Angelic Smiles

Catholic News Service took a photograph of three seminarians of the seventy-two from the United States who are in Rome for their studies [1].  Their smiles on their gleaming angelic faces are sweet enough to brighten the lives of those disappointed and disheartened.

Just in their early twenties, they are full of optimism even if their respective innocence is no longer pure like fresh new snow.  Not quite fully emerged from their "bishonen" [2] image, they have already placed ahead of themselves a long and tortuous road that is likely full of temptations at every turn, for anyone who is favored by God is desired by Satan.

One can only hope that they and all seminarians have the resolve to go the full distance with Christ with the fortitude to reject Satan's most irresistible temptations along the way, so that they can humbly accept pains of all kinds, from betrayal to crucifixion, and transform themselves into conduits through which the love of God can be observed by how they behave, understood by what they say and felt by the actions they take.  This journey they embark on is not easy, one which would have been impossible for this blogger. [3]


[1]  Pictured here are "Andrew Auer, 21, from the Archdioces of St. Louis, Joe Cwik, 23, from the Archdioces of Washington and Avery Daniel, 22, from the Archdioces of Atlanta." See http://www.catholicnews.com/services/englishnews/2015/brand-new-ballgame-72-men-start-lives-as-seminarians-in-rome.cfm
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bish%C5%8Dnen
[3] This blogger who at 16 had flirted with the idea of becoming a man of the cloth but had foreseen clearly his eventual failure for he was aware of his vices and his missing virtues.  With all his faults, it was not possible for him to serve without a trace of hypocrisy the ever so patient, humble and unconditionally loving Master and Prince of Peace.  His youth now behind him but his faults still present and real, he rarely does the best he can with what abilities he has based on what he knows and he does not know much. He nonetheless proceeds, propelled by a set of norms, the course of nature and the passage of time, and hopefully a miracle or two every so often.  At the end, he hopes to be judged not by the countless times he had not done enough but by the handful of moments he had perhaps loved fully so that he would be able to smile when he sees his eternity.

Miracle Theorized

This entry is based on what I believe to be true, and does not supplant the knowledge and experiences of others that are different.

1. What is a miracle?
A miracle is an act of God that man cannot control, perform or duplicate.

2.  Does it happen?
Definitely, without a doubt.

3.  How does a miracle happen?
It happens in one of three ways: as a gift, without one's knowledge or participation, as an answer, to one's prayers for oneself and for others; and in a partnership with God, after being called to do something, the kind of calling that draws one's entire being (the heart, the flesh and the mind, in that order) into action, the kind of action that defies logical analysis and full understanding, as if it is being accomplished in a dream.

4.  Does one know when it is happening?
Some of them, yes, even though one may not realize their miraculous nature at the time (acknowledging a miracle is not man's second nature).  Others take time and are not obvious, requiring intervention at times and therefore they are often not thought of as miracles.

5.  What can a miracle do?
Everything.  Above all, it proves God's existence.

6.  What will a miracle not do?
It will not take away man's Free Will.  Therefore, no matter how many miracles one has been given, one can still choose to sin.

7.  Do sinners experience miracles?
Yes, but only if they have abiding faith, and enduring love for God.

8.  Does one have to be Catholic or Christian to experience miracles?
No, so long as one's love for others are genuine and pure.

9.  Why do miracles happen to those who continue to sin?
Because of God's unlimited capacity to love.  The fact that one commits sin does not mean that one is incapable of love.  Love is innate to all.

10. How can one, and one's loved ones, experience a miracle?
Ask (with deep continuous  faith in God, and deep genuine  love) and one, and one's loved ones, shall receive.

What Were These Priests Thinking?

Two American priests apparently lost their minds and were not thinking. They ought to be defrocked if they have not been already.  "A Kentucky priest was arrested [on August 22, 2015] in Florida on a federal charge related to the possession of pornographic images of children." [1]  The other, a California priest, "was sentenced to six months in federal prison for groping a woman on a cross-country flight [on August 17, 2014] while she was sleeping." [2]  At least he did not act out his lewdness on the plane while wearing his collar ("[he] told a flight attendant he wanted to sit next to his 'wife'") or in the confessional.


