As much as I do not like the poetry of Yeats...

....his poem of almost 100 years ago speaks to us today: particularly the part I put into boldface. His reference to the anti-Christ is chilling.


  William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)

       THE SECOND COMING

    Turning and turning in the widening gyre
    The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
    Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
    Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
    The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
    The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
    The best lack all conviction, while the worst
    Are full of passionate intensity.
    Surely some revelation is at hand;
    Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
    The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
    When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
    Troubles my sight: a waste of desert sand;
    A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
    A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
    Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
    Wind shadows of the indignant desert birds.
    The darkness drops again but now I know
    That twenty centuries of stony sleep
    Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
    And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
    Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

Interested?

If there are any women readers, who wanted to join a contemplative order, but were refused as being too old, please contact me in comments. You need to be a google member to make a comment.

Things may be finally moving for a house of prayer. But, what I need to make this happen are two, at least, mature women, without any connections which would keep them from being committed, to a monastic day and daily adoration.

If you are interested, please send me your email in comments and I shall answer you privately.

You would have to be over fifty for this adventure and in fairly good health, plus orthodox and loving the Latin Mass, as well as the NO. Those who read this blog would understand the monastic day and the way of perfection.

Sad Days

Today is the Feast of the Sacred Heart....no morning Mass at Sacred Heart Church here, so I could not get the plenary indulgence. The Mass was scheduled in three places on line, but when I went there, it had been cancelled by the priest.

Tomorrow is the Feast Day of St. Anthony. And, there is no Mass for him tomorrow at all.

Do priests know about the plenary indulgence for a name day for a church?

Sad days...

And, of course, no mention in the Mass I did attend at another church of the fact that an indulgence would be granted today for public saying of the Consecration to the Sacred Heart prayer.

Sigh...

Prayers. Please

Father Chad Ripperger's Auxilium Christianorum sit is down. Please pray for this problem. UPDATE: All is well-purposeful "down" and temporary.

Feast of The Sacred Heart

The words of the Monastic Diurnal for Lauds reminds one of several themes connected to this day, the Feast of the Sacred Heart.

First, the image of the blood shed on the Cross, and the water and blood from the Piercing of Christ's Body recalls the great gift of mercy, Redemption, and the Holy Eucharist.

Second, the reference to reparation reminds one that by keeping this feast, Christ joins in our own suffering, as Man and as God.

Third, we make reparation by honoring the Sacred Heart today. Again, I share my favorite painting, the original rendition of the Sacred Heart by Batoni, found in the Gesu, with a copy in the Church of the Circumcision in Malta.

From the writing of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque:

“The Divine Heart was presented to me in a throne of flames, more resplendent than a sun, transparent as crystal, with this adorable wound. And it was surrounded with a crown of thorns, signifying the punctures made in it by our sins, and a cross above signifying that from the first instant of His Incarnation, […] the cross was implanted into it […].” more found here on the painter, painting and devotion...http://www.divinarivelazione.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=717&Itemid=1016&lang=en

On The Fathers of St. Joseph

A great group of guys in my area---I have met several of the members. It is my hope that this group would spread across the Catholic world.

http://fathersofstjoseph.org/

Here are some selections from the website, and the books, which one can buy. There are more on the site.

The Fathers of St. Joseph is a confraternity of men who follow the timeless wisdom and example of the man who was father to the Son and son of the Father. With St. Joseph as our leader, each father strives to become as he became – an icon of God the Father. As God the Father entrusted His Son to St. Joseph’s care, we also strive to entrust ourselves as children, who are fathers, to this father who will teach us to father, and lead us to the Father. This way of fatherhood is called Joseph’s Way – The Call to Fatherly Greatness. Join us on this journey to discover the power of authentic fatherhood.

Among the most serious crises facing human civilization is the famine of fatherhood. Children, families, the Church and our world are hungering, if not starving, for true fathers to re-enter the human drama and assist God in the mission of saving the world from self-destruction. Indeed, society goes by way of the family, and the family goes by way of the father. Lying at the center of the famine of fatherhood is a deeper crisis: the father’s loss of his identity. The human father has lost touch with his true identity, with his true mission and the person that God has created him to be. The human father knows little of himself because he knows God the Father so little. The human father’s identity leads not only to his destiny, but also, his family’s destiny. The human father, by assuming his identity as an icon of God the Father—an initiator of self-giving love—enables his family to achieve and receive its authentic identity, and assuming this identity, the human family can alter—for the better—the world’s destiny. The Father’s of St. Joseph are committed to providing men the opportunity to gather around St. Joseph himself. To place his life and example at the center of our gatherings with the intention of discovering the timeless sanctity of the vocation of fatherhood, to learn the meaning of authentic fatherhood, to equip fathers to become the fathers God intends them to be by understanding and living the spirituality that enables St. Joseph to become a father on earth like the Father in heaven. The sole aim and purpose of The Fathers of St. Joseph is to labor for the restoration, revitalization and redemption of human fatherhood, in order that it may become what it has been created to be: an efficacious icon that directs the human family to its Father.

