I made dinner. I don't know what it is, exactly, but it tastes good and they're eating it.
TRIUMPHALIST--YOU GOT A PROBLEM WITH THAT?
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Well, Crap, What Can I Say?
I have given it a lot of thought, especially since last Sunday and listening to the First Reading, from the book of Malachi. We're in for a rough time of it as Catholics in America. Perhaps not as rough as some other nations, but we're definitely going to return to the bad old days of the Know Nothing Party and the Nativists. Partly because Anticatholicism is one of the default settings for a large segment of the population, partly because the current regime and many entrenched interests among the apparatchiks of our huge, expanding and repressive Government bureaucracy., but mostly because we deserve it!
Part of me wonders how and when we should--I should--resist. But a bigger part of me remembers something my Dad taught me: Don't run away from a spanking. WE as a Church have failed to keep faith with the covenant God made with us, and with each other. We are divided internally on issues of life, social justice--especially a holistic understanding of social justice--prayer and morality. We no longer provide a clear, unmistakable witness to the Gospel and the Lordship of Christ. We are now being punished, and it will get worse. I hope that our Heavenly Father grants me the grace to bear the things that are happening, and will happen, as a penance for my failings in this matter.
The current regime and it's allies among the activist Left do not like us, and especially do not like us having a voice in the public square. This has manifested in various ways, from covering Christian Symbols when using Christian Venues to re-writing regulations to contravene laws providing for the respect of conscience and morality. And that's the easy part.
Obama appointed Dalia Mogahed to be one of his advisers on his little "faith based" committee. Ms Mogahed is a Sharia advocate, and has intellectual links and communicates with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt--the oldest Islamic Terrorist group, predating the end of the Second World War. She has used her position to block American influence, or even concern, over the ongoing persecution of Orthodox and Catholic Christians in the Middle East, succeeding even in preventing the Maronite Patriarch from meeting the President to give him the truth about this continuing persecution that extends to rape, murder, slavery, kidnapping, forced marriage, vandalism, arson and expropriation of property. This wasn't a super human effort on her part, because the Regime has all but ignored this issue since it came to power in January of 2009. Obama does not care about the civil and human rights of Christians in general, and Catholic Christian in the us in particular. That's why he pushed to keep language protecting the conscience rights of Catholics out of legislation on concerning his health care plan, and regulations concerning a wide variety of other things.
Right now, nurses at The University of Medicine and Dentistry in New Jersey, an even dozen of them--are suing because they have been told, bluntly, that if they do not participate in abortions they will be fired. This violates State and Federal Statutes protecting health care workers from being forced to commit murder. But this isn't going to be an in-and-out case, where the University backs down, because the judiciary and the various agencies have been politicized into becoming arms for the usurpation of legislation by regulations aimed at silencing Catholics, and driving them out of certain professions, especially healthcare, allied fields and education.
The Department of Health and Human Services director has said her department is "at war" with those who do not actively support abortion, contraception and sterilization--in Kathleen Sebelious' mind, anything less than whole hearted support and participation is opposition, so that means actively supporting or feeling the wrath of her Department. To this end, she has promulgated new regulations that so restrict the protection to religious organizations that they are being forced to choose between their core religious values and providing services. She did this with essentially one sentence--a line in her new regulations that says a religious activity must serve primarily member of it's own religion to qualify for a religious exemption. That means things like hospitals, soup kitchens, schools and clothing drives are no longer considered religious activities, and must purchase insurance that pays for abortions, contraceptives and sterilization--paying for them, even if the employees don't use them, constitutes in the minds of many Catholics obtaining them, a mortal sin. More than that, the additional expense of paying for this sort of insurance coverage can push charitable outreaches over the edge financially--anyone who has been involved in these activities knows how close to the bone they play it, the resulting low wages offered and how easy it is to shut such a thing down. The result is a lowering of the visibility of Catholic charitable outreaches, an thus the visibility of Catholic witness. More than that, it makes it possible for the opponents of the Gospel to point to the Church and say "Yeah, you're saying that, but what are doing to help?" knowing that much of the help and services have been rendered impossible by the state.
