IF JESUS CAME TO YOUR HOUSE
If Jesus came to your house to spend a day or two
If he came unexpectedly, I wonder what you'd do
Oh I know you'd give your nicest room
to such an honored Guest
And all the food you'd serve him, would be the
Very best
And you would keep assuring Him, you're glad
to have Him there
That serving Him in your own home, is joy beyond
compare
But- when you saw him coming, would you
meet him at the door
With arms outstretched in welcome to
your Heav'nly visitor?
Or would you have to change you clothes before
you let Him in,
Or hide some magazines and put the
Bible where they'd been?
Would you turn off the radio, and hope
He hadn't heard
And wish you hadn't uttered, that last loud hasty
word?
Would you hide your worldly music and put
some hymn books out?
Could you let Jesus walk right in, or would you
rush about?
And I wonder- if the Savior spent a
day or two with you
Would you go right on doing the things you
always do?
Would you keep right on saying the things
you always say?
Would life for you continue as it does
from day to day?
Would your family conversation keep its
usual pace,
And would you find it hard each meal
to say a table grace?
Would you sing the songs you always sing
and read the book you read,
And let him know the things on which
your mind and spirit feed?
Would you take Jesus with you everywhere
you'd planned to go,
Or would you maybe change your plans
for just a day or so?
Would you be glad to have Him meet
your very closest friends,
Or would you hope they'd stay away
until His visit ends?
Would you be glad to have Him stay
forever on and on,
Or would you sigh with great relief when
He at last was gone?
It might be interesting to know the
things that you would do
If Jesus Christ in person came to spend
Some time with you
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Fr Nicholas Gruner
Now, as I have said, there are Cardinals and other Churchmen in the Vatican and their supporters throughout the world who have a vested interest in seeing that the Consecration of Our Lady's Immaculate Heart to Russia, and not the world, is never done, whatever their individual motives. Socci sees clearly now, without any doubt that the Consecration has not been done as specifically requested by Our Lady. As has Father Nicholas Gruner who is a thorn, the thorn, in their side, so he must be excised by whatever means and relentlessly so. Thus we have the cleverly devised straw man of Father Gruner, who willingly sacrifices himself to be Our Lady's champion as many a Saint and Martyr have and will continue to do until the end of time. His only "crime", that of upholding the rights of God as expressed through Our Lady of Fatima, the Mother of God. The penalty for the crime? An impossible web of intrigue by which he is placed in a special form of double jeopardy, whichever way he answers to these unfaithful prelates, he "is damned". Either find another bishop or else. But the route to finding another bishop to incardinate him has been sealed so that it is impossible at present. Heads, the unfaithful prelates win, tails, Father Gruner loses. Only Satan, the Father of Lies and the infernal enemy of Our Lady is ultimately capable of directing anything this diabolical.
And so, this little housewife in a backwater section of a small rural town in Maine writes an article here and there coming to the defense of Father Nicholas, that is, in reality, in defense of the Mother of God, and therefore the web site she has devoted her end life to is "suspect". Does this discourage me? Dissuade me from my course? Anything but!
I take my cues from Father Gruner, a wholly holy priest, a latter day St. John the Baptist, considered an object of curiosity, an oddity, to those who are of this world, one who must be dealt with because the truth is too hard to bear for those with guilt in this matter; an "angel" of sorts, like St. Michael the Archangel, who leads Our Lady's legions against the powers of Hell, the Consecration of Russia to Her Immaculate Heart, an invincible weapon against the gates of Hell; Our Lady is Satan's implacable foe according to Genesis and the Apocaplyse, the beginning and the end of the battle, so to speak; Father Gruner can be likened unto St. Joseph, Our Lady's guardian companion, humbly searching for a "room in the inn"; and he can be said to be like St. Paul, not counting the cost, being all things for the salvation of others, "running the course" unto the finish. Being all things for Father Gruner means taking on all manner of aspersions, calumny, and mockery, not caring about himself, so that Our Lady is served as she ought to be. He champions her, I champion him. Rather than be disheartened by scorn or simple misunderstanding in these tumultuous times, I am so very greatly honored, beyond words to tell and beyond my merit.
And so, this little housewife in a backwater section of a small rural town in Maine writes an article here and there coming to the defense of Father Nicholas, that is, in reality, in defense of the Mother of God, and therefore the web site she has devoted her end life to is "suspect". Does this discourage me? Dissuade me from my course? Anything but!