1. To discover the timeless sanctity of the vocation of fatherhood.
2. To be taught and to teach the meaning of authentic fatherhood.
3. To supply for the spiritual, familial or financial needs of our fellow fathers.
4. To learn how to become an authentic father by becoming children of the Father. To become leaders who serve by following the Servant and Master Who leads.
5. To immerse ourselves in the timeless wisdom, fatherly example and person of St. Joseph, the son of the Father and father of the Son.
6. To learn how to encourage and edify our families in their pursuit of personal sanctity.
7. To learn how to honor and cherish the dignity of our wives and all women by overcoming lust by means of receiving the redemptive power of Christ

PROTECT THE DIGNITY OF WOMAN

As Joseph refused to expose Mary to shame so too we will become successful fathers by becoming guardians of the dignity and value of woman.

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BECOME ICONS OF THE TRINITY

The Holy Family became the first domestic church, an icon of the inner love or family life of the Trinity. As fathers we will strive to erect the domestic sanctuary and assist our family in becoming an icon of the life of the Trinity.

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ASSUME CHARITABLE AUTHORITY

As fathers made in the image of the Father, we accept our position of ‘charitable authority’ over our household and like Joseph, the hidden Son of David – an underground king – we acknowledge our hidden kingship over our family.

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SPIRITUALLY ADOPT OUR CHILDREN

We are not mere biological fathers but rather choose to ‘spiritually adopt’ our children and commit ourselves to the fatherly experiences of ‘protecting, feeding and teaching’ and by means of these experiences grow in understanding of our dependence upon the generosity of God the Father.

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WORK AS EXPRESSION OF LOVE

Working side by side with our children, we will teach them the art of self-giving love. Like Joseph and Jesus who crafted the cross of self-giving love within the workshop at Nazareth, by means of work, we will provide our children the necessary materials to build the temple of the Holy Spirit – which they are.

Humility

Humility always involves loss.

Loss of status, reputation, things, even friends, cause one to look at one's own sins and repent.

But, humility brings joy and gratitude as well.

Recently, some things I had to do concerning business here ended up well and efficiently. I felt very grateful to God for expediting needs and concerns.

Gratitude brings humility, as one realizes that one can do nothing of one's self.

I am working on an important project. I have asked all my readers to pray for me. It is a difficult project and time-consuming.

Please keep praying for me. I had a good day working on this and am taking a break.

We work and pray, and God fulfills His plan for our lives.

Simple... if we learn true humility. One of my "lost" icons...

Waste and The Lack of Good Stewardship

Genesis 4:9 And the Lord said to Cain: Where is thy brother Abel? And he answered, I know not: am I my brother's keeper?

I have not a clue what the Pope's new encyclical will cover on the "environment", but I can say for sure that one of the shocks of being back in the States is the gross waste of resources.

The amount of food which is thrown away in restaurants and even in homes shocks me. Too many Americans order too much, and then discard precious food while millions go to bed hungry. I saw a mom and three kids order Chinese food in a restaurant and then leave most of the the food on the plates. There was enough left over for two more meals for two people. Why? Bad habits?

I have seen people throw away perfectly good items, from furniture to clothes, just because the styles change. Following trends and being taken up by novelty are not virtues.

I have seen furniture near dumpsters which I would have taken, including superb lamps, if I had my own home, instead of living in a furnished place, and so on. Why are things just thrown away and not re-used? Why change for the sake of changing styles? We have become slaves to fashions. Slavery to anything material denies the virtue of temperance to grow in our minds and hearts.

Americans waste resources. Water is another item wasted. Coming from Malta where water is precious, the fact that people use excessive water on gardens, which could be planted more sensibly with drought resistant plants, or with low maintenance plants, astounds me. And, the amount of water used on golf courses, while many of the world's population does not have enough water for drinking or washing, seems criminal.



Good stewardship cannot be seen as something for the liberal Catholics to consider. We must all be good stewards.

A lady told me her mother who died had up to 300 pairs of shoes. Another lady told me that her neighbors change their entire living room YEARLY, furniture, paint, carpet, the whole nine yards.

Charity is not giving away bad clothes, but using things for a long time so that the poor can be given good things which are necessary. I have heard a person say, about a clothes drive for the poor, "Well this is good enough for THEM."

Again, I do not believe in global warming, which has been proven to be a false pseudo-science, but I do hold firmly that such things as organic gardening and sensible use of materials must be considered. We have lost touch with nature, and we are part of nature.