[1] http://ncronline.org/news/accountability/kentucky-priest-faces-federal-charge-possessing-child-pornography
[2] http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-priest-sex-offender-20150824-story.html and http://www.cbsnews.com/news/priest-sentenced-in-sexual-assault-of-sleeping-woman-on-airplane/
[3] http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-priest-sex-offender-20150824-story.html

Devil's Favorite Sin

Pride.  This was the answer in the article entitled "What is the devil's favorite sin?  An exorcist responds". [1]  The exorcist priest, Fr. Gallego who was interviewed, did not elaborate further, but this entry will make an attempt to do so on his behalf.

Pride is the gateway to conflict, between man and nature to between siblings and between friends, and between people with power to the unilateral exercise of power [2].  Conflicts light the fuse that can lead to man's destruction and his eventual extinction which is what the devil wants.  Therefore pride is the devil's favorite sin.

Pride is also a sin against God.  Priests who have pride serve God tangentially but are primarily serving their own egos. They crave power and will exercise it in ways that are repugnant.  For example, a priest who asks parishioners to kneel and kiss his ring before handing to them a palm on Palm Sunday [3] but does not wash the dirty feet of those serving him on Holy Thursday is a prideful priest.  Followers of Christ who feed on pride eat out of the palm of the devil much to the devil's delight.

Pride being the devil's favorite sin is no surprise since pride is the devil's own sin against God.  The devil cannot be happier to have man follow its path of pride to Hell rather than the humble steps of Jesus to Heaven.  The devil is the Evil One, Satan, the Fallen Angel who was once God's most beautiful angel Lucifer who, because of pride, placed himself above man and revolted against God when all the angels, including Lucifer, were asked to serve man.


[1] http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/what-is-the-devils-favorite-sin-an-exorcist-responds-55789/
[2] An example of the unilateral exercise of power is the pre-emptive strike. Whoever is so cocksure and has the stench of arrogance to think that he is so right and righteous that he could order an army to invade another country and kill people without provocation while sacrificing the lives of those who have been ordered to carry out the killings has to be at the pinnacle of pride sitting at the right hand of the devil, and alongside him, his supporters. See http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/washington/2002-09-20-bush-military-strategy_x.htm
[3] This actually occurred at a Mass this blogger attended on Holy Thursday, 2015.

Better To Love Than To Pity

Google defines pity as "the feeling of sorrow and compassion caused by the suffering and misfortunes of others." [1]  In other words, to have pity, one must reference one's fortune relative to the misfortune of others.  The degree of compassion evoked is both subjective and relative, depending on how much worse is the person that is pitied than the person who is pitying, judged subjectively by the person pitying.  Therefore, it is entirely possible that the person who is pitied by the one pitying is  at the same time pitying the person who is pitying because each person is evaluating the other based on subjective standards.  The only commonality between them is pride, each thinking that he has more of what is desirable, whether it is fortune, intelligence, talent, good looks, good health and so on. Accordingly, pity can only arise out of pride.

One can easily point to a mendicant refugee too young and fearful to speak, to ask for water and food.  Certainly, this child can be pitied by those with more.  The question is more of what?  More innocence?  More integrity in the face of adversity?  Or more complaints, more anger, more bitterness?

If one ought not to pity another, how should one feel and what should one do when they see others befallen with disaster?  It would be reasonable to say that love would be appropriate, as would supplicating, asking God to bless them and watch over them, also be appropriate.  

One can assume that God would never pity any sinner, however dire his circumstances, because God is perfect and would not have the pride to make a relative assessment of misfortune to calibrate the degree of pity that would be appropriate; instead, God would have mercy on all who are imperfect because perfection is situated infinitely beyond imperfection, and thus if pity has to be felt by God, it would be infinite.  A constant amount of infinite pity is rather meaningless in contrast to divine mercy.  God's mercy leads to the forgiveness of sins and the salvation of souls; no amount of pity does that.

It is out of God's love for sinners that sinners receive the mercy of forgiveness, for no sinner will be able to bear the weight of divine justice.

