Vatican City, Sep 18, 2017 / 01:57 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Nearly four years after the Pope established his Council of Cardinal advisers to help him in the task of reforming the Roman Curia, one member of the group said their work is wrapping up, and that it could take only a few more meetings to finish what they set out to do.
The ongoing process of reform “is being done at various stages of development, and I hope we’ll come to an end in all of these matters soon,” Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Bombay told CNA Sept. 14.
“It will take two or three more meetings more,” he said, adding that “by June perhaps we’ll be seeing the end of the tunnel.”
Cardinal Gracias is also President of the Asian Bishops Conference and in 2013 was chosen by the Pope along with eight other prelates from around the world to advise him in matters of Church governance and reform.
He spoke to CNA in a lengthy, sit-down interview after the council – also called the “C9” – concluded their latest round of meetings last week.
As far as the reform goes, Cardinal Gracias said “there won’t be very major changes; it’s the governance of the Church, we can’t just turn everything upside down.” Rather, it will be “a gradual change, a change of mentality, a change of approach, restructuring a bit of the departments so that they are more logically suited to the needs of today.”
He said a key goal of the C9 is to implement the vision of the Second Vatican Council, specifically when it comes to the importance of the role of the laity and women, and incorporating greater synodality and collegiality into the Church’s structures.
From the beginning Pope Francis “had very clear what he wanted this group to do,” the cardinal said. “He had no hesitation, he’s a good leader. He had a clear vision.”
Cardinal Gracias admitted that in the beginning he had doubts as to whether or not they were going in the right direction, and had started to worry what people on the outside might say, since many fruits of the meetings weren’t and likely won’t be immediately visible. He said he also struggled with doubts about the pace at which they were moving, and believed that things were going “too slow.”
“I will confess that once at the beginning I was wondering, ‘are we going in the right direction?’ I asked myself. But now I can see it is,” he said, explaining that Pope Francis’ Christmas speech to the Roman Curia last year was a “tipping point” for him.
More than anything, there is a change in mentality that’s needed, which will take longer than simply reforming the Vatican’s structures, he said, but said the group is “rather confident that it will happen because the Pope is giving very effective leadership.”
In addition to the ongoing curial reform, Cardinal Gracias also spoke about the recent release of Indian priest Fr. Tom Uzhunnalil 18 months after he was abducted in Yemen. He also spoke about the Pope’s upcoming trip to Myanmar and Bangladesh, and when a possible papal trip to India might take place.
Below are excerpts from CNA’s interview with Cardinal Gracias:
You’ve seen Fr. Tom and you were at his meeting with Pope Francis. How is he doing?
I was pleasantly surprised with calmness with which he came out, because he did not know, to my knowledge, that he was being released. But he said I know people have prayed for me, I’m grateful for the people who were praying for me, but he kept on saying ‘Jesus is great, Jesus is great.’ And then he told the Holy Father. It was a very moving moment. As soon as the Holy Father came he prostrated in front of the Holy Father and kissed his feet, and he said, ‘thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you Holy Father, but just one message I want to give you: Jesus Christ is great. Jesus was with me right through, I could sense the presence of God with me’…And once I thought the Holy Father had tears in his eyes. When Tom kept on speaking about Jesus, this is what he told the Holy Father: please tell the people that Jesus is great! I would say that he’s come out of it with an experience of the presence of the Lord, and I think at that moment the Holy Father had tears in his eyes…I met the Holy Father later that afternoon, and he was telling me how impressed he was. He was also surprised with the calmness of the man, with Tom…He was a man who is perhaps strengthened in the faith after this experience, and not bitter about anything. Particularly about his captors, he was very understanding. It was a special experience, very edifying. He needs rest, certainly, he’ll have a medical exam and he’ll be with his superiors, but eventually he’ll go back (to India). So thank God really. It was an anxious moment for the whole Church in India. We didn’t know what was happening, but we understood that putting more pressure, in the perspective of the government, could make things more difficult for him. (But) he’s not really stressed in any way you can make out. Physically weak, but spiritually strong. When he met the Holy Father, he was weeping right through it. And the Holy Father was very touched, he kissed his hand and blessed him…He felt the comfort and strength of the entire Church. As he said, there was never a moment when he felt abandoned, either by the Church or by God. He kept saying, ‘Jesus is great.’ So he came out spiritually strengthened in that sense. It was a big relief, a big blessing, and the Holy Father was overjoyed. I think the government of Oman did a very splendid job of helping out…they even brought a Salesian to accompany him on the last plane. It was very human of them, so had the comfort of a spiritual companion.
