From men to women on modesty: "My greatest temptation... was in church".

Kristine Cranley has an excellent article on the blog, http://marysaggies.blogspot.sg/2012/05/reflections-on-questions-of-modesty.html, which is a group of Catholic students from Texas A and M. Smart kids.

She asked men about modesty and her article is revealing in many ways. To be honest, I am tired of fighting the modesty battle with Catholic women, and even some priests who do not want to deal with this serious problem and it is serious. Leading people into sin is sin. One good priest I know said it was a terrible thing to see girls dressed as they are. But, this needs to be said from the pulpit.

Read what Kristine writes here. You can follow the link to the entire article.

I’ll never forget my shock when in college a friend admitted to me that he found it difficult when women wore white shirts to Mass because you could often see one’s bra straps through them. I had never thought to check! I thanked him for the information, and thanked God I wasn't wearing a white shirt at that moment! 

Or when my own brother discretely told me that my smashing new white pants were … well … see through. “When girls wear white pants” he informed me authoritatively, “guys check”. 

Or, perhaps most embarrassing of all, the time a man asked me to stop wearing ‘midriff shirts’ to Mass. I was too embarrassed to admit I didn’t know what a midriff shirt was. (I have since googled it and am quite certain that I have never owned a midriff shirt, but my pants that fateful day had been a little loose and fallen below my shirt line, and he had noticed). 

Too loose. Too tight. Too low. Too high. Who teaches us about these things anymore?

I thank God for the men who have been courageous enough to share with me the ways my clothing has affected them. Certainly we are all responsible for guarding our eyes from what might cause us to sin. And yet I’m confident that most of you ladies reading this desire to help our brothers in Christ to live purity of heart, just as we are grateful when they help us to do the same. But how are we to learn to love each other well in this regard?

...

Why Modesty?

First of all, I want to assert that the reason we dress modestly is NOT because our feminine bodies are bad or ugly or intrinsically ‘occasions of sin’. Simultaneously, it is NOT because all men think about is sex, or that they are incapable of looking at us without lust. Rather modesty involves speaking the truth with our bodies. While women are generally aroused through emotional warmth or physical touch, men are aroused through visual stimuli. Whether we intend to or not, revealing too much of our bodies sends a message that we are sexually available to them. As one young man recently explained to a group of women here at St. Mary’s,“there are two steps to having sex. Taking off one’s clothes and actually having sex. If someone is already half undressed, it’s difficult for one’s mind not to go to the second step”.

But meanwhile, the world seems ‘hell-bent’ on destroying in women a proper sense of what is and is not modest. Has not modern day fashion slowly desensitized us to exposing almost every part of our body that can possibly be exposed? One style may show off more and more of the leg, another the chest, the navel, the back, etc., so that slowly we’ve become increasingly comfortable with having any or every part of our bodies revealed to the public. Is it possible to wear any less clothing than a string bikini? Even being clad in solely our undergarments would cover more than many swimsuits do nowadays. 

It is true that norms of modesty do shift somewhat from culture to culture. There have been cultures where women have never worn shirts and therefore their being topless was not considered sexually suggestive for the men in their society. But question of importance for us today is what message do our outfits, in our present culture and day, send to the men we are blessed to know and love?

Survey Says

Personally, I have found the responses given on the ‘modesty survey’ extremely enlightening in this regard. This survey anonymously interviewed men seeking to live chastity on their views regarding women’s clothing. Their answers were astounding. The following is a sample of some of the survey questions, followed by the men’s responses (emphasis original):

