Stages of Sin

Stages of Sin from St. Bernard of Clairvaux – Fasten Your Seatbelt!

There are just times when a saint speaks and one is stunned by the insight, the piercing analysis, like a surgeon’s scalpel dividing diseased from healthy tissue. Such is the case with a quote I read recently from St. Bernard that Ralph Martin references in his Book “The Fulfillment of all desires.”

In this quote Bernard analyzes the descent into the increasing darkness of sin experienced by those who do not turn back, who refuse to hear the call to repent. And not individuals only, but, I would argue, cultures too.

St. Bernard’s quote is long enough that I can only make brief comments. But consider it first in toto, and then in stages. Here is the full quote:

If this cold once penetrates the soul when (as so often happens) the soul is neglectful and the spirit asleep and if no one (God forbid) is there to curb it, then it reaches into the soul’s interior, descends to the depths of the heart and the recesses of the mind, paralyzes the affections, obstructs the paths of counsel, unsteadies the light of judgment, fetters the liberty of the spirit, and soon – as appears to bodies sick with fever – a rigor of the mind takes over: vigor slackens, energies grow languid, repugnance for austerity increases, fear of poverty disquiets, the soul shrivels, grace is withdrawn, time means boredom, reason is lulled to sleep, the spirit is quenched, the fresh fervor wanes away, a fastidious lukewarmness weighs down, brotherly love grows cold, pleasure attracts, security is a trap, old habits return. Can I say more? The law is cheated, justice is rejected, what is right is outlawed, the fear of the Lord is abandoned. Shamelessness finally gets free rein. There comes that rash leap, so dishonorable, so disgraceful, so full of ignominy and confusion; a leap from the heights into the abyss, from the court-yard to the dung-heap, from the throne to the sewer, from heaven to the mud, from the cloister to the world, from paradise to hell. (sermon 63.6b on the Song of Songs, The Fox in the Vineyard).

And now consider the stages, with brief comments by me to  them along the way. Fasten your Seat belts, turbulence ahead.

1. If this cold once penetrates the soul when (as so often happens) the soul is neglectful and the spirit asleep - For it too easily happens that we are morally or spiritually asleep. And this provides doorways for the evil one, for the world, the flesh, and the devil. Jesus warns, Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak (Matt 26:41). And yet we love to sleep. We also love to anesthetize ourselves with alcohol, drugs, and other diversions. Jesus says in one of the parables that he sowed good seed in his field, But while everyone was sleeping, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away (Matt 13:25). We love to sleep. Bad stuff happens when we are spiritually and morally asleep.

2. and if no one (God forbid) is there to curb it, then it reaches into the soul’s interior, descends to the depths of the heart and the recesses of the mind - If we are smart, we walk in spiritual company with the Church, and with close spiritual friends and spiritual leaders in the Church. Even if, at times we get sleepy, they rouse us and warn us. But too many do not do this and if they pray at all they are lone rangers and many drift from or discount the voice of the Church and family members. Thus, in our weakness there is no one, by our own fault, to warn us, or if some one does, we ignore or ridicule them. Thus the darkness of sin reaches deeper into our interior.

3. paralyzes the affections, - our desires being to go awry first. Our desire for spiritual things is shutting down.

4. obstructs the paths of counsel, The darkness of sin makes good counsel seem difficult at first, obnoxious later. For example, one may begin to wonder, “Why does it matter if I go to Mass or not? What’s the big deal….Why is looking at a little porn so bad….why is the Church so “uptight” about stuff?”

5. unsteadies the light of judgment - Severed from good counsel our judgments become poor and self serving.

6. fetters the liberty of the spirit - The (human) spirit is that part of us that opens us to God, that delights in the truth and in goodness. But as the flesh begins to dominate, the spirit’s influence is diminished and its “liberty” to move within us to draw us to the good, true and beautiful, is hindered.

