Average Posting Day

Thanks to Wiki

My usual number of posts is six for one day, with variations of seven to ten or so, on a special day. I hope all who follow this blog know how to use the tags at the bottom of the posts to find more of the same topic and also the search button on the side.

Novena to St. Gianna Beretta Molla

Those who have been following this blog know that I follow Maltese Catholic life. The Archbishop there published a beautiful paper on life which is on this blog below. The search bar and tags can help those looking for articles.

IVF is not part of the teaching of the Church for many reasons. But, for those desiring children, remember we have a great saint in heaven. Many parents in the States have babies names after St. Gianna Beretta Molla. Here is her novena and click on the title for a good website on her life. Also, if you are a reader and have a witness to her intercession, please make a comment. Please join me in praying for all those Catholic women who want children and have not conceived.

Novena to St. Gianna

God, our Father, Thou hast granted to Thy Church the gift of St. Gianna Beretta Molla. In her youth she lovingly sought Thee and drew other young people to Thee, involving them in the care of the sick and the elderly. We thank Thee for the gift of this young woman so deeply committed to Thee. Through her example, give us the grace to dedicate our lives to Thy service, for the joy of our brothers and sisters. Glory be... Jesus, Redeemer of humanity, Thou called St. Gianna to become a doctor, a role she lived as a mission to comfort bodies and souls. She saw Thee in the sick, needy and weak. We thank Thee because, through this servant, Thou revealed Thyself to us as "One who serves" and alleviates the sufferings of all men and women. As we treasure her example, may we become generous Christians at the service of our brothers and sisters, especially those with whom Thou deign to share Your Cross. Glory be... God, Sanctifying Spirit, Thou who love the Church as Thy bride, Thou poured into the heart of St. Gianna a share of Thy love so that she could give it to her family, cooperate with Thee in the wonderful plan of creation, and give life to new children who could know and love Thee. We thank Thee for this model wife and for her encouraging example. Grant us serene and Christian mothers who are committed to transforming our families into cenacles of faith, love, generosity, and service. Glory be... O God, Creator and Lover of the human family, Thou remained with St. Gianna when she painfully had to choose between her life and the life of the child she had awaited for so long. Trusting Thee alone and aware of Thy commandment to respect human life, St. Gianna found the courage to do her duty as a mother and to say "yes" to her baby's life, thus generously giving her own. Through the intercession of Mary, Mother of Jesus, and after the example of St. Gianna, inspire all mothers to welcome with love the seeds of a new life. Help us respect the gift of human life. Grant us the grace to find inspiration in St. Gianna, a model spouse and mother who, after the example of Christ, gave up her life for the life of others. Hail Mary... With ecclesiastical approval Angelo Mascheroni Auxiliary Bishop of Milan

On thought on yesterday's second reading

In this first line of the reading at the NO yesterday, from Ephesians 4:30, St. Paul writes, "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God who has marked you with his seal for you to be set free when the day comes." In Great Britain, sadly, the Jerusalem Bible translation is still being used as the approved version. This is not good, as this translation is not as accurate as the RSV, for example.

However, until we get excellent bishops, this will not change.

Going back to the topic, St. Paul shows us that he is addressing those Christians who are confirmed. This point must be seen as significant. The confirmed are the more mature Christians who have repented, become members of the Church and received the other Sacraments of Initiation: Baptism and Holy Eucharist. Look at how specific St. Paul is about who he addresses.

Those Catholics with the seal of the Holy Spirit, which comes with Confirmation, are asked by Paul not to grieve the Spirit. This means that we all must cooperate with grace.

Grieving the Spirit involves ignoring the life of the virtues and choosing the easy, but deadly way to sin and corruption.

The second part of the verse notes that those who are sealed in the sacrament will be set free "when the day comes". This is an eschatological reference to the Coming of Christ, when He separates the goats from the sheep, to use the Biblical phrase.

Be prepared, pray, reflect, act.

and, just in case you have not been paying attention to Egypt

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/158831#.UCgZiZ1lQcs

Catholics, please pay attention. Pray for Coptic Christians.

