Link

http://www.missio.org.uk/

In answer to a reader today....

Someone who has never desired baptism cannot be baptized if unconscious. If the person was studying to be baptized, then there was an indication of faith. All the sacraments must be received with and in faith.

It is magical thinking to suppose a person wants the Last Sacrament, without willing it. Remember the scene in Brideshead Revisited, 

 Then I knew that the sign I had asked for was not a little thing, not a passing nod of recognition, and a phrase came back to me from my childhood of the veil of the temple being rent from top to bottom,

where Lord Marchmain indicated he wanted to come back to the Church right before death.

This type of sign is necessary. From the CCC:

.1123 "The purpose of the sacraments is to sanctify men, to build up the Body of Christ and, finally, to give worship to God. Because they are signs they also instruct. They not only presuppose faith, but by words and objects they also nourish, strengthen, and express it. That is why they are called 'sacraments of faith.'

To think otherwise is to fall into magical thinking, and see my other posts on this.

Again, here is the CCC:Superstition is the deviation of religious feeling and of the practices this feeling imposes. It can even affect the worship we offer the true God, e.g., when one attributes an importance in some way magical to certain practices otherwise lawful or necessary. To attribute the efficacy of prayers or of sacramental signs to their mere external performance, apart from the interior dispositions that they demand, is to fall into superstition.

Of course, this refers to adult and those over the age of reason, not infants. See Canons in comments.

Holy Hour of Reparation for Seminarians and Priests

http://holyhour3.org/

Do It! Download the PDF file....

OK A Respite And A Post on A Common Sin

Mark 6:1-6

The Rejection of Jesus at Nazareth

6 He left that place and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him.2 On the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, “Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! 3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary[a] and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense[b] at him. 4 Then Jesus said to them, “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house.” 5 And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. 6 And he was amazed at their unbelief.

I am in a waiting mode and cannot do any of the work I need to do for some very good reasons. I also need surgery but cannot schedule that either. Pray for me. My only consolation is that I am joined to the Cross of Christ in a real way. I rely totally on Divine Providence alone.

Therefore, I am writing a post on the sin of sentimentality, one to which I am not personally prone, but one which I find is more common in America than in Europe. Europeans tend to fall into the sin of cynicism, which is that nothing is true or good or holy. The sin of sentimentality encourages a subjective thinking in which a person only sees the good, and never evil. A healthy objectivity marks the saint, who knows in the depth of his heart and soul that one could be the worst sinner ever, but for the grace of God.

This objectivity must be reached and is encouraged by God in the Dark Night, in the passive purgation.

One waits for God. One waits in God, but one must never fall into sentimentality.

Not being of a romantic nature, I have other sins, but this sin of sentimentality grips the GenXers, who look towards good feelings.

Sentimentality rests on bad theology, a theology which confuses natural law, and the dignity of the human person, seeing all things, all creation as equal, which it is most certainly not.

Now, my readers know that I really like animals. I am partial to birds, dogs, cats, and horses.

But, I am not sentimental about such creatures. They have animal souls and I shall not see my dead pets in heaven.

God gave me these pets for my comfort and amusement while on earth. Period.

GenXers were raised on sentiment, which comes from seeing the emotions as all-important and the reasoning faculties of humans as not worthy of consideration. When classical education fell into disuse, along with it was the loss of the training of the mind in rational discourse. How many times have I written on this topic on this blog and the Guild blog as well? Many.

Emotions clog up the soul, the mind, the heart, the imagination with goo and this goo bubbles up into sentimentality.

Catholics seriously lack discernment. Why? Three reasons. One, they refuse to admit that in Confirmation they are given the gift of knowledge which develops into discernment with prayer and practice. Sloth takes over the practice of virtue.

Two, discernment demands that one is absolutely ruthless about one's own sins. Humility brings about discernment.

Three, deceit in the world clouds many people's imaginations to be the point where they can no longer think like Catholics. Catholics, especially saints, know that the emotions must follow reason, or one becomes a slave of emotion and sentimentality.

