Q. Is there any truth to the presentation of the stigmata in the film THE STIGMATA and is there such a thing as a lost Gospel?

C.R., Gresham,WI

A. The film is nothing more than a crude burlesque, a maliciously deliberate caricature of genuine stigmata as received by those of true and living faith. The genuine stigmata are a supernatural and extraordinary phenomena which God uses for two reasons.

The first reason is to place a visible seal upon those holy men and women who have imitated Jesus Christ in that supreme act of love and obedience _ obedience even unto the most abject humility and suffering. The visible marks of the passion and crucifixion of Jesus are not directly willed by God, as if God were a sadist and enjoys tormenting those who love and serve Him. On the contrary, the suffering is inflicted by those not unlike the makers of the film in question. Those who are in the service of the devil are the ones filled with hatred for all that is good. They are consumed by demonic pride and this urges them to act out their hatred. Deep down in their souls, these perverts know that they are evil and that they are the slaves of Satan. They know this _ and have no doubt about it. They are not `materialists' by any means.

On the surface, people like those who have purposely made the film, THE STIGMATA appear interested in the material things of this world. Of course, they are; but, there is more to it: They knowingly serve Satan and he rewards them with the empty pomp and glory that will soon fade.

The film is an attack upon the Roman Catholic Church. It is just one in the increasing number of efforts of the Antichrists (Jews and Freemasons) to destroy the faith of Catholics.

It ridicules that which is most sacred in our faith. It makes the authorities of the Church appear as scheming, ruthless individuals without a conscience. It suggests that faith and science are incompatible, whereas the opposite is the truth: genuine science cannot contradict true religion because the source of truth is the same in both fields: God.

St.Francis of Assisi who was the first in history to bear the visible marks of Christ's crucifixion and the latest, Padre Pio, are placed side by side with the absurd manufactured "stigmata" of the woman in the film to suggest that these holy men (one a canonized saint) should be treated in the same way as suggested by the film maker.

That the wounds in our Lord's hands appear in the hands of those with genuine stigmata rather than in the wrist as suggested by some doctor should be taken with more than just a grain of salt.

Why is it that people are so quick to accept the opinions of just anybody in place of the constant tradition of the Church? Obviously, such individuals have very little understanding of their own faith nor respect for the objective scholarly work of their own theologians.

All of this proves that the preparation for the great apostasy in which we flounder today was being made well before any of us were born. The faith was being eroded little by little to the point of being finally lost.

It would seem to me that there would be more credibility in accepting the historical fact that St. Francis of Assisi's wounds were a more accurate reflection of truth than any pseudo-scientific speculation of some doctor, regardless of how sincere he may have been.

Thomas did not believe the other Apostles when they told him that they had seen the Lord. He said: "Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe."

About a week later, Jesus came to where the Apostles were gathered, passing through closed doors, and said to Thomas: "Bring here thy finger, and see my hands; and bring thy hand, and put it into my side; and be not unbelieving, but believing."

It seems to me a consummate act of pride to suggest that neither our Lord nor the Apostles knew the difference between `hand' and `wrist' _ as if to suggest that people two thousand years ago knew nothing about the human body. This same lying pride has been used to falsify the words of our Lord in matters of changing the wine into His precious blood through transubstantiation. Our Lord did not say "for all men" when He spoke of His blood being shed for the many. Both He and the evangelists knew the difference between "all" and "many".

The saintly theologians differ from the `run of the mill' theologians in this, that the saints were mystics and were guided by the Spirit of God dwelling in them; the others play with words.

When genuine stigmata are received, there is no wild, frightening upheaval of nature and things as portrayed in the ugly absurdities born of a fervidly perverse imagination. Compare the reception of the stigmata by St. Francis and that by the atheist woman surrounded by burning candles in her bathtub. How ridiculous! How absurd! And, yes, how satanically insulting to God.

We have reliable authorities to establish the truth of the stigmata of St. Francis and the manner in which the wounds were received. We have yet to encounter any modern writer who can even approach the quality and inspiration of writers such as St. Bovanventure. The insipidity of modern writers becomes quickly evident when compared to the warmth and depth of writers like St. Bonaventure. Observe carefully the following account:

It should be noted that God does not impose the stigmata on unwilling, faithless individuals. In the case of St. Francis, he was penetrated with the words from the Mass of the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross.

