South Africa Needs Our Lady

South Africa Needs Our Lady

Winning the heart and soul of South Africa for Mary by spreading the Fatima Message

Winning the heart and soul of South Africa for Mary by spreading the Fatima Message

Educational

Heaven, the Hope of Our Souls

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Hope is deserting the earth more and more…

Everything is complicated; life grows more difficult and heavy, with an increasingly sombre economic outlook.

“But our citizenship is in heaven,” Saint Paul reminds us (Philippians 3:20)

And Saint Peter, Prince of the apostles, exhorts us to hope for our heavenly inheritance: “an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.” (1 Peter 1:3-4).

It is when we turn our eyes to Heaven that the shadows of this earth vanish and confidence and the joy of living are reborn in us.

Obviously, we are not referring to the blue skies (at times grey and fraught with threats) that envelop us. We are talking about heavenly Paradise, the place of eternal happiness where the just enjoy the vision of God, the company of the Blessed Mother, and of the angels and saints.

A Beacon That Illuminates Christian Life

The thought of Heaven is like a beacon that illuminates the whole Christian life. It reminds us of our ultimate end and gives us our bearings. Heaven is our ultimate end. This end should direct all our activity, and we must relate everything to it if we want to understand things properly.

Developing a desire for Heaven is obviously a way to more firmly assert the victory of one’s will when it is wavering between good and evil. The more the esteem of heavenly goods grows in the soul, the more despicable the delights of sin appear to be. Particularly at times of moral depression and serious temptation, we must strengthen all the energies of our soul and especially our attraction for eternal goods, which alone can counter our fascination with creatures.

Largely a Mystery

Heaven, however, remains largely a mystery to us.

Revelation only provides an idea of eternal happiness through images and symbols but does not describe what the heavenly Paradise is like. This is why, in His infinite mercy, God not only gave us through Revelation the essential elements to nourish our faith but also took steps to fulfil this need of human psychology.

Visions and Revelations

Thus, He granted certain souls private visions and revelations which, though not enjoying an official status and not adding anything to the deposit of the faith, do help enliven men’s devotion and increase their confidence. Evidently, such visions and revelations must be taken with the prudence and circumspection recommended by the Church so as to avoid the illusions of one’s own fantasy and the tricks of the devil.

In regard to Heaven, God has lifted a bit this mysterious curtain that separates us from the beyond by showing some privileged souls, in symbolic terms, some marvellous aspects of the heavenly Paradise. He wanted us not only to have the truths we must know about the Heavenly Mansion but also, as it were, to relish a taste of the boundless and endless happiness we will enjoy there.

A Vision of Saint John Bosco

Saint John Bosco had a vision of Heaven in the form of a dream, which he related to his boys during one of his famous “bedtime talks.”

In 1876, his recently-deceased disciple Saint Dominic Savio appeared to him in a dream. Saint John Bosco told his pupils:

As you know, dreams come in one’s sleep. So during the night hours of December 6, while I was in my room – whether reading or pacing back and forth or resting in my bed, I am not sure – I began dreaming.

Marvellous Garden

It suddenly seemed to me that I was standing on a small mound or hillock, on the rim of a broad plain so far-reaching that the eye could not compass its boundaries lost in vastness. All was blue, blue as the calmest sea, though what I saw was not water. It resembled a highly polished, sparkling sea of glass. Stretching out beneath, behind and on either side of me was an expanse of what looked like seashore.

Broad, imposing avenues divided the plain into grand gardens of indescribable beauty, each broken up by thickets, lawns, and flower beds of varied shapes and colours.

None of the plants we know could ever give you an idea of those flowers, although there was a resemblance of sorts. The very grass, the flowers, the trees, and the fruit – all were of singular and magnificent beauty. Leaves were of gold, trunks and boughs were of diamonds, and every tiny detail was in keeping with this wealth. The various kinds of plants were beyond counting.

Each species and each single plant sparkled with a brilliance of its own. Scattered throughout those gardens and spread over the entire plain I could see countless buildings whose architecture, magnificence, harmony, grandeur and size were so unique that one could say all the treasures of earth could not suffice to build a single one. If only my boys had one such house, I said to myself, how they would love it, how happy they would be, and how much they would enjoy being there! Thus ran my thoughts as I gazed upon the exterior of those buildings, but how much greater must their inner splendour have been!

An Enchanting Melody

As I stood there basking in the splendour of those gardens, I suddenly heard music most sweet – so delightful and enchanting a melody that I could never adequately describe it. A hundred thousand instruments played, each with its own sound, uniquely different from all others, and every possible sound set the air alive with its resonant waves.

Blended with them were the songs of choristers.