God's justice must be the most misunderstood attribute of God in 2015, because people have fallen into sentimentality. Sentimentality will not judge between good and evil. We can name a very prominent priest who has fallen into heresy over sentimentality about God being so merciful that He would not allow anyone to choose hell.

Remember when I wrote about raising mushy kids instead of children in the Church Militant? This mushiness rises out of the sin of sentimentality.

The Church in the pew in America is weak because sentimentality creates nasty, long roots of false connections, tying one down to pagan families, immoral cultural pursuits, and even mortal sin. Sentimentality crushes truth, making one feel good about themselves, their families, even their friends.

Unbelief comes from many sources, but sentimentality and cynicism destroy belief. Christ in today's Gospel is seen as not being able to work in His own territory. Why?

The lack of discernment.....and if you remember, I have an entire series on discernment.

More later, maybe.....maybe.

Need Prayers asap

Thanks. Not settled. Am in solidarity with these, my ancestors.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/11340173/15000-Jews-to-leave-France-for-Israel-Jewish-Agency-says.html

More Filial Appeal

Dear Reader, We have recently launched, together with our sister organisations around the globe a filial appeal to His Holiness Pope Francis. The goal is to gather signatures asking him to reaffirm categorically the Catholic teaching that divorced and civilly remarried Catholics cannot receive Holy Communion and that homosexual unions are contrary to Divine and natural law. We note with anguish how the chaste and fecund family model taught by the Gospel is at risk. This family model is the only beacon capable of guiding millions of faithful bombarded by a decades-long sexual revolution and its hedonistic propaganda.Indeed a breach has been opened in the Catholic Church, most recently in the Synod on the Family of October 2014,  with pastoral proposals that deny in practice, if not in principle, Our Lord’s doctrine on chastity and the indissolubility of marriage. In these circumstances, it is paramount that Pope Francis speak out to clarify the growing confusion amongst the faithful and to prevent the very teaching of Jesus Christ from being watered-down.Who else can dispel the darkness looming over our children’s future should that beacon no longer light their path? Please read the text of the petition below, sign it and send it on to your friends and family. Also if you would like some hard copies to collect signatures outside your local church or in your local town please do not hesitate to contact me. In Jesus through Mary, Alexander SIGN HERE

Text of the Petition.  Holy Father, In view of the Synod on the family to be held in October 2015, we filially address Your Holiness to express our fears and hopes regarding the future of the family. Our fears arise from witnessing a decades-long sexual revolution promoted by an alliance of powerful organizations, political forces and the mass media that consistently work against the very existence of the family as the basic unit of society. Ever since the so-called May 1968 Sorbonne Revolution, a morality opposed to both Divine and natural law has been gradually and systematically imposed on us so implacably as to make it possible, for example, to teach the abhorrent “gender theory” to young children in many countries. Catholic teaching on the Sixth Commandment of the Law of God shines like a beacon in face of this ominous ideological objective. This beacon attracts many people—overwhelmed by this hedonistic propaganda—to the chaste and fecund family model taught by the Gospel and in accordance with natural law. Your Holiness, in light of information published on the last Synod, we note with anguish that, for millions of faithful Catholics, the beacon seems to have dimmed in face of the onslaught of lifestyles spread by anti-Christian lobbies. In fact we see widespread confusion arising from the possibility that a breach has been opened within the Church that would accept adultery—by permitting divorced and then civilly remarried Catholics to receive Holy Communion—and would virtually accept even homosexual unions when such practices are categorically condemned as being contrary to Divine and natural law. Paradoxically, our hope stems from this confusion. Truly, in these circumstances, a word from Your Holiness is the only way to clarify the growing confusion amongst the faithful. It would prevent the very teaching of Jesus Christ from being watered-down and would dispel the darkness looming over our children’s future should that beacon no longer light their way. Holy Father, we implore You to say this word. We do so with a heart devoted to all that You are and represent. We do so with the certainty that Your word will never disassociate pastoral practice from the teaching bequeathed by Jesus Christ and his vicars—as this would only add to the confusion. Indeed Jesus taught us very clearly that there must be coherence between life and truth (cf. John 14:6-7); and He also warned us that the only way not to fall is to practice His doctrine. (cf. Matt. 7:24-27) Asking for Your apostolic blessing, we assure You of our prayers to the Holy Family—Jesus, Mary and Joseph—to enlighten Your Holiness in these crucially important circumstances. Our young volunteers are on the streets of Ireland collecting signatures, while the members of our sister organisations are campaigning on the streets of Europe, Africa and North and South America.  Share Tweet Forward +1

