The linch pin theory — the unraveling of BI Christian nationalism

The linch pin theory — the unraveling of BI Christian nationalism

+Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary+

My apologies for not posting sooner, but family obligations and other unexpected events took precedent. The following blog, which is longer than usual, will hopefully make up for the lack of content over the past few weeks. The author quoted at length below describes in detail what we are witnessing, and she wrote her work in 1970. If those trying to keep tabs on the destruction of the Church really wish to understand what is at its very roots, and where we are in apocalyptic time, she explains it well.

Climbing the Masonic pyramid

In the work available on this site, Liberalism’s Shameful Legacy, we explained how the Protestant Reformation destroyed not only the faith of Catholics but Catholic culture, in England as well as in Germany. While we have stated many times that it is not “the Jews” per se that are primarily responsible for the destruction of the Church, it is true, as pointed out by Msgr. Jouin and others, that they have a hand in that destruction and that Zionists rule the worldwide organization that is responsible for the Church’s demise. But Zionists are only a small and radical faction of all world Jewry, and as explained here before, those calling themselves Jews today are more likely to identify with it as a cultural rather than a religious group. It must also be understood that those presenting as Jews today are not the Jews from whom Christ sprang; few of today’s Jews are racial Jews and their religion is not the Torah, but the blasphemous rabbinic Talmud and the Kabbala, which is basically a book of magic.

We are working on a new and updated Masonic Pyramid to demonstrate the progression of Zionist world rule, for we can see that they are at the very top; their rise to power is near completion. When did all this treachery begin? It appears to have surfaced in earnest in 1656 with Oliver Cromwell’s readmission of the Jews to Great Britain ending  their banishment in 1290. This after the Reformers murdered “tens of thousands of Catholics” and robbed countless thousands of their land and livelihood. Eamon Duffy’s Stripping of the Altars illustrates in stark detail the obliteration of all that was Catholic in England. In France alone, in the 1600s, four million Catholics died fighting the Protestant Huguenots. And of course the French Revolution successfully destroyed Catholic monarchy in France to replace it with democracy, resulting in an estimated 500,000 deaths. And this does not take into consideration the millions who died for their faith under Communist rule. It has been a religious genocide like no other and yet it is obscured from view by the enemy. The Holocaust and the deaths in Gaza pale by comparison.

It wasn’t long after the Jews were readmitted to Great Britain that Freemasonry was established in 1717.  Eighty-one years later, in 1798, the Rothschilds established their first bank in London. As explained by E.C. Knuth, in his Empire of the City (1946): “The Bank of England is in effect a sovereign world power, for this privately owned institution is not subject to regulation or control in the slightest degree by the British parliament. A succinct outline of this situation appears in the Encyclopedia Americana under ‘Great Britain- Banking In.’ This privately owned and controlled institution functions as the great balance wheel of the credit of the world, able to expand or contract credit at will and is subject only to the orders of the City, the City dominated by the fortune of the House of Rothschild and the policies of the house the Rothschild… The fact that the House of Rothschild made its money in the great crashes of history and the great wars of history the very periods when others lost their money, IS BEYOND QUESTION” (emph. Knuth’s).

The plan for world rule

Already we have printed, from Helen Peters’ The Union Jack, the speech of Sen. Joseph McCarthy outlining the history of Britain’s control of America and plan to rule the world, a plan strengthened by our alliance with that country during the two great wars. As Knuth also relates, it was Cecil Rhodes who, the financier and founder of Rhodesia and its diamond industry, (South Africa), who laid out the plant to “Establish a secret society in order to have the whole continent of South America the Holy Land the valley of the Euphrates the islands of Cyprus and Kandia the islands of the Pacific cannot heretofore possessed by Great Britain the Malay archipelago the seaboard China and Japan and finally the United states. In the end Great Britain is to establish a power so overwhelming that wars must cease and the Millennium be realized. Four months after the death of Cecil Rhodes who outlined this ideology of a secret society to work towards eventual British rule of all the world,” provisions were made in his will “designed to bring the United States among the countries possessed by Great Britain.” And from this sprang the Rhodes scholarships, intended to shape philosophical the minds of youth to strive for that goal.

The engineers of this plan for world rule had to work first to manipulate the minds of their potential subjects by influencing their religious beliefs, and this was accomplished in 1909 with the publication of the (King James bible-based) Scofield Bible and its interpretation of end-time events. This occurred not long after the rule of British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, an avowed advocate for British Israel (see bottom of pyramid above). Disraeli ruled Britain in 1868, and from 1874-80. It was from this Bible that the Catholic Church first became portrayed as “Mystery Babylon” in line with British Israel teaching. I accounts today for those Protestants who champion Israel or British Israel and continue their work to wipe out the final vestiges of TRUE Catholic belief. It was greatly advanced by the CIA’s successful operation in the late 1940s, early 1950s to propagandize Catholics and direct their beliefs toward ecumenism. Protestant evangelist Helen Peters explains below the process from an objective Christian point of view.