As a sinner, this blogger has the requisite pride to pity  a number of the leaders that in his opinion had committed unspeakable atrocities against humanity, not so much because he is better than them but because he does not have enough love to give them to wipe clean the blood of so many they had spilt and to overlook their cowardice by attacking the weak and their lack of bravery to befriend the strong. 

[1] https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=pity%20definition

The Christian World's "A" Word

The Catholic media has been obsessed with abortion and the sale of aborted fetal parts.  There is no doubt in the blogger's opinion that abortion is uncivilized and unholy, but that talking about it incessantly does not solve the problem. Abortions will continue to take place and fetal part will continue to be sold and bought, much like illicit drugs will continue to be manufactured and will be consumed by spiritually empty people, those who are well-to-do and those with nothing to do.

The purpose of this entry, however, is not to talk about the obvious "A" word but two other "A" words that Catholics, from the pope down, are afraid to mention--"Abstinence" and "Abstention".  If every Catholic will practice abstinence and abstain from sex rather than engaging in morally and fiscally irresponsible procreation, then the more or less 1.254 billion people [1] of the 7 billion [2] in the world would not need to speak of abortion (or poverty for that matter) and the sale of fetal parts even though they may continue to complain about the remainder who continue abort their babies and sell cadaver parts.

Why does this current political pope not speak of sexual abstention to the world?  Metaphorically speaking, why blame the disease and not treat the symptom?  Had the Catholic church failed in stopping believers from having uncontrollable recreation sex?  Is it worried that speaking of sexual abstinence will further alienate Catholics and drive away the shrinking remainder of church-goers but more importantly their source of funds? [3]


[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Church_by_country, accessed August 23, 2015.
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_population, accessed August 23, 2015.
[3] This blogger does not know how to classify this deliberate omission by the Catholic church, turning a blind eye toward the virtue of sexual abstinence.  Is it hypocrisy or is it fraud, or both?  Where in Dante's Inferno will those committing this compound sin go?

Anonymous - God's Other Name

For Catholics, God is a well-known Trinitarian God comprising of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. [1] The same God is also cloaked in anonymity, to look after those who do not necessarily respect Christianity due to all the evil deeds that a number of self-professed Christians over the course of history had done in God's name (one of the most heinous acts in recent memory was the invasion of Iraq [2], the consequences of which are still being unraveled under ISIL [3]) and under the umbrella of the Vatican (one of the costliest misdeeds in terms of legal settlement--at least US$2.2 billion in the United States alone--has been child sex abuse by Catholic priests [4]).

If one were to observe objectively how certain self-professed Christians had acted, within and without the Vatican, one could readily conclude that what was done was not what Christ would have done, and therefore they would not be considered as Christians.  In fact, these self-professed Christians had hijacked Christianity to serve their own selfish interests, such as those rooted in greed, envy, power and/or vengeance, by committing crimes against humanity, in the same way and for similar reasons that certain self-professed Muslims (ISIL) had hijacked Islam to commit their crimes against humanity. [5]

However, when one travels to a country where the populace is predominantly Muslim, aside from a number of countries [6], one does not often see the kind of unrest that one sees in a number of cities where the economy is based on drug trade and gang violence is the norm.  Moreover, when one observes the average Muslim, he or she is no different than any other average non-Muslim man or woman anywhere in the world.

In short, everybody is the same.  For those who are ignorant and loud, announcing lines of division where there are none, they should step out from their provincial existence into the world for once, and travel around, embrace humanity, ride the subways, take public transportation, shop at the local grocery stores, so that they can see that people in Paris, France, are no different from those in Hong Kong, SAR, China, or Istanbul, Turkey, Bangkok, Thailand, Moscow, Russia or Santiago, Chile, waiting for a subway train, riding a local bus, standing in line to checkout at a supermarket. Everyone has a job to do, a family to go home to, chores to complete, places to go and friends to see.  In other words, everyone has a life, as do those living in Tehran, Iran, and Pyongyang, North Korea.

