Vera Crux Santo Toribio de Liébana (Santander)
Vexilla Regis prodeunt: Fulget Crucis mysterium, quo carne carnis conditor, suspensus est patibulo {…} O Crux ave, spes unica, hoc Passionis tempore auge piis justitiam, reisque dona veniam {…} Te, summa Deus Trinitas, collaudet omnes spiritus: Quos per Crucis mysterium salvas, rege per sæcula. Amen.
The Royal Banner forward goes, the mystic Cross refulgent glows: Where He, in Flesh, flesh who made, upon the Tree of pain is laid {…} O Cross! all hail! sole hope, abide with us now in this Passion-tide: New grace in pious hearts implant, and pardon to the guilty grant {…} Thee, mighty Trinity! One God! Let every living creature laud; Whom by the mystery of the Cross Thou dost deliver, o guide and govern now and ever! Amen.
With such inspired and venerable words for the Divine Office by the Christian poet, Venantius Fortunatus (c.530-c.609), Bishop of Poitiers, France, the traditional Roman liturgy of Holy Mother Church sings the praises of the redeeming Cross of Christ during the season of Passion-tide.
The liturgical hymn was sung for the first time in the Procession (19 November 569) when a relic of the Vera Crux / True Cross, sent by the Byzantine Emperor, Justin II (565-574), from the East at the request of St. Radegunda, was carried with in great solemnity from Tours to her monastery of Saint-Croix at Poitiers.
There is relatively near me, in the neighboring province of Santander (Cantabria), the Monastery of Santo Toribio de Liébana. It’s a Roman Catholic monastery, named in honor of St. Turibius of Liébana (+530), a Benedictine monk, and located in the district of Liébana, near Potes in Santander (Cantabria), Spain.
The monastery is located in the exquisite Cantabrian mountain range in northern Spain, being one of the five places of Christendom that, together with Rome, Jerusalem, Santiago de Compostela (St. James—Spain) and Caravaca de la Cruz (Murcia—Spain), has the privilege of perpetual Indulgences.
The monastery was founded sometime before the VI century. According to venerable tradition, this monastery venerates that largest piece of the Lignum Crucis discovered in Jerusalem by Saint Helena of Constantinople.
Brought from the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the left arm of the True Cross is kept on a gilded silver reliquary, as is shown in the photo.
Initially dedicated to St. Martin of Tours (316-397), its name was changed in the XII century to the saint who had brought over such a precious relic of the true Lignum Crucis / Wood of the Cross.
The picture shown are precisely the Relics of the Lignum Crucis, Vera Cruz or True Cross, venerated at this Monastery-Sanctuary of Santo Toribio de Liébana, Santander, Spain, since the Middle Ages, and for the past fifty years under the pastoral care of the Franciscans…
Contemplating the Church’s beautiful sacred Tradition, the moving liturgy for Good Friday—and also the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross on 14 September, just prior to the Temporas of Autumn—bids that in the celebration of the Passion of Our Lord, during the adoration of the Cross, the faithful should actually adore the Cross itself, specifically the wood of the Cross, and not the figure of Christ himself, if present.
The traditional liturgical text for the Adoratio Crucis / Adoration of the Cross from the Missale Romanum for Good Friday reads thus: Ecce lignum Crucis, in quo salus mundi pependit. Venite, adoremus / Behold the wood of the Cross, on which hung the Savior of the world. Come, let us adore. Let us adore… the wood of the Cross!
There is a a profound biblical theology for this liturgical gesture, beautifully commented by the Fathers of the Church.
The wood of the Cross represents the true Tree of Life, and also the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, from whose Fruit we partake in Holy Communion during the Sacrifice of the Mass, precious Fruit of the Tree of Life—eternal!—that permits us to return again from the exile of this vale of tears, to Paradise.
As the Preface of the Sanctæ Crucis sings in the Missale Romanum, where Satan once deceived us on a tree—indeed with an attractive though poisonous fruit—and we, in Adam and Eve, extended our arms in disobedience to seize the prohibited fruit, Our Lord freely extends his arms, in obedience to his Father (and our Father), to another tree, the Tree of the Cross, as comments St. John Chrysostom in one of his homilies for Good Friday.
