http://legalinsurrection.com/2015/08/pro-lifers-nationwide-will-protest-planned-parenthood-next-week/
Where are you? If you cannot take part in these today, please pray for God's mercy on this pagan land, wherever you are.
Saturday, 22 August 2015
Coming Out of A BisyBakson Day
I have written tons of poetry in certain places of the world.
I have written plays, short stories, essays in certain places.
In other places, I have had writer's block.
Place is important to me for writing, and for praying, but one learns to pray anywhere after a while....
at bus stops, in airports, in grocery stores......
But creative thinking needs a certain type of rest. And, when one is having many busy days, creativity shrinks back into the corner of one's mind and soul, hiding until it is safe to come out again.
One cannot force creative thinking. One has to wait for it to come forward, and if one tries to force creativity, it hides even more.
I did some painting earlier this summer and I did two good paintings quickly. But, I struggled with the third one, which was actually the first one I had started. It was on a large canvas and I was using acrylics.
Finally, after one month, this painting "came together". One has to learn to wait, to let things go in the process, not to push, pressure, or rush.
Same with writing poetry or short stories.
One of my friends asked me for a new short story. As my readers know, although I have several on line, I think seven, I have not written one for a long time.
I cannot
I shall have to wait.
Waiting is a sign of maturity. One learns to work with one's own psyche.
Today, while helping my mother pick grapes--there are several vines on the homestead--I saw a small, green treefrog. It was dead, but looked alive. I realized it had died in the cold night, as autumn is coming upon us quickly here.
The small animal was so vulnerable to its place. It had to live in a certain temperature, a certain terrain, on a certain leaf, or in a tree.
Humans are much more adaptable than small tree frogs. I was upset that this one had died so soon in the season, as it is still August. But, the tree frog croaking has stopped already in the trees. We are in a for a severe winter.
Place and environment form us and keep us in a way which is almost mystical. God created that little, rather beautiful frog for a specific season, a particular place.
We are all like this, made to be in the place where God wants us to be, in His Will.
I pray daily "Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven."
Working On The New Blog
Sigh....everything takes longer than one plans...
Prayers and patience, please
Prayers and patience, please
Friday, 21 August 2015
What You Freely Have Been Given...
Christ calls many people to Himself, but few listen. We are entering the era of the dearth of sacraments in areas of the West. Not since missionary days has the Church witnessed so few priests for so many people.
When God calls men and women to Himself, He says, "What you have been freely given, give freely," especially in the West where people have been given so many opportunities for financial stability and comfort. The LIttle Flower is an example of freely giving what she received.
But, few respond to this radical call today.
The lack of vocations is not because God is no longer calling young men and young women, but because those people are either saying "no", or are not encouraged. Even trads are not encouraging their children to become religious. I am not sure why, but have some ideas why.
Encouragement from families needs to be part of the discerning process.
Too few youth have been taught how to discern decisions in their lives. Too few know how to pray, reflect, think. One thing the saints have in common is that they prayed.
We are coming to the end of the year of celebration for the birth of St. Teresa of Avila. Born in 1515, this great saint had to discern her own call, and for a while, got it wrong. She was called to renew the Carmelite Order which had fallen into laxity.
Nuns were talking too much with visitors, poverty had been set aside for comforts, endowments meant that the various houses did not have to rely on Providence for daily needs, prayer was lacking.
Her call was not merely to become a Carmelite, but to bring the Order back to its roots, the clean, pure roots which had been established by St. Simon Stock.
I have been to Aylesford in Kent, the oldest site of the Carmelites, and there it is obvious that the Order needs purifying again. But, few have answered God's call to follow Teresa and put the radical love of God, silence, and real poverty as priorities, rather than temporary "causes", large gatherings, and banal liturgies.
One senses the demise of the spirit of the Order in the Midwest as well.
Where is the energy in this order and others to bring saints into the world, or to pray for the chaos in the Church to change into a new focus for holiness?
