Who is like God? On Unconditional Love...

Because of a common, not a rare occurrence, of unrequited love, I am going to put forth a few tentative notes on the subject. In our Western culture, I have discovered over the years, that many more women who are Catholic and Traditional are single but should be married, as that is their vocation in life.

So, they have experienced one or more of three possibilities. One, they have never fallen in love. The young woman has never met "Mr. Right". Now, in some trad sub-cultures, I can see this. The same is true for some trad men. I know at least one man who would like to meet a trad girl that he might marry, but has not. He is very young, 24, so he has time. And, yet, he is a bit impatient. Not all communities of traditional Catholics have both single men and single women who have marriage vocations sitting in the pews.

Not finding anyone suitable is the first possibility. The second is a subject I have written on before, and that is the fear of commitment. This is the scourge of our culture, even in Catholic circles.  


But, I shall run on to the third possibility. Unrequited love. Now, according to psychologists, the vast majority of people have fallen in love with someone who has not reciprocated that love to the point of a proposal of marriage. Some women I know have fallen in love with trad men in their communities, but the love has remained unanswered. Unrequited love, as I have noted before, is a mystery. But, the one who loves is actually more blessed than the one who does not return the love, for whatever reason. Unrequited love may be the most perfect type of love, as it must transcend need and want. Love freely given but not returned gives its own happiness and peace, despite the pain of not achieving real friendship with the other.

All real love is from God, if one is in sanctifying grace. One living in and with the Indwelling of the Holy Trinity has the capacity for great love. And, most ladies who are trad that I know are capable of great love, as they really love God first and are living virtuous lives. Perhaps, if these women can understand the great blessing of being in love in the first place and love without return in peace and joy, they can realize that they are actually sharing in the love of God, Who loves without return in many cases.

The angels love without return. How many of us ignore our Guardian Angels? (Notice the cats in the painting.)


St. Michael's name means "Who is like God". I would venture to say that the person who loves freely without return is a little like God. Perhaps this unconditional love is part of being made in the image and likeness of God.


This will be a seven post day.

7th Day of the Novena for the SSPX

We invite the faithful, religious and clergy to join the members of the SSPX in a novena to the Holy Ghost from June 30 to July 8. The novena will consist of praying the Veni Creator Spiritus with the addition of 2 invocations:

• Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us. (3 times)
• 
  St. Pius X, pray for us.

More Ladies in Mantillas

Can you spot five famous ladies here as well, some repeated from last post?

Ladies in Mantillas

Can you spot at least five famous ladies?

Norms Regarding the Manner of Proceeding in the Discernment of Presumed Apparitions or Revelations

NOTE: update at bottom of page and more on this tomorrow in a long post....


By the way, for my friends who have not seen this, here is the text of the guidelines regarding private revelations, the late publication of a much earlier document. And, this is the link to Cardinal Levada's preface. Some people do not know this exists. There are five links on this page worth researching.

• I urgently ask all my friends and readers who are into private revelations to check out the CDF guidelines regarding your favorites, as much has ben said on various seers and visionaries. 

And here is a great list from the Mary Page of the Marian Research Institute. The list has been updated through 2011 and shows three categories. Very few apparitions have been approved and some have been positively not approved. The third category is one of  "no decision" as of yet. A negative decision is important, and must be taken seriously by the faithful. Some others relating to Jesus are not listed, as this is a Marian apparition graph. Contrary to what many people believe, this is not the greatest age for Marian apparitions. Here is a graph of the timeline of such. Those which have a negative status must NOT be followed by the faithful, and if so, those persons are in disobedience to Holy Mother Church.

The condemned are listed as "negative decision".  Three which have been condemned and are still followed by unfaithful Catholics are Bayside, Christina Gallagher, and Garabandal-- there is a special link to Garabandal Letters.


In addition, please read these links to the CDF on Vassula Ryden. Three links of CDF documents are here, there and again. Thank you.

On Factions in the Church

Christ's Humility and His rejection of human power must be remembered by all in the Church.


I have just finished reading two histories of the Anglican Church, which has a synod coming up. Two things have struck me on this history, the history of Protestantism and the factions within the Catholic Church.

Firstly, the Revolt of the Protestants, like the defection of the Arians, hurt the Church with a wound which is still bleeding. The effects of the revolt are not conservative sects, but anarchy. Without authority, humans split into many groups, like the languages splitting humanity at the Tower of Babel. Split follows split, division follows division. The life of the founder of Unitarianism gives us a mini-history of Protestantism. Francis David had originally trained as a Catholic priest. Then, he became a Lutheran, and then a Calvinist. He then founded the Unitarian church. The impetus of Protestantism is separation, division, pain...


