Abbey-Roads2

And Divine Mercy Sunday

There are some priests and bishops, as well as faithful, who see no need for the institution of the feast of Divine Mercy on the Second Sunday of Easter.  Many consider it an innovation and out of character for the Easter season.  Yet when Our Lord requested the feast, he never asked that anything be changed as far as the liturgical prayers or readings and offices.  In essence, the very least our Lord asked for is that the Second Sunday of Easter be designated as the feast of Divine Mercy.  The conditions for recieving the great pardon/indulgence differ little from what the Church has always required of Catholics during Eastertide for centuries. 

Essentially, the Second Sunday of Easter is the perfect occasion for a Catholic to fulfill his Easter duty.  Canon Law defines it as such:

Canon 920 - 1. Once admitted to the blessed Eucharist, each of th faithful is obliged to receive holy communion at least once a year.

2.  This precept must be fulfilled during the paschal time, unless for a good reason it is fulfilled at another time during the year.

Contrast this with what Our Lord revealed to St. Faustina:

The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion (on that day) shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment. (Diary 699) 

So yeah, the objections to the feast seem to me to be pretty lame.

One woman I’ve met is doing just that.  Adrienne  is writing about the 12 Steps of AA from a lay-Catholic’s perspective - and experience.  It is a must read.  She has already published her first step:  A Journey Begins with One Step.  May the Holy Spirit guide her and touch many souls through her good work.

“Tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies…”

One reason I usually refrain from silly posts on this blog is because I hope what is written here will have some credibility.  On my other blog, Abbey 1, I often post ridiculous and humorous things, along with real news items.  If I engage in jocuse lying, I label the post humor or something else to indicate it is not factual.  I never deliberately try to deceive the reader.  Lately I have been posting photos from spurious apparitions, and doing satirical posts on the same, in order to bring attention to the openess of even the devout as regards absurd lies and deceptions masquerading as heavenly messages.  In the Gospel, speaking of the last days, our Lord warns, “Even the elect will be led astray if that were possible.”

“Teach your children.”  

This week we have seen how Hillary Clinton  has been exposed in one her lies, this one regarding her visit to Bosnia  with her daughter.  I suppose she lied in order to make herself appear more macho, more capable of being the Commander in Chief.  She described the visit as extremely dangerous, landing amidst sniper fire and so on.  CBS blew the story out of the water with footage from the visit, proving Hillary and Chelsea were lying.  Hillary dismissed what she said by explaining that she misspoke, and Chelsea backed her up on that.  (Proving to me that Bill and Hillary taught Chelsea to lie like they do.)

“If there was a universal law that it was generally OK to tell lies then life would rapidly become very difficult as everyone would feel free to lie or tell the truth as they chose, it would be impossible to take any statement seriously without corroboration, and society would collapse.” - bbc.com.uk 

A week or so ago, I did a post about liars on the internet, implying that I knew of some bloggers who lie.  I wasn’t referring to anyone in my sidebar, rather other blogs I happen upon when I surf the net.  I particularly had in mind a couple of dissident Catholic blogs where the writers pretend to be faithful Catholics, although they are really schismatics and heretics.  They do not love the truth - in fact, they invent their own truth in opposition to the Church.  (They know who they are.)

“Stop lying to one another.”

I’m not here to single anyone out, I just want to bring attention to the fact that we are being lied to on a daily basis by media, big business, government, politicians, people pretending to be holy- the list goes on and on.  We know that, but can’t we do something about it?  Can’t we start saying, “She didn’t misspeak, she lied!”  “He isn’t telling the truth, he’s lying!”  “The president wasn’t misinformed, he was lied to.”  Call a spade a spade and stop lying to one another. 

(Photo:  Scene from “The Talented Mr. Ripley”) 

Yesterday I took a friend out antiquing, and as we were driving, I happened to pass by Planned Parenthood.  I glibly pointed the building out to him and said, “That is where they do abortions - they kill babies there.”

My friend, who is around 65 years old remarked, “I thought they just helped people with family planning and birth control there.”

“Really?  You didn’t know that?”  I answered.

Obviously he is amongst those who believe what they want him to believe by using such a benevolent sounding name as Planned Parenthood.  Others may call it denial. 

[Photo:  Margaret Sanger.]

Conditions.

In order to gain the pardon/indulgence for the Feast of Divine Mercy, one does NOT have to make the novena.  From the revelations of St. Faustina:

On one occasion, I heard these words: My daughter, tell the whole world about My Inconceivable mercy. I desire that the Feast of Mercy be a refuge and shelter for all souls, and especially for poor sinners. On that day the very depths of My tender mercy are open. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the fount of My mercy.

   The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment.   

On that day all the divine floodgates through which grace flow are opened. Let no soul fear to draw near to Me, even though its sins be as scarlet. My mercy is so great that no mind, be it of man or of angel, will be able to fathom it throughout all eternity. Everything that exists has come forth from the very depths of My most tender mercy. Every soul in its relation to Me will I contemplate My love and mercy throughout eternity. The Feast of Mercy emerged from My very depths of tenderness. It is My desire that it be solemnly celebrated on the first Sunday after Easter. Mankind will not have peace until it turns to the Fount of My Mercy. (Diary 699) - Source

One may make their confession before the feast, on the feast, or within the eight days following the feast.