In those gardens I looked upon a multitude of people enjoying themselves happily, some singing, others playing, but every note, had the effect of a thousand different instruments playing together. At one and the same time, if you can imagine such a thing, one could hear all the notes of the chromatic scale, from the deepest to the highest, yet all in perfect harmony. Ah yes, we have nothing on earth to compare with that symphony.

Deepest Pleasure

One could tell from the expression of those happy faces that the singers not only took the deepest pleasure in singing, but also received vast joy in listening to the others. The more they sang, the more pressing became their desire to sing. The more they listened the more vibrant became their yearning to hear more…

As I listened enthralled to that heavenly choir I saw an endless multitude of boys approaching me. Many I recognized as having been at the Oratory and in our other schools, but by far the majority of them were total strangers to me. Their endless ranks drew closer, headed by Dominic Savio, who was followed immediately by Father Alasonatti, Father Chiali, Father Guilitto and many other clerics and priests, each leading a squad of boys…

A Most Radiant Joy

Once that host of boys got some eight or ten paces from me, they halted. There was a flash of light far brighter than before, the music stopped, and a hushed silence fell over all. A most radiant joy encompassed all the boys and sparkled in their eyes, their countenances aglow with happiness. They looked and smiled at me very pleasantly, as though to speak, but no one said a word.

Dominic Savio stepped forward a pace or two, standing so close to me that, had I stretched out my hand, I would surely have touched him. He too was silent and gazed upon me with a smile…

At last Dominic Savio spoke.

“Why do you stand there silent, as though you were almost devitalized?” he asked. “Aren’t you the one who once feared nothing, holding your ground against slander, persecution, hostility, hardships and dangers of all sorts? Where is courage? Say something!”

Loving Warmth

I forced myself to reply in a stammer, “I do not know what to say. Are you Dominic Savio?”

“Yes I am. Don’t you know me anymore?”

“How come you are here?” I asked still bewildered.

Savio spoke affectionately.

“I came to talk with you. We spoke together so often on earth! Do you not recall how much you loved me, or how many tokens of friendship you gave me and how kind you were to me? And did I not return the warmth of your love? How much trust I placed in you! So why are you tongue-tied? Why are you shaking? Come ask me a question or two!”

Abode of Happiness

Summoning my courage, I replied, “I am shaking because I don’t know where I am.”

“You are in the abode of happiness,” Savio answered, “where one experiences every joy, every delight.”

“Is this the reward of the just?”

“Not at all! Here we do not enjoy supernatural happiness but only a natural one, though greatly magnified.”

“Might I be allowed to see a little supernatural light?”

“No one can see it until he has come to see God as He is. The faintest ray of that light would instantly strike one dead, because the human senses are not sturdy enough to endure it.”

Beatific Vision: The Exceedingly Great Reward

Here ends the narrative of Saint John Bosco’s dream.

In this vision, through symbols, the saint was only shown natural aspects of heavenly happiness. He was not able to contemplate the essence of heavenly happiness, which is the beatific vision. Even the most beautiful material things are only symbols of spiritual things; and the pleasure they procure us cannot compare with spiritual pleasures.

Saint Paul said that on earth we see God as in a mirror, however in heaven we will see Him face to face (1 Corinthians 13:12).

Since “God is charity” (1 John 4:8) we cannot know Him in the degree and intensity of the beatific vision without loving Him to the greatest degree and capacity of our perfected nature.

Participating in His essence, through this intuitive knowledge, we participate in the Love that is His very nature. God Himself promised Abraham that He would himself be his “reward exceedingly great” (Gen. 15:1).

The desire for Heaven orients our lives to attain this happiness that our souls long for. This is the reason why Holy Mother Church, in one of the rogations of the Litany of All Saints, has us beg for a desire of celestial things: “Raise our minds to desire the things of heaven, Lord, hear our prayer.”

An Anchor for Our Souls

Furthermore, the desire of heaven increases our hope, the theological virtue whereby we desire and expect to attain eternal bliss. This virtue is so important that Saint Paul presents it as an essential part of one’s armour to face great struggles: “the helmet that is hope for salvation” (1Tess. 5:8). And he calls it “an anchor of the soul” (Heb. 6:19).

Amid the thick clouds that figuratively cover the earth, let us think more about Heaven and thus enkindle our hope.

Written by: Luiz Sérgio Solimeo

Payback

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At Anna’s mother’s funeral a man came up to her and after offering his deepest sympathy, took the grieving daughter aside, “I must tell you a story about your good mother and something she did for me…”

He proceeded to recount how, many years before he was involved in an extra-marital affair. One day, when dining with the woman in a restaurant, Anna’s parents had come in and pretended they had not seen them.

But next day he picked up the phone to hear Anna’s mother inviting him over for a piece of pie.

“You know how good your mother’s pie was…But there was also a tone of urgent authority in her voice, so I went.”

After enjoying his piece of pie, Anna’s mother revealed that she had, indeed, seen him and his girl-friend the night before.

