Author: Mark Docherty

“Daring Prudence” and other diabolical means to guide the demon synod

 


This is so diabolical. “New” and “renew” are actually more like antonyms than synonyms. I shall explain.
But first:

Pope Francis (sic) warned the 185 prelates taking part against being “smothered by the ashes of fear and concern” in defense of the church’s status quo.
In a homily for the opening Mass of the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon region, which will continue through Oct. 27, the pontiff (sic) said that while Catholic prelates are called to be prudent, they are also called to be open to the possibility of new things.
“Prudence is not indecision; it is not a defensive attitude,” the pope (sic) told the bishops gathered in St. Peter’s Basilica. “It is the virtue of the pastor who, in order to serve with wisdom, is able to discern, to be receptive to the newness of the Spirit.”
“Rekindling our gift in the fire of the Spirit is the opposite of letting things take their course without doing anything,” said Francis, asking that God would give the prelates attending the meeting a “daring prudence … to renew the paths of the church.” HERE

No.
Prudence, one of the four Cardinal Virtues, is “an intellectual habit enabling us to see in any given juncture of human affairs what is virtuous and what is not, and how to come at the one and avoid the other…Its function is to point out which course of action is to be taken in any round of concrete circumstances.” HERE
There is nothing “daring” about Prudence. If anything, “daring” is directly opposed to it. But hey, what else have we come to expect, except buckets of diabolical inversion of truth? Get yourself right with the Angelic Doctor, and learn all about Prudence HERE. Note especially that Prudence does NOT belong to speculative reason (II-II:47:2).
So now, how are we to understand the difference between “renew” and “new?”  These words are being used as synonyms in order to confuse you.
To renew something means to restore it to its former state, to transform a thing back to its original purpose/meaning/quality. It is a restoration: to make something like it was when it was new, because over time it had deformed in some way. Jesus brought a lot of renewal when he came, restoring the law and restoring our own chance for redemption. His victory over the Cross, over Original Sin and fallen human nature, as ransom for each of our personal sins, is literally the restoration par excellence.
In contrast, “New” means…. new. Something that never existed before. See the difference?
There is no such thing as “new,” as it relates to God. To suggest that the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Triune Godhead, is capable of change, or newness of some kind, is heresy. How do we know God doesn’t change? Because time is a construct.  Time was created by God, just like all the material dimensions were created by God.  God exists outside of time.  Change cannot occur without the element of linear time. Furthermore, God is perfect. Since it is impossible to improve upon perfection, there cannot suddenly be something new about God. But what if +Hummes didn’t mean God is new, he meant we should seek something of God that is new TO US?  Well, it’s also impossible for there to be something newly revealed, because divine revelation ended with the death of the last Apostle. If it were otherwise, we could never know if/when we had the full deposit of faith.
So ++Hummes calling Jesus “Christ the new,” and claiming “Christ is what is new,” and “we must not fear newness”… this is heretical anti-reality, folks.
But what about that powerful quote from the Passion movie, where Christ says, “Behold, I make all things new?” Glad you asked! That line is actually not from the Passion, but rather it was taken from Revelation 21:5, where the subject at hand is the Beatific Vision, which is described figuratively as the New Heaven and New Earth and New Jerusalem (Rev 21:1-2).
Now if you look at what Cardinal Hummes said, and what antipope Bergoglio taught at the top of this post, what should we expect to see over the next three weeks of the Amazonian Synod? For starters, we can expect that any proposals which are “daring and new” will be given pride of place, regardless of their merit, because being daring and new automatically lends greater weight in the anti-magisterium of the anti-church… the substance or essence of the thing being proposed being only a secondary consideration. Radical change is the prime directive. Remember that satan’s realm is anti-reality.
I am proposing a small prayer petition for the duration of the synod. It is a prayer against newness, novelty, modernity, cha cha cha changes. Simply tack it onto your morning prayer, your evening prayer, or your daily Rosary. You ARE praying your daily Rosary, aren’t you?
We could call it, “Immutability: The Malachi 3:6/Hebrews 13:8 Initiative.”
Except that’s really clunky sounding, so let’s just read out the text:

“I am the LORD, and I change not. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”

Newness is so 1968. Hippie Jesuits, let them be anathema.

Nothing to see here… just a guy who is totally retired still doing his former job, okay?

