WaPo: Pope May Be Right on Condom Failure to Stop Spread of AIDS in Africa

Folks, this according to Edward C. Green of The Washington Post":

When Pope Benedict XVI commented this month that condom distribution isn't helping, and may be worsening, the spread of HIV/AIDS in Africa, he set off a firestorm of protest. Most non-Catholic commentary has been highly critical of the pope. A cartoon in the Philadelphia Inquirer, reprinted in The Post, showed the pope somewhat ghoulishly praising a throng of sick and dying Africans: "Blessed are the sick, for they have not used condoms."

Yet, in truth, current empirical evidence supports him.

We liberals who work in the fields of global HIV/AIDS and family planning take terrible professional risks if we side with the pope on a divisive topic such as this. The condom has become a symbol of freedom and -- along with contraception -- female emancipation, so those who question condom orthodoxy are accused of being against these causes. My comments are only about the question of condoms working to stem the spread of AIDS in Africa's generalized epidemics -- nowhere else.

In 2003, Norman Hearst and Sanny Chen of the University of California conducted a condom effectiveness study for the United Nations' AIDS program and found no evidence of condoms working as a primary HIV-prevention measure in Africa. UNAIDS quietly disowned the study. (The authors eventually managed to publish their findings in the quarterly Studies in Family Planning.) Since then, major articles in other peer-reviewed journals such as the Lancet, Science and BMJ have confirmed that condoms have not worked as a primary intervention in the population-wide epidemics of Africa. In a 2008 article in Science called "Reassessing HIV Prevention" 10 AIDS experts concluded that "consistent condom use has not reached a sufficiently high level, even after many years of widespread and often aggressive promotion, to produce a measurable slowing of new infections in the generalized epidemics of Sub-Saharan Africa."

Read it all here.

Commentary. Remember the big stink raised last year when the Pope said exactly this? He was condemned and ridiculed in Parliaments across Europe and, of course, at the San Francisco City Council.

But, as you see, the Pope was right.

It’s nice to see Mr. Green graciously wiping the egg from his face. I want to see the other critics eating crow publicly.

But that’s not going to happen because it wasn’t science what fed their protest, but hatred toward the Pope, the Church, and ultimately, toward God in Christ.

The Evangelical Counsel of Poverty

Father Nicolas Schwizer

No one can be holy if he/she is interiorly enslaved by earthly goods. Furthermore, according to St. Agustine, for sanctity, the ultimate and the most difficult things are love for poverty and the renunciation of goods. And why? Because greed and the attachment to material things are the devil’s best arguments. One of the wounds left by original sin in our nature is the inordinate impulse to possess.

That irrational impulse makes us attach ourselves to passing things, it makes us believe that it is indispensable to live surrounded by a thousand comforts. It attaches us inordinately to earthly things. It binds us to values which are not essential. Therefore, St. Paul calls the eagerness to possess “the root of all evils” ( 1 Tim 6,10) and Ecclesiastes says that “the covetous are like hungry dogs which are never sated.”

What then, is the meaning of our spirit of poverty? It seems to me that the main significance is: not to attach ourselves to things in order to be free for God and, likewise, to be free for others.

Fill ourselves with God. The first meaning of our poverty is: not to fill ourselves with the things of this world, but to fill ourselves with God, to be free for God, not to obstruct God’s passage through our life and through the world, because our wealth is God and his Kingdom, and, therefore, we do not need other riches. “Blessed are the poor because theirs is the Kingdom of God” (LK 6, 20).

To be poor is, therefore, to be free of self. It is to be free from the chains or barriers put in place by my selfishness. The poor….. is the man/woman capable of loving because in his/her heart there is room for God and for others; therefore, we have to break those barriers which impede us from coming out of ourselves, from our narrow world. Holiness is being free of oneself. We have to break those barriers to be able to open ourselves to the world which surrounds us and to give ourselves to God and to others.

Levels of poverty. Three levels of poverty exist and we can easily know where we are and what steps we are lacking to reach the height of this Evangelical Counsel.

1. To know how to renounce what is superfluous. Through a simple and authentic love for God, freely renounce superfluous things. What is superfluous is understood as that which does not correspond to my state of life or my social level. What things are superfluous for me? No one will give me an answer to this question. Only I can give the answer

2. To know how to renounce what is necessary. It is not about what is necessary for existence, but again it is about what I think is necessary according to my state of life or my social level. Do we feel capable of renouncing necessary things in that sense? And also here, that attitude has to come from an authentic love for God and others.

3. To conquer an attitude of pauper before God. I am aware of my total dependence on God. Applied to poverty it means: My things and my goods are God’s property; He has lent them to me. I am simply their administrator.

But then, He can again take them from me. That attitude of pauper is the highest level of poverty: inner freedom from all material things. God can do with me what He wishes, and I want to be treated like a pauper.

Questions for reflection

1. How do I practice the Evangelical Counsel of poverty?

2. What concrete action do I do for others?

3. Does it worry me to lose some material goods?

The Pope’s Condoms’ Remark and the Prodigal Son’s Dilemma Compared

Folks, despite my previously stated reluctance to add to this MSM artificially created controversy, I feel I must point out the following parallels between what the Holy Father said about condom use and the Prodigal Son’s dilemma as found in the Gospel of Luke. First, this is what the Pope said in his recently released book, Light of the World:

From Chapter 11, "The Journeys of a Shepherd," pages 117-119:

On the occasion of your trip to Africa in March 2009, the Vatican’s policy on AIDs once again became the target of media criticism.Twenty-five percent of all AIDs victims around the world today are treated in Catholic facilities. In some countries, such as Lesotho, for example, the statistic is 40 percent. In Africa you stated that the Church’s traditional teaching has proven to be the only sure way to stop the spread of HIV. Critics, including critics from the Church’s own ranks, object that it is madness to forbid a high-risk population to use condoms.

The media coverage completely ignored the rest of the trip to Africa on account of a single statement. Someone had asked me why the Catholic Church adopts an unrealistic and ineffective position on AIDs. At that point, I really felt that I was being provoked, because the Church does more than anyone else. And I stand by that claim. Because she is the only institution that assists people up close and concretely, with prevention, education, help, counsel, and accompaniment. And because she is second to none in treating so many AIDs victims, especially children with AIDs.

I had the chance to visit one of these wards and to speak with the patients. That was the real answer: The Church does more than anyone else, because she does not speak from the tribunal of the newspapers, but helps her brothers and sisters where they are actually suffering. In my remarks I was not making a general statement about the condom issue, but merely said, and this is what caused such great offense, that we cannot solve the problem by distributing condoms. Much more needs to be done. We must stand close to the people, we must guide and help them; and we must do this both before and after they contract the disease.

