Wszechmogący Boże, za wstawieniem się św. Konstancji wszystkim dziewicom, które czystość ślubowały, udziel tej łaski, aby wiernie ślubów boskiemu Oblubieńcowi dochowały, i z płonącymi lampami cnót, stawiły się na niebieskie gody. Amen.
Stanley Hauerwas, the Gilbert T. Rowe Professor of Theological Ethics at Duke University, published an article in the May 1995 issue of First Things.
I would like to reflect on Hauerwas’ article Preaching As Though We Had Enemies which was cited on the Pontifications Blog.
Who told you you have the right to be who you are?
That is why the saints are so powerful and so distressing at the same time. They did not make up who they are. They allowed God His rightful place. God designed, fashioned, changed, and converted them. He destroyed them utterly, and made them nothing, so He could make them everything.
As Christians and particularly as Catholic Christians we are at war. It is a war of two fronts.
We are at war within ourselves to be sure.
That war is defined by our need to maintain our own identity in the face of becoming what God calls us to be. At a deeper level it is our need to analyze and define what God calls us to be rather than letting God’s Word and His Church define it. When you claim the name Christian your right to self determination is gone. You are not a member of a democracy and the civil notion of freedom is a falsehood.
The root of sin is self will. It is your will apart from God’s will.
As a Christian you are called to allow yourself to be emptied and to have enough faith and trust to allow God to fill you. You are called to subjugate your will to His will.
God has the right to define you. Furthermore, Jesus gave that right to the Church. That right is not yours or mine individually. He gave the Church the sacraments, most especially the sacraments defining membership through baptism, strengthening the members in the Spirit, nourishing the members in the Eucharist, and teaching them through the Word.
The Church then is your starting point. It is the place where you surrender and are incorporated. You surrender yourself to fulfilling what God’s Word and the teaching of the Church demand of you. By doing so God readies you to be a soldier of Christ.
As a corporate body, we the Church are at war with the world. Christianity, at least in the fist 300 years or so lived that war. Remember the martyrs and evangelists? Once Christianity became the state religion the war’s front changed. But remember Jesus called us to be in the world not of the world.
In the discourse in John 17 Jesus tells us:
And now I will no longer be in the world, but they are in the world, while I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are.
And Jesus says:
But now I am coming to you. I speak this in the world so that they may share my joy completely.
I gave them your word, and the world hated them, because they do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world.
As the state religion Christians had an easy go. For about 1,500 years we’ve held say and sway over the world. We almost became part of the world, and on occasion, by all outward signs, we were of the world. However, as Jesus promised, the Holy Spirit has remained with His Church and has not allowed this.
The paradigm, as they say, has shifted. The state religion is freedom. The last 200 years has been a steady progression in self will.
Define yourself, be what you want to be. Sculpt your body, adorn yourself, most of all never question anyone’s self determination. Don’t want to have a baby, kill it. Don’t want to die in pain, kill yourself. Most of all never question anyone’s reasons or motivations. Live and let live.
Carpe Diem, quam minimum credula postero. Latin for seize the day, put no trust in tomorrow.
We fall into that trap. We say, —Well I don’t really like that, but as long as they keep it to themselves its ok.— We apply that to everything from peoples’ style of dress and music to homosexual behaviors and abortion.
But, that is not what you are called to do as a soldier of Christ. You are called to challenge the world, the government, and your neighbors.
It is not ok.
The preaching Hauerwas speaks of is not mine or simply the clergy’s. It is each of us, each of us preaching by example. We must each live the life of Christ in word, deed, and action.
He said:
Put differently, the project of modernity was to produce people who believe they should have no story except the story they choose when they have no story … That story and the institutions that embody it is the enemy we must attack through Christian preaching.
How to go about it? First, live the Christian life. Live Christ’s story for it is real and it is all truth. Start by making a Lenten resolution to exercise your faith. Pray, make frequent trips to receive the sacraments, come to devotions. Surround yourself with Christ.
Surround yourself in the home. Dust off that old crucifix —“ the one with the Jesus nailed to the cross, and put it in a prominent place. Pray before and after meals. Pray when you wake and go to sleep. Pray as a family. Read scripture and good books that edify the Christian faith. In the old days these were called spiritual exercises —“ and for a reason.
Second, do not stand for sin. Turn off the TV. Stay away from the movies and music. Dress conservatively. Speak the name of Jesus in public. Put a Bible on your desk at work. When someone mentions how they think so and so has a right, say that you don’t think so. Say, that’s not what the Church teaches. Speak your witness.
Keep Jesus words in mind:
“If the world hates you, keep in mind it hated me first…you do not belong to this world”. (John 15:18-19)
You have no right to call yourself Christian and remain who you are. You are called to constant conversion. You are called to regeneration in the Spirit. You are called to preach His name and His Word. You are called to:
Go, therefore, and make disciples from all nations. Baptize them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to fulfill all that I have commanded you.
