Tuesday, 18 March 2014
Adding to your boycott list
Too bad about Samuel Adams, Heineken, and Guinness....the lines are being drawn, folks and you must boycott these products.
Sad days....http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/guinness-heineken-sam-adams-pull-sponsorship-of-st.-patrick-day-parades-ove
Join Catholic League all over the world, dear readers.
http://www.catholicleague.org/boycott-guinness-sam-adams-heineken/
Sad days....http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/guinness-heineken-sam-adams-pull-sponsorship-of-st.-patrick-day-parades-ove
Join Catholic League all over the world, dear readers.
http://www.catholicleague.org/boycott-guinness-sam-adams-heineken/
A Plea to Bishops and Priests
Dear Holy Bishops and Priests,
Every two weeks of so, as a Catholic blogger, people from around Europe and America asks me how to find an exorcist in their area.
50% of the dioceses in America have no priest-exorcist. A shortage in Great Britain causes many problems, and those priests who are exorcists in Europe, find themselves severely overworked.
The same is true here in the Midwest. One exorcist I know personally covers a seven state area, plus Canada. He even gets letters and emails from England. He needs to retire, as he is in his 80s, but there is no one to take his place.
I am begging priests to consider the call to become exorcists. I am begging bishops to appoint exorcists.
Holy Priests, If your bishop asks you to consider this, please say "yes". So many people are suffering from demonic obsession, oppression or even possession, with the increase in the occult and cults, even among children.
Dear Priests and Bishops, pray for exorcists, and pray that God would raise up more spiritual champions.
Thank you,
STM
Every two weeks of so, as a Catholic blogger, people from around Europe and America asks me how to find an exorcist in their area.
50% of the dioceses in America have no priest-exorcist. A shortage in Great Britain causes many problems, and those priests who are exorcists in Europe, find themselves severely overworked.
The same is true here in the Midwest. One exorcist I know personally covers a seven state area, plus Canada. He even gets letters and emails from England. He needs to retire, as he is in his 80s, but there is no one to take his place.
I am begging priests to consider the call to become exorcists. I am begging bishops to appoint exorcists.
Holy Priests, If your bishop asks you to consider this, please say "yes". So many people are suffering from demonic obsession, oppression or even possession, with the increase in the occult and cults, even among children.
Dear Priests and Bishops, pray for exorcists, and pray that God would raise up more spiritual champions.
Thank you,
STM
Showing The Evil of Common Core
http://clashdaily.com/2014/03/rotten-core-heres-best-video-explaining-common-core/
Every adult needs to watch this. Period. A person is tracked for the rest of his life, folks.
This is for the complete dumbing down of the populace to create sheep manipulated by a government.
This is the opposite of liberal arts, which the Catholic Church preserved for almost 1,600 years.
Any Catholic parent who sends his child to a state school is taking part in both child abuse and the communist manifesto of destroying individual thinking.
Every adult needs to watch this. Period. A person is tracked for the rest of his life, folks.
This is for the complete dumbing down of the populace to create sheep manipulated by a government.
This is the opposite of liberal arts, which the Catholic Church preserved for almost 1,600 years.
Any Catholic parent who sends his child to a state school is taking part in both child abuse and the communist manifesto of destroying individual thinking.
Perfection Series II: lx
Sunday, 24 March 2013
Post 102. Cyril of Jerusalem and Perfection: DoC series.
Repost
What a striking image this is from Cyril. That Christ was free among the dead. This refers to the harrowing of hell, the release of the just from what some theologians called limbo, not the same one as spoken in recent times.
Think on how Christ has raised you from the dead. Perfection begins in the realization that we are dead
without Christ and His grace. "He who was free among the dead".
Perfection Series II: lix
Sunday, 24 March 2013
Part 101: Doctors of the Church and Perfection-Cyril of Jerusalem
Repost
Link is here for more good stuff from Cyril. My comments in blue....
The soul is immortal, and all souls are alike both of men and women; for only the members of
the body are distinguished716. There is not a class of souls sinning by nature, and a class of
souls practising righteousness by nature717: but both act from choice, the substance of
their souls being of one kind only, and alike in all.
