Abbey-Roads2

Religion can never be a vehicle for hate.

Visiting Naples the Holy Father said, “Faced with a world lacerated by conflicts, where at times violence is justified in the name of God, it is important to re-emphasize that religion can never be a vehicle of hate; never, in the name of God, can we justify evil and violence.” - Zenit 

He was addressing those gathered in Naples for the 21st International Encounter of Peoples and Religions, organized by the Community of Sant’Egidio.  This event is connected to the Assisi gatherings for Peace, which in the past have been the source of much controversy amongst traditional Catholics.  Pope Benedict refrained from attending the latest Assisi congress, yet recommended yesterday that religious people should work to promote peace and the “spirit of Assisi”.

Understanding and respect.

Appealing for understanding amongst people, the Holy Father stated that the Catholic Church intends “to continue along the road of dialogue to promote understanding among different cultures, traditions and religious wisdom.”

“I ardently desire that this spirit spread more and more, especially where the tensions are strongest, where freedom and respect for the other are denied and men and women suffer the consequences of intolerance and misunderstanding,” the Pope added. - Zenit  

Hitting close to home.

Though the Holy Father is addressing the disharmony which exists between various religions and cultures, his words should resonate into our every day life and relationships with others.  This is a subject I have been wrestling with for the past several days, no - months, as my posts here would indicate.

The tempests in a tea pot blogging foments, revealing at times the cruel underbelly of otherwise decent people, trouble me.  You’ve read it all.  Gay people attacking the Church, Catholics attacking those who promote the so-called  gay agenda.  Catholic bloggers writing that another man blogging is a fake priest; me writing a sort of rebuttle to demonstrate that one of the more popular  orthodox  bloggers could be a fake nun, since she may have made a mistake in terms.  (I was simply trying to illustrate the arrogance of the blogosphere.)  And then there are the intolerant traditionalists who mistrust nearly every development in the Church since Vatican II.

Tolerance for the intolerant.

In fact it is many of the uber-traditionalist  types who abjure anything at all to do with the “spirit of Assisi” and among other things, view it as a conspiracy to establish a one world religion.  Yet many other Catholics have been repelled by the liturgical abuses which occurred right under the Pope’s nose at previous meetings in Assisi, and look upon the events with equal suspicion.  What a complex world, huh?

Perhaps a world without love - or dogma dogs  gone wild.

[Photo: The Holy Father venerating the relic of St. Januarius in the Naples Cathedral.  I wonder if he prayed to him?  ;)]  

Healthy, wealthy, and wise decisions by parents.

TimesOnline  has a report on how medical professionals and parents are using abortion to weed out the slightly lame and crippled.  (I guess it is a more convenient way to save on future medical bills.)

MORE than 50 babies with club feet were aborted in just one area of England in a three-year period, according to new statistics.

Thirty-seven babies with cleft lips or palates and 26 with extra or webbed fingers or toes were also aborted.

The data have raised concerns about abortions being carried out for minor disabilities that could be cured by surgery. - TimesOnline

Nice parents.

[Art: Blessed Herman the Cripple, composer of the Salve Regina.]

Giving your kids whatever they want.

One of the benefits to the use of contraception in limiting the size of one’s family, seems to be insuring that there is enough expendable income for luxury items, fashion and entertainment - among other self indulgences modern life offers. 

This thought occurred to me after I heard about the recent Hannah Montana concert in the Twin Cities.  This pop star appeals to pre-teen, tween girls.  Hannah Montana is the daughter of Billy Ray Cyrus, and is a manufactured act.  Packaged and marketed by Disney to appeal to little girls who are too young to realize they are being manipulated and formed by media.  (Molded into little Stepford  girls.)

What happened.

When the concert tickets went on sale, the bulk of the tickets were bought up by ticket brokers, who in turn offered $30 tickets for sale at inflated prices - $100 per ticket up to $2,000  for 4 tickets.   Parents paid the price for their little darlings to go and rock out with their teen idol.  Several  parents made the pilgrimage from out of State, as far away as Canada and Chicago.  Some of the girls appeared to be only four or five years old.   Maybe I’m old, but there seems to be something almost obscene about the whole phenomenon.

