Under Grace not Under Law
"I'm under grace now, I'm no longer under the law, so I don't need to keep God's law, the ten commandments."

This is the most popular phrase I keep hearing with regards to the law of God, and keeping the Bible ten commandments. But what is the truth about being under grace and not under the law? Those professing Christians who claim that we no longer need to keep the law of God, ie, the ten commandments, often quote certain verses from the apostle Paul. One of the most popular verses being in Romans 6:14 ..... 'For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.'

The problem is that the majority of Christians stop right there and ignore the very next verse which says ..... 'What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.' ..... Paul could not be any clearer. Does being under grace give us a licence to carry on in sin? GOD FORBID!! Does being under grace mean we can now commit idolatry, adultery, covet, steal, lie, murder? Of course not! Therefore the Bible ten commandments must still be binding upon every living being. Just think for a moment about the cost of sin.

Think about what Christ Jesus went through for you because of your sin. Paul confirmed in the strongest language he could say, that being under grace DOES NOT give us licence to carry on living a sinful life and ignore the law of God. So what does this mean? Well, if being under grace does not give us licence to sin, then it means that we must NOT sin, and therefore KEEP the ten commandments, the divine law of God. Do you see that? We are either allowed to carry on sinning under grace, or we are not. And Paul confirms that we are NOT allowed to carry on in sin under grace.

It's interesting that the Christians who proclaim the ten commandments to be abolished always quote the apostle Paul's writings. But the apostle Peter says in 2 Peter 3:15-16 that things Paul wrote about are hard to understand. And this is true if you take what Paul said about the law at face value, because Paul "seems" to suggest that we are no longer under the law of God (the ten commandments) whereas other scripture verses clearly say that we SHOULD still keep the ten commandments. Confusing? But if you are learned in Bible scripture then you will understand that Paul when referring to not being under the law, is not talking about the ten commandments.

If we take in the WHOLE council of the New Testament, it clearly teaches us that being under grace actually demands MORE of us.

Think about it this way; Say you were found guilty of murdering someone, and the law of the land sentenced you to death. Can you "work" your way to freedom? No, because you are under the law and it demands your life. The only way you can be free, is if a judge has compassion on you and pardons you. Let's say that happens; A judge comes along and pardons you. You are now under grace and no longer under the law, which demanded your life. You are free!! Now, do you leave thinking, "I'm free!! I found grace with the judge, I'm free to go and commit more crimes, because I'm now under grace, not under the law!" Of course not. Any person with an ounce of gratitude would now go and KEEP the law the best they could. And anyway, does the law of the land now become void because you found grace from the judge? No, the law still stands. Do you see this truth with regards to being under grace, not under law?

Jesus Christ Himself even confirmed His hatred for this false teaching of being free from His law, and being able to carry on living in sin. In the book of Revelation, He reveals to John His hatred for the teachings (doctrine) of the Nicolaitanes ..... Revelation 2:15 .....'So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, which thing I hate.' ..... And what doctrine did the Nicolaitanes teach? They taught that being under grace meant that you could carry on living in sin! Jesus Hates this teaching!

Isaiah 42:21 .....'The LORD is well pleased for his righteousness' sake; he will magnify the law, and make it honourable.'

So what does it mean to not be under law? Well, firstly, as we learned in the previous studies, there were two laws. The divine moral law of God, the ten commandments, and the ceremonial laws that were ADDED to the ten commandments because of sin. Those ceremonial laws were taken away by Christ on the cross and we no longer need to keep those laws, as they contained sacrifices, burnt offerings, feast days etc, which pointed to Jesus, as He became our sacrifice. Another way of not being under the law is the fact that those who are in Christ Jesus are now free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2).

What is the law of sin and death? Is it the ten commandments? Absolutely not. What is our human nature we inherit from Adam and Eve? Sin! And what is the result of sin? Death! (Romans 6:23). That is the basic law of sin and death. But those who are in Christ are now free from that law, because they are under grace, not under the law of sin and death and in Romans 6:23 Paul confirmed that Jesus came to free us from the penalty of sin, which is death. He didn't come to free us from the ten commandments, God's divine, eternal, moral law. He came to free us from sin and death.

Is the Ten Commandments a Righteous Law?
What does it mean to be UN-righteous? Take a look at what Paul said in Romans 1:29-31 .....'Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful.'

Look at the things that Paul is linking with unrighteousness. Are these not things which go against the ten commandments, the moral law of God? How could the saying "under grace, not under the law" mean that we no longer need to keep the ten commandments, and yet breaking the ten commandments would be classed as unrighteousness? It just doesn't make sense. And if we take a look at some other verses from Paul, we will see that being under grace DOESN'T mean we no longer need to keep the ten commandments:

Romans 6:1-2 .....'What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?' ..... Again, Paul says in the strongest language he can that being under grace does NOT give us licence to continue living in sin. How can anyone who has truly accepted Christ continue living in open willfull sin? It's not possible. Now take a look at Romans 7:22-25. You will see Paul pointing out two laws. One righteous, spiritual law, the divine moral law of God found in the ten commandments, and a law of the flesh, which is sin. Now he says that he DELIGHTS in the law of God, which he keeps in His heart, but he also sees another law warring against this spiritual law of God, and that "other" law is the law of sin and death! The law of the flesh, which is our natural fallen state inherited from Adam and Eve. And Paul thanks God for FREEING us from this law of sin and death though our Lord, Christ Jesus.

Romans 8:1-2 .....'There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death' ..... To whom is there no condemnation? To those who are IN Christ Jesus, who DO NOT walk after the flesh. What does it mean to walk after the flesh? To willfully sin, and to think there is no problem with sin! So why would it be a problem to continue living in sin? ..... Romans 8:7 .....'Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.' ..... So if we continue to be "carnally minded", then we will be at war with the Spirit of God, because we are not subjecting ourselves to the law of God, the ten commandments. And what does it mean to continue to be carnally minded? ..... Romans 8:6 .....'For to be carnally minded is death.'

Romans 6:13 .....'Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.' ..... Without the sacrifice of Christ Jesus, we would have been dead in our sins. There would be no hope of the resurrection and no future for us. But now those of us who are in Christ, are "alive from the dead", which means we should yield our bodies as "instrument of righteousness". How do we yield to righteousness? By walking each day with Christ Jesus and being obedient to God's divine moral law, the ten commandments. Take a look at what Paul said about the divine moral law of God:

Romans 7:12 .....'Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.' ..... The divine law of God is holy, just and good. And what did Paul say in another place? ..... Romans 12:9 .....'Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.' ..... Being under grace, we are to hate that which is evil, all sin, and CLING to what is good. What did Paul say is good and just and holy in the previous passage? The law of God!

Revelation 14:12 .....'Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.'

Yes we are under grace, but that doesn't and shouldn't stop us from keeping the law of God found in the Bible ten commandments. We are no longer under the law of sin and death, as Christ Jesus has freed us from this law, the law of the flesh. He paid the full price for our sin, but we should NEVER use His grace as an excuse to carry on living in sin. So the next time you think "Oh I'm under grace not under law", take a look at the WHOLE council of God and think on what Jesus did for you. He gave you a pardon from your death sentence. Are you now going to continue breaking the very law that put you in that death sentence in the first place? Are you going to count the love of Christ so cheaply? May God guide you into His truth about being under His grace.

2 Corinthians 3:7 - Was the Law Engraved in Stone Abolished?

This is one of those gray passages that is grossly misunderstood and abused by the proponents who teach that the Ten Commandments are no longer binding against the clear instructions of Jesus who said we are not only to obey the law but teach it also. (Matthew 5:17-19) Here is the entire passage for 2 Corinthians 3:7.

2 Corinthians 3:3-9 "Being manifested, that you are the epistle of Christ, ministered by us, and written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in the fleshly tables of the heart. And such confidence we have, through Christ, towards God. Not that we are sufficient to think any thing of ourselves, as of ourselves: but our sufficiency is from God. Who also hath made us fit ministers of the new testament, not in the letter, but in the spirit. For the letter killeth, but the spirit quickeneth. Now if the ministration of death, engraven with letters upon stones, was glorious; so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses, for the glory of his countenance, which is made void: How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather in glory? For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more the ministration of justice aboundeth in glory."

The ministration of death [the Ten Commandments points out sin; Romans 7:7, and sin points to death; Romans 6:23] on stone was Glorious and was NOT to be done away. It was the glory on the face of Moses that was done away.

Moses was the minister of the Old Covenant. He gave the people God's instructions on how to keep the Ten Commandments law [detailed requirements on what to do] and what to do when it was broken [Priests and Sacrifices]. This glorious system of ministration was done away with, not the Ten Commandments. Christ ministers the New Covenant. He gives people the Spirit who gives people instructions on how to keep the law [think it, not just do it] and what to do if it is broken [genuinely repent and confess his sins]. Under the New Covenant the law is written in our hearts.

Hebrews 8:10 “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:”

To enable people to internalize His law, to love it and obey it eagerly and willingly, God made this promise. See also 2 Corinthians 3:3 in the above passage in contention.

Ezekiel 36:26-27 “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you shall keep my judgments, and do them.”

The subject is not the doing away with the law or its establishment, but rather, the change of the location of the law from “tables of stone” to the “tables of the heart.” Under Moses' ministration the law was on stones. Under the Holy Spirit's ministration, through Christ, the law is written upon the heart. Christ's ministration of the law is effective because He transfers the law to the heart of the Christian. Then keeping the law becomes a delight and a joyful way of living because the Christian has true love for both God and man. "Thou shalt love the Lord Thy God with all thy heart and all thy soul. Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself".

