Genesis 1:26- And God said Let us make man.
Patristic Bible Commentary, St. Basil
Does not the light of theology shine, in these words, as through windows; and does not the second Person show Himself in a mystical way, without yet manifesting Himself until the great day?
Where is the Jew who resisted the truth and pretended that God was speaking to Himself? It is He who spoke, it is said, and it is He who made. Let there be light and there was light. But then their words contain a manifest absurdity. Where is the smith, the carpenter, the shoemaker, who, without help and alone before the instruments of his trade, would say to himself; let us make the sword, let us put together the plough, let us make the boot? Does he not perform the work of his craft in silence?
Strange folly, to say that any one has seated himself to command himself, to watch over himself, to constrain himself, to hurry himself, with the tones of a master! But the unhappy creatures are not afraid to calumniate the Lord Himself. What will they not say with a tongue so well practised in lying? Here, however, words stop their mouth; And God said let us make man. Tell me; is there then only one Person? It is not written Let man be made, but, Let us make man.
The preaching of theology remains enveloped in shadow before the appearance of him who was to be instructed, but, now, the creation of man is expected, that faith unveils herself and the dogma of truth appears in all its light. Let us make man. O enemy of Christ, hear God speaking to His Co-operator, to Him by Whom also He made the worlds, Who upholds all things by the word of His power. But He does not leave the voice of true religion without answer. Thus the Jews, race hostile to truth, when they find themselves pressed, act like beasts enraged against man, who roar at the bars of their cage and show the cruelty and the ferocity of their nature, without being able to assuage their fury. God, they say, addresses Himself to several persons; it is to the angels before Him that He says, Let us make man. Jewish fiction! A fable whose frivolity shows whence it has come. To reject one person, they admit many. To reject the Son, they raise servants to the dignity of counsellors; they make of our fellow slaves the agents in our creation.
The perfect man attains the dignity of an angel; but what creature can be like the Creator? Listen to the continuation. In our image. What have you to reply? Is there one image of God and the angels? Father and Son have by absolute necessity the same form, but the form is here understood as becomes the divine, not in bodily shape, but in the proper qualities of Godhead. Hear also, you who belong to the new concision (Philippians 3:2) and who, under the appearance of Christianity, strengthen the error of the Jews.
To Whom does He say, in our image, to whom if it is not to Him who is the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, Hebrews 1:3 the image of the invisible God? (Colossians 1:15) It is then to His living image, to Him Who has said I and my Father are one, John (10:30) He that has seen me has seen the Father, (John 14:9) that God says Let us make man in our image. Where is the unlikeness in these Beings who have only one image?
Genesis 1:27 So God created man.
It is not They made. Here Scripture avoids the plurality of the Persons. After having enlightened the Jew, it dissipates the error of the Gentiles in putting itself under the shelter of unity, to make you understand that the Son is with the Father, and guarding you from the danger of polytheism. He created him in the image of God. God still shows us His co-operator, because He does not say, in His image, but in the image of God.
https://sites.google.com/site/aquinasstudybible/home/genesis/st-basil-on-creation
Patristic Bible Commentary, St. Basil
Does not the light of theology shine, in these words, as through windows; and does not the second Person show Himself in a mystical way, without yet manifesting Himself until the great day?
Where is the Jew who resisted the truth and pretended that God was speaking to Himself? It is He who spoke, it is said, and it is He who made. Let there be light and there was light. But then their words contain a manifest absurdity. Where is the smith, the carpenter, the shoemaker, who, without help and alone before the instruments of his trade, would say to himself; let us make the sword, let us put together the plough, let us make the boot? Does he not perform the work of his craft in silence?
Strange folly, to say that any one has seated himself to command himself, to watch over himself, to constrain himself, to hurry himself, with the tones of a master! But the unhappy creatures are not afraid to calumniate the Lord Himself. What will they not say with a tongue so well practised in lying? Here, however, words stop their mouth; And God said let us make man. Tell me; is there then only one Person? It is not written Let man be made, but, Let us make man.
The preaching of theology remains enveloped in shadow before the appearance of him who was to be instructed, but, now, the creation of man is expected, that faith unveils herself and the dogma of truth appears in all its light. Let us make man. O enemy of Christ, hear God speaking to His Co-operator, to Him by Whom also He made the worlds, Who upholds all things by the word of His power. But He does not leave the voice of true religion without answer. Thus the Jews, race hostile to truth, when they find themselves pressed, act like beasts enraged against man, who roar at the bars of their cage and show the cruelty and the ferocity of their nature, without being able to assuage their fury. God, they say, addresses Himself to several persons; it is to the angels before Him that He says, Let us make man. Jewish fiction! A fable whose frivolity shows whence it has come. To reject one person, they admit many. To reject the Son, they raise servants to the dignity of counsellors; they make of our fellow slaves the agents in our creation.
The perfect man attains the dignity of an angel; but what creature can be like the Creator? Listen to the continuation. In our image. What have you to reply? Is there one image of God and the angels? Father and Son have by absolute necessity the same form, but the form is here understood as becomes the divine, not in bodily shape, but in the proper qualities of Godhead. Hear also, you who belong to the new concision (Philippians 3:2) and who, under the appearance of Christianity, strengthen the error of the Jews.
To Whom does He say, in our image, to whom if it is not to Him who is the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, Hebrews 1:3 the image of the invisible God? (Colossians 1:15) It is then to His living image, to Him Who has said I and my Father are one, John (10:30) He that has seen me has seen the Father, (John 14:9) that God says Let us make man in our image. Where is the unlikeness in these Beings who have only one image?
Genesis 1:27 So God created man.
It is not They made. Here Scripture avoids the plurality of the Persons. After having enlightened the Jew, it dissipates the error of the Gentiles in putting itself under the shelter of unity, to make you understand that the Son is with the Father, and guarding you from the danger of polytheism. He created him in the image of God. God still shows us His co-operator, because He does not say, in His image, but in the image of God.
https://sites.google.com/site/aquinasstudybible/home/genesis/st-basil-on-creation
Google
St. Basil on Creation - Patristic Bible Commentary
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The role of women in patriotic teaching of Blessed Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński
In his Primatial teaching was often returning to the issue of the female world. This issue was discussed against changing socioeconomic conditions. He did not remain, however, at the level of analysis, but entrusted women with specific tasks. He strongly emphasised the role of women, their tasks in a family, professional, social and even in political life. He entrusted this social group with keeping guard over the fulfilment of Jasna Góra (Eng. Luminous Mount) Vows of the Polish Nation from 1956. Thereby, he called women to defend life, accept life, to realise their main vocation – maternity. He stated that the future of nation is largely dependent on women, on the way of educating a young generation, transferred values.
The role of women in patriotic teaching of Blessed Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński
In his Primatial teaching was often returning to the issue of the female world. This issue was discussed against changing socioeconomic conditions. He did not remain, however, at the level of analysis, but entrusted women with specific tasks. He strongly emphasised the role of women, their tasks in a family, professional, social and even in political life. He entrusted this social group with keeping guard over the fulfilment of Jasna Góra (Eng. Luminous Mount) Vows of the Polish Nation from 1956. Thereby, he called women to defend life, accept life, to realise their main vocation – maternity. He stated that the future of nation is largely dependent on women, on the way of educating a young generation, transferred values.
Ecce Verbum
3680-3366.pdf
The role of women in patriotic teaching of Blessed Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński
In his teaching, Wyszyński often spoke of the importance and dignity of women. He drew attention to the equality of women and men in their dignity before God. Incidentally, it is worth recalling that Cardinal Wyszynski always stood up when a woman entered the room, regardless of whether she was simple or educated, young or old. He had great respect for women, whom he held in high esteem.
