Why I Love the Latin Mass

St. Padre Pio once said, "It would be easier for the world to survive without the sun than to do so without the Holy Mass." It's sad that many people don't realize this. Especially those who are often referred to as "Easter Bunnies" or "Flower People", those who come to Mass only on special occasions. They are missing out on so much!

All my life I have considered myself a very faithful person. My parents raised me with the knowledge of Jesus Christ and with the Mass as a very important part of my upbringing. In grade school I was often teased and called "Jesus Boy" for always wanting to do the right thing. And in high school I joined my church's youth group so that I could strengthen my relationship with Christ through the fellowship of other Catholics. Yet I always wanted more! When ever I would go to Mass I wanted more opportunities to fall in love with Jesus... but each time I left feeling more enriched by the Eucharist than anything else. For me it appeared that after the 1960's, Mass had kinda lost its strength as it once did. It even seemed as though even the priests weren't taking their calling seriously anymore. The Church herself was suffering and I could see it!

It was in high school that I got a real eye-opener when my teacher in my "Christian Ethics" class had each of us attend Mass at different churches around the Minneapolis area. The first Mass I had to attend was at a church called St. Agnes where they celebrated the Mass in Latin. I was instantly in love! The reverence, the music, the whole atmosphere was everything that I had been looking for! This was the Mass that the Saints back in the day would die for!! This was the Mass that was persecuted for its undeniable reverence for Our Lord being truly present in the Eucharist! This was the Mass that the Apostles had received from Jesus Himself!!

The next Mass I had to go to was at another church called St. Joan of Arc's and oh my... I will also never forget that experience either! Their  Mass was held in their gymnasium, and there was no sign of the priest anywhere until a man who wasn't wearing a collar or vestments suddenly stood up with his cup of coffee and said, "Well let's begin!" It wasn't until later that I realized that was the priest, when he finally put on his vestments for consecration. I was horrified! The readings were taken out of a magazine, and a woman came up and gave a homily on a paganistic idea about how "mother earth birthed us from her womb!" It was so extremely appalling!! Many of the other Masses we had to go to after that were quite typical of what I was used to for Mass around town, but after that Latin Mass at St. Agnes, something clued me in to the fact that there is still something very great about the Mass that was being hidden.  

By the time I got to college, my interest in the Holy Mass had peeked, and my search had begun to find what Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI had called the "hidden treasure of the Church" in the world! Sunday after Sunday I would attend Mass at the local parish on campus that was run by the Jesuit order. The order that St. Ignacius himself started so as to help bring Protestants back into the Church after the Reformation. Yet from one Mass to the next, I was experiencing the same thing... nothing! And soon once the war on terror started, all I ever heard at Mass was a political sermon! I finally got to the point where my sister and I begged my Grandparents to take me to the church that they always went to! And it was there that I found the Latin Mass being offered again! Finally Sunday after Sunday I was beginning to feel my spiritual life getting stronger and stronger! My love for Jesus and His Church becoming more and more!! And even my knowledge of the faith even becoming more and more complete! Ah yes, this was it! This was the Mass of the Saints in Heaven!! This was the Mass that made sinners into Saints!

It was at the Latin Mass that I began to see young boys wanting to serve! And no longer would I hear them say, "I want to be a fireman when I grow up" I was hearing them say instead, "I want to be a priest! I want to be a monk!" I was told so often that the Church was struggling with a shortage of priests, but here they were in the Latin Mass springing  forth like a wildfire! Many I had heard say, "If they want to add more priests to the priesthood, they should allow priests to marry or even allow women to be priests!" But from this I could see, that was not the answer at all! What these young boys needed was a good example of a priest! A priest who believed what he preached and preached what he believed! A priest who would be a true father-figure to his church and guide them on the right path. I priest who wouldn't be afraid of stepping on toes or refusing communion to someone who came in with a bunch of facial piercings and expected it to be okay! No! This was the Mass! This was Mass of Jesus Christ! The Mass of the same God who told Abraham to sacrifice his only son, the same God who wipped out the sinful people in Sodom and Gomorrah, and cast out the thieves and money changers in the temples in Jerusalem! The same God, Jesus Christ who died for us on a cross and shed His blood for many so that sins may be forgiven! It was clear this was the Mass!

