Christ After the Flagellation Contemplated by the Christian Soul

This painting by Diego Velazquez, painted between 1626 and 1628, has been hanging in my bedroom since I arrived in London in June. The baroque masterpiece depicts Christ, ennobled and yet suffering, being sought and looked at by the soul, depicted as a little child. In that sense, the painting reminds me of the icons, which show the soul as small and innocent. An angel, strong, bold, large, imposing, gender-less, handsome, teacher-like, in red and black, points to the injured Christ. I like to think this angel is my Guardian Angel, the guardian of my soul and every soul of a human who is a child of God.

We are made children of God in baptism and not before. This soul has been given an angel as a child of God and the angel, rightly so, indicates that Christ died for this soul's innocence and salvation.

The instruments of torture lie in the foreground of the painting. Christ is strained, still bound to the pillar. But, He is in control, the Master of His Suffering. He looks at the soul with great love and longing. Love Me and Honor Me, the look seems to state. Christ seems to be asking the soul to think of why He has been brought to this state. But, there is not reproach, only love.

There are no accidents with God and this is not my picture, not my room, only a summer dwelling. One of the oddest things about the painting is that the Christ looks like a member of my family, bringing an intimacy to the portraiture through the gene-pool and the imagination of the artist.

That God wants me to contemplate His Suffering is true and good. He calls me and you to contemplation in the busy world.

May I respond always in obedience to my angel and in the attitude of honor and love of this soul in the painting.

Besides an icon which I brought with me of the Vladimir Madonna, which I carry everywhere, the only other picture in the room is a print of St. Etheldreda's entitled, "Chapel, Ely Place".  I am content with the art in my little room.

Read this article

Here is a snippet:

It was President Franklin Roosevelt who said: “Continued dependence on [government support] induces a spiritual and moral disintegration fundamentally destructive to the national fiber. To dole out relief in this way is to administer a narcotic, a subtle destroyer of the human spirit.”

Read more on Newsmax.com: Charles Koch: Why We Fight for Economic Freedom

Special Guest Post from JonathanCatholic

Spouse of God, Continued

In my post in the past week, I discussed the humility that God the Son truly assumed to Himself in becoming man, and examined the extraordinary fact of His obedience to the Blessed Virgin and Saint Joseph, in the context of Saint Alphonsus de Liguori’s great work, “The Glories of Mary,” and a passage from the second chapter of the Gospel according to Saint Luke. This week I would like to complete the meditation by focusing on the implications this has for the teaching of the Church in other areas, most notably the Priesthood and the Sacrifice of the Mass.

When our God humbled Himself to become subject to the Blessed Virgin Mary in obedience during His life here on earth, it was part of the larger context of His entire intention of becoming man, a purpose of pure charity, born from all eternity in the infinite fire of charity that is the Most Holy Trinity. In the deepest intention of the Holy Trinity for God the Son to become man, at the heart of this intention was that God the Son joined Himself so intimately to mankind that He made Himself truly vulnerable to humanity, in the person of Mary, and through Mary, the Church. In this vulnerability, He became subject to her throughout His life as an expression of how fully He had joined Himself to mankind.

At the moment of the Annunciation of Saint Gabriel the Archangel, He awaited her fiat before He willed to be conceived in her womb. As soon as the ‘Let it be done’ fell from her lips, the eternal and majestic Almighty came down as simply and sweetly as a Divine Spouse; at the moment of her assent, God descended both to compass her and be compassed by her; to both surround and be surrounded.

Throughout Our Lord’s life, God Himself willed to be cared for by Mary and willed to need her. It was within His power to be utterly self-sufficient; He could have appeared on earth and commanded obedience immediately from every nation, with the glory of the Godhead shining from His Face. Yet, where does He appear, but in the arms of the Virgin? To whom does He cling, now, as a Toddler, but to her leg? When He studies the art of carpentry, what does He eat, but food from her table? As He matures in His humanity, growing in grace in the sight of the Father and of men, to whom does He look, to see the charity she has for Him and how proud of Him she is?

When the time of His Passion came, who followed Him silently? Who gave Him strength to endure the bitter trial of the flogging? In the injustice of the false council and governor that condemned Him, who was in His memories as the one who offered Him consolation? As He carried the rough Cross, who followed the drops of Divine Blood, silently weeping? As He was dying on the Cross, who stood under Him, the Immaculate New Ark of the Covenant, face red with His Blood, eyes stained with tears, and Heart torn in two? Who stood there, having a Mother’s Right to her Son, freely offering Him to the Father for the salvation of the world and giving Him up even as was prophesied afore in the person of Abraham offering Isaac in submission to the Will of God, or in the person of the great Matriarch Hannah, who offered her only son to God in equally perfect obedience?

