Moreover, to distinguish still more clearly between them, we have, against the fear of office, a possible help in the law of obedience, inasmuch as God in His goodness rewards our faith, and makes a perfect ruler of the man who has confidence in Him, and places all his hopes in Him; but against the danger of disobedience I know of nothing which can help us, and of no ground to encourage our confidence. For it is to be feared that we shall have to hear these words concerning those who have been entrusted to us: I will require their souls at your hands; and, Because ye have rejected me, and not been leaders and rulers of my people, I also will reject you, that I should not be king over you; and, As ye refused to hearken to My voice, and turned a stubborn back, and were disobedient, so shall it be when ye call upon Me, and I will not regard nor give ear to your prayer. God forbid that these words should come to us from the just Judge, for when we sing of His mercy we must also by all means sing of His judgment. — Paragraph 113.
For if it be granted, and this alone can be strongly asserted in such matters, that we are far too low to perform the priest’s office before God, and that we can only be worthy of the sanctuary after we have become worthy of the Church, and worthy of the post of president, after being worthy of the sanctuary, yet some one else may perhaps refuse to acquit us on the charge of disobedience. Now terrible are the threatenings against disobedience, and terrible are the penalties which ensue upon it; as indeed are those on the other side, if, instead of being reluctant, and shrinking back, and concealing ourselves as Saul did among his father’s stuff –although called to rule but for a short time– if, I say, we come forward readily, as though to a slight and most easy task, whereas it is not safe even to resign it, nor to amend by second thoughts our first.
On this account I had much toilsome consideration to discover my duty, being set in the midst betwixt two fears, of which the one held me back, the other urged me on. For a long while I was at a loss between them, and after wavering from side to side, and, like a current driven by inconstant winds, inclining first in this direction, then in that, I at last yielded to the stronger, and the fear of disobedience overcame me, and has carried me off. Pray, mark how accurately and justly I hold the balance between the fears, neither desiring an office not given to me, nor rejecting it when given. The one course marks the rash, the other the disobedient, both the undisciplined. My position lies between those who are too bold, or too timid; more timid than those who rush at every position, more bold than those who avoid them all. This is my judgment on the matter. — Paragraph 111 and 112.
On May 23rd Holy Mass was offered at St. Stanislaus Bishop and Martyr Cathedral in commemoration of the martyrdom of Jerome Savonarola, and to mark the closing of the Savonarola Theological Seminary’s 100th academic year.
In honor of this event God’s Field, the Official Organ of the Polish National Catholic Church published the following prayer, which Savonarola prayed prior to his martyrdom while holding the Holy Eucharist in his hands.
Lord, I know that You are the true God, Creator of the world and of humanity. I know that You are the perfect Trinity, indivisible and inseparable, distinct in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I know that You are the everlasting Word, that came down to earth in the womb of the Virgin Mary, and was crucified to shed Your Precious Blood for us miserable sinners.
I beseech You, Lord, I beseech You, my Savior, I beseech You, my Creator, that the Precious Blood shall not have been shed in vain for me, but will be for the remission of all my sins, for which I ask Your forgiveness, from the day on which I received holy baptism until the present time; and I confess my sinfulness to You, Lord. And therefore, I ask Your forgiveness for anything in which I have offended this city and this people, in spiritual and temporal matters, and for everything in which I may have erred without knowing it.
And I humbly beg forgiveness of all these people here present, and ask that they may pray to God for me, that He may give me strength at my last end, and that the Enemy may have no power over me. Amen.
Shall many die for a another country’s whim? From today’s Washington Post: Pushing Bush to Attack Iran
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is expected to use his White House visit today to push President Bush to take a more aggressive approach toward Iran — and there are some signs that he’ll have a receptive audience.
Both Olmert and Bush are badly wounded and looking for salvation. Olmert is facing corruption allegations that could drive him from office. Bush is wildly unpopular, desperate to salvage his legacy and fighting irrelevance as the general election begins in earnest — with even the Republican candidate trying to keep him at a distance.
It’s in this environment that the Jewish Telegraph Agency reports: “Ehud Olmert will urge President Bush to prepare an attack on Iran, an Israeli newspaper reported.
“Citing sources close to the Israeli prime minister, Yediot Achronot reported on its front page Wednesday that Olmert, who is due to hold closed-door talks with Bush in Washington, will say that ‘time is running out’ on diplomatic efforts to curb Iran’s nuclear program.
“The United States should therefore prepare to attack Iran, Olmert will tell Bush, according to Yediot.”
Olmert certainly telegraphed as much in public last night. Matti Friedman writes for the Associated Press that “the Israeli prime minister told thousands of Israel supporters at the annual convention of the pro-Israel American Israel Public Affairs Committee on Tuesday that the Iranian threat ‘must be stopped by all possible means…’
I have a better solution. The truth. Iran is no threat beyond its own borders, and cannot even control several regions within its borders. It may be a thorn in Israel’s side, but that is their regional conflict, not ours.
