| Home - Latest News | Introduction | Bayside Prophecies | Directives from Heaven | Shopping Cart | Testimonies | Veronica Lueken | Miraculous Photos | Bible | Radio Program |

These Last Days News - February 7, 2011

Cardinal Burke Reflects on His Role in Rome, Topic of Free Will...

"You ask, My child, how a state such as this could come upon human nature? My child, it is because of this very basic human nature and frailties that man, in exercising his own free will, has brought the world of mankind to the brink of destruction; because man has rejected the teachings, the teachings of old, the teachings that never shall grow old, for they are the basic foundations from your God, the Eternal Father, your Creator. And now you reject your Creator, and in your arrogance and pride, you seek, as did Lucifer, to dethrone your Creator, and set up a world government of man.
     "O My children, you are heading toward the fatal abyss. O My children, now the world is proceeding in the same path as Lucifer started, and was cast forever from the Kingdom of God. Lucifer, in his arrogance, was given much knowledge, but he used this knowledge against his God! He, too, had a free will. My children, no man, woman, or child shall fall into hell, the eternal abode of the damned, unless he gives himself to satan willingly, of free will.” – Jesus, September 28, 1977  

St. Louis Review reported on January 18, 2011:

Now that several months have passed since you were elevated to the College of Cardinals, have you had time to reflect on that moment? And have you thought to yourself: How did this happen, and how did I get here?

I have, in fact. In particular, having the celebration of a Mass of Thanksgiving, both in the Diocese of La Crosse and also now in the Archdiocese of St. Louis, has given me even more occasion to reflect upon the reality of the new responsibility which has been given to me. When I think about it, it is not something I ever would have imagined when I began my studies for the priesthood or even in my years of service as a priest and bishop. I simply thank God for the privilege to serve our Holy Father in this way. And at the same time, I am calling upon the help of God, because I realize my own limitations in providing for the Holy Father whatever he may ask of me.

How, if at all, has becoming a cardinal changed your priesthood?

My priesthood has taken on a new consciousness. Now there is the need to be even more attentive to the Magisterium of the Holy Father and to try to assist him in carrying out his work as he is inspired to do it. I'm conscious of the need to pay a closer attention to the words of our Holy Father and to his manner of carrying out his service of the Universal Church, and to try to assist him in any way that I can — clearly, through my regular duties as prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura and as a member of a number of his congregations and councils, but also in my everyday service as a priest and bishop.

Tell me about your position as prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura. Could you provide our readers with a glimpse of the work that you do?

What the Supreme Tribunal does is to help the Holy Father in his responsibility to secure justice in the Church. To take care that justice is done, which it is the minimum but essential work of the Church, in order that She carry out her highest service, which is charity. But where there is not justice, there cannot be charity. So we often say in the Apostolic Signatura that we carry out a very humble, but essential service.

What do we do? We have the oversight of all of the Church tribunals throughout the world, and we respond to all the diverse kind of requests and questions that come from the tribunals themselves, or from the faithful who have had some experience with the tribunals, either asking us to discipline a situation or to assist them in some way, so that the tribunal can assist the faithful. Each tribunal submits an annual report on its status and activities, which is given careful study. After the study of the report, we may ask for some further information or request copies of decisions of the tribunal, in order to understand better how it is operating and to assist it. This first area is a big area of responsibility. There are over 1,000 ecclesiastical tribunals throughout the world. There is a great deal of work here, and we could always do more.

Secondly, we handle what are called administrative cases, namely recourses against an individual administrative act of someone in authority in the Church, usually a bishop or a religious superior. The faithful may be upset, for instance, about the suppression of a parish ... or a religious about his or her dismissal from the religious life, or a priest about his transfer or his removal from office. If they believe that the act was not carried out according to the Church's law, they may make recourse to the Holy See. Those are very laborious cases. They come to us after they have already been appealed to one of the Roman congregations or councils. If either party, either the superior or the person making the recourse, is not happy with the decision given at the Roman congregation or council, he can then appeal to us for a final decision. We handle it in a judicial way, with arguments from advocates for both parties, with the intervention, as often as necessary, of the promoter of justice of the Supreme Tribunal. Then the final decision is rendered by the judges who are all cardinals, or archbishops or bishops of the Church.

