The Pope Speaks

2 May 2010
Fourth Lord’s Day after Easter
Those Who Love Do Not Labor
St. John of the Cross in his writings explained that the greater the love a soul is
inflamed with the love of God the more wisdom it has. The greater love a soul has for God
the more pure it is to receive each inspiration of God. For every degree of love a soul
increases, the soul must proportionally suffer. For the Christian law is based upon a
reciprocal action of love and suffering. Christ loved us the most for He laid down His life
for us. Mary loves us next for she is the “Mother of Sorrows”.
That is why Christ called pure souls blessed (Matthew 5:8). For it receives the Word
purely and unadulterated. In the end, it will keep the Word for how much love the soul
bears for the Word. “But He said: Yea rather, blessed are they who hear the Word of God,
and keep it.” (Luke 11:28)
The more pure a soul has become the greater tribulations it has undergone. This is
why so many souls refuse to become pure. We refuse to suffer tribulation for the love of
God and for the love of souls. It is a great sacrifice and very painful. And people who seek
vain lusts and luxuries are not up to seeking a penance that is painful.
One of the most beautiful marks of the Church is holiness. Holiness signifies purity.
Which if we deduce correctly, purity is a mark of suffering and persecution. If the Church
is not persecuted then it cannot be holy. As the pope's mother coined the famous phrase,
“no pain, no gain, no cross, no crown.” Every Saint in Heaven earned their crown. Every
Saint carried their cross. They carried their cross with love. And with love there is no pain,
but delight. For you are being supported by divine grace which enables such poor pitiful
sinful creatures we are to suffer for the sake of an infinite dignity, God.
The Church will always be persecuted by an internal (heresy, schism, apostasy,
lukewarmness) or external (martyrdom) persecution. For the Church will always be hated
by those who refuse to love God. Those who refuse to become pure will never into the
House of the Lord. “He appointed also porters in the gates of the house of the Lord, that
none who was unclean in any thing should enter in.” (II Paralipomenon 23:19)
Support The Church
Systematic Study of Religion, Chapter: The Fifth Commandment of the Church. Fr. Coppens
“A priest is appointed to be a sort of middleman and mediator between God and the people, as we read of
Moses (Deut. V, 5, 27); and therefore it belongs to him to deliver the Divine decrees to the people; and
again, that which comes from the people, in the way of prayers, and sacrifices, and offerings, ought to be
paid to God through the priest. And therefore the offerings that are made by the people to God belong to
the priests; not simply to convert them to their own use, but also to dispense them faithfully, partly by
expending them on what belongs to Divine worship, partly on what belongs to their own maintenance,
because Those that serve the altar partake with the altar (I Cor 9:13), partly also for the use of the poor,
who are to be supported, so far as possible, out of the property of the Church, because our Lord also had
a purse for the use of the poor, as Jerome says.” (St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, 2a 2ae, q. 86;
Aquin. Eth. II, p. 138).
In the New Law, Christ has made for the support of the clergy a similar provision to that made in the Old
Law; for in sending His Apostles, He bade them rely for support on those to whom they should preach,
reminding them that The workman is worthy of his meat (Matt. 10:10). St. Paul insists with much
earnestness upon the corresponding duty of the faithful to support their pastors, saying: “Who serveth as
a soldier at any time at his own charges? Who planteth a vineyard and eateth not of the fruit thereof ? Who
feedeth a flock and eateth not of the milk of the flock?: . “If we have sown unto your spiritual things, is it
a great matter that we reap you carnal things?. . . . They that serve the altar partake with the altar. So also
the Lord ordained that they who preach the Gospel, should live by the Gospel” (I Cor. 9:7-14).
In the early ages of the Church, no certain amount was appointed as due to the clergy, but the
spontaneous gifts of the faithful supplied what was needed. Later on, the payments of tithes, that is of a
tenth part of the produce of the land, was required by many Councils, especially in the ninth century. The
piety of kings and nobles, and of the faithful generally, endowed the churches and monasteries so richly in
the course of time that there was enough for altar, priest, and religious, as well as for the poor. But at the
time of the Reformation, those in power seized all those incomes and the estates themselves, wherever
Protestantism gained the ascendency. In the countries that have remained Catholic, the governments have
since seized upon the patrimony of the Church and of the poor. As a partial restitution for this, they now
pay an annual salary for the support of the clergy. In this country, and in others similarly situated, there is
no such provision made, and therefore the natural duty of supporting religion rests entirely on the faithful.
By calling it a natural duty we mean that it is not merely a pious practice or a counsel of perfection, but
that it so binds the consciences of Catholics that neglect in this matter is a sin, and may be a grievous sin.
This support of religion comprises: a) Adequate provision for a church and its appointments; for sacred
vessels and all the other requisites of Divine worship, b) Decent sustenance of pastors, suitable, namely, to
their character as Bishops and priests, and to their social standing as representatives of the Catholic
religion before the world. c) The erection, equipment, and maintenance of schools for the religious
education of the young.
 The Pope Speaks
Why Did So Many People Apostatized In The 1950's?
This is the same reason why Adam and Eve fell from sanctifying grace. Their charity
grew cold. “The charity of many shall grow cold.” (Matthew 24:12) For if people were
truly full of charity they would never fall away from the divine and Catholic faith. “Charity
never falleth away.” (I Corinthians 13:8)
God always will have a holy Church. A Church of souls whom desire to become
pure. It is with this desire to become pure from all sin that souls obtain true charity (divine
love). For those who love God hate all sin. There is no founded institution that hates sin
more than the Church Herself. She was founded with the ability to wash sin completely
away from every person, if and only if they desire it.
Today no one desires to become pure. That is why you my friends are outside the
Church looking in. You like to spectate at what is going on and do not do anything about it.
You do not pity the Church and the miserable state she is in. You remain in the impure
world, but do not have enough courage for God to forsake those wretched vile sinful
pleasures. That is what separates us from you. We do not care what the world thinks of us.
We only care about God, our souls, and our neighbors souls. We have to be courageous to
survive this wicked and indifferent world. We have to overcome indifferent people like you.
A people who do not care about whether or not they are damned.
Meditating on all those damned in the flood, there must have been a great number
looking on at Noe building this big boat. They never bothered to ask. They never bothered
to find out. They just never bothered. They just simply ignored this wonderful monstrous
sign from God. Then one day the flood waters over took them. They fought every moment
to stay afloat only to weep with the greatest sorrow that they see this well crafted boat
floating on top of the water.
They never heard the warning. They never knew this was coming. But it came, death
and divine justice came upon them swiftly. Divine justice, who is God itself, hates the
lukewarmness. “But because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, not hot, I will begin to
vomit thee out of My mouth.” (Apocalypse 3:16)

