As the Apostolic Exhortation Approaches - We Pray that the Pope, Hierarchy and Priests Will Heed this Grave Warning!

Torch of The Faith News on Tuesday 05 April 2016 - 13:35:50 | by admin

We are now just a few days away from the release of Pope Francis' long-expected Apostolic Exhortation. We've already expressed our serious concerns over the choice of Cardinals Baldiserri and Schonborn - a modernistic book-thief and a modernistic pro-homosexualist - to release this historically important document.

Our concerns were greatly increased last night when we discovered that Francesco Miano - the husband in the man and wife team chosen to assist those cardinals on Friday - is a moral philosopher who has a doctorate in situation ethics...

It is now over 5-months since a petition bearing 879,451 signatures was handed in to the Vatican Secretariat of State, calling for Pope Francis to issue a ''clarifying word'' in defence of the authentic doctrine of the Church relating to marriage and family life.

And, as we publish this article, the CitizenGo petition, calling for Archbishop Malcolm McMahon to take disciplinary action in the case of Miss Carrie Morrow, is just 1 signature short of making 6,700 names. It will be remembered that Miss Morrow abused her authority, as headteacher of Sacred Heart ''Catholic'' School in Atherton, to promote homosexualist ideology to the young children in her care. Even though it is almost one month since we first reported on this very public story, there has still been no public action taken by Archbishop McMahon. Indeed, aside from the CitizenGo petition and the faithful Liverpolitanus blog, there has been absolutely no other public defence of the Faith, parental rights or innocent young children by any of the bishops, priests, deacons or laity in this sprawling Archdiocese.

Before the Judgement Seat of God

In light of these grave problems, it seems timely to draw attention to the story of the above-pictured Fr. Steven Scheier. It is a warning to all of us, but especially to priests, about the gravity of sin and of compromising with it.

When Fr. Scheier was a boy, he had been devoted to Our Lady. As a young man, he was ordained as a Catholic priest in 1973. By his own admission, he was more concerned about what other priests and the laity thought about him, than about being a faithful priest for Christ. In those days, he could not withstand peer pressure; and he tried to be ''just one of the guys'' to seek admiration.

From the pulpit he spoke only about peace, love and joy; rather than teaching on dogma, morality and what the Church is all about. Fr. Scheier did this partly to win popularity, and partly to keep the money coming in on the collection plate.

Worse still, he was living with unrepented mortal sins on his soul. Although he did go to confession, he had no firm purpose of amendment. In retrospect, Fr. Scheier said that he even had excuses lined up to give Jesus and that he thought he had time ahead of him to change.

Only he didn't...

Tragedy Struck

On 18th October, 1985, he was driving along a hazardous stretch of highway from Wichita to his Sacred Heart Parish in Fredonia, Kansas. It was a buzy truck route that ran through foothills, lacked hard-shoulders and was, at that time of year, worsened by wintry weather conditions.

Tragedy struck when Father's car was involved in a disastrous head-on collision with a pick-up truck. He was thrown from his wrecked vehicle, his scalp was torn open from the right to left side of his head, sheering-off a part of his brain, and he suffered a broken neck. This break, a C2 of the second cervical vertebrae, is known as the hangman's break; the slightest movement of such a patient's head to either side could cause instant asphyxiation.

By God's grace, a Mennonite nurse had stopped to help Father and she recognised the break straight away. She said that poor Fr. Scheier was repeating the Hail Mary over and over. Although she did not know the words, she tried to pray it with him. An emergency doctor sewed his scalp back on and loaded him onto a LifeWatch Helicopter. That doctor did not expect Fr. Scheier to survive the short flight to the hospital. Indeed, a parishioner who phoned the hospital was told that he had only a 15% chance of survival.

That night, Fr. Scheier's parishioners opened up the parish church and prayed for his recovery. The local Baptist and Methodist communities did the same. The Mennonites put him on their prayer-line and the local Assemblies of God minister prayed for him all through that fateful night.

Father was in intensive-care until November. Even when he was moved to another ward, he still required a ''halo'' support in his head. The doctors had initially believed that he would not survive his injuries. When it became clear that he would do, they expected that he would spend the rest of his life paralysed from the neck down, unable to speak and in need of a respirator even to breathe. Although his recovery became sufficient for the hospital to let him go home to recuperate in December, he still had to keep the head-support on until April 1986. 

In May of that year, Fr. Scheier felt strong enough to return to work at the parish. As he proclaimed the Gospel during Mass, the words on the page suddenly grew much larger and became luminous right before his eyes. The text that day was on the theme of the fig tree from Luke 13:1-9.

After Mass, he sat down in his armchair in the rectory and was flooded with a recollection of a near-death-experience that he had been through during his horrific accident.

The powerful intercession of Our Lady, the Mother of God

Father Scheier has since testified to having found himself alone in another dimension; something he described as a vast spiritual void. He stated that he was before the Judgement Seat of Almighty God, of His Son Jesus Christ. Father Scheier said that he did not see God, but that he did hear His voice. 

Our Lord went through all of Fr. Scheier's unconfessed, unrepented mortal sins with him. Father said that for all of these, he did not argue, rebel or try to make up excuses. In the presence of God's perfect judgement, he simply acknowledged the truth of what Jesus was showing him.

At the end of this review of Father's life and priesthood, Our Lord said to him: ''The sentence that you will have is Hell, for all eternity.'' Father said simply and interiorly, ''I know, this is what I deserve.''

At that point, he heard a woman's voice. The voice said: ''Son, would you please spare his life.''

Our Lord said: ''Mother, for 12 years he has been a priest for himself and not for me. Let him reap the punishment he deserves.''

At that, Fr. Scheier heard the female voice say: ''But Son, if we give to him special graces, and strengths and come to him in ways that he is not familiar with, and see if he bears fruit. If he does not, then, Your Will be done.''

There followed a pause.

And Jesus said: ''Mother, he is yours.''

Ever since then, Fr. Scheier said that he had belonged to Our Lady. His survival and conversion bear witness to the physical and spiritual healing which She obtained from Our Lord for him. He believed that he was spared and ''sent back'' with a message.

A Sincere Call to Repentance and Conversion

In the late 1990's Father Scheier appeared twice on Mother Angelica Live to discuss his experiences. He also travelled around the world to give talks. He delivered these in a humble style which acknowledged his own sinfulness. Fr. Scheier sought to remind all people, and especially priests, that:-

1. Hell is real.

2. Priests are liable to it.

3. Our Lord is both just and merciful.

4. Our Lady is very important in our lives.

5. Our Lord, Our Lady and the saints are not just historical figures but are real and alive.

6. There must be a reform in the Church and the priesthood throughout the world.

7. Priests and people must return to a true practice of genuine Confession.

8. Priests and people must return to prayer and authentic devotions, rather than mere social activities.

9. Our Lord Jesus Christ, and His Real Presence in the Tabernacle, must be reverenced and restored to the centre of our churches and lives.

10. Priests must live spiritual lives and support one another in this endeavour.

Especially Urgent for Pope Francis, the Hierarchy and all Priests to Hear this Week!

During his second interview on Mother Angelica Live, Fr. Scheier was asked how it is that a priest could find himself going to Hell.

His answer strikes us as being particularly important in light of: the dire confusion surrounding the Synods of 2014 and 2015; the resultant weakening of the public perception regarding the indissolubility of marriage and the importance of the state of grace; the near-approach of the Apostolic Exhortation; the promotion of the heresy of gradualism by the highest prelates in the Church; the global acquiesence before the problem of sacrilegious Holy Communions; the acceptance and even promotion of the LGBT agenda in Catholic cathedrals, churches and schools; and the silence of so many of the clergy who tolerate evil by their silence, even while living luxuriant lifestyles which scandalize oppressed members of the laity.

To Mother Angelica's question, Fr. Scheier answered: ''(As priests) we are under the same Commandments as anyone else. There are 10 Commandments. If any of these are broken, we have to go to Confession. We have sinned. We have sinned greviously against the Lord... We have to work as hard, and sometimes even harder, than the average Catholic. This is because we are accountable for more, because we give you advice on how to live. We are representatives of His Church. We speak about what He taught. And, therefore, we are very much accountable.''

May God give to all priests, from the Pope down to the smallest parish, the graces needed to be faithful to Him and His Holy Law. May He give us the graces to be faithful as lay people and to pray for our priests to be good and faithful men for the Lord.

In light of Fr. Scheier's words about priests being accountable for teaching what Christ taught, we conclude with the words of Jesus proclaimed in Mark 10:11:-

And He said to them, ''Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.''

We must pray that God's grace and Our Lady's prayers will help Pope Francis' Apostolic Exhortation, those who present it, and those who will implement it, to be faithful to the Word of God.

It is the only way that they, or countless numbers of us, will save our souls.

