Monthly Archives: October 2017

Luther, October 31, ARSH 2017

Christ committed adultery first of all with the women at the well about whom St. John tells us. Was not everybody about Him saying: ‘Whatever has He been doing with her?’ Secondly, with Mary Magdalen, and thirdly with the women taken in adultery whom He dismissed so lightly. Thus even, Christ who was so righteous, must have been guilty of fornication before He died.”
(ref. Trishreden, Weimer Edition, Vol. 2, Pg. 107.)

Luther, a priest, was a filthy pervert, looking to ratify and excuse his disgusting, sick perversions and in doing so dragging as many souls into hell with him as possible.

This is Luther.  This is the piece of s*** that they are all celebrating as the “great reformer”.

Martin Luther was a diabolical narcissist, and, after years of shameless sacrilegious fornication with his concubine, a nun, Katrina von Bora, while a priest – descended into full-blown psychopathy.  We see in today’s world the result of unworthy reception of the Eucharist – a world full of diabolical narcissists unable to think or reason clearly, utterly detached, it seems, from reality.  Fornicating priests commit not merely the mortal sins against the 6th Commandment of fornication and adultery, but because the Aggrieved Spouse is Christ Himself and His Holy Church, the sin is that of sacrilege – a sin against the 2nd Commandment.  Can you imagine the damage done to such a priest by not only his reception of the Eucharist, but by his very offering of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass? It is said that nothing short of actual satanic “black liturgies”, such as satanic “black masses”, attracts demons like these sins of sacrilegious fornication.

Being a diabolical narcissist, Luther was obsessed with convincing himself of the grandiosity, superiority, perfection and “sinlessness” or better said, “faultlessness” of his false self.

Everything he did and said revolved around his need to convince himself that the fact that he, a priest forever after the Order of Melchizedek, espoused to Jesus Christ and His Holy Church, was screwing Katarina von Bora (and apparently also the maid when Katarina “had a headache”) was NO BIG DEAL. This is why Luther despised the priesthood, despised the Eucharist, ,marriage itself, and preached his satanic heresy of “total depravity”. He had to convince himself that his fornicating was not only no big deal, but also “natural”.

This satanic filth is what our lord and savior antipope jorge bergoglio is so enamored of, and openly celebrates.  I have a theologian friend who firmly believes and argues very well that our lord and savior jorge bergoglio is, very simply, a closet Lutheran. I think that it is worse than that – at least Luther could be argued mildly credibly to be a Christian.  Bergoglio?  No.  Not credibly.

I have copied these quotes from David L. Gray’s site. Be warned, there is extreme blasphemy here involving Our Lord engaging in sex acts.

