Alice Affonso Hankoff ~ (a.k.a. Alice Salles)

"Baptism of desire" (along with "baptism of blood") is a "broken cistern, that can hold no water". Today it causes people to completely reject the Catholic Faith by professing "salvation" outside the Church. "For my people have done two evils. They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and have digged to themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water." [Jeremias 2:13] Visit VaticanCatholic.com

"And he spoke also to them a similitude: Can the blind lead the blind? do they not both fall into the ditch? The disciple is not above his master: but every one shall be perfect, if he be as his master. And why seest thou the mote in thy brother's eye: but the beam that is in thy own eye thou considerest not? Or how canst thou say to thy brother: Brother, let me pull the mote out of thy eye, when thou thyself seest not the beam in thy own eye? Hypocrite, cast first the beam out of thy own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to take out the mote from thy brother's eye." [Luke 6:39-42] Visit VaticanCatholic.com

Collect for the 18th Sunday after Pentecost: Let us pray. May the working of Your mercy, we beseech You, O Lord, guide our hearts, for without You, we cannot please You. Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. ℟. Amen Visit VaticanCatholic.com

Quam Singulari Pope Pius X - 1910 Decree of the Sacred Congregation of the Discipline of the Sacraments on First Communion The pages of the Gospel show clearly how special was that love for children which Christ showed while He was on earth. It was His delight to be in their midst; He was wont to lay His hands on them; He embraced them; and He blessed them. At the same time He was not pleased when they would be driven away by the disciples, whom He rebuked gravely with these words: “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for of such is the kingdom of God.” It is clearly seen how highly He held their innocence and the open simplicity of their souls on that occasion when He called a little child to Him and said to the disciples: “Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like little children, you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven….And whoever receives one such little child for my sake, receives me.” The Catholic Church, bearing this in mind, took care even from the beginning to bring the little ones to Christ through Eucharistic Communion, which was administered even to nursing infants. This, as was prescribed in almost all ancient Ritual books, was done at Baptism until the thirteenth century, and this custom prevailed in some places even later. It is still found in the Greek and Oriental Churches. But to remove the danger that infants might eject the Consecrated Host, the custom obtained from the beginning of administering the Eucharist to them under the species of wine only. Infants, however, not only at the time of Baptism, but also frequently thereafter were admitted to the sacred repast. In some churches it was the custom to give the Eucharist to the children immediately after the clergy; in others, the small fragments which remained after the Communion of the adults were given to the children. This practice later died out in the Latin Church, and children were not permitted to approach the Holy Table until they had come to the use of reason and had some knowledge of this august Sacrament. This new practice, already accepted by certain local councils, was solemnly confirmed by the Fourth Council of the Lateran, in 1215, which promulgated its celebrated Canon XXI, whereby sacramental Confession and Holy Communion were made obligatory on the faithful after they had attained the use of reason, in these words: “All the faithful of both sexes shall, after reaching the years of discretion, make private confession of all their sins to their own priest at least once a year, and shall, according to their capacity, perform the enjoined penance; they shall also devoutly receive the Sacrament of Holy Eucharist at least at Easter time unless on the advice of their own priest, for some reasonable cause, it be deemed well to abstain for a while.” The Council of Trent, in no way condemning the ancient practice of administering the Eucharist to children before they had attained the use of reason, confirmed the Decree of the Lateran Council and declared anathema those who held otherwise: “If anyone denies that each and all Christians of both sexes are bound, when they have attained the years of discretion, to receive Communion every year at least at Easter, in accordance with the precept of Holy Mother Church, let him be anathema.” In accord with this Decree of the Lateran Council, still in effect, the faithful are obliged, as soon as they arrive at the years of discretion, to receive the Sacraments of Penance and Holy Eucharist at least once a year. However, in the precise determination of “the age of reason or discretion” not a few errors and deplorable abuses have crept in during the course of time. There were some who maintained that one age of discretion must be assigned to reception of the Sacrament of Penance and another to the Holy Eucharist. They held that for Confession the age of discretion is reached when one can distinguish right from wrong, hence can commit sin; for Holy Eucharist, however, a greater age is required in which a full knowledge of matters of faith and a better preparation of the soul can be had. As a consequence, owing to various local customs and opinions, the age determined for the reception of First Communion was placed at ten years or twelve, and in places fourteen years or