Abbey-Roads2

Cause and effect. 

It strikes me as providential that the first reading of today’s Mass should mention the Cities of the Plain, Sodom and Gomorrah, having been Lot’s destination as he separated from Abraham - seeing it is the middle of Gay Pride week.

LifeSiteNews.com has an interesting article on America’s Rabbi, Daniel Lapin speaking about a chastisement or purification coming for this Country, because our sins rival those of the world before the flood, as well as those of Sodom and Gomorrah.  Interestingly enough, within the piece is a quote from the late Ruth Graham who said, “If God does not judge America soon, he will have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.”  The Rabbi assures us he won’t have to do that:

As for God having to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah for not acting on America for its sins, Rabbi Lapin suggests God is in fact acting on
America.  “God doesn’t necessarily act towards every culture in the same way,” he said.  “Every culture that adopts abortion and homosexuality as normal is a culture that begins to decline and eventually vanish off the stage of world history - that is God acting.”“That is precisely the point.  It is not that hard to see in many ways the fortunes of the US of A are simply not where they were before these twin scourges became prevalent.  Yes, He is acting - He is not going to have to apologize to
Sodom at all.  He is being very consistent.  He may not be burying us in thunderbolts and mountains of salt but the damage that the US of A is enduring is no less fatal.”- LifeSiteNews.com

Deduction, my dear Watson.

St John of the Cross tells us reason and common sense ought to inform us that some chastisement awaits us.  He writes: “Supernatural events can also be known in their causes, since the divine Providence responds most certainly and justly to what the good or bad causes arising from some men demand.  One can know naturally that a particular person or city, or some other factor, will reach such a point that God in his providence and justice must respond in conformity with the punishment or reward that cause warrants.” - Ascent II, 21:9 

Sadly, abortion (murder) and sodomy are two sins that cry to heaven for vengeance.  The coming cataclysm will be good for some, very bad for others.  Someplace in the Gospel Jesus assures us, “By your patience you will save your souls.”  Today, he also instructs us as to how we should conduct ourselves:

“Strive to enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many.  How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life.  And those who find it are few.” - Matthew 7

However, just as in the days of Noah…

(Art: Destruction of the Cities of the Plain)

Western Confucian has a brief post concerning web logs which I copy here,  in its entirety, as a follow up to my posts Saturday and Sunday, ”Blogger Apostasy” and “Narcissism”.  I rarely take someone’s post and reprint it entirely, but this one is a gem!

For what shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole blogosphere, and suffer the loss of his soul?

The New Beginning recently posted that “[p]utting forth oneself as an authority is a rather dangerous thing to do, even if one believes one’s self to be merely repeating the teaching of the Church”─The dangers of blogging. And Abbey-Roads2 has posted about what happens when “people get in over their heads when it comes to liturgy and dogma, spirituality and religious life”─Blogger apostasy.

If the Catholic blogosphere represented the Church─and thank God it doesn’t─I’d think the recent spate in Catholic bloggers renouncing the Church to be a sign that The Parousia were at hand. There is an extreme danger in focusing one’s every attention on Church matters. There is also an extreme danger in posting one’s every difficulty with faith issues online for public discussion. The Smoke of Satan entered the Catholic blogosphere at its very inception.

Call me old-fashioned, but I see little wrong with the laity being to called to Pray, Pay and Obey. Leave theology to the theolgians and Church governance to the Catholic-Hierarchy. Let us go out into the world and, keeping in mind the warning from the first post above, attempt to Catholicize the cultural, societal, and poltical spheres, having the faith that when it comes to the Church, the gates of hell shall not prevail. - Western Confucian 

A very wise post indeed - don’t you agree?

Is China our friend or enemy? 

Good headline huh?  No, I don’t have any official data on whether or not China is conducting a war on the U.S. - although reading weekly news articles about America’s trade partner - week after week for years now, suggests the Chinese are certainly not our allies.

Even if you ignore the fact that they are building up their nuclear arsenal to attack Taiwan and other points West, or turn a blind eye to their persecution of Catholics faithful to Rome, imprisoning bishops and priests, blowing up shrines to Our Lady…or ignore the fact they skin dogs and cats alive to supply fur to Western clothiers…or permit slave labor,  and don’t forget human organ harvesting, it seems to me China is a government the free world ought not to support.

