Friday, 28 December 2012
CCC not me
Why is it that when I quote the CCC and the teachings of the Church clearly that some commentators get angry, with me? Odd.
Financial reading between the lines
I have been reading articles on the end of year financial data in Europe regarding unemployment and inflation, as well as new taxes in such countries as France.
What is interesting is the false cause and effect of so many of these articles.
The call of Mr. Béharel for youth and parents to think of blue collar jobs rather than white collar jobs is a joke when businesses which are blue collar are closing at an alarming rate.
http://www.france24.com/en/20121227-france-bleak-2013-battle-jobs-unemployment-hollande
The connection between the lack of the youth workforce, owing to years of contraception and abortion, and the aging groups needing socialist care is overlooked entirely. A top heavy population of older persons and the years of selective birthing is never mentioned by these pundits. Bad decisions regarding the radical left's desire for a socialist agenda are never examined. One cannot believe the naivete of the following statement:
France, of course, is not alone in the mire. Latest figures for the eurozone revealed record unemployment levels of 11.7 percent, with a total of 18.7 million out of work.
Although the situaton in France is nowhere near as dire as in Spain, where 26.2 percent of adults are out of work, it has placed the Socialist government under immense pressure after only seven months in office.
The government has not been helped by the fact that companies, including car giant PSA Peugot-Citroen, delayed the announcement of their much-feared redundancy plans until after last spring's elections.
Mass job cuts are expected to continue into 2013.
According to the country’s National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE), 75,000 jobs will be lost in the first six months of 2013, half of which will be in industry.
INSEE expects the unemployment rate to reach 10.9 percent by the middle of 2013, the highest rate since 1997.
Even in Great Britain, a country holding its own outside the eurozone, the concept of capitalism is criticized without thinking---that a free market, with some legal restrictions, can only create wealth is a discussion not seen at all in the press. I guess stealing is in and working is out.
I saw this is Eire recently, when youth and older people told me that working is not worth the effort. One can live comfortably on the dole. The shops in Dublin and other places are full of Poles and others who are willing to work for lower wages rather than not work at all. I got tired of hearing excuses from young people who have enough money on the dole to smoke and go to the pub on a regular basis. Then, the press decries the growth of depression among the youth. Hey, look at the cause and effect, journalists.
Europe has created a monster of a generation of anarchists who expect to be cared for without giving to the societies in which they live. There is a European Lost Generation, not merely because of high unemployment owing to bad socialist policies for years, high taxes and high inflation, but the irresponsible greed of the early 2000s boom times, when some businesses, such as construction, borrowed money without any long-term plan of paying back loans. Over 700,000 houses need to be sold in Spain alone, and house prices in Eire will plummet this coming year, as thousands of properties remain empty. In the meantime, social programs abound. Common sense is out the window, being pushed out by ideology.
As far as I know, Greece still does not have property taxes for any home owners in the entire country and yet demand that the other EU countries help it out of bankruptcy.
The entire situation reminds me of parents who complain how badly their children behave without any attempt to discipline them. Cause and effect....
Anarchy is popular because it takes away personal responsibility. That the movement is growing indicates that the narcissism of family planning and the entitlement mentality has created this monster of complete individualistic, non-communal concern. Cause and effect...no one writes about this. Why?
We Catholics know who the ultimate Anarchist is...he is a person and has a name. He, like his followers, refuses to serve none but himself. He is the enemy of mankind and the cause of chaos.
This cause and effect is never, never approaches in the secular or even religious press. Narcissism is satanic.
We Catholics know who the ultimate Anarchist is...he is a person and has a name. He, like his followers, refuses to serve none but himself. He is the enemy of mankind and the cause of chaos.
This cause and effect is never, never approaches in the secular or even religious press. Narcissism is satanic.
Feast of the Holy Innocents
Today is Childermas, the Feast of the Holy Innocents, who among all children, died for the sake of Christ. They have been honoured for centuries as those innocents who died because of Christ. Herod specifically wanted to kill Christ and those children died in place of the Christ Child, who was saved by Joseph's obedience to the angelic dream.
Again, in these sad times, one must make the distinction between victims of abortion and martyrs. On this day of the Holy Innocents, some pro-lifers want to canonize all those babies murdered by abortion.
This cannot be done. Baptism means something. Baptism takes away Original Sin and makes each one who is baptized a child of God.
