic.blog/ to learn more about his pilgrim pursuit of a joyous life following the truth of the Gospel.

Europe’s Great Defender: Viktor Orbán and Christian Democracy

Joseph Pearce

The rise of populist movements across Europe is seen most potently in the success of the Hungarian Civic Alliance, which, under the tenacious leadership of Viktor Orbán, has been the ruling party in Hungary since 2010. A recent speech by Mr. Orbán, given on September 21 in Rome, will be music to the ears of those hoping for the resurrection of Christian Europe.

One of the first things that one notes about Mr. Orbán is the absence of any arrogance or bombast, or any of the chauvinism that is all too common in the rhetoric of the proponents of a certain kind of nationalism. Take, for instance, the humble and self-deprecating way in which he, the Prime Minister of Hungary, began his speech, thanking his Italian hosts:

The interest you show is both flattering and touching. You are Italians and I am Hungarian. The population of Italy is six times that of Hungary, and its area is three and a half times that of our country. The size of your GDP belongs in another category. You have a huge army, and Hungary’s can’t be mentioned in the same breath as it. Italian is spoken around the world, while Hungarian is spoken only by us. In such circumstances your interest is truly an honour.

Mr. Orbán then explained that Hungary’s refusal to bow before its European masters, defending its national sovereignty, had raised the ire of powerful forces on both sides of the Atlantic. Hungary, he said, “was immediately attacked in Brussels, by the European Left, and also by the American Left through networks allied to George Soros.” This had made Hungary “a black sheep” but it had also made it an inspiration to many people around the world. To put Mr. Orbán’s words in the proverbial nutshell, Hungary has taken centre stage, in spite of its smallness, because of its heroic resistance to the European Union’s efforts to erode its national freedom.

Mr. Orbán then reminded his audience of his political track record as a champion of democracy in the face of communist tyranny. Between 1984 and 1990 he had organised anti-communist student resistant movements. Having given his credentials, he highlighted the hypocrisy of those who condemn him for being a tyrant: “Of course the fact that we took part in the anti-communist resistance and fought for democracy is disregarded by many people in Brussels when they try to lecture us on democracy: something which they received as a gift, but which we had to work hard for.”

Mr. Orbán has been a Member of Parliament in Hungary since the fall of communism and the first free election in 1990. Since then he has formed a government on four different occasions, the first of which was when he was only 35 years old. Since 2010, he and his party have won three consecutive elections, each with a two-thirds majority.

As always, Mr. Orbán was forthright in his opposition to the rising tide of Islamic immigration:

So the first issue which arouses interest is migration. As I see it, in 2015 an invasion set out for Europe. From the very beginning one could see that nine out of ten migrants were not refugees, but economic migrants. Whoever claims that this couldn’t be known is not telling the truth: it was possible to see this clearly, and every European leader knew it. In 2015 I saw that there were leaders in Europe who were going to ruin the European way of life, European culture, and through this the European economy. I always knew that the Left has an intellectual conception which uses migration in its service and in its interest. The Left’s intellectual conception is that Europe should move beyond the age of nations and Christianity, and that the continent should step into a post-national, post-Christian age. And in the conception of the Left, the mission of Brussels and the European Union is to assist this transition. In opposition to this, and confronting this conception, the Right speaks about an alliance of nations.

Mr. Orbán insisted that immigration was supported by the Left because “it serves its ideological goals.” Furthermore, the fact that the immigrants are Muslims means that they will “never support policies which are based on Christian foundations.”

In spite of these justifiable fears, the Hungarian Prime Minister does not advocate a policy of indifference to those who are struggling and suffering in what he calls “crisis regions in the world,” insisting that “the right approach is for us to take help over there, and not bring the problems here.” Practising what he preaches, he has helped forge a loose alliance of nations and regions seeking to offer aid to those in the “crisis regions.”

One of the most exciting aspects of Mr. Orbán’s political philosophy is his unabashed reference to its Christianity. Furthermore, what he calls Hungary’s “Christian democratic economic model” is proving very successful. In 2010 unemployment in Hungary stood at 12 per cent; in 2019 it’s only 3.5 per cent. State debt was 85 per cent of GDP in 2010; now it’s under 70 per cent and falling. The budget deficit was always above 3 per cent but now it’s between 1 and 2 per cent. Economic growth in Hungary is between 4 and 5 per cent, and wages are rising at a rate of 8 to 10 per cent. “Poverty is falling dramatically,” Mr. Orbán stated, “and the middle class is continuously expanding.” With this array of economic successes to his name, it is little surprise that Mr. Orbán and his government have the support of the Hungarian people, as shown in the past three election results.