Employing a sort of bizarre, eminent domain theory, the Chinese government is in the process of displacing hundreds of thousands to build Olympic facilities for the upcoming games to be held in 2008.  It is a government that has absolutely no regard for human rights, let alone human life.  And yet U.S. businesses and government supports this communist regime which is little more than a continual atrocity in action.

What’s up with that? 

Is it simply greed on our part, or do we approve of Chinese foreign and domestic policies.  But where is the evidence for a covert war on the West?  A report todayfocuses upon the tainted, if not deadly imports coming into our country  from China.  Most people know about the tainted pet food, which sickened and killed many of our pets, then came the tainted tooth paste.  But it’s more than that, it’s bogus pharmaceuticals, poisonous cosmetics, toxic fish and other food products, and the toxins don’t stop there - paints and finishes on toys and gift products, and so on.

What’s the message here?

Don’t buy Chinese!  Don’t support a government that exploits it’s own people for profit and gain, while denying basic human rights to their citizens.  They cannot even meet minimum business standards to make sure the goods they manufacture are safe for the consumers they export to - and they don’t care.  Greed calls out to greed in the roar of the Stock Exchange floor.

As Catholics, we should have understood this a long time ago, since the persecution of the Underground Church in Chinahas been no secret to us for years now - but we ignore our suffering brothers and sisters because we are so attached to inexpensive product.  Catholics are big-butt consumers too, you know - and Catholic merchants are not above unjust exploitation either.   Manufacturers and merchants are perhaps more culpable than the consumer, since marketing these goods could possibly be considered an act approaching collusion with an evil regime.  (IMHO)  (Of course all of us pay taxes,  from which a percentage goes to support Planned Parenthood, which in turn supports abortion, and so on - so what are you going to do?)

Next time you go into a Catholic religious goods store, take a quick inventory of all the products manufactured in China.  Currently, Roman Inc., the supplier for lines such as Fontanini (the well known Nativity manufacturer, whose figures are molded in China, along with all of their packaging), happens to be a major player in the Catholic gift market.  The Roman line includes other kitschy in-house product lines, developed and marketed to retailers across the country.  The Company has recently developed a new Renaissance Collection of lovely devotional statues - all made in China.  As I mentioned, this Company supplies other religious goods, as well as gift product, both to religious andsecular retail stores, and much of the product is made in China.

Care-full shopping. 

Check the product, or ask the retailer if something is made in China - if it is, don’t buy it and ask the retailer not to sell it.  If they won’t take it off the shelves - take your business to Aquinas and More - the company listed in  my sidebar - they refuse to sell products made in China.  You would be surprised to realize how much of the religious kitsch available for sale - novelty saint’s watches, book marks, cheap rosaries, etc., are made in China. 

Change can happen.  As Catholics, I believe we must be concerned about justice, we need to move away and detach ourselves from our consumer addiction and maybe learn to do without some of the superfluous junk we buy.  And of course, as Jesus warns in the Gospel, we must avoid greed in all of it’s forms.

Boycott Chinese products (read one family’s testimony), and boycott the 2008 Olympics while you’re at it.

(Art: Courtesy of Vultus Christi.) 

Metrosexuals.

Metrosexual is a term coined a few years ago to identify the physical-appearance-trend among men to be more concerned with fashion, grooming, and their body.  Some people believe it is evidence of extreme self love, conceit, and the pursuit of pleasure, or hedonism.  Prior to the phenomenon, homosexuals would have carried the day in this category, their only competitors being the fashionable “Sex In the City” type females.

The term metrosexual picks up on the prefixes, hetero/homo, which suggests that a metro can be straight, gay or whatever. Essentially, the phenomenon reveals something about our narcissistic culture.  Of course there have been male ”dandy” fashions throughout the centuries, yet our contemporary expression only really gained across the board acceptance in the late ’80’s early ’90’s, coming into full swing today.  (Did I hear the term, Gen X-ers?  Ka-ching!  ROFL!) 

Self-love.

Human beings need a basic self-love to survive as a species, and individually, to pursue what is good.  Spiritual writers warn against excessive self-love and vanity, and psychologist refer to extreme self-love as Narcissistic Personality disorder.  Pop culture, which embodies the cult of celebrity, taken together with our preoccupation with beauty and physique, pretty much screams at us, narcissism.

Yeah, so we know we are the “me” culture - it is all about me.  (Well, it should be about me, but everybody else thinks that it should be about them!  Gosh!)

Blogger narcissism.

