New 'cults' within Catholicism.

Cult or idolatry?
.
I probably mentioned it before, but a few months ago I received emails from a local church-lady pro-life activist defaming a local deacon and parish-workers, as well as a local priest in good standing with the Catholic Church, currently incardinated in another diocese.  Apparently these people weren't pro-life enough for her.  This woman gained a little bit of fame as a wistleblower early on in the pro-life movement, wherein she more or less hit her stride for singular dedication to pro-life activism - to such an extent that it seems to me that her sort of pro-life obsession verges on the cult-ish.  It's dangerous to suggest such things however, lest people accuse you of not being sufficiently pro-life. 
.
To some extent, the pro-life cause - more or less strictly focused upon eradicating abortion, sometimes to the exclusion of other pro-life issues such the abolition of the death penalty for instance, may be like any cause people passionately dedicate their lives to, sometimes to the point of excluding the duties of their state in life.  Interestingly, Fr. Pavone insists that pro-life is a spirituality in and of itself.  Perhaps he is right. 
.
Cardinal O'Connor founded the Sisters of Life - whose spirituality is said to be based upon the "Gospel of Life" - or is it?  Their apostolic work is pro-life - but their religious life, indeed their spirituality is formulated along the lines of the traditional religious vocation.  The foundation of their religious life is the vocation of being a sister, a bride of Christ.  I may be wrong, but it seems to me that vocation is first and foremost a call - activated in and through the response and consent of the one called.  It is in effect, an obedience - to a particular state in life.  Hence the nun is first a nun, a priest is first a priest, and so on. 
.
By way of another example, there are those who believe there should be in the Church an exclusive 'gay spirituality' - either for Catholic gay people who think homosexual behavior is not sinful, and/or by those who struggle with SSA and seek to live in accord and in fidelity to Church teaching, yet seem to be convinced that there needs to be a special spirituality just for them.  I don't think Courage advocates that however, and I certainly do not.  When we advocate for a special spirituality within the Church, it seems to me we are attempting to make a sort of cult out of a particular condition, circumstance or particular concern.  
.
I'm not including here the issue of new lay movements or new religious foundations approved within the Church, and guided by the proper ecclesial authority.  I'm really talking about the personal/political crusades which seem to tend toward a cult-like behavior or the establishment of a sort of self-appointed personal prelature, sometimes centered around a particular charismatic personality.  Old fashioned social justice activists demonstrated similar behaviors based upon personal agendas.  Nothing wrong with good old fashioned activism and protest, but sometimes it overtakes a person's life - and faith.  Activism is not in itself a spirituality, nor can it replace authentic worship in spirit and truth.
.
Anyway - I'm not sure my personal opinion makes as much sense, or is as well stated as what Mark Shea has written in his essay, Prolife Idolatry:

People with a cartoonish view of idolatry often tend to talk as though idol worship is something stoopid heads just get up one morning and start doing out of a perverse desire to prostrate themselves before a rock or something.

But, in fact, idolatry is typically born out of the deep love of something that is genuinely good and great. It is the best things in the world that become idols, not the worst. Nobody idolizes the band that opened for the Beatles (whoever they were). People idolize the Beatles, because they were really good. Nobody idolizes the mediocre ball player, the second-rate artist, or the guy who lost the race to be the first from New York to Paris. They idolized DiMaggio, Leonardo, and Lindbergh.
For just this reason, one of the tricky things about the Christian Faith is that we must always be on guard, not against loving creatures per se, but against loving them more than we love God. Keep God as your first and greatest love and you are free to love creatures (especially human beings) as much as you like. But get those loves out of order and, no matter how worthy the creature, and you are an idolater.

The devil has lots of ways to tempt us to idolatry, of course. One of them, paradoxically, is to get us to crack up and go sappy about the sheer adorable goodness of the Idol. In short, Satan *loves* Love, so long as it's disordered love.

So whether it's a PETA idolater fawning over the big brown eyes of a puppy (while wishing humans and their Judeo-Christian God of Dominion over nature would all die), a lover of one's country putting the glory of the Fatherland above all, or, in our case, pro lifers who love babies as the most important things in the universe, the problem is the same: Second things are put first.

Even adorable innocent babies? Yes. Especially adorable innocent babies if that happens to be your weak spot and the place you can be tempted to place the creature before the Creator. And for a significant number of people in our particular time and place, it is the weak spot, precisely because our culture is so hostile to the unborn babe. We start out defending babies for the sake of Christ and wind up worshipping babies instead of Christ.
[...]
With all due respect, the worship of God the Blessed Trinity is even more important than life. That's not me talking. That's Jesus Christ: "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell." Declaring that there is NOTHING MORE IMPORTANT than life, particularly for a priest, is idolatrous. It places the second greatest commandment (love your neighbor) before the first (Love God). That is not, I repeat, bad because the second greatest commandment is bad. It's bad because the second greatest commandment is second, not first.
[...]
The pro life movement is a great and good thing that addresses the paramount moral issue of our time. But it is, at the end of the day, still only creaturely and is not more important than God. Healthy Catholic faith sees love of the unborn springing out the Eucharist as a fruit of the kingdom of God. Unhealthy, diseased pro life idolatry sees the worship of God, the Eucharist and the priesthood as prisons and obstacles to "THE MOST IMPORTANT Issue". - Mark Shea

.
Mark says what I wanted to say.
.
Art: Solomon's Idolatry - Master MZ from the Rosenwald Collection – circa 1501.

   

I'm not trying to use the Pope's words against anybody...

Nor am I taking his name in vain...

Today the Pope expresses things I have been thinking about - especially when it comes to blogging, blogs, bloggers, and issues or movements within the Church that I frequently write about.  Oh.  And he makes an indirect reference to Elizabeth Scalia's recent book, Strange Gods again too:

"There is a love, of sorts: it is love of self, love for oneself. That narcissist idolatry that leads them to betray others, that leads them to abuse of trust. "

I know!  It's too much of a coincidence that the Holy Father keeps bringing it up.  (JK)

Seriously, the Holy Father speaks directly to problems we as Christians face.  What do I always say?  "He who flatters you, deceives you.  He who praises you, deceives you."  We bloggers do that.. All. The. Time.   We praise one another, and then like spinning on a dime, can turn on one another when the other says something we dislike or disagree with.  The 'corrupt' as the Holy Father calls them, know this about us.  Call them dissidents, liberals, what have you - they speak softly and pleasantly, and even say things like; "I know what you are saying... but..."  Or, "Terry, I wish you were able to accept ..."  Or, "I appreciate that you are faithful to Church teaching but ..."

How treacherous the human heart, how easily deceived...

We must have love... charity.

