Extraordinarily accurate analysis from a foreign country. God help the USA. Some people have the vocabulary to sum up things in a way that you can quickly understand them. This quote came from the Czech Republic. Someone over there has it figured out. It was translated into English from an article in a Prague newspaper.
"The danger to America
is not Joe Biden, but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the
Presidency. It will be far easier to limit and undo the follies of a Biden
presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to a
depraved electorate willing to have such a man for their president. The problem
is much deeper and far more serious than Mr. Biden, who is a mere symptom of
what ails America. Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to
the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince. The Republic can
survive a Biden, who is, after all, merely a fool. It is less likely to survive
a multitude of fools, such as those who made him their president."
II. THE CHURCH IS CATHOLIC
What does "catholic" mean?
830 The word "catholic" means "universal," in the sense of "according to the totality" or "in keeping with the whole." the Church is catholic in a double sense: First, the Church is catholic because Christ is present in her. "Where there is Christ Jesus, there is the Catholic Church." In her subsists the fullness of Christ's body united with its head; this implies that she receives from him "the fullness of the means of salvation" which he has willed: correct and complete confession of faith, full sacramental life, and ordained ministry in apostolic succession. the Church was, in this fundamental sense, catholic on the day of Pentecost and will always be so until the day of the Parousia.
831 Secondly, the Church is catholic because she has been sent out by Christ on a mission to the whole of the human race:
All men are called to belong to the new People of God. This People, therefore, while remaining one and only one, is to be spread throughout the whole world and to all ages in order that the design of God's will may be fulfilled: he made human nature one in the beginning and has decreed that all his children who were scattered should be finally gathered together as one.... the character of universality which adorns the People of God is a gift from the Lord himself whereby the Catholic Church ceaselessly and efficaciously seeks for the return of all humanity and all its goods, under Christ the Head in the unity of his Spirit.
Each particular Church is "catholic"
832 "The Church of Christ is really present in all legitimately organized local groups of the faithful, which, in so far as they are united to their pastors, are also quite appropriately called Churches in the New Testament.... In them the faithful are gathered together through the preaching of the Gospel of Christ, and the mystery of the Lord's Supper is celebrated.... In these communities, though they may often be small and poor, or existing in the diaspora, Christ is present, through whose power and influence the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church is constituted."
833 The phrase "particular church," which is the diocese (or eparchy), refers to a community of the Christian faithful in communion of faith and sacraments with their bishop ordained in apostolic succession. These particular Churches "are constituted after the model of the universal Church; it is in these and formed out of them that the one and unique Catholic Church exists."
834 Particular Churches are fully catholic through their communion with one of them, the Church of Rome "which presides in charity." "For with this church, by reason of its pre-eminence, the whole Church, that is the faithful everywhere, must necessarily be in accord." Indeed, "from the incarnate Word's descent to us, all Christian churches everywhere have held and hold the great Church that is here [at Rome] to be their only basis and foundation since, according to the Savior's promise, the gates of hell have never prevailed against her."
835 "Let us be very careful not to conceive of the universal Church as the simple sum, or . . . the more or less anomalous federation of essentially different particular churches. In the mind of the Lord the Church is universal by vocation and mission, but when she pub down her roots in a variety of cultural, social, and human terrains, she takes on different external expressions and appearances in each part of the world." The rich variety of ecclesiastical disciplines, liturgical rites, and theological and spiritual heritages proper to the local churches "unified in a common effort, shows all the more resplendently the catholicity of the undivided Church."
Who belongs to the Catholic Church?
836 "All men are called to this catholic unity of the People of God.... and to it, in different ways, belong or are ordered: the Catholic faithful, others who believe in Christ, and finally all mankind, called by God's grace to salvation."
837 "Fully incorporated into the society of the Church are those who, possessing the Spirit of Christ, accept all the means of salvation given to the Church together with her entire organization, and who - by the bonds constituted by the profession of faith, the sacraments, ecclesiastical government, and communion - are joined in the visible structure of the Church of Christ, who rules her through the Supreme Pontiff and the bishops. Even though incorporated into the Church, one who does not however persevere in charity is not saved. He remains indeed in the bosom of the Church, but 'in body' not 'in heart.'"
