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Tuesday 6 August 2013

New Poll !!!!!

Please be brave.

And do the poll on the side.

Persecution Watch in Canada, Coming to A Country Near You




http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/canadian-legal-professions-christians-must-embrace-gay-marriage-to-practice

No freedom for lawyers..........no conscience protection for Christians.

Many important posts and links today...

The Body of Christ in Plastic Cups: Do They Know He is God?

http://blog.messainlatino.it/2013/08/pissidi-moderne-rio-per-la-gmg-2013.html


One more reason I want to set up 24-7 Adoration in reparation for sins against Jesus in the Host. Please consider helping me. We cannot let this go on. WYD must stop.

On Obedience and The Laity-First Part


On line and on twitter in the recent past, there has been much discussion on obedience of the laity and to the laity with regard to the hierarchy.

Now, I am not going to refer to members of religious orders, who take vows of obedience, or secular priests, who are to obey their bishops as their direct pastors. I want to discuss our relationship to our bishops and other members of the hierarchcy, and their relationship with us.

To begin with, please read this excellent piece by Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke on obedience. Then, I shall post more.

http://www.mariancatechist.com/burke/obedience_responsibility.html

Part of it is here:

18. Obedience to the Magisterium is a virtue and is attained through the practice of such obedience. Living in Christ alone, doing, with Christ, the will of the Father teaches every member of the faithful the fundamental requirement of obedience for salvation. In this regard, the pastors of the faithful, and those who are students and teachers of the Word of God, provide an invaluable help to the faithful, so that they may daily turn to Christ, overcoming the rebelliousness of our fallen nature and drawing strength from the Holy Spirit Who dwells within (CCC, no. 2038).
19. When the shepherds of the flock are obedient to the Magisterium, entrusted to their exercise, then the members of the flock grow in obedience and proceed, with Christ, along the way of salvation. If the shepherd is not obedient, the flock easily gives way to confusion and errors. The shepherd must be especially attentive to the assaults of Satan who knows that, if he can strike the shepherd, the work of scattering the flock will be made easy (cf. Zechariah 13:7).
20. In his Encyclical Letter Fides et ratio, “On the Relationship between Faith and Reason,” our late and most beloved Holy Father Pope John Paul II reminded us that the Magisterium is bound strictly to Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture, while, at the same time, Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture are handed on from one generation to the next through the obedience of the Magisterium. Pope John Paul II declared:
The “supreme rule of her faith” derives from the unity which the Spirit has created between Sacred Tradition, Sacred Scripture and the Magisterium of the Church in a reciprocity which means that none of the three can survive without the others (n. 55c).
The faith is living. The faith is received through the action of the Holy Spirit dwelling within the soul, and it is expressed by the purifying and strengthening action of the Holy Spirit Who inspires man to put the faith into practice.

So, you do not think there is a gay agenda in the Church?

Making our bishops look foolish...and why I have never supported WYD and will not.

http://eponymousflower.blogspot.ie/2013/08/choreographer-of-world-youth-day-flash.html

Original articles here and here....

http://www.intereconomia.com/blog/cigueena-torre

http://www.infovaticana.com/

LifeSiteNews-The Darkness In Detroit Is A Warning to All Cities

http://www.lifenews.com/2013/08/05/as-detroit-declares-bankruptcy-its-abortion-rate-almost-twice-national-average/

If we continuously fail to address this grave social issue—the depletion of human brainpower by means of abortion—, then we will continue to set America up for her collapse and the extinguishing of all her lights. Katie McCann

Priests missing in Syria

http://www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=23080#.UgDdtFXvRz0.twitter

Not good news

http://rt.com/usa/washington-post-sold-jeff-bezos-080/

On the new owner of WaPo from above article:

Though Bezos is a self-described libertarian and largely considered opaque on political matters, his contributions indicate he leans towards supporting Democrats and was an instrumental donor to a successful referendum on gay marriage in Washington state last year, giving $2.5 million in support of Referendum 74. 

On the Dark Night, Part 25

The question of memory has haunted me when I have been trying to understand the Dark Night of the Soul. Memory is important to the Catholic. St. Ignatius guides one through memory, to understanding, and then to the will in his Spiritual Exercises. But, in the writings of SS. John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila, it seems that memory is to be avoided and the past completely set aside in the new life which God is demanding in the purification of both the senses and the soul.

God has given me an incredible memory. When I remember, however, I am brought into the past. What God wants is to transform memory into something transcendent. The shadows of memory are to be turned into light.

I did not know what this meant until I was discussing the movements of the Dark Night with a friend who has been through this state. He gave me an insight from his own journey which helped me unravel this mystery of memory.

My perplexing question rested on memories of having an experience of human love. To remember such love seemed to me to be taking me away from both the present, and stopping me from moving into the purification of the senses and the soul. One never forgets people one has loved.

Then, my friend said two things which put the entire dilemma of memory into perspective. The first is that memory is not to be forgotten.

