Tuesday, June 23, 2020

Discernment – True and False Seers, Apparitions (MDM - BOT)

Discernment – True and False Seers, Apparitions (MDM – BOT)





In the midst of a great cultural and social crisis, as well as more confusion than ever before, many people are looking for guidance and answers to help solve these profound problems. Unfortunately, due to this confusion and organized deception and promotion of relativism by Freemasonry, many people no longer look to the documents of the Church and the writings of the saints of the last 2000 years, but decide the truth for themselves, according to their own likes and tastes and hidden desires and motives. The “father of lies”, Satan (Jn 8:44), with the help of very numerous followers, helps to create this confusion and to perpetuate it and to offer us false information and solutions. As we know, Satan offers at least 95% of the truth while inserting his poisonous hidden lies.



Prophetic private revelations are so important, especially in times of great crisis and confusion, that Satan seeks in every way to diminish their divulgation, influence and effect. In 1882, Christ revealed to the stigmatist, Marie Julie Jahenny of La Fraudais, France that: "In the last days, a seemingly unlimited amount of FALSE REVELATIONS will arise from hell like a swarm of flies; a last attempt of Satan to choke and to destroy the efficacy of the TRUE REVELATIONS by false ones."

This indicates that the true private revelations are important enough for Satan to try to diminish their effectiveness in helping to alert souls of the very great dangers in this period of time when even “the elect will be deceived if possible” (Mt 24:24). But this also indicates that there are many false revelations and thus one must be wise and prudent especially in regards to recent revelations in which the proper Church authorities have not made any pronouncement yet.

St. John also tells us: “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are of God: for many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1Jn 4:1).



Thus it is very important for all of us, especially if we have any influence over other souls in anyway whatsoever, to be willing to listen to someone who offers us insight and guidance with the documents of the Church and the writings of the saints. Pope John Paul II often encouraged dialogue. It is so easy to become attached to our own convictions or to a particular seer or private revelation, according to our feelings and particular sentiments, and then not be willing to listen to anyone not in agreement with ourselves. This danger is even greater in this period of the “great tribulation” (Mt 24:21), when even “the elect will be deceived if possible” (Mt 24:24)! It is not difficult for Satan, who is very intelligent, to offer many valid predictions in order to convince us that a particular seer is good and then in a sly way, cause real damage to souls without us realizing it.



I wrote to several people who follow Maria Divine Mercy (“Book of Truth” – BOT) in Facebook, which has been condemned by many bishops, including from the country of its origin, Ireland: “Stick to apparitions approved by many bishops and cardinals: “To the Priests, Our Lady's Beloved Sons” (http://our-lady-priests.blogspot.it/). "FALSE SECURITY - Maria Divine Mercy – MDM" (https://spir-food.blogspot.com/2019/11/false-security-maria-divine-mercy-mdm.html).

Their reaction was very negative, and they did not want to dialogue with anyone not in agreement with themselves; they only wanted to justify and defend their own personal conviction without being willing to learn or discern with someone who offers well intentioned caution based on the wisdom of the Catholic Church. It seems that this false seer is strongest in the Philippines and Nigeria, perhaps because there is more devotionalism with less education to discern according to the criteria of the Church and the writings of the saints and popes. This lack of catechesis, and perhaps a strong tendency toward protagonism and triumphalism, easily leads many to put a seer above all, even the Magisterium of the Catholic Church with all her documents of 2000 years guided by the Holy Spirit. In a real way, many have started a new church, the church of the “Book of Truth”, but Christ founded only one Church, the Catholic Church. Unfortunately they masquerade as being Catholic! Instead of putting before themselves the “Book of Truth”, they should put before themselves the Holy Bible and the Catechism of the Catholic Church for adults (CCC; ed. 1992, promulgated by Pope John Paul II; http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM).



But these people do not want to do this! I have not met with anyone in this group who knows what it means to be Catholic even though they say they are Catholic. They truly act as if Satan does not exist or that Satan is stupid and would never inspire a false apparition that could do great harm to many souls in a hidden and sly way. A strong follower and promoter of MDM, Daniel, wrote me recently in Facebook: “But do you think that attacking private revelations is the right thing? If you don't believe in the message why not walk away and continue with your devotion as usual. Don't you think you are making yourself the judge in this matter? The simple truth is that there's SENSE IN EVERY NONSENSE. BE VERY CAREFUL BEFORE PRIDE STIRS YOU UP. Do you want to tell me that the millions of people following the Book of Truth were convinced by MDM? I'm not interested in knowing who MDM is and her history and I know that many of the followers share this same thought with me. I'm from a pagan family even though I was baptized. I have poor or little knowledge of the catechism of the Catholic Church.”



