The Future of the United States of America.

Sorry, but in think it comes squarely back on to each of our own shoulders. The FACT is that Pope Francis is the authentically elected Supreme Pontiff of the Holy Roman Catholic Church. He IS PETER. He is THE ROCK. He has not just my allegiance, but he has my love. I pray for him and for his intentions even if at times I don't understand. I do this because I believe and TRUST this is a time of the Holy Spirit. I will not allow anyone to steal my peace and I will follow the Holy Father. I will not speculate or allow media or anyone try to tell me who and what he stand for. The Church is the bride of Christ, his body on earth and Francis is it's Leader. Peace.

 

Nonsense. When the secular world who hates Christ and His Church loves this pope, when hundreds of thousands of faithful Catholics, thousands of priests and dozens of bishops and cardinals feel compelled to petition him simply begging that he uphold basic Catholic teachings, the problem lies squarely on his shoulders, and on no one else.

 

Christ is in the Boat...Be Not Afraid

 

And hence here lies difference. If you don't see any responsibility on our shoulders then I see no value in discussing. With all sincerity, I wish all here the peace of Christ.

 

On the matter of false teachings: there are many in the mix. But this is not the right home for it.. is there any?

A soul that is looking for enlightenment truth on these forums might shake his head and walk way bemused.. troubled.. distant for the soul sees there is much confusion abound. Difficult to get ones head around; Instead of seeing a clear united front.

For the wicked one is cunning for it orchestrates and sees an army dived is an easy target; No clear direction: no light; no shepherd. (Seat of Rome)

He said; she said. So much confusion, fog, that may sadly lead to delusions thus error: treacherous for the soul. If one is a true Catholic then he must be committed: He must stand like St. Peter on the rock; like a lighthouse shepherding in the flock: on watch attentively - leading them into safe refuge and if battle must pursue - go down - with the ship: not desert it in times of trouble, because he finds the land in sight to his senses more flowery, appealing words and promises here, there to his or her misguided disposition and encouraging others likewise to abort; jump ship, but must stick his course through many a battle, storm. That is certain. I have not come to bring the peace but the sword. But.

Gates of hell will not prevail against it -(The Rock)-

We, yes we the true loyal Catholic believers (the few).. Now sadly it seems. should be united in our efforts lest we push others away.

Let the Church decide in discernment what is true and false. hold steadfast to that which is true:
-(proven)-

Yes, it good to point out moral error where it is founded on a reliable source, but do it through the right channels respectively in union with the Catholic Church and further more and more importantly: pray for the soul/souls in question. If to the contrary that is a disperser of the sheep: not a Shepherd!

Long live the Catholic Church and all that sails in her! The Lighthouse on The Rock.

God bless!

 

What we're seeing here on these threads is a microcosm of how the majority will treat the Faithful Remnant who will not accept the progressive agenda that is being foisted on the Church.

 

This is not true. The problem is also on our shoulders. As the body of Christ we must pray for our Pope so that he can resist the wolves and make the right decisions.

 

http://gloria.tv/media/CG5Dyd1WWLg

 

The faithful remnant is yet to be seen - it will consist of those who hold fast to the Church when most have abandoned ship. It is presumption and pride that makes one believe they are in that number by engaging in attacks against the Holy Father. This is a delusion from the enemy and will, I fear, lead to apostasy among the faithful. Remember, Jesus told us that if it were possible, even the elect will be deceived. This is a time of diabolical deception from the father of lies. If any of us believe we are more clever than the enemy, and this can never happen to us, we are already deceived!

 

I'm truly sorry Brian that this is your perception on this thread and the discussion that has occurred. I don't see any value in continuing the discussion but I will say that I hope and pray to always be "faithful" to my Lord Jesus Christ. And I pray through His grace and power of the Holy Spirit he will find me too among the "remnant" not following any agenda- conservative or progressive, but only Him alone. Peace. Let us pray for one and other.

 

All, I will say is be very, very careful here. We have a validly elected Pope. Peace.

 

We must mention another fruitful cause of evil by which the Church is afflicted at present, namely: Indifferentism, that vicious manner of thinking which mushrooms on all sides owing to the wiles of malicious men, and which holds that the eternal salvation of the soul can be obtained by the profession of any faith, provided a man's morals be good and decent ... Let them beware who preach that the gates of Heaven are open to every religion! Let them seriously consider the testimony of the Savior that some are against Christ because they they are not with Christ, that they scatter who do not gather with Him, and therefore without doubt they will perish in eternity unless they hold to the Catholic faith and observe it whole and inviolate.
- Pope Gregory XVI

Thoughtful men, with hearts craving the truth, have come to seek in the Catholic Church the road which leads with surety to eternal life. They have understood that they could not cleave to Jesus Christ as the Head of the Church if they did not belong to the Body of Jesus Christ which is the Church. Nor could they ever hope to possess in all its purity the faith of Jesus Christ if they were to reject its legitimate teaching authority entrusted to Peter and his successors.
- Pope Leo XIII