Our Lady, Mother of Mercy - Pray for us!   

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Feast of the Annunciation 2016

Torch of The Faith News on Monday 04 April 2016 - 13:48:15 | by admin

Reminder: Due to the fact that the traditional date fell on Good Friday this year, the Feast of the Annunciation is celebrated today.

An Expressive Image

We find the beautiful paintings of Fra Angelico to be particularly appropriate for both contemplation and catechetical instruction.

Of the various images that he created to represent the mystery of the Annunciation, the above picture is one of our all-time favourites. As such, we often used to draw from it when we offered catechesis in parishes.

Not only is this painting rich in ambience and colour; but its deep symbolism expresses a wealth of theological truths.

Context

Fra Angelico painted this image some time around the year 1430, for the convent of San Domenico in Fiesole. Preserved today in the Museo del Prado in Madrid, it is thought by many art historians to be the third in his series of Annunciation paintings; this series also includes Fra Angelico's other representations of the Annunciation of Cortona and his Annunciation of San Giovanni Valdarno.

Content

For the purposes of prayerful contemplation and catechetical instruction, both of which should ever go hand-in-hand, there are a number of elements which we will consider here today.

Trinitarian

Perhaps the first thing to notice is that the image is constructed around a framework of three distinct areas. These include the outer garden, the angel's arch and the arch within which sanctuary sits the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Though distinct, these three dimensions are all illumined and unified by the ray of divine light emanating from the top left-hand corner: God is the source of all that is; and He holds all things, including the spiritual and the temporal realms, in being and order.

This ray of light is itself expressive of the Blessed Trinity: God the Father is its source and origin; the dove in the centre of the ray, depicted near to the Angel Gabriel, represents the Holy Ghost; and the Incarnate Word is contained hidden in the womb of the Blessed Virgin, from the moment that She gives her fiat - Her total ''Yes'' - to God and His salvific plan.

Again, in a roundel above the central of the three pillars is a classical-looking image, which is representative of God the Father gazing down upon the peaceful scene. Through this image, and the light at the top left, we can again understand that the Father is the beginning and also the centre of all things.

Christocentric Unity

After the three Persons of the Blessed Trinity, Our Blessed Lady is the principal person in the whole History of Salvation. In Her being and acts, She unites the mysteries of the Old and New Testaments; in a certain sense, Our Lady is the bridge between them. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the One Who brings this unity par excellence.

By the power of the Holy Ghost, He becomes present in the Blessed Virgin's Womb and brings together the divine and the human, heaven and earth, the natural and the supernatural. These profound unities will be continued in, and through, Christ's Church in Heaven, Purgatory and Earth. 

Fallen Shadows and Flickers of Light

At the left of the picture, in the outer garden, we see our first parents, Adam and Eve, being banished by the Angel from the Garden of Eden. He carries out God's just punishment of them for the Original Sin. At the right of the image, we witness the reversal of this primordial crime; through the obedience of the New Eve and the New Adam - Our Lady and Our Lord Jesus Christ. In the centre, the Angel links these events: his wings lead up from near the fallen fruit at the feet of Adam and Eve; his person bows from a point between them and Our Lady; and His face looks forward towards Her in expectant, yet peaceful, anticipation.

Although Adam and Eve's sin has brought darkness into the Garden, God's Light remains supreme above all things. Indeed, even the sin-darkened floor of the Garden is dotted with ''lights'' large and small. Whilst the forbidden fruit is seen at the feet of Adam and Eve, we also notice the fruits and flowers of other plants; breaking the deep darkness with their beauty and colour.

This recalls us to an important distinction: Although the image of God - the imago Dei - was gravely damaged in mankind by the Fall, it was not totally destroyed. Unlike the doctrine of ''total depravity'' found in the likes of Calvinistic Protestantism, Catholic truth rather affirms that mankind retained some essential goodness. After the Fall, we are in a sense damaged goods! We are in the shadowlands; but we may also receive the light. There is a hint of this in Oscar Wilde's line: ''We are all of us in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars!''

Though punished, mankind is not therefore totally destroyed by God's punishment. Instead, we remain held in being by God. The image of God can and ultimately will be restored by, in and with Christ; we are able to participate in this mystery through Baptism and the life of grace.

Mankind also retains: the natural powers of the memory, intellect and will; the ability to know that God exists; to discern the natural law; seek goodness, beauty and truth; form community; and find human and divine love.

Genesis 3:15 - that protoevangelium - is both an expression of God's just punishment; and of His promise of mercy and the future restoration in Christ.

Therefore, those flowers and fruits, the scattered flecks of light in the darkness of the Garden, can be seen as the various kings, prophets, and forerunners of Our Lady, and of Jesus Christ, who emerge throughout the times of the Old Testament. As we see in the picture, these lights become brighter, and can be seen with greater clarity, as they approach the Annunciation of Christ by the Angel.

The San Domenico painting is rare because, as this picture shows, it still has its original predella intact: In this instance, the rare wooden framework includes various scenes from the life of Our Lady.

Closer inspection also reveals further important symbology: the Palm tree points forward to the future Passion of Christ; whilst the dots of red flowers recall His Precious Blood.

Humble Acceptance

Adam and Eve sorrowfully leave the garden with heads bowed. God's punishment is righteous and they must accept it as the just penalty for their sinful disobedience. On the other hand, both the Angel and Our Lady have their heads bowed in a peaceful demeanour. They are free from sin and theirs is thus a humble and loving acceptance of God and His plan.

The Angel bows his head beneath that of Our Lady. She is Full of Grace and without any of the stain of Original or Actual Sin. This is a work of grace; dependent on Christ's saving Person and Work. The Angel Gabriel greets Our Lady with hands crossed in a very tranquil expression of humility. It is a gesture echoed by the Blessed Virgin Mary Herself.

Already, Our Lady is contemplating the Word of God. This fact is depicted by the inclusion of the Sacred Scriptures upon Her knee. When the Angel Gabriel greeted Her, Our Lady was already looking ahead for the coming of the Messiah.

At the Annunciation by the Angel, She becomes the first human being to believe in, and to accept, Jesus Christ as the one true Saviour of the World. She accepts Him into Her heart and into her very womb. Indeed, as He is the very Word of God Incarnate, He shall one day sit upon Her knee in person, as a small child.

And Our Lady will also lay His crucified body across Her knee when He is taken down from the Cross at Calvary. Sacred Scripture and Tradition teach us that She is present at key stages of the salvation which Christ won for us. Examples include: the Annunciation; Incarnation; Birth; Presentation in the Temple; Finding in the Temple; elements of His Public Ministry; the Crucifixion; Resurrection and Pentecost.

Deeper contemplation enables the viewer to recall that, though largely hidden in this image, Christ is the One Who most embodies humble acceptance: He becomes a child in the womb; is born as a baby; grows to human maturity as a man; carries out a public ministry of preaching, healing and witness; accepts opposition and is even crucifed for us. He does all of this without complaint in order to save us from sin, enlighten us from error, enable us to become holy and to enter into eternal life with Him.

From Darkness to Light

Fra Angelico's elegant depiction of the Annunciation uses darkness, light, colour and shade to express these central themes of the Mysteries of God and of Salvation History.

God's wonderful Light shines above the darkness of sin, and cuts through the darkness of error, to bring us to the goodness and truth of Christ.

The darkness from the times from the Fall to the Annunciation is always under the ultimate power of God's Light. Indeed, even this darkness is itself ''peppered'' with the smaller lights and hopes shed by God's prophets; and by the ''types'' that he sent to point towards Our Lady and Our Lord Jesus Christ.

In the painting, Our Lady is richly dressed in expressive colours of blue representing Her virginity, red for Her maternity and green suggesting the new life She welcomes and brings forth. The gold of the Angel's halo and wings, of Our Lady's halo, and of the wall-hanging behind Her, recall us to the reality of Heaven and the presence of grace. 

From Death to New Life in Christ

The green Palm Tree brings together the key themes of: the death that entered by Adam and Eve eating the fruit from the forbidden Tree of Knowledge; Christ's saving death on the Tree of the Cross; and the new life in Christ, as the Tree of Life.

Annunciation Joy

Contemplative prayer and authentic catechesis present us with inter-related conduits of God's grace. They are ways for us to: become open to an annunciation of Christ's Good News; to receive it; to allow grace to nurture it; and to allow it to become fecund in our hearts, minds, wills and actions, thus bringing forth Christ in ourselves and into the world.

March 2012: Torch of The Faith drawing from a copy of Fra Angelico's Annunciation painting to give orthodox marriage preparation catechesis to young engaged couples, at Greyfriars in Oxford.

One of the many dimensions of today's great Feast of Our Lady and the Annunciation is that it offers us one of the most foundational models for this openness, acceptance, nurturing and fecundity.

