What The Thunder Said

Dylan's Mozambique & Thoughts of Ko Samui

2010-08-27T15:08:00.002+08:00

Lyrics | Bob Dylan lyrics - Mozambique lyrics

When Dylan sings about this scene,it reminds me of Ko Samui when me and the missus visited in 1996.We were staying at the "Munchies" in Chaweng Beach.I remember the waves and sipping martinis (something like that) and thai massages on the beach with a dog in tow (resident dog).Life's a beach....

Cheers for now
Greg

Bob Dylan's Desire & One More Cup of Coffee Before I Go

2010-08-26T14:23:00.002+08:00

I saw Bob Dylan in Singapore during his gig here specifically on the 24th Feb 1994.The missus was not with me this time.Seemed like ages ago but his music still dwells in my mind's eye especially when listening to the Desire album.As I write, "One more Cup of Coffee Before I Go" plays in the background.The haunting melody with Bob's grainy voice coupled with Emmylou Harris vocals as the invisible gypsy girl so lyricised here hovers on my back like the proverbial monkey.

From the start,Rob Stoner's reflective bass line introduces the song as Scarlet Rivera's crying violins wail in the background(here are the lyrics...)

Your breath is sweet
Your eyes are like two jewels in the sky.
Your back is straight, your hair is smooth
On the pillow where you lie.
But I don't sense affection
No gratitude or love
Your loyalty is not to me
But to the stars above.

One more cup of coffee for the road,
One more cup of coffee 'fore I go
To the valley below.

Your daddy he's an outlaw
And a wanderer by trade
He'll teach you how to pick and choose
And how to throw the blade.
He oversees his kingdom
So no stranger does intrude
His voice it trembles as he calls out
For another plate of food.

One more cup of coffee for the road,
One more cup of coffee 'fore I go
To the valley below.

Your sister sees the future
Like your mama and yourself.
You've never learned to read or write
There's no books upon your shelf.
And your pleasure knows no limits
Your voice is like a meadowlark
But your heart is like an ocean
Mysterious and dark.

One more cup of coffee for the road,
One more cup of coffee 'fore I go
To the valley below.

-End-

Bob swirls into the ocean deep with this song of a gypsy girl who in my opinion could have been a girl he met whilst on his travels along "diamonds in the sky" laced highways right through to the edges of his mind.

It gets rivetting after a while especially as "your pleasure knows no limits" provides lucid thoughts to one;s imagination.Images of a gypsy girl in wanton oblivion grasps one but provides a mystery...the "future" as an omniscience of an uncertainty foretold and perhaps reinforced by the impending trip to the "valley below".The answer lies by the response from Bob perhaps...just have "one cup of coffee" -an anticlimax to the whole scene.Nice irony! Touche to the Bard.Just suits me fime..I too like coffee – time is right for one now.Just a final touch below.

Here’ Bob’s foray into his thoughts from the album cover.

Where do I begin...on the heels of Rimbaud moving like a dancing bullet thru the secret streets of a hot New Jersey night filled with venom and wonder. Meeting the Queen Angel in the reeds of Babylon and then to the fountain of sorrow to drift away in the hot mass of the deluge... To sing praise to the King of those dead streets, to grasp and let go in a heavenly way -- streaming into the lost belly of civilization at a standstill. Romance is taking over. Tolstoy was right. These notes are being written in a bathtub in Maine under ideal conditions, in every Curio Lounge from Brooklyn to Guam, from Lowell to Durango oh sister, when I fall into your spacy arms, can not ya feel the weight of oblivion and the songs of redemption on your backside we surface alongside miles standish and take the rock. We have relations in Mozambique. I have a brother or two and a whole lot of karma to burn... Isis and the moon shine on me. When Rubin gets out of jail, we celebrate in the historical parking lot in sunburned California...

©1975 Ram's Horn Music

Album notes

Personnel: Bob Dylan (vocals, guitar, harmonica, piano); Vincent Bell (bouzouki); Scarlet Rivera (violin); Dom Cortese (accordion); Rob Stoner (bass, background vocals); Howard Wyeth (drums); Luther (congas); Emmylou Harris, Ronee Blakley, Steve Soles (background vocals).

DESIRE was the studio realization of the Rolling Thunder revue's sound. The musicians involved in this mid-'70s Dylan project were more than a backup band; they forged a distinctive musical vision, loose and swirling, the perfect aural equivalent of the traveling gypsy/carnival image they affected onstage. Drummer Howie Wyeth, who possessed an uncannily sympathetic ear for accompanying singer-songwriters, and violinist Scarlet Rivera, built their careers on the foundation of the Rolling Thunder band.

Many critics balked at Dylan's lyrical collaborations with Jacques Levy on this album, but their reservations were just glorified xenophobia. Levy's flowing, colloquial style suited Dylan's music and delivery perfectly, and the two produced several gems. "Isis" is an exotic tale of intrigue that turns out to be a unique love story. "Hurricane" breathlessly tells the true story of Ruben Carter, a boxer framed for murder and acquitted years after DESIRE's release. It still stands as one of Dylan's most exciting, emotional tunes.

Wow! Great feel.Greg signing off...

Thought for the Day

2010-08-26T12:57:00.004+08:00

After a long hiatus, i thought it would be appropriate to start with a quote. Here goes.

Procrastination is something best put off until tomorrow. ~Gerald Vaughan

So let's rock & roll!

Invitation to the Istana Garden Party 2010

2010-03-07T19:12:00.004+08:00

Great time!

Teaching as Jesus taught

2010-01-29T16:42:00.003+08:00

The Catholic News - SEPTEMBER 27 2009, Vol 59, No 20

Patricia Lim (CHIJ Primary) and Gregory Francis (Swiss Cottage) chat after Mass during the Teacher’s Day celebrations. Photo provided by ACCS

Catholic teachers celebrate Teacher’s Day; archbishop reminds them of their responsibilities

SINGAPORE – More than 300 Catholic educators celebrated Teachers’ Day on Sep 5. The annual event, held at St. Joseph’s Institution (SJI) International was organised by the Archdiocesan Commission for Catholic Schools (ACCS) to honour Catholic educators.

This year’s theme, “Teaching as Jesus Taught”, was chosen to remind teachers why they teach and that teaching and discipleship are one and the same.

At a Mass celebrated by Archbishop Nicholas Chia, students from Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus (CHIJ) Primary formed the choir, and students from CHIJ St. Nicholas, CHIJ St. Theresa’s and SJI International took on the responsibilities of wardens.

In his homily, Archbishop Chia advised the teachers, “Jesus is the Light of the world – you are to be the light to dispel the darkness in the lives of the students and show them the way to grow and mature.” He added, “To teach as Jesus taught we need to imitate Him.”

The archbishop then mentioned the formation of chaplaincy teams, adding “there are a few schools which have very strong teams of chaplains and this is a great help to nurture the Catholic ethos in our schools”.

On the concept of “common space” he said, “We are morally obliged to enable all our students to articulate their beliefs and share their cultures in a learning and community environment.”

He added that our Catholic schools must develop and show the correct notions of Christianity and Catholicism as being a religion that has the Trinitarian traits: worship of God; service to all peoples with no strings attached; and living communities that witness to the unity that exists in God.

To those who teach in government schools and institutions of higher learning, Archbishop Chia said, “You are the leaven in the dough, the salt and the light. You are ambassadors for hope, for love, for charity.”

After Mass, the educators had tea in the hall and met up with old friends and colleagues.

Gregory Francis, a teacher with Swiss Cottage Secondary, agreed with the archbishop’s remarks that emphasis is needed that Catholic parents should send their children to Catholic Schools.

Patricia Lim of CHIJ Primary (Toa Payoh) added that at a secular school where she previously taught there was a lack of Catholic culture of prayers and overall character.

Sister Mary Soh, chaplain from Hai Sing Catholic School, felt the theme of the event was meaningful and said, “Jesus became the model for teachers as He had a commitment for love and taught with love.”

Michelle Tan, from CHIJ Secondary said, “As educators we’ve got to look at it as being a vocation. I enjoyed myself today; I’m definitely coming next year.”

For more information on ACCS and its programmes, visit http://accs-communion.blogspot.com n

By Don Gurugay

Snapshots to Remember

2009-11-17T12:13:00.002+08:00

This is a picture for keeps....

Exploiting The Devil for Profit in Heavy Metal

2009-08-01T23:47:00.000+08:00

check this out!

http://cdinsight.com/news.php?readmore=1755

“I’m selling out, I’m going heavy metal
Let’s rock & roll and sing about the devil”
--Nobody Special obscure Christian punk band
Call It Whatever You Want (1989, Broken Records)

PART ONE – The Devil is owed royalties

Whether or not you believe in the devil, we can all agree that his name has been exploited for profit by the music industry. Slapping the name of “Satan” on a record cover with a picture of a horned beast is likely to sell more albums than a glossy photo of the band itself because to youth market the devil is a metaphor for rebellion against authority. The only other being used more than the Prince of Darkness in hard rock and metal is the personification of death in the form of skulls, skull-like characters and the grim reaper. While Satan represents youthful rebellion, death represents the rock lifestyle: live fast and die hard.

If the devil is alive and well, there’s a reason he’s vengeful of rock ‘n’ rollers. They owe him their souls for their success, just as much as televangelists do for scaring their flocks into throwing checks into the collection plate.

SIXTIES SATANIC ROCK

The Beatles and The Rolling Stones are not exactly what you call “metal” because it hadn’t been invented yet. Though, they could be termed “Satanic Rock” because of their admiration for Aleister Crowley, considered to be a leading figure in the occult in the nineteenth century and at one point named “The Wickedest Man in the World.”

According to PopSubCulture.com’s biography project on Crowley, he joined The Hermetic Order of The Golden Dawn at age 23. Their goal was to organize various occultic beliefs into one logical system. After some inner turmoil within the group, he was kicked out by the poet William Butler Yeats (poets aren’t pussies, y’know).

Crowley, on his own, took to the Egyptian God Horus who helped him write his infamous Book of the Law which contains the famous line: “Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be The Whole Of The Law”—a philosophy rock stars celebrate. He also adopted the number 666 to represent himself. 666 can refer to the number of The Beast, a tweak at his religious upbringing.

Numerous magical stories abound concerning Aleister Crowley, many of which are hard to believe, but he did claim to summon Beelzebub for vengeance and baptize a toad as Jesus of Nazareth. Not exactly to be feared as a “Master of Evil,” he was more like the embarrassing uncle you didn’t talk about. Many of his stories could be attributed to his cocaine use and heroin addiction, of which he later died.

It’s hard to imagine the rock of your parents involved with Satan, but an examination of the album cover art for Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart Band reveals Aleister Crowley standing second to the left in a crowd of well known philosophers, writers and celebrities.

If you’re doubting whether The Beatles embraced a known historical Satanist, Illuminati News says in reference to the cover art “The Beatles testified that the characters who appeared on the album were their ‘heroes.’”

As for The Rolling Stones, they were more directly involved with scoring a film soundtrack for a movie tribute to Aleister Crowley. The filmmaker was Kenneth Anger who was, according to Jesus-Is-Savior.com, a link between The Rolling Stones, The Process Church (a cult resulting from a split from Scientology), and the Manson Family.

Anger produced Lucifer Rising, a film dedicated to Crowley. It features the music of Bobby Beausoleil who was also set to play the role of Satan. Anger and Beausoleil had a falling out and Mick Jagger was asked to replace him as Satan. Mick passed on the offer and eventually Anger settled on Anton Lavey, author of The Satanic Bible. Beausoleil went on to commit the first of many murders depicted in the movie Helter Skelter, which ironically is in reference to a Beatles song that Charlie Manson reinterpreted to fit his apocalyptic vision of a war between races (take a deep breath, that’s a lot to digest).

Jagger did compose music for Kenneth Anger’s film Invocation of My Demon Brother (1969) which according to Subcin.com is “The most demonic of Anger's films, as well as the most fast moving.” It contains references to Crowley and footage of The Rolling Stones.

You would also have to question why The Rolling Stones titled their 1967 experimental release Their Satanic Majesties Request? Apparently it was meant to be a joke, a parody of the inscription on passports which reads: “Her Britannic Majesty requests…” But a reference to Satan instead of some other satirical name?

Post Beatles era provided some rather odd moments that either border on conspiracy theories or morbid coincidences. Jesus-is-Savior.com questions why Paul McCartney appears with a certain horned animal on his 1971 release Ram and makes the devil connection with this observation: ”Some witches today claim that the goat head is really supposed to be a ram's head (which originated with the ram-headed god of Ammon in ancient times).”

John Lennon, also had some ties to Satan, though not by choice. His song “Imagine” wanted to do away with heaven and hell and unfortunately he attracted a loyal fan by the name of Mark David Chapman. On the ClubConspiracy.com forum, Chapman is quoted as saying, “"Alone in my apartment back in Honolulu, I would strip naked and put on Beatles records and pray to Satan to give me the strength. I prayed for demons to enter my body to give me the power to kill."

In the same post it suggests that John Lennon was paying the price for the success of The Beatles because the band had at one point made a pact with the devil and the devil demanded his due in the form of blood. We may have to smile at such speculation, but among the feelgood love songs The Beatles and The Rolling Stones seemed to have a morbid side to their musical careers.

LED ZEPPELIN’S JIMMY PAGE AND THE OCCULT

Aleister Crowley’s influence continues with Jimmy Page’s fascination with the occult. Crowley seems to get more nods than the devil with late sixties to seventies rock.

Page, before Led Zeppelin began to consume all of his time, ran an occult bookshop and publishing company called “The Equinox Booksellers and Publishers" in Kensington High Street, London. Says Page of his hero, “I feel Aleister Crowley is a misunderstood genius of the 20th century.”

Page was also commissioned to compose the soundtrack for Lucifer Rising (was there any sixties rocker not associated with this project)? When he turned in a score that was 5 minutes too short, director Kenneth Anger publicly said it took the guitarist 3 years to give him 23 minutes of “droning.” He went on to say that Jimmy Page was an occult dabbler and an addict.

Anger may have thought Page to be a Satanic poser, but Jesus-is-Savior.com thinks Led Zeppelin is “Satanic to the core.” They refer to the “obscene” cover art for Houses of the Holy and the serpents embroidered onto a pair of Jimmy Page’s stage pants as evidence. “The Bible tells us that Satan appeared to Eve as a ‘serpent’ in the Garden of Eden.” The Bible also has Moses turn his staff into a serpent to outdo Pharaoh’s magicians and in a later chapter has Moses create a bronze serpent in order to heal snakebite victims. Snakes can’t all be bad.

While fundies may take issue with Houses of the Holy, the reference is actually a tribute to fans. When Zeppelin fans would show up at venues in order to support the band they would call those places “Houses of the Holy.” As for the cover art being obscene or Satanic, it’s actually based on science fiction and not anything occultic. It is inspired by Arthur C. Clarke’s novel Childhood’s End which describes a scene of millions of naked girls not quite resembling the human form.

The album cover for Led Zepplin IV does seem to have ties to Satan by way of Crowley again. Crowley, as mentioned previously, was the one who claimed the number 666 for himself and for this fourth outing Jimmy Page asked his fellow band members to choose symbols for themselves which would be the actual album title—what a headache for marketing. Jimmy’s personal choice for a symbol was “Zoso.” Zoso is said to be a clever way of displaying 666 because of a quote from Aleister Crowley’s Equinox of the Gods where he writes:

“So is O
O= A in the book of Thoth (The Tarot)
A = 111 with all its great meanings, [symbol] = 6.
Now 666 = My name.
= The number of the stele.
= The number of the Beast (see Apocalypse)
= The number of the [symbol]”

Does that make sense? I don’t get it either. More proof of Crowley’s drug addiction.

The symbol may not be as devilish as some may think though. IntheLight.co.nz says Zoso “... is a sigil for the planet Saturn, the ruler of Jimmy Page's astrological sun sign, Capricorn.”

While astrology is “of the devil” or just of people who like to think stars actually give a damn about the direction of our lives, Zoso is a harmless Zodiac reference which all in all makes Zeppelin less scary and more absurd.

Perhaps though, Led Zeppelin’s Satanism was masked, or backmasked. "Stairway to Heaven" from their fourth album is claimed to have the following hidden message:

Oh here's to my sweet Satan.
The one whose little path would make me sad, whose power is Satan.
He will give those with him 666.
There was a little tool shed where he made us suffer, sad Satan

If that doesn’t make any sense to you than you’re probably in your right mind. The accusation of backmasking started with a well known Baptist minister and was perpetuated by Michael Mills, Jacob Aranza, and Jeff Godwin. It even led to hearings by the Consumer Protection and Toxic Materials Committee of the California State Assembly in 1982.

With backmasking it is usually an interpretation by the listener and they can hear almost any suggested message or set of words if they try hard enough. Robert Plant found the insinuation frustrating and said, “as far as reversing tapes and putting messages on the end, that's not my idea of making music.”

Zeppelin, with maybe the exception of their partying lifestyle, was less Satanic and more about selling themselves and their music. Positive Atheism Magazine puts it into perspective when they answer the accusation concerning Page and his occult dabblings: “Jimmy Page wisely remained rather silent, and the rumor mill and the fundamentalist preachers did a lot of his promotional work for him -- by calling him satanic or a witch or a warlock.”

The marketing tip is simple: get labeled a Satanist and the kids will buy your records.

BLACK SABBATH AND THE HOODED FIGURE

With the original band title of Polka Tulk Blues Company, this next band didn’t sound very threatening at first. They set out to play heavy blues and went even heavier, creating tortured sounds to be accompanied by the darkest of lyrics—sung by a lead singer looking to steal the devil’s title.

Polka Tulk changed their name to Earth, a better name but one that made them sound like smelly hippies. They played cover songs entertaining club audiences with their renditions of songs by Jimi Hendrix and Cream. And they would play extended sessions of straight up blues. The clubs may have been seedy at times, but the music was nice, pretty much what you would expect, until…

Bassist Geezer Butler claims to have seen a black-hooded figure standing at the foot of his bed. Who or what the figure was doesn’t seem to be explained by Butler, but it seems he was reading a book on the occult by Dennis Wheatley and came up with the lyrics for “Black Sabbath.” Remember that the band was still called Earth at the time.

Stories on this incident seem to vary. Jesus-is-Savior.com quotes an interview in Guitar World, July 2001, p. 67 where Butler says he told Ozzy about seeing the hooded figure. The book on the occult was also borrowed from Ozzy and it was Ozzy who spouted out the lyrics when he heard about Butler’s visitation. Said Butler, “I told Ozzy about it. It stuck in his mind, and when we started playing ‘Black Sabbath,’ he just came out with those lyrics…”

What is this that stands before me?
Figure in black which points at me. . .
Big black shape with eyes of fire. . .
Satan's sitting there, he's smiling
Watches those flames get higher and higher
Oh no, no, please God help me!
Satan's coming 'round the bend

In addition to Butler’s interest in the occult, he observed a movie theater across the street from where they were rehearsing. The theater happened to be playing Black Sabbath starring Boris Karloff. He was fascinated that people would spend money to be scared.

As a matter of coincidence, Earth wasn’t all that original of a band name. Another band was calling themselves the same thing and inevitably in a time of flower power there were probably multiple Earths. The band decided to adopt the name of Black Sabbath. The hooded figure at Butler’s bed was now satisfied.

Dennis Wheatley, who is normally given a footnote in the formation story of Black Sabbath, was a well known fiction and nonfiction writer at the time. He had gained recognition as an authority on Satanism, exorcism, the supernatural and black magic even to the point of releasing a series of 45 books called The Dennis Wheatley Library of the Occult. This is likely what Butler was reading at the time he was inspired to write the lyrics for “Black Sabbath.”

As usual, Aleister Crowley pokes his head in, and Wheatley included an occult themed novel by the heroin addict in his library edition. This may have been Ozzy’s introduction to Crowley, later inspiring the tribute song “Mr. Crowley” when he went solo.

BirdMonster.blogspot.com makes the case that Black Sabbath, not Led Zepplin, was the first true metal band even before they had taken the name: “The song ‘Black Sabbath,’ then, can be seen as the beginning of the band that began heavy metal and, quite frankly, there is no more appropriate song. For one, it's one of music's famous examples of the tritone, the interval between a C and an F# (or, in this case, a G and C#), an interval known once as ‘the devil's interval’…”

The Black Sabbath album was recorded in two days due to limited studio time. Most of the songs were recorded with one take. It was ominously released on Friday the 13th in 1970 and reached number 7 on the UK Albums Chart and number 23 on the Billboard 200. Sabbath had found its niche—themes of horror and the supernatural.

Jesus-is-Savior.com has this to say about the album art: “Making sure no one could possibly misinterpret their pro-Devil and anti-Christ message, Sabbath’s first album portrayed a demonic witch on the cover and in the inside – the cross of Jesus Christ – upside-down. The universal symbol of Satanism and anti-Christianity.”
The music continued in the same dark direction with Paranoid, recorded just four months after their successful debut album. Originally called “War Pigs” after one of the recorded singles, their label Warner Bros decided to change the album title because the song was not about Satan, but about criticism of the horrors of the Vietnam War. You can sing about the devil for profit, but avoid the politics.

While Satan and the occult played a part of the song titles and lyrics, really it was drugs that held sway over the members of Black Sabbath. It became so bad they could hardly function and when they did start to recover they still had the problem of Ozzy. Tony Iommi decided to fire their lead vocalist in 1979 and ironically it was Sharon Arden, now known as Sharon Osbourne, who suggested singer Ronnie James Dio as the replacement.

If the lyrics were of the devil previously, Dio had no problems bringing them to almost comic levels. He brought a fantasy element to Black Sabbath that bordered on Metal Opera due to the range of his voice. Their first release together was Heaven and Hell and the relationship only lasted through the second studio album Mob Rules. Dio butted heads with Iommi and Butler and finally decided to go solo where he helped popularize the devil’s handsign (more about that in a bit).

The original Black Sabbath members seem to indicate that the black hooded figure stayed with them. Jesus-is-Savior.com makes the case from various biographical books that the band had a fifth member. Though it’s hard to tell if the band members themselves truly believed it was Satan or some sort of mystical energy.

Geezer Butler definitely seems to have believed in real supernatural presences, but Bill Ward is less interpretative and says in Black Sabbath, An Oral History, “I believe that Black Sabbath was a phenomenon. On that basis, when I look back now at the band, I have felt that there was a fifth member, if you like. . . So I've always considered that there was some way where we were able to channel energy, and that energy was able to be, from another source, if you like, like a higher power or something, that was actually doing the work. I've often thought of us just being actually just the earthly beings that played the music because it was uncanny. Some of this music came out extremely uncanny."

We have to continue to remind ourselves that this was a band heavy into drugs which was bound to create hallucinations and paranoia. If the devil was the fifth member using the rest as puppets, then the band can’t take credit for much of anything. It makes more sense that the talent of the artists combined with substance abuse gave us the weird and wonderful results that are now legendary Sabbath.

DIO AND THE DEVIL’S HAND SIGN

Almost every rocker who has attended a heavy metal concert is familiar with the “Devil’s Hand Sign.” It consists of the index finger and the pinky pointing up while the remaining fingers and thumb are curled into the palm. The idea, of course, is to represent the horns of Satan.

The hand sign has been attributed to Ronnie James Dio, but he didn’t invent it—only popularized it. And poor Dio is often competing with fellow vocalist Ozzy because whenever an Ozzy fan shouts “Ozzy!” he usually makes the devil’s hand sign at the same time.

The origins of the sign of the horns is varied. According to Wikipedia, it is a vulgar gesture in Mediterranean countries. It is also identical to the Vitarka mudrā in Buddhism, “a gesture of discussion and transmission of Buddhist teaching.”

In Italy and other parts of Europe, the horns are placed behind unsuspecting victims when they get their picture taken. The meaning of this prank has to do with a “cuckold,” which refers to a husband with an unfaithful wife--or in modern times a man, regardless if he’s married or not, whose woman sleeps around on him. Wikipedia states that the sign is said to have come from the legend of the Minotaur who was “born from queen Pasiphaë's infidelity with a white bull, betraying her husband King Minos of Crete…”

Thankfully Jesus-is-Savior.com comes to the rescue by showing us that the sign of the devil, in most cases, is actually referring to Satan. They have a wonderful display of famous politicians and celebrities flashing the horns in public from George Dubya to Bill Clinton to Amy Grant to even Spider Man.

You can view the well known page here. This web page, by the way, is heavily copied by other sites, the author gives permission openly on his contact page.

Even Pat Robertson, who won’t drink wine for communion in any circumstance, has been caught at Conspiracy Planet.

