Happy thoughts

There will be no interruptions in the postings over the next full week. So keep reading. I am thinking happy thoughts. And this is on the EWTN website from two weeks ago.

 "Occupy your minds with good thoughts, or the enemy will fill them with bad ones. Unoccupied, they cannot be."

   St Thomas More

"My sole occupation is love"--John of the Cross

St. John reminds us that we are not guaranteed the feeling or certainty of the Presence of the Bridegroom in our lives, but that does not mean that we give up on the quest. Absolutely not.

His second point as to the place where Christ rests and where God rests, is in the Trinity. The Indwelling of the Trinity in our hearts is the most ignored truth of our sacramental preparation.

Read on and ponder.http://www.ccel.org/ccel/john_cross/canticle.vii.html

The chief object of the soul in these words is not to ask only for that affective and sensible devotion, wherein there is no certainty or evidence of the possession of the Bridegroom in this life; but principally for that clear presence and vision of His Essence, of which it longs to be assured and satisfied in the next. This, too, was the object of the bride who, in the divine song desiring to be united to the Divinity of the Bridegroom Word, prayed to the Father, saying, “Show me where You feed, where You lie in the midday.”²² For to ask to be shown the place where He fed was to ask to be shown the Essence of the Divine Word, the Son; because the Father feeds nowhere else but in His only begotten Son, Who is the glory of the Father. In asking to be shown the place where He lies in the midday, was to ask for the same thing, because the Son is the sole delight of the Father, Who lies in no other place, and is comprehended by no other thing, but in and by His beloved Son, in Whom He reposes wholly, communicating to Him His whole Essence, in the “midday,” which is eternity, where the Father is ever begetting and the Son ever begotten...

5. This pasture, then, is the Bridegroom Word, where the Father feeds in infinite glory. He is also the bed of flowers whereupon He reposes with infinite delight of love, profoundly hidden from all mortal vision and every created thing... 

6. That the thirsty soul may find the Bridegroom, and be one with Him in the union of love in this life — so far as that is possible — and quench its thirst with that drink which it is possible to drink of at His hands in this life, it will be as well — since that is what the Soul asks of Him — that we should answer for Him, and point out the special spot where He is hidden, that He may be found there in that perfection and sweetness of which this life is capable, and that the soul may not begin to loiter uselessly in the footsteps of its companions...

7. We must remember that the Word, the Son of God, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, is hidden in essence and in presence, in the inmost being of the soul. That soul, therefore, that will find Him, must go out from all things in will and affection, and enter into the profoundest self-recollection, and all things must be to it as if they existed not...

Deny your will in all things....St. John of the Cross

Christ being born in a stable under a baldacchino

http://opusanglicanum.wordpress.com/2011/07/10/reykjahlid-antependium-update/

More from St. John of the Cross: this language may embarrass some Catholics. It is the language of God. That He calls us, each one, the Bride, is a revelation from the Holy Spirit. The Church is also the Bride.

Look at St. Peter's and the baldacchino.

The Italians know what the baldacchino is. It is the traditional covering of the marriage bed. The secret place of our hearts, as well. St. Bernard of Clairvaulx and St. John of the Cross understood this mystery of love and shared this with us. Here is more John of the Cross on his feast day.

Where have You hidden Yourself,

And abandoned me to my sorrow, O my Beloved!

You have fled like the hart,

Having wounded me.

I ran after You, crying; but You were gone.

You will still urge and say, How is it, then, that I find Him not, nor feel Him, if He is within my soul? It is because He is hidden, and because you hide not yourself also that you may find Him and feel Him; for he that will seek that which is hidden must enter secretly into the secret place where it is hidden, and when he finds it, he is himself hidden like the object of his search. Seeing, then, that the Bridegroom whom you love is “the treasure hidden in the field”²⁷ of your soul, for which the wise merchant gave all that he had, so you, if you will find Him, must forget all that is yours, withdraw from all created things, and hide yourself in the secret retreat of the spirit, shutting the door upon yourself — that is, denying your will in all things — and praying to your Father in secret.²⁸ Then you, being hidden with Him, will be conscious of His presence in secret, and will love Him, possess Him in secret, and delight in Him in secret, in a way that no tongue or language can express.

