Friday, May 27, 2022

Dropping Like Flies

 Two prophesies, one from Scripture and one from the Blessed Virgin Mary predict worldly chastisements that would come at a chosen moment where people will be dropping like flies.

“And there shall be in all the earth, saith the Lord, two parts in it shall be scattered and shall perish: but the third part shall be left therein. (Zacharias 13:8) 

“In the year 1864, Lucifer together with a large number of demons will be unloosed from hell;…they will put an end faith little by little, even those dedicated to God. They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of hell; several religious institutions will lose many souls.”  (The Blessed Virgin at La Salette September 19, 1846)

There have been three major apparitions of Our Lady in the last 176 years, La Salette, Lourdes and Fatima. In each of those three apparitions Our Lady told of forthcoming enormous chastisements.  For verbal economy only the above two prophesies will be reviewed.

In Reviewing the prophesy of Zacharias 13:8 it’s obviously that the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and the economic sanctions the West has imposed on Russian authorities and businesses created a looming threat of a nuclear war. Such a result is not only possible, but very probable.

If nukes were to be used it would exacerbate this irrefutable Biblical prediction of the forthcoming chastisement. A nuke war could be the meaning and understanding of Zacharias 13:8.

In reviewing Our Ladies apparition regarding Lucifer’s release from Hell, we clearly see a multitude of religious institutions (literally thousands of religious sects including the Protestantized Vatican II Church) distorting Scripture thus causing these false religions to lose souls by putting an end to faith little by little, as told by Our Lady.

It’s not surprising that very few people are willing to believe and follow what God has made available through prophesies. Many object and say: many years have already past and I have not seen a chastisement, and, who knows when it will come! etc., etc., etc.

Well, I sustain the chastisements have already begun. Our Lady appeared in La Salette in 1846; in 1870 the Franco-Prussian war started as a result of the rivalry between France and Germany which resulted in French hegemony. This rivalry would reach an apex in 1914 and be the most profound cause for World War I, as well as for World War II. The squabbles of WWII still have not been resolved completely and the perspective of a World War III lies on the horizon. The current war between Russia and the Ukraine with a possible nuclear apocalypse could very well be the start of WWIII and the great chastisement predicted at La Salette and Fatima.

A prime example of chastisement prophesies was the Deluge. Noah took 100 years to complete his work, and then the Flood came. The fact that the Deluge took so long a time to come did not mean that it would not come. Scripture tells the Deluge did indeed come.

Our Lord predicted that the Temple of Jerusalem would be destroyed. When He died, the veil of the Temple was rent and the walls were damaged but the Temple remained standing. Decades passed and the prophecy was not fulfilled. Then, 40 years after Our Lord’s death, a soldier from the army of Titus threw a torch into one of the windows of the Temple. A fire started and spread quickly engulfing all the buildings leaving not one stone remaining over the other just as Our Lord had said it would be. Moreover, the Temple was never rebuilt. The fact that it took a long time to come did not mean that it would not come. God’s timetable is on His terms, not ours.

We should pray to be among the few who abide by Scripture and the voice of Our Lady and patiently pray and wait for the chastisements she predicted. We do not know how many years we must await for the promises of La Salette and Fatima to be fulfilled. Because of the present disastrous worldly times we may surmise: “Now it has to come, because it is impossible for the situation to be any worse.” And it might get worse. Yet it may not come in our lifetime, but all prophesies will eventually come to pass

Keep alert at all times. And pray that you might be strong enough to escape these coming horrors and stand before the Son of Man” (Luke 21:36).

Pray the Rosary and Wear the Brown Scapular

Bill Metallo, President, Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette 


Friday, April 29, 2022

EVEN A JACKASS HAS TWO EARS

Are you Protestants and Catholics listening?

Most Protestants and Some Catholics Believe Hell Exists---But who goes There?

Of all those Protestants who purport to believe in Hell, only smidgens of them believe that they could possibly go there. That’s to say, everyone is going to Heaven and virtually no one will be in Hell. If your Church believes that, it’s a “roll your own” Church that’s fishing in dangerous waters. It’s saying, for all practical purposes, Hell, a place, an abode of everlasting torment, but in essence, might only accidentally be there. This general view prevails even among many Catholics, despite the teaching of the Church, which states that those who die in the state of mortal sin will be judged and condemned to Hell.

Most Protestants believe that faith in God alone (sola fide) is all that’s needed to get into heaven.  Conservative Catholics believe that Faith AND Works are needed for salvation. Here’s one of many Bible quotes:

“But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead” James 2:20

So, why then is it that so many Catholics are optimistic that no one goes to Hell? Such audaciousness is being shoved–down-the-throat by the Vatican II poor catechesis and teaching on the Four Last Things - Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell.