The insinuation of these photos has been that they are flashing a sign from the illuminati or a secret society and that we can piece together a global anti-Christian conspiracy by simply seeing how many well known public officials use it.

The truth may be a little more boring. As for Bush and his administration, the defense is that the horns represent The Texas Longhorns, relating to athletics from Bush’s home state. As for Bill Clinton and others who could care less about Texas, it may simply be a natural gesture much like using one finger pointing up which doesn’t necessarily reference God.

Regardless, in heavy metal culture, the meaning is clear—it represents The Devil! But again, the devil doesn’t necessarily represent the devil, often he’s a symbol for fast lifestyles and teenage rebellion.

While Dio and Ozzy are recognized for increasing the popularity of the hand sign, it was first used by the sixties occult band Coven. They were known for psychedelic hard rock and would end each concert by flashing the horns at the crowd. On their first album, Witchcraft Destroys Minds and Reaps Souls, a black mass poster insert was included with the band members using the devil’s hand sign in preparation for a Satanic ritual.

Dio clearly enjoyed using the devil’s hand sign for his cover art and he was Italian which is where he may have picked it up, allowing for a double meaning of infidelity and devil worship. The demonic beast on Holy Diver can clearly be seen flashing horns next to his chest as he watches a priest drown.

That’s not all Dio did as a tribute to the devil. There’s still some debate, but on his fourth album Dream Evil, if one turns the cover art upside down and looks at the Dio logo again—it appears to spell out “Devil.” Whether that was intentional or whether it is simply our eyes trying to form a pattern out of the artwork into the word “devil,” it’s still hard to say.

Dio himself has his own secret not known by many metal fans—before Sabbath, he sang on a Christian album! The project was called Seeds of Change and produced by Kerry Livgren, a founding member of the band Kansas. As anyone who has followed Livgren’s career, he progressively became more involved in the Christian faith, even starting a Christian rock band called AD in the early eighties.

The two tracks Dio sang on as a favor to Livgren were “To Live for The King” and “The Mask of The Great Deceiver.” This was in 1980 and thus after offending the devil by participating in religious rock, this may explain why Dio went overboard on blasphemy with his subsequent work including his new band for 2009 with former Black Sabbath members called Heaven and Hell. The debut album art features a very bizarre and frightening painting of “The Deceiver.”

OZZY CLAIMS DEVIL’S TITLE

After Ozzy was fired from Sabbath for excessive substance abuse, he went on to form his own solo project called Blizzard of Ozz, which included guitar legend Randy Rhoads. The lineup continued with a second album Diary of a Madman and both releases were a success with fans, but the devil required his due.

In 1982, while on the Diary of a Madman Tour, Randy Rhoads took a joyride in a small aircraft piloted by Andrew Aycock. Cocaine was involved and while trying to buzz the tour bus, the plane’s wing was clipped and it crashed first into a tree and then into a house. Everyone including Rhoads, the pilot and the band’s hairdresser was killed.

The news sent Ozzy into a deep depression, but after a week he carried on and the live album Speak of the Devil was released that same year.

Ozzy then released Bark at the Moon and The Ultimate Sin, after which he met up with accusations of subliminally influencing suicide. Before this point, his biggest controversy was biting the heads off of animals—not just the infamous bat incident, but according to Veinotte.com he also bit the head off a dove in front of CBS Record executives which was originally intended to be a simple publicity stunt. The doves were supposed to be hidden in Ozzy’s pocket and then released. Instead, it seems he was so drunk that he decided to bite the head off of one of the birds and disgust everyone in sight.

And that’s not all. Jesus-is-Savior.com relates that for the Diary of a Madman Tour he required “the promoter to provide at least 25 pounds of raw cow livers and pig intestines for his demonic "raw meat" baptism.” That was because during the concert he threw the meat at the audience.

Jesus-is-Savior.com also tells of a cat killing rampage quoting No. 37, “’I was taking drugs so much I was a wreck, The final straw came when I shot all our cats. We had about 17, and I went crazy and shot them all. My wife found me under the piano in a white suit, a shotgun in one hand and a knife in the other.’”

It’s no wonder animal rights groups protested the rocker; he provided numerous animal sacrifices to his inner demons. While it was clear he was guilty of animal abuse, it’s not clear if he was involved in human sacrifice through his music.

The song “Suicide Solution” from the album Blizzard of Ozz resulted in several US lawsuits because a handful of teenagers had killed themselves while listening to it.

A 19-year-old in California named John McCollum shot himself in October of 1984 with his headphones still on after playing the song. John’s family hired an attorney who made the claim that Ozzy used tones in the song called “hemisync” in order to make John do his bidding. An explanation of hemisync is found on Wikipedia if you can follow along:

“The audio-guidance process works through the generation of complex, multilayered audio signals, which act together to create a resonance that is reflected in unique brain-wave forms characteristic of specific states of consciousness.”

In other words, “subliminal messages.” Ozzy, of course, denied the accusations and his lawyer based his defense on freedom of expression. The irony about all of the nonsense about hemisync and hidden cues for teenagers to shoot themselves is that the song was about Bon Scott, the original singer for AC/DC who died in his car because he was too drunk to save himself from hypothermia. “Solution” does not refer to solving a problem as in suicide is a solution to life’s problems, it refers to alcohol itself or a “liquid solution.” Ozzy was saying that alcohol was a lethal substance.

In addition to people killing themselves under the “Ozzy influence,” people killed other people. On New Year’s Eve 1983, Canadian James Jollimore stabbed a 44 year-old-woman and her two sons. The song that made him do it was “Bark at the Moon.”

Ozzy survived the finger pointing that his music was so evil that it made its listeners do evil things and the horrific news served to attract more fans to the “Prince of Darkness.” What was self-evident was the question, if “Suicide Solution” makes kids kill themselves then why only three incidents, why not every kid who listens? The same goes for “Bark at the Moon,” why weren’t more Canadians out killing strangers?

As Ozzy progressed into the nineties, he began mainstreaming himself with less focus on the devil and evil in general. With “brains behind the scenes” wife Sharon Osbourne, he started Ozzfest which gave exposure to up and coming bands as well as reuniting him with Black Sabbath.

Of course more mainstream success came with the MTV reality show The Osbournes, which turned Ozzy from scary madman into that odd relative you might know who is slowly losing his mind—similar to the aforementioned reference about Aleister Crowley, the crazy uncle. While still respected for his past music, Ozzy became more of a cartoonish figure and it became obvious that Sharon Osbourne was pulling all the strings.

By 2009 Ozzy had become an untouchable icon, any past sins have been forgiven by the public to the point where he can be a spokesman for commercial products as well as writing a Broadway musical (reportedly on Rasputin, the crazy Russian Monk). The singer seems to have enjoyed the notoriety associated with Satan and his title of “Prince of Darkness,” but again cannot take evil seriously. Ozzy’s worst demons were drugs and alcohol and whatever gremlin programmed his TV remote so he couldn’t use it.

MOTLEY CRUE SHOUTS AT THE DEVIL

Glam or Hair Metal bands with a simplified sound emerged in the late seventies to early eighties and enjoyed making the devil more accessible to the masses, sort of a commercial devil who enjoyed partying as opposed to fathering The Anti-Christ and ending the world in apocalyptic flames. Van Halen on their debut sang about “Runnin’ with the Devil” with David Lee Roth repeatedly screaming in a high pitch voice like he was “running with scissors” and stuck himself in the groin. High-pitched wailing was a staplemark of hair metal bands throughout the eighties, causing some embarrassment for those bands who survived the grunge turnover.

Ironically it was Gene Simmons of KISS who financed the demo for “Runnin’ with the Devil.” His band character in full make up is known as “The Demon.”

KISS was hard to take seriously when it came to occultist exploitation. Clearly they were in it for the chicks. The band’s name is rumored to be an acronym for “Knights In Satan’s Service” which was started by the fans and not the band itself. The darkest element that can be associated with their name is the original KISS logo. The ending double “S” was drawn in such a fashion that it looked like the typeface for the Nazi SS. As a result, the logo had to be changed for merchandise in Germany where it is illegal to display the SS symbol. They simply reversed the ending double “S” so that it looked like two Z’s.

Alice Cooper was also a part of seventies metal theatrics, using makeup and stage sets with popular horror themes. He can’t be considered Satanic, though, because his intention was to shock audiences, not steal their souls. While he might consider his drugs and alcohol abuse to be “of The Devil,” the aging rocker has long since embraced Christianity. One only has to listen to Brutal Planet to hear lyrics that shout against the devil.

It was Motley Crue that “Shouted at the Devil” and they were shouting for success—money, girls, drugs and more girls. Crue used the devil theme shamelessly, they didn’t even give the devil a spot on their cover for Shout At The Devil—instead you see three very glammed up young men and Nikki Sixx looking like a grumpy old woman.

Shout At The Devil is still remembered as one of Motley Crue’s best albums if not “the best.” It was raw, catchy and established “The Crue” as the enviable party band of the eighties. If any band was guilty of a deal with the devil, this very commercial Satanism may have been it.

And the devil was out to collect.

The band’s reputation started in Canada in 1982 with what we now know to be PR stunts: an arrest at Edmonton International Airport for wearing stage costumes with spikes and Vince Neil’s collection of porn; a supposed bomb threat against the band which appears to actually have been called in by assistant band manager Eric Grief; and Vince Neil throwing a television set out of the Sheraton Caravan Hotel. Motley Crue was banned from Edmonton for life. The tour itself was a financial disaster, but it did get them the attention they desired from the international press.

Their offstage antics may have helped their record sales, but it included near death experiences. Vince Neil, returning from a liquor store, was involved in a head on collision in 1984 and survived. Neil’s passenger wasn’t so lucky. Nicholas “Razzle” Dingley, the drummer for Hanoi Rocks, was killed.

In 1987, Nikki Sixx inspired the song “Kickstart My Heart” off of the Dr. Feelgood album after he suffered a heroin overdose and was revived by a medic--who just happened to be a Motley Crue fan--with two shots of adrenaline to his heart. Nikki should have died that night. In the ambulance he was declared legally dead.

In 1989, the band cleaned up their act and produced their most successful album to date, the previously mentioned Dr. Feelgood. It may be noted that the title track references a drug dealer instead of the devil, which shows some maturity as to who was more dangerous to their health.

According to a post on Last.fm, Nikki Sixx was the one who wrote “Shout at the Devil” and also suffered the most as a result of the band’s success. He denied that the song had any ties to Satanism. It seems the lyrics are again meant to be taken metaphorically and not literally. For Nikki Sixx, Satanism seems to have to do with the risks and pleasures of life.

THE FOUNDERS OF BLACK METAL

You may not have heard of Venom, one of the first Satanic thrash bands who invented the subgenre of black metal—Black Metal was the title of their second album in 1982. They are, in some ways, Satan’s folly because they can’t get any respect and yet they’ve influenced a whole new genre of intense music with the emphasis on all things Satan.

In 1981, wanting to release something heavier and darker than what was being played by other metal bands, they put out the album Welcome to Hell. The title track contains the following lyrics:

Kill we will kill death,
Masturbating on the deeds we have done,
Hell commands death kill,
Argue not of feel the death of sun,
Burning lives burning,
Asking me for the mercy of god,
Ancient cries crying,
Acting fast upon the way of the dog.

Don’t know what they’re talking about? Satan probably doesn’t know either.

Slider at encslider.com posted a quote about Venom from Henry Rollins’s Black Flag Tour Diary, “They were hilarious. It was like seeing Spinal Tap…” His observation was from 1986 when Black Flag opened for the band.

That is not the kind of reaction Venom wanted.

Influenced by acts such as KISS, Venom members all took on alter egos: vocalist Clive Archer was known as Jesus Christ, bass guitarist Conrad Lant became Mr. Cronos, drummer Anthony Bray became Abaddon, and guitarist Jeff Dunn became Mantas.

Their evil style of music was influenced by Ozzy and Black Sabbath and in turn they influenced four major thrash bands: Metallica, Anthrax, Megadeth and Slayer. Unfortunately for Venom, they had none of the success of these four bands and with each album their popularity seemed to wane.

Ditching Satan in 1987, they decided to appease Tolkien with their fifth release Calm Before The Storm. This was at a time when progressive bands were using themes of fantasy, sorcery and science fiction. This experiment apparently made the band even less popular. And unfortunately comparisons to Spinal Tap emerge again remembering the scene in the mockumentary film where a Stone Henge stage set was built to tell a musical tale of fantasy—only Stonehenge was smaller than the dwarfs that danced around it due to the band members confusing the symbol for inches with the symbol for feet when giving instructions for its construction.

Venom has not given up. Their website with their quirky goat head is still on display and the news of their whereabouts continues to be posted. The band seems to be aware of their shortcomings when it comes to playing music, but they proudly boast that they are “The Official Website of Black Metal.”

SATAN SPEEDS UP HIS TUNE

Writes author Steve Huey in All Music Guide, “Slayer was one of the most distinctive, influential, and extreme thrash metal bands of the 1980s.” If there ever was a band that owed Satan for its success, it is boys from South of Heaven.

They started by playing cover tunes, similar to Black Sabbath, and found that they could gain more attention by using Satanic imagery, also similar to Sabbath…only unlike Sabbath, they aimed for speed.

Def Jam records picked up the band to produce Reign in Blood, an album that was considered so graphic CBS Records refused to distribute it. Of course that only made metal fans want the album more so Geffen Records stepped in and released what is now considered to be one of the defining speed metal albums of the eighties.

While all bands tried to outdo each other with grotesque artwork, Slayer’s lyrics were visually impacting themselves. References to Satan and death abounded, but also included were lyrics about torture and historical atrocities such as the opening track to Reign in Blood called “Angel of Death.”

Auschwitz, the meaning of pain
The way that I want you to die
Slow death, immense decay
Showers that cleanse you of your life
Forced in
Like cattle
You run
Stripped of
Your life's worth
Human mice, for the Angel of Death

Lyrics like this ignited controversy amongst religious groups because it was hard to interpret if Slayer was actually making a statement or just singing about a horrific event like the gassings at Auschwitz. The song “Jesus Saves” didn’t fare much better with Christians:

You spend your life just kissing ass
A trait that's grown as time has passed
You think the world will end today
You praise the Lord, it's all you say

Jesus saves, listen to you pray
You think you'll see the pearly gates
When death takes you away

While criticized for their graphic imagery, Slayer has continued to earn respect and is considered to be the definitive Satanic band of the eighties. Reign in Blood influenced a legion of smaller Satanic bands that have marched forward to spew forth every violent act imaginable and appease every demon possible. Venom started black metal, Slayer legitimized it as an art form.

As the foremost Satanic band, does Slayer believe in Satan? From Wikipedia: “Araya also denied rumors that Slayer members are Satanists, but they find the subject of Satanism interesting and ‘we are all on this planet to learn and experience.’” As usual, Satan is never taken literally.

A sidenote to Slayer is that their name was thought to have been changed from “DragonSlayer” which was based on the 1981 movie released by Disney. Guitarist Kerry King, in response to the accusation, said it was a myth, one that continues to persist to this day.

While naming themselves after a Disney fantasy film might have been embarrassing if it were true, the band did record a cover song of Iron Butterfly’s In-A-Gadda-Da Vida for the tearjerker Less Than Zero. The movie featured brat packers Andrew McCarthy, Robert Downey Jr., and James Spader—hardly Satanic metal heads. The band regrets the recording and King called it a “hunk of s**t.”

DEICIDE VERSUS RADIO PASTOR BOB LARSON

Type “Bob Larson” into Google and you may get his text ad popping up on the right side of the screen advertising himself as an exorcist. The self-proclaimed occult expert started his show Talk Back in 1982 with topics such as Dungeons ‘N’ Dragons, Satan Worship, and Secular Music. He is known for doing on air exorcisms with lots of grunting, growling and heavy breathing (getting rid of a demon can be exhausting).

One of his favorite targets was the band Deicide who claims to be Satanic. The criticism created an ongoing feud between the Pastor and the lead Singer Glen Benton and Glen would often call in with a few words to say or just some growling.

Many of the comical exchanges between the meeting of the minds have been collected on YouTube for the entertainment of all. Benton never shook up Bob’s faith and Bob never had a chance in hell of saving Benton. As Glen said in one of the exchanges, “I love living my life this way…Go save Bon Jovi or somebody like that.”

Deicide started in 1989, the rumor being that Glen Benton burst into the offices of Roadrunner Records and yelled, “Sign us, you f*****g a**hole!” The band has gone through several lineup changes since that time because oddly enough they keep signing on Christians: the original Hoffman Brothers who played guitars and then guitarist Ralph Santolla who said he was Catholic and split in 2007.

Why anyone who believes in a supreme being would go on tour with a song lineup that includes "F**k Your God" is questionable, unless money and fame precedes faith. In their job interview with Glenn Benton they might have noticed that he has an upside down cross burned into his forehead and get a clue that this guy is pretty serious about his hate for Christianity.

Putting the possible damnation of the soul aside, playing with Deicide may be physically dangerous. On the Gorefest Tour in Stockholm a bomb exploded near the rear of the stage while they were doing their set. Deicide continued to play three more songs despite the explosion and were eventually removed by police. They blame the Scandinavian black metal scene which hates them for various reasons. It’s hard to say which side Satan would embrace in that feud, but I’m sure he loves all the fuss.

DANZIG, THE VOICE OF HELL

Danzig emerged in a time when speed and thrash were claiming Satan as their own. He returned to the roots of Sabbath and embraced heavy blues, extremely heavy blues. While Ozzy’s vocals were eerie, Danzig’s were downright scary. And while Ozzy looks insane enough to kill, Glenn Danzig looks angry enough to wake the dead after they’ve been victimized.

Danzig’s musical career began by fronting for The Misfits and Samhain (Samhain being a reference to Halloween), but he didn’t find his evil calling until he left punk and hardcore behind and developed the darkest sound he could find that could still be deemed heavy metal. It was Def Jam Records’ Rick Rubin who decided to strip down the band’s instrumentation and focus more on Glenn Danzig’s voice. The results took Satanic metal from something that could have had cartoonish results to music that reflected hell itself. They lyrics were evil, but the sound was more so.

Unlike Ozzy and other self-tormented lead singers, Glenn Danzig was in full control of himself, his career path and what he wanted to do creatively. There were never any antics or outlandish publicity stunts that overshadowed the music. Danzig has always been about his art. When he’s not performing or writing new music he spends time developing his comic book line Verotik at Danzig-Verotik.com. The writing and art is not intended for the kiddies and the subject matter is made clear by the website’s invitation to “Descend into Hell.”

For all of the graphic horror and Satanic imagery, Danzig is another artist who simply can’t take the religious version of the devil seriously. While he rejects all religion, he does “Welcome the disdain” of conservative Christians.

Ironically, noted believer in the Christian faith Johnny Cash, covered Danzig’s song “Thirteen” oh his album American Recordings much to the dismay of Jesus-is-Savior.com. Their article “Johnny Cash Exposed” essentially questions the legendary singer’s allegiance to Christ. Cash also sang “Unchained” off of the album of the same name, another song written by Danzig.

Danzig’s connection to Cash was producer Rick Rubin and possibly unbeknownst to Christian fans, Johnny Cash is well revered by many heavy metal artists including another blasphemous band by the name of Ministry. While it is said Cash sang country, which is debated by fans, his lyrics would contain themes as dark as any heavy metal song and his former demons of drugs and alcohol are easily recognizable by those who have also suffered their abuse.

Johnny, himself, even became fascinated by the heavy metal genre in the mid-eighties, according to Wsws.org. He wanted to find out for himself what the controversy was all about and attended concerts by Metallica, Iron Maiden, and Ozzy. He even protested against those who wanted to censor the bands of that time period. While he may not have condoned their un-Christian lifestyles, Cash understood that everyone was flawed and had to walk their own road to God. He sympathized with the sinner’s plight, possibly proving himself more religious than the Pharisee-like writers on Jesus-is-Savior.com. With his passing, a whole new set of fans have emerged and it is likely his influence amongst heavy metal artists will continue.

Danzig, wanting to inspire horror amongst critics and fans alike, may have a tough time of it with his new gig—VH1’s Rock of Love: Bride of Satan. He will replace Brett Michaels and be looking for a mate that can fulfill all his evil needs. That’s a tough order. Good luck to the women. And good luck to Danzig on keeping his Satanic image. Reality shows have a way of turning rock stars into clowns.

HAS ANY SATANIC BAND EVER TRULY BELIEVED IN THE DEVIL?

Band after band profiled in this feature have been found guilty of exploiting the devil without actually believing in a literal devil. Satan is always symbolic, referring to rebellion and a way of getting a rise out of the authorities, most notably the parents who find their kids spending their allowance money on an “evil album.”

Those who practiced the occult come close to at least believing in the supernatural, but that still doesn’t include Satan. The supernatural is a fuzzy line between the metaphorical, new age mysticism and personalized religion. Satan doesn’t seem to exist.

Squidoo.com makes an attempt to list “genuine Black Metal” bands which just means the bands on the list play the style, but don’t necessarily believe. They list the band Acheron as one example of “True Satanic Metal,” but their association is with The Church of Satan (lead singer Vincent Crowley was appointed to the priesthood in 1994 by Anton La Vey). The Church of Satan denies a literal devil while embracing much of what he stands for. Says High Priest Peter H. Gilmore, “Satanism begins with atheism. We begin with the universe and say, 'It’s indifferent. There’s no God, there’s no Devil. No one cares!'”

Black Metal and Satanic Metal have more in common with horror movies than they do with the Biblical Satan. After researching this article for any possible band, besides White Metal bands, who believes in a real devil, I can’t come up with one that I can confidently write about. Most Satanic bands, when asked point blank if they believe in Satan, will either say they don’t and that they are fascinated with occultism, or they will pull a politician’s trick and skirt around the question.

The devil has been given his tribute without sincere recognition. And maybe he’s pleased with that result. According to most conservative Christians, Satan’s best trick is making you think he doesn’t exist.

SOURCES

PopSubCulture – Aleister Crowley: Biography, http://www.popsubculture.com/pop/bio_project/aleister_crowley.html

Illuminati News – Rock Music and Satanist Aleister Crowley, http://www.illuminati-news.com/art-and-mc/rockmusic-and-crowley.htm

Jesus-Is-Savior.com – The Satanic Roots of Rock, http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Miscellaneous/satanic_roots_of_rock.htm

Wikipedia – Bobby Beausoleil, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Beausoleil

SubCin.com – Kenneth Anger, http://www.subcin.com/anger.html

Wikipedia – Jimmy Page, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Page

Jesus-Is-Savior.com – Led Zepplin, Straight from Hell, http://www.jesus-is- savior.com/Evils%20in%20America/Rock-n-Roll/led_zeppelin.htm

In the Light, Zoso, http://www.inthelight.co.nz/ledzep/zososymbol.htm

Positive Atheism, I think Led Zeppelin May be Satanic, http://www.positiveatheism.org/mail/eml9198.htm

Wikipedia – Black Sabbath, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Sabbath

Bird Monster — Heavy Metal, part one, http://birdmonster.blogspot.com/2009/07/short-history-of-heavy-metal-part-one.html

Wikipedia – Dennis Wheatley, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Wheatley

Wikipedia – KISS, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiss_(band)

Wikipedia – Motley Crue, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%B6tley_Cr%C3%BCe

Jesus-Is-Savior.com – Signs of Satan, http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/False%20Religions/Wicca%20&%20Witchcraft/signs_of_satan.htm

Wikipedia – Sign of the Horns, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sign_of_the_horns

Wikipedia – Venom (Band), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venom_(band)

VH1.com, All Music Guide – Slayer Bio, http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/slayer/bio.jhtml

Dark Lyrics - Slayer Lyrics, Reign in Blood, http://www.darklyrics.com/lyrics/slayer/reigninblood.html#4

Veinotte – Ozzy, bio, http://www.veinotte.com/ozzy/madness.htm

Wikipedia – Ozzy, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozzy_Osbourne

Wikipedia – Coven, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coven_(band)

VH1.com, All Music Guide – Danzig Bio, http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/danzig/bio.jhtml

Wikipedia – Danzig, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danzig_(band)

Squidoo – Satanic bands, http://www.squidoo.com/satanicmusic

2012

2009-06-12T11:13:00.005+08:00

Matthew - Chapter 24
This is what it will be like when the Son of man comes.Then of two men in the fields, one is taken, one left;of two women grinding at the mill, one is taken, one left.So stay awake, because you do not know the day when your master is coming.

Revelation 20:9
They invaded the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the holy ones and the beloved city. But fire came down from heaven and consumed them.