Mr. Orbán explained that the model for his country’s success was the foundation of a new Christian constitution, which was adopted in 2011. “We used our two-thirds parliamentary majority to write a new Christian constitution with two-thirds majority support,” he explained. “And in order for everyone to understand its essence we adopted this constitution at Easter.” He then proceeded to read selected passages from the new constitution, commencing with the following declaration of Hungary’s Christian heritage and its place within Christian Europe: We are proud that our king Saint Stephen built the Hungarian state on solid ground and made our country a part of Christian Europe one thousand years ago. We are proud of our forebears who fought for the survival, freedom and independence of our country. We are proud that our nation has over the centuries defended Europe in a series of struggles, and enriched Europe’s common values with its talent and diligence. We recognise the role of Christianity in preserving nationhood. 

Having pledged its adherence to its Christian roots, the Constitution also declares that the protection of the constitutional identity and Christian culture of Hungary shall be an obligation of every organ of the state.

And it continues, Hungary shall protect the institution of marriage as the union of a man and a woman established by voluntary decision, and the family as the basis of the survival of the nation. Family ties shall be based on marriage or the relationship between parents and children. Hungary shall encourage the commitment to have children.

“Such things are written into the Hungarian constitution,” Mr. Orbán said, “and . . . this constitution provides the foundation for our politics.”

Having enunciated the principles of the new Christian constitution as the very foundation of his government’s policies, he then spoke of the “three pillars which support our system.” The first is the family, “which must be defended and which clearly can only be the union of one man and one woman,” and which is seen and valued from the perspective of children. In accordance with this child-friendly and pro-life approach to marriage and the family, Mr. Orbán’s government has instituted a family support system, including tax allowances. Women who have had four children, regardless of whether the children are now adults, are exempt from income tax for the rest of their lives. As if this were not a radical enough measure, Mr. Orbán stated that he is now working to extend the tax exemption to women who have had three children. “We provide loans for people starting a family, and if children are born these loans do not have to be paid back.” School textbooks, crèches, kindergartens, and school meals are free. “Despite this,” Mr. Orbán says, “I cannot say that things are as they should be. I can’t say that. Despite this, things are not as they should be in Hungary, because it’s still the case that far fewer children are being born than are needed. And I dare not tell you that we shall definitely be successful in reversing this negative trend; but I can definitely say that if we don’t act with that aim in mind, it will never be reversed. And I’m not willing to support a policy which seeks to correct the shortfall in children being born by bringing in migrants. The best migrant is one’s own child.”

If the family is the first pillar of Mr. Orbán’s “Christian democratic political system,” the second pillar is the nation itself:

In our way of thinking the nation is sovereign, therefore it shall not be forced to subject itself to the laws of any form of global governance. It is the product of culture and history and is an irreplaceable treasure, and therefore it must be protected. And only we may say who can and who cannot settle on the territory of our state, together with our nation. Only we have the right to say that.

The third pillar of the Hungarian political conception of the state is what Mr. Orbán calls “Christian freedom”:

Christian freedom means that we have the right to defend our own Christian way of life; we have the right to defend everything that – derived from Christianity over the course of two thousand years, from the accumulated lives of successive generations – has created a Christian culture. We are free to defend it. This is the political meaning of Christian freedom.

At the conclusion of his inspiring speech, Mr. Orbán stated that although “we are in a minority among the European political elite, we are in the majority among peoples and citizens.” The opponents of Christian democratic principles were “large, wealthy, strong and well-organised,” forcing Christians to fight a battle which is unjustly difficult. “We are fighting for a good cause in unfairly difficult circumstances.” Telling his audience that the fight will remain difficult, he warned of the dangers of both complacency and self-pity.