The Church alone, being the Bride of Christ and having all things in common with her Divine Spouse, is the depository of the truth.
- Pope St. Pius X

But what is also to the point, let us note that the very tradition, teaching, and faith of the Catholic Church from the beginning was preached by the Apostles and preserved by the Fathers. On this the Church was founded; and if anyone departs from this, he neither is, nor any longer ought to be called, a Christian.
- St. Athanasius

There is only one Christian faith, that is: Catholic.
- St. Bridget of Sweden

In fact, there is only one true and holy religion, founded and instituted by Christ Our Lord. Mother and Nurse of the virtues, Destroyer of vice, Liberator of souls, Guide to true happiness, she is called Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman.
- Bl. Pope Pius IX

The Church is that one wherein the true word of God is preached, which Christ left to His Apostles, which the same Church hath always observed, the doctors preached, and Martyrs and confessors witnessed. This is the Church I believe to be true.
- St. Margaret Clitherow

He who does not embrace the teaching of the Church does not have the habit of faith.
- St. Thomas Aquinas

He who does not believe according to the tradition of the Catholic Church is an unbeliever.
- St. John Damascene

Those who are seeking the true religion will never find it outside the Catholic Church alone, because, in every other religion, if they trace it up to the author, they will find some impostor whose imagination furnished a mass of sophisms and errors.
- St. Alphonsus Maria Liguori

Heretics think false things about God and call it their faith.
- St. Augustine

If a soul is not clothed with the teachings of the Church he cannot merit to have Jesus seated in him.
- St. Jerome

The definitions of the Church are the rules of true faith.
- St. Alphonsus Maria Liguori

The Church is the Ship outside which it is impossible to understand the Divine Word, for Jesus spoke from the boat to the people gathered on the shore.
- St. Hilary of Poitiers

There is no middle way between Catholicism and Atheism ... Hence, Protestants have abandoned themselves to the extreme of Atheism or Materialism, denying every maxim of faith .. .Oh, God! How does it happen that these new masters of faith do not see that being separated from the Catholic Church, and having lost obedience to her, they have also lost the rule of faith, so that at the present time they have no sure rule by which they can ascertain what is of the faith or what is not; thus, they walk in the dark, changing the articles of their belief from day to day ... On the other hand, its constant uniformity of doctrine in the dogmas of faith, from its first foundation by Jesus Christ, demonstrates the truth of the Catholic Church. It has been the same in all ages, so that the truths we believe at the present day were believed in the first ages.
- St. Alphonsus Maria Liguori

 

I have not encountered this priest before. He is lucid and eloquent but terribly in error. I find him rather frightening as he seems so gentle.

 

Brian,

It is sad you are heading in this direction. The church is the only path. It might lead sometimes to the left or to the right but it always goes forward and never heads back. You are talking like every great protestant. What protestantism really is...that the individual knows better then the Catholic Church. You might as well start the Church of Brianism the same way Calvinism and Lutherism was started. We have 2000 years of tradition, based on the mysticism of the church fathers. The secular world might love the Pope because of a few statements that are twisted by the media. But in the end, if that opens the doors to conversion, then so be it. But to be Catholic one must accept.

The Nicene Creed

I believe in one God,
the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.

I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the Only Begotten Son of God,
born of the Father before all ages.
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father;
through him all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary,
and became man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate,
he suffered death and was buried,
and rose again on the third day
in accordance with the Scriptures.
He ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory
to judge the living and the dead
and his kingdom will have no end.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.

I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.
I confess one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins
and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead
and the life of the world to come. Amen.

I BELIEVE in ONE Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.

That means accepting giving allegiance to the Holy Father.

May Gods Will be Done

 

Fathers talk is based on , "who am I to Judge" when Pope Francis in context was clearly talking about the inclination,not the practice of homosexuality...

http://www.catholicworldreport.com/Item/3013/who_is_pope_francis_to_judge_not.aspx

The modern world cannot comprehend mercy because it cannot comprehend sin.

Judge not, lest ye be judged,” says Jesus Christ. “Who am I to judge?” says his Vicar on earth, Pope Francis. And the World, standing as it does under Satan’s domination, as the New Testament affirms, tends to twist any words of goodness, beauty, or truth offered it. And so when Pope Francis uttered “Who am I to judge?” in an informal interview on an airplane last summer when asked about a “gay lobby” in the Vatican, the World denuded his words, stripping them of context and finding there (if not outright affirmation of homosexual relations) real daylight between Pope Francis and his predecessor.
It’s clear that Pope Francis was speaking of those with a homosexual orientation, and not approbating any behavior:

A gay person who is seeking God, who is of good will—well, who am I to judge him? The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains this very well. It says one must not marginalize these persons, they must be integrated into society. The problem isn't this (homosexual) orientation—we must be like brothers and sisters. The problem is something else, the problem is lobbying either for this orientation or a political lobby or a Masonic lobby.

