The Lashing of The Tail

Quite a while ago, a priest told me that when we experience a victory over evil in our lives, or in the lives of someone for whom we are praying, and, especially if we have asked Mary, Our Mother to intercede, we sometimes get negative feedback from the devil.

He called it the "lashing of the tail".  This holy man explained to me that Mary stands on the head of satan, but the tail moves back and forth, hitting those who have been instrumental in interceding for a spiritual victory.

The lashing of the tail may result in an illness, or injury. It may result in the loss of some material object or objects. It may result in a misunderstanding among friends-anything which God allows the devil to inflict on those who pray, fast, work for the Kingdom.

My guess is that many of you readers have experienced the lashing of the tail and have wondered why, after answers to prayers, something, or some things seems to go wrong. If we are not experiencing negative feedback, we are not doing our job as Catholics.

Years ago, I complained to God about this lashing of the tail after a particular prayer was answered for someone else. I said to the Father that I was upset that such devilish activity was surrounding me.

A little voice, a quiet voice, said "You do not see what my Hand is holding back. You do not see how you are protected."

Well, I do now not question the lashing of the tail. Nor do I expect such. But, if God allows a few war wounds, I rejoice.

However, you all can still pray for me, and for those who have gotten lashed by the tail.

Jesus Found Where?

A very smart person told me that St. Luke's emphasis of Christ reaching out to the Gentiles, women, and the outcasts, such as the shepherds in the fields, reminded him of the Mary and Joseph finding Jesus in the Temple.

But, in what court did they find him? This vsp indicated that Christ could have been in the Court of the Gentiles, as Mary was allowed to find him, and she would not have been allowed in the normal court of the Jewish teachers, which was reserved for men only.

Of course, Mary could have, as a distraught mum, "gate-crashed", as I pointed out.

The vsp noted that Christ could have been teaching in the Court of the Women.

Interesting idea, as Mary would have been accepted there, and, as this vsp noted, nowhere does Luke indicate that any men asked Jesus where his parents were, as they would not necessarily do either in the Court of the Gentiles or the Court of the Women.

If Christ was found in either, this would be another poignant passage where God is showing that His Son was being sent to the outcasts, those who were not the "in-crowd", the Sadducees, Pharisees, and scribes.

This is an interesting theory. As I noted earlier on this blog, I believe that the shepherds were outcasts and the fact that the angels came to them was God showing that His plan for salvation went beyond the call of the People of the Promise, the Jews.

Thinking that Mary would have caused shock and horror in the main court, and would have been accepted in the Court of the Women and the Court of the Gentiles, I believe this theory may be true.

The teachers could have been teaching anywhere, but Mary would not have been allowed anywhere.

The finding of the Child Christ in the temple has always intrigued me and is an important event in Scripture, as it proves absolutely without a doubt that Christ always knew He was God, which is the teaching of the Catholic Church.

None of this modernist heresy, that Christ did not know He was God until His, baptism stuff...nope.

From the moment of His Conception, the Incarnate One was aware of Who He Is.

And, He was reminding His Mother in this event in the Temple.

Mothers need to be reminded of the work of their children, which is not their work, but God's.

I now wonder in what court Jesus was found....I wonder if Luke, a Gentile, was telling us that Christ had come for all men...and women.

A most difficult year coming to an end...

We all have what we can call the annus horribilis, the worst year, or one of the worst years of our lives.

Perhaps it was the year one lost a spouse to an unwanted divorce or to death,

Perhaps it was the year one lost a child to death.

Perhaps it was a year when one lost a job, a home, status.

Perhaps it was a year one had cancer and operations.

This past year has been one of the most difficult in my life as I did not see my son for fifteen months until this past short holiday. Not seeing one's child for any length of time, not knowing when one will see that child again, not being able to share birthdays, or special days must be one of the worst sufferings a mum can experience. One just carries suffering around in one's soul, quietly, until it carves out a place for God to come and stay. But, consolations do not necessarily come with God's Presence.

One gives one's children to God and then lets God take them wherever and whenever He chooses. We raise our children to be virtuous and mature adults and let them go do what God created them to do.

