tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-209819562024-03-18T09:49:25.124-04:00Vox Cantoris
“A time is coming when men will go mad, and when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him, saying, 'You are mad; you are not like us.” ― St. Antony the GreatUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger3834125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20981956.post-58838394494762618152024-03-17T00:30:00.000-04:002024-03-17T00:30:00.130-04:00But Jesus Hid Himself<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i>Originally published in 2016.</i></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xepoE9ZQfQE/VQ6g6-rXxhI/AAAAAAAAC58/xc2-m1XuSmI/s1600/Hid%2BHimself.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" height="408" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xepoE9ZQfQE/VQ6g6-rXxhI/AAAAAAAAC58/xc2-m1XuSmI/s640/Hid%2BHimself.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: x-large;">T</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">oday is the Fifth Sunday of Lent which begins Passiontide. If one attends Mass strictly in the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite it is not generally apparent having been done away with as a time within Lent. In the traditional calendar, it is called the First Sunday of the Passion with the colloquial <i>Palm </i>Sunday being the Second Sunday of the Passion. There is a further stripping away of liturgical elements and embellishments which began at Septuagesima, </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">From First Vespers last night until the Paschal Vigil, the Gloria Patri is not said after the Asperges on Passion Sunday or the Prayers at the Foot of the Altar, Introit, Lavabo, and Communion Antiphonal Psalms. In the Office, it is eliminated from some of the Verses and Short Responsories. Jesus is losing his earthly glory. The readings and psalm antiphons reflect this in the Mass and Office. Those who hate him are now plentiful, as plentiful now, as when he walked. Those who seek his death are now coming to the fore. Those who seek the death of His Church are coming to the fore and are also within Her. Lent now takes a change in focus; -- w</span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">hile our penance continues, we now shift towards the passion of Our Blessed Lord and his saving work of redemption.</span><br />
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<span></span><a href="http://www.salvemariaregina.info/SalveMariaRegina/SMR-171/PassionSunday.htm">Abbot Gueranger writes</a><span>:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: georgia;">"During the preceding four weeks, we have noticed how the malice of Jesus' enemies has been gradually increasing. His very presence irritates them; and it is evident that any little circumstance will suffice to bring the deep and long-nurtured hatred to a head."</span></blockquote>
<span><span style="font-family: georgia;">His passion then has begun. His glory, as at Mount Tabor, is no longer apparent.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">There is one element that remains in the modernist liturgy depending on the parish's own tradition. While it was once obligatory it is now optional and that is the veiling of the Crucifix and statues, though not Stations of the Cross or the imagery in windows. </span><br />
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<a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/t-5VHsNYDoQMK7w5xy-7D-qU2nXw3MLfoiZfXewgdALA9wrvD6E7YyAeayasBcuNXO0iOA-WP8xYkM-cNA81uJa5DBitVgmHAb0z-rQsXp-6c09t0U4dSHaQg-DvbphC" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Veiling of Images" border="0" height="400" src="http://www.salvemariaregina.info/SalveMariaRegina/SMR-171/passion-sunday.jpg" width="300" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">But why? From whence does this tradition come? </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It is thought to have begun around the 9</span><sup style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> century in Germany. When Lent began (which in most languages is a derivative of Quadregesimae, the Latin for forty days), a cloth called a </span><i style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">hungertuch, </i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">or hunger cloth, was used to cover the altar. It was removed on the Tuesday of Holy Week during the reading of the Passion according to St. Mark when “The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.” </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The Gospels in the three-year cycle in the New Lectionary do not reflect the symbolism and beauty of Passiontide and the veiling. They are all from St. John’s Gospel and are in sequence – “I am the Resurrection and the Life;” … “If a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it bears much fruit;” and, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The change from the one-year Lectionary, in place from St. Gregory the Great, was a grievous error. The desires of the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council could have been achieved without the assault on the whole Church tradition of readings. A Lesson could have been added to the Sunday liturgy. Weekdays could have had their own Mass texts whilst still acknowledging the Sanctoral cycle. Interestingly, the Advent readings in the new Lectionary are beautiful and are the one thing that perhaps, one day, be inserted into the old Lectionary. could have had its own lectionary as in Lent in the traditional rite. The three-year Lectionary remains a problem. Mass is not a bible study and what is lost in the reading below is quite profound, as you will soon comprehend.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">For the Mass on the Fifth Sunday of Lent according to the ancient use Roman Missal, the Gospel for no less than 1600 years until 1969 has been the following and it explains the veiling and why they killed Him.</span></span></div>
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<span><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua; font-size: medium;"><b>GOSPEL ¤ John 8. 46-59</b> † A continuation of the holy Gospel according to St. John.</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Book Antiqua; font-size: medium;"><span>A</span>t that time Jesus said to the multitudes of the Jews: Which of you shall convince Me of sin? If I say the truth to you, why do you not believe Me? He that is of God heareth the words of God. Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God. The Jews therefore answered and said to Him: Do not we say well, that Thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil? Jesus answered: I have not a devil: but I honor My Father, and you have dishonored Me. But I seek not My own glory: there is One that seeketh and judgeth. Amen, amen, I say to you: If any man keep My word, he shall not see death for ever. The Jews therefore said: Now we know that Thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the Prophets: and Thou sayest: If any man keep My word, he shall not taste death for ever. Art Thou greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? and the prophets are dead. Whom dost Thou make Thyself? Jesus answered: If I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing: it is My Father that glorifieth Me, of whom you say that He is your God, and you have not known Him: but I know Him: and if I shall say that I know Him not, I shall be like to you, a liar. But I do know Him, and do keep His word. Abraham your father rejoiced that he might see My day: he saw it and was glad. The Jews therefore said to Him: Thou art not yet fifty years old: and hast Thou seen Abraham? Jesus said to them: Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham was made, I am. They took up stones therefore to cast at Him: <b>but Jesus hid Himself,</b> and went out of the temple.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">“But Jesus hid Himself.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">St. Augustine said that at this moment by virtue of His divine nature, Jesus became literally i</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">nvisible.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Book Antiqua; text-align: justify;">“He hides not himself in a corner of the temple as if afraid or running into a cottage or turning aside behind a wall or column; but by His Divine Power making Himself invisible he passed through their midst.”</span></blockquote>
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<span><span>In the Catechism of the Catholic Church, we read the following:</span><span><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Book Antiqua; line-height: 18.39px;"><span><b>205</b> God calls Moses from the midst of a bush that burns without being consumed: "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob."9 God is the God of the fathers, the One who had called and guided the patriarchs in their wanderings. He is the faithful and compassionate God who remembers them and his promises; he comes to free their descendants from slavery. He is the God who, from beyond space and time, can do t</span><span>his and wills to do it, the God who will put his almighty power to work for this plan.</span></span></blockquote>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">"</span><b style="font-family: georgia;">I Am who Am</b><span style="font-family: georgia;">"</span></div>
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<span><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua; line-height: 18.39px;"><span>Moses said to God, "If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you', and they ask me, 'What is his name?' what shall I say to them?" God said to Moses, "I AM WHO AM." And he said, "Say this to the people of Israel, 'I A<span>M</span> has sent me to you'. . . this is my name for ever, and thus I a</span><span>m to be remembered throughout all generations."</span></span></span></blockquote>
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<span><span style="line-height: 18.39px;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;"><b>CCC 206</b> In revealing his mysterious name, YHWH ("I AM HE WHO IS", "I AM WHO AM" or "I AM WHO I AM"), God says who he is and by what name he is to be called. This divine name is mysterious just as God is mystery. It is at once a name revealed and something like the refusal of a name, and hence it better expresses God as what he is - infinitely above everything that we can understand or say: he is the "hidden God", his name is ineffable, and he is the God who makes himself close to men.</span></span></span></blockquote>
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<span><span style="line-height: 18.39px;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;"><b>CCC 207</b> By revealing his name God at the same time reveals his faithfulness which is from everlasting to everlasting, valid for the past ("I am the God of your father"), as for the future ("I will be with you").12 God, who reveals his name as "I AM", reveals himself as the God who is always there, present to his people in order to save them.</span></span></span></blockquote>
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<span><span style="line-height: 18.39px;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;"><b>CCC 208 </b>Faced with God's fascinating and mysterious presence, man discovers his own insignificance. Before the burning bush, Moses takes off his sandals and veils his face in the presence of God's holiness.13 Before the glory of the thrice-holy God, Isaiah cries out: "Woe is me! I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips."14 Before the divine signs wrought by Jesus, Peter exclaims: "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord."15 But because God is holy, he can forgive the man who realizes that he is a sinner before him: "I will not execute my fierce anger. . . for I am God and not man, the Holy One in your midst."16 The apostle John says likewise: "We shall. . . reassure our hearts before him whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything."</span></span></span></blockquote>
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<span>Jesus revealed to the Temple authorities, the leadership of Israel, who He was. He knew Abraham and did so in such a way that they would know with absolute clarity who He was. He had done it before, seven times.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span><span><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"></span></p><blockquote><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">1.
I Am the Bread of Life: (John 6).</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">2.
I Am the Light of the World: (John 8).</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">3.
I Am the Gate of the Sheepfold: (John 10).</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">4.
I Am the Good Shepherd: (John 10).</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">5.
I Am the Resurrection and the Life: (John 11).</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">6.
I Am the Way, Truth, and Life: (John 14).</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">7.
I Am the True Vine: (John 15).</span></span></p></blockquote><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: georgia;">Note that Jesus, when the Jews questioned his age and Abraham, he did not say, "Before Abraham was made, I was made." Had he said this, they would have just thought him delusional. Rather, He said, "Before Abraham was made, I AM." They knew exactly what He meant. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: georgia;">Now, he is hidden in our churches and chapels only to be unveiled when we recall His Crucifixion --<i> "Ecce lignum Crucis,"</i> -- "Behold the wood of the Cross on which hung the Saviour of the world, come let us adore him." If we hide Him we cannot abide the glory of His saints, therefore, they are also hidden. Christ is shamed. He is humiliated by those whom he came to save. The Jewish "deep state" betrayed Him, and we continue to betray Him today.</p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><span>He declared Himself before all Israel to be the I AM of the Burning Bush; and for this, they would kill Him. They knew what He said, they knew what He meant. </span></span><span>He confessed to them that he was the very Son of God, the very God Himself come to earth.</span><br />
<span><span><br /></span> <span>In the sermon below from 1846, we find an incredible dissertation on Jesus hiding Himself. </span></span><a href="http://www.bing.com/search?q=REV.+ALEXANDER+WATSON%2C+M.A.%2C+%0D%0A%0D%0ACURATE+OF+ST.+JOHN%27S%2C+CHELTENHAM&src=IE-SearchBox&FORM=IESR02&pc=EUPP_" target="_blank">It is a sermon by an <b>Anglican</b></a><span>, but one would be hard-pressed to find a better sermon or homily said today on the subject from a typical Catholic pulpit. </span><span>This was a period that led Saint John-Henry Newman home.</span><br />
<span><span><br /></span> <span>Would that we could hear preaching like this today.</span></span><br />
<span><span><br /></span> <span>Vox.</span></span></span></div>
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<b style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></b></div><blockquote><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt;"><b style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">SERMONS FOR SUNDAYS AND OTHER LITURGICAL OCCASIONS</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia;">CONTRIBUTED BY<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia;">BISHOPS AND OTHER CLERGY OF THE CHURCH.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia;">EDITED BY THE REV. ALEXANDER WATSON, M.A., </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia;">CURATE OF ST. JOHN'S, CHELTENHAM.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia;">Second Series. VOL. I.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia;">OXFORD: J. H. PARKER. CAMBRIDGE: T. GREEN.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia;">MDCCCXLVI. (1846)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="line-height: 18.39px;"><span>Then took they up stones to cast at Him."<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="line-height: 18.39px;"><span>Thus are we brought down from the whole Gospel for the day to that portion of it which will engage our chief attention during the brief remainder of this morning's service. "But Jesus hid Himself, and went out of the Temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by."<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 18.39px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">1. Jesus "hid Himself," as man, in prudence: according to the will of His Heavenly Father. As He had been born in "the fullness of time," so it was at an appointed hour that He was to die. But "His hour was not yet come ": and He therefore avoided whatever might unduly quicken the course of events, or put forward the grand horologe of time. And this He did in obedience to the Will of His Heavenly Father. This obedience was the mainspring of His conduct throughout His earthly sojourn. "Lo I come to do Thy will, O God," was His motto from first to last; and never was it more fully translated into action than in all He did with regard to His final suffering and departure.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.39px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">When that hour of mingled humiliation and glory, which compressed eternal interests within the compass of a few passing minutes; when that everlasting hour arrived, the holy and obedient Jesus yielded Himself at once into the power of His enemies. Thus, when Satan had entered into Judas Iscariot, Jesus said to the traitor, "What thou doest, do quickly." When Judas came to Him in the garden with men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, "Jesus, knowing all things that should come upon Him, went forth and said unto them, Whom seek ye? They answered Him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus said unto them, I am He." And when the impetuous Peter—the first to defend, the first to deny his Master—drew his sword and cut oft" the right ear of Malchus, the High Priest's servant, "then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He shall presently give Me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?" When Pilate would fain have released Him, and sought for some pretext for so doing in the replies of Jesus to his interrogatories, "Jesus gave him no answer." And at the last, when He saw that all was "finished,"—prophecy fulfilled, types realised, the preparations for His sacrificial Death complete, His Father's will wrought out,—He bowed His head, and gave up the ghost."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.39px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">But until the arrival of that hour, His conduct was marked throughout by unexampled prudence. While He wrought His miracles before the multitude, and taught openly in the Temple, and in secret did nothing; while He boldly confuted and reproved the Pharisee, the Sadducee, and the Herodian, regardless of the enmity He thereby incurred; He carefully shunned the precipitation of His end. He had a mission of vast pregnancy and moment to discharge; and until this was done, He would not lay down that life which the Father had put into His power. Whenever danger became imminent, He withdrew Himself from the presence of those who sought to lay hands on Him and destroy Him. Thus, on the occasion immediately before us, when the infuriated Jews took up stones to cast at Him, "Jesus hid Himself, and went out of the Temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by." </span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.39px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">On a previous occasion, when the Pharisees held a council how they might destroy Him, </span></span><span style="font-family: georgia;">Jesus “withdrew Himself from thence." On a subsequent occasion, similar to that of the text, when the Jews again sought to take Him, "he escaped out of their hand, and went away again beyond Jordan." When the Sanhedrim, after the official prophecy of the unconscious Caiaphas, took counsel together to put Him to death, "Jesus walked no more openly among the Jews; but went thence unto a country near to the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim, and there continued with His disciples." Thus, throughout His whole earthly career, our Blessed Lord exercised a prudence of the highest order; enforcing by His own example the precepts He gave to His first disciples: "Be ye wise as serpents, and harmless as doves ;"—" When they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another ." And these precepts, supported by this supreme example, and adapted to the exigencies of Christians at the present day, apply also to us. "As men may not be too tenacious, so neither may they be too profuse and lavish of life and the comforts of it," says Dean Stanhope; "lest, besides their present hardships, they find at last an indiscreet zeal returned, with a 'Who hath required these things at your hands?' Love indeed is apt and desirous to give over-measure, where it can: but still this must not be the effect of passion alone. Prudence should temper and direct it." </span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.39px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">"It is an office of prudence," says Bishop Taylor, "to serve God So that we may at the same time preserve our lives and our estates, our interest and reputation, for ourselves and our relations, so far as they can consist together. For Christian religion, carrying us to heaven, does it by the ways of a man; and by the body it serves the soul, as by the soul it serves God; and therefore it endeavours to secure the body and its interest, that it may continue the opportunities of a crown, and prolong the stage in which we are to run for the mighty prize of our salvation; and this is that part of prudence which is the defensative and guard of a Christian in the time of persecution: and it hath in it much of duty."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="line-height: 18.39px;"><span>Thus far we have endeavoured to consider the conduct of our Blessed Lord, on the occasion under review, on its human side; as an exhibition of prudence and discretion. But it has a sublimer aspect than this; to which we now with reverence will turn.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span><span style="line-height: 18.39px;"><span><br /></span></span> <span style="line-height: 18.4px;">Jesus “hid Himself," as God, in majesty; the majesty of displeasure. "He did not hide Himself," says St. Augustine, "in a corner of the Temple, as if He were afraid; or take refuge in a house, or run behind a wall, or a pillar; but, by His heavenly power making Himself invisible to His enemies, He went through the midst of them." Just before, He had said, "Before Abraham was I Am"; with evident reference to the Name revealed by the Lord to Moses, as recorded in the First Lesson for this morning's service; when He appeared to him in the burning but unconsumed bush, as he was keeping the flock of Jethro, the Priest of Midian, near the base of Mount Horeb. On that occasion, when Moses would have drawn nigh to see that great sight, the Lord forbad his nearer approach, and commanded him to unsandal his feet, because they were standing on holy ground. He, who required this reverence towards an inferior manifestation of Himself, would not permit the rude hand of violence to invade His incarnate glory. He "hid Himself" in the secret depths of His invisible Godhead.