Thus the suffering Christ, our unattractive Fruit, delivers us from the attractive but deadly fruit in Genesis, returning us to life. Does not Our Lord say that a tree is known by its fruits?
Does not Our Lord also say that no good fruit can come from a bad or sick tree? And that only good fruit can come forth from a good or healthy tree?
The wood of the Tree/Cross is also the wood of Noah’s Ark, prefiguration of Holy Mother Church, the only ark of salvation, outside of which there is quite simply no salvation, only perdition.
St. Augustine (354-430), as always, explains it so well and with such delightful political incorrectness: Outside the Catholic Church you can find everything… except salvation.
A crucially important Catholic truth that for some reason, is not usually recalled by many in the Church… after Vatican II. And, oh yes, forgotten along with other vitally important Catholic truths, by the way.
The wood of the Cross is likewise the wood of St. Peter’s Barque, the fisher of men, whose barque caught those 153 fish, another symbol of the universal ark of salvation that is the Holy Catholic Church…
Adoring Christ by kissing Him, which is always an act of love, is not really what the liturgy of Good Friday bids us to do. Why? Because those who already love Our Lord find it quite natural to kiss an image of Him, especially a Crucifix, a very pious thing to do as Christians.
But on this most holy day of Good Friday, the sixth day of the week, day in which according to the Book of Genesis, man and woman were created—and redeemed—in God’s image and likeness, our Mother the Church, bids us to kiss rather the wood of the Cross, for we should adore the instrument that Christ himself freely and lovingly assumed for our Redemption.
Kissing an image of Christ is easy to do for those who love Him and strive to be his disciple. Kissing the wood of the Cross, which He freely, perfectly willingly, and lovingly took upon Himself, for our sake, is much more difficult, since we instinctively reject the Cross. Hence the centuries-wise liturgical purification of our heart, mind, will, and love.
But in kissing the wood of the Cross on Good Friday, we likewise are kissing the real Tree of Life and the real Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. We also are kissing the New Ark of Noah and St. Peter’s Barque, that is, we are also kissing our Mother, the Church, outside of which we cannot find salvation.
As the traditional Roman Breviary Hymn sings during Passion-tide (alas, a brief but decisive liturgical season that was suppressed, along with the season of Septuagesima and the Octave of Pentecost—by the liturgical revolutionaries):
Vexilla Regis prodeunt; Fulget Crucis mysterium, qua Vita mortem pertulit, et morte vitam protulit… / Abroad the Regal Banners fly, Now shines the Cross’s mystery; Upon it Life did death endure, And yet by death did life procure…
And so, as we strive in this blog to harvest the fruit from Vatican II, we cannot but see quite a bit of fruit these past fifty-odd years. Ah, whether that abundant fruit is good or bad, is for each one of us to carefully discern.
There are those who claim that the fruits of conciliar reform have been an outstanding new springtime and new Pentecost for the Church… (!)
Well, I suppose that the enormous drop in vocations (to put it mildly), a worrisome drop in the number of genuine Catholic families, the closing of seminaries, the closing of countless parishes, etc., and yet the Church—by God’s merciful grace—has not entirely (!) disappeared from the face of the earth, yes, I guess that’s one good fruit in our basket!
But here we not only strive to harvest whatever fruit we can from the Vatican II-inspired reforms, we also endeavor to separate the fruits from the nuts…
Alas, indeed there are the nuts, that is, the usual suspects of heresy, which seem to have enjoyed a field day these past fifty years.
They are those who have more or less freely professed their doctrinal errors—all while maintaining full communion and full canonical faculties, of course!—been ordained priests, been consecrated bishops, been made professors of philosophy and theology, and have been permitted to erode and ultimately ruin the faith of countless of Catholics, all over the world, for decades.
Some of these fruitful nuts have had the audacity of proclaiming proudly that, oh yes, Christ has “saved” us, not by the Cross but rather despite the Cross. Just think about that and ponder it. An apparent subtle nuance that offers two completely different meanings. That Christ has “saved” us, not by the Cross but despite the Cross.
