One of the Many Problems with the New Mass...

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One of the many problems with the New Order Mass is that it is focused on the community rather

than constantly and consistently on the Holy Sacrifice of Christ.  It even has lay people bring up the "offering of the gifts", as if the Mass was about what we were giving to God of our own selves.  In reality, the offering is Christ; the priest does act as an "alter Christe", sacrificing himself to bring down Christ in the Consecration, but we participate in the offering of Christ.  

This focus as if the highest good is what we can do for one another in the name of Christ stems from the immanentistic basis on which the Novus Ordo Missae was intentionally formed.  It was for this reason that inevitably, abuses would stem, while this breaks down into many specifics which for purposes of this post, I will defer to discuss at a possible future post.

This looking to one another in the name of worship, rather than looking chiefly to Christ in the context of worship is not just the reason we lost external solemnity with the New Order Mass, but also internal solemnity, as a result.  Never-the-less, BOTH are necessary, not one or the other.

In preparation for this Lent, which begins tomorrow, I wanted to share with you the need to practice this internal solemnity by simply referring more to the saints in Heaven for assistance than to friends and family.  I do not mean to advise you avoid speaking to them for advice if they are known to give good counsel, but do not do so then exclude first and foremost the saints.  And when you speak to the saints, detach from the response, for it will not come as if you are having a dialogue (unless you are a highly advanced, Catholic mystic ... insert joke here as to why you would bother with this blog ....), both practice anticipating their intercession, and as God wills, re-devoting yourself to holy Providence.  This heavenly community has "made it" already to being perfectly united to God and His Divine Will, and will guide you better by the most pious earthly community. Remember that charity is love first of God, and secondly, love of neighbor out of that first love, as He loved us first.

And their is no dichotomy in love of God vs. love of neighbor.  God loves our neighbor more than you will ever love him, and for ANYONE to suggest that we could be too "rigid" in putting God and obedience to Him first, is suggesting that we put ourselves and the world before Him (if even in His name).  Remember also that the grace of God TRANSFORMS, and not simply covers us and leaves as as "cow dung", as Luther would have you believe.  Our Lord says that "my grace is sufficient" and to "be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect."  No one says it happens over night, but only someone without the faith will say it is impossible.

Love God and seek Him.  Find help in the Church Triumphant.

More on the Vice of SLOTH

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(Note:  Please refer to the previous two posts, as they relate to this one.)

St. Thomas Aquinas, in his Summa Theologica, he describes the vice as the "sorrow for spiritual good", but also explains why it is a capital sin, and not to be confused as something of just a feeling or less dangerous.  One might say wrongly that sloth moves one to inaction, and therefore there is no sin to which it is motivated, but Pope St. Gregory listed "daughters of sloth", from which St. Thomas Aquinas primary draws.  They are:

Malice

Spite

Faint-heartedness

Despair

Sluggishness in regard to the Commandments

Wandering of the mind after unlawful things

Before I go through which each of these mean, let's first define what we mean by 'spiritual good'.  Since we are here to know, love and serve God with our whole heart and whole mind and being, then we can see that a spiritual good can be more than the liturgy, private prayers, and spiritual readings (etc.), but seeing all daily avoiding sin, whether great (grave) or small and the pursuit of greater virtue.  Furthermore, the end to which these are to be pursued is for God and God alone, rather than for some feeling or any other gain.  

St. Thomas says that the two steps by which someone fails to regard an unpleasant good are: 

1.) First, he comes to withdraw from, or avoid, the good itself, 

2.) Then, he seeks for something else more agreeable.  In other words, he struggles actively against having to perform the higher good in question.

Malice

Malice is one of the daughters of sloth because it is the result of the habit of preferring one's will over God's to such a degree that the perceived arduous good is one that threatens the ease or lesser good that the person prefers.  Quite simply, it is malice because one becomes angry to think that they should have to do that which has become so distasteful to them, even to the point of detesting that good.  Examples:  Hating a liturgy that looks only to God for looking only to God, or detesting to put God first in daily priorities to the point of having to put one's wants last over another needs for whom we are responsible (i,e.: our child, or spouse).  

