“The saints are friends of God. They are like the angels in heaven. We honor them, not as we honor God, but on account of the relation they bear to God. They are creatures of God, the work of His hands. When we honor them, we honor God; as when we praise a beautiful painting, we praise the artist.

“We do not believe that the saints can help us of themselves, but we ask them to ‘pray for us.’ We believe that everything comes to us ‘through Our Lord Jesus Christ.’ With these words all our prayers end. It is useful, salutary, and reasonable to pray to the saints and ask them to pray for us. No doubt all will admit the reasonableness of this practice if the saints can hear and help us.” Source

Today is the Feast of All Saints. “Earth is so near to heaven today that the one thought that fills all hearts is happiness,” wrote Dom Prosper Guéranger on this ancient feast, which dates to 609 AD, when Pope Boniface IV opened the crypts of the martyrs at the Pantheon in Rome, their holy bones then dedicated to the prayers and veneration of the faithful.

Pray for us, all you saints, beloved heroes of God. Pray too for all those whose lives are impoverished by the absence of your example and powerful intercession, those who lack your friendship, those who don’t know you, those who live in a world not of saints but of vapid celebrities, political idols, egotistic influencers, pseudo-intellectuals and religious frauds and hucksters. Even though we ourselves are so far from sainthood, we are inspired and awed by your nobility, by the charity and humility that dwell in your mountainous souls. We honor you precisely because of your superiority to us. If God had not revealed that we could, and should, pray for your petitions on our behalf, that it is good and right to pray for them, such presumption would never have occurred to us, beloved heroes of God. The thought of joining you in heaven fills us with a sense of our miserable inadequacy — and yet joy. Only the over-generous and over-abundant mercy of God — what a paradox! — could overcome the chasm between we and you. And yet, by the standards of the world, you were so often considered losers, ridiculous paupers, theological fanatics, nothings, pointless non-conformists, fools, traitors, reactionaries, and anti-celebrities. Then there are those who have called you idols of superstition, who have defamed you centuries after your deaths. Unlucky world that has overlooked you! Unlucky world that was never worthy of you! Unlucky world that has now replaced you with impostor saints and counterfeit, celebrity “popes,” double-tongued revolutionaries, Marxist peaceniks, wolves of sentimental, sham holiness and false peace!

They have dishonored your very name. They have dishonored the title of “saint” — a crime apocalyptic in nature, of inconceivable proportions.

From the Offertory of today’s Mass: “The souls of the just are in the hand of God, and the torment of malice shall not touch them; in the sight of the unwise, they seemed to die, but they are in peace, alleluia.”

Indeed, the saints were tormented in this life by human hatred for or indifference to God. This was torture, moral in nature, far worse than the prisons, racks, guillotines, swords, guns, and fires by which the martyrs among them were killed.

The torment of malice shall not touch them — such is the blessed land of the saints where only love of God reigns supreme, where the malice of revolutionaries is not, where the souls of the true saints constitute a magnificent vista of such grandeur and beauty that we could not even glimpse it if not supported by the immense and over-generous mercy of our loving Father.

O almighty, everlasting God, who has granted us to venerate in one solemnity the merits of all your saints, we beseech you, that as our intercessors are multiplied, you would bestow upon us the abundance of your mercy. Through Christ our Lord, Amen. (Collect, Feast of All Saints)

Feast on the glory of the saints today and never forget how much they desire, in their sacred tenderness and compassion, to accompany you on your journey through this vale of tears.

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“THOSE whom the world calls heroes, are they who, when transfixed with a sword of pain, voluntarily accepted the pain with its sword. Those whom the Church calls saints, are they who accepted all pains, those of the spirit as well as those of the flesh. The saints are those who, when besieged by avarice, laid aside all the treasures of the world; who, when solicited by gluttony, remained sober; who, when burned by lust, holily accepted the combat, and were chaste; who, when entering on the battle, were assailed by filthy thoughts, and remained pure; who rose so high by humility that they conquered pride; who, when saddened by another’s prosperity, made such an effort, as to convert their base sadness into holy joy; who flung to earth the ambition which raised them to the stars; who changed their idleness into diligence; who, when weighed down by sadness, gave a bill of divorce to their sadness, and rose by a generous effort to spiritual joy; who, when enamoured of themselves, renounced their self-love for love of others, and with heroic abnegation offered their life for them in perfect holocaust.”

