A Teenage Victim

In the news this morning, a 58-year old woman driving a Mercedes-Benz SUV up to speeds of 128.75 kilometers per hour or 80 miles per hour on a city street slammed into a minivan stopped at a red traffic light, killing a 16-year old boy and critically injuring the mother and her daughter.  The driver of the SUV survived the crash with minor injuries.  The injured mother and daughter and the deceased teenage son were victims of a woman possessed by evil.

Do I even care?  I do care [1].  Not only do I care [1] about my family and friends, those who are part of my life temporarily, those who are not a part of my life but whom I see frequently and those with whom I share the same city but never met, I also care [1] about those with whom I share this world but a world apart, those who are in war zones, refugee camps, government offices, grand palaces, at home, at work or at play.  I care [1] because we are all part the whole of creation without regard to time and space and part of this living planet, breathing in the same air, drinking the same water and feeding off the same earth.  Even though we are not in proximity with each other, we are united by time -- the present -- and when one of us leaves us and this place that we once shared, we ought to feel that, just as much as we ought to feel for the ones who are still living and possessed by evil.  Those who have departed need our prayers so that they maybe forgiven and have salvation in heaven since they are not able to pray for forgiveness themselves anymore.  Those who are possessed by evil also need our prayers since they are so consumed by evil forces that they cannot see God anymore.  Our prayers would help extricate them from the suffocating grip of evil so that they would have another chance in choosing God over Satan.

If all of us can function as a whole, within the whole of creation, united to God, then truly we would be doing God's will on earth and it is in heaven.


[1] I must qualify the word "care" because there are varying degrees of care.  Sometimes I wonder if I even care even though I would like to think that I do.  Sometimes I am impatient or upset and care only about myself and that is not good.  Then there are times that I care and pray for everyone.  Those are the times I feel the happiest and like myself the best.

My E-mail To Unversalis.com

The following e-mail was sent today regarding:

Midday Prayer Friday 27 September 2013

Dear Unversalis,

First of all, thank you for the website.

Today, I have questions on one of the prayers at Sext.  The prayer follows with the word in question highlighted:

Let us pray.
Lord Jesus Christ,
  who at this sixth hour, when the whole world was shrouded in darkness,
  mounted the wood of the cross
  as the innocent victim for our redemption,
give us always that light
  which will bring us to eternal life.
You live and reign for ever and ever.
Amen.

Why is Christ, the Son of God who chose freely to obey His Father, to suffer and be crucified for the redemption of Sin, a victim?  Can Christ Who is part of the Holy Trinity can ever be a victim?  Was Christ not someone who could have walked away from the Cross freely by choosing a different birth, a different path, or by submitting Himself to the will of the ruling Jews and Romans?  Was He not trying to set an example for all of us, to become leaders, to speak His Truth, to become His warriors, to battle for and become a testament to the Truth?  Is it not true that a victim has the right to blame others for their plight?  Did any of Christ's disciples blame anyone for theirs?  Do you think any one of them would consider themselves to be hapless victims rather than saviors of souls?  Do you think that Christ ever thought the He was a victim of circumstances beyond His control and therefore we can rightly consider Him to be a "victim"?

I would be most grateful if you are able to answer my questions and enlighten me.

Thank you.

Al

God And Natural Disasters

Question #1:  "Where is God when natural disasters strike?"
Question #2:  "Why does God allow natural disasters to happen?"

Questions similar to these have been asked and none of the answers that I have heard was satisfactory.  Perhaps there is no good answer.  Certainly I do not have any, but I have questions, and I will ask them, even though they may sound offensive to many because I am rude for replying to question with a question and because some of my questions may go too far into one's conscience and may make people feel uneasy..

To those asking question #1, I ask:

Is it possible that God is where God was placed at the last wild party, while on vacation, when hurting the ones who love you, when betraying the Truth, or during all those calm days and years before the earthquakes, the sunamis, the volcanic eruptions, the tornadoes, the heavy rains, the floods and/or landslides, at that forgotten place called  NOWHERE, or OBLIVION, or maybe INDIFFERENCE?

