Keep
your eyes open!...
August 30, 2021
(Mat 28:19-20) Going
therefore, teach ye all nations: baptizing them in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe
all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And behold I am with you
all days, even to the consummation of the world.
CARDINAL NAPIER:
Today (08/29), the Feast of the Beheading of John the Baptist, is a
timely reminder of what the powers of this world do to those who bear
witness to the truth, regardless of how self evident that truth is!
SIGN.ORG: The Divine Antidote: The Flame of Love Grace, The Triumph of the Mother of God and the New Pentecost
CATHOLIC WORLD REPORT: Telling the World’s Greatest Story with seven simple points
A certain “brain fog” is common in telling the story of Jesus. People
have a general sense that Christ loves all people and that we are to
love Him in return. They know that being close to Jesus is important
for going to heaven, and that there are certain terrible things people
can do to break-off their relationship with Jesus. Beyond that, the
details can get pretty sketchy.
So what are the basic building
blocks of the story of Jesus? What are the key points that Christ’s
first apostles and St. Paul shared with the people of their time, and
that Catholics are called to share with people today? Here is a version
of the Gospel in seven simple points:
- God created each of us, the universe, and everything in it out of
love. We are not accidents! When we consider the beauty and order of
creation—from the incredible pictures we see of outer space to the
wonders of the way our bodies work—it just doesn’t make sense to say
that this is all the product of purposeless processes with no higher
power making it all and making it all work. Even our desire to
understand creation is due to the fact that our Creator has planted
this desire in our hearts. Science has lots of wonderful things to say
about how the world works, but we need to look elsewhere to find the
answer to the question why. God has revealed to us that He exists as
three Persons in one God, and that this one God “is love” (1 Jn 4:8).
He created the universe from nothing, and humanity is the crowning
achievement of God’s visible creation. Unfortunately, we haven’t always
acted like it.
- Sin infects the world. Death is the consequence of sin. G.K.
Chesterton once described the problem of sin in the world as a truth
“as plain as potatoes.” When we look at the world around us and,
frankly, when we look inside of our hearts, we know that things are not
the way they ought to be. There is evil in the world, and each of our
hearts is infected with some measure of evil desire. We believe in two
kinds of sin: Original Sin, a condition of sin we all inherit from our
first parents, who made the first break from God; and personal sins,
the sins each of us commits. It was not God’s plan for death to conquer
us, but through sin we have said “no” to His plan for us, and set for
ourselves a course for death and even hell, eternal separation from God.
- We cannot solve the problems of sin and death. Like a child who
breaks something valuable and tries to fix it with Elmer’s Glue, we
simply don’t have the power to fix what we’ve broken through sin. We
need to be rescued, or death is our only possible destiny. In the
meantime, while life has certain joys, apart from God it is most often
a drudgery at best, and at worst can lead us to despair. The Book of
Job captures this plight powerfully when Job says, “Is not man’s life
on earth a drudgery?” and then, “My life is like the wind; I shall not
see happiness again” (7:1, 7). Any one of us could say those words
truthfully if we had been left to ourselves to recover from the wounds
of sin.
- God has come to the rescue…and more. God has not left us to
recover from the wounds of sin on our own. In His unfathomable love for
us, He has sent His only Son to become one of us (cf. Jn 3:16). The Son
of God, in the words of St. Athanasius, has become human, so that
humans could become divine. In other words, Jesus Christ does more than
restore us to what we were before the Fall of Adam and Eve. In his
life, death, and resurrection, Jesus saves us from condemnation and
wins for us a life beyond anything we could have imagined. He offers us
the power to become like Him, to share in His life forever.
- What God has done in Jesus, He has done once and for all. St.
Peter says in the Acts of the Apostles, “There is no salvation through
anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven given to the
human race by which we are to be saved” (4:12). Any person who is saved
from sin and death, without exception, is saved by Jesus Christ. Only
Jesus is the perfect bridge between divinity and humanity, since He is
both God and man. Even in the case of someone being saved without
explicitly believing in Jesus, that person must somehow implicitly say
“yes” to God with all his heart, without being at fault for his
ignorance of Jesus or for staying outside of His Church. In such a case
(whatever the probability of such a case is), that person is saved by
Jesus, the one Savior of the world.
