Will the REAL St. Francis of Assisi please stand up!

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The Catholic News Service came out with a video “Seeking Francis of Assisi.” In the about section on Youtube it reads: “An inter-religious group on retreat in Assisi seeks the spirit of St. Francis.”

The group is kind of delusional. They seem to be an aging group of hippies. It’s that attitude that Francis of Assisi was just some wonderful, loving guy who gave up all his possessions and ran around hugging trees.

I’m sure the people in this video are nice people, but that is not what Jesus Christ calls us to be.

Emphasis in bold, my comments in red.

Here are a few quotes from the video:

On of the gentleman said:

“It’s about connecting with the god within. (That’s not Christian theology, no way Catholic. We don’t seek the “god within,” we seek God who lives in us through sanctifying grace) That inner kingdom that kind of meets everyone  at that universal place. It’s about love, (Yes, ultimately, but love leads to commitment, not some illusive journey to nowhere or some kind of nirvana) it’s about the inner journey, open heart – kind of all the things it seems St. Francis was all about. (Really? Is that what Francis of Assisi was?)“

Another said:

“It’s all about love, and that’s what Francis knew (So he’s going to tell us what Francis knew. Let’s listen!). He knew it wasn’t about religion, (WRONG! Francis’ identity was Roman Catholic) it wasn’t about anything complicated. It was about knowing that were loved and forgiven.” (I dare to disagree. To find love and forgiveness, one must know a moral code, repent and live it!)

“Francis was, I mean his whole life was to imitate Christ. To live the life that Jesus lived. (Yes, it was, but there is a context to that life. He wasn’t a 60’s hippie who ran around bear footed taking acid.)

So who was the real St. Francis of Assisi?

Here is a quote in the video from Pope Francis, in which he clarifies things quite a bit:

“Franciscan peace is not a saccharine sentiment! Please! This St. Francis does not exist. Nor is it a kind of pantheistic harmony with the energy of the cosmos. This is not Franciscan either.”

Here are a few quotes from St. Francis himself:

“Blessed is the servant who has faith in the clergy and who live uprightly according to the norms of the Roman Church.” (Admonitions XXVI – 1)

St. Francis had a strong love for the Real Presence of Our Lord in the Most Blessed Sacrament, not some pantheistic “god” within.

“Let us be careful, we clerics, to avoid great sin and ignorance which certain people have towards the Most Holy Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, and His most holy written words which consecrate the [His] body. We know that it cannot become His Body if the bread is not first consecrated by the [His] Word. For we have and see nothing corporally of the Highest One in this world except the [His] Body and Blood, and the words by which we were created and redeemed from death to life (1 John 3:14).

Let all those, then, who administer such holy mysteries – especially those who administer them carefully – consider how base (dirty, unkept & neglected)  the cups, the corporal cloths and the altar cloths are until they are used to consecrate the Body and Blood of Our Lord, Jesus Christ. And many leave the Body and Blood in unworthy places, (Sounds like some parishes today, where the Blessed Sacrament is hidden in some corner.) carry It through the streets in miserable ways, receive It unworthy and administer It to others without reverence.” (Letter to the Clergy 1-5)

 He was also very clear about sin and mercy. It’s not just about knowing your “forgiven and loved,” it’s about repentance and change!

“If any brother, at the instigation of the enemy, sin mortally, let him be bound by obedience to have recourse to his guardian. And let all the brothers who know him to have sinned, not cause him shame or slander him, but let them have great mercy on him and keep very secret the sin of their brother, for they that are healthy need not a physician, but they that are ill. And let them be likewise bound by obedience to send him to his custos with a companion. And let the custos himself care for him mercifully as he himself would wish to be cared for by others if he were in a like situation.

