Catholic Saints, who have written on the Spiritual Life, suggest that a "remote preparation" is necessary in order to better understand the Word of God.  This includes being a lover of the Truth as well as the practice the Virtues of Humility, Meekness, and Docility to God the Holy Ghost.  "Proximate preparation" includes two prayers:  1) The Act of Contrition; and, 2) The Veni, Sancte Spiritus.

An Act of Contrition

O my God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, because I love Thee above all things with my whole heart and soul.  I detest all of my sins because it was for them and His Love for me that Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Most Blessed Trinity, my Lord and my God, suffered, was crucified, and died on the cross.  O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee by my sins, faults, imperfections, negligences and carelessness, Who art all good and deserving of all of my love.

I firmly resolve with the help of Thy Grace, to sin no more, to confess my sins, to do penance, to amend my life, to avoid all of the near occasions of sin, and always give to Thee freely, liberally and generously what is of supererogation and perfection, not only in greater things, but especially in lesser things, so that I may gain beforehand Thy efficacious, superabundant, particular and special Graces and Helps so that I will always be victorious in resisting and overcoming all temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil and his followers.  Grant me those Graces and Helps needed so that my every thought, word and action may be done solely out of love for Thee, Who art Love.  Amen.

Saint John Chrysostom

It was the custom of Patriarch Saint John Chrysostom [b. Antioch, c. 347 A.D. - d. at Commana in Pontus on Friday, September 14, 407 A.D.], Patriarch of Constantinople [Thursday, February 26, 398 A.D. - Thursday, June 24, 404 A.D.], exiled from his See the 2nd time on Thursday, June 24, 404 A.D., Father and Doctor of the Catholic Church, to properly prepare himself and his Congregation before preaching. He taught that unless God the Holy Ghost prepares the minds and hearts of the Preacher and of the Congregation, the Preacher preaches in vain and the Congregation listens in vain.

Therefore, so as not to waste your time, please pray the Veni, Sancte Spiritus, remembering how one Holy Saint was of the opinion that a Sermon is a Sacramental.

Veni, Sancte Spiritus

Come, O Holy Ghost, fill the hearts of Thy faithful
And kindle in them the fire of Thy love.

V. Send forth Thy Spirit, and they shall be created;
R. And Thou shalt renew the face of the earth.

Let Us Pray

O God, who didst instruct the hearts of Thy faithful by the light of Thy Holy Spirit, grant us in the same Spirit to relish what is right and ever to rejoice in His consolation. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary; pray for us.
Saint Thomas Aquinas, Patron Saint of Catholic Schools, pray for us.

“The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the protector of my life: of whom shall I be afraid?” (INTROIT of today’s Mass [Psalm 26:1]).

V  In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen.

In the Introit of today’s Mass, God the Holy Ghost is telling all of us, through this Psalm of David, that God is in charge, not Satan or anyone or anything else.  Then comes his rhetorical question: “whom shall I fear?”  The question is not answered directly because the answer is self-evident from what precedes it, namely, “the Lord is my light and my salvation”.  Because of this, there is no reason to fear.

The answer is also self-evident from what follows it, namely: “The Lord is the protector of my life”.  Then, for the purpose of emphasis, the Author repeats Himself, although He slightly re-words it.  Instead of asking: “whom shall I fear?”, He now asks the rhetorical question: “of whom shall I be afraid?”

It is interesting how God the Holy Ghost answers His question through the pen of Saint Paul, although, again, ending in a somewhat similar question which basically means the same thing: “If God be for us, who is against us?” (Romans 8:31). The answer, of course, to all of these questions is that if you are on God’s side, you really do not need to fear anyone.

Immediately after Psalm 26:1, which We have quoted at the beginning of this Sermon from today’s Introit, comes verse 2 which says: “Whilst the wicked draw near against me, to eat my flesh. My enemies that trouble me, have themselves been weakened, and have fallen” (Psalm 26:2).

