Say it Ain't So Joe
http://www.askmen.com/love/vanessa_100/122_love_secrets.html
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Friday, March 28, 2008
What They Forgot To Tell You On The Road To Cana
Levels of Emotional Cheating-
Emotional Infidelity?
[Thrill of the Base: How to be a whore without taking your clothes off; crossing emotional intimacy lines with everyone without real commitment to anyone except yourself and maybe your mother and at times the occasional suggar momma or daddy who pays your bills]
Ever feel someone cheated on you without even taking so much as a sock off?
Ever feel completely disrespected by your man when he intently eyes another-fixing his brooding gaze longingly in the direction of another locked-lid lovely?
You may not be being a ditz-brain after all. He may be being a male slut- and totally dissing you.
Oh Where the Heck Art Thou Romeo.
http://www.isnare.com/?aid=57967&ca=Cheating
http://www.hubbynet.com/emotionalinf.htm
http://psychologytoday.com/articles/pto-3995.html
"...unconsummated....such delicious paradoxes make it every bit as dangerous as adultery." "Emotional Affairs resemble a sexually chaste dating relationship..."
http://www.crosswalk.com/marriage/1240735/
http://www.crosswalk.com/marriage/11570498/
A Rabbi speaks:
Emotional Infidelity?
[Thrill of the Base: How to be a whore without taking your clothes off; crossing emotional intimacy lines with everyone without real commitment to anyone except yourself and maybe your mother and at times the occasional suggar momma or daddy who pays your bills]
Ever feel someone cheated on you without even taking so much as a sock off?
Ever feel completely disrespected by your man when he intently eyes another-fixing his brooding gaze longingly in the direction of another locked-lid lovely?
You may not be being a ditz-brain after all. He may be being a male slut- and totally dissing you.
Oh Where the Heck Art Thou Romeo.
http://www.isnare.com/?aid=57967&ca=Cheating
http://www.hubbynet.com/emotionalinf.htm
http://psychologytoday.com/articles/pto-3995.html
"...unconsummated....such delicious paradoxes make it every bit as dangerous as adultery." "Emotional Affairs resemble a sexually chaste dating relationship..."
http://www.crosswalk.com/marriage/1240735/
http://www.crosswalk.com/marriage/11570498/
A Rabbi speaks:
http://www.amazon.com/Emotional-Infidelity-Affair-Proof-Marriage-Relationship/dp/0609810006
Thursday, March 27, 2008
A New Song
Princeton Seminary Receives Copies of Hymnbook from Jesus’ Time
In May Princeton Seminary became, according to PTS New Testament professor James H. Charlesworth, “a major documentary repository for the study of the Psalms of Solomon—a hymnbook from the time of Jesus and Hillel."
Robert B. Wright, professor in the religion department at Temple University, traveled the globe (including to London, Paris, Moscow, Vatican City, Athens, and Mt. Athos) taking and collecting photos from libraries and monasteries to compile the first full critical edition of this hymnbook, which will be published by Sheffield Academic Press. His work will enrich the research of students and faculty at Princeton who are focusing on the time of Hillel and Jesus—thanks to the following gift, which will be housed in the archives of Luce Library:
• 14 CDs with high-resolution images of the eleven Greek and five Syriac manuscripts of the Psalms of Solomon (manuscripts that were copied between the eleventh and sixteenth centuries).
• CDs containing approximately 350 color photographs of the manuscripts. Most of these manuscripts are now photographed in color for the first time. Wright’s archive is probably the only collection of ancient manuscripts that is available in high-resolution color images (some of the Dead Sea Scrolls are also now available with this quality; the PTS Dead Sea Scrolls Project has these).
• Twelve albums of 8 x 10 prints of the Greek and the Syriac manuscripts.
• About 150 supporting photographs, including, for example, the full text of de la Cerda’s 1626 edition of this pseudepigraphon (the first published edition, in Greek, with a Latin translation).
Robert B. Wright (middle) presents Psalms of Solomon material to PTS professor James H. Charlesworth (left) and PTS archivist Bill Harris.
Charlesworth explains the importance of the Psalms of Solomon, and thus access to these manuscripts, as follows:
In our Old Testament three documents are attributed to Solomon: The Song of Solomon, Proverbs of Solomon, and Ecclesiastes. In the Old Testament Apocrypha another work was known as the work of David’s son: The Wisdom of Solomon. In the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha three additional compositions were attributed to the wisest man in biblical history: the Testament of Solomon, the Odes of Solomon, and the Psalms of Solomon. Most experts claim that these poetic or wisdom books were attributed to Solomon—as an honor and because of the claim in 1 Kings 4:32 that Solomon composed 3000 proverbs and 1005 songs. In A.D. 240, Origen of Alexandria, however, claimed that ‘the Churches of God’ know nothing about these thousands of Solomonic songs (Cant.Cant Prologus 36). However, ancient collections of the Odes and Psalms attributed to Solomon have since been discovered.
Most scholars conclude that the Psalms of Solomon is a hymnbook composed in Hebrew, in Jerusalem, sometime shortly before the reign of Herod the Great (40-4 B.C.). This hymnbook is close to the type of Pharisaism Paul knew; in fact, he may have known this hymnbook and some of the traditions preserved in it.
The Psalms of Solomon is a singularly important document. Three aspects of this hymnbook are particularly impressive. First, it contains an eyewitness account of the Roman incursion into Jerusalem and the demise of the Roman general Pompey who brought Roman rule into Palestine:
And I did not wait long until God showed me his insolence
pierced on the mountains of Egypt,
more despised than the smallest thing on earth and sea.
His body was carried about on the waves in much shame,
and there was no one to bury (him),
for he (God) had despised him with contempt.
—Wright in The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, 2.653
Second, the work contains a reference to the Jewish belief in resurrection just before the time of Jesus of Nazareth:
This is the shame of sinners forever,
but those who fear the Lord shall rise up to eternal life,
and their life shall be in the Lord’s light, and it shall never end.
—Wright in The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, 2.655
Third, the composition contains perhaps the locus classicus for belief in a Davidic messiah, and it antedates by a few decades the Palestinian Jesus Movement:
See, Lord, and raise up for them their king,
the son of David, to rule over your servant Israel
in the time known to you, O God….
And he will be a righteous king over them, taught by God.
There will be no unrighteousness among them in his days,
for all shall be holy,
and their king shall be the Lord Messiah.
—Wright in The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, 2.667
Princeton faculty and students are thankful for this resource that, via CD-ROM, takes them a step closer to the ideas and beliefs of Jews during Jesus’ time.
In May Princeton Seminary became, according to PTS New Testament professor James H. Charlesworth, “a major documentary repository for the study of the Psalms of Solomon—a hymnbook from the time of Jesus and Hillel."
Robert B. Wright, professor in the religion department at Temple University, traveled the globe (including to London, Paris, Moscow, Vatican City, Athens, and Mt. Athos) taking and collecting photos from libraries and monasteries to compile the first full critical edition of this hymnbook, which will be published by Sheffield Academic Press. His work will enrich the research of students and faculty at Princeton who are focusing on the time of Hillel and Jesus—thanks to the following gift, which will be housed in the archives of Luce Library:
• 14 CDs with high-resolution images of the eleven Greek and five Syriac manuscripts of the Psalms of Solomon (manuscripts that were copied between the eleventh and sixteenth centuries).
• CDs containing approximately 350 color photographs of the manuscripts. Most of these manuscripts are now photographed in color for the first time. Wright’s archive is probably the only collection of ancient manuscripts that is available in high-resolution color images (some of the Dead Sea Scrolls are also now available with this quality; the PTS Dead Sea Scrolls Project has these).
• Twelve albums of 8 x 10 prints of the Greek and the Syriac manuscripts.
• About 150 supporting photographs, including, for example, the full text of de la Cerda’s 1626 edition of this pseudepigraphon (the first published edition, in Greek, with a Latin translation).
Robert B. Wright (middle) presents Psalms of Solomon material to PTS professor James H. Charlesworth (left) and PTS archivist Bill Harris.
Charlesworth explains the importance of the Psalms of Solomon, and thus access to these manuscripts, as follows:
In our Old Testament three documents are attributed to Solomon: The Song of Solomon, Proverbs of Solomon, and Ecclesiastes. In the Old Testament Apocrypha another work was known as the work of David’s son: The Wisdom of Solomon. In the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha three additional compositions were attributed to the wisest man in biblical history: the Testament of Solomon, the Odes of Solomon, and the Psalms of Solomon. Most experts claim that these poetic or wisdom books were attributed to Solomon—as an honor and because of the claim in 1 Kings 4:32 that Solomon composed 3000 proverbs and 1005 songs. In A.D. 240, Origen of Alexandria, however, claimed that ‘the Churches of God’ know nothing about these thousands of Solomonic songs (Cant.Cant Prologus 36). However, ancient collections of the Odes and Psalms attributed to Solomon have since been discovered.
Most scholars conclude that the Psalms of Solomon is a hymnbook composed in Hebrew, in Jerusalem, sometime shortly before the reign of Herod the Great (40-4 B.C.). This hymnbook is close to the type of Pharisaism Paul knew; in fact, he may have known this hymnbook and some of the traditions preserved in it.
The Psalms of Solomon is a singularly important document. Three aspects of this hymnbook are particularly impressive. First, it contains an eyewitness account of the Roman incursion into Jerusalem and the demise of the Roman general Pompey who brought Roman rule into Palestine:
And I did not wait long until God showed me his insolence
pierced on the mountains of Egypt,
more despised than the smallest thing on earth and sea.
His body was carried about on the waves in much shame,
and there was no one to bury (him),
for he (God) had despised him with contempt.
—Wright in The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, 2.653
Second, the work contains a reference to the Jewish belief in resurrection just before the time of Jesus of Nazareth:
This is the shame of sinners forever,
but those who fear the Lord shall rise up to eternal life,
and their life shall be in the Lord’s light, and it shall never end.
—Wright in The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, 2.655
Third, the composition contains perhaps the locus classicus for belief in a Davidic messiah, and it antedates by a few decades the Palestinian Jesus Movement:
See, Lord, and raise up for them their king,
the son of David, to rule over your servant Israel
in the time known to you, O God….
And he will be a righteous king over them, taught by God.
There will be no unrighteousness among them in his days,
for all shall be holy,
and their king shall be the Lord Messiah.
—Wright in The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, 2.667
Princeton faculty and students are thankful for this resource that, via CD-ROM, takes them a step closer to the ideas and beliefs of Jews during Jesus’ time.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
The Place to Be Friday in DC-rsvp...www.dcfilminstitute.org
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Valley Girl
DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY
This Sunday is Divine Mercy Sunday. There is an organization in the San Fernando Valley (just "The Valley" to folks in LA) promoting God's Mercy every day. Visit them if in LA and check out the movie on Saint Faustina (I want to see that one!)----For all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God-
see,
www.ApostlesofDivineMercy.org
...and here is what the Dominicans have to say about it.... Hear Fr. Dominic Legge, OP
http://www.dominicanfriars.org/2007/04/12/what-is-the-key-to-divine-mercy-sunday/
This Sunday is Divine Mercy Sunday. There is an organization in the San Fernando Valley (just "The Valley" to folks in LA) promoting God's Mercy every day. Visit them if in LA and check out the movie on Saint Faustina (I want to see that one!)----For all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God-
see,
www.ApostlesofDivineMercy.org
...and here is what the Dominicans have to say about it.... Hear Fr. Dominic Legge, OP
http://www.dominicanfriars.org/2007/04/12/what-is-the-key-to-divine-mercy-sunday/
Monday, March 24, 2008
Get this Video For Your Church-JESUS, THE COMPLETE STORY
http://shopping.discovery.com/product-34453.html?endecaSID=118E2B9969D2This is a phenomenal new depiction of Jesus in the historical context in which he lived. click the link for the preview.
