The Catholic Church - No Longer Unified

Quoted in part from an articled dated November 15, 2016, from The Salt Lake Tribune [1]:

[T]he vote at their annual fall meeting in Baltimore on Tuesday [meant] that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops [("USCCB")] is still hesitant to fully endorse the more progressive and pastoral approach to ministry that Pope Francis has been championing.

...

[W]hile Gomez leads an enormous, diverse and growing archdiocese of more than 4 million Catholics, Francis pointedly passed over him last month when he named his first U.S. cardinals.

Gomez's election to the USCCB leadership this week — days before three American churchmen considered more progressive than he is will receive red hats in Rome from the pope — was seen by some as a clear signal.

Moreover, while DiNardo's ascension to president was expected, he is also widely viewed as a conservative with a spiky public persona who has clashed publicly with other bishops.

DiNardo was also one of 13 conservative cardinals who signed a private letter to Francis at a high-stakes Vatican meeting last October warning the pontiff in stark terms not to push ahead with reforms to pastoral practices that would make the church more inclusive and open to the divorced and remarried, for example.

When the letter went public it created a furor, though Francis and his allies were still able to pass language that largely did what the pope wanted.

The upshot is that while Francis has begun naming bishops and promoting cardinals who share his vision for the church, observers say it will likely take another couple of years and perhaps 20 to 30 more appointments to the nearly 300-member hierarchy before Catholics would see a definite "Francis effect" on elections of USCCB leaders.

This blogger thinks that it would take a miracle for this papacy to last "another couple of years" but then this papacy that could be the "destroyer" that Jesus Christ had sent based on the words of San Francesco d'Assisi in Works of the Seraphic Father St. Francis Of Assisi, translated by a religious of the Order. [2]


[1] http://www.sltrib.com/home/4589912-155/us-catholic-bishops-follow-trumps-election
[2] http://www.saintsbooks.net/books/St.%20Francis%20of%20Assisi%20-%20Works%20of%20the%20Seraphic%20Father.pdf: Works of the Seraphic Father St. Francis Of Assisi, Trans. A religious of the Order. London: R. Washbourne, 1882, p. 250.

The Catholic Church - No Longer Universal

More intriguing than any fiction of Dan Brown's is the article dated May 2, 2016, published by novusordowatch.org, quoted below in its entirety (with hyperlinks, bullet point symbols, paragraph indentations and photographs omitted) [1]:

"Amoris Laetitia" and the Coming Schism:
Retrospect and Prospect

Shortly before the Synod on the Family of 2014 — the first of the two mini-councils, whose final result was the toxic exhortation Amoris Laetitia — we put the question before our readers: How long until schism?

How Long Until Schism? The Vatican II Church on the Brink of Chaos 

After this initial post, we followed up now and again to report on various happenings that indicated that indeed a serious rupture within the Vatican II Sect was beginning to take shape:

The Schism Begins: Burke, Lenga, Schneider
Prelude to Schism: Anti-Synod Video Appears
Revolt against Bergoglio: Anti-Francis Dossier circulating inside Vatican

On April 8, 2016, the very day the Vatican released Francis’ post-synodal exhortation that has effectively permitted public sinners to approach the Novus Ordo sacraments without requiring conversion first, the reputable German Vaticanist Andreas Englisch warned that a schism with Benedict XVI as Antipope, although he believed it to be unlikely, could not be ruled out: 

“Papal” Biographer: Schism with Benedict XVI as Anti-Pope is Possible

Earlier in 2014, and even as early as December of 2013, we had already detected the beginnings of a schism in a phenomenon we decided to label “Resignationism”, a position taken by a number of Novus Ordos and Semi-Traditionalists who believe that Benedict XVI’s resignation on February 11, 2013, was made under duress and was therefore, per Novus Ordo Church law, invalid. In other words, so-called “Resignationists” believe that Benedict XVI is still the validly reigning Pope, not Francis: 

The Rise of “Resignationism”

In conjunction with the Resignationist thesis, and adding another twist to the whole thing, claims then appeared that in any case it was “Cardinal” Angelo Scola, the “Archbishop” of Milan, who was elected “Pope” in the 2013 conclave, before Jorge Bergoglio: 

Resignationism 2.0: Enter “Cardinal” Scola

While many may have thought at the time we published these posts that the possibility of a schism was an absurd and silly thought, things are looking quite a bit more serious today. Since the publication of Francis’ lengthy and verbose post-synodal document Amoris Laetitia, great turmoil has befallen the Novus Ordo world, something we’ve been chronicling at our special Chaos Watch page here. Our own commentary on the document and our analysis of various reactions to it can be found in our special-edition podcast: TRADCAST 013.

Against all this background, Inside the Vatican has now published in its entirety an English translation of an interview with the 89-year-old conservative German Novus Ordo philosopher Robert Spaemann, a personal friend of Benedict XVI’s, whose words certainly add some real fuel to the fire:

Every priest who holds to the sacramental order hitherto in force may undergo forms of bullying from their faithful and be put under pressure by their bishop. Rome can now impose the directive that from now on only “merciful” bishops will be appointed, bishops who are willing to soften the existing order.

Chaos has been erected as a principle with the stroke of a pen.

The Pope should have known that with such a step he splits the Church and leads her toward a schism.

This schism would not reside at the periphery, but in the very heart of the Church. God forbid.

One thing, however, seems certain: what seemed to be the aspiration of this pontificate — that the Church would transcend her “self-referentialness” in order to go out to meet persons with an open heart — with this papal document has been destroyed for an unforeseeable length of time.

One must now expect a secularizing boost and a further decline in the number of priests in large parts of the world. One can easily verify that, for some time, the bishops and dioceses with a clear attitude regarding faith and morals have the highest number of priestly vocations. It must be borne in mind here what St. Paul writes in his letter to the Corinthians: “If the trumpet gives an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself for the battle?” (1 Cor 14: 8).

(Robert Spaemann, in Robert Moynihan, “Letter #37, 2016: The Danger of Schism”, Inside the Vatican, Apr. 28, 2016; German original here; alternative translation here.) 

You know things are serious when reputable people like Englisch, Spaemann, and Robert Moynihan, editor-in-chief of Inside the Vatican, start talking about schism. These are people who have no interest in making fools out of themselves or in needlessly putting their credibility on the line.

Another journalist who has contributed an interesting revelation to the current discussion is the Italian columnist Giuseppe Reguzzoni. On Maurizio Blondet’s blog Blondet & Friends, Reguzzoni writes:

A distinguished voice in the Roman Curia associated with one of today’s most important Catholic periodicals did not hide the anger of Cardinal Müller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith: The text of Amoris Laetitia that was put before him [to review] was much more innocuous than the one that was actually published.

(Giuseppe Reguzzoni, “Nella sua Chiesa, Kasper impone il Terrore giacobino. Per ‘misericordia’”, Blondet & Friends, Apr. 29, 2016; our translation.) 

To those who object that we sedevacantists are trying to “talk a schism into existence”, so to speak, because we think this will help our cause, we would like to clarify that it is not so: We do not — or at least not necessarily — think that a schism inside the Vatican II Sect would be a good thing, and here’s why: Although a Novus Ordo schism would be a positive occurrence insofar as it would make plainly visible to all that the supposed “unity” in the Vatican II Church is illusory and thus get a lot of people to re-evaluate if they should perhaps look into Sedevacantism after all, there would also be a very grave danger that could allow people to continue to be blinded for decades to come: Those who, in the event of a schism in which Benedict XVI plays Francis’ “conservative” counterpart, flock to the “Pope Emeritus”, would be under the serious but emotionally satisfying illusion of having escaped the Modernist deception, which they would see only in Francis’ sect, whereas the truth is, of course, that it began long before Francis, namely, in 1958 with the election of Cardinal Angelo Roncalli as the first false pope (“John XXIII”).

Thus a Ratzinger-vs.-Bergoglio schism could actually prevent a number of conversions to Sedevacantism because the Ratzinger adherents would with great satisfaction believe themselves to have eluded the false Modernist Church, when the truth is that they would only have adjusted rooming arrangements within the the same deadly anti-Catholic sect. The Ratzinger sect and the Bergoglio sect would be but two wings of the same bird.

