Meddlesom old trouts... The Pope on avoiding the temptation to interfere in the lives of others...

No excuses.

I've always loved today's Gospel when Jesus pretty much tells Peter to mind his own business.  I apply it to meddlesome types, usually as a sort of 'rebuke' for them to mind their own business.  Yet today a friend directed me to the Holy Father's comments on the Gospel in his morning homily.  I'm one of those meddlesome old trouts who needs to be told, "What is it to you?"

Need context?  This is what the Holy Father said:

"What is it to you?" Pope Francis begin his homily referring to a question Jesus posed to Peter when he had meddled in the life of the disciple John, "whom Jesus loved." Peter, the Pope pointed out, had "a dialogue of love" with the Lord, but then the dialogue "is diverted to another track," and he also suffers from a temptation: "to interfere in the lives of others." How do you say "vulgar," said the Pope, Peter becomes "nosy". Focus is therefore on two modes of this mix in the lives of others. First, the "comparison", "to compare oneself with others." When there is this comparison, Pope Francis said, "we end up in bitterness and even envy, but envy rusts the Christian community, "it brings much hurt," the "devil wants that." The second mode of this temptation, he added, is gossip. It begins "in an educated way," but then we end up “feeling bad”.

"We all chat in Church! As Christians we chat! The chatter is hurtful? We hurt one another. It is as if we want to put each other down.: instead of growing one makes the other feel small while I feel great. That will not do! It seems nice to chat ... I do not know why, but it looks nice. Like sweet of honey, right? You take one and then another, and another, and another, and in the end you have a stomach ache. And why ? The chatter is like that eh? It is 'sweet at first and it ruins you, it ruins your soul! Rumours are destructive in the Church, they are destructive ... It’s 'a little' like the spirit of Cain who killed his brother, his tongue; it kills his brother! "

On this road, the Holy Father said, "we become Christians of good manners and bad habits." But how do we do this ? Normally, Pope Francis noted, "we do three things":

"We supply misinformation: we tell only half that suits us and not the other half, the other half we do not say because it is not convenient for us. You smile at that ... Is that true or not? Did you see that thing? It goes on. The second is defamation: When a person truly has a flaw, it is big, they tell it, 'like a journalist' ... And the character of this person is ruined. And the third is the slander of saying things that are not true. It is like killing ones brother! All three - disinformation, defamation and slander - are sins! This is sin! It is to slap Jesus in the person of his children, his brothers. "

"'This kind of talk will not do you any good, because it will just bring to the Church a spirit of destruction. Follow me! '. These are the beautiful words of Jesus, it is so clear, that he has so much love for us. As if to say: 'Don’t have fantasies, believing that salvation is in the comparisons with others or in gossip. Salvation is to go behind me '. Following Jesus! Today we ask the Lord Jesus to give us this grace not to ever get involved in the lives of others, not to become Christians of good manners and bad habits, it is to follow Jesus, to walk behind Jesus on his way. And this is enough. " - Vatican Radio 

I have made many mistakes on this blog... committed many sins.  Lord, I am sorry, please forgive me, and undo the harm I have caused others.  I have no excuse.  Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.

Meddlesome - Given to meddling; apt to interpose in the affairs of others; officiously intrusive.

Special thanks to Jackie.

 

 

 

 

Patheos changed its combox...

Anyone who uses Disqus for comments - for some reason I cannot comment or view comments at your sites.  Does anyone know why?  One site said I needed to change my browser and I don't want to do that - so I can't/don't comment.

It's all good however - I don't care - but I don't want people like Crescat and Mrs. Idaho Potato to think I'm ignoring them either.

That's all poodles.

Profanity online.

Should blogging Catholics watch their language?

Larry at Acts of the Apostasy asks that question after he came across a post by a Patheos blogger.  I didn't read the post he referred to - just what Larry had to say about it.  Obviously Larry doesn't read my blog, because I tend to use words like BS and a--h--- when some news item really irks me, or as my dad might say - burns my a--.  To be honest, I agree that is not the best use of language.

So anyway.  I remember a time when some bloggers used bad language all of the time and I actually wrote something about it myself.  Yup.  Back in the olden days I wrote:

I have wanted to comment on the fact that I've noticed Catholic bloggers using the F-word in various contexts within their posts, actually printing the word - I find that just a horrible word for a Catholic to deliberately use online or in private. Unfortunately, I've used, "effing" or "f-ing" on occasion when I've been passionate about an issue, but I usually come to my senses, realize what I've done and go back and remove it.