We are not children of God without baptism. Here is part of the CCC on baptism:
THE CELEBRATION OF THE CHRISTIAN MYSTERY
SECTION TWO
THE SEVEN SACRAMENTS OF THE CHURCH
THE SEVEN SACRAMENTS OF THE CHURCH
CHAPTER ONE
THE SACRAMENTS OF CHRISTIAN INITIATION
THE SACRAMENTS OF CHRISTIAN INITIATION
ARTICLE 1
THE SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM
THE SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM
1213 Holy Baptism is the basis of the whole Christian life, the gateway to life in the Spirit (vitae spiritualis ianua),4 and the door which gives access to the other sacraments. Through Baptism we are freed from sin and reborn as sons of God; we become members of Christ, are incorporated into the Church and made sharers in her mission: "Baptism is the sacrament of regeneration through water in the word."5
1214 This sacrament is called Baptism, after the central rite by which it is carried out: to baptize (Greek baptizein) means to "plunge" or "immerse"; the "plunge" into the water symbolizes the catechumen's burial into Christ's death, from which he rises up by resurrection with him, as "a new creature."6
1215 This sacrament is also called "the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit," for it signifies and actually brings about the birth of water and the Spirit without which no one "can enter the kingdom of God."7
1216 "This bath is called enlightenment, because those who receive this [catechetical] instruction are enlightened in their understanding . . . ."8 Having received in Baptism the Word, "the true light that enlightens every man," the person baptized has been "enlightened," he becomes a "son of light," indeed, he becomes "light" himself:9
- Baptism is God's most beautiful and magnificent gift. . . .We call it gift, grace, anointing, enlightenment, garment of immortality, bath of rebirth, seal, and most precious gift. It is called gift because it is conferred on those who bring nothing of their own;grace since it is given even to the guilty; Baptism because sin is buried in the water; anointing for it is priestly and royal as are those who are anointed; enlightenment because it radiates light; clothing since it veils our shame; bath because it washes; and seal as it is our guard and the sign of God's Lordship.10
1217 In the liturgy of the Easter Vigil, during the blessing of the baptismal water, the Church solemnly commemorates the great events in salvation history that already prefigured the mystery of Baptism:
- Father, you give us grace through sacramental signs,
which tell us of the wonders of your unseen power.In Baptism we use your gift of water,
which you have made a rich symbol
of the grace you give us in this sacrament.11
1218 Since the beginning of the world, water, so humble and wonderful a creature, has been the source of life and fruitfulness. Sacred Scripture sees it as "overshadowed" by the Spirit of God:12
- At the very dawn of creation
your Spirit breathed on the waters,
making them the wellspring of all holiness.13
1219 The Church has seen in Noah's ark a prefiguring of salvation by Baptism, for by it "a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water":14
- The waters of the great flood
you made a sign of the waters of Baptism,
that make an end of sin and a new beginning of goodness.15
1220 If water springing up from the earth symbolizes life, the water of the sea is a symbol of death and so can represent the mystery of the cross. By this symbolism Baptism signifies communion with Christ's death.
1221 But above all, the crossing of the Red Sea, literally the liberation of Israel from the slavery of Egypt, announces the liberation wrought by Baptism:
- You freed the children of Abraham from the slavery of Pharaoh,
bringing them dry-shod through the waters of the Red Sea,
to be an image of the people set free in Baptism.16
1222 Finally, Baptism is prefigured in the crossing of the Jordan River by which the People of God received the gift of the land promised to Abraham's descendants, an image of eternal life. The promise of this blessed inheritance is fulfilled in the New Covenant.
A martyr may achieve holiness through baptism of blood and baptism of desire. But, a baby is not capable of making that decision, which is made for him at baptism by his parents and godparents. All of us at this time in history most likely have grandchildren or neices and nephews who are not baptized. This causes great suffering in the families.
1257 The Lord himself affirms that Baptism is necessary for salvation.60 He also commands his disciples to proclaim the Gospel to all nations and to baptize them.61 Baptism is necessary for salvation for those to whom the Gospel has been proclaimed and who have had the possibility of asking for this sacrament.62 The Church does not know of any means other than Baptism that assures entry into eternal beatitude; this is why she takes care not to neglect the mission she has received from the Lord to see that all who can be baptized are "reborn of water and the Spirit." God has bound salvation to the sacrament of Baptism, but he himself is not bound by his sacraments.
1258 The Church has always held the firm conviction that those who suffer death for the sake of the faith without having received Baptism are baptized by their death for and with Christ. This Baptism of blood, like thedesire for Baptism, brings about the fruits of Baptism without being a sacrament.
1259 For catechumens who die before their Baptism, their explicit desire to receive it, together with repentance for their sins, and charity, assures them the salvation that they were not able to receive through the sacrament.
1260 "Since Christ died for all, and since all men are in fact called to one and the same destiny, which is divine, we must hold that the Holy Spirit offers to all the possibility of being made partakers, in a way known to God, of the Paschal mystery."63 Every man who is ignorant of the Gospel of Christ and of his Church, but seeks the truth and does the will of God in accordance with his understanding of it, can be saved. It may be supposed that such persons would have desired Baptism explicitly if they had known its necessity.
We can hope, but hope only without knowing.
One gets sanctifying grace from the sacraments. There is no other way.
1261 As regards children who have died without Baptism, the Church can only entrust them to the mercy of God, as she does in her funeral rites for them. Indeed, the great mercy of God who desires that all men should be saved, and Jesus' tenderness toward children which caused him to say: "Let the children come to me, do not hinder them,"64 allow us to hope that there is a way of salvation for children who have died without Baptism. All the more urgent is the Church's call not to prevent little children coming to Christ through the gift of holy Baptism.
The grief and pain of siblings and sons and daughters falling away from the Faith is compounded by the fact that so many of these parents say "Let the children decide when they are older". These parents have forgotten their own great graces of growing up as children of God and living in a state of virtue.
Now, they deny these benefits to their own children.
Pray for vocations, please
 |
| Colwich Abbey Benedictines |
I hope to do a series on art and beauty, which I promised over a week ago, but I am bogged down mentally with the ideas of purification and perfection. I have seven diaries from being in the Monastery, which I cannot get to at this time, as I have been so busy. However, I can hopefully in the New Year get back on track.
Vacations seem to get more complicated and less relaxing. Perhaps it is because of my peripatetic lifestyle. But, writing for me is the product of hours of prayer and reading and I find the interaction with lovely guests is good, but not conducive to reflection.
One of the problems with the monasteries I have visited over the last two years is that the number of nuns is too small to accommodate the number of visitors and retreatants. The Benedictine Rule demands hospitality for anyone who drops in and I think that sometimes some of the laity do not realize that seven nuns, or five active ones and two old ones cannot take care of the needs. Bernard of Clairvaux had seven-hundred monks and lay brothers at the peak of the monastery's history, which allows for a steady stream of visitors.
We need more vocations to the religious life. There are two young ones in the Irish monastery, but they are from Nigeria. The newest one in London is from an African country as well.
Pray for vocations for monks, nuns and sisters.
We shall see monasteries closing in Europe.