End Times Not Quite Here But Could Be Near

The previous post ended with this sentence: Even with all that is going on in the world and in the Catholic Church, it not quite the end of days as foretold in Luke 21:5-35. [1]  The conclusion was written before seeing a Newsweek  article, quoted in part below [2]:

Russia has criticized the Trump administration's pursuit and deployment of low-yield nuclear warheads, arguing it may raise the prospects of a nuclear conflict. At the same time, however, the United States estimates its top foe has up to 2,000 such warheads.

Russian Foreign Minister Maria Zakharova on Friday blasted the $28.9 billion budget proposed for the Pentagon's nuclear modernization program, along with the additional $15.6 billion earmarked for the Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration's efforts to revamp the U.S. nuclear warhead arsenal. Among the weapons being developed and deployed is the W76-2, a nuclear warhead with lower yields that Zakharova and others contend could make them a more readily-available option in the event of a conflict.

Low-yield or high-yield nuclear weapons makes no difference whatsoever when "'[nation rises] against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.'" [3]  Weapons are made to kill even though God said, "Thou shalt not kill.'" [4]

Why should Russian Foreign Minister Maria Zakharova care about these new nuclear weapons in development?  A 2019 estimate shows that Russia has 6,490 nuclear warheads already [5], presumably all of them are high-yield.  Why not use them?  If Russia launches all its 6,490 high yield nuclear weapons, then United States would likely retaliate with its estimated 6,185 conventional nuclear warheads [6].

Is there a universal law that says if a country kills with a certain weapon, the other country has to match that weapon to kill in revenge?  Is not the purpose of a war is to annihilate the enemy in whatever way necessary to win it?  Does it matter whether deaths are caused by a few hundred high-yield nuclear weapons or a few thousand low-yield nuclear weapons?

If 12,000 or so high yield nuclear warheads are dropped around the world, one would not have to worry about the low yielding ones or the "'great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places'" [7] or climate change since not too many creatures would be able to survive massive nuclear explosions and their lingering aftermath.

The question remains when the Son of Man will come again, before, during or after the final nuclear war.



[1] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+21%3A5-35&version=NIV
[2] https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/russia-says-new-us-weapon-threatens-nuclear-war/ar-BB10QIWI?ocid=spartanntp
[3] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+21%3A5-35&version=NIV. 10.
[4] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus+20%3A13&version=KJV
[5] https://www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/Nuclearweaponswhohaswhat
[6] Ibid.
[7] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+21%3A5-35&version=NIV. 11.

Corona Virus Reaches Vatican City

The Vatican confirms having a first case of the corona virus, COVID-19, on March 6, 2020, but "St. Peter’s Basilica and the Vatican museums remain open to visitors." [1]

How will this new virus affect Mass attendance when many sit together, and the receiving of the Body of Christ and at some Masses, the Blood of Christ?  For now, there seems to be no uniform mandatory restrictions, no mention that skipping Sunday Mass is permissible unless one is sick.

The Catholic Church still needs to fill the collection baskets, regardless of how virulent the pathogens are that are spreading.  It is silent as to church attendance.  Therefore, it could be implied that it is better to risk illness and death than to sin.

Perhaps the Catholic Church ought to take this opportunity to remind Catholics, including the elderly and those with underlying chronic illnesses and compromised immune systems that not attending Mass is a mortal sin, and not to think too much about getting infected, and also to remind them to name the Church as a beneficiary in their wills or living trusts in the event they drop dead.

So is obligatory Mass attendance mainly about filling the collection baskets?  Or is it truly about worship and prayer?  When did Jesus pass around a collection basket when people were gathered around Him to collect money?  Did He not feed them fishes and loaves of bread instead? [2]

If keeping a church open is so critical to worship and prayer, then why did one of the most important churches on earth shut its doors?

The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem is closed [3]:

Palestinian officials on Thursday closed the storied Church of the Nativity in the biblical city of Bethlehem indefinitely  over fears of the new coronavirus, weeks ahead of the busy Easter holiday season. [Emphasis  added.]

Is it an over-reaction?  Perhaps it is.  Why worry about death?  Everybody dies.  Death is a just as much a part of life as life is.  Why fear it?  When God calls, one ought to embrace the call.

"'Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest...'" [4]

Those who are not weary and burdened, who are captivated by what the world gives in all its splendor, may not want to leave just yet.  When death beckons, they tremble with fear.  It is normal that people fear death because people do not know what comes after, or want to believe what could come after the only life they know.

