THE NEW EVANGELIZATION - Part II

1. The Holy Father had been repetitious about the importance of Faith, a theological virtue we cannot attain with our natural efforts, a virtue that can come from God alone. And his 'New Evangelization' is the way to learn to be worthy of it.
The treatise of Cardinal Ratzinger is divided into two parts enumerating the two defects of current Evangelizations; the first defect is in the structure and method of teaching and he gives the corrections. The second defect is in the contents of what is taught. And he also gives the correct contents.

Let us see the first defect and Ratzinger's solution. In the next article we shall see the second defect and Ratzinger's solution.

With regard with the first defect: The Holy Father had mentioned that a crisis had entered the Church around the 17th century as a result of the many catechisms of different nationalities that preached their own nationalistic, culturistic interpretations of Catholic Doctrines. Prompted by Nominalism and later on by Modernism, the training of all priests were corrupted so that the Doctrines taught were influenced by nationalistic cultures subjective in nature. Certain doctrines were actually eliminated like the theology of grace (which he said should be the first foundation of Evangelization,) the proper order of doctrines to be taught where changed....and with this jambalaya of Catholic doctrines, we are suddenly faced with a morality and asceticism that cannot bring us to heaven....an engine that does not work.

This state of affairs was evident in the 17th century and vocally discussed during Vatican II specially during the discussion of 'Dei Verbum'. Archbishop Ganner during the discussion insisted on the OATH against modernism imposed on all priest during "Pascendi." The Oath that all seminarians were supposed to make before ordination. This was no longer observed during Vatican II. While the Council Fathers insisted that it should be revived....nobody seems to have done it. The Oath is an act of natural faith in which, hopefully, the supernatural virtue of Faith that makes us Catholics and guarantees our salvation may be built on. Remember, it is only a natural Faith that is required of all candidates for ordination. Is that too much to ask? The Popes were not even requiring supernatural faith because only God can give that.

Pope Benedict, in his 'Porta Fidei" wants us to check if we have supernatural Faith which we cannot have without natural faith. And during the Year of the Priests and several times afterwards, he insisted that priests, to be effective Evangelizers had to be contemplatives.....which means having not only Faith but also Hope and Charity.


The goal for this year is to encourage all Catholics to check if they have the one, true Catholic Faith. And the Holy Father is directing this to 'former Catholics' rather than to the missio ad gentes, for Charity begins at home. The success of missio ad gentes is completely depended on whether those preaching have the theological virtue of Faith. But the focus of the New Evangelization is directed towards Catholics who have lost their faith or had never made the act of Faith. And for the priest Evangelizers to have true Faith.

2. A truth we often forget is that the teachings of Christ are supernatural truths that can only be learned by souls who have received sanctifying grace, had received the gift of Faith from God and through the gifts of the Holy Spirit have learned the teachings of Christ.

3. The dynamics on how to reach Faith had not been taught in the seminaries. So there is the great possibility that many seminarians had been ordained faithless. The Pope mentioned that priests should be contemplatives. The words Faith and contemplative are the same.

There are two kinds of contemplatives. The theological contemplative and the infused contemplative that is the result of grace. The Holy Father is only insisting on being a theological contemplative because no one can become a contemplative by grace except by the work of God. And the theological contemplative is one who have seriously studied Dogma, Morals and Ascetical theology something the Pope required all priests to do during the "Year of the Priests'. If they study these in the proper way they could easily be worthy to receive infuse contemplation which, of course, is superior.

4. To deserve to receive the gift of Faith, a soul must have finished his repentance, developed the four moral virtues and received the gift of Faith that makes him a contemplative. A contemplative is often described as a prophet in the classical way. St. Thomas of Aquinas describes a prophet as one who had first undergone an interior experience of what he is to reveal. So the prophet leaves the secrecy of his contemplation to preach to the outside. The preacher must draw from contemplation what he should then preach to others. This is an act of Charity on his part. St. Thomas describes this as an act of friendship that is active and generous.

5. In the early times, the monks were the best missionaries, like St. Boniface, St. Augustine and St. Patrick. Essentially they were laymen who entered the monasteries to acquire the saving virtue of Faith by way of contemplation. So there is nothing new about the New Evangelization. Contemplation, however, is no longer emphasized in the training for the priesthood, neither in the diocesan nor in the religious. And so the complete ineffectiveness of former Evangelizations.

6. This is why the Holy Father through the New Evangelization had been exhorting us to pray. The prayer he is advancing is contemplation. Earlier the Pope described prayer as a friendly conversation with God in order to know Him. How can we preach Christ to others if we have not known him through prayer.

7. The New Evangelization is New because it is a secret that God would like to share with His friends, not His servants. So we have to receive the words of Christ "Now I call you friends" before we can share the secrets of the Father and the Holy Spirit which is the contents of the New Evangelization. These secrets are not found anywhere except through the personal revelation of God through Christ. And this is shared by God with friends only, i.e. with contemplatives.

The Pope added that in the "New Evengelization" the Evangelizer must be two or more united in Christ i.e. a community united in Charity. And the object of Evangelization must be one, not a thousand. That is two to one ratio; two evangelizer to one evangelized. The disciples were sent by Christ two by two, St. Paul always had a partner in preaching. But when Christ begun to lead each of his disciples into the life of Faith, He led them one by one. This was taught by Pope Benedict in Puebla, Mexico where he reminded the Bishops that Evangelization is a personal approach. A one to one basis. We should not be impatient, he said, in trying to bring in souls by the hundreds or thousands. That is not God's way. Though the one approached is one, the one approaching, the Evangelizer, must be two or more or a community.