Yesterday, the Thirteen new Cardinals received the Apostolic Blessing from the One True Living Pope Benedict, who is wearing his Fisherman’s Ring. The Cardinals can be seen making the Sign of the Cross as he blesses them.
benedict francis and cardinals 2019
But first, Pope Benedict gave them some advice. He used a microphone.
Screenshot 2019-10-06 at 09.49.54
Pope Benedict reminded them of the importance of “fidelity to the pope.” Yes, really. HERE
Tell me again why a totally retired, not even a weensy bit still pope, completely formerly used to be but now not any longer whatsoever because he gave it all up voluntarily but still lives inside the Vatican as a simple priest ex-pope… imparts his Apostolic Blessing upon new cardinals at every Bergoglian consistory?

Why bother actually blogging when you can just cut and paste from twitter for ten minutes and spend the rest of your day with family?

I mean, it’s getting to the point where you can’t tell the parody accounts apart from the actual Marxists. But it sure is entertaining.
The Bergoglians have been very busy, rushing to defend the demon worship in the Vatican gardens yesterday. One wonders what they will say once the real fireworks start.


Datz Waysist!


Luckily, there is ample visual evidence of what was really going on, because God loves us and wants us to see the truth.
https://twitter.com/RemnantClergy/status/1180286325657919488?s=20


https://twitter.com/IsPopeCatholic/status/1180184992938364929?s=20
Click on that video. Yes, they are **LITERALLY** bowing to idols. In the middle of the Vatican. With Bergoglio in attendance.
And then today we had this at Mass:


Do click the video, it is indeed stunning.
Also, notice the Amazonian witch goddess idol made it to the altar:
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But is any of this really so surprising when the bishop in white thinks all religions are willed by God, and is happy to accept demonic “blessings” from pagan witches? Are you still betting on this guy being the one true pope of the one true faith?
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Mutual Enrichment via demon worship: Are you ready to choose a side yet?

Today, paganism and demon worship took place inside the Vatican, and of course there is video. Presiding over the affair was antipope Bergoglio. The video is embedded in the first tweet below, and then there are some close-ups of the idols farther down.
But first, some advice from Saint Paul:

Wherefore, my dearly beloved, fly from the service of idols. I speak as to wise men: judge ye yourselves what I say. The chalice of benediction which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? And the bread which we break, is it not the partaking of the body of the Lord? For we, being many, are one bread, one body: all that partake of one bread. Behold Israel according to the flesh. Are not they that eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar? What then? Do I say that what is offered in sacrifice to idols is any thing? Or that the idol is any thing? But the things which the heathens sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils and not to God. And I would not that you should be made partakers with devils. You cannot drink the chalice of the Lord and the chalice of devils: you cannot be partakers of the table of the Lord and of the table of devils. 1 Cor 10:14-21

Go ahead and watch the short video. The antichurch visible, y’all:


https://twitter.com/breeadail/status/1180177654252740610?s=20
 

“The terrible warfare that we are waging against the principalities and powers”

“O God, who hast constituted the services of Angels and of men in a wonderful order, mercifully grant, that they who ever stand before Thy face to do Thee service in heaven, may also defend our life on earth.” Collect, Feast of St. Michael
“Bless the Lord all ye His Angels: you that are mighty in strength, that do His will. O my soul, bless thou the Lord: and all that is within me praise His holy name. Alleluia, alleluia. Holy Archangel Michael, defend us in battle; that we may not perish in the dreadful judgment. Alleluia.” Gradual, Feast of St. Michael (Ps. 102, 20, 1)

 

“They have raised the throne of their abominable impiety”