— Juan Donoso Cortés

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FROM the entry, “Friendships in Heaven:”

And then think of what it is to be with those noble, generous and wise human beings, the Saints, and to enjoy their exalted companionship forever, the beauty of their souls and countenances penetrating our hearts and filling us with a love so sweet and enduring it would overcome us if we were to experience it in this life. There would be no embarrassment then that we too love God. Our inadequacies would be overshadowed by their heroic heights, in the way immense mountains cradle, and form one exquisite panorama with, the flecks of flowers and grasses far below.

Here is a love worth any price. Here is a love the ancient martyrs saw so vividly. It overcame them with joy when they were fed to wild dogs in the amphitheater or set alight in the imperial gardens. Joan of Arc, betrayed as few have ever been betrayed, called out in a resounding voice, Jesu, Jesu! as the flames encompassed her and the hatred of the world consumed her earthly existence. She saw love and nothing else. Her heart was already on fire.

Oftentimes, people talk of Heaven as if it were a state of mindless euphoria, almost a state of drunkenness. But it is nothing like that. In mindless bliss, in depersonalized nirvana, little of our selves would survive. Little of our selves would love or be loved. The heartlessness of this world, its scorn for the holy and marvelous intimacies of heaven, can only prepare us to know true charity if and when we see it. If we must sacrifice attachments in this life for the love of God, we are not without friends. They await us, and they want nothing more than that we love what they love.

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The Witch
—–Mary Elizabeth Coleridge

I have walked a great while over the snow,
And I am not tall nor strong.
My clothes are wet, and my teeth are set,
And the way was hard and long.
I have wandered over the fruitful earth,
But I never came here before.
Oh, lift me over the threshold, and let me in at the door!

The cutting wind is a cruel foe.
I dare not stand in the blast.
My hands are stone, and my voice a groan,
And the worst of death is past.
I am but a little maiden still,
My little white feet are sore.
Oh, lift me over the threshold, and let me in at the door!

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The Little Ghost
—- By Edna St. Vincent Millay

I knew her for a little ghost
That in my garden walked;
The wall is high—higher than most—
And the green gate was locked.

And yet I did not think of that
Till after she was gone—
I knew her by the broad white hat,
All ruffled, she had on.

By the dear ruffles round her feet,
By her small hands that hung
In their lace mitts, austere and sweet,
Her gown’s white folds among.

I watched to see if she would stay,
What she would do—and oh! (more…)

One hears too often from the secular world that “Hallowe’en is a pagan holiday” — an impossibility because “Hallowe’en,” as said, means “All Hallows’ Evening” which is as Catholic as it gets. Some say that the holiday actually stems from Samhain, a pagan Celtic celebration, or is Satanic, but this isn’t true, either, any more than Christmas “stems from” the Druids’ Yule, though popular customs that predated the Church — such as the use of holly to decorate — may be involved in our celebrations (it is rather amusing that October 31 is also “Reformation Day” in Protestant circles — the day to recall Luther’s having nailed his 95 Theses to Wittenberg’s cathedral door — but Protestants who reject Hallowe’en because pagans do things on October 31 don’t object to commemorating that event on this day).

FROM Fisheaters:

31 October and 1 and 2 November are called, colloquially (not officially), “Hallowtide” or the “Days of the Dead” because on these days we pray for or remember those who’ve left this world.

The days of the dead center around All Saints’ Day (also known as All Hallows’) on November 1, when we celebrate all the Saints in Heaven. On the day after All Hallows’, called “All Souls’ Day,” we remember the saved souls who are in Purgatory, being cleansed of the temporal effects of their sins before they can enter Heaven. The day that comes before All Hallows’, though, is one on which we unofficially remember the damned and the reality of Hell. The schema, then, for the Days of the Dead looks like this:

31 October: Hallowe’en: unofficially, per folk custom, recalls the souls of the damned. Practices center around recognizing and remembering the reality of Hell and how to avoid it.

