If, for these and other such rules, you insist upon having positive Scripture injunction, you will find none. Tradition will be held forth to you as the originator of them, custom as their strengthener, and faith as their observer. That reason will support tradition, and custom, and faith, you will either yourself perceive, or learn from some one who has. Tertullian, De Corona, Chapter IV

Whoever wishes to be saved must, above all, keep the CATHOLIC faith. For unless a person keeps this faith whole and entire, he will undoubtedly be lost forever. This is what the CATHOLIC faith teaches: we worship one GOD in the Trinity and the Trinity in unity. Neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the substance. For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, another of the Holy Spirit.

But the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit have one divinity, equal glory, and coeternal majesty. What the Father is, the Son is, and the Holy Spirit is.

The Father is uncreated, the Son is uncreated, and the Holy Spirit is uncreated. The Father is boundless, the Son is boundless, and the Holy Spirit is boundless. The Father is eternal, the Son is eternal, and the Holy Spirit is eternal.

Nevertheless, there are not three eternal beings, but one eternal being. So there are not three uncreated beings, nor three boundless beings, but one uncreated being and one boundless being. Likewise, the Father is omnipotent, the Son is omnipotent, the Holy Spirit is omnipotent.

Yet there are not three omnipotent beings, but one omnipotent being. Thus the Father is GOD, the Son is GOD, and the Holy Spirit is GOD.

However, there are not three gods, but one GOD. The Father is LORD, the Son is LORD, and the Holy Spirit is LORD. However, there are not three lords, but one LORD. For as we are obliged by Christian truth to acknowledge every Person singly to be GOD and LORD, so too are we forbidden by the CATHOLIC religion to say that there are three Gods or Lords.

The Father was not made, nor created, nor generated by anyone. The Son is not made, nor created, but begotten by the Father alone. The Holy Spirit is not made, nor created, nor generated, but proceeds from the Father and the Son. There is, then, one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three sons; one Holy Spirit, not three holy spirits. In this Trinity, there is nothing before or after, nothing greater or less. The entire three Persons are coeternal and coequal with one another. So that in all things, as is has been said above, the Unity is to be worshiped in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity.

He, therefore, who wishes to be saved, must believe thus about the Trinity. It is also necessary for eternal salvation that he believes steadfastly in the incarnation of our LORD JESUS CHRIST. Thus the right faith is that we believe and confess that our LORD JESUS CHRIST, the Son of GOD, is both GOD and man. As GOD, He was begotten of the substance of the Father before time; as man, He was born in time of the substance of His mother. He is perfect GOD; and He is perfect man, with a rational soul and human flesh. He is equal to the Father in His divinity, but inferior to the Father in His humanity. Although He is GOD and man, He is not two, but one CHRIST. And He is one, not because His divinity was changed into flesh, but because His humanity was assumed unto GOD. He is one, not by a mingling of substances, but by unity of person. As a rational soul and flesh are one man: so GOD and man are one CHRIST. He died for our salvation, descended into Hell, and rose from the dead on the third day. He ascended into Heaven, sits at the right hand of GOD the Father almighty. From there He shall come to judge the living and the dead. At His coming, all men are to arise with their own bodies; and they are to give an account of their own deeds. Those who have done good deeds will go into eternal life; those who have done evil will go into the everlasting fire.

This is the CATHOLIC faith. Everyone must believe it, firmly and steadfastly; otherwise He cannot be saved. Amen.

The Universal Prayer – attributed to Pope Clement IX

O my GOD, I believe in Thee; do Thou strengthen my faith. All my hopes are in Thee; do Thou secure them. I love Thee with my whole heart: teach me to love Thee more and more. I am sorry that I have offended Thee; do Thou increase my sorrow.

I adore Thee as my first beginning. I aspire after Thee as my last end. I give Thee thanks as my constant benefactor. I call upon Thee as my sovereign protector.

Vouchsafe, O my GOD, to conduct me by Thy wisdom, to restrain me by Thy justice, to comfort me by Thy mercy, to defend me by Thy power.

To Thee I desire to consecrate all my thoughts, words, actions and sufferings; that henceforward I may think of Thee, speak of Thee, willingly refer all my actions to Thy greater glory, and suffer willingly whatever Thou shalt appoint.

LORD, I desire that in all things Thy will may be done, because it is Thy will, and in the manner Thou willest.

I beg of Thee to enlighten my understanding, to inflame my will, purify my body, and to sanctify my soul.

Give me strength, O my GOD, to expiate my offenses, to overcome my temptations, to subdue my passions, and acquire the virtues proper for my state.

Fill my heart with a tender affection for Thy goodness, a hatred for my faults, a love my neighbor, and contempt for the world.

Let me always remember to be submissive to my superiors, condescending to my inferiors, faithful to my friends, and charitable to my enemies.

Assist me to overcome sensuality by mortification, avarice by alms-deeds, anger by meekness, and tepidity by devotion.

O my GOD, make me prudent in my undertakings, courageous in dangers, patients in afflictions, and humble in prosperity.

Grant that I may ever be attentive at my prayers, temperate at my meals, diligent in my employments, and constant in my resolutions.

Let my conscience be ever upright and pure, my exterior modest, my conversation edifying, and my comportment regular.

Assist me, that I may continually labor to overcome nature, to correspond with Thy grace, to keep Thy commandments, and to work out my salvation.

Discover to me the nothingness of this world, the greatness of heaven, the shortness of time, and the length of eternity.

Grant that I may prepare for death; that I may fear Thy judgments; that I may escape hell, and in the end, obtain heaven, through the merits of our LORD JESUS CHRIST.
Amen.