And if he should fall into any venial sin, let him confess to his brother priest, and if there be no priest there let him confess to his brother, until he shall find a priest who shall absolve him canonically, as has been said, and let them have absolutely no power of enjoining other penance save only this: go and sin no more.” (Letter to a Minister 14-20)

Francis was not some freak, hippie nut. His writing demonstrate that the Poverello of Assisi was an obedient son of the Church. He loved the Church, and the Pope, the Sacraments, and the Blessed Virgin Mary. Francis of Assisi loved everything it means to be Roman Catholic. It was the grace of the Sacraments and his response to that grace, that transformed him and empowered him to love and serve others in poverty and chastity.

Watch the video.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAVpH4fstcU

A trip to the Mohawk Trail

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Today, my parents, Mickey and I took a ride to view the foliage along the Mohawk Trail. This was not the first time. My parents actually have gone to the Mohawk Trail with their parents since they were kids, and I have gone with my parents since I was a kid. The last time we went was 10 years ago, just a few days after I got Mickey. So much has changed, but the beauty remains. Here are a few pictures from our day.

View from the French King Bridge

This is a view from the French King Bridge. Built in 1932, to cross the French King Gorge over the Connecticut River. The bridge is 742′ long, and 141′ high gives a spectacular (although spookey) view of the foliage and the area.

Shelburne Falls, MA is home to the beautiful Bridge of Flowers. The bridge was originally built in 1908 for a street railway to carry people and goods to and from the local mills. The railway went bankrupt in 1927 and became  a bridge of weeds. However, in 1929 a local women’s club turned it into a garden and it continues as such to this day.

Bridge of Flowers in Shelburne Falls, MA

Bridge of Flowers in Shelburne Falls, MA Bridge of Flowers in Shelburne Falls, MA

Bridge of Flowers in Shelburne Falls, MA Bridge of Flowers in Shelburne Falls, MA Bridge of Flowers in Shelburne Falls, MA

 

Bridge of Flowers in Shelburne Falls, MA Bridge of Flowers in Shelburne Falls, MA

 

For those who don’t like cold and snow, this is not the place to be in the winter.

Florida, MA

 

View from the Eastern Summit Gift Shop

View from Eastern Summit Gift Shop Mohawk Trail

 

We stopped for lunch at the Freight Yard Pub in North Adams, MA. The pub sits on the main line of the Norfolk Southern Railroad. This is one of the historic rail lines in the USA. Just west is the famous Hossac Tunnel. Built in days without our modern technology. The tunnel opened in 1875. It is 25,000′ (4.75 miles long) in a straight line. The tunnel is still in use today.Hoosac Tunnel

 

Here’s a shot with Mickey and me.

Mohawk Trail

Fatima is the hope of the world!

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Our Lady of Fatima and the childrenOnly those who are spiritually blind cannot see the dangerous situation we are in today. When Our Lady warned the world in 1917, it was nothing like it is today. She told the children: ” My requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated.”

Have Our Lady’s requests been fulfilled? Most Catholics do not pray the Rosary every day, nor do they do penance for their sins and the sins of the world. The rule of the day is entertainment. God created everything for good, but most of these gifts have been perverted and are used for the spread of evil. Television, which has been a great source of good is filled with impure images and stories that water down the consciences of good people. The internet, another great tool for teaching and learning the faith is filled with smut. You can barely visit a website today that doesn’t have a suggestive advertisement. People go to Mass dressed as if they were going to the beach. Who would have imagined how much evil would have spread since 1917?

Not only has immorality and impurity spread like wild fire, the persecution of the church and the Holy Father’s sufferings have been imaginable. When Blessed John Paul, II visited the Netherlands, he was greeted with people throwing stones and bricks. Pope Benedict, XVI suffered the betrayal of insiders revealing private documents from the desk in his office.

The Faith is divided and attacked, not only by outsiders, but those who claim to love the very Church they attack. “Nuns on a Bus” go about our nation pushing for abortion, contraception and woman’s ordination. Priests who are not happy with the new translation of the Roman Missal outrightly call for disobedience.

The one thing we have not yet seen is nations annihilated. We have come close on so many occasions, but thank God, we have not yet reached that point. How long will the hand of God be held back from chastising a rebellious people?

