“Be renewed in spirit”
Vol 8 Issue 27 ~ Editor: Rev. Fr. Courtney Edward Krier
July 4, 201
1. Baptism: Means of Salvation (23)
2. Sixth Sunday after Pentecost
3. St. Anthony Mary Zaccaria
4. Marriage and Parenthood (27)
5. Articles and notices
Dear Reader:
Today the United States of America celebrates the anniversary of its independence from England, of which it was a former group of Colonies. Whether it will be the last is probably not known, but next year, June 26 will now be the anniversary when US citizens will be forced to celebrate their dependence on Uncle Sodom and the United Sodomites of Antichrist. The Rainbow House will revel again in how the Transgender Revolution went transcontinental without a gun shot (Whatever happened to those gun tottin’ NRA Americans who were just itchin’ to use their guns?). Peace reigns because state organized sexual orgies have solved the inhibitions of confused love (Was I supposed to love a man or a woman, or was it two men and a woman? Or, just children? Now I can just have it all!). Every public bathroom comes with a machine to buy Google goggles so the view will be a more user friendly environment for pedophiles, sodomites or just peeping Toms—no signs at the entrance (except maybe “Enter at your Own Risk.”). The ACLU celebrates having won its coveted victory of closing all Churches, because being Christian was not a civil liberty, but the most heinous crime against the people (State). The SPLC is still suing schools for not being pro-active enough in implementing the program where sexology therapy in the kindergarten will re-educate the “it” who has been unfortunately told by the state appointed overseer that it was a boy or girl and still thinks it is a boy or girl, or different than the “it” across from “it”—it is not what it is, it is what one should think it is: an “it”. Cohen was quoted as saying: “There should be no tolerance for independent thinking and self-recognition. No thinking outside group thought. We’ve obtain diversity. Nobody is somebody; everyone is no one.”—I am afraid such idiocy exists in today’s USA and will only become more prevalent by the next year.
Catholics must understand they are continuously choosing to be faithful to God and may be persecuted or they are choosing to be part of the world, which is already judged. Decisions must be made to best allow one to remain Catholic in Faith without being forced to compromise or lose their family—this is especially for families with school-age children. May the Holy Ghost give the wisdom needed.
Several links are provided at the end of the Newsletter that are expressive of the present welt Geist.
As always, enjoy the readings and commentaries provided for your benefit.—The Editor
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Baptism
Means of Salvation
Preparation for Grace
Introduction (c)
Church Documents Concerning Faith
The Church has a long history of combatting errors, the Judaizers, Gnostics, and Pelagians were a constant threat to the Faith in general of the early Church Faith along with the theological teachings promulgated by the Arians, Nestorians and Monothelites regarding Faith in particular regarding the Incarnation. Yet, the Fathers of the Church in those years, in attempting to root out the errors, provided an splendid exposition of the true faith that presents an understanding of the Faith which today still holds true. Meeting in Councils, the Bishops hammered out formulas which expressed an understanding to be acceptable to divine revelation and reason.
Pope Boniface II confirmed the decrees of the Second Council of Orange (529) which took up the issue of Grace and its place in the beginning of Faith in opposition to the Semi-Pelagian heretics and set these Canons to be held by all Catholics:
(3) If anyone says that the grace of God can be conferred because of human prayer, but that it is not the grace that prompts us to pray, he contradicts the Prophet Isaias or the Apostle who says the same thing: “I was found by those who did not seek me; I appeared openly to those who made no inquiry of me” (Rom. x. 20; Isa. lxv. 1; D176).
(4) If anyone argues that God awaits our will before cleansing us from sin, but does not profess that even the desire to be cleansed is accomplished through the infusion and the interior working of the Holy Ghost, he opposes the Holy Ghost speaking through Solomon: “The will is prepared by the Lord” (Prov. viii. 35 Septuagint). And he opposes the apostle’s salutary message: “It is God who of his good pleasure works in you both the will and the performance” (Phil. ii. 13; D177).
(5) He is an adversary of the apostolic teaching who says that the increase of faith as well as the beginning of faith and the very desire of faith—by which we believe in Him who justifies the unjustified, and by which we come to the regeneration of sacred baptism—inheres in us naturally and not by a gift of grace. This grace is the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, guiding our will away from infidelity to faith, from godlessness to piety. For St. Paul says: “We are convinced of this, that he who has begun a good work in you will bring it to perfection until the day of Christ Jesus” (Phil. i. 6). And he says: “You have been given the favor on Christ’s behalf—not only to believe in him but also to suffer for him” (Phil. i. 29). And again: “By grace you have been saved through faith; and that not from yourselves, for it is the gift of God” (Eph. ii. 8). For those who say that it is natural faith by which we believe in God teach that all those who are separated from the Church of Christ are, in a certain sense, believers (D178).
