God And Religion

No religion owns God and God does not belong to a religion.

My basis for this claim is based on Matthew 12:48-50:

“Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” ⁴⁹ Pointing to his disciples, [Jesus] said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. ⁵⁰ For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” [1]

The operative word in the response of Jesus is the word "whoever."  Whoever  does the will of God is Heaven is a relative, a "brother and sister and mother," of the Son of God.   Does that not imply that God does not discriminate against or favor any particular religion and therefore does not belong to any one favored religion?  And does that not mean that no man can claim that his religion is the only true religion with sole access to God and that only those belonging to his religion can be part of the family of Jesus?

Although my conclusion is that all religions have equal access to God, I continue to believe that Catholicism is the one religion, in its purest form, not the political, sinful and corrupt institution that it is, that has the most direct path to God, which is through Christ, the Son of God and through His Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary.  Why?  Because of the many apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary [2] around the world and the warnings [3] and miracles [4] She has brought had consistently come through the Catholics.

With Catholics having the most direct path to Christ does not negate the fact that everyone else also has a path to Christ albeit not necessarily the most direct.  The words of Christ are clear:  All who do the will of God belong to God.  That means following the path of Christ, the path of love.  No one is excluded from this path.  All are part of God's family, all who walk with Christ on the path of love.




[1] http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matt%2012:48-Matt%2012:50
[2] My favorite is the one at Lourdes, France.  Ever since Bernardette Soubirous was asked by the Immaculate Conception to dig into the dirt, the water that started flowing then that still flows today continues to be miraculous and many miraculous healings have been attributed to it.
[3] The warning delivered by the Virgin Mary in Rawanda, Our Lady of Kibeho, came to pass.  See  http://www.spiritdaily.net/kibehoprediction.htm
[4] Miracles are not exclusive to Catholics.  They are plentiful and everywhere and everyone experiences them.  People are not always aware of them because they do not usually come with an apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Religion - Not Welcomed By Most Nations

Religion in its purest form is a means for humans to find and know God [1].  However, all religions have been exploited by man because of Sin and its variations and have turned into political institutions that share common interests.  These so-called non-profit entities [2] all aim to accumulate power and wealth to maintain their relevancy to ensure their survival and perpetuity.  God has become their currency.  No wonder hostility toward religion has increased around the world. [3]



[1] I am not a scholar of comparative religion.  The statement is based on an assumption.
[2] Religious institutions are called non-profit entities in the United States.  They are also called charitable organizations and when properly qualified under the United States Internal Revenue Code, they are tax-exempt.
[3] Quoted from Catholic News Service at http://www.catholicnews.com/data/briefs/cns/20140115.htm (at the link, scroll down to see the article):

Pew study shows increase in hostility toward religion around globe

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- A Pew Research Center study issued Jan. 14 shows another increase in hostility toward religion by most of the world's 198 nations. The share of countries with a high or very high level of social hostilities involving religion reached a six-year peak in 2012, the study said. The share of countries with a high or very high level of government restrictions on religion, though, stayed roughly the same in 2012, the year reviewed. This is the fifth time the Pew Research Center has reported on religious restrictions around the globe. The report was issued in advance of the U.S. observance of Religious Freedom Day, Jan. 16. The number of nations showing hostilities toward Christians rose from 106 to 110, according to the study. Christians have been the subject of religious hostility in more nations than any other group. But those countries showing hostilities toward Muslims jumped from 101 to 109 in 2012. In fact, hostilities toward Jews, Hindus, Buddhists and folk religionists were all up from 2011 levels. The only group recording a decrease were "others," which includes Sikhs, Baha'is, Zoroastrians and other groups. In overall changes taking into account both social hostilities and government restrictions, 61 percent of nations recorded an increase, 29 percent recorded a decrease and 10 percent had no change.

The Pope's Doves Attacked By Other Birds

Below is quoted a news article on the internet [1]:

VATICAN CITY –  Two white doves that were released by children standing alongside Pope Francis as a peace gesture have been attacked by other birds.

