Icons as useful aids for attaining holiness

Brethren, Peace and Good to you in our Lord Jesus Christ. I was asked the following question by a dear Orthodox Christian sister in a forum I participate. I want to share both the question and my answer with all of you:

…with your suggestion of discussing what happens when we venerate holy icons, and given that we agree that to venerate the icon is to draw near to the person in the image, then the question remains how does drawing near to Christ, the Theotokos, and the Saints affect us.

I’ll be brief for a change. I think that becoming holy is to become fully human and that when we become holy, we are able to take off the masks we present to others, the masks of our pretenses, of the ideals promulgated by our Pagan culture. We are able to show ourselves to others as who we are, in all of our depths, in the reality that God meant us to be from eternity.

The iconographer recognizes this fact; he or she has the gift to see the holy ones as they truly are now, shining with inner light in eternity. With economy of form and movement, the iconographer captures the inner depths and the outer symmetries of the holy one who is now fully what God intended him to be.

The iconodule or “icon venerator” (you and me, I hope) recognizes that we are meant to be subjects for a future iconographer. We need to reflect the Glory of God in Jesus in ourselves, by being the man or woman God intended us to be from eternity, before sin marred us. Our duty of sorts is to be a subject for an iconographer and through the exchange, to become examples for others to emulate.

That’s why icons appeal so much to me, why I treasure and venerate them, and become closer in the Body of Christ to those whom the icon re-presents to us on earth.

We mourn the victims of the Ohio school shootings

Brethren, Peace and Good to you in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We mourn the victims of the Ohio school shootings and pray for all their families, friends, and the people of the town of Chardon. Lord, please be close to all of them in this period of mourning.

Following our Master’s teaching, we bless the shooter and pray for his soul. May he come to understand the evil of his deed and the darkness in his heart, so that he may turn to You, O Lord, and find healing and peace during the many years he will spend in prison.

Brethren, let us reclaim our culture in order to undercut the nefarious trends in all communications and entertainment media that helped fuel, and justify the mind of the shooter.

Thank you Mother, for bringing me back home

Brethren, Peace and Good to all of you in Jesus Christ Our Lord.

Yesterday was a very special day: it was exactly a year since I reported for active military duty in Afghanistan, and it was also the day in which I reported back to end my mission. My wife accompanied me to Washington, DC to complete the paperwork and then we spent the day together. We had lunch at a local TexMex/Cuban/Puerto Rican place (Banana Café and Piano Bar. I recommend it) and then spent the day together. Among the places we visited was the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, where we attended Mass in thanksgiving for my safe return, and where I had the opportunity to thank the Blessed Mother’s special care for me in the chapel dedicate to her under the title of Our Lady of Częstochowa, patroness of Poland. The picture at right is of yours truly, confirming the visit.

The origins of the icon and the date of its composition are still hotly contested among scholars. The difficulty in dating the icon stems from the fact that the original image was painted over, after being badly damaged by Hussite raiders in 1430. Medieval restorers unfamiliar with the encaustic method found that the paints they applied to the damaged areas "simply sloughed off the image" according to the medieval chronicler Risinius, and their solution was to erase the original image and to repaint it on the original panel, which was believed to be holy because of its legendary origin as a table top from the home of the Holy Family. The painting displays a traditional composition well known in the icons of Eastern Orthodoxy. The Virgin Mary is shown as the "Hodegetria" ("One Who Shows the Way"). In it the Virgin directs attention away from herself, gesturing with her right hand toward Jesus as the source of salvation. In turn, the child extends his right hand toward the viewer in blessing while holding a book of gospels in his left hand. The icon shows the Madonna in fleur de lys robes. (Source: Wikipedia)

The icon played a primary role in the Marian devotion of one of my heroes: Blessed John Paul the Great.

This prayer, composed by the late Archbishop of Krákow, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński, is taped to the pre-dieu I’m kneeling upon:

Holy Mother of Częstochowa, Thou art full of grace, goodness and mercy. I consecrate to Thee all my thoughts, words and actions, my soul and body. I beseech Thy blessings and especially prayers for my salvation. Today, I consecrate myself to Thee, Good Mother, totally, with body and soul amid joy and sufferings to obtain for myself and others Thy blessings on this earth and eternal life in Heaven.
Amen.