These are very difficult cases in which there is usually a great deal of unhappiness. The only comfort that we take is that we are able to give a definitive decision in the name of the Holy Father. This brings peace to people in the sense that they know now that their contention has been judged at the highest possible level. They have received a decision, and even if they don't like it, at least they know that they have been heard, at the highest level, by those who act for the Holy Father.

The third area that we deal with is very limited and that is the cases against the Roman Rota, which is the Pope's ordinary tribunal for judicial cases, mostly cases of marriage nullity.

During the events of the consistory, I remember you saying that "I discovered in canon law a great richness that has to do with the whole life of the Church. In many ways, it's a very humble discipline ... but it's at the service of every aspect of the Church's life." Can you elaborate on that?

Canon law, the discipline of the Church, which is codified in the canons of the Code of Canon Law, is what guarantees the effective exercise of the Church's mission, whether it's teaching, whether it's sanctifying, or whether it's governing the people of God. And so when you study canon law, you end up studying all of the various aspects of the Church's life. Her organic nature, the different vocations, the different states in life, the different services given by various members of the Church ... In that way, you come to appreciate very much the richness of the life of the Church. As I say, it's humble. We don't have the joy in canon law of actually carrying out these services, but we have the deep joy of knowing what we're doing is safeguarding relationships and situations in the Church so that the Church's mission can be carried out.

What is life like serving in ministry for the Universal Church? I ask this because many Catholics have not had the privilege of seeing firsthand how the Roman Curia works. How does that work hand in hand with the life of the average Catholic in the pew?

What I experience, and what anyone working in the Roman Curia experiences, is the direct service of Catholics, individual Catholics in the pew, but now coming from every corner of the world. One experiences a whole diversity of situations in the Church, and what you learn and come to know, serving in the Roman Curia, is the wideness of the Church, Her Catholic nature embracing the whole world, embracing people of every language and race and nation. And that is, at one and the same time, a source of wonder and also a ... cause for humility.

In summary, what does the Church teach on the subject of free will?

God made us in His own image and likeness. And that means that He made us to both know the truth and to live the truth in love. With our mind we come to know the truth; with our will, we love the truth and live the truth. Free will for us is never a question of license, namely doing whatever I please, because that really doesn't make us free. And all of us have had the experience when we've just done what we please. Indeed, we don't enjoy freedom. In fact, we become enslaved to one or another creature, or enslaved to a habit of sin.

Free will is developed in us through a discipline of our thoughts and our affections, and our words and our actions, so that they more and more are conformed to the mind and heart of Jesus Christ. And as we attain that conformity with the mind and heart of Jesus Christ, we experience a great freedom. We discover that freedom is not meant for my selfish enjoyment, but that true freedom is for the good of my brothers and sisters and the good of those who are around me. We discover that our greatest joy comes from being selfless and being generous and sacrificing ourselves, even when it hurts us very much, in order to love.

Even though God has a plan for every one of us, why is it that He gives us free will to make decisions in our earthly life? Why doesn't He just say He has a predestined plan for us and make us act according to that?

If that would be the case, we would no longer be made in His own image and likeness. We would be a kind of determined creature who is simply carrying out a program. Yes, He has a plan. The plan is our own perfection, what is for our greatest good. And we are confident that, if we pray to know God's will and use all of the appropriate means to discover His will in our life, we will do it. But we will do it through our own knowledge, with the help of God's grace of course, and our choice. We give ourselves. We are not determined to do something, but it is our free gift. That's the way our Lord wants it, because we're made to have communion with Him. And communion with Him means we share in His own gifts of truth and love.

Would you say that a properly formed conscience is the meeting point between God's will for us and our freedom to choose to live according to His plan? What sort of instruction must one go through to have a properly formed conscience?