A consequence and stated in this last sentence, those who say that it is natural faith by which we believe in God teach that all those who are separated from the Church of Christ are, in a certain sense, believers, is an error held by Vatican Council II, which considers every human action done under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and thereby not differentiating that which is done by nature and that which is done by the God’s grace. The following is from Aetate Nostrae of October 28, 1965, paragraph 2:
From ancient times down to the present, there is found among various peoples a certain perception of that hidden power which hovers over the course of things and over the events of human history; at times some indeed have come to the recognition of a Supreme Being, or even of a Father. This perception and recognition penetrates their lives with a profound religious sense.
Religions, however, that are bound up with an advanced culture have struggled to answer the same questions by means of more refined concepts and a more developed language. Thus in Hinduism, men contemplate the divine mystery and express it through an inexhaustible abundance of myths and through searching philosophical inquiry. They seek freedom from the anguish of our human condition either through ascetical practices or profound meditation or a flight to God with love and trust. Again, Buddhism, in its various forms, realizes the radical insufficiency of this changeable world; it teaches a way by which men, in a devout and confident spirit, may be able either to acquire the state of perfect liberation, or attain, by their own efforts or through higher help, supreme illumination. Likewise, other religions found everywhere try to counter the restlessness of the human heart, each in its own manner, by proposing “ways,” comprising teachings, rules of life, and sacred rites. The Catholic Church rejects nothing that is true and holy in these religions. She regards with sincere reverence those ways of conduct and of life, those precepts and teachings which, though differing in many aspects from the ones she holds and sets forth, nonetheless often reflect a ray of that Truth which enlightens all men. Indeed, she proclaims, and ever must proclaim Christ “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6), in whom men may find the fullness of religious life, in whom God has reconciled all things to Himself. (Cf 2 Cor. 5:18-19)
The wording may be subtle, but the inference implied is that natural acts lead to Christ, that is, it is the way because there is “a ray of Truth” and therefore they have God’s life, though not fully—which is strange Catholic theology since you either have God’s life or you don’t—because “God has reconciled all things to Himself”—interpreting Saint Paul’s words as if everyone is sanctified (universal salvation).
It is best seen when one reads Pope Pius X’s condemnation of Modernist faith:
Religion, whether this be natural or supernatural, must, just as any fact, admit of some explanation. But the explanation, with natural theology destroyed and the approach to revelation barred by the rejection of the arguments of credibility, with even any external revelation utterly removed, is sought in vain outside man. It is, then, to be sought within man himself; and, since religion is a form of life, it is to be found entirely within the life of man. From this is asserted the principle of religious Immanence. Moreover, of every vital phenomenon, to which it has just been said religion belongs, the first actuation, as it were, is to be sought in a certain need or impulsion; but, if we speak more specifically of life, the beginnings are to be posited in a kind of motion of the heart, which is called a sense. Therefore, since God is the object of religion, it must be concluded absolutely that faith, which is the beginning and the foundation of any religion, must be located in some innermost sense, which has its beginning in a need for the divine. Moreover, this need for the divine, since it is felt only in certain special surroundings, cannot of itself pertain to the realm of consciousness, but it remains hidden at first beneath consciousness, or, as they say with a word borrowed from modern philosophy, in the subconsciousness, where, too, its root remains hidden and undetected.—Someone perhaps will ask in what way does this need of the divine, which man himself perceives within himself, finally evolve into religion? To this the modernists reply: “Science and history are included within a twofold boundary: one external, that is the visible world; the other internal, which is consciousness. When they have reached one or the other, they are unable to proceed further, for beyond these boundaries is the unknowable. In the presence of this unknowable, whether this be outside man and beyond the perceptible world of nature, or lies concealed within the subconsciousness, the need of the divine in a soul prone to religion, according to the tenets of fideism, with no judgment of the mind anticipating, excites a certain peculiar sense; but this sense has the divine reality itself, not only as its object but also as its intrinsic cause implicated within itself, and somehow unites man with God.” This sense, moreover, is what the modernists call by the name of faith, and is for them the beginning of religion. (Pascendi dominici gregis, Sept. 8, 1907; D2075)
The “Reformers” rejected the authority of the Church to teach what one must believe by her Divine commission. Instead of a belief in Divine Revelation that is absolute, each individual takes the Bible to mean what he or she wants it to mean, just as Martin Luther (1483-1546):
Luther translated the Old Testament from the Hebrew, the New Testament from the Greek. As he was himself neither a Hebrew nor a Greek scholar of any note, he was much indebted to Philip Melanchthon for assistance. Luther was by no means the first German Bible translator, nor can his translation be called an independent work from the original Hebrew and Greek: there is no doubt that he had the old Catholic German Bible of 1475 before him when making his translation. He did not scruple to do violence to many passages in the original in order to make them harmonize with his own heretical views. Thus, to bolster up his false doctrine of justification he added the word “alone” after the word “faith” in Rom. 3, 28. He omitted the so-called deutero-canonical books—Tobias, Judith, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch, 1 and 2 Machabees and parts of Esther and Daniel—from the Old Testament, and from the New Testament the Epistle of St. James, which he contemptuously called “a straw Epistle,” because it teaches that “faith without works is dead.”(Laux, 427)
On the contrary, Divine Revelation is absolute and as such the Catholic or universal Faith is held to be the same by all as delivered in Scripture and Tradition.