Is it possible that it does not matter even if God is sitting at our dinner table asking us to do the same things Christ in the Gospels and the Blessed Virgin Mary during her many apparitions have asked us to do in order to avoid such calamities, because those requests would go in one ear and out the other after God leaves, and on the very next day, we would go back to the status quo, doing the same things we are used to doing, that we had done just yesterday, and the years before?  Would we even believe that disaster will come upon us when we feel so secure in our own environment?  Have we believed in the words in the Book of Revelations?  Do we even believe that things might change for the worse if we do not pray? [1]  Do we believe in evil, in Satan and its works? [2]  Do we truly believe in God, and are we truly kind, forgiving and loving in the way we want God us to be, I mean TRULY?  And if we are true followers of God, and pray with sincerity and humility and love, would we even suffer the consequences of a natural disaster in a big way? [3]

To those asking question #2, I ask:

Whose earth is it anyway?  Is it ours to claim?  Has it not been ours to abuse and destroy, disrespecting the natural order of Mother Nature?  Do we deny that earthquakes, sunamis, volcanic eruptions, tornadoes, heavy rains, floods and landslides occur since we live in the very areas, build dwellings and amass possessions that are exposed to such known risks, however infrequent they occur or recur?  Why do we blame God for all that we have done to this planet?  Why do we blame God for our collective sins?  Are we perfect like God so that God is obligated to save us because we are sinless and identical to God in every way?  Do we find God to be imperfect and unfair because natural phenomenons occur, when they have been part of the natural course of events before we existed?  How can we expect to live in harmony with Mother Nature when we are so selfish, claiming Mother Nature to be ours to uproot, to carve out, to abuse and manipulate in every possible way using every possible means, invented and yet to be invented, to destroy it?  Is it not a natural law for all things to return to an equilibrium?  Does Mother Nature not have a right, under God Who created her, to assert her right to be beautiful and pristine again?  Did God give us humans the unfettered right to make Mother Nature our slave mother, to submit to our every whim, however self-centered?  Did God not give us the answer to the previous question by giving force and power to Mother Nature?

Can we honestly claim that we are victims of natural disasters or are we victims of our own Free Will making the wrong choices?  And why do we call merely natural phenomenons natural disasters?  Does placing ourselves deliberately in the path of natural phenomenons turn them into natural disasters?  Can we do no wrong?  Has our pride blinded us to the fact that perhaps we are the disasters? [4]

To those going to ask a combination of question #1 and #2, I have an answer:

On the one hand, I assert that we have abused Mother Nature and that she has the right and the power to reclaim what belongs to her while on the other hand, I assert that God will protect us against the wrath of Mother Nature if we prayed with sincerity, humility and love.  Does that mean that praying in such a manner would give us the right to abuse Mother Nature because we would be protected?  No.  Praying in such a manner does not mean we would be protected fully; it just means that by the grace and love of God, we are forgiven of our past selfishness and given another chance at life, however inconvenient or difficult it might be compared to what life was like before.  Therefore, we ought to wake up, to ask God always to lead us onto the right path and redirect us back to it whenever we stray, so that by praying daily with sincerity, humility and love and by our continuous and sincere efforts in following Christ, we could be saved by the mercy and love of God, in the flesh during this lifetime and in the spirit for an eternity afterwards.



[1] Think carefully, and deeply.  Things have already changed in the world for the worse because so many have not believed or  prayed.
[2] First arm yourself with the Truth of God in your heart, then look around, look into the eyes and conscience of those around you, especially the liars and hypocrites, and you will see.
[3] What about those who for the sake of God are/were persecuted and martyred?  Persecutions are not natural disasters.  Nonetheless, I am convinced that those persecuted and martyred have a special and close relationship with God and have been given God's peace while in life as their flesh suffered.
[4] On Judgment Day, when we face the Truth, there is nobody to blame but ourselves.  Better own up to our own mistakes now and take responsibility for our own choices and pray for forgiveness before it is too late.  There is no benefit in being bitter and blaming God for the ills and pains in our lives unless one wants to please Satan and aspires to spending an eternity in Hell.

Saint Thérèse of Lisieux on Humility

In her autobiography, Thérèse of Lisieux wrote: "Many of the Sisters think that you [Mother Marie de Gonzague, Prioress] spoiled me, that since my entrance into the holy ark, I have received from you nothing but caresses and compliments.  Nevertheless, it was not so.  You will see, dear Mother, in the copybook containing my childhood memories, what I think of the strong and maternal education I received from you.  From the bottom of my heart I want to thank you for not sparing me.  Jesus knew very well that His little flower stood in need of the living waters of humiliation, for she was too weak to take root without this kind of help, and it was through you, dear Mother, that this blessing was given to me." (Emphasis original) [1]

At any time when we think we are too wise to heed the teachings of Christ through the words of another, too self-sufficient, too invincible to supplicate or too proud of our own experiences and intellect is when we become weak.  We cannot "take root" in the fertile soil of Goodness when we, as living creatures that need to feed on wholesomeness which springs forth from God's plenitude of gifts, are too proud or busy to nurture and cultivate the spiritual vastness that characterizes our souls.  Without the Food of Life, our souls wither like a flower without water, and our life is without meaning like a blossom without fragrance or color.  Without the kind of help that Thérèse received from her Prioress, we are but weaklings, vulnerable to the influences of evil.