We start with reason itself and what it can uncover for us with regard to God's plan for us in our world. And fundamentally what we discover is the Ten Commandments. The respect for the inviolability of human life, the respect for the integrity for marriage and of the family. And ultimately the respect for God Himself as the origin of all being, and moreover the Savior, after the rebellion of our first parents. And so God ... has written into our hearts the knowledge of His law, a disposition to grow in the knowledge of His law, which is called conscience. Conscience is a meeting place between God and ourselves, and is formed through reason first. Then, Divine Revelation, as it is handed down to us in the teaching of the Church, brings us to an ever deeper understanding of the truth. ... It also uncovers for us particular aspects of our relationship with God and one another that we would not be able to discover by reason alone.

What about a person who has an ill-formed conscience? I think of the case in which an Arizona hospital recently lost its Catholic status after allowing an intentional abortion. What, then, happens to the matter of free will if a person has not been properly formed in conscience or deliberately chooses to go against God's design for us?

We simply become subjects to either what is popular or what the majority wants or is advocating, or of some fad or ... of a confusion and an error, for instance, with regard to abortion. Once we abandon the truth that it is always and everywhere wrong to take the life of an innocent and defenseless human being, then we are following a voice which is not the truth, and we are leading ourselves down a path which is ultimately deadly. What is produced in a society by this kind of conduct, by a lack of respect for a properly formed conscience, is a culture of death. We find increasing violence, we find the taking of the lives of the innocent and defenseless unborn, then the attack ... on those who are bearing a heavy burden of weakness because of age or serious disease or some special needs.

What are your thoughts on those who are held against their will and unable to freely make a choice? There are women who every day are coerced into having an abortion, either by the child's father, or the mother's parents, for example.

It's a difficult choice, but we cannot ever say that the end justifies the means. There can be all kinds of situations, especially during times of war, and other situations where people are obliged to endure imprisonment, or even death itself in order to follow their conscience. For instance ... St. John Fisher refused to acknowledge the supremacy of King Henry VIII over the Catholic Church; which would have been for him to deny that the Pope is the Vicar of Christ on earth. And he remained free in upholding the teaching of the Church, but it cost him his life. But his freedom was too important to him to give it up in order to save his life. The same way with St. Thomas More.

Do you think individuals take for granted this awesome responsibility and gift of free will? What kind of advice would you give to someone to help that person to remember that God gives us free will, but yet also keep in mind His will for us?

I do think that there's a tendency in society today, especially through a lack of a deep education of the children and young people, and also from a lack of study and reflection on the part of us who are adults ... to lose sight of the central reality of free will and of conscience in our lives. And that's how we end up with so many tragic situations in the world. ... I would urge, especially in the home, that parents devote themselves to forming the conscience of their children, even as they seek to keep their own consciences well informed through the study of the Catholic faith — especially through participation in Sunday Mass and the other means that are given to deepen the Catholic faith. ... Our institutions of Catholic education should be very much directed to helping the students to develop a well-formed conscience.

Email this page to a friend.

“Pray; pray much. Make many sacrifices of your senses. These are most pleasing to the Father. Sacrifice will recover a straying soul.” – Our Lady of the Roses, November 24, 1973

GOD-BORN CONSCIENCE
“Every soul, My child, that has entered, fallen into hell, has had his choice. In each life there is that moment of recognition of soul. You have all been given a God-born conscience. The Creator, your Father, did not birth you in ignorance. Those who fall into the abyss have done this of free will.
   “No man who comes to the Father in belief will be turned away. No sinner is too much of a sinner to be recovered. The Father, the Eternal Father, gathers the sheep, not wishing that one be lost to Him.” - Jesus, November 24, 1973

EDITOR'S COMMENT:  There is a plan to remove all Christian web sites from the internet.  This web site will soon be shut down by the anti-Christ forces.  Be sure to order the items list near the bottom of this web page.  Also, you can print out all PDF files for the Directives from Heaven and all of the Bayside Prophecies.  Copy Our Lady's messages now!  Soon they will not be available.  Be sure to have in your possession the Bayside books, Bayside Medals, Douay-Rheims Bibles and the Items Recommended by Our Lady.  Purchase these items now while they are still available! 