Daniel has no idea that the most important job of pastors - parents, priests and bishops - is to protect the sheep, the souls entrusted to them, from the very sly and intelligent wolf, Satan!!! It is amazing, being surrounded today in the atmosphere of relativism, how everything is reversed. Is not truth established by God (Jn 14:6) instead of by the majority of people as indicated by Daniel? Is it not one of the first tenets of Satan, which he communicates to us, that the immutable Truth (Who is God - Jn 14:6) does not exist, and that all religions and truths are all acceptable even though there are fundamental contradictions between different religions and truths, such as Buddha, Mohammed and Jesus are all on the same level and acceptable, as is taught in all 33 degrees of Freemasonry, which means that Jesus is not the “only Son of God” (Jn 3:15-18; 1:14; 1Jn 4:9)?!? Is this not what Daniel wrote: “The simple truth is that there's SENSE IN EVERY NONSENSE”?!? A fundamental attitude or philosophy of life, the easier way, that slowly leads away from God is: “Ignorance is Bliss!” Is this not what Daniel, along with a very great number of people today, is embracing and promoting? Daniel did not indicate in anyway the desire to discern how we can help each other discover and do, in this situation, the holy will of God!



Daniel wrote: “BE VERY CAREFUL BEFORE PRIDE STIRS YOU UP.” Things are truly upside down today. Is it not pride to not seek the guidance from the Catholic Church that Christ founded instead of going according to one’s own opinion and subjectivism?!? According to Daniel’s logic, all good pastors who seek to protect the sheep, the souls entrusted to them, are prideful. According to Daniel, all pastors should closed their eyes and not speak, like “dumb dogs” (Is 56:10), about the great dangers that the wolf, Satan, offers to unsuspecting souls.



It seems that for Daniel pride means to not blindly obey an unapproved and condemned private revelation (MDM – BOT). Is this not what all dictators in the history of the world demanded, blind obedience, with no discussion or dialogue based on Divine Revelation explained by the One True Church, the Catholic Church for 2000 years?!? Don Stefano Gobbi, one year before his death in June 2011, said to a few people privately in the USA: “Pray for the next pope, but do not listen to him”. This is how saints talk, which is very different from the messages of MDM - BOT. The more we habitually criticize others, even a supposed false pope, the less we criticize ourselves to discover how we are not imitating Christ in our lives and we become blind to our real lack of authentic virtue.



The martyrs of the first centuries of the Church, did not hold a vengeance against their murderers and thus attracted many new followers to the new Christian religion because people never saw before anything similar, that is the great persecution and injustice without vengeance or rancor, but forgiveness from the heart.



Our Lady in her messages to Don Stefano Gobbi (“To The Priests Our Lady’s Beloved Sons”; http://our-lady-priests.blogspot.it/) says often the importance of becoming little children! If we feel full of our intelligence, wisdom and holiness, God draws away from us and we deceive ourselves and in the end we destroy ourselves. “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and BECOME LIKE CHILDREN, you will never enter the Kingdom of heaven” (Mt 18:3).



As St. Louis de Montfort explains for our times, and repeated many times “To The Priests Our Lady’s Beloved Sons”, Our Lady is forming her cohort of the truly humble little ones while Satan takes the rest. The truly humble little ones seek the truth from outside of their own heads from God explained by the authentic Magisterium of the Catholic Church of 2000 years.



The Servant of God, Archbishop Fulton Sheen, once said: “The truth is the truth even if no one believes it; error is error even if everyone believes it.”. Is it not PRIDE to NOT want to consider that maybe the private revelation that I like personally is not from God and can possibly lead me slowly in the wrong direction toward my destruction as “an angel of light” (2Cor 11:14)? Is it not PRIDE to NOT want to dialogue with anyone not in agreement with me, with a person who offers me pertinent documents of the authentic Magisterium of the Church for 2000 years? Is not the main job of good pastors to protect the sheep from the very intelligent and cunning wolf disguised as a lamb, or worse, disguised as a pastor who is not faithful to the religion that he claims to represent?



Daniel wrote: “If you don't believe in the message why not walk away and continue with your devotion as usual.” Daniel is saying that the only thing that is important is to find a devotion that I like, that pleases me, without trying to discover if this devotion pleases God or helps me or hurts me afterwards! This is where the New Age comes in offering people all kinds of “devotions” which do not lead to the one true God of the universe! Is not devotionalism the seeking of what serves me rather than what serves God? “The Son of man came not to be served but to serve” (Mt 20:28; Mk 10,45; Jn 13:1-17). Does not this devotionalism lead to saying the Our Father, “THY will be done”, but living “MY will be done”, which is nothing more than self satisfying egoism? This can be applied to anything we do or believe, “THY will” or “MY will” be done, to love God and neighbor, or to love myself. “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my father who is in heaven” (Mt 7:21). If I use everything to do MY will, how can I hope to pass eternity with God? We human beings are very capable of justifying and defending what we want in the name of God or in the name of a religion or in the name of a “seer”, helped out by “the father of lies”, Satan (Jn 8:44), disguised as “an angel of light” (2Cor 11:14)! With so few courageous pastors today, willing to offer THE WHOLE AND INTEGRAL TRUTH, very few people live what Saint Peter warned us about: “Be sober, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experience of suffering is required of your brotherhood throughout the world” (1Pet 5:8-9).



