Malta Thoughts on The Moon Tonight

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Sinai is the Place of Sin, and Sin is the Babylonian name for the moon-god, worshipped by some ancient peoples of the Sinai.

Tonight, as I look at the beautiful full moon, which always reminds me of the Eucharist, as if the sky is a huge monstrance for Christ, I think also of those ancients who worshipped Sin. The god Sin was seen as larger than the sun and therefore, by these people seen as the male god and the sun as the female goddess. Other pagans reversed this order.

Several historians of this period write that the Arabs worshipped the moon-god. Among those believing this are the famous historians of the ancient world Tuch, Goldziger and Osiander. One can look up their references.

Other peoples, such as the ancient Peruvians, the Greeks and the Natives of Vancouver Island also worshipped the moon as the first god among many. The god was worshipped in Ur as well, the city which Abraham left in obedience to the one, true God.

R. W. Rogers discovered cuniform praising the moon as well.

References are at the end of this post.

Macrobius on the Saturnalia, wrote that women dressed like men and men dressed like women for this feast of the moon, a custom soundly condemned by St. Paul.

It is, therefore, no accident that God revealed Himself on Mt. Sinai, to set the record straight, as to whom was real worship to be established. God revealed Himself as the God, not one of many, and not merely one without power, but the Creator, the Lawgiver, the giver of peace and order.

The name of the specific Arab tribe which is known to have worshipped the moon is Hagarites, or sons of Hagar, the mother of Ishmael from whom the Arabs claim descendence. During Saul's kingship over Israel, the tribe of Rueben conquered the Hagarites, as written in the first book of Chronicles. They are also mentioned in one of the psalms.

More on the moon-worshipping Hagarites may be found here. http://nabataea.net/hagar.html

As I look at the bright moon tonight through the back window of my flat, I am so grateful that I am a Catholic and know the one, true God, the Holy Trinity.

For revelation and my parents passing on to me the Faith, I am eternally grateful.

The Muslims, btw, see this as they lineage, which is why some scholars think they worshipped the moon god as well. Those who have seen Lawrence of Arabia, or read any of his biographies will recognize the last tribe mentioned under the 12 Sons of Ismael, the Howietat.

http://nabataea.net/hagar.html

http://www.varchive.org/itb/moonwor.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_Mount_Sinai

http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/7023-hagarenes-hagarites

Slavery of the Will; Freedom of the Will Part Twelve

I am adding to the heresies which seem to be coming out of America and Germany as seen at the Synod.

The one I am adding is the heresy of "naturalism". Pelagianism, which I have already discussed in this series, is one of the forms of naturalism, but I want to address modern naturalism. I did refer to this earlier, but want to make it absolutely clear for all readers.

Here is Garrigou-Lagrange on this.

Naturalism denies that the Christian life is beyond natural powers; in other words, it declares that what is in reality achieved by it can be achieved without interior grace. Indeed it maintains that the human intellect in its natural development is capable of attaining to the possession of every truth and good, even to the intuition of God. (Denz.,no. 1808.)

Pseudo-supernaturalism denies that the Christian life is above the requirements of nature; in other words, human reason is so weak that it necessarily stands in need of revelation, which accordingly is not properly supernatural, and its exaltation to a participation in the divine nature was due to it for the integrity of its original state.

In both errors there is a confusion of the two orders, but the first confusion sins by exaggerated optimism in regard to the powers of human nature, and the second by exaggerated pessimism in regard to the destitution of nature.

It is this second type which is plaguing the synodal fathers and many Catholics in the pews.

Why bishops and cardinals want to allow those is sin to receive Communion is that they do not believe people can convert, that it is too hard to be a good Catholic.

This is a heresy I have mentioned before but want to empahsize by referrring to specifics

Here is "the" specific....

One of the greatest tragedies of our times is the falling away of cradle-Catholics.

I have seen this trend in very country I have visited over the past four years, in the States, Ireland England, Malta, France.

Thinking about the reasons has led me to one conclusion--it is entirely the fault of those who have chosen to leave the Catholic Church.

I have seen saintly parents lose their children to Protestantism, Buddhism, atheism.

