Unam Ecclesiam

The Death of Ghaddaffi - Nothing for the Left to Cheer About

2011-10-21T14:39:00.000-07:00

. . . that is unless the American left has suddenly changed its tune in their treatment of Obama versus a Republican president. Because Obama won his election campaigning not to intervene in foreign wars unless the national security of America was really threatened. Was Libya posing a threat to the U.S.? A resounding NO.

So why would Obama suddenly sweep in to decide the outcome of a foreign nation's civil war? Terrible leaders, especially those who desire absolute power, like Obama, can never act with rational thought. How would the American left like it if another country, like say, Russia and China intervened to decide the outcome of the American Civil War of 1865? After all Abraham Lincoln was laying siege of and bombarding his own country's cities of Vicksburg, Petersburg, Richmond, and Atlanta. We can recall the movie Gone With the Wind where Lincoln's policies of squashing an uprising were depicted on screen.

Take this example of an article posted on the Guardian and replace the names of Libya with America, Syria with Canada, the Middle East with North America, Obama with the Russian Czar during 1865, Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden with Chinese leader during 1865, and Ghadafi with Abraham Lincoln and see how the American Civil War outcome could have changed had other countries meddled with our own affair:

Russian Czar hails death of Abraham Lincoln as foreign policy success
Kremlin warns other North American dictators, particularly the Canadian President, that they could be next

"Russian Soviet Czar hailed the lifting of the "dark tyranny" over America after the new government confirmed Abraham Lincoln had been killed, issuing a warning to other dictators in North America – and particularly Canada – that they could be next.

"Although the Soviet Czar did not name Canadian president _ _ _, it was he Russian Czar had in mind when he said the rule of the iron fist in North America is inevitably coming to an end. Those leaders that try to deny the push for Confederacy will not succeed, he predicted.

"Russian Czar was speaking in the Kremlin after footage was shown worldwide of what appeared to be Lincoln's bloody corpse. "One of the world's longest-serving dictators is no more," the Russian Czar said.

"The Confederate American South had won their revolution and "the dark shadow of tyranny has been lifted," Russian Czar said.

"Given the number of false claims in recent weeks that Lincoln had been killed or captured, Russian Czar was careful not to say categorically that he was dead. Instead, he confined himself to a carefully chosen formula: "We can definitively say the Lincoln regime has come to an end."

"He promised Russian help for America in establishing an interim government . . . The death of Lincoln immediately raised speculation in Russia that the same military model – the use of Russian power combined with confederate rebel forces on the ground and special forces from China – could be used again in Canada.

"Chinese Leader described the military model as a "prescription" for the future, while Kremlin ministry of propaganda spokesman Jay Carney, when asked about Canada, said the Canadian President had lost his legitimacy to rule.

"The Chinese Leader asked if the same strategy could be used in Canada, replied: "Could be." He told CNN that every country had to be approached differently: "Canada is going to be different from America, but it shows Russia and China are capable of a sustained effort."

"Later, interviewed by CNN, Chinese Leader said that if Lincoln were still at large, it would have created continuing security problems because "he would try to marshal support, that he would pay for mercenaries, that he would engage and effect guerrilla warfare. So if he's removed from the scene, there may still be those who would do so, but without the organising figure of Lincoln, and that makes a big difference."

Now can we see how vile our intervention in Libya was? The thing should have never happened just as foreign intervention into our American Civil War would have been wrong.

Quotes to Live By

2011-07-23T00:58:00.000-07:00

"You either belong entirely to the world, or entirely to God" - St. John Vianney"

"The greatest saints avoided the company of men as much as they could and chose to live to God in secret." - The Imitation of Christ Ch. 20 (The Love of Solitude and Silence)

"Learn now to die to the world that then you may begin to live with Christ." - Romans 6:8

"You cannot be half a saint; you must be a whole saint or no saint at all." -St. Therese of Lisieux

"Whosoever, therefore, aims at arriving at interior and spiritual things, must, with Jesus, go aside from the crowd." - John 5:13

"I know no surer way to discover if a person belongs to God than by finding out if he loves saying the Hail Mary and the Rosary" --St. Louis de Montfort.

"Some people are so foolish that they think they can go through life without the help of the Blessed Mother. Love the Madonna and pray the rosary, for her rosary is the weapon against the evils of the world today. All graces given by God pass through the Blessed Mother" --St. Padre Pio.