Courage, then, O soul most beautiful, you know now that your Beloved, Whom you desire, dwells hidden within your breast; strive, therefore, to be truly hidden with Him, and then you shall embrace Him, and be conscious of His presence with loving affection. Consider also that He bids you, by the mouth of Isaiah, to come to His secret hiding-place, saying, “Go, . . . enter into your chambers, shut your doors upon you”; that is, all your faculties, so that no created thing shall enter: “be hid a little for a moment,”²⁹ that is, for the moment of this mortal life; for if now during this life which is short, you will “with all watchfulness keep your heart,”³⁰ as the wise man says, God will most assuredly give you, as He has promised by the prophet Isaiah, “hidden treasures and mysteries of secrets.”³¹ The substance of these secrets is God Himself, for He is the substance of the faith, and the object of it, and the faith is the secret and the mystery. And when that which the faith conceals shall be revealed and made manifest, that is the perfection of God, as St. Paul says, “When that which is perfect is come,”³² then shall be revealed to the soul the substance and mysteries of these secrets.
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/john_cross/canticle.vii.html

The world's most expensive bed at 4 million pounds sterling

John of the Cross knew that one must give up everything for this mystery of love. Do not be afraid....

How do we make ourselves beautiful for God? For my sisters in Christ today

I have noticed, as a person getting older, that as the outer woman ages and decays, literally, the inner person grows stronger day by day.

St. Paul said this would happen, if we pay attention to the Life of the Holy Spirit within us.

Solitude would help. Silence at some point in the day is essential.

But, how does one become beautiful for God?

I was attractive as a youth. I weighed in between 98-108 pounds until I got pregnant and had my baby at 39. Before I was married and before I had baby, I was very conscious of my exterior person. Especially in graduate school, and when I was teaching, I kept up with the latest fashions.

When, I got married, baby and hubby came first. Thankfully, my husband did not like make-up and I did not need it. But, when I was young and single, I had the best.

All that time and energy and money spent on the outside person was wasted. Now, I see that if my priorities had been correct at an earlier age, my interior person would be stronger today.

The interior person is the Bride of Christ. How do we make ourselves beautiful for Christ? St. John of the Cross quotes the great St. Augustine. St. Augustine says: “I found You not without, O Lord; I sought You without in vain, for You are within,”

This makes it clear that the interior person must be beautified, purified, sanctified for the Bridegroom.

Do we not want to look our best for the one we love?

If I, at any time in my life, was going to meet someone I loved, I would spend extra time and money to look great for that person.

Christ is the Bridegroom. But here is the problem. We cannot make ourselves beautiful. The Bridegroom must make each one of us beautiful with His grace. 

Humility is coming to Christ in self-recollection and asking, humbly, for Him to make us beautiful. I pray daily for humility and purification. It is one prayer I shall not give up on until I am made beautiful for the One Whom I Love the most, Christ Jesus.

Only Christ can reveal to us our real beauty. Only He can create that beauty in us, the beauty willed by God for all eternity.

Only the perfect see God....to be continued.

The Advent Manger

My mother had the manger out in Advent. If we did a good deed for one of the siblings, or obeyed here quickly, or did a chore without her asking, we put a straw in the manger. The object was to make a soft bed for Baby Jesus.

If we sassed back, or were mean to a sibling, or were lax in doing our chores, we had to take the straw out.

We tried to make Baby Jesus's bed as comfortable as possible. And, if we were really good, a small blanket was placed on top of the straw bed. Jesus was put in his manger after we dressed up like Mary, Joseph and a few innkeepers. The Mary and Joseph would knock on a door and the innkeeper would say "no".  Then, finally, after walking about the house, Baby Jesus was put in His manger and we would sing a carol.

