What does God do with evil requests in prayer?

In order for prayer to be efficacious,  one must be praying in the Will of the Lord.

God listens to all of us, good and bad alike. He is merciful. However, today, because of a request from a person to pray for something about which I was uncomfortable, I began to wonder what does God do when people pray for evil things?

If someone is in sanctifying grace yet in ignorance, I would hope that the Holy Spirit does change their hearts and minds.

This has happened to me. I was praying about something for a long time and finally realized the prayer request was not in the Will of God.  I changed my prayers.

But, what happens when a person does not change the prayers,  or for some reason, does not realize their prayer is not in God's Will?

Or,  could it be that in the mystery of evil, which we are now experiencing across the West, that God allows this evil to proliferate for the greater good?

Don't be misled--you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant." Galatians 6:7.

Here are two examples. I met some conservative, even traditional people who prayed that Obama would win the election. As they are in Europe, they did not have, necessarily the benefit of all the information we have in the States. One was a good nun, who was ignorant of the reality of Obama's long history of anti-life support.

She was horrified when I told here to truth of the man.




But, why did the Holy Spirit not inspire her to pray otherwise? Why is it that even in her ignorance, the Trinity did not give her knowledge?




The other person was a lay person who did not understand the same issue. I do think the laity of any country have the duty to find out the truth. But, he did not.




And, a third example on a different topic. One young woman was praying to marry a certain young man, but he was discerning a vocation. She was not praying the correct prayer-which was that God's glory be manifested in both of their lives, as God willed.

God listens and answers according to His Will. But, it is our responsibility to pray according to His Will.  Let us be one with Him in all things.

Manners again

I have been discussing manners this week and this is the last in the series.  I do not want to highlight the negative, but a critique seems a good place to start.

Now, the problem is that the cultural group to which I am referring to do not read blogs. I have just returned from Mass where about 200 people were attending for First Friday devotions. Except for perhaps four other people, I was one of the youngest there and I am retirement age, almost.

Most of the congregation were in their seventies and eighties, my parents ages.

And, there were two things which happened, which happen daily here at Mass in Ireland.

The first is the rugby scrum to Communion. Even with the Communion rail in place, I was literally knocked into and pushed aside by a man in his eighties. This is not the first time this has happened.  It happens daily. Yesterday, two older women cut in front of me. at the rail.  The Irish do not know how to queue for Communion, as we do in the Midwest, where we go up aisle by aisle  The rush from the back is a phenomenon which even happened in the monastery in the laity nave. After two months, the two ladies behind me began to wait until I left the pew in front of them, but not the men in the back.

This is so strange to me. This group of people are all retired and not on their lunch hour, where they would be watching the clock. The priests never run out of Hosts, and Jesus is there whether one is last in line or first. I sat in the third row this morning, but, you will not believe this, I was the last to receive but one, out of those many people. Because I waited.  And, as I was taught to let old people go first, I do.

Why is this happening, this rudeness and odd behaviour among the very old? To actually knock a person physically to the side to receive seems like being out of the Spirit. I was reminded that the Feeding of the Five Thousand might not have been such an orderly affair.

Can you imagine the jostlings and pushings to get fish and bread?

The dear man who pushed me this morning would have received his bread and fish. I am patient, but now I know why the youth are rude. They have their grandparents as models.

If Catholicism does not change behavior, it is not real; and if this were a one off thing, I could understand. But in three months, I have not seen queuing, but a scramble which is unworthy of the adoration we should be experiencing before we receive. Before we receive, we should already be in adoration of Our Lord.

I do not think these people believe it is really Christ. Would they act like that in front of Him?

The second weird thing, which also happened among the laity at the monastery, and Mother Prioress tried to stop it, was that some of the men and women say the parts of the priest during Mass. I cannot believe this! The three most common places where men and women say words not appropriate to the laity are these: one, the words before the great Acclamation, the Amen, which totally undermines the entire prayer; two, the prayers of the Consecration (I kid you not); three, the blessing of the priest to the congregation at the end.

Why? I am daily amazed. The lady behind me, one about my age, said almost all the words of the Consecration. I wanted to ask her if she was a womynpriest. I did not.

Give a caption day............

Persecution of Christian Charity at Berkeley

http://www.campusreform.org/blog/?ID=4534

It has been a bad day for Christians.....