Reading about the life of Simon Stock, one is struck by his great energy, always a sign of holiness, and one is struck with the ebb and flow of charisms within the order
from the Catholic Encyclopedia:
St. Simon obtained from Innocent IV an interim approbation, as well as certain modifications of the rule (1247). Henceforth foundations were no longer restricted to deserts but might be made in cities and the suburbs of towns; the solitary life was abandoned for community life; meals were to be taken in common; theabstinence, though not dispensed with, was rendered less stringent; the silence was restricted to the timebetween Compline and Prime of the following day; donkeys and mules might be kept for traveling and the transport of goods, and fowls for the needs of the kitchen. Thus the order ceased to be eremitical and became one of the mendicant orders. Its first title, Fratres eremitæ de Monte Carmeli, and, after the building of a chapelon Carmel in honour of Our Lady (c. 1220), Eremitæ Sanctæ Mariæ de Monte Carmeli, was now changed intoFratres Ordinis Beatissimæ Virginis Mariæ de Monte Carmeli. By an ordinance of the Apostolic Chancery of 1477 it was further amplified, Fratres Ordinis Beatissimæ Dei Genitricus semperque Virginis Mariæ de Monte Carmeli, which title was rendered obligatory by the General Chapter of 1680.
Having obtained the mitigation of the rule, St. Simon Stock, who was altogether in favour of the active life, opened houses at Cambridge (1249), Oxford (1253), London (about the same time), York (1255), Paris (1259),Bologna (1260), Naples (date uncertain), etc. He strove especially to implant the order at the universities, partly to secure for the religious the advantages of a higher education, partly to increase the number of vocations among the undergraduates. Although the zenith of the mendicant orders had already passed he was successful in both respects. The rapid increase of convents and novices, however, proved dangerous; the rule being far stricter than those of St. Francis and St. Dominic, discouragement and discontent seized many of the brothers, while the bishops and the parochial clergy continued to offer resistance to the development of the order. He died a centenarian before peace was fully restored. With the election of Nicholas Gallicus (1265-71) a reaction set in; the new general, being much opposed to the exercise of the sacred ministry, favoured exclusively the contemplative life. To this end he wrote a lengthy letter entitled "Ignea sagitta" (unedited) in which he condemned in greatly exaggerated terms what he called the dangerous occupations of preaching and hearing confessions. His words remaining unheeded, he resigned his office, as did also his successor, Radulphus Alemannus (1271-74), who belonged to the same school of thought.
When God calls men and women to Himself, He says, "What you have been freely given, give freely," especially in the West where people have been given so many opportunities for financial stability and comfort. The LIttle Flower is an example of freely giving what she received.
But, few respond to this radical call today.
The lack of vocations is not because God is no longer calling young men and young women, but because those people are either saying "no", or are not encouraged. Even trads are not encouraging their children to become religious. I am not sure why, but have some ideas why.
Encouragement from families needs to be part of the discerning process.
Too few youth have been taught how to discern decisions in their lives. Too few know how to pray, reflect, think. One thing the saints have in common is that they prayed.
We are coming to the end of the year of celebration for the birth of St. Teresa of Avila. Born in 1515, this great saint had to discern her own call, and for a while, got it wrong. She was called to renew the Carmelite Order which had fallen into laxity.
Nuns were talking too much with visitors, poverty had been set aside for comforts, endowments meant that the various houses did not have to rely on Providence for daily needs, prayer was lacking.
Her call was not merely to become a Carmelite, but to bring the Order back to its roots, the clean, pure roots which had been established by St. Simon Stock.
I have been to Aylesford in Kent, the oldest site of the Carmelites, and there it is obvious that the Order needs purifying again. But, few have answered God's call to follow Teresa and put the radical love of God, silence, and real poverty as priorities, rather than temporary "causes", large gatherings, and banal liturgies.
One senses the demise of the spirit of the Order in the Midwest as well.
Where is the energy in this order and others to bring saints into the world, or to pray for the chaos in the Church to change into a new focus for holiness?