The 'New Evangelization" requires this of the Evangelizer. He must be a soul who have reached Faith, Hope and Charity and, therefore, he loves God, himself and his neighbor. Since he had to preach the same message of love of God and neighbor, when he speaks he must show how to love his neighbor who must be around. The community whom the preacher loves and who in turn loves the preacher must be around to show how to love one's neighbor. Something the preacher cannot show if he preaches alone. Without this loved neighbor and the preacher who loves the Evangelization will be completely ineffective. St. Thomas of Aquinas demands at least the presence of benevolent or love of friendship, both of which are natural love, to exist between evangelizer and companion or community. When Christ preached, He had His Apostolic community whom HE loved and who loved Him so they could preach the love of God and neighbor....which many preachers today cannot show. "Two or three gathered in the name of Christ" must be the description of the preacher and his companion or community, and Christ promised He will be in their midst to accomplish the work of conversion.

This is the method and structure which Pope Benedict described as lacking into today's Evangelization rendering it useless and ineffective. And this is the first thing that must be observed in the New Evangelization.

THE NEW EVANGELIZATION - Part I

1. Evangelization
The Bishop's conference for this month had just ended and a few of them were my guests for a picnic. And they were talking about their meetings. No secrets were, of course, divulged. During the course of the conversation, I asked them about "Porta Fidei" and what plans do they have in the Diocesan level. When someone blurted out : what is the difference between the "New Evangelization" that everybody is talking about and the Old Evangelization. And they agreed: "We don't know the difference." Of course, I also did not know. In fact nobody should know the difference because there should be no difference between the Old and the New Evangelization. What we really have is the "new Evangelization" of Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI and the WRONG Evangelization which was the result of the bad implementation of the decrees of the Council of Trent,... exactly what is happening now after Vatican II....there are so many bad post interpretation of the documents that Pope Benedict had to reform the reform.

2. Moral Theology after Trent
After the Council of Trent, one of the great Church councils, the fathers, like all other councils, made very good documents correcting errors or explaining truths for further clarification. After the Council, Commissions were assigned to interpret and implement the documents. But in the Council of Trent, though all the documents were orthodox, something went wrong in the implementation of the degrees on Moral theology, in which the catechisms are based. The suspect is the heresy of Nominalism that plagued the Church before the Council and which eventually influenced Moral theology. This corrupted all manuals of Moral theology during the implementation of the decrees of the Council. And since catechisms are based on Moral Theology, the error entered into the Catechisms of the Catholic Church.

The three branches of Theology, namely Dogmatic, Moral and Ascetical should be integrated as one whole, one greatly influencing the other. After Trent, the three branches were divorced from each other. Without one the other two would collapse. While each branch would not be able to attain its goal. Without Dogma Morals do not know why acts were immoral, without Morals Ascetical becomes meaningless and irrelevant. Without Morals and Ascetical one cannot believe the Dogmas. Without Ascetical and Moral Theology, a soul cannot believe in the Dogmas like that there is a God. And as Bishop Gasser said, explaining the importance in being able to believe in God, without this primal truth man becomes a moral pervert. Virtually the Catholic Church disappeared from the face of the earth. But this is impossible because in such situation God always intervenes in a direct way and teaches chosen souls personally and directly Dogma, Morals and Ascetical theology. And so we see saints raised by God whose incredible knowledge we don't know where it came from. This is how God maintains the existence of the Church in such situation. But with most of the bishops and priests part of this collapse, the faithful would be in the same situation. And this is, indeed, a very sad situation.

3. Cardinal Ratzinger points at the defect.
All the subsequent Popes noticed something was bugging the Church since that time but could not pinpoint it. And so all of them gave the right solution, as their office made them competent to do, without exposing the virus that was plaguing the Church. It was providential, only in preparing for Vatican II that a Commission of international brilliant theologians were gathered as advisers to the Council that they discovered the virus. One of the periti was Joseph Ratzinger. In 2001, addressing Religion teachers and catechists in New York, he first coined the word "New Evangelization". It was used before but Ratzinger popularized it. He pointed out there was a need for a "New Evangelization" because there was a defect with the way catechism was being taught. The defect was in the method and in the contents. Now wait a minute. If I had a recipe for 'Mexican tamales' which contains both the procedure or method of making it and a list of the ingredients.... and suddenly someone changes the method of cooking it and the ingredients it should contain, I'll be having a peanut butter sandwich rather than a 'tamales.' To modify both the method of teaching religion and its contents would produce a Protestant sect not a Catholic Religion. This was what Cardinal Ratzinger was saying.


4. True Evangelization based on the Apostolic Commission
The Catholic Church knows very well the way to Evangelize. It is found in the Apostolic Commission, the instruction Christ gave to the Apostles at the end of St. Matthew's Gospel. If we read the commentary St. Augustine and St. Thomas of Aquinas gave to that text, it is exactly the "New Evangelization" of Pope Benedict XVI. There is no difference. So why is there a "New Evangelization?" Because what had been used before and still found in Manuals of Moral Theology and Catechisms today is WRONG Evangelization. It is different from the Apostolic Commission that Christ gave the apostles.