As tens of thousands of people watched in St. Peter's Square on Sunday, a seagull and a large black crow swept down on the doves right after they were set free from an open window of the Apostolic Palace.
One dove lost some feathers as it broke free from the gull. But the crow pecked repeatedly at the other dove.
It was not clear what happened to the doves as they flew off.
While speaking at the window beforehand, Francis had appealed for peace in Ukraine, where anti-government protesters have died.

 How does one interpret what happened?

Was it just part of nature, however infrequent?  Did it mirror the government of Ukraine using force against the demonstrators?  Was the attack of doves released at the Vatican by predatory birds unprecedented? [2]  If God was sending a message, then what was the message?  Did God send the predatory birds or did Satan?  Is Satan powerful and bold enough to order an attack of peace doves symbolizing the Holy Spirit released under the authority of the successor of Peter?  Were the peace doves contaminated by evil and therefore God refused to have them represent the Holy Spirit and sent the predatory birds to drive them away?

I love these imponderables.  They remind us of the limit of our knowledge of the Truth [3], our inability to see clearly the line separating good and evil, our vulnerability to Satan's deceit and influence and therefore our need for God's continuous forgiveness and mercy.



[1] http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/01/26/peace-doves-set-free-from-pope-window-attacked-by-seagull-crow-as-crowd/
[2] This footnote is being added after posting -- Apparently this was not the first time a predatory bird was seen at the Vatican.  See http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2269255/Popes-dove-peace-ends-pieces-Seagull-attacks-bird-seconds-Pontiff-releases-Vatican-balcony.html  According to the Daily Mail article dated January 27, 2013, a dove released by Pope Benedict XVI was chased by a seagull, but it managed to escape unharmed.  This pope's doves, however, were attacked and injured, and could be suffering if not dead.  If doves represent the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Heavenly Peace, then God had allowed the symbol representing Divine Peace to remain whole under the pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI which to me seems to point to a good outcome for Pope Benedict XVI.   In contrast, God allowed the symbol representing Divine Peace to be harmed, if not destroyed, under the pontificate of Pope Francis and that does not appear to me to bode well for the current pope.  I never liked this pope but hope that whatever reasons that compel me not to like him would go away so that I would see the image of Christ in him.  Worse than having a pope's doves attacked by predatory birds is having the doves attack the pope.

This happened on January 20, 2005, to John Paul II, about 2 1/2 months before he died on April 2, 2005,  and he, although in my opinion not a particularly saintly person is nonetheless slated to be canonized as a saint by this current pope on April 27, 2014 (see http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1304099.htm and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tq7_FkDMpPc).  Drawing a definitive conclusion based on these events are beyond me. 
[3] Even Stephen Hawking admits that Black Holes remain a mystery.  See http://www.nature.com/news/stephen-hawking-there-are-no-black-holes-1.14583

March For Life

This past weekend across the United States, from Washington D.C. to San Francisco, people have gathered to march in support for the life and implicitly, against abortion. 

For years I have taken no position because I did not know what to think until I realized that life in the flesh is a gift of God and it is precious, and it is coveted by spirits hoping to experience incarnation [1], [2].  Applying a worldly concept of wishing to be like someone who is admired, the number of spirits desiring to be incarnated probably rose exponentially after the Son of God was Himself in the flesh.  After this realization, I am against abortion, although I continue to believe in the Free Will of those who choose to terminate their pregnancies.  They would ultimately have to face the consequences of their conduct. [3]

In favoring life and the celebration of life, I would like for those who are thinking of ending their pregnancies think about their own lives, despite the struggles, how they have, at times, enjoyed being alive, being able to feel, to laugh and to cry, to love and be loved, and then think of not ever having the opportunity to experience the breadth and the depth of living in the flesh with a soul, a gift from God, as a result of abortion.
 





[1] See a previous post on this topic at http://lemomentdepaix.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-meaning-of-life-part-1.html
[2] At some point I contemplated on the Free Will of a person not wanting to be born and that being born contradicted his will.  That was wrong because the concept of not wishing to be born does not exist since whoever is born had an intense desire to be incarnated when it was still a spirit.  A spirit that does not want to be incarnated is not obligated to be incarnated.  The number of spirits that cannot wait for the chance to be born is innumerable and the number of births in every century fall far short of that number.
[3] Chastity is a solution to unwanted pregnancy.

