Keep
your eyes open!...
May 30, 2023 St Joan of Arc (c.1412 - 1431)
(2Ti 4:7-8) I have fought a good fight: I have finished my course: I
have kept the faith. As to the rest, there is laid up for me a crown of
justice which the Lord the just judge will render to me in that day:
and not only to me, but to them also that love his coming. Make haste
to come to me quickly.
ONLINE BOOK: Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc Volume 1 (of 2) by Mark Twain
“I studied that girl, Joan of Arc,
for twelve years,” Mark Twain said, “and it never seemed to me that the
artists and the writers gave us a true picture of her. They drew a
picture of a peasant. But they always missed the face—the divine soul,
the pure character, the supreme woman, the wonderful girl.”
-Mark Twain’s “Joan of Arc”
FROM THE MAILBAG
VIA: Dave J Sheehan: Joan of Arc's Feast Day is May 30th
Joan was burned at the stake on May 30th, 1431 A.D.
She was canonized on May 16, 1920. {Some things just take a little time.... }
Here is the song, the Ballad of Joan of Arc: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQ3yC5Kjk3E
Here is the full movie on Joan done in 1999 - a great flick: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tt9lzIzF8gQ
And finally here is Joan's letter to the modernists, I mean the Hussites (Heretics) of
her time. Her love of God and her persistence even unto a very cruel
death at the hands of corrupt Church authorities should be an
inspiration to us all.
God bless you Joan, and help us in our fight today.
Joan of Arc's Letter to the Hussites (March 23, 1430)
Introduction and Historical Context
On 23 March 1430 Joan of Arc dictated a letter to a scribe containing
an ultimatum against a group called the Hussites, threatening to take
part in the war against the group unless they returned to orthodoxy.
The letter was written during a brief truce between the French and
English Royal governments.
The Hussites were a religious and military faction which many
historians have labeled "radical Catholics" or "Proto-Protestants".
Joan of Arc denounces the Hussites' theology as a "false and vile
superstition", condemns them for destroying churches and statues of the
saints, and threatens to add her own presence to the ongoing crusading
efforts against them unless they "return to the Catholic faith and the
original light". Pope Martin V had encouraged another crusade against
the Hussites not long before the letter was dictated.
Some modern readers and authors
have commented negatively on the violent threats against the Hussites
contained in this letter. Perhaps they expected Joan of Arc to be a
pacifist. In any event, the context should be obvious : as with her
ultimatums to the English - which take a similar form - she was
responding to an existing state of war. She specifically refers to the
Hussites' attacks on churches and monasteries, and it may not be
coincidence that the letter was sent not long after campaigns by the
Hussites which had devastated a significant number of villages in
Silesia, Hungary, Lusatia, Meissen, and Saxony - actions against
civilians which particularly angered her, judging from the accounts of
eyewitnesses who knew her. This is the setting for the threats of
military action to stop the Hussites from further campaigns of this
type. The violent tone of her ultimatums differs sharply from her other
letters and the descriptions by eyewitnesses who said she was normally
"sweet-natured" in other circumstances.
The Text
The original version of the letter was translated into Latin by Joan's
scribe and confessor, Friar Jean Pasquerel. Unlike her letters to the
English commanders - a bilingual group who spoke fluent French - in
this case Latin was the most convenient means of communicating with the
intended recipients.
Pasquerel's name appears at the
bottom of the letter, as was common practice in the 15th century when a
scribe recorded a letter dictated by someone else, as can be seen from
Royal and seigneurial correspondence of that era.
Jesus, Maria
For some time now, rumor and public information have made it clear to
me, Joan the Maid, that from true Christians you have become heretics
and, practically on a level with the Saracens, you have destroyed true
faith and worship, and taken up a disgraceful and criminal superstition
and wishing to protect and propagate it, there is not a single disgrace
nor act of barbarism which you do not dare. You ruin the sacraments of
the Church, you mutilate the articles of the Faith, you destroy
churches, you break and burn statues which were created as memorial
monuments, you massacre Christians unless they adopt your beliefs.
What is this frenzy? What rage or
madness drives you? This faith, which Almighty God , which the Son,
which the Holy Spirit have revealed, established, given sway and
glorified a thousandfold through miracles is the faith which you
persecute, which you wish to overturn and obliterate. You yourselves
are blind, but not because you're among those who lack eyes or the
ability to see. Do you think that you will not be punished for this? Or
do you not realize that God will block your criminal efforts? Do you
think He will allow you to remain in darkness and error? The more you
give yourselves over to criminal sacrilege, the more He will ready
great punishment and torment for you.
As for myself, I tell you frankly,
if I wasn't busy with these English wars I would have come to see you a
long time ago. But if I do not hear that you have reformed yourselves,
I might leave the English behind and go against you, so that by the
sword, if I cannot otherwise, I may eliminate your false and vile
superstition, and take away either your heresy or your life. But if you
choose instead to return to the Catholic faith and the original source
of Light, then send me your ambassadors and I will tell them what you
need to do. If you do not wish to do so and persist in resisting the
spur, keep in mind what damages and crimes you have committed and await
me, who will deal with you comparably with the aid of divine and human
force.
Given at Sully, the 23d of March.
to the heretics of Bohemia.
(signed) Pasquerel
The
Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Fortitude
21. He also said, 'Temptations come to us in all kinds of ways.
We ought to put on full armour, and then we shall seem to them to
be expert soldiers when they attack us.'
May 26, 2023
(Act 2:13-18) But others mocking,
said: These men are full of new wine. But Peter standing up with the
eleven, lifted up his voice, and spoke to them: Ye men of Judea, and
all you that dwell in Jerusalem, be this known to you and with your
ears receive my words. For these are not drunk, as you suppose, seeing
it is but the third hour of the day: But this is that which was spoken
of by the prophet Joel: And it shall come to pass, in the last days,
(saith the Lord), I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your
sons and your daughters shall prophesy: and your young men shall see
visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. And upon my servants
indeed and upon my handmaids will I pour out in those days of my
spirit: and they shall prophesy.
PETER KWASNIEWSKI BLOG: Divine Drunkenness, Mystical Madness
NCR: Pentecost Homily: Things Fall Apart!
CATHOLIC STUDIES ACADEMY: The Holy Spirit: Giver of Life and the Paraclete
Q & A: History of Christian Celebration of Pentecost
When Christians began to celebrate Pentecost to commemorate the coming
of the Holy Spirit on the apostles on the very day of the Jewish feast,
they kept the name Pentecost, from the Greek word meaning “fiftieth”,
because it came 50 days after Easter.
In English the feast is also known as Whitsunday, or White Sunday,
because on that day the newly baptised wore their white garments for
the services.