The 2012 apocalypse
Courtenay Bartholomew
Wednesday, June 10th 2009

Dexter Rigsby wrote an article last week in the Guardian of June 3 with the headline, "Surviving the 2012 threat to humanity''. His article began: "Most people are becoming aware of a possible doomsday anomaly said to occur on or around December 21, 2012, when, according to scholars, two-thirds of mankind can be eliminated."

Were I to own a newspaper it would have been on the front page because I truly believe that his article will soon be proven to have no parallel in importance at this time. In fact, my new book, The End of this Era. A linkage between Science and Religion, predictably the last of the eight which I have authored, is by far the most important of all I have ever written. It is largely based on the great Mayan prophecy.

Long before the birth of Christ, the central and southern regions of Mexico were inhabited by peoples who had reached a high degree of civilisation. They were first the Olmecs from about 2000 BC to 200 AD then the ancient Maya civilisation which reached its peak around 300-800 AD. They were justifiably regarded as the greatest ancient civilisation to have risen in the New World and were gifted with an inexplicably advanced state of mathematical and astro-calendrical knowledge without the use of telescopes or any of the modern scientific instruments of today's civilisation. When I became acquainted with the Mayan intelligence, I once spent several hours in the historical and anthropological museums in Mexico City studying the history of the ancient peoples of that region, their writings, customs and architecture.

Zero, for example, was used by the Mayans 900 years before the Arabs introduced it in Europe. The Gregorian calendar, as another example, was introduced in Europe in 1582 and was based on the best scientific knowledge available at that time. This, in fact, is still the most widely used calendar in the world today. It replaced the Julian calendar which was previously introduced by Julius Caesar in 46 BC.

More recently, scientific advances have given the length of the solar year to be 365.2422 days but strangely and inexplicably enough, the Mayan calendar (between 300 and 800 AD) had previously achieved even greater accuracy and had calculated the solar year to be 365.2420 days, a minor error of only 0.0002 of a day. They also calculated the length of the lunar month to be 29.53029 days, which is only within 30 seconds of what we now know to be its actual length of 29.53059 days! But from where came this genius?

Now, according to the Mayans, the universe operated in great cycles of approximately five years and their own civilisation was said to be in the fifth cycle. The four other civilisations before them were destroyed by great natural disasters. This, the era of the fifth cycle in which we are now in, they calculated to end by another major cataclysm in the winter solstice of December 21, 2012, after which the sixth cycle will begin.

The Mayans and Aztecs were sun worshippers as they realised that without the sun, life could not be sustained on planet Earth. But the sun is anything but a smooth round ball of fire. Close up, it is a raging nuclear furnace. First discovered by Galileo in the 16th century, sunspots are larger-than-earth magnetic storms that blemish the solar surface and they can unleash as much energy as 10 billion hydrogen bombs. The world's astronomers have no idea why they occur and in roughly 11-year cycles, which is the usual amount of time from one so-called "solar maximum" (the greatest number of sunspots) to the next.

Significantly, very significantly, the next maximum solar flares are calculated to start in 2011 and peak in the year 2012. Their ejections can travel millions of miles into the interplanetary space and can cause very serious disruptions of satellite (including banking and military), radio and electronic communications. There are also scientists who believe that seismic events, earthquakes, volcanoes and hurricanes are triggered by sharp fluctuations in sunspot activity and also that certain planetary configurations and alignments have a powerful influence on the sun.

Indeed, the great wave of hurricanes (Katrina, Rita and Wilma) coincided with one of the stormiest events in the recorded history of the sun. One prominent Russian scientist has declared that the sun's peculiar behaviour today is unlike anything we have seen since the ending of the last ice age of 11,000 years ago and many solar physicists concur that the Sun's solar activity will peak at record-breaking levels in 2012.

The great English researcher and author Graham Hancock wrote about his research on the Mayans and Aztecs and said: "My research has convinced me that there was an advanced civilisation long long ago that was destroyed in a terrible cataclysm. I fear that our own civilisation may be destroyed by a similar cataclysm. When human beings from around the globe, and from many different cultures, share a powerful and overwhelming intuition that a cataclysm is approaching, we are within our rights to ignore them. However, it would be foolish to disregard what they seem to be saying.

"And what they seem to be saying to us is that cyclical, recurrent and near-total destructions of mankind are part and parcel of life on this planet, that such destructions have occurred many times before and that they will certainly occur again. Scholars normally attribute these myths to the fantasies of ancient poets. But what if the scholars are wrong?"

But maximum solar flares are not the major threat to planet Earth.

To be continued...

The Second Coming

2009-06-10T21:55:00.000+08:00

W. B. Yeats' immortal words, in his "The Second Coming":

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in the sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

Perfect Possession

2009-06-10T21:10:00.004+08:00

Here's an intersting article by Maria Hsia Chang who is a Professor emerita at the University of Nevada, Reno, and the author of "Peering Into the Abyss" in the October 2008 issue of the NOR.

A thoroughly good read!Top drawer.

Author's Note: Many readers will find this article, a study of the nature of evil, difficult to read. In fact, psychiatrist M. Scott Peck noted that our instinctive reaction to evil is revulsion. Difficult though it may be, it is important that we know and comprehend evil's nature because that knowledge can help us recognize and combat evil, and protect ourselves from its effects. Remaining ignorant of it can only play into the hands of the Evil One himself.

It may be helpful for the reader to know my own experience of studying evil, which began some years ago. Simply put, I was frightened by what I found -- what human beings are capable of doing to one another. That first reaction of fear, however, was soon replaced by a melancholia that endured for quite some time. When I told my best friend, Judge Patricia Chaffin, about my constant sadness, she said, "Offer your suffering to Christ, who understands your melancholia more than anyone. Imagine the sorrow that Christ has, knowing all the sins of humanity." At that, I broke down and wept, tears streaming down my face.

But the melancholia also left me, then and there. Since that epiphany, although I still get alarmed, shocked, and repulsed by the subject, I am no longer fearful or depressed. Prudently guarded and cautious, I now am steadfast and determined, for "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Phil. 4:13).

Lastly, from the very beginning of my study, I have had an abiding love and respect for St. Michael the Archangel, and all the good angels who choose to submit to and obey the Triune God. I pray for their protection daily.

* * * * * * * * * *

Thanks to Hollywood movies such as The Exorcist, most people know something about demonic possession, although many no doubt dismiss it as superstitious hocus pocus. Few, however, including Catholics, are aware that cases of possession that come to the attention of exorcists are only of the partial or incomplete variety. There is something worse -- total or perfect possession -- which is rarely spoken of even by the Catholic Church.

References to perfect possession are sparse. One won't find them in the books of Fr. Gabriele Amorth, the Vatican's chief exorcist and president of the International Association of Exorcists. The diligent and careful reader will, however, find allusions in the works of Frs. Jeremy Davies and Malachi Martin.

In his 1992 book Hostage to the Devil: The Possession and Exorcism of Five Living Americans, Fr. Martin wrote, "In every case of possession that comes to the point of Exorcism, the subject has reached a crucial crossroads. Some small corner of reservation remains, some glimmer or recollection of the light of Jesus still shines." It is from that last redoubt that the possessed manages to muster sufficient autonomy of will to call for help. That is why their possession is only partial instead of complete.

Not so with the perfectly possessed. Fr. Davies, in his 2008 book Exorcism: Understanding Exorcism in Scripture and Practice, observes that the far more terrible state is that of the possessed who are complacent. He calls such cases "perfect possession" because the individual has freely given himself totally to evil. It is instructive to note that although the Gospels recount numerous instances of Christ casting out demons, Our Lord did not exorcise Judas, nor did St. Peter exorcise Ananias, nor St. Paul Elymas. Those three did not want to be exorcised, and God always respects our free will. As Fr. Martin put it, unlike cases of partial possession, those who are perfectly possessed do not want the demons to leave.

So, who are the perfectly possessed?

To answer that question, we might begin with the factors that can render a person vulnerable to demonic possession in the first place. Fr. Amorth is of the opinion that a person can become possessed because of another's evil spell, or by associating with evil people or places, or as a result of a grave and hardened sinful condition (An Exorcist Tells His Story, 1999). The first factor is clearly not the person's fault. The individual does bear some responsibility for the second factor because he chose to associate with evil, becoming contaminated as a result. As for the third factor, it clearly is operative in cases of perfect possession because the individual has freely assented to evil either via an explicit pact with the Devil or as a result of habitual sinning.

Fr. Martin, however, disagreed with the no-fault view, insisting that no one can become possessed without some degree of consent: "The effective cause of Possession is the voluntary collaboration of an individual, through his faculties of mind and will, with one or more of those bodiless, genderless creatures called demons." For that matter, the individual does not even have to intentionally engage the demonic. Fr. Martin maintained that simply dabbling in the occult -- by playing a Ouija board or attending a séance or practicing transcendental meditation or the enneagram -- can dispose a person to possession because he has made himself an "aspiring vacuum" to "whatever happens along."

It is not just the occult that poses a danger. Any activity that impairs our mind and will is a threat to the integrity of our selfhood. The activity can be engaging the occult, abusing alcohol and drugs, or indulging in "malogens." The latter is a word coined by former public defender Jay Gaskill to refer to malevolent ideas, images, and themes in popular culture that are "as dangerous to the developing mind as biological pathogens are to the developing body." Transmitted through pornography, death-obsessed music, violent movies and television, and macabre role-playing computer games, malogens celebrate violent, even homicidal imagery, and a nihilist, anti-life ethos. Teen subcultures are especially vulnerable because they are among the most under-protected targets in American society.

Fr. Davies counsels that it is partly through our faculty of reason that God protects us, so any activity that involves an abandonment of self-control can provide an opening to the demonic. Since nature abhors a vacuum, the invitation is extended for something or someone to enter in to fill the void. In that light, it is interesting that an Alcoholics Anonymous counselor once told this writer that a recovering alcoholic's mental age is much less than his chronological age; it is the individual's biological age when he first began drinking. In other words, the person was not really present during the alcohol-soaked years, which raises the troubling question of who -- or what -- was there instead.

The Catholic Church has supplied a collection of signs and indicators for partial possession, including blasphemous and vituperative language, preternatural knowledge, preternatural physical strength, levitation, the ability to speak an unknown language, a violent aversion to the holy, and voices in the mind saying evil things. But neither the Church nor her exorcists have given us the signs that point to perfect possession. Worse still, Fr. Martin warned that being absolutely controlled by evil, the totally possessed gives no outward indication, no hint whatsoever, of the demonic residing within. The individual will not cringe at the sight of a crucifix or violently react to the touch of holy water or hesitate to discuss religious topics with equanimity.

But how can this be? Human beings consciously and unconsciously telegraph the kind of person we are in a myriad of mundane ways -- our clothing and facial expressions, even how we walk and shake another's hand. What Fr. Martin probably meant was that those who are perfectly possessed do not display the usual symptoms that the Church attributes to partial possession. Given this, how can a perfectly possessed person be recognized?

Perhaps the answer is in the principle of Occam's Razor, commonly understood as "All other things being equal, the simplest solution is the best." It is here proposed that the person actually tells us -- by demeanor, word, and deed -- that he is perfectly possessed. Demeanor refers to an individual's appearance and comportment. Words refer to what the individual says about himself, specifically speaking of himself as a "monster" and a "devil," or of an alien or demonic presence residing within his body. Deeds are acts of great depravity, unspeakable cruelty, and the murder of innocents, as well as explicitly demonic acts of Satanic pacts and the employment of Satanic symbols and rituals.

Demeanor

Fr. Martin observed that the most obvious and striking effect common to all possessed persons is the great loss in human quality, in humanness. Since we are made in the very image of God, the spirits who hate God seek to thwart His purpose by attacking and perverting our very nature. A key attribute of humanness is empathy, which precisely is lacking in serial killers and mass murderers who count as among the most evil. Indeed, forensic psychiatrist Helen Morrison, in her 2004 book My Life Among the Serial Killers: Inside the Minds of the World's Most Notorious Murderers, describes the serial killers she had studied and interviewed as "completely, utterly inhuman."

Empathy is the ability to infer and experience another's emotions. As such, empathy is the very foundation of altruism and human morality: Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. Scientists tell us that empathy is an innate human trait and that infants less than a year old already display a primitive form of "global empathy" when they bawl upon hearing another baby cry.

A person who tortures and kills innocent human beings would have to be devoid of empathy and compassion. Indeed, Morrison identifies their emotional disconnection to their victims as the most chilling attribute of serial killers: "For them, killing is nothing, nothing at all."

The notorious Charles Manson cult family, who in August 1969 slaughtered seven people, including actress Sharon Tate, certainly lacked empathy. Susan Atkins, one of the killers, said that she looked the eight-and-a-half-months pregnant Tate straight in the eye and said, "I don't care about you. I don't care if you're going to have a baby.... You're going to die, and I don't feel anything about it." When asked how she felt about the victims, Atkins responded, "They didn't even look like people.... I didn't relate to Sharon Tate as being anything but a store mannequin.... She kept begging and pleading and pleading...and I got sick of listening to her, so I stabbed her."

A more recent example is Dennis L. Rader, a Boy Scout leader and elder of the Lutheran Church in Wichita, Kansas. Dubbed the "BTK killer" for his penchant of binding, torturing, and killing his victims, Rader received ten consecutive life sentences in 2005 for murdering ten people between 1974 and 1991. In an interview with police after his arrest, Rader mocked his victims' pleadings as "yada yada yada." Detective Kelly Otis described Rader's casual demeanor in the interview: "It was like we were talking over a coffee, as if he were relaying a fishing story."

Scott Dyleski also lacked empathy. In 2006 the 17-year-old was convicted and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for bludgeoning to death his 52-year-old neighbor Pamela Vitale in her Lafayette, California, home. The murder was both senseless and brutal. After killing her, Dyleski carved a symbol resembling a double-crossed "T" into Vitale's back. At his sentencing, prosecutor Harold Jewett reminded the court of Dyleski's "depth of depravity," not just in murdering Vitale but in the casual remark he made to a housemate two days afterward that "these things happen." Judge Barbara Zuniga made an even more astute observation. Addressing Dyleski directly, she said:

This was a deliberate, planned murder.... As she [Vitale] lay dying at your feet, you proceeded to stab her. That was very unnecessary. It struck me from looking at the photos [of Vitale's corpse], you were emulating the serial killers you read about. And the mark [you carved into her back] shows you were proud of your work.... People have commented on the lack of affect [you displayed throughout this trial], but they were wrong. The one time when I saw an emotion was when the autopsy photos were projected on the wall. I saw you lean forward, mouth open.... You were absolutely fascinated by what you did. You do not deserve to be among decent people.

Lacking the essential human quality of empathy, the killers feel they're dead inside. On trial for conspiracy to commit murder, Charles Manson said on the stand, "I'm already dead, have been all my life." How many times have survivors of some murderous spree described the killer as an emotionless automaton? Fifteen-year-old John Jason McLaughlin, who killed two of his high-school classmates on September 24, 2003, in Cold Spring, Minnesota, was described by a classmate as having a vacant look: "It didn't seem like he was there." A more recent example is Seung-hui Cho, who on April 16, 2007, perpetrated the worst shooting massacre in modern U.S. history, killing 32 students and professors at Virginia Polytechnic Institute. Survivor Derek O'Dell recalled that Cho's demeanor was unfeeling, "like a stone."

Words

Psychological professionals have identified lack of empathy as among the defining attributes of sociopaths or psychopaths. What the professionals do not address and cannot explain are certain curious statements made by sociopathic killers about themselves. Taken at face value, their words strongly suggest a supernatural dimension to their pathology.

As an example, Peter William Sutcliffe, an English serial killer dubbed the Yorkshire Ripper, was convicted in 1981 and sentenced to life in prison for murdering 13 women. Sutcliffe told Morrison that he had "company" during his work as a gravedigger and that he was "haunted" by voices he believed to be God's. As the months went by, however, the voice that initially had been comforting now urged Sutcliffe to go on a mission "to get rid of" prostitutes. He eventually went from killing prostitutes to any female he desired to attack or kill.

In a letter to Houston television station KTRK, "Railway Killer" Angel Maturino Reséndiz, who was executed in 2006 for murdering at least 15 people, wrote of a "scary creature" inside him: "I've been fighting this creature all of my life and now I know it is me, so I fear, yes I fear and shake." When one of their victims asked the Manson killers who they were and what they were doing there, one of them replied, "I am the Devil and I'm here to do the Devil's business." Dennis Rader allowed that, although he knew his victims were human beings, he did not care because "I'm a monster." He also said, "I know it is a dark side that controls me. I personally think...that it's demons within me, at some point when I was young that controlled me."

Nazi Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels admitted he did not really know Adolf Hitler, although he worked with and saw the Führer almost every day. Goebbels told his aide-de-camp, Prince Schaumburg-Lippe, that there were times when Hitler gave him "the chills." After 1934 Hitler's insomnia became worse and his minimal sleep was frequently interrupted by crying spells. Hermann Rauschning, a Nazi leader who later fled to the U.S., claimed that Hitler was controlled by "malefic influences of which he was no longer the master." In his 1939 book Hitler Told Me, Rauschning related that Hitler regularly had night terrors, during one of which,

Hitler was standing there in his bedroom, stumbling about, looking around him with a distraught look. He was muttering: "It's him! It's him! He's here!" His lips had turned blue. He was dripping with sweat. Suddenly, he uttered some numbers which made no sense, then some words, then bits of sentences. It was frightening. He used terms which were strung together in the strangest way and which were absolutely weird. Then, he again became silent, although his lips continued to move. He was given a massage and something to drink. Then, all of a sudden, he screamed: "There! Over there! In the corner! Who is it?" He was jumping up and down, and he was howling. They reassured him that everything was all right, and he gradually calmed down.

Then there is Joseph Edward Duncan III, a convicted high-risk sex offender who began his criminal career at age 17 in 1980. On April 24, 2005, Duncan wrote in his online journal that there was a battle "of epic proportions" between him and "demons," and that the demons had him "tied to a spit and the fire has already been lit." He darkly warned that "a lot of people will be badly hurt" if the demons won, but that he no longer knew if the right choice was even an option any more. On May 11, 2005, Duncan ominously wrote in his blog that the demons were "loose" and the "bogeyman was alive." Four days later, he bound and bludgeoned to death Brenda Groene, her 13-year-old son, and her fiancé in their home near Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Duncan then kidnapped Brenda's remaining children, nine-year-old Dylan and eight-year-old Shasta, torturing and eventually killing Dylan with a shotgun.

In 2006 Duncan was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences for the Idaho murders. In 2008 a federal jury found him guilty of the kidnapping, sexual abuse, torture, and murder of Dylan Groene, for which he received three death sentences. The jury reached a decision after enduring nearly three weeks of gruesome testimony that included a videotape of the torture and murder in which Duncan screams, "The devil is here, boy, the devil himself.... The devil likes to watch children suffer and cry!" Duncan periodically breaks into shouting, and at one point sings the Lord's Prayer in a high voice.

Satanic Signs

Richard Macek told Morrison that as a child he had horrible dreams of being attacked by a pink eraser. Under hypnosis, he recalled starting a fire in the apartment of one of his victims, to cover his tracks. As he recounted the incident, dime-sized red blisters appeared on his fingers -- a phenomenon Morrison called "an almost supernatural event...completely out of the realm of what I had learned or had ever experienced."

It was Hitler's deeds that convinced many he was possessed. As one author asked, "By what sorcery could a man, starting with nothing, in the space of a mere ten years totally vanquish seemingly insurmountable obstacles blocking his ascent to power, and how could such a man capture the confidence of millions of people: the unemployed, the workers, the middle class, the intellectuals?" Another writer noted the rise in 1920s Germany of occultism and the practice of the black arts by myriad secret societies, most notably the Thule Society. More recently, in an interview with Vatican Radio, Fr. Amorth said, "I am convinced that the Nazis were all possessed. All you have to do is think about what Hitler...did. Almost certainly they were possessed by the Devil. You can tell by their behaviour and their actions, from the horrors they committed and the atrocities that were committed on their orders." In fact, recently released Vatican documents revealed that wartime pontiff Pope Pius XII had attempted a long-distance exorcism of Hitler. But the effort failed because, as Fr. Amorth explained, the possessed person must be consenting and willing and in the presence of the exorcist for the demon-banishing to succeed.

Then there are deeds that are explicitly Satanic.

The most notorious Satanist in the 1980s was Richard Ramirez, whom newspapers dubbed the "Night Stalker." In 1989 Ramirez was convicted and sentenced to death for 13 murders committed over the course of a year in Los Angeles. An acolyte of the Church of Satan and a fan of heavy metal bands such as AC/DC that sang about Hell and the Devil, Ramirez would enter homes surreptitiously in the night. When he was arrested, Ramirez reportedly said he was a minion of Satan sent to commit the Dark One's dirty work. At his trial he flashed a pentagram tattooed onto the palm of his hand and shouted, "Hail Satan!" in open court. He said he did not fear death because he believed in his heart he would go to Hell, where he would sit at the Devil's right hand.

Susan Atkins told her prison psychiatrist that before she met Charles Manson in San Francisco in the late 1960s, she had entered into her "Satanic period" and became involved with Anton LaVey, founder and high priest of the Church of Satan. Another Manson family killer, Patricia Krenwinkel, would doodle during the Tate/LaBianca murder trial. Her two favorite subjects, according to bailiff Bill Murray, were devils' heads and the Mendes goat, both Satanist symbols.

The Satanic also held a morbid fascination for Scott Dyleski. Described by many as intelligent and artistic, he was a former Boy Scout, a vegan, and an animal-rights advocate. But there was a dark side to the teenager. By the time he was 16 years old, he had already consumed a veritable cornucopia of illicit drugs -- heroin, marijuana, cocaine, ecstasy, LSD, and absinthe, a liquor-like spirit made from the herb wormwood which contains a neurotoxin. Dyleski was also a fan of the nihilistic Goth-industrial rock group, Velvet Acid Christ, whose song titles include "Dead Flesh," "Decay," "Fun With Drugs," "Fun With Knives," "Hell Two," "There Is No God," "Hopeless," "Misery," "Murder the World," "Serial Killer 101," and "Satan Complex #42."

For about a year beginning when he was 13, Dyleski dyed his hair black and wore dark makeup (black eyeliner, lipstick, and nail polish) and black clothing, shoes, and socks. Even his underwear was black. Dyleski's interior life matched his morbid outward appearance, as evidenced in his drawings and poetry. One poem ends with the following: "You raised me to hate, and hate I will / Because now I, live for the kill / For the kill, for the kill, for the kill." In its entirety, another poem reads: "Freak god, lifeless / meaningless and pointless / mysterious emptiness." Dyleski also wrote two odes to the fallen angel, titled "Genesis of the Angel" and "Serpentine," in which he calls Satan "sweetest flower" and "sweetest angel." If these poems can be outdone, it would be by Dyleski's macabre drawings, some of which are of knives, razors, and autopsied human body parts. Several drawings portray a Dyleski-look-alike boy holding knives dripping with blood. One drawing is particularly striking and disturbing: It depicts a devilish seated figure with a goat's head and human body, whose right arm clasps a small grinning boy holding a severed human head.

Conclusion

With the exception of those such as Seung-hui Cho who killed themselves rather than be captured by the authorities, all the murderers discussed here had been examined by psychiatrists and judged to be mentally sane and competent to stand trial for their crimes. They were not dissociated from reality and knew precisely what they were doing, but still chose to torture and kill because they are without conscience and empathy.

Psychologists describe these sane killers as psychopaths or sociopaths, or as having anti-social personality disorder, the current favored term. By whatever label, these individuals are notable for their lack of empathy, lack of affect (or hollowness), narcissism that borders on grandiosity, and remorselessness. Psychologists also would have us believe that the "demon," "monster," or "bogeyman" referred to by killers like Duncan and Rader is really the individual's superego. Freud had called the superego a special psychical agency that constantly watches the ego and measures it by that ideal. Recognition of the superego, Freud advised, enables us to understand "the so-called delusions" of being watched, which are symptomatic of the paranoid diseases: "Patients of this sort complain that all their thoughts are known and their actions watched and supervised; they are informed of the functioning of this agency by voices which characteristically speak to them in the third person." Freud further maintained that this "power" that watches and criticizes exists "in every one of us in normal life" and is none other than the superego -- the "censoring agency" experienced in those who revolt against it "as a hostile influence from without."

In calling serial killers psychopaths, what psychologists have done is to describe the most evil among us and give them a diagnostic label. Simply naming something, however, does not explain the phenomenon, and the problem is that psychology cannot tell us the etiology of psychopathy -- whether it is genetic, biological, chemical, or developmental. Likewise, calling "demonic possession" the workings of the "superego" is nothing more than substituting one term for another, albeit for a word that is more acceptable to our secular culture. As Fr. Martin observed, "technical names and jargons...are nothing more than descriptive terms," and descriptive terms are simply tags for phenomena; they do not explain.

