Evangelical Counsels -- Superb Advice from God

“If thou will enter into life, keep the commandments… If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast and give to the poor and thou shalt have treasure in heaven.” (Matt. 19, 17 –21).

“And everyone that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for my name’s sake shall receive a hundredfold, and shall possess life everlasting.” (Matt. 19, 29).

Briefly, the evangelical counsels are poverty, chastity and obedience. All these can be lived fully only in the setting of the Religious life.   Today, just as during the lives of St. Peter and Paul (and many years following) there are no Religious Orders in existence in the Catholic Church.  The early Christians knew and followed the evangelical councils without the benefits of having Religious Orders, as can see seen in the feasts of the early Saints.  Take a classical example in the life of St. Cecelia.  Although she had dedicated her life to celibacy, in obedience to her parents, she married a man who knew nothing of her resolve.  The first night that they were together Cecelia told her husband, Valerian, that she had the vow of perfect chastity, and an angel was watching over her.  The good man told her if he could see the angel he would respect her dedication and never have marital relations.  Well, he did see the angel, and he became a Catholic, and he died a martyr of for the faith. Cecelia also died a martyr, and her feast is celebrated on the 22nd of November..  She is listed with two crowns; she is a virgin/martyr.  We give this example to show the brethren in the faith that the evangelical counsels are livable even when religious life is not possible.  Pray that the day will come soon when there is at least one religious Order for men and one for women.

It might interest the younger readers of this letter to know that in the years just before the death of Pope Pius XII there were many religious Orders, and they were filled with religious.  At the age of twenty We entered the Capuchin Religious Order with some twenty other young men, where nearly all of them were candidates for the priesthood.  When Our class stepped forward for Holy Orders, eight long years later, there were fourteen candidates.  Of those, six became missionaries, three in Nicaragua, two in Guam and one in (Japan) the Ryukyu Islands, and that one was Us.  We went to the foreign missions in the fall of 1948, and We served in the foreign missions until January of 1976, and that was the date that We severed all connections with the Novus Ordo that grew up, to Our disgust, like weeds around Us.

We left a good track record of spiritual service, and being gifted in the practical order We left nearly fifty buildings: as Churches, Convents, Priest houses, schools, medical dispensaries and the like.  They stand for all to see to this day.  We built the first Capuchin Friary ever erected in all of Japan.  These works were done by Us, one dedicated to God with the three vows of poverty, chastity and obedience from the age of twenty-one.

God does not give that calling to every one, but He does give it to many more than accept it.  While in the Minor Seminary (High School) We heard a student say, I will become a secular priest.  I will never bury myself in a Monastery.  Well, as divine providence would have it, it is likely that you will learn on general judgment day that We traveled possibly a hundred times as much as he did as a secular priest, and it was never in Our plans.  All that was in the ordinances of divine providence, as Our life continues to this day.  Deo gratias.

It just could be possible that some reader of this letter will feel called by God to give himself/herself to God living the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.  We shall give you a chance to study this matter in the wonderful book by Spirago-Charke.  In order to make ordering the book easy We are giving the particulars here. The book is entitled The Catechism Explained, by Spirago-Clarke, imprimatur 1899, copied by TAN Books and Publisher, Inc., P.O. Box 424, Rockford, IL 61105, #1243, @ $42.00 plus $6.00 p/h.  Even those who are not interested in the religious life will do well to order this book.  Here is what TAN Books says of the book: “An Exhaustive Explanation of the Catholic Religion.   Frs. Spirago and Clarke. 752 pp. Sewn HB. Impr.  Written expressly for preachers, catechists and parents.  Incredibly thorough, documented, easy and interesting.  A truly complete explanation of all elements of the Catholic catechism.  This book really has it!  Look up any subject, and there are pages of Catholic illumination on it! Essential for every Catholic home.”