5. The Traditional, Classical Evangelization.
In fact Cardinal Ratzinger, in his speech, mentioned the fact that this "New Evangelization" is nothing else than the classical or traditional Evangelization Christ taught the first apostles.
Before we discuss the schema Pope Benedict enumerated let us look at the three general points that he mentioned regarding the New Evangelization that is no different from a treatise of St. Thomas of Aquinas on Evangelization. Firstly, the Evangelizer should review his Dogma, Morals and Ascetical theology. Secondly, the Evangelizer must be a contemplative. Thirdly, the Evangelizer must have a 'new heart.' In the early times, these three always went together. But not now so the 'New Evangelization.'

First, Pope Benedict during the Year of the priests told all priest to go back to the seminary and review their Moral Theology. If something went wrong with the way priests learned how to Evangelize, it is but natural that they return to the seminary and relearn how to do it. "Veritatis Splendor" enumerated the right way and the wrong way of Evangelizing. A study of the Compendium of the Catholic Catechism by Pope Benedict would be a perfect text for study, the Pope reminds us. Moral Theology had to be relearned because Ascetical theology and the catechism are based on Moral Theology. An error in Morals will corrupt the ascetical life and the catechism used for strenthening the Faith. I wonder how many priest returned to the seminary during the 'Year of the Priests.' Dogma and Morals should be learned as roads that lead to Asceticism. The Evangelizing priest must be a Theologian and a Saint.

6. What is "New?"
Not the Evangelization but the Evangelizer must be new. He must have a "new heart", Pope Benedict states. All Evangelizers, should renew their minds so they can renew their hearts. If something went wrong in the curriculum the mind must be renewed. This is required of all laymen who love to preach. Acquired knowledge should be a minimum requirement. This includes learning the Theology of History ( just like the Pope's Thesis.) Though this is still very inferior compared to infused knowledge.

7. Only contemplatives should preach.
The third point Pope Benedict raised as necessary for the "New Evangelization" is that the Evangelizer should be a contemplative. His natural knowledge of the truth (this time correctly learned by integrating Dogma, Morals and Ascetical theology) must be consented to by his free will. This transforms his acquired knowledge into infused knowledge which comes along with infused Faith. The Pope mentioned this in the "Year of the Priests". "Contemplata, aliis tradere." It is based on the doctrine that the teachings of the Catholic Church are supernatural in nature and nobody can know, understand nor teach them unless they are in the supernatural level, that is in the level of Faith....at least. That is the stage of contemplation where knowledge is infused and not learned from seminaries. And only after receiving the theological virtue of Faith can we share the Faith with others. Only contemplatives can share the Faith because they have it. The Dominicans had made this teaching of St. Augustine and St. Thomas as their motto. But most seminarians had never heard that they have to be contemplatives to Evangelize. They have not even heard how one can become a contemplative. The Pope is insistent the Evangelizer must be a contemplative. This had been the teaching of the Church from the time of Christ up to.......well, until it just dissapeared..... until the then Cardinal Ratzinger mentioned it. The Virtue of Faith and the contemplative life are synonymous. There goes the excuse of the Diocesan clergy that contemplation is not part of their training. Now it should be.

This is the heart of Evangelization and described by the Holy Father using the words of St. Augustine. What is New? The heart of the one who proclaims. He must be one who is totally in love with the Lord, one who has satiated his thirst in the Word of God. He must be acquainted with the One he is preaching about. And that acquaintance can only be attained by unceasing prayer. An Evangelizer has to be like a St. Thomas of 'Aquinas combining perfect knowledge of Dogma and Morals and putting both into practice into asceticism.....the result is holiness. In the New Evangelization, it is the Evangelizer who should be NEW.

FAITH - A priority !!

Have you ever heard a nagging wife? Or worst still a nagging mother in law? Yes, this is common. But a nagging Pope !!! Well, one day it was bound to happen. St. Augustine several times excused himself for nagging too much. And the reasons he gave was that he was explaining so important a topic he had to. And the Holy Father has found himself doing the same thing because of the importance of his topic ... Faith, without which no one can enter heaven. For what reason should the world continue to exist when most of its inhabitants have no Faith. It has no reason to continue.

After Pope Benedict declared that the Church is undergoing a crisis of Faith i.e. that most 'Catholics' are not really able to enter the Catholic Church, after co-authoring with Pope John Paul II "Veritatis Splendor" where they enumerated the errors that are preventing Catholics from entering the Church, after authoring the "Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church" a better concise summary of Catholic Doctrine superior to the thick Catechism of Vatican II, after encouraging the whole Church to review their Faith during the Year of St. Paul, after more precisely reminding priests to go back to the seminary and review their Moral theology and study how to make the Act of Faith, after "Porta Fidei"......then the Holy Father Pope Benedict addresses a Plenary Assembly working with the new Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization. He called on Bishops and priests and religious to make the renewal of Faith as the Priority work of the entire Church. We can do other things but TO MAKE THE ACT OF FAITH AS THE PRIORITY !!! Now, don't tell me that is not nagging.

In his talk the Holy Father said that the flame of Faith in the world is being extinguish like a flame that is no longer fed, a profound crisis of faith, a loss of all sense of the supernatural. Was he speaking about you and me? I haven't had time to check on my Faith as the Pope had instructed us, and probably you, too. And that is the problem and what he is nagging us to do....to check if we have the true Faith. By the mere fact that we still have to check if we have faith means we don't have it, as St. Thomas would say. He who has Faith knows for certain that he has it.