Many of the girls went to a mall for ‘makeovers’ before the event.  Little girls with make-up and hi-lighted hair, indulged like royal princesses.  Obviously most of the girls are from affluent families, or  households wherein most purchases are made with plastic.  Whatever their level of income, this is one example of how many parents dispose of their expendable income - without depriving themselves of their own superfluous expenditures. 

No wonder when little girls are treated like little adults, school boards feel the need to offer birth control to 11 year olds, and molestor teachers find themselves attracted to  already-been-sexualized  pre-teens. 

Those little darlings! 

[Photo:  Hannah Montana.] 

A different perspective. 

At California Catholic Daily  I discovered a painter whose works I have seen many times before, but never knew his name.  J. Michael Walker.  He paints images of the saints in more or less contemporary situations we are familiar with, and as every-day individuals we might recognize.  There is a realism about his work which reminds us that the saints were ordinary people, sanctified by grace.  His Madonnas convey an intimate, maternal image of Our Lady in very homely settings, appealing to our deepest childlike desire for a mama.  Within many of the scenes depicting the Madonna, there is a sense one is privy to the Virgin’s  most intimate moments, just as we approach her from the most private regions of our lives, with our most personal needs.

In a way, J. Michael Walker represents the sanctity of ordinary life - or at least the potential for sanctity - while expressing the innate dignity of the individual person occupied in the mundane minutia of daily life.  Though I wouldn’t consider his religious work to be devotional in the traditional sense, he does paint thoughtful representational interpretations of devotional figures.  And Mr. Walker  is an excellent painter. 

He recently finished a commission to paint the saints many of the streets in Los Angeles are named for.  Go here  for more information.  

[Image: Our Lady of Guadalupe, J. Michael Walker.]  

Incomplete thoughts on Sunday morning.

I went to St. Agnes this morning, and believe it or not someone actually followed me out to talk to me.  (I knew him.)  Normally, I rarely get a smile or a nod from anyone at that time of day.  This morning I held the door open for a couple, smiled, whispered ‘good morning,’  and they didn’t even make eye contact.  But that is why I go there - it is easier to pray in such solitude.  Moving on…

More on those fabulous shoes (gay stuff)…*

I received some emails about Gerald’s post, Empathy for Gay-Catholics.  First of all, ‘gay-Catholics’ is not a good term.  I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, the word gay is a political term and to identify yourself as gay implies a person approves of the lifestyle or is sexually active.  If that is the case, that person is unfaithful to Church teaching - I’m not linking to all the documents - but it is the clear teaching of the Church.  In addition, if a person with homosexual inclination is attempting to live a chaste and celibate life in accord with Catholic teaching, to identify as gay is to keep oneself in that culture, emotionally, psychologically, and maybe even morally.

Having said that, I agree with Gerald on several of his points - although I am very much against homosexual adoption of children.  Having come from  a rather disordered household, I can tell you that children available for adoption should only be adopted by healthy couples in a stable traditional marriage.  I’m not going into detail why I know this.

Empathy for straight people…

As for empathy for gay persons, I think it is incumbent upon all Christians to respect every individual as a person; a human being created and loved by God.  However, what many people fail to realize is that when the lifestyle is continually in your face; whether in politics, media, promoted in gay rights campaigns, along with rhetoric which maligns traditional family values, lifestyle and religion, the average person’s tolerance is tested to the extreme.  When gays mock and attack all that straight people hold sacred, how can they expect the esteem they are crying out for?

The average heterosexual person, who cherishes traditional morality and strives to live a faith-based life, is repulsed by the very idea of sexual relations which are contrary to natural law.  The concept of homosexual sex disgusts and repels them.  No matter how Beaver Cleaver  gay activists want to portray the lifestyle, most straight people just can’t accept the sex part.

What is my point?

My point is this:  The more gay people cry ‘poor me’ or get all militant about equal rights and recognition of same-sex marriage, along with the endless marketing that accompanies it, the more angry the average person is going to get.  As emotions on both sides flare, hostility is the natural outcome.  You cannot force people to accept what is completely foreign to their nature, such as unnatural acts.

