The Common Redpoll

These birds are quite small and walk along the ground looking for seeds. They like nijer or thistle seeds.

I saw one in the beginning of the week in a garden in the Quad-Cities in Iowa, and one here in Upper State New York a few minutes ago.

These birds can be rather tame and trusting.

I think they are far south in Iowa because of the cold snap, although I have seen them there in the past many times.

Hello to Readers in The Middle Eastern Countries

God be with you all. Holy Mary watch over you.

Pray for The Dead

Praying for the dead is a work of mercy. Catholics believe in the afterlife; heaven, hell and purgatory.

Please stop and pray, today, for all those who died in the plane attack this past week. The reports are horrific for those on the ground as well.

Jesus Speaks to Us All

Matthew 25:31-46Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA) Bible Gateway

³¹ And when the Son of man shall come in his majesty, and all the angels with him, then shall he sit upon the seat of his majesty.

³² And all nations shall be gathered together before him, and he shall separate them one from another, as the shepherd separateth the sheep from the goats:

³³ And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on his left.

³⁴ Then shall the king say to them that shall be on his right hand: Come, ye blessed of my Father, possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

³⁵ For I was hungry, and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink; I was a stranger, and you took me in:

³⁶ Naked, and you covered me: sick, and you visited me: I was in prison, and you came to me.

³⁷ Then shall the just answer him, saying: Lord, when did we see thee hungry, and fed thee; thirsty, and gave thee drink?

³⁸ And when did we see thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and covered thee?

³⁹ Or when did we see thee sick or in prison, and came to thee?

⁴⁰ And the king answering, shall say to them: Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these my least brethren, you did it to me.

⁴¹ Then he shall say to them also that shall be on his left hand: Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels.

⁴² For I was hungry, and you gave me not to eat: I was thirsty, and you gave me not to drink.

⁴³ I was a stranger, and you took me not in: naked, and you covered me not: sick and in prison, and you did not visit me.

⁴⁴ Then they also shall answer him, saying: Lord, when did we see thee hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to thee?

⁴⁵ Then he shall answer them, saying: Amen I say to you, as long as you did it not to one of these least, neither did you do it to me.

⁴⁶ And these shall go into everlasting punishment: but the just, into life everlasting.

Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA)

From Revelation 20

¹¹ And I saw a great white throne, and one sitting upon it, from whose face the earth and heaven fled away, and there was no place found for them.

¹² And I saw the dead, great and small, standing in the presence of the throne, and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged by those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

¹³ And the sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and hell gave up their dead that were in them; and they were judged every one according to their works.

¹⁴ And hell and death were cast into the pool of fire. This is the second death.

¹⁵ And whosoever was not found written in the book of life, was cast into the pool of fire.

Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA)

by Public Domain

Saturday Meditations on The Second Coming, continued

Revelation 19 Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA)

19 After these things I heard as it were the voice of much people in heaven, saying: Alleluia. Salvation, and glory, and power is to our God.

² For true and just are his judgments, who hath judged the great harlot which corrupted the earth with her fornication, and hath revenged the blood of his servants, at her hands.

³ And again they said: Alleluia. And her smoke ascendeth for ever and ever.

⁴ And the four and twenty ancients, and the four living creatures fell down and adored God that sitteth upon the throne, saying: Amen; Alleluia.

⁵ And a voice came out from the throne, saying: Give praise to our God, all ye his servants; and you that fear him, little and great.

⁶ And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of great thunders, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord our God the Almighty hath reigned.

⁷ Let us be glad and rejoice, and give glory to him; for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath prepared herself.

⁸ And it is granted to her that she should clothe herself with fine linen, glittering and white. For the fine linen are the justifications of saints.

⁹ And he said to me: Write: Blessed are they that are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith to me: These words of God are true.

¹⁰ And I fell down before his feet, to adore him. And he saith to me: See thou do it not: I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren, who have the testimony of Jesus. Adore God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

Faithful Catholics, Be of Good Cheer

Revelation 19:11-16Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA)

¹¹ And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called faithful and true, and with justice doth he judge and fight.

