Keep
your eyes open!...
November 24, 2022
(Col 3:16-17) Let the word of Christ
dwell in you abundantly: in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one
another in psalms, hymns and spiritual canticles, singing in grace in
your hearts to God. All whatsoever you do in word or in work, do all in
the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God and the Father
by him.
DR. RICHARD DECLUE: The Eucharist as Thanksgiving
BISHOP ROBERT BARRON: Gospel Reflection
Jesus said to the crowd: “They will
seize and persecute you, they will hand you over to the synagogues and
to prisons, and they will have you led before kings and governors
because of my name. It will lead to your giving testimony.” Luke
21:12-13
Friends, in today’s Gospel, the Lord cautions us to expect persecution
until the end of time: “They will seize and persecute you, they will
hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons, and they will have you
led before kings and governors.” When will the Church stop being
persecuted? When the Lord returns, and not before.
None of the saints lived a serene life, a life free of worry, threat,
persecution. It always strikes me as odd that somehow it is assumed
that those who believe in God expect their lives to be a bowl of
cherries. Absolutely nothing in the Bible or in the great tradition of
the Church should lead us to expect this.
Instead, the saints found courage in the struggle. The Lord himself
promised to prepare them for their defense. “I myself shall give you a
wisdom in speaking that all your adversaries will be powerless to
resist or refute.” Their courage got them through the negativity. I’m
reminded of a verse from an Eva Cassidy song: “No storm can shake my
inmost calm, while to that rock I’m clinging. Since love is Lord of
heaven and earth, how can I keep from singing?”
CATHOLIC DAILY REFLECTION: The Coming Persecution
Jesus said to the crowd: “They will
seize and persecute you, they will hand you over to the synagogues and
to prisons, and they will have you led before kings and governors
because of my name. It will lead to your giving testimony.” Luke
21:12-13
This is a sobering thought. And as this passage continues, it becomes
even more challenging. It goes on to say, “You will even be handed over
by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends, and they will put some of
you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name, but not a
hair on your head will be destroyed. By your perseverance you will
secure your lives.”
There are two key points we should take from this passage. First, like
yesterday’s Gospel, Jesus is offering a prophecy to us that prepares us
for the persecution to come. By telling us what is to come, we will be
better prepared when it does come. Yes, to be treated with harshness
and cruelty, especially by family and those close to us, is a heavy
cross. It can rattle us to the point of discouragement, anger and
despair. But do not give in! The Lord foresaw this and is preparing us
for it.
Second, Jesus gives us the answer to how we deal with being treated
harshly and maliciously. He says, “By your perseverance you will secure
your lives.” By remaining strong through the trials of life and by
retaining hope, mercy and confidence in God, we will become victorious.
This is such an important message. And it’s a message that is certainly
easier said than done.
Reflect, today, upon the invitation Jesus gives to us to live in
perseverance. Oftentimes, when perseverance is needed the most, we do
not feel like persevering. We may, instead, feel like lashing out,
fighting back and being angry. But when difficult opportunities present
themselves to us, we are able to live this Gospel in a way we could
have never lived it if all things in our lives were easy and
comfortable. Sometimes the greatest gift we can be given is that which
is most difficult, because it fosters this virtue of perseverance. If
you find yourself in such a situation today, turn your eyes to hope and
see any persecution as a call to greater virtue.
Lord, I offer You my crosses, hurts and persecution. I offer to You
every way that I have been mistreated. For those small injustices, I
beg for mercy. And when the hatred of others causes me much distress, I
pray that I will be able to persevere in Your grace. Jesus, I trust in
You.
The
Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Self-Control
4. Daniel said of
him, 'All the years he lived near us, we gave him the minimum amount of
food to last each year, and every time we went to visit him, he shared
it with us.'
November 23, 2022
(Rev
6:9-11)
And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls
of them that were slain for the word of God and for the testimony which
they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying: How long, O Lord
(Holy and True), dost thou not judge and revenge our blood on them that
dwell on the earth? And white robes were given to every one of them
one; And it was said to them that they should rest for a little time
till their fellow servants and their brethren, who are to be slain even
as they, should be filled up.
ACN: Report shows global persecution of Christians is getting worse
JIHADISTS AND NATIONALISTS ARE DRIVING INCREASED PERSECUTION OF
CHRISTIANS AROUND THE WORLD – according to a report unveiled Nov. 16.
In various countries around the world, Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) will launch “Persecuted and Forgotten? A Report on Christians oppressed for their Faith 2020-22.”
The report includes information from ACN and other local sources,
provides first-hand testimony, compilations of incidents, case studies
and country analysis on the extent to which Christians are targeted
around the world.