The surprising Marian hymn the Church gives us for Lent



If you’ve ever prayed the Rosary, odds are good you know the Salve Regina — the Hail, Holy Queen, a prayer passed down to us from the Middle Ages and prayed by the faithful the world over. But you may not know that it’s only one of four Marian Antiphons — prayers to the Blessed Virgin Mother that are recited at the end of night prayer by Catholics everywhere.

Each of the four belongs to a particular season. From Advent through Candlemas, we pray the Alma Redemptoris Mater, during Easter the Regina Caeli, from Pentecost through the end of Ordinary time, it’s the Hail, Holy Queen. And as of yesterday, we’re singing the Ave Regina Caelorum, which is translated in the Liturgy of the Hours as follows:

Hail, Queen of heaven;
hail, Mistress of the Angels;
hail, root of Jesse; hail, the gate
through which the Light rose over the earth.

Rejoice, Virgin most renowned
and of unsurpassed beauty.
Farewell, Lady most comely.
Prevail upon Christ to pity us.

What’s remarkable about the Church’s choice of this hymn for the weeks leading up to Lent and then the seemingly interminable weeks of prayer, fasting and almsgiving, is that there’s nothing particularly dolorous about it. One would expect Lent to be marked by the Stabat Mater, a hymn to Mary at the foot of the Cross. Instead, we have a hymn of joy.

“Ave, Regina,” we sing, echoing the greeting Gabriel offered Our Lady at the Annunciation. Interestingly, this “Ave,” so dully translated “Hail” throughout English prayers, might better be translated, “Rejoice.” “Rejoice!” Gabriel cried to an unsuspecting Mary in Nazareth. And “Rejoice!” we cry here.

Starting on the very day she offered her son as a sacrifice in the Temple, we begin singing to her, asking her to rejoice. As the ashes are traced on our foreheads, a reminder of the death we deserve and the death offered in our stead, we remind Mary—and ourselves—to rejoice.

On days of abstinence, again we sing, “Rejoice!” As we follow our Lord into the city where he will be slain, we grit our teeth and continue our Lenten cry: rejoice! Only on Holy Thursday and Good Friday does the Church allow us to silence what may seem an unnatural refrain. As Jesus is dragged before the Sanhedrin, as he lies dead in the tomb, the joy of the coming resurrection is almost—almost—overshadowed by sorrow. And so we stand in silence beside the Blessed Mother, waiting in hope for the promise to be fulfilled.

Because that has been the reason for our joy all along. As we take a deep breath and get ready for Lent, we focus not on the suffering but on the joy. All through the dreary weeks of February, we call to Mary, to each other, and to ourselves, to rejoice. As we take up our Lenten penance, we fix our eyes on the joy the other side of the cross. When the lack of caffeine or protein or pop music threatens to defeat us, we choose to rejoice. Even as we veil our statues and cry out for Pilate to crucify our king, each night we’re called back to Mary’s side, where we ask her (and ourselves) to choose joy. Because Lent isn’t ultimately about the Cross, it’s ultimately about the resurrection.

Our lives aren’t ultimately about the Cross. Our lives are about the resurrection.

It seems nearly impossible to believe that on some days, when the weight of illness and loneliness and poverty and sin come close to pushing us under. Mary may have felt the same way, knowing what her son was about to endure, watching him suffer as none had ever suffered. And she didn’t paste a Pollyanna grin on her face. No, Mary’s joy wasn’t pretended happiness. Mary’s joy was hope, a deep trust that whatever she might suffer, at the end of it all was an empty tomb and the embrace of her savior.

I imagine myself, while reciting this prayer, standing beside a white-lipped Mary, murmuring to her. “This is awful. But you’re going to be the queen of heaven. This is awful, but think how the angels are about to rejoice. This is awful! But your life has given us the dawn from on high, the Messiah, the Lord of all.“

When we pray this antiphon, I think Mary returns the favor. I think she acknowledges the pain of our lives, but points through Good Friday to Easter Sunday. “Rejoice!” she whispers. “God will work even this for good.”

It’s still a week and a half till Lent, but sometimes I think I need a running start. Would you join me, and millions of Catholics around the world, in committing to pray this antiphon every night from now until the Wednesday of Holy Week? Let it be a reminder: However ugly life might get, there is always something—Someone—to rejoice over.

The Catholic Faith, A Religion of Both Word and Symbol: Guest Article by Veronica Arntz
GREGORY DIPIPPO

Once again, we are very happy to share a guest article by Veronica Arntz with our readers. Veronica earned her Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts from Wyoming Catholic College, and is currently pursuing her Master of Arts in Theology at the Augustine Institute.
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only-begotten Son from the Father.” In the fullness of time, the Son of God took on human flesh and became one of us in all things but sin. Christ, the Word of God, walked on this earth, talked with men, performed miracles, and gave us the teachings of the New Covenant. As the Second Vatican Council’s document Dei Verbum comments,
This plan of revelation [of God] is realized by deeds and words having an inner unity: the deeds wrought by God in the history of salvation manifest and confirm the teaching and realities signified by the words, while the words proclaim the deeds and clarify the mystery contained in them. By this revelation, then, the deepest truth about God and the salvation of man shines out for our sake in Christ, who is both the mediator and the fullness of all revelation (art. 2).
As such, it would be impossible to accuse the Catholic Church of being a religion either entirely of words or entirely of symbols (as revealed in deeds or actions). Rather, because of the Incarnation, the Catholic faith is a religion of both word and symbol, which is particularly expressed in her sacred liturgy—both in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Divine Office.


Candlemas celebrated this past Friday by His Excellency Robert Morlino, Bishop of Madison, Wisconsin. (Courtesy of the Tridentine Mass Society of Madison.)

How is the Catholic Faith a religion of the word? This is realized in the fact that the Word of God, Christ, became flesh. Christ himself is the wisdom that fashioned the universe (Wisdom 7:22); he spoke, and the whole world came to be in an instance. It is for this reason that John’s prologue begins with the following, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made” (John 1:1-3). The Gospel writer recalls the opening words of Genesis 1:1, and he unites God the Creator and the Word of God—they are indeed one. Thus, as Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI frequently wrote, the world came to be through creative Reason. As he states in Verbum Domini,

Creation is born of the Logos and indelibly bears the mark of the creative Reason which orders and directs it; with joy-filled certainty the psalms sing, “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all their host by the breath of his mouth” (Ps 33:6); and again, “he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood forth” (Ps 33:9) (art. 8).

The Word spoke, and all things in creation are like his words, revealing the mystery of the Creator through their diversity.

Furthermore, we can understand “word” in a more literal sense; indeed, the above passage will support what we mean when we say that the Catholic faith is also a religion of symbol. Christ spoke words to his disciples, mostly through parables and recounting the words of the Old Covenant, so that they might come to deeper knowledge of himself and his teachings. As He himself says, “I have come as light into the world, that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.…He who rejects me and does not receive my sayings has a judge; the word that I have spoken will be his judge on the last day. For I have spoken on my own authority; the Father who sent me has himself given me commandment what to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life.” (John 12:46, 48-50)

In other words, those who do not listen to the words that Christ has spoken will be their own judge, because through his words, Christ is proclaiming eternal life and the way to attain that life. Christ, as the Word, is the source of all other words—he is the source of all Truth, which is why the Scriptures are composed of divinely inspired words. The disciples transmitted Christ’s teachings through words, first through oral tradition, and then through words written down in the Scriptures. Therefore, the words of the Catholic faith are essential for understanding what the Apostles taught, which was given to them by Christ himself.

The Catholic Church continues to use words as she defines dogmas, which are already contained within the words of Scripture. While it is true that words, being mere convention, do not fully convey the reality of a thing, and in some sense fall short of the reality, they are still necessary in order to give thought and shape to the truth. Indeed, some words are closer to the truth of reality than others are, which is why the Church is careful and precise when she defines dogma. For example, one thinks of the early Christological debate involving the words, homoousios (same substance) and homoiousios (similar substance). At first glance, these words might not seem to be so different, but when describing the one substance of the Father and the Son of God, the extra letter makes all the difference. Moreover, she uses words in her liturgies, to pray to God and give him thanksgiving and praise for all he has done for us.


The singing of the Gospel during a solemn Mass in the Ambrosian Rite, part of last year’s Sacra Liturgia conference in Milan. (© Sacra Liturgia)

As we have already hinted, the Catholic faith is not simply about words—it is not simply a rationalist religion. Rather, it is rich in symbols and in typology, revealed through Christ’s action and fulfillment of the Old Covenant. Yet the words and the symbols are directly related; in the Church today, Dr. Peter Kwasniewski writes that we are experiencing “spiritual illiteracy.” “Once the language of symbols is abolished [as occurred with the iconoclasm following the Second Vatican Council], the people cannot read the symbols any more, and are therefore cut off in principle from access to the riches of the Church.” Here he speaks of understanding symbols in literary language: the symbols of the Church are to be read, and thereby understood. In other words, symbols are rich in meaning, which means that we can “read” multiple layers of significance in them. As he continues, “Up until quite recently, Catholics grew up with the language of the Church—her pageantry of symbols, her liturgical rites and special music and cycle of feasts and fasts, her catechism.” Dr. Kwasniewski laments that these symbols are foreign to many Catholics, because they have not been fully initiated into the use and understanding of them.