It is not known whether or how Pentecost was celebrated by Christians
in the first two centuries. But it is likely that it was celebrated in
some way very early on, since it came 50 days after the Resurrection of
Christ on Easter Sunday, and the liturgical celebration of the feasts
of Our Lord began with Easter in apostolic times.
The first mention of Pentecost as a Christian feast was made in the 3rd
Century by Origen and Tertullian. Tertullian referred to it as a
well-established feast and as the second day for the solemn baptism of
catechumens, following Easter (De Bapt., 19).
In the 4th Century the bishop historian Eusebius of Caesaria called it
“all-blessed and all-holy, the feast of feasts” (Vita Constantini, IV,
64). And early in the 5th Century St John Chrysostom in a sermon on
Pentecost said: “Today we have arrived at the peak of all blessings, we
have reached the capital [metropolis] of feasts, we have obtained the
very fruit of our Lord’s promise” (In Pent. Hom., 2).
At about the same time St Augustine called “solemn anniversaries” of
the Lord the “passion, resurrection and ascension, and the coming of
the Holy Spirit” (Epist. ad Inquis. Januarii, 54, 1).
In the early centuries only the day of Pentecost itself was celebrated
in the Western Church. After the 7th Century, however, the whole week
following the feast, the octave, came to be celebrated in a festive
way. Throughout the octave law courts did not sit and servile work was
forbidden.
Later the Council of Constance in 1094 limited this prohibition of work
to three days. In 1771 Pope Clement XIV declared the Tuesday of the
octave to be no longer a holy day and in 1911 Pope St Pius X abolished
Monday as a holy day of obligation.
As early as the 3rd Century in the West the vigil service in the
evening before Pentecost Sunday included a solemn rite of Baptism of
new converts.
The catechumens gathered in church on Saturday afternoon for prayers
and preparation and the bishop blessed the baptismal water. The
ceremonies followed closely those of the Easter Vigil.
In the West the vigil of Pentecost was a day of fasting in preparation for the great feast.
The East observed the ancient tradition of celebrating the full 50 days
from Easter to Pentecost without penance, although the Vesper service
in the evening of the feast assumed a penitential character to atone
for excesses committed during the Easter season.
In the Mass the ancient sequence Veni Sancte Spiritus (Come, Holy
Spirit) was used on each day of the octave. It appeared first in
liturgical books around the year 1200 and was ascribed variously to
Pope Innocent III, King Robert of France, Pope St Gregory the Great and
Cardinal Stephen Langton. The beautiful hymn Veni Creator Spiritus,
probably written in the 9th Century by Rabanus Maurus, Archbishop of
Mainz, was used in the Divine Office from the end of the 10th Century.
St. Basil the Great, “On the Holy Spirit”:
“Through the Holy Spirit comes our restoration to paradise, our
ascension into the kingdom of heaven, our return to the adoption of
sons, our liberty to call God our Father, our being made partakers of
the grace of Christ, our being called children of light, our sharing in
eternal glory, and, in a word, our being brought into a state of all
“fulness of blessing,” both in this world and in the world to come, of
all the good gifts that are in store for us, by promise hereof, through
faith, beholding the reflection of their grace as though they were
already present, we await the full enjoyment.”
The
Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Fortitude
20. Hyperichius said, 'Keep praising God with hymns, and meditating
continually, and so lighten the burden of the temptations that attack
you. A traveller carrying a heavy burden stops from time to time
to take deep breaths, and so makes the journey easier and the burden
light.'
May 24, 2023
(Rev 11:19) And the temple of God was opened in heaven: and the ark of
his testament was seen in his temple. And there were lightnings and
voices and an earthquake and great hail.
(Rev 12:1) And a great sign appeared in heaven: A woman clothed with
the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve
stars.
CNA: Alleged Marian apparitions the subject of new observatory
RNS: What’s going on when the Virgin Mary appears and statues weep? The answers aren’t just about science or the supernatural
A MOMENT WITH MARY: A great victory is reserved for Mary in our day
All the ages of the Church have
been marked by the battles and glorious triumphs of the august Mary.
Since the Lord set an enmity between her and the serpent, she has
constantly defeated the world and hell.
All heresies, the Church tells us,
have bowed their heads before the Blessed Virgin, and little by little
she has reduced them to the silence of nothingness. Today, the great
reigning heresy is religious indifference, which numbs souls in the
torpor of selfishness and the doldrums of passions.
The well of the abyss vomits forth
a blackish and pestilential smoke, which threatens to envelop the whole
Earth in a dark night, empty of all good, full of all evil, and
impenetrable, so to speak, to the life-giving rays of the Sun of
Justice. Thus, the divine torch of faith is fading and dying in the
bosom of Christendom; virtue is fleeing, becoming rarer and rarer, and
the vices are unleashed with frightful fury. It seems that we are
approaching the predicted moment of a general defection and an almost
universal apostasy. This sad yet accurate picture of our times is far
from discouraging us, however.
Mary's power is not diminished. We
firmly believe that she will defeat this heresy like all the others,
because she is, today as in the past, the Woman par excellence, the
Woman whom God promised that she will crush the head of the serpent;
and Jesus Christ, by never calling her anything but this great name,
teaches us that she is the hope, the joy, the life of the Church, and
the terror of hell. A great victory therefore is reserved to her in our
time; to her belongs the glory of saving the faith from the shipwreck
that threatens to destroy it.
Father Joseph Chaminade (1761-1850), founder of the Society of Mary (Marianists)
Letter of August 24, 1839
ZENIT.ORG: Pope Francis Will Go To See The Virgin of Fatima in August 2023
THE DIVINE MERCY: Fatima and Faustina and Two Powerful Prayers of Reparation
In the summer of 1916, an angel of Heaven appeared to three shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal:
Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore You profoundly,
and I offer You the most precious Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of
Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world, in
reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifference with which He
Himself is offended. And, through the infinite merits of His most
Sacred Heart, and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg of You the
conversion of poor sinners.
On Sept. 13, 1935, Sr. Faustina Kowalska had the following vision in her cell in Poland:
I saw an Angel, the executor of
divine wrath. He was clothed in a dazzling robe, his face gloriously
bright, a cloud beneath his feet. From the cloud, bolts of thunder and
flashes of lightning were springing into his hands; and from his hand
they were going forth, and only then were they striking the earth. When
I saw this sign of divine wrath which was about to strike the earth,
and in particular a certain place, which for good reasons I cannot
name, I began to implore the Angel to hold off for a few moments, and
the world would do penance. But my plea was a mere nothing in the face
of the divine anger. Just then I saw the Most Holy Trinity. The
greatness of Its majesty pierced me deeply, and I did not dare to
repeat my entreaties. At that very moment I felt in my soul the power
of Jesus' grace, which dwells in my soul. When I became conscious of
this grace, I was instantly snatched up before the Throne of God. ... I
found myself pleading with God for the world with words heard
interiorly. As I was praying in this manner, I saw the Angel's
helplessness: he could not carry out the just punishment which was
rightly due for sins. Never before had I prayed with such inner power
as I did then. The words with which I entreated God are these: "Eternal
Father, I offer You the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your
dearly beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ for our sins and those of the
whole world; for the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us."