Originally posted 
Anyone reading this blog is surely quite familiar with the Prayer to Saint Michael the Archangel. It’s said after the Rosary and after Low Mass, as instituted by Pope Leo XIII, who composed it after having a dark vision regarding the future of the Church.  What many don’t know is that the prayer we use is a drastically shortened version of the original. And boy, the original is simply terrifying. But it’s also a WMD in the realm of Spiritual Warfare, so we need to learn about it.
There are varying traditions regarding the circumstances and even the year in which Leo had his vision and then transcribed this prayer. However, there are several elements that seem to be common to all of the accounts I’ve read. Shortly after saying Mass one day, Leo became entranced. Some reports have him falling to the ground and appearing dead, others have him standing upright as if dead on his feet, ashen-faced.  When he regained his faculties, he reported “Oh, what a horrible picture I have been permitted to see!” What he saw was Satan with a multitude of evil spirits charging forth from Hell, engaged in an epic battle in an attempt to destroy the Church. Then Saint Michael intervenes to consign Satan and his minions to the depths of Hell, just as he did at the time of the original non serviam (Rev 12 HERE).
The political/social/economic climate of the 1880s is an important backdrop to all of this. The profound promises errors and evils of the Endarkenment were freely mixing with the profound promises errors and evils of Marxism. The industrial revolution and its fledgling Capitalism were not without their own abuses. Rome had been conquered militarily and the Papal States lost, bringing a deep concern over the temporal sovereignty of the Pope and its effect on his ability exercise his spiritual authority.
As an aside, you really should dive into all the great writing of Pope Leo XIII. Start with just a few paragraphs of Rerum Novarum HERE.  When something written 125 years ago so clearly applies to our times, and seems like it could have been written yesterday, you know you’ve got something good.  A lot of his stuff is that way, and if you are remotely aware of current events in the Vatican, the prayer you’re about to read is going to seem rather on-target.
So what was so horrible in Pope Leo’s vision?  Well, it wasn’t the ending, because the ending would have been a great relief. Yet it wasn’t a sense of victory that Leo came away with. Why?  Because the first part of the vision – in which he saw how Satan would come to attack the Church – must have been truly horrifying. Pope Leo had been around the block a time or two at this point.  He would not have been easily shocked. Keep this thought in mind as you read the long version of the prayer.
Lastly, a word of caution. This is truly a weapon of Spiritual Warfare, which is a very real thing. It’s more real than the room you’re sitting in and the chair you’re sitting on.  Get that through your head. It’s not something to be messed around with. In this prayer, which is used in exorcisms, you are (indirectly) engaging with creatures whose intellects are orders of magnitude greater than your own. Make the Sign of the Cross before and afterward and adopt a military bearing.
ORIGINAL PRAYER TO SAINT MICHAEL, POPE LEO XIII, ~1886
“O Glorious Prince of the heavenly host, St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in the battle and in the terrible warfare that we are waging against the principalities and powers, against the rulers of this world of darkness, against the evil spirits. Come to the aid of man, whom Almighty God created immortal, made in His own image and likeness, and redeemed at a great price from the tyranny of Satan.
“Fight this day the battle of the Lord, together with the holy angels, as already thou hast fought the leader of the proud angels, Lucifer, and his apostate host, who were powerless to resist thee, nor was there place for them any longer in Heaven. That cruel, ancient serpent, who is called the devil or Satan who seduces the whole world, was cast into the abyss with his angels. Behold, this primeval enemy and slayer of men has taken courage. Transformed into an angel of light, he wanders about with all the multitude of wicked spirits, invading the earth in order to blot out the name of God and of His Christ, to seize upon, slay and cast into eternal perdition souls destined for the crown of eternal glory.
“This wicked dragon pours out, as a most impure flood, the venom of his malice on men of depraved mind and corrupt heart, the spirit of lying, of impiety, of blasphemy, and the pestilent breath of impurity, and of every vice and iniquity. These most crafty enemies have filled and inebriated with gall and bitterness the Church, the spouse of the immaculate Lamb, and have laid impious hands on her most sacred possessions. In the Holy Place itself, where the See of Holy Peter and the Chair of Truth has been set up as the light of the world, they have raised the throne of their abominable impiety, with the iniquitous design that when the Pastor has been struck, the sheep may be. 
“Arise then, O invincible Prince, bring help against the attacks of the lost spirits to the people of God, and give them the victory. They venerate thee as their protector and patron; in thee holy Church glories as her defense against the malicious power of hell; to thee has God entrusted the souls of men to be established in heavenly beatitude. Oh, pray to the God of peace that He may put Satan under our feet, so far conquered that he may no longer be able to hold men in captivity and harm the Church. Offer our prayers in the sight of the Most High, so that they may quickly find mercy in the sight of the Lord; and vanquishing the dragon, the ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, do thou again make him captive in the abyss, that he may no longer seduce the nations. Amen.”