At the Annunciation, we see that Our Lady's openness, humility and total ''Yes'' to God's plan brought forth His Son Jesus Christ to the world. If we are to do that, according to the capacities God has given us, then we need to ask Our Lady to teach and help us. That is one of the reasons that the Church gives us this feast each year.

We wish all of our readers a Blessed Feast of the Annunciation!  

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Divine Mercy Sunday 2016

Torch of The Faith News on Sunday 03 April 2016 - 09:36:17 | by admin

Jesus warned the world through St. Faustina: ''Souls perish in spite of My bitter Passion. I am giving them the last hope of salvation, that is, recourse to My Mercy. If they will not adore My Mercy, they will perish for all eternity.''

For this reason, Jesus asked for the institution of the Feast of Divine Mercy, a feast to be celebrated on this traditional Low Sunday after Easter. He wished that this feast would be, '' a refuge and a shelter for all souls, and especially for poor sinners.''

As we noted yesterday, the graces of a Plenary Indulgence are available today. As Our Lord promised St. Faustina, for this feast each year: ''The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment.'' It is also essential to carry out some corporal or spiritual work of mercy.

Our Lord Jesus also said these consoling words: ''Therefore let no soul fear to draw near to Me, even though its sins be as scarlet.''

We appear to be entering into very grave days for the Church. Our Blessed Lord is today offering vital graces to help us. May all readers respond to the beautiful gift and graces of this Feast of Divine Mercy on Low Sunday.

''Tell aching mankind to snuggle close to My Merciful Heart, and I will fill it with peace.''

Jesus, I Trust in You!

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Unfathomable Divine Mercy

Torch of The Faith News on Saturday 02 April 2016 - 09:51:54 | by admin

Tomorrow's great Feast of Divine Mercy is almost here. We think that it is important to recognize and understand this devotion as a continuation of the essential devotion to the Sacred Heart.

On this day, we encourage all who read this to open their hearts and minds afresh to the love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus for them. This could be done by a simple act of the will.

Pope Leo XIII proclaimed that we must place all our hopes in the Sacred Heart of Jesus. This is so, because His love for us precedes us, surrounds us and promises a future which is full of the hope and peace which the world cannot give.

Whoever you are, no matter how bad your sins, or how painful your hurts and sufferings, Jesus Christ loves you and has died and risen again to save you. He has given the Catholic Church and Her Sacraments, which issue from His wounded Heart on the Cross, for your salvation and sanctification.

Whilst He loves all of us, He also has a particular love for each one of us. This is possible because He is fully God and fully man.

In the Sacred Heart devotion, the unfathomable love of Jesus Christ is symbolized by the cross, the burning fire, the crown of thorns and the heart-wound.  

When Our Blessed Lord revealed His Sacred heart to St. Margaret Mary, beginning in the year 1673, He announced: ''Behold the Heart that has so loved men and yet has received so little love in return.''

There is a very consoling paragraph in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which we reproduce here from time to time. We are convinced that this paragraph will transform the lives of anyone who will contemplate it in silent prayer each day; even if they were to begin doing this for just 5-minutes each day.

In preparation for reading and reflecting on it, it might be helpful to first recall that, prior to our existence or to any sins that we may have committed on earth, and without us having done anything whatsoever to merit such an incredible gift, Our Lord Jesus Christ knew each of us as individuals; and He chose as an act of love to live and die for us, in order to save us from our sins, heal us from our wounds and offer us the chance of a new life in Him.

Being God, He sees us both as we are and as He created us to be. Although He loves us where we are right now, he loves us too much to leave us there. None of this is to belittle the gravity of sin as some are presently attempting. On the contrary, it is to give us fresh heart to turn away from sin, to repent of it and to reject it henceforth. It is to call us to return some love for such unmeasured love.

The paragraph in the Catechism is CCC 478:

The Heart of the Incarnate Word

Jesus knew and loved us each and all during His life, His agony and His Passion, and gave Himself up for each one of us: 'The Son of God... loved me and gave Himself for me (Galatians 2:20).' He has loved us all with a human heart. For this reason, the Sacred Heart of Jesus, pierced for our sins and for our salvation (John 19:34), is quite rightly considered the chief sign and symbol of that... love with which the Divine Redeemer continually loves the Eternal Father and all human beings without exception.

It would be a profound act of love for Christ, and indeed for ourselves, if we were to begin spending some time in silent prayer each day to open ourselves more and more to this unfathomable love of Jesus Christ for us. It is by first receiving His love for us that we are made able to return His love, to truly love ourselves and to love others for His sake.    

Tomorrow, the Church will celebrate the great Feast of Divine Mercy on the traditional Low Sunday.

Our Lord Jesus Christ told St. Faustina that He wanted this day to be, ''a refuge and shelter for all souls, and especially for poor sinners.''

The graces of a Plenary Indulgence are available tomorrow. As Jesus promised St. Faustina for this day each year: ''The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment.''

Perhaps, having not been to confession or even to church for a long time might make some people feel afraid to return.

For this reason, knowing our weakness, Our Lord reminded St. Faustina: ''When you approach the confessional, know this, that I Myself and waiting there for you. I am only hidden by the priest, but I Myself act in your soul. Here the misery of the soul meets the God of Mercy. Tell souls that, from this fount of Mercy, souls draw graces solely from the vessel of trust. If their trust is great, there is no limit to My generosity. The torrents of grace inundate humble souls. The proud remain always in poverty and misery, because My grace turns away from them to humble souls.''

Our Lord also reminded the world through St. Faustina: ''Therefore, let no soul fear to draw near to Me, even though its sins be as scarlet.''

We urge all who read this to enter into the graces of the Divine Mercy of Jesus through an integral Confession, worthy Holy Communion, devoted praying of the Divine Mercy Chaplet and to carry out works of mercy for others.

Divine Mercy of Jesus - Have mercy on us! 

St. Faustina - Pray for us!

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Mother Mary Angelica of the Annunciation - Requiescat in Pace

Torch of The Faith News on Friday 01 April 2016 - 22:11:28 | by admin

Holy Mass offered ad orientem in the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, Alabama (Image from the Canadian Vox Cantoris Blog).

We've just watched the Solemn Funeral Mass of Christian Burial for Mother Angelica on EWTN.

Archbishop Charles J. Chaput presided, with Papal Nuncio Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, Birmingham Alabama's Bishop Robert J. Baker and several other bishops, priests and deacons in attendance. Fr. Joseph Mary Wolfe (MFVA), who also attended Mother Angelica in her last hours, was the homilist. At the end of Mass, Archbishop Vigano read out a message of condolence and support from His Holiness, Pope Francis. The church was packed and large screens relayed the liturgy to the overflow seating areas out in the monastery grounds.

In light of our recent post, it was a great blessing to see that Bishop-Emeritus David Foley was present to concelebrate this ad orientem offering of the Holy Sacrifice during a live broadcast. May God bless him. We pray that this can now open a new beginning in American Catholic broadcasting!

In addition to the reverence, beautiful chant and use of the altar rails, there was also a deep sense of the love of Our Lord Jesus Christ during this broadcast - and of the love of Mother Angelica for Him and for souls.

When Fr. Joseph Mary Wolfe preached his comforting and inspiring homily, we were particularly struck by three simple things that, perhaps, we could all take forward with us.

He said of Mother that, ''she wanted each one of us to love Jesus more.'' 

Later on, speaking of the call of all people to holiness, he recalled: ''Hers was a practical spirituality for the man in the pew.'' Anyone familiar with the old re-runs of Mother will know what he means by that.

And he also spoke of Mother's great love for Christ and His Church being the motivation for her great defence of the Faith - she was a true bride defending her spouse.

That Great Love for Jesus

After the Mass, there was a good video interview with an old man who knew Mother Angelica before she became a nun, when she was still a young woman working in Ohio.

He saw her kiss the Crucifix during the Good Friday liturgy in the parish and noticed that she kissed Jesus like a wife would kiss her husband. It was clear to this man how much she loved Our Lord. He added that she had a picture of Him at her workstation and that she defended the practice before some girls - who had claimed that this practice was forcing her religion on them - by reminding them that they had pictures up of their sweethearts or favourite movie stars. That old gentleman also remembered Mother Angelica hearing Jesus speak to her from a statue in the Church. He said that Christ asked her how long she was going to keep Him waiting before becoming a nun. This last point ties in with several other mystical experiences that are publicly known from her later life.

It must be said that Raymond Arroyo did a marvellous job of hosting the segments before and immediately after Holy Mass. Having prayed before the statue of the O Divino Nino Jesus in the grounds when we visited in 2005, we were very moved when Mother's mortal remains were taken there, prior to the final committal of her mortal remains in the monastery crypt. As well as Mother's experience with the miraculous statue of the Child Jesus telling her to build Him a Temple, Mother Angelica also had experiences of seeing the infant Jesus running along the cloisters of the monastery. He would stop and talk with Mother. Who can doubt this spiritual intimacy in light of her immense spiritual maternity and the compassion she showed to so many broken people who phoned in to her live TV-shows over the years? 

