He's been in the inner sanctum since the beginning of time. He was in the garden and he was in the Upper Room. Why wouldn't he be in the Vatican? Pray and ask Our Lady and St. Michael to defend you. Clothe yourself in the armor of God. Peace
It is true the devil has been at every man's ear since we were created, but I think Padraig, like Pope Paul VI's famous quote is referring to the huge degree of control the devil has over the Church hierarchy now. That is something he has never had before. "The smoke of Satan has entered the sanctuary" -Pope Paul VI
Stay Mac, though I may not always agree with you, I value you as faithful brother in our Lord's family and we need our brothers and sisters in Christ now more than ever.
Believe me I'm not here to argue anymore, but for Pete's sake, the devil infiltrated the 12 apostles and one betrayed the Son of God, and 10 of the other 11 ran away and denied he existed. The Church has gone through many trials where the devil was present. Is this any worse? How would any of us know? This is of course the worst FOR US because we are here and alive now. All I'm saying is it's up to us how we respond. Peace.
I love that piece David, thanks for posting. I could have written the same words. I realize that he is criticized, but a lot of people love this pope, are impressed and admire the way he breaks protocol, his accessibility, the love that they see in his actions, his words, his simplicity, his straightforwardness. There was a documentary about Pope Francis on French TV recently (worth watching if you understand French), which was well done. Afterwards, a lot of people away from the church or atheists expressed being moved by the portrait of the Pope in that documentary. As the commentator says in the documentary, "The pope has descended from his throne." The man is living the scriptures and people see this. The papacy has not changed him, but hopefully his election has changed the papacy. In many ways, I think that pope Francis represents what a priestly king should be.
I wasn't arguing with you Miker, I'm sorry if it came across that way. However I do think this is the worst period in the Church thus far because of the number of the faithful being led into error. I am not speaking of Pope Francis here, but of the general course of the Church for the past half century. As Our Lady has warned us, the Church hierarchy has led us away from the truth and compromised with the world. Sadly if you ask the majority of people in a Catholic Church today some basic questions about Catholicism, things we are bound to believe to call ourselves Catholic, most will say they disagree or don't hold to all of them. And that is among Churchgoers. So I do see this as the worst debacle in history, the great Apostasy if you will.
Brassed off (1996) [I’m sorry but I had to delete what I said, that was too private. I’m really not ok in my head this week, and that makes me say things that I shouldn’t.] I don’t know what those at Rome are doing, I don’t think they do idem. But you people don’t ever forget that the Truth has been once shown to you. I know that I’m a pain inside this forum and I’m almost gone don’t worry, whatever has brought me here is pushing me out again.
Heidi, I don't know how old your kids are, but if they are young enough to still be under your care I think you can consecrate them to Our Lady's care. Also have them do their First Fridays or Saturdays if they are old enough to receive Holy Communion. This will protect them even if they wander from the faith and it might put your mind at ease. You could also say a 54 day Rosary novena that they do the Fridays or Saturdays worthily.
"Today all around us everything indicates that the punishments from God are imminent: even so – thanks be to God – it is not too late for us. We are capable of impeding them if we believe that this is also a time of grace and recognize what is necessary for our true peace. Beloved faithful! First of all let us recollect ourselves in an act of humility and repentance. Are we not also somewhat responsible for the catastrophes besetting us? […] If we examine ourselves, every one of us has to confess that we have fallen short […] that we have sinned against the Lord […]." From the Pastoral Letter to the Dutch Bishops, July 26th, 1942 Andrea Tornielli’s book: Pius XII, Eugenio Pacelli, a Man on the Throne of Peter, Milano, 2007, p. 380
Hey P- didn't mean to sound so harsh. I get what you are saying and I guess whether it is or isn't the worse- we are in this together. I will say one thing. As it gets worse, I think God will raise up great saints within our times. We have already seen it and will see it even more. Peace.
According to Malachi Martin the Church is in a liquidation process, to be replaced by something far better, and God is infact permitting what is happening at the moment to happen and it benefits us to allow everything that is occurring to occur, just a Jesus was permitted to die to be raised up. The Church of the future will be far different and is currently going underground just as it did from Christ's death until the fourth century, according to Malachi Martin.
Yep. the Catechism speaks of the Church following Our Lord in His Passion, Death and Resurrection (CCC 677) We are in the Passion now, the "Death" is on the horizon (the Church can never truly die, but it will appear so), and the Resurrection will result in a recognizable but much more glorious Church.
