Relief of the Holy Souls

Taken from the book "Purgatory Explained" by Fr. Schouppe, S.J. -

Part II, Chapter XXXIII (TAN Books).

Father Ravignan, an illustrious and holy preacher of the Society of Jesus, also cherished great hope for the welfare of sinners carried away by a sudden death, when otherwise they had borne no hatred in the heart for the things of God. He lived to speak of the supreme moment, and it seems to have been his opinion that many sinners are converted in their last moments, and are reconciled to God without being able to give any exterior sign thereof. In certain deaths there are mysteries of Mercy where the eye of man sees nothing but strokes

of Justice. As a last glimmer of light, God sometimes reveals Himself to those souls whose greatest misfortune has been to ignore Him ; and the last sigh, understood by Him who penetrates hearts, may be a

groan that calls for pardon ; that is to say, an act of perfect contrition. General Exelmans, a relative of this good father, was suddenly carried to the tomb by an accident, and unfortunately he had not been faithful in the practice of his religion. He had promised that he would one day make his confession, but had not had the

opportunity to do so. Father Ravignan, who, for a long time had prayed and procured prayers for him, was filled with consternation when he heard of such a death. The same day, a person accustomed to receive supernatural communications thought he heard an interior voice, which said to him, "Who then knows the extent of God's mercy?

Who knows the depth of the ocean, or how much water is contained therein? Much will be forgiven to those who have sinned through ignorance."

The biographer from whom we borrow this incident, Father de Ponlevoy, goes on to say, "Christians, placed under the law of Hope no less than under the law of Faith and Charity, we must continually lift ourselves up from the depths of our sufferings to the thought of the infinite goodness of God. No limit to the grace of God is placed here below ; while there remains a spark of life there is nothing which it cannot effect in the soul. Therefore we must ever hope and petition God with humble persistency. We know not to what a degree we may be heard. Great saints and doctors have gone to great lengths in extolling the powerful efficacy of prayer for the dear departed, how unhappy soever their end may have been. We shall one day know the unspeakable marvels of Divine Mercy. We should never cease to implore it with the greatest confidence."

The following is an incident which our readers may have seen in the Petit Messager du Coeur de Marie, November 1880. A Religious, preaching a mission to the ladies at Nancy, had reminded them in a conference that we must never despair of the salvation of a soul, and that sometimes actions of the least importance in the eyes of man are rewarded by God at the hour of death. When he was about to leave the church, a lady dressed in mourning approached him and said, "Father, you just recommended to us confidence and hope ; what has just

happened to me fully justifies your words. I had a husband who was most kind and affectionate, and who although otherwise leading an irreproachable life, entirely neglected the practice of his religion.

My prayers and exhortations remained without effect. During the month of May which preceded his death, I had erected in my room, as I was accustomed to do, a little altar of the Blessed virgin, and decorated it with flowers, which I renewed from time to time. My husband passed the Sunday in the country, and each time he returned he brought me some flowers, which he himself had plucked, and with these I used to adorn my oratory. Did he notice this? Did he do this to give me pleasure, or was it through a sentiment of piety towards the Blessed

Virgin? I know not, but he never failed to bring me the flowers.

"In the beginning of the following month he died suddenly, without having had time to receive the consolations of religion. I was inconsolable, especially as I say all my hopes of his return to God vanish. In consequence of my grief, my health became completely shattered, and my family urged me to make a tour in the south. As I had to pass through Lyons, I desired to see the Cure` d' Ars. I therefore wrote to him asking an audience, and recommending to his prayers my husband, who had died suddenly. I gave him no further details.

"Arrived at Ars, scarcely had I entered the venerable Cure's room than, to my great astonishment, he addressed me in these words : 'Madame, you are disconsolate ; but have you forgotten those bouquets of flowers which were brought to you each Sunday of the month of May?' It is impossible to express my astonishment on hearing M. Vianney remind me of a circumstance that I had not mentioned to any one, and which he could know only by revelation. He continued, 'God has had mercy on him who honoured His Holy Mother. At the moment of his death your husband repented ; his soul is in purgatory ; our prayers and good works will obtain his deliverance.'"

We read in the Life of a holy Religious, Sister Catherine of St. Augustine, that in the place where she lived there was a woman named Mary, who in her youth had given herself up to a very disorderly life, and as age brought no amendment, but, on the contrary, she grew more obstinate in vice, the inhabitants, no longer willing to tolerate the scandal she gave, drove her from the city. She found no other asylum than a grotto in the forest, where, after a few months, she died without the assistance of the Sacraments. Her body was interred in a field, as though it were something contagious.