The next morning, when I entered chapel, I heard these words interiorly
[from Jesus]: "Every time you enter the chapel, immediately recite the
prayer which I taught you yesterday." When I had said the prayer, in my
soul I heard these words: "This prayer will serve to appease My wrath"
(Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, 474-476).
The
Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Fortitude
15. Syncletica said, 'If you live in a monastic community, do not
wander from place to place; if you do, it will harm you. If a hen
stops sitting on the eggs she will hatch no chickens. The monk or
nun who goes from place to place grows cold and dead in faith.'
May 22, 2023
(Luk 21:36) Watch ye, therefore, praying at all times, that you may be
accounted worthy to escape all these things that are to come and to
stand before the Son of man.
CATHOLIC ANSWERS: Yes, We’re in the End Times
MARCO TOSATTI BLOG: The Battle against the dragon, and Mary. Homily by Msgr. Viganò.
The divine liturgy of this votive Mass in honor of Mary Most Holy,
under the title of Regina Crucis, proposes to us in the Epistle the
vision of the Apocalypse of the Woman and the Dragon, which offers this
solemn celebration great and important points of reflection.
The Woman represents Mary Most Holy
and therefore the Church, of which she is Queen and Mother, since she
is Mother of Our Lord and God, Head of the Mystical Body, and spiritual
Mother of Christians, who are living members of that Body. Under her
virginal feet, the Woman tramples on the moon, thus symbolizing
contempt for transient and changing things as opposed to the immutable
eternity of God. She is clothed with the Sun of Justice, that is,
placed under the protection of Christ, and wears a crown of twelve
stars, the twelve Apostles who are the jewels of the Church. Her cries
for the pains of childbirth allude to the fact that the Holy Church –
as well as Mary Most Holy – gives birth to the children of God into the
life of Grace, uniting their sorrows in Compassion and Harmony to the
Passion and Redemption of Christ, thus meriting for the Virgin the
title of Queen of the Cross. The Virgin Mary was with Christ when He
called himself, from the Cross, Sovereign of the world; and at the foot
of the Cross she clothed herself in the royal mantle of perfect sorrow,
allowing herself to be pierced and crowned, holding the scepter of
suffering with her divine Son.
The Church – of which Mary is the
Mother – also begets the dearest of their children: priests, ministers
of the Sun and of Blood, as Saint Catherine of Siena called them. Their
birth recalls the Dragon, or Satan, because he wants to tear them to
pieces in order to prevent them from mystically renewing the Sacrifice
of the Cross, through which the Lord has restored to the supernatural
order what Adam’s sin merited to be lost. And ever since the expulsion
of our first parents, the promise of the Protoevangelium (Gen 3:15)
unfailingly refers to the vision of the Apocalypse, in which the battle
between Christ and Satan is re-proposed, between the offspring of
Christ, which is the Church, and the offspring of Satan, which is the
antichurch or the Masonic globalist Sanhedrin.
I recall your attention to the
threefold assault of the Dragon: the first assault is against Jesus
Christ, the newborn Son of the Woman (Rev 12:5), who escapes from the
Dragon’s attacks by being raptured into heaven; the second assault is
against the Woman (Rev 12:6), who flees into the desert – an allegory
for a place protected from the assaults of Satan – for a period of 1260
days, or 42 months or 3 1/2 years, that is, the time of the reign of
the Antichrist (Rev 12:6 and 14); the third assault is against the
children of the Woman, that is, Christians and the Church, but they
obtain victory over the Dragon thanks to the Blood of the Lamb (Rev
12:11).
I find this threefold distinction
of Satan’s assault very edifying and meaningful: we see that the devil
always attacks Christ, first in His Person, then in His Mystical Body,
and finally in His faithful. Yet, the victory that the Lord wants to
obtain is realized only in the third assault: And the dragon was angry
against the Woman, and he went to make war on the rest of his
descendants, on those who kept the commandments of God and have at
heart the testimony of Jesus (Rev 12:17). Who are they? Of whom does
Saint John speak when he alludes to the descendants of the Woman, if
not of those who have remained faithful and have not apostatized the
Faith, nor have allowed themselves to be swept away by the tail of the
Dragon (Rev 12:4)? It is a great consolation to see how the Lord is
pleased to call His children to fight in the battle against Satan, so
that thanks to their generous abandonment to God’s will they may become
docile instruments of Christ’s triumph over the one who was a murderer
from the beginning (Jn 8:44). The Lord does not want to win alone: He
wants His victory to be ours too, if we take the field under the
banners of Christ our King and Mary our Queen, who have purchased us
back – Christ in His Passion and Redemption and Mary Most Holy through
her Compassion and Co-redemption – from our state as slaves of the
devil. And behold again the Cross, on which the King is seated and at
whose feet stands the Queen Mother; a Queen and Mother of every
baptized person, but especially of every priest, whom the Lord has
entrusted to her as Her valiant subjects and devoted children.
Let us not be surprised, therefore,
by the Dragon’s fierce hatred of the children of the Church, who are
all spiritual children of Mary Most Holy: that hatred is a reflection
of hatred of the Church herself, of the Immaculate Virgin and of the
Son of God, Our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us rather be surprised if the
Dragon does not try to devour us, because it would mean that he does
not see Christ in us and that he does not consider us an obstacle in
the war he wages against God. Let us be surprised rather if the
Dragon’s servants treat us as their friends, because from this we must
understand that we are acting and thinking according to the spirit of
the world, and not according to the Spirit of God.
That is why in this corrupt and
rebellious society, enslaved to Evil by an elite that is perverted in
mind and will, the Dragon of the antichurch has been so unleashed
against Priests: it knows very well how fearsome they are, because in
their hands the Lord has placed the divine power to consecrate the Body
and Blood of Christ, to offer the Immaculate Victim to the Father in
the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, to perpetuate the river of graces and
blessings that protects the Woman who has taken refuge in the desert,
the image of the Church. Everything revolves around the Cross, because
it is there that Satan has been defeated by Our Lord, it is there that
His Most Holy Mother, united to the Passion of the Son, trampled on the
head of the Serpent as promised in the Protoevangelium. It is there
that the Mother of the Church shows herself terribilis ut castrorum
acies ordinata – terrible as an army set in battle array – against the
chaos of the infernal hordes that besiege the Citadel.
