Half A Million Donated By Bergoglio

MarketWatch  published an article entitled Pope Francis is no fan of ‘builders of walls,’ donates $500,000 to migrants. [1]

Selected comments from readers are quoted below, in no particular order [2]:

1.  By Steve Diamond: "If Francis sends $500k every week, he'll make a dent in the problem. If not, it's a just a stunt."

2.  By disco dan: "Hmmmm...what about this wall??"  Below it is a link to a photograph of the wall surrounding the Vatican:
http://wp.production.patheos.com/blogs/sites/347/2018/07/WallsAroundVatican.jpg

3.  By james davis:  "Heaven has a very narrow gate that all must go through to enter in (Matthew 7:13).  It's a very fortified strong wall that only those who believe in Jesus will get through!  So walls are a reality whether the Pope believes in them or not."

4.  By george dogoda: "Take that money and fly all the immigrants to Rome!"

5.  By Rusty Slade: "hypocrisy"

This donation puts Bergoglio in his element, the world of politics which he loves.  Only Bergoglio and God know if Bergoglio's love of politics is exceeded by his love for God.


[1] https://www.marketwatch.com/story/pope-francis-no-fan-of-builders-of-walls-donates-500000-to-migrants-2019-04-28?siteid=yhoof2&yptr=yahoo
[2] Ibid.

Heaven On Earth - Can It Be Real?

For many, this blog entry is all speculation but can be true for some.

The answer to the question posed is a resounding "Yes!"  It is both a measured and a qualified "yes".

On Being A Measured "Yes"

The unit of measure is based on the depth of genuine faith in and genuine love for God, the Blessed Virgin Mary and Her beloved Son.

The apparatus used for this measurement is not a finely calibrated instrument.  It detects either the presence of genuine faith and love or their absence.  There is nothing in between.  Conditional faith and lukewarm love do not register.  They are considered to be absent.  Their absence is like a "Page Not Found" on the internet.  The analogy does not end here.  Borrowing words from Wikipedia, this HTTP 404 status code results from "a broken or dead link" [1] not unlike the link between man and God when man's faith in God depends on a positive outcome and when man's love for God is relegated to the periphery, overcome by hypocrisy or warped by every kind of sin.

On Qualifying The "Yes"

The "yes" needs to be qualified because not everyone can agree on what it means by "Heaven On Earth."  For some, it means total self-abandonment and no suffering with every need and want provided for and satisfied.  This is not Heaven but hedonism.

Heaven is not for those into self-gratification and self-aggrandizement.  On the contrary, Heaven is for those who supplicate.

For Catholics, supplication is as simple as saying the Holy Rosary while focusing on every prayer.  This includes thinking about what the Hail Mary (Ave Maria) prayer is saying, especially the words in the first paragraph, 53 times, without the mind drifting off to far away places.  If the mind drifts toward worldly cares, burdens, responsibilities, needs and other thoughts, as it often does, catch oneself and go back and say those prayers again, slowly.  To "supplicate" means among other things "to pray humbly." [2]  To pray humbly means forgetting the self completely and think only of God, the Son of God and the Mother of God.

Even though every Catholic knows the Hail Mary (Ave Maria) prayer, it may be useful to have a quick review here.  The first part establishes Mary's relationship with the Lord ("the Lord is with thee" or "Dóminus técum"), with everybody in the world ("Blessed art thou amongst women" or "Benedícta tū in muliéribus") and with Her beloved Son, being a Mother to Him in Her womb ("and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus" or "et benedíctus frúctus véntris túi, Iésus").  Mary's relationships in the first part sets the foundation for the second part of the prayer by uniquely qualifying the Blessed Virgin Mary as the most effective intercessor of all for everyone--not just Catholics ("Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners" or "Sáncta María, Máter Déi, óra pro nóbis peccatóribus"). [3]

Saying the Holy Rosary is not to be treated like a debt to be paid, an obligation to fulfill or a mindless daily routine that perhaps takes place at home, in seminaries and monasteries too.  Wherever and whenever the Holy Rosary is being said, it is at its core a genuine expression of undiluted love kept alive by unwavering faith.

It is the combination of absolute faith in and absolute love for God that merges the spiritual and the physical worlds.  Miracles happen when the merger occurs.  For persons experiencing miracles or recalling them, Heaven is indeed on earth at those very moments in their lives.



[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_404
[2] https://www.dictionary.com/browse/supplicate
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hail_Mary

Temptations Can Perfect Man In Two Ways But Not Always

This blog entry is pure speculation.

The first way is by accepting temptation that leads to remorse.  The second is by rejecting temptation at the outset.

Acceptance of temptation

God created man with Free Will.  Free Will can only exist where there is choice.  Choice is only meaningful where contrast exists.  Contrast comes to life through temptations.  Temptations allow man to choose.  At its extreme the choice is between good and evil  Without temptations, man would be left with only what is good.  Free Will would then be at best a meaningless ideal.  To give meaning to Free Will, man has to be subjected to temptations so that he can choose freely.

By struggling constantly to choose good over evil, man fulfills the first and most important commandment which is to love "God with all [his] heart, and with all [his] soul, and with all [his] mind, and with all [his] strength. [1]  This puts man on the path to perfection.

To reach perfection, man has to be humble in the way Christ (the new Adam) and the Blessed Virgin Mary (the new Eve) were humble.  Their humility were demonstrated by their obedience to God.  Since man is tainted with Original Sin, the source of pride, he is unable to be like the new Adam and the new Eve.  Perfection is therefore elusive.

Pride is part of man's nature.  It is from Eve.  Eve wanted to be like God because she thought she was good enough to be God.  Her pride was at an extreme.  The realization of this pride came with a price she already knew, death. [2]

Remorse came too late for her, after experiencing an unexpected first death, when her one son Cain killed her other son Abel.  Yet, it was this very death that brought her remorse that had also brought her humility.  For the first time, she realized as a mother, how painful it was to lose a child.  In a way, she did become like God in that she felt the pain God felt when she disobeyed Him which is tantamount to having a beloved child die to love.

Eve's falling into temptation allowed her to experience remorse and to be humble.  By being humble always, she could once again perfect herself.

Nobody knows if  Eve remained remorseful and humble or if she had died to God's love by hating God for taking away all the comforts she was given and to which she and Adam had grown so accustomed.

If one dies to love and remorse sets in, one is still able to obtain forgiveness and to resurrect that love, again and again, through the Sacrament of Reconciliation for Catholics and through honest examinations of conscience for non-Catholics.  Love is universal.  Love never dies.  It is those who are proud who die to it.

Death is God's answer to pride, but that does not mean man necessarily loses his Free Will to be prideful when it comes to death.  Death itself can be a temptation.  Man can be tempted to commit suicide.  By choosing to commit suicide man retains his pride until the end of life and unto eternity, by rejecting God's gift of life and the manner and the timing God has chosen for each individual to die.

If one's death is not by wilful suicide or by physician assisted suicide, then there may be a chance for to experience true humility for a period of time. Time is an element of life that one does not think much about, that it belongs only to God.  Having the opportunity to live this period of weakness and humility is a gift from God, for it is only those who are meek and humble who allow God's will be done who enter Heaven.

Similarly, it is the admission of weakness that gives man strength.  Since man is weak, he must ask God for help.  God will give him strength.  More often than not, man does not think of God.  Pride has blinded him to his innate human weakness.

Human weakness is proven by most people's inability to resist temptations.  Even though humans are weak, their weaknesses are not so disabling that they have no choice but to fall into temptation.  The fact that people fall into temptations so frequently makes it seems that Satan, not man, is in charge.

This blogger has blamed Satan for many things in the past because he believed that Satan was in charge.  He could not be more wrong.  Satan is not in charge--man is.  Although weak, man is nonetheless strong enough to reject Satan by his Free Will.

Whatever God gives to man, Satan cannot take away.

Rejection of temptation

Free Will is a gift from God. It is both Satan's friend and foe.  Satan knows man's weakness and turns Free Will into its friend.  Only when man realizes that he is powerful enough to reject Satan and all of its temptations does Free Will become Satan's foe.

Christ rejected all of Satan's temptations when He, as man, was at his weakest after having fasted for 40 days in the Judean desert. [3]  Even though man is not Christ, Christ has become man to show how man is able perfect himself.  Except for His miracles, nothing Christ did man cannot do.