The progressivist view of Hans Urs von Balthasar on universal salvation, for example, has become mainstream thinking, even among so-called conservative Catholic scholars today. Von Balthasar questioned, “That since the Redemption of Christ was sufficient to have saved all sinners, why then should it not be so?” In the end, he proposed, one can consider the possibility that Hell, should it exist, is vacant.

“Pope” Francis during a homily in Rome in May 2014 said: “that God redeems everyone – not just Christians, but atheists, as well.” He went on to say:

“To those who say: “but I don’t believe, Father, I am an atheist!” The “Pope” said: “But do good, we will meet one another there.”

Progressivist, “Father”, Karl Rahner, S.J., assures us that the dead are not suffering, or even really gone:

“They do not leave us. They remain! Where are they? In darkness? Oh, No! It is we who are in darkness. We do not see them, but they see us. Their eyes, radiant with glory, are fixed upon our eyes…. Oh, infinite consolation! Although invisible to us, our dead are not absent… They are living near us, transfigured … into light, into power, into love.”

These sham progressivism upholding parish priests and religious have taken up the practice of “assuring” the faithful that all are in Heaven, or on the way there. Variations on this theme are found in Catholic periodicals such as (The Tidings, November 14, 2003) with its feasts of All Saints and All Souls. Here is a meditation on death by “Father” Ron Rolheiser for the faithful: 

“A man suffers a sudden death, and he automatically goes to Heaven. One minute you’re on earth, the next you’re in Heaven in God’s arms”.

There’s no mention of a possible Hell. It is by all appearances a very comforting notion, but in the end a deceptive and even devious fiction. Perhaps one of Satan’s greatest triumphs is the fact that he has managed to convince people that no one is going to Hell---or it even exists.

Scriptures recommends a constant meditation on the last four things to keep us from sinning:

“In all thy works remember thy last end, and thou shalt never sin”. (Ecclesiastes 7:40).

The Saints and Doctors of the Church counsel us to think often of Hell.

Instead of encouraging inconsistent hopes that Hell is unpopulated, the Traditional Catholic Church wisely counsels to mediate often on it, knowing that many would abandon the path of sin by thinking about those devouring flames, those horrible torments that the human tongue cannot express.

Hell is a real place. You don’t want to go there!

Here's what the Saints say:

"Poor Judas! Above seventeen hundred years have elapsed since he has been in Hell, and his Hell is still only beginning." St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

“I was watching souls going down into the abyss as thick and fast as snowflakes falling in the winter mist”. St. Benedict Joseph Labre

“Often go down to Hell during your lifetime, so that you will not have to after death.” St. Bernard

“Shall we all be saved? Shall we go to Heaven? Alas, my children, we do not know at all! But I tremble when I see so many souls lost these days. See, they fall into Hell as leaves fall from the trees at the approach of winter”. St. Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney

“Do not neglect the grace that is offered to you. The God who offers the sinner pardon, does NOT promise him tomorrow,St. Wolfrand

Pray the Rosary and wear the Brown Scapular.

Bill Metallo

President,
Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette

Wednesday, March 30, 2022

THE NEXT-TO-THE-LAST GASP

The LATTER TIMES should not be confused with the END TIMES. The End Times or Final Judgment is the last step that will take place only after that period of God’s triumph on earth in the Latter Times. 

Based on Scripture and prophecies that agree with Scripture, the disastrous days in history confirm the prophecies of Fatima and Quito, as well as those of the great Marian prophet St. Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort and others, which speak of a great chastisement to be followed by a long period of peace, which will be the Reign of Christ through Mary.

The Scriptures and private prophecies warn us of a great chastisement that will come over all humanity – a Judgment of Nations – to be followed by a long period of peace and universal well-being, prior to the END TIMES.

In the great universal catastrophe that is coming, the world will not be completely annihilated; rather, the remnant of mankind that survives the chastisement will be changed and purified. Many of the prophecies speak of a great leader, a man sent by God, a prophetic figure beloved by Our Lady, an Eliatic figure, who will lead this restoration.

The following were words of Jesus Christ to Blessed Ana Maria, as she saw a man in the future who will play a key role in her Restoration:

"Do you see him? Observe. Contemplate him. Behold the apostolic soul, the man who fights for the vineyard, the one equal to those who fought so much for My glory. His efforts, his sweat, his works will be rewarded in Paradise with such a glory that no human mind can imagine. The love I have for this person is so great that it will only be known in Paradise. He is a truly zealous man. A man with no stain. He has no human ends, no self interest, and, since his earliest youth, the vice of flattery never touched him.”

