And My Adopted Cardinal Is...Very Cool

Name:	George Alencherry
Country:	India
Day of birth:	1945-4-19
Cardinal since:	2012-2-18
Function:	Major Archbishop of Ernakulam-Angamaly, India and head of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church

http://adoptacardinal.org/adoption

Pope Emeritus Wears a Baseball Cap!

Once a pope in Narnia, always a pope in Narnia.........

Good Info from Vatican Insider

http://multimedia.lastampa.it/multimedia/vatican-insider/en/lstp/181888/

This is..

a Mahony, O'Brien and Cormac Murphy-O'Connor free zone.

"Head of Select Clergy Apostatizes"; "Cowardly Pope Flees Rome"

I think that the worst sin is the denial of Christ. This is called formal apostasy. Christians who convert to some religions have to do this. Fill in the blank.......

This sin means that one knows that Christ is God, the Messiah, the Son of God and, still, one denies Him in a public setting.

The First Pope committed the sin of formal apostasy. He denied Christ, not once, given the chance to change his mind, but three times.

We read about this sin several times in the Liturgical Year.

God knew Peter would deny him.

God chose Peter to be the First Pope.

Years later, Peter was running away from the persecution of the Catholics in Rome.

God stopped him, and Peter turned around and went back.

Peter is one of the Twelve Apostles raised up by God equal and greater than the leaders of the Twelve Tribes of Israel.

We are all called to perfection. Some respond better than others. Some try to avoid suffering. Some sin grievously  I do not throw stones. I am a sinner.

Should a great sinner not accept, in fact, refuse immediately, a high position in the hierarchy of the Church? Yes, that would be the perfect thing to do.

Peter did not refuse to be Pope. Pope Peter did not resign because of past sins.

Peter sinned, seriously, and the media would have made mincemeat of him.

Can you imagine the headlines? I have two possible ones above, and more here.

"Catholic Church Loses Dubious Leader" (The Tabula)

"Pope Denied God Thirty Years Ago" (Rome Guardian)

"Pope Lied to Woman in Night Encounter" (Sanhedrin Times)

"Three Witnesses Come Forward Against Pope Peter" (Temple Telegraph)

"Owner of Rooster Saw Cowardly Pope"  (Daily Jerusalem Mail)

God is Love.

The media does not understand love, only money.

Just a thought for today....

The two main areas of readership tell me something

If one wants a view as to which countries have a thriving Catholic base, I can tell from my readership stats.

By far, the two continents with the most interest in my very Catholic blog are North America and Europe.

After those two continents, the third and fourth place may surprise you all.

Australia and India come in third and fourth.

This means to me that those who are conservative in their Catholicism, or those who want the real deal are from North America, Europe, Australia and India. Of course, these are not all English speaking areas.

Interesting. And fifth place? Malaysia. Truly interesting.

North America
Europe
Australia
India
Malaysia

Pray for those places, as the strong Catholics are learning, praying, reaching out.

Of course, this statistic is also based on who uses the Net and follows blogs.

I have people from every continent reading this blog, but these are the top five areas of hits.

I am hopeful. These numbers and places give me hope.

Pray for the Church Militant in these continents. The remnant is to be found there....

This is Wonderful: a Catholic School Holds a Mock Conclave

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2013/03/just-too-cool-catholic-school-children-hold-a-conclave-photos/#comment-395078

Part 68: DoC: St. Ambrose and Perfection

In Chapter 18 on his book on perfection for the clergy, Ambrose takes a digression into speaking to youth on modesty. He connects modesty with chastity.

On the different functions of modesty. How it should qualify both speech and silence, accompany chastity, commend our prayers to God, govern our bodily motions; on which last point reference is made to two clerics in language by no means unsuited to its object. Further he proceeds to say that one's gait should be in accordance with that same virtue, and how careful one must be that nothing immodest come forth from one's mouth, or be noticed in one's body. All these points are illustrated with very appropriate examples.