Infiltration of the Church

“In order to look at the blueprint of conquest of the British Empire we look again at the Scofield Bible. We notice a development of a resurrected Roman Empire as a “prophesied” future event. This so-called beast system of ten nations is emblematic of the ten toes of the image in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream according to British Israel. In alliance with this beast system of nations is the Catholic Church (Mystery Babylon) and this “unholy” union is destined to attack Israel (Anglo- Saxondom and the Jews) and in the final battle of Armageddon God will deliver His people whom he has allowed to suffer in the “great tribulation.” The now complete political power of the Empire is setting the world stage to enact what it hopes will be the final drama to usher in the new spiritual-economic order. Though political and military power are under the control and direction of the [British] Empire they must solidify these gains with the establishment of the “spiritual Christian State,” with a show of “Divine deliverance” to an apparently besieged Israel. This enactment of prearranged “prophecy” is designed to unify the spirit of mankind.

“In order to work this fakery the British Empire has infiltrated the Church with its Cabalistic Jews and Masons in order to give the Church the prophetic appearance of the harlot of mystery Babylon so that it can be “prophetically” destroyed. The illumined minds of Masonry visualize the end of their last opposition to their universal Masonic Republic.

“The destruction of the Catholic Church and historic Catholic States is called in British Israel “the burning of the body of the Eagle.” We quote from the book Three Headed Eagle, page 95, by British Israelite A. E. Ferris. “All the nations forming the body of the Eagle, such as France, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Italy, and Spain, in fact all the Roman Catholic countries, will suffer a terrible judgment under the wrath of God. The annihilation of all Roman government, law, religion, kings, priests, and so on will be so complete that never again will the Roman Eagle appear, nor her heads, wings little wings, etc. This can only be accomplished by an atheistic infidel revolution on the continent. As the author forecast in 1940, the obvious agency to bring this about is the spread of Communism on the high tide of Russian victory prestige. Time will show. But it would seem that the fiery destruction of the 2,000 years old Roman civilization could only be achieved by an atheistic ideology sweeping in. With the moral backing of such a great power as Soviet Russia, such a revolution seems inevitable” (end of Ferris quote).

“The United States of Europe and later the Common Market is the nucleus of the planned “resurrected” Roman Empire. Another rape of Europe is planned with a Neo-Nazi type Germany at the helm of leadership. The German Nation and all Europe should come to the reality of the meaning of another fake nationalism under the sign of the Eagle and the Cross. The blood bath of World War II was a vindication of the blood suckers of the British Empire whose agents directed the proverbial “Rise and Fall of the Third Reich.” Need we argue the point or shall we look at a destroyed and divided Germany between British Communism and the British controlled “Free World.”

The myth of Antisemitism

“At this point it is good to explain why we use the word antisemite in quotations. The word semitic comes from the root semite which refers to a specific racial lineage from Shem to 70 A.D. when all genealogical records were destroyed. Therefore there can be no proof of any racial purity. Consequently the term antisemitic is a completely false term when used, as it commonly is, to refer to a present-day race, whether they be so-called Jews or Arabs or Anglo-Saxons” (Ed NoteThe Jewish convert David Goldstein testifies to this in his 194 work, Jewish Panorama, where he states: “History proves the impossibility of the existence of a Jewish or a Semitic race. Ever since the Chaldean period there has been an infiltration, through marriage, of the blood of many peoples who were not Semites into the bloodstream of Israel which makes the classification of Jews as a distinctive race untenable.” Even some Jewish historians admit this. Currently the Jewish population is estimated to be at least 50 percent Ashkenazi, and these Jews were Khazarian Jews by belief only, possessing no Semitic blood. That the promises made to the Israelites existing in Christ’s time were entirely dependent on them accepting Him as Messiah, and were revoked for their disbelief is proven at length HERE, This site is mentioned here only to point to Scripture verses, not as an endorsement.)  

British Israel propaganda promotes the idea of racial identity or racial heritage and fuses it with nationality to get an admixture or Jewish Christianity which is blasphemous and totally misleading. Sometimes the Jew baiters will apply the term semitic to the Arabs only to promote the same confusion as does those who say the “Jews” are semites. The idea of race in any sense is not Christian any more than nationality or sex is. This does not, in the Christian mind, lend support to the Masonic crime of integrating the races to mongrelize them. Any Christian should strive to preserve his color and integrity but never to confuse race with grace. British Israel is a religion of race the same as was its previous front of National Socialism under Adolph Hitler.”

Peters defines “jew-baiters” as those who “wrangle back and forth about the Jews without exposing the USE of their religion… It is quite obvious that the Jew-baiters use their anti-Judaism in a very controlled manner which is designed to stir up race hatred, civil chaos and mass hysteria. In the main of course the overriding purpose is to establish the British Israel-Jew state under the mantle of Christianity. Likewise the pro-neo-Judeo-Christianity is striving for the same goal. Is this not in harmony with our pincers movement idea of two seemingly opposite forces driving toward each other to form a complete synthesis?

“The Jew-baiters launch their attacks upon the political conspiracy of Jew Communism but not one word against their spiritual conspiracy called the Kingdom of God on Earth. In fact most of the Jew-baiters exhaust themselves promoting the spiritual lie of the Kingdom Message. A search for the meaning of the Jew propaganda will reveal that its hidden purpose is to establish the spirit of Judaism in the name of Christ. While they claim religious tolerance, they seek to dethrone Christ and usurp His kingdom. “Religious toleration” and the idea of “separation of church and state” are blinds behind which there is no toleration and church and state merge. The spiritual state becomes a reality built upon the captive minds which are prisoners to the kingdom propaganda of the Jew-baiters.

