Catholic Monitor

Jesse Romero:"No book compares with watching the [Viva Cristo Rey!] play... [it's]absolutely riveting"

2012-01-09T10:31:00.000-08:00

Thought you might be interested in this review from Jesse Romero.

Cathal (Cal) Gallagher

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Angel Duran Subject: just got this blurb from Jesse Romero
Jesse Romero:"No book compares with watching the [Viva Cristo Rey!] play... [It's]absolutely riveting"

Here is one of the blurbs I just recieved for a new letter I am creating. I am waiting for more, but this one is great!

"Although I have read the story of Fr Miguel Pro and his martyrdom, no book compares with watching the play perfomed by the GK Chesterton Theatre Company. Absolutely riveting, I was on the edge of my seat. When it was all said and done, my faith was renewed, revived and taken to another level. This play transported me back in time and I felt like I was there. What a roller coaster ride!"
Jesse Romero- Radio Talk Show Host and Catholic Lay Evangelist

Angel Duran
Director/Producer Viva Cristo Rey - Live Stage Theatre Production
Executive Board Member
The GK Chesterton Theatre Company

Play this weekend in Long Beach about Blessed Miguel Pro, martyr of Cristero War

In the 1920s, Mexico entered a dark period of religious persecution known as the Cristero War, during which 40 priests were killed and hundreds of others fled the country.

Among the Cristero martyrs was Bl. Miguel Pro, a Jesuit priest executed by firing squad on Nov. 23, 1927. Just before he was shot dead, the 37-year-old priest shouted Viva Cristo Rey! (“Long live Christ the King!”)

This Saturday, Dec. 3, at Holy Innocents Catholic Church in Long Beach, there will be two performances of the play “Viva Cristo Rey,” which presents the story of Bl. Miguel Pro, a beloved Mexican hero of the faith.

The play, written by Cathal Gallagher and Fred Martinez and directed by Angel Duran, will be presented by the GK Chesterton Theatre Co.

The theatre company describes its mission as to bring plays to families “that explore issues of conscience, faith and heroism with a special emphasis on the men and women who stood against the current tide of their time. Great plays can shape character in positive ways; our Company feels a special obligation to produce inspiring works, based on true stories.”

Saturday’s performances of “Viva Cristo Rey” are scheduled for 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. at Holy Innocents Catholic School, 2500 Pacific Ave., Long Beach.

Tickets are $10 in advance and $15 at the door. To order tickets online, Click Here.

Tickets can also be purchased at Holy Innocents parish. For more information, call (562) 591-6924.

READER COMMENTS

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Posted Wednesday, November 30, 2011 2:48 AM By daryl
Very timely play, in view of Cardinal Burke's recent comments published November 28, 2011 by LifeSiteNews.com. He said that the United States is “well on the way” to the persecution of Christians. Catholic League President Bill Donohue declared the Cardinal’s remarks were accurate and not exaggerations. November 23rd was the feast day of blessed Fr. Miguel Pro, publicly executed in 1927 in a demonstration of State Terrorism against the Christian religion. Pictures of his death distributed by the State to terrorize Catholics were converted by them into prayer cards. Deeply Catholic Mexico experienced a fierce persecution by secularist elites in the 1920s and 1930s, particularly during the Presidency of Plutarcho Calles. Every cruel excess of Secularism, from the suppression of the Christian religion and the massacre of priests and religious to the institution of Reigns of Terror, secular God-Hero-Emperors, and the Gulags, was anticipated in the French Revolution. Why do the godless elites of the world seem obsessed with proving themselves to be no more than really bad Frenchmen? Really bad secular education?

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Posted Wednesday, November 30, 2011 4:41 AM By Paul
1973 "Our Lady of Akita" - pronounced worthy of belief by the Church in 1988. Also read the Bible - its all there.

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Posted Wednesday, November 30, 2011 8:31 AM By Peggy
It's so refreshing to read something positive like this. Too bad this theater group doesn't travel around the state. Maybe Bp. Vasa (Santa Rosa) could get them to perform??

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Posted Wednesday, November 30, 2011 9:44 AM By Tony
GK Chesterton Theatre Co. is willing to travel, this is their first road show. It is being held at Holy Innocents Catholic School in Long Beach.

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Posted Wednesday, November 30, 2011 11:24 AM By Philippe
I have never seen a better explanation for the recurring universal hatred of the Church and of Christ and the recurring and abiding "spirit" of the French Revolution than that the historian. William Thomas Walsh, wrote in his book Philip II, it is really very simple:: "There is no doubt of the laxity of faith and morals of Marguerite's court (Marguerite d'Angouleme) or of the instant appeal that Luther's teaching made to persons already anxious to escape from the reproach of a divine standard with which the Catholic Church persisted in confronting human guilt."

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Posted Wednesday, November 30, 2011 12:26 PM By Clinton
And there still is a persecution of the Catholic Church in Mexico. They have legalized homosexual unions, worship pagan deities, disregard Church teachings in all matters and as a result look at how terrible things are there. May Our Blessed Mother pray for the faithful. +JMJ+

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Posted Wednesday, November 30, 2011 6:49 PM By Kenneth M. Fisher
Clinton, Mexico City is not Mexico. As far as I know it is only there in that city that these aberrations have been legalized. I saw the Play, and it is excellent. I highly recommend it to all. God bless, yours in Their Hearts, Kenneth M. Fisher

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Posted Wednesday, November 30, 2011 9:07 PM By Elodia Corona
Highly reommend it ' What a Blessings for Long BEACH ' Viva La Paz

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Posted Thursday, December 01, 2011 5:05 AM By MIKE
" There are not more than 100 people in the world who truly hate the Catholic Church, but there are millions who hate what they perceive to be the Catholic Church. ....As a matter of fact, if we Catholics believed all of the untruths and lies which were said against the Church, we probably would hate the Church a thousand times more than they do. " - Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen. We must all do everything we can to promote the reading of the "CATECHISM of the CATHOLIC CHURCH, Second Edition" for the TRUTH to be known.

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Posted Thursday, December 01, 2011 7:16 AM By Maryanne Leonard
Thanks for the Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen quote, Mike; I had not heard it in years, and it is so apt. We may not be able to induce our detractors to read the Catechism of the Catholic Church, but Father Robert Barron's new documentary, "Catholicism," is likely to attract the attention of many people around the world and perhaps disabuse some of them of their inaccurate notions of our amazing faith. I think anyone who can afford it should make a gift of this 10-part documentary series to their local library and to any friends or family members whose souls you would like to see saved.

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Posted Thursday, December 01, 2011 11:58 AM By Cathal Gallagher
G.K. Chesterton Theatre is a Los Angeles based Company. We can bring this play only to venues that are reasonably close to LA. (Many of our actors work full time) However, we can send the scripts to theatre groups anywhere. This includes College and High School theatres. For further information go to "click here" in the article above and log on to "Plays for Sale."

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Posted Monday, December 05, 2011 6:17 PM By JLS
This play seems well suited for the situation shaping up in the USA, of persecution of the Church. A. I wonder how the sodomite forces played any part in the persecution in Mexico. B. How did the Church eventually gain the upper hand ... Was it because of all the faithful resisting and making it impossible for the repressive govt to manage anything?

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Posted Monday, December 05, 2011 9:41 PM By Kenneth M. Fisher
JLS, I am not aware of any influence the sodomites had in the Mexican persecution, only the Masonic Communist influence. The Faith has been preserved in Mexico because the people refused to submit, even now you are witnessing the influences of the secularist in Mexico City, but the rest of Mexico, thank God and His Mother, are resisting far better than we are and than there relatives here now in the US are! God bless, yours in Their Hearts, Kenneth M. Fisher

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I am struggling with the idea of “practicing the presence of God” – what can I do?

2011-12-27T11:38:00.000-08:00

Posted on February 7th, 2011 by Father John Bartunek Q: I have had a pretty regular prayer life for a few years, and have been going to confession regularly as well, and receiving Communion frequently. In my spiritual reading, though, I keep coming across the idea of “practicing the presence of God.” This means staying aware of Jesus throughout the day’s activities, right? Well, I have been trying to do this, but can’t seem to make any progress. The end of the day comes around, and then I remember that I should have been aware of his presence. Is this something I should be worried about?

A: A beautiful question. Beautiful for two reasons: 1) If “practicing the presence of God” keeps coming up in your personal reading and reflection, you can be sure it’s because the Holy Spirit wants you to keep this on your spiritual agenda. This is how he coaches us – he puts something on our minds or hearts, and he keeps insisting on it. And if God is drawing you towards this rather advanced spiritual discipline, it means that he is already helping you grow in it. This is good stuff, altogether; 2) “Practicing the presence of God” will draw you closer to Christ than you ever dreamed possible, and that’s what it’s all about. Now onto the answer.

No, you should not be worried about your difficulty or confusion in this area, you should be excited about it: God is teaching you something new! Worry doesn’t come from God (if you mean by worrying a preoccupation that causes turbulence, doubt, and frustration in your soul). It comes from our pride, our tendency to think that we can make ourselves perfect and save the world by our own efforts. Remember, our Lord reminded us: “Do not fret about tomorrow, let tomorrow fret over its own cares. For today, today’s troubles are enough” (Matthew 6:34).

On the other hand, your instinct is right: this is a point of spiritual work that you should pay attention to at this point in your journey; this is why God has put it on your agenda. And here are some considerations that may help you do that.

What does it mean? “Practicing the presence of God” means not only staying aware of Jesus throughout the day, as you mention. That’s part of it, but not all of it. Practicing God’s presence means living every activity of the day with Jesus, by his side, sharing every experience with him. Remember in your school days, how it was always more enjoyable to do your homework together with a good friend instead of all by yourself? You didn’t have to be doing the exact same assignments, and you didn’t even have to be helping each other, but the mere fact that you together, that you were sitting in the same room, maybe at the same table, that you were in each other’s presence and could throw a couple words or looks back and forth every once awhile – that was enough to change the character of doing homework. Think of another example. How often do you go to a movie all by yourself? Not very often, most likely, unless you are a professional movie critic or some sort. You go to a movie with a good friend. And even though you don’t spend those two hours talking with your friend, sharing the experience with that other person makes the experience more valuable, fruitful, and enjoyable. This sharing of experiences – the experience of every activity of every day – with Christ, allowing him to share the experience of your life, that is the real heart of “practicing the presence of God.”

What does it yield? As we grow in this spiritual discipline, it has a major effect on our lives. We were created to “live in communion with God, in whom we find happiness” (Catechism #45). But in this fallen world, and due to our fallen nature, we tend towards a false sense of self-sufficiency. This stifles our growth as human beings. Instead of growing in wisdom, wonder, courage and all the virtues, when we live as if we were sufficient unto ourselves, we end up taking that path that eventually turns us into crotchety old men (or women), self-absorbed and self-absorbing, like black holes. Practicing the presence of God helps us maintain and deepen our communion with God even in the midst of the trials and tribulations of life in a fallen world with a fallen human nature. This is the path to holiness, God’s term for lasting happiness.

How to do it? Since everyone’s friendship with God is unique, no generic formula will suffice for developing this spiritual discipline. Nevertheless, some common principles apply to all of us.

First of all, we need to develop the basic spiritual disciplines you mention in your question: a structured and consistent daily prayer life (this doesn’t have to be as complicated as a monastic prayer life, just sincere and substantial); regular and fruitful reception of the sacraments, especially Communion and confession (this is the objective foundation of our communion with God – God’s grace is the stuff of which our friendship with Christ is made); and a reasonable, mature effort to overcome one’s selfish tendencies and to grow in virtue (spiritual reading, a program of life, and spiritual direction are a big help here, as we’ve mentioned in other posts).
Secondly, we can experiment with practical techniques that will help us form the habit of remembering that we are never alone, that Jesus is at our side, eager to share our experiences and make them fruitful and meaningful. Here is where tactics like the spiritual bouquet come into play (choosing a phrase at the end of the morning meditation that you will use as a motto for the day, to keep in mind the insights and resolutions that came up in your meditation). Here we can also get creative: using a screen-saver that will remind you of the Lord; keeping religious articles visible in key places that you will frequent during the day; programming reminders into your email calendar; praying the Angelus whenever you get into the car to go for a drive; dropping by a local shrine, chapel, or church on your way home from work, school, or shopping… Since the current of the culture in which we live flows in the direction of self-centeredness and self-absorption, we have to make a positive effort to swim against it. Practical tactics can help. But here’s a warning: these are only means to an end, so don’t be surprised if one such tactic helps you for a while but then stops “working.” When that happens, experiment with something else. I would love to hear about some of the tactics that our readers have used and found most helpful (just add them at the end of this post as a comment).
Thirdly, and most importantly, you (and all of us, really) need to ask yourself why it has been difficult for you to “practice the presence of God.” Part of the reason will simply be the superficiality and pace of our culture. Part of the reason will also be habits of self-centeredness that you haven’t yet overcome. But a deeper reason may also be at work. When you go to a dinner party with people who are important, fashionable, and popular, but who you don’t know very well, you are a bit nervous. You are worried about making the right impression. You don’t want to commit a faux pas or inadvertently offend someone. You are excited to be invited, but the excitement is mixed in with some tension. Whether things go well or ill, at the end of the night, when you get back in the car to head home, you breathe a sigh of relief; driving home with your spouse or with an old friend, you can be yourself again. At the party you were sharing experiences with people, you were living in their presence, but you didn’t have a relationship of trust with them. With your old friend, on the other hand, you never have to worry about making a good impression; you don’t have to be anxious about what they may think of you. Your relationship is solid, resilient, familiar – you can relax together. At times, the biggest obstacle to our “practicing the presence of God” is a subtle, subconscious fear about what God thinks of us. In the back of our mind, we are concerned about making the right impression in God’s eyes, and so when we are “in his presence” we put on a show; we watch carefully over every word instead of speaking simply and from the heart; we try to live up to standards that we imagine God is expecting of us; we are afraid that if we don’t meet those extra expectations, God will be displeased with us – he won’t invite us back to the next party. This mindset discourages us from living in God’s presence, because we can’t relax, we can’t be ourselves if we are trying to live up to artificial expectations.
But God is not like that. He is not watching us like a hawk, just waiting for that faux pas, just looking for something to criticize. He knows us through and through already. He truly is the only friend who is perfect and perfectly committed to us. He wants to share every moment of our life, because he is simply that interested in our lives, like the oldest friend, the one we can always count on. That is how God is. The more deeply and fully we believe that, the easier and more natural it will be to live always in his presence.

Yours in Christ, Father John Bartunek, LC, ThD

THE ROSARY AND CONTEMPLATIVE PRAYER

2011-11-07T10:15:00.001-08:00

By Father Paul K. Raftery, O.P.
The Rosary, as a gift of prayer from the Mother of God, leads us to Christ in a way unique among the devotions in the Church. Pope John Paul II, in his Apostolic Letter on the Rosary, Rosarium Virginis Mariae, focuses with particular attention on the special way she is active on the soul as we ponder or contemplate Jesus through the eyes of His Mother. We put ourselves under her maternal guidance and allow her to direct our hearts. "The Rosary," he says, "mystically transports us to Mary’s side as she is busy watching over the human growth of Christ in the home of Nazareth. This enables her to train us and to mold us with the same care, until Christ is ‘fully formed’ in us" (RVM 16). What is happening through this "contemplation of the face of Christ" in union with Mary, is far more than just a dry and abstract exercise of thought. The Rosary brings us, through a devoted pondering of its mysteries, into intimate union with the very Person of Jesus. Below we will discuss this form of prayer called "contemplation," and the place the Holy Father wants it to have in the lives of the faithful through praying the Holy Rosary.

WHAT IS CONTEMPLATION?
Too often the false impression people have of contemplation is that it is some form of lofty mystical prayer that can be understood only by those versed in mystical theology. Moreover, there is the erroneous belief it is not something the ordinary Catholic can expect to experience; namely, that only monks and nuns, whose lives are completely dedicated to prayer, have the chance of advancing to such higher forms of prayer.

A wise and assuring guide in these matters, who has written extensively on the spiritual life, is Fr. Thomas Dubay. His book Fire Within (available from Ignatius Press) has been recommended in a previous article, and it will be used extensively here. From his experience he writes:

Over the years I have gradually come to the conclusion that one reason so many people assume that contemplation is reserved for a select few is that they imagine it to be what it is not. They presume that this type of prayer could not be for them because in a vague sort of way they consider it to be something other than it is. They equate it with oriental states of consciousness or with extraordinary phenomena such as divine messages and visions. Being active and busy and little inclined to any lingering reflection, natural or supernatural, they do not take seriously, as meant for them personally, the mystical expressions sprinkled freely throughout the Scripture and liturgical worship (Fire Within, 57).
St. Teresa of Avila, one of the greatest mystics of the Church, gives us a thoroughly down to earth explanation of contemplative prayer. As Fr. Dubay describes it:

For her, contemplation is an experienced, mutual presence, "an intimate sharing between friends," a being alone with the God Who loves us. Hence, this prayer is a mutual presence of two in love, and in this case the Beloved dwells within. Actually, it is an interdwelling, a mutually experienced indwelling. She relates about herself how "a feeling of the presence of God would come upon me unexpectedly so that I could in no way doubt He was within me or I totally immersed in Him" (FW, 58).

NATURAL AND SUPERNATURAL
The way this takes place in the soul, St. Teresa will emphasize, is not through any efforts of the one praying. Now there is indeed a way one can speak of contemplation as an activity of the mind and heart. A person can ponder with wonder and amazement the night sky filled with stars, and be held in a kind of delightful, prayerful state, admiring the greatness of the Creator. This is a natural form of contemplation, and genuine prayer. It has come through an exercise of the human intellect and will, considering how great the Creator of all that vast starry expanse must be. When we are filled with a sense of the greatness, the goodness, the holiness of God; when we are stirred by the beauty of nature or by a magnificent celebration of the Holy Mass, we are experiencing this natural contemplative activity of the mind.

But St. Teresa is speaking above of a state of prayer that has come through an act of God on the soul. She calls this contemplation "supernatural". Another term that spiritual writers will use for it is "infused," from the Latin word meaning to "pour in". God "pours" Himself into a soul in this higher supernatural form of contemplative prayer.

Fr. Dubay, however, goes on to say:

Even though contemplation is utterly divinely given and humanly received, and as a consequence we can do nothing to force God to grant it, yet we can and must prepare ourselves for the gift. God gives only to the extent that we efficaciously desire, that is, not merely wish something to happen but take concrete means to fit ourselves to receive it.
The gift of contemplative prayer, and the wonderful closeness to God present in the soul that takes place, with the indescribable joy this produces, is indeed for everyone as far as God is concerned. But a person must show God that he is ready for and wants this kind of direct intimate contact with Him. And this is demonstrated by living in conformity with His commandments:

Advancing communion with God does not happen in isolation from the rest of life. One’s whole behavior pattern is being transformed as the prayer deepens. So true is this that if humility, patience, temperance, chastity and love for neighbor are not growing, neither is prayer growing. Hence, contemplation is not simply a pious occupation in the chapel or in some other solitude.

The ordinary details of daily life, the choices made to love God above all things and to grow in virtue and holiness, are the necessary soil into which God plants His wonderful gift of contemplative prayer. And this is why contemplative prayer should not be understood as being just for those relatively rare souls who have the ability to live in monasteries. Monasteries are indeed an ideal setting for the contemplative life to prosper; but not by any means the only mode of life. Whether it be life in the world or life in the monastery, all have the opportunity to develop that good soil of virtue and holiness into which God "pours in . . . infuses" His gift of contemplative prayer.

OUR COMMON VOCATION
Due to an unfortunate misunderstanding by many spiritual writers of how the gift of infused contemplation is given by God, Fr. Dubay observes that "it is not commonly considered to be an activity meant for plumbers as well as Poor Clares, for the married as well as for religious, for young and old" (FW, 57). In reality, it is for all Christian vocations. This is because contemplation is where prayer is supposed to lead every member of the Church, not just for an elite group. Like sanctity, contemplation is the goal for every Christian life, and will be the continuous state of prayer for everyone in heaven. Both holiness and contemplation are meant to be our future! The contemplative prayer God calls us to in this life is simply an imperfect prelude to the ultimate contemplation of the Face of God in heaven. As St. Thomas explains, using a quote from St. Augustine:

"The contemplation of God is promised us as being the goal of all our actions and the everlasting perfection of our joys." This contemplation will be perfect in the life to come, when we shall see God face to face, wherefore it will make us perfectly happy: whereas now the contemplation of the divine truth is present to us imperfectly, namely "through a glass" and "in a dark manner" (II-II, 180, 4).

THE CALL FOR CONTEMPLATIVES
In Rosarium Virginis Mariae Pope John Paul II begins in Chapter One with the call that all Christians have to a life of contemplation of Our Blessed Savior. As St. Paul has written, He came into this world to become "the image of the invisible God" (Col. 1:15). Through Him our minds can rise to know and love God in Himself. And this pondering of God through His Incarnation cannot be considered as an optional extra for the Christian life. It is an essential part of our calling, which is meant to culminate, as we have seen, in the contemplation of God in heaven. As the Holy Father puts it:

To look upon the face of Christ, to recognize its mystery amid the daily events and the sufferings of his human life, and then to grasp the divine splendor definitively revealed in the Risen Lord, seated in glory at the right hand of the Father: this is the task of every follower of Christ . . . (RVM 9).
Drifting away from this contemplative gaze upon the Incarnate Word is one of the great dangers of life in our modern world. The hectic pace of life, the mesmerizing power of television, cinema, and all the many forms of media we live with; the omnipresence of the market place with so many items to tantalize us into making a purchase, these can so effectively draw our gaze away from God. These can turn us from contemplatives of our eternal and glorious God into contemplatives, in a real sense, of transitory material things.

There is no shortage of examples: the young person spending hours on video games, the shopaholic browsing compulsively through store after store, the vast numbers of people in our culture spending entire days in front of the TV screen. With all these there is a profound and addictive fixing of the gaze on material things. Little do we realize how prevalent a kind of materialistic version of the contemplative life is present in our culture. We are, in this way, a very contemplative society! Unfortunately, all our loving gaze is fixed not on God but on material things.

In a culture, then, pervaded by this obsessive and disordered contemplation of materiality, Pope John Paul encourages us to return to the Rosary. Through it we must once again fix our eyes on our God made visible, the Word made flesh:

But the most important reason for strongly encouraging the practice of the Rosary is that it represents a most effective means of fostering among the faithful that commitment to the contemplation of the Christian mystery which I have proposed in the Apostolic Letter "Novo Millennio Ineunte" as a genuine training in holiness (RVM 5).

THE ROSARY AND CONTEMPLATION
It must be admitted, however, that this contemplation of the face of Christ encouraged by the Holy Father in his Apostolic Letter on the Rosary and the contemplative union of the soul with God described by St. Teresa above are not entirely the same thing. One is a meditative, loving gaze on the Savior, His life, and His work of redemption. It is for the most part an activity of the mind and heart, a natural form of contemplative prayer, arising from ourselves. This is what lies at the foundation of the Rosary, as Pope Paul VI has taught in a quote used by Pope John Paul in his Apostolic Letter:

Without contemplation, the Rosary is a body without a soul, and its recitation runs the risk of becoming a mechanical repetition of formulas, in violation of the admonition of Christ: "In praying do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think they will be heard for their many words" (RVM 12).
Very much different, as has been pointed out, is the infused, supernatural contemplation described by St. Teresa, and marked by a mutual indwelling of the soul in God and God in the soul. As related in the quote above, this occurred for her in such a full and rich way that "I could in no way doubt He was within me or I totally immersed in Him." No mere imaginative exercise this, but a profound encounter with the very Person of Christ Himself present in the soul.

These two forms of contemplation, however, are not unrelated. One leads to the other and is a preparation for the other. The intense and serious prayer life of infused contemplation does not begin immediately, but (usually) only after years of persevering in meditative prayer such as the Rosary. As Fr. Dubay acknowledges:

. . . a serious prayer life does not begin with fullness. It commences humbly with small steps. Oak trees emerge from acorns, and scholars first learn the alphabet. While God is supremely free to give in a divine manner when and how He chooses, He ordinarily prepares the soul through the human mode of meditation upon His works of creation and redemption (FW 49).

IN UNION WITH MARY
Nevertheless, with souls who are dedicated to prayer, and to the constant struggle to overcome sins and failings, the greater gift of infused contemplation will come. It is in the normal course of growth in the life of the Spirit. It is simply what happens when one is faithful to prayer and striving for holiness. "Infused contemplation," Fr. Dubay writes, "is the normal, ordinary development of discursive [mentally produced] prayer. The former gradually and gently replaces the latter when reasoned thought has run its course as a method of communing with the Lord" (FW 69).

One of the special contributions of the Holy Father in Rosarium Virginis Mariae is to the understanding of the powerful influence Our Lady has on the contemplative activity of the soul while praying the Rosary. In a special way, this puts us under the maternal guidance of she who, above all others, was given over to the contemplation of His Sacred Face:

Christ is the supreme Teacher, the revealer and the one revealed. It is not just a question of learning what He taught but of "learning Him." In this regard could we have any better teacher than Mary? From the divine standpoint, the Spirit is the interior teacher who leads us to the full truth of Christ. But among creatures no one knows Christ better than Mary; no one can introduce us to a profound knowledge of His mystery better than His Mother (RVM 14).
We must remember that the Rosary, as the Holy Father has pointed out, brings us into a kind of union with Mary in which we see "the mysteries of the Lord’s life as seen through the eyes of her who was closest to the Lord" (RVM 12). We join her in contemplating her Son and His deeds, as she did so many times herself while on earth. Mary "kept all these things and pondered them in her heart" (Lk. 2:19). Thus, we can say that the Rosary is a form of contemplative prayer where we are receiving an extraordinary assistance from the Mother of God to ponder the Face of Christ her Son. In this she leads us, over the years, to that depth of prayer that is truly a gift from God, and a loving union with the very Person of Christ dwelling in the soul.

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Leftist Tarpley:Don’t Let Soros Hijack Occupy Wall Street

2011-10-28T10:39:00.000-07:00

Is Occupy Wall Street the Obama/Wall Street Machine?

An Emergency Program for Anti-Wall Street Protestors: Don’t Let Soros Hijack the Movement
Webster G. Tarpley, Ph.D.
TARPLEY.net
September 29, 2011
Political mass strike dynamics have been at work in the United States since the Wisconsin and Ohio mobilizations of February and March. Now, there are demonstrations in lower Manhattan and Boston specifically directed against the Wall Street banks. Another protest demonstration is scheduled for Washington, DC, starting on October 6. Good: a political challenge to Wall Street is indeed long overdue.

The Occupy Wall Street demonstrators are skeptical in regard to Obama. There is no sizable constituency for Ron Paul, and the crackpot Austrian school of economics is hardly represented. Above all, there is a desire to break the power of Wall Street. This much is promising, but still not enough to win.

The demonstrations appear initially as leaderless groups, engaged in an organic process of discussion from which specific demands are supposed to emerge. But so far, these demonstrations have put forth no specific demands, reforms, or concrete measures whatsoever to fight Wall Street. This is a fatal political weakness. A movement that attempts to go forward with vague slogans like “Freedom” or “Abolish capitalism” is likely to become easy prey for foundation-funded operatives on the left wing of the Democratic Party.

If a movement pretends to have no leaders, then it is the corporate media, themselves controlled by Wall Street, who will choose the leaders. A few days ago, a Wall Street protester named Kelly Heresy was anointed as principal honcho by Keith Olbermann, who used to work for the hedge fund called General Electric, and who now works for Al Gore. This is no way to select leaders.

The demonstrations may appear spontaneous, but it is easy to see gatekeepers and countergangs operating in their midst, often with a frank counterinsurgency agenda. Occupy Wall Street in particular shows the heavy influence of union bureaucrats from the Service Employees International Union, as well as Acorn – both parts of the Obama machine. The goal of these operatives is to keep the focus of the protests vague and diffuse, so that no demands emerge that might be embarrassing to the Wall Street puppet Obama and his reelection campaign. Their ultimate goal is to absorb the protests as the left wing of the Obama 2012 effort. That means supporting an administration which not only refuses to fight Wall Street, but which is packed with Wall Street executives in its highest positions.

Dubious Hollywood figures like Susan Sarandon and Michael Moore are attempting to gain publicity for themselves by showing up at the demonstrations. Michael Moore, who is not very popular with the demonstrators, was instrumental in leading the antiwar and impeachment movements of the past decade back into the Democratic Party to support Obama. Journalist Matt Taibbi, another newly minted expert on the movement, is remembered for his hatchet jobs in favor of the Bush administration theory of terrorism.

The organizers of the Wall Street action say they want to imitate recent protests in other countries. Their favorite is the Tahrir Square agitation in Egypt in February. But if you go to Cairo today, veterans of those demonstrations will tell you that these efforts accomplished relatively little, and mainly had the effect of ousting an oppressive civilian government in favor of an even more oppressive military government of weak CIA puppets which is still operating under martial law, even as benighted religious fanatics gather strength. In Greece, it is true that the trade unions have mounted a dozen general strikes, but all of these have failed to oust Prime Minister Papandreou, the main enforcer of austerity cuts demanded by the International Monetary Fund, and so the brutal austerity continues. The same thing applies to Spain, where the indignados became so self-absorbed in their discussion and consensus process that they never put forward a program to save Spanish society from the bankers. In Iceland too, the anti-bank movement was never able to go beyond mere protest to advance a series of concrete measures that would allow them to contend for power, take power, and hold onto it for the public good.

The lesson of all of these situations is that, in a severe world economic depression of the kind we have today, mere protest is not enough. Desperate populations are looking for political leadership with solutions capable of solving the life or death issues facing nations today. A movement which is incapable of specifying what it intends to fight for is an immature movement which no intelligent person will take seriously.

The secret of a mass strike upsurge is that crisis conditions will propel many apolitical people into activism. This makes them vulnerable to manipulation by demagogues, including those of the extreme right. The mass strike upsurge by itself solves nothing. The question is whether any coherent group of people can intervene into the mass upsurge and push aside bankrupt and failed leaders with the kind of radical reform program that can actually get the society out of the crisis. The masses cannot discover this program on their own – they are too busy with the struggle for daily existence. College students therefore have a special responsibility to provide ideas for the benefit of the entire society. If an adequate program becomes dominant, the nation can survive. Otherwise, nothing guarantees that civilization itself will not collapse – look at the Tea Party if you don’t believe this. Soros, Koch, and the other finance capitalists have a good working understanding of how these things work, which is why they are sending in their operatives to make sure that this movement will have only the vaguest demands, or no demands at all, to fight for. Let that happen, and Wall Street will rule the day once again.

Despite what Michael Moore may think, the political power of Wall Street is considerable, and an effective attack on the bankers will demand the unified efforts of key sectors of the population. This unity must be expressed in the program itself. Students must broaden the sociological scope of the movement to include all walks of life.

In order to fight Wall Street, it is necessary for the American people to understand the basic idea of shifting the cost of the world economic depression off of the backs of working people and the poor where it is now, and onto Wall Street banks and super-rich speculators. Depressions are very expensive. Who should pay for the current depression? The bankers demand that the American people must pay. We want the bankers to pay, and we must specify how. A movement that wants to defend working people against the class warfare of the bankers has the responsibility of putting forward a program to defend middle-class and other working people. In order to win, the anti-Wall Street protests must agitate for a series of demands including the following:

1. Student Loan Amnesty. The common experience of many of the protesters is that of being crushed by an outrageous burden of high interest student loans. Today it is common for graduating seniors to carry $50,000, $75,000, or even $100,000 of debt. Add the costs of an advanced degree in teaching, law, or medicine, and the debt burden becomes astronomical. The exorbitant cost of a college education reflects the increasing immiseration of the United States over the past 40 years, as the overall standard of living has declined by two thirds or more in terms of real wages and other considerations. These debts are owed to the same zombie bankers who cashed in on the Bush bailout of 2008, and the even larger loans issued by Ben Bernanke of the Federal Reserve over recent years. This is a system of brutal primitive accumulation against the life chances everyone who knows that they need a college degree to be employable in the 21st century. Total students loan indebtedness is now approaching $1 trillion. This grinding debt is destroying the futures, the lives, and the hopes of college students and recent graduates.
When a debtor country like Greece is unable to pay its debts, it is normal to hear talk of a haircut for the bondholders and bankers. It is time for the Wall Street zombie banks to take a haircut on student loan debt. Most of this debt cannot be paid off, but an entire generation can be ruined by a futile attempt to pay it back.

A leading demand must therefore be a total cancellation of all outstanding student loan debt, meaning a total and immediate forgiveness of all payments of principal and interest coming from this category of borrowing. Carter granted Vietnam draft resisters an amnesty. If Obama wants to keep his job, he must deliver a student loan amnesty to save not just a single generation, but the entire future of the United States and beyond. Otherwise, dump Obama in 2012! The zombie bankers have been pampered enough. It is time for them to take a bath, so that a generation might live. This is also the best stimulus program possible.

2. Stop Foreclosures. Since students alone will never be enough to make a revolution, it is necessary to put forward additional measures to defend other parts of the population from the depredations of Wall Street. In the area of home foreclosures, the bankers have trampled on the law to seize millions of homes, some of which never had a mortgage, and many of which were current in their payments. The banks have used corrupt robo-signers, robo-cops, and robo-judges to carry out these fraudclosure thefts. The answer is to make foreclosure a federal crime, so that anyone who throws an American family out on the street will end up in Leavenworth. Again, the zombie bankers can eat the losses, which are unavoidable in any case. This is not an impossible demand: under the New Deal, the Frazier-Lemke Act stopped all foreclosures on homes, provided only that the owners could get a minimal payment plan approved by any judge in any court. With the help of popular pressure and public opinion, foreclosures virtually came to a halt. This is what we need to be demanding today.

3. Defend and fully fund the social safety net. Wall Street and Washington elites agree that the American people ought to be subjected to genocidal austerity – cuts so draconian that they will kill people. The goal is obviously to fund bigger and better bailouts of Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan Chase when they go bankrupt the next time around. Real unemployment in the United States is now about 25%, meaning that 30 million people cannot find work, and many have been looking for years. Therefore, we need to extend jobless benefits to all unemployed, including those who have been out of a job for 99 weeks and more. 46 million Americans are now surviving thanks to Food Stamps, but the reactionary Republicans are demanding savage cuts, and Obama is more than likely to cave. We also need to defend programs that specifically help children and young. These include S-CHIP, which gives health care to poor children; Head Start, which provides breakfast and preschool for poor kids; and WIC, which provides high-protein meals for pregnant women, nursing mothers, and infants. Older people have special problems, including that Wall Street speculators have destroyed the value of their 401(k) and IRA retirement plans. This means that Social Security pensions should be increased, and not cut, as the Republicans and Obama both want. Obama has already cut $500 billion out of Medicare, but he wants to cut it even more, and the Tea Party is eager to help him. The best healthcare would be to open Medicare to all Americans, while making the investments needed to maintain quality. Medicaid gives healthcare to poor people of any age, and these payments must be maintained.

4. Pay for healthcare and social services with a 1% Wall Street Sales Tax. When they hear demands like these, Fox news commentators will demand to know how these programs can be paid for. The answer is simple: the Tobin tax or Wall Street sales tax. Today the total financial turnover of the banksters in terms of buying, selling, and other trading comes to well over three quadrillion dollars yearly – that’s more than 3,000 trillion dollars. The rest of us pay sales tax on most purchases, often including the groceries, but Wall Street zombie bankers and hedge fund hyenas pay absolutely zero on that colossal sum. The most unfair aspect of the entire US tax system is that Wall Street pays virtually no taxes. It is time for the bankers to cough up 1% of every stock, bond, and derivatives transaction, be it program trading, high frequency trading, or computerized flash trading at the rate of one million transactions per second. The total revenue could be split between the federal government and the states, and would amount to hundreds of billions of dollars, perhaps even trillions – depending on how determined the speculators are to keep up their dirty deals. There is nothing impossible about this demand: the federal government had a financial transaction tax from the time of World War I to 1967. And even today, the largely right wing governments of the European Union are about to enact their own Tobin tax. Why can’t it be done here as well?

These are immediate agitational demands that can be readily understood by any person. They can form the leading edge of a struggle to break the political power of Wall Street. In addition, a full recovery from depression and the attainment of full employment for the first time since 1945 will require the nationalization of the Federal Reserve, and the issuing of successive tranches of $1 trillion of 0%, very long-term Federal credit for the building of infrastructure, with a goal of creating 30 million new productive jobs with adequate capital investment per job.

Another essential point is that Wall Street is the biggest nest of warmongers anywhere in the world. Anyone seeking to gain influence over the anti-Wall Street movement should be willing to condemn and denounce Obama’s wanton aggression against Libya, as well as to call for an immediate pullout of US troops from Afghanistan and Iraq. Anyone who refuses to do this should be regarded with grave suspicion.

The alternative to such concrete demands is, whether we like it or not, to remain in the orbit of Obama’s Democratic Party. Earlier this year, students, workers, and others occupied the state capitol in Madison, Wisconsin in response to attacks on working people coming from the fascist governor, Walker. The resistance against Walker was betrayed first of all by the Democratic Party, which announced that it would not fight for wages and benefits, but only for trade union rights in the abstract. That is a good program for trade union bureaucrats, but not so good for working people, who bore the brunt of Walker’s austerity. A president who was on the side of the people would have gone immediately to Madison, Wisconsin to hold a town hall on the occupied grounds of the state capitol, an event that would have looked much different than the canned, pre-screened teleprompter town halls Obama likes to address. A real president would have taken Attorney General Holder and Labor Secretary Solis along to investigate the denial of civil rights and labor violations by Walker. Obama did none of these things. Rather, he damned the movement with a few words of faint praise, and cut it loose. The lesson is that the Democratic Party is more than willing to sell out mass struggles anytime it can. And it is only by having your own program of anti-Wall Street demands that you can become independent of the rotten two-party system.

Known by the company they keep...which also includes the Marxist Unions (SEIU and NLRB as examples) now infesting the USA...

Sher Zieve
-News and Commentary-
In all things, trust God
"Thou Shalt have no other gods before me"

Subject: List of Occupy Wall Street supporters From: Dave Hollenbeck
Date: Sun, 27 Nov 2011 07:42:44 -0700
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
BCC: sherzieve@mywdo.com

List of Announced Supporters & Sympathizers

Communist Party USA
Sources: Communist Party USA, OWS speech, The Daily Caller
American Nazi Party
Sources: Media Matters, American Nazi Party, White Honor, Sunshine State News
Ayatollah Khamenei, Supreme Leader of Iran
Sources: The Guardian, Tehran Times, CBS News
Lisa Fithian (Left-wing anarchist – “What do I do? I create crisis.”)
Sources: RedState.com
President Barack Obama (“We are on their side.”)
Sources: ABC News, CBS News, ForexTV, NBC New York
Government of North Korea
Sources: Korean Central News Agency), The Marxist-Leninist, Wall Street Journal, Times of India

Debbie Wasserman-Schultz Member of Congress/Chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee
Source: RealClearPolitics.com
Louis Farrakhan Jew-hating leader of Nation of Islam
Sources: video statement (starting at 8:28), Black in America, Weasel Zippers, Philadelphia Weekly
Revolutionary Communist Party
Sources: Revolutionary Communist Party, Revolution newspaper, in-person appearance

Bill Ayers Marxist/former domestic terrorist who said to Occupy Chicago, “Every revolution seems impossible in the beginning."
Sources: BigGovernment.com
David Duke Jew-hating former Grand Wizard the Ku Klux Klan
Sources:Talking Points Memo, video statement, davidduke.com
Hugo Chavez Communist ruler of Venezuela
Sources: Mother Jones, Reuters, Examiner.com
Black Panthers Organization of radical black nationalists
Sources: in-person appearance, Occupy Oakland, Oakland Tribune

Socialist Party USA
Sources: Socialist Party USA, IndyMedia, The Daily Caller

Nancy Pelosi Democratic House minority leader who said of the Occupy Wall Street protestors, “God bless them.”
Sources: Talking Points Memo, video statement, ABC News, The Weekly Standard

Communist Party of China
Sources: People’s Daily (Communist Party organ), Reuters, chinataiwan.org, The Telegraph

Hezbollah Anti-Jewish terrorist organization
Sources: almoqawama.org, almoqawama.org (2), almoqawama.org (3), wikipedia

Stephen Lerner Militant labor activist/leading mastermind behind Occupy Wall Street - “How do we take down the stock market?”
Sources: BusinessInsider.com

International Bolshevik Tendency
Sources: bolshevik.org, Wire Magazine

Van Jones Avowed communist/former senior advisor to Obama White House – “I’ll drop the radical pose to achieve the radical ends.”
Sources: HuffingtonPost.com

Harry Reid Senate Majority Leader (D-NV)
Source: HuffingtonPost.com
International Socialist Organization
Sources: Socialist Worker, socialistworker.org, in-person appearance

Frances Fox Piven Marxist professor/honored elder stateswoman of the Democratic party – “It’s okay to use violence.”
Source: video statement

Marxist Student Union
Sources: Marxist Student Union, Big Government, marxiststudentunion.blogspot.com

September 29th, 2011

Soros army launches Wall Street assault of its own

MoveOn.org action campaign aims to rebuild U.S. financial system

(WND) - MoveOn.org is planning to launch a protest movement of its own to compliment the Occupy Wall Street momentum with the stated goal of "make[ing] Wall Street pay" and rebuilding the entire U.S. financial system.

MoveOn.org is funded by the George Soros-funded Tides Foundation. Another grantee of Tides is the Adbusters magazine, which is reported to have come up with the Occupy Wall Street idea after Arab Spring protests toppled governments in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia.

The new MoveOn.org Wall Street campaign serves as further evidence suggesting the anti-Wall Street movement is a well-planned campaign and not the spontaneous uprising its leaders claim.