In the relationship between Jesus and Mary, the Church finds Her innermost being and constitution. All of Her doctrines flow from this bond, all of Her strength is found in their Hearts, all the Truth of Her practices is found in their Sacred Lives; for Christ is the fullness of all Revelation, and He is found nowhere but in and through Mary, and not without her. When the Priest offers the Sacrifice of the Mass, who does he emulate but the one who stood there at Calvary, offering her Son and releasing her right to Him on our behalf? In his relationship to the Blessed Sacrament, which he is the Sacred Guardian and Protector of, and in which he calls at his word Our Lord Jesus Christ into this world, who do we see, but the son who takes after his Mother? When he calls upon the Holy Ghost to sanctify and change the gifts of bread and wine, does not he and the Spirit call with one voice, just as Mary did with her fiat in the Holy Ghost at the Incarnation? For in both cases the Spirit and the Bride say, “Come,” and our Eucharistic Lord comes into this world at that word. For the Blessed Virgin Mary is the Mother of the Priesthood of Christ, and she is the Mother of His Priests; they are fruit from her Vine, and they emulate their Mother in all things relating to her relationship with God her Son.

In the Church as a whole, spread throughout the world, God is truly mediated through Her; in Her and through Her, by His design, is only where He is to be found. For in the Eucharist the Lord is truly born of Her into the world, and in the Tabernacle She is ever pregnant with Him. Sacred Revelation, Scripture and Tradition, are born of the Church and are protected by Her, and in them Christ the eternal Word is present. Just as Mary relates to God, so the Church relates to God; in Mary as a Son, and in a similar way in the Church. When you look at the Church, see the Blessed Virgin Mary; when you look at the Blessed Virgin Mary, see the Church. In this sacred relationship between Mary/the Church and God, we find the Catholic Truth regarding where God is to be found: in the womb of Holy Mother Church, in the Eucharist and in Revelation, through the protection and guardianship of the Church Herself, which models after the Blessed Virgin.

My Home Town Makes DrudgeReport

I know East Davenport like the back of my hand. My son organized his international cricket games in the park there. We used to eat at the local Mexican restaurant, Rudy's, right there. The views of the Mississippi River are great from the hills and politics is the local sport. If you were in a local restaurant, you would see people reading (yes, they read) and talking about politics intelligently, with facts. That is the Iowa way. Soybean, Black Angus and corn prices, gay marriage,  the GOP governor and all types of interesting topics would be overheard. 

There is also an ice cream and locally made chocolate shop to die for called Largomarcino's. If you go there, get a hot-fudge Sunday and a Green River drink. 

POTUS was there on Thursday. I hope other people are as fed up as Mr. Murty. Love the tee-shirt.

I used to live just down the road in downtown Davenport, in a great loft apartment. It is not a Catholic city, but it is a political one. 

Iowa deli co-owner caters for Obama visit, but his T-shirt tells another story

By Amy Gardner, Thursday, August 16, 1:43 AM

DAVENPORT, Iowa — Ross Murty likes business, but he doesn’t like President Obama.
And so the co-owner of the Village Corner Deli here agreed to cater Obama’s visit Wednesday — but not before donning a T-shirt blaring the message: “Government didn’t build my business. I did.”
It was a reference to a remark Obama made several weeks ago that his Republican opponent, Mitt Romney, has seized upon to portray Obama as anti-business. Obama, referring to the help government provides to businesses by building roads and providing education and other services, said, “If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that."
“No one from the government was there when we were sweating it, when we were building this business,” Murty said. Before him was a bank of chafing dishes filled with smoked beef brisket, pulled pork, vegetable parmesan bake and cheesy hash brown casserole provided to the White House press corps covering the president’s three-day swing across Iowa this week.

Murty, 45, a registered Republican, didn’t really have a choice with the catering job. His partner, Bret Dalton (a registered Democrat), accepted the work on Saturday while Murty was away in Chicago watching a Cubs game. Dalton volunteered for Vice President Biden’s presidential campaign in 1988, when he was a student at Iowa State University.
But that’s not why he got the contract.
“One of Obama’s lead people came into the deli Saturday morning,” Dalton said. “I didn’t even know it was for Obama until that night.”
When he found out, though, Dalton had some fun. He called up Murty, who was driving back from Chicago, and asked: “Guess who’s coming to town this week?”
“He was a little stunned,” Dalton recalled. But the two take their political disagreements in stride, and the conversation was all in good fun, both said.
“I would never say no to anybody for any reason,” Murty said. “My partner and I have different views in politics, but business is business.”
The White House performs background checks on contractors for security reasons, but it does not vet them for their political views. Also, the caterers are hired to provide food for the White House press corps, which pays for the food, even though the White House makes the arrangements.
The Obama campaign had no comment on Murty's T-shirt.

But the Romney campaign seized on the moment, circulating pictures that reporters had tweeted of Murty with his controversial T-shirt. “Mr. President, please stay another day!” the Romney campaign e-mail said.

An Advertisement from St. Louis--Modest Wedding Dresses-TAC Ladies, For YOU!

This is from one of my readers. I thank tech_pilgrim for this link. My mom is from St. Louis and I love the city. Here is another good reason to go there, besides the Cardinals....Brides, take heart....