Vivificat on the go! - You can now listen to this blog!

Brethren: this is an amazing service provided by Odiogo.com! Now you can listen to my blog posts from the site, feed, iTunes, and several other means. This is fantastic! Just go to the blog and click on "listen know" or subscribe to the feeds on my Odiogo page!

http://podcasts.odiogo.com/vivificat/podcasts-html.php

I hope you like and use this new service.

The great reverence with which we should receive Christ

Brethren, Peace and Grace and Good to all in Jesus Christ our Lord. The following is Chapter 1, of Part IV of the Imitation of Christ. I wanted to share with you as a Lenten meditation.

THE DISCIPLE

THESE are all Your words, O Christ, eternal Truth, though they were not all spoken at one time nor written together in one place. And because they are Yours and true, I must accept them all with faith and gratitude. They are Yours and You have spoken them; they are mine also because You have spoken them for my salvation. Gladly I accept them from Your lips that they may be the more deeply impressed in my heart.

Words of such tenderness, so full of sweetness and love, encourage me; but my sins frighten me and an unclean conscience thunders at me when approaching such great mysteries as these. The sweetness of Your words invites me, but the multitude of my vices oppresses me.

You command me to approach You confidently if I wish to have part with You, and to receive the food of immortality if I desire to obtain life and glory everlasting.

"Come to me," You say, "all you that labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you."[48]

Oh, how sweet and kind to the ear of the sinner is the word by which You, my Lord God, invite the poor and needy to receive Your most holy Body! Who am I, Lord, that I should presume to approach You? Behold, the heaven of heavens cannot contain You, and yet You say: "Come, all of you, to Me."

What means this most gracious honor and this friendly invitation? How shall I dare to come, I who am conscious of no good on which to presume? How shall I lead You into my house, I who have so often offended in Your most kindly sight? Angels and archangels revere You, the holy and the just fear You, and You say: "Come to Me: all of you!" If You, Lord, had not said it, who would have believed it to be true? And if You had not commanded, who would dare approach?

Behold, Noah, a just man, worked a hundred years building the ark that he and a few others might be saved; how, then, can I prepare myself in one hour to receive with reverence the Maker of the world?

Moses, Your great servant and special friend, made an ark of incorruptible wood which he covered with purest gold wherein to place the tables of Your law; shall I, a creature of corruption, dare so easily to receive You, the Maker of law and the Giver of life?

Solomon, the wisest of the kings of Israel, spent seven years building a magnificent temple in praise of Your name, and celebrated its dedication with a feast of eight days. He offered a thousand victims in Your honor and solemnly bore the Ark of the Covenant with trumpeting and jubilation to the place prepared for it; and I, unhappy and poorest of men, how shall I lead You into my house, I who scarcely can spend a half-hour devoutly -- would that I could spend even that as I ought!

O my God, how hard these men tried to please You! Alas, how little is all that I do! How short the time I spend in preparing for Communion! I am seldom wholly recollected, and very seldom, indeed, entirely free from distraction. Yet surely in the presence of Your life-giving Godhead no unbecoming thought should arise and no creature possess my heart, for I am about to receive as my guest, not an angel, but the very Lord of angels.

Very great, too, is the difference between the Ark of the Covenant with its treasures and Your most pure Body with its ineffable virtues, between these sacrifices of the law which were but figures of things to come and the true offering of Your Body which was the fulfillment of all ancient sacrifices.

Why, then, do I not long more ardently for Your adorable presence? Why do I not prepare myself with greater care to receive Your sacred gifts, since those holy patriarchs and prophets of old, as well as kings and princes with all their people, have shown such affectionate devotion for the worship of God?

The most devout King David danced before the ark of God with all his strength as he recalled the benefits once bestowed upon his fathers. He made musical instruments of many kinds. He composed psalms and ordered them sung with joy. He himself often played upon the harp when moved by the grace of the Holy Ghost. He taught the people of Israel to praise God with all their hearts and to raise their voices every day to bless and glorify Him. If such great devotion flourished in those days and such ceremony in praise of God before the Ark of the Covenant, what great devotion ought not I and all Christian people now show in the presence of this Sacrament; what reverence in receiving the most excellent Body of Christ!