And it is the everyday people with individual crosses to bear and challenges to overcome everywhere in the world that God is around to protect and to love, including those who are not aware of God's presence, for this loving God can be anonymous, and will remain as such for those who have not yet known or not yet been blessed to know the Trinitarian God as the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

No matter what one thinks, where there is purity of love and where there is interior peace, God is present!


[1] http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p1s2c1p2.htm
[2] A United States president "told Palestinian ministers that God had told him to invade Afghanistan and Iraq ..." See http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2005/10_october/06/bush.shtml
[3] http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/08/iraq-baquba-attacks-150810180620487.html and http://www.defense.gov/News-Article-View/Article/613947/airstrikes-destroy-isil-infrastructure-in-syria-iraq   It is notable that the latter article cited here which listed airstrikes at a number of locations apparently resulted in no death or injury since there no mention of any death or injury; it also ought to be noted that any bloodshed on either side of the battle lines is the blood of the children of God.  In God's eyes, there is neither a distinction between one sinner from another, nor is there a distinction in the kind of love given to one sinner or another.  See also http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-34027065, relating to the August 22, 2015, bombing in Kabul, Afghanistan, and http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/11790486/Fixing-the-chaos-in-Libya-must-be-the-Governments-top-priorityLibya-Islamic-state.html, relating to the continuing chaos in Libya four years after Colonel Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown.
[4]  http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28282050 and http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/vatican-abuse-summit-22-billion-and-100000-victims-us-alone
[5] There are those who believe that Islam is not a religion of peace.  See http://cnsnews.com/blog/michael-w-chapman/rev-graham-islam-not-religion-peace-it-violent-form-faith  How can anyone make such a judgmental and conclusory statement is beyond reason.  If Islam is so violent, where is the violence?  "As of 2010, over 1.6 billion or about 23.4% of the world population are Muslims."  See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim_world  And whoever believes that Muslims are violent must ask how many major wars had Muslims started, how many bombs had Muslims dropped on this planet ever since bombs have been used as weapons of mass destruction and how many people had Muslims killed over the course of history as compared to the ever-so-peaceful non-Muslims?
[6] The countries going through upheaval currently are Iraq, Syria, Libya and Afghanistan which had relatively stable, albeit imperfect status quo not that long ago had been torn asunder by certain arrogant, unwise, unthinking but self-righteous western leaders who now have no clue how to restore even the largely unsatisfactory but delicate balance that the deposed leaders had maintained.

Marital Infidelity

So much for: "Thou shalt not commit adultery." [1]

ashleymadison.com is a website that was recently hacked [2] exposing 39 million users worldwide [3] so far, most of them straight, presuambly married, men.  It is unfortunate that this revelation did not come soon enough for the United States Supreme Court to include it its majority opinion on gay marriage in Obergefell v. Hodges.  Part of the majority opinion is quoted below [with this blogger's annotations in brackets]:

"The nature of marriage is that, through its enduring bond [4], two persons together can find other freedoms [as millions of married men worldwide can attest to by their enrollments in ashleymadison.com] such as expression [of extramarital sexual desire], intimacy [with prostitutes] and spirituality [a secular government's concept of spirituality--whatever that entails].  This is true for all persons, whatever their sexual orientation. [5]

...  

No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love [of recreational sex with different partners], fidelity [in the nominal sense], devotion [to satisfying one's sexual appetite], sacrifice [by staying married in an unfulfilled marital state] and family [as evidenced by an occasional group photo] ... Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization's oldest institutions [but to find delight in debauchery, to live in sin and secrecy, to lust after those in one of civilization's oldest professions - (gay) prostitutes - and to engage them in sex, just like their straight counterparts.] [6]

Accordingly, for those who are unable to control one's libidinous urges to engage in wild fantasy sex with hot women or men that are only an Uber's ride away from one's hotel, it would be better not to marry in order to avoid the sin of adultery.  Adultery is bad but promiscuity before marriage is not any better.  While the Gospels are silent on promiscuity, they are clear about loving one another. Promiscuous sex is not borne out of love; it is using someone as an object to satisfy one's lustful desires.  Anything that is performed without love is without any redemptive value, including marital infidelity.