even more were required; and until that age children and youth were prohibited from Eucharistic Communion. This practice of preventing the faithful from receiving on the plea of safeguarding the august Sacrament has been the cause of many evils. It happened that children in their innocence were forced away from the embrace of Christ and deprived of the food of their interior life; and from this it also happened that in their youth, destitute of this strong help, surrounded by so many temptations, they lost their innocence and fell into vicious habits even before tasting of the Sacred Mysteries. And even if a thorough instruction and a careful Sacramental Confession should precede Holy Communion, which does not everywhere occur, still the loss of first innocence is always to be deplored and might have been avoided by reception of the Eucharist in more tender years. No less worthy of condemnation is that practice which prevails in many places prohibiting from Sacramental Confession children who have not yet made their First Holy Communion, or of not giving them absolution. Thus it happens that they, perhaps having fallen into serious sin, remain in that very dangerous state for a long time. But worse still is the practice in certain places which prohibits children who have not yet made their First Communion from being fortified by the Holy Viaticum, even when they are in imminent danger of death; and thus, when they die they are buried with the rites due to infants and are deprived of the prayers of the Church. Such is the injury caused by those who insist on extraordinary preparations for First Communion, beyond what is reasonable; and they doubtless do not realize that such precautions proceed from the errors of the Jansenists who contended that the Most Holy Eucharist is a reward rather than a remedy for human frailty. The Council of Trent, indeed, teaches otherwise when it calls the Eucharist, “An antidote whereby we may be freed from daily faults and be preserved from mortal sins.” This doctrine was not long ago strongly emphasized by a Decree of the Sacred Congregation of the Council given on December 20, 1905. It declared that daily approach to Communion is open to all, old and young, and two conditions only are required: the state of grace and a right intention. Moreover, the fact that in ancient times the remaining particles of the Sacred Species were even given to nursing infants seems to indicate that no extraordinary preparation should now be demanded of children who are in the happy state of innocence and purity of soul, and who, amidst so many dangers and seductions of the present time have a special need of this heavenly food. The abuses which we are condemning are due to the fact that they who distinguished one age of discretion for Penance and another for the Eucharist did so in error. The Lateran Council required one and the same age for reception of either Sacrament when it imposed the one obligation of Confession and Communion. Therefore, the age of discretion for Confession is the time when one can distinguish between right and wrong, that is, when one arrives at a certain use of reason, and so similarly, for Holy Communion is required the age when one can distinguish between the Bread of the Holy Eucharist and ordinary bread-again the age at which a child attains the use of reason. The principal interpreters of the Lateran Council and contemporaries of that period had the same teaching concerning this Decree. The history of the Church reveals that a number of synods and episcopal decrees beginning with the twelfth century, shortly after the Lateran Council, admitted children of seven years of age to First Communion. There is moreover the word of St. Thomas Aquinas, who is an authority of the highest order, which reads: “When children begin to have some use of reason, so that they can conceive a devotion toward this Sacrament (the Eucharist), then this Sacrament can be given to them.”6 Ledesma thus explains these words: “I say, in accord with common opinion, that the Eucharist is to be given to all who have the use of reason, and just as soon as they attain the use of reason, even though at the time the child may have only a confused notion of what he is doing.” Vasquez comments on the same words of St. Thomas as follows: “When a child has once arrived at the use of reason he is immediately bound by the divine law from which not even the Church can dispense him.” The same is the teachings of St. Antoninus, who wrote: “But when a child is capable of doing wrong, that is of committing a mortal sin, then he is bound by the precept of Confession and consequently of Communion.” The Council of Trent also forces us to the same conclusion when it declares: “Children who have not attained the use of reason are not by any necessity bound to Sacramental Communion of the Eucharist.” It assigns as the only reason the fact that they cannot commit sin: “they cannot at that age lose the grace of the sons of God already acquired.” From this it is the mind of the Council that children are held to Communion by necessity and by precept when they are capable of losing grace by sin. The words of the Roman Synod, held under Benedict XIII, are in agreement with this in teaching that the obligation to receive the Eucharist begins, “after boys and girls attain the age of discretion, that is, at the age in which they can distinguish this Sacramental food, which is none other than the true Body of Jesus Christ, from common and ordinary bread; and that they know how to receive it with proper religious spirit.” The Roman Catechism adds this: “At what age children are to receive the Holy