838 "The Church knows that she is joined in many ways to the baptized who are honored by the name of Christian, but do not profess the Catholic faith in its entirety or have not preserved unity or communion under the successor of Peter." Those "who believe in Christ and have been properly baptized are put in a certain, although imperfect, communion with the Catholic Church." With the Orthodox Churches, this communion is so profound "that it lacks little to attain the fullness that would permit a common celebration of the Lord's Eucharist."
The Church and non-Christians
839 "Those who have not yet received the Gospel are related to the People of God in various ways."
The relationship of the Church with the Jewish People. When she delves into her own mystery, the Church, the People of God in the New Covenant, discovers her link with the Jewish People, "the first to hear the Word of God." The Jewish faith, unlike other non-Christian religions, is already a response to God's revelation in the Old Covenant. To the Jews "belong the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and of their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ", "for the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable."
840 and when one considers the future, God's People of the Old Covenant and the new People of God tend towards similar goals: expectation of the coming (or the return) of the Messiah. But one awaits the return of the Messiah who died and rose from the dead and is recognized as Lord and Son of God; the other awaits the coming of a Messiah, whose features remain hidden till the end of time; and the latter waiting is accompanied by the drama of not knowing or of misunderstanding Christ Jesus.
841 The Church's relationship with the Muslims. "The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind's judge on the last day."
842 The Church's bond with non-Christian religions is in the first place the common origin and end of the human race:
All nations form but one community. This is so because all stem from the one stock which God created to people the entire earth, and also because all share a common destiny, namely God. His providence, evident goodness, and saving designs extend to all against the day when the elect are gathered together in the holy city. . .
843 The Catholic Church recognizes in other religions that search, among shadows and images, for the God who is unknown yet near since he gives life and breath and all things and wants all men to be saved. Thus, the Church considers all goodness and truth found in these religions as "a preparation for the Gospel and given by him who enlightens all men that they may at length have life."
844 In their religious behavior, however, men also display the limits and errors that disfigure the image of God in them:
Very often, deceived by the Evil One, men have become vain in their reasonings, and have exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and served the creature rather than the Creator. Or else, living and dying in this world without God, they are exposed to ultimate despair.
845 To reunite all his children, scattered and led astray by sin, the Father willed to call the whole of humanity together into his Son's Church. the Church is the place where humanity must rediscover its unity and salvation. the Church is "the world reconciled." She is that bark which "in the full sail of the Lord's cross, by the breath of the Holy Spirit, navigates safely in this world." According to another image dear to the Church Fathers, she is prefigured by Noah's ark, which alone saves from the flood.
"Outside the Church there is no salvation"
846 How are we to understand this affirmation, often repeated by the Church Fathers? Re-formulated positively, it means that all salvation comes from Christ the Head through the Church which is his Body:
Basing itself on Scripture and Tradition, the Council teaches that the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation: the one Christ is the mediator and the way of salvation; he is present to us in his body which is the Church. He himself explicitly asserted the necessity of faith and Baptism, and thereby affirmed at the same time the necessity of the Church which men enter through Baptism as through a door. Hence they could not be saved who, knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter it or to remain in it.
847 This affirmation is not aimed at those who, through no fault of their own, do not know Christ and his Church:
Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience - those too may achieve eternal salvation.
848 "Although in ways known to himself God can lead those who, through no fault of their own, are ignorant of the Gospel, to that faith without which it is impossible to please him, the Church still has the obligation and also the sacred right to evangelize all men."
Mission - a requirement of the Church's catholicity
849 The missionary mandate. "Having been divinely sent to the nations that she might be 'the universal sacrament of salvation,' the Church, in obedience to the command of her founder and because it is demanded by her own essential universality, strives to preach the Gospel to all men": "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and Lo, I am with you always, until the close of the age."
