Tuesday, March 31, 2009

“Catholic Action: Why the Need?”

TFP-ANF Louisiana Conferences in Acadiana and New Orleans

On March 21-22, Tradition, Family Property-Louisiana and America Needs Fatima held two regional one-day regional conferences in Louisiana centered on the theme of the need for Catholic action.

The setting for the first conference was Grand Coteau, one of the Louisiana’s charming historic towns.

Mr. Cesar Franco talking about St. Joseph's Caravan.

Land of the Acadians


The first talk of the day was by Cesar Franco of TFP Student Action who showed with slides and video clips of what it was like to defend traditional marriage on Berkley campus or on the streets of Hollywood.

The detailed narrative of Saint Joseph’s Caravan to defend traditional marriage in California recounted the overwhelming support of most Californians for traditional marriage and the hostile and even aggressive expression of hatred by proponents of same-sex marriage. Covering 8000 miles, the Saint Joseph Caravan visited the length and breath of the Golden State as well as Arizona and Florida.

Michael Drake gave the second meeting, “Guaranteeing the Future of Our Catholic Heritage,” He looked at the need to defend Christian civilization in face of the changing circumstances of the Cultural War. He described the need to know exactly what values need to be defended and which need to be opposed.

A delightful and tasty lunch buffet was prepared at Catahoula’s Restaurant, just a leisurely stroll from the conference hall. With azalea bushes in full bloom and sunshine streaming through the trees, the relaxing walk to and from the restaurant gave everyone ample opportunity to discuss the morning talks further.

“Why the TFP?” by Mr. Thomas Drake.

The afternoon session started with Mr. Thomas Drake’s explanation of “Why the TFP?” He described the historical and philosophical forces involved in the gradual destruction of our Christian culture. Drawing on the analysis of Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira in his book, Revolution and Counter-Revolution, Mr. Drake outlined historical transformations in the thinking of Western man.

He also gave a synopsis of how the TFPs came into existence due to this decline of Christian culture and civilization, and what they do to actively preserve and restore the foundations of a Christian society.

Mr. Michael Drake gave the final presentation of the day, “The 2008 Public Square Rosary Rallies – What Did They Achieve?”

He presented slides from some of the 3,500 Rosary Rallies held coast to coast on October 11, 2008, with a near total of 120,000 Americans joining in prayer. From Hollywood to the steps of the Supreme Court in Washington DC, the variety and scope of the rallies held the audience spellbound.

Most present at the regional conferences had participated in these rallies and it was exciting to feel oneself part of such a growing movement of Catholics taking their prayers and faith to the public square. The closing pictures of this wonderful presentation were from Fatima, Portugal where a TFP – America Needs Fatima delegation presented 3,500 red roses and a banner carrying the name of each Rosary captain to Our Blessed Mother on the very site of the “miracle of the sun” in 1917 on the same weekend the rallies were being held in America.

Although a full day of informative, entertaining, and useful talks, the joyful conviviality continued long after the conference was officially over.

New Orleans

On Sunday March 22, the first New Orleans Regional Conference took place at the Hilton Hotel. In as traditional an ambience as can be found in the Deep South, the participants of this gathering, shared in nearly the same discussions and presentations as were held in Acadiana. Even the hotel staff was enthralled with the grace-filled atmosphere at the conference.

Mr. Danniel Pribble explaining the need for tradional marriage.

Student Action
On Monday, March 23, TFP Louisiana held a campus campaign at the University of Louisiana in Lafayette. When they ran out of flyers on “10 Reasons a Student Should Oppose Abortion,” TFP members handed out an even more controversial flyer titled “Ten Reasons Why Same-sex “Marriage” is Harmful and Must be Opposed.”

Reaction ranged from enthusiastic support to obscene slogans directed at TFP members. As the 2,000 flyers circulated through the campus, debates and discussion ensued showing the need of Catholic students…in action.

The Carlisle Sentinel reports on TFP campaign for traditional marriage

Standing for traditional marriage

By Heather Stauffer, Sentinel Reporter, March 31, 2009

Last updated: Tuesday, March 31, 2009 9:33 AM EDT

Between the bagpipes, giant flags and red sashes, it wasn’t hard to tell that the men of The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property were on the Square in Carlisle Monday to make a statement.

And because of the signs they were holding, urging drivers to honk if they supported traditional marriage, it wasn’t hard to tell what that statement was.

For picture and full story, please see:

http://www.cumberlink.com/articles/2009/03/31/news/local/doc49d218b6321db192417680.txt

Moving God, Moving History

A Review of: To Quell the Terror, by William Bush

There are times when history is seen from an all-too-human perspective.

Granted, man is the principal agent in history. His great deeds and misdeeds fill the history books, blending fact, myth, and legend to intrigue future generations.

However, man is not the only agent. There are times when men perform acts so sublime that yet another agent enters. In these cases, men move God to act in history — and these feats capture the imagination and are immortalized for all times.

Such a thesis fares ill among today’s secular historians. They would prefer to explain away history in a thousand other ways. Nevertheless, this is William Bush’s compelling thesis in his 1999 book To Quell the Terror: The Mystery of the Sixteen Carmelites of Compiègne, Guillotined July 17, 1794.

Uncovering History
Professor Bush’s story could not be more dramatic. It is set at the height of the French Revolution’s “Great Terror.” Sixteen Carmelite nuns were martyred at the guillotine while praising the glory of God in song and hymn, thus setting themselves apart from thousands who shared a similar fate.

No one disputes the fact that the story of these Compiegne martyrs — Blessed Thérèse of St. Augustine and companions — captured the popular imagination, even among non-Catholics. Fictional representations of their story were retold in Gertrude von Le Fort’s novella Song of the Scaffold and Francis Poulenc’s opera Dialogues of the Carmelites.

However, William Bush, professor emeritus of French literature at Canada’s University of Western Ontario, delves yet deeper into this sublime event, developing a theme that cannot but leave the reader in captivating awe.

Mugged by historical reality, Professor Bush likewise goes beyond the popular myth of a “good” French Revolution turned bad. Rather, he sees it for what it was: the beginning of a radical new order that overthrew “the ancient pact between France’s kings and Christianity’s triune God.”

Beyond Fiction
Fiction often manages to embellish reality, the writers taking liberties that highlight the dramatic and obscure the imperfect. Ironically, Professor Bush’s meticulous research of the Carmelite archives does the opposite. The facts he uncovers reveal the poverty of the fiction.

The literary representations of the Carmelites’ story were made to satisfy secular audiences. The fictitious Blanche de la Force, von le Fort’s vacillating nun afraid to face her martyrdom, stressed the all-too-human perspective where personal drama eclipsed the supernatural calling of these nuns who moved God to act in history.

Thus, Professor Bush succeeds where others have failed. He pierces the supernatural mystery of the Carmelites’ martyrdom. He recounts how the nuns, moved by grace, took upon themselves a task so daring as to seem impossible: They intended to save France.

A Sublime Offering
What history reveals is indeed sublime.

For a full twenty months before their execution, the sisters came together in an act of consecration “whereby each member of the community would join with the others in offering herself daily to God, soul and body in holocaust to restore peace to France and to her Church.”

The nuns were not just mere victims of the Revolution overcome by circumstances. Contrary to the fiction, each contemplated her martyrdom; each understood her offering. Each sought that “greater love” of giving herself for her fellow man in imitation of the Divine Lamb Who redeemed humanity.

A Tale of Courage and Holiness
Professor Bush recounts the complete story of each of the sixteen Carmelites, relating in lively detail virtually all that is known of their lives and backgrounds.

Each story is in itself a drama as varied as the personalities involved. There was the strong Mother Thérèse of Saint Augustine, a maternal woman of courage and character who led her daughters to martyrdom.

There was 74-year old Sister Jesus Crucified who, despite her age, endured all. Sister Julia Louise was a poet and painter who composed a parody of the Marseillaise. The impulsive and philosophical Sister Euphrasie on her way to the guillotine passed her office book to a young girl, who later became a nun.

There was the young unprofessed Sister Constance, forbidden by the Revolution to make her final vows. She did finally take her vows at the foot of the scaffold, where her first and last act as a professed Carmelite was to ask permission to die.

These and all the other nuns, lay sisters, and even two hired extern sisters endured harassment, expulsion, suppression, and insult at the hands of the Revolution. And their story, told by Professor Bush, is a chronicle of sublime deeds aimed at moving God.

A Sacrifice Accepted
Perhaps the most impressive part of the Carmelite story is that God was actually moved. Indeed, their arrest, trial, and execution represented not a Catholic defeat but a triumph.

In a courtroom once used by Saint Louis himself, the nuns defended themselves with valor before a Revolutionary tribunal, yet they were condemned to death before nightfall.

The news of their impending death was received with great happiness. It is related that as they waited to be boarded on the tumbrels, the Carmelites joyfully sang Sister Julia’s parody of the Marseillaise, defiantly forcing the Revolutionary hymn to proclaim:

“Let’s climb, let’s climb the scaffold high!
“Let’s give God the victory!”

No one jeered and hooted at the nuns as they went to the place of execution. Rather, an eerie silence surrounded the cortege as the nuns continued their song. Naught was heard but the “austere chant of high solemn joy” of those who, after some twenty months of consecrating themselves each day for this hour, God’s mercy allowed them to make this final act of holocaust. Each nun knelt before the prioress, renewed her vows, kissed a tiny terracotta statuette of Madonna and Child, and then mounted the scaffold high.