[1] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus+20%3A14&version=KJV
[2] http://krebsonsecurity.com/2015/07/online-cheating-site-ashleymadison-hacked/
[3] http://www.theverge.com/2015/7/20/9002185/ashley-madison-hacked-data-37-million-users
[4] It is precisely because of the constant, enduring bond and suffocating togetherness that a married couple not only can, but will find freedoms that pleases each individually.
[5] http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/14pdf/14-556_3204.pdf, p.13.
[6] Ibid., p.28.

ISIL - The Offspring Of Twin Failures

The saying that failure is the mother of success applies here in a twisted sort of way in that the success did not inure to those who failed but instead to those who were expected to fail, but did not, and whose very existence today by the cruelty of their actions has become a bane to those who did.

Those who were expected to fail but did not were the Baathists, supporters of the deposed Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein, who was charged with crimes and executed. [1]  A number of Baathists, potentially as many as 400,000, might have become radicalized and a part of ISIL, [2] a force that is very real, very cruel and truly feared.

The mighty "decider" who was not supposed to fail, who unleashed this barbarous force, failed by his decisions to invade Iraq to depose and execute Saddam Hussein [3] despite declaring victory in his war against Iraq on May 1, 2003. [4].  His blind foresight continues to haunt the world in the name of ISIL, and keeps alive the vision of Saddam Hussein who uttered these premonitory words: "'the mother of all battles is underway'" [5].

The on-going bloody mess and the suffering of the displaced [6] caused by the arrogance of an ignorant politician is only part of a pair of failures; the other part belonged to the pope who became a dubious saint who to his credit did ask the decider not to invade Iraq [7] but who had not backed up his words with action.  How very impressed would the Muslim world be had that pope traveled to Baghdad to stand shoulder to shoulder with his Muslim brothers to delay, if not stop a crazy idiot (Emperor Nero reincarnate) from carrying out his shock and awe bombing of Baghdad [8].  Had that taken place, Baghdad would still likely be bombed but ISIL would probably not be decapitating Christians, especially if the pope had died a martyr trying to prevent the reign of evil from succeeding by turning the the axis of evil [9] back at the perpetrators.

Peering into the future, the Vatican is still going to be all talk and no action, ISIL is not likely going to disappear anytime soon, nor is the chapter closed on the story of the modern day Emperor Nero whose family is large and its bloodline long.  Only God knows what will become of the evil workers on opposite sides of the battle lines while raging war on the same side against the Prince of Peace.  Perhaps this truth is certain: interior peace for these people will be difficult to attain, not to be equated with absolute nothingness, i.e. total darkness without the presence of Christ in the heart and mind.


[1] http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/history/persian-gulf-wars.html
[2] https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/the-hidden-hand-behind-the-islamic-state-militants-saddam-husseins/2015/04/04/aa97676c-cc32-11e4-8730-4f473416e759_story.html
[3] http://www.globalresearch.ca/saddam-hussein-s-last-words-to-the-hell-that-is-iraq/4620
[4] http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/history/persian-gulf-wars.html
[5] http://www.thisdayinquotes.com/2010/01/saddam-hussein-and-mother-of-all.html
[6] http://ec.europa.eu/echo/files/aid/countries/factsheets/turkey_syrian_crisis_en.pdf
[7] http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/world-news/detail/articolo/guerra-del-golfo-gulf-war-bush-giovanni-paolo-ii-john-paul-i-juan-pablo-ii-8130/
[8] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/9933587/The-myth-of-shock-and-awe-why-the-Iraqi-invasion-was-a-disaster.html
[9] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axis_of_evil

Pure Evil: Satan Or The Serpent

This blogger is often confused by the relationship between the Serpent in the Garden of Eden and Satan, not knowing if they are one and the same or that they are separate entities under the umbrella of evil.  It is interesting to note, however, that the Serpent's approach is very different from Satan's. If Satan's method to destroy man is to direct man's attention away from God with a plethora of temptations that distract him from seeking the Truth while leaving it intact, the Serpent's is to focus man's entire attention on God, to make man want to be God, tricking him into believing that he can be powerful like God, that he can create and rule like God, is God and that he can replace God, by distorting the Truth and deliberately omitting to tell him that to be God, he must love unconditionally like God which the Serpent knows that man is incapable of doing.