At this point it could be a good idea to revisit something that can perhaps shed more light on the truly bizarre events we have witnessed since Benedict XVI’s resignation in February 2013: During a secret 5-day trip to Peking, China, in mid-November 2011, “Cardinal” Paolo Romeo, “Archbishop” of Palermo (see photo on left), met with Italian businessmen and local church officials and announced to them with great assurance that Benedict XVI would be dead within 12 months. The listeners were so aghast at the confidence with which Romeo made the prediction that they understood him to be hinting at an assassination plot against the “Pope”.

This startling news was reported in a two-page, highly-confidential internal Vatican document allegedly written by “Cardinal” Dario Castrillon Hoyos to brief Benedict and perhaps also other high-ranking Vatican officials on Romeo’s assertions made in Peking. The report was leaked to the left-leaning Italian newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano, which published a front-page article entitled, Complotto Contro Il Papa: Entro 12 Mesi Morirà (“Plot against the Pope: Within 12 Months He will Die”) on February 10, 2012 — exactly 1 year and 1 day before Benedict XVI announced his resignation. The online versions of the article can still be accessed:

“Complotto contro Benedetto XVI: entro 12 mesi morirà” (Italian original)
“Plot against Benedict XVI: He will die in 12 months” (English translation)
Video showing the print edition of the Feb. 10, 2012 issue of Il Fatto Quotidiano

Dated December 30, 2011, the classified paper was written in German, Benedict’s native language, allegedly to ensure that as few people as possible would be able to read it in case it got into the wrong hands. Il Fatto released only one page of the document, which we have translated into English. You can download a PDF file of the translation with the original appended, here:

Internal Vatican Document on “Cardinal” Romeo Talk in China, Nov. 2011 (Dec. 30, 2011)

When the Vatican press office was asked to comment on the matter, the spokesman, “Fr.” Federico Lombardi confirmed the authenticity of the document but, not surprisingly, downplayed the whole matter as “nonsense not to be taken seriously”, on which grounds he then refused to give any further comment.

According to the leaked paper, “Cardinal” Romeo also predicted the election of Angelo Scola as Benedict XVI’s successor. Despite the fact that this didn’t happen, one ought not to dismiss it lightly, especially inasmuch as Scola is rumored to have indeed been elected at the conclave that followed but before Bergoglio, as mentioned earlier. Besides, the document relates the following: “Romeo prophesied just as self-confidently that even now it had already been secretly determined that in any event the successor to Benedict XVI would be a candidate with Italian roots.” In other words, even if Scola would not be elected, it would definitely be someone “with Italian roots.” Notice that the report does not say “an Italian” but someone with “Italian roots” — someone like… Jorge Mario Bergoglio:

Born in a typical Italian immigrant family, where the Piedmontese dialect is still spoken and where he considers it a duty to improve himself, Jorge Mario has a very special relationship with his grandmother Rosa.

(Elisabetta Piqué, Pope Francis: Life and Revolution: A Biography of Jorge Bergoglio [Chicago, IL: Loyola Press], p. 39; underlining added.) 

“Pope” Francis, although himself born in Argentina, has Italian roots. In 1927, his grandparents moved from Italy to Argentina, directly to Buenos Aires (see Austen Ivereigh, The Great Reformer: Francis and the Making of a Radical Pope [New York, NY: Henry Holt & Co.], pp. 4-5). His last name — Bergoglio — is “an Italian surname” (Piqué, p. 54).

Thus, no matter what one may think of the other predictions allegedly made by “Cardinal” Romeo, he definitely hit a home run on this point. Not an Italian but someone with “Italian roots” indeed became the de facto successor to Benedict XVI. When Romeo himself was asked about the allegations made against him in the explosive paper, he denied having said that Benedict would only live for another year, and claimed that what the newspaper had published was incoherent and all made up.

But, as Il Fatto Quotidiano speculated after Benedict announced his resignation on Feb. 11, 2013, perhaps Romeo did indeed predict the end of Benedict’s “pontificate” but was speaking figuratively, having instead his resignation in mind rather than an assassination attempt, and was misunderstood by his audience. This too cannot be ruled out, especially considering that Italian journalist Antonio Socci had already gone on the record on Sep. 25, 2011, to predict that it was conceivable that Benedict XVI would resign.

The following links corroborate our summary:

Ratzinger-Castrillón summit: The Vatican confirms: the papal note exists (Il Fatto Quotidiano)
Il documento: “Strettamente confidenziale per il Santo Padre” (Il Fatto Quotidiano)
Vatican: “Confidential” documents and that non-existent conspiracy (Vatican Insider)
The Pope will die within a year: Vatican ‘Assassination Fears’ revealed (The Telegraph)
Assassination Plot against Benedict XVI to make Angelo Scola next Pope (Daily Mail – caution! immodesty)
“Plot to kill Pope” sparks Italian media storm (The Guardian)
Terremoto Vaticano (Libero / Antonio Socci)
Dimissioni Papa, le ‘profezie’. L’Osservatore: ‘Già decise da molti mesi’ (Il Fatto Quotidiano)
Dimissioni del Papa… Preghiamo che Dio ce lo conservi a lungo (Libero / Antonio Socci)

Adding to the bizarreness of it all is the fact that the aforementioned German Vaticanist, Andreas Englisch, alsopredicted the resignation of Benedict XVI, in an interview given on April 16, 2012, the day Benedict celebrated his 85th birthday. True, Englisch like Socci based his prediction on the claim that during the waning days of the John Paul II “pontificate”, the then-“Cardinal” Ratzinger had verbalized his conviction that a Pope who is as ill as John Paul II then was, should resign, and it is for this reason that he (Englisch) thought Benedict would eventually throw in the towel. However, given that at the time of the Englisch interview there was no serious indication that Benedict XVI was suffering from any gravely distressing physical limitations, and given that two months prior to the interview, “Cardinal” Romeo’s alleged prediction about Benedict’s impending death had been exposed by Il Fatto Quotidiano, one may wonder whether Englisch’s daring and potentially embarrassing prognostication about “Pope” Ratzinger’s eventual resignation might not have been based on some other inside information as well.

Englisch’s concluding words lend further credence to the legitimacy of such speculation:

…During the Renaissance and also the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church had extremely bad experience with Antipopes, that is, with several Popes [reigning] at the same time, even though paragraph 22 of Canon Law expressly provides for a papal resignation. The problem that presents itself is simple: Let us assume a Pope resigns. Then a successor is elected who makes some sort of decision that does not sit well with the retired Pope. Then, in theory, he [the retired Pope] could say: I’m changing my mind. I am the Pope! And then we have a huge problem. 

(Andreas Englisch, “Dieser Papst wird zurücktreten” [“This Pope will resign”], n-tv.de, April 16, 2012; our translation.) 

According to the scenario described by Englisch, (1) a Pope resigns; (2) the new Pope does something the old Pope does not like; (3) the old Pope starts a schism. Even though most people back in 2012 thought they would never see (1) happen, it did; as far as (2) goes, it either has already happened or could be very close to happening; the question is probably only whether (3) might also come true. Now don’t say, “There’s no way that will ever happen.” Haven’t enough things happened in the last three years you once would have sworn up and down would never take place?

Every effect must have a proportionate cause. We have witnessed bizarre events and may very well see stranger things still. The underlying causes to what has transpired since Benedict’s resignation could be much deeper and complex than many have imagined.

Did Benedict XVI ultimately resign in order to ward off an attempt on his life? Was indeed “Cardinal” Scola elected first and only then “Cardinal” Bergoglio in the follow-up conclave? We may never know the answer. But thankfully, we do not need to know in order to know that all of these men — their occasional outward appearances to the contrary notwithstanding — are Modernists and not Catholics, and hence all of them are ineligible to be the head of the Catholic Church.

What this ongoing drama does allow us to see, in any case, is that to say that a real schism is brewing in the Modernist sect is quite justified indeed, and that “Pope” Bergoglio seems determined to bring everything now to a head. However, we suspect that a formal rupture will not take place until the moment that key figures in the Vatican come to the conclusion that an actual schism could only make things better, that it would be the lesser evil compared to letting things continue to go their way. Once this “nothing more to lose” situation has been reached, we will see the fit [sic] hitting the shan [sic].

The Novus Ordo Sect seems to be finally destroying itself. Let us try to save as many souls from that sinking ship as possible. The tragic truth is that it is easier to deceive people than to convince them that they’ve been deceived. 

Immaculate Heart of Mary, we entrust all souls of good will to thee. Obtain for them the grace of conversion and then of final perseverance. Amen.