Spite

This is when our struggle against an unpleasant spiritual good leads us to attack those people who lead others to that good, we have descended into "spite."  These people will often accuse by detraction and/or even rash judgement a sinful reason that a person will have the virtue to pursue the spiritual good in question that the spiteful person wishes to avoid. And so, to quell their suffering of conscience, and attenuated preference towards a lesser good, they will use spite as a way to distract themselves, and sometimes also others, of their own vice of sloth.  

Faint-Heartedness

This is the avoidance of spiritual good that is the reasonable means to the end in matters of genuine difficulty.  One example is avoiding deliberate unnecessary near occasions of sin.  This is always a bad thing, but in the faint-hearted, often they will even make excuses to not avoid the near occasions that lead them to their chief vices, whether they are mortal or venial sins.   Just because something is difficult, doesn't mean that you should not own up to your responsibility.  Jesus, God the Son, suffered and died on a Cross, so that your crosses for what you are Commanded to do are bearable through grace (that he won for you).  To say otherwise is a lack of humility (*to see oneself in the light of who God is), because He gives us the means to overcome temptation, if we are close to the Blessed Mother and "do whatever He tells you."  Jesus, who commands that we "be perfect, as your Father in Heaven is perfect," does not command the impossible, but it is we who, in faint-heartedness, lose faith by not living by it in charity.

Despair

Ultimately, the more one becomes faint-hearted, the more one deeply descends into the vice of sloth, they not only weaken their faith, but they lose hope in the things of Heaven, and the promises of the helps of God to get to Heaven.  Despair is then the avoidance of spiritual good considered as an end in itself. Since sloth tends towards one's feelings, whether one reasons these feelings are a priority or not, the deeper descent into this vice often leads to sins of lust, which further ties one to this sin.  Also, since one despairs of the spiritual goods as ends in themselves, to give glory to God in gratitude to Him, for it is our duty to know, to love, and to serve Him (it's why we are here), one despairs, inevitably of the promises that God makes to those that do serve Him in this life.

Sluggishness in the Practice of the Commandments.

This is the avoidance of spiritual good that is the reasonable means to the end in matters of common righteousness. Even private sins affect the world, because they create disorder in the soul, and in the resulting actions borne of the wounds from those effects in the soul, heart and mind of the sinner.   The person with this daughter of sloth doesn't look to observe the commandments closely, with eagerness and faith that they will overcome their most deeply seeded vices by the grace of God (and prayer of the Blessed Virgin), and working towards constancy and consistency, because they have chosen to perceive the pursuit (of the Commandment in question or Commandments in general) as either looking too closely at the obligation, or because they want to procrastinate their observance.  

(Incidentally:  The suggestion that the practice of the commandments "paralyzes" one from their freedom is a great example of sloth, but of a different daughter.  It encourages the daughter of sluggishness in the practice of commandments by the the daughters of malice and spite.  Freedom is ability to chose the higher good, and graces are the means to obedience.  We should follow them, less we lose them and offend God who gave us His only son to die on a cross as a means of giving us graces.  Obedience to God IS the measure of gratitude to Him.)