850 The origin and purpose of mission. the Lord's missionary mandate is ultimately grounded in the eternal love of the Most Holy Trinity: "The Church on earth is by her nature missionary since, according to the plan of the Father, she has as her origin the mission of the Son and the Holy Spirit." The ultimate purpose of mission is none other than to make men share in the communion between the Father and the Son in their Spirit of love.
851 Missionary motivation. It is from God's love for all men that the Church in every age receives both the obligation and the vigor of her missionary dynamism, "for the love of Christ urges us on." Indeed, God "desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth"; that is, God wills the salvation of everyone through the knowledge of the truth. Salvation is found in the truth. Those who obey the prompting of the Spirit of truth are already on the way of salvation. But the Church, to whom this truth has been entrusted, must go out to meet their desire, so as to bring them the truth. Because she believes in God's universal plan of salvation, the Church must be missionary.
852 Missionary paths. the Holy Spirit is the protagonist, "the principal agent of the whole of the Church's mission." It is he who leads the Church on her missionary paths. "This mission continues and, in the course of history, unfolds the mission of Christ, who was sent to evangelize the poor; so the Church, urged on by the Spirit of Christ, must walk the road Christ himself walked, a way of poverty and obedience, of service and self-sacrifice even to death, a death from which he emerged victorious by his resurrection." So it is that "the blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians."
853 On her pilgrimage, the Church has also experienced the "discrepancy existing between the message she proclaims and the human weakness of those to whom the Gospel has been entrusted." Only by taking the "way of penance and renewal," the "narrow way of the cross," can the People of God extend Christ's reign. For "just as Christ carried out the work of redemption in poverty and oppression, so the Church is called to follow the same path if she is to communicate the fruits of salvation to men."
854 By her very mission, "the Church . . . travels the same journey as all humanity and shares the same earthly lot with the world: she is to be a leaven and, as it were, the soul of human society in its renewal by Christ and transformation into the family of God." Missionary endeavor requires patience. It begins with the proclamation of the Gospel to peoples and groups who do not yet believe in Christ, continues with the establishment of Christian communities that are "a sign of God's presence in the world," and leads to the foundation of local churches. It must involve a process of inculturation if the Gospel is to take flesh in each people's culture. There will be times of defeat. "With regard to individuals, groups, and peoples it is only by degrees that [the Church] touches and penetrates them and so receives them into a fullness which is Catholic."
855 The Church's mission stimulates efforts towards Christian unity. Indeed, "divisions among Christians prevent the Church from realizing in practice the fullness of catholicity proper to her in those of her sons who, though joined to her by Baptism, are yet separated from full communion with her. Furthermore, the Church herself finds it more difficult to express in actual life her full catholicity in all its aspects."
856 The missionary task implies a respectful dialogue with those who do not yet accept the Gospel. Believers can profit from this dialogue by learning to appreciate better "those elements of truth and grace which are found among peoples, and which are, as it were, a secret presence of God." They proclaim the Good News to those who do not know it, in order to consolidate, complete, and raise up the truth and the goodness that God has distributed among men and nations, and to purify them from error and evil "for the glory of God, the confusion of the demon, and the happiness of man."
First
Wednesday
FEAST OF OUR LADY OF ANGELS
2 Samuel, Chapter 12, Verse 26-28
26
Absalom then said, “If not you,
then please let my brother Amnon come with us.” The king asked him, “Why should
he go with you?” 27 But at Absalom’s urging, the king
sent Amnon and with him all his other sons. Absalom prepared a banquet fit for
a king. 28 But
Absalom had instructed his attendants: “Now watch! When Amnon is merry with
wine and I say to you, ‘Kill Amnon,’ put him to death. Do not be AFRAID, for it is I who order you to do
it. Be strong and act like warriors.”
David’s
family life after the murder of Uriah reads like a mafia tale (or politics as
usual) with David being the Don and all his son’s vying for power.
