When did we start to decline in our Catholicism in America. An article on Rorate Caeli blogsite recently posted an article against the idea of Pope Francis canonizing Pope Paul VI. It brought attention to Pope Pius XII and his reign as Pope. During this time it was sited that numbers for Catholic America were amazing! It did not mention that also at this time in America - we had Father Patrick Peyton holding Rosary Rallies as well as a Radio Show/TV.  Also, we had Bishop Sheen leading MANY converts to the Catholic Faith - a "no no" in Pope Francis's book! We are now the Church of Accompaniment - a Church of Tolerance and definitely not Church Militant - one that claims we have the one True Faith!  WHY and HOW?
Here were the statistics quoted on Rorate Caeli for your review before we analyze this:

The answer:  The Religious Liberty Document of Vatican II - that is why we are where we are.  The Freemasons were watching these numbers in America and elsewhere and getting very nervous about the growth of the Catholic Church. They were in high places in the Church already and called for a Council - a pastoral council.  Liberalism which was condemned by a number of pre-Vatican II Popes was now being embraced. Pope Pius X warned of this Liberalism and Modernism in almost everything he wrote. He saw it creeping into the Church and tried very hard to keep it from entering the walls but realized that when he died - if the Popes after him were not diligent - it would come back with a vengeance.
What is Liberalism and how do I recognize it - How do I and my family protect ourselves from the poisons of Liberalism?
Here are some descriptions and explanations from Professsor Plinio Correa de Oliveira (who I recommend  - read all you can of this modern day saint!):  
Characteristics of the Liberal Catholic 
What is a liberal Catholic? He is an individual split by two opposed realities, by two radical positions that he accepts but that exclude one another. One is Catholic radicalism, an invitation to sanctity; the other is liberal radicalism, the complete adoration of self and the rejection of any restraints. These two conflicting invitations co-exist in the liberal Catholic. 

Since he chooses to live in this contradiction, in effect he becomes a Pharisee: He does not want to say “no” to the invitation of God, but above all he does not want to say “yes” to it. He does not say, “God, I want to break with you, to abandon the Faith and to leave the Catholic Church.” He is afraid to say this. He still has some attraction toward these things. 

He also dishonestly closes his eyes to his veiled concessions. When he makes a concession to liberalism, he does not admit it to himself. Thus he is hypocritical and lies to himself.

How this lie presents itself to him? He finds a non-radical interpretation of the Catholic doctrine, an interpretation that does not reach its final consequences. Someone told me that one way to identify a sick tree is to look at the ends of its branches: If the leaves are drying up and only those closer to the trunk are alive, the tree is in the process of dying. If this botanical rule is true, it gives me a metaphor to describe the state of soul of the liberal Catholic. 

The Catholic contaminated by liberalism does not reach the final consequences of the principles he professes. He tends to soften any doctrine that bothers him. For example, when he speaks of Hell, he says: “Yes, I know that many people go there, but my family and friends, who are all fairly decent people, will probably not go there. After all, they have good qualities…” If someone argues: “But Hell is filled with people with some good qualities,” he does not reply and becomes deeply resentful. 

Harboring resentments is, in fact, another characteristic of the liberal mentality. The liberal Catholic is exceedingly resentful; he does not argue, he moans. Later, he will take his revenge and stab you in the back through intrigues or slanders. 

If you touch on the subject of Purgatory, noting that souls suffer a lot there, he replies: “Yes, but the mercy of Our Lady is so great that no one really knows how long God would make a soul suffer in Purgatory.” In practical terms, he transforms Purgatory into a place where God does not punish but only scares naughty souls a little, like parents who give their children "time outs". 

If you bring up the obligation we have to accept Catholic dogma or become heretics, the liberal Catholic will answer, “Yes, but the dogmas have to be interpreted broadly so that almost no one really falls into heresy.” 

There is always a minimization, a restriction to avoid reaching the final consequences and not reach a more complete and richer understanding of Catholic truths. 

This attitude of soul evolves. That is, no liberal Catholic remains in the same position. It is like a leprosy that progresses and eventually consumes the whole person. If the person has a long life, at its end he will have lost or almost lost the Faith. 
Summarizing, these are the basic characteristics of the liberal Catholic:

1. He takes a contradictory position, which accepts two radical and opposed mentalities; 
   
   
2. He is hypocritical because he says he wants to serve God when he wants to serve himself; also he lies to himself by veiling the concessions he makes; 
   
   
3. He is resentful, revengeful and deceitful; 
   
   
4. His error evolves toward apostasy. 

The liberal Catholic – so far as he is a liberal – is not Catholic. What is dynamic in his soul is anti-Catholic and tends toward apostasy. In the dead parts of his soul he is still Catholic. 

