An Open Letter To A Fellow Priest

This letter was sent to a priest who forbid me (Fr. Joseph Dwight) to offer to the people, in his parish church (in Italy, 2009), printed copies of the Testimony of Gloria Polo when I substituted for him at a few Sunday Masses.

How are you? I hope that you find time to pray without hurry before Jesus in the tabernacle even though we all have so many things to do.

You asked me by telephone to not offer anymore the booklet on the testimony of Gloria Polo: “From Illusion to the Truth” (http://testimony-polo.blogspot.com/) in your parish. You indicated to me that it was too strong for some people that perhaps were not ready for this testimony.

It is true that we studied in pastoral theology the need to apply the “law of graduality”. But what I find is that the recent popes, in the world today, put us on our guard not so much about the lack of applying the “LAW OF GRADUALITY” but rather the danger of the “GRADUALITY OF THE LAW”, which must be refuted in as much as it reduces the value of the law to a mere ideal.

The secretary of the Congregation for Clergy, Archbishop Mauro Piacenza, has lamented that many faithful no longer confess their sins. Archbishop Piacenza told Vatican Radio the sacrament of penance has been experiencing a "deep crisis" for decades. Piacenza, an official for the Vatican office on clergy, says fewer people distinguish between good and evil, and as a result do not go to confession. The archbishop said in an interview that if faithful do not have a sense of sin, they might "CONFUSE" CONFESSION WITH "THE COUCH OF A PSYCHOLOGIST OR A PSYCHIATRIST." He says the Vatican plans to publish this year (2009) a “vademecum for confessors and spiritual directors”. (http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=14231).

Pope John Paul II wrote that relativism is the principle cause for the lack of evangelical and missionary zeal (Redemptoris Missio, no. 36; http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_07121990_redemptoris-missio_en.html).

Relativism, according to Pope Benedict XVI, is "the most profound difficulty of our time." (http://popebenedictxviblog.blogspot.it/2005_05_01_archive.html).

In his homily at the Mass preceding the conclave that quickly elected him Pope Benedict XVI, then Cardinal Ratzinger said: “How many winds of doctrine have we known in recent decades, how many ideological currents, how many ways of thinking. The small boat of the thought of many Christians has often been tossed about by these waves - flung from one extreme to another: from Marxism to liberalism, even to libertinism; from collectivism to radical individualism; from atheism to a vague religious mysticism; from agnosticism to syncretism and so forth. Every day new sects spring up, and what St Paul says about human deception and the trickery that strives to entice people into error (cf. Eph 4: 14) comes true. Today, having a clear faith based on the Creed of the Church is often labeled as fundamentalism. Whereas relativism, that is, letting oneself be "tossed here and there, carried about by every wind of doctrine", seems the only attitude that can cope with modern times. WE ARE BUILDING A DICTATORSHIP OF RELATIVISM that does not recognize anything as definitive and whose ultimate goal consists solely of one's own ego and desires.” (http://www.vatican.va/gpII/documents/homily-pro-eligendo-pontifice_20050418_en.html; http://www.ignatiusinsight.com/features2005/colson_relativism_may05.asp).

Pope Pius XII and Pope John Paul II said THAT THE GRAVEST SIN IS TO BELIEVE THAT THERE IS NO SIN, to loose the sense of sin; this is the great trap today for countless souls. We know that, here in Italy, less than 5% of the baptized Italians come to Sunday Mass regularly, and among these, few go to confession regularly.

And among those who go to confession in this atmosphere of relativism, reconciliation is confused with "the couch of a psychologist or a psychiatrist." We have lost “the sense of sin”! The servant of God, Archbishop Fulton Sheen, said: “Sin is not the worst thing in the world. The worst thing in the world is the denial of sin!” Years ago Catholics believed that there was only one creature conceive without sin, the Immaculate Conception; TODAY THE GREAT MAJORITY BELIEVE TO BE CONCEIVED WITHOUT SIN!

I believe that there are a great number of people, like Gloria Polo, who are in the illusion of being OK with their own conscience, or according to the standards of the world, or according to the common thought (“everybody does it”), or according to the criteria of the devil, BUT NOT ACCORDING TO THE CRITERIA OF GOD, that is, according to THE TRUTH! This is the fundamental deception of Satan from the beginning of mankind and always (Gen 3:4-5)! We human beings are very capable and astute in deceiving ourselves, WILLFULLY, and then we forget about it so easily! This is the great trap of today for countless souls. Few people go to confession today. When we die, Jesus will ask us if we sought the truth in his revelation in Sacred Scripture interpreted by his Church, or if we decided and determined ourselves, alone (like little gods!), the truth. The other day a man who never goes to Mass said to me in his store: “I am totally ok” (“Io sono apposto”). And I asked him: “According to who?” For him, totally immersed in relativism, there is only one “who”; himself; God, the Bible, the Church have nothing to do with his conviction: “I am totally ok”! BUT WHEN HE DIES, WHO WILL DECIDE IF HE IS TOTALLY OK OR NOT?

I prefer to know the truth while I am still alive even if the truth is very strong and provokes in me great uneasiness or even to cause me to enter into a (holy!?!) crisis. If God offers me this great gift of the truth while I am alive, even in a brusque way (a lightening bolt!?!), there is still time to make a good confession and change my life. After death one cannot change anything for all eternity! I think that this testimony is a gift from God for our particular time today. I BELIEVE THAT THIS TESTIMONY WILL HELP MANY PEOPLE TO MAKE A GOOD EXAMINE OF CONSCIENCE FOLLOWED BY A GOOD SACRAMENTAL CONFESSION.

A contemporary preacher in the U.S. recounted a few times that when a certain woman came to confession to Padre Pio, PADRE PIO SHOUTED AT HER AND THREW HER OUT OF THE CONFESSIONAL. Afterwards, Padre Pio revealed that the women did not discipline her two daughters, did not say no, and in particular, did not teach her daughters to not go around in public dressed immodestly. Both daughters, who were already dead, ended up in hell.

People say that you must not frighten people and that God is merciful. BUT HOW CAN ONE RECEIVE THE MERCY OF GOD IF ONE DOES NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT MORTAL SIN IS? The majority of the people who come to Mass today are objectively in mortal sin and are used to their spiritual state of living and they believe that everything is ok; they believe that God gets used to their way of living and that He changes the 10 Commandments according to the majority of the people today. These people come forward to receive Holy Communion and very few priests speak about mortal sin today! But the 10 Commandments do not change; God does not change but He gives more graces today to those who pray to do His holy will.

ONE OF THE GREATEST MESSAGES FROM GOD FOR OUR WORLD TODAY IS THE MESSAGE OF THE DIVINE MERCY GIVE THROUGH SAINT FAUSTINA. You might say God is pleading with us to avail ourselves of His mercy while there is still time. Jesus ha spoke these works to St. Faustina distinctly and forcefully: “You will prepare the world for My final coming.” (Diary of St. Faustina: 429; http://www.ewtn.com/devotionals/mercy/coming.htm). But if we do not believe we need the mercy of God and do not ask for God’s mercy, God’s hands are tied to be able to offer to us the possibility of salvation due to respect of our free will.

Speaking precisely about the great sacrament of reconciliation, Jesus told Saint Faustina: “When you approach the confessional, know this, that I Myself am waiting there for you. I am only hidden by the priest, but I Myself act in you soul. Here the misery of the soul meets the God of mercy. Tell souls that from this fount of mercy souls draw graces solely with the vessel of trust. If there trust is great, there is no limit to My generosity. THE TORRENTS OF GRACE INUNDATE HUMBLE SOULS. THE PROUD REMAIN ALWAYS IN POVERTY AND MISERY, BECAUSE MY GRACE TURNS AWAY FROM THEM TO HUMBLE SOULS.” (Diary, 1602). The people who do not want to hear about the mortal sins that they have committed according to the teachings of the Church (relativism), even those who come to confession but only want to hear what they want to hear, “REMAIN ALWAYS IN POVERTY AND MISERY, because My grace turns away from them to humble souls”! The priests who actually facilitate and enable this situation with false compassion cause tremendous damage to many souls! This is similar to the “enablers” of alcoholics or other devastating vices!

THE VAST MAJORITY OF CATHOLICS DO NOT SEEK ANYMORE TO CONFORM THEIR CONSCIENCES ACCORDING TO THE TEACHINGS OF THE CHURCH. I believe that 100 years ago it would have been difficult to find a person who would have had difficulty reading a testimony similar to that of Gloria Polo. In other parts of Italy they offer this testimony also to the youth of 10 or more years and it goes well. Our Lady of Fatima showed to three children of 7, 8, and 9 years old hell and the thousands of souls that fall every day into the eternal abyss. Why is it that so many adults today have this difficulty? Have they never heard these things? If we priests help so gradually the people to discover what the Catholic Church teaches, above all regarding mortal sin and the consequences of mortal sin, how many people will die before discovering the truth of their willingly embraced subtle illusions?

Italy is dying more quickly than we want to admit. The statistics tell us that today the average couple in Italy produces only 1.1 babies; there is needed 2.1 babies for each couple to maintain zero growth. COUPLES WANT ONLY ONE OR TWO BABIES TO SATISFY THE THEMSELVES, LIKE A NICE DOLL IN THE HOUSE, but not for the motive for which God created us, that is, for pure and generous love for others, even for those who do not choose to freely respond to God’s gratuitous love. God was very happy without us before the creation of the universe. He created us out of love even though there was the risk that many of us, in our God-give freedom, would refuse this gift of life. If we do not do as God, how can we be saved? With original sin, “man preferred himself to God and by that very act scorned him. He chose himself over and against God, against the requirements of his creaturely status and therefore against his own good” (CCC 398). Surrounded and immersed today in cultural scepticism and relativism, together with the revolution of illuminism, a great number of people no longer believe that there is a true good, they no longer believe in a truth to guide their behaviour. All of this leads us to think that the most important thing is our choices divorced from our Creator.

IT IS NOT EASY TO BE RELIGIOUS OR CIVIL LEADERS TODAY. But God gives more graces and help today for those in authority if they have the humility to continually ask for help from God to do His Will, even when it is very uncomfortable. Thus the judgment on bishops and priests will be very severe in the end if they do not preach the whole truth that the Catholic Church teaches, especially those truths that are uncomfortable and clearly indicate the need to suffer and to carry the cross of Christ and to avoid sin, such as the great sinfulness of artificial birth control. (“Humanae Vitae”, 1968) and abortion, pornography and other sins of egoism that are accepted today (by most Catholics) as if it were totally normal and even good. “WOE TO THOSE WHO CALL EVIL GOOD AND GOOD EVIL” (Is 5:20), as us being done today! The priest must bring God to a world that has forgotten or pushed aside God and seeks only power, money and sex! I believe that one of the jobs of the priests today is precisely to shake the consciences of the vast majority of the people who consider themselves good and OK but in reality are motivated only by personal interests and pleasure, even though they often do things that seem good and holy. This job is not easy above all in our modern society!

POPE JOHN PAUL II (AMONG MANY OTHER OCCASIONS) SPOKE FIRMLY TO THE US BISHOPS AGAINST THIS "PICK AND CHOOSE SMORGASBORD TYPE CATHOLICISM" in LA in his September 1987 visit: "It is sometimes reported that a large number of Catholics today do not adhere to the teaching of the Church on a number of questions, notably sexual and conjugal morality, divorce and remarriage. Some are reported as not accepting the Church's clear position on abortion. It has also been noted that there is a tendency on the part of some Catholics to be selective in their adherence to the Church's moral teachings. It is sometimes claimed that dissent from the Magisterium is totally compatible with being a “good Catholic” and poses no obstacle to the reception of the sacraments. This is a grave error that challenges the teaching office of the bishops of the United States and elsewhere. I wish to encourage you in the love of Christ to address this situation courageously in your pastoral ministry, relying on the power of God's truth to attract assent and on the grace of the Holy Spirit which is given both to those who proclaim the message and to those to whom it is addressed" (http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/speeches/1987/september/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_19870916_vescovi-stati-uniti_en.html).

THESE ARE WORDS THAT MOST CATHOLICS DO NOT WANT TO HEAR! The Vicar of Christ is saying that dissent from the Magisterium (not just the 10 Commandments or a doctrine defined “ex cathedra”) is totally incompatible “with being a “good Catholic” and poses an obstacle to the reception of the sacraments”! That means, grave, mortal sin!

BLESSED JOHN HENRY NEWMAN, in his “Discourses To Mixed Congregations” (the Anglicans and the Catholics), said that one must not come to the Catholic Church unless one intends to accept all of her teachings on faith and morals. “And so again, when a man has become a Catholic, were he to set about following a doubt which has occurred to him, he has already disbelieved. I have not to warn him against losing his faith, he is not merely in danger of losing it, he has lost it; from the nature of the case he has already lost it; he fell from grace at the moment when he deliberately entertained and pursued his doubt” (http://www.newmanreader.org/works/discourses/discourse11.html).

It seems that this disourse of Pope John Paul II to the bishops of the United States and that of Blessed Cardinal Newman can also be applied to those who willingly embrace the easy way of not seeking to discover the truth. The philosophy of life for a great number of people today is: “IGNORANCE IS BLISS”; perhaps they think they will have bliss today, but not tomorrow and especially not after death! For so many today, there is no concern whatsoever about the reality after death and the reality of eternity; they have willingly convinced themselves that there is nothing after death as for the animals with a mortal soul. When people not think about eternity, they live as blind people! If we want it or not, if we believe it or not, life is a battle, a “DOUR COMBAT with the powers of evil” (CCC 409)! At death, out of love, God will confirm the choice of freely choosing ignorance of the Truth, and thus the soul will be separated from the Truth, Who is God, for all eternity!

POPE JOHN PAUL II, WHEN ASK, ABOUT A YEAR BEFORE HIS DEATH, FOR ONE VERSE IN THE BIBLE TO LEAVE THE PEOPLE OF GOD, HE RESPONDED WITHOUT HESITATION: “THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE” (JN 8:32). The Pope knew well that most people today, who are totally immersed in the atmosphere of relativism, do not want to take the risk of having to change their lives and suffer. “I decide”, the truth, good and evil, as our first parents of humanity decided (Gen 3,4-5). The modern philosophers, such as Decart and Kant, helped us to no longer seek the truth outside of our heads in creation and in divine revelation. “I think, therefore I am” (Decart)! “I am” is the name of God that God said to Moses (Ex 3:6)! As Pope Benedict tells us, a great number of people have willingly embraced relativism; each person becomes a god. The problem is that in the heaven that was created by the Creator of the entire universe, there is room for only one God, not two! The One true God is the Truth (Jn 14:6)!

THERE ARE MORE AND MORE “CATHOLICS” WHO DO AS THE PROTESTANTS. Parents (at least here in Italy) bring their kids for First Confession by they do not go to confession themselves saying that “I confess to Jesus in my heart”! In this way they do not confront themselves with the more objective reality in the sacrament of Confession but they slide ever more deeply into the trap of traps, relativism! One person told me that she speaks with Jesus in her heart even though the last time she made her confession was 10 years ago! I asked her if she asks pardon of her husband every 10 years if the marriage would last? I indicated to her that she has a nice subjective “feeling” with Jesus as she put a big nail in the hand of Jesus with her indifference. Is this not relativism, hidden egoism, not seeking to discover the objective reality of what offends another person? “How easy it is on earth to forget what is most sacred” (http://purgatory-manu.blogspot.com).

THE RELATIONSHIP WITH THE DIVINE PERSON, JESUS, HAS SLOWLY BECOME A PSYCHOLOGICAL THING IN THE HEAD, A SENTIMENT, A “FEELING”, THAT GIVES US SATISFACTION WITHOUT SEEKING THE OBJECTIVELY WHAT JESUS WANTS OR WHAT OFFENDS JESUS! And so also, for a great many Catholics, the Eucharist has become a “sacred thing” but no longer the divine Person, and thus, the graces are not received (and even there is merited a punishment) not only for the individuals but for the whole world which waits for these precious graces from us Catholics who have received the most powerful spiritual weapons along with a great responsibility! We do not want to know that our indifference and ingratitude toward Him, Who gave us everything, Who even suffered terribly and died for us, causes Jesus to suffer more than we can imagine because we do not seek to discover the reality of our objective sins outside of our little heads; we willing embrace the convenience of relativism, and what is worse, we do not want to know or hear otherwise! The more one loves (the immense love of Jesus!), the more pain there is due to indifference and ingratitude. The saints and the popes have spoken often of the need to make “reparation” to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and to console them!

“I am consumed with sorrow at the sight of those who are cold and ungrateful; and I then try to have such a love for God that it will make amends for those who do not love Him, those who feed their Savior with ingratitude at its worst” (Diary, 481).

Jesus said: “This is eternal life, that they know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ Whom Thou hast sent” (Jn 17:3). This is the only thing that remains after life, a relationship with God, a personal relationship with Him. The greatest joy in paradise is to enjoy this relationship, to see God face to face. But do we really believe that we know God? TRUE LOVE OF A HUSBAND TOWARD HIS WIFE is not just a feeling, a subjective thing, inside of hum in order to only satisfy himself. True love seeks to discover in an objective way what serves her, what she wants, and what hurts her! It is the same with Jesus. It is necessary to pass time together in order to have a relationship with a person, otherwise that relationship will come crashing down. It is the same with Jesus. If one does not pass time before the divine Person in the Eucharist, participate often at the Holy Mass, meditate regularly on the passion of Jesus and pray much, our “religion” reduces itself to a subjective thing inside our heads to satisfy ourselves. “People think they love and will soon become saints because they feel a little more sensible devotion than usual, but all these natural devotions are as nothing” (http://purgatory-manu.blogspot.com).