"Now is not the time for miracles, because the hour for the Church to return to her first state still has not arrived. My children behold your Mother. I bless you; My Father blesses you, but you must be good, be good, be good. You should suffer with a good disposition until the Holy Spirit comes to set you afire with love and bring an end to this iniquitous world. They will have reached the end. They will have suffered almost everything. All the kingdoms, cities, peoples, castles, provinces will find themselves suffering, with problems, tribulation and torments until the definitive day.”

Once she asked God who would resist this terrible trial. He answered: "Those to whom I will grant the spirit of humility."

St. Hildegard von Bingen, (1098-1179) describing the Latter Times:

"Then the fear of God has been entirely cast aside, when ferocious and cruel wars happen in an unprecedented manner, when a multitude of people are sacrificed in these wars and many cities are converted into mounds of ruins ... when society has been completely purified by these tribulations ... when they fully return to the practice of justice ... For consolation will follow desolation ... as the new Law succeeded the ancient Law."

In one of her famous works, Scivias, St. Hildegard was instructed by a Voice from Heaven to record the prophetic visions she had experienced since childhood. Her confessor and spiritual director, the monk Volmar, ordered her to obey the Voice, which he judged came from Heaven. She later received approval from St. Bernard of Clairvaux, as well as the endorsement of Pope Eugenius III at the Synod of Trier (1147-1148).

In the testimony of Msgr. Natali in the beatification process, he relates the words of the seer about the Latter Times:

"Things will be so convulsed that man would no longer be able to put things in order, but the omnipotent Arm of the Lord will remedy everything”.

She told me (Msgr. Natali) that the great scourge of the earth had been mitigated, but not that of Heaven, for it would be horrible, shocking and universal. Truly, the universal nature of the coming chastisement makes it a "Judgment of Nations.”

That great Chastisement would occur long after the holy people of her epoch had been buried, he continued:

“It will arrive unexpectedly and in it the wicked will be destroyed. I saw the earth enveloped in flames, many buildings crumbling the earth and Heaven seemed to be in agony. Many millions of men will die by steel, some in wars, others in conflicts, and millions more by unforeseen death and this throughout the whole world. As a result, entire nations will return to the unity of the Catholic Church, many Turks, Gentiles and Hebrews will be converted in a way that will surprise Catholics, who will be amazed by the fervor and observance they will show in their lives”.

This sequence of events is also foretold by Blessed Ana Maria Taigi (1769-1837), a housewife and mother of 7 children in Rome who was gifted with extraordinary visions and revelations about the Latter Times and the future chastisement.

From age 24, Ana Maria Taigi often had before her eyes a "mystical sun," a supernatural orb-shaped light that allowed her to see state of consciences, the revolutions and wars, the aims of secret societies, the rewards of the good and punishments of the bad. In it various times she saw the Latter Times, the great chastisement that would cleanse the earth and the Church, the destruction of the Revolution, and the “restorer” who would lead a victory more splendid than has ever been achieved before.

Many of the prophecies speak of a great leader, a man sent by God, a prophetic figure beloved by Our Lady, an Eliatic figure, who will lead this restoration.

She also spoke of the Reign of Mary, when all the religions will convert to Catholicism. She said that, after the chastisement ends, amid great convulsions of nature and loss of life, a heavenly era will start a triumph so great and astounding that she was left dumbfounded.

Three Days of Darkness

Blessed Ana Maria Taigi also describes the “Three Days of Darkness”

"There shall come over the whole earth an intense darkness lasting three days and three nights. Nothing will be able to be seen, and the air will be laden with pestilence which will claim mainly, but not only, the enemies of Religion. It will be impossible to use any man-made light during this darkness, except blessed candles.

She goes on to tell how the three days will end with a triumph of Heaven:

“After the three days of darkness, Saints Peter and Paul, having come down from Heaven, will preach throughout the world and designate a new Pope. A great light will flash from their bodies and will settle upon the future Pontiff. ... There shall be innumerable conversions of heretics, who will return to the bosom of the Church; all will note the edifying conduct of their lives, as well as that of all other Catholics. Russia, England and China will come to the Church."

For those who understand the extremity of evil we are currently witnessing today, it makes full sense that God should open the doors of the Reign of Mary in an unexpected and marvelous way, as Ana Maria Taigi predicts.

