Tag Archives: Christian

Sunday Snippets–A Catholic Carnival

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It’s time once again for Sunday Snippets. We are Catholic bloggers sharing weekly our best posts. Join us to read and/or contribute. To participate, go to your blog and create a post titled Sunday Snippets–A Catholic Carnival. Make sure that the post links back to RAnn’s, site, This, That and the Other Thing, and leave a link to your post.

As for me, I am a wife,a mother of two beautiful daughters, a Sinai nurse (NYC – 1962), a photographer, a writer /poet (in awe of God). Prayer and daily Mass feed me. Lioness  is my way of evangelizing, a persistent shout out for God.

My Posts for the past week:

Refuge of Sinners

Brink of Eternity

Wrath of God, a Living Hell

Your Saints in Glory

A Thousand Thousand Trumpets

Pope Francis speech at the conclusion of the Synod

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Churches Push Back Against Warning Not To Talk Politics | Truth Revolt

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Churches Push Back Against Warning Not To Talk Politics | Truth Revolt.

“Earlier this month Americans United for Separation of
Church and State sent out 84,000 letters to church leaders to warn them
against speaking about politics from the pulpit according to IRS
tax-exempt restrictions. Responses so far have not been so enthusiastic.

AU says they attempted to be “respectful” in their reminder and claim
they are merely trying to protect organizations’ tax exempt status. In a
blog post the group’s assistant director of communications, Simon
Brown, explained that they only want churches to “follow the rules” and
“stay out of partisan politics”:

“We merely want houses of worship to follow the rules, stay out of
partisan politics and keep their tax exemption. And when we explain to
clergy what the law requires, we do so in a respectful way.”

Despite their “respectful” tone, the church and state watchdog told
The Blaze that they’ve already received about 45 fiery responses, and
expect more in the days to come.

One church sent back AU’s letter with the simple statement “Drop
Dead” written in marker across it. Another response was a brief letter,
addressed to the executive director of the group, which concluded by
asking to be removed from his mailing list and saying he could take his
“solicitude regarding our legal well-being” and “shove it up your fat
white a__.”

Here are two shots of the messages (via The Blaze):

via Churches Push Back Against Warning Not To Talk Politics | Truth Revolt.

via Churches Push Back Against Warning Not To Talk Politics | Truth Revolt.

Universal Evidence for Intellect

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The late,and saintly, Fr. Thomas Dubay S.M. Does not fear to bring common sense to be bear where materialist fail to dare, saying in his book Deep Conversion, Deep Prayer:

“….unity is always caused. It never happens by random chance. Our universe is full of evidence that this is true. The unity of a Pietà or a Mozart symphony cannot arise from the swirling of trillions of molecules of marble or musical notations flying about at random for millions of years. The suggestion is ludicrous and everyone knows it. A jumbo jet with its millions of parts, including computer parts, could not arise from a cosmic storm of diverse atoms and molecules which finally resulted in this massively intricate flying masterpiece with no intellects behind it. Once again everyone knows this intuitively and compellingly.

It is amusing how scientists, when they find a written text amid ancient ruins, are immediately certain that the author of these ideas or laws was no mere animal, but rather an intellectual being, a man or a woman. Yet it must be either philosophical incompetence or extraordinary stubbornness that would lead them to deny that an endlessly more complex reality like a living cell comes from an intellectual being. The reason cannot be science. It is a philosophical monism, a dogmatic materialism. And of course materialism is pure philosophy, not science. The dogma here, with no foundation in reality, is that materialists are forbidden by their philosophy to accept the compelling conclusion of a supreme intellect behind an awesomely complex and stunning universe.”

Pope Francis speech at the conclusion of the Synod

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Here is the part of Pope Francis’ speech I thought most powerful:

 

“I can happily say that – with a spirit of collegiality and of synodality – we have truly lived the experience of “Synod,” a path of solidarity, a “journey together.”

And it has been “a journey” – and like every journey there were moments of running fast, as if wanting to conquer time and reach the goal as soon as possible; other moments of fatigue, as if wanting to say “enough”; other moments of enthusiasm and ardour. There were moments of profound consolation listening to the testimony of true pastors, who wisely carry in their hearts the joys and the tears of their faithful people. Moments of consolation and grace and comfort hearing the testimonies of the families who have participated in the Synod and have shared with us the beauty and the joy of their married life. A journey where the stronger feel compelled to help the less strong, where the more experienced are led to serve others, even through confrontations. And since it is a journey of human beings, with the consolations there were also moments of desolation, of tensions and temptations, of which a few possibilities could be mentioned:

– One, a temptation to hostile inflexibility, that is, wanting to close oneself within the written word, (the letter) and not allowing oneself to be surprised by God, by the God of surprises, (the spirit); within the law, within the certitude of what we know and not of what we still need to learn and to achieve. From the time of Christ, it is the temptation of the zealous, of the scrupulous, of the solicitous and of the so-called – today – “traditionalists” and also of the intellectuals.