If you have paid any attention, you will see that career officers--professional civil servants as opposed to political appointees--are the one who have controlled and decided where the Department of Health and Human Services dispenses it's cash. For years, these civil servants have concentrated with the Catholic Church for services to and rescue of victims of human trafficking. Until this month, when Ms. Sebelius intervened in the process to freeze the Catholic Church out. She overrode the advice of her own professional staff, who favored the Church, not because of sectarian considerations, but because the Church had the best record of service to these victims, as well as the lowest percentage of funds spent on administrative overhead, salaries, and such like. But Ms Sebelius had just declared that her department was "at war" with opponents of abortion, sterilization and contraception--which in practical terms means the Catholic Church--and her decision was described by the career civil servants as the "ABC Rule"; anybody but Catholics. Ms Sebelius is supposedly Catholic herself, and we should pray that our Heavenly Father give her grace to return to the complete practice of the faith she espouses. ( As a humorous observation--the spell checker alerts on her name and gives as alternatives "rebellious" and "libelous".)
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is in on the act as well, singling out Catholic Schools at first, then branching into those of other denominations that support traditional morality, and have a case pending that they wish to bring before the Supreme court in order to gt the Court to define who is a minister, ovr the definitions of the various religious groups in this country. This is an unprecedented intrusion of the Federal Government into religious affairs, brought to us by people who are constantly touting their philosophy of "separation of church and state".
Speaking or Religious Exemptions, it seems that the FCC--who have been trying since 2009 to regulate speech on the internet despite repeated court rulings that they do not have that authority--are now "cracking down" on religious broadcasters, by eliminating their exemption to requirements for close captioning. Oh, they can still get them, but he application process has been made more difficult, and each outlet must apply for each exemption (and program, in some cases). The result is of course, to make it very expensive and difficult to continue. There are those who will point to "rich televangelists" and say they can afford it. They already have it. Who will be affected will be small local outlets, mostly...wait for it..Catholics, who are just getting into the game on the local level, and are underfunded. Notably, the ones with the least funding, and the least hope of help from the hierarchy, are those that are most pro-life and most orthodox. Another voice inhibited, or stifled by the decree of an unelected and largely uncountable bureaucracy, under the Obama regime. This comes at the same time as DHS--the Department of Homeland Security--has announced that it is stepping up surveillance of the internet--things like twitter and face book, and blogs--for signs of social unrest. Seeing as they have been trying since January of 2009 to point at pro lifers, religious conservatives, gun owners, verterans and white Americans as the potential threats to security, I'm pretty sure that someone will point out, perhaps on Obama's snitch page, that I've written this. Oh well, the reeducation camps will be something new, anyway.
Their idea of this principle is that the Churches should be subordinate to the state, their aim is to create a situation in which all religious denominations are Erastian, bolstering the goals of a given regime.
Normally we Americans would turn to the courts, especially the Federal Courts, for protection, but the regime's Department of Justice is less than reliable--having just promulgated internal regulations that render the provisions of statute law--the Freedom of Information Act--almost impossible to enforce, and for the first time authorizing the various agencies of the US Government to lie to the people, the press and possibly to Congress in writing. More than that, the Judiciary is compromised by some of Obama''s appointments, including at least one Federal Judge who is allowing a defeated congressman to sue opponents for "loss of livelihood". (This has never even been seriously considered before, and service in Congress hasn't been legally considered "livelihood" before. It opens the door for legal action against faith based groups, or free associations of people who share religious values but are not faith based to expensive, potentially bankrupting litigation--a very effective way to chill or even silence dissent.) It is also distrubing tht DOJ lawyers are assisting the EEOC in its' attempt to use the courts to establish that the Federal Government gets to say what and who is or is not ministry or a minister.
Even the Occupy Movement is involved in this matter. I have noted that the "Occupy Movement" is the child of, and financed originally by, the Working Family Party, and that president Obama's political adviser (his Carl Rove) is Patrick Gaspard, a member of the WFP. Well, the Occupiers have managed to shut down St. Paul's Cathedral, in their British incarnation, and Occupy Vancouver held a debate about occupying the Cathedral in Vancouver--which was not given consensus by the protestors, but was attempted by a faction anyway, unsuccessful. For a group that is supposedly concerned about corruption in financial market and excess profits, they suddenly decided that sexual abuse of minors was a very important thing. I simply will observe that when the Catholic Church was providing the last organized resistance to the Third Reich, this same issue was brought to the fore and shouted from the rooftops. Not only can this happen here, it's almost a certainty to. For the truth is unbearable to those who reject the possibility of fixed truth.