It's a joint BBC/Discovery Channel production. I highly urge everyone to get the DVD to show their church.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Friday, March 21, 2008
Out of the Mouths of Babes
Eucharist in Perspective
I have not been blessed (yet) with nursing a child. But I have witnessed it and I am told it
is both a bit painful and exhilarating. The child you gave birth to feeds off literally you. Your body creates the sustenance it requires to live. Your entire cellular DNA structure exists in your breast milk. For a while that is all that they need to live. All the nutrients an infant requires to survive and grow is contained in breast milk.
This is like the eucharist- God made us and he sends food in the form of his son for us. We literally feed off it. We literally eat the body and drink the blood. We require it to exist.
It contains within it the full complement of the DNA structure of Christ's body and blood.
But a Mother's love is something far greater and far above and beyond her breast milk. If a child only loved her mother's milk as the full expression of her, she would be greatly saddened. A mother's love comes to a child multifold manifest ways. The mother would feel rejected if the child didn't respond to her touch, her hug, her lullabyes. If a child sucked on her but didn't recognize her voice, the mother would be upset. If a child just sucked on her breast and refused her embrace the mother would be hurt. If all a child wanted to do was suck on her that child would be considered a bit developmentally delayed and "off" more ways than one.
God feels that way when we obsess on the eucharist in the misplaced supremacy of "source and summit" of all that God is. God is way more than breast milk or eucharist. God's love is expressed and manifest in much more powerful wonderful ways than feeding us. Yes we need food to live-Jesus knows that, that is why he fed 5,000 people on a hill. But we need it to live.
Food is fuel for the journey.
If you never left the kitchen table and only knew family love through eating, you would lead a sad narrow existence that cheated yourself out of worlds of blessings and goodness, rivers of rainbows and daffodils. It doesn't really matter if you dress up fancy and formal for every meal, it's still just food. It's still just eating. Yes, you have to do it to survive- but that is not all there is to life. Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God- God is the logos- he is in the Word, his Word is alive, active, sharper than a two edged sword, good for reproof and instruction. If you just ate off God and never listened to or responded to his Word or Voice he might be upset with you.
I have not been blessed (yet) with nursing a child. But I have witnessed it and I am told it
is both a bit painful and exhilarating. The child you gave birth to feeds off literally you. Your body creates the sustenance it requires to live. Your entire cellular DNA structure exists in your breast milk. For a while that is all that they need to live. All the nutrients an infant requires to survive and grow is contained in breast milk.
This is like the eucharist- God made us and he sends food in the form of his son for us. We literally feed off it. We literally eat the body and drink the blood. We require it to exist.
It contains within it the full complement of the DNA structure of Christ's body and blood.
But a Mother's love is something far greater and far above and beyond her breast milk. If a child only loved her mother's milk as the full expression of her, she would be greatly saddened. A mother's love comes to a child multifold manifest ways. The mother would feel rejected if the child didn't respond to her touch, her hug, her lullabyes. If a child sucked on her but didn't recognize her voice, the mother would be upset. If a child just sucked on her breast and refused her embrace the mother would be hurt. If all a child wanted to do was suck on her that child would be considered a bit developmentally delayed and "off" more ways than one.
God feels that way when we obsess on the eucharist in the misplaced supremacy of "source and summit" of all that God is. God is way more than breast milk or eucharist. God's love is expressed and manifest in much more powerful wonderful ways than feeding us. Yes we need food to live-Jesus knows that, that is why he fed 5,000 people on a hill. But we need it to live.
Food is fuel for the journey.
If you never left the kitchen table and only knew family love through eating, you would lead a sad narrow existence that cheated yourself out of worlds of blessings and goodness, rivers of rainbows and daffodils. It doesn't really matter if you dress up fancy and formal for every meal, it's still just food. It's still just eating. Yes, you have to do it to survive- but that is not all there is to life. Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God- God is the logos- he is in the Word, his Word is alive, active, sharper than a two edged sword, good for reproof and instruction. If you just ate off God and never listened to or responded to his Word or Voice he might be upset with you.
Would You Betray Me With A Kiss?
HOW PART OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IS JUDAS AND BETRAYS JESUS WHILE KISSING HIM
(Why The Mandatory Celibacy Rule is Evil)
Never was I more impressed with how institutionally off the tracks from the heart of God the Catholic Church is than when I went to the Mass of the Last Supper last night. It may just be my Parish-but I don’t think so.
First, There was no feet washing- symbolic or otherwise- what a waste of a good pedicure. No feet washing of any Priest or Parishioner. In Protestant services not only does the Minister wash the feet of other ministers, but the ministers wash the feet of the congregants and the congregants take turn washing the feet of other fellow congregants-and the feet of the Ministers--Just to underscore the point that we are all called to be disciples.
Instead a group of only men Priests sat on a raised flooring around the altar and lectured the group, men, women, children and one persistently crying baby, who then processed with the eucharistic food to a statue of a woman to "venerate." It may be the closest they get to really appreciating a woman not their birth mother.
The service was a Metaphor for how far from the Heart of Christ, how far from the Heart of Love the church has traveled and the egoistic hubris that has it stuck there in its perverse misery.
The Dominican Friar brother used the occasion to call the Priesthood to a rededication to this idolotry of worshiping Food- heavenly manna, eucharistic bread and blood, and redefined "holiness" in a totally unbiblical way -meaning enforced celibacy-another idolotry. "Radical holiness"- he meant to signify the denial of any priest the ability to bond in love with a woman.
This is not God's view of holiness in any respect. This is a perversion. It is a sickening perversion because it destroys women and their unborn potential progeny. It insults women by calling intimate association with them intrinsically unholy. What God calls clean how dare you call unclean.
Throughout the consecration in the service a baby appropriately loudly cried and whimpered.
It was as if Christ the baby child himself were crying and whimpering. Priests were using his
Food for Journey as the Journey itself-the end of the Journey, when it was only meant to be food-sustenance for the Journey.
The Journey of Easter for Easter People is a Journey toward Love in all its fullness.
That is the promised land. It is not a "settling" for any state of unhappiness wrapped in false humility bound in self sacrifice. It’s not a camping out staring at the Manna.
Love. Do you have a clue what it means? When God gave the Israelites the manna in the desert, and told them to eat of it daily as a prefigurement of the daily bread eucharist, he didn't tell them to worship it- He provided it to help them get where they were supposed to go. He is a jealous God and he demands Worship of Himself-his Whole Self. His Spirit is Love. He is Truth, he is Life in all its fullness. He wants worship in Spirit and Truth- in Love. The worship of the Food parading around in gold capes and ridiculous self aggrandizing finery is a reduction of his Being to that which can be consummed by humans. It is a ridiculous trivialization.
God is so much more than anything that could be consumed by humans.
God is bigger than a bread box. God is a Fire that cannot be extinguished, like the burning Bush. God is LOVE. To camp out in front of the manna and worship the heavenly manna to the exclusion of Love stunts the journey and insults the Creater of all Creation, the giver of all life, the essence of the Creative Power in the world. To use the food as any justification to deny Love is just an evil perversion. There is NOTHING Holy About it. It is obscenity to use his name, and his food, as cover to crucify his Love- to indeed Crucify him again. and Again. and Again.
A baby cried during the whole consecration. It was trying to tell the Priest something. Christ himself was crying, and is crying, for the destruction of the hope of all his unborn children by the perverse idol worship of his food to the exclusion of Love for any woman by any Priest.
.
Jesus picked Jewish men of honor, integrity, character and heart as the 12 disciples -some rich, some poor, -because that was in marked contrast to the hedonistic polygamistic pagan Roman culture surrounding them at the time where men could emotionally and physically engangle themselves with many wives and had King Herod as a model of honor. In Hebrew culture the betrayal of a spouse in adultery was a capital offense. You could be put to death for it-male or female. Such was the supreme importance of honoring someone of the opposite sex with covenantal commitment which reflects the Trinity itself. This is why Jesus came in the context of a Holy Family, through a virtuous woman-as opposed to on a cloud of Glory or just crossing the veil. He could have popped out of Mount Vesuvius if he wanted. He came as a baby.
The Son of God didn't have to come as a Jew, he didn't have to come as a baby to become a human, he didn't have to come at all- he came to save us. He came as a Jewish man, first as a Jewish baby to a Jewish virtuous woman in a holy betrothed state to a holy Jewish man. Jewish culture was and is such that it abhored male whores- men who slept with many women or emotionally entangled themselves with many women or seduced emotionally or physically many women. Because of the understanding of soul ties and preeminence of the heart, it was and is just as evil to emotionally entangle as physically entangle with multiple women. Jewish culture rejected the view of idol worshipping pagans that setting up male temple prostitutes was any way to heaven. Men who emotionally or physically entangle themselves with multiple women are male whores. Under cover of priestly garments this is worse than an abomination. Plain and simple- male whores.
It is against the backdrop of this that God COMMANDS that a Bishop, Elder or Deacon in the church MUST be the husband of ONE WIFE. It is a pre-requisite of character that is essential to holiness. It is a matter of reflecting God's Covenant, God's Honor and God's profound tenderness toward his bride the church.
There is nothing Holy about Male religious whores. Mandating celibacy for people not gifted with celibacy creates a class of male whores who express their bonding in sexuality in totally unholy ways.
God/Jesus is stunned and sickened at the thought that providing his food, his bread, body and blood, would create a class of men who turned it into such an idol that it justifies their egoistic destruction of women. Jesus never instituted this as the model for priesthood when he gave it to Peter-a married man.
There is no other word for that than obscene. There is nothing whatsoever radically "holy" about destroying women and their potential for progeny/offspring but that it is in fact a serious and great evil. Pure evil. There is no love in it. Where there is an absence of Love, there is an absence of Christ because God is Love.
In this, the Protestant world is much much holier than the Catholic world and view of the priesthood as instituted by Jesus given first to Peter, a married man.
The acknowledgment that some are made "eunichs for the kingdom" is not a license to be an emotional philanderer, manipulator or religious jigalo. It is not a license for the church to pimp "celibate" priests for the maintenance of church properties. Jesus didn't institute the distribution of his body and blood so that people would idol worship it as an excuse to Love Less or dishonor any woman.
God is Love. More Love is More God.
His body and blood is food. Body and blood is corporeal flesh. His Spirit is Love. The holiest Spirit is Love. To reduce him to his food of flesh is to deny the fullness of who he is and to crucify his Love. To Crucify Love is to Betray him at the core of his Sacred Heart.
It is pure idolotry. To use this idolotry to justify or excuse emotional or physical entanglements with many women under the false cover of "eunich-hood" is an obscenity and perversion. It lives a lie. It dishonors Christ profoundly.
For that reason part of the Catholic Church has become Judas to Christ. It has betrayed his heart. It has called evil what is good and good what is evil. It has destroyed women in the wake of its pride. It has denied Christ because to deny Love is to deny Christ. --Way more than three times.
Celibacy is a gift of the Spirit for a specific purpose. The Priesthood, those consecrating and distributing the food, is a distinctly different calling. Celibacy is no more holy than married Life.
Technical Celibacy while de facto engaging in multiple spiritual marriages -with either gender-is Priestly Whoredom.
And God is so Angry that he could entirely wipe out an entire City called Sodom. Did you forget that the people in Sodom were also Jewish? They were just off-the-rails un-righteous lost Jews, but still Jewish. Lot and his wife were Jewish. Being Catholic or a Catholic Priest is not a definition of righteousness unless one is actually righteous.
(Why The Mandatory Celibacy Rule is Evil)
Never was I more impressed with how institutionally off the tracks from the heart of God the Catholic Church is than when I went to the Mass of the Last Supper last night. It may just be my Parish-but I don’t think so.
First, There was no feet washing- symbolic or otherwise- what a waste of a good pedicure. No feet washing of any Priest or Parishioner. In Protestant services not only does the Minister wash the feet of other ministers, but the ministers wash the feet of the congregants and the congregants take turn washing the feet of other fellow congregants-and the feet of the Ministers--Just to underscore the point that we are all called to be disciples.
Instead a group of only men Priests sat on a raised flooring around the altar and lectured the group, men, women, children and one persistently crying baby, who then processed with the eucharistic food to a statue of a woman to "venerate." It may be the closest they get to really appreciating a woman not their birth mother.