I honestly believe that gays who are constantly asking for compassion, understanding, and acceptance must stop and respect the traditional moral values of the majority of heterosexual men and women who are troubled by homosexuality.  At least for the sake of the common good.  (After all, gay people are only 1 or 2% of the population.)  Instead of continually campaigning for their rights to do whatever they want - let them slow down here and have a little bit of respect for those people who some term breeders.  Let gay people have some empathy for the people who feel activists are trying to shove a gay agenda down their throats.  (Maybe gay activists should try a bit harder  to cleanup the lifestyle instead.)

It is an emotional issue to begin with.  But everyone seems to be  letting their emotions over-ride their intellects on the subject.  

That’s all.

*Note:  “Those fabulous shoes” refers to Gerald’s original post at Cafeteria is Closed. 

Examples of hate in the blogosphere?

As the title suggests, I am outraged - not by the content of Gerald’s post “Empathy for Gay Catholics” but because, as of this writing he has received over 150 comments!  I’m lucky to get 1 or 2 comments on anything.  (See, no one reads me.)

You should read his post  however.  It is a compassionate appeal for understanding as regards homosexual persons.  The comments are interesting, some hateful, others using the post as a sort of litmus test for Gerald’s orthodoxy.  The comments offer a glimpse into the mindset of many in the Catholic blogosphere. 

St. Paul of the Cross, founder of the Passionist Order.

I mentioned St. Paul of the Cross in reference to the dark night of the soul we recently learned Bl. Mother Teresa endured for so many years.  I recall one journalist stating that this night of faith seems to be the hallmark of the saints of the 20th century.  I don’t know where she got that idea.  I’m quite sure the experience has been around much longer than when it first became a focus of study in the writings of St. John of the Cross. It is an aspect of the mystical life, albeit extraordinary, reserved for the few.

Garrigou-Lagrange devotes six pages to the life of St. Paul of the Cross in the second volume of his work, “The Three Ages of the Interior Life.”   He concentrates upon the mystical life of St. Paul and the reparatory night of the spirit, which he endured for forty-five years.

The mystical life of the saint.

Since his youth St. Paul was accustomed to a life of self-denial, and at a very early age was favored with the affective prayer of simple gaze.  Around the age of nineteen he underwent the passive purification of the senses.  After this he was given the grace of infused contemplation, accompanied  by visions and ecstasies.  At. twenty-six he underwent the passive purification of the spirit, preparing him for the grace of transforming union by the age of thirty-one.

Garrigou-Lagrange writes:  “After receiving the grace of transforming union, he had, according to the testimony of his confessor, to pass through forty-five years of interior desolations, most painful abandonment, during which, ‘from time to time only, the Lord granted him a short respite.’”   This was a period when it seemed to him that he had been totally abandoned by God, that God was displeased with him, and he endured great temptations to despair and sadness.  Yet the chief characteristic others noted about him was his patience and extreme kindness to all who approached him.

The life of reparation.

Aside from the purificatory aspect of the night of the spirit which enables “the soul thus purified to pass beyond the formulas of mysteries and ‘enter into the deep things of God’, as St. Paul says,”  this trial can be chiefly reparatory as well.  Such is the case with St. Paul of the Cross, and more recently, Therese of Lisieux, and as we read now, Teresa of Calcutta.

Garrigou-Lagrange writes that when the trial is chiefly reparatory the principal end is to have the purified soul work for the salvation of its neighbor, in conformity with the intimate sufferings of Jesus and Mary.  It is interesting to note that Father writes that these souls struggle for years in this night in order to “Snatch souls from eternal death; and, in a way, these reparative souls must resist the (same) temptations of the souls they seek to save that they may come efficaciously to their assistance.” - Three Ages, Vol. II

Oh what a night!  

What’s in a name? 

A blogger buddy and I were having an email exchange concerning the personas some bloggers may adopt to hide their true identity when they write.  One man who says he is a priest, has received a great deal of attention from others who claim he is a fake.  I read his posts, I see nothing against the faith in what he writes, so I don’t understand the problem.  (Yet some priests do see it as a problem and present their credentials  for people to view - this isn’t a bad idea - it may be one reason why this priest has the most popular ‘priest’s blog’ on the net.)