I guess I should not be surprised at this having come to realize that at least the majority of priests today, as the first targets of Satan, are even more confused and further away from the Truth of God than the lay people that they are suppose to guide according to the authentic teachings of the Catholic Church. I recently sent a cell phone message to a priest who continually harasses me to join the cult of man: “Dear Don Stefano. If you are not willing to look at the Catechism of the Catholic Church for adults (CCC, ed. 1992) together with me in order to discover what God wants in the concrete situations, please, do not telephone me anymore nor knock at my door, with the motive to straighten me out according to your ideas. I follow God, not men! Is the Church the handmaid of the Truth or the Author of the Truth??? What religion do you represent??? Don Jo”



Almost twenty Cardinal and more than 150 Bishops, more than 50,000 priests and religious, have followed the Marian Movement of Priests (MMP), receiving by way of the book, “To the Priests, Our Lady's Beloved Sons” (http://our-lady-priests.blogspot.it/), which contains the messages, precious teaching from the Mother of God, in this devastating attack of the ecclesiastical Masonry on the sound doctrine of the Church and the Sacraments, especially the Most Holy Eucharist. Many bishops have given their Imprimatur to this book. You will find in these messages of Our Lady revealed through Don Stefano Gobbi a resemblance to the writings of Saint Louis de Montfort, Saint Therese of the Child Jesus and to the messages of Our Lady of Fatima, with the sweetness that only the Mother of God, and the Mother of each of us, could communicate to those open to the caresses of Our Lady!



In these messages, Our Lady lovingly leads us to Calvary, with true humility and suffering with Jesus. Our Lady often says, do not judge anyone. Of course as Catholics we understand this to not judge subjectively, that is the hidden intentions and motives and the eternal destination of a person. But we must judge objectively the visible and manifest facts so as not to follow those who lead us away from God and into sin.



In these messages Our Lady leads us to true holiness which is the fundamental solution for the world and the Church. The more we criticize others, the less we criticize ourselves about how we are not imitating Christ and we become blind to our real lack of virtue. Our Lady leads us to the foot of the cross in this period of the crucifixion of the Body of Christ, the Church (CCC 675-677; http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P1V.HTM). Mary, the Queen of Martyrs, did not yell out to the ones crucifying Jesus! The supposed “Maria Divine Mercy” in the so called “Book of Truth” does not lead us toward true humility and suffering with Mary at the foot of the cross, but to FALSE SECURITY in the so called “Seal of God” ("FALSE SECURITY - Maria Divine Mercy – MDM"; https://spir-food.blogspot.com/2019/11/false-security-maria-divine-mercy-mdm.html)!



I get the strong impression from the followers of MDM – BOT that the only thing that is important for them is to read these predictions of MDM, as if this is the criteria of their salvation and supposed sanctity! On the other hand Our Lady in the Blue Book (Gobbi) repeats in many ways the basic message of Fatima, prayer and sacrifice and penance. Our Lady in the Blue Book leads us to Calvary to imitate her Son Jesus humiliated and crucified on the cross. The followers of MDM – BOT do not see, or do not want to see, this fundamental difference, because it seems that the great majority of people today do not want to follow Christ humiliated and crucified (as was the case 2000 years ago and always) but rather to feel important and protagonists with special secrets and future prediction, which was one of the main appeals of the major heresy in the early centuries of the Church, Gnosticism, which has continued to thrive during the centuries in various different forms.



Saint Bonaventure and many saints tell us that without humility there is no virtue, and there is also spiritual blindness and obstinacy!

Saint Augustine tells us:

It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels. Humility is the foundation of all the other virtues. The soul in which this virtue does not exist, there cannot be any other virtue except in mere appearance. There is something in humility that strangely exalts the heart. This is the very perfection of man, to find out about his own imperfections. You must be emptied of that which you are full that you may be filled with that which you are empty. The greater the building is to be, the deeper you dig the foundation. For once your foundation is set, the height to which you can build has been determined. You want a tower that will pierce the clouds, lay first the foundation of humility. Humility must accompany all of our actions. For as soon as we glory in our good works, they are of no further value for our advancement in virtue.