Two National Catholic Register  articles supplement the above, one dated November 15, 2016, is entitled Cardinal Burke on Amoris Laetitia Dubia: ‘Tremendous Division’ Warrants Action [2] and the other dated November 14, 2016, is entitled Four Cardinals Formally Ask Pope for Clarity on ‘Amoris Laetitia’. [3]

The burning questions are: is Francis, the creature who heads the Vatican a true pope or a heretic and if he is a heretic, can he still be a true pope?  "Although the Church has never definitively settled the matter directly, the preponderance of the evidence strongly suggests that it is not possible for a true Pope to ever become a heretic — which means that the Vatican II 'popes', who were heretics indeed, were never true Popes for even one instance, and this is nowhere as obvious as in the case of 'Pope' Francis. But in any case, even if it were possible for a true Pope to become a heretic, as St. Robert Bellarmine teaches, he would immediately by that very fact alone and without a declaration, cease to be Pope." [Hyperlinks omitted.] [4]

If St. Robert Bellarmine is correct, Jorge Mario Bergoglio would ceased to be pope the instant he is proven to be a heretic at any time during his papacy.  Therefore, it can be said that St. Malachy's prophesy is being or has already had been realized, that Jorge Mario Bergoglio, naming himself after San Francesco d'Assisi, born Francesco di Pietro di Bernardone, is Petrus Romanus, Peter the Roman, the last pope.

St. Malachy was not the only saint who spoke of the last pope.  San Francesco d'Assisi did too.  Quoted from novusordowatch.org  (with paragraph indentations omitted) [5]:

Shortly before he died in 1226, St. Francis of Assisi called together the members of his order and warned them of great tribulations that would befall the Church in the future, saying: 

Act bravely, my Brethren; take courage, and trust in the Lord. The time is fast approaching in which there will be great trials and afflictions; perplexities and dissensions, both spiritual and temporal, will abound; the charity of many will grow cold, and the malice of the wicked will increase.

The devils will have unusual power, the immaculate purity of our Order, and of others, will be so much obscured that there will be very few Christians who will obey the true Sovereign Pontiff and the Roman Church with loyal hearts and perfect charity. At the time of this tribulation a man, not canonically elected, will be raised to the Pontificate, who, by his cunning, will endeavour to draw many into error and death.

Then scandals will be multiplied, our Order will be divided, and many others will be entirely destroyed, because they will consent to error instead of opposing it.

There will be such diversity of opinions and schisms among the people, the religious and the clergy, that, except those days were shortened, according to the words of the Gospel, even the elect would be led into error, were they not specially guided, amid such great confusion, by the immense mercy of God.

Then our Rule and manner of life will be violently opposed by some, and terrible trials will come upon us. Those who are found faithful will receive the crown of life; but woe to those who, trusting solely in their Order, shall fall into tepidity, for they will not be able to support the temptations permitted for the proving of the elect.

Those who preserve their fervour and adhere to virtue with love and zeal for the truth, will suffer injuries and, persecutions as rebels and schismatics; for their persecutors, urged on by the evil spirits, will say they are rendering a great service to God by destroying such pestilent men from the face of the earth. But the Lord will be the refuge of the afflicted, and will save all who trust in Him. And in order to be like their Head [Jesus Christ], these, the elect, will act with confidence, and by their death will purchase for themselves eternal life; choosing to obey God rather than man, they will fear nothing, and they will prefer to perish [physically] rather than consent to falsehood and perfidy.

Some preachers will keep silence about the truth, and others will trample it under foot and deny it. Sanctity of life will be held in derision even by those who outwardly profess it, for in those days Jesus Christ will send them not a true Pastor, but a destroyer.

(Works of the Seraphic Father St. Francis Of Assisi [London: R. Washbourne, 1882], pp. 248-250; underlining and paragraph breaks added.)

According to a New York Post  report on the Ides of March, March 15, 2013, Francis took a stab at being funny on a momentous occasion and "toasted the cardinals who had just elected him by joking, 'May God forgive you for what you’ve done.'" [6]  Perhaps he did not mean it as a joke, apparent now with his ideological dagger inserted forcibly into the Catholic Church, splitting it apart and forever killing its Christ-intended universality.


[1] http://novusordowatch.org/2016/05/amoris-laetitia-schism/
[2] http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/cardinal-burke-on-amoris-laetitia-dubia-tremendous-division-warrants-action
[3] http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/four-cardinals-formally-ask-pope-for-clarity-on-amoris-laetitia
[4] http://novusordowatch.org/2016/11/vatican-prelates-studying-heretical-pope/
[5] http://novusordowatch.org/saint-francis-assisi-prophecy-destroyer/
[6] http://nypost.com/2013/03/15/pope-francis-told-cardinals-may-god-forgive-you-for-what-youve-done/

First Week Of Advent 2016

Written by Justin Holcomb, "an Episcopal priest and [professor of] theology at Reformed Theological Seminary and Knox Theological Seminary, the following paragraphs, quoted in part (with hyperlinks omitted), are an eloquent explanation of Advent [1]:

The History of Advent    
                        
The word “Advent” is derived from the Latin word adventus, meaning “coming,” which is a translation of the Greek word parousia. Scholars believe that during the 4th and 5th centuries in Spain and Gaul, Advent was a season of preparation for the baptism of new Christians at the January feast of Epiphany, the celebration of God’s incarnation represented by the visit of the Magi to the baby Jesus (Matthew 2:1), his baptism in the Jordan River by John the Baptist (John 1:29), and his first miracle at Cana (John 2:1). During this season of preparation, Christians would spend 40 days in penance, prayer, and fasting to prepare for this celebration; originally, there was little connection between Advent and Christmas.

By the 6th century, however, Roman Christians had tied Advent to the coming of Christ. But the “coming” they had in mind was not Christ’s first coming in the manger in Bethlehem, but his second coming in the clouds as the judge of the world. It was not until the Middle Ages that the Advent season was explicitly linked to Christ’s first coming at Christmas.

Advent Today
                              
Today, the Advent season lasts for four Sundays leading up to Christmas. At that time, the new Christian year begins with the twelve-day celebration of Christmastide, which lasts from Christmas Eve until Epiphany on January 6. (Advent begins on the Sunday that falls between November 27th and December 3rd each year.)
...

While it is difficult to keep in mind in the midst of holiday celebrations, shopping, lights and decorations, and joyful carols, Advent is intended to be a season of fasting, much like Lent, and there are a variety of ways that this time of mourning works itself out in the season. Reflection on the violence and evil in the world cause us to cry out to God to make things right—to put death’s dark shadows to flight. Our exile in the present makes us look forward to our future Exodus. And our own sinfulness and need for grace leads us to pray for the Holy Spirit to renew his work in conforming us into the image of Christ.

Scott P. Richert explained Advent as follows, quoted in part (with links omitted) [2]:

In the Catholic Church, Advent is a period of preparation, extending over four Sundays, before Christmas. (For more details, see "When Does Advent Start?") The word Advent comes from the Latin advenio, "to come to," and refers to the coming of Christ. This refers, first of all, to our celebration of Christ's birth at Christmas; but second, to the coming of Christ in our lives through grace and the Sacrament of Holy Communion; and finally, to His Second Coming at the end of time. 

Our preparations, therefore, should have all three comings in mind. We need to prepare our souls to receive Christ worthily. 

... 

First We Fast, Then We Feast 

That's why Advent has traditionally been known as a "little Lent." As in Lent, Advent should be marked by increased prayer, fasting, and good works. While the Western Church no longer has a set requirement for fasting during Advent, the Eastern Church, both Catholic and Orthodox, continues to observe what is known as Philip's Fast, from November 15 until Christmas. 

Traditionally, all great feasts have been preceded by a time of fasting, which makes the feast itself more joyful. Sadly, Advent today has supplanted by "the Christmas shopping season," so that by Christmas Day, many people no longer enjoy the feast,

Both scholars agree that fasting is no longer being practiced during the season of Advent.  The need for a cleansing of the body and the soul by fasting [3] in preparation for the Second Coming of Christ has been displaced by holiday parties and by the commercialism of Christmas.  With all the secular sights and sounds of the holidays, it is easy for one not to be mindful of the fact that without Christ there would no Christmas and no salvation.

The advancement of secularism is relentless, and those faithful to God ought to be keenly aware of the insidious, or rather Satanic encroachment of secularism upon Christianity that ever so gradually ossifies it into lifelessness and irrelevance, the antithesis of the living Christ Who considers every life to be relevant enough to be loved unconditionally and die for in order to be saved.