Further on, the Prophet Jeremiah concludes specifically mentioning the epoch when these things will happen: "Behold the whirlwind of the Lord, his fury going forth, a violent storm, it shall rest upon the head of the wicked. The Lord will not turn away the wrath of his indignation, till he has executed and performed the thought of his heart: In the latter days you shall understand these things." (30:23-24)

Many Nations will Disappear

The great chastisement mentioned by Jeremiah will be a Judgment of Nations; and in that Judgment, nations will disappear as Our Lady told the three shepherd children at Fatima. But it is not the end of the world. There must be a time when the people who remain on this earth will give glory to Our Lord and Our Lady, building the Reign of Mary as predicted by the great 17th-century Prophet St. Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort:

In the era that will follow, Christ will reign from one end of the world to the other, and all His enemies will fall at his feet” (1 Cor. 15:25) to render Him their vassalage. His Church will be gloriously triumphant throughout the earth.

Several quotes from Scripture confirm a Chastisement or Judgment of Nations, to be followed by a time when a purified remnant will fear and glorify the Lord.  

Isaiah prophesizes a Latter Times when the earth, profaned by its inhabitants, will be devastated and only a few of the faithful will remain:

“Behold the Lord shall lay waste the earth, and shall strip it, and shall afflict the face thereof, and scatter abroad the inhabitants thereof. And it shall be as with the people, so with the priest: and as with the servant, so with his master: as with the handmaid, so with her mistress: as with the buyer, so with the seller: as with the lender, so with the borrower: as with him that calleth  for his money, so with him that oweth.” Therefore shall a curse devour the earth, and the inhabitants thereof shall sin: and therefore they that dwell therein shall be mad, and few men shall be left.” (24:1-6)

“And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined: and I will try them as gold is tried. They shall call on my name, and I will hear them. I will say: Thou art my people: and they shall say: The Lord is my God.” (13:8-9)

A Great Chastisement will come over the earth, Zacharias foresees, where only a third part will be left.

The Scriptures and prophecies warn us of a great chastisement that will come over all humanity – a Judgment of Nations. What is important to note is that some inhabitants, albeit few, will remain after the Great Chastisement, which is a definitive sign that it is not the end of the world.

The small number of survivors of this great chastisement is foretold in the imagery of the few olives that still cling to the tree after it has been shaken:

“It shall be thus in the midst of the earth, in the midst of the people, as if a few olives, that remain, should be shaken out of the olive tree: or grapes, when the vintage is ended.” (Is. 14:13)

“And there shall be in all the earth, saith the Lord, two parts in it shall be scattered and shall perish: but the third part shall be left therein.

This should suffice to demonstrate that the Universal Judgment of Nations will come over all humanity in the LATTER TIMES (as the title of the blog says—The Next-to-the-Last Gasp)—but it is not the END TIMES—The Final Judgement, which will be at the end of the world (The Last Gasp).

Pray the Rosary and Wear the Brown Scapular.

Bill Metallo
President
Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette

Friday, March 11, 2022

Our Lord on Priests in Hell

 “Bad priests are the greatest punishment with which God chastises the people”.--St. Anthony Maria Claret


Among the faithful, including traditionalists, there is a worship of priests as though they are God’s. Going far beyond the due respect owed to their elevated mission, some Catholics consider priests as infallible and morally perfect. Such worship (sometimes) lacks any good sense.

In an effort to correct this unsound position, here is a text in which Our Lord Himself speaks to the Servant of God Marie des Vallées, a 17th century French mystic whose spiritual director was St. John Eudes, the apostle of the Devotion to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

The source of these words is the well-documented book La Vie Admirable et les Révélations de Marie des Vallees, written by Emile Dermenghem, Paris: Plon, 1926, pp. 136-138. 

Marie des Vallées was afflicted by the disagreements that too often appear among the pious. "The envy, the jealousies and the divisions that reign in the cloisters are a stumbling block for the faithful." The mockery appeared to her as a great sin. Many of her visions are a very severe satire of the diverse defects of the religious. About the heavy responsibility that weighs over ecclesiastics who are in charge of our souls, Our Lord Jesus Christ told Marie des Vallées:

"They (priests) will be judged more severely than others. Those who fall in their mission will be punished for the faults of all: that is, for those of the people [they directed] and for those of the nobles and the magistrates [or officials of justice]. The nobles and the officials of justice will be punished for the faults of the people; the latter will be judged just for their own faults”.

Nothing chases a person out of the Catholic Church and away from Christ faster than a bad priest. The priest does not have to be a child molester. He may simply be arrogant, patriarchal, insensitive or just stupid. More people leave the church because of bad priests than because of their failure to believe dogma.

When you finish reading about the many instances of priests and bishops entering Hell, ponder on what St. Catherine of Siena had to say about the reverence due to Priests.

