QUO VADIS -- “Where are you going?”

Some think of the Pope in his swanky office and residence in the Vatican where he is so busy with dealing with Bishops who must visit him every five years, that ordinary citizens may never enter his life at close range.  He has many heads of offices around him that he must supervise.  He is as the head of a large automotive corporation where he never turns a screw or even sees it done.   However, the head of a small bicycle store does everything in his shop himself, all the way from sales to repair. 

Take another example. Generally you are acquainted with medical doctors whose specialty is in one part of the human body – eyes,  heart, lungs and so forth.  In small towns where there is no hospital, as was the case in some of the small towns where We served as a Missionary in Japan for some twenty years, all you had was one doctor who was a general practitioner.  He had to deal with every medical problem all alone.  Since We have just one Bishop who is in Australia and just one priest who is in Texas We automatically turn into a general practitioner.  No matter what the need may be, provided it is not against priestly life, We must meet it.  The needs of men in every generation are cared for by what is called the corporal works of mercy and the spiritual works of mercy. 

We feel as Christ was during His public ministry.  He was all things to all men.  When John the Baptist sent his disciples to find out if Jesus was the promised Redeemer those disciples addressed Christ in the following words: Matthew 11, 3-6: 

“Art thou he that are to come, or look we for another?  And Jesus making answer said to them: Go and relate to John what you have heard and seen.  The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead rise again, the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he that shall not be scandalized in me.”

The marks of the Church are: one, holy, catholic and apostolic. Pope St. Pius X pointed out yet another mark of the Church which is also revealed in II Timothy 3, 12: “And all that live godly in Christ shall suffer persecution.”   Marks are like tabs that tell you that you have found what you are looking for.  Only the true Catholic Church has the marks listed in the Apostles Creed and by St. Paul to Timothy noted above. 

The Church represents Christ on earth at all times.  Those who know history know that the world lacked charity before the Church appeared on earth.  Even now after the Sisters  and Brothers have abandoned their hospitals to money greedy laymen, those institutions, many of them, still have their names, as St. Mary’s Hospital, St. Joseph’s Hospital and so forth.  Those works are the natural outgrowth of zeal in the Church.  Men and women gave their lives to God in the service of suffering humanity.  Without the Church, with the Evangelical Counsels of poverty, chastity and obedience, those corporal works of mercy do not appear on earth. 

Above We pointed out that signs by which Christ was to be known by the disciples of John the Baptist  were mostly the visible works of charity where “the blind see, the lame walk etc.”  Only at the end of His statement did Christ call attention to the fact that “the poor have the Gospel preached to them.”  That is a spiritual work of mercy. 

Most of our registered Catholics today are struggling families, and none of them are Religious – no Brothers and no Sisters to do the corporal work of charity that was so plentiful during the life of Pope Pius XII (who died October 9, 1958).  With his death Monasteries and Convents closed down.  Sisters put on mini skirts and drank high balls before dinner. Brothers disappeared into thin air.  Whatever is left, is Protestant Novus Ordo foolishness. Now where will you find the corporal and spiritual works of mercy to any extent? 

While writing Caritas Papal Office We feel that Our words must, in some way, be filled with the corporal and spiritual works of mercy.  The sick must be helped, and the poor must “have the Gospel preached to them.”  Pope Pius XII could see the corporal works of charity performed by thousands upon thousands of Brothers and Sisters throughout the world, so while living way up in the Vatican he had to be concerned mainly with the spiritual works of mercy.  The mark of the Church of the corporal works of mercy were evident to the general public every time they were served in Catholic hospitals, orphanages, old folks homes and so forth. 

We cannot walk away from the corporal works of mercy without damnation.  Just consider what St. John the Apostle writes, I John 3, 17-18: “He that hath the substance of this world and shall see his brother in need and shall shut up his bowels from him: how doth the charity of God abide in him?  My little children, let us not love in word nor tongue, but in deed and in truth?” 

There is a Chinese saying: “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for one day. Teach a man how to fish, and you feed him for all his life.” 

Christ had no Church around Him, and We are almost like Him in the Papacy today.  He showed His goodness by working miracle after miracle to both alleviate suffering and prove His Divinity.  His very first miracle was not to alleviate suffering but embarrassment.  He changed water into wine to save the newly-weds from embarrassment, show His love for men and prove that He was God.  Today the Church must prove that it is following in the footsteps of Christ in the performance of the corporal and spiritual works of mercy.  What you do not see is that We skimp on Ourselves to have a little support for the poor and suffering.  We send a good deal of help to the lepers and the like charities year in and year out. 

