We Must Love The Truth…
Would I be showing any real devotion to Our Lady by going against Her express will that Her Fatima Message be made known and Her requests be fulfilled? Would I be loving the Pope by standing idly by when I know that he is about to lose his neck unless he repents and heeds Our Lady’s commands? Is there any value in the kind of unity that Pilate and Herod achieved when they set aside their former enmities and united to crucify Jesus Christ?!
If a person’s supposed devotion to Our Lady is not based on the truth, then it is not a true devotion. If a person’s love of the Pope is not based on the truth, then his “love” is an illusion. If a person’s efforts fostering the “unity” of the Church are not based on the truth, then he is building a house of cards. Our Lord did not build His house upon a bed of lies, and He needs no lies to support His holy Church. Click on picture of Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart to read rest of this extract from Fr Gruner’s new book…
Comments (27)
I have met those who believe that the Consecration (not necessiarily Russia) to Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart has already been done. I have also met one or two who do not believe the necessity of Russia being Consecrated at all, for any reason. After all Russians are flocking to the Orthodox Church.
A lack of love for the truth? It certainly looks that way, though some people would not see it that way.
But I reckone they are being deceived. No wonder we must pray and practice penance not only for the Cosecration to be done, but as Our Lady asked prayers to stop poor sinners going to hell.
Fr. Gruner also mentions Saint Marie de Montfort’s treatise on the true devotion to Mary, which I intend to read but this is the link.
http://www.catholictreasury.info/books/true_devotion/index.php
Is it not strange to note that when the Bishops in Portugal Consecrated their country to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in 1931, there was a Catholic renaissance, a rebirth of Catholic life. The country had suffered the effects of Masonic governments since 1910. Is it no wonder our Lady appeared to 3 peasant children at Fatima in 1917?
Portugal was again Consecrated in 1936 and 1939. What happened? The country was protected from the horrors of the Spanish Civil War and then World War II. How the Graces she receives from her Divine Son, which then flows from her hands, to protect her children, who are clear a true devotion to her and her requests.
http://www.traditioninaction.org/HotTopics/g25h_Consecration.htm
I’ve read the extract from Fr Gruner’s new book and it is really excellent.
I hope I’m not trivialising the importance of the topic by posting this news from the Scotsman about the in-fighting in the Scottish Catholic Church about the type of music to be played at Mass.
http://www.scotsman.com/what-s-on/music/row-over-catholic-church-music-takes-dramatic-turn-1-3333451
I think it’s interesting because James MacMillan favours the traditional music and is trying to have Gregorian chant restored in the churches over the songs that are popular now but very banal.
However, I know he has been discussed on here before due to his public statements dissociating himself with traditionalism. He still goes to the novus ordo and wants to improve it through music. When I read the Scotsman report I thought of this topic and how he is only going so far by restoring music and unless he really does “love the truth” (topic here) then he will not really do the good he wants to do. He seems to think that restoring Gregorian chant will help our spiritual lives no matter which Mass is said. I am interested to know what others think of that.
I do think James MacMillan has to be given due credit for his work in trying to bring chant back to parishes but no, I don’t think it will have any real effect on people’s spiritual lives at the novus ordo.
Fr Gruner’s book sounds interesting and I liked the extract. It seems obvious that we have to love the truth before all else, since Jesus told us that he was “the way, the truth and the life.”
I’m surprised that nobody, so far, has quoted the opening words of the extract from Father Gruner’s new book, which you read when you click on the picture of Our Lady:
“St. Paul tells us that a love of the truth is foundational, as a necessary condition, to the spiritual life. The seduction of error and sin, he says, gets all its power over souls from this one cause, that they do not have a love of the truth: “And in all seduction of iniquity to them that perish; because they receive not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.”
This is something for each of us to consider. We all have our blind spots, especially in the way that we see ourselves. We all have emotional pre-dispositions that we are liable to act on, rather than on real thinking, unless we are careful to distinguish our feelings from true judgments.”
There can be little doubt that the majority of diocesan Catholics today have “blind spots” which prevent them from making “true judgments.” We can see that when certain bloggers come on here criticising us for criticising Modernists. They receive fantastic responses from our excellent and very knowledgeable bloggers but because the answers are challenging them to see the true nature of the crisis in the Church as it applies to their own parish, their own priest, their own bishop, this (awful) pope, they dig in their heels and scream “schism”. They simply refuse to look objectively and honestly at the facts, dismissing the documentary evidence, quotes from papal encyclicals and Fathers of the Church, rather than admit that they really do need to re-think their duties and obligations. Much easier to just stay put in their Modernist parish with their Modernist priest and their Modernist bishop and say nice things about our Modernist pontiff, than look the truth straight in the eye and say “I love you…” Am I poetic or what?
