Recta Ratio

Ninth Day:
My God! How was it possible that I, for so many years, have borne tranquilly the separation from Thee and Thy holy grace! O infinite Goodness, how long-suffering hast Thou shown Thyself to me! Henceforth, I shall love Thee above all things. I am deeply sorry for having offended Thee; I promise rather to die than to again offend Thee. Grant me the grace of holy perseverance, and do not permit that I should ever again fall into sin. Have compassion on the holy souls in Purgatory. I pray Thee, moderate their sufferings; shorten the time of their misery; call them soon unto Thee in heaven, that they may behold Thee face to face, and forever love Thee. Mary, Mother of Mercy, come to their aid with thy powerful intercession, and pray for us also who are still in danger of eternal damnation.

Say one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and the Prayer to Our Suffering Saviour for the Holy Souls in Purgatory below

Prayer to Our Suffering Saviour for the Holy Souls in Purgatory

O most sweet Jesus, through the bloody sweat which Thou didst suffer in the Garden of Gethsemani, have mercy on these Blessed Souls. Have mercy on them.
R. Have mercy on them, O Lord.

O most sweet Jesus, through the pains which Thou didst suffer during Thy most cruel scourging, have mercy on them.
R. Have mercy on them, O Lord.

O most sweet Jesus, through the pains which Thou didst suffer in Thy most painful crowning with thorns, have mercy on them.
R. Have mercy on them, O Lord.

O most sweet Jesus, through the pains which Thou didst suffer in carrying Thy cross to Calvary, have mercy on them.
R. Have mercy on them, O Lord.

O most sweet Jesus, through the pains which Thou didst suffer during Thy most cruel Crucifixion, have mercy on them.
R. Have mercy on them, O Lord.

O most sweet Jesus, through the pains which Thou didst suffer in Thy most bitter agony on the Cross, have mercy on them.
R. Have mercy on them, O Lord.

O most sweet Jesus, through the immense pain which Thou didst suffer in breathing forth Thy Blessed Soul, have mercy on them.
R. Have mercy on them, O Lord.

(Recommend yourself to the Souls in Purgatory and mention your intentions here)

Blessed Souls, I have prayed for thee; I entreat thee, who are so dear to God, and who are secure of never losing Him, to pray for me a miserable sinner, who is in danger of being damned, and of losing God forever. Amen.

Still Life With A Skull, by Philippe de Champaigne, mid-17th century

Here we have the essentials of a memento mori, a flower symbolizing life, the hourglass representing the constant passing of time, and the central skull, representing inevitable death.

Memento mori, and pray for the holy souls!

Well, it was about time. His conception of how to "reform" the armed forces was a failure. And it got in the way of the war. Downsizing the military while fighting a war is a very stupid idea, one so stupid, that only a supremely confident and overeducated apparatchik could embrace it. And with true McNamaraish gall, Rumsfeld did just that.

I never understood why, in the days immediately following September 11th, the Administration did not call for hundreds of thousands of volunteers to enlist, and raise the Army establishment from 12 to 20 divisions, augment the Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps in proportion, and make it clear tot he American people that taking the war to the enemy would entail overrunning various Moslem dictatorships one after the other: Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya.

As it turned out, we got bogged down in Iraq anyway, but we should not have. We should have made it clear that ridding the earth of the Islamo-fascist states was "clearing the swamp" in which al Qaeda exists. Then the American people would have understood that Iraq really had nothing to do with weapons of mass destruction. We went there because were were clearing out the swamps, and Iraq was the weakest, and most obvious place to start. It also put us in position to take on Iran from 2 fronts (Afghanistan and Iraq).

The reason why was the budget. Expanding the armed forces to a force structure larger than Ronald Reagan had at the climax of the Cold War did not jibe with the down-sizing and lightening of the military Rumsfeld came into office supporting. But the American people would have supported it and filled the ranks immediately after September 11th, and it ought to have been done. Our prosecution of the War On Moslem Terrorism has been handicapped by the refusal to do so. And Rumsfeld's hubris prevented recognition that the police action in Iraq was preventing completion of our war aims.

No cabinet minister ought to be retained who reflects discredit on the government, and Rumsfeld did that, not through any personal scandal (indeed his conduct in office has been that of an exemplary public servant) but through his unwillingness to re-examine core beliefs he came into office with in light of changing circumstances. This was no time to undertake a business-school approach to force structure. This was a time to mobilize vigorously, and prosecute the war rapidly to its fullest. He failed to tell the president these things because he himself did not undertand them.