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Guess who admits he isn’t receiving ANY of the divinely promised supernatural protection of the Petrine Office…

The Church Visible, y’all. It’s right out in the open.

Simon Peter answered and said: Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answering said to him: Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona: because flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but my Father who is in heaven. And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven.” Matt 16:16-19
“Amen I say to you, whatsoever you shall bind upon earth, shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever you shall loose upon earth, shall be loosed also in heaven.” Matt 18:18
“But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and thou, being once converted, confirm thy brethren.” Luke 22:32

The above words, spoken by our Lord and Savior, are the divine promises of papal protection given to Peter and his successors. Remember, the papacy is conferred by Christ Himself, not by the Cardinals, not by the Church, nor through the Church, but DIRECTLY BY CHRIST. When He does this, he also confers the supernatural negative protection that binds the pope from teaching error, precisely because Christ binds himself to the pope and to canon law. Since it’s impossible for Christ to bind Himself to error, we have a DIVINE GUARANTEE that the outpouring of supernatural grace will be superabundant to point of… well, I think you get it.
Now surely at some point in your life, you have sensed moments of special grace. Perhaps these came at a specific point in time, or perhaps it was over an extended period of time. Anyone attempting to live their lives in conformity with the Gospels knows what I’m talking about here. It’s a powerful sensation, and yet it must be nothing compared to the outpouring of grace supplied to a true pontiff, wouldn’t you say?
So compare and contrast the scriptures and my short reflection with the following:

“The mere fact that I now dress all in white has not made me any less sinful or holier than before.”
“I guess my experience of God hasn’t fundamentally changed.”
“I speak to the Lord as before. I feel God gives me the grace I need for the present time. But the Lord gave it to me before.”
“My relationship with the Lord has not changed.”

All of the above are Bergoglio quotes from a few weeks ago, published yesterday by La Civilta Cattolica HERE.

Libs and cinos with another own goal, shifting the antipapacy Overton Window further against their own cause. Yea!

Controlled Opposition, or Dunning-Kruger?
I don’t know, but this is getting really interesting.
Mike Lewis used the word “Antipope” in a headline, as a scare tactic, and the usual suspects clutched pearls. The beautiful thing about it is that he offers proof after proof of exactly what he sets out to refute! You must go read the whole thing. False Base Premise Syndrome in living color. HERE
If this keeps up, ‘#antipope’ will be trending on twitter. And maybe it will force ++Burke to finally take a stand. His letter yesterday with Bishop Schneider is still too weak.


 
 

“The Primacy in its intimate essence is not an exercise of power”

COMMEMORATION MASS IN HONOUR
OF THE POPES PAUL VI AND JOHN PAUL I
HOMILY OF CARDINAL JOSEPH RATZINGER
Altar of the Chair, St Peter’s Basilica
Tuesday, 28 September 2004
 
Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In the Opening Prayer and in the Prayer after Communion, the liturgy offers us an interpretation of the Petrine Ministry that also appears as a spiritual portrait of the two Popes, Paul VI and John Paul I, in whose memory we are celebrating this Mass.

The Opening Prayer says that the Popes “in the love of Christ… presided over your Church”, and the Prayer after Communion asks the Lord to grant the Supreme Pontiffs, his servants, “to enter… into full possession of the truth, in which, with apostolic courage, they have strengthened their brethren”.

Love and truth thus appear as the two poles of the mission entrusted to the Successors of St Peter.

Presiding over the Church in the love of Christ: one recalls in the context of these words, “presiding in love”, St Ignatius’ letter to the Church of Rome, which the holy martyr who came from Antioch recognized as the principal Chair of St Peter. His letter continues by saying that the Church of Rome “is in the law of Christ”; here he mentions St Paul’s words in his Letter to the Galatians: “Bear one another’s burdens, and so you will fulfil the law of Christ” (6: 2).

Presiding in charity means first and foremost to preside “in the love of Christ”.

Let us remember at this point the fact that the definitive conferral of the Primacy upon Peter after the Resurrection is linked to the question the Lord repeated three times: “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” (Jn 21: 15ff.). Tending Christ’s flock and loving the Lord are the same thing. It is Christ’s love that guides the sheep on the right path and builds the Church.

At this point we cannot but think of Paul VI’s momentous Discourse inaugurating the Second Session of the Second Vatican Council. “Te, Christe, solum novimus” were the determining words of this Homily.