"Keep yourself as a pilgrim and a stranger upon earth to whom the affairs of this world not in the least belong." - 1 Peter 2:11

"Our hearts were made for You, O Lord, and they are restless until they rest in you."
-St. Augustine of Hippo

"Since Christ Himself has said, "This is My Body" who shall dare to doubt that It is His Body?" -St. Cyril of Jerusalem

"Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you." -St. Augustine

"They renounced all riches, dignities, honors, friends, and kindred; they desired to have nothing of this world; they scarcely allowed themselves the necessities of life; serving the body, even in necessity, was irksome to them . . . They were strangers to the world, but near and familiar friends to God." - The Imitation of Christ Ch. 18 (The Examples of the Holy Fathers)

May 21 End of the World? "Oh wait no, I meant October 21"

2011-06-21T21:21:00.000-07:00

So the deception continues from flashy California's Protestant Ministries. So May 21st came and went without so much as a hiccup. So now Protestant Minister Camping has decided that the end of the world really wasn't May 21st, but October 21st. Never mind that his same prediction back in 1994 failed miserably, now he wants to take a third wild swing and strike himself out. So when October 21st comes and goes and Camping has 3 strikes to his count - can we then finally dispense with the Protestant B.S. artistry of privately interpreting the bible, please?

The Church wrote and approved the bible. As author of the Bible, Holy Mother Church alone has rights to interpret the sacred texts, not some self-aggrandized bible thumpin' prima donna from California (of all places). The Church in Rome, the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church alone interprets the Bible. Private interpretation of the Bible has gotten the world in more trouble than anything in its history.

From the radical fragmentation of Christianity - thanks to one sole private interpreting Augustinian monk named Martin Luther to the suicide pact cults who interpret the end in a remote compound, to Camping's failed predictions. And for what? Attention? God only knows. But once again, here is one more reason to trust in the One Church that Christ founded upon the Apostles: the Holy Roman Catholic Church - the world's sole authority of the Bible. We need to all remember that the Church is mother of the Bible not the other way around.

May 21 End of the World? - Negative

2011-05-21T18:18:00.000-07:00

"Oopsies!"

. . . so says protestant doomsdayer broadcast ministries founder Harold Camping of Oakland, CA along with his gullible followers. By choosing their own private interpretation of the Bible instead of the Church's interpretation, doomsdayers like these time and time again will continue to have pie on their face by making outrageous claims that not even the Magisterium would make. The Church is Mother of the Bible and the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church alone has rights to interpret the Bible because Holy Mother Church alone is its sole author. Period. The bible is not open to private interpretation. Hopefully this painful lesson will bring many back to the One Fold whose founder, Jesus Christ entrusted to His Apostles.

May 21 End of the World?

2011-05-11T09:53:00.000-07:00

Billboards are popping up claiming that May 21 is Judgment Day. At first I thought, this must be the pentecostals doing one of their publicity stunts to draw massive crowds to one of their periodical grand seminars at one of their megachurches for obscene profits. But when I read the words on the billboard "The Bible Guarantees It" is when I realized these people are really full of crap.

According to WFMY News,

"It's part of a world-wide publicity blitz by a broadcast ministry called Family Radio, based in Oakland, Calif. The short version: Founder Harold Camping believes through a complex set of numerological calculations, one can date the creation of the world, Noah's flood and other events described in the Bible, then extrapolate when the Bible "guarantees" the world will end."

Apparently Camping predicted the end of the world back in 1994 using the same numerical method - obviously in error. An error that Camping attributes to "miscalculations". I would attribute it more to willful ignorance of the bible and disregarding Matthew Ch. 24. But this time, he claims 2011 will see the annihilation of the world with "absolute proof" using the same voodoo economics of 1994.

The only absolute from the bible that we know of are not a complex, far-stretching, wild numerical fuzzy math calculation, but rather the actual text of the bible itself. After all, the bible is a book of written text accounting God's covenants with man and the Teachings of Christ, not the "Necronomicon of mathematical hoopla."

