Friday, 7 November 2014
Interesting
Maybe one reason why the asthma I experience is less in Malta is because of the sun. But, not today...
Apparently, Vitamin D and Magnesium help asthmatic people. I may get some Magnesium when I can afford it.
Also, one tends to eat less dairy in the heat, or at least I do, except for cheese.
Interesting findings... http://www.newsmaxhealth.com/Dr-Brownstein/asthma-milk-casein-magnesium/2014/11/05/id/605489/
Apparently, Vitamin D and Magnesium help asthmatic people. I may get some Magnesium when I can afford it.
Also, one tends to eat less dairy in the heat, or at least I do, except for cheese.
Interesting findings... http://www.newsmaxhealth.com/Dr-Brownstein/asthma-milk-casein-magnesium/2014/11/05/id/605489/
Weather
Malta is experiencing one of the worst storms ever...it was raging last night and now, since about four in the afternoon again. I got drenched.
High winds and rain...amazing.
Makes me homesick for Kent.
My umbrella broke in the wind in Sliema. Sigh...
Very like this lady's experience in Kent.
High winds and rain...amazing.
Makes me homesick for Kent.
My umbrella broke in the wind in Sliema. Sigh...
Very like this lady's experience in Kent.
News from SPUC
3 Whitacre Mews, Stannary Street
London, SE11 4AB, United Kingdom Telephone: (020) 7091 7091 Email: information@spuc.org.uk http://www.spuc.org.uk |
| Would you tell a stranger you support Mary and Connie? |
|---|
| 7 November 2014 Connie Wood and Mary Doogan are experienced, long-serving midwifery sisters. They refuse to take part in abortions or to tell others that they should do abortions. But their employer regards abortion as part of the job of a labour ward midwife (I know this sounds crazy – but that's how it is), and Connie and Mary have been told they must play their part in abortions. Now their employer, the Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board, which runs their hospital, has taken the matter to the Supreme Court. The hearing takes place just a few days from now. If the midwives lose - and still refuse to take part in abortions - they risk losing their jobs. These midwives must feel like the whole world is against them. But that’s not true. Well wishers, just like you, from every corner of Britain have shown how much they care - through their donations, their prayers, and their warm words of encouragement for Mary and Connie. I know the midwives’ case may not be new to you. But today I am writing to ask if you wouldread the FULL story. You’d be doing a tremendous favour to these midwives, and to the generations of midwives still to come. Connie and Mary only want to bring babies safely into the world – happy and healthy. This is the job they signed up for. I hate having to ask again. Will you help them stay? Another way you can help (it’s not money) The midwives’ court battle will only happen once. This is our big chance to defend Mary and Connie’s right not to oversee abortions – and I’m sure you’re glad to have been a part of it. So I’m wondering: do you know anyone else who’d be interested in helping? The case is well under way. And the time to act is now. If someone you know would be grateful to hear about it, please send their email address to me personally at johnsmeaton@spuc.org.uk. I promise they won’t be bombarded with messages. They’ll receive a polite approach inviting them to read more about the midwives’ story. We won’t pass their details on to anyone else. Anyone who believes in these midwives can stand up for them. Right now, this is the best way to help them. Yours in the defence of life, John Smeaton Chief Executive |
Perfection Series VII: Part II
The Indwelling of the Trinity occurs at baptism, but is lost through mortal sin. The entire doctrine of grace flows from the understanding of this Indwelling. Grace is the gift of God's life to the soul and the Presence of the Trinity, which cannot be separated from that life. Christ is the True Son of God, but we become adopted sons and daughters through and in grace.
The Holy Spirit, Who is the Living Love between the Father and the Son is given to us as well, so that now we partake in that love. It is through this love, the Holy Spirit that we become like Christ.
If the Blessed Trinity lives in the just soul as in a temple, [589] a living temple of knowledge and love even while the just man lives on earth, how wondrously intimate must be this indwelling of the Blessed Trinity in the blessed who form the temple of heaven! [590].