Ladies and Gentlemen, my Brothers and Sisters in Christ, this is the opening of a Chastisement in this country, and around the world. We are being Chastised for our failure to keep faith with God and one another, and it's a chastisement we deserve. Our task now is not heroic resistance, but Christian resistance, sticking to our principles even when they result social, legal, financial debility, patiently bearing wrongs and witnessing our faith, which teaches us that even if we are attacked in our personal bodies, we are beyond harm from the evils which are loosed upon us, in eternity with Christ. I wash raised a Redneck, and a Redneck I remain, but I need to put away the cantankerous and confrontational aspects of my our cultural heritage, and accept what's coming in imitation of Christ, who accepted even a criminals death in obedience to the will of His Father. This is perhaps, the greatest penance a man like me can have--to suffer wrongs and injustice and not to fight back with any other means that prayer, fasting, sacrifice and the Sacraments.
Part of me wonders how and when we should--I should--resist. But a bigger part of me remembers something my Dad taught me: Don't run away from a spanking. WE as a Church have failed to keep faith with the covenant God made with us, and with each other. We are divided internally on issues of life, social justice--especially a holistic understanding of social justice--prayer and morality. We no longer provide a clear, unmistakable witness to the Gospel and the Lordship of Christ. We are now being punished, and it will get worse. I hope that our Heavenly Father grants me the grace to bear the things that are happening, and will happen, as a penance for my failings in this matter.
The current regime and it's allies among the activist Left do not like us, and especially do not like us having a voice in the public square. This has manifested in various ways, from covering Christian Symbols when using Christian Venues to re-writing regulations to contravene laws providing for the respect of conscience and morality. And that's the easy part.
Obama appointed Dalia Mogahed to be one of his advisers on his little "faith based" committee. Ms Mogahed is a Sharia advocate, and has intellectual links and communicates with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt--the oldest Islamic Terrorist group, predating the end of the Second World War. She has used her position to block American influence, or even concern, over the ongoing persecution of Orthodox and Catholic Christians in the Middle East, succeeding even in preventing the Maronite Patriarch from meeting the President to give him the truth about this continuing persecution that extends to rape, murder, slavery, kidnapping, forced marriage, vandalism, arson and expropriation of property. This wasn't a super human effort on her part, because the Regime has all but ignored this issue since it came to power in January of 2009. Obama does not care about the civil and human rights of Christians in general, and Catholic Christian in the us in particular. That's why he pushed to keep language protecting the conscience rights of Catholics out of legislation on concerning his health care plan, and regulations concerning a wide variety of other things.
Right now, nurses at The University of Medicine and Dentistry in New Jersey, an even dozen of them--are suing because they have been told, bluntly, that if they do not participate in abortions they will be fired. This violates State and Federal Statutes protecting health care workers from being forced to commit murder. But this isn't going to be an in-and-out case, where the University backs down, because the judiciary and the various agencies have been politicized into becoming arms for the usurpation of legislation by regulations aimed at silencing Catholics, and driving them out of certain professions, especially healthcare, allied fields and education.
The Department of Health and Human Services director has said her department is "at war" with those who do not actively support abortion, contraception and sterilization--in Kathleen Sebelious' mind, anything less than whole hearted support and participation is opposition, so that means actively supporting or feeling the wrath of her Department. To this end, she has promulgated new regulations that so restrict the protection to religious organizations that they are being forced to choose between their core religious values and providing services. She did this with essentially one sentence--a line in her new regulations that says a religious activity must serve primarily member of it's own religion to qualify for a religious exemption. That means things like hospitals, soup kitchens, schools and clothing drives are no longer considered religious activities, and must purchase insurance that pays for abortions, contraceptives and sterilization--paying for them, even if the employees don't use them, constitutes in the minds of many Catholics obtaining them, a mortal sin. More than that, the additional expense of paying for this sort of insurance coverage can push charitable outreaches over the edge financially--anyone who has been involved in these activities knows how close to the bone they play it, the resulting low wages offered and how easy it is to shut such a thing down. The result is a lowering of the visibility of Catholic charitable outreaches, an thus the visibility of Catholic witness. More than that, it makes it possible for the opponents of the Gospel to point to the Church and say "Yeah, you're saying that, but what are doing to help?" knowing that much of the help and services have been rendered impossible by the state.