We were also ''in bits'' - as we say around here! - when Raymond concluded with a final prayer of Mother Angelica's. It is reproduced beneath this image of her.

Mother Mary Angelica of the Annunciation - one of the most remarkable Catholic women of the 20th-21st Centuries: Thank you for all you have done, and are likely only just beginning to do, for God and for souls. May you rest in Christ's peace forever. Amen.

The Last Word

Since there is no more time, and you and I may not pass this way again, I will ask the Holy Spirit to touch your hearts and teach you all these marvellous things: how to live in the Present Moment, how to be at peace when distress is assailing you, how to love when you don't feel loved, how to always commune with God in the depths of your soul, and how to bear those beautiful gifts of the Holy Spirit, always.

I love you and God loves you more than you know.

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The Easter Passion of 2016

Torch of The Faith News on Friday 01 April 2016 - 10:37:20 | by admin

We have not wanted to disrupt the spiritual joy of these days of the Easter Octave with any negative commentary. That this has meant turning a blind eye to the trampling of the Sacred Triduum in Rome is indicative of the gravity of these times. With the announcement of the Apostolic Exhortation, and of the names of those chosen for its public launch, it seems that we must now acknowledge the Easter Passion of 2016...

Entering the Passion on Holy Thursday

When he was Cardinal of Buenos Aires, Pope Francis frequently broke the liturgical law stipulating that only the feet of men were to be washed during the Mandatum service on Maundy Thursday. Having continued to consistently break this law as Pope between 2013 and 2015 - even washing the feet of a self-described transsexual that year - he amended the law in early 2016 to permit the washing of the feet of women.

He then appeared to shatter his newly amended law last week by washing the feet of Muslims and Hindus at a refugee centre some 25-miles outside of the city of Rome. I say ''appeared'', because Pope Francis' new liturgical law stipulated that those having their feet washed should be chosen from among the ''people of God''.

Now, the Catechism of the Catholic Church - described by St. Pope John Paul II as a ''sure norm for teaching the Catholic Faith'' - explicity teaches that one enters the (capital ''P'') People of God through faith and Baptism (CCC 782; 785). However, in his homily (would that be the right word?) at the refugee centre, Pope Francis spoke of the members of the different religions as all being children of the same God. Although God is clearly the Father of all, the Catechism again gives very clear teaching on becoming a child of God through grace and Baptism (please see CCC 1996 ff). Yet, Crux News suggested that, although the term ''people of God'' usually referred to the Baptized, Pope Francis' decree seemed to have an open-ended definition.

The much-ignored fact that true peace cannot be attained without the grace of Christ was tragically underscored just three days later, on Easter Sunday itself, when 72 people were killed and over 300 injured during an Islamist suicide bombing; which specifically targeted Christian families celebrating Easter in the centre of the Pakistani city of Lahore.

The Crucifixion on Good Friday

Could any true Catholic fail to be scandalized, indeed utterly horrified, by the fact that Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa used his (too?) long-held position as Preacher to the Papal Household to promote, once again, the evils of the Lutheran heresy?

That this happened during the liturgy of Good Friday, at the very heart of the Church in Rome and in the presence of an aquiescent Pontiff, is not only a hideous travesty; it is, in fact, nothing short of apocalyptic.

I am not sure whether Pope Francis' peaceful acceptance of Cantalamessa's vile promotion of Luther and his heresy is more disturbing than the continued silence of all of the world's bishops, and most of the world's priests and laity, in the face of it.

This is especially distressing when one considers that Cantalamessa used the sermon for Good Friday, the very day of Our Lord's Passion and Death, to falsely assert that Martin Luther - this fornicating, sacrilegious, Mass-hating and Magisterially condemned heretic - ''deserves the credit'' for bringing a truth to light which the Catholic Church had supposedly forgotten. In fact the opposite is true!

In the face of such grave evils, perhaps one can only reflect on the chillingly prescient vision of Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, from the 1st June 1821: ''Then I saw that everything pertaining to Protestantism was gradually gaining the upper hand, and the Catholic religion fell into complete decadence... In those days, Faith will fall very low, and it will be preserved in some places only, in a few cottages and in a few families that God has protected from disasters and wars.''

The Octave of Easter becomes another Passiontide...     

And now it has been announced that the long-awaited (long-dreaded?) Apostolic Exhortation will be released just one week today at noon in Rome. The choice of those clerics who will publicly release the document is certainly troubling...

We have only recently drawn attention to Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri's involvement with the Focolare movement and its disturbingly indifferentist trajectory towards a one-world-religion. We have also discussed: his shocking treatment of orthodox participants at a post-Synod family meeting; seeming favouritism towards those who dissent from the Magisterium; Modernistic conception of evolution in doctrine; and underhand shenanigans - including even the illegal removal of mail - during the Synods of 2014 and 2015.

Turning to Cardinal Christoph Schonborn (sorry Eminence, our website programme does not allow umlauts!) - pictured above with the glinting Jewish Menorah that he was awarded by the European Lodge of B'Nai B'rith - his recent interventions have been most disturbing from a Catholic perspective.

For example, in stark contrast to his earlier work on the Catechism of the Catholic Church, he has suggested a number of things which are at odds with Catholic moral teaching. 

And so: Cardinal Schonborn has claimed that there are no ''black and white'' answers in relation to the issue of Holy Communion for the divorced and re-''married''; he has argued that we must look for the presence of ''positive moral elements'' in relationships of cohabitation; he has suggested that Catholics can, and indeed must, respect the decisions of persons to form same-sex pairings; and finally, he responded to the transsexualist Conchita Wurst's victory in the Eurovision Song Contest with delight and the suggestion that there is ''multi-coloured diversity'' in God's garden.

When Archbishop Tomash Peta, of Astana in Kazakhstan, warned that the smoke of Satan was getting into the Rome Synod in 2015, Cardinal Schonborn led the retort against him; even pausing to facilitate the mocking laughter of sacrilege-promoting Modernists in the aula. There was something very diabolical about those dark weeks.

Let's face it: there is no way that men like Baldisseri or Schonborn would have been allowed to retain their leadership positions, never mind being chosen to launch papal exhortations, in the days of the Holy Office. In more sane times, their public rejection of Magisterial teaching relating to doctrine and morals would have led to the withdrawal of their offices and maybe even their faculties.

The choice of these men, coupled to Cardinal Walter Kasper's pre-Easter crowing about a new leaf being turned in the Church after 1,700 years, does not bode well at all.

Once again, the words of Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich come to mind. This time from 12th April, 1820: ''I had another vision of the great tribulation. It seems to me that a concession was demanded from the clergy which could not be granted. I saw many older priests, especially one, who wept bitterly. A few younger ones were also weeping. But others, and among them the lukewarm, readily did what was demanded. It was as if people were splitting into two camps...'' 

Easter Passion    

There is something quite remarkable in the fact that Mother Angelica went through her final suffering on Good Friday and her peaceful death on Easter Sunday.

It has been refreshing to read and listen this week to some of the many stories of Catholics who converted - and reverted - through the various apostolates of Mother Angelica.

So many people either found their faith for the first time, came back to the faith they once had, or went deeper in the faith they already had, through the teaching and witness of Mother Angelica on EWTN and in her books.

Countless others found through her the encouragement, grace and strength which they needed to carry their various heavy crosses.

After the conclusion to the Public Reception and Rosary, at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament on Wednesday, Johnnette Benkovich said a beautiful thing in her conversation with Raymond Arroyo.

Sadly, I can't remember it word-for-word, or find it on-line to copy out, but she basically said that Mother Angelica had willed to live as long as possible, through all of her sufferings down here, in order to give God the greatest possible glory. I also read somewhere that Mother had shunned pain relief and had insisted on being kept alive as long as possible.

Johnnette was recalling how Mother Angelica knew that the will of a person is set at the point of death, either for or against God, and that there is no further merit possible after death: the deceased will be in Heaven, Purgatory or Hell. Mother Angelica had wanted to join her will to the merit being received through suffering in union with Christ, for as long as possible down here, in order to give God the greatest possible glory.

Johnnette also used this amazing example of faithfulness and the value of suffering to further underscore the error and inhumanity of euthanasia.

Her words, reiterating the words and actions of Mother, were among the most spiritually and practically helpful that I have heard in my entire life. There was such grace accompanying them in these dark times for the Church that I ask you to please believe me when I say that I do not exaggerate this point. I believe that they may prove helpful in the times ahead for the Catholic Church.