This doctrine of the indwelling leads from the treatise on the Trinity to the treatise on grace. Grace is the created gift, brought forth and preserved in us by the Holy Spirit, who, by appropriation, is the Uncreated Gift, or by the Blessed Trinity, wholly present in us. Adoptive filiation, says St. Thomas, [591] comes to us, by appropriation, from the Father, who is the principle of natural filiation; but it comes also by the gift of the Holy Spirit, who is the love of the Father and the Son. The act of adoption by grace, he says elsewhere, [592] though it is common to the entire Trinity, is appropriated nevertheless to each person singly, to the Father as author, to the Son as exemplar, to the Holy Spirit as imprinting on us the likeness of that exemplar.
Grace, we may recall in conclusion, depends by its very nature on the divine nature common to all three persons; but, as merited for all redeemed souls, it depends on Christ the Redeemer.
Without Christ, without baptism, there is no Indwelling of the Holy Trinity.
If I had to teach only one thing for the rest of my life, it would be the truth and necessity of baptism.
It is through the graces of baptism that one comes to the experience of Christ the Incarnate One.
Souls are lost because of mortal sin which kills that life of God in us and through the lack of the acceptance of Christ as God and Man. Evangelization must be part of one's call, but if one is allowing God to perfect one, this call becomes one of being and not merely words.
to be continued...
The Holy Spirit, Who is the Living Love between the Father and the Son is given to us as well, so that now we partake in that love. It is through this love, the Holy Spirit that we become like Christ.
If the Blessed Trinity lives in the just soul as in a temple, [589] a living temple of knowledge and love even while the just man lives on earth, how wondrously intimate must be this indwelling of the Blessed Trinity in the blessed who form the temple of heaven! [590].
This doctrine of the indwelling leads from the treatise on the Trinity to the treatise on grace. Grace is the created gift, brought forth and preserved in us by the Holy Spirit, who, by appropriation, is the Uncreated Gift, or by the Blessed Trinity, wholly present in us. Adoptive filiation, says St. Thomas, [591] comes to us, by appropriation, from the Father, who is the principle of natural filiation; but it comes also by the gift of the Holy Spirit, who is the love of the Father and the Son. The act of adoption by grace, he says elsewhere, [592] though it is common to the entire Trinity, is appropriated nevertheless to each person singly, to the Father as author, to the Son as exemplar, to the Holy Spirit as imprinting on us the likeness of that exemplar.
Grace, we may recall in conclusion, depends by its very nature on the divine nature common to all three persons; but, as merited for all redeemed souls, it depends on Christ the Redeemer.
Without Christ, without baptism, there is no Indwelling of the Holy Trinity.
If I had to teach only one thing for the rest of my life, it would be the truth and necessity of baptism.
It is through the graces of baptism that one comes to the experience of Christ the Incarnate One.
Souls are lost because of mortal sin which kills that life of God in us and through the lack of the acceptance of Christ as God and Man. Evangelization must be part of one's call, but if one is allowing God to perfect one, this call becomes one of being and not merely words.
to be continued...
Overwhelmed by the Incarnation-Perfection Series VII: I
I am surrounded by people in the cities who do not believe in the Incarnation. They do not believe that the Second Son of the Blessed Trinity became Man. They do not believe in the Trinity.
The thought of the Incarnation overwhelms me, shapes my life, informs my prayers, and gives me energy.
The Incarnated Christ is not on the Way, the Truth and the Life. He is Love Personified.
No other loves in this world can compare with the Love Who Is a Person.
Those of us who are baptized and in sanctifying grace have the Indwelling of of the Blessed Trinity.
I shall pick this apart a bit, but the real lessons are in the experience of Christ Himself, through the Church, the sacraments and Adoration. As usual, my comments are in blue.
This doctrine derives from the words of our Savior: [579] "If anyone love Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him." What will come? Not merely created effects, sanctifying grace, infused virtues, the seven gifts, but the divine persons themselves, the Father and the Son, from whom the Holy Spirit is never separated. Besides, the Holy Spirit was explicitly promised by our Lord and was sent visibly on Pentecost. [580] This special presence of the Trinity in the just differs notably from the presence of God as preserving cause of all creatures.