We Catholics profess also the greatest respect for the Holy Scriptures, but we receive it from the hands of the Church, which, in virtue of her infallibility, guarantees its inspiration. Moreover, with the Scriptures we receive from the same hand with equal veneration Tradition, that is, the
word of God not contained in the Sacred Scriptures. Finally, far from claiming, like Protestants, that every one has the right to determine the meaning of Scripture, far from declaring every man the judge and arbiter of his belief, we say that it belongs to the Church, assisted by the Holy
Spirit, to fix the catalogue or canon of the Holy Scriptures, to determine the meaning of the sacred text and unerringly interpret tradition. In a word, the Catholic Rule of Faith is the teaching authority of the Church, her living and infallible voice and doctrine. (Deviere, 455)
The results were seen at the time of the Reformation as they are seen today within the Conciliar Church that has adopted a hybrid concept of Lutherian faith [The Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, signed on October 31, 1999 by Lutheran and Conciliar repesentatives, states:
With the Second Vatican Council, Catholics state: to have faith is to entrust oneself totally to God,[19] who liberates us from the darkness of sin and death and awakens us to eternal life.[20] In this sense, one cannot believe in God and at the same time consider the divine promise untrustworthy. No one may doubt God’s mercy and Christ’s merit. Every person, however, may be concerned about his salvation when he looks upon his own weaknesses and shortcomings. Recognizing his own failures, however, the believer may yet be certain that God intends his salvation.
The innovators of the sixteenth century, with Luther leading the way, rejected the Catholic teaching of Faith. With the printing press, the Bible became the sole rule of faith, replacing the Church. The Bible was held to contain all Divine Revelation and, of itself, inspired the reader of its interpretation. Faith alone brought justification, not works (i.e., baptism and repentance); and man, by this faith which was a confident believing that God pardons him, is saved. There was no need to change one’s life as this would express a lack of confidence in God’s grace. Therefore, with each individual divinely inspired through Scripture, no “Church” had divine authority and all Church rituals denied God’s grace.
The results of Luther’s revolutionary teachings—his denial of free will, his assertion of the complete corruption of human nature by Original Sin, his doctrine of justification by faith alone, his stand on the Scriptures as the sole authority in religious matters, his wild onslaughts on all authority, both ecclesiastical and civil-soon made themselves felt. Tradesmen and day-laborers publicly interpreted the Bible, which had suddenly become intelligible to everyone. At St. Gall, in Switzerland, a crowd of people left the city and directed their steps to the four quarters of the globe to announce the kingdom of God to the nations: didn’t the Bible say: “Go, teach all nations and preach the Gospel to them?” Thomas Munzer of Zwickau concluded from the Scriptures that all Christians baptized as infants must be rebaptized (Anabaptists), because Christ said: “He who shall believe and shall be baptized, shall be saved”; but infants do not believe. He also taught that an interior light is given by God to each one to interpret the Bible; that there is no spiritual or temporal authority; that all things must be possessed in common by all men, who form one large community of brethren enjoying equal rights and exercising conjointly both sacerdotal and royal powers. Two hundred Anabaptists gathered at Appenzell and patiently waited for a supply of food from heaven; for they had read in the Gospel: “Be not solicitous for your life, what you shall eat.” Bands of barefooted men and women ran through the streets and preached from the roofs of the houses in order to obey the words of Scripture: “That which ye hear in the ear, preach ye upon the housetops.” Others burned /427/ the Bible, because it is written: “The letter killeth, but the spirit quickeneth. . . .” (Laux, 427-8)
With John Calvin (1509-64) imbibing Martin Luther’s ideas and defending the rejection of freewill in the role of faith by giving God the absolute decision in who would be saved and who would be lost, the Council of Trent, during the Sixth Session (Jan. 13, 1547), taught the following doctrine in its Decree On Justification:
[Chapter 7.] For although no one can be just but he to whom the merits of the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ are communicated, yet this does take place in this justification of the ungodly when by the merit of that same most holy passion “the charity of God is poured forth by the Holy Spirit in the hearts” [Rom. 5:5] of those who are justified, and inheres in them [can. II]. Hence man through Jesus Christ, into whom he is ingrafted, receives in the said justification together with the remission of sins all these [gifts] infused at the same time: faith, hope, and charity. For faith, unless hope and charity be added to it, neither unites one perfectly with Christ, nor makes him a living member of his body. For this reason it is most truly said that “faith without works is dead” [Jas.2:17], and is of no profit [can. 19], and “in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith, which worketh by charity” [Gal. 5:6; 6:15]. This faith, in accordance with apostolic tradition, catechumens beg of the Church before the sacrament of baptism, when they ask for “faith which bestows life eternal,” [Rit. Rom. , Ordo Baptismi note 1f.] which without hope and charity faith cannot bestow. Thence also they hear immediately the word of Christ: “If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments” [Matt. 19:17; can. 18-20]. Therefore, when receiving true and Christian justice, they are commanded immediately on being reborn, to preserve it pure and spotless as the “first robe” [Luke 15:22] given to them through Christ Jesus in place of that which Adam by his disobedience lost for himself and for us, so that they may bear it before the tribunal of our Lord Jesus Christ and have life eternal. [Rit. Rom. , Ordo Baptismi n. 24.; (D 800)]