WND broke the story last week that Fenton Communications, a public relations firm closely partnered with Tides, represented the anti-Wall Street march past millionaires' homes in New York two weeks ago.

Fenton also crafted the public-relations strategy of MoveOn.org, as well as a who's who of far-left causes, organizations and activists, from Soros himself to Health Care for America Now to a litany of anti-war groups.

Today, MoveOn.org is holding a planning meeting in Manhattan to discuss ways to take on Wall Street in coordination with Occupy Wall Street.

An email sent to Moveon.org's mailing list announced a "meeting for folks to come together to plan ways to Make Wall Street Pay in our own communities"

"We'll focus on specific targeted campaigns that hold the big banks accountable," continued the email.

Continued the email: "The Occupy Wall Street movement has put economic justice in the spotlight. The whole country is talking about how we can end the big banks' excessive influence and Make Wall Street Pay to rebuild the economy for everyone."

The email spelled out the new MoveOn campaign's connection to Occupy Wall Street:

"How is this connected to Occupy Wall Street? Our goal is to launch targeted local campaigns to complement the amazing work being done by brave Occupy Wall Street protesters – something MoveOn members around the country have been assking for. And we'll continue to do everything we can to support and stand in solidarity with #Occupy."

Proof! Occupy Wall Street no 'spontaneous movement'

MoveOn.org is funded by Tides, which acts like a massive clearinghouse of donations to a slew of liberal groups. Critics have alleged the center acts to obscure the ultimate sources of donations by collecting significant sums of money from a few large donors and then funneling the money to thousands of liberal causes.

Soros' Open Society Institute is a prominent Tides Center donor, giving the group $3.5 million between 2007 and 2009 alone.

The Occupy Wall Street march past millionaires' homes was first announced in a press release entitled, "Community Groups and Progressive Organizations Join Together to Plan 'Millionaires March' with Occupy Wall Street Protestors."

The release detailed how a group calling itself 99 New York was joining the Occupy Wall Street movement as a partner. The 99 organization is purportedly a coalition of unions and community organizations, such as UnitedNY, Strong Economy for All Coalition, N.Y. Communities for Change, and the Working Families Party.

It was the 99 New York group, which claims to represent the will of 99 percent of the U.S. population, that led last week's Occupy Wall Street march down the streets of New York.

The press release was sent to reporters and was also posted in various Occupy Wall Street affiliated websites, including StrongForAll.org.

The release listed contact information for 99 New York's spokesmen: Doug Forand of Red Horse Strategies, a firm that has represented scores of Democrat politicians; and Doug Gordon, senior vice president of Fenton Communications.

Gordon's Fenton email was provided on the release. Prior to joining Fenton, Gordon worked for years on Capitol Hill and in Democratic politics. He spent seven years as the top aide to Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich.

Soros, Fenton, Tides

Fenton Communications was founded in 1982 by David Fenton, an activist who served as a photographer for Bill Ayers' domestic Weather Underground terror group.

Fenton Communications works in conjunction with the Soros-funded Tides Center that funded Adbusters, which was reported to have started the concept of Occupy Wall Street.

Fenton used the Tides Center to set up Environmental Media Services in 1994. Tides reportedly originally ran EMS' daily operations.

David Fenton serves on the board of numerous Tides-funded groups, while his firm represents more than 30 Tides Center grantees, as well as Soros himself and the billionaire's Open Society Institute. Fenton helped to craft Moveon.org's attacks on Gen. David Petraeus.

An example of the close public relations relationship between Fenton and Tides is the Social Venture Network, which was established and operates as a project of the Tides Foundation, while its strategy is represented by Fenton. SVN's board has included Tides' founder Drummond Pike as well as Medea Benjamin, co-founder of Code Pink.

Another group, September Eleventh Families For Peaceful Tomorrows, is an antiwar organization founded by individuals who lost loved ones in 9-11 terrorist attacks. The group's campaign was coordinated by Fenton while the group was funded by Tides.

Also represented by Fenton is the Win Without War group, which was funded by Soros and Tides.

WND found more than 30 recent examples of Tides grantees whose strategy was coordinated by Fenton.

Fenton, Obama, Ayers ties

While David Fenton first photographed Ayers in the 1960s, he later served alongside both Ayers and Obama on the board of the Woods Fund, a Chicago nonprofit which channeled money to a slew of progressive groups, including the Tides Center and the Alinsky-style Midwest Academy training outfit. Obama served as a paid director on the Woods Fund board from 1999 to 2002.

WND recently reported Midwest's founder, Heather Booth, has been training unions on how to use the economic crisis.

Citizen Action of Wisconsin, an arm of Booth's Midwest Academy, is part of the Moving Wisconsin Forward movement, one of the main organizers of the major Wisconsin protests in February, as WND first reported.

Fenton's managing director, Ira Arlook, also served as director of Booth's Citizens Action.

Source: http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=359233

What are the Principle Forms of Prayer?

2011-08-22T10:29:00.000-07:00

Prayer and the First Commandment
by Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.

The most generic and fundamental definition of prayer: the conscious adoration of God. We might say it is expressed adoration. Adoration manifest. It is the communication of our minds and wills with God with whom we adore. Prayer is conversation with our adorable God. And my favorite definition, prayer is the voluntary response to the awareness of Gods’ adorable presence. We are still on our introduction. In the present meditation we plan to again ask ourselves the three basic questions: what, why, and how. What are the principle forms of prayer? Why must we pray? And then, this being a retreat, how can we improve our practice of prayer?

What are the Principle Forms of Prayer?
First then the main forms or kinds of prayer. The Church’s tradition distinguishes not just four but five principle forms of prayer. The adoration of submission, the prayer of adoration of love, the prayer of thanksgiving, the prayer of petition and the prayer of expiation. I found in teaching the theology of prayer it helps immediately and immensely to be clear about what we mean whatever words we use. Behind this classification is the unspoken assumption that all prayer is essential adoration as we’ve been saying. Yet we can address God in five different ways depending on the five different ways we can and should approach God.

Prayer of submissive adoration. Thus, there’s only one God. But we can approach Him, first, as our creator and Lord. And then our prayer is submissive adoration. Submissive adoration of, or shall I say to, the divine majesty. It is the humble adoration of acceptance of, and resignation to the divine will. And that is why the heart of prayer is in the will. We need to use our minds when we pray. But when we pray we are praying wit our wills. When then, our will submits to the divine will and does so consciously and willingly, we are then exercising the prayer of adoration indeed but of adoration in submitting our finite wills to the infinite will of God.

Prayer of loving adoration. We go on. We can approach God as our final destiny and then our prayer is loving adoration or the adoration of love. There is some value in distinguishing between praying to God by adoring Him and praying to God by loving Him. True whenever we adore God we are in some form or another also loving Him. But the single generic form of prayer of adoration has as we say two species. In other words, I can adore God by surrendering my will to His and I can adore God by expressing my deep love for Him and my desire to be with him.

Prayer of thanksgiving. Finally, we can approach God as our generous benefactor from whom we received and continue receiving everything we are and we possess. And then our prayer is grateful thanksgiving, or more familiarly the prayer of gratitude. I’d like to distinguish what we commonly call gratitude or the prayer of gratitude on different levels. Our prayer of gratitude begins first with what I call thanks-thinking. We must first be aware of God’s goodness to us, otherwise there cannot be gratitude. Then to be authentic gratitude our prayer should be thanks-saying to be somehow expressed in verbal form or its equivalent. Something must go out from us towards God. Then to ascend one step higher, our gratitude should be thanks-willing. We are truly grateful when we want to do something for the one who has been good to us. God being who He is, He cannot in anyway benefit. God, give him what he needs, but we had better give Him what He wants. And what does He want? He wants our will. And as we’ve been saying that’s why our will is free. We must want to give whatever He wants even though we know He doesn’t need anything. We go on. There is prayer of gratitude means thanksgiving. Not just thanks-willing. Oh, I can burst with gratitude inside of me. Oh Lord, whatever you want, I will give you. We have the opportunity of giving Him something. What happens? We freeze. Thanksgiving. And He will provide us, believe me, with plenty of opportunity for thanksgiving. You think I’m finished. Not yet. The highest form of gratitude of the prayer of gratitude for our purpose is thanks. Giving up. Letting go. Surrendering. You’ll see this at some length when we reflect on sacrifice as the highest obligation of the first commandment of the Decalogue.

Prayer of petition. We go on. The fourth formal prayer recognized by the Church where we approach God as our almighty hope form whom we expect to receive, provided we ask him, with an open heart, provided we ask him for what we need, and then our prayer is the prayer of petition. It cannot be too strongly emphasized that the prayer of petition is only one of five basic forms of prayer. Even though I dare say for most people, only God really knows, but I believe for most people most of the time, most of their prayer is Lord give me. Now what do you want?

Prayer of expiation. Finally, We can approach and should approach God as our offended Lord from whom we have sinned, either personally or collectively then ours is the prayer of expiation. We beg for God’s mercy on ourselves and others. We plead to have restored the grace we have lost through sin, and we plead to please spare the penalty of suffering which we have justly deserved. Let’s be clear. As much and as deeply as we need to pray for God’s mercy, what are we praying for? We are praying for the grace we have lost having sinned and we pray to be spared more or less of the suffering, the pain we’ve deserved for having stubbornly resisted the will of God.

Obama "[U]shering in the Time of Great Trial for the Church"

2011-08-15T10:36:00.000-07:00

-I also believe that he is a carrier of a deadly moral virus, indeed a kind of anti-apostle spreading concepts and agendas that are not only anti-Christ but anti-human as well. In this sense he is of the spirit of Antichrist (perhaps without knowing it), and probably is one of several key figures in the world who (knowingly or unknowingly) will be instrumental in ushering in the time of great trial for the Church under its last and worst persecution, amidst the numerous other tribulations prophesied in the books of Daniel and Revelation, and letters of St Paul, St. John, and St. Peter.

StudiObrien newsletter, The U.S. ElectionSaturday, November 1, 2008 1:20 PM
From: "studiObrien" Add sender to Contacts To: undisclosed-recipients

All Saints Day, 1 November 2008

Dear Friends,

From just north of the border, we Canadians, like other people throughout the world, are observing and praying for the coming federal election in the United States of America. I would prefer to keep private my counsel about political choices, because it is not my country. However, I am receiving letters from American subscribers and visitors to my studio website asking me some rather surprising questions about Barack Obama, related to one of my novels.

During the past year I have read a number of his pronouncements, and saw the smoke and mirrors beneath the rhetoric, but couldn't understand why everyone south of the border (the other south of the border, the 49th parallel) was getting so excited about him, both pro and con. Then a few weeks ago a German friend called me immediately after Obama's speech in Berlin, to say that the presidential candidate had mesmerized the crowds, and that a commentator on German television had said: "We have just heard the next President of the United States...and the future President of the World." My friend felt that Obama bore an uncanny resemblance to the fictional character of the President in my novel Father Elijah. I have received several other letters saying the same thing and asking what I thought about it.

From my own reading of Obama's declarations and stated positions, I knew he was an ultra-liberal, a social revolutionary with visionary pretensions. But the Antichrist? No, not possible, I thought. I felt that he was too shallow a man to be the Son of Perdition, the Man of Sin, the Beast of the Book of Revelation. And I still think so. Obama is a crowd-pleaser with just the right ethos of idealistic crusader. That the crusade and the banners under which it marches are evil does not automatically prove that he is the Antichrist.

But now that I have seen the video of the Berlin speech I think there is more here than meets the eye. He is indeed a powerful manipulator of crowds, even as he appears ever so humble and wholesomely charming. I doubt that he is the long-prophesied ruler of the world, but I also believe that he is a carrier of a deadly moral virus, indeed a kind of anti-apostle spreading concepts and agendas that are not only anti-Christ but anti-human as well. In this sense he is of the spirit of Antichrist (perhaps without knowing it), and probably is one of several key figures in the world who (knowingly or unknowingly) will be instrumental in ushering in the time of great trial for the Church under its last and worst persecution, amidst the numerous other tribulations prophesied in the books of Daniel and Revelation, and letters of St Paul, St. John, and St. Peter.

Of course the mystique that has grown up around him is endlessly reinforced by the liberal media, which presents him to us as a high-minded humanist, a kind of secular messiah (see the Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 675). Yet when all the rhetoric is boiled down to its substance, the man is advocating unlimited state-sanctioned murder, and compounds it by indulging in habitual falsehood. He is well accustomed to playing loose with the truth whenever it is expedient for him to do so; or else he is the victim of the largest memory lapses in recorded history; or perhaps he is just not careful about how he expresses things—a blurring or selectivity regarding facts for the purpose of aggrandizing his public image. There is a controversy currently raging in the (admittedly unreliable) forum of the internet, prompted by an African-American talk show host in Los Angeles who listed 39 significant details that Barack Obama claimed were facts about himself, but on fu! rther investigation were proved to be simply untrue. There has been some wild-fire debunking of the debunking, and then more counter-debunking, but it remains obvious that forthrightness and clarity are not major concerns in the Obama camp.

What are we to make of a man who has appeared out of semi-obscurity and become, nearly overnight, so very much an idol of the popular imagination? That he intends to become the most effective advocate of murder of the unborn ever seen in America should give us pause. Murder and lies are as old as the lands east of Eden, of course, but when they are charmingly packaged, proposed as reasonable and just policies (with a smile, a resonant voice, and an appealing flash of the eyes), one begins to wonder just what is afoot in the modern age. It brings to mind a passage from the first Act of Shakespeare's Hamlet:

“That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain...”

The line is from a scene where prince Hamlet has just encountered the ghost of his father, who informs his son that he was poisoned by his own brother Claudius (the "smiling, damned villain"), who after murdering him, seized the king's crown and his queen.

Barack Obama is an image-maker, creating his own myth as he goes along. This would be a sad defect in any human being, but it takes on ominous proportions in a person who may become, after November 4th, one of the most powerful figures in the world. How is it possible that such a tragic turn of events may come about, if indeed a majority of Americans choose to believe the smile and the myth? Why is it that so many people have come to believe that a mirage is reality, even destiny? Do pro-Obama voters hanker for a world figure who would heal old divisions between races and religions, thus heralding a new age for mankind? During this time of near intolerable tensions, does he appear to be the one who can reconcile Islam and Christianity, Africa and America, occident and orient, black and white, rich and poor? Do they see his racial origins as a symbolic victory over the history of racial oppression? Do they see in him the good-hearted "under-dog", the gutsy street fi! ghter who agitates for the rights of the "little guy," whose meteoric rise to a position of maximum influence represents themselves enthroned at last in the high seat of power? Is this why they ignore his every grave fault and hungrily consume his vague idealist platitudes as if these were a kind of new gospel for the third millennium? Our hero. Our visionary. Our Great Friend and spokesman in the forum of the world?

Clearly, contemporary man needs heroes. But why not choose a genuine one, why not look a little deeper and work a little harder to find a man of courage and principle, and if it helps in the historical healing process, why not a very different kind of black man, say a person like Alan Keyes, a scholar, former ambassador, experienced in different levels of government, and (it might be added) an African-American married to a woman from India. Moreover, he is a devout Catholic who believes in moral absolutes and has amply proved that he will stand firm to defend them regardless of the cost to his own career. He knows that kings and presidents cannot usurp the natural law, the moral order of the universe, without bringing down judgment upon their nations. But it need not be Keyes. It might be any number of other men and women of clear thought and clear principle. Surely there are "Ten Just Men" still out there somewhere in America. So why Obama? And why does he ! rise and rise as his mouth smiles and smiles, exuding sincerity as he speaks lies and death?

And why, most horribly, most shamefully, are so many Christians of malformed or unformed conscience supporting him? Is it because they have never been clearly instructed in the truth, never understood the foundation upon which the moral cosmos is built? Is morality for them merely another system of abstract "values" in a crowded playing field of such systems, from which one may pick and choose? In the case of Catholics, for example, have they been blinded by a diet of theological nuances and deadly little loopholes offered to them by the committees of national episcopal conferences — committees that have absolutely no authority over Catholics, yet which are widely revered as a kind of alternative Magisterium? Have they been deadened by a habitual dismissing or dissembling of the solid teaching given to them by the universal Church under Peter? Have they grown accustomed to listening to opinion shapers who tell them that certain excellent apostolic Bishops in ! America who teach the truth without compromise are merely hidebound reactionaries, moralistic extremists, contemporary manifestations of those old boogymen who still haunt the American psyche — the Chillingworths and Dimmesdales and the judges in The Scarlet Letter? And so it goes, this over-reaction to Puritanism played out over centuries, an over-reaction that breeds tragedies a thousand times worse than Salem’s. Lies compounding on lies, and it all floats on an ocean of spilled innocent blood. And who can gaze at that ocean (or be splashed by it) without coming to a radical choice: One either turns away into a deeper state of denial, or one turns heart and mind toward the splendor of Truth, and changes one's life accordingly.

Is this why many of our Catholic people have become impulse-driven impressionists? Of course, the blindness is not due to the failure of pastors alone. The Ministry of Disinformation (by which I mean most modern media) has played a major role. There is also the erosion of truth in the education systems, combined with the gradual confusion and weakening of conscience through our addiction to the "soma" drugs supplied by the entertainment industry. Other factors may be the war in Iraq, or Republican economics, or the Bush administration, or the structure of Capitalism itself, or any number of prudential questions in the sociopolitical order, all of which are presently tangled nests of moral dilemma. But why do they not see that these questions are secondary to the fundamental issue of life itself? Why would they replace one reigning oligarchy with another kind of oligarchy — moreover, one that would kill vast numbers of its own citizens?

"I call on heaven and earth today to witness against you: I have set before you life or death, blessing or curse. Choose life, then, so that you and your descendants may live...." (Deuteronomy 30:19)

May God bless and guide you,
in Jesus our Saviour,

with prayers and fasting,

Michael O'Brien

PS: For those interested in a concise examination of the moral parameters of voting in the forthcoming election, I urge you to read an excellent article by Dr. Mark Miravalle, professor of Theology at Franciscan University, Steubenville, available at the following link:

http://www.motherofallpeoples.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1531

True Account of Survival of Jesuits in Hiroshima

2011-08-07T18:30:00.000-07:00

Below is Donal Anthony Foley's accurate account and then Fr. Gruner inaccurate report on the survival of the Jesuit Fathers in Hiroshima, which hurts the real cause of Fatima.

Fred

http://historycontroversy.blogspot.com/2011/01/jesuits-who-survived-bomb.html

The Jesuits who survived the Bomb

The priests who survived the atomic bomb

The remarkable survival of the Jesuit Fathers in Hiroshima has echoes in the Bible and in the story of Fatima

By Donal Anthony Foley on Thursday, 5 August 2010

This Friday, August 6, will see the Feast of the Transfiguration celebrated in the Church. It commemorates the occasion when Christ, accompanied by Peter, James, and John, went up a high mountain – traditionally identified with Mount Tabor in Galilee – and was there “transfigured” before them, so that “his face shone like the sun, and his garments became as white as light” (Mt 17:2).

The Greek word for transfiguration is metemorphothe, from which we get the word “metamorphosis”. So the Transfiguration was a complete and stunning change in the appearance of Jesus, as his divinity shone through his humanity, in a way which completely overwhelmed the awestricken disciples. Its purpose was to prepare them for the reality of the crucifixion, so that having once seen – in some sense – his divinity, they would be strengthened in their faith.

August 6 is also an important date in world history: the fateful day on which the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima in Japan. On that day, a Monday, at 8.15 in the morning, an American B-29 bomber, Enola Gay, dropped its bomb “Little Boy”, which fell to a predetermined detonation height of about 1,900 feet above the city. It exploded with a blinding flash, creating a giant fireball, which vaporised practically everything and everyone within a radius of about a mile of the point of impact. It is estimated that up to 80,000 people were directly killed by the blast, and by the end of the year, that figure had climbed considerably higher, due to injuries and the effects of radiation. Over two thirds of the city’s buildings were completely destroyed.

But in the midst of this terrible carnage, something quite remarkable happened: there was a small community of Jesuit Fathers living in a presbytery near the parish church, which was situated less than a mile away from detonation point, well within the radius of total devastation. And all eight members of this community escaped virtually unscathed from the effects of the bomb. Their presbytery remained standing, while the buildings all around, virtually as far as the eye could see, were flattened.

Fr Hubert Schiffer, a German Jesuit, was one of these survivors, aged 30 at the time of the explosion, and who lived to the age of 63 in good health. In later years he travelled to speak of his experience, and this is his testimony as recorded in 1976, when all eight of the Jesuits were still alive. On August 6 1945, after saying Mass, he had just sat down to breakfast when there was a bright flash of light.

Since Hiroshima had military facilities, he assumed there must have been some sort of explosion at the harbour, but almost immediately he recounted: “A terrific explosion filled the air with one bursting thunderstroke. An invisible force lifted me from the chair, hurled me through the air, shook me, battered me [and] whirled me round and round…” He raised himself from the ground and looked around, but could see nothing in any direction. Everything had been devastated.

He had a few quite minor injuries, but nothing serious, and indeed later examinations at the hands of American army doctors and scientists showed that neither he nor his companions had suffered ill-effects from radiation damage or the bomb. Along with his fellow Jesuits, Fr Schiffer believed “that we survived because we were living the message of Fatima. We lived and prayed the rosary daily in that home.”

There is actually a biblical precedent for what happened to the eight Jesuits, in the book of Daniel. In Chapter 3, we read of the three young men who were thrown into the fiery furnace at the orders of Nebuchadnezzar, but who survived their ordeal and even walked around in the midst of the flames, accompanied by an angel who looked like “a son of the gods”.

After this first bombing, the Japanese government refused to surrender unconditionally, and so a second atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki three days later on August 9. Nagasaki had actually been the secondary target, but cloud cover over the primary target, Kokura, saved it from obliteration on the day. The supreme irony is that Nagasaki was the city where two-thirds of the Catholics in Japan were concentrated, and so after centuries of persecution they suffered this terrible blow right at the end of the war.

But in a strange parallel to what happened at Hiroshima, the Franciscan Friary established by St Maximilian Kolbe in Nagasaki before the war was likewise unaffected by the bomb which fell there. St Maximilian, who was well-known for his devotion to the Blessed Virgin, had decided to go against the advice he had been given to build his friary in a certain location. When the bomb was dropped, the friary was protected from the force of the bomb by an intervening mountain. So both at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, we can see Mary’s protective hand at work.

The apparitions at Fatima in Portugal took place in 1917, when from May to October three young children, Francisco and Jacinta Marto, and their cousin, Lucia dos Santos, saw the Blessed Virgin six times, culminating in the “miracle of the sun” on October 13, when 70,000 people saw the sun spin in the sky and change colour successively, before falling to the earth in a terrifying manner. Many of those present thought it was the end of the world, but the sun reassumed its place in the sky to great cries of relief.

The essence of the Fatima message concerns conversion from sin and a return to God, and involves reparation for one’s own sins and the sins of others, as well as the offering up of one’s daily sufferings and trials. There was also a focus on prayer and the Eucharist at Fatima, and particularly the rosary, as well as the Five First Saturdays devotion, which involves Confession, Holy Communion, the rosary and meditation, for five consecutive months with the intention of making reparation to Our Lady (for more details visit Theotokos.org.uk).

It’s interesting to reflect, then, on the theme of “transfiguration” which links these various events. Christ’s face shone like the sun on Mount Tabor, and at Fatima, Our Lady worked the great miracle of the sun to convince the huge crowd which had gathered there that the message she was giving to mankind was authentic. Consider, too, that the poor people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki suffered as man-made “suns” exploded in their midst causing horrific devastation. But at Hiroshima the eight Jesuits, who were living the message of Fatima, and particularly the daily rosary, were somehow “transfigured,” protected by God’s divine power, from the terrible effects of the bomb.

Surely there is a message here for all of us, that living the message of Fatima, in a world which grows ever more dangerous, and which is still threatened by nuclear war, is as profound a necessity for us as it was for Fr Schiffer and his companions
Posted by Social Studies Singapore at 6:58 PM

How Fables Become "Facts"

Photo courtesy of Hiroshima institute for Peace Education

A while back, I visited a webpage called WORLD ENSLAVEMENT OR PEACE: It's Up to the Pope With a title like that, one has to wonder about the folks who set up and maintain the place. It turns out that this is a Catholic site and the title article was written by “Father Nicholas Gruner and other Fatima experts."

Given that the article was put together by a group of “Fatima experts,” it seems logical to expect that the product of their expertise will be factual and accurate – well, at least as much as a fable can be. Should any reader visit the site, he will discover that the claims, prophecies and threats mentioned have been challenged by Catholics and former Catholics. Reading Gruner's responses is enlightening and entertaining.

I came upon the site while researching the August 6, 1945 bombing of the Japanese city of Hiroshima, which was the first-ever use of a nuclear weapon in war. The site deals with the fanciful apparitions of Catholicism's principal deity, the Blessed Virgin Mary, at Fatima. The apocalyptic article, written in 1988, opens with dire warnings of terrible things that will happen unless people stop ignoring the message of Fatima. A short list of the causes of millions of violent deaths precedes prophecies of what will occur should Russian Communism spread across the globe. But there is a way to change what is to come, and that is by obeying “our Lady of Fatima.” And then follows a lengthy list of rules and procedures for this obedience.

“What is the point in doing all that Our Lady of Fatima asks if everyone else isn't doing it?” one might ask. “I mean if the terrible prophecies are going to happen anyway, why should I make the effort?”

Not to worry. Catholicism is, after all, a religion of compromises, adjustments and conveniences. It should be expected that Rome's supreme deity would look after her faithful followers.

For those who are concerned that the Collegial Act of Consecration will not take place in time, and nuclear war will occur, we wish to assure them that for those who have consecrated themselves to Our Lady's Immaculate Heart and have lived the Message of Fatima, Our Lady will protect them even though other people around them have not done their part to fulfill Our Lady's requests to bring peace to the world. This was strikingly demonstrated when the atomic blast struck Hiroshima in August 1945.

The power of the Fatima Message was underscored for the whole world during the atomic explosion at Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. A German Jesuit and seven of his colleagues were living only eight blocks from the blinding center of the nuclear flash, yet all escaped while flaming death screamed all around them. To this day, all eight occupants of that building are alive and well while others living some distance away continue to die from the radiation effects of that frightful holocaust. Over the years some two hundred scientists have examined these eight survivors, trying to discover what could have spared them from incineration or the lethal storm of radiation. Speaking on TV in the United States, the German Jesuit, Father Hubert Shiffner, gave the startling answer. 'In that house the Rosary was prayed every day. In that house, we were living the Message of Fatima.' His words seemed to underline Sister Lucia's statement in 1977: Our Lady will protect all Her dear ones'. -- Nicholas Gruner and other Fatima experts, Op. cit.

Wow! Eight Jesuits living just eight blocks from the hypocenter of the nuclear blast at Hiroshima were spared from fiery destruction by their custom of praying the rosary every day. Rather makes one want to rush right out and buy a set of rosary beads, doesn't it? Not Really. I just had to find out more about this phenomenon.

One of the first stops on my virtual journey of exploration was a site operated by the Franciscan Friars of Mary Immaculate, where I came upon a brief Newsletter article which informs that:

…the bomb exploded eight city blocks from the Jesuit Church of Our Lady's Assumption in Hiroshima. Half a million people were annihilated. However, the church and four Jesuit fathers stationed there survived: Fathers Hugo Lassalle, Kleinsorge, Cieslik and Schiffer. - Fr. Paul Ruge, Fr. Schiffer of Hiroshima, © These Last Days Ministries, Inc. 1996 - 2006

“Half a million people were annihilated…” If what Ruge wrote is true, that would be another miracle. Why? Because, on August 6, 1945, when the bomb detonated 1800 feet above the center of Hiroshima, there were a lot less than half a million folks living there.

The population of Hiroshima had reached a peak of over 380,000 earlier in the war but prior to the atomic bombing the population had steadily decreased because of a systematic evacuation ordered by the Japanese government. At the time of the attack the population was approximately 255,000. This figure is based on the registered population, used by the Japanese in computing ration quantities, and the estimates of additional workers and troops who were brought into the city may not be highly accurate. – The Manhattan Engineer District, The Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, June 29, 1946

The folks at Hiroshima's A-Bomb WWW Museum provide a figure for the total number of people who died due the nuclear event from the moment of the detonation until the end of the year. That figure is just 28% of Father Ruge's fantasy number. Surely this priest was not embellishing the facts.

It is believed that more than 140,000 people died by the end of the year. They were citizens including students, soldiers and Koreans who worked in factories within the city. The total number of people who have died due to the bomb is estimated to be 200,000. -- Mitsuru Ohba and John Benson, Welcome to A-Bomb WWW Museum, (c) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998 by A-Bomb WWW Project

Did you notice the discrepancy between the number of survivors named in Ruge's article (4) and the number provided in Gruner's account (8)? Maybe the difference is due to a typographical error in one of the articles. No doubt the confusion will be cleared up by visiting a few other sites.

When the atom bomb destroyed Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, it somehow spared a building only eight blocks away from ground zero. In it were living eight Jesuits who were unharmed by the blast, heat, and radiation. – Author not identified, Jesuit Priests Survive Atomic Bomb from Ground-Zero,

In 1945 when the Atomic Bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, a small community of eight Jesuit Fathers, only eight blocks from ground zero remained unharmed (the people and the building itself) while everyone else in a radius of 1.5 Km from the centre was killed. - Dr. Stephen A. Rinehart & Dr. Richard F. Hubbell, Rosary Miracle - Safe in the Midst of Hiroshima Nuclear Blast !! (C) Feb 2000 [Hint: Look in the text box at the top of the page]

An extraordinary thing happened at Hiroshima. A small community of Jesuit Fathers lived in a church house near the parish church, situated only eight blocks from the center of the bomb blast.

This notwithstanding, when Hiroshima was destroyed by the atomic bomb, all eight members of the small Jesuit community escaped unscathed, while every other person who was within a radius of roughly one and a half kilometers from the center of the explosion died. The church house where the Jesuits lived was still standing, while the nearby church was completely destroyed. -- Mike Coppi, Power of the Rosary,

Well, there you have it. Three different Catholic sources agree (regurgitate?) that there were eight Jesuit priests at a church just eight blocks from the hypocenter of the explosion survived the blast, unharmed or only slightly injured, while everyone else within 1.5 km of the hypocenter were killed. Given that these surviving priests are at the very heart of what is claimed as a great Marian miracle, I should think the number actually spared must be significant.

One of the most amazing miracles in history occurred at 8:15 a.m. on August 6, 1945, in Hiroshima, Japan. At that time the Americans dropped the first atomic bomb, and it landed just eight city blocks from the Jesuit church of Our Lady of the Assumption. A half million people were killed instantly when the bomb hit, and homes and buildings for miles around were instantly leveled. Yet the Jesuit church and rectory as well as the four Jesuit priests inside it were undamaged and unhurt. Why? Because the priests prayed the Rosary daily. – OPUS SANCTORUM ANGELORUM, The Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary
O, dear! Yet another Marian site informs that 500,000 were killed when the Hiroshima bomb detonated, though FOUR Jesuit priests, as well as their church and rectory, were “undamaged and unhurt,” or the church was destroyed and the adjoining building (rectory?) survived. Seems the goddess who protected the Jesuits also spared the at least one of the parish buildings.

I wanted to learn more about these alleged miracles, so I wrote to several folks who had mentioned the claims on their web sites. Of the few who responded, none had any first-hand information; they had merely parroted what they had read at some other web site. One priest did suggest that, since those involved were Jesuits, and one of the survivors eventually became the Superior General of the order, I might obtain authenticated information from Jesuit sources. Accordingly, I wrote to two Jesuit provinces here in the USA (New Orleans and California); neither responded. I also wrote to the Bishop of Hiroshima, who did not respond and the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation, which did respond.

In my email to the Hiroshima people, I inquired about the Jesuit church and rectory located about eight blocks from the hypocenter of the bomb detonation and the people who had been in it. I added that I was curious, after looking at dozens of U.S. Army photographs taken at ground level, as to how the church and neighboring house had been able to survive the bomb without any damage at all. Following is their reply:

Dear Mr. Loeffler:

Thank you for your mail. We suppose the church you inquired may be the Methodist church of Hiroshima. The church was exposed by the atomic bombing at 900 meters from the hypocenter. And then the church received severe damage; the roof was destroyed and fired, only reinforced concrete walls remained. If you want to know more detailed information, please refer the book: “HIROSHIMA,” written by John Hersey (Alfred P. Knopf, New York, 1985). Hersey, an American journalist, was sent to Japan as a special correspondent in May, 1946. His report became the first English documentary on the atomic bombing. There was the pastor of the church, Kiyoshi Tanimoto's testimony in the report.

With best regards,

Shiobu Kikuraku (Ms.) Information Division Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum\1-2 nakajima-cho, Naka-ku Hiroshima 730-0811, JAPAN

However many Jesuits were involved, and whatever buildings were spared/destroyed, every article I came upon was quite clear as to why they were spared:

Some 200 scientists have examined the priests, trying to determine why they were unhurt. Speaking on American TV, the German Jesuit Father Hubert Shiffner gave the startling answer:

"In that house, the Rosary was prayed every day. In that house we were living the Message of Fatima," he said. – Author not identified, Op. cit.

If the allegations concerning the Jesuits and the church and/or rectory at Nobori-cho (in 1945, that was the location of the Jesuit Church of the Assumption of Our Lady) are true, that certainly would be a powerful argument for accepting Marianist claims about Fatima. Let's find out just how credible they are.

Father Schiffer, a German-born Jesuit missionary, earlier had said Mass, and now was in the rectory of the Church of Our Lady. He had recently been ordained a Catholic priest and had been sent to this quiet town because of the bombings in other cities nearby. His companions rushed down from upstairs to find him on the floor dazed and bleeding…These eight men were living only eight blocks from the blast center of the nuclear explosion! Fifty years later, scientists, doctors, and researchers are still lost for words as to why they and their rectory survived the blast with no side effects. They have been examined by over two-hundred scientists. Yet others, further from the blast, are still dying and suffering from its effects. -- Kathryn King, Living The Message,

Dr. King reports that the priest, Hubert Schiffer, was found on the floor, dazed and bleeding. That certainly suggests something other than that the priests, however many, were unharmed by the nuclear detonation. In the same article, she claims that the priests and their rectory “survived the blast with no side effects.” Am I the only person who sees the inconsistency in this claim? Let's look around a bit more. In the "documentary" book recommended by my Hiroshima correspondent, we learn that one of the priests who actually was in Hiroshima when the bomb detonated was afflicted with severe radiation sickness, appart from other injuries.

Immediately before the bomb was dropped, Father Wilhelm Kleinsorge went out onto the deck of his missionary home in his underwear and began to read a magazine. A few minutes later, the bomb was dropped, and his life was changed forever...After the bomb was dropped, he offered help to any who needed it, when he was strong enough to move… Once he was given some penicillin for his numerous ailments, but promptly gave that away also…Once, when giving a sermon, Father Kleinsorge fainted, and was thereby bedridden for three months...Father Kleinsorge loved Japan and its people. After the bomb, {he became a Japanese citizen}…A little while after he became a Japanese citizen, he became very ill, and went into the Red Cross Hospital for a year, where he was diagnosed with radiation sickness. When he was released, he took up resident in Mukaihara…One day he found he could not move and lived the rest of his life as a vegetable, with Yoshiki-san {his housekeeper} changing his diapers and bathing him. He died November 17, 1977, 32 years after the bomb dropped at the age of 70. -- Dorothy Van Duyne, Father Wilhelm Kleinsorge, A Character Sketch from the Novel Hiroshima

Writer John R. Hersey, well-known for his historical novels, wrote the book Van Duyne based her sketch on. Hiroshima is a collection of segments dealing with the lives of six people who were in Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. Van Duyne mentions that Father Kleinsorge was on the deck of his “missionary home” (the rectory of the Jesuit Church of the Assumption of Our Lady), in his underwear, when the bomb went off. This suggests that Kleinsorge was out in the open, with nothing between him and the bomb. Compare this image with Hersey's words:

When the atomic bomb was detonated, Father Kleinsorge was fortunate to be in a protected location -- John R. Hersey, Hiroshima, © 1985 reprint, Vintage Press, p. 100 (Note: Hiroshima appeared in full in the August 31, 1946 issue of New Yorker magazine.:

The priest may have been in his underwear when the bomb detonated, but apparently he was sheltered.

The Daughters of St. Paul, in Japan, maintain on which they introduced the World Peace Cathedral, seat of the Bishop of Hiroshima. The Cathedral story is now a dead link, but a few years ago I read the following there:

A Jesuit missionary, the Reverend Hugo Lassalle, was pastor of the parish at Nobori-cho located less than 1500 meters from the hypocenter of the bomb. Although wounded critically, he survived. As he turned to the task of rebuilding his church he thought of it as a monument to world peace thrusting its tower to heaven from the charred heart of Hiroshima. It would be a cathedral dedicated to the memory of the atomic bomb victims, a symbol of love and peace for all nations. – Author not named, Amor—What's Happening Today,

According to this Japanese source, the Jesuit Hugo Lassalle was “wounded critically,” which certainly does not agree with Dr. King's version. Not to worry, there is support for part of Dr. King's claims at another site:

Less than one kilometer from ground zero (point of impact) was a two story home attached to a church. The home remained intact. The church remained except for the roof which was blown away. Inside the home were eight Jesuit priests. Except for a few minor cuts and bruises these eight priests were not harmed. -- Tom Smikoski (adapted from an article by Richard Hubbell), Miracle of Hiroshima,

Smikoski informs that there were eight Jesuits in the building and that they suffered only minor cuts and bruises. The rectory “remained intact.” He writes that the church survived also, though the roof was blown away.

Richard Hubbell, another Catholic writer, writes that there were eight Jesuits at the rectory, and bemoans the fact that only four have been identified. He makes his point in a note (Shown here in red) appended to a comment made by Father Ruge:

FR. SCHIFFER OF HIROSHIMA by Fr. Paul Ruge, O.F.M.I.

At 2:45 a.m. on August 6, 1945, a B-29 bomber took off from the island of Tinian to drop the first atomic bomb on Japan. At 8:15 a.m. the bomb exploded eight city blocks from the Jesuit Church of Our Lady's Assumption in Hiroshima. Half a million people were annihilated. However, the church and four Jesuit fathers stationed there survived: Fathers Hugo Lassalle, Kleinsorge, Cieslik and Schiffer. (RH note - all other accounts state clearly that there were eight Jesuits stationed in this home not four - and it is well known that all eight survived - the author of this present article apparently only had the names of four of them, for instance Fr. Arrupe is left out of the list - and at this writing, I have not been able to find the names of the other three Jesuits. end of note.) According to the experts they "ought to be dead," being within a one-mile radius of the explosion. Nine days later on August 15, Feast of Our Lady's Assumption, U.S. forces were ordered to cease fire. – Richard Hubbell, Rosary Miracle at Hiroshima - August 6th, 1945 (Emphasis not in original)

NOTE: The untruths in Hubbell's words are self-evident. I believe it necessary to call attention to an innuendo at the close of his squib. Look at his words again: Nine days later on August 15, Feast of Our Lady's Assumption, U.S. forces were ordered to cease fire.. From these words, one might be led to believe that the end of World War II fighting on the date of the "Feast of Our Lady's Assumption" was something more than mere coincidence. There is also an obscure inference that "our Lady" had something to do with cease-fire order sent to our troops. The facts suggest something different. Three days after the Hiroshima blast, Nagasaki became the second Japanese city to be destroyed by nuclear detonation. On August 15, 1945, Emperor Hirohito went on the radio to inform his people of Japan's unconditional surrender to the Allies: Great Britain, the Soviet Union, France, and the United States. The Empire of Japan had surrendered. There was no need for our troops to continue fighting. Catholic Mary had nothing to do with our troops being ordered to cease fire. On September 2, 1945, the formal articles of surrender were signed aboard the Battleship Missouri.

A new claim: Father Pedro Arrupe, who one day would become the Jesuit Superior General, was one of the “Mystery Four” unnamed Jesuits who were with Schiffer, Kleisorge, Lasalle and Cieslik when the bomb went off. It is interesting that Hubbell should place Arrupe at the Jesuit church/rectory when the bomb went off. It is fact that Arrupe was stationed in Hiroshima, but as Master of Novitiates at the Seminary, which was located about six kilometers from the hypocenter of the detonation.

This is an excerpt from A Priest Forever by Father Pedro Arrupe, S.J. Father Arrupe was Superior General of the Society from May 22, 1965, until August 7, 1981. Before that, and during the time of World War II, Father was Rector of the Novitiate and Director of Novices in Japan, and was in Hiroshima during the explosion of the first atomic bomb on that city on August 6, 1945…

The atomic bomb had exploded at 8:10 AM on August 6, destroying the whole of Hiroshima, reducing it to ashes and killing at one blow 80,000 people. Our Jesuit house, even though it was badly damaged, was one of the few that remained standing. There were no windows left; all had been torn away by the violent wind caused by the explosion. We turned our house into a hospital and assembled about 200 people who were injured, in order to nurse and care for them… -- (c) New York Province, Society of Jesus[Another now dead link)

Father Arrupe was at Hiroshima when the bomb went off, at the seminary in the hills outside the city. He and his fellow Jesuits turned their seminary into a makeshift hospital where they cared for a great number of those injured by the blast and its sequelae. If the bomb had killed everyone in Hiroshima, as other writers have claimed, who were the people the Jesuits cared for and where did they come from? Also, please note that Father Arrupe, who was an eye-witness to the destruction, reports that the blast killed 80,000, not half a million as did some others. For those who may be confusing the house Arrupe mentions with the rectory at the Church of the Assumption of Our Lady, be assured these are two different buildings, as will be made quite clear below.

Let's see what we have learned so far:

* The 4 or 8 Jesuit priests in the church or rectory were unharmed or suffered a few minor cuts and bruises or, some at least, were more seriously injured – at least one critically

* The church and rectory were undamaged or the church was destroyed and the rectory unharmed or the church was damaged but the rectory was not damaged.