The service was a Metaphor for how far from the Heart of Christ, how far from the Heart of Love the church has traveled and the egoistic hubris that has it stuck there in its perverse misery.
The Dominican Friar brother used the occasion to call the Priesthood to a rededication to this idolotry of worshiping Food- heavenly manna, eucharistic bread and blood, and redefined "holiness" in a totally unbiblical way -meaning enforced celibacy-another idolotry. "Radical holiness"- he meant to signify the denial of any priest the ability to bond in love with a woman.
This is not God's view of holiness in any respect. This is a perversion. It is a sickening perversion because it destroys women and their unborn potential progeny. It insults women by calling intimate association with them intrinsically unholy. What God calls clean how dare you call unclean.
Throughout the consecration in the service a baby appropriately loudly cried and whimpered.
It was as if Christ the baby child himself were crying and whimpering. Priests were using his
Food for Journey as the Journey itself-the end of the Journey, when it was only meant to be food-sustenance for the Journey.
The Journey of Easter for Easter People is a Journey toward Love in all its fullness.
That is the promised land. It is not a "settling" for any state of unhappiness wrapped in false humility bound in self sacrifice. It’s not a camping out staring at the Manna.
Love. Do you have a clue what it means? When God gave the Israelites the manna in the desert, and told them to eat of it daily as a prefigurement of the daily bread eucharist, he didn't tell them to worship it- He provided it to help them get where they were supposed to go. He is a jealous God and he demands Worship of Himself-his Whole Self. His Spirit is Love. He is Truth, he is Life in all its fullness. He wants worship in Spirit and Truth- in Love. The worship of the Food parading around in gold capes and ridiculous self aggrandizing finery is a reduction of his Being to that which can be consummed by humans. It is a ridiculous trivialization.
God is so much more than anything that could be consumed by humans.
God is bigger than a bread box. God is a Fire that cannot be extinguished, like the burning Bush. God is LOVE. To camp out in front of the manna and worship the heavenly manna to the exclusion of Love stunts the journey and insults the Creater of all Creation, the giver of all life, the essence of the Creative Power in the world. To use the food as any justification to deny Love is just an evil perversion. There is NOTHING Holy About it. It is obscenity to use his name, and his food, as cover to crucify his Love- to indeed Crucify him again. and Again. and Again.
A baby cried during the whole consecration. It was trying to tell the Priest something. Christ himself was crying, and is crying, for the destruction of the hope of all his unborn children by the perverse idol worship of his food to the exclusion of Love for any woman by any Priest.
.
Jesus picked Jewish men of honor, integrity, character and heart as the 12 disciples -some rich, some poor, -because that was in marked contrast to the hedonistic polygamistic pagan Roman culture surrounding them at the time where men could emotionally and physically engangle themselves with many wives and had King Herod as a model of honor. In Hebrew culture the betrayal of a spouse in adultery was a capital offense. You could be put to death for it-male or female. Such was the supreme importance of honoring someone of the opposite sex with covenantal commitment which reflects the Trinity itself. This is why Jesus came in the context of a Holy Family, through a virtuous woman-as opposed to on a cloud of Glory or just crossing the veil. He could have popped out of Mount Vesuvius if he wanted. He came as a baby.
The Son of God didn't have to come as a Jew, he didn't have to come as a baby to become a human, he didn't have to come at all- he came to save us. He came as a Jewish man, first as a Jewish baby to a Jewish virtuous woman in a holy betrothed state to a holy Jewish man. Jewish culture was and is such that it abhored male whores- men who slept with many women or emotionally entangled themselves with many women or seduced emotionally or physically many women. Because of the understanding of soul ties and preeminence of the heart, it was and is just as evil to emotionally entangle as physically entangle with multiple women. Jewish culture rejected the view of idol worshipping pagans that setting up male temple prostitutes was any way to heaven. Men who emotionally or physically entangle themselves with multiple women are male whores. Under cover of priestly garments this is worse than an abomination. Plain and simple- male whores.
It is against the backdrop of this that God COMMANDS that a Bishop, Elder or Deacon in the church MUST be the husband of ONE WIFE. It is a pre-requisite of character that is essential to holiness. It is a matter of reflecting God's Covenant, God's Honor and God's profound tenderness toward his bride the church.
There is nothing Holy about Male religious whores. Mandating celibacy for people not gifted with celibacy creates a class of male whores who express their bonding in sexuality in totally unholy ways.
God/Jesus is stunned and sickened at the thought that providing his food, his bread, body and blood, would create a class of men who turned it into such an idol that it justifies their egoistic destruction of women. Jesus never instituted this as the model for priesthood when he gave it to Peter-a married man.
There is no other word for that than obscene. There is nothing whatsoever radically "holy" about destroying women and their potential for progeny/offspring but that it is in fact a serious and great evil. Pure evil. There is no love in it. Where there is an absence of Love, there is an absence of Christ because God is Love.
In this, the Protestant world is much much holier than the Catholic world and view of the priesthood as instituted by Jesus given first to Peter, a married man.
The acknowledgment that some are made "eunichs for the kingdom" is not a license to be an emotional philanderer, manipulator or religious jigalo. It is not a license for the church to pimp "celibate" priests for the maintenance of church properties. Jesus didn't institute the distribution of his body and blood so that people would idol worship it as an excuse to Love Less or dishonor any woman.
God is Love. More Love is More God.
His body and blood is food. Body and blood is corporeal flesh. His Spirit is Love. The holiest Spirit is Love. To reduce him to his food of flesh is to deny the fullness of who he is and to crucify his Love. To Crucify Love is to Betray him at the core of his Sacred Heart.
It is pure idolotry. To use this idolotry to justify or excuse emotional or physical entanglements with many women under the false cover of "eunich-hood" is an obscenity and perversion. It lives a lie. It dishonors Christ profoundly.
For that reason part of the Catholic Church has become Judas to Christ. It has betrayed his heart. It has called evil what is good and good what is evil. It has destroyed women in the wake of its pride. It has denied Christ because to deny Love is to deny Christ. --Way more than three times.
Celibacy is a gift of the Spirit for a specific purpose. The Priesthood, those consecrating and distributing the food, is a distinctly different calling. Celibacy is no more holy than married Life.
Technical Celibacy while de facto engaging in multiple spiritual marriages -with either gender-is Priestly Whoredom.
And God is so Angry that he could entirely wipe out an entire City called Sodom. Did you forget that the people in Sodom were also Jewish? They were just off-the-rails un-righteous lost Jews, but still Jewish. Lot and his wife were Jewish. Being Catholic or a Catholic Priest is not a definition of righteousness unless one is actually righteous.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Best Buys....Easter shopping
The Oblates of Saint Francis de Sales in Wilmington/Philadelphia have an on line store where they sell the above Ikon and many other works of Fine and Fun Art, cards, and books.Order on-line at www.Oblates.org
Hear the Word of the Lord
ISAIAH 61; 8-10
"For I, the LORD, love justice;
I hate robbery and iniquity.
In my faithfulness I will reward them
and make an everlasting covenant with them.
9 Their descendants will be known among the nations
and their offspring among the peoples.
All who see them will acknowledge
that they are a people the LORD has blessed."
10 I delight greatly in the LORD;
my soul rejoices in my God.
For he has clothed me with garments of salvation
and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels."
"For I, the LORD, love justice;
I hate robbery and iniquity.
In my faithfulness I will reward them
and make an everlasting covenant with them.
9 Their descendants will be known among the nations
and their offspring among the peoples.
All who see them will acknowledge
that they are a people the LORD has blessed."
10 I delight greatly in the LORD;
my soul rejoices in my God.
For he has clothed me with garments of salvation
and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels."
Please Remember Me When You Get Into Your Kingdom
A TALE OF TWO GALLOWS, FROM PERSIA TO JERUSALEM- PURIM AND GOOD FRIDAY
www.JEWSFORJESUS.org
FROM: Jews for Jesus
SOME ETERNAL QUESTIONS THE JEWS FOR JESUS PEOPLE TACKLE:
Did Jesus even exist? What are some reasons for believing Jesus is the Messiah? Is the story of Jesus a rehash of pagan ideas (virgin births, dying gods, etc.)? What have some Jewish people said about Jesus? How can Jesus be the Messiah when he didn't bring peace? Do the genealogies of Jesus in the New Testament show that he can’t be the Messiah? Is the idea that Jesus is "coming again" just something Christians made up because he didn't "get it done" the first time around? What is the evidence that Jesus rose from the dead? Did Jesus teach his followers to hate their parents? Was Jesus' death a violation of the commandment against human sacrifice? Even if it's true, so what? The Apostle Paul What is Jewish about the apostle Paul? Did Paul invent a new religion based on paganism? Were Paul’s ethics questionable? The Bible What are some reasons to trust the Bible as true to history and to our experience? In what way is the New Testament a Jewish book? Is the New Testament anti-Semitic or anti-Jewish? Prophecies of the Messiah in the Hebrew Bible What are some passages in the Hebrew Bible that talk about the Messiah? Are the “messianic prophecies” in the past tense, so not about a future Messiah at all? Does the New Testament mistranslate and misuse the Hebrew Bible when it quotes the prophecies? The Jewish Community How do Jews who follow Jesus identify as Jews? Doesn’t the problem of “Christian anti-Semitism” show the real nature of what faith in Jesus is all about? How does following Jesus lead some non-Jews to support the Jewish people and fight anti-Semitism? How is faith in God, or in Jesus, possible after the Holocaust? Since most Jews are sincere people and happy with their own religion, why isn’t that enough? What do you have to say about “counter-missionaries” like Rabbi Tovia Singer and others? Theological Issues Jews have the Shema; do Christians believe in three gods? Why do you say that Jews (and non-Jews) need a “middleman” in order to approach God? Why do you talk so much about “sin”? How can someone die for someone else’s sins? How can God become a man? Does baptism have a Jewish origin? A note from David Brickner on God and the Gallows
David Brickner, Executive Director writes beautifully on "God and the Gallows"
March 15, 2008
This Friday is a day of two gallows. It marks an unusual convergence of Good Friday and Purim. We know that Good Friday is a time to remember the crucifixion of our Messiah Jesus. Purim commemorates the rescue of the Jewish people from Haman's murderous plot as recorded in the book of Esther. Rarely do these days converge on the exact same date but because of the differences between the Jewish calendar (lunar) and the Roman or Christian calendar (solar), this year presents us with a strange and thought provoking confluence.
Both historical events involve God and the gallows. I wanted to compare and contrast these two days and God's work in history as recorded by sacred Scripture.
Both events took place in the Middle East, one in Persia the other in Israel.
Both were preceded by a hero's triumphant procession through the streets of the city.
Both gallows were made of wood. We know that Haman's gallows stood 75 feet tall. We know that the Roman gallows, or cross, was made of two pieces of wood, the top piece weighing about 100 pounds.
Death on a Persian gallows resulted from a broken neck or strangulation. Death on a Roman gallows resulted from suffocation or the trauma of blood loss.
In both the two historical events we are examining, the gallows were built to execute innocent Jews. In the Purim narrative, Haman plotted against Mordechai because of his (Haman's) wounded pride. In the Gospel accounts, certain Jewish leaders plotted against Jesus because He exposed their hypocrisy.
In both instances, those who plotted the death of the innocents sought to make weak rulers complicit in their plot: the Persian King Ahashueras and the Roman Governor Pilate.
Executing Mordechai was part of Haman's plot to destroy the Jewish people. Executing Jesus was part of the devil's plot to destroy humanity.
Haman's plot was thwarted when he and his sons were hanged on the gallows in place of Mordechai.
The devil's plot was thwarted when the planned execution took place, and Jesus hung on the cross in the place of sinners.
On Purim, God worked behind the scenes; there is no mention of His name in the book of Esther.
On Good Friday, God's work was evident through signs and wonders so that even a Roman centurion recognized Jesus as the Son of God.
On Purim, the Jewish people were saved from destruction.
On Good Friday, God brought salvation to the whole world, to all who would receive it.