Rejection of temptation is a show of love for God.  Constant rejection of temptations puts man on the path toward perfection, holiness and an eternity with God in Heaven.



[1] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+12%3A30&version=KJV
[2] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+3%3A2-3&version=NIV
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temptation_of_Christ

Easter 2019 - Not Everyone Is Rejoicing For The Same Reason (Updated with correction 12:17 PST)

"Bombs kill more than 200 in Sri Lankan churches, hotels on Easter Sunday" is one of the headlines by Reuter.  [1]

It reported that "[d]ozens were killed in one of the blasts at St. Sebastian’s Gothic-style Catholic church in Katuwapitiya, north of Colombo." [2]

Another headline: "Seven arrested as Sri Lanka bombings death toll passes 200" is also by Reuter. [3]

The caption under a photograph in the article reads: "Sri Lankan military stand guard in front of the St. Anthony's Shrine, Kochchikade church after an explosion in Colombo, Sri Lanka". [4]

Another Reuters  article with the same name as the one first cited above, but has a different link, reported that "[t]he hotels hit in Colombo were the Shangri-La, the Kingsbury, the Cinnamon Grand and the Tropical Inn near the national zoo. There was no word on casualties in the hotels, but a witness told local TV he saw some body parts, including a severed head, lying on the ground beside the Tropical Inn.

"The first six explosions were all reported within a short period in the morning just as church services were starting." [5]

Those who planned the bombs must be rejoicing.

Easter or not, Christ's crucifixion continues, on a daily basis, somewhere in the world, whether or not on a scale that is newsworthy.  This will end when Christ returns.

From Luke 12:2-5 [6] [quoted without footnote]:

2
“There is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known.
3
Therefore whatever you have said in the darkness will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be proclaimed on the housetops.
4
I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body but after that can do no more.
5
I shall show you whom to fear. Be afraid of the one who after killing has the power to cast into Gehenna; yes, I tell you, be afraid of that one.

[1] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sri-lanka-blast/bombs-kill-more-than-200-in-sri-lankan-churches-hotels-on-easter-sunday-idUSKCN1RX038

[2] Ibid.

[3] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sri-lanka-blasts-toll/seven-arrested-as-sri-lanka-bombings-death-toll-passes-200-idUSKCN1RX0CD

[4] Ibid..

[5] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sri-lanka-blast/easter-sunday-bombings-kill-more-than-200-in-sri-lanka-churches-hotels-idUSKCN1RX038?il=0
[6] http://www.usccb.org/bible/luke/12, 2-5.

Holy Saturday Reflections

First question:  Why did Christ descend into Hell?

The Catechism of the Catholic Church answers this question.  It is quoted below without footnotes [1]:

633 Scripture calls the abode of the dead, to which the dead Christ went down, "hell" - Sheol in Hebrew or Hades in Greek - because those who are there are deprived of the vision of God. Such is the case for all the dead, whether evil or righteous, while they await the Redeemer: which does not mean that their lot is identical, as Jesus shows through the parable of the poor man Lazarus who was received into "Abraham's bosom": "It is precisely these holy souls, who awaited their Savior in Abraham's bosom, whom Christ the Lord delivered when he descended into hell." Jesus did not descend into hell to deliver the damned, nor to destroy the hell of damnation, but to free the just who had gone before him.

Second question:  What were the apostles doing while Christ was in the tomb?

It is reasonable to assume that when a leader is gone, the followers would feel a bit lost.  Since Christ was hunted down and killed, they probably feared that they too could be next.  They probably wanted to blend in with the crowds so that they would not be recognized, or they might have gone into hiding together or perhaps separately.  One thing that united them on this day was likely silence, silence as a result of fear, of sadness and of an uncertain future for some of them.

Third question:  What some lay Catholics may be thinking today?

Christ is dead.  He descended into Hell.  He is not around.  When the Teacher is away, children do whatever they want.  Here the Teacher Himself is the Light of the world.  When the Light is gone, there is only darkness.  The children realize that in darkness nobody can see clearly so that they would not have to be accountable for their actions.  Tactical night vision goggles are useless here since this darkness is metaphoric.

Some Catholics may consider today as a holiday from God, released from the chains of fasting and abstinence during Lent, so they indulge in drinks, food and pleasure to make up for lost time and opportunities.

Fourth question:  What are some clerics and seminarians thinking of and doing today?

Who really knows exactly?  Are they putting themselves in the position of the apostles?  Has that even crossed their minds, being numb to the repetitiveness of their daily (and annual) obligations?  Is it just another day where they simply recall doing what they are supposed to do as a matter of routine in contrast to doing the same with love of God in their hearts and on their minds?  Do emotions overcome them and tears well up in their eyes when they visualize the agony of Christ laying there helplessly while nails were being pounded into His hands and feet, and the unbearable pain of His loving Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, must have felt seeing it all and suffering in silence?  Or are these scenes just a part of their cold intellectual recollections?

As one holy priest said during his homily in persona Christi, "If you love me, show me."

If all Catholics lived their daily lives loving Christ with this simplicity, the world would be a better place.



[1] http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p122a5p1.htm

Why Did Jesus Say "Eloi Eloi lama sabachthani?"

Many clerics who perhaps themselves had or are experiencing spiritual darkness (the total absence of God), who look to supposedly saints who had experienced spiritual darkness as well preach that Jesus, too, was in spiritual darkness when He said these words, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" [1] from the cross.

How can the Son of God Who Himself is part of the Holy Trinity experience the absence of God and be in spiritual darkness?  This has to be wishful thinking on behalf of clerics who themselves are suffering from a lack of faith and from an absence of God in their lives.  Rather than trying to seek God genuinely in their hearts, they want to bring Christ down to their level of darkness to identify themselves with Christ.  This is an exercise in vanity since Christ is never in the dark because He is the Light Eternal that never extinguishes.

The poor souls who think that Christ is like them need to pray for the Light of Christ to illuminate their minds to emerge from under the dark veil of Satan.

Gotquestions.org  provided two possible explanations:

1. "...as evil men were allowed to do whatever they wanted to Jesus, our Lord expressed His feelings of abandonment. God placed the sins of the world on His Son, and Jesus for a time felt the desolation of being unconscious of His Father’s presence. [2]

This cannot be correct.  Jesus' Mother was there.  John, the beloved disciple, was there, and there were others, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. [3]  There was plenty of cruelty leading to the crucifixion but no total abandonment.

Did God really place man's sins on His Son, or did God ask His Son to bear them?  It was not God but sinners who put the weight of their sins on His Son.

Jesus chose freely to let His Father's Will be done, accepting even death on the cross.  In order to be obedient, Jesus had to be conscious at all times until He breathed His last breath.  An unconscious person cannot chose to be obedient.  To conclude that Jesus "for a time felt the desolation" while He was on the cross and was "unconscious of His Father's presence" would imply that He did not really assent to His Father's wish but rather had no choice but endure the inescapable cruelty of man.

How can the Son of God not know (be unconscious of) Who He and His Father is at any time, especially during the most important day of His earthly life?

While gotquestions.org's first explanation is rubbish, the second is astounding.  While suffering excruciating pain, Jesus turned it into a teaching moment:

2.  "There is another possible reason for Jesus to cry out, 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' It could be that Jesus’ intent in quoting Psalm 22:1 was to point His hearers to that psalm. When they read Psalm 22, they would no doubt see the many fulfilled prophecies included in that song of David. Even while experiencing the agony of the cross, Jesus was teaching the crowds and proving yet again that He was the Messiah who fulfilled the Scriptures." [Hyperlinks omitted.] [4]

Psalm 22 is quoted below [5] [References omitted]:

1
For the leader; according to “The deer of the dawn.” A psalm of David. 

I 

2
My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?
Why so far from my call for help,
from my cries of anguish?
3
My God, I call by day, but you do not answer;
by night, but I have no relief.
4
Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;
you are the glory of Israel.
5
In you our fathers trusted;
they trusted and you rescued them.
6
To you they cried out and they escaped;
in you they trusted and were not disappointed.
7
But I am a worm, not a man,
scorned by men, despised by the people.
8
All who see me mock me;
they curl their lips and jeer;
they shake their heads at me:
9
“He relied on the LORD—let him deliver him;
if he loves him, let him rescue him.”
10
For you drew me forth from the womb,
made me safe at my mother’s breasts.
11
Upon you I was thrust from the womb;
since my mother bore me you are my God.
12
Do not stay far from me,
for trouble is near,
and there is no one to help.