If you have paid any attention, you will see that career officers--professional civil servants as opposed to political appointees--are the one who have controlled and decided where the Department of Health and Human Services dispenses it's cash. For years, these civil servants have concentrated with the Catholic Church for services to and rescue of victims of human trafficking. Until this month, when Ms. Sebelius intervened in the process to freeze the Catholic Church out. She overrode the advice of her own professional staff, who favored the Church, not because of sectarian considerations, but because the Church had the best record of service to these victims, as well as the lowest percentage of funds spent on administrative overhead, salaries, and such like. But Ms Sebelius had just declared that her department was "at war" with opponents of abortion, sterilization and contraception--which in practical terms means the Catholic Church--and her decision was described by the career civil servants as the "ABC Rule"; anybody but Catholics. Ms Sebelius is supposedly Catholic herself, and we should pray that our Heavenly Father give her grace to return to the complete practice of the faith she espouses. ( As a humorous observation--the spell checker alerts on her name and gives as alternatives "rebellious" and "libelous".)
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is in on the act as well, singling out Catholic Schools at first, then branching into those of other denominations that support traditional morality, and have a case pending that they wish to bring before the Supreme court in order to gt the Court to define who is a minister, ovr the definitions of the various religious groups in this country. This is an unprecedented intrusion of the Federal Government into religious affairs, brought to us by people who are constantly touting their philosophy of "separation of church and state".
Speaking or Religious Exemptions, it seems that the FCC--who have been trying since 2009 to regulate speech on the internet despite repeated court rulings that they do not have that authority--are now "cracking down" on religious broadcasters, by eliminating their exemption to requirements for close captioning. Oh, they can still get them, but he application process has been made more difficult, and each outlet must apply for each exemption (and program, in some cases). The result is of course, to make it very expensive and difficult to continue. There are those who will point to "rich televangelists" and say they can afford it. They already have it. Who will be affected will be small local outlets, mostly...wait for it..Catholics, who are just getting into the game on the local level, and are underfunded. Notably, the ones with the least funding, and the least hope of help from the hierarchy, are those that are most pro-life and most orthodox. Another voice inhibited, or stifled by the decree of an unelected and largely uncountable bureaucracy, under the Obama regime. This comes at the same time as DHS--the Department of Homeland Security--has announced that it is stepping up surveillance of the internet--things like twitter and face book, and blogs--for signs of social unrest. Seeing as they have been trying since January of 2009 to point at pro lifers, religious conservatives, gun owners, verterans and white Americans as the potential threats to security, I'm pretty sure that someone will point out, perhaps on Obama's snitch page, that I've written this. Oh well, the reeducation camps will be something new, anyway.
Their idea of this principle is that the Churches should be subordinate to the state, their aim is to create a situation in which all religious denominations are Erastian, bolstering the goals of a given regime.
Normally we Americans would turn to the courts, especially the Federal Courts, for protection, but the regime's Department of Justice is less than reliable--having just promulgated internal regulations that render the provisions of statute law--the Freedom of Information Act--almost impossible to enforce, and for the first time authorizing the various agencies of the US Government to lie to the people, the press and possibly to Congress in writing. More than that, the Judiciary is compromised by some of Obama''s appointments, including at least one Federal Judge who is allowing a defeated congressman to sue opponents for "loss of livelihood". (This has never even been seriously considered before, and service in Congress hasn't been legally considered "livelihood" before. It opens the door for legal action against faith based groups, or free associations of people who share religious values but are not faith based to expensive, potentially bankrupting litigation--a very effective way to chill or even silence dissent.) It is also distrubing tht DOJ lawyers are assisting the EEOC in its' attempt to use the courts to establish that the Federal Government gets to say what and who is or is not ministry or a minister.
Even the Occupy Movement is involved in this matter. I have noted that the "Occupy Movement" is the child of, and financed originally by, the Working Family Party, and that president Obama's political adviser (his Carl Rove) is Patrick Gaspard, a member of the WFP. Well, the Occupiers have managed to shut down St. Paul's Cathedral, in their British incarnation, and Occupy Vancouver held a debate about occupying the Cathedral in Vancouver--which was not given consensus by the protestors, but was attempted by a faction anyway, unsuccessful. For a group that is supposedly concerned about corruption in financial market and excess profits, they suddenly decided that sexual abuse of minors was a very important thing. I simply will observe that when the Catholic Church was providing the last organized resistance to the Third Reich, this same issue was brought to the fore and shouted from the rooftops. Not only can this happen here, it's almost a certainty to. For the truth is unbearable to those who reject the possibility of fixed truth.