Here are the words of the Bible itself, telling us that we absolutely do not know the day or time of the end:

"Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.
"But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone."
Matthew 24:35-36

Signs of the Times

2011-03-26T16:11:00.000-07:00

The great earthquake and tsunami which struck the east coast of Honshu Japan was nearly 60 miles from the town of Akita, Japan where the Vatican approved Marian apparition took place. During this apparition the Blessed Virgin Mary delivered the following message:

"As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one will never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead. The only arms which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by My Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests."
"The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres...churches and altars sacked; the Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord.
"The demon will be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God. The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them" (October 13, 1973 - Akita, Japan)

Then we learned that major solar flares have been erupting this month with such intensity that they are prompting close monitoring by NASA. The following X-class solar flare is just one of many massive solar flares in its class that erupted in recent weeks. This one erupted on March 19, 2011:

We can perceive the devastating earthquake and tsunami near the Marian apparition of Akita, Japan as yet another signal from God for the entire human race to turn to God and put away selfishness, immodesty, materialism, gluttony, and lust. A FOX News report cited:

"Earlier this month, the sun unleashed its second X-class solar flare of the year that was aimed at Earth. X-class solar flares are the strongest types of solar flares."

Signs of Our Times

2011-03-23T22:08:00.000-07:00

"You will be hearing of [Rev 6:4] wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end." (Matthew 24:6)

Earthquakes in Japan, Indonesia, Iran, Haiti, tsunamis, wars and rumors of wars . . . these are all things that God has promised as signs to awaken humanity to the consequences of sin. Whenever a prominent pastor or broadcaster reminds us of God's warnings, the media goes bananas and calls for "firings", "removals from office", and general rejections of the message go into full gear - but what does one expect when a country's conscience is pricked and Americans are living in widespread denial and refusing to change their sinful ways.

A prophecy by St. Michael the Archangel warned of similar chastisements resulting from a sinful race (the Bayside prophecies, Bayside NY 1968-1995):

St. Michael - "Hasten, harken, and listen to the words of warning to a generation that has become perverse, degraded - and abominations committed to offend your God. In justice and for penance, there will be visited upon your earth great trials - droughts, famine, rotting crops, hurricanes, floods, all manner of earth tremors and disturbances of nature, increasing in volume, spreading throughout your world. There will be eruptions and manifestations that shall bring terror to the hearts of many, in places that have never seen nor heard of such volume of sound and fierce eruptions of the earth.
"Be ye warned that houses will blow in the wind, and skin will dry up and blow off the bones as if it had never been. Eyes will see and still not believe, so hardened are the hearts of mankind.
"The warnings, the numerous warnings that have been given to mankind have gone by unnoticed, and man continues upon his road to his own destruction. Sins of the flesh have multiplied, and many souls are falling fast into the abyss, their eternal reward being damnation in hell." (8-21-76)

Traditionalist Catholic Country

2011-03-22T21:07:00.000-07:00

Country music listeners may remember the Barbara Mandrell and George Jones song: "I Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool".

Well, traditional Roman Catholics, come this Advent, will receive a partial reward with a New Translation of the Roman Missal. Showing heroic perseverance for remaining steadfastly Roman Catholic and not just "diocesan" or "American" Catholic over the decades has gotten traditional Catholics persecuted, socially rejected, publicly humiliated, and outright scorned by laity, priests, and bishops merely "for stickin' to our roots" - as the song puts it. The Modernist Abduction of our Catholic Church introduced a persecution of Catholic Traditionalists under what Pope Benedict described as a white martyrdom. Traditionalists who suffered perseveringly and who painstakingly tolerated ridicule for resisting modernism over the long decades can heave their first sigh of relief coming this November.

Here are the song lyrics (with appropriate Traditionalist revisions in red). So click play below, scroll down and follow along with Traditionalist Country:

I Was Traditional When Traditional Wasn't Cool

I remember wearin' straight leg Polyester and 65% Polyester/35% Cotton - Made in Indonesia shirts
Even with a tie

I remember singin' with Samuel Barber to Agnus Dei at the movies
When the Church was really wild

And I was chanting to Solesmes
When all of my friends were diggin' Rock 'n Roll
And Rhythm & Blues
I was Traditional, when Traditional wasn't cool

I remember circlin' the drive-in, pullin' up
And turnin' down Fulton Sheen

I remember when no one was lookin'
I was eatin' fish on Friday

I took a lot of kiddin'
'Cause I never did fit in
now look at everybody tryin' to be what I was then
I was Traditional, when Traditional wasn't cool

(Chorus:)
I was Traditional, when Traditional wasn't cool
I was Traditional, from my scapular down to my black-polished shoes

I still act, and look the same
What you see ain't nothin' new
I was Traditional, when Traditional wasn't cool

They call us "traddie renegades"
For stickin' to our roots
I'm just glad we're in a Church
Where we're all free to choose
I was Traditional, when Traditional wasn't cool

(Repeat chorus)

Yeah, I was Traditional when Traditional wasn't cool

Recent Finding: Catholic Education Outperforms Public Education with Less Dollars

2011-02-12T01:16:00.000-08:00

News Report points out the achievement of Catholic Schools, yet again, over unionized public schools (click here for video).

