http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/08/20/groklaw_to_shut_down/
We are heading for tyranny.
Wednesday, 21 August 2013
Good news for the Catholic Church in Scotland
http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2013/08/21/american-dominican-sisters-move-to-scotland/ You might recognize this group from other posts on this blog.
Battle of Aljubarrota (14th August 1385)
I missed this date last week with so many feasts and events, but today I want to highlight St. Nuno Avarez Pereria, who was a soldier, a husband, a monk, and a saint. For a complete biography, look at this site here. This battle gave the Portuguese independence and paved the way for a renewal of Catholicism.
In the Whitefriars Street Church in Dublin, there is a stunning window of this saint. I like this man, as he seems to be a true Renaissance Man, a little before the time. He exhibited an intense prayer life, as well as giving to the poor, being a humble lay brother, and paying for many churches and monasteries with his own money, including Lisbon's Carmelite Church and Our Lady of Victories at Batalha. I would like to visit these someday very much.
Let us pray to this saint for strong leadership among the laity, as well as more vocations to Carmel.
For my good readers, a thought for you today
2 But having suffered many things before, and been shamefully treated (as you know) at Philippi, we had confidence in our God, to speak unto you the gospel of God in much carefulness.
3 For our exhortation was not of error, nor of uncleanness, nor in deceit:
4 But as we were approved by God that the gospel should be committed to us: even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God, who proveth our hearts.
5 For neither have we used, at any time, the speech of flattery, as you know; nor taken an occasion of covetousness, God is witness:
6 Nor sought we glory of men, neither of you, nor of others. 7 Whereas we might have been burdensome to you, as the apostles of Christ: but we became little ones in the midst of you, as if a nurse should cherish her children: 8 So desirous of you, we would gladly impart unto you not only the gospel of God, but also our own souls: because you were become most dear unto us. 1 Thessalonians 2:2-8
...from the Mass in honor of St. Pius X, one of the greatest men of modern times. Happy Feast Day in the NO of St. Pius X.
The Dark Night Part 40 and Blaming Satan Three
The devil, as Father Phelim points out, can only"gain a foothold on the soul through the working on its faculties." This is why the Dark Night includes the destruction of images and memories which take one away from God.
Recently, in a drama I was watching, a woman spoke to her lover that she had already sinned against God and her husband by thinking of her lover. The woman and her lover did commit adultery in the play, and they were aware the entire year they were together, that they were sinning. Now, the drama timeline was written in a time, many years ago, when people still knew that adultery was a serious, mortal sin. Interesting to me was the depiction of these lost souls, who verbalized that they were both damned, but chose each other anyway. What is more interesting, is that they become more miserable as the year went on. They began to hate the life of lust that they had chosen freely.
But, notice, the two sinners were very aware that they had chosen mortal sin over God and given in to temptation. Again, although satan watched them and tempted them, they chose to sin. As they were both, in this drama, Christians, they had knowledge, but their wills were weakened by frequent contact, and by speaking of their "love". Free will is a mighty gift. Their wills led them to misery.
This is the nature of sin. It starts in the imagination, in the mind. In the Dark Night, God pulls us away from any distractions from His grace, so that one can become pure enough for His coming as the Bridegroom.
Father Phelim did not have movies, television dramas, or novels to help him visualize sin, but he understands the roots of sin, as does St. John of the Cross. He notes that vanity and "disquiet" come from the roots of sin. Once one is purged of these roots of self-love, peace and "equanimity", (such a word is rarely used now), become the way of live for the person living in the Dark Night. The Dark Night steadies one to be able to fight satan, even to the point of moving away from venial sin and the desire for sin.
To be continued...
Postscript on The Dark Night of the Soul
Of course, the timeline varies from saint to saint, as I have written here before. And, heroic virtue demands heroic circumstances, such as the experience of the distancing of God before He allows the Illumination of the soul and body in that stage.
There is an illumination before the Dark Night, but the great Illumination happens only after purgation, and for many saints, this illumination quickly moves into the Unitive State, union with God in love. See the link below.
http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.ie/2013/08/re-posting-and-reminder-of-june-6th.html
I have already covered the Illuminative and Unitive States in the perfection series. This Dark Night series is merely a more detailed section on some posts in the perfection series. Here is only one on the Illuminative State, and only one on the Unitive State from earlier posts.
http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.ie/2013/01/part-five-saints-on-illuminative-state.html
http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.ie/2012/11/a-brief-summary-of-unitive-state.html
There are at least 53 posts which include references to St. John of the Cross.