Secularists eschew "possession" in favor of "superego" because they reject a priori the existence of pure spirits, of fallen angels, although the same skeptics readily countenance the reality of other non-observable phenomena. But the Church believes that there is an invisible power, a spirit of evil, and that this spirit can take possession of a human being. The simple truth is that psychologists can no more confirm the existence of superego than we can of demons. Perfect possession therefore is at least as good a label as psychopathy; it is also more useful and illuminating.

The concept of perfect possession reminds us that human beings are free agents, created with free will. Although we may have certain predispositions, whether by nature or nurture, we still exercise autonomy of will within those parameters. The person who becomes a serial killer is not overcome by infectious pathogens but has chosen to do evil. As Jeffrey Burton Russell, a professor of religious studies, put it, "Each of us has within us a ‘still, small point' of freedom of will where we can stand and decide for good or for evil. We are not entirely determined by our genes and our milieu." The concept of perfect possession also reminds us that those who make a Satanic compact for whatever self-interested gains will eventually be betrayed because the Devil is no fool. His agenda is not our agenda; he hates humanity and is the father of all lies. Above all, the notion of perfect possession provides a much-needed warning to our postmodern culture, which is saturated in moral relativism and malogens, that the consequence of habitual sinning is deadly.

Before he was executed on January 24, 1989, infamous serial killer Ted Bundy granted his only interview to psychologist James Dobson, founder and president of the evangelical organization Focus on the Family. Bundy had confessed to thirty murders, although the actual total number of his victims remains unknown and may exceed one hundred. In the interview, Bundy related how, despite having been brought up with regular church attendance in "a wonderful home" by "dedicated and loving parents," his obsession with pornography, especially violent pornography, which began in his teen years, eventually led him to murder. In his words, although he had "very strong inhibitions" against criminal and violent behavior, simple porn was no longer enough, which led him to seek "more potent, more explicit, more graphic kinds of material." He called the grip that pornography had over him as "almost a separate entity inside" and as "being possessed by something so awful and alien." Alcohol further reduced his inhibitions. Eventually there came a point where he "couldn't control it anymore." He began to crave "something which is harder" that could give him a greater sense of excitement which pornography could no longer deliver -- "that jumping off point" of actually "doing it" instead of just reading about and looking at it. And so he killed his first victim. After each killing, however, satiation was only temporary. And so he killed again.

In other words, Bundy was describing the enslaving effect of repeated sinning. Psychoanalyst Erich Fromm observed that if a human being does evil, he becomes more evil. Abiding in evil, the heart will harden "to a point where no more change or repentance is possible." Oscar Wilde, in his astute portrait of evil, The Picture of Dorian Gray, likewise warned that when a nature is dominated by "the passion for sin," the individual eventually loses freedom of will and moves to his "terrible end as automatons move." The more we sin, the less our autonomy of will, until a point is reached when perfect possession takes over. As theologian Thomas R. Kopfensteiner explains:

This kind of moral tragedy occurs over time.... Our orientation toward the good can become dulled through repeated offences and omissions.... As we make individual decisions the contours of our moral identities take shape...to the point that there emerges a profound consistency and transparency between our identity and our actions, between who we are and what we do.... It becomes progressively more difficult and increasingly less probable that we will regain our moral equilibrium. We are beset by a progressive moral decline.... We truly experience the death of our souls.

In his last statement before he was executed by lethal injection, "Railway Killer" Reséndiz said, "I know I allowed the Devil to rule my life. I just ask you to forgive me and ask the Lord to forgive me for allowing the Devil to deceive me." Bundy, too, at the end of his interview with Dr. Dobson confirmed that he had sought Christ's forgiveness and had become a convert. He expressed sorrow for the pain and grief he caused the parents of the children and young women he had harmed. He did not expect their forgiveness because that kind of forgiveness is only "of God."

Admittedly, there are skeptics who maintain that Bundy's conversion was just a last-ditch effort at obtaining clemency. They point out that if his conversion experience were genuine, he would have confessed to all his killings, as well as revealed the location of more bodies. We will never know.

At the same time, however, we are reminded that we are not our own, "for you have been purchased at a price" (1 Cor. 6:20). We cannot simply dismiss the possibility that, given the infinite mercy and grace of God, even the perfectly possessed can repent and find redemption. As the Church teaches, the only unforgivable sin is the stubborn refusal to be penitent, presuming that a creature's sin can actually exceed the Creator's infinite capacity to forgive.

http://fundamentaloption.blogspot.com/2009/05/perfect-possession.html

33 Minutes - America's Missile Defense in a New Missile Age

2008-12-14T23:57:00.001+08:00

From : http://salesianity.blogspot.com/2008/12/dangerous-world-33-minutes.html

I found this video at the Patrick Madrid site and it is well done and a disturbing to think about. Our nation has so many enemies from outside and within. We have so much to pray about. God is good and is protecting us, but we need to be aware of the dangers that we face. Let's pray for a spirit of peace in this difficult time. Here are the basics on the video trailer:

The 33 Minutes film trailer gives viewers a seven minute preview of the groundbreaking film about missile defense in America. The HD film will be released February 2009, and will outline what immediate steps need to be taken to protect America and its citizens. More information on the film can be found at heritage.org website.

New Spiritual Method Called 'The Secret' Promoted On TV Has A Hidden Occult Link

2007-10-02T22:30:00.000+08:00

OCCULT WARNING:

People can be easily misled.........greg

We have to issue an occult watch -- perhaps "warning" is more like it -- for a new self-help trend that apparently is sweeping or beginning to sweep segments of America.

The "method" is now on DVD as a movie called The Secret, and has been featured, among other places, on Oprah and Larry King Live.

We are reluctant to readily dismiss innovative spiritual means, and always urge openness in the supernatural realm, which is so often beyond human reckoning.

But in the case of The Secret, a warning is especially needed because its claims and temptations are especially potent: ancient wisdom, it is said -- an ancient secret -- that can change your life, that can turn your existence around, that was used by famed inventors and philosophers throughout history.

"The Secret is released to the world!" says its official website. "This ground-breaking feature length movie presentation reveals The Great Secret of the universe. It has been passed throughout the ages, traveling through centuries... to reach you and humankind.

"This is The Secret to everything -- the secret to unlimited joy, health, money, relationships, love, youth: everything you have ever wanted.

"In this astonishing program are ALL the resources you will ever need to understand and live The Secret. For the first time in history, the world's leading scientists, authors, and philosophers will reveal The Secret that utterly transformed the lives of every person who ever knew it... Plato, Newton, Carnegie, Beethoven, Shakespeare, Einstein."

Now, they say, "YOU will know The Secret. And it could change your life forever."

But perhaps not for the better.

In fact, while there is not yet enough known about that bold assertion, for years an occult organization known as the Rosicrucians -- with ties to Masonry, and even thought to be sort of an "illuminati" (or aspiring illuminati), have advertised "the secret" as a new path in life, and list Leonardo DaVinci and Benjamin Franklin -- if not Einstein and Newton -- among its success stories.

"The secret is knowledge," says a Rosicrucian website. "Not knowledge in the sense of acquiring information but an inner knowledge of your own potential to achieve wisdom, strength, compassion, and peace.

"Rosicrucians call this Mastery of Life. It embraces all aspects of who you are and all you can be -- physically, emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually. It is a relationship and understanding of the divine laws of the universe. The Mastery of Life is not difficult to grasp, but the secret of the Rosicrucian tradition has been protected and preserved for thousands of years, shown only to those who have proven a true desire to know."

While there is no direct credit, as yet, to the Rosicrucians, the parallels to the secret brandished by the occult organization are extremely suspicious and the power behind the potential deception warrants an alert. The name "Rosicrucian" appears to flash on the screen in a trailer for the movie, after a photo of Albert Einstein.

If nothing else, "the secret" rings of other "self-help" methods like rolfing, mind control, TM, Tony Robbins, the "Course in Miracles," and self-actualization that saw currency in the 1970s or 1980s and fell under the style of New Age-style philosophies.

And however details emerge, the large claims and comportment of adherents [see here] grants one pause.

The "secret" as presented on Oprah was linked also to bestselling author Jack Canfield of Chicken Soup for the Soul and other celebrities. Due to the power of the Winfrey show, and previous complaints of flirtation with the New Age, we recommend that Christians stay away from this "method" and even the movie.

While the positive thinking and faith-filled aspects of such philosophies are to be lauded, the focus on materialism, the centering on "self," the lack of involvement of God -- and especially Christ -- as well as the posture that suffering can be avoided, run against the central precepts of Christianity and wander into ancient paganism.

"Is there a 'secret agenda?'" asked one reviewer, Philip E. Harris, in American Chronicle. "Being a Rosicrucian I could not help but notice the frequency with which the word Rosicrucian flashed between speakers in the film. John indicated that 'wisdom is wisdom' and anyone who searches out universal laws will run into the various lists of secret organizations, some of which have been more popularized than others. He thought that some of the people connected to the movie were probably Rosicrucian and that he also, in addition to studying Mayan and other mystery teachings, had studied Rosicrucian teachings.

"This relatively sequestered order has come to the forefront of late and is receiving greater publicity. However, [one man involved in the film] felt that there is only a sincere altruistic desire on the part of those connected to the film to bring much that has been hidden into the mainstream for all to share."

"The Secret is one of the divine laws of the universe," wrote columnist Carolyn Sackariason of the Aspen Times, speaking of the movie. "'The 'Mastery of Life' is not difficult to grasp, but the secret of the Rosicrucian tradition has been protected and preserved for thousands of years, shown only to those who have proven a true desire to know."

"According to the Rosicrucian legend, the order began with one Christian Rosenkreuz, born in 1378 in Germany," notes an informational site.

"Beginning in 1393, he visited Damascus, Egypt, and Morocco where he sat under the masters of the occult arts. Upon his return to Germany, he began in 1407 the Rosicrucian Order with three monks from the cloister in which he had been raised. He also erected the House of the Holy Spirit (the Spiritus Sanctum) which was completed in 1409. The original group was enlarged to eight. Christian Rosenkreuz died in 1484 (at the age of 106) and was entombed in the Spiritus Sanctum. Knowledge of his tomb was lost, but it was rediscovered in 1604. Its opening led to the spread of the Order anew."

While some deny a direct link to Masonry, noted Wikipedia, "according to a lesser known legend of the 18th-century Rosicrucianist-Masonic group the Golden and Rosy Cross, the Rosicrucian Order was created in year 46 when an Alexandrian Gnostic sage named Ormus and his six followers were converted by one of Jesus' disciples, Mark. From this conversion, Rosicrucianism was born, fusing early Christianity with Egyptian mysteries. In this version, rather than being its founder, Christian Rosenkreuz would have been initiated into and become the Grand Master of an existing Order.

"According to this group's legend, the Rosicrucian Order was founded by Egyptian 'Ormusse' or 'Licht-Weise' who emigrated to Scotland with the name 'Builders from the East.' Then the original Order disappeared and was supposed to have been resurrected by Oliver Cromwell as 'Freemasonry.'

"In 1785 and 1788 the Golden and Rosy Cross group published the Geheime Figuren or 'The Secret Symbols of the 16th and 17th-century Rosicrucians.' These works declared the existence of a secret brotherhood of alchemists and sages who were preparing to transform the arts, sciences, religion, political, and intellectual landscape of Europe while wars of politics and religion ravaged the continent."

2/19/07

[resources: Masonry Unmasked]

Incorruptibles

2007-09-16T22:40:00.000+08:00

Through history, the bodies of a considerable number of deceased Catholic Saints and other blessed persons, have not undergone the normal processes of disintegration. Without any kind mummification or embalming methods, their corpses have thus remained incorrupt, a few even after 1500 years. The accounts of incorruptible bodies are a part of Christian history from the first century right through to the 21st.

Many of those, whose bodies have been found incorrupt, had died either by violence or diseases, conditions which normally would encourage the disintegration processes rather than preserve the bodies. Some had been buried in close proximity to other bodies that decomposed normally. Some had been consigned to the bare earth. Others survived burial in such damp conditions that their clothes rotted off their intact bodies. Some had been lying in lime, water or left in the open. But apparently unaffected by exterior influences, the bodies were found preserved as if they were still alive.

St. Veronica Giuliani (1660 - 1727)

From the beginning the phenomenon was seen as tangible proof of the sacredness and purity of a saint. The incorruptible bodies were therefore not buried but placed into sumptuous reliquaries and exposed above or behind the altar for everyone to see.

During the Middle Ages, churches that had one of these incorruptible saints became especially popular among pilgrims. It therefore became customary to exhume all candidates for beatification and canonization (the various steps on the way to sainthood).

Because of the Vatican’s quite strict canonization process, these exhumations have usually been witnessed with oaths and affidavits by ordinary working people as well as respectable doctors and medical specialists. The phenomenon is therefore among the most thoroughly documented of all alleged miracles.

The head of St. Catherine of Siena (1347-1381).

Disregarding the irrational elements and proven frauds, there is enough evidence of remarkable occurrences surrounding the incorruptibles to take the phenomenon seriously. It hasn’t been systematically examined by science and no rational explanations have yet been offered. The devout therefore continue believing that the bodies of these individuals have been miraculously preserved by God because of their sacredness and purity - as a reminder of their wonderful deeds.

Other supernatural characteristics usually related to incorruptibles are: an absence of rigor mortis; a persistent pleasant fragrance emanating from the body; in rare cases a bleeding long after death (from stigmata wounds or injuries suffered in martyrdom); in a few cases bodies have been warm long after death; even more rarely there has been some kind of ritualized movement of the limbs (for example, giving a blessing or even talking), which cannot be accounted for by mere contraction of muscles.

Secret or long-forgotten burial places of incorruptible saints have often been revealed to the discoverers by dreams or visions. Sometimes the discovery has been caused by unusual noises or a strange light emanating from the burial place. Long-dead bodies, or their remaining parts, have sometimes exuded a fragrant, clear oil known as “Oil of Saints” or “Manna Oil of Saints”. This liquid, as well as any relic related with the incorruptible saints, like blood or clothing, are usually attributed great powers of healing.

St. Catherine Laboure (1806-1876).

St. Bernadette

Born into extreme poverty on January 7, 1844 in Lourdes, France, Bernadette Soubirous was a sickly child who suffered from severe asthma and other deceases. As the uneducated daughter of devout Catholic parents, she was absorbed in the faith from her earliest days.

On February 11, 1858, when Bernadette, her younger sister and a friend were sent to gather firewood, a beautiful Lady dressed in blue and white appeared to her above a rose bush at a grotto called Massabielle. The Lady smiled at Bernadette and then made the sign of the cross with a rosary of ivory and gold. Bernadette fell on her knees, took out her own rosary and began to pray. After some time, the beautiful lady revealed herself as the Virgin Mary and soon became known as "Our Lady of Lourdes". She appeared to Bernadette and spoke with her seventeen times over a period of five months.

As proof of Mary’s divine origin, she allegedly instructed Bernadette to dig in the earth, whereupon a spring bubbled forth, its waters being reputed to possess miraculous healing properties. This spring still flows today and draws 4 to 6 million pilgrims to Lourdes each year with its promise of curative powers.

At the age of 22, Bernadette became a Sister of Charity and entered a convent in Nevers. There she spent the remaining thirteen years of her life, a large portion of this time ill in the infirmary. When accused by a fellow sister of being a lazy, she replied that her 'job' was "to be ill". Bernadette died on April 16, 1879, thirty-five years old.

In 1909, with the cause of her beatification under consideration, it was required to identify the remains of Bernadette. On September 22, 1909, Bishop Gauthey of Nevers, together with other Church representatives and officials, therefore entered the convent Chapel where her remains lay. The tomb was then opened and the body exhumed.

To the amazement of all present, Bernadette appeared exactly as she had been on the day of her death. The body was completely intact and no smell or other trace of corruption was seen on the little body in the coffin. Doctor Jourdan, the surgeon who was present for the exhumation, has left a written record in the Community archives describing what occurred:

"The coffin was opened in the presence of the Bishop of Nevers, the mayors of the town several canons and ourselves. We noticed no smell. The body was clothed in the habit of Bernadette's order. The habit was damp. Only the face, hands and forearms were uncovered. The head was tilted to the left. The face was dull white. The mouth was open slightly and it could be seen that the teeth were still in place. The hands, which were crossed upon the breast, were perfectly preserved, as were the nails. The hands still held a rusting Rosary. The veins on the forearms stood out."

Bernadette in 1864, 20 years old (in the middle wearing a scarf).

After the identification, the Sisters washed the body and dressed it in a fresh habit. It was then placed in a new coffin lined with white silk, and lowered back into the tomb.

In August 1913, Pope Pius X authorized the introduction of the Cause for Canonization and Bernadette could now be given the title 'Venerable'. This meant that her body had to be exhumed once again. This process was however interrupted by the First World War, and the body wasn’t re-exhumed until April 1919. The process was the same as before - as were the results. The body remained intact.

In November 1923, the Pope announced the authenticity of Bernadette's virtues and her beatification could finally proceed. Consequently, a third exhumation was needed. This time, relics were to be taken from the body and sent to Rome, Lourdes and to Houses of the Sisters of Nevers throughout the world.

On April 18, 1925, this third exhumation took place. Bernadette had then been dead more than forty six years. Yet, her body remained completely incorrupt. Dr. Talon, the surgeon who removed the relics, later wrote a report about this exhumation, for a medical journal, in which he described his amazement at the perfect preservation of the skeleton and the muscles in particular, as well as the liver which - he stated - should have deteriorated entirely very soon after death, and concluded that "this doesn't seem to be a natural phenomenon".

At the exhumation, it was noted that a small portion of the skin on the face had discolored slightly, due probably to the washing the body had received and its exposure to the organisms of the air. Consequently, it was decided to cover the face and hands with light wax masks. The firm of Pierre Imans in Paris was contacted, and they agreed to make the necessary masks.

On June 14, 1925, Pope Pius XI declared Bernadette 'Blessed', which meant that her relics could now be exposed for public veneration. A workshop in Lyons was subsequently commissioned to make a beautiful reliquary of silver, gilt and crystal for the body.

In July 1925, the shrine was ready. The body was clothed once more in a new habit and then transferred to the shrine. On the reliquary are depictions of the Apparitions at Lourdes, and lilies - the symbol of Bernadette's purity. Crowning the reliquary are the initials 'N.D. de L.' (Notre Dame de Lourdes), entwined around which there's a Rosary. In August 1925, the shrine was transferred to the main chapel of the convent where it can still be seen today.

The incorruptible body of St. Bernadette, 1844-1879, on display in a crystal coffin in the Church of St. Gildard in Nevers, France.

Blessed Margaret of Castello

In 1287, the Lord and Lady of Metola, a small village in Umbria, Italy, were expecting their first born child. The young couple, who had hoped for a strong, healthy son to be their heir, was totally devastated when they realized that the child was a blind, crippled dwarf. They couldn't bear looking at this abomination and gave the child to a trusted servant to care for secretly.
As the child grew her right leg remained shorter than the left, and she walked with a limp. Because of this and her poor care she soon developed a hunchback.

The servants named the poor child Margaret. They allowed her to walk about in the castle as long as she avoided the areas most frequented by her parents. Margaret soon learned her way around and would often hobble on her lame feet into the castle's chapel to pray. But one day a visitor met her there and nearly discovered her true identity.

When the parents learned about this incident they realized that it was too risky for the child to remain at the castle and decided to have a cell build for her in a nearby forest next to a church. A window opening was made into the chapel so the girl could hear Mass. And another small window was made on the outside so that food could be passed in. Once the cell was built, six year old Margaret was thrust into it and the doorway walled up.

When Margaret was sixteen years old, rumors came to Metola of a shrine in the nearby city of Castello, where many had been miraculously cured. A holy friar had died there, and at his tomb it was said the sick were healed and the lame could walk. Margaret’s parents decided to bring their crippled daughter to Castello in hope of a cure.

At the shrine Margaret was told to pray for a miracle, which she did from morning to night, but nothing happened. When it became apparent that the child would not be healed from her ailments, the parents gave up the hope of having the daughter of their ambitions and simply abandoned her in the streets of the town and left for home.

Some beggars found Margaret, took her in, and taught her to be one of their own. The crippled girl soon became known for her kindness, cheerfulness, and piety and some of the people of the town decided to take her into their homes. Margaret was quick to help with the chores, and especially skilled at caring for the children of whatever family she stayed with. She was said to have a positive influence on the families she lived among. And so Margaret traveled from home to home.

After some time Margaret joined the Third Order of Dominican nuns and devoted herself to the care of the sick and dying, limping wherever necessary to offer food, medicine, encouragement, and prayer. When she learned of the inhumane treatment of the area's prisoners, she made them her apostolate and every day she brought them food, clothing and medicine. Margaret continued her prayers, penances, and ministries until her death on April 13, 1320, at the age of thirty-three.

When she died, the people of Castello, believing her to be a saint, insisted that Margaret should be buried within the Church. According to tradition, a crippled girl was laid down beside the dead body after which the arm of the corpse allegedly reached over and touched the girl's stretcher, curing her. Two hundred other miracles were later attributed to Margaret's intercession.

In 1558 Margaret's remains had to be moved because her coffin was rotting away. At the exhumation, witnesses were amazed to find that like the coffin, the clothes had rotted, but Margaret's crippled body had not.

Today the body lies under the high altar in the Church of St. Domenico at Citta di Castello. The arms are still flexible, the eyelashes are present, and the nails are in place on the hands and feet. The coloring of the body has darkened slightly and the skin is dry and somewhat hardened, but by all standards the preservation can be considered a remarkable condition, having endured for over six hundred and fifty years.

St. Vincent de Paul

Vincent de Paul was born around 1580 in the village of Pouy in Gascony, southwest France, into to a poor peasant family. Being a highly intelligent youth, Vincent was allowed to spend four years with the Franciscan friars at Acqs getting an education. In 1596 he began theological studies at the University of Toulouse and was ordained priest in 1600 at the age of 20.

Returning by sea from a journey to Marseilles in 1605, he was captured by Turkish pirates who took him to Tunis, where he was sold as a slave. Two years later he managed to escape together with his master, a renegade whom he had converted to Christianity.
After returning to France, he served as parish priest near Paris where he founded several organizations to help the poor, nurse the sick, finding jobs for the unemployed, etc.

Vincent de Paul died in Paris in 1660. In 1737 he was canonized by Pope Clement XII.

His bones are encased in a wax figure, and rest in a reliquary in the chapel of the Vincentian Fathers in Paris. His still incorrupt heart is enclosed on the altar of his shrine in the motherhouse of the Sisters of Charity in Paris.

ST JOHN VIANNEY
Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney was born in 1786 as the son of a poor farmer in the village of Dardilly, France. During his childhood he worked as a shepherd and didn't get any education until he was 20 years old.

John had always felt a call to the priesthood. His eventual entry into the seminary, especially the study of Latin, however proved to be very difficult and he twice failed his examination before finally being ordained as a priest in 1815. Thought to be incompetent, John was placed under the direction of another priest in the neighboring village. After the death of this priest in 1818, John was transferred to the remote tiny village of Ars to be the parish priest.

St. John Vianney.
Here he lived a very ascetic life, ate the simplest food, wore old clothing and only slept two hours each night on a hard bed. The number of parishioners grew rapidly, as the word spread that this holy man could see into people's souls. People began coming to him from other parishes, then from all parts of France, and finally from other countries. Throughout France and the Christian world he soon became known as the "cure d'Ars" (the cure of Ars).

By the year 1855, Fr. Vianney was hearing as many as 20,000 confessions a year, spending 13 to 16 hours a day in the confessional. His direction was characterized by common sense, remarkable insight, and supernatural knowledge. As the news continued to spread, the sick were brought to Ars and many were miraculously cured.

During 30 years, Fr. Vianney claimed to experience frequent attacks of the devil. Voices, strange noises, threats, furniture being thrown about and many other demonic assaults took place almost every night. Besides all this external suffering, Fr. Vianney had physical ailments such as severe headaches, rheumatism, toothaches, fever and exhaustion.

The heroic self-sacrifice of Fr. Vianney eventually led to his death. At the age of 73 he began to have fainting spells. By the end of July he could no longer rise from his bed. Four days later on August 4, 1859, Fr. Vianney died.

Fr. Vianney was declared Venerable 13 years after his death. In 1904 when his body was exhumed and found to be incorrupt although the flesh had dried up and darkened. To this day the incorrupt body can be seen, encased in glass on a marble Altar, in Ars. In 1905 Fr. Vianney was declared Blessed. And finally in 1925 he became Saint John Marie Vianney.