.

Very often our self-righteous anger is just that, self-righteous, while we remain smug, defending our rights, often unaware of the scandal we give.

Larry is right to suggest a higher standard for Catholic bloggers, and I'm going to try and do better.

BTW - I wrote about the matter within the context of something Archbishop Chaput wrote regarding letter and emails he received at the time:

The Archbishop also said this, "The left mail I get will use terrible words but be less vitriolic. They use the F-word and things like that, call me names like that. But the right is meaner, but they’re not as foul." - Archbishop Chaput

Read Larry's post here.  And watch your mouth you filthy animal.

I know that!

I didn't say that!

You said that!

I didn't say that,

you said that!

I knew that!

 

Pat Robertson and St. JoseMaria Escriva as Marriage Counselors seem to have something in common.

Wisdom from the First Lady of Beauty...

"God is love. I have loved. Therefore, I will go to heaven." - to Pope Paul VI, who responded, "Oh, how wonderful, how childlike."

 

"People say I'm extravagant because I want to be surrounded by beauty. But tell me, who wants to be surrounded by garbage? Beauty is love made real and the spirit of love is God. Only a crazy man wants to be surrounded by garbage, and I'm not crazy just yet."

Pat Robertson (that's not him in the photo BTW) is in trouble again for his marital advice to a woman who just can't get over the fact her husband cheated on her.  The evangelist counseled her saying:

“Stop talking about the cheating.” Instead, the evangelist stated she should focus on the reasons Ivy married her husband and what he does. He added:

“Recognize also, like it or not, males have a tendency to wander a little bit. What you want to do is make a home so wonderful that he doesn’t want to wander.”

It was these words, along with the opener, “well, he’s a man,” which sent the internet into a tussle. - Pat Robertson's cheating advice.

Crazy?  Not so fast... St. Josemaria Escriva might have said the same thing.  Take a look:

What would you advise married women to do to ensure that their marriages continue to be happy with the passing of the years and that they do not give way to boredom? This question may not seem very important, but it is one asked by many people. 

“I think it is in fact an important question and therefore the possible solutions are also important even though they may seem very obvious. If a marriage is to preserve its initial charm and beauty, both husband and wife should try to renew their love day after day, and that is done through sacrifice, with smiles and also with ingenuity. Is it surprising that a husband who arrives home tired from work begins to lose patience when his wife keeps on and on about everything she thinks has gone wrong during the day? Disagreeable things can wait for a better moment when the husband is less tired and more disposed to listen to them.

Another important thing is personal appearance. And I would say that any priest who says the contrary is a bad adviser. As years go by a woman who lives in the world has to take more care not only of her interior life, but also of her looks. Her interior life itself requires her to be careful about her personal appearance; naturally this should always be in keeping with her age and circumstances. I often say jokingly that older facades need more restoration. It is the advice of a priest. An old Spanish saying goes: ‘A well-groomed woman keeps her husband away from other doors.’

That is why I am not afraid to say that women are responsible for eighty per cent of the infidelities of their husbands because they do not know how to win them each day and take loving and considerate care of them. A married woman’s attention should be centered on her husband and children, as a married man’s attention should be centered on his wife and children. Much time and effort is required to succeed in this, and anything which militates against it is bad and should not be tolerated.

There is no excuse for not fulfilling this lovable duty. Work outside the home is not an excuse. Not even one’s life of piety can be an excuse, because if it is incompatible with one’s daily obligations, it is not good, nor pleasing to God. A married woman’s first concern has to be her home. There is a Spanish saying which goes: ‘If through going to church to pray a woman burns the stew, she may be half an angel, but she’s half a devil too.’ I’d say she was a fully-fledged devil.”
(Conversations with Saint Josemaria Escriva, 107) - Source 

I KNOW!



You see, this is the havoc feminism has wrought upon the world - modern women are corrupted by liberalism and reject common sense Christian teaching.  Men - be men!   We can still blame the women for all that is wrong.  If they'd just shut up, look pretty, stay at home and no aska the questions, their husbands wouldn't have to lie.

