tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-80241742550699336982024-03-05T09:43:29.464+00:00Quo vadis, Petre?At the time of the Neronian persecution, St. Peter was fleeing Rome along the Appian Way. Our Lord appeared to him and St. Peter asked Jesus, "Domine, quo vadis?" - Lord, where are you going? - to which Jesus replied, "I am going to Rome to be crucified a second time." The Apostle recognized this gentle rebuke and went back into the City where he was imprisoned and martyred for the Faith.Deacon Augustinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03549825303646357455noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8024174255069933698.post-86932774424299273382018-05-12T18:58:00.000+00:002018-05-12T18:58:50.691+00:00A Homily for the Seventh Sunday of Easter - Novus Ordo<br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">“Consecrate
them in the truth; your word is truth.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">When
Judas betrayed Our Lord with a kiss, he betrayed love with a kiss, he betrayed
truth with a kiss.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The sheer cynicism of
this act was perhaps worse even than the cynicism of Pontius Pilate who when
Our Lord said “For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to
bear witness to the truth.”, Pilate responded: “Truth, what is truth?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
Twelve apostles symbolized the twelve tribes and hence the fulfilment of God’s
plan for Israel. That’s why it was crucial to replace Judas—so that the Church
in its fullness would receive the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it is interesting to note what criteria
the apostles used to choose Judas’ replacement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He had to be someone who had been with them from the beginning – who knew
Jesus and His teaching.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had to be
someone who could witness with them to the truth of the Ascension and the
Resurrection. In other words he had to be someone who would be consecrated in the
truth like them, and would be filled with the Spirit of Truth at the coming
feast of Pentecost.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
High Priestly prayer of Jesus which we have in our Gospel today is often
discussed by commentators for its teaching on unity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But what is often neglected is His teaching
on truth and the need to be consecrated in the truth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our Lord prays for the apostles to be consecrated
in the truth before He prays for their unity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This is because the foundation of their unity is precisely the truth for
which He was born to bear witness – it is impossible to build true unity on
anything other than the truth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Truth
is the conformity of mind and reality. The truth about God is understood when
we accurately grasp the nature and purpose of His creation, and when we believe
in any supernatural revelation He has made. Jesus told us that He is the Way,
the Truth, and the Life, and that the truth would set us free. All truths have
their origin in the Truth who is God made man. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
truth banishes error, especially idolatry and heresy, because all truth is
found in the Word made flesh. Truth is good and beautiful because it unites us
to the good and beautiful God. He created us so that we may know Him - by
knowing the truth that He is.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I belabor
these points about truth because it is not fashionable to speak about truth
today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just like it wasn’t fashionable
for the apostles to speak of truth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just
as the world hated them, so it will also hate us if we stand for truth. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People who stand for the truth of Christ are
branded as dogmatic, rigid and legalistic.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
only notion of truth which the world will accept is the idea of “your truth
being as good as my truth” – relativism. Or truth which evolves and changes to
suit historical circumstances and sentiment – post-modernism or neo-marxism.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">This
rejection of truth and war on reality has now gone beyond dogmatic and moral
truths.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even basic scientific truths of
human nature are rejected by suggesting that people can change their sex by a
slice of a scalpel and a fistful of hormones.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Human nature, the nature of marriage, family and reproduction are all
under attack like we have never seen before.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Even
within the Church herself we are seeing the culture of death expand its
grip.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is one thing to cease medical
treatment which has no chance of success, but it is quite another to withdraw
oxygen, water and food from a sick toddler with the deliberate intent to kill
him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am sure I’m not the only one who
felt ashamed to be Catholic when some of our bishops sided with an intransigent
medical profession and an intrusive state to trample all over the rights of Alfie
Evans and his parents – parental rights which arise from the natural law and
which no earthly court has the authority to revoke.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">As
if it wasn’t bad enough that the German bishops had proposed the admittance of
divorced and remarried Catholics to Holy Communion, in just these last few days
we have had yet another proposal from them to admit Protestants to Holy
Communion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rejecting yet more truths of
the faith in the process.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Why
should this war on truth and reality matter to you and me?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cardinal Eijk of Utrecht last week offered us
a reminder from the Catechism of why it should matter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He said:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">“Observing that the bishops and, above all, the
Successor of Peter fail to maintain and transmit faithfully and in unity the
deposit of faith contained in Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture, I cannot
help but think of Article 675 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">“The Church’s ultimate trial<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Before Christ’s second coming the Church must pass
through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers. The
persecution that accompanies her pilgrimage on earth will unveil the
‘mystery of iniquity’ in the form of a religious deception offering men an
apparent solution to their problems at the price of apostasy from the truth.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Remaining in the truth of Christ is vital for every last one of us – if we
do not remain in His truth we will not remain in Him, we will not remain in His
Father, we will not remain in Our Father.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And the consequence of that will be final damnation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Let us pray that this Pentecost the Holy Spirit of truth will consecrate
us in the truth.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Deacon Augustinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03549825303646357455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8024174255069933698.post-54315971495584296732016-11-23T21:56:00.001+00:002016-11-23T21:56:22.475+00:00<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #283037; font-family: "Noto Serif", Georgia, serif; font-size: 19px; margin-bottom: 1.4em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
“<em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">We cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth</em>” (2 Cor. 13: 8)</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A Prophetic Voice of Four Cardinals of the Holy Roman Catholic Church</strong></div>
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Out of “deep pastoral concern,” four Cardinals of the Holy Roman Catholic Church, His Eminence Joachim Meisner, Archbishop emeritus of Cologne (Germany), His Eminence Carlo Caffarra, Archbishop emeritus of Bologna (Italy), His Eminence Raymond Leo Burke, Patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, and His Eminence Walter Brandmüller, President emeritus of the Pontifical Commission of Historical Sciences, have published on November 14, 2016, the text of <a href="http://www.ncregister.com/blog/edward-pentin/full-text-and-explanatory-notes-of-cardinals-questions-on-amoris-laetitia" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(187, 187, 187); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-image: initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #66727d; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: 0.2s ease; vertical-align: baseline;">five questions, called <em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">dubia</em> (Latin for “doubts”)</a>, which previously on September 19, 2016, they sent to the Holy Father and to Cardinal Gerhard Müller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, along with an <a href="http://www.ncregister.com/blog/edward-pentin/full-text-and-explanatory-notes-of-cardinals-questions-on-amoris-laetitia" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(187, 187, 187); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-image: initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #66727d; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: 0.2s ease; vertical-align: baseline;">accompanying letter.</a> The Cardinals ask Pope Francis to clear up “grave disorientation and great confusion” concerning the interpretation and practical application, particularly of chapter VIII, of the Apostolic Exhortation <a href="https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiVmaTIvKbQAhUiHGMKHSsoDNUQFggdMAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fw2.vatican.va%2Fcontent%2Fdam%2Ffrancesco%2Fpdf%2Fapost_exhortations%2Fdocuments%2Fpapa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20160319_amoris-laetitia_en.pdf&usg=AFQjCNE9-W1qGr19Ulh1L-n6vQA8o-DA8A&sig2=0rvQ7mW4Cesvican4D1XFA" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(187, 187, 187); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-image: initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #66727d; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: 0.2s ease; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Amoris Laetitia</em></a> and its passages relating to admission of remarried divorcees to the sacraments and the Church’s moral teaching.</div>
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In their statement entitled “Seeking Clarity: A Plea to Untie the Knots in Amoris Laetitia,” the Cardinals say that to “many — bishops, priests, faithful — these paragraphs allude to or even explicitly teach a change in the discipline of the Church with respect to the divorced who are living in a new union.” Speaking so, the Cardinals have merely stated real facts in the life of the Church. These facts are demonstrated by pastoral orientations on behalf of several dioceses and by public statements of some bishops and cardinals, who affirm that in some cases divorced and remarried Catholics can be admitted to Holy Communion even though they continue to use the rights reserved by Divine law to validly married spouses.</div>
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In publishing a plea for clarity in a matter that touches the truth and the sanctity simultaneously of the three sacraments of Marriage, Penance, and the Eucharist, the Four Cardinals only did their basic duty as bishops and cardinals, which consists in actively contributing so that the revelation transmitted through the Apostles might be guarded sacredly and might be faithfully interpreted. It was especially the Second Vatican Council that reminded all the members of the college of bishops as legitimate successors of the Apostles of their obligation, according to which “by Christ’s institution and command they have to be solicitous for the whole Church, and that this solicitude, though it is not exercised by an act of jurisdiction, contributes greatly to the advantage of the universal Church. For it is the duty of all bishops to promote and to safeguard the unity of faith and the discipline common to the whole Church” (<em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Lumen gentium</em>, 23; cf. also <em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Christus Dominus</em>, 5-6).</div>
