Where have all the Catholics gone?

1. It was easy to find them before. In the early times of the Church just ask where the Catholics were and you get a hand and a straight finger pointing directly at a whole community of Catholics. They lived apart from the worldly people, they lived in community shared all things in common and they loved one another. They were usually found outside of towns and cities. Later on they were found in huge communities living in the desert, in cities carved out of volcanic mountains, on islands, on top of mountains....it was easy to find them and they can be pointed out apart from the rest.

2. At the beginning of the 19oo I had the impression that Catholics could specially be found in two organizations, the Catholic Action and the Legion of Mary. Of course, they were around but it was almost impossible to point them out. But the members of these two organizations looked different from the rest. Even Hitler feared them. And they were Catholics both in their behaviour and in their speech. Talking to them it is clear their doctrines are correct. These were laymen whose basic Catholic doctrines were right.

3. Today we have hundreds of so- called Catholic organizations of laymen founded by both laymen and the clergy. There are many quasi religious groups founded by nuns and priest. There are even clerical or priestly groups founded by Bishop's conference. But the foundational doctrine of their way of life does not exhibit the purity of Catholic doctrine. It is even evident in their way of life and in their speech. . . which should cause us to raise our eyebrows.

4. Many laymen groups that are even approved by the Congregation of religious and secular life are founded by laymen who have no knowledge of Divine Revelation. They have held the bible briefly for the first time in their lives and before you know it they are founding huge secular followings. This is a danger the Council of Orange warned the Church: the danger of laymen getting hold of the bible and immediately starting a new sect. As St. Paul described it "unenlightened zeal".

There are many nuns, probably discontented with their orders had left and founded new groups with themselves as superiors. Some nuns had left their orders to become hermits. St. Benedict warned us of religious who cannot live the community life and rushes into the heremitical life to avoid the burden of community living. And there are some clerical/ priestly groups organized by Bishop's conference whose way of life is Pelagian heresy resurrected in that they think they can improve the world on their own as in the case of liberation theology. What is evident among them is the lack of a solid doctrinal foundation. In short, they do not know how to go to heaven. They just presume because they belong to this established catholic organization or community approved by the Bishop and even by Rome they will surely go to heaven. Even the vast numbers of converts entering the Church today do not realize they do not immediately become Catholics. There is still a long process before they can attained orthodox Catholic Faith.

5, So where have all the Catholics gone? Where is the Catholic Church? Can anyone raise his hand and point them out with their finger showing the Catholic apart from the rest? When I hold retreat for priests, seminarians or nuns I would tell them jokingly "show me the four signs that you are Catholics." They would smile but none can show the four signs of the Church. And when the question and answer come all their complains show they have problems with the 4 visible signs of the Church. That's why they cannot show them. Isn't this sad?

6. The Church of Christ have four visible signs. If we cannot show them we must at least know what they are and explain them. This would at least show we have some inkling of the signs. But the true Church must not only have the four visible signs of One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic. She must be able to explain the dynamics on how those signs are produced. This will be the explanation of the spirituality of the life of the Church that produces these signs.

7. In short, if we put together what Pope Benedict as Cardinal mentioned that the Church is undergoing a crisis of Faith, since the four visible signs of the Church are signs of Faith, Hope and Charity, the reason why we cannot point with certainty where that Church is is because we cannot find those marks anywhere. The Church must exist up to the end times. So where is the Church? Where have all the Catholics gone. The answer is in the Apocalypse. It says that the Church used to be in the world calling all souls to embark into the ark. But at the end times, God would give the Woman, the Church, two giant wings to fly into the desert in a place specially prepared by God to protect her. Where is that? St. John Chrysostom says that this is not a physical desert. It is the symbol of a way of life lived in the privacy of one's soul. It is the way of life lived by Christ for 30 years at home and lived by John the Baptist for 30 years in the desert.
St. Grignon de Montfort tried to establish the Catholic Church with her four visible signs and with a Marian personality and Pope Benedict described it in his thesis on St. Bonaventure. Thank God we have a Pope who knows where all the Catholics have gone.

The RULE of LAWLESSNESS.

1. Lawlessness is a relative term to many people. But if we base all laws on the Divine law or even just on the natural law, most laws today would be against God's laws. And this is what is happening today.