As a matter of fact, you know, people can get condoms when they want them anyway. But this just goes to show that condoms alone do not resolve the question itself. More needs to happen.

Meanwhile, the secular realm itself has developed the so-called ABC Theory: Abstinence-Be Faithful-Condom, where the condom is understood only as a last resort, when the other two points fail to work. This means that the sheer fixation on the condom implies a banalization of sexuality, which, after all, is precisely the dangerous source of the attitude of no longer seeing sexuality as the expression of love, but only a sort of drug that people administer to themselves. This is why the fight against the banalization of sexuality is also a part of the struggle to ensure that sexuality is treated as a positive value and to enable it to have a positive effect on the whole of man’s being.

There may be a basis in the case of some individuals, as perhaps when a male prostitute uses a condom, where this can be a first step in the direction of a moralization, a first assumption of responsibility, on the way toward recovering an awareness that not everything is allowed and that one cannot do whatever one wants. But it is not really the way to deal with the evil of HIV infection. That can really lie only in a humanization of sexuality.

Are you saying, then, that the Catholic Church is actually not opposed in principle to the use of condoms?

She of course does not regard it as a real or moral solution, but, in this or that case, there can be nonetheless, in the intention of reducing the risk of infection, a first step in a movement toward a different way, a more human way, of living sexuality.

This is what we see the “prodigal” or “lost son” doing in the parable, according to Luke 15:14-20a,

¹⁴ After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. ¹⁵ So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. ¹⁶ He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

¹⁷ “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! ¹⁸ I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. ¹⁹ I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ ²⁰ So he got up and went to his father.

Consider the parallel: in the Gospel, the lost son is tending pigs – an animal considered most impure by observant Jews then and now – and eating pig food. Eating pig food is not good but that’s the precise moment in which the lost son takes a first step in a movement toward a different way, a more human way, of living, away from sin, including sexual sin, and turns to repentance and toward the Merciful Father.

See the parallel? Do you get it?

If the Pope made a mistake here it was in assuming that the brainiacs at The New York Times would see the point. But the Pope made no mistake because, despite what they may think, he wasn’t addressing the MSM or the NYT in particular, but men and women of good will.

Next time the NYT is going to say that Jesus Christ endorsed the eating of pig slob as good for everyone without caveats…

- If you want to keep to participate in the discussion on the Holy Father’s book, check out the official Light of the World Blog.

Irish sisters and others “concerned",” demand “full inclusion of women” in the Catholic Church

Folks, this according to the Irish Times:

Women's role in Catholic Church

Madam, – Some time ago Cardinal Brady asked for suggestions on the renewal of the Irish Catholic Church. He received postcards asking for the rightful inclusion of women in the church, and we find encouragement in his acknowledgment of these.

On the negative side, we are insulted by the current reception into the Catholic Church of Anglicans whose motives include disapproval of women’s ordination. This only adds to the oppressive attitude to women that pervades the Catholic Church.

The third Sunday of Advent is named Gaudete (Rejoice) Sunday. We are to rejoice, because “we too have a glorious expectation”. But what can women rejoice in, given their current exclusion from decision-making in the church? What “glorious expectation” can they have? We have three positive suggestions around that day. 1. Women might focus on their role in the rebirthing of the church: by rebirthing we mean the painful shift from a patriarchal, hierarchical model of church to a relational one. Mary gave birth to Jesus who opened up a world of relationships between God and ourselves and with one another. He revealed that at the heart of divinity lie relationships of mutual appreciation which are to be mirrored in his body the church. How then can we assist in the rebirthing of the church so that right relationships of dignity and inclusion emerge? 2. Concerned women (and men) might send an Advent postcard to the Cardinal for Gaudete Sunday, December 12th, answering the following question: how can the Christmas message of the birth of Jesus shed light on the authentic role of women within the church? 3. The Advent wreath: those who wish to symbolise the spirit of the liturgy that day could wear a pink rose to reflect the light of its rose candle, or a green ribbon to reflect the new life of rebirth in its green leaves. – Yours, etc,

PHYLLIS BRADY,

Sr EILEEN CULLEN, IBVM,

CATHERINE DARCY,

CHRISTINE GILSEN,

PATRICIA HALE,

Sr ANNE LYONS, PBVM,

JACKIE MINNOCK

MARGARET THOMPSON,

C/o Bryansglen Park,

Bangor, Co Down.

Commentary. In other words, in order to fix the Church, we need to kill her, throw the baby with the holy water, and so forth. These ladies believe that the solution to the troubles of the Church in Ireland, or for that matter, anywhere else in the world, is to abolish the “patriarchy” and give a wide entrance and free rein to a false, so-called “theology” of feminist empowerment which is Pagan, Anti-Christian even, at the root. No ladies, no. Your solution would kill the Church, would make her disobedience, and force the Spirit to depart her, as truly as Ezekiel saw the Presence of God depart the ancient Temple.

I have a better solution: drop your avant garde theological lucubrations, become obedient once again, and return your hearts and minds to the heart and mind of the Church. Only in this way will the Irish Catholic Church begin to heal.

Otherwise, my ladies, kindly keep your piece and seal your lips.

Anglican Bishop Returns to the Catholic Church

Folks, this according to The Telegraph’s religion writer, Damian Thompson:

An intensely touching detail from the final Anglican sermon of the Rt Rev Andrew Burnham, Bishop of Ebbsfleet, delivered yesterday at St John the Evangelist, New Hinksey, Oxford. As the Ordinate Portal reports, at the end of the service, Bishop Burnham – who will be ordained into the Ordinariate as a Catholic priest – “laid aside his crozier and mitre at the feet of Our Lady”. You may also read the sermon here.

Commentary. Like I’d said before, Anglicanism is now just another decadent Protestant sect. Their disintegration is due specifically to its desertion from authentic, and historic Catholic faith and order one one side, and biblical morality on the other. Let us give a warm welcome home to the soon-to-be-ordained, Father Andrew Burnham.

First Sunday of Advent AD 2010 - Come Lord Jesus!

From the Office of Readings: The twofold coming of Christ
St Cyril of Jerusalem

We do not preach only one coming of Christ, but a second as well, much more glorious than the first. The first coming was marked by patience; the second will bring the crown of a divine kingdom.

In general, whatever relates to our Lord Jesus Christ has two aspects. There is a birth from God before the ages, and a birth from a virgin at the fullness of time. There is a hidden coming, like that of rain on fleece, and a coming before all eyes, still in the future.