Many people travel far to honor the relics of the saints, marveling at their wonderful deeds and at the building of magnificent shrines. They gaze upon and kiss the sacred relics encased in silk and gold; and behold, You are here present before me on the altar, my God, Saint of saints, Creator of men, and Lord of angels!

Often in looking at such things, men are moved by curiosity, by the novelty of the unseen, and they bear away little fruit for the amendment of their lives, especially when they go from place to place lightly and without true contrition. But here in the Sacrament of the altar You are wholly present, my God, the man Christ Jesus, whence is obtained the full realization of eternal salvation, as often as You are worthily and devoutly received. To this, indeed, we are not drawn by levity, or curiosity, or sensuality, but by firm faith, devout hope, and sincere love.

O God, hidden Creator of the world, how wonderfully You deal with us! How sweetly and graciously You dispose of things with Your elect to whom You offer Yourself to be received in this Sacrament! This, indeed, surpasses all understanding. This in a special manner attracts the hearts of the devout and inflames their love. Your truly faithful servants, who give their whole life to amendment, often receive in Holy Communion the great grace of devotion and love of virtue.

Oh, the wonderful and hidden grace of this Sacrament which only the faithful of Christ understand, which unbelievers and slaves of sin cannot experience! In it spiritual grace is conferred, lost virtue restored, and the beauty, marred by sin, repaired. At times, indeed, its grace is so great that, from the fullness of the devotion, not only the mind but also the frail body feels filled with greater strength.

Nevertheless, our neglect and coldness is much to be deplored and pitied, when we are not moved to receive with greater fervor Christ in Whom is the hope and merit of all who will be saved. He is our sanctification and redemption. He is our consolation in this life and the eternal joy of the blessed in heaven. This being true, it is lamentable that many pay so little heed to the salutary Mystery which fills the heavens with joy and maintains the whole universe in being.

Oh, the blindness and the hardness of the heart of man that does not show more regard for so wonderful a gift, but rather falls into carelessness from its daily use! If this most holy Sacrament were celebrated in only one place and consecrated by only one priest in the whole world, with what great desire, do you think, would men be attracted to that place, to that priest of God, in order to witness the celebration of the divine Mysteries! But now there are many priests and Mass is offered in many places, that God's grace and love for men may appear the more clearly as the Sacred Communion is spread more widely through the world.

Thanks be to You, Jesus, everlasting Good Shepherd, Who have seen fit to feed us poor exiled people with Your precious Body and Blood, and to invite us with words from Your own lips to partake of these sacred Mysteries: "Come to Me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you."

Video: How redefining marriage impacts all

Brethren: Peace and Good to you in Jesus Christ. The following is a video produced by Minnesota for Marriage:

Today’s Ash Wednesday

Come, let us worship Christ the Lord, who for our sake endured temptation and suffering.

Words of wisdom from Winston Churchill

 

‎When I am abroad, I always make it a rule never to criticize or attack the government of my own country. I make up for lost time when I come home. ~ Winston Churchill

Obamacare vs. the Constitution

Brethren, Peace and Good to all in Jesus’ Name.

Columnist Charles Krauthammer wrote this in the WaPo and was republished at the Catholic Education and Resource Center’s website. It is a good analysis of the Obama Administration’s strategy of “dividing and conquer” that has been enabling them to violate our freedom of conscience. Here’s an excerpt:

Give him points for cleverness. President Obama’s birth control “accommodation” was as politically successful as it was morally meaningless.

It was nothing but an accounting trick that still forces Catholic (and other religious) institutions to provide medical insurance that guarantees free birth control, tubal ligation and morning-after abortifacients — all of which violate church doctrine on the sanctity of life.

The trick is that these birth control/abortion services will supposedly be provided independently and free of charge by the religious institution's insurance company. But this changes none of the moral calculus. Holy Cross Hospital, for example, is still required by law to engage an insurance company that is required by law to provide these doctrinally proscribed services to all Holy Cross employees.

Nonetheless, the accounting device worked politically. It took only a handful of compliant Catholic groups — Obamacare cheerleaders dying to return to the fold — to hail the alleged compromise and hand Obama a major political victory.