[Chapter 8.] But when the Apostle says that man is justified “by faith” [can. 9] and “freely” [Rom. 3:22, 24], these words must be understood in that sense in which the uninterrupted consent of the Catholic Church has held and expressed, namely, that we are therefore said to be justified by faith, because “faith is the beginning of human salvation,” * the foundation and root of all justification, “without which it is impossible to please God” [Heb. 11 :6] and to come to the fellowship of His sons; and are, therefore, said to be justified gratuitously, because none of those things which precede justification, whether faith, or works merit the grace itself of justification; for, “if it is a grace, it is not now by reason of works; otherwise (as the same Apostle says) grace is no more grace” [Rom.11:6]. (D 801)
[Chapter 9.] Although it is necessary to believe that sins are neither forgiven, nor ever have been forgiven, except gratuitously by divine mercy for Christ’s sake, yet it must not be said that sins are forgiven or have been forgiven to anyone who boasts of his confidence and certainty of the forgiveness of his sins and rests on that alone, since among heretics and schismatics this vain confidence, remote from all piety [can. 12], may exist, indeed in our own troubled times does exist, and is preached against the Catholic Church with vigorous opposition. But neither is this to be asserted, that they who are truly justified without any doubt whatever should decide for themselves that they are justified, and that no one is absolved from sins and is justified, except him who believes with certainty that he is absolved and justified, and that by this faith alone are absolution and justification effected [can. 14], as if he who does not believe this is doubtful of the promises of God and of the efficacy of the death and resurrection of Christ. For, just as no pious person should doubt the mercy of God, the merit of Christ, and the virtue and efficacy of the sacraments, so every one, when he considers himself and his own weakness and indisposition, may entertain fear and apprehension as to his own grace [can. 13], since no one can know with the certainty of faith, which cannot be subject to error, that he has obtained the grace of God. (D 802)
The Pelagians and Semi-Pelagians placed the act of Faith completely in man’s nature. The Innovators took Faith completely out of man’s ability and placed it in God’s determination of who He absolutely wills or wills not to save. He would place those He chooses to damn outside the hearing of the Gospel, such as the Native Americans before the coming of the Spaniards. Calvin writes, in his Institutes of Christian Religion (lib. 3, cap. 24):
As the Lord by the efficacy of his calling accomplishes towards his elect the salvation to which he had by his eternal counsel destined them, so he has judgments against the reprobate, by which he executes his counsel concerning them. Those, therefore, whom he has created for dishonor during life and destruction at death, that they may be vessels of wrath and examples of severity, in bringing to their doom, he at one time deprives of the means of hearing his word, at another by the preaching of it blinds and stupefies them the more. The examples of the former case are innumerable, but let us select one of the most remarkable of all. Before the advent of Christ, about four thousand years passed away, during which he hid the light of saving doctrine from all nations. If any one answer, that he did not put them in possession of the great blessing, because he judged them unworthy, then their posterity will be in no respect more worthy. Of this in addition to experience, Malachi is a sufficient witness; for while charging them with mixed unbelief and blasphemy, he yet declares that the Redeemer will come. Why then is he given to the latter rather than to the former? They will in vain torment themselves in seeking for a deeper cause than the secret and inscrutable counsel of God. And there is no occasion to fear lest some disciple of Porphyry with impunity arraign the justice of God, while we say nothing in its defense. For while we maintain that none perish without deserving it, and that it is owing to the free goodness of God that some are delivered, enough has been said for the display of his glory; there is not the least occasion for our caviling. The supreme Disposer then makes way for his own predestination, when depriving those whom he has reprobated of the communication of his light, he leaves them in blindness. [Jansenism was Catholic Calvinism, accepting the concepts of grace and predestination.]
The Council of Trent set down these Canons to oppose both errors:
Canon 3. If anyone shall say that without the anticipatory inspiration of the Holy Spirit and without His assistance man can believe, hope, and love or be repentant, as he ought, so that the grace of justification may be conferred upon him: let him be anathema [cf. D 797; D 813].
Canon 4. If anyone shall say that man’s free will moved and aroused by God does not cooperate by assenting to God who rouses and calls, whereby it disposes and prepares itself to obtain the grace of justification, and that it cannot dissent, if it wishes, but that like something inanimate it does nothing at all and is merely in a passive state: let him be anathema [cf. D 797; D 814].
(To be continued)
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Week of Sixth Sunday after Pentecost
Benedict Baur, O.S.B.
“Be renewed in spirit”
- The divine life, which we first received through baptism, has been implanted in us as a seed. We must develop it by continuously cooperating with the grace of the Holy Spirit.
