Do Not Treat God Commonly

By Richard Salbato


[Note: This is a short version of the article.]

A few months back a priest came to Fatima and called me up for a meeting. He said that he came to Fatima to learn how to improve his parish and make people more prayerful, more Catholic and more interested in the life of the parish. He seemed frustrated. But to me the answer was simple because I have seen it happen over and over in many parishes. I told him that all he had to do was not treat God commonly and his parish would thrive. He did not seem to know what I meant by this so I went on to explain in three hours of conversation. It is not any great wisdom on my part but simply my observations of parishes and priests where this was done properly and where the results were more than amazing but even miraculous.

One such example is Father Sweeney who was given a small Vietnamese parish in Santa Clara, California. The problem with the parish was that most of the homes around it were torn down to build factories, office buildings, and freeways. The total amount of actual families that lived within the parish limits was very small and going downhill every day. Father Sweeney was a terrible speaker and bored most people who listened to him and he was not that charismatic face to face. But Father built that parish up from two priests and a half full church on Sunday to 10 priests, and 10 Sunday Masses overfilled to the outside to the point that television cameras were placed outside to show the Mass to those who could not get inside. Daily Masses went from two or three people to hundreds of people. Confessions went from three of four a week to thousands per week and four or five confessors at each Sunday Mass and Confessors even at daily Mass. In fact Father Sweeney became so successful that he build a 50 foot tall statue of Our Lady so that three freeways could see Her and a large two story center for religious education of children and adults. What did this priest do? It was not his preaching - he was not good. It was not his personality - he would at times be boring. In fact, it was not what he did but what he did not do. Because of his love and understanding of who God is, Father did not treat God commonly and did not let anyone else treat God commonly either.

When Father came into the Church he knelt down in front of the tabernacle with profound respect and not just a quick genuflection but with profound thought of who was in that Tabernacle. When he said Mass it was as if he was face to face with God in Heaven. When he held up the Eucharist it was as if he was holding the Christ Child, given to him by Our Lady.

In spite of the great disadvantages for proper respect in the Novus Ordo Mass, Father continued to have an Altar Rail and everyone continued to kneel at the Altar Rail for communion. No one and I mean no one ever went behind the Altar Rail except priests and Altar-BOYS. When it was time to pass out communion (no matter who was saying Mass) from one to five priests would come into the church and pass out communion and only at the Altar Rail and not to anyone standing. To show the importance of the Mass, Father had from 4 to 10 altar-boys at all times even in daily Masses.

Never was Father disobedient to the liberal bishops over him. How then was he able to do what many other priests would like to do? It is simple! Father knew the laws of his Church and knew them well. There are things a bishop can recommend to a priest but when it comes to the Mass the guidelines from Rome are very plain and set in stone.

No bishop can force the removal of an Altar Rail and no bishop can force Altar-girls and no bishop can force Extraordinary Ministers. It is not in his authority. Authority has limits in every walk of life. Parents have authority but not over life. Kings and Presidents have authority but not over freedom. Judges and police have authority but not over justice.

Treating God commonly destroys faith and religion. We will believe and have faith in the same extent in our mind as we treat God. If we treat Him as if he was no different from anyone else sitting next to us, we will end up believing Him to be no different from any other person. Having a personal relationship with God can be good if we keep it within the limits of respect, but if we try to bring him down to our level He will not be there for us.

The Angel of Fatima

Is this respect and worship of God really necessary? After all we are in a new age where children come home from school without even greeting their own mother but just running in and out without a thought of her.

In Revelation or Apocalypse 4 we are given a glimpse of the Throne of God (metaphorically) and the chapter not only shows the majesty and beauty of God but somewhat overwhelming and then we read that all fell down and worships Him and adored Him (Rev. 4:9-10) who is worthy of glory and honor (Rev. 4:11) and then again before the Lamb standing as it were slain (Rev. 4:6) everyone fell down and worshiped singing and praising and honoring the Lamb saying "—benediction and honor and glory and power forever". And all fell down on their faces and adored Him that liveth forever and ever. (Rev. 4:14)

This, my friend, is the Mass as it is co-celebrated in Heaven as we celebrate it on earth. If we could see what happens around that priest at Mass we would see this description in Revelation 4. As we stand or sit or talk or walk around, what are the saints and angels of heaven doing? They are doing the same thing the Angel of Fatima did.