However now-a-days, people who attend the Latin Mass are viewed as those who are against Vatican II. As I have posted before, Vatican II had a lot of errors in it, and many of the documents of Vatican II were left open to interpretation, which has caused so much confusion in the Church. I would not say that the Latin Mass folk are against the Church and the teachings of Vatican II, but rather we are more cautious with it because of what many have done with it. The English Mass is still valid Mass, do doubt! But unfortunately its true splendor is being hidden by corrupt practices that are being followed. Practices that are personalizing the Mass into the Mass of the priest who says it! And this is not right! The Mass should be about Jesus and bringing us back to His sacrifice for us on the cross! Mass is not another Sunday chore that we must do because we are Catholic... but because we want nothing more than to be with Jesus at Calvary!

As I have also posted before on the story of Pope St. Leo XIII, it is probably a good thing to be cautious with Vatican II since from the time it began it did fall into the "75-100 years" that the Devil requested in order to destroy the Church. And look at it now… Many of the faithful are leaving the Church, abandoning reverence in the Church, and giving into sinful practices that earlier in the Church's history, would never have been allowed. Even a buddy of mine recently alerted me to the fact that the real "Emily Rose" (Anneliese Michel) from the famous exorcism movie, had even been told by her demons that they were "very pleased with the recent Church council." This to me, makes me want to be very cautious, and stay even closer to the Latin Mass.

If you have never been to a Latin Mass before, I would encourage you to go. For some it takes some time to get used to, but for others, it can be love at first sight! I love the Latin Mass!

God love you all, Pray the Rosary Daily!

Drawing the Curtain

Lord Have Mercy On Us!

On October 13, 1884, Pope Leo XIII had a vision. When the aged Pontiff had finished celebrating Mass in his private Vatican Chapel, attended by a few Cardinals and members of the Vatican staff, he suddenly stopped at the foot of the altar. He stood there for about 10 minutes, as if in a trance, his face ashen white. Then, going immediately from the Chapel to his office, he composed the prayer to St. Michael, with instructions it be said after all Low Masses everywhere. When asked what had happened, he explained that, as he was about to leave the foot of the altar, he suddenly heard voices - two voices, one kind and gentle, the other guttural and harsh. They seemed to come from near the tabernacle. As he listened, he heard the following conversation:

The guttural voice, the voice of Satan in his pride, boasted to Our Lord: "I can destroy your Church."

The gentle voice of Our Lord: "You can? Then go ahead and do so."

Satan: "To do so, I need more time and more power."

Our Lord: "How much time? How much power?

Satan: "75 to 100 years, and a greater power over those who will give themselves over to my service."

Our Lord: "You have the time, you will have the power. Do with them what you will."

This happened in 1884.  The devil said he needed 75 to100 years.  Well, 75 years from 1884 is 1959.  Interestingly enough, on January 25, 1959, Blessed John XXIII publicly summoned the Second Vatican Council. Remember that after the vision, Pope Leo XIII immediately wrote the Prayer to St. Michael to help us overcome the devil in his quest.  He instructed that it be said after every low Mass.  One of the first changes to come from Vatican II, was the deletion of the Leonine Prayers which included the prayer to St. Michael.  These prayers were eliminated in 1964, the 80th year of the Devil’s 75 - 100 years needed to destroy the Catholic Church.  It would seem that this would be the time to especially say that prayer, not to delete it. The 100th year finally came in 1984. This would mean that Satan’s mission to destroy the Church is over right? You tell me?

I would say that during these 100 years time, Satan more likely planted seeds in time in order to help distort the Church and her teachings amongst her followers. And because of this, we currently see much disorder not only in Holy Mother Church amongst her laity and clergy, but also in the world as well.

It is more common than ever these days to see more people claim to be atheist, or even leave the Catholic faith for a heretical Protestant Church. And I believe it is becoming safe to say that as good faithful Catholics defend the faith at political rallies, more and more people are becoming publically Anti-Christian, and it would seem that no one cares that this is happening. People hold up signs at rallies stating blasphemous things against Our Lord and His Most Sacred Name! And sinful behaviors are no longer corrected by parents, but rather seen as, “well, that’s just the way things are in this age. The times have changed!” But we must remember that God hasn’t! And the God of the Old Testament is the same God we believe in today!

The number of good faithful Catholics is shrinking, and clearly our Holy Father is suffering greatly as the wolves are devouring his flock. We need to pray for the conversion of sinners and the freedom and exaltation of Holy Mother Church! As we can all see, she is being attacked!

More over we must pray for our Bishops and Priests who have grown weak in this battle for souls. Instead of preaching about the faith and morality, sin and Hell, they have gone on to tell jokes and retell the Gospel in fun and crowd pleasing ways. Most people will even go from Church to Church to find a Priest that will agree with their way of living. Most priests are even aware that majority of engaged couples these days that are going through marriage prep are cohabitating… yet they marry them anyway.