Wandering of the Mind to Unlawful Things

This daughter is the last step which the vice of sloth generates over vices, where we pass over the arduous or unpleasant good in favor of something easy and pleasant, simply because they find no joy in spiritual things.  Now, this means in context within one's state of life, and takes into account those duties and with their priority, with our reason for being (the eschatological realities) as our final end. By that, even in the smallest duties that are required of our state may be prioritized and not ignored, but done with God as our devotion in their accomplishment, and both with Him and by Him, that they be for Him.  If we dissipate our time, rather, in frivolous pursuits, or sin in loquacity for sake of avoidance of spiritual good, even unconsciously but out of habit, or if we simply allow ourselves to be distracted at Mass or in private prayer, these are all examples of "unlawful things".  Someone might say, "Well, having a conversation is not 'unlawful'!"  Well, it itself, of course not, neglect of duties due to long conversations would be giving in to a "wandering of the mind".  Often, the mind might be accustomed to wandering in prayer, or leaving it off to a point where one is more inclined to not being as mindful.  You can see how easily the mind becomes trained to this vice, as one takes his mind and heart off of God, who never-the-less, is always seeing everything we are doing or thinking in every given moment.

I hope this makes more sense.  There aren't a lot of resources on the web for this, but you can read St. Thomas Aquinas's Summa Theologica: The Vice of Sloth online.  

A few final words on this subject:

Sloth is the sorrow for the spiritual good, and what is sorrow?  But it is the absence of joy, so that is why often when we commit this sin, we EXAGGERATE the effort required for the spiritual good. Why do we do this?  We do this because of a LACK OF FAITH.  The easy solution to this is to ACT OUT OF FAITH.  Our Lord tells us (and shows this all the time, since He is never outdone in charity, since HE IS the Creator of all good), that we only need a "mustard seed of faith" with which to begin. (Notice:  I said, "begin", not end and/or sit there and say that a "seed" should remain just a "mustard seed".  Remember the Gospel reading for Sextagesima Sunday (according to the traditional cycle based on the Breviary), Luke 8:4-15.   Actions based on faith are essentially planting the seeds of grace that were given to us by God.  They are, as a good canon once put, and I love this, "GOLDEN OPPORTUNITIES FOR GRACE!"   So, unlike any other kind of commerce, the more we SPEND this well, the more of this we receive back.  It's like, imagine going to a store to purchase something you need.  You pay the total for the bill, and then you are handed back all that you just handed over and a whole lot more.  That's a great deal!  I DARE YOU to find a better 'bargain' anywhere!   You certainly won't find a better 'commodity' in this life.)

So let us not be slothful in winning the war on sloth within our souls.  We start with our minds and our hearts will soon follow.  We will very soon be given the GREAT JOY, that increases beyond imagination, and is constant and consistent to the degree that we remain constant and consistent in pursuing the virtues for the love of God, who Loves us first and MADE us that we *might* give HIM glory by turning our self-inclined wills over to His will.  For He alone knows what will give us the deepest and greatest happiness, and the kind that can never be taken away or damaged, if we hold onto it tightly with both hands, with our practice of overcoming vice.  Let us even enjoy the struggle, as we battle, "not as though beating the air" but TO WIN the award, and in the end, an AWARD SO GREAT, that we cannot imagine.  Feeling still overwhelmed?  Don't be, because the battle is now.  The adventure is not one you pursue:  you're in it.  You just have to decide whether you're going to float like a dead fish on the tides, or fly soar like an eagle in the clouds.  The Commandments are not just rules, they are our guide, and within each of them we can find every virtue.  This is your game plan, God's means to the path HE has chosen from your very beginning, as He knew you even before you were born.

You were made to know, to love, and to serve God.

You've got this; now GO TO IT!

The Truth Most Everyone is Unwilling to Hear (*includes most Catholics), Part II of II

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(Recommended meditation:  Sexagesima's Gospel Reading: Luke 8:4-15)

(For Part I Click Here)

In the previous post, we left looked at the fact that we are often unwilling to look at things from a moral perspective.  Even when we do look at it from a moral perspective, it is usually from a self-directed perspective rather than transcendent, looking at our rights over God's rights.   For example, mercy then become redefined as if they are at odds with justice (that old, dialectic heresy of the Modernists).  Some, who as if they are "traditional", but in fact, unknowingly infected with Modernism by being scandalized and not knowing the faith, will think that mercy must be earned. Now, he's no theologian, but Shakespeare happened to hit the nail on the head with his description of mercy:

"The quality of mercy is not strain'd,

It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven

Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest;

It blesseth him that gives and him that takes" 

 -- William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act IV Scene I

Why is it charity, to which mercy belongs, is misunderstood and/or repressed?  First of all, what is charity?  Let's take a look at the Baltimore Catechism:

Q. 467. What is Charity?

A. Charity is a Divine virtue by which we love God above all things for His own sake, and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God.