As for Mr. Orbán’s final words, they are sufficiently inspiring to serve as the final words of this writer’s small act of homage in reporting them. Nothing else need be said because this courageous man’s final words say it all:

We must do what our forebears taught us, when they said: “Trust in God and keep your powder dry.” That’s what we must do. And it’s worth reminding ourselves . . . that Europe was made great and was given its mission in the world by the fact that we created a way of life in which the work that each one of us did – the labour of every working European – simultaneously served one’s own interest, the good of one’s country, and the glory of God. In Europe we must find the modern form of this. And if we succeed in this, Europe will be great again.

https://theimaginativeconservative.org/2019/10/europes-great-defender-viktor-orban-christian-democracy-joseph-pearce.html

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Dante on the Beatific Vision

Louis Markos

To achieve the Beatific Vision of Plato and his pre-Christian heirs is to move to a place of absolute serenity, removed from the passions and emotions of our world. That is not what I encountered in paradise. Far from a place of stoic calm, heaven overflowed with ecstasy and jubilation.

Author’s Introduction: Imagine if Homer, Virgil, Dante, Chaucer, and the other great poets of ancient Greece, Rome, and the Middle Ages had been given the gift, not only to peer into the twenty-first century, but to correspond with us who live in that most confusing and rudderless of centuries. Had it been in their power to do both of those things, what might they say to us? How would they advise us to live our lives? What wisdom from their experience and from their timeless poems might they choose to pass down to us?

Dante: On the Beatific Vision

I have been in the heaven of God, and what I saw there I can barely express in human language. All I can say is that I felt like Glaucus, the hero in a story by a writer I love almost as much as Virgil: Ovid.


Glaucus was a humble fisherman who lived by the sea. One day, as he was drawing out fish with a pole and laying their bodies beside him on the surf, he turned to find that the fish had vanished. Angry and a bit bewildered, he leapt to his feet and scoured the beach for any sign of a thief. Instead, he saw two of the fish he had captured hop twice on the golden sand and then leap into the sea.

Helpless to explain the phenomenon, Glaucus studied carefully the ground where he had placed the dead fish. There he discovered a strange, greenish herb that he had never seen before. “Could this herb” he thought to himself, “have the power to revive the dead?” Then, without giving a thought to danger, he swept up the herb, placed it in his mouth, and bit through its rough hide.

Immediately, a burning sensation ran up and down his spine, pressing outward to his fingers and toes. The burning quickly increased until he feared that his skin would burst into flame. Then the oddest thing of all happened. Though the fisherman could not swim, he was suddenly overcome with a desire for the sea. Unable to stop his own legs from moving, he rushed headlong down the beach and dove into the water.

The moment he hit the water, his legs were forced together and transformed themselves into a fin. His hair and eyes turned the color of coral, and his skin grew hard and scaly. Gils appeared on his neck, and his lungs filled with water. With one flip of his tail, he propelled himself downward into the murky depths and disappeared from view.

He had become a merman, a god of the sea.

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I had always imagined heaven as a destination, as a place believers went to when they died. But it is far more than that. As I moved upward through the levels of paradise in my ascent to God, I came to realize that I was not so much going somewhere as becoming someone. I wasn’t just traveling; I was changing. As my eyes grew stronger, I saw more and more of the heavenly light, but I also participated in it more and more.

Four centuries before Christ, Plato had understood and taught the nature of this transformation, of this metamorphosis into something better, nobler, and truer. For him, it was the movement from ignorance into knowledge, knowledge into wisdom, and wisdom into virtue. It meant pulling oneself out of the darkness and into the light, away from the shadows and into the reality.

Plato and his fellow virtuous pagans called it the Beatific (or blessed) Vision, and they sought it as the proper end of a life of philosophy and contemplation. The Christian writers who followed them—particularly my master, Thomas Aquinas—kept both the phrase and the desire to achieve it, but they broadened and deepened the meaning.

You see, my friends of the future, for Plato the end point of the Beatific Vision was impersonal. His goal was not to merge with the immortal gods, for they were far from perfect and were as controlled by their base passions as the mortals whose lives they interfered with. No, what awaited Plato at the culmination of his journey upward were the Forms, the unseen originals of goodness and beauty, truth and justice, courage and love. Above all, what waited was the Form of the Forms, the supreme Form of the Good that illumines the spiritual world as the sun does the physical.

My friends, your age is too apt to agree with Plato: not about the Forms, which most of you have rejected, but about the ultimate reality being impersonal—something to be studied rather than something to be known. You look to the heavens to find laws and principles; what I witnessed as I soared through the heavens on my way to God was pageantry and intimacy.

