Posted on 08/27/2010 11:45:13 AM PDT by Hank Kerchief
The ultimate intention of Catholicism is the restoration of the Holy Roman Empire. That has always been the ambition, at least covertly, but now it is being promoted overtly and openly.
The purpose of this article is only to make that intention clear. It is not a criticism of Catholics or Catholicism (unless you happen to think a Catholic dictatorship is not a good thing).
The most important point is to understand that when a Catholic talks about liberty or freedom, it is not individual liberty that is meant, not the freedom to live one's life as a responsible individual with the freedom to believe as one chooses, not the freedom to pursue happiness, not the freedom to produce and keep what one has produced as their property. What Catholicism means by freedom, is freedom to be a Catholic, in obedience to the dictates of Rome.
The Intentions Made Plain
The following is from the book Revolution and Counter-Revolution:
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"B. Catholic Culture and Civilization
"Therefore, the ideal of the Counter-Revolution is to restore and promote Catholic culture and civilization. This theme would not be sufficiently enunciated if it did not contain a definition of what we understand by Catholic culture and Catholic civilization. We realize that the terms civilization and culture are used in many different senses. Obviously, it is not our intention here to take a position on a question of terminology. We limit ourselves to using these words as relatively precise labels to indicate certain realities. We are more concerned with providing a sound idea of these realities than with debating terminology.
"A soul in the state of grace possesses all virtues to a greater or lesser degree. Illuminated by faith, it has the elements to form the only true vision of the universe.
"The fundamental element of Catholic culture is the vision of the universe elaborated according to the doctrine of the Church. This culture includes not only the learning, that is, the possession of the information needed for such an elaboration, but also the analysis and coordination of this information according to Catholic doctrine. This culture is not restricted to the theological, philosophical, or scientific field, but encompasses the breadth of human knowledge; it is reflected in the arts and implies the affirmation of values that permeate all aspects of life.
"Catholic civilization is the structuring of all human relations, of all human institutions, and of the State itself according to the doctrine of the Church.
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Got that? "Catholic civilization is the structuring of all human relations, of all human institutions, and of the State itself according to the doctrine of the Church." The other name for this is called "totalitarianism," the complete rule of every aspect of life.
This book and WEB sites like that where it is found are spreading like wildfire. These people do not believe the hope of America is the restoration of the liberties the founders sought to guarantee, these people believe the only hope for America is Fatima. Really!
In Their Own Words
The following is from the site, "RealCatholicTV." It is a plain call for a "benevolent dictatorship, a Catholic monarch;" their own words. They even suggest that when the "Lord's Payer," is recited, it is just such a Catholic dictatorship that is being prayed for.
[View video in original here or on Youtube. Will not show in FR.]
Two Comments
First, in this country, freedom of speech means that anyone may express any view no matter how much anyone else disagrees with that view, or is offended by it. I totally defend that meaning of freedom of speech.
This is what Catholics believe, and quite frankly, I do not see how any consistent Catholic could disagree with it, though I suspect some may. I have no objection to their promoting those views, because it is what they believe. Quite frankly I am delighted they are expressing them openly. For one thing, it makes it much easier to understand Catholic dialog, and what they mean by the words they use.
Secondly, I think if their views were actually implemented, it would mean the end true freedom, of course, but I do not believe there is any such danger.
Padre Pio and many others did not seek personal revelation either,yet God used him to heal others and Christ was revealed to many
God's mysteries do not end.
You studiously avoid other verses, even one as central in all the history of Christianity as "And the second is like to it: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." (Still waiting for the Calvinist take!)
Well, there's the problem. In the Catholic religion, that is how saints are defined, but according to Scripture saints are those who are sanctified - set apart. Nobody gets that way through their own virtue no matter how "heroic" they are. We are called saints because we who have trusted in Christ for salvation have been made holy by the blood of Christ.
1 Corinthians 6:11
And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
Nothing we do well is done through our own power.
All that aside though, canonized saints aren't the only saints. The very word "saint" comes from "sanct" which comes from "sanctus" which means "holy"... "set apart". See? We agree.
So in the Mass we see this:
Mindful, therefore, Lord, we, Your ministers, as also Your holy people, of the same Christ, Your Son, our Lord, remember His blessed passion, and also His Resurrection from the dead, and finally His glorious Ascension into heaven, offer to Your supreme Majesty, of the gifts bestowed upon us, the pure Victim, the holy Victim, the all-perfect Victim: the holy Bread of life eternal and the Chalice of perpetual salvation."et plebs tua sancta," "and people your holy" which obviously needs to be read as "and Your holy people."
Santa Claus? Holy Claus. etc, etc, etc. The acknowledgment of particular people who are in heaven in no way eliminates the holiness of the people of God still on earth or that certain things are set aside for holy purposes.
I regret saying it, but I believe that your interpretation of “works” is flawed and I personally would not want to be stuck with it.
How could anyone not distinguish between the claim of casting out devils and prophesying as opposed to the good deeds enumerated by Jesus Himself in that discourse.
I don’t understand why the difference between the two is not discernible to some people.
I don’t see any point in going on anymore on this spinning wheel.
It hasn’t worked, so I bow out.
All I can really say to excuse myself from this so-called discussion is that I am a child of God. He made me as his “own marvelous creation”; He knows how I am “made from my mother’s womb”; He wants to give me everything I need to spend eternity with Him and He has provided for all my needs, even those that caused me to suffer and then understand why I suffered.
He saved me because He loves me (Psalm 18:20) and I want to bask in His love and spend what is left of my years singing my praises and gratitude to Him for His love for me.
