Evil Gravitates Towards Seats Of Power

This entry is purely speculative.  The seats of power are everywhere, some having little impact and some having enormous influence.  Those who occupy them are usually weak, lacking in fortitude in resisting temptations.  They are minions of Satan and just like Satan they are proud but unlike Satan which knows God well, they are oblivious of God.

Christ said, "'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" [1].  Many who are powerful love themselves more than anyone else and more than God.  People who abuse power to the detriment of others live fantasy lives as if theirs were eternal.

There is this saying, "live long and prosper," that megalomaniacs live by, except that they forget the next part "and then you die" that this blogger made up.

After a search online, this is the history, quoted without hyperlinks [2]:

“Live long and prosper” was the famous phrase said by Leonard Nimoy‘s Star Trek character Mr. Spock after giving the Vulcan Salute… and it was also part of the actor’s final tweet before his death.

To this blogger's surprise, death actually followed in the actor's real life.

Life is not eternal.  Heaven and Hell are eternal.

Hell is real but most megalomaniacs are in denial of it.  Had they taken a moment out of their constant self-obsessive lives and imagined Hell, even for a moment, they would not do the things they do.

All those who were, are and will be a part of this world, are neighbors to one another without regard to the passage of time.  The world is not that big.  Living organisms share the same air and water that allow them to thrive.  Earth is tiny relative to the Milky Way and the Milky Way is a speck of dust relative to God's universe.

Megalomaniacs think what they rule over is expansive just as their egos are expansive and think that their power lasts indefinitely until they meet face to face with their own mortality.

Creatures of pride and power refuse to acknowledge that everyone is a child of God and is loved by God.  They see people as "us" versus "them" when everyone is sinful, by choice.

Sinners cannot win.  Sinners can destroy their own souls, each other and Mother Nature unless they repent and seek God.  When the moment comes when God does not acknowledge the sinner, then it would be too late for the soul to be saved.


[1] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+12%3A30-31&version=NIV
[2] www.justjared.com/2015/02/27/llap-leonard-nimoys-last-tweet-said-to-live-long-prosper/

Transubstantiation - Who Believes and Who Does Not?

Quoting from Cal Catholic Daily  without hyperlinks [1]:

[T]he United States Conference of Catholic Bishops asked lay Catholics on Facebook  for advice following the release of a troubling Pew Research survey that found only 3 in 10 Catholics actually believe the bread and wine become the body and blood of Jesus Christ during Mass. 

The laity overwhelmingly responded by calling on the USCCB to reinstitute traditional liturgical practices. 

More than 1,100 comments and hundreds more “likes” revealed Catholics want bishops to combat unbelief in the Real Presence by, among other things, giving communion on the tongue, saying Mass ad orientem, moving tabernacles to the center of the church, restoring Latin chant, and scaling back the role of extraordinary Eucharistic ministers.  

...

The Pew Research survey found that among weekly Mass-attending Catholics only 63 percent of them believe in transubstantiation, meaning 37 percent of weekly Church goers don’t believe in the real presence. Among the 37 percent who don't believe in transubstantiation, 23 percent don't know what the Church teaches on it and 14 percent do know but reject it.

If the 63 percent of weekly Mass-attending Catholics truly believe that the piece of wafer is the Body and Blood of Christ, then all of them ought to receive Him reverently on their tongues rather than casually receiving Him in their hands as if He were a snack, like a potato chip for instance, and holding Him with dirty fingers before placing Him inside the mouth.

This blogger can say definitively that the Eucharist is the Body and Blood of Christ, not because he read about it and believed it, but because he questioned it and asked for a sign.  That was the day he went to Eucharistic Adoration for the first time and he wanted to be sure that he was not adoring a wafer in a monstrance!  Not just one sign but three of them were given consecutively because he remained skeptical after the first two.  He knows in his heart that that God was very upset by the time the third sign was given.


