By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK
On March 25, many participated worldwide in a consecration requested by the bishops of Ukraine according to our Lady’s request at Fatima. But, as we saw, the prayer equivocated. Russia and Ukraine were mentioned, but so was “all of humanity.”
“All of humanity” and “especially Russia and Ukraine.” Did we consecrate Russia according to Heaven’s command? Why the insertion of the phrase “all of humanity”? What is the agenda? The individual soul lost in a formless and vague generalization?
Yes, it is right and good to consecrate “all of humanity.” But that can be done at any time. The purpose of the exercise, consecrating Russia, is lost in a sea of generalization, however, when added as an afterthought to a group which already includes Russia, even with the insertion of the word “especially.”
The purpose of consecration is for the setting aside as holy, for the purposes of God, individuals and nations who otherwise might, without the help of His grace, pursue evil agendas such as killing and war, as Russia is now doing.
We have seen a host of human agendas elevated above the supreme law of the Church, salvation of souls, and the importance of each individual soul in that mission. What happens to the mission of the Church when humanist and globalist goals take first place? A new pharisaism, condemned by Christ.
Global warming, LGBTQ+, the German “Synodal Way” calling for blessing same-sex relationships, changing Church teaching in regard to sodomy, ordaining women, and the rest, all of these and more have been part of an avalanche of heresy inundating the Church and neglecting the first need of every soul.
Priests who oppose these initiatives which endanger souls, if not merely neglecting their highest good are often called “rigid” and falsely, as it turns out, condemned as pharisaical. Some of this comes even from the Pope. The truth is actually the opposite. Our Lord condemned the Pharisees because they elevated man’s laws above God’s by using mere human tradition to encourage and command violation of divine law.
Read the rest: https://thewandererpress.com/catholic/news/our-catholic-faith/the-stupidity-of-the-pharisees/
Even better: ask.
The word “Lent” means “Spring”. Spiritual renewal and life is never limited by circumstances, age, by any material or natural condition or event. The more one is tempted by the changing conditions of the world the more necessary is the serenity made possible by faith.
“Fear is useless. What is needed is trust.”
Trust prepares the seed ground, Faith waters the seminal life of the soul.
“Pray always.”
From an email blast sent by a Maryland pro-life activist.
ACTION IS NEEDED NOW.
We need all resistance members to log on to the Maryland General Assembly website BETWEEN THE HOURS OF 4PM TUESDAY, MARCH 29 AND 10AM WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30 and give UNFAVORABLE TESTIMONY on HB 1171. Many resistance members have already done so. WE NEED ALL HANDS ON DECK NOW.
THE BILLS WILL BE LOADED ON TO THE WEBSITE AFTER 4PM ON TUESDAY MARCH 29TH. YOU CAN GIVE TESTIMONY BETWEEN THE HOURS OF 4PM TUESDAY AND 10AM WEDNESDAY MARCH 30.
Below are the instructions necessary to help you give testimony on HB 1171. In addition to our instructions is a link to video tutorials on the Maryland General Assembly Website.
INSTRUCTIONS TO GIVE TESTIMONY
1. Go to Maryland General Assembly
2. Go to the upper right hand corner and click "MYMGA" Sign in or create an account. Name, address and password. Follow the prompts to confirm through your email. this will take you to the next page.
3. On the next page click "witness signup" and SCROLL TO FIND THE CORRECT SENATE OR HOUSE BILL. Look for the bill numbers we gave you.
4. Go to the "position" dropdown and choose "unfavorable"
5. Go to the next drop down "testimony" and choose "written" (if giving written testimony, if not, choose neither written or oral testimony.)
6. In a separate PDF file on your computer WRITE A SIMPLE PARAGRAPH AS TO WHY YOU ARE AGAINST THE BILL. (If you choose to give written testimony)
7. Upload the testimony PDF file and hit "OK".
8. On the upper left hand corner of the witness sign up page click "SAVE"
9. A pop-up box will appear. click "OK" (the pop up box will go away)
10. Look for the "signed up items" tab and click on it. you will see your bill, your position and your testimony.
Link to Maryland General assembly tutorials.
https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Information/VideoTutorials
(bottom 2 videos are for creating an account and for witness testimony sign up).
