Posted on 04/07/2007 6:01:45 PM PDT by Pyro7480
With a sad biretta tip to Nihil obstat:
On FattiSentire there is a report of the placards put up in Genova by those who oppose the Church, atheistic anarchist and homosexual activist types. This one from Il Giornale...
...says, "Thank God I am an atheist". It depicts a photoshoped image of partisans shooting the Pope and some muslim men at prayer. Another poster depicts Benedict XVI shaking hands with Adolf Hitler with the title: "From Hitler’s soldier to God’s soldier".
Christ died and rose for these people too.
Meantime, on the evening of the Easter Vigil in Modena there will be a public concert in the square in front of the cathedral by a manifestly anti-clerical band. In one of their their oft-repeated songs we are entertained by the lyrics
"«Bruceremo le chiese e gli altari (...) con le budella dell’ultimo prete impiccheremo il Papa (...) Rivoluzione sia guerra alla società (...) Il Vaticano brucerà con dentro il Papa e se il governo si opporrà rivoluzione» ... "We will burn the churches and altars … we will hang the Pope with the entrails of the last priest … Let revolution be a war on society… The Vatican will burn with the Pope inside if the government opposes the revolution."
"Crucifige! Crucifige eum!"
In Italy, in small and very subtle ways you will encounter anticlericalism, not usually of this vitriolic nature, but it is deeply entrenched in some strata of society. It could be fanned into a flame with some effort.
At the heart of this business is the concept of the "lay state". The concept of the "lay state" in Europe is based on the same state envision in the French Revolution, which resulted in the Terror. The idea of "separation of Church and state" in the USA is a far cry from this European lay state vision.
In the meantime, here are comments of the aforementioned Nihil Obstat (in Italian):
"Behold the fruits of the ‘lay’ state and the campaign of hatred against the Church … Will there ever come a day when the Bishops grasp that the true enemies of the Church are not after all the supporters of the Tridentine liturgy, but rather those who hate Our Lord and struggle against His Kingdom? Is this the highly extolled laicality? Shouldn’t these be the ventures to boycot rather than dig in the heels against the Motu Proprio?"
We have all seen the wrong people hammered into the floor by authorities of different kinds, whether of the First or the other Estates. N’est-ce pa?
"Know thy enemy" might be as critical as "Know thyself". They often overlap.
In any case, do you believe in freedom of religion? A service can be any language. Do you think God only understands English?
I do believe that there is a difference between Communism and Atheism - every communist is an atheist but not every atheist is a communist. Communism is a political ideology, atheism is not. The run-of-the-mill atheist will only badmouth Christianity but does not actively persecute them.
Not a dimes worth of difference between them and any other kind of atheist.
The kingdom of satan shows its teeth. Whatever violence that stems from them, they will pay a terrible price.
Actually, Christ did not die for these people.
John 3:16-18
16"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,[a] that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.
ABORTION is demonic activity. Fortunately Our Lord, Jesus Christ is drawing people to the light as well. The time of choosing is near, and is indeed here.
.
Uh... that’s not Latin you know... it’s Italy, it’s Italian. That’s what they speak there. Everybody in the world doesn’t speak American English.
“Thank God (as it were) that we have a Holy Father who inspires this kind of attack. I don’t suppose the legions of evil went after Alexander Borgia in the same way :-).”
Alexander VI’s personal life may not have been what it ought but his was a good Papacy. He divided the newly discovered Americas between Catholic Spain and Catholic Portugal and gave them the right and privelege to evangelize these lands that were under the bondage of Satan what with their practice of human sacrifice and cannibalism!
You’ll probably get flamed, but I’m LMAO!!
It’s true he had some administrative and diplomatic ability, and of course he was prevented by the Spirit from doing any damage to the Deposit of Faith.
It's mild persecution, exactly what the Bible says we should expect, and rejoice when it happens to us.
Stop complaining. Someone could be cutting your tongue out and putting hot pokers in your eyes. THAT's persecution worth crowing about.
Is that a complaint? It's labeling what that kind of behavior is. I definitely have a real idea of what persecution is. I love reading about the martyrs.