The first part of this verse is so extremely graphic that the Church dropped it when using this first part of this Psalm in today’s Introit.  We will return to this in a moment.  First, consider how the Holy Ghost mentions how “My enemies that trouble me, have themselves been weakened, and have fallen”.  This is actually a prophecy concerning Christ!

How so?  For those of you who have seen the movie “The Passion” by Mel Gibson, perhaps you will have a flashback to that scene in the Garden of Gethsemani when Judas brings the mob to get Christ and, based upon the Gospel of Saint John, Christ “said to them:  Whom seek ye?” (John 18:4). To which they respond: “Jesus of Nazareth” (John 18:5).  To which Christ replied: “I am He.”  (John 18:5).  Remember what happened then?

“As soon therefore as He had said to them: ‘I am He’; they went backward, and fell to the ground” (John 18:5).  In this way was the prophecy literally fulfilled “My enemies that trouble Me, have themselves been weakened, and have fallen” (Psalm 26:2).!

Years ago, various people told me about what can only be described as the “Wrath of God” which fell certain people who had treated them very unjustly.  They were surprised at how quickly God “took care of” their enemies!

But just remember that was true then is still true today:  “The Lord is the protector of my life: of whom shall I be afraid?”

This brings us back to the first part of verse 2:  “Whilst the wicked draw near against me, to eat my flesh”.  What does this mean?  It is a quasi-euphemistic way of saying that one’s enemies are wanting to destroy me.

For example, consider the prophecy of the Apocalypse where you read:

“And the ten horns which thou sawest in the beast:  these shall hate the harlot, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and shall burn her with fire. For God hath given into their hearts to do that which pleaseth Him... And the woman which thou sawest, is the great city, which hath kingdom over the kings of the earth” (Apocalypse 17:16-18).

Here the term “eat her flesh” means to depopulate her.  In other words, to kill her inhabitants.  To what does this refer?  To the city of Rome in general and to Vatican City State in particular to Saint Peter’s Basilica because Saint Peter prophecized that judgment should begin at the house of God (1 Peter 4:17).

Why is it that judgment should begin at the house of God (1 Peter 4:17)?

According to some scholars, the reason for this judgement which is to begin at the house of God is to be found in two other prophecies which are from the Old Testament where you read:

And in the half of the week the Victim and the Sacrifice shall fail:  and there shall be in the Temple the Abomination of Desolation:  and the Desolation shall continue even to the consummation, and to the end.  (Daniel 9:27)

And they shall defile the Sanctuary of Strength, and shall take away the Continual Sacrifice, and they shall place there the Abomination unto desolation.  (Daniel  11:31)

Historically, the Jews NEVER had a Continual Sacrifice. The Jewish Temple bloody sacrifices of animals took place only during the daylight hours, never during the nightime.

And yet another prophecy of the Old Testament tells us exactly what this Continual Sacrifice is in which both the Victim and the Sacrifice shall fail where you read:

For from the rising of the sun even to the going down, My Name is great among the Gentiles, and in every place there is Sacrifice, and there is offered to My Name a Clean Oblation: for My Name is great among the Gentiles, saith the Lord of hosts. (Malachias 1:11)

Of course, this does NOT refer to the bloody animal sacrifices of the Jews at the Temple in Jerusalem, but rather to a Sacrifice which is NOT physically, but only mystically, bloody - in other words, it is a Clean Oblation - not of the Jews, but rather, of the Gentiles, not of the Old Covenant with its Rite of Moses and its Levitical Priesthood according to the Order of Aaron - which had only a shadow of the good things to come, not the very image of the things (Hebrews 10:1) - but of the New and Eternal Covenant with its Rite of Mass and its Sacramental Priesthood - the Priesthood of Melchisedech, For He testifieth:  Thou art a Priest for ever, according to the Order of Melchisedech. (Hebrews 7:17).

