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Showing posts with label Scripture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Scripture. Show all posts

Friday, 16 June 2017

Explanations of the Psalms by St. Ambrose

From the Explanations of the Psalms 
by St. Ambrose, bishop


The Appeal of the Book of Psalms

Though all Scripture is fragrant with God’s grace, the Book of Psalms has a special attractiveness.

Moses and the parting of the Red Sea
Moses wrote the history of Israel’s forefathers in prose, but after leading the people through the Red Sea—a wonder that remained in their memory—he broke into song of triumph in praise of God when he saw King Pharaoh drowned along with his forces.  His genius soared to a higher level, to match an accomplishment beyond his own powers.

Miriam too raised her timbrel and sang encouragement for the rest of the women, saying: Let us sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; he has cast horse and rider into the sea.

Miriam praising God
In the Book of Psalms there is profit for all, with healing power for our salvation.  There is instruction from history, teaching from the law, prediction form prophecy, chastisement from denunciation, persuasion from moral preaching.  All who read it may find the cure for their own individual failings.  

All with eyes to see can discover in it a complete gymnasium for the soul, a stadium for all the virtues, equipped for every kind of exercise; it is for each to choose the kind he judges best to help him gain the prize.

King David
If you wish to read and imitate the deeds of the past, you will find the whole history of the Israelites in a single psalm; in one short reading you can amass a treasure for the memory.  

If you want to study the power of the law, which is summed up in the bond of charity (Whoever loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law), you may read in the psalms of the great love with which one man faced serious dangers single-handedly in order to remove the shame of the whole people.  You will find the glory of charity more than a match for the parade of power.

Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God
What I am to say of the grace of prophecy?  We see that what others hinted at in riddles was promised openly and clearly to the psalmist alone: the Lord Jesus was to be born of his seed, according to the word of the Lord, I will place upon your throne one who is the fruit of your flesh.

In the psalms, then, not only is Jesus born for us, he also undergoes his saving passion in his body, he lies in death, he rises again, he ascends into heaven, he sits at the right and of the Father.  

What no man would have dared to say was foretold by the psalmist alone, and afterward proclaimed by the Lord himself in the Gospel.

St. Ambrose, 4th Century Church Father


 Taken from the Liturgy of the Hours for Friday, 10th Week in Ordinary Times

Monday, 27 March 2017

Sins are Numbered - Tremble and Sin No More

St. Alphonsus Liguori



From the Book, 
"Preparation for Death: Considerations on Eternal Truths" 
by St. Alphonsus Liguori

Consideration XVIII: The Number of Sins









“Because sentence is not speedily pronounced against evil, 
the children of men commit evil without fear.” – Eccles. 8:11


FIRST POINT
The Measure is Determined for Each One

IF God instantly chastises the man who insults him, we certainly should not see him so much outrages as we do at present.  But because the Lord does not instantly punish sinners, but waits for them, they are encouraged to offend him the more.  It is necessary to understand that, though God waits and bears, he does not wait and bear forever.  

It is the opinion of many holy Fathers – of St. Basil, St. Jerome, St. Ambrose, St. Cyril of Alexandria, St. John Chrysostom, St. Augustine, and others – that as God, according to the words of Scripture, 

Wis. 11:21, 
Thou hast ordered all things in measure, 
and number and weight has fixed for each 
the number of his days, the degrees of health and talent 
which he will give to him, 
so he has also determined the number of sins 
that he will pardon; 
and when this number is completed, 
he will pardon no more.  

Eusebius of Caesarea says the same thing: “God waits up to a certain number, and afterwards abandons;” and so speak also the above-mentioned Fathers.

And these Fathers  have not spoken at random, but according to the sacred Scriptures.  In one place the Lord says that he restrained his vengeance against the Amorrithes, because the number of their sins was not as yet filled up:  For as yet the iniquities of the Amorrithes (Amorites*) are not at the full (Gen 15:16).  In another place he says: I will not add any more to have mercy on the house of Israel (Os. I,6).  Again he says: All the men who have tempted Me ten times shall not see the land (Num. 15:22).  Thou hast, says Job, sealed up my offences as it were in a bag (Job 14:16).  

Sinners keep no account of their sins; but God keeps an account of them, that when the harvest is ripe, that is, when the number of sins is completed, he may take vengeance on them.  Put ye in the sickles; for the harvest is ripe (Joel 3:13).  


handwriting on the wall—Mene, Thecel, Phares
In another place he says: Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin to sin (Sirach 5:5**).  As if he said: O sinner! You must tremble even on account of the sins which I have forgiven you; for it you add another, if may happen that this new sin, along with those which have been pardoned, may complete the number, then there will be no more mercy for you.  The Lord waiteth patiently, that when the day of judgment shall come, he may punish them in the fullness of their sins (2 Mac. 6:14).  God waits till the measure of iniquities is filled up, and then he chastises the sinner.