Democratic Party Platform Now Includes Gay "Marriage" Support

An American cannot be a Catholic and vote Democrat. Since the late 1990s, the party platform has officially supported contraception and abortion. That should have been enough for most Catholics, but now the party has officially added gay civil marriage to the platform. Here is the news.

Enough is enough. No picture for this post.

Read on Ryan

http://news.yahoo.com/understanding-paul-ryan-medicare-reform-plan-three-minutes-144610365.html

Illogical Catholics

When I was in high school, in my freshman year, age 14, we all had to take Logic. Some of us went on to take debate. These courses were part of classical, Western education. I won such contests of rational discourse as I had learned the fallacies and avoiding these were the keys to success. One put one's arguments forward rationally and succinctly.

There are now two generations of people who do not know how to argue. We, in America and in England, have lost the skills of rational discourse and debate.

The way of thinking rationally is human but also a learned skill. Several things have impeded the ability of people to argue.

One, subjectivism. This is actually or could be an illness of the mind: that is, to take everything personally and to attack on the personal level, leading to ad hominem fallacies. One cannot win a real debate in this manner.

Two, relativism. Unless people can agree on common definitions and common truths, there can be no meeting of the minds for an argument. This leads to individualism and fallacies of non sequitur and the argument from fallacy. This can also lead to the fallacy of compromise which always cannot be a real alternative.

Three, lack of a moral framework, no teaching of the Ten Commandments or recognition of natural law, which means that arguments cannot even begin, as there is no common ground for an outcome.

Notice, dear readers, how many of the Modernist Heresies are actually based on faulty logic.

I do not know if we can turn the tide of this lack of thinking, which is a sign of barbarism. What takes the place of rational discourse is superstition and magical thinking.

A great article on Dem reactions to Ryan, plus two more

http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/tygrrrr-express/2012/aug/11/paul-ryan-murders-puppies-and-kittens/

This is so funny as to be true....or so true, as to be funny.

How can they say such things about Paul Ryan?

And, here is an older article, but valid for understanding Ryan's influence. And, update: here is another great article.

Fun on a Sunday--which Jane Austen lady are you?

OK Ladies, this is for you on a sunny, Sunday morning in England.

Which Jane Austen character are you? This is for plain fun and this blogger gives a BIG disclaimer. Do not base much on it but enjoyment. You who read this might have fun guessing which one I came out to be.

Thanks to Gibson Girl for the link.

http://www.strangegirl.com/emma/quiz.php

Guest Blogger JonathanCatholic

The Spouse of God

As I was mediating on the beginning of the Gospel according to St. Luke, and wondering about what to write about in my weekly post this time, my thoughts fell upon Saint Alphonsus Liguori’s wonderful work “The Glories of Mary,” particularly one small statement within this book that Protestants often misunderstand and take as a lie. There is a passage from the second chapter of St. Luke that inspired me to turn my thoughts to Saint Alphonsus Liguori, and contrary to the misunderstandings, if you understand what the blessed Saint is saying, it opens up a beautiful meditation on the relationship between the Blessed Virgin, the Church, and the Triune God.

Here is the passage from the Gospel according to St. Luke that prompted my mediations:

“And his (Christ’s) parents went every year to Jerusalem, at the solemn day of the Pasch, And when he was twelve years old, they going up into Jerusalem, according to the custom of the feast, And having fulfilled the days, when they returned, the child Jesus remained in Jerusalem; and his parents knew it not. And thinking that he was in the company, they came a day's journey, and sought him among their kinsfolks and acquaintance. And not finding him, they returned into Jerusalem, seeking him. And it came to pass, that, after three days, they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, hearing them, and asking them questions. And all that heard him were astonished at his wisdom and his answers. And seeing him, they wondered. And his mother said to him: Son, why hast thou done so to us? behold thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. And he said to them: How is it that you sought me? did you not know, that I must be about my Father's business? And they understood not the word that he spoke unto them. And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them. And his mother kept all these words in her Heart. And Jesus advanced in wisdom, and age, and grace with God and men.”- St. Luke 2:41-52

