3-19-2015: “Unless you do penance, we shall all perish” — Pope Pius IX
© Copyright 2015, T. Stanfill Benns (This text may be downloaded or printed out for private reading, but it may not be uploaded to another Internet site or published, electronically or otherwise, without express written permission from the author. All emphasis within quotes is the author’s unless indicated otherwise.)
The entire reason for the existence of Lent is to perform penance for our sins, but it is impossible for those who refuse to recognize their sins to do penance and repent from them. We can spend every Lent of our lives fasting, increasing our devotions and giving things up, but if we fail to identify the sins most likely to send us to hell and most offensive to God, we have accomplished nothing. Traditionalists may observe Lent, but they will never admit that they follow false shepherds who have no power to convey to the Sacraments or celebrate the Holy Sacrifice. They really believe their situation is unique and that it accords them special privileges and exemptions from the law. In this respect they differ little from those arrested for certain crimes who believe that they were perfectly justified in what they have done. The homeowner, for example, who mortally wounds the thief after he has dropped the bag of loot and is fleeing from the scene; or the wife who alleges abuse and murders her husband while he lies in bed asleep.
Traditionalists focus on the individual trees and miss the entire forest. If they truly believed in the integral history of God’s children and the integral teachings of the Catholic faith throughout the centuries, they would know better. Holy Scripture reminds us that there is nothing new under the sun and St. Augustine tells us: “The New Testament lies hidden in the Old and the Old is unveiled in the New.” St. Jerome says the same. As noted in the e-book, “When There Is No Priest…,” what is happening to the Church today happened to the Chosen People during the Babylonian Captivity, when they were deprived of their Temple, their ancient ceremonies and their sacrifice. More faithful then than Catholics today, the Israelites gathered at the feet of their scribes and priests and learned their faith, but knew that they could not celebrate their sacrifice or engage in the ancient Temple rituals, (Henri Daniel-Rops, “Israel and the Ancient World”). Those Traditionalists who show such disdain for the Jews today should consider this well.
It was the prophet Daniel and the three young men in the fiery furnace who offered prayers for their captive people and begged God the Father to deliver them from captivity by restoring their Temple and sacrifice. Daniel begs God for this great grace by admitting to him that it is their sins of iniquity and disregard for the law that have brought this upon the Israelites, pleading for God’s mercy “for them that love Thee.” He even traces the cause of these punishments to the curses pronounced against the Israelites by Moses, should they transgress the Ten Commandments. But it is important here to remember that Daniel’s fame lies in his prophecies concerning the reign of the abomination of desolation (Antichrist), the cessation of the continual sacrifice and the duration of that time, events that have taken place or are taking place today. These are themes repeated in the New Testament, when Christ predicts the rise of the abomination of desolation in Matt. 24:15 and the striking of the shepherd followed by the dispersion of the sheep of the flock in Matt. 26: 31. And we cannot forget Daniel’s depiction of the priests of Bel, so like Traditionalists today, at the end of his book.
Whether Traditionalists or stay-at-home Catholics, those who claim to love God and obey Him cannot ignore the fact that both Daniel and our Lord predicted that these times would be unprecedented for their wickedness. Those wishing to restore the papacy to the Church and the hierarchy, also the Sacrifice and Sacraments, cannot deny that the following Scripture quotes require true Catholics to recognize their guilt, repent and do penance if they truly wish to restore the Church. If those calling themselves Catholic today cannot find a common meeting ground — and it has been repeatedly proven they cannot, even among stay-at-homes — then there is only one option left to them: cease offending God, confess their sins to Him and pray without ceasing for deliverance, as Daniel did. Below we find the verses containing the prayers and curses of Moses for those who would not heed the Commandments.
Prayer of Sidrach, Misach and Abdenago, in the Fiery Furnace:
Daniel 3: 26-45
Blessed art thou, O Lord, the God of our fathers, and thy name is worthy of praise, and glorious forever: For thou art just in all that thou hast done to us, and all thy works are true, and thy ways right, and all thy judgments true.