God is Love.
My longing now is to see Him “face to face” and because of the length of my years I don’t have much time left to love—to love God, to love my brethren and my neighbor.
“Seventy is the sum of our years and eighty if we are strong” (Psalm 90) and I am well into my 80’s
Jesus, I trust in Thee.
Thank you for bringing up the “four senses of Sacred Scripture”. How important it is to understand them and to see Scripture in the light of them.
That’s the way I was taught.
From what you have written, it sure sounds as if you are a saint. You WILL see him face-to-face, but I sure hope we get to have you around for a while longer. God bless you!
Wait, don't tell me, I've heard this one......Just like the beatitudes were not intended for the masses, but only for the apostles, the Calvinist definition of "neighbors" is limited to other Calvinists.
The selective selection of Scripture by the Calvinists is accompanied with a reordering of the hierarchy. The words of Christ are relegated to being merely a contextual Old Testament reference. The real Good News is sifted from the letters of Paul independent of their relationship with the Gospels.
The one thing we can all agree on is our desire to go to heaven, just no one is anxious to get there feet first through a wood chipper.
Thanks for your kind words. You must know that I don’t deserve them.
Each night when I have my “conversation with Christ” before I go to sleep I have to tell Him how sorry I am that I failed many times in the day and then fall back again on His forgiveness.
He
abideth patiently
He
forgiveth easily
He
understandeth mercifully
He
forgetteth utterly.
Isaiah 38:17
May God richly bless you, too.
The reference to the verse from Isaiah is not to be confused with the words preceding it. (the ones about He abideth, etc.)
On this business of rote prayers, a couple of observations: Clearly if someone is just going through the motions it does nobody any good whatsoever. Protestantism has a great tradition of congregational singing which is a form of prayer much like the Psalms. When I was growing up as a Nazarene I don't ever remember anyone complaining about rote singing. I also do remember that most "extemporaneous prayer" sounded just like the last extemporaneous prayer with lots of "Lord we just" sprinkled around... NOT that there's anything wrong with that. I also remember that a lot of prayers sounded more like preaching to God than anything else. It's not bad to realize that someone else may have perfectly expressed something worth repeating especially if you take it to heart.
How many ways can one ask God to bless the food anyhow? My grandfather was great at that... of course dinner was cold by the time he finished naming all his children, grandchildren and the missionaries. Drove all us cousins crazy, my grandmother was a great cook.
well...if I'm already dead, it wouldn't hurt! ;o)
My reply about "rote" prayer was more about the chanted stuff that people can practically say in their sleep. I never understood the penance of saying a certain number of Our Fathers and Hail Marys. Kids can talk awful fast and get it over in no time, but I can't see using canned prayers as some kind of penalty nor as a chant to chase away demons. I'm sure when y'all pray before you go to bed, you have a real conversation with God and I don't think he cares that it sounds all formal and pious. He is looking for a broken and contrite heart and one that genuinely loves him. You may not agree with me, and that's okay, but I don't think God pays much attention to those "rote" prayers - he would rather hear us in our own words.
I know what you are saying about rote prayers. Some prayers I have memorized because they concentrate my mind on Christ and bring me where I need to be, to pray from my deepest heart without words, with the help of the Holy Spirit to Christ my Love.
The rosary is a meditation on events in the life of Christ. Most non-Catholics ridicule that, or quote scripture at it. This does not bother me. I didn’t care much for the rosary until I learned it by praying it, and found the benefit of putting my own concerns aside and thinking about Christ’s life, from the Annunciation to the Glory. It gives a perspective — that everything here is fleeting, both praises and shame, but He is eternal and I am His.
The rosary is not rote prayers, it is a meditation on the gospels. Just like the Our Father never wears out, no matter how many times it is said, or how many people say it, just as the Gospels never wear out, no matter how many times I read them, the Rosary is ever new.
But I do not expect to convince any non-Catholic of any of this, nor does that matter.
Thanks for the reply. Like I said, your prayer to God is between you and him, however you want to do it.
The idea is to make those words your own, to internalize them. I have two prayers on my freep homepage, one is the "Universal Prayer" attributed to Pope St. Clement XI, the other is the "Litany of Humility" of Cardinal Merry del Val, I could never come up with a better way of saying what I want to say to God than those two prayers. I could spend the rest of my life whipping a team of highly skilled writers and nothing could ever peg it better than what's already written.
As for the penalty aspect of prayers given as penance... the idea is to embrace it joyfully in the pure love of the penitent for the forgiveness of God. There's a line in the Mass at the Communion of the priest after he has just consumed the consecrated Host: He says “What shall I render to the Lord for all the things that He hath rendered unto me?” immediately he says “I will take the Chalice of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord. Praising, I will call upon the Lord, and I will be saved from my enemies.” I don't know about the theology of what I'm about to suggest and there may well be liturgists facepalming as I write this but it seems to me that there's something in the idea that having just acknowledged that all good comes from God and asking what can we give back to God for all He has given us the priest proceeds to answer that question by asking for more. Uh... I've completely lost my train of thought! lol
Isaiah 64:6, New Revised Standard Edition:
We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth.Isaiah 64:6, New American Standard Edition:
For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment;Isaiah 64:6, New King James Version:
But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags;Isaiah 64:6, New International Version:
All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;Isaiah 64:6, Douay-Rheims Edition:
And we are all become as one unclean, and all our justices as the rag of a menstruous woman:
Too long have I had my dwelling among those who hate peace.
I am for peace; but when I speak, they are for war!
Patience for what ?In what ? How does an angel qualify ?
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