Communism only a decoy

“The hard worked “Jew-communism” is a decoy from the Jew Kingdom Message of the Jew-baiters. Jew Communism is a base of operations from which to hammer in the permanent phase of world revolution which is the triumph of the “Christian state.” The focusing of attention on Communism leads to a misunderstanding of its temporary nature as a catalyst to build the kingdom of God. Communism is only a political instrument to prod and direct wars and revolutions in harmony with the master plan of the spiritual plot. Fighting Communism as such promotes the spiritual counterfeit kingdom. Hence the harangues of the Jew-baiters against Communism serve very well this reverse psychology. Communism has been expanded and enlarged so that the final anti-communist reaction will usher in the kingdom of God on earth. “Atheistic Communism must be defeated by the kingdom of God” so says the propaganda of British Israel. (Every time we refer to British Israel, we mean at the same time Anglo-Israel). We would call attention to some of the many books and publications which fall into the Jew-bait ideology which are supposedly distributed to and cater to the deep students of the so-called Communist conspiracy.

“Though many of these “hard core” patriots are unaware, they are prize victims and servants of British Israel. It is these super patriots who are the ideological gestapos of British Israel. They have been moved to the completion of the brainwash and their zealousness in their new education has made of them “Jews” impatient with gradual revolution and militant in their desire for blind revolution. They are seditious with respectability under complete control of the spiritual power of British Israel. Their new education of “what’s behind Communism” has hidden the master plan. Such is the deceit of British Israel that can alienate a nation against itself by changing its spirit.

“We name the following Jew-bait books: Judaism in Action, Waters Flowing Eastward, The Plot Against the Church, (Pinay) The Plot Against Christianity (Dilling), The Secret World Government Behind Communism, The Rulers of Russia (and other works) by Rev. Denis Fahey, Secret Societies and Subversive Movements…, Christ Was Not a Jew, Cause of World Unrest, Proofs of a Conspiracy,… The International Jew, (Ford)… Iron Curtain Over America, Antisemitism…, Trail of the Serpent, Mein Kampf, Rise and Fall of the Third Reich…, The Beast of the ApocalypseThe Talmud Unmasked…, Jewish Ritual Murder, The Jews by H. Belloc, The French Revolution by Nesta Webster.” (Ed. Note: This list has been shortened to represent only the best-known works on this topic. One thing that Peters does not mention is the explanation of who these “Jews” truly are, which we find in Apoc. 2:9: “Thou art blasphemed by those that say they are Jews and are not but are the synagogue of Satan.” Pope Pius IX tells us who this synagogue of Satan is in his Etsi multa, (Nov. 21, 1873):

  1. ““…Some years past, a most severe war was begun against the Church, its institutions, and the rights of this Apostolic See…
  1. “Some of you may perchance wonder that the war against the Catholic Church extends so widely. Indeed each of you knows well the nature, zeal, and intention of [these] sects, whether called Masonic or some other name. When he compares them with the nature, purpose, and amplitude of the conflict waged nearly everywhere against the Church, he cannot doubt but that the present calamity must be attributed to their deceits and machinations for the most part. For from these the synagogue of Satan is formed which draws up its forces, advances its standards, and joins battle against the Church of Christ.”
  1. They would, if possible, completely wipe it out from the world after they had shaken it with frequent blows, ruined it, and overturned it.”

If Peters mentions Fahey here, it is only because he treats those whom he is speaking about as the same type of Jews that lived in Christ’s time, making no distinction in race. Fahey’s works are good, if we keep in mind that the Jews of today are the ones spoken of by Pius IX above.) Peters continues:

Antichrist as a political figure

The idea of spiritual power as a weapon of power politics is an imposing reality when we see how it has held the unity of the Catholic Church for centuries. This unity through spiritual power has crossed national boundaries while maintaining its direction from Rome. Though Catholics live in many nations their spiritual allegiance (to God) is through the Vatican and it is from this source that flows the administration of the Church. The spiritual unity of Catholicism has expressed itself in political matters in harmony with Church views.

“Another example of this paradox-harmony ideology may be clearly seen in the propaganda of Christ versus anti-Christ. What was once a legitimate concept of Christianity which referred to the spirit of Satan versus Christ has come to be understood through the brain mould of British Israel as two political rulers fighting over control of the nations. This is another example of dividing the same ideology into two fake opposites containing no truth in either. Propaganda competes against itself to control all thought. In the first place the great commission gave Christ all power in Heaven and earth and in the second place the reign of Christ is a reign of grace above all supernatural, and not in conflict with the rule of Caesar or government. It is the concerted attempt of Caesar to be both political ruler and God that brings out the real truth of Christ versus anti-Christ.