There is one consolation in all of this. Our Lady does promise that she will bring about the greatest victory for her Son. “In the end, My Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to Me, and she will be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world.”

Yes, the world will convert through our Lady’s action and there will be a time of peace. What we must do in the mean time is continue to respond to her messages and await with trusting hope in the care and love of our heavenly mother.

Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary, pray for us and speedily bring about the promised Triumph of Your Immaculate Heart and the time of peace.

Your looking for magic!

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Immaculate Heart of MaryToday, the Holy Father did the Consecration of the World to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. It seems that every time one of the Popes does a consecration to Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart something happens. Keep your eyes on the news. Look carefully at the events of today and the next few weeks. I always expect Our Lady to respond to the cries of her children.

However, it takes much more than the consecration of the world. Each one of us has to be consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. We need to make a proper preparation, either through the traditional preparation of St. Louis De Montfort, the for of Consecration to the Immaculate by St. Maximilian Kolbe or the new “33 Days to Morning Glory” by Fr. Michael Gaitley. You can also do all of them at different times in your life.

Whatever form of preparation and consecration you choose, it can’t just end there. Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary has to become a lifestyle. When you consecrate your life to Our Lady, it means that you are reaffirming your baptismal consecration and going deeper. Consecration isn’t something that you do once and leave aside. Once you consecrate your life to Our Lady, you need to renew it daily and redo it formally annually. If you think that the Holy Father’s consecration is enough, your looking for magic. It will take all of us making our own consecration and living it daily to change the world.

Some are probably saying, “Why do I have to go to Mary, can I just go directly to Jesus?” Of course you can go right to Jesus, but St. Louis De Montfort says that Mary is “the quickest, surest and easiest way” to Jesus.

When you learns to ride a bike, you really don’t need anyone to help. You can pick up a bike and try to ride it on your own. There will be times that you pick up the bike and ride quite a way without help. Other times, you will be going along well and take a good dump. You’ll get a scraped knee, a few bruises here and there and maybe even bang your head. But if your smart, you’ll take the help of someone else, someone who will hold the bike from falling until your ready to ride on your own. Check this out.

That is what consecration to Mary is. Our Lady spiritually holds our bike. We are not going to her. She is helping us peddle to her Son and to our heavenly Father. She will push us along, we might not even know that she is there, but she keeps us from having big falls. And when we are ready, she’ll take the bike and give it a big push toward her Son. She will keep doing this throughout our life, but when the day comes that we close our eyes to this life, she will give us that pus and say, “go child, my Son is waiting.”

This is the power of consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Let us go with the saints who wish us to climb the ladder to the kingdom as did they, who held the hand of their mother as they ran to the Kingdom.

Need material to make your consecration? Visit my friends at MyConsecration.org.

iPadre #308 – Lumen Fidei

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In today’s episode, I share a talk given by my seminarian on Lumen Fidei, the recent encyclical by Pope Francis, we have some feedback and another great Mary Moment with our friend Sarah Reinhard.

– “Victory” by Chester Bay courtesy musicalley.com
– Eileen George – Meet-the-Father Ministry

– cast (at) iPadre (dot) net
– Feedback line: (267) 31-Padre (267) 317-2373

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Pope Francis’ Interview

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Since Pope Francis gave an interview to  an Italian Journalist “Antonio Spadaro, S.J., editor in chief of La Civiltà Cattolica, the Italian Jesuit journal,” the news media is set aflame. There are articles and web posts with quotes and misquotes, what Pope Francis said and what he meant to say, where he is moving the Church and what he intends to do. I must say, it is best not to read all of the rags like the NY Times for what the Pope appeared to say. They manage to quote him and so many others, out of context. But first, read the original article, printed in American Magazine. Someone left a comment asking if I had “Any comments on the popes interview.” I’m sure many of you are asking questions about the interview.  After you read the article, go over to my good friend Fr. John Zuhlsdorf’s blog and see his commentary on the interview. Fr. Zuhlsdorf has two posts, (so far) on the interview. Fr. Z always has very clear commentary and he cuts through the clutter and gets to the point. “First thoughts about the Francis Interview” and “Pope Francis’ comments on homosexuality in the Big Interview.”