The incorrupt body of St. John Vianney.

ST FRANCIS XAVIER

Francis Xavier was born in Navarre, Spain in 1506. After having completed a preliminary course of studies in 1525, Francis went to Paris and entered the university, where he studied and later taught philosophy. Francis wanted a career as a professor until he met St. Ignatius of Loyola, who was planning the foundation of the "Society of Jesus" (the Jesuits).

St. Ignatius soon won the confidence of the young man, who gave up the idea of an academic career and instead offered to help in the formation of the Society. In June 1537, Francis was ordained priest. And when the Jesuit order was finally approved, he was appointed by John III, King of Portugal, to evangelize the people of the East Indies.

St. Francis Xavier.
Francis left Rome on March 16, 1540. After a tedious and dangerous voyage, he landed at Goa, India on May 6, 1542. He devoted almost three years to the work of preaching to the people of Western India, converting many, and reaching in his journeys even the Island of Ceylon. In July, 1545, he went to Malacca, and then the Molucca Islands in Indonesia.

In August 1549, Francis landed at the city of Kagoshima in Japan. He devoted the first year to learning the Japanese language and translating the principal articles of faith. When he was able to express himself, Xavier began preaching.

Leaving Kagoshima about August, 1550, he penetrated to the centre of Japan, preached the Gospel in the cities of southern Japan and established several Christian communities. Towards the end of the same year he reached Meaco, then the principal city of Japan. After working about two a half years in Japan he finally returned to Goa, arriving there at the beginning of 1552.

During his stay in Japan Francis had heard much of the Chinese Empire and now began to plan an expedition there. In the autumn of 1552 he arrived on the ship Santa Cruz at the small Chinese island of Shangchuan, near the southern coast of China. While planning the best means for reaching the mainland, he was taken ill, and removed to the land, where a rude hut had been built to shelter him. In these wretched surroundings Francis Xavier died on December 2, 1552, at age of 46.

Francis was buried on the island in a wooden coffin. Two layers of quicklime were added in order to accelerate the process of corruption, which would facilitate the transference of his bones. Two and a half months later, the coffin was unearthed. To the surprise of all present, after the lime had been removed, they found the body totally incorrupt, as if it were still alive. And a sweet fragrance is said to have issued from the coffin. After replacing the lime, the coffin was sailed to Malacca. On arrival it was opened and the body was still found to have the freshness of a living person. The body was then buried this time without a coffin.

St. Francis' silver casket in Goa.
In December 1553, the body was once again unearthed, fount incorrupt and taken to Goa, where till today it remains intact, after more than 400 years. The body is enshrined in the Basilica of Bom Jésus in a silver casket which is lowered for public viewing during special exposition. In 1619, Francis Xavier was beatified by Paul V, and in 1622 he was finally canonized.

St. Francis is considered the greatest Christian missionary since the time of the Apostles. During his ten years in India, the East Indies, and Japan, Francis is said to have baptizing more than 40,000.

Francis Xavier had a reputation as a miracle-worker and there are numerous stories about the wonders he caused. Several times his prayers are said to have calmed storms at sea, preserved ships from pirate attacks, and steered them safely into port.

One story, reported by two eye witnesses, told how Francis, while sailing on the Santa Cruz from Malacca to China in 1552, converted sea water into fresh water.

In "The Miracles of Francis Xavier" by Peter Paul Rubens, Francis brings a number of dead persons back to life, including an Indian child who had drowned in a well, a miracle attested to by many as early as 1543. In the same painting a blind Japanese man is given sight, another mans ability to walk is restored, and a third is cured of demonic possession.

It is said that Francis did not experience bodily discomforts. Early biographers relate how he walked barefoot through Japanese mountains during the winter of 1552. Since all his thoughts were directed to God, he felt no pain.

St. Francis Xavier's body on display in Bom Jesus Basilica, Goa, India.

ST. CATHRINE OF BOLOGNA
Catherine de Vigri was born on March 9, 1413 as the daughter of a diplomatic agent of the Marquis of Ferrara, Italy. At the age of eleven, she was appointed maid of honor to the daughter of the Marquis and shared her training and education.

When the daughter eventually married, she wanted Catherine to remain in her service. But, although Catherine herself had several suitors, she had already decided that a religious life was her calling. She therefore left the court and became a Franciscan Tertiary at the age of fourteen.

From the day she entered the convent, Sister Catherine threw herself wholeheartedly into the quest for perfection. Concluding that her convent was less strict in its life than she preferred, she accepted the appointment as abbess of a more austere convent of Poor Clare nuns in Bologna. She continued to head this community from 1456 until her death.

Early in her religious life, Sister Catherine began to experience visions of Christ and Satan and other supernatural graces. One Christmas Eve she had asked permission to spend the night of December 24-25 alone in the convent chapel. At the hour of midnight, the Virgin Mary appeared to Catherine with the swaddled Christ child in her arms. She handed the Infant to Catherine who pressed the child to her breast and kissed His cheek. When she tried to kiss His mouth, too, He disappeared, but her heart continued to experience a unique joy.

Like many other mystics, St. Catherine was also a person of talent and common sense. She was a skilled artist, and devoted much time to copying out in print her breviary, illustrating it with attractive pictures of Jesus, Mary, and the saints. She also painted larger religious pictures, composed hymns, and wrote several devotional works.

After a short terminal illness Catherine died on March 9, 1463. She breathed her last so quietly that her sisters were unaware that she had died until a lovely fragrance allegedly rose from her body and they saw her middle-aged face restored to its teenage bloom.

Catherine body, which was first buried without a coffin and later enshrined in the monastery chapel, has never corrupted. Today it’s located in the Church of the Poor Clare convent in Bologna. The flesh has darkened, caused by the heat and soot of the many candles that have been burned for years around her exposed remains.

In response to a request she gave to one of her sisters, to whom she allegedly appeared in a vision in 1500, Catherine's body is not recumbent but seated. Soon after Catherine death, miraculous cures began to be granted to many who prayed for her intercession. She was canonized in 1712.

The body of St Catherine of Bologna.

ST CLARE OF MONTEFALCO
Born in 1268 into a wealthy family in Montefalco, Italy, Clare was a lively, sincere and intelligent child. While still a teenager, she chose Christ as her one true love. Following her elder Sister Joan's example, Clare began the demanding practice of religious self-denial. And the two young women spent days in prolonged sessions of prayer and exceptional mortification of the flesh.

Clare's parents permitted her to live with Joan in a hermitage not far from their home. In June 1290, this hermitage was declared a monastery to be governed by the Rule of St. Augustine. The bishop of nearby Spoleto sent his representative to Montefalco in order to supervise the election of the monastery's abbess. The unanimous choice was Clare. And for sixteen years she served as mother, teacher, and spiritual director of her nuns.

Soon, Clare's reputation for holiness and wisdom attracted many visitors to the Monastery. They came in endless procession to see her, to hear her words, to be inspired and encouraged.

Clare was allegedly gifted with the spirit of prophecy as well as the grace of working miracles. She frequently conversed with Christ. In 1294, when she was only 26, she asked him, "Where are you going, Lord?" He answered, "I have been searching the whole world over for a strong place to plant my Cross, but I have found none." Later he told her, "Clare, I have finally found a place for my Cross. I shall place it in your heart."

The body of St. Clare

From that day on, Clare's whole body ached with acute pain and once she said to her sisters: “If you seek the cross of Christ, take my heart; there you will find the suffering Lord.” By July 1308, Clare's illness had become so severe that she was bedridden. On August 17, after confessing her sins to the monastery chaplain, she declared "There is little else for me to say, for today you shall all be with me with Christ, because I go to him."

After her death the heart was removed from Clare's body and a cross and the instruments of Christ’s passion were allegedly found, clearly imprinted on the cardiac tissue.

At the Church of the Holy Cross in Montefalco, Italy, the still incorrupt body of St. Clare is preserved together with her heart with the miraculous imprints.

The cross-shaped piece of flesh that was found in the heart of the Saint.

The Miraculous Medal Story and Its Meaning

2007-06-10T21:58:00.000+08:00

The Medal of the Immaculate Conception — popularly known as the Miraculous Medal — was designed by the Blessed Virgin herself! No wonder, then that it wins such extraordinary graces for those who wear it and pray for Mary's intercession and help.

The First Apparition

The story begins on the night of July 18-19, 1830. A child (perhaps her guardian angel) awakened Sister (now Saint) Catherine Labouré, a novice in the community of the Daughters of Charity in Paris, and summoned her to the chapel. There she met with the Virgin Mary and spoke with her for several hours. During the conversation Mary said to her, “My child, I am going to give you a mission.”

The Second Apparition

Mary gave her this mission in a vision during evening meditation on November 27, 1830. She saw Mary standing on what seemed to be half a globe and holding a golden globe in her hands as if offering it to heaven. On the globe was the word “France,” and our Lady explained that the globe represented the whole world, but especially France. The times were difficult in France then, especially for the poor who were unemployed and often refugees from the many wars of the time. France was first to experience many of those troubles which ultimately reached many other parts of the world and are even present today. Streaming from rings Mary's fingers as she held the globe were many rays of light. Mary explained that the rays symbolize the graces she obtains for those who ask for them. However, some of the gems on the rings were dark, and Mary explained that the rays and graces were available but did not come because no one had asked for them.

The Third Apparition and the Miraculous Medal

The vision then changed to show our Lady standing on a globe with her arms now outstretched and with the dazzling rays of light still streaming from her fingers. Framing the figure was an inscription: O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.

The Meaning of the Front Side of the Miraculous Medal

Mary is standing upon a globe, crushing the head of a serpent beneath her foot. She stands upon the globe, as the Queen of Heaven and Earth. Her feet crush the serpent to proclaim Satan and all his followers are helpless before her (Gn 3:15). The year of 1830 on the Miraculous Medal is the year the Blessed Mother gave the design of the Miraculous Medal to Saint Catherine Labouré. The reference to Mary conceived without sin supports the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Mary—not to be confused with the virgin birth of Jesus, and referring to Mary's sinlessness, “full of grace” and “blessed among women” (Luke 1:28)—that was proclaimed 24 years later in 1854.

The vision turned and showed the design of the reverse side of the medal. Twelve stars encircled a large “M” from which arose a cross. Below are two hearts with flames arising from them. One heart is encircled in thorns and the other is pierced by a sword.

The Meaning of the Back Side of the Miraculous Medal

The twelve stars can refer to the Apostles, who represent the entire Church as it surrounds Mary. They also recall the vision of Saint John, writer of the Book of Revelation (12:1), in which “a great sign appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of 12 stars.” The cross can symbolize Christ and our redemption, with the bar under the cross a sign of the earth. The “M” stands for Mary, and the interleaving of her initial and the cross shows Mary’s close involvement with Jesus and our world. In this we see Mary’s part in our salvation and her role as mother of the Church. The two hearts represent the love of Jesus and Mary for us. (See also Lk 2:35).

Then Mary spoke to Catherine: “Have a medal struck upon this model. Those who wear it will receive great graces, especially if they wear it around the neck.” Catherine explained the entire series of apparitions to her confessor, and she worked through him to carry out Mary’s instructions. She did not reveal that she received the Medal until soon before her death 47 years later.

With approval of the Church, the first Medals were made in 1832 and were distributed in Paris. Almost immediately the blessings that Mary had promised began to shower down on those who wore her Medal. The devotion spread like wildfire. Marvels of grace and health, peace and prosperity, following in its wake. Before long people were calling it the “Miraculous” Medal. And in 1836, a Canonical inquiry undertaken at Paris declared the apparitions to be genuine.

There is no superstition, nothing of magic, connected with the Miraculous Medal. The Miraculous Medal is not a “good-luck charm”. Rather, it is a great testimony to faith and the power of trusting prayer. Its greatest miracles are those of patience, forgiveness, repentance, and faith. God uses a Medal, not as a sacrament, but as an agent, an instrument, in bringing to pass certain marvelous results. “The weak things of this earth hath God chosen to confound the strong.”

When our Blessed Mother gave the design of the medal to Saint Catherine Labouré she said, “Now it must be given to the whole world and to every person.” The Association of the Miraculous Medal in Perryville, Missouri carries out our Lady’s request in many ways, including offering you a free Miraculous Medal.

http://www.amm.org/

FOR ALL ITS PROBLEMS AND CRISES, CHURCH REMAINS OLDEST INSTITUTION, NARROW GATE

2007-05-31T22:58:00.000+08:00

A few weeks ago we interviewed a girl who appeared extraordinary. Perhaps she is. Her paintings seemed like direct inspiration. More than that, she exuded vitality, goodness, a tremendously positive way of speaking, and humility.

This is a very unusual and gifted girl and yet there was an unsettled feeling.

For that reason, we pulled back -- with regrets, because it was a good story, and she is a good person (fantastically precocious). But a feeling of unsettlement must always be addressed -- especially at a time when there is such a mix of goodness and darkness. The devil is an expert at tossing in the right amount of poison, in twisting what is good just enough to send it on a way that is dangerous.

This happens with those gurus you see on TV -- those smiling faces on Oprah, those radiant speakers who tell everyone how much money they can make and how much they can squeeze out of life, those fellows on Fox or Larry King who (using a Rosary) speak with the dead, those who possess "The Secret."

They seem to have found the key to true spirituality and yet there is usually a twist -- an unsettlement because we recall that the devil can come as an angel of light.

Such occurs through the world of mysticism. There often are similar doubts with near-death episodes, miraculous statues, and apparitions. It is a niggling restraint -- not about the unusual nature of an event, the supernaturality, but about its source -- and this is is why we must constantly appreciate the Church.

It may be full of problems; it may be in an arid period; it may be tainted by scandal.

But it remains the narrow gate.

During Communion we are restructured, imbued, reoriented, and brought back to the Point.

For all its shortcomings, no system of religion or spirituality on earth offers the safe passage to Heaven that Catholicism, when practiced correctly, when taken for its sacraments, in a live manner, does.

Hidden in its sacraments (from Confession to Communion) are the tools of discernment.

It is well to remember such and it is well to thus obey ecclesiastic authorities, however much, on occasion, we may disagree with them.

Those who want to dispel Catholicism must place it in perspective. It is the oldest institution on earth. No government, no court, and no kingdom has outlived it. This is also something, during memorial times, that we should remember. It is eight times as old as the United States.

While we appreciate our non-Catholic brethren (who often have things to teach us, especially about spiritual warfare), let us note that Catholicism is 2,000 years old while Lutherans date only back to 1517, Presbyterians to 1560, Baptists to 1605,Episcopalians to the 17th century, Methodists to 1744, Mormons to 1829, and such sects as Pentecostals and Jehovah's Witnesses to the past one hundred years -- not to mention the recent rise of the New Age.

This is not to demean other Christian faiths: they too have their version of the "gate." They too acknowledge one God. They too follow Jesus.

Many are the systems of belief that have a valuable method of discipline.

Moreover, Catholicism has its shortcomings. In recent centuries, it has veered way too far toward legalistic intellectualism. Do we really need all the polysyllabic phrases, the "motu proprios" and other arcane terminology when direct language serves better (such as that used by Jesus)?

We are in danger of becoming Pharisees.

While theology has its place, according to Father Marcello Stanzione, the president of the Center of Studies of Angelology at the Benedictine Abbey of Santa Maria La Nova in Campagna, Italy, "we must be careful to not fall into the trap of theological rationalism."

The absence of mystics leads to spiritual aridity, he warned, and "the climate of spiritual dryness leads to many baptized persons who are educated in the Catholic faith to search for spirituality in Buddhist, New Age, or other meditation groups and alternative religious movements to the Church of Rome."

Indeed, it has also caused millions of Catholics -- especially in the Americas -- to flee Catholicism for non-denominational churches that emphasize just this: gifts of the Spirit.

But none are the narrow gate in the way that the Catholic Church is -- a gate defined by those twenty centuries of experience, of tribulation, and rumination -- and thus should inspire all our efforts to fully preserve and enliven it. A return to use of Latin may engender more of a mystical flavor.

The Church has the structure, when used properly, to discern spirits.

It may be wrong at times. It may be too closed -- especially at a time of such intellectualism. But it provides us with a compass.

When a bishop declaims a seer, we must obey. We must listen.

Those who don't invite dark spirits.

[resources: Where is that in the Bible? and This is the Faith!]

GOD WANTS YOU TO RISE ABOVE MEDIOCRITY AND FIND THE TRUTH OF YOUR MISSION IN LIFE

2007-04-15T12:00:00.000+08:00

Whose plan do you choose for your life -- God's or the enemy's?

That's one question for today. Another is: are you letting people hold you down?

The questions dovetail because we don't reach the destiny that God has in store for us -- don't fulfill who we are -- if we let others or things hold us back.

That's not to say we should harbor resentment; it's not to say that we should go around looking to see who has said or done what. It's certainly not about holding a grudge.

It is to remember that Christ came to set us free and we are set free when we follow not the thinking of humans but His prompts.

Only deep in the soul is there the guidance in fulfilling the destiny given us by God.

All of us have one: every single person is on a mission from Him. In the afterlife, we'll learn precisely what that mission was. We'll also learn that every person had a mission that was equal in importance (though such can't be seen through the blinders of earth).

You have a Divine Destiny and should not be stopped from pursuing it. The guidance on how to pursue it will come in proportion to the purity of your intention.

The enemy would like to stop you. He would like you to wallow in mediocrity (or outright failure). He throws in all kinds of discouragement. He sends stumbling blocks. And we fall prey to them if we fail to persist.

Many are those who remain in mediocrity, blaming everyone and everything but themselves. They never rise above where they are. They never go beyond resentment, or procrastination, or laziness. They tend to blame circumstances or others for where they are.

But we are all called to rise above mediocrity. And we are called to ignore those who -- stuck in their own mediocrity -- seek to hinder us. There are those who are like crabs at the bottom of a barrel -- clawing and scratching to drag down those making way to the top.

Send love to people who may be yanking at you, pray for them, forgive them, and in prayer release yourself from what may be holding you in bondage.

It's a stark metaphor but one that conveys what is often the vicious nature of jealousy. Jealousy is like a curse and can operate beyond the physical. If you sense that this is happening, break it in the Name of Jesus.

And make sure you are not yourself jealous. Make sure you are not "mediocre." Make sure you're not holding down someone else.

Maybe the Lord has set your mission as a janitor, or a mailman, or a lawyer. It doesn't matter. He has put you where He wants you and He wants you to minister -- to help others -- in whatever role you have.

Great souls are to be found at all stations of life!

And rising above mediocrity means fulfilling whatever plan God has for you. It means diligence. It means excellence in whatever it is you do (whether the world considers your vocation "large" or "small"). It doesn't mean being rich. It means being excellent.

No matter what has happened to you in your life, no matter how you may have strayed, and no matter how late in the game it seems, remember that God can always go back to the original plan He had for you. He can allow circumstances to occur in a way that completes your mission, if you are prayerful, if you repent, if you seek to work for Him in whatever work on earth He has assigned for you.

Faith moves mountains, and here we see the final "secret" to improving our lives and making sure that the mysterious path set before us by God is walked in the way that He wants us to walk it. Faith through love.

Put those two together and you will be great in the eyes of God.

[resources: The God of Miracles]

Belief in Reincarnation Tied to Memory Errors

2007-04-08T02:04:00.000+08:00

The Truth Hurts!

Melinda Wenner
Special to LiveScience
LiveScience.com
Fri Apr 6, 9:25 AM ET

People who believe they have lived past lives as, say, Indian princesses or battlefield commanders are more likely to make certain types of memory errors, according to a new study.

The propensity to make these mistakes could, in part, explain why people cling to implausible reincarnation claims in the first place.

Researchers recruited people who, after undergoing hypnotic therapy, had come to believe that they had past lives.

Subjects were asked to read aloud a list of 40 non-famous names, and then, after a two-hour wait, told that they were going to see a list consisting of three types of names: non-famous names they had already seen (from the earlier list), famous names, and names of non-famous people that they had not previously seen. Their task was to identify which names were famous.

The researchers found that, compared to control subjects who dismissed the idea of reincarnation, past-life believers were almost twice as likely to misidentify names. In particular, their tendency was to wrongly identify as famous the non-famous names they had seen in the first task. This kind of error, called a source-monitoring error, indicates that a person has difficulty recognizing where a memory came from.

Power of suggestion

People who are likely to make these kinds of errors might end up convincing themselves of things that aren’t true, said lead researcher Maarten Peters of Maastricht University in The Netherlands. When people who are prone to making these mistakes undergo hypnosis and are repeatedly asked to talk about a potential idea—like a past life—they might, as they grow more familiar with it, eventually convert the idea into a full-blown false memory.

This is because they can’t distinguish between things that have really happened and things that have been suggested to them, Peters told LiveScience.

Past life memories are not the only type of implausible memories that have been studied in this manner. Richard McNally, a clinical psychologist at Harvard University, has found that self-proclaimed alien abductees are also twice as likely to commit source monitoring errors.

Creative minds

As for what might make people more prone to committing such errors to begin with, McNally says that it could be the byproduct of especially vivid imagery skills. He has found that people who commonly make source-monitoring errors respond to and imagine experiences more strongly than the average person, and they also tend to be more creative.

“It might be harder to discriminate between a vivid image that you’d generated yourself and the memory of a perception of something you actually saw,” he said in a telephone interview.

Peters also found in his study, detailed in the March issue of Consciousness and Cognition, that people with implausible memories are also more likely to be depressed and to experience sleep problems, and this could also make them more prone to memory mistakes.

And once people make this kind of mistake, they might be inclined to stick to their guns for spiritual reasons, McNally said. “It may be a variant expression of certain religious impulses,” he said. “We suspect that this might be kind of a psychological buffering mechanism against the fear of death.”

POTENCY OF MASS: IT SHEDS THE BLOOD OF PROTECTION AND HOLDS BACK CHASTISEMENT

2007-03-04T21:23:00.000+08:00

A single Mass is of immeasurable potency. St. Teresa explained that the world would long ago have been destroyed but for the Mass. It alone holds the arm of God. It alone restrains Divine justice.

Without Mass in the world, said St. Teresa, "all here below would perish."

A single, well-said Mass -- attended to with true grace -- can have unimaginable effects. Our requests and supplications can be offered throughout the liturgy, and I have found it especially effective to do it while the Host is elevated, and also when the chalice is raised. For in the chalice is now the Blood of Christ, and it is that Blood which is most powerful in washing away sinfulness. It is the Blood which was shed for our redemption.

It is the Blood that demons fear more than anything, because the Blood established Christ's transcendence of the world and defeat of evil. It represents His sacrifice. Since our redemption means breaking the bondages to Satan, the Blood is extremely potent in chasing away evil spirits.

During Mass we should plead the Blood of Christ. We should plead it on our lives. We should plead it on family and friends.

We should plead it upon the Church. And society. We should plead it upon every aspect of existence because the Blood is the greatest of all palliatives -- meaning that in warding off devils, nothing is more effective.

It was the Blood that defeated Satan at Calvary.

"Lord I am not worthy to receive You, but only say the word and I shall be healed..."

These are the cherished moments of Mass. These are the minutes that are special beyond our ability to understand how special they are. These are the seconds when we are touching eternity.

Having interceded for ourselves, our families, and the world, we have cleared the way to concentrating on our purification, and that opens the floodgates of grace, which pour forth during the Eucharist (and Adoration).

Upon reception of the Communion host, we are in Christ and Christ is truly within us. Upon receiving Communion, we have all power over the enemy. As one of the documents from Vatican II proclaimed: "From this it follows that every liturgical celebration, because it is an action of Christ the Priest and of His Body, which is the Church, is a sacred action surpassing all others. No other action of the Church can equal its efficacy by the same title and to the same degree (SC 7). From the liturgy, therefore, and especially from the Eucharist, grace is poured forth upon us as from a fountain, and the sanctification of men in Christ and the glorification of God to which all other activities of the Church are directed, as toward their end, are achieved with maximum effectiveness."

[resources: Secrets of the Eucharist and The Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist]

The Number of the Beast

2007-03-03T22:00:00.000+08:00

Date: 2007-03-02

Regent Restates Vatican's Anti-Masonry Position

Says Its Philosophies Are Incompatible With Church

ROME, MARCH 2, 2007 (Zenit.org).- The Church has not changed its ruling on Catholic membership in the Masons, said the regent of the Apostolic Penitentiary.

Bishop Gianfranco Girotti made this statement Thursday at a conference on the topic of Freemasonry held at the St. Bonaventure Pontifical Theological Faculty.

The bishop presided over the congress held in cooperation with the Socio-Religious Research and Information Group of Italy. Officials of Masonic associations and grand masters also took part in the meeting.