Casting his glance on the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, the Holy Father hints, "how can you convert the Orthodox and the Jews to the Faith if you yourself do not have it. Your Ecumenical dialogues has borne no fruits. While look at the Anglicans flocking into the Catholic Church and we are not holding any dialogues with them. Then he switches his glance at the Congregation for the Missions and hints, "what will you bring to the mission countries if you yourself do not have Faith." Those mission countries are supposed to form truly Christian communities united with one another but instead Catholic Hutus are killing Catholic Tutsis in Uganda.

There is something seriously wrong in the manner Ecclesiology is being transmitted. This must reflect the priority of Faith, the Holy Father states. But it is as important to have a correct interpretation of that order or hierarchy which exists in Catholic doctrine, by bringing out its internal structure, the organic nature of this unique structure.

The steps that must be followed in instilling the Faith goes this way; first present to the listener the God of nature. This is all in the natural level. And with this present the Golden Rule which is natural Moral Theology. Second, present the truths of Divine Revelation as found in the New Testament. Thirdly, these N.T. truths must be interpreted using the Fathers of the Church or Tradition. Fourthly, the Holy Father, the Pope must proposed the doctrine of Christ as taken from Divine Revelation and the Fathers of the Church. When the listener assents to these teachings with his mind and gives his consent with his free will that is an act of Faith the consequence of which is unity. Only when the community exist because there is unity can the Faith now be proclaimed to others who still do not know the Saviour, the Holy Father ended his address.

A Catechetical seminar was just held here in our diocese. There was a lot of speeches on the need of recruiting new catechists, the need to raise money to finance these volunteers but there was no mention on Faith. The same with a meeting sponsored by the Pontifical Council on Family Life, there was a lot of topics on the state of modern families but there was no mention on the lack of faith in most families. The insistence of the Holy Father that Faith should be prioritized is most opportune. Even in retreats held by priests only a brief referral is given to Faith but there is no explanation on what it is and how to dispose oneself to receive it. And this sight is common in that when a group of priests or seminarian listen to a correct explanation of the theological virtue of Faith the look in their faces seems to say: hey, that's the first time I heard that. Sadly, it is the same thing said by a few bishops. Truly a crisis of Faith. But there is nothing to worry because Christ had taught us how to acquire Faith, "Repent, believe." And St. Paul in his letters had gone into detail on how to dispose ourselves to receive it. And St. Augustine and St. Thomas of Aquinas had described in detail the human act entailed in making the Act of Faith. So what are we waiting for. Why are we delaying so much thus endangering our souls? The world had become so attractive and we have come to love it so much to the exclusion of God. The mind of man is so filled, not with the world that God created but with the world that man invented. And St. Thomas said: he whose mind contains worldly things cannot think of divine things. So the Holy Father talks about 'detachment' from worldly things...ouch...before we can listen to the word of God and attain Faith.

IF I WERE THE DEVIL.......

1. If I were the devil what would I do to destroy the Catholic Church and damn the most number of souls in this era, the year 2000 a.d. I would review the external and internal attacks I had done to the Church. In the external attacks I used heads of states like emperors. Today I would still use heads of states of nations, the greater the nation the better. I will not change this strategy. It is good past time for little out- of -work devils. But the internal attacks, i.e. attacks from within the Church, I have greatly improved through the centuries. This will be my work. I Lucifer will initiate a two-prong attack on the Church, first, will consist in keeping seminarians ignorant of the true faith either by blocking a part of Divine Revelation ( by giving them heretical teachings or omitting certain teachings) and by giving them clown Masses which will entertain them rather than inspire them to a life of suffering.

2 I will continue the external attacks .....and I will improve the internal attacks this way. Before, I had to choose several proud individual priests, transform their true knowledge of the truth into heresies and let them spread their errors. They are priests and this will make it easier for the lay to believe them. But this entailed lots of efforts in that I have to deceive several priests before they can deceive many souls.

3. Today, the devil had improved his strategy in that all he had to do is to install a priest as head of the Congregation of Catholic Education where curricula for seminaries and catholic schools are approved. A little modification in a doctrine here and there or the removal of a teaching of Christ from the curriculum and voila!! The innovation or neglect of a doctrine is enough to prevent all Catholics from making the act of Faith.....and prevent them from entering the Church unto the salvation of their souls.

4 Souls can learn the faith from two sources. First from preaching. Secondly from the sacrifice of the Mass. Preaching teaches souls the commandments of Christ and how to obey them. This is the Apostolic commission Christ gave the apostles at the end of St. Matthew's Gospel. The second is Christ's command "to do this in commemoration of Me," which is the Mass which consists of a summary of the life and death of Christ. This also contains all the commands of Christ and how to do them expressed in Liturgical signs. These two sources complement each other. And more often than not the Liturgy helps explain dogmatic truths. Well, the devil will have to control both the curriculum and the Liturgy and prevent them from complementing each other.

5. Through the centuries the devil had already tried to control both branches, the training of priests and the liturgy. Henry VIII tried it but failed. But the devil had learned his lesson well and had worked hard in improving his strategy. And this time his strategy is working well.

6. Let us first look at the destruction of the training of the priests. Heresies, like nominalism, had infiltrated the highest office and these in turn entered into the curriculum of seminaries and catholic schools. Nominalism would later on give birth to Luther, the Reign of terror, period of enlightenment, democracy, communism and modernism. These infiltrated all catholic schools and seminaries that Catholicism was bogged down in the Old Testament in all these places.