A reasonable guess would be that they are different entities. The Serpent was never an angel.  It misrepresented the Truth. This fact alone puts the Serpent under the category of pure evil.  Why it was so evil only God knows.  Perhaps it was put there to test Eve and Adam, to see if they would choose to love and obey God and if they would each take care of her and his respective body, as opposed to desecrating the gift of flesh to experience and consummate multiple coital and sodomitic unions in the case of Eve and multiple sodomitic unions in the case of Adam with a transformed evil entity capable of irresistible seduction and obscene sexual acts of depravity with both female and male.  As previously concluded, the sexual union between the Serpent and Eve produced a son by the name of Cain. [1]

Many if not all the people in the world today are descendants of Cain who was the first bearer of Original Sin and as such, everyone has the potential to be evil.  For this reason, Lucifer thought it was unfair that God would love sinners more than angels, even the the ugliest and most sinful of sinners would be loved more than the most beautiful of sinless angels who was Lucifer himself.  Although Lucifer rebelled against God and God sent him to Hell, Lucifer as Satan had not deceived man.  Satan merely presented temptations, giving man the choice to embrace them or not, to ruin his own soul or not, to spend an eternity in Hell or not.  From this perspective, Satan is certainly evil, but not pure evil since it still has respect for Free Will given to man by God, and perhaps even a scintilla of love for its Creator Who is God. [2]




[1] See Love--Man's Innate Desire and Characteristic at http://lemomentdepaix.blogspot.com/2015/08/love-mans-innate-desire-and.html
[2] Maybe someone could start a group that would be dedicated to restore Lucifer to his original glory as God's most beautiful angel in Heaven by asking all sinners to avoid Satan's temptations, to prove to Satan that sinners indeed deserve God's love, so that Satan would humble and prostrate itself before God and beg for mercy and forgiveness.  This is truly a fantasy since Satan's temptations are so enticing that man's unabatable desire to fall into them kills any curiosity he may have to see what absolute beauty looks like in the eyes of God.

Satan's Jealousy And Man's Envy

This blog has often stated that Lucifer, once God's most beautiful angel, was so consumed by jealousy because of God's unconditional love for man, a weak and sinful creature inferior to angels, that he rebelled against God Who sent Michael the Archangel to force him out of Heaven and into Hell where he continues his embittered existence as Satan. This entry therefore is a refrain of sorts.

In Hell, Satan had devised a plan to destroy man by making man destroy himself, not only by having man destabilize the environment that nurtures him and by fomenting fear and hate in him that lead to killings, but also by drawing his attention away from God with temptations that are sexual, religious and secular with varying degrees of perversion, decadence and malevolence.

If Adam and Eve had resisted the temptations of the Serpent in the Garden of Eden, obeyed God and not touched the Forbidden Fruit, man would probably have the respect of Lucifer who would still be the most beautiful angel in Heaven but that was not what happened.  Despite man's continual failings, God's love for man remained unconditional, causing Lucifer to become jealous and revolt.  Thus,  if jealousness was the cause of Lucifer's downfall, then envy was the reason for man's.

Love -- Man's Innate Desire And Charateristic

Man needs to be loved and man's nature is to love.  These two unalterable truths are based on the fact that man was created in the image of God, the one and only God Who loves so perfectly that man was given the Free Will to reciprocate or refuse this perfect love, but reality does not revolve around these truths, since man can exist without love and thrive on being hateful.  Man can unite, rule and make a living based on hate, choosing words, actions and associations that are tinged with hate.

How did hate originate?  The analysis begins with Adam and Eve.  It is reasonable to conclude that Adam and Eve never hated their Creator.  One does not have to hate to desire the same status as another.  Adam and Eve merely wanted to be like God. [1]  It was Eve's son Cain who out of jealousy which festered into anger, then hate, that caused him to kill his brother Abel. [2]  It would be pure speculation as to why Cain was unlike Abel who was righteous and loved God.  This blog is replete with all kinds of speculation.  This entry is no different.