[1] https://cal-catholic.com/bishops-get-an-earful/

Hospital Ship With Name Of Pope Emblazoned On Its Side

Vatican News  reported that "[t]he 'Pope Francis Hospital Ship' has arrived in the Archdiocese of Belem, and is set to begin work in areas of the Amazon region which are accessible only by river." [1]

Credit: https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2019-08/hospital-ship-will-bring-word-of-god-health-care-to-amazon.html

This is a good thing for the Catholic Church do to, but at what point in Bergoglio's life had he earned enough money to have this ship built to put his name on it, as if he owned it?  Is he suffering from egomania?

Quoted from Wikipedia without hyperlinks and references [2]:

Egomania is preoccupation with one's self and applies to anyone who follows one’s own ungoverned impulses and is possessed by delusions of personal greatness and feels a lack of appreciation. Someone suffering from this extreme egocentric focus is an egomaniac. The condition is psychologically abnormal.

What about painting over the name "Papa Francisco" and replace it with "Cathólica" to read "Barco Hospital Cathólica" instead?  This is only a suggestion.  There are other possibilities.

Today's Gospel reading for Mass in the Extraordinary Form [3] is from Luke 18: 9-14.  It ended with these words of Christ: "For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted." [4]



[1] https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2019-08/hospital-ship-will-bring-word-of-god-health-care-to-amazon.html
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egomania
[3] http://www.extraordinaryform.org/properssundays.html
[4] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+18%3A9-14&version=NIV

Anima Christi - Soul of Christ

Anima Christi  is a "prayer [that] touches [one] on a profound level. The words are most sacred and, with the Spirit’s help, they can lead [one] into an immediate union with Christ." [1]

In English, posted by Joe Castillo on You Tube [2]:

Soul of Christ, sanctify me.
Body of Christ, save me.
Blood of Christ, inebriate me.
Water from the side of Christ, wash me.
Passion of Christ, strengthen me.
O Good Jesus, hear me.
Within Thy wounds hide me.
Suffer me not to be separated from thee.
From the malignant enemy defend me.
In the hour of my death call me.
And bid me come unto Thee,
That with all Thy saints,
I may praise thee
Forever and ever.
Amen.

 In Latin, posted by balgentblp on You Tube [3]:

Anima Christi, sanctifica me.
Corpus Christi, salva me.
Sanguis Christi, inebria me.
Aqua lateris Christi, lava me.
Passio Christi, conforta me.
O bone Jesu, exaudi me.
Intra tua vulnera absconde me.
Ne permittas me separari a te.
Ab hoste maligno defende me.
In hora mortis meae voca me voca me.
Et iube me venire ad te,
Ut cum Sanctis tuis laudem te.
In saecula saeculorum.
Amen

The Latin version of this prayer can be heard on You Tube  at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phGDR9y912s.

According to preces-latinae.org, "[t]he author of this traditional prayer from the Roman Missal is unknown." [4]

[1] https://blog.franciscanmedia.org/franciscan-spirit/anima-christi-a-mystical-prayer
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phGDR9y912s

[3] Ibid.

[4] http://www.preces-latinae.org/thesaurus/PostMissam/AnimaChristi.html

Beware Of The Betrayer

This is only a subjective observation on how to identify the betrayer in one's midst.  This person will appear kind, understanding and compassionate, and has the talent to draw out one's deepest and most personal thoughts through an appearance of empathy that conceals this person's intention to disclose what one would expect to be confidential information, often to one's unpleasant surprise.  Unless there is absolute trust in the person, it is best to keep one's conversations short and simple and avoid disclosing anything too personal.

The Magnificat

Yesterday, August 15, was the Feast of the Assumption of Mary.  Below is The Magnificat, copied from the book entitled True Devotion Mary with Preparation For Total Consecration  by Saint Louis de Montfort [1]:

My soul doth magnify the Lord.
And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour,
Because He hath regarded the lowliness of His hand-
  maid; for behold, henceforth all generations
  shall call me blessed.
Because He that is mighty hath done great things to
  me; and holy is His name.
And His mercy is from generation to generations, to
  those that fear Him.
He hath showed might with His arm; He hath scattered
  the proud in the conceit of their heart.
He hath put down the mighty from their seat; and
  and hath exalted the humble.
He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the
  rich He hath sent empty away.
He hath received Israel his servant, being mindful of
  His mercy,
As He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed
  forever.  Amen.

