Keep
your eyes open!...
July 31, 2009
THE TRIB TIMES WILL RETURN IN MID-AUGUST, GOD WILLING (James 4:15).
(Mat
6:19-21) "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth
and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for
yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes
and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure
is, there will your heart be also.
LINK: Portiuncula Indulgence
LINK: Examination of Conscience- St. Gregory of Nyssa, Early Church Father & Doctor of the Church
FROM THE MAILBAG
VIA CABIO: Your Desires Tell You What You Are
By the late Father Kilian McGowan, C.P.
Do
you really want to know what you're like? Study your desires. What
things does your heart habitually seek? Desire is like a thermometer
that actually measures your spiritual life. Worldly desires lead to a
life of worldliness. Sensual desires make a sensual person.
Self-centered desires cause a mediocre and selfish life.
If your
desire for God is only half-hearted, you're leading a tepid Christian
life. You're suffering from spiritual mediocrity and you're a long way
from perfection of the First Commandment. If your desire for God is
consistently ardent, you're making progress. If it's ever on the
increase, you're making great progress in holiness.
God loves
great desires. If a man ceases to desire God and the things of God, his
soul is in a tragic state. Earthbound, tied to earth by a hundred
shackles of sensual and worldly desires, he seems incapable of any
spiritual ambition or aspiration for God. Spiritually he is a walking
corpse! He needs a miracle of resurrection to awaken his soul to its
need for God. Such people, incidentally, usually are a burden to
themselves and to their friends.
God loved Daniel because he was
a man of desires. He loves anyone who has great desires, Christlike
ambitions, or longings for the spread of God's Kingdom. These are the
timbers used by God to ignite the world with His love. Why is a
cloistered contemplative like St. Theresa named "Patroness of the
Missions?" Because of her overwhelming desire for the conversion of all
souls to God!
Desire is always the first step of your soul
toward God. If there's no desire for Christian Perfection...if your
soul experiences no deep need of God, obviously you'll expend no great
effort to achieve union in love with Him. That's why the study of
Christ is so basic to a fervent Christian life. In meditation He is
seen to be totally desirable both as God and man. There the desire to
follow Him is ignited and stimulated. So, if you want to know what you
are really like, take out fifteen minutes for some serious
soul-searching and make this test...
Think of those things or
objects in life that you consider most desirable. Be very honest with
yourself and make an objective list. What are those things upon which
your heart has become attached? This list will uncover the depth of
your vanity, your pride and your sensuality. It will also point up any
secret avarice, envy, or any other species of selfishness. Of course,
it will also be a measure of your fervor and love of God.
Is God
just an afterthought in your life? Do you use Him just to call on for
the fulfillment of your own desires? Do you strive to bend your will to
His, rather than to try to get Him to conform His Sanctifying will to
your own? Do you really consider the perfect love of God as the
greatest and most desirable object in life? Do you have any longing for
greater union with our Lord? What do you do about it?
An honest
appraisal of one's self is always the first step towards
self-improvement. Any psychiatrist will add that it's also the
foundation of emotional maturity. So face up to your habitual desires.
Find out just what does motivate your usual activities. Compare these
desires with the Beatitudes given by Christ in His Gospel. Then, you'll
know whether your desires need intensification or reformation!
ONLINE BOOK: THE THREE AGES OF THE INTERIOR LIFE Prelude of Eternal Life by Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P.
Ladder of Divine
Ascent excerpt: Step 22- "On the many forms of vainglory"
3. The spirit of despair rejoices at the sight of
increasing vice, and the spirit of vainglory at the sight of increasing virtue.
The door for the first is a multitude of wounds, and the door for the second
is a wealth of labours.
July 30, 2009
(Mat 6:24) No
man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love
the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You
cannot serve God and mammon.
HEADLINE: Vatican Slams ‘Greed Is Good’ Wall Street Mantra
Vatican Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone said free-market
economics legitimized greed, citing the 1987 Oliver Stone movie "Wall
Street" and its protagonist, the corporate raider Gordon Gekko.
"Greed market has substituted free market," Bertone said today in a
speech to Italian senators in Rome. "Greed is good, greed is right,"
Bertone said, citing one of Gekko's famous lines from the film, in
outlining the contents of Pope Benedict XVI's encyclical calling for a
new financial order.
The 82-year-old pontiff on July 7 published the 150-page "Caritas in
Veritate," Latin for "Charity in Truth." The pope's reflections on
capitalism were two years in the making and publication was held up by
the credit crunch. The text also examines ways out of the worst
recession since World War II.
"Once profit becomes the exclusive goal, if it is produced by improper
means and without the common good as its ultimate end, it risks
destroying wealth and creating poverty," Benedict wrote in the
encyclical.
FATHER CORAPI: The Pope's New Encyclical-Caritas in Veritate
The Holy Father has recently released a much anticipated encyclical
entitled Caritas in Veritate. I have frequently preached and taught on
the indissoluble and absolute integrity of love and truth. There is no
authentic charity without it being rooted in truth. If love is not in
fact rooted in truth, then it is not authentic love. Charity in truth
is the driving force behind the authentic development of every person,
as the Holy Father points out.
The contemporary disintegration of societies and economies has at its
root a failure or denial of this essential reality. When individuals
fail or refuse to live charity in truth, then this is reflected in
societies and economies. Love and truth are names for God. Jesus, the
Lord (the God that is Love and Truth) is the Vine. We and all of
society are the branches. If we refuse to live in Christ, then there is
no life, either in societies or economies. This follows ultimately as
surely as morning follows night.
The Holy Father points out the indispensable link between life ethics
and social ethics. If a person or nation fails or refuses to respect
the right to life, then it is folly to imagine that they will respect
anyone or anything ultimately. If you don't respect an individual's
right to life, how will you ever ultimately respect a worker's right to
work? You won't.
We are on a collision course with social and economic chaos unless we
begin to live charity in truth. This happens one person at a time. Make
sure that you are one person that is living charity in truth.
EDITORIAL: Can The Economy Recover? by Paul Craig Roberts
HEADLINES
The economy's littlest victims- Emergency Infant Services program hard hit during recession
Local Catholic schools hit by budget crunch
O'Malley decries immigrant health care cut
Catholic Charities finishes shy of goal
Ladder of Divine
Ascent excerpt: Step 22- "On the many forms of vainglory"
2. With regard to its form, vainglory is a change
of nature, a perversion of character, a note of blame. And with regard to
its quality, it is a dissipation of labours, a waste of sweat, a betrayal
of treasure, a child of unbelief, the precursor of pride, shipwreck in harbour,
an ant on the threshing-floor which, though small, has designs upon all one's
labour and fruit. The ant waits for the gathering of the wheat, and vainglory
for the gathering of the riches of virtue; for the one loves to steal and
the other to squander.
