Friday, 13 February 2015Cardinal Burke visits England in March
SPUC is pleased to announce a talk by Cardinal Raymond Burke, patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta Remaining in the truth of Christ on holy matrimony on Friday, 6th March, 2015, at 7 pm, at Abbey Suite, Doubletree by Hilton Hotel, Warrington Road, Chester, CH2 3PD. All are welcome. Admission free.
Cardinal Burke is also speaking at SPUC’s youth conference. The SPUC Youth Conference will take place from the 6-8th of March 2015 at the Ramada Plaza Hotel in Southport. It is a unique opportunity to motivate the pro-life youth to go out and spread the pro-life message. The price of the youth conference is £100, including all meals and accommodation. Contactrhoslynthomas@spuc.org.uk A few sponsored places are available. Comments on this blog? Email them to johnsmeaton@spuc.org.uk Sign up for alerts to new blog-posts and/or for SPUC's other email services Follow SPUC on Twitter Like SPUC's Facebook Page Please support SPUC. Please donate, join, and/or leave a legacy |
Sunday, 15 February 2015
OK OK
Podding in the Clear Creek area would be good for readers who have businesses from home or are retired.
Lots of property for sale and land as reasonable prices.
For over a thousand years, lay people have moved to the outer precincts of abbeys.
Go for it, if you can!
Lots of property for sale and land as reasonable prices.
For over a thousand years, lay people have moved to the outer precincts of abbeys.
Blogging with a broken mouse
St. Augustine in the City of God makes
several comments concerning evil which help us understand what is
happening in the world today.
As we face the rise of evil in the
world, the unleashing of satanic forces not seen for a very long
time, St. Augustine reminds us that God did not take away the power
of the fallen angels, after their decision to rebel against Him. He
allowed the original power of their offices, which is the same as
their beings, in order for more glory to come out of evil. In other
words, one sees the victory of good over evil even in the most
extreme cases, such as in the lives of the martyrs so cruelly
murdered in England, for example, being hung, drawn and quartered.
That God allowed the power of the
demons to remain in their fallen state also means that God trusts His
faithful to respond to grace and overcome evil with good.
The second idea from St. Augustine, in
this context, has to do with the fact that after the Fall, God
allowed mankind to retain free will. That we are made in the image
and likeness of God involves God seeing us as free to chose or reject
Him. In our freedom of choice, we are “like God”. Remember that
St. Bernard of Clairvaux said that we kept the image (free will) but
lost the likeness (grace) in Original Sin.
St. Augustine writes that the human
race, so justly condemned to hell by the Sin of Adam, now has grace
through Christ to choose good over evil and in the face of evil.
God's glory will be seen in these victories.
We are “animals fit for heaven”
because of our free will and the grace bestowed on us by God.
Thus, the City of God is built up
daily, growing next to the City of Man, but with a difference, that
this City of God will last forever. Quoting Philippians 2:13, St.
Augustine reminds us that God works both the will and the good in us.
We cannot, contrary to the belief of the Pelagians, move our wills
towards God without His grace.
God's righteousness, notes St.
Augustine, in man comes from God, not from our own efforts. His will
dictates that we pray in His will and that we join in His will more
perfectly as we die to ourselves. This, of course, is the great
message of the perfection series.
One of the sections of St. Augustine's
masterpiece lists many of the Old Testament references to eternal
life, to heaven, to the New Jerusalem, as clearly not being simply a
messianic age on earth, but the fullness of the Kingdom of God in
heaven. Many of our Protestant brethren seemed confused on this
point.
The materialist philosophy has
infiltrated both some of the Protestant denominations and the Muslim
“faith” making heaven into some kind of Caribbean hot-spot for
vacations. The Kingdom of God, Christ reminds us in the Gospels, and
in front of Pilate, “is not of this world”, but a spiritual
Kingdom.
Sadly, too many Catholics want to
equate the City of Man with the City of God, such Catholics as those
who follow the heresies of liberation theology, or communism, or
socialism.
One is constantly, in the teachings of
the Catholic Church, brought back to individual dignity and
responsibility. The rise of evil is happening not only because God's
wrath will come upon us all for the sins of the nations, but because
of individual, daily decisions made against God's Holy Will.
What heaven resembles, outside of the
unity of our bodies and souls in the Beatific Vision, is a mystery to
us. But, we clearly cannot confuse the Kingdom of God with any
messianic ideal on this earth.
One more brief point from St.