At the first coming he was wrapped in swaddling clothes in a manger. At his second coming he will be clothed in light as in a garment. In the first coming he endured the cross, despising the shame; in the second coming he will be in glory, escorted by an army of angels.

We look then beyond the first coming and await the second. At the first coming we said: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. At the second we shall say it again; we shall go out with the angels to meet the Lord and cry out in adoration: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

The Saviour will not come to be judged again, but to judge those by whom he was judged. At his own judgment he was silent; then he will address those who committed the outrages against him when they crucified him and will remind them: You did these things, and I was silent.

His first coming was to fulfil his plan of love, to teach men by gentle persuasion. This time, whether men like it or not, they will be subjects of his kingdom by necessity.

The prophet Malachi speaks of the two comings. And the Lord whom you seek will come suddenly to his temple: that is one coming.

Again he says of another coming: Look, the Lord almighty will come, and who will endure the day of his entry, or who will stand in his sight? Because he comes like a refiner’s fire, a fuller’s herb, and he will sit refining and cleansing.

These two comings are also referred to by Paul in writing to Titus: The grace of God the Saviour has appeared to all men, instructing us to put aside impiety and worldly desires and live temperately, uprightly, and religiously in this present age, waiting for the joyful hope, the appearance of the glory of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Notice how he speaks of a first coming for which he gives thanks, and a second, the one we still await.

That is why the faith we profess has been handed on to you in these words: He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.

Our Lord Jesus Christ will therefore come from heaven. He will come at the end of the world, in glory, at the last day. For there will be an end to this world, and the created world will be made new.

Let us pray for peace in Korea

Folks, things are very very tense in the Korean peninsula. As you may already know, the North Koreans have bombarded with artillery a fishing village located on an island near their disputed maritime border. The demon of war is filing his swords.

To say that North Korea lives in darkness is no exercise in empty metaphysics. Observe this satellite picture of the Korean peninsula taken at night time:

Due to a primitive infrastructure emphasizing the military over and above civilian needs, the electric grid in the North is virtually inexistent. Darkness in North Korea is electromagnetic as well as metaphysical.

I’ve been to Korea. I blogged about it on this blog back in 2006. Here are a few pictures I took back then:

A few photos from my visit to Korea in 2006

Let us pray then for Korea, for their beautiful country and its wonderful people, as well as for the safety of our military personnel there. May they hear the voice of the Prince of Peace. May the war end before it begins and may there be a new dawn of freedom in the peninsula.

Southern Poverty Law Center Smears Christian Pro-Family Speech

Folks, as a man who hates injustice, I find I had a lot of common ground with the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). I particularly admired their work against racism toward African-Americans and Jews.

But now, the SPLC has taken a different route. In their Intelligence Report, Winter 2010, Issue Number:  140, in an article entitled 18 Anti-Gay Groups and Their Propaganda, the SPLC observes that Even as some well-known anti-gay groups like Focus on the Family moderate their views, a hard core of smaller groups, most of them religiously motivated, have continued to pump out demonizing propaganda aimed at homosexuals and other sexual minorities. These groups’ influence reaches far beyond what their size would suggest, because the “facts” they disseminate about homosexuality are often amplified by certain politicians, other groups and even news organizations. Of the 18 groups, the SPLC will be listing 13 next year as hate groups - eight having been previously listed. They list these groups based on their propagation of known falsehoods — claims about LGBT people that have been thoroughly discredited by scientific authorities — and repeated, groundless name-calling. Viewing homosexuality as unbiblical does not qualify organizations for listing as hate groups.

I have never heard of most of these organizations, and those with obvious links to racialist, nativist, and neo-Nazi movements deserve to be listed. But, the Concerned Women for America and Coral Ridge Ministries? The Family Research Council (which I’ve quoted a number of times on this blog) and the National Organization for Marriage (my favorite activist group) are hate groups?

Excuse me?

Then, in their 10 Anti-Gay Myths Debunked folio, the SPLC declares as “myths” that “same-sex parents harm children” and “o one is born a homosexual” which I think that they jury is out on those, as well as “Hate crime laws will lead to the jailing of pastors who criticize homosexuality and the legalization of practices like bestiality and necrophilia.” The first half of the statement has already happened, albeit not here yet, whereas the second, bestiality and necrophilia surely sound like an overstatement of our position. What we say is that the legalization of poligamy, poliamory, and unions between people of close consanguinity (a brother and a sister) , will be more difficult to resist legally if same-sex marriage is sanctioned by law. This is happening already in places where such unions are legal.

I think that their long-term agenda is to smear “the big ones,” say, the Catholic Church, for our doctrinal stance vis-à-vis homosexuality:

Chastity and homosexuality

2357 Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity,¹⁴⁰ tradition has always declared that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered."¹⁴¹ They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.

2358 The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. They do not choose their homosexual condition; for most of them it is a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God's will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.

2359 Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection.

The SPLC is floating a trial balloon to see how people are going to react to the inclusion of activist groups whose grave social “sin” has been defending the traditional family against the onslaught perpetrated by homosexualist pressure groups, backed by politicized “scientific” and “medical” associations. If they get away with it, they can target the Catholic Church and once they discredit her, every well-intentioned defender of the natural family will be shamed into silence. Criminalization of our speech would not lie far behind, as long as the populace is silenced into acquiescence.

Therefore, it is with sadness but with resolution that I denounce the SPLC, and decry its fall from the heady days in which it defended the rights of the poor, African-Americans, and other minorities from the claws of white supremacists, having now embraced an agenda that no true Christian can support in its entirety without pangs of conscience.

I have to say “no” to the SPLC. You are not going to silence us, you’re not going to tag us as bigots. If remain silent, who will defend those who can’t speak for themselves?

The SPLC’s vaunted “scales of justice” are now grotesquely skewed.

Canadian Orthodox Archbishop Charged with Child Sexual Abuse

Folks, this according to the CBC:

Archbishop Kenneth William Storheim, who has held positions in a number of Canadian communities with the Orthodox Church in America, has been arrested and charged in Winnipeg with two counts of sexual assault.

Storheim, 64, turned himself in to Winnipeg police at about 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, police announced Thursday.

Storheim has been released from custody on a promise to appear in court at a later date.

In October, CBC News reported he stepped down as head of the Canadian diocese of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) amid allegations of sexual abuse involving pre-teen boys.

In a statement released on the OCA website in October, church officials said Storheim was on a leave of absence as police in Canada investigated abuse claims

The allegations are 25 years old, according to Const. Robert Carver of the Winnipeg Police Service, which was leading the investigation.