Jesus “ought to be treated as a Friend, a Father, a spouse. Often He does not even receive the consideration shown to a stranger. THIS INDIFFERENCE IS FOUND ALSO AMONG THE CLERGY, AT PRESENT MORE THAN AT ANY OTHER TIME. He is treated as an equal by those who should tremble at the thought of the awful and august mission with which they have been entrusted. The most sacred reality is often treated with coldness and boredom. How many are there who have the interior spirit? I can assure you that there are but a few. Here in Purgatory the priests who are expiating their indifference and their want of love are numerous…” (http://purgatory-manu.blogspot.com).

Without words the priests transmit the personal relationship or the lack of the personal relationship to parents and then to the children. WE CATHOLICS HAVE THE SPIRITUAL NUCLEAR BOMB, THE EUCHARIST, but… For this the world is in bad shape and is about to crash.

“It is useless for you to worry about the souls entrusted to you, to reprove them or to try to make them a little more spiritually inclined. You will only succeed in as far as you yourself are spiritual. IT IS ONLY THROUGH THE OVERFLOW OF YOUR OWN PIETY THAT YOU CAN PUT IT INTO THEIR HEARTS. If you yourself are not what you ought to be, if you are not closely united with Jesus, your words will reach their ears but will not enter into their hearts, and so your effort will not be fruitful. Do you see how good it is to be united to Jesus? That is the only true happiness on earth” (October 16, 1880; http://purgatory-manu.blogspot.com).

At the beginning of a Mass for 36 youth preparing for the sacrament of Confirmation, I asked them where is the divine Person present in this church. NONE OF THEM RESPONDED THAT JESUS IN PERSON WAS IN THE TABERNACLE! Ninty five percent of the parents do give thanks to God, Who gave them everything, in the Eucharist at Mass each Sunday, and the majority of those who do come to Sunday Mass chatter in church without a recognition and the faith of Who is in the tabernacle. How is it possible for the youth to know where is “the source and summit of the Christian life” when their first catechists, their parents, who practice a religion of convenience, do not know. The children learn from their parents this intimate, interior relationship with Jesus, or they learn the lack of this vital relationship. The children acquire a relationship with Jesus not from the words of their parents, or from a First Communion or Confirmation party, as if these precious sacraments are only a tradition or even a superstition.

What the world does not tell us, as well as so many leaders in the Church due to human respect, is that true love means respecting our great dignity, being created in the image of God (Gen 1:26-27) and thus RESPECTING OUR CHOICE, OUR FREE WILL. It is true that one must love as St. Paul tells us, to love the people as the would like to be loved (1Cor 9:19-23), and not in an insensitive way (find diary). But all of the virtues must be guided by the virtue of prudence which tells us that true love means to desire well for people above all that they might be well for eternity, even though there are a great number of people today who do not believe anymore that there is something after death. But in order to arrive to a happy eternity, it is necessary to pass through Calvary with Jesus, and this is the part that people do not want to hear! TRUE LOVE ALSO MEANS TO DO AS THE PROPHETS WHO ANNOUNCED THE WHOLE TRUTH EVEN THOUGH ALMOST ALL THE PROPHETS WERE KILLED LIKE THE GREATEST PROPHET, JESUS CHRIST. We are all called to be prophets from our Baptism. It is difficult to do as St. John the Baptist especially today! But if the religious leaders do not do this essential part of their vocation, it is like a dam: if a crack is not repaired quickly, the dam will break and there will be a tremendous washout, a tsunami! The dignity, and thus the responsibility of parents, priests and bishops is very great! Saint John Crisostomo, Saint John Eudes and Saint Athanasius wrote about what the floor and the lamps in hell are made of! OUR LADY AT GARABANDAL (Spain, 1965) revealed that "many cardinals, many bishops and many priests are following the road to perdition, and with them they are taking many more souls.” Contrary to common belief, the Catholic Church has never condemned Garabandal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garabandal_apparitions). It is very interesting that Our Lady revealed this at about the time that Pope Paul VI published Humanae Vitae. I once told my parishioners that if sometime in the future I begin to loose the faith and to preach in opposition to what the Pope teaches on faith and morals, “DO NOT FOLLOW ME TO HELL”! “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we preached to you, let him be accursed” (Gal 1:8). We must pray very much for the first targets of Satan, those who received more responsibility in the “dour combat”, as Our Lady asks us often: PRAY FOR THE POPE, BISHOPS AND THE PRIESTS! Just as a mother cannot substitute for the role, the vocation of the father and vise versa, so too the lay people cannot substitute for the priests and the bishops but can pray and offer sacrifices for them!

Mother ___ is in the Purgatory. Souls of religious, priests and those on whom graces have been showered have a terrible Purgatory if they abuse the means which odd as placed at their disposal. (http://purgatory-manu.blogspot.com).

IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO ALWAYS DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE OBJECTIVE AND THE SUBJECTIVE. It is necessary to judge objectively the bad actions of other people in order not to do the same and to warn the persons that we are responsible for. But subjectively we do not know the intentions, motives, thoughts, personal history or the graces that the other people have received; only God knows this. Saint Thomas Aquinas wrote: “Rarely affirm, seldom deny, always distinguish.” If a priest or bishop does not obey the Church and the Pope, let us hope that they are invincibly ignorant, even though they may cause considerable damage to immortal souls! Saint Ignatius of Antioch tells us THAT NOT ONLY THOSE WHO GIVE SCANDAL WILL GO TO HELL BUT ALSO THOSE WHO FOLLOW THEM. “Such a wretch in his uncleanness I bound for the unquenchable fire, and so is anyone else who gives him a hearing” (2 OT, Monday, breviary).

IF GOD SHOWED US EVEN A TINY INSTANT OF HEAVEN OR A TINY GLIMPSE OF HELL, WE WOULD NO LONGER BE FREE TO SAY NO TO THE TRUTH (BIG “T”), TO GOD. Love means respecting this primordial gift of our great dignity (Ps 8:5), and thus respecting our freedom which is also accompanied with a tremendous responsibility for ourselves and for those over whom we have been given responsibility as parents, priests, bishops, civil authorities, etc. Here on earth we are surrounded by God, even those who do not want the Truth (big “T”). But if a person rejects the Truth all his life without repentance (sacramental confession for Catholics), when he dies, he discovers that the Truth is God, as Jesus told us: “I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father, but by Me” (Jn 14:6). The greatest pain in hell is the total separation from God which is a pain far worse than all the fires and pains put together. Here on earth, whether we believe it or not, we are surrounded by God’s loving providence. The greatest joy in heaven is to see God face to face! “No eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love Him” (1Cor 2:9)!

FEW ARE THE FAITHFUL CHILDREN THAT SEEK TRUE CHRISTIANITY, BUT ONE ADAPTS TO THE DOCTRINE THAT IS CLOSEST TO THEIR WAY OF THINKING AND SO THEY FEEL SATISFIED.

RELATIVISM IS LIKE ACID RAIN; IT IS AS IF THERE IS NO RIGHT OR WRONG, GOOD OR EVIL. You have your way of looking at it, I have my way of looking at it. “Different strokes for different folks”; until of course someone steals your car. Then you may not think that it is irrelevant. Then the truth matters because you want your car back. There is an objective morality. Pope John Paul II was applauded during his United Nations speech (October 5, 1995) as long as he was talking about global ethics; but as soon as he got down to individual ethics, the people developed hearing problems. MORAL RELATIVISM HURTS EVERYONE, YOU CANNOT AVOID IT; IT IS LIKE THE ATMOSPHERE. (http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/speeches/1995/october/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_05101995_address-to-uno_en.html).

The Pope teaches beautifully: You never stand as tall as when you bend down to help someone up. Pope John Paul II quoted often from Gaudium et Spes (24; http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_cons_19651207_gaudium-et-spes_en.html): “Man, who is the only creature on earth which God willed for itself, cannot fully find himself except through a sincere gift of himself”.

POPE JOHN PAUL II IS CONSISTENT IN ALL OF HIS TEACHINGS about what is right or wrong regarding both personal and social ethics (VERITATIS SPLENDOR; http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_06081993_veritatis-splendor_en.html; EVANGELIUM VITAE, http://www.vatican.va/edocs/ENG0141/__P10.HTM).

MANY CHRISTIANS COME TO CHURCH TO FEEL GOOD AND HOLY, TO SATISFY THEMSELVES, BUT NOT TO SATISFY THE ONE WHO GAVE THEM EVERYTHING THEY HAVE! The first question we learned as children in the catechism was: “Why did God make you=” We responded: “To know, to love and to serve God…”. Today a great number of people have totally reversed it. God must serve us and thus religion exists in order to serve us not in order to help us to serve God, not to help us to discover the will of God and to help us to do the will of God!

Regarding priests and religious, Sister Mary Gabriel in purgatory told Sister Mary of the Cross on December 8, 1879: “ALAS, HOW MANY LIVES SEEM TO BE FILLED WITH GOOD WORKS AND AT THE DEATH ARE FOUND EMPTY. This is because all those actions that appeared to be good, all those showy works, all that conduct that seemed irreproachable - all these were not done for Jesus alone. Some will have their eyes opened when they come here to this life (in Purgatory). On earth they wanted to be made much of, to shine, to be thought very exact in religious observances, to be esteemed as perfect religious. This is the mainspring of so many lives. If you only knew how few people work for God and act for Him alone. Alas, at death, when they are no longer blinded, what regrets they will have. If only sometimes they would think of eternity. What is life compared to that day which will have no evening for the elect, or to that night which will have no dawning for the damned? On earth, people attach themselves to everything and everyone except to Him, who alone ought to have our love and to whom we refuse it. Jesus in the Tabernacle waits for souls to love Him and He finds none. HARDLY ONE SOUL IN A THOUSAND LOVES HIM AS IT SHOULD. You love Him and make up to Him for this guilty indifference which exists all over this world.” (http://purgatory-manu.blogspot.com).

WHAT EVER OUR STATE IN LIFE, WE CAN USE WHAT WE HAVE AS WELL AS OUR SITUATION IN LIFE TO SERVE OURSELVES OR SERVE OUR CREATOR WHO GAVE US ALL THAT WE HAVE. As Sister Mary Gabriel in purgatory clearly indicates, a priest or religious, even though they seem holy to others, can use all they have received from God to serve their own egoism. “Oh, what pain it causes my heart when I see a nun who has not the religious spirit! How can one be pleasing to God when one is inflated with pride and self-love under the pretense of striving for God’s glory, while in fact one is seeking one’s own glory? When I see such a thing, it gives me very great pain. How can such a soul be united closely with God? Union with the Lord is out of the question here” (Diary, 1139). “On several occasions, I have learned how some religious defend their own glory under the pretext of being concerned for the glory of God, whereas it is not a question of the glory of God, but of glory of self. O Jesus, how painful this has been for me! What secrets the day of Your judgment will bring to light! How can one steal God’s gifts?” (Diary, 1149). The Lord said to Saint Faustina: “I have wanted to exalt this Congregation many times, but I am unable to do so because of its pride. Know, My daughter, that I do not grant My graces to proud souls, and I even take away from them the graces I have granted” (Diary, 1170).

THE MORE GRACES ONE RECEIVES, ACCOMPANIED BY MORE RESPONSIBILITY, IT IS NECESSARY TO RESIST EVEN MORE THE TRUTH IN ORDER TO HIDE THE HYPOCRISY AND THE TRUE MOTIVES OF SELF GLORY INSTEAD OF GOD’S GLORY. We can see today and understands this easily looking at the Pharisees and the scribes during the time of Jesus. Few people realized the hypocrisy of the religious leaders 2000 years ago, who in effect, made it more difficult for people to discover and do the will of God. Precisely for this reason one finds often in the Gospels polemical discourses between Jesus and the religious leaders. Also today it is very difficult to realize this inversion of values and motives when a priest has followed this way of self glory for many years. While one seeks to hide the true motives from the eyes of others one becomes more and more blind to his true situation and reality from God’s point of view. Everyone can take advantage of their situation and their and the graces that accompany their vocation for the glory of God or for the glory of self. The greater the responsibility of the vocation, the greater good or evil one does according to his motives and criteria. Those who are seeking God, go beyond and know how to loose their ideas and motives and honor and suffer in order to follow the Truth which makes us free (Jn 8:32)! The priests who seek their own glory put a big wall up between the people and God because they are not transparent. Few lay people realize this as also 2000 years ago; this is why one finds often from the mouth of Jesus the unmasking of the motives of the Pharisees and scribes in the Gospels. WE MUST PRAY VERY MUCH FOR THE POPE, BISHOPS AND PRIESTS!

I think that this situation of the lack of the authentic voice and of a coherent guide on the part of many religious leaders today in a world so secularized is SIMILAR TO THE TWO POLES OF A BATTERY. If the priests and the bishops preach only the positive pole that God is love and merciful, which is essential and fundamental (!), without preaching the negative pole of the reality of mortal sin and the reality of hell, the current does not flow! It is much easier and comfortable to imagine that it is almost impossible to commit a mortal sin as so many so-called “theologians” try to convince us today; unfortunately many seminaries in the last 50 years have swallowed this subtle deviation from the truth (Mortal Sin: CCC 1856-1861). It is certainly easier and more pleasant and pleasing to us priests and bishops to make the people happy and to say what they prefer to hear, and to preach with “our intelligence” or with our “cultural preparation”, that we believe to possess, while everyone is comfortable and they feel nice after our homilies! We priests, as well as the lay people, are happy to talk about and live Christ risen but not Christ crucified! But is there a resurrection without a crucifixion, or Easter without Good Friday?

We want only satisfaction, gratification here on earth. We do not want to change our lives or suffer; by now a great number of people have chosen the easiest way and they have convinced themselves that there is nothing after death. PRIEST, NON HAVING A NATURAL FAMILY, WANT TO BE LOVED, and thus many priests shy from preaching the whole Gospel along with and all of the teachings of the Church which explain the Gospels authentically. They are so afraid of alienating the people and thus do not preach the Gospel in its fullness and compromise the faith. It is interesting that the more there is sin in the world, the less one speaks about sin and the existence of Satan. Sin is the only thing that can separate us from God. To hide the reality of sin is the trap of the devil. Today, any discussion about sin is seen as bad psychology, not politically correct! “Woe to you, when all men speak well of you” (Lk 6:26).

WHAT WOULD YOU THINK OF A DOCTOR WHO CARED NOTHING ABOUT DISEASE AND DOES NOT WANT TO TALK ABOUT DISEASE And sends patients with a grave disease home telling the patient not to worry because the doctor was afraid of upsetting the patient. He would be considered a quake, an incompetent, culpable of gross professional negligence. He could be sued for malpractice. But if priests do speak about the only thing that can kill the soul, mortal sin, because the people (spiritual patients) do not want to hear these things, what would you think of such a priest? If the doctor operates in this way, the person could easily loose his life; but if the doctor of souls, the priest, does this, the person could loose his immortal soul which lasts for all eternity. “For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life?” (Mt 16:26; Mc 8:36).

The results of mortal sins not confessed during ones whole life is the eternal death of the soul! HOW MANY PRIESTS DO NOT WANT TO KNOW OR STUDY THE DECEASES OF THE SOUL EXPLAINED BY THE CHURCH? The priest do not want angry phone calls, less people in church, less money, less popularity, and thus they say what they believe the people want to hear; many people today want to hear only what gives them delight or pleasure and satisfaction for this very short life. But there are some who are hungry for the truth in a world that has push the Truth out of the public square. When one does not go to confession for a long period of time, one forgets his sins and the conscience becomes insensitive and vulnerable to temptation and will eventually grow dumb. One looses the sense of sin according to the Truth, Who is God. A priest who say to not come to confession without mortal sins are like a doctor who says do not come until you are dying. So many Catholics today believe like our protestant brothers who say that they confess directly to God, not to a sinner, a priest. But if this does not word with a traffic cop, why does one believe that it works with God? It is a real act of humility to confess to a priest; without humility, there is no virtue! It is Jesus, the Son of God, Who decide to found His Church on 12 sinners instead of 12 perfect angels from heaven! Who is more intelligent and full of wisdom, God or us? Many follow the mass media today in criticizing the Church and the priests and the bishops. I asked one of these puppets of the propaganda of the mass media who continually criticizes Catholic clergy instead of praying for them: “Would it have been better if Jesus Christ had founded the Church on 12 perfect men as yourself, Sir?

TODAY THE PRIESTS WHO PREACH THE WHOLE GOSPEL AND ALL OF THE TEACHINGS OF THE MAGISTERIUM OF THE CHURCH ARE LABELED RIDGED AND OLD-FASHIONED, INSENSITIVE, LACKING IN COMPASSION, DIVISIVE, JUDGMENTAL, MORALISTS. While at the same time the ones who maintain a culpable silence, the ones who tell their people what they think they want to hear are seen as understanding, sympathetic, pastorally sensitive and merciful. But this way of doing things is not true mercy! AND THEN STILL WORSE IS THAT SO MANY BISHOPS DO NOT WANT PROBLEMS, and thus when a pastor seeks to help the people to follow him to Calvary with Jesus, with the teachings of the Church to arrive to the resurrection, many parishioners who are used to a type of Christianity without the cross phone the bishop. Those who truly pray each day perceive instinctively the wisdom of such a pastor who does not want to offer a false short cut to paradise; but these sincere and non phony Christians are normally much more silent in their daily work and do not go around seeking to chatter or to telephone the bishop. Many bishops take the side of the people who are against such a pastor, which is the easier solution, and transfers the pastor somewhere else. The pastor is abandoned by the parishioners and by his bishop, while the people are more and more convinced that they can arrive to salvation by choosing among the 10 Commandments and among the teachings of the Magisterium of the Church only that which the people like and that which is comfortable according to the mentality of the world today totally immersed and surrounded by the atmosphere of relativism. “Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother,… He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me…” (Mt 10:34-37). Only God can say things so strong, because He is capable of offering eternal life, a higher good! If we truly want to seek every day the Truth, and live the Truth, it will happen to us as in the Gospel passage. The great majority today do not seek the uncomfortable Truth outside of their heads, but rather the comfortable truth, fabricated inside their heads. But if one lives in this way, one cannot remain with the Truth, Who is God, outside of our head for eternity. How much damage is done by “goody goody” parents, priests and bishops to the souls under their care and guidance who offer false, earthly, non eternal “love”?

