From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   The Inward Conversation of Christ with the Faithful Soul  (1)   
      
      I WILL hear what the Lord God will speak in me.”  Ps. 84:9.   
      Blessed is the soul who hears the Lord speaking within her, who   
   receives the word of consolation from His lips. Blessed are the ears   
   that catch the accents of divine whispering, and pay no heed to the   
   murmurings of this world. Blessed indeed are the ears that listen, not   
   to the voice which sounds without, but to the truth which teaches   
   within. Blessed are the eyes which are closed to exterior things and   
   are fixed upon those which are interior. Blessed are they who   
   penetrate inwardly, who try daily to prepare themselves more and more   
   to understand mysteries. Blessed are they who long to give their time   
   to God, and who cut themselves off from the hindrances of the world.   
   --Thomas à Kempis--Imitation of Christ Book 3, Chapter 1   
      
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   September 30th - St. Jerome   
      
   St. Jerome, Confessor and Doctor of the Church (c. 341-420) is   
   considered the Church’s greatest Doctor of Scriptures.   
      
   He conferred this praise upon St. Augustine: “As I have done, you   
   applied all your energy to make the enemies of the Church your   
   personal enemies.” This eulogy is consistent with the counsel of St.   
   Augustine: “You must hate the evil, but love the one who errs.”   
      
   Regarding St. Jerome the Roman Breviary says: “He pummeled the   
   heretics with his most harsh writings.”   
      
   Comments of Prof. Plinio:   
      
   In the Catholic Church, St. Jerome is the representative par   
   excellence of the polemical spirit, and in this sense he is a symbol   
   against progressivist ecumenical dialogue. His writings are so   
   straightforward, energetic, and intransigent that some people imagine   
   that a saint could not write as he did. Almost everyone of his time   
   trembled before him.   
      
   Once St. Augustine, with whom he had an ongoing correspondence,   
   amiably told him that with half the energy St. Jerome used in one of   
   his letters, he would already be convinced of his argument. I also   
   remember that once I read that a pious lady sent St. Jerome a gift:   
   some young doves and a basket of cherries. He wrote back asking her   
   what she was thinking when she sent those delicate things to him. He   
   was suspicious that she might want to corrupt the austerity of his   
   penitent life. He immediately gave the presents to the poor.   
      
   One of my first encounters with Progressivism was with the reformist   
   liturgical mentality that was being accepted by many monks in the   
   Benedictine Monastery in Sao Paulo. I was talking with the Abbot and   
   he told me that some works of St. Jerome were being read in the   
   refectory of the monastery during the midday meal. He commented that   
   the monks had become furious over the readings. In my naiveté, I   
   thought that their hatred was directed toward the heretics St. Jerome   
   combated, but I soon realized that I was wrong. Their hatred was   
   against St. Jerome himself, because they had sympathy for the   
   heretics.   
      
   The combativity of St. Jerome was an expression of his consuming zeal   
   for the House of God. This kind of militancy is one of the most   
   legitimate and saintly expressions of that zeal. Since his energy was   
   inspired by love for God and not by personal resentments, it was a   
   very holy thing. If force is exerted because of personal resentments,   
   it is a completely different thing.   
      
   That saintly militancy made him a living sword of God. I know of no   
   higher praise than to say that a man is the living sword of God,   
   cutting, piercing, wounding, and destroying His enemies. St. Jerome   
   represents the pinnacle of the polemic spirit, and as such he is the   
   Patron Saint of the counter-revolutionary fight   
      
   His eulogy of St. Augustine about how he made the Church’s enemies his   
   personal enemies is remarkable. It is one saint praising another one,   
   and for this reason it can be said that the eulogy reflects the   
   sanctity of the Church. The selection points out well that this aspect   
   harmonizes perfectly with another apparently contrary one that can be   
   seen in other words of St. Augustine: “We must hate evil, but love   
   those who err.”   
      
   Today it is important that we have a clear understanding of what it   
   means to love those who err. It is a liberal and ecumenical   
   simplification to say that if one vigorously attacks those who err, he   
   is harming these persons or showing a lack of charity. There are three   
   reasons why this is not the case:   
      
   First, when a person is in grave danger of falling into an abyss, the   
   right thing to do is to shout at him and say, “Be careful, you are at   
   the edge of the cliff and if you fall, you will crack your head and   
   die.” It would not be sensible to speak mildly, saying: “Hello there,   
   I am standing in a much better place than you. Why don’t you come join   
   me?”   
      
   This would be a foolish way to keep the man from falling into the   
   abyss. The right way to rescue a man from danger is not to show the   
   positive side of your position, but to expose the danger of his   
   position and the imprudence of remaining in it.   
      
   Which one of you, seeing a man imprudently playing with a loaded gun   
   and having his finger on the trigger, would gently suggest he play   
   chess with you instead? It is a foolish attitude. The right thing is   
   to address him sternly: “Look, stop playing with that gun or you might   
   hurt yourself or me.” A man who is tempted to do something wrong needs   
   to be addressed with words that inspire fear.   
      
   This is true above all when we deal with Catholic doctrine. Men are   
   more easily moved by fear of bad consequences they can experience than   
   a possible good they may enjoy. They are more easily moved by fear of   
   Hell than by love of Heaven. Therefore, in order to convert a man, it   
   is more charitable and expedient for us to first point out his error   
   and its bad consequences, and then speak about the beauty and goodness   
   of the truth. St. Jerome was a model of this way of acting.   
      
   I know that some rare souls may be touched by sweetness rather than   
   combativity, but this is not the rule. It is the exception to the   
   rule. God gives His Church saints who have special charismas to   
   attract with amiability, such as St. Francis of Sales, who drew souls   
   by his sweetness. However, the rule is to attack the evil to convert   
   the person, as St. Jerome did....  Our Lord, the divine model of   
   sanctity, did not act with conciliation when he debated with the   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)