Delegate Adrienne Jones (radical abortion leftist)
301-858-3800
Senator Bill Ferguson (Speaker of the Senate)
301-858-3600
“And God created man to his own image: to the image of God he created him: male and female he created them” (Gen. 5:2). “A man shall leave his father and mother and cling to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (Eph. 5:31). “Go forth and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it” (Gen. 1:28).
For millennia the Church has received these and all of the Scriptures together, under the infallible guidance of the Holy Spirit, to lead us “into all truth.” In doing so, as Mater and Magistra, Mother and Teacher, the Church unfailingly communicates the love and plan of our true Father in Heaven.
Thus the Church teaches that marriage is always and only between one man and one woman, whose role is primarily to procreate new life together with God out of the love and the home they make and share together according to His holy plan. That’s the easy part.
Church Tradition offers a solid and cohesive plan of life, now and eternally. How we live now determines how we will live after this very brief earthly sojourn, whether eternally blessed with God or condemned with the loveless and Godless to Hell forever.
Love is the hard part. Not God’s love, which so evidently comes to us through the truth, creation, and in so many other ways. Everything revealed about God is brought together above all in Jesus Christ, who is the “perfect Revelation of the Father.”
Love for human beings is ever a challenge because of our ever-present propensity for sin. The culture rejects the truth about our wounded nature. Having gotten that fundamental fact wrong, society and the so-called intelligentsia, and those who desire to be widely accepted as such, are simply “the blind leading the blind,” and as a result many are falling into the predictable “pit” about which our Lord lovingly warned us (Matt. 15:14).
Read the rest: https://thewandererpress.com/catholic/news/our-catholic-faith/lgbtq-is-not-catholic/
CONSECRATION OF RUSSIA TO THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY
Prostrate before Your Throne of Grace, O Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, we remember the requests You made when You came to visit us at Fatima.
The abominable sins of the world, the persecutions directed against the Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the apostasy of the Christian nations and souls, the neglect of Your Maternity of Grace by a great majority, burdened then and continue to bruise today Your Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart, so united in compassion with the sufferings of the Sacred Heart of Your Divine Son.
In order to make reparation for so many crimes, You came to ask for the establishment of the devotion of reparation to Your Immaculate Heart, and in order to stop God’s chastisements which You predicted, You made Yourself the Messenger of the Most High, to request from the Vicar of Our Lord Jesus Christ, united with all the bishops of the world, the consecration of Russia to Your Immaculate Heart.
On this Feast of the Annunciation, chosen by the Supreme Pontiff to surround himself with all the bishops of the world, in order to solemnly consecrate to Your Immaculate Heart, “ his person, the Church, and the whole of humanity, in particular Russia and Ukraine,” we wish to associate our voices to the prayer that rises to Your maternal power.
Therefore, O Mother of God, deign to accept this solemn act of reparation which we present to Your Immaculate Heart, which, together with the Sacred Heart of Jesus, is so burdened by the offences of sinners and by impious souls.
Moreover, we give, deliver, and consecrate Russia especially to Your Immaculate Heart: we beg You, in Your Maternal mercy, to take this nation under Your powerful protection, to make it Your domain where You reign as Queen, to make it a land of election and blessing. We beseech You to subdue this nation so that it may become a new Kingdom for Our Lord Jesus Christ, a new conquest under His sweet scepter. May it return from its schism to the unity of the One Fold of the Eternal Shepherd, and thus submit to the Vicar of Your Divine Son, and become an ardent proclaimer of the social Kingdom of Our Lord Jesus Christ to all nations of the Earth.
Furthermore, we beg you, O Mother of Mercy, by accomplishing this shining miracle through Your all powerful supplication, to manifest to the world the truth of Your Universal Mediation of Grace. Finally, O Queen of Peace, bring to the world that peace which the world cannot give, the peace of nations and of souls, the peace of Christ in the Kingdom of Christ, and the Kingdom of Christ through the reign of your Immaculate Heart. Amen.
Consecrate Russia.
Humanity is not the source of the violence and death in Europe right now: Russia is.
Consecrate Russia as our Lady requested.
Her relics are currently on tour in the USA with stops planned in Baltimore, New Jersey and New York City during the month of May.