Before, Obama's coalition had been split. His birth control mandate was fiercely opposed by such stalwart friends as former Virginia governor Tim Kaine and pastor Rick Warren (Obama's choice to give the invocation at his inauguration), who declared he would rather go to jail than abide by the regulation. After the "accommodation," it was the (mostly) Catholic opposition that fractured. The mainstream media then bought the compromise as substantive, and the issue was defused.

Please continue reading here.

Furthermore, EWTN’s Raymond Arroyo’s reporting on this issue, broadcasted last Thursday on his World Over newscast is a must see, if you wish to understand the issue from a true Catholic perspective:

Discussion on HHS Mandate

There’s a lot of misleading anti-Catholic propaganda out there on this issue, and many dissenting Catholics-in-name-only are lending themselves as useful tools for advancing the Obama Administration’s conscience-violating provisions. Don’t be mislead!

The issue here is not the right of Catholic dissenters to disregard the Church’s moral stance, but the right of faithful Catholics to live according to their consciences without the government’s forcing them to violate their consciences. The state has no such right, just as it also lacks the power to legalize abortion, or same-sex “marriage.” Caesar is not enthroned in our altars, Jesus is. We will not obey, and we will not comply with Caesar’s decree: we will not burn incense for him.

• Read also : WP: The claim that 98 percent of Catholic women use contraception: a media foul.

My most prescient post

Brethren, Peace and Good to all of you in Jesus Christ. Thanks to him, I talk to you from my warm home.

I wrote the following post almost two years ago. I think it was prescient. Do you remember it?

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The US Catholic Bishops and Health Care Reform: A Failure of Imagination

Sadly, the bishops have misunderstood the entire process, and now we will all pay

Folks, according to Catholic World News:

Denouncing current Senate health care legislation as deficient because it provides federal funding for abortions and leaves Catholic hospitals and physicians bereft of conscience protection, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops emphasized in a December 22 letter that “until these fundamental flaws are remedied the bill should be opposed.”

The three coauthors of the letter-- Cardinal DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, Bishop William Murphy of Rockville Centre, and Bishop John Wester of Salt Lake City-- noted that the legislation

violates the longstanding federal policy against the use of federal funds for elective abortions and health plans that include such abortions -- a policy upheld in all health programs covered by the Hyde Amendment as well as in the Children’s Health Insurance Program, the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program -- and now in the House-passed “Affordable Health Care for America Act.” We believe legislation that fails to comply with this policy and precedent is not true health care reform and should be opposed until this fundamental problem is remedied.

Despite claims to the contrary, the House-passed provision on abortion keeps in place the longstanding and widely supported federal policy against government funding of elective abortions and plans that include elective abortions. It does not restrict abortion, or prevent people from buying insurance covering abortion with their own funds. It simply ensures that where federal funds are involved, people are not required to pay for other people’s abortions. The public consensus on this point is borne out by many opinion surveys, including the new Quinnipiac University survey of December 22 showing 72 percent opposed to public funding of abortion in health care reform legislation.

The abortion provisions in the Manager’s Amendment to the Senate bill do not maintain this commitment to the legal status quo on abortion funding. Federal funds will help subsidize, and in some cases a federal agency will facilitate and promote, health plans that cover elective abortions. All purchasers of such plans will be required to pay for other people’s abortions in a very direct and explicit way, through a separate premium payment designed solely to pay for abortion. There is no provision for individuals to opt out of this abortion payment in federally subsidized plans, so people will be required by law to pay for other people’s abortions. States may opt out of this system only by passing legislation to prohibit abortion coverage. In this way the longstanding and current federal policy universally reflected in all federal health programs, including the program for providing health coverage to Senators and other federal employees, will be reversed. That policy will only prevail in states that take the initiative of passing their own legislation to maintain it.

Please continue reading here.

Commentary. I think that the bishops attempted to negotiate with the devil and to no avail. They thought they could influence our lawmakers to provide us a "clean" government takeover of the nation's health care system, "clean" in the sense they hoped this "reform" would include strong conscience protections while defunding abortion, without objecting to the basic premise of unprecendent governmet growth.