Dear readers, it seems to us here that Holy Church has entered on a particularly difficult stage of her own Passion. From the Pope down to the ordinary person in the pew, in dioceses throughout the whole world, there exists grave confusion and tepidity in the face of error, sin and evil. The holy Law of God, the Tradition of the Church, and the laws and customs, are being disregarded and trampled. Those who try to keep and promote them are derided or silenced. All of this both constitutes and portends the most grave of chastisements.

The Sacred Easter Triduum has been made an object of use by the very Pontiff and his closest confreres; and this has happened in ways that promote gender ideology, religious indifferentism and the Lutheran heresy. The Easter Octave has been disrupted by news of a declaration to be made by men who no longer present a Catholic understanding in terms of either faith or morals. And in the midst of all of these distressing things, violence against the Church brews up from the opposed camps of Islamism and atheistic secularism.

In Hoc Signo Vinces

The timing of Mother Angelica's death seems symbolic at so many levels. She suffered most on Good Friday and headed home to God on Easter Sunday. Her death comes just over one week before a potentially grave danger to the Faith, and to the salvation of countless souls, is to be made public.

As the many tributes to Mother Angelica demonstrate, countless souls around the world found their faith or had their faith deepened through her apostolate. So often, such people found a lifeline to orthodox Catholicism through Mother Angelica. Then, after her stroke and the persecution of the Modernists effectively silenced her, Mother Angelica taught us another way to go deeper in the Faith and witness to Christ. Although it was what she had always taught and lived, there was now a unique depth to the lesson: Mother taught us not only to suffer, but how to suffer well and why we need to.

I touched on this in my previous article on Brother Joseph Zoettl. I was not intending to argue for a retreat into quietism. Rather, I was acknowledging the fact that many who desire to follow Christ in the Church have already been effectively silenced and prevented, by enemies within, due to their faithfulness and orthodoxy. In the times ahead, and perhaps much sooner that we all think, the silencing and persecution are likely to escalate rapidly. It is not, perhaps, that many of us will choose to become little, but that it might be forced upon us. Therefore, it behoves us to begin practicing now. 

Through Christ's Cross and Resurrection

This year, we have placed the following image portraying the Resurrection in our front bay-window as an Easter witness. We normally remove the Crucifix from the window during the Easter octave to help keep the focus on the Resurrection image. We noticed yesterday that we had forgotten to do so this time around.

Then we decided to leave the Resurrection image above the Crucifix for the whole week. It seems appropriate this year as the Church is going through something of an Easter Passion. We have a real spiritual sense that we are going through both the Suffering and the Resurrection of the Church. 

It seems that Mother Angelica's passing has highlighted this fact in a particular way. Throughout the world, her apostolate has gathered together a spiritual army of faithful ones. For the most part, this army has little in the way of influence, leadership or even power. At least, that is the case temporally speaking.

However, Mother Angelica has taught us all with her words, work and final sufferings how to give God the greatest possible glory through embracing the unfathomable Power of Christ's Cross. This is always primarily a work of grace.

Perhaps we are approaching days when, as Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich prophesied, the Faith will be kept only in those cottages and families which God preserves from disasters and war. It seems certain that we are in a, perhaps the, Great Apostasy. Whichever it turns out to be, and whatever lies ahead of us, Mother Angelica's passing at this time, and the manner of her passing, can inspire us to suffer through these days with the grace of Christ for God's greater glory. Christ's victory is assured; our job is to stay on His winning side through His love, grace and mercy.

At Easter 2016, we have certainly entered a new level of the Passion in the Church. Still, victory is assured to those who remain faithful to Christ and the fullness of His Truth. We know this because it is also Easter. Some even seem to be be receiving an outpouring of joy in the opportunity of suffering for Christ and His Church. 

That is why we speak of the Easter Passion of 2016 - an Easter Octave where both the Crucifix and the Resurrection remain prominent. 

Please remember to pray for Mother Angelica whose Funeral Mass is today - it will be televised on EWTN at 12pm Eastern Time (Channel 589 on SKY at 5pm - with commentary beginning at 4:30pm - here in the UK).

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Sweet Home Alabama!

Torch of The Faith News on Wednesday 30 March 2016 - 15:02:38 | by admin

About 10-miles north of Mother Angelica's monastery is the remarkable ''Ave Maria Grotto'' and ''Jerusalem in Miniature'', in the grounds of St, Bernard Benedictine Abbey, near Cullman, Alabama. This peaceful 4-acre wooded parkland is the setting for a Lourdes-style grotto and 125 miniature reproductions of some of the most famous Catholic structures in the world. The artistic creations there have firmly established St. Bernard Benedictine Abbey on the map of must-visit ''roadside America'' sites. They are so good that Ave Maria Grotto is included on the American National Register of Historic Places.

Little Brother Joseph

To understand Ave Maria Grotto, one needs to first become familiar with its creator, the late Brother Joseph Zoettl O.S.B.

Brother Joseph was born and baptized with the name Michael Zoettl, in Landshut, Bavaria, during 1878. He was small in stature and suffered a number of setbacks in his early life. His mother died when he was young and, it seems, the stepmother that his father eventually married was cruel to young Michael. To make matters worse, he suffered a number of serious illnesses/accidents in his youth: he almost died in a flu epidemic, was almost drowned in an accident and suffered serious burns in another one!

As a teenager, he met Fr. Gamelbert Brunner O.S.B., who was scouting Europe for vocations to take back with him to America. After sharing a farewell cider with his father, and crying all night long, young Michael emigrated to the United States to commence his studies at the Benedictine Abbey of St. Bernard, near Cullman.

He settled in as a good student, worked hard, embraced the monastic life of work and prayer, and took his vows and the religious name of Joseph as a Benedictine monk.

Sad to relate, his progress was thwarted by yet another serious accident. Brother Joseph was helping with the construction of a belfry tower, when it suddenly collapsed. He was left with a hunched back caused by cervical kyphosis.

To make matters worse, this injury precluded his elevation to the sacred priesthood; because Canon Law stipulated, in those days, that no men with ''distracting disabilities'' could be ordained as priests.

We glimpse something of the humility and faithfulness of little Brother Joseph, in his subsequent acceptance of the life of an ordinary lay-brother in the monastic community.

However, the trials of this diminutive lay-brother were far from over. In his role as a housekeeper in various Benedictine missions, he suffered homesickness when being treated harshly by superiors. At least one priest on the missions called his cooking ''poison'' and kept a very close scrutiny of his day-to-day running of the coal supply.

Finding St. Therese and Her Little Way

In 1911, Brother Joseph was put in charge of the powerhouse at St. Bernard Abbey in Cullman. Long burdensome workdays of shovelling coal into the furnace ensued. These lasted some 17 hours and allowed barely enough spare time for Brother Joseph to hasten into Sunday Mass. The work was tedious and lasted every single day of the week.

Although we can recognise this treatment as harsh and even neglectful, it became a potential road of holiness for Brother Joseph Zoettl. He discovered St. Therese of Liseux's ''Little Way'' in the monastery library and progressed on the way of littleness.

This happened in more ways than one. To break up the monotony of constant pumping in the powerhouse, Brother Joseph began to make a miniature model church, by way of a hobby. He then made a miniature set of oriental buildings. These became an attraction for visitors to the abbey. One of the priests asked Brother Joseph to make some small grottoes to place little statues in. These were sold from a store in front of the Benedictine college to make money for the missions.

By the early 1930's, Brother Joseph had made and sold 5,000 small grottoes. In 1933 a train derailed and tipped its load of marble. The damaged cargo was given to the creative Brother Joseph. He constructed the beautiful Ave Maria Grotto, pictured at the top of this article. It was eventually dedicated, in the month of Our Lady, on the 17th May, 1934.

Growing Big - In Miniature!

Between then and 1958, Brother Joseph carefully created miniature representations of many of the most famous churches and monasteries in the world. He would study photographs of them and use all kinds of trinkets to produce small replicas.  

Brother Joseph's ''Jerusalem in Miniature'' became a tourist stop-off for many Catholics heading south to the Louisiana coast each summer and its fame gradually spread through and beyond the Church.

In the forested and landscaped grounds of the monastery, he established small replicas of Jerusalem, the Vatican, the Assisi Basilica, the Fatima Basilica, the Lourdes Basilica, the Monte Cassino monastery, the famous Alamo Mission in San Antonio, Texas, and the Californian missions of St. Junipero Serra. He also included a ''Crucifix Tower'', as well as copies of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Statue of Liberty, a tribute to the efforts of the Red Cross in World War I, a memorial to soldiers from Alabama who died in World War II and another to remember the victims of the nuclear bombs that were dropped on Japan.

There are also representations of the Tower of Babel, various secular buildings, German castles and even the St. Bernard Abbey powerstation; where Brother Joseph had worked so hard hauling coal in his younger days!  