67. Lovely, then, is the virtue of modesty, and sweet is its grace! It is seen not only in actions, but even in our words, so that we may not go beyond due measure in speech, and that our words may not have an unbecoming sound. The mirror of our mind often enough reflects its image in our words. Sobriety weighs out the sound even of our voice, for fear that too loud a voice should offend the ear of any one. Nay, in singing itself the first rule is modesty, and the same is true in every kind of speech, too, so that a man may gradually learn to praise God, or to sing songs, or even to speak, in that the principles of modesty grace his advance.


Some people think that what we call "manners" are things with which society can dispense. On the edge of the fall of the Roman Empire. as the barbarians were edging towards Rome, a fall which was inevitable, but in the future, Ambrose could see that there was a need for grace in speech and deportment.

Wouldn't it be nice if those in the Catholic Church before and after Mass understood the necessity for silence? Would it not be wonderful if those in the media would understand reticence?

68. Silence, again, wherein all the other virtues rest, is the chief act of modesty. Only, if it is supposed to be a sign of a childish or proud spirit, it is accounted a reproach; if a sign of modesty, it is reckoned for praise. Susanna was silent in danger, and thought the loss of modesty was worse than loss of life. She did not consider that her safety should be guarded at the risk of her chastity. To God alone she spoke, to Whom she could speak out in true modesty. She avoided looking on the face of men. For there is also modesty in the glance of the eye, which makes a woman unwilling to look upon men, or to be seen by them.

Too often in our culture, we believe that speech must be aggressive to be taken seriously. We believe that speech shows integrity, and silence means deception. This is a new and odd idea which has grown with the over-stimulation of the media.


The silent man or woman was honored in older stories and folktales, as those listening could understand that humility meant reflection, reticent, right judgement, a quiet spirit. Youth do not have to be loud.

69. Let no one suppose that this praise belongs to chastity alone. For modesty is the companion of purity, in company with which chastity itself is safer. Shame, again, is good as a companion and guide of chastity, inasmuch as it does not suffer purity to be defiled in approaching even the outskirts of danger. This it is that, at the very outset of her recognition, commends the Mother of the Lord to those who read the Scriptures, and, as a credible witness, declares her worthy to be chosen to such an office. For when in her chamber, alone, she is saluted by the angel, she is silent, and is disturbed at his entrance, and the Virgin's face is troubled at the strange appearance of a man's form. And so, though she was humble, yet it was not because of this, but on account of her modesty, that she did not return his salutation, nor give him any answer, except to ask, when she had learned that she should conceive the Lord, how this should be. She certainly did not speak merely for the sake of making a reply.


Silence marks the mature Christian who does not have to prove anything to anybody. 

Are we too argumentative just for the sake of pride? Can we not wait, listen, reflect?

The silence of the desert fathers and the monastic life of Ambrose indicated a healthy balance of contemplation and action.

One gives up rights in being silent. The humble man is wiser than he who speaks too much and about nonsense.

I am an idea person. Too many conversations are about things, such as vacations, cars, clothes. How sad that people are stuck in the pride of goods, rather than in the contemplation of God.

70. In our very prayers, too, modesty is most pleasing, and gains us much grace from our God. Was it not this that exalted the publican, and commended him, when he dared not raise even his eyes to heaven? Luke 18:13-14 So he was justified by the judgment of the Lord rather than the Pharisee, whom overweening pride made so hideous. Therefore let us pray in the incorruptibility of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price, 1 Peter 3:4 as St. Peter says. A noble thing, then, is modesty, which, though giving up its rights, seizing on nothing for itself, laying claim to nothing, and in some ways somewhat retiring within the sphere of its own powers, yet is rich in the sight of God, in Whose sight no man is rich. Rich is modesty, for it is the portion of God. Paul also bids that prayer be offered up with modesty and sobriety. 1 Timothy 2:9 He desires that this should be first, and, as it were, lead the way of prayers to come, so that the sinner's prayer may not be boastful, but veiled, as it were, with the blush of shame, may merit a far greater degree of grace, in giving way to modesty at the remembrance of its fault.