NO! That, my dear friends, is not only a heresy, it’s also a grievous blasphemy. Once during a priest reunion in my home diocese (Oviedo, Asturias, Spain), one religious permanent deacon expressed his dismay at one of the Mass collect prayers.
It was the one for Palm Sunday of the Paul VI Roman Missal, which reads in English: Almighty ever-living God, who as an example of humility for the human race to follow, caused our Savior to take flesh and submit to the Cross, graciously grant that we may heed his lesson of patient suffering and so merit a share in his Resurrection…
Naturally, this permanent deacon was referring to the Spanish Roman Missal, which has a slightly different nuance: Dios todopoderoso y eterno, tú quisiste que nuestro Salvador se hiciese Hombre y muriese en la Cruz… / Almighty and ever-living God, you wanted that our Savior become Man in order to die on the Cross…
The man was literally scandalized! How could we, so much more sophisticated than generations of Catholics before us who knew no better, continue to pray in this XXI century, that God the Father actually wanted his Son to become Man in order to submit to the Cross? How can the Father positively want his Son to suffer the Cross?
Well, that’s been the faith of the Church for over two thousand years. But he just couldn’t fathom the thought…
Obviously, knowingly or not, he was of the heretical mindset of those who say that Christ saved us despite the Cross, not by the Cross. Huge difference! In other words, that the Cross was not wanted at all by the Father nor the Son, but that it couldn’t be avoided.
But what more was his dismay implying? For one thing, that the Cross was somehow a mere accident in Christ’s life, not something that was intended or desired by God in any way.
Furthermore, that the Cross was the exclusive result of wicked men, sinners even!—that forced Christ to take up his Cross, totally unwillingly. Saved us despite the Cross, not by the Cross, freely and lovingly taken up by Christ, for us and for the sake of our Redemption. See the difference?
Several years back in a television interview, the former President of the German Episcopal Conference, Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, actually denied the act of Redemption by asserting that today, we cannot really speak of “redemption” on the Cross, but rather of “solidarity” (sic).
That is, according to this German prelate, Christ did not really die for us on the Cross, instead He merely died with us, sharing in our death. Really?
This even surprised his interviewer, that he asked for a clarification. But said “clarification” only came afterwards, claiming Msgr. Zollitsch that what he really meant was a pastoral language more comprehensible to modern man… OK, yeah, right.
Ironically though, Msgr. Zollitsch’s material heresy may be correct in one respect: modern man may indeed not understand the meaning of redemption. Modern man, as Pius XII said in 1946, has lost the capacity to conceive of sin, much less even entertain the need for redemption and the need of a Redeemer.
But then if that is so—and despite the fact that the Novus Ordo liturgy is supposedly so comprehensible because Latin has been mercilessly done away with in favor of the vernacular—what catechesis has been typically imparted to the people of God the past fifty years or so, pray tell?
A catechesis that has managed admirably to keep Catholics so in the dark about the most elemental of revealed truths, such as the Redemption?
Be that as it may, there have been way too many such “clarifications” in the Church of late. Can’t we say what we really mean to say at the beginning, and avoid unnecessary confusion? Is it that difficult to be clear after Vatican II, you know, like right from the start?
Ah, but that presupposes that we have a Catholic mindset, does it not?
So, alas, this line of thought denies the Redemption of the Cross and as a direct consequence, thus also undermines the conception of the Mass as a Holy Sacrifice. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Been this way since 1969…
Hmmm… a supper table facing the people of God (sometimes more a people than of God), with a Cross off to the side (if at all present) instead of a sacrificial altar facing a Crucified Christ in the very center of our common gaze—the priest and the faithful—looking not at our wonderful selves, but rather to whom is to come again in crucified and resurrected glory from the East…
To compliment this commentary, I can’t think of anything more appropriate than watching Mel Gibson’s brilliant masterpiece, The Passion of the Christ (2004), an extraordinarily excellent film, theologically bordering perfection, and the particularly moving scene of the piercing of the Lord’s right side is so well done.
In this movie scene of the Gospel according to St. John chapter 19, beautifully rendered, there is great mystical and sacramental significance that is no less beautifully commented by the Fathers of the Church.
