Who is God and Who is Man?

I have been thinking of this all week and the Great Spencer has written it. And just in case you forgot the references, here are snippets on both:

Piss Christ is a 1987 photograph by the American artist and photographer Andres Serrano. It depicts a small plastic crucifix submerged in a glass of the artist's urine. The piece was a winner of the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art's "Awards in the Visual Arts" competition,^[1] which was sponsored in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, a United States Government agency that offers support and funding for artistic projects. A print of the photograph was damaged using a screwdriver or icepick on April 17, 2011 while on exhibit in Avignon, France. from Wiki

And the dung Mary, which I remember, wherein all those in favor of freedom of speech screamed bloody murder when the lawsuit was initiated. This bit is from Wiki as well, with no photos, please.....

The Holy Virgin Mary is a painting created by Chris Ofili in 1996. It was one of the works included in the Sensation exhibition in London, Berlin and New York in 1997–2000. The subject of the work, and its execution, caused considerable controversy in New York, with Rudolph Giuliani – then Mayor of New York City – describing Ofili's work as "sick".^[1]

The potent mixture of the sacred (Virgin Mary) and the profane (excrement and pornography) became a cause of controversy when the Sensation exhibition moved to New York in 1999. The City of New York and Mayor Rudolph Giuliani brought a court case against the Brooklyn Museum, with Giuliani describing the exhibition of Ofili's work as "sick" and "disgusting". Giuliani attempted to withdraw the annual $7 million City Hall grant from the museum, and threatened it with eviction. The museum resisted Giuliani's demands, and its director, Arnold L. Lehman, filed a federal lawsuit against Giuliani for a breach of the First Amendment. The museum eventually won the court case.^[3]On a yellow-orange background, the large painting (8 feet high by 6 feet wide) depicts a black woman wearing a blue robe, a traditional attribute of the Virgin Mary. The work employs mixed media, including oil paint, glitter, and polyester resin, and also elephant dung and collaged pornographic images. The central Black Madonna is surrounded by many collaged images that resemble butterflies at first sight, but on closer inspection are photographs of female genitalia; an ironic reference to the putti that appear in traditional religious art. A lump of dried, varnished elephant dung forms one bared breast, and the painting is displayed leaning against the gallery wall, supported by two other lumps of elephant dung, decorated with coloured pins: the pins on the left are arranged to spell out "Virgin" and the one on the right "Mary". Many other works by Ofili in this period – including No Woman No Cry – incorporate elephant dung, particularly as supports for the canvas, inspired by a period that Ofili spent in Zimbabwe.^[2]

Giuliani was reported as claiming that Ofili had thrown elephant dung at a painting of the Virgin Mary: "The idea of having so-called works of art in which people are throwing elephant dung at a picture of the Virgin Mary is sick."^[4] The press also reported that the painting was "smeared", "splattered" or "stained" with dung.^[5][6] Ofili, raised as a Roman Catholic commented that "elephant dung in itself is quite a beautiful object."^[7]    

It is ok if nations blaspheme the Jesus Christ, Son of God, the Real God-Man, Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, Founder of the One, True, Holy, Apostolic and Catholic Church, but it is not OK to criticize a man-made religion created by a man (which is the teaching of the Catholic Churchon Islam).

Here is the article. The difference has to do with the fact that we do not kill people or burn down buildings when Christ is blasphemed.

The politics of terrorism seems to be working. Too bad. See my Men of the West series in the recent past.

Where are the bishops' statements on this?  Here is Spencer on the New York Times.

When the target was Christianity, the Times said that artists had an obligation to "challenge the public." When the target is Islam, the Times starts talking about respecting religious faith. As Tim Blair notes, Islam has earned that "respect" at the point of a gun.

"Times Changes," by Tim Blair in the Telegraph, September 14 (thanks to Anne Crockett):

The New York Times editorial of October 2, 1999, defends the display of Andres Serrano’s Piss Christ and Chris Ofili’s The Holy Virgin Mary: 

A museum is obliged to challenge the public as well as to placate it, or else the museum becomes a chamber of attractive ghosts, an institution completely disconnected from art in our time. 

The New York Times editorial of September 12, 2012, condemns the display of The Innocence of Muslims: 

Whoever made the film did true damage to the interests of the United States and its core principle of respecting all faiths. 

Whatever happened to “challenging the public”? Or is that obligation rendered non-obligatory when a certain public responds to challenges by killing people?

