Why study anything but Scholastic Theology?

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Scholastic, Scholastic Theology, Scholasticism, Theology

To understand how important it is to support The Scholasticum — the only institute in all the world and all the Church dedicated to reviving the study of Scholastic Theology — take a moment to hear what Pope Sixtus V said of them, in his Decretal Letters of March 14, 1588, entitled, Triumphantis Hierusalem, § 10.:

For with the divine gift of Him, Who alone gives the spirit of knowledge and wisdom and understanding, and Who furnishes His Church throughout the lifetimes of generations with new benefits, as is needed, and Who provides Her with new supports, there has been discovered by Our ancestors, most wise men, Scholastic Theology, which two Doctors glorious above all, the angelic Saint Thomas, and the seraphic Saint Bonaventure, most brilliant professors in this capacity, and first among those, who have been registered among the number of the Saints, with excellent genius, assiduous study, great labors and vigils have refined and decorated, and have passed on to those who would come after, optimally arranged and in many ways very clearly explained. And, indeed, such a salutary understanding and practice of this science, which spread abroad from the richest sources of divine letters, of the Roman Pontiffs, of holy Fathers and Councils, could certainly always bring the greatest assistance to the Church, either to understand and interpret, truly and sensibly, the Scriptures themselves, or to read through and explain the Fathers more securely and usefully, or to detect and refute the various errors and heresies. Truly in these last days, in which there has already arrived those dangerous times described by the Apostle, and the blasphemous, proud, (and) seductive men who advance to what is worse still, erring and sending others into error, this (kind of theology) is necessary to sensibly confirm the dogmas of the Catholic Faith and to confute heresies. And the state of affairs is such, that the judges are the very enemies themselves of the truth, by whom Scholastic Theology has become dreadful to the greatest degree, who scarcely understand, by that apt and inner-connected coherence of things and causes, in that order and arrangement, as by the training of soldiers in fighting, with those lucid definitions and distinctions, by that firmness of arguments and the sharpest disputations, light is distinguished from shadows, and the true from the false, and their mendacity, involuted with many deceptions and fallacies, like a vestment borne away, is brought to light and stripped bare. Therefore, inasmuch as these men undertake to fight and overturn this most fortified citadel of Scholastic Theology, so much more does it befit us to defend this unconquered bulwark of the Faith, both to conserve and keep safe the inheritance of Our fathers, and to embellish, as much as we can, the keenest defenders of the truth with merited honors.

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Torniamo a seguire le orme del nostro Serafico Padre

St Francis in the ancient habit of the Order, with the tonsure of a friar Deacon.

Sono passati ottocento anni da quando Dio Altissimo si è degnato di rivolgere il Suo sguardo al Suo servo Francesco per chiamarlo a una vita di semplicità evangelica. In un primo momento, tramite la visione miracolosa a San Damiano, durante i primi giorni dell’inverno del 1206; poi, durante la festa di San Mattia, il 24 febbraio 1209, quando San Francesco, che aveva l’abitudine di assistere ogni giorno al Santissimo Sacrificio della Messa nella chiesa della Vergine Regina degli Angeli alla Porziuncola, nella vallata sottostante al paese di Assisi, in Italia, udì con le sue orecchie il Vangelo dell’invio dei discepoli e rimase dopo la celebrazione per chiedere al sacerdote di spiegargliene il significato. Dopo aver compreso il significato di questo brano della Scrittura, il Serafico Padre esclamò con gioia: Questo è ciò che voglio, questo è ciò che anelo con tutto il mio cuore!

Che gran giorno fu quello, che giorno pieno di speranza fu per tutti i figli e le figlie del Poverello! Possiamo scorrere le innumerevoli pagine degli anni e tornare indietro a quel giorno meraviglioso e sorprendente in cui un uomo così umile, Francesco di Bernardone, che desiderava con tutta la sua anima e il suo corpo seguire il Signore Gesù, intraprese la vita evangelica in un modo straordinario e apostolico, mettendo in pratica le parole del Vangelo in modo letterale. Perché a partire da quel giorno San Francesco fece ciò che Nostro Signore comandò: non prese nulla con sé, né oro né argento, né una seconda tunica, né un bastone né una bisaccia, e cominciò una vita di completa, intera e perfetta dedizione al servizio di Gesù Cristo nella Sua Chiesa, predicando il pentimento ai peccatori e offrendo opere di carità ai lebbrosi e ai poveri.

Che giorni pieni di speranza sono quelli per tutti noi Francescani! Possiamo vedere che ciò che ha reso San Francesco così grande è qualcosa a cui non solo possiamo aspirare, ma che possiamo tutti ottenere, perché a San Francesco fu concesso dalla grazia di Dio, che Egli, nella Sua impenetrabile misericordia e generosità, si è degnato di concedere anche a noi, tramite la nostra vocazione, e verso cui e in cui possiamo camminare e progredire, se solo vogliamo seguire le orme del nostro Serafico Padre, San Francesco.

Umiliamoci, dunque, e camminiamo ancóra una volta con nostro Padre. Mostriamoci suoi figli ascoltando le sue parole e osservando la sua Regola. Imitiamo soprattutto la sua semplicità nella sua fede nel Vangelo, che era pari a quella di un bambino, come lo era il suo distacco da tutti gli interessi e le ambizioni mondani.