"Hypocrisy is the very language of corruption. And when Jesus speaks to his disciples, he says: 'let your language be,' Yes, yes! No, no '. Hypocrisy is not a language of truth, because the truth is never given alone. Never! It is always given with love! There is no truth without love. Love is the first truth. If there is no love, there is no truth. They want a true enslaved to their interests. There is a love, of sorts: it is love of self, love for oneself. That narcissist idolatry that leads them to betray others, that leads them to abuse of trust. "

The Holy Father is a little soul, like Therese of Lisieux, he teaches so simply, with such charity:

"And the meekness that Jesus wants us to have, has nothing, has nothing of this adulation, this sickly sweet way of going on. Nothing! Meekness is simple, it is like that of a child. And a child is not hypocritical, because it is not corrupt. When Jesus says to us: 'Let your speech be' Yes is yes! No, is no! 'with the soul of a child', he means the exact opposite to the speech of these [hypocrites –ed]".The Pope’s final consideration regarded "certain inner weakness", stimulated by "vanity", that means "we like people to say good things about us." The "corrupt know this well" and " are trying to weaken us with this language".


"Let us think closely today: What is our language? Do we speak in truth, with love, or do we speak with that social language to be polite, even say nice things, which we do not feel? Let our language be evangelical brothers and sisters! Then these hypocrites that start out with flattery, adulation and all of that, end up, through false witnesses, with accusing the very ones they had flattered. Let us ask the Lord today that our language be the language of the simple, the language of a child, the language of the children of God, the language of truth in love. " - VR

When we speak of 'idolatry' I wonder if we shouldn't return to the Carmelite understanding of it, in the sense of Elijah perhaps, yet more distinctly, in the writings of John of the Cross and his exposition on vain rejoicing in created goods, the senses, as well as spiritual goods.  I think St. John zeros in on the particular 'idols' of everyday life Elizabeth Scalia and Pope Francis have been 'unmasking' for us. 

Ed. note:  The Scalia tie-in is just for fun. 
 

They want the elderly to lay down their lives for the economy.

This poster (from around 1938) reads: 

"60,000 Reichsmark is what this person suffering from a hereditary illness 

costs the People's community during his lifetime. 

Fellow citizen, that is your money too. 

Read '[A] New People', 

the monthly magazine of the NSDAP Office of Racial Policy."
#20july44 - Gerry Os*

"There is a demonic side to the sentimentalism of saving lives at any cost." - R.R. Reno

Catholic intellectuals/academics are keen to point out the 'vice' of sentimentalism in contemporary culture.  Many consider Pope Francis a sentimentalist.  SSA spokesmen suggest Fr. James Martin's approach to LGBTQ persons, as sentimentalist.  Now, extending care to elderly amid COVID-19 contagion, who will most likely die anyway, is talked about as sentimentalism - 'demonic' sentimentalism.  

"Faux-Christians reveal their true god: $$$"

I had a short commentary on an article discussing what Texas Lieutenant governor Dan Patrick told  Fox News: "Older people would rather die than let Covid-19 harm US economy."  He doesn't look that young, so maybe he canvolunteer to go first.  His thoughts seem to be shared by the Trump administration, which is trying very hard to reopen businesses and send people back to work during the pandemic, which hasn't even peaked in the U.S..

Catholics like R.R. Reno appear to agree, as did a guy on my FB post, who argued:

Terry Nelson writes : "Faux-Christians reveal their true god: $$$"

No. Not money, but instead a functioning economy that provides for human flourishing. An economy where there is a middle class.
Destroying the economy to prolong the life of those who going to die regardless within few years is foolish and contrary to the duty the old owe towards their progeny.
It's no different than a father who would sell the family manufacturing business, or farm or similar in order to prolong his own life. Such an act is irresponsible towards the children.
It's not about money, but instead about responsibility of leaving our children with a functioning society.

The comment took me by surprise.  I had no intention of arguing his point which impressed me as based in an un-Christian ideology, an amalgam of Utilitarianism, Libertarianism, Objectivism and Christian-Nationalism.  Reno's assertions strike me in the same way.  As one friend pointed out, 'it's the result of 30 some years of toxic, right-wing media.' Works for me.

Moral relativism.

I'm always amazed at the Catholic university grads and their ethical contortions - especially since they claim to have nurtured their spirituality and theology on the teaching of JPII.  I suggested recently they go back to their books - the actual texts of JPII's encyclicals and allocutions.  Instead of depending on their favorite authors' interpretations, and/or their own dissertations of JPII's works.  (Just a suggestion, BTW - who am I to lecture such 'scholars'.)

That said, I've been revisiting Evangelium vitae, JPII's encyclical otherwise known as the Gospel of Life, which discusses euthanasia.  The proposal that the elderly have a duty to die to preserve the economy is a sort of 'passive' euthanasia.  I'm amased Catholic university grads do not see it that way.  These people seem to have made the economy an idol - it's the type idolatry Pope Francis has often discussed - not the pretend idolatry a couple of anti-Francis bishops accuse the Pope of.

That said, I don't want to copy and paste a bunch of quotes from St. John Paul's works, but I will close with one or two, to help readers understand what I'm getting at.

Democracy (sub. economy) cannot be idolized to the point of making it a substitute for morality or a panacea for immorality. Fundamentally, democracy is a "system" and as such is a means and not an end. Its "moral" value is not automatic, but depends on conformity to the moral law to which it, like every other form of human behaviour, must be subject: in other words, its morality depends on the morality of the ends which it pursues and of the means which it employs. If today we see an almost universal consensus with regard to the value of democracy, this is to be considered a positive "sign of the times", as the Church's Magisterium has frequently noted. But the value of democracy stands or falls with the values which it embodies and promotes. Of course, values such as the dignity of every human person, respect for inviolable and inalienable human rights, and the adoption of the "common good" as the end and criterion regulating political life are certainly fundamental and not to be ignored. - EV 70

The choice of euthanasia becomes more serious when it takes the form of a murder committed by others on a person who has in no way requested it and who has never consented to it. The height of arbitrariness and injustice is reached when certain people, such as physicians or legislators, arrogate to themselves the power to decide who ought to live and who ought to die. Once again we find ourselves before the temptation of Eden: to become like God who "knows good and evil" (cf. Gen 3:5). God alone has the power over life and death: "It is I who bring both death and life" (Dt 32:39; cf. 2 Kg 5:7; 1 Sam 2:6). But he only exercises this power in accordance with a plan of wisdom and love. When man usurps this power, being enslaved by a foolish and selfish way of thinking, he inevitably uses it for injustice and death. Thus the life of the person who is weak is put into the hands of the one who is strong; in society the sense of justice is lost, and mutual trust, the basis of every authentic interpersonal relationship, is undermined at its root. - EV 66

Pope Francis, speaking of modern idolatry, said something which applies to this new expression ethical relativism:

“Money robs us of life, and pleasure leads to loneliness. Economic structures sacrifice human lives for better profits. One lives in hypocrisy, doing and saying what others expect of us, because the god of self-affirmation imposes it. And lives are ruined; families are destroyed; and young people are abandoned to destructive habits, all to increase profit.” - Pope Francis

I'll leave it at that.  Watch out for your parents and grandparents - make sure they are safe and get the help they need during this pandemic.  Pray for the sick and dying. 

*Poster, h/t Mark Shea

The Pope and The Anchoress

photo source

I know!

It's almost as if Pope Francis is promoting Elizabeth Scalia's book: Strange Gods, Unmasking the Idols in Everyday Life.  Talk about providential and fortuitous and, and, and...