We must note three different explanations of this indwelling: that of Vasquez, that of Suarez, and that of St. Thomas.
Vasquez reduces all real indwelling of God in us to the general presence of immensity, by which God is present in all things which He preserves in existence. As known and loved, God is in no way really present in the just man. He is there only as represented, like a loved friend who is absent. This view allows very little to the special presence of God in the just.
OK, that is clear. All living creatures would die if it were not for the general Presence of God. He keeps us in this life. Even those who do not believe in God as kept alive, in His presence of immensity. But,the Indwelling of the Trinity is more than this.
Suarez, on the contrary, maintains that God, even if He were not present by immensity, would still, by the charity which unites men to Him, be really and substantially present in the just. This opinion has to face a very grave objection, which runs thus: When we love the humanity of our Lord and Savior, or the Blessed Virgin, it does not follow that they are really present in our souls. Charity certainly is an affective union and creates a desire for real union, but cannot itself constitute that union.
Love alone does not bring about this Indwelling, as tempting of an idea that is...as much as I like Suarez, he misses a main point here. Suarez also denies the need for the presence of immensity. For such a fantastic scholar, this seems a huge oversight in his thinking. There are levels of presence.
Here again the thought of St. Thomas [581] dominates two opposed views, one of Vasquez, the other of Suarez.
According to the Angelic Doctor, [582] the special presence of the Trinity in the just presupposes the general presence of immensity. This is against Suarez. But again (and this is what Vasquez did not see): God, by sanctifying grace, by infused virtues, by the seven gifts, becomes really present in a new and higher manner, as object experimentally knowable, which the just soul can enjoy, which it at times knows actually. God is not like a loved friend who is absent, but He is really present.
The saint [583] assigns the reason. The soul in the state of grace, he says, has God as its supernatural object of knowledge and of love and with that object the power of enjoying God.
To say truly that the divine persons dwell in us, we must be able to know them, not in abstract fashion, like distant friends, but in a manner quasi-experimental, with the vibrancy of infused charity, which gives a connatural intimacy with the inner life of God. [584] It is the very characteristic of experimental knowledge that it terminates in an object really present.
Thomas varies from Suarez in that infused love, or charity, given to the soul in the state of grace, allows for the real experience of the Trinity. This is real knowledge, not merely based on faith or hope, but on infused love. When this love is perfected, one is in the Unitive State.
But this experimental knowledge need not always be actual. Thus the indwelling of the Blessed Trinity lasts even during sleep. But as long as, by grace, virtue, and gifts, this indwelling continues, this experimental knowledge will, from time to time, become actual, when God makes Himself known to us as the soul of our soul, the life of our life. "You have received," says St. Paul, "the spirit of adoption wherein we cry Abba, Father. It is the Spirit Himself who testifies that we are children of God." [585].
When I am overwhelmed by the experience of the Incarnated Christ, this experience is real in the emotions, soul, heart and mind. But, even if I am walking in the Dark Night, the Indwelling of the Trinity is with me, although I perceive this Presence imperfectly.
Commenting on this passage in Romans, St. Thomas speaks thus: The Holy Spirit gives this testimony, by the filial love He produces in us. And elsewhere [586] he traces this experimental knowledge to the gift of wisdom which clarifies living faith. And in another passage [587] he is still more explicit. Not merely any kind of knowledge, he says, is in question when we speak of the mission and indwelling of a divine person. It must be a mode of knowledge coming from a gift appropriated to that person, a gift by which we are conjoined to God. That gift, when the Holy Spirit is given, is love, and therefore the knowledge is quasi-experimental.
Here lies the meaning of our Savior's words: [588] "The Spirit of truth, whom the Father will send in My name, will be in you, and will teach you all things, and bring all things to your mind whatsoever I have said to you."