• Girls can dress attractively without being immodest. 98% agree/str. agree
• Age 20 - I actually had a T.A. in one of my classes who was a beautiful woman who dressed modestly, and I had trouble paying attention to anyone but her! Her clothing never caused me to stumble and never once did I have a physical reaction to her. Instead, my heart warmed (maybe even fluttered a few times hehe) and it just made me smile. There's also a young woman from my home town who I've known for some time who has MASTERED this art. She is just gorgeous....wait, I'm rambling.... sorry. But see what I mean? The women who dress modestly AND attractively leave a much longer lasting impression on men.
• Age 20 - There is a huge difference between being beautiful and being hot. Beauty is being attractive for who the girl is as a person. Hot is being attractive as nothing more than sex appeal.
• Showing any cleavage is immodest. – 70% agree/str. agree
• Age 40-49 - I find it totally distracting. It's EVERYTHING I can do to keep my eyes on her eyes when cleavage is showing.
• Age 22 - Why? Why must you? What is your reasoning for doing it? You can be fashionable with out doing it, so why?
• Age 20 - This is the biggest thing which causes me to fall.
• Immodest clothing is not a problem (for you) when a girl in your own family wears it. – 21% agree/str. agree
• Age 24 - Maybe I am alone in this, but my "Hey! Female skin!" radar doesn't stop to check DNA first
• Age 16 - I radically disagree. It does not matter if the girl is my sister or not, it is still an assault on godly beauty, and my chastity. You see, what lust (and the whole industry that is producing all the magazines you see at the grocery store and worse) does, is it takes away the personhood of the object of lust. So then, immodesty in a mind surrendered to evil turns the woman into a thing -- it removes personality, true beauty, being made in God's image, and leaves only a thing that satisfies evil desires. Therefore, because of how destructive lust is it does matter that my sister and my best friend dress modestly.
• Bending over so that cleavage is visible down the front of the shirt or dress is a stumbling block. 90% agree/str. agree
• Age 16 - Um... Yes. That image usually sticks in my head for weeks.
• Age 21 - I cannot agree stronger. This is a big one for me. It would appear some shirt are MADE to do this. I appreciate it when girls hold there hand to their chest as they bend over. It demonstrates not only a respect for themselves, but also to me.
• Age 16 - STRONGLY AGREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GAH! THIS IS SOOOOOO DIFFICULT TO DEAL WITH!!!!
• General comments to women
• Age 24 - Sisters in Christ, you really have no concept of the struggles that guys face on a daily basis. Please, please, please take a higher standard in the ways you dress. True, we men are responsible for our thoughts and actions before the Lord, but it is such a blessing when we know that we can spend time with our sisters in Christ, enjoying their fellowship without having to constantly be on guard against ungodly thoughts brought about by the inappropriate ways they sometimes dress. In 1 Corinthians 12 the apostle Paul presents believers as the members of one body - we have to work together. Every Christian has a special role to play in the body of Christ. That goal is to bring glory to the Savior through an obedient, unified body of believers - please don't hurt that unity by dressing in ways that may tempt your brothers in Christ to stumble.
• Age 26 - In high school, the place of greatest temptation toward lust was my church. Girls wore things to church that they thought were fashionable and dressy, but they would not have passed the dress code at my public high school. Church should NEVER be a guy's greatest source of temptation, in any way. Please, be especially careful when picking out your dress clothes for church, and make sure they are modest when sitting and kneeling (if you kneel in church), not just standing in front of the mirror. 

In summary: cleavage, tight pants, short shorts, the infamous ‘midriff shirts’, exposed backs or bra straps: all these things compromise the grace-filled beauty of our feminine presence to our brothers in the Lord.

Who is God and Who is Man?

I have been thinking of this all week and the Great Spencer has written it. And just in case you forgot the references, here are snippets on both:

Piss Christ is a 1987 photograph by the American artist and photographer Andres Serrano. It depicts a small plastic crucifix submerged in a glass of the artist's urine. The piece was a winner of the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art's "Awards in the Visual Arts" competition,^[1] which was sponsored in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, a United States Government agency that offers support and funding for artistic projects. A print of the photograph was damaged using a screwdriver or icepick on April 17, 2011 while on exhibit in Avignon, France. from Wiki

And the dung Mary, which I remember, wherein all those in favor of freedom of speech screamed bloody murder when the lawsuit was initiated. This bit is from Wiki as well, with no photos, please.....

The Holy Virgin Mary is a painting created by Chris Ofili in 1996. It was one of the works included in the Sensation exhibition in London, Berlin and New York in 1997–2000. The subject of the work, and its execution, caused considerable controversy in New York, with Rudolph Giuliani – then Mayor of New York City – describing Ofili's work as "sick".^[1]

The potent mixture of the sacred (Virgin Mary) and the profane (excrement and pornography) became a cause of controversy when the Sensation exhibition moved to New York in 1999. The City of New York and Mayor Rudolph Giuliani brought a court case against the Brooklyn Museum, with Giuliani describing the exhibition of Ofili's work as "sick" and "disgusting". Giuliani attempted to withdraw the annual $7 million City Hall grant from the museum, and threatened it with eviction. The museum resisted Giuliani's demands, and its director, Arnold L. Lehman, filed a federal lawsuit against Giuliani for a breach of the First Amendment. The museum eventually won the court case.^[3]On a yellow-orange background, the large painting (8 feet high by 6 feet wide) depicts a black woman wearing a blue robe, a traditional attribute of the Virgin Mary. The work employs mixed media, including oil paint, glitter, and polyester resin, and also elephant dung and collaged pornographic images. The central Black Madonna is surrounded by many collaged images that resemble butterflies at first sight, but on closer inspection are photographs of female genitalia; an ironic reference to the putti that appear in traditional religious art. A lump of dried, varnished elephant dung forms one bared breast, and the painting is displayed leaning against the gallery wall, supported by two other lumps of elephant dung, decorated with coloured pins: the pins on the left are arranged to spell out "Virgin" and the one on the right "Mary". Many other works by Ofili in this period – including No Woman No Cry – incorporate elephant dung, particularly as supports for the canvas, inspired by a period that Ofili spent in Zimbabwe.^[2]

