Pray for priests

Without priests, the Incarnate Christ is not in our midst.

St. Bernard on the Magnificat-a short meditation for Advent

The great mystic and theologian quotes Mary in her Magnificat: "He that is mighty has done great things for me." Bernard says that all Catholics should ask for those graces. What graces?

The great things to which Mary refers are graces of perfection. Mary realizes the singular perfection of her state and the immensity of her role in becoming the Mother of God.

She is not merely a very young, pregnant woman given the honour of bearing the Messiah. She is bearing God-the Theotokos, the God-Bearer, whose feast is coming up on January 1st in America.

This woman knows that God is growing as a God-Man within her. This is the Greatest Thing. Her own perfection and sinlessness are great works as well. She had done nothing but say yes. But, the great work begun at her own Immaculate Conception. What miracles are being done in this time of history?

She is not confused. She is not proud. She is honest and humble. God has done all the great things.

Let us, as St. Bernard suggests, ask for all the graces of perfection that God wished to give to us.

Let that be our Christmas prayer.

Thoughts on March 25th in the week before Christmas

No one writes about the Blessed Virgin like the great Doctor of the Church, St. Bernard. In this work, "On the Visions of God", he writes concerning Mary and the soul who desires to be a bride of Christ: as in the Song of Songs, "the heart of  husband trusteth in her." God trusted Mary and through her, all of us.

Bernard continues: "...and amongst all His possessions there is  nothing which He thinks ought to be concealed from her whom He redeemed from poverty, whom He has found faithful under trail, and whom
He now embraces as worthy of His love."

And here is the crucial point: "Even the Lord's Mother herself lived in the Shadow of faith, for to her it was said, 'And blessed art thou, that hast believed.' She had also a shadow from the Body of Christ, as the Angel implied. For surely there must be a difference between walking by faith and walking by vision. We are all in the Shadow of Faith until we are strengthened to see the light, when he told her 'And the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee' For that is not slight shadow which is thrown by the power of the Most High. And truly there was power in the Flesh of Christ which overshadowed the Virgin, so that, by means of the intervening screen of this vivifying Body, she might be enabled to endure the presence of the Divine Majesty and bear the splendours of the Light inaccessible, a thing otherwise quite impossible to a mortal woman."

The Bride of Christ, as prophesied and honoured in the Song of Songs, calls her Husband the shepherd.  And, so He is, "the Good Shepherd, Who gives His life for His sheep."

Thank you, God, for St. Bernard.

December 18th, O Adonai

 December 18th

O Adonai, et Dux domus Israel,

qui Moysi in igne flammae rubi apparuisti,

et ei in Sina legem dedisti:

veni ad redimendum nos in brachio extento.

O Adonai, and leader of the House of Israel,

who appeared to Moses in the fire of the burning bush

and gave him the law on Sinai:

Come and redeem us with an outstretched arm.

Perfection must be sought

Christmas is a busy time for most of you, and I am on retreat part of this week. Therefore, I shall save more hearty stuff on the life of perfection and write shorter things this week. I have discovered again the writings of Gertrude More, whose life and poetry, as well as insights into the contemplative life are hard to find. She will help us on our ways together here.

I have met saints....

I have met saints here. Not necessarily holy priests or nuns, but lay men and women living in the illuminative state. All of them are under fifty and none of them are Irish. Some are from England, Scotland, Poland, Brazil. They span those in the consecrated life, those who are single and have made celibate vows, and those in the married state. All of them have two things in common...they love God before all people and things, and they know the Indwelling of the Holy Trinity. I understand and have experienced what St. Paul did...the small communities, which are the remnant.

A Metaphysical Question.....my blog or your blog?

This blog would not exist without my readers. So, it is not my blog, but your blog. I am in a deer mood, as one can see this weekend.

Is not that nice? Just virtually imagine we are taking a walk through Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal Park in the snow.

December 17th, O Antiphon

      December 17th

O Sapientia, quae ex ore Altissimi prodiisti,

attingens a fine usque ad finem,

fortiter suaviterque disponens omnia:

veni ad docendum nos viam prudentiae.