For thou hast executed true judgments in all the things that thou hast brought upon us, and upon Jerusalem, the holy city of our fathers: for according to truth and judgment, thou hast brought all these things upon us for our sins.
For we have sinned, and committed iniquity, departing from thee: and we have trespassed in all things: And we have not hearkened to thy commandments, nor have we observed nor done as thou hadst commanded us, that it might go well with us. Wherefore, all that thou hast brought upon us, and every thing that thou hast done to us, thou hast done in true judgment:
And thou hast delivered us into the hands of our enemies that are unjust, and most wicked, and prevaricators, and to a king unjust, and most wicked beyond all that are upon the earth. And now we cannot open our mouths: we are become a shame, and a reproach to thy servants, and to them that worship thee.
Deliver us not up for ever, we beseech thee, for thy name’s sake, and abolish not thy covenant. And take not away thy mercy from us, for the sake of Abraham, thy beloved, and Isaac, thy servant, and Israel, thy holy one:
To whom thou hast spoken, promising that thou wouldst multiply their seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand that is on the seashore. For we, O Lord, are diminished more than any nation, and are brought low in all the earth this day for our sins.
Neither is there at this time prince, or leader, or prophet, or holocaust, or sacrifice, or oblation, or incense, or place of first fruits before thee, that we may find thy mercy: nevertheless, in a contrite heart and humble spirit let us be accepted.
As in holocausts of rams, and bullocks, and as in thousands of fat lambs: so let our sacrifice be made in thy sight this day, that it may please thee: for there is no confusion to them that trust in thee. And now we follow thee with all our heart, and we fear thee, and seek thy face.
Put us not to confusion, but deal with us according to thy meekness, and according to the multitude of thy mercies.
And deliver us, according to thy wonderful works, and give glory to thy name, O Lord: And let all them be confounded that shew evils to thy servants, let them be confounded in all thy might, and let their strength be broken:
And let them know that thou art the Lord, the only God, and glorious over all the world.
Daniel 9: 4-19:
And I prayed to the Lord, my God, and I made my confession, and said: I beseech thee, O Lord God, great and terrible, who keepest the covenant, and mercy to them that love thee, and keep thy commandments.
We have sinned, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly, and have revolted: and we have gone aside from thy commandments, and thy judgments. We have not hearkened to thy servants, the prophets, that have spoken in thy name to our kings, to our princes, to our fathers, and to all the people of the land.
To thee, O Lord, justice: but to us confusion of face, as at this day to the men of Juda, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, to them that are near, and to them that are far off, in all the countries whither thou hast driven them, for their iniquities, by which they have sinned against thee. O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our princes, and to our fathers, that have sinned.
But to thee, the Lord our God, mercy and forgiveness, for we have departed from thee: And we have not hearkened to the voice of the Lord, our God, to walk in his law, which he set before us by his servants, the prophets. And all Israel have transgressed thy law, and have turned away from hearing thy voice, and the malediction, and the curse, which is written in the book of Moses,* the servant of God, is fallen upon us, because we have sinned against him.
And he hath confirmed his words which he spoke against us, and against our princes that judged us, that he would bring in upon us a great evil, such as never was under all the heaven, according to that which hath been done in Jerusalem, (see Matt. 24:21). As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: and we entreated not thy face, O Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and think on thy truth.
And the Lord hath watched upon the evil, and hath brought it upon us: the Lord, our God, is just in all his works which he hath done: for we have not hearkened to his voice. And now, O Lord, our God, who hast brought forth thy people out of the land of Egypt, with a strong hand, and hast made thee a name as at this day: we have sinned, we have committed iniquity, O Lord, against all thy justice:
Let thy wrath and thy indignation be turned away, I beseech thee, from thy city, Jerusalem, and from thy holy mountain. For by reason of our sins, and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem, and thy people, are a reproach to all that are round about us. Now, therefore, O our God, hear the supplication of thy servant, and his prayers: and shew thy face upon thy sanctuary, which is desolate, for thy own sake.