He emphasized the importance of maternity but saw the vocation of women in a much broader context. He stressed that not all women had a call to family life, which should be respected. He greatly appreciated the spiritual and intellectual potential of women, convinced that God had endowed them very generously and that they should make use of it. He never disqualified them. He saw the value of what they contributed to society, culture and to the life of the Church. He said that the social aspirations of women had to be properly understood and recognized by the Church and the clergy. As Cardinal Wyszyński’s biographer, points out, in the Primate’s days more women worked in various commissions of the Polish Bishops’ Conference than today.
It is worth recalling that the Primate also had interesting and concrete proposals for flexible social solutions, which recognized women’s role and made it possible to combine maternity with work outside the home. He always stood on the side of women and in their defense.
He was also aware of the importance of the pastoral care of women and their special spiritual needs. He repeated that the departure of men from the Church is not yet the greatest drama, but the departure of women is the ultimate catastrophe.
A woman is supposed to enrich public, social and cultural life by making it more human.
“Perhaps then non-human world of steel forces will change into human world of open maternal arms, in which law will not be steel and fist, but love"
He called: „Our technology is threatened with being non-human. Reconcile people with life, and most of all keep guard – that is what we ask of You. Hold a man’s hand (to women), who at the moment of rage would try to destroy human civilisation”.
Priest Primate warned against building a too masculinised world. He said that war experiences distorted social relations: “Human life hardened as well as human voice, his nerves, sight and face. We cannot withdraw from it”.
Priest Primate saw a need of cooperation of male and female components to reach genuine culture in the contemporary world, more human, and simultaneously more divine. As an example, he used to provide cooperation of Jesus and Mary. He said that all virtues, personality features of man and woman must be harmonised to act jointly and guard against subsequent terrible disasters.
source 🔗
#women
In his teaching, Wyszyński often spoke of the importance and dignity of women. He drew attention to the equality of women and men in their dignity before God. Incidentally, it is worth recalling that Cardinal Wyszynski always stood up when a woman entered the room, regardless of whether she was simple or educated, young or old. He had great respect for women, whom he held in high esteem.
He emphasized the importance of maternity but saw the vocation of women in a much broader context. He stressed that not all women had a call to family life, which should be respected. He greatly appreciated the spiritual and intellectual potential of women, convinced that God had endowed them very generously and that they should make use of it. He never disqualified them. He saw the value of what they contributed to society, culture and to the life of the Church. He said that the social aspirations of women had to be properly understood and recognized by the Church and the clergy. As Cardinal Wyszyński’s biographer, points out, in the Primate’s days more women worked in various commissions of the Polish Bishops’ Conference than today.
It is worth recalling that the Primate also had interesting and concrete proposals for flexible social solutions, which recognized women’s role and made it possible to combine maternity with work outside the home. He always stood on the side of women and in their defense.
He was also aware of the importance of the pastoral care of women and their special spiritual needs. He repeated that the departure of men from the Church is not yet the greatest drama, but the departure of women is the ultimate catastrophe.
A woman is supposed to enrich public, social and cultural life by making it more human.
“Perhaps then non-human world of steel forces will change into human world of open maternal arms, in which law will not be steel and fist, but love"
He called: „Our technology is threatened with being non-human. Reconcile people with life, and most of all keep guard – that is what we ask of You. Hold a man’s hand (to women), who at the moment of rage would try to destroy human civilisation”.
Priest Primate warned against building a too masculinised world. He said that war experiences distorted social relations: “Human life hardened as well as human voice, his nerves, sight and face. We cannot withdraw from it”.
Priest Primate saw a need of cooperation of male and female components to reach genuine culture in the contemporary world, more human, and simultaneously more divine. As an example, he used to provide cooperation of Jesus and Mary. He said that all virtues, personality features of man and woman must be harmonised to act jointly and guard against subsequent terrible disasters.
source 🔗
#women
On marital chastity
St. Augustine,"To the Married"
"Do not allow your husbands to fornicate! Hurl the Church herself against them! Obstruct them, not through the law courts, not through the proconsul . . . not even through the Emperor, but through Christ.... The wife has not authority over her body, but the husband. Why do men exult? Listen to what follows. The husband likewise has not authority over his body, but the wife.... Despise all things for love of your husband. But seek that he be chaste and call him to account if his chastity be amiss....
"Who would tolerate an adulterous wife? Is the woman enjoined to tolerate an adulterous husband? Those of you who are chaste women, however, do not imitate your wanton husbands. May this be far from you. May they either live with you or perish alone. A woman owes her modesty not to a wanton husband but to God and to Christ."
Notes
Augustine teaches that wives can call their husbands "to account" if they fail in chastity. He sees specific warrants for female authority in the area of chastity. Chastity is one of the three goods of marriage taught by Augustine. It, along with the goods of children and indissolubility, is of the essence of the marital bond.
The wife has authority to require her husband to live up to these, and her authority covers any of his spousal duties. Just as the husband. A wife is not only there to serve her spouse. A wife's vocation means she has the authority to call her spouse to serve her and their children in his vocation as husband and father. This is the true sense of male and female authority. Equality does not mean that the man and woman have the <same> responsibilities. They don't. But the man and the woman have an <equal> authority to lead each other to fulfill the vocations to which God has called them.
#marriage
St. Augustine,"To the Married"
"Do not allow your husbands to fornicate! Hurl the Church herself against them! Obstruct them, not through the law courts, not through the proconsul . . . not even through the Emperor, but through Christ.... The wife has not authority over her body, but the husband. Why do men exult? Listen to what follows. The husband likewise has not authority over his body, but the wife.... Despise all things for love of your husband. But seek that he be chaste and call him to account if his chastity be amiss....
"Who would tolerate an adulterous wife? Is the woman enjoined to tolerate an adulterous husband? Those of you who are chaste women, however, do not imitate your wanton husbands. May this be far from you. May they either live with you or perish alone. A woman owes her modesty not to a wanton husband but to God and to Christ."
Notes
Augustine teaches that wives can call their husbands "to account" if they fail in chastity. He sees specific warrants for female authority in the area of chastity. Chastity is one of the three goods of marriage taught by Augustine. It, along with the goods of children and indissolubility, is of the essence of the marital bond.
The wife has authority to require her husband to live up to these, and her authority covers any of his spousal duties. Just as the husband. A wife is not only there to serve her spouse. A wife's vocation means she has the authority to call her spouse to serve her and their children in his vocation as husband and father. This is the true sense of male and female authority. Equality does not mean that the man and woman have the <same> responsibilities. They don't. But the man and the woman have an <equal> authority to lead each other to fulfill the vocations to which God has called them.
#marriage
The Order of Charity and Political Life
Prof. Osborne is the chair of the philosophy department at the University of St. Thomas in Houston. His research focuses on medieval, late scholastic, and contemporary philosophy. He is particularly concerned with the way in which philosophical concepts are changed and created historically. His research focuses on Ethical Theory, Moral Psychology, Ethics, and Metaphysics. He also has related interests in Philosophy of Religion and Political Philosophy.
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-thomistic-institute/id820373598?i=1000498827422
Prof. Osborne is the chair of the philosophy department at the University of St. Thomas in Houston. His research focuses on medieval, late scholastic, and contemporary philosophy. He is particularly concerned with the way in which philosophical concepts are changed and created historically. His research focuses on Ethical Theory, Moral Psychology, Ethics, and Metaphysics. He also has related interests in Philosophy of Religion and Political Philosophy.