A consecration prayer publicized by the Archdiocese of Minneapolis-Saint Paul, the text included below, is worded as a consecration for all of “humanity” with an “especially” designation for Russia and Ukraine.
Our Lady’s request that Russia be consecrated may not be fulfilled if that country is consecrated along with all of “humanity”, Russia and Ukraine as a subset rather than featured. Our Lady requested that “Russia” in particular be consecrated.
It goes without saying that all humanity benefits from being consecrated to our Lady’s Immaculate Heart. The problem at the time of our Lady’s request was that Russia had not been so consecrated, requiring the specific remedy of naming Russia in particular.
I suppose one concern might be that no one would want to be suspected of being less than generous by excluding anyone from the consecration?
Text:
O Mary, Mother of God and our Mother,
in this time of trial we turn to you.
As our Mother, you love us and know us:
no concern of our hearts is hidden from you.
Mother of mercy, how often we have experienced
your watchful care and your peaceful presence!
You never cease to guide us to Jesus, the Prince of Peace.
Yet we have strayed from that path of peace.
We have forgotten the lesson learned from the tragedies of the last century, the sacrifice of the millions who fell in two world wars.
We have disregarded the commitments we made as a community of nations. We have betrayed peoples’ dreams of peace and the hopes of the young.
We grew sick with greed,
we thought only of our own nations and their interests,
we grew indifferent and caught up in our selfish needs and concerns.
We chose to ignore God,
to be satisfied with our illusions, to grow arrogant and aggressive,
to suppress innocent lives and to stockpile weapons.
We stopped being our neighbor’s keepers and stewards of our common home. We have ravaged the garden of the earth with war
and by our sins we have broken the heart of our heavenly Father,
who desires us to be brothers and sisters.
We grew indifferent to everyone and everything except ourselves.
Now with shame we cry out:
Forgive us, Lord!
Holy Mother,
amid the misery of our sinfulness, amid our struggles and weaknesses,
amid the mystery of iniquity that is evil and war,
you remind us that God never abandons us,
but continues to look upon us with love,
ever ready to forgive us and raise us up to new life.
He has given you to us and made your Immaculate Heart a refuge for the Church and for all humanity.
By God’s gracious will, you are ever with us;
even in the most troubled moments of our history, you are there to guide us with tender love.
We now turn to you and knock at the door of your heart. We are your beloved children.
In every age you make yourself known to us,
calling us to conversion.
At this dark hour, help us and grant us your comfort.
Say to us once more: “Am I not here, I who am your Mother?”
You are able to untie the knots of our hearts and of our times.
In you we place our trust.
We are confident that, especially in moments of trial,
you will not be deaf to our supplication and will come to our aid.
That is what you did at Cana in Galilee,
when you interceded with Jesus and he worked the first of his signs.
To preserve the joy of the wedding feast, you said to him: “They have no wine.” Now, O Mother, repeat those words and that prayer,
for in our own day we have run out of the wine of hope,
joy has fled, fraternity has faded.
We have forgotten our humanity and squandered the gift of peace.
We opened our hearts to violence and destructiveness.
How greatly we need your maternal help!
Therefore, O Mother, hear our prayer.
Star of the Sea, do not let us be shipwrecked in the tempest of war.
Ark of the New Covenant, inspire projects and paths of reconciliation. Queen of Heaven, restore God’s peace to the world.
Eliminate hatred and the thirst for revenge, and teach us forgiveness.
Free us from war, protect our world from the menace of nuclear weapons. Queen of the Rosary, make us realize our need to pray and to love.
Queen of the Human Family, show people the path of fraternity.
Queen of Peace, obtain peace for our world.
O Mother, may your sorrowful plea stir our hardened hearts. May the tears you shed for us
make this valley parched by our hatred blossom anew. Amid the thunder of weapons,
may your prayer turn our thoughts to peace.
May your maternal touch soothe those who suffer
and flee from the rain of bombs.
May your motherly embrace
comfort those forced to leave their homes and their native land. May your Sorrowful Heart move us to compassion and inspire us to open our doors
and to care for our brothers and sisters who are injured and cast aside.
Holy Mother of God, as you stood beneath the cross,
Jesus, seeing the disciple at your side, said: “Behold your son.”
In this way he entrusted each of us to you.
To the disciple, and to each of us, he said: “Behold, your Mother.”