July 29, 2009
(Joh 15:20) Remember
the word that I said to you, 'A servant is not greater than his
master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you; if they kept
my word, they will keep yours also.
BISHOP FULTON J. SHEEN: Mary and the Muslims
HEADLINE: Middle East Christians Hit the Road
Attacks
on six churches in Iraq early this month and the targeting of
Christians across the country have served as a microcosm of the
difficulties facing Christians in the Middle East today. Migration,
whether forced or to pursue a better life and employment opportunities
elsewhere, has seen Christian numbers in the Middle East drop
dramatically.
in 1948 Jerusalem was about one-fifth Christian
but today that number stands at 2%, the New York Times reported in May.
In Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus Christ, Christians now account
for about 30% of the population, where they once made up around 80% of
its inhabitants. In Lebanon, where Christians continue to hold
significant political and social sway, their numbers are considerably
higher than elsewhere in the region but are believed to be falling. A
region that a century ago was 20% Christian is about 5% today, with the
figures still dropping fast.
Uneasy existence for Christians The
rise of political Islam and conservative thought across the region has
been regarded as a refutation of an all-encroaching and consuming
globalization. Radical Islam has also been identified as a political
body with which to oppose a West whose interests in the Middle East
have led it to be perceived as an exploiter and as responsible for the
damage brought to Iraq and the Palestinian territories and for the
siphoning off of oil.
Religion has become more politicized, and
with divisions between Islam and the West gaining currency across the
world, Christians in the Middle East increasingly feel caught in the
middle. Identity has become a major issue for Muslims as a sense of
inferiority (in terms of technology and popular culture) and attack
reverberate around a region where foreign powers have attempted to
conquer and collude for centuries. As a consequence of being a minority
and as their numbers continue to shrink, Christians often feel
vulnerable in a region that gave birth to the faith of 33% of the
entire world.
During his visit to the Holy Land in May this
year, Pope Benedict XVI lamented, "While understandable reasons lead
many, especially the young, to emigrate ... the departure of so many
members of the Christian community in recent years" is a "tragic
reality".
RELATED EDITORIAL: Saving the Islamic World's Christians
IN THE NEWS
Jihad Watch Reports Persecution of Christians Increasing in Iraq
Young Christian Arrested for Blasphemy in Pakistan
Religious Cleansing in Iran
CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE: Lone priest shepherds tiny flock of Catholics in Afghanistan
Ladder of Divine
Ascent excerpt: Step 21- "On unmanly and puerile cowardice"
6. Although all cowardly people are vainglorious,
yet not all who are unafraid are humble, since even robbers and grave-plunderers
may be without fear.
July 28, 2009
(Luk 10:2) And
he said to them: The harvest indeed is great, but the labourers are
few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he send labourers
into his harvest.
POPE BENEDICT XVI: Priests are ‘instruments of salvation’ for all
During the Year for Priests, the Holy Father explained, "we priests
especially can turn again to this text of John, where the Apostles say:
Where will we be able to find bread for all these people? Reading of
this anonymous boy who has five loaves and two fish, we too come to say
spontaneously: But, what is this for such a crowd?"
"Who am I? How can I, with my limitations, help Jesus in His mission?"
He continued: "The Lord's response is that by placing in his 'holy and
venerable' hands the little that they are, priests become instruments
of salvation for many, for all!"
APOSTOLIC PENITENTIARY DECREE SPECIAL INDULGENCE FOR THE YEAR FOR PRIESTS:
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/tribunals/apost_penit/documents/rc_trib_appen_doc_20090425_indulg-anno-sacerd_en.html
COMMENTARY: Priests Bring Light of Christ Into Our Hearts
It is so easy to criticize priests. This one delivers dull sermons.
That one is always asking for money. The other one sings off-key.
And of course many lay people think they know the perfect cure for
whatever ails any particular priest. “Oh, if the Church would
just let them get married,” they say, “everything would be
fine.” These folks forget, obviously, that marriage isn’t a
cure-all for anyone’s problems, judging from the rate of divorce
in our nation.
Still, it is quite true that one of the great sacrifices of the
priesthood is giving up a wife and a family. But the very fact that so
many men continue to be called to the priesthood reveals the deep
supernatural stream that runs beneath the vocation.
How else to explain the attraction to a job that pays very little
money, requires impossibly long hours and demands that you give up the
comforts of marriage?
From the secular perspective, it makes no sense at all. But from the
secular perspective, the love of Jesus Christ also makes no sense. And
it is this love that sustains priests: not only their longing for
Christ, but his tender heartfelt compassion toward them.
Many years ago, Southern writer Flannery O’Connor pointed out how
easy it is to criticize priests. In fact, she said, any child could
find fault with a sermon on his way home from Sunday Mass.
But it was impossible, she said, for that same child to see the bigger
picture: to understand the “hidden love that makes a man, in
spite of his intellectual limitations, his neuroticism, his own lack of
strength, give up his life to the service of God’s people,
however bumblingly he may go about it.” In fact, even the most
“bumbling” priest can make a deeper difference in a
person’s life than an investor, a surgeon or a professor. A
professor can open the door to knowledge, an investor may show the way
to huge wealth and a surgeon may cure a disease.
But a priest can gently lead a person in darkness to the light of
Christ. He can nudge one who might otherwise end up in hell onto the
road to heaven. And given that our earthly lives may equal 80 years at
best, while the after-life has no end, it would seem the conclusion is
obvious.
The work of a priest is the most important in the world.
This was brought home to me recently when my brother-in-law was
hospitalized for a very long time at a Catholic hospital in Oklahoma
City.
Although he is Catholic, my brother-in-law is the type of guy who finds
fault with organized religion. You probably know people like him.
Somehow, the fact that the local priest isn’t perfect or the
local congregation harbors sinners is enough to make these folks
bitter, and keep them from going to Mass.
But the great thing about hospital chaplains is they bring Christ to the very bedside of the patient.
Now the disgruntled Catholic can no longer complain that the Church
demands too much money in the collection basket, because the chaplain
asks for no money at all. The disgruntled Catholic can’t rail
about Church hierarchy, because this one humble and smiling chaplain
sits at the bedside, listening compassionately to the patient.
My brother-in-law received holy Communion daily when he was
hospitalized repeatedly over a series of months, as he battled cancer.
The priest who really broke through to him was 82 years old and retired.
And my niece described this priest very well: “He lights up the
room when he walks in.” And that, of course, is the essence of
being a good priest. A good priest brings the light and love of Christ
into every room, into every house and into every heart.
Pope Benedict XVI has launched a “Year for Priests,” a
special time to encourage priests as they strive to improve spiritually.