The Dangers of Abortion Revealed by Philadelphia Abortion Clinic

2011-01-23T21:05:00.000-08:00

Abortions have always posed a serious risk to the mother. The pro-choice movement has, for long, attempted to deny and silence this fact. However, a medical malpractice lawsuit has surfaced against an abortion doctor in Philadelphia. An AP article seems to implicitly blame pro-lifers, but in reality actually confirms the pro-life movements' warnings about the danger of abortion, both inside and out (remarks of mine added in red):

"When Davida Johnson walked into Dr. Kermit Gosnell's clinic to get an abortion in 2001, she saw what she described as dazed women sitting in dirty, bloodstained recliners. As the abortion got under way, she had a change of heart — but claims she was forced by the doctor to continue. (this is the leftists' and moral relativists' idea of "choice")
"I said, 'I don't want to do this,' and he smacked me. They tied my hands and arms down and gave me more medication," Johnson told The Associated Press. (and the American left wants the nation to fear the pro-life movement and accuse the pro-life movement of disenfranchising women?)
Johnson, then 21, had a 3-year-old daughter when she became pregnant again. She said she first went to Planned Parenthood in downtown Philadelphia but was frightened away by protesters. (frightened by a peaceful group with signs and rosary beads in hand? sounds like her conscience was pricked)
"The picketers out there, they just scared me half to death," Johnson, now 30, recalled this week. (abortion is something to fear, unfortunately Johnson didn't heed her own conscience)
Someone sent her to Gosnell's West Philadelphia clinic (what a pal), at the Women's Medical Society, saying anti-abortion protesters wouldn't be a problem there. (too bad protesters weren't there, Johnson could have had a change of heart there as well and avoid the gynecological problems she subsequently received from the abortion)
. . . Gosnell was charged last week with killing seven babies born alive and with the 2009 death of a 41-year-old refugee after a botched abortion at the clinic, which prosecutors have called a drug mill by day and abortion mill by night. The medical practice alone netted him at least $1.8 million a year, much of it in cash, they say.
Prosecutors said uncounted hundreds more babies died there.
"(He) regularly and illegally delivered live, viable babies in the third trimester of pregnancy and then murdered these newborns by severing their spinal cords with scissors," (not much different than partial birth abortion which was banned in 2007 with President Bush's signed ban (the ban was opposed by NARAL): "Partial-Birth Abortion is a procedure in which the abortionist pulls a living baby feet-first out of the womb and into the birth canal (vagina), except for the head, which the abortionist purposely keeps lodged just inside the cervix (the opening to the womb). The abortionist punctures the base of the baby’s skull with a surgical instrument, such as a long surgical scissors or a pointed hollow metal tube called a trochar. He then inserts a catheter (tube) into the wound, and removes the baby's brain with a powerful suction machine. This causes the skull to collapse, after which the abortionist completes the delivery of the now-dead baby.") said a report of the grand jury that investigated Gosnell and his clinic for a year.
The grand jury said while it believes Gosnell killed most of the babies he aborted after 24 weeks, it could not recommend murder charges for all of the cases.
"In order to constitute murder, the act must involve a baby who was born alive," the grand jury said, adding that it was stymied by files that were falsified or removed and possibly destroyed. (there's nothing like showing personal pride in how you make your living)
"His entire practice showed nothing but a callous disdain for the lives of his patients," said the nearly 300-page grand jury report, released Wednesday. (not to mention the lives of his victims - talk about ignoring the elephant in the room)
. . . "His contempt for laws designed to protect patients' safety resulted in the death of Karnamaya Mongar," the refugee from Bhutan, the grand jury report said. (not to mention his contempt for the natural law)
Johnson never sued over the abortion or ensuing venereal disease, but 46 other parties have, including the family of 22-year-old Semika Shaw, who prosecutors said died of sepsis at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in March 2002 two days after Gosnell perforated her uterus and cervix during an abortion."