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.39px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">There is, doubtless, a mystery in this; and we cannot fully understand why He, who submitted on so many occasions to endure the contradiction of sinners against Himself, refused on other occasions to undergo the indignities that wicked hands would have put upon Him. But a like mystery invested the whole of His earthly career. The darkest shades of humiliation were never permitted altogether to obscure His glory; while yet, that glory was so far hidden, that men despised Him and esteemed Him not. Great, however, as was the mystery of His commingling of glory and shame, the mystery of the manifestation of His glory alone was greater. He might have flashed forth devouring lightnings from the dark and surcharged cloud. He might have kindled into supernatural and overwhelming brightness the splendours of His Divine and resistless Presence. But He did none of these things. He manifested forth His glory by hiding Himself. When the Lord, in the days of old, would preserve righteous Lot and His prophet Elisha from the hand of violence, He smote their enemies with blindness; and so He might have done on this occasion: but, as the threatened indignity was greater, so was the punishment wherewith He visited it. "He hid Himself."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.39px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Awful are the exhibitions of Divine glory, when the Lord is raised up out of His holy habitation, and comes forth from His unseen depths to punish the ungodly. But these are as nothing when compared with the hidings of His face. When the Lord would denounce the severest judgments against Israel of old, He said to Moses, "Mine anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide My face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them; so that they will say in that day, Are not these evils come upon us, because our God is not among us?" And when, on the other hand, He would confer upon His repentant people the greatest possible blessing, He said by the mouth of Ezekiel, "Neither will I hide My face from them any more: for I have poured out My Spirit upon the house of Israel."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.39px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The hidings of Jesus, in the days of His flesh, were yet more majestic and awful. He came into the world for the express purpose, among others, of manifesting the glory and the grace of God: so that to hide Himself was, as it were, to revoke His mission with regard to those from whom He thus withdrew. He abandoned them to the evil of their own hardened and unbelieving hearts, and left them to be filled with their own ways.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.39px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">It is impossible to conceive anything more dreadful than the condition of the man from whom Jesus has hid Himself. Such a man sinks at once into a state of moral stupidity: he sins on without aim or purpose. Until Jesus hid Himself, the unbelieving Jews had an object against which to direct their malignant attacks; but when He could be no longer seen, their malice, though as virulent as ever, became wholly impotent and senseless. And so, when Jesus hides Himself from sinners of the present day,—who insult His majesty because it is concealed to the-eye of sense or mere reason (though not to the eye of faith), beneath mean and simple accidents,—He leaves them to perish as brute beasts. The force of argument and moral suasion having been tried upon them in vain, together with all other manifestations of the true and holy Jesus, He will no longer expose Himself to the rash temerity and blinded insolence of their invasions, but hides Himself, going through the midst of them, and so passes by.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.39px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The abstract contemplation of such a subject is too awful for man to dwell upon at any length; and we will therefore now consider it, (so hastening to a conclusion,) under its practical aspects and bearings.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.39px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">But is it possible, men may ask, for persons at the present day to commit acts of insult and injury towards the Divine Jesus, akin to that of the blaspheming Jews when they took up stones to cast at Him? Alas, it is but too possible. "Certainly we cannot commit such open blasphemy; but it is another matter whether we cannot commit as great. For, often sins are greater, which are less startling; insults more bitter, which are not so loud; and evils deeper, which are more subtle." Although Christ is no longer on earth in bodily presence, He is here by His Spirit: and it is quite possible for men to repeat the offence of the blaspheming Jews by casting stones, so to speak, against either the Church, which is His Body; or the Sacraments, which are His Presence; or the Poor, who are His Brethren.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.39px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The Church is the Body of Christ, "the fullness of Him That filleth all in all:" and they who resist or blaspheme or persecute Her, do in effect resist and blaspheme and persecute Him. And such are not only, nor even chiefly, the openly wicked and profane; whose offences are of a different description: but those who deny the Divine authority of the Church, rejecting her principles for the opinions of men and the maxims of the world; those who deny her Apostolicity, treating her as a merely human and secular institution; those who invade her constitution, legislating for her on grounds of political expediency, and not according to the laws of Christ. "Verily, I say unto you, they have their reward." They refuse to acknowledge the Body of Christ in His corporate members; and He hides it from them. They are no longer permitted to behold the tokens of her presence. She becomes to them what they would have her be. In their eyes she has no form nor comeliness, although she is all-glorious within. But with these hidings of her beauty and this withdrawal of her presence, there comes not only an apparent abdication of her authority; leaving men to live as they list, according to the broad measures of the world, instead of the straight and narrow lines of eternity: but also the utter loss of her intercession and benediction. She no longer stands between the living and the dead. A silent curse spreads over the land she has abandoned to itself. The rulers have forsaken Christ, and Christ has forsaken them. The people would have it so, and their house is left unto them desolate.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.39px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">"Be wise now, therefore, O ye kings:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.39px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Be learned, ye that judges of the earth.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.39px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">And so ye perish from the right way,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.39px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">If His wrath be kindled, yea but a little.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.39px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.39px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Again, the Sacraments are the Presence of Christ. In the Sacrament of Holy Baptism, He is present by His Spirit, Who, in answer to the prayers of the congregation, is given by our Heavenly Father to infants, when baptized, that they may be born again and be made heirs of everlasting salvation. In the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, He is really and spiritually present, being taken and received by the faithful as their heavenly food and divine life. </span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.39px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Whoever, therefore, despises the Sacraments, despises Christ. Whoever denies their saving power, denies the Presence of the Saviour in them. Whoever in effect casts stones at these, as by cavils or contumely or neglect, does in reality thus cast stones at Christ. And then does the Son of God hide Himself from them in the majesty of displeasure; and Sacraments become to these persons what, in their rationalistic unbelief, they would have them be. </span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.39px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Baptism, when administered by schismatics and pretenders to Holy Orders, fails to regenerate; and their own theory, that Baptism admits only to an outward union with a nominal church, is, in their own case, verified. The Communion is reduced to a formal commemoration of an absent Saviour. In both cases, as regards their own mere outward show of Sacraments, they are right. They have taken up stones to cast at the spiritually-present Jesus; and He has hidden Himself, going through the midst of them, and so passing by.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.39px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Lastly: the Poor are the Brethren of Jesus. They are so even in respect of their mere poverty; although it must not be concealed that the poor man who is a wilful sinner is severed from this communion and fellowship. But he, who is at once poor in this world and poor in spirit, is united by the closest bonds to the lowly Son of Mary. This is strikingly shown in the parable of the Sheep and the Goats, wherein the Judge declares that whatsoever is done unto the least of the Hungry, the Thirsty, the Stranger, the Naked, the Sick, the Imprisoned,—being "the poor of this world," but " rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdom," —is done unto Himself. Now, we all know how apt men are to "despise the poor." "There are kinds of distress founded on the passions, which, if not applauded, are at least admired in their excess, as implying a peculiar refinement of sensibility in the mind of the sufferer. </span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.39px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Embellished by taste, and wrought by the magic of genius into innumerable forms, they turn grief into a luxury, and draw from the eyes of millions delicious tears. But no muse ever ventured to adorn the distresses of poverty or the sorrows of hunger. Disgusting taste and delicacy, and presenting nothing pleasing to the imagination, they are mere misery in all its nakedness and deformity." And therefore the many "despise the Poor." But in so doing, they despise Christ; and what is their punishment in consequence? Jesus might rend aside the veil of His humanity, and reveal Himself as God. He might put off the sordid dress of poverty, and clothe Himself with light as with a garment. But He inflicts a severer punishment than this—He hides Himself. The Poor no longer visibly bear upon them "the marks of the Lord Jesus "; and secular legislation, at once blind and self-confident, sets itself to relieve their distress by increasing their degradation. It brands the Poor Man as a Pauper, and consigns him to contempt and shame. Jesus has hidden Himself in majestic displeasure: and men of the world little dream that He will reveal Himself again at the Last Day, and avenge the cause of the poor and the oppressed!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.39px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">"Oh, how much are they to be pitied, in whatever sphere they move, who live to themselves, unmindful of the coming of their Lord. When He shall come, and shall not keep silence; when a fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about Him; every thing, it is true, will combine to fill them with consternation: yet, methinks, neither the voice of the Archangel, nor the trump of God, nor the dissolution of the elements, nor the face of the Judge itself, from which the heavens will flee away, will be so dismaying and terrible to these men as the sight of the poor members of Christ; whom, having spurned and neglected in the days of their humiliation, they will then behold with amazement united to their Lord, covered with His glory, and seated on His throne! How will they be astonished to see them surrounded with so much majesty! How will they cast down their eyes in their presence! How will they curse that gold, which will then eat their flesh as with fire, and that avarice, that indolence, that voluptuousness, which will entitle them to so much misery! You will then learn that the imitation of Christ is the only wisdom: you will then be convinced it is better to be endeared to the cottage than admired in the palace; when to have wiped the tears of the afflicted, and inherited the prayers of the widow and the fatherless, shall be found a richer patrimony than the favour of princes."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.39px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">H. H.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia;"> <o:p></o:p><a href="https://books.google.ca/books?id=xogEAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&output=text">https://books.google.ca/books?id=xogEAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&output=text</a></span></div></blockquote><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pR2OAUqAijM" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p>
<!--Blogger automated replacement: "https://images-blogger-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/gadgets/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2Fcommunio.stblogs.org%2Fassets_c%2F2012%2F09%2FMoses%2520and%2520the%2520Burning%2520Bush%2520DBouts-thumb-300x378-12636.jpg&container=blogger&gadget=a&rewriteMime=image%2F*" with "https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/proxy/i-xXYvNe8E_N5YNkhx1bfAobo29-UYq0g3vwKPTBqKf4ZFANRxgVxN5LtzXtXYwKi6JkCKAnemQ9E2zab7vtk_UOV-LnvpRcnmykisxhJ5wLFkzEqickLIuVeDEdSjj5fXFUVKR5jZlDUeOtYVBMnUGHupGzDLLu6X-1aoKmnukhLlNt"--><!--Blogger automated replacement: "https://images-blogger-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/gadgets/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.salvemariaregina.info%2FSalveMariaRegina%2FSMR-171%2Fpassion-sunday.jpg&container=blogger&gadget=a&rewriteMime=image%2F*" with "https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/t-5VHsNYDoQMK7w5xy-7D-qU2nXw3MLfoiZfXewgdALA9wrvD6E7YyAeayasBcuNXO0iOA-WP8xYkM-cNA81uJa5DBitVgmHAb0z-rQsXp-6c09t0U4dSHaQg-DvbphC"-->Unknownnoreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20981956.post-3508365909884086452024-03-13T06:54:00.005-04:002024-03-13T06:54:59.476-04:00It's Andrew Rivera's 43rd birthday today! How much can you give?<p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Hello Friends,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">As you can see above, I have been raising funds for a friend, Andrew Rivera, for almost a year now. It was just a day or two after Easter 2023 that Andrew faced a great health crisis. As of today, $39,500.00 has been raised from a $50,000.00 goal. Andrew is facing more surgery due to nerve damage as a result of the coma and stroke. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Today, March 13, is Andrew's birthday. He is 43 years old and as above, a single father. Andrew will require more surgery and therapy and will need to find a new career. In the meantime, I am reaching out to you again, in your Lenten charity, to give due consideration to this need. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Please click above on the picture of Andrew and his son.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">God bless you all. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">David Anthony Domet</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20981956.post-18735391716590585282024-02-29T07:00:00.006-05:002024-02-29T10:15:55.845-05:00THE VATICAN TOMORROW - DEMOS<p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">O</span>ne may recall a letter under the pseudonym, Demos, about the state of the papacy. It was apparently written by a Cardinal whom it is thought was the late George Cardinal Pell. </span></p><p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220315084708/http:/magister.blogautore.espresso.repubblica.it/2022/03/15/a-memorandum-on-the-next-conclave-is-circulating-among-the-cardinals-here-it-is/"><span style="font-family: georgia;">A Memorandum on the Next Conclave Is Circulating Among the Cardinals. Here It Is - Settimo Cielo - Blog - L’Espresso (archive.org)</span></a></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">A "Demos II" has issued another.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">My post below questioned the wisdom and relevance of both Vatican I and Vatican II and that both need to be thrown into the dustbin of history. The whole concept of "infallibility" has been used as a cudgel against the faithful. Save your commentary and accusations on this point, I have no time, nor patience for your inanity. Both of those Councils gave us Francis. Some day, the Church will need to send Vatican II to the dustbin of history and the absurd parts of Vatican I that have allowed a Francis to take place and causes continuous estrangement with the Orthodox.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The Cardinal has remained anonymous. We know well what Bergoglio will do and that is to strip him of his red. This is why they remain silent. Bergoglio will not listen and they must be at the next conclave to ensure, we hope, that any Francis II is jettisoned. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Here is the text:</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://newdailycompass.com/en/a-profile-of-the-next-pope-writes-cardinal?fbclid=IwAR32o0zuWax2IZ4CsULupCvN0OwLxEXpod2N0f5wmudtdudqCA79KAtK2EU_aem_ASYfHPf-uMKSclrd1x_RUVSwlNQf69i1VJE79A54hjBOwtSA2aVvpQbRNqniZSS7C6Y"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></a></p><blockquote><p style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://newdailycompass.com/en/a-profile-of-the-next-pope-writes-cardinal?fbclid=IwAR32o0zuWax2IZ4CsULupCvN0OwLxEXpod2N0f5wmudtdudqCA79KAtK2EU_aem_ASYfHPf-uMKSclrd1x_RUVSwlNQf69i1VJE79A54hjBOwtSA2aVvpQbRNqniZSS7C6Y"><span style="font-family: georgia;">A profile of the next Pope, writes Cardinal - Daily Compass (newdailycompass.com)</span></a></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The
Vatican Tomorrow</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">In
March 2022, an anonymous text appeared – signed “Demos” and titled “The
Vatican Today” – that raised a number of serious questions and criticisms
regarding the pontificate of Pope Francis. Conditions in the Church since that
text appeared have not materially changed, much less improved. Thus, the
thoughts offered here are intended to build on those original reflections in
light of the needs of the Vatican tomorrow.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The
concluding years of a pontificate, any pontificate, are a time to assess the
condition of the Church in the present, and the needs of the Church and her
faithful going forward. It is clear that the strength of Pope Francis’
pontificate is the added emphasis he has given to compassion toward the weak,
outreach to the poor and marginalized, concern for the dignity of creation and
the environmental issues that flow from it, and efforts to accompany the
suffering and alienated in their burdens.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Its
shortcomings are equally obvious: an autocratic, at times seemingly vindictive,
style of governance; a carelessness in matters of law; an intolerance for even
respectful disagreement; and – most seriously – a pattern of ambiguity in
matters of faith and morals causing confusion among the faithful. Confusion
breeds division and conflict. It undermines confidence in the Word of God. It
weakens evangelical witness. And the result today is a Church more fractured
than at any time in her recent history.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The
task of the next pontificate must therefore be one of recovery and
reestablishment of truths that have been slowly obscured or lost among many
Christians. These include but are not limited to such basics as the
following:</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">(a) no one is saved except
through, and only through, Jesus Christ, as he himself made clear; (b) God is
merciful but also just, and is intimately concerned with every human life, He
forgives but He also holds us accountable, He is both Savior and Judge; (c) man
is God’s creature, not a self-invention, a creature not merely of emotion and
appetites but also of intellect, free will, and an eternal destiny; (d)
unchanging objective truths about the world and human nature exist and are
knowable through Divine Revelation and the exercise of reason; (e) God’s Word,
recorded in Scripture, is reliable and has permanent force; (f) sin is real and
its effects are lethal; and (g) his Church has both the authority and the duty
to “make disciples of all nations.” The failure to joyfully embrace that work
of missionary, salvific love has consequences. As Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians
9:16, “woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel.”</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Some
practical observations flow from the task and list above.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">First:
Real authority is damaged by authoritarian means in its exercise. The Pope is a
Successor of Peter and the guarantor of Church unity. But he is not an
autocrat. He cannot change Church doctrine, and he must not invent or alter the
Church’s discipline arbitrarily. He governs the Church collegially with his
brother bishops in local dioceses. And he does so always in faithful continuity
with the Word of God and Church teaching. “New paradigms” and “unexplored new
paths” that deviate from either are not of God. A new Pope must restore the
hermeneutic of continuity in Catholic life and reassert Vatican II’s
understanding of the papacy’s proper role.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Second:
Just as the Church is not an autocracy, neither is she a democracy. The Church
belongs to Jesus Christ. She is his Church. She is Christ’s Mystical Body, made
up of many members. We have no authority to refashion her teachings to fit more
comfortably with the world. Moreover, the Catholic sensus fidelium is not a
matter of opinion surveys nor even the view of a baptized majority. It derives
only from those who genuinely believe and actively practice, or at least
sincerely seek to practice, the faith and teachings of the Church.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Third:
Ambiguity is neither evangelical nor welcoming. Rather, it breeds doubt and
feeds schismatic impulses. The Church is a community not just of Word and
sacrament, but also of creed. What we believe helps to define and sustain us.
