Father Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, O.C.D., in his classic work devoted to the interior life entitled Divine Intimacy, explains that, "Devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel indicates a strong call to the interior life, which, in a very special way, is Mary's life. The Blessed Virgin wants us to resemble her in heart and mind much more than in externals. If we penetrate into Mary's soul, we see that grace produced in her a very rich interior life: a life of recollection, prayer, uninterrupted giving of herself to God, and of constant contact and intimate union with Him. Mary's soul is a sanctuary reserved for God alone where no creature has ever left an imprint; here reign love and zeal for the glory of God and the salvation of men. Those who wish to live truly devoted to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, must follow Mary into the depths of the interior life...Every interior soul, even if living amid the tumult of the world, must strive to reach this peace, this interior silence, which alone makes continual contact with God possible. It is our passions and attachments that make noise within us, that disturb our peace of mind and interrupt our intimate converse with God. Only the soul that is wholly detached and in complete control of its passions can, like Mary, be a solitary, silent 'garden' where God will find His delights. This is the grace we ask of Our Lady today when we choose her to be the Queen and mistress of our interior life." (Divine Intimacy, pp. 1147-1148).
When a soul is occupied with inordinate attachments to self or creatures or the vain and passing things of this world, it is unable to love God with all its strength and finds itself divided between God and self, between God and creatures, between God and the transitory things of this dying world. But we are commanded, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with all thy strength and with all thy mind." (Luke 10: 27).
It is these inordinate attachments to self or creatures which lead to dissent and ultimately polarization within the Church. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in its Instruction on the Ecclesial Vocation of the Theologian, tells us that, "The Church 'is like a sacrament, a sign and instrument, that is, of communion with God and of unity among all men' (Lumen Gentium, 1). Consequently, to pursue concord and communion is to enhance the force of her witness and credibility. To succumb to the temptation of dissent, on the other hand, is to allow the 'leaven of infidelity to the Holy Spirit' to start to work." (No. 40).
This leaven of infidelity has, for many years now, crippled the Diocese of Worcester. The dissent which has been embraced within this local Church has led to polaraization. Why? Because faithful Catholics who do not [and indeed cannot] accept the dissenting view are duty bound to resist it for the sake of the Church's authentic peace, a peace which Pope John XXIII said, "is not completely untroubled and serene; it is active, not calm and motionless. In short, this is a peace that is ever at war. It wars with every sort of error, including that which falsely wears the face of truth; it struggles against the enticements of vice, against those enemies of the soul, of whatever description, who can weaken, blemish, or destroy our innocence or Catholic faith." (Ad Petri cathedram).
There has been much dissent and subsequent polarization within the Diocese of Worcester because the leadership (and here we are being most generous in our terms) of the local Church has failed to inspire the faithful (and its own priests first and foremost) to strip themselves of all that is not of God. While St. John of the Cross assures us that, "The soul has only one will, and if it occupies itself or encumbers itself with anything, it will not remain free, solitary, and pure, as is required for divine transformation," the Worcester Diocese has encouraged an atmosphere of self-will, self-assertion, self-affirmation and self-promotion. Forgotten is the warning of the Holy Spirit that "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble." (James 4: 6).
We (all of us) must become more Mary-like in heart and mind and not just in externals. "In every deliberate sin," as Dr. Germain Grisez reminds us, such as dissent from Church teaching or deliberate non-assent, "freedom of self-determination is exercised contrary to what is known to be truly right and good. In sinning, sinners tend to regard moral truths legalistically, as if they were mere rules blocking them from doing as they please. Thus, deliberate sin seems to be self-affirming. Affirming the self and rejecting the limits which deny some forbidden fruit, sinners try to be autonomous, as only God really can be."
Faith demands the renunciation of the sinful self which authentic devotion to Mary necessarily involves. Pride must give way to humility. Only then can one find the truth which sets one free (John 8: 32).
The Worcester Diocese has tried dissent. The faithful remain polarized. Evangelization has suffered greatly. Parishes are emptying.
3 comments:
Truly, truly. Thank you Paul.
Unfortunately many priests are treated by their bishops as employees, functionaries, presiders at a "celebration" instead of representatives of Christ. Priests seem to have forgotten who they are and seem cowed by the world and their own pagan parishioners, or themselves are worldly. Many seem to lack basic knowledge of the Scriptures and the Catechism and so are hardly able to teach their people. I have never heard a homily in 52 years condemning contraception or divorce for instance. The first step in the "New Evangelization" is to re-catechize the clergy.
Having come originally from the derelict Springfield diocese I have there seen progressive decay actively caused by the "shipworms" of dissent and the wicked pro-homo child-molesting mafia from the 60's on, although I was too young then to realize what was going on. I have seen a priest (now deceased) with an "altar girl" on his lap kissing her on the lips, and my brother knew a young man who tried to kill himself because of a priest molesting him. Does anyone think that perverts like these are going to save the Church?
I have lived in the Worcester diocese for ten years and it seems that similar destruction has occurred here.
It's time for the bishop to "remove the wicked from among you" as Saint Paul says.
Here's a start: get rid of all members of diocesan committees, councils and commissions who dissent from Catholic teaching, including clergy. If you can't align your conscience with Catholic teaching you have no business holding responsible positions in the Church period -end of discussion.
Let's start by booting out the likes of those who support women's ordination, "gay marriage", married priests, new age pantheism, contraception, socialism, etc., who currently sit on the useless Women's Commission, the Catholic Free Press Board of Governors, the Diocesan Pastoral Council for instance. To think that un-catechized lay people can somehow re-evangelize the church is plain foolishness.
Do you think I as a father are going to give my children's religious education over to pagan new-age nuns infecting the Church? Yet our bishop exiled our pious,faithful Franciscan Minor sisters to Indiana and welcomes new age anti-Catholic women to run retreats in the diocese.
Let's get rid of obstinate dissenting professors and "diversity" (pro-homo) officers at the so-called "Catholic" colleges.
These are the people enabling sin and telling everyone that they are "OK where they are."
The bishop needs to start acting like a leader because we are at war, and you don't go to war with a fifth column in your own ranks.
Frankly, I don't see the leadership coming from Worcester
There will be thousands of Catholic Men in Worcester March 16th. The Bishop has an opportunity at the upcoming Men's Conference to put our Ark of the Covenant, Our Lady, in front of the troops like Joshua, and lead us to re-take our Catholic faith and the world.
If this bishop cannot lead this diocese, and take out the trash, perhaps he should resign.
Michael, it has been said that a Bishop falls into one of three categories: Hero, Nero or Zero.
Saint John Chrysostom once commented that the road to Hell is paved with the skulls of many Bishops. And this Doctor of the Church was known for his pacific spirit.
Every Bishop should meditate very carefully on them. Along with Saint Augustine's comment that his vocation as Bishop filled him with joy but that his vocation as Bishop inspired him with fear. Luke 12:48 is most relevant here.
It is interesting that while the Bishop has personally approved of dissenting speakers for the Commission for Women's "Gather Us In" Conference, Mr. Robert Spencer's views regarding Islam are problematic for him.
What would this suggest?
Thanks for your kind note. God bless Michael!
Now Robert Spencer is saying that Bishop McManus rescinded his invitation to speak at the Catholic Men's Conference in Worcester WITHOUT ever contacting him to discuss this or to obtain his views on the subject.
What is going on in Worcester and in the Church?
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