Incline, O my God, thy ear, and hear: open thy eyes, and see our desolation, and the city upon which thy name is called: for it is not for our justifications that we present our prayers before thy face, but for the multitude of thy tender mercies. O Lord, hear: O Lord, be appeased: hearken, and do: delay not, for thy own sake, O my God: because thy name is invocated upon thy city, and upon thy people.
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Basically Daniel’s prayer is only a restatement of the young men’s prayer in the fiery furnace, but with a few interesting twists. He begins by telling us that this prayer is his confession, and here admits his sins and those of his brethren. These sins are mainly those of disobedience to God’s laws. It would be equivalent today to us admitting we had ignored the Ten Commandments, the laws and teachings of the Church (i. e., the popes and councils) and also the teachings of the ancient Fathers, Doctors, saints and holy people. And he describes these times as unparalleled in evil, just as Christ prophesied in Matthew 24. He considers his people cursed by the prophet Moses, and there is no reason to believe that we ourselves are exempt from these curses.
Christ addresses this point in Matthew 5:17-20: “Do not think that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill,” (by accomplishing all the figures and prophecies and perfecting all that was imperfect, Douay commentary.) “For amen I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot, or one tittle shall not pass of the law, till all be fulfilled.” (“Amen” is used by our Lord as a strong asseveration, and affirmation of the truth,” Douay commentary.) “He therefore that shall break one of these least commandments, and shall so teach men shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. But he that shall do and teach, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, that unless your justice abound more than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.”
In fact the entire thrust of Daniel’s prayer is to beseech God to release all Israel from these curses, and — with the prayer of Sidrach, Misach and Abdenago — to restore the Sacrifice and cleanse the sanctuary. He acknowledges and accepts as just God’s removal of the Sacrifice and Temple as a punishment for sin, and asks only for His mercy. He laments that it is because Israel has not done penance for her sins and sought the truth that the punishment has not been lifted. He asks God not to remove this terrible punishment because of any good the Israelites have done, but rather as an exercise of His mercy and for His own sake, that God’s name itself be vindicated.
If we read the curses of Moses below, we will see that many of these curses have to do with sins of the flesh, especially marriage, almost legion today even among so–called “Catholics.” The others of note have to do with worshipping false Gods, and this would include those hosts fashioned by human hands (which remain ununconsecrated) and passed off secretly as consecrated, when they are not. Then there is the curse against those who lead the blind astray, and this would certainly apply to false pastors who did as the prophet Ezekiel Ch. 34 describes: “For my shepherds did not seek after my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not my flocks…” There are those cursed for the wicked inventions that cause people to forget God; those cursed with madness, blindness and fury of mind, now rampant today; also curses describing the burden of usury, famine, drought and pestilence. Sadly there are the curses that even seem to predict the loss of children in custody battles to godless parents, infants to abortion and the elderly to euthanasia. The nation referred to in Chapter 28 of Deuteronomy even sounds like Moses is referring to America.
* (Curses of Moses in Deuteronomy 27: 11-26):
And Moses and the priests of the race of Levi said to all Israel: Attend, and hear, O Israel: This day thou art made the people of the Lord thy God: Thou shalt hear his voice, and do the commandments and justices which I command thee. And Moses commanded the people in that day, saying: These shall stand upon mount Garizim to bless the people, when you are passed the Jordan: Simeon, Levi, Juda, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. And over against them shall stand on mount Hebal to curse: Ruben, Gad, and Aser, and Zabulon, Dan, and Nephtali. And the Levites shall pronounce, and say to all the men of Israel with a loud voice:
Cursed be the man that maketh a graven and molten thing, the abomination of the Lord, the work of the hands of artificers, and shall put it in a secret place: and all the people shall answer and say: Amen.
Cursed be he that honoureth not his father and mother: and all the people shall say: Amen.
Cursed be he that removeth his neighbour’s landmarks: and all the people shall say: Amen.
Cursed be he that maketh the blind to wander out of his way: and all the people shall say: Amen.
Cursed be he that perverteth the judgment of the stranger, of the fatherless and the widow: and all the people shall say: Amen.