A warrant for Storheim's arrest was issued Nov. 16, police said.

Storheim flew to the city and turned himself in with a lawyer present, police said. He was most recently living in Edmonton.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/manitoba/story/2010/11/25/mb-archbishop-sexual-assault-winnipeg.html#ixzz16KyXKObp

Commentary. The demon of child sexual abuse and exploitation knows no boundaries. Assuming that the charges are true – and the archbishop deserves to be considered innocent until proven otherwise – his fall would be yet another proof that no one is immune from this despicable temptation. Let us pray for all involved, and for the archbishop’s flock, may the Lord discover the truth for all to see and may He heal all who are involved.

Giving thanks may save your life

‎"If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, 'thank you,' that would suffice." ~ Meister Eckhart

Happy Thanksgiving Day to all of you!

Video: King of Kings and Lord of Lords (at the Mall!)

Folks: Beautiful. Just beautiful.

Video: Pope and Condoms Controversy

Folks, others have said this better, so I am sharing a good one with you in case you missed it. I have nothing new to add, and I agree with the presenter.

For the record: I automatically distrust anything the media says when reporting about the Pope, what he says, and what he does. Assume they are lying or distorting and verify elsewhere.


- For the giggles, you've got to read also Pope Stuns Again! TSA Should Wear Condoms and appreciate how these two shocking news stories intermix.

Our Lord’s Ersatz Competitors

Folks, some introductions are in order. First, top from left to right: David Shayler; Sergei Torop, “The Vissarion”; Pastor Apollo Quiboloy. Bottom line, from left to right: Sun Myung Moon, “Lord of the Second Advent”; José Luis de Jesús Miranda, "Jesucristo Hombre"; Teófilo Vargas Seín, "Prophet Aaron."

I didn’t know much about the top three until today when I watched this NatGeo documentary entitled The Second Coming. Shayler is British and the only one without followers, probably because he’s the least articulate of the trio. He went to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to let people know that he – “Christ” - wasn’t dead, but alive. A half-truth, to say the least. He overstayed his welcome at the basilica pretty quickly. Of the three, however, he’s probably the only one who is honest.

“The Vissarion” is probably the oddest of the three, and the coolest looking, the most intriguing, and the one most surrounded by pomp and circumstance.  He’s a clear product of Russian Orthodox mysticism. His followers, located at his complex in Siberia and surrounding villages, sing some gorgeous hymns in his honor and the Vissarion regales them with some, soft-spoken pearls of his own brand of also ersatz wisdom.

Pastor Quiboloy is the Filipino answer to Korea’s Sung Myung Moon and it’s equally politically connected with the Philippines' elite. His operation is PTL’ish (remember the PTL Club) in its scope. His worship services  – in his honor – are entertainment montages and his lifestyle is lavish.

The next three didn’t appear in NatGeo’s documentary but I include them here to illustrate the point I’ll make later in this post.

Of course, Sun Myung Moon of Korea, founder of the Unification Church, is no stranger to controversy and the Washington power circles. He’s better known for his mass weddings, one of which included former Archbishop Milingo of Zambia. I remember back in the early 1990s how his followers bent over backwards denying that the Korean was “the Lord of the Second Advent” until Moon gave them permission to proclaim it after he “revealed” himself as such.

José Luis de Jesús Miranda, aka "Jesucristo Hombre" is a recent addition to the mix. You might remember his interview in NBC’s Today Show. He’s Puerto Rican like me, and also from my own hometown of Ponce. He’s the founder of “Creciendo en Gracia”, a “prosperity gospel” cult with him at the center. Miranda has called himself “The Antichrist” and many of his most devoted followers have tattooed the number “666” to their bodies. Of the six, he’s the most obvious conman.

The sixth, Teófilo Vargas Seín or "Prophet Aaron” is the least known but the longest in the business of being God’s latest and greatest. He’s also Puerto Rican, the cofounder of the “Mita Church”, founded by a Puerto Rican Pentecostalist named Juanita García Peraza, who took the additional step of calling herself the “incarnation of the Holy Spirit” and started accreting followers, after which she received the name “Mita” which supposedly means “Spirit of Life” in some sort of glossolalic language. Aaron is her “child in the Spirit” and her successor. The Mita Church gained widespread recognition after Hillary and Chelsea Clinton highly-publicized visit to the church’s headquarters in San Juan during the 2004 primary season, don’t ask me why.

All these men are spawns of their culture. Five of them have mixed generous amounts of capitalism and business practices in their mission. Moon, Quiboloy, and Miranda are millionaires in their own right. All of them are “mystics” of some kind and three of them are of Pentecostal background. And then, there are their followers who like to dress in white, except Miranda’s who apparently are allowed to accessorize differently. They all look happy, even static in the presence of their lords and messiahs.

I suppose that, if one wants to be cynical, one may ask if our Christ, our Jesus, was just another of one of these lame messiahs, a deluded Jew suffering from an early case of Jerusalem Syndrome? If Jesus wasn’t who He said he was, he was either another conman or a madman. Or, he was just like David Shayler, but highly misunderstood and then mythologized by generations of deluded disciples down the centuries: an illusion based on a big misunderstanding which, ironically, has fed the need for later claimants of the messianic mantle to being “truly anointed” and for “getting it right” this time around. The atheist in particular loves this narrative, the most likely to provoke confusion, disappointment, and despair in the believer.

But as I hear all these men speak, I discover nothing ineffable in what they say. What they say is quite ordinary, unoriginal, shallow, and sentimental. They all reveal an inordinate preoccupation with their own selves. They all carefully cultivate their images. Oh, and they are all extremely Anti-Catholic, particularly Miranda who minces no obscenities in his frequent tirades against the Church. What they say and what the Jesus of the Gospels says cannot be compared; the former are chaff, Jesus’ words are wheat.

And then there is the Cross. The ersatz messiahs are not willing to shed one drop of blood for anyone, much less die for you. Suffering does not appear in their calculations, or at least messianic suffering. Their outlooks are quite triumphalistic and their narcissism all too evident.

Let me remind you of the obvious:

4…“Watch out that no one deceives you. 5For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,^a’ and will deceive many. 6You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8All these are the beginning of birth pains.

23At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. 24For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect—if that were possible. 25See, I have told you ahead of time.

26“So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the desert,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. 27For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 28Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather. (Mathew 24: 4, 23, 26 NIV)

I say “the obvious” because we’ve been forewarned. Jesus, the real one, told us this would happen, that false christs and prophets would arise who would deceive many and so they have. The ersatz messiahs want to emulate, perhaps even surpass Christ in his glory but not in his suffering. Their delusion is satanic in its root, for all aspire to be the Son of Man and take his place at the right of the Father and rule as God. They all want to claim the Throne as their own:

12How you have fallen from heaven,

O morning star, son of the dawn!