Priesthood, Mass, Eucharist, Mary
Most Holy: these foundations of our religion are daily attacked by the
devil and his servants. The priesthood, because the sanctifying action
of her Head continues in the Church; the Mass, which is the principal
action of the priesthood; the Most Holy Eucharist, which makes Christ
truly present under the sacred Species who becomes spiritual
nourishment towards the heavenly homeland; the Virgin Mary, living
tabernacle of the Most High and model of that holy humility which
overturns the pride of Lucifer.
Certainly, we should tremble for
the fate of those who, blinded by sin, rail against what is most
effective in facing this battle. And we should be horrified to hear the
one who sits on the Throne of the Vicar of Christ accuse as
“indietrismo” – backwardness – the guarding of the deposit of faith, as
rigidity fidelity to the teaching of Our Lord, and as
formalismobedience to what Our Lord taught the Apostles. Because those
ranting words, those delirious declarations that have been multiplying
for ten years in the narcotized silence of the Hierarchy, of the
clerics and of the faithful constitute the most evident and
disconcerting proof of the alien nature of Bergoglio, of his
extraneousness to the role he holds, indeed of his obvious aversion to
everything that is Catholic, Apostolic and Roman; to all that most
intimately realizes the presence of Christ the King and High Priest:
the priesthood, the Mass, the Eucharist. As well as aversion to the one
who is Mother of the Church and Queen of the Cross. Our blood freezes
in our veins when we hear the doctrine of the Co-redemption and
Mediation of Mary Most Holy described as “nonsense.”
No, dear brothers: we are not “sick
of nostalgia,” because we are not – and we ought not be – of the world,
but rather inthe world. Because the words of Our Lord are not subject
to fashions or the passage of time: veritas Domini manet in æternum. We
do not long for a distant era, a golden age gone by, because we know
well that the battle between Christ and Satan that began in the earthly
Paradise is destined to continue and to intensify the closer comes,
inexorably, the redde rationem of the last times, which will see the
Archangel St. Michael drive Satan and his minions back, for the second
time and forever, into the abyss. Ours is not an attachment to the
past, but rather to what is eternal. It is not a way of escaping the
challenges of the present by taking refuge in an oasis of aestheticism,
because if it were so – and it is, as we know, for some so-called
conservative communities – we would be guilty of trading form for
substance, compromising on principles in order to preserve their
external appearances.
Let us look at what is happening in
this crucial phase of the history of humanity and of the life of the
Church with realism and without letting ourselves be deceived: we have
come very close to the end times, and perhaps those three and a half
years during which the Woman will flee into the desert are not as
remote as we might wish. Three and a half years in which the Antichrist
will reign supreme over the world, persecuting and martyring the
faithful in the indifference of the world, in the silence of the media,
in the complicit carelessness of false shepherds. Indeed, by their
stolid and sordid complicity, which manifests their true intentions
and, what is worse, their betrayal of Our Lord.
If you are the Son of God, come
down from the Cross: the hierarchs of the conciliar sect repeat these
words when, abusing their power as the High Priests of the Sanhedrin,
they would like to cancel the Priesthood instituted by Christ by
transforming the priest into an official, prevent the Holy Sacrifice of
the Mass by corrupting it in a convivial banquet, and profane the Most
Holy Eucharist by admitting to Communion those who are not worthy to
receive it. Come down from the Cross, they cry out: that is, do not
bring to completion the Redemption that we fear so much. Come down from
the altar, they warn today: so that that Redemption may not be
perpetuated and extended in time, so that the Sacrifice of one thousand
nine hundred and ninety years ago remains confined to the past, is made
sterile and unproductive like the talent buried in the field by the
unfaithful servant. We are not the backward ones, those who are sick
with nostalgia: it is rather they who look with horror at the reality
of their own war that was already lost then and try in every way to
prevent the triumph of Christ – after having failed the assault against
Him and against the Woman clothed with the sun – striking today the
children of the Church, the children of Mary Most Holy.
How can we conquer the Dragon?
Thanks to the blood of the Lamb and the word of their witness (Rev
12:11): thanks to the Mass, which still pours out the most precious
Blood abundantly today for the salvation of souls; thanks to the
Priesthood, which makes Mass possible and spreads the word of witness
by preaching; thanks to the Most Holy Eucharist, the Body and Blood of
the Lamb. And thanks to the Woman, the image of Mary Most Holy and of
the Church, in whose interior Our Lord was formed and from whose womb
the children of God are spiritually born.
Let us look at the events sub
specie æternitatis: this is the only way that we can understand the
deception of those who act according to the mentality of the world –
whose Prince is Satan – and be able counteract it. And let us not
renounce being as the Lord wants us, rather than as the mercenaries and
wolves in sheep’s clothing would like us to be in their “pastoral
vision.” The words of the Venerable Pontiff Pius XII respond on our
behalf against the umpteenth disconcerting and scandalous utterance of
Bergoglio: Behind those who accuse the Church of being rigid there is
only the perversion of the False Prophet, who attacks the Truth of
Christ himself. And so may it be.
The
Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Fortitude
14. Poemen also said this: Isidore, the presbyter in Scetis, once spoke
to a group of monks and said, 'My brothers, isn't work the reason why
we are here? But now I see that no work is done here. So I will take my
cloak and go where there is work and so I shall find rest.'
May 19, 2023
(Act 1:9-11) And when he had said
these things, while they looked on, he was raised up: and a cloud
received him out of their sight. And while they were beholding him
going up to heaven, behold two men stood by them in white garments. Who
also said: Ye men of Galilee, why stand you looking up to heaven? This
Jesus who is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come as you have
seen him going into heaven.
SHORT VIDEO: A Reflection on the Ascension
THE B.C. CATHOLIC: Jesus’ triumph is our triumph
FR. TIMOTHY V. VAVEREK: The Ascension: Our Hope of Glory
A MOMENT WITH MARY: Mary's joy in the Ascension of Jesus
Oh, if she had joy while her Son was still living with her in the
flesh, if she had joy when her Son rose from the dead after trampling
death underfoot, did she the rejoice with lesser joy when her Son
entered heaven in the flesh that, as she knew well, had been taken from
her? Whoever said, why, whoever even believed that Mary’s joy did not
surpass all the joys that came before it?
In this world, good mothers are wont to be very happy when they see
their children raised up by earthly honors. Even so, will not this
Mother, who was undoubtedly good, not be glad with inexpressible joy,
when she sees her only Son enter heaven with commanding power and reach
the throne of God the Father Almighty? Was a joy like this ever heard
of? Was a joy like this ever seen in public, so that the human mind
might at least direct its attention toward it in some way?