The Pope spoke of the mosaic in St Paul-Outside-the-Walls, with the great figure of the Pantocrator and Pope Honorius III lying prostrate at his feet, a tiny figure, almost insignificant before the greatness of Christ.

The Pope continued: This scene is repeated here with its full impact at our gathering. This was his vision of the Council, and also of the Primacy: all of us at Christ’s feet, to be servants of Christ, to serve the Gospel: the essence of Christianity is Christ – not a doctrine, but a person – and evangelizing means guiding people to friendship with Christ, to the communion of love with the Lord who is the true light in our lives.

Presiding in charity means, let us repeat, presiding in the love of Christ. But love of Christ implies knowledge of Christ: bearing one another’s burdens, as St Paul says.

The Primacy in its intimate essence is not an exercise of power, but in “bearing the burdens of others”; it is a responsibility of love.

Love is exactly the opposite of indifference to the other person, it cannot admit that the flame of Christ’s love be extinguished in the other, that friendship and knowledge of the Lord should fade, lest “the cares of the world and the delight in riches choke the word” (Mt 13: 22).

And finally: Christ’s love is love for the poor and the suffering. We know well that our Popes were strongly committed to fighting against injustice and for the rights of the oppressed and the weak. Christ’s love is not something individualistic, solely spiritual: it concerns the flesh, it concerns the world, and it must transform the world.

Lastly, presiding in charity concerns the Eucharist, which is the real presence of love incarnate, the presence of the Body of Christ offered for us. The Eucharist builds the Church, it builds this great network of communion that is the Body of Christ and thereby creates charity.

It is in this spirit that with the living and the dead we are celebrating Holy Mass – the sacrifice of Christ from which the gift of charity derives.

Love would be blind without the truth. Consequently, the one who must preside in love receives from the Lord the promise: “Simon, Simon… I have prayed that your own faith may not fail” (Lk 22: 32).

The Lord sees that Satan wants to “sift all of you like wheat” (Lk 22: 31). While this trial involves all the disciples, Christ prays in a special way “for you”; for the faith of Peter and upon this prayer is founded the mission to “strengthen your brothers”.

Peter’s faith is not a result of his own efforts; the constancy of his faith is founded on the prayer of Jesus, the Son of God: “I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail”.

Jesus’ prayer endures as the firm foundation of Peter’s role for ever and ever, and the Prayer after Communion can rightly say that the Supreme Pontiffs, Paul VI and John Paul I, strengthened their brethren “with apostolic courage”.

In a time when we are seeing how Satan “sifts” the disciples of Christ “like wheat”, the steadfast faith of the Popes has visibly been the rock on which the Church stands.

“For I know that my Redeemer lives”, are the words in the First Reading of our liturgy from the text of Job – he says them at a time of extreme trial; he says them while God is hiding and seems hostile to him. Veiled in suffering, knowing neither his name nor his face, Job “knows” that his Redeemer is alive, and this certainty is his great consolation in the darkness of trial.

Jesus Christ lifted the veil that for Job covered the face of God: Yes, our Redeemer lives, “and we all, with unveiled face, reflecting as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness”, says St Paul (cf. II Cor 3: 18).

Our Redeemer lives, he has a face and a name: Jesus Christ. And our “eyes will behold him”; we are assured of this by our late Popes, and thus they guide us “towards full possession of the truth”, strengthening us in faith in our Redeemer. Amen.

SOURCE

Lord, may she be ever withdrawn from harm and guided in good

Oremus:

Favor Thy Church unceasingly, O Lord we beseech Thee, and keep her safe: and because apart from Thee frail man is wont to fall, may she by Thy help be ever withdrawn from harm and guided in good.  – Collect, Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Amen!
In other news…


“I AM THE LAW! I HAVE CLEARLY STATED THIS!”
I’m in charge here, dammit! Morality is what I SAY it is. I say it changed, so it changed. We have to roll with the changes, yo. Tradition with a capital T be damned. Immutability be damned. The only thing that matters is Bergoglian Truth.

So that we may confidently say: The Lord is my helper: I will not fear what man shall do to me. Remember your prelates who have spoken the word of God to you; whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation, Jesus Christ, yesterday, and today; and the same for ever. Be not led away with various and strange doctrines. Hebrews 13:6-9

Which reminds me…
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It would be INSANE to suggest a valid pontiff could reverse 2000 years of doctrine, AMIRIGHT?