What role did the Holy See play in working out his release?
They only offered help, they kept the issue open and kept sharing. The Holy See was told he was alive, and the Holy See communicated with the Indian government. In Yemen, the political situation is very fragile, and one doesn’t know who is in charge. There are bombardments and all sorts of groups are taking over, so there was always a risk I suppose, that if you tried to liberate him you could have harmed him. But they were always interested, they kept it alive. Every time I came to Rome somebody from the Secretariat of State updated me. The Vatican made sure there was interest. Any information the Holy See had, they shared it with the Indian government, the Omani government, so that was good.
It’s interesting that there is still no word on who is responsible…
It’s not a terrorist attack, it’s a kidnapping. They wouldn’t glory in taking him. That has not come out. I spent about half an hour with him before the Holy Father, and he was speaking continuously. I did not at any point attempt to ask him questions, because I think that would be a stress for him. He has got to share…he wants to share it and then I imagine you feel lighter. He’s probably just got to rest, and rest and rest, physically and then mentally too, he’s got to get it out of his mind. He’s not come out of it a broken man at all. I was afraid of that, that he would come out a broken man, but no…It’s a moment of grace, a moment of faith, a special experience. The high point was when he told the Holy Father, ‘just tell everybody that Jesus is great, Jesus is great.’ Just three simple words. That was like the sum of his whole experience, what he meant and why he meant it…he felt not abandoned, I suppose. I hope recovers. I imagine he needs a couple of months really, or maybe more than a couple of months, to really rest. He needs time with the family also, natural circumstances…I’m not sure about this, but I have a feeling that the Omani government decided to bring him to Rome, because they (wanted) to hand him over to the Vatican. I think it was better for him, because I think if he had gone to India he would have been mobbed by everybody. He just needs space to recover, and for doctors to examine him. Physically to see if he’s alright, and psychologically also, to be investigated. I think it was a wise decision, but I think it was a decision more of the Omani government.
I don’t want to exploit your time, but I wanted to ask a few questions about the process of reform and the C9. You just finished your latest round of meetings…
Yes, we just finished the latest round, the 21st meeting. I can’t imagine we’ve had 21. I didn’t realize it’s 21 already. I think we are working hard. What’s nice is that we’re a cohesive group now. In the beginning we were all (gestures). Now we know each other so well and we work together, and of course trying to implement the Holy Father’s vision of the Church. Also, one of the things we always say, and it’s very clear, before the conclave the cardinals had spoken a lot of their vision of the Church, and we have the texts of what all of the cardinals said, and all the cardinals gave their vision. We picked up from that, the Holy Father picked up from that, his own vision. We’ve focused so far … it’s for a dual purpose that the group was formed: one is to help him help him in the governance of the universal Church, and the second is to revise Pastor bonus, the papal document of St. John Paul II for establishing the Curia and giving the job descriptions and the vision of each dicastery. It’s to revitalize, I suppose that’s what Pope Francis wants us to do, and to have a new mentality which is applying Vatican II also; how to make the Roman Curia at the service of the Holy Father more effectively, but the Churches at the local level, the Churches in the dioceses, how to make the Roman Curia assist the local Churches to be more effective pastorally, so they can be more vibrant in that sense. So I think the holy Father is satisfied with what’s happening. I’m satisfied too with the way we are going ahead. We come for three days and work intensely, we work from 9:00 on the first day to 7:00 (pm) on the last day trying to wrap things up, but lots of work has been done. But it’s coming to the end. I think it will take maybe two or three more meetings until we wrap up our conclusions about the dicasteries. Then of course the Holy Father will study the thing and decide. So we’re going well. The feedback we receive is the Holy Father is happy, he is satisfied, and he has been using the Christmas messages sometimes to give an indication, a little progress report, so this year’s Christmas message (2016). I didn’t realize it, but when I read it I realized it’s practically giving a progress report of what this group has been doing. I hope that it will make an impact. There won’t be very major changes; it’s the governance of the Church, we can’t just turn everything upside down. But a gradual change, a change of mentality, a change of approach, restructuring a bit of the departments so that they are more logically suited to the needs of today, and also of answering the vision of the Second Vatican Council: the importance of lay people, synodality, collegiality, then concern about women, getting more women involved, then giving importance to the local Churches. Then reflecting on the role of episcopal conferences in all this, because that’s another big issue. So all of this is being done at various stages of development, and I hope we’ll come to an end in all of these matters soon. It will take two or three more meetings more, I foresee at least February, June…by June perhaps we’ll be seeing the end of the tunnel.