“I look upon God no better than a scoundrel”
(ref. Weimar, Vol. 1, Pg. 487. Cf. Table Talk, No. 963).
–**–
“Christ committed adultery first of all with the women at the well about whom St. John tells us. Was not everybody about Him saying: ‘Whatever has He been doing with her?’ Secondly, with Mary Magdalen, and thirdly with the women taken in adultery whom He dismissed so lightly. Thus even, Christ who was so righteous, must have been guilty of fornication before He died.
(ref. Trishreden, Weimer Edition, Vol. 2, Pg. 107. – What a great blasphemy from a man who is regarded as “great reformer”!).
–**–
“I have greater confidence in my wife and my pupils than I have in Christ”
(ref. Table Talk, 2397b).
–**–
“It does not matter how Christ behaved – what He taught is all that matters”
(ref. Erlangen Vol. 29, Pg. 126).
–**–
“[The commandments] only purpose is to show man his impotence to do good and to teach him to despair of himself”
(ref: Denifle’s Luther et Lutheranisme, Etude Faite d’apres les sources. Translation by J. Paquier (Paris, A. Picard, 1912-13), Volume III, p. 364).
–**–
“We must remove the Decalogue out of sight and heart”
(ref. De Wette 4, 188)
–**–
“If we allow them – the Commandments – any influence in our conscience, they become the cloak of all evil, heresies and blasphemies”
(ref. Comm. ad Galat, p.310).
–**–
“It is more important to guard against good works than against sin.”
(ref. Trischreden, Wittenberg Edition, Vol. VI., p. 160).
–**–
“Good works are bad and are sin like the rest.”
(ref. Denifle’s Luther et Lutheranisme, Etude Faite d’apres les sources. Translation by J. Paquier (Paris, A. Picard, 1912-13), VOl. III, pg. 47).
–**–
“There is no scandal greater, more dangerous, more venomous, than a good outward life, manifested by good works and a pious mode of life. That is the grand portal, the highway that leads to damnation.”
(ref. Denifle’s Luther et Lutheranisme, Etude Faite d’apres les sources. Translation by J. Paquier (Paris, A. Picard, 1912-13), VOl. II, pg. 128).
–**–
“…with regard to God, and in all that bears on salvation or damnation, (man) has no ‘free-will’, but is a captive, prisoner and bond slave, either to the will of God, or to the will of Satan.”
(ref. From the essay, ‘Bondage of the Will,’ ‘Martin Luther: Selections From His Writings, ed. by Dillenberger, Anchor Books, 1962 p. 190).
–**–
“Man is like a horse. Does God leap into the saddle? The horse is obedient and accommodates itself to every movement of the rider and goes whither he wills it. Does God throw down the reins? Then Satan leaps upon the back of the animal, which bends, goes and submits to the spurs and caprices of its new rider… Therefore, necessity, not free will, is the controlling principle of our conduct. God is the author of what is evil as well as of what is good, and, as He bestows happiness on those who merit it not, so also does He damn others who deserve not their fate.”
(ref. ‘De Servo Arbitrio’, 7, 113 seq., quoted by O’Hare, in ‘The Facts About Luther, TAN Books, 1987, pp. 266-267).
–**–
“His (Judas) will was the work of God; God by His almighty power moved his will as He does all that is in this world.”
(ref. De servo Arbitrio, against man’s free will).
–**–
“No good work happens as the result of one’s own wisdom; but everything must happen in a stupor . . . Reason must be left behind for it is the enemy of faith.
(ref. Trischreden, Weimer VI, 143, 25-35).
–**–
“Be a sinner, and let your sins be strong, but let your trust in Christ be stronger, and rejoice in Christ who is the victor over sin, death, and the world. We will commit sins while we are here, for this life is not a place where justice resides… No sin can separate us from Him, even if we were to kill or commit adultery thousands of times each day.”
(ref. ‘Let Your Sins Be Strong, from ‘The Wittenberg Project;’ ‘The Wartburg Segment’, translated by Erika Flores, from Dr. Martin Luther’s Saemmtliche Schriften, Letter No. 99, 1 Aug. 1521. – Cf. Also Denifle’s Luther et Lutheranisme, Etude Faite d’apres les sources. Translation by J. Paquier (Paris, A. Picard, 1912-13), VOl. II, pg. 404))
–**–
“Do not ask anything of your conscience; and if it speaks, do not listen to it; if it insists, stifle it, amuse yourself; if necessary, commit some good big sin, in order to drive it away. Conscience is the voice of Satan, and it is necessary always to do just the contrary of what Satan wishes.”
(ref. J. Dollinger, La Reforme et les resultants qu’elle a produits. (Trans. E. Perrot, Paris, Gaume, 1848-49), Vol III, pg. 248).
–**–
“Peasants are no better than straw. They will not hear the word and they are without sense; therefore they must be compelled to hear the crack of the whip and the whiz of bullets and it is only what they deserve.”
(ref. Erlangen Vol 24, Pg. 294).
–**–
“To kill a peasant is not murder; it is helping to extinguish the conflagration. Let there be no half measures! Crush them! Cut their throats! Transfix them. Leave no stone unturned! To kill a peasant is to destroy a mad dog!” – “If they say that I am very hard and merciless, mercy be damned.Let whoever can stab, strangle, and kill them like mad dogs”
(ref. Erlangen Vol 24, Pg. 294).
–**–
“Like the drivers of donkeys, who have to belabor the donkeys incessantly with rods and whips, or they will not obey, so must the ruler do with the people; they must drive, beat throttle, hang, burn, behead and torture, so as to make themselves feared and to keep the people in check.”
(ref. Erlangen Vol 15, Pg. 276).
–**–
“If the husband is unwilling, there is another who is; if the wife is unwilling, then let the maid come.
(ref. Of Married Life).
–**–
“Suppose I should counsel the wife of an impotent man, with his consent, to give herself to another, say her husband’s brother, but to keep this marriage secret and to ascribe the children to the so-called putative father. The question is: Is such a women in a saved state? I answer, certainly.”
(ref. On Marriage).
–**–
“It is not in opposition to the Holy Scriptures for a man to have several wives.”
(ref. De Wette, Vol. 2, p. 459).
–**–
The word and work of God is quite clear, viz., that women are made to be either wives or prostitutes.
(ref. On Married Life).
–**–
“In spite of all the good I say of married life, I will not grant so much to nature as to admit that there is no sin in it. .. no conjugal due is ever rendered without sin. The matrimonial duty is never performed without sin.”
(ref. Weimar, Vol 8. Pg. 654. In other words for Luther the matrimonial act is “a sin differing in nothing from adultery and fornication.” ibid. What then is the purpose of marriage for Luther you may ask? Luther affirms that it’s simply to satisfy one’s sexual cravings “The body asks for a women and must have it” or again “To marry is a remedy for fornication” – Grisar, “Luther”, vol. iv, pg. 145).
–**–
“What harm could it do if a man told a good lusty lie in a worthy cause and for the sake of the Christian Churches?”
(ref. Lenz: Briefwechsel, Vol. 1. Pg. 373).
–**–
“To lie in a case of necessity or for convenience or in excuse – such lying would not be against God; He was ready to take such lies on Himself”
(ref. Lenz: Briefwechsel, Vol. 1. Pg. 375).
–**–
“St. Augustine or St. Ambrosius cannot be compared with me.”
(ref. Erlangen, Vol. 61, pg. 422).
“What I teach and write remains true even though the whole world should fall to pieces over it”
(ref. Weimar, Vol. 18, Pg. 401).

If you heard strains of Bergoglianism, Marxism, post-modern oligarchism, AND islam in these quotes, you were not imagining things.  All of these “isms” have the same root – diabolical narcissism: the purging of all love from the self and the elevation of the self above all else including God – this is what Lucifer and the demons did, and this is what diabolical narcissists do. That’s why I made a video about it, and will be writing about it ad nauseam for the foreseeable future.

Now do you see why giving Holy Communion to the Lutherans in St. Peter’s Basilica was an explicit act of Eucharistic desecration?

Now do you see why this business of “celebrating” the Lutheran Revolt of 1517 is nothing short of satanic?

And to any Lutherans out there, if you genuinely love Jesus Christ, get the hell out of that cesspit.  Find a traditional Catholic parish where the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass (or Divine Liturgy) is offered and jump the Tiber – before it is too late.

All Sodomites Are A Clear And Present Danger to Children. PERIOD.

EXPLICIT DISCUSSION WARNING.