Hawaii has gone nuts; fantastic concert cancelled owing to ideology; up to 30,000 raised for charity now gone

http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/20262865/lawsuit-threat-cancels-christmas-concert

The Three Pickled Boys

Someone referred to The Pickled Boys miracle of St. Nicholas today on Fr. Z. May I add that I grew up on this story, as did my son. We had the books, Six O'Clock Saints and More SOS at home and this story is in the first one. Icons and stained glass of very early centuries refer to this miracle. I was six when I read these.

Kids love St. Nicholas.

There is video with no good sound quality of Britten's interpretation on youtube.

St. Nicholas, as you know, is patron of children.

And, oh, the story. A horrible inn-keeper in a famine scarred country kidnapped three boys, killed them and cut them up and put them in pickle vats, as it was before refrigeration  Well, St. Nicholas promised the mother he would find them. So, he travelled to the inn, and when the innkeeper offered him meat for dinner, he asked to go down to the cellar and bless the vats of meat. And, out popped the three boys restored to life, although needing baths.

Perfection-Being Grateful for Suffering

Abba Copres said, " blessed is he who bears affliction with thankfulness." Work on gratefulness for everything, even suffering and pain.

Pope number five in most powerful people list

Thanks to The Deacon's Bench for this head's up. The Forbes Report has this. Deacon Kandra writes this:

He’s just below Bill Gates (#4) and above Ben Bernanke (#6).

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/deaconsbench/2012/12/pope-benedict-makes-forbes-most-powerful-people-lis/

and the original post here  http://www.forbes.com/powerful-people/

For my Asian readers

Increasingly on this blog, I am receiving readers from the Far East. I have regular readers from Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong,  India, Sri Lanka, Viet Nam, and the Philippines.  First of all, thank you for the attention. Second of all, I cannot tell you how much I admire you. I have none from China, because of the great restrictions on the Internet. God protect you all.

If you are Catholic parents and Christian parents, you cannot teach your children at home except in the Philippines  which has excellent home schooling groups. There is an estimated 4,0000 children being home schooled in that country. They are the leaders of tomorrow in the Church.  This right of every Christian parent is illegal in many of your countries. You cannot find resources as easily as we can for catechesis. If you are married or single, you may not be able to get to daily Mass. Your parishes may not have Adoration.

You live in minority status as Christians, as Catholics. You are the salt of the earth in your pockets of secularization and the increasing open persecution of Christians by other groups who do not know that Jesus is Lord and the beauty of His Mother.

I encourage you all to get together into communities or groups if you have not done so already. Encourage one another. Do not ignore each other. You will need each other even more in days to come.

I pray for you and you pray for me, please. You are the stars in a darkness which Christ Himself overcame. With Him, you are victorious.

My dance card is full and young people will not believe this

Talk about generation gaps. The construction of my society growing up is gone, gone, gone. From education to social manners, to identity as a Catholic sub-culture, we had a security in knowing who we were and where we were going.

Talking with Generation Millennials, I have realized over the past few years that what I had for coursework in 7th and 8th grade they had in high school and what I had in high school they have in college or university. What I had in college or university, they get in graduate school.

Depressing. When I was in high school, schools were divided into "terminal degree" high schools and "college preparatory schools". In the second grouping, the high schools were run on three tracks, and students were placed in this tracking according to their interests and abilities. Terminal degree high schools actually taught a skill, such as welding, accounting or business skills, and things where a student could walk out the door and get a job immediately.

In those days, we knew that people were not created the same. I do not have my high school curriculum in front of me, but it would be similar to this. This would be the top layer, or third track of the college prep school. All girls, by the way----

First year-freshman year
Logic
Civics (general and American)
World History first semester; European History second semester
Geography
Algebra I and possibly II
Latin I
English Literature-first semester general; second Shakespeare
English Grammar
Religion-Old Testament first semester; New Testament Second
General Science
Extra-Curricular Studies, such as journalism, choir, art
Sport and Gym Class

Second year-sophomore
Ethics (wow)
Latin II
American History first adn second semester; America Government in more detail second as option
English Literature-Essays-including 18th century ones; second semester Poetry including Shakespeare's sonnets and Mystical Poets
Composition first semester; speech and debate second
Biology all year
Geometry I and II
Religion-Church History, both semesters, but staring with a sacraments section
Extra-Curricular studies, such as choir, drama, art or journalism or all
Sport and Gym Class

Third Year-juniors
Advanced Math I and II; either Trig or another option independent studies; Algebra II; some in Pre-Calculus
French I
Religion- great Catholic thinkers; world religions
Contemporary History (usually from WWI to present)
Chemistry
Extra-curricular choices again including Drama class, choir or above
Sport and Gym Class
English Literature of the Modern Age-novels and poetry
(Optional Typing)
(Optional Driver Training)


One also took college entrance tests in junior year for applying for scholarships. We had up to four hours of homework per night. Ask my dad.