“Though I vehemently denied it, your mother would not relent…She proceeded to remind me of the time when I was out of work and she had cooked for my family day in and day out.”

“Now, I want payback,” she demanded.

“I reached for my wallet, but she said,”

“Not that way.”

Handing him a Rosary she asked him to go to Mass for a week. She instructed him to say the Hail Mary and Our Father assigned to each bead while thinking of something good about his wife, his children and their family life.

“If at the end of this week you still think this woman is better for you, just mail me back the Rosary, and I will never say a word about this again.”

At this point, the man telling the story reached into his pocket. Pulling out a worn Rosary, he said,

“This is the Rosary your mother gave me all those years ago. My wife and I have said it together every day since.”

 

Based on a story from 101 Inspirational Stories of the Rosary by Sister Patricia Proctor, OSC

Practicing Virtue

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In those who are advancing from good to better…

…the good Spirit moves the soul peacefully, calmly, gently: The evil spirit moves the soul roughly, confusedly, violently.

“Learn of Me, for I am meek and humble of heart, and ye shall find rest for your soul.” Matthew 11:29

With this article we begin the “Second Book” of the treatise “Voice of Jesus – Voice of the Disciple.” It is called the “Directory for the Second Book” and, as such, it is a bit longer than normal – a 15 minute read. But ever so worth the time to my serious readers!

1.The Voice of the Disciple

The object of this Second Book is, to teach us – after we have become disengaged from our evil and inordinate affections, how we should exert ourselves, that, by the practice of virtue, we may be enabled to make our election sure. In order to do this the more efficaciously, and the more sweetly, at the same time, we should place before our eyes Jesus, with the inward dispositions of His Heart; because, by following Him who is the way, the truth, and the life, we shall proceed, with safety, certainty, and pleasure, from virtue to virtue, and secure our salvation.

The practice of the virtues, by which we may follow the Heart of Jesus, and express His interior life in ourselves, can, in every state and condition of life, be performed in two ways. The first, by practicing those virtues which are of precept and which the state and condition of every one requires.

The second, by exercising, according to the divine good pleasure, those virtues also, which are of counsel, whereby our salvation is better secured, and the divine glory and our merits are the more increased. But since both these ways contain limitless degrees, whereby virtue is ever practiced with greater perfection, there is no one, how perfect so ever he may be, who cannot here occupy himself profitably, and gather more abundant fruit.

As, however, Jesus willed that, in the imitation of His virtues, we should, above all, be humble and meek of heart, we must diligently attend and take care, both that, whatever virtues we learn and imitate in Him, we place them upon true humility as their groundwork, and perfect them in a meek charity; and again, that, in the very manner of imitating His virtues, we be especially meek and humble of heart.

2. Supernatural Virtue

Nowhere can we learn virtues more safely, and more easily, than in the Heart of Jesus. For, as that Heart is the pattern of true virtue, by merely looking upon It with attention, we shall see what virtue is, and what qualities it ought to possess: neither shall we run the risk of erring in a matter which is to us of so much importance, both for time and eternity.

Thence shall we learn, to our unspeakable consolation, that virtue is a right affection of the heart for an object, which is, in some manner, good: and we shall perceive that this good object – which sometimes we call, figuratively, virtue – is not in truth virtue itself, but simply the object of virtue. Thence we shall likewise learn, that virtue, in order to be such as it ought to be in every Christian, must not be natural, but supernatural; and we shall clearly distinguish the difference between the two.

The affections of the Heart of Jesus, which He reduced to acts, whether internal or external, did not spring from an impulse or motion of His human nature, but from a supernal or divine principle; they were not performed according to the sentiments of His human nature, but according to the divine good pleasure; they did not tend to some temporal delight of His human nature, but throughout to God, as to their last end.

Whence, if, from the impulse or emotion of mere nature, we strive after what is good; if we act simply according to the feelings of nature, whether of inclination or aversion; if we seek merely a natural end, we have only natural virtue, whereby we shall acquire no Christian perfection in this life, – no fruit of merit in eternity. But, if of the Heart of Jesus, we learn supernatural virtue, and the practice of the same; replenished with graces and merits, we shall lead an interior life, like to His own.

3. Interior Life

What is the interior life, – for which the life of the Heart of Jesus serves us as a model, – except to begin all our voluntary acts, internal as well as external, by the grace of God, or a supernatural principle; to perform them according to God’s Will; to direct them to God and His interests, as to our end; to occupy ourselves in our Heart with God, our Saviour; and to live for Him by love?

Now, all this he does, who begins all his voluntary acts by the divine good pleasure; who performs them according to the divine good pleasure; directs them to the divine good pleasure, as his end, – being most constantly occupied internally with the Lord, through love.