Purification occurs so that one may experience the fullness of this Love to which each one of us is called in a different manner or even depth, according to God's Will. But, experience this we shall in the Illuminative and Unitive States.
To be continued....
The thought of the Incarnation overwhelms me, shapes my life, informs my prayers, and gives me energy.
The Incarnated Christ is not on the Way, the Truth and the Life. He is Love Personified.
No other loves in this world can compare with the Love Who Is a Person.
Those of us who are baptized and in sanctifying grace have the Indwelling of of the Blessed Trinity.
I shall pick this apart a bit, but the real lessons are in the experience of Christ Himself, through the Church, the sacraments and Adoration. As usual, my comments are in blue.
| REALITY—A Synthesis Of Thomistic Thought | |
by Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O. P.
| |
CH 21: THE INDWELLING OF THE BLESSED TRINITY
We cannot here treat of the missions of the divine persons. [578] But we must look briefly at Thomistic doctrine concerning the mode of the Trinity's indwelling in the souls of the just.This doctrine derives from the words of our Savior: [579] "If anyone love Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him." What will come? Not merely created effects, sanctifying grace, infused virtues, the seven gifts, but the divine persons themselves, the Father and the Son, from whom the Holy Spirit is never separated. Besides, the Holy Spirit was explicitly promised by our Lord and was sent visibly on Pentecost. [580] This special presence of the Trinity in the just differs notably from the presence of God as preserving cause of all creatures.
We must note three different explanations of this indwelling: that of Vasquez, that of Suarez, and that of St. Thomas.
Vasquez reduces all real indwelling of God in us to the general presence of immensity, by which God is present in all things which He preserves in existence. As known and loved, God is in no way really present in the just man. He is there only as represented, like a loved friend who is absent. This view allows very little to the special presence of God in the just.
OK, that is clear. All living creatures would die if it were not for the general Presence of God. He keeps us in this life. Even those who do not believe in God as kept alive, in His presence of immensity. But,the Indwelling of the Trinity is more than this.
Suarez, on the contrary, maintains that God, even if He were not present by immensity, would still, by the charity which unites men to Him, be really and substantially present in the just. This opinion has to face a very grave objection, which runs thus: When we love the humanity of our Lord and Savior, or the Blessed Virgin, it does not follow that they are really present in our souls. Charity certainly is an affective union and creates a desire for real union, but cannot itself constitute that union.
Love alone does not bring about this Indwelling, as tempting of an idea that is...as much as I like Suarez, he misses a main point here. Suarez also denies the need for the presence of immensity. For such a fantastic scholar, this seems a huge oversight in his thinking. There are levels of presence.
Here again the thought of St. Thomas [581] dominates two opposed views, one of Vasquez, the other of Suarez.
According to the Angelic Doctor, [582] the special presence of the Trinity in the just presupposes the general presence of immensity. This is against Suarez. But again (and this is what Vasquez did not see): God, by sanctifying grace, by infused virtues, by the seven gifts, becomes really present in a new and higher manner, as object experimentally knowable, which the just soul can enjoy, which it at times knows actually. God is not like a loved friend who is absent, but He is really present.
The saint [583] assigns the reason. The soul in the state of grace, he says, has God as its supernatural object of knowledge and of love and with that object the power of enjoying God.
To say truly that the divine persons dwell in us, we must be able to know them, not in abstract fashion, like distant friends, but in a manner quasi-experimental, with the vibrancy of infused charity, which gives a connatural intimacy with the inner life of God. [584] It is the very characteristic of experimental knowledge that it terminates in an object really present.
Thomas varies from Suarez in that infused love, or charity, given to the soul in the state of grace, allows for the real experience of the Trinity. This is real knowledge, not merely based on faith or hope, but on infused love. When this love is perfected, one is in the Unitive State.
But this experimental knowledge need not always be actual. Thus the indwelling of the Blessed Trinity lasts even during sleep. But as long as, by grace, virtue, and gifts, this indwelling continues, this experimental knowledge will, from time to time, become actual, when God makes Himself known to us as the soul of our soul, the life of our life. "You have received," says St. Paul, "the spirit of adoption wherein we cry Abba, Father. It is the Spirit Himself who testifies that we are children of God." [585].