So, popular and charming actor Kevin Spacey, of whom it has long been an open secret was an aggressive sodomite, the sort that cruises public parks for sodomy and the like, is now revealed to be a child predator.

UM, YEAH.  LIKE I HAVE BEEN SAYING ALL ALONG:

Every sodomite, without exception, is, by definition, A CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER TO CHILDREN.

Folks, sexual perversion is a continuum.  All people are heterosexual. Fact.  Some people fall into sin, specifically the sin of diabolical narcissism, to varying degrees.  For some, this leads to sexual sins that remain exclusively with the opposite sex.  Increasingly, as pornography infects the society, more and more people descend into sexual perversion so severe and so deep that it demands sex acts so sick that normal people can’t even relate.  The first layer is same-sex acts, and as with people like Charlie Sheen, it begins with transvestites as sex partners.  Transvestites satisfy the perverted lust for the same sex, while maintaining the facade of heterosexuality for the narcissist pervert in question.

Next, it goes, as with Sheen and Hugh Hefner, to sex acts with people of the same sex.  Next, it goes to children.  Men who are already engaged in same-sex activity will go directly to boys, and generally pubescent boys.  14 years old seems to be the ideal age for these depraved, vampiric wretches.  These odious, disgusting faggots want to destroy boys who are still children, but are just beginning to show signs of puberty.  14 is thus, ideal.  In the satanic manifesto of the musloid political system, pubescent boys are referred to as “pearl boys”.  Repeatedly. Not a coincidence.

Last week I sat down and watched the documentary “An Open Secret”.  It is WELL TITLED. It is a documentary about the HUGE pedophile ring in Hollywood. It is well done, and incredibly documented.  There are two scenes in the documentary in which they actually have full, unedited audio of the main subjects fully admitting to their crimes.  Look, just like Weinstein, EVERYONE knows about the boy raping in Hollywood.

Folks, the Harvey Weinstein thing is peanuts.  As others have pointed out, women who acquiesce to filth like Weinstein are called “whores”.  I continue to be amazed by women who claim that Weinstein forced himself upon them orally, with the women as recipients.  Um, I do not understand how that is possible.  Call me naive, but it seems to me that KICKING would be a reliable way to stop that.  In the other direction, I have never understood how a woman could be made to perform oral sex.  The jaw is the strongest point in the human body, pound for pound.  Bite it off.  Bite if off and spit it out. Problem solved.  Problem so very, very SOLVED.  The truth is, almost all of these women have publicly admitted that they either acquiesced (gave up) to Weinstein, or that they kept silent, some for decades, specifically and consciously to advance and/or maintain their careers.  This is called “payment in kind”, and PIK is just as much payment as cash on the nightstand, honey.

So now we come to the real story, and the true victims of Hollywood and the finance-government-entertainment power structure: BOY RAPISTS AND THEIR PREY.

Famous and charming actor Kevin Spacey, a well-known “open-secret” faggot, has been exposed as having a taste for boyflesh.  Well, knock me over with a feather.  A fag?  Being into boys?  NO!

Color me shocked when you show me a fag who isn’t gunning to “break in” a 14 year old boy, or as close to that as possible….

Spacey came to fame in the movie “The Usual Suspects”, directed by the very well-known boy-rapist Bryan Singer.  Birds of a feather flock together.  I’m telling you folks, these fags ALL have a thing for teen boys.  Teen boys, virgins, pure, happy, normal, are everything these foul wretches want to destroy.  They hunt them.  They are murderers – soul murderers.

The documentary “An Open Secret” documents a circle of Hollywood boy rapists and their victims, and shows footage of popular child and now adult actor Ben Savage, currently the star of “Girl Meets World” on the Disney channel (Disney is pure pedophilic evil, folks), a re-boot of “Boy Meets World” which aired all throughout the 1990s, a victim and now member of the boy raping circle, being embraced, and then sexually grabbed in the butt by the pedophile ringleader at the 44:55 mark.  The pedophile ringleader says, “Hi, Honey”, and then grabs Savage’s butt sexually. It is clear as day.  The thing that is interesting is to look up Ben Savage in clips as a child actor on “Boy Meets World” – he is a completely normal, masculine boy – and then look up clips of him today, both on “Girl Meets World” in which he plays a married man, and in real-life interviews, and note Savage’s descent into very faggoty comportment and affectation.

Guys, the faggotry comportment is 100% chosen and controllable.  I had the misfortune to be acquainted with faggots years ago that when alone with me would act completely normal, but when around their fags and fag hags would lay on the gay affectation.  IT IS ALL A CHOICE.  The fag aesthetic is a freely chosen, calculated and freely executed aesthetic.

I strongly recommend this documentary to one and all to make you realize what it is that you are supporting when you give money – ANY MONEY – to Hollywood. The only error in this documentary is when the investigator goes out of his way to make sure that people don’t think that homosexuality is related to pedophilia or ephebophilia – which is patently false.  We all know the two pathologies are hand-in-glove. Show me a faggot who hasn’t gone after a child (including blood relatives) and my response is, “Give him time, and he will….”

Another point I would like to make is about the child star Corey Feldman, who appears in “An Open Secret”.  People my age would remember Feldman well as “Teddy DuChamp” in “Stand By Me” and as “Mouth” in “The Goonies”.  Right now Feldman, himself a victim of pedophilia as a child in Hollywood, is trying to raise money, ostensibly for a documentary on the topic, claiming he can name names of high-level Hollywood moguls that are boy rapists.  He claims he needs money for production and for security for his family, etc.