Behold the truly interior life, by which genuine and solid virtues are acquired; by which we may attain, safely and sweetly, to true sanctity and divine union. This life is fitted for every state and condition; it is adapted, not only to ecclesiastics and religious, but equally to all laics and persons in the world. Did not the first Christians generally lead this life? Does not the Gospel teach this life to all?

Whoever has a good will may lead this sanctifying life, practice supernatural virtue and attain to perfection. For, the acquiring, or not acquiring of virtue, does not depend on temperament, on a mild or passionate character, – as many seem to believe: but it depends on the grace of God, and the cooperation of man’s will. For, since God gives grace, not in view of natural qualities, but first gratuitously, and afterwards also in consideration of supernatural merits and prayers; and since the human will, whatever be the natural disposition of a man, is truly free to co-operate, or not to co-operate with grace, it is evident, that virtue does not depend on temperament or natural disposition.

Wherefore, we acquire virtue the better, and the more perfectly, not in proportion as our natural disposition is yielding, but in proportion as our co-operation is more efficacious: we reach a more pure and more solid virtue, not by reason of the fewness of natural repugnances we feel, but by means of the more generous acts of the will, which we perform, in spite of natural repugnances. This doctrine, so full of consolation – which the Saints unanimously teach, and which they learned of the very Heart of Jesus – deserves our whole attention.

4. The Practice of Virtue

In the practice of virtue, we must guard against delusions, among which this one is the chief and most common: That we are satisfied with producing the object of a virtue, whilst we do not practice the virtue itself; or, that we believe that we practice a virtue, when we bring forward the object of virtue through a natural inclination or intention; or even that we think we can acquire true and solid virtue, without repeated and generous acts, whereby the emotions of the passions, and the impulses of nature are overcome or denied. They that neglect to cleanse their heart perfectly are especially wont to fall into this dreadful delusion.

Other delusions, which may occasionally occur in the practice of virtue, arise nearly all from the preceding. Such are: on the one hand, to grow despondent in mind, on account of the difficulties or oppositions of nature: to look upon these as obstacles to virtue, not as means, such as they may be in reality, if they are used with a generous heart, to acquire true and solid virtue: on the other hand, to deem the good qualities of nature, freedom from vices or temptations, a virtue; or, even, overlooking true and solid virtue, to aspire to divine union. Now, these, and other delusions, you will easily avoid, if, like a true Disciple of the Heart of Jesus, you lead an interior life.

5. Spiritual Life

When, therefore, you have come to that part of the spiritual life, which the Heart of Jesus teaches in this Book, you should direct your endeavours to this: to know and love Jesus as perfectly as you can, to learn and acquire, ever better and better, in thinking, in speaking, in acting, the dispositions of His Heart. To attain to this, besides the two methods of meditating – (which were given before the first Book) and which you may also employ here, if you find them useful – what follows, will enable you to understand more fully this matter.

6. Meditation and contemplation

The proper method of using this second Book is twofold: the one of meditating, the other of contemplating: both agree entirely with what the Saints have taught us concerning mental prayer.

 

Meditation

If you meditate, let the memory represent to you some virtue of the Heart of Jesus, and let it retain the same, after the meditation; so as to put it in practice.

Let the understanding consider the qualities of the virtue proposed; then, let it compare your own heart with the Heart of Jesus, in regard to the virtue considered; afterwards, let it recall your past life, whether and how far you have practiced this virtue; if sufficiently, return thanks, and give honour to God, your Saviour; but, if the contrary, grieve and ask pardon; lastly, let it look forward into the future, considering when, and how, you can improve this virtue.

Let the will embrace the same virtue, excite internal acts of the same; yea, conversing with Jesus Himself, let it utter the sentiments of the heart: for what it is sorry, what it proposes; what it fears, what it hopes; what it dislikes, what it loves; nay, let it devoutly communicate its every desire, and, finally, ask much.

 

Contemplation

But, if you contemplate, see in the mystery, or in the particular subject which you propose to contemplate, what are the sentiments of the Heart of Jesus, or of Jesus in His Heart, concerning all and each of the things that occur in the subject; what He esteems, and how highly; what He condemns and how greatly; what He shuns, and what He embraces.

Then, give heed, in this matter, to the words which issue from the Heart of Jesus, and what words are not even thought in His Heart, much less uttered.

Lastly, observe, in the same manner, what kind of acts proceed from the Heart of Jesus, and with what virtues they are adorned.

And, throughout the whole contemplation, according to your devotion, or your wants, or the motions of grace; indulge and persist in acts, that is, pious affections and petitions.

Learn, in this manner, by contemplation, to feel, and speak, and act like Jesus Himself.

The acts, specially recommended in this part of the interior life, besides acts of the theological virtues, are frequent acts of that virtue to which you are applying yourself, of generous self-abnegation of your ill-ordered nature, of a noble love of Jesus. Repeat these constantly.