It would be wonderful over the summer to attend Mass and offer our Communion for the priests who have touched our lives.
They have given up wealth, family and prestige to serve us. They
don’t expect awards, accolades, bonuses or benefits. But I have
never known a priest who would turn down a prayer.
IN THE NEWS: Call from God changes plans
Ladder of Divine
Ascent excerpt: Step 21- "On unmanly and puerile cowardice"
5. Those who mourn and those who are insensitive are
not subject to fear, but the cowardly often have become deranged. And this
is natural. For the Lord rightly forsakes the proud that the resut of us
may learn not to be puffed up.
July 23, 2009
THE TRIB TIMES WILL RETURN NEXT
WEEK, GOD WILLING (James 4:15).
(1Pe 2:19-20) For
this is thankworthy: if, for conscience towards God, a man endure
sorrows, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it, if, committing sin
and being buffeted for it, you endure? But if doing well you suffer
patiently: this is thankworthy before God.
PIUS XII- Nothing
is better able to restrain the movements of the soul, better able to
subject to right reason the natural appetites, than penance.
FROM THE MAILBAG
VIA CABIO: Praying, Fasting, and Pleasing Ourselves (Sermons of the Cure of Ars)
My
dear brethren, we read in holy Scripture that the Lord, while speaking
to His people of the necessity to do good works in order to please Him
and to become included in the number of saints, said to them: "The
things that I ask are not above your powers; to do them it is not
necessary for you to lift yourselves to the clouds nor to cross the
seas. All that I command is, so to speak, in your hands, in your
hearts, and all around."
I can easily repeat the very same thing
to you, my dear brethren. It is true that we shall never have the
happiness of going to Heaven unless we do good works, but let us not be
afraid of that, my dear children. What Jesus Christ demands of us are
not the extraordinary things or those beyond our powers. He does not
require that we should be all day in the church or that we should do
enormous penances, that is to say, to the extent of ruining our health,
or even to that of giving all our substance to the poor (although it is
very true that we are obliged to give as much as we possibly can to the
poor, which we should do both to please God, Who commands it, and also
to atone for our sins). It is also true that we should practice
mortification in many things to make reparation for our sins. There is
no doubt but that the person who lives without mortifying himself is
someone who will never succeed in saving his soul. There is no doubt
but that, although we cannot be all day in the church, which yet should
be a great joy for us, we do know very well that we should never omit
our prayers, at least in the morning and at night.
But, you will
say, there are plenty who cannot fast, others who are not able to give
alms, and others who have so much to do that often they have great
difficulty in saying their prayers in the morning and at night. How can
they possibly be saved, then, if it is necessary to pray continuously
and to do good works in order to obtain Heaven?
Because all your
good works, my dear brethren, amount to prayer, fasting, and almsdeeds,
which we can easily perform as you shall see.
Yes, my dear brethren, even though we may have poor health or even be infirm, there is a fast which we can easily perform.
Let
us even be quite poor; we can still give alms. And however heavy or
demanding our work, we can still pray to Almighty God without
interfering with our labours; we can pray night and morning, and even
all day long, and here is how we can do it. All the time that we
deprive ourselves of anything which it gives us pleasure to do, we are
practicing a fast which is very pleasing to God because fasting does
not consist solely of privations in eating and drinking, but of denying
ourselves that which pleases our taste most.
Some mortify
themselves in the way they dress; others in the visits they want to
make to friends whom they like to see; others in the conversations and
discussions which they enjoy. This constitutes a very excellent fast
and one which pleases God because it fights self-love and pride and
one's reluctance to do things one does not enjoy or to be with people
whose characters and ways of behaving are contrary to one's own. You
can, without offending God, go into that particular company, but you
can deprive yourself of it to please God: there is a type of fasting
which is very meritorious.
You are in some situation in which
you can indulge your appetite? Instead of doing so, you take, without
making it obvious, something which appeals to you the least. When you
are buying chattels or clothes, you do not choose that which merely
appeals to you; there again is a fast whose reward waits for you at the
door of Heaven to help you to enter. Yes, my dear brethren, if we want
to go about it properly, not only can we find opportunities of
practicing fasting every day, but at every moment of the day.
Tell
me, now, is there any fasting which would be more pleasing to God than
to do and to endure with patience certain things which often are very
disagreeable to you? Without mentioning illness, infirmities, or so
many other afflictions which are inseparable from our wretched life,
how often do we not have the opportunity to mortify ourselves in
putting up with what annoys and revolts us? Sometimes it is work which
wearies us greatly; sometimes it is some person who annoys us. At
another time it may be some humiliation which is very difficult to
endure. Well, then, my children, if we put up with all that for God and
solely to please Him, these are the fasts which are most agreeable to
God and most meritorious in His eyes. You are compelled to work all the
year round at very heavy and exacting labor which often seems as if it
is going to kill you and which does not give you even the time to draw
your breath. Oh, my dear children, what treasures would you be storing
up for Heaven, if you so desired, by doing just what you do and in the
midst of your labours having the wisdom and the foresight to lift up
your hearts to God and say to Him: "My good Jesus, I unite my labours
to Your labours, my sufferings to Your sufferings; give me the grace to
be always content in the state in which You have placed me! I will
bless Your holy Name in all that happens to me!" Yes, my dear children,
if you had the great happiness to behave in this way, all your trials,
all your labours, would become like most precious fruits which you
would offer to God at the hour of your death. That, my children, is how
everyone is his own state in life can practice a kind of fasting which
is very meritorious and which will be of the greatest value to him for
eternal life. I have been telling you, too, that there is a certain
type of almsgiving which everyone can perform. You see quite well that
almsgiving does not consist solely in feeding those who are hungry and
giving clothes to those who have none. It consists in all the services
which one renders to a neighbour, whether of body or soul, when they
are done in a spirit of charity. When we have only a little, very well,
let us give a little; and when we have nothing, let us lend if we can.
If you cannot supply those who are sick with whatever would be good for
them, well then, you can visit them, you can say consoling words to
them, you can pray for them so that they will put their illness to good
use.
Yes, my dear children, everything is good and precious in
God's sight when we act from the motives of religion and of charity
because Jesus Christ tells us that a glass of water would not go
unrewarded. You see, therefore, my children, that although we may be
quite poor, we can still easily give alms.
I told you that
however exacting our work was, there is a certain kind of prayer which
we can make continually without, at the same time, upsetting our
labours, and this is how it is done.
It is seeking, in everything we do, to do the will of God only.
Tell
me, my children, is it so difficult to seek only to do the will of God
in all of our actions, however small they may be? Yes, my children,
with that prayer everything becomes meritorious for Heaven, and without
that will, all is lost.