I just accidentally learned that my former faculty advisor from BC, Dr. William Daly, died last year. I took his courses on Medieval Europe, and Medieval France, and he advised me on my Scholar of the College project on the legal reforms of King Henry II. I have mentioned in the past his work on St. Sidonius Appollinaris. One of the most civilized experiences of my college days was an occasional afternoon tea with Dr. Daly and his next door office neighbor (whose classes on History of the Reformation, Europe In the 17th Century, and Europe in the 18th Century I also took), Dr. Samuel Miller. Dr. Miller died in 1999. Father Leonard Mahoney, SJ, whose course on Modern European Diplomatic History I took as well, died while I was at the law school. All three retired the year I graduated, 1986. Taking history courses from these three, plus Dr. John Heinemann (Germany 1815-1945), and Dr. Thomas Perry (England in the 18th Century), (both of whom are now also retired) was a guarantee of getting a good education in the history of Western culture, if you were willing to work hard. Such opportunites are no longer available at Boston College, or I daresay most other major universities. Requiescant in pace.

Eighth Day:
Oh my God! I also am one of these ungrateful beings, having received so much grace, and yet despised Thy love and deserved to be cast by Thee into hell. But Thy infinite goodness has spared me until now. Therefore, I now love Thee above all things, and I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee. I will rather die than ever offend Thee. Grant me the grace of holy perseverance. Have compassion on me and, at the same time, on the holy souls suffering in Purgatory. Mary, Mother of God, come to their aid with thy powerful intercession.

Say one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and the Prayer to Our Suffering Saviour for the Holy Souls in Purgatory below.
Prayer to Our Suffering Saviour for the Holy Souls in Purgatory

O most sweet Jesus, through the bloody sweat which Thou didst suffer in the Garden of Gethsemani, have mercy on these Blessed Souls. Have mercy on them.
R. Have mercy on them, O Lord.

O most sweet Jesus, through the pains which Thou didst suffer during Thy most cruel scourging, have mercy on them.
R. Have mercy on them, O Lord.

O most sweet Jesus, through the pains which Thou didst suffer in Thy most painful crowning with thorns, have mercy on them.
R. Have mercy on them, O Lord.

O most sweet Jesus, through the pains which Thou didst suffer in carrying Thy cross to Calvary, have mercy on them.
R. Have mercy on them, O Lord.

O most sweet Jesus, through the pains which Thou didst suffer during Thy most cruel Crucifixion, have mercy on them.
R. Have mercy on them, O Lord.

O most sweet Jesus, through the pains which Thou didst suffer in Thy most bitter agony on the Cross, have mercy on them.
R. Have mercy on them, O Lord.

O most sweet Jesus, through the immense pain which Thou didst suffer in breathing forth Thy Blessed Soul, have mercy on them.
R. Have mercy on them, O Lord.

(Recommend yourself to the Souls in Purgatory and mention your intentions here)

Blessed Souls, I have prayed for thee; I entreat thee, who are so dear to God, and who are secure of never losing Him, to pray for me a miserable sinner, who is in danger of being damned, and of losing God forever. Amen.

Burial and Souls Being Released From Purgatory, from an early 16th century French Book of Hours.

No! I know what you are thinking. These are not the mortal remains of our defeated Republican congressmen and senators. Far from it. Hopefully, they live to fight again another day.

Nor is this Sedlac Ossuary, or Halstatt Austria, or Capuchin Catacombs in Sicily. It is not, in fact, from any Catholic country, but from a country that became the militant heart of the protestant error. This one is from old Blighty. Kent, to be specific.

St. Leonard's Church in Hythe, Kent has early medieval origins. And the crypt under the church houses a very imppressive collection of both skulls and bones. The skulls were removed from the pile of bones in the 19th century, and put on shelves.

But where did the bodies come from? While legend says they are those slain in a battle with the Danes in 843, more likely they are jus the remains of villagers, which were periodically dug up to make room in the churchyad for new burials.

This is the bone pile, straightened up in Victorian times.

And, whimsically, allow me to advert your attention, by way of comparison, to this picture of a pile of candy skulls from the Mexican Day of the Dead that I added to the photoessay on that topic yesterday.

Memento mori, and pray for the poor souls!

