Wednesday 2 July 2014
British Homeschoolers.
Posted by
Supertradmum
Please write to me on comments to let me know privately where there are good, strong Catholic home schooling groups.
Thanks, is important!
Thanks, is important!
From Kathy Sinnott
Posted by
Supertradmum
Archbishop after horrid attack |
In a solemn ceremony yesterday evening, Archbishop Andre Joseph Leonard, Primate of Belgium, consecrated the Belgian Provinces to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, celebrated Mass in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Brussels after which he led a holy hour of Eucharistic Adoration during which confession was available.
Unfortunately I could not understand his homily but I understand that
Archbp Leonard has a great devotion to the Mass and has especially promoted prayers and sacrifice to heal the hearts of men and woman through the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
He has been a courageous real leader in the areas of life, marriage and family and has attracted many to the priesthood and religious life by his witness to the priestly vocation.
The Archbishop has been viciously attacked in the media but also in person, food thrown at him, doused with water, etc. He just prays for his attackers.
I spoke to people at the consecration and they were all telling me of their love for this humble prelate and that he has been a great gift to the Church in Belgium
Pray for him.
God bless
More Hobby Lobby and Other Updates
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Supertradmum
Back to Basics
Posted by
Supertradmum
Garrigou-Lagrange reminds us of some basic truths:
Because God is intelligent and good, he gives all people the
grace of salvation. Natural law tends to a rational end. Our natural end is
heaven or hell, with rewards of punishments in the afterlife.
Whether people believe in the afterlife or not does not
change the truth. The problem with many Catholics is that they simply do not
believe. They have lost faith. They do not see that their lives have a purpose
in this life and in the next. They think all religions are the same, or that
the fullness of truth is not in the Catholic Church, but in some odd
pan-religion.
Catholics no longer think like Catholics for the most part,
but as Protestants. Some have a rebellious spirit which means they think it is
right and good to contradict Church teaching.
Few understand obedience.
When will Catholics understand that the road to perfection
is locked with a gate marked, “Orthodoxy”.
Orthodoxy is rational.
Orthodoxy is not arcane or hidden knowledge, but free and
not difficult to discover.
Orthodoxy clears the mind, the soul, the heart so that one
can receive grace to step onto the road to holiness.
Orthodoxy is the foundation for the life of virtues and the
fruition of the gifts of the spirit.
Perfection Series II: Moses And Elijah
Posted by
Supertradmum
Over the past three years, I have written on perfection and
the seeking of perfection. Some people have thought that this great search is
optional. Others have thought it is impossible.
Some people think is it a selfish endeavor (?), as if the
seeking of perfection is merely for self-help, or some personal gain.
No, the pursuit of perfection is the pursuit for God, Who Is
Perfection. We become like God, participating in the Divine Nature, through
grace. When we seek perfection, we are seeking God.
I am meditating on Moses and Elijah today.
When Moses had to flee from Egypt , into Sinai, he was not
seeking God. He was being drawn to God by God. God was calling him to purgation
and perfection. Purgation came in the
long weeks in the desert, before he came upon the daughters of Jethro. Purgation
continued in his long days in the desert as a husband and then, father.
Purgation came to him in the encounter with God in the Burning Bush. Fire has
always been a sign of purging. Burning metals makes them purer. Boiling water
kills germs. Fire of purgation is the great symbol, if not the reality, of
purgatory.
Before the Presence of God in the Burning Bush, Moses was
faced with his own imperfections, his own limitations. This encounter with God
began a long working out of Moses’ perfection.
We tend to think of Moses’ activity and role in freeing the
people from Egypt ,
of setting the People of God free, as the culmination of his perfection. No, it
is part of his own purification.
When Moses had to return time after time to speak with
Pharaoh, Moses had to learn to rely on God more and more. He spent hours in
prayer, listening, trying to understand the plan of God, which he finally did.
In Sinai, Moses became more and more perfected. He was
separated for some time from his wife.
The Jewish tradition, and I accept this, is that Moses, once having
encountered the Living God, chose a celibate life.
He become God’s own person, and in that process, became not
only a great friend of God, but more and more like God.
By the time Moses walked up the mountain to receive the
Commandments, He was in a state of Illumination and then Union
with God. In the Jewish tradition, when
Moses died, St. Michael and Satan fought over his body. Why? Why was the body
never found?
Moses appeared with Christ in the Transfiguration with the
prophet Elijah, who left this earth in a fiery chariot. Therefore, Moses was in
heaven body and soul. This could only have happened if Moses, through
purgation, reached a height of perfection which allowed this unusual privilege.
The Transfiguration reveals Christ in glory, with Moses and
Elijah. Those two men had to be in glory to join Christ.
The road to perfection varies with each person. The road to
perfection involves purification of the senses and the soul. That these two men
were present on Mount
Tabor indicates that they
had been set aside for a special role in the Church.
These men had found God, and they had been found by God, as
examples for us on the road to perfection.
Their entire lives were centered on the One they loved. God called Moses and Elijah to reach a level
of perfection, to share in the Divine Nature is a unique and special manner.
This level of perfection is union with God as much as a
person can experience on this earth. That these two men were taken up to heaven
body and soul also makes us think of our own destiny, which is eternal life,
finally when our souls and bodies are united.