I take my cues from Father Gruner, a wholly holy priest, a latter day St. John the Baptist, considered an object of curiosity, an oddity, to those who are of this world, one who must be dealt with because the truth is too hard to bear for those with guilt in this matter; an "angel" of sorts, like St. Michael the Archangel, who leads Our Lady's legions against the powers of Hell, the Consecration of Russia to Her Immaculate Heart, an invincible weapon against the gates of Hell; Our Lady is Satan's implacable foe according to Genesis and the Apocaplyse, the beginning and the end of the battle, so to speak; Father Gruner can be likened unto St. Joseph, Our Lady's guardian companion, humbly searching for a "room in the inn"; and he can be said to be like St. Paul, not counting the cost, being all things for the salvation of others, "running the course" unto the finish. Being all things for Father Gruner means taking on all manner of aspersions, calumny, and mockery, not caring about himself, so that Our Lady is served as she ought to be. He champions her, I champion him. Rather than be disheartened by scorn or simple misunderstanding in these tumultuous times, I am so very greatly honored, beyond words to tell and beyond my merit.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
And another attack aimed at the Catholic Church
Reading Angels and Demons, I wasn’t so much struck by the work’s bigotry as by how badly it was written. The cliched style is the literary equivalent of cotton candy. And for someone with so much animus toward religion, Brown employs the deus ex machina more frequently than the Old Testament.
But more disturbing is Brown’s commingling of fact and fiction disguised as fact, aimed at convincing his readership that the Catholic Church is vehemently, even violently anti-science, and therefore anti-progress and anti-reason.
By fiction disguised as fact, I don’t mean standard historical fiction techniques like creating new characters against a backdrop of actual historical events. I mean massively altering or fabricating historical events and chronologies. For instance: virtually every historical fiction writer fudges dates a little, but Brown shifts key timelines by more than a century.
Perhaps Brown counts on most of us to be too lazy or obtuse to fact-check his work on the Internet. And judging from his hordes of unquestioning fans (and, usually, myself), he’s probably right.
So, I got off my duff (a matter of speech — I actually sat on my duff throughout this ordeal) and actually (gasp) looked up some of the claims Brown makes in Angels and Demons.
Here are just a few inaccuracies (hardly an exhaustive list) I picked up in several exhausting minutes on the Web:
Brown claims: Copernicus was murdered by the Catholic Church.
Fact: Copernicus died quietly in bed at age 70 from a stroke, and his research was supported by Church officials; he even dedicated his masterwork to the Pope.
Brown claims: “Antimatter is the ultimate energy source. It releases energy with 100% efficiency.”
Fact: CERN, the lab which plays an important role in his story, actually debunked this claim on their website: “The inefficiency of antimatter production is enormous: you get only a tenth of a billion of the invested energy back.”
Brown claims: Churchill was a “staunch Catholic.”
Fact: Any history buff could tell you that Churchill wasn’t Catholic, he was Anglican; nor was he particularly religious. The only things Churchill was staunch about were cigars, whiskey, and defending the British Empire.
Brown claims: Pope Urban VII banished Bernini’s famous statue The Ecstasy of St. Teresa “to some obscure chapel across town” because it was too racy for the Vatican.
Fact: The statue was actually commissioned by Cardinal Cornaro specifically for the Cornaro Chapel (Brown’s “obscure chapel”). Moreover, the sculpture was completed in 1652 — eight years after Urban’s death.
Brown claims: Bernini and famed scientist Galileo were members of the Illuminati.
Fact: The Illuminati was founded in Bavaria in 1776. Bernini died in 1680, while Galileo died in 1642 — more than a century before the Illuminati were first formed.
This last falsehood bears further examination, because the Illuminati are so integral to the plot of Angels and Demons. The great Baroque artist Bernini is also a central figure in Brown’s tale.
It may seem like a small “white lie” to change the timeline so drastically, and to make Bernini a key player in an Illuminati plot against the Catholic Church. But Bernini was an extraordinary Baroque artist who deserves better than Brown’s treatment.
Imagine that someone made a film that portrayed Steven Spielberg as a closet anti-Semite and Holocaust denier. Movie fans would be justifiably outraged.