"Idolatry is subtle…we all have our hidden idols"

"We can now ask Jesus: 'Lord, you who are so good, teach me to be this path so that every day I may be less distant from the kingdom of God, this path to drive out all of my idols'. It is difficult, but we must begin ... The idols hidden in the many saddles, which we have in our personalities, in the way we live: drive out the idol of worldliness, which leads us to become enemies of God. We ask this grace of Jesus, today. " - Pope Francis homily, Vatican Radio

Scalia:

I intend this slim book to be the start of an adventure - a look at the myriad ways we who call ourselves 'believers' and 'people of faith' and who believe idolatry to be something ancient, outmoded, and outside ourselves, are in fact everyday idolaters.  We are so comfortable with our idols and so convinced that they are built on entirely correct ideas that we have stopped wondering at anything and, therefore, are comprehending almost nothing. - Strange Gods

 

July 7: Today the Novena to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Begins.

Our Lady of Mt. Carmel is an ancient devotion, very necessary in our times when there is great conflict and persecution in the Middle East.  When the dogma of faith is challenged and compromised throughout Christendom.  When paganism has once again attracted and made captive mainstream society.  When idolatry has replaced true worship of God the Father in spirit and truth.

Our Lady of Mt. Carmel is the Good Shepherdess, the luminous cloud, rising from the sea, leading the exodus from idolatry and selfish sensuality.

Besides the prayers of preparation for Our Lady's feast, one might consider being clothed in the Scapular of Mt. Carmel, if you haven't been already; as both a sign of consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and as an external sign of her maternal protection.

Prayer

Oh, most beautiful flower of Mt. Carmel, 

fruitful vine, splendor of Heaven. 

Blessed Mother of the Son of God, 

Immaculate Virgin, assist me in my necessity,

 Oh Star of the Sea, help me and show me here you are my Mother. 

Oh Holy Mary, Mother of God Queen of Heaven and Earth, 

I humbly beseech thee from the bottom of my heart 

to succor me in my necessity.

 There are none that can withstand your power. 

Oh Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. 

Holy Mary, I place this prayer in your hands. Amen.

Pope Francis endorses Elizabeth Scalia's book - again...

I know!

American Blog-idol, Elizabeth Scalia recently published a book, Strange Gods, Unmasking the idols in Everyday Life, a book which has undoubtedly influenced Pope Francis to a great degree since he often refers to the idolatry of modern times.

So many times, the Pope noted, we’ve seen “the great ones of the earth want to solve” local problems, economic problems, economic crises “with a war.”

“Why? Because, for them, money is more important than people! And war is just that: it is an act of faith in money, in idols, in idols of hatred, in the idol that leads to killing one’s brother, which leads to killing love. It reminds me of the words of God our Father to Cain, who, out of envy, had killed his brother: ‘Cain, where is your brother?’ Today we can hear this voice: it is God our Father who weeps, crying for this madness of ours, who asks all of us, ‘Where is your brother?’ Who says to the powerful of the earth, ‘Where is your brother? What have you done!’” - Pope Francis, homily for Saturday, June 1, 2013

I've read Strange Gods and recommend it highly, simply because most of us no longer think in those terms.  Idols?  Really?  We do not take idolatry seriously - we in fact approve of it as fans of this or that entertainment figure or political leader.  We live in a totally materialistic culture which rejects - removes God - even to the mention of His Name - except for cursing, of course.

Ed. Note:  Elizabeth Scalia is not the same person as U.S. Supreme Court Justice Scalia.

Ms. Isabel (Elizabeth) has been on her book signing tour

and therefore unavailable for comment.  For this Pope, it appears she's the new Ganswein.

 

The Pope on greed...

“That’s what does harm: greed in my relationship with money. Having more, having more, having more... It leads you to idolatry, it destroys your relationship with others. It’s not money, but the attitude, what we call greed. Then too this greed makes you sick, because it makes you think of everything in terms of money. It destroys you, it makes you sick. And in the end – this is the most important thing – greed is an instrument of idolatry because it goes along a way contrary to what God has done for us...

The Lord teaches us the path: not the path of poverty for poverty’s sake. No! It is the way of poverty as an instrument, so that God may be God, so that He will be the only Lord! Not the golden idols! And all the goods that we have, the Lord gives them to us to advance the world, to advance humanity, to help, to help others. Today may the Word of the Lord remain in our hearts: 'Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.'" - Pope Francis.   Christopher Wells, Vatican Radio

Pope Francis: An atmosphere of war.

Some wish to incite and foment this atmosphere deliberately...

In his homily this weekend, the Holy Father repeated the view that we are in a sort of third world war:

“Peace is God’s dream, his plan for humanity, for history, for all creation. And it is a plan which always meets opposition from men and from the evil one,” the Pope added. “Even in our time, the desire for peace and the commitment to build peace collide against the reality of many armed conflicts presently affecting our world. They are a kind of third world war being fought piecemeal and, in the context of global communications, we sense an atmosphere of war.” 

“Some wish to incite and foment this atmosphere deliberately, mainly those who want conflict between different cultures and societies, and those who speculate on wars for the purpose of selling arms. But war means children, women and the elderly in refugee camps; it means forced displacement of peoples; it means destroyed houses, streets and factories; it means, above all, countless shattered lives. You know this well, having experienced it here: how much suffering, how much destruction, how much pain! Today, dear brothers and sisters, the cry of God’s people goes up once again from this city, the cry of all men and women of good will: war never again!” - Vatican Insider

Pope Francis has said it before - that we are in a sort of piecemeal third world war.  The atmosphere is ripe for it.  It's undeclared - but we hear of all the conflicts, the mass killings - and we know it is happening - it is indeed an atmosphere of war.

The spirit of the age.

For me, his statement coincides with my take on what I see as a culture dominated by a sort of 'post-modern' neo-paganism.  I've written about it regarding Caitlyn Jenner and gender ideology, as well as LGBTQ theory and the redefinition of marriage and family.  Attempting to identify the trend as a sort of idolatry, rooted, or steeped in neo-pagan spirituality.  The 'practioners' may not always be conscious of it, since it is what some might call the spirit of the age, or zeitgeist.  Nevertheless it is an atmosphere of paganism - God is rejected - supplanted by gods of our own making.  Re-shaping humanity through conscious evolutionary techniques, I suppose.  Too heady for me to discuss with any scholarship, but I believe the Holy Father has cited the exact same atmosphere since the beginning of his pontificate when he pointed out the evils of modern idolatry, false gods, as well as the reality of Satan - the demonic sources of the moral and cultural shift.

It's a vague notion of mine, but others more learned than myself have been talking about it rather seriously lately.  Archbishop Cordileone for one - and then of course, the Holy Father.  Previously we've often been told to watch the 'signs of the times'.  John Paul II and Benedict XVI often called our attention to it.  I think these 'signs' are much more obvious today.

"Anyone who does not pray to the Lord prays to the devil." 

When we do not profess Jesus Christ, 

we profess the worldliness of the devil, 

a demonic worldliness. - Pope Francis

An 'occult' atmosphere.