This replica of the Basilica at Lourdes was his final construction. He completed it at the age of 80 in 1958. When Brother Joseph died in October 1961, his brother monks showed their appreciation by having a special bronze coffin made for his mortal remains.

As the 1960's progressed, Ave Maria Grotto became an important witness for God's love and healing, during the difficult years of the Civil Rights struggles that surged through Alabama and other parts of the American South. African-Americans found friendship, peace and monastic welcome here; and the Benedictine monks reminded visitors that one of the Magi was probably an Ethiopian.  

As well as accurate representations of Catholic basilicas, like this one of Fatima, Brother Joseph gave free expression to his creative genius by including playful creations for children to appreciate.

For example: he made a Hansel and Gretel fairy castle with a dragon chained beneath it; a strange-looking ''Tower of Thanks'' to express gratitude to benefactors and visitors; and an assortment of unusual sculptures.

Each of Brother Joseph's creations are made from an eclectic mix of cement, coloured glass, costume jewellery, electrical bits and pieces, jars, marbles, pebbles, pottery, railroad spikes, sea shells, stones, tiles and even punctured commode floats!   

The incredible attention to detail on his replicas, like this scale model of St. Peter's Basilica and the Vatican, must be seen to be appreciated.

Brother Joseph also made shrines to honour St. Joseph, St. Peter and St. Pope Pius X.  

As St. Pope Pius X is one of my heroes in the Faith, I stopped there for this photograph. In these times, Pascendi Dominici Gregis must be compulsory reading for all who want to take their faith seriously.

This ''Chipmunk Crossing'' is a light-hearted touch in the grounds of the Ave Maria Grotto!

This grotto for St. Joseph was a peaceful place to spend a reflective moment or two.

When we visited in 2005, on our way to the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, Alabama, we prayed a decade of the Rosary on some stone seats near to the Ave Maria Grotto, which is pictured at the top of this article. It had a very similar sense of peace to the real Massabielle Grotto at Lourdes, in France.

An Example for These Times

In these difficult days for the Church, and for Catholics who wish to remain faithful to the full Catholic Truth, Brother Joseph Zoettl gives us a very helpful example.

He suffered much in this life and was not able to fulfil his first sense of vocation as a priest. Still, without complaint he embraced the ''Little Way'' that God had marked out for him instead. By accepting his various crosses, he became little and almost unknown. Even when his creations unintendedly made the abbey famous, and a publicity film was made about his ''Miniature Jerusalem'' in the 1950's, he attempted to keep a low-profile. Through his acceptance, humility and the fruits of his creative expression, Brother Joseph was able to be a vessel for God to do great things.

Greater things, perhaps, than Brother Joseph ever imagined possible. 

When we were there, we were impressed by the missionary evangelization that is still continuing today through the legacy of Brother Joseph. For example, the guest book asks whether or not the visitor is a Catholic. The great majority that we read had ticked ''Not''. This made the witness given by the peace of the place, the biography of Brother Joseph and the little signs in the grounds - explaining about the nature and meaning of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass - all the more wonderful.

As we remember the great Mother Angelica in our prayers this week, perhaps we could also say a little prayer for Brother Joseph Zoettl and for the ongoing success of his unexpected mission.

If you can get to Alabama, we highly recommend visits to EWTN at Irondale, the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, and the Ave Maria Grotto near Cullman. And, remember, all of this is in the deeply ''Protestant South'' - in fact we were told that bus-loads of Southern-Baptists love to visit Mother Angelica's monastery.

St. Therese of Lisieux - Pray for us! 

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Ah, Mother Angelica... May God rest your soul

Torch of The Faith News on Monday 28 March 2016 - 18:02:20 | by admin

We had heavy hearts when we read this morning that dear Mother Angelica had died yesterday evening at the age of 92. Then we began to reflect that she had died on Easter Sunday, the great day of the Resurrection, and that she had gone to be with Our Blessed Lord. Mother was already so intimate with Jesus in this life that, if she even got a new pair of shoes, she would go before the Tabernacle and say simply, ''I got some new shoes today, Lord... Like 'em?''

Although she had a childlike love of the Lord, she was no fool.

Biographical Information

One of the first things that we did with Torch of The Faith in 2008 was to sell copies of Raymond Arroyo's book Mother Angelica: The Remarkable Story of a Nun, Her Nerve and a Network of Miracles. Several things stand out for us from that biographical account.

Born Rita Rizzo in 1923, Mother had a tough childhood in Canton, Ohio. Her father was an abusive, absent and unfaithful husband, her mother was mentally fragile and her broken family lived in a ghetto run by mobsters of the Sicilian-based Black Hand Mob.

A few weeks before her 6th birthday, her parish priest, Fr. Joseph Riccardi, was sacrilegiously gunned down by gangsters for courageously resisting their attempts to bury drugs in the school grounds.

In 1933, her own mother, Mrs. Rizzo, lapsed from the Church for 10 years due to a combination of problems at home, harshness from nuns and bad treatment from a visiting missionary priest. When Mrs. Rizzo went over the edge with depression and mental health problems, young Rita had to take on the role of parent.

In 1934, young Rita had a miraculous experience: a car was speeding towards her in the middle of a road and she froze with fear. She felt two hands pick her up and set her down on the central reservation (median in America). A bus driver said that he had never seen anyone jump so high before.

In 1940, young Rita began to suffer with ptosis of the stomach. This caused her hands to shake, her left arm to go numb and her stomach to suffer spasms, which made it difficult for her to eat or sleep. She had a physical and spiritual healing when she was taken to meet Rhonda Wise - a Catholic mystic who had the marks of the stigmata. As well as being healed of the ptosis, Rita had an experience of God's personal love for her - and she began to love Him too. Sometime later, she realized that she was called to be a religious sister after praying the Stations of the Cross in her local parish.

Her life as a religious has been marked by periods of difficult health problems, healings, focus on the love of God, attempts to offer the hope of Christ to the hopeless and remarkable achievements in the field of evangelization.

Mother's eventual founding of a new convent, new communities of nuns and priests, and the gestation, birth, growth, trials and spread of the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) is similarly characterized by sufferings, setbacks, miracles and great faith in Our Lord. In time, her own mother Mrs. Rizzo even became a nun in Mother Angelica's growing community!

After the Second Vatican Council, Mother had dabbled with some of the new methods which were becoming popular in those tumultous years. She tried to run her convent more on the lines of a loving family than a strict community, opened up the gate in her convent's sacred enclosure, introduced more modern habits, allowed guitars during Holy Mass and became involved in aspects of charismatic renewal. Still, she continued to impart authentic catechesis on the true doctrines and moral teachings of the Church. Her evangelization booklets and videos on Sacred Scripture from those years remain popular classics today.

In 1993, when modernists portrayed Jesus with a female actor, before the visiting St. John Paul II, Mother went on air to lambast the ''liberal church in America''. She then reintroduced the traditional habits, restored sacred enclosure and focused on traditional devotions and liturgical practices. What remained was the model of running the convent as a loving Christian family and the key work of evangelization.

Nevertheless, when the disgraced and ulta-modernist Archbishop Rembert Weakland criticized Mother's condemnation of liberalism, her feisty response became the stuff of legend: ''He didn't think a woman playing Jesus was offensive... he can go and put his head down the back toilet as far as I am concerned.''

Mother Angelica would run into further trouble with Bishop David Foley who, in a shortsighted breach with 2,000 years of Sacred Tradition, strongly objected to Mother Angelica having Holy Mass offered ad orientem at her new shrine. She would also incur the wrath of the ultra-modernist - and disgraced protector of sexually abusive priests - Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles. Mahony attempted to have Mother Angelica silenced and even banned from the Sacraments. He also pushed to have the community that she founded suppressed.   

In spite of all of this resistance, as Raymond Arroyo has recalled in his on-line tribute, EWTN grew from its origins in a monastery garage to become the largest religious media organization on the planet. Whilst hundreds of millions have been reached, in multiple languages, through the TV, countless others around the globe have accessed EWTN on shortwave, AM/FM radio and the internet. Mother Angelica is the only woman in the history of television to found and lead a cable network for 20 years.

Following a serious stroke on Christmas Eve 2001, Mother Angelica signed over the running of the network to a group of laity and focused on spending time with the sisters in the cloistered prayer life of her own community. In 2009, Pope Benedict XVI recognized her outstanding efforts and achievements by awarding her the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice Cross of Honour for distinguished service to the Church and Pope.

There is a good comment by a gentleman called Scott Woltze on Fr. Z's blog, which is perhaps characteristic of what many people feel today. He wrote: ''If not for Mother, what would so many of us converts and reverts have done to learn the Faith? We wanted, by a grace, the whole Catholic Faith, and we had to look very hard to find it. We often had to settle for a virtual parish (EWTN web and tv, Catholic Answers, Audio Sancto etc) until things got better in our neck of the woods. Thank you Mother, may our Lord's perpetual light shine upon you, and adore him face to face.''