- God’s “once and for all” rescue stretches across time and space
in the life of His Church. God “wills everyone to be saved and to come
to knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim 2:4). And so Christ established the
Church, calling Peter “the rock” upon whom He would build His Church
(Mt 16:18) and telling His first apostles to “proclaim the Gospel to
every creature” (Mk 16:15), to baptize and teach God’s commandments (Mt
28:19-20), to celebrate the Eucharist (Lk 22:19), and that the
Eucharist would bring to the baptized the gift of eternal life (Jn
6:54-55). Every gift God wants to give His people, He offers in and
through His Catholic Church, united under Peter, our pope. And for 2000
years the Church has been working to distribute the gifts of God to
every corner of the globe, beginning with those first apostles.
- “What must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30)—“Repent and be
baptized” (Acts 2:38). Salvation is a gift, not something we earn. But
as with any gift, we need to be receptive and make good use of what we
have been given, with a spirit of gratitude. God is calling each of us
to turn our lives over to Him. Each of us is called to repent of our
sins, to believe in Jesus Christ, and to become united to Him through
the Sacrament of Baptism. Baptism makes us members of God’s family in
the Church, and then we are called to live as a family, in union with
Christ and with each other. We do this especially in the Holy Sacrifice
of the Mass and in the celebration of the other sacraments, in prayer,
in works of charity, and in sharing our faith with others. Jesus came
so that we might “have life, and have it more abundantly” (Jn 10:10).
This is the story of Jesus, and it
is the story of every member of His Church. It is truly the greatest
story ever told. Every Catholic needs to learn this story and pray for
the grace and courage to share it with others.
Thoughts
and Sayings of Saint Margaret Mary: Union with God
3. If you wish to
pray well, be faithful in the
practice of mortification, avoid dissipation of mind during the day,
and
never commit any willful faults.
August 26, 2021
(Rev 6:9-11) And
when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of
them that were slain for the word of God and for the testimony which
they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying: How long, O Lord
(Holy and True), dost thou not judge and revenge our blood on them that
dwell on the earth? And white robes were given to every one of them
one; And it was said to them that they should rest for a little time
till their fellow servants and their brethren, who are to be slain even
as they, should be filled up.
CATHOLIC WORLD REPORT REVIEW: The fall of Afghanistan and the resurgence of radical Islam
REPORT: Afghanistan's Catholic 'hidden believers' and the underreported work of the church
UCANEWS: Italian priest recounts harrowing escape from Afghan capital
AID TO THE CHURCH IN NEED: In Afghanistan, a dark future for religious freedom
On AUG. 19, 2021, the 102nd anniversary of the country’s independence
from British rule, Zabihullah Mujahid, spokesperson for the Taliban,
declared Afghanistan as the “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan” on the
Taliban’s official Twitter account.
Thomas Heine-Geldern, executive president of Aid to the Church in Need
(ACN), expresses profound concerns about the future of the country:
“During the rule of the previous Emirate of Afghanistan (1996 to 2001),
the Taliban imposed a strict version of sharia law nationwide. We can
expect that Sunni Islam will be the official religion, that Sharia law
will be reimposed, and that hard-won respect for human rights,
including a relative measure of religious freedom during the last 20
years will be revoked.
“ACN predicted the deterioration of the situation in its recent
Religious Freedom in the World Report. Throughout the 22-year history
of this report, Afghanistan has always been among the countries that
most severely violates this fundamental right. Especially in the last
three years, the report highlights, there have been repeated and
egregious attacks against places of worship, religious leaders, and
worshippers.
“Our analysis, unfortunately, does not leave much room for hope. All
those who do not espouse the extreme Islamist views of the Taliban are
at risk, even moderate Sunni. The Shia (10 percent of the population),
the small Christian community, and all other religious minorities,
already under threat, will suffer even greater oppression. This is a
huge setback for all human rights and especially for religious freedom
in the country.