 

Continua a leggere

 

Fonte: https://exffi.wordpress.com/2015/09/03/torniamo-a-seguire-le-orme-del-nostro-serafico-padre/

« Laudato Sie, mi Signore… » — The Encyclical which needs to be written

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Apostle Saint John, Christ Jesus, Encyclical, Environmentalism, Jesus Christ, Laudato Si, Pope Francis, Saint Francis of Assisi

Editor’s note: Since some Catholics may consider it distasteful or inappropriate to publicly criticize Pope Francis’ Encyclical on the Environment, I have chosen not to publish anything regarding it.

However, by the grace of God, there has come into view the text of a rough draft of an Encyclical from the future, the reading of which is an occasion to reinvigorate me in the Catholic Faith which has come to us from the lips of the Eternal Son of God, Jesus Christ.  Having transcribed it, as best I can, I pass it on the text to the readers of this blog for their edification and consolation in the present hour of madness and confusion.

 

ON THE HONOR AND GLORY DUE TO THE DIVINE MAJESTY OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY

AGAINST THE ERRORS OF ENVIRONMENTALISM

(Draft Copy — Nota bene: Not under embargo)

Encyclical Letter From a Future Catholic Pope, to all the Cardinals, Archbishops, Bishops, Clergy, Religious and Laity in communion with this Apostolic See:

Peace and Apostolic Benediction!

INTRODUCTION

« Laudato sie, mi Signore cum tucte le Tue creature »:  with these words Saint Francis of Assisi — whom the Most High and Triune Lord, the Father, and the Son and the Holy Ghost, raised up from a family of cloth merchants in a small Umbrian town, and sent to this Apostolic See for the restoration of the House  of God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. (1 Timothy 3:15, cf Eccles 4:17) — the poverello, sought to draw all Christians to the praise and glorification of the One True God, the Catholic God, apart from Whom there is no god in Heaven or Earth.

2. These words are drawn from his Canticle of Brother Sun, or Canticle of Creatures, and are in the native tongue of his home town, in the Umbrian dialect as it was spoken at the turn of the 13th century after the Birth of Christ, Jesus, Our Lord.

3. That Canticle begins with a praise of the One True God:

Altissimu, onnipotente bon Signore,
Tue so le laude, la gloria e l’honore et onne benedictione.

Ad Te solo, Altissimo, se konfano,
et nullu homo ène dignu te mentouare.

in which Saint Francis, after the likeness of a seraph of the empyrean Heaven, recalls to our minds the attributes which are peculiar and properly of God alone:  Most High, Omnipotent, Good Lord… words, which the Saint pronounces in the vocative case, to indicate, after the example of the Prophet Job, that when one speaks of Our Lord and Creator, it is most proper and right to do so, as one speaking to Him, not of Him.

4. For Our God is Most High, just as the Prophet Isaiah teaches:  O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, who sittest upon the cherubim, thou alone art the God of all the kingdoms of the earth, thou hast made heaven and earth. (Isaiah 37:16).

5. Our God is Omnipotent, that is, Almighty, as He Himself declared to the Prophet Moses:  I am the Almighty God: walk before me, and be perfect. (Genesis 17:1).

6. Our God is the Good Lord, as He Himself taught us, when He deflected the false praise offered to the human nature which He assumed in His Incarnation for our salvation, saying:  No one is good but God. (Mark 10:18).

7. God alone is good, because God alone in His very Being, which both is and exists from all eternity, is the sum and origin  of all perfection, and it is He Who is, and who was, and who is to come, just as He revealed to the Apostle Saint John:  I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, saith the Lord God, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty. (Apoc 1:18)

8. Because God is God, the only God, for this reason all men are bound to praise and glorify him, as the holy man of Assisi did in his Canticle of the Creatures after the manner of a Levite of old, as was written of King David, when he brought the Ark of the Lord into Jerusalem for the first time:  And he appointed Levites to minister before the ark of the Lord, and to remember His works, and to glorify, and praise the Lord God of Israel. (1 Parapilomenon 16:4).

9.  This did the great Seraphim and Archangel Raphael command men, when in the guise of Azarias the son of the great Ananias (Tobias 5:18) he said to Tobit:  For when I was with you, I was there by the will of God: bless ye him, and sing praises to him. (Tobias 12:18).

10. But all the more so, are Christians bound to praise Him, they who have been saved through the laver of regeneration (Titus 3:5) by the merits of the blood of Christ Jesus, the Eternal Son of God, and have been transferred from the kingdom of this darkness, to the Kingdom of His Everlasting Light (cf. Colossians 1:13), and this after the example of the Prophet Moses and the Jews of old, who upon their rescue in the sea, when they sung the Canticle of the Lord, exclaimed: The Lord is my strength and my praise, and he is become salvation to me: he is my God and I will glorify him: the God of my father, and I will exalt him. (Exodus 15:2).