If you truly cared you would suffer with us. But since you do not, you were never with us.
“They went out from us, but they were not of us.” (I John 2:19)
 The Pope Speaks
What Do You See Happening In The Future?
We know that the America will fall economically. We do not know if God is going to
instigate this fall with a natural catastrophe.

United States of America Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner:

“My basic view is that we did a pretty successful job of pulling out a severe financial
crisis and avoiding a Great Depression or Great Deflation type of thing,” he said. “We
saved the economy, but we kind of lost the public doing it.” (The New Yorker)
“We did not act to help foreign banks,” Geithner said. “We acted because the
consequences of AIG failing at that time, in those circumstances, would have been
catastrophic for our economy and for American families and businesses.” (Bloomberg)

We know this economy is unsustainable. The question is not if, this economy will
fail, but rather when is it going to fail. When the United States falls the rest of the world
falls for many countries use the United States currency as it primary reserve.
What happened to the Roman Empire is now happening to America. God is
correcting the wicked from their ways. As St. Augustine writes:

“But the perverse and forward hearts of men think human affairs are prosperous
when men are concerned about magnificent mansions, and indifferent to the ruin
of souls; when mighty theaters are built up, and the foundations of virtue are undermined;
when the madness of extravagance is highly esteemed, and works of mercy are scorned;
when, out of the wealth and affluence of rich men, luxurious provision is made for actors,
and the poor are grudged the necessaries of life; when that God who, by the public
declarations of His doctrine, protests against public vice, is blasphemed by impious
communities, which demand gods of such character that even those theatrical
representations which bring disgrace to both body and soul are fitly performed in honor of
them. If God permit these things to prevail, He is in that permission showing more
grievous displeasure: if He leave these crimes unpunished, such impunity is a more terrible
judgment. When, on the other hand, He overthrows the props of vice, and reduces to
poverty those lusts which were nursed by plenty, He afflicts in mercy. And in mercy, also, if
such a thing were possible, even wars might be waged by the good, in order that, by
bringing under the yoke the unbridled lusts men, those vices might be abolished which
ought under a just government, to be either extirpated or suppressed.”
 The Pope Speaks
Love Speaks To The Heart
Love changes every single human being. That is how God designed us. He wanted us
to love Him. He wanted us to be immersed in His love. Did He not die out of love for us?
Why would He want to do such a thing? He wanted our feeble finite love. He wanted our
love in return. God in a certain sense is like a child. He wants all the attention. He wants to
be the star of the show. And He should be. For nothing in this world is more perfect than
Him.
His Church is setup to run the same way. The Saints are imitators of Christ. That is
little children. They desire in all humility and love to captivate the hearts of on lookers.
They ardently love them beyond all human comprehension. These “alter Christus” want
you to be pierced with the love of God. They want you to have your heart completely
ravished in love. They want you to change from a life of sin to a life of penance. And the
only necessary step that can bring us to a successful conversion is love.
My dear friends, I do not know what to do with you. I do not think you are taking to
heart anything we say. You are completely indifferent to what is happening with the Church
and her present crisis. That is why the Church herself is going into the wilderness.
“And the angel of the Lord having found her, [ie the Church] by a fountain of water
in the wilderness.” (Genesis 16:7) The Holy Father, another Catholic seminarian, and I are
going on a retreat. We plan on living for a time like the desert fathers. We are going to
detach ourselves completely from the world. The Holy Father can only spend a week. I
plan on three and the other Catholic seminarian plans on 6 weeks in solitude. True this is
tentatively speaking what we have in on our schedule. We also plan on fasting on bread and
water for your conversion.
If this does not bestir your hearts to love God and convert, may God have mercy on
you. For there is nothing more I can do to save your own soul, except you actually start
yourself. Venerable Mary of Agreda talks about how Jesus and Mary could not convert the
soul of Judas because of his perversity. My dear friends, you can save your souls, if and
only if you so desire it. But this indifference that you are in is a sign of final
impenitence.
We are going to the wilderness to find the waters of grace for your conversion. If we
do not labor, you may not obtain the grace for conversion. If St. Stephen did not pray,
what would have happened to St. Paul?

God Bless and Best Regards,

Phil Friedl, Catholic Seminarian, Delia, Kansas, USA.

Secretary For The Holy Office and to His Holiness Michael I, by the Grace of God, Pope.