II

13
Many bulls surround me;
fierce bulls of Bashan encircle me.
14
They open their mouths against me,
lions that rend and roar.
15
Like water my life drains away;
all my bones are disjointed.
My heart has become like wax,
it melts away within me.
16
As dry as a potsherd is my throat;
my tongue cleaves to my palate;
you lay me in the dust of death.
17
Dogs surround me;
a pack of evildoers closes in on me.
They have pierced my hands and my feet
18
I can count all my bones.
They stare at me and gloat;
19
they divide my garments among them;
for my clothing they cast lots.
20
But you, LORD, do not stay far off;
my strength, come quickly to help me.
21
Deliver my soul from the sword,
my life from the grip of the dog.
22
Save me from the lion’s mouth,
my poor life from the horns of wild bulls.

III

23
Then I will proclaim your name to my brethren;
in the assembly I will praise you:
24
“You who fear the LORD, give praise!
All descendants of Jacob, give honor;
show reverence, all descendants of Israel!
25
For he has not spurned or disdained
the misery of this poor wretch,
Did not turn away from me,
but heard me when I cried out.
26
I will offer praise in the great assembly;
my vows I will fulfill before those who fear him.
27
The poor will eat their fill;
those who seek the LORD will offer praise.
May your hearts enjoy life forever!”

IV

28
All the ends of the earth
will remember and turn to the LORD;
All the families of nations
will bow low before him.
29
For kingship belongs to the LORD,
the ruler over the nations.
30
All who sleep in the earth
will bow low before God;
All who have gone down into the dust
will kneel in homage.
31
And I will live for the LORD;
my descendants will serve you.
32
The generation to come will be told of the Lord,
that they may proclaim to a people yet unborn
the deliverance you have brought.

The next explanation below is imagined by this blogger:

Jesus, Son of God, Who was born of the flesh was fully man and fully God.  He was perhaps in His early thirties, still relatively young when He was crucified.  Christ could be said to be "in persona hominis," in the way a priest could be said to be "in persona Christi."  Being man-God, the obedient Son, Jesus waited for His Father to make the decision as to when He would breath His last breath as a man.

Is it not normal for a person to be a little frustrated after having endured such agonizing pain from hanging on a cross for six hours and suffering from extreme thirst to ask when he would die?  The six (6) hours of suffering was deduced from the two sources below:

"Beginning with the Gospel of Mark, we learn that Jesus was nailed to a wooden beam and hung on the cross at about 9 in the morning." [6]

The time of death was ascertained by ncregister.com  [7]:

Matthew, Mark, and Luke each record that Jesus died about "the ninth hour" (Matthew 27:45-50, Mark 15:34-37, Luke 23:44-46). 

"The ninth hour" is what we, today, would refer to as 3:00 p.m. 

This allows us to narrow down the time of Jesus' death to a very specific point in history: around 3:00 p.m on Friday, April 3, A.D. 33. [Emphasis in red omitted.]

[1] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+27%3A46&version=NIV
[2] https://www.gotquestions.org/forsaken-me.html
[3] http://www.usccb.org/bible/john/19, 25.
[4] https://www.gotquestions.org/forsaken-me.html
[5] http://www.usccb.org/bible/psalms/22
[6] https://www.learnreligions.com/how-long-was-jesus-crucifixion-on-the-cross-3955378
[7] http://www.ncregister.com/blog/jimmy-akin/when-precisely-did-jesus-die-the-year-month-day-and-hour-revealed

Getty Image Of Jesus In Notre Dame Fire

https://www.aol.com/article/news/2019/04/17/woman-claims-to-spot-jesus-in-photo-of-flaming-notre-dame-cathedral-roof/23713568/

Ibid.

Real Life Example--God Uses Evil To Bring Out The Good

After posting the last entry, this article entitled Christianity grows in Syrian town once besieged by Islamic State published by Reuters  on 16 April 2019 showed up [1]:

A community of Syrians who converted to Christianity from Islam is growing in Kobani, a town besieged by Islamic State for months, and where the tide turned against the militants four years ago.

The converts say the experience of war and the onslaught of a group claiming to fight for Islam pushed them toward their new faith. After a number of families converted, the Syrian-Turkish border town’s first evangelical church opened last year.

...

Though Islamic State’s ultra-radical interpretation of Sunni Islam has been repudiated by the Islamic mainstream, the legacy of its violence has affected perceptions of faith.

Many in the mostly Kurdish areas of northern Syria, whose urban centers are often secular, say agnosticism has strengthened and in the case of Kobani, Christianity.

...

“After the war with Islamic State people were looking for the right path, and distancing themselves from Islam,” said Omar Firas, the founder of Kobani’s evangelical church. “People were scared and felt lost.”

...

The church’s current pastor, Zani Bakr, 34, arrived last year from Afrin, a town in northern Syria. He converted in 2007.

“This was painted by IS as a religious conflict, using religious slogans. Because of this a lot of Kurds lost trust in religion generally, not just Islam,” he said.

Many became atheist or agnostic. “But many others became Christian. Scores here and more in Afrin.”

...

Most Christians preferred not to give their names or be interviewed, saying they fear reaction from conservative sectors of society.

The population of Kobani and its surroundings has neared its original 200,000 after people returned, although only 40,000 live in the town itself, much of which lies in ruins.

This is an example of modern day resurrection, proving that Christ is very much alive and well, yet He still gives people the choice not to believe in Him.



[1] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-syria-islamic-state-christians/christianity-grows-in-syrian-town-once-besieged-by-islamic-state-idUSKCN1RS19N

God Uses Evil To Bring Out The Good

If the Sanhedrin and the high priest Caiaphas during the time of Jesus believed in Him, and if Judas Iscariot protected Christ instead of betraying Him, then the crucifixion of Christ might have been avoided.  Without the crucifixion and the resurrection of Christ, the world would not know God through His Son and the Mother of God, and the abbreviations B.C. (before Christ) and A.D. (anno Domini) would not have existed.

"'At no point in world history has there ever been a single uniform dating system that's unanimously agreed to be shared by everyone,' says Dr. Carlos Noreña, a scholar of ancient history at University of California-Berkeley. 'In the Middle Ages and Antiquity, there were multiple eras jostling for recognition.'" [1]

Quoting further from the source cited above [2]:

Into this calendar chaos, a humble monk by the name of Dionysius Exiguus stepped in. “He said, wait a minute, wait a minute, why are we dating things by the founding of the city of Rome?” Noreña says. “That doesn't make any sense. Surely we can find a better event to start counting from. Of course, his choice was the birth of Christ.” Dionysius took his abacus, crunched some numbers, and figured out when Jesus was born. He wrote a letter to a bishop named Petronius detailing his plans for Year One, designating it as anno Domini (A.D.), which translates to “the year of our Lord.”

That said, Dionysius forgot to carry some ones. “The Gospel of Matthew claims [Jesus] was born in the time of Herod the Great, who died in 4 B.C.,” writes David Ewing Duncan in his book Calendar: Humanity's Epic Struggle to Determine a True and Accurate Year. “This means the birth must have occurred before this date. Other Gospels and historical sources suggest dates ranging from 6 or 7 B.C. to A.D. 7, though most historians lean towards 4 or 5 B.C. This means the year 1996 or 1997 was probably the true year 2000 in the anno Domini calendar, if one does the arithmetic without a year 0.”

While Dionysius' concept didn't take off immediately, he got some help from a monk pal who used A.D. in a few of his textbooks, which were then taught by Christian missionaries. And then, in our year 731 A.D., the historian Venerable Bede used A.D. in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People. That bout of publicity coincided with the spread of Christianity and—just as the Romans spread their Year One during their era of supremacy—the concept of 1 A.D. as Year One continued. The last big holdouts were Portugal, which adopted the system in 1422, and the Russian empire, which gave in by 1700. By the 19th century, most everyone was on board.

It's worth pointing out the concept of B.C.—that is, “before Christ”—wasn't introduced until 1627, by a French astronomer. He reasoned that the world existed before 1 A.D., so decided to figure that in by counting backwards. Due to its logic, B.C. was an easier, and quicker, sell.

Having a calender the world now uses is just one of the good things that came out of the life and death of Jesus, the Son of God.

Another is the salvation of souls, even though many would disagree, but that is beside the point.

