Today is the Optional Memorial of St. John Paul II. Last Thursday, October 16, was the anniversary of his election as Supreme Pontiff and more than one observed that it was on that day the bishops and cardinals in the Synod hall rose up and said "enough" and it seemed to be so overwhelming that it could only have been through the intervention of this Saint from Heaven!
The Collect of the Mass is as follows:
O God, who are rich in mercy
and who willed that the Saint John Paul the Second
should preside as Pope over your universal Church,
grant, we pray, that instructed by his teaching,
we may open our hearts to the saving grace of Christ,
the sole Redeemer of mankind.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.
"Instructed by his teaching." Perhaps this would be a good time for everyone, particularly the bishops and cardinals and the Holy Father himself who would suggest that it might be possible to provide the Most Blessed Sacrament to those who are in unrepentant sin of adultery and sodomy and recognising those life situations and styles as offering to the Church anything other than the individual cross of the person, to in fact, become "instructed by his teaching."
Considering it is the current Pontiff and those in the curia that only this year proclaimed him to be a Saint, how dare they suggest that they can do something else? and please, do not give me the mantra, "they are not changing doctrine." They will do what has been done before, they will attempt to change messaging and pastoral practices resulting in a de facto change of doctrine.
When one reads these small excerpts we are left to see clearly the nakedness of the bishops for the last thirty five years that failed to grasp the Saint's teaching and failed to teach it to the the people of God.
This is in reality heresy and nothing more than an ideology of evil; and it is to their condemnation.
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IDEOLOGIES OF EVIL
At this point, we cannot remain silent regarding a tragic question that is more pressing today than ever. The fall of the regimes built on ideologies of evil put an end to the forms of extermination just mentioned in the countries concerned. However, there remains the legal extermination of human beings conceived but unborn. And in this case, that extermination is decreed by democratically elected parliaments, which invoke the notion of civil progress for society and for all humanity. Nor are other grave violations of God's law lacking. I am thinking, for example, of the strong pressure from the European Parliament to recognise homosexual unions as an alternative type of family, with the right to adopt children. It is legitimate and even necessary to ask whether this is not the work of another ideology of evil, more subtle and hidden, perhaps, intent upon exploiting human rights themselves against man and against the family. from Memory and Identity, 2005
GRATISSIMAM SANE - LETTER TO FAMILIES
...
Why is the "splendour of truth" so important?
First of all, by way of contrast: the development of contemporary civilization
is linked to a scientific and technological progress which is often achieved in
a one-sided way, and thus appears purely positivistic. Positivism, as we know,
results in agnosticism in theory and utilitarianism in practice and in ethics.
In our own day, history is in a way repeating itself. Utilitarianism is a
civilization of production and of use, a civilization of "things" and
not of "persons", a civilization in which persons are used in the
same way as things are used. In the context of a civilization of use, woman can
become an object for man, children a hindrance to parents, the family an
institution obstructing the freedom of its members. To be convinced that this
is the case, one need only look at certain sexual education programmes
introduced into the schools, often notwithstanding the disagreement and even
the protests of many parents; or pro-abortion tendencies which vainly try to
hide behind the so-called "right to choose" ("pro-choice")
on the part of both spouses, and in particular on the part of the woman. These
are only two examples; many more could be mentioned.
...
It is evident that in this sort of a cultural situation the
family cannot fail to feel threatened, since it is endangered at its very
foundations. Everything contrary to the civilization of love is contrary to the
whole truth about man and becomes a threat to him: it does not allow him to
find himself and to feel secure, as spouse, parent, or child. So-called
"safe sex", which is touted by the "civilization of
technology", is actually, in view of the overall requirements of the
person, radically not safe, indeed it is extremely dangerous. It endangers both
the person and the family. And what is this danger? It is the loss of the truth
about one's own self and about the family, together with the risk of a loss of
freedom and consequently of a loss of love itself. "You will know the
truth", Jesus says, "and the truth will make you free" (Jn
8:32): the truth, and only the truth, will prepare you for a love which can be
called "fairest love" (cf. Sir 24:24, Vulg.).
...