With all due respect to our pastors, our bishops have been wrong all along for advocating a government takeover of the US health care sector in the name of "social justice." Frankly, they haven't argued convincingly how an expansion of the free market would have hurt, rather than helped those who are most in need, making the public option necessary. In the words of the Venerable Pope John Paul the Great in his masterful encyclical, Centesimus Annus:

34. It would appear that, on the level of individual nations and of international relations, the free market is the most efficient instrument for utilizing resources and effectively responding to needs. But this is true only for those needs which are "solvent", insofar as they are endowed with purchasing power, and for those resources which are "marketable", insofar as they are capable of obtaining a satisfactory price. But there are many human needs which find no place on the market. It is a strict duty of justice and truth not to allow fundamental human needs to remain unsatisfied, and not to allow those burdened by such needs to perish. It is also necessary to help these needy people to acquire expertise, to enter the circle of exchange, and to develop their skills in order to make the best use of their capacities and resources. Even prior to the logic of a fair exchange of goods and the forms of justice appropriate to it, there exists something which is due to man because he is man, by reason of his lofty dignity. Inseparable from that required "something" is the possibility to survive and, at the same time, to make an active contribution to the common good of humanity.

The Pope clearly established a balance between not allowing fundamental human needs to remain unsatisfied, and not to allow those burdened by such needs to perish and the necessity to help these needy people to acquire expertise, to enter the circle of exchange, and to develop their skills in order to make the best use of their capacities and resources. I'm still waiting for our pastors to apply these words to our current situation and to assist us laypeople to enact a healthy, balanced public policy more in line with the whole of Catholic Social Teaching. My scorecard for them is an "F".

Our bishops, still convinced of the desirability of the welfare state, have unwittingly painted themselves into a corner. If they had opposed this attempt at socialism from the viewpoint of the very Catholic notion of subsidiarity, and had supported instead the initiative of a humanist free market as John Paul envisioned, their critique would have been a more honest, coherent, moral, and intellectual one. But by accepting the premise that government ought to grow to cover this human need, they became more accomplices than shapers of what Congress has wrought. Because they bought into the "big government" idea, just differing on how big and in which direction government ought to grow, we find ourselves in this mess.

I want to state for the record that I think that those who cannot, in the words of John Paull II, acquire expertise, to enter the circle of exchange, and to develop their skills in order to make the best use of their capacities and resources should be protected and provided for. The Bible is clear about who they are: the widow, the orphan, the elderly, the infirm and yes, the alien. A partnership of public and private initiatives will always be needed to care for these biblical "protected classes." Although our bishops are in tune with the needs of those unable to learn, work, and compete, they say little or nothing about our duty towards those who are able: we need to create the conditions and opportunities for them to join "the circle of exchange." This bill doesn't do that and our bishops seem to be oblivious of that basic fact.

For all these reasons, in my lay opinion, and from my reading of Catholic Social Teaching, this "health care reform" about to befall us is all wrong. Our bishops have never challenged the underlying, flawed premises. Rather, they got entangled in it, and now we're all going to pay for a large, unwieldy system that is designed to fail in the long wrong anyway in order to justify later a larger, irresistible complete government takeover of the health care sector. Read my lips, when that happens, there wwill be little or no consideration given to conscience protections or the defense of the right to life in anyway.

I hope and pray that our bishops learn from this mistake and give us better guidance next time. Their has been a failure of imagination of vast proportions. Hear us, O Lord, for the time to come.

To Grow in Attachment to God the Father

Father Nicolas Schwizer

There is a proposal by Father Kentenich, founder of the Schoenstatt Movement, for growing in closeness and attachment to the Father. He calls it: to walk in the presence of God. It consists of three simple actions: “to look frequently at God with the eyes of faith; to converse often with God in childlike love; and to offer sacrifices to God frequently.”

And he adds: If you want to know why you do not reach deep attachment to God, you only have to ask yourself: Which of these three actions am I not practicing?

1. To look frequently at God with the eyes of faith. Now, how can I do it in spite of my activities? Let us recall the time of our courtship. It is evident, when two love each other, they remember each other and they communicate mutually. From that experience, I have to learn how to cultivate my love for God. What I did then spontaneously, I now have to learn by practice. I should train myself to look at God several times a day. Without that effort, I will never reach a more personal relationship with Him.