Nobody knows when the Second Coming will arrive.  When It does, one would hope that no soul would already be dead to Christ and on its way to eternal death.  Going to parties and shopping for gifts are in this blogger's opinion not steps that would lead to Hell, but just to make sure that they do not, why not bring God along, and listen to Christmas carols [4] on the way (in anticipation of the birth of Christ) as part of the fun?


[1] http://www.christianity.com/christian-life/christmas/what-is-advent.html
[2] http://catholicism.about.com/od/holydaysandholidays/p/Advent.htm
[3] This blogger confesses that he has never fasted during Advent, or Lent, but he eats fish every Friday.
[4] Christmas carols like O Holy Night, Panis Angelicus and Hark! The Herald Angels Sing  are not the same as secular songs sung during the Christmas season, such as White Christmas, 12 days of Christmas, Jingle Bell Rock  and the like.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Day is an American holiday that began as a harvest celebration. [1]  According to mentalfloss.com, seven other nations have more or less a similar day: they are Germany ("Erntedankfest"  - "a rural and a religious celebration" [2]), Japan ("Kinrō Kansha no Hi" - a day to celebrate labor and the fruits of labor [3]), Canada (a day to be thankful for the country's bountiful harvest), Grenada (a day of remembrance) Liberia (a day to celebrate freedom), The Netherlands (a day of cookies and coffee) and Norfolk Island (a day of church celebration). [4]

Thanksgiving in the United States is a time for family and friends to get together and enjoy each other's company.  It is also an especially difficult time for those who are alone and lonely, especially for the elderly, for those who are sick and for those who are unemployed and poor, who are on their own during the year-end holidays.  God does not forget them; and it is up to them to invite God into their lives through prayer so that peace will settle within their interior replacing the void within.

Peace is a gift from God.  It is subtle and is often taken for granted so that giving thanks for its presence is often neglected, as is giving thanks for the gift of a bountiful harvest and of food that sustains life.

The last time this blogger said grace before and after his meals [5] was decades ago when he was attending a Catholic boarding school run by Benedictine monks. Everyone had to stand to say grace before sitting down to eat and had to stand again and say grace after the monks in charge of the boarders were done with their meals even though not all the boarders were done eating (the boarders were not slow eaters; they were just busy chatting, laughing and having fun).  After saying grace, they could sit back down and finish their meals.

That period was this blogger's happiest.  He imagines Heaven to be a place where every spirit knows each another and joins together in a continuous celebration of peace, happiness, love and thanksgiving that is exponentially more fun and fulfilling than anything life on earth can offer, but life, as difficult as it can be at times, is a chance for one to get to know the suffering Christ through Whom one is able to know God [6] Whose love one has every reason to be thankful for, not only on Thanksgiving Day in America but every day everywhere in the world.


[1] http://www.history.com/topics/thanksgiving/history-of-thanksgiving
[2] http://www.harvestfestivals.net/germanfestivals.htm
[3] http://web-japan.org/kidsweb/explore/calendar/november/labor.html
[4] http://mentalfloss.com/article/60261/how-7-other-nations-celebrate-thanksgiving
[5] http://www.xavier.edu/jesuitresource/online-resources/Mealtime-Prayers.cfm
[6] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2014:6

VIP Catholics

This blogger never knew that there are VIP Catholics that can get VIP seats at Mass at the Vatican until today.  Quoted in part below is from an article entitled "Pope Francis gives homeless people VIP seats at Vatican mass" in the guardian  dated November 13, 2016 [1]:

Homeless people received VIP seats to a special mass in St Peter’s Basilica on Sunday, where Pope Francis stressed the need to avoid exclusionary views that reject those in need.

Along with cardinals and other prelates dressed in impeccably pressed bright green vestments, homeless people sat near the ornate central altar.

The pope elaborated on his recent comments encouraging policies of social inclusion, at a time when the popularity of politicians who advocate exclusionary policies toward migrants of other religions, races or ethnicities is rising in several developed countries.

This blogger believes that all people are children of God, all of them loved equally by God but in different ways.  Those who believe in and abide by God have the duty to pray for those who stray from God.  The pope's job is therefore to pray, not to make veiled attacks upon those whose political views may not be aligned with the Vatican's.  This pope has failed time and again to let the holiness of God to shine through (perhaps he has none) and to perform his duties as a shepherd who would go far and wide to search for the sheep that have strayed, assuming that the shepherd is herding his flock in the direction of God and not in the direction of Satan and assuming that the sheep that have strayed are headed toward Satan and not toward God.  These days, this blogger is not certain that the pope himself is going in the direction he is supposed to be going.

Not only does this pope not pray for strayed sheep (which may have strayed because they see that the shepherd is blind and is headed toward Hell instead of Heaven), he censures them believing that he is infallible which he certainly is not.  Having VIP seats at his Mass for his VIP guests is evidence of his fallibility since Christ never had a VIP section reserved for very important guests.

Segregating Catholics between those who are given VIP seats from those non-VIP Catholics who would surely be removed by security should they happen to sit in the VIP section without prior authorization is an exclusionary practice that is repugnant to this blogger.  Every sinner is equal and every sinner who attends Mass is a Very Important Person ("VIP") in the eyes of the Lord, but probably not the sinners at a Mass celebrated by a Satan surrogate where the attendees are more enamored with the celebrant than with Christ.  To be clear, there are no VIPs in the eyes of the Lord. Everyone is special; everyone is loved.  Everyone is invited to the Lord's Supper, including the likes of Judas Iscariot.

Jesus said, "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.  As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me.  This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever.” [2]  Jesus did not say only VIP Catholics can eat His flesh and drink His blood.  On the contrary, all are welcomed equally to join Christ at Supper and partake in eternal life, with no preference given to those who had been handed tickets by this pope to sit in the VIP section at his Mass.

Again, this pope was using the poor and homeless people as a theatrical prop to dramatize a point he wanted to make, just like he did when he used a similar (or maybe the same) group of people as a backdrop to help raise funds for his "charitable" work. [3]

This blogger cannot be more disillusioned with this creature that is seated at the throne of Peter and wishes to join with "'The Society of Saint Pius X [to pray] and [do] penance [(may be not penance)] for [this entity], that he might have the strength to proclaim Catholic faith and morals in their entirety.'" [3]

Quoted in part below is from an article entitled "St. Pius X society abandons unification, claims Francis spreading errors" published by the National Catholic Reporter  on June 29, 2016:

A traditionalist group of Catholic bishops and priests that has been separated from the wider church for decades appears to have abandoned efforts to reunite with Rome, releasing a statement Wednesday that claims Pope Francis is encouraging the spreading of errors in church teaching.

The Society of St. Pius X, founded by the late French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in 1970 [5] mainly in opposition to the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, says now it "does not primarily seek a canonical recognition" from the Vatican for its continuing activities.

The society also says there is a "great and painful confusion that currently reigns in the Church" that "requires the denunciation of errors that have made their way into it and are unfortunately encouraged by a large number of pastors, including the Pope himself.

Perhaps the earthquake within the Catholic Church has already started to shake.  As with naturally occurring earthquakes, there can be many aftershocks, with a few of them possibly having greater magnitudes than the original earthquake, with enough force to rock the Church to its very foundation, leaving only its cornerstone standing Who is Christ Himself. [6]

Of course, this blogger could be very wrong about the pope without realizing it, and the blogger himself could very well be the appointed self-righteous agent of Satan, a VIP Catholic from Hell, whose sole purpose of existence is to level criticisms against this pope.  This blogger prays that he is not Satan's minion, and that his blog entries help bring others and himself close to Christ and Christ to the forefront of everyone's minds (at least the minds of the few who read and tolerate his drivel).