BULLSHIT.  Corey Feldman needs to quit trying to profiteer off of the rape of children and spill the beans.  Every day he waits is another day in which pedophiles are raping children.  Don’t give Corey Feldman a dime.  The information that he has is largely available, and what he is doing is stone-cold profiteering.  The best way for Corey Feldman to protect himself is to call a press conference, with his family beside him, lay out everything he knows, name all the names he can, and then look straight into the camera and say, “If so much as one hair on my children’s’ heads are touched, everyone on the planet will now know exactly whom to come after….”

Corey Feldman needs to quit this obvious, transparent profiteering, or go away.

Here is the documentary “An Open Secret”.

Let’s do this, folks.  Let’s bring down Hollywood.  Let’s burn it to ashes. A world without Hollywood.  Can you imagine?

HERE IS THE VIMEO LINK.

Here is the YouTube.  This is my second try with the YouTube, as it was saying “blocked” for some people.

Equidistance: Gershwin to Chopin

ARSH 2017 to ARSH 1924, “Rhapsody in Blue” by George Gershwin, equidistant in time to Frederic Chopin Piano Concerto Number 1, ARSH 1830 to ARSH 1924 (close enough).

And don’t even bother with the “Gershwin and Bernstein were JOOZ! and Chopin was a sodomite!” emails.

And Mozart was a Freemason and a fornicator. I know.  As was Pope Alexander VI Borgia (a fornicator, most famously with Giulia Farnese), and Pope Paul VI Montini was a communist sympathizer and a sodomite, and most bishops and probably most priests today are heretics, sodomites, and often both.  Too bad no one evangelized the JOOZ, and maybe Chopin, a Pole, and Mozart, an Austrian, died well. And, well, with regards to the clergy, we aren’t Donatists, are we? Until the Bergoglian schism is made formal, which will probably be this “ecumenical faux-Mass” they are now concocting, the True Mass is confected, even by arch-heretics and sodomites.  Receive the Body and Blood of Christ from such men if that is all you can manage, but don’t socialize with them.  It isn’t difficult. Do it while you still can.

These men, Jooz, Freemasons and sodomites, at least made beauty with the time they had, which is far more than most of us can say. Watching tee-vee and engaging in narcissistic pissing matches on Twitter and FacePlant is NOT A VOCATION.  It is a dereliction of duty, and almost certainly a sin. Those who have ears to hear, let them hear. 

Ille autem servus qui cognovit voluntatem domini sui, et non praeparavit, et non facit secundum voluntatem ejus, vapulabit multis : qui autem non cognovit, et fecit digna plagis, vapulabit paucis. Omni autem cui multum datum est, multum quaeretur ab eo : et cui commendaverunt multum, plus petent ab eo.

For those who do not read Latin, remember always, search engines can be your helpers.

The best part of Rhapsody in Blue starts at 10:40.

Happy October 30th, to one and all. St. Benedict and St. Scholastica, St. Philip Neri, and St. Lucy, pray for us all.

Christ, have mercy on us.

Barnhardt Podcast #033: Declarations of Nullity Et Cetera

[Direct link to the MP3 file]

In this episode we discuss the epidemic of annulments declarations of nullity of marriage in the Church today. Like divorce, declarations of nullity are skyrocketing, especially in the United States, and the effects are devastating not only on the marriages and families being affected but on the Church and society as a whole.

Links and Reading:

Feedback: please send your questions and comments to [email protected]

The Barnhardt Podcast is produced by SuperNerd Media; if you found this episode to be of value you can share some value to back to SuperNerd at the SuperNerd Media website. You can also follow SuperNerd Media on Twitter and Facebook.

Listen on Google Play Music

New Thing: Equidistant In Time Musical Interludes

I need to post more music, and I think I have come up with a format.  I challenge Van der Leun to also do this, because this is something that can get really, really weird really fast. And so, naturally, I thought of Van der Leun.  I have the sneaking suspicion that BigFurHat and the Kids would be good at this too.  Keep it clean, Boys.

I’m going to start with this:

“MMMBop” by Hanson (ARSH 1997) is as far away from today as “You Light Up My Life” by Debby Boone (ARSH 1977) was from MMmmm Bop.

Weird.

You see what I’m doing here?  This structure has endless possibilities, every one of which will remind us of just exactly how old we all are.  This first entry is extremely mild, so look away if you don’t want your mind blown.

 

Fr. Miller’s Program for Divorced Catholics – FOR DISSEMINATION

Dear Ann,
 
I have been divorced many years now, and some time after that happened I came across this. It has been a wonderful guide for me, and I have never found anything else like it. It might no longer be on the internet, but I have saved it on my computer. Most people are disinterested in it and find it ridiculous, when it’s actually the opposite. I still refer to it, though I have taken it to heart for many years now, and don’t need to re-read it often. But I’m glad I kept it.
 
You may have seen this before, but I’m sending it just in case you haven’t. I don’t know if the website is still active.
 
God love and bless you always,
T
[Thanks, T.  This is solid stuff, folks.  I especially like how Fr. Miller uses the term “keeping company”.  This is very important.  A married person, even if abandoned, must not do ANYTHING with people of the opposite sex that they would not do if they were living a perfectly happy marriage. A married man cannot “keep company” with a woman who is not his wife.  He can be friends with women, but there is a line, and that line is much, much stricter than today’s culture would admit – obviously. 
The initials c.ss.r. stand for the Redomptorist Order, which was founded by one of our absolute favorite saints, St. Alphonsus Liguori.  In terms of Moral Theology, The Church holds only one saint on par with St. Thomas Aquinas, and that saint is St. Alphonsus Liguori.  This pamphlet should be spread far and wide. 
St. Alphonsus, pray for us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
-ANN]
——————————————————–
Fr. Miller’s Program for Divorced Catholics
Learn what the Catholic Church Really teaches about Divorce and Annulment:PROGRAM FOR DIVORCED CATHOLICS 

 by Fr. Donald Miller, c.ss.r. 
 Published 1962 by Liguorian Pamphlets 
 Imprimatur:  St. Louis, 7 September 1962; Joseph Cardinal Ritter, Archbishop of St. Louis 
  
PREFACE
Divorce is one of the greatest evils of our times.  Everything possible must be done to stop its ravages upon the solidity of the family.  This does not mean that divorced persons, whether guilty or innocent, must be spiritually neglected.  They can and must still save their souls.  To do so, this is the program they should follow.
 