Posted
It’s said that everyone has their breaking point. Anyone who continues on the “Pope Francis” train past this station should be prepared to start questioning their own sanity. How many times do you need to see the law of non-contradiction *seemingly* broken, before you start to scratch your head and think, “Wait, that can’t happen”?
You know how someone should have told Luther that you can’t just rip out the parts of the bible you don’t like, and you can’t change the verses to better suit your liking? Well, someone should have told the Argentinian the same thing about the Catechism of the Catholic Church, because not only did he change it, but now he has driven a stake through it.
Conveniently, Diane Montagna has put together a powerhouse follow-up to her initial reportage yesterday of the Bergoglian Faux Mercy Machine on the Death Penalty HERE.  Thank God for the work she is doing at LifeSite, since the general media blackout otherwise continues unabated. Her piece is a must read.
She first captures commentary by Edward Feser, and then she brings in an anonymous theologian: Dominican vs Argentinian in a steel cage death match. It’s a rather lopsided battle.  Next up is a Catholic historian, Dr. Alan Fimister, who ends the scene by quoting the great Elizabeth Anscombe. Turns out Anscombe vs Argentinian is pretty decisive as well.
God is immutable. The Church, the Mystical Body of Christ, is immutable. It’s not that difficult a concept. When true popes teach, they document their orthodoxy by generously footnoting key points with references to Scripture, Fathers, Doctors, and past popes. A true pope goes out of his way to point out, “Hey, this isn’t new.” Go to vatican.va and pull up any document from any past pope. You will quickly see, this is how it’s done.
What can one say about a “Bishop of Rome” who claims the One True Faith was wrong – long on justice and short on mercy, with an immature conscience – from 33 A.D. to 2013 A.D. How could he contradict scripture, Tradition, Fathers and Doctors of the Church, and all of his “predecessors’? How can he deliberately misquote Aquinas (as he did in Amoris Laetitia as well) in trying to get support for his utterly novel teaching (which a scholar of ten years old can discover in ten seconds that Aquinas teaches exactly the opposite, and he does it in Articles 2-3 of the very same Question 64 that the Argentinian cites HERE.)
Imagine how profoundly UNPROTECTED one must be from the supernatural graces our Lord and Savior promised to Peter and his successors, to wake up one morning and decide to take on Saint Thomas Aquinas and invert his teachings. Imagine then GETTING AWAY WITH IT, cue the accompanying endorphin rush, BECAUSE SILENCE.
Oh yes, BTW he is still Argentinian, you know. Renewed his Argentinian passport, even though he’s the purported Head of State of a different sovereign entity. It’s almost like a sign, or something. He also doesn’t live where popes live. He also doesn’t wear what popes wear. He also doesn’t give the apostolic blessing like popes do. He also likes to be called bishop, not pope. Nothing to see here.

Exultation of the Holy Cross and the Key to True Conversion

Today is 14 September, the Exultation of the Holy Cross. It’s been one of my favorites for as long as I can remember.
Emptying of self and embracing the Holy Cross are the keys that unlock the Porta Fidei. You will get nowhere without these things. Uniting your cross, your sufferings, to the Holy Cross; this is how you grow. Suffering is a tool. It’s not merely allowed by God, in many cases it is PROVIDED by God, for your benefit. Embrace it – at first with patience, then submission, and finally with joy (that’s what ‘exultation’ means).
I will be writing more about this, but for now I offer this reflection:

