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servants of satan?

     In today's editorial, we expose those advocates of the devil - the four Republican senators whose votes were crucial to overturning the veto on the Partial Birth Abortion Ban, but they betrayed their party, their constituents, their God and the countless innocents who have been slaughtered in the second and third trimesters. While tossing brickbats at these four, we offer bouquets to those responsible Democrats who switched over and voted the pro-life ticket despite the consequences they may face. Kudos to them. For today's commentary, entitled The last hurrah between Heaven or hell! , click on CATHOLIC PewPOINT.

The last hurrah between Heaven or hell!

      The defeat this past Friday of trying to overturn Bill Clinton's insensitive veto of the Partial Birth Abortion Ban lays squarely in the consciences of four Republicans who veered from their party and voted against pro-life. The bill missed by only three votes of banning partial birth abortions in which the innocent child is ripped from the womb, skull crushed. Had all Republicans voted along party lines, it would have passed by one vote. Aside from the fact that 13 Democrats crossed party lines and voted for the Culture of Life, the four Republican senators who dealt the death blow to the innocents were Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine, John Chafee of Rhode Island, and James Jeffords of Vermont. These four can take the blame and will have to answer to God for their irresponsibility. Collins, 46, was elected in 1996. Snowe, 51, was elected in 1994 and is supposedly a practicing member of the Greek Orthodox Church, having graduated from St. Basil's Academy. Chafee is in his seventies and has received money and plaudits from Planned Parenthood. Enough said. Jeffords, 64, is in his second term first being elected in 1988. What is sad is that Jeffords received the Congressional Advocate of the Year Award in 1995 from the Child Welfare League of America. We ask you how he is contributing to the welfare of children by advocating death to those innocent ones in the last trimester? On top of that he is Chairman of Labor and Human Resources which covers health concerns as well as Special Committee on Aging. Look out for euthanasia with Jeffords involved. One other thing, he voted strongly against private school vouchers. What's even more ironic is that this Republican from Vermont shares the Senate with his counterpart Patrick Leahy, a Democrat who is one of the thirteen to oppose party policy and vote God's Will by voting "Yes." He is one of the few Democrats who has a commendable Pro-Life stance, but then he should since he graduated from St. Michael's College and received his Juris Doctor from Georgetown University. These four deservedly need to be exposed and hopefully drummed out of office. We have personally e-mailed each beseeching them to change their stance when the next opportunity to repeal the ban once again is introduced on the Senate floor - and it will be, especially after the Republicans gain total control of the Senate with the fallout of the Clinton fiasco and the apathy of Democrats at the polls in November. Hopefully we can rid this nation of such parasites as Barbara Boxer of California, just one of many who need to be voted out of office.

      While we are passing out brickbats deservedly so to these four "betrayers," we must extend bouquets to those Democrats who voted "Yes" to overturn the veto - to give the children a chance. Besides Leahy, they are John Breaux and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, a highly Catholic state; Wendell Ford of Kentucky; Harry Reid of Nevada, Daniel Moynihan of New York, a Catholic who has not always voted along Catholic moral lines in the past; Kent Conrad and Byron Dorgan of North Dakota; Fritz Hollings of South Carolina; Tom Daschle and Tim Johnson of South Dakota; and Robert Byrd of West Virginia.

      In addition to the above Democrats, the following Republicans should be given bouquets and singled out for their strong stance on pro-life and upholding the Constitution of "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness" as well as God's Laws. They are Richard Shelby and Jeff Sessions of Alabama; Frank Murkowski of Alaska; Tim Hutchinson, a Baptist Minister from Arkansas; Jon Kyl and John McCain of Arizona; Wayne Allard of Colorado; Connie Mack of Florida; Paul Coverdell of Georgia; Lary Craig and Dirk Kempthorne of Idaho; Richard Lugar and Dan Coats of Indiana; Chuck Grassley of Iowa; Paul Roberts of Kansas; Mitch McConnell of Kentucky; Spence Abraham of Michigan; Rod Grams of Minnesota; Thad Cochran and Trent Lott of Mississippi; John Ashcroft and Kit Bond of Missouri; Conrad Burns of Montana; Chuck Hagel of Nebraska; Robert Smith and Judd Gregg of New Hamphire; Al D'Amato of New York; Jesse Helms and Lauch Faircloth of North Carolina; Mike DeWine of Ohio; Don Nickles and James Inhoff of Oklahoma; Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania; Strom Thurmond of South Carolina; Bill Frist of Tennesee; Phil Gramm and Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas; Orin Hatch and Robert Bennett of Utah; John Warner of Virginia; and Craig Thomas and Mike Enzi of Wyoming.

