Vol 8 Issue 15 ~ Editor: Rev. Fr. Courtney Edward Krier
April 11, 2015 ~ Saint Leo, opn!

1. Low Sunday
2. St. Julius
3. Marriage and Parenthood (15)
4. Articles and notices

Father Courtney Edward will be in Eureka, Nevada, on April 21.

Dear Reader:

The fight for Catholics to live their faith and not be forced to participate in the sinful acts of abortion, fornication, adultery and sodomy by others comes increasingly more difficult as the Conciliar Church refuses to fight for morality and the Protestants find themselves in a contradictory moralism that accepts adultery, fornication and contraception under the guise of divorce and marriage being a personal affair. Taking advantage of the cowardice of Catholics and the dichotomy of Protestants, there is now a new Herod who seeks to destroy the Child (Christ’s Mystical Body), surrounded by sodomites who seek their own sinful existence. The words of Christ ring out: But what went you out to see? a man clothed in soft garments? Behold they that are in costly apparel and live delicately, are in the houses of kings. (Luke 7:25; cf. Matt. 11:8) The experience of the listeners is going to be that of their king, Herod. And to the threats of Herod, what does our Lord reply: Go and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and do cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I am consummated. (Luke 13:32)

The Rainbow House, where the American king lives, even now uses commanders of the army to threaten Christians (American Citizens) if they are opposed to his agenda to drive out Christ as expressed in the latest letter issued from his palace on April 10, 2015 after signing a document that would punish anyone who attempted to tell a sodomite his or her acts were immoral and should change his or her life style. Notice it is addressing parents and ministers. Notice that the Herod of today says: we must move beyond the way things are, to the way things should be. And how should things be? To restore all things in Christ (cf. Eph. 1:10) or revert to neo-paganism? The following is the letter sent from a woman who is apparently psychologically and socially challenged:

Across the country, there are doctors working to convince people to change their sexual orientation or gender identity. It’s known as “conversion therapy,” but it could also be called brainwashing, or reprogramming.

Loving and compassionate parents and ministers who are trying to do the right thing are doing just the opposite. They are influenced by bad science, not grounded in fact. This so-called “conversion therapy” is harmful.

A couple of days ago, the White House came out in support of efforts to ban the use of conversion therapy. And as a transgender woman, this is especially personal to me.

No one should be forced to be someone they’re not. Everyone should be valued for their authentic, true self — who they are — regardless of the gender with which they identify, or who they love.

I recently talked with a few other people in the Administration about why conversion therapy is so dangerous, and why it was so important for the White House to take a strong stance against the practice.

Here’s what we have to say:

This isn’t just a transgender issue or an LGBT issue – it’s an American issue. Our nation was founded on the ideals of equality and acceptance for everyone, and forcing an individual to be someone they aren’t goes directly against what this country stands for.

If we’re going to grow as a society, we must move beyond the way things are, to the way things should be.

That’s why I’m glad our Administration is standing up and making it clear that conversion therapy is unacceptable. Our society should allow every child and every person the freedom to be whoever they aspire to be.

And we’ve already seen the tragic effects of this therapy. Countless people have taken their own lives because they feel they can’t fit into the standards that society demands. Others, although they haven’t lost their lives, have been forced to live unfulfilled lives and to repress their feelings in the process — feelings that come out in other ways that we can’t always anticipate.

We can be better than this. We are better than this. We owe it to ourselves, and to all of the children growing up in this country, to work toward a society where everyone is accepted and treated equally.

I hope you’ll take the time to listen to what we said, and learn more about why the White House came out in support of banning conversion therapy.

Thank you,

Amanda

Amanda Simpson

Executive Director

U.S. Army Office of Energy Initiatives

As always, enjoy the readings and commentaries provided for your benefit. —The Editor

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First Week after Easter

Benedict Baur, O.S.B.

WEDNESDAY OF THE FIRST WEEK AFTER EASTER

Being Reborn 

1. “As newborn babes, desire the rational milk without guile, that thereby you may grow unto salvation” (I Pet. 2:2). This is a forceful admonition to us that we should grow in the spiritual life.
2. “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible, by the word of God, who liveth and remaineth forever” (I Pet. 1:23). As a consequence of our spiritual rebirth, St. Peter concludes: “Wherefore, laying away all malice and all guile and dissimulations and envies and all detractions, as newborn babes, desire the rational milk without guile, that thereby you may grow unto salvation,… purifying your souls in the obedience of charity [that is, according to the prescriptions of the gospel], with a brotherly love, from a sincere heart, love one another earnestly”(I Pet. 2:1 f.; 1:22).