Of such chastisements there are many examples in the Scriptures.  Saul disobeyed God a second time, and was abandoned.  When he entreated Samuel to intercede for him, saying: Bear, I beseech thee, my sin, and return with me that I may adore the Lord, Samuel answered:  I will not return with thee, because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord hath rejected thee (1 Kings15:25).  

We have also the example of Balthasar, who, after having profaned the vessels of the temple at table, saw a handwriting on the wall—Mene, Thecel, Phares. Daniel came, and in explaining the words, among other things, said: Thou art weighed in the balance, and art found wanting (Dan. 5:27).  By these words he gave the king to understand that in the balance of divine justice the weight of his sins had made the scale descend.  The same night Balthasar, the Chaldean king, was killed.  


Oh ! how many miserable sinners meet with a similar fate!  


They live many years, multiplying sins; 
but when the number is filled up, 
they are struck dead, and cast into hell! 

 They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment they go down to hell (Job 21:13).  

There are some who spend their time in investigating the number of the stars, the number of the angels, or the number of years which each one will live.  

But who can discover the number of sins 
which God will pardon each individual?  

We should, therefore, tremble.  

My brother, it may be that God will pardon you no more after the first criminal pleasure which you indulge, after the first thought to which you consent, or after the first sin which you commit.


Contrite Heart
Affections
and Prayers

Behold me, O my God!  at Thy feet.  I am that disgusting dog that has so often eaten the forbidden apples, which I before detested.  I do not deserve mercy: but, O My Redeemer!  The Blood which Thou shed for me encourages me and obliges me to hope for it.  

How often have I offended Thee and Thou hast pardoned me!  I promised never more to offend Thee, and I have afterward returned to the vomit: (Prov 26:11) and Thou has again pardoned me! What do I wait for?  Is it that Thou mayest send me to hell, or that Thou mayest abandon me into the hand of my sins, which would be a greater punishment than hell?  

No, my God!  I wish to amend: and in order to be faithful to Thee, I will put all my confidence in Thee, I will, whenever tempted, always and instantly have recourse to Thee.  

Hitherto I have trusted in my promises and resolutions, and have neglected to recommend myself to Thee in my temptations: this has been the cause of my ruin.  Henceforth Thou shalt be my hope and my strength, and thus I shall be able to do all things.


I can do all things in Him that strengthened me. (Phil 4:13).  Give me grace then, O my Jesus, through Thy merits, to recommend myself to Thee, and to ask Thy aid in my wants.  I love Thee, O Sovereign Good, amiable above every good.  I wish to love Thee alone; but it is from Thee I must receive aid to love Thee.  

O Mary, my Mother! Do thou also assist me by thy intercession; keep me under thy protection, and make me always invoke thee when I am tempted.  Thy name shall be my defence.



*Amorites (Amorrithes)
The Amorites

. . . the isolated remnants of the Amorites, who in pre-Philistine and pre-Israelitish times had occupied a large part of the country west of the Jordan.

Amorites.(From the pylon of the Ramesseum.)

In Tosef., Shab. (vii. [viii.] 23), and generally in post-Biblical literature, the Canaanites are usually spoken of as the Amorites (compare Assumptio Mosis, xi. 16; B. M. 25b); and they were characterized by R. Jose, the chronicler, as the most intractable of all nations. To the apocryphal writers of the first and second pre-Christian century they are the main representatives of heathen superstition, loathed as idolaters, in whose ordinances Israelites may not walk (Lev. xviii. 3).

A special section of the Talmud (Tosef., Shab. vi.-vii. [vii.-viii.]; Bab. Shab. 67a et seq.) is devoted to the various superstitions called "The Ways of the Amorites." 

According to the Book of Jubilees (xxix. [9] 11), "the former terrible giants, the Rephaim, gave way to the Amorites, an evil and sinful people whose wickedness surpasses that of any other, and whose life will be cut short on earth." In the Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch (lx.) they are symbolized by "black water" on account of "their black art, their witchcraft and impure mysteries, by which they contaminated Israel in the time of the Judges."





**Sirach 5:5-7 Sirach 5:5-7Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA)

5 Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin:
6 And say not: The mercy of the Lord is great, he will have mercy on the multitude of my sins.
7 For mercy and wrath quickly come from him, and his wrath looketh upon sinners.