Sister Catherine, who was accustomed to recommend to God the souls of all those of whose death she heard, thought not of praying for this one, judging, as did every one else, that she was surely damned.

Four months later the servant of God heard a voice saying, "Sister Catherine, how unfortunate I am! You recommend to God the souls of all ; I am the only one upon whom you take no pity!" "Who then are

you?" replied the sister. "I am poor Mary, who died in the grotto." "What! Mary, are you saved?" "Yes, by the Divine Mercy I am. At the point of death, terrified by the remembrance of my crimes, and seeing myself abandoned by all, I called upon the Blessed Virgin. In her tender goodness she heard me, and obtained for me the grace of perfect contrition, with a desire of confessing, had it been in my power to do so. I thus recovered the grace of God and escaped Hell.

But I was obliged to go to Purgatory, where I suffer terribly. My time will be shortened, and I shall soon be liberated, if a few Masses are offered for me. Oh! have them celebrated for me, dear sister, and I shall ever remember you before Jesus and Mary."

Sister Catherine hastened to fulfill this request, and after a few days the soul again appeared, brilliant as a star, and returning thanks for her charity.

Archbishop Gomez: Mary Magdalene is counter to culture of condemnation :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

 Archbishop Gomez: Mary Magdalene is counter to culture of condemnation :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

Los Angeles, Calif., Jul 22, 2011 / 04:45 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The July 22 Memorial of St. Mary Magdalene is a time to recall the holy woman’s life and her “beautiful story” of God’s life-changing love and mercy for everyone, Archbishop Jose H. Gomez of Los Angeles said. He contrasted her life with an American culture that is “quick to condemn.”

“God is kind and merciful. There is no one who is beyond the pale of his redemption. There is no one whom God cannot redeem and use for his purposes,” the archbishop wrote in his July 22 column for the archdiocesan paper The Tidings.

“I worry sometimes that we might be forgetting that in society,” he added.

The archbishop cited people who seem “so angry and judgmental” on the Internet, the radio and television.

“Everywhere in our culture, people seem so quick to condemn. It is very hard to find words of mercy or understanding for someone who has done something wrong,” he said, noting that there are “many good people out there saying things they know they shouldn’t be saying.”

He recounted Mary Magdalene’s life and how she was possessed by seven demons until Jesus set her free.

She believed Jesus’ promises that “no matter what sins we have in our lives, God is ready to forgive.”

God turned her into “a great witness of his love.” Though the apostles and other followers of Jesus ran away when he was arrested, she did not run and stood by him during his trials and sufferings, and execution.

She helped take Jesus’ body from the cross and readied it for burial. She was the first witness to his resurrection from the dead.

Mary Magdalene, the Los Angeles archbishop observed, experienced in her own life the “healing power of Christ’s tender mercy.”

At the same time, he acknowledged that it is hard for people to believe that God can love everyone. “But he does! God cares for you very deeply. And he cares for the greatest sinner just as deeply,” he said.

“People make mistakes. They sin. Some people do evil that causes scandal and grave harm. We can condemn the offense and work for justice — without trying to destroy the person who committed the sin,” the archbishop added.

“We need to reject every temptation to shame or condemn people. Let us never be the cause of turning someone away from seeking God’s forgiveness and redemption.”

Christians’ job is to help sinners find Jesus Christ, who alone can set them free from their demons.

“Let us pray for one another this week,” the archbishop concluded, saying we should ask the Virgin Mary to “give us a faith like Mary Magdalene and hearts to forgive.”

The Mystery of Evil

The Mystery of Evil

“An enemy has done this.” Let us recall these powerful words from this Sunday’s Gospel passage. Satan has destroyed the modern world through sexual sin. The world is sexually out of control. The modern world has become obsessed with sexual sin and through sexual sin modern man is telling God: Non serviam. I will not serve. Do not tell me what to do about anything. I will do what I want to do.

Because of this total rejection of God, man has become dehumanized. Man kills his own children through abortion and has become obsessed with sexual perversion, especially homosexuality.