Ladies and Gentlemen, my Brothers and Sisters in Christ, this is the opening of a Chastisement in this country, and around the world. We are being Chastised for our failure to keep faith with God and one another, and it's a chastisement we deserve. Our task now is not heroic resistance, but Christian resistance, sticking to our principles even when they result social, legal, financial debility, patiently bearing wrongs and witnessing our faith, which teaches us that even if we are attacked in our personal bodies, we are beyond harm from the evils which are loosed upon us, in eternity with Christ. I wash raised a Redneck, and a Redneck I remain, but I need to put away the cantankerous and confrontational aspects of my our cultural heritage, and accept what's coming in imitation of Christ, who accepted even a criminals death in obedience to the will of His Father. This is perhaps, the greatest penance a man like me can have--to suffer wrongs and injustice and not to fight back with any other means that prayer, fasting, sacrifice and the Sacraments.
My Christmass Wish List
Well, here's what I want for Christmass (two esses--I'm trying to get the Mass back in Christmass!)
Ammunition in .22LR, .22WRM, 9MM Luger, 20 ga #4, 12ga #00-#2-#7 and Deer Slug, 7.2x54R, polypro long johns and socks. (I'm good on .380ACP).
I would also like to have my whole family at Mass on Christmass Eve, and some nice coffee for Christmass Breakkie.
Why Ammo? Well, it's nothing for me to go to the range and fire off 2-300 .22s, or a 100 or so .22WRM, Shotgun shells are always in order, the shot sizes for hunting are the ones I've listed (#7 is for birds, #4 for squirrels, #2 for rabbits and similar sized edibles--a little big, but I hate finding bits of shot in my dinner, and #2 uses less shot, and it's easier to find without biting into it--deer slugs are for , well, deer and #00 isn't for hunting.) The 7.62X54R is just fun to shoot, but without a real world use--in the affordable types. I can buy a box of hunting loads in it, and be able to hunt anything in N. America, but it's expensive to practice with--so the cheap stuff for target practice. The 9MM Luger is for my carbine, just to shoot for fun. Cheap FMJ works best for that.
Oh yeah--those cool zombie targets just to look odd at the range. And a new box of tennis balls.
Ammunition in .22LR, .22WRM, 9MM Luger, 20 ga #4, 12ga #00-#2-#7 and Deer Slug, 7.2x54R, polypro long johns and socks. (I'm good on .380ACP).
I would also like to have my whole family at Mass on Christmass Eve, and some nice coffee for Christmass Breakkie.
Why Ammo? Well, it's nothing for me to go to the range and fire off 2-300 .22s, or a 100 or so .22WRM, Shotgun shells are always in order, the shot sizes for hunting are the ones I've listed (#7 is for birds, #4 for squirrels, #2 for rabbits and similar sized edibles--a little big, but I hate finding bits of shot in my dinner, and #2 uses less shot, and it's easier to find without biting into it--deer slugs are for , well, deer and #00 isn't for hunting.) The 7.62X54R is just fun to shoot, but without a real world use--in the affordable types. I can buy a box of hunting loads in it, and be able to hunt anything in N. America, but it's expensive to practice with--so the cheap stuff for target practice. The 9MM Luger is for my carbine, just to shoot for fun. Cheap FMJ works best for that.
Oh yeah--those cool zombie targets just to look odd at the range. And a new box of tennis balls.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Check Out the Pic!
On the right--that's my new toy, a Mosin-Nagant rifle, a classic of late 19th century Franco-Russian small arms design, and still perfectly functional today. They were used through WWII, and still crop up in out of the way places today as a primary arm of militias, insurgents and other people of irascible bent.
I named him "Vassily Fritz Slayer", after Vassily Saitsev, one of the most successful snipers in history, who used this type of rifle with a scope from Stalingrad to Berlin.
To bad I can't see as well as him, so I'm good out to about 200 meters. The sights got to 2000.
I named him "Vassily Fritz Slayer", after Vassily Saitsev, one of the most successful snipers in history, who used this type of rifle with a scope from Stalingrad to Berlin.