No doubt other comparisons and contrasts may be drawn between Good Friday and Purim. Both days attest to the fact that God remains consistent throughout all of history. He never changes. Whether His activity is apparent to all or hidden from our sight we can be sure that our God is a God who saves. He desires to save those who call upon Him and He delights to do so in unexpected ways.
In the end, God will always overthrow the plots of the wicked and establish His justice and His righteousness on the earth. No matter how fierce the threat, no matter how high the gallows, no matter how bleak the circumstances or dark the hour, God's salvation will always win out; His plan will never be thwarted and His victory is always sure.
People may place their confidence with those in authority, with the rulers, with the wealthy and the powerful. But "He who sits in the heavens shall laugh." He does not leave the weak and downtrodden to the mercy of heartless men and women, or abandon poor souls to the adversary.
We who would heed the lessons of history should
"Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. . . . Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him" (Psalm 2:11-12).
Throughout history God invites us to make comparisons, to remember how He has acted in the past so that we may have faith and confidence in Him for the future. You may be staring at a bleak set of circumstances in your life right now, discouraged and doubting how it is all going to turn out.
These are dark days in many ways for the world in general and certainly for servants of the Lord. They may also be trying times for you with the economic and political uncertainties of the times. Still, the confluence of God's work in history and His finished work in Jesus Christ can surely come together in your life to bring hope and salvation. When we understand how God so consistently weaves together the strands of history and our own lives to accomplish His purposes, we can gladly say with the apostle Paul that
"we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life. Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us" (2 Corinthians 1:8-10).
Hallelujah!
Written By
David Brickner
Executive Director of Jews for Jesus
www.JEWSFORJESUS.org
FROM: Jews for Jesus
SOME ETERNAL QUESTIONS THE JEWS FOR JESUS PEOPLE TACKLE:
Did Jesus even exist? What are some reasons for believing Jesus is the Messiah? Is the story of Jesus a rehash of pagan ideas (virgin births, dying gods, etc.)? What have some Jewish people said about Jesus? How can Jesus be the Messiah when he didn't bring peace? Do the genealogies of Jesus in the New Testament show that he can’t be the Messiah? Is the idea that Jesus is "coming again" just something Christians made up because he didn't "get it done" the first time around? What is the evidence that Jesus rose from the dead? Did Jesus teach his followers to hate their parents? Was Jesus' death a violation of the commandment against human sacrifice? Even if it's true, so what? The Apostle Paul What is Jewish about the apostle Paul? Did Paul invent a new religion based on paganism? Were Paul’s ethics questionable? The Bible What are some reasons to trust the Bible as true to history and to our experience? In what way is the New Testament a Jewish book? Is the New Testament anti-Semitic or anti-Jewish? Prophecies of the Messiah in the Hebrew Bible What are some passages in the Hebrew Bible that talk about the Messiah? Are the “messianic prophecies” in the past tense, so not about a future Messiah at all? Does the New Testament mistranslate and misuse the Hebrew Bible when it quotes the prophecies? The Jewish Community How do Jews who follow Jesus identify as Jews? Doesn’t the problem of “Christian anti-Semitism” show the real nature of what faith in Jesus is all about? How does following Jesus lead some non-Jews to support the Jewish people and fight anti-Semitism? How is faith in God, or in Jesus, possible after the Holocaust? Since most Jews are sincere people and happy with their own religion, why isn’t that enough? What do you have to say about “counter-missionaries” like Rabbi Tovia Singer and others? Theological Issues Jews have the Shema; do Christians believe in three gods? Why do you say that Jews (and non-Jews) need a “middleman” in order to approach God? Why do you talk so much about “sin”? How can someone die for someone else’s sins? How can God become a man? Does baptism have a Jewish origin? A note from David Brickner on God and the Gallows
David Brickner, Executive Director writes beautifully on "God and the Gallows"
March 15, 2008
This Friday is a day of two gallows. It marks an unusual convergence of Good Friday and Purim. We know that Good Friday is a time to remember the crucifixion of our Messiah Jesus. Purim commemorates the rescue of the Jewish people from Haman's murderous plot as recorded in the book of Esther. Rarely do these days converge on the exact same date but because of the differences between the Jewish calendar (lunar) and the Roman or Christian calendar (solar), this year presents us with a strange and thought provoking confluence.
Both historical events involve God and the gallows. I wanted to compare and contrast these two days and God's work in history as recorded by sacred Scripture.
Both events took place in the Middle East, one in Persia the other in Israel.
Both were preceded by a hero's triumphant procession through the streets of the city.
Both gallows were made of wood. We know that Haman's gallows stood 75 feet tall. We know that the Roman gallows, or cross, was made of two pieces of wood, the top piece weighing about 100 pounds.
Death on a Persian gallows resulted from a broken neck or strangulation. Death on a Roman gallows resulted from suffocation or the trauma of blood loss.
In both the two historical events we are examining, the gallows were built to execute innocent Jews. In the Purim narrative, Haman plotted against Mordechai because of his (Haman's) wounded pride. In the Gospel accounts, certain Jewish leaders plotted against Jesus because He exposed their hypocrisy.
In both instances, those who plotted the death of the innocents sought to make weak rulers complicit in their plot: the Persian King Ahashueras and the Roman Governor Pilate.
Executing Mordechai was part of Haman's plot to destroy the Jewish people. Executing Jesus was part of the devil's plot to destroy humanity.
Haman's plot was thwarted when he and his sons were hanged on the gallows in place of Mordechai.
The devil's plot was thwarted when the planned execution took place, and Jesus hung on the cross in the place of sinners.
On Purim, God worked behind the scenes; there is no mention of His name in the book of Esther.
On Good Friday, God's work was evident through signs and wonders so that even a Roman centurion recognized Jesus as the Son of God.
On Purim, the Jewish people were saved from destruction.
On Good Friday, God brought salvation to the whole world, to all who would receive it.
No doubt other comparisons and contrasts may be drawn between Good Friday and Purim. Both days attest to the fact that God remains consistent throughout all of history. He never changes. Whether His activity is apparent to all or hidden from our sight we can be sure that our God is a God who saves. He desires to save those who call upon Him and He delights to do so in unexpected ways.
In the end, God will always overthrow the plots of the wicked and establish His justice and His righteousness on the earth. No matter how fierce the threat, no matter how high the gallows, no matter how bleak the circumstances or dark the hour, God's salvation will always win out; His plan will never be thwarted and His victory is always sure.
People may place their confidence with those in authority, with the rulers, with the wealthy and the powerful. But "He who sits in the heavens shall laugh." He does not leave the weak and downtrodden to the mercy of heartless men and women, or abandon poor souls to the adversary.
We who would heed the lessons of history should
"Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. . . . Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him" (Psalm 2:11-12).
Throughout history God invites us to make comparisons, to remember how He has acted in the past so that we may have faith and confidence in Him for the future. You may be staring at a bleak set of circumstances in your life right now, discouraged and doubting how it is all going to turn out.
These are dark days in many ways for the world in general and certainly for servants of the Lord. They may also be trying times for you with the economic and political uncertainties of the times. Still, the confluence of God's work in history and His finished work in Jesus Christ can surely come together in your life to bring hope and salvation. When we understand how God so consistently weaves together the strands of history and our own lives to accomplish His purposes, we can gladly say with the apostle Paul that
"we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life. Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us" (2 Corinthians 1:8-10).
Hallelujah!
Written By
David Brickner
Executive Director of Jews for Jesus
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
I trust the Universe now
I have found Peace,
No, rather Peace found me
as I sit at His feet and
I trust the Angels who
brought you close to me
How did they ever find you
in this great big city
I trust the stars and all the Saints
watching over me
dropping roses and pennies
on the sidewalk in front of me
I trust the sunshine
that lights my way to you
and warms me in its cherry blossom hues
that melt away my winter blues
I trust the heavens
that opened in your eyes
and gave me your smile
and told me to wait
just a little while
and it would all be all right
I trust the rainbows
that landed at your doorstep
better than all the gold pots
from here to County Mayo
I believe again I think
really for the first time
and everything is new again
and finally everything now rhymes.
I have found Peace,
No, rather Peace found me
as I sit at His feet and
I trust the Angels who
brought you close to me
How did they ever find you
in this great big city
I trust the stars and all the Saints
watching over me
dropping roses and pennies
on the sidewalk in front of me
I trust the sunshine
that lights my way to you
and warms me in its cherry blossom hues
that melt away my winter blues
I trust the heavens
that opened in your eyes
and gave me your smile
and told me to wait
just a little while
and it would all be all right
I trust the rainbows
that landed at your doorstep
better than all the gold pots
from here to County Mayo
I believe again I think
really for the first time
and everything is new again
and finally everything now rhymes.
Monday, March 17, 2008
I love this Lenten Reflection....
A Drama of the Heart - Jesus' Sacrifice
It is one thing to love when you feel love around you, when others understand you and are grateful for your person and gifts, it is quite another when everything around you speaks of misunderstanding, jealousy, coldness, and hatred.
It is one thing to maintain your ideals when they are shared by others, when the gospel works for you, when principle works out in practice, it is quite another when it seems you are alone in some ideal and when the gospel appears to be delivering more death than life.
It is one thing to keep your balance when the rhythms of life support it, when there is a healthy give and take to things, when life is fair, it is quite another when things are unfair, when you are unjustly criticized, when everyone else seems to have lost balance, when, like on Good Friday, it gets dark in the middle of the day.
It is one thing to be gracious when those around you are respectful, warm, and fair, it is quite another when everyone seems bitter, disrespectful, jealous, and cold.
It is one thing to bless others when they want to receive that blessing, when they hang on to your every word, when they want to be in your company, it is quite another when their very glance speaks of loathing and when they avoid you when you come into a room.
It is one thing to forgive others when that forgiveness seems fair, when it isn't impossible to swallow the hurt, when the wound dealt you is not mortal, it is quite another to forgive someone when it isn't fair, when the wound dealt you is mortal, when the life being murdered is your own.
It is one thing to give your life over to family, church, community, and God when you feel loved and supported by them, when they seem worth the sacrifice, when you get a good feeling by doing it, it is quite another thing when you do not feel support, when it doesn't seem worthwhile, and when you feel no other reason for doing it except truth and principle.These contrasts capture, in essence, what Jesus did in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross . His passion was a drama of the heart, not an endurance test for his body.What made Jesus' sacrifice, his handing himself over, so special?We have, I think, focused too much on the physical aspects of the crucifixion to the detriment of what was happening more deeply, underneath. Why do I say that? Because none of the gospels emphasize the physical sufferings, nor indeed, in the fears he expresses in conversations before his death, does Jesus. What the gospels and Jesus emphasize is his moral loneliness, the fact that he was alone, betrayed, humiliated, misunderstood, the object of jealousy and crowd hysteria, that he was a stone's throw away from everyone, that those who loved him were asleep to what was really happening, that he was unanimity-minus-one.And this moral loneliness, mocked by those outside of it, tempted him against everything he had preached and stood for during his life and ministry. What made his sacrifice so special was not that he died a victim of violence (millions die as victims of violence and their deaths aren't necessarily special) nor that he refused to use divine power to stop his death (as he himself taught, that would have proved nothing). What made his death so special is that, inside of all the aloneness, darkness, jealousy, misunderstanding, sick crowd hysteria, coldness, and murder, he held out, he gave himself over, without bitterness, without self-pity, holding his ideals intact, gracious, respectful, forgiving, without losing his balance, his meaning, or his message.
That's the ultimate test and we face it daily in many areas of our lives.
Some years ago, I was participating in a forum debating a book on chastity. The book, written by a woman still in her early twenties, was a very idealistic one and it urged young people to not have sex before marriage, but to keep their virginity as a special gift for their partners in marriage. One of the panelists, a very sincere woman, had this reaction:
"I like what this young woman says and when my daughters are in their teens I'll have them read this book, but what she says makes a lot more sense when you are 20 years old and know what you're waiting than when your 39 years old and no longer know what you're waiting for!"Jesus' sacrifice was so special because, long after the clock had run out on everything and there seemed no reason left to wait for anything, he still held on, to his ideals, his balance, his gracious, his forgiveness, and his love.The struggle to do that, to remain faithful, is the real drama inside the death of Jesus and in the end it is a struggle of the heart, not the body.