BTW.  Lying.  Women do it all the time.  Isn't make-up a lie?  High-heels - she really isn't that tall.  So JoseMaria was recommending lying?  Which begs the question, would he approve of Lila Rose and Live Action tactics then?  There is a great debate going on at Jimmy Akin's about lying... everybody is engaged!  Check it out... here.

Song for this post here.

Michael Voris in Scotland: On Cardinal O'Brien

Voris is hard hitting on this one. 

The thing is, he's right.  The man has real courage.

"Today we can ask the Holy Spirit to give us all this Apostolic fervor and to give us the grace to be annoying, when things are too quiet in the Church, the grace to go out to the outskirts of life. The Church has so much need of this! Not only in distant lands, in the young churches, among people who do not know Jesus Christ, but here in the cities, in our cities, they need this proclamation of Jesus Christ. So let us ask the Holy Spirit for this grace of Apostolic zeal, let’s be Christians with apostolic zeal. And if we annoy people, blessed be the Lord. Onwards, as the Lord says to Paul, ‘take courage!' " - Pope Francis


 

 

The Feast of St. Paschal Baylon

May 17 is the memorial of St. Paschal Baylon.

A Spanish Franciscan lay-brother devoted to the Blessed Sacrament.  St. Paschal is one of my favorite patrons, I have been blessed to be caretaker of at least three first class relics of the Saint.  I need his prayers more than ever these days.

The lovely thing about St. Paschal was the grace of infused recollection which often absorbed him as he went about his duties. Deeply united to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, he was on occasion favored with the grace of seeing the Holy Eucharist when unable to be present in church.

On infused recollection:

I still want to describe this prayer of quiet to you in the way that I have heard it explained and as the Lord has been pleased to teach it to me. . . . This is a supernatural state and however hard we try, we cannot acquire it by ourselves. . . . The faculties are stilled and have no wish to move, for any movement they make seems to hinder the soul from loving God. They are not completely lost, however, since two of them are free and they can realize in whose presence they are. It is the will that is captive now. . . . The intellect tries to occupy itself with only one thing, and the memory has no desire to busy itself with more. They both see that this is the one thing necessary; anything else will cause them to be disturbed (Teresa of Jesus, chap. 31).

The predominant characteristics of the prayer of quiet are peace and joy, for the will is totally captivated by divine love. The faculties of intellect and memory are still free and may wander, but the soul should pay no attention to the operations of these faculties. To do so would cause distraction and anxiety. Later on, in the prayer of union, it will be impossible for the intellect and memory to operate independently, because all the faculties will be centered on God. - Jordan Aumann OP

The Pope knows what we know...

Yesterday morning at Mass the Holy Father said, “when a priest, a bishop goes after money, the people do not love him – and that's a sign. But he ends badly.”   St. Paul reminds us that he worked with his hands. “He did not have a bank account, he worked, and when a bishop, a priest goes on the road to vanity, he enters into the spirit of careerism – and this hurts the Church very much – [and] ends up being ridiculous: he boasts, he is pleased to be seen, all powerful – and the people do not like that!” “Pray for us,” the Pope repeated, “that we might be poor, that we might be humble, meek, in the service of the people.” - Source

We have a good Pope.





 

Self Loathing and the Culturally-correct Gay-elite

Bret Easton Ellis said it first.

And I agree.  Gay has become culturally homogenized.  Now with gay marriage on the books, it's Ozzie and Harriet-ized.  I've said similar things for years - remember, I've been blogging for seven, so I can say that.  When you say that stuff, or level charges of immorality against anything gay - you are automatically labeled 'self-loathing'.  Why?  because gay is so damned good and you better like it. 

Catholic 'gay-elites' spin it a bit differently - but they still spin it. 

So what did Bret Easton Ellis really say?

Novelist and prolix Twitterer Bret Easton Ellis is raising hackles once again by labeling such organizations as GLAAD as "the gatekeepers of politically correct gayness" in a long editorial in Out Magazine. Ellis invited further response to his argument by announcing an AMA ("ask me anything") on Reddit, to be held at noon Pacific time today.

The Out rant, titled "In the Reign of the Gay Magical Elves," was prompted in part by the media response to the recent coming out of basketball player Jason Collins, whom Ellis writes is being treated "as some kind of baby panda who needs to be honored and consoled and -- yes -- infantilized."