You have been cast down to the earth,

you who once laid low the nations!

13You said in your heart,

“I will ascend to heaven;

I will raise my throne

above the stars of God;

I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly,

on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain.^c

14I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;

I will make myself like the Most High.”

15But you are brought down to the grave,

to the depths of the pit. (Isaiah 14: 12-15, NIV)

These half dozen men, along with many undocumented others, serve a social purpose: that conning people as poor facsimiles of Jesus Christ is fairly easy to do and very profitable. They also serve a prophetic purpose, for they point us toward the time when the King of Kings will squash their heads in the same manner that He did to the original pretender. Don’t let yourselves be deceived! Rejoice because we have been granted to see these times!

Maran atha! Come Lord Jesus!

Today We Worship Jesus Christ, the King of Creation

To Jesus Christ, our Sov'reign King,
Who is the world's salvation,
All praise and homage do we bring,
And thanks and adoration.

Refrain:
Christ Jesus Victor, Christ Jesus Ruler!
Christ Jesus, Lord and Redeemer!

2. Thy reign extend, O King benign,
To ev'ry land and nation,
For in Thy kingdom, Lord divine,
Alone we find salvation.
(Refrain)

3. To Thee and to Thy Church, great King,
We pledge our hearts' oblation,
Until before Thy throne we sing,
In endless jubilation.
(Refrain)

Prayerful Postures and Gestures

Source: FishEaters 

Bow of the head
How:	Simply lower your chin toward your throat and hold a moment
When:	When you pass by a Church, bow your head and make the Sign of the Cross to honor the Real Presence of Christ in the tabernacle. Any time you hear the Name "Jesus" (note that "Christ" is His title, meaning "Anointed One"; there is no need to bow the head at just the mention of the word "Christ"). Men should remove their hats and bow their heads when passing a church or when His Name is spoken; this practice is for both inside and outside of Mass. All Catholics bow their heads at these times (yes, if you're having a casual conversation with someone on the subway and you pass a church or mention His Name, you actually are supposed to bow your head, removing your hat if you are a man). 1 Cross yourself and bow the head when the priest and the Crucifer walk down the aisle before and after Mass. After Mass, as the priest leaves the Altar, it is also customary to pray for him. (Some make a profound bow instead at these times) Not commonly known and practiced: any time you hear "Father, Son, and Holy Ghost (or "Holy Spirit")" mentioned together; any time you hear the name of Mary; and, during Mass, when the name of the Saint in whose honor the Mass is being celebrated

 

Striking of the Breast
How:	With either a fist or with the tips of the fingers, held close together, strike your chest over the heart to express regret and sorrow 2
When:	at the Mass, formally: at each "mea culpa" during the Confiteor; at the Nobis Quoque Peccatoribus (priest); three times during the Agnus Dei; and three times during the Domine, Non Sum Dignus informally: at the "forgive us our trespasses" ("dimitte nobis debita nostra") in the "Our Father"; any time to express penitence or remorse inside or outside of the Liturgy

 

Bow at the waist (or "profound bow")
How:	Bow at the waist in the manner of the Japanese (about 30o forward)
When:	at the Aspérges at Mass when the priest sprinkles the congregation with holy water when the Altar boy incenses the congregation during the Mass Cross yourself and make a profound bow when the priest and Crucifer walk down the aisle before and after Mass. After Mass, as the priest leaves the Altar, it is also customary to pray for him. (Some simply bow the head instead of making a profound bow at these times) when greeting a hierarch who doesn't have jurisdiction over you (e.g., the Bishop of a diocese other than one in which you live). As you bow, kiss the hierarch's ring. This bow and ring-kissing are only done if the Pope is not present.

 

Genuflection on Left Knee
How:	Kneel on your left knee for a moment, bringing the left knee all the way to the floor and keeping the back straight. Hold for a moment, then stand. (The word is pronounced "jen-you-flek'-shun")
When:	When greeting or leaving the Pope or other hierarchs with the rank of Bishop or above and who have jurisdiction over you (only when the Pope is not present) -- e.g., to the Bishop or Archbishop of your diocese, not of a neighboring diocese. During the left-knee genuflection, a kiss is given to the hierarch's ring. Then stand.

 

Genuflection on Right Knee
How:	Looking at what you are genuflecting toward, kneel on your right knee for a moment in the manner of a man proposing to a woman, bringing the right knee all the way to the floor, close to the heel of the left foot, keeping the back and neck erect. Hold for a moment, then stand.
When:	Genuflect toward the Tabernacle where the Blessed Sacrament is reserved, and each time you pass in front of it (except when you're in procession, such as standing in line for Communion, or returning to your seat afterward). While this should, on one level, be a matter of habit, it shouldn't be done thoughtlessly. Remind yourself when genuflecting toward the Tabernacle that you are kneeling before God. Praying mentally, "My Lord and My God" is a good habit to get into while genuflecting on the right knee. If the Tabernacle is not on the Altar, genuflect toward the Altar and the Altar Crucifix. Before a relic of the True Cross when it is exposed for public adoration. On Good Friday to Holy Saturday, after the ceremony of the Adoration of the Cross, genuflect when passing in front of the exposed Crucifix on the Altar.

 

Kneeling (Double Genuflection)
How:	Kneel on both knees
When:	any time the Blessed Sacrament is exposed, to show adoration and humility many times during the Mass: during the Prayers at the Foot of the Altar, after the Sanctus, after the Agnus Dei, at the altar rail, and at the Last Blessing during Confession, inside or, in emergencies, outside of the Confessional when receiving a priestly blessing, inside or outside of the Liturgy. If you are unable for some reason to kneel, then bow your head. during private prayer (see St. Dominic's "Fourth Way"" of prayer)

 

Prostration
How:	Keeping your legs together, drop to your knees and then lie down flat on the floor on your face, crossing your hands underneath your forehead forming a "pillow" on which to rest your forehead
When:	Prostrations, which signify total humility and penance, are made during the Rite of Ordination, during rites of religious profession (i.e., entry into religious orders), as penance in religious orders, and by anyone during private prayer before a Crucifix or the Blessed Sacrament. It is also occasionally made by adults, at the priest's invitation, before the Profession of Faith in the solemn Rite of Baptism. (See St. Dominic's "Second Way" of prayer)

 

Kisses
How:	To paraphrase Lauren Bacall in "To Have and Have Not," you know how to kiss, don't you? You just put your lips together... but don't blow.
When:	Kissing Crucifixes and Icons (2-D or 3-D): In icons that depict more than one person, kiss first Our Lord (His Feet, Hem of His garment, or hands), then Our Lady (her hands or veil), then the the angels and Saints. To reverence a Crucifix or icon that you can't reach too well with your lips, kiss your fingers and then touch where you would kiss. Kissing rings of hierarchs: see above under "Genuflection on Left Knee" Kissing a priest's hands: the priest's hands may be kissed when greeting or leaving him because they alone are able to confect the Holy Eucharist. They are also kissed on Palm Sunday when receiving a palm (which is also kissed). During the Mass, the priest's hands are kissed by the acolytes/altar boys.