Try it, Moms.

Ah the French; a dying democracy

There are many American cemeteries in France. Thousands of the greatest generation died for freedom-democratic freedom.


That freedom is crumbling before our eyes in France.........

The socialist/Marxist camp has won.




http://www.france24.com/en/20121213-france-french-irrational-mittal-montebourg-steel-florange

Minister Montebourg verbally attacked Lakshmi Mittal, head of a huge steel business which employs 20,000 people in France. Here is part of the article. 

Speaking for the first time since Montebourg’s outburst, Mittal - Britain’s richest man - told French daily Le Figaro he was taken aback by the venom of the attack, which was all the more surprising given his significant investments in France.

“Of course I was shocked, by these words, even saddened. I would never have expected to hear something so irrational from a minister,” he said.

It was not just me, the whole world was surprised,” he said. “If a country like France, the fifth biggest economy in the world talks about natonalisation in this day and age, that’s a huge leap backwards.

"These kind of threats will make an investor maybe think twice before putting his money in France."

St. John of the Cross-happy feast day to all the Carmelites

“Where have You hidden Yourself?” “Show me where You feed, where You lie in the midday.”  

The Perfection Series on my blog owes so much to St. John of the Cross.

Today, on his great Carmelite feast, I quote him again. One line in the beginning of the stanas strikes me.

The soul asks Christ, who is hidden in the heart--"Where are You?" This everyone must ask of God in order to find Him. For the baptized, He is within. He must be found within the heart.

Only is solitude and silence can this be done. This is hard, but not impossible for the lay person

The second question is a line from the Song of Songs, a sentence on which St. Bernard writes several sermons, to which I shall return in the new year.

This second line, after “Where have You hidden Yourself?” “Show me where You feed, where You lie in the midday,”  may seem like a contradiction.

If we are asking God where He is and then say, where You feed and where you are at noon, we must have an idea where He is.

He is in a resting place, as noon is the time of the hot sun in the Middle East. At rest, but where? St. John of the Cross states, "in eternity". The noon day sun is at its peak and there are no shadows at noon. This is a sign of eternity. 

All is bright. But, if God is in eternity and in our hearts, can we not say, with St. John, that when we find Christ within us, we find eternal life?

The answer is, simply, yes....to be continued.

Only in London....

From The Tablet

David Cameron's faith and communities minister, Baroness Warsi, has expressed concern at the Coalition's proposed gay marriage legislation, saying it needs greater clarity and could lead to a string of "unintended consequences".

In a letter leaked to the Daily Mail, the former Conservative Party chairman asked Maria Miller, the Culture Secretary who unveiled the planned legislation earlier this week, how the proposed laws would protect religious freedom.

The Muslim peer, who attends Cabinet, also asked what legal advice the Government had received in relation to the compatibility of gay marriage legislation with "domestic and European law".

Lady Warsi, who held talks on the issue this week with Church of England leaders, asked: "What consideration has been given to the teaching of equal marriage in schools, both faith schools and non-faith schools?"

More than 100 Tory MPs are threatening to vote against the legislation in the New Year.

Multiple posting day

In the past few weeks, I have been taking advantage of the fact that I am in an Internet zone and not a dead zone.  Please take time to read all the posts. I do all of this for you.

Here is a cutie as a reminder of a big posting day...

Subjectivity, relativism, Satanism and anarchy

Last year, a baby Jesus was vandalized in Pennsylvania. The statue was made to look like Satan and had satanic symbols on the back of it. The anarchist symbol is clearly visible on the front. What strikes me about this situation is the complete logic of the connections between the hatred of religion, Satanism and anarchy.

I am truly, truly concerned about the Millennials. I am truly, truly concerned that if the youth of the West do not rise up and take the lead in converting others, we shall not only lose our culture and more so, our civilization, but lose the opportunity to catechize the entire world.

The horror of subjective thinking has created an entire generation of relativists who span the earth.