To Quell the Terror
Ten days after their deaths, Robespierre fell and the Reign of Terror effectively ended. Skeptical historians may scowl at making this connection, but it is hard to deny that the final acts of their death touched a profound chord.

Something in the very foundation of the edifice of the French Revolution was shaken by the nuns’ defiant and joyful gesture. The eerie silence around the scaffold presaged the regime’s fall from power.

Professor Bush concludes that God manifested Himself in this martyrdom, which he claims frustrated the Revolution’s attempt to annihilate France’s “ancient pact” with God.

In a secular epoch, which excludes God from history, To Quell the Terror leaves the reader with the conviction that while man may abandon God, God does not abandon man. Come what may, God inspires His Church to act in history with astonishing power and results.

The book begs the question. If today, God is not moved to act in history to deliver man from the iniquities of the modern world, perhaps it is because there are none to quell the modern day terror, none who dare offer themselves as victims to abate the raging storm.

To Quell the Terror: The Mystery of the Sixteen Carmelites of Compiègne, Guillotined July 17, 1794
By William Bush
Paperback - (November 1999)
ICS Publications; ISBN: 0935216677
$11.95

How does the Revolution March?

Let's follow the march of the Revolution in its processive character, its metamorphoses, its outbreak in the innermost recesses of the human soul, and its externalization in acts.

image

(The storming of the Bastile)

As can be seen, the Revolution has a whole dynamic of its own. We can attain a greater appreciation of this by studying additional aspects of the Revolution's march.

1. The Driving Force of the Revolution

A. The Revolution and the Disordered Tendencies


The most powerful driving force of the Revolution is in the disordered tendencies.

For this reason, the Revolution has been compared to a typhoon, an earthquake, a cyclone, the unleashed forces of nature being material images of the unbridled passions
of man.

B. The Paroxysms of the Revolution Are Fully Present in Its Seeds

Like cataclysms, evil passions have an immense power-but only to destroy.

In the first instant of its great explosions, this power already has the potential for all the virulence it will manifest in its worst excesses. In the first denials of Protestantism, for example, the anarchic yearnings of communism were already implicit.

While Luther was, from the viewpoint of his explicit formulations, no more than Luther, all the tendencies, state of soul, and imponderables of the Lutheran explosion already bore within them, authentically and fully, even though implicitly, the spirit of Voltaire and Robespierre and of Marx and Lenin.[11]

C. The Revolution Aggravates Its Own Causes


These disordered tendencies develop like itches and vices; the more they are satisfied, the more intense they become. The tendencies produce moral crises, erroneous doctrines, and then revolutions. Each of them, in turn, exacerbates the tendencies.

The latter then lead, by an analogous movement, to new crises, new errors, and new revolutions. This explains why we find ourselves today in such a paroxysm of impiety and immorality and such an abyss of disorder and discord.

More French government anger at papal remarks; protest at cathedral

From: http://www.catholicculture.org/

Blasting Pope Benedict for his remarks on AIDS and condom use, French Education Minister Xavier Darcos said on March 29 that “to go to Africa and tell people they shouldn't use condoms is criminal.” “"I think the Pope's comments were a bit distorted,” he added, “but all the same, to not encourage using condoms in developing countries is extremely dangerous.”

Sixty activists protested outside the Lyon cathedral during a Mass celebrated by Cardinal Philippe Barbarin. Their banner read, “The condom, it's life, the Church bans it.”

Full story at: Pope faces new anger over condoms (AFP)

Was Jesus Always Nice?

WITHOUT A DOUBT : Jesus Wasn’t Always Nice

From the Rhode Island Catholic

BY BISHOP THOMAS J. TOBIN

Jesus wasn’t always nice. I had to remember that in responding to some letters I received from readers who were disappointed by my recent article, My Interview with President Obama. Some folks didn’t like the rhetorical device I employed, namely the fictional interview I composed.

Others felt that I was too hard on the President when I criticized him for using tax dollars to fund abortion overseas. They said that I was not being charitable as Jesus would have been.

Full story here:

http://thericatholic.com/stories/2011.html

Monday, March 30, 2009

Did your email message get Le Monde’s attention?

As you may have heard, Le Monde got an avalanche of protests from Catholics worldwide in response to a blasphemous cartoon they published on March 19 showing ‘Our Lord’ handing out prophylactics to the excited masses with the caption “The multiplication of the condoms followed the multiplication of the loaves.”

The cartoon targeted the Pope too. He was depicted as a decrepit old man who says: “Anything goes!”

Well, in the March 28 edition of Le Monde, an article titled Sacrilege! by the Ombudsman reports on the size and tone of the protest, calling it “a hurricane, a tsunami of protests.”

The protest started with the student branch of the American TFP, TFP Student Action sending an email to its student activists nationwide on the evening of March 19. The protest was placed under the protection of Saint Joseph, whose feast day we celebrate on that day.

The next day, on March 20, another email blast with a copy of the same protest message to Le Monde was sent to the members of the American TFP’s email list.

The following week, on March 24, America Needs Fatima sent a copy of the protest message in an email to its members.

Thank God, the email struck a receptive cord in the hearts and souls of Catholics nationwide and thousands of Catholics response immediately, sending their own messages of protest to Le Monde. Catholic groups picked up the protest in the United States and abroad.

Le Monde said the tsunami of protests arrived by the hundreds, then by the thousands, finally reaching a peak of 500 email messages an hour, which clogged up their server and made it necessary to reroute email traffic to a new server to avoid a breakdown.

In other words, all in all, Le Monde received tens of thousands of protests since March 19. The cartoon’s author said this was the largest protest he had ever seen.

Next, Le Monde transcribes samples of the protest messages they received from around the world. Some were simple expressions of Catholic piety; others mentioned dire consequences for the souls of the publishers. One person wrote:

“Don’t you realize that you attract the justice of God upon the world?”

This wave of Catholic ire caused Le Monde to say that Catholics need not take lessons from anyone on how to launch an effective protest and states that “The lambs of God can bite.”

They forget that Catholics take their example from Our Lord, Who is the Lamb of God and the Lion of Judah too.

America Needs Fatima is referred to as “…the dreaded America Needs Fatima -- which became well-known by denouncing the bestseller, Da Vinci Code.”

Unfortunately, however, the people at Le Monde did not apologize for publishing the sacrilegious cartoon, nor did they pledge to stop offending God, the Papacy and the Catholic Church again.

But since “the lambs of God can bite,” as they said, they may think twice about attacking Our Lord and the Pope in such sacrilegious terms in the future. Moreover, we pray that their troubled consciences and the thought of God’s Justice may prevent them from doing it again.

But most importantly, the tsunami of protest and prayer from Catholics worldwide was an act of reparation raised to the Throne of God, through the intercession of Saint Joseph and Mary Most Holy.

Despite our miseries and faults, we hope that this act of reparation washed away the stain of the sinful and sacrilegious cartoon and brought new graces of conversion and Catholic courage to France, the first born daughter of the Church.

The spiritual struggle for souls is far from over. That is why you are encouraged to again contact Le Monde and to express your opinion of the cartoon by writing to the email address below.

Thank you for defending the honor of Our Lord, the Papacy and morality.

Sincerely,

Robert Ritchie

America Needs Fatima

Here’s the email address you can write to:

courrier-des-lecteurs@lemonde.fr

Here’s a sample message that you may find helpful:

Le Monde:

As a Catholic, I was shocked and deeply hurt to learn that your newspaper published a sacrilegious cartoon showing Our Lord Jesus Christ handing out condoms from a boat to the excited masses. The cartoon reads: “The multiplication of the condoms followed the multiplication of the loaves.”

The cartoon targets the Pope too. He is depicted as a decrepit old man who says: “Anything goes!”

I do not accept this warped and portrayal of Our Lord, the Pope and Catholic morality. In response, I demand that you apologize for the cartoon and pledge never to publish such offensive material again.

With a heartfelt prayer for your conversion, and for the spiritual and material wellbeing of France.

Keep your kids protected -- "hundreds of thousands involved in human trafficking..."

                           

"But he that shall scandalize one of these little ones that believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone should be hanged about his neck, and that he should be drowned in the depth of the sea." - St. Matthew 18:6

  

A member of America Needs Fatima recently attended a presentation about human trafficking.  I am sure that you will be as shocked as I was to learn that estimates are that between 200,000 to 400,000 people are used in human trafficking as sexual objects for sale, many, as minors.

    Parents should be very observant about what their children view on the Internet.  Many view such sites as facebook and myspace to be a harmless way to communicate with friends and family.  Of course this can be so, but human traffickers constantly monitor these sites in very sophisticated ways to attempt to ensnare a young vulnerable person. 

    They look for children who may have problems at home such as conflicts with their parents or siblings or friends who can be drawn into human trafficking.  They try to become the person's friend showing tremendous sympathy.  They lure the person with friendship, then, when they meet, if it is the right set of circumstances for the trafficker, it is all over with for the victim who then becomes a slave.

    Sometimes, these poor individuals show up on websites as a potential sexual contact.  Price is not mentioned until the deal is closed.  It is very common that some of these individuals are human slaves, who are transported from city to city with the ads preceding them to establish contact, written by a professional. The police do on occasion apprehend such individuals, but not often enough.

    Another source of danger can be a local library.  As you may have seen on an earlier blog entry, some libraries have pornographic materials and some also may have unfiltered computer access.  Such objects will always attract the more base elements of society who will be watching for an unsupervised child to strike up a "friendship" with.