This is truly a remarkable passage! Here is the passage from “The Glories of Mary” that it reminded me of:

“He (Our Lord Jesus Christ) has supreme dominion over all and also over Mary; nevertheless, it can always be said that for a time at least, when He was living in this world, He was pleased to humble himself and be subject (in obedience) to Mary. Says St. Ambrose, ‘Jesus Christ having deigned to make Mary His Mother, inasmuch as He was her Son, He was truly obliged to obey her.’ And for this reason, says Richard of St. Laurence, ‘Of other Saints we say that they are with God; but of Mary alone can it be said that she was so far favored as to be not only herself submissive to the will of God, but even that God was subject to her will.’

Therefore we say that, even though Mary can no longer command her Son, since they are not on earth any more, still her prayers are always the prayers of a Mother and are therefore most powerful in obtaining whatever she asks…

‘The prayers of our Lady, being the prayers of a Mother, have in them something of a command; so it is impossible for her not to be heard.’- Saint Antonine”

These two passages teach us truly the level of humility that God the Son assumed to Himself in becoming man. As St. Paul says in his epistle to the Philippians, ‘He humbled Himself, taking on the nature of a slave,” and likewise says in his epistle to the Galatians, ‘In the fullness of time, God sent forth His Son, born of a Woman, born under the Law.’ The One who is Almighty and who never ceased to be the Almighty, deigned to assume human nature so fully and so completely that He indeed was obedient to His Mother, and not only his Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary. Lest we forget the magnitude of the glory of the great Saint, Joseph, let us remember that is says here – wonder of wonders! – that God the Son incarnate truly was subject in obedience to him as well, in addition to Mary His Mother. This is an incredible point that is often overlooked, it seems, in the Church Militant. I will continue this theme of Our Lord being subject to Our Lady in my next post.

Newman and Perfection Continued

Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman gives us a clear view of the mind of modern man. He not only knew his history, and the history of ideas, but also how thinking changes a person's view of virtue.

Here is a quotation from Oxford Sermon 8, one of those I have been examining in the past few days. As I was defining and examining the great sins, here is Newman perfectly describing sloth and cowardice, as well as acedia, that melancholy which causes inaction in the spiritual life and a cynicism.

And it must be confessed, so great is the force of passion and of habit, when once allowed to take possession of the heart, that these men seem to have in their actual state, nay in their past experience, long before the time of their present obduracy, an infallible witness in behalf of their doctrine. In subduing our evil nature, the first steps alone are in our own power; a few combats seem to decide the solemn question, to decide whether the sovereignty is with the spirit or the flesh; nisi paret, imperat, is become a proverb. When once the enemy of our souls "comes in like a flood," what hope is there that he ever will be expelled? And what servitude can be compared to the bondage which follows, when we wish to do right, yet are utterly powerless to do it? whether we be slaves to some imperious {146} passion, hushed indeed in its victim's ordinary mood, and allowing the recurrence of better thoughts and purposes, but rising suddenly and sternly, in his evil hour, to its easy and insulting triumph; or, on the other hand, to some cold sin which overhangs and deadens the mind, sloth, for instance, or cowardice, binding it down with ten thousand subtle fastenings to the earth, nor suffering it such motion as might suffice it for a renewal of the contest. Such, in its worst forms, is the condition of the obdurate sinner; who, feeling his weakness, but forgetting that he ever had strength, and the promise of aid from above, at length learns to acquiesce in his misery as if the lot of his nature, and resolves neither to regret nor to hope.

In the modern world, we make psychological excuses for such sin, blaming our character or personalities or weaknesses. In a sense, we are actually blaming God directly when we do this and that is the sin of pride.

Next he amuses his reason with the melancholy employment of reducing his impressions into system; and proves, as he thinks, from the confessed influence of external events, and the analogy of the physical world, that all moral phenomena proceed according to a fixed law, and that we are not more to blame when we sin than when we die.