Alas! How many good things, which would
help us so well to gain Heaven, go unrewarded simply by not doing our
ordinary duties with the right intention!
Ladder of Divine
Ascent excerpt: Step 21- "On unmanly and puerile cowardice"
4. A proud soul is a slave of cowardice; it vainly
trusts in itself, and is afraid of any sound or shadow of creatures.
July 22, 2009
(1Pe 5:8) Be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour.
EDITORIALS FOR PRAYERFUL CONSIDERATION
Lucifer's Rebellion Gains Momentum
Why does evil prosper?
Revolution
A German Lady Remembers and Speaks
HEADLINE: Middle East atomic conflict would kill tens of millions: report
It's
the nightmare that haunts the modern Middle East --Iran succeeds in its
quest for nuclear weapons and goes to war with Israel, causing massive
human casualties and destruction on a demonic scale that in turn could
trigger a worldwide economic collapse.
Now, researchers at
Washington's Center for Strategic & International Studies have
tried to assess the extent to which civilian targets will be damaged in
any Iran-Israel nuclear exchange.
The initial fireball
accompanying a 100-kiloton nuclear bomb exploding in the heart of Tel
Aviv will instantly kill 8,966 people and injure 3,243 more, say
Anthony Cordesman and Abdullah Toukan.
But within three weeks, that death toll will soar to nearly 800,000 as a plume of radiation spreads across the country.
Given its tiny size and 7.2 million population, a single nuclear blast could devastate Israel.
It
could "wipe Israel off the map in a matter of seconds," Michael Oren,
Israel's ambassador to the United States, said recently. The Iranians
could "accomplish in a matter of seconds what they denied Hitler did,
and kill six million Jews, literally."
"Any missile with a
nuclear warhead landing in Tel Aviv, Israel, will affect the West Bank,
causing a large number of fatalities and injuries to the Palestinian
inhabitants, pollute and contaminate the agricultural land and
resources that lie in the Jordan Valley and, over the longer term,
fallout radiation would reach the outskirts of Amman, Jordan, which is
some 108 kilometres from Tel Aviv," the study warns.
Retaliatory
Israeli nuclear strikes, with higher-yield bombs and accurate rocket
delivery systems, would be far more destructive.
A single
500-kiloton Israeli nuclear bomb dropped on Tehran would instantly kill
56,771 people and the death toll would soar to 1.47 million, with 5.1
million injured, within a week.
A full-fledged Israeli nuclear
response, using some, but not all, of its 200 nuclear weapons, would
target most major Iranian cities and major military bases. It would
kill 16 million to 28 million people within three weeks.
Metropolitan
Tehran, with a population of 15 million, is "a topographic basin with
mountain reflector -- nearly an ideal nuclear killing ground," the
study said.
With thousands of centrifuges spinning away to
produce highly enriched uranium, Iran gets closer to owning nuclear
weapons with each day that passes.
RELATED HEADLINES
Report: Israel Preparing to Strike Against Iran
Q+A-Could Israel-Iran standoff turn violent?
Netanyahu defies U.S. on East Jerusalem settlement
Ladder of Divine
Ascent excerpt: Step 21- "On unmanly and puerile cowardice"
3. Fear is a rehearsing of danger beforehand; or again,
fear is a trembling sensation of the heart, alarmed and troubled by unknown
misfortunes. Fear is a loss of assurance.
July 21, 2009
(John 2:5) His mother saith to the waiters: Whatsoever he shall say to you, do ye.
VIA A MOMENT WITH MARY: The Mother of God Pours Out Her Mercy (Orthodox Hymn)
O
people, let us run to that quiet good haven, to the speedy helper, the
warm salvation, to the Virgin's protection. Let us speed to prayer and
hasten to repentance. For the Mother of God pours out her mercy,
anticipates needs, and averts disasters for her patient and God-fearing
servants.
LINK: Rosary Miracle - Safe in the Midst of Hiroshima Nuclear Blast !!
LINK: Power of the Most Holy Rosary- A Revolution in 1986 (Phillipines)
CATHOLIC BLOG (05/09): How I knew the priest who ministered to Ted Bundy & his victims
Monsignor
William Kerr has died. Among other things, he was famous for having
administered the last rites to one of serial killer Ted Bundy's victims
and then became a spiritual counselor for Bundy on death row.
I
met Monsignor Kerr in 1994, I believe, when he was president of La
Roche College, outside Pittsburgh. I was a student at Franciscan
University of Steubenville and I'd been preparing for the Total
Consecration to Mary according to St. Louis de Montfort with some of my
friends. One of them was my roommate, Kevin Gillen, now Fr. Gabriel
Gillen, OP, who knew the monsignor. Kevin arranged for Msgr. Kerr to
lead us in the final consecration following Mass at La Roche. I don't
remember too much about the day, but I do remember Msgr. Kerr was kind
and gracious to us.
Kevin told us the story Msgr. Kerr told him
about that awful night in Tallahassee, Florida, in 1978. He said
Kerr got the call from the police in the middle of the night to rush
out to the sorority house. When he arrived he was told that all but one
of the girls in the house were dead or near death, killed by a serial
killer who was later to be known to the world as Ted Bundy. After
giving those last rites to the dying college girl, then-Fr. Kerr was
asked by the police on the scene to talk to the girl who survived
unscathed. They wanted to know how she survived the brutal attacks,
because Bundy had stopped right inside the door to her room, dropped
his weapon, and left without touching her. But the girl would talk to
no one but a priest.
When Fr. Kerr approached the near-catatonic
girl, she told him that her mother had made her promise before going
off to college for the first time that she would pray the Rosary every
night before bed for protection; even if she fell asleep praying the
Rosary, which she had that night so that when Bundy came into her room
with murder on his mind, the beads were still clutched in her hands.
Later,
Bundy would tell Monsignor that when he entered the girl's room, he
just couldn't go on, he dropped his weapon, and he fled. Such is the
power of our Mother's protective mantle.
Rest in peace, Msgr. Kerr, and thank you for your small part in my faith journey and for your witness.
Ladder of Divine
Ascent excerpt: Step 21- "On unmanly and puerile cowardice"
2. Cowardice is a childish disposition in an old,
vainglorious soul. Cowardice is a falling away from the faith that comes of
expecting the unexpected.
July 17, 2009
THE TRIB TIMES WILL RETURN NEXT
WEEK, GOD WILLING (James 4:15).
(Mat 5:14-16) You
are the light of the world. A city seated on a mountain cannot be hid.
Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but upon a
candlestick, that it may shine to all that are in the house. So let
your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and
glorify your Father who is in heaven.