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In making a public appeal to the Pope, bishops and cardinals should be moved by genuine collegial affection for the Successor of Peter and the Vicar of Christ on earth, following the teaching of Vatican Council II (cf. <em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Lumen gentium</em>, 22);, in so doing they render “service to the primatial ministry” of the Pope (cf. <em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Directory for the Pastoral Ministry of Bishops</em>, 13).</div>
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The entire Church in our days has to reflect upon the fact that the Holy Spirit has not in vain inspired Saint Paul to write in the Letter to the Galatians about the incident of his public correction of Peter. One has to trust that Pope Francis will accept this public appeal of the Four Cardinals in the spirit of the Apostle Peter, when St Paul offered him a fraternal correction for the good of the whole Church. May the words of that great Doctor of the Church, St Thomas Aquinas, illuminate and comfort us all: “When there is a danger for the faith, subjects are required to reprove their prelates, even publicly. Since Paul, who was subject to Peter, out of the danger of scandal, publicly reproved him. And Augustine comments: “Peter himself gave an example to superiors by not disdaining to be corrected by his subjects when it occurred to them that he had departed from the right path” (<em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Summa theol</em>., II-II, 33, 4c).</div>
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Pope Francis often calls for an outspoken and fearless dialogue between all members of the Church in matters concerning the spiritual good of souls. In the Apostolic Exhortation <em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Amoris laetitia</em>, the Pope speaks of a need for “open discussion of a number of doctrinal, moral, spiritual, and pastoral questions. The thinking of pastors and theologians, if faithful to the Church, honest, realistic and creative, will help us to achieve greater clarity” (n. 2). Furthermore, relationships at all levels within the Church must be free from a climate of fear and intimidation, as Pope Francis has requested in his various pronouncements.</div>
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In light of these pronouncements of Pope Francis and the principle of dialogue and acceptance of legitimate plurality of opinions, which was fostered by the documents of the Second Vatican Council, the unusually violent and intolerant reactions on behalf of some bishops and cardinals against the calm and circumspect plea of the Four Cardinals cause great astonishment. Among such intolerant reactions one could read affirmations such as, for instance: the four Cardinals are witless, naive, schismatic, heretical, and even comparable to the Arian heretics.</div>
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Such apodictic merciless judgments reveal not only intolerance, refusal of dialogue, and irrational rage, but demonstrate also a surrender to the impossibility of speaking the truth, a surrender to relativism in doctrine and practice, in faith and life. The above-mentioned clerical reaction against the prophetic voice of the Four Cardinals parades ultimately powerlessness before the eyes of the truth. Such a violent reaction has only one aim: to silence the voice of the truth, which is disturbing and annoying the apparently peaceful nebulous ambiguity of these clerical critics.</div>
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The negative reactions to the public statement of the Four Cardinals resemble the general doctrinal confusion of the Arian crisis in the fourth century. It is helpful to all to quote in the situation of the doctrinal confusion in our days some affirmations of Saint Hilary of Poitiers, the “Athanasius of the West”.</div>
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“You [the bishops of Gaul] who still remain with me faithful in Christ did not give way when threatened with the onset of heresy, and now by meeting that onset you have broken all its violence. Yes, brethren, you have conquered, to the abundant joy of those who share your faith: and your unimpaired constancy gained the double glory of keeping a pure conscience and giving an authoritative example” (Hil. <em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">De Syn</em>., 3).</div>
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“Your [the bishops of Gaul] invincible faith keeps the honourable distinction of conscious worth and, content with repudiating crafty, vague, or hesitating action, safely abides in Christ, preserving the profession of its liberty. For since we all suffered deep and grievous pain at the actions of the wicked against God, within our boundaries alone is communion in Christ to be found from the time that the Church began to be harried by disturbances such as the expatriation of bishops, the deposition of priests, the intimidation of the people, the threatening of the faith, and the determination of the meaning of Christ’s doctrine by human will and power. Your resolute faith does not pretend to be ignorant of these facts or profess that it can tolerate them, perceiving that by the act of hypocritical assent it would bring itself before the bar of conscience” (Hil. <em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">De Syn</em>., 4).</div>
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“I have spoken what I myself believed, conscious that I owed it as my soldier’s service to the Church to send to you in accordance with the teaching of the Gospel by these letters the voice of the office which I hold in Christ. It is yours to discuss, to provide and to act, that the inviolable fidelity in which you stand you may still keep with conscientious hearts, and that you may continue to hold what you hold now” (Hil. <em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">De Syn</em>., 92).</div>
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The following words of Saint Basil the Great, addressed to the Latin Bishops, can be in some aspects applied to the situation of those who in our days ask for doctrinal clarity, including our Four Cardinals: “The one charge which is now sure to secure severe punishment is the careful keeping of the traditions of the Fathers. We are not being attacked for the sake of riches, or <a href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06585a.htm" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(187, 187, 187); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-image: initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #66727d; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: 0.2s ease; vertical-align: baseline;">glory</a>, or any temporal advantages. We stand in the arena to fight for our common heritage, for the treasure of the sound <a href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05752c.htm" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(187, 187, 187); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-image: initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #66727d; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: 0.2s ease; vertical-align: baseline;">faith</a>, derived from our Fathers. Grieve with us, all you who <a href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09397a.htm" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(187, 187, 187); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-image: initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #66727d; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: 0.2s ease; vertical-align: baseline;">love</a> the brethren, at the shutting of the mouths of our men of <a href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15073a.htm" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(187, 187, 187); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-image: initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #66727d; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: 0.2s ease; vertical-align: baseline;">true</a> religion, and at the opening of the bold and <a href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02595a.htm" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(187, 187, 187); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-image: initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #66727d; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: 0.2s ease; vertical-align: baseline;">blasphemous</a> lips of all that utter unrighteousness against God. The pillars and foundation of the <a href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15073a.htm" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(187, 187, 187); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-image: initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #66727d; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: 0.2s ease; vertical-align: baseline;">truth</a> are scattered abroad. We, whose insignificance has allowed of our being overlooked, are deprived of our right of free speech” (<em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Ep</em>. 243, 2.4).</div>
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Today those bishops and cardinals, who ask for clarity and who try to fulfill their duty in guarding sacredly and faithfully interpreting the transmitted Divine Revelation concerning the Sacraments of Marriage and the Eucharist, are no longer exiled as it was with the Nicene bishops during the Arian crisis. Contrary to the time of the Arian crisis, today, as wrote Rudolf Graber, the bishop of Ratisbone, in 1973, exile of the bishops is replaced by hush-up strategies and by slander campaigns (cf. <em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Athanasius und die Kirche unserer Zeit</em>, Abensberg 1973, p. 23).</div>
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Another champion of the Catholic faith during the Arian crisis was Saint Gregory Nazianzen. He wrote the following striking characterization of the behavior of the majority of the shepherds of the Church in those times. This voice of the great Doctor of the Church should be a salutary warning for the bishops of all times: “Surely the pastors have done foolishly; for, excepting a very few, who either on account of their insignificance were passed over, or who by reason of their virtue resisted, and who were to be left as a seed and root for the springing up again and revival of Israel by the influences of the Spirit, all temporized, only differing from each other in this, that some succumbed earlier, and others later; some were foremost champions and leaders in the impiety, and others joined the second rank of the battle, being overcome by fear, or by interest, or by flattery, or, what was the most excusable, by their own ignorance” (<em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Orat</em>. 21, 24).</div>
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When Pope Liberius in 357 signed one of the so called formulas of Sirmium, in which he deliberately discarded the dogmatically defined expression “homo-ousios” and excommunicated Saint Athanasius in order to have peace and harmony with the Arian and Semi-Arian bishops of the East, faithful Catholics and some few bishops, especially Saint Hilary of Poitiers, were deeply shocked. Saint Hilary transmitted the letter that Pope Liberius wrote to the Oriental bishops, announcing the acceptance of the formula of Sirmium and the excommunication of Saint Athanasius. In his deep pain and dismay, Saint Hilary added to the letter in a kind of desperation the phrase: “Anathema tibi a me dictum, praevaricator Liberi” (I say to you anathema, prevaricator Liberius), cf. <em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Denzinger-Schönmetzer</em>, n. 141. Pope Liberius wanted to have peace and harmony at any price, even at the expense of the Divine truth. In his letter to the heterodox Latin bishops Ursace, Valence, and Germinius announcing to them the above-mentioned decisions, he wrote that he preferred peace and harmony to martyrdom (cf. cf. <em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Denzinger-Schönmetzer</em>, n. 142).</div>
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In what a dramatic contrast stood the behavior of Pope Liberius to the following conviction of Saint Hilary of Poitiers: “We don’t make peace at the expense of the truth by making concessions in order to acquire the reputation of tolerance. We make peace by fighting legitimately according to the rules of the Holy Spirit. There is a danger to ally surreptitiously with unbelief under the beautiful name of peace.” (Hil. <em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Ad Const</em>., 2, 6, 2).</div>