I'm thinking it's all part of the spiritual cocktail contained in the cup the whore of Babylon offers to our generation.  Pop culture is a funny thing - we are all part of it - or at least touched and influenced by it, like it or not. Catherine of Genoa referred to it as "The contagion of the world's slow stain". John of the Cross was more explicit: "Where does this poisonous harm fail to reach? And who fails to drink little or much from the golden chalice of the Babylonian woman of the Apocalypse? ...There is hardly anyone of high rank or low, saint or sinner, who does not drink of her wine, subjecting his heart somewhat. For as pointed out in Revelation 17:2-4, all the kings of the earth were inebriated with the wine of her prostitution. She reaches out to all states, even the supreme and illustrious state of the priesthood, by setting her abominable cup in the holy place, as Daniel asserts [Dn. 9:27], and she hardly leaves a strong man who has not drunk a small or large quantity of wine from her chalice..." - Ascent III, 22:4

I think this atmosphere  can even extend to our attachment to prophecy, visions, and locutions so prevalent around the globe today - which is why discernment is so necessary when it comes to these things.  Today, extraordinary mystical phenomena frequently echoes private revelations from the 19th and 20th centuries.  I'm not convinced this makes for consistency of message or warnings - but rather could be a sign of autosuggestion or a bad spirit.  It seems to me these may sometimes be linked to an atmosphere which is susceptible to the influence of the 'elemental spirits' - especially the ancient pre-Christian superstitions and cults which pervaded certain areas or spaces where contemporary revelations have been alleged today.  Scripture refers to their pagan counterparts as the 'high places' - which for me sheds light on Christ's admonition to the Samaritan woman: "Believe me... the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem."  It is as if Christ is speaking to us today, "You people worship what you do not understand; we worship what we understand ... But the hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth; and indeed the Father seeks such people to worship him." - John 4

Some wish to incite and foment this atmosphere deliberately...

I might be wrong, but it seems to me the spirit of the age pervades even into the sanctuary - which for me explains what Bl. Paul VI meant when he spoke about the 'smoke of satan' entering through some fissure.

Many today, unwittingly trade their birthright for a meal - for temporary happiness - hoping to change the meaning of existence - as well as reshape God to suit their inclinations.  That notion is more akin to Wicca than Christianity.

We can condemn actions as much as we want, we can trace evil to its demonic source, but we cannot condemn persons, or demonize them - nor can we do this to whole groups of people.  I think we can agree many people are misled and living 'in sin' - but they are simply looking for happiness in a world that is now more permissive. We are all sinners. We have all gone astray. We all must be careful not to be swept away by the diabolic delusion which pervades our times.

Thou shalt not covet...

Sin speaks to the sinner in the depths of his heart.

Yesterday, after reading a post of mine wherein I linked to a gay blog site, a reader asked me why sites like that so often display homoerotic images.  I couldn't tell her, but I agreed, that it is often the case on such blogs.  I tried to explain, in my clumsy way, my sense of scripture regarding homosexuality or homoerotica, responding to her email, I wrote:

Nope - it is just not you - gay sites are obsessed with male nudes - why? Not sure. I think it's comparable to 'religious cult' in some aspects.  Seriously.  With some people, it seems homosexual attraction can border on idolatry, with a bit of fetishism thrown in - albeit more or less unconsciously.   I'm not sure why everything seems to be reduced to the  erotic - but it certainly appears obsessive.   I've noted lately how so called "chaste-Catholic-gays" seem to be intent on developing a spirituality involving a precipitous  understanding of eros in same sex friendship.  Nevertheless, I think there is a danger in such thinking, perhaps even a subliminal cultivation of the erotic in the process. I'm trying - politely and respectfully - to make sense of their constant discussion on how gay/queer is good - but I'm not buying it.  - My response to a reader.

My friend never responded, so I sent her something I found later, from a writer I'm probably not supposed to like.  However, in a discussion he posted at his site on the topic of the chaste-gay-Catholic phenomenon, I had to agree with many of his points.  I didn't take his commentary to be offensive or mean-spirited, straight forward and blunt perhaps, but his argument seemed reasonable enough to me.  I've never read the guy before, I do not know him, I've only read what other people say about him.  Reprinted below is the section of his post which I sent to my friend, and which accords with my personal intuition.

The interesting thing about beauty is that the person who has it did nothing to attain it. It is something given to them by God. So, if one wants to appreciate the beauty of a human being, one must realize that the human being is merely a reflection of the beauty of God and thus not the one to be plugged into. The only thing beauty should prompt us to do is marvel at the God who created it. Or as St. Paul puts it, one needs to reject the temptation to worship the creation and only worship the Creator. Interestingly enough, St. Paul’s warning against idolizing the creation appears in the very context he is speaking about the causes for homosexuality, Romans 1:25. In other words, the seeds of homosexuality begin by an inordinate admiration of the creation. The creation becomes the focus of one’s attention rather than the God who created it. In fact, in most cases of sin, it is the idolization of the creation that leads to the shunning of God, and this is why St. Paul calls covetousness idolatry (Col 3:5). It is here where the person begins to idolize either another person or even themselves, and the idolization takes on its own identity, and the very reason that the label of “chaste gay” becomes so important to those promoting this new persona. - Robert Sungenis, The Chaste Gay Concept in the Light of the Tenth Commandment

Live "according to the Spirit of unity and truth. To this end we must pray that the Spirit may illuminate us, guiding us to overcome the lure of our own truths and to accept the truth of Christ, as transmitted by the Church". - Pope Benedict XVI, Pentecost 2012

What Pope Francis told a Spanish journalist Sunday ...

Pope Francis told a Spanish journalist Sunday that nature never forgives and the coronavirus pandemic is nature’s cry for humans to take better care of creation. - Source

"They" are taking him down for this.  No surprise.  

I'm not at all sure what the Holy Father said is so crazy.  Obviously he's speaking metaphorically when he says 'nature is unforgiving' - Fr. Z spends a little time spinning that.  How often has an artisan or cook said some thing, some medium is unforgiving?  How many times has a rock climber said a mountain is unforgiving if an athlete makes a mistake?  Yet when the Pope says something like that in a skype interview ...  I know.

Ten days ago I posted some thoughts related to Fr. Z's musings on a biological solution to take care of all the problems in the liturgy (here) - something Republicans seem to be musing on to help the economy get back on its feet BTW (here).  I also speculated on religious figures pointing to the COVID-19 pandemic as God's chastisement.  At the time I was reflecting on something an Italian Cardinal said about the virus, that it 'could' be seen as a chastisement - but not from God - he wasn't specifying particular evils or groups of 'evil-doers' (here).

"Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents?"

This past week, Cardinal Burke got a little more specific - some of his followers interpreted what he had to say, indicating the virus and incredible amount of deaths in Bergamo may have been punishment for the idolatry of Pachamama - and especially the prayer composed by the Archdiocese of the area, in honor of Pachamama. (here)  Likewise, the usual suspects have been held responsible for the chastisement.