St Eadmer of Canterbury
De excellentia (6, PL 159, 568 C-569 A)
UNIVERSALIS: From a sermon by Saint Augustine
No one has ever ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven
Today our Lord Jesus Christ ascended into heaven; let our hearts ascend
with him. Listen to the words of the Apostle: If you have risen with
Christ, set your hearts on the things that are above where Christ is,
seated at the right hand of God; seek the things that are above, not
the things that are on earth. For just as he remained with us even
after his ascension, so we too are already in heaven with him, even
though what is promised us has not yet been fulfilled in our bodies.
Christ is now exalted above the heavens, but he still suffers on earth
all the pain that we, the members of his body, have to bear. He showed
this when he cried out from above: Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?
and when he said: I was hungry and you gave me food.
Why do we on earth not strive to find rest with him in heaven even now,
through the faith, hope and love that unites us to him? While in heaven
he is also with us; and we while on earth are with him. He is here with
us by his divinity, his power and his love. We cannot be in heaven, as
he is on earth, by divinity, but in him, we can be there by love.
He did not leave heaven when he came down to us; nor did he withdraw
from us when he went up again into heaven. The fact that he was in
heaven even while he was on earth is borne out by his own statement: No
one has ever ascended into heaven except the one who descended from
heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven.
These words are explained by our oneness with Christ, for he is our
head and we are his body. No one ascended into heaven except Christ
because we also are Christ: he is the Son of Man by his union with us,
and we by our union with him are the sons of God. So the Apostle says:
Just as the human body, which has many members, is a unity, because all
the different members make one body, so is it also with Christ. He too
has many members, but one body.
Out of compassion for us he descended from heaven, and although he
ascended alone, we also ascend, because we are in him by grace. Thus,
no one but Christ descended and no one but Christ ascended; not because
there is no distinction between the head and the body, but because the
body as a unity cannot be separated from the head.
The
Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Fortitude
13. Poemen said, 'The character of the genuine monk only appears when he is tempted.'
May 17, 2023
(Mat 25:37-40) Then shall the just answer him, saying: Lord, when did
we see thee hungry and fed thee: thirsty and gave thee drink? Or when
did we see thee a stranger and took thee in? Or naked and covered thee?
Or when did we see thee sick or in prison and came to thee? And the
king answering shall say to them: Amen I say to you, as long as you did
it to one of these my least brethren, you did it to me.
VATICAN NEWS: Pope Francis gives Ukrainian President sculpture of olive branch
Zelensky: "With all due respect to His Holiness, we don't need mediators. There is only one peace plan and it is the Ukrainian one".
MSGR VIGANO INTERVIEW: Interview with Russia TV- The War, the U.S., the Churches
METROPOLITAN MARK (ARNDT): “The danger is that there will be efforts to completely destroy the Church in Ukraine".
EDITORIAL: Peace on Earth?
NEWS REPORTS
Retired priest gets a first-hand look at war in Ukraine
Norway’s Bishop Varden: Ukrainians remain resilient despite brutality of war
From food to therapy, priest is on wound-healing mission for displaced Ukrainians
ACN UKRAINE: Ministering to those caught in the crossfire
Returning from war-torn Ukraine, a
Catholic charity’s project head has said priests and Sisters caring for
those living in war zones are living each day “as if it is their last”.
Aid to the Church in Need (ACN)’s
head of projects for Ukraine Magda Kaczmarek, who was coming back from
her third project trip to the country since the Russian invasion, said
the Church is ministering to the faithful in parts of the country where
there are still running battles.
She said: “The whole of society is
suffering. Millions of people have lost their means of subsistence and
had to leave their homes.
“Their world has collapsed, they
don’t have work. Helping people in this situation is a work of mercy
and a big challenge for the local Catholic churches.” ACN has supported
more than 300 projects in Ukraine, amounting to over £8 million helping
priests and religious communities to minister to those affected by the
war.
Ms Kaczmarek said: “It is important
for us to go there, to see the situation on the ground, but it is very
dangerous to travel to the most difficult regions in eastern Ukraine.
“However, we are in contact with
the priests, Sisters and bishops who live there. They tell us about
conditions, and how they try to live each day as if were their last.”
ACN has provided emergency aid for Kharkiv Diocese, among others, in
eastern Ukraine.
Soon after the conflict began, the
charity set up a programme to provide for the essential needs –
including heating, lighting, water and food – of the diocese’s 57
priests, as well as the 54 members of religious communities, enabling
them to continue their vital ministry.
But with fierce fighting still
engulfing the eastern part of the country, there is an ongoing
haemorrhaging of the civilian population.
Ms Kaczmarek said: “Fifteen million
people have left eastern Ukraine, seven million of them are in Poland
or Western Europe, one million have gone to Russia, and seven million
are internally displaced in western or central Ukraine.”
CARITAS: Crisis in Ukraine
The
Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Fortitude
11. Mathois said, 'I like to find some light but continual work, rather than a heavy work that is quickly finished.'
May 14, 2023
(Joh 16:21) A woman, when she is in labour, hath sorrow, because her
hour is come; but when she hath brought forth the child, she
remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the
world.
CARDINAL JOSEPH MINDZENTY:
The Most Important Person on earth is a mother. She cannot claim the
honor of having built Notre Dame Cathedral. She need not. She has built
something more magnificent than any cathedral—a dwelling for an
immortal soul, the tiny perfection of her baby’s body. . .. The angels
have not been blessed with such a grace. They cannot share in God’s
creative miracle to bring new saints to Heaven. Only a human mother
can. Mothers are closer to God the Creator than any other creature; God
joins forces with mothers in performing this act of creation. . .. What
on God’s good earth is more glorious than this: to be a mother?
FR. MARK GORING, CC: Motherhood / Guardian Angel Comparison
GOOD CATHOLIC: The Wonderful Realness of Motherhood
WORD ON FIRE: The Motherhood of Mary
CATHOLIC HERALD: Mary’s life of visitations
“Meditations on Mary” (New York:
Alba House, 1993), which has an Introduction from Franciscan Father
Benedict J. Groeschel, (1933-2014), has a series of conferences that
the then-Msgr. Cooke, who was secretary to the famous Cardinal Francis
Spellman, gave at Lourdes, France, in 1958 on the 100th anniversary of
those cherished apparitions of Our Blessed Lady to Bernadette Soubirous.
In one of his meditations, the
future shepherd of New York described the Madonna — our Blessed Mother
— as one who visited others. What a comfort, as we approach Mother’s
Day, for those whose mothers are no longer on earth.