 

Orans
How:	Raise arms either at your sides and with hands up to shoulder height, or raise arms up over your head as a child would when wanting his father to pick him up
When:	Priests perform this gesture (the first method mentioned) during the Mass. Laymen sometimes adopt this position during private prayer. It should not be used by laymen at the Mass. (See St. Dominic's "Seventh Way" of prayer) 3

This is how our martyrs die

Folks, the English don who played the cruel joke of translating "shahid" as "martyr" in the 19th century probably relished his job, since from then on people would infer a moral equivalence between Muslim and Christian "martyrs".

To be fair, the Arabic word shahid (شَهيد) does mean "witness", just as the Greek original for our word. Also, I would be remiss if I fail to say that standard Muslim interpretations of shahid include "Muslims who have laid down their life fulfilling a religious commandment, or have died fighting defending their country or protecting their family". (Source) Yet, it is also true that Muslim terrorists have embraced the term to honor their dead and the alleged Muslim moderates, supposedly in the majority, have neither questioned nor denied said honorific.

Christians martyrs don't die killing others in God's name. The Church never honored the Crusaders who died with the title "martyr" simply because we knew better, even back then. Only Christians whose death is Christ-like can be referred to as "martyrs". For a Christian, the word's meaning stands in complete opposition to that given to combatant or terrorist suhada (plural of shahid).

And this is what happened a few Sundays ago in Baghdad, and this is what Cardinal George of Chicago had so say about it in his recent farewell letter to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops:

Now, at the end of last month, on the vigil of the feast of All Saints, in the Syriac Catholic Cathedral of our Lady of Deliverance in the city of Baghdad, many dozens of Catholics were killed as they gathered for Mass. Two were priests: one was killed at the altar and the other as he left the confessional. They are joined in death with hundreds of others who have died for their faith in Christ since the current conflict began. An American Dominican Sister, a friend of a friend, has written from that country: “Waves of grief have enveloped their world, surging along the fault lines created in Iraqi society by the displacement of thousands of Iraq’s Christian minority who have fled what is clearly a growing genocidal threat…One survivor was asked by a reporter, what do you say to the terrorists? Through his tears he said, ‘We forgive you.’…Among the victims of this senseless tragedy was a little boy named Adam. Three-year-old Adam witnessed the horror of dozens of deaths, including that of his own parents. He wandered among the corpses and the blood, following the terrorists around and admonishing them, ‘enough, enough, enough.’ According to witnesses, this continued for two hours until Adam was himself murdered.” As bishops, as Americans, we cannot turn from this scene or allow the world to overlook it.

Dear brothers, we have all experienced challenges and even tragedies that tempt us to say at times, “enough.” Yet all of our efforts, our work, our failures and our sense of responsibility pale before the martyrdom of our brothers and sisters in Iraq and the active persecution of Catholics in other parts of the Middle East, in India and Pakistan, in China and in Vietnam, in Sudan and African countries rent by civil conflict. With their faces always before us, we stand before the Lord, collectively responsible for all those whom Jesus Christ died to save; and that is more than enough to define us as bishops and to keep us together in mission. May the Lord during these days give us vision enough to see what he sees and strength enough to act as he would have us act. That will be enough. Thank you.

Brothers and sisters, I am not ashamed to say, nor am I afraid to pray:

Holy New Martyrs of Baghdad, Pray for Us!

- Read also Iraq: Witness to the Carnage at SperoNews.

Video: A Hero Honored Today

SSG Sal Giunta, US Army, receives today the Medal of Honor. This is his story.

 

Staff Sgt. Giunta's Medal of Honor

The Truly Normative Theologians

Folks, I found the other day this quote from then Cardinal Ratzinger, today’s Pope Benedict XVI, that left me thinking:

“The normative theologians are the authors of Scripture.”

He said so in his Principles of Catholic Theology: Building Stones for a Fundamental Theology. In fact, the quote came to  mind after I read this piece published in JTA about “theological expert” John Dominic Crossan’s newest book on the Our Father.

Mr. Crossan’s thesis? That the Our Father is “is utterly, totally, fully Jewish, there’s nothing in it that is particularly Christian”; that “within the context of Judaism in the 1st century CE, the term “Father,” or “Abba” in Aramaic, would connote a Householder, who must provide equally for all members of his family” and that, in that sense, God is “The Big Householder in the Sky,” who exercises “distributive justice” and who would be appalled by the huge discrepancy between rich and poor, Mr. Crossan argues.

Rubbish. Another fishing expedition for a liberation theology from someone who Mr. Crossan has previously termed “a wandering Cynic”.

How this “correct understanding” of the our Father jives with Judaism should be puzzling first and foremost to Jews, who in Jesus’ time had problems understanding God as a Father beyond its “Originator” meaning, but now should be seen as “The Big Householder in the Sky.”

Mr. Crossan asserts that there is “a huge discrepancy between what most people think Christianity is really about and what Jesus thinks Christianity is really about.”  That is certainly true, but particularly when John Dominic Crossan is the speaker.  He is not a normative theologian.

- Want to read something deep and truly joyous about biblical theology? Read the newly-published exhortation Verbum Domini: Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation on the Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church (September 30, 2010), with the added advantage that is both free and authoritative. Save your money and send Mr. Crossan packing!

Today was “Doomsday Sunday”

Folks, today’s readings and homily emphasized the Last Things and the final Manifestation of Our Lord Jesus Christ. before the day is out, I wanted to share this beautiful audio conference by Dr. Peter Kreeft on “Heaven: Our Deepest Longing.” Enjoy!

 

Video: Who is St. Benedict?

At the age of 14 his parents sent Benedict to Rome to be educated in the fine arts. In the capital the boy discovered that most of his peers had given themselves up to lives of silliness, vanity, and vice. The shallowness of this frightened him, and so he left Rome, vowing to seek his salvation in solitude

Living la Vida Catholic

Folks, I want to collect in one place a few that might be helpful to you in developing a deeper Catholic Christian life of prayer and holiness. I hope this compilation helps you in your own pilgrimage. Most (and more) are found under the Catholic Living tag.