Augustine: the spreading of the Kingdom of God was not because of the
efforts of the mk and work and work on a project of evangelization,
then wonder why this effort fails. Perhaps those involved have merely
done their own work, out of ego, rather than praying for the
acceptance of the Gospel accordissionaries but because of Divine
Intervention in preparing the Gentiles to accept Christ thousands came to Christ within a short period of time. Without this
willing of God for the coming into the Church of the Gentiles, St.
Augustine rightly notes, that no one would have accepted the
resurrection of the body from the dead, reunited with the soul
forever in heaven, as first witnessed in and through and with
Christ's own Resurrection. Such an idea would not have been accepted
without grace.
Too often Catholics, like those this morning at Mass who were not working out of humility or perfection but out of egotism (my music, my choir, my flute playing, my guitar playing, my collecting of money and so on) think that good works will save them. Holiness is service from the heart of God, not from one's own will.
NO.
to be continued...
Evil Stalking Europe
http://www.timesofisrael.com/after-copenhagen-attack-pm-urges-that-jews-move-to-israel/
Horrible...asking the wrong group to move....
http://www.timesofisrael.com/police-denmark-gunman-possbily-inspired-by-paris-attacks/http://www.bje.org.au/images/clipart/MagenDavid.jpg
Horrible...asking the wrong group to move....
ARRGH A RANT on when egotism takes the place of liturgy
This morning I attended the worst Mass I have been to in over ten years.
List of abominations.
List of abominations.
- The altar is placed to one side of the sanctuary, not in the middle. I am not sure I have ever seen this before. The ambo is in equal space. Horrible.
- The priest referred to the Mass as a meal and the altar as a table.
- The choir used a bassoon, guitars, and piano and all the music sounded Proddie.
- The congregation "blessed" the children going out for children's liturgy...those adults have NO power of blessing. The priest sang a trendy blessing song.. horrid.
- The men who took the collection slapped people on the back when they gave in their envelopes and talked in the back of the church during most of the Mass.
- Jeans, jeans, jeans, jeans and this is a wealthy parish....I just do not get it.
- People holding up their hands in the Our Father, in the priestly orans position which the Pope Emeritus said was a huge no-no.
- Holding hands as well...ieeuu.
- Talking going up to Communion
- Two announcements both about money
- Talking in church.
Consider the Lilies....
It is nine degrees and minus with the wind chill. I took a cab to church as the secretary of this wealthy parish could not find me a ride.
After Mass, I could not get a cab, as many people most likely are having car problems and need cabs to pick up prescriptions. I asked four people after church for a ride before one said yes. The irony was the priest spoke of not judging people and reaching out....
Catholic, but not Christian...and I think of the little birds of the field, so cold, like me outside in this weather.
Today, is, perhaps one of the coldest
days I have experienced in a year. Yet, outside, several kinds of
birds are singing. One is a warbler, one a cardinal, and I am touched
by their persistent songs in the morning cold.
These humble creatures of God teach us
a lesson. That in terrible times, we keep praising God. We praise Him
for graces, for life, and even for trials.
Yesterday, walking home from a close
mini-mall, I thanked God for suffering: for pain in my feet, my face
(I have had frostbite there), my hands, my back. I felt the joy of
having something to offer up to my Dear Lord, Who suffered on the
Cross for me.
This joy is a quiet joy, a simple joy
of joining just a tiny bit in the sufferings of the Bridegroom. If we
want to be with Christ, we accept the sufferings He brings, He
allows.
Thousands of miles from the person,
after Christ and Mary, I love the most, I suffer loss of my only son,
but realizing that Mary lost her Son helps me as well. Does she not
help all who have lost children through separation, even that
terrible separation of death?
The tiny bird sings outside my small
patio, and its song drives away doubt, fear.
Did not the Second Son of the Blessed
Trinity remind us of the Father's care for the least of His
creatures?
I am reminded of the British robin I
saw on the lower promenade in Sliema, a time which now seems long ago
as I sit in this barren landscape. No flowers, no leaves on the
trees, but one small bird singing the praises of the God it does not
even know as we do.
Can we do less, those of us who know
His Love, His Sacrifice daily re-enacted at daily Holy Mass, (which I
miss so much since I have landed here-a cross, indeed). I miss the
walk to Whitefriars, or Clarendon Street, on my daily visit to my
Dear Lord. Now, I must carry Him within me without the great comfort
of the sacrament.
But, like this little bird, I praise
God in the barrenness and in the plenitude. This is why I was
created, to know, to love, to serve, to praise God in this world and
in the next. This is why you were created.
Let us praise God together, joining
this little creature, which sings so brightly in the dim cold.