The is nothing wrong with shame. Shame means one is not arrogant about sin.

71. Modesty must further be guarded in our very movements and gestures and gait. For the condition of the mind is often seen in the attitude of the body. For this reason the hidden man of our heart (our inner self) is considered to be either frivolous, boastful, or boisterous, or, on the other hand, steady, firm, pure, and dependable. Thus the movement of the body is a sort of voice of the soul.

I know some ladies who have commented here and on other blogs would disagree with this reading. However, I am convinced that deportment mirrors virtue.

Why we have, as a culture, come to prize a lack of manners with honesty is beyond me.

How we hold ourselves, body language, can be that of walking in virtue and peace.

72. You remember, my children, that a friend of ours who seemed to recommend himself by his assiduity in his duties, yet was not admitted by me into the number of the clergy, because his gestures were too unseemly. Also that I bade one, whom I found already among the clergy, never to go in front of me, because he actually pained me by the seeming arrogance of his gait. That is what I said when he returned to his duty after an offense committed. This alone I would not allow, nor did my mind deceive me. For both have left the Church. What their gait betrayed them to be, such were they proved to be by the faithlessness of their hearts. The one forsook his faith at the time of the Arian troubles; the other, through love of money, denied that he belonged to us, so that he might not have to undergo sentence at the hands of the Church. In their gait was discernible the semblance of fickleness, the appearance, as it were, of wandering buffoons.


Ambrose is referring to arrogance. I see it at dinner parties. The loud man who must boast of his business acumen, his success. Such a man is graceless.

I see it in women who dress younger than their years. A forty-seven year old walking and dressing like a teen indicates a disjoint in the soul.

A conversation behind me on a bus loud and full of self-righteous gossip can prove to be two hardened hearts, as charity is lacking.

A narcissist cannot stop interrupting or talking. These things show a lack of virtue and maturity.

Why do we value these coarse traits?

73. Some there are who in walking perceptibly copy the gestures of actors, and act as though they were bearers in the processions, and had the motions of nodding statues, to such an extent that they seem to keep a sort of time, as often as they change their step.

74. Nor do I think it becoming to walk hurriedly, except when a case of some danger demands it, or a real necessity. For we often see those who hurry come up panting, and with features distorted. But if there is no reason for the need of such hurry, it gives cause for just offense. I am not, however, talking of those who have to hurry now and then for some particular reason, but of those to whom, by the yoke of constant habit, it has become a second nature. In the case of the former I cannot approve of their slow solemn movements, which remind one of the forms of phantoms. Nor do I care for the others with their headlong speed, for they put one in mind of the ruin of outcasts.

Ambrose is referring to the road-rage of his time.

I see this in Bayswater. Men walking on the pavement not making way for women, not deferring to ladies.

This is a violence of our times, a sign of arrogance and superiority. 

75. A suitable gait is that wherein there is an appearance of authority and weight and dignity, and which has a calm collected bearing. But it must be of such a character that all effort and conceit may be wanting, and that it be simple and plain. Nothing counterfeit is pleasing. Let nature train our movements. If indeed there is any fault in our nature, let us mend it with diligence. And, that artifice may be wanting, let not amendment be wanting.

Modesty and manners indicate a humble, gentle spirit. This can be learned. In a community, these traits are absolutely necessary for the peace of the whole.

Families must retrench and teach the gentility which flows from the virtues. Anything less is selfishness.

76. But if we pay so much attention to things like these, how much more careful ought we to be to let nothing shameful proceed out of our mouth, for that defiles a man terribly. It is not food that defiles, but unjust disparagement of others and foul words.These things are openly shameful. In our office indeed must no word be let fall at all unseemly, nor one that may give offense to modesty. But not only ought we to say nothing unbecoming to ourselves, but we ought not even to lend our ears to words of this sort. Thus Joseph fled and left his garment, that he might hear nothing inconsistent with his modesty. Genesis 39:12 For he who delights to listen, urges the other on to speak.