It’s been a long process…
It’s been a really long process, really, but it’s good. I’ve been in other committees of this sort, in which at the beginning we don’t what we’re doing, where to begin, and they you find your way and you find your vision. But here it was very clear, the Holy Father had very clear what he wanted this group to do…we were not clear in why we were called and what he wanted to do, but gradually we understood his mind. He had no hesitation, he’s a good leader. He had a clear vision and he had his people with him. He’s there with us, he genuinely doesn’t take any other appointments. He’s there except the general audience. There are emergencies of course, this time there were lots of things happening, but he participates and he listens to discussion, and every now and then he raises his hand when he wants to speak. It’s very odd, but now we’re accustomed to it, the Pope raising his hand (laughs) … it’s very valuable, he’s part of the discussion all the way through, completely inserted right in the thick of it. Certainly he doesn’t speak that much, because I think we would feel inhibited and want to go in his direction. So it’s just the right amount and at the right time.
Well he’s very much about the process, isn’t he? He doesn’t want to interrupt the process that’s happening…
Yes, absolutely. And he’s happy. And everybody speaks their mind. We know each other so well, and we know that the Holy Father wants us to speak our minds, so no one is at any stage (overly) conscious that the Pope is there with us, no…but it’s going well, I think it’s going well. I will confess that once at the beginning I was wondering, ‘are we going in the right direction?’ I asked myself. But now I can see it is. He’s a man of deep faith, the Pope. I remember having spoken to him once about the synod, I was sharing him my anxieties on whether the synods were going well, and he told me, ‘Cardinal, I am not worried.’ He told me that. I told him I was worried, I don’t know what direction we’re taking, whether we’ll be able in two synods to give your vision. (He said) ‘I’m not worried. It’ll work out.’ He knows what he wants, he’s a good Jesuit, and the Jesuits know exactly what they want.
At what point were you convinced that things were going in the right direction?
After about seven or eight or nine meetings, I was beginning to wonder. My worry was what will the world say? Everybody knows we’re meeting over here, but we are very limited in what we say are the fruits. What are these eight men – nine, we became nine after the Secretary (of State) joined – the nine cardinals are coming and discussing here, what’s happening? They’re not just coming here for debate. I was worried about the fruits not being seen, and the process being too slow. But then, especially after I heard the Holy Father’s speech (at Christmas 2016), for me that was it. I was like, wow, there has been a lot done. That was absolutely…this past Christmas, it was like a progress report of this group. I’m in the group, right, but I never realized the number of things we had really discussed. Besides modifying the document, the protection of minors, the economy, updates on these things, general principles of collegiality, synodality, we’re thinking about these things. Care of the Curia personnel. It’s everything that the Holy Father…he isn’t like us, who when we go back home we’re fully in the diocese, he has this in mind and he keeps working on this fully afterwards. We go back to our dioceses and are concerned about the local Church, but he certainly follows up with what we say. I’ve seen it several times. He takes the group very seriously. Every now and then he would ask us to take up some point on the agenda to discuss it a bit, which he wants advice on. I think it’s a new system he has started in which he gets feedback from all over the world, and he gets it from the grassroots. I think, anyway, I hope. We come from different continents and we bring in our own experiences. But it is going well. In fact I really, really think there has been a contribution to the Holy Father, and then the Holy Father takes decisions. I have a feeling this is shared by all now. I have no doubt, this would be the general feeling of all about it. The tipping point was really his speech, but already before that, say about six or seven months before that, we began to see really when we reflected that…perhaps the Holy Father knew that that was in our minds. It was in my mind, and maybe I expressed it indirectly. And the Holy Father once commented also, he said ‘we have done this much, so don’t get discouraged.’ So at one stage he sort of answered that doubt in my mind.