Fourth Year-seniors
Independent studies in History
Advanced Math-Calculus
Religion-marriage prep; modern issues such as Vat. II
Physics, optional
French II
English Literature-drama and world drama; debate as advanced options
Extra-curricullar again like drama or choir or aboves
Free time to take college courses for credit
Research skills
Intro to Philosophy
Sport and Gym

We had some choices for sport.

I may be forgetting something. The mathematics classes varied after Geometry. I took Algebra II and my brothers went way ahead of me in Trig, Pre-Calc and Calc. etc. We had options. I was the feature editor of the newspaper and teen editor for the local city newspaper. I did almost everything-choir, drama, etc.  Yes, we had uniforms very similar to those below except we had to wear black or brown shoes--- and no, I was not a cheerleader.

We were allowed to seek excellence.

Ah, social skills. For our first dances, we had little booklets on which to write who was dancing which dance with us. They had little ribbons so that we could wear them around our wrist and there is a photo of a young girl with one. We called them dance cards. In my Grandmothers' days, these were silver and gold. 

This custom is where the phrases, "pencil me in" comes from....and "my dance card is full."

We had formal and informal dances. We had teas. We had picnics which were planned. We did not have much fast-food. Pizza Hut opened in my home town when I was 16. That was where I went on my first date, with the neighbour boy and his friend who tagged along. I remember exactly what I wore-a white top with large black polka dots and a black skirt;  and the date: January 1, 1965. I turned 16 two days later. My parents had known the parents of that boy since before I was born, and we played together even as toddlers. Still, permission had to be sought and granted. That was how the culture was disciplined and set. It was all very comforting. There was no stress as most people in those stratifications has so much in common to make such socializing relaxed. And, we had no idea about sex. We could just be ourselves, and learn to use our manners, and wait.

Manners helped us, as well as the truly Christian character of the culture at the time. 

The list, taken from the website below, is what we learned naturally in all of these events. We even learned sports etiquette. We went roller skating and ice skating. We played foursomes in tennis. We did not go shopping for fun. That was not done then. One shopped with one's mom. Two of my girls friends had to go shopping with their dad, as he had to approve their clothes. He was an Italian dad. My dad would not be caught dead in a ladies' shop. Good thing, too.

EVERYDAY MANNERS
First impressions Introductions Greeting and shaking hands Paying and receiving compliments Correspondence Telephone manners Family dining Table manners Polite conversation When to rise Doors and coats Sports etiquette
FORMAL MANNERS
Formal dining Party courtesies Hosting a party Receiving lines Eating unusual foods Instructional dinners
CHARACTER EDUCATION
Honesty Integrity Promise keeping Fidelity Caring Respect Citizenship Excellence Accountability Handling peer pressure

All the dances had adults present: the nuns and our parents were chaperones. Sometimes the priests came for a short while. All the parents knew all the other parents in your track, mostly. Dating was strictly controlled by parents. Boys were very polite. My dad reminds me of the Friday night I had one young man at the front day, one at the back door, and one on the phone. I was not that popular. I had a pink Princess phone and a turquoise blue transistor radio with a matching leather case--trendy.  We had plays, concerts, football, basketball, track, wrestling, and all kinds of things. We had cotillions to go to and strict rules on dating regarding times and frequency. We did things in groups. We sang when we went out in groups. We dated in order to find a mate. Mom and Dad were part of the process of dating.

We were also in clubs, such as journalism club, debate club, speech club, YCS, sacristy club, volunteer clubs, tennis clubs, dance clubs, (NOT clubbing), and so on.

We learned how to organize groups and share information. We learned how to become adults. We wanted to grow up.

We had fun. But, things were to change quickly. This was an age of transition. However, the manners lasted well into the eighties in the Mid-West and in England.

I have found an organization on line for teaching children social manners and some character building. Why don't Catholic parents do something similar?

Feast of St. Nicholas

This feast is a major one on both sides of my family. Being from ancestors who are both Moravian, Bohemian, and Luxembourgians, my family and I celebrated this in grand style.