What causes one to lose the theological gift of Charity?  We lose charity when we do not abide in it.  The reason we don't abide in it is because we lose the theological gift of supernatural Hope.  The reason we lose Hope, is because we have lost and/or weakened Faith.  

(Note: while the greatest virtue is charity, it is supported by Faith and Hope, in that order, as defined by God, and revealed dogmatically by His Holy Bride.)

The chief means to lose of Faith is the vice of sloth.  When we think of the word, "sloth", we often limit it to meaning only a type of sluggishness in behavior, but it as actually, in the theological sense, a lot more defined significance.  Despite it being known as one of the 7 Deadly Sins, sloth is probably the single least understood and underestimated vice, and for these reasons, the most damaging because it is very insidious in today's world, and especially in the new order/modernist theology.  St. Thomas Aquinas, a Doctor of the Church, described it as the "sorrow for spiritual good," at its genus.  It is more defined as the act or inaction based on that sorrow, with the sorrow being at the genus of the vice.  It is not, therefore, a feeling, but an attitude resulting in the resistance towards or repression of certain spiritual goods.  Often people look at sloth mere as inactivity, but in reality, people today busy themselves in vain activities that they make out to be necessary and in the way of the time availability to do the spiritual requirements of their Christian faith.  This might be anything from holding one's tongue from an unkind word of look, or neglecting daily mental prayer and/or spiritual reading and anything and everything in between.  It is not merely, therefore, a sluggishness, but often a deliberation.  Things like, "Not now", or "I'll eventually work on building that virtue/praying silently/daily spiritual reading of the saints" or, "Let's not exaggerate things."  We even have prelates in high places calling the self-observance of whether or not we are ordering our moments to God as "fundamentalism" and a bunch of other misappropriated insults often used to distract from some weakness in their theology and/or practice. Another big excuse is that one is "too busy at the moment", and they go from moment to moment, without any self-discipline, ordering all their life to giving God what believe is enough to get them to Heaven, the same God who commands us to "be perfect."  

He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in that which is greater: and he that is unjust in that which is little, is unjust also in that which is greater." -- Luke 16:10

There is an old saying, "Lex Orandi.  Lex Credendi."  The rest of that saying is, "Lex Vivendi."  This saying, however, can be rearranged, indicating that our interior worship may be shallow and weak, if how we live the faith is inconstant, and inconsistent.  (This saying translates to:  The law by which we worship, determines the law by how we believe, which determines the law by which we live.  However, it is important to acknowledge that BOTH external AND internal worship are necessary, and one does not preclude the other.)

The vice of sloth wants everything to be easy; it always procrastinates against doing the difficult things of higher priority.  Eventually, it weakens the faith to where the vice becomes so strong in an individual, that they perceive the justice or charity in ordering certain things to God as God commands.  Truth and the practice of virtue seem to be at odds with reality to these people, and then they will call this the "old way" that is no longer relevant to the complexity of the reality.  (I like to call this, "50 Shades of Theology." It's very philosophical orientation is immanent and not transcendent, as it pretends that their is a dichotomy between mercy and justice, as it is lacking grounding in the Faith.  Such prelates attempt to devalue all the Church Father and Doctors in this way, as well as the rights of God and his ability to grant supernatural grace.)  

The Reverend Canon Talarico, provincial superior of the Institute of Christ the King, listed the following means of overcoming the vice of sloth:

1.)  Build up love of God.

