Thursday, March 12, 2015

Not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law..



What a day. I just couldn't get away from the "Pope Francis effect"!

It started at 6am when I opened up my Magnificant Lenten Companion and read today's reflection.

I used to love Magnificat but stopped subscribing when they began to add Heather King et al, to the line up of solid reflections from Fr. Rutler, Anthony Easolen, Fr. Romanus Cessario and the Doctors of the Church. I picked up the Lenten edition to see if it cleaned up the drivel. Suffice it to say I won't be subscribing any time soon. Too bad, because I really love 80% of it, but I just don't have the bandwidth to subject myself to another thing being infiltrated with pablum and theology that is a bit off of the rails.

Anyhow, today's reflection was from a priest who explains that he had an epiphany about today's Gospel. "when the Lord tells us that not even the smallest letter will pass from the law, he is not telling us to be legalists. Rather, he asks us to understand the fullness of the law, moving beyond its restricted meaning to its fuller meaning in the context of divine revelation. And this broader context is found in the encounter with Jesus'.

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.
I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.
Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away,
not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter
will pass from the law,
until all things have taken place.
Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments
and teaches others to do so
will be called least in the Kingdom of heaven.
But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments
will be called greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.”

There isn't any complicated message that tries to convince Christ's people that if you encounter Jesus, there is laxity in following His Laws and Commandments.

You can take His Words at face value: Don't stray a millimeter from the law and don't teach other's to stray a millimeter from the law or you are going down.

Obedience to God, even when people say they will kill us if we teach it, preach it and practice it, is THE moral of Christ's story.

I read an excellent, succinct description of Pope Francis written by a priest to the Remnant.

Boy, did it ever hit me between the eyes:

I’m reassured to read your articles taking Pope Francis to task for his many attacks on faithful Catholics, while at the same time endorsing the immoral behavior of others.

Whoah, that's what happening, isn't it.

I mean...there it is in all it's simplicity: The Pope is attacking faithful Catholics and endorsing immoral conduct.

Who does that?

And the fruit of this tree seems like it has erased 2000 years of Saints and Doctors of the Church.

The locusts who have been fed from the breast of this beast of an agenda are swarming all over us.

The Pope has empowered every heretic from here to kingdom come and they are destroying everything.

Have you read this story from Katrina telling the story of Fr. Kevin O'Brien who denied her Communion on the tongue at her Grandmother's funeral?

This guy chooses grieving relatives to impose his disgust upon those of us who have too much respect for the Eucharist to lose a crumb of It to the bottom of our shoes.

A word to the wise: If a priest denies your dying relatives Viacitum, the likelihood he is going to validly substantiate the Eucharist is pretty low. Find another priest and another parish. Unless you like to be ministered to by the devil.

This was in vogue in Boston 10-15 years ago. You couldn't get a priest to give Viaticum. I think it's a little better but you have to be persistent and know that the shepherd is a believer. Otherwise, they will just get a 'blessing'. They'll be 'blessed' out of the opportunity to die in a state of Grace.

Here's the kicker with Reverend Obrien: When you go to the parish website, there's a big advertisement with a picture of St. Therese of Lisieux and the message that the parish is 'celebrating 60 years of doing small things with love'.

At the bottom of the website, in large letters, is this message:

As followers of Jesus,
nourished by the Word, the Eucharist,
and one another,
we are called to joyfully spread the Good News
by praising God, serving the poor,
comforting the sick and welcoming all.

Give us a break.

Drop him an email and respectfully let him know his pants are on fire in Catholic blogosphere.

KOBrien@StThereseChesVA.org

I wrote him and told him if I were his bishop, he'd be without faculties and a job tomorrow and the papers would be on their way to Rome to be defrocked.

If we had a nickel for every rat on the ship just like him that led the people we love astray the last 50 years, we'd all be rich.

This is it. This is why Pope Francis's attack on faithful Catholics, endorsing immoral conduct and prancing around telling us it's a waltz of mercy, caring and kindness received such a visceral reaction.

The sermon I heard from the priest today spoke about the importance of faithfully teaching others right from wrong, and the sufferings of so many parents who are in pain because their children have been misled by teachers and the ordained, the consequences we are all experiencing in the world because of the dereliction of duty. I had to hold back tears for all of us!

That is the tack Pope Francis should have taken.

Not telling us mercy hooodwinks the people we love into immorality and insults, slanders and threatens the people who expose their misconduct.

12 comments:

Michael Dowd said...

Great column Carol.

You found the perfect description of our problem with Pope Francis:

"Pope Francis attacks faithful Catholics, while at the same time endorsing the immoral behavior of others."

This statement must be repeated again and again so more will understand what upsets us.

"Pope Francis attacks faithful Catholics, while at the same time endorsing the immoral behavior of others."

Michael Dowd




Mary Ann Kreitzer said...

So disheartening. I read a column this morning by Cliff Kincaid about the pope's enabling of Communism and socialism. those who feel we are on a rudderless ship have it right, I think.

M. Prodigal said...

Amen to what you wrote. I visit the elderly and essentially none of them have relatives to even take them to Mass, never mind even a Catholic funeral. And they cry, these elderly who raised their children in the Church only to have them fall away and give the grandchildren nothing.

M. Prodigal said...

Wouldn't it be nice to have true shepherds that care about the salvation of souls????

http://the-american-catholic.com/

A childhood friend of the Pope reveals what he alleges the Pope told him on a recent trip to the Vatican:

A childhood friend of Pope Francis has claimed that he intends to overturn the centuries-old ban on Catholic priests from getting married and that he told a divorcee ‘living in sin’ that she could receive Holy Communion.