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Blessed John Henry Newman commented on these unusual sad facts with the following wise and equilibrated affirmation: “While it is historically true, it is in no sense doctrinally false, that a Pope, as a private doctor, and much more Bishops, when not teaching formally, may err, as we find they did err in the fourth century. Pope Liberius might sign a Eusebian formula at Sirmium, and the mass of Bishops at Ariminum or elsewhere, and yet they might, in spite of this error, be infallible in their <em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">ex cathedra</em> decisions” (<em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Arians of the Fourth Century</em>, London, 1876, p. 465).</div>
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The Four Cardinals with their prophetic voice demanding doctrinal and pastoral clarity have a great merit before their own conscience, before history, and before the innumerable simple faithful Catholics of our days, who are driven to the ecclesiastical periphery, because of their fidelity to Christ’s teaching about the indissolubility of marriage. But above all, the Four Cardinals have a great merit in the eyes of Christ. Because of their courageous voice, their names will shine brightly at the Last Judgment. For they obeyed the voice of their conscience remembering the words of Saint Paul: “We cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth” (2 Cor 13: 8). Surely, at the Last Judgment the above-mentioned mostly clerical critics of the Four Cardinals will not have an easy answer for their violent attack on such a just, worthy, and meritorious act of these Four Members of the Sacred College of Cardinals.</div>
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The following words inspired by the Holy Spirit retain their prophetic value especially in view of the spreading doctrinal and practical confusion regarding the Sacrament of Marriage in our days: “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry” (2 Tim. 4: 3-5).</div>
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May all, who in our days still take seriously their baptismal vows and their priestly and episcopal promises, receive the strength and the grace of God so that they may reiterate together with Saint Hilary the words: “May I always be in exile, if only the truth begins to be preached again!” (<em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">De Syn</em>., 78). This strength and grace we wish wholeheartedly to our Four Cardinals and as well as to those who criticize them.</div>
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November 23, 2016</div>
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+ Athanasius Schneider, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Saint Mary in Astana</div>
Deacon Augustinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03549825303646357455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8024174255069933698.post-85334864073667823302015-02-26T01:02:00.000+00:002015-02-26T01:02:14.348+00:00<h3 class="post-title entry-title" style="-webkit-background-clip: padding-box; background-color: white; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, Garamond, Times; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style: none; margin: 0.75em 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
"The Next Synod is a Battle between Christ and the Antichrist: - On whose side will you stand?"</h3>
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From Rorate Caeli, excerpt of a column by Alessandro Gnocchi<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, Garamond;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 25.2000007629395px;">:</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #660000; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', Garamond; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25.2000007629395px;">"...They take delight in idealistic political plans of action, while what is really going on is a war between Christ and the Antichrist on a scale never seen before, where the survival of the Catholic faith is at stake. I repeat:</span><span style="-webkit-background-clip: padding-box; background-color: white; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; color: #660000; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', Garamond; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25.2000007629395px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #660000; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', Garamond; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25.2000007629395px;">we are in a battle to preserve the Catholic faith, and all the battles being fought on various fronts, even those that are so important like moral truth, are only the terrain of confrontation in a war that is much deeper, involving metaphysics and religion.</span><span style="-webkit-background-clip: padding-box; background-color: white; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; color: #660000; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', Garamond; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25.2000007629395px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #660000; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', Garamond; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25.2000007629395px;">The most important thing in play is faith.</span><span style="-webkit-background-clip: padding-box; background-color: white; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; color: #660000; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', Garamond; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25.2000007629395px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #660000; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', Garamond; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25.2000007629395px;">But faith is preserved whole and intact or it is lost.</span><span style="-webkit-background-clip: padding-box; background-color: white; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; color: #660000; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', Garamond; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25.2000007629395px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #660000; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', Garamond; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25.2000007629395px;">You cannot preserve just parts of it according to taste or expediency...."</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #660000; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', Garamond; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25.2000007629395px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', Garamond; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25.2000007629395px;">Read the rest over there: <a href="http://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2015/02/the-next-synod-is-battle-between-christ.html">http://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2015/02/the-next-synod-is-battle-between-christ.html</a></span><br />
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I have commented on a number of occasions elsewhere that the coming October Synod has the makings of a line in the sand. Unless Peter turns from his abandonment of Christ and confirms his brethren in the faith, every Catholic will have a stark choice to make. Will they stand with Christ or against Him? Will you run away too?Deacon Augustinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03549825303646357455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8024174255069933698.post-46716610712713480432015-02-20T22:12:00.000+00:002015-02-20T22:12:19.918+00:00<h2>
Filial Appeal asking the Pope to be Catholic.</h2>
I must admit to having been somewhat skeptical about this appeal. Catholic doctrine is no more determined by appeals than it is by any other form of popular opinion or lobby effort. It is of the essence of the Papal office to defend and expound the true doctrine of Christ as it has been handed down to us in the deposit of faith - the faith held and handed down once by the saints, the apostles. It is not the Papal prerogative to soothe the dead consciences of the worldly and the impenitent by changing Church discipline so that doctrine is negated.<br />
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However, I have been persuaded by arguments made on other blogs that this appeal serves a purpose beyond reaching out to the vestiges of faith and rationality which still remain in the mind of the Bishop of Rome. As he hurtles headlong towards the abyss in his attempts to sunder the Church from the doctrine of Christ, it is important that the remnant know that they are not alone. Now is the hour for solidarity with the Church triumphant and what remains of the Church militant. For the hour is surely coming when all faithful Catholics will be presented with a stark choice: Christ or Kaiser. More will have the strength to resist if they know that they are in good company.<br />
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"As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord" (Josh 24,15) Therefore, I have signed the appeal. If you should stumble across this pathetically inactive blog, please consider doing so too. The link is here:<br />
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<a href="http://filialappeal.org/">http://filialappeal.org/</a>Deacon Augustinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03549825303646357455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8024174255069933698.post-46226786796611002722013-02-01T20:49:00.000+00:002013-02-01T21:02:15.591+00:00Letter to Damian Hinds MP against SSM Bill<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">1st February 2013</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Dear Mr Hinds,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I write as one of your
constituents to ask you to oppose the second reading of the above Bill next
week. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The government has presented
this matter as a case of equality, but I can only echo the words of Bishop
Phillip Egan that underlying this assertion is a basic </span><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">philosophical misconception about the nature of equality, in
which equality is confused with “sameness”:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“Equality
can never be an absolute value, only a derivative and relative value. After
all, a man cannot be a mother nor a woman a father, and so men and women can
never be absolutely equal, only relatively equal, since they are biologically
different. So too with marriage. Marriage, ever since the dawn of human
history, is a union for life and love between a man and a woman. It is a
complementary relationship between two people of the opposite sex, the man and
the woman not being the same, but different. They are not, in other words,
absolutely equal but relatively equal. This is why gay couples, two men or two
women, are not being ‘excluded’ from marriage; they simply cannot enter
marriage.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">By its own actions, the
government is already acknowledging that there can be no true equality between
marriage and same-sex couple relationships.
As opponents of same-sex “marriage” have pointed out, one reason why
homosexual “marriage” is an absurdity is because it cannot be consummated. The government’s lawyers have effectively proven
this point by failing to agree a definition of “homosexual genital acts.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Instead of admitting the logical
fallacy of ascribing “equality” between same sex partnerships and marriage, it
is now proposed that, as homosexuals cannot consummate marriages or commit
adultery (because there is no commonly agreed definition of “gay sex”), then
both consummation and adultery (as grounds for divorce) must be dropped from
marriage legislation completely to avoid discriminating against homosexuals! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">This is not only the logic
of the asylum, but it gives the lie to all the government’s assurances that same-sex
‘marriage’ would have no impact on the traditional understanding of marriage. On the contrary, this Bill will radically
alter the meaning of marriage for everyone and reduce it to a mere contract for
cohabitation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The government has clearly
failed to think through the consequences of this legislation and we are already
seeing the effects of it undermining the traditional and legal meaning of
marriage – before it has even been passed! If legislating for “hard cases” always
produces bad law, how much more so does legislating for an impossibility?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">As David Cameron had the
nerve to tell Adam Boulton (Sky News, 3<sup>rd</sup> May 2010) that he was “not
planning” to change the definition of marriage, I urge you to hold him to his
word and vote against this Bill.
