The Stations of Pope Francis: Francis Falls the Third Time ...

Pope Francis Falls the Third Time

V. We adore Thee, O Christ, and we praise Thee. 

R. Because by Thy holy cross Thou hast redeemed the world.

Pope Francis stumbled and fell as he walked up steps in St Peter’s Square today, 

He then continued his ascent ... - Source

Stabat Mater dolorosa (At the cross her station keeping)

Juxta crucem lacrymosa (Stood the mournful Mother weeping) 

Dum pendebat Filius (Close to Jesus to the last)

Sancta Mater, istud agas ( Holy Mother! pierce me through)

Crucifixi fige plagas (In my heart each wound renew)

Cordi meo valide (Of my Saviour crucified)

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The other two times here:

Pope Francis Falls the First Time

V. We adore Thee, O Christ, and we praise Thee. 

R. Because by Thy holy cross Thou hast redeemed the world.

Francis takes up his cross ...

O quam tristis et afflicta (Oh, how sad and sore distressed)

Fuit illa benedicta (Was that Mother highly blessed)

Mater Unigeniti (Of the sole-begotten One!) 

Sancta Mater, istud agas ( Holy Mother! pierce me througe:h)

Crucifixi fige plagas (In my heart each wound renew)

Cordi meo valide (Of my Saviour crucified)

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Pope Francis Falls the Second Time

V. We adore Thee, O Christ, and we praise Thee. 

R. Because by Thy holy cross Thou hast redeemed the world.

Carrying his own bag cross ...

Pro peccatis Suae gentis (Bruised, derided, cursed, defiled)

Vidit Jesum in tormentis (She beheld her tender Child) 

Et flagellis subditum (All with bloody scourges rent) 

Sancta Mater, istud agas ( Holy Mother! pierce me through)

Crucifixi fige plagas (In my heart each wound renew)

Cordi meo valide (Of my Saviour crucified)

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"In the Via Crucis of an entire century, the figure of the Pope has a special role. In his arduous ascent of the mountain we can undoubtedly see a convergence of different Popes. Beginning from Pius X up to the present Pope, they all shared the sufferings of the century and strove to go forward through all the anguish along the path which leads to the Cross." - Fatima Secret-Message

St. Peter Damien - a new translation of The Book of Gomorrah ...

My first post on gay stuff in a month.

Yeah - you homos tell me that's all I write about when I write stuff you don't like.  What?

So anyway.

I wasn't really aware that the earlier translations Peter Damien's treatise were 'adulterated', though I knew gay revisionist scholars had attempted to discredit both saint and the general acceptance of the work - claiming the Pope pretty much rejected the letter.  New scholarship disproves that theory - revisionist claims I never accepted in the first place.  Now if only someone would redeem the reputation of St. Aelred from claims that he is some sort of gay friendship guru and gay saint.

From the Catholic World Report interview:

Ite ad Thomam Books and Media has now published a rigorous and careful translation ofThe Book of Gomorrah, praised by scholars as “highly readable”, “clear and well-articulated”, and “excellent and accurate”. Carl E. Olson, editor of Catholic World Report, recently corresponded with the translator, Matthew Cullinan Hoffman, who is a graduate student at Holy Apostles College and Seminary and a regular contributor to a number of Catholic periodicals, including CWR.

CWR: What is The Book of Gomorrah and why did St. Peter Damian write it?

Matthew Cullinan Hoffman: The Book of Gomorrah is letter written to Pope St. Leo IX around the year 1049 in response to an epidemic of sodomy among the priests of Italy, which Peter Damian feared would bring down the wrath of God upon the Church. This plague of sexual perversion was part of a larger crisis of moral laxity in the priesthood, including widespread sexual incontinency and illicit marriages, the simoniacal purchasing of clerical ordination, and the prevalence of a worldly and carnal mentality among the clergy. The laity were outraged by such behavior and were even beginning to rebel against the Church hierarchy in some places, such as Florence and Milan.

The Book of Gomorrah is an eloquent and impassioned denunciation of the vice of sodomy, describing in harrowing detail the devastating spiritual and psychological effects on those who practice it. Damian holds that sodomy is the worst of all sins because it does the greatest harm to the soul, and argues very persuasively that no priest who is habituated to such behavior should be permitted to continue in the priesthood. However, the work is not only a condemnation of evil, but also an outpouring of grief for those who have fallen into such immorality, urging them to "rise from the dead" and return to Christ, and promising them forgiveness and even spiritual glory if they repent and do penance. So the work expresses very profoundly both the justice and the mercy of God.