MY COMMENT:  The above is very true and we could write more on this - a book actually! We need to be aware of what liberalism is and try very hard to learn the true teachings of the Catholic Church (pre-Vatican II) and stick to these teachings in order to live and die a Catholic.  
If you are interpreting this article as anti-Vatican II - it is because that pastoral council promoted Liberalism and continues to do so - therefore - the numbers you see in the reign of Pope Pius XII are no more - the Catholic Church has suffered a mortal blow with Vatican II liberal thinking but by the grace of God it is not dead! IT IS A MIRACLE the Catholic Church still has a remnant!! 

Our Lady of Fatima did say that in the end Her Immaculate Heart would triumph! She will triumph over this great Apostasy which is the fruit of this Liberalism. One more reason not to get discouraged! We have to fight more than ever for the social Reign of Our Lord Jesus Christ. In this battle, we are not alone; we have with us all the Popes up through Pope Pius XII inclusively. All of them combated Liberalism in order to deliver the Church from it. We have to build up while the others are demolishing! How can we do this - REPARATION!  Someone has to make reparation for this mess - who will do it? That is what this site is all about - May we make this a Lent of Reparation. Pray the Fatima Reparation prayers daily - they can be found on this website. Let us console the Hearts of Jesus and Mary and not give up. We have the power to help win souls for Heaven - let us do that as Our Lady has asked the Fatima children to do!
Our Lady of Fatima - pray for us.

Lent is a time of uniting ourselves more to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Understanding the Hearts of Jesus and Mary means - love souls! How can we show our love for God and souls this Lent. Here are some moving words from Mary herself to Mother Mary Agreda of the "Mystical City of God" and of Our Lord to St. Margaret Mary - the chosen soul of His Heart.

WORDS OF OUR LADY
In the 4th Chapter of the "Mystical City of God" – "The Incarnation" by Mother Mary Agreda, Our Lady has stated in the instructions these following words:
 
“When I turned from the consideration of this most liberal condescension of the Most High, to the perception and understanding of the foolish hard-heartedness of the sinners, my soul was pierced with an arrow of mortal anguish – which remained for life. Many times the Most High in order to heal the affliction and consternation of my heart in this sorrow, sought to console me by saying, “Accept Thou, my Spouse, the gifts which the blind and ignorant world in its unworthiness despises and is incapable of receiving and understanding.”

 She turns to Mother Mary of Agreda and gives her these instructions which can be received by us as well ----
"Be now my companion in the sorrow which I suffered and which is so little noticed by the living. In order to imitate me, you must deny yourself, forget yourself entirely and crown your heart with the thorns of sorrow at the behavior of mortals. Weep in seeing them laugh at their eternal damnation, for such weeping is the most legitimate occupation of the true sorrow of my Most Holy Son."
 
Words from Our Lord to St. Margaret Mary:
 
“And He showed me that it was His great desire of being loved by men and of withdrawing them from the path of ruin into which Satan hurls such crowds of them, that made Him form the design of manifesting His Heart to men, with all the treasures of love, of mercy, of grace, of sanctification and salvation which it contains, in order that those who desire to render Him and procure for Him all the honor and love possible, might themselves be abundantly enriched with those divine treasures of which this Heart is the source. He should be honored under the figure of this Heart of flesh, and its image should be exposed…He promised me that wherever this image should be exposed with a view to showing It special honor, He would pour forth His blessings and graces. This devotion was the last effort of His love that He would grant to men in these latter ages, in order to withdraw them from the empire of Satan which He desired to destroy, and thus to introduce them into the sweet liberty of the rule of His love, which He wished to restore in the hearts of all those who should embrace this devotion.”

Hello Everyone:
Today is the Feast day of the Holy Face of Jesus. It is a moveable feast and is always on Shrove Tuesday which is the day before Ash Wednesday. 

 
Hello Everyone:
Under Formation “Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary”, there is information regarding Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Bernadette. It is only right that the talk this week should be about Holy Water – another forgotten sacramental. Since Our Lady felt it was necessary to give us a miraculous spring of water, it is important for us to reflect upon the use of Holy Water – true Holy Water!
First, we must come to the understanding that like everything else, the Conciliar Church has changed the rite of the blessing of Holy Water. There is a big difference in the water. First, the new rite has no exorcism but it also is blessed differently. Here are some explanations I found on Fr. Z’s blog - He wrote the following:
In the new post-Conciliar book of blessings “Missale Romanum”, only a couple of the prayers in the book explicitly bless something. All the rest refer to the blessings God could give to someone nearby, or around the place, or who might look in the direction of something, etc. The book attempts to change the Church’s theology about blessings, effectively trying to eliminate the concept of the constitutive blessing and reducing every prayer and action to an invocative blessing.
 