A repeated post ...for my fellow bloggers

Saturday, 3 March 2012

A Catholic Carpe Diem

A Catholic Carpe Diem, this post is for bloggers.
And, I claim Fulton J. Sheen as one of my patrons on the Net.
A day in the life of a blogger depends on the person's real job.
Now, for most bloggers, a vocation to the priesthood, married life,
motherhood and fatherhood may be part of the blogging day.
A job or profession most likely marks most Catholic bloggers,
who can be Canon lawyers, secular lawyers, university professors,
artists, journalists, writers, students, computer “guys”, or home schooling moms.
Blogging is an addition to the busy schedule of most.
The quality of the blog depends upon the time and technological skills of the bloggers.
For example, for one blogger, a posting may take 20 minutes.
For another, 30 minutes, and for some bright sparks, 10 minutes.
But, the real mark of every blogger is passion.

The passion of the Catholic blogger is to communicate the beautiful Faith of
our Catholic Church, and give of the five loaves and two fishes
which have been given to that writer, especially in a busy schedule.
A blog may be what is left over in the baskets at the end of the day, or even the week.
Or, the blog could be one of the five loaves.

For most Catholic and traditional bloggers, a blog is a means of evangelizing, i
n the “new evangelization” of Blessed John Paul II. The Internet may very
 well not always be a place of truly free speech. I am not writing this out of paranoia,
but have already shown below in some articles, the coming United Nations effort to
bow to less than free cultures regarding electronic communication.
We in the West expect to be able to stand on our virtual soap-box
and say what we will, without being harassed. This may not always be the case.
And, so, the passion of the blogger is to get across as much real Truth,
real Catholic information as possible in a short period of time. Hence,
the needed passion to communicate falls within a framework of the “now”.
What is important “now” for Catholics?

By the “now”, I do not mean the ephemeral or the trendy. I mean what is important for
the corporate life of the Faithful. Sometimes the now means sharing a prayer, or being a
prophet, or a teacher. Sometimes the now means answering questions, or communicating
important local and international Catholic events, both good and not so good.
One can imagine examples in the last three months where the Catholic blogging
community has worked more hours than usual on the question of Catholic freedom of conscience
 in America. And, that is not the only issue.

I am convinced that I am part of a growing number of bloggers who try to make up what
has been missing in the catechesis of two, maybe three, generations. One person here in
Ireland, four years older than myself, was never taught Catechism in school. The lack of
education for some has created the Catholic Traditional Blog,
which attempts to fill in the gap for adult education for those who are on the computer
and on the Internet. I have read that sixty-percent of the Irish public have
Internet access at home. This is not my personal experience, quite the contrary.
Or, if there is access, only the very young, or under thirties use it regularly and not those older.
Access is limited elsewhere, as I have already noted on this blog.

Was is appalling are the numbers of adults who are not on the computer and not on the Internet,
who do not have access to the real teaching of the Catholic Church, or simply,
do not know where to find the resources. Such adults will remain as children and
even may be endangering their salvation by remaining in ignorance. Any adult who remains in
ignorance of the teachings of the Church in 2012 is guilty of sloth or disinterestedness. 
The second is a serious sin of neglect.

I have been told over and over again in England and in Ireland that adults
“do not have time for religious learning”. The pursuit of mortgages, cars,
careers and even a developed social life have pushed the responsibility to learn
and appropriate the Faith to the back-burner.

I have written on this before, almost two months ago. We shall be judged on
our own merits, or lack thereof, and not on the merits of Father ABC, who did not teach us the Faith.

The blogging community wants to share the Faith, Hope and Love given to us by
Christ with the whole world. If some Catholics are not interested or are too busy to
pursue learning the Truth of the Teaching Magisterium of the Church, we can only
hope that some day soon, the little light of realization will show them that now is the time
to grow in Faith and Reason, knowledge and grace. We may not have the leisure or the means “later”.

I compare blogging with missionary work. In my home town, the oldest existing
Church was founded by an Italian missionary priest, who traveled on horseback along
the Mississippi River spreading the Gospel and setting up parishes. He moved with
whatever was available at the time-a horse, backpack, Bible, Missal, Mass kit, vestments,
 food and water. He may have traveled with others, like a tracker, or guide, or a
few lay assistants. But, he moved, from Italy to Iowa and then up and down the edges of the Great River.

If he had not done this, many families would have died in the Faith. We are the
missionaries of the world of the Internet. I would like to think that in any little way, we encourage the Faith.

The missionary priests, and my great-uncle was one who came to help the
Czech community in northern Iowa, faced horrible dangers and inconveniences--weather,
unfriendly natives, unfriendly Protestants, lack of provisions, lack of books,
even lack of housing and clothing. We, who sit in our dens, classrooms, living rooms,
or Internet cafes, face no problems except perhaps not enough change for a second cup of coffee,
or the temporary loss of electricity, or travelling through a “dead zone”. But,
this may not always be the case. Blog away, fellow bloggers, while you can.
The days of freedom may be shorter than one would hope.

The Catholic Church under siege in France---Yesterday's prayer hit a nerve

If you remember, several blogs were covering the prayer asked by the bishops' conference in France which was said yesterday in all parishes, hopefully. The prayer specifically was aimed at the growing push for civil marriages for homosexuals and for the eventual lowering of the age of consent.

Yesterday, pro-gay groups came out against the Catholic Church on this matter. Here is one article from France 24, which I use here frequently.