WHEN CONFESSION IS OFFERED HERE IN ITALY FOR THE OCCASION OF “FIRST HOLY COMMUNION” AND CONFIRMATION, THERE ARE STILL A FEW PARENTS WHO COME TO CONFESSION ON THIS OCCASION. The majority of these parents have not gone to confession for 5 or 10 years. When I seek to help these people to understand according to the teachings of the Church the gravity of their situation and the possible consequences in only a few minutes, some have accused me of giving a reprimand (“i cicchetti”), which they did not want to hear, similar to a spoiled child who does not want to receive any counsel or reprimand from his parents, for the good of the child. After confession a few of these complained to the pastor. some of them complain to the pastor. One of these pastors gave me a telephone call to scold me saying that it is not necessary to scare the people. We spoke on the phone for over 20 minutes and after he finished cussing me out, I explained briefly what is found in this article. In the end I said that I am an ordained priest for the universal Catholic Church and thus my right and responsibility and mandate in regards to the Mass and confession come from the Church and I will have to respond to Jesus at the end of my life if I sought to fulfil my priestly obligations according to the Church of Jesus, or not. I said to this pastor that he has the right to not invite me anymore to help out in his parish. Among other things I asked him how can one receive the mercy of God if one does not understand what is a mortal sin? Pardon of sins is not automatic. Salvation is not automatic precisely because true love means to respect our free will; it is necessary to ask for pardon according to the criteria of Him Who implanted in our hearts the true sense of good and evil. One must at least say like the prodigal son: “Father I have sinned…”. If we do not have need of mercy, the redemption is nullified!

THE FIRST HOMILY FROM THE MOUTH OF THE FIRST POPE ON THE DAY OF THE BIRTH OF THE CHURCH GIVES US PRIESTS A GOOD AND FUNDAMENTAL MODEL TO FOLLOW AND TO IMITATE! After having remained in hiding for fear of being crucified by the Jews, Peter, a fisherman, came out of the Cenacle and said with great courage to the “rulers of the people and elders” (Acts 4:8), “You have crucified Jesus” (Acts 4:10), “the author of life” (Acts 3:15). Peter was in love with Jesus and wanted to share the “good news” (Gospel) of the possibility of salvation. When a baby is born, or two engaged people decide to get married, they want to tell the whole world of the good news! Why are there few people who want to do as Peter? Are we in love with Jesus, or is religion only a thing to satisfy ourselves? There is no place in heaven for the mediocrity after death: there is incredible joy (paradise) or incredible pain (hell) which cannot be imagined. One asks why? Because God created the animals with a mortal soul, and human beings with an immortal soul, made in the image of God, at the level of the angels, and thus with a great responsibility? So many want the easy way of mediocrity, the comfortable life, and then receive willingly the lie of the devil that afterwards all will go well or after death there is nothing. “Ignorance is bliss!” This is the philosophy of life for a great number of people today! But one must choose between following Jesus with the cross here on earth in order to enjoy paradise afterwards, or avoid the cross and then afterwards hell. One cannot have both, life without the cross and not suffering afterwards; this is the great convenient lie of the devil. If Peter and the apostles would not have announced the truth, just about everyone would have believed that Jesus was just a criminal like all the rest of the criminals. Why is it that one hears so rarely a homily similar to this one of Saint Peter, “You have crucified Jesus with your mortal sins”, and then to explain the mortal sins most common today such as contraception, abortion, euthanasia, homosexual acts, indifference toward Jesus in the Eucharist, indifference toward those in need? Why is it that so few preach on the “Four Last Things” today: death, judgment, heaven and hell?

TODAY THERE IS MORE AND MORE THE RISK OF BEING PERSECUTED FOR PROCLAIMING THESE THINGS OR AT LEAST TO FEEL MORE AND MORE UNEASY TO PROCLAIM THE TRUE VALUES OF CHRISTIANITY IN THE PUBLIC SQUARE. Peter in the end was crucified! Peter said: “Repent therefore, and turn again, that you sins may be blotted out” (Acts 3:19); but today very few are willing to change their lives or suffer with Jesus! One cohabitates and has sex like the animals; we are greatly encouraged in this way by the TV, without restrictions or rules, as I read on a T-shirt here in Italy: “Just Do It!” Saint Peter said: “You asked for a murderer to be granted to you” (Acts 3:14), that is, it is seen as a good thing today acts of homosexuality, abortion, euthanasia… but the Author of life, that is, chastity, abstinence, openness to life in marriage, this NO! Truly, as Pope John Paul II wrote in “Evangelium Vitae”, IN THE RICHER COUNTRIES, WE HAVE CREATED THE CULTURE OF DEATH!

IT IS NEVER MERCY TO REMAIN SILENT OR TO AFFIRM PEOPLE IN THEIR SINS. Diligence for eternal salvation is true love. Today there is a great increase of sins everywhere; there are few people who go to confession, but almost everyone in the church come forward for Holy Communion. We are habituated to live in sin and we do not want to know anything else. The saints were ready to suffer everything for the love of Christ and the truth instead of remaining silent before sin. The truth is a question of life or death. The prophets did not remain silent before sin! We are all called to be prophets by our Baptism. May God save us from priests who do not take their responsibility seriously before Christ!

ONE OF THE PHRASE USED MOST OFTEN IN SACRED SCRIPTURE IS “REPENT” “CHANGE YOUR LIVES”. The first words of Jesus: “Repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mk 1:15; Mt 4:17). “And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from you feet as you leave that house or town” (Mt 10:14; Mk 6:11).

MANY RELIGIOUS LEADERS TODAY OFFER MISGUIDED COMPASSION WHICH IS FALSE COMPASSION. But the Lord said to the prophet Exechiel: “If I say to the wicked, O wicked man, you shall surely die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. 9 But if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way; he shall die in his iniquity, but you will have saved your life” (Ez 33:8-9).

WHEN I HEAR ONLY HOMILIES FROM PRIESTS AND BISHOPS, WHICH ARE NICE AND GOOD AS WAS OFFERED 20 OR 30 YEARS AGO, I ask myself more and more, while I update myself regularly with the writings of the recent popes about the powerful and subtle traps of the devil in the world today, how is it that these religious leaders do not warn the sheep of the strategy of the very sly wolf which is carrying away a great number of souls while the souls remain spiritually asleep in relativism and in the masked egoism of false and destructive “love”? A question: We religious leaders, have we prepared our sheep for our period in the history of the world and of the Church for the very strong, subtle, almost imperceptible, and rich in nuances, underhanded and astute traps of the prince of demons, Satan? THE VICAR OF CHRIST HAS THE VOCATION AND THE CHARISMA FROM GOD TO PERCEIVE THE TRUE SITUATION OF THE WORLD OF TODAY AND THE SUBTLE TRAPS AND TO OFFER ALSO THE SOLUTIONS AND THE ANTIDOTE OF THESE DEVASTATING SNARES. But how many priests and bishops listen to the Vicar of Christ today, in particular the teachings that are not easy to live and not wanted by the people? With fatigue and perseverance, priests and bishops have received the graces for their great vocation to discover the truth and to communicate thes truths explained by the Pope in the language of the souls confided to them. If they do not do this, the people remain spiritually asleep and ignorant of the subtle traps of Satan today. We religious leaders, as well as the souls entrusted to us, are we ready to loose our titles, prestige and honors and enter into poverty and then die instead of committing a mortal sin which separates us from God? Already this year, 2012, many people will be before this radical choice!

MARY ANN GLENDON EXPLAINS WHY THE BISHOPS ARE SUING THE U.S. GOVERNMENT The main goal of the mandate is not, as HHS claimed, to protect women’s health. It is rather a move to conscript religious organizations into a political agenda, forcing them to facilitate and fund services that violate their beliefs, within their own institutions. (http://www.patheos.com/blogs/yimcatholic/2012/05/mary-ann-glendon-explains-why-the-bishops-are-suing-the-u-s-government.html)

UK DOCTORS WHO REFUSE TO PERFORM SEX CHANGES CAN BE BANNED FROM PRACTICING The General Medical Council has issued guidance warning that it would be “discriminatory” for doctors not to prescribe either the pill or morning-after pill because they disagree with people having sex before marriage. (http://winteryknight.wordpress.com/2012/05/24/uk-doctors-who-refuse-to-perform-sex-changes-can-be-banned-from-practicing/; http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9284065/Doctors-could-be-banned-from-practising-for-refusing-to-give-unmarried-women-contraceptives.html).

HOW MANY CATHOLICS ARE READY TO LOOSE THEIR WORK AND PRESTIGE AND ENTER INTO POVERTY IN ORDER NOT TO COMMIT A GRAVE MORTAL SIN? I think very few indeed! The devil moves very gently and unperceivable so that we might go toward the infernal precipice full of gaiety, dancing and all sorts of pleasures (Diary, 153).

DURING THE FUNERAL OF FATHER STEFANO GOBBI AT COLLEVALENZA, JUNE 30, 2011, CARDINAL IVAN DIAS, Prefect Emeritus of the Vatican Congregation for the Evangelization of the Peoples, during the homily, said that shortly before Cardinal Ratzinger was elected Pope, Ratzinger said while among other cardinals that we are living in the strongest and most difficult period in the history of the world and of the Church, and that he was very surprised that very few people in the Church realize the very grave situation and crisis in the world and in the Church today.

“CARDINAL IVAN DIAS AT LOURDES ANNOUNCES: WE ARE AT THE FINAL BATTLE BETWEEN THE CHURCH AND ANTICHURCH. He is the head of the powerful Congregation of the Propagation of the Faith, that promotes the evangelization of the world. This was in the last few days at Lourdes, during which time was celebrated the 150th anniversary of the apparition of the Virgin to Bernadette. He pronounced a surprising homily for its apocalyptic tones; one could deduce that the end of Time is not far off. We cite a few passages. “What meaning could the message of Our Lady of Lourdes have for us today? I love to situate these apparitions in the broader context of the permanent and fierce combat between the forces of good and evil, which will continue till the end of time”. Our Lady foresees “the rise of the Antichrist and his attempts to replace God in the life of men; attempts that despite their striking successes, will be nevertheless destined to failure”. The cardinal counsels to pray the Rosary, and to practice the conversion of heart, and to accept sufferings for the salvation of the world. Especially now, he explains, because “The combat between God and his enemy always blazes, even more today, because the world finds itself terribly swallowed up in the swamp of a secularism that wants to create a world without God; of a relativism that suffocates the permanent and immutable values of the Gospel; of a religious indifference which remains imperturbable before the superior good of the things which regard God and the Church”. And then he cites John Paul II: “We are before today the greatest fight that humanity has ever seen. I do not believe that the Christian community has totally understood this. We are today before the final confrontation between the Church and the anti-Church, between the Gospel and the anti-Gospel”. BUT IT IS THE WOMAN “OF GENESIS AND OF THE APOCALYPSE”, CONCLUDES THE CARDINAL, “THAT WILL COMBAT AT THE HEAD OF THE ARMY OF HER SONS AND DAUGHTERS AGAINST THE ENEMY FORCES OF SATAN AND WILL CRUSH THE HEAD OF THE SERPENT”. Do you share the sensation that there may be preannounced a final collision, and perhaps, the end of the times?” (December 13, 2007; http://www.lastampa.it/_web/CMSTP/tmplrubriche/giornalisti/grubrica.asp?ID_blog=196&ID_articolo=36&ID_sezione=396&sezione=San%20Pietro%20e%20dintorni)

IF A BUCK PRIVATE IN A WAR BATTLE DOES NOT LIVE UP TO HIS RESPONSIBILITIES, there will not be too much damage. BUT IF A GENERAL does not live up to his responsibilities it will cause considerable damage. So too those who have received more responsibility in this spiritual battle (as instruments of God; e.g., bishops and priests) in this “cosmic struggle” as Pope John Paul II puts it, will cause considerable damage if they do not live up to and fulfil their GOD GIVEN RESPONSIBILITY. WE MUST PRAY VERY MUCH FOR THE POPE, BISHOPS AND PRIESTS!

It is interesting that HILDEGARD of BINGEN (d. 1179) wrote that when the new Pope is elected immediately before the Antichrist, a cardinal will kill the elected pope before he is crowned through jealousy, he wishing to be Pope himself. Then when the other cardinals elect the next Pope this cardinal will proclaim himself (anti) Pope, and two-thirds of the Christians will go with him. She notes that this Antipope as well as the Antichrist are descended from the tribe of Dan. If this private revelation of St. Hildegard turns out to be true, is it possible that this Antipope, who will appear “IMMEDIATELY BEFORE THE ANTICHRIST”, might be the FALSE PROPHET predicted in the book of Revelation (Rev 16:13; 20:10; chap. 13 etc.) who will work hand in hand with the first "beast", the Antichrist, to subdue the world. It seems that Pope Benedict is encouraging us to read the writings and prophecies of this holy woman and mystic by canonizing her and proclaiming her a doctor of the Church this year. December 16, 2011. (Romereports.com) Benedict XVI is set to appoint Hildegard of Bingen as a Doctor of the Church in October of 2012. She was a German Benedictine nun and was known for her visions and prophecies. (http://www.romereports.com/palio/pope-to-canonize-and-name-hildegard-of-bingen-as-doctor-of-the-church-english-5666.html).

The last part of the homily of Pope Benedict XVI; Esplanade of the Shrine of Our Lady of Fátima; before 500,000 people: 13 May 2010: “WE WOULD BE MISTAKEN TO THINK THAT FATIMA’S PROPHETIC MISSION IS COMPLETE. Here there takes on new life the plan of God which asks humanity from the beginning: “Where is your brother Abel […] Your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground!” (Gen 4:9). Mankind has succeeded in unleashing a cycle of death and terror, but failed in bringing it to an end… In sacred Scripture we often find that God seeks righteous men and women IN ORDER TO SAVE THE CITY OF MAN and he does the same here, in Fatima, when Our Lady asks: “Do you want to offer yourselves to God, to endure all the sufferings which he will send you, in an act of reparation for the sins by which he is offended and of supplication for the conversion of sinners?” (Memoirs of Sister Lúcia, I, 162). At a time when the human family was ready to sacrifice all that was most sacred on the altar of the petty and selfish interests of nations, races, ideologies, groups and individuals, our Blessed Mother came from heaven, offering to implant in the hearts of all those who trust in her the Love of God burning in her own heart. At that time it was only to three children, yet the example of their lives spread and multiplied, especially as a result of the travels of the Pilgrim Virgin, in countless groups throughout the world dedicated to the cause of fraternal solidarity. MAY THE SEVEN YEARS WHICH SEPARATE US FROM THE CENTENARY OF THE APPARITIONS HASTEN THE FULFILMENT OF THE PROPHECY OF THE TRIUMPH OF THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY, TO THE GLORY OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY.” (http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/homilies/2010/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20100513_fatima_en.html; http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/fatimas-prophetic-mission-not-complete-pope-declares-on-solemnity/).

I BELIEVE THAT SOON THE BODY OF CHRIST, THE CHURCH, AS A GREAT PURIFICATION, WILL HAVE TO PASS THROUGH THE PERIOD OF THE PASSION, like her Head, Jesus Christ, even to the point of crying out “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mt 27:46; Mk 15:34). And then will come the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary”, the resurrection of the Body of Christ, the Church.

I think that ADRIANO CELENTANO, A VERY WELL KNOWN SINGER AND ACTOR, during the “Sanremo” festivities here in Italy (Feb. 14, 2012), which is similar to the annual Hollywood festivities in California, hit the mark about the situation when he said: : “What I cannot stand is Priests and religious who never speak about the more important things and the motive for which we were born… They never speak about heaven as if each person was born only to die…”! (http://tv.liberoquotidiano.it/video/105307/Adriano_fa_la_predica_ai_preti_e_a_Avvenire.html).

IT IS GOOD TO LOVE OUR NEIGHBOR AS OUR NEIGHBOR WANTS TO BE LOVED as Saint Paul tells us (1Cor 9:19-23), not adding undue hardship and pain in an insensitive way. But the problem today is that the great majority of people no longer consider eternity and thus they think and desire only for the happiness of this world. But if parents, priests and bishops seek only to satisfy this desire of earthly happiness without seeking to help people to discover the truth that one cannot arrive to the resurrection, as Jesus, without passing through Calvary, is this true love or false love?

So many “goody goody” types put aside the difficult texts of Sacred Scripture and of the teachings of the Church. This is like a Mom of a family which tells her children that they do not have to pay attention to Dad when Dad, out of love and with prudence, disciplines the children. ONE CANNOT IMAGINE HOW MUCH THIS TYPE OF COUNCIL CAUSES DAMAGE IN THE HOMES, PARISHES AND DIOCESE. L’Arcivescovo Fulton Sheen said that the Antichrist will offer a Christianity without the cross!