Now, Pope Francis has done it again, deliberately, in his fervorino on Monday, St. Patrick’s Day, uttering “Who am I to judge?” And the World, once again, is tempted to take these words and twist them, as if Jesus’ words—and Pope Francis’ words—were license for license. For the World does not want to be challenged and converted; it wants to be affirmed. And so it would rather twist the words of Christ and pope than be saved.

If one reads the excerpts of the fervorino provided, Pope Francis’ words are clear enough both for those who are searching or for those of the faithful who would receive them: “Jesus’ invitation to mercy is intended to draw us into a deeper imitation of God our Father: be merciful, as your Father is merciful.” But receiving mercy involves the recognition of the reality of sin, not its dismissal or reinterpretation, and so Pope Francis then teaches that cultivating an attitude of mercy requires the self-knowledge to own and confess our own sin, unlike Adam, who blamed Eve, and Eve, who blamed the serpent: “to become merciful, we must first acknowledge that we have done many things wrong: we are sinners! We need to know how to say: Lord, I am ashamed of what I have done in life.”

FULL STORY http://www.catholicworldreport.com/Item/3013/who_is_pope_francis_to_judge_not.aspx

 

Pope Francis Quote returning from World Youth Day RIO
FROM THE LIBERAL http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/pope-homosexuals-who-am-i-judge


Among other points, Pope Francis:

• Replied when asked about the Vatican's alleged "gay lobby" that while a lobby might be an issue, he doesn't have any problem with the inclination to homosexuality itself: "Who am I to judge them if they're seeking the Lord in good faith?" he said.

 

I think Billy Graham may have the right perspective:

"I've read the last page of the Bible. It's all going to turn out all right."

. Peace.

 

Ok Brian, what's your agenda?
During a demented and paranoid phase of my own a few months ago, I went through all of your posts, and the vast majority had the appearance of undermining Pope Francis.
Should i follow you or Pope Francis?

I recommend we all spend a bit more time in the Living in the Divine Will threads, coz why is this discussion even in this thread?

 

CONT'D...REALLY GOOD READ....

http://www.catholicworldreport.com/Item/3013/who_is_pope_francis_to_judge_not.aspx


As it happens, the Matthean Jesus had much to say about hypocrisy and hypocrites, railing frequently against them. Those people who harbor the modern disdain for the supposed externals of ritual understand Jesus to be saying that religion is not religion at all, but an internal affair of the heart. And certainly Jesus does stress the importance of internal purity and righteousness, but what moderns miss is that he doesn’t denigrate externals thereby and reduce faith and morals to a private internal matter. For the Jesus of Matthew, “Thou shalt not kill” concerns much more than refraining from literal murder; it concerns anger and harsh words as well. But it still very much concerns literal murder. In a similar way Jesus teaches that the prohibition of adultery also concerns lust, but literal adultery is still forbidden.

For the Jesus of Matthew, then, hypocrisy isn’t a concern for ritualistic externals when faith concerns internal matters of the heart. Rather, hypocrisy is the failure of the internal and external to align. If one’s heart is right, then external things—speech, action, ritual—will align. “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks…what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart…. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.” Indeed, Jesus affirms the importance of externals in his severe woes against the scribes and Pharisees. He accuses them of tithing herbs while neglecting the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faithfulness, and then affirms both: “These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.” And similarly, “You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.”

In all of this, Jesus isn’t rejecting moral judgments but making them. And he expects his followers to make them as well. Motes and beams are real, and must be removed, not accommodated. If anything, Jesus is turning up the dial on sin so that God’s mercy might really rain down in torrents, as he teaches his hearers that sin isn’t merely a matter of avoiding the big things—killing, stealing, fornicating—but rather is a cancer constricting the heart. Receiving God’s mercy means healing, a cure then to be extended also to others. But the modern world cannot comprehend mercy because it cannot comprehend sin, and so it often chooses to trample the pearl of mercy. In its endless quest for affirmation, it misses out on mercy.

Many have rightly emphasized the need to see (not manufacture!) the real continuity between Pope Emeritus Benedict and Pope Francis, and it seems this is Pope Francis’ own genuine desire. More than reading Francis through Benedict, however, we need also to read Francis through Jesus, in continuity with the Lord, whose vicar he is, whose mercy to sinners he proclaims.

 

It is essential in these times of 'diabolical disorientation' that we become holy through the grace of God received through prayer, fasting, penance, alms-giving and the sacraments.

This is the priority - personal holiness - conversion/metanoia - please spend more time praying than any other activity!! This is still a time of grace and preparation.

Things are only going to get worse both in the spiritual realm, the Church and in the world. Evil is exploding exponentially day by day. We are living through a great spiritual chastisement which is worse than any physical chastisement because souls are at risk of being lost for all eternity.

I have been calling this year the 'year of collapse' but there is no collapse yet but when it does happen we are going to have to have great faith and providence in God to provide, guide and protect. If we are not converted we will struggle to cope. If we are converted we need fear nothing for God is greater than our weaknesses and 'nothing is impossible to God'.

Pray and make a daily examination of conscience and learn to trust in Divine Providence. For soon our faith will be tested through great suffering.