Ellis goes on to criticize "gay self-patronization in the media," which in his opinion celebrates "the Gay Man as Magical Elf, who whenever he comes out appears before us as some kind of saintly E.T. whose sole purpose is to be put in the position of reminding us only about Tolerance."

At fault, according to Ellis, are organizations that marginalize the gay man "who doesn't want to represent, doesn't want to teach" and who "makes crude jokes about other gays in the media (as straight dudes do of each other constantly)." This, Ellis writes, amounts to "corporate PC fascism." - LATimes
 

Ellis writes a critique and he's called self-loathing.  I simply loath the condition - not the person.

Ellis directs his critique against secular homosexual culture, nevertheless, there really is an emerging PC way of talking about all things gay-ssa amongst 'gay' Catholics - and there really are 'gatekeepers', if you will.  I'm not talking Courage or NARTH people here either.  To be sure, Ellis probably wouldn't agree with any of them, and for sure, he'd never agree with my POV.

What's my point?  Going forward, I want to publish some information a friend sent me regarding science and sexual orientation.  For now, I just want to add a quote from the same resource:

Homosexuality, as a genetic inevitability, has probably been gay activism’s most effective PR initiative in the campaign for equal rights and special protections. Although it is no longer politically correct or fashionable in many circles to say that homosexuals can change, it is scientifically accurate to say so. We are not speaking only of behavioural changes but changes in attraction.

 

The fact is that nothing makes us do anything—neither our genes nor our environment. - Source

 

"Although it is no longer politically correct or fashionable in many circles to say that homosexuals can change, it is scientifically accurate to say so."  I'm convinced it can be spiritually accurate to say so too.

Editor's note:  This comes off sort of 'out of the blue', I'm sure.  How do I make these connections?  Arrive at my conclusions?  I hope I can explain going forward.

In the meantime, my apologies for dwelling on the homosexual issue, I'm more or less responding to the recent developments regarding gay marriage in Minnesota and the initial consequence of cultural approval for homosexual sexual relations and behaviour.

These are the consequences BTW.

With gay marriage approved, homosexual sexual behavior is approved.  Gay Catholics are already talking about living within that reality - in other words, on another level, accepting it, and developing a gay spirituality.  That's huge ladies and gentlemen.  That's huge, moms and dads and teachers and pastors. 

It's huge.

 

This Is Very Good: Fr. West on Homosexuality and Theology of the Body

Governor Dayton signs gay marriage legislation.

Fr. Peter West:

Polls show that most young people today, even those who identify themselves as Christians, have no problem with “same-sex marriage.”

If young people today are at all aware of what the Catholic Church teaches about marriage and human sexuality, what they think they know is often only a caricature of the truth. They see it as simply a set of prohibitions established by men. But what the Church actually presents is a vision of the beauty of marriage as a sacred union between one man and one woman who are committed for life and open to the transmission of new human life. With this vision, “same-sex marriage” is an oxymoron, making about as much sense as a “squared circle.”

“Same-sex marriage” has been presented to the public as an issue of fairness. But the worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal. Leaders in the homosexual movement have themselves admitted that the promotion of “same-sex marriage” is a device to destroy the institution of marriage. A poster at a homosexual conference called the National Conference on Organized Resistance in 2008 read “Marriage is the proverbial burning building. Instead of pounding on the door to be let in…queers should be stoking the flames!”

Of course, our understanding of marriage has been damaged by the fruits of the sexual revolution: no-fault divorce, cohabitation, contraception, sterilization and abortion. What is our problem with changing the definition of marriage to accommodate same-sex couples? Are we being “unfair”?

Blessed Pope John Paul II reflected on love, the nature of the human person, marriage as a vocation and the purpose of the body in a series of lectures from 1979 to 1984 during his Wednesday audiences which he called the “Theology of the Body.”
With regard to marriage, John Paul referred to Our Lord’s teaching. When Jesus was asked a question about marriage and divorce, He referred back to the beginning – to God’s original purpose for marriage. - Finish reading here.
 

Fr. West goes on to point out that premarital sex is a lie, "Sex before marriage is really a lie. The couple’s body language says I give myself to you completely, but they are unwilling to make the commitment to each other that this love requires."  Similarly, artificial contraception in marriage is a lie as well.  That being the case, how much more serious is the lie of homosexual sex.