2. The world is stunned by the lawlessness of those who have appointed themselves as police of the world imposing laws against God's laws. And this with the approval of courts and by world organizations who are also making their own laws. They call it mandate. Just because the mandate was made by a few tough guys does not it make it legal?

3. Sex education is now mandated in most schools, compulsory education in place of home schooling is also mandated. Family planning and abortion are laws in many countries just like same sex marriages. Nations are interfering in the sovereignty of other nations. Head of states are summarily ordered to resign or deposed. Foreign governments are changed at the pleasure of a few. And cities of other nations are being bombed as if they were objects in a video games. These may be the law of some cowboys but they are against the law of God. From the view point of Catholic morality, the world is in anarchy, the once upon a time French Revolution had become world wide. But how come no one is raising any cry?

4. We have entered the era of the rule of lawlessness. You don't talk to lawless bandits. You just plead for mercy, pay a ransom for your life, plea for help and get killed just the same.....all without knowing why this is happening. A few, like the Pope, had chosen just to be silent. It is like when the Jews were undergoing their holocaust and hardly any one of them knowing why they were being herded into camps; it is like when the Armenians were being erased from the face of the earth and not knowing why the Turks were doing it; it is like when the Catholics of Vendees were being massacred by their fellow Catholics in France and they didn't know why.

5. It, also, happened once upon a time on Good Friday. A God was crucified in accordance to the lawless law of men. Not one of the killer knew why they were doing it. But HE knew why.

6. The same is happening everywhere. A Christian was elected president and suddenly the Christians were being massacred everywhere. A head of state is quietly leading his country and suddenly some European nations are bombing him out of existence as ordered by a mandate. And another head was deposed and hanged for a non-existent crime by some other foreign power and no one had apologize. 200 hundred christian churches were burned. Why? What crime was committed? And when cries of un-constitutionality are raised, no one minds it. An RH Bill is being passed that goes contrary to the Catholic Faith of the nation and its own Constitution. Why is it gaining ground when the head of the nation is a Catholic trained by the Jesuits?

Original sin as introduced by the devil in the garden of paradise and introduced in many nations, thereafter, specially during the reign of terror in France is being imposed world wide by its originator and avid followers. Though the originators had been dead for centuries how come they still have avid followers today? Can he be a spirit who cannot die?

7. This is exactly what happened on Good Friday. The Law was killed by lawlessness. And the world was stunned into silence. Not a peep as the devil seems to hold sway. Has the devil won? He knew the answer. A similar complain was once heard from heaven: when, O when O Lord shall our death be avenged? And God's answer was: Just a little while more. Then what? God's answer was very clear......because He knew why.

DO NOT REJOICE !!!

1. The past Holy Week just reminded us of the words of Christ on the cross: "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." Certainly the person who just past away did not know the morality of what he did. He was not blessed with the knowledge that is within Divine Revelation. We cannot say the same thing for many Catholics. They do not know what they are doing? After a course in Theology in the seminary. OK. Let's say they studied theology, it does not follow that they know what they are doing. The ones who crucified Christ knew the prophecies of the Old Testament regarding the Messiah even how he would die. They heard Christ preaching. Some of them were the priests of the Covenant. But what did Christ say? They did not know what they were doing. If Christ forgave them, how much more should we. Isn't the sign of a true Christian is what we read in the "Our Father?" The ability to forgive. Should'nt we pray instead that God forgive him as Christ did for those crucifying Him. Isn't our spontaneous celebration because this man is dead a sign of our inability to forgive and, therefore, a more severe punishment awaits us.

2. Many have reasons to celebrate just as when the pharisees caught a woman in adultery. It was an achievement. They caught a woman in the act of adultery. OK. This man was caught guilty of murder in his own words. Should we act like a police who is gloating at the fact that he has caught a criminal? We are Christians first. Christ said: "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone. " I have never seen so much stones hurled at one .......who is dead. The ones who are hurling, are they without sin? Aren't the head of states who are rejoicing guilty of more killings through abortion and their global interference. Such sins would make the dead man blush. Should'nt we just quietly leave as the accusers of the woman in the Gospel. OK we lost loved ones. Quietly leaving the dead man alone and praying quietly for the mercy of God would have been a nobler gesture than the gloating celebrations.

