Today, we continue with yesterdays post on the Divine Providence, especially regarding chastisements and sufferings.

We are in the midst of the greatest spiritual chastisement in all of salvation history and tragically, most Catholics are not in any way making use of it. If we waste these graces we shall be swept up in the wreckage and perhaps into perdition.

Saint-Jure likens the evil-doers to leeches employed by a physician in order to purify and bring about a recovery. For us to focus on the repulsiveness of the leeches, only distracts us from our task of cooperating with the will of God, for the trials we are experiencing are, in the hands of the Divine Physician, merely tools for our salvation. Speaking of the evil-doers, Saint-Jure says,

Whatever their particular views may be, in regard to us they are only instruments of well being, guided by the hand of an all-good, all-wise, all-powerful God who will allow them to act on us only in so far as is of use to us. It is in our interest to welcome instead of trying to repel their assaults, as in very truth they come from God. [Ed. Note: Welcome as Christ welcomed His Passion and Death, with humble obedience to God’s will.]

And it is the same with all creatures of whatever kind. Not one of them could act upon us unless the power were given it from above. This truth has always been familiar to the minds of those truly enlightened by God. We have a celebrated example in Job. He loses his children and his possessions; he falls from the height of fortune to the depths of poverty. And he says ‘The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away. As it hath pleased the Lord, so is it done. Blessed be the name of the Lord.’

St. Augustine notes,  “Job does not say ‘The Lord gave and the devil hath taken away’ but says, wise that he is, ‘The Lord gave me my children and my possessions, and it is He who has taken them away; it has been done as it has pleased the Lord.’ ”

The example of Joseph is no less instructive. His brothers had sold him into slavery from malice and for a wicked purpose, and nevertheless the holy patriarch insists on attributing all to God’s providence. ‘God sent me’, he says, ‘before you into Egypt to save life… God sent me before you to preserve a remnant for you in the land, and to deliver you in striking way. Not you but God sent me here, and made me a father to Pharaoh, lord of all his house, and ruler over the land of Egypt.’

Shall I not drink the cup?

Let us now listen to Our Savior Himself who came down from heaven to teach us by His word and example. In an excess of zeal Peter tries to turn Him aside from His purpose of submitting to His passion and prevent the soldiers laying their hands on Him. But Jesus said to him: ‘Shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?’ In fact He attributed the suffering and ignominy of His passion not to the Jews who accused him, not to Judas who betrayed Him, nor to Pilate who condemned Him, nor to the soldiers who ill-treated and crucified Him, nor to the devil who incited them all, though they were the immediate causes of His sufferings, but to God, and to God not considered as a strict judge but as a loving and beloved Father.

Let us never then attribute our losses, our disappointments, our afflictions, our humiliations to the devil or to men, but to God as their real source. “To act otherwise” says St. Dorothy, “would be to do the same as a dog who vents his anger on the stone instead of putting the blame on the hand that threw it at him.” So let us be careful not to say ‘So-and-so is the cause of my misfortune.’ Your misfortunes are the work not of this or that person but of God. And what should give you reassurance is that God, the sovereign good, is guided in all His actions by His most profound wisdom for holy and supernatural purposes. [End quote]

The point of this is simply to refocus on our task at this time. It is a most grave error to abandon the Church in the midst of satan’s assault on it. All this putrid filth coming to light is purging the Church! Now, the work of the evil-doers is becoming exposed before the eyes of the whole world. Yes, it is shameful, and we are properly shocked and revolted. But this poisonous filth which is coming to light in the Church has long been in the roots and veins, indeed, in the very heart of the church for so long!. It must come out. If it takes these scandals to finally shock the remaining remnant into making reparation, so be it.

You must know this – it will only be those who remain, bowed beneath this onerous burden, this cross of affliction laid on their contrite shoulders, only to these will be the victory. Those who walk away are lost, perhaps forever.

We are Catholics. We are children of Mary, consecrated to her Immaculate Heart, and through her to the Sacred Heart of Our Lord Jesus Christ. He did not disdain the ignominy of the Cross and she did not disdain to stand there with Him, despite the scurrilous attacks of the worldly, who pretended to be “shocked” while rejoicing to see perfect purity so betrayed. We are Catholics. We know full well how the first Passion and Death of Christ went. And so, we should not be dismayed by the tragic betrayal of the Bride of Christ by today’s pope and hierarchy. Our task now is to obey in loving obedience, making of everything a sacrifice of reparation, to console Him, and to pray for the conversion of sinners, especially those most in need of His mercy.

Previous post: “The Will of Divine Providence”

“The Figure of a Woman, anticipating 2017”

“Fatima and the Suffering Church”

Thank you for reading. Please, pray for our priests.

Please, pray the Rosary! Stand with the Woman at the Cross. Now is the time!

†  Immaculate Heart of Mary, Queen of our hearts, Mother of the Church, do thou offer to the Eternal Father the Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, for the conversion of poor sinners, especially our Pontiff.

~ by evensong for love of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ, King.
Vouchsafe that I may praise thee, O Sacred Virgin! Give me strength against thine enemies!

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