* According to Gruner and his Fatima experts, all eight of the Jesuit priests were alive when they wrote their article, Op. cit., in 1988. However, other articles inform that Schiffer died 33 years after the detonation (1978), Kleinsorge died in 1977, Lassalle did not die until 1990. I was unable to learn when the fourth named priest died.

So far, the events at Hiroshima involving Jesuits and their church/rectory indeed do seem to be miraculous: It's a miracle that anyone can believe this stuff.

What follows is an excerpt from the eyewitness report of Jesuit priest John A. Seimes, who was in the Jesuit Seminary on the outskirts of Hiroshima when the bomb went off. It is a bit long, but makes for fascinating reading. Seimes' account should clear up the confusion concerning the names and number of Jesuits in town at the church/rectory and the damage done to both the church and the rectory:

Soon comes news that the entire city has been destroyed by the explosion and that it is on fire. What became of Father Superior and the three other Fathers who were at the center of the city at the Central Mission and Parish House? We had up to this time not given them a thought because we did not believe that the effects of the bomb encompassed the entire city. Also, we did not want to go into town except under pressure of dire necessity, because we thought that the population was greatly perturbed and that it might take revenge on any foreigners which they might consider spiteful onlookers of their misfortune, or even spies.

At about four o'clock in the afternoon, a theology student and two kindergarten children, who lived at the Parish House and adjoining buildings which had burned down, came in and said that Father Superior LaSalle and Father Schiffer had been seriously injured and that they had taken refuge in Asano Park on the river bank. It is obvious that we must bring them in since they are too weak to come here on foot.

At the far corner of the park, on the river bank itself, we at last come upon our colleagues. Father Schiffer is on the ground pale as a ghost. He has a deep incised wound behind the ear and has lost so much blood that we are concerned about his chances for survival. The Father Superior has suffered a deep wound of the lower leg. Father Cieslik and Father Kleinsorge have minor injuries but are completely exhausted.

While they are eating the food that we have brought along, they tell us of their experiences. They were in their rooms at the Parish House--it was a quarter after eight, exactly the time when we had heard the explosion in Nagatsuke--when came the intense light and immediately thereafter the sound of breaking windows, walls and furniture. They were showered with glass splinters and fragments of wreckage. Father Schiffer was buried beneath a portion of a wall and suffered a severe head injury. The Father Superior received most of the splinters in his back and lower extremity from which he bled copiously. Everything was thrown about in the rooms themselves, but the wooden framework of the house remained intact. The solidity of the structure which was the work of Brother Gropper again shone forth.

They had the same impression that we had in Nagatsuke: that the bomb had burst in their immediate vicinity. The Church, school, and all buildings in the immediate vicinity collapsed at once. Beneath the ruins of the school, the children cried for help. They were freed with great effort. Several others were also rescued from the ruins of nearby dwellings. Even the Father Superior and Father Schiffer despite their wounds, rendered aid to others and lost a great deal of blood in the process.

In the meantime, fires which had begun some distance away are raging even closer, so that it becomes obvious that everything would soon burn down. Several objects are rescued from the Parish House and were buried in a clearing in front of the Church, but certain valuables and necessities which had been kept ready in case of fire could not be found on account of the confusion which had been wrought. It is high time to flee, since the oncoming flames leave almost no way open. Fukai, the secretary of the Mission, is completely out of his mind. He does not want to leave the house and explains that he does not want to survive the destruction of his fatherland. He is completely uninjured. Father Kleinsorge drags him out of the house on his back and he is forcefully carried away.

We must proceed to our goal in the park and are forced to leave the wounded to their fate. We make our way to the place where our church stood to dig up those few belongings that we had buried yesterday. We find them intact. Everything else has been completely burned. In the ruins, we find a few molten remnants of holy vessels.

The magnitude of the disaster that befell Hiroshima on August 6th was only slowly pieced together in my mind. I lived through the catastrophe and saw it only in flashes, which only gradually were merged to give me a total picture. What actually happened simultaneously in the city as a whole is as follows: As a result of the explosion of the bomb at 8:15, almost the entire city was destroyed at a single blow. Only small outlying districts in the southern and eastern parts of the town escaped complete destruction. The bomb exploded over the center of the city. As a result of the blast, the small Japanese houses in a diameter of five kilometers, which compressed 99% of the city, collapsed or were blown up. Those who were in the houses were buried in the ruins.

Only several cases are known to me personally where individuals who did not have external burns later died. Father Kleinsorge and Father Cieslik, who were near the center of the explosion, but who did not suffer burns became quite weak some fourteen days after the explosion. Up to this time small incised wounds had healed normally, but thereafter the wounds which were still unhealed became worse and are to date (in September) still incompletely healed. The attending physician diagnosed it as leucopania. There thus seems to be some truth in the statement that the radiation had some effect on the blood. I am of the opinion, however, that their generally undernourished and weakened condition was partly responsible for these findings. It was noised about that the ruins of the city emitted deadly rays and that workers who went there to aid in the clearing died, and that the central district would be uninhabitable for some time to come. I have my doubts as to whether such talk is true and myself and others who worked in the ruined area for some hours shortly after the explosion suffered no such ill effects. -- From APPENDIX: Father John Siemes' eyewitness account, THE ATOMIC BOMBINGS OF HIROSHIMA AND NAGASAKI, by The Manhattan Engineer District, June 29, 1946. Project Gutenberg

I believe that what Seimes said above is an accurate description of actual conditions and events in Hiroshima, particularly as concerns the Jesuit church and rectory of the church of the Assumption of Our Lady and the priests present, during and shortly after the bomb detonated. As presented, it is a fascinating account of events and of the heroic humanitarianism of the Jesuit priests and novitiates. Sadly, the plain truth often is not considered sufficiently interesting for some folks. Some people choose to embellish factual accounts of historical events by adding enhancements to make them more impressive, or to provide support for some pet idea or personal agenda. In the case of the Jesuit church and priests at Hiroshima, truth has been sacrificed to enhance the claims and authority of the Catholic goddess known as Our Lady of Fatima. And that is how fables become facts.

http://www.lazyboysreststop.com/mary25.htm

http://www.lazyboysreststop.com/mary25.htm

Padre Pio:"Unite yourself to my Prayers."

2011-08-01T09:40:00.000-07:00

"Pray, pray to the Lord with me, because the whole world needs prayer. And every day, when your heart especially feels the loneliness of life, pray. Pray to the Lord, because even God needs our prayers."

— St. Pio of Pietrelcina

Prayer for the Intercession of St. Pio of Pietrelcina

Dear God,You generously blessed Your servant,
St. Pio of Pietrelcina, with the gifts of the Spirit.
You marked his body with the five wounds
of Christ Crucified, as a powerful witness
to the saving Passion and Death of Your Son.
Endowed with the gift of discernment,
St. Pio labored endlessly in the confessional
for the salvation of souls.
With reverence and intense devotion
in the celebration of Mass,
he invited countless men and women
to a greater union with Jesus Christ
in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.

Through the intercession of St. Pio of Pietrelcina,
I confidently beseech You to grant me
the grace of (here state your petition). Amen.

Glory be to the Father... (three times).

The Start of the Juan Diego Women’s Center

2011-07-23T11:24:00.000-07:00

Over 25 year ago Fred Martinez had been heavily involved with sidewalk counseling in New Mexico and California. He finished his master’s degree in Public Affairs. Fred had recently been accepted to study phenomenology, a branch of philosophy in the small European country of Liechtenstein.
Only weeks after, Fred was invited by his pro-life ally Angie Mendoza to attend a speech by Bob Pearson. Mr. Pearson had created the first crisis pregnancy center in Hawaii in 1968 in response to the legalization of abortion in that state. Additionally he created a model for the creation of new crisis counseling centers and traveled across the United States inspiring others to follow in his footsteps.
Mrs. Mendoza suggested to Fred to start such a center. With his future in Liechtenstein in mind, Fred declined. Undeterred Angie quietly asked him to pray about it.
Fred went before the Blessed Sacrament and prayed to our Lord Jesus. He then received an answer with 100% certitude from Our Lord compelling him to give up his plans of moving to Europe and start a pregnancy center in San Jose. Fred laughs as he says, “Well, I was only going to say yes because our Lord asked me. Any other person would have received the answer no. How could I say no to our Lord?”
Fred began visiting pastors, asking for their guidance and support. Upon visiting with Monsignor Sweeney of Our Lady of Peace, the monsignor accepted Fred’s request to begin a Catholic crisis pregnancy center. Thereafter Msgr. Sweeney became the first spiritual advisor for the center.
From there others rose up to assist with the immense undertaking. Fred asserts that The Legion of Mary’s prayers to our Blessed Mother and St. Joseph were instrumental in the Juan Diego Women’s Center’s establishment. In answer to these prayers, the location for the center was found. With the assistance of Msgr. Sweeney and Our Lady of Peace parishioners, rent was obtained to secure the office on White Road and Alum Rock. Therein a chapel was created and dedicated to our Blessed Mother. Fred lovingly placed a plaque on the chapel’s door reading, “Directress”. As Fred sees it, Our Blessed Mother was the one really in charge.
Fred continues to pray for the organization that he and others founded. He prays that the original intent of the Society, to save as many children from abortion as possible, carries on far into the future. Fred expresses passionately that he prays that this is kept first and foremost in each and every person’s mind and heart that works at Juan Diego.
Mr. Fred Martinez, we thank you for your service to our Lord and His Mother to open up St. Juan Diego Women’s Center. May the Lord bless you richly today and forevermore.

Why did Corapi and Euteneuer Fall?

2011-07-18T09:38:00.000-07:00

Fr Corapi: The New Luther?
Posted on July 10, 2011 by Fr Stephen SmutsFr Corapi: The New Luther?Spero News:

I have never had promiscuous or even inappropriate relations with her…I never paid anyone off to remain silent…I resigned because the process used by the Church is grossly unjust and…immoral…I [will not] commit to the suggestion of the Society [to] essentially crawl under a rock and wait to die. –John “Black Sheep Dog” Corapi, from his latest statement.

What would it matter if, for the sake of greater good and the Christian Church, one were to tell a good, boldface lie?–Martin Luther

While only the avid readers of the “Corapi corrupted” saga might immediately grasp the boldness and baldness of the lies on BS-Dog’s latest blog, any ten-year-old can tell you that the Corapi statement of his innocence and SOLT’s statement of his guilt both cannot be true. Like Luther’s tract on the sacraments versus the teachings of Luther’s one-time hero Augustine, they are simply incompatible, and you must choose one or the other. What is becoming increasingly apparent is that the “Church” championed by the Society of Our Lady and its famous former member (and his followers) might soon be different from each other too.

Corapi’s five denials of SOLT’s charges, while two more than Peter’s three denials of Christ, are still ninety less than Martin Luther’s Ninety-Five ["Trick-or-Treat"] Theses, so we (or any ten-year-old) can easily examine their contents. Now, on Corapi’s refutation of SOLT’s first charge, that the former Father violated his perpetual vow of poverty, we have to concede Corapi at least one point. “At every step of the way,” maintains Corapi, “through the entire past twenty years, the Society of Our Lady’s leadership knew of my financial independence,” so why didn’t they say something sooner?

Few, and even I suspect Corapi himself, would describe a man owning over a million dollars in land, along with several nice cars, boats and motorcycles, not to mention a prosperous media company as living in poverty, but because he was living so long and openly in luxury, I (and many others) were extremely surprised he was bound by this vow. As Father Joe Jenkins said on his holy site, Blogger Priest, “I think that the leadership in SOLT must be faulted for allowing this situation to grow so out of hand. They should have reigned him in years ago. Their passivity has now made for a far worse and more scandalous situation.”

Although Corapi’s situation reminds me much of the downfall of Fr. Thomas Euteneuer, the exorcist priest who roamed the country abusing women until the outcry of the abused (with the help of the Catholic press) forced his bishop to put a stop to it, it is probably more similar (according to Phil Lawler of Catholic Culture) to the case of the late Father Marcial Maciel. “Like…the disgraced founder of the Legion of Christ, John Corapi has worked for years as a celebrity priest: encouraging a cult of personality, setting his own agenda, raising large sums of money that he spent at his own discretion, and—most dangerous of all—accountable to no one.

It was a formula for disaster, and now the disaster has occurred…

… by scoffing at the opportunity of returning to the SOLT community, and declaring the humble but holy choice of celebrating the Eucharist (which as late as June 23, Corapi called “the primary reason a priest is ordained”) and hearing confessions not even an option, Corapi finds himself at the same spot as Luther did after posting his Ninety-Five Theses but before his excommunication and split with Rome…

While thought provoking, it is not one of the best of comparisons it has to be said.

Luther broke with the Church over doctrine and was subsequently excommunicated. Fr. Corapi is seeking laiciaztion so he can pursue his options of debasement against him. Fr. Corapi shuld be compated to Catherine of Siena who had more things to say to Bishops and Popes very directly and they made her a Doctor Of The Church regardless.. That’s who Fr. Corapi should be compared with.

Reply ↓
Mike G on July 10, 2011 at 20:54 said:
catholicurrent.com

Corapi’s statement is carefully crafted to look like he is rebutting SOLT’s accusations, but he does nothing of the kind. Anyone with a brain can see right through this. This is very evasive and vague. He doesn’t directly respond to any of the accusations. Looks like the response of a guilty person.

1. He doesn’t deny the millions he has and the many luxurious possessions, which is a gross violation of the promise of poverty. He merely says he was financially independent. That still doesn’t give him an excuse for his excesses and breaking the promise of poverty.

2. He evades the sexual impropriety accusations by limiting his response to one woman. He avoids the charges of cohabitation, sexting and having a more recent mistress completely. Very slick.

3. He says the reason for the payoff in the non-disclosure agreement was not to silence anyone, which is dubious at best. He does not deny that he paid or offered the $100,000.

4. His explanation about his resignation is lame and rings hollow. He could have had a fair process and given his side of the story if he had released the witnesses from the non-disclosure agreement. He purposely ruined the process and stallled the investigation himself.

5. Then he immediately gets back to business marketing mode, gives a false impression of what his choices are and promotes himself.

6. He doesn’t address the grave charges of sacramental impropriety, he does not address the drunk driving incident of 1999, which is public record.

Perhaps SOLT will feel compelled to release the emails and sexting records, as well as his real estate titles and records of his other luxurious merchandise. He is declared not fit for ministry, but his followers ignore the obvious and blindly follow him over the cliff. He is taking his followers for fools and continues to play them like a fiddle.

Was Father Corapi complicit in Father Euteneuer's downfall?Sunday, March 27, 2011
By Tom O'Toole

On Ash Wednesday I learned that a former employee sent a three-page letter to several bishops accusing me of everything from drug addiction to multiple sexual exploits with her and several other adult women.

There seems to no longer be the need for a complaint to be deemed “credible” in order for Church authorities to pull the trigger on the Church’s procedure, which was in recent years crafted to respond to cases of the sexual abuse of minors. I am not accused of that...[but] I have been placed on "administrative leave"...I’ll certainly cooperate with the process, but personally believe that it is seriously flawed, and is tantamount to treating the priest as guilty “just in case”...The resultant damage to the accused is immediate, irreparable, and serious, especially for someone like myself, since I am so well known. I am not alone in this assessment, as multiple canon lawyers...civil and criminal attorneys [agree]...All of the allegations in the complaint are false, and I ask you to pray for all concerned. --Fr. John Corapi, SOLT, 3-18-11

Father Thomas Euteneuer has performed a valuable service in giving us...Exorcism and the Church Militant. Everyone...can profit from a careful and prayerful reading of this book. Priests especially should profit from this material [as] preparation for this dimension of spiritual warfare is singularly lacking in almost all seminaries, novitiates, or other Catholic institutions of learning. One of the reasons for this is that many such institutions have faculty that...don’t necessarily believe what the Church believes. This leaves a terrible void...Hopefully this fine book will inspire many priests to equip themselves with the necessary weapons to fight for souls in this arena. --Rev. John A. Corapi, SOLT, STD, Foreword, Exorcism and the Church Militant.

The Greatest of these is Love. --1 Corinthians 13:13

The above poster depicts the better (if not last) days of the Church's once-dynamic duo of rock-star padres, Fathers Corapi and Euteneuer. Although in some ways it seems an eternity ago, the date tells us it was just last July when the "rocking reverends" were flying high, topping the preacher pop charts on their ironically titled (at least in retrospect) "The Greatest Event of 2010" tour. Ironic in that, although so far only Euteneuer has crashed and burned, the above statement from Corapi shows that now he too has been accused of things that only true rock stars are supposed to do. And, while I pray that (unlike Euteneuer) Fr. John's word is true and the accusations against him are false, both his dubious dealings with Euteneuer and his own defiant denial of any wrongdoing show Corapi has a ways to go in discerning the difference between a rock star and a saint.

We'll look at the curious connection between the two popular preacher-priests in a moment, but let's start by examining the interesting choice of words Corapi uses to show his innocence. After adopting a rather mocking tone of his accuser in the above quoted statement, he then accuses Church authorities of "pulling the trigger" too quickly in deeming these incredible charges "credible."

Corapi then states that he (not to mention several of his lawyer buddies) doesn't understand why a "flawed" Church law designed to deal with those low-life pedophiles should apply to his case, especially when he is "so well known" and they are not. Finally, although Corapi says he will condescend to go along with his forced "administrative leave," his defiant tone makes his parting warning, that these accusations will cause him "immediate, irreparable, and serious...harm" sound more like the beginnings of a self-righteous lawsuit than a sermon written to save men's souls.

As far as the Corapi-Euteneuer connection goes, JC (even Corapi's initials are ironic!) was TE's spiritual director for several years up until the summer of '09, when an interesting thing happened. It should be noted that Euteneuer, because of JC's heavy preaching schedule, usually got to see Corapi only once a year for several days of spiritual counseling, but Euteneuer stuck with him, perhaps figuring Corapi was one of the few priests who could understand the temptations of the reverend in the limelight. But this particular summer, Euteneuer arrived at Corapi's expansive Montana ranch (funded not only by the fees accumulated by Corapi's wildly successful talks and tapes but by the $2,712,281 JC won in a medical malpractice lawsuit) with a particularly heavy heart.

Not only did Euteneuer bear on his soul the burden of the past year's sexual abuse that he had inflicted on one of his exorcism victims, but he had in his hands this woman's diary, which documented his sin to the world should the public ever see it.

Now we don't know what, if anything, Euteneuer told Corapi of his sins, or if the damning (to TE) diary was even mentioned. But we do know that after that visit, Corapi was no longer Euteneuer's spiritual advisor. We also know that when Euteneuer returned from his trip and the victim, who was tricked by Euteneuer into handing the diary over to TE by his claim that it might fall into the hands of a Satanic cult if she took it on vacation with her (I guess you would have to have been brainwashed by Euteneuer to understand that logic, which at the time she was) asked for her diary back, she was shocked to learn TE had burned it, claiming, "Father Corapi told me to do so."

Again, we don't know if Corapi indeed said this, or if it was just one of the many statements Euteneuer made to save his own rear, at a time he should have been more concerned with his soul. Still, it seems strange that at a time when Euteneuer needed spiritual direction the most, TE left (or was told to leave) Corapi's spiritual direction. Afterwards, Corapi still maintained a professional relationship with Euteneuer (writing a foreword for Euteneuer's exorcism book and keeping the popular pro-life priest on as his warm-up act for the great summer tour event) but little else.

For, by the time Cincinnati rolled around, Corapi, surrounded by bodyguards, didn't give Euteneuer (or anyone else not in the JC posse) the time of day, figuring the fact that he allowed TE — and no other vendor — to sell the Euteneuer books at what would usually be an exclusive Corapi memorabilia event (where, for the record, both JC and TE sold an insane amount of stuff that day) should be consolation enough.

And so, while presuming Corapi's innocence in the sex and drugs scenario until the Church rules on his case, there is at least one virtue we can say the once-pale gray-haired priest, who now sports a jet-black beard and Hollywood tan, lacks. It is one thing for Corapi to question Church authorities for taking these allegations seriously — indeed, the fact that Corapi has made a living by talking about his past debauchery and drug-addiction should be enough for his superiors to give them a second look — but it is quite another to claim that such charges will cause him "irreparable damage."

Rather than damage an innocent man's reputation, the history of the saints (and other recent holy heroes) shows quite the opposite. When a young St. Macarius the Great was accused of impregnating the village virgin, the townsmen "...seized me, led me to the village and hung pots black with soot and other things around my neck and led me through the village and beat me almost to death" (talk about "pulling the trigger"), only to realize his true holiness when he still spoke kindly of her and she finally recanted.

When Padre (now Saint) Pio was falsely accused of wrongdoing, and was no longer allowed to say Mass in public, he merely said, "His will be done," adding, "the will of the [Church] authorities is the will of God." And finally, when Cardinal Joseph Bernardin was falsely accused of pedophilia, and the not-always orthodox priest not only obediently accepted his public humiliation, but refused to in any way demean his accuser, his status grew rather than diminished when his innocence was proven.

In other words, Corapi might not be guilty in what he did in the Euteneuer scandal (or his own case) but in what he failed to do. By being so wrapped up in his effort to reach the masses, Corapi failed to see that the individual souls entrusted to him (not to mention his own) were neglecting "to equip themselves with the necessary weapons" to win the age-old fight against Satan.

It may be too late for Corapi to resume the role as Euteneuer's spiritual advisor, but if he is wise, Corapi will spend this period outside of the public eye in confession and in front of the Blessed Sacrament so that he will regain the grace needed to be a more effective confessor and advisor for individuals in the future. If the accusation has revealed the Corapi pride, let us pray that his time away from preaching is enough to keep him from the fall, and that he learns what really is "the Greatest" event of all.

Tom O'Toole is a proud Notre Dame alumnus and syndicated writer. He is the author of Champions of Faith: Catholic Sports Heroes tell Their Stories. See his website: FightingIrishThomas.com

Fr. Corapi's Order Finds Him Not "Fit for Ministry”

2011-07-09T19:22:00.000-07:00

Fr. Corapi's order finds him guilty

Robstown, Texas, Jul 5, 2011 / 03:13 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Father John Corapi’s religious order has found him guilty of substance abuse, sexual activity and violating his promise of poverty.

A July 5 press release from the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity (SOLT) said that while Fr. Corapi was involved in public ministry he had “sexual relations and years of cohabitation with a woman known to him, when the relationship began, as a prostitute.”

The investigative team also found that he “repeatedly abused alcohol and drugs,” “recently engaged in ‘sexting’ activity with one or more women in Montana,” and holds legal title “to over $1 million in real estate, numerous luxury vehicles, motorcycles, an ATV, a boat dock, and several motor boats.”

His religious order said it is concerned “Fr. Corapi is now misleading (many) individuals through his false statements and characterizations.”

“It is for these Catholics that SOLT, by means of this announcement, seeks to set the record straight.”

A fact-finding team created by the order “acquired information from Fr. Corapi’s emails, various witnesses and public sources,” in response to a signed letter from a woman who is well known to Fr. Corapi.

The Society said in the news release that Fr. Corapi, under his vow of obedience, has been ordered to “return home to the society’s regional office and take up residence there,” and to “dismiss the lawsuit he has filed against his accuser.”

The order added that its “prior direction to Father John Corapi not to engage in any preaching or teaching, the celebration of the sacraments or other public ministry continues.”

As the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity sought to carry out its investigation into the allegations against Fr. Corapi, it found that its fact-finding team was hindered by a civil lawsuit the priest had filed and by sweeping non-disclosure agreements he had negotiated with his accuser and other witnesses.

The civil lawsuit argued that his principal accuser had committed slander and breach of contract.

Fr. Corapi refused to dismiss the lawsuit and the team discovered many other contracts that prevented “key witnesses” from speaking.

“Many of these witnesses likely had key information about the accusations being investigated and declined to answer questions and provide documents,” the order said.

The fact-finding team was composed of a priest-canonist, a psychiatrist and a lawyer, two of whom were members of religious orders and one a lay Catholic.

The statement notes that two were men and one was a woman, all with a “national reputation and substantial experience in ecclesiastical processes related to priest disciplinary issues.”

Fr. Corapi expressed his desire to leave the Society and the priesthood in a June 17 statement. He said he felt he was being “unjustly accused,” and that “(t)here are certain persons in authority in the Church that want me gone, and I shall be gone.”

Fr. Corapi has not yet been released from his vows.

“Catholics should understand that SOLT does not consider Father John Corapi as fit for ministry,” the statement concluded.

Queen of Profits

2011-07-04T08:49:00.000-07:00

Medjugorje Draws Thousands of Pilgrims and Dollars

By James Martinez

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Medjugorje. Few topics evoke greater passion than the alleged apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary to six visionaries in the remote village of Medjugorje in Bosnia-Herzegovina. But the effects of these reported visions are not limited to the local region. Medjugorje devotees are found worldwide, most notably in the country known for its rich living and equally rich generosity, the United States.

Medjugorje has local significance because each fall since 1990, the Bren Center at the University of California, Irvine, has been the site of one of the largest annual Medjugorje Peace Conferences in the U.S. The event is sponsored by the Medjugorje Peace Conference Committee, based in Brea. Its chief organizer, Joan Housack, refused to talk with any member of the media, but there's no question that the conference has been large from the start, initially drawing about 3,500 attendees according to a co-owner of Huntington Beach-based Follow Me Ministries, which promotes Medjugorje. It now regularly attracts an estimated 5,000 attendees annually. The 2002 conference took place October 25-27 and conference attendee numbers are expected to be similar to last year's.

For most attendees, the Irvine conference is a much-anticipated event; a spiritual revival of sorts where devotees can meet and mingle with like-minded, devout Catholics and take advantage of adoration and reconciliation, daily Mass, dynamic speakers and singers, and a small booth area jammed with Medjugorje-related products, magazines, tapes and travel arrangements for sale.

"It gives you a spiritual uplifting to be here. It's a peaceful feeling and the speakers are good," said Leo Garcia from Huntington Beach, a six-year Irvine conference veteran. "I've been to Medjugorje three times," added Monica Chin from Upland. "This is my first time at the conference and I came to feel Medjugorje again. So far it's what I expected. I feel the same intensity as I did at Medjugorje."

Another first-time conference attendee, Marie Chyong, agreed. "We're all here because we all are being called to be close to God. I feel like I'm back home [in the Philippines] or at Lourdes here. It's so solemn and peaceful. I feel safe here."

Lori Baker of Ventura came with Iris Reznick of Filmore. "I came to hear what the visionary has to say," explained Baker, "and to be around people with the same feelings as I have of wanting peace." Two years ago she was with one of the visionaries during an alleged apparition. Baker was hoping for the same opportunity this time. "I'm looking for the same kind of peace and spirituality as I experienced last time. Today is a special time for me."

Reznick, a fourth-time attendee, added: "I don't come for the speakers, but more for the adoration chapel and the apparition room. We went into the room, prayed the Rosary and after the Rosary, they said Our Lady was here. Everyone was quiet. We heard and felt something come through the room, some people cried and some passed out. For me, it was a very comfortable feeling. Everyone experienced something individually."

At least one visionary is slated to attend the Irvine conference each year, but last year Ivanka, now married with children, cancelled. The September 11 terrorist attacks had occurred about a month and a half before the conference. When asked why that year's scheduled visionary did not show up, one conference co-organizer at the ticket table explained: "Ivanka is understandably nervous about flying right now."

When conference attendees were randomly asked if they minded the visionary's cancellation, the overwhelming response was "not really, I'm here for the whole spiritual aspect. It would be nice to have had a visionary here, but it's not essential." However, when these same attendees learned that Ivanka cancelled because of her nervousness to fly after the terrorist attacks, their response was vehemently incredulous. "Oh, NO, that doesn't make sense! That couldn't be the reason she's not here!" was the consistent response.

Serious questions about the Medjugorje subculture run deep. For one thing, how many apparitions of now canonized saints occurred at conveniently predictable times? According to the Medjugorje seers, who currently range from age 38 to 31 -- Marija, Vicka, Ivan, Mirjana, Ivanka, and Jakov -- the apparitions of Gospa (as Our Lady is referred to in their native language) are ongoing to this day; 21 years of nonstop messages from Mary, with no end in sight. As one priest who requested anonymity observed, "The Mother of God sounds like a Chatty Cathy doll." Marija, Vicka and Ivan report daily visions from Mary, while the others claim to see her at regular intervals; to Mirjana, Our Lady comes on the second of each month and on March 18, Mirjana's birthday; to Ivanka, on June 25; and to Jakov, on Christmas Day. Medjugorje devotées point to literally thousands of messages from Our Lady to the modern world.

But what of the fruits of Medjugorje? There is no question that lives have been changed at Medjugorje. "The reality of grace-filled response of pilgrims and of those associated with the reported revelation.is a deeply moving and a genuine religious experience in its own right," writes Father Benedict Groeschel in his book A Still, Small Voice. Not speaking of Medjugorje or of any reported apparition in particular, Father Benedict continues: "I am sure that even in the case of a false revelation -- even if it be fraudulent -- many people have had genuine religious experiences that may even have been a source of healing.The fact is that we cannot judge the reported revelation by its fruits. You would be required to take Joseph Smith and the Mormon doctrine very seriously if you went simply by the effects of his revelation. It is responsible for several billion dollars in religious donations every year -- and yet very serious questions have been raised by Mormon scholars about the moral life of this 'prophet.'"

Medjugorje devotees can't say enough good things about their visionaries. But do their lives exhibit extraordinary holiness and self-sacrifice for God? Were they radically transformed by what they saw and heard?

If we compare the lives of the Medjugorje visionaries with those of Church-approved apparitions, the differences are striking. Newsweek magazine, in its January 17, 2000 issue, ran a short article on Ivan Dragicevic relating to his speaking engagement in Boston. Dragicevic, who makes his home in the Boston area and reportedly drives a luxury car, married a former Miss Massachusetts and still travels about the U.S. speaking of the Medjugorje apparitions. Other visionaries are reported to have connections with hotels and other real estate in the Medjugorje region. Vicka, for example, claimed that the Blessed Virgin Mary wanted a "pastoral center" constructed in Medjugorje, consisting of a 100-bed hotel with a chapel for pilgrims. She insisted on its construction in 1995.

According to a well-documented and foot-noted article, "Medjugorje: Old Lies, New Admissions," by Craig Heimbichner, Vicka, Ivanka, Mirjana and Ivan are exposed as having lied -- or at least as having offered boldly conflicting testimony -- regarding serious matters involving the content of various Medjugorje messages.

More widely known are the repeated and scathing investigations and testimonies by the long-time bishop of the area, the late Bishop Pavao Zanic, regarding the blatant disobedience of the seers and the dubious nature of their reported apparitions. His successor has expressed similar concerns, as had a bishops conference in 1991 that declared there was no evidence of anything supernatural at Medjugorje.

On June 19, 1996, Vatican press secretary, Joaquin Navarro-Valls, said, regarding Medjugorje, that "a healthy Marian devotion in line with the teaching of the Church" had to be promoted. He stressed that, according to the investigations that had already taken place, it could not be affirmed that there was anything supernatural about the apparitions or revelations of Medjugorje. Rome repeatedly referred to the local bishop as the competent authority in this matter.

Another disconcerting element of the Medjugorje apparitions is the well-documented power struggle between the Franciscans who run the parish where the visions take place -- and who are the recipients of much of the Medjugorje money raised locally and abroad -- and the local ordinaries.

In a letter from the late Bishop Zanic to an inquiring priest from Panama as to one of the more than 20 reasons the bishop claimed to have for denying the authenticity of Medjugorje, Zanic cited the sad ordeal of one Franciscan, Ivica Vego. This priest "was expelled from his order, released from his vows and suspended ab divinis from the Pope," wrote the bishop, "and yet.continued to celebrate Mass and dispense the sacraments." The priest eventually moved in with his girlfriend, although the visionary Vicka's diary cites more than nine times that Vego was innocent and the bishop unjust. When Sister Leopolda got pregnant, Vego left the order. The couple now has two children, yet thousands of this ex-Franciscan's prayer books continue to be sold in Medjugorje.

The Franciscans who run the Medjugorje parish have not displayed a humble and obedient spirit. On May 12, 1996, when the local bishop ordered the Franciscans to hand over the parish and the rectory to the diocese, the Franciscans refused and cinder blocked the church doors in a stand-off. In November 1998, both the current bishop, Ratko Peric, and the general of the Franciscans, Father Giacomo Bini, met in Rome with the prefect for the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. As a result of that meeting, Peric and Bini issued a jointly signed letter announcing that the Franciscan fathers would be withdrawn from Medjugorje and other parishes of the diocese as of February 21, 1999 and replaced with diocesan priests. On the same day, the two priests most actively involved in the 1996 standoff were expelled from the Franciscan order per the order's general.

Another such incident was reported in 1988 in a German newsletter, Der Schwarze Brief, published by Claus Peter Clausen of Lippstadt, Germany. Clausen, a German photographer who was familiar with the seers and parish Franciscans, claimed to have observed and photographed the Franciscans in the act of fabricating the messages. When he was observed in this act, he said he was threatened by the seer Ivan, who later came up to the photographer and "made a gesture which indicated that his throat would be slit" if he continued. The photographer said he was later told by a taxi-driver that anyone who opposed Medjugorje would be murdered.

The January 6, 1999 issue of Der Schwarze Brief reported that the former state of Yugoslavia took in $100 million by 1988, seven years after the first Medjugorje apparition. This represented five percent of all tourist income for the entire country and 45 percent of the total income of the republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina. According to a Katholische Nachrichten Agentur report filed July 15, 1989, the income from pilgrims in 1989 was estimated at $150 million and at $200 million for 1990. In 1988 alone, more than a million pilgrims, mostly from Western Europe and the U.S., visited Medjugorje.

"Medjugorje used to be a very small town," said Irvine conference attendee Mate Vrdoljak, who grew up 15 miles away from the village and moved to America in 1975 at the urging of his brother. "Tobacco and grapes used to be the big businesses in Medjugorje. There was nothing else. I worked in the tobacco fields after school." When Vrdoljak returned to the region in 1999 to be with his father who was sick, it had been 26 years since he'd been back. "It was very different," Vrdoljak explains. "It was like being in a foreign country, there were so many changes. Now it's a booming town with people coming and going, restaurants, transportation, businesses. There's very little of the tobacco and grape industry left now." Even more interesting is the staggering amount of money raised from various Medjugorje-related activities, such as travel agency commissions, speaker honorariums, magazine subscriptions and advertising rates, U.S.-held conferences and retreats.

Even the most frugal of Medjugorje enthusiasts spend plenty of money in Medjugorje. They buy many religious articles sold locally, stay in rented lodgings, purchase food and use taxis and shuttle services when needed. The small region's economic boon is understandable and its sole cause is the widely reported Medjugorje visions.

What is true of Medjugorje is true of Medjugorje conferences in the U.S. At the Irvine conference, for example, organizers paid $4,100 per day to rent the arena, plus $700 daily to rent the Koll and Stewart rooms, according to Jeff at the Bren Events Center. This means an estimated $14,400 for the three-day conference. Although free to clergy, conference admission otherwise costs between $34 for an adult single, $15 for a youth and $64 for a married couple. An estimated 5,000 average attendance rate would easily generate more than $150,000 for the organizers. This amount does not include the thousands of dollars generated by Medjugorje-specific publications such as Medjugorje Magazine, whose subscription rates are boosted by devoted conference attendees and by numerous large ads paid for by the multitude of Medjugorje-bound pilgrimages and travel agents.

"This is a profitable place," conceded Slavko Barbaric, a Franciscan who has ministered in Medjugorje for more than 15 years. "And of course, we, too, sell our souvenirs and our rosaries and so on. But it hasn't made us millionaires, and it hasn't distracted us from our real mission; the care of people's souls."

Money is raised not only in the name of Medjugorje, but in the name of its various off-shoot and equally sensational apparitions, visionaries and stigmatists. One apparent Medjugorje spin-off, for example, is a young priest, Father Zlatko Sudac, who bears a bright, blood red cross very prominently on his forehead. It is a striking and sensational mark of Christ, so unlike those borne by the Church-approved stigmatists of the recent past such as St. Rose of Lima and St. Padre Pio. The editor of Medjugorje Magazine said that as of Fall 2000 she had already rented one of the largest facilities in the Chicago area to hold a retreat to be given by Father Zlatko. "It cost $50,000 to rent the facility," the editor explained confidently. "But I'm sure we'll more than fill it and have at least $90,000 left over." The expected $90,000 or more profit from the Chicago suburb retreat with the alleged stigmata-bearing priest retreat leader will go to orphanages around Medjugorje. "They wouldn't be able to function if it weren't for all the money we've raised in the States," added the magazine editor. But, according to someone who answered the phone at the DuPage Marian Center in Westmont, Illinois in November 2002, the money from Sudac's conferences does not go directly to orphanages, but to Sudac's bishop. (With Medjugorje Magazine, the DuPage Marian Center is owned by Larry and Mary Sue Eck.) This money is untracked except that some of it goes to fund Sudac's schooling in the United States (to learn English) and to his mission. Some of the money raised also goes to help a priest friend of Larry Eck in El Salvador with his missionary work.

Meanwhile, a local bank founded by several Franciscans and leading local businessmen raises a question as to who has or will have legal title to the financial contributions now sitting in this bank, which have been made by pilgrims.

Any discussion of Medjugorje must include a brief overview of the region's tumultuous history. Our Lady of Medjugorje appeared 40 years to the day after a gruesome massacre of 600 Serbians, who were taken from their villages in Prebilovci and western Herzegovina at gunpoint in June 1941 by members of a group of Croatians who called themselves "Ustasha," "insurgent." The group had allied themselves with the Nazis in a short-lived attempt to run an independent Croatian state. These kidnapped Serbian old men, women and children, who were loaded in train cars, disembarked at the village of Surmanci and marched to the deep pit above the town. They were hurled in, alive, with hand grenades thrown in after them. This massacre site is located just on the other side of the hill now known as apparition hill, where Our Lady of Medjugorje first appeared. The names of the perpetrators of the Surmanci massacre include villagers from Medjugorje, according to a summary of the massacre recounted by E. Michael Jones in a well-documented article, "The Ghosts of Surmanci: Queen of Peace, Ethnic Cleansing, Ruined Lives."

The communists sealed the pit with a concrete lid in 1980, in an attempt to quell chaos in this ethnically diverse region. In 1989, a delegation of Serbs broke through the lid, exhumed the Serb remains and ceremoniously processed the coffins draped with Serbian banners, back to Prebilovci, to be re-interred.

Even so, Surmanci remains the town's dirty little secret. Perhaps Our Lady's timely appearance 40 years later marked a welcome relief for guilty consciences. One thing is certain, the historical and political components of the story are especially significant in considering Our Lady's appearances in Medjugorje (or, now, wherever the "visionaries" happen to be).

But how important are events like Medjugorje to the spiritual lives of Catholics? "The fact is that God does make his presence known to us in innumerable ways," writes Father Benedict Groeschel in A Still, Small Voice. "He gives us his word in Scripture, his presence in the Sacraments, his appeal in the needy. Christ assures us that he is present with us till the end of the world. What we really need is not extraordinary signs of this presence in visions and revelations, but a sense of reverent attentiveness to this religious experience as it comes to us in ordinary ways."

___________________________

Was Vic Morrow of the TV series Combat a Hero?

2011-06-17T15:01:00.000-07:00

I finished watching the released first season of Vic Morrow’s TV series Combat on DVD. It shows the honor and goodness that our culture still had in the 60’s.

Morrow’s character the Sarge is to this day, for me, an image of what a hero should be. Tough and courageous, but compassionate.

Vic Morrow played the hero and on the set he was a hero. The assistant director of Combat Michael Caffey in the audio commentary for the Combat DVD had this to say about Morrow:

“He was very nice person. He never yelled at anyone...He was very quiet when he had something to say... He had a 104 temperature in one show. He was there. He should have been in the hospital. It’s a wonder it didn’t kill him. He was just tremendous. He reached down into a tank and pulled someone out in one show and got a double hernia. So they put the little belts on him and he went right on acting. He was an amazing man. He was very knowledgeable about film and what it could do. It was pleasure to have him...I can’t speak highly enough of him. ”

Tom Lowell, who played Billy in the series, said on an audio commentary for the DVD that “Vic” didn’t care about the “series being successful, he wanted it to be good.” Before it was ever shot “Vic and the director” would go over the script for hours to make sure it was “good.”

Yes, Vic Morrow on Combat was a hero. He showed us that being a hero always begins with being good in our day-in and day-out life.

And as Caffey said “He was very knowledgeable about film and what it could do,” so Morrow knew what he was doing in creating a heroic model as an actor and director in the series.

I know that I’ve said the following many times, but it needs to be repeated. What our American and global culture needs are heroes as models. Steve Ditko, the artist and co-creator of Spider-Man says, "Aristotle said that art is more important than history. History tells how man did act. Art shows how man should and could act. It creates a model.” "The self-flawed and anti-hero provide the heroic label without the need to act better. A crooked cop, a flawed cop, is not a valid model of a good law enforcer," Ditko said.

"An anti-cop corrupts the legal good, and an anti-hero corrupts the moral good."

According to one website, Morrow’s character the Sarge was a model for the soldier in the Vietnam:
“I have a cousin who did 13 months as a Marine grunt in Nam back in 68-69. He said that in the area he was in, the South Vietnamese Army Commanders showed reruns of Vic Morrow's early sixties series COMBAT! to their troops. They thought old Vic was a badder ass than John Wayne himself. They went nuts for the guy. Years later, I bought a book on armored units used in the Vietnam War... I found a photograph in it of an ARVN tank circa. 1968, with VIC MORROW scrawled across the turret in huge white letters.”

