God curses the blessing of the Unfaithful Priest who violates his Law and perverts his Covenant and by his evil instruction causes many to stumble

Friday, December 22, 2023

God curses the blessing of the Unfaithful Priest who violates his Law and perverts his Covenant and by his evil instruction causes many to stumble

Malachi 2

New Catholic Bible

You Have Made Many People Stumble

Chapter 2

1 And now, O priests,

this commandment is for you.

2 If you refuse to listen to me

and do not sincerely resolve

to give glory to my name,

says the Lord of hosts,

I will send a curse on you,

and I will turn your blessings into a curse.

Indeed, I have already done so

because you have not heeded my warning.

3 I will deprive you of the shoulder

and spread dung on your faces,

the dung of your offerings,

and I will banish you from my presence.

4 Then you will know

that I sent you this commandment

because I wish to maintain

my covenant with Levi,

says the Lord of hosts.

5 My covenant with him

was one of life and peace,

which I bestowed on him.

He revered me

and held my name in awe.

6 The instruction he offered was true,

and no dishonesty issued from his mouth.

He walked with me in integrity and uprightness,

and he turned many away from a sinful life.

7 The lips of a priest should safeguard knowledge,

and people should seek instruction from his mouth

because he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.

8 But you have turned aside from the way

and caused many to stumble

as the result of your instruction.

You have destroyed the covenant of Levi,

says the Lord of hosts.

9 Therefore, I have made you despised and vile

in the eyes of all the people,

inasmuch as you have disregarded my ways

and have not been impartial

in your interpretation of the law.

Profaned Marriage[a]

10 Do we all not have the one Father?

Has not one God created us?

Why then do we break faith with one another,

profaning the covenant of our ancestors?

11 Judah[b] has broken faith,

and an abominable thing has been done

in Israel and in Jerusalem.

By marrying the daughter of a foreign god,

Judah has profaned the Lord’s beloved sanctuary.

12 May the Lord banish from the tents of Jacob

any who do this,

and also deprive them of any witness or advocate

or someone to present offerings to the Lord of hosts.

You Betray the Woman of Your Youth[c]

13 And this you are to do as well:

you must cover the altar of the Lord

with tears, with weeping and moaning,

because at present he refuses to consider your offering

or to accept it with satisfaction from your hand.

14 If you ask the reason why,

it is because the Lord stands as witness

between you and the wife of your youth

with whom you have broken faith,

even though she is your partner

and your wife by a solemn covenant.

15 Did not the one God make her,

both flesh and spirit?

And what does the one God require

but God-given offspring?

Therefore, you must safeguard your own life,

and let none of you be unfaithful

to the wife of your youth.

16 For I hate divorce,

says the Lord, the God of Israel,

as well as covering one’s garment with injustice,

says the Lord of hosts.

Therefore, have respect for your own life,

and do not be unfaithful.

God Will Come and Do Justice

17 You have wearied the Lord with your words.

Yet you ask, “How have we wearied him?”

By asserting, “All who do evil

are good in the eyes of the Lord;

indeed, he delights in them.”

Or by asking,

“Where is the God of justice?”

Footnotes

Malachi 2:10 What importance does marriage any longer have in the setting of the covenant if it becomes the accepted thing to take an idolatrous wife or have ready recourse to divorce? The prophet is angered by these practices.

Malachi 2:11 Judah: signifies here all who belong to the people of God. Centuries-long experience (beginning with Solomon: 1 Ki 11:4) had shown how dangerous marriages with foreign women were: these women, holding tightly to their various forms of worship, drew their husbands into them.

Malachi 2:13 Like all the peoples of the time, Israel allowed a husband to repudiate his wife (Mt 24:1-4). The prophet is more demanding: in his eyes, marriage is a sacred bond that cannot be broken without going against the intention of the Creator (Gen 2:24). This passage leads toward the ideal that Jesus will propose (Mt 19:1-9).

You shall say to them, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Cursed be the man who does not heed the words of this covenant. Jeremiah 11:3

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We will recognize them by their fruits.

Prayer to St. Michael

Please protect us, St. Michael the Archangel, against violence, murder, and robbery. In your goodness preserve us today from all the malice of sinful and wicked persons. In your sleepless vigilance watch over the safety and welfare of our homes, and keep guard over our possessions. Ever hold in your special care, most triumphant St. Michael, the forces of public order against the crimes of evil people, and defend all honest citizens in time of peril. We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Novena Prayer to St. Michael

(Pray for nine consecutive days)
Saint Michael the Archangel, loyal champion of God and His Catholic people, I turn to thee with confidence and seek thy powerful intercession. For the love of God, Who hast made thee so glorious in grace and power, and for the love of the Mother of Jesus, the Queen of the Angels, be pleased to hear my prayer.
Thou knowest the value of my soul in the eyes of God. May no stain of evil ever disfigure its beauty. Help me to conquer the evil spirit who tempts me. I desire to imitate thy loyalty to God and Holy Mother Church and thy great love for God and men. And since thou art God’s messenger for the care of His people, I entrust to thee this special request: (here mention your request).
Saint Michael, since thou art, by the will of the Creator, the powerful intercessor of Christians, I have great confidence in thy prayers. I earnestly trust that if it is God’s holy will, my petition will be granted.
Pray for me, Saint Michael, and also for those I love. Protect us in all dangers of body and soul. Help us in our daily needs. Through thy powerful intercession, may we live a holy life, die a happy death and reach Heaven where we may praise and love God with thee forever. Amen.
Our Father. Hail Mary. Glory Be.
St. Michael, Guardian of souls, Vanquisher of rebel spirits, Pray for us.