My son belongs to God, Mary and the Church, not me. But, I wish I could live in the same country as he does. Please continue to pray for that miracle, and that I do not lose confidence that God wants me in Auld Blighty. One walks in darkness while faith, hope and charity bring one to the fullness of God's plan.

Prayers Needed

Dear Readers, please pray for me as for the past week I have been suffering with increased painful tendinitis in my left foot and leg, and a right knee problem which is growing worse.

Shoes, England, 2012

As a walker and one who relies on my self to get around, especially to Mass and Adoration, these two afflictions have proved to be serious.

Thanks so much for your prayers. All for the glory of God...

Feast Day of Thomas a Becket

Tomorrow is the feast day of Thomas a Becket. Those of us in the modern world do not appreciate that his shrine was one of the largest and most popular pilgrimage destinations in Europe until Henry VIII ruined it.

The shrine appealed to all those who saw the tensions between Church and State as realities, and that Thomas represented the true hierarchy of Church over State.

The Church has the right and duty to not only educate those who work for the State, but to actually help form the basis for State government.

This simple fact has been lost by the Protestant emphasis on the separation of Church and State, a false teaching meant to diminish the authority of the Church in government, politics, the economy and society in general.

How common but how silly it is to think that man is only material, and without a soul. All laws and customs of a State must be built on this fact-that the goal of life is heaven, not earth.

Becket's life and death remind us that we need to make choices daily which include the realization that we are not dualistic beings, but persons with spiritual and physical needs. Becket reminds us that the Church is first and States are second in the hierarchy of truth, morals, virtues, and organization.

The City of God dwells within the City of Man, but sadly, too many people, including clerics, have wanted the Church to serve the State instead of having the State protect the Church.

That is the duty of a true State-to protect God's one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church from Her enemies. Becket points to the sad truth that too often the State persecutes the Church.

It is easy to see why the shrine at Canterbury was one of the first to be destroyed by the very king who took the Church and crushed it in order to make a new one, a false one, totally under the power of the State.

Becket's tomb and shrine would have been a constant reminder of Henry's sins and his taking authority away from the Pope and clergy.

So, the shrine, the tomb, the relics had to go.

Many years ago, I was at the Venerabile in Rome for this feast day. The Anglican cleric in charge of keeping the skull of Becket at the Anglican parish in Rome brought the glass casket to the seminary for all of us to venerate. I remember as if it were yesterday going up to the altar and looking at the skull with the mark of the broad sword, and kissing the glass case.

Honor Becket. His presence in the Church Victorious will be more and more a sign for us in the time to come.

Parenting Styles

I have been observing families all over America and in some countries of Europe over the past several years. I also have reflected on my own upbringing and on my own small family.

Parenting styles have become more and more inconsistent over the years. I actually blame the fact that parents have wanted to be friends with their children on an misunderstanding or refusal to take God-given authority over one's children.

But, even in years past, pre-Vatican II if we Catholics want to have a point in time in which to place changes in family life, parenting styles were becoming more and more fluid.

Even in the 1950s, one could see patriarchies in the Midwest of American having differences of interpretation. As I grew up among Swedes, Norwegians, Germans, Luxembourgians and Czechs, the families were based on patriarchies.

Ireland, England, and Malta are matriarchies.

But, even within these larger categories, parenting styles vary.

I see that some parents want to be parents always, which is good and bad, but not necessarily respecting their adult children as adults.

I see some parents stopping being parents as soon as the children leave home, living very separate lives on purpose from their children.

I see parents disagreeing on parenting styles in families, causing confusion among the children and causing a disgust with authority based on an unreal, antagonistic view of what and how a couple should act with children.

More and more, I am witnessing a huge problem of parents not training their children to respect adults.

This, sadly, is very obvious in Malta.

But, one thing is clear-that the Catholic ideal of parenting is rarely employed, people falling into ethnic or dysfunctional models learned as children.

A real sign of the decay of the West is the lack of parental, specifically paternal authority. Only when a biological father decides to be a real spiritual and psychological father can there be stability in a family.