Bishop Girotti reminded his listeners that the Church has always criticized the concepts and philosophy of Freemasonry, considering them incompatible with the Catholic faith.

He mentioned the last official reference document, "Declaration on Masonic Associations," which was signed by the then prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, on Nov. 26, 1983.

The text states that since the principles of Masonic associations "have always been considered irreconcilable with the doctrine of the Church," membership in them, therefore, "remains forbidden."

"The faithful who enroll in Masonic associations are in a state of grave sin and may not receive holy Communion," adds the declaration signed by Cardinal Ratzinger, who is now Benedict XVI.

Father Zbigniew Suchecki, an expert in the subject, quoted number 1374 of the Code of Canon Law, which reads: "Whoever is inscribed in an association that plots against the Church must be punished with a just penalty; whoever promotes or directs that association, must be banned."

"Masonry's attempts to express divine truths are based on relativism and do not agree with the principles of the Christian faith," said the Conventual Franciscan.

Bishop Girotti made reference to the statements of some priests who have declared publicly their membership in Masonry and called for the intervention of "their direct superiors," not excluding the possibility that "measures of a canonical character might come from the Holy See."

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What's in the Music?

2007-02-17T20:20:00.000+08:00

Backmasking (also incorrectly[1] known as backward masking) is an audio technique in which sounds are recorded backwards onto a track that is meant to be played forwards. Backmasking is a deliberate process, whereas a backward message may be unintentional. Backmasking has been a source of much controversy, especially related to supposed subliminal messages in rock music.
(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Satanic and violent messages
Much of the controversy over backmasking is a result of Satanic messages in heavy metal music.

Slayer's 1985 album Hell Awaits is a prominent example of hidden Satanic messages in music. The album starts with a demonic-sounding voice that, when played backwards, urges "Join Us" over and over at increasing volumes[14].

The Cradle of Filth song "Dinner at Deviants Palace" consists almost entirely of ambient sounds and a reversed reading of the Lord's Prayer[15] (being able to say the Lord's Prayer backwards was perceived in the Middle Ages as a sign of being a witch).

Another lesser-known example is in the Alan Parsons Project album The Turn of a Friendly Card: at the very end of the first track "May be a price to pay," a backward message is inserted, constructed by the words "something's been going on, there may be a price to pay" played in reverse. The message, in clear Spanish, is "Escucha, baby, al Demonio, es bien fácil"[citation needed] (Listen, baby, to the Demon, it's so easy). As a side note, "al Demonio", is used colloquially in Spanish as the equivalent of "Oh, hell" or "Oh, screw this", but the way that "al Demonio" is used in that sentence means "to the Demon".

Some of the controversy deals with songs that are not necessarily Satanic, but simply anti-Christian. Black metal band Darkthrone's Transilvanian Hunger album contains, when listened to backwards, "In the name of God, let the churches burn"[16]. Death rock group Christian Death's song "Mysterium Iniquitatis" is sung almost entirely backwards, and when reversed, expresses atheistic beliefs[citation needed].

Finally, some backmasking is controversial because of its violent themes. On Born Dead, a 1994 album from heavy metal band Body Count, which contains a backward message on the song "Killing Floor": "Body Count, motherfucker. Burn in hell!"[citation needed]. The Finnish metal act Turmion Kätilöt, on their 2005 EP Niuva 20, inserted a deliberate backwards message in a robotic-sounding voice about halfway through the second track, "Kirosana" ("Profanity"), which, when played backwards, says, "Raiskatkaamme tämä helvetillinen maanpäällinen taivas. Siinä sinulle elämän tarkoitus"[citation needed] (roughly translating to "Let's rape this hellish heaven on earth. There's your meaning of life").

In 1981, Styx was accused of putting a backwards message, believed to be either "Satan move through our voices" or "Satan moves the horses", on the song "Snowblind", from Paradise Theatre. This prompted the band to create the concept album Kilroy Was Here, which deals with an allegorical group called the "Majority for Musical Morality" that outlaws rock music. A sticker on the album cover contains the message, "By order of the Majority for Musical Morality, this album contains secret backward messages". One song, "Heavy Metal Poisoning", does in fact contain the backmasked Latin words "Annuit Cœptis, Novus Ordo Seclorum" – part of the Great Seal which encircles the pyramid on the back of the dollar bill.[17]

Check out this site...

http://jeffmilner.com/backmasking.htm

The World is an Illusion

2007-02-17T19:41:00.000+08:00

Look at the picture below.
How many columns has it got?
Look again!

Take a look at the wheel below, If you focus on the yellow dots you will see that the wheel is turning clockwise. However, if you focus on the red dots you will see it is going anti-clockwise, how can this be?

Looking up or looking down?

All the lines above are straight verticle lines, there is no 'thicker and thinner' section. Try a ruler or sheet of paper against your screen to see.

What about this...."Novus Ordo Seclorum" in latin means New World Order...go figure this one.

Paradoxes

2007-01-23T01:27:00.000+08:00

What is a paradox?
It is defined as “a statement that is seemingly contradictory or opposed to common sense and yet is perhaps true “. Here's an example :

Happiness or a ham sandwich?

Which is better, eternal happiness or a ham sandwich? It would appear that eternal happiness is better, but this is really not so! After all, nothing is better than eternal happiness, and a ham sandwich is certainly better than nothing. Therefore a ham sandwich is better than eternal happiness.

Another spoof!

Proof that I am Dracula
Assume :
1. Everyone is afraid of Dracula.
2. Dracula is afraid of only me.
Therefore I am Dracula.

How the hell did I arrive at that?Doesn't that argument sound like just a silly joke? Well it isn't; it is valid. Since everyone is afraid of Dracula, then Dracula is afraid of Dracula. So Dracula is afraid of Dracula, but also is afraid of no one but me. Therefore I must be Dracula!

I got this stuff from:
http://www.sillypore.com/paradox.htm

It Is 5 Minutes To Midnite

2007-01-23T01:04:00.000+08:00

"Doomsday Clock" Moves Two Minutes Closer To Midnight

18 January 2007 | 07:01 PM

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Adjusts Clock From 7 to 5 Minutes Before Midnight; “ Deteriorating” Global Situation Cited on Nuclear Weapons and New Factor: Climate Change.

WASHINGTON, D.C. and LONDON, ENGLAND /// January 17, 2007 ///
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (BAS) is moving the minute hand of the Doomsday Clock two minutes closer to midnight. It is now 5 minutes to midnight. Reflecting global failures to solve the problems posed by nuclear weapons and the climate crisis, the decision by the BAS Board of Directors was made in consultation with the Bulletin’s Board of Sponsors, which includes 18 Nobel Laureates.

BAS announced the Clock change today at an unprecedented joint news conference held at the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington, DC, and the Royal Society in London. In a statement supporting the decision to move the hand of the Doomsday Clock, the BAS Board focused on two major sources of catastrophe: the perils of 27,000 nuclear weapons, 2000 of them ready to launch within minutes; and the destruction of human habitats from climate change. In articles by 14 leading scientists and security experts writing in the January-February issue of theBulletin of the Atomic Scientists (http://www.thebulletin.org), the potential for catastrophic damage from human-made technologies is explored further.

Created in 1947 by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, the Doomsday Clock has been adjusted only 17 times prior to today, most recently in February 2002 after the events of 9/11.

By moving the hand of the Clock closer to midnight — the figurative end of civilization — the BAS Board of Directors is drawing attention to the increasing dangers from the spread of nuclear weapons in a world of violent conflict, and to the catastrophic harm from climate change that is unfolding. The BAS statement explains: "We stand at the brink of a Second Nuclear Age. Not since the first atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki has the world faced such perilous choices. North Korea’s recent test of a nuclear weapon, Iran’s nuclear ambitions, a renewed emphasis on the military utility of nuclear weapons, the failure to adequately secure nuclear materials, and the continued presence of some 26,000 nuclear weapons in the United States and Russia are symptomatic of a failure to solve the problems posed by the most destructive technology on Earth."

The BAS statement continues: "The dangers posed by climate change are nearly as dire as those posed by nuclear weapons. The effects may be less dramatic in the short term than the destruction that could be wrought by nuclear explosions, but over the next three to four decades climate change could cause irremediable harm to the habitats upon which human societies depend for survival."

Stephen Hawking, a BAS sponsor, professor of mathematics at the University of Cambridge, and a fellow of The Royal Society, said: "As scientists, we understand the dangers of nuclear weapons and their devastating effects, and we are learning how human activities and technologies are affecting climate systems in ways that may forever change life on Earth. As citizens of the world, we have a duty to alert the public to the unnecessary risks that we live with every day, and to the perils we foresee if governments and societies do not take action now to render nuclear weapons obsolete and to prevent further climate change."

Kennette Benedict, executive director, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, said: "As we stand at the brink of a Second Nuclear Age and at the onset of unprecedented climate change, our way of thinking about the uses and control of technologies must change to prevent unspeakable destruction and future human suffering."

Sir Martin Rees, president of The Royal Society, professor of cosmology and astrophysics , master of Trinity College at the University of Cambridge, and a BAS sponsor, said: "Nuclear weapons still pose the most catastrophic and immediate threat to humanity, but climate change and emerging technologies in the life sciences also have the potential to end civilization as we know it."

Lawrence M. Krauss, professor of physics and astronomy at Case Western Reserve University, an a BAS sponsor, said: "In these dangerous times, scientists have a responsibility to speak truth to power especially if it might provoke actions to reduce threats from the preventable technological dangers currently facing humanity. To do anything else would be negligent."

Ambassador Thomas Pickering, a BAS director and co-chair of the International Crisis Group, said: "Although our current situation is dire, we have the means today to successfully address these global problems. For example, through vigorous diplomacy and international agencies like the International Atomic Energy Agency, we can negotiate and implement agreements that could protect us all from the most destructive technology on Earth—nuclear weapons."

http://www.thebulletin.org/weekly-highlight/20070117

Death of Saddam Hussein

2007-01-01T21:49:00.000+08:00

Mirror: Windows Media

A True Letter Of Our Savior Jesus Christ

2006-11-01T07:45:00.000+08:00

A True Letter Of Our Savior Jesus Christ

Consecrating the Drops of Blood which Our Lord Jesus lost on His way to Calvary.

Copy of a letter of the Oration found in the Holy Sepulchre of Our Lord Jesus Christ in Jerusalem, preserved in a silver box by His Holiness and by the Emporers and Empresses of the Christian Faith.

St. Elizabeth, Queen of Hungary, with St. Matilda and St. Bridget, wishing to know something of the Passion of Jesus Christ, offered fervent and special prayers, upon which there appeared to them Our Lord Jesus Christ who spoke to them in the following manner:

I descended from Heaven to the Earth in order to convert you.
In olden times, people were religious, and their harvests were abundant; at present, on the contrary, they are scanty.

If you want to reap an abundant harvest you must not work on Sunday, for Sunday you must go to Church and pray to God to forgive your sins. He gave you six days in which to work and one for rest and devotion and to tender your help to the poor and assist the Church.
Those people who brawl against My Religion and cast slurs on this Sacred Letter will be forsaken by Me.

On the contrary, those people who shall carry a copy of this letter with them shall be free from death by drowning and from sudden death. They shall be free from all contagious diseases and lightning; they shall not die without confession, and shall be free from their enemies and from the hand of wrongful authority, and from all their slanderers and false witnesses.
Women in peril at child-birth will, by keeping this Oration about them, immediately overcome the difficulty. In the houses where this Oration is kept, no evil thing will ever happen: and forty days before the death of a person who has this Oration about him or her, the Blessed Virgin will appear to him or her. So said St. Gregorious.

To all those faithful who shall recite for three years, each day, 2 Paters, Glorias, and Aves, in honor of the drops of blood I lost, I will concede the following five graces:
1st
The plenary indulgence and remission of your sins.
2nd
You will be free from the pains of Purgatory.
3rd
If you should die before completing the said 3 years, for you it will be the same as if you had completed them.
4th
It will be upon your death the same as if you had shed all your blood for the Holy Faith.
5th
I will descend from Heaven to take your soul and that of your relatives, until the fourth generation.

Be it known that the number of armed soldiers were 150; those who trailed me while I was bound were 23. The number of executioners of justice were 83; the blows received on my head were 150; those on my stomach, 108; kicks on my shoulders, 80. I was led, bound with cords by the hair, 24 times; spits in the face were 180; I was beaten on the body 6666 times; beaten on the head, 110 times. I was roughly pushed, and at 12 o'clock was lifted up by the hair; pricked with thorns and pulled by the beard 23 times; received 20 wounds on the head; thorns of marine junks, 72; pricks of thorns in the head, 110; mortal thorns in the forhead, 3. I was afterwards flogged and dressed as a mocked king; wounds in the body, 1000. The soldiers who led me to the Calvary were 608; those who watched me were 3, and those who mocked me were 1008; the drops of blood which I lost were 28,430.

Benedetta DA S.S.; Pope Leo XIII, in Roma 5 Aprile 1890

The Clergy Abuse Scandal

2006-09-08T19:33:00.000+08:00

thought i share this, especially this one.

Part Three
What is Going on in the U.S.?
by John Burger

WASHINGTON — When U.S. bishops had a working lunch with Pope John Paul II on April 9, they were surprised that upon entering the room, the Holy Father, not waiting for formal introductions, got right to the 'point: "Tell me what is going on in the United States." The Holy Father plans a meeting with all U.S. cardinals April 22-25 in Rome to discuss just that.

The Register, in a series of articles on the clergy abuse scandals, has been answering the same question. First, the series reported that pedophilia wasn't as pervasive as it has been portrayed; second, that the U.S. bishops (with notorious exceptions) by and large haven't been ignoring the problem as has been suggested. Now, the series takes a look at the real source and solution of the problem of clergy abusers: seminaries.

In interviews with the Register, priests, seminarians, seminary rectors and vocation directors past and present described seminaries where homosexuality has been tolerated among their ranks and dissent from Church teaching fostered. But they also spoke about reform measures in place and a younger, more orthodox breed of seminarians studying for the priesthood.
Many point out that the sex scandals involve priests who went through the seminary decades ago and suggest that a number of factors may have been at play, allowing potential problem candidates to get through: screening was not as good, officials were somewhat naive and some candidates may have entered the seminary to avoid the military draft. And when the Cultural Revolution of the1960s permeated all facets of American life, a looser atmosphere in seminaries and a rejection of traditional Church teaching left the door open to sexual experimentation. Faithful seminarians expressing concern about potential abuse were warned not to jump to conclusions.

One former vocations director, who asked not to be identified, felt that those in authority who feared a vocations shortage lowered the standards for seminary candidates. Today, although most dioceses and seminaries screen candidates thoroughly, some observers question the value of the psychological tests given and caution that psychologists used by the Church do not all share the Church's understanding of human nature and sexuality. In addition, although more seminarians tend to be orthodox today, many professors still teaching in seminaries are not, seminarians and younger priests said.

Some observers said that many seminaries continue .to use moral theology textbooks that question traditional sexual ethics. A new book, Goodbye! Good Men, by Michael Rose, says that many seminaries and diocesan vocations teams have been hijacked by a homosexual subculture that has discouraged scores of men with vocations and a desire to serve Christ faithfully from continuing or even starting studies for the priesthood.

Oblate of St. Francis de Sales Father John Harvey, founding director of Courage, the Church's ministry to people with same-sex attractions, agreed that poor seminary formation has contributed to the sex abuse problem. In one seminary, which he declined to name, professors refer to Church teaching as "the opinion of the Magisterium," which gives the impression that the opinions of dissident theologians are as valid as Church teaching. If a moral theology professor teaches that it can be morally good for a Christian to have homosexual relationship as long as he or she is monogamous, a student may very well apply that opinion to himself and feel free to act out on his inclinations, he said. "The way homosexuality is taught needs to be "cleaned up."

One New York pastor charged "Good men have been malformed" in seminaries, and many "walked away in disgust," said Father Joseph Wilson of Queens. Father Wilson studied at Holy Trinity Seminary in Dallas, where, in the mid-1980s, he remembers suffering through a guest lecture on homosexuality, part of a workshop for priests ministering to homosexuals.

Seminarians were asked to attend the workshop as well. It was a "completely immoral discussion" that had the effect of undermining the Church's teaching on homosexuality, he felt. The lecturer, a priest, said that "homosexuals are not welcomed in our churches because gay couples can't go up to Communion holding hands."

The speaker, Father Wilson said, was Father Paul Shanley, the man who has since left the Archdiocese of Boston and the priesthood. He had been called into Cardinal Humberto Madeiros office repeatedly because of his reported advocacy of doctrine contrary to Church teaching on homosexuality. Father Shanley, who is now accused of rape, reportedly spoke in favor of sex between men and boys at a 1979 meeting that apparently led to the founding of the North American Man Boy Love Association.

Efforts to Reform

A random survey of dioceses revealed a variety of approaches to screening and attitudes toward the homosexual candidate. In the Archdiocese of New York, psychological testing begins even before the application process. "I talk to [men who are interested] about having a good prayer life, about the importance of talking to God and being close to him," said Father Joseph Tiemey, vocations director. "That's how your vocation will come."

As part of the application process, most dioceses require a battery of psychological tests; an extensive biographical sketch, including family background; and interviews with various boards. After acceptance, many candidates have to undergo a criminal background check to gain entrance to a seminary.

"Dunwoodie always looks for the man who sincerely wants to serve the Church," Father Tiemey said, using the nickname for St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers, N.Y., the major seminary of the Archdiocese of New York.

When it comes to homosexuality, the rectors of seminaries in the archdioceses of Chicago and New York said they would not take a candidate who has been involved in a homosexual lifestyle. "I wouldn't accept someone known to be involved in homosexuality," said Msgr. Peter Finn, rector of St. Joseph's Seminary. He said he would "not be inclined" to accept a candidate even if he was a homosexual who has not acted on his same sex attractions.

For Father John Canary, rector of the University of St. Mary of the Lake Seminary in Mundelein, out side Chicago, homosexual "orientation" does not necessarily exclude a candidate. But Father John Folda, rector of St. Gregory the Great Seminary of the Diocese of Lincoln, Neb., said simply, "We don't take homosexual candidates."

The reason, he said, is the same as that given by the Holy See. "Because of the way of life a priest lives, there would be a great deal of temptation "You'd be calling a man to some thing unsuitable for his circumstances." Also, if a student population becomes predominantly homosexual, heterosexual candidates would be reluctant to study there. Father Folda said. In addition to testing, all candidates for the Diocese of Lincoln are required to "spend time in close proximity to the vocations director," he said.

That's the way it is in the Diocese of Providence, R.I., where prospective candidates live in a house of formation with the vocations director and the rector of the major seminary. "The best screening is seeing them interact for a year of two," said Father Marcel Taillon, the vocations recruiter. "In some dioceses, you apply, and they send you away to their seminary." A candidate, he said, should be known to the Church.

Once accepted, a candidate is usually under constant scrutiny as he studies, participates in the seminary's prayer life and community life, and undertakes pastoral assignments. At St. Mary of the Lake, each seminarian must pass a yearly vote of confidence by at least 80% of faculty members and 80% of fellow seminarians. Father Canary encourages anyone who knows of issues that may indicate a problem to let him know. Seminarians also undergo evaluations in their pastoral assignments on how they relate to people both professionally and ministerially, particularly how they relate to women. "So much of a priest's working relationship is with women," Father Canary said. Officials look for a "level of maturity and an ability to maintain" professional boundaries with women."

He said that pedophilia, strictly speaking, is "very hard to determine," but that a study done 10 years ago found only one pedophile priest among all those who had served in the Archdiocese of Chicago over the previous 40 years. The rest were homosexual abusers of teens.

"We were told that they get stuck at a [certain] age, emotionally," he said. "Some of that you can see in a person, in the level of maturity in a person's work. "They can't handle relationships in mature ways," with the staff of a parish, for example, or with women. "Then you dig deeper, and maybe you send him for assessment."

There also seems to be a concern for addressing human problems that future priests might have. Mount St. Mary's Seminary in Emmitsburg, Md., is perhaps typical in holding workshops for seminarians on issues such as celibacy and anger. And at the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception in Huntington, N.Y., the issue of intimacy was "repeatedly addressed, for example, in friendships and relationships with fellow priests, parishioners and lay staff," said Father Douglas Arcoleo, a priest of the Diocese of Rockville Center, N.Y., who was ordained four years ago.

Psychologists on staff at St. Joseph's Seminary in New York help students develop interpersonal relationships, and students have the help of faculty mentors and spiritual advisers. "As dean, I had constant conversations with the men on their relationships," said Father Joseph Tiemey, the vocations director. He added that discipline was important: If someone missed Morning Prayer, he would have to report to Father Tiemey. As a faculty adviser, he tried to help students form good habits of a prayer life and maintain a healthy balance between academic work, a social life and exercise.

Rome Has Spoken
After meeting with the Holy Father in early April, Bishop Wilton Gregory — head of the U.S. bishops' conference — said the Church does need to re-examine homosexual priests and ask "what kind of men we want to be our priests, and importantly, to be the priests who care for the next generation of Catholics." He said the issue of homosexuality in the priesthood deserves discussion, in terms of how it affects a priest's ability to keep his promise of living a chaste life. But while it would be helpful to examine this question. Catholic News Service reported that he said it should not necessarily be linked to the sex abuse issue.

Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navairo-Valls linked the two when he addressed the issue of homosexuality and the priesthood in March, saying that men with homosexual inclinations "just cannot be ordained."

"That does not imply a final judgment on people with homosexuality," he said. "But you cannot be in this field." His comments echoed Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone, secretary of the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, who told Catholic News Service last year that persons with a homosexual inclination should not be admitted to the seminary.

The two men's remarks might make it seem like the Vatican is just waking up to the problem, but Rome has been speaking out for some time. The question is whether dioceses and seminaries in the United States have been implementing its directives.

A 1961 Vatican document recommended that any person with serious unresolved sexual problems be screened out, saying that the chastity and celibacy required by religious and priestly life would constitute for them a "continuous heroic act and a painful martyrdom."
Even further back. Pope Pius XI, in a 1935 encyclical on the priesthood, said that those in charge of the clergy must not only foster and strengthen vocations but also "discourage unsuitable candidates, and in good time send them away from a path not meant for them. Such are all youths who show a lack of necessary fitness, and who are, therefore, unlikely to persevere in the priestly ministry both worthily and becomingly," Pope Pius wrote in Ad Catholici Sacerdotii. "In these matters hesitation and delay is a serious mistake and may do serious harm. It is far better to dismiss an unfit student in the early stages to prevent him from being a 'stumbling block to himself and to others with peril of eternal ruin.'"

Fred Berlin, a psychiatrist who has served on the U.S. bishops' ad hoc committee on sexual abuse, said that just as many girls are abused as are boys. As far as sexual abuse is concerned, there is no evidence that a homosexual is more of a risk to a boy than a heterosexual is to a girl, he said. Berlin's claim seems to be starkly contradicted by the facts now being reported ad nauseam by the media, but it represents the advice bishops are getting. Berlin did suggest that there may be more cases of priestly sexual abuse of boys because, in the past, a priest chaperoning a group of boys on a trip, for example, did not raise a red flag, while a priest accompanying a group of girls would have.

Father Harvey of Courage, which seeks to help persons with same-sex attraction live chaste lives, said the homosexual candidate is not the only problematic seminarian. "A heterosexual in the seminary who is constantly masturbating shouldn't be in the seminary" either, he said. But Richard Fitzgibbons, a psychiatrist who runs Comprehensive Counseling Services in West Conshohocken, Pa., said that virtually every priest he's treated who has sexually abused children had previously been involved in homosexual relationships with other adults.

One vocations director who asked not to be identified said that the problem calls for dismissal of all homosexual candidates, but he added that the problem is not just asexual one but also a doctrinal one. "Bishops are making the judgment that [homosexual and heterosexual] libido drives are equal," said the priest. In reality, the sex drives of homosexuals is stronger, and the Church is getting a $2 billion dollar lesson because it ignored that fact, he said. The Church must reiterate that "homosexuality is still a psychological disorder," he added.

Psychologist Richard Cross noted that up to one third of all homosexuals have tendencies toward pederasty. This suggests that the clergy abuse problem will not be fixed as long as seminaries continue to accept homosexuals.