 

Summary

But, whether you meditate, or whether you contemplate, you ought so to consider the mysteries of the life of Jesus, as if you were present at them: which is expressly taught by St. Bonaventure: “If you desire,” says he, “to derive fruit from these things, you must, with all the affection of your mind, setting aside all other cares and anxieties, represent yourself as present at what is related to have been spoken or done by the Lord Jesus Christ; in such a manner as if you heard them with your ears, saw them with your eyes.”

7. Learning from the Saints

The Saints, who were skilled in the interior ways of the spiritual life, teach us, that the demon, the evil spirit, is more wont to tempt, under the appearance of good, those who, leading a life already exempt from sins, exercise themselves in acquiring virtues.

Wherefore, to such persons, they recommend the following rules, to enable them to discern between the good and the evil spirit, and between the suggestions of either.

  1. In those who are advancing from good to better, the good Spirit moves the soul peacefully, calmly, gently: The evil spirit moves the soul roughly, confusedly, violently. But on those who proceed from bad to worse, the said spirits act in a contrary manner. For the good Spirit stings them inwardly, disquiets and arouses them that he may bring them to conversion. And the wicked spirit endeavours to make them quiet in sin, caresses, and flatters them, that he may keep and push them onward in evil.
  2. It is peculiar to God, as well as to every good Spirit, in His motions, to give to them that act rightly, or use sincere efforts, true joy and spiritual consolation, and to remove the sadness and trouble, which the evil spirit causes. And it is the characteristic of the evil spirit to fight against such joy and consolation, by adducing specious reasons, subtleties, and various fallacies.
  3. The evil spirit observes very much, whether a soul possesses a delicate or a loose conscience: If it is a delicate one, he strives to render it still more delicate, even to scrupulousness and every extreme, so that he may the more easily trouble and overcome her: thus, if he sees that a soul commits no mortal sin, nor venial, nor any voluntary defect, the evil spirit, as he cannot make her fall into some sin, tries to cause her to judge and think that it is a sin which is not a sin.
  4. But if the soul is of lax conscience, the evil spirit strives to make her still more lax and gross; so that, if before she made no account of venial sins, he endeavours to induce her now to make light of mortal sins; and, if before she cared little for grievous sins, he uses his efforts to make her now care much less, or even nothing at all, for them.
  5. A soul that desires to make progress in the spiritual life, must always proceed in a manner contrary to that by which the evil spirit proceeds. Wherefore, if he tries to make the soul more lax, she must take care to render herself more delicate: in like manner, if he endeavours to make her so delicate, as to lead her to extremes, or to scruples, she should manage to place herself firmly in the golden mean, so that she may render and keep herself altogether quiet.
  6. It is the characteristic of the evil spirit, who transforms himself sometimes into an angel of light, to begin by thrusting in thoughts conformable to the pious soul, and to finish, by suggesting his own wicked ones.
  7. The soul should rightly attend to the course of the thoughts suggested: for if the beginning, the middle, and the end are good, and tend to a good object, it is a sign that the thoughts suggested come from the good Spirit: but if in the succession of thoughts, which the spirit suggests, he ends with something bad, or which turns away from a certain good, or even with a less good than that which the soul had before resolved to do: or, if he renders the soul restless, or disturbs her, by taking away the tranquillity and peace which she enjoyed before, it is an evident sign, that those thoughts come from the evil spirit.
  8. When the enemy has been discovered, and is known by the evil, to which he leads, it is then useful, that the soul consider the course of thoughts suggested to her, under the appearance of good; and that she review from the beginning, how the enemy tried to overthrow, and take away by degrees, her interior peace and tranquillity, until he brought in his own wicked intention. Taught by this experience, the soul will for the future guard more easily against the deceits of the evil spirit.

 

St. Ignatius, St. Bernard, St. Gertrude

“Voice of Jesus” is taken from Arnoudt’s “Imitation of the Sacred Heart”, translated from the Latin of J.M. Fastre; Benziger Bros. Copyright 1866

Why Everyone Needs the First Commandment

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…Even Atheists! 

Most people don’t have a problem with some of the Ten Commandments. There are atheists, for example, who will admit that one should not kill, steal or lie. Thus, posting those specific Commandments in public classrooms or buildings would pose no problem. 

The problems begin with the First and most important Commandment, which deals with the honour and worship of God. The Commandment commands: “I am the Lord thy God: thou shalt not have strange gods before me.” 

Non-believers maintain that this Commandment and the two after it impose religious claims upon them and, therefore, should not be publicly displayed. They say they should not be forced to acknowledge a God that they do not believe exists. In a pluralistic society, the First Commandment must go. 