This is one reason why Islam is attractive. Relativism is a philosophical position based on materialistic views of life, history, philosophy. So is Islam.

But, I digress. Relativism and subjectivity has ruined the youths' ability to believe in critical thinking.

Many of these youth no longer believe in reason. They do not believe in free will, the soul, or reason. This is a serious development, planned by the social engineers from the 19th century who do not want a thinking public.

They have now got it. It some countries, this lack of the belief in man's ability to reason is completely gone, except for a few.

So many young people will go to hell because they do not believe in reason and free will.

Are you surprised at this statement?

On my blog and especially in the perfection series, I have said over and over that in order to become a saint, one must become objective. This is essential. If one cannot stand back and see one's own sin and the state of one's own soul, a person lacks the humility and impetus to come to God.

All the saints, as I have said many times, were objective. Subjectivity is the mind of evil-why?

Non servium. The real relativist cannot serve any laws, rules, or hierarchy outside of himself. The logical consequence of subjectivism is anarchy, but sadly, the real relativist cannot reason about consequences.

I am very concerned, not for myself, but for all of those whose subjectivity will lead them to moral anarchy.

One cannot argue with most relativists as they cannot think. They deny reason. They deny rational discourse.

Pray for these youth when you meet them. Their souls, which, with free will and reason, were made in the image and likeness of God.  They refuse that image and likeness. They are culpable in that they choose lifestyles which follow their subjectivity.

God never gives up on any of us. He pursues us until the last moments of our lives. He is Faithful. But, we have free will.

John the Baptist and Perfection

Today's Gospel in the NO is from Matthew 11:11-15.

11	Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has risen no one greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
12	From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and men of violence take it by force.
13	For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John;
14	and if you are willing to accept it, he is Eli'jah who is to come.
15	He who has ears to hear, let him hear. Those who follow this blog know that this passage is one of my favourites from the Scriptures. Last year, a Jesuit priest told me that he did not believe that John the Baptist was the greatest of men. This priest was contradicting Christ Himself. Christ is telling us who John and and what we are to become. Why did the Jesuit demean John? Because John was counter-cultural; he called people out of their comfort zones; he prepared the way for perfection. Repentance must come before perfection. John knew why he was on earth. To prepare people for the coming of Christ. His words used by the Church in Advent, allow us to see the depth of his love and commitment to Christ.  He is the Best Man to the Bridegroom.

My Meditation on the Crib and the Cross

From the earliest times in Catholicism, we have had artists and poets link the Crib to the Cross.

The entire reason for the Incarnation and the Birth of Our Lord is Christ's Redemptive Passion and Death, resulting in the Resurrection.

Christ in art in the Harrowing of Hell is shown taking up into Heaven our first parents. SS Adam and Eve await us there.  In the painting immediately below, St. Francis places a little Jesus in the manger under the Cross.

In the old days, the feast of Adam and Eve was celebrated on Christmas Eve, December 24th. The old collect was the same as the refrain during Holy Week. These three days may be connected in our minds. We hear this on Holy Saturday night in the Exsultet.

O happy fault,
O necessary sin of Adam,
which gained for us so great a Redeemer!

O certe necessárium Adæ peccátum,
quod Christi morte delétum est!
O felix culpa,
quæ talem ac tantum méruit habére Redemptórem!

In these very hard times, let us rejoice in suffering and accept the times as part of our own salvation.

Here is a quotation from LifeSiteNews


Totalitarian tactics by Western governments to advance a worldwide de-population, anti-life and anti-faith agenda are accelerating. This is very alarming to those of us who understand the implications of these developments....
There are still battles to be played out, but we know the final outcome. Our role it NOT to avoid the hard truths and the battles, but to engage with full confidence so that in the end our Maker will be able to say to each one of us, “Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into your reward.” LSN

How to help a relativist think....

One of the greatest problems in evangelising is knowing when to stop the metaphysical and epistemological arguments and go for the jugular.