Two priests in vocation work now report hopeful signs in spite of the poor play the Church is getting in the media. Since the scandals in Boston broke in January, Father Tierney said that he has actually been getting more inquiries than usual. "They're saying, 'I see the Church is being lambasted in the press. I have been interested in the priesthood for some time now, and I feel even more strongly about serving the Church.'"
"We're still getting candidates," Providence diocesan vocations recruiter Father Taillon said. "It's very genuine. Christ is calling them."
Copyright © 2002 Circle Media, Inc., National Catholic Register

KEY TO HOLINESS AND AN ABUNDANT LIFE IS WORKING WITH GOD TO CONTROL THOUGHTS

2006-01-17T23:40:00.000+08:00

By Michael H. Brown

Do you ever find yourself ensnared by thoughts, hovering on something that's hard to shake -- and inhibits, even torments, you? Is your mind a constant battlefield?

We're told by Scripture that indeed the spiritual battle is intense in the course of our "interior lives" -- our thinking -- and so it is crucial to control that. We need "right thoughts."
While we can say over and again that we should control our thinking -- that thoughts are judged by God, that they are real, that they have actual effects, and thus must be reined in -- we rarely hear of a way to do that.

How do we control what we think? How do we rid ourselves of niggling, obsessive, and perhaps destructive thought patterns?

Let's take the example of love: Time and again, we're instructed that the great challenge of life is to love. Nothing is more important. Yet that's often very difficult to do. A car pulls ahead of us when it shouldn't. A family member wants to feud with us. A cashier is rude. Someone we know misrepresents what we said. Mentally, we want to lash back.

But when we love instead, God's grace flows, and when His grace is flowing our larger prayers are answered. We live miraculously.

There is a way of starting this pattern of grace, a mental discipline that can change your life, I believe, if you really try it. First, pray for the "gift of love." Use that precise phrase. Pray that you feel love for everyone. Pray it every time you say a Rosary. Then put it into practice.
Every time you have a thought about someone that is positive, remember to say, "Thank you, Lord, for the gift of love." If it has been a good thought, with a feeling of warmth, you have a legitimate reason to rejoice. If it started out a negative thought, your thanking God for the gift of love will halt the negative and transform it into a positive.

If you have completed an unpleasant thought, repeat "thank you for the gift of love" over and over until you feel that love toward whomever you did not.

Say it when you have good thoughts and even when you have ones that start out bad but that you then change. Say it each time you think about anyone. Merely thanking God will cause a thought to change patterns and expiate the wrongful way we had started to view someone.
Soon, you'll find your way of thoughts making a dramatic turn for the better, for when you thank God -- and when you are in constant communication with Him -- He changes your heart. It is what is meant by "praying without ceasing."

Do the same when challenged in other situations. If there is an opportunity for lust, immediately thank God for the "gift of purity." You will purify. If there is an inclination to impatience, thank God the for "gift of tolerance."

Thank you Lord, for the gift of love. Thank you Lord, for the gift of humility. Thank you, Lord, for the gift of patience... and so on, throughout the day.
Each time you are inclined the wrong way, remember to thank God for the way you should be thinking and you'll find a radical transformation.

Give this a couple weeks. Be diligent. The fruits are wonderful. Remember: Jesus was totally disciplined. You couldn't sway His thinking. He fasted for forty days! And that discipline permeated other aspects of His Life. This has taught us that a key to holiness is discipline.
"Our life source, our source for right thinking, is regular, personal fellowship with God in prayer and the Word," notes a preacher, "The Bible says a tree is known by its fruit. The same is true of our lives. Thoughts bear fruit. Think good thoughts, and the fruit of your life will be good."
For when you do this with the help of God, you have disciplined your thoughts, which is a path to a miraculous life here and salvation after it.

[resources: Michael H. Brown is author of The God of Miracles]

Have Mercy, Lord!

2005-12-15T12:38:00.000+08:00

Seven Simple Steps toward Repentance

1. Every evening or morning, take some time out to review the previous day. Begin by quieting your mind so you can hear the Holy Spirit speaking to your conscience.

2. Ask the Spirit to show you any wrongdoing—in your thoughts and desires, in your words and relationships, and in your actions. You may want to use the examination of conscience on pages 74-76 as a guide.

3. Think about how the sins you see have clouded your experience of and trust in the Lord’s love.

4. Check your heart: Are you pliable and willing to change your mind about these sins? Do you feel unwilling to change? Do you have any sense that it’s hopeless even to try?

5. Cling to God. Acknowledge that he is your strength and tell him that you want him to reform your mind so that you think as he would have you think and choose as he would have you choose. Renounce any drive in you that wants to remain independent of the Lord.

6. Place yourself in God’s hands and obey whatever you think he is asking you to do. As you practice, God’s voice will become clearer.

7. Be sure to move from thought to action. Make a decision to take one or two concrete steps to overcome or avoid that sin area the next day.

Remember: Jesus is with you every step of the way!
http://www.wau.org/resources/spirituality/7steps.html

Union with God: Advent Retreat

2005-12-13T11:50:00.000+08:00

Father John J. Lombardi

"But if that man begins to burn with the desire of following the One whom he loves, then he runs, melted by the fire of love. Desire becomes restless and everything in the world that previously made him happy loses value." St Gregory the Great.

It's now Advent-"Be watchful. Be alert" (Mk 13:33)-as Jesus cried in last week's Gospel. You may choose in this busiest Season of the Year between materialistic mania-ism (a"shop till you drop" mentality) or manger-mysticism-pilgrimaging with Mary and Joseph to mystical Bethlehem for the Birth of Savior Christ Jesus. Angelus Silesius, a convert-Polish-Priest once wrote: "This wood more precious is than the throne of Solomon/ For there enfolded by God's true Eternal Son." This may mean: contemplating, as much as we can in each moment of the Advent Season, what Mary and Joseph are doing, in their ninth month of pregnancy, where they are along the Path to Bethlehem, so as to enfold in ourselves, God's Eternal Son. Let us thus embrace on this retreat, in this Time, or wherever we are, the Three Virtues of Advent: Silence, Solitude and Stillness. These are crucial to help us ask and practice: How am I giving my soul as a crPche-cradle-manger for the Lord's Birth within? Like St Teresa of Avila you can be a busy contemplative right where you--busy, yes, but contemplative-uniting to God in each moment, making your soul His cradle: thru Silence, Stillness and Solitude.

"Be Watchful, be alert"-This is traditionally attributed to the Final Coming of Jesus. Also it can be used to inspire all to be vigilant in prayer, in daily-deliberate spirituality: Watch. See and know what thoughts most predominate in your mind and soul, clean them up and out, purify so as to make your soul supple to enfold the King-Jesus. In this weekend's Gospel the Lord exclaims: "Repent…" (Mk. 1:1-8),which means: make a hard, consistent and loving turn away from sin to Him-the-Lord. It entails a positive move (turn to God in love) and negational one (hatred of sin). One goes with the other. Our Goal on this Retreat and in life: Union with God-as far as we can on Earth, and hopefully, finally in Heaven. Once I was praying in our Chapel before Mass and a man came up to me, as I was bowed with a cowl over my head. I was at first disturbed and then inspired. The man-who looked like what I imaged JeanValjean to be, of Victor Hugo's classic, "Les Miserables," and he asked: "Father, I'm sorry to disturb you, but can I make a confession. I just got out fo prison-ten years-and I want to go to Holy Communion." This ex-prisoner "de-prisoned" me from lethargy and my mystical myopia into a utopia of Love: He wanted to repent and turn to Him in the Blessed Sacrament-what the Gospels and Advent and this retreat and spiritual life call us to. This "Valjean-like" guy's spiritual desire, clarity and Love enthused me into a holy regeneration and reminded me of the simplicity of the Gospel and God's Merciful Call. So, let us, too, repent from sin and turn to Him-the-Lord Jesus-Savior with the same child-like confidence!

Advent,this retreat and the spiritual life are about Depth. Enfolding God within by Stillness, Silence and Solitude. This is what we will emphasize during our retreat-Deepening Communion and the spiritual disciplines to help us become more like the Virgin enfolding the Lord in our spiritual wombs. We could sum this up in the following maxim: Depth…Divinity…Unity. Depth means penetrating our souls to be purified of sin, to allow Divinity within and thereby embrace the Unity. Our "enemies" this Advent may be the "Three P's"-Presents-focusing on materialism without the receiving the Divine Presence in Silence-Jesus Himself; Parties-a busybodyism which neglects Stillness; and Pleasures which negates our sins and need of cleansing which may come about thru Solitude.

One time a man went on a retreat and the retreat master spoke often of putting oneself in the "Presence of the Lord". The retreatant asked if he and others could do this by Adoration in front of the Divine-Presence-Eucharist. The retreat master said if there was a "ground swell" it could happen. It happened: they held all night Adoration in Stillness, Silence and Solitude. Sometimes you need to make it happen-even inspiring your priests!
To develop, nurture and sustain and an intentional spirituality-may be summed up in four words: Love God/Love neighbor-- are you doing this? Our spiritual lives must have this balance; and; also, as some suggested another Four Words to Heaven: One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic, which means our links to Sacred Tradition which we need to anchor us in spirituality and develop Union with God, otherwise we will waste time in endless curiosities or be led into falsities, heresies and fantasies.

What are some parts of our Tradition (from the Latin, traditio, "to hand on") which can help us?

They may include:
Desert Fathers (monks in the Egyptian desert of the first four centuries of Christianity ) =purification of self and total focus on God thru all daily life and activities. These are the some of the most unbeknown-best-kept-secrets of Catholicism-they invite us to strip ourselves of sin to clothe ourselves with God, to cultivate purity of intention, and embrace simplicity. Now, who couldn't use all this in Modern America?...Dominican=one of their mottos is contempalata alii tradere= to give away the fruits of one's contemplation; they emphasize the intellect; thru conformation of the individual's mind to doctrines which are meant to help/guide/form us and our beliefs and prayer-images of God…Ignatian: one of the Jesuit mottos is- contemplativus in actionis= contemplatives in action= doing His will in daily life, "in the trenches"-discipleship in the daily world.

Franciscan=earthy, gritty spirituality in world, contemplative and yet active, with special emphasis on serving the poor…Carmelite "The Interior Castle" (St Teresa) and "Ascent of Mt Carmel" (St John of the Cross) aim at total Union with God thru deeper prayer and states of purification
Lay-Modern Spirituality: the call of Vatican Council II, of religious orders/institutes and Pope John Paul II, to be holy in the world, right where you are, and effect change on your scale and thru your state of life…

Are you watchful, alert? Darius Zurek was a young Polish seminarian, here at Mt St Mary's, who died in an accident while on Thanksgiving vacation. A tragedy. Msgr. Rohlfs, rector of our Seminary here asked in a memorial Mass for this young valorous man: What would Darius have me say? Answer: "Be ready, be watchful, be alert." He, Darius, as a seminarian, was probably ready, because of daily Eucharist, prayer, Breviary, confession, spiritual direction Sacrifice/zeal/spiritual disciplines all help us like they helped him. Are you embracing them ?
Remember: Silence, Stillness and Solitude will help us cultivate the depth we all need to effect a more perfect and pure receptivity and Union with God, of course with His Grace. Pure receptivity-that is what we need aim for-like the Virgin Mary we need this immaculateness to seek, attract and receive her Son into the crPches of our hearts.

And prayer is the Language of Love in these Advent times to complete that Union. What is prayer, the root of our lives and Union with God? "Prayer is the raising of the mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God" (St John Damascene: Catechism: # 2559). We need raise our minds and hearts out of the world, out of the gutter, into God's world and ask for what is pleasing to Him. Do you?

Remember and memorize the most basic lesson and acronym about prayer: ACTS--Adoration: the First Act of Religion is Love of him; Contrition=be sorrowful for, and tell God your sins; Thanksgiving=stretch the Heart each day and count-be thankful for at least three blessings/graces; Supplication=pray for others.

An Overview of Retreat (and Spirituality) :

The Three Kinds of Prayer-Oratio verbal, discursive, active prayer/s; Meditatio=focusing on one thought/image and digging deeper into Divine mysteries. Contemplatio: as we discipline ourselves into a more Marian spirit of pure receptivity, God/Holy Spirit cleanses us and occupies us more fully. Think of it this way-Image of child and mother: oratio = child to mother in frequent/varied utterances; meditation = suckling at breast of mother w/ focus; contemplation= rest at the breast, delight and fulfillment, receptivity…What are obstacles to prayer, spiritual life, Union with God? In other words, from what do you need to repent and turn to Him more in prayer?

We will explore how Stillness, Silence and Solitude, no matter your state of life can help you affect a more Loving Union with God. Remember: we are seeking a deeper Union with God.
Stillness means "Be still and know that I am God" (Ps 46:10).You need turn off the treadmill of your lfie, at times, and embrace stillness. Silence means turning of the chatter and cleansing the static of the outside and inner worlds to treasure Him in your quiet heart. Silence is the cauldron of love wherein God may speak. Solitude means turning away from creatures-even, at times, your children, spouse and boss(!)-and embracing, like the Lord Jesus, the metaphysical mountain, desert and sea wherever they are for you in your life.

Mindfulness/Everyday Spirituality-We live in the world, not in a cloister. We need realize this but not give up on serious, diligent disciplines to enhance the Spiritual Life. One man described it this way: "Mindfulness of God becomes habitual…appears less as an action than as a transformed state of consciences in which every thought and word and deed take place within the context of the Divine" (Michael Casey, OCSO).

Particular Points of Meditation Include: Remember this retreat and life is about Union with God…What are my major obstacles, sins and faults in Union with God and neighbor?...What are major graces/gifts God has given me to build upon?...Do I have, how can I nurture, a personal, inner, mystical relationship with Christ Jesus, the Divine Trinity, and Mary and the Saints?...How can I be an instrument, a vessel or a channel of this Divine Life to others (active spirituality)? What are some mystical mistakes we may make in the desire for Union with God?
Lastly, we will once again consider how we can gain a deeper union with God, especially thru contemplation. Remember, this retreat and the Spiritual Life is about depth, pure reception, Love!

St Thomas Aquinas once wrote and described Union this way: "The lover is said to be in the Beloved inasmuch as the lover is not satisfied with a superficial apprehension of the Beloved, but strives to gain an intimate knowledge of everything pertaining to Him, so as to penetrate into his very soul."

St John of the Cross says: "We shall become like Him (I Jn. 3:2) not because the soul will have as much capacity as God-this is impossible-but because all that it is will become like God. Thus it will be called, and shall be, God thru participation."

Our goal, then: to allow God to penetrate into our very souls and to participate in His Nature! To be watchful and alert to have Jesus born not only in the stable of Bethlehem, not only in Mary's womb, but also in our own souls-thru Prayerful Stillness, Silence and Solitude. Now, this Retreat, this Advent, how will you pull out the bad straw and sins of life to embrace Him Who is Life Itself?.

http://www.emmitsburg.net/grotto/father_jack/2005/union.htm

2005-12-08T02:13:00.000+08:00

Priests called to give lives for glory of God, salvation of souls, says Pope

Vatican City, Dec. 07, 2005 (CNA) - Following his general audience, given today in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Benedict stressed the importance of the priestly ministry, saying that priests are called to conform themselves to Christ and give their lives for God’s glory and the salvation of souls.
The Holy Father brief address was given to participants in a congress currently being held on the topic of the priesthood and promoted by the Congregation for the Clergy.
The congress marks the fortieth anniversary of the Vatican II document 'Presbyterorum Ordinis,' a decree on the ministry and life of priests.
The Pope told participants, who were accompanied by Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, that "this conciliar document marked a stage of fundamental importance in the life of the Church.”
It reflects, he said, “upon the characteristics of priestly ministry which conforms priests to Jesus Christ, the head and shepherd of His people. In His image and at His service, priests must give their lives for the glory of God and the salvation of souls."
The Catholic priesthood has especially been in the public spotlight in recent weeks with the Vatican’s release of a new document regarding homosexuals in seminaries and an ongoing nationwide assessment of seminary formation programs in the U.S.

DEVILED HAM

2005-12-08T01:58:00.000+08:00

The Sacred Fowl (aka Church's Chicken)

2005-12-08T01:51:00.000+08:00

According to the legend, in the 12th century, a young man from Germany was travelling to Compostello with his parents to venerate the relics of St. James the Apostle. Along the way they stopped an an inn at the town of Santo Domingo de la Calzada to eat and to spend the night, During their brief soujourn one of the maidservants took a fancy to the young man and made an amorous advance at him. Being the pious lad that he was, he rebuffed the advance, much to the dismay of the young lady.

Feeling rejected and desirous of revenge, she hid one of her master's silver cups in his knapsack while he slept. Upon his waking, the silver goblet was discovered and the young man was condemned to be hung. Weeping bitterly, his parents continued on to Compostello to beg St. James to save their son's life. While there, St. James appeared to them and told them to return to Santo Domingo because their son was still alive. They returned to find their son alive, but still hanging from the gibbet. It appears that St. James had been holding him up by the feet so that he would not die. Filled with hope, they went to the magistrate's home to ask him to take their son down from the gibbet because he was still alive after such a long time.

The magistrate laughed incredulously saying that he would believe that the young man was alive and would take him down fromt he gibbet when the cock and chicken cooking for his dinner would begin to crow. At that, the nicely browned fowls jumped out of the oven, onto his table and began to sing! Astounded, the magistrate ordered the young man to be removed, and upon realizing the rascality of the lustful maidservant had her hung in his place.

In the fifteenth century a chapel was constructed at the location of the gibbet where a cock and a chicken, descendents of the miraculous fowl were kept, and pilgrims were allowed to come and pick feathers from the birds. In present times, during the three weeks of pilgrimage leading up the the feast of St. James, a cock and chicken are placed in a cage called the gallinero in the transept of the church for the edification of the pilgrims.

Rosary of Reparation

2005-12-08T01:15:00.000+08:00

Rosary of Reparation for Priests

JOYFUL MYSTERIES

THE ANNUNCIATION - For all priests who have lost a love of humility and who disobey Church teachingas taught by the Holy Father and Magisterium
THE VISITATION- For all bishops and priests who fail to show the compassion of Christto all sheep given to their care

THE NATIVITYFor all priests who no longer love God above all things

THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLEFor all priests who do not possess a spirit of sacrifice

THE FINDING OF JESUS IN THE TEMPLEFor all priests who have lost zeal for the glory of God

SORROWFUL MYSTERIES
1. THE AGONY IN THE GARDEN For all priests who have abandoned Jesus, true God and true man, especially Jesus truly present in the Blessd Sacrament
2. SCOURGING AT THE PILLARFor all priests who commit sins of the flesh
3. CROWNING WITH THORNSFor all priests who promote false teachings, especially heresies concerning the Real Presence
4. CARRYING OF THE CROSSFor all priests who are in the state of mortal sin, especially sins against the Eucharist
5. THE CRUCIFIXIONFor all priests who are close to dying in the state of mortal sin

GLORIOUS MYSTERIES
1. THE RESURRECTIONFor all priests who have lost the faith
2. THE ASCENSIONFor all priests who have lost hope
3. THE DESCENT OF THE HOLY SPIRITFor all priests who no longer use the gifts of the Holy Spirit
4. THE ASSUMPTIONFor all priests For all priests who are not preparing for a holy death
5. THE CORONOATION OF MARY AS QUEEN OF HEAVENFor all priests who do not love Mary as their true Mother
Adapted from a pamphlet prepared by Lay Daughters of Reparation. Pass it on. Pray for priests and bishops.

Sad but it's true.....

2005-11-23T00:43:00.000+08:00

Brazil: 40 percent of priests have sex
Sao Paulo, , Apr. 22 (UPI) -- More than four out of 10 Brazilian priests have sexual relations with women, a survey released Thursday indicated.
The study conducted by the Center for Religious Statistics and Social Investigations said 41 percent of 758 priests answering a poll mailed to them said they were sexually active.
Bishop Anuar Battisti from Brazil's National Conference of Bishops called the results worrisome, but said the priests were only human and therefore flawed.
He added that despite their transgressions he didn't consider the priests to be devoid of "character or morals."
Battisti noted the survey found that 94 percent of Brazilian priests were pleased with their calling and did not regret making a life-long commitment to the Catholic Church.
http://www.washtimes.com/upi-breaking/20040422-055137-2915r.htm

Shout To The Lord!

2005-11-03T21:35:00.000+08:00

Finding the guts to defy the world
By Father Roland Rolheiser

NOBODY goes through life without facing criticism, opposition, misunderstanding, suspicion, and, at some point, having to experience hatred.

This is one of the great pains, perhaps the greatest, inside family, church, and community. Eventually we are subject to criticism, our motives and integrity are questioned, and we have to live with the bitterness of those judgements, a bitterness that can rob our lives of joy and us of any self-confidence. The real pain though is not when these negative judgements come from outside, when the big world out there questions our integrity, but precisely when it comes from inside, from persons with whom we are meant to share family and faith.

Experiencing hatred, bitterness, and being accused of hypocrisy are not easy to cope with. How do we not question our own essential goodness in the face of criticism and judgement?

I’VE often wondered how Jesus coped with this because certainly he had to face it. He moved around Palestine preaching love, joy, community, and vulnerability, even as people called him a blasphemer (the ultimate accusation of egoism) and hated him enough to kill him. How did he stay joyful in the face of this anger? How did he let himself be vulnerable when others were attacking him? How did he continue to be self-confident in his mission when he was accused of being hypocritical and self-deluded? How did he handle this?

By always taking his real identity from God and not from himself or from the opinions others had of him.As Jesus moved about doing his mission, he met every kind of reaction: Sometimes the crowds loved him and tried to make him king, other times the same people hollered for his head, “Crucify him!”. He was both loved and hated and always there were some who stood, sincerely no doubt, in bitter opposition and accused him of being the ultimate egoist and blasphemer.

What’s important to notice is that Jesus never took his identity from these reactions, good or bad, feeling confident when the crowds supported him and feeling insecure when he faced opposition. He took his truth and identity from elsewhere. Where? “I do the will of my father.” His identity, his truth, his courage to act, and his joy were all rooted in something beyond the affirmations or criticisms of the moment, beyond public opinion, beyond the judgement of those who hated him.

Looking at Jesus, we see that, in the face of criticism and hatred, his key questions weren’t: “Can I live with this criticism? Do I let another’s negative judgement intimidate me from the truth and mission I feel called to? Do I let someone’s hatred of me destroy my energy and joy?”

Looking at Jesus, we see that the key questions are: “Can I live with myself? Can I be patient enough to let God, history, and truth be my judge? Can I be sensitive to how I’m seen and judged by others, even as I take my identity from a reality deeper than public opinion and the view of those who dislike me? Can I, by casting my eyes more towards heaven, continue to sustain myself in energy and joy even in the face of bitterness and hatred?”

JESUS shows us the way here, albeit it’s far from an easy one. This gate too is narrow. It’s not easy to not be intimidated from doing what we are called to do because we experience opposition. There will always be opposition. Not just because darkness perennially resists light; but because it’s impossible to live for any length of time inside of any kind of closeness, family or community, without irritating and hurting each other. We have different personalities, different histories, different perspectives, and we all arrive on the scene carrying wounds from elsewhere. Community isn’t automatic and it isn’t easy, but we must not let our truth and our joy die in the face of opposition.

Though a caution needs to be added: there is always a danger of self-delusion when we discern our truth. In the face of criticism, opposition and hatred, we should always seek spiritual direction from the wise and from the good. Wisdom and goodness are the great principles of discernment. Hence, go to those within the community who are wise and go to those who are good. Ask them how they see you and how they see those particular actions of yours that are so upsetting to your critics.
And know and accept that always there will be criticism, anger, and sometimes even hatred.

Jesus experienced this and, in the end, they killed him. He warned that; for us, it will be no different. Hell will always try to blackmail heaven, but that’s to be resisted.

2005-09-11T00:24:00.000+08:00

Greed

A Fear of Failure, A Fear of Need

"He who loves money never has money enough" - cf. Sirach 5:8

"You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor." - Exodus 20:17

"But I trust in you, O LORD; I say, 'You are my God.'" - Psalm 31:14

There are at least three forms of greed:

1) an obsessive desire for ever more material goods and the attendant power.

2) a fearful need to store up surplus goods for a vaguely defined time of want.

3) a desire for more earthly goods for their own sake.

The Greed of Power
In this form, earthly goods are chiefly a means to an end, which is really not that far off from a healthy view. The money, real estate, cars are simply things used to achieve, wield and display personal power. These things can be used to intimidate or bribe others, reinforce one's own illusions about what is important or to build up a feeling of success. The "products of wealth," as the Jethro Tull song ("Slipstream") puts it.

The real problem here is more the desire for power than the actual greed. A common thread for sin in general is that it is often borne out of fear. A fear of helplessness or loss of control can turn into a lust for power as a way of preventing an undesirable situation. The parable of the man with an abundant harvest is well worth considering.