Thus, doctrinal issues are not burdens imposed by unfeeling “doctors of the
law.” Nor are they cerebral sideshows to the Christian life. On the contrary,
they’re vital to living a Christian life authentically, because they deal with
applications of the truth, and the truth demands clarity, not ambivalent
nuance. From the start, the current pontificate has resisted the evangelical
force and intellectual clarity of its immediate predecessors. The dismantling
and repurposing of Rome’s John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and
Family and the marginalizing of texts like Veritatis Splendor suggest an
elevation of “compassion” and emotion at the expense of reason, justice, and
truth. For a creedal community, this is both unhealthy and profoundly dangerous.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Fourth:
The Catholic Church, in addition to Word, sacrament, and creed, is also a
community of law. Canon law orders Church life, harmonizes its institutions and
procedures, and guarantees the rights of believers. Among the marks of the
current pontificate are its excessive reliance on the motu proprio as a tool
for governance and a general carelessness and distaste for canonical detail.
Again, as with ambiguity of doctrine, disregard for canon law and proper
canonical procedure undermines confidence in the purity of the Church’s
mission.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Fifth:
The Church, as John XXIII so beautifully described her, is mater et magistra,
the “mother and teacher” of humanity, not its dutiful follower; the defender of
man as the subject of history, not its object. She is the bride of Christ; her
nature is personal, supernatural, and intimate, not merely institutional. She
can never be reduced to a system of flexible ethics or sociological analysis
and remodeling to fit the instincts and appetites (and sexual confusions) of an
age. One of the key flaws in the current pontificate is its retreat from a
convincing “theology of the body” and its lack of a compelling Christian
anthropology . . . precisely at a time when attacks on human nature and
identity, from transgenderism to transhumanism, are mounting.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Sixth:
Global travel served a pastor like Pope John Paul II so well because of his
unique personal gifts and the nature of the times. But the times and
circumstances have changed. The Church in Italy and throughout Europe – the
historic home of the faith – is in crisis. The Vatican itself urgently needs a
renewal of its morale, a cleansing of its institutions, procedures, and
personnel, and a thorough reform of its finances to prepare for a more
challenging future. These are not small things. They demand the presence,
direct attention, and personal engagement of any new Pope.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Seventh
and finally: The College of Cardinals exists to provide senior counsel to the
Pope and to elect his successor upon his death. That service requires men of
clean character, strong theological formation, mature leadership experience,
and personal holiness. It also requires a Pope willing to seek advice and then
to listen. It’s unclear to what degree this applies in the Pope Francis
pontificate. The current pontificate has placed an emphasis on diversifying the
college, but it has failed to bring cardinals together in regular consistories
designed to foster genuine collegiality and trust among brothers. As a result,
many of the voting electors in the next conclave will not really know each
other, and thus may be more vulnerable to manipulation. In the future, if the
college is to serve its purposes, the cardinals who inhabit it need more than a
red zucchetto and a ring. Today’s College of Cardinals should be proactive
about getting to know each other to better understand their particular views
regarding the Church, their local church situations, and their personalities –
which impact their consideration of the next pope.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Readers
will quite reasonably ask why this text is anonymous. The answer should be
evident from the tenor of today’s Roman environment: Candor is not welcome, and
its consequences can be unpleasant. And yet these thoughts could continue for
many more paragraphs, noting especially the current pontificate’s heavy
dependence on the Society of Jesus, the recent problematic work by the DDF’s
Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, and the emergence of a small oligarchy of
confidants with excessive influence within the Vatican – all despite synodality’s
decentralizing claims, among other things.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Exactly
because of these matters, the cautionary reflections noted here may be useful
in the months ahead. It is hoped that this contribution will help guide much
needed conversations about what the Vatican should look like in the next
pontificate.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Demos
II</span></span></p></blockquote><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><br /><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20981956.post-19531173535873299282024-02-25T00:30:00.000-05:002024-02-25T07:41:45.362-05:00Thomas Tallis: O Nata Lux - the Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge<div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/D8a-LYXVLnQ" width="480"></iframe></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20981956.post-73177590577198278412024-02-24T08:13:00.004-05:002024-02-26T09:18:05.597-05:00Ultramontanism has led to this moment<p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">T</span>he sooner we fix the excesses of Vatican I and II and throw this ultramontanist papolatry into the toilet, the better. </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">You all know it. It is what has gotten us to where we are today. It's all good when the pope is the servant of the servants of God and a Catholic. It all falls apart when he is not. </span></p><p><a href="https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/former-papal-confidant-says-prelates-who-criticize-pope-francis-are-a-threat-to-church-unity/?utm_source=daily-usa-2024-02-24&utm_medium=email"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Former papal confidant says prelates who 'criticize' Pope Francis are a threat to Church 'unity' - LifeSite (lifesitenews.com)</span></a></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgRjGcvSUSHbzdFJG_2T953OGOUAILflgAcH8H4vV_0xwFfpabRC8gFXsqz--tFrb8M_WpjVUK6gUgSf9bQbR9mNp9wLMBRKVYebfSyeKQXrC0M2dkC4ucYNtZ7DUPxcEAJmJMYdPTONgCczNwWTxD13WsJh2gE_rzgi0f8R1MmJsWvgWJJ-5RWXQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="857" data-original-width="1105" height="497" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgRjGcvSUSHbzdFJG_2T953OGOUAILflgAcH8H4vV_0xwFfpabRC8gFXsqz--tFrb8M_WpjVUK6gUgSf9bQbR9mNp9wLMBRKVYebfSyeKQXrC0M2dkC4ucYNtZ7DUPxcEAJmJMYdPTONgCczNwWTxD13WsJh2gE_rzgi0f8R1MmJsWvgWJJ-5RWXQ=w640-h497" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20981956.post-76580053208240876452024-02-17T07:19:00.004-05:002024-02-17T07:22:35.737-05:00The Timothy Dolan Whore Mass. But the traditioal Latin Mass is the problem? <p><span style="font-family: georgia;">I have some words for all of you bishops and effete priests. I can't use them here. </span></p><p><a href="https://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2024/02/the-whore-funeral-in-saint-patricks.html">RORATE CÆLI: The “Whore Funeral” in Saint Patrick’s Cathedral: The Inevitable End Game of Vatican II and the Ideological Novus Ordo Rite (rorate-caeli.blogspot.com)</a></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiSDcW0QRd6v2m2d8pvwH8LUSI5BZStfP3YETVrVK0CXhYi6hsw-ZucRIvUdw38wH7itQ8T1iW6MYExC8VLt9Kr4B5jbuHL2gIQ3FMtGYXuS8NTqd4HLG9legQ-_c54Sq2VSDaBYKw_o0iST-RwTZ46np3kZ9GAQfxPXoCHpiV2yIyjIsu1sFGOHw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="816" data-original-width="827" height="632" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiSDcW0QRd6v2m2d8pvwH8LUSI5BZStfP3YETVrVK0CXhYi6hsw-ZucRIvUdw38wH7itQ8T1iW6MYExC8VLt9Kr4B5jbuHL2gIQ3FMtGYXuS8NTqd4HLG9legQ-_c54Sq2VSDaBYKw_o0iST-RwTZ46np3kZ9GAQfxPXoCHpiV2yIyjIsu1sFGOHw=w640-h632" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div>And Ann.<div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.barnhardt.biz/2024/02/16/luciferian-faggot-timothy-dolan-cardinal-archbishop-of-new-york-allowed-an-overtly-satanic-rite-to-be-performed-in-st-patricks-cathedral-in-nyc-by-transvestite-prostitutes/">Luciferian faggot, Timothy Dolan, Cardinal Archbishop of New York, allowed an overtly satanic rite to be performed in St. Patrick’s Cathedral in NYC by transvestite prostitutes. | Barnhardt</a><br /><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg8fcrH2G1maikNAu7WLoFwIwSHckWviH4mWwdYNic7vZoaTCAbvcDKb8hemeXpnDMnP2-wfQXLVC2ivx09dgSAAPhwt37LKhfQtPzuRQAItBcseOsLv5f02j1lCSWzYssZ07F5fCFA_wrVF5IzViTIlxOIU94La2RA6VwN-QWoCMoN1tb6KPUDgg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="734" data-original-width="1005" height="468" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg8fcrH2G1maikNAu7WLoFwIwSHckWviH4mWwdYNic7vZoaTCAbvcDKb8hemeXpnDMnP2-wfQXLVC2ivx09dgSAAPhwt37LKhfQtPzuRQAItBcseOsLv5f02j1lCSWzYssZ07F5fCFA_wrVF5IzViTIlxOIU94La2RA6VwN-QWoCMoN1tb6KPUDgg=w640-h468" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /><br /><p></p></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20981956.post-91689644672497087922024-02-14T07:21:00.003-05:002024-02-14T07:21:41.797-05:00Emendemus in melius (William Byrd)<div style="text-align: center;"><iframe frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://youtube.com/embed/RoEscdyJTj0?si=ysA7mQi1FOpUiyd8" width="480"></iframe></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20981956.post-28321977126644758352024-02-12T17:00:00.001-05:002024-02-12T17:00:00.145-05:00The imprudent and impudent Pope!<p><a href="https://crisismagazine.com/opinion/exit-the-pope?utm_source=Crisis+Magazine&utm_campaign=4e48d24abf-Crisis_DAILYRSS_EMAIL&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_a5a13625fd-4e48d24abf-28402703&mc_cid=4e48d24abf&mc_eid=a1165a5ed1">Exit the Pope? - Crisis Magazine</a></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"></span></p><blockquote><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Imprudence like: after finding the synod
insufficiently open to the blessing of same-sex couples deciding to impose it
on the Church by ukase. (That is the word for the decrees of the autocratic
czar of all Russia.)</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Imprudence like: placing in the dicastery of
doctrine a man whose writings would no doubt make him “non idoneous” to be a
bishop, let alone a cardinal entrusted with an essential curial post.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Imprudence like: taking the pushback of Fiducia
Supplicans as a personal insult to which he pretends to give profile in courage
and claim to be suffering for the truth. This from a person most free with
insults (e.g., EWTN is “diabolical”).</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Imprudence like: making the bishops know that
he will not tolerate criticism, as he has shown in his scandalous treatment of
even the most pious dissent (e.g., Bishop Strickland). This came before Fiducia
and had an effect on our own bishops’ conference.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Imprudence like: allowing a “spontaneous,
private, fifteen-second” blessing become a piece in The New York Times and not
reacting to the priest’s gloss that “he was waiting a long time to be able to
bless” a couple.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Imprudence like: pretending to allow an
“exception” of the non-acceptance of Fiducia in Africa as due to “cultural”
issues and not “religious” principles that are grounded in the Bible and
Tradition.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Imprudence like: using every media opportunity
to present the false narrative that opposition to Fiducia is a denial of the
Church’s duty to sanctify the faithful. It is not a question of denying to pray
for (bless) individuals but of refusing to give the impression of endorsing
what is explicitly contrary to Bible teaching, the Catechism, and traditional
pastoral practice. He who is not with the pope is therefore against the grace
and mercy of God. That is a false dichotomy that is deeply embarrassing.</span></p></blockquote><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></p><br /><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20981956.post-21049238887889186392024-02-08T07:26:00.001-05:002024-02-08T07:26:19.052-05:00Bergoglio thinks we're stupid<p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">T</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">he psychological projection and gaslighting continue from Bergoglio. If you read the below you will find he makes a comparison between blessings. </span><span style="font-size: 16px;">"No one is scandalized if I bless an entrepreneur who exploits people, while it happens if he is a homosexual. It's hypocrisy."</span><span style="font-size: 16px;"> </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Does he think we are stupid?</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">If a priest blessed the entrepreneur he does not assume that the man exploits people or makes lousy products. He gives a blessing. If an individual man or woman attracted to the same sex comes for a blessing, they receive a blessing. If they come as a couple, that is a completely different thing.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">He thinks we are stupid. We are not. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">But we know what he is.</span></span></p><p><a href="https://www.lastampa.it/vatican-insider/it/2024/02/07/news/papa_francesco_nessuno_si_scandalizza_se_benedico_un_imprenditore_che_sfrutta_la_gente_mentre_accade_se_si_tratta_di_un_o-14051719/?ref=twhpv"></a></p><blockquote><p><a href="https://www.lastampa.it/vatican-insider/it/2024/02/07/news/papa_francesco_nessuno_si_scandalizza_se_benedico_un_imprenditore_che_sfrutta_la_gente_mentre_accade_se_si_tratta_di_un_o-14051719/?ref=twhpv"><span style="font-family: times;">Pope Francis: "No one is scandalized if I bless an entrepreneur who exploits people, while it happens if he is a homosexual. It's hypocrisy" - La Stampa</span></a></p><p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: times;">VATICAN
CITY. He speaks of priests, the style they should avoid and the attitude they
should have: "We clerics sometimes live in comfort. We need to see the
work and the suffering of the people." And he expresses himself on
openness towards gay people: "No one is scandalized if I bless an
entrepreneur who exploits people, while it happens if he is a homosexual. It's
hypocrisy." It is a confident and open-hearted Pope Francis that emerges
in an in-depth interview given exclusively, for the first time, to the weekly
Credere - the periodical of the San Paolo Publishing Group - in the issue on
newsstands from tomorrow. Answering the questions of the newspaper's
editor-in-chief, Fr. Vincenzo Vitale, the Bishop of Rome retraces the years of
his pontificate between personal confidences and highly topical issues, from
the blessing of homosexual people, to the Jubilee, to the involvement of young
people. In this regard, he emphasizes: "There are pastoral experiences
that speak to simple people (...) There are also 'sophisticated' realities that
do not arrive, movements that are a bit 'exquisite' and that tend to form an
'ecclesiola', of people who feel superior," the Pontiff lashed out.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: times;">The
interview also focuses on the role of women in the Church: "Opening up
work in the Curia to women is important. In the Roman Curia there are now
several women and there will be more, because they do better than us men in
certain positions. The governor, for example, Sister Raffaella Petrini, is
doing beautiful things. Even the women who are in the dicastery to elect
bishops... These are all places that need women. There is an ongoing process in
this. There are several secretaries, think of Sister Alessandra Smerilli at the
Dicastery for Integral Human Development, others at the Dicastery for
Evangelization, of Religious..."<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: 12pt;">The
Pope then reassures about his state of health: "The Church is governed
with the head, not with the legs."</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: times;">The
response to the controversy that arose after the "Trust Supplicans"
declaration was also clear: "No one is scandalized if I give my blessing
to an entrepreneur who perhaps exploits people: and this is a very serious sin.
While he is scandalized if I give it to a homosexual.... This is hypocrisy! The
heart of the document is welcoming." Francis adds: "But I don't bless
a 'homosexual marriage', I bless two people who love each other and I also ask
them to pray for me. Always in confessions, when these situations arise,
homosexual people, remarried people, I always pray and bless. The blessing is
not to be denied to anyone. Everybody, everybody, everybody. Be careful, I'm
talking about people: those who are capable of receiving Baptism."<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: 12pt;">The
Pontiff desires a Church that is more capable of being close to people:
"People give me joy! When I'm with people, I'm happy. When I'm with the
administration, yes I do what I have to do, but when I'm with the people, it's
something else... I would like to be able to go on the street freely, but it is
not possible. I've done it a few times, to go to the optician or to go buy
records, but secretly. I learn from people! When you find a father of a family
with a monthly income at the limit, who comes to confession and tells you that
when he comes home he is tired and cannot be with his children because they are
already asleep and in the morning he gets up before they wake up; And then he
confesses to you that his pleasure, on Sundays, is playing with his children...
