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Will return to Spe Salvi tomorrow.
STM
Friday, 10 April 2015
Big Post Days
After a certain date next week, I shall not have regular internet and will be back to the McDonald's pilgrimages. Ergo, I am pushing the pen until then to get as many things done for you as I can now.
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Will return to Spe Salvi tomorrow.
STM
Will return to Spe Salvi tomorrow.
STM
Vintage Buchanan
http://www.arcamax.com/politics/fromtheright/patrickbuchanan/s-1638957?source=outbrain
On the assumption of power, revolutionaries become more intolerant than those they dispossessed.
The French Revolution was many times more terrible than the Bourbon monarchy. The Russian Revolution made the Romanovs look benign. Fidel Castro's criminality exceeded anything dreamt of by Fulgencio Batista.
...
What explains the rout in Indianapolis? The GOP simply cannot stand up to media denunciations as intolerant bigots, especially if the corporations upon which they depend threaten economic reprisals.
With the Democratic Party irretrievably lost, and the Republican Party moving to neutrality in the culture wars, traditionalists should probably take comfort in the counsel, "Put not your trust in princes."
When that father and daughter at Memories Pizza in Walkerton, Ind., said their religious beliefs forbade them from catering a same-sex wedding, they were subjected to a hailstorm of hate, but were also showered with $840,000 from folks who admired their moral courage.
Religious folks who do not believe in collaborating with what they think is wrong should go forth and do likewise.
Courage as well as cowardice is contagious
Here Is Good Papal News
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/the-pope/11527987/Pope-Francis-refuses-gay-French-ambassador.html
Some at the Vatican reportedly saw this latest nomination as a "provocation"
Voice of the Family--If you do not get their articles in your email, you should....
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Met Another Angel
http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2013/07/on-meeting-angels.html
I moved to a place because I was offered this house while, and because I met an angel.
Being in the state of New Jersey, I attended Mass and was invited to morning prayer with a group of men, (in this church, there was no morning prayer with women). On this particular day, I was mulling over moving to this empty house offered for seveal months, not wanting to go somewhere temporary yet again, and having to most likely move again in the future.
After Morning Prayer, this one young man came up to me and asked me if I would be at future prayer times, and I said no, I was moving to S..... He looked at me intensely and said "I will be there until the end of the month working in the health industry." He seemed to want to speak with me more, but another person came up and began speaking with him. Then, we all left.
No one has seen that man again in that church. No one knows who he is . He has not come back to Morning Prayer.
When he looked at me, I thought I was looking at purity and innocence, rarely seen in younger people.
He was my encouragement to come here.
My stay here is limited, but God has instructed me to continue working on the chapel and getting chapel things. No matter where I am, this chapel will exist, open to any who want to come.
God is in charge and He has a plan. His angels watch over us.
Of course, remember, the name of this chapel is St. Mary of the Angels and Martyrs, in Ephesus.
Thoughts from Today's Readings and More Fish
Part of the first reading reminds us of the truth of the Gospel.
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Acts 4:11-12Douay-Rheims
11 This is the stone which was rejected by you the builders, which is become the head of the corner.
12 Neither is there salvation in any other. For there is no other name under heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved.
Today, we see clearly that only in the Name of Jesus are we saved. Most Catholics have forgotten this fact. Salvation is through Christ, and His Church.
May we continue to evangelize until we can no longer do so.
I wrote about the Gospel yesterday on Jesus and the Fish. But, I want to highlight one verse today.
John, with his eye for detail, knows exactly how many fish were caught that day. 153. I looked into what kind of fish these would have been in that miraculous catch. 153 sardines would not be a big deal, although sardines are found in the Sea of Tiberias. The only two likely fish would have been the barbel, which could grow up to 21 pounds per fish, and the musht, or St. Peter's fish, or what we all know as Tilapia. Tilapia grow up to 9 and 1/2 pounds. If the 153 fish were mostly barbel, the net would have been stretched indeed. Next time you have Tilapia, think of Jesus and the apostles at the Sea of Galilee.