Francis prayed with his face turned to the east, with hands upraised and extended arms: "O Lord Jesus Christ, two favors I beg of thee before I die. The first is , that I may, as far as it is possible, feel in my soul and in my body the suffering which thou, O gentle Jesus, sustained in thy bitter passion. And the second favor is, that I, as far as it is possible, may receive into my heart that excessive charity by which thou, Son of God, was inflamed, and which actuated thee willingly to suffer so much for us sinners."

And as he long prayed thus, he felt a certainty that God would vouchsafe him these two things, and that it would be given him to receive both parts, so far as it was possible for a creature. And after he had received this promise, he began with great devotion to meditate on the sufferings of Christ and on the boundless charity of Christ, and the glow of piety grew so strong in him, that with charity and pity he was transformed to Jesus.

"And as he lay in this prayer and burned with this flame, behold, it came to pass that he in the same morning hour saw a seraph coming down from heaven with six luminous wings. And the seraph slowly approached Francis, so that he could discern and clearly see that it bore an image of a crucified man, and its wings were so placed that two were raised over the head, two were extended for flight, and with two it covered its body.

"But when Francis saw this vision he was much frightened, and at the same time he was filled with joy and sorrow and wonder. For he had great joy in the gentle Jesus who showed Himself to him so intimately and looked so lovingly upon him, but it gave him inexpressible sorrow to see the Lord fastened to the Cross. And, moreover, he wondered over so unusual and astonishing a vision, for he knew that mortal suffering is not compatible with a seraph's immortal spirit. But as he wondered thus, it was revealed to him by the one before him that this vision by a special provision of God was granted him that he should understand that it was not by bodily martyrdom, but through an inner flame, that he should be transformed entirely into the likeness of Christ the Crucified.

"But now after the wonderful vision had finally disappeared, an excessive glow was left in Francis' heart, and a living love of Gad, and in his body the vision left a wonderful image and imprint of Christ's sufferings. For at once in his hands and feet marks like nails began to appear, so that they seemed perforated in the middle, and the heads of the nails were within the palms of the hands and on the top of the feet, and the points of the nails were on the backs of the hands and under the feet, and they were bent over, so that there was space between the flesh and points of the nails for a finger, as if in a ring, and the nails had a round, black head. And so in his left side the image of a lance-thrust appeared without cicatrice, but red and bleeding, out of which blood often issued from Brother Francis' breast and saturated his habit and clothes.

But Francis said nothing of this to the Brothers, but hid his hands, and he could not put the soles of his feet to the earth any more. And the Brothers found that his habit and clothes were bloody when they went to the wash, and then they understood that he bore the image and likeness of our Lord Jesus Christ the Crucified in his side and likewise on his hands and feet."

In view of the fact that the Jews have never ceased their hate-filled attacks upon Jesus and His disciples through the ages, it should not come as a surprise that they continue their demonic efforts to justify their apostasy from the true faith. The rabbis of today are the spiritual heirs of the demonic hatred for Jesus Christ and His followers. We Christians are accused of "hatred" by these haters of all that is holy and good because we speak the truth. We are not their enemies because we would have them turn away from their errors; they perceive us to be their `enemies' because they are apostles of Satan and, of course, they cannot have any part with God while they serve Satan.

As for a `lost gospel' there is no such thing. This is a lie inspired by the Jews and used by their `Christian' agents, Protestants. There were many writings purporting to be authored by the Apostles. Guided by the Holy Ghost, the Church was able to determine these apocryphal writings from the genuine inspired word of the Evangelists.

Then as now, forgeries were quite common. It has ever been the practice of charlatans to sign their error-filled writings with the name of an honorably and accepted author. This is the reason why the Church very carefully goes through the works of writers to assure that what is written is truly the thought and word of the author. We call such screened writings "critical editions." They are `critical' because they have undergone severe criticism in order to establish their veracity and origin.

As is their practice, the type of individuals who distort reality are the ones who most clearly reveal their own deepest perversity and monstrously evil dispositions. Such people are the cancer of society and anyone associated with them soon become cancerous themselves. This, of course, is the purpose of their Master, Lucifer: To turn away from Jesus Christ as many souls as they can.

If there were some Catholics among the 52 million Americans who claim to be Catholic, a simple boycott would put these people in their place. Remember: One bad apple can spoil a barrel of good apples. It's important, then, to keep the bad apples away from the good apples.

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