I have seen adults who have stellar Catholic educations fall away.

I have seen people who had wonderful priests leave the Church.

An adult cannot blame someone else for his or her own decisions.

The sign that someone has grown-up is that they quit blaming others for their faults and take responsibility for their own decisions and the consequences of those decisions.

To accept the spiritual consequences of leaving the one, true, holy, apostolic and Catholic Church seems not to be a reality for most of those who have fallen away.

And, the main reason why lapsed Catholics are so, imo, boils down to one reason.

Sex.

That a person cannot live on one's own, or endure the pain of a divorce and annulment, or not enter into a lustful relationship either hetero or homosexual leads to the denial of the authority of the Church in his or her life.

Actually, it has always been the case that most people fall into mortal sin through the deadly sin of lust. Greed and gluttony follow a close second, with sloth coming up in third place, it seems.

St. Therese of Liseaux wrote that all the people in hell had sinned against the Sixth Commandment.

Interesting.

So, one walks away from the Eucharist, sanctifying grace and community because of the sins of fornication and adultery.

So sad, so unnecessary....

One must stop blaming wishy-washy priests, bad catechesis, poor parenting and so on, all of which are results of the consequences of Original Sin.

I think parents have a right to confront their adult children on these bad decisions, reminding them that the consequences include the loss of eternal life.

A man I know died on the way home from daily Mass. He has a heart attack in his car.

Can one imagine dying on the way home to fall into sin, yet again, with someone who is not a lawful wife, or with a gay or lesbian partner?

Intention is sin, as well as action.

Prayer, fast and do penance for those who have fallen away, but do not blame yourselves if you are good, Catholic parents.

Let God work through the merit of your intercessory prayers.

There is hope until someone dies for repentance. Therefore, the denials that people can leave a sinful relationship through conversion and that they can grow in holiness is the form of the heresy of modern naturalism. It is not impossible to be a good, holy Catholic.

I know I am repeating what I wrote in this series a few days ago, but some people's comments have reminded me that this idea of needing to lower the standards which Christ commanded is getting more and more popular appeal.

A dangerous consequence of compromise from the top and from the pew....

to be continued...

A Universal Church?

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On Sunday, some dioceses celebrated Epiphany, some the Second Sunday in Christmas Time, and some TLMs, the Holy Name of Jesus, which was the third of January here.

Personally, I hate this crazy development that Roman Catholics are not celebrating the same feast on the same day.

January 6th should be the day we all celebrate the Epiphany. Moving it does not make sense.

The readings in the NO for the Second Sunday in Christmas Time, which I highlighted on this blog, are too fantastic to miss.

As to the TLM schedule, well that is usually different.

I do think we need one schedule and that holy days of obligation should not be moved, ever.

Ranting, I know.....

I shall write about the Epiphany tomorrow.

ARRGGHH.

Rant over....

Meeting Saints

I have met some saints in Malta. Most are over the age of 75. These are women and men who go to daily Mass, daily Adoration, pray at home, reach out in real ways to help those around them, do volunteer work for the Church and are orthodox, not believing in modernist heresies or false seers.

They are few and far between but they are here. Sadly, they are a dying breed of those Maltese and Gozitans who learned the love God through suffering and penance.

They are do mortification.

I pray that you meet saints, as it is encouraging to see their faith in this hard world.

Saints Who Were Converts

..from Islam are rare. I found a few and want to share there stories with you.

Three were brother and sisters, SS. Bernard, Mary and Zayda.

Bernard was called Achmed. He was born in Spain and after his conversion, he entered the Cistercian monastery at Poblet, at Tarragona.

Bernard, his sister Zayda and sister Zoraida, who also converted, were children of the Moslem Caliph Almazor of Lerida in Catalonia. Bernard also had another brother, Almanzor, who he tried to convert.

Zoraida became a Catholic changing her name to Mary on converting. The saints traced their lineage back to Mohammed, all the way back to Ishmael, Abraham and Hagar's son. The brother Almanzor betrayed the two and had them beheaded for converting. The other sister, Gracia Zayda, who was the princess of Seville, became a saint as well.