Gay rights groups in France have reacted angrily to the Catholic Church after it issued a call to prayer to protect the sacriment of marriage from same-sex couples.
The controversial “Prayer for France” has been sent out to churches across the country to be read out on August 15 to mark the feast of the Assumption.
The prayer’s subject matter is designed to mobilise Catholics against François Hollande’s Socialist Party government, which recently affirmed plans to open up marriage and adoption to gay couples.
In a thinly veiled reference to the proposed gay marriage bill, Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois asked churchgoers to pray for “newly elected officials” to put their “sense of common good over the pressure to meet special demands”.
These words have angered gay rights groups across France, who have slammed the church for "homophobia" and for interfering in poltics.
“François Hollande is committed to these reforms and they have been reaffirmed by his government,” Nicolas Gougain of the Inter LGBT activist group told FRANCE 24.
“We can count on getting a majority in parliament and no prayer will be able to block this necessary legisation. Religion has no place in politics,” he added.
'No prayer can stop legislation'
The annual “Prayer for France” was a centuries-old custom that died out after World War II. It was first uttered in the seventeenth century after King Louis XIII decreed all churches would pray on August 15 for the good of the country.
Church spokesman Monsignor Bernard Podvin said its revival was timed to “raise the consciouness of public opinion about grave social choices”.
Minister for Families Dominique Bertinotti told French media this week that a bill legalising gay marriage will be voted on in parliament in early 2013.
As well as opposing gay marriage, the prayer also makes clear the Catholic Church’s resistance to gay adoption.
The cardinal invites congregations to pray that “children cease to be objects of the desires and conflicts of adults and fully benefit from the love of a father and a mother”.
These words provoked the wrath of Inter LGBT.
“He is implying that it is dangerous for a child to be brought up by same-sex parents," Gougain said. "The text of the prayer is homophobic. The church’s definition of family is far from the reality of the diverse families we see today – same-sex, mixed or single parents."
“We are asking that all different types of families are recognised, in the interests of both child and parent.”
Love thy neighbour
The Prayer for France follows the hardline stance taken by the leader of the Catholic Chuch, Pope Benedict XVI, who in January said gay marriage threatened “the future of humanity itself”.
Gay Christian groups have also reacted angrily to the Cardinal’s prayer.
“Most of our members are really upset by this terrible prayer, which reinforces the fears certain Catholics have towards homosexuals,” Elisabeth Saint-Guily of gay Christian group David and Jonathan told Europe1 radio.
“France’s bishops, and above them the Vatican, are using homophobic language. The Bible says, 'Love thy neighbour as yourself'. We would like the bishops to apply this maxim. They should love all their neighbours, including homosexuals,” she said.
Cardinal Philippe Barbarin of Lyon defended the church’s positon, saying marriage, defined at the start of the Bible, was created by God to join man and woman.
“Nobody should be surprised if we Catholics think that the first page of the Bible is right, even more so than a parliament,” he told Europe1.
 

• 
  

Prayers Needed

This blogger is begging for prayers. I have a serious situation which has come up. Thanks, please, for remembering me in your prayers.

On Gender Distinctions and the Catholic Church

The EU is pushing laws which would make teaching or cultivating distinctions of gender illegal. I have written about this and I am becoming more and more concerned for catechesis in the future. The Church's age old teaching on male and female differences would be under threat.

 http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/sin-leads-to-insanity-god-created-us.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/on-girls-dolls-real-men-and-women.html

I have written many times on the dangers of androgyny. Now, it is possible that the teaching of Christians regarding man and woman, "male and female He created them" as being God-given identities would become underground teaching.

The Scriptures, both in the Old and New Testament provide clarity as to the differences of male and female. St. Paul outlines sins connected to "effeminacy". But, of course, he was writing to the Greco-Roman cultures which had already seen the dangers of the blurring of the genders. In The Republic by Plato, there are references to weak, effeminate men. Aristotle warns of the dangers of soft, weak men and goes further in stating that effeminacy is linked to too much luxury. One can see that in our highly materialistic, hedonistic society.

Gender blurrings are part of the lgtb agenda to change the culture. St. Paul helps us under stand how serious these blurrings can be. Notice that this is a separate category of serious sin. Sodomites are separated form the effeminate. I give three translations.1 Cor 6:9-10

"Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor sodomites, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God." King James Version

Do you not know that unjust will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers, nor boy prostitutes, nor sodomites...." New American Version

Know you not that the unjust shall not possess the kingdom of God? Do not err: neither fornicators, not idolators, nor adulterers. Nor the effeminate, nor liers with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor railers, nor extortioners, shall posses the kingdom of God. Douay Rheims

Some Scripture scholars and theologians do not like the new translation of effeminate as boy prostitutes. One can argue about this. But the point is that God's natural law is being violated even in law.

Without a culture based on Revelation and natural law, there is only barbarism.

The Road

Recently, I forced myself to watch The Road. This is not for kids and even for some adults as it is R. Before I watched it, I knew it was brutal. Viggo Mortensen is an under-rated actor. He is truly talented but obviously chooses his films for his own reasons. The film, as most of you know, as it is not new, takes place in the post nuclear war world. How people react to the world of cannibalism and violence creates part of the story. The father tries to teach his son, after the mother leaves to die, about good and bad. The ending is hopeful, thank goodness, and there is a, I think, reference to The Lord of the Rings at the very end which I do not want to spoil. There is nothing beautiful in the film except the love of the father for his boy and the boy's growth into "a good guy".