    When liberty becomes license and the most disgusting forms of human vice becomes legal, the innocent suffer exploitation.  In strong families, parents know what their children are doing and who they are associating with.  Today, with the family so weakened, parents are often not aware of what their children are doing and who they are with.

    Sites that allow such immoral practices, would in a Catholic society, be outlawed, and its owners imprisoned for the corruption of public morals. 

    I would imagine that many of the up to 400,000 come from broken homes and families living in disharmony without a strong religious life. Of course due to the social nature of sin which spreads like a contagious disease,  children can be abducted from good families as well.

    Let us who are devoted to Our Lady, seek Her maternal protection over our children, and may we on our part, practice the vigilance that is necessary to protect our children in these dangerous times.

Report on today's campaign for traditional marriage in Carlisle, PA

DSC_4532

(Picture of TFP members in Harrisburg, PA, campaigning in favor of traditional marriage.)

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From the Sentinel Online

Group seeks to rally grassroots defense of traditional marriage

By staff reports, March 30, 2009

Last updated: Monday, March 30, 2009 1:02 PM EDT

A group of men from The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property (TFP) stood on two corners of Carlisle’s square today, holding banners and American flags and urging drivers to honk if they support traditional marriage.

John E. Ritchie, 34, of Spring Grove, was handing out pamphlets titled “10 Reasons Why Homosexual ‘Marriage’ is Harmful and Must be Opposed.”

Full story here:

http://www.cumberlink.com/articles/2009/03/30/news/local/doc49d0faef25d1c795705751.txt

Dozens of Pro-Life Marches in Spain; Brazil too

Anti-abortionists crowd the Praça da Sé in the city of Sao Paulo, Brazil.

My friend Paulo Campos lives in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and he said that there was a huge pro-life demonstration there on Saturday that had over 10,000 people.

For more pictures please go here:

http://blogdafamiliacatolica.blogspot.com/2009/03/em-sua-3-edicao-o-grande-ato-publico-em.html

In Spain, there were 87 pro-life demonstrations last week, spread all across the nation.

The largest was half a million people in Madrid.

To see pictures of that important event, please go here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hazteoir/sets/72157615938843087/

Secularist uproar against Pope for anti-condom remark

image

(*Pope Benedict XVI in St. Peter's Square, Rome (2007).)

The new media uproar against the Pope centers on some comments by Benedict XVI on his recent flight to Cameroon.

Answering a question by a news reporter, the pontiff affirmed that far from being an effective means to fight AIDS, condom use only makes the problem worse; and that the real solution is to educate people about chastity, fidelity and the sanctity of matrimony.

Leading newspapers in the West and politicians from many European countries and NGOs linked to the United Nations and the European Union accused the Pope of ignorance, rashness and stopped just short of calling him a criminal, an accusation actually made by some ACT-UP homosexual activists protesting in front of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.[1]

Leaving Demagogy Aside

To examine the matter in rational and non-emotional terms, what, in short, did the Pope say?

1. The AIDS problem cannot be overcome by the distribution of condoms: on the contrary, they only make matters worse.

2. The true solution is abstinence and monogamy.

Far from being absurd, as media demagoguery would have us believe, these two statements have been fully confirmed by experience and recognized by scientists involved in the prevention and control of AIDS.

According to the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), HIV is primarily found in the body fluids of an infected person. HIV is transmitted in three main ways:

•Having sex with someone infected with HIV

• Sharing needles and syringes with someone infected with HIV

• Being exposed (fetus or infant) to HIV before or during birth or through breast feeding.[2]

Sexual contact is the most common of the three causes and the one that causes greater controversy.

Could condom use be the solution?

This is what the CDC says:

“It should be noted that condom use cannot provide absolute protection against HIV. The surest way to avoid transmission of HIV is to abstain from sexual intercourse or to be in a long-term mutually monogamous relationship with a partner who has been tested and you know is uninfected.”[3]

In the very editorial criticizing the statements of Benedict XIV, The New York Times ends up by recognizing that he is right. Speaking about condom effectiveness to prevent AIDS, after mentioning the CDC and the Cochrane Collaboration organization, the Times warns: “However, both groups warned that condom use cannot provide absolute protection. (...) The best way to avoid transmission of the virus is to abstain from sexual intercourse or have a long-term mutually monogamous relationship with an uninfected person.”[4]

The Pope Is Scientifically Correct

For his part, in an interview with MercatorNet.com regarding the above-mentioned statements by Pope Benedict, Dr Edward C. Green, director of the AIDS Prevention Research Project at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, and author of five books and over 250 peer-reviewed articles, said, “The Pope is actually correct.”

According to Dr. Green, widespread condom usage “may even exacerbate HIV infection levels due to a phenomenon called risk compensation, or behavioral disinhibition. People take more sexual risks because they feel safer than is actually justified when using condoms.”[5]

Chastity Is More Effective

Thus, the only entirely safe means to avoid AIDS contagion, in sexual terms, is the one indicated by the Pope, which is none other than the teaching of Catholic morals and ethics based on natural law. Only monogamous and indissoluble sexual relationships between legitimate spouses can effectively solve a problem derived in most cases from sexual promiscuity.

Therefore, people seriously interested in combating this new scourge should be great defenders of chastity and promoters of educational programs to preserve or recover purity.
Ideological Bias In Combating AIDS

This conclusion, deduced from moral principles, is confirmed by science.

In an article in the magazine, First Things, the above-mentioned Dr. Edward C. Green emphasizes: “If AIDS prevention is to be based on evidence rather than ideology or bias, then fidelity and abstinence programs need to be at the center of programs for general populations.”[6]

Dr. James D. Shelton, Science Advisor, Bureau for Global Health, USAID.

Not The Answer

For his part, Dr. James D. Shelton, Science Advisor, Bureau for Global Health, USAID, though accepting the use of condoms in principle, says that the claim that “condoms are the answer” is a myth.

In an article in the scientific journal, The Lancet, entitled “Ten myths and one truth about generalized HIV epidemics,” he writes:

“Condom use, especially by sex workers, is crucial to the containment of concentrated epidemics, and condoms help to protect some individuals. But condoms alone have limited impact in generalized epidemics. Many people dislike using them (especially in regular relationships), protection is imperfect, use is often irregular, and condoms seem to foster disinhibition, in which people engage in risky sex either with condoms or with the intention of using condoms.”

Another myth Dr. Shelton points out is that sexual behavior will not change. In fact, he says, sexual behavior in the United States and Africa after 1980 has changed a lot, particularly among homosexuals, for fear of AIDS.[7]

A Sexual “Russian Roulette”

The ideological component in the combat against the AIDS epidemic is blatant.

Let us make a comparison. Seemingly, it has been demonstrated that smoking is bad for one’s health. Based on this assumption, an intense anti-smoking campaign has been carried out for many decades.

This campaign proposes the complete elimination of the smoking addiction and has given rise to many laws limiting smoking as much as possible. At the same time, there have been many educational campaigns to get people to stop smoking.
Instead, when it comes to AIDS, no one proposes that people quit having promiscuous sex but only that they be careful. Is this not to expose them to a kind of sexual “Russian roulette” where they run a risk of contagion?

The Mask Falls, And Anti-Clericalism Again Rears Its Head

What is the ideology behind the pro-condom bias regarding the AIDS epidemic? It is the hedonistic philosophy born of the sexual revolution of the sixties in which it was “forbidden to forbid.” “Sexual liberation” was seen as the last conquest of secular society overcoming the prohibitions of natural law and Christian morals.

This is the true reason for the campaign to spread the use of condoms and for the present anti-clerical and anti-Catholic uproar.

This hullabaloo has become so virulent that a newspaper as important as Paris’ Le Monde published on March 18, 2009 a blasphemous cartoon showing Jesus on the bark of Peter throwing condoms to Africans while the Pope, portrayed as a decrepit fool, displays utter confusion and disconcert.

Thus, one can see that behind the “pro-condom offensive” is the old struggle of rationalism and secularism against the Church, ultimately against God, our Creator.

Footnotes:

  1. On Sunday, March 22, communist, ecologist and homosexual activists protested against the Pope in front of Notre Dame cathedral with signs reading: “Benedict XVI assassin.” At the same time they threw condoms at the faithful coming out of Mass (“Bagarre à la sortie de la messe dominicale à Notre-Dame,” LEMONDE.FR avec Reuters | Mar. 22, 2009, http://www.lemonde.fr/web/imprimer_element/0,40-0@2-3224,50-1171239,0.html.
  2. http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/basic/index.htm. Note: Although we have tried to avoid graphic descriptions of certain sexual activities throughout this article, some less graphic descriptions have proven necessary to make our point.
  3. http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/resources/qa/condom.htm.
  4. Editorial, “The Pope on Condoms and AIDS,” The New York Times, Mar. 18, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/18/opinion/18wed2.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&pagewanted=print.
  5. Michael Cook, “African AIDS: the facts that demolish the myths,” March 21, 2009, MercatorNet.com, http://www.mercatornet.com/articles/view/african_aids_the_facts_that_demolish_the_myths/.
  6. Edward C. Green and Allison Herling Ruark, “AIDS and the Churches: Getting the Story Right,” First Things, Apr. 2008, http://www.firstthings.com/article.php3?id_article=6172
  7. The Lancet, Dec. 1, 2007, Vol. 370, no. 9602, pp. 1809 - 1811 http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(07)61755-3/fulltext? (Requires registration.) .

