Rest In Peace, Bob Stanley: Good Man, Good Catholic, Superb Writer, Catechist and Teacher

Robert M. Stanley
February 6, 1935 – August 29, 2022

After a long illness, Robert Manfred Stanley passed away on August 29, 2022. He was 87.

Bob was born in Washington, D.C. on February 6, 1935, to Manfred and Mary Stanley. At age 7, they relocated to Redwood City, California where he met his wife of 67 years, Loretta (Lori).

He graduated from Sequoia Union High, enlisting in the Air Force shortly thereafter. He was stationed at Keesler Air Base in Biloxi, Mississippi where he became an instructor of radar technology. He was honorably discharged in 1957 with the rank of Staff Sergeant.

For the next 30 years, he was employed by IBM as a Customer Engineer, winning many awards. After retirement, Bob relocated to the foothills.

Bob enjoyed riding his tractor and watching old movies,
as well as writing and hosting his world renowned,
Catholic apologetics and information website:
The Catholic Treasure Chest.

He is survived by his wife Lori, daughter Christine (Christopher) and granddaughters Madelyn and Grace Horton.

Thanks to all those who were there in his time of need: Wolf Creek Care Center, Hospice of the Foothills and fellow members of St. Patrick’s Catholic Church.

Services will be held at St. Patrick’s Church in Grass Valley on Friday, September 23rd: Rosary 12:15 pm, Mass 1:00, then a gravesite service at St. Patrick’s Cemetery. A reception will follow at St. Patrick’s Church Hall. Donations may be made to Hospice of the Foothills or St. Patrick’s Catholic Church.

Editor’s note: By prior arrangement with Bob Stanley, Doug Lawrence at AskMeAboutGod.org will continue hosting and maintaining Bob’s superb, world renowned, Catholic website, The Catholic Treasure Chest, for many years to come. It would be a sin to let such a great, Catholic resource perish, especially during the times we are presently experiencing.

Let Us Pray…

Eternal rest grant unto Bob Stanley, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

Please pray an “Our Father” and a “Hail Mary” for Bob, right now. I’m sure he’ll appreciate it.

More about Bob Stanley

Go To Bob Stanley’s “The Catholic Treasure Chest”

As seen at www.theunion.com (slightly edited)

How Pope Pius XII infallibly declared the bodily Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

A brief excerpt:

APOSTOLIC CONSTITUTION OF
POPE PIUS XII 

MUNIFICENTISSIMUS DEUS

DEFINING THE DOGMA OF THE ASSUMPTION

November 1, 1950

39. We must remember especially that, since the second century, the Virgin Mary has been designated by the holy Fathers as the new Eve, who, although subject to the new Adam, is most intimately associated with him in that struggle against the infernal foe which, as foretold in the protoevangelium,(44) would finally result in that most complete victory over the sin and death which are always mentioned together in the writings of the Apostle of the Gentiles.(45) Consequently, just as the glorious resurrection of Christ was an essential part and the final sign of this victory, so that struggle which was common to the Blessed Virgin and her divine Son should be brought to a close by the glorification of her virginal body, for the same Apostle says: “When this mortal thing hath put on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: Death is swallowed up in victory.”(46)

40. Hence the revered Mother of God, from all eternity joined in a hidden way with Jesus Christ in one and the same decree of predestination,(47) immaculate in her conception, a most perfect virgin in her divine motherhood, the noble associate of the divine Redeemer who has won a complete triumph over sin and its consequences, finally obtained, as the supreme culmination of her privileges, that she should be preserved free from the corruption of the tomb and that, like her own Son, having overcome death, she might be taken up body and soul to the glory of heaven where, as Queen, she sits in splendor at the right hand of her Son, the immortal King of the Ages.(48)

Read the entire Vatican document

More on this from Ann Barnhardt

More about The Assumption at
Bob Stanley’s “The Catholic Treasure Chest”

Classic Bible Commentary Offers Profound Insights Into Holy Scripture

Practical excerpt from the commentary:

[Luke 1:26–38. Mat. 1:18–25]

The angel of the Lord was sent to Mary in order to procure this (her) consent. The time had arrived, and the Son of God was ready to descend from heaven and become Man.

It only remained for her, whom God the Father had chosen to be the Mother of His Son, to give her consent to be so. The angel of God therefore explained this great mystery, and waited for her answer, on which depended the salvation of the world.

While meditating upon that decisive moment, St. Bernard uttered this prayer to Mary: “Now, O Virgin, thou hast heard what is to be, and how it is to be. Both mysteries are exceeding joyous and wonderful. But the angel awaits thine answer, for it is time for him to return to God who sent him.