Let’s follow the example of the Muslims!

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In his latest installment of his bi-weekly article in The Rhode Island Catholic, my bishop, the Most Rev. Thomas Tobin shared his experience of visiting an Islamic school “My Visit to the Islamic School.” Bishop Tobin was impressed with the many similarities between the Islamic school and our own Catholic schools. The truth is, children are children. Dress them all p the Sam and put them in a room and no on will know who is who, their religion, ethnic backgrounds and the like.

As I read the article, I was struck by two of the Bishop’s experiences. The Bishop writes:

“I was also impressed to find one group of students learning Arabic so that they could read the Koran in its original language. The school has a prayer room where the students gather each day, and there are sayings from the Koran – some of which are very similar to Bible passages – attached to posters outside of the prayer room.”

Today, many Catholics cringe at hearing any semblance of Latin in the Holy Mass. Latin is our Sacred Language, as Arabic is for the Muslims, Hebrew for the Jews and other languages for other religions. However, we are the only ones who reject our sacred heritage. Before asking why our Catholic school children are not learning Latin, I must ask a more fundamental question. Why don’t our seminarians learn Latin? I know they get a few classes, but why don’t they get a very intensive education in the official language of the Church and the sacred language of our Faith?

The second point that struck me was this.

“Muslims are devoted to Salat, prayer, which consists of five daily prayers offered at designated times of the day. Muslims typically recite their prayers while facing Mecca and the prayers are accompanied by set postures including bowing, standing, prostrating, and sitting.”

Again, our Muslim friends put us to shame. For 1,950 years, the common direction of the Liturgy was to the east. Today, we call it ad orientem. That means that we, both priest and people turned towards Our Lord for the Eucharistic Prayer, a practice that was never abandoned by the Eastern Rites, both Catholic and Orthodox. You can read more about this ancient practice here.

I firmly believe the time has come for the Roman Rite to rediscover Her sacred heritage and embrace it wholeheartedly. These external practices have the power to effect the depths of a person’s souls and lead them int a more profound experience of the mystery of God.

You can read the Bishop’s whole article here.

Experience of Ad Orientem

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Whenever you make a change in a parish that is of some substance, it is important that your prepare the ground by teaching, teaching and more teaching. This year, beginning with the Easter Vigil, my parish went to “ad orientem” celebration of the Holy Mass. I had prepared the parish through a number of bulletin inserts. I had talked about it in a number of my homilies and our daily Mass has been “ad orientem” for a few years. So, overall, the people were prepared. You always have someone among the mix who doesn’t read the bulletin or are not open to change no matter how well you explain your case.

I receive a letter yesterday from someone who was visiting family in the parish. This woman never heard any of my explanations or read any of my bulletin inserts. This is part of her letter:

“I wanted to also share with you my experience attending Mass at your parish. I had never participated in a Mass ad orientem, and I am still reflecting on how much different it is than what we have now. I would not have believed if someone told me that Mass would be much more prayerful – totally focused on God rather then the actions of the priest. It’s as if when not facing the priest, you can actually visualize your prayers being offered to God through the priest to Heaven. Everything becomes prioritized or aligned – the congregation, the priest, Christ on the Cross to Heaven. It is difficult to put it all in words….”

So the experience of “ad orientem” by someone who never had an explanation. She got it. She understood what “ad orientem” is all about and in it, what the Mass is all about. I want to challenge my brother Priests to study the Liturgical teachings of Benedict XVI and put them into practice.

St. Bridget’s 7 Prayers – 12 years

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Many people have heard of 15 prayers of St. Bridget that focus on the passion of Our Lord. The prayers are said every day for one year. There are a list of 21 promises for those who say the prayers every day for one year. I have done the prayers two times, once while I was in the seminary and again as a priest. Recently, I have read that in 1954, The Congregation of the Holy Office prohibited the publication of the promises since the promises have no merit to them. However, the prayers are a very beautiful meditation on the passion of Our Lord and any meditation on Our Lord’s passion can only do good. A short time ago, I also discovered another set of prayers of St. Bridget called the 7 prayers. The prayers are to be said every day for 12 years. At the end of the 12 years, one would have honored each of the 5,480 blows and wounds of Our Lord’s body.