When I am overwhelmed by the experience of the Incarnated Christ, this experience is real in the emotions, soul, heart and mind. But, even if I am walking in the Dark Night, the Indwelling of the Trinity is with me, although I perceive this Presence imperfectly.
Commenting on this passage in Romans, St. Thomas speaks thus: The Holy Spirit gives this testimony, by the filial love He produces in us. And elsewhere [586] he traces this experimental knowledge to the gift of wisdom which clarifies living faith. And in another passage [587] he is still more explicit. Not merely any kind of knowledge, he says, is in question when we speak of the mission and indwelling of a divine person. It must be a mode of knowledge coming from a gift appropriated to that person, a gift by which we are conjoined to God. That gift, when the Holy Spirit is given, is love, and therefore the knowledge is quasi-experimental.
Here lies the meaning of our Savior's words: [588] "The Spirit of truth, whom the Father will send in My name, will be in you, and will teach you all things, and bring all things to your mind whatsoever I have said to you."
Purification occurs so that one may experience the fullness of this Love to which each one of us is called in a different manner or even depth, according to God's Will. But, experience this we shall in the Illuminative and Unitive States.
To be continued....
A Mysterious Passage from The Gospels Today
Luke 16:1-8Douay-Rheims
16 And he said also to his disciples: There was a certain rich man who had a steward: and the same was accused unto him, that he had wasted his goods.
2 And he called him, and said to him: How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship: for now thou canst be steward no longer.
3 And the steward said within himself: What shall I do, because my lord taketh away from me the stewardship? To dig I am not able; to beg I am ashamed.
4 I know what I will do, that when I shall be removed from the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.
5 Therefore calling together every one of his lord's debtors, he said to the first: How much dost thou owe my lord?
6 But he said: An hundred barrels of oil. And he said to him: Take thy bill and sit down quickly, and write fifty.
7 Then he said to another: And how much dost thou owe? Who said: An hundred quarters of wheat. He said to him: Take thy bill, and write eighty.
8 And the lord commended the unjust steward, forasmuch as he had done wisely: for the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light.
What exactly is Christ telling the children of light today? He is comparing earthly, worldly wisdom with something else. The Lord is showing how the clever steward prepared for his life after work.
How did he do this? He was merciful and made friends by using his master's wealth to forgive debt.
What has this to do with the remnant?
Firstly, we are the children of light, called by God to become holy. We become holy by using the gifts, the graces God has given us.
Second, God is the Master in this parable. God, the Master calls us to account for wasting his graces, his goods. This will be our particular judgment. But, in this parable, Christ is telling the Jews that they are wasting the grace of seeing Who Christ Is and following Him.
Why does Christ praise someone who uses the Master's goods and makes friends using the Master's goods? Because that is what we are called to do in the Church-use our gifts, use graces of repentance and mercy, and make friendships in the Lord.
Third, Christ laments at the end of this story that the children of light, those who have been given Revelation and Tradition, are not stocking up merit for the next life, the life after work.
Are you making friendships in the Lord? Are you using the graces God is still pouring out upon us now? Life after work may come sooner than some think.
Stand Firm
Today's epistle
reading
Be firm in your mind, heart, soul, body. Do not give in to cynicism, heresy, false prophets, ennui.
Those who are against Christ and His Church will be "lost" as some translations of verse 19 state.
The remnant will be very small.
Pray, do penance, stay close to Christ in the Eucharist.
Philippians 3:17-4:1Douay-Rheims
17 Be ye followers of me, brethren, and observe them who walk so as you have our model.
18 For many walk, of whom I have told you often (and now tell you weeping), that they are enemies of the cross of Christ;
19 Whose end is destruction; whose God is their belly; and whose glory is in their shame; who mind earthly things.
20 But our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ,
21 Who will reform the body of our lowness, made like to the body of his glory, according to the operation whereby also he is able to subdue all things unto himself.