You mentioned that there’s also a change of mentality needed. Other than the structural shifts, it seems that the change of mentality will be the more challenging task…
That will take longer. But we hope it will percolate down, because once you have a certain mentality you generally don’t change unless the circumstances change, the ambiance changes. And in a certain sense not changing dramatically. That will I think take longer. But I’m positive that it will happen. We’re very, very hopeful. We’re rather confident that it will happen because the Pope is giving very effective leadership, and every now and then there is a clear message from him. But it will come about and suddenly we’ll realize, oh there has been a change! That’s how it will happen. It won’t come overnight, but at a certain point we’ll realize things have changed. He knows what he wants. And he’s happy. Certainly the indication I can see is this way; the relationship he has with the group and the joy he has in being with the group. He says he feels that it has helped him. Thank God. We do what we can. I don’t know how or why he chose us, but he’s happy. I was very surprised when I got a call from him. I said ‘why me? What have I done?’ I suppose he knows. I don’t know why. I did not know the Holy Father before, we’ve never been in any other committee before. Only at the conclave. I don’t even remember having chatted with him at the conclave, or before the conclave. After the conclave it was true that I was with him. It’s true that after I was with the Pope at Santa Marta for a few days. Then we were having meals together – breakfast, lunch and dinner for four or five days. That’s the time we came to know each other. So we were thrown together for about a week. It struck me that after his election I was at Santa Marta, because there were five or six cardinals. All the American cardinals were there, the European cardinals, all the ones from close by left and came back (for the installation). I stayed for the installation and then went back to India. And then you share, when you speak. He was very comfortable with us, very comfortable with me. But still, he had to make a choice.
Has he mentioned anything about when a visit to India might take place?
He’s very interested. We’re working it out, and I’m very hopeful. He would like to come and we would like to have him, and the government would like to have him. But now we must see his program, the government’s program, but I’m certain he will come. There are no details at all for the moment. I’m rather certainly positive that we will be able to get the Holy Father, he’s interested and I think he’s getting more interested. And the people will be excited…we are looking forward. In the beginning, as soon as he was elected, I asked him, ‘when are you coming to India?’ And he was sort of (disinterested), but gradually he began to like the idea. He’s never been to India before. As a Jesuit I think he was supposed to go to Japan, that’s what he was telling me. He’s going now to Bangladesh and Myanmar. It will be very sensitive. Bangladesh has it’s own problems, I believe they have elections next year, and Myanmar has problems to solve, also the refugee problem at the moment. Of late it is continuously on, I believe yesterday or this morning I saw it on CNN, and BBC is reporting on it. It’s an issue for the world. I’ve been there (Bangladesh) a few times. It’s a nice Church, concentrated mostly in Dhaka, a living faith. I’ve been to Myanmar also, I went as a papal legate there some years back, and I found the Church very vibrant. A simple faith, but I’m happy. I think it will mean a lot to the people. It will also strengthen the people. I think the Church is also very vibrant, it’s not have any specific difficulty, in my impression as a papal legate about two or three years back, but I was very impressed by the faith and the organization. It was vibrant. The Church was small, but strong and alive. It will make a difference for the Churches, and for the governments I expect.
Will you be there?
I plan to go to both places yes. In all of these trips in Asian I’ve come along: Sri Lanka, Korea, the Philippines. At the moment I’m president of the Asian Bishops Conference, so I suppose in that capacity I’ll have to go.
[…]
For all his railing against “semi-Pelagianism,” it’s actually the kinds of thinkers Jorge Bergoglio seems to support that are the real Pelagians.
To be fair, inventing religion is hard work.