“This is precisely the blasphemous usurpation and intrusion of the British Israel plot upon the sovereignty of Christ. The Christ of British Israel is the Cosmic Christ, the collective totality of the human race. Therefore the purpose of the anti-Christ propaganda is the force designed to solidify and unify the “Christ” and the “Christian State.” We must see then that the use of the term antichrist versus Christ is the apostasy of British Israel and conveys its purpose and extends its domain wherever used without clarification. Therefore the myth of Christian Civilization is a front for the somewhat narrower concept of Western Civilization which in turn is the mantle for the plot to establish the “Christian State.” We must know its spirit to understand its purpose which is the treason of British Israel. See Epilogue on anti-Christ.

“The social justice of the British Israel Kingdom of God is not the Gospel of Christ but its movement within the language and form of the decalogue has established a phony Christianity which in essence and in spirit is a genuine hate of Jesus Christ. It is Satanic in its deceit and has beguiled almost the whole of once Orthodox Christianity into its fold. All social and political phenomena is organized to bulldoze humanity into this ultimate triumph of Satan’s Christian State. All is set to appear as “Divine intervention” to save a butchered and bewildered world from itself. Human government has failed says the propaganda and nothing short of the direct intervention of Christ to set up His kingdom will save the world from suicide. It is a union of Church and state with final authority in the God-state. This occult theocracy is the aim and purpose of the propaganda that we hear so much about. It is the “Divine Plan” of Lucifer to merge Heaven and earth and it is the work of British Israel to establish this spirit.

“This is the exact scheme of spiritual control of the British Empire through British Israel. Its counterfeit messiah (to come) is the pope of British Israel. Its domain is the unification of all nations under the control of the “Christian State” and its name is the kingdom of God. It is the mystery of iniquity in the form of Christianity. It is ecclesiasticism with vengeance and it must destroy the Roman Church and to do so it (British Israel), is manipulating the Church into the role of “Mystery Babylon” so that it can be “Divinely” destroyed as an apostate harlot. The sleeping Christians would do well to awaken to the inspiration of their agony. The cliches of religious freedom and brotherhood are fronts for the most diabolical plot of all time.

Nationalism a pretense

“The social justice of the British Israel Kingdom of God is not the Gospel of Christ but its movement within the language and form of the decalogue has established a phony Christianity which in essence and in spirit is a genuine hate of Jesus Christ. It is Satanic in its deceit and has beguiled almost the whole of once Orthodox Christianity into its fold. All social and political phenomena is organized to bulldoze humanity into this ultimate triumph of Satan’s Christian State.All is set to appear as “Divine intervention” to save a butchered and bewildered world from itself. Human government has failed says the propaganda and nothing short of the direct intervention of Christ to set up His kingdom will save the world from suicide. It is a union of Church and state with final authority in the God-state. This occult theocracy is the aim and purpose of the propaganda that we hear so much about. It is the “Divine Plan” of Lucifer to merge Heaven and earth and it is the work of British Israel to establish this spirit.

“The pretense of nationalism is like the fiction called history. Nationalism is nominal and the conflict between pretended nationalisms is the process of synthesis or unification. Prefabricated nationalisms do not serve their subjects; they serve the international chess game of “wars and rumors of wars” to grind the nations into amalgamation. “Out of chaos cometh the new order.” The interplay of events in the natural order are allowed but God has not ordained the deification of the state. The true kingdom of God shall never be the kingdom of earth. Perpetuation of the faith does not mix spirit with matter. The land of Abraham and the people are condemned; it is their faith that makes them whole. It is the circumcision of the heart that separates Heaven from earth in the hearts of men. British Israel would turn us again to bondage with circumcision of the flesh in a God-state glorified earth.

“Right-wing Communism has much to say about the coming of the “Anti-Christ” and the end of the age. According to the plan of British Israel there is to be a Christ and an Antichrist. When we come to understand their spiritual deception, we immediately know that the Christ of the Christian fronts is only another anti-Christ. Historic and orthodox Christianity does not interpret the Bible to instruct t that there is to be a Christ versus anti-Christ end of the age showdown in any political or military confrontation. This Christ versus anti-Christ” and “The Battle of Armageddon” is a notion derived from Jewish perversions of Holy Writ and teaches a completely erroneous Christianity.

We emphasize that Communism is not separate from British Israel. Communism is an instrument of British Israel, held up for us to fight until we can be totally “saved” (destroyed) by British Israel. Communism is called the antichrist by the patriots while British Israel is called Christ. The world is to be punished by anti-Christ forces and saved from it all by a “Christ” sitting on Queen Elizabeth’s throne (removed to Jerusalem) and ruling the New Earth under the Union Jack. (Ed. Note: Tim Cohen in his Antichrist and a Cup of Tea makes a strong case for this British Israel/antichrist “pope” as King Charles III; or will it be the IV? This is where the rule by Divine right heresy enters in, with the British monarchs claiming to be descendants of the King of David, a claim also made for the Merovingian kings of France).

Millennialism and spiritual Communism

“The idea of a civil political government on earth for a thousand years was never mentioned by Jesus, Paul, or any of the Apostles. According to Paul, all who believe not and accept not the Gospel shall be cut off from God for all eternity, but according to Judaic British Israel millennialists the Jewish rejecters of the Gospel and their proselyte millennialists are to be blessed with a thousand years of perfect happiness and prosperity. What a complete twist of the Scripture to support the establishment of a world police state in the name of Christ!