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*Pope Benedict XVI in St. Peter's Square, Rome (2007).

Polski: Papież Benedykt XVI podczas Audiencji Generalnej na Placu św. Piotra w Rzymie (2007).

Source

Marek Kośniowski

Date

12th August 2007

Author

Marek.69 talk

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(Reusing this image)

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Sunday, March 29, 2009

Sacrilegious cartoon stirs tsunami of Catholic outrage

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(Our Lord is not only the Lamb of God, but the Lion of Judah as well.)

Thank you for sending your protest message to Le Monde, the largest newspaper in France.

As you may have heard, Le Monde got an avalanche of protests from Catholics worldwide in response to a blasphemous cartoon they published on March 19 showing ‘Our Lord’ handing out condoms to the excited masses with the caption “The multiplication of the condoms followed the multiplication of the loaves.”

The cartoon targeted the Pope too. He was depicted as a decrepit old man who says: “Anything goes!”

In yesterday’s Le Monde, an article titled Sacrilege! by the paper’s Ombudsman reports on the size and tone of the protest, calling it “a hurricane, a tsunami of protests.”

The Catholic protest was launched in an email blast sent by the student branch of the American TFP, TFP Student Action to its student activists nationwide on the evening of March 19. The protest was placed under the protection of Saint Joseph, whose feast day we celebrate on that day.

The next day, on March 20, another email blast with a copy of the same protest message to Le Monde was sent to the members of the American TFP email list.

The following week, on March 24, America Needs Fatima sent a copy of the protest message in an email to its members.

Thank God, the email struck a receptive cord in the hearts and souls of Catholics nationwide and thousands of Catholics response immediately, sending their own messages of protest to Le Monde. Catholic groups picked up the protest in the United States and abroad.

Le Monde said the tsunami of protests arrived by the hundreds, then by the thousands, finally reaching a peak of 500 email messages an hour, which clogged up their server and made it necessary to reroute email traffic to a new server to avoid a crash.

In other words, all in all, Le Monde received tens of thousands of protests since March 19. The cartoon’s author said this was the largest protest he had ever seen. Not even his cartoon showing Pius XII making a Nazi salute had provoked such an uproar.

Next, Le Monde transcribes samples of the protest messages they received from around the world. Some were simple expressions of Catholic piety; others mentioned dire consequences for the souls of the publishers. One person wrote:

“Don’t you realize that you attract the wrath of God upon the world?”

This explosion of Catholic ire caused Le Monde to say that Catholics need not take lessons from anyone on how to launch an effective protest and states that “The lambs of God can bite.”

They forget that Catholics take their example from Our Lord, Who is the Lamb of God and the Lion of Judah too.

America Needs Fatima is referred to as “…the dreaded America Needs Fatima -- which became famous by denouncing the bestseller, Da Vinci Code.”

Unfortunately, however, the people at Le Monde did not apologize for publishing the sacrilegious cartoon, nor did they pledge to stop offending God, the Papacy and the Catholic Church again.

But since “the lambs of God can bite,” as they said, they may think twice about attacking Our Lord and the Pope in such sacrilegious terms in the future. Moreover, we pray that their troubled consciences and the thought of God’s Justice may prevent them from doing it again.

But most importantly, the tsunami of protest and prayer from Catholics worldwide was an act of reparation raised to the Throne of God, through the intercession of Saint Joseph and Mary Most Holy. Despite our miseries and faults, we hope that this act of reparation washed away the stain of the sinful and sacrilegious cartoon and brought new graces of conversion and Catholic courage to France, the first born daughter of the Church.

The spiritual war for souls is far from over. That is why you are encouraged to again contact Le Monde and to express your opinion of the cartoon by writing to:

courrier-des-lecteurs@lemonde.fr

Here’s a sample message that you may find helpful:

Le Monde:

As a Catholic, I was shocked and deeply hurt to learn that your newspaper published a sacrilegious cartoon showing Our Lord Jesus Christ handing out condoms from a boat to the excited masses. The cartoon reads: “The multiplication of the condoms followed the multiplication of the loaves.”

The cartoon targets the Pope too. He is depicted as a decrepit old man who says: “Anything goes!”

I do not accept this warped and portrayal of Our Lord, the Pope and Catholic morality. In response, I demand that you apologize for the cartoon and pledge never to publish such offensive material again.

With a heartfelt prayer for your conversion, and for the spiritual and material wellbeing of France.

"10 Reasons Why Abortion Is Evil"

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(Every child is a plan of God)

1. Abortion Offends God
Abortion is never a mere personal choice but a grave offense against God and His creation. The anti-abortion struggle has always been a religious battle and foremost in its ranks have been Catholics across the country. This is because Church teaching on abortion is clear and unequivocal: Abortion is murder. There are no exceptions allowed, no compromises possible.

2. The Unnoticed War
The continuing war on terror has lead to a renewed national consciousness of the high price of war, and, for many, a heightened desire for peace. Yet, despite all this concern, the most horrible war of all has gone all but unnoticed. This is a war going on within our own borders, and it has claimed 42 million American lives in the last 31 years.

This scourge is as horrible as anything terrorists can fathom, because it strikes at the very core of humanity and our country: the family. By destroying the most basic human bond of all—that between mother and child—abortion dissolves the precious glue that binds our nation together.

While mother and child are the first victims, there is not a single element of society that is not affected by abortion. Mother, child, father, husband, aunt, uncle, friend, sibling and grandparent alike suffer the scars of the abortionist’s scalpel. Peace abroad is meaningless without peace at home.

3. Life starts at the moment of conception
This is the definition given in any respectable medical textbook. To declare a beginning of life at any point after the fusing of a wife’s egg and a husband’s contribution is irrational and an exercise in sophistical chicanery. Only machines such as clocks and cars come into existence part by part. Living beings come into existence all at once and gradually unfold their world of innate potential. A living human begins to exist at the moment of conception, even though only as a cell. What is important is not the accident of size or weight but the essence – which is fully human. The unborn baby has a distinct, unchanging and unrepeatable genetic code, unique in all of history, from the moment of conception till death. Nothing is added except nutrition and oxygen.1

4. Mankind must protect life whenever possible
The first and foremost instinct of humans is preservation of life. This begins with self-preservation, and extends to all humanity through domestic bonds and realization of a like nature. "Pregnancy termination" stops the beating heart of a growing human being and is in direct contradiction to this most basic premise of human nature. It forsakes natural law, and has left America as a country unable to repopulate itself without the aid of mass immigration.

5. Abortion is an unsafe procedure
Compared with other medical procedures, the abortion industry is largely unregulated. Although there are no exact statistics for the number of women who die from botched procedures, LifeDynamics.com compiled a list of 347 women killed by legal abortions since 1973.2 Furthermore, according to the National Cancer Institute, an induced abortion raises a woman's chance of getting cancer before age 45, by 50%. If the abortion is performed after age 30, it increases 110%; if before age 18, it goes up 150%.

The Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer reports: "28 out of 37 worldwide studies have independently linked induced abortion with breast cancer. Thirteen out of fifteen studies conducted on American women report increased risk. Seventeen studies are statistically significant, sixteen of which found increased risk. Most of the studies have been conducted by abortion supporters."3

6. Embryonic stem-cell and human cloning research: a biogenetic Tower of Babel
In a cynical but logical progression, the culture of death is now bent on engendering human life so as to destroy it. Its new frontier is embryonic stem-cell and human cloning research. In the name of science and health, human life is destroyed at its very inception and "limited" cloning is used to produce usable cells that can be manipulated and harvested to aid the living. In short, the remaining ethical barriers that preserve human dignity and God's rights in Creation are steadily coming down. The biotech revolution has as its avowed goal not just curing disease but the construction of a "brave new world" of genetic engineering, changing the very makeup and design of man himself. We cannot permit the completion of this challenge to God, a new Tower of Babel, which will be like another Pandora's box, unleashing untold ethical and moral havoc on our nation.

7. Breaking the abortion cycle
Abortion is evil because it created a horrific abortion cycle that perpetuates this sin. The abortion mentality destroys the family by making it more difficult for new Americans who survive beyond the womb to find the family welded together by the indissoluble bond of marriage solely between a man and a woman. Children need families that will nurture them, guard their innocence and develop their personalities. In particular, all children must find within their homes the Faith that enables them to know, love and serve God in this world and be happy with Him forever in the next. As long as the traditional family remains in crisis, we will never sever the power lines that supply the abortion mills. As long as the Faith remains dead in souls, we will never wipe out the moral rot of sexual immorality, which is the contaminated soil where the abortion movement grows and flourishes.

8. Roe v. Wade: 31 Years of Lies
The 31st anniversary of the Supreme Court’s infamous Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion-on-demand calls to mind the biggest pack of lies ever set in motion - lies that have cost the lives of more than 42 million innocent babies cruelly torn from their mothers' wombs. How can such slaughter, numerically on par with Hitler's Germany or Stalin’s Russia, be tolerated by the present United States of America, a republic purportedly based on moral values and human rights?

9. Addressing an abortionist
Once you were an enchanting child, as all babies are. Today you are an abortionist, a killer of babies. Do you not regret your wicked deeds? Do you not see the innocent blood of our children that stains your hands and cries out to God? Have you no shame as did our first parents when they sinned against God? Why do you not turn to Him today, seek His forgiveness and His strength never again to murder the innocent? Would you not rather bring children into the world than destroy them? Children you could raise with respect for life to take the place of those you robbed from God?