Mother Mary, we now desire to welcome you into our lives and our history. At this hour, a weary and distraught humanity
stands with you beneath the cross, needing to entrust itself to you
and, through you, to consecrate itself to Christ.
The people of Ukraine and Russia,
who venerate you with great love,
now turn to you,
even as your heart beats with compassion for them
and for all those peoples decimated by war, hunger, injustice and poverty.
Therefore, Mother of God and our Mother,
to your Immaculate Heart
we solemnly entrust and consecrate ourselves,
the Church and all humanity,
especially Russia and Ukraine.
Accept this act that we carry out with confidence and love. Grant that war may end and peace spread throughout the world. The “Fiat” that arose from your heart
opened the doors of history to the Prince of Peace.
We trust that, through your heart, peace will dawn once more. To you we consecrate the future of the whole human family,
the needs and expectations of every people,
the anxieties and hopes of the world.
Through your intercession,
may God’s mercy be poured out on the earth
and the gentle rhythm of peace return to mark our days.
Our Lady of the “Fiat”, on whom the Holy Spirit descended,
restore among us the harmony that comes from God.
May you, our “living fountain of hope”, water the dryness of our hearts. In your womb Jesus took flesh;
help us to foster the growth of communion.
You once trod the streets of our world;
lead us now on the paths of peace.
Amen.
None of us are capable of judging, of course, but sad experience instructs that, unfortunately, sometimes religion is used as a prop.
“I must also pause to reaffirm my thanks to God, for it is faith that sustains me at this moment. Even prior to today, I can honestly say that my life has been blessed beyond measure.” Remarks by Ketanji Brown, who seems like a very nice person with a good family. This is not about that.
Protestants like Ketanji Brown, who described herself as such on March 22 while being examined in hearings by the Congress for her supreme court confirmation, often thank God for being God and say they’re blessed, but that’s not revolutionary. The pagans do as much.
No, what’s revolutionary about being Christian is doing things also that pagans don’t do: being like God, forgiving one’s enemies, praying for one’s persecutors, loving those who hate.
Pagans thank God; that’s not distinctive about being Christian. Being Christian is how we bless God, how we keep the Commandments, the life of grace.
Jesus Christ defines Christianity, for he is Christ and he says not everyone who says “Lord, Lord” will enter the kingdom of God, but only those “who hear the word of God and keep it”, “those who do the will of the Heavenly Father”.
Also, as was pointed out today by a protestant member of Congress, anti-Catholicism is alive and well when you contrast the treatment of a Catholic, like Amy Coney Barrett, who was convicted by a Jewish member of Congress for the “crime” of having “the dogma living loudly within” her, with the treatment of Ketanji Brown, which has been silent about her religious affiliation.
A double standard is evident in the fact that Ketanji Brown is afforded privacy with respect to her faith because she’s already known to be pro-abortion while Coney Barrett’s religious affiliation as a Catholic was of concern because of the risk that she might be pro life.
Pope Benedict’s teaching that the Roman rite has “two forms” is echoed here in new document issued by Pope Francis and in contradiction to his statement in Traditionis Custodes that the ordinary form, or new Mass of Vatican II is the “unique” expression of the Roman rite.
The constitution says that the newly named Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments is responsible for arranging “the drafting or revision and updating of the typical [original Latin] editions of liturgical books.”
It states that “the dicastery deals with the regulation and discipline of the sacred liturgy as regards the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite.”
Source: National Catholic Register
Continuation of the Holy Gospel according to Matthew
Matt 1:18-21
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I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through belief in the Threeness,
Through confession of the Oneness
of the Creator of creation.
I arise today
Through the strength of Christ's birth with His baptism,
Through the strength of His crucifixion with His burial,
Through the strength of His resurrection with His ascension,
Through the strength of His descent for the judgment of doom.
I arise today
Through the strength of the love of cherubim,
In the obedience of angels,
In the service of archangels,
In the hope of resurrection to meet with reward,
In the prayers of patriarchs,
In the predictions of prophets,
In the preaching of apostles,
In the faith of confessors,
In the innocence of holy virgins,
In the deeds of righteous men.
I arise today, through
The strength of heaven,
The light of the sun,
The radiance of the moon,
The splendor of fire,
The speed of lightning,
The swiftness of wind,
The depth of the sea,
The stability of the earth,
The firmness of rock.