Death by COVID-19 is only one manner of death.  Death can arrive in all different kinds of ways.  It ought not to be feared.  Just be ready for the moment when God calls.  It is unlikely that people will be completely sinless at death, whether they attended Mass in accordance with Catholic teachings or not.

When Jesus said, "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind,'" was He implying that this love needed to take place on Sundays and on Holy Days of Obligation?  What about after Mass has ended?  What about all the other times when one is not attending Mass?

Can love of God and mortal sin be reduced to a mathematical formula measured by Mass attendance?  What is God telling people when He allowed a virulent virus to spread around the world?

Is God trying to remind that people are more alike than they are different?  Is God trying to let people know that artificial boundaries separating countries are merely an exercise in vanity?  People need documents to cross borders but God has given the world a contagious disease that can hitch a ride and go everywhere without a passport.

While COVID-19 has dominated headlines around the world, there is another problem that is occurring, that was mentioned in a previous post, locusts, which also can cross borders without passing through immigration.  Below is an update as of 5 March 2020 [5]:

The situation remains extremely alarming in the Horn of Africa, specifically Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia where widespread breeding is in progress and new swarms are starting to form, representing an unprecedented threat to food security and livelihoods at the beginning of the upcoming cropping season.

EASTERN AFRICA

Kenya. Widespread swarm breeding continues in northern and central counties where an increasing number of hopper bands are forming and, in the past few days, the new generation of immature swarms have started to form. This may be supplemented by new-generation immature swarms arriving from Somalia. Further concentration is expected in Marsabit and Turkana. Aerial and ground control operations continue.

Ethiopia. Swarms continue to mature and breed over a widespread area of Oromiya and SNNPR regions, including the Rift Valley. Cross-border movements continued to be reported from adjacent areas of Somalia and Kenya.

Somalia. In the northwest, late instar hopper bands and immature adult groups are forming between Berbera and Burao. In the northeast, new immature swarms are forming near Garowe. Some swarms may be moving south towards NE Kenya.


South Sudan. The mature swarm seen on 23 February near Laboni and the Uganda border dispersed into many small swarmlets.

Uganda. No new reports of swarms since 24 February.

DRC (Democratic Republic of the Congo). No new reports of Desert Locust in the northeast near the Uganda border.

OTHER HOT SPOTS

Sudan. Scattered adults are maturing on the central coast of the Red Sea. No locusts reported elsewhere.

Eritrea. Breeding continued on the central and northern Red Sea coast where groups of hoppers and immature adults formed. A mature swarm appeared on the coast near Massawa and laid eggs. Ground control operations treated 2 712 ha (24–26 Feb).

Saudi Arabia. Ground control operations against hopper bands on the Red Sea coast near Qunfidah finished on 26 February but continued against immature groups in the interior between Wadi Dawasir and the Persian Gulf. Ground teams treated 3 640 ha (19-27 Feb).

Yemen. Another generation of breeding is in progress on the Red Sea coast where hatching and early instar hopper bands continue to form. An immature swarm was seen in Sana'a on 29 February. New breeding was seen on the southern coast near Aden where early and late instar hopper bands were present, the latter forming immature adult groups. Control could not be carried out.

Oman. Breeding continues on the north and east coasts where hopper groups and bands have formed. Swarms were reported recently on the north coast.

Iraq. Swarms were reportedly flying in the southeast between Basrah and Nasiriyah.

Iran. 22 immature swarms spread out along the southwest coast between Bushehr and Bander-e-Lengheh in Fars, Khozestan, Bushehr and Hormozgan provinces where they quickly matured within four days to lay eggs. Local breeding continued in the southeast. Control operations are in progress.

Pakistan. Mature adult groups and swarmlets were seen copulating in Okara district of Punjab and Dera Ismail Khan and Lucky Marwat districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Spring breeding is in progress in the interior of Baluchistan between Khuzdar and Dalbandin, and on the southwest coast near Turbat where adult groups are laying eggs and early instar hopper groups are already forming. Ground teams treated 4 490 ha (18-29 Feb). New generation immature groups and swarms could start forming in Baluchistan by the end of March.

Afghanistan. Three swarms reportedly arrived in Khost province from adjacent areas of NW Pakistan on about 21 February.

