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(0:00) Hello, and welcome to the Catholic Torch Podcast, Episode 7.
(0:05) We will start out with The Memorare.
In Nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.
Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession, was left unaided. Inspired with this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of Virgins and Mother. To thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy, hear and answer me. Amen.
In Nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.
(0:41) Today’s episode is brought to you by my company, holyqueenhandmade.com.
(0:47) As usual, anything that I say that is good and true and beautiful belongs to the honor and glory (0:52) of our Lord and our Lady, and anything that I say that is erroneous is purely my own fault. (0:58) And now we will continue with the Dialogue of St. Catherine of Siena.(1:03)
His general cruelty is to see himself and other creatures in danger of death and damnation (1:09) through privation of grace, and so cruel is he that he reminds neither himself nor others of (1:16) the love of virtue and hatred of vice. Being thus cruel, he may wish to extend his cruelty (1:22) still further, that is, not content with not giving an example of virtue, the villain also usurps the (1:29) office of the demons, tempting, according to his power, his fellow creatures to abandon virtue (1:36) for vice; this is cruelty towards his neighbors, for he makes himself an instrument to destroy life (1:43) and to give death. Cruelty towards the body has its origin in cupidity, which not only prevents a (1:50) man from helping his neighbor, but causes him to seize the goods of others, robbing the poor (1:56) creatures; sometimes this is done by the arbitrary use of power, and at other times by cheating and (2:04) fraud, his neighbor being forced to redeem, to his own loss, his own goods, and often indeed his (2:12) own person.
O miserable vice of cruelty, which will deprive the man who practices it of all mercy, (2:19) unless he turn to kindness and benevolence towards his neighbor.
Sometimes the sinner brings forth (2:25) insults on which often follows murder; sometimes also impurity against the person of his neighbor, (2:32) by which he becomes a brute beast full of stench, and in this case he does not poison one only, (2:38) but whoever approaches him, with love or in conversation is poisoned.
Against whom does (2:45) pride bring forth evils? Against the neighbor, through love of one’s own reputation, (2:52) whence comes hatred of the neighbor, reputing oneself to be greater than he, and in this way (2:58) is injury done to him. And if a man be in a position of authority, he produces also injustice (3:05) and cruelty, and becomes a retailer of the flesh of men. Oh dearest daughter, grieve for the offense (3:12) against Me, and weep over those corpses, so that, by prayer, the bands of their death may be loosened.
(3:20) See now that in all places and in all kinds of people, sin is always produced against the (3:26) neighbor, and through his medium; in no other way could sin ever be committed either secret or open.(3:33) A secret sin is when you deprive your neighbor of that which you ought to give him. An open sin (3:39) is where you perform positive acts of sin, as I have related to thee. It is therefore indeed (3:46) the truth that every sin done against Me is done through the medium of the neighbor. (Reference 1)
(3:53) Now, as usual, we will go back through, and I will try to make sense of it for everybody, (3:57) hopefully, a couple sentences at a time.
“His general cruelty is to see himself and other (4:05) creatures in danger of death and damnation through privation of grace, and so cruel is he that he (4:12) reminds neither himself nor others of the love of virtue and hatred of vice. Being thus cruel, (4:19) he may wish to extend his cruelty still further, that is, not content with not giving an example (4:25) of virtue, the villain also usurps the office of the demons, tempting, according to his power, (4:31) his fellow creatures to abandon virtue for vice; this is cruelty towards his neighbors, (4:38) for he makes himself an instrument to destroy life and to give death.”
(4:44) This soul’s general cruelty is done to himself, and his neighbor, by deciding to deprive both himself (4:51) and his neighbor, the graces God is so willing to pour out on all who will love Him. This soul (4:57) does not choose to remind himself or his neighbor to practice virtue and to flee from vice, but (5:02) instead he takes the cruelty even farther by, as God states, usurping the office of the demons, (5:08) by tempting his neighbor to commit vice, convincing his neighbor to possibly fall into Hell, (5:13) if the sin is bad enough and not repented for, as we discussed a few episodes earlier, by Baptism (5:20) or the Sacrament of Penance. This wicked soul destroys life because Hell is what is referred (5:26) to as, eternal death. Heaven is eternal life with God, so naturally it follows that spending (5:32) an eternity without God in Hell, which a soul chooses, (which I also covered in an earlier (5:38) episode), would be, eternal death. This wicked soul gives to his neighbor death and not the words of (5:46) life eternal. That is truly wicked! What hatred for one’s own self and neighbor, to cooperate with (5:53) the devil in such a way!