Meditation from St. Ambrose Books on the Death of His Brother

A good priest over the weekend suggested I read the two books of St. Ambrose on The Death of Satyrus. Obviously, from the text, Ambrose had a great love for his brother.

But the section recommended to me is the one following: let us go through this together.

35. I die daily, 1 Corinthians 15:31 says the Apostle. Better certainly is this saying than theirs who said that meditation on death was true philosophy, for they praised the study, he exercised the practice of death. And they acted for themselves only, but Paul, himself perfect, died not for his own weakness but for ours. But what is meditation on death but a kind of separation of body and soul, for death itself is defined as nothing else than the separation of body and soul? But this is in accordance with common opinion.

First, Ambrose in true classical style notes that those who are reflective, the true philosophers, think about death and the sacrifice of some deaths. This is a good start. Then, the saint divides death into three parts.

The first is dying to sin but living in God. This happens when we turn from sin and an embrace immortal life over the here and now.

The soul is freed from the fetters of this world, the flesh, and the devil in choosing Christ and His Kingdom. We freely choose this. We choose to live in Christ and not in sin.

Ambrose calls this "spiritual death", when we die to those things which distract us from the Love of God and the Indwelling of the Trinity.

The second death is the real leaving of this world. We all have experienced someone dying in our lives and we understand the grief and separation this causes. We are forever changed in these losses.

36. But according to the Scriptures we have been taught that death is threefold. One death is when we die to sin, but live to God. Blessed, then, is that death which, escaping from sin, and devoted to God, separates us from what is mortal and consecrates us to Him Who is immortal. Another death is the departure from this life, as the patriarch Abraham died, and the patriarch David, and were buried with their fathers; when the soul is set free from the bonds of the body. The third death is that of which it is said: Leave the dead to bury their own dead. Matthew 8:22 In that death not only the flesh but also the soul dies, for the soul that sins, it shall die. Ezekiel 18:4 For it dies to the Lord, through the weakness not of nature but of guilt. But this death is not the discharge from this life, but a fall through error.

The third type is the most serious, that is another type of spiritual death, wherein one turns from the Truth to heresy and deceit. There are consequences in this last death and just as Adam lost all the preternatural gifts by sinning, so too, we are punished. Death was also a gift for the hard life which followed the loss of innocence and Eden. 

37. Spiritual death, then, is one thing, natural death another, a third the death of punishment. But that which is natural is not also penal, for the Lord did not inflict death as a penalty, but as a remedy. And to Adam when he sinned, one thing was appointed as a penalty, another for a remedy, when it was said: Because you have hearkened unto the voice of your wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which I had commanded you that of it alone you should not eat, cursed is the ground in your labor; in sorrow shall you eat its fruit all the days of your life. Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face shall you eat your bread, till thou return to the earth from which you were taken.

38. Here you have the days of rest from penalties, for they contain the punishment decreed against the thorns of this life, the cares of the world, and the pleasures of riches which shut out the Word. Death is given for a remedy, because it is the end of evils. For God said not, Because you have hearkened to the voice of the woman you shall return to the earth, for this would have been a penal sentence, as this one is, The earth under curse shall bring forth thorns and thistles to you; but He said:In sweat shall you eat your bread until thou return to the earth. You see that death is rather the goal of our penalties, by which an end is put to the course of this life.

Ambrose writes much more, but I am going to examine just a few more paragraphs.

39. So, then, death is not only not an evil, but is even a good thing. So that it is sought as a good, as it is written: Men shall seek death and shall not find it. Revelation 9:6 They will seek it who shall say to the mountains: Fall on us, and to the hills, Cover us. Luke 23:30 That soul, too, shall seek it which has sinned. That rich man lying in hell shall seek it, who wishes that his tongue should be cooled with the finger of Lazarus. Luke 16:24

Sometimes, death is a good thing. We know this from experience, but only God decides when one dies.

40. We see, then, that this death is a gain and life a penalty, so that Paul says: To me to live is Christ and to die is gain.Philippians 1:21 What is Christ but the death of the body, the breath of life? And so let us die with Him, that we may live with Him. Let there then be in us as it were a daily practice and inclination to dying, that by this separation from bodily desires, of which we have spoken, our soul may learn to withdraw itself, and, as it were placed on high, when earthly lusts cannot approach and attach it to themselves, may take upon herself the likeness of death, that she incur not the penalty of death. For the law of the flesh wars against the law of the mind, and makes it over to the law of error, as the Apostle has made known to us, saying:For I see a law of the flesh in my members warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity in the law ofsin. Romans 7:23 We are all attached, we all feel this; but we are not all delivered. And so a miserable man am I, unless I seek the remedy.