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-thomistic-institute/id820373598?i=1000498827422
Apple Podcasts
The Thomistic Institute on Apple Podcasts
Religion & Spirituality · 2024
Ecce Verbum
"Three men, two worlds, one cause" On bishop Wawrzyniec Gościcki, Gilbert Keith Chesterton, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien and the case of distributist economics (I've come across this very interesting article on one of the Polish conservative blogs and decided…
The Lawfulness and Social Character of Private Ownership
by Henri Grenier
The Québécois priest, theologian, and philosopher, Henri Grenier (1899-1980), was the author of a popular Cursus Philosophiae that was translated into both French and English. He was a major Thomistic opponent of personalism, and is thought to have been an influence on the great Laval School Thomist, Charles De Koninck. The following passages are taken from Thomistic Philosophy, Vol 3: Moral Philosophy, trans. J.P.E. O’Hanley (Charlottetown: St. Dunstan’s University, 1949).
https://thejosias.com/2015/06/01/the-lawfulness-and-social-character-of-private-ownership/
by Henri Grenier
The Québécois priest, theologian, and philosopher, Henri Grenier (1899-1980), was the author of a popular Cursus Philosophiae that was translated into both French and English. He was a major Thomistic opponent of personalism, and is thought to have been an influence on the great Laval School Thomist, Charles De Koninck. The following passages are taken from Thomistic Philosophy, Vol 3: Moral Philosophy, trans. J.P.E. O’Hanley (Charlottetown: St. Dunstan’s University, 1949).
https://thejosias.com/2015/06/01/the-lawfulness-and-social-character-of-private-ownership/
The Josias
The Lawfulness and Social Character of Private Ownership
by Henri Grenier The Québécois priest, theologian, and philosopher, Henri Grenier (1899-1980), was the author of a popular Cursus Philosophiae that was translated into both French and English. He w…
Ecce Verbum
True love of neighbour St. Francis de Sales •"If we love our neighbour because he does us good or because he loves us, and brings us some advantage, honor, or pleasure, that is what we call a love of complacency, and is common to us with the animals. If…
On bearing patiently with the faults of others
Try to bear patiently with the defects and infirmities of others, whatever they may be, because you also have many a fault which others must endure.
If you cannot make yourself what you would wish to be, how can you bend others to your will? We want them to be perfect, yet we do not correct our own faults. We wish them to be severely corrected, yet we will not correct ourselves … it is clear how seldom we think of others as we do of ourselves.
Until God ordains otherwise, a man ought to bear patiently whatever he cannot correct in himself and in others. Consider it better thus—perhaps to try your patience and to test you, for without such patience and trial your merits are of little account.
Under such difficulties you should pray that God will consent to help you bear them calmly.
If, after being admonished once or twice, a person does not amend, do not argue with him but commit the whole matter to God that His will and honor may be furthered in all His servants, for God knows well how to turn evil to good.
We must support one another, console one another, mutually help, counsel, and advise, for the measure of every man’s virtue is best revealed in time of adversity—adversity that does not weaken a man but rather shows what he is.
Thomas à Kempis,The Imitation of Christ
Try to bear patiently with the defects and infirmities of others, whatever they may be, because you also have many a fault which others must endure.
If you cannot make yourself what you would wish to be, how can you bend others to your will? We want them to be perfect, yet we do not correct our own faults. We wish them to be severely corrected, yet we will not correct ourselves … it is clear how seldom we think of others as we do of ourselves.
Until God ordains otherwise, a man ought to bear patiently whatever he cannot correct in himself and in others. Consider it better thus—perhaps to try your patience and to test you, for without such patience and trial your merits are of little account.
Under such difficulties you should pray that God will consent to help you bear them calmly.
If, after being admonished once or twice, a person does not amend, do not argue with him but commit the whole matter to God that His will and honor may be furthered in all His servants, for God knows well how to turn evil to good.
We must support one another, console one another, mutually help, counsel, and advise, for the measure of every man’s virtue is best revealed in time of adversity—adversity that does not weaken a man but rather shows what he is.
Thomas à Kempis,The Imitation of Christ
Ecce Verbum
The Lawfulness and Social Character of Private Ownership by Henri Grenier The Québécois priest, theologian, and philosopher, Henri Grenier (1899-1980), was the author of a popular Cursus Philosophiae that was translated into both French and English. He was…
Thomism and Private Property
St. Thomas raises the question of private property in the sixty-sixth question of the Secunda Secundæ. The question under which the subsequent articles are organized purports to deal with the issues of theft and robbery. As always, Thomas recognizes that he must start right at the beginning and ask first: is it possible for people to possess things at all?
To this, Thomas answers with a resounding yes. God has what Thomas calls “sovereign dominion” over all created things according to His Will, but God has given over to man the stewardship of those things which man needs in order to pursue his good life, or, in Thomas’s rather austere words, those things which are necessary for “the sustenance of man’s body.” From this, we can say that man has what Thomas calls “natural dominion” over things (in relation to God’s sovereign dominion) and it is natural for man to possess things external to himself so that he can use them and labor over them in order to sustain his body.
https://thejosias.com/2017/06/14/thomism-and-private-property/
St. Thomas raises the question of private property in the sixty-sixth question of the Secunda Secundæ. The question under which the subsequent articles are organized purports to deal with the issues of theft and robbery. As always, Thomas recognizes that he must start right at the beginning and ask first: is it possible for people to possess things at all?
To this, Thomas answers with a resounding yes. God has what Thomas calls “sovereign dominion” over all created things according to His Will, but God has given over to man the stewardship of those things which man needs in order to pursue his good life, or, in Thomas’s rather austere words, those things which are necessary for “the sustenance of man’s body.” From this, we can say that man has what Thomas calls “natural dominion” over things (in relation to God’s sovereign dominion) and it is natural for man to possess things external to himself so that he can use them and labor over them in order to sustain his body.
https://thejosias.com/2017/06/14/thomism-and-private-property/
The Josias
Thomism and Private Property
by W Borman St. Thomas raises the question of private property in the sixty-sixth question of the Secunda Secundæ. The question under which the subsequent articles are organized purports to deal wi…
Ecce Verbum
Could Mortification play a role in Penance? On the Importance of Mortification: St. Anthony says, "I look to St. Paul for my example, for he mortified himself, and said: 'I chastise my body and bring it into subjection, lest perhaps when I have preached to…
“The person who truly wishes to be healed is he who does not refuse treatment. This treatment consists of the pain and distress brought on by various misfortunes. He who refuses them does not realize what they accomplish in this world or what he will gain from them when he departs this life”
St. Maximus the Confessor
link
St. Maximus the Confessor
link
Ecce Verbum
The Early Church Fathers on St. Peter “The Lord said to Peter, ‘On this rock I will build my Church, I have given you the keys of the kingdom of heaven [and] whatever you shall have bound or loosed on earth will be bound or loosed in heaven’ [Matt. 16:18–19]..What…
Papacy
This section will deal with various aspects of the primacy of the Bishop of Rome in patristic thought. Corunum will include such things as: Peter's presence in Rome, Peter's primacy amongst the apostles, and the primacy of the Apostolic See.
Papacy(html)
This file contains a detailed debate on the papacy (between a Catholic and an Orthodox apologist) during the first five centuries of the Catholic Church. The Fathers of the West and East affirmed the primacy of the bishop of Rome.
Papacy1(html)
This document contains another debate on the papacy between a Catholic and a Protestant apologist. Includes topics such as: Pope Leo and Chalcedon; Athanasius,Arianism and Pope Julius; Augustine, Pelagianism and Pope Innocent; Augustine and Matthew 16 and more.
Peter in Rome
Documents illustrating St. Peter's presence in Rome
Peter in Patristic Thought
Documents illustrating the position of St. Peter in Patristic Thought.
Primacy of the Apostolic See in Patristic Thought
Documents illustrating the jurisdictional primacy of the Bishop of Rome through both the Western and Eastern Fathers
Primacy of the Apostolic See in Papal Thought
Documents illustrating the self-claimed authority of the Bishop of Rome. Rome has always considered herself as the head of Christendom and the primary expositor of the Apostolic heritage.