Eternal Life

In the Gospel of Mark 10:17-22 Jesus told a man how he was able to have eternal life:

And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”  And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.  You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’”  And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.”  And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”  Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. [1]

Jesus' answer has two parts.  Part one required the man not to commit murder or adultery, steal from, bear false witness against or defraud another, but required him to honor his parents.  All that is from the Old Testament and if followed, according to the Gospel, is enough to have eternal life.  Part two of Jesus answer required the man to sell everything he owned and give to the poor and follow Him.

Jesus would not have given a two-part answer had the man been satisfied with the first part and went home.  However, the man continued speaking and told Jesus that he had done all of what was required.  I believe that he kept talking with Jesus because he did not feel spiritually fulfilled by obeying only the commandments from the Old Testament and wanted to do something more.  What more he could do he did not know until Jesus spoke again to him.  This time Jesus spoke of Himself as One to be followed.

This is my conclusion: Part one alone is sufficient for a person to have eternal life.  This applies to everyone.  For those who wish to follow Christ more closely, to lead a more spiritually fulfilling life, need to do more.  They need to do all of part one and also part two.  Part two requires them to divorce themselves from the worldly cares [2] and possessions and follow Jesus in His poverty. [3]

I think it is critical to note that the emphasis in part two is on following Jesus in poverty and not  on the poor being given money from the sale of possessions [4].  Jesus did not dwell on the poor or what they ought to do with cash donations.  From what I have read so far, I do not remember Jesus paying much attention to the squalid conditions of the poor and how much they have (or lack) in donations but He was clear and precise about those who were willing to be poor and follow Him.  I also do not remember Jesus performing any miracle that turned a poor person into a rich one even though He turned water into wine at a wedding at Cana for folks who apparently were wealthy enough to have a wedding and to entertain guests who apparently drank a lot more wine than the newlyweds had anticipated [5].

Based on the lack of miracles making the poor rich or parables about income redistribution, was therefore Jesus uncaring about the poor?  Not at all.  Jesus loves the poor who believe in Him, who care not about worldly possessions and who follow Him, and Jesus loves those who feed those who hunger, hydrate those who thirst, clothe those who are naked, visit those who are imprisoned or sick and host those who are strangers. [6]  When Jesus talked about the poor, I believe He was talking about the strictly poor and not relative poor, whereas when modern religious (and secular) leaders speak of poverty, they are often referring to relative poverty, relative unequal living standards based on what the well-to-doers have and the not-so-well-to-doers want to have but do not need and cannot afford to have.

From what little I know, and perhaps I know to little to be writing this, I nonetheless conclude that eternal life can be attained based on what Jesus said in  Mark 10:17-22, but not based on poverty alone without Christ or on lip-service alone paid by the self-righteous ones calling for aid to those in poverty and in need.




[1] http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+10%3A17-22
[2] Caring about one's parents is part of honoring one's parents.  I do not know how a man of cloth cares for his parents when they become old, especially when he is the only child.  I like to believe that when a person is called to become a religious, he or she will have siblings or relatives who will care of his or her parents in a worldly manner while he or she will care for them through prayers.  I also like to believe that parents of those serving God are cared for by God.  I do not know what happened to the father of Francesco d'Assisi who was angry at his son when he chose to follow Christ.  I hope he had finally accepted and understood Francesco and God forgave his sins and saved him.
[3] That is not easy to do and not many religious do it the way that Jesus expected.  Francesco d'Assisi had done so, and I think Chiara d'Assisi as well.
[4] From the pope on down, a lot of time is spent talking about poverty and the poor, as if throwing money at those who are destitute is a panacea of sorts.  It is far more practical and useful to identify and locate those who are in dire need, those who hunger and thirst, and those who are sick, to give to them food, water and medication, and find concrete ways to help them rather than pay lip-service on a podium while they themselves are well-fed, well-inebriated, I mean well-hydrated, and well-medicated when sick.  How often does one see a pope, a cardinal or a bishop actually living among the destitute and diseased and taking care of them compared to how often they talk about them and the need for someone to take care of them?
[5] http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+2%3A1-11&version=ESV
[6] http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+25:31-46

Socialist Leaders And Their Hypocrisies

Socialist leaders speak tirelessly of income inequality and wealth redistribution but never, ever mention the extent of their power and their refusal to share it and all the perks that come with it.  They are ensconced in secular governments and in religious organization and behave similarly.

