A very interesting and even hopeful article on a survey of priests. I see this in my own parish with younger priests…. Definitely more theological conservative. In fact, one parish a town over just renovated their church. The tabernacle was moved to prominent space on the altar and an altar rail with kneeler installed. I like that despite their concerns about the Pope and bishops, they are remaining obedient. They see this as important part of priesthood. Of course, at some point, this may come to a head. In any case, I find this hopeful. And it reminds me to up my daily prayers for our priests and for Vocations https://www.oursundayvisitor.com/are-younger-catholic-priests-growing-more-conservative/
From Our Lady of La Salette: Rome will lose the Faith and become the seat of the Antichrist. So, no, "the seat" is not "vacant." It is occupied by an antipope, who has been prophesied to sit in it. That particular antipope is the person the Church Fathers called "the Antichrist," known as "the False Prophet" in the Apocalypse, as the "Man of Sin" in 2 Thessalonians 2, and as "the Little Horn" in Daniel.
Please, leave this alone on this forum. Leave it to Cardinals and Bishops to make such judgements. We are only very humble lay folk. Leave it to them, it's what they are there for. Personally I believe Pope Francis is the Pope. I have no real reason to suppose otherwise. He's a huge, huge, huge pain in the ass, but still, he's Pope. I am sorry, if you put this position forward one more time I will have to boot you off the forum. As I have done before to others for the exact same thing.. This is last warning time. I have maybe been too slow to issue such a warning. For which I apologise. Don't test me on this. Stop.
Christ passed through Mary's womb as light through glass, just as he passed through the stone of the sepulchre. I love these analogies which I know come from some great Catholic thinker but I can't now remember who
Really beautiful. I often think of Jesus and Mary as the New Adam and the New Eve. Labour pains don't figure into that.
If Joseph was pondering whether or not to divorce, there was a marital commitment present. Secondly, Mary's yes to God, in response to Gabriel's announcement, shows a full commitment on her part. There were no unhappy circumstances relative to her pregnancy. Rather, Mary's surrender to God's Plan and her submission to Joseph should be held up as an example of true commitment to a marital covenant. Matthew 1:20 But as he considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit; 21 she will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23 “Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emman′u-el”, which means, God with us. 24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took his wife, 25 but knew her not until she had borne a son; and he called his name Jesus.
Recently a priest explained to us that Mary and Joseph had exchanged full marriage vows, they just had not come to live together. Mary was not an unmarried mother and is very wrong to say otherwise.
Pope Francis Just Called for the Decriminalization of Homosexuality Worldwide https://slate.com/human-interest/2023/01/pope-francis-decriminalization-homosexuality.html
The pain of childbirth that Mary experienced was not at Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem, but rather with Jesus, at the foot of His Cross, when our Blessed Mother gave Her “yes” again to God and agreed to become the Mother of Christ’s Mystical Body of the Church. From the Cross, Jesus looked at His Mother and said (referring to the Beloved Disciple) “behold your Son”. At this moment time came to a stop as Jesus’ Sacred Heart asked of His Mother’s Immaculate Heart to once again, be the vessel through which the Body of His Church would be born. Mary’s yes came once more to Her Son as She agreed to be the Mother of all beloved disciples who are in Her Son. Mary shares everything with Jesus. The pain of the passion, the pain of our sins, and the infinitude of love and grace that God has for all humankind. For She is the Daughter of God the Father, the Mother of God the Son, and the Spouse of God the Holy Spirit. Mary lives within the Sacred Fire of Love within the Holy Trinity and because of Her yes, they give Her to distribute the very infinitude of grace (St. Albert the Great) that Christ gained for His brothers and sisters upon the Cross. The pain of Childbirth spoken of in Revelation, as experienced by the Women Crowned with 12 Stars, who is wailing in pain to give birth to a Son to whom satan wants to snatch away: can you see how this refers to the birth of Christ’s Church in each beloved disciple even to this day and all that Christ’s Mystical Body is going through rite now? But Mary was protected from all of this dreadful torrent from the devil, and She will be the refuge of all Her sons and daughters that Jesus gave Her, even as She still ponders in Her heart the best means for our salvation if we ask for Her prayers “…now and at the hour of our death. Amen”. Peace, Ed
I feel so burdened and saddened by the state of Our Holy Mother the Church at the moment. I try to keep myself upbeat, as St Paul advises in Scripture by focusing on all that is good and Holy. But sometimes, when you read all the reports coming in from all over the World, to be honest it is just a total horror picture. Perhaps the very saddest thing of all is that the large majority of our brothers and sisters in the Faith , including our clergy have just no idea. Pope Benedict wrote about this in a book he wrote, which was published after his death, that the Church was on the very point of collapse. If anyone would know it would have been himself. Who would know better? It reminds me of milk going bad. But in this case the milk is going bad just so fast it turns blue , then black and starts to stink right before our very eyes. It is uncanny how quickly events are happening right before our very eyes. It has gotten just so very bad I can hardly even bear to think about it and I would say I am a pretty tough customer. But it all just so appalling. Anyway prayers for Our Poor, Poor Mother the Church. What else can we ordinary Catholics do but pray? ...and pray,very,very, very much.
One thing did cheer me up this morning. All those hundred and hundreds of African travelling many hundreds of miles on foot to see Pope Francis in the DMC and the Sudan. Bless them. Africans who suffer so much have the highest rate of Church attendance in the World and suffer greatly. The two things go together. Faith and Suffering.
According to many demographers, including the Pew organisation, Africa will form a huge chunk of world population by the end of the century. They won't bring any wealth or new technology with them, but when they occupy the world, they'll hopefully bring the Faith. Please God, like the Irish during the Dark Ages re-evangelised Europe, the continent of Augustine will re-evangelise the world. Of course, the devil's minions are trying to bring their abortion/contraception/woke corruption into Africa, but there seems to be a lot of push-back. I fear these ghouls are also trying to engineer famine in Africa, with their continuing cut-backs in food production, but maybe they'll only succeed in accelerating the migration of the Africans world-wide. God can so easily turn the greatest of evil into good.