I have highlighted in bold the part I want to emphasize. Daily, we should be inclined to die, in some way. We can get into the habit of dying daily. This is the practice of the religious, who gives up his free will to his superior and follows a rule. This should be the way of the wife, who must defer to her husband at times, as when someone must defer, it should be her. In these ways, our wills are detached from things, people, places and events. One sees artwork showing saints looking at skulls. This is part of the habit of momento mori, the thinking of death. "Remember you will die."

Here are some of those paintings.

St. Jerome--Caravaggio and thanks Wiki

41. But what remedy? Who shall deliver me out of the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.Romans 7:24-25 We have a physician, let us use the remede. Our remedy is the grace of Christ, and the body of death is our body. Let us therefore be as strangers to our body, lest we be strangers to Christ. Though we are in the body, let us not follow the things which are of the body, let us not reject the rightful claims of nature, but desire before all the gifts of grace: For to be dissolved and to be with Christ is far better; yet to abide in the flesh is more needful for your sakes. Philippians 1:23-24

Again, we see that we can deny even what is natural to ourselves for the sake of holiness. The pagans and atheists do NOT understand this. They are dumbfounded that we would fast and abstain, or be chaste, or celibate.

Tintoretto--St. Mary Magdalen

Cornelius the Centurion by Trevisani

El Greco-Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata

One of my favorite paintings--The Ambassadors --Hans Holbein the Younger  and thanks Wiki

42. But this need is not the case of all, Lord Jesus; it is not so with me, who am profitable to none; for to me death is a gain, that I may sin no more. To die is gain to me, who, in the very treatise in which I comfort others, am incited as it were by an intense impulse to the longing for my lost brother, since it suffers me not to forget him. Now I love him more, and long for him more intensely. I long for him when I speak, I long for him when I read again what I have written, and I think that I am more impelled to write this, that I may not ever be without the recollection of him. And in this I am not acting contrary to Scripture, but I am of the same mind with Scripture, that I may grieve with more patience, and long with greater intensity.

I like the idea of patience here. For me, this is the hardest thing to do--to wait for whatever and many times in my life I have made mistakes because of impatience and not waiting.

43. You have caused me, my brother, not to fear death, and I only would that my life might die with yours! This Balaam wished for as the greatest good for himself, when, inspired by the spirit of prophecy, he said: Let my soul die in the souls of the righteous, and let my seed be like the seed of them. And in truth he wished this according to the spirit of prophecy, for as he saw the rising of Christ, so also he saw His triumph, he saw His death, but saw also in Him the everlasting resurrection of men, and therefore feared not to die as he was to rise again. Let not then my soul die in sin, nor admit sin into itself, but let it die in the soul of the righteous, that it may receive his righteousness. Then, too, he who dies in Christ is made a partaker of His gracein the Font.

Ambrose reminds us to look towards the Resurrection. The reference to Baptism is key. In Baptism we receive new life and are born again in Christ, given eternal life as a pledge of our inheritance as children of God.

We must be baptised to be saved. And the baptismal rite is a dying to self efficacious act of removing eternal death and giving us eternal life.

44.Death is not, then, an object of dread, nor bitter to those in need, nor too bitter to the rich, nor unkind to the old, nor a mark of cowardice to the brave, nor everlasting to the faithful nor unexpected to the wise. For how many have consecrated their life by the renown of their death alone, how many have been ashamed to live, and have found death a gain! We have read how often by the death of one great nations have been delivered; the armies of the enemy have been put to flight by the death of the general, who had been unable to conquer them when alive.

There are many ways to consecrate one's life to death. Think on this.

45. By the death of martyrs religion has been defended, faith increased, the Church strengthened; the dead have conquered, the persecutors have been overcome. And so we celebrate the death of those of whose lives we are ignorant. So, too, Davidrejoiced in prophecy at the departure of his own soul, saying: Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. He esteemed death better than life. The death itself of the martyrs is the prize of their life. And again, by the death of those at variance hatred is put an end to.

http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/34032.htm

Our Lady of Fatima, Pray for Us

In the face of false visions and confusion, let us pray to Our Lady of Fatima, for wisdom and obedience.