What is our world coming to? Even our nations leaders seem to look at faithful practices as something that is equivalent to holiday traditions; something to be practiced once in a while, but never on a regular basis. Even our judges and lawmakers ignore the natural law given to us by God and invent their own laws to please mankind! Often times when I see things like this happen in the news, I picture Jesus uttering these words to all our politicians and lawmakers who had swore on the Bible to uphold the constitution and pledge allegiance to the flag of which “One Nation, Under God…” stands:

We must not loose hope… we must not give into despair… the battle is not over yet. Even though Satan has become more aggressive in his efforts to destroy the Church and her faithful… he will not win! "That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world." Matt. 16:18 & 28:20

God love you all! Pray the Rosary Daily!

The Bishop in White: Part 2

I would like to look back into a previous post I made on February 26, on "The Bishop in White". I stated how in the portion of the Third Secret revealed by the Vatican in the year 2000, there is a vision of the Holy Father passing “through a big city half in ruins”, who is then “killed by a group of soldiers who fired bullets and arrows at him, and in the same way there died one after another the other Bishops, Priests, men and women Religious, and various lay people of different ranks and positions”.  Earlier in the same vision, Sister Lucia also reports seeing one she refers to as “a Bishop dressed in white”.  Yet she did not refer to the Bishop in white as the Holy Father, but only said “we had the impression that he was the Holy Father”.

I also pointed out that just before the death of Pope St. Pius X, he had a vision, in which he saw a future pope of the same name fleeing over the bodies of his brethren, before being killed himself. "I have seen one of my successors, of the same name who was fleeing over the bodies of his brethren. He will take refuge in some hiding place; but after a brief respite, he will die a cruel death”.

In the article I pointed out that this may mean that a successor of Pope Pius X, could maybe be another Pope Pius in the future… Or not? According to a recent discussion I had with a fellow Catholic online, he shared with me that the "same name" of Pope Pius X could be his birth name Giuseppe (Joseph) Melchiorre Sarto and not his papal name of "Pius".

Is it possible that "Joseph" Ratzinger could be that pontiff with the "same name". And could one say that his new dwelling at the Vatican Monastery could be his place of "hiding"?

We know that in Pope Benedict's first Mass as Pope he stated: “Pray for me, that I may not flee for fear of the wolves.” And has Pope Francis has brought to light, there are many wolves swarming in the Vatican with their own agendas.

This is truly terrifying as Pope Pius X stated. But we must not be afraid. We must stay close to Jesus in this time of tribulation. Even Our Blessed Mother told us in her recent visit to Medjugorje:

"Dear children! With joy in the heart I love you all and call you to draw closer to my Immaculate Heart so I can draw you still closer to my Son Jesus, and that He can give you His peace and love, which are nourishment for each one of you. Open yourselves, little children, to prayer - open yourselves to my love. I am your mother and cannot leave you alone in wandering and sin. You are called, little children, to be my children, my beloved children, so I can present you all to my Son. Thank you for having responded to my call."

And as I have written before of a great chastisement that will come over our world, we must also increase our devotion to the Divine Mercy of Jesus, according to St. Faustina, who was promised by Jesus that, "…the soul that will venerate this picture will not perish. I further promise to that soul victory over enemies here on earth and especially in the hour of death. I myself, shall defend that soul as My own Glory...." I will preserve the cities and homes in which this image shall be venerated."

Pray my dear brothers and sisters, that we may survive the coming trials.

God love you all, Pray the Rosary daily!

Purgatory

Back in 2011 my Grandpa suffered a stroke which left him paralyzed on one side of his body. It was hard on my whole family to see this man whom we loved, honored and looked up to, suffer so much. Yet in his suffering he would often say, "I am offering this up for the poor souls in purgatory." 

Many times, at Church I have heard people pray for the "poor souls in purgatory" and what a good practice it is to do so. Even my Grandpa showed me a book once he was reading on purgatory and how some souls were allowed to appear to individuals and during their visit, left a burned hand print on a bed sheet, curtain or even a piece of clothing. Even though most people these days may argue that purgatory is no real place and only an invention of the Catholic Church, signs like this would prove different.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches this about purgatory: “All who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven” (1030). To most Catholics, this seems very clear that the mere idea of Purgatory makes sense; If you die with unforgiven sin still on your soul, you need to be purified in order to enter into Heaven. Yet some still aren't fully convinced.