What, then, is a symbol? A symbol is a sign that points beyond itself to a greater meaning. Within the Sacred Scriptures, we find many symbols that point forward to the coming of Christ. For example, Moses is a symbol, or a type, of Jesus Christ, because he is the giver of the law to the people of Israel. Moreover, he speaks with God face-to-face, as with a friend (Exod 30:11). Moses, therefore, is a type of Christ, because Christ is the giver of the New Law of the New Covenant, and in Christ, we behold the face of God. Since Christ became incarnate, God now has a human face, and we can speak to him as Moses did with God on the mountain. “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17). The Crucifix is also a symbol for the Catholic faith, a sign of Christ’s sacrifice for the redemption of mankind; every time we see one, we are reminded of Christ’s sacrifice, and our sinful human nature.

In the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, symbol and word are united. In the Asperges me, the choir chants the words of the hymn that describe our cleansing from sin: “Thou shalt sprinkle me, O Lord, with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed; Thou shalt wash me, and I shall become whiter than snow. Have mercy on me, O God, according to Thy great mercy.” Meanwhile, the priest sprinkles the people with baptismal water, a rewashing in the waters of baptism to be cleansed from sin. The incensing of the altar symbolizes the Offertory itself; the incense rises like a prayer to the heavens, the prayerful act of the faithful and the priest that God might bestow his mercy on them and on the whole world. The Mass ends with the Last Gospel, the Prologue of the Gospel of John, which reminds the faithful to give praise and thanksgiving to the Incarnate Word, who by his Passion, Death, and Resurrection brought salvation to all who would choose to follow him.

Moreover, the vestments, the polyphony, the architecture—all of these symbols are meant to point to Christ, the Word Incarnate. In so many of our modern churches, we see what Kwasniewski writes of in the article cited above: a removal of so many of the Church’s beautiful symbols, to the point that very few people can recognize them anymore or their significance. Altar rails, ornate statues, baldacchinos, among many other things, were removed from the churches shortly after the Second Vatican Council. This meant that they were absent from the consciousness of the people, and have been so for a whole generation or more. These traditions of the Church, all of which were oriented toward giving glory to God, were replaced with postmodern pseudo-decorations, which did not point the worshipper to Christ, but rather, back to himself. The idea was to make everything within the Church more comprehensible by modern man, but by making everything so understandable, the worshipper has since lost interest, because he is surrounded by those things he encounters on a daily basis. Rather than being elevated to the sublime, the modern worshipper encounters only those things he sees in his daily life at the office and in the world. Thus, when the Church fully unites her tradition of symbols and her tradition of words in the Mass, she is able to speak to man’s deepest longing to be united with God, who transcends him and his mundane activities.



What does this mean for the Church in the postmodern world? The Church ought to embrace the fullness of her traditions, both in her words and in her symbols. Because of Christ’s Incarnation, she is able to speak through both words and symbols—Christ gives meaning to both of them. The Church can do a great service to the people if she returns to the fullness of words and symbols, for the people are starved for meaning in their churches and their liturgies. Rather than catering to the needs of “modern man”, the Church can give him the richness and deepness of her traditions, most especially realized in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

Traditionally, each Friday in Lent is dedicated in a special way to some aspect of the Passion. This first friday in Lent is dedicated to the Crown of Thorns.

Dear Lord, I am grieved when I consider Your sad condition when You wore the Crown of Thorns upon Your Holy Head.
I desire to withdraw the thorns by offering to the Eternal Father the merits of Your Wounds for the salvation of sinners. I wish to unite my actions to the merits of Your Most Holy Crown, so that they may gain many merits, as You have promised. Amen.

Reward and Merit


Paul tells us: "For [God] will reward every man according to his works: to those who by perseverance in working good seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. There will be . . . glory and honor and peace for every one who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality" (Rom. 2:6–11; cf. Gal. 6:6–10).

In the second century, the technical Latin term for "merit" was introduced as a synonym for the Greek word for "reward." Thus merit and reward are two sides of the same coin.

Protestants often misunderstand the Catholic teaching on merit, thinking that Catholics believe that one must do good works to come to God and be saved. This is exactly the opposite of what the Church teaches. The Council of Trent stressed: "[N]one of those things which precede justification, whether faith or works, merit the grace of justification; for if it is by grace, it is not now by works; otherwise, as the Apostle [Paul] says, grace is no more grace" (Decree on Justification 8, citing Rom. 11:6).

The Catholic Church teaches only Christ is capable of meriting in the strict sense—mere man cannot (Catechism of the Catholic Church 2007). The most merit humans can have is condign—when, under the impetus of God’s grace, they perform acts which please him and which he has promised to reward (Rom. 2:6–11, Gal. 6:6–10). Thus God’s grace and his promise form the foundation for all human merit (CCC 2008).

Virtually all of this is agreed to by Protestants, who recognize that, under the impetus of God’s grace, Christians do perform acts which are pleasing to God and which God has promised to reward, meaning that they fit the definition of merit. When faced with this, Protestants are forced to admit the truth of the Catholic position—although, contrary to Paul’s command (2 Tim. 2:14), they may still dispute the terminology.

Thus the Lutheran Book of Concord admits: "We are not putting forward an empty quibble about the term ‘reward.’ . . . We grant that eternal life is a reward because it is something that is owed—not because of our merits [in the strict sense] but because of the promise [of God]. We have shown above that justification is strictly a gift of God; it is a thing promised. To this gift the promise of eternal life has been added" (p. 162).

The following passages illustrate what the Church Fathers had to say on the relationship between merit and grace.



Ignatius of Antioch



"Be pleasing to him whose soldiers you are, and whose pay you receive. May none of you be found to be a deserter. Let your baptism be your armament, your faith your helmet, your love your spear, your endurance your full suit of armor. Let your works be as your deposited withholdings, so that you may receive the back-pay which has accrued to you" (Letter to Polycarp 6:2 [A.D. 110]).



Justin Martyr



"We have learned from the prophets and we hold it as true that punishments and chastisements and good rewards are distributed according to the merit of each man’s actions. Were this not the case, and were all things to happen according to the decree of fate, there would be nothing at all in our power. If fate decrees that this man is to be good and that one wicked, then neither is the former to be praised nor the latter to be blamed" (First Apology 43 [A.D. 151]).



Tatian the Syrian



"[T]he wicked man is justly punished, having become depraved of himself; and the just man is worthy of praise for his honest deeds, since it was in his free choice that he did not transgress the will of God" (Address to the Greeks 7 [A.D. 170]).



Athenagoras



"And we shall make no mistake in saying, that the [goal] of an intelligent life and rational judgment, is to be occupied uninterruptedly with those objects to which the natural reason is chiefly and primarily adapted, and to delight unceasingly in the contemplation of Him Who Is, and of his decrees, notwithstanding that the majority of men, because they are affected too passionately and too violently by things below, pass through life without attaining this object. For . . . the examination relates to individuals, and the reward or punishment of lives ill or well spent is proportioned to the merit of each" (The Resurrection of the Dead 25 [A.D. 178]).



Theophilus of Antioch



"He who gave the mouth for speech and formed the ears for hearing and made eyes for seeing will examine everything and will judge justly, granting recompense to each according to merit. To those who seek immortality by the patient exercise of good works [Rom. 2:7], he will give everlasting life, joy, peace, rest, and all good things, which neither eye has seen nor ear has heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man [1 Cor. 2:9]. For the unbelievers and the contemptuous and for those who do not submit to the truth but assent to iniquity . . . there will be wrath and indignation [Rom. 2:8]" (To Autolycus 1:14 [A.D. 181]).



Irenaeus



"[Paul], an able wrestler, urges us on in the struggle for immortality, so that we may receive a crown and so that we may regard as a precious crown that which we acquire by our own struggle and which does not grow upon us spontaneously. . . . Those things which come to us spontaneously are not loved as much as those which are obtained by anxious care" (Against Heresies4:37:7 [A.D. 189]).



Tertullian



"Again, we [Christians] affirm that a judgment has been ordained by God according to the merits of every man" (To the Nations 19 [A.D. 195]).

"In former times the Jews enjoyed much of God’s favor, when the fathers of their race were noted for their righteousness and faith. So it was that as a people they flourished greatly, and their kingdom attained to a lofty eminence; and so highly blessed were they, that for their instruction God spoke to them in special revelations, pointing out to them beforehand how they should merit his favor and avoid his displeasure" (Apology 21 [A.D. 197]).

"A good deed has God for its debtor [cf. Prov. 19:17], just as also an evil one; for a judge is the rewarder in every case [cf. Rom. 13:3–4]" (Repentance 2:11 [A.D. 203]).



Hippolytus



"Standing before [Christ’s] judgment, all of them, men, angels, and demons, crying out in one voice, shall say: ‘Just is your judgment,’ and the justice of that cry will be apparent in the recompense made to each. To those who have done well, everlasting enjoyment shall be given; while to lovers of evil shall be given eternal punishment" (Against the Greeks 3 [A.D. 212]).



Cyprian of Carthage



"The Lord denounces [Christian evildoers], and says, ‘Many shall say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, and in your name have cast out devils, and in your name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, you who work iniquity’ [Matt. 7:21–23]. There is need of righteousness, that one may deserve well of God the Judge; we must obey his precepts and warnings, that our merits may receive their reward" (The Unity of the Catholic Church 15, 1st ed. [A.D. 251]).