Seventh Day:
God, Father of Mercy, satisfy this their ardent desire! Send them Thy holy Angel to announce to them that Thou, their Father, are now reconciled with them through the suffering and death of Jesus, and that the moment of their deliverance has arrived.

Say one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and the Prayer to Our Suffering Saviour for the Holy Souls in Purgatory below.
Prayer to Our Suffering Saviour for the Holy Souls in Purgatory

O most sweet Jesus, through the bloody sweat which Thou didst suffer in the Garden of Gethsemani, have mercy on these Blessed Souls. Have mercy on them.
R. Have mercy on them, O Lord.

O most sweet Jesus, through the pains which Thou didst suffer during Thy most cruel scourging, have mercy on them.
R. Have mercy on them, O Lord.

O most sweet Jesus, through the pains which Thou didst suffer in Thy most painful crowning with thorns, have mercy on them.
R. Have mercy on them, O Lord.

O most sweet Jesus, through the pains which Thou didst suffer in carrying Thy cross to Calvary, have mercy on them.
R. Have mercy on them, O Lord.

O most sweet Jesus, through the pains which Thou didst suffer during Thy most cruel Crucifixion, have mercy on them.
R. Have mercy on them, O Lord.

O most sweet Jesus, through the pains which Thou didst suffer in Thy most bitter agony on the Cross, have mercy on them.
R. Have mercy on them, O Lord.

O most sweet Jesus, through the immense pain which Thou didst suffer in breathing forth Thy Blessed Soul, have mercy on them.
R. Have mercy on them, O Lord.

(Recommend yourself to the Souls in Purgatory and mention your intentions here)

Blessed Souls, I have prayed for thee; I entreat thee, who are so dear to God, and who are secure of never losing Him, to pray for me a miserable sinner, who is in danger of being damned, and of losing God forever. Amen.

Welcome to the one-party state of Massachusetts. If you are looking for some semblance of balance in politics, turn around on Route 84 as you come up from New York or Connecticut. The last Republican stronghold in this state, the governorship, fell to the Democrats last night. There is no Republican Party left here. It is dead. Gone. Assumed room temperature. Won't be down for breakfast. Ever.

Now the governorship, and every state-wide office, the entire congressional delegation, and both houses of the state legislature (by incredibly lop-sided majorities) and the vast majority of every city and town council and school committee in the state is completely and entirely controlled by Democrats. The last two Republican congressmen (both named Peter) got the axe in 1996 or so. The state Treasury, one ruled by Republican Joe Malone (for a whole 2 terms) has been in Democrat hands for quite a while now. Now the governorship, which we held since the state tried to pick itself up out of the rubble of Mike Dukakis' "Massachusetts Miracle" in 1990, is gone.

Last night, the Massachusetts GOP didn't even field candidates for most of the state-wide offices, congressional districts, or state legislative districts. In many cases, looking at the ballots, the only opposition the Democrats had was the Socialist Workers Party or the Rainbow Coalition Party. What a choice! Want to vote for a Democrat, or a Socialist Worker? What's the difference? It is that bad here. There is nothing, and the Democrat farm system is so impenatrably deep that their monopoly on power will probably never be broken until 1 or 2 generations pass away.

Who is to blame for this catastrophe? Well for 16 years, we have had Republican governors. Bill Weld got elected in 1990 when people were fed up with one-arty rule in the 1980s, but his heart wasn't in governing. It was in amber-colored beverages. He got himself re-elected in 1994, then promptly abandoned the state to try to become ambassador to Mexico, which Jesse Helms wisely thwarted. He then decided to head to Wall Street and megabucks in a New York law firm.

His Lt. Governor Paul Cellucci then stepped into his shoes. Fear of one-party rule remained so strong, that Cellucci managed to get re-elected in 1998, despite having gambling debts that would make a young Benjamin Disraeli distressed (Disraeli was a millon pounds in debt at the age of 21, and then a million pounds was very substantial money!). But as soon as George W. Bush was settled into the presidency, Cellucci, probably to escape his gaming creditors, lobbied hard to be named US Ambassador to Canada (what is up with Massachusetts governors wanting to become ambassadors?). He got it, and we got Jane Not-So-Swift.

Jane was a first. She was never elected in her own right. She was the first US governor to be pregnant and give birth while in office. And she was a first-class zipper-head. She was so incompetent, that she would have dragged the fortunes of the state GOP to utter ruin in 2002, but even she was bright enough to see that she had to step aside.