7. Then the Liturgy was headed by graduates of these seminaries. It no longer reflected the true dogmas of the Catholic Church. It became the experimental playground of immature souls and became a picnic ground with liturgical video games.

With Nominalism preventing seminarians from learning the spirituality of the New Testament and at the same time distorting the Mass as to be unrecognizable, the products of the seminary which would be future priests and bishops were ignorant of the complete plan of salvation. Many could not even describe the "Life of Repentance" which is Old Testament spirituality which was decried by Our Lady at Fatima. How come the thousands of Bishops, priests and nuns could not answer our Lady's call for repentance? They, themselves did not how to do it. Many do not know that after the life of repentance, we have to live the life of the four Moral virtues as the necessary disposition before we can receive the gift of Faith ...as noted by St. Thomas of Aquinas. Many do not even know how to explain how to make an act of Faith as the Fathers of the Church had described it. In short, because of the two-prong attack of the devil on the Church 200 years ago, most graduates of seminaries do not know how to enter the Catholic Church or how to make an Act of Faith. This is the crisis of Faith Pope Benedict XVI is describing. It could not be caused by anything else but by the ignorance of the clergy.

8. Knowledge of doctrine which is both acquired through studies (like in a seminary) and through the Liturgy of the Mass are the Church's most potent instrument of sanctification and at the same time the most vulnerable areas of attack. And today, they are being attacked both from external sources as from head of governments including former staunch Catholic nations and from internal sources, from bishops and priests who hold important positions in the training of priests and in the Liturgy. One merely has to look at the list of bishops holding positions precisely on the training of seminarians, training of priests and the liturgy and will see that they are of doubtful orthodoxy. They are even well known as contradicting the Holy Father.

9. The Catholic Church is truly like a fort or a camp, St. Thomas comments, but this time besieged from the outside, and experiencing revolts from the inside. We have our backs on the wall!!!

10. It is no wonder that our captain, the Pope had been barking orders. From "Veritatis Splendor," to "Instrumentum laboris," to "Porta Fidei:" from his audiences to lectures, to reminders to Curial offices, he had been calling for Faith. It is one of our defensive gear. Personal Faith acquired within the Church is the only weapon when our backs are on the wall. He repeated it in his address during a plenary session of two congregations "This is your priority," referring to bishops and priest "Faith." It is a lopsided fight with the devil having the upper hand right now. But isn't this the kind of fight wherein God always wins?

11. The Holy Father, Pope Benedict had been encouraging us all to have Faith, to check on our Faith if it is genuine and as of last week reminded Bishops and priests that this is their priority today. He knows that the two ordinary ways by which souls are instructed, preaching and the Mass, are not delivering the Faith souls should have. He blamed the total neglect of God as the reason. Yes, St. Thomas of Aquinas said that neglect of God brings souls to despair and that is what we see today in the world and in our Catholic priests. This is not neglect of God. This is total inability for the soul which is created to think of God to function naturally and think of God. The world had gone unnatural. Thus the need for a new Evangelization!!! Because the devil had become more powerful? No. Because man have become unnatural. He no longer acts like a man. He acts like a beast. St. Thomas states: he who does not progress regresses. Mankind had been regressing for the last two hundred years. It is difficult to find out from where to pick him up.

" PORTA FIDEI" ......Faith, again.

Pope Benedict XVI had been speaking of "Faith" in many of his addresses. His "Ratzinger Report" was about the crisis of Faith. "Veritatis splendor" which he c0-authored with Pope John Paul II was about the true and false descriptions of Faith. His "year of St. Paul" was about Faith and its best proponent, St. Paul. His "Year of the Priests" was about the priests relearning their Faith. His "Instrumentum Laboris" was an order to Bishops to check the "Faith" of their priests. And now, the "Year of Faith." He signed it last October 2011; to start on October 2012 and end on November 2013.

There could be two reactions to these repetitious topic on "Faith." Pure boredom or the realization that there is no Faith in the Catholic Church. The latter would make this a very serious topic because Faith is what brings us into the Catholic Church and assures our salvation. The Pope just have to be repetitious.

Besides, Faith is presupposed in many Catholic activities. That is why it is useless to talk to other religions because we would be talking about supernatural Faith while they would be talking not even of natural faith. The same things goes with the useless dialogue with Protestants, we would speak in the supernatural level while they would remain in the natural level. And it would be useless for seminarians to study in the seminaries because understanding what they will learn in the seminary needs Faith because the truths taught are supernatural truths while most seminarians would have only natural faith or none at all. Teaching catechetics would be ineffective unless the teacher has Faith. And Bible teaching and interpretation is possible only for people who have Faith. Family apostolates would be useless unless the parents involved have Faith. So it is with good reason that the Holy Father is proclaiming a "year of Faith" where each one of us, bishops, priests and layman must check if we have Faith or not. .... for as he stated many of us Catholics work on the false presumption that we have Faith.

The devil had been attacking the Church from the very beginning. But the devil's attacks intensified at the 1900 and gradually increased onwards up to the present time. The battle in the spiritual sphere is awesome yet completely unnoticed on the ground. The Popes have gallantly fought for the Church. Pius IX had to fight his battles from exile in Gaeta. Pius X had to face an octopus at the very bosom of the Catholic priesthood....and to make the history short, Pope John xxiii had to battle the spirit of the French Revolution now perfected in Europe, in America and in some degree around the whole world. The Church had been surrounded since the 1900 but we had gallant Popes. The gallantry of Pope Pius IX was even prophesied by Our Lady in Quito, Ecuador, 200 years earlier.