“Cruelty towards the body has its origin in cupidity, which not (6:00) only prevents a man from helping his neighbor, but causes him to seize the goods of others, (6:06) robbing the poor creatures; sometimes this is done by the arbitrary use of power, and at other times (6:12) by cheating and fraud, his neighbor being forced to redeem to his own loss, his own goods, and (6:19) often, indeed, his own person.”
God says that cruelty towards the body has its origin (6:27) in cupidity, or in other words, in selfish desire for wealth and possessions, or basically, misuse (6:34) of creatures. All created things are creatures and God is The Creator, The Only Creator. It would be (6:41) prideful to say that anybody else could create anything except God. So everything else is a (6:48) creature and we are to use them rightly, but misuse of the creatures often is manifested through (6:55) selfishness or greed, especially for wealth. This soul that is cruel by means of cupidity, (7:01) robs everyone around him, leaving all of his neighbors both physically and spiritually poor, (7:07) because he ought to have practiced virtue and paid his neighbor the debt owed to him that every man (7:13) is indebted to pay his neighbor; Love and virtue for God’s sake, because to love God is to resemble (7:19) Christ in all actions.
“O miserable vice of cruelty, which will deprive the man who practices (7:26) it of all mercy, unless he turn to kindness and benevolence towards his neighbor.”
(7:33) God says that the man who practices such cruelty is devoid of all mercy. This man will not perform (7:40) any of the spiritual or corporal works of mercy for his neighbor, thus robbing his neighbor. (7:47) The corporal works of mercy are:
1.to feed the hungry
2. to give drink to the thirsty (7:53)
3.to clothe the naked
4.to harbor the harborless
5.to visit the sick
6.to ransom the captive (7:59)
7.and to bury the dead.
The spiritual works of mercy are:
1.to instruct the ignorant (8:06)
2.to counsel the doubtful
3.to admonish the sinner
4.to bear wrongs patiently
5.to forgive (8:12) offenses willingly
6.to comfort the afflicted
7.and to pray for the living and the dead.(8:18)
This soul who chooses to practice cruelty will not practice any of these actions. (8:24) He can, however, turn back to kindness towards his neighbor and put off cruelty.
(8:30) “Sometimes the sinner brings forth insults on which often follows murder; sometimes also impurity (8:37) against the person of his neighbor, by which he becomes a brute beast full of stench. And in this (8:44) case he does not poison one only, but whoever approaches him, with love or in conversation (8:51) is poisoned.”
God says that sometimes this cruel soul will even commit murder! (8:58) And sometimes it comes in the form of impurity against the person of his neighbor.(9:04) God says that this poison does not only affect the one doing the cruelty, or the one the cruelty (9:11) is done directly to, but to anyone who approaches this soul with love or in conversation. This (9:18) impurity spoken of here is broadly about all sin, but particularly sins against the sixth and (9:25) ninth commandment, sexual immorality, lust, things of this nature that encourage the misuse of (9:32) creatures. Dom Lorenzo Scupoli in his book, The Spiritual Combat, covers this topic very extensively (9:40) much better than I can personally explain it. I’ll put a link in the show notes on the website (9:46) for you to read the excerpt, and even find the book. It is a true must-have.