Needless to say, his assurances, given just 3 days before the last General
Election, have proven to be worthless. I
can assure you that his actions will not be forgotten in 2015 and neither will
your vote.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Yours
sincerely, etc.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;">
</span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">A hat tip to Deacon Nick Donnelly of Protect the Pope </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><a href="http://protectthepope.com/?p=6546">http://protectthepope.com/?p=6546</a></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> , some of whose words I have shamelessly plagiarized!</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;">If any response be forthcoming from Mr Hinds, who claims to be a Catholic, then rest assured that it will follow - together with appropriate treatment.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: blue;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
Deacon Augustinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03549825303646357455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8024174255069933698.post-24686168735792306182013-01-12T21:38:00.000+00:002013-01-13T19:58:35.775+00:001,000 Priests and Bishops Sign Letter to Telegraph against Same Sex Marriage (sic)<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="font-size: 1.4em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTpyW2W0ouWAoChs2zfjigLFyX1vLpgLGXXZbjpYe0Q7KP-xp7Eqw" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTpyW2W0ouWAoChs2zfjigLFyX1vLpgLGXXZbjpYe0Q7KP-xp7Eqw" style="font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em;" width="157" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
St John Vianney - the Cure d'Ars<br />
Patron Saint of Priests</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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SIR – After centuries of persecution, Catholics have, in recent times, been able to be members of the professions and participate fully in the life of this country.</div>
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Legislation for same-sex marriage, should it be enacted, will have many legal consequences, severely restricting the ability of Catholics to teach the truth about marriage in their schools, charitable institutions or places of worship.</div>
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It is meaningless to argue that Catholics and others may still teach their beliefs about marriage in schools and other arenas if they are also expected to uphold the opposite view at the same time.</div>
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The natural complementarity between a man and a woman leads to marriage, seen as a lifelong partnership. This loving union – because of their physical complementarity – is open to bringing forth and nurturing children.</div>
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This is what marriage is. That is why marriage is only possible between a man and a woman. Marriage, and the home, children and family life it generates, is the foundation and basic building block of our society.</div>
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We urge Members of Parliament not to be afraid to reject this legislation now that its consequences are more clear.</div>
</div>
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<span style="line-height: 1.48em;"><span style="font-size: large;">For list of signatories see the link here: </span></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.lms.org.uk/resources/letter_on_ssm">http://www.lms.org.uk/resources/letter_on_ssm</a></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #282828; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; padding: 0px 0px 0.7em;">
For Damian Thompson's Blog "The Catholic Church really is at war with the government." see here: </div>
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<a href="http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/damianthompson/100197878/gay-marriage-after-todays-letter-in-the-telegraph-the-catholic-church-really-is-at-war-with-the-government/">http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/damianthompson/100197878/gay-marriage-after-todays-letter-in-the-telegraph-the-catholic-church-really-is-at-war-with-the-government/</a></div>
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<br /></div>
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Good for our priests and bishops - hopefully this will grab somebody's attention in that den of nihilism which is Downing Street!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I, along with many other deacons fully support you in this. The only niggle is that there would have been many more signatures if you had invited the deacons of the Church of God to sign this too!</span><br />
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Meanwhile, back at the coal face, all local readers in the Surrey area are reminded/invited to a </span><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><u>Coalition for Marriage Meeting in Guildford, Surrey on Monday evening. The Meeting will take place from 8 pm to 9pm at the Mandolay Hotel, Guildford.</u></span><span style="color: blue; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Please do come along to find out how you can volunteer to help C4M in your local area. You will find out more about how you can help the Coalition for Marriage campaign in simple, practical ways. </span><span style="color: blue; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em;"> </span></div>
Deacon Augustinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03549825303646357455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8024174255069933698.post-2905184006554039882012-12-31T15:03:00.000+00:002012-12-31T15:03:33.605+00:00Homily for the Marriage of Benedict Carter & Zhuojun (Miki) Zhang
<em>Readings Gen 1:26-31; 1Cor 12:31-13:8; Matt 7:21, 24-29</em><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">When I was preparing this homily, I vividly recalled a
similar situation 25 years ago when I was sitting where Ben is sitting
now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Months of preparations and
excitement had all built up to these few short hours on this very special and
joyful day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The nerves were jangling,
the adrenaline was pumping – then it was over in a flash and we were
married.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was perhaps a month later
before the reality of spending the rest of our lives together really dawned on
us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The more perceptive one of us – (I won’t
mention who that was) but she woke up one day saying: “What on earth have I done?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was followed very quickly by me
discovering that men really are from Mars - and women really are from Venus!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Ben and Miki, this day is so important because you have
chosen to have your marriage witnessed before God and our Holy Mother the Church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But this day is just the <u>first</u> day of
the rest of your lives together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Your
marriage is just beginning - and so we now take a few moments to consider the
true meaning of this Sacrament.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In our first reading from Genesis we see that God created
man as male and female.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
complementarity of the sexes is built in to human nature by God from the very
beginning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Man and woman are both created
in the image and likeness of God, with equal value and worth, but yet radically
different.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>True equality does not enforce
sameness – rather it embraces difference.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>God’s command to go forth and multiply teaches us that one purpose of
marriage is the procreation of children. Marriage is the foundation of the
family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So Ben and Miki, in obedience to
God’s first command to man, your marriage is called to be open to receiving all
the children He sends you. Receiving them with generous hearts - and raising
them in their turn to know, love and serve God.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Although man and beast are created on the same day, only
man is created in the image and likeness of God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This tells us that man was destined to enter
a family relationship with God Himself – even to the point of partaking of
God’s own life and nature.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And as St
John reveals to us in His writings: the nature of God is love.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Love is what makes man different from the
beast. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Man and woman are made for
love.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Love is how they reflect God’s
image and likeness. The exclusive and lifelong union of marriage reflects the
very nature of Christ’s love for His Church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And so, Ben and Miki, as you enter into marriage, you are both called to
a life of love for each other – a faithful love that will last until death.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">St Paul speaks of this love in our second reading.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He tells us that love is patient and kind, it
delights in the truth, is always ready to excuse, to trust, to hope, to endure
whatever comes – and that it never comes to an end.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To love somebody, then, is to constantly seek
their good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Notice that St. Paul does
not talk about love in terms of feelings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We might be thinking: typical man!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But love should not be confused with the feeling of love - emotions - they
are not the same thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Love is far too
important, far too vital, to be dependent on something that comes and goes –
that has its ups and downs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Love – to be
love – must endure, whatever emotions we have at any given time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">That is not to disregard the importance of emotion and
feelings. Learning to communicate at an emotional level will be important for
your unity as a couple.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Emotions
signpost the mountain tops and the valleys of our journey through life
together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While the highs of the
mountain tops may be exhilarating, it is in the lows of the valleys that most
growth occurs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And so it is with
love.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is during the hard times and
challenges of life that love is tested. And it is in that testing that love
grows and bears most fruit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Our example in this way of love is Our Lord Himself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was in the midst of ridicule, rejection
and pain that His infinite love bore most fruit for us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was His love for each one of us that
caused Him to lay down His life on the Cross. It was His love that gave Him
strength to endure to the end.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you
can keep Our Lord – and the example of His love – at the centre of your life
together – then you will indeed build your marriage and family on the