The Litany of Humility of Raphael Cardinal Merry del Val

O JESUS! meek and humble of heart, Hear me.

From the desire of being esteemed, Deliver me, JESUS.
From the desire of being loved, Deliver me, JESUS.
From the desire of being extolled, Deliver me, JESUS.
From the desire of being honored, Deliver me, JESUS.
From the desire of being praised, Deliver me, JESUS.
From the desire of being preferred to others, Deliver me, JESUS.
From the desire of being consulted, Deliver me, JESUS.
From the desire of being approved, Deliver me, JESUS.
From the fear of being humiliated, Deliver me, JESUS.
From the fear of being despised, Deliver me, JESUS.
From the fear of suffering rebukes, Deliver me, JESUS.
From the fear of being calumniated, Deliver me, JESUS.
From the fear of being forgotten, Deliver me, JESUS.
From the fear of being ridiculed, Deliver me, JESUS.
From the fear of being wronged, Deliver me, JESUS.
From the fear of being suspected, Deliver me, JESUS.
That others may be loved more than I, JESUS, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be esteemed more than I, JESUS, grant me the grace to desire it.
That, in the opinion of the world, others may increase and I may decrease, JESUS, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be chosen and I set aside, JESUS, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be praised and I unnoticed, JESUS, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be preferred to me in everything, JESUS, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should, JESUS, grant me the grace to desire it.

In response to several attacks against Mother Teresa, this happened:

Intended Catholic Dictatorship
Sunday, September 05, 2010 11:38:57 PM · 1,515 of 1,528
Mad Dawg to RnMomof7; Quix; Legatus; Natural Law; Alamo-Girl; betty boop; Cronos; 1000 silverlings

In this at least, your side relies on lies. You have been lied to. This is shameful.

Why would somebody want to lie about Mother Teresa and to take excerpts from what she said and present them out of context and then suggest they "prove" what the rest of the interview contradicts?

I'm quite serious. This is so despicable it makes me question the value of these conversations. There is no real conversation, and now we have 'facts' being brought into evidence which, upon a chance enquiry, are shown to be distorted into falsehoods.

Almost the whole of the debate depends on your side saying things about our teaching which are false. When I finally gain a little bit of a hearing on what we actually mean by "real" I am invited to use this forum for an introductory course on Scholastic Realism and Aristotle's Metaphysics! Or the momentary glimpse of truth is immediately buried under a pile of abuse and further misrepresentations.

I am accustomed to that. Those who eagerly embrace falsehood, even for the best of motives, naturally and inevitably compromise their ability to perceive the truth.

But when lies (mostly of the form of sugestio falsi and suppressio veri by ripping quotes out of their context) are used to demean a charitable woman who is now dead, I am revolted.

I can quite understand your side's ignorance of the trials of the walk with Jesus. To love Him is, sooner or later to cry with Him, "Why hast thou forsaken me?" Your side belittles His generosity and thinks he merely imputes (λογιζομαι) righteousness, while you forget that His word is living and active and brings to pass what He says. So, if he imputes righteousness He will make it happen, real righteousness, not merely snow on a dung hill. And our Lord has shown, unforgettably, that the way of the Truth leads through torment and a sense of abandonment. And, because He loves us, He invites us to share His happiness, happiness so unlike the world's idea of happiness that to us it looks like a man being tortured to death.

So when Mother Teresa, Blessed (or, if you insist, blest -- the pronunciation does not affect the meaning) Mother Teresa, suffers the loving chastisement of God, a scourging with Dominical and Scriptural precedent, your side takes the Grace as proof of her unbelief, the blessing as evidence of damnation!

What remarkable blindness! What a triumph for Satan that those who consider themselves devoted to Jesus think it their duty to mock her whom God blessed and to despise her whom God refined in trial!

Our Lord is as clear as need be about judging the souls of others. But the spectacle of a woman who first embraces poverty which would make most of us weep, and then tolerates the uncomprehending admiration of fools to raise money for the desperately poor and to elevate the thoughts of those who grudgingly honor her while despising her religion -- this heroic work is met with your side's contempt. I say again, what remarkable blindness!

In a recent First Things someone wrote of watching a woman tune the blessed one out the minute she began pleading for the unborn. While Teresa pled, this woman made up her shopping list! Who needs to listen when we all know it's just a mass of tissue and abortion is a choice?

Your side also is so offended by a woman who gave her life to the stinking, purulent, and oozing poor, that no amount of careful cropping is enough to make sure her edited words can be used to discredit her.

When we both are dead, the Missionaries of Charity will be going into the foulest and most despairing corners of society to bring some small attention and respect to those who never heard of their own dignity. There will be problems. The order will go through one or more periods of laxity and indulgence, followed by a new reform.

No one will remember the words we spoke, the arguments we wrote in our petty and mendacious disputes. But centuries from now the order Mother Teresa founded will still remember their founder as my order remembers Dominic. As the great-great-grandchildren of our heirs squabble over their inheritances ("They've left grievin' and gone to grabbin'" a parishioner of mine said) while on the other side of the world someone will die, not filthy and alone but clean, embraced, and loved, because of the woman your side eagerly degrades.

I think I will take a couple of days off from this thread. Your side makes me sick. I am not yet as strong as Mother Teresa. May God forgive and strengthen me until I embrace the nausea triggered by such a disgusting hostility toward the good.

How ridiculous your side seems! A little Albanian woman, made mighty with the might of God, so terrifies you that you must pronounce her damned and adduce lies to justify your sentence.