From page 516 ff. these are the titles:

1. He who aspires to a higher degree of perfection must follow the three evangelical counsels: Perfect obedience, perpetual chastity, and voluntary poverty.
2. These three counsels are called the evangelical counsels: because Our Lord gave them to us when He preached the Gospel, and followed them Himself. 
3. The evangelical counsels lead to higher perfection, because by their means the three evil concupiscences in man are completely destroyed and the chief obstacles in the way of his salvation are removed.
4. Not every one is called by God to follow the evangelical counsels: for Our Lord says:  “All men take not this word, but they to whom it is given.” (Matt. XIX. 11).
5. The members of religious Orders are bound to follow the evangelical counsels, and likewise all persons living in the world who have taken the vow to do so.

The question comes up, what about the counsels and those who are without vows?  How can the counsels fit into the ordinary man’s life?  Here again We turn to a superb text for light and direction.  The book is: The Spiritual Life a Treatise on Ascetic and Mystical Theology by The Very Reverend Adolphe Tanquerey, S.S., D.D. imprimatur May 24, 1930. Order from TAN Books as given above: 771 pp. PB Here is the ad: 

“This is, bar none, the best one volume book on spirituality there is!  Clear, thorough, easy, orthodox, authoritative, logical, organized, lively and practical.  It is a book to be read and/or used as reference. Covers the whole field of spirituality – every aspect and in detail!  Based on Scripture, the Fathers and Doctors of the Church (especially St. Thomas), great Saints and famous spiritual writers throughout history.  Covers only “teachings commonly received in the Church.” (p.VIII) Contains 1599 numbered sections.  Essential for every priest and serious Catholic.  #1737 @ $32.50 plus ph $6.00. If this book is bought with the above one the total p/h is #7.00.

“Those who are not bound by vows must, in order to be perfect, observe the spirit of these vows, each according to his condition in life, the inspirations of grace and the guidance of a prudent spiritual adviser.  Thus they will exercise themselves in the spirit of poverty by depriving themselves of many useless things, and so will spare money for almsgiving and for works of charity or zeal; in the spirit of chastity, even if they be married, by using with moderation or restraint the rights to the lawful pleasures of their state, and above all, by scrupulously avoiding whatever is forbidden or dangerous; in the spirit of obedience, by submitting themselves with docility to their superiors in whom they will see the image of God, and by a like submission to the inspirations of grace, under the guidance of a wise spiritual director.”

“Í know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot, I would thou wert cold or hot.  But because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot. I will begin to vomit the out of my mouth.”

In the use of property we must first of all fulfill the demands of justice, that is, pay our bills and support secular and religious causes.  Money and property is not to be looked upon just as something entirely for one’s personal use.  When one has all his needs provided, one must still expand his powers to do good.  In Ephesians 4, 28 St. Paul urges the Ephesians as follows:

“He that stole, let him now steal no more, but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have something to give to him that suffereth need.”

Those who live without having God, heaven and hell in the equation, foolishly squander their money.  We heard a trust lawyer tell his audience that if they have a lot of money they should spend it.  If you will your money to your children they may use it for their destruction in high living and drugs.   He should have advised them to will their fortunes properly divided to the Church, charitable causes as orphanages, hospitals, organizations working for the alleviation of third world poverty areas and the like.  Anyone who has seen lepers, either actually or in pictures, must feel pity and want to help where help is most needed.

In the second chapter of James one reads:

“And if a brother or sister be naked and want daily food; And one of you say to them: Go in peace, be ye warmed and filled, yet give them not the things that are necessary for body, what shall it profit?  So faith also, if it have not works, is dead in itself.”

Once again, there are two types of signs that God has set up along the narrow and difficult path to heaven.  Some are commandments, which demand performance under the pain of sin.  Other signs are “good advice” signs.  Those who obey both the commandments and the signs are more sure of making it to heaven.  The books that We advised you to purchase, given above, are God’s special signposts.  If you get them and study them you will find your soul quickened to a more profitable life on earth which will give you a very high place of joy in the beatific vision of God, for all eternity.