POPE BENEDICT XVI SAID IN ST. PETER'S SQUARE, FRASCATI; 15 July 2012: “The First Reading presents us with the same perspective, showing us that all too often God’s messengers are not well received. This is the case of the Prophet Amos whom God sent to prophesy in the Sanctuary at Bethel, a sanctuary of the Kingdom of Israel (cf. Amos 7:12-15). Amos preached very energetically against injustices, denouncing in particular the abuses of kings and notables, abuses of power that offend the Lord and nullify acts of worship. Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, therefore ordered Amos to leave. Amos answered that it was not he who chose this mission but that the Lord had made him a prophet and sent him to this very place in the Kingdom of Israel. Therefore, whether he was accepted or rejected, he would continue to prophesy, preaching whatever God told him and not what men wished to hear. AND THIS HAS CONTINUED TO BE THE CHURCH’S MANDATE: SHE DOES NOT PREACH WHAT THE POWERFUL WISH TO HEAR. HER CRITERION IS TRUTH AND JUSTICE EVEN IF IT IS UNPOPULAR AND AGAINST HUMAN POWER.” (http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/homilies/2012/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20120715_frascati_en.html).

What do we choose, a nice comfortable life of 100 years or a nice eternal life? SO MANY PARENTS DO NOT KNOW HOW TO SAY “NO” TO THEIR CHILDREN ON EARTH AS PADRE PIO INDICATED! AND THUS THEY DO NOT KNOW HOW TO SAY “YES” TO ETERNAL HAPPINESS! And then afterwards they ask themselves why their children ended up divorced and in so many other disasters? Is this true love? Love for whom? No cross, no crown! No pain, no gain! A priest in the United States said to parents that if they want to assure failure and disaster for their children in the future, do not help them to learn to discipline themselves. The devil seeks with all his might to convince us that he does not exist and that hell does not exist so that we do not apply ourselves to discover our great lack of love and our hidden egotistical motives. SO MANY PEOPLE HAVE CHOSEN THE EASIER WAY OF CONVINCING THEMSELVES THAT THERE IS NOTHING AFTER DEATH INSTEAD OF SEEKING THE TRUTH AND TO CHANGE THEIR LIVES ACCORDINGLY. If the demons do not exist, and there is no hell, then we all go to Heaven! And thus, what do we have to fear?!? WHAT A DECEPTION! The first step of conversion it to realize that we are sinners, otherwise we have no need of Christ on the cross which would seem nonsense. “And when he comes, he will convince the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment” (Jn 16:8); the first thing mentioned in this verse of the Bible is “convince the world concerning sin”!

IF PRIEST SPEAK ONLY ABOUT GOD-LOVE AND GOD-MERCIFUL and do not speak about the reality of mortal sin and of hell, many people end up believing that there is not much need or motive (none!) to ask for the mercy of God and thus the redemption is rendered useless and void. We have no need of Christ the Redeemer! So many people (Catholics) today do not understand anymore what is a grave sin. Precisely for this motive the Vatican will soon publish a “vademecum for confessors and spiritual directors”.

I POSED A QUESTION TO SEVERAL PEOPLE WHO WORK IN THE PARISHES: “When is the last time that you heard a priest say that it is a mortal sin to use artificial birth control and that one must confess this grave sin and throw away the IUD’s and the pill before receiving the Most Holy Eucharist, otherwise one commits another mortal sin, a sacrilege? Or that the contraceptive mentality erodes and destroys the fundamental cell of society, the family.” ALL OF THEM SAID NEVER!

BEFORE 1930 ALL MAINLINE PROTESTANT DENOMINATIONS WERE IN ACCORD WITH THE CATHOLIC CHURCH that the use of artificial birth control was a grave evil and a serious sin. When the Anglican Church changed its stance in 1930 (Lambeth Conference) the other protestants churches quickly followed suit while Pope Pius XI reaffirmed the Church’s constant teaching on this grave evil in his encyclical Casti Cannubii (1930). Church discipline can be changed, but the doctrines of the faith and morals which come from God cannot, and will not change. The Church does make progress in understanding the revealed faith from God, but the Church cannot change the faith and morals which come from the immutable God, according to the customs and fads of each period of the world.

ULTIMATELY THE CONTRACEPTIVE MENTALITY OF RECREATIONAL SEX, detached from responsibility and life, quickly led even to the point of the denial of equal dignity for a whole class of human beings and the genocide of countless millions of innocent, defenseless unborn babies (as JUST A FORM OF CONTRACEPTION!) in the place that ought to be the safest refuge in the world for our fellow human beings, their mother’s womb.

POPE PAUL VI PROPHESIED TO US ABOUT THE “GRAVE CONSEQUENCES OF ARTIFICIAL METHODS OF REGULATING BIRTHS” IN HIS ENCYCLICAL: HUMANAE VITAE: Consequences of Artificial Methods “Responsible men can become more deeply convinced of the truth of the doctrine laid down by the Church on this issue if they reflect on the consequences of methods and plans for artificial birth control. Let them first consider how easily this course of action could open wide the way for marital infidelity and a general lowering of moral standards. Not much experience is needed to be fully aware of human weakness and to understand that human beings—and especially the young, who are so exposed to temptation—need incentives to keep the moral law, and it is an evil thing to make it easy for them to break that law. Another effect that gives cause for alarm is that a man who grows accustomed to the use of contraceptive methods may forget the reverence due to a woman, and, disregarding her physical and emotional equilibrium, reduce her to being a mere instrument for the satisfaction of his own desires, no longer considering her as his partner whom he should surround with care and affection.” (Humanae Vitae, no. 17; http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_25071968_humanae-vitae_en.html).

WHEN SO MANY COUNTRIES FOUND THEMSELVES WITH MORE WELLBEING AFTER THE SECOND WORLD WAR, as well as with the discovery of the “pill” (1960), many Catholics (and non-Catholics) were expecting the Church, guided by the “ROCK” (Mt 16:18), to update itself according to the mentality of the world. And so when Pope Paul VI issued his prophetic encyclical, “HUMANAE VITAE” (1968), there was an incredible negative reaction not only on the part of lay men and women but also on the part of numerous so-called “theologians”, priests and bishops, even entire Episcopal conferences (e.g., the ‘Winnipeg Statement’ of the Canadian Bishops)! We cannot imagine what darkness this brings down on earth this radical egoism in the heart of the fundamental cell of society, THE FAMILY! And then we ask why the world is in such bad shape and the economy is coming down!?! For the first time in the history of the world, there are more grandparents than children who work to pay for the pensions of the grandparents!

IT WAS EVEN AGAINST THE CIVIL LAW IN MOST COUNTRIES 60 YEARS AGO TO SELL OR BUY BIRTH CONTROL DEVICES precisely because they understood 60 years ago in a culture of life how much damage is done by these things to the marital relationship and thus to the family. 60 years ago in a more wholesome environment, it was instinctively understood that each person had to make little sacrifices for the common good. Today there is almost no concern for the common good unless if effects directly the egotistical desires of the individuals. This has everything to do with all that we are seeing today. The basic decomposition of our beloved country and the whole western world, the meltdown of western civilization, is tied into this.

WHEN THE ANGLICAN CHURCH FIRST APPROVED THE USE OF CONTRACEPTION IN 1930 IT WAS ONLY FOR SERIOUS REASONS and only for married people who have been generous for life. However, by providing an opening for contraception, the qualifying phrase “for serious reason” was quickly ignored. Subsequently the use of contraception was viewed as virtuous behavior, and even the silent holocaust of abortion has become a private ethical choice of birth control. The unborn, unwanted babies no longer have any legal protection; they are now ripped to pieces after they are brutally murdered. What nice words! “Freedom of choice” of the woman! This is “freedom” to kill per our conveniences and our comfort?!? This is an fundamental example of how modern and egotistical men have detached freedom from the truth as Pope John Paul II indicated in “Evangelium Vitae”. BABIES DO NOT CHOOSE TO DIE!

AS SOON AS ONE DOES NOT SEE LIFE AS A PRECIOUS GIFT BUT ONLY AS A COMMODITY OF CONVENIENCE, OUR SOCIETY DESCENDS INTO THE CHAOS OF HELL IN THE CULTURE OF DEATH!

Without the recognizing of sin, one does not realize the great need of the mercy of God! Why do so few go to confession today? They say that “God is good and merciful.” God, who is very respectful of our free will, waits for each person to freely ask for mercy; if not, God does not give us mercy! “Ask and it will be given … knock and it will be opened…” (Mt 8:7-8; Lk 11:10). WE CATHOLICS ASK FOR THE MERCY OF GOD BY WAY OF THE SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATION! Which is the love more true and sincere: to help a person to arrive to salvation and eternal happiness, or to have only comfort and to feel good and secure (false!) during this short life?

IN THE FOUR GOSPELS ONE FINDS FROM THE MOUTH OF JESUS REFERENCES TO THE REALITY OF HELL MANY TIMES, BUT ONE HEARS ABOUT THIS REALITY RARELY TODAY. Perhaps 100 years ago there were some who exaggerated in preaching about hell, fire and brimstone. But today the pendulum has swung totally to the other extreme to the detriment of so many souls. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Ps 111:10; Job 28:28; Prov 1:7; 9:10; 14:16; 15:33; Is 33:6).

WHY DID OUR LADY OF FATIMA SHOW THE THREE SHEPHERD CHILDREN A VISION OF HELL with thousands of souls falling into the abyss everyday like sparks into a great fire? Our Lady at Oulx in Val di Suza (TO) was crying because children, even eight years old, end up in hell for all eternity! Lucy of Fatima revealed to Father Fuentes (1957) that the face of our Lady was always very sad. Our Lady sheds tears for each of her children who fall into hell for all eternity! God respects our primordial gift of our free will, being created in His image (Gen 1:26-27). This is true love! We are capable of saying NO to GOD! Hell exists! It is not easy to preach the whole truth today! BUT PASTORS, PRIESTS AND BISHOPS MUST PREACH BOTH POLES OF THE BATTERY, otherwise there is not true Love Who is also Infinite Justice! One no longer hears anymore from the pulpit about “The Four Last Things”!

THERE IS ALWAYS HOPE WHILE WE ARE STILL ALIVE and if we are willing to humbly respond to the graces and inspirations of God to make a good confession. After death our eternal destiny will be fixed for all eternity as it was for the angels in one instant after their creation (Diary, 1332). The two sins against the Holy Spirit which Christ said would not be forgiven are presumption (relativism) and desperation. Desperation is considered worse because it denies that even God can save me through His infinite mercy. Jesus told St. Faustina: "I desire that priests proclaim this great mercy of Mine toward the souls of sinners. Let no sinner be afraid to approach Me" (Diary, 50). “Let the greatest sinners place their trust in My mercy. They have the right before others to trust in the abyss of My mercy” (1146).

MANY FEEL THAT THEIR SINS ARE UNFORGIVABLE BUT, JESUS SAID to Saint Faustina: “Write, speak of My mercy. Tell souls where they are to look for solace; that is in the Tribunal of Mercy (the great sacrament of Reconciliation). There the greatest miracles take place and are incessantly repeated. To avail oneself of this miracle, it is not necessary to go on a great pilgrimage or to carry out some external ceremony; it suffices to come with faith to the feet of My representative and to reveal to him one’s misery, and the miracle of Divine Mercy will be fully demonstrated. Were a soul like a decaying corpse, so that from a human standpoint, there would be no hope of restoration and everything would already be lost, it is not so with God. The miracle of Divine Mercy restores that soul in full. Oh, how miserable are those who do not take advantage of the miracle of God’s mercy! You will call out in vain, but it will be too late” (1448).

“In the Old Covenant I sent prophets wielding thunderbolts to My people. Today I am sending you with My mercy to the people of the whole world. I do not want to punish aching mankind, but I desire to heal it, pressing it to My merciful heart. I use punishment when they themselves force Me to do so; My hand is reluctant to take hold of the sword of justice. BEFORE THE DAY OF JUSTICE I AM SENDING THE DAY OF MERCY” (1588). “Speak to the world about My mercy; let all mankind recognize My unfathomable mercy. IT IS A SIGN FOR THE END TIMES; AFTER IT WILL COME THE DAY OF JUSTICE.” (848). (To read other such quotes, visit: http://spir-food.blogspot.com/2011/12/christmas-letter-2011.html)

We must stay very close to Jesus in the Eucharist with our Rosary in our hands. Visit: “DON BOSCO’S PROPHECY OF THE TWO COLUMNS” (http://thereedofgod.blogspot.com/2010/04/don-boscos-prophecy-of-two-columns.html).

Do not worry! I will not offer this booklet nor will I speak about this testimony of Gloria Polo in your church. BUT I AM CONVINCED THAT WE PRIESTS WHO HAVE RECEIVED MORE FROM GOD, WILL HAVE TO ANSWER TO GOD AFTER DEATH FOR ALL THE PEOPLE THAT WE COULD HAVE HELPED TO DISCOVER HOW THEY WERE LIVING IN ILLUSION INSTEAD OF IN THE TRUTH, AND WE DID NOT DO ANYTHING! I believe that this testimony is a gift from God to help many people to make a good examine of conscience and then a good sacramental confession.

Below (appendix) I have included some writings of the Popes and of others which regard the “law of graduality” and the danger of the “graduality of the law” with the addresses on the web if you might be interested in reading more.

After you received this e-mail (above), you said to me on the phone: “EVERYONE GOES TO HEAVEN!” You also said: “Nowhere in the encyclical Humanae Vitae does one find the words “mortal sin”!”

With all due respect, may I say to you that if I freely choose to not want to spend eternity with God in paradise, God respects my free choice, precisely because He loves me! YOUR STATEMENT IS AN INSULT TO MY DIGNITY AS A HUMAN BEING CREATED IN THE IMAGE OF GOD! You directly indicate that there is no one in hell, but I, with my primordial gift from God of my free will, can choose to be the first guest in hell! One of the greatest gifts that God gave to me, being created in His image, is my free will. When so many priests and bishops want to only talk about the fact that God is love and merciful without talking about the whole and integral reality and essence of man, it is a terrible injustice and has far greater negative consequences than we can imagine. This misleading pedagogy also lowers man down to the level of the animals which have not been given this great gift of free will. “Faced with a culture that largely reduces human sexuality to the level of something common place, since it interprets and lives it in a reductive and impoverished way by linking it solely with the body and with selfish pleasure, the educational service of parents must aim firmly at a training in the area of sex that is truly and fully personal …” (“Familiaris consortio”, cfr. n. 37; http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_jp-ii_exh_19811122_familiaris-consortio_en.html).

SOME APPARENTLY GOOD PRIESTS, WITH SEEMINGLY BIG HEARTS, offer themselves to their parishioners as a good mother but not a good father. But children need both the mother and the father (the Gays do not understand this!). We call the Church, “Holy Mother Church”, but the Church is truly both mother and father to her children, just as a pastor must be both the mother and the father of his parishioners. If the pastor only offers the part of the mother but does not offer to his parishioners the part of the father of his flock, it is like giving a kiss, supposedly motivated by love, to many of his parishioners while the wolf is carrying away the sheep one by one. This is false humility and false love! It is like a mother who does not say anything to her son who likes very much to run even though within 20 yards there is a cliff (eternity without God)! Pastors and bishops have received the graces of their vocation to serve as fathers and as mothers; it is not easy. The graces of the vocation are offered by God but one must correspond with these graces in order bring forth good fruits in the vineyard of the Lord.

ONE OF THE FUNDAMENTAL STRATEGIES OF SATAN IS THAT WE REMAIN SPIRITUALLY ASLEEP UNTIL DEATH. “One day, I saw two roads. One was broad, covered with sand and flowers, full of joy, music and all sorts of pleasures. People walked along it, dancing and enjoying themselves. They reached the end without realizing it. And at the end of the road there was a horrible precipice; that is, the abyss of hell. The souls fell blindly into it; as they walked, so they fell. And their number was so great that it was impossible to count them. And I saw the other road, or rather, a path, for it was narrow and strewn with thorns and rocks; and the people who walked along it had tears in their eyes, and all kinks of suffering befell them. Some fell down upon the rocks, but stood up immediately and went on. At the end of the road there was a magnificent garden filled with all sorts of happiness, and all these souls entered there. At the very first instant they forgot all their sufferings.” (Diary, 153). “Today, I was led by an Angel to the chasms of hell… But I noticed one thing: that MOST OF THE SOULS THERE ARE THOSE WHO DISBELIEVED THAT THERE IS A HELL.” (Diary, 741). Today, a great number of people have conveniently and willingly swallowed this lie that hell and the devil do not exist!

Catechism of the Catholic Church: “1035 The teaching of the Church affirms the existence of hell and its eternity. Immediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into hell, where they suffer the punishments of hell, “eternal fire.” The chief punishment of hell is eternal separation from God, in whom alone man can possess the life and happiness for which he was created and for which he longs. 1036 The affirmations of Sacred Scripture and the teachings of the Church on the subject of hell are a call to the responsibility incumbent upon man to make use of his freedom in view of his eternal destiny. They are at the same time an urgent call to conversion: “Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few. (Mt 7:13-14)”

MANY PEOPLE WHO REGULARLY COME TO CHURCH TODAY ARE OBJECTIVELY IN MORTAL SIN; many priests remain in culpable silence while other priests indicate to them in various ways the attitude: “Do not worry; God loves you!” , without helping them to confront their behaviour and the concrete actions of their lives in the mirror of God, the objective Truth. Thus these people remain in their own willingly accepted illusions, developed and reinforced by the silence of so many priests and bishops in the atmosphere of relativism which totally surrounds us today. Is this true love on the part of the pastor of souls? We must help our sheep to not follow the world with it’s immorality, backbiting, wrong behaviors. There is no longer any rules, no scruples that holds them back, they are in jeopardy, and go to meet evil without looking back to think: “But where am I going?”