Many, many decades before Synod Vatican 2 [Thursday, October 11, 1962 - Wednesday, December 8, 1965] was held inside Saint Peter's Basilica in the Vatican, this prophecy had been realized because all over the world, in every time zone, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass was being offered by Priests and Bishops according to the Catholic Traditional Ancient Roman Rite of the Catholic Mass - what some people know only as the "Old Mass in Latin".

So if you put these various prophecies together, you find they are like the pieces of a puzzle - they fit perfectly.

What picture emerges from these various pieces of prophecy?

From the above prophecies, you have discovered that:

1)  the ten horns... shall hate the harlot, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and shall burn her with fire. For God hath given into their hearts to do that which pleaseth Him... And the woman which thou sawest, is the great city [Rome]... (Apocalypse 17:16-18)

2) especially Vatican City State and most especially Saint Peter’s Basilica because it will happen that judgment should begin at the house of God (1 Peter 4:17)

3)  because the Victim Jesus Christ and the Sacrifice of the Mass shall fail:  and there shall be in the Temple - Saint Peter’s Basilica - the house of God (1 Peter 4:17) - the Abomination of Desolation... the New Mass, the Novus Ordo Missae, the Novus Ordo Rite [NOR] (Daniel 9:27)

4)  And they shall defile the Sanctuary of Strength which is Saint Peter’s Basilica - the house of God (1 Peter 4:17) - and shall take away the Continual Sacrifice of the Mass (Daniel  11:31)

5) For.... in every place - in all Catholic Churches and Chapels there was the Holy Sacrifice of the Catholic Traditional Mass, called the Ancient Roman Rite, and there had been offered to My Name a Clean Oblation which is the Holy Sacrifice of the Catholic Traditional Mass (Malachias 1:11)

6) by the Gentile-Ordained Priests, each of whom is a Priest for ever, according to the Order of Melchisedech. (Hebrews 7:17), for My Name is great among the Gentiles, saith the Lord of hosts (Malachias 1:11)

7)  but at the great city they shall defile the Sanctuary of Strength which is Saint Peter’s Basilica, and shall take away the Continual Sacrifice, and they shall place there the Abomination unto desolation - the New Mass, a.k.a. the Novus Ordo Missae, a.k.a. the Novus Ordo Rite [NOR] (Daniel  11:31)

8) which is why God will permit the ten horns... to hate the harlot - Rome, and make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh i.e., shall kill all the Clergy in the Vatican as well as the entire population of Rome - and shall burn Rome and the Vatican and Saint Peter’s Basilica with fire (Apocalypse 17:16) and an Angel shall announce to the world that Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen (Apocalypse 18:2) Alas!  alas!  that great city Babylon, that mighty city:  for in one hour is thy judgment come (Apocalypse 18:10) because in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth (Apocalypse 18:24) And her smoke ascendeth for ever and ever (Apocalypse 19:3)

9) For true and just are God's judgments, Who hath judged the great harlot Rome and the Vatican which corrupted the earth with her fornication (Apocalypse 19:2) called the Abomination of Desolation (Daniel 9:27) the New Mass, the Novus Ordo Missae, the Novus Ordo Rite [NOR].

All Catholics who are faithful to the authentic Apostolic Tradition do not need to fear the wicked who draw near against me, to eat my flesh because The Lord is the protector of my life.

On the other hand, the Lord is NOT the protector of false "churches" which explains why the Wrath of God will destroy the evil empire of the “Abomination of Desolation” (Daniel 9:27; Daniel  11:31).

That the New Mass, a.k.a. the Novus Ordo Missae, a.k.a. the Novus Ordo Rite [NOR] really is the prophecized “Abomination of Desolation” (Daniel 9:27; Daniel  11:31) is proven in part by its rotten fruits for By their fruits you shall know them.  Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit (Matthew 7:16-17).

What is just one of the many evil fruits of the Abomination of Desolation? (Daniel 9:27; Daniel  11:31).