We were amazed this morning when we consulted the details of an article which we originally posted up here called How EWTN Changed Our Lives. That article was posted up on 27th March, 2014 - exactly two years to the date before Mother would go home to Jesus. What follows is a somewhat updated version of that original article.

How EWTN Changed Our Lives

And a little child shall lead them (Isaiah 11:6)

A few months after our wedding in 2002, we had EWTN installed in our new home in Bootle, Merseyside. When we settled down to view the global Catholic channel for the first time, we had no idea that it was about to change our whole life.

The first fruit of our purchase was very practical, in terms of sharing the Faith. In those days, an over-large satellite dish was required to receive the correct signal here in England. This led to probing questions from a neighbour, as to what on earth we were watching! He was somewhat dumbfounded when we explained that we were tuning in to a dedicated Catholic TV station!

Other fruits were also very tangible. We were quite soon weaned off most of the secular television and began to learn more about the practicalities for living our faith in a rapidly secularizing culture. This was stuff that, to be honest, we were just not getting in the parish. We also found the regular TV's diet of vacuity, violence and impurity to be even more unpalatable in comparison to the peaceful prayer and solid doctrine emanating from EWTN at that time. The Mother Angelica Live productions were particularly edifying and instructive. In a time when Catholic orthodoxy in Britain was in such a state of rapid retreat, it was heartening to see so many enthusiastic and articulate Catholics witnessing to the Faith each day.

Being able to watch daily Mass, from the chapel of Our Lady and the Angels in Alabama, meant that we could regularly hear quality homilies and make spiritual communions together after work. On Sundays, we could even join with Mother Angelica's community of nuns in their majestic monastery chapel at Hanceville, for Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.

Each week, we also received intellectual stimulation through the theological discussions, which took place around a low coffee table, on the Franciscan University Presents show.  

The St. John Paul II library and Ss Cosmas and Damian building brightened with the colours of the Fall season on the campus at Franciscan University of Steubenville.

In February 2004, we began a 30-day prayer to St. Joseph to ask for his intercession as to how we could best serve the Church. Around that time, an advert came on EWTN for the MA course at Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio, USA. It seemed like a place where I might receive some healing from the effects of the modernistic Ushaw seminary, as well as a place to learn more of our Faith. Angie looked over and casually asked me if I fancied going there for a visit. Without really thinking about it too much, I quite matter-of-factly answered in the affirmative. In a most unexpected turn of events, we found ourselves crossing the Atlantic soon afterwards to have an interview with the admissions department of the university!

On Friday nights in those days, there used to be a young man called ''E-mail Guy'' who passed on-line questions up to the hosts of the Life on the Rock show. We were amazed to find that he was visiting the campus with his mum the day that we arrived. As we were given a tour of the university together, we asked if he was really ''E-mail Guy''! He and his mum were just as amazed to learn that he was famous in England! Even more amazingly, after some setbacks and a good deal of prayer, our new home sold for double the price we had paid for it 2 years earlier, we had stored most of our belongings in my parents' loft and we found ourselves arriving in Ohio that July on a 2-year study visa!

In a remarkable twist, we were loaned some furniture for our rented apartment, by someone who helped to produce the weekly Franciscan University Presents shows for EWTN. These furnishings included a couch, a disused and multi-coloured dining booth from a Taco-Bell outlet and, due to a revamp of the set, the actual low coffee table and chairs from the Franciscan University Presents show; which we had watched every Sunday evening back in Bootle on Merseyside! In this, we discerned a humourous sign of God's Providential care.

We learned so much about the dogmas/doctrines of the Church, and about authentic Christian community, during those two years in Steubenville.

As we've said several times - sorry if it is getting boring! - we hired a Dodge car and took off on a summer-long road-trip across the United States of America in 2005. As well as cruising parts of Route 66, visiting Elvis Presley's Graceland Mansion, Monument Valley, the Grand Canyon and Bonneville Salt Flats, we also made a pilgrimage to key sites in the history of the Catholic Church in North America.

By far the most peaceful and spiritually refreshing stage of our transcontinental journey was the retreat that we spent near EWTN's headquarters in Alabama. It was amazing to think that the purchase of a satellite dish three years earlier had led to all of this!  

Angie outside the EWTN studios at Old Leeds Road in Birmingham, Alabama.

The studio and daily-Mass chapel are situated in Irondale, a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama. We were awed by the array of satellite dishes beaming the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and His Holy Catholic Church, to all the corners of the globe.

It was very moving to stand here and recall the words of Our Lord Jesus Christ recorded in Matthew 24:14: ''And this Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations. And then the end will come.'' And also His words in the Great Commission: ''Go therefore and make disciples of all nations'' (Mt: 28:19).

About one hour's drive north of the studios and daily-Mass chapel is Mother Angelica's monastery and the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament, in the pleasantly rural area of Hanceville, Alabama. 

This is a most beautiful temple for the adoration of the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Most Holy Eucharist. As Mother Angelica has said: ''He designed it, He built it, and He paid for it.'' This refers to the amazing experience she had in Bogota, when a miraculous statue of the Child Jesus turned to her and said: ''Build me a Temple and I will help those who help you.'' Five anonymous families provided all the money for the splendid monastery to be constructed in the style of a 13th-Century European monastery. It was completed in the first couple of years of the 21st-Century.

Mother Angelica used to often say that we should only give the very best to Jesus. As such, the shrine is replete with finest gold, marble, stone and stained glass. Pictured above is the Tabernacle which, with the Sacred Monstrance, is at the very centre and heart of the church on the High-Altar. In her book about the shrine, Mother Angelica wrote: ''The Sacred Host which we adore is the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus, consecrated during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.'' 

Beyond the High-Altar is the sacred enclosure, where the full community of contemplative nuns prays together before the Lord in adoration, praise, thanksgiving and intercession for the needs of the Church and the world. The prayer of contemplatives has been described as the heart-beat of the Church.

We were so blessed at our retreat that we did not want to leave EWTN. By God's grace, we were able to pray in Adoration, make a good Confession in the sturdy confessionals, attend very reverent Masses - in the Novus Ordo, but where the priest faced ad orientem and the altar-rails were used for the distribution of Holy Communion to pilgrims who knelt and received on the tongue - and enjoy quiet times in the cloisters and grounds. One afternoon, we were even allowed to spend 45-minutes or so with a religious sister at the grille. Before we left, she assured us that she would pass on our gratitude and prayers to Mother Angelica.

When we returned to England in 2006, we had been so thoroughly weaned off television that we did not bother with it for several years. In 2013, six months after poor Dad died, we moved back home to be with Mum. We soon found ourselves slipping into watching time-sapping things like the One Show. We also noticed that, in the intervening decade, the television had got even worse in terms of atheistic ideology, impurity and violence. It was notable too, that the reductionist theory of evolution was being pushed very subtly through a wide variety of TV genres. We decided to get EWTN installed and again found it uplifting to view the Rosary, Divine Mercy chaplet and various programmes on G.K. Chesterton, Holy Matrimony and classical re-runs of Mother Angelica Live. Mum used to love watching these re-runs and she would laugh delightedly whenever Mother Angelica used to get the giggles in an episode.

We did notice that, with Mother Angelica no longer at the helm, some modernistic programming seemed to have slipped into the mix. Also, we had changed so much through regular attendance at the Traditional Latin Mass, that some of the mixture of rock music, pop culture and Catholicism in the youth programming now jarred with our sensibilities. We also wondered why EWTN was not being more outspoken when the sacrilegious ''Kasper proposal'' began to gather steam. It would be difficult to imagine such a ''neutered neutrality'' during the leadership of Mother Angelica.

That being said, EWTN became a great help to us during a very difficult time. In late August 2014, Mum suffered a major stroke which wiped out much of her memory, her speech and her natural abilities. For nearly 2 weeks she had to remain in hospital. When she first returned home, she did not know the house and kept standing by the front door, begging to be taken to her own mum, who had died in 1994. As we began to come to terms with the fact that Mum no longer remembered her past life, and to learn the tasks of providing 24/7 care, we experienced darkness that would be hard to relate here. And yet, in the very midst of all that, praying the recorded devotions each day with Mother Angelica and her nuns was soothing to Mum and to us. I personally received graces in that time, which I think converted me more to God by being hammered on the anvil of suffering. Mother Angelica's devotions became a life-line and a conduit of grace. Through Mother Angelica's daily devotions, I was not only able to hang on to faith and sanity, but to receive an awareness of God's love and support that I had not imagined before. Nor could I have had this without that Cross. It was as though I was first carved out deeply in a short space of time; and then that newly carved space was filled with a balm of God's love. It was a key moment in ongoing conversion for me. I am very grateful to God and to Mother Angelica for it.