But, it is an important film. The movies shows that in the end, nothing counts but character and love.

Evil persists and grows worse, which means that good must become heroic.

I went down and helped after Katrina and the landscape, especially the dead trees, reminded me of Mississippi. The reactions of the people were somewhat similar. Many men committed suicide. Some youth began to live pagan lives, completely hating God, life and themselves in a pursuit of pleasure to numb pain and fight the ordinary. Some began to practice the occult, especially voodoo. Some people, the majority, were kind and good and helpful to each other. I learned a lot about people and myself.

I was reminded of the Israelites in the wilderness, trying to get to the Promised Land after years of punishment owing to sin. One of the simplest scenes included the Man and the Boy walking into a city where the expensive jewelry shop had been. They were literally walking on money, pearls and other precious stones. Nothing mattered but food and water.

If there is a nuclear holocaust, it will be a direct result of sin. If there are any survivors who do not see people merely as prey, but as humans in need, responding in love, it will be because of grace.

We need to prepare our souls now. We need to build character and learn what real love is all about.

Sacrifice and courage. May I add real community is a necessity.

More on Ryan

taken from The Weekly Standard Blog

What the Ryan Pick Says About Romney

11:06 AM, Aug 11, 2012 • By FRED BARNES

Alerts

Hide

Get alerts when there is a new article that might interest you.

Send me alerts for:

Bill Kristol
Fred Barnes
Jay Cost

Your e-mail address:

Confirm e-mail address:

Please sign me up for The Weekly Standard weekly newsletter.

The Weekly Standard reserves the right to use your email for internal use only. Occasionally, we may send you special offers or communications from carefully selected advertisers we believe may be of benefit to our subscribers. Click the box to be included in these third party offers. We respect your privacy and will never rent or sell your email.

Please include me in third party offers.

Mitt Romney, the cautious candidate, wary of being specific, and counting on the bad economy to defeat President Obama – forget all that! The Romney who picked Paul Ryan as his vice presidential running mate is an entirely different person. He’s prepared to take the fight to Obama on the biggest bundle of issues – spending, debt, the deficit, taxes, entitlements, and the reversing of America’s accelerating decline under Obama. Specifics? There will be plenty.

Romney the fighter? Anyone who has read about the 1948 presidential campaign has noticed a likeness between Romney and Tom Dewey, the Republican candidate against President Truman. Dewey was anything but a fighter. His campaign had no purpose other than winning. He figured Truman’s unpopularity would provide for that.

It didn’t work in 1948. Nor has Romney’s message that the economy is in terrible shape and he’s a businessman who can deal with it – few specifics, no special plan, just a man with an experience. In 2012, that’s not a winning strategy.

Romney understands that. Otherwise he wouldn’t have chosen Ryan, whose budget is the plan Romney lacks. Sure, Democrats will attack it furiously, especially its reform of Medicare. But where’s their plan? Obama doesn’t have one; instead, he pretends the country isn’t facing a fiscal and economic crisis.

So, first and foremost, what the selection of Ryan tells us about Romney is that he’s not passive. He’s not Dewey without the mustache. Ryan is hardly a cautious choice of a running mate. He’s the boldest. Now Romney must actively promote and defend the Ryan plan. As of today, it’s the Romney plan.

• Second, Romney showed that, like a smart businessman, he knows his shortcomings. For all his attacks on Obama’s economic policies, Romney has failed to create a sense of urgency about the country’s faltering economic situation. And without a national fear of an impending catastrophe, he can’t defeat Obama.

Romney’s solution is to “get someone who can,” notes Washington consultant David Smick, a friend of Ryan. No one in America is better than Ryan in spelling out, with figures and facts, the crisis America faces.

Third, Romney turns out to be a political heavyweight with a smaller than usual ego. Ryan is bound to steal more of the limelight than normal for a vice presidential candidate. He is the leading policy thinker in the Republican party. His budget, which all but a handful of congressional Republicans have voted for, is now the campaign’s platform.

Fourth, by picking Ryan, Romney turns out to be his own chief strategist. He’s ready to adopt a campaign scheme that some, if not most, of his advisers would surely not have preferred. Nor was Ryan their first choice.

Fifth, Romney now wants to wage an exciting campaign – a tutorial. That’s an important change of mind on his part. From what we’ve seen of his campaign pre-Ryan, this was the farthest thing from his mind.

Stirring America to believe drastic action is required to avert a calamity won’t be easy. The crisis is still largely an abstraction. But Ryan can make it real in voters’ minds. And that alone makes his selection by Romney a very smart one.

And, I add a quotation from Buchanan on his website: Obama believes government is the engine of prosperity. Romney and Ryan believe people, private institutions, entrepreneurs and businesses are the creative and energizing forces in society.

A strange solution

I am sorry, but this is weird. Apartheid rules in Saudi Arabia. I print almost the entire article, as it is so unbelievable.