[http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:dgHp-wVmwAcJ:www.findadeath.com/Deceased/m/Vic%2520Morrow/vic_morrow.htm+Vic+Morrow+vietnam&hl=en&ie=UTF-8]

Some might say this is a bad example because a small number of soldiers in that war did dishonorable acts. But the vast majority of the soldiers in the Vietnam War who were honorable were so because of models in art and real life who were like the Sarge.

Prayer to Dissolve Effects of Horoscopes and Ouija Boards

2011-06-13T09:25:00.000-07:00

Spiritual Warfare Prayer – by Father Robert DeGrandis, S.S.J.

Heavenly Father, I love You, I praise You, and I worship You. I thank You for sending Your Son Jesus Who won victory over sin and death for my Salvation. I thank You for sending Your Holy Spirit Who empowers me, guides me, and leads me into fullness of life. I thank you for Mary, my Heavenly Mother, who intercedes with the Holy Angels and Saints for me.

Lord Jesus Christ, I place myself at the foot of Your Cross and ask You to cover me with Your Precious Blood which pours forth from Your Most Sacred Heart and Your Most Holy Wounds. Cleanse me, my Jesus, in the Living Water that flows from Your Heart. I ask You to surround me, Lord Jesus, with Your Holy Light.

Heavenly Father, let the healing waters of my Baptism now flow back through the maternal and paternal generations to purify my family line of Satan and Sin. I come before You, Father, and ask forgiveness for myself, my relatives, and my ancestors, for any calling upon powers that set themselves up in opposition to You or that do not offer true honor to Jesus Christ. In Jesus’ Holy Name, I now reclaim any territory that was handed over to Satan and place it under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

By the power of Your Holy Spirit, reveal to me, Father, any people I need to forgive and any areas of unconfessed sin. Reveal aspects of my life that are not pleasing to You, Father, ways that have given or could give Satan a foothold in my life. Father, I give to You any unforgiveness; I give to You my sins; and, I give to You all ways that Satan has a hold of my life. Thank You, for Your Forgiveness and Your Love.

Lord Jesus, in Your Holy Name, I bind all Evil Spirits of the air, water, ground, underground, and Netherworld. I further bind, in Jesus’ Name, any and all emissaries of the Satanic Headquarters and claim the Precious Blood of Jesus on the air, atmosphere, water, ground and their fruits around us, the underground and the Netherworld below.

Heavenly Father, allow Your Son Jesus to come now with the Holy Spirit, the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Holy Angels and the Saints to protect me from all harm and to keep all Evil Spirits from taking revenge on me in any way.

(Repeat the following sentence three times: once in honor of the Father, once in honor of the Son, and once in honor of the Holy Spirit.)

In the Holy Name of Jesus, I seal myself, my relatives, this room (place, home, church, car, plane, etc…), and all sources of supply in the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ.

(To break and dissolve all Satanic Seals, repeat the following paragraph three times in honor of the Holy Trinity because Satanic Seals are placed three times to blaspheme the Holy Trinity.)

In the Holy Name of Jesus, I break and dissolve any and all curses, hexes, spells, snares, traps, lies, obstacles, deceptions, diversions, spiritual influences, evil wishes, evil desires, hereditary seals, known and unknown, and every dysfunction and disease from any source including my mistakes and sins. In Jesus’ Name, I sever the transmission of any and all Satanic vows, pacts, spiritual bonds, soul ties, and satanic works. In Jesus’ Name, I break and dissolve any and all links and effects of links with: astrologers; bohmos; channelers; charters; clairvoyants; crystal healers; crystals; fortune tellers; mediums; the New Age Movement; occult seers; palm, tea leaf, or tarot card readers; psychics; santeros; satanic cults; spirit guides; witches; witchdoctors; and, Voodoo. In Jesus’ Name, I dissolve all effects of participation in séances and divination, Ouija boards, horoscopes, occult games of all sorts, and any form of worship that does not offer true honor to Jesus Christ.

Holy Spirit, please reveal to me through word of knowledge any evil spirits that have attached themselves to me in any way. (Pause and wait for words to come to you, such as: anger, arrogance, bitterness, brutality, confusion, cruelty, deception, envy, fear, hatred, insecurity, jealousy, pride, resentment, or terror. Pray the following for each of the spirits revealed.)

In the Name of Jesus, I rebuke you spirit of _________________. I command you to go directly to Jesus, without manifestation and without harm to me or anyone, so that He can dispose of you according to His Holy Will.

I thank You, Heavenly Father for Your Love. I thank You, Holy Spirit for empowering me to be aggressive against Satan and Evil Spirits. I thank You, Jesus, for setting me free. I thank You, Mary, for interceding for me with the Holy Angels and the Saints.

Lord Jesus, fill me with Charity, Compassion, Faith, Gentleness, Hope, Humility, Joy, Kindness, Light, Love, Mercy, Modesty, Patience, Peace, Purity, Security, Tranquility, Trust, Truth, Understanding, and Wisdom. Help me to walk in Your Light and Truth, illuminated by the Holy Spirit so that together we may praise, honor, and glorify Our Father in time and in eternity. For You, Lord Jesus, are, “…the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6 NAB), and You “…have come that we might have life and have it more abundantly” (John 10:10 JB).

“God indeed is my Savior; I am confident and unafraid. My strength and courage is the Lord, and He has been my Savior” (Isaiah 12:2 JB).

Amen

Alleluia

Amen

Top 13 Catholic Spirituality Books

2011-06-06T09:36:00.000-07:00

My Favorite Catholic Spirituality Books

A Listmania! list by Amanda Rose (Florida)

The list author says: "I am a Catholic convert who was delighted to find the immense and almost secret treasure box of the Church - saints, mysticism, intellectualism, simplicity, common-sense advice, moral values, and a complete array of ways to achieve happiness through Christ. Struggling day by day to remain faithful, accept the love of Christ, act mercifully, and keep moving along the Little Way to Heaven. I write spiritual reflections at www.LittleStepsAlongTheWay.com."

1. Divine Intimacy by Father Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen
The list author says:
"My favorite book ever! Covering the entire liturgical year, beginning each day’s reading with a short phrase/prayer to help to place oneself into the presence of God. There are two points for meditation, intended to be for two prayer periods, but can be utilized as the Spirit leads you. Ending is a Colloquy provided to carry us through those dry times when we have no feelings to be aroused."

2. Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence: The Secret of Peace and Happiness by Father Jean Baptiste Saint-Jure
The list author says:
"This greatly influenced me and helped me to understand the importance accepting God's will."

3. Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of St. Therese of Lisieux, Third Edition by Therese de Lisieux
The list author says:
"Another favorite I have read through at least twice. St Therese is the inspiration for my blog and my attitude about the importance about taking "little steps" along the way to holiness."

4. Fire Within by Thomas Dubay
The list author says:
"This is the next best thing to having a real life spiritual director! And even if you have a spiritual director, there is much to learn as Fr. Dubay shares tidbits from John of the Cross and Theresa of Avila in ways that we can understand and apply to ourselves."

5. Beginning to Pray by Anthony Bloom
The list author says:
"A treasure!"

6. Catechism of the Catholic Church by U.S. Catholic Church
The list author says:
"A go-to book often off my bookshelf and with reach for reasearch."

7. Mother Angelica: The Remarkable Story of a Nun, Her Nerve, and a Network of Miracles by Raymond Arroyo
The list author says:
"She inspires me!"

8. Mother Angelica's Little Book of Life Lessons and Everyday Spirituality by Mother M. Angelica
The list author says:
"Wonderful qoutes to inspire."

9. The Road of Hope: A Gospel from Prison by Phanxicô Xaviê V?n Thu?n Nguy?n
The list author says:
"Not a book to read straight through, but many short qoutes organized by topic. These are messages the imprisoned Bishop had smuggled out of prison to nourish his flock."

10. Abandonment to Divine Providence by Jean-Pierre DeCaussade
The list author says:
"More about accepting God's will."

11. Uniformity with God's Will by St. Alphonsus Liguori
The list author says:
"I carried this small booklet around with me for years. There are many marking of my favorite passages despite its short length of just less than 30 pages."

12. The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross by Saint John of the Cross
The list author says:
"I enjoy this translation and found it easier to understand than others I had read."

13. Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska: Divine Mercy in My Soul by St. Maria Faustina Kowalska

Is McCarthy's "The Road" Hopeless or Hopeful?

2011-05-28T19:53:00.000-07:00

I vote for hopeful. In the deepest darkness thinkable the father chooses life and goodness for his son despite the stark realness of despair as the he dies and everything around him appears to be dying.

This is the dark night of the soul in our death culture. The love of the father and his choice for good made me think this is the best book I've read since Lord of the Rings.

Fred

http://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?t=263597

The Road, Cormac McCarthy

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Well, I just finished this book today. Was required to read it for class. And I cried ...boy is it depressing and is so hopeless. Does anybody have other views of the book that I might be missing? I'm looking for hope in it...I feel like it's wrong for something to have so little hope in God.

Has anybody else read this book?

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#2 Aug 26, '08, 2:43 am
Sam Maloney
Regular Member Join Date: June 4, 2004
Posts: 609

Re: The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

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I'm a huge fan of McCarthy, he reminds me of Faulkner at his best.

I thought the whole point of 'The Road' was hope:

SPOILER ALERT!!!!

SPOILER ALERT!!!!

SPOILER ALERT!!!!

SPOILER ALERT!!!!

It starts out in the worst possible world, with a father and son who love each other, and despite everything the father is trying to teach the son to be a decent person.

After much suffering, the son goes on alone, but he finds aid, finds out there really are other decent people and other children left in the world.

I thought the message was that no matter how bad things get, a shred of human decency will survive.

I'll admit it was [literaly and figuratively] a tough journey towards a less than triumphant ending, but compared to other post apocalyptic tales [On the Beach, Ice Nine, There Will Come Soft Rains [a Bradberry short story]], I felt The Road left me with some hope, and something valuable to think about.

Certainly not a tale for everyone, though.

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#3 Aug 26, '08, 5:39 am
Layman
Banned Join Date: June 30, 2008
Posts: 1,847
Religion: Catholic

Re: The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

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Off-topic: I've never understood why people would voluntarily read books that arouse negative emotions. I try to filter modern culture, so I can be at peace. Just because the Times Literary Supplement says you have to read something doesn't mean you have to. Reviewers often plug their pals work, or are compromised in other ways.

After, what, 20+ years of being a culture vulture I realised that most of it was a swizz, that artists were often ignoble, and that the bourgeoisie chattering to itself was not something I needed to bother too much with.

You don't have to stay to the end of a bad movie. Just leave.

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#4 Aug 26, '08, 6:18 am
Scottgun
Regular Member Join Date: September 14, 2006
Posts: 2,065
Religion: Catholic Theocratic Imperialist

Re: The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

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I read the book too. I couldn't help but think the father was feeding the boy hope like a placebo. Like this passage:

We wouldnt ever eat anybody, would we?
No. Of course not.
Even if we were starving?
We're starving now.
You said we werent.
I said we werent dying. I didnt say we werent starving.
But we wouldnt.
No. We wouldnt.
No matter what.
No. No matter what.
Because we're the good guys.
Yes.
And we're carrying the fire.
And we're carrying the fire, yes.
Okay.
What the fire is seems to be left ambiguous. It could be the light of civilization, it could be hope in the face of hopelessness, or human compassion and right moral conduct, it could be the Holy Spirit for all we know. Their goal is the coast, but the father does not have any idea what they will do once they get there. In fact at the end it is difficult to tell if McCarthy is telling us that hope is real and worthwhile, real but pyrrhic, or mere comforting illusion in a meaningless universe. I fear it is the last one he is favoring.

In the Salve Regina, we hear: "To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve; to thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this vale of tears." The Road makes that vale and banishment stark and complete. The book does not answer whether there is anyone to cry to however.

I also recommend a look at an article Nerd Do-Wells which describes this disturbing trend in films and novels that are essentially saying, "the darkness shines in the light, and the light did not overcome it."
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#5 Aug 28, '08, 1:43 am
Sam Maloney
Regular Member Join Date: June 4, 2004
Posts: 609

Re: The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

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Layman, I think that's a rather harsh judgement on your part. A lot of great art challanges us, takes us to some dark places. The gospels would be pretty meaningless if we removed all the 'downers'.

Scott, the passage you quote is a good one. Father and son carry the light because they still behave ethically. They have values, and are therefore valuable.

The father lives totally for his son, who is kind and gentle, despite the world he lives in. Father is a great paternal role model-- he has forged his son's personality [practically the only other person the son has ever really known], and sacrifices himself daily for his son's sake.

And this, in turn, is why the son is a genuinely good person: he's following in his father's footsteps.

Think about this: the boy could have laid down beside his father's body and starved. He was tempted. But in his very darkest hour, he chose to get up and get going. He chose to try, and when he tried, he found help and hope for a better life.

I find that a powerful, positive message. In my own life, I frequently have to struggle against depression, against the desire to lay in the dark and wait for death. So I can identify with the boy, and the message-- never surrender, but never surrender your values, either-- is incredibly important, even inspirational.

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#6 Aug 31, '08, 1:25 pm
Epistemes
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Re: BOOKS: The Road, Cormac McCarthy

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Hello,

Some very astute observations about the book have already been made.

I agree that the father is offering the boy a great deal of hope throughout the book -- but it is more than obvious that the father himself seems to lack hope. He has lost hope and trust in other humans -- whom he threatens even when they have done nothing wrong to him so far as we can tell. Sure, one guy steals their belongings, but the father's reaction is more than a bit overboard...all springing from his complete and utter distrust. The father's sole purpose for living is the boy and to see that the boy survives. His only hope is that the boy will be a champion of what remains. In the end, I think this proves somewhat true, but not how the father might've expected or wished it: for the boy acts completely contrary to the father's suspicion of other people by entrusting himself to a family of strangers.

Even if McCarthy is trying to convey that hope is an illusion, he at least seems to consider it a worthwhile illusion, one that man needs in order to survive, if not to live.
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--Sebastian Castellio (1515 - 1563)

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#7 Sep 1, '08, 8:39 am
Cordelil
Junior Member Join Date: June 8, 2008
Posts: 195
Religion: Catholic

Re: BOOKS: The Road, Cormac McCarthy

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I read it. I am a Cormac McCarthy fan. The ones I like the best are the first 2 books of the Texas/Mexico trilogy: "All The Pretty Horses," and "The Crossing." Many critics have lauded his novel "Blood Meridian." I have read it once and will probably get around to a second in the future.

I think that the previous replies dealing with the positive apsects of the book are right on target. However, I think it along with is other recent work, "No Country For Old Men," do not measure up to the T/ M trilogy.

John

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#8 Sep 9, '08, 10:30 pm
TomPiltoff
Banned Join Date: September 13, 2007
Posts: 402
Religion: Atheist

Re: The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

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I finished The Road a few months ago (I really wanted to read the book before the movie comes out) and I think it's wonderful.

I definitely agree that the theme of the story is that human compassion will always exist.

Rosary Saved the World in 1960 from Nuclear Annihilation

2011-05-23T09:13:00.000-07:00

On EWTN's Fatima series, Fr. Apostoli said that the Rosary and Our Lady saved the world from the Russia's hydrogen bomb rocket, which he said may have been represented in the Third Secret of Fatima as Our Lady stopping the angel from covering the world with flames.

Fred

http://www.opusangelorum.org/Formation/Holyrosary.html

The Soviets, however, did not give up on their plans to take over western countries. Five years later Nikita Krushev visited the United Nations Headquarters in New York City and boasted that he would bury the United States and the Western world. And to emphasize his point, he took off his shoe and pounded it on top of the table.

The West seemed in danger of a Soviet takeover. But Pope John XXIII had read the third secret of Fatima, and so he had authorized the Bishop of Leiria (Fatima) to write to all the bishops of the world, inviting them to join with pilgrims of Fatima on the night of October 12-13, 1960, to pray the Rosary for peace and for Russia’s conversion. About a million pilgrims responded to the request and spent the night outdoors in a bone-chilling rain before the Blessed Sacrament praying the Rosary. And in addition to this, over 300 dioceses throughout the world joined them.

The Rosaries and sacrifices of millions obtained another astonishing intervention. For that same night the Soviets’ new long-range A-bomb missile unexpectedly blew up during a test, killing three hundred top military leaders and scientists. This set back Russia’s nuclear program twenty years.

http://www.santorosario.net/power.htm

On October 13, 1960.

Most of us remember the time when Nikita Khrushchev visited the United Nations in October, 1960 and boasted that "they would bury us"—would annihilate us! And to emphasize his boasting, he took off his shoe and pounded the desk before the horrified world assembly.

This was no idle boast. Khrushchev knew his scientists had been working on a nuclear missile and had completed their work and planned on November 1960, the 43rd anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution, to present it to Khrushchev.

But here's what happened. Pope John XXIII had opened and read the third Fatima secret given to Sister Lucy. He authorized the Bishop of Leiria (Fatima) to write to all the bishops of the world, inviting them to join with the pilgrims of Fatima on the night of October 12-13, 1960, in prayer and penance for Russia's conversion and consequent world peace.

On the night of October 12-13, about a million pilgrims spent the night outdoors in the Cova da Iria at Fatima in prayer and penance before the Blessed Sacrament. They prayed and watched despite a penetrating rain which chilled them to the bone.

At the same time at least 300 dioceses throughout the world joined with them. Pope John XXIII sent a special blessing to all taking part in this unprecedented night of reparation.

Well, here is what happened. On the night between October 12 and 13, right after his shoe-pounding episode, Khrushchev suddenly pulled up stakes and enplaned in all haste for Moscow, cancelling all subsequent engagements, Why?

Marshall Nedelin, the best minds in Russia on nuclear energy and several government officials were present for the final testing of the missile that was going to be presented to Khrushchev. When countdown was completed, the missile, for some reason or other, did not leave the launch pad. After 15 or 20 minutes, Nedelin and all the others came out of the shelter. When they did, the missile exploded killing over 300 people. This set back Russia's nuclear program for 20 years, prevented all-out atomic warfare, the burying of the U.S.—and this happened on the night when the whole Catholic world was on its knees before the Blessed Sacrament, gathered at the feet of our Rosary Queen in Fatima. Our Lady does not want nuclear war.

http://www.opusangelorum.org/Formation/Holyrosary.html

The Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary
I. THE POWER OF THE ROSARY

"If I had an army to say the Rosary," Pope Pius IX once said, "I could conquer the world." And he said this because the Rosary, next to the Mass, is the most powerful weapon in the Church’s arsenal.

Now most people are aware that the Christian Navy defeated a large Moslem fleet, against overwhelming odds, at Lepanto on October 7, 1571. And most people are aware that this victory was won because Pope Pius V organized a Rosary procession to pray for the success of the battle. However, most people are unaware of the many amazing victories won through the power of the Rosary in the Twentieth Century. And so it is fitting to study some of these miraculous and divine interventions because this will help us to strengthen our faith in Mary’s intercession and to deepen our trust in the power of her Rosary.

One of the most amazing miracles in history occurred at 8:15 a.m. on August 6, 1945, in Hiroshima, Japan. At that time the Americans dropped the first atomic bomb, and it landed just eight city blocks from the Jesuit church of Our Lady of the Assumption. A half million people were killed instantly when the bomb hit, and homes and buildings for miles around were instantly leveled. Yet the Jesuit church and rectory as well as the four Jesuit priests inside it were undamaged and unhurt. Why? Because the priests prayed the Rosary daily.

This miracle, as great as it was, however, was just the beginning of the many wonders that Mary would work through her Rosary in the second half of the twentieth century.

First, there was Austria. After WWII the communists of Russia took over Austria. To shake off this yoke, a Franciscan priest, Fr. Peter Pavlicek, organized a Rosary crusade in 1948. It began on September 12, the Feast of the Holy Name of Mary. Fr. Peter asked for a tithe of Rosaries. He asked that ten percent of all the Austrians pledge to say the Rosary daily until the Soviets left the country. The people of Austria responded generously. They prayed for seven years, and then on May 13, 1955, the Soviets mysteriously just packed up and peacefully left.

The Soviets, however, did not give up on their plans to take over western countries. Five years later Nikita Krushev visited the United Nations Headquarters in New York City and boasted that he would bury the United States and the Western world. And to emphasize his point, he took off his shoe and pounded it on top of the table.

The West seemed in danger of a Soviet takeover. But Pope John XXIII had read the third secret of Fatima, and so he had authorized the Bishop of Leiria (Fatima) to write to all the bishops of the world, inviting them to join with pilgrims of Fatima on the night of October 12-13, 1960, to pray the Rosary for peace and for Russia’s conversion. About a million pilgrims responded to the request and spent the night outdoors in a bone-chilling rain before the Blessed Sacrament praying the Rosary. And in addition to this, over 300 dioceses throughout the world joined them.

The Rosaries and sacrifices of millions obtained another astonishing intervention. For that same night the Soviets’ new long-range A-bomb missile unexpectedly blew up during a test, killing three hundred top military leaders and scientists. This set back Russia’s nuclear program twenty years.

Shortly after this happened, Dona Amelia Basto organized a Rosary campaign in Brazil to save the country from a communist takeover. She managed to recruit 600,000 women in 1962 to say the Rosary in Sao Paulo for peace. And through this demonstration of faith and prayer, the country was spared a communist dictatorship.

Something similar happened in Portugal in 1975. The communist government in that country was peacefully overthrown after a national Rosary crusade for peace was launched.

All these wonders, however, were surpassed on March 25, 1984, when Pope John Paul II called for a Rosary crusade because of the grave danger to world peace at that time. In response to his request, a major "Rosaries for peace" crusade was launched by the Blue Army and other Marian organizations. There was a magnificent response. And on May 13, 1984, one of the largest crowds in Fatima history gathered at the shrine to pray the Rosary for peace. And that very day an explosion at the Soviets’ Severomorsk Naval Base destroyed two-thirds of all the missiles stockpiled for the Soviets’ Northern Fleet. The blast also destroyed the workshops needed to maintain the missiles as well as hundreds of scientists and technicians. Western military experts called it the worst naval disaster the Soviet Navy had suffered since WWII.

Besides this, the Soviet Defense Minister, the mastermind behind the invasion plans, suddenly and mysteriously became seriously ill and then died in December of 1984. Four years later, during the night of May 12, 1988, as thousands prayed the Rosary at Fatima, another mysterious explosion wrecked the only factory that made the rocket motors for the Soviets’ deadly SS 24 long-range missiles, which carry ten nuclear bombs each.

Now all these events, it should be noted, are understandable and explainable only in light of the Fatima apparitions of the Blessed Mother. For when Mary first appeared at the Cova da Ira on May 13, 1917, she said to the children: "Pray the Rosary everyday in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war." And at each of the other five apparitions, she said: "Pray the Rosary every day." Also, it should be noted that the Blessed Mother expressly asked for prayers for the conversion of Russia and that she also prophesized that this nation would endanger the peace and security of the entire world if her words were ignored. In the third apparition on July 13, 1917, she warned:

If my wishes are fulfilled, Russia will be converted and there will be peace. If not, Russia will spread her errors throughout the world, promoting wars and persecution of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, and various nations will be annihilated.

And so by making this prophecy, Mary made the Rosary the indispensable and necessary condition for world peace. In other words, there will be no peace in the world–there can be no peace in the world–until the Rosary is prayed on a wide scale.

Before going further, it should be stressed that the Rosary is not only the best protection for countries and societies, but it is also the best protection any individual person could ever hope to have. For St. Louis de Montfort states in his classic book, The Secret of the Rosary:

If you say the Rosary faithfully until death, I do assure you that, in spite of the gravity of your sins, you shall receive a never fading crown of glory. For even if you are now on the brink of damnation, even if you have one foot in hell, even if you have sold your soul to the devil…sooner or later you will be converted and will amend your life and save your soul. If–you say the Rosary devoutly every day of your life.

There are several reasons why this is so. "First, the Rosary leads us to meditate on all the major mysteries in the life of Christ and therefore to adore and thank God for his love and mercy, which is the principal duty of all the faithful. Second, this prayer takes place through the mediation of Mary, which is most pleasing to God, since she is our spiritual Mother." Third, the Rosary puts us into contact with the holy angels. For St. Alphonsus Liguori says that at each Hail Mary the angels are attracted to us, while the devils are repelled. And Pope Leo XIII states that "each time we meditate on the mysteries of our salvation in the Rosary we in some way imitate the sacred duties once committed to the angels. For they revealed each of the mysteries in its due time; they played a great part in them with expressions of joy, of sorrow, and of triumphant exultation." What then, he asks, "could be greater and more delightful than to mediate and pray with the angels by saying the Rosary?"

II. THE POPES ON THE POWER OF THE ROSARY

The popes, then, of modern times beginning with Pius IX, have stressed and explained the power of the Rosary and the need for saying it often. Leo XIII is especially noteworthy in this respect, for he wrote no less than twelve encyclicals on the Rosary, more than any pope before or since. "There is no question, then, that his influence on the Rosary and its development was the most significant to come from a pope." And much of what he said led to "the greatest popularity which the Rosary enjoyed during the high period of its popular development in the first half of the twentieth century." For this reason, it is important to examine some of his statements on the Rosary. First of all, he directed that the Rosary be recited every day in the cathedral of each diocese and on feast days in all parish churches.

Most importantly, however, he explained the power that the Rosary can unlock. For he said, "the Rosary, if devoutly used is bound to benefit not only the individual, but society at large." In addition to this, he went so far as to state that "the Rosary is our best hope, since it can more than anything else implore from God the help that we need." And interestingly, he added, "the Rosary is the best prayer to help the cause of Christian unity."

To sum up his approach to the Rosary, then, he wrote, "There are, of course, more ways than one to win Mary’s protection by prayer, but as for us, we think that the best and most effective way to her lies in her Rosary."

Pope Pius XII echoed Leo XIII’s confidence in the power of the Rosary. He believed its recitation is the key to peace and happiness in our age. For he wrote, "We put great confidence in the Rosary for the healing of the evils that affect our times." In fact, he said, "there is no surer means of calling down God’s blessings upon the family and especially of preserving peace and happiness in the home than the daily recitation of the Rosary."

Later on, Pope John XXIII helped to develop our understanding of the Rosary in new directions. In one document he spoke about the Rosary as "a prayer of love breathed from the heart." And in another he gave us new insights about how to use the Rosary as a form of meditation. He wrote:

The true substance of the well-meditated Rosary consists in a three-fold element that gives unity and cohesion…to the episodes in the life of Jesus and Mary… For in each decade of Hail Marys there is a picture, and for each picture a three-fold emphasis which is simultaneously: mystical contemplation, intimate reflection and pious intention.

Now it should be noted here that John XXIII had a great love for the Rosary and that he used to recite the entire fifteen decades everyday with all of the papal household.

Pope Paul VI carried on the papal tradition of adding new insights to the Rosary. In a sermon to some children who were members of the Living Rosary Association, he explained how the Rosary can improve social life on earth and also help the poor souls in purgatory. "Through your Rosary you can succeed in giving comfort to the sick, in saving the dying, in converting sinners, in helping the missionaries, and in freeing souls from purgatory."

Besides this, he also strongly recommended praying the family Rosary. "There is no doubt," he wrote, "that the Rosary should be considered as one of the best and most powerful prayers in common that the Christian family could recite."

Now everyone is aware of Pope John Paul II’s great love for the Rosary. For he leads the Rosary every First Saturday in St. Peter’s Basilica, and he has been widely quoted as saying that "the Rosary is my favorite prayer." And so he has, in line with the other popes of the Twentieth Century, strongly promoted devotion to the Rosary. He has stated not only that the "Rosary is a privileged means of averting the danger of war and of obtaining the gift of peace from God," but also that the Rosary "dispels the seeds of family disintegration." For this reason he has urged all Catholics, especially families, to pray the Rosary every day. And he has also urged priests to pray the Rosary and to teach their people how to pray it as well.

From the miracles worked through the Rosary in this century and the endorsements given to it by the popes, we can learn something, then, of the great power contained in the Rosary beads.

III. HOW TO SAY THE ROSARY

Now that we have discussed why we should say the Rosary, it is necessary to explain how we should say it, for there are many misconceptions among good Catholics on the best and most effective way to say–or to pray–the Rosary. Fr. Hardon, in a talk given to the Institute For Religious Life a few years ago, offered several interesting, original, and helpful suggestions on how the Rosary might be prayed. In fact, he stated that there are thirty-four different ways in which the Rosary can be said. Most of what follows is adapted from his conference. Not all, however, of the thirty-four different ways are discussed but just some of the more salient points.

1. Frequently. We should try to say the Rosary as often as possible and not just when we feel like it. Otherwise, we will get out of the habit of saying it altogether.

2. Regularly. This means that there should be certain set times in our lives when we pray the Rosary, for example, every morning or evening, every time we drive a car or take a walk, or before or after mass.

3. Intentionally. We should always have an intention in mind when we say the Rosary. In other words, we should always say it for someone or for some specific need.

4. Privately. We should be able to say the Rosary as easily by ourselves as with other people. Some people get into the bad habit of only saying the Rosary with others. And so because of this, they become unable to say it by themselves. The Church, however, encourages individual recitation by granting a plenary indulgence to anyone who says the Rosary in a church, even if it’s done by him or herself alone.

5. Corporately. Some people have the opposite problem, and they dislike saying the Rosary with others, so we must learn to do it both ways. Again, the Church is our guide here because it grants a plenary indulgence to those persons who pray the Rosary together in a group, that is, two or more persons, inside or outside of a church.

6. Meditatively. This is one of the more important aspects of praying the Rosary. It is most fitting to consciously think about what we are doing and meditate closely on the mystery proposed for each decade. For without doing this, says Pope Paul VI, the "Rosary is merely a body without a soul, and its recitation is in danger of becoming a mechanical repetition of formulas and of going counter to the warning of Christ, who said, ‘in praying do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will win a hearing by their many words.’"

For this reason, the very nature of the Rosary, states Paul VI, stresses a "quiet rhythm and a lingering pace…for in this way the unfathomable riches of the mysteries are unfolded." Further on this point of method, St. Louis de Montfort says that "it is not so much the length of the prayer, but rather the fervor with which it is said that pleases Almighty God and touches his heart. For one single Hail Mary that is said properly is worth more than 150 that are badly said."

It should be noted, however, that the Rosary meditation need not be a prolonged reflection. Rather a simple and attentive glance at the mystery is all that is required. A detailed analysis of the mystery and the corresponding prayers is not necessary, for the Hail Marys and Our Fathers should be seen as a kind of background music that gently induces contemplative prayer.

Now before going further, it is helpful if we know exactly what a "mystery" of the Rosary is. The mysteries, quite simply, are merely fifteen different scenes selected from the life of Christ. For these scenes have been found, over the centuries, to have a unique ability to help us understand the most significant events in the life of Christ. And so we can penetrate the truths of the faith more deeply, then, and also learn how to speak the language of God and His angels better by meditating on the fifteen mysteries.

7. Scripturally. From time to time it, it is helpful to say the Scriptural Rosary. "The Scriptural Rosary follows the old medieval custom of assigning a different little thought to each Hail Mary bead. The thoughts are arranged so that the story of each mystery unfolds, bead by bead, in ten consecutive steps. And most importantly, the Scriptural Rosary draws its Hail Mary thought directly from the Old and New Testaments."

8. Attentively. We must resolve to make a serious effort to keep our mind focused on the mystery on which we are supposed to be meditating. For it is very easy to give into distractions and lapse into daydreaming if we are not vigilant. And so before beginning the Rosary, we should, first of all, put ourselves in the presence of God. Also, it is important to be aware on this point that just by looking at the Rosary beads from time to time is often enough to bring us back to reality.

To help us pray with attention, St. Louis de Montfort recommends "that we imagine that not only God is watching us and that our guardian angel is standing at our right hand, taking our Hail Marys, if they are well said, and using them like roses to make crowns for Jesus and Mary–but also that at our left hand is standing a devil who is ready to pounce upon every Hail Mary poorly said, so that he can accuse us before the Judgment Seat of Christ after our death."

9. Instinctively. Our motto should be as follows: "When in doubt, say the Rosary." And so if we are faced with some insurmountable obstacle and do not know what else to do–or if we just have time on our hands because our plane is late or because we are forced to wait extra long for an appointment–then we should instinctively reach for our Rosary beads and begin to pray.

10. Liturgically. It is a good idea to begin the liturgy with a Rosary, for it is an excellent preparation for the Mass as well as an excellent means of thanksgiving afterwards. The Rosary, however, should never be said during any liturgy, especially during the Mass. Elaborating on this point, Pope Paul VI states, "Meditation on the mysteries of the Rosary can be an excellent preparation for the celebration of those same mysteries in liturgical action and can also become a continuing echo of them afterwards." However, he stresses, "it is a mistake to recite the Rosary during the celebration of the liturgy, though unfortunately this practice still persists here and there."

11. Ecclesiastically. There are associations approved by the Church that increase the graces we receive from praying the Rosary. Two in particular should be mentioned.

The first is the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary. This is an organization of hundreds of thousands of people throughout the world who join their prayers with others through the recitation of the Rosary. Each member promises to pray at least fifteen mysteries of the Rosary once a week, but this promise does not bind under the pain of sin. Further, each member includes the intentions not only of all the living members of the association, but also of all the deceased members as well. And so because of this, it is as if you had hundreds of thousands of people praying the Rosary for you throughout the world. This led St. John Vianney to say: "If anyone has the happiness of being in the Confraternity of the Rosary, he has in all corners of the world brothers and sisters who pray for him." And St. Alphonsus Liguori said: "After the Mass, the best means of helping souls in purgatory is to join the Confraternity of the Rosary."

In addition to these benefits, the Dominicans, who oversee the Confraternity, admit all members to a share in the Masses, prayers, penance, and apostolic works of all the Dominican Fathers, brothers, sisters, cloistered nuns, and third-order members throughout the world.

Next, there is the Living Rosary Association. Again, this is a Dominican-sponsored organization. It is administered by the Dominican Nuns of the Perpetual Rosary in Fatima. Members of the Association promise to spend one hour on the same day of each month praying and meditating on the fifteen decades of the Rosary. The hour is called the "Hour of Guard" and constitutes a place among the royal guard of Mary’s great Rosary family.

12. Apostolically. We should try to become Apostles of the Rosary by getting other people to say it. To do this, we must explain the power of the Rosary and the wonders Mary can work through it. To this end, it is helpful to learn something about the lives of the great saints who specialized in promoting the Rosary, such as St. Dominic and St. Louis de Montfort. Also, it would be helpful to know something about the life of Fr. Patrick Peyton, the great modern Apostle of the Rosary. His life and experiences are described in his autobiography, titled All for Her.

13. Expectively. Expect, that is plan, to say the Rosary at specific times and places and for specific intentions. Unless this is done, it is unlikely that our daily Rosary will be prayed.

14. Promisingly. Get into the habit of promising to say the Rosary for others. We must not, however, promise to say more than we can say in a reasonable period of time.

15. Giftfully. Give Rosary beads as a gift to others, especially on first communions, confirmations, and marriages. These are ideal times to introduce or reintroduce people to the Rosary. Also, give Rosaries on birthdays and anniversaries. Most good Catholics have Rosaries, but they can always use another.

16. Needfully. The Rosary is meant to meet all our needs. We should not hesitate, therefore, to concentrate on certain mysteries and associate them with particular problems we may be experiencing in our life. In other words, we should try to relate the specific mysteries of the Rosary to the specific needs of our life.

17. Openly. We should not be shy or ashamed about saying the Rosary in public or holding it in a crowd, for simply walking around with a Rosary in our hand is a kind of evangelization and a witness to the faith. And so on this point we should always keep in mind the words of Christ: "Whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this faithless and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels (Mk 8:38).

IV. CONCLUSION
Now to conclude, we can do no better than to end with the words of Pope Pius X, speaking of the Rosary: "Of all prayers the Rosary is the most beautiful and the richest in graces; of all it is the one which is most pleasing to Mary, the Virgin Most Holy. Therefore love the Rosary and recite it everyday with devotion."

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Is your Computer Demon Possessed?

2011-05-13T20:53:00.000-07:00

中文(简) | 中文(繁)
Prayer against Internet pornography

Composed by Hieromonk Damascene
Published with blessing of Bishop MAXIM of Western America
Before turning on the computer, make three bows, kiss the holy icons, and say:

O Lord Jesus Christ, my God and Savior, through the prayers of Thy Most Pure Mother and of my Patron Saint and Guardian Angel, preserve me from all sinful pleasures in all my senses; help me not to look at evil and impure images that will harm my soul and separate me from Thee; help me to cut off the desire to indulge in such unchaste activity; and help me rather to do work that is productive and pleasing to Thee and to Thy Church, that I may glorify Thee, together with Thine Unoriginate Father and the Most Holy, Good and Life-creating Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2000/03/10/us_preacher_finds_demonpossessed_pcs/

US preacher finds demon-possessed PCsAlert Print Retweet Facebook And they speak in tongues, too

By Thomas C Greene in Washington DC • Get more from this author

Posted in Business, 10th March 2000 16:19 GMT

Free whitepaper – Corporate Anti-Malware Evolves

Forget about viruses and malicious hackers; the real threat these days is far more insidious. Your home computer may be host to a demon, and you and your family may well come under its malevolent control, the Weekly World News reports. "While the Computer Age has ushered in many advances, it has also opened yet another door through which Lucifer and his minions can enter and corrupt men's souls," the paper quotes the Reverend Jim Peasboro, author of an upcoming book, The Devil in the Machine, as saying.

Demons are able to possess anything with a brain, from a chicken to a human being. And today's thinking machines have enough space on their hard drives to accommodate Satan or his pals, the paper reports. Disk capacity is an issue, however. Only a PC built after 1985 has the storage capacity to house an evil spirit, the minister explained.

The Georgia clergyman says he became aware of the problem from counseling churchgoers. "I learned that many members of my congregation became in touch with a dark force whenever they used their computers," he said. "Decent, happily married family men were drawn irresistibly to pornographic Web sites and forced to witness unspeakable abominations. "Housewives who had never expressed an impure thought were entering Internet chat rooms and found themselves spewing foul, debasing language they would never use normally," he declared. "One woman wept as she confessed to me, 'I feel when I'm on the computer as if someone else or something else just takes over.'"

The minister said he probed one such case, actually logging onto the parishioner's computer himself. To his horror, an artificial-intelligence program started spontaneously. "The program began talking directly to me, openly mocked me," he recalls. "It typed out, 'Preacher, you are a weakling and your God is a damn liar.'" Then the device went haywire and started printing out what looked like gobbledygook. "I later had an expert in dead languages examine the text," the minister said. "It turned out to be a stream of obscenities written in a 2,800-year-old Mesopotamian dialect!" The minister estimates that one in ten computers in America now hosts some type of evil spirit.

The Reverend advises anyone suspecting that their computer is possessed to consult a clergyman, or, if the computer is still under warranty, to take it in for servicing. "Technicians can replace the hard drive and reinstall the software, getting rid of the wicked spirit permanently," he says. ® See also Net is bad news, says Archbishop Bill Gates devil "numerologist" can't count Intel in Revelations avoidance shocker Bishops bash web pornmongers

http://www.cyberexorcism.com/2009/11/your-computer-may-be-possessed-by-a-demon/

Your computer may be possessed by a demon!
1 Comment
JEFF
Posted March 13, 2011 at 1:52 AM
I believe anything can give access, I feel the computers are only part. its the hard drive that hold the instructions, and demonic content.

I repair computers and I know this for a fact because I was shown. I would bring hard drives home to test and or repair, temptations would take place and I would wonder why, I was shown this. Another tip is that I would keep being tempted with things over and over and I wondered why. then I was remionded and I went hunting in another part of my house only to find the very thing my son had placed in his room was the source, its was paper.

Bin Laden Killing Most Botched Operation in History Covered-up by Media

2011-05-13T20:34:00.000-07:00

http://www.lewrockwell.com/roberts/roberts304.html

The Agendas Behind the bin Laden News Event
by Paul Craig Roberts

The US government’s bin Laden story was so poorly crafted that it did not last 48 hours before being fundamentally altered. Indeed, the new story put out on Tuesday by White House press secretary Jay Carney bears little resemblance to the original Sunday evening story. The fierce firefight did not occur. Osama bin Laden did not hide behind a woman. Indeed, bin Laden, Carney said, "was not armed."

The firefight story was instantly suspicious as not a single SEAL got a scratch, despite being up against al Qaeda, described by former Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld as "the most dangerous, best-trained, vicious killers on the face of the earth."

Every original story detail has been changed. It wasn’t bin Laden’s wife who was murdered by the Navy SEALs, but the wife of an aide. It wasn’t bin Laden’s son, Khalid, who was murdered by the Navy SEALs, but son Hamza.

Carney blamed the changed story on "the fog of war." But there was no firefight, so where did the "fog of war" come from?

The White House has also had to abandon the story that President Obama and his national security team watched tensely as events unfolded in real time (despite the White House having released photos of the team watching tensely), with the operation conveyed into the White House by cameras on the SEALs helmets. If Obama was watching the event as it happened, he would have noticed, one would hope, that there was no firefight and, thus, would not have told the public that bin Laden was killed in a firefight. Another reason the story had to be abandoned is that if the event was captured on video, every news service in the world would be asking for the video, but if the event was orchestrated theater, there would be no video.

No explanation has been provided for why an unarmed bin Laden, in the absence of a firefight, was murdered by the SEALs with a shot to the head. For those who believe the government’s story that "we got bin Laden," the operation can only appear as the most botched operation in history. What kind of incompetence does it require to senselessly and needlessly kill the most valuable intelligence asset on the planet?

According to the US government, the terrorist movements of the world operated through bin Laden, "the mastermind." Thanks to a trigger-happy stupid SEAL, a bullet destroyed the most valuable terrorist information on the planet. Perhaps the SEAL was thinking that he could put a notch on his gun and brag for the rest of his life about being the macho tough guy who killed Osama bin Laden, the most dangerous man on the planet, who outwitted the US and its European and Israeli allies and inflicted humiliation on the "world’s only superpower" on 9/11.