Concretely, I should take better advantage of my times for prayer, for spiritual reading and meditation so that they can truly be personal encounters with God.

2. To converse often with God in childlike love. How can I converse often with the Father? For many of us, it is still very hard to pray, to enter into a profound and personal dialogue with Him. Nevertheless, prayer is absolutely necessary because it is the breathing of the soul; without it, we cannot survive. Each moment of prayer should increase in us the love for God, the loving surrender to the Father God.

I have to learn to dialogue with God the Father about the daily things in my life. Father Kentenich’s opinion is that we would be more interiorly serene and more healthy psychically if we would take our daily problems to God…..if we would talk about them to God…..if we would reflect on the daily encounters with God.

I believe that in all of this we should seek a closer, more spontaneous, more simple and childlike contact with God the Father.

The ideal to which we should aspire is to not only pray frequently, but to pray always. St. Paul also says it: “Pray without ceasing” ( 1 TH 5, 17). What is understood by this? It is the disposition of the heart to never refuse God anything: a permanent openness to his wishes, an attitude of always responding “yes,” an interior disposition for adoring the Will of the Father in every circumstance.

It is the mysterious experience that I am never alone because God is always with me and in me. That permanent contact with the Father supposes that my soul is captivated by God even subconsciously. That is only possible if the Holy Spirit gives us his gifts.

3. To offer sacrifices frequently to the Father. If I want to learn to live in the presence of God, then it is evident that I should also offer Him sacrifices. With my so fragile and limited human nature, I cannot pretend to achieve an attachment filled with love, without a spirit of heroic mortification. Under the order of sin and the cross, love without sacrifice does not exist.

And what could I offer Him? Things of daily life, for example, the sacrifices which assure the education of my temperament or my character; the sacrifice which means to many of us our exemplary professional work; our struggle to carry on with dignity our marriage and family…..

Questions for reflection

1. Do I have moments of encounter with God?

2. Do I tell Him of my joys and sorrows?

3. Is it hard for me to make sacrifices and offer them to God?

Blog-pause in effect

Brethren: Peace and Good to you.

As you probably know, I've just returned from my military assignment in Afghanistan. As I dedicate the next fee days to becoming a full-time civilian and part-time military once again, blogging will be slow. Please enjoy the current contents.

“98 percent of Catholic women use contraceptives”

Brethren, Peace and Good to you in Jesus Christ.

You’ve heard said repeatedly by mostly Democrat (and women) politicians: “98 percent of all Catholic women use contraceptives”. This is supposed to be enough justification to force Church-affiliated institutions to serve or fund contraceptives in opposition to the Church’s moral stance. Where did this number come from and what does it mean?

The “98 percent” number comes from a survey conducted by the Guttmacher Institute - the question asked was whether women ages 18-45 had EVER used contraceptives. So the stat means that 98% of Catholic women, by the age of 45, state that they have used some form of contraception on at least one occasion. This did not even attempt to make a distinction between one use, occasional use, or frequent use. It did not attempt to make a distinction between what someone may have done at one time in her life and what she does now, with what she has come to know and understand now. And it did not attempt to distinguish between what a woman may have done at least one time and what she believes is right or appropriate to try to live up to. It is not a useful number to quote but it is showing up all over the place recently.

Therefore, the number is a “flat” number and meaningless to the debate. Consider this, what about those women who use contraceptives to regularize their menses so that they can conceive? Then it would not be a proper contraceptive use, is it? Yet the survey doesn’t answer that.

However, for the sake of argument, let’s say that the number is true and accurate across categories and throughout time. What bearing should the “98 percent” have upon Catholic teaching and conscience?  Answer: no bearing. Why? Because this is to argue ad populo, it’s good because everyone does it and that’s a fallacy. Let’s say that 98% of Americans cheat on their taxes. Would that make the cheating right? Should “Thou shall not steal” stricken from the Ten Commandments if everyone were to steal? Should moral truth be up for a vote?

Democrats politicians who push for this mandate, along with those Catholics who have compromised their consciences and also favor this mandate, don’t have to believe or accept the moral demands of the Catholic religion, or even like it.