7. and soon – as appears to bodies sick with fever – a rigor of the mind takes over: – Our thoughts become distorted, stinking thinking begins to masquerade as sensible. As St. Paul says of the Gentiles of his time that, having suppressed the truth, they became futile in their thinking, and their senseless minds were darkened.Claiming to be wise, they became fools (Rom 1:21-22)

8. vigor slackens - What was once virtuous, i.e. a good habit and easy to do, now seems hard and one lacks strength or vigor to do good.

9. energies grow languid - Without the enthusiasm of an alive spirit infused with grace we begin to lack the energy to do what is good and right. It all seems so much harder, so much effort!

10. repugnance for austerity increases - As the spirit goes more into a coma and the flesh becomes more demanding, any limits to pleasure make us wince and get angry. It is almost like a gluttony wherein  the stomach is stretched and must have a bigger meal each time to satisfy. Never, satisfied, the flesh demands more and more, and any notion of limits causes anger and avoidance.

11. fear of poverty disquiets – The more we get, the more we have to lose and the less secure we feel. The world and the flesh now have in their grip through fear. Poverty is freeing, but wealth enslaves. You can’t steal from a man who has nothing to lose, you can’t intimidate him. But a rich person, a person rooted in the world has too much to lose and is thus disquieted by even the most benign of threats. The laborer’s sleep is sweet, whether he has eaten little or much; but the rich man’s wealth will not let him sleep at all.(Eccles  4:11)

12. the soul shrivels - Just as any part of the body which is underused begins to atrophy (weaken and shrink) so too the soul and its faculties, increasingly unused, recede, grow weak and go dormant.

13. grace is withdrawn - as sin grows serious, now mortal sin robs the soul of graces.

14. time means boredom - without spiritual insight, boredom is sure to follow. Nothing has real meaning. Even the delights of the flesh, now so demanded, fail to satisfy. Scripture says regarding a soul in this state: All things are wearisome; Man is not able to tell it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, Nor is the ear filled with hearing. That which has been is that which will be, And that which has been done is that which will be done. So there is nothing new under the sun (Eccles 1:8-9)

15. reason is lulled to sleep - foolish thinking is not seen for what it is. One cannot follow the path of simple logic or reason because the flesh feel threatened by it. Sins of the flesh are not the most serious of sins (sins of the spirit are) but they are the most disgraceful because of their capacity to cloud the mind.

16. the spirit is quenched - The human spirit becomes increasingly dead.

17. the fresh fervor wanes away - Even good days, spiritually speaking are fewer and fewer.

18. a fastidious lukewarmness weighs down - one actually begins to cultivate mediocrity, compromise and to celebrate it as open-minded, tolerant and avoiding “extremes.”

19. brotherly love grows cold - Was it Camus or Sartre who said, “Hell is other people.” Yes, sin is growing very deep now, the world is closing in on an increasingly petty object: “Me.”

20. pleasure attracts - It always has, but now inordinately and with greater and greater power.

21. security is a trap - In other words it is a lie. This world is a thief. It takes back everything, no matter what the John Hancock Insurance Co. says. But increasingly the sinful soul prefers lies to truth, even knowing deep down that they are lies.

22. old habits return - If one had made progress in virtue, now it erodes.

23. Can I say more? The law is cheated – In other words, legalism and minimalism becomes a tactic. One seeks the “least expensive” interpretation of everything, parses words, and uses every trick to see how the clearly manifest will of God is either not clear, does not apply or how it can be observed in the most perfunctory of ways. One will often collect experts to tickle their ears. Whatever it takes to cheat the law, skirt the edges and reinterpret clear norms.

24. justice is rejected – After cheating the law the next step down is just to reject it outright. The person does not care what God says. They now begin to exult the imperial autonomous self saying in effect that they will do what they want and they will decide if it is right or wrong.

25. what is right is outlawed, - next comes trying to outlaw others from proclaiming the truth. Call what they say “hate speech” fine them, arrest them make them answer in court. Banish the truth from schools and the public square. Demonize and criminalize all possible ways of proclaiming the truth.