Rebirth in Christ eradicates in us the old man with his vices and self-seeking, with his malice and hypocrisy. It produces in us the new man, stifling self-love and implanting in our soul a love which binds us as brothers in Christ and unites us by an inner bond of charity. To the extent that we embrace this new life and let it operate in us, this rebirth makes us men of strength and heroism, men of patience, kindliness, and stability, men who are considerate and helpful, who are zealous in the practice of fraternal charity. “By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another” (John 13:55).

“As newborn babes, desire the rational milk without guile.” The positive element in this rebirth calls for a growth in the life of grace. Just as a newborn babes long for their mother’s milk, so should we long with a burning desire for spiritual food through which the life of the soul is strengthened and nourished. It is not enough to be born or reborn; we are born and then reborn that we may achieve our salvation and holiness and reach the full stature of our being. The nourishment by which we achieve this growth is the “rational milk without guile,” the word of God which is revealed to us in the gospel and is presented again continually by the Church. The more readily we accept this word of the gospel, the more certain and the more rapid is our growth to full spiritual manhood. Thus we attain our full perfection in heaven.

“Desire the rational milk without guile.” Just as the child longs eagerly for its mother’s milk, once it has tasted its sweetness, so you also will long for the word of the gospel “if so be you have tasted the Lord is sweet” (I Pet. 2:3). The rebirth which we experienced through our baptism is nourished in the steadfast and living desire for the word of the gospel, and by means of the nourishment thus obtained, we shall grow in holiness.

3. How does this spiritual rebirth affect our lives? Negatively, it cleanses us from all self-seeking and from everything within ourselves that hinders the practice of fraternal charity; positively, it arouses in us the burning desire for inner growth and a persistent and ever-increasing thirst for the word of the gospel. These desires are increased daily through the celebration of the liturgy, through which the Church seeks to enlighten us by the gospel. Here we shall find the nourishment without guile, which will serve our spiritual growth. The strength gained from this nourishment made the early Christians strong and heroic, and prepared them to be always ready to sacrifice their lives for Christ and their faith.

“Desire the rational milk without guile.” Holy Mother the Church offers this milk of doctrine to us. To her Christ gave the commission, “Going therefore, teach ye all nations, . . . teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you” (Matt. 28:19 f.) The doctrine of the Church consists in those things “whatsoever I have commanded you”; it is the uncontaminated doctrine of Christ. For this reason Christ gave her the assurance of His abiding presence: “Behold I am with you all days even to the consummation of the world” (Matt. 28:20). For this purpose He sends the Holy Spirit, the “spirit of truth” (John 15:26): “But when He, the Spirit of Truth is come He will teach you all truth… He shall receive of Mine and shall show it to you” (John 16:13 f.). “He shall abide with you ad shall be in you” (John 14:17).  Christ assures the Church that “He that heareth you, heareth me” (Luke 10:16).

Error is rampant in the world. False doctrines and divergent schools of thought seek to lead men away from God, from Christ, and from the gospel. They alienate men from the Church and leave them miserable. We are assured that we are in possession of the unadulterated truth as long as we cling to the Church, to her teachings, and her principles, and her liturgy. “Desire the rational milk without guile.”

Prayer

We beseech Thee, O Lord our God, to make the most holy mysteries, which Thou hast given us to ensure our salvation, a remedy for us both now and in the future. Through Christ our Lord. Amen. (Postcommunion.)