In 1916 an Angel appeared to the three children of Fatima with a Chalice and Host above it dripping blood into the Chalice. Giving example to the children the angel worshiped God in the Eucharist by kneeling and then bowing down with his face in the earth and taught them a prayer that I do not need to repeat here. But the prayer was for all of us that disrespect God in the Eucharist with irreverence -- and irreverence is an outrage to God, and irreverence is a sacrilege to God, and irreverence is the great sin of indifference to God.

Before the apparition of the Angel of Fatima, Lucia, as always was picked to throw flower peddles in front of the procession of The Blessed Sacrament - the Eucharistic Procession. Jacinta, who was just a little child, asked why she does this. Lucia told her that the Child Jesus was there on that platform and that was how we honored Him. Jacinta wanted to honor the Child Jesus also in the way so she pleaded to be one of the girls to throw the flower peddles. But when they marched in the Eucharistic Procession Jacinta just looked and looked at the Monstrance with the Host in it and never threw any flower peddles. After the procession Lucia asked her why she did not throw the flowers and Jacinta said that she looked and looked but did not see the Child Jesus. It was from that point on after Lucia explained to her that Jacinta referred to the Eucharist as the "Hidden Jesus".

He is hidden from our eyes because our eyes could not handle the sight of God, but when we look upon the Host, the Eucharist we are seeing God. God is not inside the Host, God is the Host. When we see the Host we see God. God can take on any form He wants to and when He takes on the form of a Host, it is truly God that we are looking at, not symbolic, nor representing, not a type, but the real and only God.

Not Just God but God Crucified

Christ only asked us to remember one thing, His death, And so in the Catholic Church the altar of sacrifice, and not the pulpit or the choir or the organ, is the center of worship, for there is re-enacted the memorial of His Passion.

Its value does not depend on him who says it, or on him who hears it; it depends on Him who is the One High Priest and Victim, Jesus Christ our Lord. With Him we are united, in spite of our nothingness; in a certain sense, we lose our individuality for the time being; we unite our intellect and our will, our heart and our soul, our body and our blood, so intimately with Christ, that the Heavenly Father sees not so much us with our imperfection, but rather sees us , the Beloved Son in whom He is well pleased.

The Mass is for that reason the greatest event in the history of mankind; the only Holy Act which keeps the wrath of God from a sinful world, because it holds the Cross between heaven and earth.

What is important at this point is that we take the proper mental attitude toward the Mass, and remember this important fact, that the Sacrifice of the Cross is not something which happened nineteen hundred years ago. It is still happening. We were not conscious of being present there on Calvary that day, but He was conscious of our presence. Blood like falling stars is still dropping upon our souls.

Calvary is renewed, re-enacted, re-presented, as we have seen, in the Mass. Calvary is one with the Mass, and the Mass is one with Calvary, for in both there is the same Priest and Victim.

On the Cross the Savior was alone; in the Mass He is with us.

The Mass then is the communication of the Sacrifice of Calvary to us under the species of bread and wine.

He willed to give us the very life we slew; to give us the very Food we destroyed; to nourish us with the very Bread we buried, and the very Blood we poured forth… He turned a Crucifixion into Redemption; a Consecration into a Communion; a death into life everlasting.

Two Commandments

There are really only two commandments, two stones, but these are not suggestions, these are the only way to heaven. When asked how to get to heaven Christ said "Keep the Commandments." The first commandment is divided into three sections and the second commandment is divided into seven sections. The first is first because it is the most important and it is how to relate to God. It can be summed up in "Do not treat God commonly". The second commandment might be summed up as "Do not treat anything God created badly." Do not mistreat God and do not mistreat anything God created in Heaven or on Earth.

