Caritas Newsletter

July 23, 1996
by Fr. Lucian Pulvermacher, OFM Cap.

Receive the Truth

There are two types of truth. One is moral truth, and the other is ontological truth (truth independent of any knowledge). Moral truth means that the speaker or writer tells his fellowmen exactly what he thinks he knows to be the truth. In the moral order (before God) he is sinless (in the order of truth) whether he speaks truth or error. 

Let us combine the two truths in a simple example. I give you an envelop believing there are two five dollar bills in it, in payment for a ten dollar book. De facto there is only one five dollar bill in it. There is no lie in me, but my innocent mistake will not pay for the book. 

Now let us play some hard ball. If a false prophet (say, he is sincere) tells you that you get to heaven by �accepting Christ as your personal Savior.� That is wrong change, and it will not �buy� heaven. On the contrary it will �buy� hell. 

We continue the hard ball �game�. The teachings and the commands of God are ontological truths, and He gives us His teachings and commands only through His chosen instruments. 

Just who are those instruments? God gave His teachings to those He inspired to give us either His tradition or scripture. The writers of tradition and scripture were made infallible by God. Hence, all revelation is entirely of man and entirely of God. There you have the mystery of divine revelation. 

What amazes me is this. Nearly all false religions recognize that God gave infallibility to the writers of the scriptures, however, they refuse to admit that God also gave and gives infallibility to Peter and his successors to the end of the world. 

Their stupidity reminds me of the fool who would admit that one needs a refrigerator to produce ice cream, and yet that you can preserve it without a refrigerator. To state the obvious, divine revelation came into this world only because God gave infallibility to the prophets and other writers of scripture and sacred tradition. Again, to state the obvious, divine revelation will remain unchanged and properly understood only if God puts a man in this world who has (from Him) infallibility. Without the help of that infallible person no one can ever be infallibly sure of what he must believe and observe in order to get to heaven. 

God gave and gives that infallibility to Peter and his successors until the end of time. Sincere or not, when you give your envelop to God when you die you must have the right change in it or you will not get heaven; basta, finito, period, Amen. All those who do not go to heaven will go to hell, and there are no exceptions. To one and all, I say, do not play Russian Roulette. 

Just look at another simple example. The story goes that after a large celebration in England it happened that an Anglican Archbishop and Catholic Archbishop chance to get into the same limousine. In order to be break the embarrassing silence that followed the Anglican Archbishop said to the Catholic Archbishop, �It is fitting that two men of God should be riding in the same limousine.� To that the Catholic Archbishop respond, �Yes, indeed, it is. You worship God in your way, and I worship Him in His way.� Bang! 

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PRAYER to ST. MICHAEL
as composed by Pope Leo XIII

Since this prayer is hard to come by I am putting it in CARITAS so you have it available in a dispute about happenings in Rome. I will say more after copying the prayer. It is a fact that Pope Leo XIII had a vision right after his Mass, and it so frightened him that he composed the following prayer.

V. Behold the Cross of the Lord; be scattered ye hostile powers. 
R. The Lion of the tribe of Juda has conquered, the root of David. 
V. Let thy mercies be upon us, O Lord. 
R. As we have hoped in thee. 
V. O Lord, hear my prayer. 
R. And Let my cry come unto thee. 

Let us pray 

O God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we call upon thy holy name, and as supplicants we implore thy clemency, that by the intercession of Mary, ever Virgin Immaculate and our Mother, and of the glorious Archangel St. Michael, thou wouldst deign to help us against Satan and all other unclean spirits, who wander about the world for the injury of the human race and the ruin of souls. Amen. 

Lest you miss the most important point of this prayer I shall repeat it for you. In the Holy Place itself, where has been set the See of the most holy Peter and the Chair of Truth for the light of the world, they have raised the throne of their abominable impiety, with the iniquitous design that when the Pastor has been struck, the sheep may be scattered. 

Here I shall point out two facts and draw an important conclusion. It was during the reign of Pope Pius IX, Leo XIII�s predecessor, that the approved (by the Holy See) revelations of La Salette took place. And it was Leo XIII who had a shrine built on the spot where the revelations took place. That revelation, among other things, revealed the following: �ROME WILL LOSE THE FAITH AND BECOME THE SEAT OF THE ANTICHRIST.� I have copied these words directly from the booklet (with an imprimatur) entitled: APPARITION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN on the Mountain of LA SALETTE the 19th of September, 1846. Page 18. 