PROGRAM FOR DIVORCED CATHOLICS
There are a great many divorced Catholics in the United States today.  Their position is a difficult one because of the wrong attitudes many other Catholics have toward them, because of the sinful pressures to which others often subject them, and, above all, because of the problems they themselves must face in trying to lead Christian lives and to save their immortal souls.
 
For these reasons divorced persons need a definite program or plan of living that will contain clear statements of what is wrong for them and positive recommendations of what will make their task of living up to God’s will for them as easy as possible.  This is an effort to provide such a program or plan.  At the same time it may help other Catholics form a right attitude and practice real charity toward divorced acquaintances and friends.
 
There are many kinds of divorced Catholics among both men and women.  The only ones excluded from consideration here are those for whom there is no solid reason against their going back to living with their lawful spouse.  A divorced Catholic who can, without undue harm to body or soul, resume married life with the partner he (or she) promised before God to accept as a spouse until death, and who would be reaccepted by that partner, is bound to take whatever steps are necessary for a reconciliation.  This is a matter of obligation.
 
Among those who are waiting and praying for the grace to reconcile with their spouses, this program will involve three things: 1) the right attitude and conduct toward God; 2) the right attitude toward themselves; 3) the right attitude toward other people.
 
1.  The Right Attitude of Divorced Catholics Toward God

 
There are many clear and definite principles that represent God’s will for divorced Catholics who want to be and remain in His grace and friendship.  The most important are these:
 
1.  God wants the divorced person to return to His grace by a good confession if his or her sins led up to the divorce or is he or she sinned by getting a divorce.
 
It is a grave sin for a validly married Catholic to institute divorce proceedings against a partner without permission of the bishop of the diocese. [transcriber’s note (1983 Canon 1153)].  Therefore this sin has to be confessed.  With it, of course, must be confessed any sins that contributed to the breakup of the marriage.  Even a husband or wife who did not start divorce proceedings must confess any sins that contributed to the alienation of a partner.
 
For example, a wife who for some time had refused, without a serious reason, to live up to her contract of taking part in the marriage act, may not have sought a divorce, but she was guilty of grave sins that contributed to bringing about the divorce.  Thus a husband who left his wife and children to starve by earning or giving nothing to their support, might say that he did not want a divorce, but his sins of neglect certainly made some defensive action necessary for the wife.  Such sins should be confessed and God’s forgiveness sought through the absolution of the priest.
 
It should be noted clearly that divorced persons are not necessarily excluded from the sacraments and the full life of the Catholic Church.  Certainly the so-called innocent person in a divorce, that is, the one who tried to fulfill the duties of marriage and who tried to prevent the divorce, should have no hesitation about going to confession and receiving Communion.  Even a husband or wife who has done irreparable damage to their marriage by bad conduct and by the great sin of seeking a divorce without permission, can receive God’s forgiveness, if such a one is truly repentant, is ready to make reparation for the evil done and the scandal given, and is willing to take part in a reconciliation.
 
2.  God’s law strictly forbids validly married but divorced Catholics to keep company as if they were free to marry again.
 
Steady company-keeping is lawful only as a possible preparation for marriage.  When one is not free to marry, steady company-keeping becomes a serious and unnecessary occasion of sin, and, therefore, a grave sin in itself.[note from Bai.  For information on ‘comanpy keeping’ that is not ‘going steady’, see Spiritual Friendship by Ronda Chervin © 1992]
 
This holds for both the “innocent” and the “guilty” parties to a divorce.  It is the former who  must especially see it as a clear mandate of God’s will.
 
They are the ones, these innocent victims of divorce, who are most apt to argue against the will of God in this regard.  They say: “I did my best to make my marriage a success.  My partner turned out to be selfish and sinful and unwilling to bear the sacrifices of marriage.  Since I was ‘innocent,’ I should have a right to another chance at happiness in marriage.”
 
The position of such persons is indeed unfortunate, deserving of great sympathy and charity, but, in arguing that they have a right to think of marriage again, they forget two things.  The first is that they took their partner “for better or for worse” until death, which means that they solemnly promised never to think of another marriage while the partner of their first marriage was still alive.
 
The second thing they forget is that the solidity of marriage and the security of the home demand that a second marriage after divorce never be permitted to Christian people, not even to those who can call themselves guiltless of any evil in their first marriage.
 
If “innocence” were made a loophole for a second marriage after divorce, the number of aggrieved and “innocent” husbands and wives would grow into legions.  That is why Christ was adamant and absolute on this point: attempted marriage after divorce from a valid, Christian, sacramental, consummated marriage is adultery.
 
And that is why steady company-keeping for a divorced person, whether “innocent” or “guilty” in the divorce proceedings is a mortal sin.  It follows too that it is a mortal sin for a single person to keep company with a divorced Christian.

3.  It is clearly God’s will that divorced persons should build up an especially fervent spiritual life to offset the dangers and temptations that will assail them.
 