PART I

Our God and Savior is the Lord of Heaven and Earth

1. At the very heart of the Christian religion, which originated and endures and shall ever purdure only in the Catholic Church, lies the confession of a most sublime truth:  that Our God and Savior is the Lord of Heaven and Earth, that is, that He who had created us and all things at the beginning of time, who is named by the Name, “Yahweh, Sabbaoth!” (2 Samuel 7:27), is the same God, who in His incarnation as man, offered Himself up as a living holocaust for the expiation of sin upon the Cross (cf. Hebrews 9:14), during the reign of the Roman Emperor Tiberius, in proconsulship of Pontius Pilate (cf. Luke 3:1), on the mount of Golgotha (cf. Matthew 27:33; Mark 15:22; John 19:17).

2. This is what the people of God of old hoped and prayed for, as the Prophet Baruch witnesses:  For my hope is in the Eternal that he will save you: and joy is come upon me from the Holy One, because of the mercy which shall come to you from our everlasting Savior. (Baruch 4:22)

3. For the Creator of All, Who at the beginning of time, having created all things, pronounced them, “good” (Genesis ), in the fullness of time sent His Son to save sinners, and commissioned men to preach the Gospel of salvation, as is written of His preferential or antecedent will for mankind:  Who will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (1 Timothy 2:4).

OUR DIVINE AND APOSTOLIC CHARGE MOVE US

4. For this reason, on account of the sublime office which We have received from the Hands of the Living God, when in the person of Saint Peter, he received from Christ Jesus Our Lord, the duty and office of confirming His flock in the truth of His teaching (Matthew 16:18), We cannot be silent at the grave errors of Our own day which have overwhelmed the entire human race with monstrous falsehoods which denigrate and dishonor the Divine and Eternal Majesty of God Our Creator and threaten and do lessen the glory which He is due from every creature, on account of the Goodness and Wisdom with Which He worked in the creation and ordering of the entire universe of things.

THE DUTY OF THIS APOSTOLIC SEE TO AVOID THE PROFANATION AND SACRILEGE OF ITS SACRED MINISTRY

5. For Our Most High Lord entrusted the office of teaching to Saint Peter so that the one, sole and unique Church which He founded in Himself upon the profession of Saint Peter’s faith, might be the bulwark and pillar of the truth for all His own, and indeed for all mankind, until the end of time, when He comes is glory to judge the living and the dead, meeting out eternal and glorious rewards for those who have remained faithful to Him, and punishing the wicked and godless with eternal damnation in the fire pits of Gehenna.

6. For this reason, if We as a private person were to use our august office to teach anything which is merely naturally good, We would not be exempt from the demerit of some culpability for having profaned the sacred duty of Our office.  This sin would be all the greater in Us and sacriligeous, if We used the authority of Our office — which is not of man’s contrivance, but which originates immediately from the largess of the Creator and Savior of men — to promote error or to foster in souls a turning away of minds and hearts and actions from the goal of the salvation offered by the Redeemer of mankind:  life on high with Christ Jesus, just as St. Paul wrote:  But our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ, Who will reform the body of our lowness, made like to the body of his glory, according to the operation whereby also he is able to subdue all things unto himself. (cf. Philippians 3:20).

7. For this reason, the Apostle of the Gentiles warned all who would follow him in the Apostolic ministry with these stern words:  Be ye followers of me, brethren, and observe them who walk so as you have our model. For many walk, of whom I have told you often (and now tell you weeping), that they are enemies of the cross of Christ; Whose end is destruction; whose God is their belly; and whose glory is in their shame; who mind earthly things. (Philippians 3:17-19)

8. This sinful obsession with earthly things is, as the glorious Doctor of the Church, the Seraphic Saint Bonaventure frequently notes, the necessary consequent of a human spirit bent down to face earthly things by the weight of his own sins and vices and concupiscences.

9. It should, therefore, not be a matter of dispute among all who know their faith, that godless and carnal men have not the liberty of mind to be but the cause of error and darkness, since their minds are not intent on things above in that Heaven of heavens, in which the God who is Light Himself, dwells in inaccessible light.

10. For this reason, God in His Wisdom and Providence chose to warn us beforehand against those who would clothe themselves in the raiment of Angels and belch forth monstrous errors to deceive the faithful, after the manner of the False Prophet of which the beloved Apostle spoke in the Book of the Apocalypse:

And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom became dark, and they gnawed their tongues for pain: And they blasphemed the God of heaven, because of their pains and wounds, and did not penance for their works. And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon that great river Euphrates; and dried up the water thereof, that a way might be prepared for the kings from the rising of the sun. And I saw from the mouth of the dragon, and from the mouth of the beast, and from the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs. For they are the spirits of devils working signs, and they go forth unto the kings of the whole earth, to gather them to battle against the great day of the Almighty God.