• Examen of Conscience
• Plenty of Good Reading for Lent at Your Fingertips
• Catholic Spiritual Warfare Prayers
• How to Write a Personal Rule of Life
• Exercise your priesthood: Pray the Liturgy of the Hours
• Ten pointers for living in married chastity
• Our Home Shrine – Heart of Our Domestic Church
• The Gospel and Human Rights
• An Interview with a Lay Catholic Contemplative
• Practicing Benedictine hospitality while blogging
• How to fast during Lent - or for any other worthy intention
• On Mastering the Passions
• Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy
• Prayerful Postures and Gestures

Natural Law - Part II - The Plan of God Written In Our Hearts

Author: Cardinal-designate Donald Wuerl | Source: The Catholic Standard

At a recent interfaith gathering, I was particularly pleased when a number of the participants highlighted that while we may disagree on numerous doctrinal issues and understandings of revelation, there is a common ground on which we can all stand - variously described by the participants as, "God's wisdom written on our hearts," "the wisdom of creation," or "the natural law."

While we may use different language to describe the phenomenon, what we were talking about was a sense of right and wrong that follows simply upon the fact that we are human beings created in the image and likeness of God.

The Church uses "natural law" in a classical Christian sense. For us, "natural law" signifies the plan of God in relation to human life and action, insofar as the human mind in this life can grasp that plan and share with God the role of directing human life according to it (cf. Dignitatis humanae 3).

Saint Thomas Aquinas describes our limited human understanding of God's plan as the natural law. The "Angelic Doctor" defines the natural law as "nothing other than the light of understanding placed in us by God; through it we know what we must do and what we must avoid. God has given this light or law at the creation" (Saint Thomas Aquinas, Dec. praec. I; CCC 1955).

Since we are able with our intelligence to understand something of our own human nature and the laws of God's created world, we are obliged to follow them. There is nothing mysterious about the natural law; it is as evident as common sense.

In exploring the definition of natural law, the Catechism tells us that it is "present in the heart of each man and established by reason" and "is universal in its precepts and its authority" (1956). Since the natural moral law exists within our human nature and all of us share that nature, the moral law applies to everyone. Since our human nature is unchangeable, even though its manifestation takes on many forms, so the law remains immutable.

Pope John Paul II in an encyclical letter on moral truth entitled Veritatis splendor reaffirmed the Church's obligation and authority to teach on moral issues so that there is never confusion among the faithful about what is right and wrong in specific, sometimes complex, matters.

In this document we find a concise and authoritative presentation of the understanding of the Church's authority to teach on matters that are clearly rooted in our human nature, manifest in the natural moral law and confirmed in a general way in God's revelation. To what we could know from our human reason, if we had the time, the ability and the inclination to do so, the Church now adds its authority as the voice of Christ speaking to us today as we face contemporary moral dilemmas.

We should not be surprised by such a provision by Christ for his Church. Complex moral matters are not academic issues discussed in theory with no practical implications. For the most part they are life and death, moral goodness or evil matters, and as the light to lead us to all truth, the Church calls us not only to recognize the truth but to live by it.

Ours is an age that is uncomfortable with moral absolutes and the claim of the Church to be able to speak for Christ and his gospel, particularly when such teaching runs counter to the prevalent secular mores. While we live in a secular society that increasingly finds little place for God or an understanding of God's creation and our moral obligation in the light of that reality, we are not absolved from recognizing the truth and obligation of the moral law. Its precepts take precedence over any positive civil law. It is out of this understanding that we are called to work in our society to see that all public policy is consonant with the natural moral order.

Deep within us is the voice of God's natural moral law that finds expression in our conscience. Even when that voice has been silenced by so many alternative views of life in our highly secular and materialistic world, it continues to echo in our hearts. Some things we know are right and others wrong. Only human beings have the gift of knowing what we "ought to do." The awareness of this distinction so critical to a civilization of love is rooted in the moral law etched into our very being by God at our creation.

Today, Veterans’ Day, We Remember St. Martin de Tours, Patron Saint of Soldiers

Source: EWTN

St. Martin, called "the glory of Gaul," was born about the year 316 of pagan parents in Sabaria, Upper Pannonia, a province comprising northern Yugoslavia and western Hungary. His father was an officer in the Roman army who had risen from the ranks. While Martin was still a child, his father was transferred to a new station in Pavia, north Italy. Here the boy learned of Christianity, felt drawn to it, and became a catechumen. As the son of a veteran, at the age of fifteen he was required to begin service in the army. Though never shirking his military duty, he is said to have lived more like a monk than a soldier.

Young Martin was stationed at Amiens, in Gaul, when the incident occurred which tradition and art have rendered so famous. As he rode towards the town one winter day, he noticed near the gates a poor man, thinly clad, shivering with cold, and begging alms. Martin saw that none who passed stopped to help the miserable fellow. He had nothing with him but the clothes he wore, but, drawing his sword from its scabbard, he cut his great woolen cloak in two pieces, gave one half to the beggar, and wrapped himself in the other. The following night, the story continues, Martin in his sleep saw Jesus Christ, surrounded by angels, and dressed in the half of the cloak he had given away. A voice bade him look at it well and say whether he knew it. He then heard Jesus say to the angels, "Martin, as yet only a catechumen, has covered me with his cloak."[1] Sulpicius Severus, the saint's friend and biographer, says that as a consequence of this vision Martin "flew to be baptized."

When Martin was about twenty, some Teutonic tribes invaded Gaul, and with his comrades he went before the Emperor Julian[2] to receive a war-bounty. Suddenly he was moved to refuse it. "Up to now," he said to Julian, "I have served you as a soldier; allow me henceforth to serve Christ. Give the bounty to these others who are going out to battle. I am a soldier of Christ and it is not lawful for me to fight." Julian, angered, accused Martin of cowardice; the young man replied that he was ready to go into battle the next day unarmed, and advance alone against the enemy in the name of Christ. He was taken off to prison, but discharged as soon as a truce had been made. He then went down to Poitiers, where the renowned Hilary had been bishop for many years. Hilary gladly received this early "conscientious objector" and ordained him deacon.