The president of the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI), Cardinal Bassetti, invited a priest in November 2019 to tell all of us priests of the diocese of Perugia, Italy, with convincing words, that everyone is having sex outside of marriage so we priests are hypocrites to not go along with the flow (“Priests Systematically Brainwashed”; https://spir-food.blogspot.com/2019/12/priests-systematically-brainwashed.html).



St Anthony, Abbot, centuries ago, said these prophetic words about our times: “A time is coming when men will go mad, and when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him, saying, ‘You are mad; you are not like us’”!



I spent three years in a group associated with a false Marian apparition in the United States at Necedah, Wisconsin. At the end of this experience I wrote a book on private revelations which included several chapters on discernment of private revelation (“The Catholic Church and Private Revelation”; http://priv-rev.blogspot.com; http://necedah-cult.blogspot.com ; Wikipedia: “My Personal Reasons Why I Left The Shrine At Necedah, Wisconsin”; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Necedah_Shrine). This book was instrumental in helping several hundred people leave this cult in Necedah, Wisconsin in 1983.



As a priest, I find that it happens rather often today that a woman who has some religious inclinations, married to a man who does not pray and does not live the Christian life, does not live her PRIMARY VOCATION as a wife and mother as did all the married saints, and ends up rejecting the cross of her vocation that God has given her for her sanctification, and distancing herself or separating herself from her husband, and often tries to do something good in the parish or follow various seers with special prayers, feeling she is good and her husband is a pagan. This type of behavior is fundamentally promoted by secular feminism which is very strong in the Catholic Church today under the banner of “The Importance of Women In Leadership” as the primary goal while remaining in silence about the primary vocation as is seen in all the married saints, to inspire with much patience her husband, as a wife and as a mother. It is rather common today that people put aside or get rid of the cross that God has given them in their vocation and then seek to justify themselves as holy or at least as good Christians, by picking and choosing other seemingly good apostolates that they like, to be protagonists. Almost invariably these people are not open to dialogue or discernment so as to seek God’s holy will in their lives, in their particular situation and vocation. The married saints of the past, such as Saint Monica or Saint Rita of Cascia or Blessed Francesca of Rome are looked upon as living in an outdated era, since today the world that craves power. But when one sees a vocation in terms of service instead of power, then we begin to see the beauty of the virtues of those who followed their vocation according to Christ who “came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mt 20:28; Mk 10,45; Jn 13:1-17).



It happens rather often in these times, surrounded by subjectivism and relativism, to use religion, or the Bible, or seers in the way that a person wants things to be. The foundation of Protestantism is precisely this, since they threw out the guidance of the Church that Christ founded. Each person or each independent group interprets Sacred Scripture as they like, very often in contradiction with the thousands of independent protestant groups, on very important theological and moral doctrines.



Four hundred years ago the Protestants left the Catholic Church, but now the protestants remain in the Church and seek to get rid of those who remain faithful to the immutable truth that comes from God, not from the world. “Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them” (Rev 13:7).



The world is so far from God that only God can save us. Pope Benedict talked many times about the fact that “God seems to have disappeared from the horizon” (http://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/audiences/2011/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20110511.html) for a great number of people, and the consequence afterwards (http://www.asianews.it/news-en/If-God-disappears,-humanity-could-destroy-itself,-Pope-says-17090.html). Thus the most fundamental thing that we can do to help the world and the Church is to do all we can to arrive at great personal sanctity, totally docile in the hands of our Heavenly Mother who will mold us into great saints as St. Louis De Montfort explains. If we put other things first, which are self satisfying, even though good things in appearance, we could very easily not find ourselves in the cohort of Mary in this great battle between “the woman clothed with the sun” and the “great red dragon” (Rev 12:1-3). Are we looking at Christ crucified and Mary desolate in this period of the crucifixion of the Body of Christ, the Church (CCC 675-677; http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P1V.HTM), or are we looking at ourselves and what we desire???



WHAT WOULD YOU THINK OF A DOCTOR WHO CARED NOTHING ABOUT DISEASE AND DOES NOT WANT TO TALK ABOUT DISEASE and sends patients with a grave disease home telling the patient not to worry because the doctor was afraid of UPSETTING THE PATIENT. He would be considered a quake, an incompetent, culpable of gross professional negligence. He could be sued for malpractice. But if priests do not speak about the only thing that can kill the soul, mortal sin, because the people (spiritual patients) do not want to hear these things, what would you think of such a priest? If the doctor behaves in this way, the person could easily loose his life; but if the doctor of souls, the priest, does this, the person could lose his immortal soul which lasts for all eternity. “For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life?” (Mt 16:26; Mc 8:36).