26. the fear of the Lord is abandoned - The delusion that one will never face consequences of judgement for what they do is embraced. They will answer to God, but they deny it and are permitted a very deep delusion that they will never have to answer for what they do.

27. Shamelessness finally gets free rein Things that ought to cause shame, and used to do so are now celebrated. Scripture laments them saying, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them (Rom 1:32). The celebration of sin, even the exultation of it as virtue shows that the darkness is now complete, the fall reaches as cracking and crushing thud. St Bernard describes it this way:

There [has come] that rash leap, so dishonorable, so disgraceful, so full of ignominy and confusion; a leap from the heights into the abyss, from the court-yard to the dung-heap, from the throne to the sewer, from heaven to the mud, from the cloister to the world, from paradise to hell.

Pay attention to what the Saints say. There are some who will no doubt dismiss this post as negative etc. I am more concerned if it is true, rather than negative (or positive). My own experience as Pastor, teacher, disciple, sinner and denizen of the world, is that St. Bernard is right on target and has given us a kind of diagnostic manual of the progression of the disease know as sin. Read this, ponder it, consider your own life, and consider too the lives of people you love.

Disease unattended has a way of moving deeper in stages to become grave if we do not soberly assess its presence and power and use the medicines of the Prayer, Scripture, Sacraments, and Fellowship with he Church (cf Acts 2:42).

Are you praying with me?? Listen to St. Bernard of Clairvaux

http://blog.adw.org/2013/10/stages-of-sin-from-st-bernard-of-clairvaux-fasten-your-seatbelt/

Fear Of Elderly Vatican Priests, Nuns Violently Storming U.S. Embassy Reason For Relocation, U.S. State Department Confirms

A security guard outside the U.S. Embassy to the Vatican checks for dangerous religious medals.

ROME––The recent decision to close the current “free-standing”  U.S. Embassy to the Holy See was made because of “growing fears of a Benghazi-like terrorost attack” led by 60 to 90-year-old zealot priests and nuns stationed in the Vatican, the U.S. State Department confirmed today. The decision has led to sharp criticism by Vatican officials who say that the U.S. has not clearly specified any plot to overtake the embassy. But U.S. intelligence officials say they have been tracking a growing threat against American and Western targets from Vatican’s affiliate organizations and religious orders for the last several weeks. There has been additional intelligence about a potential attack on the embassy to the Holy See by several leaders of religious orders near and within the Vatican, leading to the Obama administration’s decision to shut down the embassy, and to warn publicly of the threat, U.S. officials tell EOTT. “Based on the intelligence,” officials say, “there is particular concern about the U.S. Embassy at this time. Today marks the beginning of Advent, and officials say they are concerned about attacks in the days to come.” The official went on to tell reporters that a higher-than-normal threat stream coming from telephone intercepts have revealed that at least two religious orders have made clear their intentions on “walking to the embassy very, very slowly, and after a little break to catch their breaths, to potentially pelt the embassy with Miraculous Medals.” “We need to take every precaution that we can,” one official said. “Some zealots are very, very angry about the Obamacare mandate requiring that insurance provide free coverage for contraception and sterilization services and drugs they consider abortion-inducing. We believe they may be planning to attack with other religious medals as well, and to violently say rosaries in front of the embassy to perhaps try and convert the hearts and minds of U.S. officials. We must take every precaution that such a thing does not happen.”

http://www.eyeofthetiber.com/2013/12/01/fear-of-elderly-vatican-priests-nuns-violently-storming-u-s-embassy-reason-for-relocation-u-s-state-department-confirms/

URGENT PROTEST IMMEDIATELY!!!!