I INVITED EVERYONE IN VARIOUS PARISHES DURING LENT TO BUY A COPY FOR EVERY FAMILY THE CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, not the one for children nor the “compendium” (abbreviated), but the one for adults, the complete edition. I challenged everyone to read during Lent the part on the 10 Commandments and to confront their lives with that instead of floating downstream with the culture of death which totally surrounds us by way of the motors of the culture: the mass media, the schools, and even most religious institutions. If one does not do this he ends us not confronting his life with THE OBJECTIVE TRUTH, stamped into our hearts and souls by our Creator, but with the moving sands of sentiment and feelings, of the fads of our times, which leads us to the worst enslavement; confession becomes only psychological therapy. I wonder if even one person took my advice in order to discover the will of God and to do the will of God?

A GREAT NUMBER OF PRIEST, BISHOPS AND PARENTS DO AS PETER DID AT THE BEGINNING OF HIS WALK WITH JESUS when Peter rebuked Jesus who revealed to the Apostle that He must “suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed” (Mt 16:21). Peter later matured to the point of giving his life as a martyr for Jesus. Jesus would say today to these numerous priests, bishops and parents, who never matured as Christians, even after many years of being a Christian and a priest or bishop, the same as He said to Peter: “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me; for you are not on the side of God, but of men” (Mt 16:23). The principle commandment of the devil is: “Don’t suffer! You must not suffer!” Jesus said: “Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few” (Mt 7:13-14)! The narrow gate is the actual and personal presence of Christ crucified in our personal lives – suffering and pain both interior and exterior! “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Lk 9:23).

“IT WOULD BE A VERY UGLY THING FOR A RELIGIOUS TO SEEK RELIEF FROM SUFFERING” (Diary, 387). “INSTEAD OF GOOD FORTUNE ALL MEN EVERYWHERE WOULD SEEK OUT TROUBLES, ILLNESS AND SUFFERING THAT THEY MIGHT OBTAIN THE INESTIMABLE TREASURE OF GRACE. This is the final profit to be gained from patient endurance. No one would complain about the cross or about hardships coming seemingly by chance upon him, if he realized in what balance they are weighed before being distributed to men” (Breviary, August 23, St. Rose of Lima).

IT SEEMS THAT MANY PRIESTS AND BISHOPS ARE INCAPABLE OF DISPLEASING THE PEOPLE. The ones who should speak are silent because they are afraid of being laughed at or mocked or being accused of not being up with the times. In this regard, even the enemies of Christ admitted: “Teacher, we know that you are true, and teach the way of God truthfully, and care for no man; for you do not regard the position of men…” (Mt 22:16; Mk 12:14; Lk 20:21). In the end WE ended up crucifying Christ!

HOW MANY COUPLES AND FAMILIES HAVE WE PRIESTS AND BISHOPS HELPED TO UNDERMINE AND DESTROY in the name of “love” by giving council that some of the teachings of Jesus, explained by the Church, are too difficult and outmoded, such as Humanae Vitae? This is false love; this is false compassion; this is false humility! This is trust in our own human wisdom and intelligence instead of trust in God Who speaks through His Church confirmed by the living Pope. Satan continues to offer to the people of the world his new subtle and destructive traps, and thus it is important to continue to read the encyclicals of the living Pope so as to be aware of these new onslaughts of Satan as well as to know how to overcome them. For us priests it is not enough to have gone through seminary training years ago. With the internet today we can easily find the documents of the Church and the writings of the living Pope and of all the popes.

We have slid so far from the level of the Gospel and of the 10 Commandments in our way of living that WE PRESUME THAT GOD MUST ADAPT ACCORDING TO US INSTEAD OF US ADAPTING TO GOD. God does not lower the bar to 2 inches; the bar remains, as always, at 2 yards high! We say that it is too difficult to live as our grandparents lived with more than 2 or 3 kids. But God does not change; the 10 Commandments do not change. But, as Lucy of Fatima indicated, God gives more graces today than in the past to those who make sacrifices and truly pray to do the will of God: “Thy will be done”! But people say I do not have time to pray and I do not want to make sacrifices! And so, each one is free to follow his own free will: to seek to discover and to do God’s holy will, or to not seek to discover and to do God’s holy will.

A FEW YEARS AGO A WORLDWIDE STUDY WAS DONE REGARDING THE CONNECTION BETWEEN DIVORCE AND HAVING CHILDREN. Millions of couples were surveyed. The results were: the couple with no children, 39% end up in divorce; one child, 19% divorce rate; 2 children, 12% divorce rate; 3 children, 9%; and 4 or more children, less than 4% divorce rate. It was discovered that having children is related to marriage stability, between the husband and the wife. Even Aristotle said that childless couples do not have as much holding them together; they do not have the same type of unity as those couples with more children. Childlessness is not the way to preserve happiness together and unity in marriage. God loves each of us immensely; when we heed His word pronounced by His lawful Church, things go much better!

TO FIGHT IN A BATTLE, IS IT NOT PRUDENT AND NECESSARY TO KNOW NOT ONLY YOUR OWN WEAPONS, TACTICS AND STRATEGY BUT ALSO THE WEAPONS, TACTICS AND STRATEGY OF THE ENEMY? It was recounted to Pope John Paul II that the Vatican's chief exorcist, Father Gabriele Amorth, “knows too many bishops who do not believe in the Devil”. The Pope replied bluntly: “ANYONE WHO DOES NOT BELIEVE IN THE DEVIL DOES NOT BELIEVE IN THE GOSPEL”. When asked “What do you see as Satan’s greatest success?”, Amorth replied: “The fact that he has managed to convince people that he does not exist. He has almost managed it, even within the Church. We have a clergy and an Episcopate who no longer believe in the Devil , in exorcism, in the exceptional evil the Devil can instill, or even in the power that Jesus bestowed to cast out demons. … And they no longer believe in the Devil. We have entire Episcopates trying to counter exorcism. We have countries completely devoid of exorcists, such as Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Spain and Portugal. This is a shameful shortfall.”; (http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?id=2879; http://www.vaticans.org/index.php?/archives/61-An-interview-with-the-Vaticans-chief-excorcist,-Father-Gabriele.html).

WOULD IF THAT THERE MIGHT BE VISIBLE IN A PARISH THE DIABOLICALLY POSSESSED THAT ONE READS ABOUT OFTEN IN THE GOSPELS; THE CHURCH WOULD BE FULL TO ASK FOR GOD’S HELP! Today Satan is more powerful than ever (wars, divorces, abortion, Satanism, promotion of homosexuality and the culture of death, etc.) and yet more hidden. People do not want to hear these things today because it indicates that we are in a battle against the forces of evil (CCC 409); it is much easier not to combat! “And behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus; and when they saw him, they begged him to leave their neighborhood” (Mt 8:34). In a battle, if one army relaxes and is not vigilant, the other army advances in a silent and hidden way so that it might totally surround the other army. This is one of the basic strategies of Satan. For this reason one finds often from the lips of our Lord: “but know this, that if the householder had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have watched and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready…” (Mt 24:43-44; Lk 12:39-40).

SO MANY TODAY DO NOT WANT THE TRUTH; THEY DO NOT WANT TO DIALOGUE WITH THOSE WHO ARE SEEKING THE UNCOMFORTABLE TRUTH WHICH OFTEN LEADS TO SUFFERING AND HARDSHIP. These people subjectively believe to be good people, while they do not want confront their lives with the Truth Who is Jesus of the Gospel which does not correspond to the Jesus of their own idea! It is a contradiction! On June 27, 2012, at Collevalenza, Italy, before about 150 priests and 10 bishops of the Marian Movement of Priests, Cardinal Ivan Dias said: “Brothers, we are in full battle!”

We are in the greatest spiritual battle in the history of the Church and of the world, and so many of our generals, the bishops, and our captains, the priests, do not even believe or want to believe that the enemy exists, let alone to understand the weapons, tactics and strategy of the enemy! WOE TO US SIMPLE BUCK PRIVATES WHO ARE ON THE BATTLE FIELD WITH SUCH UNINFORMED AND UNPREPARED OFFICERS TO LEAD US!

Speaking about the situation in the Church today, the Holy Father Paul VI affirms to have had the sensation that: “FROM SOME CREVICE, THE SMOKE OF SATAN HAS ENTERED THE TEMPLE OF GOD” (Pope Paul VI, June 29, 1972).

“CONFRONTING THE DEVIL'S POWER”; Address of Pope Paul VI to a General Audience November 15, 1972. “WHAT ARE THE CHURCH'S GREATEST NEEDS AT THE PRESENT TIME? Don't be surprised at Our answer and don't write it off as simplistic or even superstitious: one of the Church's greatest needs is to be defended against the evil we call the Devil.” (http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Paul06/p6devil.htm).

“THERE IS A RISE IN SATANISM, and satanic activity and satanic ritual murders. This danger is real and should not be ignored.”; (http://www.fatima.org/crusader/cr45/cr45pg27.asp).

Bishops and priests who have not obeyed the living Pope will have to answer for all of the souls under their care at the moment of death. A subtle mistake of a jet pilot can kill all the passengers; a passenger changing his seat to the other side of the plane affects the flight very little. On May 29, 1969 the Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship issued “MEMORIALE DOMINI”, containing the Instruction on the Manner of Distributing Holy Communion, which is still in vigor and could be summarized as follows: the prohibition of receiving Holy Communion in the hand remains in vigor in the universal mode and the bishops, priests and faithful are heartily exhorted to diligently follow this law newly reasserted. Nonetheless, WHERE THIS USE MAY HAVE BEEN ENTRENCHED AND INTRODUCED IN AN ILLICIT MANNER, there is provided the possibility to concede to those sectors which are NOT DISPOSED TO OBEY THIS EXHORTATION. (http://www.rinascimentosacro.com/2008/11/itinerario-verso-il-fatto-compiuto.html).

ONCE THE UNDOMESTICATED HORSE IS OUT OF THE STALL, IT IS HARD TO GET THE HORSE BACK INTO THE STALL! It is like being on a slippery slop similar to what happened to the Anglican Church when contraception was approved for serious reasons and only for married people who have been generous for life. It is an important and difficult task for priests and bishops to hold the line to preserve the life saving teachings of Holy Mother Church. The generals and captains in the battle do all they can to guide and protect the soldiers under their command. Today many religious leaders are not astute in warning those under their charge of the subtle but very powerful enticements and traps of the enemy!

“POPE BENEDICT SETS THE NORM FOR RECEIVING COMMUNION”; “In other words, it is an exception to the norm, and Pope Benedict is making it clear what the norm has been and still is: Communion on the tongue while kneeling.” (http://homilysun.blogspot.com/2010/03/lent-3c.html).

“Oh, if only all souls knew who is living in our churches, there would not be so many outrages and so much disrespect in these holy places” (Diary, 409)!

SO MANY BISHOPS AND PRIESTS TODAY BELIEVE THEY KNOW MORE THAN THE POPE, especially the living Pope, and even accuse those bishops and priests who seek to follow the directives of the Pope, in particular the established Church norms of how to receive Holy Communion and the guidelines regarding sexual conduct, as full of pride because those who follow the directives of the Pope are in the minority today. Which is true humility here and which is false humility? And moreover, what is true charity toward God and toward the faithful: to offer to the faithful the teachings of the Church approved by the Popes, or to offer to the faithful what the majority of bishops and priests promote which are divergent from these official Church teachings in fundamental and very important issues of faith and morals? And then we wonder why the Church and the world are in their present condition and we wonder why Our Lady at Fatima and at so many other places around the world in the last 150 years warns us of incredible catastrophes that will happen if we do not convert according to God’s criteria of conversion! Who is right, our Lady, or we intelligent and wise leaders of the Church? “The truth shall set you free” (Jn 8:32), even though we will have to suffer as Christ suffered on the cross and we will have to adore the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist as Jesus wants to be adored, explained by the authoritative teachings of the Church. WE CATHOLICS HAVE THE NUCLEAR SPIRITUAL BOMB: THE EUCHARIST! The Eucharist is “the source and summit of the Christian life.” (LG 11) (CCC 1324). We have received many more “talents” to multiply for the Kingdom of God and for the good of the whole world. Receiving the Most Holy Sacrament in the hand, standing, results in the decrease of the faith even to the point that many of the faithful today see the Eucharist as a sacred object, but not as the Divine Person. The great majority of Catholics today do not even go to Sunday Mass to thank God for everything, and many who go see the Eucharist as a nice “sacred thing” but not as the divine Person, to know Him, to love Him and to serve Him in an intimate relationship. The first precept of the Church remains always: “YOU SHALL ATTEND MASS ON SUNDAYS AND ON HLY DAYS OF OBLIGATION AND REST FROM SERVILE LABOR” (CCC 2042).

WHEN THERE IS LACKING FAITH AND HUMILITY BEFORE THE MOST BLESSED SACRAMENT THE GRACES RECEIVED PERSONALLY AND FOR THE WHOLE CHURCH AND FOR THE WHOLE WORLD ARE GREATLY DIMINISHED! Our nuclear spiritual bomb to be able to support the world in this “cosmic struggle” (John Paul II) is reduced to a fire cracker, or worse, a punishment! When Catholics slid into this subtle defect which seems to many insignificant, the who world suffers more than we can imagine. Even the Satanists believe in the Eucharist; they seek to acquire the consecrated Hosts in order to profane them and their black masses; at the major basilicas of Rome and in many other churches, there is a guard next to the priest who distributes Holy Communion to make sure that the people put the Body of Christ in their mouth and do not take It out of their mouth.

HOW MANY TIMES IN THE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH THE MAJORITY OF THE BISHOPS AND PRIESTS WERE AGAINST THE PRONOUNCEMENTS OF THE POPE, such as during the Arian heresy or after the encyclical Humanae Vitae? I am sure Saint Athanasius was accused of pride by the majority of the priests and bishops because he proclaimed that Jesus is divine during the Arian heresy and thus was not in accord with the majority of the great leaders in the Church at the time; St Athanasius even had to flee for his life! “I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes; yea, Father, for such was thy gracious will” (Mt 11:25; Lk 10:21)!

Dr. Scott Hahn, Professor of Theology and Scripture at Franciscan University of Steubenville (http://www.scotthahn.com/), said a simple statement that struck me the more I thought about it. HE SAID THAT THE CRISIS IN THE CHURCH BEGAN WHEN CATHOLICS BEGAN TO SEE THE EUCHARIST AS ONLY A SACRED THING AND NO LONGER AS THE DIVINE PERSON! Perhaps this seems like an explanation too simple or even naïve for many people today! Saint Augustine wrote: “God in His omnipotence could not give more, in His wisdom He knew not how to give more, in His riches He had not more to give, than the Eucharist.”

This is also directly related to how we Catholics began to come to church TO RECEIVE RATHER THAN TO GIVE, first of all to God in adoration, and then to Jesus in each neighbor. The angels and saints in heaven adore their infinite God, prostrate before Him. Do we seek to discover the way that God desires to be adored, in particular, at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, or do we decide by ourselves how or even if we should adore God?

GOOD PARENTS OFTEN MUST TELL THEIR CHILDREN TO DO THINGS THAT ARE DIFFICULT AND EVEN PAINFUL. Some children trust their parents, while other children rebel. Our culture today tells us and brainwashes us, through powerful and sophisticated means, that the Ten Commandments and the Church’s teachings are a big NO. But for the children who trust God, the Ten Commandments and the Church’s teachings are a big YES, a big yes to true freedom (Jn 8:32) and eternal salvation!

WHERE DO WE FIND THIS SAVING AND LIBERATING TRUTH FROM GOD HERE ON EARTH? From Fr. Joe, from you, from who? The vast majority of people today have freely chosen to enter into the deep trap of relativism and thus each person makes himself the source of truth, which leads to horrible slavery. I prefer to seek the truth from the “Rock” that Jesus left us here on earth (Mt 16:18), the living Pope!

TO EXPLAIN SIMPLY, AS WELL AS TO AVOID THE TYPICAL ELUSIVE ARGUMENTATION which covers up the true motive of so many who are fleeing from God (even though they believe they will go to heaven if they still believe that such a place exists), I tell people that if they want to make it to heaven, they must seek the Truth (big “T”) in a difficult and confusing world, especially listening to the Vicar of Christ on earth, the Pope; then live this Truth with God's help, so that they can spend eternity with the Truth, who is God. Most people today do not even take the first step of seeking the Truth which is inconvenient because it bothers our almost dead consciences indicating to us that we must change our lives and suffer.

A GREAT NUMBER OF PEOPLE CHOOSE THE EASY WAY OF CONVINCING THEMSELVES THAT THERE IS NO ETERNITY AFTER DEATH and thus they freely and knowingly choose to lower themselves even below the level of animals with a mortal soul, thus thinking that they have no responsibility despite their great God-given dignity and great responsibility. When they die, after fleeing the Truth all of their lives, God, out of true love, will respect and confirm their choice, and they will go to the place where there is no Truth, no God for all eternity!

I AM AMAZED AT THE NEGATIVE REACTION OF MANY PRIESTS THAT I KNOW, when I begin explaining and unmasking in an understandable and simple way how we have slowly fallen very deeply into relativism, in particular by setting aside the difficult parts of Sacred Scripture and of the teachings of the Magisterium of the Church. How many of us priests have yielded to the desires of so many people today who want a Christianity without the cross; thus we have yielded to human respect instead of holding firm to the respect for God’s holy Will and we have put aside or ignored, in various ways, Humanae Vitae or the directives of the popes and of the documents of the Church to maintain a great reverence and humility before the Most Blessed Sacrament (e.g., Memoriale Domini, Inestimabile Donum, etc.). If many bishops and priests do not obey the Pope, what can the Pope do? Naturally people do not want to suffer or struggle to maintain reverent silence before Jesus in Person in the tabernacle or to make acts of humility even before their God in the most holy Eucharist. But when I encourage priests to help people to go in the right direction as indicated by Sacred Scripture and by the documents of the Church, so many react in an argumentative way or even worse with apathy. How few priests are seeking the uncomfortable and unpopular Truth by asking questions about where I found this information from the documents of the Church or from the writings of the Popes.