I use the Socratic Method. I ask the non-believer what they do believe. They want to always tell me what they do not believe, but all non-believers believe in something.

It is rather easy to start a conversation using popular culture.

Example: the Sherlock series is very popular. The acting is above average and although there are some irritating photographic techniques, and the music is horrid, the interpretations of the stories have dramatic value. Some of the story-lines are based on the originals, but deviate quickly, which is fine.

The college bunch like Sherlock. So, my question to a bunch of relativists would be, "Why do you believe that murder is wrong and horrible, and even perhaps betraying your country is wrong?"

"If you do not believe that spying and betrayal are wrong, why do you watch the show?"

"Are Chinese gangs evil, as portrayed? Why do you think violence is wrong or right depending on who is being violent or receiving violence?"

Make the relativist begin to think that maybe there is a natural law.

Secondly, if they back off, it is because they are lazy thinkers. Help them along.

"Why do you like Sherlock?" OK, he is cool, (You can tell he is not an INTJ by the way as he needs to get a reaction.) and smart and always right, mostly. But, ask the relativist why it is important for Sherlock to be correct in his thinking. Another question could be "Why do you think Sherlock is a good guy and Moriarity is a bad guy?" Because one is psychotic...?

As I wrote in an earlier post in the past few days, too many people think that success means goodness. Hmmm.

The writers of Sherlock are a bit confused on the moral issues themselves, but that is another issue.

It is full of relativistic nonsense as one could see in the first series in 2010. Being gay is OK, as is fornication and nudity and sadism...well, almost.

The simple truth is that the relativist young person makes decisions daily on likes and dislikes based on moral principles which most young people do not realize they make.

Relativism is a moral stand.

Individualism is a moral stand.

So, even those who think they do not have opinions and do not want to foist them onto anyone else, do.

So, is it OK if a S/M flirts with the virginal Sherlock and he almost succumbs?  Or, is it OK that he lies to get to get a reaction? And, he needs to impress. Too bad-that is his weakness.

And don't tell me it is not a series of stories about murder mysteries and merely a "thriller". That is the Millennialist cop-out.

Natural law is always there, hidden or not...we just need to help these young ones pull it out of the dark cave of indifference, anti-intellectualism and sloth.

The real reason why people fall away from the Church, and youth raised in Ireland, who are call themselves atheists fall into that category, is usually not for rational reasons. Most likely, the person has decided to live with his girlfriend or be gay, or think that cheating on exams is fine. The intellectual arguments of a real intellectually convinced atheist are rare.

By the way, Sherlock thinks both logically and analogically. His going into his mind-palace is analogical thinking as the logical thinking has failed to solve the problem.  When I taught logic, I discovered that most girls in America thought analogically and most guys, logically. However, (I first taught college in 1979 and stopped in 2010 with a hiatus as a stay-at-home-mom in between there somewhere) that changed over the years. More and more men were thinking analogically. Sad. That is the creativity which depends on memory and associations of an excellent observer. Enough said....

DISCLAIMER: I am writing about secular humanists and not Catholics. The Catholic trad youth are logical and more so, as they are more traditional.

To tweet or not to tweet

On Father Z's blog, there is a poll on whether the Pope should tweet or not. I voted in the minority who said yes with zeal.

Americans may not realize the importance of tweeting to youth in Asia, Europe and the Middle East. That the media uses it consistently is one thing. That young people have as many as 800 contacts is another. I am not exaggerating when I say that tweeting seems to be getting much bigger than chat, way more than e-mail, which is the oldies way of communicating, and more popular than skype. Like facebook, twitter is the social networking mode. Texting is most common.

I have a problem in that most of my friends e-mail or chat or skype. However, tweeting is convenient. I do not use it much, as most of my friends do not use it. Bother.

The only real problems are my friends who only use the telephone. Maybe they have a mobile. That is a huge problem, as phoning from a mobile to a mobile in Europe is way more expensive than using skype or twitter.

Which is the reason why college students twitter or skype-these are cheap or free.