The Blood and Water flowing copiously from the Lamb of God’s open Heart, is the New Eve—the Church—coming forth from the side of the “sleeping” New Adam—Our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Old Testament Exodus and crossing of the Red Sea by ancient Israel, that is, now the New Testament Exodus of the New Israel—the Holy Catholic Church—are the Waters (i.e., Sea) of Baptism, the renewed life of grace by and in the Holy Ghost, and the Blood (i.e., Red) is that of the Sacrifice—also the Eucharistic Sacrifice of the altar—of the true and proper Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
With the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Apostle St. John, the Beloved Disciple, and St. Mary Magdalene, the music, the Water and Blood flowing outward with such abundance, and the Roman soldier falling to his knees with a gaping mouth…
When I saw this extraordinarily beautiful film for the first time (and ever since then), I wanted very much to be like the Roman soldier, falling on my knees and drinking that Precious redeeming Water and Blood: Baptism and the Eucharist, the two sacraments which edify the Church and give meaning to the other sacraments.
Is that not what, in essence, we do at Holy Communion during the Sacrifice of the Mass, while kneeling to receive Him, and on the tongue? And even us, priests, receiving Communion while bowing profoundly over the altar? That’s so good for all of us, and especially for our priestly humility: to realize that liturgical celebrations are not about us and what we do for God, but rather what God does for us to redeem us.
And that for us priests, that it’s about our being a living sacrament of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal High Priest.
May Our good Lord grant us the grace of appreciating ever more the incomparable biblical and patristic treasures of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, as our Holy Mother, the Church, has provided for us children of hers and of God, according to the venerable ancient liturgical Roman rite.
May we never fall into that postconciliar temptation to think we can celebrate a liturgy better than Our Lord and his Holy Catholic Church. May we never do our own liturgy, but rather make ours the authentic liturgy of Christ and his Church.
Our eternal participation—or no—in the Heavenly liturgy of the celestial Jerusalem (as St. John recounts in the Book of Revelation) depends to a great degree on it. In the sacred liturgy, there is much more than meets the eye. May we have the grace to see it…
Amen and amen. We are so hungry for the sanctifying truth – thank you, Father. This helps one cope.
“Can’t we say what we really mean to say at the beginning, and avoid unnecessary confusion? Is is that difficult to be clear after Vatican II, you know, like right from the start?”
Such damage wreaked by the forked tongues and distorted and disoriented “teaching” from so many of the bishops and priests for so long.
Thank you fr.
On the feast of The Exaltation of The Holy Cross from 17 mins
http://youtu.be/9ZurFnbV_2U
“In the sacred liturgy, there is much more than meets the eye. May we have the grace to see it.”
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With respect; which liturgy is sacred? that celebrated by the Waldensians who recognise a certain percentage of the treasures mentioned? Or the Lutherans who recognise some? Or the new order liturgy whose presiders and parish council co-presiders would destroy the sacred as a ‘sacred’ duty? Or is it all just down to the worth of the person…some are too blind to see the Wood of the Cross where It is never venerated or the Blood of Christ where a Sunday picnic and dance in a destroyed sanctuary take place?
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Sacred liturgy…does it have any sacredness or sacerdotal character if it is celebrated by Lutheran, Waldensian or Anglican laymen? The very same laymen who created the N.O.?
Thank you, Father. This is a strong reinforcement for many of us – Holy Mother Church provides a Holy Sacrifice of The Mass daily – somewhere, at all hours of the night and day.
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The SSPX is in Asia, as is the FSSP, and both are in Africa, South America, Central America and Mexico, North America and all over Europe.
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God provides.
“Outside the Church you can find everything–except salvation.” Who could say that better than such a great saint as St. Thomas. Additionally, I am happy that at the Church I am a member –there are NO DEACONS!! ( I consider them as wannabe priests, in spite of being married . No thanks). Thanks for the wonderful article.