Copyright © 2015 Irish Society for Christian Civilisation, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted to subscribe to our e-newsletter on our website.

Note

http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2015/02/02/bishops-criticise-perverse-depiction-of-st-thomas-more-in-wolf-hall/

other articles on site worth reading

NC

Reader Request

Tiny House Blog

http://tinyhouseblog.com/

http://tinyhousenews.info/

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Would a reader like to help me get one of these and a very small piece of land? If so, please let me know in the com box.

Moving into contemplative mode as well as needing permanency.

STM

More SPUC News

3 Whitacre Mews, Stannary Street London, SE11 4AB, United Kingdom Telephone: (020) 7091 7091 Email: information@spuc.org.uk http://www.spuc.org.uk
Cloning regulations: UK "are the pioneers of abuses of unborn children"
JOHN SMEATON, SPUC DIRECTOR Tuesday, 3 February 2015 Cloning regulations: UK "are the pioneers of abuses of unborn children" Paul Tully, SPUC general secretary SPUC has issued the following statement today on the House of Commons debate today on cloning regulations: SPUC is calling on MPs to reject the so-called "three-parent" embryo regulations designed to allow the cloning of embryos. The regulations would permit human germ-line manipulation for the first time. The Society is appealing to MPs to oppose the regulations being debated in the House of Commons today which would allow cloned human embryos to be created and implanted in a woman. Commenting on the background to today's debate, Paul Tully (pictured, above), General Secretary of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, said: "The 1990 Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act was not intended to permit human cloning, and so the alteration of germ-line genetic material was forbidden. "However, the proponents of the 1990 Act held out promises of cures and medical advances for children with inherited diseases if they were allowed to use some embryos as guinea-pigs. These benefits failed to materialise. "In 2001 Parliament was asked to amend the embryology law to allow limited genetic manipulation and the wider use of embryos as guinea-pigs. On that occasion MPs were again misled with false claims about how regenerative medicine could not advance without cannibalising embryos for their embryonic stem cells (ESCs). As we in SPUC predicted at the time, this technique also failed, because embryo stem cells were carcinogenic. Ethical techniques using stem-cells from adults have proved successful. "In 2008, wider amendments to the 1990 Act were put forward to pave the way for human cloning, and mitochondrial disease was for the first time the centre of concerns. "The creation of cloning entails destroying some embryos in an attempt to create others. It discriminates against those with undesired genetic traits. "It sets a precedent for wider cloning of human beings, not in a sinister dictatorship or science fiction world, but here in the UK. We are the pioneers of abuses of unborn children like legalised abortion, IVF and genetic screening, and we are in danger of losing all feeling for the victims of such medicalised exploitation. "MPs have been consistently misled in the past about the prospects of success and the future intentions of those who want to use the tiniest humans - human embryos - for experiments. They should reject today's proposals," concluded Mr Tully. Comments on this blog? Email them to johnsmeaton@spuc.org.uk Sign up for alerts to new blog-posts and/or for SPUC's other email services

VIP SPUC News

Scandalous omissions, ambiguities and confusion in Family Synod final report must be redressed

