 |
| A jubilee of mercy...it can't come soon enough! |
Was this Cardinal Baldisseri's idea? Cardinal Kasper's clever idea? After all, he's the expert on mercy, isn't he?
I can only speak for myself. I have had two years of this strange 'mercy nullifies God's law, so there' weirdness streaming from the Vatican. That's two years in which my cynicism has matured.
Faithful Catholics don't - won't - say "hurrah" to what amounts to a blanket betrayal by the Hierarchy of Christ's own teaching by distributing communion to unrepentant adulterers and other unrepentant sinners in mortal sin. They won't say "huzzah" to treating the Holy Eucharist as if it were unchanged bread and wine, so now we are going to be made to feel really guilty to the point of pariah status for resisting the cunning plan made apparent by the manipulation at the Synod by the even more shrewd institution of a Jubilee Year of Mercy.
"You can't disagree with us on Kasper's proposal. It's the Year of Mercy, don't you know! And - and - he wrote a book about mercy! So there! If you don't go along with this, you're unmerciful!"
As I say, I've become quite cynical but I am sure that others feel the same. My good faith in this pontificate with its peculiar 'agenda' has been exhausted. I now expect the worst. It is bizarre that suddenly, when it suits the Pope, a Church custom venerated by his predecessors - a custom of incredibly ancient origins, origins that precede even the Traditional Latin Mass he has publicly dismissed - is suddenly seen as a positive - rather than a negative. The cynic might say that this is because, suddenly, an ancient custom suits a personal 'agenda'.
Still, a Year of Mercy. Let's go with that. Traditionally, according to Wikipedia a Jubilee is a year 'in which slaves and prisoners would be freed, debts would be forgiven and the mercies of God would be particularly manifest'.
So...how about lifting all those restrictions on the Franciscans of the Immaculate? No? In a Jubilee Year of Mercy, how about teaching the Faithful and others the Truth through proper catechesis so that we may be convicted of our sins and seek Divine mercy? How about granting the Sacraments to German Catholics of good faith and good will even if they haven't paid their Church Tax? How about a cessation of all insults and a hostile atmosphere of recrimination directed at faithful Cardinals, Bishops and priests whose only crime is to wish to hold fast to the Magisterium and promote traditional liturgy?
Yes, the Jubilee Year of Mercy does strike me in the year of Our Lord 2015 as being a somewhat political, rather than a spiritual endeavour, because of what has preceded it, but of itself it is laudable. Despite my cynicism, I hope that, towards those faithful to the Magisterium and who celebrate the Mass of Ages, and to those who vigorously oppose the direction laid out at the first part of the Synod on the Family, that the mercy comes quick and fast. I hope and pray also that it brings many people closer to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, our Divine Redeemer, Who is so rich in mercy and compassion for sinners.
Is there any point in bothering to mention the problems the 'faustina divine mercy' revelation has with Catholic Truth? Not according to jpii.
ReplyDeleteThe Sacred Heart from which on Calvary poured out water to our baptism and blood to our redemption is our only justification before the pure and good justice of our Creator. (as an aside the 'divine mercy' has eclipsed devotion to the Sacred Heart).
In a State of Grace we pray and fast for God to have mercy on ourselves and on those for whom we are bound to pray by offering penance. Outside of this state there is the world and its 'mercy' and 'goods'. The current hierarchy continue to redefine/invent who God is and mould him into a very pliable creature.
The mercy this pope talks about is not true mercy, not mercy in justice and truth, not the mercy of Christ, of the Faith, or of the moral law. It is semantics to cover evil. Blessed Michael, the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the Devil. May God restrain him, we humbly pray and do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host, by the power of God, throw Satan down to Hell, and with him all the wicked spirits who wander through the world seeking the ruin of souls.