St. John Chrysostom and St. Peter
This essay contains a reply against criticisms foisted by William Webster (of the Christian Truth Web Site) against Steve Ray's book Upon this Rock: St. Peter and the Primacy of Rome in Scripture and the Early Church regarding St. John Chrysostom and the papacy.
St. Augustine, St. Peter and the Papacy
This essay contains a reply against criticisms foisted by William Webster (of the Christian Truth Web Site) against Steve Ray's book Upon this Rock: St. Peter and the Primacy of Rome in Scripture and the Early Church regarding St. Augustine, St. Peter, and the papacy
The evidence for the papacy : as derived from the Holy Scriptures and from primitive antiquity, with an introductory epistle
#pope
This section will deal with various aspects of the primacy of the Bishop of Rome in patristic thought. Corunum will include such things as: Peter's presence in Rome, Peter's primacy amongst the apostles, and the primacy of the Apostolic See.
Papacy(html)
This file contains a detailed debate on the papacy (between a Catholic and an Orthodox apologist) during the first five centuries of the Catholic Church. The Fathers of the West and East affirmed the primacy of the bishop of Rome.
Papacy1(html)
This document contains another debate on the papacy between a Catholic and a Protestant apologist. Includes topics such as: Pope Leo and Chalcedon; Athanasius,Arianism and Pope Julius; Augustine, Pelagianism and Pope Innocent; Augustine and Matthew 16 and more.
Peter in Rome
Documents illustrating St. Peter's presence in Rome
Peter in Patristic Thought
Documents illustrating the position of St. Peter in Patristic Thought.
Primacy of the Apostolic See in Patristic Thought
Documents illustrating the jurisdictional primacy of the Bishop of Rome through both the Western and Eastern Fathers
Primacy of the Apostolic See in Papal Thought
Documents illustrating the self-claimed authority of the Bishop of Rome. Rome has always considered herself as the head of Christendom and the primary expositor of the Apostolic heritage.
St. John Chrysostom and St. Peter
This essay contains a reply against criticisms foisted by William Webster (of the Christian Truth Web Site) against Steve Ray's book Upon this Rock: St. Peter and the Primacy of Rome in Scripture and the Early Church regarding St. John Chrysostom and the papacy.
St. Augustine, St. Peter and the Papacy
This essay contains a reply against criticisms foisted by William Webster (of the Christian Truth Web Site) against Steve Ray's book Upon this Rock: St. Peter and the Primacy of Rome in Scripture and the Early Church regarding St. Augustine, St. Peter, and the papacy
The evidence for the papacy : as derived from the Holy Scriptures and from primitive antiquity, with an introductory epistle
#pope
Ecce Verbum
That a man should not be too much dejected when he falls into some defects Imitation of Christ by Thomas á Kempis Son, patience and humility under adversity please Me more than much consolation and devotion in prosperity. Why art thou afflicted at a little…
Whence our miseries come
"Our first misery is that we esteem ourselves; if we fall into any sin or imperfection, we are astonished, troubled, impatient, simply because we thought there was something good, resolute, solid, within us; and, therefore; when we find out there was no such thing we are grieved and offended at having deceived ourselves. If we knew ourselves as we really are, instead of being amazed to see ourselves prostrate on the ground, we should be surprised to see ourselves stand for a single day, or even for one hour."
"Endeavour to perform your actions perfectly, and having done this, think no more about them; but think of what you have yet to do, advancing with simplicity in the way of God, without tormenting your mind. It is necessary to detest your defects, not with a detestation of trouble and vexation, but with a tranquil detestation."
Thomas á Kempis, Imitation of Christ
#humility #kempis #spirituallife
"Our first misery is that we esteem ourselves; if we fall into any sin or imperfection, we are astonished, troubled, impatient, simply because we thought there was something good, resolute, solid, within us; and, therefore; when we find out there was no such thing we are grieved and offended at having deceived ourselves. If we knew ourselves as we really are, instead of being amazed to see ourselves prostrate on the ground, we should be surprised to see ourselves stand for a single day, or even for one hour."
"Endeavour to perform your actions perfectly, and having done this, think no more about them; but think of what you have yet to do, advancing with simplicity in the way of God, without tormenting your mind. It is necessary to detest your defects, not with a detestation of trouble and vexation, but with a tranquil detestation."
Thomas á Kempis, Imitation of Christ
#humility #kempis #spirituallife
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Ecce Verbum
THE IMITATION OF CHRIST
by Thomas a Kempis
INTRODUCTORY NOTE
The treatise "Of the Imitation of Christ" appears to have been
originally written in Latin early in the fifteenth century. Its
exact date and its authorship are still under debate.The most…
by Thomas a Kempis
INTRODUCTORY NOTE
The treatise "Of the Imitation of Christ" appears to have been
originally written in Latin early in the fifteenth century. Its
exact date and its authorship are still under debate.The most…
Ecce Verbum
Judge not, that you be not judged “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice…
Judge Not
Divine Intimacy, Fr. Gabriel
O Lord, keep me from judging and criticizing my neighbor; give me kind, loving thoughts about everyone.
I. “Judge not, that you may not be judged ” (Mt. 7, 1). Charity to our neighbor begins with our thoughts, as many of our failings in charity are basically caused by our judgments. We do not think highly enough of others, we do not sufficiently consider their manifest good qualities, we are not benevolent in interpreting their way of acting. Why? Because in judging others, we almost always base our opinion on their faults, especially on those which wound our feelings or which conflict with our own way of thinking and acting, while we give little or no consideration to their good points.
It is a serious mistake to judge persons or things from a negative point of view and it is not even reasonable, because the existence of a negative side proves the presence of a positive quality, of something good, just as a tear in a garment has no existence apart from the garment. When we stop to criticize the negative aspect of a person or of a group, we are doing destructive work in regard to our own personal virtue and the good of our neighbor. To be constructive, we must overlook the faults and recognize the value of the good qualities that are never wanting in anyone.
Moreover, do we not also have many faults, perhaps more serious ones than those of our neighbor? “ And why seest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, and seest not the beam that is in thy own eye”? (Mt. 7, 3). Let us seriously study these words of Jesus, for very often, in spite of our desire to become saints, some remnant of that detestable spirit of criticism remains hidden in our heart. In considering our faults and those of others, we still retain something of this twofold measure which makes us judge the faults of others differently from the way in which we judge our own. What great progress we should make in fraternal charity, in attaining our own perfection, if instead of criticizing the faults seen in others, we would examine ourselves to see if there is not something similar—or perhaps worse—in us, and would apply ourselves to our own amendment!
St. Teresa of Jesus said to her nuns, “ Often commend to God any sister who is at fault and strive for your own part to practice the virtue which is the opposite of her fault with great perfection” (Way, 7). This is one of the best ways of helping others to correct themselves.
II. Judgment belongs to God; it is reserved to Him alone, for He alone can see into our hearts, can know what motives and intentions make us act as we do. “ Man sees the face, but God sees the heart ” (1Sm. 16, 7). Therefore, anyone who judges another—unless he is obliged to do so by his office, as superiors are—usurps, in a sense, God’s rights and puts himself in the place of God. To presume to judge one’s brethren always implies a proud attitude toward God and toward the neighbor. Besides, one who is quick to judge others lays himself open to committing great errors, because he does not know the intentions of others and has not the sufficient prerequisites for formulating a correct judgment.
In the face of an act which is blameworthy in itself, we are evidently not obliged to consider it good; nevertheless, we must excuse the intention of the one who committed it and not simply attribute it to a perverse will. “ If our neighbor’s acts had one hundred facets, we should see only the best one; and then, if the act is blameworthy, we should at least excuse the intention ” (T.M. Sp).
Divine Intimacy, Fr. Gabriel
O Lord, keep me from judging and criticizing my neighbor; give me kind, loving thoughts about everyone.