I pointed out to my friend that no one knows if Sr. Mary Martha is a real nun or not.  (I never read Sister’s blog until I brought her up in our email exchange.)  My friend told me that if a person is pretending to be a priest or sister, they are giving the impression they have some authority, and what they write is in line with Church teaching.  If they write in error, unsuspecting people may be misinformed or misled.  I didn’t realize how this could happen until today.

Sister Blogger.

Reading Sister Mary Martha  today, I noticed something which sounded more influenced by Protestantism than Catholicism in her advice.  Responding to a question posed to her by a reader concerning the intercession of the saints, Sister wrote:

1. We do not pray to anyone but Jesus…or God…or the Holy Spirit, Who are One but also separate. It’s the Sacred Mystery of the Holy Trinity. Sacred Mystery is “Catholic” for “just let it go”.

2. We do not pray to any saints or Mary. Even though we often say, “Pray to St. Anthony” or whoever, what we really mean is “Pray for the intercession of St. Anthony”. We are asking St. Anthony to pray to Jesus..or God…or the Holy Spirit, Who are One but also separate. It’s no different than if I asked you to pray for me.” - Ask Sister Mary Martha

Always check the facts.

That sounds a little Protestant to me.  As Catholics, we have always been taught we may indeed pray to  the saints and request their intercession on our behalf.  Indeed, an older catechetical handbook I have states:

“We honor the saints by praying to them.  We honor them by praising them  in word and song, and asking their intercession.  Indeed, we may pray in private to anyone who we believe is either in heaven or purgatory.  But we are forbidden to give public veneration to anyone who is not beatified or canonized.”

“When we pray to the saints we ask them to offer their prayers to God for us.  This is what we call the intercession of the saints.” - My Catholic Faith,  originally published 1949.

From the current Catechism of the Catholic Church we have this:

“Their intercession (the saints) is their most exalted service to God’s plan.  We can and should ask them to intercede for us and for the whole world.” - CCC 2683

Talking to the saints.

To her credit, Sr. Mary Martha does write:  “It’s no different than if I asked you to pray for me.”   She is referring to our asking the saints to pray for us and comparing it to how we ask one another to pray for our intentions.  While in the body of the post she does say we ask the saints to intercede for us, her message is confusing, and gives the impression we do not actually pray to the saints.  Especially since she is so emphatic in stating  ”we do not pray to”   the saints.

When we pray, “Hail Mary, Full of grace…” who does Sister imagine we are addressing?  Indeed we may converse with Our Lady, the angels and saints at will, fully conscious they present our petitions before God.  In honoring Our Lady or the saints we honor God.  We also pray in union with all the Church, which includes the souls of the just who are living in heaven, or awaiting the beatific vision in purgatory.  This is what the Communion of Saints implies.

Maybe it’s just a question of semantics.

Of course all of us can make mistakes.  Even real priests and nuns and other “authorities” can make mistakes or express erroneous opinions on their weblogs.  Earlier this summer a priest posted on the devotion of the Scapular of Mt. Carmel  as being superstitious.  (It is not.)   So, when in doubt, always check the facts with your Catechism or another credible Catholic source book. 

The blogosphere is not the Magisterium. 

Abstinence.

It is good to remember Fridays are still days of penance.  Catholics continue to abstain from meat on Fridays, although it is no longer a sin if they do not.  However, another form of penance should take the place of abstinence from meat.  Many people fast on bread and water, or give up something else, perform some charitable work, give alms, and so on.

On conversion.

“The soul who rises from sin to devotion can be compared to the rising sun which does not dispel the darkness in an instant but little by little.  A gradual return to health is always more lasting.  Diseases of the soul, like those of the body, arrive at a gallop, but depart slowly, step by step.” - St. Francis de Sales 

[Art:  At the top: St. John Capistrano appearing to St. Peter of Alcantara.  Today is the feast of St. Peter of Alcantara.  At left:  St. Peter of Alcantara.]