Mary’s life has been and still is a
continual series of visitations of which that first visit to Elizabeth
was the prototype. She is ever bringing Jesus to souls, and leading
souls to Jesus. Alone she never comes, for Jesus is always with her. To
her we owe every holy Communion we receive, for it is the same body,
conceived and nourished in her immaculate womb, that is the food of our
souls. To her we owe every spiritual visitation of Divine Grace, for
she is the Mediatrix of all graces, interceding and obtaining for us
favors and blessings even before we are aware of their necessity. To
her we owe every good accomplished, every evil avoided, every
temptation overcome, for “without him we can do nothing.” If He is with
us or near us, in some way she is responsible for his nearness. (Pg. 54)
We need not try hard to imagine
Mary as seeking every opportunity to visit us — her sons and daughters.
Her visits urge us, in turn, to “visit” her and her Son. How is this
possible? Msgr. Cooke asserted:
“Your daily sacrifices are your
visitation to Jesus and Mary, to honor them, to offer thanksgiving, to
make reparation, and to petition some new blessing. But before you
began to make these sacrifices, or even to plan them, Mary has already
made a visitation to you inspiring you to make them.” Mary is justly
hailed as the “Visitrix.” The feast of the Visitation of the Blessed
Virgin Mary is May 31. Now from Paradise, she cares for her beloved
children. And we, according to Cardinal Cooke, approach her because we
have been touched by her visits to us.
In encouraging his listeners in the
sacred Grotto of Lourdes to consider attentively their relationship
with the Risen Lord Jesus Christ and his chaste Mother, the
Ever-Virgin, Msgr. Cooke concluded his remarks thus:
“In the Gospel for Christmas, there
are two lines which, no matter how often they are read, always have a
sad, melancholy tone: ‘He came unto his own, and his own received him
not.’ ‘There was no room for them in the inn.’ Your coming on this
pilgrimage of Our Lady is a sign that you have made room for them in
the inn of your heart. They have come unto their own, and their own
have received them.
“It has been said, ‘Happy is the
house which the Mother of God visits.’ We might say, ‘Happy is the
heart which the Mother of God visits.’ May we have the virtue of
thoughtfulness as seen in the Visitation of Mary” (Pg. 55).
May our hearts be visited by the Queen of Heaven — our Blessed Mother — and embrace every chance to visit her in return.
Our Lady of the Visitation, pray for us!
THE CATHOLIC THING: Three Titles of the Blessed Mother by St. John Henry Newman
The
Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Fortitude
8. Poemen said about John the Short that he asked the Lord to take away
his passions. So his heart was at rest, and he went to a hermit and
said, 'I find that I am at peace, with no war between flesh and
spirit.' The hermit said to him, 'Go and ask the Lord to stir up a new
war in you. Fighting is good for the soul.' When the conflict revived
in him, he no longer prayed for it to be taken away, but said, 'Lord,
grant me strength to endure this fight.'
May 12, 2023
(Rev 12:10-12) And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying: Now is come
salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of his
Christ: because the accuser of our brethren is cast forth, who accused
them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood
of the Lamb and by the word of the testimony: and they loved not their
lives unto death. Therefore, rejoice, O heavens, and you that dwell
therein. Woe to the earth and to the sea, because the devil is come
down unto you, having great wrath, knowing that he hath but a short
time.
GOOD CATHOLIC: The Devil’s War On Humans
THE PILOT: Catholics respond to 'SatanCon' with prayer, education, and community
A MOMENT WITH MARY: "My daughter, I want to teach you a lesson of great importance"
Sister Josefa Menendez (1) noted on
Friday, April 22, the devil’s efforts to take away her peace: "I went
up to the oratory of the Blessed Virgin in the Novitiate to beg her not
to let me give in. She suddenly came, in a very motherly attitude, and
said to me:
- "My daughter, I want to teach you
a lesson of great importance: The devil is like a furious dog, but he
is chained, which means that he has only a certain amount of freedom.
He can only seize and devour his prey if it comes close to him, and it
is in order to seize it that his usual tactic is to make himself look
like a lamb. The soul that does not realize this, approaches little by
little and only discovers its malice when it is within its reach. When
he seems far away, he does not cease to watch you, my daughter, his
steps are silent and hidden, so as to pass unnoticed."
She gave me her blessing and disappeared."
The Way of Divine Love
(1) Sister Josefa Menéndez, born in Spain (1890-1923), was a Coadjutrix
nun of the Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. She is the author of
the famous book The Way of Divine Love in which she conveys, by order
of Jesus himself, many messages received from Jesus who calls her his
messenger. Sometimes the Virgin Mary also came to visit Josefa in her
difficult mission, to support her.
UNIVERSALIS: The Christian in the world (From the Letter to Diognetus)
Christians are indistinguishable
from other men either by nationality, language or customs. They do not
inhabit separate cities of their own, or speak a strange dialect, or
follow some outlandish way of life. Their teaching is not based upon
reveries inspired by the curiosity of men. Unlike some other people,
they champion no purely human doctrine. With regard to dress, food and
manner of life in general, they follow the customs of whatever city
they happen to be living in, whether it is Greek or foreign.
And yet there is something
extraordinary about their lives. They live in their own countries as
though they were only passing through. They play their full role as
citizens, but labour under all the disabilities of aliens. Any country
can be their homeland, but for them their homeland, wherever it may be,
is a foreign country. Like others, they marry and have children, but
they do not expose them. They share their meals, but not their wives.
They live in the flesh, but they are not governed by the desires of the
flesh. They pass their days upon earth, but they are citizens of
heaven. Obedient to the laws, they yet live on a level that transcends
the law.
Christians love all men, but all
men persecute them. Condemned because they are not understood, they are
put to death, but raised to life again. They live in poverty, but
enrich many; they are totally destitute, but possess an abundance of
everything. They suffer dishonour, but that is their glory. They are
defamed, but vindicated. A blessing is their answer to abuse, deference
their response to insult. For the good they do they receive the
punishment of malefactors, but even then they rejoice, as though
receiving the gift of life. They are attacked by the Jews as aliens,
they are persecuted by the Greeks, yet no one can explain the reason
for this hatred.
To speak in general terms, we may
say that the Christian is to the world what the soul is to the body. As
the soul is present in every part of the body, while remaining distinct
from it, so Christians are found in all the cities of the world, but
cannot be identified with the world. As the visible body contains the
invisible soul, so Christians are seen living in the world, but their
religious life remains unseen. The body hates the soul and wars against
it, not because of any injury the soul has done it, but because of the
restriction the soul places on its pleasures. Similarly, the world
hates the Christians, not because they have done it any wrong, but
because they are opposed to its enjoyments.
