But not get me wrong a good Catholic now who keeps the Faith is purest gold. The Light shines brightest in the Dark. God is not a statician. God reads hearts, not numbers.
I used to think this. I no longer do. Pope Benedict changed my mind. He indicated that the way we pray is the way we are. If the Liturgy fails everything else fails. The Liturgy did fail, big time. “The glory of God is the living man, but the life of man is the vision of God', says St. Irenaeus, getting to the heart of what happens when man meets God on the mountain in the wilderness. Ultimately, it is the very life of man, man himself as living righteously, that is the true worship of God, but life only becomes real life when it receives its form from looking toward God.” ― Pope Benedict XVI (Joseph Ratzinger), The Spirit of the Liturgy “Whether it is Bach or Mozart that we hear in church, we have a sense in either case of what gloria Dei, the glory of God, means. The mystery of infinite beauty is there and enables us to experience the presence of God more truly and vividly than in many sermons. But there are already signs of danger to come. Subjective experience and passion are still held in check by the order of the musical universe, reflecting as it does the order of the divine creation itself. But there is already the threat of invasion by the virtuoso mentality, the vanity of technique, which is no longer the servant of the whole but wants to push itself to the fore. During the nineteenth century, the century of self-emancipating subjectivity, this led in many places to the obscuring of the sacred by the operatic. The dangers that had forced the Council of Trent to intervene were back again. In similar fashion, Pope Pius X tried to remove the operatic element from the liturgy and declared Gregorian chant and the great polyphony of the age of the Catholic Reformation (of which Palestrina was the outstanding representative) to be the standard for liturgical music. A clear distinction was made between liturgical music and religious music in general, just as visual art in the liturgy has to conform to different standards from those employed in religious art in general. Art in the liturgy has a very specific responsibility, and precisely as such does it serve as a wellspring of culture, which in the final analysis owes its existence to cult.” ― Pope Benedict XVI, The Spirit of the Liturgy “In the Eucharist a communion takes place that corresponds to the union of man and woman in marriage. Just as they become "one flesh", so in Communion we all become "one spirit", one person, with Christ.” ― Pope Benedict XVI, The Spirit of the Liturgy “And so worship is bound up with all three dimensions of the circular movement: the personal, the social, and the universal.” ― Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, The Spirit of the Liturgy “Worship is directed to the Other in himself, to his all-sufficiency, but now it refers itself to the Other who alone can extricate me from the knot that I myself cannot untie.” ― Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, The Spirit of the Liturgy “All worship is now a participation in this “Pasch” of Christ, in his “passing over” from divine to human, from death to life, to the unity of God and man. Thus Christian worship is the practical application and fulfillment of the words that Jesus proclaimed on the first day of Holy Week, Palm Sunday, in the Temple in Jerusalem: “I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself” (Jn 12:32).” ― Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, The Spirit of the Liturgy
Totally agree with You. This was a plan and look at the Church today. Pope John the 23rd kept the Fatima secret from going public. Enough said.
Yes, garcia, he was not feeling very jolly that day at the Council of Nicaea. Safe in the Barque of Peter!
Lol! Suppose not! That makes me feel better; he punched someone, is a Saint, and helped preserve orthodoxy!
I do think we have to be humble enough to say that none of us have all the answers. That requires humility. ..and that lack of humility is the main cause of the present tensions in the Church. Guys with all the answers. Nevertheless. I must say that I suspect some people are praying ..and Fasting..and making Sacrifice. ...and some people , quite simply are not... The problem being at the present time is that those who follow the road to Darkness happen to be in charge.... Why? Because they stopped , praying, Fasting or making Sacrifce (if they ever did) otherwise why would they walk the Road to Hell and drag others with them? I know this sounds simplistic, but I don't think this is between , 'Liberal' or 'Conservative' Catholics but between souls that pray and those who do not. Some people pray, some do not. Those who pray keep the Faith passed on from the Apostles and The Fathers of the Church. Those who have ceased to pray follow the Leadings of their Father, the Devil into the Darkness. It is just as simple as that. A Child of four, on reaching the Age of Reason, could understand it.
Modern man is very, very unhappry with the idea that some people are good and some people are bad. That some people are holy and some people are evil. If this were not so so why then did the Good, Just God Create both Heaven and Hell? At our present time, as always , some people choose heaven..some choose hell. What specifically differentiates our own generation is that the vast majority of humankind has chosen hell. Including a huge proportion of our fellow Catholics , including , I may say our own Church Leadership. Modern people do not want to hear this but it is the very simple truth. They stopped praying. For whatever reason. They have made man their God and so they have chosen Hell as their Eternal Destination. The Faithful Remnant, following our Blessed Lady who Leads the Elect, have chosen Heaven. They keep praying, especially the Rosary. This is the long foretold, The Great Apostasy. It is just as simple as that. Some people pray. Some do not. The Faithful Remant have chosen heaven. The Vast Majority of Mankind, worse than the time of Noah, have chosen hell. Mary is the New Ark of Salvation for the Chastisement to come.
I know personally some people who *think* they are great prayer warriors but really when they pray they use language that reminds me of the publican - it's to glorify themselves instead of God. I'm thinking mainly of some charismatics that I've known over the years who like to overemphasize how they "feel" during prayer. As far as they are concerned, they are huge prayer warriors, but they are highly blinded by liberalism and modernist ideas in the Church and couldn't spot a heresy if it slapped them in the face. To say simply "those who pray and those who do not" I think is not quite it. There are those who pray humbly to Jesus and there are those who pray but without realizing it are not truly praying but think they are - if that makes any sense
Beware of people who complicate things. The Devil complicates things. The Good God does not. God in His Goodness comunicates His Truths in a manner that even the smallest child can comprehend, lest those who destined for heaven be lost. It is the devil who does complicated and confused. Some are praying. Some are not. Each at the Judegment Seat of God will go to their assigned place accordingly.
It is as Jesus said; Matthew 11:25 The Father Revealed in the Son 25 At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.
Gloabal Warming Awarness will not save us. What to do with plastics is not our Redemption. 'Accompaniment' of Abortionists and sexual perverts will not save us. It is getting down on owr knees and praying and Fasting as Our Blessed Lady requested that will save us. Which is why Our Lady always appeared to children to tell us this. The Wise and Learned could never understand. Children could.
Lol - it's been a long experience of mine that the charismatic-types who believe themselves to be close to Jesus (and will at the same time fight tooth and nail defending obvious heresies with judge not condemnations) often believe themselves to be the little children of that particular passage who "just love Jesus and Jesus loves everyone no matter what we do" and harshly condemn those who defend orthodoxy as the Pharisees who are "obviously not loving Jesus and so must be those who think themselves wise and learned that Jesus is not revealing his truths to." I've only ever experienced that particular verse by modernists/charismatics against defenders of the Faith, definitely at least a few times before. For the record, I am NOT wise and learned. I just like to read the writings of those who were