I intend to reflect on my large sample of experience, but also to look into what the ideal family should look like, as God has a plan for families. This plan does not mean that we are to live like cookie-cutter parents, but that within a framework of the true religion, there is a way for stability and spirituality within the family.

One thing is very clear--the matriarchal model is not only dangerous but an aberration to be corrected.  I am not sure in some cultures that this is possible until fathers and husbands decide to embrace the authority given to them by God.

to be continued.....

Comino

Because of rough seas, our ferry this morning crossed over to the far side of Comino. Now, I would love to live on Comino, but there are only four people living there now.  It is a bird sanctuary and I would love that as birds are my favorite animals.

Apparently, when the weather in the past was too awful for the priest to come on Saturday night and Sunday morning for Mass, the residents use to face the Mass being held on the Gozo mainland church of Our Lady of the Rock, and follow the Mass with semaphore like flags...I do not know for sure if this is true, but it makes for a great legend.

Comino is a rock with scrub brushes, but if I could get the wifi there and go to the chapel daily, I think this would be a great place for a semi-contemplative.

Returning later.

In case you missed this on Father Z....

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2014/12/just-too-cool-polyphonic-sacred-music-earlier-than-previously-thought/

Walking in The Footsteps of Ancestors

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Temple_de_Ggantija.jpg

Today, I visited the second Neolithic site I have seen in two years, but today's visit was on Gozo.

The Ggantija Temple site dates back to 3,600-3,200. The people who built this temple and others, as the one at Tarxien, which I visited in October of 2013, disappeared suddenly after a few 1,000 years, and before the Phoenicians and Romans came to Malta.

Over fifty temple sites dot the islands of Gozo and Malta, which seems to be an extraordinary number of sacred places for such small spaces. Only animals were sacrificed, including pigs, cows, goats and birds, which look in the drawings, like quail.

A cult of fertility also seems obvious because of all the "fat ladies" found, statues of small to huge sizes of well-endowed females, as well as some phallic symbols.

To stand in a place where human beings stood over 5,000 years ago creates a feeling of continuity. But, who these people were and where they came from is a mystery. The one female skull computer-reconstructed, looks very much like a beautiful Maltese woman, and definitely Caucasian.

The mystery of the people of the Temples of Malta and Gozo may never be solved

Irish Scandal

Brain dead is not dead. See my other posts and listen to Fr. Chad Ripperger on this point.

So, Ireland has killed two people.

Sad days.

http://news.yahoo.com/irish-court-end-life-support-pregnant-woman-141015383.html

St. John, Chihiro, and Grace

Gold in the hands of those who desire gold is a theme in an old anime, Spirited Away. One of the most mysterious and eclectic of stories, a No Face, who is lonely, bribes people, animal-creatures, even a sorceress with gold nuggets. The heroine of the story does not want gold. She wants to save her parents and the boy, who is, of course, in typical anime fashion, not what he seems to be.

The whole story winds its way around the theme of identity. If one knows who one is, if one remembers one's name, evil spells are broken.

To turn away from gold because of a true vision of what is important rarely happens in the modern world. When I share with people that I sold my car, after being made redundant at a college at the age of 62, and decided to live in utmost simplicity, the answer is always the same-"You were and are brave."

What is brave about leaving the land of those who only want gold in their hands? Security does not and has not ever come in possessions, status, or power. Security only comes in the hands of God.

The more we grasp on to false identities, the more we are truly in danger of losing our souls.

Baptism makes us children of God and heirs of heaven. If one is not baptized, one is not an adopted child of God, except through extraordinary intervention from God. His way to salvation as seen in the promise of Genesis, the Proto-Evangelium of Genesis 3:15 is the promised Church.

This hint or first "good news" tells us that Mary was to come and be the Mother of those who honor her Son as God, the Second Person in the Blessed Trinity.

I will put enmity between you and the woman,
    and between your offspring and hers;
he will strike your head,
    and you will strike his heel.”

This promise is fulfilled and we have just celebrated the day of fulfillment-the Good News of the Coming of Christ into the world.