3. Terrorists are not our greatest enemies. The sins within us are our greatest enemies. Terrorist can only kill our bodies. Our sins can kill both body and soul. And so Christ in confronting the crowd that brought the woman caught in adultery to Him reminded them of their own sins. That is the real enemy. But as Pope Benedict mentioned, the world's defect is that its attention is focused on what is unimportant the pleasure of the world and not on our sins. And with this view the greatest enemy is what will deny us of the pleasure of the world. And this man spoilt many of their good times.

4. A man is dead. He does not need our hatred nor our misguided celebration. He needs the mercy of God. And we who know him even just by name should try to obtain this mercy. For God promised He could only show mercy on us if we ourselves show mercy to others. After all he was created to the image and likeness of God. May he rest in peace. Amen.

GRAND SILENCE - The Sixth Day

1. The world seems implicated in some aboriginal calamity beyond human solution. Man seems out of joint with the purpose of his Creator. John Newman noted this during his times but he seems to be describing today's events. With the world in turmoil from earthquakes to tornadoes, from civil wars to revolutions, the Holy Father whispers: "work for the peace of Christ." Seeing who are involved in this anarchical condition he hopes those with faith would get what the events are hinting at.


2. Many described his response as ' grand silence.' It was because the world, both without and within the Church are descending to atheism led by the sons of the period of enlightenment that has authored the reign of terror in France and whose poison spread throughout Europe and the United States and imposed on the whole world. It was essentially an anti-catholic spirit.

3. The history of the Church has been divided based on the 7 days of creation. The Liturgy expresses the same eras and the daily monastic schedule in monasteries reminds the monks of these 7 stages in monastic spirituality.

4. The monastic schedule is roughly divided into schedules observing different degrees of silence.

5. After compline, St. Benedict in his rule, demands the observance of strict or absolute silence called grand silence. Compline is the last prayer of the day before one goes to sleep.

6. What is the significance of this Grand Silence between compline and sleeping time? Compline is a preparation for death. The time for sleeping, signifies death. Before the death of a monk there is a final battle between the forces of evil and God for his soul.

There is, also, a time in the history of the world where it shall have a compline, wherein God would proclaim the approaching end of the world and how we should stand at that moment. And there is a time for resting when the Church would sleep the sleep of death to resurrect in God. Compline signifies the beginning of the final battle before the death of the world.

This is referred to as the sixth day, presented in the Liturgy from Palm Sunday up to Good Friday. The seventh day is the usual Saturday when Christ remained dead in the tomb and the eight day represents Easter described as the eight day. One day was added to the 7 days- creation story.

7. The sixth day representing the time between compline and sleeping time (or Palm Sunday up to Good Friday) is a time in the history of man when all human drama is orchestrated by God alone setting the stage for His coming. The play is written down in the Apocalypse. Here all men become spectators and decide once and for all on whose side they will be, the forces of evil who introduced original sin in the world ....or God.

Man's posture should only be Grand Silence as a man who have arrived at a crossroad leading into two eternal destinies, one of happiness and the other of damnation and he does not know which road leads to where. He needs to think and decide. He needs grand silence for in silence only can he hear the invitation of God.

The events of the sixth day is orchestrated fully by God because they are meant to beautify the Bride for the wedding with Christ. The tsunamis and earthquakes, the upheavals in Africa and the Middle East are meant to spill blood and fill with sufferings the Church to purify her and complete her number. It is Good Friday in an international scale when we see the defeat of good and the success of evil, 'the helplessness of God,' St. Thomas described it. And the speed of this decline will bewilder the minds of men.

Just as God used the treason of Judas to get the good of redemption out of it, today God will use the greatest evil that ever plaque the world to purify the Church. There are those outside the Church so-called Christians and non-Christians, there are those within the Church all led by fallen dominations and seraphims leading the same personalities they used in history, the children of the period of enlightenment, sons of the French Revolution and Reign of terror who had spread their heresy throughout Europe, the US and the world returning with its most potent weapon, Original sin. And they are not tempting the world. They are imposing it on the whole world under the banner of a distorted Democracy......and the world had fallen under its control and at arms against the Church. And these princess and dominions think they are pulling all the strings as they thought at Good Friday.

