On February 18, 1858

Our Lady appeared to St. Bernadette, asking her to return to the grotto for 15 days.

Bernadette agreed, and Our Lady made this promise:

"I promise to make you happy, not in this world, but in the next."

That is important to know for all of us.  Our Lady never preached a 'prosperity gospel'.

I believe today is the memorial of St. Bernadette in France.

Bernadette's prayer of thanksgiving ...

Thank you Lady Mary, 

that I am Bernadette,

who was threatened with prison

because I saw you.

I am she who the crowds

stared at as a rare animal -

that Bernadette so wretched

that upon seeing her,

it was said:

"Is that it?"

The crowds never change.  After the disclosure of the Third Secret I remember them saying the same thing: "Is that it?"

This is so interesting ... Trump's unofficial diagnosis.

Nuts.

John D. Gartner, a practicing psychotherapist who taught psychiatric residents at Johns Hopkins University Medical School, minces as few words as the president in his professional assessment of Trump.

"Donald Trump is dangerously mentally ill and temperamentally incapable of being president," says Gartner, author of "In Search of Bill Clinton: A Psychological Biography." Trump, Gartner says, has "malignant narcissism," which is different from narcissistic personality disorder and which is incurable.

Gartner acknowledges that he has not personally examined Trump, but says it's obvious from Trump's behavior that he meets the diagnostic criteria for the disorder, which include anti-social behavior, sadism, aggressiveness, paranoia and grandiosity. Trump's personality disorder (which includes hypomania) is also displayed through a lack of impulse control and empathy, and "a feeling that people ... don't recognize their greatness. - USNews

This may explain his behavior at his last presser.

But 'they' said the same things about Obama.  I guess it takes a narcissist to lead a nation of narcissists, huh?

So anyway.  There are those who will disagree on this of course, but something is off with Trump.  So far I'm not convinced the administration is running like a fine tuned machine.  There remain many job openings he needs to fill, as David Brooks cited last evening on PBS News Hour:

The press conference was its own thing. It’s like some exploding nebula of madness. I thought it was just mildly deranged, just the epitome of nonlinear thinking. Let’s put it that way. 

But what strikes me is, we have got to remember, what is the guy actually doing? And here we have an administration where he’s making a lot of press conferences, but, on the substantive picks, he doesn’t have a national security adviser. There are 691 confirmable positions in the White House.

The Trump administration has not even come up with names and nominees for 631 out of those 691. So there is nobody there, nobody in the shop, no policy-making being made. - PBS

I watched the presser, and shortly after Trump said media would say he was ranting and raving - and he denied he was - he began to rant and rave.  I found it pretty unsettling and was reminded of Howard Beale in Network.

Today a NYT Opinion piece warns it's too early to diagnose the President - which I agree with, but it seems to me he's falling right in with the 'dictator' profile - therefore a wait and see what happens is our only alternative - but I really think he's at least potentially dangerous.  My apologies to those who disagree.

I concur with the NYT summation:

There is one last reason we should avoid psychiatrically labeling our leaders: It lets them off the moral hook. Not all misbehavior reflects psychopathology; the fact is that ordinary human meanness and incompetence are far more common than mental illness. We should not be in the business of medicalizing bad actors.

So the nation doesn’t need a shrink to help it to decide whether President Trump is fit to serve, mentally or otherwise. Presidents should be judged on the merits of their actions, statements and, I suppose, their tweets. No experts are needed for that — just common sense. - Richard A. Friedman

I'll try to let the Trump stuff go - but I can't help find it fascinating.  Again, it's because of where I come from, an abusive, crazy family and I once worked for a VP who had many of the same symptoms, or characteristics of malignant narcissism.  Most fellow employees in his division would agree with me, I'm sure.

Have a nice day.

Song for this post here.

Here's a thought...

80M

If a blogger received just one dollar for every time he got a hit - just imagine how much money he would have after 80 million hits.

EWTN - World Over DOA

Remember, Catholic media is a selling machine ...

they need your donations and purchases.

Just last night ...

I clicked on World Over Live and caught the end of a discussion with Robert Royal, Raymond and Fr. What's His Name from NYC.  I think they were talking about schism and heresy and Pope Francis.  I clicked off seconds later.