It is, in fact, the most serious of all sins to deny the manifest truth. Yet that’s what most Catholics do, all the time.
And that’s why the title of Father Gruner’s new book struck me immediately as being a wonderful topic for discussion. Only if we LOVE the truth will we be able to live a truly Catholic life. Pretending that the Emperor is wearing fine clothes when, in fact, he needs to get out and buy a new suit without delay, is sheer stupidity.
If, as St Paul teaches, a love of the truth is foundational, is basic to our spiritual growth, then we must take the work of educating (and, in light of the crisis in the Church, of re-educating) ourselves very seriously indeed.
A key question, of course, has to be this: how do we know whether or not we have a love of truth? I mean, not a lot of people will own up to NOT loving the truth. So how do we know who, in fact, loves the truth and who does not? Can we tell? I think I know the answer but would like your thoughts first. Then if I’m wrong, I can say I agree with you and nobody will be any the wiser 😀 ❗
Madame Editor,
The sad thing is that there is the Truth as you see it and there is the Truth as they see it. One of these versions of the Truth must be incorrect. The nub of the problem lies in convincing them that their version is the incorrect version.
I have spent hours quoting Tradition to them, both in discussion and in the early days of the Catholic Truth Scotland blog, but to no known avail.
What blinkers their outook is, in a phrase, the “Comfort Factor”. They feel that there is safety in numbers. They lack the courage to stand up and be counted. They like it that they are not being reminded that the use of contraceptives is a mortal sin, that they ought to be abstaining from eating meat on Fridays, that they ought to be saying a daily rosary, that they should be attending confession after falling into mortal sin, that they should be receiving the Blessed Sacrament at the hands of an ordained priest on the tongue and whilst kneeling.
These matters remind them that they have a commitment as Catholics. They do not like it, so they airbrush out the bits they don’t like, and promote the bits that they do like, like being on the Parish Pastoral Council, or being a school governor, or a “greeter” at the door, or an extraordinary minister of the eucharist. They pick and choose, just like the Protestants – in fact, to all intents and purposes, they have become Protestants.
I am sure there is a witicism in here somewhere about “An Inconvenient Truth” to quote the title of Al Gore’s book – perhaps the rapier-like pen of our contributor The Great Pretender can supply something?
All we can do is to continue trying to educate them as to what the Truth really is, to set them a good example and to pray for them. Even if they don’t listen to us, Our Lord does, and He will reward us for our efforts.
Ps: Those who love the Truth don’t need to be told it, and those who don’t love the truth refuse to hear it, so shake the dust from your sandals as you leave.
Well said, Leprechaun (except for the part about my rapier-like pen…). I wonder if it would help to point out to modern Catholics that their preferences, some of which you have listed, all feed their pride and rebellion, whereas their Catholic duties, on the other hand, all contribute to humility and obedience.
I suppose the truly intransigent would immediately misinterpret such an approach and accuse you of being holier-than-thou, but perhaps you might find an open-minded soul or two who would actually listen.
“Come Holy Ghost, fill the hearts of Thy faithful…”
Come to think of it, Editor, perhaps it might help to have a discussion of how the traditional Faith goes against the grain of human nature, whilst the modern “faith” does nothing but go along for the ride, thus rendering human nature blind to the source of its being.
Great Pretender,
I think you’ve just said that there is a blindness which prevents some people recognising the truth. That’s central to our discussion here.
From where, on EARTH (or below….) does that blindness originate?
Wonderful post although I can’t see Daphne McLeod agreeing with your PS – and I have to say she’d have a point 😀
The Faith does have to be taught – and that in a systematic way – and it is surely possible for parents, priests and teachers to instil a love of the truth.
But these days, as you say, the majority have become comfortable in their Modernism. We need to find ways of shaking them out of that comfort zone. And soon…
I’m reliably informed that recommending folk to read this blog is a very successful means of doing just that ❗
How do we know we love the truth?
I think I can tell you why
It`s the feeling you get
To clatter the head
Of someone who’s telling a lie
Who needs Shakespeare with you around, Frankier? 😀
The front page of today’s Herald Scotland features the forthcoming closure of half of the parishes in the Archdiocese of Glasgow.
This is a classic case of “if only” – if only our Bishops had a love of the truth, they’d be opening new parishes, not, in effect, kissing “goodbye” to the Church in Scotland.
