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Thursday 21 February 2019

Viganò calls on Summit Bishops to convert!

From Archbishop Viganò.

Image result for vigano letter

http://www.ncregister.com/blog/edward-pentin/archbishop-vigano-vatican-summit-opening-on-feast-of-st.-damian-sign-of-pro

We cannot avoid seeing as a sign of Providence that you, Pope Francis, and brother Bishops representing the entire Church have come together on the very day on which we celebrate the memory of St. Peter Damian. This great monk in the 11th century put all his strength and apostolic zeal into renewing the Church in his time, so deeply corrupted by sins of sodomy and simony. He did that with the help of faithful Bishops and lay people, especially with the support of Abbot Hildebrand of the Abbey of St Paul extra muros, the future Pope St. Gregory the Great.   

Allow me to propose for our meditation the words of our dear Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI addressed to the people of God in the General Audience of Wednesday, May 17, 2006, commenting on the very passage of the Gospel of Mark 8:27–33 that we proclaimed on today's Mass.

Peter was to live another important moment of his spiritual journey near Caesarea Philippi when Jesus asked the disciples a precise question: "Who do men say that I am?" (Mk 8: 27). But for Jesus hearsay did not suffice. He wanted from those who had agreed to be personally involved with him a personal statement of their position. Consequently, he insisted: "But who do you say that I am?" (Mk 8:29).

It was Peter who answered on behalf of the others: "You are the Christ" (ibid.), that is, the Messiah. Peter's answer, which was not revealed to him by "flesh and blood" but was given to him by the Father who is in Heaven (cf. Mt 16:17), contains as in a seed the future confession of faith of the Church. However, Peter had not yet understood the profound content of Jesus' Messianic mission, the new meaning of this word: Messiah.

He demonstrates this a little later, inferring that the Messiah whom he is following in his dreams is very different from God's true plan. He was shocked by the Lord's announcement of the Passion and protested, prompting a lively reaction from Jesus (cf. Mk 8:32–33).

Peter wanted as Messiah a "divine man" who would fulfil the expectations of the people by imposing his power upon them all: we would also like the Lord to impose his power and transform the world instantly. Jesus presented himself as a "human God," the Servant of God, who turned the crowd's expectations upside-down by taking a path of humility and suffering.

This is the great alternative that we must learn over and over again: to give priority to our own expectations, rejecting Jesus, or to accept Jesus in the truth of His mission and set aside all too human expectations.

Peter, impulsive as he was, did not hesitate to take Jesus aside and rebuke Him. Jesus' answer demolished all his false expectations, calling him to conversion and to follow Him: "Get behind me, Satan! For you are not on the side of God, but of men" (Mk 8:33). It is not for you to show me the way; I take my own way and you should follow me.

Peter thus learned what following Jesus truly means. It was his second call, similar to Abraham's in Genesis 22, after that in Genesis 12: "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake and the Gospel's will save it" (Mk 8:34–35). This is the demanding rule of the following of Christ: one must be able, if necessary, to give up the whole world to save the true values, to save the soul, to save the presence of God in the world (cf. Mk 8:36–37). And though with difficulty, Peter accepted the invitation and continued his life in the Master's footsteps.

And it seems to me that these conversions of St. Peter on different occasions, and his whole figure, are a great consolation and a great lesson for us. We too have a desire for God, we too want to be generous, but we too expect God to be strong in the world and to transform the world on the spot, according to our ideas and the needs that we perceive.

God chooses a different way. God chooses the way of the transformation of hearts in suffering and in humility. And we, like Peter, must convert, over and over again. We must follow Jesus and not go before Him: it is He who shows us the way.

So it is that Peter tells us: You think you have the recipe and that it is up to you to transform Christianity, but it is the Lord who knows the way. It is the Lord who says to me, who says to you: follow me! And we must have the courage and humility to follow Jesus, because He is the Way, the Truth and the Life."

Maria, Mater Ecclesiae, Ora pro nobis,

Maria, Regina Apostolorum, Ora pro nobis.

Maria, Mater Gratiae, Mater Misericordiae, Tu nos ab hoste protege et mortis hora suscipe.


+ Carlo Maria Viganò

Tit. Archbishop of Ulpiana
Apostolic Nuncio
February 21, 2019
Memorial of St. Peter Damian

12 comments:

Tom A. said...

As a typical modernist, Vigano uses lots of words to basically say nothing.

Peter Lamb said...

" the words of our dear Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI"

Enough said!!!

Dan said...

Vigano thinks the date chosen is a "sign of Providence." I think it is the homosexual's "hilariously delicious sense of irony."

Michael Ortiz said...

God has a sense of irony too. Finely honed over eternity.

Tom A. said...

What is it Vigano wants them to convert too? The Novus Ordo V2 false religion?

Peter Lamb said...

Completely O.T.

Dear Johnno, My son Richard has gotten very interested in geocentrism. I sent him all the magnificent dope you gave me. I just wanted to thank you again for all the trouble you took. :)

Irenaeus said...

God bless Archbishop Vigano.

Tom A. said...

Why? For standing up for natural law? When has Vigano stood up for the Catholic faith? I thought this was a web site of traditionally minded Catholics. Yet always read praise for NO clerics who happen to get something right every now and then.

Johnno said...

You're welcome Peter!

Another thing you might be interested in is the work of Wolfgang Smith, and a new upcoming film 'The End of Quantum Reality'

https://philos-sophia.org/
https://philos-sophia.org/about-the-film/

It's basically about a move back to classical science and away from the modern day insanity where nothing is certain. And that God really does make things as we observe them. So contrary to the erroneous thought that reality is defined at the molecular atomic level, reality is actually a product of things at the higher level.

So reality is not the atoms that make up an apple. It is the apple itself that we observe which is the reality. And above and beyond us, that which is observed in its totality by God. And understanding this helps to explain all the quirks and oddities that physicists observe at the quantum level that their naturalist theories cannot explain and which leads them to more insane erroneous conclusions that ultimately reject the notion of the existence of Truth itself.

Catholics need to reconquer each and every discipline again to restore sanity to the world.

Irenaeus said...

Tom A.,

Why? Well, in this time of ours, we have to take every small victory we can get. Have we set the bar too low? Perhaps. But - as Vox said the other day - rebuilding the Church comes slowly, while destruction is much faster. I am of the view that Archbishop Vigano is doing a measure of good (I am unable to quantify it, of course, only knowing a small segment of the Church) by speaking as he does, and contributing in some way to the rebuilding of the Church.

This is indeed a website comprised of traditionally-minded Catholics. One of the best, in my opinion. I am not really sure why you are questioning it based on my praise of a supposedly "NO cleric," when there is plenty of evidence regarding the website's solidity and orthodoxy.

Tom A. said...

Irenaeus, but at the end of the day, the Church is in the predicament it is in because of those who compromise on matters of the faith and go along to get along. This isn't some political battle here where we can settle for the lesser of two evils and seem to always have to come election time. This is the Catholic Faith we are talking about and we should have absolutely nothing to do with the modernists. Even if they are correct about an issue here and there. Vigano and the other conservatives who still hold on to Catholic morals long ago threw in the towel on the Catholic Faith. The sad bottom line is that you will not find any cleric left in the NO establishment that hasn't sold out the Faith on ecumenism, religious liberty, and ecclesiology. Don't be fooled by any of them, please.

Anonymous said...

https://www.thejournal.ie/cardinal-church-files-destroyed-4509459-Feb2019/