I’ll say what I’ve believed and spoken of for some time now. Pope Francis is playing the role assigned him. I don’t understand his role nor do care for it but I, most assuredly, believe that The Lord is directing the current “Divine Play”. I don’t understand what’s ongoing on with the rest of Planet Earth either … but as we used to say in the old AF: “We are Flying Outside the Envelope” and that ain’t a good place to be! I awoke at O-Dark Thirty this morn, as usual, and one of my random thoughts was that Election 16 was “The Fort Sumter Event” of USA Civil War II. The EU is in turmoil with talk of Break-Up and religious civil wars. Both the USA & EU are arguably fiscally and morally bankrupt and all the while, N. Korea, Iran, China and Russia are busy, BUSY!! History tells us that when the best that humankind can offer fails miserably, people turn back to God ….. it’s …. The Way It Is! GOD SAVE ALL HERE!!
Interesting, and kind of sad... Canon lawyers and theologians to hold conference on ‘deposing the pope’ https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/c...gians-to-hold-conference-on-deposing-the-pope
Hitler was obviously evil. Few were fooled by him. If evil deeds are the measure, Stalin and Mao killed more. Pol Pot was probably worse than any of these, but was limited by lack of resources. The False Prophet when he comes will not be so banal. Any of us might fall for him. But, God Forbid.
I do not agree with the statement that few were fooled by Hitler and Naziism, If this were the case the propaganda machine in the US would never have had such a hard time convincing the public to support and pay for the war. There were a whole lot of Catholics back then too. Our Military cemeteries are full of them One would think that we as a group would have been much wiser. The west was far more concerned with its own interests and simply underestimated and ignored (Some even supported) Germany and its rise until it had reached a crescendo that was threatening the fabric of the world. Stalin and Mao certainly did kill more. However, we are now seeing the worst of both rising yet again. With the culmination of communist relativist idealism in europe and the west and the re-emergence of geneticism and extreme nationalism gaining traction in europe once again thanks to the flood of immigration taking place there and a backlash to socialist liberal leadership. Add to that dicatorial reigns of men like Erdogan in Turkey cementing his power and shifting Turkey back to Islamic rule and the similarities to the previous centuries brutality is taking shape. Many now are already blinded to this yet again. Yet, here we are, a Church being led by a Pope who when I think on him the phrase "author of confusion" is not out of reach in my mind!?! Whether Pope Francis intends this or not he has a huge responsibility to shoulder. He knows what is coming, I am convinced of it. I do not understand his course of action and the others who lead us that are accepting evil to further their agendas. We must stay in a state of grace. I pray for Pope Francis, all the Cardinals, Bishops, and Priests, as well as laymen. We can not know what is in their hearts but I place my trust in Christ and Mary, who warned us of these storms and gave us very concise instructions on what to do.
I'm just going to keep prayer for our pope. Judging him harshly with names and a holier than thou attitude may and likely will bring God's judgement upon ones-self.
Judging those who ask questions that need to be asked , with a holier than thou attitude and name calling might also not be so hot an idea. Pot. Kettle. Black.
Folks actions give a pretty good idea of what is in peoples hearts; as Jesus pointed out. Matthew 7: You Will Know Them by Their Fruits 15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
'Few' was a poor expression of what I meant, but represents my laziness in the interests of brevity. I would fear that the kind of Evil and Deception we, or subsequent generations, are going to face with the arrival of the False Witness and the Antichrist, is something that will be more universal, more profound and more dehumanising than anything even the worst monsters of the twentieth century could conjure. Already, we can see it. Our own casualty count is a large multiple of the Nazi/Communist leviathans. And were any deaths conceived by the Gestapo or NKVD more brutal than the methods routinely and casually deployed to abort babies? Our very being as humans created in the image of God is threatened by those who deny our biological realities. There are nightmare scenarios being speculated, and indeed already begun, of genetic experimentation and mixing of man and machine. The worst that Hitler and Stalin generally did was torture and killing. There are far worse fates than that.
Especially when what is being proposed goes against 2000 years of magisterial teaching. Liberal's always use name calling in order to stifle others opinions. They know full well that most good will people will not fight back, so they continue on with their agenda. The fact that Pope Francis refuses to answer the dubia is all we need to know with where he stands. Then again, what Catholic would disagree with calling a change in doctrine, mercy? Who could be against mercy the liberal's ask, in hopes that the good Catholics will remain silent if called Pharisees, rigid and intolerant? How any well meaning Catholic can not see through this agenda and veil of deceit is beyond me.
You really took my comment personally Padraid, you shouldn't have. It wasn't directed at anyone specifically and I certainly am not judging anyone. You are changing my words and therefore my meaning by adding 'those asking questions', something I never mentioned. People can trash the pope all day, everyday I really hold no negative judgement on anyone that does. Voicing my fear and a reminder that God might is all I did so no need for claws out. I recently read the Testimony of Gloria Polo. I believe it is 100% genuine. I would recommend it to everyone who hasn't read it or reading again if haven't recently and it only takes 2-3 hours and is very profound. http://www.truechristianity.info/books/the_testimony_of_gloria_polo_en.pdf The in depth review God gave her during her life review was a great reminder of how we will all have to answer for our words, opinions and judgements about others. Yes, we will also be judged on what we didn't do and should have also. We can harm even when we think we are helping as Gloria found out so painfully. He especially highlighted her talk and actions against priests. I'm not talking about discussing details of our faith or asking questions or even discussing the words or actions of the pope right or wrong. I am talking about name calling and drawing conclusions about the state of a persons soul. No one knows what God is doing fully. What shall any of us say if upon death Jesus asks, well what did you do to help my pope, my bishops and priests?