That's where you learn! People suffer so much... We clerics sometimes live in
comfort... You have to see the work, the suffering of the people..."</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: 12pt;">He
recounts two episodes that he carries in his heart: "One here in Rome, one
in Argentina. At a hearing two years ago, a lady beckoned me to come over and
called me, I went. An elderly peasant woman was 87 years old, but she didn't
show them. I asked her what she ate to stay like this: ravioli, she replied,
ravioli that she made... And he gave me the recipe for ravioli. I asked her to
pray for me. He assured me that he would, but told me to be careful. So I asked
her if she prayed for me or against me. And he said: "No, Your Holiness,
you are not mistaken, they pray against you in there." The wisdom, the
courage of the elderly! The other episode was in a slum in Buenos Aires, where
I went to celebrate Mass. During the trip, it became known that John Paul II
had died. With the simple people of the slums they talked about the election of
the new Pope. An elderly woman asked me if I could become Pope. Yes, I told
her. So he gave me a piece of advice: to buy me a little dog. I asked her why.
"Before eating, give the dog food and wait a bit..."</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: 12pt;">More
than ten years after the foundation of the newspaper, born on the occasion of
the election of Pope Francis in 2013, Credere wishes to continue to tell the
story of the faith, privileging the choice of proposing and motivating good
news. The weekly - distributed throughout Italy with 60,000 copies and 200,000
readers - has chosen to remain firmly in paper format in order to continue to
be a tool to be used during the week, as is already the case, in the family, in
schools, in groups, in movements and in ecclesial associations.</span></p></blockquote><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20981956.post-65160813129256536872024-02-02T01:00:00.004-05:002024-02-02T18:40:00.785-05:00Punxsutawney Phil or Wiarton Willie - pretty poor pagan substitutes for the real Light of lights<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div class="MsoNormal"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>I originally wrote this in 2016. My view has not changed - the groundhog ritual is a mockery of Candlemas. The groundhog is afraid of the light and goes back into his hole. Our friends in Wiarton and Punsutanawney are looking for light in all the wrong places.</i><span style="text-align: center;"> </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; text-align: center;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">T</span>oday is Candlemas, the official end of the Christmas Season according to ancient tradition. The Christmas cycle ends today. While</span></span><span> the pagan secularists are out celebrating a couple of rodents, be they in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania or Wiarton, Ontario, we Catholics are blest to know that the groundhog is but a beautiful creature of God, it is not a god that can predict<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDbHQ7729sOFXfV0hvuBcy3cdN6esWDXciV-l9a10i_jPbgHwlFjii8H3Lvit3-euzjtP1ZF_nMMdwdau4aRBWKhSA88cXM186T15cEUmQnj835IqGPVzz9Kzt15lsQTfEQ1Eag0IUHl0u7Uhf53WtDjVkeQUAbOuUY_NRxbGOcxfp_8FuQbk/s971/Capture.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="666" data-original-width="971" height="219" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDbHQ7729sOFXfV0hvuBcy3cdN6esWDXciV-l9a10i_jPbgHwlFjii8H3Lvit3-euzjtP1ZF_nMMdwdau4aRBWKhSA88cXM186T15cEUmQnj835IqGPVzz9Kzt15lsQTfEQ1Eag0IUHl0u7Uhf53WtDjVkeQUAbOuUY_NRxbGOcxfp_8FuQbk/s320/Capture.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>anything. Even in jest, it is a mockery of the One True God and His First Commandment - to even joke that </span><span>an animal can predict the weather, other than by its Creator growing it a longer coat, it is the sin of divination. </span>I see the <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/history-of-groundhog-day-and-candlemas" target="_blank">groundhog ritual as a satanic mockery</a> of Christ and the Blessed Mother, not just an old pagan practice. Of course, it's just a little fun in the midst of winter, except we need to look deeper. If the rodent sees the sun, he goes back into his hole. Satan sees the Light of Christ, which he runs from. Candlemas is just one more example of how the pagan secular world has perverted Catholic feasts and traditions, from All Hallows to Christmas and St. Valentine and the Easter bunny. How many Catholic churches today celebrate the feast with a procession or a sung liturgy? How many Catholics even know what the Feast is and its culmination of the Christmas cycle?</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span>This poem from Germany seems to be the origin of the weather prediction, but I see no rodent. <br /></span><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-CA"><span>If Candlemas be fair and bright,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-CA"><span>Come, Winter, have another flight;<o:p></o:p></span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-CA"><span>If Candlemas brings clouds and rain,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-CA"><span>Go Winter, and come not again.</span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-CA"><span>For as the sun shines on Candlemas Day,</span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-CA"><span>So far will the snow swirl until May.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span><span><br /></span><span>This feast - solemnity recalls the day when our Blessed Mother - Mary being a Jewess and forty days after giving birth to her first-born Son, the Messiah; presented herself in the Temple as Orthodox Jewish women still do today for a mikvah, or Purification. In the Roman Missal of 1962, they actually changed the name to the Presentation of the Lord, which it is of course. Prior to that, it was the Purification of Mary. Common folk, not liturgists, called it Candlemas because, "</span><a href="http://wdtprs.com/blog/2017/02/candlemas-eve-and-candlemas-poetry/" target="_blank">we bless candles</a><span>" as Father Z says, and we receive blest candles and take them home. </span><a href="http://liturgicalnotes.blogspot.ca/2017/02/rhythm.html" target="_blank">Father Hunwicke has some thoughts</a><span> on this and how "purification" does not fit with our modern sensibilities of a woman being, "unclean."</span></span><br /></span></div></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: left;"><span><span><span style="font-family: georgia;">Mary and Joseph presented Jesus in the temple on this day.
The Holy Spirit had revealed to the just and devout Simeon that he should not
die before he had seen the Christ of the Lord. In the temple the old man
glimpsed Jesus in Mary's arms and blessed God, knowing that at last he had seen
the Savior, "a light of revelation to the Gentiles and a glory of Thy
people Israel."</span></span></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: left;"><span><span style="font-family: georgia;">But only after the Savior's Passion and Crucifixion would
the light win for men the final victory over bodily and spiritual death. Simeon
therefore said to Mary, the co-redeemer of mankind, "Thy own soul a sword
shall pierce, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed" (Luke
2:35). May we, too, after having shared the redemptive sufferings of Christ
attain the final grace of presentation in the holy temple of God's glory. </span></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>(from a Missal introduction to today's Mass)</i></span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: georgia;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: georgia; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj3CT0oofHjYwNwRRznsSdiGFQtEeQ2oa1OXT2VjwDM6VStcAQ4xQxOgzOiKMX2fXZWUCjCnPvEOf4jbHTT1HDPc4OWK2zcZITXDC9z_CCU1l1_9xkdW0US3x-3lQWcpcTf7EZe-Dx-vwpXnCUnUVENn_YCPjeHhj7J11WmMcfO1F4sB0PulJA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="1649" data-original-width="2024" height="325" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj3CT0oofHjYwNwRRznsSdiGFQtEeQ2oa1OXT2VjwDM6VStcAQ4xQxOgzOiKMX2fXZWUCjCnPvEOf4jbHTT1HDPc4OWK2zcZITXDC9z_CCU1l1_9xkdW0US3x-3lQWcpcTf7EZe-Dx-vwpXnCUnUVENn_YCPjeHhj7J11WmMcfO1F4sB0PulJA=w400-h325" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: georgia; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: georgia; text-align: left;"><span>What the Novus Ordo took from you:</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: georgia; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;"></span></span></p><blockquote><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">Blessing
of Candles<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">V.
The Lord be with you.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">R.
And with thy spirit.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Let
us pray. O Holy Lord, Father almighty, everlasting God, who hast created all
things out of nothing, and by Thy command hast caused this liquid to become
perfect wax by the labor of bees: and who, on this day didst fulfill the
petition of the righteous man Simeon: we humbly entreat Thee, that by the
invocation of Thy most holy Name and through the intercession of Blessed Mary
ever Virgin whose feast is today devoutly observed, and by the prayers of all
Thy Saints, Thou wouldst vouchsafe to bless </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">✠</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">
and sanctify </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">✠</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> these candles for the
service of men and for the health of their bodies and souls, whether on land or
on sea: and that Thou wouldst hear from Thy holy heaven, and from the throne of
Thy Majesty the voices of this Thy people, who desire to carry them in their
hands with honor, and to praise Thee with hymns; and wouldst be propitious to
all that call upon Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without
end.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span>R.
Amen.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Let
us pray. O almighty and everlasting God, who on this day didst present Thine
only-begotten Son in Thy holy temple to be received in the arms of holy Simeon:
we humbly entreat Thy clemency, that Thou wouldst vouchsafe to bless </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">✠</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> and sanctify </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">✠</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">
and to kindle with the light of Thy heavenly benediction these candles, which
we, Thy servants, desire to receive and to bear lighted in the honor of Thy
Name: that, by offering them to Thee our Lord God, being worthily inflamed with
the holy fire of Thy most sweet charity, we may deserve to be presented in the
holy temple of Thy glory.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">Through
the same Jesus Christ, thy Son, Our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee in
the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span>R.
Amen.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Let
us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, the true Light who enlightenest every man that
cometh into this world: pour forth Thy blessing </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">✠</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">
upon these candles, and sanctify </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">✠</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">
them with the light of Thy grace, and mercifully grant, that as these lights
enkindled with visible fire dispel the darkness of night, so our hearts
illumined by invisible fire, that is, by the splendor of the Holy Spirit, may
be free from the blindness of all vice, that the eye of our mind being
cleansed, we may be able to discern what is pleasing to Thee and profitable to
our salvation; so that after the perilous darkness of this life we may deserve
to attain to neverfailing light: through Thee, O Christ Jesus, Saviour of the
world, who in the perfect Trinity, livest and reignest, God, world without end.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span>R.
Amen.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Let
us pray. O almighty and everlasting God, who by Thy servant Moses didst command
the purest oil to be prepared for lamps to burn continuously before Thee:
vouchsafe to pour forth the grace of Thy blessing </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">✠</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> upon these candles: that they may so afford us
light outwardly that by Thy gift, the gift of Thy Spirit may never be wanting
inwardly to our minds.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">Through
Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity
of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span>R.
Amen.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">Let
us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, who appearing on this day among men in the
substance of our flesh, wast presented by Thy parents in the temple: whom the
venerable and aged Simeon, illuminated by the light of Thy Spirit, recognized,
received into his arms, and blessed: mercifully grant that, enlightened and
taught by the grace of the same Holy Ghost, we may truly acknowledge Thee and
faithfully love Thee; Who with God the Father in the unity of the same Holy
Ghost livest and reignest, God, world without end.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span>R.
Amen.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">The
Distribution of Candles<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">Ant.
A light for the revelation of the Gentiles: and for the glory of Thy people
Israel.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">Now
Thou dost dismiss Thy servant, O Lord, according to Thy word in peace.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">Ant.
A light for the revelation of the Gentiles: and for the glory of Thy people
Israel.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">Because
mine eyes have seen Thy salvation.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">Ant.
A light for the revelation of the Gentiles: and for the glory of Thy people
Israel.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">Which
Thou hast prepared, before the face of all peoples.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">Ant.
A light for the revelation of the Gentiles: and for the glory of Thy people
Israel.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">Glory
be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">Ant.
A light for the revelation of the Gentiles: and for the glory of Thy people
Israel.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">As
it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">Ant.
A light for the revelation of the Gentiles: and for the glory of Thy people
Israel.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">Ant.
Arise, O Lord, help us and deliver us for Thy Name's sake.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">We
have heard, O God, with our ears: our fathers have declared to us.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">V.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">R.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">Ant.
Arise, O Lord, help us and deliver us for Thy Name's sake.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua; font-size: 12pt;">Let
us pray.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">We
beseech Thee, O Lord, hearken unto Thy people, and grant that by the light of
Thy grace, we may inwardly attain to those things which Thou grantest us
outwardly to venerate by this yearly observance. Through Christ our Lord.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">R.
Amen<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua; font-size: 12pt;">The
Procession</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">V.
Let us go forth in peace.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">R.
In the Name of Christ. Amen.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">Ant.
Adorn thy bridal-chamber, O Sion, and welcome Christ the King: with loving
embrace greet Mary who is the very gate of heaven; for she bringeth to thee the
glorious King of the new light: remaining ever a Virgin yet she bearest in her
arms the Son begotten before the day-star: even the Child, whom Simeon taking
into his arms, declared to the peoples to be the Lord of life and death, and
the Saviour of the world.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">Ant.
Simeon received an answer from the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death
before he had seen the Christ of the Lord; and when they brought the Child into
the temple, he took Him into His arms, and blessed God, and said: Now dost Thou
dismiss Thy servant, O Lord, in peace.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">V.
When His parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the
custom of the law, he took Him into His arms.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">V.
They offered for Him to the Lord a pair of turtle doves, or two young pigeons:
* As it is written in the Law of the Lord.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">V.
After the days of the purification of Mary, according to the law of Moses, were
fulfilled, they carried Jesus to Jerusalem, to present Him to the Lord. * As it
is written in the Law of the Lord.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">V.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">R.
As it is written in the Law of the Lord.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua; font-size: 12pt;">Followed
by the Mass.</span></p></blockquote><p style="text-align: left;"></p><blockquote><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;">INTROIT
Ps. 47:10-11</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">We
have received Your kindness, O Lord, within Your temple. As Your name, O God,
is known to the ends of the earth, so also shall Your praise be voiced to the
ends of the earth. Your right hand is just in all things.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Ps.
47:2. Great is the Lord, and worthy of all praise in the city of our God, upon
His holy mountain.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">V.
Glory be . . .</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">COLLECT<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Almighty
and Eternal God, we humbly ask that we may be presented to You with purified
souls just as Your only-begotten Son was presented this day in the temple after
He had taken on the substance of our flesh. Through Our Lord . . .</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">LESSON
Mal. 3:1-4<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Thus
says the Lord God: Behold I send my angel, and he shall prepare the way before
my face. And presently the Lord, whom you seek, and the angel of the testament,
whom you desire, shall come to his temple. Behold, he cometh, saith the Lord of
hosts. And who shall be able to think of the day of his coming? and who shall
stand to see him? for he is like a refining fire, and like the fuller's herb:
And he shall sit refining and cleansing the silver, and he shall purify the
sons of Levi, and shall refine them as gold, and as silver, and they shall
offer sacrifices to the Lord in justice. And the sacrifice of Juda and of
Jerusalem shall please the Lord, as in the days of old, and in the ancient
years, says the Lord almighty.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">GRADUAL
Ps. 47:10-11, 9<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">We
have received Your kindness, O Lord, within Your temple. As Your name, O God,
is known to the ends of the earth, so also shall Your praise be voiced to the
ends of the earth.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">V.
As we had heard, so we have seen in the city of our God, upon His holy
mountain.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">V.
The old man bore the Child, but the Child was the old man's King; Allelúja.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><i>The
candles are held lighted during the Gospel, and from the Sanctus to the
Communion.</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">GOSPEL
Luke 2:22-32</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">At
that time, when the days of Mary's purification, according to the law of Moses,
were accomplished, they carried him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord:
As it is written in the law of the Lord: "Every male opening the womb
shall be called holy to the Lord": And to offer a sacrifice, according as
it is written in the law of the Lord, "a pair of turtledoves or two young
pigeons"<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">And
behold there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon: and this man was just and
devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel. And the Holy Ghost was in him.