“Regrettably, several countries quickly declared their sympathies for
the new Emirate. This will not only help legitimize the Taliban, but
also embolden authoritarian regimes all over the world, particularly in
the region, spurring increasing violations of religious freedoms in
their own countries. International recognition of the Taliban will also
act as a magnet for smaller radical Islamic groups, creating a new
constellation of religious terrorist factions that could supplant
al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. Among others, areas of concern include
Pakistan, Palestine, and the province of Idlib in Syria. The situation
for Christians and other religious minority communities already
suffering oppression, will further deteriorate.
“Aid to the Church in Need encourages the international community to
raise a voice in protection of human rights for all citizens of
Afghanistan, especially considering that we estimate that religious
freedom will be particularly under threat. We also call on our donors
and friends to continue to pray during this profoundly troubling time
in the history of Afghanistan.”
More than 99 percent of the population is Muslim; the biggest group are
Sunni, and 10 percent are Shia. Among other believers are a relatively
equal number of Hindus, Bahai’s, Buddhists and Christians. Estimates of
the number of Christians in Afghanistan vary from a high of 20,000 to
possibly as low as 1,000. They live their lives of faith in secret, so
accurate numbers are impossible to come by. There has been only one
Catholic church in the country, hidden away at the Italian Embassy that
had to shut down because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2018, there were
an estimated 200 Catholics in Afghanistan.
In 2010, in territory that it controlled, the Taliban killed 10
humanitarian workers, who had been accused of spreading Christianity
and being foreign spies. Reportedly, some leaders of underground house
churches have received letters from Taliban that they are being
watched. There is concern that Christians may be killed outright and
that young Christian girls will be given in marriage to Taliban
fighters. Even before the Taliban takeover, Christian converts from
Islam faced ostracization and even violence from family members. As of
August 16, two Indian Jesuits and four Missionaries of Charity were
awaiting evacuation. Supporting Afghanistan’s Christians in practical
ways will be extremely difficult—and prayer will be especially
important.
NCR: Catholic Charities Mobilize to Aid Afghan Refugees, Urge Continued Prayers and Assistance
Thoughts
and Sayings of Saint Margaret Mary: Peace- Trust- Abandonment
30. Should you find
yourself overwhelmed by fear,
cast yourself into the abyss of the unshaken confidence of the Sacred
Heart,
and there your fear will give place to love. If you find yourself frail
and weak, lapsing into faults at every moment, go to the Sacred Heart
and
draw from It the strength which will invigorate and revive you.
August 9, 2021
(Psa 107:1) Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!
UPDATE: Thank the good Lord I feel almost 100%. I plan on returning to work this week as per CDC guidelines for health care workers.
I am going to post Living with and through Covid-19 on its own separate page as an informational resource for all who have interested. Please share it as you are able.
It is very important for me to point out that Living with and through Covid-19 is an informational resource only and not a license for self-treatment of this very serious disease. Please follow the directions of your own personal physician.
I had a previously scheduled vacation starting the week of August 16
and so will resume Trib Times posting sometime during the last week of
August.
God bless!!
Thoughts
and Sayings of Saint Margaret Mary: Peace- Trust- Abandonment
29. Know that He
wishes more love than fear from
you. Therefore, abandon yourself to His love, and let him act in you,
with
you and for you, according to His desire and good pleasure.
August 6, 2021
(Php 4:6-7) Do not be anxious about
anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of
God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your
minds in Christ Jesus.
Living with and through Covid-19
Went for a short
walk several days ago and found myself completely out of breath.
Soon afterwards began to develop body ache and a low grade fever.
I decided to get tested the following day for Covid-19. My rapid
antigen test and PCR test were both negative! Though I was
somewhat consoled, I knew that my symptoms were classic for
Covid. I went to yet another testing center and again received a
negative molecular rapid antigen test, which is purported to be 92%
accurate! The PCR test from this second center would not be
available for 24 hours.