I shall try and continue this mini-exploration. Would it not be wonderful if one could interview Blessed Mother Teresa on her experience of such a long, long Dark Night, especially as Catholics enter into a period of great persecution?
To be continued....
Consumerism, Materialism, Pride and the Theological Virtues-The Dark Night of the Soul, Part 39
Catholics receive the theological virtues directly from God. We all have human virtues, but the theological virtues pave the way to heaven, allowing one to live in and with the Holy Trinity. The theological virtues, as most know, are faith, hope and charity.
Now, one wonders why these virtues do not flourish in the Church, through the lives of the members of the Church. What happens to stop the growth of faith, hope and love? As these are infused virtues, one would expect all Catholics to exhibit faith, hope and love.
Faith, as defined in the CCC, is the theological virtue by which we believe in God and believe all that he has said and revealed to us, and that Holy Church proposes for our belief, because he is truth itself. By faith "man freely commits his entire self to God."78 For this reason the believer seeks to know and do God's will. "The righteous shall live by faith." Living faith "work[s] through charity."79
To believe in God daily and to believe in Revelation and Tradition are no small feats. A Catholic who is orthodox, that is, obedient to all the Church teaches, and, in addition, gives his life to God totally, is living in and by faith.
One who lives in faith constantly prays and desires to know God, love God and do His Will.
This first theological virtue may be "sinned against", that is, one may turn against this gift and choose not to believe. For some, this is apostasy, the complete denial of faith. For others, the cause could be sloth, not cultivating a prayer life, or not receiving the sacraments frequently.
A habit of sin can destroy faith. One of the greatest enemies of faith is materialism, the belief that the life on earth is the only life, and that there is no eternal, no spiritual life, Materialism denies the soul, and the dignity of the person. This heresy is fast becoming the great heresy of Europe, where many no longer believe in heaven or hell, following the Marxist view of dialectic materialism.
Anarchists are usually materialists, denying a hierarchy of spirituality in the world.
Hope, the second theological virtue, is, according to the CCC, the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ's promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit. "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful."84 "The Holy Spirit . . . he poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that we might be justified by his grace and become heirs in hope of eternal life."85
This virtue is the most misunderstood of all three. Notice the phrase, "relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit". This virtue grows in the Dark Night of the Soul. Father Phelim quotes St. John of the Cross, that, "the more things we possess the less scope and capacity there is for hoping and consequently, the less hope we have." He notes that the less we have in reality and in memory, the more able we are to possess God and hope in His love.
The great enemy of hope is consumerism. Consumerism, which is the greatest sin of the American people, demands that happiness may be bought. People become obsessed with buying more and more and more things, thereby becoming preoccupied with wealth and the consumption of goods obtained by wealth.
One cannot develop the virtue of hope when one is literally consumed with things. Those who possess things do not have room in their hearts, minds, and souls for God. The dispossession of things allows for the freedom to let God into one's being. Hope rests on not having, and if one has one does not perfect hope for the love of God. Consumerism feeds selfishness, which stifles hope.
The third theological virtue is love. The CCC notes that Charity is the theological virtue by which we love God above all things for his own sake, and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God.
Perhaps, most Catholics understand love, or charity, more that faith or hope. But, love cannot enter the soul, the heart or the mind without first faith and hope. Love is the fulfilment of faith and hope. When one is finally purged of selfishness and greed, of doubt and disobedience, love follows.
The great enemy of love is pride, as pride brainwashes the mind, the heart and the soul into denying the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross, Who loved us, as the CCC reminds us in the section on charity, while we were still enemies. Strong words. Pride denies that we were ever enemies of God, blaming others for our sins, as Eve blamed the serpent, and Adam blamed Eve.
All of these virtues are free gifts from God, but these can lie dormant for years and years unless one allows God to kill materialism, consumerism and pride in us.
That is one of the reasons for the Dark Night of the Soul, the purification of both the senses and the spirit.