1 November: All Saints’: set aside to officially honor the Church Triumphant (the souls in Heaven). Practices center around recalling our great Saints, including those whose names are unknown to us and, so, are not canonized (more…)

“If we should say: ‘I had not sufficient grace to be saved,’ God will answer: ‘Why did you not ask it of Me?'”

— Fr. Michael Mueller, Prayer, The Key to Salvation

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“PRAYER is the transfiguration of the soul.”

— Cornelius a Lapide

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“Prayer, considered in its nature or quality, is a familiar conversation and union with God; considered in its efficacy, it is the preservation of the world, the reconciliation with God, the mother of tears, the companion on journeys, the propitiation for sins; a bridge over the high waters of temptation; a bulwark against all assaults or afflictions: the suppression and extinction of wars; the office of the Angels; the nourishment of all souls; the anticipation of future joy; a perpetual occupation, the source of all virtues, the channel of all graces.

“Prayer is the lever of the spiritual life; the medicine of the soul; the light of the understanding; the expeller of despair; the ground-pillar of Christian hope; the solution of melancholy and sadness; the riches of monks; the treasure of hermits; the cessation ot anger; a mirror to show the progress in the spiritual life; the thermometer of the soul; a declaration of the dispositions of the heart; a moral certainty of heavenly glory.”

—- St. John Climachus

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“AH, my dear brethren, let prayer never leave your hearts, and the grace and mercy of God will never leave your souls. Rest assured that the Lord will never withdraw from you, nor cease to enlighten, guide and protect you as long as you pray to Him. You complain of the difficulty of saving your souls in the midst of a corrupt world, in which you are exposed to so many dangers. Do you wish to escape them all and to fear none? Arm yourselves with prayer. Prayer was the daily food and strength of the prophet; it was his whole delight; he understood but too well all its advantages.”

— Pope Celestine V to the bishops of France

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“WHEN a country’s Christianity is reduced to the proportion of domestic life, when Christianity is no longer the soul of public life, of the power of the state and of public institutions, then Jesus Christ will treat such a country as He himself is treated. He will continue to bestow His Grace and His blessings on those who serve Him, but He will abandon the institutions and authorities that do not serve Him. And such institutions, authorities, kings and races become like sands in the desert or like the dead leaves of autumn which can be blown away by a gust of wind.”

— Cardinal Pie, Bishop of Poitiers (1815-1880)

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A Leaf-Treader

I have been treading on leaves all day until I am autumn-tired.
God knows all the color and form of leaves I have trodden on and mired.
Perhaps I have put forth too much strength and been too fierce from fear.
I have safely trodden underfoot the dead leaves of another year.

All summer long they were overhead, more lifted up than I.
To come to their final place in earth they had to pass me by.
All summer long I thought I heard them threatening under their breath.
And when they came it seemed with a will to carry me with them to death.

They spoke to the fugitive in my heart as if it were leaf to leaf.
They tapped at my eyelids and touched my lips with an invitation to grief.
But it was no reason I had to go because they had to go.
Now up, my knee, to keep on top of another year of snow.

— Robert Frost

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FROM “A Survival Manual During the Great Tribulation and the Operation of Error (XLVI)“:

[W]e are indeed fully immersed in the Great Tribulation, which we were told would take place in the last days preceding the Parousia of Our Lord Jesus Christ in glory and majesty. This great tribulation, we insist, must be understood in a spiritual and bloodless way, rather than physically and bloodily, as many unfortunately interpret it. Time has shown that this interpretation was erroneous, since all the persecutions suffered by the Holy Church throughout its history until the second half of the 20th century with atheistic communism never managed to defeat it, for the blood of the martyrs was always the seed of new Christians. (more…)

FROM 2 Mac 6:18-28:

18 Eleazar one of the chief of the scribes, a man advanced in years, and of a comely countenance, was pressed to open his mouth to eat swine’s flesh.

19 But he, choosing rather a most glorious death than a hateful life, went forward voluntarily to the torment.

20 And considering in what manner he was come to it, patiently bearing, he determined not to do any unlawful things for the love of life.

21 But they that stood by, being moved with wicked pity, for the old friendship they had with the man, taking him aside, desired that flesh might be brought, which it was lawful for him to eat, that he might make as if he had eaten, as the king had commanded of the flesh of the sacrifice:

22 That by so doing he might be delivered from death: and for the sake of their old friendship with the man they did him this courtesy.