To avoid senseless and uncharitable talk, I am accused of being anti-social. But, the truth is that it is more virtuous to run away from gossip and wasteful, silly talk than to engage in it.

77. To have full knowledge of what is foul is in the highest degree shameful. To see anything of this sort, if by chance it should happen, how dreadful that is! What, therefore, is displeasing to us in others, can that be pleasing in ourselves? Is not nature herself our teacher, who has formed to perfection every part of our body, so as to provide for what is necessary and to beautify and grace its form? However she has left plain and open to the sight those parts which are beautiful to look upon; among which, the head, set as it were above all, and the pleasant lines of the figure, and the appearance of the face are prominent, while their usefulness for work is ready to hand. But those parts in which there is a compliance with the necessities of nature, she has partly put away and hidden in the body itself, lest they should present a disgusting appearance, and partly, too, she has taught and persuaded us to cover them.

78. Is not nature herself then a teacher of modesty? Following her example, the modesty of men, which I suppose is so called from the mode of knowing what is seemly, has covered and veiled what it has found hid in the frame of our body; like that door which Noah was bidden to make in the side of the ark; Genesis 6:16 wherein we find a figure of the Church, and also of the human body, for through that door the remnants of food were cast out. Thus the Maker of our nature so thought of our modesty, and so guarded what was seemly and virtuous in our body, as to place what is unseemly behind, and to put it out of the sight of our eyes. Of this the Apostle says well: Those members of the body which seem to be more feeble are necessary, and those members of the body which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour, and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. 1 Corinthians 12:22-23 Truly, by following the guidance of nature, diligent care has added to the grace of the body. In another place I have gone more fully into this subject, and said that not only do we hide those parts which have been given us to hide, but also that we think it unseemly to mention by name their description, and the use of those members.

79. And if these parts are exposed to view by chance, modesty is violated; but if on purpose, it is reckoned as utter shamelessness. Wherefore Ham, Noah's son, brought disgrace upon himself; for he laughed when he saw his father naked, but they who covered their father received the gift of a blessing. Genesis 9:22 For which cause, also, it was an ancient custom in Rome, and in many other states as well, that grown-up sons should not bathe with their parents, or sons-in-law with their fathers-in-law, in order that the great duty of reverence for parents should not be weakened. Many, however, cover themselves so far as they can in the baths, so that, where the whole body is bare, that part of it at least may be covered.

This type of respect is almost unknown in our too-laid back society.

Today, I saw an Extraordinary Minister of the Eucharist in blue jeans. We have lost the sense of respectful honor for God, for each other.

We have no sense of time an place for actions, speech, dress.

The sacredness of Mass is ruined by the senseless talk of who is going where and what is happening tomorrow.

Modesty and humility, propriety and virtue go hand in hand.

A child can learn to be modest and virtuous. He has the grace from baptism to be so.

Nothing is lacking but example and discipline.

If parents are modest, children will be as well.

80. The priests, also, under the old law, as we read in Exodus, wore breeches, as it was told Moses by the Lord: And you shall make them linen breeches to cover their shame: from the loins even to the thighs they shall reach, and Aaron and his sons shall wear them, when they enter into the tabernacle of witness, and when they come unto the altar of the holy place to offer sacrifice, that they lay not sin upon themselves and die. Exodus 28:42-43 Some of us are said still to observe this, but most explain it spiritually, and suppose it was said with a view to guarding modesty and preserving chastity.

Without outward discipline, there is no interior discipline. Without interior discipline, one cannot pursue perfection. The hierarchy of the soul is reflected in the integrity of the body.

To be continued....The next section I "discuss" here will be St. Ambrose on the Four Cardinal Virtues...so much, so little time.

A thought about miracles

So many people want Burke for Pope. I do, too, but I scarcely believe this could happen.

It would be a miracle, but then, miracles do happen in the Church.

Readers, let us pray for a miracle, for Burke, if that is God's Will.

Live Blog on the Conclave from Vatican Insider

Good, I do not have to follow every detail...