DIVINE PROVIDENCE CONDEMNED  BEFORE AND AFTER THE ENCYCLICAL LETTER OF MY PREDECESSOR

11. The Apostle of St. John warned us of these things long ago, just as Divine Providence did in our own days, when according to the liturgical books for the liturgy in the vernacular, on the very day great scandal was to be given to the world, this reading from Saint Paul was proclaimed:

But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach a gospel to you besides that which we have preached to you, let him be anathema. As we said before, so now I say again: If any one preach to you a gospel, besides that which you have received, let him be anathema. (Galatians 1:8-9)

12. And on the very day which followed, again, the passage of Our Lord’s admonition, which is aptly accommodated as a pastoral exhortation to the successors of Saint Peter:

Lay not up to yourselves treasures on earth: where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in heaven: where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also. (Matthew 6: 19-21)

13. For these reasons and motives, and after the example of the Seraphic Saint Francis, who grieved most of all from the many scandals which were given by corrupt clergy and religious, We consider it necessary to remove a grave scandal which has shaken the whole world: namely, that which emanated from the once unsullied throne of this Apostolic See. I speak of the encyclical letter, Laudato Si’ of my predecessor, Francis, of infelicitous memory, who added to the presumption of taking as his name, that of the Saint whom the Lord Jesus, in a vision given to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, declared was the one most conform to His Sacred Heart, by promoting in an official papal document, into which he mixed many half-truths, the falsehood of environmentalism unto the deception of the entire Catholic world.

My Predecessor did not intend to exercise the Papal Magisterium when he wrote

14. To remove all doubt and scruple of conscience, We shall begin with the historical fact, that as is written in the official text of the Encyclical, Laudato Si, our predecessor never intended, when he prepared and wrote, to exercise the office of the magisterium which Christ entrusted to this Apostolic See. This is evident both in the circumstances of its release, which was entrusted to non-Catholics, and the text of the document itself in paragraph n. 15, wherein the author expresses his intention to engage in a pastoral approach and the opening of dialogue.  Nor is the affirmation, therein, that the encyclical enters into the social teaching of the Church, in any way definitive or obliging, since, according to the norm of canon law, there is no obligation except regarding that which is imposed.  This is further evidenced if we examine the presuppositions and contents of the encyclical letter, which deviate so clearly from the 5 necessary conditions for infallible teaching, established by the infallible and ecumenical First Council of the Lateran.  Finally, it should be obvious to sane and rational men, that the expression of opinion or the relation of facts is not teaching; rather the formal exercise of any magisterium consists in the declarative pronouncement of truths which must be accepted as true by all men in all times.  While this will become more clear, in what We have yet to say, yet, for the sake of all consciences, We affirm and declare and define that the entire totality of the Encyclical and its every part are to be considered merely as the personal doctrine of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, and not of this Apostolic See.

PART II

God alone is the Lord of Heaven and Earth

1. First among the truths which must be professed against the errors of communism, socialism and environmentalism, is that the One True God is the Lord of Heaven and Earth.  This is no mere customary title ascribed to God.  Nay, as the Apostle of the Gentiles, the glorious Saint Paul of Tarsus preached in the Areopagus of Athens:  God, who made the world, and all things therein; He, being Lord of Heaven and Earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands (Acts 17:24).

2. This lordship of God depends upon the twofold dignity of God:  He is the first and only Eternal one, and He is the creator of all which comes after Him.  This lordship is not just a title of dignity, however, but a name of power which signifies to men that He is Almighty over everything in Heaven and Earth to such an extent and degree that no one can compare to Him (cf. Ps. 86:8, 40:5) in the power which He can display over them, the Wisdom with which He made and arranged them, and the Providence and Goodness with which He has designed and fashioned and now doth regulate  and govern them.

3. From these most profound theological truths regarding God, our Creator and Lord, we must recognize and profess that it is not man who is the lord and master of creation, but God; that it is not man who is first and foremost responsible for the heavens and the Earth and all these contain, but God; that is is not man who must mind the order and regulation of the environment, but God.  For without God none of these things would be, and they are sustained in continual being and right order by His Most Eminent Power and His Most Intimate Presence and His most Universal Omnipotence, in this way manifesting the sublime Dignity of the Father, the humble service of the Son, and the continual governing movement of the Holy Ghost.

Fundamental Presuppositions of Environmentalism impugn the Majesty and Wisdom of God, our Creator

4. For this reason, it is theologically an effrontery to God to say or concede that the environment of this planet Earth depends upon mankind.  And since the same Lord and Creator of Heaven and Earth, is the One who created man, it is similarly a blasphemy and indignity to man’s Lord and God, to say or imply that the nature or existence or natural actions of man can or are in disharmony with the divine order of the cosmos or the natural proper functioning of the organic biosphere of the planet Earth.

5. God made all things for man, but man for Himself, so that even in his being and acting man glorifies His Creator, that is, manifests the wondrous wisdom and providence and knowledge which His Creator exercises in making him, in designing him, in empowering him with intellect and will and in giving him a body and planet which is fit for everything which is necessary for human life (Genesis 1:29-30).

6. Therefore, it is false and heretical to say that the dominion over all things, which God has created, does not belong ontologically and causally and by right to the Lord Creator of Heaven and Earth.  It is also false and heretical to say that God cannot or ought not concede a relative, subordinate dominion over creatures to man, nay it contradicts Sacred Scripture. (Genesis 1:28).

7. Finally, it is false and heretical to say or imply that man does not have the divine right to exercise this rule over all creatures, or that in doing so he violates the Divine, moral or natural laws which God established for and in the universe.