Reading about the life of Simon Stock, one is struck by his great energy, always a sign of holiness, and one is struck with the ebb and flow of charisms within the order
from the Catholic Encyclopedia:
St. Simon obtained from Innocent IV an interim approbation, as well as certain modifications of the rule (1247). Henceforth foundations were no longer restricted to deserts but might be made in cities and the suburbs of towns; the solitary life was abandoned for community life; meals were to be taken in common; theabstinence, though not dispensed with, was rendered less stringent; the silence was restricted to the timebetween Compline and Prime of the following day; donkeys and mules might be kept for traveling and the transport of goods, and fowls for the needs of the kitchen. Thus the order ceased to be eremitical and became one of the mendicant orders. Its first title, Fratres eremitæ de Monte Carmeli, and, after the building of a chapelon Carmel in honour of Our Lady (c. 1220), Eremitæ Sanctæ Mariæ de Monte Carmeli, was now changed intoFratres Ordinis Beatissimæ Virginis Mariæ de Monte Carmeli. By an ordinance of the Apostolic Chancery of 1477 it was further amplified, Fratres Ordinis Beatissimæ Dei Genitricus semperque Virginis Mariæ de Monte Carmeli, which title was rendered obligatory by the General Chapter of 1680.
Having obtained the mitigation of the rule, St. Simon Stock, who was altogether in favour of the active life, opened houses at Cambridge (1249), Oxford (1253), London (about the same time), York (1255), Paris (1259),Bologna (1260), Naples (date uncertain), etc. He strove especially to implant the order at the universities, partly to secure for the religious the advantages of a higher education, partly to increase the number of vocations among the undergraduates. Although the zenith of the mendicant orders had already passed he was successful in both respects. The rapid increase of convents and novices, however, proved dangerous; the rule being far stricter than those of St. Francis and St. Dominic, discouragement and discontent seized many of the brothers, while the bishops and the parochial clergy continued to offer resistance to the development of the order. He died a centenarian before peace was fully restored. With the election of Nicholas Gallicus (1265-71) a reaction set in; the new general, being much opposed to the exercise of the sacred ministry, favoured exclusively the contemplative life. To this end he wrote a lengthy letter entitled "Ignea sagitta" (unedited) in which he condemned in greatly exaggerated terms what he called the dangerous occupations of preaching and hearing confessions. His words remaining unheeded, he resigned his office, as did also his successor, Radulphus Alemannus (1271-74), who belonged to the same school of thought.
St. Teresa brought the Order back to the foundations of contemplative prayer and a more eremitical life. But, these gifts to the Church have been set aside in too many convents for active ministry.
We need contemplatives, as well as "actives".
Today, I ask young readers to consider following Christ by joining and renewing the religious orders which need renewal. What you have been freely given, give away freely.
I suggest young women look at the Carmelites in Denton, Nebraska. I also suggest young women looking at the Benedictines in Kansas, Our Lady Queen of Apostles, as well as the Benedictines at Clear Creek.
Young men have more options in places where there is renewal: Clear Creek, Wyoming Carmelites, Order of St. John in Princeville, Il., (there are nuns there as well-I have visited this very interesting place), the Institute of Christ the King, the Fraternity of St. Peter, and more.
Any Readers from Wisconsin?
If so, please contact me privately in comments and send me your email, if I do not have it.
Pax
Catholic Taliban
I am very concerned about some Catholic parents, most likely not anyone who reads this blog, who have decided that their home schooled girls do not need academic training or education.
I consider not teaching your girls classical education as child abuse. Western education was created by the Catholic Church through the Benedictines, Dominicans, Franciscans, and many other orders featured on this blog.
The great heritage of liberal arts education was created by the members of these orders, as were the great colleges and universities of Europe. Catholic girls should be educated so that they can attend the great Catholic colleges of our day: Thomas Aquinas, Wyoming Catholic, Christendom and so on.
That Catholic parents choose anti-intellectualism alarms me, as to be a Catholic is to be educated in the glorious disciplines created and fostered by Catholics throughout the history of the Church.
Why would parents not want their girls to learn the classics? Disciplining the mind by studying grammar, music, math, art, literature, history, geography, and, of course, religion, have been part of our Catholic culture for over a millennium.
Do these anti-intellectual Catholics, many of whom are trads and charismatics, (sharing an odd ideal which they have in common), think that God does not intend us to use our intellect?