Perhaps the best place to start is with the most overt reference to a purgatory, of sorts, in the Old Testament. Second Maccabees 12:39-46 describes how Judas Maccabeus and members of his Jewish military forces collected the bodies of some fallen comrades who had been killed in battle. When they discovered these men were carrying “sacred tokens of the idols of Jamnia, which the law forbids the Jews to wear” (v. 40), Judas and his companions discerned they had died as a punishment for sin. Therefore, Judas and his men “turned to prayer beseeching that the sin which had been committed might be wholly blotted out… He also took up a collection… and sent it to Jerusalem to provide for a sin offering. In doing this he acted very well and honorably… Therefore he made atonement for the dead, that they might be delivered from their sin” (42-43, 46).

Yet, Protestants believe that Maccabees is not a valid book in the Bible and therefore the purgatory argument is flawed. Yet, proof of purgatory does not only stop in the Old Testament. In Matthew 5, Jesus is even more explicit about purgatory: “Make friends quickly with your accuser, while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison; truly I say to you, you will never get out till you have paid the last penny” (Mt 5:25-26). We can even look to Revelation that states that "nothing unclean shall enter [heaven]" (Rev. 21:27)

Many other Bible verses also support the idea of Purgatory as well. But if Purgatory exists… What is it? What is it like? Some mystics have said that the fires of Purgatory are no different than the fires of Hell. And let me point out how it has also been said that the fires of Hell are nothing like an Earthly fire. Even the act of living on the sun could not compare to the fires of Hell. Therefore the fires of Purgatory clearly spare no lack of severe suffering.

I have even heard people say, "Well, if I can at least make it to Purgatory… That's fine by me." But why would you ever want to set your eternal goal that low? Why not shoot for the ultimate goal of Heaven?? I think its because none of us have a full understanding of what Purgatory is?

According to this poor soul in Purgatory, this is what he had to say…
"You in the world have no inkling of what we have to suffer! Being abandoned and forgotten by those who have been nearest to us in the world: that is most bitter. Sometimes they stand at the tombs of our bodies and don't pray for us at all. They act as if we don't exist any more. God's justice commands us to be silent. But we stand at the door of their houses, of our former dwellings, and wait. We stand there and wait. Days, years. We wait for them to give us a small sign of their love by prayer and sacrifices. But we stay there in vain. We cry in vain for love. For help! Tell them...Love should not die at death. We are still alive and we are hungry for love! For your love!"
 

 After reading this quote from this poor soul, it really opened up the door to another question that I know my wife and I have often questioned during the time of Halloween about ghosts. According to my brief knowledge of the paranormal, most of what people experience in ghostly encounters is brought on by the demonic. And most likely anyone who would dabble in such thing would probably be experiencing demonic activity, which is why we must stay away from it! But on the other hand is it possible that some ghostly spirits could be the spirits of loved ones who have gone to Purgatory and are suffering and waiting for our prayers, but have been forgotten?

On April 29, 1926, St. Faustina Kowalska was visited three times by a recently deceased nun. During the apparitions, the spirit begged Sister Faustina for help so she could be released from purgatory. Even St. Padre Pio reported that "there were more souls of the dead who come up the road [leading to the monastery] then souls of the living."

There even is an account of a Lutheran minister, who is no believer in Purgatory, is left puzzled by repeated visitations from "demons" who come to him seeking prayer, consolation, and refuge in his little German church. But pity for the poor spirits overcomes the man's skepticism, and he marvels at what kind of departed souls could belong to Christ and yet suffer still... 

Here's another account: After a week of hearing ghostly noises, a man is visited in his home by the spirit of his mother, dead for three decades. She reproaches him for his dissolute life and begs him to have Masses said in her name. Then she lays her hand on his sleeve, leaving an indelible burn mark, and departs...

Is it possible that some of these ghostly spirits are suffering Purgatory here on Earth and want nothing but our prayers to be freed? Even during the first apparition of Our Lady of Fatima, 10-year old Lucia asked Mary if the they would go go heaven. Mary answered yes, but that Francisco would have to "pray many rosaries". Next, she asked what happened to two young friends who had recently died: "Is Maria das Neves in Heaven?" "Yes, she is" [answered Mary]. "And Amelia?" "She will be in purgatory until the end of the world."

Regardless of these stories and what they have to tell us, it is clear that Purgatory does exist and the poor souls that exist there need our prayers. So my brothers and sisters, please… Pray for the poor souls in Purgatory, who long for our prayers so fervently!

God love you all, Pray the Rosary daily!

Are you Saved?

I was once asked by a door-to-door evangelist what I believe happens when you die. So I told him plainly what I believed, expecting that his answer to my response would be something in reference to John 3:16.