Someone told me he did not like his relatively new car and that he will replace it soon. He just does not like it. Well, why buy something without doing the homework as to whether it meets your needs?

Waste includes the sin of following trends and novelties. Also, narcissism demands that one always buys "the best" and not what is simply necessary.

Traditional Catholics need to stop and look at their spending habits as well as liberal Catholics. Two men told me they were "poor" recently, when they live comfortable middle class lives. They has no idea of real poverty, none, but comparing their own salaries in the mid-50k with those who make much more, they have lost perspective. If a person owns their own house, has a car and eats three meals a day, that person is not poor.

I think of the Garbage Children when these men talk to me in the neighborhood. I think of those who have fallen through the cracks and need the help of their fellow Catholics, do not get it, and become invisible.

The invisible poor need all of us to be good stewards. What is the answer to the question, "

Buying things can become addictive, such as those who get involved with compulsive shopping.

The credit card allows people to pretend to be richer than they are and live lifestyles of deceit.

I hope the Pope addresses good stewardship. By the way, if readers are careful, they can see what I think and what the Church formally teaches are not far apart. Good stewardship has always been taught by the Church. As to the science of global warming, we do not have to agree with documents which do come out of the lower levels of the Church departments. Remember the chaos a few years ago concerning the so-called official socialist document, which was leaked and never officially approved.

Not all things in the 'Osservatore Romano are approved documents. Also, some documents are "working documents" still in process.

Just A Reminder

APOSTOLIC LETTER
ORDINATIO SACERDOTALIS
OF JOHN PAUL II
TO THE BISHOPS
OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
ON RESERVING PRIESTLY ORDINATION
TO MEN ALONE

Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate,

1. Priestly ordination, which hands on the office entrusted by Christ to his Apostles of teaching, sanctifying and governing the faithful, has in the Catholic Church from the beginning always been reserved to men alone. This tradition has also been faithfully maintained by the Oriental Churches.

When the question of the ordination of women arose in the Anglican Communion, Pope Paul VI, out of fidelity to his office of safeguarding the Apostolic Tradition, and also with a view to removing a new obstacle placed in the way of Christian unity, reminded Anglicans of the position of the Catholic Church: "She holds that it is not admissible to ordain women to the priesthood, for very fundamental reasons. These reasons include: the example recorded in the Sacred Scriptures of Christ choosing his Apostles only from among men; the constant practice of the Church, which has imitated Christ in choosing only men; and her living teaching authority which has consistently held that the exclusion of women from the priesthood is in accordance with God's plan for his Church."(1)

But since the question had also become the subject of debate among theologians and in certain Catholic circles, Paul VI directed the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to set forth and expound the teaching of the Church on this matter. This was done through the Declaration Inter Insigniores, which the Supreme Pontiff approved and ordered to be published.(2)

2. The Declaration recalls and explains the fundamental reasons for this teaching, reasons expounded by Paul VI, and concludes that the Church "does not consider herself authorized to admit women to priestly ordination."(3) To these fundamental reasons the document adds other theological reasons which illustrate the appropriateness of the divine provision, and it also shows clearly that Christ's way of acting did not proceed from sociological or cultural motives peculiar to his time. As Paul VI later explained: "The real reason is that, in giving the Church her fundamental constitution, her theological anthropology-thereafter always followed by the Church's Tradition- Christ established things in this way."(4)

In the Apostolic Letter Mulieris Dignitatem, I myself wrote in this regard: "In calling only men as his Apostles, Christ acted in a completely free and sovereign manner. In doing so, he exercised the same freedom with which, in all his behavior, he emphasized the dignity and the vocation of women, without conforming to the prevailing customs and to the traditions sanctioned by the legislation of the time."(5)

In fact the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles attest that this call was made in accordance with God's eternal plan; Christ chose those whom he willed (cf. Mk 3:13-14; Jn 6:70), and he did so in union with the Father, "through the Holy Spirit" (Acts 1:2), after having spent the night in prayer (cf. Lk 6:12). Therefore, in granting admission to the ministerial priesthood,(6) the Church has always acknowledged as a perennial norm her Lord's way of acting in choosing the twelve men whom he made the foundation of his Church (cf. Rv 21:14). These men did not in fact receive only a function which could thereafter be exercised by any member of the Church; rather they were specifically and intimately associated in the mission of the Incarnate Word himself (cf. Mt 10:1, 7-8; 28:16-20; Mk 3:13-16; 16:14-15). The Apostles did the same when they chose fellow workers(7) who would succeed them in their ministry.(8) Also included in this choice were those who, throughout the time of the Church, would carry on the Apostles' mission of representing Christ the Lord and Redeemer.(9)

3. Furthermore, the fact that the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God and Mother of the Church, received neither the mission proper to the Apostles nor the ministerial priesthood clearly shows that the non-admission of women to priestly ordination cannot mean that women are of lesser dignity, nor can it be construed as discrimination against them. Rather, it is to be seen as the faithful observance of a plan to be ascribed to the wisdom of the Lord of the universe.