The two martyrs died in 1180. and the current royal family in Spain claim them as descendants, as well as another family descendant, Saint Ferdnando, who died in 1252. Some say St. Fernando, patron of engineers, was a descendant of Joseph of Arimathea. He is related to a slew of other saints: SS. Ethelbert, Arnulf, Itta, Sigebert, Dagobert, Beggue, Liuthwin, another Beggue, Sexburga, Pepin (Blessed), Cloduf, Matilda, Elgiva, Edgar, Henry II, Cunegunda, Stephen and Margaret. St. Fernando is also supposed to be related to Mohammed, which would make St. Joseph Arimathea related to Mohammed.

As to the saints who converted, I think we can pray to them today.

They are patrons of Alcira, Valencia, Spain, present day Alzira. 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/MuralladeAlzira001.JPG/800px-MuralladeAlzira001.JPG

More saint stories later....

OK, Not Science But...

A seminarian remarked to me a few days ago that he thought mom's of seminarians shared lots in common. I wonder what the apostles' moms had in common? Did Levi's mom go to the synagogue and beg God for a miracle for her son to stop being a horrid tax collector, despised by the Jews? Did she stay up nights weeping over her son's life?

Of course, being a mom of a seminarian, I asked what he meant.


He went on to say that he could spot a real vocation from a false one by watching the moms.

Hmmm, now this is anecdotal, but here is what this young man said.

First of all, he said that all the moms he had met were really strong practicing Catholics. Not so much the dads, but the moms...of course, I thought of St. Monica.

He noted that the moms knew what was going on in the Church, followed ecclsiastical news, and were, well, 'nerdy' and not typical.

Second, by not typical he meant that they were idea people, did not like to go shopping, and were pray-ers.

This gets more interesting.

I have this icon in a box in Silvis....

They shared a love of the Blessed Virgin Mary and many were or are active in the Church, in various roles, such as catechesis. choir, on Adoration lists, and so on.

Third, they have distinctly unique ideas about education.

Fourth, the moms know priests and frequently, bishops, by name, as in friends and acquiantances.

Fifth, moms who were more like "normal" women, who talked about vacations rather than vocations, and money and stuff, rather than spiritual topics seemed to have sons who left or were leaving the seminary. In other words, those young men who did not have ecclesiastical or prayful talk at home, but came from more secular famlies, especially, and those with secular homes not only had a harder time, but would leave.

The moms seem to be more important than the dads, and I agree with this. Years ago, a mom complained to me over and over again about her only son choosing the priesthood. After several years of being a priest, he left.

She was openly anti-clerical, but more than that, she did not love the Church.

This to me is the key factor--women who love the Church will have boys who love the Church.

Why? Because the Church is the Bride of Christ and this is the relationship a young man as a priest has with the Church. Women teach this principle with love and example.

Moms, if you want a son of yours to be a priest, love the Church and be obedient to the Church, which leads me to the last point.

Sixth, sems with moms who are absolutely obedient to the Church in all things, have more love for the Church. The ones who are rebellious regarding contraception or false seers undermine their sons' vocations.

Simple, really. Do not blame priests for the lack of vocations. Blame parents, and maybe, especially moms. If you are taking your kids shopping all the time and talking about fake apparitions, clothes, sports, movies, and stuff, rather than taking them to Adoration and talking about God and His Church, you, Mom, have only yourself to blame for those boys in your family not taking a vocation seriously.

I think this seminarian has an insight into real vs. false vocations. Those moms who have taught their sons to be servants have helped create servant-priests. not prima donna priests.

This is all very interesting....I have noticed that families involved in the Church and those who have had vocations in their families in the past are more likely to have new vocations.

Some families are just more "ecclesiastical" than others. I think of the holy moms of saints...and there are many.

Blessed Aleth, mother of St. Bernard of Clairvaux and several other blesseds...all her childen becoming monks and one a nun. St. Gerard, Blessed Nivard, St. Bernard, Blessed Guy, and Blessed Humbeline are her saintly children...

