Darkness, a barrier

Christ came to enlighten those who lived in darkness, overshadowed
by death, and to guide their feet into the way of peace. Do you ask
what darkness? Whatever is present in our intellect, in our will, or
in our memory that is not God, or which has not its source in God;
that is to say, whatever in us is not for God's sake, is a barrier
between God and the soul -- it is darkness.
In himself Christ brought us light which would enable us to see our
sins, and hate our darkness. His freely chosen poverty, when there was
no place for him in the inn, is for us a light by which we can now
learn that the poor in spirit, to whom the kingdom of heaven belongs,
are blessed.
The love with which Christ offered himself to instruct us, and to
endure for us injuries, ostracism, persecution, lashes, and death upon
a cross; the love finally which made him pray for those who crucified
him -- that love is for us a light by which we may learn to love our
enemies.
-- John Justus Landsberg

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August 21st - Pope St. Pius X

Baron von Pastor, the noted papal historian, said of St. Pius X:

"He was one of those chosen few men whose personality was
irresistible. Everyone was moved by his simplicity and his angelic
kindness. Yet it was something more that carried him into all hearts;
and that something was the feeling that all those admitted to his
presence had a deep conviction of coming face to face with a saint."

This future Pontiff was born Giuseppe Sarto, son of a messenger and
postman in the village of Riese in Venetia, in AD 1835. The second of
ten children, his family was poor, but he was able to obtain an
education in a local elementary school, a grammar school, bursary, and
then finally entered the seminary at Padua.

Giuseppe Sarto was Ordained at age 23, and spent 17 years in pastoral
ministry. He went on to become Canon at Treviso, and in AD 1884 he
was consecrated Bishop of Mantua. In AD 1892 Leo XIII promoted
Giuseppe as Cardinal-priest, and he was promoted to the See of Venice,
as patriarch. When Leo XIII passed in AD 1903, it was assumed that
Rampolla Cardinal del Tindaro would succeed him. However, Emperor
Joseph of Austria "vetoed" the choice (the last time this would
happen). Ballots processed, and four ballots later Sarto was elected.

Pope Pius' first action in 'Commissum Nobis' was to outlaw secular interventions in papal elections. He then had to deal with attempted resecularization in France. The Concordat of AD 1801 was condemned,
and a separation of Church and State imposed. In a pair of dignified
but forceful encyclicals [Vehementer nos and Gravissimum], the Pope
condemned the separation as well as the Associations Cultuelles. This
was established to liquidate ecclesiastical properties in France. The separation continued, but at last the Church had free-reign to
administer it's own affairs without secular intervention.

His first encyclical, 'Instuarare Omnia in Christo', dealt with
restoration of all things in Christ. To this end he issued several
"wishes": daily communication of all the faithful is possible, reading
of the Bible, the age of 1st communion lowered to the age of reason
(7), and easing the process of administering communion to the sick.
He also issued decrees necessary to curb musical abuses and reinsert
the use of plainchant in the Mass for the laity, pushed to complete a
revision of canon law (1917), and reorganized tribunals,
congregations, and offices of the Curia. In addition, he established
the necessity of revising and correcting Jerome's Vulgate Bible as
well as founding the Institute Biblique under the Jesuits to further
Biblical studies.

Public knowledge of Saint Pius X is strongest when dealing with his condemnation of Modernism. Abbes Loisy and Duchesne, and Fr. George
Terrill along with others in Western Europe had sought to "update"
Biblical scholarship in light of the new scientific and rational
methodologies present in post-enlightenment academia. This attempt
was focused in a rebuttal of a certain book of the German Protestant
scholar Harnack, but in writing L'Evangelie et L'Eglise Loisy laid a
strong foundation for Modernism's Bible and Tradition destroying
philosophy.

Saint Pius X's 'Lamentabile Sane' and 'Paschendi Dominici Gregis' set
out the errors of Modernism and its secular underpinnings. The moans
and cries of "Papal Oppression" of academic freedom and denunciations
of Clericalism lasted for sometime, but after Loisy's excommunication
in 1907 and the Oath Against Modernism required by St. Pius X until
1962, stemmed the tide of this heresy for decades.

Pope St. Pius X had to deal with many issues, and many liberal
governments, during his pontificate. However, his devotion to
restoring all things in Christ endeared him to all the faithful.
Archduke Ferdinand was killed, and the proximate cause of the Great
War issued forth conflict. Though he prayed desperately for peace,
the war came, and it killed him. On August 19th, 15 days after
the war began Pope Saint Pius X contracted bronchitis and died.

Pope Saint Pius X was canonized in 1954, the first pope so Canonized
since Pope St. Pius V in 1672.


Saint Quote:
They want them [the Modernists] to be treated with oil, soap, and
caresses. But they should be beaten with fists. In a duel, you don't
count or measure the blows, you strike as you can. War is not made
with charity: it is a struggle, a duel. If Our Lord were not
terrible, He would not have given an example in this too. See how he
treated the Philistines, the sowers of error, the wolves in sheep's
clothing, the traders: He scourged them with whips!
--Pope St. Pius X

Bible Quote
14 And he found in the temple them that sold oxen and sheep and doves,
and the changers of money sitting. 15 And when he had made, as it
were, a scourge of little cords, he drove them all out of the temple,
the sheep also and the oxen, and the money of the changers he poured
out, and the tables he overthrew. (John 2:14-15)


<><><><>
Omnipotentia Patris

O Omnipotence of the Father,
help my frailty
and save me from the depths of misery.
O Wisdom of the Son,
direct all my thoughts,
my words and my deeds.
O Love of the Holy Spirit,
be the source of all the actions of my mind,
that they may always be conformed
to God’s good pleasure.
Amen

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