[1]  Faber, Fr. Frederick William, translator. True Devotion Mary with Preparation For Total Consecration. By Saint Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort, TAN Books, 2010.  The page on which The Magnificat  is printed does not have a page number but it is opposite page 147 which makes it the 146^th page.

A Priest's Dog Allegedly Discriminates Based On Skin Color

A news article reported that "[a] Catholic priest in Tennessee says an African American woman wasn’t allowed to clean his church home because his dog dislikes black people, media outlets report." [1]

Many had claimed that the priest was racist.  He could very well be a racist, but whether he is a racist or does not matter here because the priest ought to be cleaning his own home.  Does he think that he is better than anyone else, regardless of skin color, that he cannot humble himself and do his own cleaning?

Does he use weekly contributions to pay for domestic services, or does he use the funds to maintain the church and assist the poor?  Is there a special collection at his church for payment of domestic services?


[1] https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article234058182.html

Medjugorje Apparation On 25 July 2019 And Bergoglio's Doubts

Mirjana Soldo is not the only visionary receiving regular messages from Our Lady in Medjugorje (see blog post dated August 3, 2019).  The medjugorje.org  website posted a message given to Marija on July 25, 2019 [1]:

"Dear children! My call for you is prayer. May prayer be a joy for you and a wreath which binds you to God. Little children, trials will come and you will not be strong, and sin will reign but, if you are mine, you will win, because your refuge will be the Heart of my Son Jesus. Therefore, little children, return to prayer until prayer becomes life for you in the day and the night. Thank you for having responded to my call."

This posting on the medjugorje.org website was accessed August 4, 2019.  It is likely that it will be replaced by newer messages.  Previous messages can be obtained by clicking on the side tab under The Messages [3].

It is neither clear from the website where Marija was when she received the July 25, 2019, message from Our Lady, nor does there seem to be a video that was posted on You Tube  showing Marija Pavlovic Lunetti receiving the apparition.

This is what Bergoglio thinks about the Medjugorje visionaries, as reported by al.com [4]:

The pope said Christians should not rely on visionaries that "tell you this or that: no, the last word of God is Jesus Christ, there is no other!"

The pope cautioned against those who search for God "with these Christian spiritualities that are a little ethereal." He referred to them as "modern Gnostics."

He cited predicted visions as an example of those who base their faith on novelties. These people "live from this," he said.

"This is not Christian identity," the pope said. "God's final word is called 'Jesus' and nothing more."

Although he didn't mention Medjugorje by name, that appeared to be a direct knock at the Medjugorje visions...

Catholic News Service  had this to report [5]:

While the investigations into the very first alleged apparitions at Medjugorje in must continue, Pope Francis said he has doubts about claims that Mary continues to appear in the village of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Asked May 13 about the authenticity of the Marian apparitions, which reportedly began in 1981, the pope referred to the findings of a commission chaired by Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the retired papal vicar of Rome.

"The report has its doubts, but personally, I am a little worse," the pope told reporters traveling with him from Fatima, Portugal. "I prefer Our Lady as mother, our mother, and not Our Lady as head of the post office who sends a message at a stated time."

"This isn't Jesus' mother," he said. "And these alleged apparitions don't have much value. I say this as a personal opinion, but it is clear. Who thinks that Our Lady says, 'Come, because tomorrow at this time I will give a message to that seer?' No!"

Who is Bergoglio to say what the Blessed Mother can and cannot do?  Can the Blessed Virgin Mary not give a visionary an appointment to meet Her?  On the seventh apparition, Bernadette Soubirous "punctually returns [to the Grotto] and keeps her promise and her appointment with the lady." [5]  Does Bergoglio not believe in the Lourdes apparitions either?