John Newman noted that this was the state of a small portion of the Roman empire at the time of Christ's first coming. It is today in a grand scale. What coming of Christ is it announcing?

8. But the Pope knows. He knows that these events are God's doings and are out of man's control. The financial chaos to the change of governments, the civil wars to the martyrdom of Christians, the tsunamis to the nuclear melt down all are staged by the angels of God. So he tells us just to pray and bear the sufferings that all Christians have to undergo. St. Paul said the same thing. The Pope even told the Christians in Irag not to leave and face almost the inevitable but asked all to pray for them. We can only stand and be silent and see the God of history take complete control of history doing as He pleases. All these things just have to happen at the sixth hour, the time for Grand Silence, between Compline and the time for sleeping. And as usual He does this to show His glory and power.

It is bed time, the time to rest in the Lord. Let us recite Compline, the Church's night prayer, and observe Grand Silence for 'He is God.'

More on FAITH

There are many good news for the Catholic Church, like the increase in reported Baptisms in Africa and the entrance into the Church of thousands of Anglicans. Add to this the growth of the Church in Asia. But have we subtracted the number of Catholics who have left the Church and joined other sects? Or those who have remained in the Church but whose faith may be described as uninformed by charity....or in short 'dead faith.' When Cardinal Ratzinger described the problem of the Church as a crisis of faith he meant that the Church has Faith but it is dead or uninformed by Charity and/or just the absence of faith.

Faith, a theological virtue, must be directed to its final object which is Charity by Charity itself. In fact, the sequence or order of the virtues goes thus....we first have the virtue of Charity. Charity which is an act of the free will proposes to the intellect to believe (Faith) in the God it has perceived in simple form. And so the soul begins to have Faith at the promptings of Charity. At the beginning Faith is prompted by very little Charity but Charity nevertheless. It is the theological virtue of Charity that initiates the process of believing. So Charity goes before Faith. And Charity continues to prompt Faith to develop to perfection while charity grows itself to perfection in the process.

While Faith can remain inspite of sin (except sins against faith) Charity disappears with sin. And when Charity disappears, Faith becomes 'dead.' This is the common state of most souls in the Catholic Church. They don't know that their faith is dead. The Liturgical calendar gives us more than 30 Sundays between Pentecost and Christ the King giving us more than 30 signs by which we can know if we have faith or not. How come most do not know? The inability of the clergy to explain faith clearly is the cause, a remnant of the effects of Pelagianism and Modernism.

Let us describe the way to the theological virtues in another way. This time from the viewpoint of the evangelical counsels.

Faith, Hope and Charity are theological virtues given by God with grace. There is nothing a human being can do to get those virtues and this grace. And yet they are necessary for salvation because these are the virtues that lead our souls to God, it's final goal. That is why they are called theological.

Since these are purely God's gifts we just have to wait for them from God. Though the least we can do for God to give us these virtues is to dispose ourselves. To dispose ourselves consist in removing from our souls everything that is contrary to them. This will entail four removal processes. Remove sins, remove doctrinal and moral errors, remove love of good things unnecessary for salvation( like fathers) and removal of good things close to us (like our own will and life). Each removal process will dispose us to receive the grace of repentance and each theological virtues.

The first removal process that will dispose us to receive the virtue of Penance is called life of repentance. This process consist in knowing and removing all our past sins, specially mortal sins. Ash Wednesday teaches us that this is done through a life of prayer, fasting and good works, which is the lesson we learn from the 30 years hidden life of Christ. This is commonly described as living the sacrament of Baptism or putting the sacramental grace of baptism to affect our lives.

But most Catholics lose their sacramental grace without it benefitting their souls. Since baptism cannot be received a second time how do we regain that sacramental grace which is necessary to begin our spiritual building? Through the monastic life. The monastic life is meant to regain the graces received and lost during baptism. Though this grace will now come in the form of actual grace rather sacramental grace. The monastic life is meant to remove all past sins through a life of repentance. The primitive form of the Catholic Church was in the form of monastic communities. It is living the life of repentance that we dispose ourselves for the forgiveness of mortal sins. The forgiveness of mortal sins opens our souls to know the teachings of Christ. It will be slow trial and error until all errors are removed. When all errors are removed then we are now disposed to receive the theological virtue of Faith. We do not necessarily receive it immediately. This is completely up to God when to give us.