A Higher Standard of Love
Raissa Maritain
notes in her writings that the New Testament covenant presents a
higher standard than the Old Covenant. (Testament means Covenant, so
I could write Old Covenant and New Covenant for Old and New
Testament. One testifies to a covenant, even a marriage covenant, the
hesed.)
That the New
Covenant demands a higher level of the life of virtue simply follows
the fact that now the graces bound by Original Sin flow through the
Church to us in Christ, through His Passion, Death, and Resurrection.
We are called to
greater holiness than the Hebrews in the desert of Sinai. We have
grace, the sacraments, baptism for adoption as sons and daughter of
God, confession for purification, Eucharist for endurance. We have
the witnesses of 2,000 years of those who chose Christ, His Mother,
His Church over sin and error. The sons of Aaron who perished only
had to stop complaining, stop murmuring against God's chosen leader
and obey him. They only had to become humble and leave prideful
thoughts, leave the pursuit of power among the chosen ones.
Things have not
changed, except we have more grace, more chances to turn to Christ
and be saved.
Pray that those who
have fallen away will respond to those graces the Lord gives them to
return to Him.
Hearts of Trust
One of the questions people have asked
me in the past, especially if they have read the Acts of the
Apostles, and the list of miracles reported by St. Augustine in
the City of God, is this “Why
are there not miracles like in the days of the Early Church, or in
the dioceses and shrines, as in the days of St. Augustine?”
There is a simple
answer to this question, and that is “People lack faith.” Too
many times, Catholics work out of their own power, their own
abilities and do not trust in God alone. Trusting in God alone,
trusting in Divine Providence proves to be a tricky state of mind and
soul.
One cannot fall
into the sin of presumption, which assumes that God must and will
answer one's prayers. Nor can one fall into doubt.
This position of
trust really comes only after the Dark Night, when one has been
purified to the point that one is no longer either presumptuous or
doubting. To be in that state of complete trust demands a deep
humility. Until one is purified, one vacillates between presuming
that God will answer one's prayers and doubt that He will do so.
Humility alone brings about the detachment necessary for pure prayer.
Miracles are rare,
always, but more miracles could come from the Will of God if people
really believed that He wanted to create these miracles.
A person must get
beyond trusting in people, but it is true that the People of God can
work miracles as well.
I have friend who
was literally homeless with four children after her husband left her.
Her miracle came when she finally found a sensitive and non-officious
person in the welfare office to “hear” her after several tries.
God must move
people to do good. As St. Teresa of Avila writes, our hands are His
Hands.
I need several
miracles. Most of my readers who have been following me know what
these are. God works in mysterious ways, as we all know, as He is
deferring these miracles while I am being humbled and put into the
position where it is obvious that only He can find the solution.
To trust in God
completely shows God that one loves Him as God, and as Father.
The miracles of the
Early Church came from hearts of trust.
Thursday, 12 February 2015
City of God Part Four
from The City of God Book XX:
That, therefore, which the whole Church of the true God holds and professes as its creed, that Christ shall come from heaven to judge quick and dead, this we call the last day, or last time, of the divine judgment. For we do not know how many days this judgment may occupy; but no one who reads the Scriptures, however negligently, need be told that in them
Chapter 1.— That Although God is Always Judging, It is Nevertheless Reasonable to Confine Our Attention in This Book to His Last Judgment.