No matter how young a divorced man or woman may be, no matter how bleak and difficult the long stretch of the future may seem under the strictures to which a divorced person is subject, God’s grace is ready in abundance to make virtuous living possible and even easy for such a one.  However, this grace must be sought, and sought with a zeal proportionate to the soul’s need.
 
Therefore, divorced persons should get to confession at least every few weeks in order to keep making a check on whether they are carrying out God’s strict commands.  They should receive Communion often, even every day if possible, knowing that this sacrament will be the means through which they can grow enough in the love of God to resist all temptations to sinful love.  And they must adopt a firm schedule of daily prayer and spiritual reading so that they may develop a genuine interior life, that is, one in which they grow constantly in conscious union with God.
 

2.  The Right Attitude of Divorced Persons Towards Themselves
 
There are three dangerous, if not fatal, mistakes that divorced persons can make in regard to their state.  The right attitude toward themselves means a constant awareness of and defense against these mistakes.
 
1.  The greatest danger that divorced people must fact is that they may succumb to self-pity.
 
Self-pity can become a habit and a fixed state of mind.  It is that state in which a person is so constantly conscious of his misfortunes that he is a burden to himself, a bore to his family and friends, and in constant danger of rebellion and blasphemy against God.
 
Divorced persons, whether they admit to guilt in bringing about their divorce or maintain, rightly or wrongly, their complete innocence have suffered a great misfortune.  But it was not the greatest or final misfortune of life.  Nobody was created just to have a happy marriage.  Men and women were created to win the happiness of heaven, and that goal remains attainable even after a divorce.  Self-pity is one of the surest ways to endanger the real goal of one’s life.
 
Much of the self-pity in which divorced people are tempted to indulge is really inspired by the pagan and secularistic outlook on the world.  Pagans run through three and four and five marriages, looking for one that will be perfectly happy. 
 
They make the divorced Catholic feel that he is cheated by his religion in not being allowed to try and try again for a happy marriage.  He has been deceived by his neighbors into forgetting that his happiness has to be found in God, not in a human being.  Until he realizes that truth, he will be a sorry victim of self-pity.Of course, the more innocent a person has been in the events leading up to a divorce, the more that person should resist exaggerated and unrealistic feelings of guilt.
 

3.  The Right Attitude of Divorced Persons Towards Others.
 
Divorced persons should see in their state opportunities for doing much good to others no matter how much harm they may have done by the bad example of their past.  Three things especially they should want to do in this regard.
 
1.  Divorced persons should be eager to show to others the power of the grace of God for any emergency in life by their good example.
 
God wants all human beings to save their souls.  His Providence seems to give some greater temptations, a more difficult lot in life, than others.  The tempted, the discouraged, the despairing, are always helped by the good example of those who have a harder task than themselves.  There is no doubt that divorced Catholics have special difficulties and temptations to face.  If they remain faithful to God, their example will be of untold value to others.
 
This hold for all types of divorced persons, including those who have been most guilty and have the most atonement to make for having broken up their home.  Once they have made a good confession and been forgiven, they should be inspired to perseverance by the fact the example of their conversion will certainly encourage many who are faltering in allegiance to God.
 
2.  Divorced persons should defend the indissolubility of marriage by resisting all suggestions that they involve themselves in company-keeping and by rebuking Catholics who make such suggestions.
 
Instead of complaining that it is hard to resist company-keeping and thoughts of another marriage, divorced Catholics should consider it an obligation, now that they have failed to make their marriage the permanent thing God intended it to be, to prove to others that they still believe in the indissolubility of marriage and the sinfulness of attempted marriage after divorce.  They will have many opportunities to do this.
 
There will be weak and unworthy Catholics who will suggest that they take up company-keeping and at times even try to provide companions for them.  In no uncertain terms, they should tell such false friends that they cannot marry again validly while their divorced partner is alive and that, therefore, they may not take up company-keeping.  They may add that any Catholic who suggests that they start keeping company is thereby guilty of a grave sin of scandal.
 
Moreover, they will meet individuals who will be attracted to them, and who, by word and action, will show an eagerness to begin steady dating with them.  These too must be told at once that this is out of the question because it cannot be done without the loss of the grace of God.
 
Such a forthright line of conduct and action will repair any scandal that divorced persons may have given in bringing about the failure of their first marriage.
 
3.  Divorced persons should use their unhappy experiences to advise and help others:  young people preparing for marriage and the already married who are facing problems and temptations.
 
Wisdom is often acquired through mistakes and even sins.  Divorced persons should use the wisdom that their mistakes or sins have brought them to warn others against the same mistakes and sins.
 
Perhaps their divorce was occasioned by a hasty and ill-considered marriage.  Their advice can be very effective for young people who seem to be in danger of making the same mistake.
 
Or perhaps the first crack in the solidity of their own marriage appeared as the result of their drinking or uncontrolled anger or selfishness in any one of a hundred forms.  They may be able to see the same cracks forming in the marriages of friends and be able to heal them by giving friendly warnings of what the terrible outcome of such beginnings can be. 
 
Thus divorced Catholics can do a great service to their fellow human beings and wipe out the evil that was done by their own bad example to the world.
 

 4. Dangers that divorced people must face

2.  A second danger that divorced people must face is that of idleness.
 
Idleness, as the inspired Scriptures say, is a danger to anyone, but it is particularly such to divorced persons who must be on guard against the self-pity described above (always nourished by idleness), against falling among bad companions, and against steady company-keeping with anyone, good or bad.
 
 By idleness is meant not only sitting around doing nothing but also going around doing useless things.  A divorced person who spends a great deal of time in taverns, in cocktail lounges, at mixed social gatherings, is not only wasting time but creating opportunities for temptations that not one divorced person out of a hundred would be able to resist.
 