Having removed all mortal sins the next removal process consist in removing, no longer sins, but material GOOD things which are not necessary for the salvation of our souls. This is described as the spirit of poverty. St. Peter and Andrew, as they reached Faith, were told to leave nets and boats. There is nothing wrong with nets and boats. In fact, they were allowed by Christ to return to their nets and boats after the resurrection. But before they receive Charity even the slightest love for one's nets and boats can prevent us from loving God above all things. These are part of the "world" that can be the source of temptations, St. Augustine says. After all Eve and Christ were tempted with good things.....food. But when we have charity it is safe to return to nets and boats...and food.

The third removal process consists in removing good things that are closer to us...our loved ones. So Christ told James and John to leave nets and boats (making up the material things) and also their father (making up the things closer to us)_. Christ would complete the list adding: to leave father, mother, brother, sisters, land...etc. This would make up the counsel of chastity. Christ saying if we love 'these relations more than God,' which is common, these becomes impediments to God giving us the virtue of Hope. If this obstacle is removed then we may receive the virtue of hope. Faith and Hope are not given to us unless the places alloted to them is empty of worldly love for things and relatives.

The fourth removal is the removal of the love of self. And laying one's life for one's neighbor is a sign of having removed the love of self. With that gone the heart of man is completely empty of any worldly love. This is the proper disposition to receive the virtue of Charity by which we love God and neighbor assuring our salvation. When our hearts are empty of the love for the world, relatives and self, the Holy Spirit comes into our hearts and becomes the principle of charity by which we love God and neighbor while through us doing great things for the Church.

The Samaritan woman was the personification of the Church as she traveled from a life of sin, through a life of repentance and eventually to faith, hope and Charity. Her charity was shown when speaking to her towns folks they went to Christ and in turn believed, no longer because of what she said but because they have heard Christ, Himself. That Samaritan woman shows how the Church brings souls to Christ through repentance and the three virtues.

CRISIS OF FAITH

"Crisis of Faith" are words we have often heard before. We, usually, don't mind it. But sometime around 1980 I read about it again in a book, "Ratzinger Report" and read it more seriously this time. The book was authored by the present Pope when he was younger and a cardinal. And he used those words to describe the state of the Church!!! That was a serious statement if we understand what Faith is.

The above statement would mean: nobody is entering the Catholic Church, nobody is going to heaven, nobody knows God and/or Christ, nobody knows the truth.......in short many are going to hell. St. Paul mentioned something to that effect that everything outside of Faith is sin, i.e. if one has no faith he is in the state of sin and everything he does is sin because he does not have the element of goodness that comes with faith. Let us look at the elements of Faith and see what is lacking that is causing the crisis of faith.

The first element of faith is that (1) it is an act of the intellect (2)thinking of its formal goal, God, (3) and the means that lead to that goal (4) as dictated by that final goal, God.

As early as the 1800, thinkers like Belloc and Chesterton had noticed that mankind has ceased to think. He is moved not by his rationality but by his animality. 'That is an emotional moment" had been a common description of great events. In a recent earthquake they spent 2 minutes of silence for the quake victims and described that moment as a very emotional moment. But if I use my head I should ask "what good can two minutes of silence do for those who died?" Essentially nothing. So why do it. People who do emotional things will have difficulty in making an act of faith which is an act of the intellect. The No 1 element of faith is very rare today.

Number 2 is to think of its formal goal which is God. The image of God as its goal must be the true God. Otherwise the proposition on who is God will not elicit an assent of the mind. We can know the God of nature from the firmaments of heaven. This needs thinking with the intellect. And we can know enough to know the God of nature. But God is supernatural and our intellect needs grace to know things supernatural. With the aid of grace we should know the nature of God, His attributes, etc. The more we know about God the greater the intensity of our act of Faith. But the Pelagian heresy had devastated the Church before and until now. Seminarians only use their natural knowledge in studying theology and are unable to recognize the supernatural God. Many had graduated and become priest without having a personal encounter with God. This reflects in their preaching. They never met the person they preach.