"[Y]ou who are a matron rich and wealthy, anoint not your eyes with the antimony of the devil, but with the collyrium of Christ, so that you may at last come to see God, when you have merited before God both by your works and by your manner of living" (Works and Almsgivings 14 [A.D. 253]).



Lactantius



"Let every one train himself to righteousness, mold himself to self-restraint, prepare himself for the contest, equip himself for virtue . . . [and] in his uprightness acknowledge the true and only God, may cast away pleasures, by the attractions of which the lofty soul is depressed to the earth, may hold fast innocence, may be of service to as many as possible, may gain for himself incorruptible treasures by good works, that he may be able, with God for his judge, to gain for the merits of his virtue either the crown of faith, or the reward of immortality" (Epitome of the Divine Institutes 73 [A.D. 317]).



Cyril of Jerusalem



"The root of every good work is the hope of the resurrection, for the expectation of a reward nerves the soul to good work. Every laborer is prepared to endure the toils if he looks forward to the reward of these toils" (Catechetical Lectures 18:1 [A.D. 350]).



Jerome



"It is our task, according to our different virtues, to prepare for ourselves different rewards. . . . If we were all going to be equal in heaven it would be useless for us to humble ourselves here in order to have a greater place there. . . . Why should virgins persevere? Why should widows toil? Why should married women be content? Let us all sin, and after we repent we shall be the same as the apostles are!" (Against Jovinian 2:32 [A.D. 393]).



Augustine



"We are commanded to live righteously, and the reward is set before us of our meriting to live happily in eternity. But who is able to live righteously and do good works unless he has been justified by faith?" (Various Questions to Simplician 1:2:21 [A.D. 396]).

"He bestowed forgiveness; the crown he will pay out. Of forgiveness he is the donor; of the crown, he is the debtor. Why debtor? Did he receive something? . . . The Lord made himself a debtor not by receiving something but by promising something. One does not say to him, ‘Pay for what you received,’ but ‘Pay what you promised’" (Explanations of the Psalms 83:16 [A.D. 405]).

"What merits of his own has the saved to boast of when, if he were dealt with according to his merits, he would be nothing if not damned? Have the just then no merits at all? Of course they do, for they are the just. But they had no merits by which they were made just" (Letters 194:3:6 [A.D. 412]).

"What merit, then, does a man have before grace, by which he might receive grace, when our every good merit is produced in us only by grace and when God, crowning our merits, crowns nothing else but his own gifts to us?" (ibid., 194:5:19).



Prosper of Aquitaine



"Indeed, a man who has been justified, that is, who from impious has been made pious, since he had no antecedent good merit, receives a gift, by which gift he may also acquire merit. Thus, what was begun in him by Christ’s grace can also be augmented by the industry of his free choice, but never in the absence of God’s help, without which no one is able either to progress or to continue in doing good" (Responses on Behalf of Augustine 6 [A.D. 431]).



Sechnall of Ireland



"Hear, all you who love God, the holy merits of Patrick the bishop, a man blessed in Christ; how, for his good deeds, he is likened unto the angels, and, for his perfect life, he is comparable to the apostles" (Hymn in Praise of St. Patrick 1 [A.D. 444]).



Council of Orange II



"[G]race is preceded by no merits. A reward is due to good works, if they are performed, but grace, which is not due, precedes [good works], that they may be done" (Canons on grace 19 [A.D. 529]).


NIHIL OBSTAT: I have concluded that the materials
presented in this work are free of doctrinal or moral errors.
Bernadeane Carr, STL, Censor Librorum, August 10, 2004

IMPRIMATUR: In accord with 1983 CIC 827
permission to publish this work is hereby granted.
+Robert H. Brom, Bishop of San Diego, August 10, 2004

The Second Friday in Lent is dedicated to the Holy Lance and Nails.



The Sacred Lance and Nails of Our Lord Jesus Christ
Friday after the First Sunday of Lent
Mass Said in Some Places

Introit: Ps. xxi: 17-18 et 15
They have pierced my hands and my feet: they have numbered all my bones: and I am poured out as water [Ps. Ibid., 15] My heart has become like wax melting away within my bosom. Glory be.... They have pierced.

Collect
O God, who in assuming flesh was afflicted by the Nails, and didst will to be wounded by the Lance for the salvation of the world: grant, we beseech Thee; that we who solemnly venerate the Nails and Lance on earth, may enjoy the glorious triumph of victory in heaven. Thou who livest and reignest.....

A Reading From The Prophet Zacharia
xii: 10-11; xiii: 6-7
Thus saith the Lord: And I will pour out upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace, and of prayers: and they shall look upon me, whom they have pierced: and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for an only son, and they shall grieve over him, as the manner is to grieve for the death of the firstborn. In that day there shall be a great lamentation in Jerusalem. And they shall say to him: What are these wounds in the midst of thy hands? And he shall say: With these I was wounded in the house of them that loved me. Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that cleaveth to me, saith the Lord of hosts: strike the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn my hand to the little ones: saith the Lord almighty.

Gradual: Ps. lxviii: 21-22
Insult has broken my heart, and I am weak, I looked for sympathy, but there was none; for comforters, and I found none. Rather they put gall in my food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

Tract: Isaias: liii: 4-5
Surely He hath borne our infirmities and carried our sorrows: and we have thought Him, as it were, a leper, and as one struck by God and afflicted. But He was wounded for our iniquities, He was bruised for our sins: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His bruises we were healed.

In Masses outside of Lent the tract is omitted and replaced by:
Alleluia, Alleluia. Hail, our King: Thou alone art merciful in spite of our errors: Obedient to the Father Thou wert led to be crucified, as a humble lamb to the slaughter. Alleluia

During Paschaltide:
Alleluia, Alleluia. Hail, our King: Thou alone art merciful in spite of our errors: Obedient to the Father Thou wert led to be crucified, as a humble lamb to the slaughter. Alleluia To Thee be glory, hosanna: to Thee be triumph and victory: to Thee be the highest praise and the crown of honor. Alleluia.

Gospel: John xix: 28-35
†
The continuation of the holy Gospel according to John:
Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, said: «I thirst.» Now there was a vessel set there, full of vinegar. And they, putting a sponge full of vinegar and hyssop, put it to his mouth. Jesus therefore, when He had taken the vinegar, said: «It is consummated.» And bowing His head, He gave up the ghost. Then the Jews (because it was the parasceve), that the bodies might not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day (for that was a great sabbath day), besought Pilate that their legs might be broken: and that they might be taken away. The soldiers therefore came: and they broke the legs of the first, and of the other that was crucified with him. But after they were come to Jesus, when they saw that He was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers with a spear opened His side: and immediately there came out blood and water. And he that saw it hath given testimony: and his testimony is true.

Offertory
Evil men rose up against Me: without mercy they sought to kill Me: they did not hesitate to spit in My face: with their lances they wounded Me, and they have struck all My bones.

Secret
Sanctify us O Lord, we beseech Thee, with this holy and immaculate evening sacrifice: which Thine only-begotten Son offered on the Cross for the salvation of the world. Thou who livest and reignest....

Preface of the Holy Cross
It is truly meet and just, right and availing unto salvation, that we should in all times and in all places give thanks unto Thee, O holy Lord, Father almighty and everlasting God. Who didst set the salvation of mankind upon the tree of the Cross, so that whence came death, thence also life might rise again, and that he who overcame by the tree might also be overcome on the tree; through Christ our Lord. Through whom the angels praise Thy majesty, the dominations adore, the powers are in awe, the virtues of highest heaven and the blessed seraphim unite in blissful exultation. With them we praise Thee; grant that our voices too may blend, saying in adoring praise

Communion
The looked upon Him whom they have pierced, when they shook the foundations of the earth.

Postcommunion:
Lord Jesus Christ, who didst spontaneously offer Thyself on the Cross as an immaculate holocaust to God the Father; we beseech Thee; that from this same sacrifice we may obtain Thine indulgence, and eternal glory. Thou who livest and reignest with the same God the Father....

Exorcists Explain Ireland’s Rise in Demonic Activity
When confession lines grow short, demonic activity increases
By Patti Armstrong



For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. It’s Isaac Newton’s Third Law of Motion. If you push a large rock up a hill, it will exert an equal force back on you.

Is there a similar law for the supernatural world? Absolutely. Walk away from God and the devil will meet with no resistance when he comes at you. It is the reason that Fr. Vincent Lampert, the designated exorcist for the archdiocese of Indianapolis, said in an interview for a previous article that if a person wants nothing to do with God, he cannot help, but if you go to Mass and receive the sacraments, the devil is already on the run. It is not an equal reaction, however. “The power of God is greater than the power of evil,” Father Lampert said.

That brings us to Ireland. During the last two decades, the Catholic influence has melted away in the land that St. Patrick converted from paganism. At the same time, demonic activity has increased. Coincidence? Of course not.

Secularism and consumerism have overtaken religiousness but also, scandals in the Church have shown once again that when the devil influences a cleric to abuse, there is always more than one victim. There is the physical victim and there is the Church, whose teachings get rejected based on the behavior of sinful men. Even in death, God-less funerals have risen dramatically in the post-Catholic culture.

Being Irish Catholic went from being a badge of honor to disdained. The truth and the power of the Church is no less, just less people are willing to listen. It is a logical spiritual reaction that demonic activity is now on the rise.