Giuliani was reported as claiming that Ofili had thrown elephant dung at a painting of the Virgin Mary: "The idea of having so-called works of art in which people are throwing elephant dung at a picture of the Virgin Mary is sick."^[4] The press also reported that the painting was "smeared", "splattered" or "stained" with dung.^[5][6] Ofili, raised as a Roman Catholic commented that "elephant dung in itself is quite a beautiful object."^[7]    

It is ok if nations blaspheme the Jesus Christ, Son of God, the Real God-Man, Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, Founder of the One, True, Holy, Apostolic and Catholic Church, but it is not OK to criticize a man-made religion created by a man (which is the teaching of the Catholic Churchon Islam).

Here is the article. The difference has to do with the fact that we do not kill people or burn down buildings when Christ is blasphemed.

The politics of terrorism seems to be working. Too bad. See my Men of the West series in the recent past.

Where are the bishops' statements on this?  Here is Spencer on the New York Times.

When the target was Christianity, the Times said that artists had an obligation to "challenge the public." When the target is Islam, the Times starts talking about respecting religious faith. As Tim Blair notes, Islam has earned that "respect" at the point of a gun.

"Times Changes," by Tim Blair in the Telegraph, September 14 (thanks to Anne Crockett):

The New York Times editorial of October 2, 1999, defends the display of Andres Serrano’s Piss Christ and Chris Ofili’s The Holy Virgin Mary: 

A museum is obliged to challenge the public as well as to placate it, or else the museum becomes a chamber of attractive ghosts, an institution completely disconnected from art in our time. 

The New York Times editorial of September 12, 2012, condemns the display of The Innocence of Muslims: 

Whoever made the film did true damage to the interests of the United States and its core principle of respecting all faiths. 

Whatever happened to “challenging the public”? Or is that obligation rendered non-obligatory when a certain public responds to challenges by killing people?

Meditation from St. Ambrose Books on the Death of His Brother

A good priest over the weekend suggested I read the two books of St. Ambrose on The Death of Satyrus. Obviously, from the text, Ambrose had a great love for his brother.

But the section recommended to me is the one following: let us go through this together.

35. I die daily, 1 Corinthians 15:31 says the Apostle. Better certainly is this saying than theirs who said that meditation on death was true philosophy, for they praised the study, he exercised the practice of death. And they acted for themselves only, but Paul, himself perfect, died not for his own weakness but for ours. But what is meditation on death but a kind of separation of body and soul, for death itself is defined as nothing else than the separation of body and soul? But this is in accordance with common opinion.

First, Ambrose in true classical style notes that those who are reflective, the true philosophers, think about death and the sacrifice of some deaths. This is a good start. Then, the saint divides death into three parts.

The first is dying to sin but living in God. This happens when we turn from sin and an embrace immortal life over the here and now.

The soul is freed from the fetters of this world, the flesh, and the devil in choosing Christ and His Kingdom. We freely choose this. We choose to live in Christ and not in sin.

Ambrose calls this "spiritual death", when we die to those things which distract us from the Love of God and the Indwelling of the Trinity.

The second death is the real leaving of this world. We all have experienced someone dying in our lives and we understand the grief and separation this causes. We are forever changed in these losses.

36. But according to the Scriptures we have been taught that death is threefold. One death is when we die to sin, but live to God. Blessed, then, is that death which, escaping from sin, and devoted to God, separates us from what is mortal and consecrates us to Him Who is immortal. Another death is the departure from this life, as the patriarch Abraham died, and the patriarch David, and were buried with their fathers; when the soul is set free from the bonds of the body. The third death is that of which it is said: Leave the dead to bury their own dead. Matthew 8:22 In that death not only the flesh but also the soul dies, for the soul that sins, it shall die. Ezekiel 18:4 For it dies to the Lord, through the weakness not of nature but of guilt. But this death is not the discharge from this life, but a fall through error.