Wasted graces lie on the ground like million of specks of dust. This morning, I cleaned and dusted a vacation flat which obviously had not been cleaned in a very long time. As I threw away the dirt and grime, I thought of all the graces we throw away daily. I see this daily, Catholics who never stop and read the Scriptures, or pray, or thank God for some of the most beautiful vistas in this entire world.

The No Name was giving out gold nuggets to bribe people for love, as it was a lonely spirit. It wanted attention, and like satan, was using material things to buy honor and love. But, then, it began to eat people and animal creatures, turning into a monster of greed and obsession.

Only the young, innocent Chihiro breaks the spells and curses through selfless hard work and love. This is always the way to help others to salvation-hard work and love. Like many fairy tales, the young virginal girl must give up her "princess past" and work to save her parents and her new love, Haku.

No Name calms down and is "adopted" by the twin sorceress and one thinks it will not be lonely again. Thus, Chihiro saves this demon as well from destruction. It will become something else.

Catholics have purposefully lost their identity in some countries, where the dominant culture demands, or seemingly demands comformity. But, in a Catholic country, there is no excuse for the loss of identity. Outwards pageant and feasts reveal a desire to keep some of this identity, but the truth is that externals cannot make a person holy, only internal conversion, daily turning away from gold and towards God's Hands, which we see on the Cross as nailed for our sins.

Identity comes with prayer, study, reflection. Like Chihiro and Haku, we cannot lose our names in order to be who we are. The name we have is "Catholic", and like the heroes in the story, identity is regained only after suffering.

Today, as we think of St. John, who waited at the sepulcher for St. Peter to enter first, as Peter was chosen to be the first pope, we are reminded that John and Peter, called by name, one in his profession of faith and one standing at the foot of the Cross, had different roles, but identities, new ones, in Christ.

Do you know what your new identity is? Is it an old one which needs to be re-found, re-gained? Like Chihiro and Haku, do you understand that who you are determines your life here, and in the world to come? Chihiro has to be detached from her own world and her parents in order to come into a spiritual maturity, in order to love.

Many children of our time have no identity except those given, formed through television, movies, computer games. They may be lost souls, needing the hard work and love of a Chihiro. Because she is "saved" by recognizing her own spiritual strength through love, Chihiro saves No Face and Haku, her parents and herself. She saves the weird city and tames anger in the twin sorceresses. 

In really good fairy tales, such as in the myth of Psyche, a girl-woman has to endure suffering in order to become pure and help purify others. It is interesting that the water imagery in the anime film is what brings about love. Again, baptism brings us into new life, into love, and we are different than those who are not baptized. One reason why these modern myths are popular is that the younger ones lack identity, not being given such by their parents, being led into shallow, materialistic, greedy worlds which cannot bring life.

In today's first reading, St. John tells us that he and his community has seen Life, has experienced the visible God, Christ in order to be in union with the Father through the Spirit.

Do not waste graces. Do not open your hands to gold nuggets, but to the graces which will bring joy, most likely through work, trials, sufferings. Therein is your identity.

The Real Lady of Ephesus

After the Ascension, St. John most likely took Mary to Ephesus when the persecution of the Christians began in Jerusalem.

Ephesus held one of the ancient wonders of the world, the great Temple of Artemis. Artemis, or Diana, was one of the most popular goddesses of the pagans. She was patron of both virgins and childbirth.

The real patron of childbirth and the true matrona of virgins came into Ephesus with a young man, unknown to most of the ancients and revered by a few men, who were now scattered all over the world-the apostles.

God prepared the ancient world for Christ through many sources, including the Diaspora of the Jews in the great Exile.

When the Greeks and Romans met the Jews, a syncretism occurred in several major areas. This syncretism could be one of the reasons why the Three Kings, Magi of the Zoroastrians, sought Christ. There sacred texts were "infiltrated" by Jewish texts in Babylon and most likely, Medea.

John brought Mary to Ephesus, where their house may still stand and such a place is honored. Of course, we hear of Ephesus in the Acts of the Apostles, when St. Paul is threatened by those making money by creating and selling idols of Artemis.

John has to protect Mary from many dangers, and in keeping with the times, when women had few rights, watch over her until God called her home in the Dormition and Assumption.