Intending to speak, in dependence on God's grace, of the day of His final judgment, and to affirm it against the ungodly and incredulous, we must first of all lay, as it were, in the foundation of the edifice the divine declarations. Those persons who do not believe such declarations do their best to oppose to them false and illusive sophisms of their own, either contending that what is adduced from Scripture has another meaning, or altogether denying that it is an utterance of God's. For I suppose no man who understands what is written, andbelieves it to be communicated by the supreme and true God through holy men, refuses to yield and consent to these declarations, whether he orally confesses his consent, or is from some evil influence ashamed or afraid to do so; or even, with an opinionativeness closely resembling madness, makes strenuous efforts to defend what heknows and believes to be false against what he knows and believes to be true.That, therefore, which the whole Church of the true God holds and professes as its creed, that Christ shall come from heaven to judge quick and dead, this we call the last day, or last time, of the divine judgment. For we do not know how many days this judgment may occupy; but no one who reads the Scriptures, however negligently, need be told that in them
dayis customarily used for
time.And when we speak of the day of God's judgment, we add the word last or final for this reason, because even now God judges, and has judged from the beginning of human history, banishing from paradise, and excluding from the tree of life, those first men who perpetrated so great a sin. Yea, He was certainly exercising judgment also when He did not spare the angels who sinned, whose prince, overcome by envy, seduced men after being himself seduced. Neither is it without God's profound and just judgment that the life of demons and men, the one in the air, the other on earth, is filled with misery, calamities, and mistakes. And even though no one had sinned, it could only have been by the good and rightjudgment of God that the whole rational creation could have been maintained in eternal blessedness by a persevering adherence to its Lord. He judges, too, not only in the mass, condemning the race of devils and the race of men to be miserable on account of the original sin of these races, but He also judges the voluntary and personal acts of individuals. For even the devils pray that they may not be tormented, Matthew 8:29 which proves that without injustice they might either be spared or tormented according to their deserts. And men are punished by God for their sins often visibly, always secretly, either in this life or after death, although no man acts rightly save by the assistance of divine aid; and no man or devil acts unrighteously save by the permission of the divine and most just judgment. For, as the apostle says,
There is no unrighteousness with God;Romans 9:14 and as he elsewhere says,
His judgments are inscrutable, and His ways past finding out.Romans 11:33 In this book, then, I shall speak, as God permits, not of those first judgments, nor of these intervening judgments of God, but of the last judgment, when Christ is to come from heaven to judge the quick and the dead. For that day is properly called the day of judgment, because in it there shall be no room left for the ignorant questioning why this wickedperson is happy and that righteous man unhappy. In that day true and full happiness shall be the lot of none but the good, while deserved and supreme misery shall be the portion of the wicked, and of them only.
Look, read, act
|
The City of God or the Village of God Part Three
In the EF, February 11th is
the Feast of The Apparition of the Immaculate Virgin Mary, or
Our Lady of Lourdes. The
Introit of this feast refers to the “holy city, the new Jerusalem,
coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned or
her husband” a quotation from the book of Revelation.
Our Protestant
brethren, when they came to America, confused the Kingdom of God,
this bride of Christ, with a worldly kingdom, because they had thrown
out the Kingdom of God on earth as manifested in the one, holy,
Catholic and apostolic Church.
Over the centuries,
the working for the Kingdom of God or the City of God became confused
even more with the political structures of American government and
the political system. Monarchies were seen as totally evil and
democracies as God-given. We can argue about this at another time, on
another post but the main emphasis here is that there was a
purposeful confusion, replacing a spiritual city with an earthly one.
Communism and
socialism do the same thing-create so-called communities on earth but
not based on God.
Today, in the
Monastic Diunal at Lauds, one prayed Psalm 89 which includes a
haunting verse on remembering suffering after one lives in
prosperity.
“Then shall we be
glad for the days of our humiliation for the years when we saw
misfortune.”
Why? Why be glad of
hardships which lead to humiliation, the humbling of the spirit?
Without suffering,
one thinks that the things one has are one's own. Own has a skewed
idea of material goods as belonging to one's self instead of God. As
I noted in the perfection series so long ago, detachment or
objectivity marks the saint. When one is no longer attached to things
or even persons, one is ready for the Illuminative and Unitive
States.
That the psalmist
rightly encourages remembering past suffering indicates that he had
found detachment, knowing fully who actually gives prosperity as a
gift. Both riches and poverty are gifts from God to be used according
to His Plan.
The years of
misfortune create a humble heart, a receptive mind, and an open,
loving soul.
The
bride in the Song of Songs
leaves all to follow the Bridegroom into the desert, seeking him,
leaving all to find Him among the rock and sand. She seeks Him until
she finds Him.
Remembering her
days of loneliness and the pangs of unfulfilled love, the bride
rejoices even more in the discovery of her Beloved. In yesterday's
Gradual, this book is quoted: “Show me thy face, let they voice
sound in mine ears, for thy voice is sweet and they face comely.”
The Song of Songs
is also part of Vespers for the day, revisiting the theme of the
dove, and combining the bridal imagery with those passages in the New
Testament which include brides and virgins at the wedding feast,
ready with their lamps lit.
Those who have
grateful hearts and have sensed the call of the Bridegroom never look
back, but continue to seek Him even in the dry places.
This
year, the Church is celebrating the 500th
anniversary of the birth of St. Teresa of Avila. Teresa was aware
that the Kingdom of God on earth had been neglected, even by the
Carmelites, who needed renewal. She understood that the City of God
had to be built through sacrifice and suffering, so that when
prosperity, in the form of vocations, renewed the order, all could
rejoice at the time of hardships, her time, which built up the order.