With Archbishop Tartaglia’s premise of likely earmarking some Chapels for closure, something that might happen quicker that we might expect. I wonder if the parish Church that I attended as a child will be one to close. Other friends have remarked the same thing, and wonder what the future will bring. Whether the lack of priests mean no Sacraments, may be no Sacrament of Penance, no Sacrament of Extreme Unction.
The problem is that there is a deep seated crisis within the Catholic Church. Priests, Bishops, Cardinals and perhaps even Pope Francis, seem incapable of joining up the dots and face the truth of what is happening to the Catholic Church. There is mass apostasy, people are walking away into perdition. How are the Shepherds who should be watchful as Christ Himself was, reacting in todays’ world. Priests carry a heavy responsibility for the souls in their care. How many are walking away from all that is Sacred,
Theresa Rose
When you view the church closures in the light of what you’ve said, it is truly terrifying and I wouldn’t want to be in archbishop Tartaglia’s shoes when he explains how he and those who went before him, allowed the Church to die in this way.
The trouble is these bishops seem to have no fear of God.
The chickens are coming home to roost in Glasgow now. It won’t be long until the rest of the Church in Scotland disappears as well.
Editor,
True, if only the our Bishops had a love of the truth. There is nothing like burying heads in the sand, rather than facing the truth.
Successive Popes have not Consecrated Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, despite the request by Our Lady. Sister Lucia had written down the 3rd Secret she received at Fatima. This secret was to have been revealed either upon the death of Sister Lucia, or by 1960 which ever came first.
Since then we have had Vatican II, the Novus Ordo Mass. Also ecumenism, religious liberty, collegiality.
http://www.cfnews.org/page10/page51/lefebvre_vaticanII_rupture.html
We see a massive loss of belief in the Doctrines and Traditions of the Catholic faith. Abuses associated clearly with the Novus Ordo Mass – “lay Eucharisitic Ministers”, a lessing of the belief in the Presence or Our Lord present in the Consecrated Host and Wine.
Mass apostasy, people are not being taught the Faith. Or, cherry picking what people should believe in.
Lack of vocations to the priesthood and religious life.
I doubt Bishops can or are willing to face any modicum of truth, it is far easier closing parishes. Easier to cling to religious liberty, ecumenism and the like.
http://www.sspxasia.com/Documents/Archbishop-Lefebvre/OpenLetterToConfusedCatholics/Chapter-13.htm
Theresa Rose,
Well said – it’s scandalous that the Bishops are taking these mass closures (pun fully intended) in their stride instead of being heartily ashamed of their failures.
Thank you for posting those links which are a must-read for anyone who is just beginning to waken up to what is going (so badly) wrong in the Church today.
I came across a letter from a priest in which he writes about Cardinal Kasper’s views on Holy Communion for the remarried after divorce. Mgr Basil Loftus was going on about the same thing in the Catholic Times last week, praising Cardinal Kasper to the skies. It brought home the realisation that without a love of the truths of the Catholic faith, clergy like these men soon lose their moorings. What follows is an extract from his letter and the link to read the whole thing:
“Let us make no mistake: Satan is right now shaking the Church to her very foundations over this divorce issue. If anything, the confusion is becoming even graver than that over contraception between 1965 and 1968, when Paul VI’s seeming vacillation allowed Catholics round the world to anticipate a reversal of perennial Church teaching. If the present Successor of Peter now keeps silent about divorce and remarriage, thereby tacitly telling the Church and the world that the teaching of Jesus Christ will be up for open debate at a forthcoming Synod of Bishops, one fears a terrible price.” will soon have to be paid. http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/abbott/140311
I am horrified at what Cardinal Kasper says and concerned that Pope Francis is allowing his views to be considered at the Synod in October.
If this changes then surely everything that Jesus taught is questionable? After all he said that divorce and remarriage was adultery. If adultery is no longer a sin that keeps people from Holy Communion, why not other sins? Confession and absolution are called into question.
No wonder people are leaving the Church in droves as proven by the Herald article re. Glasgow.
When I was young, a member of a family of ten, my mother, God rest her, always told us to remember we were Catholics in everything we did and in every decision we made in our lives as that would be how we were judged.
When I worked for myself in the building trade I always tried to follow my mother`s advice. I was given opportunities as a sub-contractor to share in some dodgy deals, to give backhanders and to cut corners, all of which would have made me very well-off indeed but I always tried to stay true to the advice I got. Needless to say, good contracts soon dried up at great cost. Not being a mason didn’t help either.