Rock.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Miki, these last 18 months have been a wonderful time to
get to know you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We thank God and thank
your parents for raising a beautiful, kind, and intelligent woman to be a
loving wife for our son.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We welcome you
into our family as a new daughter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
are proud to have you and we look forward to getting to know our new family and
friends across the world in Shanghai.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Ben, if you have the privilege of being present at the
birth of your first child, a word of fatherly advice – do not ask your wife: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Does it hurt?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You won’t like the answer or the tone of
it!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it seems like only yesterday
that I held you in the palms of my hands for the first time. Until that point I
never knew how much it was possible to love someone so small, so dependent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
yet now here you stand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Your mother and
I are very proud of you. You have grown up to be a good man who has kept the
faith.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are proud that you have grown
up with the strength and independence of character to be head of your own
family before God.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">As you start out in
married life with Miki all our love and prayers go with you both.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">The Feast of the Holy Innocents was a very special occasion for me and my family this year. It was a great privilege to be able to celebrate the marriage of my son, Benedict and his wife, Miki. A number of you have asked for a copy of the homily. In order to save paper and make it available quickly, I have posted a transcript of it here. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">Please keep both of them in your prayers for all the challenges which will inevitably lie ahead.</span></span>Deacon Augustinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03549825303646357455noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8024174255069933698.post-76710941536440962422012-12-31T02:21:00.000+00:002012-12-31T02:21:52.930+00:00An English Bishop teaches on Humanae Vitae - finally!<span style="color: black;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="color: black;">JESUS CHRIST,
THE PERFECT HUMAN<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black;">
</span><br />
<div class="Body1" style="line-height: 14pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; tab-stops: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";"><span style="color: black;">Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-outline-level: 1; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";"><span style="color: black;">In this second Pastoral Letter, I want to
discuss something that many people find very challenging and controversial. But
let me first, on this feast of the Holy Family, wish you the continuing joys of
Christmas. Since becoming your bishop a few weeks ago, I have been visiting our
priests. I thank God for all the wonderful priests we have and for their
inspiring love and service of Jesus and his Church. I thank God too for the
many beautiful churches in our diocese and not least for you, the People of
God, for your perseverance in faith and Christian discipleship in these
difficult times. As we enter the New Year 2013, I urge you, in the words of
today’s Second Reading, often to “think of the love that the Father has
lavished upon us by letting us be called God’s children.”</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8024174255069933698#_edn1" name="_ednref1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><sup><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><sup><span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: black;">[i]</span></span></sup></span></sup></a><span style="color: black;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-outline-level: 1; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";"><span style="color: black;">The context of this Pastoral Letter is
two-fold. First, the Year of Faith, in which I want to explore the articles of
the Creed. Today, let us consider the second article: “I believe in one Lord
Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God.”</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8024174255069933698#_edn2" name="_ednref2" style="mso-endnote-id: edn2;" title=""><sup><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><sup><span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: black;">[ii]</span></span></sup></span></sup></a><span style="color: black;">
Jesus Christ is Divine. He is God the Son. He is the Second Person of the
Blessed Trinity, or to use that daringly non-Scriptural term, “consubstantial
with the Father”. This is an important doctrine to teach today. For many would
acknowledge Jesus to be a great religious leader, a Prophet and teacher, a good
and holy man. But in fact He is infinitely greater: He is God the Word. When
Jesus speaks, it is God speaking. This changes everything. In this Year of
Faith, it would be good to review our prayer and catechesis to ensure it
reflects the fullness of this truth. We should also study afresh the Creed and
its origins</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8024174255069933698#_edn3" name="_ednref3" style="mso-endnote-id: edn3;" title=""><sup><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><sup><span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: black;">[iii]</span></span></sup></span></sup></a><span style="color: black;">
so we can understand better the Church’s teaching and why Jesus Christ is the
only Way to salvation.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-outline-level: 1; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";"><o:p><span style="color: black;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-outline-level: 1; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";"><span style="color: black;">The second context of this Letter is
today’s feast of the Holy Family, which presents us with the humanity of
Christ: that he became incarnate “for us and for our salvation”. Or to
paraphrase St. Leo, “He came down from heaven that we might go up to heaven”</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8024174255069933698#_edn4" name="_ednref4" style="mso-endnote-id: edn4;" title=""><sup><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><sup><span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: black;">[iv]</span></span></sup></span></sup></a><span style="color: black;">.
In taking on human nature, Jesus also took on a human history and a human
culture. He was brought up in Nazareth in the home of Mary and Joseph</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8024174255069933698#_edn5" name="_ednref5" style="mso-endnote-id: edn5;" title=""><sup><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><sup><span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: black;">[v]</span></span></sup></span></sup></a><span style="color: black;">.
Mary, His mother, taught him his prayers and the religious traditions of his
people. Joseph, as a father, gave him a trade and initiated him into the
society of the day. We recall all of this in the Joyful Mysteries of the
Rosary, which it would be good to recite every day during the Christmas season.
You might also consider reading the new book by Pope Benedict: “Jesus of
Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives”</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8024174255069933698#_edn6" name="_ednref6" style="mso-endnote-id: edn6;" title=""><sup><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><sup><span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: black;">[vi]</span></span></sup></span></sup></a><span style="color: black;">.
<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-outline-level: 1; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";"><span style="color: black;">So the Creed affirms that Jesus Christ is
truly divine, God from God; but it also states that He is the New Adam, the Perfect
Human.</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8024174255069933698#_edn7" name="_ednref7" style="mso-endnote-id: edn7;" title=""><sup><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><sup><span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: black;">[vii]</span></span></sup></span></sup></a><span style="color: black;">
To say this today is highly controversial. If in the fourth century it was the
doctrine about how Jesus could be divine yet human, today the hot-button issue
is what it means to be human. Indeed, most of the big debates in our society
revolve around two matters: sex and authority. What is the truth about human
sexuality? And who can tell me how to live my life? <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-outline-level: 1; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";"><span style="color: black;">In 1968, at the height of the Sixties, Pope
Paul VI wrote an Encyclical Letter that then and now many Catholics find
difficult. He repeated the traditional teaching of the Church, based on the
natural law and confirmed by revelation, that sexual intercourse is an integral
act for love and for life, and that these two aspects of sexuality – love and
life - cannot be divorced</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8024174255069933698#_edn8" name="_ednref8" style="mso-endnote-id: edn8;" title=""><sup><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><sup><span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: black;">[viii]</span></span></sup></span></sup></a><span style="color: black;">.
<u style="text-underline: black;">Humanae Vitae</u> was a prophetic document.
Pope Paul spoke of catastrophic consequences for society and culture if these
two ends of marriage were split. 45 years on, we can see what he meant in such
things as the reduction of sex to a leisure activity, the trafficking of people
for prostitution and pornography, broken family relationships, and the
explosion of addictive behaviours leading to despair, shame and guilt</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8024174255069933698#_edn9" name="_ednref9" style="mso-endnote-id: edn9;" title=""><sup><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><sup><span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: black;">[ix]</span></span></sup></span></sup></a><span style="color: black;">.
<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-outline-level: 1; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="color: black;">As Catholics, we believe in the natural way of life.
We believe that the purpose of sexual intercourse is to express the love
between a man and a woman, a love which, within the permanent commitment of
marriage, is open to being fruitful to life.</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8024174255069933698#_edn10" name="_ednref10" style="mso-endnote-id: edn10;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="color: black;">[x]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: black;"> This is the way to lasting
happiness and fulfilment, even if to become chaste - that is, to develop a
mature and fully integrated sexuality, as a single person or a married couple -
involves a life-long struggle and “apprenticeship in self-mastery”</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8024174255069933698#_edn11" name="_ednref11" style="mso-endnote-id: edn11;" title=""><sup><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><sup><span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="color: black;">[xi]</span></span></sup></span></sup></a><span style="color: black;">.