To bad I can't see as well as him, so I'm good out to about 200 meters. The sights got to 2000.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Decisions, Decisions....
Should it be an Ishapore Enfield in 7.62 NATO, a Kar 98, or perhaps a Mosin? such decisions are difficult, and one must choose wisely.
After, when the Molemen strike, I'll need a dependable and classic means to defend my castle, such as it is. Not to mention the Werewolf possibility or even--and I shudder to think of it--and invasion paper targets!
After, when the Molemen strike, I'll need a dependable and classic means to defend my castle, such as it is. Not to mention the Werewolf possibility or even--and I shudder to think of it--and invasion paper targets!
Monday, October 31, 2011
Yesterday's News: Contempt--It's All Us
We seem to wonder exactly why the push for total secularity is on, and why we as a Church are so disrespected, and why there is so much pressure exerted by government and media to exclude us from the public discourse, and even from the corporal works of mercy. We think to ourselves that we're the largest Denomination in America, and the Largest on Earth, why isn't our collective voice being respected? I wondered about this myself, until yesterday. Yesterday, I went to Mass and listened to the readings.
The First Reading was from the book of Malachi, and I'll quot it in full here, just as we heard it in the US:
A great King am I, says the LORD of hosts, and my name will be feared among the nations. Ans now, O priests; this commandment is for you: If you do not listen, if you do not lay it to heart, to give glory to my name, says the LORD of hosts, i will send a curse upon you and your blessing I will make a curse. You have turned aside from the way, and have caused many to falter by your instruction; you have made void the covenant of Levi, says the LORD of hosts. I therefore have made you contemptible and base before all people, since you do not keep my ways, but show partiality in your decisions? Why then do we break faith with one another, violating the covenant of our fathers?
And there it is, plain as day. It would be easy for me, or a guy like me, who is angry and distrustful towards the presbyterate and the hierarchy launch immediately into a denunciation of the actions of many of our priests and bishops. But that would ignore a couple of things that, while uncomfortable, are necessary. One, is the traditional way of reading the Scriptures, which holds that they contain types that are important for salvation, and that they hold messages beyond the immediate situation described. Another is the fact that the Levitical priesthood ended, as a practical matter, with the person of Christ becoming our high priest, and the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. It also ignores the Priesthood of all Believers.
This last is very important, for although the Priesthood of all Believers doesn't extent to allowing us to grant absolution, confect the Blessed Sacrament, confer the Holy Spirit by the imposition of hands, solemnize matrimony, anoint the sick or ordain others, it is what allows us to make offerings of our suffering, hardship and sacrifices to God our Father in reparation of sins and for special intentions. Most of all, it's what allows us participate in a full, actual and conscious way in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. And that's why this passage applies to each of us--in all of it's terrible implications.
The Church isn't just His Holiness, and it's not just the Bishops. It's His Holiness, the Bishops, the Priests and Deacons and each of us, all together, along with the suffering souls in Purgatory and the Triumphant in Heaven. Those of us here, on the Earth, are in a special way, the hands and feet of Christ, who is our head, and when we do not keep our covenant, become unruly limbs, like the arm of Dr. Strangelove.
We traddies and neo-traddies can point at Sr. Elizabeth Johnson, for her heretical book, and her assertion that the Bishops won't talk to her in the face of their repeated invitations to talk and say "Look, she's not keeping faith, she's the problem". We can. But what about our own attitude towards one another? Are we keeping faith? Or are we becoming a person who sows division and anger? I've had to think about that a lot the last twenty-four hours. The conclusion is i need some more repentance. That's why I've decided not name the "Gutless, Spineless No-Ball Bishop of the Month" in this blog.
There's more though. Look at the last survey to come out, about a week or two ago, about how few of us Catholics actualy seem to understand or keep the whole of the faith. What are we teaching others, especially our kids? We "... have caused many to falter..." by what we teach by word and deed.
Yes, the Church is coming into hard times in the Industrialized world. Yes, our Bishops and Priests don't seem to have up to the task. But worse than that, WE haven't been up to the task. I need to practice a little meekness (I'm bad at meek) and forbearance, and look at me, when things go bad in the Church. After all, I can do something about me. And maybe, just maybe, that will do something about other things.