It all sounds/reads crazy to those who are facing the unknown, as the virus spreads.  People can't be blamed for think what the Pope had to say, sounded strange - especially as it get's repeated on social media.  That said, a friend made a comment on the post I refer to, speculating on the notion of chastisement.  Perhaps anticipating the Pope, but more because she has read Laudato si, my friend had another view of the chastisement theory.  She wrote:

"This pandemic is the result of our destruction of the earth. All Coronavirus, e.g. SARS, comes from animals. Covid-19 originated from a live animal market in Wuhan. We are destroying the habitats of animals, displacing them and coming into contact with them in ways we never did before. Pope Francis has said it is sinful to destroy the earth. We are reaping the results of our sins, but it is not from God. We caused it ourselves." - Catholic in Brooklyn

"If we thought of this situation as a punishment from God, we would betray the very essence of the gospel." - Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti

I have to agree, which may account for my sense of understanding for what the Pope said metaphorically about 'nature taking her revenge on humanity.'  Personally, I do not see this as a particular chastisement, or divine punishment for the usual suspects, but rather a natural development, or effect. Catholics know there are natural consequences to sin.  Therefore, there are natural consequences for what human beings do to nature.  Habitat destruction, pollution, and other abuses against nature result in natural consequences.  I am surprised religious people consider such a notion to be steeped in idolatry or nature worship.  Our Lord himself told the Pharisees, who asked him to rebuke his disciples, “I tell you, if they keep silent, the stones will cry out!”  The Pharisees of today react in the same way to Pope francis, as they look for ways to 'catch' him in some error.

On the other hand, those who look to empty locutions or mundane messages from soap-opera style apparitions, might do well to keep in mind what Sr. Lucia, who saw Our Lady at Fatima, said about chastisement.  She pointed out that it is not God who is causing it, rather it is we ourselves doing it:

And let us not say that it is God who is punishing us in this way; on the contrary it is people themselves who are preparing their own punishment. In his kindness God warns us and calls us to the right path, while respecting the freedom he has given us; hence people are responsible”. - Message of Fatima

If it should happen one day - and it could be today - that I become a victim of ... - Bl. Christian de Chergé 


Tomorrow there is a hidden feast day, under Our Lady of the Annunciation's mantle, if you will.  It is the feast of St. Dismas crucified, the penitent who didn't judge, didn't condemn and did not claim anything from Christ crucified except to implore him to have mercy upon him - that he remember him.  Dismas, in his agony, looked at the other thief, who insulted Christ and made demands upon him.  What did Dismas say, to make him understand what was happening?

Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong. - Luke 23

I see all of us - no matter who or what we are - pretty much in the same situation.  Rather than pointing fingers at one another, or deriding one another because we disagree, let's remember the sentiment St. Dismas expressed to the complaining thief:

We are all under the same sentence ...

COVID-19 is a global pandemic.  We are all under the same sentence.

One more time: About Caitlyn Jenner

She looks fabulous - no doubt about it.

People who read too many blogs and watch too much news are sick and tired of the Caitlyn Jenner story, right?

Nevertheless - it's important to discuss the phenomenon.  Jenner has become the spokes-model for the transgender/transsexual 'community'.  There have been other high profile transgender personalities, Chaz Bono might be the most notable.  Bono's transition, female to male, was a sort of evolution from same sex attraction to sexual reassignment surgery.  He enjoyed some time in the spotlight but nothing like what Jenner is experiencing.

Jenner's case is most startling because he identified as a heterosexual male - a famous athlete, a 'family' man - 3 wives, with children from each marriage.  He claims to have struggled all of his life with gender dysphoria - but he is not attracted to men.  He has had psychiatric evaluation, counselling, and therapy over the decades, and finally committed to go through with the transgender identity.

That said, it's interesting that many non-professionals seem able to diagnose Jenner as suffering from mental illness - while his psychiatrists and counselors reassure him whenever he vocalized second thoughts - as he did when going through facial feminization surgery.  That's a very strange curiosity which should be investigated.  Especially considering the movement to ban any sort of reparative therapy for same-sex attracted, gender confused children. LGBTQ activists and many in the psychiatric profession are against any sort of intervention in these cases - going so far as to lobby for legislation against it.  As I said, Jenner is a sort of spokes-model for transgender/transsexual people now - which is why these things need to be discussed openly and honestly. Something is off in the psychiatric profession/industry.  And that is why the discussions about Jenner - positive or negative - are very important.

Deeper issues.

In the past few days, I've speculated on the connection between feminist ideology/spirituality and the effect of gender ideology and pagan metaphor which may influence contemporary attitudes regarding identity and sexuality, while others have discussed the phenomenon in terms of idolatry.  As one author pointed out: "Modern idolatry is our desperate self-veneration through things we have made ..."

Likely driven by serious mental illness and pushed by a manipulative media, Jenner, in attempting to change his face and thus his identity, has made his identity an idol, "a face which is not a face" but a mask of his own making. He sets himself at the center of reality, reducing reality to his desires. The false identity—the graven image—which Jenner has fashioned for himself is a lie: the false face he paid surgeons to craft for him, the false body he robes in the guise of femininity, the false name he has taken on—these works of Jenner's hands are the form of a false god.

And the relativistic culture, seeking a new idol, pays tribute at his feet. - Catholic World Report

 It is an excellent essay on the subject.  However, I'm not sure about the serious mental illness diagnosis made by non-professionals.  Especially when the professionals involved in transgender/transsexual care do not use the same terminology.  We may consider it insane - but the medical-psychiatric profession doesn't.  In fact - the medical treatment/surgical transition is supposed to be the cure.  It seems to me we are moving towards a point where there will be no diagnosable mental illness which can't be modified or controlled by some sort of medical intervention.  In other words, what seems to be happening is the attempt to accomplish the elimination of suffering through pharmaceutical and surgical intervention.   This sort of healthcare, joined to a non-religious spirituality, can act as a sort of neo-shaminism.  What is disordered can be declared ordered, transcended and spiritualized and integrated through an altered consciousness of self - in and through conscious evolution.  Conscious evolution towards a whole new planetary system.  The New Age connections are deeply embedded in gender ideology - whether or not its subjects are consciously aware of it or not.

Christians do need guidance on these issues... but.

Yet I object to those who want to silence personal opinion and observation stemming from the confusion which erupted over the Caitlyn Jenner reveal.  People need to be free to express themselves on the issue, even at the risk of condemning Jenner's actions.  He's a public personality, a well known athlete, a 'reality show' star, a superficial fashion/pop idol, as it were.  I discussed the weird spiritual goddess worship metaphor, I also did a post praising 'the look' - from a purely superficial, fashion-entertainer viewpoint.  Never condemned the person - simply labeling the outcome as a gender stereotype - but he/she looks good.  (I used to work in fashion display - so it is like critiquing a good mannequin.)

Of course we should have empathy and compassion for him in his sufferings - but his doctors and handlers tell him he's just fine - and, he seems to love the spotlight and is happy with his looks.  Not a lot to feel sorry about there.  If he's suffering - he doesn't know it.

To call everyone else out for not being more sensitive is pretty much a load of crap.  How should Christians really respond to Caitlyn Jenner?

For starters, religious leaders need to point out what's wrong with this picture - while being considerate of the person of course.  Unless you are a psychological professional, I'd resist any sort of medical/psychological diagnosis - unless you feel you can voice your personal opinion - despite the fact you may not want others to do so - especially if it is negative.

For all intents and purposes, it seems to me the affliction is a spiritual malady, a spiritual disconnect or disorder.