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“WE say, we, and the Catholic Church teaches, that God, by a free act of His love, has established a superior and transcendent bond between our nature and His; we say that a similar bond had not been necessary in itself, that it had not been commanded nor even formally demanded by any requirement of our being; it is due solely to the immense charity, to the gratuitous and excessive liberality of God towards His creature; we proclaim that the bond as a result of the divine will has become obligatory, irrefutably necessary; that it eminently subsists and that it will eternally subsist in Jesus Christ, God and Man altogether, divine and human nature always distinct, but irreversibly united by the Hypostatic Union; we add that the bond must be extended, according to divinely instituted proportions and means, to the whole race of which the Incarnate Word is the Head and that any moral being, be it individual and particular, or be it public and social, could not reject it or break it up, in all or in part, without falling short of its end, and consequently without mortally injuring itself and without incurring the wrath of the sovereign master of our destinies. Such is not only the doctrine, but the very substance of Christianity.[emphasis added]

….”We do not omit nor allow to be omitted, that which the great Apostle teaches, that Jesus Christ, after having descended from heaven, determined to fill up all things: ut impleret omnia. He did not act in His capacity as God, since this presence had always been there, but in His capacity as God and Man altogether. — In fact, Jesus Christ is thence present to all, upon earth, as well as in heaven; He filled up the world with His name, His law, His light and with His grace. Nothing is placed outside of His sphere of attraction or repulsion; no thing nor any person could remain totally foreign and indifferent to Him; He has been set as the corner-stone: building-block for some, stumbling-block and scandal for others, a stone that touches all. The history of humanity, the history of nations, the history of peace and of war, the history of the Church, above all, is not other than the life of Jesus filling up all things: ut impleret omnia.”

        — Cardinal Pie (1815-1880), Bishop of Poitiers

Source

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“PHILOSOPHERS who proclaim the decline of Jesus Christ, you cannot take His place, and if it were true that Christian society no longer exists upon earth, you will no longer be able to rebuild, even, a society of honest pagans.”

— Cardinal Pie (1815-1880), Bishop of Poitiers

Source

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“AS to Jesus of Nazareth, my Opinion of whom you particularly desire, I think the System of Morals and his Religion, as he left them to us, the best the World ever saw or is likely to see; but I apprehend it has received various corrupting Changes, and I have, with most of the present Dissenters in England, some Doubts as to his Divinity; tho’ it is a question I do not dogmatize upon, having never studied it, and think it needless to busy myself with it now, when I expect soon an Opportunity of knowing the Truth with less Trouble. I see no harm, however, in its being believed, if that Belief has the good Consequence, as probably it has, of making his Doctrines more respected and better observed; especially as I do not perceive, that the Supreme takes it amiss, by distinguishing the Unbelievers in his Government of the World with any peculiar Marks of his Displeasure.

“I shall only add, respecting myself, that, having experienced the Goodness of that Being in conducting me prosperously thro’ a long life, I have no doubt of its Continuance in the next, though without the smallest Conceit of meriting such Goodness.

— B. Franklin

“P.S. I confide, that you will not expose me to Criticism and censure by publishing any part of this Communication to you. I have ever let others enjoy their religious Sentiments, without reflecting on them for those that appeared to me unsupportable and even absurd. All Sects here, and we have a great Variety, have experienced my good will in assisting them with Subscriptions for building their new Places of Worship; and, as I have never opposed any of their Doctrines, I hope to go out of the World in Peace with them all.”

— Benjamin Franklin, A letter to Ezra Stiles, president of Yale College

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“BECAUSE the legislation has made a profession of neutrality and of abstention concerning the existence of God, upon what foundation will its proper authority be established? In permitting me to not acknowledge God, am I not authorized to belittle God Himself? We have not elected to place dogma in the law, you tell me. And I respond to you: If the dogma of the existence of God is no longer in the law, the reason for the law is no longer in the law, then the law is no longer so in the true sense of the word, it is nothing but a pipedream.”

 — Cardinal Pie (1815-1880), Bishop of Poitiers

Source

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