This is accomplished by greater knowledge of God.  Read the writings of the saints, in particular the Doctors.  Read the Dogmatic counsel documents (I personally recommend, "Sources of Catholic Dogma," by Denzinger, which is out of print, but you might find online).  

2.)  Spiritual Reading

By this, Canon means GOOD spiritual reading. (I recommend, again, the Church Doctor's provide great meditations, as well as Dom Gueranger.)

3.)  Praying the Stations of the Cross

If you can't pray all of them everyday, but pray and meditate on at least one station every day.  

4.)  Meditation on the 4 Last Things (a.k.a. The eschatological realities): Death, Heaven, Hell, Judgement.  

5.)  Being cheerful givers in their manner of interacting with others.  

Canon also further explains that Catholics must not withdraw from other people via spiritual sloth. They should be joyful in sincere overflowing gratitude for the graces of God in His mercy to them that He forgives them their sins, and even gives them the graces of conversion (hopefully, continued conversion, again, depending upon their charity, and cancelling the vice of sloth in their lives through consistent and constant charity from moment to moment).  This joy is also a Fruit of the Holy Ghost.

6.)  Say a prayer to Mother Immaculate.  Canon recommends a morning Memorarae, and/or an Angelus, and/or 1 decade of the Rosary, to petition Our Lady specifically to grow that day against the vice of sloth.  (I might add: singing the Marian Antiphon for that liturgical time, preferably the solemn chant in Latin version.)

If you're still looking for another aide, I recommend this simple trick:

7.)  Get a notebook and a pen.  In the evening before or the morning of, write down what you need to get done that day as a schedule.  SCHEDULE what you need to for the steps advised above, 1-4 (#5 is a regular moment-to-moment practice, and #6 is a given to be done with Morning Prayers).  Then, simply, stick to the schedule.

The stronger we are in charity, the more we will strengthen our hope and faith.  We will then have the courage by the Faith, and true Charity, to speak with courage and share in the Hope we have in Christ with others.

"PERFECT Thou my going in Thy paths that my footseps be not moved:  incline Thine ear, and hear my words: show forth Thy wonderful mercies, Thou Who savest them that trust in Thee, O Lord." Ps. 16:5,6,7.  Offertory prayer for Sexagesima Sunday.

The Truth Almost EVERYONE* is Unwilling to Hear (*includes most Catholics), Part I of II

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A LITTLE BACKGROUND TO THIS POST:

This post was inspired by a recent 'debate' that took place by some pseudo Catholic (?) group (which I won't bother naming) that had famous Chesterton advocate (who promotes Chesterton as if he is greater than the Church Doctors and Fathers, and Chesterton was hardly a Catholic theologian) who is an "apologist"* (*which for an upcoming post on "Why We DON'T Need Apologists, and Should AVOID Them"), and some proud, liberal, extreme Modernist, and Michael Matt from "The Remnant."  First I saw the clip, then eventually I got myself to watch the debate.  It was so painful, because it was not a good debate, the whole thing was formatted against Truth, and Michael Matt, unintentionally, contributed to more confusion by emphasizing that the issue mainly came down to a matter of canon law, which was incorrect.  I am not suggesting that the issue at hand was dealt within canon law, but that was not the crux of the matter.  Not only that, as Michael was talking, it almost sounded as if all of canon law was up for future debate, and that is just not the case.  Some canon law CANNOT CHANGE where it is law that supports dogmatic teaching in practice.  Whoever gave him the idea that canon law can change as if ALL of it can change was feeding him a gross lie (whether intentionally or not).  People just don't understand these basic things about it, and even say that if something is not contained expressly in canon law, it is up for grabs in terms of practice.  That is just not true.  If something is omitted from any publication of Canon Law, without their ever being an expressed reason for its being omitted, it is not, by Canon Law itself, to be deemed as having been abrogated from Canon Law, but I have digressed.  The main point I am trying to make is that the heart, or crux of the issue, is not that it is mainly canonical, but in fact, moral.  He (Michael Matt) should have drawn specifically on the Church Doctor's words, and dogmatic definitions, and beat the Modernists (both lite had heavy versions) at their game by stressing the definition of charity (while they redefined it) and obedience (while they redefined it). 