Even Thérèse of Lisieux, as saintly as she was, was not free from the sin of pride.  The "strong and maternal education" she received from her Mother was probably kind but stern.  These lessons were for Thérèse the "living waters of humiliation," lessons that were blessings from Jesus.  These lessons she learned well and she reached a point where she no longer needed them.

"For a year and a half now, Jesus has willed to change the manner of making His little flower grow.  He has no doubt found her sufficiently watered, for now it is the sun that aids her growth.  Jesus wants to give her nothing but His smile and this He does through you, dear Mother.  This gentle sun, far from causing the little flower to wilt, makes her progress in a marvelous manner.  She preserves, in the bottom of her calyx, the precious drops of dew she had received, and these serve to remind her always how little and weak she is."  (Emphasis original) [2].

I suppose only a saint can ever reach the apex of holiness where lessons of humility are no longer necessary save a few drops of "living waters of humiliation" preserved purposefully as a reminder of how precarious the grounds of holiness are, how much care needs to be exercised to avoid misstepping, for it is easy to misstep and be once again engulfed by the quicksand of evil.  For most of the rest of us, we need to be taught lessons of humility, over and over, so that we, too, can be strong and stand firm like Thérèse on the grounds of holiness and not fall into the putrid sinkholes of pride that trap us without warning, requiring much effort from those trying to extricate us and our willingness to be extricated and washed clean by the "living waters of humiliation."

The day we are able to emerge under the soft embracing rays of the warm sun smelling fresh like an unfolding blossom nurtured by the "living waters of humiliation," we must be vigilant, especially while others are looking at us, wherever we go, at how beautiful we are, as Thérèse was vigilant after she attained her state of saintliness: "All creatures can bow toward her, admire her, and shower their praises upon her.  I don't know why this is, but none of this could add one single drop of false joy she experiences in her heart.  Here she sees herself as she really is in God's eyes:  a poor little thing, nothing at all." [3], [4].

In true humility, we are nothing at all, for all the good and beauty that we have come from God.  Without God, we are but shades without light, where fulfillment of the spirit does not exist, giving way to the emptiness of attention and vapidity of earthly honors, the kinds of nourishment that do not feed but rather starve the prideful soul, that it sadly, but insatiably, craves.



[1] Thérèse, de Lisieux, Saint.  Story of a Soul The Autobiography of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux . 3rd Edition. Translated by John Clarke, O.C.D.  Washington D.C.:  Washington Province of Discalced Carmelites, Inc., 1996, p.206.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
[4] "I say I do not know why, but [is] it because she was preserved from the water of praise all the time her little calyx [was sufficiently] filled with the dew of humiliation?  Now there is no longer any danger; on the contrary, the little flower finds the dew with which she was filled so delightful that she would be very careful not to exchange it for the insipid water of praise."  Ibid.  I used brackets in the quote because I took out the double negative in the original translated sentence: "I say I do not know why, but isn't it because she was preserved from the water of praise all the time her little calyx was not sufficiently filled with the dew of humiliation?" Emphasis added.

Defeating Evil

Evil exists.

Evil was present before and during the time of Christ and it is not going anywhere or diminishing in power or influence.  Evil is present in the very people who are around us and among us.  They can be people we know or do not know, people who walk, who drive, who make laws, who are victims, heroes, celebrities, reporters, movie stars, entrepreneurs, white collar workers and blue collar laborers.  In short, they can be us.

Indeed, evil is present in us, from a small to a large extent.  In the absence of evil, there is the Holy Trinity, the Blessed Virgin Mary and the angels [1] and in the absence of good, there is Satan and its minions.

In each and every moment of every day, we have a choice between good and evil.  It is easy to be good when everything is going smoothly but not so easy when nothing seems to be right, when one unfortunate incident is followed by a next and a next.  That is when we are being tested, as Christ was being tested, first by a betrayal, then by scourging, followed by public humiliation wearing a crown of thorns before being crucified.  None of us have days as bad as that in these modern times but none of us is Christ in these times either.  We do, however, have bad days, and days when luck is just not on our side.  Those difficult days are days when prayers do not seem to matter, when we find ourselves distancing from the very goodness that we have sought before, when we become angrier and angrier, more and more judgmental, more and more vengeful and when that happens, we had better realize quickly where we are headed, and say some serious prayers before we find ourselves falling deeper and deeper into the vortex that is forever spinning toward the pits of Hell. [2].