It was so wonderful. As we all sat down for dinner on December 6th, there would be a knock at the front door. Mom and Dad and all the children were with us, so who could it be but St. Nicholas.

We would rush to the door and there, on the front porch, in the snow, usually, were sacks of fruit, chocolates, other candies, and some toys. Of course, we always received gold coins, the symbol of St. Nicholas, who provided dowries for three poor girls.

No footprints, no disturbance in the snow.

It was not until years late that my mom told me that the Lutheran gentleman next door would wear his snowshoes, which barely leave a mark in snow. and deliver what mom had given him earlier in the day.

I think that counts as ecumenism.

It is a family name. My day has that name as his Confirmation name and I have cousins and second cousins and third cousins who are Nick, Nicky and Nicholas. Really, but we do not cook lamb in the front yard. But, we do have Panettone on St. Nicholas Day.

I love St. Nicholas and the two main readings in the EF struck me particularly this year.

From the Epistle to the Hebrews 13: 7-17 is this section verses 13 and 14:

Let us go forth therefore to him without the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have not here a lasting city, but we seek one that is to come 
DR

Two important points: one, we are on the outside and we should be. We should be a mark of distinction in the world, not conforming to it, but changing it by our example; and two, this is not our permanent home. 

If the world hates us, that most likely means we are living out our baptismal vows.

St. Nicholas is our example.

The other reading which impressed me today is the Gospel, Matthew 25: 14-23. The talents are not necessarily our gifts, as some of the great writers of mediation state, but graces.

We may be given only two graces; use them. We may be given only four graces; use those.

We cannot measure grace, of course, but use the grace of the sacraments daily. Do not squander the gifts. And a selection from my favourite musical tribute to St. Nicholas. 

Benjamin Britten, "Saint Nicholas": Nicholas comes to Myra and is chosen as Bishop. .Please listen to it, as even as a selection from the entire Cantata, it is sublime.

Thank you, dear St. Nicholas, for being my family's patron. Intercede for us in these hard times to be as courageous as we possibly can be. Thank you, St. Nicholas, for your example and grace.

Only nine posts today...here is a cutie or two

Where is that squirrel?

OK, take my photo for the Net!

Sigh of relief............

OK, I am falling into sarcasm, but am I not relieved that the US Government blog just announced that doomsday is not December 21st for clarification? I reprint one of the cartoons I had on earlier this year here for your enjoyment. Oh, how about two?

  And

Why should the NCR keep the name Catholic?

IMPORTANT UPDATE as of 20:56 GMT:  http://te-deum.blogspot.com/2012/12/what-is-real-status-of-national.html

Right from the horse's mouth.....

Editorial: Ordination of women would correct an injustice

NCR Editorial Staff  |  Dec. 3, 2012

EDITORIAL

The call to the priesthood is a gift from God. It is rooted in baptism and is called forth and affirmed by the community because it is authentic and evident in the person as a charism. Catholic women who have discerned a call to the priesthood and have had that call affirmed by the community should be ordained in the Roman Catholic church. Barring women from ordination to the priesthood is an injustice that cannot be allowed to stand.

The most egregious statement in the Nov. 19 press release announcing Roy Bourgeois' "excommunication, dismissal and laicization" is the assertion that Bourgeois' "disobedience" and "campaign against the teachings of the Catholic church" was "ignoring the sensitivities of the faithful." Nothing could be further from the truth. Bourgeois, attuned by a lifetime of listening to the marginalized, has heard the voice of the faithful and he has responded to that voice.

Bourgeois brings this issue to the real heart of the matter. He has said that no one can say who God can and cannot call to the priesthood, and to say that anatomy is somehow a barrier to God's ability to call one of God's own children forward places absurd limits on God's power. The majority of the faithful believe this.

Let's review the history of Rome's response to the call of the faithful to ordain women:

In April 1976 the Pontifical Biblical Commission concluded unanimously: "It does not seem that the New Testament by itself alone will permit us to settle in a clear way and once and for all the problem of the possible accession of women to the presbyterate." In further deliberation, the commission voted 12-5 in favor of the view that Scripture alone does not exclude the ordination of women, and 12-5 in favor of the view that the church could ordain women to the priesthood without going against Christ's original intentions.

