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[prayerfulpilgrim]

Prayer to St. Albert the Great

Dear Scientist and Doctor of the Church, natural science always led you to the higher science of God. Though you had an encyclopedic knowledge, it never made you proud, for you regarded it as a gift of God. Inspire scientists to use their gifts well in studying the wonders of creation, thus bettering the lot of the human race and rendering greater glory to God. Amen.

[propaganda-fide]

Jesus Christus, Rex gloriæ, venit in pace. Jesus Christ, the King of Glory, cometh in peace

[raisedbyascorpio]

[eternal-echoes]

Its weird, people always told me that scientists are less likely to be religious, but I'm now busy with my masters in molecular biology and the more I've learned about biology, the less likely I am to chalk it all up to mere chance that these things developed all by themselves.

Plenty of scientists agree with you, anon. 

[allaboutmary]

[chi-the-rho-deactivated20201122]

Our Lady of Fatima. Our Lady is ever so inwardly and outwardly beautiful. The woman I love, our Blessed Mother.

[mamacatolica]

100 years...

[portraitsofsaints]

Happy feast Day St. Ambrose

Doctor of the Church 337-397 Feast day: December 7 Saint Ambrose, an early “Father” and Doctor of the Church, was an educated lawyer and a Roman governor of Milan, with wealth and prestige. In 374 he was elected Bishop by popular demand, even though he was just a catechumen. From that point on he gave his wealth to the poor and for ransom. He learned theology and scripture from St. Simplican. At one point, he even excommunicated the Emperor Theodosious. He fought the Arian heresy and pursued sanctity throughout his life. St. Augustine’s conversion is attributed to St. Ambrose’s reasoning and logic.

{website}

[coriesu]

Immaculate Heart of Mary

[anastpaul]

[by-grace-of-god]

Notre Dame de Paris, Assumption 2016

[anastpaul]

Thought for the Day – August 3 

Lydia was a woman of hospitality, a woman of faith. As a successful businesswoman she most likely had a home spacious enough to welcome guests and to use her home as a Christian center, where others would gather for the Holy Mass and prayer. After Paul and Silas were released from prison, they went immediately to Lydia’s house to see and encourage the believers gathered there. Lydia served the Lord through her gift of love and hospitality. One would probably call her another “Martha” – a woman of action and most certainly a woman who was a bright star in the early Church, where as unequal as women were in societal standing, they were certainly of high importance and regard in the Church. St Lydia Purpuraria Pray for us!

[theraccolta]

[mamacatolica]

San Alfonso ora por nosotros y enseñanzas a querer a la Virgen María tanto como tu. amen

[theraccolta]

[by-grace-of-god]

“Ukrainian artist Vladimir Denshchikov creates mind-blowing religious icons made almost entirely of linen thread. 

Only the faces and hands of the saints in Denshchikov’s icons are painted on canvas, everything else is made from millions of linen knots. The artist doesn’t use any tools, like needles or crochets to make the knots, all the patterns and details are created directly by hand. The material used for these incredible artworks is created by the artist himself: he takes a piece of pure linen cloth (a fabric associated with Orthodox Faith), soaks it in water and takes it apart one string at a time. He uses linen threads between 0.5 and 2 meters long and works between 3 and 6 months on a single 40×50 cm icon. It might sound like a long time, but let’s not forget one of these things numbers up to nine million tiny knots, each made by hand.” (Source)

[abracada-pelo-senhor]

[fear-not-beloved]

♡♡

[fatherangel]

Father, I am a Protestant convert and an SSPX Catholic but I'm moving ever closer to Sedevacantism especially with the way the current Pope is behaving. Do you have any advice for me to get back on track or to possibly understand the Pope's motives?

Hello,

The concept of sedevacantism, that God would purposely and willfully desire that the Church be without a supreme authority for any lengthy amount of time, is profoundly unbiblical and without theological merit.

God provided the ancient Israelites with the patriarchs. He provided the Chosen People with Moses in the time of their deliverance. After Moses was the era of the Judges. Finally, Saul was anointed king and even after the fall of the kingdom, God raised up prophets with divine authority to provide guidance and correction.

The coming Messiah was God’s ultimate promise of an authority, and a shepherd, for His People. 

When in biblical times, and in the history of the Catholic Church, people are angry and grumbling, they easily fall to the temptation of denying their divinely appointed authority. Both in biblical history and in the history of the Church, people clamor to “throw the bums out.” But what does God do?

He reminds His people that divinely appointed authority is not a democracy. God calls and anoints. God is prepared to conserve His People, even when His leaders fail. 

God doesn’t call perfect men to lead his Church, or even men who are always of surpassing virtue. This was the great error of the so-called “Reformation.” Martin Luther propagated the thinking that if there were just holy and truthful leaders, or popes, the Church’s faith would stay valid and vibrant.

And yet, the holiness and orthodoxy of the Church always endures by the protection of the Holy Spirit. We are, sad to say, living in an age when the trust in the Holy Spirit, is non-existent. Everyone has self-appointed themselves to do the job the Holy Spirit is more than capable of doing–keeping the Church indefectible in her faith.

The great King, David, murdered one of his best friends in order to run away with the guy’s wife, after he impregnated her. How low down and dirty is that? And yet God received his repentance and confirmed a covenant with David.

The examples of Scripture, and of history, of God’s protective faithfulness to the Church are too numerous to cite. And God is able to accomplish this even when unworthy men occupy the supreme leadership of the Church. No human being can get in God’s way. No human being, no pope, can unravel God’s plan and His will for the Church.