The intellect must be developed not only for skills, for logic, for rational discourse, but for prayer. The worse sins happen in the intellect, and all Catholics must learn to fight these sins in that part of our being.
Intellectual purity does not mean the absence of intellectual studies, on the contrary. Purity of the intellect does not mean emptiness, but a working with knowledge in grace, in appropriate studies, in the virtue of studiosity. In fact, this virtue cannot be ignored without sinning.
Recall my series on the Maritains, intelligence and prayer; recall my many posts on classical education. Follow the tags.
Virtue training involves the mind, not merely the hands. Virtue training comes with developing one's intellectual gifts, which we all have at various levels as God has given us, of intellectual abilities.
To ignore the disciplines of learning to is actually interfere not only with God's plans for one's life, but essential for coming to know God.
Few saints had infused knowledge. Most learned about God through the hard study and meditation, first of Scripture, and then of reading and studying the Doctors of the Church, and the writings and sermons of the great saints.
To deny children, especially high school age girls of the beauties of knowledge is, simply, child abuse. Some parents think that these girls or young women who only know how to sew, cook, take care of children will be good wives. Absolutely not. The Catholic husband needs a help-mate even in the area of intellectual discussion.
We do not need ignorant girls and ignorant women. We need savvy women, who can teach their children all the subjects in home schools. Of course, the skills of cooking, sewing and so forth can also be accomplished. All these skills can be learned well easily. Getting a higher degree does not mean one does not know how to cook or sew or can tomatoes. Many of us did all these things, and more. We made candles, soap, went back to the basics in household duties, and still managed to learn various academic subjects.
We learned how to properly entertain for visitors, and we learned womanly manners. We also learned that to be a woman meant learning our heritage, culture, faith.
Look at the writings of the great Teresa of Avila, Therese of Lisieux, Hildegard of Bingen, Catherine of Siena.
We have in the Church, these women, who are Doctors of the Church, not because they could cook and sew, but because they could pray, write, advise people, even popes. They knew the Scriptures, and much theology, as well a music.
To ignore the glories of our own culture, the Catholic culture, amounts to choosing anti-intellectualism and becoming a Catholic Taliban. Ignoring the intellect of young women does not prepare them for sainthood, but for stunted growth, and possibly, rebellion.
Thursday, 20 August 2015
News from SPUC
THURSDAY, 20 AUGUST 2015
Hunger and poverty not caused by "overpopulation" new data shows
Fr Fleming writes:
In his excellent analysis of that report, Jonathan Abbamonte of thePopulation Research Institute, demonstrates the way in which the world has been seriously misled by population controllers. All the emphasis from international bodies such as UNFPA and USAID has been on encouraging and coercing developing countries to embrace their population control policies which have as their centrepiece “sterilisation and abortifacient contraception pills and devices with bribes and other methods of coercion”.
Abbamonte explains that the latest figures predict that world population will rise from 7.3 billion today to 9.7 billion by 2050 and 11.2 billion by 2100. The default position of population controllers has always been that population growth has been and will be the single biggest cause of catastrophic outcomes for the planet:
1. Widespread famines as the world struggles to feed the people;But, as Abbamonte points out, relying on the information contained in the new Report, the facts are actually these:
2. continuing low life expectancy in developing countries; and
3. high infant mortality rates among developing countries.
1. Despite the rapid rise in population over the last two and a half decades, “the percentage of people living with hunger in developing countries has actually dropped from 24% to 14% over the same time period.”So it seems that the world is well placed to receive the predicted increased population.
2. “World average life expectancy at birth in the early 1950’s was 48 years for women and 45 for men. Today those numbers are 73 for women and 68 for men. By 2100, life expectancy at birth will have risen to almost 85 for women and 82 for men worldwide and even higher in developed nations—92 years for women.”
3. Infant and childhood mortality are set to decline sharply worldwide. “By 2100, the rate of deaths among children under the age of five will fall as much as 82% in less developed nations and 80% in the world’s least developed countries.”
