Pope Francis made a comment that I think the readers of TAC would enthusiastically endorse:
It is said of Stonewall Jackson that angels were sent from Heaven to bring his soul to the abode of the blessed. When they arrived in this Vale of Tears they were mystified at being unable to find his soul. Reporting back to Saint Peter they learned that Jackson had executed a flank march and arrived in Heaven shortly after they left. I rather think a similar event occurred in regard to Mother Angelica, with God summoning her for a live action recreation of some of her memorable barn burning addresses on EWTN. Our loss is Heaven’s gain.
Thank God we Catholics believe in intercessory prayer and the communion of saints. While we have lost her physical presence here on earth, we’ve gained her intercession with the love of her life. I’ve already started to ask for her help. I can only imagine how she’s handling the many requests she now receives. You just know God’s smile is a little brighter.
She’s almost justification for cloning. What a gem of a lady–the perfect melding of dignity, humor, and unabashed piety.
The early eighties to many a young person was the era of sex, drugs and rock-n-roll.
An extension of the sixties and seventies I suppose. Mother Angelica was the boost for heartbroken parents watching their children make horrible decisions. She gave these parents hope. She reaffirmed that the battle for their childrens souls wouldn’t go without a fierce fight. She rallied the troops.
I know.
I was one of the lost children.
My folks had a great Prayer Warrior to lead them.
To my parents and Mother Angelica I say, Thank God for the three of you.
May I serve God to the fullest for having put them through so much.
I agree with the Pope that she’s in Heaven….(what was in my coffee this morning). There is an Apostolic Blessing during Extreme Unction by the priest that carries a plenary indulgence and when that is absent, there is a standing plenary indulgence at the point of death for all in sanctifying grace who also had a habit of prayer during life according to the enchiridion on indulgences. Thus a person in a plane crash in the Alps etc. is covered by the new point of death plenary. Habit of prayer…good thing.
I only wonder why Pope Francis would acclaim Mother Angelica, now dead, and not subscribe to her strict Catholic doctrinal code either in life or death.
We have here a very conflicted man.
I hope that she’s in Heaven. The Church has to be very careful about making such claims though. We are not assured of our victory.
<3 <3 <3
Pinky,
You are correct and Trent supports you as to no one knowing he is in grace with absolute certitude and that is based on Ecclesiastes 9:1…”and yet man knoweth not whether he be worthy of love, or hatred”. So Trent repeats that idea in session 6 twice…in chapters 9 and 12.
However Catholics are allowed to proceed in life with moral certitude ( not Trent’s absolute certitude ) otherwise no man or woman on earth could receive the Eucharist ever if we were bound to Trent and Ecclesiastes 9:1 as the level of certitude as to being in grace before receiving.
Thus Paul in 2 Tim.4 talks at the moral certitude level when he says he has run the race and a crown awaits him from God in Heaven. If he went by Ecclesiates and the future Trent based on it, he could not talk as he did. But he and we must use moral certitude not absolute certitude…or no one could receive the Eucharist at the absolute certitude level as to being in grace…ever.
Thus Pope Francis is speaking exactly like Paul is in 2 Tim.4….with moral certitude not absolute certitude.
Mother Angelica, pray for us who are still in the fight! I love you!
“I hope that she’s in Heaven. The Church has to be very careful about making such claims though. We are not assured of our victory.”
True Pinky, and no one should not pray for the repose of her soul as a result of such statements. However, there have been saints throughout the history of the Church who have been popularly acclaimed as saints from their death: Saint Francis of Assisi, Padre Pio, Mother Teresa, etc. Onery, never say die Mother Angelica, the Pirate Nun, is in that select company I suspect. I took the Pope’s statement as a matter of his personal opinion.
I suspect that there’s a weakness in my thinking that makes me err on the side of not accepting a person’s eternal status. It’s a problem, but I hope a small one. May we all inherit the New Jerusalem where all of our questions will be answered and all Truth revealed.