19. (2.) The Calvinistic doctrine, if not the result, is at least the forerunner of a similar neglect of the doctrine of human responsibility. Whatever be the fallacies of its argumentative basis, viewed as a character of mind, it miscalculates the power of the affections, as fatalism does that of the passions. Its practical error is that of supposing that certain motives and views, presented to the heart and conscience, produce certain effects as their necessary consequence, no room being left for the resistance of the will, or for self-discipline, as the medium by which faith and holiness are connected {147} together. 

In other words, holiness takes effort. Newman succinctly describes the sensual person, who falls away from discernment and the habits of virtue.

 Nor is there among the theories of the world any more congenial to the sated and remorseful sensualist, who, having lost the command of his will, feels that if he is to be converted, it must be by some sudden and violent excitement. On the other hand, it will always have its advocates among the young and earnest-minded, who, not having that insight into their hearts which experience gives, think that to know is to obey, and that their habitual love of the Truth may be measured by their momentary admiration of it. And {148} it is welcomed by the indolent, who care not for the Scripture warnings of the narrowness of the way of life, provided they can but assure themselves that it is easy to those who are in it; and who readily ascribe the fewness of those who find it, not to the difficulty of connecting faith and works, but to a Divine frugality in the dispensation of the gifts of grace.

As Catholics, we know the remedies for these sins: obedience to the teaching of the Church, prayer, the sacraments, and practicing the life of the virtues.

I use photos and pictures of Newman as an older man, but remember, he was in his early thirties when he gave these amazing sermons. One is in awe of his mind and his soul.

to be continued...

Newman on Natural Law--part of seeking perfection

That we are accountable for what we do and what we are,—that, in spite of all aids or hindrances from without, each soul is the cause of its own happiness or misery,—is a truth certified to us both by Nature and Revelation. Nature conveys it to us in the feeling of guilt and remorse, which implies self-condemnation. In the Scriptures, on the other hand, it is the great prevailing principle throughout, in every age of the world, and through every Dispensation. The change of times, the varieties of religious knowledge, the gifts of grace, interfere not with the integrity of this momentous truth. Praise to the obedient, punishment on the transgressor, is the revealed rule of God's government from the beginning to the consummation of all things. The fall of Adam did not abolish, nor do the provisions of Gospel-mercy supersede it.

The operation of the same deceit discovers itself in our mode of judging the conduct of others; whether, in the boldness with which we blame in them what, under other circumstances, we allow in ourselves; or, again, in the false charity which we exercise towards them. For instance, the vices of the young are often regarded by beholders with an irrational indulgence, on the ground (as it is said) that youth ever will be wanton and impetuous; which is only saying, if put into plain language, that there are temptations which are not intended as trials of our obedience. Or when, {143} as lately, the lower orders rise up against the powers that be, in direct opposition to the word of Scripture, they are excused on the ground of their rulers being bigoted and themselves enlightened; or because they feel themselves capable of exercising more power; or because they have the example of other nations to incite them to do so; or simply (the more common excuse) because they have the means of doing so: as if loyalty could be called a virtue when men cannot be disloyal, or obedience had any praise when it became a constraint. In like manner, there is a false charity, which, on principle, takes the cause of heresy under its protection; and, instead of condemning it, as such, busies itself in fancying the possible circumstances which may, in this or that particular instance, excuse it; as if outward fortunes could change the nature of truth or of moral excellence, or as if, admitting the existence of unavoidable misbelief to be conceivable, yet it were not the duty of the Christian to take things as they are given us in Scripture, as they are in themselves, and as they are on the whole, instead of fastening upon exceptions to the rule, or attempting to ascertain that combination and balance of circumstances, in favour of individuals, which is only known to the Omniscient Judge.

Brilliant Pick!

I have been a Paul Ryan fan since I lived in Wisconsin and heard him at a convention there. That he is highly intelligent, pro-life, fiscally on cue, and a great Catholic makes him a fantastic choice for vice-president. Romney is showing forward-thinking and leadership in his choice. Good one!