The third type is the most serious, that is another type of spiritual death, wherein one turns from the Truth to heresy and deceit. There are consequences in this last death and just as Adam lost all the preternatural gifts by sinning, so too, we are punished. Death was also a gift for the hard life which followed the loss of innocence and Eden. 

37. Spiritual death, then, is one thing, natural death another, a third the death of punishment. But that which is natural is not also penal, for the Lord did not inflict death as a penalty, but as a remedy. And to Adam when he sinned, one thing was appointed as a penalty, another for a remedy, when it was said: Because you have hearkened unto the voice of your wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which I had commanded you that of it alone you should not eat, cursed is the ground in your labor; in sorrow shall you eat its fruit all the days of your life. Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face shall you eat your bread, till thou return to the earth from which you were taken.

38. Here you have the days of rest from penalties, for they contain the punishment decreed against the thorns of this life, the cares of the world, and the pleasures of riches which shut out the Word. Death is given for a remedy, because it is the end of evils. For God said not, Because you have hearkened to the voice of the woman you shall return to the earth, for this would have been a penal sentence, as this one is, The earth under curse shall bring forth thorns and thistles to you; but He said:In sweat shall you eat your bread until thou return to the earth. You see that death is rather the goal of our penalties, by which an end is put to the course of this life.

Ambrose writes much more, but I am going to examine just a few more paragraphs.

39. So, then, death is not only not an evil, but is even a good thing. So that it is sought as a good, as it is written: Men shall seek death and shall not find it. Revelation 9:6 They will seek it who shall say to the mountains: Fall on us, and to the hills, Cover us. Luke 23:30 That soul, too, shall seek it which has sinned. That rich man lying in hell shall seek it, who wishes that his tongue should be cooled with the finger of Lazarus. Luke 16:24

Sometimes, death is a good thing. We know this from experience, but only God decides when one dies.

40. We see, then, that this death is a gain and life a penalty, so that Paul says: To me to live is Christ and to die is gain.Philippians 1:21 What is Christ but the death of the body, the breath of life? And so let us die with Him, that we may live with Him. Let there then be in us as it were a daily practice and inclination to dying, that by this separation from bodily desires, of which we have spoken, our soul may learn to withdraw itself, and, as it were placed on high, when earthly lusts cannot approach and attach it to themselves, may take upon herself the likeness of death, that she incur not the penalty of death. For the law of the flesh wars against the law of the mind, and makes it over to the law of error, as the Apostle has made known to us, saying:For I see a law of the flesh in my members warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity in the law ofsin. Romans 7:23 We are all attached, we all feel this; but we are not all delivered. And so a miserable man am I, unless I seek the remedy.

I have highlighted in bold the part I want to emphasize. Daily, we should be inclined to die, in some way. We can get into the habit of dying daily. This is the practice of the religious, who gives up his free will to his superior and follows a rule. This should be the way of the wife, who must defer to her husband at times, as when someone must defer, it should be her. In these ways, our wills are detached from things, people, places and events. One sees artwork showing saints looking at skulls. This is part of the habit of momento mori, the thinking of death. "Remember you will die."

Here are some of those paintings.

St. Jerome--Caravaggio and thanks Wiki

41. But what remedy? Who shall deliver me out of the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.Romans 7:24-25 We have a physician, let us use the remede. Our remedy is the grace of Christ, and the body of death is our body. Let us therefore be as strangers to our body, lest we be strangers to Christ. Though we are in the body, let us not follow the things which are of the body, let us not reject the rightful claims of nature, but desire before all the gifts of grace: For to be dissolved and to be with Christ is far better; yet to abide in the flesh is more needful for your sakes. Philippians 1:23-24

Again, we see that we can deny even what is natural to ourselves for the sake of holiness. The pagans and atheists do NOT understand this. They are dumbfounded that we would fast and abstain, or be chaste, or celibate.

Tintoretto--St. Mary Magdalen

Cornelius the Centurion by Trevisani

El Greco-Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata

One of my favorite paintings--The Ambassadors --Hans Holbein the Younger  and thanks Wiki

42. But this need is not the case of all, Lord Jesus; it is not so with me, who am profitable to none; for to me death is a gain, that I may sin no more. To die is gain to me, who, in the very treatise in which I comfort others, am incited as it were by an intense impulse to the longing for my lost brother, since it suffers me not to forget him. Now I love him more, and long for him more intensely. I long for him when I speak, I long for him when I read again what I have written, and I think that I am more impelled to write this, that I may not ever be without the recollection of him. And in this I am not acting contrary to Scripture, but I am of the same mind with Scripture, that I may grieve with more patience, and long with greater intensity.