Actually, that citation about finding everything outside the Catholic Church, except salvation, is from St. Augustine. Though St. Thomas Aquinas obviously would agree wholeheartedly. They are both Catholics… 🙂
Speaking of “harvesting” the poisonous (ehem “fragrant”) “fruits” of the “New Pentecost” aka Vatican II:
http://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/speeches/2000/jan-mar/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_20000227_vatican-council-ii.html
ADDRESS OF THE HOLY FATHER JOHN PAUL II TO THE CONFERENCE STUDYING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL
Sunday, 27 February 2000
“The “little seed” which John XXIII planted “with anxious mind and hand” (Apostolic Constitution Humanae salutis, 25 December 1961) in the Basilica of St Paul-Outside-the-Walls on 25 January 1959, when he announced his intention to convoke the 21st Ecumenical Council in the Church’s history, has grown and become a tree which now spreads its majestic and mighty branches in the Vineyard of the Lord. It has already produced many fruits [NO KIDDING!!!] in its 35 years of life, and it will produce many more in the years to come. A new season is dawning before our eyes: it is time for deep reflection on the Council’s teaching, time to harvest all that the Council Fathers sowed and the generation of recent years has tended and awaited.”
Wojtyla didn’t get to live for that “harvesting” and now it is time to harvest indeed… The Sin-Nod of 2015 is that “marvelous” harvest that awaits us.
———————
“One cannot help recollecting how, in the years following the Russian Revolution, when the enforced collectivization of the land had brought Russia to the edge of starvation, official bulletins assured the Russian people week after week, month after month, year after year, that never before in their history had they enjoyed so high a standard of living.”
And even as Catholics flee to the safety of orthodoxy via the FSSP/SSPX and other traditional societies as the ruins of the Church fall all around us, Francis assures us:
“The Church is not falling to pieces. It has never been better.”
Like in Orwell’s 1984 – less is more, worse is better… 😉
Holy Cross, by Sir Shane Leslie(1885-1971)
It is the bare and leafless Tree
Our sins once sowed on Calvary,
And mockers digged with trembling knee –
Holy Cross.
It is the dead impitying Wood,
That like a crimson pillar stood,
Where none unmoved unweeping could —
Holy Cross.
O fearful sight foretold to man,
The cloven spar, the sacred span,
Whence God’s atoning Blood once ran —
Holy Cross.
It is the Holy Gibbet Tree,
All stained with Love’s last agony
And marked with awful mystery —
Holy Cross.
What stains are these incarnadine,
What scars are these more red than wine
Of more than human Passion sign?
Holy Cross.
It is the sunless stricken Tree,
Upon whose branches sore to see
O mystery, died One of Three —
Holy Cross.
What storm swept o’er its boughs that day,
When God to God did sorely pray.
And human guilt ebbed slow away —
Holy Cross.
When earth shall smoke and sun shall flee,
Alone unmoved o’er sinking sea
Shall stand one all-redeeming Tree —
Holy Cross.
I wonder if the Japanese who for 200 years were deprived of priests and therefore all Sacraments with the exceptions of Baptism and Holy Matrimony had a chance (objectively) of haven (for those died reached the age of reason).
Objectiveley they definatly had a chance being baptised but obviously they were at an enormous disadvantage. If the sacraments arnt available to you through any fault of your own certain church laws wouldnt apply ie attending mass it wouldnt be possible but there would still remain a duty to sanctify sunday through prayer & scripture if available. As far as the big question if in a state of mortal sin what now, i suppose it would all depend on the contrition of the person and if they made a firm purpose of admenment from that moment onwards. 1 thing im sure about GOD cant & doesnt make mistakes. for all poor souls who are in hell at this very moment they must have made the wrong decisions in regards to their free will because GOD definatley gives enough grace to every soul in which to save it. Free will is the key the grace is given but through free will it can easily be ignored or rejected. Fr isaac mary relyea gives good mission talks on the 4 last things strong talk http://youtu.be/av3ukTIKG-I
Oh, thank you for this, Father. You are truly an Alter Christus!! May our Lady and Our Lord bless you always!!!
The Saint Andrew’s Daily Missal recounts the above veneration thus:
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The Priest says: “Behold the wood of the Cross, on which hung the Savior of the world.” The CHOIR responds: “Come, let us adore.” There is no mention of the priest exhorting the faithful to adore the Cross per se. “Then he [celebrant] removes his shoes and goes to venerate the cross. He prostrates himself three times and finally bends and kisses the feet of the crucifix”. The distinction being made between the wood and the Corpus.