In the UK, the report was presented
in the Houses of Parliament with a keynote address by Bishop Jude
Arogundade whose Diocese of Ondo in Nigeria was targeted by gunmen who
killed more than 40 people at a packed Sunday service on Pentecost
Sunday, June 5, 2022.
Amid growing alarm about the
increasing violence in parts of the country, Bishop Arogundade said
ahead of the event that “no-one seems to pay attention to the genocide”
taking place in swathes of Nigeria’s Middle Belt. “The world is silent
as attacks on Churches, their personnel and institutions have become
routine. How many corpses are required to get the world’s attention?”
“Persecuted and Forgotten?” found that in 75 percent of the 24
countries surveyed, oppression or persecution of Christians has
increased.
Africa saw a sharp rise in
terrorist violence from non-state militants – with more than 7,600
Nigerian Christians reportedly murdered between January 2021 and June
2022. In May 2022 a video was released showing 20 Nigerian Christians
being executed by Islamist terror group Boko Haram/ISWAP.
In Asia, state-authoritarianism led
to worsening oppression, which “Persecuted and Forgotten?” found was at
its worst in North Korea, where religious belief and practice are
routinely and systematically repressed.
Religious nationalism has triggered
increasing violence against Christians in the region, with Hindutva and
Sinhalese Buddhist nationalist groups active in India and Sri Lanka
respectively. Authorities have arrested believers and stopped Church
services.
India saw 710 incidents of
anti-Christian violence between January 2021 and the start of June
2022, driven in part by political extremism. During a mass rally in
Chhattisgarh in October 2021, members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) applauded as right-wing Hindu religious leader Swami
Parmatmanand called for Christians to be killed.
The report found that in the Middle
East a migration crisis threatened the survival of some of the world’s
oldest Christian communities.
In Syria, Christians plummeted from
10 percent of the population to less than 2 percent – falling from 1.5
million just before the war began to around 300,000 today.
While the rate of exodus is slower
in Iraq, a community that numbered around 300,000 before the 2014
invasion by Daesh (ISIS) had halved to 150,000 by Spring 2022.
“Persecuted and Forgotten?” also
found that in countries as diverse as Egypt and Pakistan, Christian
girls are routinely subject to systematic kidnapping and rape.
Report author John Pontifex said:
“Persecuted and Forgotten?” provides first-hand testimony and case
studies proving that in many countries Christians are experiencing
persecution – let us do all that we can do to show that they are not
forgotten.”
OPINION: Ignorance key in persecution
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The
Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Self-Control
3. Arsenius said, 'One hour's sleep is enough for a monk if he is a fighter.'
November 20, 2022
(Col 1:12-17)
Giving thanks to God the Father, who hath made us worthy to be
partakers of the lot of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from
the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of the
Son of his love, In whom we have redemption through his blood, the
remission of sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn
of every creature: For in him were all things created in heaven and on
earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominations, or
principalities, or powers. All things were created by him and in him.
And he is before all: and by him all things consist.
FATHER V
via Twitter: “The greatest moral catastrophe of our age is the growing
number of Christians who lack a sense of sin because a personal
responsibility to God is not a moving force in their lives. They live
in God's world, quite unmindful of Him as their Creator and Redeemer.”
(1947–US Bishops)
MEDITATION: Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe
FSSP: All Men Are Under the Dominion of Christ
An excerpt from Quas Primas:Encyclical of Pope Pius XI on the Feast of Christ the King
It would be a grave error, on the other hand, to say that Christ has no
authority whatever in civil affairs, since, by virtue of the absolute
empire over all creatures committed to Him by the Father, all things
are in His power.
Nevertheless, during His life on earth He refrained from the exercise
of such authority, and although He Himself disdained to possess or to
care for earthly goods, He did not, nor does He today, interfere with
those who possess them. Non eripit mortalia qui regna dat caelestia.
Thus the empire of our Redeemer embraces all men.
To use the words of our immortal predecessor, Pope Leo XIII:
“His
empire includes not only Catholic nations, not only baptized persons
who, though of right belonging to the Church, have been led astray by
error, or have been cut off from her by schism, but also all those who
are outside the Christian faith; so that truly the whole of mankind is
subject to the power of Jesus Christ.” Nor is there any difference in
this matter between the individual and the family or the State; for all
men, whether collectively or individually, are under the dominion of
Christ.
In Him is the salvation of the individual, in Him is the salvation of society.
“Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given to men whereby we must be saved.”
He is the author of happiness and true prosperity for every man and for every nation.