I like the idea of patience here. For me, this is the hardest thing to do--to wait for whatever and many times in my life I have made mistakes because of impatience and not waiting.

43. You have caused me, my brother, not to fear death, and I only would that my life might die with yours! This Balaam wished for as the greatest good for himself, when, inspired by the spirit of prophecy, he said: Let my soul die in the souls of the righteous, and let my seed be like the seed of them. And in truth he wished this according to the spirit of prophecy, for as he saw the rising of Christ, so also he saw His triumph, he saw His death, but saw also in Him the everlasting resurrection of men, and therefore feared not to die as he was to rise again. Let not then my soul die in sin, nor admit sin into itself, but let it die in the soul of the righteous, that it may receive his righteousness. Then, too, he who dies in Christ is made a partaker of His gracein the Font.

Ambrose reminds us to look towards the Resurrection. The reference to Baptism is key. In Baptism we receive new life and are born again in Christ, given eternal life as a pledge of our inheritance as children of God.

We must be baptised to be saved. And the baptismal rite is a dying to self efficacious act of removing eternal death and giving us eternal life.

44.Death is not, then, an object of dread, nor bitter to those in need, nor too bitter to the rich, nor unkind to the old, nor a mark of cowardice to the brave, nor everlasting to the faithful nor unexpected to the wise. For how many have consecrated their life by the renown of their death alone, how many have been ashamed to live, and have found death a gain! We have read how often by the death of one great nations have been delivered; the armies of the enemy have been put to flight by the death of the general, who had been unable to conquer them when alive.

There are many ways to consecrate one's life to death. Think on this.

45. By the death of martyrs religion has been defended, faith increased, the Church strengthened; the dead have conquered, the persecutors have been overcome. And so we celebrate the death of those of whose lives we are ignorant. So, too, Davidrejoiced in prophecy at the departure of his own soul, saying: Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. He esteemed death better than life. The death itself of the martyrs is the prize of their life. And again, by the death of those at variance hatred is put an end to.

http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/34032.htm

Our Lady of Fatima, Pray for Us

In the face of false visions and confusion, let us pray to Our Lady of Fatima, for wisdom and obedience.

For strong leaders in the Church. For the laity and for priests.  Pope Benedict XVI at Fatima in 2010 said "it is a profound consolation to know that you are crowned not only with the silver and gold of our joys and hopes, but also with the 'bullet' of our anxieties and sufferings"

A Real Warning to Well-Intentioned Catholic Charismatics

Last year when I was in Walsingham for three months, I met many Catholic charismatics. One of the things I noticed was that they were using regularly the long version of the "Prayer Against Satan and Rebellious Angels Published by Order of H. H. Pope Leo XIII.

I mentioned to some of those I met that this prayer was not to be used in meetings. I was rebuked. I also came to realize this prayer is not to be used except by priests and not by the laity.

This is a warning via an excellent priest who confirmed my suspicions that this prayer is dangerous if used incorrectly.

What do I mean?

Demons and especially Satan himself, a person albeit spirit, is highly intelligent, more than all of us.

They literally watch us over the years, learn our weaknesses and prey upon those.

They cannot read our minds but these spirits can watch, wait and tempt.

When we say prayers against them and we are not holy, are not fasting, are not disciplined or AND THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT POINT, not under the diocesan authority of the bishop with regard to exorcisms, we are actually calling down these beings into our own homes and persons.

I know this from this wise priest and from others who have had personal experience of attempting to address demons without the authority of the Church.

What I have seen is this. When those who use this prayer continue to do so, they fall into deceit and heresy.

Period.

Weakness leads to disobedience and ignorance leads to disobedience.

Disobedience leads to heresy and the loss of one's soul.

Please do not use this prayer and correct those who are using it.

Blogger and Commentator Fast--September 21st

Can we all organize a commentator and blogger fast day for America for this coming Friday, September 21st?

I am asking everyone to join me in this fast for a new president and a new America which puts God first.

I put up a poll on the side so that we can encourage one another.

I shall pledge my Friday as a day of fast and abstinence.

Please let us try and do this together. Where two or three are gathered in My Name..the promise of Christ.