Ron Rolheiser
San Antonio, Texas
March 16, 2008.
Website: www.ronrolheiser.com
It is one thing to love when you feel love around you, when others understand you and are grateful for your person and gifts, it is quite another when everything around you speaks of misunderstanding, jealousy, coldness, and hatred.
It is one thing to maintain your ideals when they are shared by others, when the gospel works for you, when principle works out in practice, it is quite another when it seems you are alone in some ideal and when the gospel appears to be delivering more death than life.
It is one thing to keep your balance when the rhythms of life support it, when there is a healthy give and take to things, when life is fair, it is quite another when things are unfair, when you are unjustly criticized, when everyone else seems to have lost balance, when, like on Good Friday, it gets dark in the middle of the day.
It is one thing to be gracious when those around you are respectful, warm, and fair, it is quite another when everyone seems bitter, disrespectful, jealous, and cold.
It is one thing to bless others when they want to receive that blessing, when they hang on to your every word, when they want to be in your company, it is quite another when their very glance speaks of loathing and when they avoid you when you come into a room.
It is one thing to forgive others when that forgiveness seems fair, when it isn't impossible to swallow the hurt, when the wound dealt you is not mortal, it is quite another to forgive someone when it isn't fair, when the wound dealt you is mortal, when the life being murdered is your own.
It is one thing to give your life over to family, church, community, and God when you feel loved and supported by them, when they seem worth the sacrifice, when you get a good feeling by doing it, it is quite another thing when you do not feel support, when it doesn't seem worthwhile, and when you feel no other reason for doing it except truth and principle.These contrasts capture, in essence, what Jesus did in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross . His passion was a drama of the heart, not an endurance test for his body.What made Jesus' sacrifice, his handing himself over, so special?We have, I think, focused too much on the physical aspects of the crucifixion to the detriment of what was happening more deeply, underneath. Why do I say that? Because none of the gospels emphasize the physical sufferings, nor indeed, in the fears he expresses in conversations before his death, does Jesus. What the gospels and Jesus emphasize is his moral loneliness, the fact that he was alone, betrayed, humiliated, misunderstood, the object of jealousy and crowd hysteria, that he was a stone's throw away from everyone, that those who loved him were asleep to what was really happening, that he was unanimity-minus-one.And this moral loneliness, mocked by those outside of it, tempted him against everything he had preached and stood for during his life and ministry. What made his sacrifice so special was not that he died a victim of violence (millions die as victims of violence and their deaths aren't necessarily special) nor that he refused to use divine power to stop his death (as he himself taught, that would have proved nothing). What made his death so special is that, inside of all the aloneness, darkness, jealousy, misunderstanding, sick crowd hysteria, coldness, and murder, he held out, he gave himself over, without bitterness, without self-pity, holding his ideals intact, gracious, respectful, forgiving, without losing his balance, his meaning, or his message.
That's the ultimate test and we face it daily in many areas of our lives.
Some years ago, I was participating in a forum debating a book on chastity. The book, written by a woman still in her early twenties, was a very idealistic one and it urged young people to not have sex before marriage, but to keep their virginity as a special gift for their partners in marriage. One of the panelists, a very sincere woman, had this reaction:
"I like what this young woman says and when my daughters are in their teens I'll have them read this book, but what she says makes a lot more sense when you are 20 years old and know what you're waiting than when your 39 years old and no longer know what you're waiting for!"Jesus' sacrifice was so special because, long after the clock had run out on everything and there seemed no reason left to wait for anything, he still held on, to his ideals, his balance, his gracious, his forgiveness, and his love.The struggle to do that, to remain faithful, is the real drama inside the death of Jesus and in the end it is a struggle of the heart, not the body.
Ron Rolheiser
San Antonio, Texas
March 16, 2008.
Website: www.ronrolheiser.com
Congratulations Fr. Jim Greenfield
WHO HAS A NEW JOB- HEAD PROVINCIAL OF HIS ORDER-CONGRATULATIONS!
Fellow Philly Home Boy Fr. Jim will be leading the men's Lenten/Easter reflection at the World Bank this week. Here is his bio:
Fr. Jim Greenfield, OSFS, is a regular celebrant and inspiring preacher at St.Matthew's Cathedral. A native of Philadelphia, Father Jim and his two brothers went to Father Judge High School, which was staffed by the Oblates of St.Francis de Sales, the religious order that he joined thirty years ago. He graduated from the DeSales School of Theology at the DeSales University in Allentown, PA, and from George Washington University, DC, where he was the Catholic chaplain for six years while completing his doctoral work in human development. Father Jim's present ministry is to serve as Provincial, leading his fellow Oblates to connect the Gospel to the lives of people in the gentle and humble way of their patron, St. Francis de Sales, Doctor of the Church and one of her greatest spiritual teachers. Father Jim also works at Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School, serving as its chaplain and a member of its Board of Trustees.
Running on the Mall is one of his favorite activities. Even more so is planning, together with his brothers, their wives, nieces and nephews, the 50th wedding anniversary of his parents, Bud and Nance, this coming April. Congratulations to the Greenfields on their Anniversary!
Fellow Philly Home Boy Fr. Jim will be leading the men's Lenten/Easter reflection at the World Bank this week. Here is his bio:
Fr. Jim Greenfield, OSFS, is a regular celebrant and inspiring preacher at St.Matthew's Cathedral. A native of Philadelphia, Father Jim and his two brothers went to Father Judge High School, which was staffed by the Oblates of St.Francis de Sales, the religious order that he joined thirty years ago. He graduated from the DeSales School of Theology at the DeSales University in Allentown, PA, and from George Washington University, DC, where he was the Catholic chaplain for six years while completing his doctoral work in human development. Father Jim's present ministry is to serve as Provincial, leading his fellow Oblates to connect the Gospel to the lives of people in the gentle and humble way of their patron, St. Francis de Sales, Doctor of the Church and one of her greatest spiritual teachers. Father Jim also works at Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School, serving as its chaplain and a member of its Board of Trustees.
Running on the Mall is one of his favorite activities. Even more so is planning, together with his brothers, their wives, nieces and nephews, the 50th wedding anniversary of his parents, Bud and Nance, this coming April. Congratulations to the Greenfields on their Anniversary!
Sunday, March 16, 2008
People Who Just Make Crap Up
And the Prince of Peace Who Took It
-You shall not bear false witness -
The remarkable thing about the "trial" of Jesus before Pilate is how total perjury won the day- but just the day. People were accusing him of being something exactly the opposite of who he was. They accused him of being actually a criminal, a subversive who was undermining their religion- when he is the great Redeemer- the Savior,The Life Source, Source of all Goodness and Blessing, and their religion was actually about him!
I never really got this point until I actually went to Court on a sleazy landlord/tenant issue- the landlord just wanted a huge pile of money he claimed I owed. I claimed there should be a variety of deductions for things like the one months' free promised but renegged rent, the privacy and contract violations of refusing to give me notice for non-emergent entry (and he came in at his leisure without permission-essentially trespassing and/or breaking and entering along with his son and workpeople), refusing to stop parking in my space, that things promised to be done in certain time frames were not, that he delivered a unit without functional HVAC/air conditioning or heat fraudulently and that he assessed random additional fees for nothing, took the full security without an accounting, and then engineered a process to get me out that ignored mandatory Court due process protections.....Oh- and I want back the Italian ceramics that someone stole right off the kitchen counter. In fact the guy was such a class A butt-hole who took every opportunity to trash me that after he sued me (after I told him I wanted to move out) I determined that I shouldn't ever have to pay him another dime. I did not appreciate it when he entered my unit without permission to do things like leave me a note on how to clean the floors (really, he literally did this). I did not appreciate learning from guests that he was in the unit when they were there and I was not. I did not appreciate finding things he left in the unit. I did not appreciate him installing spycams, webcams, or other security measures inside the unit after I moved in without telling me. Shouldn't that be just criminal?
In court, he, through his attorney did a great job lying on the stand and pursuading the Court that in fact I was the bad guy for not just paying him everything he wanted. I was the deadbeat tenant who refused to pay the landlord. I should be whipped, scourged and hung by my toenails.
I can only imagine (no thank you, I prefer not) what other slander and garbage he spread to neighbors, church leaders, friends and family about me....but anyone who knows him probably thinks I am a pimp, hooker, and drug dealer all rolled in one if they ever spoke to him. I must also throw kittens in the microwave in my free time and probably also drank the blood of vampire spawn in graveyards with fried rat stew. This mad defamation machine continued unabated for three years.
Now the picture painted by this creep is about as 180 degrees from the truth as the picture of Jesus painted by the people jeering from the crowds to crucify him in dishonor and humiliation.
I happen to be a lawyer and insist on keeping people honest- especially with Judges and the Court. If you tell me you are going to put in a washer-dryer in a week and it takes you two or three months to do it, I don't think I should have to pay you for it being done in a week.
I was happy to tell the Court what exactly I paid and what I did not pay, and why. He was happy to just lie to the Court (what? i never told her that, who me? what air conditioning problem...). The Court found mostly, but not wholly for him anyway. Shocking? Not really- that's why there are Appeals Courts (several layers of them often) in every State. They would not exist if the trial judges were perfect.
But Perjury will only get you so far----because things held in secret have a way of surfacing- the truth is insuppressable- evidence and people and stones will eventually cry out.
The Rock closing the sealed Tomb could not keep the Truth from eventually emerging- in Resurrected new life- Whole and Unscathed- Whole and Healed from all the scourging and tortured death. Jesus is the essence of all Life, the Creater, he could not be destroyed by scheming lying skanky murderous betraying low lifes. Slander cannot keep a good man down.
People who embrace a lie unto destruction will eventually be overturned and the Karma will kill them. Because the Truth is as alive as the Word.
Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. No MAN can come to the Father without going through him. If you rest your life on a Lie you deny Christ- and will not find the Father waiting for you. You may get a little traction in this life, but not where it counts. You may even get a little money, but it will be good for nothing but buying a "Blood Field" where nothing grows. The Karma will kill you.
So take heart, all of you who have had lesser idiots tell tales on you, lie about you, try to destroy your reputation or crush your spirit with slandering malice- Take heart all of you sitting in prisions when you really did not do it and DNA will eventually clear you. Take heart all of you who are accused of being cheaters when you did not cheat. Take heart all of you when people revile you, persecute you for the sake of Truth, and say and do all kinds of evil against you -Great Will Be Your Reward In Heaven.
I can Thank God even for this Landlord From Hell fiasco- because it allowed me to see clearly up close the Trial of Jesus before Pilate. It allowed me to feel what he felt when he just sat there speechless and took it when hearing the elders and leaders trash talk him. He was speechless because it was not worth dignifying with a response it was so off the wall. They were going to do what they were going to do and truth had nothing to do with it. There isn't much you can say or do when people are just going to make crap up against you. It isn't worth dignifying with the effort of your breath to call them idiots.
-You shall not bear false witness -
The remarkable thing about the "trial" of Jesus before Pilate is how total perjury won the day- but just the day. People were accusing him of being something exactly the opposite of who he was. They accused him of being actually a criminal, a subversive who was undermining their religion- when he is the great Redeemer- the Savior,The Life Source, Source of all Goodness and Blessing, and their religion was actually about him!
I never really got this point until I actually went to Court on a sleazy landlord/tenant issue- the landlord just wanted a huge pile of money he claimed I owed. I claimed there should be a variety of deductions for things like the one months' free promised but renegged rent, the privacy and contract violations of refusing to give me notice for non-emergent entry (and he came in at his leisure without permission-essentially trespassing and/or breaking and entering along with his son and workpeople), refusing to stop parking in my space, that things promised to be done in certain time frames were not, that he delivered a unit without functional HVAC/air conditioning or heat fraudulently and that he assessed random additional fees for nothing, took the full security without an accounting, and then engineered a process to get me out that ignored mandatory Court due process protections.....Oh- and I want back the Italian ceramics that someone stole right off the kitchen counter. In fact the guy was such a class A butt-hole who took every opportunity to trash me that after he sued me (after I told him I wanted to move out) I determined that I shouldn't ever have to pay him another dime. I did not appreciate it when he entered my unit without permission to do things like leave me a note on how to clean the floors (really, he literally did this). I did not appreciate learning from guests that he was in the unit when they were there and I was not. I did not appreciate finding things he left in the unit. I did not appreciate him installing spycams, webcams, or other security measures inside the unit after I moved in without telling me. Shouldn't that be just criminal?