10. The dangerous slippery slope
Yesterday it was contraception. Today it's abortion, the murder of unborn children, and same-sex "marriage." Will it be euthanasia tomorrow? Then what...? Once abortion is universally accepted, what logical arguments will stop euthanasia and other forms of murder?

Other helpful tidbits
- The unborn baby"s heart starts beating at 20 days4 and the brain gives off brainwaves at 40 days.5 If these factors are used by the law to determine death, why can't they be used to determine life?
- Babies can survive outside the womb at 21 weeks.6
- By 14 weeks, the entire body surface, except the back and top of the head, are sensitive to pain.7
- The embryo is not a blueprint that becomes a human being, any more than a paper blueprint becomes a house.8

Note: Geoffrey Mull and James Bascom contributed to this compilation.

10 Reasons Why Homosexual “Marriage” is Harmful and Must be Opposed

These ten reasons why homosexual “marriage” is harmful and must be opposed will help you to defend marriage as the union between one man and one woman.

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Para leerlo en español, clique acá.

To download a PDF version of this document, please click here.

1. It Is Not Marriage
Calling something marriage does not make it marriage. Marriage has always been a covenant between a man and a woman which is by its nature ordered toward the procreation and education of children and the unity and wellbeing of the spouses.
The promoters of same-sex “marriage” propose something entirely different. They propose the union between two men or two women. This denies the self-evident biological, physiological, and psychological differences between men and women which find their complementarity in marriage. It also denies the specific primary purpose of marriage: the perpetuation of the human race and the raising of children.
Two entirely different things cannot be considered the same thing.


2. It Violates Natural Law
Marriage is not just any relationship between human beings. It is a relationship rooted in human nature and thus governed by natural law.
Natural law’s most elementary precept is that “good is to be done and pursued, and evil is to be avoided.” By his natural reason, man can perceive what is morally good or bad for him. Thus, he can know the end or purpose of each of his acts and how it is morally wrong to transform the means that help him accomplish an act into the act’s purpose.
Any situation which institutionalizes the circumvention of the purpose of the sexual act violates natural law and the objective norm of morality.
Being rooted in human nature, natural law is universal and immutable. It applies to the entire human race, equally. It commands and forbids consistently, everywhere and always. Saint Paul taught in the Epistle to the Romans that the natural law is inscribed on the heart of every man. (Rom. 2:14-15)

3. It Always Denies a Child Either a Father or a Mother
It is in the child’s best interests that he be raised under the influence of his natural father and mother. This rule is confirmed by the evident difficulties faced by the many children who are orphans or are raised by a single parent, a relative, or a foster parent.
The unfortunate situation of these children will be the norm for all children of a same-sex “marriage.” A child of a same-sex “marriage” will always be deprived of either his natural mother or father. He will necessarily be raised by one party who has no blood relationship with him. He will always be deprived of either a mother or a father role model.
Same-sex “marriage” ignores a child’s best interests.

4. It Validates and Promotes the Homosexual Lifestyle
In the name of the “family,” same-sex “marriage” serves to validate not only such unions but the whole homosexual lifestyle in all its bisexual and transgender variants.
Civil laws are structuring principles of man's life in society. As such, they play a very important and sometimes decisive role in influencing patterns of thought and behavior. They externally shape the life of society, but also profoundly modify everyone’s perception and evaluation of forms of behavior.
Legal recognition of same-sex “marriage” would necessarily obscure certain basic moral values, devalue traditional marriage, and weaken public morality.

5. It Turns a Moral Wrong into a Civil Right
Homosexual activists argue that same-sex “marriage” is a civil rights issue similar to the struggle for racial equality in the 1960s.
This is false.
First of all, sexual behavior and race are essentially different realities. A man and a woman wanting to marry may be different in their characteristics: one may be black, the other white; one rich, the other poor; or one tall, the other short. None of these differences are insurmountable obstacles to marriage. The two individuals are still man and woman, and thus the requirements of nature are respected.
Same-sex “marriage” opposes nature. Two individuals of the same sex, regardless of their race, wealth, stature, erudition or fame, will never be able to marry because of an insurmountable biological impossibility.
Secondly, inherited and unchangeable racial traits cannot be compared with non-genetic and changeable behavior. There is simply no analogy between the interracial marriage of a man and a woman and the “marriage” between two individuals of the same sex.

Taking a Principled not a Personal Stand
In writing this statement, we have no intention to defame or disparage anyone. We are not moved by personal hatred against any individual. In intellectually opposing individuals or organizations promoting the homosexual agenda, our only intent is the defense of traditional marriage, the family, and the precious remnants of Christian civilization.
As practicing Catholics, we are filled with compassion and pray for those who struggle against unrelenting and violent temptation to homosexual sin. We pray for those who fall into homosexual sin out of human weakness, that God may assist them with His grace.
We are conscious of the enormous difference between these individuals who struggle with their weakness and strive to overcome it and others who transform their sin into a reason for pride and try to impose their lifestyle on society as a whole, in flagrant opposition to traditional Christian morality and natural law. However, we pray for these too.
We pray also for the judges, legislators and government officials who in one way or another take steps that favor homosexuality and same-sex “marriage.” We do not judge their intentions, interior dispositions, or personal motivations.
We reject and condemn any violence. We simply exercise our liberty as children of God (Rom. 8:21) and our constitutional rights to free speech and the candid, unapologetic and unashamed public display of our Catholic faith. We oppose arguments with arguments. To the arguments in favor of homosexuality and same-sex “marriage” we respond with arguments based on right reason, natural law and Divine Revelation.
In a polemical statement like this, it is possible that one or another formulation may be perceived as excessive or ironic. Such is not our intention.

6. It Does Not Create a Family but a Naturally Sterile Union
Traditional marriage is usually so fecund that those who would frustrate its end must do violence to nature to prevent the birth of children by using contraception. It naturally tends to create families.
On the contrary, same-sex “marriage” is intrinsically sterile. If the “spouses” want a child, they must circumvent nature by costly and artificial means or employ surrogates. The natural tendency of such a union is not to create families.
Therefore, we cannot call a same-sex union marriage and give it the benefits of true marriage.
7. It Defeats the State’s Purpose of Benefiting Marriage
One of the main reasons why the State bestows numerous benefits on marriage is that by its very nature and design, marriage provides the normal conditions for a stable, affectionate, and moral atmosphere that is beneficial to the upbringing of children—all fruit of the mutual affection of the parents. This aids in perpetuating the nation and strengthening society, an evident interest of the State.
Homosexual “marriage” does not provide such conditions. Its primary purpose, objectively speaking, is the personal gratification of two individuals whose union is sterile by nature. It is not entitled, therefore, to the protection the State extends to true marriage.
8. It Imposes Its Acceptance on All Society
By legalizing same-sex “marriage,” the State becomes its official and active promoter. The State calls on public officials to officiate at the new civil ceremony, orders public schools to teach its acceptability to children, and punishes any state employee who expresses disapproval.
In the private sphere, objecting parents will see their children exposed more than ever to this new “morality,” businesses offering wedding services will be forced to provide them for same-sex unions, and rental property owners will have to agree to accept same-sex couples as tenants.
In every situation where marriage affects society, the State will expect Christians and all people of good will to betray their consciences by condoning, through silence or act, an attack on the natural order and Christian morality.
9. It Is the Cutting Edge of the Sexual Revolution
In the 1960s, society was pressured to accept all kinds of immoral sexual relationships between men and women. Today we are seeing a new sexual revolution where society is being asked to accept sodomy and same-sex “marriage.”
If homosexual “marriage” is universally accepted as the present step in sexual “freedom,” what logical arguments can be used to stop the next steps of incest, pedophilia, bestiality, and other forms of unnatural behavior? Indeed, radical elements of certain “avant garde” subcultures are already advocating such aberrations.
The railroading of same-sex “marriage” on the American people makes increasingly clear what homosexual activist Paul Varnell wrote in the Chicago Free Press:
The gay movement, whether we acknowledge it or not, is not a civil rights movement, not even a sexual liberation movement, but a moral revolution aimed at changing people's view of homosexuality.
10. It Offends God
This is the most important reason. Whenever one violates the natural moral order established by God, one sins and offends God. Same-sex “marriage” does just this. Accordingly, anyone who professes to love God must be opposed to it.
Marriage is not the creature of any State. Rather, it was established by God in Paradise for our first parents, Adam and Eve. As we read in the Book of Genesis: “God created man in His image; in the Divine image he created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them, saying: ‘Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it.’” (Gen. 1:28-29)
The same was taught by Our Savior Jesus Christ: “From the beginning of the creation, God made them male and female. For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother; and shall cleave to his wife.” (Mark 10:6-7).
Genesis also teaches how God punished Sodom and Gomorrah for the sin of homosexuality: “The Lord rained down sulphurous fire upon Sodom and Gomorrah. He overthrew those cities and the whole Plain, together with the inhabitants of the cities and the produce of the soil.” (Gen. 19:24-25)

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Behind the “Pro-Condom Media Uproar:” The Old Struggle of Rationalism and Secularism against the Church

by Luis Sergio Solimeo

Pope Benedict XVI

The new media uproar against the Pope centers on some comments by Benedict XVI on his flight to Cameroon. Answering a question by a news reporter, the pontiff affirmed that far from being an effective means to fight AIDS, condom use only makes the problem worse; and that the real solution is to educate people about chastity, fidelity and the sanctity of matrimony.