URGENT!!!! PROTEST THIS HORRIFIC NEWEST BLASPHEMY AGAINST OUR HOLY MOTHER AND GOD'S HOLY WORD!!!! THIS IS AN OUTRAGE!!!!! IT IS HIGH TIME WE FIGHT BACK AND STAND UP TO THESE PARASITES AND CONFRONT THE ENEMY, THIS IS NO TIME TO BE COMPLACENT!  THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE!!!! IF WE DON'T WHO WILL??

Please Send Your Immediate E-Protest

Against A Play That Refers To Our Lady As A Lesbian!

Please read with caution.

Dear Friend of the Mother of God!

A Double-Header Of Blasphemy

The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told is being shown as “holiday fare” at (1) Kalita Humphreys Theater in Dallas, TX, and also at (2) City Space Theatre in Oklahoma City, OK, and this blasphemous play is a vile insult to the Mother of God! – because she is insulted as a lesbian!

Send your e-protest message to both theaters.

Press reports say The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told

• portrays Our Lady as a lesbian
• presents a homosexual version of the Old Testament, with scenes of “Adam and Steve” in full frontal nudity

And according to The New York Times, the playwright himself is a homosexual, and this is how he describes his play:

“I wanted the Garden of Eden in Central Park, and Mary as a lesbian mother, which would certainly help me comprehend immaculate conception.”

E-Protest Now!

On behalf of the Virgin Mary’s honor, please join me in this protest.

Sincerely,

Robert Ritchie

Executive Director
America Needs Fatima

- See more at: http://www.americaneedsfatima.org/petition-description-mfset-wcolbah01.html#sthash.IEZuGwpa.dpuf

All hail Croatia

All hail Croatia!
or
The advance of homosexual "marriage" is not inevitable.

Deo gratias, laus deo!!!!

From Reuters (and several other sources):

Croats voted overwhelmingly in favour of defining marriage in the constitution as a "union of man and woman" on Sunday, a move initiated by Roman Catholic groups but criticised by opponents as discrimination against homosexuals.

Almost 66 percent of those who voted in the referendum in the new European Union member endorsed the initiative, launched by the Catholic group "In the Name of the Family", according to preliminary results on Sunday night. Turnout was 37 percent.

Once Catholics reject the "ten steps" that lead to numbness regarding this issue, the repulsive counternatural aspects involved in redefining this most venerable of legal institutions become clear and its rejection more probable than not.

The redefinition of marriage to include counternatural unions is not inevitable and it is not irreversible.

[Link unprovided due to inappropriate images.]

http://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2013/12/all-hail-croatia-or-advance-of.html

New York Times 2012 on Diminishing Catholic Nuns

New York Times published this statistic from 2010: “In 1965, when the average age of a baby boomer was 10, there were 180,000 nuns in the United States. Today there are about 56,000. But even more dramatic than this decline is the age of the average Roman Catholic sister — 74 years old.”

When are the progressive Catholics going to admit that liberalism does not have progeny (vocations)?  Here we have the Biological Solution to liberalism proven.  It is just a matter of another 15 years.

Traditional orders have so many vocations that they can not fit them all and they are young.

http://www.traditionalcatholicpriest.com/2013/12/02/new-york-times-2012-on-diminishing-catholic-nuns/

Pope expresses hope for reunion with Orthodox Patriarch

Pope expresses hope for reunion with Orthodox Patriarch

By Kerri Lenartowi

Pope Francis addresses the Bishops of Italy in a solemn Profession of Faith in St Peters Basilica for their 65th General Assembly May 23, 2013. Credit: Stephen Drsicoll/CNA.

Vatican City, Nov 30, 2013 / 03:20 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis sent special greetings to the Archbishop of Constantinople today, expressing his desire for continued dialogue between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches.