 

“The floor of Hell is paved with the skulls of bishops.”ST. ATHANASIUS, COUNCIL OF NICAEA, AD 325.

 

St. Athanasius was not the only one to say this. Many other great saints have echoed similar prophetic words.

“The road to Hell is paved with the skulls of erring priests, with bishops as their signposts– ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM.

 

“The road to Hell is paved with the skulls of bishops.”– ST. JOHN EUDES

 

JOHN CHRYSOSTOM:

The road to hell is paved with the bones of priests and monks, and the skulls of bishops are the lampposts that light the path.

In his commentary on Acts of the Apostles he writes, “The soul of a bishop is for all the world like a vessel in a storm: lashed from every side, by friends, by foes, by one’s own people, by strangers . . . I do not think there are many among bishops that will be saved, but many more that perish.”

JEREMIAH 23:11

For the prophet and the priest are defiled: and in my house I have found their wickedness, saith the Lord…


Here’s what St. Catherine of Siena had to say about the reverence due to Priests in The Dialogue.


St. Catherine wrote The Dialogue in the fourteenth century, after having a profound mystical experience. In the book, a soul (St. Catherine) has a conversation with God and asks Him several questions, which He answers in great depth. One of St. Catherine’s requests is that God would reveal to her the sins of the clergy, so that she might intensify her “sorrow and compassion and restless longing for their salvation.” (108)

God grants her request and reveals to her the evil that His ministers are doing. First, though, He reminds St. Catherine of the sublime dignity of the priesthood, and the reverence due to priests, by virtue of the sacrament of the altar which they alone have received the power to celebrate. He says:

“The reverence you pay to [priests] is not actually paid to them but to me, in virtue of the blood I have entrusted to their ministry. If this were not so, you should pay them as much reverence as to anyone else, and no more. It is this ministry of theirs that dictates that you should reverence them and come to them, not for what they are in themselves but for the power I have entrusted to them, if you would receive the sacraments of the Church….”

“So the reverence belongs not to the ministers, but to me and to this glorious blood made one thing with me because of the union of divinity with humanity. And just as the reverence is done to me, so also is the irreverence, for I have already told you that you must not reverence them for themselves, but for the authority I have entrusted to them. Therefore you must not sin against them, because if you do, you are really sinning not against them but against me. This I have forbidden, and I have said that it is my will that no one should touch them”. (116)

“By not paying me reverence in the persons of my ministers, they have lost respect for the latter and persecuted them because of the many sins and faults they saw in them. If in truth the reverence they had for them had been for my sake, they would not have cut it off on account of any sin in them. For no sin can lessen the power of this sacrament, and therefore their reverence should not lessen either. When it does, it is against me they sin.” (116)

That does not mean God is letting priests off the hook. On the contrary, He tells St. Catherine that priests who do evil and lead their flocks astray are devils.

“Their dignity in being my ministers will not save them from my punishment. Indeed, unless they change their ways, they will be punished more severely than all the others, because they have received more from my kindness. Having sinned so miserably, they are deserving of greater punishment. So you see how they are devils, just as I told you that my chosen ones are angels on earth and do the work of the angels”. (121)

As you can see from God’s own Words, that even in sin, a priest will always be a priest and still maintain the ability to consecrate the Holy Sacraments.  However, if a priest becomes a heretic he is outside the Catholic Church and all his actions, including the consecration of the Sacraments will be null and void.

 Pope Eugene IV, Council of Florence, ex cathedra:

“The Holy Roman Church firmly believes, professes and preaches that all those who are outside the Catholic Church, not only pagans but also Jews, heretics and schismatic’s …” 

We see here that Pope Eugene IV defined infallibly that all heretics (including Popes) are outside the Catholic Church. The dogmatic bull Cum Ex Apostolatus Officio of Paul IV (1559) sets out an attitude towards heretics: all actions of a heretic – priest, bishop or pope – are null and void, and he must not be obeyed by anyone

As we have seen, people automatically excommunicated in this way are majorly excommunicated, which means that they must be shunned for religious purposes and the sacraments:

St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Suppl., Part, Q. 23, Art. 1:

“The other is major excommunication which deprives a man of the sacraments of the Church and of the communion of the faithful [prayers, religious gatherings, etc.]. WHEREFORE IT IS NOT LAWFUL TO COMMUNICATE WITH ONE WHO LIES UNDER SUCH AN EXCOMMUNICATION.”

St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Second Part of the Second Part, Q. 39, Art. 3: “ON THE OTHER HAND, THE POWER OF JURISDICTION...DOES NOT REMAIN IN HERETICS AND SCHISMATICS; AND CONSEQUENTLY THEY NEITHER ABSOLVE NOR EXCOMMUNICATE, NOR GRANT INDULGENCE, NOR DO ANYTHING OF THE KIND, AND IF THEY DO, IT IS INVALID.”

