The second thing concerns the Church. Over and over again Mary insists we stay Faithful to the True Magisterium. The leading question then is what is the False Magisterium? I'll leave you yourselves to mull over, prayerfully that one. But more than this , Mary seems to indicate that there is going to be a war, a combat in the Church between good and evil, between the True Magisterium and those who follow this and the agents of Satan, the False Magisterium. This is a bit of an eye opener but I guess is to be expected. Perhaps people who hope to kind of pretend it all is not happening need to take heed. The idea of, 'Not taking sides' , will more and more become impossible as time rolls on. I got a couple of straws in the wind in the last few weeks. I was at confession with a priest the other week who was very nasty indeed to me in the confessional. I think he was nasty for two reasons , one the Mother of God Forum and the views expressed here and secondly that I had complained to Rome about him and his confreres abominable, modernist behavior. Last night I encountered another priest who gave me a look that would have frozen water. Make no mistake about it these people know who their enemies are. It can only get worse. I am not gong to be nasty with them, but I do intend to be truthful I think Our Lady is right. We are going into battle, we should be set for persecution from these horrible people. It is water of a ducks back to me, but I don't intend to loose charity, no matter what.
We should recall that the people of this False Magisterium whom Our Blessed Lady indicates here are in the service of Satan. As such they are not bound by any moral code, lies, insults, calumny, back stabbing, even murder , bullying , intimidation, whatever are just grist to the mill for these Dark Agents of Hell. But we must never get down there in the gutter with them.
This is very prudent. I have been around these pastors who have lost the true faith for over 3 decades. On the surface they put up a good show. They are very cunning, as behind the scene's they are "blessing" invalid marriages/relationships that are clearly not possible to do in the eye's of the Church and Christ's teachings. They clearly have no desire to walk the fullness of the faith in many directions within their priesthood. Yet, I show them respect, but they know I will write the Bishop when they step way over the line and get admonished by him. It only takes one, or a few of us in the Church to keep it "Catholic" at this point, but I know full well that this will not last indefinatley, as they have the overwhelming majority of the faithful brainwashed in little subtleties to the point that they wouldn't know or care what changed in the Churches liturgy. It only takes a few admires of our pastor to stand and start clapping for something done within the liturgy that is not allowed and then the majority of the puppets will clap along to fit in. It has taken decades to get to this point, but it is bound to completely melt down at some point as the prayer warriors dwindle into relativism.
So here is a question, obvious to us these are wolves in sheep's clothing, but at the same time they still are priests and can perform a holy mass. The quandary is this, where I live there is a shortage of priests not to mention being rocked by scandals that took place in our area as well. Our ignorant laity looks at these wolves as a soothing balm to heal their wounds. If we raise a stink about what these priest are truly doing, we run the risk of people walking away from their religion. Also are we not suppose to look at these priest as representatives of Christ on earth even though they are guilty of their sin??
Yes, these priests, just as a bad pope and bishops are representatives of God's Church and can still validly consecrate the bread and wine even while in serious sin themselves. We treat them with all the respect they deserve, but we must also treat the teachings of the church and her approved liturgy with utmost respect and obedience. While at times it may be awkward, it is nonetheless the duty of the faithful to speak out when grave abuses are being done. For me, it is a testing of much much harder tasks ahead. If we can't do battle now, how will we be able to do it when our Church is unrecognizable? We must defend the faith in humility, not anger.
Matthew 23:3 Woes to Scribes and Pharisees …2“The scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3So practice and observe everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. 4They tie up heavy, burdensome loads and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.… I don't want to seem negative about it, because there are some very,very holy and saintly clergy indeed about indeed at the minute. God meets the needs of the times and the ties are critical. So God I believe has raised up more saints amongst our clergy and religious and hierarchy than ever before in the entire history of the Church. The fact that tend, at this time , to be hidden is neither here nor there , they are there. We might sometimes need to do a bit of gold digging, but if we do we will find them. God has not left us orphans. The same of course goes for holy and hidden lay people. But this is especially true of clergy. There is a need for them to be hidden just at this time. Lay people maybe not so much. In a sense this is the time of lay people. It is our time to stand in the gap. Not always easy, but we have less to loose. We are harder to bully because we have less to loose. But concerning the clergy. Hell has its own hierarchy and hell cuts its cloth to fit the job at hand The demons who are tasked for bank robbers are not the same as those tasked for liars, for prostitutes, for witches and so on. Also the Princes of Hell who manage attacks on the Church are the most clever and powerful ones, with Lucifer himself in charge, just as St Michael Arcangel defends the Church. We speak of the Church of Nice. This indicates the role or pretense of these demons. They are shape shifters, they are alluring, they are very atttractive on the surface. They pretend to be spiritual, holy, kind , merciful, benevolent al l the nice things. Al lthat is needed to lure us in the worng direction. It is only when we stand up to them they suddenly bare their fangs and hiss. Just like the Pharisees and Scribes who turned real nasty when caught out be Jesus. The Great Remedy? The Rosary and Devotion to the Blessed Virgin. That is the Great Weapon with which we shall Triumph. That and let us dedicate ourselves anew to St Michael the Arcangel , Defender of the Church. 2 Peter 2:1 Deliverance from False Prophets 1Now there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies that even deny the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction on themselves. 2Many will follow in their depravity, and because of them the way of the truth will be defamed.…
Soldier I think we must still 'raise a stink" since they are still "wolves" that will continue to devour souls. God Bless
Pedro Regis messages do feel genuine to me, and I do read them. On the topic of where the Church might be heading. Our Lady has advised us to read the scriptures, and learn the way of the Lord. Even in the last message from Medjugorje we are reminded to live by the Gospel. And I believe hold on to our traditional beliefs and practices. Even if some Priests have taken poetic licence with the rubrics in celebrating Holy Mass, as long as they keep the essential, and I have been told this is the Consecration of the species and the Our Father, it should suffice until more dedicated Priests are available. I always think, how Priests have their hands consecrated and have been given the graces to administer the Sacraments so we are secure in our salvation, thanks be to God. But we need to pray for them, since they will have to render a very strict accounting to God when they meet Him at their particular judgement. I always feel terribly sad at the thought they could lose their own souls and at the same time save ours. It is almost like being saved from drowning while the rescuer is drowned in the process. It is so hard to contemplate this awful truth. I expect Padraig might get criticism because of some posts which can seem harsh and critical. I might avoid them for my own peace of mind. But that being said, if people need to express their frustrations, I do believe it is better brought out into the light and discussed than kept in the dark; where there is no chance of seeing other angles and views of situations that upset us or make us feel our faith is threatened. God help and guide you Padraig. You do a great service in your Forum. Even it is hard to stomach sometimes for someone like Julia. There are far more edifying posts than challenging ones, and that is cool.