There is a Social Communism and there is a Spiritual Communism, and when the proper analogy is shown they are one force. Americans are unaware of the existence of this spiritual or “Christian” Communism and that it is the invisible and permanent phase of world revolution. This spiritual or right-wing Communism, or “Christian” Communism, will be shown as we go on in terms of Judeo-Christianity, Fundamental Christianity, World Brotherhood, Millennialism, Zionism and other terms which require for their existence what they term a paradise earth with a political theocracy and a natural messiah. Therefore “Christianity” is political Zionism as expressed by so-called conservatism hence our term “Christian” Communism when referring to the “anti- Communist patriots.” (The Union Jack — end of Peters quotes).

The linch-pin theory

Definition of a linch pin: “The most important member of a group or part of a system, that holds together the other members or parts or makes it possible for them to operate as intended.”

What Peters says above only confirms what has been said on this site from the beginning. In Liberalism’s Shameful Legacy as well as in other articles, it is pointed out that ALL rejection of the papacy, that by LibTrads included, is only an echo of that tormented, evil cry “I will not serve.” There is a City of God ruled by Christ and His vicar, and then there is the City of Satan, ruled by the devil and his archdemons, now let loose on earth. Satan has been cast down to earth as we read in Apocalypse. He intends to rule it as his own kingdom. He is using the ruse of the Chosen People to establish and rule that kingdom under the guise of “Christianity.” Ever the ape of God and His Divine Son, he must establish himself as King. He promises heaven on earth in millennialism, which we have warned against often, a millennialism condemned by Pope Pius XII.  This will be a one-world communist state with all rights erased and everything held in common.

We have shown for decades that Antichrist can only be a spiritual entity, not a political figure. For as Peters states, “The kingdom of God is spiritual, not earthly.” And only a figure most like Christ would satisfy Satan’s lust for power to rule as Christ on earth. That could not be any Protestant preacher or political personage, but only the highest spiritual leader recognized as representing Our Lord Himself. We know who has fulfilled the prophecies in this regard. And we also know who has been recognized as the high priest of Zionism by the Zionists themselves. Their priesthood, so to speak has been restored. They await the installment of their Messiah. The Jewish high priest was always recognized as wearing the ephod and teraphim, and if we wish to know the identity of that person, we need only behold him here below.

Conclusion

The investigation of Charlie Kirk’s murder by various podcasters is quite enlightening in that it demonstrates that conservative Christian sects have been hijacked from within, just as was the case with the Catholic Church. This has been accomplished most effectively for the past 150 years, from a British Israel standpoint, by the (Masonic) Mormon church. The Mormon church was the only sect that promoted the creation of Israel as a state. Its founders were Freemasons and its ceremonies are only crude re-enactments of Masonic initiation. It has recently morphed into the New Apostolic Reformation, a sect that has been established in the White House Office of Faith itself, with the plan to create and direct a new nationalistic religion based on Mormonism.

The most internationally proclaimed podcaster among them now condemning Zionism, Candace Owens, recently told her audience that we are being run globally by a gang of pedophiles who wish to enslave us and that faith alone will save us. If this is the commonly accepted “Christian” opinion of where we stand today, it logically follows that all that now needs to be explained is where it began and how we arrived at where we now find ourselves. Owens believes that Charlie Kirk discovered some monumental truth that led to his death. I believe that truth could have been the infiltration of the Church and the imposters that have ruled from Rome since 1958. That this infiltration was accomplished by the CIA among others would not be a foreign notion to Owens’ audience. And that they plotted to intrude an invalid candidate into a papal election, given all the election fraud we have seen over the years, would not surprise them either.

With the truths gathered here over the past 20 years regarding the invalidity of Roncalli’s election and the subsequent invalidity of all the other imposters who followed him; with the testimony and infallible truth of Pope Pius XII’s Vacantis Apostolicae Sedis which invalidates all the Masonic infiltrators who posed as traditional “Catholic” clergy,  we as Catholics hold the linch pin that will unloose all the secrets held so tightly by the enemy.  It remains for those addressing captive audiences to recognize this fact and find the courage to take the final step and make it public. We see all that Peters describes above unfolding around us. It is time for the final unveiling.

Despair of no one’s salvation, St. Francis de Sales teaches

Despair of no one’s salvation, St. Francis de Sales teaches

+Feast of All Souls+

 Marcel Crozet

November, Month of the Poor Souls in Purgatory

Prayer Society Intention

“Have mercy Lord on all who wait, in place forlorn and lonely state outside thy peaceful palace gate, miserere Domine.” (Litany of the Faithfully Departed)

Introduction

The following excerpts are  taken from the little book, The Consolations of Purgatory, by Rev. H. Faure, S.M., 1912, translated by a papal chamberlain to Pope St. Pius X. We have written in the past about the rigoristic teachings regarding the saved and the lost, stemming from the Jansenist heresy, and the despair it has wrought among those struggling today to save their souls. This rigorism also touches on the disposition of the dead and dying and could easily result in a false judgment about their fate, meaning prayers could be omitted for those actually in Purgatory but presumed to have lost their souls because of this false view. Especially in these times, when so many previous helps available to us are lacking, we believe it is more important than ever to rely completely on God’s mercy and do all in our power to relieve the suffering of the souls in Purgatory by our prayers, since they can no longer pray for their own salvation. We now begin Rev. Faure’s comments.