The point is that evil had allowed Eve and Adam to choose freely to love and obey God or not.  In order to choose freely and to love freely, evil has to play a part.  Without evil, without temptation, one will never know what to compare good to.  Eve and Adam, led by evil, gave to all the pains of life.  Without experiencing the pains of life and acknowledging the unending torments of Hell, one will never appreciate the eternal joys of Heaven, and will take it for granted.

Eve and Adam took perfection in the Garden of Eden for granted.  They did not know how good they had it.  They became proud.  Eve was tempted by Satan.  She wanted more.  She desired power.  She wanted to be like God, as do many of her descendant sons and daughters today.  Like her ancestor mother, these sons and daughters believe that they deserve everything.

To believe that one is deserving is to aggrandize the ego.  The bigger the ego the less room there is for the good.  The converse is equally true: the deeper the humility the greater and the purer is the good.

This week is Holy Week, and it is Christ's perfect humility that perfected goodness.  For this to occur, it was necessary for evil of all kinds to enter into the life of Christ, beginning with Herod who wanted the Child Jesus killed, then there was Satan in the desert tempting Christ, and so on until Christ's death on the cross.

Christ by His Humility and by His obedience to God absorbed all that was evil in man, and by His blood and wounded heart He saved man from himself.


[1] https://psmag.com/social-justice/the-year-would-be-that-of-1-million-years-past-our-lord-spaghetti-monsters-bday
[2] Ibid.

Speculating On Two Opposing Thoughts On The Notre-Dame Cathedral Fire

I.  A Divine Plan - a blessing in disguise

On 16 April 2019 BBC News  reported that "[s]ections of the building were under scaffolding as part of the renovations and 16 copper statues had been removed last week. Work began after cracks appeared in the stone, sparking fears the structure could become unstable. [1] [Emphasis original.]

It is possible that the visible cracks in the stone could indicate that there may be other cracks that are hidden and developing, weakening the structure, giving rise to an imminent danger of collapse.  It is also possible that the cracks cannot be repaired, that the entire cathedral had to be re-engineered and rebuilt to modern standards.

Had the cathedral collapsed when there are large crowds both inside and outside, there would likely be many lives that would be lost.  This would give enemies of the Church a reason to blame God for using His Church as a weapon of mass destruction, or to claim that there is no God since God would not have allowed such a tragedy to happen.

The 15 April 2019 fire that consumed parts of the cathedral did not result in any fatality.  This is good because things (other than relics) can be replaced whereas lives cannot.

Now that the cathedral has suffered significant damage, the plan to repair needs to be shelved and be replaced by a plan to rebuild.  A new cathedral built to exacting high standards should be safe and will likely not collapse from structural weaknesses.

Since the cathedral will be rebuilt, how the fire started is irrelevant.  If someone wants a reason, then one can say that God had allowed it, that the fire is a blessing in disguise.  By involving many people in this rebuilding process, perhaps many will return to the church and many will enter it.

It would be wishful thinking if the Novus Ordo altar in the center is removed as a part of the reconstruction, returning the cathedral to its original form, so that the Traditional Latin Mass (Tridentine Mass) will once again be celebrated.


II.  A lack of care and concern - the absence of love of God

On 16 April 2019 TIME  reported that "Michel Picaud, head of the non-profit organization Friends of Notre-Dame de Paris" "and others have spent years appealing to the French government and private donors for money to renovate and upgrade the cathedral. In 2017, they guided TIME on to the roof of the building to show how it was crumbling. Bits of stone work were dropping off, eaten through by centuries of wear and tear, as well as the intense pollution in central Paris. So too were the gargoyles for which Notre-Dame is famous, which Picaud likened then to being “like ice cream, melting in the sun.” Some of the lost gargoyles, which act as rain ducts, have been replaced by cheap PVC piping, while at least one statue on a bell tower that was deemed precarious was strapped down, rather than properly restored, in order to stop it from falling." [2] [hyperlinks omitted.]

"Notre-Dame began a €150-million ($170 million) construction project last year [2018], in an effort to restore and upgrade the wooden roof and spire, which was considered to be the most urgently needed work." [3] [hyperlink omitted.]

Based on the report above, plans were drawn up to repair the cathedral and companies were hired to do the work.  There seemed to be nobody from the church was put in charge.  Whoever did the hiring seemed to care less, so long as the repair work was being done, even if cheaply and superficially.  And so long as workers were being paid and receiving benefits, the possibility of someone leaving something inflammatory on purpose or out of carelessness at the end of the work day that could spark a fire, apparently did not enter anyone's consciousness.  To them

Whether the fire was started intentionally or negligently does not make a difference because nobody, not even those in charge of the cathedral, seemed to care.  Had they truly cared, they would have demanded that security cameras and smoke alarms be installed.  If they had they been put in place and monitored, then the fire could easily be extinguished when it first started, and damages would have been minimized.  As it turned out, it was a labor not done out of love, but out of a contractual obligation.

If those in charge of the repairs and those actually doing the work had genuine love of God in their hearts, they would go beyond the call of duty and be extra cautious in minimizing the risks associated with a renovation, such as a fire.

In conclusion, it is likely Divine Providence that had permitted the Notre-Dame Cathedral to burn the way it did because the band-aid approach adopted for its repairs would likely have caused a far worse disaster, with the structure collapsing suddenly on people.  Now, Macron and "his Prime Minister Edouard Philippe and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, [had] promised on television to launch a rebuilding fund without delay, and to draw in specialists from across the world for Notre-Dame’s reconstruction." [4]  That is the way forward.  God is never wrong.


[1] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-47943705
[2] http://time.com/5571554/paris-fire-notre-dame-shock-damage/
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.

Happened Again -- Another Church Burning In France! Notre-Dame in Paris Up In Flames - 15 April 2019

Credit: "Smoke and flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on Monday. (Photo: Pierre Galey/AFP/Getty Images)"

It is sad to see such a venerable cathedral being consumed by fire.  The church should be restored to its original façade.  It is also sad to know that Catholicism has been consumed by secularism. This, too, requires restoration to what Christ intended, a more difficult task than rebuilding a structure.

Notre-Dame Cathedral is not a museum with a souvenir shop.  It is a place to be close to God, to awaken the conscience deep within and examine it with honesty, a place where the peace of Christ is able to enter through earnest supplication and repentance.  With hearts and minds entrenched in the secular world of consumption, relativism, entertainment and politics, even a church as venerable as Notre-Dame Cathedral is of no use.  It becomes another building to visit, to photograph and to use as a background for selfies to show that "I was there."

The Catholic church was not built for tourism.  Inside a true Catholic church are kneelers.  They are there for people to kneel and pray.  When people do not have faith, do not pray, relegate Christ to a place in the periphery, of indifference, then there is no need for a church, in France or anywhere else, and there would be no need to rebuild Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris.

However, for the many (even a few) faithful Catholics who pray and attend Mass at the Cathedral, it must be restored.  For them, it is God's house where they can go and be comforted.  It is a place of peace for them and for all who enter who have no malevolence in their hearts.

On a personal note, Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris is loved and is missed.  He recalls the last time he was there, as he was walking away he turned and looked back at the front of the cathedral, wanting to remain but could not and had to move on, not knowing if and when he would return.  He never expected that the cathedral that had stood for centuries that he had entered with love on his many visits would leave him before he left the world.

Thoughts On Holy Communion

From the Catechism of the Catholic Church [1]:

1413 By the consecration the transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ is brought about. Under the consecrated species of bread and wine Christ himself, living and glorious, is present in a true, real, and substantial manner: his Body and his Blood, with his soul and his divinity (cf. Council of Trent: DS 1640; 1651).

It is one thing knowing that Christ is truly present in consecrated bread and wine; it is quite another to treat both species with utmost reverence.  The first consecration took place during the Last Supper. [2]

It is out of love that Christ gave of Himself and it must be out of love that one must give of oneself to Christ.  This is fundamental to all Christians and Catholics.

It is therefore a disgrace and an embarrassment to all Catholics to have Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI point this out on April 10, 2019 [3]:

The way people often simply receive the Holy Sacrament in communion as a matter of course shows that many see communion as a purely ceremonial gesture. 

Receiving Holy Communion, actual Heart tissue of the dying Christ [4], as a matter of routine during Mass is a mockery or near mockery of the Real Presence of Christ.  Receiving Christ cannot be a non-thinking response to a stimulus.  It requires the total dedication of one's heart, mind and soul.