I had heard they were taking up the narrative that the Pope is bad and we are on the precipice of schism.  I caught one comment from a viewer who tweeted, "If there is a schism, whose side are we supposed to be on?"

World Over Live has no authority.  Go to your chancery, ask your local ordinary these sorts of questions.  Be careful of Catholic media and most especially Catholic social media.

Go to Mass, frequent the sacraments, keep the commandments, be faithful to the duties of your state in life, give to the poor, pray, pray, pray.  Stay away from Catholic media and those who see schism as a solution.  It shouldn't even be discussed.  If EWTN and its offshoots, as well as their pundits are leading you to believe that we are on the verge of schism, then avoid the Network.  Never ever depart from the Church, the Pope and the Magisterium - the bishops in communion with him.  We have the Catechism, Magisterial Teaching, Scripture and Tradition to adhere to in any doubt, despite what media reports.  We have the Mass and the sacraments.  We have Our Lady's rosary and protection.  We have Christ and Christ has us - we are his body.

No matter what happens, what is said, what is done - the Church can never change her teachings. Christ is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. I am Christ's and Christ is mine...

"Mine are the heavens and mine is the earth. Mine are the nations, the just are mine, and mine the sinners. The angels are mine, and the Mother of God, and all things are mine; and God Himself is mine and for me, because Christ is mine and all for me." - St. John of the Cross

Remember Lot's wife, who turned into a salt-shaker after she went back to check her email one last time...

The cost of protecting the very rich ... remember when people started calling Mrs. Obama "Mooch"?

This is an expensive way to conduct business...

A friend sent me information on the cost of security for the Trump family.

I seriously don't get into this type of stuff, but when my friend was telling about what it costs to protect the First Family, I reminded him of how anti-Obama pundits coined the name "Mooch" for Mrs. Obama.  I think Limbaugh coined the name - with his 'fake' news and 'alternative facts' regarding the First Lady's trip to Spain.

Conservative media's attacks on Spain vacation based on falsehoods 

Limbaugh falsely claims taxpayers funding 60 luxury hotel rooms for Michelle Obama's vacation

I think Trump's claims regarding fake news  starts with him and the talk radio fanatics who live off rumor and gossip.

I'm not going into the details, but just Google the cost of security for Trump's family to see the expenses involved.

I'm not against Secret Service protecting the First Family - I'm against the hypocrisy of Trump supporters who disparaged the Obama family as well as spread fake news and alternative facts about their family life and their lifestyle.

Breaking: Mrs. Filomena Garanziano of the Twin Cities Italian-American Center report on toasters.

Oddly enough ... I checked Charlie Johnston's website yesterday ...

“The RESCUE Has Begun”

Beckita is filling in the blanks.

I just wanted to check and see if Trump and the chaos engulfing of his administration was ever mentioned and noticed that Beckita was in charge now, pretty much disseminating Charlie's messages.  Beckita seems to be to Charlie what Christine is to Voris - sans locutionary skills.  Seriously, I just wanted to see if new predictions were popping up with the new editor.  I decided it's a cult - Beckita was still promoting the message.

Oddly enough, I found the following update in my mail box today - thanks to a friend.  The Archdiocese of Denver had to step in again.  (It amazes me how devout Catholics can bend over backwards to promote their private revelations, even when repudiated by Church authorities.  In other words, trying to reinterpret what they were saying while insisting they are approved or permitted to sell their stories and go on tour.)

Archdiocese Denounces ‘Seer’ Message
February 16, 2017 by sd

Statement from Denver Archdiocese ‘on false claim regarding Charlie Johnston’s messages’ 

Mrs. Beckie Hesse, using the online profile “Beckita,” stated in a Feb. 7, 2017 blog post titled “The RESCUE Has Begun” that the messages of the alleged visionary Mr. Charlie Johnston, who resides in the Archdiocese of Denver, “have been fully approved by the Church.” In order to ensure that the faithful are correctly informed, it is necessary to publicly state that Mrs. Hesse’s claim is false.