Supertradmum

Meditations on Death

Because I am going to try a religious vocation,  I have been meditating on death for about two weeks. This is not new to me, as I have had three brushes with physical death in my life owing to several operations and the fact that I had deadly reactions to the anaesthetics, which my doctors had not anticipated (nor I). I also discovered I had problems with my blood, which lacks properties which interferes with clotting or coagulation. To make very long stories short, with cancer and complications of breathing, I faced death physically three times.

My only sister died two weeks before her first birthday.

My son almost died at birth, he stopped breathing five times in the womb, and of pneumonia when he was seven . One faces death in many ways.

Now, facing physical death in one's self is not as difficult as one may think. When I had cancer, I had to face all types of possibilities, but I can honestly say that the entire time, after the initial shock, was like being on a retreat. God was very close to me during the entire process. Some other women with whom I have spoken have said the same thing. If we are open to God, He is there.

At this time, I am facing several different "deaths". All mothers experience death of a sort when their children finally leave the nest. I first faced that when my son went away to college. I cried all the way home in the car from the airport. Now that he is in the seminary, there is another type of death. But, he has always belonged to God , although he was loaned to me for a short time for God's glory.

Most parents state that the happiest times of their lives were the raising of their children. And, so do I. Having and raising a child is sheer joy.

Another type of death has to do with giving up the following. I have had to give up dreams of success in the world, not for monetary gain, but for my own satisfaction of a completion of years of study and research.  High academic success would have been nice.

I have died to my own imagination. We can image all types of things we want to do or have, such as a peaceful,comfortable family life and, as in my case, as I have written hundreds of poem, dozens of plays, short stories and children's stories, artistic success. I have published only a smidgen of what I have produced over the years. This is a type of death, as each poem, each story is like a child of the imagination, waiting to go out into the world and stand up on his own. When this does not happen, the creative process is incomplete. That is a type of death.

When I give up what I want, either in the imagination, or in physical things, something happens. When I cooperate with the Cross, something happens. That happening is called freedom.

Almost two years ago, I downsized. Thankfully, before the downturn previous to that, I sold my house. I then, slowly but surely, divested myself of probably six thousand books, twenty plus years of teaching materials and notes, home schooling notes and aids, RCIA stuff, catechetical materials and material items, such as furniture and all the necessary items for a well-run, orderly, attractive, Midwest home until, finally, by March, 2011, I had passed on most of the things I had accumulated over many years of life. I sold my car.

God put people in my life who wanted and needed my things.

I do not miss any of it.

Dying by stages, I think, is easier than all at once. But, how can I tell? A friend of mine's husband, and also one of my uncles died walking the dog and on the way to meet friends on a Sunday afternoon.

These two men passed away, like a third friend of mine who died in his sleep, so quickly that their spouses had to take time to adjust. Some marriages end in death and some in separation, which can be a death.

Financial set-backs, which I and many Americans have experienced in these years, is another type of death. We think money and things give us freedom. It is just the opposite. Financial "downsizing" destroys pride and prejudice.

Some women cry at weddings as well as at funerals. A wedding is a joyous occasion, but it also a death-of independence, of other choices, of one's own will. We instinctively know that a choice closes other options. But, in that choice is freedom.

We are called to die daily in some ways. Perhaps it is in being patient; one of my worst faults is impatience. Impatience is pride and insecurity combined. Only God can help us die to ourselves in sins and imperfections. Only God can heal us. Patience brings healing and renewal.

If we look at the Passion and Death of Christ, we should notice something. His Resurrected Body holds the stigmata. Why? Because death changes us. Christ allowed Himself to die and He is in glory with the marks of His Wounds. We are never the same after deaths or Death. Even our crosses mark us.

As Christians, we are marked with the sign of the Cross. That is our badge of honour.

If we allow God to love us as He wants to do, we are free.

But, without the letting go, without the will to die to our own will, there is no chance for holiness.

And, only the holy see God.

One of my favourite passages of Scripture is this from Matthew 11:12:

And from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away. 

It is the violence of the Cross, whether it be cancer or the empty nest, or failure or unrequited love, which creates the Kingdom of God within us. There is no other way.

To be continued.....

Just a note on reading highlighted articles

Just a note. I have listed several articles below which are worth reading. I know my readers are busy, but I am selective in highlighting commentaries here. Please go back over the past week and read those journalists who have figured out the truth of the present violent situations. Some Catholics have understood this, especially as we have a feast on September 12th. And, of course, articles are linked on the titles and words highlighted in colour. From the 11th on, please take time to put together the threads on this blog.

Navies to the Gulf

Thanks to Wiki and check out this info  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Response_Force_Task_Group 

This is in yesterday's Telegraph.