Mitt Romeny, son of a former liberal Republican governor of Michigan, Mormon, businessman, and cleaner-upper of the Salt Lake City Olympics came in as a white knight, and saved the fortunes of the GOP, temporarily. One fault early on was that, faced with a female Democrat opponent, he insisted that the Massachusetts GOP primary voters give him a woman as his running mate. Now Jim Rappaport, a moderate Republican with some business and state party experience (he had once made a crebitable run for US Senate, as has Mitt) wanted the job, but Mitt insisted on Kerry Murphy Healey, some rich guy's trophy wife, who had left the Catholic Church for social-climbing reasons and because she didn't like the conservative social policy implicit in Catholicism. So he got Muffy.

And when Romney decided that he was governor of the wrong state, and that he wanted to be president more than governor, he left the GOP nomination not to an experienced leader like Rappaport, but to Muffy.

And Muffy just got mowed down by leftist moonbat Deval Patrick.

In these 16 years of Republican governors, there has not been one serious effort to build a state Republican Party from the grassroots up. All our hopes were put in the governorship, to use that position to prevent disasters like tax hikes, the repeal of Proposition 21/2, and other truly dreadful Democrat initiatives.

And now, we don't even have that, or much prospect of regaining it.

When Moonbat-In-Chief Patrick falls on his face and turns the state into an economic basket case and social freakshow (not that it isn't that already!), as inevitably will happen, he will be defeated in a Democrat primary. Nothing but Democrats as far as the eye can see.

Ah, but Massachusetts' agony is to be shared, I see.

The voters of the nation had a bad case of second-midterm doldrums, and fecklessly handed a great deal of power over to the Democrats in Congress and the corner offices of other states. The GOP lost its slim majority in the US House, including both house seats in New Hampshire. The Senate hangs in the balance. Excellent US Senators like Rick Santorum and Mike DeWine have been sent to the sideline by the voters. Churchill's aphorism I hope holds true for them: "Politics is much like war, except that in war, you can be killed only once, in politics you can be killed many times."

A bright spot was that moderate Democrat running as an independent Jow Lieberman regained his seat after losing his party primary (with a lot of Republican help and good wishes). And we held the governorships of California, Texas, and Florida, though we lost New York and Ohio, as well Maryland and Massachusetts. Sadly, the South Dakota abortion ban failed, though English was recognized as the official language of Arizona. Slim comfort!

Right now, George Allen is incomprehensibly trailing in Virginia, and Conrad Burns is slightly behind in Montana. If both go down to defeat, the Democrats control the Senate, too. And Democrat control of the Senate means an end to any hope of Justice Stevens' eventual replacement being of a mind to overturn Roe v. Wade, the prize all serious Catholics must have before their eyes at all times in every US Presidential and Senate race.

And if Allen can't even hold the Virginia Senate seat, what hope did he ever have of the presidency? And to whom can conservatives turn for a nominee now? Sam Brownback? Sam Who? Certainly not Romney, McCain, or Guiliani.

Yep, lead by their bishops and their feckless voter guides, Catholics took their eyes off the ball this election, and the socialists and "progressives" have it now.

George Bush is going to be one isolated lame duck these last two years, much as Ronald Reagan was in his last two years. We can expect no new conservative initiatives (not that this second term has exactly been teeming with conservative policy initiatives anyway) and no new conservative appointments. We can expect career civil servants to fill high vacancies. Controversy will be avoided.

Yeah, this whole election just brings to mind the old song from Hee Haw:

"Doom. Despair. And Agony On Me. Deep-Dark Depression. Excessive Misery. If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all."

It is a headache, wrapped inside a hangover, wrapped inside caffeine withdrawals. Its a bad hit. No other way to look at it.

Lots of folks to blame. Locally, Mitt Romney and Muffy. Nationally, George W. Bush and Karl Rove. Dennis Hastert and Nancy-Boy Republican Foley. Donald Rumsfeld is not blameless either. We ought to have withdrawn our troops in Iraq into huge bases set up there to prepare for the Iranian campaign of the War on Terror, instead of trying to use them as peacekeepers. Let the UN do the peacekeeping. Our troops are there to kill people and break things, to overrun countries and smash their military. And no one in the history of God's green earth does that better than we do.