Mysteries no one can better judge than their father and the priest who is their confessor. For it is their duty to ascertain by questioning the children whether they have any understanding of this admirable Sacrament and if they have any desire for it.” From all this it is clear that the age of discretion for receiving Holy Communion is that at which the child knows the difference between the Eucharistic Bread and ordinary, material bread, and can therefore approach the altar with proper devotion. Perfect knowledge of the things of faith, therefore, is not required, for an elementary knowledge suffices-some knowledge (aliqua cognitio); similarly full use of reason is not required, for a certain beginning of the use of reason, that is, some use of reason (aliqualis usus rationis) suffices. To postpone Communion, therefore, until later and to insist on a more mature age for its reception must be absolutely discouraged, and indeed such practice was condemned more than once by the Holy See. Thus Pope Pius IX, of happy memory, in a Letter of Cardinal Antonelli to the Bishops of France, March 12, 1866, severely condemned the growing custom existing in some dioceses of postponing the First Communion of children until more mature years, and at the same time sharply disapproved of the age limit which had been assigned. Again, the Sacred Congregation of the Council, on March 15, 1851, corrected a prescription of the Provincial Council of Rouen, which prohibited children under twelve years of age from receiving First Communion. Similarly, this Sacred Congregation of the Discipline of the Sacraments, on March 25, 1910, in a question proposed to it from Strasburg whether children of twelve or fourteen years could be admitted to Holy Communion, answered: “Boys and girls are to be admitted to the Holy Table when they arrive at the years of discretion or the use of reason.” After careful deliberation on all these points, this Sacred Congregation of the Discipline of the Sacraments, in a general meeting held on July 15, 1910, in order to remove the above-mentioned abuses and to bring about that children even from their tender years may be united to Jesus Christ, may live His life, and obtain protection from all danger of corruption, has deemed it needful to prescribe the following rules which are to be observed everywhere for the First Communion of children. 1. The age of discretion, both for Confession and for Holy Communion, is the time when a child begins to reason, that is about the seventh year, more or less. From that time on begins the obligation of fulfilling the precept of both Confession and Communion. 2. A full and perfect knowledge of Christian doctrine is not necessary either for First Confession or for First Communion. Afterwards, however, the child will be obliged to learn gradually the entire Catechism according to his ability. 3. The knowledge of religion which is required in a child in order to be properly prepared to receive First Communion is such that he will understand according to his capacity those Mysteries of faith which are necessary as a means of salvation (necessitate medii) and that he can distinguish between the Bread of the Eucharist and ordinary, material bread, and thus he may receive Holy Communion with a devotion becoming his years. 4. The obligation of the precept of Confession and Communion which binds the child particularly affects those who have him in charge, namely, parents, confessor, teachers and the pastor. It belongs to the father, or the person taking his place, and to the confessor, according to the Roman Catechism, to admit a child to his First Communion. 5. The pastor should announce and hold a General Communion of the children once a year or more often, and he should on these occasions admit not only the First Communicants but also others who have already approached the Holy Table with the above-mentioned consent of their parents or confessor. Some days of instruction and preparation should be previously given to both classes of children. 6. Those who have charge of the children should zealously see to it that after their First Communion these children frequently approach the Holy Table, even daily if possible, as Jesus Christ and Mother Church desire, and let this be done with a devotion becoming their age. They must also bear in mind that very grave duty which obliged them to have the children attend the public Catechism classes; if this is not done, then they must supply religious instruction in some other way. 7. The custom of not admitting children to Confession or of not giving them absolution when they have already attained the use of reason must be entirely abandoned. The Ordinary shall see to it that this condition ceases absolutely, and he may, if necessary, use legal measures accordingly. 8. The practice of not administering the Viaticum and Extreme Unction to children who have attained the use of reason, and of burying them with the rite used for infants is a most intolerable abuse. The Ordinary should take very severe measures against those who do not give up the practice. His Holiness, Pope Pius X, in an audience granted on the seventh day of this month, approved all the above decisions of this Sacred Congregation, and ordered this Decree to be published and promulgated. He furthermore commanded that all the Ordinaries make this Decree known not only to the pastors and the clergy, but also to the people, and he wishes that it be read in the vernacular every year at the Easter time. The Ordinaries shall give an account of the observance of this Decree together with other diocesan matters every five years. Visit VaticanCatholic.com