Day in and day out, people clean their living spaces and their bathrooms, do their laundry, iron their clothes, wash their dishes and pick up after them but they do not share their helpers with the poor and busy mothers who have to work and raise their families.  They have chefs to purchase groceries and cook for them whatever they please but they do not cater to the destitute and hungry.  They have the best health care on demand but their doctors and hospitals are not on standby for the ordinary patient.  They have drivers to chauffeur them around but they leave the average worker has to sit in traffic or wait to get on crowded public transportation.  They have bullet-proof vehicles and teams of security to protect them but they do not share them with those most at risk of gang violence and school shootings.  They travel the world in private jets but they do not allow those who are poor and without credentials to ride with them.

Day in and day out they make law for others to follow that contradict God's law of Free Will given to all. [1]  They ask of others to do what they do not do themselves.  For example, certain secular leaders have asked others to be democratic but they alone wield power that destroy families and lives, and they have asked travelers to have their bags scanned and stand in line with theirs shoes off to go through security but they exempt themselves from such hassles, and certain religious leaders have asked followers to be charitable but they are not charitable with their ownership of priceless works of art and real estate around the globe, and they have asked followers to be more like Christ but many of them are overfed and obese.

I am not opposed to leaders doing what they believe in because they have the Free Will to do so, I simply note some of their hypocrisies.


[1] To be fair, non-socialist leaders do the same.

The One Rosary Prayer Satan Dislikes Most

The rosary I say consists of five prayers, plus the Fatima prayer, one of them is the Glory Be prayer.  Of the prayers of the rosary, this is the prayer that Satan dislikes most.  I have come to this conclusion after analyzing my dream last night. [1]

The Glory Be prayer is not a prayer I used to give much thought to, not until today. It is short, easy to say and quick to finish.  It marks the completion of ten Hail Mary's so why is this prayer so significant to Satan?

On close examination the prayer: "Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy [Spirit], as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen" [2]  glorifies the Holy Trinity from the past, through the present and continuously to the future, and God's creations, including the world, probably not as we know it but in some other form where God's will is done on earth as it is in Heaven ("Fiat voluntas tua, sicut in caelo et in terra" [3])

Satan dislikes this prayer because It does not want people praying to God, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and It does not want the Holy Trinity to last and God's will to prevail forever on earth.  Satan want Its  will be done on earth.  Why?  Because Satan sees people as inferior to Its former self, an angel (Lucifer), and despises them.  It wants to destroy all people and the world they live in.  By doing Satan's will, people will be destroyed, but by believing in, praying to, glorifying the Holy Trinity, people will be saved and Satan will go down in defeat.



[1] It was more like a little nightmare than a dream where I was asked to recite (non-verbally) the Glory Be prayer in Latin.  For some reason, I had to struggle because my brain was half asleep and I could not finish it, but I was able to say it in English without trouble. I did that twice, thinking that reciting the Glory Be two times in English would make up for what was demanded of me in Latin once.  I thought that I was done after that and the whole drama would be over.  However, whatever that was looming over me (something undefined, like smoke, big but not life-threatening) was not satisfied and was persistent that I say it in Latin.  I felt like a little child asked by an authority figure to recite something that I simply could not remember.  I felt helpless and squirmed as I tried finish the prayer again and again in Latin.  It must have been the third consecutive attempt that I thought I had said it right, and that was when I stopped.  I stopped because the words "et semper, et in saecula saeculorum" finally came to me and I said them.  Still feeling like a little kid, unsure if I has satisfied what was demanded of me, I kept still, dared not move, and waited for a response, dreading that I had to say the whole prayer again.  The response never came and the amorphous cloud of smoke thinned out and disappeared and I fell back asleep.
[2] http://www.themostholyrosary.com/index.htm
[3] Part of the Lord's prayer.  See http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/lordpray.htm.

Beyond Satan's Victimcentric World

Is a victimless world even possible?  Most certainly it is but it requires from each individual to believe in God, to act in accordance with the teachings of Christ and to take full responsibility for each and every personal judgment and deed.