Here lied hidden one abortion clinic that operated since at least 1993 when complaints about the clinic began pouring in. Setting aside the intrinsic evil of abortion just for a moment, we should ask the question, 'how many other clinics out there like this one have operated this way undetected for decades? Four? Twenty? One-hundred and twenty?' Now we should all be wondering about the risk to mothers of all abortions. There are clear physical and psychological consequences of abortions that damage the mother. Let's look at what abortion is and what it can do to the mother according to National Right to Life:

"abortion is the premature, willful, and violent penetration of a closed and safeguarded system -- a system in which nearly every cell, tissue and organ of a woman’s reproductive system has been specially transformed and activated to carry out the function of sustaining and nourishing the developing child. Not surprisingly, any violation of the integrity of that system can lead to serious complications. Physical problems range from hemorrhage and infection to sterility and even death. Psychological effects range from depression and mental trauma to divorce and even suicide.
NancyJo Mann is one of many who has experienced both kinds of complications. Infection and bleeding followed her abortion which eventually led to a hysterectomy. Recalling her experience, she said, "Beforehand, I liked myself. I had never entertained the idea of abortion. But the minute that needle went through my abdomen, I hated it, because I knew it could not be reversed. I wanted to scream, ‘Don’t do this to me!’"

The physical complications are alarming:

Despite the use of local anesthesia, a full 97% of women having abortions reported experiencing pain during the procedure, [81] which more than a third described as "intense," [82] "severe" or "very severe." [83] Compared to other pains, researchers have rated the pain from abortion as more painful than a bone fracture, about the same as cancer pain, though not as painful as an amputation. [84]
Studies also reveal that younger women tend to find abortion more painful than do older adults, [85] and that patients typically found abortion more painful than their doctors or counselors expected. [86] The use of more powerful general anesthetics can reduce the pain, but significantly increases the risk of cervical injury or uterine perforation. [87]
Complications such as these are common, as are bleeding, hemorrhage,[88] laceration of the cervix, [89] menstrual disturbance, [90] inflammation of the reproductive organs, [91] bladder or bowel perforation, [92] and serious infection. [93]
Even more harmful long term physical complications from abortion may surface later. For example, overzealous currettage can damage the lining of the uterus and lead to permanent infertility. [94] Overall, women who have abortions face an increased risk of ectopic (tubal) pregnancy [95] and a more than doubled risk of future sterility. [96] Perhaps most important of all, the risk of these sorts of complications, along with risks of future miscarriage, increase with each subsequent abortion. [97]
There is strong evidence that abortion increases the risk of breast cancer. A study of more than 1,800 women appearing in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute in 1994 found that overall, women having abortions increased their risk of getting breast cancer before age 45 by 50%. For women under 18 with no previous pregnancies, having an abortion after the 8th week increased the risk of breast cancer 800%. Women with a family history of breast cancer fared even worse. All 12 women participating in the study who had abortions before 18 and had a family history of breast cancer themselves got cancer before age 45. [102]
Of course, death of the mother is the most serious of all complications. Over 200 women have died from legal abortions since 1973. [103] The risk of death increases according to the duration of pregnancy [104] and the complexity of the abortion technique employed. [105]" (National Right to Life: click here for references)

Then there is the psychological damage:

"Clinical research provides a growing body of scientific evidence that having an abortion can cause psychological harm to some women. "Women who report negative after-effects from abortion know exactly what their problem is," observed psychologist Wanda Franz, Ph.D., in a March 1989 congressional hearing on the impact of abortion. "They report horrible nightmares of children calling them from trash cans, of body parts, and blood," Franz told the Congressional panel. "When they are reminded of the abortion," Franz testified, "the women re-experienced it with terrible psychological pain ... They feel worthless and victimized because they failed at the most natural of human activities -- the role of being a mother."[106]
The emergence of chemical abortion methods poses a new possibly more devastating psychological threat. Unlike surgical abortions, in which women rarely see the cut up body parts, women having chemical abortions often do see the complete tiny bodies of their unborn children and are even able to distinguish the child’s developing hands, eyes, etc. [107] So traumatic is this for some women that both patients and researchers involved in these studies have recommended that women unprepared for the experience of seeing their aborted children not take the drugs. [108] Long-term psychological implications of this experience have not been studied.
Researchers on the after-effects of abortion have identified a pattern of psychological problems known as Post-Abortion Syndrome (PAS). Women suffering PAS may experience drug and alcohol abuse, personal relationship disorders, sexual dysfunction, repeated abortions, communications difficulties, damaged self-esteem, and even attempt suicide. Post-Abortion Syndrome appears to be a type of pattern of denial which may last for five to ten years before emotional difficulties surface. [109]
Now that some clinicians have established that there is an identifiable patterns to PAS, they face a new challenge. What is still unknown is how widespread psychological problems are among women who have had abortions. A Los Angeles Times survey in 1989 found that 56% of women who had abortions felt guilty about it, and 26% "mostly regretted the abortion."[110] Clinicians’ current goal should be to conduct extensive national research studies to obtain data on the psychological after-effects of abortion.[111]
With the growing awareness of Post Abortion Syndrome in scholarly and clinical circles, women with PAS can expect to receive a more sensitive appreciation of the suffering that they endure. Fortunately, a growing network of peer support groups of women who have had abortions offers assistance to women who are experiencing emotional difficulties.
Many post-abortive women have also been speaking out publicly about their own abortion experiences and the healing process they went through.. Women or family members seeking information about this particular outreach can contact American Victims of Abortion, 419 7th Street, NW, Suite 500, Washington, D.C., 20004.
(National Right to Life: click here for references)