I encountered both activity and contemplation, but they were directed, not toward mathematical theorems or philosophical formulas, but toward a personal, triune God who wants to be known and who freely pours forth self-knowledge.

To achieve the Beatific Vision of Plato and his pre-Christian heirs is to move to a place of absolute serenity, removed from the passions and emotions of our world. That is not what I encountered in paradise. Far from a place of stoic calm, heaven overflowed with ecstasy and jubilation; everywhere and on every level the blessed souls sang and danced with joy.

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I myself as I approached the presence of God felt suddenly calm, but it was a rapturous calm that took me out of myself without effacing my identity. As I gazed on the supernal form of God, I was able to do what I could not do on earth: study and enjoy the object of my contemplation at the same time.

I would tell you more, my friends, but the Vision so ravished me with its beauty that it sank into a portion of my soul that lies deeper even than memory. Still, the feelings it provoked in me remained. Such is the case with vivid dreams: we wake to find that all of the images have faded, but that the strong emotions associated with them continue to trouble us throughout the day.

Think of footprints in the snow that disappear and leave no trace when the sun reaches its zenith. Or again, think of those mystical leaves on which the Sybil wrote her oracles; when the door was opened, the leaves scattered, taking with them all certain knowledge of the future.

Still, I saw, though I did not understand, the dual mysteries of the Trinity and the Incarnation. Just as vitally, I apprehended, though I could not fully comprehend, how I myself fit into the divinity and humanity of God the Son. That knowledge came to me in a flash of revelation that cleaved my mind in two and drew me into the very heart of the Beatific Vision.

Alas, my friends of the future, I have neither words nor images nor analogies to describe that surpassing knowledge that was granted to me in the Empyrean of God. And that is as it should be, for, if you would know how your own individual story merges with that of the Incarnate Son, then you must take the journey yourself.

Godspeed!

—Dante

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https://theimaginativeconservative.org/2019/10/dante-beatific-vision-louis-markos.html

The featured image is by Pennie Gibson.

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CARDINAL JOHN HENRY NEWMAN - MIRACLE

Newman’s Miracle

October 03 2019 |  BY 

SIMON CALDWELL

MELISSA Villalobos pulled into her driveway after returning from an ultra-sound scan that confirmed she had been suddenly and inexplicably healed from a condition which hours earlier threatened to kill both herself and her unborn child. Though it was a sunny day, in front of her house were two rainbows – a primary rainbow and beneath it a smaller secondary rainbow in reverse colors.

It focused Melissa’s mind on the biblical story of Noah, of how God had put a rainbow in the sky as a sign of his covenant between Creator and created, and as a guarantee that there will be no more flooding. Melissa saw this as a personal sign that the danger of her dying in a flood of her own blood was over for good.

 Extraordinary day

 Wednesday May 15, 2013, had been an extraordinary day for her, after all. It was when she became the beneficiary of the second miracle required for canonization of Cardinal John Henry Newman as the first English saint in half a century.

Melissa had started to bleed during her fifth pregnancy, and scans revealed that the placenta had become partially detached from the wall of her uterus, and that the blood meant to nourish her eight-week unborn child was escaping through the tear. Scans also found a sub-chorionic haematoma, a blood clot on the foetal membrane, that was by that time almost three times the size of the child. Doctors could treat neither mother nor daughter. They fully expected Melissa to miscarry, and warned her also that her own life might be in danger from a haemorrhage. She had to be ready to call 911 at any time.

On May 15 she awoke in a pool of blood. She was worried that she had no-one to care for her children if she had to go into hospital because her husband, David, was flying to Atlanta on a business trip. So she arranged a simple breakfast for her four children – aged 1 to 6 – as she considered her options. Afraid the children might see the bleeding, she gave them instructions to stay in their seats at the kitchen table “no matter what” while she took time in private to try to ease the flow.

 The last scream?

 “I decided to go upstairs to my bathroom in our master bedroom,” she said. “I closed the bedroom door and I went in the bathroom and closed that door as well. I didn’t want the kids to sneak up on me and see the trauma. I knew that if I closed the doors I would hear them opening the doors before they saw me. By now, I had made things worse by going up the stairs,” she continued. “I was on the floor, I was weak and exhausted. The bleeding was worse than it had ever been and I thought ‘I need to call 911.’”