The presence and the role of women in the life and mission of the Church, although not linked to the ministerial priesthood, remain absolutely necessary and irreplaceable. As the Declaration Inter Insigniores points out, "the Church desires that Christian women should become fully aware of the greatness of their mission: today their role is of capital importance both for the renewal and humanization of society and for the rediscovery by believers of the true face of the Church."(10)

The New Testament and the whole history of the Church give ample evidence of the presence in the Church of women, true disciples, witnesses to Christ in the family and in society, as well as in total consecration to the service of God and of the Gospel. "By defending the dignity of women and their vocation, the Church has shown honor and gratitude for those women who-faithful to the Gospel-have shared in every age in the apostolic mission of the whole People of God. They are the holy martyrs, virgins and mothers of families, who bravely bore witness to their faith and passed on the Church's faith and tradition by bringing up their children in the spirit of the Gospel."(11)

Moreover, it is to the holiness of the faithful that the hierarchical structure of the Church is totally ordered. For this reason, the Declaration Inter Insigniores recalls: "the only better gift, which can and must be desired, is love (cf. 1 Cor 12 and 13). The greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven are not the ministers but the saints."(12)

4. Although the teaching that priestly ordination is to be reserved to men alone has been preserved by the constant and universal Tradition of the Church and firmly taught by the Magisterium in its more recent documents, at the present time in some places it is nonetheless considered still open to debate, or the Church's judgment that women are not to be admitted to ordination is considered to have a merely disciplinary force.

Wherefore, in order that all doubt may be removed regarding a matter of great importance, a matter which pertains to the Church's divine constitution itself, in virtue of my ministry of confirming the brethren (cf. Lk 22:32) I declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church's faithful.

Invoking an abundance of divine assistance upon you, venerable brothers, and upon all the faithful, I impart my apostolic blessing.

From the Vatican, on May 22, the Solemnity of Pentecost, in the year 1994, the sixteenth of my Pontificate. http://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_letters/1994/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_19940522_ordinatio-sacerdotalis.html

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The EU Gets Better News

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/ttip-vote-postponed-as-european-parliament-descends-into-panic-over-trade-deal-10310965.html

Globalism....

Still Looking

Is this cute or what?

http://tinyhouselistings.com/arizona-cabin-398-sq-ft-build-to-suit-10-yr-warr-on-shell/

More Tidbits from The Maritains

P rayer is simplicity and purity of mind reaching up to God and allowing Him to just Be with us. Too often, many things, thoughts, people stop us from that simplicity and purity. Modern life dictates against simplicity and purity. Go back into the perfection series for more on purity, but look at the small ways here in which one can break away from unnecessary complexity.

One of the great problems of those who are trying to become closer to God could be called, as the Maritains do, the "reflex of the mind". Too often, through habitual sin, or even the sins of families, one reverts back to such reflexes, which stop the growth of holiness. We fall into spiritual illusions. I talk to people who are on the right path, but fall into habits of mind, like judgment, criticism, negativity, scrupulosity,  spiritual sloth.

One of the most common reflexes of the mind which I have encountered since I have been back to the States has been identified by the Maritains as a psychological knee-jerk reaction involving "psychological curiosity".

Oh my, yes. Since January, I have heard numerous Catholics try and explain away sin in terms of psychological weaknesses. I left off on point four the other day regarding the descriptions and definitions of contemplation. As we continue to examine these, we see the opposite of "staring at one's navel" as we use to say in the seventies--the over examination of self. One cannot explain away sin. God will not allow us to explain ourselves when we stand before Him and see the depth of our failings. But, now, we can learn to do this type of contemplation of our nothingness and His Goodness.

Here are some more of the tidbits from the Maritains.

Point Six, "The contemplative life consists in a sort of holy leisure and repose...."

One must be still and seek solitude. God does not like rivals to His Person, His time, His ways.

Point Seven, "The contemplative life is related to divine things, and the active to human things; which is why St. Augustine says in the book De Verbis Domini: 'In the beginning was the Word, this is he to whom Mary listened: and the Word was made Flesh, this is he whom Martha served.'"

But, we can be so focused on the things of daily life, that we miss the small, still voice of God speaking to us in the midst of even chaos. To train one's mind to disregard such confusion is to break through the reflexes of the mind.

Point Eight, "The contemplative life is related to what is specifically proper to man, that is, the intellect, while the lower forces common to human and to animal life take part in the operations of the active life...."