God deserves worship and honor and He, not us, told us how to worship throughout the entire bible from the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden, to the symbolic sacrificed lambs, to the Last Supper, to the Crucifixion, and to the Heavenly Mass in Revelation. "Blessed are they that wash their robes in the blood of the Lamb, that they may have the right to the Tree of Life." (Rev. 22:14) The tree of life is the Mass.

Choices of Worship

The Holy Father has given many directions on devotion to God in the Eucharist and has even said that this is the heart and summit of the Church and the fountain of all grace. He has asked for Perpetual Adoration and stressed its importance. He has not made this year the year of the Eucharist. What should we do? We can follow along with the rest of the crowd so that we do not look out of place and if they are not respectful, we can say that we are just doing what everyone else is doing. We can choose receiving communion in the hand, that is our right, or we can do the better thing and treat God without disrespect. We can choose to receive God standing, that is our right, or we can choose the less disrespectful way, kneeling, as that is also our right. As you can see from above there is a wrong way to worship and a right way. Someday the right way will be the only way but for now you have a choice between the right way and a lesser than right way.

My feeling is that the way we worship God is a direct outward sign of our love for Him. Treat Him commonly and how should He treat you? Treat Him reverently and with fear and trembling and even if your sins are as great as mountains God will forgive you.

The Heresy of Pluralism [& Indifferentism]

By Richard Salbato


[Note: This is a short version of the article.]

In the documents of Vatican II under the Decree on Ecumenism we read, “Every effort to avoid expressions, judgments and actions which do not represent the condition of our separated brethren with truth and fairness and so make mutual relations with them more difficult. (should be avoided).  … The results will be that, little by little, the obstacles to ecclesiastical communion are overcome, all Christians will be gathered, in a common celebration of the Eucharist, into the unity of the one and ONLY Church, which Christ bestowed on His Church from the beginning.  This unity, be believe, subsists in the Catholic Church as something she can never lose, and we hope that it will continue to increase until the end of time.”

CATHOLIC PRINCIPLES OF ECUMENISM No. 4

It is the very change in language that has caused the ultra-Traditionalist to reject Vatican II, and the ultra-liberal to fall into indifferentism, or pluralism. Changing the language from heretic to separated brethren and from the rejection of essential truths to holding to some truths angered Traditionalists and confused liberals.  Nothing changed except the language and this only to enter into a dialogue that could bring those who left back to the faith.  I use the same method when evangelizing.  I do not walk up and say you are a heretic and going to hell.  I say you and I hold to some truths that are the same, and some that are different.  The truth is that no doctrine has ever changed and doctrine cannot change, as is stated by Pope Benedict XV.

Pope Benedict XV, “Codex Iuris Canonici” (1917) The year of Fatima:

“Our Lord Jesus Christ entrusted the deposit of faith to the Church, that under the constant guidance and assistance of the Holy Spirit, she might sacredly guard and faithfully explain this divine revelation. (c. 1322).”

“The Church guards and explains this deposit of faith. She does not add to it, for it was completed and closed with the death of the last Apostle, Saint John. To guard means to keep and defend; in doing this the Church must sometimes declare truths which are not contained in revelation but which are necessary to keep revealed truth. To explain means to make clear what is obscure. The so-called developments of doctrine through dogmatic definitions may be compared to the sharpening of the focus on a film which is projected on a screen. The details which become discernible with clear focus are not new; they were all in the original picture, but they are now brought out more clearly.”

“All those truths must be believed fide divina et catholica, which are contained in the written word of God or in tradition and which the Church proposes for acceptance as revealed by God, either by solemn definition or through her ordinary and universal teaching. To pronounce a solemn definition is the part of an Ecumenical Council or of the Roman Pontiff speaking ex cathedra. No doctrine is to be considered as dogmatically defined unless this is evidently proved (c. 1323).”

“It is not enough to avoid heresy, but one must also carefully shun all errors which more or less approach it; hence all must observe the constitutions and decrees by which the Holy See has proscribed and forbidden opinions of that sort (c. 1324).”