JULY IS MONTH TO HELP PRIESTS IN PURGATORY

JULY IS MONTH TO HELP PRIESTS IN PURGATORY

SAINT BRIDGET SAYS WHEN WE FREE PURGATORY SOUL, IN A WAY IT IS AS IF WE FREE JESUS HIMSELF

By Susan Tassone

St. Bridget of Sweden (1303-July 23, 1373) was a mystic and saint and founder of the Bridgettine Order after the death of her husband of twenty years.  She was also the mother of Saint Catherine of Sweden.  She began to have visions beginning at the age of ten. These included the Nativity, the Risen Christ, and the Passion of Our Lord; she wrote the popular fifteen prayers based on Our Lord’s Passion and death. 

Her visions of purgatory are also well known.  

Stated the saint, who received extraordinary revelations from God: 

“If, by our help, a soul is freed from the pains of purgatory, Jesus accepts this as if we had freed Himself, and He will reward us in due time as if we had helped Him.” 

In a vision she saw the souls of the faithful departed being purified.

During those visions, the saint heard the voice of an angel.

“Blessed are those who dwell upon the earth, and who, by their prayers and other good works hasten to the relief of the souls in purgatory," it said. "For the justice of God demands that their sins be atoned for either by their sufferings or else by the prayers and good works of their friends on earth.” 
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The Medjugorje “Miracle Mysteries” that the ABC Nightline special didn’t tell you about

The Medjugorje “Miracle Mysteries” that the ABC Nightline special didn’t tell you about

If you missed the ABC show on Mary, click here to see if it’s still posted.

Flerida Gutierrez had little idea that her pilgrimage to Medjugorje in June, with Trinity Pilgrimages and Michael Brown of Spirit Daily, would mean revealing to approximately eight million viewers across the nation that she was a woman of faith, and that she was a woman with stage four cancer.

On this pilgrimage, ABC News producer, Jenna Millman, and Nightline co-anchor, Bill Weir, along with a camera man, accompanied the pilgrimage to film the Medjugorje portion of their special on the Virgin Mary, which aired Wednesday, July 13^th. The diminutive, humble, yet vocal Philippina woman, affectionately known as Flerida, was filmed being prayed over by the Medjugorje visionary, Vicka, who placed her loving hand on Flerida’s bowed head. Flerida was “slain in the Spirit” and rested peacefully on her side for a full half hour. So what happened to her during that time?

Here is Flerida’s full story, in her own words . . .

In November of 2010, I received test results showing that I had three cancerous nodules in my liver. I traveled to Medjugorje, to ask the Blessed Mother to pray for my healing, but I also completely surrendered to the idea of death. None of us are going to stay here on earth forever. We’re going to go back home.

On the day of the pilgrimage, when we went to see Vicka give her talk, on the steps of her parents’ small Medjugorje home, I was hoping to be one of the three hundred pilgrims in the crowd to receive prayer from Vicka, who individually laid her hands on every pilgrim present. I felt like I needed her prayers, but since our group arrived later than other pilgrims, some of whom had been waiting now for an hour or two to hear Vicka speak, I assumed I wouldn’t be able to get close to her. “But even if she doesn’t pray over me,” I said in my heart, “I know, Mother Mary, that you will pray to Jesus for me.”

Then our pilgrimage guide, Miki Musa, suddenly whisked me away from where I was standing. My husband, Max, standing next to me, turned around, and I was gone. Miki didn’t tell me where we were going, and I assumed he was bringing me closer to Vicka. “How can we get through these crowds?” I asked.

“Just trust me,” he said, and proceeded to press forward, holding my hand, parting waves in the crowd, saying, “Excuse me, excuse me.”

Before long, CLICK ON ABOVE LINK TO READ ENTIRE TESTIMONY OR HERE.
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Cop becomes Priest.

Badge and a gun traded for a crucifixNewly ordained Catholic priest Anthony F. Cardone comes to the job with plenty of experience in the study of diplomacy, security and sin.

A former law enforcement officer who handled all three, he's also known the emotional upheaval of divorce and is thrilled to be stationed near the ocean so he can indulge his passion for surfing.

Not your average 20-something novice.

Cardone was one of three men ordained by Bishop Francis Malooly last month at the Cathedral of Saint Peter, in Wilmington. At 58, he was by far the oldest to take his vows this year in the Diocese of Wilmington. (The two other new priests, the Rev. Joseph W. McQuaide IV of Elkton, Md., and the Rev. John T. Solomon of Wilmington are both 25.)