As to the Pope using twitter, you can look at my comment on Fr. Z where I listed the Popes who used radio, television and movies for the first time. But, here is the original link for information. Cool, huh? First Pope on film: Leo XIII in 1896. First pope to make a radio broadcast: Pius XI c. 1931. First pope to have a ‘full-length movie made about him: Pius XII in 1942 . First pope to speak on TV: Pius XII http://popes-and-papacy.com/wordpress/?p=2765

Wishes and The Christ Child

My ancestry on one side of the family is Moravian and Bohemian Catholic, in the Latin Rite, and I must share a story which my grandmother on the maternal side wrote for a newspaper competition years ago and it is a true story.

Writing has been a "thing" for at least four generations on that side.

When Grandma Ludmilla was a little girl, six, in 1906, she wanted a beautiful porcelain doll dressed like in silk and taffeta with a big hat.  In her family, no decorations were put up before Christmas. There was a large second living room, with the pocket doors leading to a foyer. Those doors were shut for days before Christmas and the children would not be allowed to enter the room.

It was being prepared for the Christ Child. Not Santa, but the Christ Child brought gifts to my Grandmother's generation of Catholics in the southern edge of the Midwest. The children would be excited and nervous.

If they were good, the Christ Child would bring gifts. If not, well...

Little Ludmilla, and Vasha, and Jara, and Vaclav and Mohimir and Bohumil were waiting, and being very good.

Then, on the morning of Christmas, Mama and Papa would open the pocket doors. The fairyland behind the doors had to come from Jesus. The tree was decorated with candles lit with real fire, ornaments from Germany and toys from Austria and Germany. There were bowls of fruits and candies.

But, most wonderful of all was Ludmilla's doll. I do not know what she named it, but I am going to say Marianne, which was a popular name at the time. Marianne was not only big, but beautiful, with real hair and all the trappings of an Edwardian lady.

Ludmilla, thrilled that Christ had brought her a doll had another surprise. There, in the corner, near the sideboard, was a new doll carriage with blankets and cushion. Marianne could go for a Christmas walk.

It was warm and where little Ludmilla lived, there was no snow. But her mother made her wear her coat. And a little coat for Marianne was produced, magically, to match Ludmilla's coat.

Outside, on the sidewalks of the city, Ludmilla pushed the carriage, but within minutes, the test of her young life occurred. There, on the pavement, were the neighbour children playing with old toys and wearing old clothes.

Ludmilla stopped. She knew the little girl. The family had little. Ludmilla stopped pushing Marianne. "What did you get for Christmas, Clara?" She asked, boldly. Clara answered, "Nothing,"and she looked at the doll.

Ludmilla immediately responded, "Here, take Marianne. I have other things." And Clara, quietly, but happily, took Marianne.

Ludmilla returned home in a short while without the carriage or the doll. Her father asked her where her new doll was and her mother looked at her searchingly. "I gave Marianne to Clara, for she has nothing for Christmas and I have so much."

Great-Grandma looked at Great-Grandpa. He took Ludmilla's little hand in his and said. "That was good, but you know, you will not get another doll." Ludmilla answered in a strong, determined voice. "I know."She realized that the Christ Child was back in heaven and would not come down for another year.

The family all went in to dinner.

This is a true story. My Grandmother died a long time ago, but her story lives on. Such is the power of memory and writing, and the beauty of a Catholic Christmas.






















There are several books I would like and I shall make a wish list soon. Several are by Robert Hugh Benson, including his Friendship of Christ, None Other Gods, and Bernard of Clairvaux's complete Sermons on the Song of Songs. I f anyone has any extra pennies in this hard year...

Blindness and Sin: between a rock and a hard place

Today, again, in a discussion with an excellent trad young man who is a med student, I asked why youth his age did not use the Internet to find out information about the Faith, which is so obvious. One of his friends was arguing a point of Eastern Church Canon Law which took me 23 minutes to find on line. The guy probably spends more time waiting in line and getting his daily latte.