And he had received an answer from the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death
before he had seen the Christ of the Lord. And he came by the Spirit into the
temple. And when his parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him
according to the custom of the law, He also took him into his arms and blessed
God and said, "Now thou dost dismiss thy servant, O Lord, according to thy
word in peace: Because my eyes have seen thy salvation, Which thou hast
prepared before the face of all peoples: A light to the revelation of the
Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel."</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">OFFERTORY
ANTIPHON Ps. 44:3<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Grace
is poured out upon your lips; therefore God has blessed you forever and for all
ages.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">SECRET</span><span style="text-align: center;"> </span></span></p></blockquote><blockquote><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">O
Lord, graciously hear our prayers and in Your mercy help us so that our
offering may be worthy of Your majesty. Through Our Lord . . .</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The
Preface for Christmas is said.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">COMMUNION
ANTIPHON Luke 2:26<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Simeon
received an answer from the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he
had seen the Christ of the Lord.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">POSTCOMMUNION<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">O
Lord Our God, may this sacred rite, which You instituted to protect us in our
new life of grace, bring us healing now and forever through the intercession of
the Blessed Ever-Virgin Mary. Through Our Lord . . .</span></p></blockquote><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: georgia; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: georgia; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p></div></span></div></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><span><span><br /></span></span>
<span><span>In the great Responsory to the Antiphons during the Procession, we sing, repeatedly after each verse:</span></span></span><br />
</span><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">After the
days of Mary 's purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him to
Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord</span></div></blockquote><p> </p>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fftO925i1J8" width="560"></iframe>
<span>aa</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><br /></span>
<span><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span>Our Blessed Mother and St. Joseph went up to Jerusalem "according to the law of Moses." They followed the Law, and they loved the Law. They did not mock the Law, they did not feel that the Law kept them from grace. They were not "rigid." They were not "hiding" anything.</span><br />
<span><span><br /></span>
<span>A few weeks ago, right after Epiphany and for the first time, the Creche and Christmas Tree in St. Peter's Square were removed. It was then, after all, "Ordinary Time." As I sit and write this, the Christmas Tree, (cut ourselves in early December and left outside until the 23rd) is still alighted. It actually has new growth, never losing its water supply and tricked into thinking it was Spring, it is only now starting to drop a few needles. The house is still decorated with the manger and holly and boxwood and pine. Fox and I will still use our Christmas mugs for this morning's coffee. Tonight, for Vespers followed by Holy Mass, it will be lit for the last time until next Christmas, the Lord willing. </span></span><br />
</span><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">Now Thou dost dismiss Thy servant, O Lord,
according to Thy word in peace; Because my eyes have seen Thy salvation, Which
Thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples: A light to the revelation of
the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel.</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: georgia;">Here is an old poem giving insight into the beautiful tradition when our ancestors would mark the changing of time and seasons and think of simpler things, and God.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><span><br /></span>
</span><br />
</span><div class="MsoPlainText" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">1. Down with the rosemary and bays,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">Down with the mistletoe ;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">Instead of holly, now up-raise<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">The greener box, for show.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">Refrain:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">Thus times and seasons oft do shift; each thing his turn
doth hold ;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">New thoughts and things now do succeed, as former things
grow old.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">2. The holly hitherto did sway ;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">Let box now domineer<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">Until the dancing Easter day,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">Or Easter's eve appear. Refrain<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">3. Then youthful box which now hath grace<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">Your houses to renew ;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">Grown old, surrender must his place<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">Unto the crisped yew. Refrain<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">4. When yew is out, then birch comes in,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">And many flowers beside ;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">Both of a fresh and fragrant kin<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">To honour Whitsuntide. Refrain<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">5. Green rushes, then, and sweetest bents,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">With cooler oaken boughs,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;"><span>Come in for comely ornaments</span><br />
<span>To re-adorn the house. Refrain</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-CA"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20981956.post-12584838900558347232024-01-25T14:18:00.003-05:002024-01-25T17:28:26.734-05:00Joe Biden, devout Catholic <p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> Not that our Justin is any better, mind you. Another stupid Catholic.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim99-XU9qWXxrYjz2VR7o9nGimYXgKv_8Wj7Yq2Jvr7ErDiIUtWTC1yw9Zr5ML3mRb6UNyHyxHsYuS7Em-O5BbNy0-0KpES4Tj1Bopi0nY6VlMClc2d8-6YbS2fZAhLRPZIGDqvIiRUy65Ix6f4dTF4D-6Ol51o4JdVBqfjTLZN8d_vAA2npaLxw/s828/IMG_3446.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="817" data-original-width="828" height="632" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim99-XU9qWXxrYjz2VR7o9nGimYXgKv_8Wj7Yq2Jvr7ErDiIUtWTC1yw9Zr5ML3mRb6UNyHyxHsYuS7Em-O5BbNy0-0KpES4Tj1Bopi0nY6VlMClc2d8-6YbS2fZAhLRPZIGDqvIiRUy65Ix6f4dTF4D-6Ol51o4JdVBqfjTLZN8d_vAA2npaLxw/w640-h632/IMG_3446.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20981956.post-78743611789270087232024-01-24T01:00:00.001-05:002024-01-24T01:00:00.137-05:00Bergoglio and his Tucho "Cardinal" Fernández Orgasmic Theology<p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">O</span>h my. How would he know?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Stinking pervert.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjviJ4SnDHlMdFuXUDACX0l_gy_HPti78J-1vulChFA30GZdoxMYGKDtNdYsf4vhrHIGJVETlIqLGVHgTyYB3IGumAAETNPH5N3-TLGH4GH6iEs1whF4aBQ6r_ebmRerBV1wsfVwe_QysYh2Ya1TUhp2CJIsdC-PO6b2f3rsPb5dpKFVn2ZZxLxOA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="455" data-original-width="906" height="322" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjviJ4SnDHlMdFuXUDACX0l_gy_HPti78J-1vulChFA30GZdoxMYGKDtNdYsf4vhrHIGJVETlIqLGVHgTyYB3IGumAAETNPH5N3-TLGH4GH6iEs1whF4aBQ6r_ebmRerBV1wsfVwe_QysYh2Ya1TUhp2CJIsdC-PO6b2f3rsPb5dpKFVn2ZZxLxOA=w640-h322" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><blockquote><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://www.gloria.tv/post/Rfp1Y4yTRAyK2y4gw2NhQK942">Francis and Fernández Can't Get Enough Orgasms – Gloria.tv</a><br /><br />Francis and Fernández Can't Get Enough Orgasms<br /><br />The more Francis' chief ideologue Tucho Fernández lies, the more he gets entangled in his web of lies. When the scandal over his 1995 book “Sáname con tu boca. El arte de besar” (Heal me with your mouth. The art of kissing) broke, Tucho dismissed the book as a one-off sin of youth.<br /><br />But then his 1998 orgasm book “La pasión mística” was discovered. Tucho again presented it as a singular mistake of his youth. But he was 36 years old.<br /><br />Now, <a href="http://LaNuovaBq.it">LaNuovaBq.it</a> has discovered that at least three publications which Tucho produced after 1998 also indulge in fantasies about orgasms and fetishes, proving that Francis' right-hand man is a sexual exhibitionist.<br /><br />In his 2004 book “Para liberarte de la ansiedad y de la impaciencia”, Tucho writes:<br /><br />"When our whole being is unified in one direction, then we come to true encounter, fusion, perfect union, even if only for a few minutes. It is not necessarily a matter of physical stillness, because this experience can also occur in the midst of the excitement of a very intense activity. This happens, for example, in the orgasm between two people who love each other.”<br /><br />In the 2004 essay “Teología espiritual encarnada : profundidad espiritual en acción”, Tucho writes that “the moments of life and joy - including sexual ones - are experienced as a participation in the full life of the Resurrection” and then continues:<br /><br />“These moments of shared pleasure, with all their potential for communication, offering, and loving expression, can be prepared and then lived in gratitude in moments of shared prayer. They cannot be separated from the relationship with God, as if they were simply a permitted sin. The mystery of the Incarnation, which makes marriage a sacrament, an efficacious sign of the grace accomplished in genital union, shows how God, by becoming [celibate] man, also entered into human flesh, transforming corporeality into the mediation of grace. Therefore, if the union of the bodies was a true expression of love, it must be celebrated in prayer.”<br /><br />Tucho then invited his readers to “relax the body” by giving “full attention” to the various organs: “It is more a question of ‘feeling’ them, of perceiving them with sensitivity. It is a matter of experiencing the sensations of each organ calmly, without judging whether these sensations are good or bad, but trying to make that organ relax.” Among the organs, he mentions are “the pelvis, the buttocks, the genitals”.<br /><br />His conclusion: “At every point on the body we should feel some sensation (of heat, burning, pleasure). No part of the skin is insensitive, even if the sensations are very subtle. Finally, it is important to try to grasp the totality of the organism, to become aware of the whole body and to feel it for a while.”<br /><br />One wonders, who Tucho is writing this for. Perhaps for himself?<br /><br />In his 2002 book “Por qué no termino de sanarme?” he philosophises about clothing that “awakens sensuality by highlighting interesting shapes of the body.” His examples: “The naked neck is made more sensual by wearing a necklace on it.”<br /><br />And: “If we add to this a certain amount of imagination on the part of the viewer, and in a moment of dissatisfaction, when he needs to be moved or to enjoy something, then a body can appear as something impressive, wonderful, indispensable.”<br /><br />Tucho even explains to the bored reader his personal preferences for body features: “At some moments in my life I am attracted to certain types of charm, but at another moment other details begin to attract me: sometimes the sensitivity of the moment attracts me to fine, white hands; at other times I am more attracted to fleshy, warm hands, and these fine hands are no longer enough for me.”<br /><br />He agrees that the solution to this problem is not to use others and leave them when I no longer need them, but to use the imagination, which “can make what is limited, like all the creatures on this earth, appear as something divine”.</span></blockquote>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20981956.post-18896837659612311012024-01-23T17:30:00.001-05:002024-01-23T17:30:00.147-05:00Hey boys, thanks for covering me up for surrounding myself with perverts and the fact that I cover up for them.<p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> Yes, he said this.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj3aDc5MDgZD5xUHm0el_3OrhiVLt7YFE0Mtnz3tMFt1VENGeWiBZBKC9pGHkH7GtnEDAltqwdNLzbND-rnCdG9aKC0lXowp7-OFsMzcBTJjJIHMrrJ5xepTpog-LJyqWvKNhOFQtjd-iqlsxhCJ962-PbW8SeHSrCGg8r5i4JP9E0okXrRtDoimg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="869" data-original-width="1122" height="495" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj3aDc5MDgZD5xUHm0el_3OrhiVLt7YFE0Mtnz3tMFt1VENGeWiBZBKC9pGHkH7GtnEDAltqwdNLzbND-rnCdG9aKC0lXowp7-OFsMzcBTJjJIHMrrJ5xepTpog-LJyqWvKNhOFQtjd-iqlsxhCJ962-PbW8SeHSrCGg8r5i4JP9E0okXrRtDoimg=w640-h495" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20981956.post-58747403856034419582024-01-17T07:12:00.003-05:002024-01-17T10:40:56.424-05:00Holy and Humble Francis welcomes and praised globalist fascist Klaus Schwab and the WEF!<p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Bergoglio writes of "building a better world," but without Jesus Christ. "Fraternity," is once again his masonic word. The "process of globalisation... has a fundamentally moral dimension."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">I'm sure the popesplainers will all be on board. </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2024/01/17/0051/00106.html">Messaggio del Santo Padre al Presidente Esecutivo del “World Economic Forum” (vatican.va)</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Segoe, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;"></p></div><blockquote>Pubblichiamo di seguito il Messaggio che il Santo Padre Francesco ha inviato al Prof. Klaus Schwab, Presidente Esecutivo del World Economic Forum, in occasione del meeting annuale in corso a Davos, in Svizzera, dal 15 al 19 gennaio 2024:<br /><br />Messaggio del Santo Padre<br /><br />To the Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum<br /><br />This year’s annual meeting of the World Economic Forum takes place in a very troubling climate of international instability. Your Forum, which aims to guide and strengthen political will and mutual cooperation, provides an important opportunity for multi-stakeholder engagement to explore innovative and effective ways to build a better world. It is my hope that your discussions will take into account the urgent need to advance social cohesion, fraternity, and reconciliation among groups, communities, and states, in order to address the challenges before us.<br /><br />Sadly, as we look around, we find an increasingly lacerated world, in which millions of persons – men, women, fathers, mothers, children – whose faces are for the most part unknown to us, continue to suffer, not least from the effects of prolonged conflicts and actual wars. These sufferings are exacerbated by the fact that “modern wars no longer take place only on clearly defined battlefields, nor do they involve soldiers alone. In a context where it appears that the distinction between military and civil targets is no longer respected, there is no conflict that does not end up in some way indiscriminately striking the civilian population” (Address to Members of the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See, 8 January 2024).<br /><br />The peace for which the peoples of our world yearn cannot be other than the fruit of justice (cf. Isaiah 32:17). Consequently, it calls for more than simply setting aside the instruments of war; it demands addressing the injustices that are the root causes of conflict. Among the most significant of these is hunger, which continues to plague entire regions of the world, even as others are marked by excessive food waste. The exploitation of natural resources continues to enrich a few while leaving entire populations, who are the natural beneficiaries of these resources, in a state of destitution and poverty. Nor can we disregard the widespread exploitation of men, women and children forced to work for low wages and deprived of real prospects for personal development and professional growth. How is it possible that in today’s world people are still dying of hunger, being exploited, condemned to illiteracy, lacking basic medical care, and left without shelter?<br /><br />The process of globalization, which has by now clearly demonstrated the interdependence of the world’s nations and peoples, thus has a fundamentally moral dimension, which must make itself felt in the economic, cultural, political and religious discussions that aim to shape the future of the international community. In a world increasingly threatened by violence, aggression and fragmentation, it is essential that states and businesses join in promoting far-sighted and ethically sound models of globalization, which by their very nature must entail subordinating the pursuit of power and individual gain, be it political or economic, to the common good of our human family, giving priority to the poor, the needy and those in the most vulnerable situations.<br /><br />For its part, the world of business and finance now operates in ever broader economic contexts, where national states have a limited capacity to govern rapid changes in international economic and financial relations. This situation requires that businesses themselves be increasingly guided not simply by the pursuit of fair profit, but also by high ethical standards, especially with regard to the less developed countries, which should not be at the mercy of abusive or usurious financial systems. A farsighted approach to these issues will prove decisive in meeting the goal of an integral development of humanity in solidarity. Authentic development must be global, shared by all nations and in every part of the world, or it will regress even in areas marked hitherto by constant progress.<br /><br />At the same time, there is an evident need for international political action that, through the adoption of coordinated measures, can effectively pursue the goals of global peace and authentic development. In particular, it is important that intergovernmental structures be able effectively to exercise their functions of control and guidance in the economic sector, since the achievement of the common good is an objective beyond the reach of individual states, even those that are dominant in terms of power, wealth and political strength. International organizations are also challenged to ensure the achievement of that equality which is the basis of the right of all to participate in the process of full development, with due respect for legitimate differences.<br /><br />It is my hope, then, that the participants in this year’s Forum will be mindful of the moral responsibility that each of us has in the fight against poverty, the attainment of an integral development for all our brothers and sisters, and the quest for a peaceful coexistence among peoples. This is the great challenge that the present time sets before us. And if, in the pursuit of these goals, “our own days seem to be showing signs of a certain regression”, it remains true that “each new generation must take up the struggles and attainments of past generations, while setting its sights even higher… Goodness, together with love, justice and solidarity, are not achieved once and for all; they have to be realized each day” (Apostolic Exhortation Laudate Deum, 34).<br /><br />With these sentiments, I offer my prayerful good wishes for the deliberations of the Forum, and upon all taking part I willingly invoke an abundance of divine blessings.<br /><br />From the Vatican, 15 January 2024<br /><br />FRANCIS<br /><br />[00106-EN.01] [Original text: English]<br /><br />[B0051-XX.01]</blockquote><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2024/01/17/0051/00106.html" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img data-original-height="763" data-original-width="462" height="1020" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgOskqOqrM6k0gncURlf_jbSG2fw97YxKmdKxOhQFM3OHmJ35k9xozbNcjMBzsLnhXyCcYjURXzA8_gfm_Ivih-vLMfGI5z3Ou1NRzMy4NNfzMnlyuzBpny6rh-O_fMDafImsJEUv0WqX7FhEF5kTsUbGzR_ijkHoLMfuxfHwb7DrODN-gPNB29tw=w617-h1020" width="617" /></a></div><br /><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20981956.post-59906124330028089992024-01-16T17:00:00.002-05:002024-01-17T07:15:53.684-05:00What was that? Something about Hell?<p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> Recall the words of St. Padre Pio, paraphrased.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">"You don't believe in Hell? You will when you get there!"</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjDGEeZuLuNlPum2YX-dp5PskAD3MdvgIDAus3YLClo8GFjP5VdBrK3pSCIzTfs3sZO52umYu3ySdpnqBFkMxbC8Si8ivLhbSoS7zIaPwQGEJHem_DnOK7YC7B3-W5rcyaxmfwJ6-4ZGfuqz0X7wkJxsG69UA9i087jADqZLyd2QM22bxZ9UH3AFQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="331" data-original-width="498" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjDGEeZuLuNlPum2YX-dp5PskAD3MdvgIDAus3YLClo8GFjP5VdBrK3pSCIzTfs3sZO52umYu3ySdpnqBFkMxbC8Si8ivLhbSoS7zIaPwQGEJHem_DnOK7YC7B3-W5rcyaxmfwJ6-4ZGfuqz0X7wkJxsG69UA9i087jADqZLyd2QM22bxZ9UH3AFQ=w640-h426" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20981956.post-42477974510451520872024-01-12T15:26:00.003-05:002024-01-12T15:28:39.125-05:00Tucho says that Bergoglio knew of his perversion. Does that include the 16 year old girl? Is Pope Francis an accomplice to sexual abuse?<p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">C</span>ardinal Tucho "Pervert" Fernández states that Pope Francis knew about his book. Well surprise, surprise, surprise. Of course he did. He was his archbishop! It's no doubt to this writer that it is one of the reasons he was appointed to the DDF and as a cardinal, it is the agenda of Bergoglio and another attempt by him to mock the faith and the faithful. There are no coincidences.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Pervert Fernández interviewed a sixteen year old girl in the book. That, in any country, is a crime. Aside from being a crime for a man it is totally repugnant, sinful and unacceptable for it to have been a priest. He even goes so far as to compare himself with Pope John Paul II and St. Hildegard of Bingen! </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"></span></p><blockquote><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">If I, or any priest, were to have written
anything like this, we would likely be removed from ministry and sent away for
evaluation, and rightly so,” Msgr. Charles Pope, pastor at Holy Comforter-St.