But then she realized that she had left her phone downstairs. “I couldn’t believe it,” she says. “I probably wasn’t carrying it around because of the stress of all that was going on and also because my husband was flying to Atlanta and he would have been the one I wanted to call.

“I thought, ‘Oh no, I can’t get up at this point and go downstairs and get the phone’. So my next thought was I could scream for one of the children to come up and ask them to go get the phone but I knew that I couldn’t scream. I knew that the amount of force I would have had to exert to scream through two closed doors all the way down to the kitchen would have been tremendous and the situation was so delicate.

“Because the bleeding was so heavy I didn’t know if the placenta was hanging by a thread, and that I had done more damage by going upstairs… I didn’t know if that scream would have ripped the last thread off the placenta and killed me instantly. I didn’t want to scream because I didn’t know if it would be my last scream.”

 Scent of roses

 Instead, Melissa paused in the hope her children might look for her, but the silence left her nervous. In the midst of her desperation, Melissa said, “Please, Cardinal Newman, make the bleeding stop. Just then, the bleeding stopped completely. It was just flowing very rapidly and then came to a sudden, complete stop.”

Astonished, she climbed to her feet and said, “Thank you, Cardinal Newman, you made the bleeding stop. Just then, the scent of roses just filled the air,” she said. “It was a powerful scent, it was so intense. It was more intense than if you went to a garden, or a store and smelled roses. I inhaled the smell of the roses and thought, ‘Wow!’ It lasted for several seconds, it felt like a while, then it stopped and I said, ‘Cardinal Newman did you just make those roses for me?’ I knew he did and thought, ‘what a great gift’. Then he made a second blast of roses up there. I thought, ‘Thank you Cardinal Newman’. I realised I was okay and the baby was okay. I knew the baby was fine. I just couldn’t imagine that Cardinal Newman would stop the bleeding and then the baby wouldn’t make it. I knew in my heart that she was fine.”

Melissa said her recovery was so thorough that she “jogged” downstairs to find her children obediently in their seats, as she had instructed them.

She said, “At this moment I was filled such gratitude and joy… We were all okay. I sat down at the kitchen table with them, and as soon as I sat in the chair I said, ‘Thank you Cardinal Newman’, and just then the scent of roses filled the air in the kitchen. This was the third time and the final time of the roses. As it filled the air I inhaled their beautiful scent.”

 Active mom

 The scan she underwent later in the day revealed the placenta to be healed perfectly. Nor, to the astonishment of medics, some of whom later gave evidence to the Church investigation into the healing, was there any trace of the haematoma.

Melissa had been debilitated for more than a month by a dangerous condition, but returned to life as an “active mom” straight away, carrying and playing with her children, pushing them on swings, and running with kites. On December 27 of that year Melissa gave birth to Gemma, who arrived at the very healthy weight of 8lb 8oz.

Gemma is now a 5-year-old girl and Melissa has since given birth to two more children, the first of whom was baptized John Henry.

Although she grew up a Catholic in St Louis, Missouri, and always enjoyed going to Mass and praying the rosary, she discovered Cardinal Newman only as an adult while watching a program on EWTN as she did her ironing. She was struck by the palpable “admiration and affection” the guests on the show held for him.

 A guiding light

 Melissa’s interest developed, and in 2011 her husband David came home with two Newman prayer cards, one of which Melissa placed in the master bedroom and the other in the living room.

“I thought his expression was so modern in the sense that he looked as if he might live today and that he was listening to me,” she said. “As I passed the picture in the house I would talk to him. I seemed to have this constant dialogue with him and would pray to him for all kinds of needs.

“I was aware that I was possibly becoming annoying to him. I knew he was a genius and here I was just talking to him as a regular person.”

Melissa soon began to read his works, and said she “fell in love with his brilliance and with him as a person,” and particularly enjoyed reading his letters because they revealed Newman’s cares for ordinary people.

“He is like a spiritual father to me,” she says. “He is a guiding light to help me to live a holier life and to learn about the faith. He explains Jesus in a way that is simple yet profound… he helps me to know Jesus more accurately.”

“I am in awe that such a holy and brilliant man as Cardinal Newman would help me, and I am extremely grateful,” she adds. “I feel that my prayer to him was like his motto, my heart speaking unto his heart. We are very close… I love him with my whole heart.”