The next day via email I received the result:
My clinical suspicion was
confirmed. During the day my fever, body ache and general malaise
continued to worsen leaving little doubt that I was indeed another
living Covid statistic.
Treatment
I enthusiastically recommend the following pamphlet as an overview of the disease itself and its management: A Guide to Home-Based Covid Treatment.
The critical treatment information is reproduced here in flow sheet form: Treatment.pdf.
I started using the following medications as soon as the diagnosis was confirmed:
Ivermectin 0.2 mg/kg daily for 5 days
Zpack (Azithromycin) for 5 days
Zinc Sulfate 220 mg daily
Vitamin D3 5000 IU daily
Vitamin C 3000 mg daily
I also started four times daily inhalation therapy based on this study
that found that inhaled budesonide reduced the relative risk of
requiring urgent care or hospitalisation by 90% in the 28-day study
period.
Later today I will be receiving monoclonal antibody therapy as an infusion in a local treatment center. A list of available treatment centers can be found here: https://covid.infusioncenter.org/.
If you are looking for a physician in your area to oversee your Covid treatment please visit this link: https://c19protocols.com/physicians-facilities-offering-early-treatment/.
CDC Guidelines: Return to Work Criteria for Healthcare Personnel with SARS-CoV-2 Infection
Other than the nuisance of having to quarantine I feel 95% back to
normal. Praise God I am well on the way to living through Covid!
Thoughts
and Sayings of Saint Margaret Mary: Peace- Trust- Abandonment
28. Keep your soul
always in peace, with love and
trust in our Lord, and- I repeat- remember what you have promised Him,
that is to say, undivided love, persevering humility and generous
mortification.
This is what you owe to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
August 3, 2021
(Mat 19:21-22) Jesus
saith to him: If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast, and give
to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow
me. And when the young man had heard this word, he went away sad: for
he had great possessions.
REPORT: Hero
and Popular Cardinal Robert Sarah will be attending this weeks Youth
Festival in Medjugorje. Warns of the collapse of West if it turns away
from God
LINK: Cardinal Sarah homily
ARCHIVES: Medjugorje; the findings of the Ruini report
EXCERPT CATECHESIS: Mons. Tadeusz Wojda, Archbishop of Gdansk in Poland on the first evening of the 32nd Youth Festival in Medjugorje
The encounter with Jesus is never passive. Anyone who opens himself to
the presence of Jesus in his life feels a strong need to witness this
"something higher." The young man from the Gospel, unfortunately, did
not decide to open the news that Jesus offered him. Jesus who comes to
us wants to enrich us with himself and send us into the world as his
disciples, as witnesses of the personal goodness and love we have
experienced.
To motivate his friends even more to share their inner good with
others, Jesus leaves them his word. It is the word of God full of
dynamism. "In the word of God this dynamism of 'going out' which God
desires to evoke in believers is constantly appearing" (EG 20). The
books of both the Old and New Testaments cite many examples of this:
Abraham accepted the invitation to go to a new land (cf. Gen. 12: 2-3).
Moses heard God's call: "Therefore, come on! I am sending you ”(Exodus
3:10) and he led the people to the Promised Land (cf. Exodus 3:17). He
said to Jeremiah, "Go to those to whom I send you" (Jer. 1: 7).
A man who accepts Jesus' call also gains an inner freedom to leave "his
land," a willingness to follow God's voice, and an availability to be
His witness among men.
I once met a nun, a missionary in Algeria, a Muslim country. She worked
at the hospital with the other nurses. She did not wear a habit or any
religious sign because it was forbidden. Her mission as a nurse largely
consisted of caring for the sick: dressing wounds, giving medicines,
and providing various services. Although it was hard and difficult
work, the nurse tried to do it with dedication and sacrifice. The sick,
seeing her joy and cheerfulness of spirit, asked her more than once,
"Why do you sacrifice so much, whence is there so much joy in you?" And
she, smiling, replied, "My God, Jesus Christ, gives me strength and
joy. "And they answered that they too would like to know that God."