POPE JOHN PAUL II (AMONG MANY OTHER OCCASIONS) SPOKE FIRMLY TO THE US BISHOPS AGAINST THIS "PICK AND CHOOSE SMORGASBORD TYPE CATHOLICISM" in LA in his September 1987 visit: "It is sometimes reported that a large number of Catholics today do not adhere to the teaching of the Church on a number of questions, notably sexual and conjugal morality, divorce and remarriage. Some are reported as not accepting the Church's clear position on abortion. It has also been noted that there is a tendency on the part of some Catholics to be selective in their adherence to the Church's moral teachings. It is sometimes claimed that dissent from the Magisterium is totally compatible with being a “good Catholic” and poses no obstacle to the reception of the sacraments. THIS IS A GRAVE ERROR that challenges the teaching office of the bishops of the United States and elsewhere. I wish to encourage you in the love of Christ to address this situation courageously in your pastoral ministry, relying on the power of God's truth to attract assent and on the grace of the Holy Spirit which is given both to those who proclaim the message and to those to whom it is addressed." (http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/speeches/1987/september/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_19870916_vescovi-stati-uniti_en.html).

It is interesting that Pope John Paul II did not say to the bishops that they must obey me as Pope, but “dissent from the Magisterium” of the Catholic Church! Lumen Gentium 25 teaches clearly that the documents of an ecumenical council ARE INFALLIBLE (CCC 891). The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC 888-892) tell us that the doctrines of the Church are essential to arrive to sanctity. “When the Church through its supreme Magisterium proposes a doctrine “for belief as being divinely revealed,” and as the teaching of Christ, the definitions “must be adhered to with the obedience of faith.” This infallibility extends as fare as the deposit of divine Revelation itself” (CCC 891). But to the ordinary teaching of the Church “the faithful are to adhere to it with religious assent” which, though distinct from the assent of faith, is nonetheless an extension of it” (CCC 892). Thus the documents in an ecumenical council express in human language the absolute truths which cannot be changed, EVEN BY A FUTURE POPE FOR APPARENTLY GOOD MOTIVES TO MAKE THE NON CATHOLICS FEEL MORE AT EASE or for non practicing Catholics; this would be false ecumenism, false mercy, false love, which offers a superficial and easy solution without the cross of Jesus, but afterwards there is slavery and destruction!

The Catholic Church has always taught: “CONSCIENCE MUST BE INFORMED AND MORAL JUDGMENT ENLIGHTENED. A well-formed conscience is upright and truthful. It formulates its judgments according to reason, in conformity with the true good willed by the wisdom of the Creator. The education of conscience is indispensable for human beings who are subjected to negative influences and tempted by sin to prefer their own judgment and to reject authoritative teachings” (CCC 1783). THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH DOES EXIST! “Conscience can remain in ignorance or make erroneous judgments. Such ignorance and errors are not always free of guilt” (CCC 1801, 1713, 1714). “No one is deemed to be ignorant of the principles of the moral law, which are written in the conscience of every man” (CCC 1860).

After the Vatican Council and the post council was well underway, Pope John Paul II wrote, contesting “certain currents of modern thought … The individual conscience is accorded the status of a supreme tribunal of moral judgment which hands down categorical and infallible decisions about good and evil. … so much so that some have come to adopt a radically subjectivistic conception of moral judgment” (Veritatis Splendor, no. 32; http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_06081993_veritatis-splendor_en.html).



RELATIVISM, according to Pope Benedict XVI, is "the most profound difficulty of our time." (http://popebenedictxviblog.blogspot.it/2005_05_01_archive.html). In his homily at the Mass preceding the conclave that quickly elected him Pope Benedict XVI, then Cardinal Ratzinger said: “Today, having a clear faith based on the Creed of the Church is often labeled as fundamentalism. Whereas relativism, that is, letting oneself be "tossed here and there, carried about by every wind of doctrine" (Eph 4:14), seems the only attitude that can cope with modern times. WE ARE BUILDING A DICTATORSHIP OF RELATIVISM that does not recognize anything as definitive and whose ultimate goal consists solely of one's own ego and desires.” (http://www.vatican.va/gpII/documents/homily-pro-eligendo-pontifice_20050418_en.html; http://www.ignatiusinsight.com/features2005/colson_relativism_may05.asp).



This attitude of not wanting “to dialogue with anyone not in agreement with themselves” happens often at the highest levels of the Catholic Church.