Americans have
forgotten to thank God for the hard times of their immigrant pasts.
One old couple told me recently that America was a better place when
all the people were poorer, were working hard together and looking
out for each other. Those days are long gone.
To desire to build
the Kingdom of God, the City on the Hill means focusing on God and
His ways, not the way of men. To desire to see the City of God means
that one thinks like a Catholic, like Teresa of Avila, knowing that a
life of prayer is essential and not an option.
I heard a terrible
sermon on the East Coast, in the Northeast Corridor, wherein the
deacon concentrated on the worldly life and mentioned that people
needed to pray at least a half hour a day. The deacon did admit that
he went days without prayer. And this, an ordained minister of the
Church! Mediocrity in spiritual matters can never build the Kingdom
of God, the City of God. Mediocrity kills zeal and fervor for the
Lord and His People.
Gratitude, prayer,
meditation....building communities are the block of the buildings in
the City of God.
We ignore these at
our own peril.
City of God or Village of God? Two Parts in One
The Village of God or the City of God....what do you think is being built? Or anything?
Understanding the American problem
proves to be a simple meditation, but leads to the deeper discussion
of the difference between the City of Man and the City of God.
Being back in the States has revealed,
again, but at a deeper level, the “American Catholic problem”. I
met this years ago (thirty-plus) in a study on the heresy of
Americanism, but the awareness of the “American problem” was
first brought to my attention when I was sixteen, exactly fifty years
ago.
My father, speaking about the growing
accommodation of Catholics to the world told one of my brothers and
me that to be a good American citizen meant being a good Catholic
“first”. I began to think about this and realized that Catholic
values, even in the late nineteen-sixties, were beginning to
evaporate from the Catholic conclaves of Catholic culture. Dad had
said that to be a Catholic was to be counter-cultural. He said that
in 1965.
Already in my Catholic high school,
some students were being taught the New Criticism by trendy priests,
and although the abuses of the liturgy really did not emerge until I
was in college, I was only one of four students from 1963-1967 who
went to high school daily Mass, out of two-thousand students.
The fact that my peers were not as
“pious” as me became more and more obvious to me and others. I
had no one to talk to except one Lutheran boy, keen on religion,
about the Faith. Our conversations, which went on for almost a year,
honed my ability to counter Protestant thought.
Then, some youth began to “rebel”.
But, the laxity of morals in the
sixties did not come from the rebellion of the youth, in my opinion.
The late sixties and early seventies became the time of the first
battles of the new demonic influences in America and Catholicism.
Most Catholic parents simply were not
prepared for these battles. They had not expected that the seeds of
the sexual revolution sown in WWII and the brainwashing concerning
sex coming out of Hollywood and British cinema industries, as well as
the selling out, yes, of both politics parties, to moneyed interests
would undermine Catholic culture. Humanae Vitae was in the
future, but the massive future rejection of this prophetic document
bubbled like a poison in the souls of the adults even of my parent's
generation. Remember, it was not just the Boomers or Gen-Xers who
rejected Humanae Vitae.
The problem is and was this. Those good
priests in the pre-Vatican II Church missed the points of two main
teaching areas, which all good teachers should know.
One, that adults must appropriate their
Faith, not merely by obedience but by study and intense prayer.
In other words, knowledge must be made
one's own and not merely repeated by rote. One must learn how to
think like a Catholic, a constant theme on this blog.
And, two, that to be a Catholic, one
must think and live counter-culturally.
I can plainly see now, in these days of
complete decadence, that most Catholics since 1938, the beginnings of
the last world war, had traded the lie of the American dream for the
truth of Catholic holiness.
This conflict resulted in the
capitulation of most Catholics here in America—they are Americans
first, Catholics second.
One cannot have it all. The American
Dream still remains antithetical to the pursuit of holiness.
Consumerism has created a materialistic
mindset, as I have written here before on this blog.
Materialism is the philosophy which
holds that there is no afterlife. The now is all, the material is the
only real deal.
Daily, I have met people who live as if
there is no God, no heaven, no hell, no purgatory, no particular
judgment.
Daily, I have met extremely wealthy
Catholics who think they are poor because their pool is ten years
old, they have not bought a new car for two years, and they cannot
afford to re-do the living room and dining room this year. They think
they are poor if they cannot eat out frequently or continually buy
new clothes from the most expensive shops in the area.
I have seen more fur coats in church
than I did when I lived in Alaska.
Now, I would have a fur coat, if such
did not cost two-thousand dollars, as this type of coat provides
warmth in these horrible cold climates. But, to have the best and the
most expensive is not the Catholic way.
