Advent Series - December 17

JMJ

December 17

Yesterday we talked about how God took Elias up in a fiery chariot.

Eliseus (Elisha) succeeded Elias around the year 850 B.C. By God’s power, Eliseus raised a boy to life and multiplied food to feed the hungry. Eliseus sent the general Naaman, to wash 7 times in the river Jordan, and Naaman was cured of his leprosy.

King Achab and Queen Jezebel were still living at that time. They were the 2 worst rulers in Israel. They both came to a bitter end. Achab was shot with an arrow in battle and Jezebel was thrown out of a window.

Jehu became king of Israel. King Jehu killed all the sons of Achab, and cut off their heads.
King Jehu also killed all the followers of the idol Baal. However, King Jehu did not get rid of the golden calves at Bethel and Dan, which had been set up by the first king of Israel to keep the people from going to Jerusalem to offer sacrifice. (4 Kings 10)

About this time, around the year 770 B.C. God told the prophet Jonas to go to the people of Ninive, and preach to them. Ninive was the capital of Assyria. Jonas did not want to go because the Assyrians were the enemies of Israel, but being afraid of God (because he was not obeying His command), Jonas got on a ship headed in the opposite direction.

God sent a great storm and the ship was in danger of sinking. Jonas knew that the storm was on account of his disobedience. He told the sailors to toss him overboard, and when they did the sea became calm.

God caused a great fish to swallow Jonas. And Jonas was in the belly of the fish 3 days.

(Our Lord said that Jonas in the fish was a symbol of the 3 days He would spend in the tomb before He rose again.)

After 3 days, the fish spat Jonas out onto dry land, and God told Jonas again to go to Ninive. This time Jonas obeyed. Jonas told the people of Ninive that because of their wickedness, God would destroy their city in 40 days. Now Ninive was a large city with more than 120 000 people. When they heard Jonas message, everyone did penance, fasting and wearing sackcloth and ashes and praying to God, so that after 40 days, God had mercy on them.

Incidentally, there is something special about the number 40;

1) During the world wide flood it rained for 40 days and 40 nights and thus cleansed the earth.
2) Moses spent 40 days and 40 nights on Mount Sinai when God gave the 10 Commandments
3) The Israelites had to wander in the desert for 40 years before they entered the Promised Land
4) Elias is given bread by an angel and walked 40 days and nights to Mount Horeb
5) Jonas was sent to tell the people of Ninive that God would destroy them in 40 days, but because they did penance, God spared them
6) Our Lord fasted and prayed 40 days in the desert before beginning His public ministry
7) And so it is fitting that the Church asks us that we do penance every year for 40 days during lent

In the meantime, the kingdom of Israel was still worshiping idols; the golden calves at Bethel and Dan. For many years God had sent prophets to lead them back, but they kept falling into idolatry. Finally God had enough. In 722 B.C., just 50 years after Jonas preached to Ninive, God allowed the Assyrians to take over the kingdom of Israel. The people were dispersed and became known as the “Lost Tribes of Israel”.

After that the only 2 remaining tribes were the tribe of Benjamin and the tribe of Judea in the kingdom of Judea in the south.

The time of Our Lord’s coming is getting nearer.

Today, the Church begins the 7 Great Antiphons or “O Antiphons” in her Divine Office. These are very old parts of the liturgy. They are solemn prayers, calling on the Savior to come. Each antiphon begins with a different title of Our Lord.

The 7 “O Antiphons” are named after the first 2 words which begins each prayer:

O Sapientia (O Wisdom)
O Adonai (O Leader)
O Radix Jesse (O Root of Jesse)
O Clavis David (O Key of David)
O Oriens (O Orient)
O Rex Gentium (O King of Gentiles)
O Emmanuel (O God With Us)

It is interesting to note that the first letter of each antiphon from bottom to top spells “ERO CRAS”.
This means “I will be tomorrow” or “I will come tomorrow”!

The O Antiphon for today is “O Sapientia”

“O Wisdom, who comest out of the mouth of the Most High, reaching from end to end, and ordering all things mightily and sweetly: come and teach us the way of prudence.”

Jesus is the Word of God, proceeding from the Father from all eternity.

The Catholic Church and the Rule of Law- Part II: Dr. John Lamont

+ JMJ This is the second article from Dr. Lamont from his lecture given in May 2014. P^3 Source Part A: Society of St. Hugh of Cluny Source Part B: Society of St. Hugh of Cluny 8 May2014 The Catholic Church and the Rule of Law- Part II By John Lamont To understand how the Jesuit conception of obedience departed from earlier conceptions, it is helpful to compare it with the teaching of St. Thomas on obedience. The fundamental difference between the two is that St. Thomas considers the proper object of obedience to be the precept of the superior (2a2ae q. 104 a. 2 co., ad 3). Obedience that seeks to forestall the expressed will of the superior does not bear on what the superior wants or thinks in general, but only on what the superior intends to command. St. Ignatius’s lowest degree of obedience, which he does not consider to be virtuous, is thus what St. Thomas considers to be the only form of obedience. St. Thomas holds that St. Ignatius’s alleged higher forms of o...

Open Letter to Cardinal Gantin - July 6, 1988

There has been some discussion (read lots) about the term 'Conciliar Church'. I have posted this letter written by the Superior General and District Superiors of the SSPX after the 1988 Consecrations. Of particular interest is that the 'Conciliar Church' being referred to as a system. My paraphrase would be that the SSPX regards the 'conciliar Church' as an error within the Church. Source Open Letter to Cardinal Gantin Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops

Morning and Evening and other sundry Prayers

+ JMJ Along the theme of P^3 (Prayer, Penance, Patience), and for my own reference ... here is a collection of Morning and Evening prayers from the Ideal Daily Missal along with some additional prayers. In this crisis of the Church, I do not think it is possible to do too much prayer, penance and have patience. P^3

Rome and the SSPX - Version 2026 Part 6b: Principles and Rules for Surviving this Crisis of the Catholic Church (Principle 1)

+ JMJ Principle 1: Realize that something is amiss in the Catholic Church The world in which I had my Traditional Awakening, is one in which practically anything pre-Conciliar such as liturgy, doctrinc, and even dogmas are either suppressed, ignored or re-framed to be acceptable to the ‘world’. What is more, the people adhering to these pre-conciliar teachings and liturgy are persecuted by other members of the Catholic Church. The things that non-Trads say about Trads can be quite extreme. For example, accusations against Traditionalists include that they are: A revival of the Jansenists (link) , Schismatics, Heretics, Uncharitable, Lefebrists Radicals Integrists When one group of Catholics is persecuted by the others for simply wanting to live as Catholics before them did for generations … well something is wrong. Further, we need to realize that when what was previously condemned is now promoted and what was previously promoted as the trut...

Forget the Reformation - It is time for Abrogation - Louie Verrecchio

Mr. Verrecchio has pointed out one solution to this crisis that is a dream of many Traditional Catholics of my acquaintance: The complete obliteration of the Novus Ordo Missae. If this were to occur, undoubtedly a revolt would occur within the Church, but the battle lines would be much clearer. I assume that a lot of material heretics would make the transition to being formal heretics. P^3 Prayer Penance Patience Courtesy of Louie Verrecchio A recent article by Fr. Thomas Kocik on the New Liturgical Movement website, Reforming the Irreformable? , is getting some well-deserved attention in traditional circles. (Do yourself a favor and read it in its entirety if you haven’t already.)

Tradicat

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