“You Holiness, beloved brother in Christ, this is the first time that I address you on the occasion of the feast of the Apostle Andrew, the first-called. I take this opportunity to assure you of my intention to pursue fraternal relations between the Church of Rome and the Ecumenical Patriarchate,” he wrote on Nov. 30 in the message delivered by Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

Cardinal Koch had led a delegation from the Holy See to Istanbul for the feast of St. Andrew. After taking part in a Liturgy presided over by Patriarch Bartholomew I, the Ecumenical Patriarch of the Eastern Orthodox Church, Cardinal Koch delivered Pope Francis’ message.

“It is for me a source of great reassurance to reflect on the depth and the authenticity of our existing bonds, the fruit of a grace-filled journey along which the Lord has guided our Churches since the historic encounter in Jerusalem between Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras,” the Pope’s message said, referencing the momentous event of 1965 in which the leaders of the two churches lifted the excommunications that had been placed on each other in 1054.

Pope Francis explained, “God, the source of all peace and love, has taught us throughout these years to regard one another as members of the same family.”

“For indeed, we have one Lord and Savoir. We belong to him through the gift of the good news of salvation transmitted by the apostles, through the one baptism in the name of the Holy Trinity, and through the holy ministry.”

The Bishop of Rome then reflected on the current state of relationship between the churches and indicated his hope for the future. “United in Christ, therefore, we already experience the joy of authentic brothers in Christ, while yet fully aware of not having reached the goal of full communion.”

“In anticipation of the day in which we will finally take part together in the Eucharistic feast, Christians are duty-bound to prepare to receive this gift of God through prayer, inner conversion, renewal of life and fraternal dialogue.”

Pope Francis also took time to consider the difficulties faced by Christians in the East who are persecuted for their faith.

“The memory of the martyrdom of the apostle Saint Andrew also makes us think of the many Christians of all the Churches and Ecclesial Communities who in many parts of the world experience discrimination and at times pay with their own blood the price of their profession of faith,” he reflected.

“Christians of the East and West must give common witness so that, strengthened by the Spirit of the risen Christ, they may disseminate the message of salvation to the entire world.”

Earlier on Saturday, Pope Francis had met with pilgrims from the Greek Melkite Catholic Church, expressing similar concern for Middle Eastern Christians who face serious persecution.

“My thoughts go immediately to our brothers and sisters in Syria, who have been suffering a ‘great tribulation’ for a long time; I pray for the many who have lost their lives and for their loved ones,” he said to those gathered in the Vatican’s Clementine Hall.

“We believe firmly in the strength of prayer and reconciliation,” emphasized Pope Francis.

“For centuries, your church has known how to coexist peacefully with other religions and is called to carry out the task of fraternity in the Middle East.”

Moreover, he insisted, the presence of Christians in the Middle East is crucial: “we are not resigned to thinking of the Middle East without Christians.”

Those Eastern Christians who remain in communion with the Catholic Church, such as those of the Melkite tradition, are a “visible sign to all of our Eastern brethren of the desired communion with the Successor of Peter,” he added.

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/pope-expresses-hope-for-reunion-with-orthodox-patriarch/?

Evangelii Gaudium: A Very Mild Critical Take

You see below an Extremely mild, but highly indicative criticism of the Pope’s latest inordinate waffling. 

It is very interesting that even when buried among 50,000+ words, the biggest pieces of nonsense coming out of Francis’ obviously limited wisdom do get noticed.

This here is a priest in good standing. Feel free to read behind his extremely mild and well-presented criticism, and to realise the disapproval that must be cooking behind the extremely gentle words.

This Pope is enraging everyone who can think.

Mundabor

http://mundabor.wordpress.com/2013/11/30/evangelii-gaudium-a-mild-critical-take/

Fast And… Dead

Fast And… Dead: Reflections On Paul Walker.

Very fast.
On Saturday, rather too furious.

I do not know much of the life of Paul Walker, the actor of (not only, but mainly) “fast and furious” fame tragically deceased on Saturday in a car crash. I had overheard on the radio, and at first thought Vin Diesel had died. The news about Paul Walker led me to realise the loss was not only of a life, but also of an actor.