I think we also see evidence of narcissism amongst the intellectual elite, in academia, and of course, politicians - a warm hello to the Clintons.  We see it in the Church or amongst religious people as well.  Every venue has its own celebrity cult, and every venue harbors those people striving for recognition of their gifts or talents.  In such cases, the individual is in a sort of contest to win recognition for his intellectual and spiritual achievements, which can be highly gratifying to one’s ego, affording the person a certain status - real or imagined - amongst peers. 

Take this concept down a few notches in the social spiral, and we encounter these types at the office, the gym, or the parish we belong to, and in some cases, the so-called “blogosphere”.  I don’t know about you, but I’ve encountered a few narcissistic blogs and commenters in my short-lived experience on the net. 

The school of self-knowledge.

In some ways, it is a good thing, because the sensitive blogger who may perceive this trait in others, may well perceive the tendency in himself.  Blogging is really public journaling - hence the name web log.  Therefore we often expose our personal opinions, tastes, beliefs, etc., without deliberately exposing our true selves.  Actually, only a fool would do that - in this case, self-love is a virtue which inclines one towards prudence and discretion.

Sometimes our true selves are revealed to us when we are challenged, depending on our reaction, this may or may not reveal a latent narcissism behind our public writing.  Oftentimes the narcissist also feels other bloggers are writing about him/her if what is written happens to resonate with them - negatively or positively.  (Yet this can be good, especially if it places one in the school of self-knowledge - which is why I welcome opposing comments - but not invective or profanity.)

The cell of self-knowledge.

Catherine of Sienna writes about the cell of self knowledge.  The contemporary search for self-knowledge is often more evidence of a narcissistic preoccupation with self, or a concentration on self-fulfillment and well being.  St. Catherine is not speaking to that.  Catherine is referring to the interior recollection and conversation with God, whom she knows loves us.  Her self-knowledge begins at the point of understanding God’s loving providence in creating her and loving his creation so much he sees himself within her.  The Father told Catherine: “It was with providence that I created you, and when I contemplated my creature in myself, I fell in love with the beauty of my creation.”

“In his light we see light”, hence, illumined by God’s love, we detect our faults, our sins, indeed, that of ourselves we are nothing and that everything we posses is God’s free gift - understanding God as uncreated infinite, while we ourselves are finite.

There is nothing that shatters the illusion of narcissism better than the virtue of humility.  As Mother Teresa liked to remind us, “The road to humility is paved with humiliations.”  And that road leads to the cell of self knowledge.

Sacred Heart of Jesus, so meek and humble of heart, make my heart like unto thine.  

I don’t know…I don’t know what…what to do. - Ce Ce Peniston (one of my favorite songs). 

The lesson from today’s Gospel pretty much teaches us not to worry about what the future holds.  No one is exempt from the tendency to worry.  People nearing retirement, or those already there, often worry about their health and welfare, if the money is going to hold out, health care issues, social security, so on and so forth.  The sick worry that their cancer treatment may not be effective, or the cancer is going to spread, and so on.

Younger people worry about educating their kids, along with all the financial challenges young couples face.  Single people worry about their job, salaries, health benefits, etc.  Some worry about vocation, should I be a priest or a monk, what order should I enter, and so forth.  Yep, we all worry. 

Anxiety.

My only claim to anything remotely to do with mental disorders is that on occasion, I would have panic attacks, but I’m told many people have these at various times in their lives.  You can be treated for it, but I’ve always rode it out, much to the amazement of my doctor.  I’ve always learned something about myself, about prayer, and about God through the episodes.  Some people have to take medication for the disorder however. 

Anxiety has been the hallmark of modern life, pretty much since the atomic bomb was developed.  The existentialists describe it as existential anxiety, so when I was younger, I always thought that it was very cool to experience it as vividly as I did.  It was like a drug free acid trip at times.

Frivolous worries.

The Gospel today is in sharp contrast to our over anxious age.  Jesus says, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life…can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life span?”- Matt. 6.  (Well maybe we could if we were able to do embryonic stem cell research, or produce babies we could harvest organs from.  See how that mentality is so anti-God?)

Jesus points out how beautiful the flowers of the field are, and yet women (and some men) spend millions of dollars a year on the cosmetic industry, make-up, manicures, spa treatments, hair styling and hair products - it’s a long list of wasted income. And yet they continue to worry.

Trust. 