ReplyDelete@viterbo; It is possible to misinterpret the spiritual promises made to many popular devotions as some kind of short cut to heaven. I have heard as much about the nine first Fridays, the brown Scapular and many more. But misunderstanding and misrepresentation does not vitiate the true understanding of something. The graces promised to the Divine Mercy devotion are equally dependent on all the ordinary means of salvation: sacramental absolution (which is integral to making the Novena), Holy Communion, detadhment from sin and true conversion of heart (we are bound to show charitable mercy to others as a 'non-negotiable' condition of receiving mercy from God). The Divine Mercy devotion, interpreted properly, detracts nothing from the Church's authority over the treasury of grace nor from the Sacramental life. The Magisterium examined everything very closely and made all this very clear before the Feast of Divine Mercy was established by St.John Paul II.
ReplyDeleteAnd surely devotions are not in competition with each other? Awareness of The Sacred Heart is a result of private revelation too. The Divine Mercy is simply a further development of exactly the same stream of devotion.
What, exactly, is so offensive about the Latin tongue in the liturgy? What is so terrifying about Mass being celebrated Ad Orientem?
ReplyDeleteLionel:
It is the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus!
It is wrongly associated only with the Traditional Latin Mass.
Sorry...I keep reading this on every blogpost (the comment that is..) I think I am becoming brainwashed....
It would indeed be a mercy to remove the commissar of the FFI who has been caught in a public scandal and to remove restrictions; best of all to restore the founding fathers and then if the dissenters want to leave, let them leave and those who have been exiled due to their faithfulness should be allowed to return. That would be a mercy. It is NOT mercy to confirm people in sin because they are still offending God and He IS JUST too. Even to a pope, God will be just.
ReplyDeleteI too am weary of the constant manipulation of the Faithful by the Bishop of Rome and his Jesuitical Marxist warping of the Catholic understanding of true 'mercy'.
ReplyDeleteSaint Faustina promoted the Divine Mercy devotions.
Here is an extract I have found regarding Mercy and Justice and how the Mercy of Jesus will be offered near the end:
"Furthermore, Jesus has given St. Faustina a direct message which would indicate that the end of time and the second coming of Christ was about to be.
He told her that, 'Write this: before I come as the just Judge, I am coming first as the King of Mercy. Before the day of justice arrives, there will be given to people a sign in the Heavens of this sort: All light in the heavens will be extinguished, and there will be great darkness over the whole earth. Then the sign of the Cross will be seen in the sky, and from the openings where the hands and the feet of the Saviour were nailed will come forth great lights which will light up the earth for a period of time.
This will take place shortly before the last day.' (Diary 83) This is one of the direct messages from Jesus to St. Faustina. But even within this message there is the message of mercy, for He has now told the world that this is the sign of the end times, so when it happens, the Church will know the truth and people will still have an opportunity to seek the mercy of God. So it is a very wise, intelligent and prudent response to remain calm and equable regarding this issue."
Whatever Francis is selling, it isn't mercy.
" distributing communion to unrepentant adulterers and other unrepentant sinners in mortal sin"
ReplyDeleteI am afraid we are already way down that path with distribution of the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ to all and sundry.
Last year at a Mass celebrated by a monk of Ampleforth to a mixed congregation he invited anyone who could accept one of the prayers in the Canon to receive Communion. I am not sure to which prayer he was referring and I doubt if anyone else had any idea what he was talking about. Even if one did virtually no one had a missal to hand to check this point.
In the last week I was told about an ecumenical Mass in Kent where the Anglican Vicar celebrated "Mass" alongside the Catholic parish priest each doing their own thing in turns. Come to communion there was no instruction as to who could receive communion from whom so one can imagine what happened. I suspect some received from both!
Surely the priests who enable such things are in grave mortal sin in knowingly allowing and encouraging the Body and Blood of Our Saviour to be received unworthily.
But heyho who cares? I doubt if our hierarchy does.
Thomas,
ReplyDelete"The graces promised to the Divine Mercy devotion are equally dependent on all the ordinary means of salvation: sacramental absolution (which is integral to making the Novena), Holy Communion, detadhment from sin and true conversion of heart (we are bound to show charitable mercy to others as a 'non-negotiable' condition of receiving mercy from God). "
I think the Pope and his mates think everybody knows that already and IT GOES WITHOUT SAYING. So they avoid saying it.
Sad evangelization.
Great idea1
ReplyDeleteHow ironic, though, that you should make these comments beneath that image, history will one day show.