O Wisdom, coming forth from the mouth of the Most High,

reaching from one end to the other mightily,

and sweetly ordering all things:

Come and teach us the way of prudence.

Repost on this generation and what do we do?

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.ie/2012/01/part-three-cults-and-post-modernist.html

Monday, 9 January 2012

Part Three: Cults and Post-Modernist Christians

Posted by Supertradmum

As some of you know, this blog is a continuation of my previous blog of several years. At that time, 2007, 2008, 2009, I was taken up with the intrusion of Post-Modernist thinking in the politics of America. To most, that is now obvious and painful. Now, I am more aware of Post-Modernist thinking and ergo, acting, among faith-groups in America, notably, our Protestant brethren and liberal Catholics. Post-Modernism is a term which covers a multitude of ideas, but the main ones I track are narcissism, individualism, self and group delusion and manipulation. Attached to these characteristics are the hatred of the class structure, leading to a hatred of the lower and working classes, with a consciousness encircled by a false elitism (see blog below).

Post-Modernism in religion has become Post-Modernist Christianity, which, because relativistic, is anti-moral, or at best, amoral, anti-dogmatic, anti-authoritarian, anti-communal, anti-rational, and self-destructive. The Post-Modernist Christian looks like a Post-Modern atheist, with a difference. They deny the Transcendent. The Post-Modernist atheist makes himself into the Transcendent, while the Post-Modernist Christian denies the Transcendent. The Protestant denominations are imploding with the pressure of the denial of the Transcendent. The Old Covenant Law and the order of Love of the New Covenant become merely deniable transcendence, undermined by the rules of literary deconstruction, or the cynicism of the capabilities of the human mind and soul, the latter which does not exist.

As a trained Phenomenologist, who came to her senses and reverted back to Thomism, I can say that the Post-Modernist, Deconstructionist in religion and philosophy differed (no pun) on the role of the mind, reflection, memory, understanding, will, experience, and perception. (With hats off to the great St Ignatius, who taught us discernment with regard to memory, understanding and the will, one can only be grateful in being given the grace to be a Catholic).

Point: the Post-Modernist Christian is about to enter the age of power, as the Post-Modernist atheists give up and retreat back into their comfortable, usually academic positions, and leave the political arena to those who think they are idealists, but are really Post-Modernist Christians.

These men and women have taken over the imaginations of Western European politics and the movement is being sucked into the abyss which is American politics, with a few, definite exceptions.

The Post-Modernist Christian may claim Christianity as his or her faith, but in reality, this person has abandoned all ideas of the Transcendent. Just as Phenomenology falls into literary criticism, Post-Modernist Christianity falls into self-deception, which is, simply, hypocrisy.

These PMCs may or may not be pragmatists, which I think, to a point, the Post-Moderns Atheists are.

This lack of pragmatism, especially in politics, leads to "waffling", "flipping", "indecisiveness" and "superficiality", all in quotations as these have been applied to certain political and governmental figures in Europe and in America. Dare I say that the Post-Modernist is prone to cultism and irrational, contradictory religious beliefs? Can I say that the Post-Modernist Christian believes in the true absence?

The difference between the PMC and the PMA is in the subconsciousness, or in the soul. The PMA is a deceived idealist liberal who has freely chosen his stance against hierarchies, creeds, etc. with a disdain for those who believe in such. The PMC still thinks he is a Christian, but has lost all semblance acting like a PMA while thinking he is a Christian. Hypocrisy.

You see, hypocrites do not know they are hypocrites, at least on the conscious level, which is why they hated Christ so much. He was forcing them to look at themselves and their lack of faith. They were PMCs. The only difference was that they believed in their own hierarchy, their own power structures. But, unlike the PMAs. the PMCs have lost belief in the very vocabulary they use daily. They repeat words, as in the Mass, but the words are not efficacious for them. However, if such PMCs are priests, they are committing sacrilege, by saying the words of Consecration without belief. This is why there are liturgical abuses, as these men may change the form in order not to commit sacrilege. To be continued...