To be continued....
Portinari-another blog poem
One sees, in this candle-light of damp street
lamps, pride is merely a lack of love.
Selfishness guides our coffee spoons,
making us chose only comfort, security.
La Vita Nuova lies in a storage space.
La gloriosa donna della mia mente.
Now, love is an adventure with no map,
no set rules as in the old days, when liking
demanded a certain give and take. No more,
and those who are caught in the nonsense
of doubt, or fear, or withered hearts,
cannot make their own rules as these would,
like baby's blocks, spelling gobbledegook, be
incomprehensible. Few, the long chosen,
have an angel, as did Tobit, to guide
on the way to love and happiness. Most
bumble along, hoping, dreaming, but not
seeing what is in front, looking down
because we only want to see ourselves.
L'una appresso de l'altra miriviglia.
We lose more times than we win. In those
losses gain a truer picture of murky souls,
waiting for sunlight. The emerald eyes may
have seen too much, or not enough, or be,
like eyes coming into the sun after being in
the cellar, blinded, by custom, or worse, sin.
For the Christians, the cell of inheritance
has been already been drained of blood.
Io mi senti' svegliar dentro a lo core
If we were pure of heart and imagination, we
might see patterns of light becoming dark,
like walking through the woods at dusk; myriad
colours turning to grey: we forget that walnut
trees burn bright green in the sun. We forget mercy.
Dicendo: "Or pensa pur di farmi onore".
I ask forgiveness for ending the story,
for not acting on compassion, holding back,
unsure, not trusting my elemental good.
So, I failed. Dante chose his wife, loved.
Beatrice revealed his soul.
For parents, a borrowed comment and repeated story
I have told this story on line before. Bear with me. I had a hard birth with my son. He stopped breathing five times in the womb. I know he is a miracle baby. The next morning, with the smell of lilacs coming in through the open windows, after a late night birth. I held this tiny baby in a ward of an old Victorian hospital in Cuckfield, Sussex. It was noisy on the ward, as one did not have private rooms in those days, only curtains separating beds. Daddy was not there as spouses only had two times a day they could visit.
All of the sudden, my baby and I were enveloped in complete silence. I recognized a God moment. I heard as clearly as any human voice, the Voice of God. He said, “When you die, I shall ask you one question. Did you pass your Faith on to your son?” I said yes. The silence ended and all the noises of the beautiful spring day came back. I did not know then that a few years later, it would be my own, personal responsibility without the help of a spouse to do this, although Daddy did help me in the beginning.
I began home schooling in 1991 and ended in 2006, when son went to TAC. I was a single mom working as well as home schooling. This is the primary duty of every Catholic parent-to pass on the real Faith of the one, holy, Catholic and apostolic Church. I may fear my personal particular judgement for other sins, but not the sin of neglect of my duty, which was a duty made so clear to me on the morning of April 27th, 1988, the day after my son’s birth.
Tuesday, 20 August 2013
Freedom of the press?
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/britain-forced-guardian-destroy-copy-snowden-material-222933670.html
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/19/david-miranda-detention-schedule7-editorial
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/10253417/Encrypted-computer-files-seized-from-David-Miranda-were-from-US-whistleblower.html
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/20/us-usa-security-britain-idUSBRE97J0CN20130820?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&dlvrit=992637
As people noted when King Charles I was beheaded, if this is how a king is treated, what did that mean for the rest of the public? If this is how a noted journalist is treated, what does this trend mean for the rest of us small, unprotected writers?
And, the US government knew about this situation before it happened. We live in increasingly perilous times. Where are the states, the countries, which value freedom? This is scary, as this is personal and not professional.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/19/david-miranda-detention-schedule7-editorial
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/10253417/Encrypted-computer-files-seized-from-David-Miranda-were-from-US-whistleblower.html
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/20/us-usa-security-britain-idUSBRE97J0CN20130820?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&dlvrit=992637
As people noted when King Charles I was beheaded, if this is how a king is treated, what did that mean for the rest of the public? If this is how a noted journalist is treated, what does this trend mean for the rest of us small, unprotected writers?
And, the US government knew about this situation before it happened. We live in increasingly perilous times. Where are the states, the countries, which value freedom? This is scary, as this is personal and not professional.