Environmentalism contradicts Science on many points

8. Therefore, it is sheer popular superstition to hold, therefore, that anything natural which man dispossesses from his ownership can be the cause of the pollution or harm to the environment.  This is so, because, since God made all things to serve mankind, it is impossible that He did not make and fashion a world in which natural things acting naturally naturally take care of both man and the things he uses and has used or discarded.

9. This is confirmed by the many findings of modern empirical sciences such as physics, chemistry and biology, which confirm, that for ever action there is a reaction, that all things left to themselves tend to entropy, and that there is a hierarchy of innumerable species of life, subordinated to man, which live and thrive and have their being with him on this planet, in such wise as to use what is taken and discarded by others to foster their own growth and development.

10.  For this reason, We by Our Apostolic Authority, following closely in the footsteps of Saint Peter, to whom it was revealed by an Angel from Heaven, that things are not to be disdained, which God the Son had cleansed by His Passion (Acts 10:9-16), so We recognize and declare, that since God at the beginning had both made all things and declared them together with man, “very good” (Genesis 1:30, and throughout), that it is a mortal sin of blasphemy to call them or their use evil, and thus, likewise, a grave error and sin, to say that their non-use or discarding, is of itself, or by itself, or according to its genus a sin.

Environmentalism detaches beauty from truth and goodness

11. Now just as the divine order of things, in which God has established the universe, manifest the Wisdom and Power of God, so does it manifest the Beauty and Providence of God.   For though the biological history of this Planet differs from age to age, yet nothing disturbs the wonderful, fruitful and abundant order in which God rules and commands the heavens at the service of the Earth, the Poverello of Assisi so truly sings:  May Thou be praised, my Lord, for brother wind, and for the air and the cloudy and the clear weather and every weather (Dan 3:64-65) through which to all Thy creatures Thou gives sustenance (cf. Ps. 103:13-14) [Cant 6].

12. For this reason, it is a grave perversion of right aestetics to say that anything in the environment which is caused by man or by natural forces is ugly, undue, or improper. This is God’s very own teaching, as it was revealed to the Prophet Isaiah himself:  For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens, God himself that formed the earth, and made it, the very maker thereof: he did not create it in vain: he formed it to be inhabited. I am the Lord, and there is no other. (Isaiah 45:18)

13. To say or imply, therefore, that man’s activities in general make this world ugly or pollute it is false, erroneous and implicitly heretical, inasmuch it impugns the Divine Goodness, Providence and Wisdom of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

14. The falsehoods and lies of environmentalism are derived from several errors, chief of which is materialism.  For the error of material holds that there is nothing spiritual and hence denies the existence of God and spiritual causes.  Combined with the darkness of unbridled pride of humanism, which would exalt man to the level of God Himself, it leads to the error that what is not in harmony with human will to be ugly and unjust.  And inasmuch as the proud man is the avaricious man, it says that which violates the aesthetics of man in his domination of creation is immoral and must be corrected.

15. Another chief cause of environmentalism is the error of naturalism, which holds that man is disparate and inharmonious with the rest of creation, which it terms the “natural world”: a name for creation which is false, since it presupposes that man is not part of creation, or that his handiwork is unnatural or in conflict with the rest of creation and its purpose.

15.  These errors combine to form a noxious poison in the minds of men.  To use an example:  Environmentalists see a landscape in which remnants of things made of paper or plastic or metal are strewn about by the wind, and they see pollution which must be corrected by the removal of all these things.  Yet, what they do not see is the forces of creation doing what they were made to do, in the manner in which they do it, of returning these materials to their constituent parts and elements and compounds by a process so gradual that it often escapes the observation of flighty men.  To say that the manner in which created things treat of created thins is ugly, unnatural, or wrong is thus scientifically as false as theologically it is erroneous and heretical.

16. For this reason, it is clear that much of what is called “pollution” is so named out of a aesthetic which has long been divorced from a Christian notion of creation and a Catholic appreciation of the divine order of things in the cosmos; which error is in turn founded upon an exaggerated notion of a man-centered materialism.

 17.  This is especially and primarily true in regard to those things used and manufactured by man, which are composed of substances and compounds and elements which occur naturally in creation.  For just as God created, let us say, the metal iron, and just as in some parts of the world the concentration of iron in the soil or water, naturally occurring, is too high to allow that water or soil to be readily used by men, so it would be false and erroneous to say that man, in abandoning iron in any place of this Planet is of itself, by itself, harmful to nature or contrary to the divine order of creation.  For if that were true, then God would Himself appear to be guilty of polluting the land and water, which He made, when He ordered the arrangement and disposition of things upon the Earth.

PART III

It is the Duty of Every Man to Recognize and Acknowledge the Sovereign Majesty of the Lord of Heaven and Earth

1. It follows from what We have said and expounded, that each and every man, woman, and child, is gravely bound to recognize and acknowledge the Sovereignty and Majesty of the Lord of Heaven and Earth, His Creator and Savior.  This is not only a grave obligation founded upon the rights of God but also a grave obligation founded upon the dependence of man, individually and as a society, upon Him and the divine order according to which He has arranged the universe, which He has created and given mankind to guard and keep and use, for His honor and glory and his own salvation.