I arise today, through
God's strength to pilot me,
God's might to uphold me,
God's wisdom to guide me,
God's eye to look before me,
God's ear to hear me,
God's word to speak for me,
God's hand to guard me,
God's shield to protect me,
God's host to save me
From snares of devils,
From temptation of vices,
From everyone who shall wish me ill,
afar and near.
I summon today
All these powers between me and those evils,
Against every cruel and merciless power
that may oppose my body and soul,
Against incantations of false prophets,
Against black laws of pagandom,
Against false laws of heretics,
Against craft of idolatry,
Against spells of witches and smiths and wizards,
Against every knowledge that corrupts man's body and soul;
Christ to shield me today
Against poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against wounding,
So that there may come to me an abundance of reward.
Christ with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me,
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right,
Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
“To reject the divine teaching of the Catholic Church is to reject the very basis of reason and revelation, for neither the principles of the one nor those of the other have any longer any solid support to rest on; they can then be interpreted by every one as he pleases; every one can deny all truths whatsoever he chooses to deny. I therefore repeat: If the divine teaching authority of the Church, and the obedience to it, are rejected, every error will be endorsed and must be tolerated."[17][18]
- Saint Alphonsus Liguori
“I am saddened,” writes Pope Francis in his letter accompanying Traditionis Custodes, “by abuses in the celebration of the liturgy on all sides. In common with Benedict XVI, I
(In photo above Pope Francis “concelebrates” holy Mass at the Church of the Gesu in Rome on March 12, 2022. Traditionis Custodes (TC) was issued by the Pope on July 16, 2021.)
From Okie Traditionalist:
—Bishop Jacques-Benigne Bossuet
The Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) calls Bossuet the greatest pulpit orator of all time, ranking him even ahead of Augustine and Chrysostom.
“A Texas court ended a challenge to the state’s abortion ban, closing what abortion-rights advocates said was a last path to blocking the law.”
As the last challenge to the Texas law restricting procedures to end a child’s life in the womb is turned away, the abortion issue is now placed squarely once again within the lawmaking jurisdiction of the states, rendering the Supreme Court Roe v Wade decision of 1973, which arrogated the issue to the Federal level, moot.
Breaking news via NY Times tonight: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/11/us/texas-abortion-law.html
Sr Dede was recently interviewed about her lawsuit against DC to have her license reinstated and to obtain the vaccine exemption on religious grounds.
The lawyer to whom I refer as source is not Christopher Ferrara as seen in the FOX interview.
By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK
National Review magazine stood as a sort of literary key to understanding the world during my college years at Fordham. The safe reality of faith and attending Sunday Mass took care of the next world, but something more was needed as a bridge to sorting out this present reality.
Praying was important, of course. Preparing for the next life could not by any means be neglected, that was certain. But “doing things” was important as well. Acting in the world and making change mattered. So politics mattered. Derring-do and all that.
If politics was necessary, and it was, then certainly liberal politics wouldn’t do at all. And so, therefore, Republicans. And the National Review sort would do just fine. William F. Buckley, Jr., was smart, and was Catholic, after all. Wasn’t he? The combination seemed ideal.
The ultimate anchor of faith was used to justify this political sympathy. Which proved the fundamental reality of faith over politics. One must be clear that if one has ever ultimately to make a choice between one of two things, one must be clear as to which of the two may be expended without loss of one’s ultimate ground of identity. It was clear at this stage it must be God. And God was accessible and sacramentally present in the Catholic way.
I gladly attended a Buckley talk, probably hosted by college Republicans, when he visited Fordham. All of G. Gordon Liddy’s sons were in the room at the time. I was part of a stellar vanguard. Or so I thought.
I was a practicing Catholic, of course. As a young Armor officer in Texas I faithfully attended Sunday Mass and contributed to the collection. So, when I later learned that Buckley had responded to John XXIII’s letter on the teaching authority of the Church with the riposte “Mater si, magistra no” thus began a period of increasing delusion with politics in general. But I didn’t let go entirely. Things must get done. Like fighting abortion.
Read the rest: https://thewandererpress.com/catholic/news/our-catholic-faith/put-not-your-trust-in-princes/