I. “Judge not, that you may not be judged ” (Mt. 7, 1). Charity to our neighbor begins with our thoughts, as many of our failings in charity are basically caused by our judgments. We do not think highly enough of others, we do not sufficiently consider their manifest good qualities, we are not benevolent in interpreting their way of acting. Why? Because in judging others, we almost always base our opinion on their faults, especially on those which wound our feelings or which conflict with our own way of thinking and acting, while we give little or no consideration to their good points.
It is a serious mistake to judge persons or things from a negative point of view and it is not even reasonable, because the existence of a negative side proves the presence of a positive quality, of something good, just as a tear in a garment has no existence apart from the garment. When we stop to criticize the negative aspect of a person or of a group, we are doing destructive work in regard to our own personal virtue and the good of our neighbor. To be constructive, we must overlook the faults and recognize the value of the good qualities that are never wanting in anyone.
Moreover, do we not also have many faults, perhaps more serious ones than those of our neighbor? “ And why seest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, and seest not the beam that is in thy own eye”? (Mt. 7, 3). Let us seriously study these words of Jesus, for very often, in spite of our desire to become saints, some remnant of that detestable spirit of criticism remains hidden in our heart. In considering our faults and those of others, we still retain something of this twofold measure which makes us judge the faults of others differently from the way in which we judge our own. What great progress we should make in fraternal charity, in attaining our own perfection, if instead of criticizing the faults seen in others, we would examine ourselves to see if there is not something similar—or perhaps worse—in us, and would apply ourselves to our own amendment!
St. Teresa of Jesus said to her nuns, “ Often commend to God any sister who is at fault and strive for your own part to practice the virtue which is the opposite of her fault with great perfection” (Way, 7). This is one of the best ways of helping others to correct themselves.
II. Judgment belongs to God; it is reserved to Him alone, for He alone can see into our hearts, can know what motives and intentions make us act as we do. “ Man sees the face, but God sees the heart ” (1Sm. 16, 7). Therefore, anyone who judges another—unless he is obliged to do so by his office, as superiors are—usurps, in a sense, God’s rights and puts himself in the place of God. To presume to judge one’s brethren always implies a proud attitude toward God and toward the neighbor. Besides, one who is quick to judge others lays himself open to committing great errors, because he does not know the intentions of others and has not the sufficient prerequisites for formulating a correct judgment.
In the face of an act which is blameworthy in itself, we are evidently not obliged to consider it good; nevertheless, we must excuse the intention of the one who committed it and not simply attribute it to a perverse will. “ If our neighbor’s acts had one hundred facets, we should see only the best one; and then, if the act is blameworthy, we should at least excuse the intention ” (T.M. Sp).
Ecce Verbum
Judge Not Divine Intimacy, Fr. Gabriel O Lord, keep me from judging and criticizing my neighbor; give me kind, loving thoughts about everyone. I. “Judge not, that you may not be judged ” (Mt. 7, 1). Charity to our neighbor begins with our thoughts, as many…
Every day I too commit many faults; I too fall into many defects, but this does not signify that all these stem from bad will. My faults are often committed inadvertently, through frailty; and because I detest these failings of mine, the Lord continues to love me and wants me to retain complete confidence in His love. He regards others the same as He does me; therefore, I have no right to doubt my neighbor’s good will simply because I see him commit some faults, nor have I the right to diminish, for this reason, my love and esteem for him. Perhaps that person who seems so reprehensible has already abhorred his faults and wept over them interiorly far more than I have over mine; God has already forgiven him and continues to love him. Should I be more severe than God? On this point it will be well to remember that God will treat me with the same severity that I show to others, for Jesus has said, “ For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged, and with what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again ” (Mt. 7, 2).
Colloquy
“O Jesus, You are my Judge! I shall try always to think leniently ofothers, that You may judge me leniently—or not at all, since You say : ‘Judge not, that you may not be judged. ’ This is why, when I chance to see a sister doing something seemingly imperfect, I do all I can to find excuses and to credit her with the good intentions she no doubt possesses.
“ O Jesus, You make me understand that the chief plenary indulgence, which is within reach of everyone, and can be gained without the ordinary conditions, is that of charity, which ‘ covereth a multitude of sins ’ ” (cf. T.C.J. St, 10 - 11 - C).
“ Teach me, O Lord, not to judge my neighbor for any fault I may see him commit, and if I should see him commit a sin, give me the grace to excuse his intention which is hidden and cannot be seen. But even if I should see that his intention was really bad, give me the grace to excuse my neighbor because of temptation, from which no mortal is free ” (St. Mary Magdalen dei Pazzi).
“ O Lord, help me not to look at anything but at the virtues and good qualities which I find in others and to keep my own grievous sins before my eyes so that I may be blind to their defects. This course of action, though I may not become perfect in it all at once, will help me to acquire one great virtue—to consider all others better than myself. To accomplish this, I must have Your help; when it fails, my own efforts are useless. I beg You to give me this virtue ” (T.J. Life, 13).
#judgement
Colloquy
“O Jesus, You are my Judge! I shall try always to think leniently ofothers, that You may judge me leniently—or not at all, since You say : ‘Judge not, that you may not be judged. ’ This is why, when I chance to see a sister doing something seemingly imperfect, I do all I can to find excuses and to credit her with the good intentions she no doubt possesses.
“ O Jesus, You make me understand that the chief plenary indulgence, which is within reach of everyone, and can be gained without the ordinary conditions, is that of charity, which ‘ covereth a multitude of sins ’ ” (cf. T.C.J. St, 10 - 11 - C).
“ Teach me, O Lord, not to judge my neighbor for any fault I may see him commit, and if I should see him commit a sin, give me the grace to excuse his intention which is hidden and cannot be seen. But even if I should see that his intention was really bad, give me the grace to excuse my neighbor because of temptation, from which no mortal is free ” (St. Mary Magdalen dei Pazzi).
“ O Lord, help me not to look at anything but at the virtues and good qualities which I find in others and to keep my own grievous sins before my eyes so that I may be blind to their defects. This course of action, though I may not become perfect in it all at once, will help me to acquire one great virtue—to consider all others better than myself. To accomplish this, I must have Your help; when it fails, my own efforts are useless. I beg You to give me this virtue ” (T.J. Life, 13).
#judgement
Ecce Verbum
the_problem_of_the_liturgical_reform(1).pdf
A comparison between the texts of the Traditional Missal and the new Missal of 2011
https://lms.org.uk/missals
#mass
https://lms.org.uk/missals
#mass
lms.org.uk
New and Traditional side-by-side | Latin Mass Society
*/
Ecce Verbum
What are the errors of Russia? The “errors of Russia” (as they were developing at the time of the Bolshevik-Russian Revolution shortly after the Fatima apparitions) would seem to include, among other things, the following list of characteristics: 1. A reductively…
Antony_C_Sutton_Wall_Street_and_the_Bolshevik_Revolution_1974.pdf
1 MB
Antony C.Sutton - Wall Street and the Bolshevik Revolution (1974)
In his book, Wall Street and the Bolshevik Revolution, Antony Sutton presents the historical data showing that the Bolshevik Revolution was funded by European banks, Wall Street, and the US Federal Reserve—all with the knowledge and cooperation of then American president, Woodrow Wilson. Sutton was working as a research fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace when he stumbled upon long-forgotten US State Department files that chronicled the event. Sutton was eventually weeded out of the Hoover Institute, perhaps because of his research. He begins his book with a telegram (dated: October 17, 1918) sent by William Lawrence Saunders (chairman of Ingersoll-Rand Corp., director of the American International Corp; and deputy chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York) to Woodrow Wilson, “I am in sympathy with the Soviet form of government as that best suited for the Russian people…”
audiobook
Ecce Verbum
Antony_C_Sutton_Wall_Street_and_the_Bolshevik_Revolution_1974.pdf
Wall Street and the Bolshevik Revolution
The Bolshevization of Wall Street was known in informed circles and explained monopoly control of industries by the likes of J.P. Morgan and J.D. Rockefeller could only realize unchallenged control if society could be made to go to work for the monopolists under the name of the public good and interest and that a totalitarian state is the perfect captive market for monopoly capitalists. This first totalitarian state that became their captive market came to be known as the Soviet Union. Leon Trotsky in the New York Times (Dec. 13, 1938) wrote:
You will have a revolution, a terrible revolution. What course it takes will depend much on what Mr. Rockefeller tells Mr. Hague to do. Mr. Rockefeller is a symbol of the American ruling class and Mr. Hague is a symbol of its political tools.
