Thoughts on Baptism

I have been musing on the difference between the difference between the old rite and the new rite of baptism. I have been wondering if some people notice a difference in children in their families of those actually baptism in the old rite and those in the new.

I had my son baptized in the old rite in 1988, with permission of course. The reason I wanted this, besides the fact that we were Latin Mass Catholics, was that this rite contains the exorcism. The new one does not.

I want parents to think about this--whether they notice a difference in their own families between those who have been baptized in the old rite and those in the new.

Obviously, I have not hard data, but my questions would center around children who have fallen away and children who have not.

When exactly the new rite started, I do not know. But, I encourage new Catholic parents to use the Old Rite. One can ask permission for this, and I never know this has been refused.

I remind families of this fact on this meme.

Nice To Be Back in Net Land And on Spiritual Directors, Again

Well, I am finally back in an area with the Net. I did manage two short trips to coffee shops over the long weekend, but am relieved to have regular access for the duration.

Someone asked me how to spot a good spiritual director. I have written on s.ds. before, but here are some tips. Look at the posts via the tags for more.

1) Listen to the sermons of the priest you are considering to ask for direction. By listening, you will learn if the priest is orthodox or not.

2) Go to confession several times to the priest you are considering. One learns a lot about a priest's ability to listen carefully, and discern in the confessional.

3) Ask the priest if he understands the way of perfection, the Dark Night and so on. If he does not, he will not be an adequate s.d.

4) Ask the priest who his favorite spiritual authors are. If the priest states St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. John of the Cross or Garrigou=Lagrange, he will be a good director.

5) Read any books or articles the priest may have written. Years ago, I approach a famous author of spirituality to be my s.d. He said yes, although, he added, that he had never been asked before that day. I was astounded. But, for three years, he was a superb director.

6) Pray and ask God to lead you to the right priest.

7) Pray more.....

A Warning Long Overdue

Arthur Conan Doyle, famous spiritualist, thanks to wiki

Time for an honest appraisal of the roots of a popular pseudo-scientific method. I shall give the occult backgrounds first.

The founder was involved in spiritualism, one of the most serious of mortal sins. Coming from a Protestant background, he became involved in the movement which believed that spirits of the dead could and should be contacted for advice and comfort.

This is the heinous sin of necromancy. Sadly, in the States and in England, Anglican and other Protestants, including Quakers, became interested in this occult tool. The founder of the pseudo-science was one of these men who experimented with contacting the dead. He attended regular meetings of the local spiritualist society.

He also wrote a book stating that he received his method of healing from a dead person. Here is his statement.

"The knowledge and philosophy given me by Dr. Jim Atkinson, an intelligent spiritual being, together with explanations of phenomena, principles resolved from causes, effects, powers, laws and utility, appealed to my reason. The method by which I obtained an explanation of certain physical phenomena, from an intelligence in the spiritual world, is known in biblical language as inspiration. In a great measure The Chiropractor's Adjuster was written under such spiritual promptings." (p. 5)"

In a May 4th 1911 letter, D. D. wrote this:

"... we must have a religious head, one who is the founder, as did Christ, Mohamed, Jo. Smith, Mrs. Eddy, Martin Luther and other who have founded religions. I am the fountain head. I am the founder of chiropractic in its science, in its art, in its philosophy and in its religious phase."^[8]

In his 1914 book, the first chapter expanded on his religious views of chiropractic: "The Moral and Religious Duty of a Chiropractor".^[11] In it he dealt with religious liberty and stated:

"... nor interfere with the religious duty of chiropractors, a privilege already conferred upon them. It now becomes us as chiropractors to assert our religious rights." (p. 1)

"The practice of chiropractic involves a moral obligation and a religious duty." (p. 2) 

wiki references and footnotes to original texts...........

He also believed in the false idea of "innate intelligence" in the body, and that this was connected to an impersonal God of innate intelligence in the universe. One can see how far D. D. moved away from Christianity.

http://www.letusreason.org/NAM33.htm

Now you know of whom I speak, D.D. Palmer, the founder of chiropractic methods. His son, B.J. Palmer was also heavily involved in the occult, which I found out as a very young child. From early on, I refused to go to one, and would try to talk others out of this method. Roots run deep and Catholics have deceived themselves as to the evil of this method.