For strong leaders in the Church. For the laity and for priests.  Pope Benedict XVI at Fatima in 2010 said "it is a profound consolation to know that you are crowned not only with the silver and gold of our joys and hopes, but also with the 'bullet' of our anxieties and sufferings"

A Real Warning to Well-Intentioned Catholic Charismatics

Last year when I was in Walsingham for three months, I met many Catholic charismatics. One of the things I noticed was that they were using regularly the long version of the "Prayer Against Satan and Rebellious Angels Published by Order of H. H. Pope Leo XIII.

I mentioned to some of those I met that this prayer was not to be used in meetings. I was rebuked. I also came to realize this prayer is not to be used except by priests and not by the laity.

This is a warning via an excellent priest who confirmed my suspicions that this prayer is dangerous if used incorrectly.

What do I mean?

Demons and especially Satan himself, a person albeit spirit, is highly intelligent, more than all of us.

They literally watch us over the years, learn our weaknesses and prey upon those.

They cannot read our minds but these spirits can watch, wait and tempt.

When we say prayers against them and we are not holy, are not fasting, are not disciplined or AND THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT POINT, not under the diocesan authority of the bishop with regard to exorcisms, we are actually calling down these beings into our own homes and persons.

I know this from this wise priest and from others who have had personal experience of attempting to address demons without the authority of the Church.

What I have seen is this. When those who use this prayer continue to do so, they fall into deceit and heresy.

Period.

Weakness leads to disobedience and ignorance leads to disobedience.

Disobedience leads to heresy and the loss of one's soul.

Please do not use this prayer and correct those who are using it.

Blogger and Commentator Fast--September 21st

Can we all organize a commentator and blogger fast day for America for this coming Friday, September 21st?

I am asking everyone to join me in this fast for a new president and a new America which puts God first.

I put up a poll on the side so that we can encourage one another.

I shall pledge my Friday as a day of fast and abstinence.

Please let us try and do this together. Where two or three are gathered in My Name..the promise of Christ.

Supertradmum

Meditations on Death

Because I am going to try a religious vocation,  I have been meditating on death for about two weeks. This is not new to me, as I have had three brushes with physical death in my life owing to several operations and the fact that I had deadly reactions to the anaesthetics, which my doctors had not anticipated (nor I). I also discovered I had problems with my blood, which lacks properties which interferes with clotting or coagulation. To make very long stories short, with cancer and complications of breathing, I faced death physically three times.

My only sister died two weeks before her first birthday.

My son almost died at birth, he stopped breathing five times in the womb, and of pneumonia when he was seven . One faces death in many ways.

Now, facing physical death in one's self is not as difficult as one may think. When I had cancer, I had to face all types of possibilities, but I can honestly say that the entire time, after the initial shock, was like being on a retreat. God was very close to me during the entire process. Some other women with whom I have spoken have said the same thing. If we are open to God, He is there.

At this time, I am facing several different "deaths". All mothers experience death of a sort when their children finally leave the nest. I first faced that when my son went away to college. I cried all the way home in the car from the airport. Now that he is in the seminary, there is another type of death. But, he has always belonged to God , although he was loaned to me for a short time for God's glory.

Most parents state that the happiest times of their lives were the raising of their children. And, so do I. Having and raising a child is sheer joy.

Another type of death has to do with giving up the following. I have had to give up dreams of success in the world, not for monetary gain, but for my own satisfaction of a completion of years of study and research.  High academic success would have been nice.

I have died to my own imagination. We can image all types of things we want to do or have, such as a peaceful,comfortable family life and, as in my case, as I have written hundreds of poem, dozens of plays, short stories and children's stories, artistic success. I have published only a smidgen of what I have produced over the years. This is a type of death, as each poem, each story is like a child of the imagination, waiting to go out into the world and stand up on his own. When this does not happen, the creative process is incomplete. That is a type of death.

When I give up what I want, either in the imagination, or in physical things, something happens. When I cooperate with the Cross, something happens. That happening is called freedom.

Almost two years ago, I downsized. Thankfully, before the downturn previous to that, I sold my house. I then, slowly but surely, divested myself of probably six thousand books, twenty plus years of teaching materials and notes, home schooling notes and aids, RCIA stuff, catechetical materials and material items, such as furniture and all the necessary items for a well-run, orderly, attractive, Midwest home until, finally, by March, 2011, I had passed on most of the things I had accumulated over many years of life. I sold my car.