DESOLATION!

Personally, in my travels around the U.S. and Canada, I have seen the desolation it has caused in various places.  For example, some towns and cities which were once "Catholic", with numerous Catholic Church buildings, are really no longer "Catholic" but have become Protestant!

As one example, I can cite how the majority of once Catholic Cajuns in Lafayette, Louisiana and vicinity still go to their "Catholic Church buildings", although now inside there are Protestant Baptist services which have replaced the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Seven Sacraments!  They have become Protestant Cajuns!

The same has happened in many other places around America.

Another example is what I witnessed in one small town in the Midwest.  Before Synod Vatican 2, it had four Catholic Church buildings and a steadily growing Catholic population.  After Synod Vatican 2, as of twenty years ago, it had only two Catholic Church buildings and only one Catholic Grade School instead of the two it had before V-2!

In this same small town, I witnessed how one of the former Catholic Church buildings was being rented by some Protestant group.

Agailn, in the same town, I also witnessed how the fourth Catholic Church building, which was made of very durable brick, and which was very well maintained and even had a new roof, was torn down by orders of the Bishop of that diocese for fear that a pre-Vatican 2 Priest would buy it and return it to its former proper use as a real Catholic Church building.

In other cities, I have seen photos where former Catholic Church buildings are now being used as nightclubs, beer bars, and even one - so the claim was made (I have not been able to verify this claim) - was supposedly turned into a brothel!  Still others have also been torn down or sold off and used as office buildings, warehouses, garages, stables for animals, etc., etc.

These are not isolated instances of the DESOLATION. On the contrary, here is a brief statistical tally of the thousands of Satanic DESOLATIONS:

An index of Catholicism's decline

A Review by Pat Buchanan

  As the Watergate scandal of 1973-1974 diverted attention from the far greater tragedy unfolding in Southeast Asia, so, too, the scandal of predator-priests now afflicting the Catholic Church may be covering up a far greater calamity.

Thirty-seven years after the end of the only church council of the 20th century, the jury has come in with its verdict: Vatican II appears to have been an unrelieved disaster for Roman Catholicism. Liars may figure, but figures do not lie. Kenneth C. Jones of St. Louis has pulled together a slim volume of statistics he has titled Index of Leading Catholic Indicators: The Church Since Vatican II.

His findings make prophets of Catholic traditionalists who warned that Vatican II would prove a blunder of historic dimensions, and those same findings expose as foolish and naive those who believed a council could reconcile Catholicism and modernity. When Pope John XXIII threw open the windows of the church, all the poisonous vapors of modernity entered, along with the Devil himself.

Here are Jones's grim statistics of Catholicism's decline:

Priests. While the number of priests in the United States more than doubled to 58,000, between 1930 and 1965, since then that number has fallen to 45,000. By 2020, there will be only 31,000 priests left, and more than half of these priests will be over 70.

Ordinations. In 1965, 1,575 new priests were ordained in the United States. In 2002, the number was 450. In 1965, only 1 percent of U.S. parishes were without a priest. Today, there are 3,000 priestless parishes, 15 percent of all U.S. parishes.

Seminarians. Between 1965 and 2002, the number of seminarians dropped from 49,000 to 4,700, a decline of over 90 percent. Two-thirds of the 600 seminaries that were operating in 1965 have now closed.

Sisters. In 1965, there were 180,000 Catholic nuns. By 2002, that had fallen to 75,000 and the average age of a Catholic nun is today 68. In 1965, there were 104,000 teaching nuns. Today, there are 8,200, a decline of 94 percent since the end of Vatican II.

Religious Orders. For religious orders in America, the end is in sight. In 1965, 3,559 young men were studying to become Jesuit priests. In 2000, the figure was 389. With the Christian Brothers, the situation is even more dire. Their number has shrunk by two-thirds, with the number of seminarians falling 99 percent. In 1965, there were 912 seminarians in the Christian Brothers. In 2000, there were only seven. The number of young men studying to become Franciscan and Redemptorist priests fell from 3,379 in 1965 to 84 in 2000.