 Witness of conscience

 Melissa, David and their seven children will be attending the canonization ceremony in St Peter’s Square in Rome on October 13.

Also likely to be present will be Jack Sullivan, a Boston deacon whose healing from a spinal condition led to Newman’s beatification by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010.

That ceremony represented a moment of personal significance for the emeritus Pontiff who had been an admirer of Newman since he entered seminary in 1947, once describing the Cardinal, who died in 1890, as Britain’s “great witness of conscience” alongside St Thomas More, the 16th century martyr.

Newman’s teachings on conscience have often been disputed, but recent discoveries of how his sermons influenced some members of the White Rose, the German resistance movement, to oppose ‘Nazi terror’ are instructive of how the role of conscience, according to Newman, is to be properly understood. Benedict also saw Blessed John Henry as a “gentle scholar” who identified the Christian life “as a call to holiness.”

While beatifying him, Benedict said Newman’s “insights into the relationship between faith and reason, into the vital place of revealed religion in civilized society, and into the need for a broadly-based and wide-ranging approach to education, were not only of profound importance for Victorian England, but continue today to inspire and enlighten.”

Fr. Ian Ker, author of the definitive biography of Newman, is among those who believe the teachings of the Cardinal are so rich that he deserves to be declared a “Doctor of the Church” as soon as he is made a saint.

 Intellectual faithfulness

 Bishop Mark Davies of Shrewsbury says it is “hard to underestimate the significance of Newman’s canonization.”

“In foreseeing the unprecedented challenge of relativism, and what he called ‘the infidelity to come’ he stands as a witness to the intellectual faithfulness and striving for personal holiness which is the precondition for the new evangelization of western societies,” he said.

“The canonization surely comes at a providential moment for the universal Church in helping us to recognize what constitutes true development of doctrine and a right understanding of conscience,” he added.

“Amid all the confusion of the early 21st Century, Cardinal Newman will be for us a calm witness and gifted teacher of the truth and continuity of Catholic teaching.”

https://www.messengersaintanthony.com/content/newmans-miracle

Fear of the Cross

September 15 2019 |  BY 

MADELINE PECORA NUGENT

AT THE JUNE 1, 2019 ordination Mass of three young priests, Bishop Kevin Rhoades, of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, spoke of the world’s deadliest disease: ‘staurophobia’. “I would not ordain a man if I thought he had staurophobia, which means ‘fear of the cross.’ The definitive act of Christ’s priesthood was His sacrifice on the cross. A man will not be a holy priest if he has staurophobia. We must not be afraid of carrying the cross, of giving of ourselves in love. In other words, are you resolved to imitate Christ in the daily carrying of His cross? In giving yourselves in love to God’s people? In imitating the Good Shepherd who laid down His life for the sheep?”

Staurophobia affects pastors as well as Catholic priests. “90 percent of conservative pastors agree that abortion and gay marriage are biblically wrong, but only 10 percent will preach this.” Why? Fear of loss of financial support, of negative publicity, of repercussions from abortion and gay lobbies, of criticism from the congregation.

 Staurophobic solutions

 Staurophobia weakens moral fiber, and can lead to gravely sinful acts which destroy God’s grace in the soul. What tribulation is not infected by staurophobia?

• Terminal illness: Fear of suffering. Staurophobic solution: Euthanasia.
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• Emotional anguish over ____ (fill in the blank): Fear of emotional pain: Staurophobic solutions: Drugs, alcohol, promiscuity, suicide.
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• Unwanted pregnancy: Fear of parenting; fear of revelation of sexual activity. Staurophobic solution: Artificial birth control, abortion.
• 
  
• Sexuality: Fear of being unattractive. Staurophobic solution: Homosexual acts, promiscuity, immodesty.
• 
  
• Financial concerns: Fear of poverty. Staurophobic solution: Cheat, steal, lie.
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• Gender confusion. Fear of being different. Staurophobic solution: Gender change.
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• Social acceptance. Fear of rejection. Staurophobic solution: Assume a persona.
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• Anger: Fear of powerlessness. Staurophobic solutions: Bullying, power struggles, murder.

Fear is one of Satan’s primary tools. In tempting Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, what did Satan say? “If you eat of it, you will be like God, knowing good from evil” [Gen. 3.5]. Eve was afraid of missing out on something good. She could have accepted her cross and said, “No, I will endure the discomfort of not knowing something.” Instead, succumbing to staurophobia, she ate the fruit and introduced sin to the human race.