In fact, Mr. Johnston’s alleged messages were reviewed by an archdiocesan theological commission and Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila determined that the faithful should be warned to be prudent and cautious about Mr. Johnston’s predictions. In addition, Mr. Johnston is not permitted to speak in Church-owned venues in the Archdiocese of Denver.

The events of 2016/17 have shown that Mr. Johnston’s alleged visions were not accurate and the Archdiocese urges the faithful not to condone or support further attempts to reinterpret them as valid. - Press Release

Today's Gospel is so appropriate on so many levels.  Jesus said: "You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do." 

Questions about Amoris laetitia ... 'from rumors to news' ...

Catholic tabloid news.

"The gossip is a ‘terrorist’ who throws a grenade - chatter - in order to destroy." - Pope Francis

It's been my woefully uniformed understanding that the biggest questions regarding Amoris laetitia focus upon sacraments for the unwed who cohabit, and that sort of stuff one would call adulterous.  It's all related to the Synod on the family and assorted questions posed by prelates to the pope, which haven't been addressed - and all that stuff.  It doesn't concern me because I'm old and single and will never have to deal with this question.  I go to Mass, receive the sacraments regularly (confession before communion), pray, perform the duties of my state in life as best I can, and so on.  Whatever Amoris says that is problematic for others, isn't for me.

That said - it is my understanding the issues which have become a source of conflict are a matter of conscience and are to be dealt with in confession and or spiritual direction.  In other words, it's a spiritual matter between the Church, specifically the person who stands in the place of Christ - the priest - and the penitent.  Even more reason for me not to concern myself, since no one is holding me back from the sacraments.

However, over the years, there have been instances that I've heard of - known about - which correlate very well to the 'permissive lines' of Amoris laetitia which many devout souls question, condemn, and judge.  These exceptions and dispensations, licit or not, are nothing new.  Are they abuses?  Technically yes, but they have not been uncommon.  Yet that's neither here, nor there - I just mention it so the young people and the meddlesome realize these things are not new.  Perhaps what is new is that it is admitted to by a reigning pontiff and put in writing... not as a change in teaching, but rather a consideration within the context of pastoral practice.  Disagree with me on that, it's perfectly fine - I have no dog in this race.

Nevertheless it did strike me as ironic that 1P5 writer Steve Skojec included in his essay a sort of defense of rumor and gossip in reporting matters of faith and morals, as well as the behind the scenes intrigue of Vatican government and operations and persons.  (It's easy to give ourselves dispensations regarding personal moral choices when we want to.)  I couldn't help but wonder if that is how these people justify what they report on, speculate about, and say and do on a daily basis?  How much research and digging up dirt is involved in that?  That would be a matter of conscience for most people, but how would one confess it?  "Bless me Father, but I wasn't able to control my tongue.  Someone contacted me and gave me information they heard from another source.  It isn't really gossip because it came from a very holy person in the Vatican, and I just want to defend the good reputation of Cardinal Prefect of Nothing"?

So, without further ado, apparently this is how to justify gossip and rumor mongering for the glory of God, the salvation of souls, and the triumph of the Church Militant:

I want to stop for a moment to say something important on this topic: it is difficult to explain, to those accustomed to the fact-based reporting standards of Western Journalism, that intrigue and rumor are the primary vehicles of information transfer in the world’s oldest bureaucracy. Press conferences in Rome, when they happen (or when their principals bother to show up) are just the tiny tips of rather substantial icebergs. Everyone is always playing the long game at the Vatican. Politics, positioning, power-plays. I recently joked that if we didn’t report on Vatican rumors, there wouldn’t be anything about the Vatican to report on at all. (After all, we can’t even get a direct answer from the pope to the dubia. Trying to nail down solid information is like grasping at shadows.)

