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Since the Fall, human beings have sometimes given in to the desire for unnecessary knowledge. Unbridled curiosity can lead to disobedience to God's laws - especially when young people can easily find pornographic material to devour, and when they have little discipline or sure teaching or guidance in these areas.
Since the Fall, human beings have sometimes given in to the desire for unnecessary knowledge. Unbridled curiosity can lead to disobedience to God's laws - especially when young people can easily find pornographic material to devour, and when they have little discipline or sure teaching or guidance in these areas.
Christ told me of the message He offers to all who dissent from the teaching of the Catholic Church: "Imagine, if you can, that the Church's teachings are all true, that her discipline is wise, her customs admirable, her Saints active and the holy Angels powerful. There things are true; and I invite you to believe Me".
Priests who chat loudly in church and disturb the prayers of others show a lack of reverence that can reflect a deeper lack of respect for the Lord
Prayer and penance, faith and love, are essential. A person who hopes to reach the highest stages of the spiritual life, and Heaven, whilst ill-prepared and ill-disciplined, and self-centered in his opinions and plans is like a man who declares that he will climb Mount Everest by his own methods, and who sets out ill-equipped, and wearing flip-flops on his feet.
When St. Augustine came to England in 597 AD, he came because he had been sent by the Pope. No Christian, in any era, acts wisely, if he ignores the Pope, and the constant teaching of the Pope and the other Catholic Bishops on matters of faith and morals, or ignores their guidance about discipline, the liturgy, and other matters.
Just as people fleeing from a war-zone might rush to another area that only someone high above can see is also under bombardment, so people who sin and turn away from the self-discipline and sacrifice necessary for followers of Christ can find themselves on a new road, which does not lead to peace, but to even worse turmoil - in Hell, if they do not repent before they die.
The smoke of Satan has entered the Church, causing many Catholics to approve of various types of immorality, to practice forbidden acts, to protest about legitimate discipline and constant teachings on faith and morals, to demand Papal approval of heresy, to water down the truth when catechising others, and to show little reverence for Christ in the Blessed Sacrament.
God's faithful people are walking steadily towards Heaven, bravely remaining true to Him, and to His laws, and united in love for Him and one another. Dissident Catholics are like people who stand at one side, saying to them, "You're going the wrong way!" - and inviting them to ignore the teachings of the Church and to resent her discipline.
God the Father sent His Son to earth not just to die for our sins, but also to found a Church. If we follow her teachings about good and evil, by the grace of Christ, we bring about the fulfilment of God's plan for human life. People who claim to be practicing Catholics but who dispute long-standing teaching and discipline are like jigsaw pieces who agreed to be parts of a beautiful landscape but who now do what they please, and refuse to complete the Designer's plan.
A Bishop is ordained to the fullness of the Priesthood so that he can teach the truths of the Faith with a sincere heart. When a Bishop ceases to believe in the moral teachings of the Church, or her articles of faith, and also criticizes the discipline of the Church which he should uphold, his best course is to resign. Teaching the Faith should be central to his life, not a half-hearted, occasional, sad duty.
Those who are constantly within the Church but fighting in the Church, protesting against her doctrines and disciplines, will not make much spiritual progress. Discontented, acting against Christ Who has given us the Pope to guide us, and the other Catholic Bishops, the dissenters should do what Saint Peter did before Christ. He surrendered to Christ and to His Will, just as the Saints have, through the ages, in love and obedience. Surrender is the 'key' to joy in Christ.
Just as a school child can learn nothing and make no progress if he opposes his mother's request, and has to be carried screaming into school, so a Catholic can make little progress in prayer or the spiritual life if he or she is constantly 'fighting' - by words, actions and campaigns - against the constant teaching of the Church, and her discipline.
The key to happiness within the Catholic Church, and joy in Eternity, consists of obedience to the Commandments and to legitimate discipline, and humble agreement with every matter of faith and morals - rather than doing what so many Catholics do, as they spend their lives complaining and arguing, and do not allow God to make them joyful.
It is a tragedy, greater than most Catholics realise, that in Europe, including England, it is almost seen as normal Catholic practice to be opposing the constant teaching of the Church, founded by Christ to teach us, and complaining about the disciplines imposed by those in the Church, especially the Pope, who have authority from Christ to impose them.
God sets free from foolish ideas those who love Christ, believe in the teachings of the Church, and faithfully try to practice them, guided by the Pope and the other Catholic Bishops. Catholics who constantly grumble about teaching and discipline displease Christ, are unfair to the Popes, and distress faithful Catholics who are rightly shocked by public dissent, witnessed by the Church's enemies.
A little child can scream for attention, and dispute every instruction from his mother, so ending up alone and miserable - or he can co-operate, and experience her companionship, her wise words, and her consolations; and so it is in the Church. A Catholic can disbelieve parts of the Faith, grumble about discipline, speak with hostility about the Pope, and become a slave to his own opinions, or he can choose to co-operate with God and the Church, and in that trust and obedience find not slavery but freedom, and joy, and peace of soul, and hope.
There were people who hoped to cast off ancient beliefs, customs and disciplines, after the Second Vatican Council. For two generations, many Catholics have built a new 'road' for themselves to walk on, with their modernist ideas, and lack of reverence both for the Sacred Tradition and for the Real Presence of Christ amongst His People - and for the Pope, who leads us, by the Will of Christ.
One sin leads so easily to another; for example, when a woman idolises the man she loves, co-habits with him, pursues a career to be a glittering partner to him, rather that have a family, and then finds she is pregnant, she slides more easily into the grave sin of abortion than a woman who has already been prayerful and disciplined for God's sake, in a loving marriage begun in Church: a woman not ashamed to carry our ordinary domestic tasks, and who sees every baby as a gift from God to her and to her husband.
People know that kindness is important, but many forget that chastity is essential, in a life of true friendship with Christ, and preparation for Heaven. Those who mock people leading chaste lives and avoiding immoral entertainments also mock past ages in the Church for the care taken on this matter; but it is better to be disciplined and resemble a cared-for garden than ignore the Commandments and have a soul that resembles a jungle.
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