In his first career -- 25 years in law enforcement -- he went undercover to buy handguns and confiscate counterfeit money for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

As a special agent with the State Department, he made sure diplomacy at home and abroad was conducted safely, coming into contact with a wide range of political and religious figures, including the Dalai Lama, Pope John Paul II, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, President Bill Clinton and Yasser Arafat, the late Palestinian leader.

Earlier, as a New York City police officer, Treasury officer and a Nassau County probation officer, Cardone dealt with murderers, thieves and liars.

He was well aware that these folks needed to be arrested. At the same time he's often felt criminals could use his compassion, and he's found himself praying for those he booked.

"If you have the right attitude, you'll do your job but do it in a loving way," he says.

Steve Liantonio, one of his first partners on the New York City police force, says, "He's a person that cares out of his heart and takes an interest in you."

More than half of the 275 priests joining American dioceses this year are between 25 and 34, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University.

Several years ago Father Joseph Cocucci, director of vocations for the Diocese of Wilmington, met Cardone, who was then in his early 50s, and was impressed with his faith.

As a policy, the diocese considers candidates 18 to 50, but then Bishop Michael Saltarelli had encouraged Cocucci to use his discretion when older men applied.

"I felt Anthony had a great sincerity and enough things had happened in his life that it seemed to me that the priesthood is where he was being led," Cocucci says.

He also fit another trend: men coming to the priesthood as a second career.

Since 1964, Blessed John XXIII National Seminary, near Boston, has trained such men and there are 600 alumni serving. A few are now bishops.

Cocucci attended the seminary, as did Cardone, who found an interesting mix of students. Cardone studied with a former microbiologist, eye doctor, anesthesiologist, federal judge, airline pilot, rocket scientist, veterinarian and military officers.

"That our church needs people of any age is undeniable," says Father Allan Fitzgerald, director of Villanova University's Augustinian Institute.

Older priests bring a life experience that is valuable to parishes, though some may resist being molded to seminary theology, Fitzgerald says. Still age is seldom an impediment to acceptance, given that the average age of the 27,000 diocesan priests is 60, according to CARA.

The path to the priesthood wasn't clear to Cardone, who is now serving St. Luke-St. Andrew Churches in Ocean City, Md. At age 9, Cardone was an altar boy. He also attended Catholic schools and always found mystery and beauty in the Mass.

He says if he'd had more courage as a young man he might have entered the priesthood in his 20s, but he did have the courage to face criminals and guns.

He's had numerous secular jobs, managing buildings and serving as a flight attendant. He also married and has a daughter, Kate, who is 24. However, his marriage was not a sacramental one in the eyes of the church and it was annulled in the 1990s.

Today he is in the rare position for a priest of having lived through the grief of divorce.

"I know life is painful and people suffer and there's human weakness," he says. "But Jesus wants people to trust in God and seek forgiveness. With God's mercy all things are possible."

His divorce was one of the most difficult periods of his life and he found "Divine Mercy in My Soul," a book by Saint Maria Faustian Kowalska, a comfort.

"Through the diary you can see God relating with love to his creation," he says.

Liantonio, his former partner, says Cardone is much the same as when he was as a New York cop. Even then he had a knack for getting things done peacefully.

"I used to joke that he was connected," Liantonio says. "It was amazing how things just happened for him."

Cardone says he often saw people's longing to be better people when they sinned. That's why, while serving in diplomatic security, he once gave a holy medal blessed by Pope John Paul II to a war criminal.

"This man, who had murdered many, welled up with tears," Cardone says.

Often, Cardone has felt God's response to his spiritual needs. In the 1990s on assignment in Beirut, he was confined to a compound, unable to leave for Mass.

"I went to my supervisor and he said it was too dangerous to leave and go to church," says Cardone.

Still, he longed for Communion, and from the compound he could see a statue of the Holy Mother. In prayer he cried out for her intercession, and one day a Capuchin priest from Nazareth, home of the Holy Mother, came looking for Cardone. The priest began to hold Mass on a regular basis.

Cardone is grateful to Mary. Prior to becoming a priest, he thought he would have to give up three favorite hobbies -- fishing, boating and surfing.

But he was wrong. He now finds himself in a parish on the Atlantic coast where there is plenty of fishing, boating and surfing.