ESSAY: Split in Conscience: "liberal" and "conservative" reactions to Caritas in Veritate
by Michael D. O'Brien
MORE: For Catholics, charity is 'guiding principle'
THECATHOLICSPIRIT.COM: Spotlighting a century of Catholic social teaching
VATICAN - Benedict XVI tells European university students:
“Your
missionary work in the university setting consists in bearing witness
to the personal encounter you have had with Jesus Christ, the Truth
that lights the path of every man. From that encounter with Him comes a
'newness of heart,' capable of giving a new orientation to one's
personal existence. Only in this manner does one become yeast and
leaven for a society enlivened by evangelical love.” This was the
exhortation that the Holy Father Benedict XVI made to the participants
in the First European Encounter of University Students, sponsored by
the Catechesis-School-University Commission of the Council of European
Bishops' Conferences (CCEE), whom he received in an audience on
Saturday, July 11, Feast of Saint Benedict, Patron of Europe.
Benedict
XVI said: “After the European meeting of professors held two years ago,
you students now gather together to offer the Bishops' Conferences of
Europe your openness to continuing on the path of cultural elaboration
that Saint Benedict saw was necessary for human and Christian maturing
of the people of Europe. This could occur if you, like the disciples of
Emmaus, meet the Risen Lord in a concrete ecclesial experience, and
especially in the Eucharistic Celebration.” The Pontiff then
highlighted that university pastoral action should express itself “in
all its theological and spiritual rigor, helping young people in making
their communion with Christ lead them to perceive the deepest mystery
of man and history,” and the university chaplaincies “can be sites for
the formation of mature believers, men and women who know they are
loved by God and called, in Christ, to contribute to the university
campus ministry.” He then mentioned how the Christian presence in the
university “becomes increasingly demanding and also attractive, because
the faith is called, as in past centuries, to offer its irreplaceable
service to knowledge, which in modern-day society is the true motor of
development. From knowledge, enriched by the contribution of the faith,
depends the ability of a people to look upon the future with hope,
overcoming the temptations of a purely materialistic vision of our
essence and history.”
“Dear young people, you are the future
of Europe!” the Pope exclaimed, recalling that during these years of
study the university students are called to invest their greatest
resources, not only intellectual ones, in forming their own personality
and contributing to the common good. “Working for the progress of
knowledge is the specific vocation of the university, and it demands
increasingly higher moral and spiritual qualities, in the face of the
vastness and complexity of the knowledge that mankind has at its
disposition. The new cultural synthesis, which at this time is being
elaborated in Europe and in the globalized world, is in need of
contributions from intellectuals who are capable of returning talk of
God to the classrooms – or better yet, of reviving man's desire to seek
God – 'quaerere Deum' – which I have made reference to on other
occasions.” The Pope's final invitation to the youth from 31 European
nations was that, along with their professors, they may “create
laboratories of faith and culture, sharing in the tiring work of study
and research with all their friends.” “Love your universities, as they
are the training ground for virtue and service. The Church in Europe
places great trust in all your generous apostolic work.”
Ladder of Divine
Ascent excerpt: Step 21- "On unmanly and puerile cowardice"
1. If you pursue virtue in a monastery or coenobium,
you are not likely to be attacked much by cowardice. But the man who spends
his time in more solitary places should make every effort to avoid being overcome
by that offspring of vainglory, that daughter of unbelief, cowardice.
July 16, 2009
(2Th 2:15) Therefore, brethren, stand fast: and hold the traditions, which you have learned, whether by word or by our epistle.
BLOG: What is Devotional Catholicism?
VIA MANILA: Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Catholic tradition holds that on July 16, 1251, our Blessed Mother
handed over a brown scapular to Simon Stock, a pious member who
eventually became a leader of the Carmelite congregation for more than
two decades, saying, "Take, beloved son, this scapular of your order as
a badge of my confraternity and for you and all Carmelites a special
sign of grace; whoever dies in this garment, will not suffer
everlasting fire. It is the sign of salvation, a safeguard in dangers,
a pledge of peace and of the covenant.''
The Carmelite Order, at that time, was experiencing great trials and
difficulties. They regarded the bestowal of the scapular by Our Lady as
a response to their fervent prayers to God to keep them from all
danger, harm, and suffering. They saw it as a blessing from the Lord, a
symbol of God's ever abiding presence.
Pope John XXII in 1322 decreed a special indulgence for those who die
wearing the brown scapular. The pontiff said that Our Lady appeared to
him and asked him to specially look after the Carmelites. In addition
to this, the Holy Father said, Our Lady promised that all faithful
Christians who die wearing a scapular would enjoy early liberation from
purgatory with her special intercession before God. The Blessed Mother
herself would fetch the pious soul in purgatory the Saturday after
their death in order to bring them to heaven. Marian devotees thus call
this special intercession the "Sabbatine Privilege'' (from Sabbath,
meaning Saturday).
Today, the devotion of wearing of the scapular of the Blessed Mother of
Carmel is almost as popular as the recitation of the Holy Rosary. The
Catholic Church recognizes the importance of these outward expressions
of faith in God and seeking the intercession of the Blessed Mother and
the saints. These signs and symbols will not by themselves bring us to
heaven but will certainly help us live a holy life. May the scapular
remind us always that God is near and we have a caring mother who is
always there ready to lead us to Jesus, her Son and our Lord. Our Lady
of Mount Carmel, pray for us.
PRAYER: "Flos Carmeli" - Prayer of St. Simon Stock
O beautiful Flower of Carmel, most fruitful vine, Splendor of Heaven, holy
and singular, who brought forth the Son of God, still ever remaining a Pure
Virgin, assist me in this necessity. O Star of the sea, help and protect me!
Show me that Thou art my Mother.
O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee!
Mother and Ornament of Carmel, Pray for us!
Virgin, Flower of Carmel, Pray for us!
Patroness of all who wear the Scapular, Pray for us!
Hope of all who die wearing the Scapular, Pray for us!
St. Joseph, Friend of the Sacred Heart, Pray for us!
St. Joseph, Chaste Spouse of Mary, Pray for us!
St. Joseph, Our Patron, Pray for us!
O sweet Heart of Mary, Be our salvation!Ladder of Divine
Ascent excerpt: Step 20- "On bodily vigil"
11. Long sleep is an unjust comrade; it robs the lazy
of half their life, and even more.
July 15, 2009
(Joh 8:31-32) Then
Jesus said to those Jews who believed him: If you continue in my word,
you shall be my disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth: and the
truth shall make you free.
EXCERPT ESSAY BY ARCHBISHOP CHAPUT: "Catholics and the "Fourth Estate"
Before
the 1789 revolution in France, that country had a parliament called the
Estates General. The Estates General had three houses representing the
three main pillars or "estates" of French society: the clergy, the
nobles and the common people. But there was also another, very powerful
player in the revolutionary events of that time, and a British
statesman coined the phrase "fourth estate" to acknowledge the huge
influence of the press.