That generation can text, tweet, use all the social networking available and yet cannot find out about basic questions concerning their own Catholic Faith. Infused knowledge is great and comes in prayer but, we must try and find out as much as our busy schedules allow concerning the doctrines of our own religion.

There is NO excuse, except sin.

If there is a block in my life concerning anything, there is probably sin hiding somewhere in my soul, mind, heart. It is not good enough for me to say, "I do not know where to look,"  "I do not have the interest," or "I do not have time," or, "It is too hard to be a Catholic."

It is harder to lose one's self for all eternity.

Begging God to show me my sin requires energy and time. It requires a harsh objectivity.

And from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away. Matthew 11:12 DR

Make your own coffee at home and use the Net to read the Divine Office daily, to check out the Catholic Encyclopaedia  and the Vatican website. I have given you the links on the names, guys. 

Sloth, by the way, is a sin. A serious sin, one of the Deadly Sins....we forget those. I did an examination of those in the perfection series. Here is one link-
http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.ie/2012/08/more-on-perfection-some-capital-sins.html

and you can follow the tags.  I have done all the work for you, kids!

Have a nice day!

Heads up from Fr. Ray Blakes's Blog

Statement on the government response to the same sex marriage consultation

Bishops Conference of England and Wales 

'The meaning of marriage matters. It derives that meaning from its function as the foundation of the family. The union of one man and one woman for love and mutual support and open to procreation has over the centuries formed a stable unit we call the family.
Marriage is the enduring public recognition of this commitment and has been rightly recognised as unique and worthy of legal protection. The government has chosen to ignore the views of over 600,000 people who signed a petition calling for the current definition of marriage to stay, and we are told legislation to change the definition of marriage will now come to Parliament. We strongly oppose such a Bill.
Furthermore, the process by which this has happened can only be described as shambolic. There was no electoral mandate in any manifesto; no mention in the Queen’s speech; no serious or thorough consultation through a Green or White paper, and a constant shifting of policy before even the government response to the consultation was published today.
We urge everyone who cares about upholding the meaning of marriage in civil law to make their views known to their MPs clearly, calmly and forcefully, and without impugning the motives of others. We urge all parties to ensure their Members have a free vote. It is not too late to stop this Bill.'

Thomas Aquinas in the Present Age of Nice

My generation was raised with more manners than the present youth. We knew how to act in various social settings. We were kind and considerate to the old and very young, women and babies.  But, we also knew when to speak clearly about truth and nonsense. Perfection does not come to those who are squeamish. I suggest a good look at this, unfortunately grainy take, from Jesus of Nazareth.

I published this article in January of this year, on the 9th, under the same title; and I am posting it again. It was part of the beginning of the series on Perfection.

I taught college in the late 70s and 80s, was a stay at home mom for many years, and went back into the classroom in the late 90s, until 2010. In a period of eleven years, the difference in the ability of the students to make decisions struck me as apocalyptic. Since 1996, when I re-entered academia, until 2010, when I left the classroom, my observations included the fact that my students has no moral framework from which to decide right or wrong. The heresy of relativism had changed two generations of minds, so that the rational ability to chose virtue over pleasure, depravity, sin was gone. Without reason, none of us can be truly virtuous. Thomas Aquinas in his sections on virtue in the Summa, notes that, natural reason perfected leads to virtue. Virtue cannot be developed or lived without the perfection of natural reason. Intellectual and moral virtues assumes, as we know in the teaching of the Catholic Church, an ability to reason, set usually at the age of seven. At that age, traditionally, children begin to establish a perception of good and evil, virtue and vice, which allows them to chose. Now, the passions come into play here, but that is not the emphasis of this post.

If a child is being raised in complete relativism, with no basis for judgement, such as the Ten Commandments, the Laws of the Church, the conscience will lack that reasonable ability which can be perfected. When was the last time you heard a sermon on the virtues and the life of virtue?