I don't think all that many people are actually condemning Jenner - I think they are condemning the procedure and the resulting caricature.  For some, scorn and laughter is a coping mechanism, a visceral reaction to what seems to be an absurdity.  For others, the very idea is repulsive and disgusting.  Others see it as an assault on human nature, a degradation of women, or manliness.

Being welcoming?  What would Jesus do?  I hate it when people talk like that.

This is serious, grave matter, which affects family life and human nature, therefore society.

Gender ideology is pushed in our face round the clock these days.  We are forced to watch: Jenner's new persona is staring out from newsstands, online, on television news, radio talk shows,  LGBTQ - Gender politics is everywhere.  Is Jenner asking to join your parish?  Welcome him there, then.  Does he want to be Catholic - good - come on in.

He/she's not asking that though.  Of course he wants to be accepted - and we've pretty much done that.  He's also coming out and wants our approval.  He wants our applause.  He wants our praise.  He wants our viewership.  We don't have to do that if we don't want to.

We may not demonize Jenner or transgender persons, but we certainly can demonize the process, the ideology which supports it.

“Let us be on guard against colonization by new ideologies. 

There are forms of ideological colonization 

which are out to destroy the family.”

- Pope Francis

How we may know chastisement is coming.

Burning Man (Painting by Andre Durand. I did not use the real title.)

We can know that a chastisement is being prepared for us without divine revelations or apparitions of the Virgin Mary. (Although we must be grateful to so good a Mother that she would help us discern the will of God.) Her apparitions have been occurring since the 1830's beginning with St. Catherine Labore, with warnings of chastisements. Since we seem to have recovered from every war and revolution we become more and more skeptical that any real chastisement could befall us. We become ever more complacent, permissive, as well as licentious. It seems to me there has been established a new world religion - not so much the "liberalism" Ann Coulter writes about - that is it's cult, or praxis - instead it is relativism that is the idol of this religion. Materialism, pleasure, leisure and convenience seem to be its "graces".

John of the Cross writes, [Chastisements] "can also be known in their causes, since the divine providence responds most certainly and justly to what the good or bad causes arising from the sons of men demand. One can know naturally that a particular person or city, or some other factor, will reach such a point that God in His providence and justice must respond in conformity with the punishment or reward that cause warrants." (Ascent II, 21;9)

What is so wrong in the world that it should merit a general chastisement? I don't know? Maybe read the news and not watch the censored and sanitized version of it on television. One simply has to just look around. Not just the wars and the rumors of wars - those are chastisements.

Abortion. I know everyone gets tired of hearing about it, and soon they won't be with the not-so-new "morning after pill", that guarantees even more promiscuity. Everyone takes contraception so for granted they fail to realize just how much of an affront it is to God. By it we attempt to make ourselves masters of our own creation, while misusing the gift of sexuality for our own pleasure. It cannot be a coincidence that homosexuality has gained such acceptance in a contraceptive culture. Sex without consequence legitimizes just about every other sexual expression. Just as abortion, legitimizes every other type of life choice, such as infanticide or euthanasia.

In our very well educated minds we convince ourselves there is no such thing as revealed truth that governs our lives. Everyone claims we worship the same God and that there is no religion any better than another, pagan goddess worship included. Everyone is equal. Hence, even the Catholic church may host pan-religious prayer meetings at Assisi praying for peace. We now believe every person can decide for himself what is moral or immoral. Thus man falls for the original lie and thinks himself equal to God, and this essentially is idolatry.


This is what happened in ancient Israel, when the people turned from idolatry and corrupted the temple worship. Turning to other gods is never pleasing to the One True God. It is never pleasing for him to see us engage in abominable behavior, such as infanticide, sacrificing children to idols for a life of convenience, whether by a pill, or a knife. We may not mock his creation by abusing his gift of sexuality through masturbation, homosexuality or transgender operations. It seems to me we have lost our sense of sin because we have forsaken true worship of God and authentic spirituality - thereby abandoning even the natural law.

So you see, we can know by natural reason a chastisement is coming. The question is, when?

Fatima - the repellent stuff.

Why people consider it passe.

I had a discussion with a friend who has never been attracted to Fatima and the devotion.  He has a ton of questions - which comprise his objections, more or less.  I like skeptics and academics who are also devout Catholics.  No one is obliged to believe private revelations, even though several Popes have endorsed Fatima, and the prophecies and miracle have been validated.  Fatima has its share of eccentrics, and due to all the bad interpretations of the secrets and message, the authentic message is eclipsed and ignored.  My friend asked why the devotion is still credible?

I responded that it is credible - but the extreme side has exaggerated the message and distorted the secret, while they sensationalized the warnings from the Blessed Virgin. Essentially the message of Fatima is similar to that of the revelations to S. Margaret Mary and the request for the King of France to consecrate the nation. He did, but it was late, which led to secularization - I simplified the narrative.

Our Lord appeared to Lucia telling her how important the consecration to the IHM was to him and for the peace of the world - which has been entrusted to the Virgin. He told her the consecration will take place, but it will be late - citing the French failure. Over the decades, esp. approaching 1960, many Catholics were anxious for the Holy Father to reveal the 3rd part of the secret.  This apparently was even more important for them than the request for 1st Saturday devotion and the consecration to  Russia. Of course, Pius XII did so in a round about way, but it wasn't in union with all the bishops, etc..

As we know, JPII did it, and only much later revealed the 3rd part of the secret.  The JPII consecration was as OL asked, collegial, including a sort in pectore reference to Russia.  Sr. Lucia said it was done and accepted by heaven, albeit late.  Obviously the errors of Russia had meanwhile spread and we have seen the effects of that, albeit nuclear war was avoided.

Nevertheless, these people continue to claim the consecration wasn't done, or at least not accomplished exactly as OL requested - in this, they have veered off track.  In reference to an earlier post on Frere Michel's early work, I continued:

I had no idea how far Frere Michel's position Fatima (the secret and consecration, etc.) had evolved nor his association with Gruner.  The Gruner position is that the Virgin warned of a bad council, the Novus Ordo, and bad popes. Lucia never, ever said anything about that. She participated in the NO Mass and sacramental life.

Long story short, the bare bones of Fatima is credible - substantiated by every Pope since Pius XII, verified by Sr. Lucia herself, as well as a stunning miracle, several prophecies fulfilled, resulting in numerous conversions and so on. Because the effects of the 'errors of Russia' are still at play, the world remains in conflict. However, extrapolating the pandemic and antivax theories as part of the message is a stretch.   I seriously think Cardinal Burke has been misled by all the right wing propaganda - including QAnon crap.  The misinformation just can't be flushed out of the culture, or strands of popular-piety at this time.   Anyway - these people have done more harm to the Church and the devotion by their conspiracy theories, which in many instances have been actual lies, repeated so often, they are no longer differentiated from the original narrative. 

Cardinal Burke ... the Coronavirus as chastisement.

To my amazement, later in the day I received an alert,  LifeSite published a talk by John Henry Westen, going even further than Cardinal Burke's address Wednesday, using Fatima to discredit Pope Francis.  An excerpt:

Thursday, May 21, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – In these times of Coronavirus it has become for me clear that we are living in the end times, at least as that pertains to the chastisement predicted by Our Lady of Fatima in 1917. Today the greatest deprivation of all time has taken place. For the first time in history the greater part of Catholic humanity has been deprived of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

[...] In these times, the confusion is most grave as it is comes from the Pope himself who is supposed to be the chief guardian of the truths of the faith. Pope Francis has caused dreadful confusion with public statements to the press distorting Church teaching about contraception, cohabitation, homosexuality and transgenderism.