As the author of the upcoming book Synodaling for Dummies (Paulist Press 2025), I propose we begin our new synodalling Church by replacing all present active indicative verbs in the New Testament with “synodal.” For instance, Know, Teach, Say, Raise Up, Receive, Send, Bear, Carry, Bring, Believe, etc.
[N.B., it is best to render these as third person plural so as not to offend.]
Your name “God’s Fool” and your coining the term “synodaling” invites a touch of needed levity into the otherwise demoralizing (literally!) ecclesial discourse of the moment.
Synodaling sounds a bit like yodeling….So what if there were a synodal yodeling contest this October? Who would be the top guttural and joyful contestants and the winner?
As with St. Thomas More: “Grant me, O Lord, a good sense of humor. Allow me the grace to be able to take a joke and to discover in life a bit of joy, and to be able to share it with others.” And, Pope Francis: “Hard times may come when the cross casts its shadow, yet nothing can destroy the supernatural joy that adapts and changes, but always endures, even as a flicker of light born of our personal certainty that, when everything is said and done, we are infinitely loved.”
So, the dream team?
KING KUNG is the gorilla in the closet, but a bit dated and only an echo from the “backward” past.
Archbishop PAGLIA whose portrait is lovingly included in the homoerotic mural graffitied inside the cathedral of Terni-Narni-Amelia? Or, is it an outhouse mural? Too ambiguous. No prize.
What about Cardinal GRECH who says he would like to modify the purity of white noise by “stretching the gray area”? No?
Then there’s Cardinal MCELROY who spills the beans in a published interview, that the tribe wants to change everything! Butt, would he change into a kilt and inflate some bagpipes? A Fearsome noise, but not a yodel!
How about BATZING and the whole German “non-synod” that’s still invited to the synodaling party, anyway? Party crasher. Get thee to a nunnery!
So, then, Cardinal HOLLERICH who gathers the most votes by appealing to secularism’s “sociological and scientific foundation” for cancelling and rewriting God’s script on binary human sexuality. Stuffing the ballot box. The sinner! I mean, winner!
Oh, wait, I’m now awake, not a wake. The synodaling yodeling contest….just a bad dream.
Peter, your synodalling contest needs a conga line. As for me, syodalling is more serious. I dreamt a musical called A Syondal Tale. It had a guy named Dr. Jiggle (who looked like Cardinal Marx); he liked to dance in a big mansion. He kept yelling: “Eat! That’s all Rome has left us.” And there was a guy named Mr. Butterbun (who looked like Cardinal Roche). Butterbun kept singing to Dr. Jiggle: “When you know God made you special, it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks, you can just be yourself!” I admit it was weird. But there you have it.
You are kind the say I “coined” the term “synodaling.” But the synodaling planned for October began in the Garden, when our first parents began to talk to a snake. Later, it was perfected during the time of Arius. After it was defeated, some things that should not have been forgotten were lost. History became legend, legend became myth, and for one and half thousand years synodaling passed out of all knowledge. Until when chance came, it ensnared a new champion in Milan called The Unnamed. He taught synodaling to his friends deep in the mountains of Switzerland. Now, it is to be practiced in Rome, the Eternal City. It was no fool who asked: “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
Surely the fund-raising arm of this new church will be called Synodialing for Dollars. Don’t sign me up.
Unfortunately, the Catholic establishment (i.e. the sitting Pontiff Francis, and it seems most of our Bishops and Cardinals, have a culture that recognizes primarily their duty and obeisance to their own cult of human ecclesial authority, and seems generally to ignore the prior authorities of scripture and tradition, in pursuit of “another gospel.”
It all gets back to “what the meaning of is, is”!…
And what the meaning of the Eucharistic Church is—and whether the Mass is something that “we” do, or whether the Real Presence is something that the Holy Spirit already (!) does through and in concurrence with the actions of the ordained priests, as commissioned by the historical Jesus Christ…So, as for the horizontal and “endless journey” of synodality, how about this: “His is a single, uninterrupted utterance, because it is continuous and unending” (Sermon by St. Bernard, Liturgy of the Hours, the upcoming 23rd week of Ordinary Time).
The Word of God versus the words of pygmies in red hats.