What I especially like is how the translator Matthew Cullinan Hoffman explains and defines the sin of Sodom - or sodomy - and the striking parallel to our times - wherein the sin of sodomy permeates Western culture.

CWR: How does Peter Damian define "sodomy" and what significance does this have?

Hoffman: This is one of the most interesting and relevant aspects of the book for the modern reader. Damian sees "sodomitic vice" as not only including homosexual acts (which he holds to be the most grievous kind of sodomy) but any form of sexual perversion, which notably includes contraception and masturbation, which he regards as closely related. In chapter four he notes that God "struck Onan, the son of Jude, with an untimely death because of this nefarious offense," that is, spilling his seed upon the ground rather than completing the sexual act in the natural way.

I believe that by placing contraception and masturbation under the heading of "sodomy" Damian is recognizing a truth that seems to be all but completely forgotten among Catholics today, and that is that the sexual revolution and the rise of the social acceptance of unnatural sexual behavior is rooted in a contraceptive mentality that divorces the sexual act from its natural procreative purpose, and tends to make it into an act of selfish, narcissistic lust. Given the almost universal acceptance of contraception in our society, is it surprising that we have become so numb and unconcerned about the rise of more perverse forms of the same fundamental vice, and even applaud them? - CWR

Like I've always said - contraception is the original sin of the sexual revolution.

St Peter Damian sees "sodomitic vice" as not only including homosexual acts (which he holds to be the most grievous kind of sodomy) but any form of sexual perversion, which notably includes contraception and masturbation, which he regards as closely related.

So anyway.  When you call people sodomites - remember that may include a whole lot of people other than gays.

I think gender-queer theory is a direct result.  Since, as Hoffman points out, "the sexual revolution and the rise of the social acceptance of unnatural sexual behavior is rooted in a contraceptive mentality that divorces the sexual act from its natural procreative purpose" - so it seems to me gender option and sexual identity derives from the same disordered social conditioning.  The result is a sort of sexual Babel.

Good luck with that.

This. Is. So. Funny.

What his critics can do with this!

Song for this post here.  I hope he listens to it.

I rarely ask for prayers ...

But I must take an elderly friend of mine for surgery today.

Please pray for him that all goes well.

He's not Catholic or religious - so he needs prayer for that as well.

Thanks very much.

Mark Shea consoles a reader struggling with his faith.

Mark Shea at his best.

A reader struggling with his faith - and Mark's response to him - is a jewel. I think it may be encouraging to many people these days. Yesterday I was saddened to read on Fr. Blake's blog about a woman who said she has lost the faith - today - Mark seems to reach out to rescue a man in similar circumstances.  Sowing hope, rather than despair.

Part of the problem is that people have no idea what this Synod is about. It is, like all conciliar actions, a time when the Church “holds herself in suspense” as Bp. Robert Barron puts it, and makes up her mind about things. It is supposed to hear from all sides so that it can sift wheat from chaff. The pope did something similar when drafting Humanae Vitae, consulting theologians who urged him to ditch the Church’s ancient tradition about artificial contraception. He declined to do so.

What this come down to is a test of your trust, not in Francis, but in Jesus Christ’s promise that the Holy Spirit will guide the Church into all truth. It is He, not Francis, who is the soul of the Church. - Shea

Pope Francis would approve.

I've also been having computer problems...

Just a heads up.

If you have emailed me and I haven't responded it's probably because there are problems with my computer.  I found that out from a friend who called to ask why I wasn't responding.  I also stopped checking out a few sites online because for some unknown reason my laptop crashes when I'm on your site.  I'm not blaming you - but you tumlr people know who you are.

I think things have been taken care of now.

Although, I may never blog again if this keeps happening.  I may blow up the computer in the back yard for November 5 festivities - bonfires of the vain and frivolous.

Just remember - I wouldn't ignore you - I need all the friends I can get.

What?

I think what is happening today has to be the unfolding of the Third Secret ...

“Tell everybody that God grants graces through the Immaculate Heart of Mary...” - Blessed Jacinta

I've said it before and each time I repeat it I am more convinced.  I repeat it because we get ourselves embroiled in arguments and criticism and condemning everything happening in the Church and the world which we cannot process fast enough intellectually, emotionally and spiritually.

Repeating myself again:  I think we're there. Before she died, Sr. Lucia said we were going towards the trials foretold "little by little." Closer to the date of the beatifications she told the pope we were "going towards it with great strides." Which is why I think we are there now.

"I saw the Holy Father in a very big house, kneeling by a table, with his head buried in his hands, and he was weeping. Outside the house, there were many people. Some of them were throwing stones, others were cursing him and using bad language. Poor Holy Father, we must pray very much for him." - Blessed Jacinta

Consider Jacinta's vision in light of how the Holy Father is being treated - even by Catholics - and what he himself has been saying since the beginning of his pontificate.