[...] It is worth noting that just before this virus broke out, the Pope allowed for idolatry in the Vatican Gardens. The Pachamama idolatry that took place there also included prostration before a statue of the Pachamama. The statue was later processed into St. Peter’s Basilica where the Pope and several Cardinals said prayers before it. This act was condemned by many Cardinals, bishops, priests, and laity all over the world. - Westen

LifeSite, Westen, Burke, Vigano and Schneider are acting as a parallel Magisterium.  The Rome Life Forum is not a synod - they are not in charge.  In fact they are leading a movement in opposition to the Pope.  It's unbelievable.  Westen clams the greater part of humanity has been deprived of Mass.  Later he concedes Mass is continued to be celebrated, but compares it to how priests would function under extreme persecution.  So many claims and subsequent links to Fatima are a misrepresentation of fact, based upon hybrid private revelations and subjective interpretations.

Fatima, Anticommunism and McCarthyism were linked in the popular consciousness of the 1950's.  Unfortunately, the Fatima movement has often been used for ideological and political purposes.

I leave it here for now.

Everything is different

I woke up thinking that - thanking God for this new day, praying immediately for an online acquaintance who is most likely dying.  

Everything must change, expectations of how things must be, or should be must be allowed to crumble.  

O my God!  I thank you for Pope Francis who has overturned the tables of our idolatry and ideology.  He has lifted burdens too hard to carry and called down the Holy Spirit to stir up the love of God in the hearts of the faithful, though our sins impede the grace of mercy which so longs to save us - the Lord comes to our help with his mighty strength.

Thank you Lord.  Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything.

Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Tomorrow is the First Friday of June as well as the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Editor's note:  Some Catholics may look upon solemnities which fall on a Friday as an excuse not to perform some penance or to abstain from meat - which is permitted - the obligation is removed.  However, traditionally, religious people always fasted or abstained the day before a major feast day.  Therefore, if you are really concerned, and really generous and pious, you can fast and or abstain today! (Big smiley face here.)

Sacred Heart of Jesus, cleanse us from all our impurities and all our idols!

Hopefully Pope Francis - and Elizabeth Scalia's book - can help some of us to examine ourselves and the strange gods or idols we pack away in our hearts.  I've written about modern idols before, as have other more excellent bloggers.  I was reading some of my older posts today and came upon something from John of the Cross, my favorite author on spirituality and faith.

"Avoid greed in all its forms." .
The real American idol seems to me to be greed...  I've been reading St. John again, so I'll share some things he says about it.  Something to think about.
.
"The greedy... their appetite and joy is already so extended and dispersed amongst creatures - and with such anxiety - that they cannot be satisfied. The more their appetite and thirst increases, the further they regress from God, the font which alone can satisfy them.  God himself refers to these individuals through Jeremias: 'They have abandoned me, the font of living water, and dug for themselves leaky cisterns that cannot hold water.' [Jer. 2:13]  The reason for this dissatisfaction is that creatures do not slake the thirst, but rather intensify it.
.
These greedy persons fall into all kinds of sins out of love for temporal goods, and the harm they suffer is indeterminable. 
.
The avaricious man, because of temporal goods, is unconcerned about setting his heart on God's law, and consequently his will, memory, and intellect wander far from God, and he forgets him, as though he were not his God at all.  The reason is that he has made gods out of temporal goods and money.  St. Paul indicates this in declaring that avarice is a form of idolatry. [Col. 3:15]
.
Many in the world today, their reason darkened through covetousness, serve money and not God, and they are motivated by money rather than by God, and they give first consideration to the temporal price and not to the divine value and reward.  In countless ways they make money their principal god and goal and give it precedence to God, their ultimate end.
.
Likewise included in this category are all those miserable souls who value earthly goods as their god and are so enamored of them that they do not hesitate to sacrifice their lives when they observe that this god of theirs undergoes some temporal loss.  They despair and commit suicide for wretched reasons, and demonstrate with their own hands the miserable reward that comes from such a god.  Since there is nothing to hope for from him, he gives despair and death." - John of the Cross, Ascent, Bk III, Ch 20
.
I think what we are witnessing today is envy and greed at work:  Festering and oozing out all over - even religious people are not immune to it. - Archives

"For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh." - Ezekiel, 36

A story from the desert fathers... kinda.

Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’

When it arrives, it finds the house

unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. - Matthew 12:43-45

"A dog is  better than I am, for  he has love and he does not judge." - Abba  Xanthios 


Once there was a brother who resolved to do God's will and therefore determined that he should leave everything in the world and follow Christ in humility.  He found work to sustain himself with a community of nuns who cared for the sick.  After settling in, the brother was pleased with himself for having left his worldly occupations and finding a secure life amongst consecrated souls, where he could live devoutly in silence and prayer, doing good for others. 

Very soon however, the brother was assaulted by all sorts of temptations against chastity and temperance, his patience tried and soon exhausted, he was easily seduced by vivid imaginations.  It wasn't long before he started sneaking out of the confines of the convent, going into the city to engage in all sorts of immoral behavior.  He maintained this duplicitous life for awhile, falling by degrees into a state of dissipation, far worse than what he lived before attempting to live a more devout life.

Seeking out a father, the brother confessed his hypocrisy and sin and asked why his life had become so corrupt, especially when he resolved to leave everything and serve God alone? Yet while in the world he had lived a relatively peace filled, faithful life?

The father explained.  In your former way of life, you indulged your appetites at will, albeit more or less discreetly, convinced you were not like the rest of sinful humanity.  You made your confessions when you sinned, prayed when you felt inspired, and so on.  You enjoyed a relative peace.  You were not aware of your inner attachments because you were already ensnared in your conceit.  Remember the Scripture: "When you come to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for trials"?  You believed you fled temptation and the world's seductions only to find you craved them interiorly.  You didn't notice them before because you were already surfeited - you had everything available to you whether you indulged in it or not.  Yet the evil one already had a hold on you, perhaps through some small attachment.

When you decided to give up the external trappings which you were convinced held you back, you acted without counsel.  Your intentions were good, but you lacked self-knowledge.  The Lord allowed you to fall prey to your passions and the seductions of the evil one to expose the false peace of the world and its vanities, to expose the lust that is idolatry which captivates and inebriates souls, he allowed these sorrows in order to expose your attachment to sin.  The Lord permitted you to fall so that you would could finally become humble, and after such serious sin, having repented, might remain humble.  All the while, His love for you never faltered... "though we be unfaithful, He remains faithful."

Our struggle is not against flesh and blood...

I think the lesson here is that sometimes we have an interior attachment to a particular sin or vice, perhaps like a subtle, invisible tether, which only becomes evident when the camouflage of distraction and exterior support or satisfaction is taken away, leaving the soul to its own resources.  As the psalmist says, "from my hidden sins acquit me Lord!"  We oftentimes simply do not understand ourselves.  It is demonstrated by Christ when he rebuked those disciples who wanted to call down fire from heaven upon those who rejected them: "you don't know of what spirit you are!"  And when he rebuked Peter, "get behind me Satan!" 