https://tandirection.com/pursuit-of-perfection/how-we-are-to-fight-against-impurity/ (Reference 2)
I will give a try (9:52) at explaining it though. This cruel soul will commit sins against its neighbor. For example, (9:58) if this cruel soul commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife. God says this soul becomes a (10:03) brute beast, full of stench, and poisons multiple people with this act, because most often it’s not (10:10) a one-time deal, and it affects more than just the two that committed the act of impurity, (10:14) but it affects the spouses, the children, (if there are any). It affects everyone this soul (10:20) comes into contact with, like a virus, because most often, since this soul has become like a beast, (10:26) its actions will show that in the rest of its life, and will not be practicing virtue, and will (10:32) most definitely be usurping the office of the demons, by either tempting more into acts of (10:38) impurity with that soul, or by talk of other impure acts against the six and nine commandments (10:44) with this soul’s neighbor, eventually tempting those around him that, “everyone does it”, or “it’s (10:51) all okay, it’s just love,” or even, “Oh God doesn’t care about that!” I’ve literally heard it all, (10:57) and so have most of you listening. This is the world we live in today.
(11:02) “Against whom does pride bring forth evils? Against the neighbor, through love of one’s (11:09) own reputation. Whence comes hatred of the neighbor, reputing oneself to be greater than he, (11:16) and in this way is injury done to him. And if a man be in a position of authority, (11:23) he produces also injustice and cruelty, and becomes a retailer of the flesh of men. (11:30) Oh dearest daughter, grieve for the offenses against Me, and weep over these corpses, (11:35) so that, by prayer, the bands of their death may be loosened.”
(11:39) Now God addresses pride, and who it affects, and how. Just this last Sunday in Mass (11:48) was the tenth Sunday after Pentecost, and we are reminded of the Pharisee and the Publican. (11:54) It reads as such.
At that time, Jesus spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves, as just, and despised others. Two men went up into the temple to pray: the one was a pharisee, and the other a publican. The pharisee standing, prayed thus with himself: O God, I give Thee thanks that I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers; as also is this publican. I fast twice in the week; I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican standing afar off would not so much as lift up his eyes towards heaven, but struck his breast saying: O God, be merciful to me a sinner. I say to you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: because every one that exalteth himself shall be humbled, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. (Luke 18 9-14) (DRV)
(12:57) Now if a man be in a position of power over anyone, and is prideful against his neighbor, (13:03) or in this case prideful over the ones he is supposed to be commanding, God says he becomes (13:09) a retailer of the flesh of men, or in other words, a slave master, a pimp, a slave trader. (13:17) This soul sells the flesh of men for his own advancement, through his pride and cruelty.(13:24) God says to grieve and weep over these offenses done to Him, who is all Goodness and Perfect. (13:30) We are to pray for those wicked souls, so they may have the bands of death loosened and cast off (13:36) if they so choose to cooperate with the graces available to them, if we are doing penance for (13:42) them.
“See now that in all places and in all kinds of people sin is always produced (13:50) against the neighbor, and through his medium. In no other way could sin ever be committed (13:56) either secret or open. A secret sin is when you deprive your neighbor of that which you ought to (14:03) give him. An open sin is where you perform positive acts of sin, as I have related to thee.(14:11) It is, therefore, indeed the truth that every sin done against Me, is done through the medium (14:19) of the neighbor.”
So here God says a secret sin is when you deprive your neighbor of (14:26) that which you ought to give him. For example, any of the Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy (14:32) apply here. An open sin would be, for example, murder, or adultery, or even calumny. Every sin (14:41) done against God is done through the means of our neighbor. Remember, you are your own chief neighbor (14:48) firstly. So even if there is no one around for you to sin with, you always have yourself around, (14:55) and you are your first neighbor. And every sin, even if it is a “private sin,” done with only you (15:02) and no one around, is a sin against God, done through means of your own first neighbor, you.
(15:09) On the next episode, we will be covering how virtues are accomplished by means of your neighbor, (15:14) and how virtues differ vastly in creatures.
That will end our episode for today.
If you (15:21) have any questions or comments, you can find my email in the contact button below.
If you need (15:27) a Catholic priest, please reach out to me and I will help you find one.
And now we will end in prayer.
In Nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.
Ave Maria, gratia plena Dominus tecum benedicta tu in mulieribus et benedictus fructus ventris tui Jesus
Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc et in ora mortis nostrae. Amen.
In Nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.
Thank you for listening, (16:00) and I will see you on the next episode.
References
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