To help us, Jesus calls us to be his disciples, and offers us the healing balm
and the strength we need, above all in confession and Holy Communion. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black;">
</span><br />
<div class="Body1" style="line-height: 14pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="color: black;">Jesus Christ is the way to personal happiness and authentic
humanism. Sadly, the teaching of <u>Humanae Vitae</u> about sexual morality and
family values has become something of an ‘elephant in the room’ that no-one
seems to mention. In this Year of Faith then, I would like to invite everyone
to discover again the Church's wonderful vision of love and life, as expounded
in the <u>Catechism</u>. I would also like to ask all families, whatever their form
or circumstances, to think about developing a deeper and richer Catholic ethos
in the home, so as to give a clearer witness to contemporary culture. For
instance, why not spend an evening together as a family, occasionally switch
off the computer, make the Sign of the Cross on entering the house, adopt a
communal work of justice and charity, or keep special the fast-days and
feast-days? I am sure you will think of many other ways of preserving our
Catholic distinctiveness.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black;">
</span><br />
<div class="Body1" style="line-height: 14pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="color: black;">In this Mass of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and
Joseph, let us thank God for our own families, and pray for them. Let us pray
for those who struggle to live a chaste life in imitation of Christ. Let us
pray for families who are struggling or who have suffered tragedy and pain. And
let us pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on our land. Like Mary and
Joseph who found Jesus in the Temple, may the people of England find their way
to salvation and happiness in Jesus Christ, true God and true Man, ever present
and active in his Church. Indeed, in this Year of Faith, may the Spirit lead us
all to the living waters that stream from the Heart of Jesus, burning with love
for us.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-outline-level: 1; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";"><span style="color: black;">In Corde Iesu,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-outline-level: 1; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";"><span style="color: black;">+
Philip<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-outline-level: 1; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";"><span style="color: black;">Bishop of Portsmouth<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black;">
</span><br />
<div style="mso-element: endnote-list;">
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</span><div id="edn1" style="mso-element: endnote;">
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</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8024174255069933698#_ednref1" name="_edn1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><sup><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><sup><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: black;">[i]</span></span></sup></span></span></sup></a><span style="color: black;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";"> I John 3: 1. This is the second reading given in the alternative
set of readings for optional use in Year C.</span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: #0400; mso-bidi-language: X-NONE; mso-fareast-language: #0400;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black;">
</span></div>
<span style="color: black;">
</span><div id="edn2" style="mso-element: endnote;">
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</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8024174255069933698#_ednref2" name="_edn2" style="mso-endnote-id: edn2;" title=""><sup><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><sup><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: black;">[ii]</span></span></sup></span></span></sup></a><span style="color: black;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";"> Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Roman Missal</i> 562</span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: #0400; mso-bidi-language: X-NONE; mso-fareast-language: #0400;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black;">
</span></div>
<span style="color: black;">
</span><div id="edn3" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<span style="color: black;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8024174255069933698#_ednref3" name="_edn3" style="mso-endnote-id: edn3;" title=""><sup><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><sup><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: black;">[iii]</span></span></sup></span></span></sup></a><span style="color: black;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";"> see <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Catechism of the
Catholic Church. Second Edition</i> (Rome, Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2000)
422-455; <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Compendium of the Catechism of
the Catholic Church</i> (London, CTS 2006) 81f and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">YOUCAT Youth Catechism of the Catholic Church</i> (London, CTS 2010)
71f </span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: #0400; mso-bidi-language: X-NONE; mso-fareast-language: #0400;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black;">
</span></div>
<span style="color: black;">
</span><div id="edn4" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<span style="color: black;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8024174255069933698#_ednref4" name="_edn4" style="mso-endnote-id: edn4;" title=""><sup><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><sup><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: black;">[iv]</span></span></sup></span></span></sup></a><span style="color: black;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";"> Cf. St. Leo <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sermo 6 In Nativitate
Domini</i> 2-3, 5 (PL 54, 213-216). This constitutes the Second Reading in the
Office of Readings for 31<sup>st</sup> December. </span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: #0400; mso-bidi-language: X-NONE; mso-fareast-language: #0400;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black;">
</span></div>
<span style="color: black;">
</span><div id="edn5" style="mso-element: endnote;">
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</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8024174255069933698#_ednref5" name="_edn5" style="mso-endnote-id: edn5;" title=""><sup><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><sup><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: black;">[v]</span></span></sup></span></span></sup></a><span style="color: black;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";"> Luke 2: 51-52</span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: #0400; mso-bidi-language: X-NONE; mso-fareast-language: #0400;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black;">
</span></div>
<span style="color: black;">
</span><div id="edn6" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<span style="color: black;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8024174255069933698#_ednref6" name="_edn6" style="mso-endnote-id: edn6;" title=""><sup><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><sup><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: black;">[vi]</span></span></sup></span></span></sup></a><span style="color: black;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";"> Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives</i> (New York, Image 2012)</span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: #0400; mso-bidi-language: X-NONE; mso-fareast-language: #0400;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black;">
</span></div>
<span style="color: black;">
</span><div id="edn7" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<span style="color: black;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8024174255069933698#_ednref7" name="_edn7" style="mso-endnote-id: edn7;" title=""><sup><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><sup><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: black;">[vii]</span></span></sup></span></span></sup></a><span style="color: black;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";"> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Gaudium et Spes</i> 22</span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: #0400; mso-bidi-language: X-NONE; mso-fareast-language: #0400;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black;">
</span></div>
<span style="color: black;">
</span><div id="edn8" style="mso-element: endnote;">
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</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8024174255069933698#_ednref8" name="_edn8" style="mso-endnote-id: edn8;" title=""><sup><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><sup><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: black;">[viii]</span></span></sup></span></span></sup></a><span style="color: black;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";"> For a concise summary of the Church’s teaching, see <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Catechism</i> 2331-2400</span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: #0400; mso-bidi-language: X-NONE; mso-fareast-language: #0400;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8024174255069933698#_ednref9" name="_edn9" style="mso-endnote-id: edn9;" title=""><sup><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><sup><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: black;">[ix]</span></span></sup></span></span></sup></a><span style="color: black;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";"> See Paul VI <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Humanae Vitae</i>
(London, CTS 1968) 19-30 </span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: #0400; mso-bidi-language: X-NONE; mso-fareast-language: #0400;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8024174255069933698#_ednref10" name="_edn10" style="mso-endnote-id: edn10;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: black;">[x]</span></span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: black;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">John Paul II <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Gratissimam Sane
(Letter to Fanilies) </i>7-8, available online at www.vatican.va (December
2012)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8024174255069933698#_ednref11" name="_edn11" style="mso-endnote-id: edn11;" title=""><sup><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><sup><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: black;">[xi]</span></span></sup></span></span></sup></a><span style="color: black;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";"> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Catechism</i> 2339</span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: #0400; mso-bidi-language: X-NONE; mso-fareast-language: #0400;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</span>Deacon Augustinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03549825303646357455noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8024174255069933698.post-61070472137224203042012-12-23T21:00:00.000+00:002012-12-23T21:00:09.225+00:00A Christmas Sermon, St. Augustine of Hippo
<strong><i><span style="color: #3300ff; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p><span style="color: black;"> </span></o:p></span></i></strong><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4fA2tJfEJyNf3tCb5mg129Qf8kRl8yUrav30gHVwvFapZnz9gvvta28M2UnOyRO_rY7jlGO3FYhjTeLZgac_FiCzEJwVmFPlUQP_hrn2zzYkZDPd4Viuub8mD9CpXsn9rO1zMhMoR0mRO/s1600/St+Augustine.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4fA2tJfEJyNf3tCb5mg129Qf8kRl8yUrav30gHVwvFapZnz9gvvta28M2UnOyRO_rY7jlGO3FYhjTeLZgac_FiCzEJwVmFPlUQP_hrn2zzYkZDPd4Viuub8mD9CpXsn9rO1zMhMoR0mRO/s1600/St+Augustine.bmp" /></a><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_1" o:spid="_x0000_s1026" style="height: 153pt; margin-left: 1.5pt; margin-top: 20.2pt; mso-position-horizontal-relative: text; mso-position-horizontal: absolute; mso-position-vertical-relative: text; mso-position-vertical: absolute; mso-wrap-distance-bottom: 0; mso-wrap-distance-left: 9pt; mso-wrap-distance-right: 9pt; mso-wrap-distance-top: 0; mso-wrap-style: square; position: absolute; visibility: visible; width: 112.5pt; z-index: -1;" type="#_x0000_t75" wrapcoords="-288 0 -288 21388 21600 21388 21600 0 -288 0"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">
<v:imagedata o:title="St Augustine" src="file:///C:\Users\ANDREW~1\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image001.png">
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</w:wrap></v:imagedata></span></span></v:shape><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Awake, mankind! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For your sake God has become man. <i>Awake,
you who sleep, rise up from the dead, and Christ will enlighten you.</i> I tell
you again: for your sake, God became man. </span></span><br />
<br /><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">You would have suffered eternal death, had he
not been born in time. Never would you have been freed from sinful flesh, had
he not taken on himself the likeness of sinful flesh. You would have suffered
everlasting unhappiness, had it not been for this mercy. You would never have
returned to life, had he not shared your death. You would have been lost if he
had not hastened ‘to your aid. You would have perished, had he not come. </span></span><br />
<br /><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Let us then joyfully celebrate the coming of our
salvation and redemption. Let us celebrate the festive day on which he who is
the great and eternal day came from the great and endless day of eternity into
our own short day of time. </span></span><br />
<br /><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">He <i>has become our justice, our
sanctification, our redemption, so that, as it is written: Let him who glories
glory in the Lord. </i></span></span><br />
<br /><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Truth, then, has arisen from the earth:</span></i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Christ who said, <i>I am the Truth,</i> was born of
the Virgin. <i>And justice looked down from heaven:</i> because believing in
this new-born child, man is justified not by himself but by God. </span></span><br />
<br /><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Truth has arisen from the earth:</span></i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> because <i>the Word was made flesh. And justice
looked down from heaven:</i> because <i>every good gift and every perfect gift
is from above. </i></span></span><br />
<br /><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Truth has arisen from the earth:</span></i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> flesh from Mary. <i>And justice looked down from
heaven:</i> for <i>man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from
heaven. </i></span></span><br />
<br /><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Justified by faith, let us be at peace with God:</span></i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> for <i>justice and peace have embraced one another.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ:</i> for <i>Truth has arisen from the earth.
Through whom we have access to that grace in which we stand, and our boast is
in our hope of God’s glory.</i> He does not say: “of our glory”, but <i>of
God’s glory:</i> for <i>justice</i> has not come out of us but <i>has looked
down from heaven.</i> Therefore <i>he who glories, let him glory,</i> not in
himself, but <i>in the Lord.</i> </span></span><br />
<br /><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">For this reason, when our Lord was born of the
Virgin, the message of the angelic voices was: <i>Glory to God in the highest,
and peace to men of good will. </i></span></span><br />
<br /><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">For how could there be peace on earth unless <i>Truth
has arisen from the earth,</i> that is, unless Christ were born of our flesh?