Jesus has told various mystics that what wounds him the most is our lack of trust.  People wiill discuss the concept of faith as a gift.  Some people imagine it is not a gift, however, it surely is a gift.  Yet faith is an act of the intellect, and must be effected by the action of the will, when exercised, it inclines the believer to study and deepen his faith.  In the process, grace intervenes to illumine the mind and strengthen the will.  Hence, faith must be cultivated in order to grow, it  must be nourished and exercised through the Sacraments, good reading, prayer, etc..  Without these, the gift of faith can be lost, and we can become like the pagans.

Jesus concludes with, “Your Heavenly Father knows (what you need)…seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all things will be given you besides.  Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself.  Sufficient for the day is its own evil.” - Matthew 6.

“Pray and don’t worry” - Padre Pio

In Luke, Jesus once again counsels us with greater urgency;

“Be on guard lest your spirits become bloated with indulgence and drunkeness and worldly cares.”  Indicating how these things can result in a lack of faith.  He warns us further,“The great day will suddenly close in on you like a trap.  The day I speak of will come upon all who dwell on the face of the earth.  So be on the watch.  Pray constantly for the strength to escape whatever is in prospect, and to stand secure before the Son of Man.” - Luke 21, 34-36.

Thus it is in and through prayer that we surrender our anxiety and find the solution to life’s troubles, while exercising our faith and trust.  Prayer obtains all. 

Loss of faith 

Sadly, it’s a new syndrome developing, which affects some bloggers, but more so Internet/blog surfers.  It can happen to traditionalists, progressives, liberals, whatever type of Catholic you want to call yourself.  Loss of faith is just a finger away.  (That would be the middle finger.)

My opinion is that it takes hold of people who become too cerebral about the faith, or focus entirely upon the dogmatic, doctrinal aspects of the faith.  It affects those who are especially focused upon liturgical rubrics, legalities, decorum, or theologies, etc.  It is difficult to delineate or to generalize about who may be affected however.  Conservatives or liberals could capitulate through intellectual pride - who knows?  (The really evil apostates stay “catholic” and present their views as Catholic, twisting truth to suit their philosophies.) 

Nevertheless, it really happens to people.  I worked with a woman who was a radical traditionalist, quoting Popes from Pius X to Pius V, along with Conciliar decisions of the Council of Trent, verbatim.  In her eyes, very few people today, including the Pope, were even Catholic.  After a couple months of blogging (she discovered it from me!) and exposure to the Internet, she returned to her former religion, Wicca.  What the hell happened?  I saw it coming though, Internet or not, because her faith had been placed in externals, along with the celebrity and acceptance she initially found in being a convert from paganism - which wore off of course.  (Well, there is more to the story than that, suffice it to say, she had a superficial faith.)

When the medium is the message.

I really believe people get in over their heads when it comes to liturgy and dogma, spirituality and religious life, not to mention all the “issues” bloggers get themselves embroiled in.  Blogging exacerbates the situation sometimes.  (Think about it, how many bloggers are “new” Catholics, or so-called “reverts” - I hate that term - without a great deal of experience in the faith, the Church, despite the fact they may have some education on the subject, or maybe even a ‘mystical’ experience of sorts under their belts.)  I call it getting “over-Churched”, or “over-theologized”, over “spiritualized”, which contrasts fairly well in a culture that is “over-psychologized”, “intellectualized” and “liberalized”.  It happens to people who know too much about a little sometimes - while having little or no experience in being “little”.  (In a post on Abbey1, I call these Pusey blogs.)

You can take the devotion out of religion, which is what many people end up doing, but then religion becomes just another ideology that can be refuted along with all the other “isms” that float around out there.  Especially when “religious” people betray their lack of devotion, which is essentially, a lack of charity - that really drives aspirants away!  (I’m referring to the invective and argumentation that occurs in the comment section of many blogs.  Bitches sometimes kill their own puppies.)

Verbosity.

You see, anyone may pontificate upon the truths of the faith and morals, or condemn those who don’t measure up to their standards - liberal or conservative - but without charity, everyone is just a sounding cymbal, a noisy gong, a Snoopy cartoon dialog no one can understand - or even cares to understand.

A noted priest  (veddy conservative mind you - you would be shocked!) from St. Paul, once told me that some of the writings of John Paul II were a bunch of hot air - don’t be scandalized - he was referring to their verbosity, not the essential content.  (He especially felt some of the documents from the USCCB were even more so.)  If one can say that about Church documents, my Lord, how much more apt is it to describe our blogging?

We must begin to realize that our words, written in a weblog, or in the comment section of another, can drive a person to apostasy, or cause an innocent person seeking the truth to dismiss and turn away from the Catholic Church all together.  Sticks and stones hurt, words can kill the spirit.