Only a saint knows how that is done.  Sainte Marguerite-Marie Alacoque is one such saint.  Because the Eucharist is the Heart of Christ, and Sainte Marguerite-Marie Alacoque was devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, one ought to say Sainte Marguerite-Marie Alacoque's prayer of reparation whenever one is in the Real Presence of Christ, during Mass when the Holy Communion is being distributed and after it has been received, and during Eucharistic adoration [5] [Emphasis original]:

Adorable Heart of Jesus, glowing with love for us and inflamed with zeal for our salvation. O Heart that understands the misery to which our sins have brought us, infinitely rich in mercy to heal the wounds of our souls, behold me humbly kneeling before You to express the sorrow that fills my heart for the coldness and indifference with which I have so long returned the numberless benefits which You have bestowed upon me.

With a deep sense of the outrages that have been heaped upon You by my sins and the sins of others, I wish to make reparation to Your most Sacred Majesty. It was our sins that filled Your Heart with bitterness; it was the weight of our guilt that pressed down Your face to the earth in the Garden of Olives and caused you to die in agony on the Cross. But now, repentant and sorrowful, I implore Your forgiveness.

Adorable Heart of Jesus, Source of true consolation and ever merciful to the penitent sinner, impart to our hearts the spirit of penance that we may be sincerely sorry for our sins. Pardon them, O Lord, in Your mercy, and let all who have sinned against You in the Sacrament of Your love be converted and return to You. Deliver us from our sins. And in order to repair the sins of ingratitude by which we have grieved Your most tender and loving Heart, may we love and honor You in the most adorable Sacrament of the Altar, where You are present to hear and grant our petitions and to be the food and life of our souls.

Merciful Jesus, be our Mediator with Your heavenly Father, whom we have so grievously offended. Help us to amend our ways. As Your Sacred Heart is our refuge and our hope when we have sinned, so let it be the strength and support of our repentance, and nothing in life or death shall ever separate us from You. Amen.

[1] http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p2s2c1a3.htm.
[2] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+26%3A26-28%2CMark+14%3A12-25%2CLuke+22%3A7-20&version=NIV
[3] https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/full-text-pope-emeritus-benedict-xvi-lays-out-thoughts-on-abuse-crisis
[4] https://aleteia.org/2017/09/23/the-eucharistic-miracle-of-sokolka-the-host-is-tissue-from-heart-of-a-dying-man/
[5] https://www.ourcatholicprayers.com/reparation-to-the-sacred-heart-of-jesus.html

Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI Breaks Silence

Lifesitenews  published on April 10, 2019, the full text of Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI's reflections.  It is for this blogger a slow and difficult but worthwhile read.  A selection of paragraphs are quoted below (the first paragraph is shocking, the rest are memorable) [1]:

On books Pope Benedict XVI wrote:

There were — not only in the United States of America — individual bishops who rejected the Catholic tradition as a whole and sought to bring about a kind of new, modern “Catholicity” in their dioceses. Perhaps it is worth mentioning that in not a few seminaries, students caught reading my books were considered unsuitable for the priesthood. My books were hidden away, like bad literature, and only read under the desk. [2]

On a Godless world:

A world without God can only be a world without meaning. For where, then, does everything that is come from? In any case, it has no spiritual purpose. It is somehow simply there and has neither any goal nor any sense. Then there are no standards of good or evil. Then only what is stronger than the other can assert itself. Power is then the only principle. Truth does not count, it actually does not exist. Only if things have a spiritual reason, are intended and conceived — only if there is a Creator God who is good and wants the good — can the life of man also have meaning.

...

A society without God — a society that does not know Him and treats Him as non-existent — is a society that loses its measure. In our day, the catchphrase of God’s death was coined. When God does die in a society, it becomes free, we were assured. In reality, the death of God in a society also means the end of freedom, because what dies is the purpose that provides orientation. And because the compass disappears that points us in the right direction by teaching us to distinguish good from evil. Western society is a society in which God is absent in the public sphere and has nothing left to offer it. And that is why it is a society in which the measure of humanity is increasingly lost. At individual points it becomes suddenly apparent that what is evil and destroys man has become a matter of course.

On connecting with God:

A paramount task, which must result from the moral upheavals of our time, is that we ourselves once again begin to live by God and unto Him. Above all, we ourselves must learn again to recognize God as the foundation of our life instead of leaving Him aside as a somehow ineffective phrase. I will never forget the warning that the great theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar once wrote to me on one of his letter cards. “Do not presuppose the triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, but present them!”

Indeed, in theology God is often taken for granted as a matter of course, but concretely one does not deal with Him. The theme of God seems so unreal, so far removed from the things that concern us. And yet everything becomes different if one does not presuppose but present God. Not somehow leaving Him in the background, but recognizing Him as the center of our thoughts, words and actions. 

On theology:

God became man for us. Man as His creature is so close to His heart that He has united himself with him and has thus entered human history in a very practical way. He speaks with us, He lives with us, He suffers with us and He took death upon Himself for us. We talk about this in detail in theology, with learned words and thoughts. But it is precisely in this way that we run the risk of becoming masters of faith instead of being renewed and mastered by the Faith.

On the Holy Eucharist:

Let us consider this with regard to a central issue, the celebration of the Holy Eucharist. Our handling of the Eucharist can only arouse concern. The Second Vatican Council was rightly focused on returning this sacrament of the Presence of the Body and Blood of Christ, of the Presence of His Person, of His Passion, Death and Resurrection, to the center of Christian life and the very existence of the Church. In part, this really has come about, and we should be most grateful to the Lord for it.

... 

The way people often simply receive the Holy Sacrament in communion as a matter of course shows that many see communion as a purely ceremonial gesture....

On the Church within the soul:

And finally, there is the Mystery of the Church. The sentence with which Romano Guardini, almost 100 years ago, expressed the joyful hope that was instilled in him and many others, remains unforgotten: “An event of incalculable importance has begun; the Church is awakening in souls.”

He meant to say that no longer was the Church experienced and perceived as merely an external system entering our lives, as a kind of authority, but rather it began to be perceived as being present within people’s hearts — as something not merely external, but internally moving us. About half a century later, in reconsidering this process and looking at what had been happening, I felt tempted to reverse the sentence: “The Church is dying in souls.”

On the Church on politics:

Indeed, the Church today is widely regarded as just some kind of political apparatus. One speaks of it almost exclusively in political categories, and this applies even to bishops, who formulate their conception of the church of tomorrow almost exclusively in political terms. 

On a better Church:

The timeliness of what the Apocalypse is telling us here is obvious. Today, the accusation against God is, above all, about characterizing His Church as entirely bad, and thus dissuading us from it. The idea of a better Church, created by ourselves, is in fact a proposal of the devil, with which he wants to lead us away from the living God, through a deceitful logic by which we are too easily duped. No, even today the Church is not just made up of bad fish and weeds. The Church of God also exists today, and today it is the very instrument through which God saves us.

On lies and half-truths:

It is very important to oppose the lies and half-truths of the devil with the whole truth: Yes, there is sin in the Church and evil. But even today there is the Holy Church, which is indestructible. Today there are many people who humbly believe, suffer and love, in whom the real God, the loving God, shows Himself to us. Today God also has His witnesses (martyres) in the world. We just have to be vigilant in order to see and hear them.

On martyrs:

Today’s Church is more than ever a “Church of the Martyrs” and thus a witness to the living God. If we look around and listen with an attentive heart, we can find witnesses everywhere today, especially among ordinary people, but also in the high ranks of the Church, who stand up for God with their life and suffering. It is an inertia of the heart that leads us to not wish to recognize them. One of the great and essential tasks of our evangelization is, as far as we can, to establish habitats of Faith and, above all, to find and recognize them.

In the paragraph quoted above, Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI could have but did not say that Bergoglio is like the many witnesses "who stand up for God with their life and suffering."  Between these two people, Jorge Mario Bergoglio and Carlo Maria Viganò, which one was he thinking of as a high-ranking witness in the Church?  Perhaps the answer is clear--who is the one suffering?

Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI had some seemingly kind words for Bergoglio in his conclusion:

At the end of my reflections I would like to thank Pope Francis for everything he does to show us, again and again, the light of God, which has not disappeared, even today. Thank you, Holy Father!

After carefully parsing those words of gratitude, this blogger thinks that Bergoglio is not being thanked "again and again" for everything he does, even though at first glance the words read that way, but rather thanked for the things that Bergoglio does that show "the light of God" only, and he is thanked "again and again" only on the condition that he does things that  show "the light of God" each time it is done.

Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI is so brilliant.  It is always a challenge to read between his lines.



[1] https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/full-text-pope-emeritus-benedict-xvi-lays-out-thoughts-on-abuse-crisis
[2] Lifesitenews  also has a You Tube video on this entitled BREAKING NEWS: POPE BENEDICT XVI - "THEY BANNED MY BOOKS" at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbD_6-yCOFY

Excerpts From King Abdullah II Of Jordan's Speech

Quoted in part from the Remarks by His Majesty King Abdullah II During the Lamp of Peace Award Ceremony in Assisi [1]:

To me, the Lamp of Peace of Saint Francis symbolises how peace lights our way forward to a better future for all people, of every faith and country and community.

But it is our task to provide the fuel for that light, and what fuels global peace is mutual respect and understanding.

...

Saint Francis, whose shrine is at this Basilica, is known throughout the world for his compassion toward every person and all living things. Such love is an important guide for us today. The people of the world do not have to be the same in order to have the same concerns, share the same needs, or hope the same hopes. To reach a better future, we must find a common path.

...

Today, for the world’s people to know each other, we need real dialogue. That means speaking honestly, listening carefully, and acting on the positive values we all share.

These dreamy words all people understand but many ignore, likely due to selfishness, greed for power and possessions, with little genuine concern for the well-being of neighbor, of Mother Nature and of future generations, and far beyond that their eternity.



[1] https://www.lpj.org/remarks-by-his-majesty-king-abdullah-ii-lamp-peace-award-ceremony-assisi/

Rwanda - Before The Genocide, During The Genocide & Today

Rwanda - before the genocide:

"Beginning on No­vember 28, 1981, the Blessed Virgin Mary (and later Jesus) chose to appear at regular intervals to a group of teenag­ers in the rural countryside of Kibeho, Rwanda, giving them urgent heavenly mes­sages intended to be shared throughout the country and the entire world." [1]

"[A]amidst the messages of encouragement to repentance and love of neighbor there was one very significant message that seemed to be the most important of all the Blessed Virgins messages; in 1982 the Blessed Virgin specifically predicted the horrible 1994 genocide--12 years before it occurred.  She said that 'a river of blood ' would flow across Rwanda unless the Rwandan people stopped harboring ha­tred and animosity for each other, and instead would need to turn their hearts with love and brotherly charity towards one another. And on August 15, 1982, the seers saw 'a river of blood, people who were killing each other, abandoned corpses with no one to bury them, trees all in flames, bodies without their heads.'" [2] [Emphasis  original.]

Rwanda - during the genocide:

"Throughout the course of 100 days from April 6 to July 16 1994, approximately 800,000 Rwandan Tutsis and some moderate Hutus were massacred in the Rwandan genocide. During this period, more than 6 men, women and children were murdered every minute of every hour of every day. This incredible rate of killing was maintained for more than 3 months. Along with the intense bloodshed, it is believed that approximately 250,000 women were raped during the 100 days of genocide (a precise count is such circumstances is impossible) and roughly 30% of the women who were raped during the genocide were infected with HIV/AIDS." [3] [Emphasis original.]

Rwanda - today:

"A handful of Muslims took a stand during the hundred days of slaughter. Their stance inspired thousands of Rwandans to become Muslim in what was once called Africa’s most Catholic country." [4] [Emphasis original.]

Quoted without hyperlinks below is from the same source as the paragraph immediately above, TRTWORLD [5]:

“I was a Catholic pastor before genocide,” Matabaro Sulaiman told TRT World on a chilly Thursday night in Kigali, dressed in a flashy purple jilbab - a long loose-fit dress worn by Muslim men.

When the genocide in Rwanda began in 1994, the 49-year-old, suffered a crisis of faith watching the churches, in which he preached peace and unity became slaughterhouses.

“Christians were killing people in the church,” Sulaiman said.

“The [victims] went to churches thinking they will find peace but instead, they were killed.

“Meanwhile, I saw Muslims take people inside the mosque.”

Since the advent of European colonialism in the country in 1884, Roman Catholicism has been the dominant religion in Rwanda.

But in the last 25 years, Islam has become an alternative for thousands of Rwandans who lost their faith in Christianity during the genocide.

Muslims made up one percent of the population before the genocide. Although no census has been conducted, today  “12 percent to 15 percent of the total population is Muslim”, according to Salim Habimana, a former Mufti of the country.

...

Many went to churches as a last resort to seek refuge but death eventually found them, even in what they hoped were houses of God.

Thousands were killed inside churches across the country, including Rwanda’s largest Catholic church, Saint Famille.

More than 2,000 people who sought shelter were killed after Pastor Wenceslas Munyeshyaka collaborated with the attackers instead of protecting those in need.

 Nyamata Church, located in the outskirts of south Kigali, became a mass grave for nearly 50,000 people who thought they were safe. The victims’ clothes still remain piled on pews inside the church.

However, when churches became slaughterhouses, the country’s tiny Muslim minority opened its doors.

...

“Muslims were very few in number and had no capacity and power… but they decided to help others who were being killed,” Sulaiman said.

“But I saw how those few Muslims… did something extraordinary to help people,” he added, his eyes watering and his voice croaking.

“When I saw efforts to help people during that time of danger, I said to myself maybe, maybe this is the reality of Islam. This is the Islam they are talking about.

"I decided to become Muslim.”

Now, Sulaiman shares the stage with Christian pastors, getting into heated discussions about religious issues in front of audiences of hundreds. He goes travelling from village to village, preaching Islam.
 
Next to Sulaiman, sits Ndagijimana Ibrahim. At 14, he lost most of his family members, including his father, when the militias attacked his home.

He managed to escape and got back on his feet after the genocide. He now has three masters degrees with a PhD pending in governance.

He backed up Sulaiman’s accounts of how Muslims behaved during the genocide.

He told TRT World that when the killings began in April 1994, the Mufti of Rwanda prohibited Muslims from involvement in the killings, arguing that killing civilians is forbidden in Islam. [This is probably an overstatement.]

“Muslims supported the Tutsi families and hid them,” Ibrahim said.

“We have a very big number of former Christians who converted to Islam based on the fact that they have been saved and hidden by the Muslims at that time.”

...

Mbarushimana Hussain was four years old when he and his parents took shelter in a mosque for a month.

"Even though, I was four years old, I can't forget that Muslim man.

“Amid mass murder, the Muslim guy used to go out everyday and brought food for 40 non-Muslims in the mosque."

Hussain said: “Ten years after genocide, I became Muslim along with my mother and father.

“We couldn't forget the kindness of Muslims.”

Apparently, the visionaries' accounts of what was to happen in Rwanda 12 years earlier in 1982 did not have any effect upon the Rwandan Catholics who converted willingly to Islam.  This proves that it is neither Catholic wealth, power, apparitions nor proven miracles that draw people in; rather, it is love of neighbor as oneself, the second most important commandment [5] that does.

If all Catholics would put an end to their self-righteousness, in-fighting, desire for wealth, lust for power, hypocrisies and pretensions of holiness, and focus on true humility, genuine love of neighbor and of God then perhaps by their exemplary lives, they will gain respect and Catholic churches will see attendance grow rather than diminish.

“Live like Jesus did, and the world will listen.”
— Mahatma Gandhi



[1] http://www.mysticsofthechurch.com/2015/01/our-lady-of-kibeho-heavenly-warnings.html
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
[4] https://www.trtworld.com/africa/from-the-ashes-of-genocide-islam-rises-in-rwanda-25565
[5] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+22%3A36-40&version=NIV

Hymn For Passion Sunday: Stabat Mater

According to the 1962 Roman Catholic Daily Missal  [1], the fifth Sunday in Lent is Passion Sunday.  The Latin hymn Stabat Mater  is an option to be used during benediction.  You Tube has a video of the hymn being chanted [2].

