The Divisions in the Church; the blind establishment vs. the prophets

Thousands of pro-life Catholics are following the scandal of the Obama invitation to the Al Smith Dinner. We are waiting for a comment from Cardinal Dolan, which has not happened, explaining this scandal, which is the same as the Notre Shame scandal. How can he explain an invitation? Many people have signed a petition to dis-invite POTUS to this fund-raiser for the Diocese of New York. As long as these types of public acceptance of the leader of the culture of death occur, Catholics will be confused and scandalized.

I have lost respect for some of the Catholic commentators who are supporting this bad and growing example of compromise in the elite group of those who do not represent me nor many good Catholics in America. I praise those commentators who have stood up against this invitation, and blatantly naive stand. And, as noted on this blog, the Democratic Party Platform now includes the support for civil unions. This is not rocket science....this dinner is playing into the hands of the pharisees.

May I add that I just found out today that the famous young priest, whose First Mass was a Tridentine Mass in the Archdiocese of New York, the photos of which went over the Net, was personally "reprimanded" after the fact by the same Church leader? The priest corrected did not tell me, but someone "close to the ground", as it were...What is going on? I do not understand either the invitation or the lack of support for the TLM by a so-called "conservative" bishop. One priest was ordained this year in that diocese and the establishment should be thrilled--instead, there is inside manipulation against the trend of young men who love the TLM. From Hamlet:

Horatio:
He waxes desperate with imagination.

Marcellus:
Let's follow. 'Tis not fit thus to obey him.

Horatio:
Have after. To what issue will this come?

Marcellus:
Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.

Horatio:
Heaven will direct it.

Marcellus:
Nay, let's follow him

The Strategy of Sport--Games for the Mind

My son was trying to explain to me how complicated rugby really is, as I said it just looked like very strong men pushing each other around in the mud and passing a weird football sideways. Now, son proclaims that the rules are difficult, and that those big muddy guys have to think strategically. Wow!

Now, I love cricket and am probably one of  a handful of American women who actually understand and can spot an LBW. Cricket and baseball appeal to me partly because of the statistics and the strategy. There is nothing more relaxing on a rainy afternoon at Lord's when one can sit with friends and discuss the really excellent off-spin bowlers of the past 40 years and how they have changed the game. Here is Peter Such on the subject:

When setting out to bowl off spin the first thing any bowler needs to consider is the outcome, what are you trying to achieve. 

In my mind the desired outcome was always the perfect off spin delivery.

What does the perfect off spin delivery look like? For me it has to do several things, drift away from the right handed batsman, drop in the air and spin back to hit the top of the off stump. This is not going to happen every time, but if you set out with this goal in mind you will have a far greater chance of success.

Having outlined the goal thought then needs to go into producing a consistently repeating action, one that maximises spin on the ball and gives the control required for success.

Saqlain Mushtaq

Never loose sight of the fact that you are a spin bowler not a slow bowler. You are trying to spin the ball; it just happens that your pace is slower than most other bowler’s. As a spin bowler, it is an insult to be referred to as a slow bowler. 

Spinning The Ball Hard

My first piece of advice to any spin bowler is to spin the ball as hard as possible at all times. By spinning the ball as hard as possible, it achieves the following results

Causes the ball to bite and spin off the pitch.

Gets the ball to drop in the air almost like top spin if you get your fingers over the top of the ball

Gets the ball to drift away in its flight path if you come round the side of the ball.

Now to rugby. I have seen two rugby games in person in my life and on both days the weather was atrocious. I have vague memories of drinking something warm out of a flask and having stadium blankets tucked about me and my friend.

I cannot remember noticing strategy, but here you are for some tips in case you end up watching a game. This is Tom Billups.

For example, a team receives a restart on their right hand touchline. Their strategy is to consolidate that kick, form a ruck, and execute a box kick with designated kick chasers. The best teams in the world all employ this as part of their patterns of play. In this example, there is a dozen generalized and position specific techniques that must be performed well for the tactic (box kicking the ball down field) to be successful. Although being successful at the technique level will not automatically assure the tactics will always prevail, it does provide the side with a fighting chance to achieve success in the team’s pattern of play.

When rugby is at its best, all fifteen players have a clear understanding of their team’s strategy, the tactics used to accomplish the strategy, and the techniques needed to fill the tactics. Players are encouraged to make their “in-the-moment decisions” with this overall pattern of play in mind.

When a team uses a pattern of play, with tactics and sound technique, it reminds me of one of my favorite rugby sayings: “Fifteen as One.”  

Spain vs. Rumania

I think I may have to learn some rugby rules...it sounds, happily, as complicated as cricket.