The danger of sedevacantism is, first of all, the pride and haughtiness of self-appointing oneself the theological expert of the pope’s doctrine. This is in effect making oneself a Grand Inquisitor. People can spout off dogmas and Church Council decrees. However, that does not make them orthodox or wise, anymore than the devil quoting the Bible to Jesus, made the devil a wise Bible scholar.

Another danger of sedevacantism is the idea that a pope can “unpope” or disqualify himself as supreme visible leader (Jesus is always supreme invisible leader) by “teaching heresy.” The ideas that people have of what a dogma is, or what a heresy is, is often based on the letter of the words. People think that certain definitions of doctrine are only to be understood in one, single way.

This idea of “unpoping” or “losing your pope-ness” over heresy is mentally and emotionally unsound because it is based on the most narrow theological concepts. It shows a mind which is puny, rigid, brittle, and thinks only inside of a certain box. The sedevacantists I know are not able to define correctly what a dogma is. They cannot define correctly even what a heresy is.

And yet, they are making judgments and condemnations of the pope based on their faulty theology and faulty understanding of the proper language and concepts of dogmas, and heresies. 

What I think is unusual is that past popes who were publicly involved in fraud, sex scandals, and murders, like Pope Alexander VI (of the Borgias), are accepted by sedevacantists as “real popes.” And yet a pope who strives to give example of Christian virtue, and chastity, like Pope Francis is an invalid heretic? 

For people who also have a tendency to claim they are the holy Remnant of the Church, this is weird, if you ask me. Valid popes, real popes, can assassinate people, and have sex with mistresses and name their kids to be cardinals in public. They are safe in orthodoxy because, at least, they were not “modernists.” And yet popes who give to the poor, are chaste and celibate, who show Christ’s love to Catholics and non-Catholics–such as John XXIII, Paul VI, and John Paul II–are unfit to be considered popes and so their chair is empty, “sede vacante.” 

I don’t know how such judgments can be seen as anything put very elitist and exclusive. A Catholic is supposed to live their faith with joy, with hospitality, with compassion for the suffering of all peoples, and to welcome the stranger in their midst, even the heretic and sexual sinner. But one does not find this spirit among the sedevacantists. They seem to relish deciding who is outside the True Church, who must be cast into the outer darkness, who is unwashed, impure, and defiled in heresy.

This is no different than the Protestant fights over “sola scripture.” When your faith is based on the “literal Bible words alone”, who is to say who is being literal, and who is making a false interpretation? What the sedevacantists do is have similar brawls and fights over the past teachings of popes and Council documents. 

They are not adherents of “sola scriptura” but “sola traditio.” The thinking of “sola traditio” is that “I” will take the words of holy Tradition and give them “my” interpretation. If my special and unique interpretation of the words of Tradition are different than your interpretation, then you are a heretic.

Instead of quoting a Bible verse and condemning and attacking, a sedevacantist quotes a Tradition verse and then starts to condemn and attack. That attack could easily be resolved with what? What? A Magisterium! What a novel idea! To resolve fights about Tradition with an authority who, ALONE, has the authority to give interpretation to the documents of Tradition.

But no. Sola Traditio folks say, “The documents of Tradition need no translator or interpreter. They are plain and obvious, unless being twisted by modernists. But who gets to judge who is a “modernist”, or a heretic? Who gets to judge who is interpreting the words of Tradition according to orthodox Tradition, or according to “modernism”? It is not the Magisterium, that is for sure.

When a skilled and well researched theologian begins to apply historical contexts, language nuances, and proper intention of the author, the sedevacantists interpretations of heresy fall like a deck of cards. It is just like when heretics misinterpret the Bible. To show them wrong, the Catholic Magisterium informs them of the proper contexts of that particular Bible verse, the language nuances, and the real intention of the sacred author.

In the same way that sola scriptura adherents simply will not be corrected about Bible verses, so the adherents of sola Traditio will not be corrected on any verse of the teachings of Tradition. In this sense, they are actually both Protestants. Except that Protestants who are Protestant adhere to “Bible only” arguments, whereas Catholics who are Protestants adhere only to Tradition arguments. 

Neither group wants to have anything to do with popes. Sola scriptura people simply deny any need for a pope. Sola Traditio folks say there is a need for a pope, but there isn’t one to be found–how convenient. Either way, you get rid of a living Magisterium of flesh and blood men, and turn yourself into your own Magisterium.

God bless and take care, Fr. Angel

[mamacatolica]

I am sorry father but your accusations against sedevacantists include only opinions and not real facts. I rather believe that God allowed an impostor in the papacy than believe that God abandoned the Church and allowed a True Pope to lead the flock into herecy and sin. The reason I know that divorced people commit the sin of adultery for example is because of the Magisterium and what the Catholic Church has always taught , so when Bergolio teaches in Amoris Letitia that in certain circumstances it's ok for divorcees to receive communion, I choose to render the logic conclusion that he is a heretic and not Catholic rather than believe that God lied or that the Holy Spirit chose a Pope that contradicts the Dogmas we are to believe as Catholics. I do not need to be a theologian to come to this conclusion and Jesus did warn us about false prophets. Those of us who choose to adhere to sedevacantism do know what a Dogma is, it is a divine Truth and we have actually read encyclicals and have taken the time to know our faith. We are not lunatics, unloving or uncharitable totally the contrary we love Jesus so much and His Church that we do not adhere to modernism and embrace tradition. We have taken the time to study our Faith and humbly strive to live according to it even if people like you persecute us.

[allaboutmary]

Dear Lady of Fatima, We come on bended knee, To beg Your intercession, For peace and unity.