Saints of the Day

I have four liturgical calendars in my head. One, is the Tridentine, which celebrates the Wonder-Worker, St. Philomena today. In the Novus Ordo, it is St. Clare. In my Monastic Diurnal, it is St. Tiburtius, martyr and St. Clare is tomorrow. In the Byzantine Catholic Church, the fast leading up to the Dormition of Mary is in effect and possibly SS. Passarion, Susanna and Gaius plus companions, are celebrated. 

It is also, in the Eastern Orthodox Church, the celebration of the Miracle at Corfu against the Turks in 1716 with the intercession of St. Spyridon saving the day. Here is the history of that miracle from Wiki, of all places: 

At that time the Turkish army and naval force led by the great Sultan Achmet III appeared in Butrinto opposite Corfu.

On July 8 the Turkish fleet carrying 33,000 men sailed to Corfu from Butrinto and established a beachhead in Ipsos. The same day the Venetian fleet encountered the Turkish fleet off the channel of Corfu and defeated it in the ensuing naval battle. On July 19 the Turkish army reached the hills of the town and laid siege to the city. After repeated failed attempts and heavy fighting, the Turks were forced to raise the siege which had lasted 22 days.

There were also rumours spreading among the Turks that some of their soldiers saw St. Spyridon as a monk threatening them with a lit torch and that helped increase their panic. This victory over the Turks, therefore, was attributed not only to the leadership of Count Schulenburg who commanded the stubborn defence of the island against the Turks but also to the miraculous intervention of St. Spyridon.

After the victorious outcome of the battle, Venice honoured Schulenburg and the Corfiotes for successfully defending the island. The great composer Vivaldi was commissioned to write an opera, Juditha triumphans, in celebration of the victory.

I left the links on for your enjoyment.

Pray to all of them today...why not?

 I do not know if this indicates a richness in the Church or too much diversity. Take your pick.

More Newman for reflection, against the modernist heresies

I could not resist. Here is more Newman from the Oxford Sermons against relativism and the fallacy that Catholicism has nothing to do with governments, which is the Masonic idea that religion has no place in the public sphere of politics.

And others, not being able to acquiesce in the unimportance of doctrinal truth, yet perplexed at the difficulties in the course of human affairs, which follow on the opposite view, accustom themselves gratuitously to distinguish between their public and private duties, and to judge of them by separate rules. These are often such as begin by assuming some extravagant or irrelevant test for ascertaining the existence of religious principle in others, and so are led to think it is nowhere to be found, not in the true Church more than in the sects which surround it; and thus, regarding all men (to speak generally) as equally far from the Truth, and strangers to that divine regeneration which Christ bestows on His elect few, and, on the other hand, seeing that men, as cast together in society, must cooperate on some or other principles, they drop the strict principles of Scripture in their civil relations, give no preference to those who honour the Church over those who profess opinions disrespectful towards it; perhaps take up the notion that the State, as such, has nothing to do with the subject of religion; praise and blame according to a different standard from that which Christianity reveals; and all this while cherish, perhaps, in their secret thoughts a definite creed, rigid in its decisions, stimulating in its influence, in spite of the mildness, and submissiveness, and liberality of sentiment, which their public mode of speaking and acting seems to evidence. {131}

And, he warns us against the rising neo-paganism and even New Age junk-religion.

The world really brings no new argument to its aid,—nothing beyond its own assertion. In the very outset Christians allow that its teaching is contrary to Revelation, and not to be taken as authority; nevertheless, afterwards, this mere unargumentative teaching, which, when viewed in theory, formed no objection to the truth of the Inspired Word, yet, when actually heard in the intercourse of life, converts them, more or less, to the service of the "prince of the power of the air, the spirit which now worketh in the children of disobedience." It assails their imagination. The world sweeps by in long procession;—its principalities and powers, its Babel of languages, the astrologers of Chaldæa, the horse and its rider and the chariots of Egypt, Baal and Ashtoreth and their false worship; and those who witness, feel its fascination; they flock after it; with a strange fancy, they ape its gestures, and dote upon its mummeries; and then, should they perchance fall in with the simple solemn services of Christ's Church, and hear her witnesses going the round of Gospel truths as when they left them: "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life;" "Be sober, be vigilant;" "Strait is the gate, narrow the way;" "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself;" "He is despised and rejected of men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief:"—how utterly unreal do these appear, and the preachers of them, how irrational, how puerile!—how extravagant in their opinions, how weak in their reasoning!—and if they profess to pity and {133} bear with them, how nearly does their compassion border on contempt!