Haven’t enough U.S. Service people died? Haven’t enough innocent bystanders died? Those (un)fortunate enough to have survived with horrific injuries will bear witness for decades. Do we want to add nuclear holocaust to our list of recent errors by nuking Iran (as administration officials are advocating, also see articles here and here)?
Those who will not learn from their mistakes, or who never acknowledge making a mistake, are doomed to repeat the mistake.
From the Australian: Former aide Scott McClellan attacks George W. Bush in book
At one point, Mr McClellan also discusses rumours of Mr Bush’s possible cocaine use in his younger days — a charge that dogged him on the campaign trail for the presidency in 1999. Despite public denials, Mr McClellan says Mr Bush told him privately he “could not remember” if he used it.
“I remember thinking to myself, how can that be?” Mr McClellan writes. “How can someone simply not remember whether or not they used an illegal substance like cocaine? It didn’t make a lot of sense.”
Mr Bush, he said, “isn’t the kind of person to flat-out lie.
“So I think he meant what he said in that conversation about cocaine. It’s the first time when I felt I was witnessing Bush convincing himself to believe something that probably was not true, and that, deep down, he knew was not true,” he writes.
“And his reason for doing so is fairly obvious – political convenience.”
He described this “penchant for self-deception” would have devastating consequences in the US’s foreign policy — saying Mr Bush was too “stubborn to change and grow” in the White House…
At least Ca’iaphas didn’t advocate wipping out an entire country…
First they led him to Annas; for he was the father-in-law of Ca’iaphas, who was high priest that year.
It was Ca’iaphas who had given counsel to the Jews that it was expedient that one man should die for the people.
In regard to the distribution of the word, to mention last the first of our duties, of that divine and exalted word, which everyone now is ready to discourse upon; if anyone else boldly undertakes it and supposes it within the power of every man’s intellect, I am amazed at his intelligence, not to say his folly. To me indeed it seems no slight task, and one requiring no little spiritual power, to give in due season to each his portion of the word, and to regulate with judgment the truth of our opinions, which are concerned with such subjects as the world or worlds, matter, soul, mind, intelligent natures, better or worse, providence which holds together and guides the universe, and seems in our experience of it to be governed according to some principle, but one which is at variance with those of earth and of men. — Paragraph 35.
Again, the healers of our bodies will have their labours and vigils and cares, of which we are aware; and will reap a harvest of pain for themselves from the distresses of others, as one of their wise men said; and will provide for the use of those who need them, both the results of their own labours and investigations, and what they have been able to borrow from others: and they consider none, even of the minutest details, which they discover, or which elude their search, as having other than an important influence upon health or danger. And what is the object of all this? That a man may live some days longer on the earth, though he is possibly not a good man, but one of the most depraved, for whom it had perhaps been better, because of his badness, to have died long ago, in order to be set free from vice, the most serious of sicknesses. But, suppose he is a good man, how long will he be able to live? Forever? Or what will he gain from life here, from which it is the greatest of blessings, if a man be sane and sensible, to seek to be set free?
But we, upon whose efforts is staked the salvation of a soul, a being blessed and immortal, and destined for undying chastisement or praise, for its vice or virtue,–what a struggle ought ours to be, and how great skill do we require to treat, or get men treated properly, and to change their life, and give up the clay to the spirit. For men and women, young and old, rich and poor, the sanguine and despondent, the sick and whole, rulers and ruled, the wise and ignorant, the cowardly and courageous, the wrathful and meek, the successful and failing, do not require the same instruction and encouragement. — Paragraph 27 and 28.
From Time Magazine: Perpetuating the al-Qaeda-Iraq Myth
In an interview with the Washington Post last week, CIA Director Michael Hayden claimed we’re beating al-Qaeda. As Hayden put it: “Near strategic defeat of al-Qaeda in Iraq. Near strategic defeat of al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia.”
I’ll defer to Hayden on Saudi Arabia, but when it comes to Iraq, Hayden betrayed his belief in the neo-con lie that Iraq was one of al-Qaeda’s bases before the 2003 invasion and still is today. Can no one drive a stake into a lie that suckered us into a war we didn’t need? Probably not.
A friend of mine at the White House complained to me the other day that the Bush administration and the Pentagon until this day believe we are fighting al-Qaeda in Iraq. They “stand up” al-Qaeda as the enemy in Iraq, he said, even behind closed doors. In the teeth of the facts, they ignore that the enemy we’re fighting in Iraq is a half a dozen homegrown insurgencies, an incipient civil war, and criminal gangs. They ignore the fact that although a handful of Osama bin Laden’s followers showed up in Iraq after the invasion, in a futile attempt to hijack the Sunni resistance, al-Qaeda is not the main enemy in that country.
