Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Since 'they' insist that icons are 'written', I do not need to write anything today.  Read your icons, class.

Standing with the Pope.

I am not ashamed to stand with the Pope and remain faithful to the Holy Catholic Church.

O my God, I firmly believe that you are one God in three divine Persons,Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I believe that your divine Son became man and died for our sins and that he will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe these and all the truths which the Holy Catholic Church teaches because you have revealed them who are eternal truth and wisdom, who can neither deceive nor be deceived. In this faith I intend to live and die. Amen.

That said, with the help of grace, I will embrace the confusion, the temptation to discouragement and doubt, and every fear, confident in the promises of Christ and the protection of the Mother of God.

I read an essay from Emmett O'Reagan who writes Unveiling the Apocalypse.  It's very long but quite helpful - to me at least - in putting things in perspective.  A huge, immense perspective, if you will.  I copied a section to share here:

Emmett begins this particular selection, writing:  As I have already explained in the post Pope Benedict XVI on the Chronology of Apocalyptic Events ...

In the vision of Saint Hildegard, the face of the Church is stained with dust, and this is how we have seen it. Her garment is torn – by the sins of priests. The way she saw and expressed it is the way we have experienced it this year. We must accept this humiliation as an exhortation to truth and a call to renewal.

Now notice the similarities here between the words of the Holy Father and those of Sr. Lucia during her interview with Fr. Fuentes:

Sister Lucy also told me: "Father, the devil is in the mood for engaging in a decisive battle against the Blessed Virgin. And the devil knows what it is that offends God the most, and which in a short space of time will gain for him the greatest number of souls. Thus the devil does everything to overcome souls consecrated to God, because in this way the devil will succeed in leaving the souls of the faithful abandoned by their leaders, thereby the more easily will he seize them." 

"That which afflicts the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Heart of Jesus is the fall of religious and priestly souls. The devil knows that religious and priests who fall away from their beautiful vocation drag numerous souls to hell. The devil wishes to take possession of consecrated souls. He tries to corrupt them in order to lull to sleep the souls of laypeople and thereby lead them to final impenitence. He employs all tricks, even going so far as to suggest the delay of entrance into religious life. Resulting from this is the sterility of the interior life, and among the laypeople, coldness (lack of enthusiasm) regarding the subject of renouncing pleasures and the total dedication of themselves to God."

A connection between these words of Sr. Lucia and St. Hildegard's vision of "filth" within the Church clearly seems to have been on Pope Benedict's mind here, since he uses basically the same themes and symbolism during his visit to Fatima in 2010:

"As for the new things which we can find in this message today, there is also the fact that attacks on the Pope and the Church come not only from without, but the sufferings of the Church come precisely from within the Church, from the sin existing within the Church. This too is something that we have always known, but today we are seeing it in a really terrifying way: that the greatest persecution of the Church comes not from her enemies without, but arises from sin within the Church, and that the Church thus has a deep need to relearn penance, to accept purification, to learn forgiveness on the one hand, but also the need for justice."

Cardinal Ratzinger again alluded to St. Hildegard's writings describing the current state of the Church as a woman whose garments are soiled in his famous Way of the Cross sermon in 2005, just before he ascended the papacy:

"Should we not also think of how much Christ suffers in his own Church? How often is the holy sacrament of His Presence abused, how often must he enter empty and evil hearts! How often do we celebrate only ourselves, without even realizing that he is there! How often is his Word twisted and misused! What little faith is present behind so many theories, so many empty words!

How much filth there is in the Church, and even among those who, in the Priesthood, ought to belong entirely to him! How much pride, how much self-complacency!" 

"Lord, your Church often seems like a boat about to sink, a boat taking in water on every side. In your field we see more weeds than wheat. The soiled garments and face of your Church throw us into confusion. Yet it is we ourselves who have soiled them! It is we who betray you time and time again, after all our lofty words and grand gestures. Have mercy on your Church... You stood up, you arose and you can also raise us up. Save and sanctify your Church. Save and sanctify us all." - OL of Knock, Jacob's Ladder, and the Short Time of Satan

The very worst is upon us right now - people within the Church are violently attacking the Holy Father - especially online.  Many people are calling for his resignation and so on.  He needs our prayers and sacrifices even more now than ever.  If he has made mistakes, Our Lord will correct him.  How worldly interpretations of the crisis distract us from a supernatural perspective is frightening to me.  The section quoted from Sr. Lucia helped me understand a bit better, that the proper response for me is deeper prayer and penance - renouncing pleasures - and to accept purification-chastisements in a spirit of sacrifice - at least to try.

"That which afflicts the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Heart of Jesus is the fall of religious and priestly souls. The devil knows that religious and priests who fall away from their beautiful vocation drag numerous souls to hell. The devil wishes to take possession of consecrated souls. He tries to corrupt them in order to lull to sleep the souls of laypeople and thereby lead them to final impenitence. He employs all tricks, even going so far as to suggest the delay of entrance into religious life. Resulting from this is the sterility of the interior life, and among the laypeople, coldness (lack of enthusiasm) regarding the subject of renouncing pleasures and the total dedication of themselves to God." - O'Reagan

The Vatican is preparing a response to Vigano ...

Grand silence.

The Cardinals, that is.

I can't wait.  (Trying not to be cynical.)

The C-9.

The six present for the September meeting were: Cardinals Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state; Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga of Tegucigalpa, Honduras; Sean P. O’Malley of Boston; Oswald Gracias of Mumbai, India; Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising, Germany; and Giuseppe Bertello, president of the commission governing Vatican City State.

The three who were absent were: 85-year-old Cardinal Francisco Javier Errazuriz Ossa, retired archbishop of Santiago, Chile, who is facing questioning over his handling of abuse allegations; Cardinal Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya of Kinshasa, Congo, who turns 79 in early October; and 77-year-old Australian Cardinal George Pell, who currently is on trial in Australia on sex abuse charges. - Catholic Herald

I wonder if Maradiaga will have anything to say about his seminarian scandal?  What a group.

Like I said, I'm trying hard not to be cynical.

In an interview, Cardinal O’Malley, speaking about sexual abuse survivors stated: “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!”  He was talking about listening to abuse survivors and how the Church wants to insure it doesn't happen again, and so on.  Hopefully they will begin with the proper formation of priests and who is admitted to seminary.  With Maradiaga on the Council of Cardinals, I wonder how that will go?  The focus on issues of abuse and survivors is one thing, hopefully they won't use it to deflect attention away from the corruption, which has been exposed by the McCarrick revelations, not to ignore the seminary scandals in Honduras and elsewhere over the years.

The Holy Father wants us to be silent and pray. I will try.

As John of the Cross said, "Controlling the tongue is better than fasting on bread and water."

Remember how dumb I was?

Paglia 

Duomo di Terni 

I'm better now.

Not sure if I shared this with you here...Goin' up yonder!