“For
a nation is happy when its citizens are happy. What else is a nation
but a number of men living in concord?” If, therefore, the rulers of
nations wish to preserve their authority, to promote and increase the
prosperity of their countries, they will not neglect the public duty of
reverence and obedience to the rule of Christ.
What we said at the beginning of Our Pontificate concerning the decline
of public authority, and the lack of respect for the same, is equally
true at the present day.
“With God and Jesus Christ,” we said, “excluded from political life,
with authority derived not from God but from man, the very basis of
that authority has been taken away, because the chief reason of the
distinction between ruler and subject has been eliminated. The result
is that human society is tottering to its fall, because it has no
longer a secure and solid foundation.”
Given at St. Peter’s, Rome, on the eleventh day of the month of December, in the Holy Year 1925, the fourth of our Pontificate.
CATHOLIC CULTURE: Catholic Prayer: Act of Dedication of the Human Race to Jesus Christ King (Iesu dulcissime, Redemptor)
Most sweet Jesus, Redeemer of the
human race, look down upon us humbly prostrate before you. We are
yours, and yours we wish to be; but to be more surely united with you,
behold each one of us freely consecrates himself today to your Most
Sacred Heart. Many indeed have never known you; many, too, despising
your precepts, have rejected you. Have mercy on them all, most merciful
Jesus, and draw them to your Sacred Heart. Be King, O Lord, not only of
the faithful who have never forsaken you, but also of the prodigal
children who have abandoned you; grant that they may quickly return to
their Father's house, lest they die of wretchedness and hunger. Be King
of those who are deceived by erroneous opinions, or whom discord keeps
aloof, and call them back to the harbor of truth and the unity of
faith, so that soon there may be but one flock and one Shepherd. Grant,
O Lord, to your Church assurance of freedom and immunity from harm;
give tranquility of order to all nations; make the earth resound from
pole to pole with one cry: Praise to the divine Heart that wrought our
salvation; to it be glory and honor for ever. Amen.
Prayer Source: Enchiridion of
Indulgences , June 29, 1968 A partial indulgence is granted to the
faithful, who piously recite the Act of Dedication of the Human Race to
Jesus Christ King. A plenary indulgence is granted, if it is recited
publicly on the feast of our Lord Jesus Christ King.
BROTHER LAWRENCE OF THE RESURRECTION:
I consider myself as the most miserable of all human beings, covered
with sores, foul, and guilty of all sorts of crimes committed against
my King; moved by sincere remorse I confess all my sins to him. I ask
him pardon and abandon myself into his hands so he can do with me as he
pleases.
Far from chastising me, this King,
full of goodness and mercy, lovingly embraces me, seats me at his
table, waits on me himself, gives me the keys to his treasures, and
treats me in all things as his favorite; he converses with me and takes
delight in me in countless ways, without ever speaking of forgiveness
or taking away my previous faults.
Although I beg him to fashion me
according to his heart, I see myself still weaker and miserable, yet
ever more caressed by God. This is what I see from time to time while
in his holy presence.
The
Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Compunction
27. A brother asked
a hermit, 'I hear the hermits weeping, and my soul longs for
tears, but they do not come, and I am worried about it.' He replied,
'The children of Israel entered the promised land after forty years in
the wilderness. Tears are the promised land. When you reach them you
will no longer be afraid of conflict. For it si the will of God that we
should be afflicted, so we may always be longing to enter that country.'
November 18, 2022
(Mat 16:2-3) But
he answered and said to them: When it is evening, you say, It will be
fair weather, for the sky is red. And in the morning: To day there will
be a storm, for the sky is red and lowering. You know then how to
discern the face of the sky: and can you not know the signs of the
times?
REGINA PROPHETARUM: Holding on to the Beam with All Our Strength
INTEGRATED CATHOLIC LIFE: Armageddon, Apocalypse, and the Final Battle
DAILY COMPASS: What we value most is Christ Himself
EXCERPT: Archbishop Viganò on Civitas Dei and civitas diaboli in contemporary society
We have two worlds: a traditional world and a revolutionary world. But
these two worlds – let us not deceive ourselves! – are not simply the
turnover from an outdated model to a model more responsive to the needs
of modernity: they are two contextual realities that are contemporary
with each other and opposed to one another, realities that have always
marked the discrimen [point of separation] between Good and Evil,
between the children of Light and the children of darkness, between the
Civitas Dei and the civitas diaboli. Two realities not necessarily
identified by boundaries or particular forms of government, but by the
sharing of a theological vision of the world. Two sides like those we
find in the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius, in the meditation of
the two banners, “one of Christ, supreme captain and our Lord, the
other of Lucifer, mortal enemy of human nature” (136: 4th week.).