Here is the link. Use it.

http://live.lastampa.it/Event/THE_PAPAL_CONCLAVE

A thought from Vespers

Jesus slipped through the crowd and walked away.

He was in control of the time of His Passion.

So, too, He is in control of all time and all events.

He allows us our free will.

But, we move and work, and have our being within the Will of God

And it is not even April Fool's Day

http://m.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/fake-bishop-tries-to-sneak-into-vatican/story-fn3dxix6-1226590358454

The irony of it all....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21653571

Excellent Warning Against Maria Divine Mercy

http://www.ncregister.com/blog/jimmy-akin/9-things-you-need-to-know-about-maria-divine-mercy

I hope those people I know who follow her will STOP. I have tried....

Vatican Insider States Conclave Starts March 11th

I do not know what his source is...

http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/the-vatican/detail/articolo/22827

Here is his comment.....

 

As the Church strides towards the Conclave which is due to start on 11 March, the complete picture of Benedict XVI’s resignation is gradually forming. Ratzinger showed no less courage in resigning because “of the limits of old age and (…) the discernment on the exercise of responsibility that God had entrusted to him, than John Paul II who stuck it out until the end, despite his illness. Ratzinger’s decision is above all a reminder of one’s responsibilities, especially for cardinals who have the task of electing the Pope’s successor.

From Fr. Roderick's Blog

 : http://bit.ly/VtW7mY 

Of course, they are all silenced now for awhile...

A

number of Cardinals are active on Twitter. Even though they will not be allowed to tweet during the Conclave, you can follow them during the current pre-conclave. Here is a list of the Twitter accounts I was able to find. Know any other twittering Cardinals? Let me know in the comments and I will add them to the list of Cardinals on Twitter!

Italy

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone: @CardinalBertone (in Italian)

Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi: @CardRavasi (in Italian) and @CardRavasi_en (in English)

The Netherlands

Cardinal Eijk: @Eijk

France

Cardinal Philippe Barbarin via his communications director: @ComCardBarbarin (in French)

Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran: @CardTauran

Spain

Cardinal Lluis Martinez Sistach: @sistachcardenal

United States

Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan: @CardinalDolan

Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley: @CardinalSean

Cardinal Roger M. Mahony: @CardinalMahony

Brasil

Cardinal Odilo Scherer: @DomOdiloScherer

Colombia

Cardinal Ruben Salazar Gomez: @cardenalruben

South Africa

Cardinal Wilfrid Napier of Durban: @CardinalNapier

An old joke from grade school may come true...

Marie Dean ‏@fountainshall1

oh no, if Scola is made Pope, he would be Pope Scola (Pepsi Cola,,duh)

Anything is possible this week....Part 67: DoC: St. Ambrose and Perfection

All on one week, the next Doctor of the Church to be considered, St. Ambrose,  was baptised  ordained and consecrated bishop of Milan. In the next section of this series, I shall look at the rest of  Latin Doctors of the Church, from the classical period.

SS. Ambrose, Jerome, and Gregory the Great, will finish this section, which began with Augustine of Hippo.

I shall begin with two small sections from Ambrose'  On the Duties of the Clergy, found here: (and my comments are in red):

Chapter 11.

It is proved by the witness of Scripture that all duty is either ordinary or perfect. To which is added a word in praise of mercy, and an exhortation to practise it.

36. Every duty is either ordinary or perfect, a fact which we can also confirm by the authority of the Scriptures. For we read in the Gospel that the Lord said: If you will enter into life, keep the commandments. He says: Which? Jesus said to him: You shall do no murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honour your father and your mother, You shall love your neighbour as yourself. These are ordinary duties, to which something is wanting.

Well, the first thing, repeated many times here for all of us, is to break away from sin by allowing God to take us through purgation of sins and to move into the life of the virtues...One sees Christ using the word "perfect" in this passage below. I have left the links on the Scripture references.