The Need for the First Commandment 

Such reasoning is wrong. Ironically, the First Commandment pertaining to God has non-believers in mind. It has its application for them. Everyone, even atheists, needs the First Commandment if there is to be order in society. 

Indeed, the atheist is more than just a person who doesn’t believe in God. It goes much deeper. Catholic thinker Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira once defined an atheist as “an egalitarian who, to avoid the absurdity of affirming man is God, commits the absurdity of declaring that God does not exist.” 

Thus, atheists reduce the belief in God to a matter of personal choice. They claim believers derive value from believing in any god (with a small “g”), whereas unbelievers rely upon things like science, progress or humanity to satisfy their higher aspirations. Beliefs are different for everyone and must be respected. 

How Atheists Become Supreme Gods 

Since significant minorities don’t believe in God, atheists conclude that the nation must act as if God does not exist. He must be banished from public discourse and squares because God has no real existence outside the creative power of the believer’s imagination. 

By making these claims, atheists can then tranquilly set themselves up as supreme gods above all others without falling into absurdity. They can be termed supreme gods (with a small “g”) because they claim the right to eradicate God (with a capital “G”) by reducing him to a figment of the imagination and, therefore, socially irrelevancy. 

The First Commandment Prevents False Atheist Gods 

Hence comes the need for the First Commandment. It prevents the “absurdity of affirming man is God” by recognizing the One True God and His Law. 

It denounces these absurd atheist “gods” that arbitrarily deny the One True God. It affirms the existence of a God independent of human belief or imaginings. This God is not created. He is who is. He exists regardless of what others think or do not think. He alone is to be adored. 

The First Commandment acknowledges the existence of an almighty and loving God who provides for humanity with His Law found in the Ten Commandments. This law is the foundation for customs, cultures and civilizations that bring order to human existence. 

This God is the only defending force that stands against those who surreptitiously declare themselves gods by claiming God does not exist and imposing their agendas upon all society. 

“If God Did Not Exist, Everything Would Be Possible” 

Indeed, when individuals declare there is no god, the greatest absurdities emerge. Dostoevsky once said, “If God did not exist, everything would be possible.” 

Without God, there could be no objective moral standards based on eternal and unchanging truths. Thus, passions become unbridled, and lust is taken to its extremes. When people make themselves gods, it is impossible to be truly free since they become slaves dominated by every whim and fantasy. 

Without an understanding of the order God established, the universe becomes unintelligible, and humanity is reduced to flotsam in a sea of nonsense without meaning and purpose. 

Without God, reality can be altered. Men can be women, and women can be men. People can identify as anyone and anything and demand that they be recognized as such. There would be no Eternal Truth to serve as an anchor. 

Avoiding the Cruellest Tyrannies 

However, the worst consequences of this world without God are when these false atheist gods take their fatal denials to their final consequences. They promise freedom and deliver tyranny. They demand to be adored. 

Indeed, there is no crueller master than these extreme atheist gods that declare “the absurdity that God does not exist.” 

Throughout history, these strange gods can be found directing the gulags and concentration camps, torture chambers and coliseums, guillotines and terrors. They find their greatest expression in the modern era, where communist regimes, nihilist philosophies and wokism hold sway, devoid of all compassion. 

Wherever unbridled passion reigns, one finds the atheist gods who resent anyone who dares to oppose them. They are ever ready to do everything to suppress and silence those who uphold the Faith. 

Overcoming the Darkness 

The only thing that stops this tyranny is the First Commandment whereby believers invoke a higher law and a higher power. God alone is the only one able to overcome the darkness reigning inside those souls who set themselves up as strange gods. 

Thus, everyone needs the First Commandment. Believers need it to take their love of God to ever-greater heights. 

Yes, even those atheists who desire some order need this Commandment for their own protection lest chaos be unleashed upon the earth. 

 

Confession: The Sacrament of Divine Mercy

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To better understand the great spiritual treasure contained in the Sacrament of Penance or Confession, let us turn the clock back two thousand years to Palestine, to a scene in the public life of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

The majesty of His Person, the wisdom pouring forth from His mouth and the power manifested by His miracles attracted a multitude that followed Him everywhere.

 

Only God Can Forgive Sins

One day, after curing the centurion’s daughter as a reward for his faith, silencing the storm before the fearful apostles, and expelling the demons in Gerasa, he boarded Peter’s boat for Capharnaum.

Hearing that He was in a house in their city, the people gathered in such numbers that the door of the house was obstructed. But for faith there are no obstacles, so some charitable persons carrying a paralytic, unable to enter by the door, climbed to the roof and lowered the suffering man into the room, setting him at Our Lord’s feet to be cured.

To everyone’s surprise, instead of simply performing the expected miracle, Jesus said:

“Courage, son, thy sins are forgiven.”