Leading newspapers in the West and politicians from many European countries and NGOs linked to the United Nations and the European Union accused the Pope of ignorance, rashness and stopped just short of calling him a criminal, an accusation actually made by some ACT-UP homosexual activists protesting in front of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.[1]

Leaving Demagogy Aside

To examine the matter in rational and non-emotional terms, what, in short, did the Pope say?

1. The AIDS problem cannot be overcome by the distribution of condoms: on the contrary, they only make matters worse.

2. The true solution is abstinence and monogamy.

Far from being absurd, as media demagoguery would have us believe, these two statements have been fully confirmed by experience and recognized by scientists involved in the prevention and control of AIDS.

According to the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), HIV is primarily found in the body fluids of an infected person. HIV is transmitted in three main ways:

•Having sex with someone infected with HIV
• Sharing needles and syringes with someone infected with HIV
• Being exposed (fetus or infant) to HIV before or during birth or through breast feeding.[2]

Sexual contact is the most common of the three causes and the one that causes greater controversy.

Could condom use be the solution?

This is what the CDC says:

“It should be noted that condom use cannot provide absolute protection against HIV. The surest way to avoid transmission of HIV is to abstain from sexual intercourse or to be in a long-term mutually monogamous relationship with a partner who has been tested and you know is uninfected.”[3]

In the very editorial criticizing the statements of Benedict XIV, The New York Times ends up by recognizing that he is right. Speaking about condom effectiveness to prevent AIDS, after mentioning the CDC and the Cochrane Collaboration organization, the Times warns:

“However, both groups warned that condom use cannot provide absolute protection. (...) The best way to avoid transmission of the virus is to abstain from sexual intercourse or have a long-term mutually monogamous relationship with an uninfected person.”[4]

The Pope Is Scientifically Correct

For his part, in an interview with MercatorNet.com regarding the above-mentioned statements by Pope Benedict, Dr Edward C. Green, director of the AIDS Prevention Research Project at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, and author of five books and over 250 peer-reviewed articles, said, “The Pope is actually correct.”

According to Dr. Green, widespread condom usage “may even exacerbate HIV infection levels due to a phenomenon called risk compensation, or behavioral disinhibition. People take more sexual risks because they feel safer than is actually justified when using condoms.”[5]

Chastity Is More Effective

Thus, the only entirely safe means to avoid AIDS contagion, in sexual terms, is the one indicated by the Pope, which is none other than the teaching of Catholic morals and ethics based on natural law. Only monogamous and indissoluble sexual relationships between legitimate spouses can effectively solve a problem derived in most cases from sexual promiscuity.

Therefore, people seriously interested in combating this new scourge should be great defenders of chastity and promoters of educational programs to preserve or recover purity.

Ideological Bias In Combating AIDS

This conclusion, deduced from moral principles, is confirmed by science.

In an article in the magazine, First Things, the above-mentioned Dr. Edward C. Green emphasizes: “If AIDS prevention is to be based on evidence rather than ideology or bias, then fidelity and abstinence programs need to be at the center of programs for general populations.”[6]

Dr. James D. Shelton, Science Advisor, Bureau for Global Health, USAID.

Not The Answer

For his part, Dr. James D. Shelton, Science Advisor, Bureau for Global Health, USAID, though accepting the use of condoms in principle, says that the claim that “condoms are the answer” is a myth. In an article in the scientific journal, The Lancet, entitled “Ten myths and one truth about generalized HIV epidemics,” he writes:

“Condom use, especially by sex workers, is crucial to the containment of concentrated epidemics, and condoms help to protect some individuals. But condoms alone have limited impact in generalized epidemics. Many people dislike using them (especially in regular relationships), protection is imperfect, use is often irregular, and condoms seem to foster disinhibition, in which people engage in risky sex either with condoms or with the intention of using condoms.”

Another myth Dr. Shelton points out is that sexual behavior will not change. In fact, he says, sexual behavior in the United States and Africa after 1980 has changed a lot, particularly among homosexuals, for fear of AIDS.[7]

A Sexual “Russian Roulette”

The ideological component in the combat against the AIDS epidemic is blatant.

Let us make a comparison. Seemingly, it has been demonstrated that smoking is bad for one’s health. Based on this assumption, an intense anti-smoking campaign has been carried out for many decades. This campaign proposes the complete elimination of the smoking addiction and has given rise to many laws limiting smoking as much as possible.

At the same time, there have been many educational campaigns to get people to stop smoking.

Instead, when it comes to AIDS, no one proposes that people quit having promiscuous sex but only that they be careful. Is this not to expose them to a kind of sexual “Russian roulette” where they run a risk of contagion?

The Mask Falls, And Anti-Clericalism Again Rears Its Head

What is the ideology behind the pro-condom bias regarding the AIDS epidemic? It is the hedonistic philosophy born of the sexual revolution of the sixties in which it was “forbidden to forbid.” “Sexual liberation” was seen as the last conquest of secular society overcoming the prohibitions of natural law and Christian morals.

This is the true reason for the campaign to spread the use of condoms and for the present anti-clerical and anti-Catholic uproar.

This hullabaloo has become so virulent that a newspaper as important as Paris’ Le Monde published on March 18, 2009 a blasphemous cartoon showing Jesus on the bark of Peter throwing condoms to Africans while the Pope, portrayed as a decrepit fool, displays utter confusion and disconcert.

Thus, one can see that behind the “pro-condom offensive” is the old struggle of rationalism and secularism against the Church, ultimately against God, our Creator.

Footnotes:

  1. On Sunday, March 22, communist, ecologist and homosexual activists protested against the Pope in front of Notre Dame cathedral with signs reading: “Benedict XVI assassin.” At the same time they threw condoms at the faithful coming out of Mass (“Bagarre à la sortie de la messe dominicale à Notre-Dame,” LEMONDE.FR avec Reuters | Mar. 22, 2009, http://www.lemonde.fr/web/imprimer_element/0,40-0@2-3224,50-1171239,0.html.
  2. http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/basic/index.htm. Note: Although we have tried to avoid graphic descriptions of certain sexual activities throughout this article, some less graphic descriptions have proven necessary to make our point.
  3. http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/resources/qa/condom.htm.
  4. Editorial, “The Pope on Condoms and AIDS,” The New York Times, Mar. 18, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/18/opinion/18wed2.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&pagewanted=print.
  5. Michael Cook, “African AIDS: the facts that demolish the myths,” March 21, 2009, MercatorNet.com, http://www.mercatornet.com/articles/view/african_aids_the_facts_that_demolish_the_myths/.
  6. Edward C. Green and Allison Herling Ruark, “AIDS and the Churches: Getting the Story Right,” First Things, Apr. 2008, http://www.firstthings.com/article.php3?id_article=6172
  7. The Lancet, Dec. 1, 2007, Vol. 370, no. 9602, pp. 1809 - 1811 http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(07)61755-3/fulltext? (Requires registration.) .

Sacrilegious cartoon stirs tsunami of Catholic outrage

      

(Our Lord is not only the Lamb of God, but the Lion of Judah as well.)

Thank you for sending your protest message to Le Monde, the largest newspaper in France.

As you may have heard, Le Monde got an avalanche of protests from Catholics worldwide in response to a blasphemous cartoon they published on March 19 showing ‘Our Lord’ handing out condoms to the excited masses with the caption “The multiplication of the condoms followed the multiplication of the loaves.”

The cartoon targeted the Pope too. He was depicted as a decrepit old man who says: “Anything goes!”

In yesterday’s Le Monde, an article titled Sacrilege! by the paper’s Ombudsman reports on the size and tone of the protest, calling it “a hurricane, a tsunami of protests.”

The Catholic protest was launched in an email blast sent by the student branch of the American TFP, TFP Student Action to its student activists nationwide on the evening of March 19. The protest was placed under the protection of Saint Joseph, whose feast day we celebrate on that day.

The next day, on March 20, another email blast with a copy of the same protest message to Le Monde was sent to the members of the American TFP email list.

The following week, on March 24, America Needs Fatima sent a copy of the protest message in an email to its members.

Thank God, the email struck a receptive cord in the hearts and souls of Catholics nationwide and thousands of Catholics response immediately, sending their own messages of protest to Le Monde. Catholic groups picked up the protest in the United States and abroad.

Le Monde said the tsunami of protests arrived by the hundreds, then by the thousands, finally reaching a peak of 500 email messages an hour, which clogged up their server and made it necessary to reroute email traffic to a new server to avoid a crash.

In other words, all in all, Le Monde received tens of thousands of protests since March 19. The cartoon’s author said this was the largest protest he had ever seen. Not even his cartoon showing Pius XII making a Nazi salute had provoked such an uproar.

Next, Le Monde transcribes samples of the protest messages they received from around the world. Some were simple expressions of Catholic piety; others mentioned dire consequences for the souls of the publishers. One person wrote:

“Don’t you realize that you attract the wrath of God upon the world?”

This explosion of Catholic ire caused Le Monde to say that Catholics need not take lessons from anyone on how to launch an effective protest and states that “The lambs of God can bite.”

They forget that Catholics take their example from Our Lord, Who is the Lamb of God and the Lion of Judah too.

America Needs Fatima is referred to as “…the dreaded America Needs Fatima -- which became famous by denouncing the bestseller, Da Vinci Code.”