There was another moment of grace in the middle of all that. One day Mum, who could not even remember her own house or having been married to Dad after her stroke, came into the room and saw Mother Angelica on the telly. With a joyful expression, she exclaimed ''Oh!'' and, turning to us with a huge smile, she pointed excitedly to the screen. It seemed that, in spite of everything that had happened to her, she still remembered something of old Mother Angelica! 

Dear Mother Angelica, you have helped us so much and changed our lives on more than one occasion. Through Mother Angelica, EWTN and Franciscan University of Steubenville we have received many graces, learned so much and deepened our discipleship of Christ.

During the ''Freshers' Week'' at Steubenville in September 2004, we were awarded a bright yellow t-shirt bearing the Franciscan logo in green letters. This was given to us because we had travelled the furthest to get to the campus that semester. As I was given the t-shirt on the platform, I was asked to say a few words at the microphone. I basically said what I want to say now: ''If it were not for Mother Angelica, we would not be where we are today... Mother Angelica, you have given us so much. We want to thank you. May God bless Mother Angelica!''

To which we will only add: Eternal rest grant unto her dear Lord; and let perpetual light shine upon her; and may she rest in peace. Amen.

Ah, God bless you, Mother!

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Christus Resurrexit - Alleluia! A Blessed Easter to All Our Readers!

Torch of The Faith News on Sunday 27 March 2016 - 11:06:33 | by admin

The Resurrection of Jesus took place during the Jewish festival called Pasch, which commemorated the preservation of the Jewish people in the passage of the Red Sea. The Resurrection of Christ was the fulfilment of all the prophecies and promises of the Old Testament. It was the triumph of Christ, the proof of His divinity and doctrine.

It is the central point of the Catholic Faith and of the liturgical system of the Church. Easter is the oldest and most solemn feast of the Christian year. The Church celebrates this feast of the triumph of Christ with the deepest joy: the Alleluia (praise be to God) is repeated after every Antiphon, Versicle and Response, to express her overflowing joy. The Paschal Candle is lit during Mass to signify that the Light of the World is with us.

There is also a secondary motive in the Easter liturgy: the Church celebrates with thankful joy the effect of Christ's Resurrection produced in her children through Baptism, which raises man from death in sin to the pledge of eternal life in Christ Jesus. The Church sees in those who are converted from the darkness of unbelief to the life of grace, the continuation and effect of the Resurrection. The first words of the Introit in the Traditional Latin Mass: ''I arose, and am still with you,'' addressed by Christ to the Church, are deep with spiritual meaning.

In this context, it was great to see that a gentleman was being received into the Catholic Church after the Solemn High Mass last night at the ICKSP Shrine Church of Ss Peter, Paul and Philomena in New Brighton. Please say a prayer for him. It was beautiful to be able to attend the liturgies of the Sacred Triduum there. We express our gratitude to the canons, the servers, the choir and to all who work so hard over there for God's glory. 

Expressing the Inexpressible

Although there are a number of splendid icons and beautiful paintings, it can be really hard to find a suitable image that expresses the mystery of the Resurrection of Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

In a sense this only confirms our faith, because the Resurrection is such a profound mystery that no mere creature could ever render it sufficiently. Indeed, this limitation in all artistic representations only serves to increase our wonder at the heights and depths of this great mystery.

That being said, we thought we would include this rather special alabaster carving of Christ rising victorious over the swooning bodies of the Roman guards on Easter morning! 

It is found in the subterranean crypt at Ripon Cathedral. Although this is now an Anglican cathedral, it was originally an ancient Catholic See. We travelled there in April 2012 to pray in the ancient crypt for the reconversion of England to the True Faith.

Much of Ripon Cathedral dates back to the 12th-Century. However, the crypt is much older and dates to the time of the great St. Wilfrid.

He had been on pilgrimage to Rome and brought back with him Roman traditions in architecture, art and music. St. Wilfrid gave a speech at the Synod of Whitby (663 - 664 A.D.) to defend the Roman method of calculating the date of Easter. 

St. Wilfrid was one of the first English bishops to bring relics of saints back from Rome for veneration. He established the crypt at Ripon, (and another up at Hexham), to keep these relics safe. The crypts are thought to be modelled on Christ's Tomb in the Holy Land, where He was laid prior to the Resurrection.

During the 14th-Century, the tomb of St. Wilfrid was embellished with the above alabaster carving. In a sense, it has had a burial and resurrection of its own: in the days of the revolution known as the Reformation, the carving was hidden to protect it from iconoclastic destruction. It was only rediscovered, beneath the Dean's Stall, in the 1800's. Today, the carving is again mounted on the wall in the ancient crypt.  During our visit of 2012, we were able to pray before the image for the reconversion of England.

We like this image so much because its artistic symbolism and interesting history convey the fact that empires come and go; but the Risen Lord Jesus Christ is.

We also think there is something quite fun and lighthearted about its expression of Easter joy!

The Word of God

We conclude with the Gospel from last night's Solemn High Mass. It is taken from chapter 28 of St. Matthew's Gospel.

And in the end of the sabbath, when it began to dawn towards the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, to see the sepulchre. And behold there was a great earthquake. For an angel of the Lord descended from Heaven, and coming, rolled back the stone, and sat upon it; and his countenance was as lightning; and his raiment as snow. And for fear of him the guards were struck with terror, and became as dead men. 

And the angel answering, said to the women: Fear not you: for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for He is risen, as He said. Come and see the place where the Lord was laid. And going quickly, tell ye His disciples that He is risen: and behold He will go before you into Galilee: there you shall see Him: Lo, I have foretold it to you.

Christus Resurrexit - Alleluia!

We wish every grace and blessing in the Risen Lord Jesus to all our readers!

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Easter Vigil and Solemn High Mass

Torch of The Faith News on Saturday 26 March 2016 - 18:00:36 | by admin

The approach of the Easter Vigil and Solemn High Mass gradually begins to fill the faithful with joyful expectation as Holy Saturday progresses.

The Traditional Latin Missal teaches that, to understand these sacred ceremonies, we need to recall their continuity with those of the first Christian centuries. 

In the earliest times, the Church observed Holy Saturday as a period of deep mourning and fasting in honour of Our Lord, laid in the Tomb. Towards evening, the catechumens assembled for their final scrutiny. Those who passed it successfully were exorcised and went through the ceremonies of the opening of the ears, renunciation of Satan and recitation of the Credo.

At sunset, the faithful gathered in the church for the blessing of the fire and of the candle that would light the church during the night. From the 4th-Century, the ceremony of the blessing of the candle was instituted as an evening offering to God. This spread widely in the East and in the churches of Spain and Gaul. This ceremony survives in the Roman Liturgy in the Paschal Vigil. The candle is a symbol of Christ, the Light of the World.

Then the long hours of the night were occupied with readings from the Sacred Scriptures, chants and prayers. The lessons and chants particularly focused on the catechumens and provided the outline of Salvation History.

As dawn was appearing, the lessons concluded and the priest proceeded to the blessing of the font. Baptism was then solemnly administered in the Baptistry. Meanwhile, the greater part of the clergy and the congregation, who had remained in the main body of the church, sang the solemn litany which brought the vigil to an end by imploring the mercy of God and the intercession of the court of Heaven for all their needs.

It was now Easter morning. Christ had risen! The newly baptized entered the church in their white robes, the sacred ministers put on white vestments and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass for Easter day began.

When we attend the Easter Vigil, we are continuing the sacred practices begun in ancient times to celebrate and enter into the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ. The Sacred Liturgy helps us to enter into Christ's saving mysteries and to receive the graces and fruits which He bestows. The continuity with ancient times is particularly marked in the majestic splendour of the Traditional ritual.

Indeed, the Traditional Missal includes an explicit invitation to all who follow tonight's ceremonies to unite themselves with the spirit of the Christians of the first centuries of fervour and faith. We must remember that, as they are again for many Christians in the world today, those were times when the Church was being persecuted and driven underground. For the earliest Christians, Baptism frequently preceded martyrdom. The sufferings and the joys of the first Christians were equally intense.

As we noted last Easter, every time that we have celebrated the Easter Vigil in recent years, the surrounding culture seems to have slipped even further into new lows of immorality and nihilism since the previous Easter. It is the same again this year. Indeed, even the human element of the Church seems to be crumbling at a faster rate at this time.

However, as we also concluded last Holy Saturday, the Easter Vigil will take us from the darkness of death to the light of Resurrection in Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ!

Dear readers, let us pray that the joy of the Risen Christ, the prayers of Our Blessed Lady and the witness of the early martyrs - and those of our own times - will strengthen, console and preserve us throughout our earthly sojourn.

We pray that all of our readers will have a blessed Holy Saturday 2016

Keep the Faith!

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