One of my favorite psalms embodies this call-Psalm 24 DR. This is a good prayer for those in tribulation.

Verse 9 refers to those who allow God to humble them in the Nights.

Psalm 24 Douay-Rheims 

24 Unto the end, a psalm for David. To thee, O Lord, have I lifted up my soul.

2 In thee, O my God, I put my trust; let me not be ashamed.

3 Neither let my enemies laugh at me: for none of them that wait on thee shall be confounded.

4 Let all them be confounded that act unjust things without cause. shew, O Lord, thy ways to me, and teach me thy paths.

5 Direct me in thy truth, and teach me; for thou art God my Saviour; and on thee have I waited all the day long.

6 Remember, O Lord, thy bowels of compassion; and thy mercies that are from the beginning of the world.

7 The sins of my youth and my ignorances do not remember. According to thy mercy remember thou me: for thy goodness' sake, O Lord.

8 The Lord is sweet and righteous: therefore he will give a law to sinners in the way.

9 He will guide the mild in judgment: he will teach the meek his ways.

10 All the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth, to them that seek after his covenant and his testimonies.

11 For thy name's sake, O Lord, thou wilt pardon my sin: for it is great.

12 Who is the man that feareth the Lord? He hath appointed him a law in the way he hath chosen.

13 His soul shall dwell in good things: and his seed shall inherit the land.

14 The Lord is a firmament to them that fear him: and his covenant shall be made manifest to them.

15 My eyes are ever towards the Lord: for he shall pluck my feet out of the snare.

16 Look thou upon me, and have mercy on me; for I am alone and poor.

17 The troubles of my heart are multiplied: deliver me from my necessities.

18 See my abjection and my labour; and forgive me all my sins.

19 Consider my enemies for they are multiplied, and have hated me with an unjust hatred.

20 Keep thou my soul, and deliver me: I shall not be ashamed, for I have hoped in thee.

21 The innocent and the upright have adhered to me: because I have waited on thee.

22 Deliver Israel, O God, from all his tribulations.

more later....

More Prayers, Please for My Project

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willibrord#/media/File:Willibrord-echternach.jpg

                                     Rp. November 2007  Statue of St. Willibrord in Echternach

Saint Cunigunde of Luxembourg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cunigunde_of_Luxembourg#/media/File:Heilige_Kunigunde.jpg

Pray to these two saints for me. Special BIG intention.... and get this,

St. Cunigunde is widely venerated. Among likely many others, she is the namesake of St. Cunegunda Church, Detroit, Michigan, USA. She is the Patroness of Luxembourg, where the parish church of Clausen is dedicated to her and is the venue for Luxembourg's only regular Sunday Mass in the Tridentine Rite, Lithuania, Poland, and the Archdiocese of Bamberg, Germany.^[7]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cunigunde_of_Luxembourg

Litany to St. Willibrord

Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.
God the Father in heaven,
have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world,
have mercy on us.
God the Holy Spirit,
have mercy on us.
God the Holy Trinity,
have mercy on us.
St Willibrord,
                       pray for us.
St Willibrord, Guiding Light of the Church,
St Willibrord, Bright-shining star of our country,
St Willibrord, Missionary to our homeland,
St Willibrord, special protector of this our land,
St Willibrord, first apostle of the Netherlands.
St Willibrord, founder of monasteries and churches,
St Willibrord, promoter of progress and knowledge,
St Willibrord, teacher of truth,
St Willibrord, passionate interpreter of the teaching of Christ,
St Willibrord, ceaseless proclaimer of the Holy Gospel,
St Willibrord, teacher of true faith,
St Willibrord, founder of peace and justice,
St Willibrord, model of hope and reconciliation,
St Willibrord, conqueror of injustice and discord,
St. Willibrord, Architect of Community and Unity,
St Willibrord, Destroyer of idols,
St Willibrord, Patron Saint of children,
St Willibrord, Gentle guide of the lost,
St Willibrord, Support of the homeless,
St Willibrord, Friend of the persecuted,
St Willibrord, Light of the blind,
St. Willibrord, Refuge for the sick,
St Willibrord, Gentle father of the poor,
St Willibrord, Comforter of the afflicted and sorrowful,
St Willibrord, Helper to the suffering,
St Willibrord, True voice of God,
St Willibrord, Humble servant of Jesus Christ,
St Willibrord, Mighty advocate in heaven,
St Willibrord, Miraculous healer,
St Willibrord, True witness and confessor of Christ,
St Willibrord, Saviour of those who doubt their faith,
St Willibrord, Supporter of the care–giver and educator,
St Willibrord, Hope of those who pray,
St Willibrord, Model of patience and gentleness,
St Willibrord, Example of active love,
St Willibrord, Master of joy and life,
St Willibrord, Disciple of Christ,
Lamb of God, who take away the sins of the world,
Hear us.
Lamb of God, who take away the sins of the world.
Graciously hear us.
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world.
Have mercy on us.
Pray for us, Saint Willibrord.
That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us pray.
O God, the Saviour of all,
who sent your bishop Willibrord as a pilgrim for Christ
to proclaim the good news to many peoples
and confirm them in their faith,
help us also, we beseech you,
to witness to your steadfast love by word and deed
so that your Church may increase and grow strong in holiness.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Language

A bit ago, I wrote how one cannot have discussions with some in the Church anymore as people have moved so far away from Catholic doctrine that they no longer are using words correctly. Definitions mean something.