Are there exceptions where a person can be victimized by another who has no intent to cause harm to anyone?  I cannot think of any right now, not even a driver's sudden, unexpected loss of momentary consciousness and motor function due to some latent medical reason leading to an injury accident, because a person's health is so much a part of the person that it speaks in no uncertain terms in the form of warnings which are often unheeded until tragedy strikes.

Am I being totally inflexible and heartless in applying the principle of self-responsibility that is faith-based just to prove my point that with God and in God the concept of victimhood does not exist?  I do not think so because God is perfect and acting in accordance to the Will of God will always result in perfection.  In perfection victimhood simply does not exist.

Now imagine a world where nobody fears anybody and no one envies anyone, where all live within one's limitations and with God's unique individual gifts, whatever they maybe, however more or less than the gifts given to another.  One has always to remember that a person with more gifts always carries more and heavier burdens, and that the higher they rise above the rest of mankind, the steeper the fall if they are too proud to ask God for help and to serve in humility. [1]

Serving in humility is required of all for a victimless world.  This is the world of Christ, the world of peace as prescribed by the Prince of Peace.



[1] Serving in humility is not merely the washing of feet of prisoners once a year or hugging a physically deformed person at a place and time that is perfectly choreographed for the cameras.  That is what this pope does.  That is his modus operandi.  That is disgusting.  That is not serving in humility.  That is tantamount to taunting Christ.  Serving in humility is not exerting power and control over the others by law but giving to others the laws of nature as God has given to each person the freedom to choose.  Serving in humility is to serve one another with genuine care and love, to recognize and treat another as one's equal, to respect another person's dignity and freedom and to reach out to the soul of another to share non-verbally the love of God, the common denominator of all souls.

Satan's Victimcentric World -- Part 3

The medal of victimhood is not only conferred upon people who have had tragic circumstances befallen them.  Strong, capable and self-sufficient countries wear it too.  Their claim to victimhood is based on fear. [1]  Fear has led them to resort to all sorts of tactics to avoid becoming victimized.  These include the expansion of territorial claims, surreptitious gathering of information without consent and preemptive strikes, none of which is rooted in the teachings of Christ but are all approved and supported by Satan.  For instance, countries that lay claim upon the same waters at vast distances from their terra firma  and build settlements upon disputed land engender strife; countries that gather information on their citizens and allies without consent lead to distrust and countries that are trigger-happy and invade other sovereigns cause even more chaos, suffering and deaths than before the preemptive strikes.

Satan is winning in recent decades because victimhood is in vogue and admitting responsibility is not.  True, the world has seen more suffering, more wars, more bloodshed and more deaths than the present but the present is far ominous.  I think this because the discords are far more intricate and intractable, the conflicts far more subtle and and protracted and the sufferings far less noticeable and far more tolerated [2] than in the past.  The human race, on average, is far more evil and cunning now than before.  Any slight trace of innocence that had been left has been wiped out by Satan's minions who have power.

The regrettable state of this world is not part of God's plan; it is part of Satan's.  Satan's plans set the stage for the destruction of humans so they can all blame God and claim to be victims; God's plan lives in the resurrected Christ Who wants humans to be in charge, to choose God and reject Satan, to return goodness to every moment that is lived, so that they can join Him Who paved the way for the salvation of souls.  Sadly, the present is hurtling toward destruction because God is nowhere to be found in the seats of power, not even in the seat of Peter. [3]


[1] I find that weak, timid and fearful leaders use arrogance and aggression to cover up their weaknesses.  These are also people who are likely non-believers in Christ Who taught us not to fear in the face of persecution, torture, pain and death.
[2] Even the current head of the Vatican has remained silent as turmoil continues in so many parts of the world, yet he spends time producing images without substance purely for media consumption.
[3] I see in this pope a soul without faith and a lot of gesturing without meaning (a regurgitation of a set of religious motor skills acquired a long time ago).  Does anyone wonder if this pope prays when the camera is not around?  I just did.