How a Christian should mourn the friends he has lost

“St. Francis of Sales tells us that if we have the misfortune to lose our relations or our friends, we should not give way to excessive sorrow, for this world is too poor a place for us to wish them to remain long in it, and it is so miserable that we ought rather to thank God than be distressed when He removes them from it. We too shall go in our turn, when it shall please God to call us ;and those who depart the first are the happiest, provided that during their lives they have thought of the salvation of their souls. It is the greatest consolation for the children of God, when their relations and friends die fortified by the Sacraments of the Church, and we ought always to take the greatest care that our sick friends are not deprived of this great blessing.

“Yet I do not tell you not to weep,” says the Saint, ‘for it is right that you should weep a little to show the sincere affection you had for the dear departed. In that you imitate Jesus Christ, who wept for his friend Lazarus. We cannot prevent our poor hearts from feeling the condition of this life, and the loss of those who were our dearly-loved companions on earth ; but there should be moderation in the outward expression of our grief, and the tears we shed should not be so much tears of regret as signs of love and compassion. Let us not weep like those who are wholly given up to this present life, and who forget that it is merely a prelude to eternity. Let us adore the secret designs of Divine Providence, and say often in the midst of our tears, “‘Blessed be Thou, O God, for all that pleases Thee is good.”

“Religion does not forbid us to feel the loss of those we have loved ; it does not require of us a callous stoicism which is but pride or indifference. Our Blessed Lord has consecrated affection, and blessed the kindly offices of friendship; in the Church, too, we mourn with all our hearts, but the tears that we shed are sweet, because they are poured out upon the breast of our Divine Master, with the resignation that comes from faith and hope and love. Listen to the plaintive cry of affection which burst from the heart of St. Jerome at the grave of his dear Nepotian: ‘To whom shall I henceforth devote my watchings and labours? To whose heart shall I confide my most secret thoughts? Where is he who used to encourage me in my work by the sound of his voice, which was sweeter to me than the last song of the dying swan? Nepotian can no longer hear me: all around me seems dead. If I try to write, I cannot see the paper for my tears, and my pen refuses to write, as if these inanimate things had a share in my grief. Every time I try to give it a free course, and to scatter a few flowers on the grave of my friend, my eyes are filled with tears, and my grief bows me down to the earth beneath which he lies.” …

“St. Francis of Sales writes to a person in mourning: “‘I have never been able to believe in the pretended indifference of those who do not wish us to be human; but at the same time, when we have paid tribute to the lower part of our soul, we must do our duty to the higher part, where, as on a throne, sits the spirit of faith which should console us in our afflictions, and by those same afflictions themselves. Happy are they who rejoice at being afflicted and thus change gall into honey! God be praised! It is always with tranquility that I weep, always with submission to the will of God; for since Our Lord loved death, and gave it to us as the object of our love, I cannot be angry with death for having taken away from me my sisters or any of my friends, provided that they die in the love of the holy death of Our Saviour. I value this mortal life so little that I never turn to God with more fervent love than when He has smitten me, or permitted me to be smitten.

“Is it not reasonable that the most holy will of God should be done in what we most cherish as in all else? Alas! I am but human; my heart is touched more than I should ever have thought: but I will never rebel against the providence of God, who does all things well, and disposes of everything for the best. What happiness for that soul to have been taken away from the world before malice could pervert its spirit, and to have been lifted from the mire of earth before it was soiled! Of what use is it to live long, asks the author of the Imitation of Christ, when we advance so little? Long life does not always amend us; nay, oftentimes it rather increases our guilt. Let us leave God to gather what He has planted; He takes all in due season.

“We must not only be willing that God should chastise us; but we must be willing that He should do it in the way He thinks best. Let us leave the choice to Him, for it belongs to Him. Moreover, God is a good Father; He knows why He afflicts us, and why He takes away those whom we love. Let us try to look at things as God looks at them and let faith help us in sacrifices which are impossible to nature. Let us say to God from the bottom of our hearts, Lord, let it be as Thou wilt; touch whatever cord Thou wilt in my heart it will make only a sweet harmony to Thee. O Jesus, Thy will be done without reserve, without exception, without limit, on father, mother, daughter, on all and everywhere! Ido not say we must not wish our friends a long life and pray for their preservation ; but we must never say to God, Leave this, and take the other. And if God takes away what is dearest, shall we not still have enough, if we have God? Is not that everything ? Alas! the Son of God, our dear Redeemer, had hardly as much as that, when, having left all for love and obedience to His Father, He seemed to be forsaken and abandoned by Him.”

We must pray for all the departed, and not despair for the salvation of any

“St. Francis of Sales would not have us despair of the conversion of a single sinner till he breathed his last sigh. He went still further and did not like to hear anyone pass an unfavourable judgment even on those who had died after living a bad life. His principal argument was that, as the first grace of justification is not merited by any precedent good work, the last grace, which is that of final perseverance, is not given us for any merit of our own. “For who hath known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been his counsellor ?’’ (Rom. xi.34). Therefore he bade us hope for the dead person, even though we might have seen him die an unhappy death, because we can but conjecture from outward appearances, by which even the wisest persons may be deceived.