"Sometimes I feel like a spoiled child of the Blessed Mother," he says.

http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2011107160303

A TESTIMONY AT THE GRAVE

A Testimony at the Grave

A Testimony at the Grave We were privileged to hear the story of a Polish lady named Wieslawa Kowalska who had aborted four of her children and with prayer and penance and the assistance of the Holy Spirit came to devote her life to the promotion of spiritual adoption for the conceived child. The address devoted to this aim is Wieslawa Kowalska Synow Pulku 9/47 01-354 WARSAW POLAND Tel 048-22 664-19-37 http://www.adoptiovitae.de/pol/html/start_pol.htm

'An Enemy Has Done This': The Happy Priest on The Mystery of Evil - Living Faith - Home & Family - Catholic Online

'An Enemy Has Done This': The Happy Priest on The Mystery of Evil - Living Faith - Home & Family - Catholic Online
--by Fr. Farfaglia

CORPUS CHRISTI, TX (Catholic Online) - Chapter Thirteen of Saint Mathew's Gospel is comprised of seven different parables.  For this reason this chapter is usually called the parable discourse.  Because the subject matter and themes are similar, the parables are called the kingdom parables.

Jesus' parables are very effective.  By drawing on the ordinary routines of daily life, he sheds light on the deepest supernatural mysteries. Thus by reflecting upon the parables we may get a  glimpse at the humanity of Jesus and his kindness toward those crowded about  him, eager to hear his message of truth.  Jesus taught the seven parables on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, sometimes called Lake Gennesaret or Lake Tiberius.

Last week we focused on man's response to God.  We have been given the gift of free will and we all respond to God differently.  This Sunday, let us focus our attention on the mystery of evil.

Pope Paul VI often commented that this Sunday's gospel passage had proven the most difficult for him to understand. Why does God allow the weeds and the wheat to grow together? Why does God allow evil to co-exist with good?

The Second Vatican Council (1962 - 1965) ushered in an era of excitement and hope for the Catholic Church. Two world wars, the Korean conflict, the global tensions of the Cold War and the Cuban missile crisis which had brought North America to the brink of destruction, were countered with a time of euphoria.

Shortly after the close of Vatican II, Pope Paul VI was overwhelmed by the universal rejection of many of the Council's teachings.  The true teachings of the Council were hijacked and the post-conciliar crisis ravaged the Church causing massive apostasy.

Throughout the remainder of his pontificate, the Holy Father lived a daily martyrdom.  His secretary kept the morning newspapers away from the Pope until later in the day.  At one point during the crisis, Paul VI delivered his famous Wednesday General Audience on the smoke of Satan entering through the cracks of the Church. His teaching was met with abundant ridicule, mostly from the clergy.
   
Pope Paul VI speaking to another General Audience said in 1972: "So we know that this dark disturbing being exists and that he is still at work with his treacherous cunning; he is the hidden enemy who sows errors and misfortunes in human history. It is worth recalling the revealing Gospel parable of the good seed and the cockle, for it synthesizes and explains the lack of logic that seems to preside over our contradictory experiences:

'An enemy has done this.' He is 'a murderer from the beginning, and the father of lies,' as Christ defines him.  He undermines man's moral equilibrium with his sophistry. He is the malign, clever seducer who knows how to make his way into us through the senses, the imagination and the libido, through utopian logic, or through disordered social contacts in the give and take of our activities. He can bring about in us deviations that are all the more harmful because they seem to conform to our physical or mental makeup, or to our profound, instinctive aspirations."

However, prior to these teachings on the evil one, let us recall an important moment in the Pontificate of Pope Paul VI.  On July 25, 1968, the Pope published the encyclical letter Humanae Vitae.

My dear friends, back in 1968 Pope Paul VI warned the world what would happen if contraceptives were to be made available:

"Let them first consider how easily this course of action could open wide the way for marital infidelity and a general lowering of moral standards. Not much experience is needed to be fully aware of human weakness and to understand that human beings-and especially the young, who are so exposed to temptation-need incentives to keep the moral law, and it is an evil thing to make it easy for them to break that law. Another effect that gives cause for alarm is that a man who grows accustomed to the use of contraceptive methods may forget the reverence due to a woman, and, disregarding her physical and emotional equilibrium, reduce her to being a mere instrument for the satisfaction of his own desires, no longer considering her as his partner whom he should surround with care and affection" (Pope Paul VI, Humanae Vitae, 17).

"An enemy has done this."  Let us recall these powerful words from this Sunday's Gospel passage.  Satan has destroyed the modern world through sexual sin.  The world is sexually out of control.  The modern world has become obsessed with sexual sin and through sexual sin modern man is telling God: Non serviam.  I will not serve.  Do not tell me what to do about anything.  I will do what I want to do.