Trotsky was banished by tsarist Russia because of his Marxist and revolutionary ideas. With an American passport provided by Woodrow Wilson, he found his new home across the Atlantic (after being banished by the tsar), in a posh Manhattan apartment in New York, where he worked as a journalist and an electrician for Fox Studios.[1]
His followers, known as Trotskyites became the revolutionaries who wrote the Constitution of Queretaro for the revolutionary 1917 Carranza government, the first government in the world to adopt a Soviet-type constitution (see Luis Medina, “When the Marxists Tried to Take Over Mexico”).
Meanwhile Vladimir Lenin spent his banishment moving between Germany and Switzerland, approved, facilitated, and financed by Germany. Deirdre Manifold in Fatima and The Great Conspiracy writes that 200 million Russians were handed over to the greatest tyranny in history known as communism and from here used Russia to roll it out throughout the world.
Later Joseph Stalin admitted two-thirds of war material the Soviet Union used in their war projects in China, Manchuria, the Kurile Islands, Sakhalin, Korea, and Japan came from the US. China is of particular interest given how the revolution led by Sun Yat-Sen as early as 1912 was already funded by New York all the way to Chiang Kai-shek, who was weeded out of China into Taiwan by American money and arms. Sun Yat-Sen’s revolution was the precursor to Mao’s communist revolution. Thus began the strategy one finds in many regime-change operations framed as color revolutions—that of playing all sides. In addition, the idea of medical, humanitarian, and peace missions find their genesis in the 1917 American Red Cross Mission to Russia, organized by Wall Street for both sides. And here’s the clincher—without the financial, diplomatic, and propaganda assistance given to Trotsky and Lenin by New York, the Bolsheviks may well have withered away together with any hope of Russia ever becoming socialist. Finally, Sutton explains, Russia had been the largest untapped market and constituted the greatest potential competitive threat to American industrial and financial supremacy. Hence, Wall Street enlarged its monopoly on a global scale and the “Russian market was to be converted into a captive market and a technical colony to be exploited by a few high-powered American financiers and the corporations under their control.”[2]
https://youtu.be/PaFklTLNy8c
#communism
The Bolshevization of Wall Street was known in informed circles and explained monopoly control of industries by the likes of J.P. Morgan and J.D. Rockefeller could only realize unchallenged control if society could be made to go to work for the monopolists under the name of the public good and interest and that a totalitarian state is the perfect captive market for monopoly capitalists. This first totalitarian state that became their captive market came to be known as the Soviet Union. Leon Trotsky in the New York Times (Dec. 13, 1938) wrote:
You will have a revolution, a terrible revolution. What course it takes will depend much on what Mr. Rockefeller tells Mr. Hague to do. Mr. Rockefeller is a symbol of the American ruling class and Mr. Hague is a symbol of its political tools.
Trotsky was banished by tsarist Russia because of his Marxist and revolutionary ideas. With an American passport provided by Woodrow Wilson, he found his new home across the Atlantic (after being banished by the tsar), in a posh Manhattan apartment in New York, where he worked as a journalist and an electrician for Fox Studios.[1]
His followers, known as Trotskyites became the revolutionaries who wrote the Constitution of Queretaro for the revolutionary 1917 Carranza government, the first government in the world to adopt a Soviet-type constitution (see Luis Medina, “When the Marxists Tried to Take Over Mexico”).
Meanwhile Vladimir Lenin spent his banishment moving between Germany and Switzerland, approved, facilitated, and financed by Germany. Deirdre Manifold in Fatima and The Great Conspiracy writes that 200 million Russians were handed over to the greatest tyranny in history known as communism and from here used Russia to roll it out throughout the world.
Later Joseph Stalin admitted two-thirds of war material the Soviet Union used in their war projects in China, Manchuria, the Kurile Islands, Sakhalin, Korea, and Japan came from the US. China is of particular interest given how the revolution led by Sun Yat-Sen as early as 1912 was already funded by New York all the way to Chiang Kai-shek, who was weeded out of China into Taiwan by American money and arms. Sun Yat-Sen’s revolution was the precursor to Mao’s communist revolution. Thus began the strategy one finds in many regime-change operations framed as color revolutions—that of playing all sides. In addition, the idea of medical, humanitarian, and peace missions find their genesis in the 1917 American Red Cross Mission to Russia, organized by Wall Street for both sides. And here’s the clincher—without the financial, diplomatic, and propaganda assistance given to Trotsky and Lenin by New York, the Bolsheviks may well have withered away together with any hope of Russia ever becoming socialist. Finally, Sutton explains, Russia had been the largest untapped market and constituted the greatest potential competitive threat to American industrial and financial supremacy. Hence, Wall Street enlarged its monopoly on a global scale and the “Russian market was to be converted into a captive market and a technical colony to be exploited by a few high-powered American financiers and the corporations under their control.”[2]
https://youtu.be/PaFklTLNy8c
#communism
Telegram
Ecce Verbum
Antony C.Sutton - Wall Street and the Bolshevik Revolution (1974)
In his book, Wall Street and the Bolshevik Revolution, Antony Sutton presents the historical data showing that the Bolshevik Revolution was funded by European banks, Wall Street, and the…
Ecce Verbum
Papacy This section will deal with various aspects of the primacy of the Bishop of Rome in patristic thought. Corunum will include such things as: Peter's presence in Rome, Peter's primacy amongst the apostles, and the primacy of the Apostolic See. Papacy(html)…
Bad Popes in the History of the Church
Frank Sheed wrote:
“In the criticisms uttered by many… there is a failure to see Christ as the whole point. So much in the daily running of the Church they find depressing – the sermons, they say, take no one deeper into the reality of God or man; this priest or that cares for nothing but money, the sick are neglected, the old are rejected; the hierarchy know nothing of the emotional or intellectual problems which are eating away at their people’s faith, the Curia is simply a bureaucracy, using every trick to hold on to its power; as for the pope…
“It all adds up to ‘the Institutional Church’, with so many wondering if their spiritual integrity will permit them to remain in it.
“But Institutional Israel, the Chosen People, as the Prophets show it, was even worse than the harshest critics think the Catholic Church, yet it never occurred to the holiest of the Jews to leave it. They knew that however evilly the administration behaved, Israel was still the people of God. So with the Church: an administration is necessary if the Church is to function, but Christ is the whole point of the functioning. We are not baptized into the hierarchy, we do not receive the cardinals sacramentally, we will not spend eternity in the beatific vision of the pope.
“St. John Fisher could say in a public sermon, ‘If the Pope will not reform the Curia, God will’: a couple of years later he laid his head on Henry VIII’s block for papal supremacy, followed to the same block by St Thomas More, who had spent his youth under the Borgia pope, Alexander VI, lived his early manhood under the Medici pope, Leo X, and died for papal supremacy under Clement VII, as time-serving a pope as Rome had had.