A divorced Catholic who wants to remain in God’s friendship will avoid idleness by concentrating on 1) a job, 2) an innocent hobby, 3) some kind of spiritual or religious activity.
 
The job may be that of raising their children.  A divorced wife who has a child or several children whom the court has entrusted to her is especially fortunate.  She can make a full-time job and a deeply rewarding one of raising those children properly.  However all divorced persons, no matter how excellent an income they may have, should, if they have no children to raise, get a job and work diligently at it.
 
The hobby may be anything that will fill off-hours with interest and pleasure such as stamp-collecting, painting, music, writing, hiking, gardening, and the like.  A good hobby is a priceless friend.
 
The spiritual or religious activity may be teaching catechism, becoming an active member of the Legion of Mary or the St. Vincent de Paul Society, or taking an active part in parish study clubs.  Any divorced person who has never lost the grace of God or who has returned to it after the divorce should offer his or her services to his pastor for any spiritual or religious work that needs to be done.
 
3.  A third danger for divorced Catholics is that of an exaggerated and unreasonable sense of guilt.
 
It is hardly possible for divorced persons not to feel a certain sense of failure and that whether they were the “innocent” or “guilty” person in bringing about the divorce.  The marriage they promised and planned on making their lifetime career went to pieces.  Whoever was most at fault, this was a failure for both.
 
[Sherly’s note: Divorced people can reconcile.  Many have.  Fr. Miller says in the fourth paragraph of this pamphlet that they have an obligation to do so.  Perhaps time is needed to forget the hurts of the near present and remember the pleasures of the past to bring them back together.  With God all things are possible.]
 
Humbly accepting this fact of the failure of a plan is a far different thing from permitting oneself to be burdened constantly with an exaggerated sense of guilt.  This latter is responsible for making some divorced Catholics feel that they are outcasts from the society of Catholics or the activities of their Church.
 
All human beings have reason for a sense of guilt because all are sinners.  But when one’s sins or failures are known to others, there is an inclination to let guilty feelings go too far.  Guilt feelings concerning sins known or unknown to others should inspire a continuing sorrow for those sins and willingness to do penance for them until death.
 
But Christ instituted the Sacrament of Penance as a means of assuring the sinner of his forgiveness and thereby bringing peace to the soul.  Once a divorced person has made a good confession, he or she should cling to the certainty of his forgiveness and then offer up the hardships of his lot as reparation for the evil he has done.

Reiterating: Why Even Cardinal Burke is Unsound on Divorce and Remarriage

I posted on this back in January, but given the post on civil divorcees being FINISHED with any romantic relationships, it certainly bears repeating and expanding upon.

Cardinal Burke advocates an approach whereby a couple who are not actually married to each other may publicly receive Holy Communion IF they live together as “brother and sister”, meaning they continue to cohabit and publicly present as a married couple, but stop having sex.

Nope.  That dog won’t hunt, and here’s why:

The universal presumption is that every married couple engages in the marital act, that is, sexual intercourse.  And this assumption is exactly as it should be.  The PRIMARY point of marriage is the procreation and raising of children, period.  The unitive aspect between the spouses is SECONDARY. Since all non-divine people are conceived through sexual intercourse, of course sexual intercourse is ASSUMED between all couples who present themselves as “married”.

Here is the truth of how this situation worked before the infiltration and attack on The Church concurrent with the dumpster fire that is called the failed Second Vatican Council.

When two people who were civilly “remarried” after a civil divorce reverted to Catholicism and could not separate (generally due to having minor children), and necessarily stopped having sex with each other because they fully acknowledged the truth that they were NOT married to each other and that any conjugal contact would be mortally sinful, even then, these people would NEVER receive Holy Communion publicly (they would receive privately, generally in the sacristy, by appointment), or if they did receive publicly, it would be in a parish very far away where they were totally unknown.

Think about it.  Everyone assumes that married couples have sex with each other.  Do we honestly believe that The Church would want people to PUBLICLY ANNOUNCE AND ADVERTISE their sexual activity (or lack thereof)? Of course not.  So, what Cardinal Burke is advocating is for people who are “living as brother and sister” to do by receiving Holy Communion publicly is either:

A.) Continue to scandalize the faithful who justly assume that all “married” couples have sex with each other, OR

B.) Require the “married” couple to publicly announce on a continual basis that they are not having sex.

This is insane.

There should be NO PUBLIC RECEPTION OF HOLY COMMUNION by people who are living as a married couple with anyone other than their true spouse. Period. The concession of permitting people to continue to cohabit in continence for the sake of rearing children is already a massive, massive concession.  But there is simply no way that such “brother-and-sister” couples can receive Holy Communion publicly, or in a parish in which they are known, because scandal is the byproduct either way, either by the just assumption of the community of the couple’s sexual activity, OR the couples’ persistent public discussion of their sex life, which is a scandal unto itself.

Nope.  Sorry.  This whole discussion is actually built on a false premise to begin with.  Even Cardinal Burke is unsound, which really isn’t surprising, considering that he believes that the failed Second Vatican Council is anything other than the satanic dumpster fire that it so obviously is. The logical progression is simple, PLUS we have the tradition of The Church and the clear historical precedent for dealing with these situations right in front of us.  And yet, even one of the “greatest minds” in the Church today discards both in favor of an illogical and unprecedented non-solution solution.

Oh, and he also thinks Bergoglio is the pope.  Or, at least that is what he says in public.  That is another clue.

Man, if I were a reporter and I could interview Cardinal Burke, I’d put this fairly simple logical corollary to him and not let him weasel his way out of it. Enough of this effeminate “third way” crap. Enough.