Satan's Victimcentric World -- Part 2

Why is Satan's world victimcentric?  Satan's world is victimcentric because Satan wants every sinner to see himself or herself as a victim and blame God for every unfortunate incident and every imperfect situation.  That way, Satan can look like a saint because It has done supposedly nothing to cause anyone grief.

By hiding in the background, Satan has been successful in alienating people from God by making them indifferent to God or enforcing their atheistic beliefs.  A world without God is a world in disharmony which leads to continuous conflicts (with each other and with Mother Nature) and sufferings.  Where suffering is present, people are often quick to conclude that those who are suffering are victims.  Their conclusion is wrong.  People suffer because they have turned away from God or they have not turned toward God.

The people in China, a majority of whom do not know Christ, would probably not blame God for the industrial scale pollution but instead would probably blame their government instead.  They therefore would probably see themselves as victims of the state.  (The current pollution levels in Beijing [1] is not caused solely by the winds blowing from the Gobi desert in the east but by coal and wood burning stoves, tens of millions of cars [2] and smoke-spewing heavy industries around China [3] in addition.)  However, in reality, they are not victims of the state's pollutants but are rather creators of pollution because they want to continue to raise their standard of living [4] by consuming goods that pollute the air [5] and making goods to sell worldwide that also pollute the air during their manufacturing processes. [6]

Pictures showing the grey sky over Beijing and the brown toxic air is not my idea of Heaven on earth but rather Hell on earth. [7]

Satan is thriving in China because many Chinese there have not turned toward God.  It is having a great time enticing those who are Godless with desires for money and material things with consequences that are like Hell. [8]  That way, Satan can have Its home away from home.




[1] http://rt.com/news/china-smog-beijing-highways-694/
[2] http://www.iol.co.za/motoring/industry-news/china-car-sales-creep-past-20-million-1.1630135#.UtjWvfsVKuQ
[3] http://qz.com/95847/coal-spewing-hebei-factories-are-killing-40-beijing-babies-a-yepar/
[4] That is debatable.  Is the standard of living higher when one has to breath in toxic pollutants?
[5] Not that western countries do not consume goods that pollute, they are comparatively not as densely populated as China and therefore the aggregate of pollutants generated by a smaller population is necessarily less than that generated by a significantly larger population.
[6] The west moved away from high-polluting manufacturing industries to concentrate on the financial services and low-polluting high technologies while China, a developing nation, has been happy to take over the "dirty" work and become very rich as a result.
[7] https://www.google.com/search?q=pollution+in+beijing+photo&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=com.yahoo:en-US:official&client=firefox
[8] I am not advocating that the Chinese in China do not deserve to have their living standards raised; I am simply observing the manner in which the living standards are being raised do not comport with an ideal God-centered society where taking care of (loving) each other comes first and greed of all kinds is kept at bay.  Not that any society on this planet can serve as a model of such a society for China, but China, rich in natural and human resources, should be able to forge an ideal society based on Divine Love for one another and for Mother Nature so that the rest of the world can follow.

Satan's Victimcentric World -- Part 1

"For every action, there is an equal an opposite reaction." [1]  This is Isaac Newton's third law of motion.  Its application is not limited to physics but extends also to human activity conceptually without exactitude, so it is not quite an "eye for [an] eye"[2] but more like a life for something far less provocative, like texting in a movie theater. [3]  In Satan's victimcentric world, the man who was shot to death was a victim of excessive retaliatory force, the shooter a victim of uncontrollable rage and both of them were victims of Original Sin.

In the world of Jesus Christ, there is no victim.  Even the person who is persecuted in the name of God is not a victim because he or she has chosen to suffer persecution for the love of Christ, in the same way Christ chose to suffer persecution and crucifixion for the love of sinners.  In day to day living, one can avoid being a victim by listening to Christ Who taught us how not to become victims: "But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.  And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well.  If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles.  Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you." [4]

Granted there are situations where one could a victim in the world of Christ, or not.  For instance, in September, 2013, a teenager, a passenger in his mother's van was killed by a woman in a speeding car. [5]  According to my premise above, is therefore the teenager not in the world of Christ?  I have put myself in a position to defend my premise.  I will try to with three arguments that contradict one another, with no satisfactory conclusion.