Among other things, Abbamonte concludes: “Population alarmists would have us believe the world is overpopulated with too many people placing too great a strain on the environment and our resources. While it is true that we all share limited resources on this one planet we call home, hunger and poverty in the world today are largely the result of underdevelopment, civil strife or conflict, and poor distribution of wealth, not an excess in today’s population. Environmental degradation, although a pressing problem, has much more to do with an irresponsible disposal of waste, corporations cutting corners to meet their bottom lines, poor urban planning and excessive urban sprawl, and a culture of waste that has been fostered in developed nations.”
Abbamonte’s analysis of the new data provides plenty of food for thought.
Comments on this blog? Email them to johnsmeaton@spuc.org.uk
Worse Than Barbarians
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/planned-parenthood-video-brain-harvested-heart-still-beating-ian-tuttle
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/breaking-i-saw-an-aborted-babys-heart-beating-outside-his-body-new-undercov
And in my Catholic newspaper, a comment that those who took the videos are the immoral ones.
Calling good evil and evil good.......
http://www.lifenews.com/2015/08/19/7th-shocking-video-catches-planned-parenthood-harvesting-brain-of-aborted-baby-who-was-still-alive/
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/breaking-i-saw-an-aborted-babys-heart-beating-outside-his-body-new-undercov
And in my Catholic newspaper, a comment that those who took the videos are the immoral ones.
Calling good evil and evil good.......
http://www.lifenews.com/2015/08/19/7th-shocking-video-catches-planned-parenthood-harvesting-brain-of-aborted-baby-who-was-still-alive/
Happy Feast Day of St. Bernard
Do you know he is my favorite saint?
Check out the 64 posts on him and the 26 on the Cistercians.
Below is a 1902 diagram of Clairvaux from an old encyclopedia.
Check out the 64 posts on him and the 26 on the Cistercians.
Below is a 1902 diagram of Clairvaux from an old encyclopedia.
New Blog Delay Again
Broken router.....
Life...but new blog is coming to a town near you soon.....
First World problem.....
Life...but new blog is coming to a town near you soon.....
First World problem.....
Wednesday, 19 August 2015
Sad Anti-Intellectualism and Tragic Death
http://www.france24.com/en/20150819-islamic-state-group-beheads-syrian-archaeologist-palmyra
And, I am very concerned about anti-intellectualism among Catholics. This is a growing problem among some who do not think girls need to learn things at the high school level. IMO, that is child abuse.
Girls should learn about literature, music, grammar, and so on in order to teach their children and to be fully human. We are created intellectual creatures, not merely manual workers.
And, I am very concerned about anti-intellectualism among Catholics. This is a growing problem among some who do not think girls need to learn things at the high school level. IMO, that is child abuse.
Girls should learn about literature, music, grammar, and so on in order to teach their children and to be fully human. We are created intellectual creatures, not merely manual workers.
Vision
A man I know who is holy saw a vision at Adoration yesterday. Now, as you all know my position on personal revelations, you may be surprised that I post this.
However, this strikes me as real, very real.
"I saw lots of people in the ocean, It was like a ship sank out at sea. Some people were hanging on to life vests and debris. Some people had nothing and were drowning, they were panicking. There was more debris to hang on to. The people with something to hang on to had the gift of baptism. I heard a voice say that God wills everyone to be saved but people don't want to be saved. We need God's help to be saved. God does not damn."
Decide to become a saint, now.
Teach your children to be saints, now.
Evangelize, now. There are too many "nones".
Spread the Good News of Christ, now.
Baptismal graces grow with us if we keep the Commandments.
Considering One's Own Soul
Now, this girl was a Catholic and a good young woman, as this man was a good man. But, in his wisdom, he could see that she would not be good for him as a wife, and he was dating to find a wife.
What struck me was that this wise young man knew what he needed to get to heaven. He understood the phrase, "Love your neighbor as yourself." One must love one's self enough to follow God's way for one to get to heaven, not merely indulge in what one wants, what one desires.
I did not know this young woman well, but later found out that she lacked the depth of spirituality that this young man needed to fulfill his own role as an excellent husband. He wanted a wife who desired a deep relationship with God as he was pursuing. He wanted a wife who was serious about becoming a saint and raising holy children. The young man knew that one did not get married in order to change or save someone.