St. Maximilian Kolbe, Patron Saint of Political Prisoners

In the NO, the saint of the day is the famous St. Maxmilian Kolbe. More than his heroic death of dying for a man with a family at Auschwitz, to me, is his entire life spent in spreading the Gospel through his movement of the Army of Mary the Immaculate, called the Militia Immaculata, which he organized to fight Masonry. He had two doctorates, one is philosophy and one in theology.

 During his time as a student, he witnessed vehement demonstrations against Popes St. Pius X and Benedict XV in Rome during an anniversary celebration by the Freemasons. According to St. Maximilian,

They placed the black standard of the "Giordano Brunisti" under the windows of the Vatican. On this standard the archangel, St. Michael, was depicted lying under the feet of the triumphant Lucifer. At the same time, countless pamphlets were distributed to the people in which the Holy Father was attacked shamefully.

He made up a prayer to add to the prayer of the Miraculous Medal.

Oh Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. And for all those who do not have recourse to thee; especially the Masons and all those recommended to thee.

And, he was one of the first saints to realize the importance of media in spreading the Word of God.  Here is a link for more information from which the quotations have been taken. I suggest bloggers pray to him for protection and inspiration. 

May all who have family members or friends caught in Masonry ask for his intercession to break away from that anti-Catholic movement.

A Psalm for all my friends who need prayers...

Noli aemulari. An exhortation to despise this world; and the short prosperity of the wicked; and to trust in Providence.

[1] A psalm for David himself. Be not emulous of evildoers; nor envy them that work iniquity. [2] For they shall shortly wither away as grass, and as the green herbs shall quickly fall. [3] Trust in the Lord, and do good, and dwell in the land, and thou shalt be fed with its riches. [4] Delight in the Lord, and he will give thee the requests of thy heart. [5] Commit thy way to the Lord, and trust in him, and he will do it.

[6] And he will bring forth thy justice as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday. [7] Be subject to the Lord and pray to him Envy not the man who prospereth in his way; the man who doth unjust things. [8] Cease from anger, and leave rage; have no emulation to do evil. [9] For the evildoers shall be cut off: but they that wait upon the Lord shall inherit the land. [10] For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: and thou shalt seek his place, and shalt not find it.

[11] But the meek shall inherit the land, and shall delight in abundance of peace. [12] The sinner shall watch the just man: and shall gnash upon him with his teeth. [13] But the Lord shall laugh at him: for he foreseeth that his day shall come. [14] The wicked have drawn out the sword: they have bent their bow. To cast down the poor and needy, to kill the upright of heart. [15] Let their sword enter into their own hearts, and let their bow be broken.

[16] Better is a little to the just, than the great riches of the wicked. [17] For the arms of the wicked shall be broken in pieces; but the Lord strengtheneth the just. [18] The Lord knoweth the days of undefiled; and their inheritance shall be for ever. [19] They shall not be confounded in the evil time; and in the days of famine they shall be filled: [20] Because the wicked shall perish. And the enemies of the Lord, presently after they shall be honoured and exalted, shall come to nothing and vanish like smoke.

[21] The sinner shall borrow, and not pay again; but the just sheweth mercy and shall give. [22] For such as bless him shall inherit the land: but such as curse him shall perish. [23] With the Lord shall the steps of a man be directed, and he shall like well his way. [24] When he shall fall he shall not be bruised, for the Lord putteth his hand under him. [25] I have been young, and now am old; and I have not seen the just forsaken, nor his seed seeking bread.

[26] He sheweth mercy, and lendeth all the day long; and his seed shall be in blessing. [27] Decline from evil and do good, and dwell for ever and ever. [28] For the Lord loveth judgment, and will not forsake his saints: they shall be preserved for ever. The unjust shall be punished, and the seed of the wicked shall perish. [29] But the just shall inherit the land, and shall dwell therein for evermore. [30] The mouth of the just shall meditate wisdom: and his tongue shall speak judgment.

[31] The law of his God is in his heart, and his steps shall not be supplanted. [32] The wicked watcheth the just man, and seeketh to put him to death, [33] But the Lord will not leave in his hands; nor condemn him when he shall be judged. [34] Expect the Lord and keep his way: and he will exalt thee to inherit the land: when the sinners shall perish thou shalt see. [35] I have seen the wicked highly exalted, and lifted up like the cedars of Libanus.

[36] And I passed by, and lo, he was not: and I sought him and his place was not found. [37] Keep innocence, and behold justice: for there are remnants for the peaceable man. [38] But the unjust shall be destroyed together: the remnants of the wicked shall perish. [39] But the salvation of the just is from the Lord, and he is their protector in the time of trouble. [40] And the Lord will help them and deliver them: and he will rescue them from the wicked, and save them, because they have hoped in him.