First, I argue that the teenager was at the time not in the world of Christ because he chose not to be in the world of Christ.  I have no proof of that therefore this first argument fails.  Second I argue that the teenager had chosen to be in the world of Christ but the forces of evil that possessed the woman in the speeding car were so powerful that he was unable to overcome them.  This second argument is itself contradictory because if the teenager had already chosen to be in the world of Christ, he ought to be protected.  My third argument is that the teenager was in the world of Christ and therefore protected, not to live out his live until old age but from living out his life which may entail much suffering so that he can be in Heaven much, much sooner.  I like my third argument best but like the first, I have no proof and therefore it also fails.

Only Truth can reveal the reasons why the teenager's life was taken away, but if Truth does not have reasons, then it must be Divine Love.  In either case, the teenager was a victim in Satan's victimcentric world but in the world of Christ, he was not a victim because he had either chosen whether to belong to Christ or not so that he was either protected or not [6] and if he had chosen to be with Christ, then he was not a victim because he was  protected, not in the way people see things as they ought to be but as God sees things as they should be -- perfect.




[1] http://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/newtlaws/u2l4a.cfm
[2] http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew+5:38
[3] http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/01/13/3868771/texting-argument-in-tampa-area.html
[4] http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%205:38-42
[5] http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?id=9267395
[6] Anyone who chooses is not a victim.

The Unclear Truth

Spiritual clarity eludes all except the holiest of people. [1]  Spiritual clarity is the ability to see the Truth, even when It is invisible and irrational. [2]  However, man always wants to know the Truth, even if he cannot recognize It and refuses to acknowledge It, as he continues to hide from It, contaminate it with his pride and bury It in his sins.  Therefore man is unable to distinguish what is the Truth and what is not but that does not stop him from believing in his own fictions which are his own truths but not God's.  Whatever truth that is not God's is necessarily Satan's for God's Truth does not have an alternate or an argument. [3]  In contrast, Satan's truth always have alternate points of view and arguments in opposition to it, creating discourse and friction that lead to disputes and fights, to death and destruction.


[1] The holiest of people are not easily identified, certainly not identifiable by looking at the religious elite for many of them are not all that holy and therefore are not privy to spiritual Truth even though they speak of It as if all the education they have received would give them authority to tell of it.
[2] Spiritual clarity is the source of Divine Justice (perfect justice) which is beyond the reach of human intellect.
[3] Many passages in the Bible are subject to interpretation and therefore cannot be the Truth for the Truth is always simple, direct and not manipulable.  Are many passages in the Bible flawed?  I believe they must be because they are subject to argument.  Are any of the passages in the Bible the Truth?  I believe so, and they are enough, perhaps one of them is enough and within it, perhaps one word is enough to guide us to Heaven:  Love.

Serving Two Masters

"No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." [1]

In a productive society where people work to earn a living, God is often not at the forefront since work demands much of one's energy, with relaxation and play consuming the remainder of the time.  Are therefore the words above in the Gospel of Matthew correct?  Yes and no.

Yes, if man is completely fascinated by and obsessed with possessions and wealth and God is relegated to the background, as if God is even a part of his consciousness.

No, if man balances his time between being a custodian for what is material and temporal and being a believer in what is unattainable but divine and eternal.  A day that is dedicated to work, relaxation and play does not mean God has to on the back burner all day long.  It is  possible to intersperse prayers throughout one's day, making God and the Mother of God Partners in life, sharing with Them the burdens as well as the fun.

Taking time out for prayers is not a waste of time but actually saves time even as we are pressed for time.  Man needs to consider who can achieve better results: himself alone or together with God and the Mother of God.  The answer is always the latter.

What sometimes prevents man from seeking divine assistance is pride and faithlessness.  Imagine how much better everything would be knowing that one's work is being accomplished with humility and divine assistance, even if the results are imperfect since perfection is rarely attainable outside of Heaven, than knowing that one's work is secularly-driven and is tainted with sins of greed and vengeance, even if it results in having possessions that are wished for but ill-gotten or otherwise undeserved. [2]

To avoid falling into Satan's Godless secularism, faith in God and supplication are necessary.  Faith and supplication will lead all onto the right paths so that one could make the right decisions that save both time and grief.  By incorporating prayer into work, relaxation and play, one would be serving two masters, thereby uniting two incongruous paths as one that would lead eventually to Heaven.