And who is Bergoglio to say if the Marian apparitions that take place regularly in Medjugorje have much value or not?  The one thing that is certain in this blogger's mind is whatever Bergoglio utters has little to no value at all.

Is Bergoglio afraid that he is being relegated to irrelevance by the words of Our Lady, and that faithful Catholics from around the world consider him to be a demonic figurehead and pay no attention to him whatsoever?

Who needs Bergoglio when the Blessed Virgin Mary is saving souls?

Can Bergoglio be jealous of the Blessed Mother just as Satan is jealous of the Blessed Mother Who is so blessed by God?



[1] https://www.medjugorje.org/
[2] http://www.medjugorje.org/index.html
[3] https://www.al.com/living/2015/06/pope_knocks_virgin_mary_vision.html
[4] https://www.catholicnews.com/services/englishnews/2017/returning-from-fatima-pope-says-he-has-doubts-about-medjugorje.cfm
[5] https://www.directfromlourdes.com/apparitions_at_lourdes

Good Priests Complaining About Sex Abuse Scandals

An Associated Press  article entitled Pope encourages priests disheartened by sex abuse fallout  published on August 4, 2019, addressed Bergoglio's acknowledgement of  "the 'pain' of priests who 'feel themselves attacked and blamed for crimes they did not commit.'" [1]

The article elicited a comment from Nick, a Yahoo!  reader.  It is quoted below as published [2]:

The Pope is a mockery as the Fisherman. He avoids what needs to be done. The Faithfull are moving away. The Church is a building, my faith is un God as welm as the teachings of Jesus. There are other Churches to pray in. The Catholuc Church is a. Institution. Something Jesus would actually frown on. Perhaps the next Pope will be more like Jesus than the Politucal man in the chair. Even the Cardinals can make a bad choice. They have many times before.

Nick may not have spelled all his words correctly but his observations and conclusions are flawless in this blogger's opinion.


[1] https://www.yahoo.com/news/pope-encourages-priests-disheartened-sex-121213167.html
[2] Ibid.

2 August 2019 Apparation In Medjugorje

You Tube  has a video entitled Mirjana's August 2nd Apparition in Medjugorje (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5lZFesKjyQ).

The apparition begins at approximately 2:39 -- https://youtu.be/g5lZFesKjyQ?t=159

Quoting from You Tube:  "Today, August 2, 2019, Our Lady appeared to the visionary Mirjana Soldo in Medjugorje." [*]  The message embedded in the video follows [1]:

Dear children, 

Great is the love of my Son. 

If you were to come to know 

the greatness of His love, 

you would never cease 

to adore and thank Him, 

He is always alive with you in the Eucharist, 

because the Eucharist is His Heart. 

The Eucharist is the heart of faith. 

He has never left you. 

Even when you tried to get away from Him, 

He has not [left] you. 

That is why my motherly heart is happy 

when I watch how you filled with love --  

return to Him, 

when I see that you are coming to Him 

by the way of reconciliation, love, and hope. 

My motherly heart knows that when you set out 

on the way of faith, you are shoots -- buds. 

But along with prayer and fasting 

you will be fruits, my flowers, apostles of my love; 

you will be carriers of light and will illuminate 

all those around you with love and wisdom. 

My children, as a mother I am imploring you: 

pray, think and contemplate. 

Everything beautiful, painful 

and joyful that happens to you -- 

all of this makes you grow spiritually, 

so that my Son can grow in you. 

My children, surrender yourselves to Him, 

believe Him, trust in His love, let Him lead you. 

Let the Eucharist be the place 

where you will feed your souls, and afterwards, 

will spread love and truth -- 

will bear witness to my Son. 

Thank you.

Apparitions in Medjugorje takes place on the second day of the month.  For those who would like to go back in time and view Our Lady's monthly messages in English, click on Stella Mar Films [2], then Videos [3].  This is the first time this blogger has come across this You Tube  channel.

[*] UPDATE August 4, 2019:  The quote was removed.  No reason was given. 
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5lZFesKjyQ
[2] Ibid.
[3] https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCY1t3cDTUVsClMsOQBgZsDw/videos