“Christ is the point. I myself admire the present Pope [he was writing of Paul VI]; but even if I criticized as harshly as some do, even if his successor proved to be as bad as some of those who have gone before, even if I sometimes find the Church (as I have to live in it) a pain in the neck, I should still say that nothing a pope could do or say would make me wish to leave the Church, though I might well wish that he would. Israel, through its best periods as through its worst, preserved the truth of God’s Oneness in a world swarming with gods – and the sense of God’s majesty in a world sick with its own pride. So with the Church. Under the worst administration – say as bad as John XII’s a thousand years ago – we could still learn Christ’s truth, still receive His life in the sacraments, still be in union with Him to the limit of our willingness.”
https://sensusfidelium.com/2019/12/01/bad-popes-in-the-history-of-the-church/
#pope
Frank Sheed wrote:
“In the criticisms uttered by many… there is a failure to see Christ as the whole point. So much in the daily running of the Church they find depressing – the sermons, they say, take no one deeper into the reality of God or man; this priest or that cares for nothing but money, the sick are neglected, the old are rejected; the hierarchy know nothing of the emotional or intellectual problems which are eating away at their people’s faith, the Curia is simply a bureaucracy, using every trick to hold on to its power; as for the pope…
“It all adds up to ‘the Institutional Church’, with so many wondering if their spiritual integrity will permit them to remain in it.
“But Institutional Israel, the Chosen People, as the Prophets show it, was even worse than the harshest critics think the Catholic Church, yet it never occurred to the holiest of the Jews to leave it. They knew that however evilly the administration behaved, Israel was still the people of God. So with the Church: an administration is necessary if the Church is to function, but Christ is the whole point of the functioning. We are not baptized into the hierarchy, we do not receive the cardinals sacramentally, we will not spend eternity in the beatific vision of the pope.
“St. John Fisher could say in a public sermon, ‘If the Pope will not reform the Curia, God will’: a couple of years later he laid his head on Henry VIII’s block for papal supremacy, followed to the same block by St Thomas More, who had spent his youth under the Borgia pope, Alexander VI, lived his early manhood under the Medici pope, Leo X, and died for papal supremacy under Clement VII, as time-serving a pope as Rome had had.
“Christ is the point. I myself admire the present Pope [he was writing of Paul VI]; but even if I criticized as harshly as some do, even if his successor proved to be as bad as some of those who have gone before, even if I sometimes find the Church (as I have to live in it) a pain in the neck, I should still say that nothing a pope could do or say would make me wish to leave the Church, though I might well wish that he would. Israel, through its best periods as through its worst, preserved the truth of God’s Oneness in a world swarming with gods – and the sense of God’s majesty in a world sick with its own pride. So with the Church. Under the worst administration – say as bad as John XII’s a thousand years ago – we could still learn Christ’s truth, still receive His life in the sacraments, still be in union with Him to the limit of our willingness.”
https://sensusfidelium.com/2019/12/01/bad-popes-in-the-history-of-the-church/
#pope
Sensusfidelium
Bad Popes in the History of the Church
Most of the people I have talked to (at conferences, emails, comments, etc) are very anxious about what is going on in Rome these days. In conversations I would ask them about the “Cadaver synod”
Ecce Verbum
The Saints on charity towards our neighbour Charity, by which God and neighbor are loved, is the most perfect friendship. It must be said that charity can, in no way, exist along with mortal sin. St. Philip Neri The proof of love is in the works. Where…
Mary's Charity Towards Her Neighbor
Saint Alphonsus Liguori
Love towards God and love towards our neighbor are commanded by the same precept: And this commandment we have from God, that he who loveth God love also his brother. [1 John 4:21] St. Thomas [2. 2, q. 25, a. 1] says that the reason for this is, that he who loves God loves all that God loves.
St. Catherine of Genoa one day said, "Lord, Thou willest that I should love my neighbor, and I can love none but Thee." God answered her in these words: "All who love Me love what I love." But as there never was, and never will be, anyone who loved God as much as Mary loved Him, so there never was, and never will be, anyone who loved her neighbor as much as she did.
Father Cornelius à Lapide, on these words of the Canticles, King Solomon hath made him a litter of the wood of Libanus ... the midst he covered with charity for the daughters of Jerusalem, [Cant. 3:9] says, that "this litter was Mary's womb, in which the Incarnate Word dwelt, filling it with charity for the daughters of Jerusalem; for Christ, Who is love itself, inspired the Blessed Virgin with charity in its highest degree, that she might succor all who had recourse to her."
So great was Mary's charity when on earth, that she succored the needy without even being asked; as was the case at the marriage feast of Cana, when she told her Son that family's distress, They have no wine, [John 2:3] and asked Him to work a miracle. O, with what speed did she fly when there was question of relieving her neighbor! When she went to the house of Elizabeth to fulfill an office of charity, she went into the hill-country with haste. [Luke 1:39]
She could not, however, more fully display the greatness of her charity than she did in the offering which she made of her Son to death for our salvation. On this subject St. Bonaventure says, "Mary so loved the world as to give her only-begotten Son." Hence St. Anselm exclaims, "O blessed amongst women, thy purity surpasses that of the Angels, and thy compassion that of the Saints!" "Nor has this love of Mary for us." says St. Bonaventure, "diminished now that she is in Heaven, but it has increased; for now she better sees the miseries of men." And therefore the Saint goes on to say: "Great was the mercy of Mary towards the wretched when she was still in exile on earth; but far greater is it now that she reigns in Heaven."
St. Agnes assured St. Bridget that "there was no one who prayed without receiving grace through the charity of the Blessed Virgin." Unfortunate, indeed, should we be, did not Mary intercede for us! Jesus Himself, addressing the same Saint, said "Were it not for the prayers of My Mother, there would be no hope of mercy."
Blessed is he, says the Divine Mother, who listens to my instructions, pays attention to my charity, and, in imitation of me, exercises it himself towards others: Blessed is the man that heareth me, and that watcheth daily at my gates, and waiteth at the posts of my doors. [Prov. 8:34] St. Gregory Nazianzen assures us that "there is nothing by which we can with greater certainty gain the affection of Mary than by charity towards our neighbor."
Therefore, as God exhorts us, saying, Be ye merciful, as your Father also is merciful, [Luke 6:36] so also does Mary seem to say to all her children, "Be ye merciful, as your Mother also is merciful." It is certain that our charity towards our neighbor will be the measure of that which God and Mary will show us: Give, and it shall be given to you. For with the same measure that you shall mete withal, it shall be measured to you again. [Ibid., 38]
St. Methodius used to say, "Give to the poor, and receive paradise." For the Apostle writes, that charity towards our neighbor renders us happy both in this world and in the next: But piety is profitable to all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. [1 Tim. 4:8]
source
Saint Alphonsus Liguori
Love towards God and love towards our neighbor are commanded by the same precept: And this commandment we have from God, that he who loveth God love also his brother. [1 John 4:21] St. Thomas [2. 2, q. 25, a. 1] says that the reason for this is, that he who loves God loves all that God loves.
St. Catherine of Genoa one day said, "Lord, Thou willest that I should love my neighbor, and I can love none but Thee." God answered her in these words: "All who love Me love what I love." But as there never was, and never will be, anyone who loved God as much as Mary loved Him, so there never was, and never will be, anyone who loved her neighbor as much as she did.
Father Cornelius à Lapide, on these words of the Canticles, King Solomon hath made him a litter of the wood of Libanus ... the midst he covered with charity for the daughters of Jerusalem, [Cant. 3:9] says, that "this litter was Mary's womb, in which the Incarnate Word dwelt, filling it with charity for the daughters of Jerusalem; for Christ, Who is love itself, inspired the Blessed Virgin with charity in its highest degree, that she might succor all who had recourse to her."
