Catholic author Mary Fabyan Windeatt in her 1949 book "Saint Paul the Apostle" explained how St. Paul after his near death stoning at Iconium illustrated that by loving Jesus Christ with our mind, heart, will and sufferings that we win more "souls for Heaven than if [we] had spend a hundred years preaching the Gospel" and can be heroes for Christ:
"He'll never be well," Timothy told himself. The Jews from Icomium have ruined everything."
But when several weeks had passed, Paul rallied suddenly. Staggering, he rose from his bed and insisted on going out for a walk. and before an hour had passed he had a convert!
"I don't understand!" cried Timothy, when Paul told him about it. 'How did you do it when you didn't even preach a word?"
Paul looked thoughtfully at his young friend. "By suffering," he said, smiling.
"Suffering?"
"Yes. Didn't I tell you once before that God can use our weakness best of all?"
[... ]
"I have been thinking a great deal about Stephen."
"The young man who at Jerusalem?"
"Yes. Only not of that death so much as the one that Stephen died before.The real death."
[... ]
"I mean that when Stephen gave up his own will, he won more souls for Heaven than if he had spend a hundred years preaching the Gospel!"
"But I can hardly believe that!"
"It's true. The Lord doesn't need our words and actions, but he does want our love - our hearts and wills. When we have given Him these, we have given everything. We have died on the Cross just as He did, and won the greatest blessings for a sinful world." (Pages 64-65)
Catholic author William Thomas Walsh in his 1943 book "Saint Teresa of Avila" showed how there are more St. Stephens and St. Pauls "generation after generation" in the Catholic Church:
"About this time her [Teresa] duties brought her into contact with one of the older nuns who was dying of the most painful and disgusting disorder: as the result of oppilations, she had in her belly open wounds, though which emerged whatever she ate. Some of the nuns seemed afraid of the poor woman's malady; but what impressed Teresa was her remarkable patience. the nun was one of those mystics who so penetrated the paradoxical secret of suffering at the heart of Christianity that she could endure all the pain and humiliation, not merely with resignation, but with a positive joy which no one can understand without witnessing it, as it recurs in convents generation after generation."
"The face of such a person, offering her sufferings in union with those of Christ on the cross, takes on something of the unearthly beauty, peace, and sublimity of her Master. And so it seemed to Teresa that what she saw in that Christlike face was worth any price that might be paid for it in terms of human inconvenience. It must be paid for, however, and the price was pain. From the heart of that magnanimous heart of the novice, vital and alert in the bloom of her youth, there leaped a prayer, a prayer that was incomprehensible even to Christians who have not penetrated the center of their Faith; she asked God to give her a similar patience, with whatever sickness might be necessary to achieve it. It seemed to her afterwards that she she asked this not through love of God, but through a more selfish desire to obtain eternal happiness for herself as soon as possible; however, she did have the courage to make the request. The nun died soon after." (Pages 49-50)
Yes, our prayers and sufferings, even the smallest prayers and sufferings, when united to Christ "bring us greatest blessings for a sinful world," for our families and for ourselves.
There is an old four page pamphlet titled "The Apostolate of Suffering" that shows us a way to be heroes for Christ which on the cover has a drawing of Jesus on the Cross saying to us:
"Give me your hopelessness, unhappiness, failure, bitterness, misery, regrets, desolation, instability, frustration, sorrow, heartaches, struggle, pain, fears, poverty, worry, loneliness, regrets, frustration, rejection, indecision, helplessness, fatigue, anxiety, [etc...]."
The pamphlet, moreover, says Don't Waste Suffering! Pay the Ransom - for Souls:
Why should there be an Apostolate of Suffering?
I have been redeemed by the Cross. Therefore I must cooperate in the salvation of souls. I can be and I desire to be an apostle in my sufferings. Tears shed without love are wasted and embitter the soul. To weep with love consoles, sanctifies and redeems. No one is nearer the Crucified King.
Fr. Mateo, SS.CC. in the pamphlet, writes:
Let those who are ill, those who suffer, those whose hearts are breaking under the Cross, listen to the words of life, of comfort and of hope that I address to them in the name and for the glory of the heart of Jesus.
The world is going astray along a path of unbridled sensuality. You who are suffering and ill can stop thousands of souls on this downward path; you can rescue sinners and be apostles in your pain and weariness. You can purify, make reparation, and save souls by offering your sufferings as an apostolate of love.