The Marian Missal 1958, The celebrant and his ministers and assistants take off their shoes and each in turn approaches, genuflecting thrice, and kisses the feet of the Crucifix.
“But in kissing the wood of the Cross on Good Friday, we likewise are kissing the real Tree of Life and the real Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. We also are kissing the New Ark of Noah and St. Peter’s Barque, that is, we are also kissing our Mother, the Church, outside of which we cannot find salvation.”
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I shall adopt this practice of kissing the wood of my crucifix and offer it in reparation for the sins against my Mother, the Church. Thank you for that image and explanation, Father.
The picture of the priest saying Mass with Our Lord’s crucifixion in the background is incredibly beautiful.
Thank you, Father.
Of course, if there is a Corpus on the Cross, I do not say that it is wrong to adore the Corpus during the liturgy of Good Friday. But the Missale Romanum clearly refers to this moment in the liturgy as the “Adoration of the CROSS.” Thus, if we adore the Corpus, that’s fine from a pious point of view, but that’s not adoring the Cross per se. And that may provide a spiritual problem we MUST avoid: we may kiss the Corpus, thus loving Christ, but perhaps at the same time, reject his Cross. It would tantamount to thanking Christ for saving us “despite” his Cross, and not precisely “by” his Cross. NO! We adore his Cross! The ritual words are likewise very specific: “Behold the wood of the Cross… Come, let us adore.” Strictly speaking, the exhortation of “adoring” is ambiguous: “Come, let us adore…” what? The Corpus? The wood of the Cross? Both? But given the immediate context: “Behold the wood of the Cross…” it would seem the exhortation to “adore” refers to the wood. Besides, I insist, the overall liturgical context of Good Friday is the “Adoration of the (wood) of the Cross,” with all that beautiful underlying biblical and patristic theology.
Today is the feast day of Our Lady of Sorrows
13th Century Hymn
STABAT MATER
At the Cross her station keeping,
stood the mournful Mother weeping,
close to her Son to the last.
Through her heart, His sorrow sharing,
all His bitter anguish bearing,
now at length the sword has passed.
O how sad and sore distressed
was that Mother, highly blest,
of the sole-begotten One.
Christ above in torment hangs,
she beneath beholds the pangs
of her dying glorious Son.
Is there one who would not weep,
whelmed in miseries so deep,
Christ’s dear Mother to behold?
Can the human heart refrain
from partaking in her pain,
in that Mother’s pain untold?
For the sins of His own nation,
She saw Jesus wracked with torment,
All with scourges rent:
She beheld her tender Child,
Saw Him hang in desolation,
Till His spirit forth He sent.
O thou Mother! fount of love!
Touch my spirit from above,
make my heart with thine accord:
Make me feel as thou hast felt;
make my soul to glow and melt
with the love of Christ my Lord.
Holy Mother! pierce me through,
in my heart each wound renew
of my Savior crucified:
Let me share with thee His pain,
who for all my sins was slain,
who for me in torments died.
Let me mingle tears with thee,
mourning Him who mourned for me,
all the days that I may live:
By the Cross with thee to stay,
there with thee to weep and pray,
is all I ask of thee to give.
Virgin of all virgins blest!,
Listen to my fond request:
let me share thy grief divine;
Let me, to my latest breath,
in my body bear the death
of that dying Son of thine.
Wounded with His every wound,
steep my soul till it hath swooned,
in His very Blood away;
Be to me, O Virgin, nigh,
lest in flames I burn and die,
in His awful Judgment Day.
Christ, when Thou shalt call me hence,
be Thy Mother my defense,
be Thy Cross my victory;
While my body here decays,
may my soul Thy goodness praise,
Safe in Paradise with Thee.