Having heard in a dream a summons to revisit his home, Martin crossed the Alps, and from Milan went over to Pannonia. There he converted his mother and some other persons; his father he could not win. While in Illyricum he took sides against the Arians with so much zeal that he was publicly scourged and forced to leave. Back in Italy once more, on his way to Gaul, he learned that the Gallic Church was also under attack by the Arians, and that his good friend Hilary had been banished. He remained at Milan, but soon the Arian bishop, Auxentius, drove him away. Martin took refuge with a priest on the island of Gallinaria, in the gulf of Genoa, and stayed there until Hilary returned to Poitiers in 360. It had become Martin's desire to pursue his religious calling in solitude, and Hilary gave him a small piece of land in central France, now called Liguge. He was joined by other hermits and holy men, and the community grew into a monastery, the first, it is said, to be founded in Gaul. It survived until 1607; in 1852 it was rebuilt by the Benedictines of Solesmes.

For ten years Martin lived there, directing the life of his disciples and preaching in outlying places. Many miracles were attributed to him. About the year 371, Lidorius, bishop of Tours, died, and the people demanded Martin in his place. Martin was so reluctant to accept the office that they resorted to stratagem and called him to the city to give his blessing to a sick person, then forcibly conveyed him to the church. When neighboring bishops were summoned to confirm this choice, they thought the monk's poor and unkempt appearance proved him unfit for the office, but they were overruled by the acclamations of the local clergy and the people. Even as a bishop, Martin lived an austere life. Unable to endure the constant interruptions, he retired from Tours to a retreat that was later to become the famous abbey of Marmoutier. The site was enclosed by a steep cliff on one side and by a tributary of the Loire River on the other. Here Martin and some of the monks who followed him built cells of wood; others lived in caves dug out of the rock. In a short time their number grew, with many men of high rank among them. From this time on bishops were frequently chosen from Marmoutier, for the holy Martin took the greatest pains in the training of priests.

Martin's piety and preaching resulted in the decline of paganism in that part of Gaul. He destroyed temples and felled trees which the heathen held sacred. Once when he had demolished a certain temple, he proceeded to the cutting down of a pine tree that stood near. The chief priest and other pagans there offered to cut it down themselves, on condition that he who trusted so strongly in his God would stand under it wherever they would place him. The bishop agreed and allowed himself to be tied and placed on the side towards which the tree was leaning. Just as it seemed about to fall on him, he made the sign of the cross, at which the tree fell in the other direction. Another time, as he was pulling down a temple in the vicinity of Autun, a crowd of pagans fell on him in fury, one brandishing a sword. Martin stood and bared his breast, at sight of which the armed man fell backwards, and in terror begged forgiveness. These marvels are narrated by Sulpicius Severus, who also describes various revelations and visions with which Martin was favored.

Once a year the bishop visited each of his parishes, traveling on foot, or by donkey or boat. He continued to set up monastic communities, and extended the bounds of his episcopate from Touraine to such distant points as Chartres, Paris, Autun, and Vienne. At Vienne, according to his biographer, he cured Paulinus of Nola of a disease of the eyes. When a brutal imperial officer, Avitianus, arrived at Tours with a band of prisoners he planned to torture to death on the following day, Martin, on being informed of this, hurried in from Marmoutier to intercede for them. Reaching the city near midnight, he went straight to the quarters of Avitianus and did not leave until the officer promised mercy to his captives.

The churches of other parts of Gaul and in Spain were being disturbed by the Priscillianists, an ascetic sect, named for its leader, Priscillian, bishop of Avila. A synod held at Bordeaux in 384 had condemned his doctrines, but he had appealed to Emperor Maximus. Meanwhile, Ithacius, the orthodox bishop of Ossanova, had attacked him and urged the emperor to have him put to death. Neither Ambrose at Milan, however, nor Martin at Tours would hold communion with Ithacius or his supporters, because they had appealed to the emperor in a dispute over doctrine, and now were trying to punish a heretic with death. Martin wrote to reprove Ithacius severely. It was sufficient, he said, that Priscillian should be branded as a heretic and excommunicated by the bishops. Maximus, yielding to Martin's remonstrances, ordered the trial deferred and even promised that there should be no bloodshed, but afterwards he was persuaded to turn the case over to his prefect Evodius. He found Priscillian and some others guilty on several charges and had them beheaded. At this news, Martin went to Treves to intercede for the lives of all the Spanish Priscillianists who were threatened with a bloody persecution, and also for two men under suspicion as adherents of the late Emperor Gratian. As a condition before granting this request, Maximus stipulated that Martin should resume communion with the intolerant Ithacius and his party. Since they were not excommunicated, this was no violation of any canon, and he accordingly promised the emperor that he would do so, provided the emperor would pardon the two partisans of Gratian and recall the military tribunes he had sent to Spain. The next day Martin received the Sacrament with the Ithacians in order to save so many people from slaughter; yet he was afterwards troubled in conscience as to whether he had been too yielding. For their part in the affair both the emperor and Ithacius were censured by Pope Siricius. It was the first judicial death sentence for heresy, and it had the effect of spreading Priscillianism in Spain.

Martin had premonitions of his approaching death and predicted it to his disciples, who besought him not to leave them. "Lord," he prayed, "if Thy people still need me, I will not draw back from the work. Thy will be done." When his final sickness came upon him, he was at Candes, in a remote part of his diocese. The monks entreated him to allow them at least to put a sheet under him and make his last hours comfortable. "It becomes not a Christian," said Martin, "to die otherwise than upon ashes. I shall have sinned if I leave you any other example." He lay with eyes and hands raised to Heaven, until the brothers begged him to turn on one side to rest his body a little. "Allow me, my brethren," he answered, "to look towards Heaven rather than to earth, that my soul may be ready to take its flight to the Lord."

On November 8 he died, and three days later was buried at Tours. Two thousand monks and nuns gathered for his funeral. His successor built a chapel over his grave, which was replaced by a fine basilica. A still later church on this site was destroyed during the French Revolution, but a modern one has since been built there. Throughout the Middle Ages, the knightly Martin, who shared his cloak with a beggar, was the subject of innumerable anecdotes, which expressed the love and veneration of the people. His tomb became a national shrine in France, of which country he is patron saint, and one of the most popular pilgrimage places of Europe. St. Martin is patron of the cities of Wurtburg and Buenos Aires. Many churches in France and elsewhere have been dedicated to him. His emblems are a tree, armor, a cloak, and a beggar.

---

Endnotes

1 The building where St. Martin's cloak was preserved as a precious relic came to be known as the <capella>, from the Latin word for cloak, <cappa>; and from <capella> is derived our word "chapel."

2 On Julian, see above, <St. Athanasius>. n. IO.

---

Saint Martin of Tours, Bishop, Confessor. Celebration of Feast Day is November 11. Taken from "Lives of Saints", Published by John J. Crawley & Co., Inc.