We are not, at this phase of our existence as a publication, a full-fledged news shop. We don’t have journalists we can send around the world to investigate stories, even if we could afford to. We rely on a number of international relationships, inside sources, existing reporting, and the like. We are given a great deal of information all the time by our contacts, and we have to sift through it for what we can ethically share. We try very hard to leave as much hearsay as possible on the cutting room floor, seeking out only the most credible information to pass on. Just this morning, in fact, I found myself turning down an extremely important piece of news given to me by someone trustworthy because I don’t want to report these things without a first-hand source. I have no interest in 1P5 becoming, essentially, a Vatican TMZ. - Skojec

No worry there, LifeSite, Canon 212 and Pewsitters pretty much fit the TMZ category.  1P5 is getting more like The Remnant and Novus Ordo Watch.  Earlier today, I came across a priest online who referred to these sites as bomb-throwers.  Rather than playing Cardinal Burke as a victim of the Holy Father's criticism or appropriating the Holy Father's comparison of gossipers as taking the place of scribes and Pharisees and claiming he is condemning Burke, I think Catholic 'journalists' and social media commentators should take his words to heart as being addressed to them.  Cardinal Burke is doing just fine all by himself and is touring the country basking in the devotion of the faithful.  He's doing very well.

We all need to examine ourselves, and as Pope Francis says: “It is never to late to convert! Never! Up until the last moment: The patience of God who waits for us.”

The Cardinal Advisors ...

Why didn't he ask him then?

If there is a crisis in the Church - and it sure looks like there is because online and off, publications are selling out covering every aspect of it - fueling the fire.  So, why don't the Cardinals pin the Holy Father down about the five dubia?  Huh?  Huh?

The Cardinal Advisors got together this week, and this afternoon the Pope will be sitting in.  They concelebrated Mass with the Pope this week as well.  Couldn't one of these guys pin the Pope down?  Why couldn't Burke have 'crashed' the session?  Huh?  Huh?

The next meeting of the Council of Cardinals will take place 24-26 April 2017.  So Cardinal Burke is not on the Council of Cardinals?  So what?  Talk to the Pope directly.  Break protocol.  The Cardinals need to take care of this - it's their problem.

Cardinals and bishops have the duty and the responsibility to take care of this.

Catholics have the right to ask questions.

But calumny and detraction is absolutely scandalous and evil.  Case in point from Hilary White:

I’ve been in conversation recently with some people who lived and worked in South America, particularly in Argentina, and the things that they say are “widely,” even commonly known about what kind of man now sits on Peter’s throne. These things would likely curl the hair of most people just coming to these discussions. Even those who are comfortable identifying Francis as a heretic and an enemy of the Faith and of Christ would likely balk at hearing the things I’ve been hearing.

At the moment I can’t share much of that with you, but there is actually quite a lot that was written about him and his style of governance of Buenos Aires that is publicly available and pretty easily accessible. And it paints a terrifying picture of a man totally uninterested in the Catholic religion or the law – whether Canon Law or the Moral Law – a man obsessed with power and utterly ruthless in his methods of gaining it. - Hilary White

Journalists/bloggers like this are contributors to the "network of lies, intrigue, espionage, mistrust and fear" they claim to be exposing.  It is a scandal all its own.

There is hope for us all however, even when everything collapses around us.  “Never despair of God's mercy.” - Rule of St. Benedict Ch 4: 73

When I came across this headline - "a network of lies, intrigue, espionage, mistrust and, more effective than anything, fear."

I clicked on it thinking it might be an article on the Trump press office.

Instead it was an article defaming Pope Francis by a Catholic blogger/journalist.*  It was a recycling of the defamation Rorate Caeli published after the election of Cardinal Bergoglio.

The author and commentators have made themselves political supporters of Cardinal Burke and seem to be on a campaign to discredit Pope Francis.  That's unfortunate.

I came across a very good report on Cardinal Burke recently, and I doubt he would approve of the character assassination these people have perverted their writing skills toward accomplishing.

Recently Cardinal Burke was asked "whether we should go to "Novus Ordo" or Extraordinary Form for Mass."  Cardinal Burke responded:

- He said the important thing was to go to Mass, not if it was the Ordinary Form or Extraordinary Form.
- He said both are the unbloodied sacrifice of Christ on the cross and both are valid.
- He said if we felt like we got more out of one than the other, by all means go to one or the other. - source

Catholics disparaging the Holy Father while claiming to be offering support to Cardinal Burke  are really screwed up.

*Uncanny similarities ...

"The Pope doesn't need you to defend him."