Recall, I said Karl Rove might make me eat my criticism, as he has in the past. He didn't. The magic is gone. Lee Atwater would have done better. I expected some losses, as in any second mid-term election, but not this bad. Now we need to re-group for the presidential election, and frame issues and find candidates we can put before the American people in 2008 with some hope of stopping Hillary and preventing the national GOP from sliding into the morass of moderatism.

And it is raining and raw now, and probably will be here forever.

Time for a re-read of Fisher Ames.

I usually save this one for New Year's, but what the heck, it feels right today. The party of death has triumphed, with the complicity of "Catholic" bishops.

I didn't really intend to, but somehow, I turned that previous post linking to Jay and Mark's treatments of the Mexican Day of the Dead into a photo essay in its own right.

Railing posts from the Monastery of San Martino, in Naples



Memento mori, and pray for the poor souls!

You Are 92% Republican

You are a card carrying Republican, and a pretty far right one at that! There's no chance anyone would ever mistake you for a Democrat.

Is this compendium of what the saints have said about Purgatory, from Friends of the Poor Souls blog.

Last year, I serialized Father O'Sullivan's Read Me, Or Rue It about the sufferings of the Poor Souls in Purgatory. This year, I found, just this morning, that this companion volume by Father O'Sullivan was transcribed by the Friends of the Poor Souls blog.

Both, by the way, are available in print from TAN.

Purgatory from a 15th Century Book of Hours
Sixth Day:
My Divine Redeemer, Thou didst die for me on the Cross, and hast so often united Thyself with me in Holy Communion, and I have repaid Thee only with ingratitude. Now, however, I love Thee above all things, O supreme God; and I am more grieved at my offences against Thee than at any other evil. I will rather die than offend Thee again. Grant me the grace of holy perseverance. Have compassion on me, and, at the same time, on the holy souls suffering in Purgatory. Mary, Mother of God, come to their aid with thy powerful intercession.

Say one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and the Prayer to Our Suffering Saviour for the Holy Souls in Purgatory below.
Prayer to Our Suffering Saviour for the Holy Souls in Purgatory

O most sweet Jesus, through the bloody sweat which Thou didst suffer in the Garden of Gethsemani, have mercy on these Blessed Souls. Have mercy on them.
R. Have mercy on them, O Lord.

O most sweet Jesus, through the pains which Thou didst suffer during Thy most cruel scourging, have mercy on them.
R. Have mercy on them, O Lord.

O most sweet Jesus, through the pains which Thou didst suffer in Thy most painful crowning with thorns, have mercy on them.
R. Have mercy on them, O Lord.

O most sweet Jesus, through the pains which Thou didst suffer in carrying Thy cross to Calvary, have mercy on them.
R. Have mercy on them, O Lord.

O most sweet Jesus, through the pains which Thou didst suffer during Thy most cruel Crucifixion, have mercy on them.
R. Have mercy on them, O Lord.

O most sweet Jesus, through the pains which Thou didst suffer in Thy most bitter agony on the Cross, have mercy on them.
R. Have mercy on them, O Lord.

O most sweet Jesus, through the immense pain which Thou didst suffer in breathing forth Thy Blessed Soul, have mercy on them.
R. Have mercy on them, O Lord.

(Recommend yourself to the Souls in Purgatory and mention your intentions here)

Blessed Souls, I have prayed for thee; I entreat thee, who are so dear to God, and who are secure of never losing Him, to pray for me a miserable sinner, who is in danger of being damned, and of losing God forever. Amen.

Rorate Caeli is reporting that the universal indult is a long way off, if ever.

Am I the only one beginning to taste again that all-too-familiar sourness, not unlike a rotting tooth, which it seems traditionalists and those favorably inclined towards a more liberal treatment of the Latin Mass get to experience on a regular basis?

I guess not. The Catholic Caveman has the same take.

Shawn Tribe at The New Liturgical Movement offers a more optimistic view than I think I can muster just now.

My own take? If it is coming, and is not just smoke and mirrors, I'd be a lot happier if the Holy Father cancelled his upcoming trip to Turkey, as this liberalization of the Latin Mass is entirely his thing, not the curia's and not the bishops of the world's and if he gets assassinated over there, as I fear greatly, then that is the end of the project (unless the next pope is someone like Cardinal Pell).