One needs to be aware that if a pope, bishop or priest becomes a heretic he is no longer Catholic and is outside the Church. If they are in heresy, they cannot consecrate bishops, ordain priests or provide the Sacraments. The infallible cum ex apostolatus officio, must be obeyed.

It is proper and important to confirm whether or not your bishop and priest are properly consecrated and ordained. Ask who consecrated and/or ordained them. If they are not properly sanctioned, you will not be legally receiving the Holy Sacraments.

What can you do if they are not properly consecrated or ordained? The remedy is to pray a Perfect Act of Contrition (shown below) and keep in mind Hebrews 13:5…

Let your manners be without covetousness, contented with such things as you have; for He hath said: I will not leave thee, neither will I forsake thee”.

Say the Rosary. Wear the Brown Scapular. Make an act of Perfect Contrition.

THE ACT OF PERFECT CONTRITION

It is important to understand that you cannot just recite the words of The Act of Perfect Contrition prayer. It must be an interior act of mind and will. It must also be Supernatural as it must be made under the influence of actual grace. Only God can give us the grace of making an act of Perfect Contrition because it flows from Charity, which is God’s own Love, infused by God into our souls.  Thus, it is important to pray frequently for God’s grace to make us perfectly contrite for our sins, asking for His special grace prior to starting the act of contrition.

Aside from praying often to have Perfect Contrition, it is important to bring to mind the seriousness of sin, and to meditate on the suffering sin has caused Our Lord Jesus Christ.  Kneeling or prostrating oneself before a crucifix and questioning oneself about Who is on this Cross and why and what He has suffered can help dispose the soul to receive this God given grace.  One must then recall the actual sins for which he is sorry.  The requirement is universal—it’s all or nothing.  You cannot omit any mortal sins that you have a particular fondness for.  You have to include all of your mortal sins as any mortal sin is alone enough to condemn you to hell.

Our desire to not sin is supreme, that it must be paramount to everything, including death.  Finally, we must detest sin in the most intense way and our desire to not sin again must be intense.

The key elements here are to both mean and express our hatred of sin for having offended God who is all good, professing our perfect love of God, and promising with God’s grace to confess these sins, avoid the occasions of sin, and sin no more. 

As the Council of Trent points out, this desire to confess along with our sorrow is what obtains forgiveness. That desire must be fulfilled, if possible.  Given that more and more people are without access to priests nearby every day, this gift of God (grace of Perfect Contrition) may save us from Hell, should we fall sick or die without a priest to bring us the Last Sacraments.   

One final question…

How do I know for sure I prayed an Act of Perfect Contrition and not an Act of Imperfect Contrition? 

The answer…

You don’t know.  The most important element is God’s grace and that is supernatural.  So, pray for God’s grace before you pray the Act of Perfect Contrition as follows…

                            


     

THE ACT OF PERFECT CONTRITION

O, my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins, because I dread the loss of heaven, and the pains of hell; but most of all because they offend Thee, my God, who art all good and deserving of all my love.

I firmly resolve with the help of Thy grace, to confess my sins, to do penance, and to amend my life.

Amen

Friday, March 4, 2022

WHERE THEN DID THE WEEDS COME FROM?

Bella Dodd born Maria Isabella Visono in Picerno, Italy in 1904 came to America at age six.  She was college educated in The United States, and later acquired a PHD and law degree.  She became a Communist and later in life converted back to the Catholic faith in 1952 by “Archbishop” Fulton Sheen.

While in the American Communist Party of which she was a passionate and high-ranking member for many years, she had headed up a special operation to place more than eleven hundred young men in Catholic seminaries, all of whom were agents of the Communist Party.

This parable relates to the story of Bella Dodd.

“Some enemy has done this.”—Jesus, telling the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares, in Matthew 13:28. The expanded version: “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’ ‘An enemy did this,’ he replied. So, the servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ ‘No,’ he said, ‘if you pull the weeds now, you might uproot the wheat with them.’”

There has been an intentional infiltration into the Catholic Church: an enemy of the Church, or a group of enemies, has acted according to a precise satanic plan. This is the testimony of Dr. Bella Dodd taken from her lecture at Fordham University in 1953:

“In the late 1920s and 1930s, I personally put eleven hundred men into the priesthood in order to weaken the Catholic Church from within. The idea was for these men to be ordained and progress to positions of influence and authority as Monsignors and Bishops…”

“Right now, they are in the highest places where they are working to bring about change in order to weaken the Church’s effectiveness against Communism.  These changes will be so drastic that you will not even recognize the Catholic Church”.