In court, he, through his attorney did a great job lying on the stand and pursuading the Court that in fact I was the bad guy for not just paying him everything he wanted. I was the deadbeat tenant who refused to pay the landlord. I should be whipped, scourged and hung by my toenails.
I can only imagine (no thank you, I prefer not) what other slander and garbage he spread to neighbors, church leaders, friends and family about me....but anyone who knows him probably thinks I am a pimp, hooker, and drug dealer all rolled in one if they ever spoke to him. I must also throw kittens in the microwave in my free time and probably also drank the blood of vampire spawn in graveyards with fried rat stew. This mad defamation machine continued unabated for three years.
Now the picture painted by this creep is about as 180 degrees from the truth as the picture of Jesus painted by the people jeering from the crowds to crucify him in dishonor and humiliation.
I happen to be a lawyer and insist on keeping people honest- especially with Judges and the Court. If you tell me you are going to put in a washer-dryer in a week and it takes you two or three months to do it, I don't think I should have to pay you for it being done in a week.
I was happy to tell the Court what exactly I paid and what I did not pay, and why. He was happy to just lie to the Court (what? i never told her that, who me? what air conditioning problem...). The Court found mostly, but not wholly for him anyway. Shocking? Not really- that's why there are Appeals Courts (several layers of them often) in every State. They would not exist if the trial judges were perfect.
But Perjury will only get you so far----because things held in secret have a way of surfacing- the truth is insuppressable- evidence and people and stones will eventually cry out.
The Rock closing the sealed Tomb could not keep the Truth from eventually emerging- in Resurrected new life- Whole and Unscathed- Whole and Healed from all the scourging and tortured death. Jesus is the essence of all Life, the Creater, he could not be destroyed by scheming lying skanky murderous betraying low lifes. Slander cannot keep a good man down.
People who embrace a lie unto destruction will eventually be overturned and the Karma will kill them. Because the Truth is as alive as the Word.
Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. No MAN can come to the Father without going through him. If you rest your life on a Lie you deny Christ- and will not find the Father waiting for you. You may get a little traction in this life, but not where it counts. You may even get a little money, but it will be good for nothing but buying a "Blood Field" where nothing grows. The Karma will kill you.
So take heart, all of you who have had lesser idiots tell tales on you, lie about you, try to destroy your reputation or crush your spirit with slandering malice- Take heart all of you sitting in prisions when you really did not do it and DNA will eventually clear you. Take heart all of you who are accused of being cheaters when you did not cheat. Take heart all of you when people revile you, persecute you for the sake of Truth, and say and do all kinds of evil against you -Great Will Be Your Reward In Heaven.
I can Thank God even for this Landlord From Hell fiasco- because it allowed me to see clearly up close the Trial of Jesus before Pilate. It allowed me to feel what he felt when he just sat there speechless and took it when hearing the elders and leaders trash talk him. He was speechless because it was not worth dignifying with a response it was so off the wall. They were going to do what they were going to do and truth had nothing to do with it. There isn't much you can say or do when people are just going to make crap up against you. It isn't worth dignifying with the effort of your breath to call them idiots.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Love Undeserved.
GRACE
I love the Saint Therese quote "Everything is Grace." I love the biblical greeting "Grace and Peace to You." I love that Presbyterian churchs call themselves "Ministries of Grace."
What exactly is "Grace?" It's essentially an intense Love that is given without deserving it or doing anything worthy of it. It is by GRACE that you are saved, not of any good work of your own, lest any man should boast.
The road to the Cross is one of cosmic Grace the likes of which the earth had never witnessed before or since. Man's sins did require an atonement. God had enough of goats and sheep. So he gave his one and only Son so that WHOSOEVER believes in him and calls on his name will be atoned for. Gentile or Jew -Whosoever.
This was an act of unsurpassed unfathomable Love. We can't wrap our heads around it all. We could not do anything to buy our way into God's graces, God's grace had to come to us from God on his own terms- and he gave it to us for free because we could not do anything to merit or pay for it ourselves in ourselves.
What should be the response to this sort of overwhelming Love-
The response should be that we try to become it-a chip off the old block- that we try to give out the same unmerited undeserved Love to others. That we pay the debts that others cannot pay, that we meet the needs that other's cannot meet. That we do, essentially all the Matthew 25 things to people that we have power to do- because these are acts of Grace.
Whenever you do for someone something they need to survive that they cannot do for themselves, you manifest Christ's Grace in the world. And this is what he wants for all of us to do in so far as it is in our power.
John McAurthur preaches; 1-888-57-GRACE
GRACE TO YOU
http://www.gty.org/
I love the Saint Therese quote "Everything is Grace." I love the biblical greeting "Grace and Peace to You." I love that Presbyterian churchs call themselves "Ministries of Grace."
What exactly is "Grace?" It's essentially an intense Love that is given without deserving it or doing anything worthy of it. It is by GRACE that you are saved, not of any good work of your own, lest any man should boast.
The road to the Cross is one of cosmic Grace the likes of which the earth had never witnessed before or since. Man's sins did require an atonement. God had enough of goats and sheep. So he gave his one and only Son so that WHOSOEVER believes in him and calls on his name will be atoned for. Gentile or Jew -Whosoever.
This was an act of unsurpassed unfathomable Love. We can't wrap our heads around it all. We could not do anything to buy our way into God's graces, God's grace had to come to us from God on his own terms- and he gave it to us for free because we could not do anything to merit or pay for it ourselves in ourselves.
What should be the response to this sort of overwhelming Love-
The response should be that we try to become it-a chip off the old block- that we try to give out the same unmerited undeserved Love to others. That we pay the debts that others cannot pay, that we meet the needs that other's cannot meet. That we do, essentially all the Matthew 25 things to people that we have power to do- because these are acts of Grace.
Whenever you do for someone something they need to survive that they cannot do for themselves, you manifest Christ's Grace in the world. And this is what he wants for all of us to do in so far as it is in our power.
John McAurthur preaches; 1-888-57-GRACE
GRACE TO YOU
http://www.gty.org/
The Road To Golgotha
Yes You Are Worthy- Says The Lord
I went to the Vigil Mass this evening and got a preview of the Holy Week theme-this week's theme will be "sin." Thanks for the warning. I think I will visit with the Presbyterians again. The Priest argued that they would be hitting that one theme home all week just to underscore the point about the need for Mercy and the meaning behind the cross.
The head Pastor apparently didn't get the Memo on how Jesus answered the Centurion. Jesus said to the Centurion who lamented "Lord I am not worthy, but only say the word...." essentially saying- congratulations! You won the lottery! Your faith saved you- you got over yourself. Now I am going to heal everyone in your house. If only everyone else would look at me and get over themselves. Looking at Jesus and still doing the chest thumping mia culpa two thousand years later refusing to get over themselves and insisting everyone else doesn't get over their respective selves is the surest way I know how to miss the point of the Cross. If you get Him, you get over yourself already. You remember sin no more-not yours, not any one elses.
Palm Sunday is the day of the Joyous ride of the triumpant Jesus into the City of Jerusalem on a donkey in fulfillment of scripture. It is a celebration of his ministry of miraculous healing and driving out demons. It's the preview of Easter. It was before the betrayal, before the Passover last supper dinner, before he was set up with ridiculously false evidence and insane slander at a trial by Pilate. It was before he was condemned by people light years his lessers. The point about Jesus' trip to the Cross was more that he was purely innocent and so qualified as the atonement for our sins, and that ought to be the focus rather than an obsession with the sins.
I have a "Jews for Jesus" friend who won't become catholic for precisely this reason. The emphasis on the soul wrenching "I am so unworthy" negative affirmations keeps people in self loathing spiritual poverty. Either Jesus died and built the rope bridge to heaven knit with his own body and blood tied in love knots from here to eternity or he didn't. If he did, then stop obsessing on and focusing on everyone's sin including yours. He flatly did not come to condemn the world-not anyone- not even the lady caught in the sheets with someone else's husband. When people were trying to make her feel bad, guilty and condemned he stopped by simply noting that they were no better. So why do you want to remind people of their sin when Jesus doesn't remember it any more. Remember that old maxim- one finger pointed at someone means four pointed back at you? Our Sin is to Jesus as far as the East is from the West. So how dare you devote a week to remembering it. Jesus Remembered it no more. You want people to swim in it? Jesus doesn't have a dirty laundry pile. His blood washed it all borax fresh and clean. You want to obsess on what no longer exists? You don't get the meaning of the blood.
You want to curse the darkness -you will drive out all the light.
While going to Confession can be better than free therapy, it can also be promoted in an unbiblical way as a pre-requisite to salvation. Jesus never lined anyone up and said, OK folks- first before I save you or before I carry that cross up on the hill I am going to have to hear of all the bad things you did this week. Then I will absolve you of them. No. Jesus already knows everything anyone does and did, and he knows the state of their heart concerning it- He knows if people are being trash mouthed and slandered when they did not do things they are formally accused of, he knows if people did things that they regret. Getting one's conscience clear has no bearing on whether Jesus forgives people. He forgave the very people who strung him up (Father forgive them) without them ever asking for it.
Whosoever. Whosoever. Whosoever. Whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord and believes on his name will be saved. Whosoever. Doesn't matter whether you stood in line to stand in a closet to tell another priest or person of the things you wish went differently. Jesus knows your prayers before you utter them.
I went to the Vigil Mass this evening and got a preview of the Holy Week theme-this week's theme will be "sin." Thanks for the warning. I think I will visit with the Presbyterians again. The Priest argued that they would be hitting that one theme home all week just to underscore the point about the need for Mercy and the meaning behind the cross.
The head Pastor apparently didn't get the Memo on how Jesus answered the Centurion. Jesus said to the Centurion who lamented "Lord I am not worthy, but only say the word...." essentially saying- congratulations! You won the lottery! Your faith saved you- you got over yourself. Now I am going to heal everyone in your house. If only everyone else would look at me and get over themselves. Looking at Jesus and still doing the chest thumping mia culpa two thousand years later refusing to get over themselves and insisting everyone else doesn't get over their respective selves is the surest way I know how to miss the point of the Cross. If you get Him, you get over yourself already. You remember sin no more-not yours, not any one elses.
Palm Sunday is the day of the Joyous ride of the triumpant Jesus into the City of Jerusalem on a donkey in fulfillment of scripture. It is a celebration of his ministry of miraculous healing and driving out demons. It's the preview of Easter. It was before the betrayal, before the Passover last supper dinner, before he was set up with ridiculously false evidence and insane slander at a trial by Pilate. It was before he was condemned by people light years his lessers. The point about Jesus' trip to the Cross was more that he was purely innocent and so qualified as the atonement for our sins, and that ought to be the focus rather than an obsession with the sins.
I have a "Jews for Jesus" friend who won't become catholic for precisely this reason. The emphasis on the soul wrenching "I am so unworthy" negative affirmations keeps people in self loathing spiritual poverty. Either Jesus died and built the rope bridge to heaven knit with his own body and blood tied in love knots from here to eternity or he didn't. If he did, then stop obsessing on and focusing on everyone's sin including yours. He flatly did not come to condemn the world-not anyone- not even the lady caught in the sheets with someone else's husband. When people were trying to make her feel bad, guilty and condemned he stopped by simply noting that they were no better. So why do you want to remind people of their sin when Jesus doesn't remember it any more. Remember that old maxim- one finger pointed at someone means four pointed back at you? Our Sin is to Jesus as far as the East is from the West. So how dare you devote a week to remembering it. Jesus Remembered it no more. You want people to swim in it? Jesus doesn't have a dirty laundry pile. His blood washed it all borax fresh and clean. You want to obsess on what no longer exists? You don't get the meaning of the blood.