IT IS DIFFICULT TO LIVE THE GOSPEL BECAUSE GOD ASKS US TO LOVE AS HE LOVES: “You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt 5:48). God does not love us 99% but always 100% and He asks the same from us with His help. Many times we are like children, greatly loved by our parents, who do not want to respond to that love of the parents even to the point of saying to the parents to stop loving me so that they feel more free, and the conscience, not yet dead, bothers them less (Prov 25:22; Rom 12:20). We want to lower the bar to 2 inches, but God hold us to 2 yards. It is a great temptation to not live our call from our Baptism, and thus to not live our vocation as parents, priests or bishops, as the prophets did who always called back themselves and the people to God’s unchanging standard, to the law of God.

I UNDERSTAND BETTER NOW WHY POPE JOHN PAUL II OFTEN ENCOURAGED DIALOGUE, because in dialogue we open ourselves up to seek the truth together rather than falling into the widespread temptation of inventing the truth according to our own head for our own relative convenience. Often we talk about the deep longings in our hearts and fundamental questions put in us by our Creator only with those who are in agreement with how we want things to be. Few priests I know want to go forward everyday in seeking the Truth together, in open and sincere dialogue, with the willingness to change our lives in accordance with the great treasure of each piece of Truth that God offers to each of us, often by way of other well-intentioned people.

I understand more and more why Pope John Paul II, when asked to offer one verse from the whole Bible for the People of God, replied without hesitation: “THE TRUTH WILL MAKE YOU FREE!” (Jn 8:32). Most people today trust themselves rather than trusting the One Who created them and loves them more than they love themselves, and thus God's hands are tied due to His respect for our free will. Today, surrounded by this very destructive atmosphere of relativism, a great number of Christians say with their mouths “thy will be done” but in practice they live “my will be done” without even realizing the difference; “my” and “thy” have become equated as did our first human parents in the garden of Eden (Gen 3:4-5). How often one finds in the writings of the saints, and even in the private revelations of Christ to the saints, the great importance of submitting to lawful superiors and lawful authority in all those things within their jurisdiction except sin. But even here, the schismatic traditionalists put many directives of lawful authority in the category of sin, according to the way they want to interpret things, which are not in the category of sin; in this way they justify at least to themselves disobedience and non-compliance to the lawful authority of the Church. Is this truly an attitude of seeking the truth and trusting more in God than themselves?

IF YOU SAY TO PEOPLE: “YOU ARE LIVING IN SIN!”, HOW MANY LISTEN TO YOU? Perhaps one in four hundred?! How many couples “live together” today in the sin of “free sex”?! How many religious leaders seek, with the motive of “love”, with misguided and false compassion, to satisfy “cohabitation” by promoting these types of civil laws even though one says in the “Act of Contrition” “I firmly resolve with the help of Thy grace to sin no more and to AVOID THE NEAR OCCASION OF SIN”? Even the anti-Catholic New York Times had to admit: “Study Finds Cohabiting Doesn’t Make a Union Last” (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/03/us/03marry.html).

“My heart almost stopped at the sight of these tortures. The Lord said to me, I suffer even greater pain than that which you see. And Jesus gave me to know for what sins He subjected Himself to the scourging: these are sins of impurity. Oh, how dreadful was Jesus’ moral suffering during the scourging! (Diary, 445).

WHERE THERE IS SIN THERE CANNOT BE PEACE AND TRUE LOVE. Where sin is, there “lives together” the other “god”, the “god I”, and that god is made to measure, made for self and based on self; it is stamped by the seal of the devil. Oh, it is true that for them God cannot command them in anything, but they do not even believe in the existence of the devil and thus they are in his arms and he maneuvers their minds leading them to abominable acts. God gives Love; the devil gives death! Jesus tells us to follow Him every day with our cross and offers us true freedom and eternal happiness; the devil tells us to avoid suffering at all costs here on earth and convinces us that everyone goes to heaven after death.

IT IS TRULY IRONIC THAT PRECISELY THE THINGS THAT OUR HEDONISTIC CULTURE OFFERS TO US AS FREEDOM ENDS UP BEING DREADFUL SLAVERY AND DESTRUCTION! “Truly, truly, I say to you, every one who commits sin is a slave to sin” (Jn 8:34). It is not easy today for couples to trustfully follow the Church’s teaching on human sexuality in our rebellious culture which seeks pleasure as one of it’s gods. It is still more difficult for the youth who seek to follow not only Jesus risen but also Jesus crucified when even the religious leaders indicate to us in various ways that you can put aside the difficult parts of Sacred Scripture and of the teachings of the Church. George Weigel, who wrote a biography of Pope John Paul II, said that the last piece on the world chess board which resists and is against the devastating destruction of relativism is the Catholic Church. The first words of Pope John Paul II were: “Do not be afraid!” Taking advantage of the motors of the culture, the secularists make the true Christians feel more and more very uncomfortable to speak about Christian values in the public square. We will arrive to the point, as we have seen so many times in the history of the Church, that many true Christians (not the false one in name only) ill be killed in order to try to silence this witness to the true faith. Like Satan, the dictators do not put up with those who adore the one true God! Unfortunately there will be many so-called “Christians” who will deny Jesus Christ in order to save their lives and to be able to eat.

IT IS TRULY DIFFICULT TODAY TO FOLLOW JESUS IN THE SOCIETIES TOTALLY SECULARIZED. Even the disciples of Jesus “were greatly astonished, saying, Who then can be saved? (Mt 19:25). Jesus did not change his teaching to accommodate the disciple or to not loose his disciples (Jn 6) like so many religious leaders do today, let along politicians. But Jesus “looked at them and said to them, With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Mt 19:26). The true courageous pastors the couple to seek help in the sacraments and to pray the Rosary in order to live the prophetical encyclical Humanae Vitae and all of the teachings of the Magisterium of the Church. Those who bow to the god of human respect give a “loving kiss” (of death!) as they lead couples gently to succumb to the mentality and strong currents of our modern world today which leads to their destruction? The objective reality of the world and the universe and of human existence was created by God, not by you or me! Thus the rules of the game of life are determined by Him, not by the very numerous relativistic gods on the earth today (Gen 3:4-5)! God’s instruction manual, found and explained in Sacred Tradition, the Magisterium of the Church and Sacred Scripture, offers “the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (Jn 14:6) which shows us how to avoid disasters and to find true freedom and happiness not only in heaven but also here on earth. They say that God forgives all the time, and that man forgives sometimes, but NATURE NEVER FORGIVES.

After the war and depression, many people said: “I DO NOT WANT MY CHILDREN TO HAVE TO SUFFER WHAT I HAD TO SUFFER.” It is normal to want to avoid suffering. But Christians follow Christ crucified in order to rise with Him after death. True love of God and neighbor always entails some kind of suffering. Saint Raymund of Penyafort wrote: “I should hope that you would not be counted among their number. Their homes are peaceful and complacent. They live in security and never feel the touch of the Lord’s rod. They pass their days in plenty and in the end go straight to hell.” (Office of Readings; Jan. 7)

IN MY COUNTRY, THE U.S., THERE ARE OVER 30,000 INDEPENDENT PROTESTANT GROUPS ALL INTERPRETING DIVINE REVELATION IN THEIR OWN WAY. Jesus knew well that there would be many opinions and confusion about the most important topic of eternal salvation and so he gave to us the Church with the ROCK as our guaranteed and divinely protected guide (Mt 16:18). Are we promoting and teaching the religion of the Gospels explained by the one true Church, the Catholic Church with the Pope as the visible head, or are we promoting and teaching a nice comfortable “Christian” religion without the cross, while rendering the consciences of our parishioners insensitive and numb? Are we truly good shepherds of our flocks to protect the sheep from the very numerous and subtly ingenious wolves of today? Or have we slipped into the comfortable and self-satisfying role of the hireling who gratifies himself with the applause of the sheep with his nice words that the sheep want to hear, but then when the sneaky shrewd astute sly wolf comes, he abandons the flock, not being ready or willing to give his life for the sheep due to the fact that he did not preach the uncomfortable truths which would make him unpopular or even be rejected by the majority of the self-seeking sheep (Jn 10:7-18)? “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander into myths” (2Tim 4:3-4).

WHY DOES JESUS EXHORT US SO OFTEN IN THE GOSPELS TO PRAY ALWAYS (Lk 18:1; 21:36, etc.)? Why does Jesus tell us: “Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (Mt 7:7; Lk 11:9)? Is it not precisely because God is very, in fact totally, respectful of our free will? Do you really believe, according to your statement to me on the phone, that God will force everyone, even kicking and screaming, to spend all eternity with Him? The devil does not want to respect our freedom at all and he would be happy to force us into his eternal dwelling even if we are kicking a screaming.

GOD HAS GIVEN US HUMAN BEINGS AN INCREDIBLY GREAT DIGNITY, LIKE THE ANGELS! We are made in the image and likeness of God (Gen 1:26-27), and thus we can freely say YES or NO to God! Our relativistic culture of today wants to tell us that there is no truth, and that one opinion is as good as another, and that it does not matter what you do. But this way of believing and doing ends up with the law: “Might makes right”! Our culture wants to say to us that we have very little dignity, if any, and thus we have no responsibility for our actions. Is this not a resurgence of the old heresy of Gnosticism which sees all material things as evil and thus we can do with our bodies as we like without consequence? Saint Columbanus explains very clearly our great dignity made in the image of God as well as our great obligation of preserving this awesome image (Office of Readings; Nov. 23).

WHEN A WOMAN COMMITS AN ABORTION, IN ORDER TO BE HEALED, SHE MUST FACE THE WHOLE TRUTH OF THE TREMENDOUS GRAVITY OF THE SIN COMMITTED AS WELL AS THE INFINITE MERCY OF GOD! If she is not helped by others to acknowledge the truth of the sin committed as well as the offer of the infinite mercy of God, she will have even greater problems psychologically as well as other problems. If all go to heaven as you say, there should be no consequences or repercussions, psychologically or otherwise, since there is no responsibility, just like the animals which do not experience these consequences or repercussions. The statistics show that in our sexually free society, the occurrence of depression among females is three times higher than that of depression among males who have sexual relations about as freely as shaking hands or playing a game of tennis. Pope John Paul II did not tell women that everyone goes to heaven and so they can forget about the act of abortion!

“I WOULD NOW LIKE TO SAY A SPECIAL WORD TO WOMEN WHO HAVE HAD AN ABORTION. The Church is aware of the many factors which may have influenced your decision, and she does not doubt that in many cases it was a painful and even shattering decision. The wound in your heart may not yet have healed. Certainly what happened was and remains terribly wrong. But do not give in to discouragement and do not lose hope. Try rather to understand what happened and face it honestly. If you have not already done so, give yourselves over with humility and trust to repentance. The Father of mercies is ready to give you his forgiveness and his peace in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. You will come to understand that nothing is definitively lost and you will also be able to ask forgiveness from your child, who is now living in the Lord. With the friendly and expert help and advice of other people, and as a result of your own painful experience, you can be among the most eloquent defenders of everyone's right to life. Through your commitment to life, whether by accepting the birth of other children or by welcoming and caring for those most in need of someone to be close to them, you will become promoters of a new way of looking at human life.” (EVANGELIUM VITAE, no. 99; http://www.vatican.va/edocs/ENG0141/__P10.HTM).

When Saint Faustina prayed for the conversion of a woman on a train, she wrote: “I could feel that my prayer was causing this soul’s struggle to become even fiercer. I did not console her, but prayed all the more fervently” (Diary, 396). How many religious leaders or parents do as Saint Faustina did and love others for their eternal good and not just for their temporal good?

THE DEVIL WANTS TO LOWER HUMAN BEINGS DOWN TO THE LEVEL OF ANIMALS, or worse, down to his level which is far lower than innocent beasts! Today he is succeeding in this endeavour more than at any other time in the history of mankind. Even the animals do not kill their offspring or kill their old and do not have sex between two males or two females!

FOR THOSE WHO HAVE REJECTED THE TRUTH, it is so much more convenient and self satisfying to see ourselves in our own constructed, subjective mirror rather than seeing ourselves in the mirror of God who created us and has imprinted the truth in our very being! At death we will see our whole life and how we sought and lived the truth or how we accepted and freely embraced so many convenient illusions offered to us by the world or by the devil or by ourselves.

RELATIVISM not only reduces us human beings, but reduces and even denies the incredible sacrifice of Christ! THE WHOLE REDEMPTION IS NULLIFIED! Christ came for sinners not for those who automatically go to heaven. Christ went around with the sinners, not with the self-justified! The very first step in our walk toward Christ is to recognize our sinfulness, to repent and to ask God’s forgiveness.

As we say on Ash Wednesday, “Repent, and believe in the Gospel!” IF EVERYONE GOES TO HEAVEN, WHY DID JESUS CHRIST SUFFER SUCH A HORRIBLE DEATH? Who is stupid here, Christ or we presumptuous relativists? Who determines the criteria of salvation, me, you, or Jesus who speaks through His Church?

It is interesting that socialists do not succeed in accepting that individuals have this remarkable capacity that we call free will, free choice. SOCIALISM CANNOT DEAL WITH THIS ISSUE OF FREE WILL!

THE MORE AND BETTER SATAN SUCCEEDS IN COMING CLOSE TO THE REAL THING, TO THE TRUTH, TO VIRTUE, AND THEN TO PERVERT IT (“angel of light”; 2Cor 11:14), the more souls he succeeds in leading astray, especially among those who have received more grace and truth and responsibility from God such as parents, priests and bishops. Thus Satan proclaims that God loves us and is merciful etc., while denying our responsibility since “God who is love and merciful, would never sends anyone to hell”. Satan tells us in fact “God probably did not even create hell and the devil really does not exist!” Most people in hell swallowed this lie (Diary, 741)! But God does not send anyone to hell; those in hell freely chose to go there and God confirms their choice! If I freely choose to not try to live the Ten Commandments according the God’s criteria throughout my whole life, God, out of love, will respect my choice and I will go to hell for all eternity! Does not the devil disguise himself as an “angel of light” (2Cor 11:14)? The more steps one takes in the direction of these convenient illusions when confronted with the difficulties and decisions in life, IT BECOMES MORE DIFFICULT to confront reality and truth, and can become a major shock and almost impossible to understand and accept truth when it comes to us as a harsh and strong reality.

Sister Lucy of Fatima said to Father Agostino Fuentes, the postulator of the cause of beatification of Giacinta e Francesco (December 26, 1957): “Our Lady is very displeased because it is not taken into account her message of 1917. Neither the good nor the bad have held them in consideration. Believe me my Father, the Lord will punish the world very soon; the punishment is immanent! Many nations will disappear from the face of the earth, many nations will be annihilated. … THE DEVIL KNOWS THAT THE RELIGIOUS AND THE PRIESTS, NOT LIVING UP TO THEIR BEAUTIFUL VOCATION, DRAG MANY SOULS TO HELL. … We have at our disposition TWO EFFICACIOUS MEANS: Prayer and Sacrifice. … The third time she said that, the other means exhausted and despised by men, He will give with trembling the last anchor of salvation which is the Most Holy Virgin in person, signs of tears, messages of seers spread in all the parts of the earth. Our Lady said that if we do not listen and if we still offend we will not be pardoned. Father, it is urgent that we realize this terrible reality. WE DO NOT WANT TO FILL THE SOULS WITH FEAR, BUT ONLY IT IS URGENT A RECALL TO REALITY. From when the Holy Virgin gave such a great efficaciousness to the Rosary, there does not exist any material, spiritual, national or international problem that cannot be resolved with THE HOLY ROSARY AND WITH OUR SACRIFICES. To recite it with devotion will be to consol Mary and to wipe away so many tears from her Immaculate Heart. … Our Lady expressly said: “We are approaching the end times”.”

I said to the pastor who scolded my on the telephone: “I PREFER TO BE FRIGHTENED HERE ON EARTH RATHER THAN FRIGHTENED FOR ALL ETERNITy!” “He reminds us of the reward or the punishment that awaits us after this life because He loves us. He knows, as one Father of the Church put it, that at times fear of punishment is more effective than a beautiful promise” (Mt 10,32-33; http://www.focolare.org/en/news/2012/08/01/agosto-2012/).

Every time we fall into sin, it is a nail, it is a thorn embedded in the Heart of the Sorrowful Mother’s Son, and She cries out to us: “HAVE PITY, HAVE MERCY!”

HOW MANY PRIESTS TODAY TRUST MORE IN THEIR OWN OPINIONS (LIKE RELATIVISTS) RATHER THAN IN THE TEACHINGS OF THE CHURCH WHICH INCLUDE THE WRITINGS OF THE POPES? What was Pope John Paul II trying to tell us with his visits to Fatima and with the beatifications of Jacinta and Francesco of Fatima? Why did Pope Benedict chose Cardinal Biffi to give the annual Lenten retreat to the Pope and the top members of the Vatican (Feb. 27, 2007)? The Times of London reported in 2004 that the Cardinal described the Antichrist as “walking among us”. The Lenten retreat did not disappoint. Cardinal Biffi picked up on his oft repeated theme of the Antichrist, basing his remarks on the works of Vladimir Soloviev, a Russian religious philosopher who has received praise from Pope Benedict prior to his elevation to the pontificate. Quoting Soloviev, the Cardinal said "the Antichrist presents himself as pacifist, ecologist and ecumenist." The cardinal said he believes that this is "the danger that Christians face in our days … the Son of God cannot be reduced to a series of good projects sanctioned by the prevailing worldly mentality." The preacher of the Spiritual Exercises added that "there are relative values, such as solidarity, love of peace and respect for nature. If these become absolute, uprooting or even opposing the proclamation of the event of salvation, then these values become an instigation to idolatry and obstacles on the way of salvation…." (http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/mar/07030101.html).