“Of all the world’s religions, the Catholic Church was the only one feared by the Communists, for it was its only effective opponent. The whole idea was to destroy, not the institution of the Church, but rather the faith of the people, and even use the institution of the Church, if possible, to destroy the faith through the promotion of a pseudo-religion, something that resembled Catholicism but was not the real thing”.

“Once the faith was destroyed, there would be a guilt complex introduced in the Church… to label the ‘Church of the past’ as being oppressive, authoritarian, full of prejudices, arrogant in claiming to be the sole possessor of truth, and responsible for the divisions of religious bodies throughout the centuries”.

“This would be necessary in order to shame Church leaders into an ‘openness to the world,’ and to a more flexible attitude toward all religions and philosophies. The Communists would then exploit this openness in order to undermine the Church.”

Other Communist theoreticians of Dodd’s time, such as the Italian, Antonio Gramsci, (founded the Italian Communist Party in 1921) also had the idea to weaken the Church as an effective fighter against communism. This meant taking a slow path to infiltrate the Church and get Catholics to lose the faith little by little. This plan was eventually called “Operation Outstretched Hand.”

More specifically, it was to promote a pseudo-religion, a fake Catholicism but with enough look and feel to seem real. This plan would then introduce a guilt complex so that the Church would apologize for past activities, and then embrace other religions’ ideas “as a way to get along”. The intent of Dodd and Cramsci (and all Communists) is to change the Catholic Church; to advance the newer ways and teachings.

Today’s Vatican II Church does not need any explanation for its un-Catholic Masses.

If you attend a Vatican II “Mass” you will see that it has changed tremendously. You will hardly recognize anything that resembles the Latin Tridentine Catholic Mass that’s been in use from the late fourth century (Greek was in use in the early years) which the Council of Trent codified in 1570 and approved the Roman Missal for use in God’s one and only True Church.

What then are these bizarre Vatican II changes?

You enter the Novus Ordo’s worship building which looks much like a Masonic lodge hall, for the Saturday afternoon “Motu” Mess. People are talking, laughing, chewing gum. Most are casually dressed. The tabernacle is nowhere in sight, so instead of genuflecting, people bow toward a “table.” The crucifix is absent; it won’t be brought out until the entrance procession.

The cantoress approaches the microphone, bareheaded and wearing culottes. “Good afternoon,” she beams. “Welcome to the Eucharist of the Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary time. Please stand to greet our celebrant, “Father” Preistor,” (*Preistor: Combination of a Priest and Pastor. Used when confusion is present regarding predominate religion) as we sing our opening song, On Eagles’ Wings.”  A small band of piano, guitar, and drums accompanies the opening song. The procession enters from the back of the temple; a female crucifer, two alter girls, a lectoress in street clothes carrying the Novus Ordo lectionary aloft and finally “Father” Preistor in a Novus Ordo alb-cum-chasuble, all smiling and singing along loudly.

The Asperges ceremony before Mass is omitted, as the thought of washing away sins is deprecated. The congregation remains standing as “Father” Preistor recites the Protestantized “Opening Prayers,” while the band launches into the Kyrie and Gloria from the newly-composed Mass of the New Order written in jazz style. “Father” Preistor then sits down for the “Liturgy of the Word,” imported substantially from the Anglican prayer book and read entirely in the vulgar tongue (or tongues) from the lectern. The band performs its rendition of Taste and See following the “First Reading.” After the “Second Reading,” the cantoress renders the Oecumenical Alleluia.

After the Gospel is read in a vulgar tongue by a married lay deacon (deacons have never been allowed to be married), “Father” Preistor gives a brief “homily” on social justice and global warming. “It is a mortal sin not to use florescent bulbs,” he warns the congregation. After the We Believe is recited by the congregation, two Lesbians bring forward the “bread,” looking for all the like of shortbread cookies, and the grape juice for the “consecration.” Meanwhile the lectoress leads the congregation in the Protestant Bidding Prayers, praying for all politically correct groups and causes.

After the “Presto” Eucharistic Prayer, (so called because it is over before you know it), with its revised “consecration” to conform to the heresy of universal salvation, the congregation launches into one of the familiar acclamation songs imported from Protestant services. Shortly after, the congregation recites the Lord’s Prayer in the vulgar tongue, with the de rigueur Protestant ending, hands joined across the pews.