This was something new. No prophet had dared pardon sins. Not even John the Baptist, the greatest of all, had dared so much, preaching only the baptism of penance for the forgiveness of sins. 1 Nevertheless, this new Prophet declared, “thy sins are forgiven.”

The Pharisees, always looking for something with which to be scandalized, despite the Master’s astounding miracles, thought to themselves: “How does this man speak this way? He is blaspheming. Who but God alone can forgive sins?”

Truly, only God can forgive sins. That is because sin is an offense against the divine Majesty and only the object of the offense can forgive the offender. No one can forgive an offense done to another, above all when this Other is of a superior nature, God Himself.

Still, the wisdom and the miracles showed that this Prophet possessed powers that no other prophet before Him had possessed. His was an unfathomable perfection. But the Pharisees had hardened their hearts, and their understanding was clouded by passion. Within themselves, they uttered the same accusation that they were to renew at His passion: “He has blasphemed.”2

There was drama in the air. Everyone felt it. How would Jesus react before that mute accusation and ill-disguised surprise?

The answer came as a challenge. “Why are you thinking such things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, pick up your mat, and walk’?”

As always, the Pharisees were speechless before the dilemma offered them by the Rabbi.

In answer to their silence, Jesus said:

“But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins,” He said to the paralytic, “I say to you, arise, pick up your mat, and go home.”

“And immediately,” writes Saint Mark, the paralytic “rose, picked up his mat, and went away in the sight of everyone. They were all astounded and glorified God, saying: ‘We have never seen anything like this.’”3

The miracle performed by Our Lord on this occasion had an apologetic value. As Saint John Chrysostom explains, Jesus proved His divinity by a triple miracle:

“First, declaring openly their secret thoughts and murmurs against Him; second, healing the paralytic, third, performing the miracle with this end in view, that, by it, He might show that He had the power to forgive sins.”4

Our Lord Gave the Apostles the Power to Forgive Sins

Here we have the explanation for Confession. As Jesus proved that He was God by means of an astounding miracle, He also proved that He could forgive sins. And, as God, He has not only the power to forgive sins but has also the power to confer this faculty on others.

Furthermore, as Jesus is the only priest of the new Law, the mediator between God and men, a simple “delegation” of the power to forgive sins would still not be enough. It was necessary that Christ unite His Eternal Priesthood to that of those that would continue His work on earth after His ascension into Heaven.5 For this reason, He instituted the ministerial priest as the visible instrument of His action.6

The power to forgive sins was bestowed on the Apostles on the evening of the day Our Lord resurrected from the dead and mysteriously appeared amidst the Apostles gathered in the cenacle behind locked doors.

 

Saint John narrates:

Now when it was late that same day, the first of the week, and the doors were shut, where the disciples were gathered together, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst and said to them, “Peace be to you.”

When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side.

The disciples therefore were glad, when they saw the Lord. He said therefore to them again, “Peace be to you. As the Father hath sent me, I also send you.”

When He had said this, He breathed on them and He said to them:

“Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whose sins you shall forgive they are forgiven them, and whose sins you shall retain they are retained.”7

 

The Power to Judge and to Forgive

It is clear in the narrative above that Our Lord instituted not only the Sacrament of Penance, but also the mode in which it must be practiced.

On declaring that the sins that a priest forgives are forgiven and those that he retains are retained, He is signifying that, before forgiving, the priest must become acquainted with the sins as well as with the dispositions of the sinner. Only then will he be in a position to judge if there are conditions for forgiveness or not.

The seal of confession is an essential aspect of the sacrament of Penance. This sacred trust between penitent and confessor cannot be broken.

Thus, in the tribunal of Confession, as in any other tribunal, it is necessary that there be an accused, an accuser, and a judge. In Confession, the role of accuser is exercised by the penitent who accuses himself to the priest of the sins he has committed; hence the necessity of oral confession.8 The judge is the priest.

The Absolute Necessity for Secrecy in Confession

Our Lord, having established the Sacrament of Penance and the need for the penitent to declare his sins to the priest, also established the secrecy of Confession as a necessary consequence. For if secrecy were not obligatory, Confession would be odious if not impossible. This would render the sacrament ineffective, which is absurd.

Therefore, the secrecy of Confession is a divinely instituted right and cannot be abolished by any earthly authority. Any attempt in this respect is in direct opposition to God’s will.

Besides being a divine right, this obligation of secrecy was also established by ecclesiastical law, which always imposed the severest penalty for its infraction.9 Current legislation continues to maintain the same, declaring that any confessor who violates the secrecy of Confession is automatically excommunicated and can only be absolved by the Holy See.10

 

Is It Not Too Humiliating to Confess to Another Man?

Is it not too humiliating to have to submit to another man, himself a sinner, at times possibly even a greater sinner than the one confessing his sins?