We too, O Mary, our Queen, we who are weighed down by the divine sentence, we wait for thy speech, thy words of mercy. For behold, the price of our redemption is offered to thee; and as soon as thou dost accept it, we shall be saved.

We were all created by the eternal word of God, and yet, behold, we die! But if thou wilt speak one little word, we shall live!

Speak then, Oh, speak that decisive word. Adam and his unhappy children, banished from Paradise, beseech this of thee! David and all our holy fathers—thy fathers too—beseech thee! The whole world, prostrate before thee, looks to thee and beseeches!

On thy words depend the comfort of the afflicted, the deliverance of the condemned, the salvation of the children of Adam! Hesitate not, O Virgin! Speak, O Mary, that sweet word of consent, which we who are on the earth, and under the earth, now wait for!”

Mary, as you know, did utter that decisive word of compliance: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to thy word!” By these glorious and precious words she pronounced the longed-for consent.

Read more at eCatholic2000.com

Download the Classic Text: A Practical Commentary On Holy Scripture (PDF)

All About Sin, Death, Purgatory and Indulgences

These days, the subject of Purgatory and Indulgences is either totally ignored, or little understood.

It shouldn’t be that way.

This short (four page) presentation provides virtually all the practical information necessary to start getting Holy Souls released from Purgatory, or to totally avoid or shorten a possible stay in Purgatory, for yourself.

Here’s the link (PDF)

Link to the official Catholic (USSCB) Book of Indulgences (PDF)

New Study Explains the Hows and Whys of Living the Catholic Life

Download and/or View In Your PDF File Reader

The way God works

Complete Study Here (PDF)

Bob Stanley’s “The Catholic Treasure Chest” website is fully operational in English and Spanish; including the new, custom search feature. Try it!

Click Here For Bob Stanley’s
“The Catholic Treasure Chest” Website
E N G L I S H – I N G L E S

Bob Stanley’s
“The Catholic Treasure Chest”
provides practical, well written and clearly explained
Catholic answers to a host of faith questions.

The site is fully up and running here at AskMeAboutGod.org
in English and Spanish, in both HTML
and downloadable, PDF formats.

Your advice, suggestions and prayers are greatly appreciated.

May God richly bless you and yours.

Click Here For Bob Stanley’s
“The Catholic Treasure Chest” Website
S P A N I S H – E S P A N O L

Illustrated Catholic Study aims to present the immutable truths of the Christian faith, unencumbered by denominational concerns or political differences

PART ONE:
The primeval events
that resulted in the Fall of Man

PART TWO:
The totally gratuitous
saving works of God

PART THREE:
Why we venerate
the Blessed Virgin Mary

PART FOUR:
The mystery
of our redemption
revealed

PART FIVE:
The spiritually vital mission
of the Holy Church

PART SIX:
Our personal identity
in Jesus Christ

Download the latest Adobe PDF Reader Software for free

God made me this way

Popular headlines in the  media earlier this year trumpeted Jorge Bergolgio’s telling a young man who is choosing freely to live a homosexual life that he should be happy because God made him that way.

Instead of condemning faithful catholics who speak the truth, why do the priests, bishops, cardinals and Jorge Bergolio not tell those they now condemn:

Be happy being a rigid RadTrad, God made you that way.

Be happy being a bully fundamentalist, God made you that way.

Be happy being a racist, capitalist critic of Jorge Bergolio, God made you that way.

What possible explanation could there be – if consistency is a standard for logical argument –  for not applying the “God-made-you” justification to any sin- even the sin of being a faithful catholic?

Link: https://the-american-catholic.com/2020/10/09/radtrads-rigid-bullies-go-to-heaven/

Everything you always needed to know about Hell

Courtesy of Saint Thomas Aquinas, as explained by Msgr. Charles Pope

The teachings of the Lord on Hell are difficult, especially in today’s climate. The most difficult questions that arise relate to its eternal nature and how to square its existence with a God who is loving and rich in mercy.

1. Does God love the souls in Hell? Yes.

How could they continue to exist if He did not love them, sustain them, and continue to provide for them? God loves because He is love. Although we may fail to be able to experience or accept His love, God loves every being He has made, human or angelic.

The souls in Hell may have refused to empty their arms to receive His embrace, but God has not withdrawn His love for them. He permits those who have rejected Him to live apart from him. God honors their freedom to say no, even respecting it when it becomes permanent, as it has for fallen angels and the souls in Hell.

God is not tormenting the damned. The fire and other miseries are largely expressions of the sad condition of those who have rejected the one thing for which they were made: to be caught up into the love and perfection of God and the joy of all the saints.