It should be clear by now, but apparently it isn’t: al-Qaeda is an idea, a way of thinking. Al-Qaeda thinks the world is divided between believers and nonbelievers, and the believers are divinely obliged to destroy the nonbelievers. It is a simple idea that has attracted tens of thousands of Muslims, but it is neither a political prescription nor the makings of an army. The Sunni Arabs who drifted into Iraq after the invasion and the Iraqis who embraced al-Qaeda were never an organization. They were never an army. They were never the main enemy. They numbered, what, a couple of thousand? They nearly triggered a civil war, but even that they failed to accomplish.
The success we’re seeing today in Iraq has nothing to do with rooting out terrorist cells. What we’re seeing instead is a shriveling of grassroots support, Sunni Muslims turning against al-Qaeda and its messianic, dualistic way of looking at the world. It hasn’t gone unnoticed in the Middle East that al-Qaeda has killed more Muslims than nonbelievers. Or that al-Qaeda has failed to take an inch of ground in the name of Islam. With this kind of record how could the Iraqis not turn against al-Qaeda?
…So why should we now mischaracterize the enemy?
The tendency will be to leave it at the lie: We fought and beat al-Qaeda in Iraq. But it’s a lie we’ll pay for later. By mischaracterizing the enemy in Iraq, we mischaracterize the enemy in Pakistan. Whether the car bomb that destroyed the Danish embassy in Pakistan on Monday was the work of an actual member of al-Qaeda or not does not matter —” what does is that al-Qaeda’s way of thinking is not defeated.
A good testament against the lies we have been told and those who are perjuring themselves in perpetuating those lies. The fact that so many have suffered and died, that so much has been destroyed, including our economy, for no real purpose, is the lasting price of the lie. I personally hope that our country’s leadership finds a moment of clarity and leaves the lie behind, that they hold the liars accountable, and that they promote healing for the people of this country and of Iraq.
My quiz results:
| You are Spider-Man | |||
| Spider-man | 85% |  |
|
| Hulk | 80% | ||
| Green Lantern | 80% | ||
| Iron Man | 80% | ||
| Catwoman | 70% | ||
| Batman | 65% | ||
| Supergirl | 60% | ||
| Superman | 55% | ||
| The Flash | 50% | ||
| Robin | 40% | ||
| Wonder Woman | 25% | ||
| You are intelligent, witty, a bit geeky and have great power and responsibility. | |||
In the spirit of this post at Shuck and Jive: Why the Obamas Should Become Presbyterian, and a dose of good natured humor, I offer the following as reasons the Obama Family should become members of the PNCC:
- The PNCC was founded by immigrants, right here in the U. S. of A. We are 100% American, pluralistic, and respect and honor our immigrant ancestors.
- We were founded by hard working Americans who were Labor organizers and members. Labor will love that.
- We began in Scranton, PA (Hillary’s hometown 🙂 ), Buffalo, and Chicago. We are 100% in touch with our blue collar roots. These are the folks you need.
- We are One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic, and democratic in our governance. You can say that both you and your Church honor and protect the democratic process. A Democratic President from a democratic Church? Sounds good – right?
- We are Catholic, but no, not that kind. We’ve already had a Roman Catholic President so that’s less of an obstacle, and what are people going to say? They can’t say that Rome is ordering you around.
- Roman Catholics will recognize the fact that you believe what they believe (even though their Church might not).
- You get to attend very cool High Church liturgies. It’s really visual and looks great on TV – especially for your kids first communions and confirmations.
- Our Confession of Faith includes the following: I BELIEVE in immortality and everlasting happiness in eternity, in the union with God of all people, races and ages, because I believe in the Divine power of love, mercy and justice and for nothing else do I yearn, but that it may be to me according to my faith. People identify with that.
- We are constitutional.
- We don’t compromise on core beliefs. In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity. or words to that effect.
- We have the world’s greatest church cooks. All those fundraisers and long campaign nights will be more than bearable with a load of pierogi and golambki on the stove.
Folks from other Christian Churches – what would attract the Obama family to your Church? Any predictions?
This is why the heathen rage and the peoples imagine vain things; why tree is set over against tree, hands against hand, the one stretched out in self indulgence, the others in generosity; the one unrestrained, the others fixed by nails, the one expelling Adam, the other reconciling the ends of the earth. This is the reason of the lifting up to atone for the fall, and of the gall for the tasting, and of the thorny crown for the dominion of evil, and of death for death, and of darkness for the sake of light, and of burial for the return to the ground, and of resurrection for the sake of resurrection. All these are a training from God for us, and a healing for our weakness, restoring the old Adam to the place whence he fell, and conducting us to the tree of life, from which the tree of knowledge estranged us, when partaken of unseasonably, and improperly.
Of this healing we, who are set over others, are the ministers and fellow-labourers; for whom it is a great thing to recognise and heal their own passions and sicknesses: or rather, not really a great thing, only the viciousness of most of those who belong to this order has made me say so: but a much greater thing is the power to heal and skilfully cleanse those of others, to the advantage both of those who are in want of healing and of those whose charge it is to heal. — Paragraph 25 and 26.