Memory is not to be forgotten, but transcended and transformed into something else. This something else is pure love, without expectation and with suffering. The memory is to lead to understanding, and Mr. Richert states it perfectly: Through understanding, we see the world and our life within it in the larger context of the eternal law and the relation of our souls to God.


Suddenly, one is no longer in the past, but in the present, in a great mystery of love and suffering. Memory holds one back from this intense love unless it is changed into the love of the moment, God's Love. The suffering is both the absence of human love, but the transcendence of the Love of God.

To break out of the chain of memory, one must be willing to face truth, loss, love, suffering.

This is the transcendence, leading to the now and the much bigger picture of eternity. All things remembered fall into a great mystery wherein all one can know is that events which have happened and people which have been met and loved are part of a huge plan of God. One may not see that plan fulfilled on earth, but one is absolutely sure one will understand fully in heaven. In the meantime, one rests in the light of God's Will. 

The will in enlightened to let go of all and place all in God's Perfect Plan. Perhaps the memory is a shaft of light in one's darkness which haunts one. Suddenly, one see that light as not merely a small piece of grace, a small piece of God's Life, but an entire lightness which illumines the intellect, the heart, the soul. 

What one wills is to live in the mystery of God totally. At this stage, one does not even know God in the same manner as before, as He is revealing Himself in Darkness, in mystery. I share John of the Cross's poem again below.

All of this experience and knowledge of God happens if one is willing to suffer. The suffering is the loss of what is real in memory, but becomes real in the now, not as memory but as the present moment, and seen as part of the light of God Himself.  God lets us experience and know Him, even for a few moments. 

We are not in control of God coming to us in the Dark Night, where memory melts into light. All is grace.

I am so glad my friend explained that memory is not to be forgotten or pushed down, but transformed into a random harvest completely controlled by the Will of God.


Another phrase which could be used is absolute sacrificial love, no longer a burden but a way of being, of seeing, of acting. Memory opens the door to this light, and with understanding, one can now will to desire only God and nothing else. Memory, understanding and will lead one directly to God.

The second thing which my friend unravelled was that one cannot pretend to know what God is doing with one's memory, understanding and will. As long as the willingness is there, God will guide one, minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day. 

He said it is as if the breath of God was felt on one's neck. I could hardly believe that my friend had never read this poem, as he used almost the exact same words as St. John. I highlight those words.


On a dark night



On a dark night,
Kindled in love with yearnings
--oh, happy chance!--
I went forth without being observed,
My house being now at rest. 
In darkness and secure,
By the secret ladder, disguised
--oh, happy chance!--
In darkness and in concealment,
My house being now at rest.
In the happy night,
In secret, when none saw me,
Nor I beheld aught,
Without light or guide,
save that which burned in my heart.
This light guided me
More surely than the light of noonday
To the place where he
(well I knew who!) was awaiting me
-- A place where none appeared.
Oh, night that guided me,
Oh, night more lovely than the dawn,
Oh, night that joined
Beloved with lover,
Lover transformed in the Beloved!
Upon my flowery breast,
Kept wholly for himself alone,
There he stayed sleeping,
and I caressed him,
And the fanning of the cedars made a breeze.
The breeze blew from the turret
As I parted his locks;
With his gentle hand
He wounded my neck
And caused all my senses to be suspended.
I remained, lost in oblivion; 
My face I reclined on the Beloved.
All ceased and I abandoned myself,
Leaving my cares
forgotten among the lilies.

Time of The Eucharist, Part Four


A reminder that I still want to set up a House of Adoration in Walsingham, and the house is still for sale.







The Time of The Eucharist Part Three

From the Dialog of St. Catherine of Siena: 



“See, dearest daughter, in what an excellent state is the soul who receives, as she should, this Bread of Life, this Food of the Angels. By receiving this Sacrament she dwells in Me and I in her, as the fish in the sea, and the sea in the fish—thus do I dwell in the soul, and the soul in Me—the Sea Pacific. In that soul grace dwells, for, since she has received this Bread of Life in a state of grace, My grace remains in her, after the accidents of bread have been consumed. I leave you the imprint of grace, as does a seal, which, when lifted from the hot wax upon which it has been impressed, leaves behind its imprint, so the virtue of this Sacrament remains in the soul, that is to say, the heat of My Divine charity, and the clemency of the Holy Spirit. There also remains to you the wisdom of My only-begotten Son, by which the eye of your intellect has been illuminated to see and to know the doctrine of My Truth, and, together with this wisdom, you participate in My strength and power, which strengthen the soul against her sensual self-love, against the Devil, and against the world. You see then that the imprint remains, when the seal has been taken away, that is, when the material accidents of the bread, having been consumed, this True Sun has returned to Its Center, not that it was ever really separated from It, but constantly united to Me. The Abyss of My loving desire for your salvation has given you, through My dispensation and Divine Providence, coming to the help of your needs, the sweet Truth as Food in this life, where you are pilgrims and travelers, so that you may have refreshment, and not forget the benefit of the Blood. See then how straitly you are constrained and obliged to render Me love, because I love you so much, and, being the Supreme and Eternal Goodness, deserve your love.”