We did not see each other after this conversation, as life separated our friendship. But, I feel certain that he found an equal mate.
The Protestants have a phrase "unequal yoking" to mean that two people got married who never should have, and are not in the same place spiritually. Sometimes, people simply do not know their mate well enough when they get married, marrying an idea rather than a real person.
Sometimes people come together because of bad habits, or bad character traits. Narcissists frequently marry narcissists, for example. Alcoholics frequently marry addictive mates. Bullies sometimes marry victim types, and so on.
Some women have a bad habit of thinking that they can change a man. This idea is silly and unrealistic.
Some men have a have a bad habit of thinking that it is the woman in the marriage who needs to go to Church and bring the family to holiness, when it is the man who is the real priest of the domestic church, not the woman.
Unequal yoking can occur when one person has a conversion, or re-version experience, and comes into the Catholic Church, while the other does not.
My young friend sensed that, although that particular young lady was attractive, she and he would be unequally yoked.
The best marriages are those wherein the couple grow in love for Christ together, helping each other become more holy through love and care.
Too often, one of the two becomes holy through heroic virtue discovered through intense suffering.
Unequal yoking can also happen when the two people are not matched intellectually or emotionally.
But, the real problem with unequal yoking is the danger of one or both parties falling into sin and losing even eternal life with God.
One must love one's self enough not to let the other person in the marriage cause one to sin over and over and over. A person unequally yoked can fall away from God too easily if the other person is Godless.
One must consider one's own soul.
These seem like hard words, but too often the husband or wife gives in to the weaker and less holy person, not being challenged, nor challenging the situation.
It is too easy to just go with the flow and give in to sinful behavior.
Cooperating in and with sin dulls the conscience after a time.
Not all people should be martyrs to a bad marriage, one of unequal yoking. It is obvious when God gives grace to the suffering partner, as that person lives in a deep tranquility. Interior peace is a sign of God blessing the holy person to endure the unequal yoking.
I am reminded of a man who realized he married someone who could not help him get to heaven except through his own acceptance of suffering. The woman turned out to be completely caught up in the material world of status and success. Like the Bennets in Pride and Prejudice, there was a lack of respect at first, but this man caught himself in that sin, repented, and began to accept and love the wife he had chosen when less wise. He accepted his disappointment, as he had thought she was more religious than she actually was.
She came to understand that she could not love him as he loved her, much like David with childish Dora in David Copperfield. Dora began to understand that she could not meet David's needs. Agnes was truly, all the time, David's equal, but he had to learn the hard way not to love out of infatuation, but out of respect for a person of character.
The man's wife became grateful when she realized his great love for her despite her serious failings. Slowly, very slowly, she began to change, but not without great suffering on the part of the husband.
My young friend did not marry the Dora, but waited for the Agnes to come along.
But, what does one do when one finds one's self unequally yoked? One can make a decision to honor the marriage promise and contract, finding ways to love without any expectation of being loved in return. This is love from the will, the most perfect love of all.
When one wills to love the other, one is free to accept serious inadequacies, and the disappointment of the type of marriage one thought one was going to enjoy until death.
Wilful love is the highest form of love. God blesses those who choose to love, really love and respect the other through the will. But, one must rely entirely on God for joy, kindness, fortitude, real love.
Sadly, too many parents do not train their children to have a realistic idea of equal yoking. The old patterns of courtship have disappeared, leaving young people on their own to figure out who should be their life-long mate.
A good marriage will bring joy. A marriage of unequal yoking will bring great suffering. A marriage accepted as highly imperfect, but coupled with love of the will, can bring about great holiness, and, even gratitude in the other person receiving such love, who may come to understand this love. But, this marriage will be one of great pain.
The key to choosing a "right mate" is to consider first one's own soul. One must ask the questions, "Will this person go to heaven with me, and help me get there, as I want to help him (or her) get there? Is Christ first in that person's life?"
Another question one may ask, "Do I want to become like this person?" Marriage makes two into one, and man and wife do become like each other for better, or for worse.
Sadly, these questions seem to be ignored by most young. and even older people, when considering marriage.
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