Do you glory in the Cross, or do you run from it as much as possible? "But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world." [Galatians 6:14] "Who answering, said to them: My mother and my brethren are they who hear the word of God, and do it." [Luke 8:21] "And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple." [Luke 14:27] Visit VaticanCatholic.com

"He that loveth correction, loveth knowledge: but he that hateth reproof is foolish. He that is good, shall draw grace from the Lord: but he that trusteth in his own devices doth wickedly. Men shall not be strengthened by wickedness: and the root of the just shall not be moved." [Proverbs 12:1-4] Visit VaticanCatholic.com

Excerpt from the Practice of Christian and Religious Perfection: THAT THE DEVIL IS ABLE TO DO BUT VERY LITTLE AGAINST US. To encourage us in temptations, it will be a very great help, to consider the weakness of our enemy; and how little he is able to do against us, as he cannot make us fall into any sin against our own will. Behold, my brethren, says St Bernard, how weak our enemy is; he cannot overcome but him, who has a mind to be overcome. (Serm lxxiii. in Cant.) If a man who is going to fight, were sure to overcome if he would; how joyful would he be? Would not he think himself sure of a victory, which depended only upon his own will? With the same confidence and joy we might fight against the devil. For we know very well, that he cannot conquer us, if we ourselves will it not. It is this that St Jerome very well observes upon the words the evil spirit said to our Saviour, when having carried him up to the pinnacle of the temple, he counselled him to throw himself down headlong. Cast thyself down, said the tempter; ( Matt. iv. 6.) and this, adds the saint, is the true language of the devil, who desires nothing so much as the fall of all men. He can indeed persuade them to throw themselves down, but he cannot throw them down himself. The voice of the devil that tempts you, says, throw yourself down into hell. You must answer him; do so yourself; you know the way; as for me I will not do it; for he cannot have the power to make you, if you have not the will to do it. A certain person, finding that he was continually tempted by the devil to destroy himself, discovered to his confessor the trouble and perplexity he was in. His confessor having convinced him that the motions of the evil spirit, could have no further power over him, than what he himself would give him, advised him, that as often as he found himself troubled with that temptation, he should answer — I am resolved I will not do what you would have me; and that he should come again to him eight days after. This man did what his confessor bid him, and by this means delivered himself from the temptation which tormented him, and so came to thank him afterwards for the remedy he had prescribed him. And it is of this remedy, that I shall now speak. The opinion of St Augustine agrees very well with what I have now asserted. He says, that the devil was not bound before the birth of our Saviour, and that till then he freely exercised his tyranny over men; but that Jesus Christ by coming into the world, chained him up, as St John declares to us in the Apocalypse: And I saw an angel coining down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand; and he laid hold upon the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil and satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled, and after that he must be loosed for a little season. (Apoc. xx.1.) God has therefore chained up the devil, continues the holy doctor, and do you know how he has done it? After such manner that he permits him not to do the evil he might and would do, if he had the liberty of tempting and deceiving men, by all those ways and artifices of which he is capable. But you may say, if he be chained, how comes it to pass that he still does so much mischief? It is true, answers the father, he does much indeed, but it is to those who take no care of themselves; he is chained up like a dog, that is, so tied that he can bite none but those that come near him: He is able to bark, he is able to fawn and flatter, but he cannot at all bite any one, except such as will be bitten by him. ( Lib. xx. de Civit. Dei. , c. 8.) So that as, adds the saint, we laugh at a man that permits himself to be bitten by a dog in a chain, so we may also laugh at those who let themselves be overcome by the devil; because he is so fast tied, that he can do no hurt to any, but such as come near him. It is then your own fault, if he does you any hurt in the state you are in; since he cannot hurt you unless you will yourself, so that you may even contemn him as much as you please. It is this the saint teaches us, explaining these words of the psalmist, the dragon which thou hast formed to serve us for sport: ( Ps. ciii. 26) have you not seen, says he, how children feel pleasure in looking upon a bear, or any other wild beast that is chained, and how they amuse themselves with it: you may also mock the devil as often as he tempts you; for he is like a dog in a chain, who can only hark and make noise, but cannot bite you unless you will it yourself. The devils once appeared to St Anthony under several horrid and frightful shapes, and surrounded him as if they were ready to devour him; but the. saint only laughed at them, saying, if you have power to hurt me, the least, of you is able to do it, but because you have not, you come in troops to affright me. If God has given you any power over me, behold here I am, devour me; but if he has not, all your endeavours are in vain. We may make the same answer in all our temptations; because since Jesus Christ became man, the devil has no power left; as he one day told St Anthony, who answered him, though you are the father of lies, yet you have at present spoken truth against your will. For this reason our Saviour bids us confide and take courage. I says he, have overcome the world: (John xvi. 33.) and therefore let us say with St Paul, thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (I Cor. xv. 57.) Visit VaticanCatholic.com

Psalm 1: The happiness of the just and the evil state of the wicked. "Blessed is the man who hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the chair of pestilence. But his will is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he shall meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree which is planted near the running waters, which shall bring forth its fruit, in due season. And his leaf shall not fall off: and all whatsoever he shall do shall prosper.  Not so the wicked, not so: but like the dust, which the wind driveth from the face of the earth. Therefore the wicked shall not rise again in judgment: nor sinners in the council of the just. For the Lord knoweth the way of the just: and the way of the wicked shall perish" Visit VaticanCatholic.com