Sin is not inbred; sin is not a result of nature but free choice. We are not born doomed to die in sin.
On the contrary, this entire Holy Week is about Christ's Salvific Action of saving us and allowing us to
be restored as children of God and heirs of heaven.
But, this means that God's immutable laws are to be respected, not changed.
I know, however, that I am talking much, and that the time is already long: but what is more precious than salvation? Art thou not willing to take trouble in getting provisions for the way against the heretics?
And wilt thou not learn the bye-paths of the road, lest from ignorance thou fall down a
precipice? If thy teachers think it no small gain for thee to learn these things,
shouldest not thou the learner gladly receive the multitude of things told thee?
Perfection demands a mental, intellectual involvement in one's faith life. Ignorance is not an excuse.
21. The soul is self-governed: and though the devil can suggest, he has not the power to compel against the will.
Satan cannot make you do anything against your will. This is key. However, you and I must strengthen our wills. Weakness of will is a result of original sin and it is part of our duty to learn how to resist evil and choose perfection, day after day. Hell is not a necessary choice. This is so important to understand.
One chooses heaven or hell; imperfection or perfection.
He pictures to thee the thought of fornication: if thou wilt, thou acceptest it; if thou wilt not, thou
rejectest. For if thou wert a fornicator by necessity, then for what cause did God prepare hell?
If thou were a doer of righteousness by nature and not by will, wherefore did God prepare
crowns of ineffable glory? The sheep is gentle, but never was it crowned for its gentleness:
since its gentle quality belongs to it not from choice but by nature.
One cannot excuse one's self concerning sin.
To be continued...
Perfection Series LL: lviii
Saturday, 23 March 2013
Part 100: Doctors of the Church and Perfection-
Cyril of Jerusalem
Repost
I am looking at this Doctor's copious works on catechesis and the mystagogia. One of the things which
stands out in his writing is, thankfully, he insistence on seeking a life of perfection, but only after purification.
Cyril warns us of the dangers of this journey, as he knows that vice can look like virtue. He also, like all the
Doctors so far, emphasizes orthodoxy, which must be accepted by those wanting to enter the Kingdom of God.
Here is a snippet and my comments are in blue.
Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after
the rudiments of the world, &c.
1. Vice mimics virtue, and the tares strive to be thought wheat, growing like the wheat in
appearance, but being detected by good judges from the taste. The devil also transfigures
himself into an angel of light639; not that he may reascend to where he was, for having made his
heart hard as an anvil640, he has henceforth a will that cannot repent; but in order that he may
envelope those who are living an Angelic life in a mist of blindness, and a pestilent condition of
unbelief.
The devil is not obvious in his deceit. He is more than cunning, he is brilliant intellectually and
watches us for weaknesses. But, what does Cyril mean when he states that vice mimics virtue?
We see this daily in the false use of the words "love", "committment", "care" and so on with
regard to abortion, contraception, euthenasia and same-sex unions. Language is twisted to
seem virtuous when the ideals depart from Revelation and natural law.
Many wolves are going about in sheeps’ clothing641, their clothing being that of sheep, not so
their claws and teeth: but clad in their soft skin, and deceiving the innocent by their appearance, they shed upon them from their fangs the destructive poison of ungodliness. We have need therefore of
divine grace, and of a sober mind, and of eyes that see, lest from eating tares as wheat we
suffer harm from ignorance, and lest from taking the wolf to be a sheep we become his prey,
and from supposing the destroying Devil to be a beneficent Angel we be devoured: for, as the
Scripture saith, he goeth about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour642. This is the
cause of the Church’s admonitions, the cause of the present instructions, and of the lessons
which are read.
Grace, as defined and described in the mini-series of the last few days, is absolutely necessary.
And, grace is connected to the acceptance and belief in the doctrines of the Church.