Knowledge leads to action, unless one lives in the knee-jerk world of the passions unbridled. Knowledge is partly built upon natural law, a concept denied by our Post-Modernist atheists and Christians. Revelation, that is the Old and New Testaments, builds on natural law, and the Tradition of the Catholic Church builds on Revelation. Reason is capable of absorbing these teachings, as we are rational beings. The monkey wrench in the machine is this "nice" attitude that all "values" are equal and that passions may be followed without rules-anarchy of the mind and will.

My former students on the whole did not have parents who raised them with any consequences or rules. Most of them were making up rules for relationships and life goals as they went along. Poor things. Like the Existentialist who sees life as pain because there is no meaning unless one creates that meaning, these young people just lurch from one idea of popular Post-Modernist narcissism to the next.

Our present Pope is the Pope of Reason, and he has written and spoken of the rational aspect of humanity, and the beauty of the overlap of reason and Faith-the pillars of the formation of a moral framework, leading to the perfection of reason, which is virtue.

Many arguments on line have been criticized for not being nice, or lacking tact.

My generation was raised with manners, but we never used this word "tact"to criticize strong feelings regarding heaven, hell, or the four last things.

Some Millenials do not want to hear the Truth unless is comes in a nice package. Here are a few quotations upon which to meditate for my young friends. I do not address you, but your teachers and priests in these phrases; consider the world in which we live and listen carefully. This is God speaking.

Thou blind Pharisee, first make clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, that the outside may become clean. Matthew 23:26

Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you are like to whited sepulchres, which outwardly appear to men beautiful, but within are full of dead men's bones, and of all filthiness. Matt. 23:27

Peer Pressure and Lot's Wife

If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town. I tell you the truth, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgement than for that town. --Matthew 10:14-15

Halite in Death Valley similar to the area of Sodom and Gomorrah--thanks to Wiki

Many commentators of the Bible in year's past have stated that Lot's wife was punished for desiring her old life. She was missing her friends, house, grieving for the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Some commentators state that she died from a lack of faith. She had to look.

 That Lot's wife was instantly turned into a pillar of salt means that she lost her salvation.

I think she was taken up by what we call peer pressure. What do I mean?

Let me start with analogous situations and a disclaimer. I was not ever attracted to the group or the gangs. I was a leader in college, and I was not attracted to peer pressure even in high school. Maybe it is because I am an INTJ. Maybe it was a grace. Maybe, like all in my family, I was so independent minded that to run with the crowd was never an option. Also, as a Catholic adult, I have had to stand up for my faith many, many times in many different venues. I am not afraid.

However, Lot's wife has intrigued me, as she was the only one in her family to look back. Lot and his daughters continued to follow the Angel to safety. One alone looked back.

Curiosity is a morbid feature, perhaps, of this true story from the Scriptures. But, why would a grown woman mourn over the justice of God on the day of ruin? Her mind and heart had been corrupted by the people with whom she lived.

She looked back in a false compassion, a false sense of sorrow. Now, this sounds harsh to those younger than myself. But, one must walk away from evil and peers who would bring you evil if you have spoken to them about the Truth and they refuse to listen. Why?

The Pillar of Lot's Wife in 

Your own soul is at stake.

Perhaps it is because so many young people do not come from large families and crave acceptance. Maybe only children or children with one other sibling feel the need for companionship to the point of giving in on their own morals and values.

America is a comformist society. But, the signs have been that the Millenials are less comformist. I have not seen this, in fact, the opposite. They conform in a different way-virtually, on line. And, they are reticent to discuss contentious subjects with each other. They do not want to rock the boat, as it were.

And, because of bad catechesis, too many do not know nor do they want to know the Faith.

Lot's wife was not converted. She did not think like God. She was conformed to Sodom and Gomorrah. That is the message of "looking back".

In Luke 17:32, Christ is speaking of the Day of the Lord, and He refers to Lot's Wife. He used her as an example of one who was damned. And, her sin could be that she longed to be with her friends, rather than with God's Truth.