Pope John XXIII surrounded by "Original sin" re-surrected and perfected in "Liberte (freedom from God,) Egalite ( equality with God,) Fraternite (friendship with the world which is emnity with God,)" had to call on the help of an Ecumenical Council, Vatican II, in his words: to increase Christians's commitment to their Faith, to make more room for charity (we need Faith to reach Charity).....with clarity of thought and greatnesss of heart (we need the mind to make the act of Faith and the heart to make the act of Charity). His goal was clearly the attainment of Faith that leads to Hope and Charity.

This was, likewise, the goal of Pope Paul VI, John Paul II and in greater part by Pope Benedict XVI. Pope Benedict issued the Motu Propio "Porta Fidei" last October 2011. And up to now, months after, very few bishops and priests know about it and its appendage, a program of implementation.

The first and most important part of "Porta Fidei" is a description of the dynamics of the Act of Faith. How is the Act of Faith made in detail. The description is not easy because it is a supernatural act aided by grace and so, impossible for all to make. The Motu Propio describes the role of the intellect and the free will in the Act of Faith but describes the actual roles of both faculties in summarized form due to the nature of the document. Then the document gives several Scriptural personages who made great acts of Faith for our examples. An exegesis of each personality in Scriptures will be a big help in aiding the faithful understand the acts involved in making the act of Faith.

Then "Porta Fidei" instructs all Bishop to teach the dynamics of the "Act of Faith" to all priests and they in turn to teach it to all the Faithful. In this way everyone can check if they have Faith or not. The document exhorts the entire Church to do this; the Catholic Bishop's conference is instructed to implement this, the Bishop should implement this in his diocese, and all the parish priests should implement this in all religious organizations, communities and each individual faithful. Absolutely nobody should be left out. This is so important a neglect could mean the damnation of souls. The Holy Father wants all to begin studying the dynamics of the Act of Faith from October 2011 to October 2012. Then to apply what we learn into action from October 2012 to November 2013 hoping that by the feast of Christ the King on November 2013 we are ready for the General Judgment......liturgically speaking.

"Porta Fidei" enumerates only the two general steps in the Act of Faith. One is an act of the intellect and the other is an act of the free will. But both the Bishop and his priests must study the 12 steps that make up the Act of Faith.; four acts of the intellect, four acts of the free will and four acts accomplished by both. The first four acts (2 by the intellect and two by the free will) are directed in knowing and desiring the goal of Faith. The next four acts (2 by the intellect and 2 by the free will) are directed to choosing the means to attain the goal Faith. These means should be learned from Divine Revelation and its proper interpretation that can come only from the Church. After making the goal Faith clear and finding the means towards that goal from Divine Revelation clear....or putting it another way.....after the assent of the intellect and consent of the free will .....follows the order of execution by which we make the Act of Faith. It took 12 steps to make an act of faith on one revealed truth of the Catholic Church. We have to make these 12 steps on all the truths of the Church. So we have to teach the "How" and the "What" as declared by Christ in His Apostolic Commission at the end of the Gospel of Matthew. These steps were never taught in the seminary......or maybe I wasn't listening.

"Porta Fidei" prescinds from discussing the Life of Repentance and the Life of the Moral Virtues that should precede the Act of Faith. Both Bishop and Priest must include both topics in explaining Faith to the Faithful, otherwise they would never reach Faith. The Life of Repentance consists of two steps according to Psalm 50; one is to know one's sin and the other is to keep one's sins ever before the eyes of one's mind. The first is difficult because one cannot know his sins unless he first stops sinning. The thief who continues to steal cannot know his sins and the adulterer who continues in his adultery cannot know his sin. Both must first stop their sins before they can know the sinfulness of their acts. The second is also difficult because great humility is needed to keep one's sins ever before one's eyes. In fact, most confessors advise their penitents to do otherwise, i.e. to forget their past sins.

The four moral virtues by which our acts become moral are natural virtues and so is available to all for development. These virtues are what makes one a gentlemen, as St. Francis de Sales states in his "Introduction to the Devout Life." Otherwise we are as uncouth as galley slaves, Josef Pieper states. Repentance and the four Moral virtues must precede Faith. But the devil had conveniently succeeded in making man unable to repent and conveniently make man forget the necessity of the four moral virtues. Even seminarians are not taught these two steps preceeding Faith. So how can we reach Faith? "Porta Fidei" could be our last chance to make an Act of Faith. This is how serious we must take this Motu Propio of Pope Benedict XVI. It could be our salvation or our damnation.

In his commentary to the Gospel of the 5th Sunday in Ordinary time, St. Thomas of Aquinas states that repentance and Faith is the door that leads to the kingdom of God. No one enters God's kingdom here on earth nor God's kingdom in the next without passing through "Porta Fidei." It was the goal to which Pope John XXIII started Vatican II. Pope Benedict is very clearly delineating the way towards the door. Are we behaving like the wise men who build their houses on rock !!! What if this is his last call before we die.

