I read a book by Maria Simma, a person who lives (I think?) in Croatia (I don’t have the book handy). She is visited by spirits in Purgatory, who ask her to pray for deliverance. I know that sounds hard to believe and I didn’t believe it either, at first - until i read the book. The thing that makes me believe her is that she is an orthodox Roman Catholic. Her comments are very interesting. For one, she makes the point that receiving Communion in hand is wrong because it is the priest only who is supposed to handle the holy Eucharist.
This seer is unapproved by the Church. If she asserts that communion in the hand is out and out “wrong,” then I would question the authenticity anyway. One of the marks of genuine seers and apparitions is submission to the authority of the Church: even apparitions of Our Blessed Mother do not ask the seer to fufill their request if the fufillment of the request is forbidden by the Church through the ordinary. Communion in the hand is permitted by the Church, therefore it cannot be wrong. It cannot be an abuse.
Masons had a big influence on getting the changes they wanted at Vatican II (Masons often become priests, bishops, etc. in order to do this very thing). It is imperative that all Catholics realize the importance of the Masons in this trend we have of non-Catholics seeking to destroy or at least weaken the Catholic faith. While the Masons (etc) probably realize they cannot, as they would like, wipe the Church off the face of the earth entirely, they figure that at least they can “protestantize” it, take away the reverence, etc. And as far as I’m concerned, when the reverence goes, so goes the faith of many Catholics. Even my own faith “falters” (?) now and then in some mysterious ways…
**This is radical traditionalist propaganda. There is absolutely NO reliable, historical evidence that Masons had anything at all to do with the Council. There are plenty of conspiracy theories purported by radical traditionalist sites and publishers, but not a single, reliable, objective source for Masonic influence over the Council. As an aside, every Mason I’ve ever known has been an elderly man in a seed cap who wears the waistband of his pants up under his armpits. I think Christ’s Promise to preserve the Church can withstand any perceived assualt from this group. I don’t think the Masons are much of a threat at all to Holy Mother Church and I think the Pope and the Bishops think that as well…but then I’m sure they’re all Masons.
**
I went to a Mass last Saturday in an unfamiliar church; the priest was a former Baptist. The color for the priestly robes at this time of the year is supposed to be purple, but he wore pink!! **Really, you should familiarize yourself with the liturgy before you comment on it. Last Sunday was “Gaudette (Joyful) Sunday.” Even the SSPX wear pink on that day. It’s TRADITIONAL. **He left the pulpit during the homily (against the rubrics of the Mass). He told a story about how as a boy, he broke a neighbor’s window and his grandfather simply said, “everyone deserves one bad pitch,” and apparently, didn’t make him pay for it. His point was how much God loves us.
My thought is that a good father would make the boy pay for it, even though he forgives his son (grandson) and loves him unconditionally no matter what crimes he commits. Don’t you think God operates the same way? When is the last time you heard a homily about Purgatory, much less Hell? In 12 years, i can remember hearing ONE!
I thought it was interesting that even before this homily, all during it and long afterwards, i never felt any reverence at Mass, as i usually do. I have a lot going on in my life right now, issues that cause me emotional anxiety, so i thought the problem of not feeling the reverence was something within myself. Yet, now i know it was NOT.
I went to Mass at a different Church the next morning where i know the priest to be orthodox and this time, I felt great. Nothing in my circumstances had changed one bit so i know the problems wasn’t ME.
Oh, certainly not.