2. This duty of recognition is first and foremost, only and truly fulfilled in the acceptance and profession of the Catholic Faith, which is the One and Only True Religion revealed by the Eternal God to men, as the sole means of salvation for mankind.  Without such a profession of faith and expression of fidelity in faithful adherence, man, even as a creature, is distanced from His Lord and Creator.

3. This distancing of mankind and the consequent disorder which arises in himself and in his relation to the university of things has no other cause but the sin of our father Adam, who having been entrusted with the headship of the human race and the rule of all creation under God, rebelled against His Lord and Creator by eating of the fruit of the Tree which he had been forbidden by God to eat (Genesis 2).

4. On account of this mortal sin, Adam lost many and tremendous divine gifts, for himself and for all his descendants.  Chief of these was the grace of God, without which man cannot clearly, easily or with facility, know God and obey His precepts.

5.  For this reason, just as there is no right and sane care for things of lesser significance, without dutiful fulfillment of things of greater import; and just as those who are faithful in greater things, can easily be faithful in lesser ones:  so it is vain and absurd for mankind to take care, individually or as a society, to guard the divine order of things in the created universe, if he neglects his own proper subordination and zealous service of the Divine Majesty of His Creator.

6. Indeed, only when mankind comes universally and faithfully to profess the Faith of Christ, that is the Catholic Religion, is any collective and effective care of the created things entrusted to mankind, by man as a race possible.  For the divine order of things, having God as their origin and cause, cannot be understood, let alone rightly perceived without faith in the Living God, the Lord of Heaven and Earth, as He Himself has revealed Himself in Christ Jesus Our Lord.

7. Therefore, let all mankind hasten to the Ark of Salvation, outside of which no man can be saved or have hope of salvation, and seek the cleansing waters of baptism in Christ Jesus, which have their full effect of grace and sanctification only in the Catholic Church, where there alone is a right profession of authentic faith, a firm and stable adherence to the hope which saves, and the working of the charity which both honors and glorifies God in the service of the needy.

Editor’s note: At this point, I cannot perceive clearly the text of the remaining pages, so I rush to publish what I have transcribed so far…if I succeed in discerning the contents of the rest of the draft copy, I will publish it in the coming days. — I only ask the reader to consider the contents, and not to shoot the transcriber!

The Serra Option

Tags

Benedict Option, Serra Option

Friar Junípero Serra Ferrer, O. Min. (November 24, 1713 – August 28, 1784)

The Benedict Option

Recently there has been talk in conservative political circles that Christians need to make a radical response to the de-Christianization of western civilization.  This response, in the words of some, is called the “Benedict Option”.  You can read more about it here.

The Benedict option consists in a withdrawal from secular society and the founding of Catholic enclaves in the countryside to preserve Christian civilization.

Proposed in such terms, the example of the great Saint Benedict of Nursia, who abandoned the city of Rome to found a monastery (eventually at Monte Cassino) serves as a template of sorts.

But preservation — of itself a good a noble cause — can ever only be 1 aspect of Christian society.  This is because the Church is the Mystical Body of Christ, and as such, it is a living organism, which not only preserves Itself true to its Founder, but grows and thrives.

Thus, for Catholics merely to withdraw from society, and take flight in the countryside, would not be faithful to their mission as adopted sons of God, since in doing such, they would only be faithful in part, and not in whole.

Friar Junípero Serra Ferrer

Bl. Junipero Serra was a Franciscan priest of the Alcantarine Observance.  On account of the work he did in founding 21 mission-stations in California, he is universally consider the founder of the cities of that land, which is now a state of the United States of America.

Here is a brief synopsis of his life, from the official site for his cause for canonization:

At his beatification on September 25, 1988, Fray Junipero Serra, O.F.M., S.T.D. (1713-1784), was declared by His Holiness Pope John Paul II to be a “shining example of Christian Virtue and the Missionary Spirit.” The new Blessed is truly an international luminary.

He distinguished himself as an exemplary Franciscan priest, respected in academic circles, and acclaimed in the pulpit by the age of thirty-five. During the next two decades, he labored as an apostolic missionary throughout central Mexico, notably in the Sierra Gorda among the Pame Indians. During the final fifteen years of his life, he emerged as a pioneer and the Apostle of California. Dramatically he demonstrated the natural and supernatural branch of his missionary motto: “Always go forward – never turn back!”

On his deathbed at Mission Carmel, Blessed Junipero Serra promised that if God granted him “eternal happiness” he would pray for “all dwellers in the missions, and for the conversion of so many whom I leave unconverted.” Armed with the knowledge that he promised to continue his apostolate from Heaven, and knowing that he is indeed there as affirmed by his beatification, we are guaranteed that Blessed Junipero is truly a heroic friend and ally, able to intercede for us before God himself. As such, he is a channel of divine grace and a source of inspiration and solace.

Due to the fact that this Saint who worked miracles in life and after death made a specific promise to work for the conversion of souls after death, he is a fitting patron for Catholics of today, who are facing a complete collapse of western civilization’s Christian and Christ-centered culture.

The Serra Option

Walking in the footsteps of St Francis as Bl. Junipero did, who kept the ancient observance of the Rule of St. Francis, I consider it necessary to state that there is a better way and solution, than the Benedict option, to the current crises in the West.  And this solution I take from the example of his holy life.