So great was Mary's charity when on earth, that she succored the needy without even being asked; as was the case at the marriage feast of Cana, when she told her Son that family's distress, They have no wine, [John 2:3] and asked Him to work a miracle. O, with what speed did she fly when there was question of relieving her neighbor! When she went to the house of Elizabeth to fulfill an office of charity, she went into the hill-country with haste. [Luke 1:39]
She could not, however, more fully display the greatness of her charity than she did in the offering which she made of her Son to death for our salvation. On this subject St. Bonaventure says, "Mary so loved the world as to give her only-begotten Son." Hence St. Anselm exclaims, "O blessed amongst women, thy purity surpasses that of the Angels, and thy compassion that of the Saints!" "Nor has this love of Mary for us." says St. Bonaventure, "diminished now that she is in Heaven, but it has increased; for now she better sees the miseries of men." And therefore the Saint goes on to say: "Great was the mercy of Mary towards the wretched when she was still in exile on earth; but far greater is it now that she reigns in Heaven."
St. Agnes assured St. Bridget that "there was no one who prayed without receiving grace through the charity of the Blessed Virgin." Unfortunate, indeed, should we be, did not Mary intercede for us! Jesus Himself, addressing the same Saint, said "Were it not for the prayers of My Mother, there would be no hope of mercy."
Blessed is he, says the Divine Mother, who listens to my instructions, pays attention to my charity, and, in imitation of me, exercises it himself towards others: Blessed is the man that heareth me, and that watcheth daily at my gates, and waiteth at the posts of my doors. [Prov. 8:34] St. Gregory Nazianzen assures us that "there is nothing by which we can with greater certainty gain the affection of Mary than by charity towards our neighbor."
Therefore, as God exhorts us, saying, Be ye merciful, as your Father also is merciful, [Luke 6:36] so also does Mary seem to say to all her children, "Be ye merciful, as your Mother also is merciful." It is certain that our charity towards our neighbor will be the measure of that which God and Mary will show us: Give, and it shall be given to you. For with the same measure that you shall mete withal, it shall be measured to you again. [Ibid., 38]
St. Methodius used to say, "Give to the poor, and receive paradise." For the Apostle writes, that charity towards our neighbor renders us happy both in this world and in the next: But piety is profitable to all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. [1 Tim. 4:8]
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St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Glories of Mary
The Glories of Mary, widely regarded as Saint Alphonsus Liguori's finest masterpiece, has for two and a half centuries stood as one of the Catholic Church's greatest expressions of devotion to the Blessed Virgin.…
The Glories of Mary, widely regarded as Saint Alphonsus Liguori's finest masterpiece, has for two and a half centuries stood as one of the Catholic Church's greatest expressions of devotion to the Blessed Virgin.…
Ecce Verbum
On anger and acting on impulse The Abbot Agatho declared that he had never retired to rest without having first stifled every emotion of anger, even against himself, and that he did so to fulfill the precept: "Diverte a malo et lac bonum; inquire pacem et…
St. Alphonsus Liguori on anger
"Anger rests in the bosom of a fool. (Eccl 7:10)"
"Anger remains a long time in the heart of fools, who have little love for Christ: but if by stealth it should ever enter into the hearts of the true lovers of Jesus Christ, it is quickly dislodged, and does not remain.
A soul that cordially loves the Redeemer never feels in a bad humour, because, as she desires only what God desires, she has all she wishes for, and consequently is ever tranquil and well balanced.
The divine will tranquilize her in every misfortune that occurs: and thus she is able at all times to observe meekness towards all.
But we cannot acquire meekness without a great love for Jesus Christ. In fact, we know by experience that we are not meeker and gentler towards others, except when we feel an increased tenderness towards Jesus Christ."
"Anger rests in the bosom of a fool. (Eccl 7:10)"
"Anger remains a long time in the heart of fools, who have little love for Christ: but if by stealth it should ever enter into the hearts of the true lovers of Jesus Christ, it is quickly dislodged, and does not remain.
A soul that cordially loves the Redeemer never feels in a bad humour, because, as she desires only what God desires, she has all she wishes for, and consequently is ever tranquil and well balanced.
The divine will tranquilize her in every misfortune that occurs: and thus she is able at all times to observe meekness towards all.
But we cannot acquire meekness without a great love for Jesus Christ. In fact, we know by experience that we are not meeker and gentler towards others, except when we feel an increased tenderness towards Jesus Christ."
Ecce Verbum
Mary's Charity Towards Her Neighbor Saint Alphonsus Liguori Love towards God and love towards our neighbor are commanded by the same precept: And this commandment we have from God, that he who loveth God love also his brother. [1 John 4:21] St. Thomas [2.…
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St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Glories of Mary
The Glories of Mary, widely regarded as Saint Alphonsus Liguori's finest masterpiece, has for two and a half centuries stood as one of the Catholic Church's greatest expressions of devotion to the Blessed Virgin. Written as a defense of Our Lady at a time when Jansenistic writers were ridiculing Marian devotion, this classic work combines numerous citations from the Fathers and Doctors of the Church with Saint Alphonsus' intense personal piety to produce a timeless treasury of teachings, prayers, and practices.
#mary
The Glories of Mary, widely regarded as Saint Alphonsus Liguori's finest masterpiece, has for two and a half centuries stood as one of the Catholic Church's greatest expressions of devotion to the Blessed Virgin. Written as a defense of Our Lady at a time when Jansenistic writers were ridiculing Marian devotion, this classic work combines numerous citations from the Fathers and Doctors of the Church with Saint Alphonsus' intense personal piety to produce a timeless treasury of teachings, prayers, and practices.
#mary
Ecce Verbum
Bad Popes in the History of the Church Frank Sheed wrote: “In the criticisms uttered by many… there is a failure to see Christ as the whole point. So much in the daily running of the Church they find depressing – the sermons, they say, take no one deeper…
The Current Crisis in the Context of Church History
By Prof. Roberto de Mattei
In the Gospel, Jesus uses many metaphors to indicate the Church He founded. One of the most fitting is the image of the boat threatened by a tempest (Matt. 8, 23-27; Mark, 4, 35-41; Luke 8, 22-25). This image has often been used by the Fathers of the Church and the Saints when depicting the Church as a barque at sea, shaken and tossed by the waves and, which lives, we could say, amid tempests, without ever being submerged by the waves.
The Barque of the Church seems as if it’s being engulfed by waves, and the Lord seems to be asleep, [in a way] similar to that day of the tempest on Lake Tiberias. Let’s then turn to Him, saying, Exsurge, quare obdormis Domine? Exsurge (Ps. 42, 23). Arise, Lord. Why is it you appear to be like one asleep?
https://voiceofthefamily.com/the-current-crisis-in-the-context-of-church-history-2/
By Prof. Roberto de Mattei
In the Gospel, Jesus uses many metaphors to indicate the Church He founded. One of the most fitting is the image of the boat threatened by a tempest (Matt. 8, 23-27; Mark, 4, 35-41; Luke 8, 22-25). This image has often been used by the Fathers of the Church and the Saints when depicting the Church as a barque at sea, shaken and tossed by the waves and, which lives, we could say, amid tempests, without ever being submerged by the waves.
The Barque of the Church seems as if it’s being engulfed by waves, and the Lord seems to be asleep, [in a way] similar to that day of the tempest on Lake Tiberias. Let’s then turn to Him, saying, Exsurge, quare obdormis Domine? Exsurge (Ps. 42, 23). Arise, Lord. Why is it you appear to be like one asleep?
https://voiceofthefamily.com/the-current-crisis-in-the-context-of-church-history-2/
Voice of the Family
The Current Crisis in the Context of Church History (with VIDEO) - Voice of the Family %
By Prof. Roberto de Mattei Rome Life Forum– 6th May 2016 Video of the full address available here In the Gospel, Jesus uses many metaphors to