The First Reading was from the book of Malachi, and I'll quot it in full here, just as we heard it in the US:
A great King am I, says the LORD of hosts, and my name will be feared among the nations. Ans now, O priests; this commandment is for you: If you do not listen, if you do not lay it to heart, to give glory to my name, says the LORD of hosts, i will send a curse upon you and your blessing I will make a curse. You have turned aside from the way, and have caused many to falter by your instruction; you have made void the covenant of Levi, says the LORD of hosts. I therefore have made you contemptible and base before all people, since you do not keep my ways, but show partiality in your decisions? Why then do we break faith with one another, violating the covenant of our fathers?
And there it is, plain as day. It would be easy for me, or a guy like me, who is angry and distrustful towards the presbyterate and the hierarchy launch immediately into a denunciation of the actions of many of our priests and bishops. But that would ignore a couple of things that, while uncomfortable, are necessary. One, is the traditional way of reading the Scriptures, which holds that they contain types that are important for salvation, and that they hold messages beyond the immediate situation described. Another is the fact that the Levitical priesthood ended, as a practical matter, with the person of Christ becoming our high priest, and the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. It also ignores the Priesthood of all Believers.
This last is very important, for although the Priesthood of all Believers doesn't extent to allowing us to grant absolution, confect the Blessed Sacrament, confer the Holy Spirit by the imposition of hands, solemnize matrimony, anoint the sick or ordain others, it is what allows us to make offerings of our suffering, hardship and sacrifices to God our Father in reparation of sins and for special intentions. Most of all, it's what allows us participate in a full, actual and conscious way in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. And that's why this passage applies to each of us--in all of it's terrible implications.
The Church isn't just His Holiness, and it's not just the Bishops. It's His Holiness, the Bishops, the Priests and Deacons and each of us, all together, along with the suffering souls in Purgatory and the Triumphant in Heaven. Those of us here, on the Earth, are in a special way, the hands and feet of Christ, who is our head, and when we do not keep our covenant, become unruly limbs, like the arm of Dr. Strangelove.
We traddies and neo-traddies can point at Sr. Elizabeth Johnson, for her heretical book, and her assertion that the Bishops won't talk to her in the face of their repeated invitations to talk and say "Look, she's not keeping faith, she's the problem". We can. But what about our own attitude towards one another? Are we keeping faith? Or are we becoming a person who sows division and anger? I've had to think about that a lot the last twenty-four hours. The conclusion is i need some more repentance. That's why I've decided not name the "Gutless, Spineless No-Ball Bishop of the Month" in this blog.
There's more though. Look at the last survey to come out, about a week or two ago, about how few of us Catholics actualy seem to understand or keep the whole of the faith. What are we teaching others, especially our kids? We "... have caused many to falter..." by what we teach by word and deed.
Yes, the Church is coming into hard times in the Industrialized world. Yes, our Bishops and Priests don't seem to have up to the task. But worse than that, WE haven't been up to the task. I need to practice a little meekness (I'm bad at meek) and forbearance, and look at me, when things go bad in the Church. After all, I can do something about me. And maybe, just maybe, that will do something about other things.
Domestic Exchange
I want a cup of coffee, but the coffee maker is still running. I looked over at four-year-old #1 and asked her to tell the coffee maker to hurry up.
She turned around, looked at the coffee maker and YELLED: "Coffee Pot! Hurry up! Poppo wants Coffee!" .
The she looked at it for a few seconds, looked at me and said "It's not listening.".
She turned around, looked at the coffee maker and YELLED: "Coffee Pot! Hurry up! Poppo wants Coffee!" .
The she looked at it for a few seconds, looked at me and said "It's not listening.".
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Our Family is Strange, But I Love It!
1--Daughter #2 brought home a pumpkin that I was supposed to carve into a puking pumpkin. The Queen of the House disapproved. (She also isn't too keen on distributing candy for Haloween.) She confiscated the pumpkin--it's the puking part she didn't like--and instead carved it herself into a St. Therese, surrounded by roses. She is pleased enough with the result that we are indeed gong to be distributing candy--for All Saints Day!
2--At Mass this morning, one of the four year olds was about to act up.But before I could intervene, the seven year old had taken charge, calmed her down and was ensuring that she made her responses to the Liturgy correctly.
Our Family Rocks!
2--At Mass this morning, one of the four year olds was about to act up.But before I could intervene, the seven year old had taken charge, calmed her down and was ensuring that she made her responses to the Liturgy correctly.
Our Family Rocks!
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