A family which is close to me, mom,
dad, and six children and two grand-children (young families), could
have afforded the best as the dad is a successful doctor. They only
bought used cars and never had a Mercedes or even a BMW. It was, as
they said, “not the W....way.” The “W....way” is to buy
second-hand or inexpensive clothing, use the same furniture for their
entire married life of thirty-five years, and not ever go on
expensive vacations, going on local pilgrimages instead to local
shrines. Frugally, they use their money for their children and
grand-children and many, many charities. That is the “W...way”.
Money goes for TLMS for those in purgatory, and those who need
prayers, and other good causes. They have given much money to the TLM
cause in their area.
They have never belonged to the country
club like other medical families.
I call the “W...way” the “Catholic
way”. This family understands the difference between the City of
God and the City of Man.
Those of us who have been torn out of
perfectionism by the grace of God know that to pass up the best for
the adequate is a way to saintliness. To idolize the best, is,
simply, idolatry.
Catholics have forgotten, a long time
ago here in America, that the pursuit of money must not be the center
of our lives. They have forgotten that relationships are more
important than money.
Again, for the third time since I have
landed on these shores in the past month, I am living in an area with
no sidewalks.
I am astounded. I never realized how
many neighborhoods in American had no sidewalks.
This suburban development, as all
others, proves that community is and has been not a focus of
importance to Americans. Without sidewalks, one cannot walk to
church. I may have to walk on the highway to get to church on this
coming Sunday.
Without sidewalks, I cannot shop for
food. Without sidewalks, I do not meet the locals, know the area
families, or try and reach out to others.
No sidewalks, no community, no Catholic
thinking....We are community people. And, if we are not building or
living in community, we are not being wholly Catholic.
The American Dream has destroyed
communal life and the pursuit of friendships. The pursuit of the
City of Man has trumped the building of the City of God.
Years ago, when feminism began to take
over the media, a phrase rang out. “Women, you can have it all.”
Catholics think they can “have it
all”. They cannot. One must choose between the City of God and the
City of Man, side by side in this culture. The City of God has shrunk
into the Town of God in most places I have visited in the past month.
In some areas, the City of God is now the Village of God.
Christ warned us of riches. We have the
parable of the Rich Young Man who could not give up his comforts in
order to really follow Christ. He walked away from being a disciple.
He walked away from an intimate union with God. He was given the
choice, and he took the road of things, returning to the City of Man,
after having been invited to the building of the City of God.
I fear for American Catholics. Those
who have chosen the American Dream over God may do so in the coming
trials. How many will choose comfort over Truth, over being told to
accept ssm? How many will choose being comfortable with their pagan
families instead of choosing to build community? Those who have
assidously avoided suffering will not be able to accept the final
suffering of persecution without tremendous graces from God. Will
they turn to Him then? I hope so. But, if the majority of Catholics
in this land, those who have chosen politics over religion and
comfort over suffering, are in the habit of compromising their Faith,
how can they choose at the crucial moment of pain? How many will
persevere in times of extreme trial?
Few, very few, is what I see from my
vantage point in la-la land.
The Village of God Part Two
In one of Dickens' books, Martin
Chuzzlewit, the spoiled young hero,Martin, goes off to America with his
faithful servant to make his fortune. This young man is full of
egotism and pride. He fails because he is duped by evil entrepreneurs
to buy land in a place called “Eden”, which ends up being a
pestilent infested swamp land. Both the hero and his companion fall
ill, but survive and return humbled to England. The swamp land is
described in the book as full of a sickening miasma, a fog of disease
and misery. Of course, all those who are there were equally conned by
the evil men who convinced them that the area would become a thriving
center of commerce in America, with many natural resources and so on.
The young hero is mesmerized by the
siren-song of the American Dream.
There exists a miasma over all the
places I have visited so far here again. There seems to be a dulling
fog of provincialism and gross ignorance, brought on by the satiety
of daily comforts. I can feel this miasma in the air. It is
stiffling.
This fog does not exist in Europe,
because European culture still is rooted in Catholicism, in the
acceptance of suffering, in the acceptance of having less rather than
more. But, this country, rooted in both Protestantism and Masonry,
has worshiped material success to the point of idolatry.
It seems very hard to break out of this
fog of comfort. Those who are poor have fallen into disgrace by
accepting and voting for socialism, which promises heaven on earth,
or at least a phone, food and a place to live, provided by the
government, supposedly with no strings attached.