You want to curse the darkness -you will drive out all the light.
While going to Confession can be better than free therapy, it can also be promoted in an unbiblical way as a pre-requisite to salvation. Jesus never lined anyone up and said, OK folks- first before I save you or before I carry that cross up on the hill I am going to have to hear of all the bad things you did this week. Then I will absolve you of them. No. Jesus already knows everything anyone does and did, and he knows the state of their heart concerning it- He knows if people are being trash mouthed and slandered when they did not do things they are formally accused of, he knows if people did things that they regret. Getting one's conscience clear has no bearing on whether Jesus forgives people. He forgave the very people who strung him up (Father forgive them) without them ever asking for it.
Whosoever. Whosoever. Whosoever. Whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord and believes on his name will be saved. Whosoever. Doesn't matter whether you stood in line to stand in a closet to tell another priest or person of the things you wish went differently. Jesus knows your prayers before you utter them.
Friday, March 14, 2008
DIVINE MERCY SHRINE IN MASSACHUSETTS
FOR THE SAKE OF HIS SORROWFUL PASSION
Watch the new
http://thedivinemercy.org/news/story.php?NID=3054
Cenacle of The Divine Mercy Series II
Mondays at 2:30 p.m.
& Saturdays at 6:30 a.m.
Co-hosts Fr. Joe Roesch, MIC (seen in the daily Chaplet on EWTN), and Dr. Bryan Thatcher (founder of Eucharistic Apostles of The Divine Mercy) are your guides to living the message of Divine Mercy. Don't miss it!
Watch the new
http://thedivinemercy.org/news/story.php?NID=3054
Cenacle of The Divine Mercy Series II
Mondays at 2:30 p.m.
& Saturdays at 6:30 a.m.
Co-hosts Fr. Joe Roesch, MIC (seen in the daily Chaplet on EWTN), and Dr. Bryan Thatcher (founder of Eucharistic Apostles of The Divine Mercy) are your guides to living the message of Divine Mercy. Don't miss it!
Watch Your Words-if this is the alternative.......
POPE BENEDICT coming to AMERICA during an election year
will deeply undermine his cause and that of Catholic evangelism in the name of Jesus
if he trashes Hillary Clinton's appearances at any Catholic College or seeks to
undermine her- because as a woman who bore and raised a child she speaks
with more moral authority on the issue of childbearing than the Pope.
God's Name Is Mercy
Surrender is not an Option-Spiritual Warfare
http://www.fathercorapi.com/surrender.aspx
Lenten Reflection
"For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all; like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels and to men. We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. To this present hour we hunger and thirst, we are ill-clad and buffeted and homeless, and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered we try to conciliate; we have become and are now, as the refuse of the world, the offscouring of all things."
Saint Paul- 1 Corinthians 4:9-12
Saint Paul- 1 Corinthians 4:9-12
THANKS JOHN
Big Thank You to John Hisle (Holy Trinity Social Justice Committee Advocacy Chair) for the
Map of Middle East Empires which is now linked to the right.
Map of Middle East Empires which is now linked to the right.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Loose Screws
And a Governor named Elliot.
Come on! Everyone in the country has an opinion on this one. As a female lawyer I just have to say that I admire Hillary's restraint and concern for his family. She's been there- no not really. Bill never spent $80,000 on hookers. He didn't have to pay for it.
The greater scandal -other than Mr. Spitzer's dripping sexual incontinence and callousness toward his wife's emotional well being, is that it took him three seconds to consider whether to resign.
Being John No.9 or whatever he was is not only a criminal act in New York (of the kind he used to prosecute mercilessly as Attorney General) but it is what is called by lawyers an act (multiple acts) of disbarable moral turpitude. And he had to spend three days thinking about whether he should resign? He should be locked up like every tatooed three dollar hooker in a thong and mini-skirt.
I hate to say it, but this sort of excrement is exactly what makes people run and hide from Democrats whom some believe have the moral code of King Herod when it comes to sexual ethics. The fact that Spitzer gave the press and every self-righteous blogger three days to feed off his depravity to the detriment of every Democrat running for anything means he is per se too selfish to be a public servant.
I don't know what kind of penance his behavior should get for demeaning, demoralizing and destroying his wife and her trust. Maybe he should have to wear his underwear on his head from now until she remarries.
Come on! Everyone in the country has an opinion on this one. As a female lawyer I just have to say that I admire Hillary's restraint and concern for his family. She's been there- no not really. Bill never spent $80,000 on hookers. He didn't have to pay for it.
The greater scandal -other than Mr. Spitzer's dripping sexual incontinence and callousness toward his wife's emotional well being, is that it took him three seconds to consider whether to resign.
Being John No.9 or whatever he was is not only a criminal act in New York (of the kind he used to prosecute mercilessly as Attorney General) but it is what is called by lawyers an act (multiple acts) of disbarable moral turpitude. And he had to spend three days thinking about whether he should resign? He should be locked up like every tatooed three dollar hooker in a thong and mini-skirt.
I hate to say it, but this sort of excrement is exactly what makes people run and hide from Democrats whom some believe have the moral code of King Herod when it comes to sexual ethics. The fact that Spitzer gave the press and every self-righteous blogger three days to feed off his depravity to the detriment of every Democrat running for anything means he is per se too selfish to be a public servant.
I don't know what kind of penance his behavior should get for demeaning, demoralizing and destroying his wife and her trust. Maybe he should have to wear his underwear on his head from now until she remarries.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
OH WHAT A NIGHT
UNDER THE SAME MOON-God Bless Us One And All
Today was one of those surreal Washington evenings. I walked down Pennsylvania Avenue past Scagarella, the bent old woman tending to the garden of Saint Stephens who fancies herself the church basement housewife of the much younger Monsignor with special garden tools. One might think this charitably endearing-- except that she's an old evil- eyed bitch whom I imagine injects her younger rivals with cancer inducing drugs as a night nurse at GW hospital.
I was treated to a movie in Georgetown which I highly recommend people seeing- UNDER THE SAME MOON. If you didn't get why it was a serious policy consideration that illegals in LA should get drivers' licenses, just watch the young attractive illegal Mexican mother take three buses to get to her cleaning job from East LA to Westwood. Then you will forgive Hillary. The movie depicted beautifully the struggle of a young boy, nine years of age to find his mother from a small Mexican village to East LA via Arizona. It was beautifully written. It was beautifully real. It's really about the love bond between a mother and son. It has comic turns, and touching turns. Everyone should see it. I cried a few times. So did that big softie John Hanshaw (founder of The Guerilla Film Festival in DC).
After the film, a reception underwritten by the producer and Washingon Life magazine
with fabulously faux empenadas, fried gummy balled things and the obligatory cheese platters took place next door. The scene there was a combination of the brilliantly significant but obscure mingling with people who looked like they wanted to audition for Vanna White's replacement when the Price is Right is next shot in Bethesda.
The place read like a Who's Who of up- and- comers and wannabees looking for up- and- comers to cozy up to. John Hanshaw, who is a bona fide up-and- came-already, and often referenced as Washington's most eligible bachelor (yes, John, you are pictured on page 73 of Washington Life but they spelled your name wrong) was as usual surrounded by a bevy of Latin and Iranian beauties batting coy eyelashes and angling to get closer. He was my first husband (I jest of course)
Carter's National Security Advisor Zbignew's son was inconspicuously there talking about how his family has known "Madeleine" (as in Albright) for decades- an International lawyer at a DC Firm, with his date who works press for John Kerry- looking Fab. in her Parisian flee market
drop dead georgeous drop black onyz earings. I thumbed through Washington Life while sipping the house Red. Speaking of Kerry, I just noticed that the Holy Face picture of Jesus (look to the side) looks a little like Kerry in Drag, and I will go to confession for that tomorrow.
Washington Life Page. 102 has the chic spring wedding fashion. What? I can't look!
I couldn't help but notice that there we were, Zbignew's son, the ever youthful incredibly brilliant John Hanshaw, the Washington Life editors, the producers of Under the Same Moon- all there under the same moon.
And Scagarella was hopefully safely tucked in her own house somewhere in East Butt-Bump Jibip suburban Virginia fantasizing alone about the Monsignor until the next "pilgrimmage."
I tell myself I don't want that georgeous white gold and diamond bracelet on page. 103 that says "Oui". Yes, I do. No, I don't. Yes, I do.....
Today was one of those surreal Washington evenings. I walked down Pennsylvania Avenue past Scagarella, the bent old woman tending to the garden of Saint Stephens who fancies herself the church basement housewife of the much younger Monsignor with special garden tools. One might think this charitably endearing-- except that she's an old evil- eyed bitch whom I imagine injects her younger rivals with cancer inducing drugs as a night nurse at GW hospital.
I was treated to a movie in Georgetown which I highly recommend people seeing- UNDER THE SAME MOON. If you didn't get why it was a serious policy consideration that illegals in LA should get drivers' licenses, just watch the young attractive illegal Mexican mother take three buses to get to her cleaning job from East LA to Westwood. Then you will forgive Hillary. The movie depicted beautifully the struggle of a young boy, nine years of age to find his mother from a small Mexican village to East LA via Arizona. It was beautifully written. It was beautifully real. It's really about the love bond between a mother and son. It has comic turns, and touching turns. Everyone should see it. I cried a few times. So did that big softie John Hanshaw (founder of The Guerilla Film Festival in DC).
After the film, a reception underwritten by the producer and Washingon Life magazine
with fabulously faux empenadas, fried gummy balled things and the obligatory cheese platters took place next door. The scene there was a combination of the brilliantly significant but obscure mingling with people who looked like they wanted to audition for Vanna White's replacement when the Price is Right is next shot in Bethesda.
The place read like a Who's Who of up- and- comers and wannabees looking for up- and- comers to cozy up to. John Hanshaw, who is a bona fide up-and- came-already, and often referenced as Washington's most eligible bachelor (yes, John, you are pictured on page 73 of Washington Life but they spelled your name wrong) was as usual surrounded by a bevy of Latin and Iranian beauties batting coy eyelashes and angling to get closer. He was my first husband (I jest of course)
Carter's National Security Advisor Zbignew's son was inconspicuously there talking about how his family has known "Madeleine" (as in Albright) for decades- an International lawyer at a DC Firm, with his date who works press for John Kerry- looking Fab. in her Parisian flee market
drop dead georgeous drop black onyz earings. I thumbed through Washington Life while sipping the house Red. Speaking of Kerry, I just noticed that the Holy Face picture of Jesus (look to the side) looks a little like Kerry in Drag, and I will go to confession for that tomorrow.
Washington Life Page. 102 has the chic spring wedding fashion. What? I can't look!
I couldn't help but notice that there we were, Zbignew's son, the ever youthful incredibly brilliant John Hanshaw, the Washington Life editors, the producers of Under the Same Moon- all there under the same moon.
And Scagarella was hopefully safely tucked in her own house somewhere in East Butt-Bump Jibip suburban Virginia fantasizing alone about the Monsignor until the next "pilgrimmage."
I tell myself I don't want that georgeous white gold and diamond bracelet on page. 103 that says "Oui". Yes, I do. No, I don't. Yes, I do.....
PENNSYLVANIA HOME GIRL TRACES HER ROOTS- HILLARY HITS A HOME RUN IN SCRANTON
Homecoming- www.HillaryClinton.com
[My Dad quarterbacked for Pitt and hers played for Penn State but I don't hold that against her]
PENNSYLVANIA LOVES HILLARY
Today's Front Page: "Homecoming for Hillary." Senator Clinton graces the front page of the Scranton Times-Tribune. "She sure is loved here." Yesterday, thousands of "wildly enthusiastic supporters frequently interrupted" Hillary's speech with "loud cheers" in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Read more.