John 21:11-14Douay-Rheims
11 Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land, full of great fishes, one hundred and fifty-three. And although there were so many, the net was not broken.
If one goes to the catecombs in Rome, as I did a long time ago, one sees fish art--a use of the Christian symbol for Christ, based on the angram for Jesus.
From wiki:
ΙΧΘΥΣ (Ichthus) is an acronym/acrostic[5] for "Ίησοῦς Χριστός, Θεοῦ Υἱός, Σωτήρ", (Iēsous Christos, Theou Yios, Sōtēr), which translates into English as "Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour".
- Iota (i) is the first letter of Iēsous (Ἰησοῦς), Greek for "Jesus".
- Chi (ch) is the first letter of Christos (Χριστός), Greek for "anointed".
- Theta (th) is the first letter of Theou (Θεου), Greek for "God's", the genitive case of Θεóς, Theos, Greek for "God".
- Upsilon (y) is the first letter of (h)uios[6] (Υἱός), Greek for "Son".
- Sigma (s) is the first letter of sōtēr (Σωτήρ), Greek for "Savior".
And, of course, this should remind us of the Jesus Prayer, the ancient Eastern prayer, many of us say daily which I learned from friends in the 1970s and The Philokalia in the early 1980s, Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
See this for the other posting on fish and Jesus...
http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2015/04/jesus-and-fish.html
See this for the other posting on fish and Jesus...
http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2015/04/jesus-and-fish.html
From SPUC on The Battle (and good links)
Friday, 10 April 2015
Cardinal Nichols' misleading statement at Chrism Mass
| Cardinal Nichols holds press conference on synod, 21 October 2014 |
I was present in Rome during the Extraordinary Synod, working with representatives of other pro-family organisations as part of the Voice of the Family coalition. It was plainly evident to us, after numerous meetings with prelates on both sides of the divide, that a battle was taking place over crucial aspects of Catholic teaching and discipline relating to marriage and the family.
George Cardinal Pell, Prefect for the Economy, publicly stated that "radical elements" within the hierarchy were attempting to use the synod to undermine Catholic teaching on questions such as cohabitation and homosexual unions. They were, he said, using the issue of Holy Communion for the divorced and "remarried" as a "stalking horse" to help pursue these wider changes.
These attempts to undermine the doctrine of the Church were strongly resisted on the floor of the synod hall, resulting in a partial reversal of the radical agenda outlined in the now notorious interim report. The final report remains gravely flawed however, as outlined in Voice of the Family's in-depth analysis.
This serious division between leading prelates is widening as the Ordinary Synod approaches. Cardinal Marx, Chairman of the German Bishops’ Conference, has claimed that the Church in Germany is not “a subsidiary of Rome” and that each bishops’ conference must “preach the Gospel in its own, original way.” Cardinal Müller, the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, has called this idea “absolutely anti-Catholic” and another German, Cardinal Cordes, has accused Marx of false mercy, “theological blurriness” and language better suited to the “counter of a bar”. Furthermore Swiss-German Cardinal, Kurt Koch, has stated that the dissenters are trying to adapt the faith to the world after the manner of some German Christians under the Nazi regime.
This sounds like a battle to me.
Those interested in knowing what really happened before and during the Extraordinary Synod will benefit reading from the detailed narrative overview produced by Voice of Family.
I found Cardinal Nichols' comments particularly surprising because he himself has taken part in the current battle over Church teaching. I wrote last week about his disappointment that language about homosexuality placed in the heterodox interim report was removed from the synod's final report. He has also expressed his openness to the admission of those in public and unrepentant mortal sin to Holy Communion, which would contradict twenty centuries of Catholic teaching.
I have previously documented many of Cardinal Nichols' statements and actions relating to homosexuality and homosexual unions.
Comments on this blog? Email them to johnsmeaton@spuc.org.uk
and
Friday, 10 April 2015
Scottish Catholic bishops make clarion general election call in defence of life and marriage
The Catholic Bishops' Conference of Scotland has just issued the following general election statement making clear that protecting the sanctity of human life is the fundamental issue for voters and for politicians as well as protecting the institution of marriage and the family as the basic unit of society.