Number 3. We must know the means to attain that goal. Aside from knowing His nature and attributes, to know God means knowing what He loves and what He hates which are enumerated in the commandments of Jesus Christ in the New Testament. This is the reason why Christ, in the Apostolic Commission to his apostles commanded them to teach: "ALL My commandments and HOW to observe them." These are the proposition that are the material object of Faith that make up both Moral and Dogmatic Theology. Many know SOME of the commands and most modify the HOW. This is disobedience to the command of God who said: "If you love me keep My commandments." The commandments are the means to the end. We were warned not to add or subtract from them.

Number 4. The proposition or truths divinely revealed by God must be studied with the desire to lead as to God. The propositions that leads to the object of faith must be clearly shown as coming from God and its interpretation must be convincingly from God. Sadly Theology is studied for selfish or natural reason like to pass the test, to get a degree or the more ambitions desire to be a bishop (a desire St. Thomas describes as a sin). The object of Faith which is love of God is often absent.

As we grow gradually through the four steps we must come to a point where the intellect must assent to the truths it has learned. It cannot have an effective assent if the truths are incomplete or incorrect. The intellect can only assent to convincing truths.

Another element of faith is that Faith, as an act of the intellect thinks about general, abstract concepts. And the intellect's assent to these general, abstract concepts must be with the consent of the free will because no part of the person can act without the approval or go signal of the free will. Before an act of faith is made there must be an assent of the intellect to the proposition proposed and the consent of the free will to the propositions assented to by the intellect. It can happen that the intellect may assent to the propositional truth of faith, but the free will can withhold its consent. This is an incomplete act and therefore, there is no faith yet.

The free will, on the other hand, is more attracted to the specific, particular, and emotional desires of the flesh. And presented with these 2 alternatives, the desires of the body and the desire of the intellect, the free will can refuse to consent to the general and abstract truths already assented to by the intellect and consent instead to the specific worldly desires of the flesh. Without this consent of the free will the intellect cannot make that act upon which it had already assented to needed to make an act of faith.

For the intellect to be able to assent to a proposition or statement of truth, the proposition must be clear, believable and devoid of contradiction. Though ALL propositions of the Catholic faith are clear and believable in themselves, it is not so when explained by preachers. And so the intellect cannot give its assent due to lack of believable facts in the proposition.

The assent given by the intellect to a doctrinal proposition is difficult enough to make due to the indolence of the modern generation to think. Add to this the difficulty in thinking because of the enormous amount of external stimuli that hinders thinking and the poor presentation of Catholic doctrinal truths in the form of propositions. But let us suppose that all those requirements are fulfilled, the intellect still cannot make an act of faith without the free will consenting to what the intellect have assented to.

The free will can reject whatever assent made by the intellect on any proposition for no reason at all. The free will is FREE. A very solid argument can aid the free will in giving its consent but not always. No amount of proof that smoking is hazardous to your health can convince the free will to stop smoking as has been happening now.

How come the smoker cannot believe that smoking is dangerous to his health? Most often it is because his intellect knows the medical facts but has not assented to that truth. Many people are like that; they are thinking but they are not assenting to what they know. Their knowledge is lip service not conviction. But if the smoker's intellect assents to the facts on smoking, that assent can not necessarily get the free will to give its consent.

The free will is the faculty that tells the intellect, your assent to the proposition is good. I will give my consent Go and believe in it. The free will commands the intellect to act. And when the intellect acts and believes in the proposition at the promptings of the free will THAT IS AN ACT OF FAITH!

Frankly, how many souls have gone through this process that constitutes the act of faith keeping in mind that the intellect has to go through this process in believing all the doctrines of the Catholic Church. Or let's say just the "apostles creed."

Let's take just one example of a proposition: "I believe in God the Father almighty creator of heaven and earth."

The intellect is presented with this proposition. That there is a God. He is Almighty. He created heaven and earth and, therefore, all things created belong to Him.

This truth is simple and obvious we need no further proofs to make it believable.......just to simplify the demonstration. This truth is naturally simple and obvious that it is easy for the intellect to make an assent to. And so the intellect does so. Here the free will must consent to what the intellect assented to. Being an obvious truth it should not be difficult for the free will to give its consent. Let's say the free will gives its consent and gives the intellect the 'go' signal "go ahead and believe in that proposition." So, with the approval of the free will the intellect goes into action and commands the free will (which is the driving force of the soul) to put into action the act of believing. We can only know if the whole process of believing has been accomplished if the person actually treats everything in the world as owned by God and should be used according to the will of God. He is acting with faith.