Pinky,
Matthew 19: 25 ( after Christ said the rich have a hard time entering heaven)…When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and said, “Who then can be saved?” 26 Jesus looked at them and said, “For human beings this is impossible, but for God all things are possible.”
The last 13 words are key and are not only about the rich because Peter’s epistle says the just man will scarcely be saved ( I Peter 4:18). The key is to not look at the human side but rather look at God’s side and His desire that all men be saved in I Tim.2:4. Now Aquinas noted that that is the antecedent will of God of which Aquinas said, ” the antecedent will of God does not always take place”. But it takes place more than some saints thought according to Rev.7:9.. ” After this I saw a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations….standing before the throne, and in sight of the Lamb, having been clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands.”
This is one of those times when most of us can agree with Pope Francis.
Having Mother Angelica in heaven should be a great help to the orthodox cause in the Catholic Church, though, I imagine, this aspect was not on the Pope’s mind at the time.
The Holy Father was quoted as saying; “I’m not conservative nor am I liberal. I’m apostolic.”
Very well.
His actions speak differently than his words.
Divine Mercy Sunday at three pm the Catholic Church as a whole body, Apostolic Church, should unite and pray for his Holiness. For his health and well being. For his conversion.
Conversion is not a one time event.
It is a deeper understanding and relationship with Christ. A abhorrence of sin. A love for holiness and purity.
Our eternal home and the means of attaining it should be the forethought of all of our undertakings. Especially the Leader of the faithful. Going green doesn’t equate to salvation. Christ laid out the path. Do we need to tread another?
Every day that this pope chooses to vacate the See of Peter and his responsibility to teach as Mother Angelica taught, that he chooses to kiss the feet of Muslims as a dhimmi and a defeated leader of a failed religion, that he chooses to urge on Europe more massive ruinous immigration that will destroy it, every day also a behemoth slouches its slow, uneven gait ever closer toward Gomorrah. Some day it will fully arrive and fully take its Satanic seat as king.
Some of the Catholic intelligentsia “get it” on Pope Francis: William Kirkpatrick at Crisis magazine trenchantly exposes the misguided Bergoglioesque foot-washing and foot-kissing that happened on Holy Thursday:
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http://www.crisismagazine.com/2016/the-problem-with-multicultural-foot-washing
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Bin Laden: “Will a man back a weak horse or prefer a strong horse?” (paraphrase from Kilpatrick’s comments).
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The Roman Catholic Church is a weak horse. Kiss more feet, PF.
Also, the body count of total killed on Mar 22nd, continues to rise: at least 35 killed, and at least 5 Americans. The media is suppressing that number, 5 killed, because of course Obama was doing the wave with Raul Castro while the bodies were still warm.
Those killed known so far:
* Alexander and Sascha Pinczowski of upstate NY (my daughter says they were also Belgian citizens, who obtained US citizenship).
* Justin and Stephanie Shults, of Franklin, TN
And now we know the following:
On Mar. 31st, 2016, US Air Force officials identified the wife of Lt Col. Kato Martinez, Gail Minglana Martinez, as another victim of the Mar. 22nd bombing; she was accompanying her 4 children, who were wounded, further status unknown. After all, information is being suppressed to avoid the juxtaposed optic of Obama tangoing while Americans were dead, their bodies still warm, and their children were bloodied and wounded. Bad for Obama’s polling numbers, you know.
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http://www.speroforum.com/a/LJXSVZYDGZ20/77625-Wife-of-Air-Force-officer-among-the-dead-in-Brussels-terror-attack?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+speroforum%2Fnroq+%28Spero+News%29#.Vv6TbIfmpLN
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We actually know Gail Martinez passed away on 3/22, informaiton relayed to me by my daughter in Belgium, due to a mutual relative who worked a phone center in Brussels on that and the following day; I mentioned in another post that Z, who worked at the phone center, fielded a call:
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“I’m calling from hospital burn center. We have a family of 5 here, and the mother just died. Whom do we inform?”
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Now we know it was the USAF wife and mother of 4, surrounded by her wounded, bloodied children.
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And Obama danced the tango, and Pope Francis kissed feet.