2. For the method of godliness consists of these two things, pious doctrines, and
virtuous practice: and neither are the doctrines acceptable to God apart from good works, nor
does God accept the works which are not perfected with pious doctrines. For what profit is it,
to know well the doctrines concerning God, and yet to be a vile fornicator? And again,
what profit is it, to be nobly temperate, and an impious blasphemer? A most precious
possession therefore is the knowledge of doctrines: also there is need of a wakeful soul, since
there are many that make spoil through philosophy and vain deceit643.
Sadly, in this day of television and Internet evangelization, there are too many false prophets.
Men and women who claim to know God but support contraception or same-sex unions.
One must be always looking at preachers of all kinds with the eyes of Christ. If one is in a prayer
group which is not upholding the teachings of the Catholic Church and yet claims to be
spirit-filled, beware.
The Greeks on the one hand draw men away by their smooth tongue, for honey droppeth from
a harlot’s lips644: whereas they of the Circumcision deceive those who come to them by means
of the Divine Scriptures, which they miserably misinterpret though studying them from childhood
to old age645, and growing old in ignorance. But the children of heretics, by their good
words and smooth tongue, deceive the hearts of the innocent646, disguising with the
name of Christ as it were with honey the poisoned arrows647 of their impious doctrines:
concerning all of whom together the Lord saith, Take heed lest any man mislead you648.
This is the reason for the teaching of the Creed and for expositions upon it.
The road to perfection begins with the Creed.
To be continued....
Perfection Series II: lvii
Saturday, 23 March 2013
DoC and Perfection: Cyril of Jerusalem: Part 99
Repost
I usually do not think it necessary to relate any of the biographical details of the Doctors of the Church in this
series, but here are some fascinating details from here. Another interesting detail in Cyril's life was that he was
made a deacon at the age of twenty.
That Cyril, whether a native of Jerusalem or not, had passed a portion of his childhood there, is rendered probable by his allusions to the condition of the Holy Places before they were cleared and
adorned by Constantine and Helena. He seems to speak as an eye-witness of their former state,
when he says that a few years before the place of the Nativity at Bethlehem had been wooded2,
that the place where Christ was crucified and buried was a garden, of which traces were still
remaining3, that the wood of the Cross had been distributed to all nations4, and that before the decoration of the Holy Sepulchre by Constantine, there was a cleft or cave before the door of the
Sepulchre, hewn out of the
rock itself, but now no longer to be seen, because the outer cave had been cut away for the sake of the recent adornments5.
rock itself, but now no longer to be seen, because the outer cave had been cut away for the sake of the recent adornments5.
This work was undertaken by Constantine after the year 326 a.d.6; and if Cyril spoke from
remembrance of what he had himself seen, he could hardly have been less than ten or twelve years
old, and so must have been born not later, perhaps a few years earlier, than 315 a.d.
Perfection Series II: lvi
Thursday, 21 March 2013
Perfection and Reality
repost
be objective is to face reality honestly with integrity.
In this meantime, chew on this meaty statement from Garrigou-Lagrange on the use of our intellect, from his study
In this meantime, chew on this meaty statement from Garrigou-Lagrange on the use of our intellect, from his study
on reality. I am very concerned by the fact that so many people can only argue from feelings and perception and
not from logic. We have been given the capacity, the ability to use our intellect in matters of faith and morals. To do less is not to be an adult in the Faith.
A few days ago, I said I would write something on integrity, the connection to love and honesty.
Here is a beginning of this discussion.
CH 4. INTELLIGBLE BEING AND FIRST PRINCIPLES
St. Thomas, following Aristotle, teaches that the intelligible being, the intelligible reality, existing in sense objects
A few days ago, I said I would write something on integrity, the connection to love and honesty.