“His biographer, Mgr. Le Camus, Bishop of Bellez, tells us that one day someone was repeating in his presence those solemn words of the Gospel, ‘Many are called, but few chosen ”’ (St. Matt. xx. 16) and remarking that the elect were spoken of as a “little flock”’ (St. Luke xli. 32), and the number of the reprobate as infinite, and so on. The Saint replied: “‘I believe there will be very few Christians damned ” (he was speaking of those belonging to the Catholic Church), ‘because the root of the true faith which they had must sooner or later produce its fruit, which is salvation ; from being dead it becomes alive and works by charity.”

“When he was asked what was the meaning of the Gospel parable of the small number of the elect, he replied: “If we compare the number of Catholic Christians with the rest of the world, including heathen nations, their number is certainly very small, but of this number I believe very few will be lost ;’’ and in support of this opinion he appealed to the goodness of God, being confident that He, having begun a good work in a man — that is, by giving him the faith — would perfect it unto the day of Christ Jesus. Was it possible, he asked, that the vocation to Christianity, which was a work of God and a perfect work, leading to the supreme end which is the glory of heaven, should very often fail to produce its effect?

“I added then, says the Bishop, the following reason, which he admitted to be a good one: the mercy of God being above all His works, and surpassing even His justice, it does not appear likely that He would have begun to build up the salvation of the true Christian by faith, which is the foundation, without putting on the crowning stone, which is charity. Although the Church has not pronounced upon this disputed question, the belief in the greater number of the elect seems nevertheless conformable to the true meaning of Holy Scripture. In the twentieth chapter of St. Matthew, the kingdom of heaven is likened to a householder who went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard. He went out again about the third hour, and again at the sixth, and the ninth, and even at the eleventh hour, and hired men, and sent them to work; and when evening was come, he ordered his steward to pay them their hire, giving to those who had worked but one hour the same as to those who had been engaged from the early morning. These last began to complain, and the Master reminded them that he had paid them the wage for which they had agreed to work and added: “So shall the last be first, and the first last, for many are called, but few chosen.”

“Now, if we wish to understand the meaning of the ‘ast words, we must not separate them from the context, but explain them by the rest oftheparable. Andwhat,asksalearnedtheo- logian, do we see in this parable? Are the majority of the labourers deprived of their wages at the end of the day, and are we to con- clude that the majority of men who work for God on earth will lose their reward in heaven? ‘No; all the labourers in the parable receive the same reward, and the only conclusion we can draw from the sacred text is the inequality of the wages and reward after the toils and hard- ships of life. But, far from being the expression of God’s anger, these words are the manifestation of His mercy towards sinners, and the marvellous efficacy of true repentance.

“In the twenty-second chapter of the same Gospel the kingdom of heaven is likened to a king who made a marriage for his son, but those who were invited—.e., the Jews—would not come. Then he sent  his servants to go into the highways and call to the marriage all they could find ; and his servants gathered together all they could find, both bad and good. These are the Gentiles and barbarians called to the faith of Jesus Christ ;and among all this crowd only one man was rejected, because he had not on a wedding garment. Then the king said to the waiters:‘ “‘Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the exterior darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen.” One only is excluded: here again, then, the number of the reprobate is the smaller number.

“Thus, concludes the learned Bergier (Dict. Theolog. Elect.), if the parables of the Gospel are to be admitted as proofs, we must believe that the greater number, and not the smaller number, will be saved. Jesus Christ compares the separation of the just from the wicked at the Last Judgment to the separation of the cockle from the wheat at the time of harvest (St. Matt. xiii. 24); but in a field that is cultivated with ordinary care, the cockle is never more abundant than the wheat. Again, He compares it to the separation of the fish caught in the net, of which the good were chosen into vessels, and the bad thrown away (ver. 47) ; but what fisherman is so unfortunate as to catch more bad fish than good? Of the ten virgins who went to meet the bridegroom and the bride (xxi. 1), five were allowed to go in with the bridegroom to the marriage; in the parable of the talents (xxv. 14), two servants were rewarded, and only one was punished; and, as we have seen, only one guest was sent away from the marriage feast.

“This is also the opinion of the profound and learned Suarez, the great commentator of St. Thomas: “ Under the name of Christians we may include all those who have the honour to bear the name of Jesus Christ, and profess to believe in Him, although among them many are heretics, apostates, and schismatics, and in this sense we may say it is probable that the greater number will be rejected; and it is thus I understand the more severe opinion. For as there have been always many heretics and apostates, if we add to their number those Catholics who die a bad death, it is evident that they will be far more numerous than those who die well. But if by Christians we understand those only who die in the Catholic Church, it seems to me more probable under the law of grace that the greater number will be saved. The reason is, first, that the greater number of those who die in infancy have been baptized ; and as to the adults, although the majority of men commit mortal sin, yet they repent of their sins and pass their lives alternately sinning and repenting.

