How Seemingly Small Decisions Can Have Big Consequences

Departure of the Prodigal Son by Murillo

Editor's note: Every now and then I repeat a post from the past. The Catholic faith is being lost in many places. How many parents lead their children out of the Church for one reason or another? How many children, brought up by faithful parents, spurn the treasure and embrace another god? I'm reflecting on all this today and praying for the faith to grow in the hearts of all people. Christ is knocking at the door. Will anyone answer?

How Seemingly Small Decisions Can Have Big Consequences

I once had a neighbor, a wonderful Lutheran Christian. We used to walk together around our neighborhood chatting about anything or nothing. One day (I don't remember how it came up.) he mentioned that his father was a Catholic. "Oh Marvin," I said, "You should have been a Catholic."

"Dying Slowly While the World is Watching!"

But does anyone care?

Uncensored: Reverend Munther Isaac https://t.co/VXmbCcNxCE via @tuckercarlson

— bluejay (@angrybluebird47) April 27, 2024

Tucker Carlson recently interviewed a Lutheran priest from the Holy Land. All the people fighting over the war in Gaza need to watch the interview. Frankly, I'm shocked at Catholics who seem to celebrate the war in the Middle East, cheering for Israel no matter what. Any act of atrocity by Israel is justified or it never happened! Maybe someone should ask the Christians of Bethlehem about family members in Gaza whom they can't visit.

Conflict Between History and the Modern World - Then vs Now

Tel Aviv today
(Pro-Palestinian students at Columbia, Yale, MIT, NYU  yell,
"Hamas we love you! Burn Tel Aviv to the ground!")

The famous author Mark Twain managed to hitch a ride on a steam ship to the Holy Land in 1867. The young man joined a group of pilgrims he sarcastically named "the Innocents."

The ship was called Quaker City, a former Civil War ship. A budding writer, Twain's passage was paid for by a Californian newspaper. He wrote about the Holy Land in his novel Innocents Abroad, and unlike other writers of the day who Romanticized the place, Twain drew blood in his usual acerbic style -

Palestine sits in sackcloth and ashes. Over it broods the spell of a curse that has withered its fields and fettered its energies.

"Without contention, without willfullness, without obstinacy...."

Today is the feast of St. Peter Canisius, Doctor of the Church, a Jesuit who knew St. Ignatius. He was a powerful preacher against heresy who participated in two sessions of the Council of Trent called to address the inroads of the Protestant revolution. 

Sounds like a perfect intercessor for own day, eh? As I was reading the entry in Butler's Lives of the Saints this morning I asked St. Peter to be an intercessor overlooking and interceding for those who comment on the blog, including myself and my blog partner, Susan. St. Peter was never contentious. 

He described the "spirit and manner in which Christian apologetics and controversy should be conducted." I think it would be a blessing if all who engage in apologetics and commented anywhere on blogs or social media followed his advice. The passage I quote below relates to Protestants, but it could relate to many other situations as well. How do we react to those with whom we disagree? Are we patient, kind, not rude? Do we engage with anger seeking the elevation of our own opinions above theirs? Do we rejoice in evil to the extent of chortling over the murder of others taking pleasure in the killing as long as the ones who die are the "bad guys" according to our judgment? 

She Said She Couldn't Wait Until We All Die

The demonic hatred and rage was truly amazing

There I was at work last Thursday minding my own business when I looked up and saw a girl about age 22 needing help with her credit card. The man in line ahead of her was from Virginia and mentioned the constant traffic backups in Washington, DC and how that same problem has followed him here to Florida. 

The girl picked up on the tail end of the brief conversation and said, "Well, I wish I were there right now. I'd love to join the protest." The conversation went like this:

Words, words, words!

King Haakon VII

My mom was a dictionary reader. I don't read a physical dictionary much. Why would I when so much information can be accessed on-line? I do like to look up the etymology of words however. And sometimes I get curious about things -- like words that develop from people's names. There's a word for those words: eponyms! 

We were watching a film the other day about the Nazi invasion of Norway, The King's Choice. Fascinating movie with plenty of historical information. (Prepare for a digression.) I never knew, for example, that the king of Norway was elected by the people. He was actually a prince of Denmark, Prince Carl, but when Norway separated from Sweden and the king of Sweden voluntarily abdicated, Norway asked him to become king. He only agreed if the people wanted to continue the monarchy rather than choose a republic. They voted to keep the monarchy and he ascended the throne in 1905 choosing a historic Norwegian name, King Haakon VII. 

A good quote to meditate on. Keep the faith!

“The Magisterium of the Pope and of the bishops has no authority over the substance of the Sacraments. Therefore, no synod – with or without the Pope – and also no ecumenical council, or the Pope alone, if he spoke ex cathedra, could make possible the ordination of women as bishop, priest, or deacon. They would stand in contradiction to the defined doctrine of the Church. “It would be invalid,” - Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Mueller

Think about that when the synod starts spouting heresy and taking the local churches in various places into schism.

Propaganda Isn't Necessarily a Dirty Word! Truth vs. Deception!

John Steinbeck wrote The Moon Is Down as a propaganda novel during World War II. (See my original post about it here.) The book was almost immediately made into a film which was released in 1943. I watched the movie last night and in the credits was a note that war bonds could be purchased in the theater. Interesting bit of trivia. 

Monday Meandering Thoughts and Questions

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  Bartolome Esteban Murillo

  I'm currently reading The Life and Glories of Saint Joseph by Edward Healy Thompson, M.A. Despite the lack of information about St. Joseph in scripture, the Doctors of the Church, and many spiritual writers have written widely about this silent saint. We know he was the "son of Jacob" from St. Matthew's gospel which gives us Joseph's natural geneology. St. Luke gives us, on the other hand, his legal geneology as the "son of Heli." Both statements are true. He was the natural born son of Jacob, but the legal son of Heli, as his son-in-law. And who was Heli? According to a number of the spiritual writers who take this view, it was Joachim the father of Mary. The names Heli, Eliachim and Joachim are synonymous in scripture. If this view is correct, and the reasoning presented by the author is convincing, then Jacob and St. Ann, Mary's mother and Joachim's wife, were siblings, so Mary and Joseph were cousins. The author believes that the reason for St. Luke's genealogy was to emphasize Mary's genealogy. The book is fascinating and I recommend it for anyone who wants to know St. Joseph better. 

Did the SSPX Really "Cover Up" the Fr. Rostand Case?

We're often given one-sided salacious stories framed in the worst possible light. This is especially true when the source has something to gain from putting the worst construction on the events and then magnifies them. The scandal of SSPX child abuser Fr. Arnaud Rostand is being used, once again, to bludgeon the SSPX. Every reader of the scandal is being led to presume that the leadership of the SSPX covered up Rostand's abuse and moved him around like the McCarrick crowd. After all, that's Fr. Rostand's claim and, of course, this priest abuser couldn't possibly be lying. Remember when McCarrick claimed he was really a good guy and didn't understand why he was being treated so badly? Narcissism is common among both homo and hetero sex abusers. Why would anyone believe anything they said?