- The death of sin was effected in baptism. But the law of salvation demands that the life of grace be incessantly fostered, renewed, and confirmed. Through Adam’s sin we lost all supernatural goods with one stroke. Though God returns to us through the sacrament of baptism the divine gift of His grace and sonship, we do not receive it with the perfection and strength that was given to Adam. Despite the fact that original sin and all personal sins are forgiven by baptism, and that sanctifying grace is again poured into our soul, evil concupiscence remains within us, and as the source of sin it threatens to destroy the divine life within us. By impairing the judgment, it makes us amenable to the allurements of this world and of the flesh, and places us in continual danger of being unfaithful to God and our baptism. Even after baptism evil concupiscence remains in our hearts that we may always remember our fallen state and learn to understand what bottomless depths of moral corruption and depravity there are within us. This understanding should help us to recognize our helplessness and sinfulness so that we may cling to God and seek His grace. It should aid us, furthermore, in our continual struggle against sin, passion, and the allurements of the world, so that we may, of our own accord, determine to adhere to God and a virtuous life.
Though we are really dead to sin, our dying to ourselves must continue because of the concupiscence we carry within us, which captivates us as “the law of sin that is in my members” (Rom. 7:23). We must maintain a persevering and unyielding resistance to Satan and a continual renunciation of the insinuations of the devil and the allurements of the flesh and the world.
“Be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and put on the new man, who according to God is created in justice and holiness of truth” (Eph. 4:23 f.). Grace, the source of our supernatural life, urges us to become men of action. The kingdom of God is within us. Being but a germ, however, like the mustard seed of the Gospel, it must grow into a great tree. “He that is just, let him be justified still” (Apoc. 22: 11). No one in this world is so perfect that he cannot attain greater perfection. We have an obligation to strive for perfection. There is no fixed measure of virtue or faith or love for God and men, to which more cannot still be added. If we stop striving after perfection in grace and virtue, we cease to be perfect; that is, we no longer are what we ought to be according to the commandment of God. For this is our perfection on earth, that we make the life of grace and virtue within us grow each day. Such growth requires continual progress. Once we lag behind or start losing ground, it is our duty to take up our struggle with renewed zeal. To stand still is impossible for us, for nothing created remains unchanged. Either it grows or it languishes; we either go ahead, or we fall back. We must either penetrate deeper into God and Christ, or God and Christ will withdraw. With good reason, then, many saints bound themselves by vow to progress unceasingly in grace and virtue. Knowing the weakness of human nature, its cowardice and inconstancy, they were aware how easily they might start to waste time and grace, and fall far short of their fixed goal. “Be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, who according to God is created in justice and holiness of truth” (Eph. 4:23 f.).
- Death and life renew themselves again and again in our life since the hour of our baptism. We must put life to death for life’s sake. “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). “As many of you as have been baptized in Christ, have put on Christ” (Gal. 3:27), not like a garment, exteriorly, but interiorly. “I am the vine, you the branches” (John 15:5). Within His Church He will continue to live in each Christian by transmitting to them His spirit, His purity, His devotion to the Father, His life of humility and prayer.
If we would conform ourselves to God’s plan, we must die to sin once and for all. Since, unfortunately, we can through our own fault relapse into the death of sin, a strict asceticism is necessary. The purpose of such an asceticism is to foster the growth of the seed planted in our soul in baptism. Christian life is merely the continuation of that life implanted in us at our baptism. We must continue to die to sin and live to Christ. The liturgy especially helps us attain this end. Associating us daily, during the Sacrifice of the Mass, with the life and death of Christ, the liturgy urges us to “be renewed in the spirit.”
In heaven we shall be perfectly free from sin, from death and sorrow, and we shall see the full growth of the seed of grace planted in our hearts at baptism.
PRAYER
Perfect Thou my goings in Thy paths, that my footsteps be not moved. Incline Thy ear, and hear my words; show forth Thy wonderful mercies. Thou who savest them that trust in Thee, O Lord. (Offertory.)
Baptized in Christ
- “We are baptized in Christ Jesus” (Epistle). We are, to use the vigorous language of the Apostle, immersed in the person of Christ our Lord, and are thus intimately associated with the life of Christ. We have been lifted up to become partakers of the life of Christ and His mystical body. This inscrutable mystery initiates us into the Christian life.
- Baptism is the one supremely important event in the life of the individual Christian and compares in importance with the incarnation of the Son of God with regard to humanity as a whole. This work of God, applied to us in baptism, laid the foundation stone of “God’s building” within us (I Cor. 3:9). Whatever we achieve in our struggle toward perfection, is very slight compared to this work of God. The task, however, proposed to us by God’s salvific will, is of an immense importance. Baptism places the Christian under the strictest obligation of striving after Christian perfection. It binds us personally to strive for salvation, and leaves us no alternative. Baptism, correctly understood and fully appreciated, offers us a motive for striving after perfection which surpasses all others in power or value. It forms the starting point for our Christian struggle and Christian life, points out the direction, and governs and directs our entire Christian life. “So do you also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God, in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Epistle).