The Scottish Catholic bishops have the courage to uphold the common good and, above all, to defend children, when so many politicians and party leaders make common cause to deny the right to life of unborn children and to undermine marriage and the family by legislating for genderless marriage.
Who cares about children destined, as a consequence of legislation, to be brought up in fatherless or motherless institutions? The Scottish Catholic Bishops' Conference cares ... thank God.
Comments on this blog? Email them to johnsmeaton@spuc.org.uk
The Scottish Catholic bishops have the courage to uphold the common good and, above all, to defend children, when so many politicians and party leaders make common cause to deny the right to life of unborn children and to undermine marriage and the family by legislating for genderless marriage.
Who cares about children destined, as a consequence of legislation, to be brought up in fatherless or motherless institutions? The Scottish Catholic Bishops' Conference cares ... thank God.
Comments on this blog? Email them to johnsmeaton@spuc.org.uk
Baptism Reminder
United Church of God, LDS, Oneness Pentecostals, Jehovah Witnesses, do not have Trinitarian, and, therefore, no true baptisms.
I had to deal with this problem with people coming into the Church through RCIA, who did not know they were not baptized.
Baptism in the Name of Jesus is not sacramental baptism.
If you have been baptized in these sects, please consider real Christian baptism.
I had to deal with this problem with people coming into the Church through RCIA, who did not know they were not baptized.
Baptism in the Name of Jesus is not sacramental baptism.
If you have been baptized in these sects, please consider real Christian baptism.
Spe Salvi Two
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It is the expectation of things to come from the perspective of a present that is already given. It is a looking-forward in Christ's presence, with Christ who is present, to the perfecting of his Body, to his definitive coming. The word hypostole, on the other hand, means shrinking back through lack of courage to speak openly and frankly a truth that may be dangerous. Hiding through a spirit of fear leads to “destruction” (Heb 10:39). “God did not give us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power and love and self-control”—that, by contrast, is the beautiful way in which the Second Letter to Timothy (1:7) describes the fundamental attitude of the Christian.
I have discovered coming back to the States that the main impetus for most actions, or the lack of action in people, is fear. The United States has become a fear culture, where people create comfort zones and rarely reach out of these.
The person on the "outside" is rarely let in.
Those who choose to live in the fear of speaking the truth destroy their own souls. Notice that in the paragraph above that the Pope Emeritus refer to the spirit of power, love and self-control, all rational gifts which inform the will. It is the sensual, the passions which move a person to fear, not love or self-control.
Catholics who shrink back create souls which lack the generosity needed to love God and others. Courage increases love, and fear destroys love.
But, it is the love of God which casts out fear. The more one loves, the less fearful one is, not because one becomes foolhardy but because one knows Who is in charge, Who leads, Who wills.
The reference to Hebrews 10 may here be seen in context. Confidence cannot be based on one's talents or gifts, spritual or material, but on God. One becomes patience through suffering. Faith is justified in patience and courage. It takes great perseverance to endure persecution-and one can learn beforehand how to handle such trials through the daily difficulties presented to us.
35 Do not therefore lose your confidence, which hath a great reward.
36 For patience is necessary for you; that, doing the will of God, you may receive the promise.
37 For yet a little and a very little while, and he that is to come, will come, and will not delay.
38 But my just man liveth by faith; but if he withdraw himself, he shall not please my soul.
39 But we are not the children of withdrawing unto perdition, but of faith to the saving of the soul.
Life is boot-camp, or should be...to be continued....
Life is boot-camp, or should be...to be continued....
Spe Salvi Comments One
One of the overlooked encyclicals of our time is Spe Salvi. As usual, the Pope Emeritus wrote ahead of the times, stirring readers to consider suffering and hope, which seem necessary today more than ever.
In this great work, Benedict is preparing Catholics for persecution. I am not going to review the encyclical line by line but highlight a few timely paragraphs. In number eight, the Pope Emeritus traces the theme of the switching of security from things to Christ. As one who lives in poverty, I can identify with the loss of the normal sources of security to which the Pope refers.