Cyprian parish in Washington, D.C., told the Register Jan. 8. “For priests or
religious to discuss such matters violates proper discretion and boundaries; it
is wholly inappropriate and understandably shocks the faithful.”</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">EWTN commentator Father Gerald Murray told the
Register it was the work of “a troubled priest” who has an “unseemly
fascination with the specific details of sexual relations” and who promotes a
“false and degraded spirituality that is sickening.”</span></span></p></blockquote><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Worse, it implicates Jorge Mario Bergoglio in a sexual crime. Bergoglio needs to answer for this. What did he know and when did he know about the sexual conversation with a sixteen year old girl?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://www.ncregister.com/news/cardinal-fernandez-says-pope-francis-and-the-vatican-were-aware-of-his-erotic-mystical-passion-book">https://www.ncregister.com/news/cardinal-fernandez-says-pope-francis-and-the-vatican-were-aware-of-his-erotic-mystical-passion-book</a></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.ncregister.com/news/cardinal-fernandez-says-pope-francis-and-the-vatican-were-aware-of-his-erotic-mystical-passion-book" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1103" height="619" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiXTe03xamrylmQCiD2hP5YN4nNt2eO9E-OQWR5h8C-jSfeob245Cxstj6-1PIuRYh0rH3UZfdw34d1-ZK1jjYPr-6-SdQB_8aQ10tuzd7wf2YOwuJy4-r-gV5j0GENeF5CqY06cLiMVxlzHOeshciO8ney3ScXzoFsV8hMUgeQ4E0xrDz6yKrJiA=w640-h619" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20981956.post-16028543096839016602024-01-12T07:52:00.005-05:002024-01-12T07:52:36.756-05:00JamesMartinType Blessings coming in St. Peter's Basilica<p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">R</span>emember the bowing down to a demon idol in the Vatican Gardens and parading it into St. Peter's Basilica/ Even worse was the bowl of greens and a red flower at the "offertory" placed on the Altar. At that moment, Bergoglio offered to Satan an "abomination of desolation." Marini is a coward, he should have dropped the demon. "Oops, sorry, Your Holiness!" What a wuss.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjWrpRrnLSuScTqA7rDo9ZUS0XEsJvkIkDt8MaUU6P3mACFJ3zWY_QyOZaVZyBJHlUsPP1dmIvQpOWteh2gG0uJhTQQTKPbjqSRjdJmmMaVB5ofLEgWqBd8W8hgfvz0Af3NT0G42xx7bZcit6UOYr06cTPF2k3ZRN60AdFGiLGuz2Lu1E_pE0Kx_w" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img data-original-height="291" data-original-width="435" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjWrpRrnLSuScTqA7rDo9ZUS0XEsJvkIkDt8MaUU6P3mACFJ3zWY_QyOZaVZyBJHlUsPP1dmIvQpOWteh2gG0uJhTQQTKPbjqSRjdJmmMaVB5ofLEgWqBd8W8hgfvz0Af3NT0G42xx7bZcit6UOYr06cTPF2k3ZRN60AdFGiLGuz2Lu1E_pE0Kx_w=w400-h268" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Stay away from St. Peter's Basilica, the same rector that canceled all Masses, Novus, and Vetus at the side Altars is now preparing to bless JamesMartinTypes over the bones of St. Peter on the Holy Altar of God. Blasphemous. Abominable. Deplorable.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Why do I say "stay away?" Do you not think this place will be destroyed and wicked deaths to those who did this? A meteor? A terror strike? God will not be mocked.</span></p><p><a href="https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/breaking-vatican-official-says-st-peters-basilica-will-bless-homosexual-couples/?utm_source=featured-news&utm_campaign=usa"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Vatican official says St. Peter's Basilica will bless homosexual 'couples' - LifeSite (lifesitenews.com)</span></a></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgTiTeyFdM7DdXpzcVfgcg7JRUYyerqO0vO0DrUMoPEqzF0drqt4NLv6XhWtsyT9hvVF9RC_EQ6YqBKmQDz7iRFist4MfRKGP_TOaJzOwpRqzbHxYTlqVx8EO9V84_KGXh33Q3ZhyTLWourjZPJXPxtGgBonEjEgUoDVthc97a2U8WwvKgMXAT2Aw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="820" data-original-width="922" height="570" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgTiTeyFdM7DdXpzcVfgcg7JRUYyerqO0vO0DrUMoPEqzF0drqt4NLv6XhWtsyT9hvVF9RC_EQ6YqBKmQDz7iRFist4MfRKGP_TOaJzOwpRqzbHxYTlqVx8EO9V84_KGXh33Q3ZhyTLWourjZPJXPxtGgBonEjEgUoDVthc97a2U8WwvKgMXAT2Aw=w640-h570" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20981956.post-55613065783881987412024-01-11T07:43:00.004-05:002024-01-11T08:08:29.312-05:00The Pope Francis End-Time Apostasy - Jonathan Cahn <div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">I </span>can't remember the last time I posted anything from a protestant or evangelical that would be critical of a pope or the Church. Jonathan Cahn is a Messianic Jew. From the few times I have heard or read his work I have found him doctrinally sound on Our Lord Jesus Christ and on fire for Christ. My wife's sister gave her his book, "The Return of the Gods" for Christmas. His research is sound. Just after Christmas a priest and deacon were over for dinner. I showed them the book and said, "This man is not wrong, he has come to Christ but he has only come part way, he needs to come all the way, but why would he? He's not lost his mind, we have!" So, I ask you and in particular, any priest reading here, "Why would this man become a Catholic today?"</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Cahn rebukes Bergoglio with logic, clarity, and scripture. I can't disagree.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">This was two days ago. What is Cahn thinking now after yesterday's comments on Marxism?</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">How is Jonathan Cahn wrong in what he says here?</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://youtube.com/embed/ES6SD6RVcuo?si=5rsDXYtCLv5AgD99" width="480"></iframe></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20981956.post-62226963686612836882024-01-10T20:43:00.013-05:002024-01-11T08:05:16.299-05:00Bergoglio the Marxist <p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">T</span>here is no dialogue with Marxism. Marxists, communists, and socialists hate Jesus Christ. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;"> <span style="font-size: 12pt;">“There
is nothing in common between Social and Christian Democracy. They differ from
each other as much as the sect of socialism differs from the profession of
Christianity” (Leo XIII, Graves de Communi Re)</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“The
unspeakable doctrine of Communism, as it is called, [is] a doctrine most
opposed to the very natural law” (Pius IX, Qui Pluribus)</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">No
one can be at the same time a sincere Catholic and a true Socialist. Pius XI,
Quadragesimo Anno (1931)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“The
audacity and frivolity of men who call themselves Catholics and dream of
re-shaping society… and of establishing on earth, over and beyond the pale of
the Catholic Church, ‘the reign of love and justice’ … A mere verbal and
chimerical construction in which we shall see, glowing in a jumble, and in
seductive confusion, the words Liberty, Justice, Fraternity, Love, Equality,
and human exultation, all resting upon an ill-understood human dignity... Yes,
we can truly say that the Sillon, its eyes fixed on a chimera, brings Socialism
in its train” (Pius X, Notre Charge Apostolique)</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Socialism,
if it remains truly Socialism, even after it has yielded to truth and justice
on the points which we have mentioned, cannot be reconciled with the teachings
of the Catholic Church because its concept of society itself is utterly foreign
to Christian truth… Religious socialism, Christian socialism, are contradictory
terms; no one can be at the same time a good Catholic and a true socialist”
(Pius XI, Quadragesimo Anno)</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Communism
is intrinsically wrong, and no one who would save Christian civilization may
collaborate with it in any undertaking whatsoever” (Pius XI, Divini
Redemptoris)</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">Our
Predecessors overtly and explicitly drew the attention of the world to the
consequences of the dechristianization of human society. With reference to Communism,
Our Venerable Predecessor, Pius IX, of holy memory, as early as 1846 pronounced
a solemn condemnation, which he confirmed in the words of the Syllabus directed
against "that infamous doctrine of so-called Communism which is absolutely
contrary to the natural law itself, and if once adopted would utterly destroy
the rights, property and possessions of all men, and even society
itself."[1] Later on, another of Our predecessors, the immortal Leo XIII,
in his Encyclical Quod Apostolici Muneris, defined Communism as "the fatal
plague which insinuates itself into the very marrow of human society only to
bring about its ruin."[2] With clear intuition, he pointed out that the
atheistic movements existing among the masses of the Machine Age had their
origin in that school of philosophy which for centuries had sought to divorce
science from the life of the Faith and of the Church.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">... </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The
Communism of today, more emphatically than similar movements in the past,
conceals in itself a false messianic idea. A pseudo-ideal of justice, of
equality and fraternity in labour impregnates all its doctrine and activity
with a deceptive mysticism, which communicates a zealous and contagious
enthusiasm to the multitudes entrapped by delusive promises. DIVINI REDEMPTORIS
ENCYCLICAL OF POPE PIUS XI ON ATHEISTIC COMMUNISM</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“It
is not our intention here to repeat the arguments which clearly expose the
errors of Socialism and of similar doctrines. Our predecessor, Leo XIII, most
wisely did so in truly memorable Encyclicals; and you, Venerable Brethren, will
take the greatest care that those grave precepts are never forgotten” (Benedict
XV, Ad Beatissimi Apostolorum)</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“The
Church has condemned the various forms of Marxist Socialism; and she condemns
them again today, because it is her permanent right and duty to safeguard men
from fallacious arguments and subversive influence that jeopardize their
eternal salvation” (Pius XII, Evangelii Praecones)</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Pope
Pius XI further emphasized the fundamental opposition between Communism and
Christianity, and made it clear that no Catholic could subscribe even to
moderate Socialism” (John XXIII, Mater et Magistra)</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Too
often Christians attracted by socialism tend to idealize it in terms which,
apart from anything else, are very general: a will for justice, solidarity and
equality. They refuse to recognize the limitations of the historical socialist
movements, which remain conditioned by the ideologies from which they
originated” (Paul VI, Octogesima Adveniens)</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“The
fundamental error of socialism is anthropological in nature… The sincere desire
to be on the side of the oppressed and not to be cut off from the course of
history has led many believers to seek in various ways an impossible compromise
between Marxism and Christianity” (John Paul II, Centesimus Annus)</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“An
objection has been raised to the Church's charitable activity, subsequently
developed with particular insistence by Marxism: the poor, it is claimed, do
not need charity but justice… Marxism had seen world revolution and its
preliminaries as the panacea for the social problem… Christian charitable
activity must be independent of parties and ideologies. It is not a means of
changing the world ideologically, and it is not at the service of worldly
stratagems… [Marxism] is really an inhuman philosophy. People of the present
are sacrificed to the moloch of the future” (Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est)</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">"Pope
Pius XI further emphasized the fundamental opposition between Communism and Christianity,
and made it clear that no Catholic could subscribe even to moderate Socialism”
Pope St John XXIII</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;">"The
fundamental error of socialism is anthropological in nature… The desire to be
on the side of the oppressed and not to be cut off from the course of history
has led many believers to seek an impossible compromise between Marxism and
Christianity” Pope St. John Paul II</span></span></p></blockquote><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Does it even matter at this point what any pope in the past said about this vile economic and social system? Bergoglio cares not. The man must be an outright atheist who actually hates God, and hates Our Lord Jesus Christ. </span></p><p><a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2024-01/marxists-and-christians-to-fight-together-corruption-illegality.html"><span style="font-family: georgia;">https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2024-01/marxists-and-christians-to-fight-together-corruption-illegality.html</span></a></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEARoUVzEG3_AnGl2jKOZyHuLQMj-vtoI-2NiKnIsp7k2im00Hn-hD7T9n4ZliHOThmJu4WEEEYC2FoUkrdxgMPEazooGA6-jhOwYCdduIkXl7bWqG6TBeJ8wr-wN5ODQoPPmo3Ccd1TfVghA_W52u1TMDiNKv-rAOoF5TgCGiDLIk5PAlwvZLag/s1477/IMG_3414.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1477" data-original-width="828" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEARoUVzEG3_AnGl2jKOZyHuLQMj-vtoI-2NiKnIsp7k2im00Hn-hD7T9n4ZliHOThmJu4WEEEYC2FoUkrdxgMPEazooGA6-jhOwYCdduIkXl7bWqG6TBeJ8wr-wN5ODQoPPmo3Ccd1TfVghA_W52u1TMDiNKv-rAOoF5TgCGiDLIk5PAlwvZLag/w358-h640/IMG_3414.jpeg" width="358" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20981956.post-76213428674158703592024-01-08T07:30:00.003-05:002024-01-08T14:06:10.187-05:00BREAKING: FRANCIS BERGOGLIO'S "GAY BLESSING" CARDINAL "TUCHO'' FERNANDEZ AUTHORED PORNOGRAPHIC BOOK EQUATING AN ORGASM WITH SAINTLY EXCTASY AND THAT "GOD IS IN THE COUPLE'S ORGASM!"<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgAzjF8lYsWcccTk1aqfbsMp0M7XHBlXFz-G_wqncYDsjHUdkCvuk96g8Hi8L32KqB-Gjg9hGKqAn10N-2SWsFghIdMFK8tiyqOg7WUZawampGVBkPhPjt2vzq5Sk2Nx8MGwcSUEH2R5BjjPBXOWvQkQSRP_8oc6_PSs5uzcW1QfCit3rBErC2MDQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="760" data-original-width="915" height="531" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgAzjF8lYsWcccTk1aqfbsMp0M7XHBlXFz-G_wqncYDsjHUdkCvuk96g8Hi8L32KqB-Gjg9hGKqAn10N-2SWsFghIdMFK8tiyqOg7WUZawampGVBkPhPjt2vzq5Sk2Nx8MGwcSUEH2R5BjjPBXOWvQkQSRP_8oc6_PSs5uzcW1QfCit3rBErC2MDQ=w640-h531" width="640" /></a></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The Lepanto Institute, hinting overnight, has released information on a
book written by Bergoglio's Cardinal, Victor Manuel Fernandez equating saintly
ecstasy with orgasm and that "God is in the couple's orgasm." The
blasphemous and scandalous book is by the same clown who authored a book on
kissing entitled, "Heal Me With Your Mouth." The same Cardinal that
is forcing blessings on sodomite and lesbian, so-called, "couples"
with the approval and encouragement of the so-called, "Holy Father"
himself. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">More
evidence of the seizure of the Bride of Christ by Satanists, perverts,
atheists, and globalist Marxist scum. Their end is near and they are now
exposed where only the most strident popesplainer can see it.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Nota bene: You may not wish to proceed further. As distasteful has this material is, it is necessary to post it to create a historical record and to document exactly the kind of people that are in charge of the holy Catholic Church, and how they need to be exposed, and disgraced and outed for their vulgarity, their wickedness and their deceit.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgB-pSZXkQWTcZGefH6IsNEDD2rifaj4Ztz3XlxqHqAUOe7E0TyLBwKZmh6FGE7EyGhpIAJQ_XwUxOc3RPEbOCjIIDdUctb5rPRhTnIplLbA6sxPbWpxR5THe-NKYl4Q5H7vwcYdZlBmCwzwVo5MFtqAOmkYKRIgZxzV5MKGJe5va-PZ_KFwLRD_w" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="752" data-original-width="1280" height="376" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgB-pSZXkQWTcZGefH6IsNEDD2rifaj4Ztz3XlxqHqAUOe7E0TyLBwKZmh6FGE7EyGhpIAJQ_XwUxOc3RPEbOCjIIDdUctb5rPRhTnIplLbA6sxPbWpxR5THe-NKYl4Q5H7vwcYdZlBmCwzwVo5MFtqAOmkYKRIgZxzV5MKGJe5va-PZ_KFwLRD_w=w640-h376" width="640" /></a></span></span></div><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /><br /></span></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">This wasn't bad enough from the book on kissing:</span></p><p style="background-color: #f2d98b; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif; font-size: 17.6px;"><a href="https://www.frontpagemag.com/gutting-the-catholic-church-with-deep-tongue-kisses/" style="color: #183f06; text-decoration-line: none; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Gutting the Catholic Church with Deep Tongue Kisses | Frontpage Mag</span></a></p><p style="background-color: #f2d98b; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif; font-size: 17.6px;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></span></p><blockquote style="background-color: #f2d98b; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif; font-size: 17.6px;"><p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">“The penetrating kiss is when you suck and slurp with the lips. The penetrating kiss is when you stick in your tongue. Watch out for the teeth,” Tucho writes.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“My boyfriend gets a hard mouth when he kisses me. He hasn’t yet learned how to loosen his lips. Lovely!”</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“What I like the most is the kiss of peace at Mass. That was the first kiss with the hottie I have now.”</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“I love kissing his fingertips. It gets more affectionate than anything else.”</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">“I once went crazy with the pleasure I was given from being kissed on the eyes. But I didn’t say this because it’s going to leave me blind.”</span></span></p></blockquote><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 12pt;">The fish rots from the head first. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal">UPDATE COURTESY OF RORATE CAELI:</p><p class="MsoNormal">CAUTION </p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2024/01/mysticism-and-sex-rediscovered-1998.html">https://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2024/01/mysticism-and-sex-rediscovered-1998.html</a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">From Victor Manuel Fernández's "Mystical Passion: Spirituality and Sensuality" (1998).</b></i></p><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-clip: padding-box; background-color: white; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; color: black; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", Garamond; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; list-style: none; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-clip: padding-box; background-color: white; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; color: black; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", Garamond; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; list-style: none; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: center; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">CHAPTER 7</div><p class="MsoNormal"><i style="background-clip: padding-box; background-color: white; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", Garamond; font-size: 16px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></i></p><div style="background-clip: padding-box; background-color: white; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", Garamond; font-size: 16px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">Male and Female Orgasm</div><div style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /></div><div style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;"><blockquote>At this point, we ask ourselves, if this mystical experience, in which the entire being is taken by God, if this kind of “mystical orgasm”, is experienced by each person according to his or her sexuality. That is, if the man experiences it as a man and the woman in a feminine way. For that, <b style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">let us first see how men and women experience orgasm, and what the difference is between a male orgasm and a female orgasm.<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" /></b>Normally, a woman considers sex without love very unsatisfying, and she needs adequate conditions to feel sexually aroused (this is less common among men). She is less attracted than a man to watching photos containing violent sexual scenes, orgies images, etc.<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" />This does not mean that she feels less aroused by hardcore pornography, but rather that she enjoys and values this less; and, in some cases, it causes her to fear.<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" />She enjoys caresses and kisses more, and <b style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">she needs the man to play a little before penetrating her. But he, in short, is more interested in the vagina than the clitoris.