Folks, our sins have consequences. Sometimes extremely serious consequences that last for the rest of our lives.  Grow up.  Face reality.  Deal with the consequences of your own actions and poor decisions.  And teach your children and grandchildren the TRUTH, namely that marriage is forever, and maybe then your children and grandchildren will not make the dumb@$$ decisions that you made, and will think twice about marrying a person who does not believe what The Church teaches, whole and entire.

Stop trying to pretend that people have absolutely no comprehension of the plain sense of simple words in their mother tongue.

“‘Til death do us part.”

“As long as you both shall live.”

“Those whom God has joined together, let no man put asunder.”

Crystal, crystal, crystal clear.

And you don’t need a Ph.D. in sacramental theology to “understand” marriage.  That is another transparent lie that is being peddled today. Up until not too terribly long ago, consider that most people were illiterate.  And yet, they all understood with complete clarity and facility that marriage is indissoluble.

If you love your kids, you will teach them to not screw up their lives in the first place, rather than lyingly telling them that if they screw up, there is a bee-ess “free do-over card”, which deep down, we all know doesn’t really exist. We all know that marriage is indissoluble because marriage is so utterly essential to human society that it is a domain of the Natural Law, which is why every human society on earth has a form of marriage, and why if even the pagans in the deepest darkest jungles enter into marriage, utterly and completely unchurched, The Church recognizes that marriage as a Natural Marriage.

The indissolubility of marriage is written on the heart of every human being. As with revulsion to sodomy, it has to be specifically inculcated out by the constant attack of scandal. To argue against this truth is to argue that men are beasts – which is exactly what satan wants humanity to believe about itself.

If you have children, one thing you can do to teach your children a fundamental respect for Holy Matrimony, for themselves and for those of the opposite sex from their earliest days, is to pray for their future spouse in their bedtime prayers.

Starting Tuesday Off Right: Splashy-Washy Edition

Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.

PATER NOSTER, qui es in caelis, sanctificetur nomen tuum. Adveniat regnum tuum. Fiat voluntas tua, sicut in caelo et in terra. Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie, et dimitte nobis debita nostra sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris. Et ne nos inducas in tentationem, sed libera nos a malo. Amen.

The Probatic Pool, marble relief, Giovanni Marchiori, early 1700s, Church of Saints Simon and Jude, Venice

Today is the feast of the Archangel Raphael, who is known as the “angelical physician”, not only for his healing works in the Book of Tobias, but also for his deeds as recounted in John chapter 5, one of the most moving narratives in scripture.  It was St. Raphael the Archangel who would agitate the waters once per year at Bethesda which would then heal the first person to touch the waters.  In John 5, even though St. John is spare in his prose, one can immediately hear the anguish of the man who tells Our Lord that he has tried every year for thirty-eight years to be healed of his infirmity, but because he has no one to help him, he never makes it to the pool in time.  And yet, this man has kept the faith and persevered.

Our Blessed Lord healed the man, and afterward, finding the man at the Temple, Jesus told him, “Behold thou art made whole: sin no more, lest some worse thing happen to thee.”

Mercy is inextricably tied to renunciation of sin. The “worse thing” that would come from presuming upon God’s Mercy and NOT ceasing the sinful activity (or at least having a firm, immediate purpose of amendment) is ETERNAL DAMNATION.  Thirty-eight years with a horrific physical infirmity is NOTHING compared to all of eternity in hell in unceasing torment, never, ever to see God, and knowing how being damned was 100% one’s own choice, and thus completely unnecessary.

None of us have to wait for St. Raphael to swoop in (wheeeee!) as depicted above, and then win a foot race.  All we have to do is enter The Church and go to Confession, wherein the waters of Baptism are perpetually and inexhaustibly available, and the Blood of Christ removes every stain of sin.

St. Raphael, pray for us.

Christ, have mercy on us.

The Inbox is filling up. Words from today’s Mass….

As expected, the essay below is generating feedback.

I have the Baronius Press ARSH 1962 Missal, and every Sunday has a very short blurb on the overarching theme of the Sunday.  Today is the 20th Sunday after Pentecost, and the little introductory blurb in my Missal is this:

The Liturgy shows us that our misfortunes are caused by our unfaithfulness in conforming to the will of God. Let us beseech the Lord, through the prayers of Holy Church, to pardon our sins, so that we may serve Him with a quiet and trustful heart, always obeying His precepts.

And the Introit:

All that Thou hast done to us, O Lord, Thou hast done in true judgment: because we have not obeyed Thy commandments: but give glory to Thy Name, and deal with us according to Thy mercy.  (Daniel 3: 31, 29, 35)

Blessed are the undefiled in the way; who walk in the law of the Lord. (Psalm 118:1)
Gloria Patri…

Do we understand what “blessed are the undefiled in the way” means?  It doesn’t mean blessed are the perfect (because no one is perfect), it simply means something like, “Oh, in retrospect, how I wish that I had never made the mistakes I have made.  How blessed are the people who never committed the sins that I have committed, made the mistakes I have made and tied the knots I have tied, that have so injured both myself and others….”

If you are in a faux-marriage, you cannot blame God for this.  Only yourself. What you can ask God for is His mercy, but ONLY IF you rectify the situation.  You cannot continue to sin and have any expectation of mercy.  Remember, compassion literally means “to suffer with”.  If you do not believe, and in fact militantly insist that your sins aren’t sins, then God, by definition, cannot give you His mercy, his COMPASSION, because you believe your sin to be a good thing, and want it to continue.  Only the penitent, shriven sinner is eligible for God’s infinite mercy and compassion.