[1] http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+6%3A24&version=KJV
[2] Sadly, a lot of bitter and envious people think that they deserve all that the world has to offer, and when they cannot afford to have what they want, they simply point to inequality.  These people are a Godless bunch for they have no gratitude for the life they have, the life that God gave them.  The other Godless bunch are hypocrites with secular power who also do not see the preciousness of life and hate the innate inequality (except their own) that comes with life.  These people believe that by allocating material wealth belonging to others to the have-nots will solve their problems.  They cannot be more wrong.  What everyone needs is fulfillment and fulfillment is not attainable by possessing material wealth.  Those who believe they can parcel out equality by edict will never have fulfillment themselves because they will never be able to balance God's scale of justice, not with all their power and influence, for God's justice is not something they would ever agree with or understand from a secular point of view.  If these people remain Godless, I pity their eventual Godless death, a death that will end in emptiness, in a Hell of eternal anger and craving for equal access to Heaven.  How one expends his or her energy life is how one will expend his or her energy in the afterlife. 

Paul Walker Autopsy Report

On January 3, 2014, Paul Walker's autopsy report was released. [1], [2]  TMZ.com published a quick summary that included a description of the driver at death. [3]  In a previous entry [4], I had related my initial uneasiness and reservations with respect to the reckless driver and stated that I never expected the ending to be a tragic one, certainly never could I have imagined the condition of this character's corpse to be like what was described in the TMZ.com article and the autopsy report. [5]  The description was so graphically gruesome that I cannot bear to quote it here. [6]

[1] http://www.thesmokinggun.com/buster/autopsy/paul-walker-autopsy-report-768503
[2] http://i.cdn.turner.com/dr/teg/tsg/release/sites/default/files/assets/paulwalker.pdf
[3] http://www.tmz.com/2014/01/03/paul-walker-autopsy-report-roger-rodas-death/
[4] Note 4 at http://lemomentdepaix.blogspot.com/2013/12/demons-in-us-and-in-our-midst.html
[5] http://www.scribd.com/doc/195606821/Autopsy-report-on-Roger-Rodas
[6] What is interesting to observe here are two people, gifted with different talents and leading different lives that crossed paths, whether their initial meeting was by chance or by design I do not know for certain, but their death in the same car accident is not up for speculation, nor the unique way in which each died.  Based on my reading of the reports, Paul Walker's death was in my subjective, non-scientific judgment a relatively blessed one, the driver's not so much.

New Year's Day - A Holy Day Of Obligation For (Good) Catholics

I put parenthesis around the word "Good" in the title because good Catholics attend Mass on that day.  I am not a good Catholic because I have never attended Mass on New Year's Day.

New Year's Day celebrates the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God. [1]  While remembering Mary, the Mother of God, Who played a pivotal role in God's plan of salvation [2] on New Year's Day is a good thing, remembering Mary every day is even better.  It is interesting to note that "the Church regards this feast as so important that it is a Holy Day of Obligation" [3] on the one hand, and then to waive the requirement to attend Mass should the Solemnity of Mary falls on a Saturday or a Monday on the other. [4]

I suppose it would be too much to require priests to say Mass and good Catholics to attend it on consecutive days, like Saturday and Sunday or Sunday and Monday.  It would certainly be expedient to combine all Holy Days with the nearest Sunday.

One must truly thank God for having Jesus crucified on a Friday and resurrect on a Sunday.  Can you imagine if the resurrection of Christ had occurred on a Saturday or a Monday what the Church might do?  I suppose all weekly Sunday Masses would become either weekly Saturday or weekly Monday Masses.  Or would the work week start on a Tuesday if Monday were the day of resurrection?  I will leave it up to the reader to ponder this and blog the imponderable.



[1] http://catholicism.about.com/od/holydaysandholidays/tp/Holy-Days-Of-Obligation-United-States.htm
[2] http://catholicism.about.com/b/2014/01/01/celebrating-the-new-year-with-mary-the-mother-of-god.htm
[3] Ibid.
[4] http://catholicism.about.com/od/holydaysandholidays/f/January_1_Holy.htm