|
Hell |
| One day, just as I had awakened, when I was putting myself in the presence of God, I was suddenly overwhelmed by despair. Complete darkness in the soul. I fought as best I could till noon...I fell to the ground, despair flooding my whole soul. I suffered terrible tortures in no way different to the torments of hell. (24) |
| One day, I saw two roads. One was broad, covered with sand and flowers, full of joy, music and all sorts of pleasures. People walked along it, dancing and enjoying themselves. They reached the end without realising it. And at the end of the raods there was a horrible precipice; that is the abyss of hell. The souls fell blindly into it; as they walked, so they fell. And their number was so great that it was impossible to count them. And I saw the other road, or rather, a path, for it was narrow and strewn with thorns and rocks; and the people who walked along it had tears in their eyes, and all kinds of suffering befell them. Some fell down upon the rocks, but stood up immediately and went on. At the end of the road there was a magnificent garden filled with all sorts of happiness, and all these souls entered there. At the very first instant they forgot all their sufferings. (153) |
| (Italics are mine) |
| Sr. Faustina is 'transported' to Hell - |
| Today I was led by an Angel to the chasms of hell. It is a place of real torture; how awesomely large and extensive it is! The kinds of tortures I saw: the first torture that constitutes hell is the loss of God; the second is perpetual remorse of conscience; the third is that one's condition will never change; the fourth is the fire that will penetrate the soul without destroying it - a terrible suffering, since it is a purely spiritual fire, ....the fifth torture is continual darkness and a terrible suffocating smell, and, despite the darkness, the devils and the souls of the damned see each other and all the evil, both of others and their own; the sixth torture is the constant company of Satan; the seventh torture is horrible despair, hatred of God, vile words, curses and blasphemies. These are the tortures suffered by all the damned together, but that is not the end of the sufferings. There are special tortures destined for particular souls. These are the torments of the senses. Each soul undergoes terrible and indescribable sufferings, related to the manner in which it has sinned. There are caverns and pits of torture where one form of agony differs from another. I would have died at the very sight of these tortures if the omnipotence of God had not supported me. Let the sinner know that he will be tortured throughout all eternity, in those senses which he made use of to sin. I am writing this at the command of God, so that no soul may find an excuse by saying there is no hell, or that nobody has ever been there, and so no one can say what it is like. |
| I, Sister Faustina, by the order of God, have visited the abysses of hell so that I might tell souls about it and testify to its existence. I cannot speak about it now; but I have received a command from God to leave it in writing. The devils were full of hatred for me, but they had to obey me at the command of God. What I have written is but a pale shadow of the things I saw. But I noticed one thing: that most of the souls there are those who disbelieved that there is a hell. When I came to, I could hardly recover from the fright. How terribly souls suffer there! Consequently, I pray even more fervently for the covnersion of sinners. I incessantly plead God's mercy upon them. O my Jesus, I would rather be in agony until the end of the world, amidst the greatest sufferings, than offend You by the least sin. (741) |
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||||
| The loss of each soul plunges Me into mortal sadness. You always console Me when you pray for sinners. The prayer most pleasing to Me is the prayer for the conversion of sinners. Know, My daughter, that this prayer is always heard and answered. (1397) | ||||
| Does God condemn anyone? | ||||
| When the sisters got up at eleven o'clock at night to keep vigil and welcome the New Year, I had been writhing in agony since nightfall, and this lasted until midnight. I united my sufferings with the prayers of the sisters who were keeping vigil in the chapel and atoning to God for the offences of sinners. (1451). When the clock struck twelve, my soul immersed itself more deeply in recollection, and I heard a voice in my soul: "Do not fear, My little child, you are not alone. Fight bravely, because My arm is supporting you; fight for the salvation of souls, exhorting them to trust in My mercy, as that is your task in this life and in the life to come." After these words, I received a deeper understanding of divine mercy. Only that soul who wants [to be damned] will be damned, for God condemns no one. (1452) | ||||
| Oh, how beyond comprehension is God's mercy! But- horror -there are also souls who voluntarily and consciously reject and scorn this grace! Although a soul is at the point of death, the merciful God gives the soul that interior vivid moment, so that if the soul is willing, it has the possibility of returning to God. But sometimes, the obduracy in souls is so great that consciously they choose hell; they make useless all the prayers that other souls offer to God for them and even the efforts of God Himself..(1698) |
...another says, "Thank God I am an atheist"
Does that seem like an oxymoron to you?
HE HAS RISEN!
Anti-clericalism in Italy dates back to the nineteenth century when Italy was a collection of city-states that were trying to become a single nation. The leaders of this nationalist movement hated the Church because the popes, especially Pius IX, opposed their agenda. Even though the nationalists prevailed and unified the country, and even though the Vatican city-state has co-existed with Italy since 1879, there are still some Italians who hate the Church.
However, “Nihil Obstat” is off-base when he whines about bishops treating Traditionalists as enemies while ignoring the acts of these anti-Catholic Italians. How are these two things related? The anticlerical Italians are targeting the whole Church with their venom, especially the clergy and hierarchy; they are not targeting Traditionalists per se. Why do Traditionalists have to use something like this as an excuse to whine about the injustices that they supposedly receive at the hands of the hierarchy? Shouldn’t we as Catholics present a unified front to those who hate the Church rather than pointing fingers at other Catholics?
>> I take atheists over Muslims any day. Atheists only have a vitriolic tongue, no more. None of the atheists persecute Christians actively as the Muslims do. <<
Ummm... Let’s see, the French Revolution, the Mexican Revolution, the Russian Revolution,... and that’s not even to speak of nihilism!
Atheism is a diverse ideology, and it would be unfair to suggest any atheist holds beliefs like those of atheists Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Ho Chi Minh, or nihilists Hitler, Napoleon, etc.
But atheism doesn’t necessarily value the human being at all. Many works by “peaceable” atheists are quite horrifying in what they would justify (Ayn Rand’s disdain for Eddie, who, if real, would be the true hero of “Atlast Shrugged” is as dehumanizing as “The Turner Diaries”; Or just try reading through an Utilitarian author!)
Gee, I wonder which one that is?
Evil always hates good and seeks to eradicate it, but try as they might, they will not win.
Philippians 2:9-11 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
He is risen!
Religious beliefs do not equal darkness and lack of religious beliefs do not equal lack of darkness. Lack of correct religious beliefs equals darkness.
Jesus is the light of the world.
John 8:12
When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
It doesn’t matter how mild the persecution, the cause is still demonic. The only difference here is a matter of degree. Right now it seems *mild* but given the chance, it wouldn’t be. Those that would do this would certainly go further given the chance. As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. That’s why Jesus said that hate was as bad as murder and lust as bad as adultery.
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