Over the past 200 years, the power of
the press in democratic societies has grown dramatically. The influence
of the press led the 19th century poet and playwright Oscar Wilde to
write that :
"In old days men had the rack. Now they have the
press. That is an improvement certainly. But still it is very bad, and
wrong, and demoralizing. Somebody -- was it [Edmund] Burke? -- called
journalism the fourth estate. That was true at the time, no doubt. But
at the present moment it is the only estate. It has eaten up the other
three . . . We are dominated by journalism."
Of course, Oscar
Wilde was not exactly a model of piety and Spartan virtue. But he had
the gift of very keen perception, and we should think about what he
said. When the press portrays itself as the "tribune of the people,"
ensuring the honesty of the other major institutions in our society
through relentless critical scrutiny – then we need to ask the
question, who scrutinizes the press? Who keeps our news media honest?
Who holds them accountable for humiliating one political candidate
while fawning over another? Nobody elected Brian Williams as the NBC
news anchor. And readers can't impeach the editor of The New York Times
– though some people I know would find that a happy thought.
What
we can do is refuse to be stupid. We can decline to be sandbagged by
our news establishment into thinking that marriage for homosexual
partners is inevitable or an obligation of social justice; or that
Islam and Christianity lead to pretty much the same conclusions about
freedom, society and the nature of the human person; or that the
abortion issue is somehow "settled" when thousands of unborn children
continue to be legally killed everyday.
Scripture tells us
that the Christian citizen must "render unto Caesar the things that are
Caesar's, and to God, the things that are God's." The press can't help
us with that task, because it doesn't know, and often doesn't want to
know, the difference.
What we owe Caesar above all is honest,
vigorous, public moral witness on abortion and every other vital social
issue, whether Caesar likes it or not. Our moral witness needs to be
formed not by the nightly news, but by learning and living an authentic
Catholic faith. And when it is, we'll be the kind of citizens who can
appreciate the genuine service our news media provide to society. We'll
also be the kind of citizens who demand that our news media act with
the sobriety, integrity, fairness and honesty their vocation requires.
LINK TO ENTIRE ESSAY (PDF): http://www.archden.org/repository//Documents/ArchbishopChaputCorner/Addresses/Legatus_7.8.09.pdf
WSJ OPINION: The Catholic Double Standard
IN THE NEWS
Analysis: Translating the Sotomayor hearing code
The politics of compromise
Sotomayor confirmation all but assured
Ladder of Divine
Ascent excerpt: Step 20- "On bodily vigil"
10. The farmer's wealth is gathered on the threshing
floor and in the wine-press, but the wealth and knowledge of monks is gathered
during the evenings and the night hours while standing at prayer and engaged
in spiritual activity.
July 10, 2009
THE TRIB TIMES WILL RETURN NEXT
WEEK, GOD WILLING (James 4:15).
(Mat
10:18-20) And you shall be brought before governors, and before kings
for my sake, for a testimony to them and to the Gentiles: But when they
shall deliver you up, take no thought how or what to speak: for it
shall be given you in that hour what to speak: For it is not you that
speak, but the spirit of your Father that speaketh in you.
HEADLINE: Pope presses Obama on abortion, stem cells
Pope
Benedict XVI stressed the church's opposition to abortion and stem cell
research in his first meeting with President Barack Obama on Friday,
pressing the Vatican's case with the U.S. leader who is already under
fire on those issues from some conservative Catholics and bishops back
home.
The 30-minute meeting Vatican audience was described by
both sides as positive — constructive talks between two men who agree
on helping the poor and pushing for Middle East peace but disagree on
what the Vatican considers prime ethical issues.
Even in his
gift to the U.S. leader, the pope sought to underscore his beliefs.
Benedict gave Obama a copy of a Vatican document on bioethics that
hardened the church's opposition to using embryos for stem cell
research, cloning and in-vitro fertilization. Obama supports stem cell
research.
RELATED NEWS ITEMS
Benedict gives Obama some life lessons -- literally
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Obama, Pope share views on Mideast peace process
HISTORY: Presidents and popes: Obama is 12th US president to visit Vatican
LINK: The Seventeen Evidences of a Lack of Humility
The
Servant of God, Blessed Josemaria Escriva once compiled and inventory
of pride so exhaustive that it is like something written on the shield
of a soldier who has learned it all in true combat. Saint John Vianney
(Cure of Ars) wrote the same thing in shorthand when he signed his name
to a clerical petition. His fellow priests circulated a petition
accusing St. Vianney of sensationalism, ignorance, and ostentatious
poverty and austerities. As it was addressed to all clergy, St. Vianney
got a hold of it, read it, and promptly signed it. By 1834 the local
priests themselves were going to St. Vianney for confession.
The seventeen evidences of a lack of humility are:
1. To think that what one says or does is better than what others say or do
2. To always want to get your own way
3. To argue with stubbornness and bad manners whether you are right or wrong
4. To give your opinion when it has not been requested or when charity does not demand it
5. To look down on another's point of view
6. Not to look on your gifts and abilities as lent
7. Not to recognize that you are unworthy of all honors and esteem, not even of the earth you walk on and things you possess
8. To use yourself as an example in conversations
9. To speak badly of yourself so that others will think well of you or contradict you
10. To excuse yourself when you are corrected
11. To hide humiliating faults from your spiritual director, so that he will not change the impression he has of you
12. To take pleasure in praise and compliments
13. To be saddened because others are held in higher esteem
14. To refuse to perform inferior tasks
15. To seek to stand out
16. To refer in conversation to your honesty, genius, dexterity, or professional prestige
17. To be ashamed because you lack certain goods
For more information on the Cure of Ars, we recommend the book "Saint John Vianney", by George William Rutler.
MORE: Litany of Humility
Ladder
of Divine Ascent excerpt: Step 20- "On bodily vigil"
9. Long sleep produces forgetfulnes, but vigil
purifies the memory.
July 9, 2009
(Heb 12:1-2) And
therefore we also having so great a cloud of witnesses over our head,
laying aside every weight and sin which surrounds us, let us run by
patience to the fight proposed to us: Looking on Jesus, the author and
finisher of faith, who, having joy set before him, endured the cross,
despising the shame, and now sitteth on the right hand of the throne of
God.
AUTHOR: Viewing saints as perfect is a mistake
As
the proposed sainthood of Emil Kapaun has advanced in the Catholic
Church, an expert has watched with an interest stemming from his joy of
studying Kapaun.
Many Catholics have made the mistake of
"pasteurizing" their saints, making them into sanitized and
de-humanized cliches, said Thomas J. Craughwell, a popular author and a
writer on saints for the Catholic Church.