We are caught in what seems to be a death-loop of cognitive dissonance: “I am wholly committed to a Church permanently in mission in which Catholics own the Great Commission they received on the day of their baptism: “Go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19)”.
It is very clear that some within the church did NOT get that message at their baptism or do not share the passion. What would account for why Cardinal-Designate Americo Aguiar has decided that the very last thing he would consider for World Youth Day is “conversion?” Note his comment: “We don’t want to convert the young people to Christ or to the Catholic Church or anything like that at all. … We want it to be normal for a young Catholic Christian to say and bear witness to who [sic] he is or for a young Muslim, Jew, or of another religion to also have no problem saying who he is and bearing witness to it, and for a young person who has no religion to feel welcome and to perhaps not feel strange for thinking in a different way”.
Meanwhile, the world’s grotesque are busy actively engaged in recruiting our youth to deviance, perversion, perdition: “We’re here, we’re queer and we’re coming for your children.”
Didn’t the church receive the word directly from Christ Himself: “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these” (Matthew 19:14). How is it that the only institution with a divine commission to direct “the little children” to Christ is the one now with a completely “hands off” policy? Cognitive dissonance now abounds in the church on almost every level.
One of the more salient “favorites” from our time attending the Novus Ordo Mass was the ditty: “Let us Build the City of God”. We cringe at the thought, however, Rome seems hell-bent on erecting that city, in mans image according to his likings.
Make no mistake, despite the childish blather put out by the Vatican, this is the “Synod on homosexuality”. The ONLY real purpose behind this synod is to give the Pope backup and support for when he defies the bible and begins to advocate in favor of homosexuality. Blessings of homosexual relations? Just the start.
This is EXACTLY the same path used by homosexuals to take over all Protestant mainline religions. Their goal was to take them over, then gut them. And they did. Most of those churches are projected to be nonexistent in 30 years or so.
First, they get “women priests”. Almost all of the “women priests” will be lesbians. Once they reach places of power, the women priests insist that homosexuality is the next big issue.
We have seen this before. In the Protestant realm, they all cried “The Holy Spirit is speaking to us, and demanding women priests and homosexuality!” This is precisely what the Synod goers say. I checked on a few of the announced attendees. A lot of them are OBVIOUSLY lesbians or homosexuals. Of the new cardinals, most are openly in favor of one issue: homosexuality.
The homosexual cabal has been eliminating Christianity from the world now for 20 years. Their pattern is always the same. It is being played out before us now, at this Synod.
If Catholics do not act NOW, and act with great force and vehemence, we will not have a church in ten years.
It’s driving me crazy. What’s the word that describes the phenomenon when members of the hierarchy abuse their God-given office to shove lies about the Deposit of Faith down the throats of helpless, faithful believers? (Am I the only one who feels guilty for asking questions?). It’s not synodalism.
Anyway, no worries. I’ll go back to the stock market. Didn’t St. Francis say: Another day, another dollar..?
Many years ago, I had a dream where I went to my local saloon to watch a ball game and encountered an ignorant drunk who ranted that he was a former altar boy but now hated the Church because the Church made up all these “rules” for no other reason than to keep people from having fun. Trying to point out such things that moral precepts against doing evil were gifts from God that enabled people to live better lives than they would otherwise lead was fruitless. Part of the dream was dreaming that I woke up to the ridiculous fantasy that the barstool drunk became a cardinal. Then I woke up for real, relieved. Convinced, I said to myself, wow, at least something this ridiculous can’t happen in real life.
“What’s the word that describes the phenomenon when members of the hierarchy abuse their God-given office to shove lies about the Deposit of Faith down the throats of helpless, faithful believers?”
Good question. I would call it malevolent apostasy.
I remember now! It’s Clericalism
As a simple man, I have to look at everything in simple ways. I don’t have the time or energy to try and swim out of this spiritually demonic riptide. In order to survive a riptide, all one need focus on is staying afloat without exerting any effort to swim against the riptide. Doing so will eventually bring one safely back to shore, albeit perhaps many miles from where he entered the water. What I am tryjng to say is, believing and trusting firmly in God and His providence, that when all of this turmoil is behind us, the Bergoglio papacy will have been wiped clean from the face of the earth and Christ’s One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church will be fully and completely restored, in a more beautiful form than ever before.