I recall almost nine years ago being in a classroom in a course on Aristotle, as an observer. After twenty minutes of discussion in which the students were discussing a key idea, I raised my hand. "No one has defined the term yet, and definitions precede discussion." The professor agreed, stopped the discussion and suggested to the class that the real definition by Aristotle himself had to be the starting place for any work on the idea.

Definitions mean something. The word Incarnation means something specific. The word mercy, or the word justice denote something. Connotations follow denotations.

The word Trinity means something specific, as do the words male and female, or life and death.

When key definitions become lost, forgotten, or ignored, chaos results.

Too many Catholics in the pew simply do not know doctrines, dogmas, definitions give to us by God through Scripture and Tradition. Basic definitions and even more complicated ones seems to be overlooked in favor of "personal interpretations".

To be a Catholic means something. We define ourselves, hopefully, as Catholics, a word which has a definition.

Catholic, with a capital "C" means being a member of the Catholic Church. Membership connotes active participation in something. If one buys a membership to a gym and never goes to work out, one may call one's self a "member" but the definition has been changed to mean either financially or legally a member, but not a member who is working out, exercising three days a week, or uses the facilities in a regular manner.

"Yes, I am a member of ...., but I have not been to work out in a year" indicates that a person simply is not interested, or committed to exercise.

Definitions mean something.

"I am a contracepting Catholic" or "As a Catholic, I support same sex marriage" seem to be phrases which change the definition of Catholic, just like the woman who tells me that she is a member of the .....Club, but she never uses the pool, never works out, never has a party in the clubhouse and so on.

Until we take definitions seriously, definitions such as marriage, confusion will reign supreme.

Language must be precise to be a useful means of communication. And, the Catholic Church has precise definitions for almost anything one can imagine.

When we call Christ "The Word of God", we mean that He is the specific Logos which is God's Will in the world. He is God, a Divine Person, which is the ancient meaning of Logos. The Word made Flesh means that Christ is Incarnated. He is the Revelation of God to the material world.

Definitions mean something. And, we can be assured, by looking towards the Teaching Magisterium of the Church, that we are getting the correct, God-given definitions, given to the Church for our salvation. To change definitions of grace, salvation, and sacrament spells danger for the Catholic.

Mystici Corporis Christi Again

I wanted to do an in-depth study of this encyclical, but honestly do not have the time right now, as I am working on an important project tba.

This is not a paid project.

However, I can share this section from the encyclical which applies to us now, and to encourage readers to go to the Vatican website and read the work.  http://w2.vatican.va/content/pius-xii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_29061943_mystici-corporis-christi.html

43. That is why We are deeply pained when We hear that not a few of Our Brother Bishops are being attacked and persecuted not only in their own persons, but - what is more cruel and heartrending for them - in the faithful committed to their care, in those who share their apostolic labors, even in the virgins consecrated to God; and all this, merely because they are a pattern of the flock from the heart [66] and guard with energy and loyalty, as they should the sacred "deposit of faith"[67] confided to them; merely because they insist on the sacred laws that have been engraved by God on the souls of men, and after the example of the Supreme Shepherd defend their flock against ravenous wolves. Such an offence We consider as committed against Our own person and We repeat the noble words of Our Predecessor of immortal memory Gregory the Great: "Our honor is the honor of the Universal Church; Our honor is the united strength of Our Brethren; and We are truly honored when honor is given to each and every one." [68]

A superb statement on the male and female principle in our religion

On Catholic view of male and female...Why we refer to God as male, the Father, and why we know the Incarnation is the Son of God...from a comment on another blog....(not by me, btw).