Thursday, 23 March 2017

Pope Benedict XVI

Pope Benedict, 
“Gender Theory” 

and the Threat to Civilization




Pope Benedict XVI, in his 2012 Christmas address to the Roman Curia, warned against what is called “Gender theory.”  This theory, which coincides with the rise of homosexuality in society, claims there is no such thing as a God-given masculine nature or a feminine nature.  Individuals are free to choose and remake their gender.

The acceptance of such theories 
not only defies God and nature, 
but give rise to the persecution of Christians, 
and of anyone who opposes the pro-homosexual program, 
as will be later explained.


NATURE DEFINED

Pope Benedict warned regarding gender theory, “According to this philosophy, gender is no longer a given element of nature that a man has to accept and personally makes sense of it; [rather] it is a social role that we choose for ourselves, while in the past it was chosen for us by society.”

In other others, those who promote gender theory falsely claim there was never any such thing as a masculine nature or a feminine nature that defines us since conception.  Rather society chose these gender roles for us.  Gender is not something that is found inside of man as part of his essence, but rather, is imposed from the outside.  We are now at the point where the individual decides these gender roles for himself.

“The profound falsehood of this theory, and of the anthropological revolution contained within it  is obvious,” says Benedict. “People dispute the idea that they have a nature, given by their bodily identity, that serves as a defining element of the human being.  They deny their nature and decide that it is not something previously given to them, but they make for themselves.”

The Pope then appeals to Genesis.
“According to the biblical creation account, being created by God as male and female pertains to the essence of the human creature.  This duality [male and female] is an essential aspect of what being human is all about, as ordained by God.  This very duality as something given is what is now disputed.”

Benedict goes on to lament: “The words of the creation account: ‘male and female he created them’ (Gen 1:27) no long apply.  No, what applies now is this: it was not God who created them male and female – hitherto society did this, now we decided for ourselves.  Man and woman as created realities no longer exist.  Man calls his nature into question.  From now on he is merely spirit an will.”

This is a key point.  Truth and reality are no longer centered on man’s nature.  Rather, truth and reality are now centered on man’s will.  

If man wills to choose his gender, or act contrary to his gender, he must be free to do so.  Man chooses  his own false “reality”.

Benedict notes there is a general repugnance toward the misuse of nature when it comes to the world around us, yet many are willing to believe man may restructure his own nature.

“The manipulation of nature”, he writes, “which we deplore today where the environment is concerned, now becomes man’s fundamental choice where he himself is concerned.

From now on there is only the abstract human being, who chooses for himself what his nature is to be.  Man and woman in their created state as complementary versions of what it means to be human are disputed.”



THE FAMILY THREATENED

Pope Benedict then explains the disastrous  effects wrought on the family.

“But if there is no pre-ordained duality of man and woman in creation, then neither is the family any longer a reality established by creation.”

Thus the family as God established, which is father, mother and children, can also be changed by human will.  Man will believe he can define the family any way he wants: two men and a son, tow women and a canary, three men, three women (as is already happening,) and almost any other aberration.

Benedict then warns of the consequences regarding children.  

“Likewise, the child has lost the place 
he had occupied hitherto and the dignity 
pertaining to him the child 
has become an object to which people 
have a right and which they have a right to obtain.”

This is an indirect reference to same-sex couples demanding the “right” to adopt children.

Pope Benedict then drives home the point: Gender theory is ultimately a revolt against God and man.  “When the freedom to be creative becomes the freedom to create oneself, then necessarily the Maker is denied and ultimately man too is stripped of his dignity as a creature of God . . . 

When God is denied, human dignity also disappears.”


NORMAL PEOPLE BULLIED

The dignity of man is thus “stripped” when transgenderism becomes an accepted component of society. In the United States and elsewhere, there are parents who encourage young children to choose their own gender, encourage boys to adopt girl’s clothes and mannerisms, and vice versa.  Our children are also exposed to transgender men using girls’ bathrooms, and worse.

One of many examples: At Hillsboro High School in Missouri, early September 2015, a homosexual male student started to wear a wig and skirt, claimed to be female, called himself “Lila” and insisted on using the girls’ locker room.

The girls were rightly horrified.  Hundreds of students walked out in protest.  The boy’s response was to accuse these normal girls of bigotry.

“They are claiming that they’re uncomfortable,” said “Lila” to a local TV station, “I don’t believe for a second that they are.  I think this is pure and simple bigotry, I wasn’t hurting anyone and I didn’t want to feel segregated out.”

Predictably, the politically correct School Administration sided with the homosexual boy, who eventually dropped gym class, but continues to use the girl’s bathroom.