[1] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/nov/13/pope-francis-homeless-people-vip-seats-vatican-mass
[2] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+6%3A56-58&version=NASB, references omitted.
[3] http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/romes-poor-to-be-guests-of-honor-at-vatican-concert-39026/; http://lemomentdepaix.blogspot.com/2016/10/is-this-charity.html
[4] https://www.ncronline.org/news/vatican/traditionalist-st-pius-x-society-abandons-unification-claims-francis-spreading-errors
[5] Even the Society of Saint Pius X is not perfect in this blogger's opinion because it admires Padre Pio, a saint whose claims of stigmata is not without doubt. See http://archives.sspx.org/miscellaneous/padre_pio.htm  Is Satan truly everywhere?
[6] http://www.ignatius.com/promotions/cfe/documents/Light%20&%20Lens%20web%20pages.pdf

13 November 2016 - 33rd Sunday In Ordinary Time

Not often anymore does this blogger go to unversalis.com [1] and read but an urge from somewhere compelled him to do so this morning.  For those who have read the last post may find a tenuous connection (with a long stretch of the imagination) between it and the two Sunday Mass readings on November 13, 2016.  The first is from the Book of Malachi, 3:19-20; the second is from the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians 3:7-12.  Since universalis.com updates daily, the two readings quoted below are from separate sources (hopefully these pages will remain unchanged):

Malachi 3:19-20

For the day is coming, blazing like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble, And the day that is coming will set them on fire, leaving them neither root nor branch, says the LORD of hosts. But for you who fear my name, the sun of justice will arise with healing in its wings. [2]

 2 Thessalonians 3:7-12

You know how you are supposed to imitate us: now we were not idle when we were with you, nor did we ever have our meals at anyone’s table without paying for them; no, we worked night and day, slaving and straining, so as not to be a burden on any of you. This was not because we had no right to be, but in order to make ourselves an example for you to follow.

We gave you a rule when we were with you: not to let anyone have any food if he refused to do any work. Now we hear that there are some of you who are living in idleness, doing no work themselves but interfering with everyone else’s. In the Lord Jesus Christ, we order and call on people of this kind to go on quietly working and earning the food that they eat. [3]

The Gospel reading this Sunday is from Luke 21:5-19.  It has no connection to the last post but is related to the general theme of this blog.  Quoted below is the passage, updated with this blogger's own words in brackets with original references omitted:

And while some were talking about the [Vatican], that it was adorned with beautiful stones and votive gifts, He said, “As for these things which you are looking at, the days will come in which there will not be left one stone upon another which will not be torn down.”

They questioned Him, saying, “Teacher, when therefore will these things happen? And what will be the [a]sign when these things are about to take place?”  And He said, “See to it that you are not misled; for many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am He,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not go after them.  When you hear of wars and disturbances, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end does not follow immediately.”

Things to Come

Then He continued by saying to them, “Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be great earthquakes, and in various places plagues and famines; and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven.

“But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, delivering you to the [courts of secular public opinion and various news outlets, secular and religious] and [virtual prisons on the internet where your reputation would be tarnished and where you would be tormented by false allegations based on your accusers' carefully chosen and marshaled facts and self-serving rationalizations], bringing you before kings and governors for My name’s sake.  It will lead to an opportunity for your testimony.  So make up your minds not to prepare beforehand to defend yourselves;  for I will give you utterance and wisdom which none of your opponents will be able to resist or refute.  But you will be betrayed even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death,  and you will be hated by all because of My name. Yet not a hair of your head will perish.  By your endurance you will gain your lives. [4]

[1] http://www.universalis.com/mass.htm
[2] http://www.catholicbiblesblog.com/2013/11/sunday-knox-malachi-319-20-41-2.html, accessed November 13, 2016.
[3] https://prayers4reparation.wordpress.com/2016/11/12/bible-reading-ii-2-thessalonians-37-12-november-13/, accessed November 13, 2016.
[4] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2021:5-19

A Tax On Free Will

Quoted below is from an article in Supermarket News  dated November 11. 2016:

Taxes will soon be levied on sugar-sweetened beverages sold at supermarkets and restaurants Chicago, San Francisco, Boulder, Colo., and Oakland and Albany, Calif. 

A penny-per-ounce fee will be applied to sugary beverages sold in the California cities. The tax is a result of "yes" votes on ballot initiatives presented to voters Tuesday[, November 8, 2016]. San Francisco, Oakland and Albany, Calif., will join Berkeley, Calif., which passed a similar tax two years ago. 

... 

A 2 cent-per-ounce tax, which could more than double the price of a 2-liter bottle of soda by raising it by $1.35, will be charged in Boulder where about 54% of voters affirmed a ballot measure Tuesday, according to reports. [1]

Levying a tax on sugary drinks is not limited to cities in the western United States.  "Looking to raise millions for a bold expansion of early childhood education, Philadelphia City Council on Thursday[, June 16, 2016,] approved a 1.5-cent-per-ounce tax on sugar-sweetened and diet beverages, the first such tax imposed in a major U.S. city." [2]

This blogger agrees that an over-consumption of beverages that contain sugar causes obesity which could lead to other health issues, but so does an over-consumption of all foods whether they contain sugar or not. [3]  If a person chooses to eat an abundance of chocolate bars, ice-cream, buffalo wings (actually chicken wings since buffaloes cannot fly), double bacon cheeseburgers, ribs, steaks, all kinds of fried foods like fried chicken, fried shrimp, fried fish, french fries, onion rings and fried cheese sticks, and drink beer, wine and hard liquor none of which by the way is taxed based on volume but based on price, then why not let them even if they should not over-indulge?  Why do government officials find the need to curb people's spending and consumption habits by imposing a tax on certain items consumed but not others?

Does the government impose a tax on sinful behaviors such as adultery, promiscuity, calling God's name in vain, hating one's neighbors, betrayal, et cetera in order to discourage them?  It does not, and why not?  Is it not more important to prevent people from going to Hell than to prevent them from becoming obese and diabetic and from having a mouthful of cavity-filled teeth on earth?  The answer is no.  A United States district court judge ruled that "San Francisco 'has a legitimate interest in public health and safety' and that the city 'had a reasonable basis' for identifying sugar-sweetened beverages as a cause of obesity, diabetes and tooth decay." [4]  This same judge would never rule that any law that lessens one's chances of going to Hell is an integral part of the public's health and safety in the afterlife and that it would be entirely reasonable for a city run by ultra-conservative Catholics to "un-separate" church and state.

Even a dreamer such as this blogger needs to wake up and live within the confines of reality even if it is irrational.  If indeed government officials want to improve public health and safety, taxing sugary beverages but not taxing an over-consumption of other foods is not the best way to achieve its underlying objectives, but then this blogger does not know and will not venture to guess what the government's true underlying objectives might encompass.  Assuming that they are only to curb obesity and lessen the incidences of diabetes and tooth decay, would it not be more effective to levy a tax based on disproportional weight to height, on disproportional waistline to weight, and on results of periodic dental check-ups (even though that each of these would still be a tax on Free Will)?  Perhaps it would be better to avoid a direct tax on Free Will but instead tax clothing manufacturers that make clothes that fit those who are obese and tax those who provide them with transportation, to encourage obese people to slim down and buy affordable clothing and to walk as a form of exercise to lose weight and avoid the diseases that obesity can cause.  Even that is not ideal in this blogger's mind.  What is ideal is to give people the freedom to choose what they want to do with their bodies, knowing that the body is the temple of God, and that the body is God's gift to man and what man makes of it is man's gift back to God.

In God's perfect world, people are free to sin but choose freely not to sin.  In certain governments' perfect world, people are not free to manage their own eating habits without paying a tax but can choose freely to self-mutilate reproductive organs, engage in promiscuous and risky sexual behavior that can lead to different kinds of sexually transmitted infections and diseases, become addicted to drugs and alcohol, abort living fetuses, to lie, to cheat, to betray, to deny and so on without having to pay a tax.


[1] http://supermarketnews.com/beverage/soda-tax-be-imposed-5-new-cities
[2] http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/20160617_Philadelphia_City_Council_to_vote_on_soda_tax.html
[3] Not only is an excess consumption of sugar unhealthful, this blogger was told by a doctor that eating lots of salty foods constricts blood vessels, and that too can put one's health at risk.
[4] http://www.wsj.com/articles/soda-industry-fails-to-stop-san-francisco-law-targeting-sugar-1463525818#renderComments

What Is Hope?

Dictionary.com  defines hope as "the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best." [1]  Does anyone wonder where hope comes from?  This blogger asserts that hope can only come from God since God sets the standard for that which is best.  Of course, one can also "hope" for the worst for one's enemies, but that is not a hope; that is an evil wish.

This blogger maintains that hope does not in theory exist in secular atheism (the intersection of secularism and atheism where God, Satan and religions are all rejected), and neither do evil wishes from the dark side exist in it.  Instead of hopes and evil wishes, secular atheists rely on their own efforts to affect the probabilities of outcomes and on statistical models to predict them.  Any failure in their forecasts can be attributed to inaccuracies and biases in data gathering and the lack of objectivity in the evaluation of true data.