Baptism gives birth to Christ in our hearts. Although it is a transitory act, it establishes an enduring spiritual relationship between us and Christ in His mystical body, His holy Church. The grace of baptism is the greatest of all graces, and it urges us to cultivate the union with Christ which was established at baptism. We must exert ourselves daily to perfect our union with Him, gratefully and joyfully acknowledging His divine guidance. How is this to be done? We must die to sin and live to God in Christ Jesus. Most of us do strive for perfection, but we do not fully realize the divine change God worked within us at baptism. We have too little appreciation of the fact that baptism is the beginning and the foundation of all our endeavors to achieve salvation, and that these endeavors are nothing but the organic growth of the supernatural seed planted within us in that holy sacrament. Our endeavors would be much more joyful and energetic if we were more mindful of the change God wrought within us at baptism. Our struggle would be much more consistent if we realized vividly how immensely important is this first of the sacraments and how insignificant in comparison are our own efforts toward perfection. If we were mindful of these facts, how much more courageously we would work, and how much more persevering and energetic would be our spiritual endeavors! The Church, therefore, places the thought of baptism in the center of her liturgy; thus, for example, baptism is mentioned in the Masses during Lent, on Holy Saturday, and in the Masses of the Sundays after Easter and Pentecost. Every Sunday at the Asperges the Church reminds us of the great sacrament which we have received as the principal means of our salvation.
- In our struggle for perfection we are to obey God’s commands and imitate His example, especially in the so-called evangelical counsels, which the Lord has taught us by His word and example. “If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come follow Me” (Matt. 19:21). But even if we follow perfectly the evangelical counsels, it is possible to overlook the fundamental idea that through baptism we are incorporated in Christ and receive a share in His life and power. Concentrating on our obligations and duties, we are apt to overlook the power and fullness of life that sustains us, which was given us in baptism. We are often too occupied with ourselves, with our insufficiency and sinfulness, and too little concerned about the power working within us, the vine whose little branches we are and by whom we are sustained, fed, and formed.
We have been baptized in Christ. He, the Head of the Mystical Body, works and lives through His almighty power in us who are His members. We have not and never can have, as Christians, any life or good works apart from Him. His strength, the strength of the Head, works in the members, so that the Apostle could say, “I can do all things in him who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:13).
PRAYER
O God of power, from whom are all good things, implant in our hearts the love of Thy name, increase in us true religion, nourish us with all goodness, and by Thy mercy keep us in same. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
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St. Anthony Mary Zaccaria, Confessor
- Anthony was born in 1502, the only child of a patrician family of Cremona, Italy. Amidst the wealth and pomp of his upbringing, he distinguished himself by deep, serious piety, and a ready, good spirit of helpfulness derived from his very religious mother. As a boy he often gave his clothing to the first beggar he met. In order to help suffering mankind better, he studied medicine at Padua, receiving his degree in 1524. He established a practice in Cremona in order to attend patients during the day, while in the evening he would gather his friends around him in the Church of St. Vitalis to read passages of the New Testament and discuss them, especially the Epistles of St. Paul. He spent much time praying for guidance in the choice of a vocation. Finally he decided to study theology, and was ordained at the age of twenty-six. As the citizens of Cremona had formerly consulted the doctor, so now they came to hear the preacher, who kindled anew the fire of faith and zeal for Christian living. Anthony was also a tireless pastor and confessor. He renewed the face of the city in a few years by his wonder-working example of generous charity. In 1530 Anthony moved to Milan, to be joined by a law student and another young man who had formerly been very worldly. They enthusiastically helped him to found a congregation of priests who would model their whole lives on the ideals of the early Church. Pope Clement VII approved the “Clerks Regular of St. Paul” in 1533. Gradually they were joined by sons of the best families of Milan. About 1535 Anthony also founded the “Angelic Virgins of St. Paul” with the help of the countess of Guastalla, to be guardian angels for young girls exposed to dangers. Anthony suffered much from calumnies and persecutions in Milan. Yet he was called to Vicenza to work for the religious rehabilitation of the people there. Returning from this mission he fell ill, but went to Guastalla to reconcile its warring citizens. From this journey he returned only as far as Cremona, to die in the arms of his mother, on July 5, 1539. His body was taken to Milan and buried in his Order’s Church of St. Barnabas. Because of this his Congregation was called the Barnabites. It now has seven provinces and numbers about four hundred priests [pre-Vatican II].
- “In one thing . . . thou art still wanting. Go home and sell all that belongs to thee; give it to the poor, and so the treasure thou hast shall be in heaven; then come back and follow me” (Gospel). When the priests of Milan were pulling his preachers out of their pulpits, calling them the “plague of the city” and threatening to burn their home, St. Anthony tried to encourage his brethren by telling them, “We are fools for Christ.” The hatred against them came from both clergy and people. Why? Because they had chosen the foolishness of the Cross of Christ and were preaching Christ Crucified by word and example. Why had this popular physician given up worldly goods and position to live a life of renunciation and sincere imitation of our Lord? It did not make sense. And, to make it worse, a countess had associated herself with Anthony and chosen that foolishness also. Was not all this a slap in the face to the superficial world of Renaissance Milan? Many thought that Anthony was overplaying his role by preaching and doing penance in the streets. Even Pope Paul III did not know for a while just what to make of Anthony’s undertakings. He soon understood, however, and lent the weight of his protection to the movement, declaring: “It is just such men that the Church needs; she has plenty of scholars and diplomats.”