The basis on one's existence changes from things to faith. Those in monastic orders, or in active orders whose members take a vow of poverty willingly renounce personal possessions in order to learn complete trust in Divine Providence. This is active purgation or active purification, different from my passive purgation.
One learns to hope in God alone under all circumstances, thereby sharing this deep hope with others
One cannot share what one does not have.
In this great work, Benedict is preparing Catholics for persecution. I am not going to review the encyclical line by line but highlight a few timely paragraphs. In number eight, the Pope Emeritus traces the theme of the switching of security from things to Christ. As one who lives in poverty, I can identify with the loss of the normal sources of security to which the Pope refers.
The basis on one's existence changes from things to faith. Those in monastic orders, or in active orders whose members take a vow of poverty willingly renounce personal possessions in order to learn complete trust in Divine Providence. This is active purgation or active purification, different from my passive purgation.
One learns to hope in God alone under all circumstances, thereby sharing this deep hope with others
One cannot share what one does not have.
8. This explanation is further strengthened and related to daily life if we consider verse 34 of the tenth chapter of the Letter to the Hebrews, which is linked by vocabulary and content to this definition of hope-filled faith and prepares the way for it. Here the author speaks to believers who have undergone the experience of persecution and he says to them: “you had compassion on the prisoners, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property (hyparchonton—Vg. bonorum), since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession (hyparxin—Vg. substantiam) and an abiding one.” Hyparchonta refers to property, to what in earthly life constitutes the means of support, indeed the basis, the “substance” for life, what we depend upon. This “substance”, life's normal source of security, has been taken away from Christians in the course of persecution. They have stood firm, though, because they considered this material substance to be of little account. They could abandon it because they had found a better “basis” for their existence—a basis that abides, that no one can take away. We must not overlook the link between these two types of “substance”, between means of support or material basis and the word of faith as the “basis”, the “substance” that endures. Faith gives life a new basis, a new foundation on which we can stand, one which relativizes the habitual foundation, the reliability of material income. A new freedom is created with regard to this habitual foundation of life, which only appears to be capable of providing support, although this is obviously not to deny its normal meaning. This new freedom, the awareness of the new “substance” which we have been given, is revealed not only in martyrdom, in which people resist the overbearing power of ideology and its political organs and, by their death, renew the world. Above all, it is seen in the great acts of renunciation, from the monks of ancient times to Saint Francis of Assisi and those of our contemporaries who enter modern religious Institutes and movements and leave everything for love of Christ, so as to bring to men and women the faith and love of Christ, and to help those who are suffering in body and spirit. In their case, the new “substance” has proved to be a genuine “substance”; from the hope of these people who have been touched by Christ, hope has arisen for others who were living in darkness and without hope. In their case, it has been demonstrated that this new life truly possesses and is “substance” that calls forth life for others. For us who contemplate these figures, their way of acting and living is de facto a “proof” that the things to come, the promise of Christ, are not only a reality that we await, but a real presence: he is truly the “philosopher” and the “shepherd” who shows us what life is and where it is to be found.
In paragraph nine, the Pope Emeritus emphasizes the virtues which arise from renunciation and purgation. Patience, perseverance, constancy, knowing how to wait, enduring trials become necessary virtues for those who face persecution. But, one learns these virtues daily-and when one is poor, one is given many opportunities; waiting for a ride, waiting for the bus in the rain and being splashed by cars, denying the buying of things as one cannot afford them, being constant in prayer despite no consolations, enduring illnesses and injuries because one cannot afford medical attention, waiting even for food or a place to live.
Certainty comes, therefore, from God alone. Christ becomes the center of certainty, not things or even other people.
A lived hope does not mean a giving up, but an endurance beyond one's own capacity to face trials, an endurance centered on the Cross.
These words are not poetry, but become real tools when one has nothing else upon which to rely but God. And, in God alone is our hope.