When truths and realities are not in agreement with the secular atheists' expectations, the minds of secular atheists become unglued from their bodies and their souls become detached from what they had come to expect as their eternity, becoming at-once "homeless," wandering about as refugees with no specific destination, holding onto shattered expectations that can fester like a cancer consuming their souls.

Instead of praying to God, hoping for answers, assistance and healing, they take matters into their own hands, literally, and demonstrate their displeasure with the realities that are before them.  Whether such demonstrative behaviors would help heal the pains of shattered expectations this blogger does not know, for he always prays to God for help on those occasions when he is unable to repair them himself (that is almost, if not a hundred percent of the time), and he always gets the same answer: humility.  It never changes.

With humility, there is never an occasion for a shattered expectation; it is pride that gives rise to worldly expectations that are more often than not unfulfilled.  On the other hand, hope, that feeling that things would work out for the best, is a natural offshoot of humility which is the source of strength for the Blessed Virgin Mary, Who said yes to God at the Annunciation, [2] and for Her Beloved Son, Jesus, Who said yes to God at the Garden of Gethsemane. [3]  The source of strength that arises out of humility is the healing energy that leads to fulfillment, although the path to it not necessarily easy, short or painless but one that is fortified with hope.

With humility comes the glory of God; with pride comes the sins of Satan.  The choice between humility and pride is for one to make (including secular atheists) and God's hope is for all to make the right choice.

[1] http://www.dictionary.com/browse/hope?s=t

[2] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+1%3A26-38

[3] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+26%3A42&version=NIV

DIY Catholicism

DIY is an acronym for "do-it-yourself: the activity of decorating or repairing your home, or making things for your home yourself, rather than paying someone else to do it for you." [1]  That is the Cambridge Dictionary's definition.  This entry defines DIY more broadly as any activity (not just home improvement) one wishes to engage in regardless of any established rule, regulation [2] or custom.

In China, "Father Paul Dong Guanhua from Zhengding in northern Hebei province announced during Sunday Mass on May 22[, 2016,] that he had been secretly ordained as a bishop 11 years ago, using rules which may or may not be permitted to be invoked." [3]

Why not self-ordain oneself as a "DIY" Catholic bishop and get on with being one rather than waiting endlessly for the Vatican and the Chinese government to agree on who could be a bishop, and assuming that the Chinese government would not defrock Father Paul Dong Guanhua, why not take it one step further and appoint himself as cardinal and wear red and be excommunicated (as if he had not already been excommunicated), and while being excommunicated, why not go yet another step further and wear papal white since it is not foreseeable that there would be an Asian pope in the Vatican anytime soon?

If "[t]he Orthodox Church [can be] decentralised, having no central authority, earthly head or a single Bishop in a leadership role," [4] what is stopping Chinese Catholics from forming their own DIY decentralized "Holy Sees" with different names just as the Eastern Orthodox Catholics had formed their own governing organizations after their split from the Roman Catholics in 1054? [5]  Since the Catholic and Orthodox churches are the product of a political power struggle 962 years ago, it should not come as a surprise that another one or two new DIY "Catholic" branches could form during this century.

Incidentally, it would be fascinating to see if Saint Malachy's prophesy [6] would be fulfilled since Jorge Mario Bergoglio, upon his elevation to the papacy, chose to be named after "Francis of Assisi, an Italian, or Roman, priest whose original name was Francesco di Pietro (Peter) di Bernardone, 'literally, Peter the Roman.'" [7]

If, indeed, a separation between the DIY ultra-liberal and the traditional ultra-conservative blocs of the Catholic church takes place, this pope would be the last pope to have held power over a single Catholic Church, regardless of where he is placed sequentially, whether he is number 266, or number 268 under a different count. [8]  Furthermore, a country (China) with approximately 1.3 billion [9] potential DIY Catholics and their own DIY pope wielding political and economic power cannot be ignored since they would be about equal in size to the approximately 1.2 billion Roman Catholics worldwide [10] currently under the Vatican (before the liberal-conservative split).



[1] http://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/diy
[2] http://keydifferences.com/difference-between-rules-and-regulations.html
[3] http://www.ucanews.com/news/new-bishops-in-china-a-problem-for-the-vatican/77385
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthodox_Church_organization
[5] http://www.dummies.com/religion/christianity/catholicism/the-split-that-created-roman-catholics-and-eastern-orthodox-catholics/
[6] http://www.catholic-pages.com/grabbag/malachy.asp
[7] http://www.wnd.com/2013/03/pope-francis-historys-final-pontiff/
[8] http://www.catholic-pages.com/grabbag/malachy.asp
[9] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_population
[10] http://www.bbc.com/news/world-21443313

In The Heart Of Many Deracinated Muslims: A Place Of Peace

Quoted in part, the following cnsnews.com  article entitled "The Rest of the Muslim Refugee Story: Muslims Meeting Jesus by the Thousands" written by Eric Metaxas was published on November 4, 2016 [1]:

There’s a side of the Muslim refugee story you probably have not heard in the mainstream media.

We’ve seen the video clips of Muslim refugees—many of them from war-torn Syria—flooding into an unprepared and overwhelmed Europe. We’ve heard accounts of some of these refugees committing ugly crimes and others demanding that the post-Christian societies that welcome them conform to the harsh demands of Islamic law. We’ve even read the stories about Islamist terror groups such as ISIS infiltrating the refugee populations in order to wreak further havoc on the West.

But chances are you don’t know, as Paul Harvey might have said, the rest of the story. It’s a story of God building His kingdom in the midst of chaos, doubt, and uncertainty. It’s a story of Muslims meeting Jesus. Take, for example, the story of Javad.

A Muslim from Iran, Javad didn’t know any Christians and didn’t own a Bible, though he had heard some Christian satellite radio. Then in 2008 he migrated to Athens, and a roommate asked him to come to an Iranian church. Javad had never heard of such a thing and, curious, he went. There, in a small, unremarkable rented room, he heard the gospel and gladly received Christ.

Now Javad is sharing the Jesus he met with other Muslim refugees in Greece. Every day he goes to a refugee center, park, or coffee shop to share the good news with Iranian and Afghan refugees. He says that he knows of two or three Muslims each day since he arrived who have trusted in Christ. Working at a refugee center that provides practical aid, Javad says more than 2,000 Muslims at the center have turned to Jesus in the last eight years.

Because many refugees remain on the move, an informal network of new churches for Muslim converts has begun spreading in Britain, The Netherlands, Germany, and elsewhere. One church in Berlin has counted 1,200 Muslims converted in just three years, most of them Afghans and Iranians. At a Persian church in Hamburg, meanwhile, more than 600 Pakistanis and Afghans lined up to be baptized during one service. According to a report in The Daily Beast, thousands—maybe tens of thousands—of Muslims have become followers of Jesus across Northern Europe.

One young woman from Iran told the German magazine Stern, “I’ve been looking all my life for peace and happiness, but in Islam, I have not found them.” Another convert said the love of Christ made all the difference. “In Islam, we always lived in fear,” he said. “Fear God, fear of sin, fear of punishment. But Christ is a God of love.”

...

So while the wars and upheavals in the Middle East and Asia have sparked a crisis of, might I say, biblical proportions, God continues His quiet work of saving sinners and transforming lives. As Joseph in the Old Testament said, what man meant for evil, God meant for good, for the saving of many people! That, my friends, is the rest of the story!

The vituperative comments below the article posted by atheists show that Satan is also diligent at work.