In Inter Insigniores (dated Oct. 15, 1976, but released the following January), the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith said: "The Church, in fidelity to the example of the Lord, does not consider herself authorized to admit women to priestly ordination." That declaration, published with the approval of Pope Paul VI, was a relatively modest "does not consider herself authorized."

Pope John Paul II upped the ante considerably in Ordinatio Sacerdotalis (May 22, 1994): "We 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." John Paul had wanted to describe the ban as "irreformable," a much stronger stance than "definitively held." This met substantial resistance from high-ranking bishops who gathered at a special Vatican meeting in March 1995 to discuss the document, NCR reported at the time. Even then, bishops attuned to the pastoral needs of the church had won a concession to the possibility of changing the teaching.

But that tiny victory was fleeting.

In October 1995, the doctrinal congregation acted further, releasing a responsum ad propositum dubium concerning the nature of the teaching in Ordinatio Sacerdotalis: "This teaching requires definitive assent, since, founded on the written Word of God, and from the beginning constantly preserved and applied in the Tradition of the Church, it has been set forth infallibly by the ordinary and universal Magisterium." The ban on women's ordination belongs "to the deposit of the faith," the responsum said.

The aim of the responsum was to stop all discussion.

In a cover letter to the responsum, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, then head of the congregation, asked presidents of bishops' conferences to "do everything possible to ensure its distribution and favorable reception, taking particular care that, above all on the part of theologians, pastors of souls and religious, ambiguous and contrary positions will not again be proposed."

Despite the certainty with which Ordinatio Sacerdotalis and the responsum were issued they did not answer all the questions on the issue.

Many have pointed out that to say that the teaching is "founded on the written Word of God" completely ignored the 1976 findings of the Pontifical Biblical Commission.

Others have noted that the doctrinal congregation did not make a claim of papal infallibility -- it said what the pope taught in Ordinatio Sacerdotalis was that which "has been set forth infallibly by the ordinary and universal magisterium." This too, however, has been called into question because at the time there were many bishops around the world who had serious reservations about the teaching, though few voiced them in public.

Writing in The Tablet in December 1995, Jesuit Fr. Francis A. Sullivan, a theological authority on the magisterium, cited Canon 749, that no doctrine is understood to have been defined infallibly unless this fact is clearly established. "The question that remains in my mind is whether it is a clearly established fact that the bishops of the Catholic Church are as convinced by [the teaching] as Pope John Paul evidently is," Sullivan wrote.

The responsum caught nearly all bishops off-guard. Though dated October, it was not made public until Nov. 18. Archbishop William Keeler of Baltimore, then the outgoing president of the U.S. bishops' conference, received the document with no warning three hours after the bishops had adjourned their annual fall meeting. One bishop told NCR that he learned about the document from reading The New York Times. He said many bishops were deeply troubled by the statement. He, like other bishops, spoke anonymously.

The Vatican had already begun to stack the deck against questioning. As Jesuit Fr. Thomas Reese reported in his 1989 book, Archbishop: Inside the Power Structure of the American Catholic Church, under John Paul a potential episcopal candidate's view on the teaching against women's ordination had become a litmus test for whether a priest could be promoted to bishop.

Less than a year after Ordinatio Sacerdotalis was issued, Mercy Sr. Carmel McEnroy was removed from her tenured position teaching theology at St. Meinrad Seminary in Indiana for her public dissent from church teaching; she had signed an open letter to the pope calling for women's ordination. McEnroy very likely was the first victim of Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, but there have been many more, most recently Roy Bourgeois.

Blessed John Henry Newman said that there are three magisteria in the church: the bishops, the theologians and the people. On the issue of women's ordination, two of the three voices have been silenced, which is why the third voice must now make itself heard. We must speak up in every forum available to us: in parish council meetings, faith-sharing groups, diocesan convocations and academic seminars. We should write letters to our bishops, to the editors of our local papers and television news channels.

Our message is that we believe the sensus fidelium is that the exclusion of women from the priesthood has no strong basis in Scripture or any other compelling rationale; therefore, women should be ordained. We have heard the faithful assent to this in countless conversations in parish halls, lecture halls and family gatherings. It has been studied and prayed over individually and in groups. The brave witness of the Women's Ordination Conference, as one example, gives us assurance that the faithful have come to this conclusion after prayerful consideration and study -- yes, even study of Ordinatio Sacerdotalis.

NCR joins its voice with Roy Bourgeois and calls for the Catholic church to correct this unjust teaching.