Even with all that is going on in the world and in the Catholic Church, it not quite the end of days as foretold in Luke 21:5-35. [6]


[1] https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/vatican-city-confirms-first-case-of-coronavirus-84365
[2]  https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+14%3A13-21&version=NIV
[3] https://apnews.com/c57bc457c0c1c02a910c1564d8f76715
[4] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+11%3A28-30&version=NIV
[5] http://www.fao.org/ag/locusts/en/info/info/
[6] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+21%3A5-35&version=NIV

Fasting During Lent

Never mind the rules for fasting.  It is not really fasting because people can supposedly still gorge themselves with food and drinks during the permitted one full meal [1]:

Fasting means a person is permitted to eat one full meal. Two smaller meals may also be taken, but they are not to equal that of a full meal.

Since there are no guidelines as to what one full meal means, therefore how long one can engorge oneself remains uncertain.  Would it be against the rule to sit down at a buffet for hours, say from 2pm to 5pm, which combines breakfast and dinner into one full, very full, mid-day meal?  It is technically just one meal, engorged in one sitting with countless intermittent refills, so it could be considered as a one-meal fast.

That probably contradicts the spirit of fasting.  If so, then what is the spirit of fasting?  Is it just about skipping meals?  The Catholic Church says yes, but can it go further than not eating throughout the day?

What about abstention from worldly concerns?  Can the entire Catholic clergy forget about status, power, internal and world politics [2], budgets, fund raisings and collections but pray instead to "sanctify the Church" (words quoted from the first reading Joel 2:12-19, Extraordinary form Mass) [3]?  The passage also says this, quoted without references [4]:

Between the porch and the altar
let the priests weep,
let the ministers of the LORD weep and say:
“Spare your people, LORD!
do not let your heritage become a disgrace,
a byword among the nations!

When has anyone seen a priest or a minister of the LORD weep, on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, or on any day during Mass at the altar of sacrifice?

The day all priests and ministers of the Lord weep will be the day the entire Catholic Church will be sanctified.  Perhaps some wolves in sheep's clothing may start to weep when they face an irrevocable eternity in Hell.


[1] https://www.thecatholictelegraph.com/refresher-on-the-rules-of-fast-and-abstinence-during-lent/21603
[2] An example of pope and clerics meddling in world politics - http://www.usccb.org/news/2020/020-21.cfm
[3] http://www.extraordinaryform.org/propers/LentAshWednesday.pdf
[4] http://www.usccb.org/bible/joel/2, 17.

Christ On Love

This should have been composed on Valentine's Day.  It is a couple of days late.

Christ spoke of love when asked what He deemed to be the greatest commandment.  This blog entry focuses only on the second part of His reply, quoted without references [1]:

‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 

What is this love?  To answer the question, one needs to take into context in which the question was posed to Jesus, quoted without references below [2]:

Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together.  One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:  “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

Jesus said "Love your neighbor as yourself" probably because He knew that many people, in particular those Pharisees who wanted to trap Him, could not love unconditionally and thus, for love to have a bit of meaning for them, He had to refer to a self-centered love, so that they, and many people throughout the world, would know what that means, and would hopefully check their own consciences to see if they are being sincere or hypocritical.  In other words, the best Jesus could hope for them to do was to reference the only love they could understand.

However, for those who are on a higher plane of existence than the rest will understand these words of Christ on love, quoted without references [3]:

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

In these words, Christ was asking those who wish to follow Him, to be like Him, to love as He loved--unconditionally and self-sacrificially--not as one who conditionally, and self-preservedly, loves one's neighbor.

[1] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+22%3A36-40&version=NIV

[2] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+22%3A34-40&version=NIV

[3] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+13:34-35

Bergoglio Sowing Confusion

Vatican News  published an article entitled Pope at Mass: Beware of ‘slippery slide’ toward worldliness  on February 13, 2020.  Quoted below is from the article [1]:

Beware of worldliness

Pope Francis then recalled Psalm 106, to underline how “mingling with the nations” and serving their idols means becoming worldly and pagan.

“For us this slippery slide in life is directed toward worldliness. This is the grave sin: ‘Everyone is doing it. Don’t worry about it; obviously it’s not ideal, but…’ We justify ourselves with these words, at the price of losing our faithfulness to the one and only God. They are modern idols. Let us consider this sin of worldliness, of losing the authenticity of the Gospel, the authenticity of the Word of God, and the love of God who gave His life for us. There is no way to maintain a good relationship with God and with the devil.”  [Italics  Original].