But Dan Brown wrote a book (soon to be a movie!) identifying another great artistic virtuoso, Bernini, as a secret atheist who hated the Catholic Church. In reality, though, Bernini was a devout Catholic who went to mass every day and pursued the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius, which include up to five hours of daily silent meditation.
In one of the movie trailers (since taken down — I wonder why?), Tom Hanks chastises Vatican officials — “You guys don’t even read your own history!” — for not knowing about “La Purga,” the branding and execution of four Illuminati scientists in 1668.
The irony’s so rich, it could pay off the national debt. Because, you see, it’s Hanks’ character who doesn’t know his history. Repeat after me: there were no Illluminati before 1776
And another attack aimed at the Catholic Church
Reading Angels and Demons, I wasn’t so much struck by the work’s bigotry as by how badly it was written. The cliched style is the literary equivalent of cotton candy. And for someone with so much animus toward religion, Brown employs the deus ex machina more frequently than the Old Testament.
But more disturbing is Brown’s commingling of fact and fiction disguised as fact, aimed at convincing his readership that the Catholic Church is vehemently, even violently anti-science, and therefore anti-progress and anti-reason.
By fiction disguised as fact, I don’t mean standard historical fiction techniques like creating new characters against a backdrop of actual historical events. I mean massively altering or fabricating historical events and chronologies. For instance: virtually every historical fiction writer fudges dates a little, but Brown shifts key timelines by more than a century.
Perhaps Brown counts on most of us to be too lazy or obtuse to fact-check his work on the Internet. And judging from his hordes of unquestioning fans (and, usually, myself), he’s probably right.
So, I got off my duff (a matter of speech — I actually sat on my duff throughout this ordeal) and actually (gasp) looked up some of the claims Brown makes in Angels and Demons.
Here are just a few inaccuracies (hardly an exhaustive list) I picked up in several exhausting minutes on the Web:
Brown claims: Copernicus was murdered by the Catholic Church.
Fact: Copernicus died quietly in bed at age 70 from a stroke, and his research was supported by Church officials; he even dedicated his masterwork to the Pope.
Brown claims: “Antimatter is the ultimate energy source. It releases energy with 100% efficiency.”
Fact: CERN, the lab which plays an important role in his story, actually debunked this claim on their website: “The inefficiency of antimatter production is enormous: you get only a tenth of a billion of the invested energy back.”
Brown claims: Churchill was a “staunch Catholic.”
Fact: Any history buff could tell you that Churchill wasn’t Catholic, he was Anglican; nor was he particularly religious. The only things Churchill was staunch about were cigars, whiskey, and defending the British Empire.
Brown claims: Pope Urban VII banished Bernini’s famous statue The Ecstasy of St. Teresa “to some obscure chapel across town” because it was too racy for the Vatican.
Fact: The statue was actually commissioned by Cardinal Cornaro specifically for the Cornaro Chapel (Brown’s “obscure chapel”). Moreover, the sculpture was completed in 1652 — eight years after Urban’s death.
Brown claims: Bernini and famed scientist Galileo were members of the Illuminati.
Fact: The Illuminati was founded in Bavaria in 1776. Bernini died in 1680, while Galileo died in 1642 — more than a century before the Illuminati were first formed.
This last falsehood bears further examination, because the Illuminati are so integral to the plot of Angels and Demons. The great Baroque artist Bernini is also a central figure in Brown’s tale.
It may seem like a small “white lie” to change the timeline so drastically, and to make Bernini a key player in an Illuminati plot against the Catholic Church. But Bernini was an extraordinary Baroque artist who deserves better than Brown’s treatment.
Imagine that someone made a film that portrayed Steven Spielberg as a closet anti-Semite and Holocaust denier. Movie fans would be justifiably outraged.
But Dan Brown wrote a book (soon to be a movie!) identifying another great artistic virtuoso, Bernini, as a secret atheist who hated the Catholic Church. In reality, though, Bernini was a devout Catholic who went to mass every day and pursued the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius, which include up to five hours of daily silent meditation.
In one of the movie trailers (since taken down — I wonder why?), Tom Hanks chastises Vatican officials — “You guys don’t even read your own history!” — for not knowing about “La Purga,” the branding and execution of four Illuminati scientists in 1668.