A priest told me that in confession about a year ago, I think.  It was a charitable reproof that I'm often reminded of whenever I'm tempted to say something 'defending' the Holy Father.  Then I realize, I don't need to do that.  He's doing just fine on his own.

Catholics who simply tune him out, stop listening, seem to be doing just fine as well.

Who can dare assure himself that he is neither a great sinner nor a tepid soul but that he is one of the elect? Alas, my brethren, how many seem to be good Christians in the eyes of the world who are really tepid souls in the eyes of God, Who knows our inmost hearts.... 

Let us ask God with all our hearts, if we are in this state, to give us the grace to get out of it, so that we may take the route that all the saints have taken and arrive at the happiness that they are enjoying. That is what I desire for you.... - St. John Vianney, The Dreadful State of the Lukewarm Soul

First let me say I have great respect for Archbishop Chaput ...

But - has he noticed the negative culture generated by the Trump Administration?

Chaput:  “It’s just amazing to me how hostile the press is to everything the president does.”

Really?

The Grammys and Beyonce as Mother Goddess

An unmistakable  metaphor ...

I saw a woman seated on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names ... Book of Revelation


Beyonce's performance last night was kind of fascinating - but also kind of dumb - the gynecological chair tilt thing was strange - the chair and table design was so 'ordinary' compared to the rest of the spectacle.  That missed.

Her performance was actually more fascinating for the Mother Goddess imagery.  Bam!  In your face Gaia.  From devout Christians of course, albeit more spiritual than religious.  The music/entertainment industry channels New Age spirituality, which is quite simply neo-pagan idolatry.  Nothing surprising about that.

Just saying.  There is great gain in 'spiritual but not religious' - but you will never content with a sufficiency ...

This particular type of ritual - entertainment phenomena - seems to me to be a natural development of secular/pagan culture.  I think it fits in well with Joseph Ratzinger's 1958 lecture on neo-paganism, which has recently come to light online.

One [might] speak rather about the much more characteristic phenomenon of our time, which determines the real attack against the Christian, from the paganism within the Church herself, from the “desolating sacrilege set up where it ought not to be” (Mk 13:14).

The fact that today, even given an optimistic evaluation, certainly more than half of the Catholics (here we are considering only our Church) no longer “practice” their faith, should not be explained clearly in the sense that this large number of non-practicing Catholics should simply be called pagans. It is still evident that they no longer simply embrace the faith of the Church, but that they make a very subjective choice from the creed of the Church in order to shape their own world view. And there can be no doubt that most of them, from the Christian point of view, should really no longer be called believers, but that they follow, more or less, a secular philosophy. They do indeed affirm the moral responsibility of man, but it is based on, and limited by, purely rational considerations. The ethics of N. Hartmanns, K. Jaspers, and M. Heidegger, for example, defend the more or less known convictions of many morally upright men, but they are in no sense Christians. The well-known little book published by the List-Verlag (a German publishing house—Editor’s note) entitled, What Do You Think About Christianity? can open the eyes of anyone, who has allowed himself to be deceived by the Christian façade of our contemporary public image, to the realization of how far and wide such purely rational and irreligious morality has spread. Therefore, the modern man today, when he meets someone else anywhere, can assume with some certainty that he has a baptismal certificate, but not that he has a Christian frame of mind. Therefore, he must presume as the normal state of affairs the lack of faith of his neighbor. This fact has two important consequences: On the one hand, it includes a fundamental change in the structure of the Church; and, on the other hand, it has produced an essential change of consciousness on the side of the still-believing Christians. - The New Pagans

$American idol$

I was at the Mass of a saint this morning.

I think the priest who said Mass this morning is a saint.

He filled in for our pastor who was away.  I know who he is but won't tell you his name.  He is one of the Archdiocese' younger priests.  Our younger priests are truly impressive and holy.  The ones I have encountered, that is.  This guy is like an angel.  He reminds me of St. Aloysius.

Anyway.  Please pray for our priests - especially thank God for their vocation and devotion.  It's sad to think they can become discouraged - they sometimes may not be aware of how much they radiate Christ.

Mass Chat

Church of St. Agnes

Paul S. Kramer