If a person uses anything as if he owns it, he is acting without faith. And without faith no one can be pleasing to God. In the 1980's Cardinal Ratzinger noted that the world was undergoing a crisis of faith. In such a crisis, the world can only go down, down, down which no one can stop, which the present Pope noted in his Dec. 20 address. This explains everything that is going on now.

The NEW GOD : Original Sin

A new god has began to rule the world. He, really, is not new and he is not a god. In history man has had the bad fortune of choosing many wrong gods. Except now mankind had agreed to worship one and the same god....but it is, again, the wrong god.

This god existed at the time of the creation of angels. He has pestered the human race ever since but today he rules supreme. The world has become his domain. And mankind had bowed to his rule. This god is Original Sin. He does not really exist as St. Augustine would say. He is just the personification of all the absence of good and as such is pure evil.

At the beginning Lucifer was invited to heaven to be with God. Lucifer said 'yes' but he wanted to go there' his own way'. When he insisted 'on his own way', he became a devil. The other devils who became devils simply followed Lucifer. That was the first demonstration of angelic power that will have its imitation in 'people's power,' in sociology called mob rule wherein a group follows one person without thinking as individuals.

Lucifer probably thought it was a good idea 'doing things my own way' so when God created Adam and Eve and informed them that if they would want to know what is right from wrong, which is morality, they should first eat of the tree of life and as a reward they may eat of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. But Eve wanted the fruit badly so she 'did things her own way'; and ate it first. Adam like the mob, without thinking, followed Eve. This was essentially the same fault instigated by the first angel who fell. It was called original sin. This sin consists in doing God's will (to go to heaven for the devil while to have a knowledge of good and evil in the case of Adam and Eve) but 'doing it their own way'.

Original sin could be very bad if (1.) they went against God's will and (2.) did it their own way. And it could even be worst if (3.) they imposed it on others. St. Thomas of Aquinas mentioned a rule in the spiritual life: that he who does not progress will regress. And he who regresses will fall faster and faster as he nears the bottom. That is what happened with the first original sin. Because it was not stopped at the death of Christ, the world just kept on regressing and has now reached a speed downwards that is unstoppable.

Notice how the human race has decided on what will make them happy here on earth without consulting God and this is satisfy their every bodily desires. Mammon, greed shown in love of money which can do so, is everyone's goal and their love. Note how everything is geared to this end. And notice how governments impose it on the people and on other governments. Every sin is committed to attain the ultimate goal of original sin, the worship of one's selfish will..... like the destruction of the family, the killing of children, killing and abduction of head of states that do not conform to their will.....violations of all the commands of God. It would not be strange if they went against the Catholic Church whose aim is the salvation of mankind through the forgiveness of all sins starting with original sin, the origin of all sins.

Let us explain what is happening inside man by analyzing his act. Catholic theology has a definition for a human act. Human acts are essentially acts of the intellect informed by the senses and approved by the free will and carried into action by the free will commanding the entire person (specially the body). What makes the act human is the functioning of the faculties of the soul, namely, the mind and free will. If the body acts independently of the soul, then man, like a drunkard is not acting like a human being because his spiritual faculties had been shut down by alcohol. He is acting like an animal half of which he is.

This is what is happening within man. He has an intellect made by God to know the Truth. But he cannot know the truth due to the return of original sin. He could learn the natural truths about God but it will need great effort. So he gives in to his indolence. And the intellect made by God to think of supernatural truths are lazily focused on mere material things.

The intellect is supposed to think of Godly things (though in the natural level), called natural theology and present them as good that the free will may desire the good. But the only thing presented to the free will are material things coming from the body and sent to the intellect. The free will does not like abstract truths about God. It loves specific, concrete material and worldly things. So it simply enjoys thinking what to eat, what to drink and what to wear. And that is what is happening now. Money or economic progress offers unlimited sources of what to eat, drink and wear. And this they had deified.