“One who after baptism, while remaining nominally a Christian, pertinaciously (that is, with conscious and intentional resistance to the authority of God and the Church) denies or doubts any one of the truths which must be believed de fide divina et catholica, is a heretic; if he falls away entirely from the Christian faith, he is an apostate; finally if he rejects the authority of the Supreme Pontiff or refuses communion with the members of the Church who are subject to him, he is a schismatic (c. 1325, §2).”

Since, as I believe and the Church teaches, Vatican II could not change any doctrine of the Church, we must look at these old doctrines of the faith that we must believe in the light of Ecumenical language used to draw people into the church in a loving way but which do not take away from the deposit of faith that we must believe.

Pluralism is a Masonic and Charismatic belief that states all religions are the same in the eyes of God. Catholic Doctrine states that  “except for invincible ignorance, there is no salvation outside the Catholic Church.” Anyone who says that any other religion is not  “against the word of God”  is a heretic.

Fourth Lateran Council 1215 AD (ex cathedra):  “There is but one universal Church of the faithful, outside of which no one can be saved.”

Unam Sanctam 1302 (ex cathedra):  “We declare, say, define, and pronounce that it is absolutely necessary for the salvation of every human creature to be subject to the Roman Pontiff.”

Cantate Domino 1441 (ex cathedra):  “The Most Holy Roman Church firmly believes, professes, and preaches that none of those existing outside the Catholic Church, not only pagans, but also Jews and heretics and schismatics, can have a share in life eternal; but they will go into the eternal fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels. Unless before death they are joined with her; and that so important is THE UNITY OF THIS ECCLESIASTICAL BODY that only those remaining within this UNITY can profit by the sacraments of the church unto salvation ... NO ONE, let his almsgiving be as great as it may, NO ONE, even if he pour out his blood for the name of Christ, can be saved, unless he remain within the bosom and the UNITY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.”

The same has been expressed in Vatican II, and can be found in 1 Tim. 2:4, Acts 4:12, Gal. 1:8, Tit. 3:10, 2 John 10, St. Ireneaus, St. Cyprian, St. Jerome, St. Augustine, St. Fulgentius and St. John of the Cross.  Nonetheless, Vatican II does express that non-Catholics (Protestants, Orthodox, Jews and Moslems) do have some truths and do have some good signs of charity.  But Vatican II does not say that for that reason they will be saved or are roads to salvation.  No where does Vatican II express salvation outside the Church except as she has always taught, through baptism of desire or blood.  Consider what Pope Pius XI says about the outward signs of holiness and faith.

Pope Pius XI (1922-1939), “On The Promotion of True Religious Unity” (Mortalium Animos, January 6, 1928):

“When the question of promoting unity among Christians is under consideration many are easily deceived by the semblance of good. ... Yet beneath the coaxing words there is concealed an error so great that it would destroy utterly the foundations of the Catholic Faith.”

“They, therefore, who profess themselves Christians cannot, we think, but believe in Christ's establishment of one Church and only one. Yet when one asks what that Church by the will of its Founder ought to be, then not all agree. Indeed a great many deny, for example, that Christ's Church ought to be visible - at least in the sense that it should stand forth as one body of faithful united in one identical doctrine and under one authority and rule. On the contrary, by a visible Church they understand nothing but a society formed by various Christian communities, even though these adhere to different and even mutually contradictory doctrines.” 

“And here there is presented the opportunity to set forth and remove a falsity upon which, it seems, this whole question hinges, and from which is drawn the multiple effort of the non-Christians who strive, as We have said, for the confederation of the Christian churches.” 

“The authors of this plan are in the habit of quoting the words of Christ: That ye all may be one. ... There shall be one fold and one shepherd, (John 17, 21; 10, 16), yet in the sense that these words express a desire and a prayer of Jesus Christ which thus far has lacked all effect. They contend that the unity of faith and governance which is the sign of the true and one Church of Christ, has almost never existed up to this time, and does not exist today; that it can be wished for and perhaps sometime be obtained through common submission of the will, but meanwhile it must be considered a fiction.” 

“They say, moreover, that the Church by its very nature is divided into parts; that it consists of many churches or particular communities which are separated among themselves and, although they have certain points of doctrine in common, differ in others; and that at most the Church was the one Church and only Church between the Apostolic Era and the first Ecumenical Councils.” 

