The sources of growth and decline in religious Orders

Religious Orders:

The sources of growth and decline in religious Orders...

"Jesus the Lord, your Lord, my sisters and brothers, has made the rule. You cannot change it to suit yourselves. You have been blinded by satan. The liberation in your hearts has been placed there by satan. You gain nothing but your own destruction." - St. Theresa, October 2, 1975

The following is an excerpt from the book, Spiritual Conferences for Religious Based on the Franciscan Ideal by Theodosius Foley, OFM, Cap.

     St. Bonaventure, in the Introduction to his great work, The Six Wings of the Seraphim, gives us a very striking analysis of how the seraphic spirit grows and declines in an order and in an individual. He begins by answering the question: What are the chief marks of a flourishing order? His answer is fivefold.
     “1. If the members exercise themselves fervently and often in the practice of virtue, especially of charity, humility and the interior spirit of prayer.
     “2. If they detest all vice and scandal, are on guard against occasions of sin and love cleanliness.
     “3. If the good among them are loved and encouraged and chosen for ruling souls and governing the Order.
     “4. If the members avoid familiarity with seculars, flee honors, do not scheme after money and are ashamed to be ‘conformed to this world’ in manners, acts and appearance.
     “5. If they silently suffer loss, insult and contempt and leave vengeance to God....
     “The more completely religious possess these qualities, the better they are, and the less they have of them the less perfect they are and those who have none of them are nothing indeed.”
     Having thus given us the five marks which show a good spirit, he proceeds to assign five causes which affect a decline of this good spirit, laying down as a fundamental principle of these the following rule: “Everything which does not draw its existence from itself, tends to fall back into non-existence.” By this he means that a religious order may appear to be flourishing, insofar as its activities and material condition are considered: its members may be great preachers, teachers, pastors of souls; its buildings modern, spacious, and commodious, so that it draws the attention of men to its external prosperity and efficiency, and yet be on the decline interiorly as regards its religious life. This decline has five downward steps.
     “Among the causes of decline in religious communities some are general. Of these one lies in the numbers of those who enter, because a crowd is less susceptible of moulding than a few.
     “A second cause arises when those who held an order in its pristine vigor pass away or grow feeble and cannot, as they might have done previously, give to those just arriving an example of austerity; and thus, the novices who are not witnesses of the former works imitate them as they have now become and become easy-going themselves.
     “A third cause lies in this, that no one can teach what he has not learned; so that when the government of the order devolves on these young men, they train others to become just what they themselves are; the old-fashioned type of religious is held up to ridicule, there is no tradition of example.
     “A fourth cause lies in the gradual introduction of lax customs. These become precedents for greater relaxations. If opposed by better religious, they are defended on the ground that what is allowed in other orders should be permitted to us also. If a superior, for the sake of peace, lets these things sleep, he becomes ‘popular’, ‘broad-minded’, ‘understanding’, and his community is held up to more regular ones as a model of ‘sensible’ religious life.
     “A fifth cause is to be found in prolonged occupation with business affairs. Due to this the members’ spiritual life fritters away, their interior spirit and prayer dies down, their manners change, they introduce worldly ways into the cloister and lower the standard and level of religious observance to that of a group of seculars, wearing a habit and living in community.’
     Here we have an inspired picture of what religious life is exposed to in these modern days of busy, rushing life. Everyone should be aware of this danger and do all he can to avert it. How true is the dictum of the Seraphic Doctor: “Everything which does not draw existence from itself, tends to fall back into non-existence!” While fulfilling its apostolate the Order must not drain itself of its own life and substance. Only God, because He is infinite, can give out unceasingly without replenishing Himself. But as for us, we must take in spiritually at least as much as we give out, otherwise we shall soon run dry. Here is where the wisdom of the mixed life becomes apparent. Our activity is indeed spiritual in its nature, but we are not naturally spiritual. We must become so continuously and with great effort, especially if we wish to stand the strain made by our external occupations on our inner, spiritual reserves. There is only one way to replenish our soul and that is the way of prayer, study, solitude, and regular community life. Unless we drink deeply and often of these wells of the spirit, we shut off the sources of our spiritual life and of all success in our ministry. It was the heresy of Luther to lay all stress on faith alone and to disregard good works, but it is just as bad to give one’s self up to activity exclusively and neglect the interior life. This is what Cardinal Mermillod calls “the heresy of good works.”

Veronica - Our Lady wants you to know that there will be difficult days ahead for all religious. Therefore, you must stand your ground and do not leave, because to leave is also falling into the plan with satan. You must hold the truth in your heart and have great hope--because all in the Book of Life must come to pass. Therefore, the trials you must suffer, take with obedience and faith. The road ahead will take fortitude and great courage to stand forth in your own convictions. Great disobedience or fighting with the ranks will gain nothing. Only prayer will stem the tide. When you find within your order that the going is rough and you meet with a pattern that does not suit what is in your heart--or even right in the plan of God--you will pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and you will be led out of this trap. This is for all religious--from the highest rank of cardinal down. - August 21, 1972

Our Lady of the Roses awesome Bayside Prophecies... https://www.tldm.org/../Bayside/
These prophecies came from Jesus, Mary, and the saints to Veronica Lueken at Bayside, NY, from 1968 to 1995.