Signs of the Times

One sign is the growing pro-abortion mood in Ireland. This May, the traditionally pro-life country, will have a referendum for the repeal of the Irish Constitution’s Eight Amendment which recognizes unborn babies as human beings. Ireland’s prime minister has declared he will campaign to have it repealed. The devil makes war on God’s creation through the wombs of mothers by influencing people to push for abortion.

The devil is both hidden and influencing people and harassing some of them. In The Irish Catholic, Fr. Pat Collins, a renowned exorcist, said that in recent years, demonic activity has risen exponentially. He has called on Church leaders to appoint a team of exorcists to cope with what he sees as a rising tide of evil in the country.

Father Collins reported that he is “inundated almost daily with desperate people seeking his help to deal with what they believe to be demonic possession and other evil goings on.” People are claiming to have ghostly encounters, being pulled from their beds, and even full-blown possession.

The good news is that people are turning to the Church for help. The bad news is that the bishops have been slow to respond by training more priests to be exorcists. “The Church doesn’t know what to do with them and they refer them on either to a psychologist or to somebody that they’ve heard of that is interested in this form of ministry, and they do fall between the cracks and often are not helped,” Father Collins said. He has written an open letter to the Church hierarchy. I hope that bishops will respond. I also hope that his plea will get people to rethink the Church.



It All Goes Back to Confession Lines

Msgr. John Esseff, a priest in the diocese of Scranton, Pennsylvania, for 65 years and an exorcist for over 40 years, said that Ireland has now gone the way of other European countries that have walked away from the Catholic Church. As a result, fewer people are frequenting the sacrament of confession, which he said is worth more than 100 exorcisms; one imparts sacramental grace and the other is a blessing to move a person back to the sacraments. When confession lines grow short, demonic activity increases, according to him.

“Since Vatican II with the decline in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, we’ve seen not just an increase in abortion but also in personal sin which is the primary work of the devil,” Msgr. Esseff said. “This has been true all over the world where the Church has declined.”

We need a personal awareness of sin because sin is the greatest evil, he explained. “Sin is a far greater evil than the devil,” Msgr. Esseff said. “The devil is outside of us. Even in a possession, he cannot possess the soul.” According to him, the work of Satan as we are told in the Our Father, is temptation. “Even though we’ve been redeemed with the union we have with Christ, sin robs us of the greatest gift that we have which is grace. We have a capacity to live like Jesus, who told us, ‘What I have done, you will do and even greater.’”

Through an awareness of who we are, Msgr. Esseff said we can participate in the life of Jesus and become united to him. He explained that we separate ourselves from Jesus through our sin which is why we confess at the beginning of every Mass through praying the Confiteor: “I confess to almighty God and to you, my brothers and sisters, that I have greatly sinned…”

“The more we make the sacrament of reconciliation, the less we will have demonic activity,” he said. “It takes away the scum and the dirt of sin that opens us up to the devil.”

The mercy and love of God is there for the sinner but acknowledging that we are sinners is being covered up, Msgr. Esseff explained. “We are almost proud of it and we display it in society, and it’s not just in Ireland. We need to recognize that the culprit is sin and realize it is the greatest evil.”

Copyright © 2018 EWTN News, Inc. All rights reserved.

The Friday after the 2nd Sunday of Lent is dedicated to the Holy Winding Sheet of Christ (now commonly called the Holy Shroud)





O God, who in the holy winding-sheet in which thy most sacred body was wrapped by Joseph when it was taken down from the cross, hast left us a memorial of thy passion, mercifully grant that, by thy death and burial, we may be brought to the glory of thy resurrection.

The Friday after the 3rd Sunday of Lent is dedicated to the Five Holy Wounds of Christ.

The five wounds comprised one through each hand or wrist, one through each foot, and one to the chest.

Two of the wounds were through either his hands or his wrists, where nails were inserted to fix Jesus to the cross-beam of the cross on which he was crucified.
Two were through the feet where the nail(s) passed through both to the vertical beam.
The final wound was in the side of Jesus' chest, where, according to the New Testament, his body was pierced by the Holy Lance in order to be sure that he was dead. The Gospel of John states that blood and water poured out of this wound (John 19:34). Although the Gospels do not specify on which side he was wounded, it was conventionally shown in art as being on Jesus's proper right side, though some depictions, notably a number by Rubens, show it on the proper left.





Isaias 53:3-5: "Despised, and the most abject of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with infirmity: and His look was as it were hidden and despised, whereupon we esteemed Him not. Surely He hath borne our infirmities and carried our sorrows: and we have thought Him as it were a leper, and as one struck by God and afflicted. But He was wounded for our iniquities, He was bruised for our sins: the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by His bruises we are healed."

John 20:27-28: "Then He saith to Thomas: Put in thy finger hither, and see My Hands; and bring hither thy hand, and put it into My side; and be not faithless, but believing. Thomas answered, and said to Him: My Lord, and my God."

Because of His Wounds, because His Sacred, Precious Blood was spilt, you have the opportunity to see the Face of God. That's Christianity in a nutshell, something that every Christian knows, but too few truly ponder enough. Of course, we Catholics have always meditated on Christ's Passion -- each Mass is a re-presentation of His Sacrifice, and, in addition, the Stations of the Cross is a standard Lenten devotion, and the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary remind us of what He went through for us. But we also have another devotion available to us, one that helps us meditate more concretely on His sufferings: devotion to His Five Sacred Wounds.

The five main wounds He suffered, though -- the wound in each Foot, the wound in each Hand, and the wound in His side caused by St. Longinus's lance -- are symbolic of all the wounds, and special devotion to them arose very early on. St. John the Divine is said to have appeared to Pope Boniface II (d. A.D. 532) and revealed a special Mass -- the "Golden Mass" -- in honor of Christ's Five Wounds, and it is the effect of these Five Wounds that are most often produced in the bodies of the men and women who imitate Him best -- the stigmatics. St. Francis being the first of these, his spiritual daughter, St. Clare, developed a strong devotion to the Five Wounds, as did the Benedictine St. Gertrude the Great, and others.

Honor is shown to these Sacred Wounds in many small ways, too -- from the 5 grains of incense inserted into the Paschal Candle, to the custom of dedicating each Pater said in the body of the Dominican Rosary to one of the Five Wounds. They are symbolized in art by the Jerusalem Cross, 5 circles on a Cross, 5 roses, and the 5-pointed star, and they are seen as symbolized by many things in nature -- from the stamens of the Passion Flower, the 5 seeds found in the almost perfect 5-pointed star in a cross-sectioned apple, to the Sand Dollar. And there are special prayers to honor them, too.


Prayer in Honor of the Five Wounds
Act of Contrition

As I kneel before Thee on the cross, most loving Saviour of my soul, my conscience reproaches me with having nailed Thee to that cross with these hands of mine, as often as I have fallen into mortal sin, wearying Thee with my base ingratitude. My God, my chief and perfect good, worthy of all my love, because Thou hast loaded me with blessings; I cannot now undo my misdeeds, as I would most willingly; but I loathe them, grieving sincerely for having offended Thee, Who art infinite goodness. And now, kneeling at Thy feet, I try, at least, to compassionate Thee, to give Thee thanks, to ask Thee pardon and contrition; wherefore with my heart and lips, I say:

To the Wound of the Left Foot

Holy wound of the left foot of my Jesus, I adore Thee; I compassionate Thee, O Jesus, for the most bitter pain which Thou didst suffer. I thank Thee for the love whereby Thou laboured to overtake me on the way to ruin, and didst bleed amid the thorns and brambles of my sins. I offer to the Eternal Father the pain and love of Thy most holy humanity, in atonement for my sins, all of which I detest with sincere and bitter contrition.

Recite one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and one Glory Be

Holy Mother, pierce me through,
In my heart each wound renew
Of my Saviour crucified.

To the Wound of the Right Foot

Holy wound of the right foot of my Jesus, I adore Thee; I compassionate Thee, O Jesus, for the most bitter pain which Thou didst suffer. I thank Thee for that love which pierced Thee with such torture and shedding of blood, in order to punish my wanderings and the guilty pleasures I have granted to my unbridled passions. I offer the Eternal Father all the pain and love of Thy most holy humanity, and I pray Thee for grace to weep over my sins with hot tears, and to enable me to persevere in the good which I have begun, without ever swerving again from my obedience to the divine commands.

Recite one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and one Glory Be

Holy Mother, pierce me through,
In my heart each wound renew
Of my Saviour crucified.

To the Wound of the Left Hand

Holy wound of the left hand of my Jesus, I adore Thee; I compassionate Thee, O Jesus, for the most bitter pain which Thou didst suffer. I thank Thee for having in Thy love spared me the scourges and eternal damnation which my sins have merited. I offer to the Eternal Father the pain and love of They most holy humanity: and I pray Thee to teach me how to turn to good account my span of life, and bring forth in it worthy fruits of penance, and to disarm the justice of God, which I have provoked.

Recite one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and one Glory Be

Holy Mother, pierce me through,
In my heart each wound renew
Of my Saviour crucified.

To the Wound of the Right Hand

Holy wound of the right hand of my Jesus, I adore Thee; I compassionate Thee, O Jesus, for the most bitter pain which Thou didst suffer. I thank Thee for Thy graces lavished on me with such love, in spite of all my most perverse obstinacy. I offer to the Eternal Father all the pain and love of Thy most holy humanity; and I pray Thee to change my heart and its affections, and make me do all my actions in accordance with the will of God.