Unfortunately, however, the people at Le Monde did not apologize for publishing the sacrilegious cartoon, nor did they pledge to stop offending God, the Papacy and the Catholic Church again.

But since “the lambs of God can bite,” as they said, they may think twice about attacking Our Lord and the Pope in such sacrilegious terms in the future. Moreover, we pray that their troubled consciences and the thought of God’s Justice may prevent them from doing it again.

But most importantly, the tsunami of protest and prayer from Catholics worldwide was an act of reparation raised to the Throne of God, through the intercession of Saint Joseph and Mary Most Holy. Despite our miseries and faults, we hope that this act of reparation washed away the stain of the sinful and sacrilegious cartoon and brought new graces of conversion and Catholic courage to France, the first born daughter of the Church.

The spiritual war for souls is far from over. That is why you are encouraged to again contact Le Monde and to express your opinion of the cartoon by writing to:

courrier-des-lecteurs@lemonde.fr

Here’s a sample message that you may find helpful:

Le Monde:

As a Catholic, I was shocked and deeply hurt to learn that your newspaper published a sacrilegious cartoon showing Our Lord Jesus Christ handing out condoms from a boat to the excited masses. The cartoon reads: “The multiplication of the condoms followed the multiplication of the loaves.”

The cartoon targets the Pope too. He is depicted as a decrepit old man who says: “Anything goes!”

I do not accept this warped and portrayal of Our Lord, the Pope and Catholic morality. In response, I demand that you apologize for the cartoon and pledge never to publish such offensive material again.

With a heartfelt prayer for your conversion, and for the spiritual and material wellbeing of France.

Friday, March 27, 2009

"I think Our Lady adapts and touches souls of every ethnic origin..."

One of our custodians related to me a beautiful story about a Fatima home visit that took place a few days ago.

                    B1 DCCC

    The host family was hispanic and had about a dozen other hispanic guests over for their home visit.  Fortunately for the custodian, one of the guests spoke English.

    At the end of the presentation the custodian asked if anyone had any questions.  The hostess asked if the statue of Our Lady changed color.  The custodian responded, not as far as he knew.  The hostess then related that a few weeks previous she had attended the visit at a home and, she said that at that visit Our Lady was very white like the custodian.  After a brief chuckle from those present, she went on to explain that in her home Our Lady appears brown like them. 

    The custodian answered that he did not doubt it in the least.  He explained that Our Lady in Her love for souls tries to touch each soul in a way that creates the greatest affinity with Her.  He also explained how the various nations and peoples give God tremendous glory, as each nation contains a facet of the jewel that is Christian civilization.  Our Lady touches that facet as a means of drawing those souls more closely to Her.

    At the end of the exchange the hostess explained that the feet of Our Lady were still white, the custodian remarked, that Our Lady kept Her feet white for him who was also white.

    It is impressive to see the deep and innocent devotion in souls that see these kinds of things.  They see Our Lady, truly as the Mother of God and their Mother.  They do not look at Our Lady with the cold logic of contemporary man.

Contemplating Christ in the Perfection of His Person

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"If any man say, I love God, and hateth his brother; he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother, whom he seeth, how can he love God whom he seeth not?” (John 4:20).

I dare say that most of us have meditated, though no doubt insufficiently, on the Person of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and through our contemplation we have acquired a sense of what He is like.

               Holy Face of Our Lord

Imagine, however, the indelible impression that would result were we to have the unmerited grace and inestimable joy of seeing our Savior face to face!

That beatific encounter might recall the sentiments our souls derive from viewing the most sublime sacred images that are the treasures of Christendom. Yet the reality would surely far surpass the God-given talent of the most inspired artist to capture with his brush or of the most gifted sculptor to immortalize with his chisel.

Let us contemplate Christ without literary embellishment or melodramatics. Let us consider the lines of His face, the expression of His eyes, the resonance of His voice, the elegance of His bearing, in sum, everything that could give us a better idea of His Person. In short, let us use our divine gift of reason to guide our inner vision with the light of truth so that we need not grope in the dark.

We shall begin by reflecting on this insight of Saint John: “If any man say, I love God, and hateth his brother; he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother, whom he seeth, how can he love God whom he seeth not?” The premise that underlies this question is that man was created not only to know, love, and serve God but to help his fellow man do the same. Since man is made in the image and likeness of God, it follows that by studying man we should come to a better understanding of our Creator. Of course, Our Lord Jesus Christ is not merely and, therefore, not principally a man. Being the God-Man, He is principally God. Nevertheless, He is a man in the full sense of the word and, therefore, by studying man we can come to a better understanding of Christ, the perfect Man. And as Our Lord reminds us, “He that seeth Me seeth the Father also” (John 14:9).

Accordingly, we shall analyze man and from our research draw a few principles that will convey something of the adorable Person of Our Lord Jesus Christ. In the process, we will see how our assessment corresponds with Holy Scripture. Thus our meditation is of a philosophical order tested by the Divine Word–a proper and logical approach to our mission.

The make-up of man

To analyze man’s moral and psychological physiognomy, we must take into account his manner of thinking, his moral quality, and his daily life. Reflecting on a man from these perspectives, we will be able to form an idea of his person.

To determine a man’s mode of thought, we must consider his profession, since men generally exercise a profession suited to their mentality. Indeed, the relationship between a man and his profession is akin to marriage.

Before a man embarks on a career, he has the basic aptitude and qualities it requires. Later, through practicing his profession, these skills are developed and refined.Thus a soldier, a diplomat, a doctor, and a priest, in discharging the duties demanded by their calling, acquire characteristics that distinguish them from others of different vocations. By reflecting the characteristics of his profession, the practitioner becomes exceptional, so distinct, in fact, that by discovering his profession we can determine his cast of mind.

King to Victim

During His life in this world, Our Lord exercised aspects of all professions fit for man–from the highest to the lowest. To even begin to appreciate the perfection of His Person, we would have to imagine the archetype of every licit profession known to man. Consider Christ as king. In biblical days, a king held the highest office. Had not Israel even demanded that God give them a king so that they might be like other nations? As Prince of the House of David and Heir to the throne of Israel, Jesus possessed the nobility and grandeur proper to His state. As He entered Jerusalem in triumph that first Palm Sunday, it did not lessen His majesty that He rode in humility on the back of a donkey. To the contrary, the Gospels recount that the people acclaimed Him enthusiastically, sensing His royal grandeur without the prompts of pageantry.

Because His life was one of constant and unremitting struggle, Our Lord was also a warrior, a man of battle. Not only did Jesus defeat and drive out demons, He forcefully confronted the human allies of the Prince of Darkness. Even after He was betrayed into the hands of His adversaries, He humiliated them when, on being asked if He was Jesus of Nazareth, He answered simply, “Ego sum.” With these two words Christ cast His antagonists to the ground. What a magnificent warrior: hurling His enemies on their faces with but a simple affirmation!

Our Lord personified the fulfillment of the Sacrament of Holy Orders. He was Priest and Pontiff par excellence. The priests of the Old Testament prefigured His priesthood, and every priest thereafter would share His priesthood as an alter Christus. On Holy Thursday, Christ was the Priest and Victim of the first Mass, which prefigured His sacrificial offering on the altar of the cross.

Diplomat to servant

Our Lord was a perfect diplomat during His public life. Consider how intelligently He thwarted the machinations of the Sanhedrin: here avoiding confrontation with circumspect and artful speech, there mastering it with impeccably judicious rejoinders. Recall the Gospel account of how they sought to trap Jesus by asking Him whether it was lawful for the Jews to pay taxes to the Romans. Christ not only avoided giving His opinion on an issue He chose not to address but dumfounded His enemies with His reply.

And what lawyer could approach the divine Advocate? Reflect for a moment on His goodness and mercy in defending the souls of sinners, understanding attenuating circumstances and the points whereby a person’s defense should be made. No one ever took up the cause of the accused, of sinners, of the poor–of anyone in need of a lawyer–as did Our Lord.

Consider Christ as one who works with his hands, as does a manual laborer. Unthinkable? Have we forgotten the carpenter shop in Nazareth where Jesus worked under the watchful eye of His foster father Saint Joseph?

Christ was a servant, though few kings have washed the feet of their subjects. “But I am in the midst of you, as he that serveth” (Luke 22:27), Our Lord declared, showing how we should live as His disciples.

In sum, were we to list every licit human endeavor, we would find that, in some manner, Christ exercised each with perfection beyond our comprehension. Few men achieve perfection in their chosen profession, rare geniuses in more than one, but only the God-Man in all.

Pattern of all peoples

As the perfection and pattern of the human race, Our Lord embodies all the gifts with which His Father has endowed all the peoples of the earth–the French with their precision, clarity, and spirit; the Germans with their vigor, profundity, and sense of the sublime; the Italians with their gift of theology, subtlety, and diplomacy.

Experience teaches us that God has blessed each people with gifts particular to themselves, and to the degree they embody the spirit characteristic of their culture, they do not reflect that which distinguishes another. One who possesses the delicate and light spirit of the French, for example, is not apt to display simultaneously the vigorous and combative spirit that marks the German.

Our Lord, as we have noted, is the exception to the rule, since as Ruler and Model of mankind, He unites in Himself the gifts and characteristics of every people. Thus at the same time He exemplifies the charm of the French and the strength of the German to an unimaginable degree. And so it is with the best of every race, of every culture, and of every land.

Moved by the Messias

By reflecting on the fact that Our Lord in His Person reconciles all professions and all peoples, we should get some idea of how His contemporaries must have been struck by His superiority, so clearly recorded in Holy Scripture.