THE BATTLE LINES - Part V

1. We have seen how the devil, using heresies, had been attacking the Church. Pelagianism was a very bad virus. While Arianism and other minor heresies had been weakened there are some that have overwhelmed the anti-biotics and had produced more serious strains. And the Church is having difficulty in curing them. One of them is Nominalism that attacked the Church around the year 800, was temporarily squelched by the Church with St. Anselm spearheading the battle but recovered around the year 1000. Its devastation on the Catholic Church was so great that the Council of Trent had to be convened to deal with it. But the anti-biotic taken was weak. And so the virus continued in the form of a stronger strain. The half-hearted medication from the men of the Church occasioned it to grow stronger through the 20th century up to Vatican II.

2. The devil knows where to concentrate his attacks..... at seminaries. Knowing the brilliant mind of Satan that is expected. The destruction of the seminaries would mean the destruction of the whole Catholic Church. Graduates of these seminaries, most of whom will be future Bishops and Rectors could not protect and watch over the seminaries. The damage done by heresies to the curriculum of the seminaries cannot be imagined. It was a spiritual tsunamis that washed the Church away from the New Testament and dragged it back to the Old Testament. The strategy was so brilliantly done nobody noticed it except the Popes who kept on warning the world about its horrors. Having poisoned the seminaries the natural propagator of the heresy were naturally the graduates of the seminaries who would later on be priests, bishops and Cardinals. The heresy was self propagating. No new effort was needed to spread it.

3. Harboring this cancer for 600 years, the Church finds herself with priest filled with vices rather than virtues. And now we see all the problems the Church has with her priests. It was an unavoidable explosion of a cancerous growth that was bound to happen. There was no way of stopping it. The present problem was just the secretion of a malignant cancer.

4. Priests and their parishioners that are in this state cannot go anywhere else than down. Down, down, down. This was how things were from the year 1000 up to Vatican II. Vatican I was an attempt to stop the tide. But the situation in the world did not allow Vatican I to accomplish its task. Vatican II attempted to raise the Church from the Old Testament back to the New Testament. But the force of the waves driving souls from the Old Testament to OUT of the Old Testament into pure paganism was unstoppable. NOW, the head of a new, ugly heresy rose almost immediately after Vatican II. Led by schools of theology, seminaries, Rectors and theology professors, and spread by bishops and priest contaminated by this new virus, the Church is being dragged out into paganism.

5. It is a return to the First Fall, into Original Sin, into the first sin of Satan. ....the refusal to be subject to God. The fingers of Satan is most evident. The attempts to destroy is continuously focused on seminaries, training programs of priests and seminarian, commission on seminaries, Rectors of seminaries and the dissemination of books about this new religion whose god is "Original Sin." Satan is propagating his errors with his usual means, books, as the devil did from the beginning but was used most effectively during the time of St. Pope Pius V. That spirit was exposed by Pope Pius and exemplified more recently by the spirit of the French Revolution. Today, it persist most potently with an unknown name. But its spirit is fuming with sulphur over the world and quoted by priests and bishops as the "New Catholic Church" misquoting both the aggiornamento of Pope John XXIII and the "New Evangelization" of Cardinal Ratzinger. The present post Vatican II scenario is pure confusion. The voice of the Pope is clear but they are quoted and misquoted everywhere. These heretical voices had been vocal since Vatican II both in mass media and in well published books. Can you imagine the damage they had done by now specially in seminaries which is their target?

In her early history the Church had a solution when things were getting tough. St. Thomas of Aquinas in his commentary to the epistles noted that the Church had always been described as a 'fort.' To which she retreated to defend herself effectively and from which she would go forth to attack the enemies and save other souls outside the fort. And so the first Christians who sought seriously the salvation of their souls 'left the world' and entered these forts, called monasteries, to do battle more effectively. IT IS OFTEN DESCRIBED AS STRATEGIC RETREAT. Pope Benedict mentioned something about the only way to save Europe is through the monasticism of St. Benedict. It is a way of life and not just a geographical entity. And its very essence is a preparation for the second coming of Christ. It is like drawing the battle lines where friend and foes are clearly identified. And their secret battle cry is 'ero cras.'

Around the 8th century the eschatological significance of Christmas was being replaced by a purely materialistic celebration of pure indulgence of the flesh. It was a time that the Christian communities felt that the end of the world could come. So the first Christians prepared themselves this way: they seriously concentrated their minds in knowing Christ as He revealed Himself in Divine Revelation. They made certain that this knowledge was perfect. Secondly, they studied how to love Christ as also revealed in Divine Revelation. They also made certain that their knowledge of this was perfect. Thirdly, they did these two activities with similarly minded Catholics living together in communities. And fourthly they used the community ambiance to put their knowledge into practice. These are the theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity. While doing all these four things they lived in the fear of the Lord knowing full well that He could come tomorrow (ero cras) and that they might not be ready on time of His coming.This fear is what makes them wise guiding them perseveringly to union with Christ. This whole process is what Pope Benedict describes as the "New Evangelization." This is truly preparing one's soul for the second coming of Christ, the eschatological significance of Christmas.

THE ENEMY within - Part IV

We have seen how an ugly heresy unrecognized because it was composed of several heresies put together had lay siege to the Church almost unceasingly from the 1000 up to the present with great visible success. All the problems of priests abusing children and nuns that had to undergo visitation come from this. And as expected this cancer tend to worsen as years went on. Essentially, this heresy dragged the Church from the New Testament back to the Old Testament. And having lay siege to the Church for the last 600 years it is expected to drag the Church from the Old Testament out to a 'new paganism' characterized by a brutality never known in the history of man following the principle that 'the corruption of the best is the worst.'