So news of harm to mothers from abortion is coming as a surprise to Americans with this latest case only because the media, pro-choice politicians, and Planned Parenthood have all done their job extremely well for decades of suppressing the statistics and scuttling the facts. Let's hope and pray that the news headlines will bring awareness to the deep-seated festering cancer in our country of abortion.

The Racial Genocide of Abortion

2011-01-17T12:38:00.000-08:00

According to the Guttmacher Institute, Planned Parenthood's research and statistical arm, the abortion industry continues to target African Americans. According to an article from LifeNews,

As the nation pauses today to remember the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., black Americans face a racial threat from a much different source than the ones King confronted: abortion.

. . . The Census Bureau, as of 2009, indicates black Americans comprise 12.4 percent of the total population of the United States, but Guttmacher’s new numbers reveal approximately 30 percent of the abortions in the United States are done on black women.

Global Warming Claim Continues to Contradict Data

2010-12-30T11:29:00.000-08:00

From a Drudge Report article:

BRITAIN’S winter is the coldest since 1683 and close to being the chilliest in nearly 1,000 years.

Latest figures reveal that the average temperature since December 1 has been a perishing -1C.

That makes it the second coldest since records began in 1659.

The chilliest on record was 1683/84, when the average was -1.17C and the River Thames froze over for two months.

But with January and February to come, experts believe we could suffer the most freezing cold winter in the last 1,000 years.

Pope's England Address on Christmas Eve

2010-12-24T08:19:00.000-08:00

In the UK's Radio 4 Thought for the Day program on Christmas Eve, Pope Benedict made an appearance to address the people of England, Scotland, and Wales. Click here for video.

One message of Christmas hope for us all is when he pointed out that God is the source of our joy when he said:

"Let us give thanks to God for his goodness to us, and let us joyfully proclaim to those around us the good news that God offers us freedom from whatever weighs us down; he gives us hope, he brings us life."

And encourages our trust in Him when he reminded us:

"God is always faithful to his promises but He often surprises us in the way He fulfills them."

NASA Reveals Yet More Proof Solar Activity on Grander Scale than SUV's

2010-12-13T19:50:00.000-08:00

Liberals, who want to control our lives based on their pet theories, still refuse to acknowledge nature in that the sun and not the SUV is bigger than our planet - no front page news except to leftist idealogs. The article (with accompanying video) as reported by NASA stated:

"The August 1st event really opened our eyes," says Karel Schrijver of Lockheed Martin’s Solar and Astrophysics Lab in Palo Alto, CA. "We see that solar storms can be global events, playing out on scales we scarcely imagined before."

The Saga Continues: More Troubles in the Modern American Catholic Church

2010-12-11T10:59:00.000-08:00

Today's headline reads, "Nun Accused of Embezzling $850,000 from College, Then Gambling It Away in Atlantic City".

The Fox News story states that the nun is

cloistered at the Sisters for St. Joseph Order near Philadelphia. Part of its mission statement is "to raise consciousness about all forms of poverty."

Looking at the picture in the article, one could ask, where is her veil and why isn't she truly cloistered with her Order or raising consciousness about poverty? With this headline, she certainly is raising that consciousness now. The only good that might come from this story is that it shines a light on modernism and all its misguided expectations. So I'm taking yet another easy opportunity to expose just one of the countless failures of modernism.