This story appeared in the Dec 7-20, 2012 print issue under the headline: Correct an injustice: Ordain women .

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A Baby for Christmas

From Valle Adurni   http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/i-bought-a-dress-for-my-unborn-christmas-baby-even-though-i-know-shell-die-3311420.html

One can choose purgatory on earth

One can ask to have one's purgatory on earth. This is not the same as going through the purgative stage of holiness. Allowing one's self to take on pain on earth for the reparation of one's own sin is not only laudatory, but recommended by some of the saints.

The purgative stage happens before one gets to the stage of experiencing suffering for the sake of love. That second description is what one experiences in purgatory. One has seen God in all His Beauty and loves Him. The separation from that Love is part if not all of the pain of purgatory.

The stage where one begins to suffer for one's sins in order to be perfect before death comes at the beginning of the unitive state or the end of the illuminative stage. This is when the soul yearns to be with God and the final perfection of the soul with regard to sin and the effects of sin is under way.

I wrote about simplicity earlier today. That one gives up all one has is not enough. One must give up the desire for things. Yesterday, walking through the lovely shopping district of central Dublin and seeing the happy shoppers, I happened to be in the neighbourhood of the jewellers. Now, I have no jewellery at this time. I dress simply and if I did have anything bling, it would be simple. I discovered yesterday, however, the twinge of desire still in me. How horrible to face that sinful desire for things of the world. It is not enough to give all away, or sell what one has and give the money to the poor, one must follow Jesus into the dark realms of the heart so that one can be purified. I used custody of the eyes and moved on from the area. How good God was to show me this imperfection.

Because one wills to have one's purgatory on earth, God blesses one exceedingly. Accepting pain freely now is of much more merit than the necessary purging of purgatory. Remember, only the perfect see God.

As I quickly walked past the shops, I prayed to be delivered from all desires except for the desire for God. If I had not seen the bling in the windows, I would not have realized the depths of my imperfections. This is good. Only God can change the lasting remains of worldly longings in my heart. If I actually had the bling, I would not want it. But, the desire must be purged from my heart, no matter how small it is. Of course, Satan tempts us and we must know the difference between temptation and a desire. Thankfully, temptations can be refused. I was tempted to look and feed desire and I refused. A quiet peace follows these decisions. 

To pray for such purification of heart and mind now, and to desire to only want to love God and to love Him with all one's heart and mind and soul is the goal of this journey of perfection.

One cannot be attached to anything-neither the opinion of other people, status, comfort, family. This is purgatory on earth. Choose it. It is actually attainable. God will never deny us graces for which we sincerely ask. The unitive state is one which St. John of the Cross expresses in this poem. He is in the unitive state. He has experienced the Love Who is a Person.

 St. John of the Cross on the Desire for God

I live, but not in myself,
and I have such hope
that I die because I do not die.

 I no longer live within myself

and I cannot live without God,
for having neither him nor myself
what will life be?
It will be a thousand deaths,
longing for my true life
and dying because I do not die.

 This life that I live

is no life at all,
and so I die continually
until I live with you;
hear me, my God:
I do not desire this life,
I am dying because I do not die.

 When I am away from you

what life can I have
except to endure
the bitterest death known?
I pity myself,
for I go on and on living,
dying because I do not die.

 A fish that leaves the water

has this relief:
the dying it endures
ends at last in death.
What death can equal my pitiable life?
For the longer I live, the more drawn out is my dying.

When I try to find relief

seeing you in the Sacrament,
I find this greater sorrow:
I cannot enjoy you wholly.
All things are affliction
since I do not see you as I desire,
and I die because I do not die.

 And if I rejoice, Lord,

in the hope of seeing you,
yet seeing I can lose you
doubles my sorrow.
Living in such fear
and hoping as I hope,
I die because I do not die.

 Lift me from this death,

my God, and give me life;
do not hold me bound
with these bonds so strong;
see how I long to see you;
my wretchedness is so complete
that I die because I do not die.

I will cry out for death

and mourn my living
while I am held here
for my sins.
O my God, when will it be
that I can truly say:
now I live because I do not die?

The awareness of reality-the erosion of the lack of faith is now causing landslides

Since last January, I have highlighted the five stages of persecution now and then. You can use the search tab or click on the " persecution" tag at the bottom of this and other posts.

The tags bring up many articles. Yesterday, several sites, including LifeSiteNews, picked up the theme, listing the same five stages I did earlier this year.