      An interesting pattern geographically is the fact that the four Republicans who were traitors to the cause of life were from New England. Connecticutt, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Rhode Island all voted for the culture of death. Considering the Catholic states of Maryland and Massachusetts and their supposedly Catholic representatives it is a sad commentary that cries out to the Heavens. Does the name Ted Kennedy make you want to gag on your morning coffee? The strongest support for life is in the South with every southern state casting a strong vote for the Culture of Life. In the midwest Illinois and Wisconsin were the only states unanimously opposing overturning the veto but look who their senators are and no one should be surprised. In the west Hawaii and California voted "No" but consider that in the latter the Golden State was represented by two liberal, radical women who hopefully will be voted out of office in the near future - Barbara Boxer and Diane Feinstein, both avowed abortionists and promoters of homosexuality.

      That's the scorecard. If you would like to register your complaints or review the records of these elected representatives, we recommend you go to www.prolife.org/tal/sub3.html where you can link to each senator and their e-mail address. We have already sent our feelings to the four betrayers and kudos to the Democrats who voted to uphold pro-life. Above all pray for those who have been misguided and, if you live in those states where the culture of death is promoted as politically correct, get involved and help defeat them in the upcoming election if they are up for reelection. Here in California Catholics Dan Lungren and Gray Davis are locked in a heated battle for Governor. Davis is touting his pro-abortion stance in hopes of stealing the women's lib vote while Lungren, even in his ads, is proudly proclaiming that he is Catholic and will uphold the dignity of human life and that parents need to know what their children are doing. Kudos to him and pray he is elected in this state that is badly in need of a transfusion of grace and common sense. Come to think of it, on this first day of autumn when the country is bombarded by the sordid details and lurid account of the "Lyin' King" from Arkansas, isn't it time we all pray to Jesus and His Blessed Mother Mary to return our country to the protection of her Immaculate Heart. This upcoming election, just six weeks away, could be the last hurrah between Heaven or hell!

Michael Cain, editor

With Fall upon us we return to original installments, picking up where we left off after the death of Pope Honorius IV with the first Franciscan ever elected Supreme Pontiff

     After an eleven month vacancy the College of Cardinals elected a Franciscan to lead the Church, a Franciscan who had succeeded Saint Bonaventure as Minister General. The Franciscan Pope had a crusade not just against those who opposed him, but against the infidels who threatened the Papal States. Probably the greatest crusade Pope Nicholas IV waged was sending Franciscans as missionaries to foreign countries including Croatia and Bosnia where they were forever entrenched in the hearts of the people including Medjugorje. For the seventy-third installment titled Pope Nicholas IV A Franciscan on a crusade, click on THE HISTORY OF THE MASS AND HOLY MOTHER CHURCH.

INTRODUCTION
      We resume with all new installments as we officially end our summer retro series today and begin the Fall series by picking up where we left off on June 15 in issue 116. Today we bring you the chronicles of the 191st successor of Peter - Pope Nicholas IV who was born in Ascoli, Italy and elected on February 22, 1288 and died on April 4, 1292. He brought back order to the Court of Portugal, promoted the progress of study by instituting the University of Montpellier. He strengthened the missions and, in league with Genoa, fought the Saracens. Because of that and because he was the first Franciscan Pope, we have titled this: "A Franciscan on a crusade."

Pope Nicholas IV A Franciscan on a crusade

      After Pope Honorius IV's death in April of 1287, the Cardinals reverted to the ways before the decrees of Gregory X, dilly-dallying around for nearly a year before finally electing, as a compromise choice, the Franciscan Cardinal Giralamo Masci from Lisciano near Ascoli. But Cardinal Masci was not convinced and so, after a week of trying to persuade him, the College staged another election and repeated the same results. Thus Masci consented to be the 191st successor of Peter, taking the name Pope Nicholas IV. Sixty one when he was elected, Nicholas had become Minister General of the Franciscans in 1274 succeeding Saint Bonaventure. It was Pope Nicholas III who consecrated him a cardinal and dispatched him on a mission to France and probably that is the reason Masci took the name Nicholas.