Cursed be he that lieth with his father’s wife, and uncovereth his bed: and all the people shall say: Amen.
Cursed be he that lieth with any beast: and all the people shall say: Amen.
Cursed be he that lieth with his sister, the daughter of his father, or of his mother: and all the people shall say: Amen.
Cursed be he that lieth with his mother-in-law: and all the people shall say: Amen.
Cursed be he that secretly killeth his neighbour: and all the people shall say: Amen.
Cursed be he that taketh gifts, to slay an innocent person: and all the people shall say: Amen.
Cursed be he that abideth not in the words of this law, and fulfilleth them not in work: and all the people shall say: Amen.
More curses for those who stubbornly refuse to repent, (Deuteronomy 28:15-50):
(Douay Commentary: “All these curses, etc. . .Thus God dealt with the transgressors of his law in the Old Testament: but now he often suffers sinners to prosper in this world, rewarding them for some little good they have done, and reserving their punishment for the other world.” In other words, we still incur the curses, but that fact will not always result today in visible effects on earth. Those calling themselves Catholics may continue to fool themselves indefinitely, but in the end, God will require an accounting.)
“But if thou wilt not hear the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep and to do all his commandments and ceremonies, which I command thee this day, all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee.
Cursed shalt thou be in the city, cursed in the field.
Cursed shall be thy barn, and cursed thy stores.
Cursed shall be the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy ground, the herds of thy oxen, and the flocks of thy sheep.
Cursed shalt thou be coming in, and cursed going out. The Lord shall send upon thee famine and hunger, and a rebuke upon all the works which thou shalt do: until he consume and destroy thee quickly, for thy most wicked inventions, by which thou hast forsaken me.
May the Lord set the pestilence upon thee, until he consume thee out of the land, which thou shalt go in to possess.
May the Lord afflict thee with miserable want, with the fever and with cold, with burning and with heat, and with corrupted air and with blasting, and pursue thee till thou perish. Be the heaven, that is over thee, of brass: and the ground thou treadest on, of iron. The Lord give thee dust for rain upon thy land, and let ashes come down from heaven upon thee, till thou be consumed.
The Lord make thee to fall down before thy enemies, one way mayst thou go out against them, and flee seven ways, and be scattered throughout all the kingdoms of the earth. And be thy carcass meat for all the fowls of the air, and the beasts of the earth, and be there none to drive them away.
The Lord strike thee with the ulcer of Egypt, and the part of thy body, by which the dung is cast out, with the scab and with the itch: so that thou canst not be healed.
The Lord strike thee with madness and blindness and fury of mind. And mayst thou grope at midday as the blind is wont to grope in the dark, and not make straight thy ways.
And mayst thou at all times suffer wrong, and be oppressed with violence, and mayst thou have no one to deliver thee.
Mayst thou take a wife, and another sleep with her.
Mayst thou build a house, and not dwell therein.
Mayest thou plant a vineyard and not gather the vintage thereof.
May thy ox be slain before thee, and thou not eat thereof.
May thy ass be taken away in thy sight, and not restored to thee.
May thy sheep be given to thy enemies, and may there be none to help thee.
May thy sons and thy daughters be given to another people, thy eyes looking on, and languishing at the sight of them all the day, and may there be no strength in thy hand.
May a people which thou knowest not, eat the fruits of thy land, and all thy labours: and mayst thou always suffer oppression, and be crushed at all times. And be astonished at the terror of those things which thy eyes shall see:
May the Lord strike thee with a very sore ulcer in the knees and in the legs, and be thou incurable from the sole of the foot to the top of the head.
The Lord shall bring thee, and thy king, whom thou shalt have appointed over thee, into a nation which thou and thy fathers know not: and there thou shalt serve strange gods, wood and stone.
And thou shalt be lost, as a proverb and a byword to all people, among whom the Lord shall bring thee in.
Thou shalt cast much seed into the ground, and gather little: because the locusts shall consume all.
Thou shalt plant a vineyard, and dig it, and shalt not drink the wine, nor gather any thing thereof: because it shall be wasted with worms.