We have a car that is ten years old.  We own no land. We cut Our own hair, make Our own bed, do Our own laundry, do house cleaning, cooperate in the making of Our meals, do Our banking and so forth.  Now We work as a day laborer in the construction of Our future office and home – unless We get some devoted assistance to go to some large place to conduct the affairs of the Church.  When God destroyed the world with the flood Noe had to be satisfied with an ark, and We are doing the same. 

To satisfy those who do not want to be “taught how to fish” We shall attach the corporal works of mercy to the end of the newsletter. It should be known that not only is the Church the domain of the Pope, but he must also be very concerned about the civil order.  A bad civil order makes getting to heaven more difficult.  Also evil doers must be corrected. 

Before closing this treatise on the corporal and spiritual works of We feel constrained to leave you with a very serious admonition.  We in the Church today are nearly all very poor.  We have the temptation to chide, at least mentally, the people who have many thousands of dollars plus getting a large pension check monthly.  We are amazed at how they squander their money, and forget the poor.  With no special sacrifice they could help many individuals and charitable organizations, but they do not.  What We want to point out is the fact that the poorest Catholic is more rich than all the millionaires in the world put together.  Possibly, millions of Poor Souls in Purgatory want our help, and We have it at our disposal in the form of suffrages in the form of ejaculations to which indulgences are attached by Holy Mother the Church through the hands of the Sovereign Pontiff. 

We shall give you one very easy means to help the Poor Souls in Purgatory, and that is by saying (praying) the name of Jesus.  If you make the intention, you can gain three hundred days indulgence every time you repeat the name, Jesus.  If you calmly and devoutly repeat that name, “Jesus,” one hundred times you can send to the Souls in Purgatory 30,000 days of sufferages (indulgences).  Are you, poor as you are, rich?  Yes, you are very rich in that you can do all kinds of works of charity to the Souls in Purgatory with a minimum of effort.  The sufferages are not your sufferages but those of Christ and His saints, stored up for you to access whenever you want to do so. 

Are millionaires at fault and cruel for not helping the poor with their excessive wealth?  They are.  Are Catholics who have at their disposal the wonders of indulgences at fault and cruel for not helping the Poor Souls in purgatory?  They are.  A Father of the Church observed that those persons who neglect to help the Souls in Purgatory during life, if they go to Purgatory, will not be permitted to benefit from the sufferages of others.  God will divert that help, and He will make that Poor Soul “pay all the debt” with his own personal sufferings in Purgatory.  By the way, observe all the different indulgences in your prayer books. 

Now you know why We started this letter with QUO VADIS. 

Per Dominum

“The indication in liturgical books of the following conclusion to the collect: Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum filium tuum, qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti, Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen.  (Through our Lord Jesus Christ thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God world without end. Amen).  This is always used at the collect of the day when it is addressed to God the Father.  If God the Son has been named at its beginning, per eumdem  Dominum (same Lord), is said. If near the end, the conclusion begins at qui tecum.  If God the Holy Ghost has been named, eiusdem Spiritus (of the same Spirit) is said.  If the collect is addressed to God the Son, it is ended: Qui vivis et regnas cum Deo Patre in unitate Spiritus Sancti, Deus, per omnia saecula seculorum.  Amen. (Who livest and reignest with God the Father, etc.).  Certain collects have a short ending: Per Christum Dominum nostrum or Qui vivis et regnas in saecla saeculorum.  When several collects are said consecutively only the first and last have a conclusion and Amen. These conclusions are to relate the prayers to the other persons of the Blessed Trinity beside the one to whom they are addressed, so that the Church may always pray to God in all his persons.” 

Do not give up, just because it seems difficult.  In the Mass and Divine Office the orations (prayers) are addressed to one Divine Person, but it does not stop there.  The Church in the conclusion of the prayers brings in the Divine Persons who have not yet been addressed. 

