Monthly Archives: April 2010

Evolution – “Kinds Becoming Other Kinds”

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Evolution, the theory of the origin of Life?  I don’t think so.  Dinesh D’Souza in “Life After Death, the Evidence” plays Devil’s Advocate and gets to the question Darwin avoids completely, the question of the cell – the building block of life, complete with DNA, a plan and a plant, a manufacturing plant that is.  The cell is itself alive with wonder and activity without which any life could not be.

“How did we get cells? This is another way of asking how life began. Darwin  didn’t even attempt to answer this question. He recognized that there is was no way to explain the integrated functionality of the cell by appealing to evolution or natural selection.  Evolution itself presumes and requires cells that come fully formed  with the capacity for metabolism and self-replication; no reproduction, no natural selection!

Clearly the basic template of life  came fully formed when life first appeared on this earth about 4 billion years ago.  Michael Shermer in “Why Darwin Matters” admits that Evolution is not a theory on  the origins of life but of how kinds became other kinds.”

Time of Mercy Before “Day of Justice”

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Perhaps, we are always to think of ourselves as living in “the Last Days”? After-all, the Christians of the very first century expected that the return of Jesus was imminent.  As each arch-enemy to the Faith lifted his fist, there were those who saw Jesus’ Second Coming just over the horizon. The end didn’t come immediately, but purification came to prepare the way into the future, and with the future the promise of the Day of the Lord.  Again and again, the Cross has led the way and with the Victorious Cross looms on the horizon in the East the promised Return.

What are we to make of these days?  The Church gives us a new Saint in Sr. Faustina Kowalska, who spoke of “the Last Days,” because the Lord, Himself, put the words on her lips.

St. Faustina wrote in DIVINE MERCY IN MY SOUL The Diary of Sister M. Faustina Kowalska :

(Jesus to Sr. Faustina)

“Write this: before I come as the Just Judge, I am coming first as the King of Mercy. Before the day of Justice arrives, there will be given to people a sign in the Heaven of this sort:

All light in the heavens will be extinguished, and there will be a great darkness over the whole earth. Then the sign of the Cross will be seen in the sky, and from the openings where the hands and feet of the Savior were nailed will come forth great lights which will light up the earth for a period of time. This will take place shortly before the last day. “

St. Faustina wrote at the behest of Jesus.  He called her, “My Secretary”.

“…In the old covenant I sent prophets wielding thunderbolts to my people. Today I am sending you with My mercy to the people of the whole world. I do not want to punish aching mankind but I desire to heal it pressing it to My merciful heart…” (Diary 1588)

“Your task is to write down everything that I make known to you about my mercy. For the benefit of those who by reading these things will be comforted in their souls and will have the courage to approach Me. I, therefore want you to devote all your free moments to writing.” (Diary 1693)

“…You are the secretary of My mercy. I have chosen you for that office in this life and the next life” (Diary 1605)

“…I demand that you devote all your free moments to writing about My goodness and mercy. It is your office and your assignment throughout your life to continue to make known to souls the great mercy I have for them and to exhort them to trust in My bottomless mercy” (Diary 1567)

“My daughter; tell souls that I am giving them My mercy as a defense. I, Myself, am fighting for them and am bearing the just anger of My Father.” (Diary 1516)

In Times of Darkness – The Cross

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A Prayer for the World

Lord Jesus, let flow from Your precious wounds opened in Your Crucifixion and Death on the Cross, a fresh torrent of Love and Mercy upon the world.  Like stars lighting up the sky as did the Star of Bethlehem, let Your Light proceed from the nail holes in that eternal Wood on which you hung.  Planted Now in Heaven, may that Tree bear fruit ever sweet and fresh to the world for whose Sin You willingly died. Amen.

Words of Jesus to St. Faustina

“All light in the heavens will be extinguished, and there will be a great darkness over the whole earth. Then the sign of the Cross will be seen in the sky, and from the openings where the hands and feet of the Savior were nailed will come forth great lights which will light up the earth for a period of time. This will take place shortly before the last day.”

Consecrate Your Heart in Troubled Times

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An invitation to make this prayer of consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary your own:

Act Of Consecration To The Immaculate Heart Of Mary

O Immaculate Heart of Mary, Queen of Heaven and Earth, and tender Mother of men, in accordance with Thy ardent wish made known at Fatima, I consecrate to Thy Immaculate Heart myself, my brethren, my country and the whole human race.

Reign over us, Most Holy Mother of God, and teach us how to make the Heart of Thy Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ reign and triumph in us even as It has reigned and triumphed in Thee.

Reign over us, Most Blessed Virgin, that we may be Thine in prosperity and in adversity, in joy and in sorrow, in health and in sickness, in life and in death.

O most compassionate Heart of Mary, Queen of Heaven, watch over our minds and hearts and preserve them from the impurity which Thou didst lament so sorrowfully at Fatima.

Assist us in imitating You in all things, especially purity.

Help us to call down upon our country and upon the whole world the peace of God in justice and charity.

Therefore, Most Gracious Virgin and Mother, I hereby promise to imitate Thy virtues by the practice of a true Christian life without regard to human respect.

I resolve to receive Holy Communion regularly and to offer to Thee five decades of the Rosary each day, together with my sacrifices, in the spirit of reparation and penance. Amen.

Scriptural Rosary Podcast – Glorious Mysteries

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Glorious Scriptural Mysteries - Podcast

Glorious

The Spiritual Passover

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From an ancient Easter homily by Pseudo-Chrysostom

The spiritual Passover

The Passover we celebrate brings salvation to the whole human race beginning with the first man, who together with all the others is saved and given life.

In an imperfect and transitory way, the types and images of the past prefigured the perfect and eternal reality which has now been revealed. The presence of what is represented makes the symbol obsolete: when the king appears in person no one pays reverence to his statue.

How far the symbol falls short of the reality is seen from the fact that the symbolic Passover celebrated the brief life of the firstborn of the Jews, whereas the real Passover celebrates the eternal life of all mankind. It is a small gain to escape death for a short time, only to die soon afterward; it is a very different thing to escape death altogether as we do through the sacrifice of Christ, our Passover.

Correctly understood, its very name shows why this is our greatest feast. It is called the Passover because, when he was striking down the firstborn, the destroying angel passed over the houses of the Hebrews, but it is even more true to say that he passes over us, for he does so once and for all when we are raised up by Christ to eternal life.

If we think only of the true Passover and ask why it is that the time of the Passover and the salvation of the firstborn is taken to be the beginning of the year, the answer must surely be that the sacrifice of the true Passover is for us the beginning of eternal life. Because it revolves in cycles and never comes to an end, the year is a symbol of eternity.

Christ, the sacrifice that was offered up for us, is the father of the world to come. He puts an end to our former life, and through the regenerating waters of baptism in which we imitate his death and resurrection, he gives us the beginning of a new life. The knowledge that Christ is the Passover lamb who was sacrificed for us should make us regard the moment of his immolation as the beginning of our own lives. As far as we are concerned, Christ’s immolation on our behalf takes place when we become aware of this grace and understand the life conferred on us by this sacrifice. Having once understood it, we should enter upon this new life with all eagerness and never return to the old one, which is now at an end. As Scripture says: We have died to sin—how then can we continue to live in it?