As usual, Buchanan is spot-on
http://buchanan.org/blog/who-owns-the-future-2-5767
And he asks the same question I had been asking my students in the past for years, regarding fighting to defend Christianity.
Millions of Muslims are willing to fight to drive us out of their part of the world. How many Americans are willing to send our sons to die for secular democracy and American values in their part of the world?
And he asks the same question I had been asking my students in the past for years, regarding fighting to defend Christianity.
Millions of Muslims are willing to fight to drive us out of their part of the world. How many Americans are willing to send our sons to die for secular democracy and American values in their part of the world?
Why are the bishops silent? This is tragic.
No statement from the USCCB, or the Great Britain or Ireland conferences of bishops on the horrible persecution of our brothers and sisters in Christ in Egypt. I am ashamed of my own leadership. Why the silence? If someone hears of a joint statement from these countries, let me know.
http://www.egyptindependent.com/news/minya-churches-cancel-second-mass-first-time-1600-years
http://www.aina.org/news/20130818125428.htm
http://www.egyptindependent.com/news/minya-churches-cancel-second-mass-first-time-1600-years
http://www.aina.org/news/20130818125428.htm
A Compendium of Supertradmum on St. Bernard of Clairvaux
Happy Feast Day, St. Bernard of Clairvaux. Here is an incomplete list of the posts on this blog concerning him.
26 Feb 2013
I am sure that readers can tell by now that I cannot write enough on my favourite male saints, Bernard of Clairvaux. I hope you have received his insights and experiences of God with the pleasure and amazement with which I ...
20 Mar 2013
St. Bernard of Clairvaux on the Knights Templar. Posted by Supertradmum · http://www.the-orb.net/encyclop/religion/monastic/bernard.html. Prologue TO HUGH, KNIGHT OF CHRIST AND MASTER OF CHRIST'S MILITIA: ...
23 Feb 2013
Therefore, when I read St. Bernard of Clairvaux and some of his commentators, one of the things which comes across very clearly is that he understands the progress of holiness as explained in these few words. Know, love ...
22 Feb 2013
Part 47: DoC: St. Bernard of Clairvaux, continued, and perfection. Posted by Supertradmum. Those of us who are workaholics have the hardest time with meditation and contemplation. But, was there ever a man busier than St.
24 Feb 2013
Words for the Papabile from St. Bernard of Clairvaux: Part 51: DoC. Posted by Supertradmum. If I remember, the subject of my discourse. to your Excellency was to be Consideration. And certainly. the matter to which I have ...
19 Aug 2012
Can you imagine in the cold and damp monastery of Clairvaux, in the refectory or monastery church, St. Bernard reading to his monks an exposition of The Song of Songs? I wonder at his audacity as well as his mystic insights ...
23 Nov 2012
The reason I encourage reading is that is the first step on the chair to Contemplation as taught by St. Bernard of Clairvaux. We must read the right books, however. Some people get bogged down in conversion stories. That is ...
28 Feb 2013
I know I started the postings on St. Augustine, which will continue on Friday, but today I was reading in the sermon of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, On Detraction. I am only going to refer to two ideas, both repetitions on this blog.
23 Nov 2012
Here is the quotation from St. Bernard of Clairvaux, from a homily of his at Easter. "We look for God where He is not to be found, or rather, we do not look for Him where He is chiefly to be found; hence, all the confusion, all the ...
21 Feb 2013
As those of you who read my blog know, St. Bernard of Clairvaux is my favourite saint. I discovered him when in a particularly Romantic period of my life was unfolding and he captured my imagination as well as my intellect.
24 Feb 2013
Part 52: DoC: Bernard of Clarivaux and the Perfection of Love. Posted by Supertradmum. From St. Bernard of Clairvaux on Love from Sermon 83 on the Canticle of Canticles. Love is sufficient of itself, it gives pleasure by itself ...
26 Feb 2013
Posted by Supertradmum. On this blog, I have already referred to the sermons of St. Bernard of Clairvaux on the Song of Songs, or. Canticle of Canticles. These sermons may be considered his masterpiece as a Doctor of the ...