When such a foundational story as the demise of bin Laden cannot last 48 hours without acknowledged "discrepancies" that require fundamental alternations to the story, there are grounds for suspicion in addition to the suspicions arising from the absence of a dead body, from the absence of any evidence that bin Laden was killed in the raid or that a raid even took place. The entire episode could just be another event like the August 4, 1964, Gulf of Tonkin event that never happened but succeeded in launching open warfare against North Vietnam at a huge cost to Americans and Vietnamese and enormous profits to the military/security complex.

There is no doubt that the US is sufficiently incompetent to have needlessly killed bin Laden instead of capturing him. But who can believe that the US would quickly dispose of the evidence that bin Laden had been terminated? The government’s story is not believable that the government dumped the proof of its success into the ocean, but has some photos that might be released, someday.

As one reader put it in an email to me: "What is really alarming is the increasingly arrogant sloppiness of these lies, as though the government has become so profoundly confident of their ability to deceive people that they make virtually no effort to even appear credible."

Governments have known from the beginning of time that they can always deceive citizens and subjects by playing the patriot card. "Remember the Maine," the "Gulf of Tonkin," "weapons of mass destruction," "the Reichstag fire" – the staged events and bogus evidence are endless. If Americans knew any history, they would not be so gullible.

The real question before us is: What agenda or agendas is the "death of bin Laden" designed to further?

There are many answers to this question. Many have noticed that Obama was facing re-election with poor approval ratings. Is anyone surprised that the New York Times/CBS Poll finds a strong rise in Obama’s poll numbers after the bin Laden raid? As the New York Times reported, "the glow of national pride" rose "above partisan politics, as support for the president rose significantly among both Republicans and independents. In all, 57 percent said they now approved of the president’s job performance, up from 46 percent."

In Washington-think, a 24% rise in approval rating justifies a staged event.

Another possibility is that Obama realized that the the budget deficit and the dollar’s rescue from collapse require the end of the expensive Afghan war and occupation and spillover war into Pakistan. As the purpose of the war was to get bin Laden, success in this objective allows the US to withdraw without loss of face, thus making it possible to reduce the US budget deficit by several hundred billion dollars annually – an easy way to have a major spending cut.

If this is the agenda, then more power to it. However, if this was Obama’s agenda, the military/security complex has quickly moved against it. CIA director Leon Panetta opened the door to false flag attacks to keep the war going by declaring that al Qaeda would avenge bin Laden’s killing. Secretary of State Clinton declared that success in killing bin Laden justified more war and more success. Homeland Security declared that the killing of bin Laden would motivate "homegrown violent extremists" into making terrorist attacks. "Homegrown violent extremists" is an undefined term, but this newly created bogyman seems to include environmentalists and war protesters. Like "suspect," the term will include anyone the government wants to pick up.

Various parts of the government quickly seized on the success in killing bin Laden to defend and advance their own agendas, such as torture. Americans were told that bin Laden was found as a result of information gleaned from torturing detainees held in Eastern European CIA secret prisons years ago.

This listing of possible agendas and add-on agendas is far from complete, but for those capable of skepticism and independent thought, it can serve as a starting point. The agendas behind the theater will reveal themselves as time goes on. All you have to do is to pay attention and to realize that most of what you hear from the mainstream media is designed to advance the agendas.

May 5, 2011

Paul Craig Roberts [send him mail], a former Assistant Secretary of the US Treasury and former associate editor of the Wall Street Journal, has been reporting shocking cases of prosecutorial abuse for two decades. A new edition of his book, The Tyranny of Good Intentions, co-authored with Lawrence Stratton, a documented account of how Americans lost the protection of law, has been released by Random House.

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/?page=2

Tuesday, May 3, 2011 11:04 ET
In bin Laden killing, media -- as usual -- regurgitates false Government claims
By Glenn Greenwald

AP
Osama Bin Laden
Virtually every major newspaper account of the killing of Osama bin Laden consists of faithful copying of White House claims. That's not surprising: it's the White House which is in exclusive possession of the facts, but what's also not surprising is that many of the claims that were disseminated yesterday turned out to be utterly false. And no matter how many times this happens -- from Jessica Lynch's heroic firefight against Iraqi captors to Pat Tillman's death at the hands of Evil Al Qaeda fighters -- it never changes: the narrative is set forever by first-day government falsehoods uncritically amplified by establishment media outlets, which endure no matter how definitively they are disproven in subsequent days.

Yesterday, it was widely reported that bin Laden "resisted" his capture and "engaged in a firefight" with U.S. forces (leaving most people, including me, to say that his killing was legally justified because he was using force). It was also repeatedly claimed that bin Laden used a women -- his wife -- as a human shield to protect himself, and that she was killed as a result. That image -- of a cowardly through violent-to-the-end bin Laden -- framed virtually every media narrative of the event all over the globe. And it came from many government officials, principally Obama's top counter-terrorism adviser, John Brennan.

Continue reading
Those claims have turned out to be utterly false. From TPM today:

It was a fitting end for the America's most wanted man. As President Barack Obama's Deputy National Security Adviser John Brennan told it, a cowardly Osama bin Laden used his own wife as a human shield in his final moments. Except that apparently wasn't what happened at all.

Hours later, other administration officials were clarifying Brennan's account. Turns out the woman that was killed on the compound wasn't bin Laden's wife. Bin Laden may have not even been using a human shield. And he might not have even been holding a gun.

Politico's Josh Gerstein adds: "The White House backed away Monday evening from key details in its narrative about the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, including claims by senior U.S. officials that the Al Qaeda leader had a weapon and may have fired it during a gun battle with U.S. forces." Gerstein added: "a senior White House official said bin Laden was not armed when he was killed."

Whether bin Laden actually resisted his capture may not matter to many people; the White House also claimed that they would have captured him if they had the chance, and this fact seems to negate that claim as well. But what does matter is how dutifully American media outlets publish as "news reports" what are absolutely nothing other than official White House statements masquerading as an investigative article. And the fact that this process continuously produces highly and deliberately misleading accounts of the most significant news items -- falsehoods which endure no matter how decisively they are debunked in subsequent days -- doesn't have the slightest impact on the American media's eagerness to continue to serve this role.

* * * * *

Mona Eltahawy has an excellent column in The Guardian today headlined: "No dignity at Ground Zero. As a US Muslim I abhor the frat boy reaction."

Speaking of "frat boy reactions," Leon Panetta is excitingly speculating about which actors should portray him in the movie about the Hunt for bin Laden, helpfully suggesting Al Pacino. It's been a long time since Americans felt this good and strong about themselves -- nothing like putting bullets in someone's skull and dumping their corpse into an ocean to rejuvenate that can-do American sense of optimism.

Media Scrambles as Bin Laden Story Crumbles

by Alex Newman

h ttp://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/politics/7387-media-scrambles-as-bin-laden-story-crumbles

While the establishment media was busy parroting President Obama’s announcement of Osama bin Laden’s supposed assassination, reporting the unsubstantiated claims as if they were unquestionable facts, much of the so-called “alternative” press was far more cautious — and accurate, it turns out. But more importantly, with the new official storyline indicating that bin Laden was in fact unarmed, bigger and much more important questions are beginning to emerge.
In terms of coverage, it turns out that the skeptical approach proved far superior in terms of getting it right. Countless mainstream sources were so confident in Obama’s word that they reported many of the claims as fact without even attributing them to the President.

But the official White House narrative has been changed so many times in recent days that now it’s almost unrecognizable. There wasn‘t even a fire fight; yet this was one of the crucial elements of the original story that justified the assassination of a person the government painted as the most valuable source of information on the planet — the leader of al-Qaeda. And in reporting the statements as fact, the establishment press has officially been left with egg all over its face again.

"[Bin Laden] was engaged in a firefight with those that entered the area of the house he was in," said terror czar John Brennan. Similarly, Obama said that “after a firefight, they killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body.” The next day, however, the White House spokesman admitted bin Laden “was not armed." Trying to save face and justify the killing of an unarmed man, the spokesman added, without elaborating, that “resistance does not require a firearm."

More than a few other important parts of the storyline have been altered, contradicted, or simply exposed as false, too. Everything from which of bin Laden’s sons was supposedly killed to the claim that his wife was killed after being used as a “human shield” — all of it has changed for some reason or another. The transcript after Brennan’s speech was altered to change the name of the dead son. The new and improved narrative now says that not only was bin Laden’s wife not killed, but that she was not used as a human shield.

Originally the White House also suggested top officials watched the raid live through a video feed. Terror czar Brennan, for example, claimed that they “had real-time visibility into the progress of the operation.” CIA boss Leon Panetta later exposed that claim as false in an interview with PBS, saying: “There was a time period of almost 20 or 25 minutes that we really didn't know just exactly what was going on."

That means the “ photo op” of Obama and other officials intently “watching” the operation in the “Situation Room” was almost certainly staged for the press. And almost every media outlet that ran the picture used inaccurate captions parroting the White House claims.

And there’s more. The night of the raid, one administration official told reporters that a helicopter was lost due to mechanical failure. During that same briefing, another administration official said, "We didn't say it was mechanical." Now they claim the crash had something to do with the temperature at bin Laden’s supposed compound.

A poorly photo-shopped image of a dead bin Laden embarrassed a large swath of the world press and several Senators, too. Shortly after newspapers and television stations around the globe ran the image, it was exposed as a shoddy forgery that had been circulating for years. Now Obama said he “decided” not to release any pictures — or any other evidence that any element of the story is true, for that matter.

And then there’s the burial issue. The Obama administration originally claimed no country would accept the body; so, it was dumped at sea — Mafia style — in accordance with what Obama alleged were Islamic traditions and customs. When prominent Muslim theological leaders repudiated that lie and noted that it was actually a violation of Islamic tenets to bury Osama bin Laden in the ocean, the new line was that the decision was to avoid the creation of a “shrine.” That lie fell apart, too, when it was widely reported that bin Laden’s brand of Islam calls for unmarked graves — building any sort of shrine would have been blasphemous. So far, no new excuses have been concocted for allegedly feeding the body to the fish.

After the numerous discrepancies and falsehoods in the storyline became painfully obvious, the Associated Press, USA Today, Fox News and other outlets slowly and begrudgingly started to report it. “From the first moments, a good number of the details about bin Laden's killing, on points large and small, have been wrong,” admitted a Fox reporter in one of the more candid acknowledgements to appear in the mainstream press.

But of course, most of the media were also dutifully offering and parroting all manner of excuses. “Fog of war” was to blame for the confusion, claimed the White House spokesman after that excuse was suggested to him by a member of the “press” corps asking a question. Virtually every major news outlet reporting the changes in the official story promptly blamed “fog of war,” too.

An apologist reporter at USA Today wrote that “the administration did its best to get the story quickly,” adding “it's common situation with military action.” The paper quoted a Pentagon spokesperson under the Bush administration to bolster its case.

The AP offered a similar excuse along with the “fog of combat” line offered by the White House. “The contradictions and misstatements reflect the fact that even in the case of a highly successful and popular mission, the confusion inherent in a fast-paced, unpredictable military raid conducted under intense pressure in a foreign country does not lend itself immediately to a tidy story line,” the reporter claimed, citing “some experts.”

Several excuses for the ever-changing story were offered by other publications, too. The possibility that they were deliberate lies or worse was virtually never addressed. But the U.K. Independent noted: “The impression persists that the administration sought to cast the operation in the most heroic light possible, at the expense of the facts.”

Now, the President and his spokespeople and subordinates are refusing to offer more details or explanations. The government has also announced that it will not be releasing pictures or any other evidence to support its claims even as suspicions continue to mount.

But as analysts pointed out, the newly revealed fact that there was no fire fight begs the question about where the “fog” may have come from. And even more importantly: Why, in the absence of a fire fight, would U.S. forces put a bullet through the brain supposedly containing the most valuable intelligence on the planet? What if bin Laden knew where that alleged nuclear bomb in Europe was located that was set to detonate after his capture or death? None of those questions have been addressed so far.

But prominent critics are sounding the alarm. “When such a foundational story as the demise of bin Laden cannot last 48 hours without acknowledged ‘discrepancies’ that require fundamental alternations to the story, there are grounds for suspicion in addition to the suspicions arising from the absence of a dead body, from the absence of any evidence that bin Laden was killed in the raid or that a raid even took place,” noted Paul Craig Roberts, a senior official in the former Reagan administration in a piece entitled “ The Agendas Behind the bin Laden News Event.”

Roberts raised several important questions, too, as well as some comparisons. “The entire episode could just be another event like the August 4, 1964, Gulf of Tonkin event that never happened but succeeded in launching open warfare against North Vietnam at a huge cost to Americans and Vietnamese and enormous profits to the military/security complex,” he suggested, citing a series of government deceptions that have led to war based on lies and other atrocities.

Roberts suspects there are more lies about the bin Laden narrative than those exposed so far. And he’s certainly not alone. It emerged recently that the man who owned the house next to bin Laden’s supposed compound doesn’t even believe the story either. “To be honest, it’s not true,” he told Al Jazeera.

As the official story continues to be re-written by the administration and those in the media who simply re-package government press releases, critics and skeptics would seem to be justified in wondering what other lies and "fog of war" changes may emerge in the coming weeks and months. And perhaps even more importantly, we might also wonder if there are lies that may never be exposed in their entirety?

7 Lies About Bin Laden's Killing by the Obama Administration

2011-05-11T23:18:00.000-07:00

http://www.alternet.org/news/150857/7_deceptions_about_bin_laden's_killing_pushed_by_the_obama_administration/

7 Deceptions About Bin Laden's Killing Pushed by the Obama Administration

The Obama administration deftly shaped the media coverage of its prized kill by detailing a picture-perfect, morally unambiguous special forces operation, which culminated in the death of Osama bin Laden. Most of the details of that narrative have now unravelled, but the conventional wisdom that the tale established remains. As Glenn Greenwald put it, that's par for the course: “the narrative is set forever by first-day government falsehoods uncritically amplified by establishment media outlets, which endure no matter how definitively they are disproven in subsequent days.”

In his address to the American people, and in subsequent media briefings by senior officials, we were told that a small force of as many as 25 Navy Seals stormed the compound with orders to take bin Laden alive, if possible. White House spokesman Jay Carney said that once inside the compound, they came under heavy fire and “were engaged in a firefight throughout the operation.” The SEALs killed Osama bin Laden's son when he lunged for them on a staircase, and finally encountered their quarry in a bedroom, where, after taking a woman believed to be his wife as a human shield, bin Laden died in a vicious fire-fight. The operation, Obama said, was carried out “with extraordinary courage and capability.”

As the week wore on, all of these details were "revised," and the administration claims that the initial, improbably clean account of what happened was merely a product of the "fog of war." And, as Salon's Justin Elliott notes, “despite the major misstatements by the administration on perhaps the biggest story of the year, the media has largely taken a deferential stance” to that position.

Let's look at what has changed since that first draft of history was written by the administration.

1. No Firefight

John Brennan, White House security adviser, initially told reporters that bin Laden “was engaged in a firefight with those that entered the area of the house he was in.” But on Wednesday, unnamed “administration officials” told NBC that only one person fired on U.S. troops from an adjacent guest house, and once they entered the main residence the “resistance” we were told they faced “never materialized.”

The compound was cleared quickly, said the officials, and rather than a 40-minute firefight, the commandoes spent most of their time there gathering computer hard drives and other potential sources of intelligence.

2. No Human Shields

A senior defense official at the Pentagon told reporters that bin Laden and other combatants "certainly did use women as shields." Jay Carney “revised” that part of the narrative, saying, "a woman, rather, bin Laden's wife, rushed the U.S. assaulter and was shot in the leg but not killed."

3. Kill Team?

Bin Laden's daughter alleges that the special forces operators first captured bin Laden and then executed him, though that story hasn't been confirmed. But (yet another) unnamed administration official told Reuters that the team “was under orders to kill the al Qaeda mastermind, not capture him.”

Attorney General Eric Holder claimed that the killing was an act of “self-defense,” but the account given by another official to NBC appears consistent with the idea that they were ordered to kill the terrorist leader. After entering the bedroom where bin Laden was holed up and shooting a woman in the leg, “without hesitation, the same commando turned his gun on bin Laden, standing in what appeared to be pajamas, and fire two quick shots, one to the chest and one to the head.” There were reports of weapons in the bedroom, but bin Laden was “unarmed at the time he was shot.” When asked if the al Qaeda leader had said anything to the operators, CIA chief Leon Panetta told PBS' Jim Lehrer, "To be frank, I don't think he had a lot of time to say anything."

4. Larger Force

According to the New York Times, the team comprised 79 special forces operators and a dog, 3 times the number of troops originally reported. This is relevant to the question of whether they could have taken bin Laden alive had that been their goal. As David Dayen noted, “the SEALs were well-trained and had the element of surprise, and this overmatched their foes, who were not plentiful – there was not a phalanx of bodyguards protecting the al Qaeda leader.”

5. No “Picture-Perfect” Operation

According to the Associated Press, “Navy SEALs carried out what those involved call a textbook military operation that killed the world’s most wanted man, Osama bin Laden.” It's an odd assertion, given that the raid appears to have resulted in a coveted, highly classified technology falling into the hands of a rival state.

ABC reports that one of the four helicopters used in the raid was damaged and destroyed by the SEAL team. But the parts left behind in the compound revealed a “top secret, never-before-seen stealth-modified helicopter” that had previously only been “rumored to exist.” According to the report, “photographs emerged of large sections being taken from the crash site under a tarp,” and former White House counterterrorism adviser Richard Clarke “said U.S. officials may have reason to worry about where those parts end up.”

"There are probably people in the Pentagon tonight who are very concerned that pieces of the helicopter may be, even now, on their way to China, because we know that China is trying to make stealth aircraft," he said. The Chinese military is known to have a close relationship with the Pakistani military.

6. Not Living in Luxury

On Monday, defense officials told reporters that bin Laden was holed up in a million-dollar compound and wondered what other terrorists might make of the situation "when they see that their leader was living, relatively speaking, high on the hog."

I fell for this one myself, writing on Monday that “bin Laden was living in the lap of luxury among our allies, not in either of the countries we've invaded and occupied since 9/11.” But according to The Guardian, “local estimates suggest the house is worth $250,000.”

Footage from inside the compound shows little sign of luxury. Cooking equipment was shown on the floor, the decor seemed shabby, medicines were left on a shelf with no cabinet and the pantry seemed rudimentary. The paint was peeling outside the building and there was no sign of air-conditioning.

7. White House Wasn't Watching the Whole Operation Unfold

On Monday, John Brennan said, "We were able to monitor in a real-time basis the progress of the operation from its commencement to its time on target to the extraction of the remains and to then the egress off of the target.” This gave way to the now iconic images of Obama, Hillary Clinton, and others watching intensely from the White House situation room. But the next day, CIA Director Leon Panetta told PBS, “Once those teams went into the compound, I can tell you that there was a time period of almost 20 or 25 minutes that we really didn't know just exactly what was going on. There were some very tense moments as we were waiting for information.”

Joshua Holland is an editor and senior writer at AlterNet. He is the author of The 15 Biggest Lies About the Economy (and Everything else the Right Doesn't Want You to Know About Taxes, Jobs and Corporate America). Drop him an email or follow him on Twitter.

Netflix and Child Pornography

2011-05-09T09:22:00.000-07:00

Boycott Netflix and say Fr Apostoli Prayer

DAILY PRAYER TO OUR BLESSED MOTHER
(To be recited Morning, mid-Day and Night)

Mary, loving Daughter of God the Father, I give my soul to your care. Protect the life of God in my soul, do not let me lose it by serious sin. Protect my mind and my will so that all of my thoughts and desires will be pleasing to God.

Hail Mary...

Mary, loving Mother of God the Son, I give my heart to your care. Let me love Jesus with all my heart. Let me always try to love my neighbor, and let me avoid friends who might lead me away from Jesus and into a life of sin.

Hail Mary...

Mary, loving Spouse of the Holy Spirit, I give my body to your care. Let me always remember that my body is a home for the Holy Spirit Who dwells in me. Let me never sin against Him by any impure actions, alone or with others, against the virtue of purity.

Hail Mary...

by Father Andrew Apostoli, CFR

http://boards.ign.com/teh_vestibule/b5296/198571706/r198585073/

Wow I just saw Child Porn on Netflix.

Dec 19, 2010
You'd get arrested for it and charged with possession of child pornography if it wasn't in a professional movie.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110107185015AA2E7tu

Why is netflix allowed to have child pornography on it's site?
I was recommended to watch a film on netflix called Home (from 2008), I think it's French. A young child actor, around 9 years of age is fully frontal naked more times in this film than I care to remember. I was disgusted.

I ask you, would YOU allow your own child to subject themselves to this sort of attention? If not, then why is it ok for them to be exploited on netflix? Can't America be better than this? Do we need to be as immoral as everyone else?

I would think a boycott of Netflix is in order! I don't know why this is allow?

Pro-Porn Netflix is Anti-EWTN: Go to Pius Media the Catholic DVD Rental Company

2011-05-06T11:07:00.000-07:00

How come EWTN documentaries never make it to netflics?.. the only one i've seen on netflics that has been aired on ewtn is "into silence", it would be REALLY COOL to see the documentaries i see on EWTN on a secular video service.
almost 85%(maybe more) of these documentaries are about pot smoking, sex, how evil the Church is, anti-God, alternative lifestyles, history channel's vision of Christian history and anti-government, and that's not mentioning the movies, is there any way that we can petition EWTN or NETFLICS to show good Christian(Catholic) films and documentaries like the Vatican approved shroud of Turin documentary, or the "river of light" wich i really enjoyed? I think this is another way we can reach people who don't get EWTN or go to Church or are misguided by protestant Neo-chritianity, or been thought unreal history of the world and its Church.

What do you guys think?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pius Media, the Catholic DVD rental company has tons of EWTN programming. They are much like Netflix in how they work but their selection is entirely upright and wholesome. What a delightful family business and apostolate!

Catholic Therapy

2011-04-29T13:09:00.000-07:00

1. How do I know which books or tapes are right for me?
If you are new to Dr. Baars and Dr. Terruwe's work, Born Only Once is a good place to start. Suzanne Baars tape set, "Made In His Image" is also a good place to start. If you would like an in-depth discussion of Emotional Deprivation Disorder, please read Healing the Unaffirmed. For questions and answers about the emotional life, Feeling and Healing Your Emotions is written in an easy to understand fashion. See our book description page for further information.

2. Which book should I start with?
Born Only Once is a good, concise little book on affirmation and an excellent place to start. Suzanne Baars' tape set, "Made In His Image" is also a good place to start for an overall understanding of her father's work.

3. I don't like to read. Is there a tape that's right for me?
Born Only Once is on audiotape and can be purchased through Living His Life Abundantly®, International, Inc. It is ID #: AC1291 or through Suzanne Baars. "Made In His Image" by Suzanne Baars is also on audiotape. There are some other helpful tapes available. Please see our Tape and CD page as well as our order form for titles. Some audio and video tapes can be ordered through Living His Life Abundantly International, Inc. See also our page on audio tapes from Moments of Truth Live and The Abundant Life.

4. Why were Dr. Baars' and Dr. Terruwe's books revised and updated?

In the United States, the standard for works in psychology/psychiatry/counseling is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR, American Psychiatric Association, 2000). Books written in the mental health field need to be in a compatible format. Dr. Baars works were written to a 1968 DSM-II standard. Standards have changed greatly since then. If the books were reprinted with the old terminology, deprivation neurosis (Emotional Deprivation Disorder) would not be accepted into the DSM. In addition, terms such as “neurosis” are no longer accepted by the American Psychiatric Association as diagnostic terms, therefore, “deprivation neurosis” and "obsessive-compulsive neurosis" are obsolete terms. The books needed revision in this very important area of diagnostic terminology.

Therapy

1. Where can I find a therapist who practices this way?
There are a limited number of therapists who understand Dr. Terruwe and Dr. Baars' work and put it into practice. If you would like to find out if there is a therapist near you that we can recommend, please send an email to information@conradbaars.com with the area of the country you live in and we will let you know if there is a therapist in your area.

2. Why doesn't my therapist know about this therapy?
There are many theories in the world of psychology today. Since this therapy incorporates the spiritual aspect of the human person, it is not in the mainstream of psychology today. We pray that with the advent of the Internet and the republication of a number of Dr. Baars' and Dr. Terruwe's books in the English language, more therapists will come to know and embrace the truths found in this therapy.

3. Is phone or Internet therapy okay for Emotional Deprivation Disorder?
It is important for someone with Emotional Deprivation Disorder to be able to have a face-to-face relationship with a therapist or an affirming person. It is important for an unaffirmed person to be able to see his or her goodness reflected in the eyes, facial expression and body language of that person. Unfortunately, that's not possible through phone or Internet therapy. It's best to try to find a face-to-face relationship whenever possible.

4. How can I introduce my therapist to this information?
Introducing a therapist to Dr. Terruwe and Dr. Baars' work through books and tapes can be quite helpful in a therapeutic relationship. Not all therapists will have time to read the books and listen to the tapes, however. It is important to have a warm, caring and understanding therapist who can see your goodness and reveal it to you.

5. There isn't an affirmation therapist in my area. What should I look for in a therapist?
Look for a therapist who is warm, caring, and understanding and has a good understanding of the healthy emotional life. See our page on Affirmation Therapy.

6. I'm a Christian. Do I need a Christian therapist?
It's important to have a good, comfortable relationship with your therapist. It's also very important to have someone who can understand the spiritual aspect of your life. If your therapist practices a different religion than you do, it is important to try to have a priest, minister or spiritual director of your faith tradition to help you with issues that involve religion or God. It's not always possible to receive important and necessary information for healing from someone who doesn't understand your faith background. Even though is not essential that your therapist be Christian, it's very helpful.

7. Does the person who affirms me have to be a therapist?

No, it is not necessary that the person who affirms an unaffirmed person is a therapist. It can be a pastor, priest, spiritual director, special relative or friend that God places in one's life. It is important that an unaffirmed person have a therapeutic relationship though.

8. How long can one expect to be in affirmation therapy?

That depends on how affirmed or unaffirmed a person is. Everyone is different and comes to therapy with different backgrounds, different parents, different family and living situations, different friends, etc. In therapy, because individuals grow through developmental stages that they missed in life, it takes longer than many other therapies and takes patience and understanding on the part of the therapist. The affirmation therapist is not looking for quick fixes to an immediate problem. The therapist is looking for life-long healing and wholeness. For persons with Emotional Deprivation Disorder, treatment can take a number of years.

Affirmation

1. Is affirmation the same as saying "affirmations" to yourself?
No, it isn't. Affirmation is the emotional strengthening of another person. It is essentially unconditional love and acceptance of another person. It is being receptive to another person's goodness in an affective manner and revealing that person's goodness back to him or her.

Repeating "affirmations" can be a way of trying to convince one's intellect that one is good and worthwhile. A person needs to feel good and worthwhile on an emotional level, however and that must be revealed through another person.

2. I'm unaffirmed. What do I do now?
It's important to become affirmed by someone else, whether that person is a therapist or another caring person. First, it's good to find a therapeutic relationship that you are comfortable with. Second, it's very helpful to read Dr. Baars and Dr. Terruwe's books and listen to the available tapes. It is important to learn to live more affectively as opposed to effectively. In other words, it's important to "be" more and "do" less.

Born Only Once is a very helpful book to read to learn to live this way. As a person learns to live more affectively, he or she naturally becomes more open and receptive to affirmation when it comes into his or her life through another person.

3. I know someone who I believe is unaffirmed. How can I help this person?
Be there for this unaffirmed person. Let them see their goodness and worth through your eyes, facial expression and body language. Read Born Only Once and Healing the Unaffirmed if you have not already done so. These books have some excellent information on helping unaffirmed persons.

4. I'm an older adult. Is it too late for me to become affirmed?
It's never too late to be affirmed by another person. One can help the process by learning to live "the affirming life."

5. Can I affirm my child too much?
You cannot affirm someone too much. You can overindulge or spoil a child through giving the child too many "things" or allowing the child to manipulative, but you can never give too much "authentic" affirmation. Affirmation is about receiving the goodness of another into your heart and revealing it to that person through your eyes, facial expression, and body language, etc. It's "being there" for another person. See our page on Affirmation Therapy.

6. I have not been able to affirm my children. How can I help them now?
Learn to live the affirming life. Find a good, warm, caring and understanding therapist. (Marriage and family therapy is a good idea, too!) Read the different Baars & Terruwe books, listen to the different tapes and understand what it is to have a healthy emotional life. Take time to learn to "be." A good idea is to read Born Only Once if you haven't already done so. Find out what "denial" is (the opposite of affirmation) so that you can avoid denying your children and others. As you become affirmed, you will be able to be affirming to them.

7. What is self-affirmation?
It is an attempt to affirm oneself by trying to prove to others that one is good and worthwhile. It may be in the form of striving for success, fame or power. It is an unhealthy process which is discussed in Feeling and Healing Your Emotions, Healing the Unaffirmed and Born Only Once. Please see these books for more information.

8. How do I learn to live the affirming life?

The topic of learning to live the affirming life is a very profound one and one that cannot be adequately answered in such a small space. It's learning to "be present to everything in creation" and it's learning how to live more quietly and unhurriedly. Most importantly it's learning to "be." Born Only Once is very helpful in understanding this important concept of how to live the affirming life. Feeling and Healing Your Emotions and Healing the Unaffirmed are good follow-up books.

Suzanne M. Baars, M.A.

1. How will I know if Suzanne Baars will be talking in my area?
We have an email information and announcement list that you can sign up to receive current information. We also have email discussion groups which you can join. We post information on those lists. We also will post information on this website.

2. How can I find out when Suzanne Baars will be on television again?
You can sign up for our email information and announcement list. We try to keep current information on upcoming conferences and television appearances there. We also will post information on this website. You can also check the website for Living His Life Abundantly® International, Inc.

3. How can I invite Suzanne Baars to talk in my area?
Contact her through her office in Dallas or email her at therapy@conradbaars.com.

In His Image Christian Counseling Service, 3213 N. MacArthur Blvd., Suite 202, Irving, Texas 75062.

214-441-3797.

Spirituality
1. "It is not body or spirit, but body and spirit, interacting by means of intellect and emotions (psyche), which enable us to love God." (Baars)

Questions about Symptoms and Disorders

1. How do I deal with my anger?
Anger is a very difficult subject to write briefly about. Feeling and Healing Your Emotions is a good resource to find an in-depth discussion. The tapes on "anger" and "premature forgiveness" by Dr. Baars are also very helpful. It's important to realize that the emotion of anger is a good and necessary emotion. It plays a very important role in our lives.

2. What is Emotional Deprivation Disorder?
Emotional Deprivation Disorder is a syndrome that results from a lack of authentic affirmation in early life. Read our page on Emotional Deprivation Disorder.

3. Is it okay to diagnose myself?

It's always best to have a therapist make a diagnosis of an emotional disorder. Many people recognize themselves in Dr. Baars and Dr. Terruwe's books, however, it's important to have an objective person who can look at the whole picture.

4. I have OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder). What can I do to help myself?

It's important to find a warm, caring and understanding therapist, preferably one who understands Dr. Terruwe's and Dr. Baars' therapy for repressive disorders. It's also important to read and understand the concepts in Psychic Wholeness and Healing and Feeling and Healing Your Emotions. There are a number of tapes that are helpful also, especially the "Affirmation and Psychic Incarnation" self-help tapes by Dr. Conrad W. Baars. One must learn about the emotional life and that all emotions are good and necessary to one's psychological health and wholeness.

Information for Therapists

1. I'm a therapist. How can I learn how to practice this way?
For a therapist to be an effective Affirmation Therapist, he or she must be an affirmed and mature person. He or she must also know and understand the concepts presented in the different books and on the tapes by Dr. Anna Terruwe, Dr. Conrad Baars and Suzanne Baars. These concepts include the healthy emotional life, emotional deprivation disorder, affirmation therapy, repressive disorders including fear-based repression, energy-based repression and obsessive-compulsive repression, rational guidance of one's emotions and mortification therapy of sexual obsessions and compulsions. One must also learn about and live "the affirming life."

Please email information@conradbaars.com for further information.

2. Can I become certified in this therapy?
At this time we do not have a way to certify therapists in Affirmation Therapy. We hope that we will be able to do so in the future. We also hope to have regular conferences for therapists in the future.

3. What books are most important to read?
All the books are important to read and understand. Each book contributes valuable information to the whole picture. Psychic Wholeness and Healing has important information about the human person's "normal" psychology and information about repressive disorders and their treatment. Healing the Unaffirmed has an extensive discussion on Emotional Deprivation Disorder and proper therapy for unaffirmed persons. Both of these books are very important for the therapist to read and understand.

If you are unfamiliar with Dr. Terruwe's and Dr. Baars' work, Suzanne Baars' tape set "Made In His Image" is a good overview. Born Only Once is an excellent starting book for clients or patients to read to begin their path to psychological wholeness.

See the book description page for more complete information on the other books, especially Born Only Once, Feeling and Healing Your Emotions and The Unquiet Heart.

Dr. Conrad Baars also made a number of audiocassettes which are helpful for both therapist and client or patient. These tapes include:

"Affirmation & Psychic [Psychological] Incarnation: For Emotionally & Spiritually Troubled People" (3 tape set)

"Fear is Useless - What is Needed is Trust"/"Don't Look at the Waves - Look at Jesus"

"Speak Lord - An Aid to Meditation"/"Be Still - An Aid to Contemplation"

"Premature Forgiving - When to Forgive and How"/"Healing Prayer for Psychic [Psychological] Wholeness"

These books and tapes are available through Michael Baars on the order form page.

4. How can I connect with other therapists who either know this therapy or are learning it?

We have created a therapist discussion list so we will have a forum for therapists to discuss Dr. Baars and Dr. Terruwe's work. If you would like an invitation to join, please send an email to AAtherapists-subscribe@yahoogroups.com or contact Bonnie Shayne (We ask that only mental health professionals and students apply so that this can be a clinical discussion list. Thank you for understanding. If you are not a therapist, please join one of our other email discussion groups.)

THE SAINT OF OBEDIENCE PADRE PIO

2011-04-23T09:11:00.000-07:00

http://www.unitypublishing.com/Newsletter/PadrePioCrowds.htm

-This was the last letter Padre Pio ever wrote. I am sure Padre Pio would say the same thing Lucia said, "He who is not with the Pope is not with God." Or Faustina who was told by Christ, "The devil can imitate humility but he cannot imitate obedience."

-Padre Pio's holiness is so extraordinary that it might even be frightening. He is the Simon of Cyrene of this century. His stigmata are the proof, but also his very long days in the confessional. And then his nights dedicated to penance, prayer, struggles with the devil. This is his mysticism of expiation.

I have considered Padre Pio's legacy all my life, as he was one of the two reasons for my coming back to the Catholic Church - the other being Fatima.

His love of the Mass, his love of confessions, his suffering and the stigmata, his many miracles, his constant conversations with the angels, his prayers and love of the souls in Purgatory, his spiritual direction, his very proof of God in the middle of two world wars by atheists who were out to prove there is no God, all these things are legacies of Padre Pio.

But the greatest legacy is his obedience to his superior, and to Rome at a time when many very conservative and traditional Catholics were attacking the Holy Father for the changes in the Church.

Falsely accused of disrupting the Mass, Padre Pio was ordered by the Holy Father to say Mass privately in his room and without a single objection he did so for six years. His superior trying to hold down the crowds to his daily Mass ordered them said at 4:00 AM and Padre Pio never even asked why.

At a time when the world was attacking Pope Paul VI for the changes to the Mass, Padre supported him with a letter dated 12 September 1968, just 11 days before Padre Pio died on 23 September. This is that letter by Padre Pio to Pope Paul VI:

"I well understand what profound afflictions you carry in your heart these days for the lot of the Church, for world peace, for the many necessities of the people, but above all for the lack of spirit of obedience of a certain number of Catholics as to the enlightened teachings that you, assisted by the Holy Spirit, and in the name of God, have given us.

Permit me, as your humble spiritual son, to offer you my daily prayer and suffering, imploring God to comfort you with His grace in order that you may go forward, in your straight and arduous path, in the defense of those eternal truths that remain unaltered with the changing times.

I thank you also, in the name of my spiritual children and 'Prayer Groups' for the clear and decided words you have given us in Humanae Vitae and I reaffirm my faith, my unconditional obedience to your illuminated instructions.

May Our Lord concede the triumph of the truth, peace to His Church, tranquility of heart to all the people, health and prosperity to Your Holiness, in order that with the passing of these clouds the Kingdom of God may triumph in all hearts through your apostolic work as Supreme Pastor of all Christianity."

This was the last letter Padre Pio ever wrote. I am sure Padre Pio would say the same thing Lucia said, "He who is not with the Pope is not with God." Or Faustina who was told by Christ, "The devil can imitate humility but he cannot imitate obedience."

I am making a special point about Padre Pio on obedience to the Holy Father because of his love of Fatima, and in Fatima we find Jacinta praying at the well and there seeing the Holy Father being attacked by his own people and later again seeing a vision of the Holy Father suffering the attacks of his own Church. In the secret of Fatima, we again see a vision of him being attacked by his own and in fact killed. I will not be one of those attacking my vicar for any reason whatsoever. Even here in Fatima I live next door to a Sedevicantist, a very nice man, he never lies and truly believes what he preaches. Nevertheless, he has left the Church believing he knows more than the Church itself. Like the Holy Father does to Protestants and Jews, I will treat him with love and kindness in order to keep open a dialogue where by can bring him back to the faith. My love for him is the very thing that he and others hate about the Holy Father and his love for those who have left the Church.

The Shrine of San Giovanni Rotondo

When I went to San Giovanni Rotondo to ask the superior about some claims people made about the good Padre, I arrived late in the day. Out front was a priest who spoke English and I asked, "Father, I have not been to Mass yet, is there a Mass yet today that I can attend." I was somewhat irritated that he did not answer me but just smiled and motioned to go inside. Inside there was continuous Masses going on in his chapel, in the main church, and below on both sides of his tomb. It was off season so the 30 or 40 confessionals had only about 20 priests hearing confessions. I stayed three weeks.

Padre Pio of Pietrelcina is among the most loved saints throughout the world. The Shrine of San Giovanni Rotondo in southern Italy, where Padre Pio lived, receives over 6 million pilgrims a year. It is now third in terms of visits by the faithful, after the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico and the Vatican.

"What is the secret of so much admiration and love for this new saint?" the Holy Father asked. "Above all, he is a 'friar of the people,' a traditional characteristic of Capuchins. Moreover, he is a holy miracle-worker, as proved by the extraordinary events that filled his life. However, above all, he was a religious who was sincerely in love with the crucified Christ."

"In the course of his life he participated in the mystery of the cross, including physically," the Pope said.

Karol Wojtyla, the future John Paul II, visited the friar in 1947, and went to confession to him in San Giovanni Rotondo where Padre Pio told him, "You will someday be the Pope."

Padre Pio followed this path "in profound communion with the Church," the Pontiff clarified. "He was not hindered in this filial obedience by momentary misunderstandings with one or another ecclesial authority."
In fact, Padre Pio endured investigations and restrictions in the exercise of his priestly ministry, imposed by the Holy Office, because of false accusations by people who were resentful of his extraordinary impact on others.

In particular, the Holy Father proposed the new saint as a model for every priest, singling out Padre Pio's Mass! "The Holy Mass was the heart and source of his all spirituality," John Paul II emphasized. "St. Pio of Pietrelcina appears before all of us -- priests, religious and laity -- as a credible witness of Christ and his Gospel," the Pope continued. "His example and intercession encouraged every one to live with an ever greater love for God and in concrete solidarity with one's neighbor, especially the neediest."

"Padre Pio's proposal for the man of our times, disoriented by materialism and secularization, is holiness," said Father Raniero Cantalamessa who, like the friar of Pietrelcina, is a Capuchin religious. "With his example, Padre Pio wishes to tell us that holiness is a way that is also accessible today. "

Padre Pio's holiness is so extraordinary that it might even be frightening. He is the Simon of Cyrene of this century. His stigmata are the proof, but also his very long days in the confessional. And then his nights dedicated to penance, prayer, struggles with the devil. This is his mysticism of expiation.

Help for Those Struggling with Homosexuality

2011-04-15T09:47:00.000-07:00

COURAGE

Courage is an apostolate of the Roman Catholic Church whose purpose is to minister to those with same-sex attractions and their loved ones. Courage, founded by Fr. John Harvey, is the only such organization in the Catholic Church approved by the Vatican.
www.couragerc.net

Counselors for Homosexuality and Gender-Identity Disorder (G.I.D.)**
Contact NARTH to find a professional counselor trained in reparative therapy. National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) http://www.narth.com/

Homosexuality and Hope: Statement of the Catholic Medical Association (11/2000)
http://www.narth.com/docs/hope.html

Causes, Treatment, Prevention of Homosexuality by Joseph Nicolosi at Focus on the Family Youth Conference
http://www.bridges-across.org/ba/memphis/nicolosi.htm

National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH)
http://www.narth.com/

New! Encourage
Encourage is a ministry within Courage dedicated to the spiritual needs of parents, siblings, children, and other relatives and friends of persons who have same-sex attractions.
http://couragerc.net/Encourage.html

New! People Can Change *
Positive alternatives for those having unwanted homosexual desires.
http://peoplecanchange.com/

New! The Origins and Healing of Homosexual Attractions

Treating Sexual and Pornographic Addictions by Mark B. Kastelman

Treatment and Healing of Sexual and Pornographic Addict - by Dr. Victor Cline

My Path to Lesbianism and Christ's Healing

We recommend:

Faith & Family Radio Show (CD)
The Parent's Guide to Preventing Homosexuality
Steve Wood with Dr. Nicolosi.