Because we are witnesses, we become preachers of the Good News. This
Good News is the Word of God which, today as before, retains the same
freshness and the same power of provocation. In this way it becomes a
real leaven or ferment in the lives of those who receive it, awakening
in them a desire to live this Word and go to others even "to all the
peripheries that need the light of the gospel" (EG 20).
The word Jesus sends is not from man, but from God. For that reason, it
is unpredictable. The evangelist Mark recalls that Jesus compared the
Word of God to the seed sown by the farmer: "He sleeps and rises, night
and day, the seed sprouts and grows, he himself does not know how" (cf.
Mk 4: 26-29). We must be aware that Christ is sending us to sow the
seed of God in the hearts of men, not waiting for it to sprout and bear
fruit; "One sows, another reaps," says the Gospel (Jn 4:37). Even if we
sow, the true growth of the sown seed is the work of the Holy Spirit,
for only He is able to make the soil of the human heart fertile.
The joy of proclaiming the gospel is also missionary joy. It was
experienced by Jesus himself when he trembled with joy in the Holy
Spirit and glorified the Father, because his revelation reaches the
poor and the least, reminds the evangelist Luke (Lk 10:21).
Here in Medjugorje, talk to Mary, the Mother of Jesus. Tell her what is
going on in your heart, what it lives for, and She will take you to her
Son, Jesus. It will help you fully understand what is in your heart. It
will help you find the correct answer to the question "what to do".
It is experienced by students returning from a mission. They are full
of joy, writes the Evangelist (cf. Lk 10:17). It is felt by the first
converts who, full of admiration, listened to the apostle "each in his
own language" (cf. Acts 2: 6), at Pentecost (cf. EG 21).
In light of the foregoing, it is worth asking the question: What does
the Gospel evoke in me? Am I also the joy of the Gospel? Do I feel sent
too? True joy is the power that urges us to walk toward those to whom
salvation has not yet been revealed. This joy is a shared
responsibility for the salvation of others, and thus a desire to bring
to them Jesus Christ, the only Savior of the world. The joy of
proclaiming the Gospel always has "the dynamics of going out and
giving, coming out of oneself, walking and shining over and over again,
ever further" (EG 21).
LIVESTREAM: Medjugorje World Youth Festival
CARDINAL ROBERT SARAH:
"Let us trust in Him and be convinced that everything else, that is,
His grace and eternal happiness, will be given to us in addition. May
Our Lady of Medjugorje convert us and help us to do God's work and
bless us all. Amen ”
Thoughts
and Sayings of Saint Margaret Mary: Peace- Trust- Abandonment
27. Let us have no
further reserve with Him; let
us abandon to Him all that we are, without anxiety about the future,
not
reflecting on ourselves and our incapacity.
August 2, 2021
(Exo 14:13-14) And
Moses said to the people: Fear not: stand, and see the great wonders of
the Lord, which he will do this day; for the Egyptians, whom you see
now, you shall see no more for ever. The Lord will fight for you, and
you shall hold your peace.
SIGNS & WONDERS: Fear Not! Stand Your Ground
CRISIS MAGAZINE: Alone Among Mine Enemies
EXCERPT BLOG: A Counter-Modern Intellectual Life
First appearing in 1921, The
Intellectual Life, by the great French Dominican and thinker A.G.
Sertillanges, has provided a sure guide for generations of scholars. It
has done this not so much by providing research methods or even by
proposing an intellectual system (though he highly favors Thomism), but
rather, as his title suggests, by proposing a way of life.
Let us now turn to another
important lesson for today’s readers. He warns frequently against the
dangers of distraction and dissipation of attention. It is astounding
that his admonitions were written before the rise of the internet,
since much of what he says applies so well to our increasingly digital
world of iPhones and social media. He writes, for instance: “The mind
is dulled, not fed, by inordinate reading, it is made gradually
incapable of reflection and concentration, and therefore of production;
it grows inwardly extroverted, if one can so express oneself. . .”