<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" /></b>At the time of orgasm, <b style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">he usually makes aggressive grunts; she, instead, makes childish babblings or sighs.<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" /></b>Let’s not forget that women have a rich <em style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">venous plexus</em> around the vagina, which maintains a good blood flow after orgasm. That’s why <strong style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">she is usually insatiable</strong>. She needs to release the pelvic congestion, and when this does not happen, after orgasm she may want more. The woman requires more time, more dedication. She needs the man to give her something extra after he has achieved his own satisfaction. But he normally releases himself well in the ejaculation and remains satisfied and exhausted. He finishes, and moves on to something else, as if he were left empty inside. After ejaculation he wants to rest or seeks repose elsewhere. She, on the other hand, remains fixed, in a mixture of rest and joy needing the attentive company of the loved one. When the man reaches climax, his interest in her falls sharply, he is exhausted, while she needs him more than ever. Before ejaculation he makes a great effort, and in the process towards orgasm he is more and more the master of the situation, until there comes a point where she yields completely, stops being master of herself and loses consciousness of her freedom. That is why the woman, deep down, is afraid of total possession and does not always easily accept that self-giving. She has a dark respect for male power and is disturbed by violent pornography.<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" />The man, who permanently produces sperm, is more capable of enjoying a variety of women, while the woman, who produces few eggs and only in a certain period, values safe intimacy more. She puts everything into each child gestated in her body, while he can fertilize hundreds of more wombs.<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" />But let’s not forget that <b style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">on a hormonal and psychological level there is no pure male or pure female.<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" /></b>Let us now ask ourselves if <b style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">these particularities of men and women in orgasm also occur in some way in the mystical relationship with God.<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" /></b>We could say that <strong style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">the woman, because she is more receptive, is also more willing to let herself be taken by God</strong>. She is more open to religious experience. <b style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">That may be why women predominate in churches.<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" /></b>But said in this way, we would be affirming that the mystical experience is characteristically feminine, and that it would be forbidden to markedly masculine characters. And this precise question forces us to rethink what it is that we call masculine, and whether we should really identify the masculine with the active tendency that seeks to possess women. Do we not know situations in which a highly feminine woman is capable of completely possessing and dominating a man? Pope John Paul II, in his document on the dignity of women, notes a kind of “superiority” of women due to their ability to contain and sustain men:<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><i style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">The moral and spiritual strength of a woman is joined to her awareness that God entrusts the human being to her in a special way… The moral force of women draws strength from this awareness and this entrusting… This awareness and this fundamental vocation speak to women of the dignity which they receive from God himself, and this makes them “strong” and strengthens their vocation… </i>(the “perfect woman”)<em style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"> becomes an irreplaceable support and source of spiritual strength for other people, who perceive the great energies of her spirit. </em>(Mulieris Dignitatem, 30, d.f).<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" />Jean Boudrillard maintained that man created his institutions and his power to counteract the superior original powers of the woman, particularly her fertility, her strength of intuition and seduction, and her perseverance. So, it does not seem well-founded to affirm that the man is the one who dominates, the one who holds the reins.<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" />But let’s say that God has infinite power and supernatural creativity, so that he can adapt himself to the psychology of each particular human being and can give any person a loving experience, an encounter with him that takes the person completely, in body and soul, without violating the inclinations of her feminine or his masculine psychology. But an attitude of receptivity will always be required. In fact, in all true human love (relationship), it is required that both, each in his or her own way, be receptive. If the man is not receptive and only wants to be active and dominant, he cannot fully experience the richness of love. So, God uses that receptive aspect, which is not lacking in men, to give him the experience of his love. In fact, every man has experienced what it is like to be receptive and dependent on another person, when he remained serene in the arms of his mother. On the other hand, it may also happen that the woman, out of fear, denies her receptive attitude and resists divine love. Thus, let us say once again that everyone who wishes to have a completely happy experience of divine love, should ask God for the grace to allow himself to be loved. In fact, <strong style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Carlo Carretto, a man with markedly masculine characteristics, tells us that in his most wonderful encounter with God, he felt like a confident little girl</strong>, which he did not find bothering or contrary to his deepest inclinations, but rather sweet and marvelous:<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><i style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">At twenty-three years old, when God burst into me with his Spirit, my relationship with him completely changed my life... God intervened as a lover. At first, it seemed like something so beautiful and so warm that I looked at it as a sentimental presumption... I feared I was falling prey to cheap romanticism... But it wasn’t like that. The intimacy that he gave me was so true, so strong, that it left traces, and he left them where doubt was not possible... I will never forget the irruption of his Spirit in me. It was really the emergence of a crazy lover, who asked me to respond to him with all my madness... Then I understood by experience that each one of us, even if he is a male, God calls as if he were a female. When I am at home with him, I snuggle next to him like a little girl who expects everything from him and without pretending to know everything... The entire spirituality of the biblical man is femininity: receptivity, availability, waiting, desire for smallness, service, adoration... For some reason women are most willing to what is religious</i> (He buscado y he encontrado, Bs. As., 1985, 59-61.70).<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" />But let us say, more precisely, that in the mystical experience <strong style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">God touches the most intimate center of love and pleasure, a center where it does not matter much whether we are male or female</strong>. And in that center, we are all receptive and live an experience in which we are not fully masters of ourselves. For this reason, scientists usually say that <strong style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">the differences between men and women are experienced in the stage prior to orgasm, but not so much in the orgasm itself,</strong> where the differences between the feminine and the masculine are no longer so clear and seem to disappear.<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" />Thus, we can say that in the mystical experience what God touches is a loving center on which the human being can only depend. Because the human being is not an omnipotent god, but a creature, and this is why the most intimate part of his reality is dependence, it is “receiving” being, it is living from God even if he ignores him, it is drinking from his spring of life. And for this very reason, <strong style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">in the mystical experience the eminently active one is God. The creature, whether male or female, delights in depending completely on the loving God, in “letting himself be loved”</strong> by him confidently. This is precisely the great spiritual step.<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" />Obviously, there may be certain secondary characteristics showing that the male experiences it in a different way than the female, but that does not change the essence of the experience, where <strong style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">both the man and the woman are fundamentally receptive</strong>. And only because they accept to receive from him, to depend on his loving impulse, can they also feel active, can they feel that they participate personally and creatively in that experience of love. At the same time, they experience that divine touch without feeling forced, because God’s grace has the divine power to make us accept his initiative of love with total freedom.<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><div style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">CHAPTER 8</div><div style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">The Road to Orgasm</div><div style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /></div>Everything we have seen shows us that <b style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">God is not the enemy of our happiness, that he does not mutilate our capacity to love, because he is love, passionate love, love that does good, that liberates, that heals.<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" /></b>But we can ask ourselves if we are all called to a passionate experience of God, like those had by the mystics we have mentioned before.<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" />First, we have to say that everything depends on what God wants to give to each person. We can never demand that God give himself to us in one way or another, because, if we cannot demand from anyone that he adapt to all our desires, and we cannot force anyone to love us in a special way, much less God. On the other hand, we can see that God has always given his love in very different ways<strong style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">. Some saints began to have inebriating experiences of God</strong> shortly after their conversion, or at the same conversion; others, <strong style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">like Saint Teresa of Ávila,</strong> achieved these experiences after many years of spiritual dryness. <strong style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Saint Therese of Lisieux, although she felt tenderly loved by God, never had very “sensual” experiences of his love, and it seems that she only achieved an overflowing and passionate joy at the moment of her death</strong>, when her face was transfigured and she said her last words: “I love you, oh my God, I love you!”<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" />However, we also have to say that, if that loving and passionate experience of the presence of God is something fulfilling, something that wonderfully harmonizes and calms our affectivity and our sensuality, then we all have at least the right to desire it. If this passionate experience of God frees our psychology from so many feelings of dissatisfaction, from so many wounds that we have received due to lack of love, then <strong style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">we have the right to desire that God grant us that liberating experience</strong>. If we know that our wounded and unsatisfied affectivity often leads us to cause harm to others, to not give ourselves with joy in the service of others, then it is licit for us to be attracted by that experience of God that would allow us to be more available, more serene, more generous, less concerned with ourselves.<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" />That said, not everything has been said. Because we believe that God takes into account the path we try to make, and wants us to be personally involved in our path of liberation. The initiative is always from his grace; but once he has given it to us, he takes us so seriously that he allows us to contribute something of ourselves so that that grace reaches every corner of our being. For example, if someone is sick because he holds a grudge in his heart, a lack of forgiveness towards his father, then it seems that the mere fact of asking God for forgiveness and receiving his grace is not enough to free him from those wounds that condition him. It requires what is called “cooperation” with the received grace, an “adequate” prayer.<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" />An adequate prayer is more than praying an Our Father asking God to free me from my illness. It is a prayer where I try to heal, with the grace of God, the root of my illness, that lack of forgiveness that I have towards my father, for example.<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" />So, every day I ask God for the grace to be able to understand and forgive my father. And if I notice that I really don’t even want to forgive him, then for a while I ask God for the grace to “want” to forgive him. And in that mysterious combination of the initiative of his grace and my poor attempts, the moment will come when the sincere desire for forgiveness spontaneously arises in me, and then a strong impulse to give that forgiveness, to say at least inside of me: “Dad, I forgive you and I thank you because you gave me life.”<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" />Once that forgiveness is given, it is very possible that many things will begin to be resolved, that the illness will become more bearable and perhaps will be cured. We see then that there is a more adequate “way” of saying a prayer, which facilitates the work of grace in some dimension of my being where it has not yet arrived.<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" />The same can happen in my experience of God’s love. It may be that my experience of God is true, although I experience it in the midst of emotional aridity. It may be that God purifies me through this self-giving without feelings or passion, and that my faith be very deep. But, if at the same time my emotions are not healthy, that means that this experience is not enough. For example, if it is not enough for me to be faithful to my wife, or to be happy in my marriage, or to live my celibacy with joy, or to work with enthusiasm, or to treat others well, it means that the way I am finding God is still very poor.<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" />I can, therefore, ask myself if I am not fleeing, for different reasons, from the love of God; if there is not something inside me that leads me to resist the love of God, to distrust him, etc.<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" />Then, I can begin to ask him every day that he give me his grace to offer him that fear, to throw myself into his arms, to let Him enter where I do not allow him to do so.<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" />Someone might think that it would be really better now to enjoy this short life and, in any case, leave that experience of divine love for after death, since we will have all eternity for that. But that is absurd if we think that every creature, every beautiful thing in this world, no matter how precious it may be, is only a pale reflection of the infinite beauty of God. He alone is beautiful, and other things are beautiful only to the extent that they receive some beauty from that infinite source that is God. Therefore, all the attractions of this world should elevate us, from now on, to the encounter with the divine source, to drink from that inexhaustible wellspring of good and beauty. To do otherwise would be like spending eighty years smelling the aroma of delicious food rather than sitting down at a table and happily enjoying it. But, furthermore, waiting for death to have the experience of God goes against the logic of love. No person truly in love would be capable of spending eighty years trying other pleasures and leaving the wonderful embrace of the beloved for later. Such a person simply would not stand the waiting, those years would seem eternal, and all the other beauties would never leave him satisfied, they would only awaken more and more his thirst to embrace her. The same happens with those who have tasted divine love, such as Saint Augustine, Saint Francis of Assisi, etc.<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" />That does not mean that God will soon give me the experience of Angela of Foligno or the wounds of Saint Francis of Assisi. He will give me what my heart is needing and what he freely wants to give me. There are also temperaments that are naturally better predisposed to this type of experiences and others that are less predisposed. But it is very possible that, by following an adequate path, we can all have a fuller experience of the love of God, an experience that heals our sick affectivity, our injured emotionality, that makes us more joyful in our daily dedication, that makes us freer and happier.<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" />But <strong style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">this does not necessarily mean that this joyful experience of divine love, if I achieve it, will free me from all my psychological weaknesses. It does not mean, for example, that a homosexual will necessarily stop being homosexual</strong>. <span style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; color: red; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Let us remember that God’s grace can coexist with weaknesses and even with sins, when there is a very strong conditioning. <strong style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">In those cases, the person can do things that are objectively sinful, without being guilty</strong>, and without losing the grace of God or the experience of his love.</span> Let’s see how the Catechism of the Catholic Church says this:<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><i style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Imputability and responsibility for an action can be diminished or even nullified by ignorance, inadvertence, duress, fear, habit, inordinate attachments, and other psychological or social factors</i> (CCC 1735).<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><b style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">There may be a religious sister who has to make great sacrifices to be faithful to her virginity, because her psychology has some strong conditioning in that order, and yet, at the same time, she has a beautiful, very authentic experience of the love of God, which makes her happy.<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" /></b>Let us finally say that, <strong style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">in order to achieve a joyful and passionate experience of divine love, there is an extremely important cooperation: the acts of love for our brothers</strong>. Every generous act, every loving service we provide to others, assures us that our experience of God is on the right track. This is what the Bible says:<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><i style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: bold; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">He who loves his brother walks in the light and does not stumble</i><em style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">. But he who does not love his brother is in darkness, he walks in darkness, he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has left him blind</em> (1 Jn 2,10-11).<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" />Furthermore, every sincere act of love for our brother opens our heart, softens it and liberates it from selfishness. And thus, the heart is better disposed to let itself be loved by God.<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" />This is why Saint Bonaventure said that works of mercy facilitate divine contemplation and prepare us to fully love God:<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><i style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">There is a certain action that, together with contemplation, does not prevent it, but rather makes it easier, such as works of mercy and piety</i> (IV Sent., 37,1, 3, ad 6).<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><i style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Whoever wants to be a perfect lover of God must train himself above all in love for his neighbor</i> (III Sent., 27, 2, 4).