So called homosexual marriage can never be sacramental, as fr. West explains: "Through Christian love given and received, God gives the marriage partners a sharing in his life and helps them grow in grace and spiritual maturity. Physical intimacy that is open to life becomes a sign and pledge of spiritual communion."

I rediscovered something from Kipling too...

Matthew Kelly included Kipling's poem, IF in his book, Rediscover Catholicism.  It is one of my favorites.  I knew a saintly doctor who had given the poem to his sons, one of whom is most likely a saint today, since he died not too long ago from cancer. 

IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise: 

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'  

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

"My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the way that will lead you to God." - Our Lady of Fatima

Today, Minnesota approved gay 'marriage'.

With deafening cheers and overwhelming emotion, the Minnesota Senate voted 37-30 to legalize same-sex marriage. “Today, love wins,” said Sen. Tony Lourey, DFL-Kerrick. - StarTrib
 

 

Pope Francis at the March for Life.

Habaemus papam!

Pro-lifers who had just finished the third annual Italian March for Life on Sunday were surprised to see Pope Francis coming toward them in the popemobile.

“It was a great joy for us because we didn’t expect this at all, we just expected his message,” said March for Life organizer Virginia Coda Nunziante.

“It was extraordinary because I met the people who unexpectedly saw him coming,” she told CNA on May 13.

The popemobile brought the Pope down the first block of Via della Conciliazione after he finished his first canonization Mass and the weekly Regina Caeli prayer on Sunday.

May 12 was also the day that around 20,000 pro-lifers from Italy and beyond converged on Rome to defend the unborn and call for an end to abortion in the country. - A Catholic View

This story gives me hope.  Some day perhaps the Holy Father will lead the march in procession with the Blessed Sacrament.

Brandon Vogt and his Strange Notions

Brandon Vogt has created a new website he titled Strange Notions, a Digital Areopagus, featuring an impressive line-up of high profile Catholic writers.

That's so cool.  Now I don't have to make a list.

May 13: Our Lady of Fatima

"Many marriages are not good; they do not please Our Lord and are not of God." - Our Lady to Bl. Jacinta

Pray the Rosary.

Minnesota Senate to Vote on Gay Marriage Tomorrow, May 13

Minnesota for Marriage is asking for people to join them at the capitol tomorrow:

THE MINNESOTA SENATE WILL VOTE ON THE GAY “MARRIAGE” BILL ON MONDAY, MAY 13!

THIS IS OUR LAST CHANCE TO STAND FOR MARRIAGE IN OUR STATE.

JOIN US ON MONDAY AT THE CAPITOL IN PRAYER & PROTEST

Join us for as much time on Monday as possible. We need as many people as possible to come speak to their senators one last time about the importance of marriage between 1 man and 1 woman and to join fellow traditional marriage supporters in prayer and protest Monday all day.
Wear your Minnesota for Marriage blue & green to show your support for traditional marriage!

REMEMBER, THE GAY “MARRIAGE” BILL HAS ALREADY PASSED THE HOUSE. IF IT PASSES IN THE SENATE ON MONDAY, GAY “MARRIAGE” WILL BECOME LAW IN MINNESOTA!

Have you done everything you can to help us stop this from happening?

Please, join us in prayer and protest at the Capitol on Monday. - Minnesota for Marriage
 

Here’s the ALARMING FACTS:

1. On Thursday, May 9, the MN House voted to pass same-sex “marriage” into law in Minnesota.

2. Sadly, many Representatives turned their back on their constituents who overwhelmingly support traditional marriage and voted instead to pass the bill, siding with DFL leadership and the same-sex “marriage” lobby.

3. The bill erases the terms “husband” and “wife” from our laws and says that “Mother” and “Father” must be interpreted “neutrally”!

4. The bill does NOTHING to protect the religious freedoms of individuals, businesses, teachers, professionals, and non-church owned schools like University of St. Thomas and Northwestern College who believe marriage is between 1 man and 1 woman.

5. The bill would classify over 1 MILLION Minnesotans as “bigots” under the law for believing that marriage is between a man and a woman.
6. The MN Senate will vote on the bill on MONDAY, MAY 13.
7. If the Senate approves the bill, Governor Dayton will sign it, and same-sex “marriages” will begin in August. 

 

 

If you can't attend, pray many Rosaries.