I just don't understand how communion to divorced is apostasy. In my opinion, 90% of the church is probably not following the rules for communion. I would venture all of us at one time or the other have taken communion when we shouldn't have. This is not a liberal view or a modernist view. If a second marriage couple is allowed to return to communion. And they have followed the rules of the church...I do not see the problem. I might not agree with it but it's not apostasy. All of us are at different paths in our spirituality. Most of us understand the importance of marriage... in purely a spiritual sense. But I just don't see it as apostacy. I will say I couldn't accept a practicing homosexual... nor would I accept a practicing adulterer. But we just can't see hearts, this is not as cut and dry as some of you say. That is were the rigidity comment comes from. Just a thought
So,it finally comes out.Now you think that communion to the divorced is not Apostasy. That is disappointing FS. Maybe this article will help you.............. “If you don’t commit adultery, I’ll kill myself!” – “Well, okay.” http://wdtprs.com/blog/2017/03/if-you-dont-commit-adultery-ill-kill-myself-well-okay/
Hi FS, The problem is that without an annulment, persons that have remarried are living in an adultrous relationship! Sacred Doctrine and Sacred Scripture of Our Holy Catholic faith was reaffirmed by our Holy Father Saint Pope John Paul 11 in His Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris Consortio in 1981, and he states below... …the Church reaffirms her practice, which is based upon Sacred Scripture, of not admitting to Eucharistic Communion divorced persons who have remarried. They are unable to be admitted thereto from the fact that their state and condition of life objectively contradict that union of love between Christ and the Church which is signified and effected by the Eucharist. Besides this, there is another special pastoral reason: if these people were admitted to the Eucharist, the faithful would be led into error and confusion regarding the Church's teaching about the indissolubility of marriage. He further goes on to state........... Reconciliation in the sacrament of Penance which would open the way to the Eucharist, can only be granted to those who, repenting of having broken the sign of the Covenant and of fidelity to Christ, are sincerely ready to undertake a way of life that is no longer in contradiction to the indissolubility of marriage. This means, in practice, that when, for serious reasons, such as for example the children’s upbringing, a man and a woman cannot satisfy the obligation to separate, they “take on themselves the duty to live in complete continence, that is, by abstinence from the acts proper to married couples.” (FC, 84)
The Blessed Eucharist is the body, blood, soul and divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ. We can't see His anatomy but we know it's there. Catholics are required to believe that without exception. If you could see Christ's anatomy on the altar, would you say that it's ok for your friend to drink the blood of Jesus while scourging Him at the pillar or crushing the Divine head with a crown of thorns because 90% of people are doing it? You can't see the whip the 90% are holding in their hands but you know anyway so it's only fair to tell your friend to drink his fill while you keep on asking him nicely to drop the whip and he keeps on refusing and telling you that he won't use the whip or that the whip you can see is not really a whip, not the type of whip that causes pain or that he will only use light strokes while whipping Jesus? Then having seen the whip and telling your heterosexual friend to go ahead and drink, how can you honestly not hand a chalice of blood to your homosexual relative who arrives with a crown of thorns and tells you that the thorns aren't really thorns and that Jesus would understand even if you don't? You're an honest person and honesty compels you to hand him the chalice. Both your friend with the whip and your relative with the crown of thorns are in danger of eternal death should they drink the blood of Jesus after using those weapons. You have the choice between protecting Jesus and your friends by putting your foot down or letting all suffer by being nice and non-judgemental. It's your sacred duty to protect all three from harm but in truth you cannot say that you protected any of them. What's your defence? That you believed your friend who refused to drop the whip because he told you that: the whip you could see in his hand was a figment of your imagination? he was sorry for the last time he whipped Jesus but the whip was too valuable to lose? Jesus wasn't really being hurt because he only used light strokes of the whip? Wouldn't it be more honest to say that you didn't believe that Jesus was present on the altar, so a drop of wine harms nobody. After all, Jesus is the God that you can't see while the man holding the whip is the friend you would rather not offend for fear of insulting him or for fear that he and his influential circle will turn their whips on you. This could very well be about apostasy. And not just adulterers' apostasy.
If someone really believes Jesus in present in the Holy Eucharist, and receives Holy Communion, while he/she knows he/she is living a sinful live, that’s a grave sin. But not apostasy. It’s apostasy when someone rejects the presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, renounces the faith or rejects the teaching of the Holy Church.
Mac, Not games. That word is constantly used in this forum. I just don't think it's used appropriately. But you attack me. I am sorry I brought it up. Many of you constantly say these things but when asked to explain you immediately attack. Time to dust my feet and move to other thread. I guess everything goes back to same thing.
Yes. The Eucharist is the source and summit of our faith. What could rejection of belief in the source and summit of a faith mean if not apostasy from the faith? Recognition that Jesus is God is not enough. Even Satan accepts that. Satan also knows the true meaning of the Eucharist but would be more inclined to encourage people to receive without discerning the enormity of receiving unworthily than to warn them of the consequences.