We are the ones who must build the Civitas Dei, or rather: we must be
inspired by it to rebuild, with wisdom and humility, a society that
returns to Our Lord the Crown and the Scepter that belong to Him and
that two centuries of revolution have taken away from Him. No matter
what the form of government: the task of every Catholic as a citizen is
to ensure that all areas of civil society are permeated by the Faith
and Christian morals, oriented to the common good, to the glory of God
and to the salvation of souls. The baptized person has a similar duty,
to ensure that all areas of religious life (prayer, Mass, Sacraments,
catechism, works of charity, the Christian education of children) do
not follow fashions or the rerum novarum cupiditas, but instead keep
intact what the Lord taught the Apostles and what the Holy Church
guards intact through the centuries. The winds of novelty are in fact a
distinctive sign of the revolution, both in the civil and
ecclesiastical spheres. And in order for Christ to return to being King
of our Nation, it is necessary first of all that each of us be a
consistent witness of the Faith that professes, that confirms in fact,
adherence to the principles of religion, especially with regard to the
family, the education of children, and the conduct of one’s life.
The civitas diaboli is easily identifiable, and once it has been
recognized it must be fought against bravely, because it is at war with
the Civitas Dei and will not hesitate to use any means to weaken us, to
corrupt us, to make us succumb. The World Economic Forum, the UN and
the various philanthropic foundations of Masonic origin, together with
the governments and international organizations that support them,
including the Bergoglian church with all its infiltrators in every
central and peripheral Dicastery, are the earthly realization of the
civitas diaboli, and its citizens make no secret of their ideology of
death, of the will to erase and subvert what remains of Christian
Civilization by imposing inhuman ways of life, making every trace of
Good disappear not only from social behaviors, but also from people’s
thoughts. Christ must be removed from minds, after tearing Him out of
hearts. And minds must be connected with artificial intelligence, to
create a being in which the image and likeness of God are monstrously
warped. And remember well: there can be no truce between the two
civitates, because they are and will be sworn enemies, as are Our Lord
and Satan; but at the same time the all-out war we are fighting is
inexorably destined for our victory, because Christ has already
definitively conquered Satan on the wood of the Cross. What awaits us
is only the final phase of this clash, the outcome of which is very
certain because it is based on the promise of the Saviour: portæ inferi
non prævalebunt.
Here then are your objectives, which as lay people you have the burden
and honor of having to translate into social and political action: to
promote the social kingship of Christ according to the model of the
Civitas Dei and in conformity with the order willed by the Lord; and to
fight the globalist Revolution, the last tremendous phalanx of the
civitas diaboli, with actions of formation, denunciation and boycott.
Because if it is true that with the help of prayer we can implore many
graces from the divine Majesty, it is also true that as Catholics we
have sufficiently significant numbers to give a clear and strong signal
to those companies, to those financial groups, to those information
management centers that live thanks to the customers who choose them.
If we start not buying products from globalist multinationals,
system-aligned companies, television programs or social platforms that
do not respect our religion, we force many to retrace their steps and
complicate the propaganda of the New World Order, the lies of the
mainstream, and the falsifications on the Ukrainian crisis.
We therefore openly disavow the false dogmas of LGBTQ ideology,
inclusivity, gender theory, global warming, the energy crisis, and
transhumanist eugenics. And we try above all to give an overall view to
the subversive action of the civitas diaboli, showing the coherence of
the individual initiatives with the global plan, with the means that it
intends to adopt and with the real and unmentionable ends that it sets
itself.
The
Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Compunction
24. A hermit said,
'As the shadow goes everywhere with the body, so we ought to carry penitence and weeping with us everywhere we go.'
November 16, 2022
(Rev 3:19) Such as I love, I rebuke and chastise. Be zealous therefore and do penance.
BREAKING: Russian missiles struck NATO ally Poland and killed 2 people as Putin's forces barraged Ukraine
NEWS ANALYSIS: Russia Abandons Kherson
CNA: Major Archbishop Shevchuk denounces ‘genocidal‘ war in Ukraine
ACN: In Ukraine, the Church suffers alongside its people
The Catholic Church in Kharkiv has
been committed to helping victims of the war since it began. The
donation of an off-road vehicle by ACN will make it easier for the
diocese to distribute aid to areas most affected by the conflict.
When the war in Ukraine began, many
people ran away from the worst-hit areas. The Church, however, remained
to help to look after all those who could not, or would not go away.
Bishop Pavlo Honcharuk, of Kharkiv-Zaporizhzhia, is one of those who
stayed and frequently makes visits to the front, to meet and speak to
soldiers and residents.