"Only God knows the stories of those people who have given their lives, who have died, and continue to be stoned with the hardest stone that exists in the world: language.” - Pope Francis 

The migrants and the bodies of martyrs piling up.

I watched CBS evening news last night.  They interviewed Christians who have taken refuge someplace in Syria - of all places.  The Christian woman said she would never go back to Iraq, explaining it was bad enough living with Muslims before, but now with ISIS it is intolerable.  The mass migration includes more than Christian refugees of course, what does it mean for the West?  Especially when states concede rights - as in the German example of giving up Christian festivals so as not to offend Muslims?

The mass migration crisis.

While the flow of migrants to Europe this year already represents the biggest influx from outside the Continent in modern history, many experts warn that the mass movement may continue and even increase — possibly for years to come. “We are talking about millions of potential refugees trying to reach Europe, not thousands,” Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, said in a recent Twitter posting. Many of the migrants are fleeing persecution, poverty, ethnic and religious strife and war, but these afflictions are often symptoms of more profound changes.

In the Middle East and Africa, borders drawn by Ottoman dynasts and European colonialists are breaking down as the autocratic Arab states that enforced a grim peace for generations continue to implode.

As traditional lines of authority break down, militant groups like the Islamic State and Boko Haram, in Nigeria, seek to fill the vacuum while minority sects and ethnic groups suffer unspeakable treatment at their hands. - NYT

The following is that one part of the Secret Lucia told Jacinta not to speak about - since it referred to the third part which wasn't revealed until the year 2000.

"Look! Don’t you see many roads, paths and fields full of people crying of hunger, not having anything to eat? And the Holy Father in a Church praying next to the Heart of Mary?" - Blessed Jacinta

I think this is it.

I'm not talking about the end of the world.  However, I do not think anyone could ever have predicted what we are witnessing today - the overwhelming influx of immigrants and refugees, among them may be a sort of Fifth Column movement of Islamic terrorists?  I don't know - and heads of state appear not to know as well.

It's all very confusing and frustrating.  All the negativity online, especially among Catholics is really depressing.  Bloggers talk about war - priests and canonists and scholars discuss religious issues generated by the Synod in terms of war - one in particular, Rachel Lu, a professor from a local college kept calling liberals and fellow progressive academics losers and heretics.  Declaring war along with Ross Douthat.  As if war is a game - as if all of these events can be managed, controlled by human endeavor.  It seems to me, Catholics like these writers speak in opposition to peace.  They speak like the disciples, who before the descent of the Holy Spirit wanted to call down fire upon those who rejected them.

The temptation against faith.

The greatest temptations are now.  Against faith, against hope, and against charity.  It is a very difficult time.  We need to pray more than condemn and judge.  It's a grave temptation to fall prey to the critical spirit.  Even good people, even priests online constantly focus upon the negative, pointing out particular sins - but there seems to be little online offering encouragement and hope.

Being online, reading Catholic blogs, is getting to be like living in a concentration camp - but even there, in the camps, the light of faith could never be extinguished.  The mystery of Divine Providence - the Presence of God - never forsakes those who pray.  No matter the state of soul.  Pray.  Pray without ceasing.  All day.  Every day.  Pray as you know how - or better yet - pray the rosary - pray many rosaries.  As many as possible.  Prayer isn't an art form, a specialty reserved for monks or nuns - prayer itself is a teacher - it is the door which leads you to that interior communion with the Holy Trinity.  Prayer is the life of the soul ...  The rosary is the best teacher.

Tell everybody that God grants us graces through the Immaculate Heart of Mary; that people are to ask her for them; and that the Heart of Jesus wants the Immaculate Heart of Mary to be venerated at his side. Tell them also to pray to the Immaculate Heart of Mary for peace, since God entrusted it to her. - Bl. Jacinta to Lucia

What happened to the Germans? (Aside from losing WWII)

Even though they started it.

What?

Horrible little German Christian extremists. 

Seriously - what is wrong with that country?  Drudge headlines claim they are nearing anarchy and civil war.  I blame the Germans - it couldn't be the Muslims fault.

Okay.  Really, really seriously now.

This just in from a disgruntled office worker:  German schools are abolishing a Christian celebration - St. Martin's Day - because it offends Muslim immigrants:

Primary schools and kindergartens in Germany are abolishing a Christian celebration and changing it into a generic “festival of lights” so as not to offend the hundreds of thousands of Muslim migrants pouring into the country.

According to a translated report out of the Epoch Times, schools are re-naming the Christian-themed St. Martin’s Day, an annual celebration that takes place in numerous European countries on November 11.