¹² And his eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many diadems, and he had a name written, which no man knoweth but himself.

¹³ And he was clothed with a garment sprinkled with blood; and his name is called, THE WORD OF GOD.

¹⁴ And the armies that are in heaven followed him on white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.

¹⁵ And out of his mouth proceedeth a sharp two edged sword; that with it he may strike the nations. And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of God the Almighty.

¹⁶ And he hath on his garment, and on his thigh written: KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.

Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA) Bible Gateway

A Psalm in Times of Chaos

Psalm 93 Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA) from Bible Gateway

93 The Lord is the God to whom revenge belongeth: the God of revenge hath acted freely.

² Lift up thyself, thou that judgest the earth: render a reward to the proud.

³ How long shall sinners, O Lord: how long shall sinners glory?

⁴ Shall they utter, and speak iniquity: shall all speak who work injustice?

⁵ Thy people, O Lord, they have brought low: and they have afflicted thy inheritance.

⁶ They have slain the widow and the stranger: and they have murdered the fatherless.

⁷ And they have said: The Lord shall not see: neither shall the God of Jacob understand.

⁸ Understand, ye senseless among the people: and, you fools, be wise at last.

⁹ He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? or he that formed the eye, doth he not consider?

¹⁰ He that chastiseth nations, shall he not rebuke: he that teacheth man knowledge?

¹¹ The Lord knoweth the thoughts of men, that they are vain.

¹² Blessed is the man whom thou shalt instruct, O Lord: and shalt teach him out of thy law.

¹³ That thou mayst give him rest from the evil days: till a pit be dug for the wicked.

¹⁴ For the Lord will not cast off his people: neither will he forsake his own inheritance.

¹⁵ Until justice be turned into judgment: and they that are near it are all the upright in heart.

¹⁶ Who shall rise up for me against the evildoers? or who shall stand with me against the workers of iniquity?

¹⁷ Unless the Lord had been my helper, my soul had almost dwelt in hell.

¹⁸ If I said: My foot is moved: thy mercy, O Lord, assisted me.

¹⁹ According to the multitude of my sorrows in my heart, thy comforts have given joy to my soul.

²⁰ Doth the seat of iniquity stick to thee, who framest labour in commandment?

²¹ They will hunt after the soul of the just, and will condemn innocent blood.

²² But the Lord is my refuge: and my God the help of my hope.

²³ And he will render them their iniquity: and in their malice he will destroy them: the Lord our God will destroy them.

Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA)

by Public Domain

Some Choice Sections from Vatican I-Part Three

http://wpcontent.answcdn.com/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/11/Pio9vat1.jpg/300px-Pio9vat1.jpg

From the same source as the other two posts today.