But, today, on the Feast of St. John, I like to think of them sitting and talking about Jesus, praying together, walking through the streets of the great city, perhaps even looking at the huge temple, so different from their small, sacred house.

The real Lady of Ephesus is Mary, not Diana. And, today, we honor one the Evangelists, the apostle Christ loved dearly and the one to whom He entrusted His own Mother, our Mother. Maybe some of those who met Mary realized that Diana merely prepared them for a real woman of heaven, the Blessed Virgin Mary.

RANT!

Oh dear, I went to a Mass this evening wherein a twelve year old girl did the readings, an very young altar server read the bidding prayers, and a five year old took up the collection.

There were eight adults counting me in attendance.

I hardly know what to say..............arurhghghgh.

For St. Stephen's Day Part Four

And in Ireland in Dingle this day...

Thoughts on St. Stephen's Day Part Three

Happy Feast to all named
Wenceslaus and Vaclav.....

Thoughts on St. Stephen Part Two

Two more thoughts for today's feast of St. Stephen.

The first connects St. Stephen's vision of heaven "opening up" and the martyr seeing Christ in glory.

This reality of heaven was not only a gift of consolation for the soon-to-be-stoned man, but part of the saint's witness. He was telling those around him that Christ was indeed in heaven, resurrected, in body as well as in soul.

This statement was a reference to everlasting life, which the Sadducees did not hold as a truth of their sect of Judaism. Already, we see, in this fact, a corruption of the Revelation from God in the Old Testament, as David and other prophets referred to heaven and hell, and in the Book of Maccabees, we see the Jews praying for the dead to enter into their reward, after having their sins forgiven.

That the Sadducees would have responded violently to St. Stephen's account of seeing heaven indicates that God's effort to correct the members of this sect, through this holy man, was refused.

Not all people want to hear the truth, especially it is will change their status and lifestyles.

Second, St. Stephen was a deacon. In Morning Prayer, we read this today:

Acts 6:2-5New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition 

2 And the twelve called together the whole community of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should neglect the word of God in order to wait on tables.[a] 3 Therefore, friends,[b] select from among yourselves seven men of good standing, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint to this task, 4 while we, for our part, will devote ourselves to prayer and to serving the word.” 5 What they said pleased the whole community, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, together with Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch.

I have known many, many permanent deacons in my long life and I can say that only two have struck me as holy. Some of the deacons I have met and with whom I have worked were actually in disobedience to the Church regarding the female priesthood, homosexual acts and liturgical practices, On the other hand, the two men I want to praise work with the poor, in the food banks, quietly personally, helping those who are poor to have some dignity of lifestyle.

Today, I want to salute two deacons who have revealed the true role of the deacon to me.

Good bless Deacon Bob and Deacon Tony.

Thoughts on St. Stephen Part One

ACTS 6:8-10; 7:54-59
Stephen, filled with grace and power,
was working great wonders and signs among the people.
Certain members of the so-called Synagogue of Freedmen,
Cyrenians, and Alexandrians,
and people from Cilicia and Asia,
came forward and debated with Stephen,
but they could not withstand the wisdom and the spirit with which he spoke.

When they heard this, they were infuriated,
and they ground their teeth at him.
But he, filled with the Holy Spirit,
looked up intently to heaven
and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God,
and he said,
“Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man
standing at the right hand of God.”
But they cried out in a loud voice, covered their ears,
and rushed upon him together.
They threw him out of the city, and began to stone him.
The witnesses laid down their cloaks
at the feet of a young man named Saul.
As they were stoning Stephen, he called out
“Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”








MT 10:17-22

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Beware of men, for they will hand you over to courts
and scourge you in their synagogues,
and you will be led before governors and kings for my sake
as a witness before them and the pagans.
When they hand you over,
do not worry about how you are to speak
or what you are to say.
You will be given at that moment what you are to say.
For it will not be you who speak
but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
Brother will hand over brother to death,
and the father his child;
children will rise up against parents and have them put to death.
You will be hated by all because of my name,
but whoever endures to the end will be saved.”