Amnon was the heir-apparent to
David's throne; Amnon though is best remembered for the rape of his half-sister
Tamar, daughter of David with Maachah. Despite the biblical prohibition on
sexual relations between half-brothers and sisters, Amnon had an overwhelming
desire for her. He acted on advice from his cousin, Jonadab
the son of Shimeah, David's brother, to lure Tamar into his quarters by
pretending to be sick and desiring her to cook a special meal for him. While in
his quarters, and ignoring her protests, he raped her, and then expelled her
from his house. King David was angry about the incident, but could not bring
himself to punish his eldest son, while Absalom,
Amnon's half-brother and Tamar's full brother, nursed a bitter grudge against
Amnon for the rape of his sister. Two years later, to avenge Tamar, Absalom
invited all of David's sons to a feast, and then had his servants kill Amnon
after he had become drunk with wine.[1]
David’s
sin had found him out. After he killed Uriah, it was like killing his own self
and now he was not holding his children accountable. They became monsters.
David’s youthful heart of gratitude and love for God was sorely wounded. David
never regained the law of the Sacrifice. Yet, from David’s line comes Jesus
Christ; His sacrifice saves us all and you can, “Stand erect and raise your
heads because your redemption is at hand.” (Lk. 21:28)
First Wednesday[2]
Our Heavenly Father desires all three hearts of Jesus, Mary and Joseph to be honored. And so along with devotion to Jesus on First Fridays, and to Mary on First Saturdays, Our Father longs for us to add devotion to St. Joseph on each First Wednesday of the month.
"The Sacred Hearts of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph have been chosen by the Most Holy Trinity to bring peace to the world." It is at God's request that "special love and honor be given to them" to help us "imitate" their love and their lives, as well as "offer reparation" for the sins committed against them and their love.
The St. Joseph First Wednesday devotion is:
1. Pray the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary - remembering St. Joseph's love, his life, his role and his sufferings
2. Receive Holy
Communion - in union with the love St. Joseph had for Jesus the first time and
each time he held him - his son, his God and Savior - in his arms.
In the approved
apparitions of Our Lady of America, St. Joseph revealed:
· "I am the protector of the Church and the
home, as I was the protector of Christ and his mother while I lived upon earth.
Jesus and Mary desire that my pure heart, so long hidden and unknown, be now
honored in a special way.
· Let my children honor my most pure heart in a
special manner on the First Wednesday of the month by reciting the Joyful
Mysteries of the Rosary in memory of my life with Jesus and Mary and the love I
bore them, the sorrow I suffered with them.
· Let them receive Holy Communion in union with
the love with which I received the Savior for the first time and each time I
held Him in my arms.
· Those who honor me in this way will be
consoled by my presence at their death, and I myself will conduct them safely
into the presence of Jesus and Mary."
Our Lady of the Angels of the Portiuncula[3], the Virgin under whose mantle Saint Francis of Assisi was wrapped; Mary's maternal protection made it possible for blessed Francis to experience an intense Presence of the Lord and to receive his vocation to rebuild the Church. Likewise, his intimate devotion to the Blessed Mother, under whose protection did he place himself to do the Lord's work did this place become holy for the members of the Franciscan family and for the Church universal. Without meeting Christ, little makes sense.
The Portiuncula is an ancient church dedicated to Mary under the title Our Lady of the Angels and is located in Assisi, Italy. It was a spot very dear to the heart of Saint Francis.
The Portiuncula is the place where Franciscanism developed, and where Saint Francis lived and died. Here he began and grew in his religious life; here he founded the Franciscan Order; here he manifested his love and great devotion to the Mother of God. When Francis knew he was dying, he requested to be brought to the Portiuncula to end his earthly life.
Saint Bonaventure had this to say about this devotion:
The Portiuncula was an old church dedicated to the Virgin Mother of God which was abandoned. Francis had great devotion to the Queen of the world and when he saw that the church was deserted, he began to live there constantly in order to repair it. He heard that the Angels often visited it, so that it was called Saint Mary of the Angels, and he decided to stay there permanently out of reverence for the angels and love for the Mother of Christ. This is also the place where St Clare took her vows and where Saint Francis died.
He loved this spot more than any other in the world. It was here he began his religious life in a very small way; it is here he came to a happy end. When he was dying, he commended this spot above all others to the friars, because it was most dear to the Blessed Virgin.