Family Ties: Hillary has deep family roots in Pennsylvania. Hillary's great-grandparents came to Scranton in the 1880's, her grandfather worked for 50 years at the Scranton Lace Company, and her father was born and raised in Scranton and played football for Penn State. Hillary was christened in Scranton and spent her summers at the family cabin on Lake Winola.
And On The Trail:
Hillary holds rallies in Harrisburg and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania... President Bill Clinton hosts events in Washington and Center Township and meets with voters in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania... Chelsea gets out the vote in Jackson, Mississippi and opens a campaign office in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
In Case You Missed It: Sen. Obama gave at least his fifth different explanation for a meeting he finally acknowledged took place between his senior economic advisor and Canadian officials regarding NAFTA. At the meeting, the advisor downplayed Obama's anti-NAFTA speeches as just campaign rhetoric. Get the facts.
Help Russian Immigrants in Israel this Passover
FROM THE MAYOR OF ARIEL, ISRAEL
Recently, a new report on poverty in Israel was released. It shocks, embarrasses and hurts me that our government has not been able to stem the rise in the number of Israeli families below the poverty line. I wish I could tell you that Ariel has been immune to this painful phenomenon but it has not been. Here, too, we have families that need our help and I am turning to you, our friends around the world, to ask you to help us help them.
Next month, we will sit down to the Passover Seder table to retell the story of how G-d freed us from slavery in Egypt. In the Passover Haggadah, we will read "Let all who are hungry enter and eat; and all who are in want, come and celebrate the Passover."
But not every resident of Ariel will have the luxury of fulfilling that commandment. There are many different kinds of slavery.
Every year Ariel's Religious Council, with the help of American Friends of Ariel, distributes Passover food packages to needy families. This year, the need is greater than ever. This year, we will need over 1000 packages, containing the most basic Passover goods for senior citizens, new immigrant families and needy families. Unfortunately, there are no government budgets to fund this important "mitzvah". We are reliant on the good will of generous and caring friends.
Some 800 packages will be for the senior citizens in our community, largely Russian immigrants whose only income is Social Security. These small gift packages cost $30.00 each. They let our seniors know we care about them and want to be sure they can celebrate this important Festival of Freedom with dignity.
This year, we will need to prepare 300 Passover Packages for needy families in Ariel. Some of these packages will include diapers and formula for families with small children. These packages will cost $50.00 each.
The City of Ariel will also hold a community Seder for those who do not know how to make a Seder and for those who have no family with whom to share the holiday. The city subsidizes the Seder as much as our budget allows but even so, there are some who cannot afford the $30.00 cost.
Please help me. Help me reach out to the less fortunate residents of my city. Help me ensure that every family in Ariel has at least the basics for a Seder, the Passover feast.
Just fill out the form below and send it to American Friends of Ariel. Share this letter with others who may be willing to lend their support to this vital community undertaking. Help make this Passover a true holiday of freedom.
Sincerely,
Ron Nachman
Mayor of Ariel
To : Mayor Ron Nachman
c/o: American Friends of Ariel
3679 Carambola Circle N.
Coconut Creek, FL 33066-2460
Tel: 954-956-7080, Fax: 954-956-0260
E-mail: afariel@bellsouth.net
I/we want to fund _______ Senior Citizens Passover food packages @ $30 per package.
I/we want to fund _______ Passover packages for Needy Families @ $50 per package.
I/we want to sponsor ______ people at Ariel's community Seder @ $30.00 per person.
Enclosed is my check for $_________.
Please bill my Master Card _____ Visa _____ AmEx _____
Card no. ____________________________________ Expiry Date ____/____
Signature on Card __________________________________
Name __________________________________________________________
Address ________________________________________________________
City ______________________ State ______________ Zip ______________
Tel. (Home) _____________________ (Office) _______________________
Fax ______________________ E-mail _______________________________
Contributions to American Friends of Ariel are tax-deductible.
Recently, a new report on poverty in Israel was released. It shocks, embarrasses and hurts me that our government has not been able to stem the rise in the number of Israeli families below the poverty line. I wish I could tell you that Ariel has been immune to this painful phenomenon but it has not been. Here, too, we have families that need our help and I am turning to you, our friends around the world, to ask you to help us help them.
Next month, we will sit down to the Passover Seder table to retell the story of how G-d freed us from slavery in Egypt. In the Passover Haggadah, we will read "Let all who are hungry enter and eat; and all who are in want, come and celebrate the Passover."
But not every resident of Ariel will have the luxury of fulfilling that commandment. There are many different kinds of slavery.
Every year Ariel's Religious Council, with the help of American Friends of Ariel, distributes Passover food packages to needy families. This year, the need is greater than ever. This year, we will need over 1000 packages, containing the most basic Passover goods for senior citizens, new immigrant families and needy families. Unfortunately, there are no government budgets to fund this important "mitzvah". We are reliant on the good will of generous and caring friends.
Some 800 packages will be for the senior citizens in our community, largely Russian immigrants whose only income is Social Security. These small gift packages cost $30.00 each. They let our seniors know we care about them and want to be sure they can celebrate this important Festival of Freedom with dignity.
This year, we will need to prepare 300 Passover Packages for needy families in Ariel. Some of these packages will include diapers and formula for families with small children. These packages will cost $50.00 each.
The City of Ariel will also hold a community Seder for those who do not know how to make a Seder and for those who have no family with whom to share the holiday. The city subsidizes the Seder as much as our budget allows but even so, there are some who cannot afford the $30.00 cost.
Please help me. Help me reach out to the less fortunate residents of my city. Help me ensure that every family in Ariel has at least the basics for a Seder, the Passover feast.
Just fill out the form below and send it to American Friends of Ariel. Share this letter with others who may be willing to lend their support to this vital community undertaking. Help make this Passover a true holiday of freedom.
Sincerely,
Ron Nachman
Mayor of Ariel
To : Mayor Ron Nachman
c/o: American Friends of Ariel
3679 Carambola Circle N.
Coconut Creek, FL 33066-2460
Tel: 954-956-7080, Fax: 954-956-0260
E-mail: afariel@bellsouth.net
I/we want to fund _______ Senior Citizens Passover food packages @ $30 per package.
I/we want to fund _______ Passover packages for Needy Families @ $50 per package.
I/we want to sponsor ______ people at Ariel's community Seder @ $30.00 per person.
Enclosed is my check for $_________.
Please bill my Master Card _____ Visa _____ AmEx _____
Card no. ____________________________________ Expiry Date ____/____
Signature on Card __________________________________
Name __________________________________________________________
Address ________________________________________________________
City ______________________ State ______________ Zip ______________
Tel. (Home) _____________________ (Office) _______________________
Fax ______________________ E-mail _______________________________
Contributions to American Friends of Ariel are tax-deductible.
Monday, March 10, 2008
STOP THE MADNESS
SIGN SENATOR KENNEDY'S PETITION AGAINST TORTURE WITH ME
www.democraticmajority.com/page/s/torture
Haven't we had just about enough of this.
www.democraticmajority.com/page/s/torture
Haven't we had just about enough of this.
Wish You Were Here?
NO EXCUSE FOR YOUR NOT GETTING TO LOURDES THIS YEAR.....TWO EXCITING WAYS TO GET THERE .......
HOLY HELP US!
A Walking Pilgrimage:
Lourdes & Santiago de Compostela
And Other Sites in France & Spain
John Carroll Society , http://www.johncarrollsociety.org/
Pilgrimage to France & Spain
August 5 thru’ 14, 2008
[optional Madrid Extension {rtn Aug 17}]
Under the Spiritual Leadership of:
Monsignor Peter J. Vaghi, Chaplain
Trip cost: $3,375 per person all inclusive
plus $875 for Madrid Extension {rtn Aug 17)
Personally Designed and Escorted By:
Guido Adelfio, President
Signature Pilgrimages
4422 East West Hwy, Bethesda MD 20814
301-656-1670
Capturing the Spirit of Travel
A Division of Bethesda Travel Center, Ltd (since 1961)
HIGHLIGHTS: Mass will be in Toulouse, burial site of
St. Thomas Aquinas, XIII-c theologian
and author of Summa Theologiae, which
formalized the discourse between faith
and reason.
THE ITINERARY
Tuesday 05 August
Washington departure
Group check in at Dulles
Airport this afternoon.
Opening Holy Mass will be
celebrated at the Dulles
Airport Chapel by Pilgrimage
Spiritual Advisor and JCS Chaplain, Monsignor Peter J.
Vaghi. Dinner & a movie aboard our connecting flight
via Madrid to Bordeaux, France.
Wed 06 August Madrid-Bordeaux-Rocamadour
A convenient connection in Madrid before arriving in
Bordeaux, where we will board our motorcoach for the
ride to Saint Emilion for LUNCH in the heart of
Bordeaux red wine country. Continue in the afternoon to
the Sanctuary of Notre Dame in Rocamadour, which has
been one of Christianity’s most visited pilgrimage
destinations since the first millennium. The name
derives from Rock of St. Amadour, a hermit who lived in
a cave on this impressive cliff. Holy Mass and
welcoming DINNER* for the group. Hotel Beau Site (2
nights).
Thursday 07 August Rocamadour
Daily BREAKFASTS
in each of our various
hotels and religious
houses. Holy Mass
today in the sacred
shrine with time for
reflection and religious
meditation in this
authentic French
medieval setting.
Independent lunch
today and a restful afternoon before this evening’s
opening JCS Seminar. One of the main features of the
JCS Pilgrimages is a series of varied and stimulating
presentations and seminars related to a pertinent spiritual
topic or to the destination. Group DINNER tonight.
Fri 08 Aug Rocamadour-Toulouse-Lourdes
Heading south now to Toulouse, we will gain inspiration
from St. Thomas Aquinas. Mass at the Dominican
Convent of St. Jacques, burial site of Aquinas, before
visiting St. Sernin Basilica. On to Lourdes, arriving in
time for this evening’s Rosary Procession. DINNER &
overnight. Soeurs de l’Amour de Dieu (2 nts).
Saturday 09 August Lourdes
The JCS Pilgrimage will recognize the 150th anniversary of the 1858 Apparition to
young Bernadette. Following Mass in the Basilica, Pilgrims will have free time for
meditation and exploration, including a chance to bathe in the Lourdes water and for
Confession, Recitation of the Rosary and the Stations of the Cross before the nightly
Rosary Procession. DINNER.
Sunday 10 August Lourdes - Azpeitia - San Sebastian
Morning departure, crossing the Pyrenees, to the border with Spain. Along the way
to his birthplace at Aspeitia, we will hear the story of St.Ignatius Loyola in
preparation for Holy Mass at the Shrine of Sant Ignatius. Reach the seacoast and
our accommodations in Donostia-San Sebastian. DINNER and overnights Hotel
Tryp (or similar - 2 nts).
Prayer Invoking St. James
We humbly beseech your majesty, O Lord, that
as the blessed apostle St. James the Greater
was once a teacher and the ruler of your
Church, so may he ever be our advocate with
you. Through our Lord Christ. Amen
SPIRITofTRAVEL@aol.com.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
There is what promises to be an amazing Pilgrimmage now being promoted through
THE RENAISSANCE GROUP (703-430-0030) CIAO EZIO
September 18-27, 2008 to
PARIS AND LOURDES.
http://www.lourdes-france.com/
They will hit Paris, Lourdes, Chartres, St. Etienne de Nevers (St. Bernadette http://www.catholicpilgrims.com/lourdes/ba_bernadette_intro.htm ), and Lisieux (St. Therese http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=105 The Little Flower,) (deadline to register is July 19, 2008)
$2,695. includes r/t air, 8 nights in First class hotels, daily meals, bilingual tour guide.
Sunday, March 09, 2008
Saturday, March 08, 2008
Or You Could Go To Lourdes
...and read "The Estrogen Alternative"--by Raquel Martin and Judi Gerstung- who give the homeopathic explanation for whatever ails females over the age of 30-including thyroid diseases and various cancers -Healing Arts Press, Rochester, Vermont (Borders will order)http://www.amazon.com/Estrogen-Alternative-Natural-Botanical-Progesterone/dp/089281893X
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