In his review of the Ordo ad faciendam aquam benedictam, used outside Mass to “bless” water, even though he found a rubric that says that the “celebrans… dicit orationem benedictionis… the celebrant … says the prayer of blessing” and there are three options that follow, he cannot find in any of the three prayers, in the Latin mind you, an explicit statement that the water is to be blessed water. These paragraphs use the word “blessing” throughout and the prayers ask for blessings on those on whom the water is sprinkled. Also, the “celebrans” can be a deacon, which is not possible in the older rite, with the traditional Rituale Romanum.
 
Here is the first of the new prayers as an example:
Benedictus es, Domine, Deus omnipotens,
qui nos in Christo, aqua viva salutis nostrae, 
benedicere dignatus es et intus reformare:
concede ut qui huius aquae aspersione
vel usu munimur,
renovata animae iuventute
per virtutem Sancti Spiritus
in novitate vitae iugiter ambulemus.
 
 
Blessed are you, Lord, Almighty God,
who deigned to bless us in Christ, the living water of our salvation,
and to reform us interiorly,
grant that we who are fortified
by the sprinkling of or use of this water,
the youth of the spirit being renewed
by the power of the Holy Spirit,
may walk always in newness of life.

The other prayers are not more explicit.

The difference with the older rite is not just that there is no exorcism or blending of exorcised and blessed salt. There is no explicit act of blessing.  The fact that a deacon can use this rite means that it is not connected to the power of the priestly office.  The words don’t say the water is blessed.
 
In the older rite, which priests can use (reason #4378 for why we needed Summorum Pontificum) first salt is exorcised and then blessed.  Then water is exorcised and then blessed.  In the exorcism of the salt and the water, the two elements are addressed directly, personally, in the second person.  By this exorcism they are entirely and without question ripped from the domination of the “Prince of this World”, as our Lord calls our Enemy.  Then they are blessed with explicit words and gestures of blessings.  Here are the prayers for the exorcism and the blessing the water (before the exorcised blessed salt is added), with his emphasis:
 
God’s creature, water, I cast out the demon from you in the name of God + the Father almighty, in the name of Jesus + Christ, His Son, our Lord, and in the power of the Holy + Spirit. May you be a purified water, empowered to drive afar all power of the enemy, in fact, to root out and banish the enemy himself, along with his fallen angels. We ask this through the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who is coming to judge both the living and the dead and the world by fire. All: Amen.
 
O God, Who for man’s welfare established the most wonderful mysteries in the substance of water, hearken to our prayer, and pour forth your blessing + on this element now being prepared with various purifying rites. May this creature of yours, used in your mysteries and endowed with your grace, serve to cast out demons and to banish disease. May everything that this water sprinkles in the homes and gatherings of the faithful be delivered from all that is unclean and hurtful; let no breath of contagion hover there, no taint of corruption; let all the wiles of the lurking enemy come to nothing. By the sprinkling of this water may everything opposed to the safety and peace of the occupants of these homes be banished, so that in calling on Your Holy Name they may know the well-being they desire, and be protected from every peril; through Christ our Lord. All: Amen.
 
In the newer prayer, we pray that people have spiritual benefits, because we are invoking God’s blessing.  The water is a symbol of those blessings.  In the older prayer something entirely different seems to be going on.  The water is taken from the realm of the profane and made something of the sacred realm.  Then the water is used to bring about the things we pray, through God’s power of course, but by the use of the water.  Use of the water is a direct contradiction to the powers of evil who wish us harm. (Who would want to change this and Why?)

Furthermore, the water which has been blessed has itself now a role in the blessing of other things.  Consider the principle that something cannot give what it does not have.
That said, the rite of blessing water during Mass found in the newer, Ordinary Form Missale Romanum, includes the words:
 
“… dignare, quaesumus, hanc aquam + benedicere… deign, we implore, to bless + this water… “
The second option (aren’t there always options in the Novus Ordo?) has:
“…hanc aquam, te quaesumus, + benedicas...  we implore You that You + bless this water… “
 
Mind you, there is no exorcism of the water in the newer Missale Romanum during Mass.  And keep in mind that in the older rite, the water was blessed outside of Mass.  Blessing of Easter water is a special rite.
 
CONCLUSION:  There is a world of difference, of sensibility, of theology, between what we find in the newer Missale Romanum and what we find De benedictionibus.
Therefore, I exhort you to get some Holy Water blessed in the OLD RITE and use it in your homes, during this Lent, on your children, on your grandchildren, on the sick and aged ----- daily.
 
