CATHOLIC BELLATOR

Cardinal raises question: Is Pope Francis part of Church’s ‘final trial’? UTRECHT , Netherlands, May 7, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – A Dutch cardinal has said that Pope Francis’ failure to uphold the Church’s authentic faith makes him think of the Catechism of the Catholic Church’s prophecy of a “final trial” for the Church before the second coming of Christ. Cardinal Willem Eijk, 64, the Archbishop of Utrecht, made the startling comment in an article published today at the National Catholic Register. Eijk, who was created a cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012, got his medical degree before ordination to the priesthood and went on to complete three PhDs in medicine, philosophy and theology. In the article, the Cardinal laments Pope Francis’ failure to bring clarity on the question of intercommunion with Protestants during last week’s meeting at the Vatican with German bishops. The Pope told the German bishops to obtain unanimous approval on the issue, but, says Cardinal Eijk, he ...

It is better that the church be divided by doctrine than united in heresy. -Fr. Dwight Longenecker THE TEMPTATION TO LATITUDIN-ARIANISM By Fr. Dwight Longenecker May 2nd, 2018 Collectors of long words should be happy with “latitudinarianism.” This was an attitude which developed within Anglicanism in the seventeenth century and has become pretty much the status quo in the Church of England. From Wikipedia: Latitudinarians, or latitude men were initially a group of 17th-century English theologians – clerics and academics – from the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England, who were moderate Anglicans In particular, they believed that adhering to very specific doctrines, liturgical practices, and church organizational forms, as did the Puritans, was not necessary and could be harmful: “The sense that one had special instructions from God made individuals less amenable to moderation and compromise, or to reason itself.”[1] Thus, the latitudinarians supported a broad-bas...

FEW LOVE THE CROSS OF JESUS JESUS has always many who love His heavenly kingdom, but few who bear His cross . He has many who desire consolation, but few who care for trial . He finds many to share His table, but few to take part in His fasting . All desire to be happy with Him; f ew wish to suffer anything for Him . Many follow Him to the breaking of bread, but few to the drinking of the chalice of His passion . Many revere His miracles; few approach the shame of the Cross . Many love Him as long as they encounter no hardship; many praise and bless Him as long as they receive some comfort from Him. But if Jesus hides Himself and leaves them for a while, they fall either into complaints or into deep dejection. Those, on the contrary, who love Him for His own sake and not for any comfort of their own, bless Him in all trial and anguish of heart as well as in the bliss of consolation. Even if He should never give them consolation, yet they would continue to praise Him and wish ...

Prominent Archbishop Celebrates High Profile TLM at National Shrine in Washington, DC "This is the mass [Latin Mass] that has produced Saints.” -Bp. Alexander Sample As we gather here today in this magnificent Basilica, one cannot help but notice the very large presence of YOUNG people who have come to participate in this Holy mass.  I have met a good number of you personally. You are a sign - a great sign of encouragement and hope for the church tossed about these days of on the troubled waters of secularism, relativism.  As they say, you GET IT! You understand your place in the world and in the church to help rebuild a culture of life in society and a renewal of catholic culture within the church herself.  -Bp. Alexander Sample

 LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these. -Mark 12:31 If he can learn how to love neighbor, then there is HOPE! "We, who live so close by, are not enemies that must fight against each other, but are more families that share the same bloodline, who must unite." North Korean leader Kim Jong Un speaks after a historic meeting with South Korean Pres.Moon Jae-in. https://t.co/Uhhn76gqtU pic.twitter.com/gty1s3w8Sy — ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) April 27, 2018

APPRECIATING GOD'S GRACE (The Imitation of Christ) WHY do you look for rest when you were born to work? Resign yourself to patience rather than to comfort, to carrying your cross rather than to enjoyment. What man in the world, if he could always have them, would not readily accept consolation and spiritual joy, benefits which excel all earthly delights and pleasures of the body? The latter, indeed, are either vain or base, while spiritual joys, born of virtue and infused by God into pure minds, are alone truly pleasant and noble. Now, since the moment of temptation is always nigh, since false freedom of mind and overconfidence in self are serious obstacles to these visitations from heaven, a man can never enjoy them just as he wishes. God does well in giving the grace of consolation, but man does evil in not returning everything gratefully to God. Thus, the gifts of grace cannot flow in us when we are ungrateful to the Giver, when we do not return them to the Fountai...

CONTRITION: The Golden Key of Paradise -  Key to Heaven By an Italian Priest. Australian Catholic Truth Society No. 1325 (1959). INTRODUCTION. At first sight of this little book, that bears the high-sounding title of “The Golden Key of Paradise,” perhaps, dear reader, you will be somewhat curious to know whether its contents are as good as its title. Perhaps you are inclined to shrug your shoulders and feel as you do when you see advertised marvellous and infallible cures for all the ills that flesh is heir to. No — be not deceived; this is a genuine key, and one you can easily manipulate. It is Perfect Contrition, which for the forty centuries (or more, according to many Biblical scholars) before the coming of Christ was the only means of salvation for all those who had committed sin, and which even now is destined to save myriads of souls. Look at its marvellous power. It can open Heaven every day, and every moment of each day. Especially is it efficacious if at the ...