2. Is there any good at all in Hell? Yes. Are all the damned punished equally? No.

More….

The Judgment of God in History

In the era of the corona virus, everyone is talking about all sorts of things, but there are certain topics that remain forbidden, above all in the Catholic world. The primary forbidden topic is that of judgment and divine retribution in history. The fact of this censure is a good reason for us to consider the argument.

This talk by historian Robert De Mattei
should be required reading for every Catholic.
Click Here

…De Mattei argued that God sends mankind chastisements in the form of “war, plague, and famine” because of sin and to call mankind back to God. He described the infinite justice of God, and what this means, not only for individuals, but for nations. Every person faces his particular judgement at the moment of death, but there will also be a second judgement at the end of time. This will be the universal judgement at which every human action, idea, and society that has ever been “will be perfectly and clearly judged.”

Editor’s note: Catholics have real-time recourse to divine forgiveness in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, but Nations do not. Hence, individual Catholics might escape divine retribution for their sins, but Nations most likely, will not. 

Thanks to Dorothy Cummings McLean at LifeSiteNews.com

 

A must read: Father Leonardo makes an impassioned plea.

….Look brothers. God wants nothing more to do with this “Church”.  He is vomiting it from His mouth, this “beautiful church of the Council,” as someone called it. The beautiful church of the Council. God wants nothing more to do with it.

And is destroying it covering it with ridicule. A church that no longer preaches the truth, does not put God in first place. A church that gives communion to remarried divorcees, which admits homosexuality and all the vices.

What will God do with such a church?

With a church which tells you, “You can do whatever you want.”

What will God do with such a church?

It is as if a cop tell the thief, “You can steal is not a crime.” To the drug dealer: “You can do it is not a crime.” To the mafioso: “You can do anything you want is not a crime.”

But a cop like that: what’s the use of him if a cop doesn’t pull out his gun to defend the innocent and fight the wicked. What’s the use of this cop?

But think brothers, really think. Will everything go back to the way it was?

No, no, we are in the midst of the end times. We are in the midst of an great sign.

God is destroying this beautiful church of the council to rebuild the true church the church of tradition, the church of Latin, the church of true spirituality, the church of holy doctrine, the church of the true magisterium and not all the nonsense that we have to listen to every morning.

The Church of Padre Pio, and of all the Saints.

Padre Pio! Padre Pio!  If Padre Pio returned to life, what would he say?

He would immediately die of heat attack again. But first he would have the time to say the two words, that he repeats in his life in the moments of his holy wrath. He was want to use these words. He would say two words. Get out of here! You butchers of the body of Christ! Get out of here! This would Padre Pio say.

So, brothers we must start again, As the spider does day after day with aristocratic detachment and perseverance. We must we must convert to tradition, to Latin, to the true spirituality to the holy doctrine, to the true magisterium, to the Saints.

This is direction of our conversion, pushing ourselves towards the divine things, throwing upwards the anchor of our salvation and of our hope and the tenacious threads of faith, and of a love that does not surrender.

Upwards towards heavenly things! not towards the earth.

See the full text and video

Today’s Question: Do you have a favorite prayer?

Question: Do you have a favorite prayer?

Answer: I have a number of “favorite” prayers, but here’s one of the simplest, which has proved to extraordinarily powerful and effective for me, especially in times of crisis:

“Lord, I could use a little help, right now!”

Miracles have sometimes, shortly followed.

This simple but powerful prayer is ALWAYS TRUE
and it also demonstrates TRUE FAITH,
since I wouldn’t have invoked divine assistance,
if I didn’t FULLY BELIEVE that I would RECEIVE IT.

Praise God, I’m NOT superstitious and have absolutely no regard for knocking on wood, “lucky” rabbit’s feet, natural forces, demons, or idols.

Such a prayer also leaves one’s ultimate fate solely in God’s most capable hands; which is where it always is and always should be; no matter what.

Try it. It works!

Today’s Question: Do you think Kobe Bryant is in Hell?

Question: Do you think Kobe Bryant is in Hell? According to pastor Tim, Kobe Bryant is in Hell because “there’s no indication that he knew the Lord”.

Answer: Pastor Tim is wrong and he has no absolutely right to judge the disposition of anyone’s eternal soul.

For the record, Kobe had repented of his old ways and was a fervent, practicing Catholic.

God is known to cut practicing Catholics a whole lot of “slack” – especially at or near the time of their death – no matter how sudden or unexpected the event.

Let’s just leave it at that!

Asked and answered today on Yahoo! Answers. Edited for content and clarity.