And <i>he is our peace who made the two into one:</i> that we might be men of
good will, sweetly linked by the bond of unity. </span></span><br />
<br /><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Let us then rejoice in this grace, so that our
glorying may bear witness to our good conscience by which we glory, not in
ourselves, but in the Lord. That is why Scripture says: <i>He is my glory, the
one who lifts up my head.</i> For what greater grace could God have made to
dawn on us than to make his only Son become the son of man, so that a son of
man might in his turn become son of God? </span></span><br />
<br /><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Ask if this were merited; ask for its reason,
for its justification, and see whether you will find any other answer but sheer
grace.</span></span><br />
<br />
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<strong><span style="color: #3300ff; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">This excerpt from a sermon by St.
Augustine (Sermo 185: PL 38, 997-999) on the mystery of the incarnation is used
in the Roman Office of Readings on Christmas Eve, December 24, the last day of
the Fourth week of Advent. <o:p></o:p></span></strong></div>
<br />
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"> </span></o:p></div>
Deacon Augustinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03549825303646357455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8024174255069933698.post-696911274484394762012-12-15T14:26:00.000+00:002012-12-15T14:31:27.543+00:00A Taste of things to come in "the brave new world."PARIS, December 14, 2012, (<a href="http://lifesitenews.com/">LifeSiteNews.com</a>) - The French government will use a new proposed “Observatory of Secularism” to monitor and perhaps “dissolve” organizations such as Institut Civitas, a Catholic activist group opposing the government’s proposed homosexual “marriage” law, according to Reuters.<br />
<br />
Reuters’ Religion Editor Tom Heneghan reports that France’s Interior Minister Manuel Valls announced the policy at a Meeting on Secularism organized by socialist members of France’s National Assembly, the country’s lower legislative house, on Tuesday. Reuters is the only news agency known to LifeSiteNews.com to have reported on the statements, which were left unmentioned in the French press.<br />
<br />
Valls claimed that that Institut Civitas, a group that socialist legislators have called to be disbanded for its aggressive defense of Catholic values and opposition to the homosexual political agenda, is close to “the limits of legality,” and warned that “all excesses are being minutely registered in case we have to consider dissolving it and defending this before a judge.”<br />
<br />
Valls claimed at the meeting that “the aim is not to combat opinions by force, but to detect and understand when an opinion turns into a potentially violent and criminal excess,” according to Reuters. “The objective is to identify when it’s suitable to intervene to treat what has become a religious pathology.”<br />
<br />
“Behold a program of radical secularist extremism, which fraudulently equates choice of life, of convictions, with terrorist and criminal acts,” wrote French journalist and LifeSiteNews.com correspondent Jeanne Smits, editor of the French newspaper <em>Present</em>, in response to the statements.<br />
<em><strong><fb:like class="fb_edge_widget_with_comment fb_iframe_widget" fb-xfbml-state="rendered" font="" href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/We-can-defend-marriage/283510724992776" layout="button_count" send="true" show_faces="false" width="100"></fb:like></strong></em><br />
France’s socialist education minister has also been under fire for his promotion of “secularist morality” classes for the nation’s schools, which have been compared to brainwashing classes instituted by Vichy France’s pro-Nazi leader Philippe Petain during World War II. The proposed “Observatory of Secularism” would also be used to institute such classes, according to government officials.<br />
<br />
“Secularism is not about simple tolerance. It’s not about ‘anything goes.’ It is a set of values that we have to share,” Minister of Education Vincent Peillon told the French press recently. “To be shared, these values need to be taught and learned and we need to rebuild them among France’s children.”<br />
<br />
Pellion’s immediate predecessor in the Ministry of Education, Luc Chatel, called Peillon’s words “frightening,” claiming that his call for the “intellectual and moral reeducation” of French children was a “word for word the call of Marshal Petain on June 25, 1940.”<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/french-govt-threatens-to-disband-catholic-pro-family-activists-for-violatin">http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/french-govt-threatens-to-disband-catholic-pro-family-activists-for-violatin</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">Some commentators dismiss Bishop Egan's concerns for the future freedom of those who will never endorse the government's proposed attempt to redefine marriage. However, as we see above, they only have to look a few miles across the English Channel from Portsmouth to see what is being discussed to impose false secular ideologies on French citizens.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"></span><br />
<span style="color: blue;">What comes to France now, comes to the EU next. Then that institution, which increasingly resembles the Beast of the Apocalypse, imposes its sordid designs on the rest of us.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"></span><br />
<span style="color: blue;">How pitiful are the MP's who call themselves Catholic, yet support these plans? Our prayers for the protection of the Holy Sacrament of Marriage, should be accompanied by prayers for the conversion of our own backsliding brethren.</span>Deacon Augustinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03549825303646357455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8024174255069933698.post-34505068466279993242012-12-14T15:30:00.000+00:002012-12-14T15:35:00.715+00:00Full Text of Letter of Bishop of Portsmouth to David Cameron<br />
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15<sup>th</sup> December 2012</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Rt.
Hon. David Cameron MP</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Prime
Minister and Leader of the Conservative Party<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">10
Downing Street<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">London<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">SW1A
2AA<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span><br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Dear Mr
Cameron<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">From <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>Rt. Rev. Philip A. Egan, Bishop of
Portsmouth</u></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I
am writing to you to send you best wishes from the priests and people of the
Catholic Diocese of Portsmouth, and the promise of our prayers for you, as you
carry the heavy responsibility of leading our great nation. However, I am also
writing to ask you, indeed to urge you, to change course on your intention to
introduce same-sex marriage. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">You
have said you are an enthusiastic supporter of marriage and that you do not
want "gay people to be excluded from a great institution." Yet I wish
respectfully to point out that behind what you say lurks a basic philosophical
misconception about the nature of 'equality.' Equality can never be an absolute
value, only a derivative and relative value. After all, a man cannot be a
mother nor a woman a father, and so men and women can never be absolutely equal,
only relatively equal, since they are biologically different. So too with
marriage. Marriage, ever since the dawn of human history, is a union for life
and love between a man and a woman. It is a complementary relationship between
two people of the opposite sex, the man and the woman not being the same, but
different. They are not, in other words, absolutely equal but relatively equal.
This is why gay couples, two men or two women, are not being ‘excluded’ from
marriage; they simply cannot enter marriage.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="Body1" style="line-height: 14pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">By
enabling gays to 'marry' and by equating the union of gay people with marriage,
however well-intentioned, you are not only redefining what we mean by marriage
but actually undermining the very nature, meaning and purpose of marriage.
Marriage, and the home, children and family life it generates, is the
foundation and basic building block of our society. If you proceed with your
plans, you will gravely damage the value of the family, with catastrophic
consequences for the well-being and behaviour of future generations. The 2011
Census shows the parlous state of the institution of marriage which you claim
to believe in so strongly, and of family life in general, with one in two
teenagers no longer living with their birth parents and over 50% of adults living
outside of marriage. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Can
you imagine the confusion and the challenge for teenagers as they grow up and
seek to reach a fully mature and integrated sexuality? This is why I fail to
see how your intentions can possibly strengthen the institution of marriage and
family life. Rather they will dilute it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">More,
you are ignoring the huge opposition of Christians, Jews and Muslims alike, as
well as that of a huge number of ordinary people. You are imposing the
aspirations of a tiny minority on the vast majority. Make no mistake, the
change you are proposing is of immense significance. By it, you will be luring
the people of England away from their common Christian values and Christian
patrimony, and forcing upon us all a brave new world, artificially engineered.