This was the place where Saint Francis founded his Order by divine inspiration, and it was divine providence which led him to repair three churches before he founded the Order and began to preach the Gospel.
This meant that he progressed from material things to more spiritual achievements, from lesser to greater, in due order, and it gave a prophetic indication of what he would accomplish later.
As he was living there by the church of Our Lady, Francis prayed to her
who had conceived the Word, full of grace and truth, begging her insistently
and with tears to become his advocate. Then he was granted the true spirit of
the Gospel by the intercession of the Mother of mercy and he brought it to
fruition.
He embraced the Mother of Our Lord Jesus with
indescribable love because, as he said, it was she who made the Lord of majesty
our brother, and through her we found mercy. After Christ, he put all his trust
in her and took her as his patroness for himself and his friars.
Consider the words of an early biographer of Saint Francis of Assisi:
From there he moved to another place, which is called the "Portiuncula," where there stood a church of the Blessed Virgin Mother of God built in ancient times. At that time, it was deserted, and no one was taking care of it. When the holy man of God saw it so ruined, he was moved by piety because he had a warm devotion to the Mother of all good and he began to stay there continually. The restoration of that church took place in the third year of his conversion. At this time, he wore a sort of hermit's habit with a leather belt. He carried a staff in his hand and wore shoes. One day the gospel was being read in that church about how the Lord sent out his disciples to preach. The holy man of God, who was attending there, in order to understand better the words of the gospel, humbly begged the priest after celebrating the solemnities of the Mass to explain the gospel to him. The priest explained it all to him thoroughly line by line. When he heard that Christ's disciples should not possess gold or silver or money, or carry on their journey a wallet or a sack, nor bread nor a staff, not to have shoes nor two tunics, but that they should preach the kingdom of God and penance, the holy man, Francis immediately exulted in the spirit of God. "This is what I want," he said, "this is what I seek, this is what I desire with all my heart." The holy father, overflowing with joy, hastened to implement the words of salvation, and did not delay before he devoutly began to put into effect what he heard. (From The Life of Saint Francis by Thomas of Celano)
PRAYER TO OUR LADY OF THE ANGELS
August Queen of Heaven, sovereign queen of Angels, you who at the beginning received from God the power and the mission to crush the head of Satan, we beseech you humbly, send your holy legions so that, on your orders and by your power, they will track down demons, fight them everywhere, curb their audacity and plunge them into the hell.
Who can be compared to God? Oh, good and tender
Mother, you will always be our love and our hope. Oh, divine Mother, send the
Holy Angels and Archangels to defend me and to keep the cruel enemy far from
me. Holy Angels and Archangels defend us, protect us. Amen.
The Pardon of Assisi or the Portiuncula
Indulgence
The Holy Father made reference to this in his Sunday Angelus address:
... today is the feast of the "Pardon of
Assisi," which St. Francis obtained from Pope Honorious III in the year
1216, after having a vision while he was praying in the little church of the
Portiuncula. Jesus appeared to him in his glory, with the Virgin Mary on his
right and surrounded by many Angels. They asked him to express a wish and
Francis implored a "full and generous pardon" for all those who would
visit that church who "repented and confessed their sins". Having
received papal approval, the Saint did not wait for any written document but
hastened to Assisi and when he reached the Portiuncula announced the good news:
"Friends, the Lord wants to have us all in Heaven!". Since then, from
noon on 1 August to midnight on the second, it has been possible to obtain, on
the usual conditions, a Plenary Indulgence, also for the dead, on visiting a
parish church or a Franciscan one.
St. Francis Asked and Obtained
the Indulgence of Forgiveness
He awoke one night in 1216 at the Porziuncola and an
inspiration stronger than usual prompted him to arise and go into the little
chapel. He knelt in prayer and, as he prayed, our Lord, accompanied by His
Mother, appeared to him and bade him ask for that which he desired most. "O
God," he said, "although I m a great sinner, I beseech You to grant a
full pardon of all sins to all who, having repented and confessed their sins,
shall visit this church." And Jesus said to him: "Francis, you ask
much, but you are worthy of greater things, and greater things you shall
have."