Catholic schools. Almost half of all Catholic high schools in the United States have closed since 1965. The student population has fallen from 700,000 to 386,000. Parochial schools suffered an even greater decline. Some 4,000 have disappeared, and the number of pupils attending has fallen below 2 million -- from 4.5 million.

Though the number of U.S. Catholics has risen by 20 million since 1965, Jones' statistics show that the power of Catholic belief and devotion to the Faith are not nearly what they were.

Catholic Marriage. Catholic marriages have fallen in number by one-third since 1965, while the annual number of annulments has soared from 338 in 1968 to 50,000 in 2002.

Attendance at Mass. A 1958 Gallup Poll reported that three in four Catholics attended church on Sundays. A recent study by the University of Notre Dame found that only one in four now attend.

Only 10 percent of lay religious teachers now accept church teaching on contraception.

Fifty-three percent believe a Catholic can have an abortion and remain a good Catholic.
 

Sixty-five percent believe that Catholics may divorce and remarry.

Seventy-seven percent believe one can be a good Catholic without going to mass on Sundays.

By one New York Times poll, 70 percent of all Catholics in the age group 18 to 44 believe the Eucharist is merely a "symbolic reminder" of Jesus.

At the opening of Vatican II, reformers were all the rage. They were going to lead us out of our Catholic ghettos by altering the liturgy, rewriting the Bible and missals, abandoning the old traditions, making us more ecumenical, and engaging the world. And their legacy?

Four decades of DEVESTATION wrought upon the church, and the final disgrace of a hierarchy that lacked the moral courage of the Boy Scouts to keep the perverts out of the seminaries, and throw them out of the rectories and schools of Holy Mother Church.

Through the papacy of Pius XII, the church resisted the clamor to accommodate itself to the world and remained a moral beacon to mankind.

Since Vatican II, the church has sought to meet the world halfway.

Jones' statistics tell us the price of appeasement.

(End of the Review by Pat Buchanan)

These Desolations are Real!

The above historical facts prove how true it is that while every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, every evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit (Matthew 7:17).

We were warned about the evil Abomination of Desolation in Daniel 9:27 and Daniel  11:31.  All of the above statistics of the DESOLATION prove how evil a thing the Abomination of Desolation really is which was prophecized in Daniel 9:27 and Daniel  11:31.  The above DESOLATIONS are real abominations in the sight of Almighty God and truly but one of the evil fruits of the infamous Abomination of Desolation!

But Catholics who are faithful to the Authentic Apostolic Tradition of the Catholic Church should be at peace, and have no fear.  Remember how Christ has promised all of us, through the pen of Saint John:

“And He saith to me:  Seal not the words of the prophecy of this book:  for the time is at hand.  He that hurteth, let him hurt still:  and he that is filthy, let him be filthy still:  and he that is just, let him be justified still:  and he that is holy, let him be sanctified still. Behold, I come quickly; and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to his works” (Apocalypse 22:10-12).

Resolutions

For our resolutions, let us pray to never, never, give up and, by the Grace and Mercy of God, to never be contaminated by the many evil DESOLATIONS, not to mention the Satanic abominations which are the fruits of the the infamous Abomination of Desolation!

To pray for the Grace of final perseverance in the Catholic Church and to always remain faithful to the authentic Apostolic Tradition of the Catholic Church.  To keep in mind what will happen to God’s enemies as we pray to remain one of God’s favorites, living a life of real Virtue as well as practicing acts of supererogation.  Then, none of us shall have anyone to fear because “If God be for us, who is against us?” (Romans 8:31).

“The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the protector of my life: of whom shall I be afraid?” (INTROIT of today’s Mass [Psalm 26:1]).

V  In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen.

 

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