I told him that I believe that when you die you will stand at judgement to receive your eternal sentence. If you have lived a good life and made God the center of everything you did in life, kept His Commandments, received the Sacraments, did good to others and rejected evil at every turn, then you would go to Heaven. Yet if you did all these things yet in the end still had sin on your soul, then you may have to spend some time in Purgatory since as Jesus said, nothing unclean shall ever enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. (Rev. 21:27) But on the other hand if in everything you did, you did to serve mankind and not God, and gave into evil things thinking that it wasn't a big deal… Then you would receive the eternal sentence of Hell.

Of course his response was just as I expected, and followed the famous Protestant theme that Luther invented that believes that if you only accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, then you will be saved… Guaranteed! Ummm… Not quite!

Kenneth E. Hagin, a well-known Pentecostal televangelist from the "Word Faith" wing of Protestantism, asserts that this assurance of salvation comes through being "born again": "Unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3). Though much of Hagin’s theology is considered bizarre in Protestant circles, his explanation of being born again could be endorsed by millions of Evangelical Protestants. In his booklet, The New Birth, Hagin writes, "The new birth is a necessity to being saved. Through the new birth you come into the right relationship with God."

According to Hagin, there are many things that this new birth is not. "The new birth is not: confirmation, church membership, water baptism, the taking of sacraments, observing religious duties, an intellectual reception of Christianity, orthodoxy of faith, going to church, saying prayers, reading the Bible, being moral, being cultured or refined, doing good deeds, doing your best, nor any of the many other things some men are trusting in to save them." Those who have obtained the new birth "did the one thing necessary: they accepted Jesus Christ as personal Savior by repenting and turning to God with the whole heart as a little child." That one act of the will, he explains, is all they needed to do. But is this true? Does the Bible support this concept?

Yet scripture teaches that one’s final salvation depends on the state of the soul at death. As Jesus himself tells us, "He who endures to the end will be saved" (Matt. 24:13; cf. 25:31–46). One who dies in the state of friendship with God (the state of grace) will go to heaven. The one who dies in a state of enmity and rebellion against God (the state of mortal sin) will go to hell.  

In the world we live in today there seem to be many who would rather accept this easy route of just saying you believe in Jesus and then calling it a day over taking the tough road of actually living out their faith in fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12). But this is pure ignorance! Have we forgotten that the God of the Old and New Testament is the same God? If you are lukewarm you will be spit out! (Rev 3:16) If we really want to be saved, then it's not going to be easy. We must love as God loves, follow His Commandments, receive the Sacraments, and NEVER NEVER give into the world, the flesh or the Devil. These are fundamental basics of the path to salvation, and if we don't follow them… We will not be saved. We can't serve two masters.

I have even heard it said that "in the end, we will all go to Heaven… God will eventually rescue all His children, even the ones in Hell and bring them home." To which I stand in utter amazement in how demonically crafted this statement is. "Don't worry, Hell isn't actually forever." - LIE! Hell is forever, and we must "fear the loss of Heaven and the pains of Hell."

"But how could a loving and merciful God allow any of His children to go to Hell for all eternity?"

It is hard to swallow for some, but we need to remember that even though God is loving and merciful… He is not a push over. Like any good parent who would tell their children to not run in the street lest you are hit by a car, so our Heavenly Father is telling us not to sin and give into evil ways lest we fall into Hell. It is not God who chooses our destiny, but ourselves and our free will that He gave us that ultimately decides our fate. If there was no free will, we know that God would will for us all to be in Heaven with Him… Yet because He wishes for us to love Him freely from our own will, then it is us who have ultimately determined our fates.

Yet at the same time, since He does want us in Heaven with Him so badly, He does throw us "life vests" of salvation to help us along the way. These "life vests" are the Sacraments, Graces, Indulgences, the Rosary, Holy Water, Scapulars and much more. And let us not forget that our biggest advocate of all is Our Blessed Mother who also desires all of us to be with her Son in Heaven and will do everything she can to help save us. And we know that Our Lord will never deny her request.

We must remember to live out our salvation in fear and trembling, because our salvation is not guaranteed! And if we have sinned, we must remember not to fall into despair which is an agent of the Devil. Remember, Peter denied Jesus 3 times and came back to be forgiven. Judas betrayed Jesus and hung himself, and was never forgiven. It is never too late to seek the Sacrament of Penance and start over.

It may not be easy to live as a Catholic in this world, but it is easy to die as a Catholic in this world.

God love you all! Pray the Rosary Daily!

Our Lady of Peace, Pray for us.

God love you all, pray the rosary daily!