St. Thomas Aquinas quoting of St. Augustine, in his commentary on the right of subjects to resist flaky superiors, recalled that in St. Paul’s Letter to the Galatians, he rebuked the first pope, St. Peter, “to his face because he clearly was wrong” (Gal 2:11-14). There being an imminent danger for the Faith, prelates must be questioned, even publicly, by their subjects. Thus, St. Paul, who was a subject of St. Peter, questioned him publicly on account of an imminent danger of scandal in a matter of Faith. And, as the Glossa of St. Augustine puts it (Ad Galatas 2.14), “St. Peter himself gave the example to those who govern so that if sometimes they stray from the right way, they will not reject a correction as unworthy even if it comes from their subjects.” (Summa Theologiae, IIa IIae, Q. 33, A. 4).



If I realize and believe that the truth comes from God not from me, and I have a little virtue, especially humility, I should be willing to listen to someone who says to me that what I wrote or said was not in harmony with what God has revealed to us throughout human history (called Divine Revelation), while quoting documents of the Church. But if I believe or feel that the truth comes from me, I will not be willing to dialogue with anyone not in agreement with me, as have done all the dictators in the history of the world. By throwing out some of the precious laws of God according to our tastes or personal criteria, we quickly go toward “might makes right” as it is in hell!



Many people, who are attached to a particular seer or private revelation, are not willing to talk to anyone who is not in agreement with them. You might say that in the name of God or in the name of Mary (of a supposed private revelation) they end up rejecting God due to the lack of true humility. So many naively believe that since it is a private revelation, the messages are straight from heaven and thus infallible and thus above any and all authority on the face of the earth, which is what they want! Of course they do not see that this blind prideful logic leads to the conclusion that all seers are from God, because all seers say their messages come from God!!! Who decides which seers are from God and those that are not? Regarding the necessity of humility and obedience we find a very striking and instructive example that when St. Teresa of Avila’s confessors told her "to reject them (her visions) every time by the sign of the cross and by derision”, Jesus later told St. Teresa of Avila “that I was not to distress myself, that I DID WELL TO OBEY; but that He would make them see the truth of the matter” (“Ch. IX: Obedience To Lawful Superiors”; http://priv-rev.blogspot.com/2008/04/pr-chapter-ix.html).



The Truth comes from God, and not from the Church, and thus no priest, bishop or pope can change the Truth of Divine Revelation which is well summarized in the Catechism of the Catholic Church for adults (CCC; ed. 1992, promulgated by Pope John Paul II; http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM). Simply put, this is precisely what several cardinals wrote in the “Dubia” (November 2016) and in their book “Remaining in the Truth of Christ: Marriage and Communion in the Catholic Church” (October 2014), and many other cardinals and bishops and orthodox Catholic professors in the last six years. These cardinals and bishops and professors were not just offering their opinions among all the other human opinions, but rather they were doing what all the saints did and what Saint Paul did 2000 years ago! Why is there no longer dialogue, in the last six years, with any cardinal or bishop or priest or professor who proclaims that we must remain faithful to the saving authentic Truth of Christ which does not change with the world?!? Instead these courageous men are silenced in various clever and hidden ways. Jesus said “the Truth (of God (the Rock) not of the world (sand)) will set you free” (Jn 8:32). Jesus did not say “a pope or a bishop will set you free”!?! Did God give us the Ten Commandments for our own true good, or for our evil? Do we trust ourselves or God? Do we want to spend eternity with God in peace or with all those who want to command and make war with each other for all eternity?



What will we say to Jesus, who is the Truth (Jn 14:6), when we die? - That we followed the unchanging truth of Jesus, well explained by His Church, or that we followed the easier worldly (false) “truth” of the majority of people or of many important people in the Church, “politically correct”, who did not remain faithful to the truth of Divine Revelation? For 2000 years Christians have understood from the words of Christ, well explained by the Catholic Church, that it is a grave mortal sin to have sex outside of marriage. Now after ‘Amoris Laetitia’, there are many divisions in the Church and a great number of Catholics believe that “cohabitation” (outside of Christian marriage) is OK since God loves me and God is merciful. With this new concept of (false) mercy, detached from Divine Truth and from conversion to the will of God, many believe they no longer have to heed the first words of Jesus: “Repent, and believe in the Gospel” (Mk 1:15; Mt 4:17), or even the Ten Commandments, and they can delete from the traditional “Act of Contrition”: “I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to sin no more, and to avoid the near occasion of sin”!?! “YOU WILL KNOW THEM BY THEIR FRUITS” (Mt 7:15-20)! Jesus did not say “you will know them by their leaves”, which would be their nice words, disguised “as an angel of light” (2Cor 11:14)!



ONLY WHAT IS TRUE CAN ULTIMATELY BE PASTORAL.” (No. 15; Congregation For The Doctrine Of The Faith; Letter To the Bishops of the Catholic Church: On the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons; 1 October 1986; Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Prefect; http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19861001_homosexual-persons_en.html).