[1] http://cnsnews.com/commentary/eric-metaxas/rest-muslim-refugee-story-muslims-meet-jesus-thousands

The Tomb Of Jesus

A short video of the tomb of Jesus was uploaded by THE WEEK  in an article entitled "Take a once-in-a-lifetime look inside the tomb where Jesus was buried" dated November 4, 2016. [1]


[1] http://theweek.com/speedreads/659556/take-onceinalifetime-look-inside-tomb-where-jesus-buried

Paris--A City Of Impressionists' Art & Dreams Transformed

"A migrant sleeps inside the makeshift camp in the 19th district of Paris, France, 03 November 2016."
www.neweurope.eu

Above is a photograph from the article entitled Migrants, refugees camp in central Paris  dated November 4, 2016, published by New Europe. [1]

Pierre-Auguste Renoir who painted Bal du moulin de la Galette  in 1876, [2] and Le Déjeuner des canotiers  circa 1881, [3] Gustave Caillebotte who painted Rue de Paris, temps de pluie  in 1877, [4] and Claude Monet who painted Rue Saint-Denis, fête du 30 juin 1878  in 1878 [5] (see below) could not have imagined the different cheerful hues of blue, green and orange tents that would dot the sophisticated Parisian cityscape in 2016 would be less cheerful than almost a century and a half ago.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir  Bal du moulin de la Galette
(1786)

Pierre-Auguste Renoir  Le déjeuner des canotiers
(1880-1881)

Gustave Caillebotte Rue de Paris, temps de pluie
(1877)

Claude Monet Rue Saint-Denis, fête du 30 juin 1878
(1878)

Quoted below is part of the article [6]:

According to Reuters, many of the migrants camped out along Stalingrad’s boulevards are Africans fleeing war and poverty. Some arrived in Paris from Calais, other spent time in other European countries and deciding their best chances of a better future lay in France. 

In a separate report, NBC News online noted that tents have appeared on boulevards and squares across the French capital, including areas frequented by tourists such Place de la Republique and the banks of the River Seine. 

There are also around 900 migrants are being housed at a disused high school in the area, according to a non-profit support group, Bureau d’Accueil et d’Accompagnement des Migrants (BAAM).

 A local store owner told Le Figaro newspaper that residents were no longer buying groceries locally because the area had become “unhealthy” and said his business could become unviable.

City officials say the numbers sleeping in the area have swollen by about a third since the October 25 demolition of Calais’ camp, where more than 6,500 refugees were camped in the hope of sneaking aboard trucks and trains travelling through the tunnel under the English Channel to Britain.

What is surprising is that the tents were not permitted in the spacious plaza in front of the Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris [7] (see below) even though the Catholic church is supposed to embrace poverty.  Even Socialist Party President François Hollande, a Catholic turned agnostic turned atheist [8] who in 2015 said that "his country would accept 30,000 Syrian refugees over next two years" [9] had "vowed to clear out the Paris camp, saying France can no longer accept such migrant settlements. But it's unclear whether the government can prevent new camps from surfacing in Paris or Calais, especially as Europe's migrant crisis persists." [10]

Notre Dame de Paris
aviewoncities.com

While poor and homeless migrants were being swept off the streets of Paris (see below) [11], why were the sisters and brothers of Missionaries of Charity whose founder Teresa of Kolkata was recently canonized a saint so invisible and so silent where they were needed when "[h]undreds of Missionaries of Charity sisters attended the [canonization] event" at the Vatican on September 4, 2016, [12]?  Is there no one at "Missionaires de la charité, Rue Folie-Méricourt 62, F-75011 Paris, France?" [13]

"Migrants collect clothes as they move through a migrant makeshift camp, in Paris, Friday, Nov. 4, 2016. Police and city officials are clearing out hundreds of migrants camped out on sidewalks in northern Paris in a camp that recently grew into a new challenge for the French government."
nbclosangeles.com

If only hypocrisy can come in unique colors than can be put onto an artist's palate and transferred to a canvas by a master painter of dreams and impressions, then the image can be framed and displayed next to the photograph of certain canonized saints to remind their admirers of Heaven's non-negotiable, unequivocal and inalterable Truths.


[1] https://www.neweurope.eu/article/migrants-refugees-camp-central-paris/
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bal_du_moulin_de_la_Galette
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luncheon_of_the_Boating_Party; https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_D%C3%A9jeuner_des_canotiers
[4] https://learnodo-newtonic.com/10-most-famous-impressionist-paintings
[5] http://mbarouen.fr/en/oeuvres/rue-saint-denis-celebration-of-30th-june-1878
[6] https://www.neweurope.eu/article/migrants-refugees-camp-central-paris/
[7] http://www.aviewoncities.com/paris/notredame.htm
[8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Hollande
[9] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/11/18/france-says-it-will-take-30000-syrian-refugees-while-u-s-republicans-would-turn-them-away/
[10] http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/national-international/After-Calais-French-Authorities-Clear-Migrant-Camps-in-Paris--399963101.html
[11] Ibid.
[12] http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-37269512
[13] http://www.corpuschristimovement.com/french/contacts/actives.html

No Priestly Ordination Of Women - Final Or Not So Final?

The Nationl Catholic Reporter published an article on November 1, 2016, entitled  Pope Francis confirms finality of ban on ordaining women priests.  The article reported that "Francis expressed his thoughts on the subject in response to a question Tuesday from a journalist aboard the papal flight back to Rome after a two-day visit to Sweden." [1]  Quoted below is the exchange between the pope and the journalist  [2]:

"Is it realistic to think that there might be women priests also in the Catholic church in the next few decades?" the journalist asked the pope.

"On the ordination of women in the Catholic church, the last word is clear," Francis responded, before mentioning John Paul's 1994 apostolic letter banning the practice, Ordinatio Sacerdotalis. "It was given by St. John Paul II and this remains."

"But really forever?" the journalist asked. "Never?"

"If we read carefully the declaration made by St. John Paul II, it goes in that direction," Francis replied.

"But women can do many other things better than men," the pope continued, before repeating remarks he has said in the past about the Catholic church having two dimensions: a Petrine, apostolic dimension led by the bishops and a Marian dimension, which he called "the feminine dimension of the church."

"People ask me: 'Who is more important in the theology or in the spirituality of the church: the apostles or Mary, on the day of Pentecost?' " he said, adding: "It is Mary!" Emphasizing the point, he continued, "More!"

The pope had the chance to answer the journalist's two short questions above with a simple "yes" or "no" but he deflected them by referencing Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, an Apostolic Letter declaring "that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church's faithful." [3]

Instead of a "yes" or a "no" answer, imagine what this pope could hear in reply if he asked if he would end up in Heaven forever after his death: according to the Gospel of Matthew, the answer is clear.

Quoted below is from the Gospel of Matthew:

The Answer to Prayers. 

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

Which one of you would hand his son a stone when he asks for a loaf of bread,

or a snake when he asks for a fish?

If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask him.

The Narrow Gate. 

“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many.

How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few. [4]

If the pope reads carefully the Gospel of Matthew, in which direction does he think he will be going?


[1] https://www.ncronline.org/news/vatican/pope-francis-confirms-finality-ban-ordaining-women
[2] Ibid.
[3] https://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_letters/1994/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_19940522_ordinatio-sacerdotalis.html
[4] http://www.usccb.org/bible/matthew/7:1 (references omitted).

A Real Exorcist

Fr. Amorth was a exorcist.  He passed away on Friday, September 16, 2016.  These facts were gathered from an article entitled The Devil and Father Amorth: Witnessing “the Vatican Exorcist” at Work, [1] written by William Friedkin, who made the 1973 film The Exorcist.  The article, published by Vanity Fair, dated December 2016, was accessed on November 3, 2016.  The link to it is provided below at [1].  The part this blogger finds startling has nothing to do with exorcism.  It is a part of a dialog between William Friedkin and Fr. Amorth, quoted below [2]:

“You’ve said publicly that you believe, referring to the current Church scandals, that Satan is in the Vatican. Do you still believe this?”

“Yes. Today Satan rules the world. The masses no longer believe in God. And, yes, Satan is in the Vatican.”

There!  Fr. Amorth said it (not this blogger): "Satan is in the Vatican" and "Satan rules the world." [3]


[1] http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/10/father-amorth-the-vatican-exorcist
[2] Ibid.
[3] Please say the rosary daily (and do make it up for those days that it was not said).

Is The Catholic Church Going Lutheran?

Vatican Radio  reported that "Pope Francis and Bishop Mounib Younan, President of the Lutheran World Federation signed a Joint Statement on Monday [October 31, 2016] in which Catholics and Lutherans pledged to pursue their dialogue in order to remove the remaining obstacles that hinder them from reaching full unity." [1]  The paragraph quoted below is part of the Joint Statement [2]:

Many members of our communities yearn to receive the Eucharist at one table, as the concrete expression of full unity.  We experience the pain of those who share their whole lives, but cannot share God’s redeeming presence at the Eucharistic table.  We acknowledge our joint pastoral responsibility to respond to the spiritual thirst and hunger of our people to be one in Christ.  We long for this wound in the Body of Christ to be healed.  This is the goal of our ecumenical endeavours, which we wish to advance, also by renewing our commitment to theological dialogue.