Panie Jezu Chryste udziel nam swej łaski, abyśmy idąc śladami św. Flawiana, porzucili oschłość, oziębłość i obojętność dla religji, i dopomóż nam, abyśmy wytrwale broniąc katolickiej wiary, a idąc drogą cnoty, doszli do Ciebie, który jesteś Szczęściem, Dobrem i Prawda. Amen.
The title comes from one of the myriad of sites out there that criticize Scientology. The quote is very appropriate due to the recent Hollywood (the golden gates of hell) news about Scientology advocate Tom Cruise and his mistress Katie Holmes.
In Hollywood it’s always the same story, fictional drama and the utter disregard for anything remotely human. Hollywood is about money, pleasure, having it your way – at any cost. It is an overwhelmingly tedious cycle of behavior repeated by most actors and actresses.
In case you haven’t followed the ranting and raving of these Hollywood ‘elites’, Cruise and Holmes, here’s the rundown.
Cruise was twice married, first to actresses Mimi Rogers then to actress Nicole Kidman. Both marriages ended in divorce.
Holmes had a five year ‘relationship’ with actor Chris Klein. Holmes dropped Klein calling off their engagement.
As part of a movie publicity stunt, Tom Cruise went after Katie Holmes making an extremely flamboyant show of it all.
In quick succession they announced they had found the love of their life (meaning they had a high of good feelings for all of 10 seconds) and moved in together. Holmes gave up her nominal Catholic faith for scientology and quickly became pregnant with yet another of Hollywood’s illegitimate children.
Now it appears that the ‘relationship’ is ‘falling apart’.
The following are excerpts from a story at the Brisbane Courier-Mail by Edith Bevin.
If Tom’s playing charades it’s a dangerous game
HOLLYWOOD giant Tom Cruise yesterday put paid to claims his relationship with fellow actor Katie Holmes was on the rocks when the couple flew into Sydney aboard a private jet.
But US-based Life & Style magazine is adamant its story, published this week, that Holmes and Cruise had split and called off their wedding is true.
“We stand 100 per cent behind our story,” a magazine representative said.
Hollywood cynics insist the magazine’s claims of a split is [sic] true, and Holmes’s trip to Australia is part of an elaborate charade to “prove” the two are still together.
Now here’s the crux of the matter:
If it was just a publicity stunt, it was a dangerous one, with most airlines recommending women do not fly when they are more than 36 weeks pregnant.
Holmes, 16 years Cruise’s junior, is seven or eight months pregnant with their first child.
Sydney obstetrician Dr Ric Porter said the two major risks of flying when so heavily pregnant were going into premature labour and the potentially fatal deep-vein thrombosis.
“You’re more susceptible to clots, especially on long-haul flights like Los Angles to Sydney,” he said.
Publicity and career trump the life of mother and child. Holmes should have stuck with Catholicism. If she had genuine faith and trust in the Lord she would have been able to stand up to her ranting misogynistic ‘lover’.
The couple have taken the unusual step of issuing a statement denying they have split.
“It should be known that the story is 100 per cent false,” the couple’s publicist Arnold Robinson said in the statement.
“Mr Cruise and Ms Holmes are still engaged and are moving forward with their wedding plans, as well as planning for the arrival of their child.”
Life & Style quotes two unnamed friends of Cruise as saying the public pair “plan to keep up the charade of their romance until after their baby’s birth this spring”.
“So right now they’re together but not together. It’s a really weird situation and unhealthy for both of them,” one of the friends is quoted as saying.
…
More like unhealthy for humanity.
By the way —“ isn’t scientology just Gnosticism? What do you think? For a primer check out Carolina Christian Conservative on the issue.
Za wstawieniem się św. Julianny, panny i męczenniczki, użycz nam dobrotliwy Boże twej pomocy, abyśmy pokusy złego ducha natychmiast poznali, i z całą stanowczością odrzuciwszy, od Twej miłości nigdy rozłączonymi nie byli. Amen.
February 16th is the 53rd Anniversary of the death of the organizer and first bishop of the Polish National Catholic Church, Francis Hodur.
My thoughts on this day focus on thanksgiving for this man of Christ. I thank our Lord Jesus Christ for everything he experienced, for every blessing and hardship he received. Each of these made him the servant of God that he was. They built his character as well as the mental and physical fortitude that allowed him to proclaim God’s Word across the globe.
He knew poverty because he was poor. He knew the desire for education because it had been denied to him for ten years. He knew hard work because he worked hard. He knew struggle because he struggled. He knew persecution because he had been persecuted. He knew the sweetness of freedom because he and his people had been denied freedom. Most of all he knew Jesus Christ because throughout it all Jesus was his focus and his goal.
I love reading his works and his homilies. His talks, the minutes of meetings and synods in which he played a key role, each speak of a man of God who wanted only to connect the poor to the love of God.