One of modernism's victims was the traditional religious habit. Nuns wear a habit and a veil. It sets them apart from the world which the religious person has publicly renounced. The habit is a reminder to the religious and to the world that their mission is not the world, but the spiritual salvation of souls for a supernatural world in Heaven. Their mission is spiritual, other worldly, in the world but not of this world. Anything otherwise suggests worldliness which endangers the mission, confuses the world, and confuses the religious. So much so, that it leads to nuns embezzling money meant to promote this spiritual mission and gamble it away in the very environment the religious initially dedicated themselves to counter against.

The religious completely give their lives to Christ, both within and without. The habit does not just represent a symbolic giving of oneself to God. It is the physical shedding of the world and putting on the garment of Christ. Once a nun ditches her habit for secular garb she is no longer publicly identifying herself to the world as Christ's very own. The world won't recognize her as a religious. So if the world won't recognize the commitment a nun declared in her vows, why should the nun?

Over time ditching the habit or the veil would erode the religious person's spiritual fabric of being Christ's exclusive lover. Bishop Fulton Sheen would agree that what is expressed outwardly represents what is stirring inwardly. Seeing American nuns without veils or habits represents a larger scale tug of war within the modern American Catholic Church. The American Church can't decide which lover to choose. Christ or the world. This seems to be the issue in practically all of the Church's modern-day controversies. We need to reflect inwardly and ask ourselves this Advent, is Christ our focus or is the world winning the tug of war? St. John Vianney reminds us:

"You either belong wholly to the world, or wholly to God."

Je Suis L'Immaculee Conception

2010-12-05T22:47:00.000-08:00

Source: flickr.com

"I am the Immaculate Conception"

These words, spoken on March 25, 1858, the Marian Feast of the Annunciation to St. Bernadette Soubirous of Lourdes, France changed the course of history forever.

Here are a couple of musical scores by Franz Biebl and Josquin des Pres in honor of Mary Mother of the True God Immaculately Conceived:

Josquin des Pres (c. 1440-1521) Missa Mater Patris

The lyrics to Josquin's Ave Maria comprises one of the most touching hymns to Our Lady.

Hail Mary, full of grace,
The Lord is with thee, gentle Virgin.
Hail, thou whose Conception,
Full of solemn joy,
Fills heaven and earth
With new gladness.
Hail, thou whose Nativity
Became our great celebration,
As the light-bringing rising light
Coming before the true sun.
Hail, blessed humility,
Fertility without man,
Whose Annunciation
Was our salvation.
Hail, true virginity,
Immaculate chastity,
Whose Purification
Was our cleansing.
Hail, glorious one
In all angelic virtures,
Whose Assumption
Was our glorification.
O Mother of God,
Remember me.
Amen.

Pope Approves Condoms?

2010-12-02T22:48:00.000-08:00

American Papist put together this clever Xtranormal computerized scene between two homies on the tram discussing the Pope's remarks about condoms. Caution - Not for Children or Immature Adults:

Is Glenn Beck the Anti-Christ?

2010-11-30T22:42:00.000-08:00

With all his end times anxiety, it's occurring to me that Glenn Beck is simply just a cult leader. Not just a religious cult leader of the religion of Beck, but moreover another false prophet and another antiChrist. Yep, I said that. While claiming to follow Christ, Beck seems to blatantly ignore His teachings.

Christ's own words seem to contradict Glenn Beck's end times podium.

Christ:

"Therefore I say unto you, be not anxious for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than the food, and the body than the raiment? Behold the birds of the heaven, that they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not ye of much more value then they? And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit unto the measure of his life? And why are ye anxious concerning raiment? . . . But if God doth so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Be not therefore anxious, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek; for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first his kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Be not therefore anxious for the morrow: for the morrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." (Matthew 6)

I'm waiting for Beck to predict, like his cult leader predecessors, the date and time of the end of the world. Like Ahmadinejad, and other cult leaders throughout the history of modern man, Glenn Beck appears to want to whip up end time anxiety in order to draw all people to himself. Just an observation.

Mass for Deceased Cardinals and Bishops

2010-11-18T00:00:00.000-08:00

Overheard in the Sacristy had this great post regarding a beautiful tradition in the Church. The Vatican offers a Mass for the departed souls of cardinals and bishops each year during the month of November dedicated to the holy souls. Read the article Here.

St. Gertrude (Feast Day Nov. 16) Prayer for the Holy Souls

2010-11-16T00:00:00.000-08:00

St. Gertrude's Prayer for the Holy Souls

Our Lord told St. Gertrude the Great that the following prayer would release 1000 souls from Purgatory each time it is said:

'Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the Masses said throughout the world today, for all the holy souls in Purgatory. Amen.'