"Stabat Mater  is the title of a thirteenth-century Latin hymn and it means 'the Mother was standing.'  In Latin, the hymn consists of twenty couplets which describe the Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin at the Cross." [3]

Below is Stabat Mater  in English, copied from the 1962 Roman Catholic Daily Missal  [4]:

1. At the cross her station keeping,
Stood the mournful Mother weeping,
Close to Jesus to the last.

2.  Through her heart, His sorrow
sharing, All His bitter anguish bearing,
Now at length the sword has passed.

3.  Oh, how sad and sore distressed
Was that Mother highly blessed Of
the sole-begotten One!

4.  Christ above in torment hangs,
She beneath beholds the pangs Of
her dying, glorious Son.

5.  Is there one who would not weep
Whelmed in miseries so deep Christ's
dear Mother to behold?

6.  Can the human heart refrain
From partaking in her pain, In that
Mother's pain untold?

7.  Bruised, derided, cursed, defiled,
She beheld her tender Child, All
with bloody scourges rent.

8.  For the sins of His own nation
Saw Him hang in desolation Till
His spirit forth He sent.

9.  O thou Mother! fount of love,
Touch my spirit from above, Make
my heart with thine accord:

10.  Make me feel as thou hast felt;
Make my soul to glow and melt
With the love of Christ, my Lord.

11.  Holy Mother, pierce me through,
In my heart each wound renew Of
my Savior crucified.

12.  Let me share with thee His pain,
Who for all our sins was slain, Who
for me in torments died.

13.  Let me mingle tears with thee,
Mourning Him Who mourned for
me, All the days that I may live.

14.  By the cross with thee to stay,
There with thee to weep and pray,
Is all I ask of thee to give.

15.  Virgin of all virgins best! Listen
to my fond request: Let me share
thy grief divine;

16.  Let me, to my latest breath, In
my body bear the death Of that
dying Son of thine.

17.  Wounded with His every wound,
Steep my soul till it hath swooned
In His very Blood away;

18.  Be to me, O Virgin, nigh, Lest
in flames I burn and die, In His
awful judgment day.

19.  Christ, when Thou shalt call me
hence, Be Thy Mother my defense,
Be Thy Cross my victory.

20.  While my body here decays, May
my soul They goodness praise, Safe
in paradise with Thee. Amen.

Stabat Mater  in Latin, quoted from udayton.edu [5]:

Stabat Mater dolorósa
Juxta Crucem lacrimósa,
Dum pendébat Filius.

Cujus ánimam geméntem,
Contristátam et doléntem,
Pertransivit gladius.

O quam tristis et afflicta
Fuit illa benedicta
Mater Unigéniti!

Quae maerébat, et dolébat,
Pia Mater, dum vidébat
Nati poenas inclyti.

Quis est homo, qui non fleret,
Matrem Christi si vidéret
In tanto supplicio?
Quis non posset contristári,
Christi Matrem contemplári
Doléntem cum Filio?

Pro peccátis suae gentis
Vidit Jesum in torméntis,
Et flagéllis súbditum.

Vidit suum dulcem natum
Moriéndo desolátum,
Dum emisit spíritum.

Eja mater, fons amóris,
Me sentíre vim dolóris
Fac, ut tecum lúgeam.

Fac, ut árdeat cor meum
In amándo Christum Deum,
Ut sibi compláceam.

Sancta Mater, istud agas
Crucifixi fige plagas
Cordi meo válide.

Tui nati vulneráti,
Tam dignáti pro me pati,
Poenas mecum dívide.

Fac me tecum pie flere,
Crucifixo condolére,
Donec ego víxero.

Juxta Crucem tecum stare,
Et me tibi sociáre
In planctu desídero.

Virgo vírginum praeclára,
Mihi jam non sis amára:
Fac me tecum plángere.

Fac, ut portem Christi mortem,
Passiónis fac consórtem,
Et plagas recólere.

Fac me plagis vulnerári,
Fac me Cruce inebriári,
Et cruó re Fílii.

Flammis ne urar succénsus,
Per te, Virgo, sim defénsus
In die judícii.

Christe, cum sit hinc exíre
Da per Matrem me veníre
Ad palmam victóriae.

Quando corpus moriétur,
Fac, ut ánimae donétur
Paradísi glória. Amen. Allelúja.

Missale Romanum
Cincinnati: Benziger Brothers, 1956.

[1] Juergens, Sylvester P. (2004). The Roman Catholic Daily Missal 1962. Kansas City, MO: Angeles Press.
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4US4PSZF278
[3] https://udayton.edu/imri/mary/s/stabat-mater-poetry.php
[4] Juergens, op. cit., p. 427-29.
[5] https://udayton.edu/imri/mary/s/stabat-mater-poetry.php

What "Church" Did Christ Have In MInd When He Wanted It Built?

This question above is for a scholar to answer.  Jerold Aust is one such scholar. [1]  He is not Catholic.  As much as some Catholics would like to think they have a monopoly over all matters theological, they actually do not.  Some may even be in error.

Many Catholics think that the word "church" in Matthew 16:18 refer exclusively to St. Peter's Basilica and all Catholic basilicas, cathedrals and churches worldwide.  Below is a contrary viewpoint, quoted in part from an essay by Jerold Aust without hyperlinks [2]:

Matthew shows that Jesus built His Church on Himself. “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it [i.e., it will never die out]” (Matthew 16:18).

Contrary to conventional religious opinion, Jesus didn’t say He would build His Church on Peter. He simply acknowledged that Peter was a small piece of rock (Greek, petros ), but that He would build the Church on Himself, a great mass of rock (Greek, petra ).

This key opens the door to the Church that Jesus is building. The Church built on Jesus Christ is made up of humble people (1 Corinthians 1:26-31), not ostentatious buildings.

Another key to entering Christ’s Church is what constitutes His building materials. These include spiritual values such as love, hope, faith, joy, peace, patience, wisdom and humility, to name a few. Only the Master Builder, Christ Jesus, can build His Church with these spiritual materials.

[Christ did find a builder with such spiritual values to repair His Church in Saint Francis of Assisi. [3]] 

At Christ’s return, God’s Church will grow prodigiously and cover the entire earth throughout His millennial rule (Isaiah 11:9; Daniel 7:27).

Paul speaks of the New Testament Church as Christ’s building that He now inhabits and that He causes to grow. “Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:19-22).

The apostle Peter further refers to the Church as living stones. “Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:4-5).

Earlier in the essay, Jerold Aust had this to say, quoted in part without hyperlinks [4] [italics  original]:

In the New Testament, church  is translated from the Greek word ecclesia , which can be defined as a calling out, an assembly or a congregation.

Church, in the Bible, is not described as a cathedral or any sort of building. The first-century Church brethren met in members’ private residences (Romans 16:5; 1 Corinthians 16:19), as they sometimes do today. The apostle Paul sometimes spoke to brethren, as well as potential converts and perhaps curious listeners, in various Jewish synagogues.

The Bible uses the word church  to represent God’s people as “called-out ones.” Paul wrote “to the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours” (1 Corinthians 1:2).

The very early true Church of the New Testament had no cathedrals. These huge buildings began to be built a few hundred years later after another church organization with different doctrines and beliefs, emerged, competing with the true Church of God.

Even if Christ had in mind the churches, cathedrals and basilicas of today when He said He wanted His Church built, He most likely did not have in mind clerics who would run them like charitable non-governmental organizations (NGOs) with political overtones, who put themselves above the Church, by limiting the hours the Church doors would remain open, by allotting certain days and certain hours for Eucharistic adoration, shutting out people who would want to spend time with God in the time of need, to pray before the Eucharist, and by using the Church to raise funds for themselves to use without regard to their vow of poverty, and to pay legal fees and settlements for sexual abuses without regard to their vow of chastity.

How can any one think that the Catholic Church today is the Church Christ wanted?  It is, in this blogger's opinion, a total abomination, and the Gates of Hell have already prevailed against it because it is not the Church Christ had in mind.  If it were, it would not be plagued with financial and sex scandals, and who knows what other untold scandals that had taken and may still be taking place.



[1] https://www.ucg.org/user/jerold-aust
[2] https://www.ucg.org/world-news-and-prophecy/i-will-build-my-church
[3] https://www.piercedhearts.org/theology_heart/life_saints/francis_assisi_life.htm
[4] https://www.ucg.org/world-news-and-prophecy/i-will-build-my-church

The Vatican's Secretary Of State On "criminalization of homosexuality"

Vatican News  reported on 5 April 2019 as follows, quoted in full [1]:

Responding to questions from journalists on Friday, the “ad interim” Director of the Holy See Press Office, Alessandro Gisotti, confirmed that the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, received a group of approximately 50 persons working in various ways against the criminalization of homosexuality.

During the meeting, research on the criminalization of homosexual relationships in the Caribbean was presented to the Vatican Secretary of State.

Cardinal Parolin extended a brief greeting to those present, repeating the Catholic Church’s position in defense of the dignity of every human person and against every form of violence.