Vanity, frivolity, forgetfulness of God, and outrages against His Law daily threaten to fill hell with souls. For love of Jesus, I beg you who are in anguish of soul to offer your family troubles, your sorrows and mental anguish as a missionary apostolate. Give them all to Him.
Priests and religious need help in their sublime mission; you, whose hearts are torn with sorrow and trouble of every kind, you who are misunderstood, families in mourning, orphans, do not lose your golden treasure, do not waste your precious tears – perhaps a father, a husband, a brother or a son is in danger of eternal death. Offer your sufferings, in the Chalice of Mary’s heart to Jesus Who thirsts for souls.
All you who suffer, do not forget that sorrow sanctified by love, becomes the holiest of missions, the most persuasive of sermons, the most fruitful of apostolates. So preach the Social Reign of the Heart of Jesus, even while you are nailed to the cross.
Mary Fabyan Windeatt in her 1949 book shows the above is the secret of true happiness and meaning in this life:
Paul smiled at the boy whom he had known only a few
short weeks, but whom he had already loved as a son. "Was Our Lord
afraid of danger?" he said mildly. "Did He run away from suffering?"
Paul had found the secret of happiness in this world. He desired nothing but the knowledge of Christ, for himself and others. As a result, death held no terror for him. After all, how could it. In a sense he already died, for his will was completely united to the Will of God."
[...]
"Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say, rejoice." Finally: "May the peace of Christ, which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Jesus Christ."
Francis Notes:
- Doctor
of the Church St. Francis de Sales totally confirmed beyond any doubt
the possibility of a heretical pope and what must be done by the Church
in such a situation:
"[T]he Pope... WHEN he is EXPLICITLY a heretic, he falls ipso facto from his dignity and out of the Church, and the Church MUST either deprive him, or, as some say, declare him deprived, of his Apostolic See."
(The Catholic Controversy, by St. Francis de Sales, Pages 305-306)
Saint Robert Bellarmine, also, said "the Pope heretic is not deposed ipso facto, but must be declared deposed by the Church."
[https://archive.org/stream/SilveiraImplicationsOfNewMissaeAndHereticPopes/Silveira%20Implications%20of%20New%20Missae%20and%20Heretic%20Popes_djvu.txt]
- "If Francis is a Heretic, What should Canonically happen to him?": http://www.thecatholicmonitor.com/2020/12/if-francis-is-heretic-what-should.html
- "Could Francis be a Antipope even though the Majority of Cardinals claim he is Pope?": http://www.thecatholicmonitor.com/2019/03/could-francis-be-antipope-even-though.html
- LifeSiteNews, "Confusion explodes as Pope Francis throws magisterial
weight behind communion for adulterers," December 4, 2017:
The AAS guidelines explicitly allows "sexually active adulterous couples
facing 'complex circumstances' to 'access the sacraments of
Reconciliation and the Eucharist.'"
- On February 2018, in Rorate Caeli, Catholic theologian Dr. John Lamont:
"The AAS statement... establishes that Pope Francis in Amoris Laetitia
has affirmed propositions that are heretical in the strict sense."
- On December 2, 2017, Bishop Rene Gracida:
"Francis' heterodoxy is now official. He has published his letter to the
Argentina bishops in Acta Apostlica Series making those letters
magisterial documents."
Pray an Our Father now for the restoration of the Church by the bishops by the grace of God.
Election Notes:
- Intel Cryptanalyst-Mathematician on Biden Steal: "212Million Registered Voters & 66.2% Voting,140.344 M Voted...Trump got 74 M, that leaves only 66.344 M for Biden" [http://catholicmonitor.blogspot.com/2020/12/intel-cryptanalyst-mathematician-on.html?m=1]
- Will US be Venezuela?: Ex-CIA Official told Epoch Times "Chávez started to Focus on [Smartmatic] Voting Machines to Ensure Victory as early as 2003": http://catholicmonitor.blogspot.com/2020/12/will-us-be-venezuela-ex-cia-official.html
http://www.thecatholicmonitor.com/2021/01/a-hour-which-will-live-in-infamy-1001pm.html?m=1
http://catholicmonitor.blogspot.com/2021/01/epoch-times-show-crossroads-on-capital.html?m=1]