Femininity is defined as receptivity to the other - eg Our Lady - full of Grace
- the very generative nature of motherhood - this requires potential yet In God -
being Pure Act - there is no potential.. God is Pure Act &
Perfection & receives nothing save from Himself.Ontologically God is
the ONLY Pure Male - even Angels who are male in being unique species
are feminine in their receptivity to the Godhead.. God gives and
receives His entire Being unto Himself in Pure Act.God is the Holism -
femininity is gift to Creation to receive from that Perfection -So
technically speaking all souls are female in their receptivity to God's
Love and Grace. Angels &men may be physically spiritually
intellectually male but not absolutely for their receptivity is female -
femininity is a mere shadow of the internal absolute self- receptivity
within the Godhead. BUT in God this is not female in that it is not
external requiring another - it is Constant giving - Pure Act. To define
God as anything other than male fails to understand the very nature of
God as God - requiring nothing save Himself - it also dangerously falls
into the Pantheist Omega-Chardinism heresy of a developing God - a
mutable God - an imperfect God - a God who is not absolute Truth, Love,
Beauty and Goodness.

Basic Thomism grounded in the Aristotelian, material, formal, efficient
and final causes shows us that 'feminine' by its very formal nature is potency - its
efficiency is receiving - its final end is to achieve perfection by
receiving to its fullest - and what's more its material cause is intrinsically to have been created - for the Creator has no Potency.
This is why even Angels [who are male by being each unique individual species
unto themselves] and men are within their souls feminine in their
receptivity of God's Love and Grace.
We're not referring to analogy but the reality of the situation.
Our Lord is not a liar - He called God the Father because that is the Ultimate Truth about that Person of the Trinity - The Son is The Son - and the Spirit - being absolute Pure Act -
constantly Proceeding - constantly giving - can never be defined as female.
Only the created is female - for female is merely a shadow of the Universal self-receptivity within the Godhead.
Can this be defined as absolute feminity also? No - why? because it's forver part of Pure
Act never having any potential. It's not mere analogy or custom or equivocation to explain some ineffable mystery - it's the reality!

Destroying Truth

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/egypt/11664436/Suicide-bomber-attacks-Egypts-Luxor-temple-tourist-site.html. They destroy history because history upholds the Judeo-Christian Revelation of the Old and New Testament.

And, would these teachers go to a Catholic TLM? Just wondering....

http://www.wnd.com/2015/06/teachers-bow-to-allah-celebrate-islam/

A Famous Priest and St. Etheldreda

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/standingonmyhead/2015/06/england-pilgrimage-diary-3.html

Two Little Lights from A Little Jewel

, from the Maritains, some words on purification and prayer--""Contemplation is the fruit of the indwelling of the Blessed Trinity in the soul and of the invisible mission of the Son and the Holy Spirit."

and

"Serious advance is indeed impossible without passing one way or another  through the purification of the Nights."

Lot's Lot = Our Lot?

Romans 8:35-37Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA)

35 Who then shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation? or distress? or famine? or nakedness? or danger? or persecution? or the sword?

36 (As it is written: For thy sake we are put to death all the day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.)

37 But in all these things we overcome, because of him that hath loved us.

From today's Divine Office...

The life of Lot could be summarized as one of prosperity followed by pain. When he came into the Promised Land with Abraham, his uncle, their hired men began to fight with each other. Abraham prayed and decided to offer Lot a different "estate" for people and flocks. In other words, the tribe would be split. Lot chose an area which led to his life of success. Five cities grew up around this same area, to the south, the Five Cities which God set out to destroy because of the sin of sodomy, one "which cries out to God for vengeance".  Ultimately, despite some begging and haggling in prayer by Abraham with God., God mysteriously went to Sodom and Gomorrah. We know the story of the visit when poor Lot had to protect either two angels, in the guise of handsome men, or even, as some commentators state, Two Members of the Trinity, as God the Father was with Abraham, who was still pleading.

The phrase "Angel of the Lord" in the Old Testament does not necessarily mean an angel, such as Gabriel, who the commentators of the Talmud claim is the destroying angel, who brought punishment on the Egyptians, but God Himself revealing Himself to a chosen few in some aspect. We know the Trinity visited Abraham, and after this visit, God punished four of the five cities.

Lot had to flee with his daughters, wife, and sons-in law, who laughed at Lot's prediction of destruction, and stayed, thereby dying with the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot, his wife, and two daughters fled, but we also know, that Lot's wife disobeyed the Angels, (who I believe were Christ and the Holy Spirit), looked back in longing for her old way of life, witnessed the destruction, and was turned into a pillar of salt.

Lot and his daughters have other adventures, but we shall leave the scene of destruction in order to reflect upon the pericope above from today's Divine Office.

Some of us are living in Sodom and Gomorrah. Some of us have heard God say, "leave" years ago, and some have. I have tried to leave, without success, as here I am back in the land where same-sex marriage is "legal". 