Translation by Edward Caswall
Lyra Catholica (1849)
Objectively speaking, a Perfect Act of Contrition absolves mortal sin in the absence of Extreme Unction in a situation of desperation. Of course, we can’t assume that post VII anyone even knows what that means. (We do not include the sin of Presumption here which is of course related –but another topic. ) It’s the teaching of Holy Mother Church that God gives Graces, through the Holy Virgin, as He sees fit. It’s also most necessary to know the profound Teaching of the Catholic Church on Predestination. No time to delve into that here. I suggest Ludwig Ott: Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma. I like Relyea, but in listening to him one must understand he’s heavily infuenced by Modernism & one must be capable of discerning where what he says is “off.” Nevertheless, we judge not the interior of any man. A reliable sermon on Last Things-http://mhtseminary.libsyn.com/sermon-do-not-wait-until-the-last-moment-by-fr-desposito
sedevacante/privation
Beautiful !!! Is this the same prayer we pray for Stations of the Cross?
Thanks. I guess this is the same thing like people ask if those who never heard of the Gospels can be saved….
A most beautiful treatise on the Finding of the True Cross by St. Helena—(tradition) The link provided here leads to a sedevacantist site, posted in good will to edify the brethren.
http://catholicharboroffaithandmorals.com/Finding%20of%20the%20Holy%20Cross.html
“And so, as we strive in this blog to harvest the fruit from Vatican II, we cannot but see quite a bit of fruit these past fifty-odd years. Ah, whether that abundant fruit is good or bad, is for each one of us to carefully discern.”
I vehemently disagree….it is not for each one of us to decide anything….we are but to obey the magisterium. The fruits of vatican 2 are rotten and need only be rejected in totality; there is no need to sift through anything that contains even ONE lie to search for the truth. Once even one one lie has been introduced, then all is a lie.
“The Church, founded on these principles and mindful of her office, has done nothing with greater zeal and endeavour than she has displayed in guarding the integrity of the faith. Hence she regarded as rebels and expelled from the ranks of her children all who held beliefs on any point of doctrine different from her own. The Arians, the Montanists, the Novatians, the Quartodecimans, the Eutychians, did not certainly reject all Catholic doctrine: they abandoned only a tertian portion of it. Still who does not know that they were declared heretics and banished from the bosom of the Church? In like manner were condemned all authors of heretical tenets who followed them in subsequent ages. “There can be nothing more dangerous than those heretics who admit nearly the whole cycle of doctrine, and yet by one word, as with a drop of poison, infect the real and simple faith taught by our Lord and handed down by Apostolic tradition” (Auctor Tract. de Fide Orthodoxa contra Arianos).”
Pope Leo XII Satis Cognitum
If a scant BIT of vatican 2 is wrong (and its obviously much more than a “scant bit” that is wrong) then ALL of it is wrong. There is absolutely nothing to be gained from the vatican 2 sect.
LeoXII….
Good grief….Leo XIII. Sorry guys….im sure most here know who im referring to.
Fruit simply refers to the factual consequences – which we can all see you in our own lives, families, our own parishes, dioceses, schools, seminaries, universities, public mores, etc.
Yes indeed…14 verses
I am sorry, Father. I should have said, “ALONG WITH MY PRACTICE OF KISSING THE CORPUS OF CHRIST, I shall adopt this practice of kissing the wood of my crucifix and offer it in reparation for the sins against my Mother, the Church.”
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I have not abandoned my former practice of kissing the Corpus on the Cross, thus loving my Lord Jesus Christ, but you have given me a new “meditation” and loving gesture to add to my former meditation and gesture of kissing the Corpus on the Cross.
Thank you.
Satan is sometimes depicted as a man upside down. John Paul II’s quote above where he lauds the ‘tree’ and the ‘fruits’ is also a depiction of the Catholic Church upside down. The soil is toxic, the seed is deformed, and the fruit rots on the branch.
Read the life of Father de Smet. He describes an Indian he met who was a truly ‘just’ man – he had never to his own knowledge ‘done anything wrong’ once it was taught him that it was wrong.
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So Our Lord sent Father de Smet to him. That’s how it works. The answer is no: if you never hear of the Gospels you can’t be saved. But if you live a ‘just’ life, without mortal sin as you know that to be, God will send either an angel, a missionary, or will direct you Himself. That’s what is meant when we say God gives every man and woman (and reasoning child) the grace necessary for salvation. Our Loving Father leaves NO ONE without the chance to be with him. No One.
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The part each one plays when this grace comes is, of course, the kicker.