God put people in my life who wanted and needed my things.

I do not miss any of it.

Dying by stages, I think, is easier than all at once. But, how can I tell? A friend of mine's husband, and also one of my uncles died walking the dog and on the way to meet friends on a Sunday afternoon.

These two men passed away, like a third friend of mine who died in his sleep, so quickly that their spouses had to take time to adjust. Some marriages end in death and some in separation, which can be a death.

Financial set-backs, which I and many Americans have experienced in these years, is another type of death. We think money and things give us freedom. It is just the opposite. Financial "downsizing" destroys pride and prejudice.

Some women cry at weddings as well as at funerals. A wedding is a joyous occasion, but it also a death-of independence, of other choices, of one's own will. We instinctively know that a choice closes other options. But, in that choice is freedom.

We are called to die daily in some ways. Perhaps it is in being patient; one of my worst faults is impatience. Impatience is pride and insecurity combined. Only God can help us die to ourselves in sins and imperfections. Only God can heal us. Patience brings healing and renewal.

If we look at the Passion and Death of Christ, we should notice something. His Resurrected Body holds the stigmata. Why? Because death changes us. Christ allowed Himself to die and He is in glory with the marks of His Wounds. We are never the same after deaths or Death. Even our crosses mark us.

As Christians, we are marked with the sign of the Cross. That is our badge of honour.

If we allow God to love us as He wants to do, we are free.

But, without the letting go, without the will to die to our own will, there is no chance for holiness.

And, only the holy see God.

One of my favourite passages of Scripture is this from Matthew 11:12:

And from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away. 

It is the violence of the Cross, whether it be cancer or the empty nest, or failure or unrequited love, which creates the Kingdom of God within us. There is no other way.

To be continued.....

Just a note on reading highlighted articles

Just a note. I have listed several articles below which are worth reading. I know my readers are busy, but I am selective in highlighting commentaries here. Please go back over the past week and read those journalists who have figured out the truth of the present violent situations. Some Catholics have understood this, especially as we have a feast on September 12th. And, of course, articles are linked on the titles and words highlighted in colour. From the 11th on, please take time to put together the threads on this blog.

Navies to the Gulf

Thanks to Wiki and check out this info  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Response_Force_Task_Group 

This is in yesterday's Telegraph.

I hope people are paying attention to the news. Go to confession, stay in the state of grace, pray for real peace. 

Battleships, aircraft carriers, minesweepers and submarines from 25 nations are converging on the strategically important Strait of Hormuz in an unprecedented show of force as Israel and Iran move towards the brink of war.

Western leaders are convinced that Iran will retaliate to any attack by attempting to mine or blockade the shipping lane through which passes around 18 million barrels of oil every day, approximately 35 per cent of the world’s petroleum traded by sea.

A blockade would have a catastrophic effect on the fragile economies of Britain, Europe the United States and Japan, all of which rely heavily on oil and gas supplies from the Gulf.

The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world’s most congested international waterways. It is only 21 miles wide at its narrowest point and is bordered by the Iranian coast to the north and the United Arab Emirates to the south.

In preparation for any pre-emptive or retaliatory action by Iran, warships from more than 25 countries, including the United States, Britain, France, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, will today begin an annual 12-day exercise.

Acton Institute on Rules for Radicals for Dummies

A famous priest blogger gave me the heads up yesterday on this excellent site. Take time to read and to listen about this subject more, please. What I had known, I had learned from experience in my college days. Now, more experts are warning us of the Alinksy (and may I add Gramsci) dangers in local politics across the United States. A bit late, but better late than never...I hope. I am not going into personal history here, but I narrowly escaped working in and with these Alinsky guys in Chicago in 1971. Many of us were saved by God from falling into soul-destroying error.

I do not know if we can stem the tide and the influence in the Catholic Church in America and in our grass roots politics. Please listen to the entire tape. It is not long.

http://blog.acton.org/archives/16800-acton-lecture-series-alinsky-for-dummies-2.html

We’re posting the audio from Mr. Joseph Morris’ excellent May 6 Acton Lecture Series presentation, Alinsky for Dummies: His Persistent Influence and Its Meaning for American Society and Politics. As Lord Acton warned that power corrupts, Saul Alinsky— the father of modern “community organizing” — rejoiced that corruption empowers.