29 Aug 2012
St. Bernard of Clairvaux has a fascinating sermon on two aspects of love regarding St. John and St. Peter. St. Bernard, in St. Peter and St. John, XLI, In Joannic Evang; Tract CXXIV. Bernard says the Peter loved Christ more ...
20 Jan 2013
St. Bernard of Clairvaux would have made an excellent 21st century psychologist He understood human nature and nurture. He understood the workings of the soul, the psyche. He understood the need for the seeking of ...
23 Dec 2012
As the year comes to an end soon, and the Feast of St. John is upon us after Christmas, I want to revisit a strange saying of St. Bernard of Clairvaux He has a fascinating sermon on two aspects of love regarding St. John and ...
04 Feb 2013
All the members of St. Bernard of Clairvaux's immediate family are either Blesseds or Saints, including his father and mother. Here they are listed, plus a cousin and in-law.
07 May 2012
St. Bernard of Clairvaux created a movement of love outside himself, because he was in love with Christ. So too were St. John of the Cross, St. Teresa of Avila. St. Maximilian Kolbe and many, many other witnesses to the Faith.
21 Nov 2012
Bernard of Clairvaux's famous sermon on the meeting of Christ and Mary Magdalen in the Garden highlights the theme I have here and in the previous post on the Presence of Christ within us. Bernard states that Mary was ...
07 Apr 2013
Some commentators, like my friend CK, wanted a simple version of the perfection series and I have finally found a good description from St. Bernard of Clairvaux, my favourite saint. He describes in his sermon "On the Different ...
29 Jan 2012
I do not have my works of St. Bernard of Clairvaux with me, but I can paraphrase one of his sayings: There is rejoicing in heaven when a bad man becomes good, but how much more rejoicing is there when a good man ...
27 Aug 2012
I have been reading the Sermons of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, specifically on the Feeding of the Five Thousand. Without going into great detail, one of the points St. Bernard makes, which has been made by many saints, is that ...
19 Aug 2012
St. Bernard of Clairvaux is my favourite saint and Dante puts him high in heaven, Beatrice leaving Dante in the hands of the mystic saint. St. Bernard is, in my mind, the Saint of Love. He asks Mary, Queen and Mother, to allow ...
12 Dec 2012
St. Bernard of Clairvaux in his great sermons on the Bride in the Song of Songs, notes that the Church is Christ's Bride. Many of the so-called womynpriests are also liberals in other ways. The Anglican Church, which has ...
18 Feb 2013
Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, Bede the Venerable, Peter Damian, Gregory the Great, and the reformer of the Benedictine Order, Bernard of Clairvaux. So, although the Franciscans claim they have the most, I count more ...
27 Aug 2012
Like the works of St. Thomas Aquinas, or Augustine, the writings of Bernard of Clairvaux give us endless spiritual milk to drink on these points. In his sermon, On Humility and Patience, Bernard writes this, “Some endure ...
15 Feb 2013
St. Bernard of Clairvaux and his family were in the highest echelons of their society. They owned great tracts of land, at least on castle, and had labourers, as well as house staff and so on. St. Bernard gave up his inheritance, ...
28 Dec 2012
Bernard of Clairvaux had seven-hundred monks and lay brothers at the peak of the monastery's history, which allows for a steady stream of visitors. We need more vocations to the religious life. There are two young ones in the ...
04 Dec 2012
St. Bernard of Clairvaux cooperated with grace. So did St. Paul and St. Peter. Yesterday was the feast day of St. Francis Xavier, a saint who learned the Ignatian method of prayer. Pray that God's Perfect Will be done in your life ...
09 Dec 2012
St. Bernard of Clairvaux writes that great men ask God for great things. Moses, Joshua, David, Daniel, and many others asked God for great things, including the revelation of the Glory of God. We do not ask because we are ...
20 Jul 2013
2 comments: Corax said... Dear Supertradmom How do guys like myself relate to this whilst still being masculine? 20 July 2013 00:12 · Supertradmum said... Read SS. Bernard of Clairvaux and John of the Cross. Good night.
07 Jun 2013
9) Christ the Bridegroom calls us to the stages of understanding that each one of us must experience, as explained, for example, by Bernard of Clairvaux; these stages are knowing one is a child of a loving Father; that one is ...
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