To destroy our desire for power, we must be generous in granting power to others. When appropriate, be submissive to others. Avoid jobs that are a temptation for a "power grab." Share credit for successes with others, and claim a fair share of responsibility for failures being blamed on others. The idea is to stop trying to control everything and everyone. In parenting, this means encouraging children to find their own way, and respecting their choices. It does not mean abdicating legitimate responsibilities, but loosening our grip on others' lives as well as our own. God will take care of us, He has the plan. We can't control everything anyway, so we might as well learn to relax in God's hands.

The Greed of Fear
Fear is a poor motivator for virtue, but an excellent one for greed. Sometimes, greed is simply a desire to have so much that we can't possibly run out. The stock market could crash, we could lose our jobs or health, we could be sued. If we acquire enough stock, real estate, or T-bills, we think we will be safe from want. This is an illusion. There is no perfect preventative for want, but even if there was it would stand in opposition to the trust in God to which we are called. Jesus said, "Perfect love casts out fear." Trust in God frees us from a need to build a massive buffer against poverty.

Part of the cure may be to embrace poverty. We may not become homeless, but we can learn to do with less. Serious campers try to leave their campsite in the same state they found it. Ideally, there should be no trace left when they move on. In the same way, try to use less of the world's goods. "Live simply, that others may simply live." Once this kind of freedom is practiced, we realize that we don't need that much, anyway. This knowledge, in turn, reduces our fear and builds a kind of strength and confidence.

The Greed of Acquisition and Enslavement

This is slavery, plain and simple. We can reduce ourselves to a small and cold desire to accumulate more electronic gear, trading cards, antiques or other collectibles. It is far beneath the dignity of human beings to enslave themselves to objects of their own making. It is well said that our possessions in some ways may come to own us.

The obvious cure is to divest oneself of as much as possible, but another suggestion might be to consider the grave. When we die, we take nothing with us. If we are bound by "disordered attachments" to worldly goods, the separation forced upon us by death will be even more painful. If we are destined for eternal glory, the temporary enjoyment of trinkets in this life is simply absurd. Meditation on this begins to loosen the grip of objects on the heart.

For Continued Reading

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 2536
"Mere Christianity," by C.S. Lewis
"New Seeds of Contemplation," by Thomas Merton
"The Little Flowers of St. Francis"

2005-08-14T00:48:00.000+08:00

What is Eucharistic Adoration?

Catholics believe that during the Mass which we attend each week (for some of us daily), the priest (during the consecration) speaks these words as he holds the communion host, "...He took bread and gave you thanks. He broke the bread, gave it to his disciples, and said: Take this all of you, and eat it: this is my body which will be given up for you". When the priest says "this my body", it is at that instant when, through the miracle of transubstantiation, the bread and wine which we offer as the bloodless sacrifice to our Lord truly become the Body, Blood , Soul and Divinity of Jesus. It is His true Presence in the form of bread and wine. It is Christ.

Perpetual Adoration is when the priest takes a consecrated host, such as the one described above, and places it in a monstrance. (monstrance comes from the Latin "monstrare" to show, to expose to view.) The monstrance is then placed in front of the tabernackle (an ornate box which holds the monstrance and any consecrated hosts) or on the altar of the church or chapel for adoration.

What do you actually do during adoration? You may sign up to be an "adorer" which allows you to schedule yourself for one or more hours per week to pray before the very presence of Our Lord, exposed in the monstrance. It means that you can have some time alone with Jesus to recite your favorite prayers, read the bible, contemplate acts of faith, hope, charity, thanksgiving, reparation, pray a rosary or do whatever type of prayerful devotion that suits you before Our Lord. You can just sit and say nothing simply keeping Him company, just as you would with a dear friend.

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Twelve Reasons From The Teachings Of The Church For Wanting To Spend One Hour With Jesus In The Blessed Sacrament

1. You are greatly needed!
"The Church and the world have a great need of Eucharistic Adoration." (Pope John Paul II, Dominicae Cenae)

2. This is a personal invitation to you from Jesus.
"Jesus waits for us in this Sacrament of Love." (Pope John Paul II, Dominicae Canae)

3. Jesus is counting on you because the Eucharist is the center of life.
"Every member of the Church must be vigilant in seeing that the sacrament of Love shall be at the center of the life of the people of God so that through all the manifestations of worship due Him shall be given back ‘love for love’ and truly become the life of our souls." (Pope John Paul II, Redeemer of Man)

4. Your hour with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament will repair for evils of the world and bring about peace on earth.
"Let us be generous with our time in going to meet Jesus and ready to make reparation for the great evils of the world. Let your adoration never cease." (Pope John Paul II, Dominicai Cenae)

5. Day and night Jesus dwells in the Blessed Sacrament because you are the most important person in the world to Him!
"Christ is reserved in our churches as the spiritual center of the heart of the community, the universal Church and all humanity, since within the veil of the species, Christ is contained, the Invisible Heart of the Church, the Redeemer of the world, the center of all hearts, by Him all things are and of whom we exist." (Pope Paul IV, Mysterium Fidei)

6. Jesus wants you to do more than to go to Mass on Sunday.
"Our communal worship at Mass must go together with our personal worship of Jesus in Eucharistic adoration in order that our love may be complete." (Pope John Paul II, Redeemer of Man)

7. You grow spiritually with each moment you spend with Jesus!
"Our essential commitment in life is to preserve and advance constantly in Eucharistic life and Eucharistic piety and to grow spiritually in the climate of the Holy Eucharist." (Pope John Paul II, Redeemer of Man)

8. The best time you spend on earth is with Jesus, your Best Friend, in the Blessed Sacrament!
"How great is the value of conversation with Christ in the Blessed Sacrament, for there is nothing more consoling on earth, nothing more efficacious for advancing along the road of holiness!" (Pope Paul VI, Mysterium Fidei)

9. Just as you can’t be exposed to the sun without receiving its rays, neither can you come to Jesus exposed in the Blessed Sacrament without receiving the Divine Rays of His Grace, His Love, His Peace.
"Christ is truly the Emmanuel, that is, God with us, day and night, His is in our midst. He dwells with us full of grace and truth. He restores morality, nourishes virtue, consoles the afflicted, strengthens the weak." (Pope Paul VI, Mysterium Fidei)

10. If Jesus were actually visible in church, everyone would run to welcome Him, but He remains hidden in the Sacred Host under the appearance of Bread, because He is calling us to faith, that we many come to Him in humility.
"The Blessed Sacrament is the ‘Living Heart’ of each of our churches and it is our very sweet duty to honor and adore the Blessed Host, which our eyes see, the Incarnate Word, Whom they cannon see." (Pope Paul VI, Credo of the People of God)

11. With transforming mercy, Jesus makes our heart one with His.
"He proposes His own example to those who come to Him, that all may learn to be like Himself, gentle and humble of heart, and to seek not their own interest but those of God." (Pope Paul VI, Mysterium Fidei)

12. If the Pope himself would give you a special invitation to visit him in the Vatican, this honor would be nothing in comparison to the honor and dignity that Jesus Himself bestows upon you with the Invitation of spending one hour with Him in the Blessed Sacrament.
"The Divine Eucharist bestows upon the Christian people the incomparable dignity." (Pope Paul VI, Mysterium Fidei)

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Twelve Biblical Reasons For Wanting To Spend One Hour With Jesus In The Blessed Sacrament

1. He is really there!
"I myself Am the Living Bread come down from Heaven." (Jn 6:35)

2. Day and night Jesus dwells in the Blessed Sacrament because of his Infinite love for you!
"Behold I will be with you always even to the end of the world," because "I have loved you with an everlasting love, and constant is My affection for you." (Mt 28:20; Jer 31:3)

3. The specific way that Jesus asks you to love Him in return is to spend one quiet hour with Him in the Blessed Sacrament.
"Where your treasure is, there is your heart...." "Could you not watch one hour with Me?" (Mt 6:21; 26:40)

4. When you look upon the Sacred Host, you look upon Jesus, the Son of God.
"Indeed, this is the will of My Father, that everyone who looks upon the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life. Him I will raise up on the last day." (Jn 6:40)

5. Each moment that you spend in His Eucharistic Presence will increase His Divine Life within you and deepen your personal relationship and friendship with Him.
"I have come that you may have life, and have it more abundantly." "I am the Vine and you are the branches. Whoever remains in Me and I in Him shall bear much fruit because without Me, you can do nothing." (Jn 15:5)

6. Each hour you spend with Jesus will deepen His Divine Peace in your heart.
"Come to Me all of you who are weary and find life burdensome and I will refresh you..." "Cast all of you anxieties upon the One who cares for you..." "My Peace is My Gift to you." (Mt 11:28; 5:7; Jn 14:17)

7. Jesus will give you all the Graces you need to be happy!
"The Lamb on the Throne will shepherd them. He will lead them to the springs of life-giving water." (Rev 7:17)

8. Jesus is infinitely deserving of our unceasing thanksgiving and adoration for all He has done for our salvation.
"Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive honor, glory and praise." (Rev. 5:12)

9. For Peace in our country!
"When My people humble themselves and seek My Presence... I will revive their land." (2Chr 7:14)

10. Each hour you spend with Jesus on earth will leave your soul everlastingly more beautiful and glorious in heaven!
"They who humble themselves shall be exalted...." "All of us, gazing on the Lord’s glory with unveiled faces, are being transformed from glory to glory into His very image." (Lk 18:14; 2Cor 3:18)

11. Jesus will bless you, your family and the whole world for this hour of faith you spend with Him in the Blessed Sacrament.
"Blessed are they who do not see and yet believe..." "Faith can move mountains..." " What is needed is trust... " "Behold I come to make all things new." (Jn 20:29; Mk 11:23; Mk 5:36; Rev 21:5)

12. Each moment you spend with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament brings joy, pleasure, and delight to His Sacred Heart!
"My joy, My pleasure, My delight is to be with you." (Prov 8:31)

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Eucharistic Adoration By: Pope John Paul II

I encourage Christians regularly to visit Christ present in the Blessed Sacrament, for we are all called to abide in the presence of God. In contemplation, Christians will perceive ever more profoundly the mystery at the heart of Christian life.

Teach young people the value of Eucharistic Adoration.

I urge priests, religious and lay people to continue and redouble their efforts to teach the younger generations the meaning and value of Eucharistic adoration and devotion. How will young people be able to know the Lord if they are not introduced to the mystery of His presence? Like the young Samuel, by learning the words of the prayer of the heart, they will be closer to the Lord, who will accompany them in their spiritual and human growth. The Eucharistic mystery is in fact the "summit of evangelization" (Lumen Gentium) for it is the most eminent testimony to Christ’s resurrection.

Being a Man of Humility

2005-07-25T00:03:00.000+08:00

By Maurice Blumberg

I once asked a group of men whether being a “man of humility” was a high priority in their lives. The answer for the most part was a resounding “No.” To help better understand why there were so many negative responses, we did a word association. “OK men, what words come to mind when you hear the word humility?” Although there were a few positive associations put forth, most of them were negative. Here are some of the word associations that were suggested: weak, wimpy, timid, doormat, meek, low self-image, low self-esteem, shy, quiet, and unassuming.

Webster’s Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary defines humility as “the quality or state of being humble; absence of pride or self-assertion” and humble as

“1. not proud or haughty, not arrogant or assertive,

2. reflecting, expressing, or offered in a spirit of deference or submission,

3. ranking low in some hierarchy or scale, insignificant, unpretentious.”

No wonder humility is not a character trait that men typically seek after. We certainly think these are important attributes of saints or full-time clergy or other “Religious.” But as men who are deeply enmeshed in the daily battles of life (and our families) –no thanks. But why is this so? Perhaps, it is because humility often gets confused with being weak-willed or timid or feeling bad about ourselves. But I believe that as we come to more clearly understand the meaning of true humility, we will see that it reflects strength of character, not weakness of character.So let’s try to get our arms around “true humility,” especially from a Christian perspective and let’s see if it is a character trait that is masculine and one that men should seek after.

Here are what I believe are ten attributes of true humility:

True humility enables us to honestly recognize whom we are as finite humans compared to the infinite majesty of God (i.e., who we are relative to who God is). It allows us to see ourselves as God sees us.

True humility is not a matter of downcast weakness but of a strong determination to let God work in and through us, not by our own power but by the working of his power—not by our wisdom but according to the wisdom of his plans and purposes.

True humility frees us from pretense and delusion about ourselves; it strips away whatever would mask our identity as God’s beloved children.

True humility allows us to see our sins and weaknesses and still know Jesus’ overwhelming love for us.

True humility recognizes that all of our talents, virtues, and gifts come from God.

True humility allows the Lord to strip away any sense that we are the sole authors of our lives.

True humility allows the Lord to empty us of self-determination so that we can live in obedience to his will and his commands. And the more we are emptied of self-love, the more we can let Jesus’ light shine through us.

True humility frees us to do the works of God to bring glory to Jesus not to ourselves.

True humility leads us to lay down our lives for others—especially those in our family and those in need—and to do so boldly.

True humility tries to point others to Jesus and not to ourselves.

Scriptures and Humility The Bible also has a lot to say about humility. Here are some scriptures that tie humility to wisdom:
James 3:13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.
Proverbs 11:2 When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.
Here are some scriptures that tie humility to honor:
Proverbs 18:12 Before his downfall a man's heart is proud, but humility comes before honor.
Proverbs 22:4 Humility and the fear of the LORD bring wealth and honor and life.The bible also distinguishes between false humility, which is a form of pride, and true humility (see Colossians 2:18-23).Growing as a Man of Humility.

Did you notice that none of the attributes of humility listed above, or the Scripture references, reflect weakness of character, but actually reflect strength of character? Also, none of the attributes or Scripture references has anything to do with being weak or wimpy. On the contrary, humility is a very masculine attribute as it was for Jesus and John the Baptist (see article in this e-zine called “John the Baptist, A Man of Humility”).

As you review and reflect on the attributes of humility, ask the Lord to show you which ones he wants you to develop more deeply in your own life. I’d suggest starting with two or three that strike you as applying most to you. Then define some steps you can take to incorporate that attribute into your everyday life. Pray each day for the grace and strength to be faithful to your plans. You may be surprised in how the Lord works in your life and transforms you more and more into his image and likeness, that is, into a man of humility.

Conclusion

Christlike humility has been called the “queen of virtues” because through it we are freed from self-centeredness and compelled to love God and neighbor. The humble of heart know that nothing can separate us from the love of God except our own stubborn pride and willfulness.As you ask the Lord in prayer to help you grow in true humility, don’t be surprised when he asks you to be both humble and bold, especially as you point other people to Jesus and not to yourself. Don’t be surprised to see Jesus’ life increasing in you. For as you decrease, Jesus’ life in you will surely increase.“Lord Jesus, I surrender my life into your hands knowing how dependent I am on you for everything. I ask for the grace and the strength to be more like you. Help me to see myself as you see me. May you increase in me so that I may draw others to you.”

Questions for Reflection/Discussion
1. What has always been your view of the attribute of humility (for example, positive versus negative)? Has this article changed your understanding of the attribute of humility? Why or Why not? Is it something you have sought to have more of? Why or why not?
2. Of the 10 attributes of humility listed in the article, which two or three stand out as something the Lord may want to increase in your life? Explain why.
3. Share with the men in your group some steps you feel you can take to develop further the attribute of humility in your life.
4. What does the phrase “He must increase. I must decrease” (John 3:30) mean to you? Why is this important?
5. Consider saying the prayer at the end of the “Being a Man of Humility” article each day (or as often as you can) and share the fruits of that prayer at the next men’s group meeting.

The following article is taken from the Catholic Men's E-Zine for May-June 2002. This online publication is produced by the National Resource Center for Catholic Men.

Why are there hypocrites in the church?

2005-07-19T22:13:00.000+08:00

If you dislike hypocrisy in the church, you have a lot in common with Jesus!

Christ soundly denounced hypocrisy (Matthew 23). Yes, there is sometimes hypocrisy in the church, for two reasons. First, some people professing to be Christians are not! There are some people sitting in pews on Sunday, wearing crosses around their necks, or preaching loudly on TV that are counterfeits. They are participating outwardly for reasons other than a saving relationship with Christ as their Lord and Savior. Many have allowed the culture to mold them, rather than the reverse, as Christ commanded.

But secondly, the imperfections of Christians reinforce the important truth of the biblical message about man's sinful nature. Being a sinner is, you might say, a requirement for being a Christian! Yet there is a distinction between a hypocrite and a sinner. The word hypocrite applies to a person who pretends to be something he is not. A Christian recognizes his sinful nature, acknowledges it, and repents of it (daily, even hourly). All hypocrites are sinners, but not all sinners are hypocrites.

Christian morality is the purest, most sublime in all of history. Indeed, it is the perfect morality. While history records abusers of Christianity, one should not judge Christianity by such charlatans. Repentant followers of Christ constantly seek to "do the right thing" and thus hopefully become less of a stumbling block to those looking from the outside at what a Christian says and does. The quality of an authentic Christian's life will fluctuate, but over time it should mature and progress towards (but never reaching) Christlikeness.

It is unwise to compare the life of one believer with the lives of others. It is more valid to compare what he is now with what he was before coming to Christ. But being a Christian really does not mean being related to a set of rules whereby we can measure self-improvement. Ultimately, Christianity really stands or falls on the person of Jesus, not the performance of Christians. We worship the perfect Christ, not imperfect Christians.

In other words, we bow to GOD not man!

Thanks for reading.

Sunny Side Up!

2005-06-03T10:41:00.000+08:00

The weather this morning is hot "as hell". Thus, I reminscence about the time, Caroline and myself had in Thailand. The land of a 'million' smiles for me...Can't wait to get back.
Munchies Resort @ Ko Samui - 1996

What makes a Good Leader

2005-06-01T00:14:00.000+08:00

I have often wondered about what constitutes good christian leadership. Perhaps this article will help answer some burning questions we have about the attitude of some of them.....

The Gift of Faith in Leadership
(by Sr. Nancy Kellar, sc)

1. Faith in the Faithfulness Of God

"Let us hold unswervingly to our profession of faith for He who made the promise deserves our trust" (Heb 10:23).

A. Faith in His Promise to be with us in all circumstances.

The servant leader needs faith that God will be faithful to His promise to be with us to the end of time (Matt 28:20). In chapter 11 the author of Hebrews encourages us to faith in the promises of God with the example of the ancients. Abraham "by faith obeyed when he was called and went forth to the place he was to receive as a heritage" (Heb 10:9). Sarah received "the power to conceive because she believed the One who made the promise was faithful" (Heb 10:1

Faith in the promises releases the power of God to act in us. In Acts 26, when Paul was asked "Why are you on trial?", he could have said "I raised the dead, I healed the blind, I cast out demons". He simply said , "I am on trial because of my faith in the promises of God". He knew that the source of all the power of his ministry was because of his dependence on the power of God working through him.

Leadership is a frontline position and the frontlines of an army are wounded first. Leaders also need faith that God will protect them from the powers of darkness, "in all circumstances hold faith up before you as a shield; it will help you extinguish the fiery darts of the evil one" (Eph 6:17). We need the faith conviction that the Lord will heal the wounds of leadership making us better equipped to continue the work of service. Saint Peter instructs us that "you may have to suffer the distress of many trials so that your faith, which is more precious than the passing splendor of fire tried gold, may by its genuineness lead to praise, glory and honor when Christ Jesus appears" (1 Pet 1:7).

B. Faith in His Call to Leadership

As I have traveled teaching and ministering to leaders, I have found many leaders lack confidence that they have been called to leadership and even that leadership is essential to the work of ministry. Particularly in countries where there has been an abuse of leadership in the past there is a fear of leadership. Some fear leading lest they become too dominant or lest other think they are becoming too dominant.

We need to be convinced that leadership is as essential to the body of Christ as the skeleton is essential to the human body. Without the skeleton the body is shapeless and formless and loses it’s power. The same is true in the work of service in the ministry of the Gospel. Jesus called forth leaders and involved them in His work (Mk 1:11-20).

C. Faith in His empowerment for leadership

Leadership is a charismatic gift of the Spirit. "It is He who gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers the roles of service for the building up of the body of Christ" (Eph 4:11).

Where there is a need there is a call and where there is a call there is a gift of empowerment. If we lack faith that we are called to leadership, we will lack confidence that we are also gifted for leadership. We will begin to rely on our own efforts and human wisdom and not the power and wisdom of God.

Before Pentecost Peter never seemed to understand. He was cowardly and self-centered. After Pentecost he had the wisdom, the boldness, the tenderness, the courage to lead to the point of death. Only the empowerment with the gifts for leadership he received from the Spirit could have made such a change (Acts 2:37-46). We need to be confident that these gifts are available to all who have been called to leadership and claim them!

2. Faith In the Community Of Disciples

A. Faith that we need a community of disciples

Community is an essential part of the way God intends us to grow as Christians and as servant leaders. Jesus prayed "may they be one us so the world will know that you sent me" (Jn 17:21). Leaders need brothers and sisters to call and inspire them to holiness, to encourage them to go on when the ministry is difficult, to discern and prune them in the use of their gifts. Are we as leaders convinced of this?

B. Faith in the working together of the gifts of the body for leadership B. Faith in the working together of the gifts of the body for leadership Faith In the Community Of Disciples

A. Faith that we need a community of disciples
Community is an essential part of the way God intends us to grow as Christians and as servant leaders. Jesus prayed "may they be one us so the world will know that you sent me" (Jn 17:21). Leaders need brothers and sisters to call and inspire them to holiness, to encourage them to go on when the ministry is difficult, to discern and prune them in the use of their gifts. Are we as leaders convinced of this?

B. Faith in the working together of the gifts of the body for leadership
Servant leaders need to appreciate that leadership is a ministry that is meant to be shared by others in the body of Christ. "Now the body is not one member, it is many. God has set each member in the body in the place he wanted it to be" (1 Cor 12:12,19). We need that faith not only for ourselves; but also for the team of brothers and sisters with whom we minister. No one person is given all the gifts that the ministry of the Gospel needs. A team of leaders working together insures that all the gifts needed for service are present.

C. Faith in the support of the community
Lack of encouragement and affirmation is one of the greatest causes of discouragement in leaders. We need to have a faith conviction in the importance of encouraging each other in leadership.
Some years ago when I was a speaker at a conference for religious sisters at Steubenville University, I was led during one of the Masses, that we attended with the University faculty and students, to lead a prayer of reconciliation for all who had been hurt by sisters. The celebrant in turn asked the whole congregation to stand and applaud to show their gratitude for all the sisters who had taught and ministered to them over the years. The result was very moving. Many of the sisters cried and cried and it was so evident how much they needed that affirmation and how healing it was. The same is true for leaders.

3. Faith that Faith Grows In Service
A. Faith that service increases our faith
In his encyclical letter Mission of the Redeemer our Holy Father says: "Faith is strengthened when it is given to others" (Introduction, #2).
The Lord ministers to us as we minister to one another! The gifts of the Spirit, including the gift of leadership, are like the fruit on the vine. The fruit of the vine will whither and rot if it is not picked and given to the hungry. The same is true for the gifts of the Spirit. If we allow the Lord to use us, to minister to others the faith we have received, our faith will grow! Leadership is not a reward for holiness. It is a means to holiness! The more we feel in need of believing the Word of God the more we need to proclaim it. The more we need to believe in the power of God to heal, the more we need to let God use us to pray for healing for others. The more we need to be taught the more we need to let God use us to teach others, confident we will receive more in the giving!

B. Faith that He brings the increase
Our call is to plant the seed and to point the way. We as servant leaders need to grow in faith that it is the work of the Holy Spirit to bring the increase! Paul reminds us: "I planted the seed and Appolos watered it, but God made it grow" (1 Cor 4:7).
We follow a crucified Savior who died on the cross looking like his ministry was a total failure. Leaders often lose faith because their ministry seems to be bearing little fruit.
St. Therese of Lisieux who never left her cloister and died at twenty four is the patroness of the missions. She never saw the fruit of her mission; but she never lost confidence in the faithfulness of God.

C. Faith that others will grow as we call them into leadership
Many years ago now Fr. Jim Ferry, one of the early leaders of the Charismatic Renewal in the USA, called me forth to give my witness to a Church filled with people. He had the vision to see God had given me the gift and the faith to believe that I would respond to the grace of God. As servant leaders we need to have that kind of vision to discern the giftedness of others and the faith to call them into service.
Conclusion: We need faith in God, faith in ourselves and faith in and for one another!

Praise the Lord
Greg

2005-04-22T01:00:00.000+08:00

Soul Out

I have just completed revamping the RCIA Exodus Website. Check the site out.

The address is as follows: http://sg.geocities.com/rcia_stanthony2003/

God Bless
Greg