Scandalizing the little ones - it is so not a good thing.  Mea culpa!

 .

Two martyrs. 

One was a Bishop, the other was a married layman who worked in government.  Both were beheaded for their fidelity to the Pope and standing up for marriage.  Sounds like something that would happen in a communist country, or amongst a pagan tribe in Africa…decades ago maybe.  But it happened in a civilized,  Catholic country.  Indeed centuries ago, but the issues are ever so contemporary.

The men were St. John Fisher (the only Bishop in all of England who denounced the King’s actions), and St. Thomas Moore, beheaded for resisting King Henry VIII’s divorce from Catherine of Aragon to marry Ann Boleyn, which meant they stood in defense of the teachings of the Church and supported the Holy Father.  (Couldn’t they have just pretended to approve?  Or better yet, they could have said their personal beliefs had nothing to do with their politics.)

Something from Chesterton:

“Blessed Thomas Moore is more important at this moment than at any moment since his death, even perhaps the great moment of his dying; but he is not quite so important as he will be in about a hundred years time.  He may come to be counted the greatest Englishman, or at least the greatest historical character in English history.  For he was above all things historic; he represented at once a type, a turning point and an ultimate destiny.  If there had not happened to be that particular man at that particular moment, the whole of history would have been different.”
–G. K. Chesterson, “A Turning Point in History”

Photo: Fr. Andrew Cozzens, one of the six original founders.  (If I remember correctly, Bishop Carlson was associated with the founding of the group.)

A priestly fraternity. 

There is a Diocesan Priestly Fraternity of men in the Archdiocese of St. Paul/Minneapolis known as the Companions of Christ.  It is a small group, made up of extraordinary young men; priests and seminarians.  I have never met one of them I did not like.  They are solid priests, faithful to the Magisterium, well educated, while extremely approachable and friendly.

I thought of them this morning at Mass, on this the feast of St. Aloysius.  One day, as I walked through the Church Goods Dept. (where I once worked), one of the young seminarians (in his 20’s) was trying on a cassock and surplice.  I never can remember his name.  Anyway, he was so strikingly handsome, I couldn’t help saying, “My gosh!  You look just like St. Aloysius!”  I think I embarrassed him.  (I do stuff like that, once I was speaking with a Frenchwoman, who was a vendor for a vestment company, as she was talking, I interrupted with, “You are so beautiful!”  Actually, I think she liked it.  Tourettes, I guess.)

What impresses me about this group is their devotion to the priesthood, their enthusiasm for ministry, and obedience to the Archbishop.  Each of them have a particular kindness and openess to others - and they appear so happy in their vocation.  I have never, ever heard a negative criticism from any of them, as regards the Church, the hierarchy, or the liturgy.  Each of them are faithful to the proper rubrics associated with Mass and the Sacraments, without ostentation.

If you don’t know who they are, I hope you get to meet them, or have the good fortune to have them staff your parish.  Fr. Baer, the Rector of the seminary, is also a member of the fraternity.

Here is the description of the community from their website:

The Companions of Christ is a fraternity of diocesan priests and seminarians of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis.  While serving as priests of the Archdiocese the Companions of Christ live in community, where they are able to pray together, share meals, and support each other. In their life and ministry as priests, the Companions of Christ offer three emphases:

Don Marco has a sublime post on St. Aloysius Gonzaga, one of my favorite saints, and his.  Therese was pretty fond of him as well.

Father refers to him as the patron saint of schoolboys - which he is - but it shouldn’t put off young, virile males - or old guys either.  And of course young women would do well to befriend St. Aloyisius too.  Don Marco also lists other aspects of his patronage:

“Luigi may well be the most loved Jesuit in history. He has hundreds of thousands of friends the world over. Some, following the initiative of several Popes, honour him as the patron saint of youth. More recently, he has become the protector of children at risk of sexual abuse, something that, as a page at court, he was obliged to confront and flee. Having cared for victims of the plague that devastated Rome in 1591, he is also the friend and patron of people with AIDS and of those who care for them.” - Vultus Christi

Having been raised at court, the young aristocrat was surrounded by corruption.  Which is why his purity and piety is so outstanding.  Therefore, I think he should also be a model for young men and women who live surrounded by the influence of decadent popular culture.  St. Luigi was a strong, virile, contemporary young man of his times, and is an excellent model for all of us who live in such a sexualized society.