Would that we would hear such sermons today! To be continued...

Newman for our times....

I have four posts today quoting Newman, a prophet for our time. One is in awe of the man's intellect, considering his young age when he gave the Oxford Sermons, from which these quotations come....The first post below is a warning on abandoning reason and obedience to the Church. The second reminds us of the need for the life and discipline of the virtues. This third quotation illuminates a problem of the world of 2012. The last one today examines more of the Modernists heresies he describes. Take a look: Newman is relating the idea that superficial, and we could add, materialistic views of life, will not sustain a person in hard times.

I shall just point out three items in this section: one, the vast majority of modern people live at the superficial level, seeking temporary or superficial peace in their daily lives and only wanting "cheerfulness". Two, most people do not believe in serious, mortal, damning sin. All is forgiven, or worse, the frameworks for judging good and evil no longer exist. Three, there are many who no longer believe that doctrines effect their daily lives. These doctrines do cause us to live in the way we choose to live. He is, of course, referring to the heresies of modernism, among them indifferentism. eirenism, and relativism in all of these quotations.  Here is Newman:

But, fairly as this superficial view of human nature answers in peaceful times; speciously as it may argue, innocently as it may experimentalize, in the rare and short-lived intervals of a nation's tranquillity; yet, let persecution or tribulation arise, and forthwith its imbecility is discovered. It is but a theory; it cannot cope with difficulties; it imparts no strength or loftiness of mind; it gains no influence over others. It is at once shattered and crushed in the stern conflict of good and evil; disowned, or rather overlooked, by the combatants on either side, and vanishing, no one knows how or whither.

7. The opinions alluded to in the foregoing remarks, when assuming a definite doctrinal basis, will be found to centre in Socinianism or Theophilanthropism, the {104} name varying according as it admits or rejects the authority of Scripture. And the spirit of this system will be found to infect great numbers of men, who are unconscious of the origin and tendency of their opinions. The essential dogmas of Socinianism are such as these; that the rule of Divine government is one of benevolence, and nothing but benevolence; that evil is but remedial and temporary; that sin is of a venial nature; that repentance is a sufficient atonement for it; that the moral sense is substantially but an instinct of benevolence; and that doctrinal opinions do not influence our character or prospects, nor deserve our serious attention. On the other hand, sentiments of this character are evidently the animating principle of the false cheerfulness, and the ill-founded hope, and the blind charitableness, which I have already assigned to the man of the world.

8. In order to illustrate the untenableness of such propositions as have just been adduced, and hence to show, by way of instance, the shallowness and feebleness of the minds which maintain them, their real feebleness in all practical matters, plausibly or loudly as they may speak during the hour of tranquillity in which they display themselves, it may be useful to make some remarks on what appears to be the real judgment of God upon human sin, as far as it is discernible by the light of nature; not as if any thing new could be said on the subject, but in order to remind ourselves of truths which are peculiarly important in these times.

Newman warned against trusting in the world. His words demonstrate a great wisdom for youth as well as older ones today. Obviously, he understood the wiles of the evil one.