A Parent's Guide to Preventing Homosexuality
Authors - Joseph and Linda Nicolosi

*Links marked with an asterisk are to web sites requiring discernment, but nevertheless offer substantial help to individuals and families.

** PRECAUTIONARY STATEMENT, WARRANTIES AND LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

Rosary Solves All Problems: No Matter how Difficult of Spiritual, Personal life or Nations

2011-04-08T11:34:00.000-07:00

The following text is taken from an interview with Sister Lucia, (one of the Fatima visionaries), by Father Fuentes in December 26, 1957

"Look, Father, the Most Holy Virgin in these last times in which we live has given new efficacy in the recitation of the Holy Rosary. She has given this efficacy to such an extent that there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, whether temporal or above all spiritual, in the personal life of each one of us, of our families, of the families in the world, or of the religious communities, or even of the life of peoples and nations that cannot be solved by the Rosary. There is no problem, I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot solve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary. With the Holy Rosary, we will save ourselves."

Bishop Fulton J. Sheen:

"If you wish to convert anyone to the fullness of the knowledge of Our Lord and to His Mystical Body, then teach him the Rosary. One of two things will happen. Either he will stop saying the Rosary — or he will get the gift of faith."

http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/kralis/040918

By Bishop Fulton J. Sheen

J.M.J.

From the earliest days, the Church asked its faithful to recite the one hundred and fifty Psalms of David. This custom still prevails among priests, who recite some of these Psalms every day. [9] However, it was not easy for anyone to memorize the one hundred and fifty Psalms. Then, too, before the invention of printing, it was difficult to procure a book of the Psalms. That is why certain important books like the Bible had to be chained like telephone books are today; otherwise people would have run off with them.

Incidentally, this gave rise to the stupid lie that the Church would not allow anyone to read the Bible, because it was chained. The fact is, it was chained just so people could read it. The telephone book is chained, too, but it s more consulted than any book in modern civilization!

The people who could not read one hundred and fifty Psalms wanted to do something to make up for it. Therefore, they substituted one hundred and fifty Hail Marys. They broke up these one hundred and fifty, in the manner of the Acathist, [10] into fifteen decades, or series of ten. Each part was to be said while meditating on a different aspect of the Life of Our Lord.

To keep the decades separate, each one of them began with the Our Father and ended with the Doxology of Praise to the Trinity.

St. Dominic, who died in 1221, received from the Blessed Mother the command to preach and to popularize this devotion for the good of souls, for conquest over evil, and for the prosperity of Holy Mother Church and thus gave us the Rosary in its present classical form.

The Black Death, which ravaged all Europe and wiped out one-third of its population, prompted the faithful to cry out to the Mother of Our Lord to protect them, at a time when the present moment and death were almost one. [11]

The Black Death has ended. But now the Red Death of Communism is sweeping the earth (circa 1950). I find it interesting that, when the Blessed Mother appeared at Fatima in 1917 because of the great decline in morals and the advent of godlessness, she asked that, after the "Glory be" we add "have mercy on all souls; save them from hell and lead us to heaven."

It is objected that there is much repetition in the Rosary because the Lord's Prayer and the Hail Mary are said so often; therefore some say it is monotonous.

That reminds me of a woman who came to see me one evening after instructions. She said, "I would never become a Catholic. You say the same words in the Rosary over and over again, and anyone who repeats the same words is never sincere. I would never believe anyone who repeated his words and neither would God."

I asked her who the man was with her. She said he was her fiancé. I asked: "Does he love you?" "Certainly, he does," "But how do you know?" "He told me." "What did he say?"

"He said 'I love you.'"

"When did he tell you last?"

"About an hour ago."

"Did he tell you before?"

"Yes, last night."

"What did he say?"

"I love you."

"But never before?"

"He tells me every night."

I said: "Do not believe him. He is repeating; he is not sincere."

The beautiful truth is that there is no repetition in, "I love you." Because there is a new moment of time, another point inn space, the words do not mean the same as they did at another time or space.

Love is never monotonous in the uniformity of its expression. The mind is infinitely variable in its language, but the heart is not. The heart of a man, in the face of the woman he loves, is too poor to translate the infinity of his affection into a different word. So the heart takes one expression, "I love you," and in saying it over and over again, it never repeats. It is the only real news in the universe. That is what we do when we say the Rosary, we are saying to God, the Trinity, to the Incarnate Saviour, to the Blessed Mother: "I love you, I love you, I love you."

Each time it means something different because, at each decade, our mind is moving to a new demonstration of the Saviour's love.

The Rosary is the best therapy for these distraught, unhappy, fearful, and frustrated souls, precisely because it involves the simultaneous use of three powers: the physical, the vocal, and the spiritual, and in that order.

The Rosary is the book of the blind, where souls see and there enact the greatest drama of love the world has ever known; it is the book of the simple, which initiates them into mysteries and knowledge more satisfying than the education of other men; it is the book of the aged, whose eyes close upon the shadow of this world, and open on the substance of the next. The power of the Rosary is beyond description."

If you wish to convert anyone to the fullness of the knowledge of Our Lord and to His Mystical Body, then teach him the Rosary. One of two things will happen. Either he will stop saying the Rosary — or he will get the gift of faith. [12]

NOTES:

Catholic World News, 12/21/01, "Saying The Rosary is Good for You."

"Temporal punishment — It is the constant teaching of the Church that the voluntary act of penitential works has always been part of true repentance. The Council of Trent (Sess. XIV, c.xi) reminds the faithful that God does not always remit the whole punishment due to sin together with the guilt. God requires satisfaction, and will punish sin, and this doctrine involves as its necessary consequence a belief that the sinner failing to do penance in this life may be punished in another world, and so not be cast off eternally from God." Catholic Encyclopedia, 1918.

Fr. Patrick Payton lead 'The Family Rosary Crusade.'

Supremi Apostolatus Officio,' 1884

Cf. Rosarium Virginis Mariae,' n. 3

Cf. 'Augustissimae Virginis Mariae,' ('On the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary,') Encyclical of Pope Leo XIII, promulgated on December 12, 1897.

Enchiridion n.48. An indulgence is the pardon granted by the Church for the debt of penance we owe for sins. A plenary indulgence is a full pardon for such penances. A partial indulgence remits some penance owing. To gain a plenary indulgence you must be free from all attachment to sin, even venial sin. You must go to confession, receive Holy Communion, and pray for the intentions of the Pope.

Ibid. Five decades at least must be recited continuously, with devout meditation on the appropriate mysteries, which are to be announced if said aloud.

www.newadvent.org/fathers/1801150.htm

An Akathist (or "Acathist") in the Byzantine Church is a hymn of thanksgiving or supplication used on special occasions. It has a standard form comprising 13 sections, each one made up of a Kontakion and an Ikos. There are many different Akathist prayers in use in the Eastern Church. The one most widely known, however, dates from the early 7th century AD and is known as 'The Akathist to the Most Holy Theotokos.'

A brief presentation on this prayer can be found in the article Acathistus from the Catholic Encyclopedia. The term "Akathist" means "not sitting" which refers to the fact that it is celebrated in a standing posture.

The Black Death (bubonic plague with pulmonary infection), originated in Eastern Asia, passed through India to Asia Minor, Arabia, Egypt, Northern Africa, and directly to Europe by the Black Sea. In Europe, the epidemic began in 1346 and spread throughout Christendom, ending in 1353 on the shores of the Black Sea. The entire period was preceded by peculiar natural phenomena, as floods, tidal waves, and abnormally damp weather. The loss of human life in Europe alone is said to have amounted to twenty-five million people. The disease usually began suddenly and death occurred within three days. Great self-sacrifice was shown by the clergy, especially by the Franciscans, who are said to have lost 100,000 friars and nuns through the epidemic. (source: Catholic Encyclopedia, 1918.)

Excerpt taken from "Roses and Prayers," in the book 'The World's First Love,' by Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, publisher McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., New York, 1952.
Archbishop Sheen Today! -- Praying the Rosary

By Barbara Kralis

© Catholic Online 2004

The medical and scientific communities have recently proclaimed what Catholics have known for centuries — reciting the Rosary is good for you. [1]

However, the medical experts missed the raison d'être for the origin of the Rosary when they hypothesized it was developed by man to give those praying a sense of well-being as a result of their slowed cardiovascular rhythms.

Not quite, O men of modern science; but, nice try.

In truth, Heaven was the originator of the Rosary. The Blessed Virgin, in the 13th century, gave the Rosary to St. Dominic. Because belief of this Sacred Tradition requires faith, it is much easier to reason that man, for health reasons, devised the Rosary.

The above modern hypothesis is not entirely in the wrong, for there are a great number of benefits (graces) received by reciting the Rosary, both of the body and of the soul.

Praying the Rosary does bring us peace when prayed well and it consequently does slow down the cardiovascular rhythms of our body. More importantly, it gives us a more perfect knowledge of Christ. How does it do this?

The Rosary is 'a Christocentric prayer. It has all the depth of the Gospel message in its entirety.

The Rosary is the perfect compliment to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. It sustains and echoes our sacramental life. The Rosary is a 'path to contemplation' — a path that Pope John Paul II said he follows daily, realizing each day's work within the mysteries of the Rosary.

Moreover, the Rosary purifies our souls, gives us victory over our enemies, allows us to practice virtue, sends us graces and merits, and allows us to help pay our debts against our temporal punishment. [2]

The Rosary is also a prayer for peace in our families and in our world. What better time than in this era to pray the family Rosary, as Fr. Patrick Peyton instructed. He said, "The family that prays together, stays together." [3]

Pope Leo XIII, often called "the Pope of the Rosary," strived to maintain the tradition of this prayer, which he asserted was a strong spiritual weapon against evil. [4]

In addition, Sacred Tradition tells that The Fifteen Promises of the Virgin Mary (to those who recite the Rosary) was revealed in a message to St. Dominic and Blessed Alan 1208 A.D.

Our world owes a great debt of gratitude, perhaps more than our human minds can understand, to the holy St. Dominic. It is impossible to talk about the Rosary without significant mention of St. Dominic. Sacred Tradition and thirteen recent Popes tell us that Mary first revealed the Rosary devotion to St. Dominic.

Having received a vision of the Blessed Mother, Dominic began to spread the prayer of the Rosary in his missionary work among the Albigensians, a neo-Manichaean group of fanatical heretics. Albigenses believed that everything material was evil and everything spiritual was good. St. Dominic used the Rosary to convert the heretical Albigensians.

The Rosary was most strongly supported by the tradition of the Dominican Order. Pope Leo XIII affirmed over and over the Dominican origin of the Rosary and in a letter to the Bishop of Carcassone (1889), he accepts the tradition of Prouille, France, as the place where the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to St. Dominic, revealing the devotion to the Rosary.

Pope Alexander VI in 1495, addressed St. Dominic as "the renowned preacher long ago of the Confraternity of the Rosary, and through his merits, the whole world was preserved from universal ruin."

During an interview that Pope John Paul II gave in Germany during 1980 he held up his Rosary and said:

"This is the remedy that should be used in the struggle against evil. Pray the Rosary daily."

Mindful of the action of Pope Pius V in the Battle of Lepanto, Pope John Paul II, said in his Angelus address of October 1983:

"It is not a question now of asking for great victories, as at Lepanto and Vienna, rather it is a question of asking Mary to provide us with valorous fighters against the spirit of error and evil, with the arms of the Gospel, that is, the Cross and God's Word. The Rosary prayer is man's prayer for man."

On 16 October, 2002 the Pope John Paul II began the twenty-fifth year of his service as Successor of Peter. He chose to celebrate his anniversary — the fifth longest Pontificate in history — by writing an Apostolic Letter: Rosarium Virginis Mariae, The Rosary of the Virgin Mary.

In one of the most beautiful of his documents Pope John Paul announces the Year of the Rosary — October 2002 — October 2003. He urges us to rediscover the Rosary: to 'contemplate with Mary the face of Christ.' [5]

Those who pray the Rosary regularly would do well to be enrolled in the Dominican Archconfraternity's Spiritual Rosary Confraternity.

As Pope Leo XIII said in his encyclical on the Confraternity, "whenever a person fulfills his obligation of reciting the Rosary according to the rule of the Confraternity, he includes in his intentions all its members, and they in turn render him the same service many times over." [6]

A plenary indulgence is granted if the Rosary is recited in a church, or public oratory or in a family group, a religious community or pious association; a partial indulgence [7] is granted in other circumstances." [8]

Carry your Rosary upon your person whenever possible. The popular devotion is the most powerful prayer outside of the Holy Mass. Do not miss one day without it.

Rosary Halted and Routed Nuclear Bomb, Communist and Islamic Invaders

2011-04-04T09:34:00.000-07:00

- Overcoming Militant Islamic Invaders
1571 - The Battle of Lepanto

The victory at Lepanto is the most famous and important of the military victories through the Rosary.

On October 7, 1571 the Turk's attempted to invade Christian Europe at Lepanto on the coast of Greece.

The Pope asked Catholics to pray the Rosary with the intention that the Turk's attack would fail.

The Christians were out numbered 3 to 1.

Thanks to the Rosary prayers and against all odds, the Christians were victorious, sinking 200 Turkish ships and killing 50,000 of their men.

The feast of Our Lady of the Rosary is now celebrated on October 7th every year in memory of this miraculous victory.

This famed battle inspired G.K. Chesterton, a renowned author to write the poem entitled, "Lepanto" chronicling the exciting events of that day.

You can also listen to the story of Lepanto in the brand new CD set Lepanto: Battle That Saved The West. Christopher Check tells the exhilarating story of Lepanto, first in his own words and then through the poem of G.K. Chesterton.

American Military Victories Through The Rosary
1815 - The Battle of New Orleans, America
The Triumph at New Orleans is the first of the military victories through the Rosary to take place American soil.

During the Revolutionary War, Andrew Jackson led a small army to victory despite being greatly out numbered.

What did he have to thank for this victory?

The Rosary.

During the battle many of the soldiers' families gathered and prayed the Rosary.

They were confident the power of the Rosary would bring victory despite the overwhelming odds and their faith was rewarded.

If you are interested in the role catholics played in the founding of america and the revolutionary war a good place to start is with this book, Charles Carroll of Carrollton - Faithful Revolutionary. it tells about the life and times of founding father and roman catholic, charles carroll.

Modern Military Victories Through The Rosary
1945 - Hiroshima, Japan

A priest and seven others survived the nuclear bomb that was dropped on Japan and had devastating effects during the Second World War.

Even though they lived near ground zero, much to scientists amazement these survivors were free from all harm caused by radiation even years later.

What was different about this group of people compared to other nearby victims?

Devotion to the Rosary.

They prayed the Rosary together daily.

Description of Fatima: The Great Sign by Francis Johnston

"When the atomic bomb destroyed Hiroshima in 1945, eight men living near the blinding centre of the nuclear flash miraculously survived the searing hurricane of blast and gamma rays, while everyone within a mile radius perished and other residing further afield continue to die from the lethal effects of radiation.
For over thirty years, some two hundred scientists have examined these eight men, trying in vain to determine what could have preserved them from incineration. One of the survivors, Fr. H. Shiffner, S.J. gave this dramatic answer: 'In that house, we were living the message of Fatima.'"

More Modern Military Victories Through The Rosary
1955 - Austria
Facing the threat of Communist take over, the Austrian people prayed the Rosary to overcome what seemed like the inevitable.

Everyday for 7 years, many Austrians prayed the Rosary.

Then without cause, the Communists withdrew.

Fatima: The Great Sign by Francis Johnston also recounts this military victory through the Rosary. Johnston sites many examples: Austria (1955), Brazil (1966), Chile and Portugal (1975). While no nation on earth seems able to stem the global advance of Communism (which our Lady had foretold with unerring accuracy in 1917), nevertheless, in those countries where people prayed the Rosary and headed the Fatima message, the Communist, even at the last moment, mysteriously halted and routed.

More Modern Military Victories Through The Rosary
1966 and 1975
Both Brazil in 1966 and Portugal in 1975 were spared Communist rule by through the Rosary's power and are considered a major triumphant military victory through the Rosary.

"In 1961 the stage was set to take over Brazil...But guess who thwarted this Communist takeover?

The women of Brazil with their rosaries!

"Without the women", said one of the leaders of the counterrevolution, "we could never have halted Brazil's plunge toward Communism."

"One night in mid-1962, Dona Amelia Bastos listened to her husband and a band of anti-Reds discuss the looming threat of Communism. I suddenly decided, she said, that politics had become too important to be left entirely to men...Moreover, who has more at stake what's happening to our country than we women?"

She formed CAMDE (Campaign of Women for Democracy): In Belo Horizonte 20,000 women reciting the rosary aloud broke up the leftist meeting there. In Sao Paulo, 600,000 women praying the rosary in one of the most moving demonstrations in Brazilian history, sounded death knell of the Communist revolution.

These women with rosaries in their hands or around their necks, issued a 1300 word proclamation:

This nation which God has given us, immense and marvelous as it is, is in extreme danger. We have allowed men of limitless ambition, without Christian faith or scruples to bring our people misery, destroying our economy, disturbing our social peace, to create hate and despair. They have infiltrated our nation, our government, our armed forces and even our churches...

Mother of God, preserve us from the fate of suffering of the martyred women of Cuba, Poland, Hungary and other enslaved nations!"

-Excerpts taken from "The Power of the Rosary", pp. 31-32

The Power of the Rosary by Albert J.M Shamon is a hard book to find but we have found the best place that specializes in rare and out of print books. You can search for a copy of it here.

[http://www.how-to-pray-the-rosary-everyday.com/military-victories-through-the-rosary.html]

Is Netflix Anti-Christian? What is the Catholic Netflix?

2011-03-28T09:51:00.000-07:00

Due to Netflix's Anti-Christian DVDs I switched to Pius Media (piusmedia.com).
Is Netflix Anti-Christian? What is the Catholic Netflix?
Is Netflix Anti-American or Pro-Canada?

It has come to my delighted attention that there exists a fine establishment by the name of Pius Media (piusmedia.com) which offers Catholic and other good DVDs by mail. Apparently there is also Faith and Family Flix (faithandfamilyflix.com) which is a touch more expensive.

'Self-absorbed' Americans may ignore Canada price disparity

Reed Hastings: For now we're focused on Canada. If we succeed in Canada, we will certainly look at other markets. But each market is unique, and what attracted us to Canada is great broadband, and a great love of movies and TV shows.

THR: American services when they enter the Canadian market typically charge the locals more than they charge stateside. Why the discount for Canadians?

Hastings: We want to provide an incredible value for Canadians, and it's the lowest price we have anywhere in the world for unlimited screenings. And anyone can try it for free for a month. It's pretty addictive.

THR: Are you concerned that American Netflix subscribers will look north and ask for the same discount Canadians get at $7.99?

Hastings: How much has it been your experience that Americans follow what happens in the world? It's something we'll monitor, but Americans are somewhat self-absorbed.

"At the Name of Jesus the [Alien Abduction] Dissipated into the Air"

2011-03-21T14:26:00.000-07:00

Might aliens be involved with ghosts or demons? Stan Romanek and David J. Hufford wondered about that idea?

Messages: The World's Most Documented Extraterrestrial Contact Story - Google Books Result Stan Romanek, J. Allan Danelek - 2009 - Body, Mind & Spirit - 259 pages:

"So now was I some sort of 'ghost magnet'? If so, how could that happen? ... In any case, the ghost specialists spent some time trying to capture video."

http://www.alienresistance.org/ce4testimony17.htm

The Terror That Comes in the Night

There is a book by David J. Hufford called The Terror that Comes in the Night. The sub-title of the book describes the contents: "An Experience-Centered Study of Supernatural Assault Traditions." Dr. Hufford is a sociologist and university professor. According to his research about one sixth of the population experiences the phenomenon described in his book yet almost no one talks about it. The experience Hufford describes is similar to what has become known in our culture as the "alien abduction" phenomenon, yet differing in some aspects. According to a Roper Poll done in 1992 at least two percent of the adult population in the United States has experienced what they call "being abducted." It is difficult to get an exact number since it is believed that many people completely repress the experience and many others just don't talk about it.

The Roper Poll used a sample of 5,947 respondents corresponding to the equivalent number among the 185,000,000 ostensibly represented by Roper's demographically balanced sample. The margin of error is + or - 1.4 per cent. The poll excluded everyone under 18 years of age and all residents of Hawaii and Alaska, as well as all residing in dormitories, hospitals, etc. When respondents were asked if they had ever awakened paralyzed with a sense of a strange "presence" in the room 18 per cent said "yes." This percentage with a + or - 1.4 margin of error represents 33,300,000 people.

In 1973 my husband Coleman and I and our two baby boys lived in Virginia. Coleman was working for Christianity Today as the advertising manager and I was a stay-at-home mom doing some freelance artwork. One night I awoke with a start. My eyes flew open like a close-up in a horror movie when the dead person comes back to life. I was totally awake with the sense that something was very wrong. That sense moved very quickly to terror. I was paralyzed, unable to move anything except my eyes. To my left, over my husband's sleeping body, I could see three figures gliding into the room. Their feet, which I couldn't see because a monk-like robe covered them, never touched the ground. They were coming out of a walk-in closet bedroom and my first thought was, "How did they get in there?" It was communicated to me in some fashion - I don't know how - that they had come through the large second story window in the nursery, glided down the hall, gone through the wall into the master bath, and from the bathroom had glided into the closet. I knew they were very, very angry with me for some reason, but I didn't know why. They communicated to me, without speaking, that they were going to levitate my stiff body, slam me through the window above our bed and drop me on my head killing me. They wanted me to know that my husband would be blamed for my death.

I had no doubt that they were capable of doing this and my terror escalated. I tried to scream at Coleman to wake up but I couldn't. My vocal cords were paralyzed. Then I began to pray. I tried to call out, "JESUS." Again nothing would come out of my mouth other than grunts. Once more I tried to say "JESUS." More grunts. Finally a garbled "Jesus" came out. At the name of Jesus the beings dissipated into the air into little triangles just like a visual effect.

I immediately woke Coleman and told him what had happened. After comforting me, the inevitable question came. He said, "Are you sure it wasn't just a bad dream?" Irritated, I replied, "Yes, I'm sure. Because if it was a bad dream I'm still dreaming. I awoke before it began and I have not awakened since. Besides I just KNOW it was real." At the time, neither one of us knew what to do with this experience, so I just filed it away and didn't talk about it again for over 20 years.

Then over twenty years later Coleman was writing a pilot script for a television series that was supposed to be about all sorts of strange phenomena. He gave me a book on alien abduction and asked me to read it and see if there might be any story ideas in it that he could use. As I read the book it struck me how similar these people's experiences were to mine. Then I came across a drawing of one person's alien abductor. It was eerie. He had drawn the same beings that had come into my room.

At the same time, I was reading a book about several different missionaries who had gone to a variety of Third World countries to tell people about Jesus. The book was titled, Demon Experiences in Many Lands and it was published by Moody Bible Institute in Chicago in 1960. In the preface we find this statement by the publishers: "It has been many years since any serious study of demon experiences has been published, and possibly never before a compilation from competent observers in many parts of the world. The reason for this omission is not clear, but the result has been a feeling on the part of many Christians that these strange (to us moderns) phenomena were only valid in Bible times." Several of the missionaries had this attitude themselves when their strange experiences began. Most were totally unprepared for the assaults that they and their new converts confronted. Several of these experiences were very similar to the ones described in Hufford's book and countless alien abduction books. A conclusion from Hufford's book is that people unfamiliar with any notion of what he calls an "Old Hag Tradition" describe their symptoms precisely in accordance with those aware of such a tradition. Hufford never called these experiences "demonic." But all of the missionaries came to that conclusion. They believed that they were dealing with demons and they looked to the Bible to learn how to overcome them.

As I began to form my own opinion about my night terror experience, I went to the Internet to see if any one beside myself had had a similar experience. Was I the only person who had used the name of "Jesus" to end a night terror or alien abduction experience? I found an article from Florida Today magazine that appeared on August 17, 1997, written by Rita Elkins concerning alien abduction and it's similarity to demonic oppression. She quotes Joe Jordan, a director for the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) a clearinghouse for UFO related research. When he is not checking out UFO claims for MUFON he works in product development and engineering for Sea Ray Boats. He and his partner Wes Clark, also a member of MUFON, who is a quality control engineer at the Kennedy Space Center, have, through their work at MUFON, come across several people who have been able to stop their abduction experience by calling on the name of Jesus. He shared a taped interview with Elkins for her article in Florida Today:

Jordan punches buttons on a tape recorder. A nameless, 30-something man with an intelligent-sounding voice, slightly Southern, tells his story. Calmly at first.

"There were strange lights in a nearby woods at bedtime, barking dogs. He is up and down a few times; yelling at the dogs while his wife sleeps soundly. Then lying down again...I couldn't move...grey fog. I couldn't see anything, but it was like someone was here." He felt himself lifted off the bed. "I was terrified, so helpless... screaming inside, but I couldn't get it out."

The voice is less calm now, but still certain, not hesitant.

"I thought I was having a satanic experience, that the devil had gotten hold of me and had shoved a pole up my rectum and was holding me up in the air...so helpless. I couldn't do anything."

A non-religious person, he'd been to church with his wife a few times.

"I said, 'Jesus, Jesus, help me,' or 'Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!' And when I did, there was a feeling or a sound or something. That either my words that I had thought or words that I had tried to say or whatever, hurt whatever was holding me up in the air on this pole. And I felt it was withdrawn, and I fell. I hit the bed, because it was like I was thrown back in the bed. I really can't tell what it was. But when I did, my wife woke up and asked why I was jumping on the bed"

Elkins goes on to say, "Relentless anonymity is given in abduction research. Nobody in their right mind wants family, friends and co-workers to know they've had their personal space violated against their will by strange-looking creatures whose existence isn't even proven."

Jordan told Elkins that three other researchers had had similar cases. They had not revealed this because they felt it would hurt their credibility, especially among the folks that invite them to speak at UFO Conventions. I certainly can understand this. A number of years ago Coleman and I went to a UFO Convention in San Francisco. Most of the people there were defiantly New Agers and didn't seem to be open to traditional religion at all. In spite of the fact that abduction experiences are described as horrible, brutal and denigrating many believe they are done by good aliens and are somehow beneficial to human kind. So my question is, "Do you really think our alien 'space brothers' are assaulting us or could there be a demonic connection to these experiences?

You may be wondering why I have decided to share my night terror story with the world on the Internet. I am sure that there are many who will just think I am a total wacko. Some of you who know me may think I am farther gone than you realized. But if there are people experiencing these assaults who want them to stop I can offer way out.

Few years ago, my son was taking a college class at a secular university. The teacher of this class, which was a language class and had nothing to do with what we are writing about today, began asking the same questions that were asked in the Roper Poll. After a few questions one girl raised her hand and began to tell the class about her abduction experience. When she had finished my son said to her, "There is a way to stop these experiences if you want to." The teacher interrupted," No, there is no way to stop them!" "Yes!" my son replied, "They can be stopped." "No they can not." At that point the teacher went back to the curriculum. I want people to know that my son's teacher is wrong. There is a way to stop these experiences. Please don't think that I am saying that the name "Jesus" is magic. It is not magic, but it does have Amazing Power. The Creator of the Universe knows his children. The Good Shepard knows his sheep. Surely if he was willing to die for our sins, He is able to protect us from the Evil Ones. If you want His protection, put your faith in Him.

If you have experienced a night terror I would like to hear from you. Please write and tell me your story.

© Carel Luck January 2006
Used by permission.

http://www.myturntorant.com/carelrants/index.html

http://www.alienresistance.org/ce4testimony17.htm

Salt Blessed

2011-03-14T10:31:00.000-07:00

BLESSED SALT

Rev. John H. Hampsch C.M.F.

There is a renewed interest today in the ancient sacramental of blessed salt, especially by charismatics, in healing and deliverance situations, etc. To understand its proper use and its efficacy, it would be helpful to review the Scriptural symbolism and its history, since Vatican II urges us to participate “intelligently and actively” in the use of sacramentals, just as in the use of Sacraments.

Salt in the ancient world was a precious commodity (even monopolized by the royalty in Egypt and Persia). Roman soldiers were partially paid with packets of salt (”sal” in Latin); this was the origin of our word “salary” and of phrases like “worth his salt,” etc. Being costly, it was an appropriate offering to God as a “covenant of salt” (Lev. 2: 13; II Chron. 13:5; Num. 18:19) used in sacrifices by the Isrealites (Ezek. 43:24) and for the accompanying sacrificial meal (Gen. 31:54).

Belief in its preservative and healing properties led to its use to dry and harden the skin of newborns (Ezek. 16:4) and to prevent umbilical cord infection. Used for 3500 years to preserve meats from deterioration, it became a symbol of preservation and spiritual incorruptibility that was to characterize anyone offering sacrificial worship. Shared at the sacrificial meal, salt became a symbol of friendship and hospitality, a custom-symbol still used today in Arab culture.

Jesus referred to this salt-symbolized friendship covenant in Mark 9:50: “Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another”–that is, “preserve that quality (flavor) that makes you a blessing to one another.” (Note the double symbol of preservation and flavoring.)

This double primary symbolization is also found in Paul’s advice in Col. 4:6:”Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” That is, let it be wholesome and savory, preserved from the corrupting conversation of worldlings (3:8 and Eph 4:29). (His use of the word salt may also have referred to another of its symbols: spiritual wisdom, since the Latin word for savor or taste, “sapientia”, is the same as for wisdom.)

Some or all of these symbols may have been implied in Jesus’ words to his chosen ones, describing them as the “salt of the earth” (Matt. 5:13). He especially indicated that they were to oppose the world’s corruption, reminding them that, as salt must preserve its own anti-corruptive quality, they too must preserve their anti-corruptive influence in a sin-corrupted world. (See Luke 14:34).

The blessing promised by God on food and water, as well as the prevention of miscarriages and agricultural catastrophes (Exod. 23:25-26) was extended by God through Elisha in Jericho (II Kings 2:20-21), when he was inspired to put salt into the contaminated water. Adding salt to already brackish water to decontaminate it, made the miracle all the more impressive, since one would expect the opposite effect. This first miracle of Elisha is the primary Scriptural basis for the sacramental use of blessed salt today, as the Roman Ritual indicates.

As a Catholic sacramental, salt blessed by the liturgical prayer of a priest may be used by itself, unmixed, as in exorcisms, and formerly in the exorcistic prayer at baptism, or it may be mixed with water to make holy water, as the Ritual prescribes (reminiscent of Elisha’s miracle). In whichever form, it is intended to be an instrument of grace to preserve one from the corruption of evil occurring as sin, sickness, demonic influence, etc.

As in the case of all sacramentals, its power comes not from the sign itself, but by means of the Church’s official (liturgical, not private) prayer of blessing–a power the Church derives from Christ himself (see Matt. 16:19 and 18:18). As the Vatican II document on the Liturgy states (art. 61), both

Sacraments and sacramentals sanctify us, not of themselves, but by power flowing from the redemptive act of Jesus, elicited by the Church’s intercession to be directed through those external signs and elements. Hence sacramentals like blessed salt, holy water, medals, etc. are not to be used superstitiously as having selfcontained power, but as “focus-points” funneling one’s faith toward Jesus, just as a flag is used as a “focus-point” of patriotism, or as handkerchiefs were used to focus faith for healing and deliverance by Paul (Acts 19:12).

Thus used non-superstitiously, modest amounts of salt may be sprinkled in one’s bedroom, or across thresholds to prevent burglary, in cars for safety, etc. A few grains in drinking water or used in cooking or as food seasoning often bring astonishing spiritual and physical benefits, as I have personally witnessed many times. As with the use of Sacraments, much depends on the faith and devotion of the person using salt or any sacramental. This faith must be Jesus-centered, as was the faith of the blind man in John 9; he had faith in Jesus, not in the mud and spittle used by Jesus to heal him.

In light of this, we can see why Vatican II states that “there is hardly any proper use of material things which cannot thus be directed toward the sanctification of persons and the praise of God.” (art. 61 of Liturgy document). Hence new sacramentals may also be added when rituals are revised (art. 79). Blessed salt is certainly not a new sacramental, but the Holy Spirit seems to be leading many to a new interest in its remarkable power as an instrument of grace and healing.

Any amount of salt may be presented to a priest for his blessing, using the following official prayer from the Roman Ritual:

“Almighty God, we ask you to bless this salt, as once you blessed the salt scattered over the water by the prophet Elisha. Wherever this salt (and water) is sprinkled, drive away the power of evil, and protect us always by the presence of your Holy Spirit. Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen.”

————————————-

For Information and a catalog of Father Hampsch’s books, booklets, CD’s, DVD’s, and videos, contact:

Claretian Teaching Ministry

20610 Manhattan Place

Suite 120

Torrance, CA 90501

(310) 782-6408 – (Tues and Thurs)

or visit our websites: www.claretiantapeministry.org

: www.catholicbooks.net

or email us at ctmorders@aol.com

God Bless.

—————————————

Your Cross

The everlasting God has in his wisdom foreseen from eternity the cross he now presents to you as a gift from his inmost heart. This cross he now sends you he has gazed at with his all-knowing eyes, understood with his divine mind, tested with his divine justice, warmed with his loving arms, and weighed with his own hands, to see that it be not one inch too large, not one ounce too heavy for you, He has blessed it with his holy name, anointed it with his grace, perfumed it with his consolation, taken one last glance at you and your courage, and then sent it to you from heaven – a special greeting from God to you – an alms of the all-merciful love of God. St. Francis de Sales

No "Personal Relationship with Jesus Christ” Until 1800’s

2011-03-07T09:47:00.000-08:00

A Personal Relationship With Jesus Christ?

Within various forms of Evangelical Christianity in the Western world the catchphrase “personal relationship with Jesus Christ” is heard over and over again. In sermons, in books and among various conversations overheard between ‘born-again’ Christians it is heard again and again about this ‘personal relationship with Jesus Christ’ and at what point in their life that that momentous event began. “What a Friend I have in Jesus” is a popular hymn sung in Churches across the country Sunday after Sunday.

Now I’m not going to say that I don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus, because I do. Jesus Christ is as real to me as my wife and children are. I believe that He is with me always and I talk with Him regularly in prayer. Jesus told His disciples in John 15:15 that He would no longer call them servants, but that He considered them friends. I pretty much think that applies to me as well. I sometimes think of Christ as my Heavenly Big Brother who is looking out for me and is interceding with the Father on my behalf night and day.

However, I think that sometimes we as Christians may take the personal relationship with Jesus a little too far. We sometimes tend to forget that, although each of us is of infinite importance to God, we are after all only bit players in the cosmic drama that is God’s plan for the entire universe. We sometimes allow ourselves to become too important in our own eyes and may tend to forget that there are millions of other Christians within the 6 billion people in the world and that God has plans for all of us; interrelating plans that involve His Kingdom and His overall plan for mankind. As N.T. Wright puts it in his book on Justification;

“…sometimes worldviews have to be shaken. They have become idolatrous and self-serving…The earth goes around the sun. Jesus is the hero of the play, and we are the bit-part players, the Fifth Servant and Seventh Footman who come on for a moment, say one word, and disappear again, proud to have shared His stage and, for a moment, been a tiny part of His action.”

I think that Wright and others are correct in the assessment that many of us within Western Christianity have too high a view of ourselves within the body of Christ. We sometimes tend to neglect service within the Church or may not even attend Church at all, content that we are saved by Christ’s shed blood and focus on our own ‘personal’ relationship with Jesus rather than being a useful part of His Kingdom. We sometimes neglect finding ways and means to perform our Christian duties within that Kingdom, however small those parts may be.

We revolve around Jesus, not the other way around. For most of the Christian Church’s history up until the late 1800’s there was no mention of having a “personal relationship with Jesus Christ” (as near as I can tell). Christianity was meant to be corporate, not individualist. Christianity was originally more about ‘ask not what your Church can do for you, but what you can do for your Church.’ It seems to me that in our consumerist ‘it’s all about me’ society Ecclesiology (the theology of the Church) has taken a back seat. I don’t think that was what Christ intended. Jesus came to take away the sin of the whole world, not just for me and me alone. And it seems obvious to me from just a cursory examination of the New Testament that He means for each of us to take an active part in the building of His Church.

On a post out of Jollybloggers archives he writes on the subject; ‘In modern evangelicalism there are really only two significant beings in the universe – me and Jesus. All of the other things and people of the world are tools that will either pull me toward Jesus or push me away from Him.” He goes on to write how much of an error that this kind of thinking is and the results of it within the Christian Church.

Although piety and a constant seeking after the deepening my faith in Christ and improving my walk with God are of great importance to me, doing whatever bit part God has for me is also a vast importance. I don’t think that Christianity is nearly as much about ‘my personal relationship with Jesus’ as it is about serving God, trying to be obedient to His will and participating in the Kingdom work of His Church.

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Filed Under: Christian Living, Jesus Christ
Comments
John Valade says:
March 26, 2010 at 3:58 am
I agree. We are just bit players in God's plans and purposes. Christianity isn't about who you are, but about Who you serve. Thanks for this post, Randy.

Reply
randy olds says:
March 26, 2010 at 10:18 am
Hi John,

Thanks for commenting. Curiously enough, in Wrights book on Justification he espouses almost the exact same sentiments that Trevin Wax did in Th post that James linked to a couple of comments up. Toward the end of the book, he says that if the Reformers had focused on exegeting Romans with more of Ephesians in mind that this concept of person relationship being overemphasized at the cost of ecclesiology might not have happened.

Catholics don’t have a personalized relationship with Christ.

http://fromdamascustoemmaus.com/a-personal-relationship-with-jesus-christ/

Personal Jesus
November 16, 2009

My grandma’s funeral was yesterday. My uncle, who is a pastor, ran the service, and my dad gave the eulogy. Although the two of them are different as “chalk and cheese”, they both did a nice job remembering my grandma. But both of them made me feel ragingly and compulsively Catholic. At every prayer I wanted to cross myself. When my dad spoke of my grandma praying for us all “right up to the end”, I wanted to add “why not now?”, especially since we all hope and believe she is a part of the great cloud of witnesses. Why would the witnesses be limited to only viewing? Why not hearing and praying for us? Why would souls who have gone to be with God not be able to speak to Him?

Please don’t think I was just sitting and criticizing the Protestant run funeral. I’ve had my time of mourning, but that’s not what this post is about. It’s about the spontaneous Catholic feelings that sharing time with my Protestant family has brought on, and me trying to sort them out afterward.

It’s been a while since I’ve participated in Protestant prayer and preaching and it brought on some reactions that were kind of hard to pinpoint. The way my uncle was talking about Jesus and praying to God was familiar to me. It was warm and personal, and I like it and have missed it. There’s also something about it that makes me uncomfortable and feels a little off. Last night I was asking Chris what this difference I was noticing might be, and I think maybe we’ve figured it out.

My uncle quoted a song by Misty Edwards called “See the Way”, which says “God is a lover, looking for a lover, and so he fashioned me”. This is such a lovely, personal view of our relationship with God. It’s attractive, but it’s not quite right. Maybe the reason there are so many evangelicals who believe Catholics don’t have a personal relationship with Christ is because Catholics don’t have a personalized relationship with Christ. This song, and the prayers I was listening to yesterday are very individual. They’re about me and Jesus.

In the Catholic Faith, it’s not about me and Jesus, it’s about us and Jesus. It’s always, always about the corporate Body of Christ and God’s loving relationship with them. Our prayers are said together, our confession is made in unison. Like Chris says, the Catholic view of the universal Church has a way of beating down the “ego” and that’s the way it’s supposed to be.

While Catholics are prevented from saying “me” instead of “us”, they are also prevented from viewing Jesus in whatever way they want to. Although Jesus is personal, He is not personalized. The Church reveals to us who Christ is in a non-negotiable way. Then we must change, with God’s grace, and conform to His image. As a Protestant, my view of God changed as I grew and got to know Him better. Of course, that’s always true to some extent, even for Catholics. At least for me, the difference is that as a Protestant my image of God changed. As a Catholic, the image remains the same but my understanding changes, because it’s not just me trying to figure out who God is.

It’s hard to explain, but that’s the best I can do. It’s strange experiencing this world I used to belong in, feel a draw to it, but at the same time feel completely separated from it. There’s no going back, even for the things I enjoyed, because I see everything differently now. It’ll be nice when I officially join and belong in the corporate Body of Christ.

Prayer to Heal USA

2011-02-28T12:04:00.000-08:00

By Fr. John Hampsch, C.M.F.

Prayer for “Heal Our Land”

Heavenly Father, the world seems to be collapsing around us. While families struggle to keep their homes and feed their children, floods and tornados ravage our land; abortion is accepted and same-sex marriage is legal. Government and business leaders have chosen to walk in the ways of darkness; wars and fighting are tearing countries apart. Crime and violence dominate many towns and cities. Fear and trepidation grip our hearts; we don’t know where to turn.

We have fallen from your grace; we have drifted so far from your protection. Many don’t even know your name.

What must we do to find favor with you, O Lord, what must we do?

If we humble ourselves, will you hear our prayer? If we repent and turn away from sin, will you listen to our plea? If we fall prostrate before you, if we fast and seek your face, will you then answer our prayer?

O Lord, we are weak and afraid.

But you O Lord, are our strength, you will defend us in battle; Your son, Jesus died for our sins and transgressions; “by his stripes we are healed.” We place our trust in you and you alone, we cast out fear; we bind the enemy in your precious Name. We seek your face and we turn away from our sins, we are not afraid.

For you have said “if my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” 2 Chron 7:14

We claim your solemn promise, Lord. May your Holy Spirit help us to fulfill the conditions that you require for its fulfillment, in Jesus’ precious name. Amen.

—————————————————-

CONSECRATION PRAYER TO OUR LADY

OF THE EUCHARIST AFTER COMMUNION

Mary is called Our Lady of the Eucharist, because

without her, there would be no physical Body of Jesus

to be present in the Eucharist. (See John 6:51)

Most kind Mother, we consecrate to you our bodies, which have just been honored and sanctified by the presence of your Divine Son, our souls which have conversed with him, and our hearts which have loved him.