When communion-time arrives, all of the congregation, confessed or not, fasting or not, including known public sinners, divorced-and-remarried with New Churcher’s approval (or perhaps annulled in a “quickie” divorce) approach, many taking “communion” in the hand from the “Eucharistic Ministress” while the Preistor sits in his giant Protestant “presider’s” chair. Some also receive grape juice from a ceramic goblet crudely fabricated by schoolchildren. A few folks try to kneel, but they interrupt the flow of the line and thus receive a hostile glare from the ministress. When they return to their seats, most of the congregation sits without making any thanksgiving.

When the Preistor proclaims, “The Eucharist is finished. Thank God,” the band strikes up a rousing rendition of When the Saints Come Marching In. As soon as the Preistor leaves the table, the congregation practically trips over him on the way out, eager to get in those few extra holes of golf before nightfall.

Has the Communist intention to change the Catholic Church succeeded?

It has not succeeded.  EVEN IF CATHOLICS FAITHFUL TO TRADITION ARE REDUCTED TO A HANDFUL, THEY ARE THE ONES WHO ARE THE TRUE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST.” (Coll. Selecta SS Ecc. Patrum, Caillau and Guillou Vol. 32. pp. 411-412)

We are the ones who are happy: we who remain within the Church by our faith, who hold firmly to the foundations of the faith which has come down to us from Apostolic Tradition. And if an execrable jealousy (Communism) has tried to shake it on a number of occasions IT HAS NOT SUCCEEDED. No one, ever, will prevail against our faith and we believe that God will give us our Churches back some day just as He has done so with the Japanese that were deprived of His One True Church for 250 years.

The Novus Ordo “Mass” (actually a service), in any version, must be rejected as non-Catholic, sacrilegious, scandalous, blasphemous, idolatrous, and INVALID because it fails to meet certain criteria established in Catholic dogmatic and sacramental theology for a valid Mass pertinent to Pope Leo XIII’s Apostolicae Curae.

St. Robert Bellarmine described best the Protestant style “Catholic” New Mass and Protestant services when he said:

“When we enter ornate and clean Basilicas, adorned with crosses, sacred images, ALTARS and burning lamps, we most easily conceive devotion. But on the other hand, when we enter the temples of the heretics, where there is nothing except a CHAIR for preaching and a TABLE for making a meal, we fell ourselves to be entering a profane hall and not the House of God.”

In 1917 Our Lady came to Fatima to help mankind save our souls from falling into the bottomless pit of Communism in the treacherous days ahead. Because of the work of Lucifer and his devils, her message has been almost completely ignored by the Church leaders.

It started in the early 1930s when Pius XI did not respond to our Lady’s request to consecrate Russia to Her Immaculate Heart. Our Lord told Sister Lucy in the Apparition at Rianjo in 1931: “Make it known to My ministers that given that they follow the example of the King of France in delaying the execution of my request, they will follow him into misfortune.

On 13 October 1917, attended by a crown of more than 70,000 that had gathered in Fatima, Portugal in response to a prophecy made by three shepherd children, Lucia Santos, Francisco and Jacita Marto, the prophecy was that the Virgin would appear and perform miracles on that date. Newspapers, including an atheist’s newspaper, published testimony from witnesses who said that they had seen extraordinary solar activity, such as the Sun appearing to “dance” or zigzag in the sky, careen towards the Earth, or emit multicolored light and radiant colors.

In August 1941, Sister Lucia wrote her third memoir in which she described the apparition of 13 October 1917. She said that the Virgin told them:

“God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. The [First World] war is going to end; if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out during the pontificate of Pius XI. (Pius XI preferred to follow the policy of ecumenism rather than the command of Our Lady as did all Popes since Benedict XV).  

Had these popes consecrated Russia to her Immaculate Heart there would have been no World War II.

1. Russians would have been converted by the millions, and many of them would thus have attained salvation instead of suffering damnation as Schismatics.

2. The terrible apostasy in the Church we have been suffering for so long—and which grows worse daily—would not have occurred. How many Catholics would still be following the doctrine of the true Faith, instead of being set off the path by the Progressivism, which has dominated the Church openly after Vatican II with the introduction of the Novus Ordo Missae.

3. All the subsequent wars would have been averted, and the world, most probably, would have entered the Reign of Mary.

If Pius XI had made the Consecration of Russia even in the last year of his Pontificate, i.e., 1939, all the consequences listed above would not have happened.  They are the results caused by the Communist party via Bella Dodd who placed more than eleven hundred young men in Catholic seminaries.

Pray the Rosary, wear the Brown Scapular, and pray for the conversion of those misguided concocters of the Holy Mass that claim to be Catholic—but are not.

Bill Metallo, President, Shrine of Our Lady of LaSalette