Because of this total rejection of God, man has become ...

dehumanized.  Man kills his own children through abortion and has become obsessed with sexual perversion, especially homosexuality.  

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In God's Company 2: Tonight July 13, 2011 Medjugorje to be featured on...

In God's Company 2: Tonight July 13, 2011 Medjugorje to be featured on...: "Christine Watkins tells about her 'whirlwind' 2 day pilgrimage to Medjugorje last week for the ABC News feature. http://www.medjugorjemir..."

annotations blog: C.S. Lewis Online

annotations blog: C.S. Lewis Online: "A handful of C.S. Lewis's writings are freely available online. This thread is aims to collect links to all those resources. If you know of ..."

In God's Company 2: The Sun in Medjugorje - 30th Anniversary - June 2...

In God's Company 2: The Sun in Medjugorje - 30th Anniversary - June 2...: "Dear friends: These are photos taken this past week at the 30th Anniversary of the Apparitions at Medjugorje. They were taken by a frien..."

DEFEAT EVIL WITH HUMILITY

DEFEAT EVIL WITH HUMILITY

EVIL MAY BE ON THE RISE, BUT THERE ARE WAYS TO SHIELD ONESELF AND IN HOLINESS DEFEAT IT

Evil is best defeated through humility. There’s no sting when you have ridded yourself of "self."

That doesn’t mean you’re supposed to lose your dignity, or neglect your needs.

It means you’re to place all of God’s needs above yours and the needs of others on a par with your own; such renders evil harmless.

When there is love, faith, and humility, there is actually a "glow" around you. It is the bubble of protection. It's the radiation of the Holy Spirit. Perhaps, it is the reflection of an angel. It envelops those who emulate Christ and forms around their beings like molding on a painting, like a museum’s sublime backlighting. Such is represented as a halo.

The more we conform to the desires of Christ, the more glory He sends around us. That comes with a sense of well-being, which is contact with God through love. 

With the touch of His favor is also a sharper intuition. We’re more perceptive. We see with a new clarity. Where sin and evil cloud our ability to choose wisely, holiness leads to wisdom. Where before we saw only a murky picture of the world (if we "saw" anything), we now view the spiritual landscape and avoid dangers.

Our spiritual blinders are lifted and the God of signs sends more of them. Call them "signal grace." We receive confirmations.

This happens when God has responded to humility and the person has been patient with firm faith in the outcome to the end (along with resignation that if it’s not in God’s Will, it won’t happen). We must know how to go with the flow; as Sirach says, we should not try to stand against a raging stream and to avoid that we have to know where the flow is going (which requires watchfulness).

When Christ said we could move mountains with faith, perhaps -- just perhaps -- He was talking...continue reading by clicking on link above

Lift the City - a Catholic Eucharistic flash mob

Jesus' Shocking Life (Peter Kreeft)

Judging Judging

Judging Judging

Christi Derr

It was the habit of a group of men and women of various ages to gather Saturday mornings at a Texas abortion clinic, to walk up and down the sidewalk and pray the Rosary. It was the custom of this clinic to respond by sending out two or three security guards and a large dog to pass by the group and ensure that none of them spoke to any of the women going in. Sometimes the security detail was silent.Sometimes they would try to agitate the protesters by shouting, “Get a life!” Don’t you have anything better to do than harass these women?” and the like. Most times though, the guards would try to disrupt the protest by one carefully chosen sentence.Security would collectively steady its gaze, stand up tall and aim the rhetorical “big guns” on us. They would, with great flourish, confidently pronounce, the unanswerable, the silencer of Christians, an admonition right from the lips of Our Savior Himself, “Do not judge.”

“Judge not, that you be not judged” (Mt 7: 1) must be the most misinterpreted, and recently, the most quoted words of Jesus in the whole New Testament. In our modern culture, this one statement of Our Lord’s has taken on a greater importance than that of the Ten Commandments. One breath of this phrase can single handedly sap the evangelical strength of the most solid Christian. It has come to mean that to judge an act as sinful, is as sinful as the act itself. So, if a good friend or relative announces that he is moving in with his girlfriend, you may congratulate him, you may note that the two will save on living expenses, you may stay silent, you may buy them a toaster, or you may even point out studies that show living together before marriage affects the later marriage (if it happens) for the worse. You may NOT use the word sin at any time when referring to the arrangement. Unless it is in jest, you know, “Going to live in sin, huh?”