I do not know, as I was saying, much of Paul Walker’s life. He was certainly very tempted, but I do not know to what extent he subscribed to the typical Hollywood mantra (that runs more or less so: “have an illegitimate child or two with fleeting “relationships”; live the life on an idiot; give yourself a tone with social issues in the meantime, anti-Christian ones welcome”) that encourages a movie star to be stupid beyond belief and be celebrated as a model of wisdom at the same time. What I do know is that when he got up on Saturday morning his guardian angel, the Blessed Virgin, and the Holy Ghost knew he would never wake up alive again.And I know, Iknow, that some serious work was goign on in the background as Paul Walker’s immortal soul lived its last hours on earth.

As a Catholic concerned with salvation, when such things happen I can never avoid wondering what the dynamic of the entire thing was. If he was in mortal sin (we do not know; but if the stereotypical Hollywood cliche is anything to go by the chances aren’t very good that he wasn’t) we can only imagine the Holy Ghost was massively at work in the last hours, the time when I am informed many report – when they do not die, of course – of having strange feelings and a sense of something very important about to happen. Walker’s (and his friend’s) last hours might well have been funny ones, and the wealthy friend apparently inviting him to have a spin in his Porsche Carrera (a very expensive, and very fast car) put him just in the spot where his funny feelings would not allow him – if it was the friend who was driving, as it would appear from what I have read – to take it easier for the day.

The things, therefore, took their course. And there it is, the world-famous actor approaching the meeting with his Creator, fast and furious.

If you know two things about cars, you know that it is very seldom nowadays that they take fire. The more so, when a high-performance sports car with a price tag of many hundreds of grands is concerned. These cars are very, very safe, and are built to save life and limb of their occupants after impacts that would make a milk-shake of, say, Francis’ Ford Focus. the impact caused the loss of fuel to such an extent that a fire ensued, and it is therefore probable that it was terrible.

And so we have arrived at the moments that might have decided of Paul Walker’s (and his friend’s) eternal destiny. As the car began to slide, very probably moments became very long for both occupants of the vehicle. I have been always induced to believe that the last moments are those of the greatest salvation effort, in which the soul cries out very loud for final repentance. So loud, in fact, that many might be saved in those moments, who otherwise would have gone straight to hell. Particularly so, as in many cases strong premonitions and “funny feelings” must have come to the head of the soon-to-be-judged; feelings perhaps leading to a honest resolution to go to confession, or to a sincere repentance for grievous sin.

I do not know if Walker and his friend died on the impact. If they remained alive and conscious, they must have had a certain time window before the fumes of the fire suffocated them. Again, this would be plenty of time, in which the wounded soul has a last, mighty shot at redemption. Such moments must, I believe, concentrate the mind wonderfully. If Paul Walker and his unknown friend had such moments, they should certainly be grateful for the precious opportunity. May yours truly, when the time comes, have the same opportunity: a gift that can be more precious than an entire life, even more precious than a life lived as a successful actor for many years.

At that point, every concept of success, prosperity, and celebrity was utterly superfluous. Death enters stage left, and stays there. She finds the soul in mortal sin, or not. Nothing else counts.

Whilst many today focus on another dead “celebrity”, I prefer to focus on the destiny of two immortal souls. Both of them – as immortal souls – more important than the entire universe, as the universe will one day be dust, but the two souls will live on – in the one place, or the other – forever. 

The fire was extinguished, the car was destroyed, two lives were lost. But those two souls are as alive now as they ever were. 

Where are they as I write this? The circumstances explained above inspire some hope, but also some very sobering thoughts.

You might say that Paul Walker’s death was fast and furious. Or you might say it came like a thief in the night.

We hope he and his nameless friend met their Maker with sufficiently good cards in their hands to avoid the worst. Then if they didn’t: what was it all worth, the cars and the money, the fun and the celebrity?

I invite you to pray for the rest of the two souls.

Slowly, and calmly.

Mundabor