@MArie; I wasn't addressing that comment towards the "Pope and his mates", but answering @viterbo who seemed to be questioning the orthodoxy of the Divine Mercy devotion altogether and St. John Paul II as well. I am not aware that anyone in high places has (yet) tried to subvert the Divine Mercy chaplet itself to promote coming to communion without true repentance. If they do, then God help them ...
ReplyDeleteHow about a Jubilee of Repentance? Or a Jubilee of Penance? I think that usually comes before Mercy. Oh wait....I forgot, we're in FrancisChurch in the land of Vatican II. We don't do those things anymore...You just keep doing whatever you want and God will be merciful. Silly me for still thinking we needed that.
ReplyDelete@Thomas. The Faustina divine mercy 'revelations' are, unfortunately, riddled with a new idea of God's Mercy that is not taught by the Church proper.
ReplyDeleteThe devotions of penance which pray for mercy, such as the Brown Scapular, First Fridays, First Saturdays are not the same. In the 1950s the Holy Office condemned the 'divine mercy' devotions (once again something condemned by the Church is later contradicted by the Novus Ordo church. The Church might take a while to make up her mind about warring voices but once she has she doesn not ever condtradict herself).
A Fr Benedict Hughes explains why the devotions were condemned:
http://www.cmri.org/rm151.html
True mercy lies in making clear to people what is required of them and what the consequences are if they choose to sin.
ReplyDeleteThose who are in a state of mortal sin are in danger of Hell. If they willingly receive Holy Communion again they commit a further mortal sin, as do those, clerics or lay distributors, who administer to them knowingly.
This is a matter of logic and reason.
It has been suggested elsewhere that this is a little internal Catholic matter and if the pope allows mortal sinners to receive Holy Communion after the second session on the family, then all will be forgotten six months on.
Not so.
There is already an inherent split, schism, call it what you will in the present declining Western Catholic Church. A decision to allow mortal sinners to receive Holy Communion without Confession and a firm purpose of amendment will provoke an open split as clear and as final as at the Protestant Reformation.
@viterbo. Judgements of the Holy Office are not infallible per se, especially when they are based on false reports and inadequate knowledge of the facts. That was precisely the later judgement of the very same office when it lifted its ban of the Divine Mercy in 1978. This and all your points and concerns, as well as those of others of like mind, are well answered here:
ReplyDeletehttp://thedivinemercy.org/news/story.php?NID=4194
BTW I do not share your view that there is a "Novus Ordo church", and hence presumably some now separate true Church to which, again I presume, you regard yourself as belonging. May God have mercy on us both.
That would of course make sense, and we all know in modern society, making sense and being logical is not allowed ;)
ReplyDelete@Thomas. The Novus Ordo Church has its own mass, its own missal, its own saints, its own code of canon law, its own Opus Dei, its own Council, its own disciplines and, despite the brief amount of time its leaders have been around or passed on - its own canonised pontiffs club (before this canonisation extravaganza, if I recall there had only about five sainted Popes in 1000 years of the workings and wonders of the Church). Soon there will be five in fifty years more or less. The Catholic Church that existed in prior to the 'Pontificate of Roncalli' is but a 'stain' quickly being scrubbed out by the Novus Ordo initiatives. It simply is what is looks like, tastes like talks like and smells like. Anyway, the Novus Ordo is has ursurped the buidlings and wardrobes of the True Faith and exiled those who have any real Apostolic claim to them - by and large. The tares have been planted amidst the wheat and the those who sow the tares to the 'devil's craft', according to St John Crysostom. There is a point for every Catholic where the obvious question the Lord is wanting us to answer, 'is this Catholic', must be answered. And the answer is, 'no'.
ReplyDelete@viterbo. I am very sad for you. It must be very dark believing that the gates of Hell have prevailed against the Church despite the solemn promise of Jesus. No pope since 1958? That there are scandals and heresies I do not doubt. Whether everything done has been wise and for the the best, I have no hesitation wondering. But with whatever difficulties, the Mass is the Mass, the Church is the Church, and the Pope is the Pope. But I have no wish to torment you or revisit a well trodden and weary debate here. It is clear where you are with regard to the Church. God save us from ourselves.
ReplyDelete