St John Chrysostom

Our Lord having reproached the Jews with blindness, they might have said, We are not blind, but we avoid you as a deceiver. Our Lord therefore gives the marks which distinguish a robber and deceiver from a true shepherd. First come those of the deceiver and robber: Verily, verily, I say to you, He that enters not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. There is an allusion here to Antichrist, and to certain false Christs who had been, and were to be. The Scriptures He calls the door. They admit us to the knowledge of God, they protect the sheep, they shut out the wolves, they bar the entrance to heretics. He that uses not the Scriptures, but climbs up some other way, i.e. some self-chosen, some unlawful way, is a thief. Climbs up, He says, not, enters, as if it were a thief getting over a wall, and running all risks. Some other way, may refer too to the commandments and traditions of men which the Scribes taught, to the neglect of the Law. When our Lord further on calls Himself the Door, we need not be surprised. According to the office which He bears, He is in one place the Shepherd, in another the Sheep. In that He introduces us to the Father, He is the Door, in that He takes care of us, He is the Shepherd. (Catena Aurea)

LIBERTAS ENCYCLICAL OF POPE LEO XIII ON THE NATURE OF HUMAN LIBERTY
35. And as to tolerance, it is surprising how far removed from the equity and prudence of the Church are those who profess what is called liberalism. For, in allowing that boundless license of which We have spoken, they exceed all limits, and end at last by making no apparent distinction between truth and error, honesty and dishonesty. And because the Church, the pillar and ground of truth, and the unerring teacher of morals, is forced utterly to reprobate and condemn tolerance of such an abandoned and criminal character, they calumniate her as being wanting in patience and gentleness, and thus fail to see that, in so doing, they impute to her as a fault what is in reality a matter for commendation. But, in spite of all this show of tolerance, it very often happens that, while they profess themselves ready to lavish liberty on all in the greatest profusion, they are utterly intolerant toward the Catholic Church, by refusing to allow her the liberty of being herself free.

“If you want to be certain of being in the number of the Elect, strive to be one of the few, not one of the many. And if you would be quite sure of your salvation, strive to be among the fewest of the few; that is to say, do not follow the great majority of mankind, but follow those who enter upon the narrow way, who renounce the world, who give themselves to prayer, and who never relax their efforts by day or night, so that they may attain everlasting blessedness.” -Saint Anselm, Father and Doctor of the Church

PRAYER TO SAINT JOSEPH, THE PROTECTOR OF CHRISTIAN FAMILIES Great Saint Joseph, who wast chosen of God to be the head of the holiest and most august of families, deign to cast thy eyes upon us, and take us this day under thy special protection. Holy Patriarch, model of the holiest faith, and of the most perfect virtues, obtain for all the members of this family grace to withstand the dangers and seductions of the world, and to remain stedfastly attached to the LORD. Obtain for us that, always united by the bonds of the most tender charity, and encouraging one another mutually in good works, we may taste under thy auspices the sweetness of that peace which JESUS has promised to His true disciples. But above all, when our last hour shall come, obtain for us that we may find grace before the Sovereign Judge, so that, reunited in heaven at the foot of Thy Throne, we may celebrate everlastingly the glory of GOD and thy praise. Amen.

St. Vincent Ferrer -- Sermon on the Last Judgment: In the same way, in the time of Antichrist, the Sun of justice will be obscured by the interposition of temporal goods and the wealth which Antichrist will bestow on the world, inasmuch as the brightness of faith in Jesus Christ and the glow of good lives will no longer shine among Christians. For, lest they should lose their dominion, temporal rulers, kings and princes will range themselves on the side of Antichrist. In like manner, prelates for fear of losing their dignities, and religious and priests to gain honors and riches, will forsake the Faith of Christ and adhere to Antichrist.

Neither living nor lifeless faith remains in a heretic who disbelieves one article of faith. The reason of this is that the species of every habit depends on the formal aspect of the object, without which the species of the habit cannot remain. Now the formal object of faith is the First Truth, as manifested in Holy Writ and the teaching of the Church, which proceeds from the First Truth. Consequently whoever does not adhere, as to an infallible and Divine rule, to the teaching of the Church, which proceeds from the First Truth manifested in Holy Writ, has not the habit of faith, but holds that which is of faith otherwise than by faith. Even so, it is evident that a man whose mind holds a conclusion without knowing how it is proved, has not scientific knowledge, but merely an opinion about it. Now it is manifest that he who adheres to the teaching of the Church, as to an infallible rule, assents to whatever the Church teaches; otherwise, if, of the things taught by the Church, he holds what he chooses to hold, and rejects what he chooses to reject, he no longer adheres to the teaching of the Church as to an infallible rule, but to his own will. Hence it is evident that a heretic who obstinately disbelieves one article of faith, is not prepared to follow the teaching of the Church in all things; but if he is not obstinate, he is no longer in heresy but only in error. Therefore it is clear that such a heretic with regard to one article has no faith in the other articles, but only a kind of opinion in accordance with his own will. (Saint Thomas Aquinas. Summa Theologica, II-II, q. 5, a. 3)

Friday, December 22, 2023

God curses the blessing of the Unfaithful Priest who violates his Law and perverts his Covenant and by his evil instruction causes many to stumble

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✿St. Joseph pray for us.✿