The Pope considers the law on priestly celibacy ‘archaic’ and ‘not part of the doctrine of the Church’, according to the confidante.

The friend also claimed the Argentinian-born pope also vowed to reform another Catholic rule which bars divorced people in new relationships from taking the Holy Communion, MailOnline can reveal.

According to Oscar Crespo, Pope Francis said that changing the Catholic law which bars civil divorcees from taking a full part in church life is the ‘number one priority’ of his papacy.
- See more at: http://the-american-catholic.com/#sthash.B27CfIdQ.dpuf

M. Prodigal said...

Wouldn't it be nice to have true shepherds that care about the salvation of souls????

http://the-american-catholic.com/

A childhood friend of the Pope reveals what he alleges the Pope told him on a recent trip to the Vatican:

A childhood friend of Pope Francis has claimed that he intends to overturn the centuries-old ban on Catholic priests from getting married and that he told a divorcee ‘living in sin’ that she could receive Holy Communion.

The Pope considers the law on priestly celibacy ‘archaic’ and ‘not part of the doctrine of the Church’, according to the confidante.

The friend also claimed the Argentinian-born pope also vowed to reform another Catholic rule which bars divorced people in new relationships from taking the Holy Communion, MailOnline can reveal.

According to Oscar Crespo, Pope Francis said that changing the Catholic law which bars civil divorcees from taking a full part in church life is the ‘number one priority’ of his papacy.
- See more at: http://the-american-catholic.com/#sthash.B27CfIdQ.dpuf

TLM said...

The letter from Fr. Anonymous really floored me. Not that I didn't realize that faithful Priests are already suffering, worried and even fearful, but when you read something like that, it really brings that reality home. Hits you in the gut. We must pray for our faithful Prelates, they are suffering, Priests, Bishops and Deacons alike are suffering.

That sad reality stated, every once in a while I refer back to the false prophet prophecies. (of which there are several) Not that I endorse them completely, never really have, as I realize we have had many bad Popes in Church history. I'm not an eschatology expert by a long shot, never really been into it like others have, and for all I know all of our bad Popes in the past could have probably qualified for 'false prophets.' Somehow though the thought keeps creeping into my consciousness, and I wonder. How much prophecy are we really living now not fully realizing it? Hard to tell probably until time passes, but there have been several great saints that have prophesied such, not to mention the Blessed Mother herself, so...? Not very comforting, but it does have a tendency to get the faithful to.....get a move on with their spiritual lives, and not to dilly dally along, things MAY be happening as predicted. Just a thought.

Pray for our Priests!!

Restore-DC-Catholicism said...

If it was a wheat pita that was offered as "communion" I suspect Transubstantiation didn't occur, owing to invalid matter. That means the entire congregation was denied Holy Communion. This travesty probably occurs quite frequently at that church.

Anonymous said...

"surely you will not die....."
Satan gave Eve the same promise we hear Modernists give to all..... "surely you will not go to hell......"

Jesus hung on The Cross for 3 hours and died for our sins. I do NOT accept the new teaching that there is no sin and there is no hell......I expect and we deserve the Truth that Jesus saves us ...... I keep noticing that part is missing from those who teach ..... therefore they teach as did Satan "pastorally" "minister" to Eve.....they lie - they deceive- they cannot lead to heaven by another path other than Jesus saving us from sin and hell. JESUS DID NOT SUFFER AND DIE FOR SOMETHING THE CHURCH WAS MISTAKEN ABOUT FOR 2000 YEARS - SIN WAS BEFORE 1960 AND SIN STILL EXISTS AND WE NEED JESUS TO SAVE US FROM SIN AND HELL! THAT IS WHAT I WANT TO HEAR ON SUNDAY AND AT THE SYNOD AND UNTIL THE END OF DAYS! The silence and omission of that DOGMA is very loud - we notice - always!

Anonymous said...

My heart goes out to Fr. Anonymous and all priests like him. If he is reading this, I assure both him and the other priests of my daily prayers.

I have no affinity to modern-type meditation books, so the bulk of the ones I do use are all pre-Vatican II. Has anyone else here noticed the stark contrast between the "spirituality" of that Church and the present one? It's the exact opposite today of what it once was.

Anonymous said...

Following your suggestion I wrote to Rev. Kevin O'Brien about denying the lady Communion on the tongue.
He responded with a letter saying he had apologized to the woman, "I was wrong, I should not have done that. I made a serious mistake. I learned an important lesson and I will not make that mistake again. Said he was truly sorry.
He went on to say he gives communion to those in his parish that want to receive on the tongue, that he does not use "pita" bread, and that when someone is dying he always responds.Thought you might be interested in this email from him that I just got. --Mrs. Scott (Houston Texas)

Anonymous said...

FWIW, pita bread is definitely illicit matter for the Roman rite, but not necessarily invalid matter. The presence of small amounts of sugar, oil and salt (which would be typical in commercial pita breads) would probably not suffice to render it invalid matter - they would need to be more substantial. The substantial use of non-wheaten flour would be the bigger problem.

And, of course, there's no good reason for a priest to resort to using this in the circumstances described.

That said, it's also not good to assume invalidity when there's insufficient basis for it.

TTC said...

Mrs. Scott,

I almost did a cartwheel when I read word of Fr. O'Brien's humble response.

Deo Gratis.

Thank you so much for sharing!