When I was very young, the college had an exhibit and a garden of items collected by B. J. These items included statues of Buddha, bodishattvas, which are Buddhist "saints" but really incarnated images of demons, talismans from every possible Eastern religion, and the worst thing, a Shinto Gateway. This gateway is a door to the spirit world which I sensed at the age of nine. My dad asked us all one day if we wanted to go into the gardens at the college, as we were out visiting something in the area. I said no, I did not want to go there, as even across the street, I knew something was wrong with the gateway.

My father honored my concerns and we did not go into the gardens, which are now gone. It was called a Little Bit O'Heaven and here is a description of it, and the ideals behind it which should make one's skin crawl..

For many years A Little Bit O' Heaven was the most popular tourist attraction in Davenport. A guidebook produced by the Palmer School claims that the garden directly inspired numerous home hobbyist to take up the trowel and build their own rock gardens, but one wonders if part of its popularity was also the esoteric drama of its world-spanning exotica. With B.J. scouring the globe for the ripest fruits of wisdom and artistic endeavor, the visitor could understand how chiropractic medicine tapped into deeper beliefs than the simplistic notions of mechanistic modern medicine. Was a man simply a pile of disconnected bones and tissue? Or was he an outpouring of innate and inborn emotion and desires from some central core? Here at A Little Bit O' Heaven the visitor could contemplate the strange and perhaps a bit frightening from around the world while in an informal and stimulating garden setting. Here live alligators, grimacing idols and taboo icons of fertility cults relaxed among the foliage with classical statuary and uplifting inspirational aphorisms painted on the walls. In this small recreation of Heaven on Earth, the Dionysian and Apollonian were united in a vision of health and happiness for all pilgrims to see in practice.

The Shinto Gateway is not merely a gateway to a shrine, but a door to the spirit world. One of my university professors years ago explained that on one side of the gate were the living and on the other side, the dead.

Of course, the Palmers would be interested in such a gate, and even as a child, baptized and in sanctifying grace, I could sense the demon spirits on the other side. That this type of thing was treated so cavalierly by too many Catholics has puzzled me over the years. And idolatry was practiced on the spot for years.

Though it is impossible to see from outside the gate, the ancient Wishing Buddha is still there today. Inside the shelter is a 1100-yr old Japanese bronze buddha, at 10 feet high and 3-tons one of the largest buddhas in the U.S. One story about its purchase says that when B.J. purchased the statue in 1927 the Japanese government attempted to block its removal. B.J. persuaded the officials by assuring them that the statue would be given proper respect, and indeed for many years incense was burned 24 hours a day in its honor, perhaps up until the garden was dismantled. http://www.mnmuseumofthems.org/Grotto/Heaven3.html

I cannot show you the torii gate but it is seen on this link,  on this copyrighted site, for skeptics.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torii

Remember, there is no neutral territory. The torii gate is not neutral and the so-called deities of the Shinto religion are not gods but demons, which is rather ironic, as some followers believe that one must exorcise demons. That would be impossible, as only Catholic exorcists can do this and demons cannot cast out demons. However, they can and do lie. 

I write this just a few miles from the college which has trained thousands of so-called doctors, whose own method is based on occultist beliefs which have no bearing to real science. I write this as I have known this for 56 years, and have been waiting for any Catholic to write against this cult. None have. None will. There is too much money and corruption in the system. Pray for those who cannot see that the roots of something indicate that the philosophy of the entire scheme is spiritually flawed. Some things just cannot be "baptized."

Sadly, some people see spiritualism as a hoax, which is can be. But, it can and is mostly one of the deadliest mortal sins of all. Check this site out for someone who does not understand the real evil but a person who discovered more on D.D. real involvement with the occult..

http://spinalcolumnradio.com/2013/01/25/chiro-pickers-fresh-pick-the-story-of-the-vanishing-spirit-book-and-the-appearance-of-another/

Here is the CCC on divination:

Divination and magic
2115 God can reveal the future to his prophets or to other saints. Still, a sound Christian attitude consists in putting oneself confidently into the hands of Providence for whatever concerns the future, and giving up all unhealthy curiosity about it. Improvidence, however, can constitute a lack of responsibility.