Psalm 22: God's spiritual benefits to faithful souls.  1 A psalm for David. The Lord ruleth me: and I shall want nothing.  2 He hath set me in a place of pasture. He hath brought me up, on the water of refreshment:  3 He hath converted my soul. He hath led me on the paths of justice, for his own name's sake.  4 For though I should walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will fear no evils, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they have comforted me.  5 Thou hast prepared a table before me against them that afflict me. Thou hast anointed my head with oil; and my chalice which inebriateth me, how goodly is it! [1] "Ruleth me": In Hebrew, Is my shepherd, viz., to feed, guide, and govern me.  6 And thy mercy will follow me all the days of my life. And that I may dwell in the house of the Lord unto length of days. visit VaticanCatholic.com

Miracle of the Candle: (From St Bernadette Soubirous, by Abbe Francois Trocu) Two most attentive observers remained close to Bernadette: M. Jacomet, who, with a view to a report, did not miss a single one of her actions: Dr Dozous, who followed her 'step by step, his eyes constantly fixed on her' to study her case once more at leisure. "Bernadette smiles, she bows [noted the Commissioner], then she climbs up the space that separates her from the grotto and takes up her position there, motionless, smiling and bowing at intervals." The last phase of this seventeenth Apparition was marked by what has generally been termed 'the miracle of the candle'. Bernadette, on the testimony of Dr Dozous, 'was holding a large blest candle, alight'. Her cousin, André Sajous, informs us that it was 'a twenty-sous candle'. 'As the Apparition continued,' adds Julie Garros, who was present, 'the candle gradually slipped down so that the flame was playing on the inside of her hand.' Jean-Marie, Bernadette's little brother, remembered 'seeing this very clearly as it passed between her fingers'. A big schoolboy of thirteen, Bernard Joanas, who eventually succeeded M. Pomian as chaplain to the Hospice in Lourdes, had managed to worm his way through to within two yards of where Bernadette was kneeling. 'Her face,' he related, 'was hidden from me by the doctor's body. But I saw his hand gripping the child's arm as if to feel her pulse, and at the same moment I saw the flame of the candle passing through her fingers and licking her hand. As soon as the fact was noticed, those near her shouted in patois: "My God, she is burning herself!"" And young Joanas heard the doctor's stern com- mand: 'Leave her alone!' 'Her hand was then left in the flame for several minutes.' 'Bernadette meanwhile made no movement.' At last, to the great relief of the onlookers, the ecstasy ended and down fell the candle. Abbé Joanas reports: 'I can still see Dr Dozous taking the child's hand; still see him rub it with his right sleeve (there must have been a little smoke on it); still hear him exclaim in a loud voice, "There's nothing." These words were passed rapidly back to the furthest part of the crowd and caused a wave of excitement approaching delirium.' Meanwhile the doctor carried on with his experiment. "Addressing the woman who had taken the candle [he recorded], I asked her to relight it and give it back to me. I immediately put the flame of the candle several times in succession under Bernadette's left hand, and she drew it away very quickly, saying to me, 'You are burning me.' I report this fact just as I saw it, and as several others, who were like me close to Bernadette, observed perfectly. I report it exactly as it took place, without attempting any explanation of it." The impressive 'miracle of the candle '-which, according to reliable witnesses, had already had at least one precedent at Massabielle--instead of being a miracle on its own, could it not be simply one of the effects of a miracle more wonderful still: the ecstasy of Bernadette in her contemplation of the Virgin Mary? As mystical writers teach, the 'absorption in God' that is produced by ecstasy, is able to effect the 'suspension of the senses, even of the external senses' to such a degree as to render them completely impassible. Is it not recounted of St Thomas Aquinas that, being enraptured for a long time in God, he failed to notice that his torch was burning his fingers? Visit VaticanCatholic.com to learn the same Catholic Faith that St. Bernadette professed.

This video could have been 15 seconds long. 13 seconds for the question and 2 for the answer... Also, Trent Horn, a faithless heretic, is completely uncharitable in his response, allowing the protestant to feel good about being on the road to hell! Pope Eugene IV, Council of Florence, Sess. 8, Nov. 22, 1439, ex cathedra: "...Whoever wishes to be saved, needs above all to hold the Catholic faith; unless each one preserves this whole and inviolate, he will without a doubt perish in eternity." youtube.com/shorts/5Kj7Emf_o…

Was St. Emerentiana Baptized? Unbaptized Martyrs? youtu.be/geUVMp5Jr3A