 Love: the antidote

 What is staurophobia’s antidote? Love. “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love” (1 John 4:18). Notice how each staurophobic reaction in the above list tries to keep the individual from being ‘punished’ by pain.

Christopher Bader, Ph.D, professor of sociology at Chapman University, spearheaded a 2017 fear study. He noted that “People tend to fear what they are exposed to in the media. Many of the top 10 fears this year can be directly correlated to the top media stories of the past year.”

Fear of dying used to be one of the top 5 fears. Among those surveyed, ‘Fear of Dying’ now ranks 48th, with only 20 percent of those surveyed saying that they were afraid of dying. This does not indicate an increase of belief in life after death. 17 percent of Americans do not believe in life after death, and 20 percent more are unsure. Lack of fear over death indicates a huge cultural shift toward the acceptance of death by choice – suicide, euthanasia, abortion.

What do people fear? 74.5 percent stated that they are “afraid or very afraid” of “Corrupt Government Officials.” 53 percent feared “Pollution.” 48 percent were concerned about “Global warming and climate change.” Amazingly, only 50 percent were concerned about not having enough money. Further down the list were fear of “People I love dying” (39.7 percent) and “People I love becoming seriously ill” (39.1 percent). Nowhere, in the top 47 fears, were fear of sin, judgment, or hell.

 Golden candlestick

 “St. Augustine says, ‘Charity is the name I give to that movement of the soul to delight in God for his own sake, and in self and neighbor for God’s sake.’ He who lacks this, however many things he does which are in themselves good, he does them in vain,” writes St Anthony. (Sermons for Sundays and Festivals I, p.59; translated by Paul Spilsbury; Edizioni Messaggero Padova).

People with no belief in God cannot delight in Him, nor can they delight in self or neighbor for God’s sake. Seeing the value of the cross is as impossible for them as flying by flapping their arms.

“Charity led the Son of God to the wood of the Cross,” Anthony, like Bishop Rhoades, noted. “In the Canticles, it says: Love is as strong as death, [Cant 8.6] and St. Bernard comments on this passage, ‘O charity, how strong is your bond! Even the Lord was bound by you!’” (Sermons I, p. 59).

Anthony compares charity to a golden candlestick, “The candlestick of charity is ‘beaten’ with the hammer of tribulation, to be increased not in itself, but in the human mind” (Sermons III, p. 65). God permits tribulation (the cross) in order to increase charity which prompts action. When we first begin to walk the way of love, charity is imperfect. Enduring tribulation in small matters strengthens us for enduring it in larger matters. Imperfections, both in precious metals and in charity, are hammered out with many hard blows. Those who choose staurophobic solutions to life’s crosses are negating the power of their tribulations to foster love.

 4 loves

 “St. Augustine says, ‘There are four things that should be loved. One is above us, namely God. The second is what we ourselves are. The third is beside us, our neighbor. The fourth is below us, our body.’ The rich man loved his body first and foremost, and cared nothing for God, his own soul, or his neighbor. That is why he was damned,” Anthony writes (Sermons II, p. 14). The rich man employed a staurophobic solution to his fear for the future. Instead of exercising charity toward his needy neighbors, he built bigger barns to hold his crops.

Anthony advocates the cross rather than comfort. “St. Bernard says, ‘We should treat our body like some sick person in our care. There are many things it would like which are not good for it, and these we must deny it. There are many things good for it, but which it does not like – but we must insist on them. We should treat our body as something not really belonging to us, but to him by whom we are bought with a great price, that we may glorify him in our body [cf. 1 Cor 6.20].’ We should love our bodies in the fourth and last place, ‘not as something for whose sake we live, but as something without which we cannot live’” (Sermons II, p. 14).

Christ’s “cross is victorious – it is the efficacious sign of the victory of love over sin and death. When we meet the Lord on the day of judgment, He will show us His glorious wounds and ask to see our wounds, the wounds of our love,” Bishop Rhoades noted. Christ’s cross wounded him. Ours will wound us. Accepting the wounding enables us to carry our cross, grow in love, and be immunized against staurophobia.

https://www.messengersaintanthony.com/content/fear-cross