      Nicholas was a far cry from his successor Honorius who ruled the Papal States so deftly. Nicholas was more of a gentle, holy, reverent priest who sought to wait things out and had really no clue as to governing. This became evident almost immediately as he extended favors to the Colonna family as well as his own Order of Friars Minor. This alienated many of the Papal States who were left without a strong leader and Sicily, which had struggled with turmoil for decades over the Hohenstauffen reign and then the Angevin kings and the French Aragon regime, turned on Nicholas. One reason he extended favors to the Colonna family was because they extended their home to him when other aristocratic houses turned away. This reunion of earlier ties did not sit well with the other families and Nicholas added insult to injury when he gave the Colonna clan special positions within the papacy and Papal States. Rebellion ensued from northern Italy to Sicily. In spite of all the opposition, Nicholas tried to heal the situation in Sicily trying to restore the house of Anjou, especially in the aftermath of the devastating Sicilian Vespers. But Aragon refused. Consequently Nicholas rallied France and Castile to fight against Aragon and James of Aragon. Rubbing salt into the wound Nicholas crowned Charles II of Salerno. Militarily it was a disaster for Nicholas as Charles II and Philip IV of France made a pact not to assist James but they also did not resist James efforts, allowing him to becoming more powerful in Sicily. This prompted Nicholas to crusade strongly against James but in April 1289 that crusade was turned toward the Muslims who sacked Tripoli. With the fall of the last Christian stronghold in the Holy Land - Acre in Israel, Nicholas appealed to Philip and King Edward I of France to mount a crusade against the infidels. He convened a council to put this into effect but on April 4, 1292 on Good Friday he died. He was buried in St. Mary Major Basilica. In the sixteenth century the master Dominico Fontana designed an elaborate covering for his tomb.

      While Nicholas' efforts as an administrator in secular matters failed miserably, his strong suit was as a missionary. Leaning on his strong Franciscan upbringing, he placed a special emphasis on missionary endeavors sending Franciscans to the court of the Kubla Khan tracing the footsteps of Marco Polo which led to the first establishment of the Church in China. One of the Franciscan missionaries sent Fra Gjiovanni de Monte Corvino would be appointed the first Archbishop of Peking in 1307 by Pope Clement V. It was Nicholas who dispatched more Franciscan missionaries to the Balkans, specifically Croatia and Bosnia where today the Franciscans remain stronger than ever and the people loyal to them because throughout the centuries the Franciscans stayed and ministered to the people while many of the Diocesan priests fled. That is why there is such fierce loyalty to the Franciscans today such as in Medjugorje. One of the most far-reaching and notable documents drawn up by Nicholas during his four year pontificate was the Papal Bull Coelestis altitudo in which he allotted that half of revenues coming to the Holy See be earmarked for the College of Cardinals, thereby giving a share to this esteemed assembly of the administration of Rome.

      In the next installment, before going on to Nicholas IV's successor Pope Saint Celestine V, we will do a review of the first twelve plus centuries to catch the reader up to date on the times and what has transpired as a mid-point, so to speak, in this long on-going ultra megaseries.

The age of grace and mercy is about to become the moment of Justice.

     That is what the Blessed Virgin Mary emphasizes to all her children in her 196th and 197th messages to the Hidden Flower of the Immaculate Heart. Our Lady points out the need to intensify our prayers and sacrifices to be battle ready for the time that will immediately precede the Triumph of Mary's Immaculate Heart which will usher in the glorious Reign of the Sacred Heart. For messages number 196 and 197, click on "I SOLEMNLY TELL YOU..."

Messages One Hundred Ninety-Six and Ninety-Seven

      Beloved Hidden Flower, I am with you. I speak to all my children everywhere. Daily I approach my children with holy, maternal love and now the world cannot deny the Truth of my Words, for I have been sent by the Trinity.

