Thursday, March 5, 2009

Easygoing weakness of Catholics

Michael by Albrecht Durer

"In our time more than ever before the greatest asset of the evilly disposed is the cowardice and weakness of good men, and all the vigor of Satan's reign is due to the easygoing weakness of Catholics. Oh! If I might ask the divine Redeemer, as the prophet Zachary did in spirit: 'What are those wounds in the midst of Your hands?' the answer would not be doubtful. 'With these I was wounded in the house of those who did nothing to defend Me and who, on every occasion, made themselves the accomplices of My adversaries.' And this reproach can be levelled at the weak and timid Catholics of all countries." Pope St. Pius X (Beatification of Joan of Arc, December 13, 1908).
I grabbed this wondrous quote at La Salette Journey, go here for the complete post.
What a stark, and horrifying true statement of this time spoken in a time when the lawlessness of Mankind was not nearly as bad as today.

9 comments:

Paul Anthony Melanson said...

Sanctus, I commend you as I do Joan Fenno Grammel. Like the women who remained with Jesus beneath His Cross and did not desert Him, good Catholic women like you comfort the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of His Mother.

I love the image of St. Michael. I took his name at Confirmation because I wanted him as my guardian angel and patron. His name is really a question which formed his battle cry, "Who is like God?" This in response to Lucifer's

God love you,
Paulus

Micki said...

Hello SB,
Just had to comment on the unusualness of your holy card. At first I couldn't make out what it was.....imagine my surprise when I double-clicked to see it enlarged and magically there the print was something not seen on the post. How did that work? Very nice.

irene said...

Durer always is instructive.

However, please permit me to assert that the lawlessness of 1908 was every bit as great as the lawlessness of today. 1908 was part of the rampup to WWI, which killed a generation in Europe and Pius X himself, plus caused unimaginable agony for countless millions including Benedict XV.

Man has ever been thus, since Cain and Abel. We are not champions, only followers.

Sanctus Belle said...

Thank you Paul.
Micki - I've noticed with this image it shows up more or less depending on your individual computer screen. I can see it fine at work, looks like a mess from my home PC!
Irene - well said. I've done some reading on the state of Catholic parishes in European Christendom just prior to St. Francis and St. Dominic in the 1300's and it would seem they were in a worse state then than now.

Anonymous said...

The lawlessness of 1908 was every bit as great as the lawlessness of today? Really? So we had legalized abortion in 1908? Legalized homosexuality? Legalized same-sex "marriage"? Teens (and younger) in record numbers - an epidemic actually - engaging in sex, getting pregnant and sending pornographic pictures of themselves on the internet and cell phones? We had the same crime rate and the same percentage of adults and children using drugs in 1908 as we do today? We had television with 24 hour a day filth being broadcast to our children? We had a contraceptive mentality? The same divorce rate?

If you cannot acknowledge that society has really become worse since the 1960's, you are blind.

Michele said...

i have a spring flower posted for my readers on my blog:) drop by and view:) happy spring!

Cathy_of_Alex said...

Stewart: Different evils for different times but evil nonetheless.

Pope St. Pius X's writings never go out of style.

Anonymous said...

Our times are worse Cathy. Anyone with common sense can see that. Virtually every Catholic commentator has said so.

Stewart said...

I know some want to insist that "all is well" and some Catholics like Mr. Melanson are "alarmist." But his latest post would refute these accusations:
http://lasalettejourney.blogspot.
com/2009/04/for-unless-apostasy-comes-first.html