That families do not take care of their
poor is simply a result of this lie of socialism. The Catholic way of
supporting the old and the sick, the poor and the broken has
disappeared into the idea that the government should take care of
these people.
They do and will, by slow
extermination, hidden and approved by those who no longer take
responsibility for the lowest of the low.
The young hero in the story above
received the gift of an expensive ring from his secret love which he
sold in order to get back to England with his companion. This ring,
he thought, had been a gift to her, but she bought it with a
tremendous sacrifice to herself in case he needed it. She had a gift
of forethought to help him out of trouble. When he finally
understands the depth of her own sacrifice, the young man is humbled
again and finally become the man he was meant to be—a man who can
endure suffering for the sake of others.
That men do not want to absorb the
suffering of those around them indicates that they are not men.
Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman's famous writing on a gentleman as
defined as one who can willingly suffer for the benefit of others
seems a fictive ideal here. The peter pans do not want to suffer. The
loss of the Catholic ideal of suffering as joining in the Passion and
Death of Christ leaves Catholicism emasculated.
In my opinion, it is this running away
from suffering which has caused the man crisis among Catholics and
Americans, not merely feminism. Feminism partly grew out of the
reaction of too many men refusing to be leaders in their families,
letting the women take over simply because it was “too hard”.
The evil of matriarchies lies in the
depth of this hearts and histories of some ethnic groups, but the
root is always the same despite some cultural differences-the
abdication of authority by men. Like the young hero in Dickens' tale,
too many men want easy riches and comforts and avoid suffering at all
costs. The costs include the weakening of leadership in this country,
the adulation of sport, and the millions of children being raised
without dads.
To give in to the handing over of the
apple by Eve was Adam's sin. If he had said “no”, we would not be
living in the detritus of Original Sin on this earth. Sloth? Wanting
to be loved? Idolatry of Eve over God? The root sin does not matter.
Egotism won the day in Eden
Egotism rots manhood. The miasma of
Dickens' Eden represents the siren-song of riches without heart and
the focus on the City of God. That the hero failed proved to be the
turning point of his life.
Dickens' Eden is America's Eden-run by
numerous demons and false gods who have created this fog of
forgetfulness as to why we are all here.
Too many American Catholics have become
successful to the point of forgetting why they are here—to build
the City of God, not merely engage in the City of Man.
Tuesday, 10 February 2015
I knew would come...this day...this time
fees and taxes on the Net......
just wait for censorship....
Will be back online on Friday writing about Grace.
just wait for censorship....
Will be back online on Friday writing about Grace.
Get Ready
http://www.breitbart.com/big-hollywood/2015/02/09/republican-fcc-member-warns-net-neutrality-is-not-neutral/
http://www.nationaljournal.com/tech/republican-fcc-commissioner-public-is-being-misled-about-net-neutrality-plan-20150210
http://dailycaller.com/2015/02/06/republican-fcc-commissioner-slams-obamas-332-page-plan-to-regulate-the-internet/
I am not on the Net daily now. I shall not be on until Friday at the earliest.
Perhaps, God is preparing and weaning all of us from the Net.
http://www.nationaljournal.com/tech/republican-fcc-commissioner-public-is-being-misled-about-net-neutrality-plan-20150210
http://dailycaller.com/2015/02/06/republican-fcc-commissioner-slams-obamas-332-page-plan-to-regulate-the-internet/
I am not on the Net daily now. I shall not be on until Friday at the earliest.
Perhaps, God is preparing and weaning all of us from the Net.
Monday, 9 February 2015
What Many Catholics Do Not Believe Is Not An Option
Hospitality. In the Early Church, bishops and priests were not only encouraged to have hospices for the poor and traveling, but even the laity were told to be hospitable. This call to hospitality may be found in CCC as well as in other Catholic documents, even documents form the Council of Trent.
St. Bernard of Clarivaux was famous for interrupting his talks to his monks for meeting guests at the gatehouse. Abbots were instructed both in Benedictine and Cistercian monasteries to have a separate guesthouse and kitchen for guests. Fountains Abbey even had separate baths and latrines for guests, as well as a huge hospital.
Notice the common root word....http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/hospitable
1560; < Latin hospitā (re) to receive as guest (compare Latin hospitārīto be a guest; see hospitium ) + -ble
adjective
Notice the common root word....http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/hospitable
1560; < Latin hospitā (re) to receive as guest (compare Latin hospitārīto be a guest; see hospitium ) + -ble
1.
receiving or treating guests or strangers warmly and generously:
a hospitable family.