Now, with that introduction, I begin.

By now, most faithful Catholics have noticed that there is the tail wagging the dog with regards to politics and even within the Catholic Church:  a small number of people are storming the castle of a Christ-centered civilization.  In this first article, we will look at how this is being accomplished.

The short of it is that the (metaphoric) 'castle' (or 'castles') was found to be vulnerable to attack.  Were people who were watchers by night bought by the enemy?  Were security secrets stolen?  Did the lord of the castle become weakened by calumny or blackmail?

When we look at who is really the King of the World, we can see that on the broadest stage, our Lord is never blackmailed, and is always in control, but allows us to have our way.

So the question is:  how did WE let this happen?

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THE WRONG CONVERSATION

One of the chief reasons things went haywire is because devout Catholics --- even conservatives in general --- have been having THE WRONG CONVERSATION.  They have let the liberals take control of the terms of the debate.  Let me first explain what that means:

The Rules of Debate:

Step 1)  Agree on the issue in discussion, and form the issue into a question that is not leading, and/or based on false premise.

Step 2.)  Any valid conclusion must be support by at least 2 valid premises, and these premises must be actually correlative to the conclusion, not supposition.

Step 3.) Terms of the debate must be recognized, agreed upon and given agreed upon definitions prior to the debate's start.

There are other important qualities of a debate, like staying to the topic, and that is just assumed. Some participants will try to get off topic in order to redefine the terms and the even the question of the debate.  If there is a Moderator, the Moderator must, not simply from the start of the debate, but through out the debate, work to ensure that the debate is directed towards the end in which it was created, at the very least.

Unpopular views win popularity by redefining the issues.  The issues are redefined by redefining of the terms.  

This is a most vital importance to acknowledge, because we do this to ourselves all the time.  We ALLOW ourselves to be lied to, because often we lie to ourselves (see PART II, to be posted after this post).  Unpopular views win gain strength by the real issues having been redefined.  The real issues are redefined by the terms having been redefined.

Here are some of the key means to redefining issues:

1.)  Not discussing the issues on the grounds of morality.  I will expound on this in a moment.

2.)  The error of humanism.  This will either be by openly promoting secularization over the Kingship of Christ, or, pretending to be either Christian (Catholic) or friendly to Catholic morality, it will, in the (false) name of Catholicism, use humanism to purport to defend its interpretation of Catholic dogma in a new, enlightened fashion, relevant to 'today' (because, allegedly, to these faithless, God hasn't always said or supported ideas that are infinitely relative.)  In order to support the humanist's approach, the heretic will use gnostic principles and turn things into always dialectics.  The trap is then soliciting pride by those entrapped by these "feel good" ideas that are based on false obedience.  and false charity, and tremendous amounts of inflated pride.

The chief reason that these errors have prevailed on the level of  Western society is thanks to Protestantism. The ideas of the ironically and diabolically called, "Enlightenment" were only able to take any root as a direct result to the errors of Martin Luther.  Luther rightly saw some errors in the Church hierarchy that were NOT dogmatic, but as a result of a handful of corrupt prelates, their nepotism to certain benefactors, and disingenuous and even spiritual harmful means to soliciting for financial support of their churches.  HE USED THESE LESSER EVILS to excuse his own evils, by redefining, in his mind, the nature of supernatural grace.  He said that the most God's grace could do was cover a soul like white snow, and the soul was "cow dung".  Therefore, God's SANCTIFYING GRACE does not, in his error, TRANSFORM THE SOUL by ordering the heart and mind to the perfect will of God and the truths of who He Is, but rather, it just "covers" us, like signing up for car insurance.  This error occurs throughout formal Protestantism, as well as informal Protestantism, where ever error against dogmas is promoted, and sometimes (and more often than not) where necessary truths of the unchangeable dogmas are not spoken (at many Catholic pulpits, for example, where political correctness in the name of "welcoming our absent brethren" has replaced the 1st Commandment.)

