Airbournemillennial

HOW THE HOLY SOULS REPAY US FOR OUR HELP . “It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins.” (2 Mac 12:46) . St. Thomas of Aquinas, the Prince of Theologians, says that the fire of Purgatory is equal in intensity of the fire of Hell, and that the slightest contact with it is more dreadful than all the possible sufferings of this Earth. . St. Augustine, the greatest of the Holy Doctors, teaches that to be purified of their faults prior to being admitted to Heaven, souls after death are subjected to a fire more penetrating, more dreadful than anything we can see, or feel, or conceive in this life. “Though this fire is destined to cleanse and purify the souls”, adds the Holy Doctor, “still it is more acute than anything we can possibly endure on Earth.” . St. Cyril of Alexandria does not hesitate to say: “that it would be preferable to suffer all the possible formats of Earth until Judgment day, than pass one day in Purgatory.”...

God alone knows the number of souls whom our Saint led from sin to penance by a daily course of preaching extending over a period of twenty years. But if we may judge by the exterior signs which everywhere accompanied his presence, we can easily conceive that there would be very few persons, who were privileged to see and to hear him, and could still resist the efficacy of his influence on their souls. And how was it possible to remain insensible to his touch? He preached with such energy, such vivacity and vigor, that he no longer appeared an old man broken down by age and infirmity, but a youthful herald of the Gospel fired with an impetuous ardor. He could be heard at a great distance round; and he was understood by people of every nation, although he spoke only the Valencian dialect. His sudden display of energy during his preaching was as a miracle which enraptured his hearers. On leaving the pulpit, he became feeble, weary, and infirm; his countenance was ...

The Miraculous Apostolate of St. Vincent Ferrer 1398 -1419. by Andre Pradel, 1875 No sooner had he been installed in his new dignities, than the Saint sought, by every means at his command, to bring about a union of the faithful under one Supreme Head. He daily implored his illustrious penitent to relinquish his claims to the Papacy, so as to do away with the monstrous phenomenon of two heads over one body. At his instance, a large council of prelates, theologians, and canonists was gathered together to discuss the relative claims of the contending parties. With fair speeches Benedict showed himself well disposed, but artfully eluded all negotiation that was likely to terminate the difficulty; in consequence of which a number of his own cardinals abandoned his cause. Seeing that his efforts were useless to induce the Pope to lay aside the tiara, St. Vincent was seized with deep sorrow. He could no longer witness the evils that were crushing the Church without bein...

St. Francis of Paola charitable ways extended to his family also, specifically his nephew, Nicholas d’Alesso, son of his sister Brigida. Brigida would not give her consent for her son to become a monk, and the boy had become ill and died.  When the young man’s body was about to be lowered into the grave at the monastery of St. Francis, the wonder worker of Paola stopped the grave workers, and ordered that the body be  taken to his room. Then he beseeched Our Lord to restore the life of his nephew. That same night, Nicholas came back to life, but St. Francis told no one of the miracle. In the morning, Brigida came to the monastery church for the funeral Mass of her eldest son. Francis approached his weeping sister and asked: “Brigida, if your son should return to life, would you consent to his becoming a religious?” “If Heaven so desires,” she replied, “it will be my greatest consolation.” Francis left her, went to his cell, and returned with Nicholas clothed as a monk. His...

On Freedom and Slave Labor To be human, "man's response to God by faith must be free, and... therefore nobody is to be forced to embrace the faith against his will. The act of faith is of its very nature a free act." "God calls men to serve him in spirit and in truth. Consequently they are bound to him in conscience, but not coerced... This fact received its fullest manifestation in Christ Jesus." Indeed, Christ invited people to faith and conversion, but never coerced them. "For he bore witness to the truth but refused to use force to impose it on those who spoke against it. His kingdom... grows by the love with which Christ, lifted up on the cross, draws men to himself." Catechism Paragraph 160 I've never seen more misinformation in the secular world (and even within the Church community) on a subject than on the question of freedom and faith.  Do a Google on "the Spanish inquisition" and you're bound to come up with page ...

On Faith and Ignorance Believing in Jesus Christ and in the One who sent him for our salvation is necessary for obtaining that salvation. "Since "without faith it is impossible to please [God]" and to attain to the fellowship of his sons, therefore without faith no one has ever attained justification, nor will anyone obtain eternal life `But he who endures to the end.'"  Catechism Paragraph 161 "What about those who are ignorant of God... are they condemned to hell from the very start?" It's a fair question, but I don't think it's very difficult to answer.  Nor is it difficult to accept the answer. St. Augustine tells us that the laws of God are not of stone, but written into the very hearts of men: "Thy law is written in the hearts of men, which iniquity itself effaces not."  This is supported by evidence throughout history-chiefly by the fact that every society, whether it has come to embrace Christianity or...

Saint John, whose national origin remains unknown, was called Climacus because of a treatise he wrote called The Ladder (Climax) of Paradise. He made such progress in learning as a disciple of Saint Gregory Nazianzen that while still young, he was called the Scholastic. At the age of sixteen he turned from the brilliant future which lay before him, and retired to Mount Sinai, where he was placed under the direction of a holy monk named Martyrius. Once that religious journeyed to Antioch and took the young John with him; they visited Saint Anastasius, a future Patriarch of Antioch, and the Saint asked Martyrius who it was who had given the habit to this novice? Hearing that it was Martyrius himself, he replied, And who would have said that you gave the habit to an Abbot of Mount Sinai? Another religious, a solitary, made the same prediction on a similar visit, and washed the feet of the one who would some day be Abbot of Mount Sinai. Never was there a novice more fervent, more unrele...

Contrition: from the Catechism of the Council of Trent: . . The Meaning of Contrition . As the faithful require instruction on the nature and efficacy of the parts of Penance, we shall begin with contrition. This subject demands careful explanation; for as often as we call to mind our past transgressions, or offend God anew, so often should our hearts be pierced with contrition. By the Fathers of the Council of Trent, contrition is defined: "A sorrow and detestation of past sin, with a purpose of sinning no more."(1) And a little further on the Council, speaking of the motion of the will to contrition, adds: "If Joined with a confidence in the mercy of God and an earnest desire of performing whatever is necessary to the proper reception of the Sacrament, it thus prepares us for the remission of sin." . From this definition, therefore, the faithful will perceive that the efficacy of contrition does not simply consist in ceasing to sin, or in resolving to begin, ...

Our Lady of Fatima: "Here you see Hell..." As Our Lady spoke, she opened her lovely hands, disclosing beneath a sea of fire; and plunged in this fire were the demons and the souls, as if they were red-hot coals, transparent and black or bronze colored; with human forms, which floated about in the conflagration, borne by the flames which issued from it with great clouds of smoke, falling on all sides as sparks fall in great conflagrations -- without weight or equilibrium, among shrieks and groans of sorrow and despair which horrify and cause to shudder with fear. The devils were distinguished by horrible and loathsome forms of animals frightful and unknown, but transparent like black coals that have turned red-hot. "Here you see Hell, where the souls of poor sinners go," she said at length. "To save them God wishes to establish in the world the devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If they do what I will tell you, many souls will be saved, and there will be...