Chapter 4. On the infallible teaching authority of the Roman pontiff

1. That apostolic primacy which the Roman pontiff possesses as successor of Peter, the prince of the apostles, includes also the supreme power of teaching.
   • This holy see has always maintained this,
   • the constant custom of the church demonstrates it, and
   • the ecumenical councils, particularly those in which East and West met in the union of faith and charity, have declared it.
   [councils]
2. So the fathers of the fourth council of Constantinople, following the footsteps of their predecessors, published this solemn profession of faith:
   • The first condition of salvation is to maintain the rule of the true faith. And since that saying of our lord Jesus Christ, You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church [55] , cannot fail of its effect, the words spoken are confirmed by their consequences. For in the apostolic see the catholic religion has always been preserved unblemished, and sacred doctrine been held in honour. Since it is our earnest desire to be in no way separated from this faith and doctrine, we hope that we may deserve to remain in that one communion which the apostolic see preaches, for in it is the whole and true strength of the christian religion [56] .
   What is more, with the approval of the second council of Lyons, the Greeks made the following profession:
   • "The holy Roman church possesses the supreme and full primacy and principality over the whole catholic church. She truly and humbly acknowledges that she received this from the Lord himself in blessed Peter, the prince and chief of the apostles, whose successor the Roman pontiff is, together with the fullness of power. And since before all others she has the duty of defending the truth of the faith, so if any questions arise concerning the faith, it is by her judgment that they must be settled." [57]
   Then there is the definition of the council of Florence:
   • "The Roman pontiff is the true vicar of Christ, the head of the whole church and the father and teacher of all Christians; and to him was committed in blessed Peter, by our lord Jesus Christ, the full power of tending, ruling and governing the whole church." [58]
   [Holy See]
3. To satisfy this pastoral office, our predecessors strove unwearyingly that the saving teaching of Christ should be spread among all the peoples of the world; and with equal care they made sure that it should be kept pure and uncontaminated wherever it was received.[Custom]
4. It was for this reason that the bishops of the whole world, sometimes individually, sometimes gathered in synods, according to the long established custom of the churches and the pattern of ancient usage referred to this apostolic see those dangers especially which arose in matters concerning the faith. This was to ensure that any damage suffered by the faith should be repaired in that place above all where the faith can know no failing [59] .[Holy See]
5. The Roman pontiffs, too, as the circumstances of the time or the state of affairs suggested,
   • sometimes by
     • summoning ecumenical councils or
     • consulting the opinion of the churches scattered throughout the world, sometimes by
     • special synods, sometimes by
     • taking advantage of other useful means afforded by divine providence,
   • defined as doctrines to be held those things which, by God's help, they knew to be in keeping with
     • sacred scripture and
     • the apostolic traditions.
6. For the holy Spirit was promised to the successors of Peter
   • not so that they might, by his revelation, make known some new doctrine,
   • but that, by his assistance, they might religiously guard and faithfully expound the revelation or deposit of faith transmitted by the apostles.
   Indeed, their apostolic teaching was
   • embraced by all the venerable fathers and
   • reverenced and followed by all the holy orthodox doctors,
   for they knew very well that this see of St. Peter always remains unblemished by any error, in accordance with the divine promise of our Lord and Saviour to the prince of his disciples: I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail; and when you have turned again, strengthen your brethren [60] .
7. This gift of truth and never-failing faith was therefore divinely conferred on Peter and his successors in this see so that they might discharge their exalted office for the salvation of all, and so that the whole flock of Christ might be kept away by them from the poisonous food of error and be nourished with the sustenance of heavenly doctrine. Thus the tendency to schism is removed and the whole church is preserved in unity, and, resting on its foundation, can stand firm against the gates of hell.
8. But since in this very age when the salutary effectiveness of the apostolic office is most especially needed, not a few are to be found who disparage its authority, we judge it absolutely necessary to affirm solemnly the prerogative which the only-begotten Son of God was pleased to attach to the supreme pastoral office.
9. Therefore,
   • faithfully adhering to the tradition received from the beginning of the christian faith,
   • to the glory of God our saviour,
   • for the exaltation of the catholic religion and
   • for the salvation of the christian people,
   • with the approval of the sacred council,

     ---

   • we teach and define as a divinely revealed dogma that
     
     • when the Roman pontiff speaks EX CATHEDRA,
       • that is, when,
         1. in the exercise of his office as shepherd and teacher of all Christians,
         2. in virtue of his supreme apostolic authority,
         3. he defines a doctrine concerning faith or morals to be held by the whole church,
     • he possesses,
       • by the divine assistance promised to him in blessed Peter,
     • that infallibility which the divine Redeemer willed his church to enjoy in defining doctrine concerning faith or morals.
     • Therefore, such definitions of the Roman pontiff are of themselves, and not by the consent of the church, irreformable.

     ---

   So then, should anyone, which God forbid, have the temerity to reject this definition of ours: let him be anathema.