9. In order to understand more deeply this reflection on the two types of substance—hypostasis and hyparchonta—and on the two approaches to life expressed by these terms, we must continue with a brief consideration of two words pertinent to the discussion which can be found in the tenth chapter of the Letter to the Hebrews. I refer to the words hypomone (10:36) and hypostole(10:39). Hypo- mone is normally translated as “patience”—perseverance, constancy. Knowing how to wait, while patiently enduring trials, is necessary for the believer to be able to “receive what is promised” (10:36). In the religious context of ancient Judaism, this word was used expressly for the expectation of God which was characteristic of Israel, for their persevering faithfulness to God on the basis of the certainty of the Covenant in a world which contradicts God. Thus the word indicates a lived hope, a life based on the certainty of hope. In the New Testament this expectation of God, this standing with God, takes on a new significance: in Christ, God has revealed himself. He has already communicated to us the “substance” of things to come, and thus the expectation of God acquires a new certainty.
to be continued...
Sigh....Tornado Watches and Warnings
Please pray for all of those under the myriad tornado watches and warnings tonight. Also, those under severe thunderstorm warnings.
Nighttime tornadoes are horrible.
Nighttime tornadoes are horrible.
Wood in The Bread
Bloggers, including me, who are real in facing current situations, have taken flack. The greatest Catholic blogger, Fr. Z., also has those in his com box who simply are in denial about the pending crisis in Catholic life.
Jeremiah faced the same problem I do with telling people things will get bad very fast and most ignore or even trash me.
Jeremiah's own town people wanted to kill him as they were upset with his prophecies.
When someone is trying to help by bringing people back to God NOW, and those people respond by calling you names, go figure. I think too much GMO is wood in the bread....greed is a vice. Here is a site on real wood in bread. https://www.mainstreet.com/slideshow/10-brands-put-wood-their-food
and http://www.celestesbest.com/blog/wood-in-gluten-free-bread-dow-wellence-commercial-/9554d656-e625-5746-bd7f-53c1c86072d8
Jeremiah faced the same problem I do with telling people things will get bad very fast and most ignore or even trash me.
Jeremiah's own town people wanted to kill him as they were upset with his prophecies.
When someone is trying to help by bringing people back to God NOW, and those people respond by calling you names, go figure. I think too much GMO is wood in the bread....greed is a vice. Here is a site on real wood in bread. https://www.mainstreet.com/slideshow/10-brands-put-wood-their-food
and http://www.celestesbest.com/blog/wood-in-gluten-free-bread-dow-wellence-commercial-/9554d656-e625-5746-bd7f-53c1c86072d8
Jeremiah 11:18-20Douay-Rheims
18 But thou, O Lord, hast shewn me, and I have known: then thou shewedst me their doings.
19 And I was as a meek lamb, that is carried to be a victim: and I knew not that they had devised counsels against me, saying: Let us put wood on his bread, and cut him off from the land of the living, and let his name be remembered no more.
20 But thou, O Lord of Sabaoth, who judgest justly, and triest the reins and hearts, let me see thy revenge on them: for to thee I have revealed my cause.
and...
Jeremiah 13 Douay-Rheims
13 Thus saith the Lord to me: Go, and get thee a linen girdle, and thou shalt put it about thy loins, and shalt not put it into water.
2 And I got a girdle accoding to the word of the Lord, and put it about my loins.
3 And the word of the Lord came to me the second time, saying:
4 Take the girdle which thou hast got, which is about thy loins, and arise, and go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole of the rock.
5 And I went, and hid it by the Euphrates, as the Lord had commanded me.
6 And it came to pass after many days, that the Lord said to me: Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take from thence the girdle, which I commanded thee to hide there.
7 And I went to the Euphrates, and digged, and took the girdle out of the place where I had hid it: and behold the girdle was rotten, so that it was fit for no use.
8 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
9 Thus saith the Lord: after this manner will I make the pride of Juda, and the great pride of Jerusalem to rot.
10 This wicked people, that will not hear my words, and that walk in the perverseness of their heart, and have gone after strange gods to serve them, and to adore them: and they shall be as this girdle which is fit for no use.