Very often the “angel of light” uses DISTRACTIONS of offering good things and 95% of the truth, such as the canonization of Cardinal John H. Newman and the beatification of Archbishop Fulton Sheen (later suspended with the help of a liberal bishop in the US), so as to insinuate that all is orthodox, while inserting and promoting very grave errors in doctrine (in the Amazon Synod) which will cause great damage, as does a few drops of poison in a nice glass of wine. We are living in a world more full of falsehoods than ever before - beautiful deadly lies from “the father of lies” (Jn 8:44), presented as if they were the truth, hidden destructive deceptions - such as the devil, hell and sin no longer exist!!! The great majority of the pastors today “are all DUMB DOGS, they cannot bark” (Is 56:10), and thus do not warn the sheep of the very sly wolf, Satan, and his very numerous collaborators! These poor pastors, who seek to please men instead of God (Jn 5:44; Mt 6:1-6, 16-18; Gal 1:10), offer misguided compassion and half truths (which are worse than lies!), especially to speak only about mercy without “GO AND SIN NO MORE” (Jn 8:11; 5:14)! Our Lady continually asks us to PRAY FOR PRIESTS AND BISHOPS! In ‘Amoris Laetitia’ and in the two preceding synods, there was no mention or concern of the great harm done to children of separated parents (personal responsibility), but only the desires of the adults.



Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by giving heed to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons …” (1Tim 4:1), or of Witch Doctors from the Amazon, or of recently endorsed priests and bishops who promote in a shrewd sly way homosexual unions and that the Eucharist is only a symbol as the protestants believe!

We are truly in the period of the GREAT APOSTASY before the manifestation of the Antichrist written about by Saint Paul (2Thess 2:3-8). The Church, the Body of Christ, will be crucified (CCC 675-677) in this period of the “great tribulation” (Mt 24:21), but in the end “my Immaculate Heart will triumph” (Fatima, 1917) to prepare for the second coming of her divine Son, Jesus Christ!



On November 13, 2019 at the monthly meeting of the PERMANENT FORMATION OF PRIESTS we poor priests in Perugia, Italy listened to Don Giuliano Zanchi from the diocese of Bergamo, Italy, who said to us that we must resign ourselves to the mentality of the world, of cohabitation of unmarried couples, and those who do not do this have a psychological and moral problem. Cardinal Bassetti was not happy when I offered my comments saying: “I ask myself if God gave us the Ten Commandments for our true good or for our evil? Do we trust God or do we trust ourselves? Has human nature changed in history and thus we must change the Ten Commandments (…). It comes to mind the Gospel of Mark chapter 10, the words of the apostles were “amazed” and “exceedingly astonished” by the words of Jesus which seemed too demanding. At that point, Jesus did not offer compromises with the mentality of the world, but rather said: “for God all is possible, but for man nothing is possible”. And even in the Gospel of John chapter 6, when many disciples went away due to Jesus’ teaching about the Eucharist, Jesus was even ready to lose not only those disciples but also His apostles, “Will you leave me too?” (…) (“Priests Systematically Brainwashed”; https://spir-food.blogspot.com/2019/12/priests-systematically-brainwashed.html).



Satan is pushing many people off the Barque of Peter, the Church, on the “port side” (left side), who do not follow the laws of God infallibly interpreted by the Magisterium of the Catholic Church. But also on the “starboard side” (the right side) of the Barque of Church, there are many who believe they have the “fullness of the truth and means of sanctification” and thus do not feel they need to dialogue with anyone or any group who do not totally agree with themselves, as did the Pharisees and Scribes, and as have done so many people and groups in the Church and outside of the Church throughout history (e.g., the Donatists in the time of Saint Augustine), especially today in a world and in a Church full of confusion. The more there is confusion, the more power Satan has. It is true that the one true Church, the Catholic Church, has the “fullness of the truth and means of sanctification” (Lumen Gentium, no. 8), but an individual person or an individual group in the Church is not the Magisterium of the Church, and thus does not have the guarantee, the charism of infallibility, to INTERPRET the doctrines of the Church infallibly. This is why the humility to take the risk to dialogue is always necessary, as Pope John Paul II often encouraged us to do. The Church is the handmaid of the truth, not the Author of the truth! It is so easy to slide back into what the Second Vatican Council sought to eradicate - to bring the Church back to true humility and to eliminate in the Church this triumphalism of being the true Church, with the fullness of Truth and the means of sanctification (LG 8) (“Evangelization VS the Trilogy of Devils in the Church: Triumphalism, Clericalism and Juridicalism”; http://trueevangelization.blogspot.com).



It is interesting how the two extremes meet: the liberals do not obey the laws of God while the schismatic traditionalists set themselves up as the criteria of truth and the only valid interpretation of the truth or of the documents of the Church or of a particular seer or private revelation.