“My preaching, my message depended on no persuasive language devised by human wisdom, but rather on the proof I gave you of spiritual power” (I Cor. 2:4). The Introit puts these words of St. Paul on the lips of Anthony Zaccaria, because from his youth he had so thoroughly saturated his mind with the thoughts of St. Paul that his life and preaching were filled with the spirit of the Apostle. This is reflected in the name of his Congregation. As a priest he undertook the spiritual and moral reformation of the people with the ardor and force of St. Paul. In a few years, he and his brothers reformed all Upper Italy and thus prepared the ground for the later work of St. Charles Borromeo.
St. Anthony drew strength for this superhuman missionary activity from prayer, particularly from his devotion to the Eucharistic Christ. It was his love for the Blessed Sacrament that moved him to promote the so-called “Forty Hours Devotion.” The Offertory of the Mass alludes to this zeal: “Angels for my witnesses, I sing of thy praises: I bow down in worship toward thy sanctuary, giving praise to thy name” (Ps. 137:1). Another source of strength for Anthony’s work among souls was his charity; he desired to be all things to all men, as did St. Paul: “God knows how I long for you all, with the tenderness of Jesus Christ himself. And this is my prayer for you: may your love grow richer and richer yet, in the fulness of its knowledge and the depth of its perception” (Gradual; Phil. 1: 8). In the power of this love Anthony consumed himself for the sake of those who slandered him. He had only one desire: to save all.
- “Be content, brethren, to follow my example, and mark well those who live by the pattern we have given them” (Communion; Phil. 3:17). Anthony shines out as a model of renunciation, brotherly love, and zeal for the salvation of souls. We are fools for Christ. “So much wiser than men is God’s foolishness; so much stronger than men is God’s weakness. . . . God has chosen what the world holds base and contemptible, nay, has chosen what is nothing, so as to bring to nothing what is now in being” (I Cor. 1:25-28).
Collect: Lord God, enable us to grasp, in the spirit of Thy apostle Paul, that transcendent knowledge of Jesus Christ which in marvelous ways taught blessed Anthony Mary to gather together in Thy Church new religious families of men and women. Amen.
MARRIAGE AND PARENTHOOD
The Catholic Ideal
By the Rev. Thomas J. Gerrard
(1911)
CHAPTER XII
CATHOLIC EDUCATION
Owing to diversity of religions and diversity of races, nearly every country in the world holds a different arrangement between the Church and the State. So the Catholic teacher often finds it difficult to adjust the claims of the various parties which in different degrees he represents. He may be engaged directly by the parent, as in the case of a private tutor or governess; or by the State, as in the State schools of the United States; or by the Church, as in the parochial schools and colleges of higher education in this country; or by both State and Church combined, as in the denominational schools in England. And when he enters into his engagement he is bound in honor to keep to the terms of his engagement.
In most cases, however, he is allowed a certain amount of freedom. It is the head teacher of the school who gives the tone to the school. It is well, then, that he should keep before his mind the ideal at which he ought to aim in so far as is consistent with the terms of his engagement. It is well that Catholics who have a vote in his appointment should have this ideal before their minds. And it is well that non-Catholics should have the Catholic ideal set before them.
Now the chief characteristic of this ideal is that the teacher, whether he be paid by the parents or by the Church or by the State, is primarily and essentially continuing the work of the parents and not directly that of the Church or of the State. The very existence of the teacher depends only on the assumption of the parents not being able to carry out the work of education themselves. Of course, in so far as the parents are bound to act under the direction of the Church or the State, so is the teacher. But directly his ideal is to carry out the work which essentially belongs to the parents and which they cannot conveniently perform without him.
The Catholic school, therefore, since it is merely a continuation of the family life, and exists merely to help the family to fulfill its destiny, will have its spirit and tone and plans arranged accordingly. Its first principle will be to aim at training the children for future family life.
Schools taught by religious or clergy are not primarily schools for religious or priestly vocations. Doubtless it is the duty of such religious and clergy to watch carefully for vocations, and to see that no hindrance is put in the way. But they must ever remember that a vocation is an extraordinary gift, whilst marriage is a Sacrament and intended for the generality of men. A school, therefore, whether fitted for elementary, middle, or higher education, whether taught by religious or laity, should be characterized by its likeness to family life. When St. Ignatius conceived and formulated his idea of Jesuit colleges, he did not intend those wonderful boarding establishments, such as Stonyhurst and Beaumont, Georgetown and Fordham. He wished to have day colleges so that the pupils should remain as much as possible under the direct influence of parents and home.