Recite one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and one Glory Be

Holy Mother, pierce me through,
In my heart each wound renew
Of my Saviour crucified.

To the Wound of the Sacred Side

Holy wound in the side of my Jesus, I adore Thee; I compassionate Thee, O Jesus, for the cruel insult Thou didst suffer. I thank Thee, my Jesus, for the love which suffered Thy side and Heart to be pierced, so that the last drops of blood and water might issue forth, making my redemption to overflow. I offer to the Eternal Father this outrage, and the love of Thy most holy humanity, that my soul may enter once for all into that most loving Heart, eager and ready to receive the greatest sinners, and never more depart.

Recite one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and one Glory Be

Holy Mother, pierce me through,
In my heart each wound renew
Of my Saviour crucified.

Please go ahead and start some topics for discussion if you wish.

Show Us Thy Face and We Shall Be Saved
The experience is probably a common one. You find yourself out in public and see a person from the back or side and say to yourself, “Hey, that’s Mike! (or Sarah, Ted, Mary, etc.),” only to discover when the person turns that you behold the face of a stranger. The shape of the head, the hair, or some other accidental resemblance threw you off, but the face gave it away. This was a stranger. Because if there is anything you can recognize in your friend, it’s his face.

The face reveals us, and that at different levels. Those who know us best can often read our emotions and deepest thoughts in our face.

In paragraph eight of the recent document published by the CDF, Placuit Deo, we read, “The good news of salvation has a name and a face: Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior.”



Indeed, it has. There is a long Christian tradition of devotion to the Holy Face of Our Lord, rooted, as so much of the Religion is, in the Messianic hopes of Israel. There are four Psalms wherein king David begs God to “turn not away thy face” either “from me” or “from thy servant” (26:9, 68:18, 101:3, 142:7). Elsewhere, the Psalmist says, “Convert us, O God: and shew us thy face, and we shall be saved” (79:4, cf. vs. 8, 20); and “Make thy face to shine upon thy servant; save me in thy mercy” (30:17). This is but a small catalogue of such “facial” references to God in the Psalter.

The Aaronic priests of the Old Testament offered a trinitarian form of blessing in these words: “The Lord bless thee, and keep thee. The Lord shew his face to thee, and have mercy on thee. The Lord turn his countenance to thee, and give thee peace.” (Num. 6:24-26). Note the second invocation, italicized here; it is obviously a foreshadowing of the Incarnation, when the mercy of God would deign to grace the world with a human face that really shows us the Lord.

“He that seeth me seeth the Father also” (John 14:9) said Jesus, whom Saint Paul called, “the image [εἰκὼν, icon] of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15), and concerning whom that same Apostle says that God deigned to shine in our hearts “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Christ Jesus” (2 Cor. 4:6).

In the sixth century, that Holy Face became the object of a particular devotion when the Mandylion of Edessa was discovered stored in the walls of that Syrian city while they were being repaired. The image was associated by the populace with accounts of King Agbar of Edessa, who was brought an image of Christ by Saint Jude Thaddeus to cure him of his ailments. (It is owning to this story that Saint Jude is so often portrayed with an image of Our Lord). Eusebius of Caesaria, the fourth-century Church historian, wrote of Saint Jude’s delivery of the image to Agbar as a fact, and so did other ecclesiastical writers. Both Saint John Damascene (d. 749), and Pope Gregory II (d. 731) took the account to be a true one.

This image, counted an acheiropoieton (αχειροποιητον, that is, “not made with hands”) was eventually moved to Constantinople, and thence (after the terrible sack of that city by the Crusaders) to France. There are those who believe that this Mandylion is none other than the Shroud of Turin, a case which is made on the website of the Melkite Greek Catholic Eparchy of Newton.

The possible identity of the Mandylion with the Shroud aside, the former served as a model for icons of the Holy Face of Christ for a very long time, and seems to have impacted the art of iconography wherever it traveled (the same is said of the Shroud). A whole genre of icon derives from the Mandylion, of which a beautiful example is the Image of the Savior Made Without Hands by Simon Ushakov.

Images of the Holy Face have long been associated with the Basilica of the Holy Savior in Rome (known also as Saint John Lateran), and likenesses of that Face as it appears in the apse mosaic are visible on the exteriors of various buildings in the neighborhood of that important Church, which is the Pope’s Cathedral as Bishop of Rome.

Veneration of images of the Holy Face was practiced universally in both the Christian East and West.

In the 1840’s, Sister Marie de Saint-Pierre, a Discalced Carmelite nun in Tours, France, received a series of revelations from Our Lord, who said that He wanted prayers to be offered in reparation for the profanation of Sundays and blasphemies against His Holy Name. The particular reparation He called for involved the adoration of His Holy Face.

Here I wish to draw attention to two things: the very edifying and pious Catholic lawyer, Leo Dupont, who helped spread the devotion and around whom many miracles were worked, and, second, a miracle that happened in Saint Peter’s Basilica the year following Sister Marie de Saint-Pierre’s death in 1848:

In January, 1849, His Holiness Pope Pius IX, ordered that public prayers be offered in all the Churches of Rome to ask for God’s mercy upon the pontifical states. This order was given in Gaeta where the Holy Father had been forced to flee, because of revolutions. The Relic of Veronica’s Veil was exposed for public veneration. On the third day, “through another veil of silk which covers the true relic of Veronica’s Veil, and absolutely prevents the features from being distinguished, the Divine Face appeared distinctly, as if living, and was illumined by a soft light; the features assumed a death-like hue, and the eyes, deep-sunken, wore an expression of great pain.” Copies of the True Image were made and distributed. Some were given to the Prioress of the Benedictines at Arras. She, knowing of the revelations to Sr. Mary of St. Peter, sent a few copies of the Image to the Carmel of Tours. Upon receiving them, the Prioress immediately sent two of them to Leo Dupont.
The exact date of that “third day” was January 6, the feast of the Epiphany, which word means “apparition,” or “manifestation,” something of significance given what we said of the face of a man being that by which chiefly we know him.

The gradual circulation of copies of the Veronica (as the veil itself is known) after the “Miracle of the Vatican” helped to popularize the devotion — especially in France. The images would, in fact, continue to be made and distributed well into the twentieth century. One of the families that joined an Archconfraternity established to honor the Holy Face was the Martin family, who gave us Saint Thérèse of Lisieux. Her full religious name, be it recalled, was Sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, and if we attend to this photo of her (one of several such), we can see that the small “diptych” she holds portrays both the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, the latter image being a replica of the Veronica.

The profundity of Saint Thérèse’s devotion to the Holy Face can be seen in the two prayers and lovely “Canticle” that she composed in Its honor. Her emphasis in the devotion seems to have been on imitation and union, rather than on reparation.

In 1936, the first year of the horrible Spanish Civil War, Our Lord spoke to Blessed Maria Pierina De Micheli, a religious sister who, though an Italian from around Milan, belonged to a religious congregation known as the Daughters of the Immaculate Conception of Buenos Aires. The message she received was once again one of reparation. This time, Our Lord commanded a medal to be struck. The image of the Holy Face on this sacramental is not that of the Veronica. Owing to the amazing 1898 discovery of Secondo Pia in his darkroom, namely, that the Holy Shroud of Turin is dramatically more visible when a photonegative is developed, the image of Christ on the Holy Shroud became more popular than the Veronica. The Shroud was, therefore, the model for the Holy Face medal.

Jesus told Sister Maria Pierina, “I will that My Face, which reflects the intimate pains of My Spirit, the suffering and the love of My Heart, be more honoured. He who meditates upon Me, consoles Me. Every time that My Face is contemplated, I will pour My love into the hearts of men and through My Holy Face will be obtained the salvation of many souls.”

But this grace was hard won. Jesus’ Face was “disfigured” in the Passion. As astonishing as it sounds, that beautiful, luminous, majestic visage was actually made ugly. Saint Alphonsus di Ligouri, in his meditation on the Sixth Station of the Cross (Veronica wipes the Face of Jesus), has us address these words to the Savior:

Thy face was beautiful before, but in this journey it has lost all its beauty, and wounds and blood have disfigured it. Alas, my soul also was once beautiful, when it received Thy grace in Baptism; but I have disfigured it since by my sins; Thou alone, my Redeemer, canst restore it to its former beauty. Do this by Thy Passion, O Jesus.
At Christmastime we speak of the “admirabile commercium” (wondrous exchange) whereby Christ, taking our nature, divinizes us. But here, because of sin, we see that that exchange is also an horribile commercium because of what it cost Him, a price visible in His wounded Face. Isaias 53, which was, for Saint Thérèse, a major part of her own devotion to the Holy Face, says that “there is no beauty in him, nor comeliness: and we have seen him, and there was no sightliness, that we should be desirous of him” (Isaias 53:2). Psalm 21, another vivid prophesy of the Passion, speaks in the Person of Christ (v.3): “But I am a worm, and no man: the reproach of men, and the outcast of the people.”