Fifth Day:
Woe to me, unhappy being, if Thou, O Lord, hadst cast me into hell; for from that dungeon of eternal pain there is no deliverance. I love Thee above all things, O infinite God and I am sincerely sorry for having offended Thee again. Grant me the grace of holy perseverance. Have compassion on me, and, at the same time, on the holy souls suffering in Purgatory. O Mary, Mother of God, come to their assistance with thy powerful intercession.

Say one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and the Prayer to Our Suffering Saviour for the Holy Souls in Purgatory below.
Prayer to Our Suffering Saviour for the Holy Souls in Purgatory

O most sweet Jesus, through the bloody sweat which Thou didst suffer in the Garden of Gethsemani, have mercy on these Blessed Souls. Have mercy on them.
R. Have mercy on them, O Lord.

O most sweet Jesus, through the pains which Thou didst suffer during Thy most cruel scourging, have mercy on them.
R. Have mercy on them, O Lord.

O most sweet Jesus, through the pains which Thou didst suffer in Thy most painful crowning with thorns, have mercy on them.
R. Have mercy on them, O Lord.

O most sweet Jesus, through the pains which Thou didst suffer in carrying Thy cross to Calvary, have mercy on them.
R. Have mercy on them, O Lord.

O most sweet Jesus, through the pains which Thou didst suffer during Thy most cruel Crucifixion, have mercy on them.
R. Have mercy on them, O Lord.

O most sweet Jesus, through the pains which Thou didst suffer in Thy most bitter agony on the Cross, have mercy on them.
R. Have mercy on them, O Lord.

O most sweet Jesus, through the immense pain which Thou didst suffer in breathing forth Thy Blessed Soul, have mercy on them.
R. Have mercy on them, O Lord.

(Recommend yourself to the Souls in Purgatory and mention your intentions here)

Blessed Souls, I have prayed for thee; I entreat thee, who are so dear to God, and who are secure of never losing Him, to pray for me a miserable sinner, who is in danger of being damned, and of losing God forever. Amen.

Contact Clear Creek Monastery for a traditional Latin Mass Trental.
The cost is only $300.00.

Check out Jeff's reflections on the the Catholic aspect of coming to terms with America's British culture at Hallowed Ground.

Pendant for a Rosary, c. 1500, apparently ivory.
Nothing like a skull covered with various reptiles to remind us that we all will die and will almost all be in need of prayers from the living.

Bosch, The Seven Deadly Sins and The Four Last Things
By Father Marcel Nault
When I am invited to preach, I remember the words of Christ: "The Holy Ghost will speak in you and through you." And when I think about the Apostles, I do not imagine them going from town to town with their computer, their microphones, their recording machine, their filing cabinet. They go and they let the Holy Ghost speak. Because it is the Holy Ghost that changes the heart of sinners, I put all my trust in the wisdom and the strength of the Holy Ghost.

I preach everywhere the message of Our Lady of Fatima. What will I preach? I preach what I think is the most important. I preach what is the most important teachings of Our Lord Jesus and when Jesus Christ came on earth, He came for one reason, to save souls from Hell.

St. John Chrysostom, a beloved Father of the Church, used to say and repeat that the Lord Jesus has preached more often on the Catholic Dogma of Hell than any other subject.

Some people say it is better to preach on Heaven. I believe that the more a person meditates on that truth that we call Hell, that meditation produces many fruits of conversion.

St. Benedict, the founder of the Benedictines, was in Rome and the Holy Spirit told him, "You are going to lose your soul." He left Rome and he went into solitude to meditate on the Holy Gospel. He meditated, prayed and did penance and the Holy Spirit spread the word and people flocked to him. Holiness attracts souls.

Why do you think St. Augustine changed his life? Because of the fear of Hell. I preach often on Hell because the Lord Jesus and Our Blessed Mother asked me to preach on Hell and when I preach on Hell, you feel, you know that I believe in the reality that we call a Roman Catholic Dogma, Hell.

Pope Pius IX, who gave us the Roman Catholic Dogma on the Immaculate conception; Pope Pius IX who has given us the Syllabus, used to preach and ask preachers to please, please, preach more often on Hell.

The thought of Hell makes saints. Curiously, saints are afraid to go to Hell. The Curé of Ars was afraid to go to Hell. St. Therese of the Infant Jesus was afraid to go to Hell. Saint Simon Stock, the Superior General of the Carmel priests, said that his monks were even afraid to go to Hell despite the fact that they were fasting, praying and living out of the world.