O dearest Mother, may the words which we have spoken be made acceptable to him through your intercession. Tell him the things which we should have said but were unable to express. Love him and beseech him for us, your poor children.

Receive and keep us in your heart. Warn us, protect us and guide us during this day, that we may faithfully serve your Divine Son, and please him in all our thoughts, desires, and actions.

———————————————

LET NOTHING DISTURB THEE

Let nothing disturb thee;

Let nothing dismay thee;

All things pass;

God never changes.

Patience attains all

that it strives for.

He who has God

Finds he lacks nothing:

God alone suffices.

St. Teresa of Avila

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Our Lady of Fatima and Moslems

2011-02-15T18:50:00.001-08:00

Mary and the Moslems

What is Islam?

Since the September 11 attacks, the attention of Westerners has been drawn to Islam, since we are being told that Osama Bin Laden committed these terrorist attacks in the name of Islamic fundamentalism. While it is true that the vast majority of Moslems condemn violence and these terrorist attacks, a minority of extremist Moslems claim that it is “Allah” who asked them to wage a holy war against “the infidel”.

What is the real face of Islam? Does it preach peace or war? Even if the word “Islam” itself can be defined as “to make peace”, “to surrender”, the truth is that there is a dark side of Islam which, although only put into practice by a small number of extremists, indeed advocates violence. Over the centuries, Muslims have engaged in tremendous wars with Christians and Jews, and Christians are being persecuted and killed by Moslems in many countries today, like Indonesia and Sudan. Is there a way Christians and Moslems can co-exist together in peace?

Mohammed

Mohammed, the founder of the Islam faith, was born in Mecca, Arabia, in 575. An orphan raised by an uncle, he served as a camel caravan leader until the age of 25, when he got married to a wealthy woman who was 15 years older than him, and he became the manager of her fortune. Like the other Arabs of his country, Mohammed did not profess any particular religious creed. Over 300 gods were worshipped in Mecca, among them Allah, the god of the moon. Mohammed liked to talk to strangers, be they Jews or heretical Christians, and used to read their books.

Mohammed then invented a religion of his own – a mixture of his readings – and presented it to his wife and some of his relatives. Only one God, Allah (that is why Islam is represented by the crescent), but several prophets, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and the last and greatest prophet of all, himself. (According to him, Jesus was not God, but only a prophet, and did not die on the Cross, but was replaced by another person at the last moment.)

The people of Mecca did not accept his religion, and he was forced to flee to Medina in 622, year one of the Moslem faith. There he won over a majority of people to his new religion, and came back to the “holy city” of Mecca with the title of “the great prophet of Allah”. He died there in 632, leaving to his disciples the Koran (the holy book of the Moslems, divided into surahs), which promised a paradise of eternal sensual pleasures to all those who faithfully accomplished the few practices indicated in the Koran, especially to those who would spread Islam by all means... including the sword.

Historians agree to say that there is a big difference between Mohammed's personality in Mecca and his personality after his migration to Medina. In Mecca, Mohammed was struggling to be accepted, so he tried to appeal to Christians and Jews as well, his teachings condemning violence, injustice, and neglect of the poor. However, when he moved to Medina, and his followers grew in strength and number, he no longer needed to please people of other faiths, and became a relentless warrior intent on spreading his religion by the sword.

In Surah 73:10, God tells Mohammed to be patient with his opponents, but later in Surah 2:191, God orders him to kill them. In Surah 2:256, God tells Mohammed not to impose Islam by force (“Let there be no compulsion in religion”); while in verse 193 God tells him to kill whoever rejects Islam. In Surah 29:46, God tells him to speak nicely to people of the Book (Christians and Jews), but in Surah 9:29 God tells him to fight them. To justify this sudden change in the Koran's mood, from peaceful to militant, conciliatory to confrontational, Mohammed claimed that it was God who ordered it. It was God who abrogated the peaceful verses, and replaced them by harsh ones.

To conquer countries with the sword became the password. The Moslems set out in 634 to conquer the world. Within a year, they had captured Syria and Damascus. Three years later, they captured Jerusalem. By 643, they had conquered a territory half the size of Europe. In 711, they crossed the strait of Gibraltar, and rapidly conquered Spain and Portugal, and remained there for seven centuries. In 1571, at the naval Battle of Lepanto, the invasion of Europe by the Moslems was definitely stopped.

Our Lady of Fatima, in Portugal

It is extremely difficult for Christian missionaries to convert Moslems, because they think that their religion is the accomplishment of Christianity, because it came after... and of course also because the Koran teaches that any Moslem who converts to another faith must be killed. So those who do convert do it at the risk of their lives, and most of the time, must flee to Western countries.

In 1952, Catholic Archbishop Fulton Sheen devoted a chapter in his book, “The World's First Love”, entitled “Mary and the Moslems”. In it, he wrote that it is his firm belief that Moslems will eventually be converted in Christianity, thanks to the devotion they already have to the Virgin Mary. In fact, God the Father seems to have a special plan to draw the Moslems to Jesus through His Mother, Mary.

Bishop Sheen wrote: “In the Koran, the Virgin Mary is mentioned thirty times. It believes in Her Immaculate Conception, and also, in Her Virgin Birth. It has also verses on the Annunciation, Visitation, and Nativity. Angels are pictured as accompanying the Blessed Mother and saying: ‘Oh, Mary, God has chosen you and purified you, and elected you above all the women of the earth.’ Mary, then, is for the Moslems the true Sayyida, or Lady. The only possible serious rival to her in their creed would be Fatima, the daughter of Mohammed himself. But after the death of Fatima, Mohammed wrote: ‘Thou shalt be the most blessed of all the women in Paradise, after Mary.’ In a variant of the text, Fatima is made to say, ‘I surpass all the women, except Mary.’

“This brings us to our second point: namely, why the Blessed Mother, in the 20th century should have revealed Herself in the significant little village of Fatima, Portugal, so that to all future generations she would be known as ‘Our Lady of Fatima.’ Since nothing ever happens out of Heaven except with a finesse of all details, I believe that the Blessed Virgin chose to be known as ‘Our Lady of Fatima’ as a pledge and a sign of hope to the Moslem people, and as an assurance that they, who show her so much respect, will one day accept her divine Son too. . . I believe the Blessed Virgin chose to be known by the name Fatima because she also came for the conversion of Islam, without which there cannot be an era of peace for mankind.

“Evidence to support these views is found in the historical fact that the Moslems occupied Portugal for centuries. At the time when they were finally driven out, the last Moslem chief had a beautiful daughter by the name of Fatima. A Catholic boy (the Count of Ourem) fell in love with her, and for him she not only stayed behind when the Moslems left, but even embraced the Catholic Faith. The young husband was so much in love with her that he changed the name of the town where he lived to Fatima. Thus, the very place where our Lady appeared in 1917 bears a historical connection to Fatima, the daughter of Mohammed.”

Alain Pilote

Here is what Father Cizik, editor of the excellent Marian periodical SOUL Magazine, wrote in his Sept.-Oct. 2001 issue: “It is a fact that Moslems from various nations, especially from the Middle East, make so many pilgrimages to the Shrine of Fatima in Portugal that Portuguese officials have expressed concern. The combination of an Islamic name and Islamic devotion ro the Blessed Virgin Mary is a great attraction to Moslems.” (To subscribe to SOUL Magazine, send money order in U.S. currency (Canada 1 year $10.95) to: SOUL Magazine, PO Box 976, Washington, NJ 07882-0976. Toll-free: 866-523-1917.)

This same issue of SOUL reports another proof of the devotion of the Moslems to Our Lady: “When the Moslems invaded the Holy Land in the seventh century, they destroyed every Christian church, with one remarkable exception: the Basilica of St. Anne in Jerusalem, because it was believed to be built over the spot where the Blessed Virgin Mary was born. Their great reverence to Our Lady precluded the Moslems from destroying Her birthplace.”

Spain

“As the Moslems swept through Spain in the 8th century, a great religious treasure was buried for safe-keeping in the earth, high in the Estremadura Mountains. It was a much venerated statue of Our Lady holding the Divine Child Jesus that was a gift of Pope Gregory the Great to Bishop Leander of Seville. After the overthrow of Moorish occupation, the image was uncovered in the year 1326, subsequent to a vision of Our Lady to a humble shepherd by the name of Gil. Our Lady's very special statue was enshrined in a nearby Franciscan Monastery next to the ‘Wolf River.’

“The Moslems, during their Spanish occupation, had actually named the river. The Islamic term for Wolf River is ‘Guadalupe’ (Guada = River; Lupe = Wolf). Hence, the famous Catholic image in Spain has been known, since the 14th century, by the Islamic name of ‘Our Lady of Guadalupe.’”

Mexico

Our Lady of Guadalupe, in Mexico

“In the fullness of time, we can be sure that Almighty God knew that the Islamic religion would pose a serious threat to Christianity. God also knew that the Spanish missionaries would face grave resistance in the ‘new world’ from the mighty Aztec Indians. The Aztecs worshipped an evil stone ‘serpent god’ that demanded human sacrifice. (Between 20,000 and 50,000 were sacrificed a year. The rituals included cannibalism of the victims' limbs. The early Mexican historian Ixtlilxochitl estimated that one out of every five children in Mexico were sacrificed.)

“However, with God all things are possible. Our Lady appeared to a humble Aztec Indian convert by the name of Juan Diego in 1531. When asked her name by Juan Diego, at the request of the local bishop, Our Lady's response, in the Aztec language, included the words ‘te coatlaxopeuh’ (pronounced: ‘te quatlasupe’) and meant “one who crushes the head of the stone serpent.’

“To Juan Diego and his fellow Aztecs, this revelation had great meaning, coupled with the miraculous image of Our Lady standing on top of a ‘crescent,’ the symbol of this evil serpent god. A tidal wave of conversions to Catholicism ensued. However, Bishop Zumarraga, who was from Spain, made what was no doubt a ‘heavenly mistake’ that one day may lead to the mass conversion of Moslems. To the Bishop's Spanish ears, Our Lady's Aztec name of ‘Te Quatlasupe’ sounded just like the name of the revered Madonna from Spain with the Islamic name, ‘Guadalupe.’ Hence, the bishop named the Mexican Madonna ‘Our Lady of Guadalupe.’ It is interesting that the ‘crescent’ is also the symbol for Islam.

Battle of Lepanto

“On October 7, 1571, a great victory over the mighty Turkish fleet was won by Catholic naval forces primarily from Spain, Venice, and Genoa under the command of Don Juan of Austria. It was the last battle at sea between ‘oared’ ships, which featured the most powerful navy in the world, a Moslem force with between 12,000 to 15,000 Christian slaves as rowers. Knowing that the Christian forces were at a distinct material disadvantage, the holy pontiff, St. Pope Pius V called for all of Europe to pray the Rosary for victory.

“We know today that the victory was decisive, prevented the Islamic invasion of Europe, and evidenced the Hand of God working through Our Lady. At the hour of victory, St. Pope Pius V, who was hundreds of miles away at the Vatican, is said to have gotten up from a meeting, went over to a window, and exclaimed with supernatural radiance: ‘The Christian fleet is victorious!’ and shed tears of thanksgiving to God. What you may not know is that one of three admirals commanding the Catholic forces at Lepanto was Andrea Doria. He carried a small copy of Mexico's Our Lady of Guadalupe into battle. This image is now enshrined in the Church of San Stefano in Aveto, Italy.

“At Fatima, Our Lady taught us to pray the Rosary every day. Heaven presented its peace plan at Fatima and truly gave us hope for the world. Conversions were promised at Fatima: the conversion of sinners; the conversion of Russia; and what also appears to be the conversion of Islam. Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us!”

Father Cizik

This article was published in the January-February, 2002 issue of “Michael”.

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Exorcism of Sexual Problems

2011-02-04T10:42:00.000-08:00

Archives of Sexual Behavior, VoL 6, No. 5, 1977

Gender Identity Change in a Transsexual:

An Exorcism

David H. Barlow, Ph.D., 1,3 Gene G. Abel, M.D., 2 and Edward B. Blanchard 2

Gender identity change in a conservatively diagnosed 21.year-old transsexual after faith healing was fortuitously observed, was objectively and independently measured, and is reported. This case, and other recent developments, suggests a reexamination of the possibilities of psychosocial intervention to modify atypical gender identity.
INTRODUCTION

The most effective treatment for the relief of suffering in transsexuals would seem to be sex-reassignment surgery (Green and Money, 1969). This radical and irreversible treatment for what is basically a psychological problem is indicated since the suffering of transsexuals is considerable and all efforts at treatment through psychotherapy have been ineffective (Pauly, t965; Benjamin, 1971; Green, 1974). Postsurgical reports from transsexuals have suggested a relief of suffering and moderate to good adjustments in approximately 75% of patients during the first few years of follow-up (e.g., Randell, 1969; Van Patten and Fawzy, 1976), but surgery is costly and not always available.

Although the prevention of transsexualism is the ideal, work in this area has been fraught with ethical problems, and data on the possibility of prevention, or even what to prevent, are not available (Qualls et al, in press; Rekers and

This research was supported in part by National Institute of Mental Health Grant MH-20258.

1 Brown University and Butler Hospital, Providence, Rhode Island 02906.

2 University of Tennessee Medical School, Memphis, Tennessee 38104.

3 Address correspondence to David H. Barlow, 345 Blackstone Boulevard, Providence, Rhode Island 02906.

387

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388 Barlow, Abel, and Blanchard

Lovaas, 1974; Green, in press). In lieu of effective preventive measures or psychological treatments, an emphasis has been placed on increasing opportunities for surgery. However, two recent developments raise some questions about this approach. First, reports are beginning to appear describing patients so dissatisfied with sex-reassignment surgery that they discard their new gender identity and return to living in their biological gender role despite the physical irreversibility of the surgery (e.g., Money and Wolff, 1973; Van Patten and Fawzy, t976). Second, a recent report suggests that behavioral procedures were effective in changing gender identity in one patient (Barlow et aL, 1973). Although these procedures were relatively complex and the treatment was lengthy, the implication is that mistaken gender identity, which has been considered fixed and irreversible by the age of 3 (Green and Money, 1969), may be altered by psychological procedures. The following case strengthens this preliminary conclusion in a most dramatic fashion.

CASE REPORT

Information described below was obtained from the patient and verified, in most instances, in a separate interview with the patient's mother. Essentially the same information was obtained from the forwarded records of two psychiatrists who had independently interviewed the patient, 1 and 3 years, respectively, prior to our evaluation.

Childhood

The patient, hereafter referred to by the pseudonym "John," was born in 1952 and always thought of himself as a girl. At the time of his birth his father was 45 and his mother 32. The marriage was unhappy and the father was seldom home, and, as a consequence, a permanent separation occurred when John was 8 years old. John had one brother, 5 years older, and a sister 2 years older. He reports being the baby of the family and more frail and delicate than his older sister, who was something of a tomboy. He thought that his mother compensated for his sister's tomboyishness by preventing him from engaging in any rough and-tumble games or other boyish activities. During his early years he stayed in the house and helped his mother clean or do chores in the kitchen, activities that pleased his mother. At age 4 he began applying makeup, much as his mother did, and shortly thereafter began cross-dressing in his sister's clothes. He was very pleased when his sister started school, since she bought a number of new clothes. For several years he made excuses to stay home alone in order to dress in his sister's clothes, an activity in which the family housekeeper acquiesced while warning him not to let his father catch him. At age 6 he broke his leg. He re-

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Gender Identity Change in a Transsexual: An Exorcism 389

member that the most frustrating part of this injury was his inability to dress the way he wanted since wearing a cast made it difficult to change into the feminine clothes.

During grammar school John refused to participate in gym or other related activities. His mother, meanwhile, had obtained a job and he assumed the role of housekeeper. He remembers being the object of scorn and criticism in elementary school for effeminate behaviors, but in the early years of school his brother was somewhat protective of him. Although his family identified themselves as Southern Baptists, they seldom attended church. During his childhood he continued to sleep in the same bed with his mother. He envied his sister and mother as females and loathed his maleness. Thus his childhood was marked by a history of spontaneous cross-dressing before age 5, early crossgender identification and fantasies, very early development of feminine activities, and absence of masculine activities or interests. These features are stated by Stoller (1968) to be prerequisites for categorization as a transsexual.

Adolescence

John attended school, performed marginally, and remained socially isolated. He occupied himself with housekeeping and cooking. At 15 he read about transsexualism in a national magazine and began corresponding with The Johns Hopkins Hospital and experts of whom he had learned.

Shortly thereafter he dropped out of school and began intensive reading on the subject in the library. A woman with whom he was acquainted mentioned a doctor who treated hormonal problems. Based on his readings, he was aware of the effects of female hormones and told the physician that he was on female hormones for an endocrine disorder and needed additional prescriptions, which he obtained. He remembers the estrogen as producing a tranquility which he had not experienced for some time and eliminating his unwanted erections. From oral estrogen he progressed to occasional self-injection of estrogen, but was concerned lest his mother find his medication.

In 1969, at age 16, he was involved in a serious car accident and medical treatment for resulting conditions led to discovery of the effects of the hormone (some breast enlargement and thinning of body hair) and the specifics of his cross-gender identity. He was subsequently referred to a psychiatrist, whom he saw periodically in years to come. His mother became extremely upset on learning of his cross-gender identity, blaming it on the automobile accident. This began a very stormy period in the patient's life, where his mother would attempt to manipulate him with frequent suicidal gestures and other histrionic behavior in an attempt to force him to seek psychiatric care. At his mother's insistence, he was admitted to a state hospital for evaluation. A psychiatric examination and psychological testing, later forwarded to our offices, revealed no psychosis

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390 Barlow, Abel, and Blanchard

but a mild situational depression, presumably due to family pressures. Physical examination revealed breast enlargement. He was discharged on no medications with a diagnosis of transvestism.

Several months before this hospitalization, he had successfully begun working a fried chicken stand and was considered dependable and a good worker. He resumed this work upn discharge from hospital and was referred to our offices for the first time by his present psychiatrist, where one of us (D.H.B.) diagnosed him as a transsexual. He noted that he enjoyed his work, was saving money for sex-reassignment surgery, a portion of which he had received as a settlement for his automobile accident, but was continuing to have difficulty with his mother and thus had moved into his own apartment. He was started, once again, on oral doses of estrogen by his private psychiatrist and reported during his time that his voice hightened and that he again felt calm and relaxed. He would often dress as a female when away from work and reported that he was extremely comfortable, did not attract attention, and was never apprehended for crossdressing.

John rose to the position of manager in his job but continued to have difficulty with his mother and her friends, who insisted that he "make a man of himself." To "quiet her down" he entered the Navy, at their suggestion, in November 1972, but was quickly medically discharged after a thorough psychiatric examination, later forwarded to us, with a diagnosis of transsexualism. A buccal smear at this time revealed a normal male chromosomal pattern and psychological testing revealed no psychosis, no severely defective judgment, and no abnormal affect. After returning from service, he continued to have difficulties with his mother, and by the end of 1972, at age 20, was admitted to our psychiatric unit after overdosing in response to his mother's attempt to move into his apartment with him. Treatment consisted of teaching him to deal more assertively and effectively witti his mother, and the patient decided, with our consent, that it was time to begin the process of preparing for surgery.

Toward Surgery

After discharge, John was placed on full therapeutic dosages of estrogen and he intensified treatments for electrolysis of facial hair, a process he had begun sometime earlier. As part of the process of preparing for surgery, a variety of assessment procedures were administered to measure gender identity, gender role behavior, and sexual arousal patterns. All assessment remained consistent with a diagnosis of transsexualism, as it had in his previous visit in 1971. Sexual arousal patterns, as measured by rating scales and penile circumference measures (Barlow et aL, 1970; Barlow and Abel, 1976), were exclusively transsexual but sexual arousal was relatively low, consistent with his expressed lack of interest in sex. The patient had never had any sexual contact and masturbated

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Gender Identity Change in a Transsexual: An Exorcism 391

very infrequently, because of disgust over awareness of his male genitalia. Sexual attractions to males consisted mostly of feeling "warm and close" to a male and were always fantasized with the patient in the female role.

From this battery of assessment procedures (Barlow, 1977; Abel, 1977), two measures were repeated periodically over the next 2 years. One was an attitudinal "card sort" measure of gender identity in which statements describing masculine gender identity and feminine gender identity were typed on 3×5 cards and rated based on desirability (see Barlow etaL, 1969, 1973; Barlow and Abel, 1976). This attitudinal measure revealed maximal feminine gender identity. Gender role behavior was measured by a behavioral checklist of gender-specific motor behavior while sitting, standing, and walking (Barlow et al., 1973). This behavioral checklist was filled out surreptitiously by a secretary as the patient walked into the office, stood, and sat down while waiting for his appointments. Feminine gender motor behavior was emitted consistently.

With some assistance from us, cross-living as a female began uneventfully in the winter of 1972 and John assumed the name of "Judy." The maturity with which she approached this transition is evident in that she was able to explain the situation to her employees and continued working at this job, changing only her apartment at this time. By the summer of 1973 Judy was doing extremely well and had reconciled her upcoming surgery with her mother and the rest of her family. Judy passed well as a female, had straightened out most .of her legal affairs, such as a change of driver's license, and was successfully wearing a bikini (having progressed to bra size 36B).

In the summer of 1973 Judy requested to commence surgery. In view of her excellent adjustment, we agreed and referred her to a medical center in a nearby state.

The Exorcism

After a l~rief note indicating that she had arrived, we received no word for several months. One day in the late fall, a research assistant who had worked with the case came back from a half-Finished lunch of fried chicken and shouted, "Judy is back at the restaurant, but she's not Judy anymore, she's John!" Other reports quickly confirmed this, and John was invited back to our offices for a session which ocurred in early January of 1974. He entered the office in a three piece business suit, with polished shoes, neatly cut short hair, clipped fingernails, and consistently masculine motor behaviors. Even to trained eyes, the only sign of his former feminine role was the almost complete absence of facial hair, which in view of his light complexion and in the context of his total masculinity would normally go unnoticed. He enthusiastically related the following story.

After leaving our offices and journeying to the gender identity clinic in the nearby state where he was expected, he kept a promise he had made to the owner

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392 Barlow, Abel, and Blanchard

of his fast-food restaurant. He had developed a close relationship with the owner of this restaurant over the years in which he had productively and reliably worked; and, although this woman was quite accepting of his transitions, she did request that he check with one physician in the city to which he was traveling before checking into the gender identity clinic. The physician shared with the owner of the restaurant a fundamental Protestant religion quite foreign to John, who had been brought up as a Baptist but was not religious. The physician administered a total physical exam and said that he could live quite well as a woman, but the real problem was possession by evil spirits. After some discussion of this, John reported a session which lasted 2-3 hr and involved exhortations and prayers over John by the physician and laying on a hands on John's head and shoulders. During this period, John reported fainting several times and arising to the continuing of the prayers and exhortations, resulting in the exorcism of 22 evil spirits which the physician called by name as they left his body. During and after this session John felt waves of God's love coming over him but was physically drained. A letter to us, from the physician, confirmed this basic process. The physician noted in his letter that he showed John that his life was a fake and that Jesus could redeem him and that a standard prescription of Scripture readings caused the spirit of the woman in John to disappear.

Immediately after the session John announced he was a man, discarded his female clothes (hiding his breasts as best he could), and went to the barber shop to have his long hair cut into his current short, masculine style. After this session John returned home and live with his mother for approximately 2 weeks but remembers the beginning of some doubts about his conversion and the reoccurrence of some feminine feelings. At this point he accompained his employer to services of a very well-known faith healer in another state where the miracles that he saw renewed his faith and reaffirmed the correctness of his decision. After waiting 3½ hr in line, he confronted the healer who told the patient that he was having sexual problems (having perhaps seen his breasts?) and began the healing process, including praying and laying on of hands once again. During this period, which John estimated as 10 or 15 min, he fainted, regained consciousness, fainted again, and, as he stood to step off the platform down into the audience, realized that his breasts were gone.

Follow-up

John was followed for 2½ years after the exorcism and measures of gender identity and gender role behavior were administered at each follow-up session. All data are presented in Fig. 1 and reflect the clear reversal of gender identity after the exorcism and during follow-up. He reported heterosexual arousal at the first postexorcism interview but refused measurement of penile circumference changes to erotic slides. His minister recommended that he not view slides of nude males for fear that the Devil might once again gain access to his soul. In the confusion, gender-specific motor behavior was not formally scored.

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Gender Identity Change in a Transsexual: An Exorcism 393

Fig. I. Masculine and feminine gender-specific motor behavior and score on "card sort"

measure of gender identity before and after exorcism.

Examination revealed no residual gynecomastia, although the interval of time between cessation of hormonal therapy and examination was adequate for this "shrinkage" to occur naturally.

He started dating several months later, and at the last interview in December 1975 reported that he had dated approximately ten gifts intermittently but had dated one girl for an extended period of time. He reported some sexual arousal toward these girls but did not masturbate, nor did he consider sexual intercourse, because of his religious beliefs. He did admit having some sexual thoughts of males for several months after returning from his faith healing, but attributed these to the Devil and has not had thoughts of men for almost 2 years. He continued to do extremely well in his job, benefiting from- several promotions, and was looking forward to getting married.

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394 Barlow, Abel, and Blanchard

Healing (1961). With Frank's book, this case raises questions on the nature of the process of therapeutic change and the role of various therapeutic procedures in this process. Although most psychotherapists would not deny the role of suggestion, instructions, and persuasion with many psychological disorders, what is important in this case is that no psychotherapeutic procedure of any kind, with whatever element of suggestion or persuasion, has been effective for transexualism, with the possible exception of behavior modification in one case (Barlow et al., 1973). But even the most facile operant conditioner would be hard pressed to explain the sudden and massive behavioral change observed and objectively measured in this case. Furthermore, this case would be less impressive without the presence of the repeated measures, particularly the behavioral measure independently administered, to bolster our subjective impression of change. It is noteworthy that in the earlier case, where behavior modification procedures were seemingly effective in changing gender-specific motor behavior, and in subsequent cases, a period of several months was necessary to teach these behaviors step by step. In this case, without any instruction and presumably without familiarity with the behaviors in the checklist, all of the components of masculine motor behavior were seemingly acquired in a matter of hours.

Obviously, this case has little relevance for therapeutic intervention at this time since most transsexuals are unlikely to flock to the nearest faith healer. But the fact that it did occur could extend the study of the effects of social influence variables to what has been the most intractable of all psychiatric disorders to determine if it is possible to develop psychological intervention to replace surgical treatment in at least some cases. Fortunately, this type of change is not without precedent, although one must go outside the purview of clinical psychology and psychiatry to find parallels. Anthropological study has yielded data from more primitive cultures where changes in gender role behavior and presumably gender identity result from religious or other tribal customs (e.g., Levy, 1973). A closer study of this process in a number of cultures might yield information of some use in our own culture.

The facts in this case are far from certain in all instances. Despite John's report and corroboration from his employer, it is certainly hard to believe that John's breasts disappeared instantaneously in view of our medical understanding of the thne necessary for the physical effects of estrogen to reverse. Furthermore, we were not able to obtain objective measures of John's sexual arousal patterns after the exorcism, although it would seem that if John were fabricating his report he would not have indicated continued sexual arousal to men for several months subsequent to the faith healing. Additional follow-up is also necessary to confirm the stability of the measures and any changes in his life situation over a long period of time. What cannot be denied, however, is that a patient who was very clearly a transsexual, by the most conservative criteria (e.g., Stoller, 1968, 1969), assumed a long-lasting masculine gender identity in a remarkably short period of time following an apparent exorcism.
Exorcism

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Gender Identity Change in a Transsexual:
395

REFERENCES

Abel, G. G. (1977). Assessment of sexual deviation in the male. In Hersen, M., and Bellack, A. S. (eds.), Behavioral Assessment: A Practical Handbook, Pergamon Press, New York, in press.

Barlow, D. H. (1977). Assessment of sexual behavior. In Ciminero, A. R., Calhoun, K. S., and Adams, H. E. (eds.), Handbook of Behavioral Assessment, Wiley New York.

Barlow, D. H., and Abel, G. G. (1976). Sexual deviation. In Craighead, E., Kazdin, A., and Mahoney, M. (eds.), Behavior Modification: Principles, Issues, and Applications, Houghton Mifflin, Boston.

Barlow, D. H., Leitenberg, H., and Agras, W. S. (1969). The experimental control of sexual deviation through manipulation of the noxious scene in covert sensitization J. Abnorm. Psycho174: 596-601.

Barlow, D. H., Becker, R., Leitenberg, H., and Agras, W. S. (1970). A mechanical strain gauge for recording penile circumference change. Y.. Appl. Behav. Anal 3: 73-76.

Barlow, D. H., Reynolds, E. H., and Agras, W. S. (1973). Gender identity change in a transsexual. Arch. Gen. Psychiat. 28: 569-579.

Benjamin, H. (1971). Should surgery be performed on transsexuals? Psychiat. Digest, p. 37.

Frank, J. (1961). Persuasion and Healing, Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore.

Green R. (1974). Sexual Identity Conflict in Children and Adults, Basic Books, New York.

Green, R. (1977). Atypical sex role development: Strategy and ethics of prevention. In

Quails, C. B., Wincze, J. P., and Barlow, D. H. (eds.), The Prevention of SexualDisorders: Issues and Approaches, Plenum Press, New York, in press.

Green, R., and Money, J. (1969). Transsexualism and Sex Reassignment, Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore.

Levy, R. I. (1973). Tahitians: Mind and Experience in the Society Islands, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

Money, J., and Wolff, G. (1973). Sex reassignment: Male to female to male. Arch. Sex. Behav. 2: 245-250.

Pauly, I. B. (1965). Male psychosexual inversion: Transsexualism. Arch. Gen. Psychiat. 13: 172-181.

Quails, C. B., Wincze, J. P., and Barlow, D. H. (eds.), (1977). The Prevention of Sexual Disorders: Issues and Approaches, Plenum Press, New York, in press.

Randell, J. (1969). Preoperative and postoperative status of male and female transsexuals. In Green, R., and Money, J. (eds.), Transsexualism and Sex Reassignment, Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore.

Rekers, G. A., and Lovaas, O. I. (1974). Behavioral treatment of deviant sex-role behaviors in a male child. J. Appl Behav. Anal. 7: 173-190.

Stoller, R. J. (1968). Sex and Gender, Science House, New York.

Stoller, R. J. (1969). Parental influences in male transsexualism. In Green, R., and Money J. (eds.), Transsexualism and Sex Reassignment, Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore.

Van Patten, T., and Fawzy, F. I. (1976). Sex conversion surgery in a man with severe gender dysphoda. Arch. Gen. Psychiat. 33: 751-753.

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PRAYER OF RELEASE FOR FREEMASONS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

2011-01-31T10:19:00.000-08:00

By Fr. John Hampsch, C.M.F.

PRAYER OF RELEASE FOR FREEMASONS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

If you were once a Mason or are a descendant of a Mason, we recommend that you pray through the following prayer from your heart. Don’t be like the Masons who are given their obligations and oaths one line at a time and without prior knowledge of the requirements. Please read it through first so you know what is involved. It is best to pray this aloud with a Christian witness or counselor present. We suggest a brief pause following each paragraph to allow the Holy Spirit to show any additional issues which may require attention.

“Father God, creator of heaven and earth, I come to you in the name of Jesus Christ your Son. I come as a sinner seeking forgiveness and cleansing from all sins committed against you and others made in your image. I honor my earthly father and mother and all of my ancestors of flesh and blood, and of the spirit by adoption and godparents, but I utterly turn away from and renounce all their sins. I forgive all my ancestors for the effects of their sins on me and my children. I confess and renounce all of my own sins. I renounce and rebuke Satan and every spiritual power of his affecting me and my family.

I renounce and forsake all involvement in Freemasonry or any other lodge or craft by my ancestors and myself. I renounce witchcraft, the principal spirit behind Freemasonry, and I renounce Bxphomer, the Spirit of Antichrist and the curse of the Luciferian doctrine. I renounce the idolatry, blasphemy, secrecy and deception by Masonry at every level. I specifically renounce the insecurity, the love of position and power, the love of money, avarice or greed, and the pride which would have led my ancestors into Masonry. I renounce all the fears which held them in Masonry, especially the fears of death, fears of men, and fears of trusting in the name of Jesus Christ.

I renounce every position held in the lodge by any of my ancestors, including “Tyler”’ “Master”, “Worshipful Master”, or any other. I renounce the calling of any man “Master”, for Jesus Christ is my only master and Lord, and He forbids anyone else having that title. I renounce the entrapping of others into Masonry and observing the helplessness of others during the rituals. I renounce the effects of Masonry passed on to me through any female ancestor who felt distrusted and rejected by her husband as he entered and attended any lodge and refused to tell her of his secret activities.

1st Degree

I renounce the oaths taken and the curses involved in the First or Entered Apprentice degree, especially their effects on the throat and tongue. I renounce the Hoodwink, the blindfold, and its effects on emotions and eyes, including all confusion, fear of the dark, fear of the light, and fear of sudden noises. I renounce the secret word BOAZ, and all it means. I renounce the mixing and mingling of truth and error, and the blasphemy of this degree of Masonry. I renounce the noose around the neck, the fear of choking and also every spirit causing asthma, hay fever, emphysema or any other breathing difficulty: I renounce the compass point, sword or spear held against the breast, the fear of death by stabbing pain, and the fear of heart attack from this degree. In the name of Jesus Christ I now pray for healing of..(throat, vocal cords, nasal passages, sinus, bronchial tubes etc) for healing of the speech area, and the release of the Word of God to me and through me and my family.

2nd Degree

I renounce the oaths taken and the curses involved in the second or Fellow Craft degree of Masonry, especially the curses on the heart and chest. I renounce the secret ~words JACHIN AND SHIBBOLETH and all that these mean. I cut off emotional hardness, apathy, indifference, unbelief and deep anger from me and my family. In the name of Jesus Christ I pray for the healing of … (the chest/lung/heart area) and also for the healing of my emotions and ask to be made sensitive to the Holy Spirit of God.

3rd Degree

I renounce the oaths taken and the curses involved in the third or Master Mason degree, especially the curses on the stomach and womb area. I renounce the secret words MAHA BONE, MACHABEN, MACHBINNA and TUBAL CAIN, and all that they mean. I renounce the Spirit of Death from the blows to the head enacted as ritual murder, the fear of deaths, false martyrdom, fear of violent gang attack, assault, or rape, and the helplessness of this degree. I renounce the falling into the coffin or stretcher involved in the ritual of murder. I renounce the false resurrection of this degree, because only Jesus Christ is the Resurrection and the Life! I also renounce the blasphemous kissing of the Bible on a Witchcraft oath. I cut off all spirits of death, witchcraft and deception and in the name of Jesus Christ I pray for the healing of…(the stomach, bladder, womb, liver, and any other organs of my body affected by Masonry), and I ask for a release of compassion and understanding for me and my family.

Holy Royal Arch Degree

I renounce and forsake the oaths taken and the curses involved in the Holy Royal Arch Degree of Masonry, especially the oath regarding the removal of the head from the body arid the exposing of the brains to the hot sun. I renounce the Mark Lodge and the mark in the form of squares and angles which marks the person for life. I also reject the jewel or talisman which may have been made from this mark sign and worn at lodge meetings. I renounce the false secret name of God, JAHBULON, and the password, AMMI RUHAMAH and all they mean. I renounce the false communion or Eucharist taken in this degree and all the mockery, skepticism and unbelief about the redemptive work of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary. I cut off all these curses and their effects on me and my family in the name of Jesus Christ, arid I pray for…(healing of the brain, the mind etc.)

18th Degree

I renounce the oaths taken and the curses involved in the eighteenth degree of Masonry, the Most Wise Sovereign ‘Knight of the Pelican and the Eagle and Sovereign Prince Rose Croix of Heredom. I renounce and reject the Pelican witchcraft spirit, as well as the occult influence of the Rosicrucians and the Kabbala in this degree. I renounce the claim that the death of Jesus Christ is a “dire calamity”, and also the deliberate mockery and twisting of the Christian doctrine of Atonement. I renounce the blasphemy and rejection of the deity of Jesus Christ, and the secret words IGNE NATURA RENOVATUR INTEGRA and its burning. I renounce the mockery of the communion taken in this degree, including a biscuit, salt and white wine.

30th Degree.

I renounce the oaths taken and the curses involved in the thirtieth degree Masonry, the Grand Knight Kadosh and Knight of the Black and White Eagle. I renounce the password, “STIBIUM ALKABAR”, and all it means.

31st Degree

I renounce-the oaths taken and the curses involved in the thirty-first degree of Masonry, the Grand Inspector Inquisitor Commander. I renounce all the gods and goddesses of Egypt which are honored in this degree, including Anubis with the ram’s head, Osiris the Sun god, Isis, the sister and wife of Osiris, and also the moon goddess. I renounce the Soul of Cheres, the false symbol of immortality, the Chamber of the dead and the false teaching of reincarnation.

32nd Degree

I renounce the oaths taken and the curses involved in the thirty-second degree of Masonry, the Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret. I renounce Masonry’s false Trinitarian deity AUM, and Its parts; Brabma the creator, Vishnu the preserver and Shiva the destroyer. I renounce the deity of AHURA-MAZDA, the claimed spirit or source of all light and the worship with fire, which is an abomination to God, and also the drinking from a human skull in many Rites.

York Rite

I renounce the oaths taken and the curses involved in the York Rite of Freemasonry, including Mark Master, Past Master, Most Excellent Master, Royal Master, Select Master, Super Excellent Master, the Orders of the Red Cross, the Knights of Malta, and the Knights Templar degrees. I renounce the secret words of JOPPA, KEB RAIOTH, AND MAHER-SHALAL-HASH-BAZ. I renounce the vows taken on a human skull, the crossed swords, and the curse and death wish of Judas of having the head cut off and placed on top of a church spire. I renounce the unholy communion and especially of drinking from a human skull in many Rites.

Shriners (America only-doesn’t apply in other countries)

I renounce the oaths taken and the curses and penalties involved in the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. I renounce the ‘piercing of the eyeballs with a three-edged blade, the flaying of the feet, the madness, and the worship of the false god Allah as the god of our fathers. I renounce the hoodwink, the mock hanging, thy mock beheading, the, mock drinking of the blood of the victim, the mock dog urinating on the initiate, and the offering of urine as a commemoration.

33rd Degree

I renounce the oaths taken and the curses involved in the thirty-third degree of Masonry, the Grand Sovereign Inspector General. I renounce and forsake the declaration that Lucifer is God, I renounce the cable-tow around the neck. I renounce the death wish that the wine drunk from a human skull should turn to poison and the skeleton whose cold arms are invited if the oath of this degree is violated. I renounce the three infamous assassins of their grand master – law, property and religion — and the greed and witchcraft involved in the attempt to manipulate and control the rest of mankind.

(All participants should now be invited to sincerely carry out the following:)

1. Symbolically remove the blindfold (hoodwink) and give to the Lord for disposal.

2. In the same way, symbolically remove· the veil of mourning.

3. Symbolically cut and remove the noose from around the neck, gather it up with the cable-tow running down the body, and give it all to the Lord for His disposal.

4. Renounce the false Freemasonry marriage covenant, removing from the 4th finger of the right hand the ring of this false marriage covenant, giving it to the Lord to dispose of.

5. Symbolically remove the chains and bondage of Freemasonry from your body.

6. Symbolically remove all Freemasonry regalia and armor, especially the Apron.

7. Invite participants to repent of and seek forgiveness for having walked on all unholy ground, including Freemasonry lodges and temples, including any Mormon or other occult / Masonic organizations.

8. Symbolically remove the ball and chain from the ankles.

9. Proclaim that Satan and his demons no longer have any legal rights to mislead and manipulate the person(s) seeking help.

Holy Spirit, I ask that you show me anything else which I need to do or to pray so that I and my family may be totally free from the consequences of the sins of Masonry, Witchcraft, Mormonism, and Paganism.

(Pause, while listening to God, and pray as the Holy Spirit leads you.)

Now, dear Father God, I ask humbly for the blood of Jesus Christ, your Son, to cleanse me from all these sins I have confessed and renounced, to cleanse my spirit, my soul, my mind, my emotions, and every part of my body which has been affected by these sins, in Jesus’ name!

I renounce every evil spirit associated with Masonry arid Witchcraft and all other sins, and I command in the name of Jesus Christ for Satan and every evil spirit to be bound and to leave me now, touching or harming no one, and go to the place appointed for you by the Lord Jesus, never to return to me or my family. I call on the name of the Lord Jesus to be delivered of these spirits, in accordance with the many promises of the Bible. I ask to be delivered of every spirit of sickness, infirmity, curse, affliction, addiction, disease or allergy associated with these sins I have confessed and renounced. I surrender to God’s Holy Spirit and to no other spirit all the places in my life where these things have been. I ask you, Lord, to baptize me in your Holy Spirit now according to the promises in your Word. I take to my self the whole armor of God in accordance with Ephesians Chapter Six and rejoice in its protection as Jesus surrounds me and fills me with His Holy Spirit. I enthrone you, Lord Jesus, in my heart, for you are my Lord and my Savior, the source of eternal life. Thank you, Father God, for your mercy, your forgiveness, and your love. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.“

This prayer is taken from Unmasking Freemasonry – Removing the Hoodwink by Selwyn Stevens, published by Jubilee Publishers, PO Box 36-044, Wellington 6330, New Zealand. Copying of this prayer is both permitted and encouraged provided reference is made to where it comes from.

NOTE: The Internet contains this prayer and much more on Freemasonry. Do a search on “Freemasonry” or “Unmasking Freemasonry”

May God bless you and protect you today and all days…..