Saul Alinsky

As Morris pointed out, decades after Alinsky’s death his ideas and teaching continue to shape the American political and social landscape. Barack Obama’s first job in Chicago was as an “organizer” for an Alinsky group; Hillary Clinton’s undergraduate thesis was written on Alinsky’s precepts; contemporary organizations from the notorious ACORN to the Catholic-Church-supported United for Power and Justice are among Alinsky’s progeny. The lecture provided an overview of Alinksy’s thinking and showed how that thinking is applied in current events. Morris encouraged ALS attendees to read Alinsky’s short but seminal Rules for Radicals, widely available in inexpensive paperback editions.

An amazing link to 2009 and Father Mitch Pacwa

On Saul Alinsky

Sunday, August 02, 2009

http://insightscoop.typepad.com/2004/2009/08/fr-mitch-pacwa-on-the-sol-alinsky-style-of-community-organizing.html

Fr. Mitch Pacwa on the "Sol Alinsky style of community organizing"

This most recent newsletter from Fr. Mitch Pacwa, S.J., received this morning, has some interesting historical infomation, some frank talk, and some strong opinions:

 I recently became upset when Newsweek's "Without A Doubt" feature published an article by Kathleen Kennedy Townsend entitled, "Why Barack Obama represents American Catholics better than the pope does." She commend President Obama's "pragmatic approach to divisive policy" and his "social justice agenda." Meanwhile, she claims that the positions of the pope, the bishops and the pro-life activists do not. In fact, Townsend asserts that the Chicago community organizer president could teach the pope a lot about a Catholic approach to politics and the ability to listen to other people's points of view with empathy. Townsend continues her rant against the Church's teachings on various issues regarding human sexuality - contraception, abortion, homosexual unions and women priests, decrying the Church's unwillingness to listen to other points of view while ignoring the various documents on these issues which were written with an intent compassion for the people to whom they were addressed. Townsend shows no indication that she has listened to the Church's teachings on these topics, though the documents are easily acquired in print or on the Internet.

 I recognize the community organizer approach that Townsend commends in this piece. I learned Sol Alinsky style of community organizing as a novice in Chicago when President Obama was a little boy living in Jakarta, Indonesia. Mr. Tom Gaudette, an associate of Sol Alinsky, trained a number of us Jesuits. I was the youngest man in the group, and I was certainly not well developed in the practice of organizing, but I tried my best in COUP - the acronym for Community of United People - on Chicago's near West Side. Most of the folks were African Americans trying to get their public housing projects brought up to city codes; I especially made contact with the Mexican community near Racine and Taylor streets, a line of housing between Italian residents and the public housing projects. I was particularly drawn to work with a street gang, which saw a lot of gang fights in the year I worked there. In fact, I eventually had to leave the area after having seen a friend of mine killed: they made him kneel down and shot him through the head; they merely beat me up.

Despite the trauma, I never forgot the lessons I learned about Alinsky's community organizing. The key to starting an organization was to find an issue that united the people. The issue should be small enough to win a victory, but large enough to matter to the folks. Second, after choosing the issue we had to identify an enemy the community could recognize as the personification of the issue. Usually this was some politician or businessman. Third, an action had to be designed by which the people could attack the enemy and force his or her hand on the issue, thereby giving the folks a victory. That would motivate them to take on bigger and more important issues, while the leaders among the people could emerge. This was a means of bringing power to the people.

Townsend certainly understands these tactics, as does President Obama. Notice how she has focused on issues of human sexuality, since these concern the most intimate areas of any person's life. People feel these issues quite strongly, so it would be popular to take them on. Second, she identifies the enemies who personify the problem: the Pope, the bishops and the pro-life activists. She develops the strategy of making popular popes - John Paul II, who motivated Paul VI to promulgate Humani Vitae, which continued the age old Christian rejection of artificial birth control and abortion, and Benedict XVI, whom she portrays as a man sheltered within the Roman Curia who is more concerned with papal power than with love of the people. Her approach reminds me of the battle cries after Humani Vitae: "I don't want the pope in my bedroom." My response is: "You flatter yourself; he does not want to be in there, either. But the pope will insist that God is Lord of the sexual realm, including everyone's bedroom."

Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, President Barack Hussein Obama, and a number of others will arise to make the pope and bishops into our enemies. This will be especially important as the politicians begin pushing the end of life and the prevention of life as money saving programs in the health care proposals. Already Speaker Nancy Pelosi has proposed three hundred million dollars for condoms as a part of this congress' first stimulus bill - a rather odd idea for a bill focused on stimulating the economy. However, her reason was to prevent births as a money saver for the states. That is one of the ways she sees the birth of children. There will be many more proposals for taxpayer funding of abortions and euthanasia, since early infancy and end of life are the most expensive periods in regard to health care. The proposed health care bill in the House of Representatives will require the elderly to consult with their doctors every five years about alternatives to long term care. The doctors may be required to inform the elderly about assisted suicide, or at least the need to refrain from long term, expensive procedures. "Grandma may just need to take a pain pill," President Obama told us in a town meeting recently.

Of course, Kennedy Townsend and Obama want to make the pope and bishops into our enemies. I, however, ask why? Do the politicians fear the Magisterium's authority to teach us the holiness of human sexuality, the sacredness of Matrimony, or the sanctity of the right to life which comes from God our Creator and never from the state? Do they fear the goodness of our popes or the deep joy in Jesus Christ which radiates from their eyes, attracting many people to the Catholic Church? Do they fear a solid Catholic critique of their proposals to use death of the unborn and elderly or the prevention of new life as a solution to their inability to pay for all of the medical care they have promised but cannot deliver without eliminating the most vulnerable people who might need care?

Let us not fall for the Alinsky tricks of letting community organizers set up our enemies. These organizers try to stay in the background, manipulating the folks to go after an enemy. We Catholics will do well to stand shoulder to shoulder with our pope and bishops as we move forward in history to promote life and love, all the way to heaven. Those who sow division between us and our leaders will march to their own chosen destinations.

In Christ Jesus,

Fr. Mitch Pacwa, S.J.

Thanks to new friends online. And, also an update on Ms. Kennedy which is quite to the point as well.
http://townhall.com/columnists/billoreilly/2012/09/15/losing_your_religion

Revisionist history hits the crusades....

Language reveals the honesty or dishonesty of definitions. Revisionist history changes definitions.

Today, in a news article, I read about the "European wars" of 1,000 years ago, which most people would call the invasion of Catholic countries by Muslims. Since when are these "European wars"?

Timeline and reality check: Judaism established about 2,000 B.C. Catholicism established 30 A.D. Islam established 622 A. D.

And in Australia? One of the few reports of violence today came from Australia, where 200 protesters clashed with riot police outside the U.S. consulate in Sydney. Demonstrators chanted "Obama, Obama, we love Osama" and waved signs declaring, "Behead all those who insult the Prophet."

The Papal Visit in Lebanon

Sadly, I cannot show photos of the Pope in Lebanon, as most belong to Getty, the company which does not allow bloggers to use its photos.

I have not heard much today about the visit. The British media has basically ignored the events of Pope Benedict's short trip. There is a very short video on the main news site for the world news and I could not find an article.

Keep praying for him and his staff. The Christians left in Lebanon are part of the most ancient group in the world. I am sure the Pope's presence is giving hope to all.

Long memories, long hatred

Just repeat after me: it is not the movie which caused the riots.

And a third article from yet another honest reporter on the subject to add to those listed below.

http://townhall.com/columnists/carolineglick/2012/09/15/the_reign_of_imagination

From Newsmax: Marines Killed on Harry's Base

Two U.S. Marines were killed and other Americans were wounded on Friday during a Taliban attack on a base in southern Afghanistan where Britain's Prince Harry is stationed, U.S. officials told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
A spokesman for NATO-led forces in Afghanistan said Harry was on the base at the time of the attack but was unharmed.
"Prince Harry was never in any danger," spokesman Martyn Crighton said, adding that the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) would investigate whether his presence on the base had motivated the attack.
The attack involved rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and small-arms fire, with insurgents breaching the perimeter of Camp Bastion in volatile Helmand province, U.S. officials said.
Crighton declined to offer that level of detail or give the nationalities of the victims. Crighton also did not say precisely how many people were wounded in the attack.
Earlier this week, the Afghan Taliban said they were doing everything in their power to either kill or kidnap Queen Elizabeth's grandson in what they dubbed their "Harry Operations."
Crighton said ISAF would investigate whether his presence on the base had motivated the attack.