When building houses I always reminded myself and anyone working under my supervision that people were taking out mortgages to keep us in work and were entitled to get what they paid for. Anything less would be stealing.
I now wonder if it was all worth it when I see what is now happening in the Church.
If I related this story to any of the clergy I would probably be reminded of the parable of the pharisee and the publican as well as being considered a fool.
Frankier,
You are no Pharisee, and I want to thank you for that lovely, most edifying post. Your mother sounds like a wonderful person. I have a friend here today and she read your post over my shoulder just now and says she feels touched and humbled reading your comment.
Me, too.
Many thanks Editor for your comments.
My mother was a wonderful person, as was my father. Your comments about your grandfather reminded me of them.
At the time of their golden wedding the local newspaper told how they were both from families of ten and had ten of a family themselves and pointed out that both of them could be seen every morning walking the mile and a half back home from morning (8.00am Latin) Mass at their parish church. My father was eighty at the time and they weren’t going home to sit about.
This is why I wonder how the clergy in this day and age, allegedly, can’t cope with the workload and their place of work is mainly next door.
I’m glad my parents didn’t live long enough to see the Church become protestant. It would have broken their hearts.
Frankier,
I, too, found your post edifying and you are not a Pharisee or a fool, although didn’t St Paul say something about being “fools for Christ” – so in that sense you can be proud to be called a fool.
You were very lucky to have such good and staunch Catholic parents who had such a love of the truth and passed that on to you. Not many workmen these days including Catholics, would turn down a back hander.
What you mother taught you about the Catholic faith affecting everything we do is exactly what is not being taught today. There’s no much emphasis on “participation” at Mass as lay ministers etc. that the whole point of being a Catholic is overlooked all the time.
I know what you mean about being glad your parents didn’t live long enough to see the Church turning protestant. It would break the hearts of our parents and grandparents if they were alive to witness what is going on nowadays, especially with the things Pope Francis is saying.
I also agree with your point about the workload of priests. I know some of them do have a lot to do with having more than one parish to care for but if they lived in the world of working for a living, they would see that they are not too hard done by after all.
Thank you also Margaret Mary for your kind remarks.
I think almost everyone who posts here have had equally as good parents. It is obvious that those of us who have a love and yearning for the real true faith had it instilled into us from birth.
I love Father Gruner’s new book. It is really so clear and reminding of the core belief about truth being central to everything. Yet the ecumaniacs will continue to prize their brand of unity over the truths of the faith. How blind are they?
I agree – I look forward to reading the rest of Fr Gruner’s book. He is a wonderful priest.
Well, folks, they just LOVE the truth over in the Diocese of Lancaster – NOT!
The administrator of the blog Protect the Pope, Deacon Nick Donnelly, who has been rightly outspoken about various scandals, has been given his marching orders. Click here to read more
And then ask yourself how many dissenters and heretics have been asked to stop writing and take a period of time to “pause and reflect” – Mgr Basil Loftus springing to mind. Yeah, you got that right. None! Disgraceful. Ach well, Mgr Loftus is really only saying that the divorced and remarried must be given Holy Communion and that the ancient Mass is the worst thing since sliced bread – so what? He’s really only agreeing with Pope Francis, or so it definitely seems.
A reader alerted me to this development at Protect the Pope and I immediately thought of posting a new thread on the topic, but – as you will see – comments are being published on the Deacon’s blog, so we can all add our tuppenceworth there and here, or should that be here and there! I’ve just submitted a comment – the comments are moderated at Protect the Pope so not always guaranteed publication anyway. My comment is in response to that of Fr. J who wrote: Any chance that dissenters will be asked to pause for such prayer and reflection?
EditorCT (awaiting moderation) Spot on. There’s about as much chance of dissenters being asked to pause and reflect as there was that the invitation to dissenter and homosexual activist Fr Timothy Radcliffe, to address the recent Dublin conference, would be withdrawn.
Utterly shocking double (non) standards. Dissenters can preach their heresy freely and with the tacit support of the hierarchy. Any orthodox writer in any position within the Church, especially one who happens to notice that there’s a crisis in the Church and allows bloggers to comment on it, will NOT be tolerated. Hence one cannot be an ordained man and a critic of the Vatican II revolution. No wonder the SSPX remain in an irregular situation.
I’ve said a number of times that I was amazed that Deacon Nick had been permitted to publish his articles and bloggers’ critical comments for so long. Too long, it now transpires.
The sheer hypocrisy of the bishops and clergy who have acted to silence Deacon Nick is so stark that it really needs no further comment from me.
Now… where’s the brandy ❓
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