What you are proposing will smother the traditional Christian ethos of our
society and in time strangle the religious freedom of the Catholic Church in
Britain to conduct its mission. There is no sanction whatsoever in the Bible
and the Judaeo-Christian tradition for gay marriage. I cannot see how anyone
who claims to be a Christian can possibly justify what you are intending to do.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I
know you have spoken of the 'quadruple lock' and other legal safeguards. Yet
for me many grave concerns remain about the brave new world you are fashioning
in the name of the false gods of equality and diversity. For example, will I as
a Christian have to support your ideology when preaching? Will you exempt the
Church, its resources and premises, from charges of discrimination if it
declines to host same-sex social activities? Will Catholic schools, Catholic
societies, Catholic charities and Catholic institutions be free (and legally
protected) to teach the full truth of Christ and the real meaning of life and
love? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I
appreciate how politically difficult it can be to undertake a U-turn and to
sustain the attendant criticism such would bring. But when it is a matter of
the truth, and the reasons are cast-iron clear, a U-turn would be hailed by
history only as brave and courageous. This is why, like a Thomas a Becket
appealing to Henry II, I do not hesitate to ask you to consider doing what is
the right and just thing to do. Otherwise, will we ever be able to forget that
it was the leader of the Conservative Party (sic) who finally destroyed
marriage as a lasting, loving and life-giving union between a man and a woman?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I
assure you of my respect, best wishes and prayers.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><v:shapetype coordsize="21600,21600" filled="f" id="_x0000_t75" o:preferrelative="t" o:spt="75" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe" stroked="f"><v:stroke joinstyle="miter"><v:formulas> <v:f eqn="if lineDrawn pixelLineWidth 0">
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Rt. Rev. Philip A. Egan<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Bishop of Portsmouth<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">CC: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Priests and People of Diocese of Portsmouth<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />
<span style="color: blue;">It appears that the Diocese of Portsmouth is blessed to have a bishop who is also an erudite theologian: </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"></span><br />
<em>"Yet I wish respectfully to point out that behind what you say lurks a basic philosophical misconception about the nature of 'equality.' Equality can never be an absolute value, only a derivative and relative value."</em><br />
<em></em><br />
<span style="color: blue;">Bishop Egan has hit the philosophical nail on the head in his "speaking the truth to power." False conceptions of equality lie at the heart of the government's misbegotten plans to redefine marriage - as well as false conceptions of marriage!</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"></span><br />
<span style="color: blue;">As with all falsehood, its ultimate originator is the Father of Lies himself who has it in his heart to destroy all that is good, true and beautiful. As St. Paul reminds us, it is a spiritual war that we wage against the dominions, thrones and powers, and David Cameron has proven himself to be nothing but their latest tool or "useful idiot".</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"></span><br />
<span style="color: blue;">As well as our political protests and campaigns to stop this madness, every Catholic should be called to arms with the Rosary and the prayer to St. Michael on our lips. We need the help of the full heavenly array to turn this tide of demonic perversion back.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">"Holy Michael, Archangel, d</span><span style="color: #351c75;">efend us in the day of battle.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">Be our safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the devil.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">May God rebuke him, we humbly pray,</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">And do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host,</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">By the power of God thrust down to hell Satan</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">and all the evil spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls. Amen"</span>Deacon Augustinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03549825303646357455noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8024174255069933698.post-34751692932512565422012-12-10T02:18:00.000+00:002012-12-10T02:18:27.453+00:00<strong>Response of Bishop Philip Egan of Portsmouth to David Cameron on same-sex "marriage".</strong><br />
<br />
9th December 2012<br />
<br />
David Cameron has said that he is an enthusiastic supporter of marriage and
that he does not want "gay people to be excluded from a great institution." Yet
however well-intentioned, and despite huge opposition from Christians, Jews and
Muslims alike, by attempting to change the natural meaning of marriage, he seems
utterly determined to undermine one of the key foundations of our society.<br />
<br />
Such a change is of immense significance. By this change, he is luring the
people of England away from their common Christian values and Christian
patrimony, and forcing upon us a brave new world, artificially engineered. <br />
<br />
<span class="goog_qs-tidbit goog_qs-tidbit-1">To "extend marriage to gay
people", he intends to impose the will of a tiny</span> minority on the vast
majority. If the prime minister proceeds with his intentions, he will pervert
authentic family values, with catastrophic consequences for the well-being and
behaviour of future generations. He will smother the traditional Christian ethos
of our society and strangle the religious freedom of the Catholic Church in
Britain to conduct its mission.<br />
<br />
Of course, we will need to wait for the results of the current
consultation-exercise. But in the meantime, I would like to ask Mr. Cameron:
What about my rights as a Christian? Will you exempt the Church, its resources
and property, from having to support your harmful ideology? Will Catholic
schools, societies and institutions be free (and legally safeguarded) to teach
the full truth of Christ and the real meaning of life and love?<br />
<br />
The institution of marriage has its ups and downs, but will we ever forget
that it was the leader of the Conservative Party who finally destroyed marriage
as a lasting, loving and life-giving union between a man and a woman?<br />
<br />
<br />
<em></em>Deacon Augustinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03549825303646357455noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8024174255069933698.post-86759837501443448882007-01-06T18:29:00.000+00:002007-01-06T22:26:30.262+00:00The Feast of The Epiphany of Our Lord<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfwtQO8itgNLwLN39hL4cUsyTSZZt4YSm8OS82aMOaHrcwQt0rxE1hrJ-g83hUuvniL0vGc_3o09xOFTlj9vmEh7a1pRh2R_p5VfC2wT3sfOdXmsGzN_nECW-BLBlgjRk-UtGtzjtgkvui/s1600-h/Adoration+magi.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5017003454788325538" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfwtQO8itgNLwLN39hL4cUsyTSZZt4YSm8OS82aMOaHrcwQt0rxE1hrJ-g83hUuvniL0vGc_3o09xOFTlj9vmEh7a1pRh2R_p5VfC2wT3sfOdXmsGzN_nECW-BLBlgjRk-UtGtzjtgkvui/s320/Adoration+magi.jpg" border="0" /></a> <span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><blockquote><span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Ecce advenit Dominator Dominus: </span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">et regnum in manu ejus et potestas et imperium. </span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Deus judicium tuum regi da : </span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">et justitiam tuam Filio regis.</span><br /></span></blockquote></span><br /><br /><p><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">(Behold the Lord the Ruler is come : and the Kingdom is in His hand, and power, and dominion. Give to the king Thy judgment, O God : and to the king's son Thy justice.)</span></p><p><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></p></span><blockquote><span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Is 60,1 Arise, be enlightened, O Jerusalem: for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.<br />2 For behold darkness shall cover the earth, and a mist the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.<br />3 And the Gentiles shall walk in thy light, and kings in the brightness of thy rising.<br />4 Lift up thy eyes round about, and see: all these are gathered together, they are come to thee: thy sons shall come from afar, and thy daughters shall rise up at thy side.<br />5 Then shalt thou see, and abound, and thy heart shall wonder and be enlarged, when the multitude of the sea shall be converted to thee, the strength of the Gentiles shall come to thee.<br />6 The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Madian and Epha: all they from Saba shall come, bringing gold and frankincense: and shewing forth praise to the Lord.</span><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"> </span><br /></span></blockquote><p></p><p></p><br /><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">I pray that this Feast will be the beginning of a new reign for Christ the King in His Church and in the world. As His glory shone upon Jerusalem 2,000 years ago, may it shine upon eternal Rome once more, so that the darkness which has gathered there these last 40 years may be finally dispelled.<br /><br />As I write, we await the Motu Proprio from the Holy Father which will give greater freedom to the venerable Mass of St Pius V. A Holy Mass that is truly worthy of a King would be a great gift to give Him on this Feast, but I fear that we will have to wait a while longer yet. I am told that the Motu Proprio will be ready for promulgation in the next seven days, but it will be important to get the various translations right first - especially the translation into French!<br /><br />This Mass has been described as "the most beautiful thing this side of heaven" and it formed the holiest part of the Church's patrimony for nearly 1,500 years. How have we come to this present pass where what was so holy and untouchable only 40 years ago is now treated with such derision, disdain and disregard by those who were commissioned by Our Lord to protect and preserve what had been handed on to them?<br /><br />What was once the source of unity for the entire Latin Church throughout the world is now greeted by French bishops with shrill catcalls of "divisive", "schismatic" and "betrayal of Vatican II". These same men who have managed to destroy any semblance of unity in the new rite by conniving to approve over 300 different "Eucharistic Prayers" have the nerve to claim that the old rite will cause disunity! The world is surely turned on it's head - or rather the world has surely entered the Church.<br /><br />And this, I fear, is at the root of the problems which we face today. The warnings of Our Lord about detachment from the world which is hostile to the Reign of God, have been put aside by those who know better than He. Men of the world rather than men of the Church are currently in the ascendancy, and how they rant and rebel against the Kingdom which is not of this world? Tearing down what is holy, they have raised up their idol of man and are determined to prevent the King from regaining His throne.<br /><br />Their rule is but temporary, however, for the world is sterile and decaying and has not the force of Life to propagate itself. Their empty churches, the apostasy of those surrendered into their negligent care, are all testimony to the mortality of their corrupt rule. "Subito" - very soon - they will be forced to behold that "Advenit Dominator Dominis : et regnum in manu ejus" - the Lord the Ruler is come : and the kingdom is in His hand!</span>Deacon Augustinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03549825303646357455noreply@blogger.com1