This blogger knows nothing about the Lutheran church but after some research, he realizes that "[t]here are three main bodies of the Lutheran Church in the United States [consisting of] the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) and the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) [3]" and that they are not bound by the same set of rules.  For example, the ELCA ordains women but the LCMS does not. [4]  This lack of uniformity is not unique to the United States; Europe is the same way.  On June 10, 2016, the National Catholic Reporter  published the following article, quoted in part [5]:

The Latvian Lutheran Church has gone back on its 40-year-old decision by officially ruling that women cannot be ordained priests.

Two-thirds of the 337 synod members voted in favor of changing the church constitution and only allowing men to be ordained from now on, according to the Latvian daily Diena.

Women's priesthood was first introduced by the Latvian Lutheran Church in 1975 when Latvia was still a part of the Soviet Union. From 1975 until 1993, women were ordained and served as priests, but in 1993, the conservative Janis Vanags, the present archbishop of Riga, was appointed.

Since the appointment, no women have been ordained. The women that already had been ordained were allowed to continue with their ministry. In February, Vanags, 58, told the German Protestant information service idea that the practice of only allowing men to be ordained was based on the Bible and on apostolic tradition.

Lutheran clerics in Germany and Austria are appalled at the news....

When the pope expressed his desire on behalf of the "many members" of the "1.272 billion" Catholics worldwide (a 2014 figure) [6] to "receive the Eucharist at one table, as the concrete expression of full unity" [7] with the Lutherans, which group of Lutherans did he have in mind, the group that allows the ordination of women or the group that does not?

This blogger thinks that he had both groups in mind.  For Catholics who do not care if a priest is a female or a male can receive the Eucharist "at one table" with the Lutherans in Germany and Austria and with the ELCA Lutherans in the United States; for Catholics who prefer their church to adhere to the apostolic tradition of having only male priests can break Bread with Lutherans in Latvia and Lutherans belonging to LCMS in the United States.  For Catholics who are loyal to this pope (including those underground Catholics in China mentioned in the last post who are dead set on being loyal to the Vatican regardless of how ultra-liberal it has become under this pope) can partake in the bread and wine that have been transubstantiated into the Body and Blood of Christ under Sweden's Lutheran "Bishop Eva Brunne [who] was consecrated as Bishop of Stockholm in 2009, [becoming] the first openly lesbian bishop in the world." [8]

On the doctrine of transubstantiation, one that is central to the Catholic faith, the Lutheran's perspective is irreconcilable with the Catholic's.  A discussion of this crucial divergence can be found in the article entitled "Lutheranism and Transubstantiation," published by CatholicCulture.org, quoted in part with footnote references omitted [9]:

Ever since the sixteenth century Reformation, the doctrine of transubstantiation has remained a controversial issue between Roman Catholics and Lutherans. Although both acknowledge the dogma of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, Lutherans reject the doctrine concerning the conversion of the earthly gifts (bread and wine) as a philosophical explanation, which has nothing to do with revelation. At the risk of walking a well-trodden path which has so often led to a dead end, the following pages will be devoted to a summary of the gradual development of Luther's thought on the "how" of the real presence, an outline of the teaching of the sixteenth century Lutheran Symbols on the matter, a brief criticism of Lutheran reasons for denying the dogma of transubstantiation and some basic difficulties involved in this teaching from the Lutheran standpoint. Our purpose is not to give a comprehensive summary of the problem but to point out certain features of it, which might be helpful for future conversations between Lutherans and Catholics. 

Luther On The Subject Of Transubstantiation

At the end of the year 1519, Luther still maintained the doctrine of transubstantiation intact. In his Ein Sermon von dem hocwurdigen Sakrament des heiligen wahren Leichnams Christi und von den Bruderschaften, he teaches that there is a change of the substance of the bread and wine but emphasizes that it is symbolical of our union with the spiritual body of Christ. This change must be interpreted not only sacramentally but spiritually and is aimed at the change of the natural man by a common life with Christ. The sacramental change finds its fulfillment in the incorporation into Christ and fellowship with all Christians. However all further considerations of just how the presence of Christ comes about are purposely omitted by Luther. This indicates a certain uneasiness in the use of the doctrine of transubstantiation which, as a matter of fact, formally deals with the problem of how Christ becomes really present under the Eucharistic species.

It was not long before Luther would lose all patience with the dogma. Just a few months later he attacked it in De Captivitate Babylonica ecclesiae praeludium, the third of the so-called "Three Great Reformation Treatises." The "second captivity" is the doctrine of transubstantiation, which the Roman Church imposes as a matter of faith. Luther rejects it because it lacks the support of Scripture, of an approved revelation and of reason. Nevertheless he allows others to hold this teaching if they wish as long as they realize that it is not imposed by revelation. For himself, the literal sense of Scripture imposes the belief that the species do not change. This was the teaching of the Church until Aristotelian philosophy imposed itself on the Christian faith. Furthermore, he argues, there is no peril of idolatry in the fact that the substance of bread remains because it is Christ that is adored and not the bread.

To show the reasonableness of his stand against transubstantiation, Luther appeals to an example: "Fire and iron, two different substances, are so mingled in red-hot iron that every part of it is both fire and iron. Why may not the glorious body of Christ much more be in every part of the substance of the bread?" He sees a further analogy in the Hypostatic Union. The Divinity is not present under the accidents of the human nature in Christ. One can actually say "Hic homo est deus, hic deus est homo." So also in the case of the sacrament, it is not necessary that transubstantiation take place in order that Christ become present. Hence after the consecration, although bread and wine continue to exist, one can say "hic panis est corpus meum, hoc vinum est sanguis meus et econtra." Thus the solution to the problem is sought in Christology: "Sicut ergo in Christo res se habet, ita et in sacramento." Nevertheless, Luther sees in these parallels only an analogy. The "how" of the presence remains an open question and he will not condemn those who wish to hold transubstantiation as long as they do not claim that it is an article of faith. His whole preoccupation is with the fact of the real presence which comes about "virtute verborum," since the divine work cannot be completely understood.

In the continuing evolution of his thought, Luther always seems regretful of the introduction of speculation regarding the way in which the real presence comes about. Nevertheless he was finally forced to reflect on it at length because of the controversy which arose in his own camp and his dealings with the Swiss Reformers. Carlstadt's denial of the possibility of Christ's descent from heaven and consequent denial of the real presence in the true and proper sense of the term occasioned Luther's Wider die himmlischen Propheten von Bildern und Sakrament (1525). In this work, Luther observes that Carlstadt does not understand "the Kingdom of God, which is everywhere, and, as Paul says, fills all things." This is the beginning of the concept of the omnipresence of Christ, even according to his humanity which Luther will develop to its full extent against the "Enthusiasts." [10]

Is it possible that this pope with his ability to use seemingly endless tactics to transform insidiously the Catholic church has foreseen the outcome, in that the Catholic church would in time look a lot more Lutheran than Catholic, meaning that each archdiocese or each parish can write its own rules in regard to not only to the doctrine of transubstantiation but also the ordination of non-celibate heterosexual and homosexual female and male priests?  Would such a transformation of the Catholic church heal "this wound in the Body of Christ" that this pope and his loyalists want healed?

How many more wounds on the Body of Christ do they want to close by changing the Catholic church?  Do they want to close all five precious wounds of Christ so that people can forget about Christ's crucifixion, so that nobody would be able to recognize Christ even if He shows up because no one can identify Him by His wounds?  Do they not want to remember Christ the way He wants everyone to remember Him which is by the many wounds He suffered during His Passion?

The Catholic church is the wounded Christ.  To close the wounds of Christ is to close the Catholic church and to erase Christ from memory, and to conveniently nullify the doctrine of transubstantiation because a healed body is no longer a body to be remembered as a sacrifice for sinners and a healed wound can no longer bleed blood for the forgiveness of sins. [11]

[1] http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2016/10/31/pope_and_president_of_lwf_sign_joint_statement/1269150
[2] Ibid.
[3] http://usalutherans.tripod.com/id1.html
[4] Ibid.

[5] https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/latvian-lutheran-church-rules-women-cannot-be-ordained-priests
[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Church_by_country
[7] http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2016/10/31/pope_and_president_of_lwf_sign_joint_statement/1269150
[8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Sweden
[9] https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=3013
[10] The discussion goes on for another 14 paragraphs.  For purposes of this entry, it seems sufficient to quote the first five even though the rest are also informative.
[11] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+22%3A19-20&version=NIV