WORLD OPINION

Coming to Saudi Arabia: The world's first women-only city

The super-patriarchal Gulf kingdom is creating a female-only city to finally allow a huge percentage of its educated population to work freely

POSTED ON AUGUST 15, 2012, AT 8:03 AM

How will this all-female city work? Saudi Arabia has a problem: The Persian Gulf kingdom has an increasingly educated, increasingly unemployed female population and ultraconservative laws and customs that forbid women from mingling, much less working, with men. The Saudis are fashioning an unusual solution, building an industrial city that will allow only women. The female-only zone is scheduled to open in the Eastern Province city of Hofuf next year, with more ladies-only areas to come in Riyadh, the capital. How do these cities-inside-a-city work, and are they good for women? Here's a guide to the first-ever city of women:

The inaugural one in Hofuf is essentially a female-only industrial zone that's expected to employ about 5,000 Saudi women in the textile, pharmaceutical, and food-processing industries. Women will run the companies and factories. "I'm sure that women can demonstrate their efficiency in many aspects and clarify the industries that best suit their interests, nature, and ability," says Saleh al-Rasheed, deputy director general of the Saudi Industrial Property Authority (Modon), which is in charge of the project. The women will live in adjacent neighborhoods.

Who came up with the idea?A group of Saudi businesswomen, according to the business newspaper Al Eqtisadiah. But Saudi Arabia's ruling monarchy embraced the concept as a way to lower female unemployment while staying "consistent with the privacy of women according to Islamic guidelines and regulations," Modon said in a statement. The government had little choice, says Sarah Goodyear at The Atlantic. "Restrictions on women's lives and productivity there are so extreme — Saudi women need a male guardian's permission to travel, seek employment, or marry — that the country is in effect letting a potentially huge sector of the productive economy sit idle." About 60 percent of college graduates in the country are women, and 78 percent of them are unemployed, according to recent surveys; only 15 percent of the Saudi workforce is female.

Will this city work as intended?

Some women who work in these new cities "will no doubt distinguish themselves, but they will still be laboring in segregation," says The Atlantic's Goodyear...For one thing, "as an industrial town with no men in it, it will presumably contain none of those mini-impediments to productivity known as 'children.'" In a few years, these Saudi women will be South Korea to their male counterparts' North. These cities will either fail or they'll succeed in further segregating women from the public sphere,says Homa Khaleeli at The Guardian. Maybe women should "flock to them, close the doors, and refuse to leave until the kingdom's rulers understand just what it is like to live without women."

Is this a step forward for women?That's a tough question, says The Guardian's Williams. It's not really "a move forward in women's liberation, not unless you think apartheid was a good system for black people because they got their own swimming pools,..." 

Cardinal Dolan's Reply to Critics

Cardinal Dolan answered critics on the Obama. I do not find his arguments convincing.  http://deaconjohnspace.wordpress.com/2012/08/15/cardinal-dolan-explains-reason-he-invited-president-obama/

I am afraid he is a product of post-Vatican II theology. Pray for him.

For one, an invitation to the Al Smith Dinner is not an award, or the provision of a platform to expound views at odds with the Church. It is an occasion of conversation; it is personal, not partisan.

Two, the purpose of the Al Smith Dinner is to show both our country and our Church at their best: people of faith gathered in an evening of friendship, civility, and patriotism, to help those in need, not to endorse either candidate. Those who started the dinner sixty-seven years ago believed that you can accomplish a lot more by inviting folks of different political loyalties to an uplifting evening, rather than in closing the door to them.

Three, the teaching of the Church, so radiant in the Second Vatican Council, is that the posture of the Church towards culture, society, and government is that of engagement and dialogue. In other words, it’s better to invite than to ignore, more effective to talk together than to yell from a distance, more productive to open a door than to shut one. Our recent popes have been examples of this principle, receiving dozens of leaders with whom on some points they have serious disagreements. Thus did our present Holy Father graciously receive our current President of the United States.  And, in the current climate, we bishops have maintained that we are open to dialogue with the administration to try and resolve our differences.  What message would I send if I refused to meet with the President?

Finally, an invitation to the Al Smith Dinner in no way indicates a slackening in our vigorous promotion of values we Catholic bishops believe to be at the heart of both gospel and American values, particularly the defense of human dignity, fragile life, and religious freedom. In fact, one could make the case that anyone attending the dinner, even the two candidates, would, by the vibrant solidarity of the evening, be reminded that America is at her finest when people, free to exercise their religion, assemble on behalf of poor women and their babies, born and unborn, in a spirit of civility and respect.

Some have told me the invitation is a scandal. That charge weighs on me, as it would on any person of faith, but especially a pastor, who longs to give good example, never bad. So, I apologize if I have given such scandal. I suppose it’s a case of prudential judgment: would I give more scandal by inviting the two candidates, or by not inviting them?

No matter what you might think of this particular decision, might I ask your prayers for me and my brother bishops and priests who are faced with making these decisions, so that we will be wise and faithful shepherds as God calls us to be?

In the end, I’m encouraged by the example of Jesus, who was blistered by his critics for dining with those some considered sinners; and by the recognition that, if I only sat down with people who agreed with me, and I with them, or with those who were saints, I’d be taking all my meals alone.