Saying it another way, when we lose our patience, our tolerance, when we become unforgiving of others, when we lash out, that is when we become ugly (just look in the mirror) and that ugliness will become permanent if we continue down this path that Satan so enterprisingly put before us, for us to go on, to lead us to its disgusting and repulsive embrace.  During these times, we seem to be beside ourselves, losing control of ourselves, but we must not minimize or forget or let go of what is important, which is our focus on what is good, on God, so that we can to return to our prayers, and find our way back to our center, where we have Christ in the middle of His Passion, where we have the Blessed Virgin Mary praying incessantly, where evil can be soundly defeated, when we are able to look again in the mirror and see the reflection of love and kindness deep in our souls, until we become again vulnerable to our shortcomings, to the difficulties that confront us, when evil rises up once more, working assiduously to capture us and chain us to a hate that crescendos endlessly.  This cycle continues and continuously we must break it.




[1] Saints are not included because they were all born with Original Sin.
[2] One helpful reading is quoted below.  It is part of the Compline (Night Prayer) from Universalis.com on for Wednesday, September 18, 2013 at http://universalis.com/20130918/compline.htm   NOTE: Since universalis.com updates continuously, the link to this page with the Psalm below may no longer be available.

Psalm 30 (31)
Trustful prayer in time of adversity

O God, be my protector and my refuge.

In you, Lord, I put my trust: may I never be put to shame.

  In your justice, set me free,

Turn your ear to me,

  make haste to rescue me.

Be my rampart, my fortification;

  keep me safe. 

For you are my strength and my refuge:

  you will lead me out to the pastures,

  for your own name’s sake.

You will lead me out of the trap that they laid for me –

  for you are my strength. 

Into your hands I commend my spirit:

  you have redeemed me, Lord God of truth. 

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,

  as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,

  world without end.

Amen.

O God, be my protector and my refuge.

[3]

Christ's Love

Christ loves us all equally and completely with undiminished intensity  [1] even though He loves each of us differently.  For example, Christ loves Peter and gave him the Mother Church [2], and Christ also loves John but gave him His mother. [3]  It is not for us to judge, or be jealous of, the way Christ loves another one of us. [4]  Be content to know that we are loved, and to the best of our abilities, love God in return. [5]

[1] That remains true until we reject God in favor of Satan.
[2] Matthew 16:18
[3] John 19:26-27
[4] John 21:20-23.
[5] This applies in a family situation as well where a parent loves each child differently.  It is incumbent upon each child to return the love without weighing on a scale how much love was received relative to his/her siblings.

Temptations And The Tempter

A week ago I wrote in a footnote that temptation in and of itself is not evil but the inability to resist it is [1].  While resisting one luscious temptation after another offered by others everywhere is not easy, especially when the next temptation is even more luring, when it excites and heightens even more our deep seated desires, whatever they maybe at the moment, resisting the urge to tempt another [2] with increasing intensity, each time with an even redder and sweeter and more fragrant "forbidden" fruit in order to exhume another's forsaken debaucheries is more difficult, because when one is the tempter, he/she has already succumbed to the tenacious grip of the Dark Archangel of All Temptations and is already doing the work of Satan.

It is very difficult to see ourselves as slaves of Satan even though every day most of us inevitably do some of its work, either deliberately or unknowingly.  None of us has the power to overcome Satan's will and dominance over us without prayer.

Adam, a creation of God, given his Free Will and everything else any human would ever want without having to work for any of it, was unable to resist the Serpent's one and only temptation because the Evil One is powerful.  It took the Son of God, Himself a part of the Holy Trinity, to be able to freely resist and reject without reservation the advances of Satan [3] and the Mother of God, conceived without Sin by the Holy Spirit, to do the same.

Accordingly, prayers are the salvation of our souls and the souls of those for whom we pray.  I believe it to be worthwhile to place God daily on our minds, on our lips and in our hearts.

God Bless.



[1] http://lemomentdepaix.blogspot.com/2013/09/another-thought-on-good-and-evil_7.
[2] Although I maintain that a temptation is not in and of itself evil, it does not follow that being the tempter is not evil.  The tempter is evil.  Temptation has to exist for Free Will to veer away from all that is good without being asked to do so.  What an entreater of temptation does is to manipulate and deceive Free Will to embrace what is evil -- that is an active force of evil and has in its center the energy and very essence of Evil.
[3] Martyrs and saints had been able to withstand Satan's beckonings, bribes or torments with the grace of God.  None of them had lived their entire lives without Original Sin and its progeny in thought or in deed.  If any of them had, then he/she would have been like the Blessed Virgin Mary Who was entirely human and entirely sinless, and there has been no record of anyone before or since who has been so blessed.