What exactly is the worldly "holy father" saying?  He said that "[t]his is a grave sin" and that "'[e]veryone is doing it."  How does he know that everyone is doing it?  The fact that he is doing it does not mean that every one on earth is doing it.

Then he said "'Don't worry about it'" despite what he said a moment ago, that "[t]his is a grave sin."

"'Don't worry about it'" spoken by the "holy father" sounds very much like these words "'You will not certainly die,'" spoken by the Serpent to Eve in the Garden of Eden. [2]

Does that mean Catholics no longer need to go to confession since they need not worry and feel guilty about having committed grave sins, even though "it's not ideal"?

Then Bergoglio ended this part by saying that "[t]here is no way to maintain a good relationship with God and with the devil."  If this is the case, then how does one maintain a good relationship with either one or the other?  Perhaps Bergoglio is wrong because the way to maintain a good relationship with the Devil is to confuse, obfuscate the Truth, create doubt and pretend to love God which Bergoglio had so adeptly and craftily done to the delight of his mentor in Hell.

What is the purpose of Bergoglio's existence when Bergoglio, the head of the Catholic Church, cannot identify clearly the path to eternal salvation.  Is it to lead souls to ruin?

Then Bergoglio went on to say the following in his concluding remarks [3]:

“Let us ask the Lord for the grace to understand when our heart begins to weaken and to slide, so that we can stop. His grace and love will stop that slide if we ask in prayer.” [Italics  Original].

Why bother?

"...this slippery slide in life is directed toward worldliness. This is the grave sin: ‘Everyone is doing it. Don’t worry about it;..."  Jorge Mario Bergoglio aka Pope Francis I

[1] https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope-francis/mass-casa-santa-marta/2020-02/pope-francis-daily-mass-slippery-slope-to-worldliness.html
[2] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+3%3A4&version=NIV
[3] https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope-francis/mass-casa-santa-marta/2020-02/pope-francis-daily-mass-slippery-slope-to-worldliness.html
[4] Ibid.

Schism Is On The Horizon

The following comment is from an article entitled German ‘Synodal Path’ Aims to Shape Vatican Decisions, Says Plan’s Architect  published by National Catholic Register   on January 30, 2020 [1]:

Posted by Archbishop Anthony Bondi on Saturday, Feb, 1, 2020 2:00 PM (EST):

As an Orthodox Bishop I have observed what happened in the Episcopal Church when the laypeople begin with clergy to vote on moral theology and discipline. Schism follows. Do not touch the moral theology of the Church or the sacrament of orders. The closer you get to Protestantism the further you go from Orthodoxy.

A telling paragraph from the article cited above in support of a schism is quoted as follow without hyperlink [2]:

[Jesuit Father Hans Langendörfer's] comments, which echo Cardinal Reinhard Marx’s famous 2015 comments that the Church in Germany is “not just a subsidiary of Rome,” come after the Vatican made clear last year that the synodal process was not in any way binding, and that Germany’s bishops must exercise their authority in unity and obedience to the authority of the Pope.

Should Rome be afraid?  Perhaps the following paragraphs quoted from apnews.com  will shed some light on the question [3]:

BERLIN (AP) — A court in the western city of Cologne has ruled that Germany’s richest Catholic archdiocese doesn’t have to reveal what it does with the billions it receives from taxpayers each year.

The investigative journalism group Correctiv had sued for the information, arguing that the Archdiocese of Cologne should be bound by laws granting media access to government information because much of its revenue comes from an income tax paid by Catholics in Germany.

But Cologne’s administrative court ruled Thursday that the way the archdiocese invests its annual income of almost 3 billion euros ($3.4 billion) is protected by the church’s constitutionally guaranteed autonomy.

That is just one of the seven Catholic archdioceses in Germany. [4]

It is doubtful that the Vatican has income of 3 billion euros annually.  Even if it did, it probably does not have enough smart people to invest the funds to make it grow, but rather lose some by having Cardinal Angelo Becciu and likely Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State, as well, authorize the purchase of a "luxury development project [in London involving] two recently suspended Vatican employees, and a nest of Vatican-controlled holding companies led by an architect linked to accusations of money laundering and fraud involving Vatican accounts." [5]

The Vatican is plagued with a serious financial crisis, according to "'Universal Judgement [sic],' a new book by Italian investigative journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi which scrutinized more than 3,000 confidential Vatican documents, [saying that] the Vatican is in dire financial shape." [6].

