by Br. Alexis Bugnolo
Reading the lives of the Saints, if there is one lesson which we can take away, it is this: God resists the proud, but to the humble He gives grace.
Reading the lives of Saints Vincent Ferrer and Bernard of Clairvaux — who both lived in times of schism in the Church, with two or more rivals for the papacy — we can take away another lesson: In times of schism, YOU will find the true pope, only if you remain faithful to the truth.
Saint Bernard examined the facts and laws of the controversy, and he immediately found out who was the true Pope and from that most sound foundation had the certitude and confidence to fight for him for 9 long years.
Saint Vincent held to the truth of logic, and after 38 years he discerned that the human testimony he had from his Cardinal friend, was false, and so renounced the false pope.
These are the two methods of discernment which are most common. Both regard the truth. Saint Bernard’s method is the proper and direct one, and it saves you a lot of time and suffering. But Saint Vincent’s works too, once you disabuse yourself of your blind trust in your favorite Cardinal.
But there is a third method, and for this I think Bl. Anna-Katerina Emmerich shows us the way, though in life she may not have realized it. If you love God intensely and are morally faithful to the teaching of the Church, God cannot resist giving you the grace to know the truth, even about natural things.
This is one of the principles of mystical theology. It is based on two scriptures. The first, a Divine Promise, made to us by Jesus Christ. The second a Divine Law revealed to Abraham regarding what it means to be the friend of God.
The First Scripture is found in John 14:23:
Jesus answered, and said to him: If any one love me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and will make our abode with him.
Here Our Lord is not talking about the Eucharist, though tangentially this refers also to that great mystery. No, He is talking directly about the Divine Indwelling, whereby, on account of a persons fidelity to the Catholic Faith, the life of grace and their meticulous avoidance of sin — especially those of their primary fault — God takes up a special dwelling in their soul, which becomes a fountain of special favors and helps.
Saint Theresa of Avila speaks of this in her book, The Interior Castle, which cannot be recommended too much.
The Second Scripture is found in the book of Genesis 18:17
Then the LORD said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?
The divine logic is this. To one who is faithful, to whom I have manifested Myself, Who am Infinite Truth, how can I justify concealing any other truth? This reading is confirmed from the Book of Amos 3:7:
Surely the Lord GOD does nothing without revealing His plan to His servants the prophets.
And this is why Bl. Anna-Katerina Emmerich had the visions she had, 200 years ago this spring, in which she saw a Church of Darkness headed by a dark and wicked pope take control of Rome and push aside the Catholic Church and the true pope, who would be ignored by all the clergy and paralyzed by inaction and a lack of personal self confidence.
But to those of us, today, who strive to be faithful to God, Our Lady has left us these vision and prophecies to guide us too, if we want to find the truth.
And in this, I think there are details in those visions, that only the faithful can find. Because if you believe in them, you will come to the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore and pray. And standing there, looking at the Facade of the Basilica you can see the message which Our Lady hid in the prophecy.
Because above the facade, there is a statue of Her, and below that in the Loggia, there is a Mosaic of an Icon of Christ, King and Master of all.
And to the right hand of those two pillars of fidelity, you can see the name of a Pope. And it is the same name as one of the two present claimants to the papacy.
And as you stand there praying the Our Father, you cannot help seeing the truth staring you in the face, night after night. What Our Lady could not say openly from 1820 til our days, She said cryptically to Bl. Anna Katerina Emmerich, so that for all Her children who are faithful to God and to Herself, they would have a way to know the truth, even if they could not understand canon law.
That is why I say, if you are faithful, you will find the true pope, for the name of the true Pope is found, at the right hand of fidelity.
Come and see it for yourself.
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CREDITS: The Featured Image is by Pierre-Selim Huard, and is used here in accord with the Creative Commons 4.0 International Attributions license.
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Thank you Bro. Bugnolo.
What a wonderful insight. God loves His people and sends prophets to warn us. He doesn’t want us to perish. We should pay more attention to the messages of Our Lady and the Saints. What a Gift from our our Loving Father and our Blessed Mother! They do not abandon us but we have to listen.
Beautiful. God bless you continually.
Br. Bubnolo, For those who could not join you physically in Rome could you give us more specifically what name is seen at the right of the two pillars? THANKS!
This ignoring of, disdain for, and even outright rejection of so many divinely chosen vessels and their messages in the last 100-150 years is the natural consequence of a wide spread idolatry in the Church, placing respect for and obedience to human authority over that of God and His truth, and over His corrections and warnings for that idolatry. While the prophets/visionaries are not an organic part of the magisterium they are an essential foundational element of the Church and essential to the health and the very survival of the Church (Eph. 2:19-20), especially, and FIRSTLY, to the health of the Apostolic body! Mary Magdalene was the first visionary in the Church TO THE APOSTLES! She brought the news of the Risen Christ to the ever doubting Apostles! The first century Apostles apparently having been humbled learned their lesson because when the prophet Agabus was given the warning of a severe famine to hit Palestine they took it seriously and prepared for it (Acts 11:27-30). The prelates in the Church for the last century and more, however, have done the precise opposite and quite akin to what the Jewish religious rulers did in rejecting Jeremiah’s message and for which Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed and the children of Israel slaughtered and led into captivity. A similar destruction of Rome has also been seen and warned of chosen vessels and will most certainly happen if this idolatry is not boldly rejected by a sufficient number of us Catholics.
David,
Come on, David, do you mean you cannot guess. Read a history of the Basilica to find out which Pope rebuilt the Loggia.
The name must be Benedict XIV who built the present façade in the mid 1700’s. I just would rather have it right from the horses mouth, an eye witness, but Wikipedia and your witness will be adequate! That is quite amazing (divine) since Bl. Emmerich’s revelation is unmistakably about our present crisis under B XVI.
Have not read Emmerich for some years and have in English the Tan Publishers 4 Vol set. Could you give us some idea where to find that prayer instruction.. THANK YOU FOR LEADING THE WAY IN THIS ALL IMPORTANT EFFORT TO CONFRONT THIS DARK CHURCH OF SATAN TO DELIVER THE REMNANT OUT OF ITS CLUTCHES.
David,
Yes, your research is correct. I can give eye witness to it.
As for the reference to Emmerich, it is in the article linked each night in the description of the Prayers.
Could you somehow indicate more precisely exactly where the pope’s name is inscribed? Maybe draw an arrow or circle over an image and post it? It must be visible from the ground but so far I haven’t been able to find an image clear enough when enlarged. Thank you, Brother.
Fortitudo, I have tried also, but you can only see it with your eyes, because most photos are too low resolution and because taken at daytime the sunlight hides the incision in the marble. But its over the left arch of the second floor.