I must make an important observation. When Rome gives its approval to an apparition it sees credibility in the witness(es), and it also automatically says that what has come in the private revelation is not contrary to public revelation, that is, you can believe it without the least bit of damage to your divine and Catholic faith. 

Pope Leo XIII says, ....they have raised the throne of their abominable impiety, with the iniquitous design that when the Pastor has been struck, the sheep may be scattered. Then in like manner Our Lady at La Salette says,...page 18..Rome will lose the faith and become the seat of the Antichrist. That is just exactly what we have in Rome today. John Paul II is not the Pope of God�s Church, the Catholic Church. Hence, it is the right and duty of all true Catholics to unite in the election of the true Pope. 

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DECISIVE GRACE

�Let us bear in mind, however, that a decisive grace is not always attached to a great or difficult action or sacrifice. It is not always necessary that the abuse of such a decisive grace should be a mortal sin. The conversion to a Christian life, the call to the religious state, a second conversion to a life of fervor and perfection, final perseverance, and a happy death, all these extraordinary graces depend often upon some little act of obedience, some slight act of self-denial. History tells us of great sinners who obtained the extraordinary grace of conversion on their deathbed because, during life, they had performed some act of charity or virtue. This single act weighed more in the balance of divine mercy than the enormous load of a long life of sin. Now, had they not performed that one virtuous act, had they resisted that one grace, they would probably have been lost... 

�Let us, therefore, not neglect the grace that urges us to make some sacrifice, some act of self-denial for God. No grace stands alone. Every grace is linked in the great chain of graces, whose beginning and end are known to God alone. Each grace, if we use it well, will bring us other graces. It is, as it were, a fruit which contains also the seed of other fruits.� (unquote)

Here a caution is in place. Some may read this to their destruction, that is, become rigorists. They take the strictest course possible and miss the opportunities that prudence and counsel dictate or just urge upon them. They must pray for prudence and counsel, and seek spiritual advice when it is available. An example will explain what I mean. A father of the Church, in his rigors, castrated himself in order to be seen to remain pure. Thus, in one �zealous� act of imprudence he closed to himself both the priesthood and marriage forever. I see such �zeal� (rigorism) where people refused, in our times, the sacrament of confirmation for their children. They have to live with their �sincere� decision right up to judgment day. 

There is a great danger that once one grabs an evil he does not know how to let go, in time to be saved. In the Philippines they catch monkeys by this ingenious method. They cut a hole in a coconut just a little smaller than the size of fist of the monkey. They stake the coconut to the ground and put rice into the coconut. The monkey sticks his hand into the coconut ands grabs a handful of rice and tries to remove the hand filled with the rice. It just will not work, and the people go up and capture the monkey. If the monkey had dropped the rice he could have saved his freedom and his life. Sinners in bad marriages act just like those stupid monkeys. You can multiply such examples. 

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CHILDREN ARE BETTER OFF WITHOUT TV

Jim Wilson of Allen Texas wrote: (after being without TV for eight years) �Before we eliminated television we had noticed the kinds of problems you mentioned in your article: short attention spans, irritability, lack of cooperation, and chronic boredom. Today nearly every one of our five children - who range in ages from 6 to 17 - are straight-A students. Off TV, they quickly developed a variety of interesting sports, reading, art, computing, etc. 

A word to the wise should be sufficient - plus your own good judgment under the influence of the virtue of prudence and the gift of counsel. 

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EAGLE FORUM

ATTN: PHYLLIS SCHLAFLY
P.O.BOX 618
ALTON, IL 62002-9903

Just now I read her: THE PHYLLIS SCHLAFLY REPORT, VOL. 29, NO. 12, JULY 1996. The title of the issue is PHONICS VS. WHOLE LANGUAGE. Phyllis Schlafly proves that the school system is failing because it has abandoned phonics in favor of guess the word system. If the word is �horse� and the child says �pony� the teacher lets it go - close enough. What plain rot.! 

In a very short space I shall tell you about one phase of her program. Quote-- �4. Ask your pastor if you can put the notice in your church bulletin inviting interest in attending a Literacy Workshop, where one of our Teacher Trainers can train 20 parents to teach their own children.� 

I shall keep this information in a folder for you to call on, or better still, if you can get this word out get in contact with the Eagle Forum at the above address. Since money is involved in getting such Teacher Trainers they suggest: �Ask any local civic (or even political) club to sponsor a Literacy Workshop.� 

Truly, this work is a work of civic love. Without the ability to read we cannot have good quality citizens in our age. Please, at least try to set this program on fire in your locality. It should spread over the entire nation. 

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Modesty in Dress

God bless each one of you.