Also, yesterday, I spoke with a highly spiritual, intelligent priest who is one of only three people I have met personally who understand that what we are dealing with is a lost war. He said as we were standing in the cold at the rally that Eire has lost the culture war. I know that. It is obvious.

Interestingly, he is the first priest to state that the faith in Eire was superficial for a very long time before the collapse. This is an essential truth that must be faced. Where adults have a faithlite, there can be no cultural revolution for Christ.

Adults not living in an energetic or committed adult faith as a society  for over 60 years or maybe longer here in Eire has led to a secular society. This happening did not occur quickly. Like mold in a house, the lack of the living faith grew until the culture became unhealthy. Now, all breath in the polluted air.

These evil trends cannot and will not be stopped.

Do not have false hopes or think that there will be a glorious reign of Christ on earth, or a resurgence of Christianity.

I tried to share this with some nuns and lay persons recently who, simply, are not facing reality. If you pretend, you will not be ready.

We as Catholics were in the fourth stage of persecution before the election in America, which is a turning point for the entire world. We are witnessing the triumph of evil.

That persons in Europe who are Catholic cannot see this is painful to me. I am not a Pollyanna. People do not want to hear bad news. Cassandra was not a popular lass.

But, not to be prepared for the coming severe and physical persecution is naive at best and deceptive at worst,.

My perfection series is here to help you get to where you will need to be when the hellish days begin in earnest.

Many of you will lose your jobs for being Catholic.

Some of you will be fined and imprisoned for not cooperating with evil.

All of you will experience real loss of income, status, family relationships.

Some of us have experienced this already.

I shall not apologize for the bad news. One can prepare for a holy either slow or quick death.

Romeo and Juliet, 1968

You and I have no choice but to be ready.

This does not mean that we merely sit on the rooftops and wait for the flood. But we must realize that political pressures are not the answer. We need to convert those around us and those to whom we are sent.

Some Catholics think we shall be spared. That is naive at best and deceitful at worst. Like the prince in "Romeo and Juliet" facing the funeral where both families are grieving at the loss of their heirs who states,  "All are punished", we shall not escape the consequence of sin.

I only know three other people who know we are in the last stage before open persecution leading to death. Why are not others facing this? I have known this trend would lead to an age of martyrdom since the mid-70s. I fell asleep for a few years, but woke up again in the late 90s.  Wake up, please. Find God in your own hearts and live with Him daily.

Simplicity of Life Is Not Enough

There is a fallacy among Americans, at least, that simplifying a lifestyle is enough for happiness.

It is a start, but the search for Zen-like gardens and minimalist furnishings in a house, which has been so popular for the past twenty years or so. is a mere deception.

Simplicity of life means nothing if the goal is not holiness. If we merely want to avoid tremendous responsibilities and clutter, simplicity is a temporary not eternal solution.

In and of itself, there is nothing salvific about a simple life.

I have known two wealthy people seek out the simple life. One went to live in the mountains of upper state New York. He lived in a small château at the edge of the mountains. He learned hunting and shooting and read Japanese and New Age spirituality on the simple life.

Yet, he lived without repenting of some serious sins. He was not a happy man. He was trying to simplify his life in order to find meaning. The meaning was not in the simplicity but in his facing the need to become a new man in Christ. I hope he found Christ.

One thing which can cause us to lose simplicity is too much activity. We do not have to do everything we think we must do. Busyness can be a sign of a lack of inner simplicity. Part of real simplicity is seeing what is around you, paying attention to details and then moving into the peace which only God can give in giving up those details. That is part of contemplation-letting God purify the imagination and our hearts.

The second person, a millionaire, did something similar. This very good person simplified his life and dropped membership in the country club and pulled back from what he saw as the empty pursuit of California social life at the very top echelons  He did simplify, but could not believe in Christ. He tried to deal with the reality of the Incarnation and live a moral, generous life, but he never became a Christian. Simplification did not lead him to Christ. It lead him to a new level of clarity of thinking, but not to the step of accepting Christ as his Saviour and God.

Simplicity is a beginning, but never an end in itself. This is true of so many things we choose to do, but if the goal is not oneness with Christ, we shall never find true meaning.

Part of the mystery here is that Faith is a gift. Some people strive and strive, and never take that step in admitting that Christ is True God and True Man.

The desert fathers lived extremely simple lives, but not for the sake of simplicity. They lived day to day in poverty for one reason.They were in love with God.