4 Therefore, my dearly beloved brethren, and most desired, my joy and my crown; so stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved.
I have recommended AsiaNews before
» 11/06/2014 http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Patriarch-of-Moscow-writes-to-Pakistani-president-pardon-Asia-Bibi-32622.html
RUSSIA - PAKISTAN
Patriarch of Moscow writes to Pakistani president "pardon Asia Bibi"
by Nina Achmatova
In a letter to Hussain, Kirill warns: "There is the risk of jeopardizing the dialogue and relations between Christians and Muslims not only in Pakistan but all over the world."
Moscow (AsiaNews) - Patriarch Kirill of Moscow has sent a letter to the President of Pakistan Himari Hussain asking him to pardon Asia Bibi, a Christian woman sentenced to death for blasphemy.
The primate of the Russian Orthodox Church writes, "it would be an irreparable loss for her family, her near and dear, cause a great damage to the Muslim-Christian dialogue and could also aggravate tension between Christians and Muslims both in Pakistan and in the entire world".
In the letter, published on the Patriarchate website, Kirill says he is convinced that the political authorities of any modern state " should be aware of their responsibility for the destiny of representatives of religious minorities entrusted to them".
"The Russian Orthodox Church - the letter continues - has shown serious concern over the judgment delivered by the court. Our multimillion flock joins their voice to that of the great number of people throughout the world who advocate for saving the life of this Christian woman".
After years in prison and in solitary confinement "for security reasons", on October 16th the Lahore High Court upheld the death sentence imposed at first instance on Asia Bibi, a Christian mother of five children. She is accused of blasphemy for insulting the name of Muhammad, but has always claimed innocence and denounced being persecuted for her faith.
In 2011, Islamic extremists killed the governor of Punjab Salman Taseer (Muslim) and the Federal Minister for Minorities Shahbaz Bhatti (Catholic), "guilty" of having defended Bibi. Human rights groups and religious minorities have long upheld that Pakistan's infamous blasphemy law is often used to persecute purposes.
RUSSIA - PAKISTAN
Patriarch of Moscow writes to Pakistani president "pardon Asia Bibi"
by Nina Achmatova
In a letter to Hussain, Kirill warns: "There is the risk of jeopardizing the dialogue and relations between Christians and Muslims not only in Pakistan but all over the world."
Moscow (AsiaNews) - Patriarch Kirill of Moscow has sent a letter to the President of Pakistan Himari Hussain asking him to pardon Asia Bibi, a Christian woman sentenced to death for blasphemy.
The primate of the Russian Orthodox Church writes, "it would be an irreparable loss for her family, her near and dear, cause a great damage to the Muslim-Christian dialogue and could also aggravate tension between Christians and Muslims both in Pakistan and in the entire world".
In the letter, published on the Patriarchate website, Kirill says he is convinced that the political authorities of any modern state " should be aware of their responsibility for the destiny of representatives of religious minorities entrusted to them".
"The Russian Orthodox Church - the letter continues - has shown serious concern over the judgment delivered by the court. Our multimillion flock joins their voice to that of the great number of people throughout the world who advocate for saving the life of this Christian woman".
After years in prison and in solitary confinement "for security reasons", on October 16th the Lahore High Court upheld the death sentence imposed at first instance on Asia Bibi, a Christian mother of five children. She is accused of blasphemy for insulting the name of Muhammad, but has always claimed innocence and denounced being persecuted for her faith.
In 2011, Islamic extremists killed the governor of Punjab Salman Taseer (Muslim) and the Federal Minister for Minorities Shahbaz Bhatti (Catholic), "guilty" of having defended Bibi. Human rights groups and religious minorities have long upheld that Pakistan's infamous blasphemy law is often used to persecute purposes.
HERE WE GO AGAIN!
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_GAY_MARRIAGE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-11-06-19-51-14
Obama Wrote Secretly to Iran??????????