JOHN SMEATON, SPUC DIRECTOR Tuesday, 3 February 2015 Scandalous omissions, ambiguities and confusion in Family Synod final report must be redressed Three members of SPUC's staff attended the Pontifical Council for the Family (PCF) conference on the Family Synod last month. They were also representing Voice of the Family, an initiative of Catholic laity from 23 major pro-life/pro-family organisations worldwide, co-founded and funded by the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children. Last week Voice of the Familyissued a statement criticising Cardinal Baldiserri, the organizer of the Synod on the Family, for further undermining Catholic teaching on the indissolubility of marriage. Now in an new development, Voice of the Family has submittedproposals, (drafted by Matthew McCusker, pictured above) to the Pontifical Council for the Family's Family Synod consultation - proposals which strongly criticise the final report of the Extraordinary Synod for failing to refer to more than "one billion unborn human lives", at a conservative estimate, killed by abortion "since the proliferation of permissive abortion legislation around the world". Voice of the Family's submission states: Abortion is the gravest attack on the family because it attacks the relationship between a mother and father and their child. The profound love that should exist between parent and child is instead replaced by betrayal and death. There was no reference to this deliberate killing in the final relatio of the Extraordinary Synod. Nor was there any mention of the destruction of human life caused by in vitro fertilisation or abortifacient forms of contraception. It is perhaps even more scandalous that the only indirect mention of abortion was a reference to a “decline in population” partly due to “a mentality against having children promoted by the world politics of reproductive health” (No. 10) Here cardinals and bishops adopt the euphemism of the pro-abortion lobby and do nothing to explain what “reproductive health” really involves, namely, the killing of unborn children or the prevention of their conception. The Ordinary Synod needs to face the reality of abortion – to call things by their proper name – and to call all Catholics and people of good will to combat the greatest violation of human rights in human history. As well as destroying innocent life abortion wounds all other members of the family. Families marked by abortion are truly ‘wounded families.’ Pastoral care for these families, based on the truth about abortion, needs proposing with urgency (my emphasis). Voice of the Family is equally strong in its criticism of omissions and ambiguities in the Extraordinary Synod final report's treatment of marriage, contraception, euthanasia and assisted suicide, natural law, homosexuality, gender theory, sex education and parents as primary educators, and calls for clear, unambiguous teaching on these issues. The Voice of the Family submission concludes: Concern is growing across the Catholic world. Parents fear that their children will grow up in a world where they will have to endure suffering and persecution if they strive to live according to the natural moral law and the teaching of the Church. This problem must be dealt with by the Ordinary Synod. Matthew McCusker, SPUC and Voice of the Family researcher and writer, comments; "The scandalous omissions, ambiguities and confusion which characterise the final report of the Extraordinary Synod must be fully redressed in the Ordinary Synod later this year. Concerned laypeople wishing to help through prayer and action should contactenquiry@voiceofthefamily.info" Comments on this blog? Email them to johnsmeaton@spuc.org.uk Sign up for alerts to new blog-posts and/or for SPUC's other email services Follow SPUC on Twitter Like SPUC's Facebook Page Please support SPUC. Please donate, join, and/or leave a legacy at 11:28

Catholic Calvinism and Suffering

I am in a strange position and must suspend the blog, hopefully, temporarily. Those readers who already have my email may email me, of course. I must work on my present physical situation full-time.

All I can say is that this suspension has nothing to do with anything connected to the blog and everything to do with my being here. Pray for me.

One of the greatest evils which has crept into middle-class Catholicism is the Calvinist idea that the chosen, saved people of God have physical blessings on earth.

For years I have spoken and written about the "middle-class church" which cannot see the value of suffering and which blames those who suffer loss of material status for crimes or horrible sins.

When one suffers in the States, the typical thought which enters the minds and hearts of many Catholics is that the person must have sinned grievously against God to merit such a life. If one is a financial failure, one is to be blamed entirely for some sort of egregious sin.

All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, states St. Paul.

So, there is an idea that those who consistently suffer must be shunned, not allowed into one's sphere, set aside.

Ironically, many of the saints who lived in past centuries would have been shunned by pious middle-class Catholics.

Such attitudes, like, such and such a saint must have done something wrong to be treated by his or her community as a pariah, is an idea more common that not.

SS. Padre Pio and John of the Cross both were punished by their own communities simply because they were graced by God in extraordinary ways. St. Teresa of Avila and St. Therese, the Little Flower experienced criticism within their own order. St. Benedict Labre died as a beggar. Blessed Margaret of Castello was abandoned by her own parents.