The palmary device of Satan is to address himself to the pride of our nature, and, by the promise of independence, to seduce us into sin. Those who have been brought up in ignorance of the polluting fashions of the world, too often feel a rising in their minds against the discipline and constraint kindly imposed upon them; and, not understanding that their ignorance is their glory, and that they cannot really enjoy both good and evil, they murmur that they are not allowed to essay what they do not wish to practise, or to choose for themselves in {126} matters where the very knowledge seems to them to give a superiority to the children of corruption. Thus the temptation of becoming as gods works as in the beginning, pride opening a door to lust; and then, intoxicated by their experience of evil, they think they possess real wisdom, and take a larger and more impartial view of the nature and destinies of man than religion teaches; and, while the customs of society restrain their avowals within the bounds of propriety, yet in their hearts they learn to believe that sin is a matter of course, not a serious evil, a failing in which all have share, indulgently to be spoken of, or rather, in the case of each individual, to be taken for granted, and passed over in silence; and believing this, they are not unwilling to discover or to fancy weaknesses in those who have the credit of being superior to the ordinary run of men, to insinuate the possibility of human passions influencing them, this or that of a more refined nature, when the grosser cannot be imputed, and, extenuating at the same time the guilt of the vicious, to reduce in this manner all men pretty much to a level. A more apposite instance of this state of soul cannot be required than is given us in the celebrated work of an historian of the last century, who, for his great abilities, and, on the other hand, his cold heart, impure mind, and scoffing spirit, may justly be accounted as, in this country at least, one of the masters of a new school of error, which seems not yet to have accomplished its destinies, and is framed more exactly after the received type of the author of evil, than the other chief anti-Christs who have, in these last times, occupied the scene of the world.

Here he is strongly against the modernists, especially false ecumenism, eirenism. 

And some there are who, keeping their faith in the main, give up the notion of its importance. Finding that men will not agree together on points of doctrine and discipline, and imagining that union must be effected on any terms, they consent to abandon articles of faith as the basis of Christian fellowship, and try to effect what they call a union of hearts, as a bond of fellowship among those who differ in their notions of the One God, One Lord, One Spirit, One baptism, and One body; forgetful of the express condemnation pronounced by our Saviour upon those who "believe not" the preaching of His servants [Mark xvi. 16.]; and that {130} he who denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father [1 John ii. 22.].

To be continued..

Newman on habits and considering perfection: virtues against the rudeness of the world

Blessed Newman also helps us with our approach to perfection. Note this from Sermon Three at Oxford, 1831. One of his points is that is one forms habits of character early in one's life, based on Christian doctrine, one may withstand temptations of all kinds, including intellectual temptations.

We cannot keep from forming habits of one kind or another, each of our acts influences the rest, gives character to the mind, narrows its freewill {53} in the direction of good or evil, till it soon converges in all its powers and principles to some fixed point in the unbounded horizon before it. This at least is the general law of our moral nature; and such fearful expression does it give to every event which befalls us, and to every corresponding action of our will, and especially with such appalling interest does it invest the probation of our early years, that nothing but the knowledge of the Gospel announcements, and above all of the gracious words and deeds of our Redeemer, is equal to the burden of it. And these are intended to sustain the threatenings of the visible system of things, which would overwhelm us except for the promise, as the hearing of the promise on the other hand might puff us up with an unseeming presumption, had we no experience of the terrors of Natural Religion.

Thomas Aquinas writes much on the habits which are virtues. Here is Newman again:

The consistency of virtue is another gift, which gradually checks the rudeness of the world, and tames it into obedience to itself. The changes of human affairs, which first excited and interested, at length disgust the mind, which then begins to look out for something on which it can rely, for peace and rest; and what can then be found immutable and sure, but God's word and promises, illustrated and conveyed to the inquirer in the person of His faithful servants? Every day shows us how much depends on firmness for obtaining {94} influence in practical matters; and what are all kinds of firmness, as exhibited in the world, but likenesses and offshoots of that true stability of heart which is stayed in the grace and in the contemplation of Almighty God?

Contemplation of God and firmness of character help virtue to grow. Novelty interferes. Let us consider how timely Newman's ideas are for us today. The world would change if Catholics allowed themselves to grow in virtue. What a great thought.

Julian of Norwich had a cat

When I was in my twenties, Julian of Norwich was "all the rage". Her "shewings" were on sale in small paperbacks, some with drawings, and those of us inclined to spiritual reading carried her around with us in our pockets.