“I don’t trust the Iranians, I don’t think we need to bring them into this,” Mr. Boehner said. Referring to the continuing nuclear talks between Iran and world powers, Mr. Boehner said he “would hope that the negotiations that are under way are serious negotiations, but I have my doubts.”
In a sign of the sensitivity of the Iran diplomacy, the White House didn’t tell its Middle East allies—including Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates—about Mr. Obama’s October letter to Mr. Khamenei, according to people briefed on the correspondence and representatives of allied countries.
Not Civil War
I hate to gone on about a phrase used unwisely, imo, in an article I linked here yesterday, but I feel I must address the seriousness of using words which muddy the waters of the Synod overflow in the media. http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2014/11/has-to-be-addressed.html
We bloggers and journalists must be precise in the use of words. Definitions and concepts in language form consciences, and move souls. We must be extremely diligent as wordsmiths.
To say that the Church is experiencing civil war reveals not only a laziness as to the choice of an image, but a misunderstanding as to what is really happening in the Church.
First, the phrase....civil war, civil war. The word civil has to do with citizens, with a particular country, with secular laws and customs. Civil war as a phrase means a political war between factions within a country. The Church is not a country but universal, catholic, embracing all members who live in all the countries of the entire world, (which is why the one world government people hate the Church so much).
There is also a connected idea that civil wars take place between factions which could both be in error. The American Civil War was about state's rights and Abraham Lincoln made it about slavery, which is good, but the states had a right to secede legally, despite the evil of the reason. Lincoln created the big executive branch, setting down principles for the overuse of not only executive powers, but federal power, and so on.
Both sides had some right and some wrong.
The English Civil War, (and there were several), especially the big one based on religion, was fought in an arena where the Catholics were already marginalized and excluded in public affairs. Both sides, the Anglican monarchists and the Puritan commonwealth supporters were, therefore, both in error.
The Church is not in error in this battle and it is a war, but not a civil war
Second, what is happening is rebellion against the Teaching Magisterium of the Church, which includes the foundations of morality from both the Ten Commandments and Christ's own teaching.
Rebellion is not the same as civil war. Rebellion is the sin of pride and arrogance against Truth. This type of rebellion marked the Protestant REVOLT not Reformation. Use words carefully. The Protestant Revolt destroyed Christendom and split the Church into many false congregations which do not meet the definition of "religions" according to Ratzinger in Dominus Iesus.
Rebellion starts in the unseen armies of satan, the great rebel, which brings me to my third point.
What is happening is spiritual warfare, not civil war. The old war of satan against the Church he hates has moved into another stage. This old war, seen again and again in the Church with the struggles against heretics, has entered a crisis stage.
Spiritual warfare must be fought with spiritual power, not with politics. Many years ago, I was speaking with some seminarians who were focused on the politics in the Church. I told them their error was in thinking that Church politics would change hearts and minds. I told them that their job was not political, but spiritual.
They got it.
The Church must stand against the Modernists through work, but also and mostly, the personal holiness and orthodoxy of the clergy, including bishops and cardinals.
We have a few holy cardinals. We have a few holy bishops. Not many, not all.
The laity must be holy. We must pray and fast for those working in the Synod. If we do not, we can expect more chaos.
Prayer and fasting change hearts and minds.
Four, the evil of satan is not equal to the power of God. There is a popular painting showing satan and Jesus arm wrestling. This painting shows a mind-set which is heretical.
Satan is a creature, not equal to God. And, the war has been won, on the Cross, and the Resurrection is the sign of victory. But, the clean-up battles must be fought.
My dad was in the Battle of the Bulge. He took men through Germany on the way to Berlin, conquering every small town and village in between. Both sides knew the Allies had won the war, but the little battles had to be fought for the big prize of Berlin.
This is what we are witnessing. Not a civil war between equals, but the mop-up on the way to the Second Coming of Christ and the New Jerusalem.
Words reflect beliefs.
Not civil war, but spiritual warfare, involving people on earth, the angels of heaven, the evil demons of the air, earth and waters, the saints in heaven who intercede for us on earth.