TODAY WE ARE LIKE FISH HABITUATED TO DIRTY WATER; WE HAVE BECOME TOTALLY USED TO THE DIRTY AND CLOUDY WATERS OF RELATIVISM AND WE ARE HAPPY WITH IT. Thus we judge so many things from this dirty water prospective. But the Creator of the material and the spiritual worlds has imprinted His laws in these created realities. Thus even if we feel that everything is basically OK within our dirty water, that is, our unawareness and blindness of our relativistic point of view, we do not succeed in understanding when someone offers us a non relativistic explanation according to the Church. “Therefore God sends upon them a strong delusion, to make them believe what is false, so that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (2Thess 2:11-12).

IT IS INTERESTING THAT WE TELL OUR CHILD TO COVER HIMSELF UP IN THE WINTER WHEN HE GOES OUTSIDE BECAUSE THERE ARE THE LAWS OF NATURE, as well as counseling our child regarding so many other natural precautions. But we do not tell the child anymore to follow God’s laws on sexual morality, who then ends up in bad relations and ends up destroying his life on earth and after death. We say: “You can’t fool mother nature”, but it is open season to shoot at the teachings of the Church even though these teachings are for our good, from a mother who loves us, from Holy Mother Church. If everything is basically OK (except the Truth authentically explained by the Catholic Church!), as so many insinuate, even though we water down or totally push aside all the teachings of the Church which are not comfortable and we ignore the messages of Fatima, then what was the true cause of the first world war, the second world war, the destruction of the families, abortion, euthanasia, socialism which are quickly replacing government and civil structures which used to respect the very important Church principle of subsidiarity’

A SPORTS TRAINER QUICKLY LOOSES HIS JOB IF HE DOES NOT DISCIPLINE THE ATHLETES. We admire coaches who know how to discipline the young athletes. Why is it that in the moral life we do not accept discipline? Why do so few today admire and encourage the spiritual leaders who know how to discipline their flock regarding morals so as to help people win the prize of everlasting life?

SEVEN TIMES IN THE BOOK OF JUDGES ALONE THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL WENT THROUGH THE CYCLE of sin, suffering, supplication to God, salvation from God, and then silence about God, and then they began all over again to sin again. The world is about to enter into the second part of perhaps the greatest such cycle in the history of the world, “suffering” (tribulation!) which will help many to call out to God and to recognize and to repent of their sins. It is interesting that when the Israelites were tired of deciding and doing things on their own and experienced how much better it is to follow God’s chosen ones, they finally pleaded with Gideon to “rule over us, you and your son and your grandson also...” (Judg 8:22). How many Christians have also become TIRED OF BEING THE POPE and have made this same wise choice to follow God’s chosen one, the living Pope to whom Jesus promised that “the gates of hell would not prevail” (Mt 16:18)? This promise was made to Peter and to his successors, not to the bishops, or to conferences of bishops or to theologians of whom many have set themselves up as a second magisterium in particular after Humanae Vitae was written!

Just before disaster struck seven times in the Book of Judges, the people of Israel did not expect it because THEY DID NOT REALIZE HOW FAR THEY HAD DRIFTED FROM GOD IN THEIR HEARTS AND IN THEIR ACTIONS AND THUS THEY FELT THAT EVERYTHING WAS OK AND NORMAL SIMILAR TO THE DAYS OF NOAH AND LOT (Gen 6:5-8; 7:6-24; Lk 17:26-30; Mt 24:37-39). God sent prophets but the people did not heed the words of the prophets. The inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah had no idea that their cities were about to be destroyed; they could have cared less, as long as they could revel in their destructive pleasures. Today many heads of state are promoting homosexuality and abortion and so many will have no idea why a “punishment greater than the deluge, such as one will never have seen before” is about to be unleashed (Akita, Japan). As Lucy of Fatima told Padre Fuentes: “The other means exhausted and despised by men, He (God) will give WITH TREMBLING THE LAST ANCHOR OF SALVATION WHICH IS THE MOST HOLY VIRGIN IN PERSON, signs of tears, messages of seers spread in all the parts of the earth. Our Lady said that if we do not listen and if we still offend we will not be pardoned.”

HOW MANY WIVES (OR HUSBANDS) SUFFER GREATLY BECAUSE THEIR HUSBANDS (OR WIVES) ARE SO INSENSITIVE AND INDIFFERENT!? A female dog does not suffer because a male dog is insensitive or indifferent! Our culture today which has instilled in so many that sex outside of marriage is like shaking hands or playing a game of tennis, lowering or totally denying our dignity and human nature given by God, has great difficulty explaining why do so many girls fall into depression due to having sex so easily outside of marriage without any kind of restraint! God has given us an extraordinary dignity made in His image and likeness. Thus our lack of living up to this incredible dignity is incomprehensible to our culture which has lowered human beings to such a low state. We tend to bring God down to our level, to the level of human love, not divine love, so that it is easier to not have to respond to such great love from God. This is similar to a child who says to his loving mother to stop loving him so much so that his conscience does not bother him due to his lack of response to his mother’s love. But God loves only in a total way, not 50% or 95%!

This type of guilty conscience is one of the principle motives for which the secularists are making the laws to coerce the true Christians into the closet, in private, and out of the public square! It is very interesting that THE SECULARISTS AND HOMOSEXUALS ACTIVISTS ACCUSE THE CHURCH OF IMPOSING MORALITY, and yet after the vast majority of states and groups of people voted to maintain marriage as between one woman and one man as God intended, these culture destroyers continue to come back against the will of the vast majority of people to subtly and deviously coerce, manipulate and force their agenda down our throats against our expressed desires! In the “Land of the Free”, the United States, it is not longer protected the right of conscience of people. The truth is that it is now worse in the United States than in the countries from which our founding Fathers of the United States fled from centuries ago to be able to have “freedom of religion”, not just “freedom of worship”, which means only privately without being able to offer the values of Christianity in the public square, as our Savior, Jesus Christ, commanded us to do (Mt 28:19; Lk 24:47; Acts 1:8)!

Sister Mary Gabriel in purgatory told Sister Mary of the Cross (1880): “PREACHERS AND DIRECTORS OF SOULS DO GOOD ONLY IN PROPORTION TO THEIR UNION WITH JESUS. In their spirit of prayer and in watching over their interior, they must always have their eyes directed towards Jesus, sacrificing all for the salvation of the souls entrusted to their care.” (http://purgatory-manu.blogspot.com).

When Pope John Paul II replied bluntly in response about many bishops who do not believe in the Devil: “Anyone who does not believe in the Devil does not believe in the Gospel”, the Vatican's chief exorcist, Father Gabriele Amorth, was asked in his interview of 2001: “Again, ARE YOU SAYING THAT MANY BISHOPS AND PRIESTS ARE NOT, CONSEQUENTLY, CATHOLIC?” Amorth replied: “Let us just say that they do not believe a Gospel truth. So, if anything, I would stop them propagating a heresy. But, to be clear about this, a person is officially a heretic if he or she is accused of something and persists in the error. No one today, given the situation in the Church, is accusing a bishop of not believing in the Devil, or in demonic possession or of failing to appoint exorcists because he does not believe. And yet I could give you the names of so many bishops and cardinals who, on their appointment to a diocese, stripped exorcists of their faculty to perform the rite. Or there are bishops who openly say they don’t believe, that these are things of the past. Why is that? UNFORTUNATELY, WE HAVE HAD THE INSIDIOUS INFLUENCE OF CERTAIN BIBLISTS and I could mention some illustrious names. We who are in daily physical contact with the ‘other world’ know that this influence is evident in numerous liturgical reforms. (For example?) The Second Vatican Council asked that some texts be revised. Disobeying this command, they set about re-writing them completely with no thought for the danger of making things worse instead of better. So many rites came off badly from this mania to throw out the old and start from scratch, as if the Church to date had always conned us and as if only now the time had at last come of the great geniuses, the super theologians, the super-biblists and the super-liturgists who know what the right thing is for the Church. This is a lie: the last Council simply asked that the texts be revised, not destroyed.” (http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?id=2879; http://www.vaticans.org/index.php?/archives/61-An-interview-with-the-Vaticans-chief-excorcist,-Father-Gabriele.html).

Cardinal Cañizares Llovera is Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship said: “THE "MOST URGENT ISSUE" IS THAT "THE SENSE OF THE LITURGY BE TRULY RECOVERED”. Some of his recent remarks made in an interview with the newspaper Catalunya Cristiana suggest that the "reform of the reform" is alive and well, even while the process is slow and arduous: … “People believe that the liturgy is a matter of forms and external realities, and what we really need is to restore a sense of worship, i.e. the sense of God as God. This sense of God can only be recovered with the liturgy. … THE LITURGY ALWAYS LOOKS TOWARDS GOD, NOT THE COMMUNITY…” (http://insightscoop.typepad.com/2004/2009/10/cardinal-ca%C3%B1izares-the-most-urgent-issue-is-that-the-sense-of-the-liturgy.html).

After I finish celebrating the Holy Mass each day, I often go with the other resident priest to the local bar in Italy for a cup of coffee with milk (cappuccino!). I often talk and joke with the bartender, Robert, who by now I know well. The other day I said to him that this year (2010) many people in the world celebrate the invention of the “pill” fifty years ago. I briefly said that the great majority of Catholics fell for this very alluring temptation of separating the marital act from life, from responsibility, which poisoned so many families, the fundamental cell of society. This is the root of the crisis today. Robert responded casually that he uses the pill and everything works out fine for him. I SIMPLE REPLIED THAT TODAY THE GREAT MAJORITY OF PEOPLE DO NOT EVEN KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LOVE ACCORDING TO THE WORLD AND LOVE ACCORDING TO JESUS CHRIST. I said that what is even worse, much worse, is the fact that the great majority of people do not want to know the difference! Ignorance is Bliss!

In our human way of talking here on earth, many people, who have willingly accepted and embraced so many times in their life the great but convenient lies of relativism, will say to Jesus when they die: “I did not know this or that or …” And Jesus will say: “YES, YOU DID NOT KNOW, BUT YOU WILLINGLY CHOSE NOT TO WANT TO KNOW, you did not want to discover the truth or the difference between love according to the world, with so many hidden egotistical motives, and true love that I explained while I was on earth leaving my Church, the Catholic Church with the Pope as the head, to explain what is true love and what is false love.” The Truth is God (Jn 14:6)!

With love according to the world, even outward works that seem praiseworthy, there is always a hidden personal profit or advantage. With love according to Jesus Christ, there is no hidden personal profit or earthly advantage; one loves even ones our enemies, the undesirable ones, the weak, the unwanted, unborn babies, especially with physical defects, the old people no longer autonomous and who are often a burden to us and to society, etc.

It is very interesting the the Indian Minister for the Social Affairs, who was not even Christian, to Mother Teresa said: “WE DO THE SAME WORK, BUT THERE IS A DIFFERENCE: WE DO IT FOR SOMETHING, YOU DO IT FOR SOMEONE”! Mother Teresa never opened up a new house for her sisters if there was not the possibility to have Eucharistic adoration everyday. Mother Teresa knew that slowly growing in faith before the divine Fire one succeeds more and more to see Jesus in the dying on the streets of Calcutta. Behold, to eat the Bread of Life is to become as Him: the Bread of Life for each brother that we meet. How many of us do things for “something” instead of for “Someone”?!? Only by way of the Eucharist, prayer, we begin to do all that we do during the day for SOMEONE!

Jesus said to Saint Faustina: “NOW I KNOW THAT IT IS NOT FOR THE GRACES OR GIFTS THAT YOU LOVE ME, BUT BECAUSE MY WILL IS DEARER TO YOU THAN LIFE. That is why I am uniting Myself with you so intimately as with no other creature” (Diary, 707).

I ENCOURAGED SOME PRIESTS IN OUR DIOCESE to consider the advice of the Servant of God, Archbishop Fulton Sheen, TO MAKE A HOLY HOUR EVERYDAY IN CHURCH BEFORE THE BLESSED SACRAMENT as I have been doing for the last 12 years, no one began to make a holy hour each day. One time, after having recounted to a 75 year old priest how much this habit of making a holy hour each day helps me and helps those who I serve in the various parishes, he responded that the distance is not important if one prays in the church or outside of the church. I did not react to his answer but inside of me I began to think how many times I read that the saints never spoke in this way. The saints passed as much time as possible before the Most Blessed Sacrament and encouraged others to do the same.

“I WILL NOT ALLOW MYSELF TO BE SO ABSORBED IN THE WHIRLWIND OF WORK AS TO FORGET ABOUT GOD. I will spend all my free moments at the feet of the Master hidden in the Blessed Sacrament. He has been tutoring me from my most tender years (Diary, 82). “Monthly Permissions: To enter the chapel when I pass near it. To pray in my moments of leisure (Diary, 246).

How many priest who do not seek to pass more time with Jesus in the Eucharist SLIDE INTO ACTIVISM, and then the churches are more and more empty each Sunday!

“When I entered the little chapel, I BROUGHT MY HEAD CLOSE TO THE TABERNACLE, knocked and said, “Jesus, look at the great difficulties I am having because of the painting of this image”. And I heard a voice from the tabernacle, “Me daughter, you sufferings will not last much longer” (Diary, 152).

Even SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS, held by the Church as an incomparable teacher, acquired his knowledge from Jesus in the tabernacle, UPON WHICH HE WOULD OFTEN LAY HIS HEAD. I prefer the folly of the saints than the wisdom and intelligence of many clergymen.

“Faced with this mystery, we are greatly helped not only by theological investigation but also by that great heritage which is the “LIVED THEOLOGY" OF THE SAINTS”.” (NOVO MILLENNIO INEUNTE, no. 27; http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_letters/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_20010106_novo-millennio-ineunte_en.html)

When I indicated to this 75 year old priest that I believe that Jesus suffers in a mysterious way for our sins today, because for Jesus, as God, there is no time but only the eternal present moment, he rebuffed me immediately saying that Jesus died 2000 years ago and no longer suffers. Afterwards I began to recall how many times I read in the writings of the saints to offer prayers and sacrifices “IN REPARATION FOR THE OUTRAGES, SACRILEGES AND INDIFFERENCES WITH WHICH HE HIMSELF IS OFFENDED”, in particular in the Eucharist (Prayer of the Angel at Fatima, 1917).

HOW MANY TIMES ONE READS SIMILAR PHRASES ABOUT REPARATION AND CONSOLATION TO JESUS in the diary of Saint Faustina! “During Vespers, I heard these words: My daughter, I want to repose in your heart, because many souls have thrown Me out of their hearts today. I have experienced sorrow unto death. I tried to comfort the Lord, by offering Him my love a thousand times over. I felt, within my soul, a great disgust for sin” (Diary, 866). Jesus said to Saint Faustina: “My daughter, know that your ardent love and the compassion you have for Me were a consolation to Me in the Garden (of Olives)” (Diary, 1664).

THE SAINTS ARRIVED TO THIS UNION, THIS LOVE FOR JESUS EVEN TO THE POINT OF SHARING WITH JESUS HIS SORROW. Instead for so many “Christians”, there is often a tendency to not consider very much the possibility of offending God, much less to cause great pain to God due to our insensitivity and indifference and ingratitude. We say: “After all He is God; He does not need us and besides He is far above all these things (as so many cowardly deists believe)!” WE FORGET THAT THE GREATER THE LOVE IS, THE GREATER IS THE PAIN DUE TO INSENSITIVITY, INDIFFERENCE AND INGRATITUDE. God who loves each one of us immensely, suffers more than we can imagine due to our indifference. One might say how can this be if Jesus already died 2000 years ago? We must remember that for God there is no past or future but only the eternal present. And then it is truly a great mystery that Jesus is totally man and totally God! Jesus suffered (“suffers”) not only for the sins of those who lived before and during his crucifixion, but also for all of the sins after his crucifixion. WE SLOUGH OFF SO EASILY THIS FUNDAMENTAL INDIFFERENCE OF NOT RESPONDING TO LOVE. This is the fundamental definition of sin. That is why Gloria Polo said: “You know, the first thing that we render account to God, even before the sins, are the omissions! They are so grave! You do not imagine how much!” God is love; he freely created us out of love and then suffers and dies on the cross in the eternal present for our not responding to this immense and personal love for each of us. I have begun to say these things at every funeral Mass since the great majority of the people present at the Funeral Mass do not come each week to Sunday Mass to thank Jesus in the Eucharist (which means “thanksgiving”) for all that he has given them, not only material things, but also for all spiritual blessings, including his incredible sacrifice he paid on the cross for their sins of outright, cold, inhuman indifference! They feel a little sorrow for the lost relative or friend in the coffin, but the One who gave them everything!?! The only thing that we take with us after death is our relationship and union with Jesus or the lack thereof. HOW MANY PEOPLE GO TO THE CEMETERY ON SUNDAY BUT DO NOT GO TO SUNDAY MASS? How can we pretend to spend eternity with Jesus if we do not have even one hour a week for him? Do they not realize that the greatest pain in hell and in purgatory, far greater than the torments of the horrendous fire, is the absence of God?