Cain was unlike able because the seed of Cain did not belong to Adam.  Adam, being God's creation, was perfect.  Being perfect means that he had the Free Will to choose good over evil.  When he and Eve took a bite of the apple in the Garden of Eden, they chose evil over good for they were unable to resist the Serpent's temptations.  To know the strength of one's goodness is to test it.  Being able to pass difficult tests means one's interior goodness is strong. [3]  The fact that Adam and Eve were unable to resist Satan's temptations meant that they were weak but not intrinsically evil, but the offspring from the sexual union between Eve and the Serpent [4] was intrinsically evil: he was Cain, the first born son of Eve.  In contrast, Abel, Eve's second son, who was from the seed of Adam, was not, and neither was Seth, the third son of Adam and Eve, from whose lineage Jesus came. [5]

There seems to be a contradiction in the implication that good still exists in the seeds of evil so much so that man's innate desire is still to be loved and man's disposition is still to love.  This is actually not a contradiction, but God's Truth.

God's Truth is based on love which is eternal, which cannot be defeated or extinguished by hate.  Accordingly, no matter how evil or hateful man is, man can reform, repent, reconcile his sins to God and return to his original goodness, so that his soul can be redeemed from an eternity of suffering in Hell.


[1] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+3%3A1-5&version=NIV
[2] http://www.gotquestions.org/Cain-and-Abel.html
[3] Jesus, the Son of God, was the only Person in the flesh Who was able to resist Satan's temptations while no man can.  Jesus was at His weakest when Satan tempted Him.  See https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%204:1-11.  In the movie, The Last Temptation of Christ, the fourth temptation came when Jesus was dying on the cross.
[4] An entry on the speculation of a sexual union between Eve and the Serpent had taken place was posted on March 20, 2015, under the title The Original Eve at http://lemomentdepaix.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-original-eve.html/
[5] http://www.thenazareneway.com/genealogy_of_jesus.htm

God's Shepherd: Fr. John Lee Tae-Seok aka Fr. Jolly Of Sudan

Today is Sunday, and God's shepherd is missing.

I have not kept count how many Sundays have gone by without going to Mass, let alone to confession. The last time I went to Mass, I was disappointed that Fr. Emmanuel was not there.  Later, I read that he had already left the parish for another assignment.  Someone else was the celebrant.  He started his homily talking about the decorative symbols on his stole, that part of the vestment that a priest puts around the back of his neck that hangs down the front.  I left as discreetly as I could.  The combination of my initial disappointment together with my disillusionment brought upon by a priest asking the congregation to focus on the decorative symbols on his stole which he was apparently proud of but which I considered to be materialistic was too much for me to bear.  I was at Mass to be spiritually uplifted; instead my attention had been directed toward meaningless ostentation.  I did not think he could get me anywhere close to God when the first thing he had me focus on was the pride he had in his personal belongings. Perhaps I was impetuous and my conclusion rash, and I was wrong.  If so, I leave the judgment to God and seek mercy and forgiveness for my trespass on this occasion and many, many others.

My disillusionment with priests in general is driving me further and further away from the Catholic church.  The current crop, with some exceptions, are more concerned with status and politics than with their vocation, which is to continue where Christ had left off, awakening by means of humility and self-sacrifice the tenderness of love for one another which seems to be ossified by relative moralism under a secularist society.  To have to listen to and observe their hypocrisy at Mass is almost like torture.

So in front of the television I watch (rather than being excited about attending Mass) shows including some on EWTN, a Catholic channel in the United States, that have little to no redeeming value.  But, on EWTN today, a documentary on Fr. John Lee Tae-Seok, also known as Fr. Jolly in Sudan, caused my tears to flow, dissolving my calcifying heart toward Catholicism.  The documentary is entitled Don't cry for me Sudan. [1]

Why had I not come across Fr. Jolly sooner?  Was it because he was Korean and had not the fame of a European Mother Teresa under a Eurocentric Catholic church?  Why does the world hardly know of this saintly priest that compelled Mary O'Regan to entitle her article in the Catholic Herald "The 21st-century 'saint' you've never heard of"? [2]  I withhold answers to the latter two questions.  My answer to the first follows.