Not civil war, but rebellion from pride, arrogance, heresy, the lack of belief, and even immorality.
Not civil war, but the biggest battle of all time-the beginning of the tribulation and the final age of martyrs.
The Church will prevail, because we pray, fast, do penance; but primarily because of the wonderful promise of Christ, which I repeat here.
We bloggers and journalists must be precise in the use of words. Definitions and concepts in language form consciences, and move souls. We must be extremely diligent as wordsmiths.
To say that the Church is experiencing civil war reveals not only a laziness as to the choice of an image, but a misunderstanding as to what is really happening in the Church.
First, the phrase....civil war, civil war. The word civil has to do with citizens, with a particular country, with secular laws and customs. Civil war as a phrase means a political war between factions within a country. The Church is not a country but universal, catholic, embracing all members who live in all the countries of the entire world, (which is why the one world government people hate the Church so much).
There is also a connected idea that civil wars take place between factions which could both be in error. The American Civil War was about state's rights and Abraham Lincoln made it about slavery, which is good, but the states had a right to secede legally, despite the evil of the reason. Lincoln created the big executive branch, setting down principles for the overuse of not only executive powers, but federal power, and so on.
Both sides had some right and some wrong.
The English Civil War, (and there were several), especially the big one based on religion, was fought in an arena where the Catholics were already marginalized and excluded in public affairs. Both sides, the Anglican monarchists and the Puritan commonwealth supporters were, therefore, both in error.
The Church is not in error in this battle and it is a war, but not a civil war
Second, what is happening is rebellion against the Teaching Magisterium of the Church, which includes the foundations of morality from both the Ten Commandments and Christ's own teaching.
Rebellion is not the same as civil war. Rebellion is the sin of pride and arrogance against Truth. This type of rebellion marked the Protestant REVOLT not Reformation. Use words carefully. The Protestant Revolt destroyed Christendom and split the Church into many false congregations which do not meet the definition of "religions" according to Ratzinger in Dominus Iesus.
Rebellion starts in the unseen armies of satan, the great rebel, which brings me to my third point.
What is happening is spiritual warfare, not civil war. The old war of satan against the Church he hates has moved into another stage. This old war, seen again and again in the Church with the struggles against heretics, has entered a crisis stage.
Spiritual warfare must be fought with spiritual power, not with politics. Many years ago, I was speaking with some seminarians who were focused on the politics in the Church. I told them their error was in thinking that Church politics would change hearts and minds. I told them that their job was not political, but spiritual.
They got it.
The Church must stand against the Modernists through work, but also and mostly, the personal holiness and orthodoxy of the clergy, including bishops and cardinals.
We have a few holy cardinals. We have a few holy bishops. Not many, not all.
The laity must be holy. We must pray and fast for those working in the Synod. If we do not, we can expect more chaos.
Prayer and fasting change hearts and minds.
Four, the evil of satan is not equal to the power of God. There is a popular painting showing satan and Jesus arm wrestling. This painting shows a mind-set which is heretical.
Satan is a creature, not equal to God. And, the war has been won, on the Cross, and the Resurrection is the sign of victory. But, the clean-up battles must be fought.
My dad was in the Battle of the Bulge. He took men through Germany on the way to Berlin, conquering every small town and village in between. Both sides knew the Allies had won the war, but the little battles had to be fought for the big prize of Berlin.
This is what we are witnessing. Not a civil war between equals, but the mop-up on the way to the Second Coming of Christ and the New Jerusalem.
Words reflect beliefs.
Not civil war, but spiritual warfare, involving people on earth, the angels of heaven, the evil demons of the air, earth and waters, the saints in heaven who intercede for us on earth.
Not civil war, but rebellion from pride, arrogance, heresy, the lack of belief, and even immorality.
Not civil war, but the biggest battle of all time-the beginning of the tribulation and the final age of martyrs.
The Church will prevail, because we pray, fast, do penance; but primarily because of the wonderful promise of Christ, which I repeat here.
Matthew 16:18 Douay-Rheims
18 And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
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