And he cometh to his disciples,and findeth them asleep, and he saith to Peter: What? Could you not watch one hour with me?
Matthew 26: 40
(This blog is dedicated to all priests in the present day crisis of CoVid-19 who are not sleeping in the Garden while Christ is in His Agony...
For the rest, let us remember it would be good to recall that even Peter, James and John were asleep in the Garden before Christ's betrayal...and even Peter denied him and the rest ran away... Let us pray for those who are acting like the Apostles in the Garden ...that they may finally receive the grace to stand at the Cross as St. John did with Mary...that they may run to her with profuse apologies and beg forgiveness for their betrayal and denial of Him who loved us so much that "He laid down his life")
Dear Friends,
Holy Week is here and most of us are without the benefit of participating in the Liturgical events of this week, much less of receiving the sacraments !
Of course, we must do our best to offer this to God in reparation for the sins of Mankind past, present and yes, even future for if ever the world needed people doing penance for them it is now!
Of course, many of us may be disheartened and discouraged by such events especially when we have not heard any bishop here in the USA stand up for our religious freedoms not even stating that the rights of the dying to receive the Last Rites is imperative to the life of souls- for perhaps many may die in the state of despair because of the nature of this disease and not receiving the consolations that the Church has at one time provided for us.
Corona virus facts state that once a person gets sick the average time for a person to die is 2 WEEKS from the time of onset!!! Of course not everyone dies, but for those of us who are older and /or have compromised immune systems with chronic health problems, this situation poses some serious considerations!
For myself, who fought with Lyme disease and has Hashimoto's thyroid disease, well, it is something that has hit the core of my spiritual consciousness! I have a tendency to be a "doer" instead of a "thinker" though I am constantly thinking...perhaps it would be better to say that I do not have a "contemplative" nature. I pray that God does not hold that against me, for to be certain, I am more like Martha than Magdalene! And for the good of my soul, I had better change that!
Anyway, I digressed a little... The fact is that it has given me ample time to think about "my end" and want to "prepare" so to speak....
I don't know why the good bishops of the world are not feeling the same way unless they have been lulled to sleep by Modernism and perhaps it is just that!
But I don't want to focus on them as we are all probably feeling the emptiness and despair of a lack of leadership now more than ever.
Instead I wanted to focus on the good priests who are providing sustenance to their sheep and want to sacrifice and risk their safety and comfort and yes, perhaps even lay down their life for their sheep, if they must!
In this blog, one can see below a letter written by a good faithful priest who wishes to sacrifice himself for his flock! I have heard via other devotees of Our Lady of Good Success about other priests doing the same!
God bless and keep them safe always!
Please read the following of faithful priests [N.B. the names of priests and persons and places have been left out to protect them. The quotes from the priests run to the end with "God bless you"]:
"Dear friends of ….,
this email is to tell you that I have the firm intention to cross …. after Easter to bring you the Mass and sacraments. That I will do it discreetly or not, by roads or by fields, I do not know, but I have no intention whatsoever to leave you without Mass for months.
I am looking at different solutions, and I think it is very much doable.I need to stay in … until after Easter to be able to do the ceremonies of Holy Week, but when this is done, I will try to sneak out without being put on Quarantine."
******************************
"Another email:
This email was sent to one Faithful who expressed concerns about me putting
myself in danger in the future by trying to reach people. I do thank this person for his concern, but wanted to express to everyone my mindset in the present situation.
Please continue praying for me for the guidance of the Holy Ghost in order to avoid imprudence but also unjustified fear. Decisions I have to make right now are difficult ones, as you can understand."
"Hello N.,
thanks for your email.
I am not surprised to read the article of this epidemiologist spreading fear. All the mainstream medias are pushing together in the same direction as if we were living through the black plague, when the number of death for this coronavirus, big in itself, is nothing when we put it in perspective, not even as big as regular seasonal flu for now. Experts that are not mainstream are explaining this very well. Look it up by yourself...
Is it worth destroying the life of billions of people for 50 000 old people who are dying in the world and are threatened by any virus anyway, not only coronavirus?
Not even one person has died in..., but businesses will go bankrupt, the wholepopulation is denied their basic constitutional rights, such as the right to gather, the right to worship God, etc.