Although Sertillanges was referring to the dangers in his own day of
obsessively following the news, his words ring even truer today with
the advent of the internet: “The continual sight stimuli thus
occasioned destroy mental energy, as constant vibration wears out
steel.”
Reading these lines, one wonders whether Sertillanges was granted a
form of prescience. His advice, more important today than ever, offers
a sobering reminder of the dangers of losing oneself in endless
scrolling and refreshing on internet sites. Of course it is necessary
to be informed about the world; no one can or should live in a bubble
today. But we must be careful not to lose ourselves in the endless sea
of information that floods us every morning, afternoon, evening, and
night. We must be willing to take ourselves away from the tumult of the
world in order to cultivate interior silence. He writes: “When silence
takes possession of you; when far from the racket of the human highway
the sacred fire flames up in the stillness; when peace, which is the
tranquility of order, puts order in your thoughts, feelings, and
investigations, you are in the supreme disposition for learning . . .”
When considering Sertillanges’ advice against distractions, we must
keep in mind the reason why he urges the reader to reject distraction.
Sertillanges reiterates that the intellectual life is a calling, a
vocation. And it is the deleterious results of distraction upon this
calling, rather than a decrease in productivity, which prompt
Sertillanges’ many warnings on the topic. This sets his work in stark
contrast to modern self-help articles and books, whose advice about
simplifying and shutting out distractions are reducible to a desire for
what is termed “mindfulness.” Mindfulness generally is the attempt to
become fully present to the moment, to oneself, and one’s current
experience. This is not equivalent to what Sertillanges urges, which is
to remove distractions not for one's own sake, but for the sake of
pursuing something outside oneself: the Truth.
While his advice about avoiding distraction is by no means only
valuable to intellectuals, we should keep in mind that Sertillanges is
still writing specifically to those with an intellectual vocation. For
Sertillanges, this category is not limited to those who earn their
living by means of intellectual work. It is not, however, a universal
calling. Everyone has a vocation, but not everyone has a vocation to be
an intellectual. It is true that we should all act so as to flourish in
the way of life to which we have been called, and hence in a broad
sense we should all be concerned to avoid distractions that could
divert us from that calling. But Sertillanges is at pains to warn the
intellectual in particular from this precipice. This may be because he
believes the intellectual is uniquely susceptible to this particular
temptation of “distraction” in the form of the vice traditionally known
as curiositas. Curiositas is most dangerous to the intellectual because
it can divert him from the proper end of his work. Though he may
specialize, the intellectual must be a servant of Truth. His or her
goal is not the mere accumulation of facts, but the grasping of Truth.
And all truths for Sertillanges—as a good Catholic and a good
Thomist—find their ultimate grounding in Truth Itself: God.
Thus while Sertillanges’ warnings
about distractions apply to everyone in our highly distracted
contemporary society, he is speaking especially to those who wish to
make the life of the mind their own life. He wishes them to join in
this work and not to fear its challenges. As he puts it: “The life of
study is austere and imposes grave obligations. It pays, it pays
richly; but it exacts an initial outlay that few are capable of. The
athletes of the mind, like those of the playing field, must be prepared
for privations, long training, a sometimes superhuman tenacity. We must
give ourselves from the heart, if truth is to give itself to us.”
Sertillanges’ exhortation is, to be sure, challenging. He places the
bar high for anyone wishing to pursue the intellectual life. In his
view, it demands commitment and sacrifice. At the same time, his call
is simple: individuals called to the intellectual life must, above all,
know and love the truth. If anything, Sertillanges’ call to seek the
truth whole-heartedly is even more necessary today than when he first
wrote his work. A hundred years later, we stand in need of thinkers,
writers, and holy individuals to reset our priorities.
Thoughts
and Sayings of Saint Margaret Mary: Peace- Trust- Abandonment
25. Cast yourself
often into His arms or into His
divine Heart, and abandon yourself to all His designs upon you.
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