Here is a link about Bernard's holy sister, Humbeline...http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2013/02/saints-of-february-continuedhumbeline.html

Blessed Joan of Aza, mother of St. Dominic and Blessed Mannes...

St, Monica, of course, mother of St. Augustine...

St. Emilia, mother of SS. Basil and Gregory and Ven. Macrina...

St.Bridget of Sweden, mother of St. Catherine of Sweden...

Blessed Gerturde of Altenburg, mother of St. Elizabeth of Hungary and St. Louis...

SS, Agnes of Bohemia and Wenceslaus were brother and sister saints...whose saintly grandmother is St. Ludmila.

Ludmilla, family name...

SS. Sanchia, Malfada and Teresa of Portugal are sister saints...

SS. Isabel of France and Louis IX, King, are brother and sister saints-- they are related to Mohammed, St. David, through his son Nathan and St. Joseph of Arimathea, as well as the list plus more under St. Ferdinand...some say that the daughter of Joseph of Arimathea married Blessed Bran, who was a descendent of Ephraim, son of Joseph the Patriarch, and Anna of Arimathea, Josephs' mother,(another holy mom), goes back to Simon the Just and Judah. Down another seven generations is Blessed Bernard of Baden. St. Ferdinand is also related to St. Francis Borgia, as an ancestor to this humble superior of the Jesuits.

St. Margaret of Hungary has two Blessed siblings, Jolenta and Cunegunda, as well as being a descedant of SS. Isaac Pahlav and Gregory the Enlightened. St. Joan of Valois is related to the two latter saints as well.

St. Olga is grandmother to the great saint Vladimir and a descendent is St. Michael of Chernigov.

St. Andrew Barlow Venerable has St. Margaret of Scotland as an ancestor, and her son, St. David, King of Scotland. Guess who they all have an ancestor. St. John Southworth is also related.

Blesseds Zelie and Louis Martin, with one saint already, and two most likely "in the queue".

There are many, many more...

I had a gold version of this from Russia
St. Olga

Of course, some saints had saintly fathers, such as Etheldreda, who had three sisters who are saints, and a holy dad, King Anna of East Anglia.

St. Edward. Confessor, is said to be a descendent of St. King David of Israel, and Blessed Seraphina Sforza is seven generations down a saint, whose husband tried to poison her and she escaped to a convent, eventually becoming an abbess.

Blessed Margaret of Savoy is eight generations down from the illustrious St. Humbert III, who is descended from one of the sons of King David, Chileab.

Blessed Margaret Pole is related to the long list above, including SS. Joseph of Arimathea, Helen, mother of Constantine, David and Judah.

If you are a saint in Europe, it seems that you could most likely be related to Joseph of Arimathea or King David.

St. Pius V's brother is related to St. Charles Borromeo's sister...

And, so on....

Point? Holy families create holy kids.....vocations most likely, (but not all), come from religious families. Grace can be passed down for generations, just as sin can be...this is our choice to cooperate with grace.

Thoughts on a cold Monday in January, and some, but not all, notes taken from a  old book I found; Ascent of the Saints Whose Lineage is Known by Brian Daniel Starr, which I assume is out of print.

Slavery of the Will; Freedom of the Will Part Eleven

All of us have been predestined for a place in heaven. As I noted in the previous posts on this theme, all humans ever created have been given sufficient grace for salvation. All.

No one has been denied this.

Those who are demanding recognition of sin in their lives, or those cardinals who are allowing people to stay in sin are denying grace and not being faithful to grace.

The first thing we must always do to be holy is to stop sinning. This is possible as all of us are given grace to do this. Pain and suffering do not matter.

We are to be like God, and to remain in sin is to reject God's invitation to be like Him.

I wish one cardinal who is confused on these issues would read Thomas Aquinas, Garrigou-Lagrange and listen to such Thomists as Father Ripperger.

Beg for grace, all grace, actual, sanctifying, in order to give glory to God, to merit heaven, and to serve others in the Church.

My entire perfection series in on purgation. That is what our life is now...of which Father Ripperger reminds us, to be purged of sin and adorn our selves in virtue.

Accept suffering, either here or in purgatory....that is what some of the synodal fathers are forgetting.