In becoming disfigured, despised, and terrible to behold in His Passion, our Redeemer merits the grace to beautify our soul, and He Himself, as our Divine Physician and Savior, applies that grace to us by a variety of means. By devoutly contemplating His Holy Face, we open up a channel whereby Jesus Himself communicates this grace to beautify the soul. That is to say, the prayerful consideration of the icon, statue, or effigy of the Holy Face is itself a means of obtaining grace. That claim, which is consonant with what the Church teaches concerning sacramentals in general, is backed up by Our Lord’s words to these holy women to whom He revealed His Face. Here, we see the traditional wisdom of the practice, so popular among Eastern Christians, of venerating icons, as well as the diabolical malice of Iconoclasm, which I hold to be the last of the Christological heresies. (For a short account of one of the miracles the Fathers of Nicea II cited in defense of holy images, see: Lebanese Jews Converted by Miracle.)

The sacred countenance of Our Lord, worthy of adoration, is the object not only of painting and the plastic arts, but also of music and poetry.

Returning to the theme of painted or sculpted images being a channel of grace, we conclude with some ideas inspired by Saint Thomas. The more he meditated on the subject, the more the holy Dominican realized that, as Christ is the mediator of grace, supernatural grace is not just the “grace of God,” but also the “Grace of Christ.” Borrowing a figure from Saint John Damascene, Saint Thomas said that the sacred humanity of Our Lord is itself an instrument of the divinity, but a “joined instrument,” like a hand, not an unjoined instrument like a chisel or brush. Here is the radical conclusion of his reasoning: When God uses this instrument in our sanctification, it leaves its “marks” on us; therefore, grace makes us Christi-like.

If we cooperate with the Divine Artist when we contemplate His image, then the Uncreated Image will imprint Itself on the canvas of our souls. The Father will then say to us, “I know your face. This is my beloved child, in whom I am well pleased.”

In the Immaculate Heart of Mary,
Brother André Marie, M.I.C.M.

God's Resistible Grace
Tim Staples

Calvinists teach that man is powerless to resist God’s grace; hence, there is no truly free will.

The Catholic and biblical position, though, holds that we must “work out our salvation with fear and trembling”—meaning we must do something—“for it is God who works in you both to will and to do according to his good pleasure” (Phil. 2:12-13)—meaning God’s grace must precede and accompany every meritorious action that brings about our salvation.

The Catholic teaching emphasizes both God’s grace and man’s cooperation. But there is no room in Calvinist teaching for St. Paul’s inspired notion of man as “co-laborer” with God (1 Cor. 3:9). In Calvin’s words:



Of course, Catholics agree that man cannot “of himself” merit anything from God—meaning, apart from God’s empowering grace. But Calvin’s meaning is very different. For him, “Subdued by the power of the Lord” means that man cannot resist the movement of God’s grace.

If God wills for you to go to heaven, he will give you grace to that end and you will be irresistibly moved to act in accord with it.



If God wills for you to go to hell, then you will not be given grace and you will be moved to sin by God’s eternal decree.

Now, before we proceed any further, two notes. First, many Calvinists will claim they believe in “free will,” as does the Westminster Confession. But “free will” for the Calvinist means acting in accord with irresistible grace that he cannot do anything but accept. The term voluntary, which Calvin used in the passage above, becomes meaningless. According to Calvin, when God extends his “special grace” of salvation and mercy he “does not suffer a refusal” (Institutes, Bk. 3, Ch. 22, Para. 6). Yet, man is “free”? This would be like Vito Corleone, in The Godfather, making “an offer you can’t refuse” and then claiming the offer was “freely” accepted.

Second, honest Calvinists acknowledge the contradiction here. Clifton Kirkpatrick, who at the time held the highest elected staff position in the Presbyterian Church (USA), wrote:



Notice the almost cult-like acceptance of this logical contradiction. The Catholic and biblical faith never asks anyone to check his intellect at the door. Although we recognize that certain truths of our faith are supra-rational, there is nothing in our faith that is irrational. I have to agree with Kirkpatrick that a thinking man will have trouble with this Calvinist notion of double predestination. In fact, I would say that a thinking man is not going to remain Calvinist unless he can learn to believe what he knows to be irrational. And that is not faith; that is closer to superstition.

The grace of God is resistible, according to St. Paul:



Paul warns these Galatian Christians not to be seduced by “Judaizers” who were telling them belief in Christ is great, but that they must also return to the Old Covenant temple, sacrifices, law, circumcision, etc. in order to be saved. He warns that if they do this, they forfeit Christ; they “fall from grace.” To “fall from grace” means they resist God’s grace.

The inspired author of Hebrews also teaches we can “fall from grace”:



The Greek verb ustereo, translated above as “wanting,” means “to fall short of, lack, or want.” Because the preposition apo, or “from,” is used immediately after the verb, a literal translation would be: “falling short of
from the grace of God.” I translate it as “falling from the grace of God.”

Similar to Paul’s letter to the Galatians, the writer to the Hebrews warns Christians not to “sell their birthright” as sons of God and forfeit the glory of heaven which is their inheritance as Christians. Indeed, we truly are sons of God, and if sons, “then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him” (Rom. 8:17). The context of Hebrews emphasizes the truth that Christians can, in fact, “fall from grace” and lose their heavenly inheritance.

St. Stephen chimes in very specifically when it comes to resisting the grace of God. He almost seems to have Calvin in mind 1,500 years before Calvin when he speaks to his “brethren and fathers” (Acts 7:2) among the sons and daughters of Abraham:



The Holy Spirit calls us by grace; thus, to “resist the Holy Spirit” is to resist God’s grace.

And finally, the words of our Lord himself are most clear:



Jesus here speaks as God and informs us that he is ever calling to his people by his grace to come to him as a hen calls to her chicks. But he is equally clear that he respects the freedom with which he has gifted them. It is their choice whether they will to resist his call—resist his grace—or cooperate with it unto salvation (Gal. 6:7-9; Rom, 5:1-2; 2 Cor. 6:1-2).



[1] What Unites Presbyterians, Geneva Press, Louisville, Kentucky, 1997, p. 17. Emphasis added.

https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-ed...esistible-grace

To Clergy, Religious and Lay Faithful

CLARIFICATION ON MASS OFFERINGS

In response to queries about the Holy Father’s comment that the Mass is free (“the Mass is not paid for,
redemption is free. If you want to make an offering okay, but the Mass cannot be paid for.” General Audience, 7th
March 2018), we would like to clarify that the practice of accepting mass offerings does not in any way contradict
the above statement.

The Mass or the Eucharist re-presents (makes present) the sacrifice of the cross (CCC 1366). In terms of the
“price” for such sacrifice, it has already been paid by our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. In terms of us being the
beneficiaries of that great sacrifice, it comes unmerited and without any further payment on our part. Thus, Pope
Francis is right to highlight that the mass, which is the sacrifice of Christ, has been and is always “free” in that we
need not and cannot possibly make any additional ‘payment’ to that one eternal sacrifice of Christ on the cross.
The Church cannot and will not impose any “entrance fee” for assisting at mass.

The practice of Mass offerings, which is an ancient one that dates back to the early Church, does not constitute
“paying” for the mass. It is not a “fee” for the mass, which is always free. According to Canon 945§1 of the Code
of Canon Law, “any priest celebrating or concelebrating is permitted to receive an offering to apply the Mass for a
specific intention.”

The purpose of mass offerings stated in Canon Law (Canon 946) is: “The Christian faithful who give an offering
to apply the Mass for their intention contribute to the good of the Church and by that offering share its concern to
support its ministers and works.” According to Pope Paul VI’s Motu Propio, Firma in traditione, the
donors of Mass offerings “associate themselves more closely with Christ’s act of offering himself as victim and in
so doing experience its effects more fully.”

The final and most important note is to remember that you are not paying for the graces from God (which are of
infinite value and cannot be paid for). With that in mind it makes much more sense and is not something that
should cause scandal.

Mass intentions are a great treasure of the Church and have a spiritual weight that is incalculable. For this
reason, the bishops of Peninsular Malaysia would like to recommend to Catholics to continue this laudable
practice, although we must constantly and judiciously be on guard against abuse.

Rt. Rev. Sebastian Francis, D.D
Bishop of Penang

Most Rev. Julian Leow, D.D.
Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur

Rt. Rev. Bernard Paul, D.D.
Bishop of Malacca-Johore

The Irish Abortion Referendum: But How?

What Oliver Cromwell could not do, what an Gorta Mór (the Great Hunger) could not do, what hundreds of years of Anglo-Protestant persecution could not do to the Irish Catholic people — namely, rob them of their faith and morals — the one-two punch of the sexual revolution and the doctrinal-liturgical revolution in the Church have accomplished, with the more-or-less enthusiastic complicity of the Irish people themselves, clergy and laity.

We speak here of a nation that was a Catholic powerhouse since its conversion by Saint Patrick in the fifth century. A nation where, at one time, one out of four men was a monk, she sent missionaries abroad: Saint Columbkille († 597) to Scotland, and Saint Columbán († 615) to the European mainland, where he and his fellow Irish monks helped restore and extend the Church after the social chaos caused by the collapse of the Western Empire in 476. Abbeys like Bobbio (Italy), Luxeuil (France), and St. Gall (Switzerland) remain monuments of his and their accomplishments.

In the high Middle Ages, the Dominicans and Franciscans established themselves in Ireland.

In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Erin produced numerous martyrs (thanks to Oliver Cromwell* and his associates), like Saint Oliver Plunkett, whose severed head one may venerate at Saint Peter’s Church in Drogheda.