Christians love those who hate them
just as the soul loves the body and all its members despite the body’s
hatred. It is by the soul, enclosed within the body, that the body is
held together, and similarly, it is by the Christians, detained in the
world as in a prison, that the world is held together. The soul, though
immortal, has a mortal dwelling place; and Christians also live for a
time amidst perishable things, while awaiting the freedom from change
and decay that will be theirs in heaven. As the soul benefits from the
deprivation of food and drink, so Christians flourish under
persecution. Such is the Christian’s lofty and divinely appointed
function, from which he is not permitted to excuse himself.
The
Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Fortitude
6. A brother asked Theodore, 'If you suddenly hear the sound of falling
masonry, are you frightened, abba?' He said, 'If the heavens fell down
on the earth, Theodore would not be afraid.' For he had prayed to God
that fear might be taken from him. That was why the brother questioned
him.
May 10, 2023
(Joh 14:27) Peace I leave with you:
my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, do I give unto you.
Let not your heart be troubled: nor let it be afraid.
YOUTUBE: Father Mark Beard's Homily (Worry/Anxiety)
BLOG: Being at Peace
EXCERPT THE CATHOLIC THING: Living through an Apocalypse
When the history of our times comes to be written, scholars won’t be
able to ignore how much recent years have been marked by widespread
feelings of apocalypse. That’s, of course, assuming that there are any
historians who survive. Because from threats of nuclear war to climate
change, from AI (artificial intelligence) to the digital technologies
damaging our very bodies and brains, from the virtual erasure of the
sex “binary” (i.e., women and men) to a media hell-bent on encouraging
social division, it at least feels like the radical end – of something.
Maybe everything. And not just for eccentric sects gathering on
hilltops, waiting for the end. There’s a sense that the next
year-and-a-half or so will be decisive both in American electoral
politics (and society), and in the way the Synod on Synodality will
affect the self-understanding of the One, Holy, Roman, Catholic, and
Apostolic Church.
So, what do you do in apocalyptic times – real or imagined? There’s the way of the world, and the way of wisdom.
The way of the world is hysteria – and, in fact, a strange liking for
the constant agitation of the news and social media. If nothing else,
it masks existential boredom, the kind of boredom that many people in
developed societies feel on a daily basis when basic needs and even
luxuries are readily available in relatively calm and peaceful
settings. This achievement – the dream of ages – has come at the cost
of regarding virtually the entire created universe as mere energy and
matter to be exploited and manipulated for human benefit. Under the
circumstances, for many people, it’s better – and easier – to let loose
moral outrage in fights over climate change or racial “privilege”
or recently invented “genders,” than to face the fundamental problem:
the bleakness of modern materialism.
The way of wisdom, by contrast, is what it’s always been: a realistic
acceptance that we all die, that an end will come, someday, even to the
earth, the sun, the very created universe. That all our lives, precious
as they are to us, our loved ones, and to God Himself, will pass and be
forgotten in mere human terms. But that we can learn to face all this
with true serenity and even happiness because our names are written in
the Book of Life, the thing that really matters.
And that sense of the other world has good effects on our lives in this
world as well. We cannot turn away from the challenges of our time, of
course. That’s not wisdom, but despair. But we can approach them in a
different spirit, knowing that whether we succeed, or fail is not ours
to determine. And that the humility to which that truth should lead is
a very good thing, in that it helps repair the original human hubris
that separated us from God’s order and one another. So we can both face
great evils and calmly seek to do good.
EXCERPT CATHOLIC DAILY REFLECTIONS: A Troubled Heart
Being tempted
toward sin can be discouraging. But that can turn into a good thing. If
we are not affected by our temptations, then we lack love for God. And
if we give into those temptations and fail to experience sorrow, this
is even worse. However, discouragement over our sins cannot remain; it
must turn into its opposite, the virtue of hope. Hope will result from
sin only when we hear and understand Jesus’ promise, seen above.
Jesus not only tells the disciples
not to be troubled, He also tells them why. Jesus promises them He will
prepare a place for them in Heaven and will come to take them to that
place in His Father’s House, despite their failings. By believing,
Peter and the other apostles will be able to dispel the initial
discouragement they feel over their failings and turn back to God with
the anticipation of Heaven.
The
Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Fortitude
3. Ammonas said that for fourteen years in Scetis he had been asking
God day and night to give him strength to control his temper.'
May 8, 2023
(1Ti 5:8) But if any man have not care of his own and especially of
those of his house, he hath denied the faith and is worse than an
infidel.
BLOG: Sister Lucia: “Final Confrontation between the Lord and Satan will be over Family and Marriage.”
MOTHER MIRIAM: The way the enemy wants to destroy the Catholic Church is through the family
CATHOLIC EXCHANGE: Five Marks of a Catholic Family
ST. CHARBEL: All the Forces of Evil are Focused on Destroying the Family
The human family on earth is the image of the Holy Family in heaven.
The family passes on the plan of God from one generation to another. It
transmits the love and word of God through the generations. The
collapse of the family means the collapse of God’s plan in humanity. It
means the breakup of the message of salvation and sanctity to humanity.
Every family is a holy family because it is the image of God the
Trinity. The corruption of the family means a corruption of the image
of God. The family carries the torch of light and passes it from one
generation to another so the world may remain lit by the light of the
Lord.
The family is the rope that binds humanity together through time, binds
generations through history, so that humanity may grow and increase;
and if this rope which binds humanity together was broken, and humanity
gets separated from its history, it would be no more than lost
generations which have neither history nor identity. The family is what
gives people their human identity and impresses the image of God in
them. The family is what preserves the memory of humanity; humanity
without family is humanity without memory. A person without memory
keeps turning in place, and humanity without memory will stop in
history and die.
The family is the basis of the Lord’s plan; and all forces of evil are
focusing all their evil on destroying the family because they know that
by destroying the family, the foundations of the plan of God will be
shaken. The war of the Evil One against the Lord is his war against the
family, and the war of the Evil One against the family is the core of
his war against the Lord. Because the family is the image of God, from
the beginning of the creation of this universe, The Evil one is
focusing on destroying the family, the foundation of God’s plan.
The family is the place where a man communicates with God and with his
brothers in humanity. Without the family, this communication is broken
and nothing can ever make up for it, and if man attempts to reconnect
the broken contact using his human means, it will become fragile, weak
and twisted, and humanity will become ill and warped - moving towards a
slow death.
Guard your families and keep them from the schemes of the evil one
through the presence of God in them. Protect and keep them through
prayer and dialog, through mutual understanding and forgiveness,
through honesty and faithfulness, and most importantly, through
listening. Listen to one another with your ears, eyes, hearts, mouths
and the palms of your hands, and keep the roaring of the noise of the
world away from your homes because it is like raging storms and violent
waves; once it enters the home, it will sweep away everything and
disperse everyone. Preserve the warmth of the family, because the
warmth of the whole world cannot make up for it.