We are told to consider all other people as a potential threat. Is there anything Christian in this? It is paganism and evil paganism. Unheard of till now.
An example : a couple days ago, the Journal...had as a title : ..., then proceeding to explain that two policemen in downtown ...came to help a man who was presenting symptoms of coronavirus. I do not see any horror in this. It happens every day! The politic of fear to bring people to accept anything, such as being watched by drones, being denied the right to use cash, etc.
That is just an example...
You have to understand that it is the economic system as a whole that is the target here. Bring nations on their knees to enslave them. Laws are going to be implemented more and more in the sense of the New World Order, vaccines will be forced on people and, eventually, the microchip.
When we look at the way the population reacts to a little virus, we see that they are going to beg to be enslaved. All that matters to men today is their material life. «Who wants to save his life will lose it. Who wants to lose it will save it.» Let us not enter this mindset, it is a pagan one, not a Christian one.
All priests, in ... I speak to, are convinced that this is a big hoax. Yes, there might be a virus, but the measures taken are way beyond anything reasonable. These priests disobey the laws as much as they can to provide the sacraments to the Faithful. Because there is a question of Faith here : Religious gatherings have been declared non-essential services everywhere with the consent of the Novus Ordo and many traditionalists as well.
I am sorry, Faith is more than Nature, Grace is more than Food. Man does not live by bread alone.
Francis, the heretic of Rome, has prohibited any public celebration of Holy Week in the world. Never seen in the whole history of the Church! I think we have a duty to resist these evil laws, which does not exclude prudence, obviously, and I thank your for your concern for your priest. I know you are of good will.
But the way things are going, they seem to be indicating everywhere that these measures not even seen in any communist regimes of the past, imposed upon us in the name of fear, are going to be maintained for many months.
I, as the shepherd of a flock, am in the obligation to do everything I can to bring absolution and Holy Communion to the flock entrusted to my care.
I cannot but make a link between the intentional burning of Notre-Dame-de-Paris last year during Holy Week and the prohibition of any public worship a year later. These evil people have the habit to offer sacrifices to the Devil a certain time before making their steps forward.
I will be prudent, as much as I can. But you have to understand that the more things will unfold, the more we Christians are going to be forced to act against evil laws implemented against us... This is nothing compared to what is coming, and yes, we might end up in jail one day.
Not willing to go before time to jail, obviously, but it is coming, we know it.
To finish, here is a transcript of a message send by Father ..., the only priest in ... who is fighting to keep the Mass available to the Faithful:"
REPORT OF THE SECOND VISIT OF THE POLICE
"This morning at about 9.15am two police men arrived at the Priory. I was working in a field. They asked if there was anything going on today and I said: “Like what?”. “Mass” they answered. I obviously said that there was Mass and they said that it was not possible. We went down to the chapel to talk. They said that it was not allowed to have Mass with people, I talkedabout the visit that we had last week from our local police officer and they said that the law has changed since...
They explained that for the moment they do not have power to enforce this recommendations from the government, but that soon they will have the power. I said: “Are you going to lock the church?” “Yes” they said. “We are not in the penal times!” I answered. They were a bit ashamed.
I said that I understand about the Mass, but I asked if people could visit the chapel and they said “NO”. “CHURCH IS NOT AN ESSENTIAL SERVICE”, they said. People could catch the virus just by sitting in the pews, touching things... This is what they said.
So I answered that the same could be said about Supermarkets, “They are essential services”, was their answer.
So I said if I could go around visiting sick people. At first they were against the idea and they tried to say that it was not an essential service. They said to check the Government website (they knew perfectly that Priests are still allowed to go around). I insisted saying that people are still sick and still die and that they want the Priest. “Do you really want people die without the Priest, without the Sacraments?” I asked. They said that they understand my point of view and the fact that for me the Sacraments are more important than anything else. They suggested to use gloves, mask... Very kindly they sad that we all need to make efforts for two weeks to avoid the spreading of this virus.
I asked them how many people were infected in the area (surely if it is so dangerous we should know how many are in hospital for it, coming from this area). They said that they did not know, they are not told. And, listen to this, they said that in fact it did not matter, because we have to act as if EVERYONE IS INFECTED.