Worse, liberals across the United States defend “Lila” and denounce his classmates’ natural reaction.

Columnist Matt Walsh reports that hundreds of pro-homosexual activists are “organizing a counter protest . . . hoping to finally intimidate and silence any girl who might have the audacity to defy the transgender narrative that our culture just invented out of whole cloth about 14 seconds ago.  Indeed, approximately yesterday, “transgenderism” was a fringe, radical notion way out in the peripherals of left wing quackery, but now, in the blink of an eye, it is ‘doctrine.’  Yesterday, boys could be expelled for walking into the girls’ locker room, but now we throw them parades and squeal about their ‘bravery.’

Pope Benedict’s observation is correct.  When we defy nature, the Maker is necessarily denied, and man too is ultimately “stripped of his dignity as a creature of God.”

PERSECUTION AND  PUNISHMENT

The rise of homosexuality and transgenderism disorients society away from Our Lord Jesus Christ. It also leads to the persecution of those who want no part of the ever-growing homosexual ascendancy.

Why has this happened?  

Primarily due to the fact 
that over the past fifty years, 
too few of our Church leaders 
clearly reiterated the Divine warnings 
against this vice as expressed in Scripture and Magisterium.

It is rare to hear priests and prelates denounce this vice as a mortal sin that sends the soul to hell if not repented.

Bishop Athanasius Schneider
It is rare to hear a prelate speak clearly as does Bishop Athanasius Schneider, who explained that acceptance of homosexuality “contradicts directly the words of God, which says that homosexual acts and the homosexual lifestyle are a grievous offense against the will of God. (cf. Gen 18:20; Lev 18:22;20-13; Is 3:9; Rom 1:26-27; 1 Cor 6:10,  1 Tim 1:10; Jud 7)”

By approving this vice, we open the door to persecution against Christianity.  If homosexual unions, same-sex marriage and ‘transgenderism’ are declared basic human rights, then opposing these sins will be considered a crime by modern godless states.  Those who hold the truths of Our Lord can be fined or imprisoned.  Already in some places, quoting the Bible’s condemnation of homosexuality is denounced as “hate speech”.

In March 2015, Tim Sweeney, a leader in pro-homosexual grant-making, told U.S. business leaders that he wants to shut down the political fight for [contra-homosexual] religious freedom exemptions in the U.S. within three years.

A Catholic News Agency examination 
of public grant listings and tax forms 

“has found at least six foundations and funds 
have made grants totaling about $4.8 million 
to target religious freedom, 
especially as it is exercised by objectors to gay marriage.”

The pro-homosexual lobby wants Christianity silenced, and spends millions to crush the Christian’s right to resist the public acceptance of the sin of Sodom.

This is but a glimpse of the massive anti-Christian revolution on the rise with recognition of homosexuality as an acceptable lifestyle.

A nation that embraces this vice cannot obtain the blessing of God, but only  His condemnation  

The prophet Isaiah writes: 
“Woe to those who all good evil and evil good.” (Isaiah 5:20)

Sacred Scripture likewise threatens fearful punishment on nations that accept homosexuality.  Saint Peter warned that God “condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction, reducing them to ashes, thus making an example to those in the future who should live wickedly.” (2 Peter 2:16)

Could this be a foreshadowing 
of the “annihilation of nations” 
warned by Our Lady of Fatima in 1917?

Our Lady of Fatima
Let us oppose the rise of these sins that “cry to Heaven for vengeance,” pray for the conversion of those trapped in this vice, and live the Fatima Message of prayer and daily Rosary.

Let us also beg the Pope to consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary as requested by Our Lady of Fatima, to obtain the promised period of peace, the triumph of the Immaculate Heart and avert Divine chastisement.



Article from The Fatima Center, U.S.A. – 17000 State Route 30, Constable, NY 12916; Canada – 452 Kraft Road, Fort Erie, ON L2A 4M7.  www.fatima.org --- Email:  info@fatima.org Telephone 1-905-871-7607

Saturday, 4 March 2017

Lent and Repent



Repent
From a letter to the Corinthians by Saint Clement, pope

Let us fix our attention on the Blood of Christ and recognize how precious it is to God His father, since it was shed for our salvation and brought the grace of repentance to all the world.

Jonah preaching to the Nenevites
If we review the various ages of history, we will see that in every generation the Lord has offered the opportunity of repentance to any who were willing to turn to Him.  When Noah preached God’s message of repentance, all who listened to him were saved.  Jonah told the Nenevites they were going to be destroyed, but when they repented, their prayers gained God’s forgiveness for their sins, and they were saved, even though they were not of God’s people.

Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit the ministers of God’s grace have spoken of repentance; indeed the Master of the whole universe Himself spoke of repentance with an oath: As I live, says the Lord, I do not wish the death of the sinner but his repentance. He added this evidence of His goodness: House of Israel, repent of your wickedness.  Tell the sons of my people: 


If their sins should reach from earth to heaven, 
if they are brighter than scarlet and blacker than sackcloth, 
you need only turn to me with your whole heart and say, 
“Father”, and I will listen to you as to a holy people.

In other words, God wanted all His beloved ones to have the opportunity to repent and He confirmed this desire by His own Almighty Will.  That is why we should obey His sovereign and glorious Will and prayerfully entreat His Mercy and Kindness.  We should be suppliant before Him and turn to His compassion, rejecting empty works and quarreling and jealousy which only lead to death.

Brothers, we should be humble in mind, putting aside all arrogance, pride and foolish anger.  Rather, we should act in accordance with the Scriptures, as the Holy Spirit says: 


The wise man must not glory in his wisdom 
nor the strong man in his strength 
nor the rich man in his riches.  

Rather, let him who glories 
glory in the Lord 
by seeking Him 
and doing what is right and just.  

Recall especially what the Lord Jesus said when He taught gentleness and forebearance.  


Be merciful, He said, 
so that you may have mercy shown to you.  

Forgive
so that you may be forgiven.  

As you treat others
so you will be treated.  

As you give
so you will receive.  

As you judge
so you will be judged. 

 As you are kind to others
so you will be treated kindly.  

The measure of your giving 
will be the measure of your receiving.

Let these commandments and precepts strengthen us to live in humble obedience to His Sacred Words.  As Scripture asks: 

Jesus Teaching the people



Whom shall I look upon with favor 

except the humble, 
peaceful man 
who trembles at my words?


Sharing then in the heritage of so many vast and glorious achievements, let us hasten toward the goal of peace, set before us from the beginning.

Let us keep our eyes firmly fixed on the Father and Creator of the whole universe, and hold fast to His splendid and transcendent gifts of peace and all His blessings.

Tuesday, 18 August 2015


The New Creation
From a letter attributed to Barnabas

The Lord was willing to hand over his body for destruction so that by the shedding of His Blood we might be made holy through the remission of our sins.  According to Scripture this refers to both Israel and us.  He was wounded for our transgressions and bruised by our iniquities; by his wounds we are healed.  He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, like a lamb that is dumb before its shearer.   What a debt of gratitude, then, do we owe to the Lord for letting us see the meaning of the past, for instructing us about the present and not leaving us in the ignorance about the future. 

In the words of Scripture: 
Now unjustly are nets spread for birds.  
This means that a man is justly condemned if, 
knowing the right way, 
he heads into the way of darkness.

The Lord was ready to undergo suffering for our souls’ sake, even though He is Lord of the whole earth, the one to whom God said at the foundation of the world: Let us make man in our own image and likeness.  But, in that case, my brothers, how could He allow Himself to suffer at the hands of men?  

This is the explanation.  The prophets inspired by His grace foretold what He would do; He allowed Himself to suffer because He had to be seen in the flesh, in order that He might destroy the power of death and manifest the resurrection from the dead.  In this way he would carry out the promise that had been made to our forefathers, and while still on earth prepare Himself a new people; He would also show that, after the resurrection, He was to be our judge.  Furthermore, by teaching Israel and working such great signs and wonders, He proclaimed the good news and showed the depths of His love for that people.

Having thus renewed us by forgiving our sins, He refashioned us; He gave us the souls of children, as though we had been born anew.  For it is to us that Scripture refer when the Father says to the Son: Let us make man according to our own image and likeness; and let him rule over the beasts on the earth and the birds of the air and the fish of the sea.  The Lord saw the beauty of our fashioning and added: Increase and multiply and fill the earth.

All this God said to His Son.  But let me now point out to you how He also speaks to us.  It is indeed a second act of creation that the Lord has performed in these last days; that is why He says:  Behold, I am making the last things like the first. It was this that the prophet had in mind when he said: Enter into a land flowing with milk and honey, and rule over it. It is true, you see, that we have been completely remade.  This is what God means by the words of another prophet: Behold, says the Lord, I will take the stony hearts out of this people, that is, the people whom the Spirit of the Lord foreknew, and put hearts of flesh into them.  For He willed to appear in the flesh and live among us.


And so, my brothers, 
the dwelling place of our hearts 
is a temple sacred to the Lord.  

Again, the Lord says; Let me give thanks to you in the assembly of the people.  So it is we whom He has led into a fertile land.