What they need to understand is that the First Amendment guarantees freedom of religion which includes with it freedom of conscience – and not merely of “worship” like this disgraced Administration of ours paints it – and of association. Freedom of association doesn’t only mean that we are free to congregate in groups or gangs to have fun or to protest in mass demonstrations, but that we can form societies of mutual help, of commerce, and manufacture and that all we are free to shape these association according to the same values shaping our consciences, hence the formation of religious medical institutions in general and Catholic in particular.

There are signs that the Administration is beginning to backtrack on its attempted violation of our freedom of religion and association, the fact remains that their little exercise in tyranny should not have happened in the first place. This is not their first attempt, nor will it be their last, so we should remain vigilant now more than ever as their ilk will not rest until they muffle people of faith from meaningful participation in the public arena.

Returned safely from the Outremer. Thank you for your prayers.

Brethren, Peace and Good to all of you in Christ Jesus.

I wanted to let you know that thanks to your prayers, I’ve returned safe and sound from my almost year-long assignment in Afghanistan. Praised be the Triune God, the Blessed Mother, and all the angels and saints, in heaven and on earth, who prayed for this outcome. This is my final Note from the Outremer.

California’s Prop 8 Struck Down–the Supreme Court will decide it

Brethren, Peace and Good to all of you in Jesus Christ. This, according to the National Organization for Marriage:

SAN FRANCISCO, February 7, 2012—Today's ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit striking down California's Proposition 8 has profound consequences for the nation. If allowed to stand, the ruling would not only strike down Proposition 8, an amendment to the California Constitution approved by 7 million voters, but also jeopardize similar amendments and statutory provisions in Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington—every state within the 9th Circuit—and ultimately in 44 states across the nation.

But the ruling is just one more step toward final resolution in this case. Importantly, after months of procedural delays, today's ruling finally clears the field for an appeal to the United States Supreme Court, where we are confident we will be victorious.

Commentary. The decision by the 9th Circuit effectively federalizes marriage in the United States, taking away from the states the power to define it and regularize it. I find the 9th circuit decision flawed and unconstitutional itself. Nothing in the US Constitution gives the Federal courts to regulate marriage or to nullify popular referendums deciding state constitutional questions. Applying an “equal protection” clause to this matter is a stretch.

That the most liberal judicial circuit reached this conclusion doesn’t surprise me. But it shall not stand. Not if Federalism and checks-and-balances are to survive in the United States of America.

- Support the National Organization for Marriage

Orthodox Bishops protest the HHS contraceptive and abortion-inducing mandate

Brethren: Christ is amongst us! He is, and always shall be!

The bishops of our sister Eastern Orthodox Church have joined us in rejecting the arbitrary, tyrannical mandate levied by the Obama Administration against religious-based institutions. Here’s what they said:

Record of Protest Against the Infringement of Religious Liberty by the Department of Health and Human Services

The Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of North and Central America, which is comprised of the 65 canonical Orthodox bishops in the United States, Canada and Mexico, join their voices with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and all those who adamantly protest the recent decision by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, and call upon all the Orthodox Christian faithful to contact their elected representatives today to voice their concern in the face of this threat to the sanctity of the Church’s conscience.

In this ruling by HHS, religious hospitals, educational institutions, and other organizations will be required to pay for the full cost of contraceptives (including some abortion-inducing drugs) and sterilizations for their employees, regardless of the religious convictions of the employers.

The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees the free exercise of religion. This freedom is transgressed when a religious institution is required to pay for “contraceptive services” including abortion-inducing drugs and sterilization services that directly violate their religious convictions. Providing such services should not be regarded as mandated medical care. We, the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops, call upon HHS Secretary Sebelius and the Obama Administration to rescind this unjust ruling and to respect the religious freedom guaranteed all Americans by the First Amendment.

I thank the Triune God and the Ever-blessed Theotókos for the courageous, prophetic stance taken by the Orthodox bishops against so patent tyranny. Theirs is another reminder to the Obama Administration that Caesar is not enthroned in our altars.

- Hat tip to: Why I am Catholic.

The Lepers

Fr. Nicolas Schwizer

The New Testament speaks of the healing of lepers. Leprosy was (and continues to be) a dreadful disease because it excluded communion with the people of God. The leper, in addition to being a “punishment of God,” was a sick person from whom one had to flee in the name of the law and hygiene.