It is so fun being a Catholic....

Christmas All Year Round and Onions

I was conversing with a wealthy Irish woman here who told me she goes every year and works in a food distribution centre for the homeless on Christmas Day. I encouraged her and said it was a great work that she was doing.

She then proceeded to tell me of the six or seven extended vacations to various countries she takes yearly. She is a Catholic.

I was stunned. She could not see the minimalist approach to her Christianity.

That she spends Christmas Day with the homeless is fantastic. That she forgets about them for the entire rest of the year is sad. That is the difference between a real Christian and a some-time Christian.

Sadly, she is also a traditional Catholic who weekly attends the Latin Mass and is not a liberal in doctrine.

I wanted to share with her that she has a good heart, but that she is trapped in the whirlwind of her status and cannot see her own blindness.  She is also very depressed, which is why she goes on so many holidays. I did not want to add to her depression, but I did say that she may not understand poverty and penury. She asked me if I wanted to go to the health centre and work-out with her as she does regularly. She added that it was too bad that we could not be friends and do things together because I was poor.  I merely smiled, agreed with her, said that was the way it was, without an explanation.

Saving our souls doesn't work like that. She cannot see because she cannot step out of her world long enough to see. God bless her one day of good work. God gave her plenty to share. I hope she sees one day her own need for salvation. To her to whom much is given, much is expected.

Her story reminded me of the famous onion story of the Byzantine Catholics. The reason, they tell me, that their churches have onion-shaped domes is a vision of one of their saints.

A man died who had been selfish. He had done one charitable work in his life.  His guardian angel came down to visit him at his particular judgement. The angel was holding an onion.

"This onion represents the one good deed you did in your life. You gave an onion to a poor man. I , your angel, will hold this onion and you grab the end of it. I shall then fly to heaven and if you can hold on to the onion without falling, you will be taken into heaven. If you let go, you fall into hell."

Catholics, collect your onions. Do not end up with one small onion on the day of your judgement. You might let go....I might let go.

A nod to David Jones, today-my favourite painter and poet

A few of his prints which I had in my collection were stolen a few years ago, in 2008....they were never found.

David Jones, "The Storm Tree" 1948

  From The Sleeping Lord....

Do the small black horses
                                        grass on the hunch of his shoulders?
are the hills his couch
                                        or is he the couchant hills?
Are the slumbering valleys
                                        him in slumber
                                        are the still undulations
the still limbs of him sleeping?
Is the configuration of the land
                                        the furrowed body of the lord
are the scarred ridges
                                        his dented greaves
do the trickling gullies
                                        yet drain his hog-wounds?
Does the land wait the sleeping lord
                                        or is the wasted land
that very lord who sleeps? (SL 1974 96)

 David Jones, "The View from Gatwick House, Essex, April"
1946

Internet cartoon find...

Anti-Semitism growing in Europe

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2012/12/danish-police-travel-advisory-to-jews-stay-away-from-unsafe-areas-ambassador-it-is-like-gaza.html

Was World War II in vain? Another group is now emerging stronger and stronger against the Jews in Europe.

Rejoice: Third Sunday in Advent

Two choices for your meditation....rejoice!

St. Kevin's in Dublin

I am begging for a church. If you are a person who wants to help keep a beautiful Church in Dublin open for the TLM and other Masses, please read this.

The Archdiocese basically gave the Latin Mass Chaplaincy a dying parish. It is in an area which is no longer families, but students for the nearby universities. Therefore, the population of the area has changed.

If you are thinking of being a bit more generous to a particular church this season, St. Kevin's is a more than worthy cause. You can go to the website and click on support or merely click here.

All the sacraments from the 1962 liturgical books are available.

From the website:

The Dublin Latin Mass Chaplaincy was established by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin on 15th September 2007, in response to Pope Benedict XVI’s Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, to provide pastoral care for the faithful of the Archdiocese attached to the more ancient use of the Roman Rite, also known as the extraordinary form.