Many parts of the Kharkiv Diocese
were occupied by Russian forces and were only recently liberated in a
successful Ukrainian counter-offensive. During a recent visit to the
front, Bishop Honcharuk drives past many houses that have been
destroyed in the combat.
Destruction of houses and
livelihoods, not to mention actual lives, is one of the results of
every war. Ukraine is no exception. The Catholic Church has remained on
the ground to help in any way it can. ACN is helping the local Diocese
of Kharkiv-Zaporizhzhia to do just that.
Bishop Pavel Honcharuk likes to
personally oversee the distribution of aid to the front. Since the
beginning of the war the bishop has remained with his faithful, and
continues to help all those who need it in Eastern Ukraine.
ACN: Updated news from Ukraine
ACN STAND BESIDE THE FAITHFUL IN UKRAINE:Donation link: https://secure3.convio.net/acn/site/Donation2?13960.donation=form1&df_id=13960
The
Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Compunction
21. A hermit said,
'If it were possible to die of fear, all the world would perish with
terror rememberig the coming of God after the resurrection. What will
it be like, to see the heavens opened, and God revealed in wrath and
fury, and innumerable companies of angels gazing on the whole human
race gathered together? Therefore we ought to live our lives as those
who must give account of each action to God.'
November 14, 2022
(Luk 18:8) ........ But yet the Son of man, when he cometh, shall he find, think you, faith on earth?
Christen Pollo of Protect Life Michigan:
“We mourn today. But tomorrow, we get back to work. It is now up to all
of us to be advocates for the unborn. We are needed now more than ever.
Rest assured: if abortion doesn’t stop, neither do we.”
REV. JOSEPH M. ESPER: The Day God Said “Enough!”
ARCHDIOCESE OF SAN FRANCISCO: Letter to the Faithful: Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone responds to passage of Proposition 1
CNA: ‘We weep with Jesus’: Michigan Catholic bishops lament pro-abortion ballot victories
As pro-abortion measures won on
state ballots and pro-life measures faced defeat, Catholic bishops
responded to election results with profound disappointment.
They professed resolve to continue
to work to defend unborn human life and support pregnant women in need.
Some called for prayer and fasting and emphasized that millions of
lives are at stake.
On Election Day about 56.7% of
Michigan voters, more than 2.4 million, voted for Proposal 3 to add a
broad right to abortion into the state constitution. It removes a
longtime ban on abortion from state law that has not been enforced
since 1973. The margin of victory was more than 580,000 votes.
“This is a tragic day for Michigan
and for the cause of protecting and upholding the inherent dignity of
all human life,” Archbishop Allen Vigneron of Detroit said in response.
“Despite the tremendous hurdle this constitutional amendment presents,
we will continue to support policies that uphold parental rights and
the sanctity of human life as well as those that offer assistance to
women in need.”
“As people of faith who witness to the Good News of Jesus Christ and
his teachings, we are deeply saddened by this grave assault on the
dignity and sanctity of unborn, innocent human life,” he continued. “We
grieve for the many women who will continue to be harmed by abortion in
our state. And most importantly, we grieve for the lives that will be
lost because of this unjust and perverse law.”
Vigneron continued: “Abortion is now legal in Michigan at an
unprecedented level, and millions of lives are at stake. We must pray
and ask God for his mercy upon us for allowing this evil to happen in
our state.” He called for the Catholic faithful to join him in penance,
prayer, fasting, and almsgiving in the first two weeks of Advent, Nov.
27 to Dec. 9.
“We must use these spiritual practices to make reparations for the great sin of abortion in our midst,” the archbishop said.
Bishop Robert Gruss of Saginaw also lamented the outcome and emphasized the extreme nature of the amendment.
“Today, Jesus looks over the State
of Michigan and weeps,” he said. “We weep with him. Enshrining the
right to take the life of an unborn child into our state constitution
is an abomination to him.”
“With deep sadness in our hearts, we acknowledge, however, the reality
that a majority of Michigan voters have embraced, as a fundamental
right, taking the life of an unborn child in the womb through all nine
months of pregnancy and taking away parental rights in the process,”
the bishop said.
Despite the “heartbreaking and
difficult defeat,” he emphasized the need to protect human life at all
stages. He added: “The reality of Jesus’ Resurrection teaches us that,
in the end, life prevails.”
The two Michigan bishops noted efforts to support pregnant women in
crisis pregnancies, such as the ministry Walking with Moms in Need, and
also ministries such as Rachel’s Vineyard, which help women who need
healing after an abortion.
The
Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Compunction
7. Jacob said, 'Like
a lantern giving light in a dark little room, so the fear of God comes
into a man's heart and enlightens it, and teaches him all that is good
and all the commandments of God.'
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