The list is long. And yet, the idea which expresses itself like this, "Well, if you had not done something wrong, you would not be in this state" resounds loudly among laity and religious alike.

The days when religious houses accept the poor are long gone. The hospitality of religious houses now has a price tag. The orders, in some cases, have lost their original charism.

We have all sinned. There is no one who can claim that they are blessed physically, materially by God because they have been "good".

Material blessings have nothing to do with merit or holiness, but merely God's goodness and Providence.

In His Wisdom, He plans that some people are poor, even destitute.

When Catholics in America were poor, they were better Catholics, as they did not confuse the American Dream with the life of saintliness.

Socialism has deadened the moral conscience of a large segment of Catholic society. The other evil is gross individualism, which undermines attempts to build community.

To be mistrusted simply because one is poor is a great suffering. But, with it comes joy, as Christ Himself was mistrusted by His own people and He is totally Innocent. One joins in the suffering of Christ in a real and intimate way.

What can a follower expect if one really follows Christ but misunderstanding, marginalization, false judgement? And, if one loves Christ, one desires to be like Him is all things. To those whom He allows to experience His Own Life, spiritual blessings follow in abundance.

Matthew 8:20

20 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”

Did you ever wonder why Christ said this? Because He had no place. His own extended family and others must have refused to allow Him to stay in houses in places where He was preaching and teaching. Our Lord was not exaggerating or making up poetry. He was describing His life.

Recently, I was turned away from a Franciscan place simply because those inside were concerned that I would never leave. They made no effort to help me in my situation or discover alternatives which I did not know in the area.

I cannot imagine St. Francis doing this to anyone who came to him for real aid to get on one's feet again. What will happen when thousands, if not millions have lost status and jobs, because they are Catholic and uphold Catholic teaching? What of those priests who will refuse to do ssm? They may lose their positions in some dioceses. Do not kid yourselves on this point, as not all bishops would support priests who are orthodox on this teaching.

Will they be turned out onto the streets because they will be perceived as having "done something wrong"?  The spirit of the remnant Catholics in England and their courage have disappeared into history, I am afraid. 

To follow Christ is a larger call than the seeking comfort or approval. But, it would be nice to be in a community of love and hope. 

One last quotation from Garrigou-Lagrange: In the passive purifications, the soul is frequently tempted against hope, and when all created aids fail, must hope against hope, or beyond all human hope, because of the one formal motive, the help of God. “When I am weakest then am I strong.” But God helps us most efficaciously when He confers upon us, not only the grace which urges and stimulates, but grace which is efficacious in itself. Thus does the soul attain to holy abandonment in the hands of God.  from Grace

Pax vobiscum.

If any Catholic parent...

lets their children watch the two horrible ads, one mocking God, and the half-time show, they are putting their children in "an occasion of sin".

Why watch any of this evil?  Go out and play with your kids tomorrow instead of watching tv.

.. I am certainly no judge of television, since I have never watched it. All I know is that there is a significantly general agreement, among men, whose judgement I respect, that commercial television is degraded, meretricious and absurd. Certainly it would seems that TV could become a kind of unnatural surrogate for contemplation: a completely inert subjection to vulgar images, a descent to a sub-natural passivity rather than an ascent to a supremely active passivity in understanding and love. It would seem that television should be used with extreme care and discrimination by anyone who might hope to take interior life seriously.  from Seeds of Contemplation, Thomas Merton

I wrote about this years ago on this blog. I quoted Merton from this source:  Cistercian Studies Quarterly, "Inner Experience: Problems of the Contemplative Life (VII)", Vol 19, 1984, notes on pp. 269-270, 

God has given each human being the capacity of passive contemplation. This capacity is for God alone, for the creation of the space which He fills in the Unitive State.

Being passive before the tv fills that space with sewage and deadens the capacity for real contemplation. Worse than that, one becomes contemplatively united with whatever is on the tv through this passive contemplation, which brings one into "mystic attraction until one is spellbound in a state of complete union."