The seven prayers also have promises. I have read that the prayers and promises were approved by Popes Clement XII and Innocent X, but I can’t verify that. Again, even if the promises are not valid, the prayers in themselves are very beautiful and if prayed with devotion and love can only enhance a persons love for Our Lord.

I was moved to start the prayers during Adoration almost two years ago, but avoided that inspiration, so I began them on the Feast of St. Laurence, deacon and martyr this year (August 10).

I have made a little booklet that can be placed in your favorite prayer book, Bible or breviery.

The promises:

1. The soul who prays them will suffer no Purgatory.

2. The soul who prays them will be accepted among the Martyrs as though he had spilled his blood for his faith.

3. The soul who prays them can choose three others whom Jesus will then keep in a state of grace sufficient to become holy.

4. No one in the four successive generations of the soul who prays them will be lost.

5. The soul who prays them will be made conscious of his death one month in advance.

The “I personally believe, but” attitude among Catholic politicians

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How far must we go before something is done about our so called “Catholic” politicians who live a double life? I’m not talking about those who are married and running around on the side, although that is disgusting. What I am talking about is politicians who parade around proclaiming their Catholic identity and then go on to say how they love their faith, but “for me,” “I personally believe,” “I’m against fill in the blank, but would never force others to accept my beliefs.”

These people are hypocrites of the highest degree. Imagine for a moment if I worked for Apple and decided that I was going to publicly endorse Microsoft Windows. “I believe in Mac OS, but personally, I believe Windows 8 is a much better product.” You can bet any amount you want that employee would be called in and fired on the spot.

Do we really believe what we profess or have we become Catholic a la carte? I would dare to say this would not have been tolerated in times past. These politicians and Catholic liberals (I hate that word used in religious) are modernists at the best. Many young priests call them Protestants, but I hate to offend our Protestant brothers and sisters with such a vile description. Many of them are much more faithful than our “Catholic” brethren.

Today, Governor Christ Christie of New Jersey signed a bill banning reparative therapy for youths with same-sex attraction. Read on below.

From CWN:

Following California’s lead, New Jersey has enacted a ban on reparative therapy for youths with same-sex attractions.

After signing the bill, the office of Gov. Chris Christie, a Catholic (In name), issued a statement emphasizing that the governor disagrees with the Church’s teaching (What gall) on homosexuality. The statement quoted a 2011 interview in which Christie said:

‘Well my religion says it’s a sin. I mean I think, but for me (As if his opinion about Church teaching matters. Where does he get his authority? The Church get’s Her’s from Christ.), I’ve always believed (Believed? I feel. My emotions tell me. Let’s hear the facts governor, not what you believe!) that people are born with the predisposition to be homosexual. (There are no scientific facts to prove this, in fact, there are studies done by the gay community that prove the opposite.) And so I think if someone is born that way it’s very difficult to say then that’s a sin. But I understand that my Church says that, but for me personally (He obviously doesn’t.) I don’t look at someone who is homosexual as a sinner.’ (If you took the time to study what your Church teaches, you would see that She doesn’t teach that someone who has the inclination is a sinner, only someone who acts on the inclination! Is someone who is drawn to rob a bank a bank robber or someone who acts on that inclination?)
“His action on this bill is consistent with his belief that people are born gay and homosexuality is not a sin,” the statement added.

It’s obvious where this is coming from and where it is going. Mr. Christi is going to run for President and he wants to pacify the gay activists. Did he ever consider the thousands of people with same-sex attraction who live a chaste life and want to live a normal, healthy life? I doubt it, because they are the silent majority.

Here is a good link about common misconceptions about homosexuality from a scientific viewpoint. Click here.