St. Teresa of Avila greatly feared the false peace the world affords its followers; likewise, Catherine of Genoa feared what she called 'the world's slow stain' which is so insidious and affects all of us on a daily basis.  Similarly, Garrigou-Lagrange discusses the notion in terms of a false charity:

15. There exists, in fact, a false charity, made up of culpable indulgence, of weakness, such as the meekness of those who never clash with anybody because they are afraid of everyone. There is also a false charity, made up of humanitarian sentimentalism, which seeks to have itself approved by true charity and which, by its contact, often taints the true.

One of the chief conflicts of the present day is that which arises between true and false charity. The latter reminds us of the false Christs spoken of in the Gospel; they are more dangerous before they are unmasked than when they make themselves known as the true enemies of the Church. Optimi corruptio pessima, the worst of corruptions is that which attacks what is best in us, the highest of the theological virtues. The apparent good which attracts the sinner is, in fact, so much the more dangerous as it is the counterfeit of a higher good. Such, for example, is the ideal of the pan-Christians, who seek the union of the Churches to the detriment of the faith, which this union presupposes. If, therefore, through stupidity or more or less conscious cowardice, those who should represent true charity approve here and there the dicta of the false, an incalculable evil may result. This evil is at times greater than that done by open persecutors, with whom evidently one can no longer have anything in common. - footnote, Ch 8: The True Nature of Christian Perfection

+ + + 

"Love is a teacher, but we must know how to acquire it, for it is hard to acquire... it is dearly bought... it is won slowly by long labor. For we must love, not occasionally, or for a moment, but forever. " - Dostoevsky: Fr. Zosima

I may be wrong of course.

Strange Gods by Elizabeth Scalia

"At first I thought, 'the cover is the best thing about it!'"

 

What?

My name was on the publisher's list...

Rather, my name was on Mrs. Scalia's list of those to whom she would like to send copies of her book.  The publisher, Ave Maria Press sent me the book with a press kit.  I suppose I could follow the suggested interview questions and interview the author, but I know she is busy - she didn't answer my last email, and I'm sure she's doing a book tour and posing for photographs and getting ready for Charlie Rose and maybe The View. 

An urban anchorite's room with a view...

The Anchoress

Seriously, I must admit I was honored to have received a copy of the book. I'm a fan of Scalia's writing, attracted to her initially by the title of her blog, The Anchoress.  So monastic and medieval sounding, I expected a modern day anchoress writing ascetical-mystical romances on living alone in an urban flat, with her bedroom window facing the Catholic parish church next door, twelve stories lower than her little austere, yet lovely in its simplicity, apartment.  Not so.  Elizabeth Scalia is a wife, mother, and Benedictine Oblate - and rather normal.  I need normal.  She's also a very good, insightful writer.

Love the cover!

I did a quick read, or overview of the book.   I wasn't real excited, thinking the cover was probably the best thing about it.  Fr. Barron called it a 'must read' and to be honest, I couldn't go that far.  Scalia is online and one has access to her thoughts and point of view, but... I thought, 'It's not a bad book - but it seems to be just another theme book.'   I wondered if Ave Maria might have invited Elizabeth to write a book because she is so well known online and has a good following in new media.  Always the skeptic, I am - my apologies.  I'm always suspicious of online personalities and apologists, pretty much writing, about the obvious and publishing their latest work.  Not unlike friends of mine who teach, and had to have so many published works in order to get tenure.  But I digress.  Obviously I'm not the best person to review your work - just a heads up.

That being said, I wondered, what am I going to say about this book?  A book that others have already acclaimed and praised and even tied in with what the Holy Father said recently about idolatry and the Golden Calf worship of money ...

We have created new idols. The worship of the golden calf of old (cf. Ex 32:15-34) has found a new and heartless image in the cult of money and the dictatorship of an economy which is faceless and lacking any truly humane goal. - P. Francis

The Pope and the Anchoress - great publicity, huh?  Had he received an advanced copy of Elizabeth's book?  Or was Elizabeth simply stating the obvious and reaffirming Judeo-Christian teaching?  I had to search the pages of Strange Gods to find out.

The Introduction grabbed me.

I sometimes skip introductions.  I'm not sure why.  Perhaps I assume I already know what the book is about and why the author wrote it, and because I just don't want to read more than I have to.  Although I will often go back and read the intro after I finish the book.  The introduction to Strange Gods is what changed my attitude towards the book.  Elizabeth really has something important - and new - to say, and a book was necessary to make a statement.  The book is necessary to point out the obvious that has been obscured by our own personal idols.  In my case, self-opinion and pride - and more than I care to mention right now.  Although I will be referring to the book in future posts.

Elizabeth has a lot to say in this little book.  She articulates things I may know, but sometimes have difficulty articulating.  She writes:

"I look at our modern mania for educational credentials as a kind of idol - a thing so burnished and glittery that sometimes the perfect candidate for a position is never seen because the required credential is hovering between him and HR; and the idol - the thing that reflects our self image back to us - must be served."

Yes!  I wanted to say that - but Elizabeth Scalia said it better than I could.  Have I been 'envious' that Scalia has a book and I don't?  That she writes about something I wish I had written?  Is that why I wasn't able to 'get into' her book right away?  I don't know.  I doubt it.  Yet these are the sort of questions, self-examen type questions, Scalia's book elucidates as I go through it.  Again, Elizabeth points out:

"We dismiss the golden calf story and its lessons at our peril.  It is true we are no longer flinging our precious metals into a crucible and buffing up stolid beasts of burden to worship.  In some ways matters are worse, for we do not know the idols we bow down to.  Our present day idols are much less obvious, but they are also less distant and more ingrained within us.  Idols begin with ideas.  From there we shape them in the psyche, grow them in the ego, and then engage with them intimately, throughout our lives, in out families, our culture, our entertainments, and our political discourse.  We create idols of our own norms of behavior, our material possessions, and social status.  We even create them out of our faith.

[...] 

"We are so comfortable with our idols and so convinced that they are built on entirely correct ideas that we have stopped wondering at anything and therefore are comprehending almost nothing."

Yeah but...

I know!  So doesn't Scalia have any idols - I mean - she's practically enslaved to the Internet and the blogosphere, right?  Yup - and she pretty much admits it - "we can barely clear out an old idol before we erect a brand-spanking-new one in its place..."  The book is written from experience... she says, "my expertise is grounded in my experience, for I am a great idolater and have been all my life." 

It is not a holier than thou, self-righteous self-help book by any means. 

Lararium.

I like it.  I really like it.  I even have to agree with Fr. Barron, it really is a must read - for people like me at least - I still have idols clinging to me and around the house.  Me, the Catholic, who performs daily devotions at my home lararium - my laptop...  Mrs. Scalia writes about her devotion in the Conclusion to her book...  

One's work, being online, can keep us from prayer and even Mass.  It can happen.

Read the book.



BTW: It's available on Amazon.

Disclaimer - I never do promotions or ads on my blog - I made an exception in this case because Elizabeth was kind enough to have a copy of her book sent to me.