The Cross, with Corpus, that is presented to us to kiss is such that Our Lord’s Feet are kissed and we would have to really struggle to kiss the wood beneath. Thank you for pointing out the difference, Father. I will ask my pastor about this.
One good fruit that has come from Vatican II is that we here have learned our Catholic Faith! God always brings good from evil, no?
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He will bring good from this upcoming Synod too. We will see Him raise up holy priests, bishops and cardinals – we will see the separation of the sheep and the goats. We will know who to pray for and who to leave up to Him. And all the while we will be reading and studying about our Church, learning about Tradition, Truth and Beauty, and revelling in the fact that she is The One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic, Church.
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We may have to wait a long, long time to see the Counterrevolution but He will provide.
Dear Barbara, What you speak of is the result of the intervening will on the part of some, to combat the causes of the rotten fruit, inter alia.
Absolutely, Rich. This stuff isn’t rocket science, and God doesn’t required that we be ‘sifters’ of Catholicsm coming from the so-called Shepherds in Wolves’ clothing. Either it is or it isn’t and VII and the N.O. Rites are not Catholic. A NOpe is not a Pope.
Yes, dear Barbara,
but the Mystery of Predestination must be included in any discussion here. However, as I said earlier, this is only a combox. In no way am I even attempting to cover this topic here. That said, a Catholic could truly say that (merely) attaining to salvation is not enough. Perfection is not necessary for salvation, only being in the state of Grace is necessary. One can be saved while harboring venial sin. Not all souls who are saved will spend Eternity in the Beatific Vision. We are to be perfect, as the Redeemer taught ( IOW, without even venial sin on the soul. ) An extended study of Catholic Dogma as it pertains to Catholicsm’s teaching on Predestination is a good thing (presented by Ott & others ) bc it assists Catholics discussing this matter with protestants-for example.
Ott: Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma p.236- item 10
God’s Freedom in the Distribution of Grace or the Gratuity of Grace and further.
p.242-item 12-b.
God, by His Eternal Rsolve of Will, has predetermined certain men to eternal blessedness. (De Fide) and further.
p. 246 item 14-The Teaching of the Church on Grace and Freedom and further
Barbara, I’m not commenting here to refute you, but rather – to augment what you already pointed out, which is true.
Dear Lynda,
Is it possible for a rotting grape to go on to become a delicious raisin?
Dear readers: the Missale Romanum is quite specific. For Good Friday there takes place a ritual called “Adoration of the Holy Cross.” Not adoration of Christ on the Cross, but very specifically, ADORATION OF THE HOLY CROSS. The liturgical wording likewise is quite specific: “Ecce LIGNUM CRUCIS, in quo salus mundi pependit. Venite, adoremus / Behold the WOOD OF THE CROSS, on which hung the Savior of the world. Come, let us adore.” We are showing the wood of the Cross—THAT is what we must adore by kissing it, for all the reasons put forth in the article. Yes, we adore the wood of the Cross, the Cross that Our Lord freely, willingly, lovingly assumed for us and for our salvation! It is NOT idolatry to “adore” the wood of the Cross, any more than it is idolatry to kiss the figure of the Corpus Christi on the Cross. These are both “objects,” not the real thing. And yet liturgically, Holy Mother Church bids us to adore (the wood) of the Cross on Good Friday: Antiphon III (Ps. 66): CRUCEM TUAM ADORAMUS, DOMINE {…}” / We ADORE THY CROSS, OH LORD {…}.” Then the Hymn: CRUX FIDELES inter omnes, arbor una nobilis: nula silva talem profert, fronde, flore, germine” / FAITHFUL CROSS! above all other, one and only noble Tree! None in foilage, none in blossom, none in fruit thy peer may be.” We can very clearly see that the liturgy for Good Friday is quite specific: the liturgical texts themselves sing the praises of the wood of the Cross: it is precisely what we adore by “kissing the feet of the Crucifix,” (NOT the Crucified Lord) as the Missal notes state. I must insist on this because it seems rather evident that we do not grasp the high significance of adoring the Cross of Our Lord.
Thank you, Father. Thank you! I struggle with my crosses.
Beautiful article Father, thank you for such edification and spiritual nourishment:+) God bless~