      For countless generations I have been speaking to my little ones. I have given warnings and promises, but the laziness of my children has rejected my words. Now, again, I repeat that I am the New Ark, the New Eve, and I am among you to prepare all the world to receive my Divine Son in all His Glory. Yet, you remain ensnared in worldly passions, believing the half-truths of your press, enslaved by idle pleasures. Each day that dawns upon you brings yet another fulfillment of Scripture; yet another fulfillment of my words spoken at LaSalette, Fatima, Garabandal, Medjugorje and throughout the world. Those who have converted their hearts recognize the Truth of the Words, the Signs of the times in which you live. They are my faithful remnant, my little army who, through my Immaculate Heart shall help to bring about the Triumph of my Immaculate Heart. O! my children, your Heavenly Father's plan to allow the glorious victory of His Only-Begotten Son is so marvelously revealed, yet you see it not, blinded by satan, cold of heart and lukewarm as you are.

      Hear my urgent plea! Convert your heart now before the age of grace and mercy becomes the moment of Justice. Do not weep, nor be afraid for God does not abandon His Little Ones. Come beneath my Mantle! Persevere in all of your faith, adhering to the unerring Truth of my Son's Church. Consecrate yourself to my Son's Sacred Heart and my Immaculate Heart, and be filled with the Holy Spirit. In this way you shall have refuge against the false prophets who would deny my Son and all His Doctrine.

      I love and bless you. Thank you for responding to my Call!

      Beloved Hidden Flower, my chosen one. Why do my little ones doubt? Why are they so restless? Because they have not understood yet that God alone loves them with Infinite Love. They search for love but do not find it upon earth, for man was made for Heaven.

      I want all of my children to know that the great persecution of my chosen ones shall grow more difficult. It will appear as if darkness covers your very souls, so shall those opposed to the Light shout you down. I am asking all of my little army to be of one mind and one heart through the grace of the Holy Spirit because satan shall try every deceit. The master of evil will seek in these days to turn one of my little ones against another. Doubt, confusion from within the ranks of my army, joined with the seeds of dissension sown among those who belong only to the world shall grow as rapidly as mold upon a wall. It shall seep into the very heart of my army, unless you dedicate and consecrate yourself to my Immaculate Heart and to my Son's Sacred Heart. Pray! Don't be afraid of any sacrifice, any suffering. How many of my little ones suffer grievously every day while so many are without loss of any worldly comfort. Cast off the world. Embrace with joy my Motherly messages, that the Light of my Divine Son may burst forth upon this earth, proclaiming the fulfillment of all Scripture.

      Pray! My Immaculate Heart shall triumph. Pray! For my Son's Glorious return. Seek humility and obedience as your bulwarks of faith. Go to Mass; receive reverently my Divine Son. Then, dear children, you will not be deceived, but enlightened.

      I love you. I bless you. Pray! Pray! Pray! Thank you for responding to my Call!

      Today is the Twenty-Fifth Tuesday in Ordinary Time and tomorrow is the Twenty-Fifth Wednesday in Ordinary Time. For the readings, liturgies and meditations for both days, click on LITURGY FOR THE DAY.

Tuesday, September 22, 1998

Tuesday September 22:
Twenty-Fifth Tuesday in Ordinary Time

Green vestments

First Reading: Proverbs 21: 1-6, 10-13
Psalms: Psalm 119: 1, 27, 30, 34-35, 44
Gospel Reading: Luke 8: 19-21

Wednesday September 23:
Twenty-Fifth Wednesday in Ordinary Time

Green vestments

First Reading: Proverbs 30: 5-9
Psalms: Psalm 119: 29, 72, 89, 101, 104, 163
Gospel Reading: Luke 9: 1-6

     Today's prayer honors a saint who is no longer celebrated in the modern liturgy, but who played a major role in preserving the faith in Spain. On his feast day as the Spanish legislature meets to determine the moral course Spain will take in 1998, we offer this prayer to Saint Thomas of Villanova, Bishop:

     O God, Who, in a singular degree, didst bestow upon Blessed Bishop Thomas the virtue of compassion toward the poor; pour fourth we beseech Thee, through his intercession, the riches of Thy Mercy upon those who humbly implore Thee. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.

   Dear children! Today I invite you to come still closer to me through prayer. Little children, I am your mother, I love you and I desire that each of you be saved and thus be with me in Heaven. That is why, little children, pray, pray, pray until your life becomes prayer. Thank you for having responded to my call.

For more on Medjugorje, click on MEDJUGORJE AND MORE

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September 22, 1998 volume 9, no. 185   DAILY CATHOLIC