The irony’s so rich, it could pay off the national debt. Because, you see, it’s Hanks’ character who doesn’t know his history. Repeat after me: there were no Illluminati before 1776
Friday, May 1, 2009
IT IS TIME TO PROGRESS BACK TO LATIN
It is interesting as I read through all of the comments regarding the N.O. Mass and the E.F. Mass. There were some that talked about other impacts during that time, like material satisfaction, general lack of formation, etc....
His point is that these conditions that we see now, loss of faith, lack of formation, worldliness are all fruits that were born from the radicalization of the Mass. The Sacred Liturgy is the linchpin of the Catholic Faith. Do not forget that at Mass we travel back in time to that moment on Calvary when Our Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins. How can you focus your mind and travel back when you have tons of people glad handing each other, holding hands, and walking up into the sanctuary to help distribute communion.
The N.O. Mass was turned into a self worship Mass by radicals. When done properly it can be a very beautiful Mass, but lets face it, nothing will ever quiet the mind as well as the E.F. The mind must be quiet so that the soul can receive its weekly (wishing it could be daily) repair and grace. Otherwise your are just going to a weekly gathering of your favorite Sunday club. It is highly unlikely that anyone is spending much time thanking God for another week to try to perfect their soul when the focus is so horizontal.
By bending to the world we have let our culture lose the respect and sanctity of Sunday, the workplace and public schools respecting Holy Days. Not to mention the very direct and purposeful development of vocations to the Priesthood.
One other mention I will make here is that there is literally no argument for Mass in the vernacular. Latin is universal, it is easily understood and is the base language from which many languages were derived. If I am travelling in another country and they are saying Mass in their local language I am out of touch. If they are using Latin, I am in touch. Also having to focus on what is going on and following the Mass in your missal you begin to get a much deeper understanding and appreciation for what is occurring before you. Not to mention that the wording used at Mass when verbalized in the vernacular loses some of its impact through familiarity. It happens when we become too "familiar". The Latin makes a person work harder at prayer and when assisting at Mass. The N.O. and use of vernacular allows a soul to become slouchy and dare I say slothful.
Anyway, the slow and steady move back to the Extraordinary Form is exactly what the Catholic Church needs, if you are not being provided this opportunity you should immediately petition your Pastor or Priest, as our Pope has decreed it is not necessary for us to receive permission from the Bishop to have the Latin mass said each week.
JMHO
Itzik
His point is that these conditions that we see now, loss of faith, lack of formation, worldliness are all fruits that were born from the radicalization of the Mass. The Sacred Liturgy is the linchpin of the Catholic Faith. Do not forget that at Mass we travel back in time to that moment on Calvary when Our Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins. How can you focus your mind and travel back when you have tons of people glad handing each other, holding hands, and walking up into the sanctuary to help distribute communion.
The N.O. Mass was turned into a self worship Mass by radicals. When done properly it can be a very beautiful Mass, but lets face it, nothing will ever quiet the mind as well as the E.F. The mind must be quiet so that the soul can receive its weekly (wishing it could be daily) repair and grace. Otherwise your are just going to a weekly gathering of your favorite Sunday club. It is highly unlikely that anyone is spending much time thanking God for another week to try to perfect their soul when the focus is so horizontal.
By bending to the world we have let our culture lose the respect and sanctity of Sunday, the workplace and public schools respecting Holy Days. Not to mention the very direct and purposeful development of vocations to the Priesthood.
One other mention I will make here is that there is literally no argument for Mass in the vernacular. Latin is universal, it is easily understood and is the base language from which many languages were derived. If I am travelling in another country and they are saying Mass in their local language I am out of touch. If they are using Latin, I am in touch. Also having to focus on what is going on and following the Mass in your missal you begin to get a much deeper understanding and appreciation for what is occurring before you. Not to mention that the wording used at Mass when verbalized in the vernacular loses some of its impact through familiarity. It happens when we become too "familiar". The Latin makes a person work harder at prayer and when assisting at Mass. The N.O. and use of vernacular allows a soul to become slouchy and dare I say slothful.
Anyway, the slow and steady move back to the Extraordinary Form is exactly what the Catholic Church needs, if you are not being provided this opportunity you should immediately petition your Pastor or Priest, as our Pope has decreed it is not necessary for us to receive permission from the Bishop to have the Latin mass said each week.
JMHO
Itzik
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