If we truly realized the scope of God’s infinite grandeur and majesty and His immense perfection, we would be much more ashamed of telling our sins to Him (as if He did not already know them,) than to a man. The more perfect is the creature we address, the more miserable we appear and the more evident is the contrast between perfection and sin.

That is why theologians say that when a person dies in the terrible state of mortal sin and appears at his private judgment before the unspeakable perfection of God, he flees from God and hurls himself in Hell to hide his shame.

Thus if we analyse this well, this very humiliation of having to confess our sins to another man is a mercy of God. How much more humiliating it would be to kneel before the Divine Master Himself and tell Him all our sins! What is the humiliation before a man compared to the humiliation of recounting our sins before the infinite perfection of God?

In any case, this is the form in which Our Lord instituted the Sacrament of Confession, so we should submit in a spirit of obedience and love. In His infinite wisdom, He does everything to perfection. When men try to modify what He instituted, the result can only be deplorable.

The prideful attitude of saying, “I confess directly to God,” is almost the same as saying: “I am so perfect that I go directly to God Himself. I have no need of those crutches that are the Sacraments, the advice or the help of other men.”

The priest is “taken from among men and made their representative before God to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.”11

An angel cannot be a mediator. To refuse thus the mediation of another man is to refuse the priesthood, because the priest, while a mediator, has to be of the same nature as those for whom he mediates. That is why Our Lord, the Supreme Priest, became flesh and took our nature onto Himself, as Saint Paul says:

“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has similarly been tested in every way, yet without sin.”12

But Can a Sinner Forgive Sins?

To a priest applies, even more than to the common faithful, the general convocation to sanctity of Our Lord when he said:

“So be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.”13

But a priest is also subject to temptation and can not only sin but be, in certain cases, a sinner. Nevertheless, even when he sins, he does not forfeit the power that comes to him from the Sacrament of Holy Orders.

This was the objection raised at the beginning of the Church by the Donatist heretics as a result of a misunderstanding of the doctrine on the sacraments.

But Saint Augustine made it very clear to these same heretics that:

“…the power of the sacraments does not come from the sanctity of its ministers but from the infinite sanctity and perfection of Our Lord Jesus Christ.”

I Have No Sins to Confess…

Many people feel no need to go to Confession, thinking that they have no sins. They should consider what Scriptures says:

“For the just man falls seven times.”14

“Yet there is no man on earth so just as to do good and never sin.”15

“If we say, ‘we have not sinned,’ we make Him [God] a liar, and His word is not in us.”16

In these times of extreme corruption, let us avail ourselves of this instrument of divine mercy that is Confession. Let us carefully examine our consciences and with the firm resolution of turning away from sin, confess our failings to the priest.

For this small effort, this small humiliation, the reward is immense. Our soul is washed clean, our sins are forgiven, and we return to God’s friendship. As the Psalmist says: “cleanse me with hyssop, that I may be pure; wash me, make me whiter than snow.”17

References:

 

  1. Cf. Luke 3:3.
  2. Matt. 26:65.
  3. Mark 2:5-11; cf. Matt. 8:1-34; 9:1-8.
  4. Cornelius a Lapide, St. Matthew’s Gospel, Chaps. I to IX, in The Great Commentary of Cornelius a Lapide (London: John Hodges, 1893), p. 353.
  5. See 1 Tim. 2:5; Heb. 5:6; 7:24; Ps. 110:5.
  6. Our Lord instituted the Sacrament of Holy Orders on Holy Thursday. After anticipating the sacrifice of the Cross in a sacramental form by the transformation of the bread and wine into His body and blood, He commanded the disciples: “Do this in remembrance of Me.” On giving this command, He also granted the necessary power to execute it, that is, the power to consecrate. (Luke, 22:19; 1Cor.11:24.)
  7. John 20:19-23. Saint Cyril explains that Saint Thomas, despite being absent, also received the Holy Ghost and then the power to pardon sins eight days later when Our Lord appeared to him and converted him from his incredulity. (cf. Cornelius a Lapide, The Great Commentary–St. John’s Gospel [Edinburgh: John Grant, 1908], p. 273).
  8. Under special circumstances, the Church allows general absolution without oral confession, but oral confession must be made at the first opportunity. (See Canon 963.)
  9. Cf. “Seal of Confession. … Imposed by Christ in instituting the sacrament, this obligation has repeatedly been inculcated by ecclesiastical authority.” Fr. Gregory Manise, O.S.B., s.v. “Seal of Confession,” in Dictionary of Moral Theology (Westminster, Md.: Newman Press, 1962), p.1105.
  10. Canon 1388, cf. Canon 983.
  11. Heb 5:1
  12. Heb. 4:15.
  13. Matt. 5:48.
  14. Prov. 24:16.
  15. Eccles. 7:21.
  16. 1 John 1:10.
  17. Ps. 51:9.