Secondly, factions which remain in the Church do as much, if not more damage than those without. Schisms are never to be desired, as souls are at stake. However, factions within the Church weaken the mission of the Church. I shall give an example.


Recently, I have been trying to facilitate some meetings. The meetings are of a missionary nature. The problems caused by different viewpoints of Catholics at these groupings has come to a point where the missionary activity may not take place. Seven Catholics around a table seem to have seven different points of view. How did this happen?

The "smoke of Satan" entering the Church is the demon of factions, of divisions. That there are so many means several things-bad catechesis being the first and foremost problem. Hatred of another's viewpoint on liturgy, or the nature of the laity causes other factions. Heresy, such as the view of marriage and cohabitation or even political parties cause factions.

I do not know how the Church spread across Europe and Asia so quickly when I look at the number of factions in a small room. Only the Holy Spirit can prevail over egos, prejudices, a stubborn lack of knowledge, sin. Where there is pride and arrogance, self-righteousness and bias, there are factions. How grieved I am....

Synod watchers...

A seven-post day....

Here is the website for the General Anglican Synod broadcast for listening to the proceedings. As you know, the subject of women bishops will most likely be put to a vote. I listened to the synod which decided on women priests in 1992 (it had been voted on in 1987 as well) on the radio on the BBC. The first woman ordained was on March 12th, 1994 in Bristol. The debate and vote on women bishop's will be on Monday, July 9th. 

I am going to follow this and post...http://www.premier.org.uk/streaming/synod.asx

On the art of the School of Beuron and the Sacred Heart

Prayer to the Sacred Heart

O most holy heart of Jesus, fountain of every blessing, I adore you, I love you, and with lively sorrow for my sins I offer you this poor heart of mine. Make me humble, patient, pure and wholly obedient to your will. Grant, Good Jesus, that I may live in you and for you. Protect me in the midst of danger. Comfort me in my afflictions. Give me health of body, assistance in my temporal needs, your blessing on all that I do, and the grace of a holy death. Amen.

And I love the art of the Beuronese School, which even Pope Pius X praised in Archicoenobium Casinense. Here is one of the Sacred Hearts from that group. I find the art peaceful and conducive to prayer. 

If you have never seen the murals, I highly suggest a visit to Conception Abbey Church in Conception, Missouri.

Do not go on a hot summer's day like today there...but the art is stunning.

Here is the link to the Beuron Abbey site   http://www.erzabtei-beuron.de/  How I would love to visit there. I have never been to Germany and would love to go...

and the link to the art page

http://www.erzabtei-beuron.de/kultur/kunstschule.php#kunst

On the Higgs boson

The reporting of the discovery of the Higgs boson this past week has been overlooked by some media and misrepresented by others. The best little video I have seen is from the Beeb and I share it here. How interesting nature is and how wonderful is Our Creator. A graph is also on this link, worth looking at...cool graphics make things much more clear for us lay persons.

Scroll down to the reddish explanation video and then further to the graph. Have fun.

Maru Check

http://sisinmaru.blog17.fc2.com/blog-entry-1226.htm

Holy Days and Holidays....

Someone in the Parliament has suggested that the term "bank holiday" be changed back to St Lubbock Days in reference to Sir John Lubbock.


Ah, but the Catholics of old knew how to fast and how to feast. We have lost the art of feasting, or at least the English have. Celebrations were public, like the recent celebrations for the Queen, but these happened 30 times a years, at least.

Under the Puritains, feasting ended. Fun was "out" and "seriousness" was in. England never recovered the mirth of the old days.


At least now there are more holidays than under Oliver Cromwell. However, it seems to me that whether these are called bank holidays or Lubbock holidays, the country would be better off going back to the old ways of holy days, doncha think?

Prior to 1834, the Bank of England observed about 30 saints' days and religious festivals as holidays but in 1834 this was reduced to just four.The 1871 Act specified the four days to be regarded as bank holidays - in addition to separate public holidays such as Christmas Day and Good Friday.

There are currently six permanent bank holidays, with an extra one in 2012 for the Diamond Jubilee.

I mean, can you imagine England having all the holy days of old? Here is a possible list including saints' days and the high holy days honoring Our Lord: not in order, by the way....I invite commentators to add to the list below....there were many more days of merryment.

Christmas, Childermass Day, Epiphany (including the twelve days between-Twelfth Night and Christmas), St. Thomas Day, Candlemas,  Shrove Tuesday, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Ascension, Corpus Christi, St. Mark's Day, Whitsunday, Michaelmas, Hocktide, Mayday, Midsummer called St. John's Day, Lammas or St. Peter's Day, All Hallows, St, Matthias Day, St. Martin's Day and more.