Then the children of those future times won’t even have to ask,”What’s a bergoglio?”
I think that we should all agree that the concept of a ‘Synodal’ Church goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden, and existed in the Church at the time of the Great Flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, Nineveh, and all places on earth where a belief in God has existed.
Genesis 3:1 Expulsion from Eden.
Now the snake was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the LORD God had made. He asked the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You shall not eat from any of the trees in the garden’?” The woman answered the snake: “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; it is only about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, ‘You shall not eat it or even touch it, or else you will die.’” But the snake said to the woman: “You certainly will not die! God knows well that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods, who know* good and evil.” The woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and the tree was desirable for gaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
Here are quotes from ‘Luisa Piccarretta and the Divine Will- Teachings of Jesus” by Susanne James, published 2020. Wow! What a book! Quotes below.
“The principal spiritual gift, which Adam and Eve had enjoyed, but lost, was the Divine Will. God had shared his own intimate life with them. God who is a Trinity (3 persons) operates with his Divine Will. The Three Persons have this Will in common, and so they exist in perfect harmony, and share perfect Love.”
“However, only four people have ever lived in the Divine Will: that is Adam, Eve, the Virgin Mary, and Jesus Christ”
“Now the Lord’s Prayer was heading for fulfillment: God’s Will done on earth as it is in Heaven.” “Jesus explained. These three Fiats will reflect the Sacrosanct Trinity on earth, and then I will have the Fiat voluntas tua (Thy Will be done) on earth as it is in Heaven. These three Fiats will be inseparable. One shall be the life of the other, they shall be One and Three, yet different from each other. My Love so desires it, and my glory demands it. Having sent forth from the bosom of my Creative Power the first two Fiats, I wish to emit the Third Fiat, since I cannot contain my Love any longer. This will complete the work that poured forth from Me. Otherwise the work of Creation as well as Redemption would remain incomplete”
“Jesus told Luisa: “That is why I want to purify the earth, because as it is now – the earth is unworthy of such a wonder of sanctity.
Jesus to Luisa, “There will be no end to the generations, until man returns to my Bosom in the state of beauty and sovereignty, just as he emerged from my hands at the Creation! I am not satisfied only with man’s Redemption, so even at the cost of having to wait, I am patient. By virtue of my Will, man must return to Me in the same state in which I originally created him…” (November 11th 1922)
(end quotes from Susanne James book)
Acts of the Apostles 3:19
Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be wiped away, and that the Lord may grant you times of refreshment and send you the Messiah already appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the times of universal restoration of which God spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old.
In a contest between Francis and Christ, wwho wins?
The problem covered in this article goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden. God planted and established the Garden of Eden and made the trees bear their fruit. God’s garden, God’s rules. Adam and Eve didn’t have any valid claim to the forbidden fruit. They took the things that are God’s without His permission. They acted like the garden was their own personal private property that they could do with as they pleased.
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The modernists appear to have a diet that is inclusive of the forbidden fruit.
Nor did Adam and Eve have any intrinsic right over their very own lives. All of our lives belong to God. The whole notion of “My body; my choice” is laughable. Its basic premise is in error and leads to illogical conclusions. At best, we are merely the custodians of our lives. God never said, “I give you life; now, go, and do exactly as you please.” No cleric dare ever give this permission.
Does Samton have any specific actions in mind that decent Catholics can do to halt this tide of evil in our Church? Withholding money doesn’t seem to make a difference since their plan is destruction.
Thanks again, George, I can’t help but thinking that, since nothing is static, these fads too will pass. We know whose world is, but we also know Whose Church THE Church is, and that nothing will prevail against it. Eventually when things begin to heat up for Christians, the exit doors will be stampeded and a few faithful will remain. What we need to do in the interim is remain faithful and keep the lamps burning so that the light of faith is passed on to the next generation. Since we know the eventual outcome, there is no need to be overly concerned about the present mess that the Church is in. The Remnant will survive, our job is to be sure we are part of it. Keep up your part in keeping the lamps burning. Your work IS appreciated. God bless.