Not only at the funeral Masses, but also at the Christmas and Easter Masses, when the majority of those present do not go regularly to Mass, I HAVE BEGUN TO SAY JUST BEFORE GIVING OUT HOLY COMMUNION: “I do not want to offend anyone, but especially I do not want to offend Jesus, my Savior. The Church has always taught us that to not go each week to Sunday Mass offends and causes Jesus to suffer so intensely that one must go to confession to confess this horrendous sin of indifference before receiving Jesus, the infinite Son of God, in Holy Communion, so as not to offend and embed another thorn into the Heart of Jesus due to a sacrilegious Holy Communion.”

Often, while I make my daily meditation using the writings of the saints, I REALIZE THAT THE SAINTS SHARED IN THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST not only for themselves but with Jesus in the present moment, a spiritual union of love sharing the great sorrows in the work of redemption of souls. I went to the Internet and I found many documents very interesting in regards to this mystery of offering reparation and consolation to Jesus and Mary.

“RIGHTLY, THEREFORE, DOES CHRIST, STILL SUFFERING IN HIS MYSTICAL BODY, desire to have us partakers of His expiation, and this is also demanded by our intimate union with Him, for since we are "the body of Christ and members of member" (1 Corinthians xii, 27), whatever the head suffers, all the members must suffer with it (Cf. 1 Corinthians xii, 26)” (Miserentissimus Redemptor; no. 14; http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_08051928_miserentissimus-redemptor_en.html).

Consecrating the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary means drawing near, through the Mother's intercession, to the very Fountain of life that sprang from Golgotha. This Fountain pours forth unceasingly redemption and grace. IN IT REPARATION IS MADE CONTINUALLY FOR THE SINS OF THE WORLD. It is a ceaseless source of new life and holiness” (John Paul II; Fatima, May 13, 1982; http://www.ewtn.com/library/PAPALDOC/JP820513.htm).

POPE PIUS XI HAD BROACHED THE QUESTION OF HOW WE CAN OFFER CONSOLATION TO CHRIST NOW FOR WHAT HE SUFFERED THEN IN THESE TERMS: "But how can these rites of expiation bring solace now, when Christ is already reigning in the beatitude of heaven?"[83] John Paul II presents an analogous query in this way: “But how can these rites of expiation bring solace now, when Christ is already reigning in the beatitude of Heaven? To this we may answer in some words of St. Augustine which are very apposite here, - "Give me one who loves, and he will understand what I say" (Miserentissimus Redemptor, no. 13; http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_08051928_miserentissimus-redemptor_en.html).

“Theological tradition has not failed to ask how Jesus could possibly experience at one and the same time his profound unity with the Father, by its very nature a source of joy and happiness, and an agony that goes all the way to his final cry of abandonment. The simultaneous presence of these two seemingly irreconcilable aspects is rooted in THE FATHOMLESS DEPTHS OF THE HYPOSTATIC UNION” (Novo Millennio Ineunte, no. 26; http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_letters/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_20010106_novo-millennio-ineunte_en.html).

“But surely the most distinguished place among those who have fostered this most excellent type of devotion is held by St. Margaret Mary Alacoque who, under the spiritual direction of Blessed Claude de la Colombiere who assisted her work, was on fire with an unusual zeal to see to it that the real meaning of the devotion which had had such extensive developments to the great edification of the faithful should be established and be distinguished from other forms of Christian piety by THE SPECIAL QUALITIES OF LOVE AND REPARATION” (HAURIETIS AQUAS, no. 95; http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xii/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_15051956_haurietis-aquas_en.html).

“Since in the course of this year there is completed, as We mentioned above, the first hundred years since the Universal Church, by order of Our predecessor of happy memory, Pius IX, celebrated the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, We earnestly desire, venerable brethren, that the memory of this centenary be everywhere observed by the faithful in THE MAKING OF PUBLIC ACTS OF ADORATION, THANKSGIVING AND EXPIATION TO THE DIVINE HEART OF JESUS. And though all Christian peoples will be linked by the bonds of charity and prayer in common, ceremonies of Christian joy and piety will assuredly be carried out with a special religious fervor in that nation in which, according to the dispensation of the divine Will, a holy virgin pointed the way and was the untiring herald of that devotion.” (HAURIETIS AQUAS; No. 125; http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xii/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_15051956_haurietis-aquas_it.html).

“But to all these duties, more especially to that fruitful Consecration which was in a manner confirmed by the sacred solemnity of Christ the King, something else must needs be added, and it is concerning this that it is our pleasure to speak with you more at length, Venerable Brethren, on the present occasion: we mean THAT DUTY OF HONORABLE SATISFACTION OR REPARATION WHICH MUST BE RENDERED TO THE MOST SACRED HEART OF JESUS. For if the first and foremost thing in Consecration is this, that the creature's love should be given in return for the love of the Creator, another thing follows from this at once, namely that to the same uncreated Love, if so be it has been neglected by forgetfulness or violated by offense, some sort of compensation must be rendered for the injury, and this debt is commonly called by the name of reparation.” (MISERENTISSIMUS REDEMPTOR; no.6; http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_08051928_miserentissimus-redemptor_en.html).

WHAT CAN ONE POSSIBLY SAY TO HELP THOSE WHO HAVE ALLOWED THEMSELVES TO SLOWLY DRIFT FAR AWAY from the realities and criteria established by God and no longer understand the seriousness of their situation in regards to their habitually cultivated and embraced lack of love and habitual indifference above all toward the One who gave them everything, God, and then to Jesus who hides himself in each of their neighbors, especially in “the least of these my brethren” (Mt 25:40)? Many people have taken many steps in their life away from the Truth, Who is Jesus, without sorrow or repentance, and now find themselves in spiritual blindness without even realizing anymore their real situation. Jesus truly identifies himself with the unwanted, unborn babies and with the non-autonomous old people and with all the unwanted and rejected outcasts! If somehow these people, who have freely chosen to become cold-hearted and calloused, might hear these admonitions and might be confronted with their great egoism freely embraced countless times in their life, most of them would refuse and would reject this confrontation immediately or they would think that this idea comes from another planet, outside of the real world, the “real world” of today that they see on TV, etc. IT WOULD BE A GREAT SHOCK TO THESE PEOPLE, LIKE A LIGHTNING BOLT THAT STRUCK GLORIA POLO! Sister Lucy of Fatima said to Padre Fuentes: “Father, it is urgent that we realize this terrible reality. We do not want to fill the souls with fear, but only it is urgent a recall to reality.” Saint Frances of Assisi simply said: “Love is not loved”!

MEN ARE INCONSISTENT BEINGS; they foresee catastrophes everywhere but a direction of “spiritual help” they do not seek! Of course when the great chastisement hits, these indifferent egotistical people will blame God, just as Gloria Polo did before the lightning bolt struck her! Many others will be in total confusion as to why!

“O my God, EVEN IN THE PUNISHMENTS YOU SEND DOWN UPON THE EARTH I SEE THE ABYSS OF YOUR MERCY, for by punishing us here on earth You free us from eternal punishment (Diary, 423).

IN THE FINAL MESSAGE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN, OCTOBER 13, 1973, ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE LAST APPARITION AND OF THE MIRACLE OF FATIMA, AT AKITA, JAPAN, SHE SAID TO SISTER AGNES SASAGAWA: “As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be punishment greater than the deluge, such as one will never have seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead. The only arms that will remain for you will be the Rosary and Sign left by My Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. WITH THE ROSARY, PRAY FOR THE POPE, THE BISHOPS, AND THE PRIESTS. The work of the devil will infiltrate even the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against other bishops. The priests who venerate Me will be scorned and opposed by their conferees…churches and altars sacked, the Church will be full of those who accept compromise and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord. The demon will be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God. The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of My sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them.” (http://www.miraclerosarymission.org/akita.htm).

Our Lady indicated often the great dignity and thus great responsibility of priests and of bishops, and thus she asks us: “WITH THE ROSARY, PRAY FOR THE POPE, THE BISHOPS AND THE PRIESTS.”

HOW MANY PRIESTS OF GOOD WILL AND HEART WILL CRY BITTERLY IN THE END because they fell into these various traps of relativism or soft-heartedness (false compassion) and did not warn their children of the truth of the infinite love and mercy of God and the consequences of not responding to this Infinite Love and mercy? Why did Jesus cry when he looked at Jerusalem (Lk 19:41)? Why does our heavenly Mother cry or is so sad in many of her apparitions? We have a difficult time understanding a God who is love, is also infinitely Just! Due to our great dignity, there is no place in heaven for the mediocre, only for saints!

JESUS GAVE GLORIA POLO THIS MISSION: “You will go back, to give your testimony, that you will repeat not a 1000 times, but a 1000 x 1000. Woe to the one, listening to you, who will not change, because he will be judged with greater severity. And this applies also to you, in your second return, for the religious who are my priests, and for whoever else that does not listen to you: because there is no greater deaf person than the one who does not want to hear, nor a worse blind person than the one who does not want to see”.

APPENDIX: (To read the rest of the articles and references, visit the Web addresses indicated.)

FAMILIARIS CONSORTIO: “The Moral Progress of Married People Married people too are called upon to progress unceasingly in their moral life, with the support of a sincere and active desire to gain ever better knowledge of the values enshrined in and fostered by the law of God. They must also be supported by an upright and generous willingness to embody these values in their concrete decisions. They cannot however look on the law as merely an ideal to be achieved in the future: they must consider it as a command of Christ the Lord to overcome difficulties with constancy. "AND SO WHAT IS KNOWN AS 'THE LAW OF GRADUALNESS' OR STEP-BY-STEP ADVANCE CANNOT BE IDENTIFIED WITH 'GRADUALNESS OF THE LAW,' AS IF THERE WERE DIFFERENT DEGREES OR FORMS OF PRECEPT IN GOD'S LAW FOR DIFFERENT INDIVIDUALS AND SITUATIONS. In God's plan, all husbands and wives are called in marriage to holiness, and this lofty vocation is fulfilled to the extent that the human person is able to respond to God's command with serene confidence in God's grace and in his or her own will."(95) On the same lines, it is part of the Church's pedagogy THAT HUSBANDS AND WIVES SHOULD FIRST OF ALL RECOGNIZE CLEARLY THE TEACHING OF HUMANAE VITAE as indicating the norm for the exercise of their sexuality, and that they should endeavor to establish the conditions necessary for observing that norm. …” (Familiaris Consortio; no. 34 (see also 9); http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_jp-ii_exh_19811122_familiaris-consortio_en.html).

UNIQUELY IMPORTANT IN THIS FIELD IS UNITY OF MORAL AND PASTORAL JUDGMENT BY PRIESTS, a unity that must be carefully sought and ensured, in order that the faithful may not have to suffer anxiety of conscience. (cfr. Humanae Vitae, 28). (http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_jp-ii_exh_19811122_familiaris-consortio_en.html)

HUMANAE VITAE; No 28: To Priests 28. And now, beloved sons, you who are priests, you who in virtue of your sacred office act as counselors and spiritual leaders both of individual men and women and of families—We turn to you filled with great confidence. For it is your principal duty—We are speaking especially to you who teach moral theology—to spell out clearly and completely the Church's teaching on marriage. IN THE PERFORMANCE OF YOUR MINISTRY YOU MUST BE THE FIRST TO GIVE AN EXAMPLE OF THAT SINCERE OBEDIENCE, INWARD AS WELL AS OUTWARD, WHICH IS DUE TO THE MAGISTERIUM OF THE CHURCH. For, as you know, the pastors of the Church enjoy a special light of the Holy Spirit in teaching the truth. (39) And this, rather than the arguments they put forward, is why you are bound to such obedience. Nor will it escape you that if men's peace of soul and the unity of the Christian people are to be preserved, then it is of the utmost importance that in moral as well as in dogmatic theology all should obey the magisterium of the Church and should speak as with one voice. Therefore We make Our own the anxious words of the great Apostle Paul and with all Our heart We renew Our appeal to you: "I appeal to you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and that there be no dissensions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment." (1Cor 1:10) (http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_25071968_humanae-vitae_en.html)

VERITATIS SPLENDOR 104. In this context, appropriate allowance is made both for God's mercy towards the sinner who converts and for the understanding of human weakness. SUCH UNDERSTANDING NEVER MEANS COMPROMISING AND FALSIFYING THE STANDARD OF GOOD AND EVIL IN ORDER TO ADAPT IT TO PARTICULAR CIRCUMSTANCES. It is quite human for the sinner to acknowledge his weakness and to ask mercy for his failings; what is unacceptable is the attitude of one who makes his own weakness the criterion of the truth about the good, so that he can feel self-justified, without even the need to have recourse to God and his mercy. AN ATTITUDE OF THIS SORT CORRUPTS THE MORALITY OF SOCIETY AS A WHOLE, since it encourages doubt about the objectivity of the moral law in general and a rejection of the absoluteness of moral prohibitions regarding specific human acts, and it ends up by confusing all judgments about values. (http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_06081993_veritatis-splendor_en.html)

JOHN PAUL II GENERAL AUDIENCE Wednesday 28 July 1999 3. THE IMAGES OF HELL THAT SACRED SCRIPTURE PRESENTS TO US MUST BE CORRECTLY INTERPRETED. They show the complete frustration and emptiness of life without God. Rather than a place, hell indicates the state of those who freely and definitively separate themselves from God, the source of all life and joy. This is how the Catechism of the Catholic Church summarizes the truths of faith on this subject: “To die in mortal sin without repenting and accepting God’s merciful love means remaining separated from him for ever by our own free choice. This state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed is called ‘hell’” (n. 1033). (http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/audiences/1999/documents/hf_jp-ii_aud_28071999_en.html)

NO “GRADUATING” OF GOD'S LAW 3. The difficulties which the spouses encounter to be faithful to God's law cannot be ignored, and these difficulties have been the subject of your reflections. It is necessary to do all that is possible to help married couples in an adequate way. ABOVE ALL, IT IS NECESSARY TO AVOID GRADUATING GOD'S LAW TO THE MEASURE OF THE VARIOUS SITUATIONS IN WHICH THE SPOUSES FIND THEMSELVES. The moral law reveals to us God's plan regarding marriage, the total good of conjugal love; the desire to diminish that plan is a lack of respect towards man's dignity. The law of God expresses the demands of the truth of the human person: that order of divine Wisdom “which, if we observe in this life, will lead to God and unless we observe it, we will not reach God", as St. Augustine says (De ordine 1 9,27, CSEL 63, 139). In fact, we can ask ourselves if the confusion between the "graduality of the law" and "the law of graduality" does not have its explanation also in a scanty esteem for God's law. The view is held that it is not suitable for every man, for every situation, and so it is desired to replace it with an order different from the divine. …. (Read more at: http://www.federaciocristians.org/metges/4_publicacions/3_video_cd/25_anys_sant_pare/angles/seccio_1/christian%20vocations.htm)

If you might want to see an article that explains briefly and clearly that we are dealing with mortal sin in the encyclical Humanae Vitae, you might visit the following website, translating it into English from Italian with Google: (http://www.cavmelzo.it/Articoli/concezione_e_contraccezione.htm ).

Gloria Polo's claims are private revelations that have not received positive approbation from the Magisterium.

That day may one day come, but a priest should prioritize Scripture and Catechism over private devotions at all times - especially when he is a guest in someone else's parish.

Unless he pridefully believes that he is given a greater faculty of spiritual discernment than the Church in these matters, he would do best to stick with the publicly proclaimed teaching of the Church and not the private teaching of individuals.

I would be appreciative if you could offer me some web sites regarding your statement “Gloria Polo’s claims are private revelations that have not received positive approbation from the Magisterium.”
Also if you could indicate a few web sites which might explain the proper interpretation of the decree of the “Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine and the Faith”, published in the “Official Acts of the Holy See” (A.A.S.) 58/16, dated December 29, 1966 (”The Canons of the Catholic Church About Private Revelation”).

Thank you

Not a very logical request, since it asks for proof of a negative.

Since Gloria Polo's claims have never been given positive approbation by any magisterial source, there is no document to direct you to.

However, in order to publicly distribute such revelations licitly, there needs to be such an approbation.

So it would be incumbent upon the author of this article to produce such an approbation.

Also if you could indicate a few web sites which might explain the proper interpretation of the decree of the “Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine and the Faith”, published in the “Official Acts of the Holy See” (A.A.S.) 58/16, dated December 29, 1966 (”The Canons of the Catholic Church About Private Revelation”).

That 1966 rescript was clarified by another from the same source issued on October 23, 1995 in the same publication which states:

"With regard to the spreading of texts of presumed personal revelations, the Congregation makes it clear that:

"1. The interpretation by some people of a decision approved by Paul VI on October 14, 1966, and promulgated on November 15 of the same year, by virtue of which writings and messages coming from presumed revelations might be freely spread within the Church is absolutely not valid. This decision actually referred to the 'Abolition of the Index of Banned Books,' and said that - once relative censures were lifted - the moral obligation in any case not to spread or read those writings which endangered faith and morals still remained.

"2. A reminder, therefore, that for the diffusion of texts of presumed private revelations, the norm of the Code in force, Canon 823, para 1, which gives pastors the right 'to demand that the writings of the faithful which touch faith or morals be submitted to their own judgment before publication', remains valid.

"3. Presumed supernatural revelations and writings which regard them are in the first instance subject to the judgment of the diocesan bishop and, in particular cases, to that of the episcopal conference and the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith."

So, unless the local ordinary, or the local episcopal conference, or the Holy See has explicitly given approbation to a private revelation then it is not licit to distribute it.

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