[Art:  Thanks to Don Marco at Vultus Christi.]

So, were the friars just making it up?

I posted last week that Gorbachev was praying in Assisi and that the friars at the basilica of San Francesco said he admitted to being a Christian.  Now he is denying it.  Is it the press who screws the stories up - or do others just make this stuff up?  I’m telling you, I’m getting to the point where I don’t believe anyone any longer.

Last evening I watched Frontline on PBS exposing the manipulations of the Bush administration to depose Saddam Hussein and  get us into war.  The evidence seems pretty clear people in the administration were lying.

And take a look at the current presidential race  and the lousy candidates.  Does anyone tell the truth any more? 

(Art: Giotto - “St. Francis; Exorcism at Arezzo”)

Thanks to Paula for the Gorbachev update.

Jesus objectified.

The so-called Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence in San Francisco are at it again with their annual competition for the hottest looking Jesus.  The competition is held on Easter Sunday, featuring barely clad male contestants.  It is not funny.  It is blasphemous.  It is hypocritical for men, dressed as nuns, pretending to be Catholic, to put on such a show.

Catholics have labelled the annual pageant blasphemous, considering that previous entrants have included “old school Jesus”, “surfer Jesus” and “zombie Jesus”, an irreverent take on the Easter message of Christ rising from the dead.

But the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence insist the contest is all part of their mission to “promote universal joy and expiate stigmatic guilt”. - Source

[Photo: The Holy Face of Manoppello.  One aspect of devotion to the Holy Face is to make reparation for blasphemy.]

The novena.

Most Catholics who are familiar with the devotion to the Divine Mercy  know the novena began on Good Friday.  And most understand the conditions for gaining a plenary indulgence, which the Church grants to the faithful on the Feast of Divine Mercy, the Second Sunday of Easter.  Sadly, many also have a legalistic understanding regarding all of these things.

For instance - if someone decides today to join in the novena, they think it doesn’t “count” because they are starting 3 or 4 days late.  Or, they think their novena doesn’t “count” if they do not use the same prayers St. Faustina used.  No.  No.  No.  That is wrong.  As far as being late, remember the Gospel passage of the workers who were hired to work in the vineyard; some were hired in the morning, some at mid-day, and some late in the afternoon - at the end of the day, they all received the same wages from the landowner. (Matt. 20)  I think it is safe to assume it is much the same with our Lord regarding those of us who make novenas.

Freedom of spirit.

As far as the novena prayers, one is free to use St. Faustina’s prayers - in fact they serve as a wonderful instruction concerning the Divine Mercy.  Nevertheless, a person is free to bring whatever souls he chooses each day to the Lord.  (I bring all of you every day of the novena.)  Not everyone realizes that the novena of chaplets is what the Lord really desires.  He taught the prayers of the chaplet to Faustina, and His promises are especially attached to the chaplet… “unimaginable graces” is what he promised.

The great pardon.

Finally, there is the question of gaining a plenary indulgence.  A pleneary indulgence is the complete forgiveness of one’s sins committed since baptism, and the temporal punishment due to them.   So, if you died immediately after receiving the indulgence, you would not have to stop off in purgatory, but you would go straight to heaven.  And yes - there are precise conditions in order to gain a plenary indulgence.

The seemingly toughest condition requires the soul be completely detached from the least attachment to any venial or mortal sin.  This is most discouraging to many souls, especially since some pious persons have disseminated revelations our Lord supposedly made to other “chosen” souls declaring that few receive the complete indulgence because of their attachment to certain sins, venial or mortal.  Yet our Lord’s revelations concerning the pardon of the second Sunday of Easter to St. Faustina do not seem to be as strict as many would believe. 

Our Lord promised:  “ I desire that the Feast of Mercy be a refuge and shelter for all souls, and especially poor sinners. On that day the very depths of My tender mercy are open.  The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment.” (699)

Confidence and love.

So yes, always listen to the Church.  And yes, the Church defines the ordinary means to obtain a plenary indulgence.  Although implied, the original promises of our Lord says nothing about the normal prerequisite of complete detachment from sin.  As I said, the Church defines the requirements to obtain a plenary indulgence.  That said, I’m convinced the Lord is only limited by our level of confidence and hope.  Indeed, I believe the sinful soul can “will” to be detached from all attachment to sin, with the help of His grace.

“Pray and don’t worry”

In other words, if we find ourselves enslaved by a particular sin, mustering all of our confidence, we can pray like this: “Lord, my body, mind, and disordered affections are attached, enslaved to this or that sin(s), but my heart longs to be free of these chains, and I will, with the help of your grace, I will to be completely detached from these unlawful affections; yet I am powerless and even though I do not trust myself, Jesus, I trust in you.”

Never, ever under estimate or limit the Lord in his mercy - no one has ever been disappointed who trusts in Him.

Links:

Devotion to the Divine Mercy

Conditions for plenary indulgence.

Divine Mercy Novena

I have waited,

waited for the Lord… 

and he stooped towards me! - Psalm 40