15 August 2012 at 12:44 pm

I have a few thoughts. One, those of us in the pew who fought for pro-life in Illinois when POTUS was in power in that State, have consistently felt let down. This man has a long history of fighting against the Church. Second, if we are the Church Militant, and I am from my baptism and confirmation, am I not supposed to fight against error and evil? When does one keep silent? Even Christ spoke harshly to the leaders of the Jewish religion of His time and over dinner as well.

Third, do not the bishops have a lawsuit against Obamacare? Four, what about the Obama camps use of the photo opps to yet confuse more Catholics in the pew? Some will say “See, His Eminence is with Obama, so why can’t we vote for him?” Photos are stronger than words, in this post-rational society. The media is the message, remember? Five, it is a fund raiser, and I would not give money to a fund with the president as the speaker. Who gives money to the Archdiocese? Are these all pro-Obama backers and pro-abortion backers and pro-civil marriage backers? Six, if His Eminence wanted to do the right thing for all of us lowly ones watching him, he could make a prayer for all the 50 million plus aborted babies in the beginning of the dinner and ask POTUS to give money to pro-life activities in front of all. Challenge the man right then and there. Six, too many bishops are caving into the lie of “engaging the culture” instead of “changing the culture”, and this dinner invitation is engaging in the culture without any indication of changing the culture of death. Call it for what it is, and this does not cover all the other issues this president holds dear, including civil unions and the taking away of our religious rights. Seven, I pray for His Eminence. I call his position on the site a dance of compromise. Either we are hot or cold, not lukewarm. Christ set the bar, not us. I am grieved at this decision.

Good News for Romney and Ryan from the Washington Examiner

A Romney first: over 40% of youth vote back him

August 15, 2012 | 9:19 am http://washingtonexaminer.com/a-romney-first-over-40-of-youth-vote-back-him/article/2504893#.UCu2gt2PWTm

Paul Bedard

Washington Secrets

Pew Research Center for the People & the Press

For the first time since he began running for president, Republican Mitt Romney has the support of over 40 percent of America's youth vote, a troubling sign for President Obama who built his 2008 victory with the overwhelming support of younger, idealistic voters.

Pollster John Zogby of JZ Analytics told Secrets Tuesday that Romney received 41 percent in his weekend poll of 1,117 likely voters, for the first time crossing the 40 percent mark. What's more, he said that Romney is the only Republican of those who competed in the primaries to score so high among 18-29 year olds.

"This is the first time I am seeing Romney's numbers this high among 18-29 year olds," said Zogby. "This could be trouble for Obama who needs every young voter he can get."

Zogby helped Secrets dig deeper into his weekend poll, which we reported on earlier. The poll had Romney and Obama tied at 46 percent.

Zogby has been especially interested in the youth vote this election. In 2008, 66 percent chose Obama over Sen. John McCain,the highest percentage for a Democrat in three decades. But their desire for hope and change has turned to disillusionment and unemployment. Zogby calls them "CENGAs" for "college-educated, not going anywhere."

In his latest poll, Obama receives just 49 percent of the youth vote when pitted against Romney, who received 41 percent. In another question, the independent candidacy of Gary Johnson is included, and here Obama wins 50 percent, Romney 38 percent and Johnson 5 percent.

But while taking Johnson out of the equation in the past has seen a surge in support for Obama, now the numbers for Romney--and undecideds--increase.

Zogby speculates that Romney's selection of 42-year-old Rep. Paul Ryan helped turn more younger voters to him. "It could be his youthfulness," said Zogby of Ryan. Plus, he said, more younger voters are becoming libertarian, distrustful of current elected officials and worried that they are going to get stuck with the nation's looming fiscal bill.

"They want change," said Zogby.

An answer to those leftists who claim Ryan is a Randist...

Ryan Shrugged

link is on name of author

and Father Z has some comments related to this link

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2012/08/rep-paul-ryan-and-ayn-rand/#comment-359054

APRIL 26, 2012 4:00 A.M. Representative Paul Ryan debunks an “urban legend.” By Robert Costa

'You know you’ve arrived in politics when you have an urban legend about you, and this one is mine,” chuckles Representative Paul Ryan, the Budget Committee chairman, as we discuss his purported obsession with author and philosopher Ayn Rand.

Paul Krugman, the New York Times columnist, recently called Ryan “an Ayn Rand devotee” who wants to “slash benefits for the poor.” New York magazine once alleged that Ryan “requires staffers to read Atlas Shrugged,” Rand’s gospel of capitalism. President Obama has blasted the Ryan budget as Republican “social Darwinism.”

These Rand-related slams, Ryan says, are inaccurate and part of an effort on the left to paint him as a cold-hearted Objectivist. Ryan’s actual philosophy, as reported by my colleague, Brian Bolduc, couldn’t be further from the caricature. As a practicing Roman Catholic, Ryan says, his faith and moral values shape his politics as much as his belief in freedom and capitalism does.

“I, like millions of young people in America, read Rand’s novels when I was young. I enjoyed them,” Ryan says. “They spurred an interest in economics, in the Chicago School and Milton Friedman,” a subject he eventually studied as an undergraduate at Miami University in Ohio. “But it’s a big stretch to suggest that a person is therefore an Objectivist.”