In more recent times, the Emerald Isle gave us great Catholic educators like Blessed Edmund Rice, founder of the (Irish) Christian Brothers, who should not be confused with the (French) Christian Brothers of Saint Jean-Baptiste de la Salle. She also continued to send out foreign missionaries as members, e.g., of such missionary congregations as the Holy Ghost Fathers and the Society of African Missions. Here in America, the lilting Mayo brogue of Venerable Patrick Peyton taught millions to pray the Rosary. This Holy Cross Father, affectionately known as “the Rosary Priest,” always told his audiences that “the family that prays together stays together.”

And how could we forget Frank Duff, whose lay organization, the Legion of Mary sanctified so many of the faithful and helped advance the mission of the Church in so many places, including Africa and China?

With such a glorious past that we have only summarized in the scantiest detail, how did Éire come to suffer these late troubles?

Let us begin to answer that question by going back to an episode in the Old Testament, all the way back to the Book of Numbers. It involves one of the “dark passages” of the Bible, specifically, that related in Numbers 31, which narrates the war against the Madianites. In this war of God’s own vengeance against Madian (vs. 2-3), when the victorious Israelite army of 12,000 slew only the men, Moses was angered and ordered the slaying of all the male children and all the women who were not virgins, whereas the virgins were allowed to live (vs. 17-18).

Why was this?

We read in the Douay commentary for Numbers 31: “Women and children, ordinarily speaking, were not to be killed in war, Deut. 20. 14. But the great Lord of life and death was pleased to order it otherwise in the present case, in detestation of the wickedness of this people, who by the counsel of Balaam, had sent their women among the Israelites on purpose to draw them from God.” Balaam (of “Balaam’s Ass” fame) well knew that one way to gain victory over the Israelites was to send in the women, not as warriors obviously, but as seductresses who would morally and religiously corrupt Israelite men, as Jezebel would later corrupt Ahab. The wicked stratagem worked. As the relevant article at Fisheaters.com summarizes it: “Balaam later led Israel into idolatry by sending women to seduce the men of Israel away from the faith. God punished Israel for this by plague and war — a war in which Balaam got his comeuppance and was slain.” The matrons represented a threat to Israel, but clemency was shown to the virgins, who were not guilty of luring Israelite men into sin.

The heinousness of the fornication committed with the daughters of Moab lay in its admixture with the obscene worship of Beelphegor (or Baal-Peor), as related in Numbers 25:1-3, which the Rabbis tell us was not only impure, but grotesque as it involved also the worship of excrement. Saint John, Saint Peter, and Saint Jude all consider Balaam as something of an epitome of the false prophet who works for the sake of money (he was paid for his services).

False religion and apostasy from the true God seem to have been behaviorally and conceptually joined with evil sexual morality in the Old Testament, so much so that the expression “fornicating after strange gods” (Deut. 31:16) seems to include both these things: religious infidelity to God, and conjugal infidelity by way of sexual immorality.

What does all this have to do with Ireland?

Since the early twentieth century, if not before, elements inimical to Catholic morals have tried to revolutionize the public and private morality of the Irish people. For many years, an aggressive campaign from the EU, the UN, and the Council of Europe sought to loosen public morality in Ireland. The so-called “Church of Ireland,” something of a low-church species of Anglicanism has, since the Lambeth Conference of 1930, if not before, been a fifth-column within the Republic to accomplish this end. The Irish Times, the voice of liberal anti-Catholic ascendency, has also assisted the project, constantly reminding Irishmen of their backwardness and inferiority to more progressive nations of Europe and America.

All this proved effective. By the late 1960s, a feckless Irish administration relaxed the nation’s censorship laws, resulting in the importation of American and British pornography into Ireland. The spreading of pornography will certainly lead to a breakdown of public morality, so it is no surprise that in the succeeding decades, the prohibitions against contraception and divorce were gradually weakened.

But where was the Irish hierarchy? Sadly the weak resistance of the Irish bishops in the 2018 abortion referendum and the 2015 homosexual “marriage” referendum had earlier precedents, such as the supine resistance of their predecessors in the matter of the nation legalizing contraception in 1979. Prior to that, in 1972, the Irish hierarchy willingly embraced the repeal of Article 44 of the nation’s constitution, which acknowledged “the Holy, Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman Church as the guardian of the Faith professed by the great majority of citizens.” While that wording was not strong enough for Father Denis Fahey, I doubt that the great Apostle of Christ the King would approve of its removal, which is what 84% of Ireland’s populace voted for in a 1972 referendum.

This dismantling of Ireland’s constitutional recognition of the Church would seem to have resulted from two things, first, Pope Paul VI’s policy of weakening the historical ties between Church and State in such places as Colombia, Spain, and the Swiss Cantons of Ticino and Valais, all in keeping with the novel doctrine of Dignitatis Humanae. Second, the Irish episcopacy did not attempt to defend Article 44 because it was proposed that North-South Irish political union could be achieved if the Republic dropped this constitutional acknowledgment of the Catholic Church. But that unity has never happened; in fact, the Catholic-versus-Protestant state of war in Northern Ireland (“the Troubles”) continued all the way till 1998. In short, the Irish were sold a bag of goods.

Not surprisingly, the next year, Ireland began its gradual acceptance of contraception, by what seems to be the camel’s nose under the tent, in 1973, of allowing the use of contraceptives without allowing the sale of contraceptives. As contraception and abortion inevitably go together — morally, medically, legally, historically, and psychologically — the work of legalizing abortion had begun. There were Protestant “missionaries” who brought contraception with them to Ireland in their attempts to spread Protestantism in the Republic. A convert I know recently informed me that some of his own family members were among these missionaries.

As Baalam well knew, and as Dr. E. Michael Jones has throughly documented, sexual “liberation” is a means of political control, social manipulation, and religious breakdown (cf., Dr. Jones’ books Libido Dominandi and Degenerate Moderns, as well as the online article “Masters of Porn” if you dare to wade through some lurid documentary details). The Cultural Marxists have been well aware of this method as a helpful tool for deChristianizing Europe and America.

In bringing up Balaam in ancient Israel, and the Cultural Marxists of modern times, I am not claiming that Ireland’s selling of her Catholic birthright is the result exclusively of a conspiratorial plot from outside, though it certainly is true that the forces of organized naturalism, like George Soros, have helped:

Through his Open Society Foundations, the Hungarian-born Soros has already provided three pro-abortion groups in Ireland, including Amnesty International’s Irish branch, with a combined total of around $400,000 (£295,000). The other two groups are the Irish Family Planning Association and the Abortion Rights Campaign.

A leaked document from the Open Society Foundations revealed the reasons behind the funding. It said it was so that the three groups could “work collectively on a campaign to repeal Ireland’s constitutional amendment granting equal rights to an implanted embryo as the pregnant woman”.

It continued: “With one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the world, a win there could impact other strongly Catholic countries in Europe, such as Poland, and provide much needed proof that change is possible, even in highly conservative places.”

While there have certainly been plots at work here, we need not make this the only explanation, nor ought we make the effort to weave it all into a grand coordinated conspiracy. But consider: If such diverse men as Baalam, Guiseppe Mazzini (“we corrupt in order to rule”), Willi Munzenberg, (“we will make the West so corrupt that it stinks”), György Lukács, and his fellow travelers at the Frankfurt School understood that “sexual liberation” undermined Old-Testament and Christian social order, doesn’t the devil know this too? I doubt that those guys are smarter than he is. The only “grand conspiracy” is the one that Satan himself implements, and all these people, however clever or brilliant, are merely his acolytes, his useful idiots.

All of which suggests that there is a war on. Ireland’s internal and infernal enemies have brought a new famine upon her, but a famine of a different sort: “Behold the days come, saith the Lord, and I will send forth a famine into the land: not a famine of bread, nor a thirst of water, but of hearing the word of the Lord” (Amos 8:11).

But it seems that Ireland’s churchmen are, for the most part, attempting to make peace with this apostasy — to “manage” the situation by rearguard actions at best, or joining the other side at worst.

Now that Ireland is once more mission territory, she, like the rest of the former Christendom, needs courageous Catholics who, believing that Catholic faith and morals are necessary for salvation, work to give the undiluted Religion to her children. Without fear of lawsuits, arrest, public humiliation, prison, or being shunned for their backwardness, the new Irish apostles need to recover the missionary spirit of Saints Patrick, Columbkille, Columbán, and all the rest. They, with innumerable multitudes of blessed Irish in heaven are looking down to see who will take up the cause.

“And therefore we also having so great a cloud of witnesses over our head, laying aside every weight and sin which surrounds us, let us run by patience to the fight proposed to us” (Heb. 12:1)

* * * * * * * * * * * *

* My friend, Joe Doyle, would no doubt want me to add that focusing on Cromwell too much lets the Anglicans and their monarchy off the hook, and they are able to portray Cromwell as an exception, an anomaly, and an outlier. Even Winston Churchill goes on about “the curse of Cromwell” in his History of the English Speaking Peoples. Catholic priests were executed, for being Catholic priests, under every English monarch (with the exceptions of Mary I and James II) from Henry VIII in 1534 to George III in 1766. The man-made famine under Elizabeth I killed nearly as many people as Cromwell. The Anglicans often say that it was Cromwell, not Cranmer, who smashed the altars and shattered the stained glass, and what a terrible iconoclast he was. It is all very convenient.

In the Immaculate Heart of Mary,
Brother André Marie, M.I.C.M.

Welcome. Feel free to contribute.