John Cardinal Newman narrates in his history of the Turks that the most brutal division of the Turkish army fighting against the Christians was a group of young, handsome, white skinned unmerciful fighters. They were the Catholic children of captured Christians that had converted to the Turkish religion.

Today we have such a great army of Catholics that had been dragged out of the New Testament and out of the Old Testament into an entirely new religion made by men and worshiping man, himself . This had happened many times from the 10th century up to the present in some degree but today it is raising its ugly head with a vengeance......symbolized by the fallen broken statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary during a demonstration in Italy.

The devil, the brain behind this invasion had never changed his tactic. It had always been the same from the time of Adam up to the present. Let us see how Satan poisons the Church and let us see how God, through his popes, like Pius V battled this monster in the 1500.

In Pius V's time heresy was both in the open and concealed but its spread was continuous and devastating. The local clergy harbored these heresies consciously or unconsciously. The chief danger was from books sold everywhere where the simple and unsuspecting were often taken in by the contents that were cleverly disguised but against Catholic doctrine, faith and morals. Attempts to expose the heresies were prevented by members of the hierarchy, themselves, due to jealousies. These heretical doctrines were peddled as 'new doctrines' whose novelty attracted people widely. The vicar assigned to correct the error had to escape with his life because of attempts to his life by the bishop of the Diocese. In the wet and cold journey he was refused accommodation by the Dominicans of Santa Sabina. Here is an incident in the 15th century multiplied a thousand times today.

From the 1000, the devil infected books with his heresies, specially books in Moral theology. Today he has even used books with imprimatur. The Laity have absolutely no defense. These books are camouflaged with nice titles, decorated with holy images and impressive titles like 'The interpretation of Vatican II' which is not an interpretation but a mischievous presentation of their hidden agenda, a new church made by man, run by man and worshiping man, a 20th century version of the sin of Adam and Eve popularized by the French reign of terror. And just try to refute this heresy and you will have bishop's conferences against you.

Pius V was very well prepared for his work because of his studies in Bologna. He would not recognize his alma mater today. Michael Ghislieri was chosen by God to be Pope to stem the heresy aside from protecting the Church from the onslaught of Mohammedanism. The battle of Lepanto was during his pontificate. And he showed that treasure of Catholicism that John Cardinal Newman saw as the sign of Christ's true Church. "All sorrow, disaster, darkness or persecution are nothing when we have the certainty that among men there is, and will ever be, a man in whom the light of everlasting truth can never fail. The night of the world is dark for us, but never starless; there is the Pope."

We have Pope Benedict XVI leading the charge today when most of the clergy are pointing the opposite way. The Pope's efforts had been relentless and his voice is like a trumpet call with clear sounds. All his writings, specially the Compendium of the Catechism, the Instrumentum laboris and three encyclicals are clear clarion calls. The light is there. As St. Thomas said: if we don't see it it is because we chose to close our eyes.

The enemy is now within. And it is worst than the Nominalism of the 800. These are peddled by so called Catholic theologians who wish to change the Church by declaring that the original Church of Christ is no more (a heresy rooted in modernism.) That we, the men of the Church make up a Constitutional Convention with the right to modify the old Church as we see fit. We do not have to consult God nor the Pope. Our joint voices rule supreme (reminiscent of Democracy.) We will follow what the majority of the people want (sounds like the French reign of terror.)

This is the first revolution in paradise when Adam and Eve decided that they will decide what is right and wrong and no longer God.

Because the clergy had already been dragged out of the New Testament by countless books, to drag them further away out of the Old Testament into paganism was easy. And this new army of ex-catholics just like the army of young catholics turned muslims are viciously against the Catholic Church, not for any reason except that the corruption of the best had made them the worst.

And they are propagating their poison through books and other mass media outlets. Every priest and nun have read their interpretation of Vatican II articles and bitten by their poison. Only a few had read the Pope's "understanding Vatican II." They are turning the,whatever is left of the Catholic world into a new protestant sect but of a pagan nature. We wonder how many will join a call to arms if the Pope ever calls for a spiritual battle.

Pope Benedict spoke on Dec. 8 about Mary, not about her Immaculate Conception but about the woman of the Apocalypse. That is like talking about Our Lady of Guadalupe( Dec. 12) on the day of the Immaculate Conception (Dec. 8). But why not since the image of the Immaculate Conception depicts a slightly modified copy of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The Pope quoted the book of Revelation where it says that : the dragon will relentlessly attack Christ. But when it sees that his apparent victory during the crucifixion of Christ was in fact his greatest lost, then he switched his hatred on the Church, which is happening right now. What does God do? God gives the Church, the Woman of the Apocalypse, two giant wings and transfered her into a safe place specially prepared by God for her in the desert. The brief history of the Church from the 1000 up to Vatican II is the description of pure total chaos in the world. After Vat. II an uglier head arose. The move was to change completely the Catholic Religion. It has become impossible to seek the life of holiness in such a situation. Could this be the reason why the Apocalypse prophesied that the Church could eventually be transferred to a safer place? Does it mean that we can no longer enter the Church in the world and that we have to look for the Church in the desert to be able to enter it? It seems so. From this time onwards the Church can only be found in that special place in the dessert until her wedding day with the bridegroom. Where is the Church in the desert? The 'New Evangelization' of Pope Benedict is pointing to it.