Fr. John Hardon explains the devotion to the Poor Souls.

Traditional Latin Mass of Thanksgiving

2010-11-13T00:51:00.000-08:00

The Four Ends of Sacrifice:

Adoration, Thanksgiving, Reparation, Prayer

Thanksgiving: To give thanks to God for His benefits. "Put in one heap," says St. Leonard of Port Maurice, "all the gifts, all the graces, you have received from God - so many gifts of nature and of grace; yes, the very life, too, of His Son Jesus, and His death suffered for us, which in themselves immeasurably swell the great debt which we owe to God - and how shall we ever be able sufficiently to thank Him? The law of gratitude is observed by the very beasts, who sometimes change their cruel anger into gentle homage to their benefactors; and how much more, of course, has this law not to be observed by man, gifted as he is with reason and so nobly endowed by the divine liberality!

"Now, the way most fully to thank our good God - our supreme benefactor - is taught us by the Royal Psalmist, holy David, who , led by divine inspirations to speak with mysterious references to this divine sacrifice, indicates that nothing can sufficiently render the thanks which are due to God, excepting holy Mass: 'I will uplift on high the chalice of the Lord,' that is, I will offer a sacrifice most grateful to Him, and with this alone I shall satisfy the debt of so many and such signal benefits . . . He Himself also gave us the example when, in the last supper, before the act of consecration in that first Mass, He raised His eyes to heaven, and gave thanks to His heavenly Father: 'Elevatis oculis in coelum, Tibi gratias agens fregit'. " (1)

Prayer

God, of Whose mercies there is no number, and of Whose goodness the treasure is infinite; we render thanks to Thy most gracious Majesty for the gifts Thou has bestowed upon us, evermore beseeching Thy clemency, that as Thou grant the petitions of them that ask Thee, thou will never forsake them, but will prepare the reward to come. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who lives and reigns with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.

Secret

Receive as a sweet savor, O Lord, this sacrifice of thanksgiving: do Thou in the future shield from all harm those whom until now Thou has been pleased to hear and to save: and grant that they may serve Thee better and love Thee more. Through our Lord.

Post Communion

O God, Who suffers no one that hopes in Thee to be over afflicted, but listens kindly to their prayers: we thank Thee for having heard our prayers and granted our desires, and devoutly entreat Thee that what we have received may make us worthy to be delivered from all adversities. Through our Lord.

(1) Lassance, Rev. F. X.; 1945; The New Roman Missal; p. 18-19.

November 11 - Veterans Day Prayer for Deceased Veterans

2010-11-11T14:40:00.001-08:00

Many departed world war two veterans have no one to pray for them. Let us remember them in our prayers this Veteran's Day so that we may meet them in Heaven to thank them for their service.

PRAYER FOR DECEASED VETERANS

"O God, by whose mercy the faithful departed find rest, look kindly on your departed veterans who gave their lives in the service of their country. Grant that through the passion, death, and resurrection of your Son they may share in the joy of your heavenly kingdom and rejoice in you with your saints forever. We ask this through Christ our Lord."*

Purgatory is God's merciful plan for those who because, although imperfect, their virtue, acts of charity towards their neighbor, or sincere devotion Him did not deserve punishment of an eternity without the Beatific Vision of God in Heaven. Let us then pray for all departed veterans this Veteran's Day.

Mansions of the Lord

"To fallen soldiers let us sing,
Where no rockets fly nor bullets wing,
Our broken brothers let us bring
To the Mansions of the Lord

No more weeping,
No more fight,
No friends bleeding through the night,
Just Devine embrace,
Eternal light,
In the Mansions of the Lord

Where no mothers cry
And no children weep,
We shall stand and guard
Though the angels sleep,
Oh, through the ages let us keep
The Mansions of the Lord"**

* CatholicOnline
** landsed1@yahoo.com for lyrics

Fr. Gonzales also offers another Veteran's Day Prayer at his site: Overheard in the Sacristy

Daily November Devotion for the Holy Souls in Purgatory

2010-10-31T00:42:00.000-07:00

Daily Prayers for the Holy Souls in Purgatory

Prayer for Sunday

O Lord God Almighty, I pray thee, by the Precious Blood which thy Divine Son Jesus shed in the garden, deliver the Souls in Purgatory and especially that soul amongst them all which is most destitute of spiritual aid; and vouchsafe to bring it to thy glory, there to praise and bless thee forever. Amen.