"Cleaning up" saints
is a disservice to the saints, and to the church, he said; saints are
appealing in part because of their sins, their rough edges and their
ordinariness.
St. Augustine was a womanizer. St. Francis of
Assisi was a party animal. Dismas was a thief and a condemned sinner
until he turned to Jesus and asked forgiveness when they were being
nailed to crosses side by side.
Part of what made Augustine and Francis and Dismas saints were the flaws that came with their humanity, Craughwell said.
He
has written a dozen popular books, including secular ones like
"Stealing Lincoln's Body," and religion-themed books including "Saints
Behaving Badly: The Cutthroats, Crooks, Trollops, Con Men and
Devil-Worshipers Who Became Saints."
Craughwell thinks Kapaun
has a "great chance" of becoming a saint. He said this would be good
for the church for a number of reasons, not least of which is that
Kapaun was heroic while also cranky at times, prone to swearing.
"I
stumbled across a biography of Father Emil a few years ago," Craughwell
said in a telephone interview from Connecticut. "He wasn't levitating
three feet off the ground. He was an ordinary guy in a tough situation,
acting in a way that was so admirable and inspiring.
"He seems
like the kind of guy that if you were his neighbor, you could mow your
lawn and then sit down with him on his porch and have a beer with him."
Kapaun,
a Catholic priest and chaplain, deliberately allowed himself to be
captured by the Chinese Army in 1950 during a disastrous U.S. Army
retreat. He stayed behind with the wounded soldiers about to be
executed by the roadside, then behaved heroically in prison camps until
he died in May 1951.
Craughwell said from what he has read,
Kapaun has a good chance of being canonized in the next few years
because his heroism was so pronounced, because fellow soldiers said the
Chinese camp guards murdered Kapaun because of his religious faith, and
because Pope John Paul II, who died in 2005, sped up the canonization
process.
It will still take miracles, Craughwell said. And those miracles may already have been identified.
Andrea
Ambrosi, a lawyer and investigator for the Vatican, visited family
members and doctors for two Wichita-area families last week who believe
the survival of their children during recent medical crises should
qualify as miracles. Afterward, the investigator told a local priest
that he had never seen doctors make such a compelling case for miracles
occurring.
MORE ON SAINTLY HOLINESS
Marshfield man's prayer an answer in sainthood query
Support for Aquino akin to prayerful time
The Blessed Káteri Tekahkwí:tha Feast Day July 14
Ladder
of Divine Ascent excerpt: Step 20- "On bodily vigil"
8. The preparing of the table exposes gluttons,
but the work of prayer exposes lovers of God. The former skip on seeing
the table, but the latter scowl.
July 8, 2009
(Luk 12:16-21) And
he spoke a similitude to them, saying: The land of a certain rich man
brought forth plenty of fruits. And he thought within himself, saying:
What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And
he said: This will I do: I will pull down my barns and will build
greater: and into them will I gather all things that are grown to me
and my goods. And I will say to my soul: Soul, thou hast much goods
laid up for many years. Take thy rest: eat, drink, make good cheer. But
God said to him: Thou fool, this night do they require thy soul of
thee. And whose shall those things be which thou hast provided? So is
he that layeth up treasure for himself and is not rich towards God.
G. K. CHESTERTON: "Too much capitalism does not mean too many capitalists, but too few capitalists."
VATICAN: Pope calls for new approach to global finance
Pope
Benedict XVI has called for a "profoundly new way" of organising global
finance and business, and called for a broader social responsibility in
relation to capitalism. In his third encyclical document, Caritas in
veritate (Charity in Truth), released on Tuesday, Benedict also said
that social issues cannot be disconnected from the defence of life from
the moment of conception to death.
"The conviction that the
economy must be autonomous, that it must be shielded from 'influences'
of a moral character, has led man to abuse the economic process in a
thoroughly destructive way," the pope said.
"In the long term,
these convictions have led to economic, social and political systems
that trample upon personal and social freedom, and are therefore unable
to deliver the justice that they promise."
"The world's wealth is growing in absolute terms, but inequalities are on the increase," the pope said.
The
pontiff expressed concern about certain "malfunctions" of development
and "speculative" financial dealings that were creating new forms of
poverty.
He also called for greater international co-operation to safeguard the human rights of immigrants.
"Every
migrant is a human being who, as such, possesses fundamental,
inalienable rights that must be respected by everyone and in every
circumstance," he said.
The pope also reiterated the church's
hardline opposition to abortion and used the encyclical to accuse
governments and non-governmental organisations of working "actively" to
spread abortion and promote sterilisation in poor countries.
"The church forcefully maintains this link between life ethics and social ethics," the pope said.
"Moreover,
there is reason to suspect that development aid is sometimes linked to
specific health care policies which de facto involve the imposition of
strong birth control measures."
"Further grounds for concern,"
the pope said, "are laws permitting euthanasia as well as pressure from
lobby groups, nationally and internationally, in favour of its
juridical recognition."
FULL TEXT: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20090629_caritas-in-veritate_en.html
COMMENTARY: Caritas in Veritate: Why Truth Matters
VATICAN RADIO: Charity in Truth: A Wake up Call for World Leaders and Civil Society
INSIDE THE VATICAN NEWSFLASH: http://insidethevatican.com/newsflash/2009/newsflash-jul-06-09.htm
Ladder
of Divine Ascent excerpt: Step 20- "On bodily vigil"
7. The God-loving monk, when the trumpet sounds
for prayer, says 'Good, good!' The lazy one says: 'Woe, alas!'
July 2, 2009
THE TRIB TIMES WILL RETURN NEXT
WEEK, GOD WILLING (James 4:15).
(Zec 12:10) And
I will pour out upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of
Jerusalem, the spirit of grace, and of prayers: and they shall look
upon me, whom they have pierced: and they shall mourn for him as one
mourneth for an only son, and they shall grieve over him, as the manner
is to grieve for the death of the firstborn.
REVIEW: Church Fathers and Saints on the End-Times Conversion of the Jews
USCCB: Bishops clarify 'ambiguities' in 2002 Catholic-Jewish document
The
USCCB committees on Doctrine and on Ecumenical and Interreligious
Affairs said the Catholic section of a 2002 document, "Reflections on
Covenant and Mission," written by participants in an ongoing dialogue
between the National Council of Synagogues and the USCCB interreligious
affairs committee, "contains some statements that are insufficiently
precise and potentially misleading."
"'Reflections on Covenant
and Mission' should not be taken as an authoritative presentation of
the teaching of the Catholic Church," the committees said in a note
issued in San Antonio during the bishops' June 17-19 spring meeting.