<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" />In that sense, it is good to note that, <strong style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">when the Bible speaks of God as a husband, it does not refer to the Lord as husband of the heart of each human being, but as husband of his People, or husband of the Church (Hos 2 ,21-25; Eph 5,25; Rev 21,2-3). That means that I can only make an authentic and passionate experience of God’s love if I feel part of his People, if I join his Church</strong>, if I do not isolate myself or separate myself from others.<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><div style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">CHAPTER 9</div><div style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">God in the Couple’s Orgasm</div><div style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /></div>So far, <strong style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">we have talked about the possibility of reaching a kind of fulfilling orgasm in our relationship with God,</strong> which does not imply so much physical alterations, but simply that God manages to touch the soul-corporeal center of pleasure, so that a satisfaction that encompasses the entire person is experienced. This leads us to another important consequence: it invites us to discover that, if <strong style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">God can be present at that level of our existence, he can also be present when two human beings love each other and reach orgasm; and that orgasm</strong>, experienced in the presence of God, can also be a sublime act of worship to God.<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" />This is indubitable if we start from a basic assumption: <b style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">God loves man’s happiness, therefore, it is also an act of worship to God to experience a moment of happiness.<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" /></b>Some texts from the Bible confirm this truth:<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><i style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: bold; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">There is no greater happiness for a man than to eat and drink</i><em style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"> and enjoy himself in the midst of his fatigues. I see that this also comes from the hand of God, because whoever eats and drinks has this from God</em> (Ecc 2:24-25).<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><i style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Let every man eat and drink and enjoy himself in the midst of his worries. That is a gift from God</i> (Ecc 11:8).<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><i style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Son, treat yourself well with what you have... Do not deprive yourself of having a good day, do not fail to satisfy any legitimate desire</i> (Sir 14,11.14).<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" />We thus see that <strong style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">pleasure is also something religious, because “it is a gift from God.”</strong> Therefore, he who is able to enjoy the presence of God, can more easily be aware of God’s love, and thus open himself to loving others. <strong style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">He who is not able to enjoy the pleasures of life, because he does not love or accept himself, will hardly be able to generously love others.</strong> This is why the Bible says:<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><i style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">He who is bad to himself cannot be good to anyone. He does not find contentment in the midst of treasures. No one is worse than he who tortures himself</i> (Sir 14:5-6).<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" />We can, therefore, say that we are pleasing God and worshiping him when we are able to enjoy the small and legitimate pleasures of life. So, <strong style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">we don’t have to flee or hide from God when we enjoy, because it is he who “created all things for us to enjoy” (1 Tim 6:17).</strong> Let’s read, for example, the Bible’s praise of wine:<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><i style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Wine is like life for man, if you drink it with measure. </i><strong style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: italic; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">What is life for he who does not have wine</strong><i style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">, which has been created for the joy of men? It is joy of the heart and contentment of the soul...</i> (Sir 31:27-28).<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><b style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">All this can also be said of sexual pleasure, which has been created by God for the happiness of man</b>. For this reason, in the Bible itself we find praise for the woman’s body, such as the following:<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><em style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />How beautiful you are, how charming, oh love, oh daughter of delights! Your waist is like a palm tree, and your breasts are like clusters. Therefore, I have already said, I will climb the palm tree and take those clusters</em> (Song 7:79).<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" />Furthermore, <strong style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">sexual pleasure has a particular nobility above the other pleasures of the body, because sexual pleasure is experienced by two, it is shared, </strong>and it can be a wonderful expression of love. But precisely for this reason, sexual pleasure can lose all its beauty when it is only a search for personal satisfaction and the other person is not taken into account, when the other is used only for each one’s personal benefit.<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" />The thing is that a human being is not a plate of food or a glass of wine. He or she is sacred, and cannot be used, but must be an object of love.<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" />When sexual pleasure is achieved in an act of love, when those who make love are two people who love each other, who accompany each other, who help each other, who have decided before God to share everything forever and despite everything, then sexual pleasure is also an act of worship to God, who loves the happiness of those who love each other. In that encounter of love, each person does not seek his or her own pleasure at all costs but treats the other with a delicacy and tenderness that reflects divine love, seeking that the other also enjoys as much as possible and be immensely happy. Thus, <strong style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">the pleasure of orgasm becomes a preview of the wonderful festival of love that is heaven</strong>. Because there is nothing that anticipates heaven better than an act of charity.<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" />We must say, therefore, that God does not like the attitude of certain falsely spiritual people who permanently deny sexual relations to their spouse, with the excuse that they seek a more “perfect” love. Because it is precisely the sexual union, as an expression of love, that best manifests the love of the spouses, that which best protects it and that which makes it grow the most. The Second Vatican Council already said this:<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><i style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Such love, merging the human with the divine, leads the spouses to a free and mutual gift of themselves, a gift providing itself by gentle affection and by deed, such love pervades the whole of their lives… This love is uniquely expressed and perfected through the appropriate enterprise of matrimony</i>. (Gaudium et Spes, 49).<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><b style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Sexual pleasure does not hinder spirituality or contemplation, because if the sexual union is an act of love, it does nothing more than open the heart, and thus facilitate the contemplation of God. Saint Bonaventure already said that “no one reaches contemplation if he does not train himself in love for others” (III S., 27, 2, 4; IV S, 37, 1, 3, ad 6), and according to Saint Thomas Aquinas “human affection expands with pleasure” (Summa Th., I-IIae, 31, 3).<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" /></b><strong style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />It was the Greek mentality that negatively influenced Christianity</strong>, transmitting a certain contempt for the body. The Greeks did not have an understanding of man as unitary as that of the Bible; rather, they understood man as consisting of two “parts,” the soul and the body. For this reason, they easily went from exalting the body to showing total contempt for it. If they were dedicated to the body, the body was everything; if they dedicated themselves to spiritual things, they despised everything that had to do with the body. When this Greek mentality influenced Christianity, it produced the idea that to be more “spiritual” it was necessary to despise the body. However, we know that the worst sins, such as pride or hatred, are not exactly sins that have to do with the body; they are rather “spiritual”; and we also know that the body also intervenes in the greatest works of love and dedication.<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" />Obviously, we do not want to say that everything that has to do with the body is holy, because a couple can take away from sex its most precious purpose, and lovers can become just two egomaniacs who masturbate each other. Furthermore, sex should only be a part of the couple’s life, a pleasant way to express love and make each other happy; sex for sex’s sake is a way of remaining in adolescence and a lack of maturity. <strong style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Sex just for sex’s sake is in fact the most common form of sexuality for the adolescent person who masturbates, because in masturbation he achieves pleasure and escapes from commitment to the other, he protects himself from others and does not give anything of himself. In this way, he remains linked to his parents and does not break away from the family shell.</strong> The same thing happens to those who constantly change partners and thus escape emotional commitment. And that is, ultimately, what publicity proposes: adorning one’s own body and surrounding it with impressive things in order to obtain objects of pleasure; this is how the body is stripped of its dignity as an instrument and expression of love.<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" />For sex not to be just a way of using and consuming each other, it is essential that the couple have other concerns and, above all, that mutual love opens up to seek together the happiness of others. Fighting together for something, getting out of the suffocating confinement of both, prevents pleasure from getting sick or dying, because this way the heart keeps itself open. In fact, in the Christian image of God, the love between God the Father and his Son is necessarily opened to a third person, the Holy Spirit. Therefore, all authentic love of a couple, source of the best pleasures, is open to others. The pleasure that not only produces a momentary release, but also plans and gives happiness, is the one that is united with love, and love is true holiness.<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><strong style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />So united is pleasure with holiness that, according to Saint Thomas, if man were free from sin there would be much more pleasure in sexual intercourse</strong> (<i style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Summa Th.</i>, 1, 98, 2).<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" />Therefore, according to Saint Thomas, sexual intercourse in marriage is no longer a “permissible sin”, as some Church Fathers used to say, but it can also be a meritorious act, which makes the perfection of a human being grow in the eyes of God. It is interesting to discover how in other religions there is also a deep appreciation of sexual pleasure. Danielou, based on an analysis of Shaivism, makes the following reflection:<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><i style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Joy is a reflection of the state of perfection, of the divine state. For an instant man forgets his interests, his problems, his duties, and participates in the feeling of happiness that is his true nature, his immortal nature... We reach inner perfection a thousand times more easily — says this very ancient religion—by the experience of the joy of the bodies than through austerities. From erotic union to mystical union there is only one step easy to make</i> (La sculpture érotique, Paris 1973,15).<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" />And <strong style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">a venerable Egyptian theologian of the 15th century gave the following praise to God: </strong><strong style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Praise be to Allah, who establishes penises as hard and straight as spears to wage war on vaginas</em></strong><b style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"> (Al Sonuouti).<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" /></b>Let us not forget that human sexuality is part of God’s most perfect work, that of the last day, when God, upon contemplating what he did, “saw that it was very good” (Gen 1:31).<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" />To separate God from pleasure is to give up living a liberating experience of divine love. Wanting to hide from God when we experience pleasure, like that woman who used to hide the crucifix when she had intercourse with her husband, is believing in a false God who, instead of helping us to live, becomes a persecutor who hates our joy.<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" />Just as an artist can offer to God, with immense tenderness, a wonderful work of art that he has managed to create, so too a couple can give to God a beautiful act of love in which they are able to overflow with pleasure and gratitude, making each other happy. God also enjoys with us; he is the most wonderful of poets, because their inspiration is also a reflection of the sublime poetry of God.<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" />For some reason, when poets can no longer find words to talk about the excess of their love, they use words with a high religious content. For example, the word “grace” is one of the most sacred terms in Christian theology, because it expresses the completely gratuitous love of God, which cannot be deserved or bought with anything, which can only be received as a divine gift. When Pablo Neruda wanted to talk about what the body of his beloved woman meant to him, he had to use that word:<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /><i style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Body of my woman,<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" /></i><em style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">I will persist in your grace.<br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" /></em><em style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">My thirst, my unlimited desire... </em>(Poem 1)</blockquote><br style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" /></div></div><p></p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20981956.post-60372293090680032282024-01-08T02:00:00.000-05:002024-01-08T09:54:44.371-05:00Sister Caram says that Tucho is a "homosexual" - Tell us something we didn't know!<p><span style="font-family: georgia;">How did we miss this one?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">I mean, not that we didn't know. </span></p><p><a href="https://gloria.tv/post/2AQaZ6hDMvQh3RECv3WQQNQhr#20">Friend of Francis Says Tucho Is a Homosexual – Gloria.tv</a></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKuK9Z9JxzU2cuu1S-BgdUPTvDJTKIBTk3WkheOD_G7XMdB-j0Ykz_CU49c-cs3cNc55_uw3uS5s3Am4jJhQzHhCVjX4xPUsb5P1B87cY_9ipMY8SybqoelWA9ACap0rThaoiis8vpvss3b-EKVDYANWJwD7_XiUtx4vMMSs5eZpHU7hQNiQtkXA/s828/Capture.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="684" data-original-width="828" height="529" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKuK9Z9JxzU2cuu1S-BgdUPTvDJTKIBTk3WkheOD_G7XMdB-j0Ykz_CU49c-cs3cNc55_uw3uS5s3Am4jJhQzHhCVjX4xPUsb5P1B87cY_9ipMY8SybqoelWA9ACap0rThaoiis8vpvss3b-EKVDYANWJwD7_XiUtx4vMMSs5eZpHU7hQNiQtkXA/w640-h529/Capture.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20981956.post-14983322436466678522024-01-04T08:10:00.006-05:002024-01-08T08:31:40.555-05:00Stop making me do this. I said there would be no more clarifications.<p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">E</span>ffete Cardinal Kiss me with your mouth Fernandez has his nickers in a twist. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Didn't he say a few weeks ago there would be no more clarifications?</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyhz6Vif62badpYR4phoiCaBh5GxvzcWq3bWZCWktcD3OijUBf4dEuE5d9aEhukumpOjJ7k4to0jOG-XW6HW9Sn3nNDzjlovWF_Y-YR21NjF-zEv8UqeofxI782qGhKTJ-GW9iUsUBXUz_avQUMa7HvqBG0b1oRIfu1zELyU23HnJR1-UmM728rQ/s685/Capture.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="519" data-original-width="685" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyhz6Vif62badpYR4phoiCaBh5GxvzcWq3bWZCWktcD3OijUBf4dEuE5d9aEhukumpOjJ7k4to0jOG-XW6HW9Sn3nNDzjlovWF_Y-YR21NjF-zEv8UqeofxI782qGhKTJ-GW9iUsUBXUz_avQUMa7HvqBG0b1oRIfu1zELyU23HnJR1-UmM728rQ/s320/Capture.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">What a pathetic sissyman.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">He can kiss me grits!</span></p><p><a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2024-01/dicastery-for-the-doctrine-of-the-faith-on-fiducia-supplicans.html?fbclid=IwAR0TAjB8A82Kai0ccqfjgAbURHXAErO5ZNgIqvL1PNBBWemYdSAkwzg6dRI"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Dicastery for Doctrine of the Faith clarifies application of ‘Fiducia supplicans’ - Vatican News</span></a></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20981956.post-12254966546858957732023-12-26T07:13:00.002-05:002023-12-26T07:13:07.220-05:00Merry Christmas<p><span style="font-family: georgia;">A blessed and Merry Christmas to all my readers. Thank you for your kindness and comments and God bless you now and always.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdZG1ciNPhQhYhWiyMtLB14OWYzzLyNuC7kHu3hoiVZe1hoGrNMGTPgHJLX66jLJB6dn3XMeDfmzl50OOVaP1n_y6TInOtAZCl-0ve64qEpeGxdax5jZ88glcKhXflQR3jwnPlqHTTSTi7bVpsJINO34yrqmMpgnr-dndZEka04jCoij4t4HWvWg/s2048/170169_484484906991_7825226_o.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdZG1ciNPhQhYhWiyMtLB14OWYzzLyNuC7kHu3hoiVZe1hoGrNMGTPgHJLX66jLJB6dn3XMeDfmzl50OOVaP1n_y6TInOtAZCl-0ve64qEpeGxdax5jZ88glcKhXflQR3jwnPlqHTTSTi7bVpsJINO34yrqmMpgnr-dndZEka04jCoij4t4HWvWg/w640-h480/170169_484484906991_7825226_o.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Qv6sZlc6hzg?si=ozUw5DfHdUJb22IJ" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20981956.post-36805263910403705562023-12-23T16:00:00.004-05:002023-12-23T16:00:00.125-05:00O Emmanuel<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000; font-family: georgia;"><div style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: #990000; font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;">O Emmanuel</span>, </span><span style="color: #990000; font-family: georgia;">our King and Lawgiver,</span></div><div style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: #990000; font-family: georgia;"> the Expected of the Nations and their Saviour,</span></div></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000; font-family: georgia;">come to save us, O Lord our God.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://youtube.com/embed/FWGM9bJR2Cs" style="background-image: url(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/FWGM9bJR2Cs/hqdefault.jpg);" width="480"></iframe></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20981956.post-62273559670855292002023-12-23T05:43:00.003-05:002023-12-23T05:46:19.527-05:00Cardinal Fernández: Same-sex blessing ‘does not validate or justify anything’<p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">T</span>he headline from The Pillar reveals the backtracking and panic mode of the Vatican apparatchik, Fernández. This is how these wicked men play. They are fundamentally stupid, arrogant, narcissistic, and effeminate men. The backtracking is too late, the genie is out of the bottle for those who wish to interpret most liberally and the schism is now obvious to everyone.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> <a href="https://www.pillarcatholic.com/p/cardinal-fernandez-same-sex-blessing">Cardinal Fernández: Same-sex blessing ‘does not validate or justify anything’ (pillarcatholic.com)</a></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.pillarcatholic.com/p/cardinal-fernandez-same-sex-blessing" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img data-original-height="750" data-original-width="383" height="773" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiwy4zCenGeQkbhMbJ-xzoC2MYIBjNaTyLIjujYPdOCZTSW_gPH5IxmBlRgzxhBNG-uKAVXtcgqOWuEPSguKIRikylmr95U5cH0LjQzACd3SuvKEyVteVgzQeT07AoIKDVICsoVBxvM1MT1OXpK7Pi2bCU7rFkaX7r8Z6NU6ZaG3FamCBxBpJr94g=w396-h773" width="396" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6