After having listened to the presentations of some of the participants at the meeting, Cardinal Parolin then assured that he would inform the Holy Father of the contents of the research.

Homosexuality is a sexual preference.  A sexual preference often leads to sexual desire.  Thoughts, as well as desires, are abstractions that have not yet been acted upon, and are usually not subject to punishment(s) under man's laws.

Under God's laws, the outcome may be different, in particular for gay men who engage in sodomy if one substitutes the word "sodomy" for "adultery", the word "woman" for "man" and the word "him" for "her" in the passage quoted below without paragraph numbers [2]:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Many (heterosexuals, homosexuals and every other kind sexual beings) have taken the position that homosexual inclination necessarily leads to sexual acts because for them chastity is impossible and is therefore not an option.  They are not to be blamed since lust and lustful actions are common.  Even some clerics, possibly many, are unable to keep their vow of chastity.

French journalist and author Frédéric Martel claimed in his book, In the Closet of the Vatican: Power, Homosexuality, Hypocrisy  that "[e]ighty per cent of priests working at the Vatican are gay, although not necessarily sexually active." [3]

The Catechism of the Catholic Church  has addressed the topic of homosexuality and chastity as follows, quoted without references [4]:

Chastity and homosexuality 

2357 Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered." They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.

2358 The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God's will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.

2359 Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection.

If Catholics and non-Catholics who have homosexual inclinations practice chastity in accordance with the position of the Catholic Church, then criminalization of homosexual sex acts would not even be a topic that would arise.

Three days ago, CyprusMail Online  reported that "Brunei, a Muslim-majority former British protectorate with a population of around 400,000, will implement the Sharia laws from April 3, punishing sodomy, adultery and rape with the death penalty, including by stoning, and theft with amputation." [5]  "Lesbians may be whipped and imprisoned." [6]

That is extreme.

According to Vatican News  quoted above, Cardinal Parolin repeated the Catholic Church's position which is "against every form of violence."

Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei probably has never heard of Jesus forgiving the woman caught in adultery, and telling her to sin no more [7] but perhaps he has heard of these words of Jesus and took them literally, quoted without paragraph numbers [8]:

If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.

This passage from Matthew 5:27-30, if taken literally, too, is extreme.

Sometimes, this blogger wonders who is putting words into the mouth of Jesus in the Gospels.  How can the same Jesus be both forgiving and unforgiving?  The next sentences in the above passage could be these highly unlikely facetious two: And if your testicles and your head has thoughts that cause you to stumble, cut them off and throw them away.  It is better for you to be a headless eunuch than for your whole body to go into Hell.  Perhaps the severing of body parts from the body was intended to be metaphorical, which is consistent with "go and sin no more."

No matter what the Gospels and the Catholic Church teach, many will continue to have adulterous and/or homosexual sex.  Despite this reality, the need for the criminalization of adulterous and homosexual sex could still be avoided if adulterers and sodomists live like the gay priests in the Vatican -- stay in the closet, and be like "[s]ome of the most senior clerics in the Roman Catholic church who have vociferously attacked homosexuality [and/or adultery who] are themselves gay [and/or sexually promiscuous]." [9]


[1] https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2019-04/cardinal-parolin-holy-see-press-office-homosexuality.html
[2] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+5%3A27-28&version=NIV
[3] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/12/four-in-five-vatican-priests-are-gay-book-claims
[4] http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s2c2a6.htm
[5] https://cyprus-mail.com/2019/03/30/brunei-defends-tough-islamic-laws-stoning-homosexuals/;
https://christianaction.org/sultan-of-brunei-doubles-down-on-stoning-homosexuals/
[6] https://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-brunei-stoning-gays-20190405-story.html
[7] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+8%3A+1-11&version=NLT
[8] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+5%3A29-30&version=NIV
[9] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/12/four-in-five-vatican-priests-are-gay-book-claims

Why Are There So Many Religions?

To the question above is Bergoglio's answer, quoted in part below (translated by Google) [1]:

Why are there so many religions, and why are there so many religions? With Muslims we are descendants of the same Father, Abraham: why does God allow so many religions? God wanted to allow this: the Scholastic theologians referred to the voluntas permissive of God. He wanted to allow this reality: there are so many religions; some are born of culture, but always look at the sky, they look at God. But what God wants is fraternity between us and in a special way - here is the reason for this journey - with our brothers children of Abraham like us, the Muslims. We must not be afraid of the difference: God has allowed this. We must be frightened if we do not work in fraternity, to walk together in life.

According to the Old Testament, Bergoglio was wrong by saying that God wanted to allow for different kinds of religions.  Below are selected passages from Exodus 32-34 [2], quoted without references:

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt.  They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’
...

So Moses went back to the Lord and said, “Oh, what a great sin these people have committed! They have made themselves gods of gold. But now, please forgive their sin—but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written.” 

The Lord replied to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me I will blot out of my book. Now go, lead the people to the place I spoke of, and my angel will go before you. However, when the time comes for me to punish, I will punish them for their sin.” 

And the Lord struck the people with a plague because of what they did with the calf Aaron had made.
...

Then the Lord said: “I am making a covenant with you. Before all your people I will do wonders never before done in any nation in all the world. The people you live among will see how awesome is the work that I, the Lord, will do for you. Obey what I command you today. I will drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land where you are going, or they will be a snare among you. Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and cut down their Asherah poles. Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.

According to chesnuthouse.wordpress.com, Abraham is Moses' ancestor [3]:

The genealogy goes like this: Abraham fathered Isaac (Gen. 21:1-3), Isaac fathered Jacob (Gen. 25-21-26), Jacob had 12 sons, including Levi (Gen. 35:23), Levi had three sons, including Kohath (Exo. 6:16), Kohath had four sons, including Amram (Exo. 6:18), and Amram had two sons – Aaron and Moses (Exo. 6:20).  [Emphasis original.]

This blogger is of the opinion that God did not sacrifice His only Son so that man can have his choice of beliefs, but that it is man who by his Free Will has chosen his religion, even after he knew that Christ suffered and died for his sins.

In the New Testament, God through the intercessions of His Son Jesus Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, has become more forgiving than the Old Testament God.

The question as to what God thinks now of the different kinds of religions, below is an answer given by Jesus when Segatashya asked Him during an apparition.  It is from the book The BOY who met JESUS, Segatashya of Kibeho [4] [italics  and ellipses original]:

     But I have one more question, Lord.  I hear people refer to God by many names.  Some people call God "Jehovah," others call Him "Allah" . . . in Rwanda they call Him "Imana," but in Zaire they call God by the name "Mungu."  Now I'm talking to you, Jesus, but I'm also hearing about your mom, the Virgin Mary . . . and then there is Judas and Satan.  It gets very confusing for me.  Whom should I love and respect most?

    Whatever you do my child, do not love or respect Judas or Satan.

    Then of all those other names, whom should I love?

    Of all the others you mentioned, if you love any of them sincerely with your heart, you have succeeded in fulfilling my messages of cleaning your heart for my return.  Calling upon one name among the ones you mentioned will lead you to another, and all of them will lead you to love and truth.  And anytime you find yourself in need, you may call upon any of those names, and they will bring you what you need.  My Blessed Mother will lead you to me, and to the Father, and to the Holy Spirit, for we are one, we are not many.

The words of Jesus seems clear.  Jesus did not say that any of the names mentioned would lead Segatashya to Him, but that they would lead Segatashya to love and truth, and bring him what (not Who) he needed.  Jesus, however, did say that His Blessed Mother would lead Segatashya to Him, the Father and the Holy Spirit.

On second thought, the words of Jesus are not so clear.  This blogger wants to know whether the words "love and truth" used by Jesus are synonymous to the Holy Trinity.  If so, then the aforementioned names would lead one to the Son, the Father and the Holy Spirit.  Since there is a degree of uncertainty, it is therefore best to call upon and rely on the Blessed Virgin Mary Who will intercede on one's behalf and lead one's soul to Her Son and to the Father and to the Holy Spirit.




[1] http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2019/04/03/0280/00564.html
[2] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus+32-34&version=NIV
[3] https://chesnuthouse.wordpress.com/2015/08/28/how-many-generations-from-abraham-to-moses/
[4] Immaculée Ilibagiza with Steve Erwin, The BOY who met JESUS, Segatashya of Kibeho, (Carlsbad, California, Hay House, 2011), 111.