Thou shalt have olive trees in all thy borders, and shalt not be anointed with the oil: for the olives shall fall off and perish.
Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, and shalt not enjoy them: because they shall be led into captivity.
The blast shall consume all the trees and the fruits of thy ground.
The stranger that liveth with thee in the land, shall rise up over thee, and shall be higher: and thou shalt go down, and be lower. He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him. He shall be as the head, and thou shalt be the tail.
And all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue and overtake thee, till thou perish: because thou heardst not the voice of the Lord thy God, and didst not keep his commandments and ceremonies which he commanded thee. And they shall be as signs and wonders on thee, and on thy seed forever. Because thou didst not serve the Lord thy God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things: Thou shalt serve thy enemy, whom the Lord will send upon thee, in hunger, and thirst, and nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put an iron yoke upon thy neck, till he consume thee.
The Lord will bring upon thee a nation from afar, and from the uttermost ends of the earth, like an eagle that flyeth swiftly, whose tongue thou canst not understand…”
A most insolent nation, that will shew no regard to the ancients, nor have pity on the infant…” And these curses go on and on.
Let us look at Job. Many of these curses overcame him and still he refused to fault God for them. Instead, like Daniel, he blamed himself. God Himself absolved Job of all guilt. Because Daniel wrote after the time of Moses and Job and because he foretells the coming of Antichrist and the cessation of the Holy Sacrifice, we look to his prayer as a plea for our own salvation in these times when we too have been led into captivity and await the restoration of the Church.
We recite the entire prayer, opening it with an examination of conscience and a perfect Act of Contrition. We beg God to lift the malediction and the curses of Moses. We promise to do penance for our sins, profess our faith and make reparation. We also promise to study our faith. We beg Jesus to restore the papacy, the hierarchy and the Holy Sacrifice. We beg God to do this not for our sakes, for we are unworthy. Rather we entreat Him to do everything for His greater honor and glory, in fulfillment of His promise that the gates of hell will not prevail against the Church, and for the glory of His Church on earth. Finally we beg God to have mercy on our souls and to end this evil time without delay. With this prayer, we have come to the end of our theological wonderings, for this resolves all the questions ever posed concerning how we are to secure a papal election and the reorganization of the Church. It remains for enough of those reading these words to see the truth and repent of their adherence to false pastors and participation in false worship. Only by our Lord’s intervention, not man’s futile attempts to force the issue; only when a sufficient number of Catholics repent of their sins will the longed-for restoration take place.
This is reflected in both the messages Our Lady left her children at La Salette and Fatima, and also was contained in her message at Quito.
La Salette
We will not quote from this message directly, but will note only that it generally refers to everything that is said in the Quito message: terrible crimes committed by men; blasphemy, sacrilege, impurity and rot even in religious communities; great suffering among the faithful; the placement of Antichrist in the see of Peter and the disappearance of a true pope, as predicted by several theologians and Pope Paul IV. It will be only prayers, works of penance and tears that will cause our Lord to shorten the times and punish the wicked by sending a true pope and Godly rulers down to earth.
Lourdes
“Penance! Penance! Penance! Pray to God for sinners. Kiss the ground as an act of penance for sinners!”
Fatima
During Jacinta’s stay at the orphanage of Our Lady of Miracles in Lisbon in 1920, Our Lady told her, “The sins that lead more souls to hell are the sins of the flesh.” There also were other prophecies she revealed to the little girl: “Styles will come that will offend Our Lord very much. Persons who serve God should not follow the styles. The Church does not have styles. Our Lord is always the same.” She said that the sins of impurity would be so great there would be almost no virgin souls. She also told Jacinta that many marriages are not good, that they do not please Our Lord and are not of God.