Merton states that either God or tv takes over the "will on a temporal or material level...the other...is the nadir of intellectual and emotional slavery."

Satan knows this and uses tv for his grooming of damned souls.

To move from meditation, to active contemplation, to passive contemplation, is the call of each Catholic.

Are you clogging up the very gift God has given you by passive contemplation of tv? More on this in these posts.

Figures for an Apocalypse by Thomas Merton

11 Sep 2012

Figures for an Apocalypse by Thomas Merton. Posted by Supertradmum. As a foreigner in a foreign land, I shall not be able to talk about 9-11 as I would want to do today. But, I was in Canada on 9-11. Father Z has part of ...

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/

Wow, television is the enemy of contemplation

22 Jan 2013

We only have so much time...watch the video here and the next one posted. I have read all of Thomas Merton's books many, many years ago but I have missed some of his articles. Now, I have come across a startling one ...

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/

Etheldredasplace: Wise words from a Carmelite on a bus

27 Oct 2014

He also mentioned Thomas Merton, who I had just put back on the blog this morning. Synchronicity. One more point this good priest made was that we all need to think about death. Again, synchronicity considering I just wrote ...

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/

Etheldredasplace: Mystic Attention-Where Is Yours Located?

27 Oct 2014

Remember what Thomas Merton said, which I have quoted here before on this blog that television is the opposite of contemplation. And that the very energies of passivity which most men use in watching television are the .

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/

Etheldredasplace: The Great Evil of Entertainment

21 Nov 2013

I have shared on this blog the great insight of Thomas Merton on the biggest danger of television-that the passivity which one approaches tv is the aspect, the gift of the mind and soul for passive prayer. The television takes ...

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/

Etheldredasplace: Still Confusion on Prayer

10 Aug 2014

Re meditation, is there room for 'quieting' the mind, stopping the mental chatter and allowing God into the stillness? are Thomas Murton's thoughts upon meditation in Western Christianity agreeable with Catholic Christian ...

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/

Testing Two Perfection Series VIII Part XXXII

09 Jan 2015

... anonymous contemplatives in the city, going about their daily tasks? 9 January 2015 at 17:31 · Supertradmum said... Mary Ann, actually, the reference I know is from Thomas Merton, but Maritain may have said this as well.

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/

Etheldredasplace: Repeat Post-Noise is Rebellion

28 Nov 2013

Remember what Thomas Merton said, which I have quoted here before on this blog that television is the opposite of contemplation. And that the very energies of passivity which most men use in watching television are the ...

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/

Etheldredasplace: Repeat Post for A Friday

29 Nov 2013

As Thomas Merton notes, we are geared to passive intake of knowledge, which happens at the contemplative stage, but if our minds are full of goo from the television, we shall never learn either meditation or contemplation.

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/

Perfection Series VIII Part XV The Intellect and Prayer

07 Dec 2014

Remember the posts on Thomas Merton's brilliant insight into the evil of television? Without a strong intellect, one cannot properly deal with the bombardment of images, good or bad, in this hyperactive world. Even to get on ...

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/

Etheldredasplace: A Serious Subject and a Nod to Those ...

25 Jan 2013

Cardinal Bernadine of Chicago, Thomas Merton (in a yoga pose), Martin Luther King, or homosexual "saints" such as Mychal Judge, Mark Bingham, Harvey Milk, or such people as Oscar Romero, John Donne, We-wha the ...

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/

Etheldredasplace: Mouse in The Darkness

11 Nov 2014

http://www.amazon.co.uk/New-Seeds-Contemplation-Directions-Paperbook/dp/0811217248/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1415803141&sr=8-1&keywords=merton+contemplation. 12 November 2014 at 14:39 · Supertradmum ...

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/

Etheldredasplace: To Tyburn

11 Sep 2012

... Father Mark "Vultus Christi" Kirby's first Oblate, I have to say my Benedictine soul is envious. Please know that you're in my prayers, and I'll be asking St. Scholastica and St. Thomas More for their intercession on your behalf.