In Chapter 31 of St. Teresa of Avila’s Autobiography, she tells of a time that she was harassed by a demon and her use of Holy Water:
“Out of his body there seemed to be coming a great flame, which was intensely bright and cast no shadow. He told me in a horrible way that I had indeed escaped out of his hands but he would get hold of me still.”
Frightened, she tried to shoo him away with the Sign of the Cross. The demon left her, but soon returned. This happened several times, until she noticed she had some holy water nearby. “So I flung some in the direction of the apparition,” she wrote, “and it never came back.”
Another time, she wrote, “the devil was with me for five hours, torturing me with such terrible pains and both inward and outward disquiet that I do not believe I could have endured them any longer. The sisters who were with me were frightened to death and had no more idea of what to do for me than I had of how to help myself.” She only found relief after she requested holy water and threw some to the place where she saw a demon nearby.
It’s in her explanation of all of this that the famous quote comes in.
“From long experience I have learned that there is nothing like holy water to put devils to flight and prevent them from coming back again. They also flee from the Cross, but return; so holy water must have great virtue.”  (when blessed right!)
She continues: “For my own part, whenever I take it, my soul feels a particular and most notable consolation. In fact, it is quite usual for me to be conscious of a refreshment which I cannot possibly describe, resembling an inward joy which comforts my whole soul.
“This is not fancy, or something which has happened to me only once: it has happened again and again and I have observed it most attentively. It is, let us say, as if someone very hot and thirsty were to drink from a jug of cold water: he would feel the refreshment throughout his body. I often reflect on the great importance of everything ordained by the Church and it makes me very happy to find that those words of the Church are so powerful that they impart their power to the water and make it so very different from water which has not been blessed.”
​
WARNING TO ALL – It is critical that you go to a Church that uses the Old Rite in Blessing the Holy Water or the demons will NOT be put to flight!  Use it daily in your homes!   Start it this Lent!
Our Lady of Mt. Carmel – pray for us and all priests!

Hello Everyone
                                                           
​This Sunday starts the very powerful Novena to the Holy Face of Jesus. The Feast Day is always Shrove Tuesday - the day before Ash Wednesday which means it changes each year. This is a Carmelite devotion that offers Reparation - therefore it is highly recommended to do. I have added a new section under "Devotions" at the top with information on the Novena and various prayers - please find them there.

The Veil of Veronica is a precious relic of the Catholic Church which is preserved and venerated at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.  Over the course of years, the Church has permitted certain other images of the Holy Face to be touched to this True Image in Rome and has given to the faithful who venerate them the same indulgences as if they were to kneel before the actual Veil of Veronica in Rome when it is on display.  These “copies” of the actual Veil of Veronica bear a red wax seal on the lower portion of the picture. The image here is one such copy which was given to Leo Dupont (early 19th century) and before which he burned an oil lamp as a sign of his love. 
The Image of the Holy Face of Jesus on the Veil of Veronica is very expressive of the love of the Heart of Jesus for us!  See how much He loves us that He would allow Himself to be mistreated so!  Yet the image on Veronica’s Veil also preserves the memory of the love which Veronica had for Jesus in braving an angry crowd of people hostile to Jesus. It was Our Lord’s way of showing how pleased He was with her act of courage and devotion. What will Our Lord fail to do for us if we honor Him with a like devotion? How many miracles of grace will He not perform through His Holy Face to touch our hearts and the hearts of our loved ones and draw us closer to Himself? Join us during this Novena to give Him the love and gratitude which are due to Him as our merciful Savior and Redeemer. Below is a little history but please visit the Devotions section on this website for more and for the actual Novena.

In Tours, France a young Carmelite nun, Sister Marie de Saint-Pierre (1816-1848), received a series of revelations in the 1840s from Our Lord about a powerful devotion He wished to be established worldwide – the devotion to his Holy Face.

The express purpose of this devotion was to make reparation for the blasphemies and outrages of the ‘revolutionaries’ of that time, the blasphemies of atheists, freethinkers and Masons, and for blasphemy and the profanation of Sundays by Catholics. 

We read in her autobiography: 

“Then He unfolded His Heart to me, concentrating therein the powers of my soul, and addressed me thus: ‘My Name is everywhere blasphemed; even little children blaspheme it.’ And He made me understand how that dreadful sin pierced and wounded His Heart more than all other crimes. 

“By blasphemy, the sinner outrages Him to His Face, attacks Him openly, and pronounces upon himself his own judgment and condemnation. Blasphemy is a poisoned arrow, wounding His Divine Heart continually. He told me that He would give me a “Golden Arrow” with which to wound Him delightfully and heal the poisonous wounds caused by sin.” 

Our Lord then dictated to Sr. Mary the following Golden Arrow prayer, assuring her that every time she said it, she would lovingly wound His Heart. 

THE GOLDEN ARROW
May the most holy, most sacred, most adorable, most mysterious and unutterable  Name of God be forever praised, blessed, loved, adored, and glorified in Heaven, on earth and in under the earth, by all the creatures of God, and by the Sacred Heart of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. Amen. 

Our Lord told Sr. Mary on March 16, 1844: “Oh if you only knew what great merit you acquire by saying even once, ‘Admirable is the Name of God!’ in the spirit of reparation for blasphemy.”