Mary, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, appeared to Saint Simon Stock and told him: Don't be afraid anymore, I'm giving you Carmelites a special vestment; all those who will die wearing that vestment will not go to Hell.

I wear the Brown Scapular inside my vestment and I have another one in my pocket because I never know when people will ask me to preach, and when I preach, I preach the Holy Rosary and the Brown Scapular.

Mary said, "Through the Rosary and Scapular I will save the world."

One cannot specialize and preach everything, but the Lord Jesus invited me to preach on Hell. A Monsignor said to me, "Marcel, don't preach on Hell. People don't like that, you scare them." And in a very friendly way that Monsignor said to me, "Marcel, I have never preached on Hell and look at the position I have. I will never preach on Hell."

After a long silence, I looked him in the eye and said, "Monsignor, you are on the road to Hell for all eternity. You preach, monsignor, to please the crowd, instead of preaching to please Christ."

When God sent prophets in the Old Testament, it was to remind the people to come back to the truth, come back to holiness. Jesus came, Jesus preached. He sent His Apostles into the world to preach the Holy Gospel.

The serpent came and spread his poisons of heresy and the Lord Jesus decided to send His Beloved Mother, the Queen of Prophets to earth to destroy heresies. And it is written by the Fathers of the Church that the Mother of God is the hammer of all heresies.

On July 13, 1917, Mary came to Fatima as a prophet of The Most High to save souls from Hell. Our Lady lowered Her hands and suddenly, the three children saw a hole in the ground.

That hole, says Lucy, was like a sea of fire in which she saw the forms of humans, men and women, shouting and crying in despair. And she saw demons in the forms of ugly animals. The vision was so horrible that the children feared that they would die from fright.

And Mary said to the three children, "You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go."

Each time you say the Rosary, my children, do say after each decade, "O My Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of Hell, lead all souls to Heaven, especially those most in need."

Mary came to Fatima to save souls from Hell. The Cure of Ars, the patron of all parish priests, used to preach that the greatest act of charity towards your neighbor is to save souls from Hell. One day when he was hearing Confession in a little church, the devil, in the form of a man, raged and screamed, "I hate you, I hate you because you stole from my hand 85,000 souls."

You Excellencies, Cardinals and we Priests, when we come to the judgment, Jesus will ask one question. "I made you a priest, a bishop, a cardinal, a pope. How many souls have you saved? How many souls have you saved from Hell?"

The Cure of Ars saved more than 85,000 sinners. How many souls have we saved? When you read the Fathers of the Church, the Doctors of the Church, the Saints, you are struck by one thing; they all preach the Holy gospel of Jesus; Heaven, Purgatory and the never fail to preach on the Roman Catholic Dogma of Hell.

Read the Fathers of the Church, the doctors of the Church, all those priests, magnificent apostles of Jesus Christ. They all preach on the Catholic Dogma of Hell because when we meditate on Hell we become a saint.

I don't want to criticize the bishops but it is sad for me to say that in my thirty years of priesthood I have never heard a bishop; my bishops or any other bishop, preach on the Roman Catholic Dogma of Hell. I suppose in India and elsewhere they do, but in America, we don't preach on Hell.

Preach to save souls not to please
In many dioceses I have often heard bishops recite the Rosary but they decline to add the little Fatima prayer after each decade because "the people don't like that."

We are not there preaching to please the crowd but to save souls, to prevent them from going to Hell for all eternity. And I think the little prayer of Our Lady of Fatima given to the children on July 13, 1917, is more powerful and more pleasing to God than any kind of meditation. The meditations that we priests write down and pronounce, they might be nice, but after each decade do you know a meditation more powerful, more holy than the prayer given by Our Lady of Fatima? Please, after each decade, do recite it.

I preach often on Hell. My friends, you have received your catechism, you have received your gifts from God. For me, Jesus wants me, Jesus asks me, Jesus begs me, Our Lady of Fatima begs me to preach Hell.

There are many revelations that we can read in the holy books and some souls in Hell have spoken, given the privilege by God, to help us in our faith. And those souls in Hell souls say, "We could accept to be in Hell a thousand years. We could accept to be in Hell a million

years, if we knew that one day, we would leave Hell."

But no, my friends, we must meditate, not only on the pre-destination of seeing God in Heaven, we must also meditate on the eternity of Hell. I heard a priest in the charismatic conference with about 10,000 laypeople and 300 priests present. He was preaching, "My friends, God is love, god is mercy and you will see His Infinite Mercy at the end of the world, delivering souls from Hell."