The reason that I had not known of Fr. John Lee Tae-Seok any earlier is likely because there was no need to.  I was not at the point of disillusionment.  For this encounter to happen now is to save me from going down the path of darkness which I am more and more convinced is where the Catholic church is headed.  Furthermore, had I read about Fr. John Lee Tae-Seok earlier, it would have been a mental note of an exceptional priest doing the work of God.  To know of Fr. John Lee Tae-Seok after his death on "14 January 2010 at the age of 48" [3] is to know him not as an exceptional fellow human being but as God's chosen saint.  In my mind, my fortuitous, or more accurately, "arranged" encounter with Fr. John Lee Tae-Soek is a gift from God, a deeply meaningful one.

Fr. John Lee Tae-Seok was blessed with poverty growing-up to be understanding and compassionate, with intelligence that he became a doctor and with musical talent that he was able to learn music and teach himself how to play musical instruments.   With these gifts, he was called by God to Tonj in Sudan to serve, to give love and bring joy to the poor, the hungry, the injured, the sick, the lepers and the ignored at a time when a war was on-going, when the sick was not cared for, when people were dying of diseases and malnutrition. There, Fr. Jolly worked with the Tonj people to build a hospital and a school.  To them, he was a priest, a father to the children, a mathematics and music teacher, an architect, a contractor, a laborer, a doctor and a conductor of a brass band.

How can any one person have so much talent, so much energy, enthusiasm and dedication to give to others?  I could live another ten lives and would not have done nearly as much as Fr. John Lee Tae-Seok had done in 6-7 years (estimated) [4] in Tonj, Sudan.  When God chooses a shepherd, the shepherd will be blessed with an abundance in order that it may in turn be given to those with nothing.

One may wish to question why did God not give such gifts to those in Tonj, Sudan, but instead they had to endure much pain and suffering?  This is a question even Fr. John Lee Tae-Seok asked.  In the documentary the narrator said that amidst the silence Fr. John Tae-Seok heard a voice, "Love, love, love.  Love one another." [5]  With so many people of Tonj loving him in return, love is apparently a 2-way street, overflowing with God's love, which Fr. Jolly and the Tonj people shared in life and share in spirit.

One may also wish to ask why was Fr. John Lee Tae-Seok struck with cancer so that he could not return to Tonj, Sudan, to continue serving those who need him?  Perhaps he had completed his work here on earth and he was called by God to go home.  To have to carry the pains of cancer beforehand, to not be able to absorb food in the latter stages of his life, is to perhaps to perfect him, to be like the suffering Jesus on the cross, so that he goes directly to Heaven without the need to go through Purgatory.

A period in Purgatory probably awaits many of today's priests, if Hell is not their eternal destination.  If only they can be like Fr. Jolly of Sudan, administering to those under their care in Fr. Jolly's loving and selfless ways, the Catholic church would stand strong and Sunday Mass would truly be holy and not a mindless performance repeated at different times during the course of the day.



[1] https://vimeo.com/69300535  The title given to the documentary ought to be changed in my opinion to God's Shepherd In Sudan.
[2] http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/features/2011/02/25/the-21st-century-%E2%80%98saint%E2%80%99-you%E2%80%99ve-never-heard-of/
[3] http://www.faith2share.net/Mission/Missionaries/JohnTaeSukLee/tabid/298/language/en-GB/Default.aspx
[4] Fr. John Lee Tae-Seok went to Tonj, Sudan after his ordination in 2001.  He returned to South Korea to his family in 2008 when he was diagnosed with cancer from which he died on January 14, 2010, without returning to Sudan.  See http://www.hanbooks.com/wiyoubemyfrf.html
[5] https://vimeo.com/69300535 beginning at approximately 40:27.  The segment began with these words: "In this world there are those who simply dream and those who turn those dreams into reality."  Ouch!  For this dreamer to hear this, it hurts, right to the bone.