But boarding colleges and convent schools are now a necessity. There is, however, a more stringent obligation on them of approximating as nearly as possible to the family ideal. This is more especially necessary in the schools for girls. The prevailing spirit of these schools should be that of training the future mothers of Catholic families.
The mother is the priestess of the home. She it is who holds the home together. She is the all-important factor in developing the ideal of Catholic family life. Personal piety will be her first accomplishment. Then will come the ordinary school subjects, with “extras,” according to the future social status of the child. Then she must be taught how to play. We have hardly yet begun to learn the gospel of Froebel: “Let us teach our children to play.” Cricket and tennis and drill have their place, and so has the doll and the doll’s house. Then, as the school years draw to an end there are the important subjects of cookery and housekeeping. The Catholic school that neglects these fails to grasp one of its grandest opportunities of furthering its noble aims; that is, of strengthening the family life, of making the nation more Catholic, of hastening the coming of the kingdom of God.
From the foregoing principles there follow some practical conclusions. Parents will first strive to realize that, since the education of children primarily belongs to them, and only by delegation to the teachers, they, the parents, have the obligation of seeking out the most suitable school for their children. The nearest school is not necessarily the most suitable. Nor is the cheapest. The school must first of all be Catholic. Then, in the case of elementary education, the school of the parish or mission will generally be found to be efficient. The elementary school of one’s own parish, therefore, has the first claim upon a parent’s consideration.
In the case of middle class or higher education, the parents will choose by preference a day high school or college. Then, if the circumstances of the family require a boarding-school or college, the idea of home life will receive the chief consideration. If the future circumstances of the children are such that they can dispense with examinations, then a school which is exempt from public examinations is better than one subject to them. The majority of children, however, require paper qualifications for their start in professional studies. The Catholic parent need have no fear whatever as to the proficiency of Catholic schools in securing excellent results at examinations.
Having used their utmost discretion in the choice of a school, the parents will do well not to meddle with the teacher. An obvious irregularity may arise, in which case it is the parents’ duty to act. But, generally speaking, the head master or the head mistress of the school must be trusted to do what is best for the child. To change the school, even once, unnecessarily, is to set back the child’s education. To be ever taking the child’s part against the teacher is simply to ruin the child’s character. Nevertheless the parent should exercise a supervision over the child’s school career. If the child is backward and there does not appear sufficient reason to account for that, it should be medically examined for adenoids.
Lastly, if the children are to be educated by a private governess, then the parents must form the habit of mind, and the children and the governess herself must feel it, that she is, as a member of the family, strictly in loco parentis, entitled to deep respect and consideration. She is not called in as a household drudge, but as one even more qualified than the parents themselves to fulfill their high vocation of forming the characters of children, of making them Catholic in mind and in heart, of leading them to their eternal destiny,
The same principle of parental responsibility holds good with regard to ecclesiastical authorities, who undertake the burden of providing a Catholic education for Catholic families. If the State so far neglects its duty that the Church has to provide elementary schools, then the parents ought to support these schools generously. It is not right to allow the priest to go and beg, beg, beg, to support a work which is essentially the work of parents.
So, too, with the high schools and colleges. It ought to be quite unnecessary to say it, yet under the circumstances one must say it, parents ought to pay their school bills regularly and promptly. The work done by such schools and colleges is infinitely more valuable than the money outlay for their material support. It is the least that parents can do to see that the work is not hampered by what so frequently happens, the accumulation of bad debts. The work is God’s work, and those who are primarily responsible for it are the parents of families. They have received the Sacrament of marriage. They have received the graces to bear its burdens. It is not an easy state of life. But with the graces which the Sacrament confers the married pair are made strong for all exigencies, temporal as well as spiritual.
(To be continued)
These links are for those interested in the un-Catholic actions of the Conciliar Church.
- The Conciliar Church finally has understood its mission—it is not to save the world from sin, it is to save the planet from capitalists.—The Editor.
http://www.news.va/en/news/people-and-planet-first-the-imperative-to-change-c
- The official statement of the Conciliar Church regarding the Supreme Court decision last Friday is as follows
Archbishop Cupich issues response to Supreme Court marriage ruling
As Chicago’s Pride Parade came to a close Sunday afternoon, Chicago’s Archbishop Blase Cupich urged Roman Catholics to “extend support to all families, no matter their circumstances, recognizing that we are all relatives, journeying through life under the careful watch of a loving God.”
…. Cupich immediately pointed out that the Supreme Court had redefined civil marriage, which has no bearing on the Catholic sacrament of matrimony, he said.
“The rapid social changes signaled by the Court ruling call us to mature and serene reflections as we move forward together,” he said in the statement. “In that process, the Catholic Church will stand ready to offer a wisdom rooted in faith and a wide range of human experience.”
- And not is there only the ACLU declaring it will no longer defend Religious Liberty (it never did anyway except for anti-Christian cults), there is now the struggle once more to tax Churches out of existence.
http://time.com/3939143/nows-the-time-to-end-tax-exemptions-for-religious-institutions/
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Father Courtney Edward will be in Los Angeles July 7, and in Eureka July 16.
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