The Roman virtues were justice and courage. The Greeks celebrated wisdom and eloquence. Medieval Europe valued piety and strength. In the Western world, our greatest virtue has become tolerance. But it is selective: tolerance only for sexual sins and for sins against life. For Christianity and religion in general, intolerance — as the last obstacle to unrestrained license.

Imagine the reaction of a mixed group of people to my saying: “I put my daughter on birth control. She and her boyfriend are very serious and I want to make sure she doesn’t end up an unwed mother.” Now imagine if I said this: “I am combining my daughter’s wedding with her sweet sixteen. She and her boyfriend are very serious and I want to make sure she doesn’t end up an unwed mother.” Okay, more realistically, what if I shared with a group that my daughter has taken a pledge of chastity? How many eye rolls and mocking smiles would I be met with? On the other hand what is commonly tolerated by society is pretty extreme. Ever watch snippets from a gay pride parade? Does is get more extreme than partial birth abortion?

Society only tolerates sexual sins and sins against life. And that tolerance is strictly enforced. People trudge out the “do not judge” phrase and use it like a club to silence anyone who might speak against such license. Society also rewards anyone who abides by its rules and strikes the word “sin” from his or her vocabulary. Christians are just as susceptible to wanting to be liked as anyone else. And so, a Catholic mother does not speak out against her son’s planned vasectomy. She fears losing his love, and besides, who is she to judge? A young man says nothing when he hears that his friend intends to abort her “accidental” pregnancy. After all, he is not a woman; he can’t understand how she feels. We even go so far as to give Jesus a makeover. We preach a weak, winking, desperate-to-be-liked, Jesus. This Jesus didn’t die to save us from sin; he made it so that sin doesn’t exist.

The thing is, though, there is a hell and we can go there if we live a life callously committing one mortal sin after another and never repenting. A man once told St. Pio of Pietrelcina that he did not believe in hell. To which the holy stigmatic replied, “You will when you get there.” How insensitive! How judgmental! Padre Pio, it seems, was more concerned with this man repenting than being liked by him. St Faustina, the very saint who revealed the depths and wonder of God’s mercy, was also commanded to, “visit the abysses of hell so that [she] might…testify to its existence.” The horrors she describes in her diary (741) make Dante’s literary description of hell look tame. Our Blessed Mother showed the three children of Fatima a vision of hell. The vision was so terrifying that all three said they would have died of fright had it not been for Our Lady’s protection. The children spent the rest of their lives spreading the devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, praying and making sacrifices for sinners. They wanted to do whatever they could to help souls not spend eternity there. Fr. John Echert (EWTN) notes that “the Gospels dedicate nearly twice the attention to the punishment of hell than the reward of Heaven”. So, no matter how we would like to wish it away, hell exists and God does not want our sins to take us there.

The First Pillar of Holiness

A pillar of holiness according to St. Francis de Sales, is hatred; hatred of all that is evil, hatred of all that God hates. We know “what” God loves. God loves us unfathomably! He created us in His image. He suffered the most painful death in human history to save us from our sins. He dwells intimately within us in His Holy Spirit. But God does not force us to love Him. He would never have had it that way.There is always that chance we will pick sin over His love and He will lose us forever.So, what does God hate? Sin! He hates sin in the same way a mother hates the cancer that is devouring her precious child. The way a father hates the drug addiction that is destroying his son. God hates sin because it kills us. And if we love God and are our brother’s keepers, we should hate it too!

That is why we need to judge. St. Thomas Aquinas defines mercy as removing an evil from the distressed. It is mercy that motivates a wife to demand that her alcoholic husband go to AA. Mercy moves a father to free his daughter from a physically abusive boyfriend. We love our brother in Christ. We know that God loves him. We want to help him remove the evil of sin from his life. We want the soul to experience the consolation, inexplicable joy, and true freedom of loving and being loved by Jesus. We do not have to wait until we are perfect to offer this mercy. When Jesus said “remove the log from your own eye before you remove the speck from your neighbors” he was warning against hypocrisy. In other words we should be attempting to follow Christ ourselves when we correct others. If one overweight individual invited another overweight individual to start a diet and exercise routine with him, it would not be hypocritical to do so. He would not have to wait until appearing on the cover of Fit magazine before inviting the overweight friend to begin the regimen. In the same way, as long as we are sincerely journeying towards Christ, we should try to take our brothers with us. We don’t have to wait until we are canonized.