Here is a beginning of this discussion.
| REALITY—A Synthesis Of Thomistic Thought |
CH 4. INTELLIGBLE BEING AND FIRST PRINCIPLES
St. Thomas, following Aristotle, teaches that the intelligible being, the intelligible reality, existing in sense objects
is the first object of the first act of our intellect, i. e.: that apprehension which precedes the act of judging. Listen to his words: "The intellect's first act is to know being, reality, because an object is knowable only in the degree in which
it is actual. Hence being, entity, reality, is the first and proper object of understanding, just as sound is the first
object of hearing." [123] Now being, reality, is that which either exists (actual being) or can exist (possible being): "being is that whose act is to be." [124] Further, the being, the reality, which our intellect first understands, is not
the being of God, nor the being of the understanding subject, but the being, the reality, which exists in the sense world, "that which is grasped immediately by the intellect in the presence of a sense object." [125] Our intellect, indeed, is the lowest of all intelligences, to which corresponds, as proper and proportioned object, that intelligible reality existing in the world of sense. [126] Thus the child, knowing by sense, for example, the whiteness and
the sweetness of milk, comes to know by intellect the intelligible reality of this same sense object.
"By intellect he apprehends as reality that which by taste he apprehends as sweet." [127].
In the intelligible reality thus known, our intellect seizes at once its opposition to non-being, an opposition
In the intelligible reality thus known, our intellect seizes at once its opposition to non-being, an opposition
expressed by the principle of contradiction: Being is not non-being."By nature our intellect knows being and the immediate characteristics of being as being, out of which knowledge arises the understanding of first principles, of the principle, say, that affirmation and denial cannot coexist (opposition between being and
non-being): and other similar principles." [128] Here lies the point of departure in Thomistic realism.
Thus our intellect knows intelligible reality and its opposition to nothing, before it knows explicitly the distinction between me and non-me. By reflection on its own act of knowledge the intellect comes to know the existence of
Thus our intellect knows intelligible reality and its opposition to nothing, before it knows explicitly the distinction between me and non-me. By reflection on its own act of knowledge the intellect comes to know the existence of
that knowing act and its thinking subject. Next it comes to know the existence of this and that individual object, seized by the senses. [129] In intellective knowledge, the universal comes first; sense is restricted to the individual and particular.
If we do not use universals to apply to particulars, we may not be using the gift of Prudence.
A bit later, the writer notes this.
This limited moderate realism of Aristotle and Aquinas is in harmony with that natural, spontaneous knowledge
If we do not use universals to apply to particulars, we may not be using the gift of Prudence.
A bit later, the writer notes this.
This limited moderate realism of Aristotle and Aquinas is in harmony with that natural, spontaneous knowledge
which we call common sense. This harmony appears most clearly in the doctrine's insistence on the objective validity and scope of first principles, the object of our first intellectual apprehension. These principles are
laws, not of the spirit only, not mere logical laws, not laws merely experimental, restricted to phenomena,
but necessary and unlimited laws of being, objective laws of all reality, of all that is or can be.
There may be two generations of people who have no common sense, who cannot objectify. This is dangerous.
There may be two generations of people who have no common sense, who cannot objectify. This is dangerous.
Very.
Without the realization of the real world as separate from one's perceptions, a person cannot grow in perfection...
Without the realization of the real world as separate from one's perceptions, a person cannot grow in perfection...
this is the sin of the Pharisees-to persist in one's own reality after being faced with the Truth.
Why do people lie to themselves? For comfort? Out of fear?
To be continued...
'If your virtue goes no deeper than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never get into the
Why do people lie to themselves? For comfort? Out of fear?
To be continued...
Matthew 5:20-26
Jesus said to his disciples:
'If your virtue goes no deeper than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never get into the
kingdom of heaven.
'You have learnt how it was said to our ancestors:
You must not kill; and if anyone does kill he must answer for it before the court. But I say this to
You must not kill; and if anyone does kill he must answer for it before the court. But I say this to
you: anyone who is angry with his brother will answer for it before the court; if a man calls his
brother "Fool" he will answer for it before the Sanhedrin; and if a man calls him "Renegade"
he will answer for it in hell fire.
So then, if you are bringing your offering to the altar and there remember that your brother has
So then, if you are bringing your offering to the altar and there remember that your brother has
something against you, leave your offering there before the altar, go and be reconciled with your
brother first, and then come back and present your offering.
Come to terms with your opponent in good time while you are still on the way to the court with him,
or he may hand you over to the judge and the judge to the officer, a
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