There are prayers which are non-liturgical in their origin that address just one Divine person or just a Saint.  Take for example, the Lord’s Prayer which Christ Himself taught the Apostles.  That prayer is addressed only to God the Father.  Also, the Hail Mary is addressed only to the Blessed Virgin.  There are very many prayers addressed to just one of the Divine Persons, and there are also prayers addressed to a particular Saint.  Learn to live your Catholic faith from the approved prayers in Catholic manuals as the Missal, Raccolta, prayer books, large and small. 

Many prayers are divinely inspired, and once they are in use they help keep the faith both in the person who received it and all others who use the prayers.  Be careful not to be fooled by taking prayers that are without an imprimatur. 

Obedience

First of all, just what acts of obedience will be rewarded by God? What acts of obedience will not merit a reward in heaven?  All acts of obedience done solely for such worldly motives as keeping out of trouble with the law, earning a living, obtaining respect of the superior and the like merit no reward in heaven.. 

With the eyes of faith one must see that God’s authority is attached to every command made by one’s superior (from the priest to the king).  Christ told Pontius Pilate that he would have no authority over Him unless he received it from His Father in heaven.  There you see the source of all authority.  Hence, one without divine faith in God does not have a proper knowledge of authority, and he can have no proper intention when he gives acts of obedience. 

Let us make this a little more clear.  God has ordained that men are to be directed by the free will of other men: men who are set over others by all forms of legitimate social order.  Hence, the subject is  divinely obedient when he obeys a legitimate command by a legitimate superior in either the religious or civil order.  He obeys it because it is a command from God who gave the authority to the superior.  We hear about “blind obedience,” and that can be misleading.  One is never blind to the nature of the command, whether it is in accordance with the laws of God or against the laws of God.  Those commands against the laws of God are not from God, no matter who the superior may be.  Those which are not against the laws of God are from God, no matter how inept or, (on the contrary) clever the superior may be.  All the subject has to know is that he has a command from a legitimate superior which is not contrary to God’s laws. 

There are in various countries blunders in regard to authority.  For example, in the USA the statement of authority is enshrined in the words, “Of the people, for the people and by the people.”  In civics this is taught.  All authority in the land is in the citizens, and at an election or appointment the superior gets his authority from the people.  Hence, when one obeys a civil command (so they think) they are obeying their own authority.   Hence, all those who follow such principles, even if they are Catholics,  get no   divine reward for acts of obedience “to themselves.”  Catholics know, however, that the citizen merely designates the civil superiors, and God actually gives them their authority whether the superiors know it or not.   Hence, Catholic citizens are able to gain an everlasting supernatural reward for acts of obedience to the civil authorities in the USA. 

We just celebrated the Feast of Christ the King.  The Blessed Trinity determined that the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, the Son (assuming a human nature in time) would be the King of all.  How wonderful it is that those who accept Him as their King and obey His as their King on earth shall also have Him for their King forever in heaven. 

We must keep the whole program in this prospective.  Only those in the Church and only while they are in sanctifying grace can they obtain a supernatural reward for their obedience even if it is perfect in every other respect. 

Catholic Calendar 2002

This note is to help you get your calendar, and please do so before the New Year.  Purchase your Catholic calendar from: Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, P.O. Box 250, Clarksburg, OH 43115 ++ (740) 993-2189.   The price is $5.50 each.  $5.00 each in an order of five, $4.50 each in an order of ten. For a bulk order contact them at the above address.  Please note that the above prices all  include the  price of postage and handling in the USA.  Hence, for one calendar all you need to send is $5.50.  For foreign orders contact them for any added postage and method of payment. 

November - the Month of the Holy Souls in Purgatory

There are three groups of human beings: those in heaven, those in purgatory and those on earth.  The word “communion” means that there is concourse between all three of these bodies.  The Saints in heaven can help us on earth, and we on earth can help those in purgatory.  Had God not set up this order, that “communion” would be impossible. 

God is pleased that we go to Him through the Saints, so we ask the Saints in heaven to intercede for us.  Above all we are to seek the powerful intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary. 

Consider the “communion” between us and the souls in purgatory.  They are saints who still need purgation.  They are certain of heaven.  We can shorten their suffering in purgatory by Masses, prayers and indulgences (as We mentioned above). 

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace; Where there is hatred, let me sow love; Where there is doubt, faith; Where there is despair, hope; Where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy. 

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved, as to love; for it is in giving that we are received, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. 

 
   Pius, pp. XIII 
   November 7, 2001 
 

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