Within a similar anthropological perspective, the human
family is facing the challenge of a new Manichaeanism, in which body and spirit
are put in radical opposition; the body does not receive life from the spirit,
and the spirit does not give life to the body. Man thus ceases to live as a
person and a subject. Regardless of all intentions and declarations to the
contrary, he becomes merely an object. This neo-Manichaean culture has led, for
example, to human sexuality being regarded more as a area for manipulation and
exploitation than as the basis of that primordial wonder which led Adam on the
morning of creation to exclaim before Eve: "This at last is bone of my
bones and flesh of my flesh" (Gen 2:23). This same wonder is echoed in the
words of the Song of Solomon: "You have ravished my heart, my sister, my
bride, you have ravished my heart with a glance of your eyes" (Song 4:9).
How far removed are some modern ideas from the profound understanding of
masculinity and femininity found in Divine Revelation! Revelation leads us to
discover in human sexuality a treasure proper to the person, who finds true
fulfilment in the family but who can likewise express his profound calling in
virginity and in celibacy for the sake of the Kingdom of God.
...
FAMILIARIS CONSORTIO - THE FAMILY IN THE MODERN WORLD
...
Among the more troubling signs of this phenomenon, the Synod
Fathers stressed the following, in particular: the spread of divorce and of
recourse to a new union, even on the part of the faithful; the acceptance of
purely civil marriage in contradiction to the vocation of the baptized to
"be married in the Lord", the celebration of the marriage sacrament
without living faith, but for other motives; the rejection of the moral norms
that guide and promote the human and Christian exercise of sexuality in
marriage.
...
82. There are increasing cases of Catholics who for
ideological or practical reasons, prefer to contract a merely civil marriage,
and who reject or at least defer religious marriage. Their situation cannot of
course be likened to that of people simply living together without any bond at
all, because in the present case there is at least a certain commitment to a
properly-defined and probably stable state of life, even though the possibility
of a future divorce is often present in the minds of those entering a civil
marriage. By seeking public recognition of their bond on the part of the State,
such couples show that they are ready to accept not only its advantages but
also its obligations. Nevertheless, not even this situation is acceptable to
the Church.
...
The situation is similar for people who have undergone
divorce, but, being well aware that the valid marriage bond is indissoluble,
refrain from becoming involved in a new union and devote themselves solely to
carrying out their family duties and the responsibilities of Christian life. In
such cases their example of fidelity and Christian consistency takes on
particular value as a witness before the world and the Church. Here it is even
more necessary for the Church to offer continual love and assistance, without
there being any obstacle to admission to the sacraments.
...
84. Daily experience unfortunately shows that people who
have obtained a divorce usually intend to enter into a new union, obviously not
with a Catholic religious ceremony. Since this is an evil that, like the
others, is affecting more and more Catholics as well, the problem must be faced
with resolution and without delay. The Synod Fathers studied it expressly. The
Church, which was set up to lead to salvation all people and especially the
baptized, cannot abandon to their own devices those who have been previously
bound by sacramental marriage and who have attempted a second marriage. The
Church will therefore make untiring efforts to put at their disposal her means
of salvation.
..
Together with the Synod, I earnestly call upon pastors and
the whole community of the faithful to help the divorced, and with solicitous
care to make sure that they do not consider themselves as separated from the
Church, for as baptized persons they can, and indeed must, share in her life.
They should be encouraged to listen to the word of God, to attend the Sacrifice
of the Mass, to persevere in prayer, to contribute to works of charity and to
community efforts in favour of justice, to bring up their children in the
Christian faith, to cultivate the spirit and practice of penance and thus
implore, day by day, God's grace. Let the Church pray for them, encourage them
and show herself a merciful mother, and thus sustain them in faith and hope.
...
However, the Church reaffirms her practice, which is based
upon Sacred Scripture, of not admitting to Eucharistic Communion divorced
persons who have remarried. They are unable to be admitted thereto from the
fact that their state and condition of life objectively contradict that union
of love between Christ and the Church which is signified and effected by the
Eucharist. Besides this, there is another special pastoral reason: if these
people were admitted to the Eucharist, the faithful would be led into error and
confusion regarding the Church's teaching about the indissolubility of
marriage.
...