Those who followed Christ were rapt in wonder at the outpouring of His resplendently divine gifts. So moved were the multitudes following Jesus that they forgot themselves in His presence. Recall the Gospel account of how the crowds that followed Our Lord into the desert were so satiated by His presence that they neglected to bring anything to eat. Of course, in His infinite goodness–and power–Christ fed the thousands with but a handful of loaves and fishes.

This could not have transpired in a merely natural way. Since Our Lord was the God-Man, above the intellectual perfection of His human nature was the union that His human nature had with the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. From this union flowed a cascade of utterly radiant supernatural gifts.

In Jesus’ presence, people sensed something mysterious and entirely beyond their understanding, which they came to realize was His divinity. They saw at last what Saint Peter professed in reply to His question “But whom do you say that I am?”—“Thou art Christ the Son of the Living God” (Matt. 16:15-17).

Perfection of primordial lights

According to Catholic theology, for the same reason that each one of us feels withing himself a tendency towards a specific sin—usually referred to as capital sin—in he contrary sense, each soul is called to reflect a specific aspect of God by especially shining in the practice of a specific virtue. This has been referred to as the person’s “primordial light.” Thus we may conjecture that as one advances in sanctity, his primordial light becomes more evident. Were we to correspond faithfully to every grace that Christ gives, His light would radiate through our poor selves.

One person tends to be charitable, another loyal, another obedient, and yet another serious and responsible. One is inspired by all that is pure and sublime, another by the severe and austere. One has such a love for our Blessed Mother that he cannot hear her name mentioned without feeling every string of his heart stir. Another is particularly touched by all that surrounds the birth of the Child Jesus, yet another by Our Lord’s Passion. All souls are called to practice all virtues, but a particular virtue shines before each in a primordial, a first light.

Imagine Saint Louis Gonzaga, the personification of purity, and emulate his angelic chastity. Consider Saint Louis, King of France, the embodiment of honor, with uprightness and sincerity written in each line of his noble face. Reflect on Saint Vincent de Paul, an emissary of divine charity, who walked the back streets of Paris rescuing abandoned babies and carrying them in the huge pockets of his cassock to their new homes. Recall Saint Francis of Assisi, who courted Lady Poverty throughout his life, or Saint John the Baptist, who embodied the rigors of God’s call to repentance and penance.

As every virtue reflects its divine Author, Saint Thomas concludes that Christ is the perfect expression of all the primordial lights that were, are, and will be. To that we may add that every saint is nothing more–nor less–than a small spark of the perfection of Our Lord, an inestimable honor indeed.

Man of Sorrows

Just as a fruit exudes its sweetest nectar and displays its most beautiful color when it is ripe, so does Our Lord express His full grandeur in suffering.

In suffering, we see human misery most clearly. Crushed by suffering, man groans, moans, cries, flees, weeps, protests, revolts, and is humbled. Suffering horrifies man, and he is terrified by its prospect, but a man who accepts and even embraces his suffering with courage, acquires a quality of soul that others will never attain.

When I look at faces that bear no evidence of having suffered, I say to myself, “Poor soul, he thinks he he’s lived so many years, but, in truth, he hasn’t lived a single day!” The days of a man’s life should be counted not by the days he has lived, but by the days he has suffered. Suffering tempers the soul of man like fire tempers steel. Only a man who has truly suffered has truly lived.

There are many kinds of suffering. The suffering of a crusader who battles the infidel is not the same as that of the king who sends him into combat. The suffering of a sick child differs from that of the mother who cares for him. Different crosses temper different souls.

Jesus did not endure only one form of suffering. He was the Man of Sorrows. Reflecting on His life, we see that He suffered every sorrow a man could possibly suffer. His soul shone brilliantly with all the facets of the jewel of life that is suffering.

Harmonizer of contrasts

As with the gifts of all the peoples of the earth, Our Lord possessed attributes that were in themselves irreconcilable. He was at the same time the most triumphant Man and the most defeated, the most glorified and the most reviled, the most beloved and the most hated.

In His Person Christ harmonized professions, peoples, and attributes that could not be reconciled in a mere mortal. These harmonic contrasts met perfectly in Him because of the fullness of His humanity and His human sanctity but, above all, because of the unfathomable, divine influx of graces that were His as the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity.

Having drawn from our meditation on man’s gifts a faint idea of the Person of Our Lord Jesus Christ, we find that He is the perfect and sublime synthesis of all gifts. And that is precisely why our idea of His Person is so inadequate. Christ’s perfection is beyond our present comprehension. “Now we see as through a glass darkly, but then we shall see face to face” (1 Cor. 13:12).

Answer to envy

As I note in my book Revolution and Counter-Revolution, beginning around the fourteenth century, a negative and pernicious premise has been fostered by which all who are superior necessarily despise those who are below them. In this light, those who are not great should fear those who are. How can we combat this erroneous view?

Perhaps, in the course of our reflection the thought arose: “This is all well and good, but how could I hope to approach such a Person? One look from His eyes and I would feel like sinking into the ground. Much less would I dare to talk to Him. I would be struck dumb. What could I say that could possibly interest Him? After all, how would the philosophical reflections of Saint Thomas Aquinas, the Angelic Doctor, and the sermons of Saint John Chrysostom, “the golden mouth,” sound in the ears of One who knows everything and has heard all?

Surely when our dear Saint Peter said, “Depart from me, O Lord, for I am a sinner” (Luke 6:8), he shared our apprehension. He felt so unworthy of Christ’s presence that he wished to vanish from His sight.

Yet, Our Lord affectionately appreciates everything that is virtuous, no matter how small, as a reflection of His Father’s perfect goodness. Thus Christ is the rebuttal to Satan’s lie that the great must despise the small. Our Lord hates evil, but all that is good, however modest, is a tiny spark and expression of the divine and therefore delights Him.

We love that which is great and that which is small precisely because one is great and the other small. We see a majestic eagle in lofty flight: “How magnificent! How beautiful.” We spy a tiny hummingbird hovering over a flower: “How delicate. What a jewel!” Would an eagle the size of a hummingbird delight us? Or a hummingbird the size of an eagle inspire us?

Confidence of sinners

It is true that Our Lord hates sin unconditionally and uncompromisingly. Since He is Virtue itself, He necessarily abhors every taint of evil. Were this not the case, He would not be worthy of our adoration, but while God hates sin, He loves any residue of virtue in the sinner and longs for his repentance and conversion. If Our Lord loves every form and measure of virtue, He loves even that which is but a shadow of virtue. Should He find a seedling of virtue threatened by the weeds of vice amid which it is sprouting, He will nurture and cultivate this fragile flower.

When a soul is in a state of mortal sin, it is dead in the sense that it no longer produces good works. And yet it is the sinner’s faith that moves his heart to repentance and to seek God’s forgiveness in the sacrament of Penance. This faith is a true faith that the sinner has only because God sustains it. Otherwise he would have lost it, and his heart would have hardened and died.

Does God not love the faith that resides in the sinner’s soul? Did He not implant it? Does He not sustain it? Though this faith were the only bond joining the sinner to Christ’s Mystical Body, could Our Lord Jesus Christ, as Head of His Church, despise His own member?

Thus we may understand why great sinners have approached their Redeemer with confidence. Saint Mary Magdalene washed Jesus’ feet with perfume and dried them with her hair. From his cross, the good thief Saint Dismas begged his crucified Savior to remember him when he came into His kingdom.

Their confidence was emboldened because Our Lord is Truth and Goodness, and when the the least vestige of truth and goodness comes in contact with Him it expands and is fulfilled. It is attracted to Him rather than repelled. Fear gives way to faith. It is capital that we understand this aspect of Our Lord.

Fear of the just

But how is it, you may ask, that Our Lord can inspire fear–at times even in the good? On Mount Tabor, where He appeared so covered in light that He frightened His own disciples? Or when He said, “Ego sum,” to the people who arrested Him and sent a wave of paralyzing terror through them?

It is because God is unfathomable, and while His existence can be known by reason, His nature cannot be fully comprehended by our unaided intellect. Were we to he behold Him without divine assistance, we would disintegrate.

Man’s eyes were made for the light of the sun. Without light we cannot see, but if we were to stare at the sun without protection, its rays would blind the very eyes they enable to see. Man himself was created to know, love, and serve God. The light of His Holy Spirit enkindles our primordial light and illumines our way. But were we to look on God’s face without His divine protection, we would surely die. Hence Moses’ encounter with God in the form of a burning bush (cf. Exod. 33:20).

Our Lord did not manifest His qualities all at once during His earthly life. He revealed them little by little until after His crucifixion, His redemptive mission accomplished. Through His resurrection He manifested His unmistakable Divinity for all to see.

Alpha and Omega

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Ps. 110:10) but it is not the end. The fact that we yet live in this vale of tears and have not been consigned to the unquenchable flames of hell is reason enough to approach our Blessed Redeemer with complete confidence. Our continued presence in this world is a sign that He sees in us the seed of a good He loves, even if its fruit is far less sweet than we imagine.

May the light of Christ, born in our souls at Baptism, enlighten our path in the growing darkness of a world that has lost its way and lead us–like Dismas, our brother–safely home to Paradise.

(Crusade, May-June 1998 . The text of this article was adapted from a talk given by Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira to members of the Brazilian TFP in September of 1971 in Sao Paulo, Brazil).