I hope people are paying attention to the news. Go to confession, stay in the state of grace, pray for real peace. 

Battleships, aircraft carriers, minesweepers and submarines from 25 nations are converging on the strategically important Strait of Hormuz in an unprecedented show of force as Israel and Iran move towards the brink of war.

Western leaders are convinced that Iran will retaliate to any attack by attempting to mine or blockade the shipping lane through which passes around 18 million barrels of oil every day, approximately 35 per cent of the world’s petroleum traded by sea.

A blockade would have a catastrophic effect on the fragile economies of Britain, Europe the United States and Japan, all of which rely heavily on oil and gas supplies from the Gulf.

The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world’s most congested international waterways. It is only 21 miles wide at its narrowest point and is bordered by the Iranian coast to the north and the United Arab Emirates to the south.

In preparation for any pre-emptive or retaliatory action by Iran, warships from more than 25 countries, including the United States, Britain, France, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, will today begin an annual 12-day exercise.

Acton Institute on Rules for Radicals for Dummies

A famous priest blogger gave me the heads up yesterday on this excellent site. Take time to read and to listen about this subject more, please. What I had known, I had learned from experience in my college days. Now, more experts are warning us of the Alinksy (and may I add Gramsci) dangers in local politics across the United States. A bit late, but better late than never...I hope. I am not going into personal history here, but I narrowly escaped working in and with these Alinsky guys in Chicago in 1971. Many of us were saved by God from falling into soul-destroying error.

I do not know if we can stem the tide and the influence in the Catholic Church in America and in our grass roots politics. Please listen to the entire tape. It is not long.

http://blog.acton.org/archives/16800-acton-lecture-series-alinsky-for-dummies-2.html

We’re posting the audio from Mr. Joseph Morris’ excellent May 6 Acton Lecture Series presentation, Alinsky for Dummies: His Persistent Influence and Its Meaning for American Society and Politics. As Lord Acton warned that power corrupts, Saul Alinsky— the father of modern “community organizing” — rejoiced that corruption empowers.

Saul Alinsky

As Morris pointed out, decades after Alinsky’s death his ideas and teaching continue to shape the American political and social landscape. Barack Obama’s first job in Chicago was as an “organizer” for an Alinsky group; Hillary Clinton’s undergraduate thesis was written on Alinsky’s precepts; contemporary organizations from the notorious ACORN to the Catholic-Church-supported United for Power and Justice are among Alinsky’s progeny. The lecture provided an overview of Alinksy’s thinking and showed how that thinking is applied in current events. Morris encouraged ALS attendees to read Alinsky’s short but seminal Rules for Radicals, widely available in inexpensive paperback editions.

An amazing link to 2009 and Father Mitch Pacwa

On Saul Alinsky

Sunday, August 02, 2009

http://insightscoop.typepad.com/2004/2009/08/fr-mitch-pacwa-on-the-sol-alinsky-style-of-community-organizing.html

Fr. Mitch Pacwa on the "Sol Alinsky style of community organizing"

This most recent newsletter from Fr. Mitch Pacwa, S.J., received this morning, has some interesting historical infomation, some frank talk, and some strong opinions:

 I recently became upset when Newsweek's "Without A Doubt" feature published an article by Kathleen Kennedy Townsend entitled, "Why Barack Obama represents American Catholics better than the pope does." She commend President Obama's "pragmatic approach to divisive policy" and his "social justice agenda." Meanwhile, she claims that the positions of the pope, the bishops and the pro-life activists do not. In fact, Townsend asserts that the Chicago community organizer president could teach the pope a lot about a Catholic approach to politics and the ability to listen to other people's points of view with empathy. Townsend continues her rant against the Church's teachings on various issues regarding human sexuality - contraception, abortion, homosexual unions and women priests, decrying the Church's unwillingness to listen to other points of view while ignoring the various documents on these issues which were written with an intent compassion for the people to whom they were addressed. Townsend shows no indication that she has listened to the Church's teachings on these topics, though the documents are easily acquired in print or on the Internet.

 I recognize the community organizer approach that Townsend commends in this piece. I learned Sol Alinsky style of community organizing as a novice in Chicago when President Obama was a little boy living in Jakarta, Indonesia. Mr. Tom Gaudette, an associate of Sol Alinsky, trained a number of us Jesuits. I was the youngest man in the group, and I was certainly not well developed in the practice of organizing, but I tried my best in COUP - the acronym for Community of United People - on Chicago's near West Side. Most of the folks were African Americans trying to get their public housing projects brought up to city codes; I especially made contact with the Mexican community near Racine and Taylor streets, a line of housing between Italian residents and the public housing projects. I was particularly drawn to work with a street gang, which saw a lot of gang fights in the year I worked there. In fact, I eventually had to leave the area after having seen a friend of mine killed: they made him kneel down and shot him through the head; they merely beat me up.