It is interesting that many believe that Cardinal Bergoglio was not canonically elected pope, as is indicated in “The “Prophecy” of Saint Francis (Assisi)” (http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2013/11/prophecy-st-francis.html). But so many of these end up doing as the false pope indicated above, by not talking to anyone not in agreement with their particular seer or apparition. Satan deceives many souls not only on the left liberal side, but also on the right conservative side by enticing them to become the final authority or source of the truth and of which seer or apparition is true or false without having the humility to seek and go through the discernment process that the Church and her saints have left us in the last 2000 years.

Saint Louis de Montfort in his classic book “True Devotion to Mary” tells us that in this period of time of the great battle between the “woman clothed with the sun” and the “great red dragon” (Rev 12:1-3), Mary is forming her cohort of the truly humble and Satan takes the rest. The saints tell us that without true humility there is no virtue and there is spiritual blindness and obstinacy.

The “Prophecy” of Saint Francis (Assisi)” (http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2013/11/prophecy-st-francis.html).



This arrogance and spiritual blindness happens everywhere perhaps especially in ECCLESIAL MOVEMENTS.



Chiara Lubich taught that our love of Christ crucified incarnate in our lives is the true source of lasting hope that leads to eternal life. “You Lord are my only good” (Ps 15:2). I discovered that very few members of the Focolare Movement embraced and lived one of the key elements of the spirituality of Chiara Lubich, Jesus Forsaken, because very few of these members imitated Chiara Lubich’s habit of spending much time before our Eucharistic Lord in the tabernacle. The great majority of these members offer “unity” but as a false ecumenism, by putting aside and remaining silent, like “dumb dogs” (Is 56:10), about the more difficult parts of the Gospel and of the Catechism of the Catholic Church for adults (ed. 1992), so that all might be happy and no one would be offended. In this ecclesial movement the members would say, “Let us keep Jesus in our midst”, but if one puts the uncomfortable truth aside, who is Jesus Forsaken (Jn 14:6), there is no Jesus in their midst, because there is not the whole Truth in their midst! The situation is even worse with a movement founded about 20 years after the foundation of the Focolare Movement, the Neocatecumenal Way, which has a very strong base of arrogance and lack of obedience to directives from the Vatican that are not in conformity with what the leaders of this movement want. Visit: “Neocatecumenal Way - a Trojan Horse in the Church” (http://spir-food.blogspot.com/2018/07/neocatecumenal-way-trojan-horse-in.html; also: “The Neocatecumenal Mass” (http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2015/02/the-neocatecumenal-mass.html).



A Well Organized Misinterpretation of VCII

Recently there has arisen confusion due Archbishop ViganĂ²’s critique of the Second Vatican Council. A good priest friend of Don Stefano Gobbi explains that the problem was a well organized misinterpretation of VCII, not the Council itself.

During the International Spiritual Exercises, at Collevalenza – Sanctuary of Merciful Love (Madre Speranza), June 22-28, 2008, Father Michael Gaughran offered to over 200 priests and to over 10 bishops of the movement these words in a meditation, with the title of the meditation, “The Church, The Movement and the current times” (http://wordbelife.blogspot.com/2014/11/):

[It Is an Attack On the Truth of God.]

It grew gradually. It is enough to think of a subtle change that happened around the time of the Second Vatican Council. With the arrival of the “experts” there developed the fashion of theologians (Note 1), regardless of whether or not they deserved the name; the fact that they had published a book, in general that was enough. This continues and, with this, the center that guides the Church in the minds of many, has shifted from where God had placed it, in the hierarchy, the Pope and the bishops in union with him, and became the various opinions of all sorts of writers. [The students collected the books.] So, this has had an impact not only on the priests, but also on seminarians in many universities. This is the first part of the attack: the attack on the truth of God, the foundation of the Church. (…)”



You might find helpful a brief criteria of discernment for private revelation at: “Ch. IV: Criteria of Discernment” (http://priv-rev.blogspot.com/2008/04/ch-4-criteria-of-discernment.html).



Dear friends, as a pastor, I want to try to protect you from the very intelligent and sly wolf who wants to lead us all to his dwelling place for all eternity. Satan is “the father of lies” (Jn 8:44)



I would highly recommend that you read “To the Priests, Our Lady's Beloved Sons” (http://our-lady-priests.blogspot.it/), and put into practice what Our Lady tells us to do including to consecrate ourselves to her Immaculate Heart and pray as many Holy Rosaries as possible every day, while offering many sacrifices for the conversion of sinners.



One can find the Act of Consecration To The Immaculate Heart of Mary (for Religious and Laity of the Marian Movement) at: http://our-lady-priests.blogspot.it/2015/10/our-lady-priests-appendix.html.



May God bless you!



Father Joseph Dwight