2116 All forms of divination are to be rejected: recourse to Satan or demons, conjuring up the dead or other practices falsely supposed to "unveil" the future.⁴⁸ Consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of omens and lots, the phenomena of clairvoyance, and recourse to mediums all conceal a desire for power over time, history, and, in the last analysis, other human beings, as well as a wish to conciliate hidden powers. They contradict the honor, respect, and loving fear that we owe to God alone.

2117 All practices of magic or sorcery, by which one attempts to tame occult powers, so as to place them at one's service and have a supernatural power over others - even if this were for the sake of restoring their health - are gravely contrary to the virtue of religion. These practices are even more to be condemned when accompanied by the intention of harming someone, or when they have recourse to the intervention of demons. Wearing charms is also reprehensible. Spiritism often implies divination or magical practices; the Church for her part warns the faithful against it. Recourse to so-called traditional cures does not justify either the invocation of evil powers or the exploitation of another's credulity.

Saint Michael the Archangel,
defend us in battle.
Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray;
and do Thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host -
by the Divine Power of God -
cast into hell, satan and all the evil spirits,
who roam throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls.

Amen.

A Tragic Cultural Reality-Ignoring the Interior Life

I was in the doctor's office on Thursday and decided to look at two magazines, which catered to those who are retired.

These types of magazines have names like "Maturity Plus", or "The Best Years", or "Modern Retirement",

I was shocked at what I saw.

An entire world of retirement unfolded in the pages which dealt with one thing only-pleasure.

Articles on sex after retirement, romantic relationships, advertisements for cruises, holidays in every warm place in the world, diets for the retired and even clothing for the comfort of the retired. Housing is also advertised.

The extremely depressing articles in these magazines were the calendars of events for the local retirements condos and communities. Let me make a list. These were daily occurrences.

Bridge and other card games
Dances
Movies
Talks on Flowers or whatever
Craft sales of trivia
Special theme dinners
Field trips
Fashion shows
Parties to cover all the holidays
Health issues seminars
Insurance seminars
More holiday information
Aerobics and other exercises
Golf
Swimming
Shopping trips (Why buy more?)

The elderly have been reduced to children in the playground. They are being led back to the sandbox when they should be concentrating on meeting God face to face. Now, these things may be good in themselves, but there comes a time when the interior life but take precedence over the exterior.

This is one reason why God lets us age and lose our outward beauty, so that we are faced with working on our inward beauty.


Where is there anything about the following?

Preparing for death
Examination of conscience
Developing a prayer life
Moving into the journey and final stages of purification
Meditations on the Last Four Things: Death, Judgement, Hell, Heaven
Outreach to charities
Counseling younger Christians
Going to Adoration
Praying outside the abortion clinics
Volunteering in churches, food banks, etc.
Spiritual direction
Bible studies

The other worrying thing I saw were services in some of these places in non-denominational chapels with non-denominational chaplains.

Mass? Confession? Adoration?

What have we done and why? God has blessed many of us with the declining years of our lives in order to come closer to him. These years should not be a mirror image of the active years of career or house making, child-bearing or making money.

These are the years left for the building of the interior life of the soul. But, if this generation of the elderly are being taught and encouraged only to think of the exterior and pleasure, as if they are getting their heaven on earth, their earthly reward, they are missing out on the possibility for true holiness, for perfection, which comes not from the pursuit of busyness or trivia, but from reflection, study, reading the Scriptures, intense prayer, quiet.

Not only have we created in the West a youthful generation of narcissists, we have allowed our elderly to fall under the spell of  "me-ism". How sad, that some, who thought they were on the way to heaven in their youth, may find the door shut to them at the end of a long life.

Matthew 25:11-13

Douay-Rheims 

11 But at last come also the other virgins, saying: Lord, Lord, open to us.

12 But he answering said: Amen I say to you, I know you not.

13 Watch ye therefore, because you know not the day nor the hour.