Our Lord then granted Francis' request and told him to go to
His Vicar for ratification of the indulgence. Honorius III, who was just
beginning his Pontificate, was holding court at Perugia, and it was to him that
Francis presented his petition.
Honorius was a spiritual, unworldly man, yet at
such a request he hesitated. "Holy Father," Francis said urgently,
"a little while ago I restored a chapel for you in honor of the Virgin
Mother of Christ (the Portiuncula), and I beseech you to bestow on it an
indulgence."
"For how many years do you want this
indulgence?" the Pontiff inquired. "Holy Father," said Francis,
"I ask not for years but for souls." "Just what do you
want?" Honorius asked. "Holy Father," replied Francis, "the
Lord has commanded me to ask you that all those who after confession shall
visit the Portiuncula with contrite hearts may obtain full remission of the
punishment due to the sins of their whole lives from the day of Baptism to the
day they enter this church." Honorius pondered the extraordinary request,
and said slowly three times: "I also, in the name of God, grant you the
indulgence."
Honorius wanted to give Francis the document of
the indulgence, but Francis saw no need for it. "What have you to show
that this indulgence has been granted you?" the Pope asked in amazement as
Francis prepared to depart for Assisi without any written confirmation of the
great permission. "Holy Father," he replied, "Your word is
enough for me. If this is the work of God, it is for Him to make His work
manifest. I desire no other document. The Blessed Virgin Mary shall be the
charter, Christ the notary, and the angels the witnesses." Some days
later, before the Bishops of Umbria, Francis said: "Brethren, I want to
send you all to Heaven!"
Conditions to Obtain the
Plenary Indulgence of The Forgiveness (for oneself or for a departed soul)
1. Sacramental Confession to be in God's grace (during the
eight days before or after);
2. Participation in the Holy Mass and Eucharist;
3. Visit to a Catholic Church (especially a
Franciscan Church), followed by PROFESSION OF FAITH, in order to reaffirm one's
own Christian identity;
4. Say the OUR FATHER, in order to reaffirm the
dignity as child of God that one received in Baptism;
5. A prayer for the Pope's intention, in order
to reaffirm one's membership in the Church, of which the Roman Pontiff is the
foundation and sign of visible unity.
Novena in Honor of Saint John Marie Vianney[4]
Exquisite Purity
O Holy Priest of Ars, a witness of
your life made this magnificent praise of you:
'We would have taken him for an
angel in a mortal body."
You so edified others: the modesty and
the exquisite purity radiated from your body. With such charm and with such enthusiasm
you preached to others about these beautiful virtues which you said resembled
the perfume of a vineyard in bloom.
Please I beg you to join your
entreaties to those of Mary Immaculate and Saint Philomena in order that I
guard always, as God asks me, the purity of my heart. You, who have directed so
many souls towards the heights of virtue, defend me in temptations and obtain
for me the strength to conquer them.
Holy Priest of Ars, I have confidence
in your intercession. Pray for me during this novena especially for ...
(mention silently your special intentions).
Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be.
Daily Devotions
·
Make a holy hour today. You might
find this work — My Eucharistic Day — from the
Catholic Culture Library helpful. It was compiled from the writings of Saint
Peter Julian Eymard with the permission and encouragement of the Blessed
Sacrament Fathers.[5]
·
Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them
in fasting: Restoring
the Church
·
Let
Freedom Ring Day 27 Freedom from Gluttony
·
Religion
in the Home for Preschool: August
·
Litany of the Most Precious
Blood of Jesus
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
· Rosary
[2]https://enteringintothemystery.blogspot.com/2018/12/dont-forget-first-wednesday-devotion-to.html
[3]https://www.facebook.com/notes/100-katolikong-pinoy/the-feast-of-our-lady-of-the-angels-obtain-the-pardon-of-assisithe-portiuncula-i/418548719644/
[4]http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/prayers/view.cfm?id=1129
[5]https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2022-08-02
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