37. Upon this the young man says to Him: All these things have I kept from my youth up, what lack I yet? Jesus said unto him: If you will be perfect, go and sell all your goods and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come and follow Me. Matthew 19:20-21 And earlier the same is written, where the Lord says that we must love our enemies, and pray for those that falsely accuse and persecute us, and bless those that curse us. Matthew 5:44 This we are bound to do, if we would be perfect as our Father Who is in heaven; Who bids the sun to shed his rays over the evil and the good, and makes the lands of the whole universe fertile with rain and dew without any distinction. Matthew 5:45 This, then, is a perfect duty (the Greeks call itκατόρθωμα), whereby all things are put right which could have any failings in them.

Ambrose writes here, that the clergy are especially called to perfection. But, all of us are....

38. Mercy, also, is a good thing, for it makes men perfect, in that it imitates the perfect Father. Nothing graces the Christian soul so much as mercy; mercy as shown chiefly towards the poor, that you may treat them as sharers in common with you in the produce of nature, which brings forth the fruits of the earth for use to all. Thus you may freely give to a poor man what you have, and in this way help him who is your brother and companion. Thou bestowest silver; he receives life. You give money; he considers it his fortune. Your coin makes up all his property.

39. Further, he bestows more on you than thou on him, since he is your debtor in regard to your salvation. If you clothe the naked, you clothe yourself with righteousness; if you bring the stranger under your roof, if you support the needy, he procures for you the friendship of the saints and eternal habitations. That is no small recompense. You sow earthly things and receive heavenly. Do you wonder at the judgment of God in the case of holy Job? Wonder rather at his virtue, in that he could say: I was an eye to the blind, and a foot to the lame. I was a father to the poor. Their shoulders were made warm with the skins of my lambs. The stranger dwelt not at my gates, but my door was open to every one that came. Job 29:15-16 Clearly blessed is he from whose house a poor man has never gone with empty hand. Nor again is any one more blessed than he who is sensible of the needs of the poor, and the hardships of the weak and helpless. In the day of judgment he will receive salvation from the Lord, Whom he will have as his debtor for the mercy he has shown.

This is the duty to live out the corporal works of mercy and the spiritual works of mercy, mentioned on this blog in the past. These ARE NOT OPTIONS.

And, for youth, who have duties which are both those which are ordinary and those which are towards perfection, Ambrose states this....

Chapter 17.

The duties of youth, and examples suitable to that age, are next put forth.

65. Since it has been made sufficiently plain that there will be punishment for wickedness and reward for virtue, let us proceed to speak of the duties which have to be borne in mind from our youth up, that they may grow with our years. A good youth ought to have a fear of God, to be subject to his parents, to give honour to his elders, to preserve his purity; he ought not to despise humility, but should love forbearance and modesty. All these are an ornament to youthful years. For as seriousness is the true grace of an old man, and ardour of a young man, so also is modesty, as though by some gift of nature, well set off in a youth.

66. Isaac feared the Lord, as was indeed but natural in the son of Abraham; being subject also to his father to such an extent that he would not avoid death in opposition to his father's will. Genesis 22:9 Joseph also, though he dreamed that sun and moon and stars made obeisance to him, yet was subject to his father's will with ready obedience. Genesis 37:9 So chaste was he, he would not hear even a word unless it were pure; humble was he even to doing the work of a slave, modest, even to taking flight, enduring, even to bearing imprisonment, so forgiving of wrong as even to repay it with good. Whose modesty was such, that, when seized by a woman, he preferred to leave his garment in her hands in flight, rather than to lay aside his modesty.Genesis 39:12 Moses, Exodus 4:10 also, and Jeremiah, Jeremiah 1:6 chosen by the Lord to declare the words of God to the people, were for avoiding, through modesty, that which through grace they could do.

To be continued........And, by the way, the Four Latin Fathers, or Latin Doctors, are Ambrose, Augustine of Hippo, Jerome and Gregory the Great.

If you think your Monday is rough, follow the Iditarod Trail Status

Recent update

Today is Sunday March 3 restart of the Iditarod sled dog race in Willow.

The ITI race is going on 7 days. 32 racers have finished in McGrath.

The last 3 that had gotten off trail are in and out of Rohn this morning Shawn Tony and Cookie.