Thursday of The First Week After Easter

Our holy faith 

1. During the second week after Easter the liturgy lays great emphasis on the virtue of faith. “And this is the victory which overcometh the world, our faith. . . . [in the fact] that Jesus is the Son of God” (Epistle). In the Gospel the Lord reproaches the apostle Thomas for his unbelief. Thomas, falling on his knees before the Lord, confesses, “My Lord and my God.” Jesus replies, “Because thou hast seen Me, Thomas, thou hast believed. Blessed are they that have not seen and have believed.” The Communion prayer resumes the theme of the Gospel and calls out to us when we receive the Lord, “Put in thy hand and know the place of the nails, and be not faithless, but believing.”
2. As newborn babes, yet wise by reason of faith! In the measure in which we acquire a childlike spirit, our faith becomes proportionately stronger and more perfect. Christianity is founded on faith. Faith is the beginning of salvation and the basis of all Christian thought. All Christian reasoning, all Christian values, all Christian undertakings, all Christian life, spring from the virtue of faith. Faith includes more than the mere conviction that God, the Supreme Being, exists. Faith requires that we accept and conform our lives to all those things which God has commanded us to accept. We must accept all His commands on faith, simply because God has spoken. By faith we make an offering of our whole being to God and subject ourselves to Him in the spirit of sacrifice. We make a voluntary renunciation of our own understanding and accept all that God reveals, out of a deep veneration for His infallibility. It is indeed no small matter to consecrate oneself to God as a sacrifice, together with all one’s thoughts and desires; yet we do this by our faith. We do even more. To believe in God means to make Him our highest and greatest goal, the goal upon which we center all our thought and actions, all of our strivings, our whole life. We make ourselves and our whole life completely dependent on Him, and strive with all the strength of our heart and mind to serve Him. To believe in God in this manner who possesses the Christian faith; and he who possesses this faith must make God the center of all his thoughts and desires. He must subject himself to God, to His every word and command, to His inspirations and guidance. Do we have such a faith?

“This is the victory which overcometh the world, our faith.” But our faith in God has various degrees and stages of perfection. We should strive to attain to perfect faith, that “which overcometh the world.” We have reached the first degree of faith when we live according to the maxims of the faith. “Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself” (Jas. 2:17). He who knows the will of his master, but fails to carry it out, he who has the name of the Lord on his lips, but dishonors Him by his deeds, is worthy of greater punishment than he who has learned nothing of the faith. “Not everyone that saith to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doth the will of my Father who is in heaven, he shall enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 7:21).

To be joyful and free in our faith is the second degree of faith. He who lives by faith as the child in the house of his father, as the free man in his home, feels nothing of the burden of faith which the slave finds so onerous. The realms of faith become for him a familiar region, and he moves about in the light of faith with a naturalness and ease which others would find difficult or impossible. Even the regulations of spirit and heart, which faith imposes, become familiar and do not become burdensome.

To live by faith is the third and final stage in our growth in faith. Faith lives in us, and we live by faith. “In the head of the book it is written of me that I should do Thy will; O my God, I have desired it, and Thy law is in the midst of my heart” (Ps. 39:9). Those who live according to faith need make no laborious search to discover the will of God. Without compulsion and, as it were, by instinct they sense God’s presence and recognize the hand of God in everything that befalls them, be it sweet or bitter, welcome or unwelcome. They have no need of artificial means for placing themselves in the presence of God. They feel themselves in the presence of God even when they are engaged in the most absorbing work, or when they are surrounded on all sides by men of the world. Their life, both day and night, is a burning flame of love that consumes them in the service of God. Faith is no longer something exterior to them, but becomes the very soul of their life. It is this kind of faith that makes saints. Once we possess such faith, we readily overcome the world with its lusts and its self-love, and we allow ourselves no rest until we have complied with every law and every counsel which faith presents to us to arouse our love, and we allow ourselves no rest until we have complied with every law and every counsel which faith presents to us to arouse our love and our generosity.

3. Because we live by faith and according to the rules of faith, the world attacks us who are Christians. The world cannot endure the spirit which inspires us as Christians, because our world is in the realm of faith. The knowledge of it is not “found in the land of them that live in delights” (Job 28:13). The more we are misunderstood and abused by the world, the more we are misunderstood and abused by the world, the more we ought to thank God, for persecution is a good indication that God has endowed us with His spirit.

We must treasure and love the faith with which we were filled at the time of our baptism. We must not rest until it has pervaded our very flesh and blood, until we live by faith alone.

Prayer

Grant we beseech Thee, O almighty God, that we who have celebrated the paschal solemnity, may by Thy bounty show forth its effects in our life and conduct. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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12: ST JULIUS I, POPE (A.D. 352)