Despite the trauma, I never forgot the lessons I learned about Alinsky's community organizing. The key to starting an organization was to find an issue that united the people. The issue should be small enough to win a victory, but large enough to matter to the folks. Second, after choosing the issue we had to identify an enemy the community could recognize as the personification of the issue. Usually this was some politician or businessman. Third, an action had to be designed by which the people could attack the enemy and force his or her hand on the issue, thereby giving the folks a victory. That would motivate them to take on bigger and more important issues, while the leaders among the people could emerge. This was a means of bringing power to the people.

Townsend certainly understands these tactics, as does President Obama. Notice how she has focused on issues of human sexuality, since these concern the most intimate areas of any person's life. People feel these issues quite strongly, so it would be popular to take them on. Second, she identifies the enemies who personify the problem: the Pope, the bishops and the pro-life activists. She develops the strategy of making popular popes - John Paul II, who motivated Paul VI to promulgate Humani Vitae, which continued the age old Christian rejection of artificial birth control and abortion, and Benedict XVI, whom she portrays as a man sheltered within the Roman Curia who is more concerned with papal power than with love of the people. Her approach reminds me of the battle cries after Humani Vitae: "I don't want the pope in my bedroom." My response is: "You flatter yourself; he does not want to be in there, either. But the pope will insist that God is Lord of the sexual realm, including everyone's bedroom."

Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, President Barack Hussein Obama, and a number of others will arise to make the pope and bishops into our enemies. This will be especially important as the politicians begin pushing the end of life and the prevention of life as money saving programs in the health care proposals. Already Speaker Nancy Pelosi has proposed three hundred million dollars for condoms as a part of this congress' first stimulus bill - a rather odd idea for a bill focused on stimulating the economy. However, her reason was to prevent births as a money saver for the states. That is one of the ways she sees the birth of children. There will be many more proposals for taxpayer funding of abortions and euthanasia, since early infancy and end of life are the most expensive periods in regard to health care. The proposed health care bill in the House of Representatives will require the elderly to consult with their doctors every five years about alternatives to long term care. The doctors may be required to inform the elderly about assisted suicide, or at least the need to refrain from long term, expensive procedures. "Grandma may just need to take a pain pill," President Obama told us in a town meeting recently.

Of course, Kennedy Townsend and Obama want to make the pope and bishops into our enemies. I, however, ask why? Do the politicians fear the Magisterium's authority to teach us the holiness of human sexuality, the sacredness of Matrimony, or the sanctity of the right to life which comes from God our Creator and never from the state? Do they fear the goodness of our popes or the deep joy in Jesus Christ which radiates from their eyes, attracting many people to the Catholic Church? Do they fear a solid Catholic critique of their proposals to use death of the unborn and elderly or the prevention of new life as a solution to their inability to pay for all of the medical care they have promised but cannot deliver without eliminating the most vulnerable people who might need care?

Let us not fall for the Alinsky tricks of letting community organizers set up our enemies. These organizers try to stay in the background, manipulating the folks to go after an enemy. We Catholics will do well to stand shoulder to shoulder with our pope and bishops as we move forward in history to promote life and love, all the way to heaven. Those who sow division between us and our leaders will march to their own chosen destinations.

In Christ Jesus,

Fr. Mitch Pacwa, S.J.

Thanks to new friends online. And, also an update on Ms. Kennedy which is quite to the point as well.
http://townhall.com/columnists/billoreilly/2012/09/15/losing_your_religion

Revisionist history hits the crusades....

Language reveals the honesty or dishonesty of definitions. Revisionist history changes definitions.

Today, in a news article, I read about the "European wars" of 1,000 years ago, which most people would call the invasion of Catholic countries by Muslims. Since when are these "European wars"?

Timeline and reality check: Judaism established about 2,000 B.C. Catholicism established 30 A.D. Islam established 622 A. D.

And in Australia? One of the few reports of violence today came from Australia, where 200 protesters clashed with riot police outside the U.S. consulate in Sydney. Demonstrators chanted "Obama, Obama, we love Osama" and waved signs declaring, "Behead all those who insult the Prophet."