The 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:

SOUL LIVES ON
“Make it known, My child, to the world: there is no death of the soul. The human body will be temporarily separated from the soul. At the end of time, both will be reunited for the glorification of the Father.” - Our Lady, June 8, 1974 

UNSEEN WORLD
“Many will not accept your revelations, My child, for man has yet to understand the difference between the physical body and the spiritual soul. Man fails to recognize the existence of the unseen world about you. Right now the demons are gathering for this full scale war of the spirits.” - Our Lady, February 11, 1971 

THE ETERNAL PART
“You must, My child, have no fear at giving this message to the world. The destruction of a body is not important, but cry, My child, for the destruction of a soul. It is the eternal part. Man has found that he prefers to gather all the treasures of earth, casting aside the knowledge that one day he must leave all of his treasures and stand before the Eternal Father and be judged. His spirit, the soul, must live on forever and ever into eternity. He will go to hell, purged in purgatory, or come through the gates of eternal bliss and happiness in the Kingdom of the Eternal Father. Every man who has given himself to satan and damnation will have done this of his own free will and accord.” - Our Lady, November 1, 1975 

CANNOT BARGAIN
“Many now have given themselves to the world. This saddens Our hearts greatly, for the road is wide that leads into darkness and the lighted road is narrow. You cannot bargain with your soul.” - Our Lady, May 22, 1974 

MOMENT OF CONCEPTION
“The Eternal Father sends each life with reason. The spirit of life is breathed into that body at the moment of conception. At the moment of conception the soul is united to that body. Though it grows from a small seed, it is living and must not be destroyed! It is murder, My children, to destroy the seed.” - Our Lady, December 27, 1975 

COVENANT
“Each man has a covenant with his God, My child. Each man has a responsibility for his soul and the souls of all whom he has given charge of.” -  Our Lady, December 24, 1975 

DESTROYERS OF THE SOUL
“Take yourselves away from those who are destroyers of the soul, for you have nothing in common with them. What is there between or commensurate between the light and the darkness? Do you have, you who have gained the knowledge and retained your faith and remained pure of spirit, what do you have in common with the forces of evil? Avoid all occasions of sin. Do not be partakers of their sin, for birds of a feather shall surely flock together.” - Our Lady, August 5, 1976 

IMMORTAL
“Man, even man in My Son's House, Church, has found the way to rationalize his sin. There is no rationalization, My children, for sin! For sin will bring about the death of your soul. Your soul is immortal, but when I speak of the death of your soul, I mean its fall to satan and its banishment into the eternal fires of hell.” - Our Lady, December 6, 1974 

WHAT DOES IT GAIN?
“What, My child, does it gain a man if he gathers the treasures of the whole world and forever loses his soul? Pray much, My child; pray much, My children, for if you return to Us but one straying soul and snatch this soul from satan there will be great joy in Heaven forever. And your reward will far surpass anything that you can deem in your imagination!” - Our Lady, June 15, 1974 

MASTER OF HIS SOUL
“Every man shall be a master of his own soul. You will not place the responsibility for your fall upon another, with no human conception of obedience, for no man shall be obedient to satan.” -  Jesus, May 29, 1976 

POVERTY OF SOUL
“Already the words of My messengers are being spread throughout the earth. Already I send you signs that you do not recognize. When you all meet with the destruction, it will only be your choice.
   “You will keep your Rosary about your neck. You will continue to pray that the evil one does not enter your house. You must turn your back to material things of your world, or you cannot enter Ours. For you cannot have both. I do not expect you to live in poverty, but to recognize better you have poverty of the body than poverty of your soul.”   - Jesus, July 25, 1971 