The book of Leviticus presents us with a significant part of the meticulous measures it contains, with the intention of avoiding whatever contact with the leper. The leper has to live outside the camp, and later, outside the city.

Leprosy was the most appropriate image for all that was “impure,” both from the moral and religious points of view. A relationship with a leper “soiled,” just as contact with a cadaver. Therefore, the leper was considered a dead person, and a healing was taken as a true resurrection.

It is sad to verify how in a community – almost always – the easier road to take is that of rejection when facing a strange element which is bothersome, problematic, and representing a threat to tranquility – instead of responding with love and confidence and choosing the way of dialogue and patience.

Frequently, the disciplinary plan results much more developed and sophisticated than the code for mercy and evangelical forgiveness. Legality is more important that fraternity and even more so than humanity.

Among all impositions, the cruelest was that which obligated the leper to “proclaim” his impurity: “He will go ragged and uncombed, with chin covered and shouting out: Impure, impure!” He has the obligation to warn others of his social danger, to place them on guard against the “infected” person, to invite them to remain at a distance.

It is about a perfect mechanism so the poor unfortunate one can be aware that he is sick because of a personal fault. To this logic of egotism, opposed is the logic of Jesus. It does not recommend to the leper “it is justifiable that you accept the dishonorable condition for reasons of public health and for the salvation of the soul.”

Instead he is told: “I desire, be clean.” He is not exhorted “have patience, bear it,” instead he is made to understand: I do not accept, I cannot bear that they continue treating you in this way, that you bear this shameful discrimination.

Jesus challenges the contamination, He does not avoid contact with the impure one. He does not doubt infringing the rule, breaking the sanitary code, causing the mechanism of exclusion to leap.

In the entire Gospel, Jesus appears as one who suppresses the boundaries, breaks the walls of separation, forgoing prejudices, does not accept racial or religious discrimination. In the eyes of Christ, only the man without adjectives exists; the man with whom to establish a relationship, a friendship, an exchange.

And we? If we had the courage to see the face of reality, we would fall into the reckoning that perhaps there are many “lepers” we maintain at a distance.

It is hard for us to accept and embrace the “lepers” who are at our side, those we “convert” into lepers…..those who do not share our ideas, those we do not find likable, those who seem bored or inopportune, those who bother us with their problems, those who bother us with their misfortunes, those who do not respect our plans, those who interrupt us putting in question our comfort and our privileges.

How do we treat others? Let us ask Jesus to give us the grace to open more our heart to the brothers and sisters who are near us and who need our support, understanding and love.

Questions for reflection

1. Could it not be that we also defend our private camp?

2. Do we hold some outside our tent?

3. How do I treat those who are “different?”

Particular holiness according to Blessed John XXIII

Brethren, Peace and Good to all of you in Jesus our Lord.

The Blessed Pope John XXIII made this entry in his journal in 1903:

From the saints I must take the substance, not the accidents of their virtues. I am not St. Aloysius, nor must I seek holiness in his particular way, but according to the requirements of my own nature, my own character and the different conditions of my life. I must not be the dry, bloodless reproduction of a model, however perfect. God desires us to follow the examples of the saints by absorbing the vital sap of their virtues and turning it into our own life-blood, adapting it to our own individual capacities and particular circumstances. If St. Aloysius had been as I am, he would have become holy in a different way. ~ Journal of a Soul

This is a lesson my Redemptorist, Franciscan, diocesan, and many lay guides had impressed upon me from my youth, that we're called to be saints in our own particular, personal way. We're not clones of each other, but as holy men and women, we are to present Jesus to others in our own personal manner.

God thought about us and loved us for all eternity, before we came to be in time. He has for each of us a particular, unique kind of love that He doesn't invest on anyone else in the same manner. In each Christian, Christ becomes incarnate again for the salvation of the world. This is what it means to be holy unto God and for others.

Holiness is, then, to reaffirm God's plan and love for us. Holiness makes us fully human, integrated persons. Holiness makes us strong as Jesus was, men and women according to His measure. Holiness is the normative way of life for a Christian, not the exception.

The first step to become holy is to want to be holy. Dare to be holy!