The road to perfection is not a self-centered focus, but the
seeking of Love, Who Is a Person.
The seeking of perfection is the seeking for God Himself.
The Transfiguration was an event not merely for Peter,
James, and John, but for us, who have been given sanctifying grace, just as
Moses and Elijah were granted a special grace.
Now, this grace is not only for two or three select men or
women, but for all. This is God’s desire that all men and women are saved, that
they all respond to grace. Not all will do so, which is their tragedy.
Garrigou-Lagrange writes that the seeking of perfection, which is our job on earth, takes daily focus.
Do not let moments pass by and pay attention to graces, daily.
The Turning of The Tide
Posted by
Supertradmum
We are witnessing the passing of an era. There is, perhaps
for the first time in history, four generations who simply do not understand
each other and who have completely different foci of being.
At the top, are the members of the generation who lived through
World War II and many who fought in that war. These people totally believe in
the American Dream and have great investment in America . They still think one can
get ahead by merit, and that one can trust the governments of the world. Not
many are cynical, thank God, but some, sadly, have in their great old age,
fallen into cynicism.
The next generation are the Boomers, who have had the
benefit of classical education and who are much more individualistic than their
parents. They still have confidence, but are losing this in the new world
order, which some see coming. Many who never thought they would live in
poverty, as they are highly education, do so now. This generation has watched
the implosion and have not trusted governments since the Viet Nam War.
Following them are the most conformist of all generations,
the Me Generation or Gen X. They grew up in very small families, unlike the
Boomers, and had it all from Day One.
They are the generation of entitlement and experienced the
dumbing down of education and most cultural norms. They go with the flow and
seem to be the most consumerist, as well as materialistic.
The generation at the bottom of this list, the Millennials,
have proven to be the most individualistic and introverted of any generation in
the last one hundred years. They grew up in broken families, or families of one
or two, have individualistic tendencies, and see the rot. 40% of this
generation in the States are minorities, mostly Latinos and Latinas, with a
desire to break with their Gen X parents, who they see as living shallow and
unfilled, as well as, tragically, uncommitted lives.
All these people do not communicate, or if so, with
difficulty. The WWII generation does not understand the Boomers, or the
Millenials, and in some ways, can identify with the Gen Xers more readily, as
both generations think that things and money will make them happy.
The Boomers see that these things do not, as many of their
members live in poverty.
The Millennials believe that the world will see a great catastrophe
and are not into global government, despite loving global communication.
Sadly, these people do not talk to each other about real
things. As long as conversations dwell on things and status, some people will
be marginalized.
Consumerism is the drug of Americans, and the Gen Xers and
WWII generation still run after the Golden Calf, the fleshpots of Egypt . Too many are futilitarians and seek only what
is useful to be comfortable. A point in
fact to support this is the glorification of science and medicine, over the
higher sciences of philosophy and theology. In America , most people think that
those involved in the sciences of chemistry, physics, computers, are more
intelligent and more “useful” than those who study philosophy and theology.
Herein is one great difference among these generations. The
adoration of the atheistic scientists can be seen on television and in popular
magazines. This gross idolatry of those who are useful because they are in the
newer sciences separates the Millennials from the Gen Xers.
Theology and philosophy might not be making a huge comeback,
as now, the largest growing group of graduating college seniors are either in
business or in the sciences.
But, the younger ones are getting more interested in
rationality, in ideas, in discovering who they are and where they are going.
The tide may be changing, not a huge tide, but one
nonetheless.
Perfection Series II: Providence
Posted by
Supertradmum
Garrigou-Lagrange may be the greatest Thomist of the 20th
Century. His book, Providence , must be read. I have referred to it
about a month ago, and there are too many superb passages to go through the
entire book.
The book is a meditation on God, Who He Is. The author’s
starting point in the long discussion on providence is the understanding, as
far as we can now, of the Nature of God and the nature of human beings.
I have taken so many notes on this book, I really do not
know where to begin.
Let me concentrate on one idea today. Garrigou-Lagrange
writes that holiness is the life of grace in its perfection.
As I have written many posts on grace, one can follow the
tags on those sections. The Dominican notes that sanctifying grace is the
participation in the Divine Nature. Knowing this, how can anything turn against
grace, freely?
Garrigou-Lagrange makes it clear that it is completely
rational to trust in God and to follow Him. So why is it that more people do
not follow God, if we are all rational human beings? How is it that humans more
and more turn against natural law and their own human consciences?
The fulfillment of our desire is only God. Love is the
answer to all we really need.
Garrigou-Lagrange reminds us that God has a right to be
loved by us.
We seek the real good, we desire more than we can see and
find on this earth. The entire argument for God involves not only His
Attributes, but an understanding of our won nature as human.
As I wrote last year on another blog, the new evangelization
must start with the basic questions-who is man, who is woman, where are we
going, what is the end of life, why do we exist and so on.
But, in order to evangelize at this level, one must have
some knowledge of self and Who God Is.
Herein lies the problem….
Christians are so weak...
Posted by
Supertradmum
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2014/07/islamic-state-caliph-calls-on-muslims-worldwide-to-move-to-his-new-caliphate-and-wage-jihad-against-infidels
Look at my Men of the West posts...
Look at my Men of the West posts...
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