THE name of Pope St Julius stands in the Roman Martyrology today with the notice that he laboured much for the Catholic faith against the Arians. He was the son of a Roman citizen named Rusticus, and succeeded Pope St Mark in 337. In the following year St Athanasius, who had been exiled at the instance of the Arians, returned to his see of Alexandria, but found himself opposed by an Arian or semi-Arian hierarch whose intrusion had been obtained by Bishop Eusebius of Nicomedia. In response to the request of the followers of Eusebius, Pope Julius convoked a synod to examine into the matter, but the very people who had asked for the council refrained from attending it. The case of St Athanasius was, however, very carefully examined in their absence; and the letter which the pope subsequently sent to the Eusebian bishops in the East has been characterized by Tillemont as “one of the finest monuments of ecclesiastical antiquity”, and by Monsignor Batiffol as “a model of weightiness, wisdom and charity”. Calmly and impartially he meets their accusations one by one and refutes them. Towards the end he states the procedure they ought to have followed. “Are you not aware that it is customary that we should first be written to, that from hence what is just may be defined? . . . Whereas you expect us to approve condemnations in which we had no part. This is not according to the precepts of Paul or the tradition of the fathers. All this is strange and new. Allow me to speak as I do: I write what I write in the common interest, and what I now signify is what we have received from the blessed apostle Peter.”

The council at Sardica (Sofia) convened in 342 by the emperors of the East and West, vindicated St Athanasius, and endorsed the statement, previously made by St Julius, that any bishop deposed by a synod of his province has a right to appeal to the bishop of Rome. Nevertheless it was not until the year 346 that St Athanasius was able to return to Alexandria. On his way thither he passed through /76/ Rome, where he was cordially received by Pope Julius, who wrote a touching letter to the clergy and faithful of Alexandria, congratulating them on the return of their holy bishop, picturing the reception they would give him, and praying for God’s blessing on them and on their children.

St Julius built several churches in Rome, notably the Basilica Julia, now the church of the Twelve Apostles, and the basilica of St Valentine in the Flaminian Way. He died on April 12, 352. His body was buried at first in the cemetery of Calepodius, but was afterwards translated to Santa Maria in Trastevere which he had enlarged and beautified.

(Butler’s Lives of the Saints)

MARRIAGE AND PARENTHOOD

The Catholic Ideal

By the Rev. Thomas J. Gerrard

(1911)

CHAPTER VII

CONJUGAL RESTRAINT

Lawful restraint requires three conditions. First, it must be by mutual consent; secondly, it must be only for a limited time; and thirdly, it must be for the sake of a higher spirit life. “All things have their season: a time to embrace and a time to be far from embraces.” And the time most fitted for this abstention is the time of solemn fast or feast. “Blow the trumpet in Sion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly: let the bridegroom go forth from his bed, and the bride out of her bride-chamber.” The two observances are mutually helpful: the abstention promotes religion, and religion promotes restraint.

The Church makes no law about the times of this restraint. She recommends, however, that it be practiced at the times of the ecclesiastical fasts and festivals. At the end of the marriage service the priest is directed so to admonish the bridal pair. Owing to the delicacy of the public conscience this admonition is usually omitted. It remains, however, to be read privately by all those who will avail themselves of the wisdom of Mother Church.

The counsels of St. Paul and the Church are supported by the counsels of nature. Nature will allow a wide liberty, but she will rebel if she is over-taxed. It is astonishing how the race continues, considering the extent to which its reproductive powers are abused. But nature is both kind and strict. She gives ample warning as the limits of moderation are transgressed. If the excess be persistent and grave, she visits the offenders with grave chastisement.

The married pair, then, have the advantage of two guides, nature and religion. Nature will give the first warning against excess. The moderate exercise of the sexual life ought not to interfere with the working-life of either husband or wife. The strength of the weaker partner, then, will be the measure by which restraint is judged.

If the advice of the Church, too, be followed, it will be a strong help to the married couple to regulate their life within the bounds of physical fitness. To be explicit, the Church mentions the eves of all great festivals, and the seasons of Advent and Lent. But, once again, the rule is not one of obligation, but only one of counsel and can thus be changed to suit each one’s individual needs.

This restraint is not accomplished by unaided nature. It is the result of a special grace of God which is conferred through the matrimonial Sacrament. The woman is the minister of grace to the man, and the man to the woman. Grace is given to accomplish all the ends of matrimony. But this restraint is needed for these ends. Therefore it will be supported by grace. Thus the Catholic ideal is again seen to be the power making for family happiness. It tends to keep the parents /89/ in good health and consequently tends to produce a healthy offspring. In preventing excess it prevents the married pair from becoming mere instruments of pleasure for each other, and consequently promotes a reverence and love which debauchery would destroy.

Now, although this abstention during ecclesiastical seasons is not of obligation, yet there are occasions when it is of obligation; and it will then be difficult to observe unless the non-obligatory restraint has been practiced.