Several daycare centers in Düsseldorf have abolished the festival altogether out of “consideration for the refugees,” a decision that has prompted fierce criticism from head teachers at other schools in the region. - Source

I know!

I'm against it.


H/T Ronnie Dovetonsils

Right back at the beginning ...

I found my way back to the sacraments after an intense encounter with Christ ...

... alone and afflicted ... having no one but you Lord.

Priest and prophet forage in a land they know not ...

I'm back at the beginning ...

Oh! who can heal me?
Give me perfectly Yourself,
Send me no more
A messenger
Who cannot tell me what I wish.

Jesus, I trust in you.

Song for this post here.

All Saints ...

The ecumenism of blood.

When I quote the psalm, "there is no saint left" - it might be because there are martyrs ...

In the San Bartolomeo Basilica on the island in the Tiber in Rome, an unusual icon can be found: that of “the great tribulation” depicting the “contemporary martyrs.” It does not so much point to heaven as it does to earth, directing our eyes to some of the darkest and most inhumane moments of the 20th century.

The icon features a multitude of scenes ranging from the Armenian genocide to the genocide in Rwanda. - Zeger Polhuijs

The icon shown above is stunning and seems to echo the words of Pope Francis,  “today there is an ecumenism of blood."  The saints left are those whose struggle against sin and whose witness of faith endures to the point of shedding blood.

This gives me hope.  It gives me strength... and courage.

Again, as Pope Francis remarked reflecting upon the martyrdom of Blessed Oscar Romero:

“This gives me strength. Only God knows the stories of those people who have given their lives, who have died, and continue to be stoned with the hardest stone that exists in the world: language.” - Pope Francis

How Halloween foreshadows the Three Days Darkness ...

The Death-skull Halloween comet which passed by.

If you shut down the house, that is.

Close all the shutters, no outside lights, candles the only interior light.  Don't look out the windows, or go to the door, pray no one vandalizes your property because you're not giving out candy.  Little demons and witches - pimps and whores dressed to kill, scary psych nurses and vampires roam outside - but don't look out.

It's roughly about three hours darkness, from 6 to 9 PM.  Then it's over.

It's a rehearsal for the Three Days Darkness people.  I survived.  Evidently the witch next door did as well - she was out at 8 AM mowing and mulching and cackling.

Don't know what the Three Days Darkness is?

There shall come over the whole earth an intense darkness lasting three days and three nights. Nothing can be seen, and the air will be laden with pestilence which will claim mainly, but not only, the enemies of religion. It will be impossible to use any man-made lighting during this darkness, except blessed candles. He, who out of curiosity, opens his window to look out, or leaves his home, will fall dead on the spot. During these three days, people should remain in their homes, pray the Rosary and beg God for mercy. All the enemies of the Church, whether known or unknown, will perish over the whole earth during that universal darkness, with the exception of a few whom God will soon convert. The air shall be infected by demons who will appear under all sorts of hideous forms. - Source

That's Halloween - a prelude to the Three Days Darkness.  And Americans think it's fun.

My big distraction during Mass.  I kept thinking

I'd like to do what Harvey Korman is doing in this

scene from High Anxiety.  I could turn around

at the sign of peace like this.  Maybe next year.

Mass notes:

The costume Mass at my parish was moved to today, so I was happy last night's Mass would be solemn and dignified.  Five minutes before Mass, the organist startled everyone with one of those classic horror film preludes: Bach:Toccata and Fugue in D minor.  I wasn't scared, but I laughed out loud.  As Tammy Baker would say, "That mean ol' devil broke the silence and recollection anyway."  Oh well. A couple of people quietly applauded.  I had to laugh again.  There were a few other instances I had to squelch laughter - but I'll keep them to myself.

Halloween is fine for those who want to celebrate it - Christian origins or not - I don't really like it or care about it.  I appreciate the 'old fashioned' way of doing it - kids get dressed up, trick or treat - house to house.  Now the kids are bussed by a parent - taken to better neighborhoods to get their stuff.

The weird part is that it's adults who won't let the holiday go.  It really is a bit of 3 days darkness - since last week everything is geared to Halloween.  Television news, Network morning shows, television shows, etc.  Friday evening adults in costumes were shopping, and check out employees were in costume as well.  It's a bit like Venice during carnival, I suppose.  Nothing is really wrong with it - except we all tend to party while everything else collapses.

Mass isn't even sacred anymore.

Why does Mass have to be made entertaining or amusing?

Sometimes I envy the tradsters and the availability of the Extraordinary Form.



Song for this post here.

Blow it out your pipes.