In this desperate state, the Roman Catholic Church is unable to defend itself against a well-funded, well-managed German Catholic Church that wants its own "moral theology and discipline," borrowing words from Orthodox Archbishop Anthony Bondi quoted above.

Therefore, the answer to whether Rome should be afraid is this:  Rome should not be just afraid, but very afraid.


[1] https://www.ncregister.com/blog/edward-pentin/german-synodal-path-aims-to-influence-vatican-decisions-says-plans-architec
[2] Ibid.
[3] https://apnews.com/557bc902571841788dc1c3f1f02f62bf
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Catholic_dioceses_in_Germany
[5] https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/vaticans-london-luxury-development-company-with-ties-to-alleged-financial-crime-offered-to-raze-parish-rectory-95153
[6] https://www.irishcentral.com/news/vatican-financial-collapse

Happy International Palindrome Day - 02/02/2020

The passage of time is understood instinctively by most living creatures but the measurement of time is uniquely human.  Today is 02/02/2020, a palindrome!

"02/02/2020 has the unique distinction of reading the same backward and forward when written out in eight digits in multiple date systems, according to University of Portland professor Aziz Inan." [1]

Quoting further from the article cited above [2]:

For starters, it's an eight-digit palindrome: 02022020. Many palindrome dates are only symmetrical if you write the date with seven digits (1-10-2011) — or in some cases even fewer (9-10-19).

But even more rare, according to Inan, is that Sunday's date is an international palindrome: It works whether you write the date as "Month/Day/Year" or "Day/Month/Year," as many countries do.

Inan calls such dates "ubiquitous palindromes," and there won't be another one for 101 years. After that, you'll have to wait until March 3, 3030[, that's 1,010 years and 29 days from today, 02/02/2020, a very, very long wait].

According to Inan's calculations, the last such palindrome date to occur was 11/11/1111 – more than 900 years ago.

The world is united by the passage and measurement of time but those who exist in it are not due to a plethora of sins including but not limited to greed, pride and envy.  The only way to remedy this is to end this world and begin a new one.  Only God knows whether this tired, old and broken world will continue to exist when the next palindrome comes in 101 years, on 12/12/2121, and if it does, how much more broken it will be.

It can be assumed that wars will continue, that pandemics will occur with more and more frequency, such as the new and still spreading corona virus in China with a first death reported outside of China in the Philippines [3], and that climate will become less and less hospitable for humans but perfect for locusts to reproduce which is happening now in Africa [4]:

Cyclones that struck the driest parts of the Arabian Peninsula last year triggered the current crisis, creating ideal conditions for the desert locust species to multiply. Left to breed in isolated corners of Saudi Arabia and Yemen, the locust swarms crossed to the Horn of Africa where they were given further support by another cyclone.

More breeding cycles are expected. The swarms increase in size twentyfold with each successive generation and could reach India by June.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres took to Twitter yesterday in an effort to draw global attention to the worsening outbreak. The swarms are now threatening farms in parts of Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia but are expected to spread to neighboring countries soon.

The U.N. chief pinned blame for the crisis squarely on global warming....

With all of this occurring on top of Mideast tensions, here is a song that brings hope sung by Louis Armstrong entitled What A Wonderful World  on You Tube  with over 81 million views to date [5].  Here are the lyrics [6]:

I see trees of green
Red roses too
I see them bloom
For me and you
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world

I see skies of blue
And clouds of white
The bright blessed day
The dark sacred night
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world

The colors of the rainbow
So pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces
Of people going by
I see friends shaking hands
Saying, "How do you do?"
They're really saying
"I love you"

I hear babies cry
I watch them grow
They'll learn much more
Than I'll never know
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world

Yes, I think to myself
What a wonderful world

Oh yeah

(To celebrate international palindrome day, 02.02.2020, this will post at 0202 hours.)


[1] https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/sundays-date-is-a-rare-palindrome-that-hasnt-happened-in-over-900-years/ar-BBZyrJx?ocid=spartanntp
[2] Ibid.
[3] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-51345855
[4] https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/unprecedented-locust-invasion-approaches-full-blown-crisis/
[5] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3yCcXgbKrE
[6] https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/louisarmstrong/whatawonderfulworld.html