----

THE AVOIDANCE OF THE DISCUSSION OF MORALITY;  THE ELEPHANT IN OUR LIVING ROOMS, SANCTUARIES, AND VIRTUAL PUBLIC SQUARE

Now, let us return to the #1 reason the 'terms' in the debates we have are being redefined against truth (as well as goodness, unity and beauty -- all the transcendentals).

Devout Catholics are simply, almost always, not really all that devout.  Let's face it:  the bar has been lowered thanks to the Modernism, and its infiltration into most churches.  No one wants to bring issues to the light in terms of morality because that instantly puts to the forefront the reason truths have a hierarchy.  The discussion of truth in the terms of morality is being ignored by conservatives, only to find faithless people in all kinds of positions of authority beat them to the punch by redefining the transcendentals (what is good, what is united, what is beautiful, and first and foremost, what is TRUE).   They can do the impossible by (seemingly) redefining dogma by redefining obedience and charity (and doesn't Satan love this?  It is the means to emulate* obedience --- FALSE obedience).  (Note:  Notice I didn't say "imitate" obedience, but actually, he plagiarizes it by supporting false obedience.)  

The subject of morality is one which many prelates have told us is only to be left to priests.  This is an untruth.  God gives us the truth to live under, so it is through the unchanging truths that we know the mind of God and that which is expected of us.  We are not unconscious creatures, to be living in blind obedience.  Rather, God's grace helps us to see the dogmatic truths as things to defend out of love of God firstly, and love of neighbor secondly, out of that first love.  These operate in the Gifts of the Holy Ghost, which (collectively) operate in both the intellect and the will/heart.

We have to recognize that God needs to be the center of our worship, and that true gratitude to the one, true God demands high solemnity in worship.  In daily life, it demands constancy and consistency in doing all things under Him (by holy obedience in observance of His commandments) and FOR Him.  Our merciful Lord, who is never outdone in *true" charity, will give us, in return, the means to order all things in our hearts and our minds to him and his holy will, by giving us the graces to accomplish all that He commands.

For whatever is at the center of worship, is the purpose of the worship, and whatever is the at the center of our motivation, is then its end.  We spend our time fighting battles unarmed with grace, battles that either are not meant for us to fight directly, or battles to which we come unprepared.

"But he said: Are you also yet without understanding? Do you not understand, that whatsoever entereth into the mouth, goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the privy?  But the things which proceed out of the mouth, come forth from the heart, and those things defile a man.  For from the heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false testimonies, blasphemies. [20] These are the things that defile a man. But to eat with unwashed hands doth not defile a man."  - Matthew 15:16-20

There is an old saying that one knows a man's heart by what comes out of his mouth.  We would speak of moral truths if we loved them enough.  We would love them 'enough' if we made a point to make every day, every MOMENT be a love note to God.  Simply put:   SPEAK THE TRUTH, AND SPEAK IT BOLDLY, BUT FIRST, LIVE IN THE TRUTH FROM MOMENT TO MOMENT.

Don't waste tons of time on all kinds of activities that keep you from putting God first according to your daily duties.  IF you are not praying your morning prayers, your evening prayers, and your quite prayers during the day, if you are not finding time and putting it to use to do spiritual reading of the saints daily,  if you are fighting a vice even to the point of deliberate sin, you're not growing in the grace of God.  He demands your obedience.  He demands your constancy and consistency in the little things according to your state.

"He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in that which is greater: and he that is unjust in that which is little, is unjust also in that which is greater." -- Luke 16:10


continued in Part II...

REGARDING THE VICE OF SLOTH...

Part II (click here)