In part, I agree that it can be good and very useful for Catholics to separate from the godless world in which they find themselves.  While spiritually this can be done anywhere, but it is much more facile to do this in an enclave dedicated to the Catholic faith and Christian culture.  Such an enclave would be intrinsically fertile for all aspects of Catholic society, for Catholic Families, the Church, for vocations and their culture expression.

But it is necessary to add the living aspect, that is one which is aimed at restoring the Social Reign of Jesus Christ, not only through families and the Church, or cultural endeavors, which would regard education and public profession of the Catholic Faith, or only in regard to political undertakings, but through that which is the life-blood of societies: economic activity.

As Bl. Serra gathered the natives of California together and taught them the faith and instructed them in professions by which they could support themselves and their families, so if Catholics are to restore the Social Reign of Jesus Christ, they would be better off establishing Catholic enclaves where they could do all these things in conjunction with an effort to promote their own economic activities, necessary to sustain all these good works.

Baptizing the Italian Republic

What Bl. Serra did was to baptize the Italian City-State and direct it towards the establishment of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ on earth.  There was in his missions the intention of establishing in general terms the norms of public and societal life according to the teachings of the Gospel and the Catholic religion, with the ancient Roman Rite at the center of the Mission’s worship of the Triune God.

Similarly, in the Serra Option, Catholics would gather together in a religious institution, which would establish minimums to be observed as a requirement of membership, but leave enough freedom for Catholics of all states of life to join, clergy, religious, laity (married or not), so long as they keep the requirements.  They would band together and found new villages and towns, where they lived in close proximity —after the example of their forebears in Europe — in a urban plan which promoted the public expression of the Catholic Faith, an education system which raised all the Children and formed all the youth in the example of the Catholic Saints, and which prepared and enabled the adults to fully engage in free economic activity in a manner which was mutually beneficial, free-market based, and aimed at the mutual self-protection and promotion of the city-state.

This is what I call the Serra Option.  And I believe with the vivacity and power of grace and economics, such an option will be more successful in the long run.

5 Demons which oppose the Foundations of Monasteries

Tags

Aggiornamento, Christ the King, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Liberty, Materialism, Modernism, Vatican II

April 27, 2015:  Often you hear religious and laity lament the dearth of monasteries since Vatican II. Indeed, the falling numbers of vocations and the greatly diminished quality of vocations have led to a great reduction in the numbers of many ancient orders.

At the same time, one often hears of the lack of new foundations, and questions why this is.

As a Franciscan brother who has tried for 18 years to make a foundation, I have some experience with all the devils which work to oppose such a holy endeavor.  Since I have “inside” knowledge from practical experience, I will share what I know, for the benefit of others.

Since evil is dispelled when at once it is named and exorcised, I will first name the 5 evil errors or spirits which oppose monastic foundations and then give my thoughts on the remedy to each one.

1) The Goddess of Liberty has replaced Christ the King

One of the errors of the Enlightement was to exalt reason above faith, that is, the faculty of reasoning without faith above the faculty of reasoning with faith.  As a consequent of this error, the age which saw the French Revolution slaughter thousands of souls and bodies, was one in which liberty was exalted as THE means to man’s ultimate happiness, on earth.

So violent and vicious is the Demon of our age against religion, that He uses every device and error to keep men from concluding that unless they return to the teaching of Christ in all things they shall be lost.  Instead, he attempts to preoccupy men with the consideration that all they have to do is forge peace with their neighbor and mind their own business, allowing everyone their own liberty.

Thus in politics all is aimed at and excused at the altar of Liberty.  And all is done to silence, hide, obscure and overturn the Altar of Jesus Christ.

For this reason, Monasteries are seen as centers of obscurantism which must be stamped out, if not by destruction of the physical structure, by suppression of them in law or subversion of them in the end for which they exist and operate.

Bishops or religious superiors who worship at the altar of the Goddess of Liberty, might at first seem very open to a new foundation, especially if it exalts a liberty which departs from tradition; but if a community veers towards a concept that true liberty consists in submission to Christ and the Holy Spirit, then it is immediately calumniated, opposed and stamped out.  We see this in the recent scandalous actions against the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate.

Solution: When you see a religious order or monastery persecuted or defamed or denounced because they are doing something which Christ commanded or the Saints praticed, or which comes from before the Council, stand up and defend them with voice, help them with your hands, and support them with even more generous donations. If necessary, lobby the authorities in the Church or State on their behalf.

2) The Denial of Original Sin and its effects on man

This denial has become so complete that in many of the institutions of Catholic learning it is considered antiquarian to even discuss the notion of original sin.  This is partly because, if one admits the existence of original sin and its effects, then the false modern religion of Liberty falls to pieces.  Because, if there was a sin which damned all mankind from the start, then man must seek salvation, not liberty; and a salvation in which his own personal liberty is consecrated and devoted to Christ the King, His only Lord and Savior.

But the denial of original sin is something which is propagated in all human endeavors.  First in the error of liberty of speech and information, in devotion to which Catholic parents give their children cell phones, guaranteeing them a life time of distraction and pornography, trusting that with time they will learn not to be hooked on impurity.