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/

Typical of the shortsightedness in Washington...

http://www.timesofisrael.com/little-being-done-to-repair-us-israel-ties/

Happy Feast Day of St. John Bosco

Matthew 18:1-5New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (

18 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” 2 He called a child, whom he put among them, 3 and said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.

We must become like little children, trusting completely in Divine Providence. The two Gospel readings of the day, one for the ordinary time and one for St. John Bosco (above) point to complete trust in a loving Father, a trust given as a grace but cultivated in hard times.

Mark 4:35-41New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition 

35 On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” 36 And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. 37 A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. 38 But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” 39 He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. 40 He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” 41 And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

St. Paul, St. John Bosco, and Tolkien

Today's First Reading from the Feast of St. John Bosco speaks to us Americans.

Philippians 4:4-9

4 Rejoice[a] in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.[b] 5 Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. 6 Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

8 Finally, beloved,[c] whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about[d] these things. 9 Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.

Notice that St. Paul is exhorting the Philippians not to live like the world does, full of anxiety and harshness. The world we see around us is consumed with the pursuit of comfort and pleasure. God is demanding a simple life from us for one reason-to keep our focus on Him and not the world.

Whenever I return to America after being in Europe, even for a short while, I am astounded by the wealth of the ordinary people. Most Europeans accept a much lower standard of lifestyle as normal. Some of my friends still have twin-tub washing machines and no dryers. Some have tiny freezers, or no freezers. Many do not have central heating.

Food is simpler, and less. 

Yet, Americans forget to be grateful, to thank God for the many, many physical blessings. St. John Bosco knew this-he warned his boys of comforts and pleasures.

But, peace does not come from comforts or even the security of things. Peace comes from a pure heart, a pure mind, a pure soul.

When you read the epistles, remember that St. Paul was not writing to theologians, or bloggers who have time to sit and meditate on his words, but to the "people in the pew".

His high standards remain the standards of the Church for pursuing the life of holiness.

For me, it is much easier to be holy in Europe, as one has less and has easier access to Mass and Adoration.

Since I have been in the States, I have not been able to get to daily Mass....one needs a car. This fact alone makes me uncomfortable here, as I cannot receive my Lord daily, nor find daily Adoration.

Is this not ironic? That one of the richest countries of the world does not allow its people to worship God daily?

I am reminded of a quotation from J.R.R.Tolkien on the Eucharist.

“Out of the darkness of my life, so much frustrated, I put before you the one great thing to love on earth: the Blessed Sacrament. . . . There you will find romance, glory, honour, fidelity, and the true way of all your loves on earth, and more than that: Death.

"By the divine paradox, that which ends life, and demands the surrender of all, and yet by the taste—or foretaste—of which alone can what you seek in your earthly relationships (love, faithfulness, joy) be maintained, or take on that complexion of reality, of eternal endurance, which every man’s heart desires.

"The only cure for sagging or fainting faith is Communion. Though always itself, perfect and complete and inviolate, the Blessed Sacrament does not operate completely and once for all in any of us. Like the act of Faith it must be continuous and grow by exercise.

"Frequency is of the highest effect.

"Seven times a week is more nourishing than seven times at intervals.

Also I can recommend this as an exercise (alas! only too easy to find opportunity for): make your Communion in circumstances that affront your taste. Choose a snuffling or gabbling priest or a proud and vulgar friar; and a church full of the usual bourgeois crowd, ill-behaved children—from those who yell to those products of Catholic schools who the moment the tabernacle is opened sit back and yawn—open-necked and dirty youths, women in trousers and often with hair both unkempt and uncovered. Go to Communion with them (and pray for them).

"It will be just the same (or better than that) as a mass said beautifully by a visibly holy man, and shared by a few devout and decorous people.

"It could not be worse than the mess of the feeding of the Five Thousand—after which our Lord propounded the feeding that was to come.”

 The Philosophy of Tolkien: The Worldview Behind The Lord of the Rings, p. 219.