What heresy! Yet his bishop did not remove his faculties and he was allowed to continue to preach such heresy. with our little human intelligence we make a little "philosophic reasoning". God is love, God is our Father. How can a loving Father take His little Peter and throw him in to the furnace of Hell? Why that would be an insult to God, Who is love.

How many times have you heard that hypocrisy? My friends, Hell exists. Hell is eternal. I can go into Hell. You can go into Hell. And if God had called me to my eternal reward some years ago, I would have gone to Hell for all eternity, weeping, crying. Not for a million years, not for a thousand million years, but for eternity.

And in gratitude to the Most Holy Trinity, to Our Blessed Mother, I go to Confession every week, I recite my 15 Mysteries of the Rosary every day, my breviary, I wear my Brown Scapular. And I preach the Rosary and the Brown Scapular to everyone. I preach to bishops like I preach to everyone because bishops too have a soul to be saved.

The Lord Jesus has chosen us among men to make us priests for one reason; to offer sacrifice to the Almighty Father and save souls from Hell. When I preach at parish retreats, I always end with the preaching on Hell.

Devotion to the Rosary is a great sign of pre-destination
I am not holy but I pray my Rosary, I wear my Scapular, I say my breviary, seven days a week. I say my Mass every day, I go to confession every week and I hope (I'm not sure, nobody is sure) to go to Heaven.

Nobody is sure unless they have a private revelation from God. Why not take all insurance Our Lady of Fatima has given us, "Devotion to My Rosary is a great sign of pre-destination."

She has given us another insurance, "that anyone dying in this habit shall not suffer eternal fire."

If only one Bishop among you would have come to Fatima and go back to his diocese and beseech his people, "I am your bishop. I am here to save your souls from Hell. Please accept my teaching today, listen to my teaching today. Meditate on my teaching today. And please, my priests, imitate your bishop, preach on Hell."

If only you would do this, you will be doing the greatest act of charity of your priesthood, of your episcopal apostolate.

Preach Hell and Jesus will bless you, Jesus will forgive you your weakness, Jesus will for give your sins if you do preach Hell. By preaching Hell, you are making a terrific act of charity because those that will hear you, they will believe, they will change their lives and they will go to Confession.

Saints go to Confession, Saints go to Confession! And those that go to Confession frequently become Saints.

Fourth Day:
My God! because Thou art infinite goodness, I am sorry with my whole heart for having offended Thee. I promise to die rather than ever offend Thee more. Give me holy perseverance; have pity on me, and have pity on those holy souls that burn in the cleansing fire and love Thee with all their hearts. O Mary, Mother of God, assist them by thy powerful prayers.

Say one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and the Prayer to Our Suffering Saviour for the Holy Souls in Purgatory below.
Prayer to Our Suffering Saviour for the Holy Souls in Purgatory

O most sweet Jesus, through the bloody sweat which Thou didst suffer in the Garden of Gethsemani, have mercy on these Blessed Souls. Have mercy on them.
R. Have mercy on them, O Lord.

O most sweet Jesus, through the pains which Thou didst suffer during Thy most cruel scourging, have mercy on them.
R. Have mercy on them, O Lord.

O most sweet Jesus, through the pains which Thou didst suffer in Thy most painful crowning with thorns, have mercy on them.
R. Have mercy on them, O Lord.

O most sweet Jesus, through the pains which Thou didst suffer in carrying Thy cross to Calvary, have mercy on them.
R. Have mercy on them, O Lord.

O most sweet Jesus, through the pains which Thou didst suffer during Thy most cruel Crucifixion, have mercy on them.
R. Have mercy on them, O Lord.

O most sweet Jesus, through the pains which Thou didst suffer in Thy most bitter agony on the Cross, have mercy on them.
R. Have mercy on them, O Lord.

O most sweet Jesus, through the immense pain which Thou didst suffer in breathing forth Thy Blessed Soul, have mercy on them.
R. Have mercy on them, O Lord.

(Recommend yourself to the Souls in Purgatory and mention your intentions here)

Blessed Souls, I have prayed for thee; I entreat thee, who are so dear to God, and who are secure of never losing Him, to pray for me a miserable sinner, who is in danger of being damned, and of losing God forever. Amen.

Iraqi court sentences former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein to be hanged for crimes against humanity.