Read more on Newsmax.com: Two US Marines Killed in Taliban Attack on Prince Harry Base 

Well, one brave person is not afraid of the truth...and now another

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/09/13/mrs-clinton-and-mr-obama-it-time-to-wake-up-and-smell-global-jihad/

Christian Whiton has a timely and necessary article online yesterday. I do not know why it has taken 11 years for intelligent commentary to come out of the closet.

and another brave soul.....update

http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/video-didn-t-do-it_652387.html

Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows

Our Lady Mary, pray for us all, here in Europe and in America especially.

On a famous apostate....

Thanks to Wiki

In order to become a Muslim, one must denounce Jesus Christ as God. This is serious if one has been raised and lived as a Catholic.

One excommunicates one's self from the Catholic Church, obviously, and separates one's self from the Triune God.

Liam Neeson is thinking about this seriously. Pray for him.

The Catholic Church was directly established by Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity.

The Incarnate God died for our sins. We are redeemed from everlasting death by His Passion and Death on the Cross. The Resurrection is the assurance of our own resurrection from the dead.

Christ, the Mediator, Priest, Victim and Sacrifice for us may be denied by an actor who still may be in mourning for his wife who died so tragically.

Islam is a man-made religion. Why would one give up the religion of God's establishment for that of a man?

Pray for him and others. Without Christ, we are not saved. Without the sacraments of the Church, we have no access to sanctifying grace.

The heresies of relativism and eirenism tells us that there is no difference in religions-that they are all equally good and that differences should be overlooked for the sake of unity. Not so.

Our duty as baptised Catholics is to evangelize the world and bring the good news of freedom from sin and death to humankind.

Pray, reflect, act. And look at yesterday's posts as well, please.

I heard a fantastic sermon today on the Cross

It was not given by my PP. A little, almost tiny Benedictine portress told me today that the Cross is always with us. She did a little "street drama" in the receiving room of the monastery. She told me that if we look left, the Cross is there, and she turned to the left. "And, if the Cross is here," she said facing the right, "the Cross is there as well." She put her hands out as well each time. Her face was lit up with the love of Christ.

She continued, "As long as we are with Christ, nothing matters."

One of the best sermons I have ever heard on the Cross in our lives...

God chooses our Cross for us. We cannot escape it, but therein is His Love.

A pot of basil

Father Z reminded us to get basil blessed today and go to his blog for a great history of that custom. I got the communal pot of basil blessed this morning.  In the meantime, I share here one of my favourite paintings of William Holman Hunt, Isabella and the Pot of Basil, which is connected to a poem of John Keat's and an ancient story from Boccaccio's The Decameron, (IV, 5), which is you have not read either, you should.

A Relic of the True Cross

As I mentioned below, this day is special to me. At Notre Dame University, in the Basilica, there is a relic of the True Cross which we would honour today on the patronal feast of the order.

Today, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the Church where I attended Mass has a relic of the True Cross. The congregation honoured this after Mass by going up and kissing the fantastically beautiful reliquary.

I did not get a very detailed look at the three relics which are in the smallish hand-held reliquary, but three different pieces of something are there. Only one has a label and that was the small piece of the Cross. The other two relics, beneath one another in the gold and silver cross which is about twelve inches long and maybe eight across, did not have label that I could see, but one was not wood.

I wish I could have examined it longer.

The sacristan told me the Oblates of St. Charles, who built the Church and were the order of secular priests, (which included Cardinal Vaughan and earlier, one of the founders, Cardinal Manning), given the relics.

The original donor of the church, an English woman, first had the small chapel on the right hand side built as a chapel to St. Helena. That little chapel is beautiful, with symbols of the Crucifixion, carved angels, and two windows, one of St. Mary Magdalene and one of St. Helena. The donor, I was told, wanted the entire church to be dedicated to St. Helena, but it was dedicated to St. Mary of the Angels instead. The little chapel is a mishmash of foci, which is disconcerting to one with an aesthetic eye. There are two non-matching statues which are life-size of St. Joan of Arc and St. Therese of Lisieux and a large cheap poster of the Divine Mercy. On the side in a large niche, is a little statue of The Infant of Prague. The entire thing needs to be re-done.

The donor is buried in the church in the Lady Chapel in the left aisle. I have not seen the archives, but some parishioners talked to me about the history.

How wonderful that such things are in England, the Dowry of Mary. May Mary bring this country back to the one, true religion, through the Cross of Christ, to Rome.