Sixth Day of the Novena for the SSPX

We invite the faithful, religious and clergy to join the members of the SSPX in a novena to the Holy Ghost from June 30 to July 8. The novena will consist of praying the Veni Creator Spiritus with the addition of 2 invocations:

• Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us. (3 times)
• 
  St. Pius X, pray for us

Pray for our brothers, sisters, priests in Cairo

Sometimes, we hear about persecuted Catholics in the Middle East, and now in Egypt more and more, and because these dear people do not have a "face", we do not think to pray or help them monetarily. Look, think, pray, help.


Notice in this Church of the Sacred Heart, in Sakakini, near Cairo, a copy of the famous Batoni painting is there which is in the Gesu in Rome, in the Church of the Circumcision in Valletta, in the Maryvale Chapel in England, and on my blog. We are all in the Heart of Jesus. We are connected. We are One is Christ, through Mary, Our Mother.

There are no coincidences in God.

The Comboni Missionaries, who help out in a parish in London where I sometimes go to Mass, have two parishes in Cairo, as well as others in Egypt, Asia, Latin America. These are dangerous times, and the priests who learn Arabic, as it is a missionary order with young men from Mexico and other places around the world, work there knowing the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives.

I met one such young priest, Father Alberto Sanchez recently. He is from Mexico, but works in a parish in Cairo. The  parishes in that city run by the Comboni Missionaries are St. Joseph Zamalek Catholic Church, (originally founded when the Mahdi took over the Sudan and Christians had to leave--remember the movie "Khartoum"--St. Daniel Comboni was there) and Sacred Heart in Sakakini-photo above and below. The bottom photo is the Comboni Church in Aswan.

Remember that how Egypt goes, goes Africa....

I asked Father Alberto for a blessing and I felt like I was being blessed by a future martyr. The list of Comboni Missionaries murdered for the Faith may be found at this link.

The order was started by St. Daniel Comboni, and his biography is here.


I think if we see people and places, we connect. Please pray for Father Alberto Sanchez, his parish, his family. He is very young, dynamic, peaceful.

Remember that how Egypt goes, goes Africa....

Happy 4th, You All Back Home!

All the firework photos here on this post are from my hometown, Davenport, Iowa.

Thomas Sowell wrote this piece in italics below last year for July 4th. I reprint part of it here-short, smart, simple..

I am saddened that the last line is being undermined by our own Bloated Government. Pray for the USA, please.

I am putting in a plug for Clear Lake, Iowa, which has a great July 4th festival, if you are feeling very patriotic. I am a bit homesick today for bands, paddle wheel boats, fireworks, bbq, baseball, and especially bratwurst and beer. And, there is nothing like fireworks shot off a barge, as they do in my hometown on the Mississippi River. But, boy, this year it is HOT! The high tomorrow for Clear Lake will be 100 Fahrenheit, with a low of 70. Davenport will see 96 and 68 correspondingly.

If you want to see more photos of my hometown fireworks, which are spectacular, go here

Happy Independence Day for all my fellow Americans.

The Fourth of July may be just a holiday for fireworks to some people. But it was a momentous day for the history of this country and the history of the world.

Not only did July 4, 1776 mark American independence from England, it marked a radically different kind of government from the governments that prevailed around the world at the time -- and the kinds of governments that had prevailed for thousands of years before.

The American Revolution was not simply a rebellion against the King of England, it was a rebellion against being ruled by kings in general. That is why the opening salvo of the American Revolution was called "the shot heard round the world."

Autocratic rulers and their subjects heard that shot -- and things that had not been questioned for millennia were now open to challenge. As the generations went by, more and more autocratic governments around the world proved unable to meet that challenge.

Some clever people today ask whether the United States has really been "exceptional." You couldn't be more exceptional in the 18th century than to create your fundamental document -- the Constitution of the United States -- by opening with the momentous words, "We the people..."

Those three words were a slap in the face to those who thought themselves entitled to rule, and who regarded the people as if they were simply human livestock, destined to be herded and shepherded by their betters. Indeed, to this very day, elites who think that way -- and that includes many among the intelligentsia, as well as political messiahs -- find the Constitution of the United States a real pain because it stands in the way of their imposing their will and their presumptions on the rest of us.

(Places where I used to work and live are on the photo, barely, as well as the steeple of the Cathedral and the art gallery as well as the baseball park are obvious.)

Fifth Day of SSPX Novena

We invite the faithful, religious and clergy to join the members of the SSPX in a novena to the Holy Ghost from June 30 to July 8. The novena will consist of praying the Veni Creator Spiritus with the addition of 2 invocations:

• Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us. (3 times)
• 
  St. Pius X, pray for us.