How is this shown outwardly. St. Thomas says: if we attain what we think and desire this will give us the feeling of happiness. What will prevent us from attaining our desire will cause us unhappiness. What do we need to satisfy our selfish desires rooted in original sin? First, we need money, whether well earned or stolen. So the prevalence of graft and corruption in all levels. We need to satisfy our lust. So the need for divorce, pornography, destruction of the family, and family planning. Second, we need freedom. So we keep on changing the laws to suit our desires and changing all authorities and heads of states.

Christ taught that the way to eradicate original sin most effectively is through poverty, chastity and obedience. Do we see the battle lines? This is a war between God and the devil of which the devil has no chance but where the collateral damage could be vast.

In history man's sin used to be based on one or two vices, like eating your grandfather. But today, due to world communication all vicious men had agreed that eating one's grand father is not such a great idea. But obeying all the bodily urges of men would be much more fun. Everything today is teaching a philosophy which is original sin in essence. Never in the history of men could they agree to commit one and the same sin as today. It could not happen years ago.

Original sin, like all other ugly sins, had been repacked with nice labels. Today it is called 'democracy' a poor imitation of christian democracy as introduced by Suarez, the Jesuit theologian. In sociology its true name is anarchy.To make it even more attractive it is personified in 'lady liberty.' It is simply liberty from the rule of God; no different from the rebellion of the angels in heaven. It would be the worst kind of dictatorship because it will try to destroy the souls of man by dictating to the minds and hearts of man.

It's awesome evil was first noticed in 'people's power' during the reign of terror in France. It spread to Russia, Europe, England and the United States. From there it would be imposed surreptitiously to all the rest of the world.

It is so easy to tempt mankind with original sin because it is soooooo natural to the fallen nature of man. No effort is needed to make man fall into it. In fact, he is born with it. With a little help from the devil, man is totally helpless. That's why in the Catholic Church babies are baptized as soon as possible to arm him against this inborn tendency. But most Catholics do not know how to arm babies after baptism so most of them find themselves loosing their weapons against this inborn sin that makes man totally incapable of going to heaven.

Essentially, original sin is when our free will chooses the desires of bodily concupiscence instead of the promptings of the intellect making him act more like an animal than a human being.

It was the most potent weapon in the arsenal of the devil in his desire to destroy mankind. He has an ally in the very soul of man.... a free will that has a tendency to sin, rather than to know and love God.

After the Fall of Adam and Eve the devil knew this temptation to return man to his original sin will be a great success. Flash points in the history of men would show this: during the heresy of Peladius, the reform of Martin Luther, notably the French Revolution and crowned by the heresy of modernism in the 1800 . Today it is all over even within the Church.

The reign of terror in France, I think, was the devil's last dry run to recapture his domain on earth. Because it worked in France it would spread to Europe and the U.S. And both would impose it throughout the world.

In France it was pure 'original sin' personified in lady liberty. It was pure sin, anti-catholic and satanic. But it was presented as a philosophy or form of government so it escaped notice. This spread quickly in Europe and the United States through Lafayette and Benjamn Franklin because it satisfied the longing of the human soul already enslaved by original sin. It was natural to the fallen nature of men.

The movement toppled governments as it is doing now under the pretence of the 'will of the majority'. Yet no one could see the majority. It was in fact the will of a boisterous minority who imposed their will on the majority. It was the worst kind of original sin.

And so we see and hear heads of states, heirs to France's reign of terror, calling for the fall of government because 49, 100 or a little more are killed in demonstrations when their own hands are bloodied with the death of millions through family planning and abortion. What hypocrisy!

Christ came to bestow on us graces to overcome the evils that came out of original sin. But Pelagianism had made todays world ignorant on how to combat this evil. The flood of evil is inevitable and its corresponding chastisements.

St. Thomas noted that when one succumbs to evil he will continue to descend and as he descends the speed of the descend increases. And when he reaches the bottom the momentum of the descend could very well be unstoppable. Did Pope Benedict refer to this in his Dec. 20 audience? And there is nothing in sight that can stop it. No 10 good men, no 20 good men. I feel as helpless as Abraham.

Man's will have ruled supreme today. They call it rights. And most of their rights are contrary to God's right and command. And many Catholics are caught in this vortex with no hope of escaping it. In such a situation we can only ask: "Lord, who can be saved?"