11 For as the girdle sticketh close to the loins of a man, so have I brought close to me all of the house of Israel, and all the house of Juda, saith the Lord: that they might be my people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory: but they would not hear.
12 Thou shalt speak therefore to them this word: Thus saith the Lord God of Israel: Every bottle shall be filled with wine, and they shall say to thee: Do we not know that every bottle shall be filled with wine?
13 And thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord: Behold I will fill all the inhabitants of this land, and the kings of the race of David that sit upon his throne, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. with drunkenness.
14 And I will scatter them every man from his brother, and fathers and sons in like manner, saith the Lord: I will not spare, and I will not pardon: nor will I have mercy, but to destroy them.
15 Hear ye, and give ear: Be not proud, for the Lord hath spoken.
16 Give ye glory to the Lord your God, before it be dark, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains: you shall look for light, and he will turn it into the shadow of death, and into darkness.
17 But if you will not hear this, my soul shall weep in secret for your pride: weeping it shall weep, and my eyes shall run down the tears, because the flock of the Lord is carried away captive.
18 Say to the king, and to the queen: Humble yourselves, sit down: for the crown of your glory is come down from your head.
19 The cities of the south are shut up, and there is none to open them: all Juda is carried away captive with an entire captivity.
20 Lift up your eyes, and see, you that come from the north: where is the flock that is given thee, thy beautiful cattle?
21 What wilt thou say when he shall visit thee? for thou hast taught them against thee, and instructed them against thy own head: shall not sorrows lay hold on thee, as a woman in labour?
22 And if thou shalt say in thy heart: Why are these things come upon me? For the greatness of thy iniquity, thy nakedness is discovered, the soles of thy feet are defiled.
23 If the Ethiopian can change his skin, or the leopard his spots: you may also do well, when you have learned evil.
24 And I will scatter them as stubble, which is carried away by the wind in the desert.
25 This is thy lot, and the portion of thy measure from me, saith the Lord, because thou hast forgotten me, and hast trusted in falsehood.
26 Wherefore I have also bared my thighs against thy face, and thy shame hath appeared.
27 I have seen thy adulteries, and thy neighing, the wickedness of thy fornication: and thy abominations, upon the hills in the field. Woe to thee, Jerusalem, wilt thou not be made clean after me: how long yet?
Remember, John Mark, or Mark, the First Evangelist, left his loincloth in the hands of a temple soldier in the Garden of Gethsemane...symbol, perhaps, of the coming Passion and real deliverance of the People of God, who ignored Christ as the True Messiah..A good Jew would recall the Jeremiah passage reading this later on.
Mark 14:51-52Douay-Rheims
51 And a certain young man followed him, having a linen cloth cast about his naked body; and they laid hold on him.
52 But he, casting off the linen cloth, fled from them naked.
Thoughts on Baptism
I have been musing on the difference between the difference between the old rite and the new rite of baptism. I have been wondering if some people notice a difference in children in their families of those actually baptism in the old rite and those in the new.
I had my son baptized in the old rite in 1988, with permission of course. The reason I wanted this, besides the fact that we were Latin Mass Catholics, was that this rite contains the exorcism. The new one does not.
I want parents to think about this--whether they notice a difference in their own families between those who have been baptized in the old rite and those in the new.
Obviously, I have not hard data, but my questions would center around children who have fallen away and children who have not.
When exactly the new rite started, I do not know. But, I encourage new Catholic parents to use the Old Rite. One can ask permission for this, and I never know this has been refused.
I remind families of this fact on this meme.
I had my son baptized in the old rite in 1988, with permission of course. The reason I wanted this, besides the fact that we were Latin Mass Catholics, was that this rite contains the exorcism. The new one does not.
I want parents to think about this--whether they notice a difference in their own families between those who have been baptized in the old rite and those in the new.
Obviously, I have not hard data, but my questions would center around children who have fallen away and children who have not.
When exactly the new rite started, I do not know. But, I encourage new Catholic parents to use the Old Rite. One can ask permission for this, and I never know this has been refused.
I remind families of this fact on this meme.