The Chaplaincy is based at St Kevin’s Church, Harrington St, Dublin 8.

As well as regular Sunday and weekday Masses, the Chaplaincy celebrates Baptisms, Weddings, Funerals, and the Sacraments of Penance and the Anointing of the Sick according to the liturgical books of 1962.

The miasma of stupidity

The Millennials I have spoken with do not understand the concept of "methodology". As part of my major in history, among other degrees, I learned various ways of viewing history. All histories have a methodology. So do teachers of literature and philosophy.

But, in this age of extreme subjectivism, youth cannot see that their professors are teaching out of a particular method, mind-set, philosophy. They think that these teachers are like themselves, without agendas and completely without guile. The relativist has a hard time imagining that there are such things as viewpoints, plans, which is why, in 2010, when I passed out my required syllabi, some of my students were dumbfounded that I had completely, clearly laid out the goals and methods of my courses, the expectations, and the desired results. Stunned. I wrote my first syllabus in 1979. The students wanted to know the methods, goals, rubrics. They loved the guidance as they wanted to succeed, if not actually learn.

By 1997, I could see the difference and by 2010, the students who wanted to learn and get results for themselves and learn how to think and succeed, were few and far between. The relativist cannot learn. He only wants to argue his own, small position and act as if it were not a position and a methodology.

The second problem for these students is that they honestly think that science is the only infallible discipline. They think either in terms of complete empiricism (boring) or they simply memorize and do not think at all.

This is the result of a century of social engineering in education across the world. And, in fact, in some countries, this type of miasma of stupidity owing to the lack of learning critical thinking is worse than in the States or Europe. I find more Asian students who are relativists than those of the West, especially those raised under Marxist rule, which they cannot even parse out themselves.

They cannot recognize either ideology or methodology. Such a society of such an unthinking mass becomes the puppet for whosoever wants to become a tyrant.

American Millennials are less conformist than those of other countries, but the slide into anti-intellectualism has gained momentum.


Some studies have indicated that this generation has trouble solving problems with non-linear thinking. I think they have trouble with both types--see my post last week on Sherlock.

From LifeSiteNews

Be generous, please.

For all our children in America....

St. Rose of Lima, pray for Newtown families and their children. Also. for the teachers who died, the first responders, God bless them.  "Keep the Christmas lights on..." said the Monsignor of the local parish, St. Rose of Lima. Keep faith, hope and love.

More on hell: a superb article by Fr. Longenecker

To help with the current discussion on line on hell, Father Dwight Longenecker has this excellent article on hell. Read it and ponder. Here is a section.

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/standingonmyhead/2012/12/is-anybody-there-in-hell-that-is.html

Does that mean God would cast someone down into hell to be tortured forever? Perhaps this too, can be seen the other way around. Is God too good to send someone to hell? It could be that God is so good that he actually gives everyone exactly what he or she wants. If we have spent our whole lives pursuing love, goodness, beauty and truth, then after death we may get exactly what we always wanted and find ourselves in a land where love, goodness, beauty and truth are as natural and abundant as light. On the other hand, if our whole lives are spent in an insane flight from all that is good, beautiful and true, then perhaps God in his goodness will also give us exactly what we always wanted; and that would be existence in a madhouse with no exit where love, beauty, goodness and truth were unknown: an existence in the outer darkness with gibbering maniacs like ourselves.

Life pans out, and despite our greatest efforts, we almost always end up getting what we really want. In fact, this sort of justice is built into the system. We will get what we want just as naturally and certainly as an acorn becomes an oak tree. Giving people what they really want is natural justice. To do otherwise would be cruel. We think everyone ought to go to heaven, but can we imagine that a person who hated God, goodness, truth and beauty all his life would actually enjoy heaven? If they could visit that place of eternal beauty and laughter they would howl with serious terror and run with all their might in the other direction. We know this is true because there are people in this life who hate truth, beauty, and goodness and do everything in their power to flee from the light.