No one can forget what Our Lady told the children: “Offer yourselves to God…Say the Rosary every day…Sacrifice yourselves for sinners…Many souls go to Hell for not having someone to pray and make sacrifices for them…[People] must amend their lives, ask forgiveness for their sins and not offend our Lord anymore, for He is already much offended.” The consecration of Russia does not appear to have taken effect, or if it did, (perhaps because it was done too slowly or imperfectly), will take effect only at the very last stages of persecution. Because all the evils Our Lady warned about if the consecration was not performed have come to pass, we know that Catholics did not respond to her requests as hoped and the pope’s consecration may not have been sufficient. Both were required by Our Lady in order to bring about the peace she promised following the world wars.
Our Lady of Good Success, Quito, Ecuador
“First meaning: at the end of the 19th century and for a large part of the 20th, various heresies will flourish on this earth which will have become a free republic. The precious light of the Faith will go out in souls because of the almost total moral corruption: in those times there will be great physical and moral calamities, in private and in public. The little number of souls keeping the Faith and practicing the virtues will undergo cruel and unspeakable sufferings; through their long drawn out martyrdom many will go to death because of the violence of their sufferings, and those will count as martyrs who gave their lives for Church and for country. To escape being enslaved by these heresies will call for great strength of will, constancy, courage and great trust in God, all of which are gifts from the merciful love of My Divine Son to those He will have chosen for the work of restoration. To put to the trial the faith and trust of these just souls, there will come moments when everything seems lost and paralyzed, and just then comes the happy beginnings of the complete restoration.
“In those times the atmosphere will be saturated with the spirit of impurity which, like a filthy sea, will engulf the streets and public places with incredible license.… Innocence will scarcely be found in children, or modesty in women. He who should speak seasonably will remain silent. There shall be scarcely any virgin souls in the world. The delicate flower of virginity will seek refuge in the cloisters… Without virginity, fire from heaven will be needed to purify these lands…
“Pray constantly, implore tirelessly, and weep bitter tears in the seclusion of your heart, beseeching the Eucharistic Heart of my most holy Son to take pity on His ministers and to end as soon as possible these unhappy times by sending to His Church the Prelate who shall restore the spirit of her priests.” This plea most likely was intended for fulfillment prior to the total destruction of the Church but perhaps shortly after the usurpation of the Holy See, when true ministers yet existed. Sadly, many Catholics did not perceive the post-WWII era as particularly immoral or unhappy and none seemed to realize, even after he called for a council, that John 23 was a false pope.
Some have queried why it is that in private prophecies, it makes mention of there being priests and bishops still left in these times when it is clear that for us in this country at least, this is not the case. Several explanations come to mind.
- Private prophecy is not always accurate. The seers, for example could have seen the few good clerics remaining following Vatican 2 who died in the late 1960s, early 1970s. Or they could even have been envisioning Traditionalist priests and, thinking they were true priests, described them as such. Christ warned that even the elect would be deceived.
- We must remember that we are bound only to believe all that is taught as revealed truth or closely connected to it by the Church. Private prophecy is not revealed truth; in fact we are not even bound to accept it as true.
- From reading private prophecy for several decades, it appears that when the seers are describing evil times and few good priests, it is a time when there is still a pope. They are not speaking of our times, but those times that immediately preceded Pope Pius XII’s death. Remember that it was the announcement by Our Lady of La Salette in the mid 1800s that no priests were left then who were worthy to offer the sacrifice that cause the message ultimately to be suppressed. The prayers urged at Quito, Ecuador, La Salette, Fatima and elsewhere were to prevent the times we are experiencing now from arriving. The Fatima children were told that unless sufficient numbers of people did prayer and penance these times would come; unless the Holy Father consecrated Russia to Our Lady, then evil would fall upon the world. No one is certain that Pope Pius XII’s consecration ever satisfied Our Lady’s request, as mentioned above. We now are suffering the consequences of Catholics’ failure to satisfy Our Lady’s requests and have been plunged into the darkness of infidelity predicted as its consequence. It is this author’s opinion that at this time, only a miracle straight from Heaven can remedy this situation.
Please, during this time of Penance and suffering, pray for this miracle; cease and desist attendance at the sacrilegious masses and Sacraments of these doubtfully valid priests. Offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to our Lord in union with His passion and for the salvation of sinners, that we might soon behold the resurrection of the Church.