On this day I reflect on the events of 1897. A group of disaffected and brokenhearted parishioners from Scranton, Pennsylvania showed up at the door of his parish in Nanticoke, Pennsylvania.
I can see the faces of these people. They were definitely not wealthy. They were poor coal miners and laborers, housewives. All of them were regular people.
Nanticoke is about thirty miles from Scranton. The distance is not easy. It is hilly and rugged. This is 1897. There were no cars or buses. They were poor so the idea of using a horse or carriage was beyond their means. They probably walked. They had to get there and get back because the mine and factory whistle didn’t wait.
They stood there and asked to see Father Francis. He invited them inside. He listened to them.
They sacrificed so much so that the body and blood of our Lord could reside in a beautiful place. They gave up their pennies so that God might be glorified. For their sacrifice they had been mocked, laughed at, physically beaten, dragged to prison, and locked out. Their blood was not only in the walls of the church, it was upon the walls.
They sat around the table by candle light. Father Francis listened to them. He said, I will bring Christ to you. Like Christ, I will serve you and I will help you.
Father Hodur did not serve them by pandering to the people. He did not serve up an easily digestible meal. He called them to the things of God. He called them commit to Christ and to build the kingdom. He told them to study, to learn, to be self-reliant. He held them accountable for their sins and steered them back to Christ whenever they veered.
Father Francis not only called on them to do things, but provided for the means by which Christ’s work was to be done.
Father Francis did not believe in a half-way God. He believed in God; the one, the almighty, the ageless. He maintained them in the catholic faith. He built churches to the honor of Jesus’ name. He founded institutions of learning, fellowship, and mutual support. He taught the people and informed them. Most of all he worked with them. Christ always in front, the clergy and the people following Him and tending to God’s field.
Thank you Lord Jesus.
Thank you for the gift that Bishop Hodur was for us.
Thank you for the gift and charism that he is today.
As he was faithful to You, may we be faithful.
As he taught may we teach.
As he served, may we serve.
May the Holy Clergy following in his footsteps be inspired by his example.
May Your clergy and Your people work together,
Reborn, regenerated, and committed to Your Kingdom.
Amen.
O Boże, któryś św. Faustynowi i Jowicie użyczył mocy do zniesienia najrozmaitszych męczarni w obronie prawdziwej religji, udziel nam tej łaski abyśmy zachęceni ich przykładem, religję naszą katolicką śmiało wyznawali i według jej przepisów żyli. Amen.
From Knight Ridder by William Douglas – White House blames the man Cheney shot
WASHINGTON – The White House blamed the 78-year-old man whom Vice President Cheney shot during a weekend quail hunting trip in Texas for the incident, as officials struggled Monday to explain why they waited nearly 24 hours before making the news public.
…
Several hunting experts were skeptical of McClellan’s explanation. They said Cheney might have violated a cardinal rule of hunting: Know your surroundings before you pull the trigger.
“Particularly identify the game that you are shooting and particularly identify your surroundings, that it’s safe to shoot,” said Mark Birkhauser, the incoming president of the International Hunter Education Association, a group of fish and wildlife agencies. “Every second, you’re adjusting your personal information that it is a safe area to shoot or it’s not a safe area to shoot.”
Safe-hunting rules published by the National Rifle Association and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department echo Birkhauser’s advice.
This is just sad… We expect our leaders to be examples of integrity and accountability. It’s called taking responsibility, not obfuscation.
Should we expect the same from government employees, businesses, and welfare recipients? No, we expect responsibility and accountability from them.
So it goes…
It seems like the initial Western reaction to the most recent Muslim extremism has passed into the humor and satire phase.
Thankfully, we are allowed to laugh. Unfortunately our humor will be short lived because such extremism doesn’t react well with human traits, kind of like a Star Trek matter-anti matter episode (Episode: The Alternative Factor. Pertinent quote from Mr. Spock: “Madness has no purpose. Or reason. But it may have a goal.”)
Anyway, a recent blog posting and editorial make my point:
St. Jimbob of the Apokalypse in his blog Shaking Off Sleep has a posting on Invoking Muhammad (Lord, have mercy on us)
In almost all Islamic adherents, I’ve noticed that they immediately append a blessing when invoking the name of Muhammad, saying —Peace be upon him—. In print, the name of Muhammad is followed by (Peace be upon him), or the acronym (pbuh).
I’ve got another idea.
Muhammad’s sins grieve our Father no more than our own sins, though his may be more notorious. So, I propose a protocol of praying for God’s mercy every time Muhammad’s name is invoked, reminding us to pray for his soul, along with the conversion of those who follow in his footsteps. Immediately append a (Lord, have mercy on us), shortened to (Lhmou) subsequently…
I won’t reprint excerpts from the editorial here. A little too off-color for my blog, but you might want to check out The Q***r Muhammad: an experiment in tolerance by Mike S. Adams over at townhall.com.