2.
characterized by or betokening warmth and generosity toward guestsor strangers:
a hospitable smile.
3.
favorably receptive or open (usually followed by to):
to be hospitable to new ideas; a climate hospitable to the raising ofcorn.
Hospitality is the message of Christ in the Parable of the Good Shepherd.
Three of my friends, a student, a poor woman, and a single man, have spent a month trying to find me a place to stay for awhile, either in lay or religious houses. Doors did not open. Too many Catholics no longer believe in the virtue of hospitality. Perhaps, people do not understand what hospitality is as a virtue.
First of all, here is one quotation from the CCC.
1971 To the Lord's Sermon on the Mount it is fitting to add the moral catechesis of the apostolic teachings, such as Romans 12-15, 1 Corinthians 12-13, Colossians 3-4, Ephesians 4-5, etc. This doctrine hands on the Lord's teaching with the authority of the apostles, particularly in the presentation of the virtues that flow from faith in Christ and are animated by charity, the principal gift of the Holy Spirit. "Let charity be genuine. . . . Love one another with brotherly affection. . . . Rejoice in your hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints, practice hospitality."29 This catechesis also teaches us to deal with cases of conscience in the light of our relationship to Christ and to the Church.3
St. Paul has much to say on hospitality.
From Romans 12:
16 Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly;
From Titus 1:
7 For a bishop,[d] as God’s steward, must be blameless; he must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or addicted to wine or violent or greedy for gain; 8 but he must be hospitable, a lover of goodness, prudent, upright, devout, and self-controlled. 9 He must have a firm grasp of the word that is trustworthy in accordance with the teaching, so that he may be able both to preach with sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict it.
Deuteronomy notes that God has special love for a certain group who need hospitality.
God will actually judge those who do not love... and He "executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing" Deut. 10:18
St. John Paul II said this:
"Like the disciples of Emmaus, believers, supported by the living presence of the risen Christ, become in turn the traveling companions of their brothers and sisters in trouble, offering them the word that rekindles hospitality in their hearts. With them they break the bread of friendship, brotherhood, and mutual help" (Homily, June 2, 2000).
St. Peter, the first Pope, wrote this:
"Above all hold unfailing your love for one another, since love covers a multitude of sins. Practice hospitality ungrudgingly to one another" (1 Pet. 4:8-9).
Hospitality is not having parties or dinners for friends and family. It is specifically the virtue of reaching out to travelers, the poor, the forgotten, the marginalized. It is opening up one's house to strangers.
Pope Benedict XVI said in Cologne that this virtue is disappearing, "It is a fine thing that on such occasions the virtue of hospitality, which had almost disappeared and is one of man's original virtues, should be renewed and enable people of all states of life to meet."
The man in the ditch was a stranger to the Samaritan. In the hard times to come, those who are rich, and most Americans are among the richest people in the world, will wish they had opened their doors to those who asked. God Who is Generous, will not be outdone in generosity to those who are kind.
Do people think that there are enough homeless shelters to take people in? Do people think there is always a government program? In my home town the waiting list for government housing is eight years. Years...not months.
One may entertain angels....thanks to K and J, Americans, and C, a Scotswoman, and D an Asian student, for trying so hard to find me a place. I am sorry that you did not find open doors. Thanks also to those who have ordered me things while I am in an empty place for a month. God bless you all abundantly. Blankets and such are important! And a great big thanks to S for letting me use her empty house for a month.
Also,I pray for those friends of mine who wanted to have me in but are having serious family difficulties. God bless you and bring you all peace.
Also,I pray for those friends of mine who wanted to have me in but are having serious family difficulties. God bless you and bring you all peace.
And, a special thanks for hospitality in the past to Carol, David, Margaret, Ferdie, and M, for hospitality in Europe.
God will reward you greatly as you are all the Good Samaritans, not spurning a poor, senior citizen woman.
Sunday, 8 February 2015
Watch for news on Ukraine
http://www.france24.com/en/join-the-community/#
Hollande said that if these talks fail, the result will be all-out war.
And the news on the CIA Torture Report is horribly damning....watch The Interview.
Hollande said that if these talks fail, the result will be all-out war.
And the news on the CIA Torture Report is horribly damning....watch The Interview.
Chilblains
TMI I first got these in 1991 living in a house in Sherborne built about 1740. No central heating there...
I have these again after a flare up in Malta owing to the cold flat I was renting.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilblains
Dear Readers, pray for me as I have several things going on which are causing me pain.
All for the glory of God, however, as He allows this physical suffering.
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