YOU STARVE THEIR SOULS
“Parents, have you no discipline to give your children? As parents, you shall be responsible before the Eternal Father for the fall of your children's souls! Take yourselves, parents, from the world. Open your eyes and look into the lives of your children. You have become engrossed, as parents, with worldly cavortings and pleasures. You pamper the bodies, the temporal bodies of your children, while you starve their souls, the eternal soul of your children.” -  Our Lady, June 12, 1976 

THE SPIRIT OF LIFE
“The Eternal Father is much distressed by mankind's actions. They must not try to control the start and expiration of a life. Abortion is murder, My children, for you bring to an untimely end a mission of a soul. The Eternal Father breathes the spirit of life into the body at the moment of conception. No man shall destroy this body until it has completed its mission as directed by the Eternal Father, for any man who destroys the mission and the body is guilty of murder.”  - Our Lady, June 12, 1976 

YOU WILL STOP EXPERIMENTING
"My child and My children, I come once more with an urgent and pleading message to the hierarchy in the Church, My Church upon earth. I want you to know now that We look upon you and find many that do not fall into grace. They are falling out of grace and misleading many of Our sheep.
     "Therefore, I warn you now as your God: You will stop your intricacies within My Church. You will stop experimenting. I gave you the rules to follow many years ago, two thousand years approximately. And why now, two thousand years later, do you deem it necessary to change My Church upon earth? I, your God, say to you, you will be judged accordingly. You will return My Church to its former glory, and in that manner you will have more vocations and more entering the seminaries, and not fleeing from them as they hear the heresies and all other innovations that are going on within My Church. This is My last and final word to My clergy: Change now or suffer a just punishment and banishment." - Jesus, June 18, 1986

RETURN TO YOUR TRADITIONAL RITES
”I send to My clergy, those whom I have given the grace to represent Heaven upon earth, this warning: You must now return to your traditional rites! You must restore My House from its crumbling exterior and rotting interior. You must rebuild what you seek to destroy--now!
     "Many who call themselves My chosen ones have set themselves to destroy from within. Your actions have not gone by unnoticed by the Eternal Father. Error, deception, deceit, in the guise of sanctity and piousness! You are unmasked before the Eternal Father. You shall start little by little and repair the foundation, or you shall be within and destroy.
     "I look upon all manner of abominations being committed in My House. Do you think you will go much longer without chastisement? Awaken from your slumber, My clergy! You deceive no one!”  - Jesus, November 22, 1975

CHANGING THE CONSTRUCTION
“You will not bring about a conversion of those who are presently apostate by compromising your Faith or changing the construction of the exterior lines of My Church; and by that I mean the physical appearance and the manner in which you conduct the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
     “Many are giving My Body in a manner that can only be called blasphemy. Many are accepting My Body in the Eucharist in a manner that defames the Divinity, and also promotes unholiness, paganism, and impurity of heart and actions during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.” - Jesus, May 26, 1979

CHANGES MUST BE STOPPED AND REVERSED
"There is no excuse accepted now by the Eternal Father among the clergy, who now offend the Eternal Father by misleading the children of God upon earth. The experimentation and changes must be stopped and reversed! There is no other course.” – Our Lady, August 4, 1979 

“RESTORE MY HOUSE!”
"My Mother has given you My way. It is a simple road that must be followed. The rules have been given to you that must not be changed, as you cater to the basic carnal nature of man, a generation that has fallen! You will not make changes within My House, for you have dispersed My sheep. You will restore My House to its former glory. Strip you hearts of your pride! Recognize your errors and restore My House!
     "I say this to you for your Creator, as your God: Restore My House, or I shall come down and restore it Myself with a firm hand! And shall you stand before Me, O pastors, and say that your teachings have been pure in My sight? I shall take you and spit you out as spittle into the fires of eternal damnation! Vermin that came out of the flowers!”  – Jesus, December 28, 1976 

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

D1 - The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass   PDF
D19 - Prayers   PDF
D20 - Importance of Prayer (Part 1)   PDF
D21 - Importance of Prayer (Part 2)    PDF
D79 - Restore My Church   PDF 
D85 - Tradition   PDF
D127 - Vatican II   PDF
D280 - Ungodly Music PDF 
D342 - Dying to self  PDF
D344 - Purification  PDF 

Articles...