The Keystone of True Conversion

Posted
As happens occasionally but not often, Good Friday fell on March 25 this year, the Feast of the Annunciation.  In the Catholic Church, at least the Latin Rite, the Annunciation is transferred to today, April 4th, the first day after the Easter Octave. But despite the transfer, the fact remains that they actually occurred on the same day this year.
Much has been written on this occasional convergence.  We are concerned here with the central theme that runs through the events of these two days, and it is THE concept that is the keystone of true conversion: Emptying of self.
keystone
You could say that emptying of self is the pathway, or the doorway, or even the ladder of true conversion, and you wouldn’t be wrong.  But keystone is more accurate, because emptying of self isn’t just what gets you there, it is what keeps you there. It’s the thing that holds everything else in place.  The stone that the builders rejected, which has become the Cornerstone, desires that we embrace the keystone.
Let’s break down the events of the day.  God provides models in Our Lord and Our Lady.
The Annunciation and Mary’s fiat:  The angel announces what is about to go down.  How often, as I contemplate this mystery, I try to get inside Mary’s head.  This angel just delivered the single biggest mind blowing message of all time.  And it wasn’t over; a response was required, because God imposes His will on no one.  Scripture reveals her response was immediate, and it was a complete emptying of self. “Be it done unto me.”  Complete trust in the Lord.  No qualifying questions back to the angel before she said yes.  Just total self-denial and acceptance of God’s will.  Has there been a better example of Prudence and Courage in all of human history?  How far we would advance if we could each practice these virtues just a little bit every day.  God, being God, could have chosen to redeem the world in any way He pleased.  But because His love for us is so intense, He chose the way that would best help us understand and obey.
The Incarnation:  Now it’s God’s turn.  The Incarnation is the literal outpouring of God Himself into our humanity.  In this instant, He became one of us in all ways except sin, by emptying Himself in a way that we can scarcely contemplate. His Divine Nature was united to His (our) human nature in a way that was real and substantial, yet not commingled, with each retaining its own properties HERE. This is the John 3:16 moment.   If Mary’s fiat was a demonstration of Prudence and Courage for the ages, Christ’s Incarnation is the model of Humility par excellence. Anything less would not have been good enough for our sake, so what excuse have we?
The Agony: Fast forward 33 years. We arrive at the Garden, where Christ’s anguish is NOT METAPHORICALLY demonstrated in His sweating blood.  Bursting capillaries caused by human stress.  And no, our Lord was not a coward in any way. “Let this cup pass” was not some cowardly request from a fraidy cat Jesus who suddenly changed His mind about the whole deal.  While it is possible He did experience fear of physical pain, in so much as He was fully human, and fear of physical pain is a natural human emotion, He was not trying to “get out of it”.  He was, at this moment, contemplating what was to come, while at the same time bearing the weight of every sin ever committed and ever to be committed. Not only that, but it seems likely that Jesus in this moment was contemplating in a particular way the souls of the damned.  Here he was about to undergo this tortuous death, and yet a multitude of beloved souls through the ages would choose to ignore it.  That had to hurt, don’t you think? HERE“Yet not my will, but thine be done” is a complete emptying of Jesus’ human nature in subservience to His Divine Nature and God the Father.
The Way of the Cross:  From the anguish of the Garden, we pass to the relative serenity of the Via. Not that it was a serene scene; it was brutal every step of the way.  Rather, I’m referring here to Christ’s demeanor, His bearing. It was one of relative serenity compared with the Garden and the contrast is worthy of reflection. Isn’t it likely that His focus here shifted from that of the damned to those beloved souls He was about to save?  Here he becomes the Lamb, His total submission was in His emptying.  Emptying at the beating, at the trials, at the pillar, at the crowning, at the stripping, at the mocking, at the carrying, at the falling, and at the nailing.  If you can watch Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ, I don’t care if you’re watching it for the tenth time, and I don’t care what kind of bad ass you think you are, I don’t care if you are Marine Infantry EOD… if you can watch that movie without sobbing like a four year old girl, you have not sufficiently emptied yourself.
The Crucifixion:  For this He was born, for this He came into the world.  The Annunciation, Incarnation, Passion and Death of Jesus Christ are all tied together on His lips. Nearly dead at this point, Jesus is hoisted aloft.  If you’ve never read a physical account of the Crucifixion, you need to HERE  As the tree was the instrument of our fall, so it is the instrument of our redemption, with the complete emptying of Jesus upon it.  A spiritual emptying of the God-man, and the physical emptying as well. “I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.”
I repeat: God, being God, could have chosen to redeem the world in any way He pleased. But because His love for us is so intense, He chose the way that would best help us understand and obey.
True conversion can only begin when you take the decision to empty yourself.  It cannot be conditional.  It must be total submission.  That’s when God will begin His work in you.  And it’s the most liberating thing you will ever experience, like chains being thrown off.
It’s not just a path, a door, or a ladder.  It is the keystone you must work to perfect everyday.