She brought the love of God into our existence ( and also, from T. S. Eliot's poem, of course) in a new way. God cared for all and all things and people would be well.

Coming out of the Cold War and the Vietnam War, the changes in the Church regarding Liturgy and the quick demise of real Catholic education in the late seventies, we wanted all to be well. But, it wasn't and it isn't as we see it today. But, Julian was allowed to see beyond pain and evil.

The great mystic in her years of showings from God taught us that God could break through the rough and tumble of everyday life and reveal His Love for us in a new and startling way.

Wit it well: Love was His meaning. Who sheweth it thee? Love. Wherefore sheweth He it thee? For love. Hold thee therein, thou shalt wit more in the same. But thou shalt never wit therein other without end."

Her gentleness and strength appealed to the emerging generation of women who wanted to know God in their hearts, minds and souls. Sadly, the feminists picked her up along the way, but we can ignore that.

We desired a personal relationship with Christ and Julian was one of those who had gone before with this realization of both the Love of Christ, the Father and the Holy Spirit. For those who want to meditate on love  and the mystery of salvation, Julian is a treat. And, she had a cat. I think she should make a comeback.

From Newman's Sermons at Oxford: A Warning Not to Rely on Your Imagination

Newman helps us understand why we must be hesitant concerning what we read and what we believe. His appeal to a certain disposition of holiness can stop us from following our own imaginations regarding private revelations. Some will say that we are not all called to philosophy, but by buying into certain private revelations, we are assenting to those individuals philosophies, which may be contrary to the thinking of the Church.

And, if a visionary has been condemned or excommunicated, to follow that person makes the disciple a heretic, as the Church has determined the messages to be false. Do you want to lose your immortal soul because of allegiance to another person? I think the tendency to look for and follow private revelations is part of a protestant mind-set, a mind-set of anti-intellectualism and desiring private knowledge outside that of the teaching of the Catholic Church. Here is what Newman states on the protestant mind:

The usurpations of the Reason may be dated from the Reformation. Then, together with the tyranny, the legitimate authority of the ecclesiastical power was more or less overthrown; and in some places its ultimate basis also, the moral sense. One school of men resisted the Church; another went farther, and rejected the supreme authority of the law of Conscience. Accordingly, Revealed Religion was in a great measure stripped of its proof; for the existence of the Church had been its external evidence, and its internal had been supplied by the moral sense. Reason now undertook to repair the demolition it had made, and to render the proof of Christianity independent both of the Church and of the law of nature. From that time (if we take a general view of its operations) it has been engaged first in making difficulties by the mouth of unbelievers, and then claiming power in the Church as a reward for having, by the mouth of apologists, partially removed them.

As to character building, which includes a discipline of the mind, this process can help one withstand temptations to pride and the seeking of religious ideals outside the mainstream of the Church.

Again: modesty, patience, and caution, are dispositions of mind quite as requisite in philosophical inquiries as seriousness and earnestness, though not so obviously requisite. Rashness of assertion, hastiness in drawing conclusions, unhesitating reliance on our own acuteness and powers of reasoning, are inconsistent with the {9} homage which nature exacts of those who would know her hidden wonders. She refuses to reveal her mysteries to those who come otherwise than in the humble and reverential spirit of learners and disciples. So, again, that love of paradox which would impose upon her a language different from that which she really speaks, is as unphilosophical as it is unchristian. Again, indulgence of the imagination, though a more specious fault, is equally hostile to the spirit of true philosophy, and has misled the noblest among the ancient theorists, who seemed to think they could not go wrong while following the natural impulses and suggestions of their own minds, and were conscious to themselves of no low and unworthy motive influencing them in their speculations.

I quote this today as a warning to all my dear Catholic friends who are chasing after private revelations. This is part of a flaw in the mind and not from the Spirit. 

Ah, this should have been on cute day...

  A very short video    http://i.imgur.com/jbva6.gif

Notice the one in front not paying any attention. How about some captions?