THE CATHOLIC TIMES: Family Month aims to celebrate each member
The
Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Fortitude
2. A brother asked Agatho, 'I have been instructed to go somewhere, and
I have serious doubts about the place where I have been told to go. I
want to obey the order, yet I'm frightened of the inner struggle which
will follow.' The hermit said, 'Agatho was like that. He obeyed orders,
and so he won the battle.'
May 3, 2023
(Mat 24:38-39)
For, as in the days before the flood they were eating and drinking,
marrying and giving in marriage, even till that day in which Noe
entered into the ark: And they knew not till the flood came and took
them all away: so also shall the coming of the Son of man be.
CATHOLIC STAND: What is AI and Where is it Going? Part 2: The Spirit of the World
THE CATHOLIC THING: Chatting without Communicating
NEWS REPORT: Brain Activity Decoder Can Reveal Stories in People’s Minds
TECHSPOT: Artificial intelligence pioneer Geoffrey Hinton leaves Google over risks of emerging tech
Geoffrey Hinton, one of the most respected names in the artificial
intelligence community, has left his job at Google to speak out about
the dangers that AI pose now and in the future.
Hinton is referred to by some as the Godfather of AI, and for good
reason. His work in the field started way back in the early 70s as a
grad student at the University of Edinburgh where he was drawn to the
idea of neural networks. Few researchers at the time believed the
concept had merit but as The New York Times notes, Hinton made it his
life's work.
As a professor in 2012, Hinton and two of his students created a
breakthrough neural network that could analyze images and identify
common items in the photos. The following year, Google acquired
Hinton's company, DNNresearch, for $44 million and brought him on to
continue his work.
Last year, however, Hinton's opinion on AI and its capabilities
changed. Hinton believed increasingly capable systems still weren't on
par with human thinking in some areas but had surpassed the brain's
abilities in other areas.
"Maybe what is going on in these systems is actually a lot better than
what is going on in the brain," Hinton told The New York Times. As this
trend continues and companies take advantage of more powerful AI
systems, they're becoming increasingly dangerous.
"Look at how it was five years ago and how it is now," Hinton said of
AI's state of being. "Take the difference and propagate it forwards.
That's scary," he added.
Until recently, Hinton felt Google was being a good steward of the tech
by not launching a system that could cause harm. That's no longer the
case as Google and other tech giants have engaged in an AI race that he
believes could be impossible to stop.
In the short term, Hinton is worried about the Internet being
overwhelmed with fake pictures, videos, and text that will confuse
people and leave them not knowing what is real anymore. Over the long
term, AI could eventually replace many jobs done by humans. Eventually,
AI could overtake its human creators in other areas, too.
"The idea that this stuff could actually get smarter than people – a
few people believed that," Hinton said. "But most people thought it was
way off. And I thought it was way off. I thought it was 30 to 50 years
or even longer away. Obviously, I no longer think that."
Hinton told the publication that a part of him now regrets his life
work. "I console myself with the normal excuse: If I hadn't done it,
somebody else would have," he said.
EDITORIAL: ChatGPT is easily abused, and that’s a big problem
The
Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Possessing Nothing
20.
Someone brought a hermit who was a leper some money and said, 'Take
this to spend, for you are old and ill.' He replied, 'Are you going to
take me away from Him who has fed me for sixty years? I have been ill
all that time, and have needed nothing because God has fed me and given
me what I need.' He would not accept it.
May 1, 2023
(Mar 6:3) Is not this the carpenter,
the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joseph, and Jude, and Simon?
are not also his sisters here with us? And they were scandalized in
regard of him.
CHURCH POP: The Unique History of St. Joseph the Worker’s Feast Day Every Catholic Should Know
ALETEIA: St. Joseph: His life, his miracles and his legacy
UNIVERSALIS NEWSLETTER: The carpenter and the crown
On Saturday 6 May the people of the
United Kingdom will be having a new servant anointed for them: a King.
The location is the abbey church of St Peter in Westminster. The name
reminds us that it is at the basilica of St Peter in Rome that the
servant of the whole people of Christ is anointed: the Pope.
What makes this coincidence
fruitful is that on Monday 1 May we celebrate the memorial of St Joseph
the Worker. These dates taken together give a clearer perspective on
the nature of work and of service.
Of course the date chosen for St
Joseph the Worker has wider pagan resonances, as so many of the dates
of the Church’s feasts do: but its content opposes pagan ideas and
turns them upside down. This is in no way a ‘me too’ feast. St Joseph
is not a ‘worker of the world’ in the old collective style, still less
is he a new-style ‘human resource’ (which so often comes to mean ‘an
object and not an individual’). He is not a resource. He is a unique
being created intentionally by God, just as we all are.
And as we all are, Joseph is a
worker because it is his vocation to work. God created the world and
rested after his labours, as Genesis tells us. We, made in God’s image,
labour in this world he made and guide it and shape it to its true and
fulfilled destiny. There is nothing servile about this: indeed, there
is no vocation more noble. Pope John Paul II’s encyclical Laborem
exercens (1981) has much more to say on this theme. It is full of
wisdom and well worth re-reading.
Now a carpenter or a plumber serves
perhaps a hundred or a thousand people while a king serves tens of
millions, and a pope more than a thousand million, but that is a
difference of number, not nature. The theme of service remains the
same. Each of us, in our own way, forms part of this chain of server
and served. Monday’s feast should remind us that that part is an
honourable one.
We also need to remember that the
‘higher’ you are in the world’s view, the more of a servant you are.
The proudest title of the Pope is ‘Servant of the servants of God’ –
and our Lord and master, the Son of Man, told us he had come not to be
served, but to serve.
Meanwhile, what of the carpenters?
What of the plumbers? It is rather a pity that while kings and popes
and bishops are anointed, to ask God’s blessing on their future life of
service, carpenters and plumbers are not. They should be demanding it!
Imagine a liturgy for carpenters stretching from the Tree of Life,
through the cedarwood with which Solomon’s Temple was built, and even
as far as the wood of the Cross – for the Cross had to be made by
somebody: it was necessary for the salvation of the world. A liturgy
for plumbers would start even earlier, with the separation of the
waters above the vault of heaven from the waters below the vault. Then
there is the water-filled trench which God set ablaze when Elijah
confronted the priests of Baal.
The
Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Possessing Nothing
19.
A great man came from a distance to Scetis carrying gold, and he asked
the presbyter of the desert to distribute it among the brothers. But
the presbyter said to him, 'The brothers do not need it.' But he was
very pressing, and would not give way, and put a basket of money in the
church porch. So the presbyter said, 'Whoever is in need may take money
from here.' No one touched it, some did not even look at it. The
presbyter said, 'God has accepted your offering to him. Go away and
give it to the poor.' He went away very much edified.
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