On sincerity...and you will not believe the connections

Oh no, I cannot believe I heard someone say this in 2012. A "nice" person, who is a solid heretic, was described as being "sincere". Sincerity covers, for some, a multitude of sins.

Sincerity should mean that one merely expresses their own feelings and thoughts about something outwardly. However, what the cult of sincerity does not take into consideration is that those thoughts and feelings can be totally ludicrous, or worse, evil.

Satan is very sincere about his "non servum". How did we get to this adoration of the sincere person, the one who may be open, seemingly trustworthy and absolutely wrong?

The word came up in a discussion about someone who is a fundamentalist Islamist. He is sincere, apparently, in his beliefs that it is fine to kill for the sake of his god.  He is sincere if he thinks all Western women are "sluts" and can be treated as such, simply because these women are from the West. He is sincere in his desire to wipe Israel off the face of the earth. To the Muslim, religion is sincerity, which is actually stated in the hadith.

They were not commanded but that they should worship Allah sincerely and worship none but Him, and that they should perform prayer and pay Zakâh. That is the right religion.

[Sûrah Al-Bayyinah 98:5]

The Muslim must be sincere to religion, the book, the prophet, Allah, the teachers and other Muslims. That is written. Notice who is left out of this list.

Amazing. How did we get to this point? Another young person in his twenties told me that he liked this young woman because she was sincere. I asked what he meant by that. Apparently, she can show her feelings easily and openly. There is more to life than emotions and reactions to emotions.

Sadly, sincerity, which I thought had passed out of our culture with earnestness around 1899, is back "in " again as a virtue, which it is not. With earnestness, the Victorians love sincerity, as a left over from the Romantic era of poetry and art.

Aristotle meant something different in his definition. I have not read Nicomachean Ethics for about 5 years, but I need to get back to the fantastic book. Sincerity to the Greeks meant something similar to a state of thinking of one's self in balance, as in a measured objectivity of one's own character.

The word does not mean that anymore. May I quote Oscar Wilde on this subject: "A little sincerity is a dangerous thing and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal."

In Japanese, a member of my family tells me, makoto, or sincerity, is valued as being natural in one's behavior, and being one's self. This is tricky. As we are to put on the Mind of Christ, we are to be more and more like Him and less and less our selves, in that we die to our selves and are made a new creation in Christ.

In anime, Sailor Jupiter is Sincerity because of the kanji. Now, I am not a girl with long legs in short skirts fan, but I know some highly intelligent beings who love Sailor Moon and Sailor Jupiter. I shall stick to The Cat Returns, which is not sincere, just cute, or kawaii.

Christians do not list sincerity as a virtue. We speak of truth or veracity and simplicity, but not sincerity. As we believe that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life, all truth is to be found in Him and in His Church.

Go ahead and be sincere, but it will not lead you necessarily to eternal life.

Confusions on Love and Parenting

Many Americans have heard the phrase "tough love". Some people think it only has to do with working with at risk students, or something psychologists do.

Tough love should happen in families on a regular basis. The culture is forming our children, not the parents, and if parents do not take a strong stand against the culture, the souls of their children are at stake.

Who is to blame when children fall away? This is a hard question. If parents can put their hands on their hearts and say they educated their children in Catholic teaching, including the Ten Commandments, and if they lived the Faith in the home, then they have done their duty. But, as long as the child is at home and getting money from the parents, certain things can be demanded, as parents.

First, a parent has a right to say to an adult son or daughter living at home that they must attend Mass with the family. As long as one is in the home, one is a family member and not merely a "roomer".

Second, the Ten Commandments as the rule of the family must be followed by adult children living at home. This is simple to enforce. If an adult son or daughter insist on sinning consistently, mortally, they have chosen to not be in obedience to the parents in the parents' home. This could include joining in daily family prayer when time permits, and eating together.

Three, parents are refusing to be parents. They tolerate serious evils, such as homosexual behavior and addictions to pornography. A parent is not a victim to the adult child's decision.

Tough love sees the long picture, that of the immortal soul reaching heaven. If a parent does not cooperate with grace and the commandments of God in the raising of children, it is the parents' fault and God will judge accordingly. If an adult child is benefiting from life in the home, they must follow the religion of the house. If not, a parent has a right and duty to ask them to leave.

This is real love. Anything less is sentimentality and cooperating with serious sin. Parents, if you supporting an adult son or daughter, you have a right and duty to ask for obedience to God and yourselves, as that person is still "under" you and dependent on you.  Parents in the sacrament of Matrimony are given grace to raise their children.

Christ was obedient to Joseph and Mary until He left home. He has shown us the way.