“Therefore, they say, the controversies and old differences of opinion, which to this day divide the Christian name, should be put aside, and with the remaining doctrines there should be formulated and proposed a common rule of faith, in the profession of which all can know and feel themselves brothers. United by some sort of universal covenant, the multitude of churches or communities will then be in a position to oppose fruitfully and effectively the progress of unbelief. This, Venerable Brethren, is the more general opinion.” 

“There are, however, some among them who assume and grant that Protestantism, as they call it, has rejected very inadvisedly certain articles of faith and certain rites of external worship that are fully acceptable and useful, which the Roman Church still preserves. But they add immediately that the Church has corrupted the early religion by adding to it and proposing for belief certain doctrines that are not only foreign to, but are opposed to, the Gospel - among which they bring forth chiefly that of the primacy of jurisdiction assigned to Peter and his successors of the Roman See.” 

What the Holy Father was referencing above is movements in the world at the time (mostly by Masons) to create a worldwide organization that would unite all Christian religions into one church void of absolute doctrine.  This became the World Council of Churches.  I have no problem with these being Cultural Pluralism, or freedom of religion, but not Doctrinal Pluralism.

Doctrinal Pluralism's difficulty (and contradiction of Catholic teaching) comes when it insists on the uniform equality of all religions, in common with cultures and ethnicities. This claim necessarily conflicts with the Church's claim to unique truth, that she and she alone possesses and passes on the whole truth given to man by his Creator.

This statement of pluralism's tenets clearly reveals its roots in another position which has been condemned by the Church. Indifferentism, the idea that all religions are equally capable of saving man (in other words, that God is indifferent to the way in which He is worshipped and, indeed, to whether or not the truth about Him is believed), bears a striking similarity to pluralist doctrine.

Pluralism also shares with indifferentism the tendency to destroy all real religion within their spheres. As the popes have declared, indifferentism results in the abandonment of all substantive religion⁴; after all, if the particular religion by which one worships God is irrelevant, then will not God be just as well pleased by an individual worship which is minimal to the point of non-existence?

Indifferentism thereby leads its followers into a religion which requires neither morals nor worship, a religion devoid of any substantive content. Pluralism extends this tendency of indifferentism into the public sphere. The state, immediately or gradually, reaches the point where the only religious tenets it supports or even acknowledges are completely banal, or at least deprived of all significant content.⁵

Thus, pluralism falls under the same condemnations as indifferentism,⁶ in addition to the many which have been levied against it in its own right.⁷ The Church has always reacted very strongly to these theories, which presume to sever the state from its true philosophical, and therefore necessarily religious, underpinnings. That is because indifferentism and pluralism necessarily involve yet another heresy, a sort of liberal quietism, by which faith is a personal and private matter which must never enter into one's public dealings.

Faith, however, must be lived out in action, as Our Lord Himself⁹ and St. James¹⁰ have told us. This means that faith must be lived out both by individual Catholics, by Catholic families, and by the state.¹¹

Catholics must shun pluralism just as they would any other heresy as harmful to the soul and contrary to the social teachings of the Church.²

The extreme, to which modernity regularly takes this otherwise reasonable proposition, is insisting that all cultures are necessarily of entirely equal value, regardless of the objective evils which that culture encourages or even requires. Catholic teaching, on the other hand, would argue that some cultures must necessarily be purified of these fundamentally immoral elements. Excellent examples are ancient Carthaginian society, which regularly performed mass infant sacrifices; Canaanite society, which performed human sacrifices to Baal; and Aztec society, which sacrificed enormous numbers of people to their dark gods. Generally, however, conversion to the one true religion will rectify these faults, as is demonstrated by Spanish Mexico having become one of the most Catholic countries on God's earth.

This tendency of even Catholics accepting Pluralism has led Catholic theologians to accept the premise that the conscience is the ultimate arbitrator of good and evil, and that is why Pope John Paul II wrote “The Splendor of Truth,” to dispel this heresy.  This is also why 80% of Catholics practice illegal birth control, and many have abortions. 