“Moreover, there are few who are not prepared for death by the Sacraments, and who do not at least make an act of attrition in detestation of their sins, and that is enough to justify them at once; and the rest of their life is so short that it is easy for them to persevere without falling again into mortal sin. Thus, all things being considered, it is probable that the majority of Christians — that is to say (taking the word in its more restricted meaning), the majority of those who die in the Catholic Church — will be saved. Pensatis omnibus, verisimile est plures ex his Christianis salvari’’ (Suarez, book vi., chap. iii.).

“This distinction removes all difficulty in the interpretation of the sacred text. Many are called, because it is of faith that God will have all men to be saved (x Tim. ii. 4); few are chosen, if we consider the whole human race and the great number of those who do not belong to the Catholic Church. ‘“Vidi turbam magnam quam dinumerare nemo poterat,”’ says St. John in his visions of the Apocalypse (vii. 9). ‘‘I saw a great multitude which no man could number of all nations, and tribes, and peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne, and in sight of the Lamb, with white robes, and palms in their hands.”’

“The belief in the greater number of the elect is more in harmony with the infinite goodness and mercy of God, and more likely to encourage and comfort us; but we must not make it an excuse for committing sin, which would necessarily draw down upon us the anger and the curse of God. Thus, then, even when those we mourn have not led very regular or Christian lives, even when they have died suddenly without time to receive the last Sacraments of Holy Church, let us not despair ;let us remember that the mercy of God is infinite — quoniam in saculum misericordia ejus. Who can tell that some good thought, some perfect act of contrition, did not find a place between the last word and the last sigh? Who knows all the secrets of that God who ‘“‘will have all men to be saved” (x Tim. il.4); who “desireth not the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live”? (Ezech. xxxiii. 11) ? God Himself says by the mouth of the prophet Isaias: “‘Can a woman forget her infant, so as not to have pity on the son of her womb? And if she should forget, yet will not I forget thee. Behold, I have graven Thee in my hands” (Isa. xliv. v.12)…

“St. Gertrude, in her revelations, tells us of a promise made by Our Lord, full of precious consolation in respect of those whose careless lives have given us reason to doubt of their dispositions at the hour of death, and the sincerity of their repentance. ‘While I was reflecting on the fact that many Christians at the hour of death seem to repent more from fear of eternal, punishment than from love of God — for I had heard that no one can be saved without so much love of God as will produce repentance and abandonment of sin — Our Lord said to me: ‘When I see in their agony persons who for My sake have done some good action deserving of reward, I will show Myself to them at the hour of death with a countenance so full of love and compassion that they will repent from the bottom of their hearts for having offended Me during their lives, and will be saved by that repentance. I desire that My chosen ones should recognize this mercy, and give thanks for it among the many gifts that men have received from Me’” (Life of St. Gertrude, book iii.chap. xxx).

“Hope, then, dear sorrowing souls; hope in that God whose mercy “exalteth itself above judgment” (St. Jas. 1i. 13). Trust in Our Lord Jesus Christ, who is so full of love and pity that He cannot bear to let anyone perish, but will go forth, like the Good Shepherd, to search for the lost sheep till His feet are torn and bleeding from the thorns and stones of the road, and when He has found it will lay it on His sacred shoulders, rejoicing. Have you ever heard of love so tender, so compassionate as His? The Gospel tells us He went through Judea doing good ;comforting the afflicted, healing the sick, raising the dead, and repulsed none who came to Him. The prophet Isaias says of Him: “Calamum quassatum non conteret, et linum fumigans non extinguet’’—The bruised reed he shall not break, and smoking flax he shall not quench (Isa. xlii. 3).

“He forgave the penitent Magdalene, and would not condemn the woman taken in adultery; and when His friend Lazarus died, He wept, for He loved him. He wept, too, over the guilty city, when from the summit of the neighbouring hill He contemplated it in its magnificence and its ingratitude, and those sad words showed the sorrow of His fatherly heart : “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered together thy children, as the hen doth gather her chickens under her wings, and thou wouldest not” (St .Matt. xxiii. 37). And as He cannot bear to live far away from those whom He had loved so much, and who put Him to death, He perpetuates the miracle of the Eucharist, and remains the prisoner of the tabernacle, always a victim and a friend, blessing us, and drawing us to Him, the clean oblation continually offered to appease the justice of His Father.

“Go, then, to Him, ye who weep ; go and throw yourselves at the feet of that Jesus who calls you and says: “Come to Me, all you that labour, and are burdened, and I will refresh you (St. Matt. xi. 28). Yes, come to this good Master, this loving and charitable Friend; pour out on His bosom your tears of anguish: He has words to console you, and He will fill your souls with hope that will lift you up, and love that will give you strength to endure all things.

“He awaits your prayers; He encourages and invites them. Perhaps in His merciful charity He has made the salvation of some departed friends depend upon the prayers that you will offer Him after their death: pray, then, pray with confidence, however discouraging may have been the lives of those you mourn. God is so good, so compassionate and merciful, that He will never refuse anything He is able to give; His heart cannot but be touched by your prayer. Pray, and perhaps soon the souls that you love, preserved by your prayers from everlasting fire, will come forth from the place of expiation full of gratitude, and wing their flight to heaven, there to enjoy the presence of God forever. (End of Rev. Faure excerpts)