THE DEDICATED ARE LEAVING
"My child, We watch and see the houses of My Son crumbling, being destroyed throughout your world. Doors are closing, convents are emptying, and the dedicated are leaving and falling into all manner of sin and abominations. Who shall be in the remnant? Only a few will be saved." - Our Lady, May 26, 1976

INFILTRATED
"Yes, My child, I spoke to you of the evil ones who have infiltrated into the clergy. They are not entering with dedication and spirits of light, but they are bringing in the spirit of darkness. By their fruits will you know them, My child. I have asked you to be not fooled by those who wear the garments of the dedicated but have fouled their garments. You must pray more for the light and recognize the faces of evil about you, My child." - Jesus, June 5, 1975

OBEDIENCE
"In the cause of obedience, pastors and Our dedicated nuns, remember this: you cannot be obedient to one who has defamed his habit, to one who has cast aside his Faith, to one who goes forward as a destroyer of souls. The rabat is the teacher of life, but do not be fooled by those who foul these habits." - Our Lady, August 5, 1976

COME FORWARD
"Will you not, My children, you who are children of the light, come forward and become nuns, nuns with good hearts, with a good foundation of the Faith and the truth, and nourish Our sheep?" - Our Lady, June 18, 1982

JESUS MADE THE RULE
"Jesus the Lord, your Lord, my sisters and brothers, has made the rule. You cannot change it to suit yourselves. You have been blinded by satan. The liberation in your hearts has been placed there by satan. You gain nothing but your own destruction. Nuns, those who have accepted the rule and taken the habit, must remain in the habit." - St. Theresa, October 2, 1975

GARMENT OF PURITY
"Holiness and piety! Man—men of God, you must wear your garment of purity, dedication, and piety. What manner of foul deeds do you perform for the destruction of your sheep! For what? Material gain and pride and arrogance? You shall be cast into the abyss! Rank shall give you no advantage when you come over the veil." - St. Michael, December 24, 1975

WOE
"And woe to the clergy who has given himself over to worldliness and sin! Woe to the clergy who rejects his vocation and chooses a life upon earth after he has taken his vows! I say unto him: the judgment will fall great upon him." - Jesus, August 4, 1979

MOCKED
"Know now, my brothers and sisters of religious orders, you will be mocked, you will be scorned, but you will please the Eternal Father and receive your reward in the Kingdom." - St. Francis, May 28, 1975

THE "BUCK-PASSER"
"I see, My children, a great evil transpiring upon earth. Those who have the power to stop the evil have chosen to go downstream like ducks upon water, letting everything slide off their backs, neither caring nor visualizing the future. And why? Because they have given themselves to the world.
     "Just as My Son stood before Pilate and he washed his hands and said: 'This man is innocent; I see no wrong in him,' however, in his heart he knew of innocence but he feared reprisal from the crowd, My children; he valued his life, he loved his sin, and he was too much involved with the pleasures of this life and the world.
     "You see, My children, it is taking place all over again for those in command in rule. They go along 'passing,' as you say, 'the buck,' each one not willing to admit his error or his participation in evil, but only too willingly allowing others to take the blame or the responsibility. And I assure you, My children, if evil is being allowed, the 'buck passer' is just as guilty as the original one who had started the evil.
     "If you know in your hearts, O pastors, that souls are in danger of being corrupted, misled, and even destroyed, and you do nothing about it, because you do not wish to offend your superiors, because you value your life in this world too much and your good living; I assure you, O pastors, you shall stand before My Son and He shall not know you. You will be disowned, banished from eternal life in Heaven, and you shall join your father who is the father of all liars, satan, and the prince of darkness." - Our Lady, March 18, 1977

DO NOT LEAVE
"Do not leave when you are discouraged by those who satan has sent into your convents. Stand forth as an example of purity and godliness. You will not be cast aside by your God, as you will by man, as you stand to defend your God. Pick up your cross and carry it." - St. Theresa, November 20, 1972

TELEVISION / RADIOS
"Modernism must not be a way of life for Our dedicated. Our nuns have to have discipline, My children. Do not bring the world into the convents. I ask that the convents remain free of all television and radios, and return to their prayer life." - Our Lady, June 18, 1990

FOR GOOD
"Pastors, you shall be called and shall you stand before, in judgment, the Eternal Father and say that your teaching has been pure in His sight? Better that you fear your God than man! Obedience? Obedience is commanded by the Eternal Father for good, not for evil!" - Our Lady, May 26, 1976

Directives from Heaven... https://www.tldm.org/directives/directives.htm

D20 - Importance of Prayer (Part 1) PDF
D21 - Importance of Prayer (Part 2) PDF
D31 - Love of God PDF
D159 - Religious Orders and the Dedicated: Part 1 PDF
D160 - Religious Orders and the Dedicated: Part 2 PDF
D161 - The Great Apostasy PDF
D233 - Vocations, Part 1
D234 - Vocations, Part 2

Articles...

The new Commandment of Jesus
https://www.tldm.org/News7/Colin1.htm

Love of God and love of neighbor
https://www.tldm.org/News7/Colin2.htm

Beware of groups forming that have alienated themselves from their hierarchy
https://www.tldm.org/News7/AlienatedFromHierarchy.htm

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