⁴ See, e.g., Pius XI, Mortalium Animos no. 2 (arguing that those who fall into indifferentism  “in distorting the the idea of true religion . . . reject it, and little by little, turn aside to naturalism and atheism”).

⁶ See, e.g., Pius XI, Mortalium Animos no. 2 (declaring that the idea  “which considers all religions to be more or less good and praiseworthy . . . and by which we are led to God” is a “false opinion”) and no. 9 (referring to indifferentists as “unhappily infected with these errors”). See also Pius IX, The Syllabus of Errors nos. 16-17, 79.

___

THE SYLLABUS OF ERRORS CONDEMNED BY PIUS IX

III. INDIFFERENTISM, LATITUDINARIANISM

15. Every man is free to embrace and profess that religion which, guided by the light of reason, he shall consider true. -- Allocution "Maxima quidem," June 9, 1862; Damnatio "Multiplices inter," June 10, 1851.

16. Man may, in the observance of any religion whatever, find the way of eternal salvation, and arrive at eternal salvation. -- Encyclical "Qui pluribus," Nov. 9, 1846.

17. Good hope at least is to be entertained of the eternal salvation of all those who are not at all in the true Church of Christ. -- Encyclical "Quanto conficiamur," Aug. 10, 1863, etc.

18. Protestantism is nothing more than another form of the same true Christian religion, in which form it is given to please God equally as in the Catholic Church. -- Encyclical "Noscitis," Dec. 8, 1849.

21. The Church has not the power of defining dogmatically that the religion of the Catholic Church is the only true religion. -- Damnatio "Multiplices inter," June 10, 1851.

55. The Church ought to be separated from the State, and the State from the Church. -- Allocution "Acerbissimum," Sept. 27, 1852.

77. In the present day it is no longer expedient that the Catholic religion should be held as the only religion of the State, to the exclusion of all other forms of worship. -- Allocution "Nemovestrum," July 26, 1855.

Venerable Brothers, it is surprising that in our time such a great war is being waged against the Catholic Church. But anyone who knows the nature, desires and intentions of the sects, whether they be called Masonic or bear another name, and compares them with the nature the systems and the vastness of the obstacles by which the Church has been assailed almost everywhere, cannot doubt that the present misfortune must mainly be imputed to the frauds and machinations of these sects.

It is from them that the synagogue of Satan, which gathers its troops against the Church of Christ, takes its strength. In the past, Our predecessors, vigilant even from the beginning in Israel, had already denounced them to the kings and the nations, and had condemned them time and time again, and even We have not failed in this duty. If those who would have been able to avert such a deadly scourge had only had more faith in the supreme Pastors of the Church! But this scourge, winding through sinuous caverns . . . deceiving many with astute frauds, finally has arrived at the point where it comes forth impetuously from its hiding places and triumphs as a powerful master. Since the throng of its propagandists has grown enormously, these wicked groups think that they have already become masters of the world and that they have almost reached their pre-established goal. Having sometimes obtained what they desired, and that is power, in several countries, they boldly turn the help of powers and authorities which they have secured to trying to submit the Church of God to the most cruel servitude, to undermine the foundations on which it rests, to contaminate its splendid qualities; and, moreover, to strike it with frequent blows, to shake it, to overthrow it, and, if possible, to make it disappear completely from the earth.

Things being thus, Venerable Brothers, make every effort to defend the faithful which are entrusted to you against the insidious contagion of these sects and to save from perdition those who unfortunately have inscribed themselves in such sects. Make known and attack those who, whether suffering from, or planning, deception, are not afraid to affirm that these shady congregations aim only at the profit of society, at progress and mutual benefit. Explain to them often and impress deeply on their souls the Papal constitutions on this subject and teach them that the Masonic associations are anathematized by them not only in Europe but also in America and wherever they may be in the whole world.

Our Lord did not put the mighty of this century in charge, but Saint Peter, whom he entrusted not only with feeding his sheep, but also the goats; therefore no power in the world, however great it may be, can deprive of the pastoral office those whom the Holy Ghost has made Bishops in order to feed the Church of God.