If we seek the means to become holy, we must fall in love with God. Then, simplicity becomes an act of worship and a sharing in the mystery of love.

Simplicity then becomes a means to concentrate on Christ, the Beloved more and more without distractions. Suffering pares away the excess.

One of the saddest days of my life was when I was in Mississippi helping out after Katrina. If one did not see the horror of that storm, the damage and disruption, one cannot understand what people experienced. The sad thing I saw was not the devastation, but a person I met who immediately built a bigger and better, more extravagant house than he had before the storm. He was very wealthy, but had learned nothing by losing all his belongings. To make the point more pathetic, he established his new house in an area of destruction in the style of a Roman villa. with Zen influences. It was as if a survivor of the Fall of the Roman Empire just moved to another area and built another pagan temple to the same gods who had not protected him-those gods who cannot see and cannot speak. The entire project seemed so futile and empty to me. Had this person learned nothing from his huge loss except to build something bigger and more outrageously elegant? Yet, he did it in a Zen style, as if to say that he had learned simplicity. A hut would have been more appropriate. Everyone else at the party was praising his project. I felt sick and saddened that he was still in the dark,  but was covering his grief with a panacea which would not cure his inner emptiness.

There were so many stones in the house, I was afraid to turn around and start an avalanche.

Only love changes us. If we can reach through the suffering and loss and find God Who waits for us in the ruin, we have learned the lesson of dying to self.  Then we find love.            

If I love someone, do I not want to be in his presence and just be there?

Simplicity allows us space to love God, not merely space.

The Eucharist is our example of extreme simplicity. So is the Babe in the manger. We can approach the God Who gave up all in order to be like us. Therefore, we can give up all to be like Him.

On Being a Prince or a Princess

One of my favourite BBC series a long time ago was "The Little Princess" from the book by Frances Eliza Hodgson. Hodgson is one of the original New Age writers, so I do not recommend her books lightly. For a particularly solid child, one who knows the Faith, this book and "The Secret Garden" are fine. The trouble is that Hodgson did not see any differences in religions and was one of the original "relativists". 

In the BBC series from 1987 won a BAFTA award and can be recommended for some children. (The Shirley Temple version is not true to the book.) If mothers want a short view, here is one. The entire thing is on line but fuzzy.

The point for this post, however, is that the young girl, named Sara, lost her wealth, status and love when her father died of an illness brought on by an unwise financial investment. She remains a peaceful and strong character despite abuse in a school.

Of course, all ends well, when the man who felt responsible for the losses tries to find Sara and give her the wealth her father really did earn. Of course, it is no accident that he, Carrisford, just happens to move in next to the horrific school where Sara is being mistreated like a slave in order to pay off the debt to the school her father could not. 

That the story ends happily ever after is what makes it a tale of patience and suffering ending in reward. At one point, and I am writing from a memory of 15 years ago or so, Sara states that she was not a princess but that  " I always behaved like a princess," even when being abused by the evil Miss Minchin, played by Maureen Lipman, CBE. There are many great actors in this series.

The fact that Sara could act like a princess under a very abusive regime is part of the point of the book--character is formed early. The life of the virtues can be encouraged at an early age. Suffering can lead to great holiness, instead of bitterness and hatred. One responds to grace.

This is also a theme in  "The Secret Garden" , where two very scarred children are healed through love and acceptance of each other through the example of a servant boy. 

Now, sanctifying grace is not mentioned at all by the New Agey Hodgson, but one can extrapolate. Grace is given to those who desire it and seek after virtue.  Of course, we know as Catholics that only the sacraments give sanctifying grace and we have an entire "cloud of witnesses", the saints, who are princes and princesses in Heaven. This is one of the titles in the Narnia tales as well. "Once a king or queen in Narnia, always a king or queen in Narnia". Baptism makes each one of us a child of God and heir of Heaven. We are adopted by God. We are called to a life higher than that of an earthly prince or princess.

Now, fairy tales are supposed to help parents communicate character building to children. We need stories to teach virtue. I used to read "The Book of Virtue" at our house. Examples are good.

Being a prince or princess is not automatic in these stories. One is tested, tried, overcomes obstacles in order to become noble.

That we teach our children and grandchildren to overcome suffering by joining it to Christ is part of their journey to holiness. Instead of watching the Disney flicks, I suggest something with more meat and a Christian basis.