Beware of Damnable Mind-Sets

The Novus Ordo Catholics are firming up the mind-set that all men go to heaven.  Nearly every death card that comes to Us from the Novus Ordo people tell the story that the deceased is in heaven, and it tells the reader that he will go there also, and for sure.  Hence, with that mind-set there is no need to work and pray to get to heaven.  Likewise for the Protestant mind-set, there is no need to pray for the dead, for they cannot be in purgatory. The Protestant mind-set puts them squarely in heaven.

There are those in the traditional Catholic mind-set that say that as long as you have the Latin Mass you have salvation guaranteed, and that the Latin Mass can be said by any priest, validly or invalidly ordained, and all is well.

The Russian and Greek Orthodox have the mind-set that says as long as you have priests and bishops everything is well.  Popery is the opium of the people.

We see a mind-set hardening in the minds of Our Catholics, which must be stopped.  Converts make the profession of faith.  They love the Catholic Church, and they continue to be Catholics without the works of Catholics.   They neglect to associate with Catholics, and when marriage comes along they either start married life without the sacrament of matrimony.  Worse still, there are those who enter married life with those of other religions, and they abandon their faith all together, once and for all.  In sad imitation of Christ who weaped over Jerusalem for their not accepting Him as the Redeemer We likewise weep over those who neglect to exert the necessary effort to remain 100% Catholics.  In John 14, 6 it is written: 

“Jesus saith to him: I am the way, and the truth, and the life.  No man cometh to the Father but by me.”

Catholics ought to think not with mindless mind-sets but by the directions of God through His Holy Church.  With that, the Catholic moves safely along the straight and narrow path that leads to eternal salvation.

Grow up in the Spiritual Life Of Prayer

The Holy Ghost is our sanctifier, and as such, a childlike approach to Him is necessary.  Here is an approach that We developed, and it is one that just hangs with Us.

O Holy Ghost, give me an increase in the virtues of faith, hope and charity – prudence, justice, temperance and fortitude.  O Holy Ghost, perfect and strength these virtues with Thy Gifts of wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord.  O Holy Ghost make the above produce the fruits: of charity, joy, peace, patience, longanimity, goodness, benignity, mildness, faith, modesty, continency and chastity.  As a way of life, lead me along in life with the beatitudes: as blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when you suffer persecution for my namesake, for yours is the kingdom of heaven.

O Holy Ghost perfect and bolster my faith with wisdom, understanding and knowledge.   Perfect and bolster my prudence with counsel, and both perfected by wisdom.  Perfect and bolster my fortitude by the gift of fortitude, and both by wisdom.  Perfect and bolster my justice with piety.  Perfect Thy Gift of fear of the Lord with wisdom thus: making me replace the cautious dictates of human reason by the exigencies of the good pleasure of our Father in heaven.

“It is clear from all this that the function of the gifts is to strengthen and perfect the operations of the virtues.  Wisdom, Understanding and Knowledge come to the aid of Faith; Counsel takes away the hesitations of Prudence; Piety gives a loftier aim to Justice; Fear replaces the cautious dictates of human reason by the exigencies of the good pleasure of our heavenly Father, and Fortitude reinforces the virtue of the same designation.”

It is marvelous to see how the Holy Ghost controlled the life of Christ. When it was most unpopular for Christ to cure on the Sabbath, Christ did so to fulfill the exigencies of the good pleasure of His heavenly Father.  It was most unpopular for John the Baptist to correct Herod for living in adultery, but with the help of the Holy Ghost he avoided the cautious dictates of human reason to follow the exigencies of the good pleasure of God in heaven, and he lost his head in martyrdom. Praised and blessed be God in all His works.  In our times We, especially a Pope, must face fierce opposition at times when it is necessary to replace the cautious dictates of human reason for the exigencies of the good pleasure of our Father in heaven.

Pray often:

“Jesus, Mary I love Thee. Save souls.” 
“May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.”

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