The essence of perfection consists in charity
https://www.tldm.org/News6/Tanquerey-charity.htm

The way of perfection
https://www.tldm.org/news6/perfection%2Dtanquerey.htm

The struggle against temptation
https://www.tldm.org/lent/temptation.htm

Redemption and its effects
https://www.tldm.org/news8/redemption.htm

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

Pope John Paul II warned of a world without spirituality
https://www.tldm.org/news5/pope2.htm

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

Christian charity towards our enemies
https://www.tldm.org/News7/Colin3.htm

The sources of growth and decline in religious orders
https://www.tldm.org/news7/Foley1.htm

Christian friendships
https://www.tldm.org/news8/ChristianFriendships.htm

Click here to email this page to a friend.

Place a Crucifix on the outside of your front and back door...  The only real protection against terrorists...
Jesus - "Pray and wear your sacramentals. And, also, My children, I ask you again to place a crucifix upon your door. Both front and back doors must have a crucifix. I say this to you because there will be carnage within your areas, and this will pass you by if you keep your crucifix upon your doors." (6-30-84) (Testimonies of lives and homes saved by the crucifixes.)  https://www.tldm.org/news/crucifix.htm 

Heaven’s Home Protection Packet...
Our Lord stated we must have crucifixes upon the outside of all of our outside doors. In the "Heaven’s Home Protection Packet" there are instructions, four crucifixes, and a tube of special cement for wooden or metal crucifixes. Wooden crucifixes adhere better to the doors when the aluminum strap is removed from the back. Put a light coat of cement on the back of the crucifix and then press it to the outside of the door. If you have any problems, you can call us at 616-698-6448 for assistance. This Heaven’s Home Protection Packet is available for a donation of $7.00 plus $3.00 shipping and handling. Send $10.00 to TLD Ministries, P.O. Box 40, Lowell, MI 49331. Item # P15  (Order Form)

Incredible Bayside Prophecies on the United States and Canada book . . .
We have researched the Bayside Prophecies on the United States and Canada and put these outstanding prophecies in a 360 page pocket size paperback book.   Veronica said it was very good.  It tells what is going to happen here and how to prepare for it.  Every North American must read this book!  Item #B2 Cost $5.00 (Order Form)

Your names have been written in Heaven… "It is not by accident that you are called by My Mother, for your names have been written in Heaven.... But with this great grace you have great responsibility to send this Message from Heaven throughout the world, for if you are able to recover just one more for Heaven, an additional star shall be placed in your crown." - Jesus, August 5, 1975

A great obligation to go forward... "It is not by accident that you are called by My Mother, for it is by merit and the prayers that have risen to Heaven for your salvation.  For those who have received the grace to hear the Message from Heaven, you have a great obligation to go forward and bring this Message to your brothers and sisters.  Do not expect a rest upon your earth, for you will have eternal rest very soon." - Jesus, June 12, 1976

The sin of omission...  "The sin of omission shall condemn many to hell, be they layman or Hierarchy.  I repeat:  not the sin of commission, but the sin of omission will commit many to hell." - Our Lady of the Roses,  October 6, 1980  

We encourage everyone to print or email copies of this web page to all the Bishops and all the clergy.  Also, email or send this web page to the news media and as many people as possible.

Email this page to a friend.

| Home - Latest News | Introduction | Bayside Prophecies | Directives from Heaven | Order Form | Miracles & Cures | Veronica Lueken | Miraculous Photos | Bible | Radio Program |

The electronic form of this document is copyrighted.    
Quotations are permissible as long as this web site is acknowledged with a hyperlink to: http://www.tldm.org
Copyright © These Last Days Ministries, Inc. 1996 - 2011   All rights reserved.
P.O. Box 40                   616-698-6448
Lowell, MI 49331-0040
Revised: June 22, 2022