They dress their children in immodest clothes, such that even girls of 4 are dressed like whores used to dress some decades ago.  They give their sons gyms and dolls with exaggerated body parts, so that they end up conceiving male perfection with something which is physical, and then wonder why they have grandchildren out of wedlock or abortions in the family.

They never give their children books about the saints, which might lead them to think that one has to do something decisive to save one’s soul! Like joining a monastery — God forbid! they say.

Solution: Stop living for the sake of your own pleasure or that of those around you: instead, seek first the Kingdom of God over you and your family, by going to confession regularly, asking pardon for your offenses, forgiving those who ask for your forgiveness, and expelling from the home everything which is an occasion to sin for those in it (pornography or impure images for all, liquor for alcoholics, immodest clothing etc.), and by imposing upon yourself a good set of mores, not going out late and being faithful to the duties of your state, keeping your speech dignified, not swearing; and, without a doubt, ignoring and avoiding all mass media or forms of communication which bombard you with examples of bad behavior, e.g. sitcoms, crude-talking radio hosts, pornographic tv series (e.g. on HBO or Game of Thrones, etc.).

Praise the saints and impart to your children that the only thing important in this world is saving your own soul and that of your neighbor.

3) The work of Aggiornamento has replaced the work of Conversion

The third demon is one which possesses the hearts and minds of very many clergy and religious today.  It teaches them to have every anxiety and take every action, even when exaggerated, to keep up with the times.

Consequently, if they detect any movement towards or affirmation of the truths of the Faith or the truths of spirituality which existed before Vatican II, then they pounce upon the “infected” individuals and by every art and stratagem, open and secrete, attempt to dissuade them or coerce them away from such a mindset.

They will therefore insist more and more that the religious of a monastery engage in things ruinous to authentic faith, authentic hope and authentic charity.  Against the first, they will propose ecumenical activities with heretics and unbelievers. Against the second, the will propose presumption of salvation for all. Against the third, they will propose tolerance and consent to the sins of others, especially the impure.

So obsessive are such followers of the Aggiornamento, that to merely cite a document or writing of a Pope or Saint from before the Council, is suspect; to omit a citation to Vatican II, a heresy. To forbid anything for the sake of discipline or virtue is to be puritantical, extreme, rigoristic and old-fashioned.

Solution: Rebuke anyone, even if he is a Bishop or priest or religious, who says or implicates that what was before the Council was not Catholic, or is dangerous to children, adults or vocations. Remind everyone that it is the four last things which alone count: Death, Judgement, Heaven or Hell, and that all who neglect their own souls, will lose them.

4) The replacement of the Social Reign of Christ with Social Justice.

While the work of conversion requires that we consider the 4 last things, which regard the end of every individual and the Last Day of Judgement, it nevertheless remains necessary for Catholics to put their Faith in practice in public life, in family life and in social life.

For that reason Catholics must support and work for those changes which order family and state and every institution, especially in the Church, towards doing Christ’s will for men, for promoting the salvation and sanctification of men, now, and in the future.

Catholics of today fail their duty towards Catholics of tomorrow when they fail to support and found institutions which will contribute to the spread of the faith, the care of souls, and the sanctification of society IN THE FUTURE.

Instead, the error has arisen that Catholics are somehow not faithful Christians if they are not concerned only about the corporal works of mercy for those who have present needs.  Social justice work has been promoted by socialists and communists and the avaricious who use these works for their own gains or social transformation.  So strong is the propaganda in favor of social justice that it is usually the first basis of a criticism against monastic foundations, which seek to care for all souls and their salvation in the future, not just the material needs of some in the present time.

Solution: Since the present age over emphasizes the corporal works of mercy, devote yourself and your efforts to the spiritual works of mercy and in their promotion.

5) The refusal to see the Will of the Holy Spirit manifest in the Saints and their works

Saint Francis receives the Stigmata of Christ, on the morning of September 14, 1224 A. D., while praying on Mt Alvernia, Tuscany, Italy.

Modern Christians seem to love to talk about the Holy Spirit, almost as much as they are zealous to ignore him.  They speak about doing the will of God the Vivifier, but they work every day to destroy His works and uproot His inspirations in souls.

As devotees of the Goddess of Liberty, they worship the God of surprises and fear most of all the God of continuity or of Tradition.  Thus, they deny in practice if not in word, that the Holy Spirit wrote every word of Sacred Scripture and guided the Church along the paths of Divine, Apostolic and Ecclesiastical Tradition in the Church.

Hence, they deny and denigrate the example, teaching and works, if not even the miracles, of the Saints, during their own lives and after their passing to glory.  Thus, they say we should be inspired by these things, but we should not strive to imitate them; and thus that we are not obliged to follow their teaching, but can merely take it as an inspiring piece of advice, not a moral obligation or exhortation to do what they actually advocate.

Solution:  Respect and honor the pre-Vatican II Saints as monuments of the will of the Holy Spirit for all ages, and support those religious who do the same.

——–

These are just 5 of the chief Demons and errors which plague the world today, and make it quite incomprehensible to superiors and to the general body of the faithful, that anyone should want to found a monastery, let alone one which restored the ancient observances of an order founded by a Saint who lived and died and was glorified by God, before Vatican II.