Anchorage runner Anne Ver Hoef sets a new foot record shaving over 11 hours off the previous record: 6 days 12 hours 20 minutes. Congratulations Anne!

We will continue to update the leader board and you can follow the racers to Nome here also on XCtrails

http://xctrails.org/iditarod.html

http://www.alaskaultrasport.com/latest_news.html

Part 66: DoC: St. Augustine of Hippo

This is the last entry on Augustine of Hippo. I have barely scratched the surface of his writings. I have never met anyone who has read all of Augustine. Maybe Benedict, Pope Emeritus, has.

Today, looking at perfection and Augustine, I want to sum up some of his points from A TREATISE CONCERNING MAN'S PERFECTION IN RIGHTEOUSNESS, which has been examined a bit here.

1. We are called to righteousness, which is justice.

2. We have concupiscence as long as we are in the body.

3. God calls us to perfection.

4. Christ has redeemed us, and He is the only one without sin.

5. Through this forgiveness of sin, we live in grace, moving towards the call to perfection.

6. Only Christ and the Church can give us this grace.

7. Only God is truly good perfect, but through suffering and grace, we are made good, then, perfect.

8. We are saved by grace, just at the saints of the Old Testament were saved by grace. The Commandments must be obeyed, but with grace.

9. Perfection is not only possible but necessary.

10. All happens in and through Christ.

(There is more, but this is a partial summary).

Two passages impressed me this morning. The first is self-explanatory, and reveals a connection to what Benedict, Pope Emeritus said last week about his need to ascend the hill.


(36.) THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE UPRIGHT IN HEART AND THE CLEAN IN HEART.
I suppose, too, that there is a difference between one who is upright in heart and one who is clean in heart. A man is upright in heart when he "reaches forward to those things which are before, forgetting those things which are behind" so as to arrive in a right course, that is, with right faith and purpose, at the perfection where he may dwell clean and pure in heart. Thus, in the psalm, the conditions ought to be severally bestowed on each separate character, where it is said, "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in His holy place? He that is innocent in his hands, and clean in his heart." He shall ascend, innocent in his hands, and stand, clean in his heart,--the one state in present operation, the other in its consummation. 

We are all called to be upright and we move towards cleanness of heart.

And of them should rather be understood that which is written: "Riches are good unto him that hath no sin on his conscience." Then indeed shall accrue the good, or true riches, when all poverty shall have passed away; in other words, when all infirmity shall have been removed. A man may now indeed "leave off from sin," when in his onward course he departs from it, and is renewed day by day; and he may "order his hands," and direct them to works of mercy, and "cleanse his heart from all wickedness," -- he may be so merciful that what remains may be forgiven him by free pardon. 

This is possible.........through the sacraments, especially Confession and Eucharist. But, we must pray.

This indeed is the sound and suitable meaning, without any vain and empty boasting, of that which St. John said: "If our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we shall receive of Him." The warning which he clearly has addressed to us in this passage, is to beware lest our heart should reproach us in our very prayers and petitions; that is to say, lest, when we happen to resort to this prayer, and say, "Forgive us, even as we ourselves forgive, we should have to feel compunction for not doing what we say, or should even lose boldness to utter what we fail to do, and thereby forfeit the confidence of faithful and earnest prayer.

And, the last part I want to emphasize in Augustine (ah, there is so much!) follows:


 Let us therefore "so run that we may obtain." For all who run rightly will obtain,--not as in the contest of the theatre, where all indeed run, but only one wins the prize. Let us run, believing, hoping, longing; let us run, subjugating the body, cheerfully and heartily doing alms,--in giving kindnesses and forgiving injuries, praying that our strength may be helped as we run; and let us so listen to the commandments which urge us to perfection, as not to neglect running towards the fulness of love.

Sigh, life is too short. On to St. Ambrose, the great teacher of St. Augustine....to be continued. There are other postings on Augustine on this blog as well. And, I recommend the older Peter Brown biography. One should always start, of course, with The Confessions.