A Few Choice Statements from Vatican I-Part Two

Again, numbers are not as in original text found in same source as post below....

http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Councils/ecum20.htm

1. And so faith in itself,
   • even though it may not work through charity,
   • is a gift of God,
   • and its operation is a work belonging to the order of salvation,
     • in that a person yields true obedience to God himself when he accepts and collaborates with his grace which he could have rejected.
2. Wherefore, by divine and catholic faith all those things are to be believed
   • which are contained in the word of God as found in scripture and tradition,
   • and which are proposed by the church as matters to be believed as divinely revealed,
   • whether by her solemn judgment
   • or in her ordinary and universal magisterium.
3. Since, then, without faith it is impossible to please God [21] and reach the fellowship of his sons and daughters, it follows that
   • no one can ever achieve justification without it,
   • neither can anyone attain eternal life unless he or she perseveres in it to the end.
4. So that we could fulfil our duty of embracing the true faith and of persevering unwaveringly in it, God, through his only begotten Son,
   • founded the church,
   • and he endowed his institution with clear notes to the end that she might be recognised by all as the guardian and teacher of the revealed word.
5. To the catholic church alone belong all those things, so many and so marvellous, which have been divinely ordained to make for the manifest credibility of the christian faith.
6. What is more,
   • the church herself
     by reason of
     • her astonishing propagation,
     • her outstanding holiness and
     • her inexhaustible fertility in every kind of goodness, by
     • her catholic unity and
     • her unconquerable stability,
   • is a kind of great and perpetual motive of credibility and an incontrovertible evidence of her own divine mission.

A Few Choice Statements from Vatican I--Part One

This numbering is off from the original text-from this site:

http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Councils/ecum20.htm

1. Everybody knows that those heresies, condemned by the fathers of Trent, which rejected the divine magisterium of the church and allowed religious questions to be a matter for the judgment of each individual, have gradually collapsed into a multiplicity of sects, either at variance or in agreement with one another; and by this means a good many people have had all faith in Christ destroyed.
2. Indeed even the holy Bible itself, which they at one time claimed to be the sole source and judge of the christian faith, is no longer held to be divine, but they begin to assimilate it to the inventions of myth.
3. Thereupon there came into being and spread far and wide throughout the world that doctrine of rationalism or naturalism, - utterly opposed to the christian religion, since this is of supernatural origin, - which spares no effort to bring it about that Christ, who alone is our lord and saviour, is shut out from the minds of people and the moral life of nations. Thus they would establish what they call the rule of simple reason or nature. The abandonment and rejection of the christian religion, and the denial of God and his Christ, has plunged the minds of many into the abyss of pantheism, materialism and atheism, and the consequence is that they strive to destroy rational nature itself, to deny any criterion of what is right and just, and to overthrow the very foundations of human society.
4. With this impiety spreading in every direction, it has come about, alas, that many even among the children of the catholic church have strayed from the path of genuine piety, and as the truth was gradually diluted in them, their catholic sensibility was weakened. Led away by diverse and strange teachings [4] and confusing
   • nature and grace,
   • human knowledge and divine faith,
   they are found to distort the genuine sense of the dogmas which holy mother church holds and teaches, and to endanger the integrity and genuineness of the faith.
5. At the sight of all this, how can the inmost being of the church not suffer anguish? For
   • just as God wills all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth [5] , just as Christ came to save what was lost [6] and to gather into one the children of God who were scattered abroad [7] ,
   • so the church, appointed by God to be mother and mistress of nations, recognises her obligations to all and is always ready and anxious
     • to raise the fallen,
     • to steady those who stumble,
     • to embrace those who return, and
     • to strengthen the good and urge them on to what is better.
   Thus she can never cease from witnessing to the truth of God which heals all [8 ] and from declaring it, for she knows that these words were directed to her: My spirit which is upon you, and my words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth from this time forth and for evermore [9] .
6. And so we, following in the footsteps of our predecessors, in accordance with our supreme apostolic office, have never left off
   • teaching and defending catholic truth and
   • condemning erroneous doctrines.