Remembering that God sees sodomy as one of the four sins which cries out to God for vengeance, still a teaching of the Catholic Church, and noted in the CCC, (1867 The catechetical tradition also recalls that there are "sins that cry to heaven": the blood of Abel,¹³⁹ the sin of the Sodomites,¹⁴⁰ the cry of the people oppressed in Egypt,¹⁴¹ the cry of the foreigner, the widow, and the orphan,¹⁴² injustice to the wage earner), one must take into consideration that God will punish again those areas in which people have decided to live in vice rather than virtue. Part of the time of tribulation, which is fast coming upon us, as noted here for four years, will be purification of the Elect, and punishment for the Damned.

Make no mistake about this fact, those who live in Sodom and Gomorrah and refuse to leave, either leaving figuratively, by not supporting evil, or physically leaving in order to live among those who are the Faithful, will experience grave punishment.

God does not create a bubble of protection around those in trial. When Jeremiah warned the Israelites not to make treaties with the enemies of God, the Chosen People refused to listen, a fact leading to the complete destruction of Jerusalem, and the long years of exile for the Jews who survived death.

Jeremiah 34 Douay-Rheims 

34 The word that came to Jeremias from the Lord, (when Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth, that were under the power of his hand, and all the people fought against Jerusalem and against all the cities thereof,) saying:

2 Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel: Go, and speak to Sedecias king of Juda, and say to him: Thus saith the Lord: Behold I will deliver this city into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.

3 And thou shalt not escape out of his hand: but thou shalt surely be taken, and thou shalt be delivered into his hand: and thy eyes shall see the eyes of the king of Babylon, and his mouth shall speak with thy mouth, and thou shalt go to Babylon.

4 Yet hear the word of the Lord, O Sedecias king of Juda: Thus saith the Lord to thee: Thou shalt not die by the sword.

5 But thou shalt die in peace, and according to the burnings of thy fathers, the former kings that were before thee, so shall they burn thee: and they shall mourn for thee, saying: Alas, Lord: for I have spoken the word, saith the Lord.

6 And Jeremias the prophet spoke all these words to Sedecias the king of Juda in Jerusalem.

7 And the army of the king of Babylon fought against Jerusalem, and against all the cities of Juda that were left, against Lachis, and against Azecha: for these remained of the cities of Juda, fenced cities.

8 The word that came to Jeremias from the Lord, after that king Sedecias had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem making a proclamation:

9 That every man should let his manservant, and every man his maidservant, being a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, go free: and that they should not lord it over them, to wit, over the Jews their brethren.

10 And all the princes, and all the people who entered into the covenant, heard that every man should let his manservant, and every man his maidservant go free, and should no more have dominion over them: and they obeyed, and let them go free.

11 But afterwards they turned: and brought back again their servants and their handmaids, whom they had let go free, and brought them into subjection as menservants and maidservants.

12 And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias from the Lord, saying:

13 Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel: I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, saying:

14 At the end of seven years, let ye go every man his brother being a Hebrew, who hath been sold to thee, so he shall serve thee six years: and thou shalt let him go free from thee: and your fathers did not hearken to me, nor did they incline their ear.

15 And you turned to day, and did that which was right in my eyes, in proclaiming liberty every one to his brother: and you made a covenant in my sight, in the house upon which my name is invocated.

16 And you are fallen back, and have defiled my name: and you have brought back again every man his manservant, and every man his maidservant, whom you had let go free, and set at liberty: and you have brought them into subjection to be your servants and handmaids.

17 Therefore thus saith the Lord: You have not hearkened to me, in proclaiming liberty every man to his brother and every man to his friend: behold I proclaim a liberty for you, saith the Lord, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine: and I will cause you to be removed to all the kingdoms of the earth.

18 And I will give the men that have transgressed my covenant, and have not performed the words of the covenant which they agreed to in my presence, when they cut the calf in two and passed between the parts thereof:

19 The princes of Juda, and the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, and the priests, and all the people of the land that passed between the parts of the calf:

20 And I will give them into the hands of their enemies, and into the hands of them that seek their life: and their dead bodies shall be for meat to the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the earth.

21 And Sedecias the king of Juda, and his princes, I will give into the hands of their enemies, and into the hands of them that seek their lives, and into the hands of the armies of the king of Babylon, which are gone from you.

22 Behold I will command, saith the Lord, and I will bring them again to this city, and they shall fight against it, and take it, and burn it with fire: and I will make the cities of Juda a desolation, without an inhabitant.

Do you honestly think that God will stand by and watch America, as well as other countries of the West, which have heard the teaching of the Bible, and which have been given natural law when we begin to live in legal Sodom and Gomorrah?

Do you think that God will ignore gross sins, such as abortion and greed, which cause people to live in poverty?

Do you think that you and I will not experiencing purification, either willingly or unwillingly?

The days can be numbered until the decision of the SCOTUS. Pray, fast, beg God like Abraham for a turning of the hearts of the judges.

Otherwise, you and I will be living in Sodom and Gomorrah and we shall have to all suffer the consequences of God's Justice.