Common decency demands that abstinence should be observed during the whole period of menstruation. The same must be said of the time immediately following childbirth. There is an idea prevalent, especially amongst the poorer classes, that it is bad luck to return to the married life until the woman has been churched. There is no rule of the Church to this effect. But it is a good custom provided it is regarded merely as a custom, and not adorned with the sanction of magic, of good luck, or bad luck.

Then comes the question of times of illness. For one partner there is danger of grave illness, whilst for the other there is danger of incontinency. Rather than expose a partner to the danger of sin the other partner is bound to suffer grave inconvenience, but is not bound to go so far as to incur dangerous illness. It is difficult sometimes to draw the line, and wherever the line is drawn it means dissatisfaction for one or other of the parties concerned. How much better it would be, then, if both had practiced restraint when it was not of obligation! It would have produced a habit of mind and heart, by which the stronger partner would show a tender regard for the weaker. It would have become an effective expression of love, powerful to create a return love and thus to weld anew the marriage bond.

There may also arise the necessity of temporary separation on account of business. A commercial traveler may be away from home for months at a time. A sailor may be ordered abroad for a year—or perhaps two. Whenever possible a man should take his wife with him on his travels. But since this, for many, is not practicable, the mind must be especially strengthened by the practice of restraint when it is not obligatory.

The plight of the very poor calls for special consideration. There are thousands upon thousands who have not got a living wage, yea, indeed, thousands upon thousands who have no wages at all. A poor dock-laborer of Liverpool, writing to me on various topics of the social question, thus very delicately tells his story: “I will now touch briefly,” he says, “on the birthrate. Many good earnest-minded men have often said of us workers, that it was a crime for a man earning a small wage to marry and bring children into the world, whose only heritage was one of poverty and want. Too well do we know with what anxiety the arrival of each little new-comer is looked forward to, as it means more to feed and clothe, while the earning power of the bread-winner is gradually growing less. But as the Church tells us that we are obeying the law of God, we may well ask  ‘Is it ever to be thus? Must we, in order to do what we were created for, commit a serious crime against our own offspring?’ And in this dilemma we inquire: ‘Which is the greater criminal, the working-man for obeying God’s law, or he who is responsible for his condition in life and who prevents him from rearing his family in decency and comfort?’ Although I look on little children as precious heirlooms sent from God, and with full knowledge that they beget happiness, could I be blamed should I advise my sons not to marry till late in life, or else refrain from marriage altogether; and so further restrict the birthrate, the decline of which is causing so much agitation throughout the country?”

The writer is a good Catholic and so does not go so far as to suggest the artificial restriction within marriage. This evil, though, is closely bound up with the economic evil of which he speaks.

Let it be said at once, then, that poverty is no bar to the Sacrament of marriage. The poor are entitled to receive all the graces and all the joys which pertain to the marriage state, and the possession of children. Poverty in its extremity, destitution, that is, is a deplorable evil; but it is a mere trifle compared with the sins of incontinency which would surely follow if the poor were forbidden to marry. It is a mere trifle compared with those detestable sins against nature, the artificial restrictions of the birthrate.

Of course there is no reason why young people should not abstain from marriage until they have a living wage, or, having married, abstain from the marriage act, provided this can be done without danger of incontinency. This course, indeed, may be profitably recommended and the Sacraments of the Church will be the best help in carrying it out. But Satan will be busy amongst those who try it. If it fails, marriage is the remedy in spite of all poverty, marriage and all the normal blessings of marriage, the procreation of children, the avoidance of incontinency, and the promotion of mutual love and affection. And if eventually the marriage is to be made ideal and despoiled of the stigma of destitution, it can only be by fidelity to the complete ideal of the Church, for it pertains to the complete ideal of the Church that a man should receive as much wages for his labor as will keep himself, his wife, and his family in reasonable and frugal comfort.

The sexual question, therefore, though largely a physical and economic one, is at bottom a religious one. The restraint needful for a happy marriage wants religious illumination and strength. The marriage bond has its likeness in the bond between Christ and the Church, namely, the bond of intense, strong love. The marriage bond is thus something quite distinct from lust. Lust seeks its own animal gratification, regardless of any other end but its own indulgence. Love, however, seeks the higher well-being. The love of the married pair then will be tender above all things. It will be selfless to a degree so that the weaker party has every consideration. Whatever sensual pleasure may be incidental to this love, all will be controlled and directed to the higher well-being of husband, wife, and children.

(To be continued)

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Father Courtney Edward will be in Eureka, Nevada, on April 21.

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