Spiritual Warfare Prayer Against Satan and Every Force of Evil

2011-01-24T11:43:00.000-08:00

Spiritual Warfare Prayer

By Fr. John Hampsch, C.M.F.

Make the Sign of the Cross

My sins are forgiven through the blood of Jesus, and I am redeemed by the blood of Jesus out of the hands of Satan. The blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, is cleansing me now and keeping me clean from all sin. I am justified and made righteous by the blood of Jesus. I am sanctified, set apart for God by the blood of Jesus. The blood of Jesus now covers me and protects me against all evil. The blood of Jesus, sprinkled in Heaven, now speak on my behalf. I am redeemed by the blood of Jesus out of the hand of the enemy, out of the hand of the devil. I belong to Jesus Christ, God’s Son, in my spirit, my soul, my body. I desire Jesus to be my Lord. I am redeemed by His Blood shed on the cross for me, and because of the blood, Satan has no more power over me, he has no more rights over me, he has no more place in me. According to the Word of God, he is over-come by the blood of the Lamb and the word of my testimony.

I submit to God. I resist Satan, and he must flee from me, for the Bible says, “These signs shall follow those that believe in the Name of Jesus, they shall cast out evil spirits.” I am a believer, and these signs shall follow me in the Name of Jesus. In His Name I expel all evil spirits. I command them to leave. I loosen myself from them according to the Word of God in the Holy Name of Jesus Christ by His power. I command every force of evil, every devil, demon or evil spirit never to assail me or anyone again, for the duration of their existence. I bind every force of evil by the power of Jesus coming through me, and I remand every force that is not of God. I remand it to the Feet of Jesus to be dispatched by Him as He sees fit. I call upon all the Heavenly court, the angels and saints of Heaven to intercede, especially the Virgin Mary who was prophetically assigned to crush the head of the serpent, St. Benedict, the patrons of exorcists, St. Michael the Archangel, the arch enemy of the devil, and all the militant angels under his dominion to come against the enemy. I bind him with their intercession and the power of Jesus. I bind him forever.

Thank you, Lord, for freeing me, for “when the Son of Man makes you free, you are free indeed.”

Glory be to the Father…..

Make the Sign of the Cross.

Loughner's Pro-Abortion Atheism is Covered-up by Media

2011-01-14T11:32:00.000-08:00

Chicago Atheism Examiner: "Loughner no more represents the atheist movement than Hitler represented Catholicism or bin Laden Islam."

http://www.examiner.com/atheism-in-chicago/atheists-should-be-quick-to-condemn-loughner

"Another classmate, Lydian Ali, recalled the incident as well.

"'A girl had written a poem about an abortion. It was very emotional and she was teary eyed and he said something about strapping a bomb to the fetus and making a baby bomber,' Ali said."

Here's the Times' version: "After another student read a poem about getting an abortion, Mr. Loughner compared the young woman to a 'terrorist for killing the baby.'"

So that's how the Times transformed Loughner from a sicko laughing about a dead fetus to a deadly earnest pro-life fanatic. (Never believe a news story written by Eric Lipton, Charlie Savage or Scott Shane of The New York Times -- or for simplicity, anything in the Times.)

I wouldn't have mentioned Loughner's far-left world view immediately after a tragedy like this, but now that liberals have opened the door by blaming Loughner's politics, they better brace themselves.

http://townhall.com/columnists/AnnCoulter/2011/01/12/liberals_seek_ban_on_metaphors_in_wake_of_arizona_shooting/page/full/

By Ann Coulter

Chicago Atheism Examiner

Atheists Should Be Quick to Condemn Loughner
January 13th, 2011 11:03 am CT

With tragedy, especially on a national scale, comes the requisite blame game. It goes without fail that the media and pundits have to talk about something so why not capture the ratings bonanza of a hot topic like a murder rampage by dissecting and disseminating the rationale (or lack thereof) of what is purportedly (based on all evidence up to this point) a deranged member of society?

The problem that lies herein is that to pinpoint a singular institution or point of thought that sent Loughner to such extremes not only diminishes the full spectrum of what actually occured on that fateful day but simplifies what cannot and should not be simplified. To generalize Loughner's motives would also lead to generalizations about whatever or whoever we are blaming. Furthermore, if these generalizations were true, we wouldn't be mourning over a single incident but thousands. This alone should give us all pause before citing the singular cause of his actions.

Loughner's actions were not the sole artifact of political rhetoric nor his taste in literature or music, nor his social upbringing. Secular-minded citizens should also make it their cause to denounce that his alleged atheism was a factor in his decisions. As obvious as this may sound, we must remind the religious world that millions of atheists and agnostics go through their entire life without harming a single living person. Loughner no more represents the atheist movement than Hitler represented Catholicism or bin Laden Islam.

We cannot allow the underbelly of bias and fear to rise up against one another when faced with a tragic incident as occurred in Arizona. We have to remember that Loughner was a single wave in an ocean of good decent citizens, and that we, as a collective (regardless of our political persuasion, social standing or worldview), all share the mindset that his actions were despicable, reprehensible and deserves no encouragement. Let us all be quick to condemn them and remind ourselves that he is an exception (an unfortunate exception) in our society and not the norm.

Continue reading on Examiner.com: Atheists Should Be Quick to Condemn Loughner - Chicago atheism | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/atheism-in-chicago/atheists-should-be-quick-to-condemn-loughner#ixzz1B2VoY61N

http://www.examiner.com/atheism-in-chicago/atheists-should-be-quick-to-condemn-loughner

Ann Coulter

Liberals Seek Ban on Metaphors in Wake of Arizona Shooting

After the monstrous shooting in Arizona last week, surely we can all agree that we've got to pass Obama's agenda immediately and stop using metaphors.

At least I think that's what the mainstream media are trying to tell me.

Liberals instantly leapt on the sickening massacre at a Tucson political event over the weekend to accuse tea partiers, Sarah Palin and all conservatives who talk out loud of being complicit in murder by inspiring the shooter, Jared Loughner.

Of course, to make their case, they first must demonstrate:

(a) Right-wingers have called for violence against anyone, especially conservative, pro-Second Amendment Democratic congresswomen;

(b) Loughner was listening to them; and

(c) Loughner was influenced by them.

They've proved none of this. In fact, it's nearly the opposite.

Needless to say, no conservative has called for violence against anyone. Nor has any conservative engaged in any "rhetoric" that was likely to lead to violence. Every putative example of "violent rhetoric" these squeamish liberals produce keeps being matched by an identical example from the Democrats.

Sarah Palin, for example, had a chart of congressional districts being targeted by Republicans. So did the Democratic Leadership Committee. Indeed, Democratic consultant Bob Beckel went on Fox News and said he invented the bull's-eye maps.

Similarly, every time liberals produce an example of military lingo from a Republican -- "we're going to target this district" -- Republicans produce five more from the Democrats.

President "whose asses to kick" Obama predicted "hand-to-hand combat" with his political opponents and has made such remarks as "if they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun" -- making Obama the first American president to advocate gun fights since Andrew Jackson.

These are figures of speech known as "metaphors." (Do liberals know where we got the word "campaign"?)

It's not that both sides did something wrong; neither side did anything wrong. The drama queens need to settle down.

The winner of the most cretinous statement of 2011 -- and the list is now closed, so please hold your submissions -- is MSNBC's Chris Matthews, who on Monday night recalled Palin's statement, "We're not retreating, we're reloading," and said, I quote, "THAT'S not a metaphor."

Really, Chris? If that's not a metaphor, who did she shoot?

By blaming a mass killing on figures of speech, liberals sound as crazy as Loughner with his complaints about people's grammar. Maybe in lieu of dropping all metaphors, liberals should demand we ban metonyms so that tragedies like this will never happen again.

As for Loughner being influenced by tea partiers, Fox News and talk radio -- oops, another dead-end. According to all available evidence, Loughner is a liberal.

Every friend of Loughner who has characterized his politics has described him as liberal. Not one called him a conservative.

One friend says Loughner never listened to talk radio or watched the TV news. Throw in "never read books" and you have the dictionary definition of a liberal. Being completely uninformed is precisely how most liberals stay liberal.

According to voluminous Twitter postings on Saturday by one of Loughner's friends since high school, Caitie Parker, he was "left wing," "a political radical" "quite liberal" and "a pot head."

If any public figure influenced this guy, my money's on Bill Maher.

But liberals have been so determined to exploit this tragedy to geld conservatives, they have told calculated lies about Loughner's politics.

In the most bald-faced lie I have ever read in The New York Times -- which is saying something -- that paper implied Loughner is a pro-life zealot. This is the precise opposite of the truth.

Only because numerous other news outlets, including ABC News and The Associated Press, reported the exact same shocking incident in much greater detail -- and with direct quotes -- do we know that the Times' rendition was complete bunk.

ABC News reported: "One Pima Community College student, who had a poetry class with Loughner later in his college career, said he would often act 'wildly inappropriate.'

"'One day (Loughner) started making comments about terrorism and laughing about killing the baby,' classmate Don Coorough told ABC News, referring to a discussion about abortions. 'The rest of us were looking at him in shock ... I thought this young man was troubled.'

"Another classmate, Lydian Ali, recalled the incident as well.

"'A girl had written a poem about an abortion. It was very emotional and she was teary eyed and he said something about strapping a bomb to the fetus and making a baby bomber,' Ali said."

Here's the Times' version: "After another student read a poem about getting an abortion, Mr. Loughner compared the young woman to a 'terrorist for killing the baby.'"

So that's how the Times transformed Loughner from a sicko laughing about a dead fetus to a deadly earnest pro-life fanatic. (Never believe a news story written by Eric Lipton, Charlie Savage or Scott Shane of The New York Times -- or for simplicity, anything in the Times.)

I wouldn't have mentioned Loughner's far-left world view immediately after a tragedy like this, but now that liberals have opened the door by blaming Loughner's politics, they better brace themselves.

And when I say "brace themselves," I don't mean they need to actually strap themselves into a brace. That's a metaphor, Chris.

Ann Coulter
Ann Coulter is a columnist and author of Guilty: Liberal Victims and Their Assault On America.

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Getting Prayers Answered has these Necessary Conditions

2011-01-10T09:37:00.000-08:00

By St. Francis De Sales

All that remains is for us to state the necessary conditions to pray well.
I know indeed that the ancients who treat this matter cite a great many
such conditions; some count 15, others eight. But since this number is so
large, I limit myself to mentioning only three.

The first is that one be little by humility;

the second, that one be great in hope;

and the third, that one be grafted onto Jesus Christ crucified.

Let us speak of the first, which is nothing other than that spiritual
mendicancy of which Our Lord says: Blessed are the mendicant in spirit, for
theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. [Cf. Mt. S:3]. And although some of the
Doctors interpret these words thus: How happy are the poor in spirit, these
two interpretations are not opposed, because all the poor are mendicants
[beggars] if they are not proud, and all mendicants are poor if they are
not avaricious. In order to pray well, then, we must acknowledge that we
are poor, and we must greatly humble ourselves; for do you not see how a
marksman with a crossbow, when he wishes to discharge a large arrow, draws
the string of his bow lower the higher he wants it to go? Thus must we do
when we wish our prayer to reach Heaven; we must lower ourselves by the
awareness of our nothingness. David admonishes us to do so by these words:
When you wish to pray, plunge yourself profoundly into the abyss of your
nothingness that you may be able afterward, without difficulty, to let your
prayer fly like an arrow even up to the heavens. [Cf. Ps. 130:1-2; Sir.
35:21].

Do you not see that nobles who wish to make water rise to the top of their
castles go to the source of this water in some highly elevated place and
then convey it by pipes, forcing it to descend for as great a distance as
they wish it to rise? Otherwise the water would never rise. And if you ask
them how they made it rise, they will answer you that it rises through this
descent. It is the same with prayer; for if you ask how it is that prayer
can rise to Heaven, you will be told that it rises there through the
descent of humility. The spouse in the Song of Songs' astonishes the angels
and makes them say: Who is this who comes from the desert, and who rises
like a column of smoke, laden with myrrh and frankincense and with every
perfume known, and who is leaning upon her Lover? [Cf. Song 3:6; 8:5].
Humility in its beginning is a desert, although in the end it may be very
fruitful, and the soul that is humble thinks itself as being in a desert
where neither birds nor even savage beasts dwell, and where there is no
fruit tree at all.

Let us pass on now to hope, which is the second necessary condition for
praying well. The spouse coming up from the desert rises like a shoot or
column of smoke, laden with myrrh. This represents hope, for even though
myrrh gives off a pleasant odor, it is nevertheless bitter to the taste.
Likewise, hope is pleasant since it promises that we shall one day possess
what we long for, but it is bitter because we are not now enjoying what we
love. Incense is far more appropriate as the symbol of hope, because, being
placed upon fire, it always sends its smoke upward; likewise, it is
necessary that hope be placed upon charity, otherwise it would no longer be
hope, but rather presumption. Hope, like an arrow, darts up even to the
gate of Heaven, but it cannot enter there because it is a virtue wholly of
earth. If we want our prayer to penetrate Heaven we must whet the arrow
with the grindstone of love.

Let us come to the third necessary condition. The angels say that the
spouse is leaning upon her Lover; we have seen that for the last condition
it is necessary to be grafted onto Jesus Christ crucified. The [Divine]
Spouse praised His spouse, saying that she was like a lily among thorns.
She, in turn, answered Him: My Lover is like an apple tree among the trees
of the woods; this tree is completely laden with leaves, flowers and fruit;
I shall rest in its shadow and receive the fruit which falls into my lap
and eat it, and having chewed it, I shall relish it in my mouth, where I
shall find it sweet and agreeable. [Cf. Song 2:2-3]. But where is this tree
planted? In what woods will we find it? Without doubt it is planted on
Mount Calvary, and we must keep ourselves in its shadow. But what are its
leaves? They are nothing other than the hope that we have of our salvation
by means of the death of the Savior. And its flowers? They are the prayers
that He offered up to His Father for us [Cf. Heb. 5:7]; the fruits are the
merits of His Passion and Death.

Let us remain then at the foot of this Cross, and let us never depart from
there, so that we may be all saturated with the Blood which flows from it.
St. Catherine of Siena once had an ecstasy while meditating on the Passion
and Death of Our Lord. It seemed to her that she was in a bath of His
Precious Blood, and when she came to herself she saw her dress all red with
this Blood, but others did not see it. We, too, must never go to prayer
without being similarly bathed; at least it is necessary to be thus bathed
in the morning at our first prayer. St. Paul, writing to his dear children
[Cf. Rom. 13:14], told them to be clothed with Our Lord, that is to say,
with His Blood.

But what is it to be clothed with this Blood? Do you not know that we say:
There is a man clothed in scarlet; and scarlet is a fish. That garment is
made of wool, but it is dyed in the blood of the fish. [Cf. Oeuvres, vol.
VIII, p. 144]. In like manner, even though we are clothed with wool, by
which it is understood that we perform good works, these good works--though
from us--have neither worth nor value if they are not dyed in the Blood of
our Master, whose merits render them agreeable to the Divine Majesty.

When Jacob wished to obtain his father Isaac's blessing, his mother made
him prepare a kid in venison sauce because Isaac liked it. [Cf. Gen. 27:
9-29]. She also made him wear the skins of the kid on his hands, because
Esau, the elder son to whom the blessing belonged by right, was all hairy.
She even made Jacob wear the scented garment destined for the eldest son of
the home. She led him thus to her husband, who was blind. When Jacob asked
for the blessing, Isaac felt his hands and cried aloud: Ah, but I am in
such pain! The voice I hear is that of my son Jacob, but the hands I feel
are those of Esau. And having smelled the scented garment, he said: The
good fragrance that I have savored has given me such delight that I give my
blessing to my son. So too we, having prepared this spotless Lamb [Cf. 1
Pet. 1:19] and having presented Him to the Eternal Father to satisfy His
taste, when we ask for His blessing He will say, if we are clothed with the
Blood of Jesus Christ: The voice that I hear is Jacob's, but the hands
(which are our evil deeds) are those of Esau; nevertheless, because of the
delight with which I savor the fragrance of his garment, I give him My
blessing. Amen.
http://www.theworkofgod.org/Library/Sermons/F_Sales.htm#THE SPIRIT OF PRAYER March 29, 1615

How do I get my Prayers Answered?

2011-01-03T09:15:00.000-08:00

St. Gertrude’s Unlimited Confidence

Blind trust in God’s mercy, unlimited confidence in His love, is one of the secrets to obtain sanctity. The Holy Fathers have always taught that the measure of our hope and confidence is the measure of the graces which we receive from heaven. They have realized that, through our unreserved confidence, God is most honored and glorified. Nothing will be denied to an unlimited confidence. Our Lord revealed: “It is impossible that anyone should not receive all that he has believed and hoped to obtain. It gives Me real pleasure when men hope great things from Me and I will always grant them more than they expect.”

Saint Gertrude understood that confidence is the key which opens the treasures of the infinite mercy of God. To her confidence alone she attributed all the gifts she received, and she invited all to place boundless confidence in our Savior in order to receive from Him immeasurable graces. “All that I have received,” she affirmed, “I owe to my confidence in the gratuitous bounty of God.” Yes, Gertrude knew that Jesus is an infinite Treasure placed by the Eternal Father at the disposition of all, and that it is His supreme delight, as Savior, to distribute His gifts to those who trust in Him. He frequently complained to the beloved of His Heart of man’s want of confidence.

To a religious who had long prayed in vain for a particular favor, Jesus revealed how pleased He was with Gertrude’s boundless trust in His goodness. “Why dost thou not act like Gertrude, My chosen virgin?” Our Lord inquired of the nun. “She is so firmly established in My Providence that there is nothing which she does not hope for from the plenitude of My grace. Therefore, I will never refuse her anything.” Alas! we creatures have too little knowledge of God’s kindness, love, and mercy! Our distrust arises because we compare God with ourselves. Oh, that all hearts would realize that Jesus is all love, all mercy. He has treasures of grace for all, but few come to bear them away by means of their confidence.

In all things, Gertrude had recourse to Jesus as a child has to its mother. Nothing, in her eyes, was too trivial to be recommended to Him. On one occasion, having lost a needle in a pile of straw, she besought Him to find it for her. “O dear Jesus,” she said, “vainly, indeed, would I search for this needle. It would be lost time. Please get it for me Thyself.” Extending one hand, and turning away her head, she immediately found the needle between her fingers.

Again and again, Our Lord encouraged this confidence so dear to Him. “O Jesus, what should I add to these prayers to make them yet more efficacious?” Gertrude once asked. Turning to her with a countenance full of sweetness, Our Savior replied, Confidence alone easily obtains all things! . . . Once when St. Gertrude was troubled with temptations, she implored the Divine assistance. Our Lord, in His exceeding mercy, spoke thus to her: “Anyone suffering from human temptations, who flees to My protection with firm confidence, belongs to those of whom I can say: ‘One is My dove, My chosen one out of thousands, who has pierced My Heart with one glance of her eyes.’ And this confidence wounds My Heart so deeply that were I unable to relieve such a soul, it would cause My Heart a sadness which all the joys of heaven could not assuage . . . The confidence that I truly have the power, the wisdom and the goodness to aid a soul faithfully in all her miseries, is the arrow which pierces My Heart, and does such violence to My love that I can never abandon her.”

http://www.tanbooks.com/doct/gertrude_great.htm

Saint Gertrude the Great

St. Gertrude is one of the greatest and most wonderful saints in the Church of God. Holy Church has distinguished her from all others of her sex by adding to her name the honorable title, “the Great.” Saint Gertrude is the diadem, the queen-flower of the Benedictine Order, the most beautiful lily among the holy virgins who flourished during the glorious middle ages. For hundreds and thousands of pious Christians, St. Gertrude has become a guide in the spiritual life, a teacher of the most intimate spirit of prayer and familiar intercourse with God. Who can enumerate the hosts of elect souls that have obtained union with God through the pious reading and consideration of her writings? Countless numbers of the blessed jubilantly praise and extol this privileged, favored virgin in whom Our Lord takes His special delight.

St. Gertrude was the herald of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus—that sacred cult which has become so dear and which has proved a fountain of consolation and graces to millions of Christians. Our Divine Savior repeatedly disclosed to her His Divine Heart, the furnace of love, as though for her sake He could not await the time decreed by His eternal wisdom for the revelations of his Heart. Devotion to the Sacred Heart was the special characteristic of St. Gertrude’s piety. The mystery of mercy and love contained in that Divine Heart had been revealed to her by the Son of God Himself four centuries before it became an object of special devotion to the Church at large. St. Mechtilde, a contemporary of St. Gertrude, and also a Benedictine, shared with St. Gertrude this glorious privilege. Thus the Heart of Jesus had long been an object of adoration and love to the sons and daughters of St. Benedict when, in the 17th century, it pleased God to procure for It, through St. Margaret Mary, that more solemn worship with which It is now surrounded. One thing is particularly remarkable in the life of St. Gertrude, the like of which cannot be found in the life of any other saint: it is the extraordinary promises made to her by our Savior in favor of those who venerate her.

Testimonies of Gertrude’s Sublime Sanctity

Even during St. Gertrude’s lifetime, Our Lord revealed her sublime sanctity to many holy souls. Once He addressed these words to a person bound to the saint by the bonds of a holy friendship:

She for whom thou prayest is My dove who has no guile in her, for she rejects from her heart, as gall, all the guile and bitterness of sin.
She is My chosen lily which I love to bear in My hands, for it is My delight and My pleasure to repose in the purity and innocence of this chaste soul.
She is My rose whose fragrance is full of sweetness, because of her patience in every adversity and the thanksgiving which she continually offers Me, which ascend before Me as sweetest perfume.
She is that spring flower which never fades; and I take pleasure in gazing upon her, because she keeps and maintains continually in her breast an ardent desire, not only for all virtues, but for the utmost perfection of every virtue.
She is a sweet melody which ravishes the ears of the blessed, and this melody is composed of all the sufferings she endures with so much constancy.

To another person our Divine Savior thus praised the favorite of His Heart: “I have borne her (Gertrude) in My arms from her infancy. I have preserved her in her baptismal purity and innocence, and she, by her own free choice and will, has given herself to Me entirely and forever. As a recompense for the perfection of her desires, I, in return, have given Myself entirely to her. So pleasing is this soul to Me that when I am offended by men I often enter her heart to repose, and I make her endure some pain of body or of mind, which I inflict on her for the sins of others. She accepts this suffering with the same thanksgiving, humility and patience as she receives all that comes from Me, and offers it to Me in union with My sufferings. Thereby she appeases My anger and obliges My mercy to pardon, for her sake, an immense number of sinners.”

Jesus showed to another soul a precious stone, the beauty of which cannot be described. “This jewel,” said Our Lord, “I always wear as a pledge of My affection for My spouse. By its brightness the whole celestial court knows that there is no creature on earth so dear to Me as Gertrude, because there is no one at this present time amongst mankind who is so closely united to Me by purity of intention and uprightness of will. There is no soul still bound by the chains of flesh and blood whom I am so disposed to enrich with My graces and favors. There is no soul who refers to My glory alone the gifts received from Me, with such sincerity and fidelity as Gertrude . . . You can find Me in no place where I delight more, or which is more suitable for Me, than in the Sacrament of the Altar, and after that, in the heart and soul of Gertrude, My beloved.”

Jesus Himself condescended to reveal to St. Mechtilde: “I have united My Heart so closely to Gertrude’s soul by the ties of My mercy, that she has become one spirit with Me.”

A similar revelation was made about the same time to another saintly person. Our Savior said that Gertrude would become still more perfect and would attain to so intimate a union with God that her eyes would see, and her lips would speak only what God willed, and all her other senses would be equally submissive to Him.

Gertrude in the Sacred Convent-Garden

In the year 1261, Gertrude, then a mere child of five years, entered the cloistered convent of Helfta, in Germany. This convent had been founded but a few years previously. The community was composed of angelic religious, who with unsullied hearts and childlike faith conversed with Jesus in the most intimate love. An old cloister chronicle relates:

“From the foundation of this religious community, its members led an uninterrupted angelic life for almost ninety years. The Lord Jesus was so familiar with persons of this convent that they conversed with Him as with their dearest Lord and Bridegroom, as a friend speaks to a friend. Also the entire heavenly host had a particular joy and exultation in this blessed community of religious.”

Yes, the secluded community at Helfta was Our Lord’s holy family. Entirely separated and detached from the world, those pious virgins surrendered themselves, soul and body to their Divine Master, whom in holy love and innocence they had chosen as their Spouse from their tenderest years. They knew that He was really and truly present in their little church in the Blessed Sacrament, just as He is in heaven. From this faith sprang their love for the Divine Office. With burning love their hymns of praise resounded day and night. How those noble virgins loved silence and recollection! The sweet voice of their Beloved attracted them to loving meditations and affectionate intimacy. As industrious bees draw honey from flowers, so those angelic souls flew to the great, beautiful Eucharistic Flower, immersed their whole being into the depths of Its infinite love, and extracted from It the honey of celestial joy.

Words failed them to express the sweetness and kindness of their Lord, the inexpressible delights of His Heart! If holy obedience hindered them from visiting their Beloved, the Lord sought them instead. Everywhere the Heavenly Bridegroom found His chosen souls and held tender converse with the loved ones of His Heart. In them was fulfilled our Savior’s promise: “If any one love Me . . . My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him” (John 14:23).

In this sacred convent-garden, Gertrude flourished as a resplendent white lily. “I delight so much in her,” said Jesus, “that I have chosen her as My abode. All that others see and love in her is My work; and whoever loves My work in her, loves Me. I have decreed that she stand alone, without friends or relatives, that none may love her from ties of relationship, but that I Myself may be the sole cause of her being loved and esteemed.”

The Wonderful and Privileged Life of St. Gertrude

Truly, this little convent-maid, whose birthplace, parentage and ancestry have remained shrouded in obscurity, became, in the bloom of her youth, the loving confidante of the Divine Master. Gertrude had won not only the Heart of God, but the wonderful charms and innocence of her refined disposition soon made her a favorite also among the pious sisterhood. “She was,” states a religious of that community, “wise and prudent of mind, far beyond her age; clever and full of gentle grace. In school she quickly out-stripped her companions. It was marvelous to see how easily she mastered the sciences. Despite Gertrude’s cheerful, open disposition, however, she did not care to take part in play. She preferred, if permitted, to withdraw into the dark, silent church, and there, by the glimmer of the perpetual light, to converse with the heavenly Playmate of her pure childish soul. It was thus Gertrude grew from childhood to womanhood, full of loving innocence.”

When Gertrude had reached the proper age, she answered the call of heaven which beckoned her to the venerable Order of St. Benedict. Like the great Patriarch, she, too, was to be filled with the spirit of all the just. Worldly science and heavenly knowledge were freely imparted to her. The Lord crowned her with the diadem of His richest and most precious graces, but upon her heart He impressed, as the sacred liturgy so significantly expresses it, the seal of His Divinity. Gertrude had now reached her twenty-fifth year. Her piety and her many eminent qualities of mind and heart combined to make her the ornament and the treasure of the monastery of Helfta. On the 27th of January, 1281, she was favored for the first time with a vision of her ardently loved Bridegroom. In her own charming words we give the account of this great event of her life:

“Since the preceding Advent my heart had been filled with an indescribable longing and unrest, whose salutary effects were to give me a disgust for the frivolities and levity of youth. This was the first step of Thy love in preparing my heart for Thyself . . . I was in the dormitory, just at the beautiful hour of evening twilight. According to the rule, I inclined toward an aged Sister in token of respect. Raising my head, whom should I behold but Thyself, O my Beloved, my Redeemer, the most beautiful among the children of men! Thou didst appear as a most charming youth, who in a friendly and pleasant manner didst approach me.

“Standing before me, Thou didst say in accents of indescribable sweetness: ‘Thy salvation is at hand! Why art thou consumed by grief?’ Then I felt myself transported to the choir and heard these wonderful words: ‘I will save thee and deliver thee; fear not. Thou hast sucked honey amidst thorns, but return now to Me—I will inebriate thee with the torrent of My celestial delights.’

“Thou didst open Thy arms invitingly. I endeavored to approach—but, lo! a great hedge of sharp thorny bushes barred the way. Dismayed, I stood there, bewailing my sins and defects. In a moment, Thou, O Lord, didst extend Thy hand to me, and immediately I was beside Thee and reposed on Thy Heart. My gaze fell upon Thy hands and feet, and I saw, good Jesus, those five glorious Wounds with whose Blood Thou didst pay the ransom of the whole world. “From this moment,” adds the saint, “I commenced to taste only Thyself, O my God. With new spiritual joy I began to follow in Thy footsteps, and I found Thy yoke sweet and light.” Though hitherto Gertrude had been very pious and a model of religious observance, after the above mentioned grace she considered the previous time lost, and believed that, as the prodigal son, she had just returned to her God. From this hour she discontinued all secular studies.

One book alone became very dear to her, and its contents daily engraved themselves more deeply upon all the powers of her soul: it was the Holy Scripture. To meditate thereon was her greatest delight. God taught her heart to penetrate the most hidden sense of the Inspired Books. She possessed a wonderful facility to use texts from the Holy Scripture to comfort and refresh all who came to her, according to each one’s need.

How Our Lord loved His chosen bride! He poured abundant graces in ever-increasing fullness into Gertrude’s heart. The humble virgin herself declares: “Thou hast so often melted my soul by loving caresses that if I did not know the abyss of Thine overflowing condescension, I should be amazed were I told that even Thy Blessed Mother received such extraordinary marks of tenderness and affection.” That which filled and animated her interior could not remain concealed. The warmth and fervor which emanated from her was poured out upon all her associates. The Perfect Spouse of Christ It seems Our Lord raised Gertrude in a short time to that degree of perfection where the soul has no other will, no other thought, no other life, than Christ. This was certainly indicated by the mysterious grace of Our Lord’s exchanging His Heart for hers. From this union sprang the sublime virtues which distinguish this incomparable virgin. She was remarkable, above all, for an unlimited abandonment to the Divine will, a love for God’s decrees, even the most severe, a perfect peace of heart, boundless desires for the glory of God and the salvation of the world, and that holy, evangelical liberty which is extolled as the noblest inheritance of the true children of St. Benedict.

Gertrude’s heart sought God alone, and found Him everywhere. To please Jesus in all things was the one aim of her life. A saintly person once prayed earnestly that he might know what virtue attracted Our Lord’s greatest complacency in His well beloved spouse, Gertrude. Our Savior deigned to respond: “Her liberty of spirit. This priceless gift includes the deepest self-knowledge and love of God, and leads the soul to the heights of perfection. It disposes the heart of Gertrude to receive, at every moment of her life, graces of inestimable value, and prevents her from attaching her heart to anything which could either displease Me or impede My work in her soul.”

Jesus was her all—her constant thought day and night. Every movement of her body and soul was offered to God and directed to His glory. Unceasing union with her Beloved was Gertrude’s life. Yet she did not neglect her exterior occupations. The happy manner in which she combined active labor with interior union was once manifested to Saint Mechtilde. This saint beheld Jesus seated on an elevated throne in the church. St. Gertrude was actively engaged in exterior occupations, walking to and fro. But her countenance was always steadfastly fixed upon the Lord and she seemed to drink in with burning ardor the graces which flowed to her from His Most Sacred Heart. At the same time she appeared to fulfill her exterior duties with utmost zeal. St. Mechtilde was amazed at this vision.

“Behold,” said Our Savior, “such is the life which Gertrude, My beloved, leads before My face. She walks ever in My presence, never losing sight of Me for an instant. She has but one desire: to know the good pleasure of My Heart. As soon as she has ascertained this, she executes My will with care and fidelity. Her whole life is an unbroken chain of praise consecrated to My honor and glory.”

The sanctity of Gertrude’s soul diffused itself even over her bodily faculties and irradiated her whole being. She seemed to the exterior eye, like one from a higher world. An indefinable charm hallowed her countenance, which at times transformed itself into a mysterious, superhuman beauty. Gertrude’s life became daily more supernatural; at times she received Divine directions and profound illuminations, whose inspiration seemed to carry her spirit into the fathomless depths of the Divinity; again she was transported into heaven to anticipate its delights, to enjoy its beauty. Often, in holy ecstasies, she was vouchsafed the most delightful intercourse, not only with her Heavenly Spouse, but also with the Blessed Virgin, her Mother and protectress. Gertrude had her favorites among the beatified friends of God, and frequently the saints came to converse with her. A special attraction drew her toward Saint John, the disciple of love, to whom she bore so striking a resemblance. Her spiritual Father, St. Benedict, was honored by her with the most filial affection, and he, on his part, rewarded her piety with marks of true paternal tenderness. He chose her to reveal to the faithful the promise he had made, to give special aid at the hour of death to all those who, during life, should have rejoiced with him in the graces that attended his blessed death. St. Gregory the Great, St. Augustine and St. Bernard were particularly dear to St. Gertrude. She loved with a love of preference St. Agnes, the tender spouse of the Divine Lamb, the virgin-martyr, St. Catherine of Alexandria, and St. Mary Magdalen.

All the extraordinary graces received from God and the many tokens of love from His saints were no detriment to Gertrude’s humility. She, the marvelously beautiful celestial flower in this barren terrestrial garden, was in her own eyes nothing but a “withered blade of grass.” The more the bright rays of Divine Light flooded her soul, the meaner and viler did she seem to herself. “O Master,” she once exclaimed, as she walked through the field, “Thou dost work no greater miracle than this, that the earth supports me—me, an unworthy sinner!” “Ah!” whispered the voice of her Beloved immediately, “with joy should the earth offer to bear thy footsteps, since the whole heavens await with inexpressible impatience the happy hour when thou wilt tread its precincts!”

St. Gertrude’s Unlimited Confidence

Blind trust in God’s mercy, unlimited confidence in His love, is one of the secrets to obtain sanctity. The Holy Fathers have always taught that the measure of our hope and confidence is the measure of the graces which we receive from heaven. They have realized that, through our unreserved confidence, God is most honored and glorified. Nothing will be denied to an unlimited confidence. Our Lord revealed: “It is impossible that anyone should not receive all that he has believed and hoped to obtain. It gives Me real pleasure when men hope great things from Me and I will always grant them more than they expect.”

Saint Gertrude understood that confidence is the key which opens the treasures of the infinite mercy of God. To her confidence alone she attributed all the gifts she received, and she invited all to place boundless confidence in our Savior in order to receive from Him immeasurable graces. “All that I have received,” she affirmed, “I owe to my confidence in the gratuitous bounty of God.” Yes, Gertrude knew that Jesus is an infinite Treasure placed by the Eternal Father at the disposition of all, and that it is His supreme delight, as Savior, to distribute His gifts to those who trust in Him. He frequently complained to the beloved of His Heart of man’s want of confidence.

To a religious who had long prayed in vain for a particular favor, Jesus revealed how pleased He was with Gertrude’s boundless trust in His goodness. “Why dost thou not act like Gertrude, My chosen virgin?” Our Lord inquired of the nun. “She is so firmly established in My Providence that there is nothing which she does not hope for from the plenitude of My grace. Therefore, I will never refuse her anything.” Alas! we creatures have too little knowledge of God’s kindness, love, and mercy! Our distrust arises because we compare God with ourselves. Oh, that all hearts would realize that Jesus is all love, all mercy. He has treasures of grace for all, but few come to bear them away by means of their confidence.

In all things, Gertrude had recourse to Jesus as a child has to its mother. Nothing, in her eyes, was too trivial to be recommended to Him. On one occasion, having lost a needle in a pile of straw, she besought Him to find it for her. “O dear Jesus,” she said, “vainly, indeed, would I search for this needle. It would be lost time. Please get it for me Thyself.” Extending one hand, and turning away her head, she immediately found the needle between her fingers.

Again and again, Our Lord encouraged this confidence so dear to Him. “O Jesus, what should I add to these prayers to make them yet more efficacious?” Gertrude once asked. Turning to her with a countenance full of sweetness, Our Savior replied, Confidence alone easily obtains all things! . . . Once when St. Gertrude was troubled with temptations, she implored the Divine assistance. Our Lord, in His exceeding mercy, spoke thus to her: “Anyone suffering from human temptations, who flees to My protection with firm confidence, belongs to those of whom I can say: ‘One is My dove, My chosen one out of thousands, who has pierced My Heart with one glance of her eyes.’ And this confidence wounds My Heart so deeply that were I unable to relieve such a soul, it would cause My Heart a sadness which all the joys of heaven could not assuage . . . The confidence that I truly have the power, the wisdom and the goodness to aid a soul faithfully in all her miseries, is the arrow which pierces My Heart, and does such violence to My love that I can never abandon her.”

St. Gertrude’s Special Graces

Of the many favors bestowed by the Lover of virgins on His spouse, we may single out four of special importance. The first grace, Gertrude never mentions definitely. She always calls it the great grace, and when she attempts to speak of it, her heart immediately overflows with praise and gratitude toward the Divine Giver. From a careful study of her life, however, it is easy to surmise that this grace was the impression of Our Lord’s Sacred Wounds upon her heart. It was through ardent desire and constant prayer that Gertrude received this marvelous grace. During the winter after Our Lord’s first visit, she
found this very beautiful prayer in honor of His Passion.

“O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, grant that I may aspire towards Thee with my whole heart, with yearning desire and with thirsting soul, seeking only Thy sweetness and Thy delights, so that my whole mind and all that is within me may ardently sigh to Thee, who art our true Beatitude. “O most merciful Lord, engrave Thy Wounds upon my heart with Thy most Precious Blood, that I may read in them both Thy grief and Thy love; and that the memory of Thy Wounds may ever remain in my inmost heart, to excite my compassion for Thy sufferings and to increase in me Thy love. Grant also that I may despise all creatures, and that my heart may delight in Thee alone. Amen.”

“This prayer,” writes Gertrude, “pleased me very much. I memorized it and recited it frequently. One afternoon, during the same winter . . . I suddenly became conscious that Our Lord had deigned to hear me. I felt, O my God, how Thou didst imprint on my heart Thy adorable Wounds, even as they are on Thy Sacred Body. Notwithstanding my exceeding unworthiness, Thy infinite bounty has even to this hour preserved therein the impression.”

It is certain that, as a result of this sacred stigmata, Gertrude suffered excruciating pains the remainder of her life. These pains were inexpressibly alleviated, however, by the new relationship she had contracted with her most tenderly loved Jesus, through love and mutual suffering. Of the second grace, frequent mention is made in her book of revelations. This event occurred during Advent, seven years later, while she was in church assisting at Holy Mass. Gertrude thus describes the favor: “After I had received the Sacrament of Life, I saw a ray of light, like an arrow, dart forth from the Sacred Wound in Thy right Side, on the Crucifix . . . It advanced toward me and pierced my heart. Then Thou didst say to me: ‘May the full tide of thy affection rise to Me, so that all thy pleasure, thy hope, thy joy, thy grief, thy fear and every other feeling may be sustained by My love!’ ”

During the last year of her life, our saint listened to the discourses of a Dominican Father who spoke most impressively on the love of our Heavenly Master. “Love is like an arrow,” he said, “whatever we shoot with it, we may call our own!” Gertrude’s heart glowed with vehement love when she heard these words. “Ah!” she exclaimed in the ardor of her love, “who will grant me that I may obtain such an arrow! Immediately I would transpierce Thee, the Only-beloved of my heart, that I might possess Thee eternally!” Scarcely had she uttered these words when she beheld her celestial Spouse. He carried a golden arrow in His hand, and said: “Thou didst desire to wound Me; but I have a golden arrow with which I will pierce thee so that thy wound may never heal.”

The arrow sank deeply into her heart and wounded her soul in three ways: First, by rendering all earthly pleasures distasteful, so that nothing in this world would afford her soul enjoyment or consolation. Secondly, by exciting an ardent desire in her soul to be united to God, so that she felt she could not breathe or live apart from Him. Thirdly, by so transfixing her soul as almost to separate it from her body, and overwhelming her with the torrent of Divine delights. As the third special grace, we may regard the interchange of hearts between Our Lord and St. Gertrude.

Writing of this, our saint says: “Thou hast granted me Thy secret friendship, by opening to me the sacred ark of Thy Deified Heart in so many different ways as to be the source of all my happiness. Sometimes as a special mark of our mutual friendship, Thou didst exchange It for mine!” After the ineffable revelation during which Jesus exchanged His Heart for hers, the holy virgin felt her Divine Spouse live and love within her. This interchange of hearts conceals operations of grace beyond our understanding. The transforming and deifying visit of the Infant Jesus to Gertrude’s heart may be called the fourth special favor of our saint. Her own account of this grace is exquisitely beautiful: “It was the anniversary of the blessed night of Our Lord’s Nativity. In spirit, I tried to fulfill the office of servant of the glorious Mother of God when I felt that a tender, new-born Infant was placed in my heart. At the same instant, I beheld my soul entirely transformed. Then I understood the meaning of these sweet words: ‘God will be all in all’ (1 Cor. 15:28). My soul, which was enriched by the presence of my Beloved, soon knew, by its transports of joy, that it possessed its Spouse. My thirst for Thee was satisfied by these words: ‘As I, in My Divinity, am the figure of the substance of My Father, so also shalt thou be the figure of My substance in My Humanity. As the sun communicates to the air its own brightness and light, thus will I deify thy soul, penetrating it with the rays of My Divinity to prepare thee for the closest union with Me.’ ”

God not only granted inexpressible graces to St. Gertrude herself, but He also promised great graces to all who, after her death, should venerate her. Glorious Promises Even during her life, Saint Gertrude’s prayers were miraculously answered. Through her intercession, many were delivered from long and serious illnesses. Others were admonished in their dreams to disclose their troubles to her, and were delivered from their afflictions. Our Lord once said to her:— “If anyone, being oppressed by sorrow and grief, humbly and sincerely seeks consolation in thy words, he will not be deceived in his desires; for I...

Taken from Saint Gertrude the Great by TAN Books & Publishers, Inc.