“I reject her philosophy,” Ryan says firmly. “It’s an atheist philosophy. It reduces human interactions down to mere contracts and it is antithetical to my worldview. If somebody is going to try to paste a person’s view on epistemology to me, then give me Thomas Aquinas,” who believed that man needs divine help in the pursuit of knowledge. “Don’t give me Ayn Rand,” he says.

Ryan enjoys bantering about dusty novels, but it’s not really his bailiwick. Philosophy, he tells me, is critical, but politics is about more than armchair musing. “This gets to the Jack Kemp in me, for the lack of a better phrase,” he says — crafting public policy from broad ideas. “How do you produce prosperity and upward mobility?” he asks. “How do you attack the root causes of poverty instead of simply treating its symptoms? And how do you avoid a crisis that is going to hurt the vulnerable the most — a debt crisis — from ever happening?”

Church-Going Chicago Style

A woman in Chicago had her purse stolen when going up for Communion. Now, for over twenty years, I have taken my purse up when I receive in rural as we.ll as urban areas.

Chicago has one of the highest crime rates of all cities in America. I have even heard good priests remind women to take their purses, or handbags, as these are called in England, with them.

The thief was driving a car. Not really poor. Some of us are too poor to own a car. She may have been drunk, according to witnesses. But, we must not pretend or be naive, or give a thief a chance.

It takes seven seconds to snatch a handbag and leave.

Take your bags with you, ladies and especially your laptops. Maybe it is because I lived in Europe so many years ago that I got in the habit of doing this.

We need to stop being naive, whether in suburbia or the county.

Take your belongings with you to the front of Church. Now, the woman was new to America and as an American, I apologize for her rude awakening to Chicago-style living.

We do not belong to ourselves--thoughts on the Feast of the Assumption

Laurence Whistler Window, St. Nicholas, Moreton, Dorset

I have been ill with a virus. This is very inconvenient for me, as I have work to do. I do not like being ill. I hate it. To be ill, however reminds me of two things I want to share with you on this Feast of the Assumption.

The first thought begins with a verse from 1 Corinthians:

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. 6:19-20

Glorifying God in my body does not mean merely staying away from sins of the flesh, although that is important. That is the beginning step. As my body does not belong to me, this bold statement from the Holy Spirit shows me that I belong to God in my flesh.

If He allows illness, we must accept it. Sometimes this is easier when big illnesses hit us. For example, I am a cancer survivor. Before I heard the bad news in 2009, I prayed. I prayed afterwards. I grieved at the loss of parts of my body which God had created. But, I knew, in my heart, that this was God's Will for me to endure all of this. I had complications and missed work. I was fired for having cancer and being ill, which is legal in some states. It was like being on a long retreat. God was there in the loss and in the suffering.

Before two operations, I looked in the mirror and said goodbye to those important parts of my body I was losing on this earth. To dust and shadow, these are gone. I am not the same physically or mentally. But, these losses are gifts, as I slowly approach the great loss of my body in death. I consider the steps a blessing. I know how to give up the flesh and live more in the spirit.

My body does not belong to me. God owns me. He can do whatever He Wills. I was bought, not like a slave out of the slave markets of Rome, or Bristol, but out of deadly sin which would have sent me to hell. But, the slave price was the Passion and Death of a God, the Son of God, Who as the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity suffered for me. His Father allowed this in order to free me, and to free you.

My body, now incomplete, is glorified in Christ only partly now on earth, but in Heaven, I hope to see the glorification of this body, through Christ, again. As St. Paul states, we do not know exactly what we will be like, but the Church teaches we shall have, at the end of time, our bodies restored to us. This is one of the messages of today's feast. Our Lady went before us and her purity demanded that her body did not see corruption. We shall follow her at some time, as we allow God to make us pure, slowly but surely.

The smaller illnesses, like flu or a broken toe are in some ways harder to deal with, which is why God sends these to me, to learn patience. Irritating interruptions of our way of life mean we have to adjust to remembering Who is in control and what it is He wants. Patience, love, contentment in small things...

We do not own ourselves. The second point is that we shall be like God, as we were intended to be. We were made in the Image and Likeness of God and as St. Bernard of Clairvaux wrote, "We have kept the Image but lost the Likeness." Body and soul are somehow reflecting God.

Those of us who sometimes see our bodies as "getting in the way", especially as we grow a little older, know deep down inside that we are moving towards death. But, this is not scary and there is a wonderful movement of the soul towards God as the body loses its, my, power and potency. A woman who was beautiful in her youth see this daily, as beauty fades. But, with God, this foreshadows a new interior life, one of interior beauty, the life of the virtues.

But, today's Feast of the Assumption points us to the real end of all things.

And remember, the Assumption is connected with the Immaculate Conception and the Annunciation. Mary was the first person to experience the Indwelling of the Trinity, which we all have.

Mary is our Queen, as the prayers state today, she reigns in Heaven. She reigns over us.

She is the only Queen to whom we can honestly say, "Long live the Queen". She lives now, showing us the Way, the Truth and the Life.

I write this for all my baby-boomers friends whom I love so much. May we approach the next life realizing that  we glorify God in our bodies and souls here and beyond.

Happy Feast of the Assumption.