It is easy, in this day and age of martyrdom in the middle eastern countries and in Africa, to think of what martyrdom really is. However, there are still a majority of American and English Catholics in 2014, who have never lost a job for being Catholic, never not being promoted for being Catholic, or having to change jobs for being a Catholic. As we know, midwives and, perhaps doctors in England who are Catholic will be forced to leave their professions.
In America, some people have had to shut down private businesses of photography, baking and catering in order to uphold their Catholic identity.
The problem with too many Catholics is that they are willing to compromise. I see it daily. One's conscience is like a sharp, expensive knife. If one uses it and cleans it, pays attention to it, it remains a useful tool. If one ignores it, it rusts and, eventually falls apart.
I have written about persecution dozens of times, but, today, St. Stephen reminds us that it can happen anywhere, quickly.






He was killed for three reasons. The first was that he was proclaiming Christ as God. The second is that he was given infused knowledge and had the gifts of the Holy Spirit in order to argue better and win reasonable arguments.
The third was jealously and the hatred of the holy.
Yes, some people hate all things and people which are good and holy.
St. Stephen tells us today to get ready, to be ready, to keep our eyes focuses on God.
God allowed St. Stephen to see heaven, which enraged others. Real Catholics have a glimpse of heaven daily at Mass.
Be ready..............

Disappointment at Mass

Four years ago, when I first began to attend the NO in Latin at the Co-Cathedral in Valletta, most of the Mass, barring the readings and the sermon, was in Latin.

Not so today. Most of it was in Maltese. In other words, it was a Maltese Mass with Kyrie, Gloria, Creed and Angus Dei in Latin only. The entire said Mass, including the usual responses and the Our Father were all in Maltese. The Eucharistic prayer and the words of institution were in Maltese.

This was not an NO in Latin.

This is a change from what use to happen at St. John's.

This has been the only venue for the NO Latin Mass, and there is no TLM at all on the island, and to have no NO in Latin on Christmas was very disappointing to me.

I do not understand why the popes have not intervened on this fact.

I would not want to live here permanently without a TLM, or at least, a NO in Latin, which this was not today.

I shall not even bother to return to the Co-Cathedral again under these circumstances.

So sad for Malta....

The Image of the Father, Part Four on the Trinity

Today's Gospel, from St. John's first chapter, tells us an important point of doctrine. Here is the one line I would like to highlight.

18 No man hath seen God at any time: the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

This doctrine needs to be reiterated from the pulpit in these times when there is so much confusion concerning the Trinity. This reference indicates that no man has ever seen the Father, even in these times, that is the New Testament times in which we live.

Christ has seen the Father and reveals the Father to us. Christ is the only Person of the Blessed Trinity Who is Incarnated, Who can be seen as a Man, as He is Man.

Many artists, including the great Michelangelo, have depicted the Father, either as an old man, as a creator, or in symbols, such as one member of the Trinity.

In the Church today, some people are confused about the Person of the God the Father.

When the Trinity appeared to Abraham, the Three Persons were seen as angels, that is as spirits, not as men.

And, when God passed by Moses on Sinai, and Moses only saw His Back, we do not know if that was not Christ, rather than God the Father. To see God as a Human, with human characteristics, that is a body, indicates that this revelation could have been one of Christ, Who although became Man at one moment of time and chose to be bound by time, could have revealed Himself. Christ, after His Resurrection was seen by many people, of course. To speak of the Face of God and the Back of God are human terms, not spiritual ones. The spiritual meaning of these is doubtful. We do not know what these mean.

God can imprint an image on our imagination to help us understand Him, but this image is not necessarily Him. Only Christ is the Image of the Father,

The vision of Ezechiel of God seems to be more accurate, as it is mysterious.

Even the Navajos have a myth of a non-Native appearing to their ancestors over a thousand years ago, as shown in an ancient cave painting. This revelation was of Christ, not the Father.

God the Father is a Spirit, not a material being. Christ is both. The Holy Spirit is, obviously, a Spirit.

All three Persons in the Trinity are one but unique. We cannot imagine the Father without the revelation of the Son.

Happy Christmas from Malta

and a popular secular song from this small island...as well.

Much love to all my friends and readers, many of whom qualify for both categories!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!