I agree with you in theory..but let me give you a scenario. My current pastor has recently undergone surgery and is unable to work for the next month. The only available priest to fill in is one of these "wolves", cunning but very likable. He has been banned by the local bishop from giving homilies, so he makes an unusually long address at the beginning of mass just before the 1st reading to preach his love while giving a precursor to the readings and occasionally slips in a remark about the church of old as being too harsh. The laity love him because he he says a quick mass and is very personable. So if we "raise a stink" the bishop will pull him and we have no priest, people become angry and leave the faith. Or do we as the laity who are strong, keep our parish going and try formulating and cultivating the the basic faith of these ignorant parishioners. Honestly 90% of our parishioners have not had a very good catechesis and know very little about their faith. We have no priest , we have no church we have no parishioners.
I think we have to be like leaves blown in the wind by the Holy Spirit. A case of horses for courses. But if you look at the saints all of them were different. St Jerome , for instance had the most ferocious and fierce famous temper. St Athanasius also seems like someone not to mess about with. Other saints like say, St Therese or St Margaret Mary strike me as quite gentle. The spiritual life, though, it seems to me is not like politics. My own general inclination is just to pray about things. At the moment I don't think generally complaining would get anyone very far to be honest.
Soldier I appreciate your dilemma, but Jesus said "he who is not with me is against me, he who is not gathering is scattering" (or something like that). It seems to me that souls are being poisoned by this man... at least he is leaving poison before them, by his commentaries; even though technically he may not be disobeying his bishop, he is being disobedient. He is personable and well liked, some day the faithful may consider his position has greater value than the bishop, especially if the catechesis of the faithful is not very strong. Secondly, allowing him to continue may embolden other priests if the have similar opinions. By his commentaries, he is sowing seed that is not of God. I believe I would try my best to get him out, until he conforms his position to that of the Church. God Bless
At some point we will all have to drive a distance to find a faithful priest/mass. After that point we won't find a church were mass can be said. The faithful priest will be migrant and have mass in homes. I think we are very close to the period where we will have to drive a distance to celebrate mass as intended and we have better prepare ourselves to do so. Once I hear apostasy preached it goes right to the bishop. If the bishop doesn't respond it is time to find a faithful priest in a near by parish.
Please don't get me wrong, I agree with everything you are all saying, but my point is this.Like Padraig is saying "I don't think generally complaining would get anyone very far to be honest." Would it not be wise to try to use this time as a sort of teaching moment to help point out subtly to the people where these priests are leading them astray. I had a "YES" moment when my daughter came up to me yesterday and said to me "Mom I think we should go to another church on Sunday so we don't have to see Fr so and so. I don't think he a very good priest. If we are unable to sway the hearts of the lukewarm now, how will we ever reach them when things are really bad.
I think we are long past "swaying hearts" of the lukewarm. I am finding only a few who are not lukewarm, but lacking knowledge of the faith, are the ones that our Lord has put in my company. I am not finding the lukewarm open to hearing the truth. Much like the time of Christ, it is a few who have no known truth that are finding it, but not those who have heard it and rejected it. Maybe others are finding it different in their part of the world.
Jesus came to heal the sinners and we must not give up on them, whether they are lukewarm or have hearts that are stone cold. Every time I think it a certain person is totally lost, I remind myself of St. Paul. What would our world have been like if he was given up on. We must continually plant the seed, use every moment to teach and lead by example and hope and pray that it will blossom new life.
I think as far as touching hearts are concerned I am inclined to wait for the Holy Spirit to knock on their doors and for them to open at least a crack. Before we can speak people have to want to listen; it reminds me of this Scripture.
I think this opening of doors , at least in my experience is rare enough. One occasion springs to mind form many years ago. I was staying behind in Church after mass one time, praying when the lady who runs the Church library came in to see me. She said a gentleman who was an atheist had wandered in off the street and seemed to want to talk about the Faith and would I come? I went and quoted Him the words of Jesus, 'You are not far from the Kingdom of heaven'. ...at which he began to cry. But you know I have always been so concious on such occasions of the work having already been done by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has already done the rest. We just do the harvesting. So we must wait on the Spirit to unlock hearts