My dear people, think what you want to think about this all story. The facts are clear, 1) CHURCH IS NOT ESSENTIAL, 2) EVERYONE HAS TO BE TREATED AS A THREAT
(especially if you do not think as you should). I believe that to accept or simply to willfully follow the reasoning according to which Church is not essential (church really meaning Religion) is a clear error and an offence to God. I will not accept it or act as if I was accepting it."
UPDATE (still from the priest)
"As I said before it is becoming really a matter of Faith, so I decided to talk to the police again. We went to ... The police man, after having heard our case, and my request to know if in fact people are by law forbidden to enter a church told me that he could not answer and that I should have spoken again to the police men from ..., those who came this morning. All this is very strange I told him, there must be a law, how can something so important depend on this or that police man? NO ANSWER. Instead of ... I decided to go to ... to the main police station, they must know there. L. came with me as witness. I talk to the police there. The answer: HONESTLY WE DO NOT KNOW. WE DEPEND ON WHAT WE ARE TOLD BY THE HSE. There is no law. I said: What about 4 people at the time keeping distance? The answer was: I CAN TELL YOU THAT WE ARE NOT GOING TO ARREST YOU BECAUSE YOU HAD PEOPLE PRAYING IN YOUR CHURCH. What about the people? I said. WE ARE NOT GOING TO ARREST THEM. So people can still come to the church and pray there, if they want Confession it will be available, the same for Holy Communion. By the way as I said we went to …,... and back to ..., we have never been stopped. In any case by their own admission they still do not have the powers toenforce the new requirements. As last reflection, knowing that these powers will soon arrive should not we see people running to the Masses and Sacraments as they run to MacDonald's when it was announced that it would have closed. I am not talking just about novus ordopeople, but alas also about traditional catholics...
Dear N., I hope there is nothing offensive in this email. I just wanted to express my view on this whole saga. The Lord is with us and will accompany us all along the way of the Cross that we will have to walk. I hope everything come back to «normal» (if we can call normal this modern world), as soon as possible, but we have to be ready for things never to come back to what they were.
I promise to do everything to be as prudent as I can, but not to be coward, because I do not want to displease God in order to comply with tyrannical human laws. We have a right to worship God and receive the sacraments.
I will send this email to others, in order to avoid having to write the same things to others who have also expressed some concern. I know you care for me, this is why you are concerned, but I, as a priest, have to care for souls before anything else.
God bless you!"
What beautiful testimonies of a "TRUE ALTER CHRISTUS"!!!!
In closing, we at the Apostolate thank you for all of your assistance over the years! We have had to put the Holy Face Protection Cross order on hold because the company was shut down as it is non-essential work! So we may not have them for awhile. Right now we are focusing on getting some long overdue bills paid off...
How absolutely contrary to our Faith, this entire situation is if one is to think about the reality of WHY WE WERE PUT HERE IN THE FIRST PLACE! It is a rudimentary Catechism question:
Why did God make us?
To show forth His Goodness and share with us His Everlasting Happiness in Heaven!
Therefore, this is the Crux of this whole world situation....
"The Powers that be" believe: Man has become God...
And Man's Goal therefore is no longer to spend Heaven with God but to make a Heaven here on earth without God!
A Freemasonic viewpoint if ever there was one!
So dear friends , we have been quiet in this period. We have no idea how long we will be able to devote our time to this work.
We hope and pray that we have helped our fellow Catholics and Christians to find Christ, the true Church and devotion to Our Lady! Right now, the true Church is alive and well in the Catacombs of our hearts and family life!
If ever we had an opportunity to spiritually place ourselves in the Garden with Our Lord and walk the Way of the Cross and stand with Our Lady and St John and the foot of the Cross, it is right now during Holy Week and this Paschal Season. We must stand at the crucifixion of the Church until we will see Her rise gloriously from the tomb....whenever that may be!
If you do not hear from us again, know that you are all in our thoughts and prayers this Easter and forever!
We ask for your prayers and again we thank you for your generous support to keep us going over the 20 yrs that we have worked!
If you care to donate to us and assist us in reaching our goal in paying off our printing bills, we will definitely send you a Holy Face Protection Cross when they are available!
Hopefully, you will hear from us again soon! Right now we will try to focus on a weekly email article to help us get through these times!
A Blessed Holy Week and Easter to you all!
The Apostolate of Our Lady of Good Success