Communism & Socialism

'The final goal shared by these teachings, whether of Communism or Socialism, even if approached differently, is to excite by continuous disturbances workers and others, especially those of the lower class, whom they have deceived by their lies and deluded by the promise of a happier condition. They are preparing them for plundering, stealing, and usurping first the Church's and then everyone's property. After this they will profane all law, human and divine, to destroy divine worship and to subvert the entire ordering of civil societies.'

Pope Bl. Pius IX

'The Holy Spirit is the master of prayer, and causes us to abide in continual peace and cheerfulness, which is a foretaste of Paradise.'

St. Philip Neri

Nine Ways of Being Accessory to Another's Sin

NINE WAYS OF BEING ACCESSORY TO ANOTHER'S SIN

1. By counsel.
    
2. By command.
    
3. By consent.
    
4. By provocation.
    
5. By praise or flattery.
    
6. By concealment.
    
7. By partaking.
    
8. By silence.
    
9. By defense of the ill done

. . .


'These are those who would not think of failing to hear Holy Mass every day, and, at the same time, will not deprive themselves of the satisfaction it affords them to attend the theatres, although the Church has always regarded these as pernicious, considering the ordinary sort of entertainment therein presented.

Again there are those who sometimes read books of piety, and afterwards pass the night in reading novels filled with the venom of bitterness of falsehood and immorality.

This caused Gerson, one of the most famous lights of the University of Paris, to say, of a novel writer, that if he knew him to have died without doing penance for his sin, he (Gerson) would think no more of praying to God for that man's soul, than he would think of praying for Judas.'

St. Jean Eudes

Illegal Christianity & Ignorance

It is becoming more and more illegal to show any public Christianity, or Christian business practices.

Not that there are many who do so in the first place, which is a part of the cause. Besides the conspiracies, knowledge whichof repressed, unacknowledged. . . And those in public positions of purported fidelity.. complicit in its repression.

It makes one think about the curse of ignorance. . .

The more ignorant one is of the Faith the more of a curse it is. .

Ignorance is a consequence of sin, though not necessarily one's own.. From generation to generation.. from parents to children.

A positive sort of ignorance.. Enforced by cultural mores. . .

A true beast of ignorance. . . As in Canaan or worse.

God save me from ignorance! God save us .  . .


Ignorance

'But only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance.'

Hebrews 9:7

'If any one sin through ignorance, and do one of those things which by the law of the Lord are forbidden, and being guilty of sin, understand his iniquity, he shall offer of the flocks a ram without blemish to the priest, according to the measure and estimation of the sin: and the priest shall pray for him, because he did it ignorantly: and it shall be forgiven him, because by mistake he trespassed against the Lord.'

Leviticus 5:17-19
'There are four degrees of ignorance, the first invincible, which is without blame; the second vincible, but hardly so, which has some fault and is subject to punishment; the third crass, which has more blame; the fourth wilful, which has the most blame and the heaviest punishment.'

Cornelius a Lapide, Commentary on Luke

'There is a way that seemeth to a man right: and the ends thereof lead to death.'

Proverbs 16:25

'An ignorant person is like a dying man lying unconscious: he does not know either the malice of sin or the value of his soul. He goes from sin to sin, like a rag dragged through the mire.'
St. Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney, the Cure of Ars
'To excuse yourself on the grounds of ignorance is to excuse one sin by another.'

St. John Chrysostom

'Hell is ignorance, for both are dark; and perdition is forgetfulness, for both involve extinction.'

St. Mark the Ascetic

'All sins which are due to ignorance can be reduced to sloth, to which pertains the negligence of a man who declines to acquire spiritual goods because of the labor associated with them. . . Since knowledge is further removed from morality than prudence. . . it follows that ignorance has the nature of mortal sin, not of itself, but on account either of a preceding negligence or the consequent result, and for this reason ignorance is reckoned one of the general causes of sin. . . All sin proceeds from some ignorance.'

St. Thomas Aquinas

'Unbelief has the character of guilt from resisting the faith rather than mere absence of the faith.'

St. Thomas Aquinas

'He who is ignorant of the enemy's ambush is easily slain; and he who does not know the causes of the passions is soon brought low.'

St. Mark the Ascetic

'Innumerable souls are miserably lost through ignorance of religion the source of every other calamity.'

St. Frances Xavier Cabrini

'As regards my opinions concerning the present state of the Church with relation to the election of the new Pope, what opinion of any weight could a miserable, ignorant, and unspiritual person like myself possibly give? There is need for prayer and much prayer. All the human science and prudence that there is cannot extricate the Church from the present state of relaxation and confusion in which every section finds itself; the all-powerful arm of God is necessary. As regards the bishops, very few of them possess genuine zeal for souls. Almost all religious communities - and one could omit the "almost" - are relaxed. As a result of the present state of general confusion, observance has collapsed and obedience is a thing of the past. The state of the secular clergy is still worse: so, in a word, there is a need for a general reform of all clerics and ecclesiastics if there is to be any improvement in the present great corruption of morals among the laity. So we have to pray to Jesus Christ that He would give us as head of the Church one possessed of more spirit and zeal for the glory of God than of learning and human prudence. He should be free of all party attachments and devoid of human respect. If, by chance, for our great misfortune, we should get a Pope that does not have the glory of God as his sole purpose, the Lord will not help him greatly and things from their present condition will go from bad to worse. However, prayer, which can provide a remedy for so many present ills, will move the Lord to put His hand to the problem and remedy the situation.'

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

'It was my desire to be silent, and not to make a public display of the rustic rudeness of my tongue. For silence is a matter of great consequence when one's speech is mean. And to refrain from utterance is indeed an admirable thing, where there is lack of training; and verily he is the highest philosopher who knows how to cover his ignorance by abstinence from public address.'

St Gregory the Wonderworker

'We must cover the failings of our neighbor with the mantle of charity, attributing them to ignorance or inadvertence.'

St. Paul of the Cross