I was inspired to write this piece because of a painful episode in my own life when I failed to be merciful. I had a dear friend who once confided to me his struggle with a sexual sin. Note, I said “struggled.” I had the perfect opportunity to tell him the consoling and wise teachings of the Catholic Church. I did not. I loved him very much, but loved being seen as mature, tolerant, and compassionate even more. I withheld the beauty and true compassion of the Church’s teachings, and only restated the old unimaginative societal line to him. He was tragically killed in a car accident a few months later. God had arranged for me to reach out to my friend with the life giving truth of Christ, but I traded an act of mercy for “the esteem of men”. Will everyone we fail to correct die shortly afterwards? Or course not. But it is possible that your relationship with the person will change, or you will miss a particularly fertile time to speak to another about Christ. We should be docile to the Holy Spirit and use the opportunities He lays in our laps to evangelize and help free others from sin.

Christ commanded us to go out to the whole world and tell the Good News. We are being cowed by our culture’s “do not judge” rule and thereby not fulfilling the great commission. As the Church militant, we must trample human respect under our feet.We must once again take up our weapons of truth and brotherly love. We will be merciful — loving who God loves, hating what God hates. Only then we will have victory and fearlessly win the world for Christ!

Miraculous healing

Miraculous healing

With quiet confidence Sydney Khoury climbs each step of a metal ladder as she attempts to place flowers atop a statue of Blessed Mother at St. Philip Church in the United States.

It’s a bit of a reach for Sydney, but with determination, the nine-year-old extends her arms, carefully placing her tribute atop the head of Mother Mary.

A short distance away, Bishop Thomas J. Tobin of Providence, Rhode Island watches admiringly as the St. Philip School second-grader successfully overcomes yet another obstacle in her young life.

Three years ago, Bishop Tobin also witnessed Sydney overcome one her greatest challenges.

At that time, as she lay in the Intensive Care Unit of Hasbro Children’s Hospital with her life hanging in the balance, the bishop prayed over her with a relic of Mother Teresa.

Sydney’s parents say the prayerful intervention yielded results nothing short of miraculous.

In November 2007, Sydney was diagnosed with a Stage 3 malignant tumor on her kidney.

Two days later, doctors removed her kidney and started chemotherapy and radiation. The overall success rate of the treatment was only 42 percent they were told.

For nearly three months, her condition was stable. Then, a robust round of chemotherapy quickly took its toll on her.

“She started five days of chemo. It hit her so hard,” recalls her mother, Michele.

Sydney went into what is known as a neutropenic state, as her white blood cell count dropped to zero, severely limiting her body’s ability to fight off infections.

“She was home for three days; on the fourth, she caught a fever,” Michele said.

Sydney was immediately brought into the hospital where she spent nearly all of February 2008 in the Intensive Care Unit.

She was intubated twice to maintain an open airway, and also became paralyzed for 12 hours during that time.

On Feb. 20, Michele and Ken Khoury received news that no parent ever wants to hear.

“They couldn’t tell me if she’d make it,” Michele said. “The doctor said, ‘I can’t guarantee anything over the next 48 hours’.”

Two days later, Sydney received the sacrament of the anointing of the sick from Father Peter J. Sheahan, the assistant pastor at St. Philip Church.

On Feb. 27, with Sydney’s condition not improving, doctors performed a lung biopsy.

“Her lungs were just collapsing,” her mother recalls.

The next day, with doctors about to have a discussion with the family about their wish to fit Sydney with a tracheal tube to help her breathing, Bishop Tobin visited Sydney.

As he prayed over her, he held in his hand a relic of Blessed Mother Teresa.

What happened next was remarkable.

Both of Sydney’s parents and Bishop Tobin witnessed the young girl’s body convulse during the prayers for her recovery.

“Very quickly after that, she got well,” Michele said of her daughter’s health. “He did the blessing and she didn’t need the tracheotomy.”

While he is cautious about attributing Sydney’s recovery solely to divine intervention, Bishop Tobin says the day he visited her in the hospital was a powerful day indeed.

“I always tend to be skeptical of these divine interventions, but it is very clear to me that something very special happened that day,” Bishop Tobin said.

“When she was blessed with the relic, her body reacted and she opened her eyes,” the bishop recalls.

In order to ensure any possible recurrence of cancer is treated immediately, Sydney must undergo an MRI every three months. Her most recent test showed that she is still in remission.

“Her spirits are great,” Sydney’s dad, Ken, said of his daughter.

Source: catholicnewsagency.com

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