Today’s Question: God loves everyone, but within a time frame and within limits… Do you agree?

Today’s Question: God loves everyone, but within a time frame and within limits… Do you agree?

Answer: No. God’s love is truly infinite and inestimable. Only our perception of that divine love is limited; and that’s primarily due to our fallen human nature, which has been mortally wounded, by sin.

Asked and answered today on Yahoo! Answers. Edited for clarity and content.

From the Fall of Man until Jesus Christ, Satan kept the whole world in bondage, by the power of death.

The devil scourging the Church 

Hebrews 2:14-15  Therefore because the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he (Jesus) also himself in like manner hath been partaker of the same: that, through death, he might destroy him who had the empire of death, that is to say, the devil: And might deliver them, who through the fear of death were all their lifetime subject to servitude.

It would seem as though
the Power of Death
(which Jesus called “The Gates of Hell”)
has very powerfully, returned.

The only solution: Matthew 16:18  And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Yet, the whole world cowers in the face of a virus. Cardinals and Governors publicly insult God and denigrate our faith. We see idolatrous worship in the high places and rampant heresies from the Pope. The doors of the Universal (Catholic) Church are locked and the Sacraments have been made unavailable; all of this on top of decades of priestly abuse and deadly scandals; not to mention the grievous sins of all the laity.

It’s as if our very access to the Tree of Life has been deliberately, cut off.

Part of Saint Faustina’s message of Divine Mercy is that there would come a day when God would find it expedient to turn back from mercy, to wrath.

Let’s all hope and pray we’re not yet that far along!

(Obviously Facetious) Question of the day: Why do Christian men just adore looking at a near naked God nailed to a cross?

(Obviously Facetious) Question of the day: Why do Christian men just adore looking at a near naked God nailed to a cross?

Answer: We adore the man, not the image, because the man, Jesus,
is our Lord, God and Holy Redeemer, who laid down his life for us,
so that we might defeat the power of death and hell, through him.

Asked and answered today, on Yahoo! Answers.

Today’s question: Is the suppression of the Catholic Mass and Sacraments a prelude to Antichrist?

The Antichrist, animated and empowered by Satan, claiming to be God

Today’s question: Is the suppression of the Catholic Mass and Sacraments a prelude to Antichrist?

Answer: The current situation is unprecedented.

Those at fault are the cowardly and corrupt Pope and Bishops, along with a good number of complicit, sycophant priests, as well.

This is precisely what needed to happen, in order to bankrupt the Church and force the parasitic liars, scoundrels, perverts and thieves who have been infesting the Body of Christ, to finally leave, so as to find “greener pastures” elsewhere.

It’s a lot like an exorcism, where demons are cast out, but only after they find it too painful to remain. It’s for this reason that I’m happy to endure this time of spiritual drought and famine.

Watch and pray. God is in charge. He knows precisely what he’s doing … and why. In the mean time, keep the faith. It’s yours, by divine right, as a result of your holy baptism. And nobody can take it from you.

About the Antichrist (PDF)

Asked answered today on Yahoo! Answers. Edited for content and clarity.

Calling Saint Pio…

With the seeming impossibility (short of a miracle) of getting a priest to come out, for Anointing of the Sick and Last Sacraments, I’ve put in a standing request (should I be suddenly called from this world) for the priestly ministry and intercession of Saint Padre Pio, who is “a priest forever, according to the order of Melchisedech” (Hebrews 5:8) and is known for managing to get around pretty well, during even the toughest of times.

I’ve always had a great deal of respect for Saint Pio. He actually scares the Hell out of me. But, God willing, that’s precisely what I’m looking for, when it’s my time to go!

Second thought: Spiritual droughts and spiritual famines are probably much worse than physical ones

In an earlier post, I wrote about the problem of pestilence and other terrible things, but I totally missed the much “bigger picture”.

It has since become quite clear to me that due to the closing of the Churches, we are now in a very serious, spiritual famine (due to our inability to receive the Holy Eucharist) and also in a very serious spiritual drought, due to our inability to receive all the other Sacraments or celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, all of which are God’s preferred and most powerful methods of dispensing his grace – which is a share in God’s divine life – without which, our continued existence is in serious jeopardy.

Worse yet, depending on the will of God and how well we might understand the Sacred Scriptures, variations of this spiritually decrepit situation may (or may not) continue to go on, for several more years. Suggested reading: 1st Kings 17:1-24

This is a much, much bigger problem than the Corona Virus, the shortage of toilet paper, the closing of restaurants, or the reduced hours and other shortages that we might experience, at our favorite stores.

I now know precisely for that which I need to pray. I invite you to join me.