Of
special concern are the document's "description of the church's mission
and, in particular, what evangelization means with regard to the Jewish
people," the committees said.
By stating that the Jewish
people's "witness to the kingdom ... must not be curtailed by seeking
the conversion of the Jewish people to Christianity," the document
"could lead some to conclude mistakenly that Jews have an obligation
not to become Christian and that the church has a corresponding
obligation not to baptize Jews," they added.
The 2002 document
also calls interreligious dialogue a form of evangelization that is "a
mutually enriching sharing of gifts devoid of any intention whatsoever
to invite the dialogue partner to baptism."
"Though Christian
participation in interreligious dialogue would not normally include an
explicit invitation to baptism and entrance into the church, the
Christian dialogue partner is always giving witness to the following of
Christ, to which all are implicitly invited," the committees' note said.
LINK TO DOCUMENT: http://www.usccb.org/bishops/covenant09.pdf
CATHOLIC MESSENGER: ADL Injects New Tension in Catholic-Jewish Dialogue
NEWS FROM ISRAEL: Jewish-born Polish priest dreams of Aliyah
EDITORIAL: Redemption Comes Through The Jews… Jewish Businessman, Sam Miller, Whaps Anti-Catholic Bias in News Media
FROM THE MAILBAG:
A Jewish businessman in Chicago sent his son to Israel for a year to
absorb the culture. When the son returned, he said, "Papa, I had a
great time in Israel. By the way, I converted to Christianity."
"Oy vey," said the father. "What have I done?" He took his problem to his best friend.
"Ike," he said, "I sent my son to Israel, and he came home a Christian. What can I do?"
"Funny
you should ask," said Ike. "I, too, sent my son to Israel, and he also
came home a Christian. Perhaps we should go see the rabbi."
So they did, and they explained their problem to the rabbi.
"Funny
you should ask," said the rabbi. "I, too, sent my son to Israel, and he
also came home a Christian. What is happening to our young people?"
And
so they all prayed, telling the Lord about their sons. As they finished
their prayer, a voice came from the heavens: "Funny you should ask,"
said the voice... "I, too, sent my son to Israel....Ladder
of Divine Ascent excerpt: Step 20- "On bodily vigil"
6. A vigilant monk is a fisher of thoughts, and
in the serenity of the night he can easily observe and catch them.
July 1, 2009(Rom 6:16-18) Know
you not that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, his
servants you are whom you obey, whether it be of sin unto death or of
obedience unto justice. But thanks be to God, that you were the
servants of sin but have obeyed from the heart unto that form of
doctrine into which you have been delivered. Being then freed from sin,
we have been made servants of justice.
LINK: Prayer for Priests
FROM THE MAILBAG
VIA Christian Witness : A Message for Independence Day from Father Corapi
I
have fond memories of the 4th of July going back to when I was probably
only four or five years old. We remember the parades, the picnics or
barbecues, and the happy gathering of families. During the American
Revolution, the legal separation of the American colonies from Great
Britain actually took place on July 2,
1776, when the Second
Continental Congress voted to approve the resolution of independence
previously put forth by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia. After debate and
revision Congress approved the Declaration of Independence on July 4th.
Of note is the letter John Adams, one of only two Founding Fathers who went on to become president, wrote to his wife Abigail:
"…This
day ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts
of devotion to God almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and
parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and
illuminations, from one end of the continent to the other, from this
time forward forever more." (Adams Family Papers: An Electronic
Archive. Massachusetts Historical Society)
Like so many of the
Founding Fathers, Adams recognized that the day of deliverance came
from the providential hand of almighty God. I am not sure about large
numbers of duplicitous politicians and other so-called public servants
today, whether elected or appointed.
Freedom is a great thing,
and we do well to celebrate it on the 4th of July. That being said,
it’s something rooted in truth, and apart from the truth there can be
no authentic freedom.
"If you continue in my word [truth] you
are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will
make you free." (John 8:31-32)
An individual, a country, or a
world that does not remain rooted in objective truth cannot ultimately
live in freedom. If you are serious about your faith, my dear friends,
I strongly recommend that you read CCC #1730-1748 (here) as we approach the wonderful celebration of Independence Day, or the 4th of July.
Some highlights of this reality:
1731:
Freedom is the power, rooted in reason and will, to act or not to act,
to do this or that, and so to perform deliberate actions on one’s own
responsibility. By free will one shapes one’s own life. Human freedom
is a force for growth and maturity in truth and goodness; it attains
its perfection when directed toward God, our beatitude [true happiness].
1733:
The more one does what is good, the freer one becomes… One of the most
common errors of all time is to confuse freedom and license. Today,
frequently under the specious pretext freedom, mankind acts in a manner
that is really license. We are not morally free to do whatever we
choose to do. Only when rooted in truth and acting in objective truth
can we hope to be free. No one has the moral right to do evil. No one
has the moral right to choose to take an innocent life or to engage in
actions that are out of accord with right reason or any objective
standards of morality we have ever known.
The inevitable
consequence of abusing freedom is losing freedom. Soon, if we do not
alter our present course, the United States will no longer be the home
of the brave and the land of the free. Loss of personal freedoms, one
at a time, is already well underway. One day we shall awake from our
moral slumber and find that we have become slaves.
We must live
in truth and act in truth if we are to remain free. Abuse it and I
assure you we shall lose it! Wake up America! God is not a
disinterested spectator. Let’s thank God for our freedom, but let’s not
sit by idly while the forces of darkness divorce freedom from truth.
For, as Jesus says, “The man who sins is the slave of sin.” (John 8:34)
I’ll leave you with the motto of the United States Army Special Forces on this 4th of July:
De oppresso liber! (To free the oppressed)
Indeed, Jesus came to set the captives free.
Let’s do our part for our country and our world that we might all remain free in the glorious freedom of the children of God.
God Bless You, Fr. John Corapi
VIA Christians Against Blasphemy: Five Ploys of Satan
Doubt - Tempts us to question God's Word and his goodness, forgiveness, and love
Discouragement - Tempts us to focus intently on our problems rather than entrusting them to God's care
Diversion - Tempts us to see the wrong things as attractive so that we will want them more than the right things
Defeat - Tempts us to feel like failure so that we don't even try
Delay - Tempts us to procrastinate so that things never get done
Reflect
on these ploys of Satan, and if you find that he has darkened your life
on any of these counts, lift up the situation to Our Lady in prayer.
Ladder
of Divine Ascent excerpt: Step 20- "On bodily vigil"
5. Vigil is a quenching of lust, deliverance from
dream phantoms, a tearful eye, a softened heart, the guarding of thoughts,
the smelting furnace of food, the subduing of passions, the taming of spirits,
the chastisement of the tongue, the banisment of phantasies.
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