– The temptation to a destructive tendency to goodness [it. buonismo], that in the name of a deceptive mercy binds the wounds without first curing them and treating them; that treats the symptoms and not the causes and the roots. It is the temptation of the “do-gooders,” of the fearful, and also of the so-called “progressives and liberals.”

– The temptation to transform stones into bread to break the long, heavy, and painful fast (cf. Lk 4:1-4); and also to transform the bread into a stone and cast it against the sinners, the weak, and the sick (cf Jn 8:7), that is, to transform it into unbearable burdens (Lk 11:46).

– The temptation to come down off the Cross, to please the people, and not stay there, in order to fulfil the will of the Father; to bow down to a worldly spirit instead of purifying it and bending it to the Spirit of God.

– The temptation to neglect the “depositum fidei” [the deposit of faith], not thinking of themselves as guardians but as owners or masters [of it]; or, on the other hand, the temptation to neglect reality, making use of meticulous language and a language of smoothing to say so many things and to say nothing! They call them “byzantinisms,” I think, these things…

Here is the full speech:

Vatican Radio’s provisional translation of Pope Francis’ address to the Synod Fathers:

Dear Eminences, Beatitudes, Excellencies, Brothers and Sisters,

With a heart full of appreciation and gratitude I want to thank, along with you, the Lord who has accompanied and guided us in the past days, with the light of the Holy Spirit.

From the heart I thank Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, Secretary General of the Synod, Bishop Fabio Fab

Continue reading →

Big Bang Theories Are Not Inconsistent with the Biblical Creation Story

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via Media Distort Catholic View on Evolution

“After Pope Francis referenced the Big Bang and biological evolution this past Monday, a flurry of media reports appeared, contrasting Francis’ views with those of his predecessors and the Catholic tradition.

Pope Francis made a significant rhetorical break with Catholic tradition Monday by declaring that the theories of evolution and the Big Bang are real,” gushed MSNBC. And elsewhere, MSNBC reported that “conservatives in the United States” who have been unhappy with Pope Francis “today have one more reason to be upset.”

Yet the real story here is that Francis was just reiterating the Catholic understanding of evolution first articulated by Pope Pius XII in 1950.

Had the journalists dug a little deeper, they would have discovered that the “father of the Big Bang theory,” Georges Lemaître, was a Belgian cosmologist and a Catholic priest. He was also a former president of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, the very group Francis was addressing Monday.

The Catholic Catechism itself states that the “question about the origins of the world and of man has been the object of many scientific studies which have splendidly enriched our knowledge of the age and dimensions of the cosmos, the development of life-forms and the appearance of man.” It also notes that these discoveries “invite us to even greater admiration for the greatness of the Creator, prompting us to give him thanks for all his works and for the understanding and wisdom he gives to scholars and researchers.”

But it seems that these journalists really just wanted to drive a wedge between Francis and his immediate predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, holding the former up as a free-wheeling liberal and tarring the second as a stodgy conservative.

The Independent newspaper in Ireland wrote that Francis’ comments put an end to the “pseudo theories” of creationism and intelligent design that some argue were encouraged by his predecessor, Benedict XVI.

Elsewhere, NBC News reported that Francis’ remarks on Monday “appeared to be a theological break from his predecessor Benedict XVI, a strong exponent of creationism.”

Yet anyone with even a cursory knowledge of Benedict’s views on evolution would understand this claim to be patently false. As a cardinal, Ratzinger had studied theories of evolution for years, and had developed his own nuanced understanding of Darwinian evolution, on which he commented in several of his books.

Moreover, in 2006, Benedict said that it is “absurd” to suppose that evolution and creation are mutually exclusive, citing the “many scientific proofs in favor of evolution,” which “enriches our knowledge of life and being as such.” Benedict did hold, however, that “evolution does not answer every query, especially the great philosophical question: where does everything come from?” This was exactly the point Francis was making on Monday.

This leaves us with the puzzle of how so many semi-skilled journalists get these fundamental questions wrong. Are they willfully malicious or simply incompetent?

Either way, would such ineptitude be tolerated if they were writing about anything other than the Catholic Church?

via Media Distort Catholic View on Evolution,

 

via Independent.co.uk

The theories of evolution and the big bang are not inconsistent with the biblical creation story, according to the head of the Roman Catholic Church.

God is not “a magician with a magic wand” says Pope Francis while speaking at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences Tuesday.

“When we read about Creation in Genesis, we run the risk of imagining God was a magician, with a magic wand able to do everything. But that is not so,” Francis said. “He created human beings and let them develop according to the internal laws that he gave to each one so they would reach their fulfillment.

The Pontiff continued:

“The Big Bang, which today we hold to be the origin of the world, does not contradict the intervention of the divine creator but, rather, requires it.  Evolution in nature is not inconsistent with the notion of creation, because evolution requires the creation of beings that evolve.” continued here

Your Saints in Glory

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At the moment
You lift Your saintly friends
From the Earth,
And plant them
In the Heaven of Your Being,
At that precious moment,
And by that fateful act,
You endow
The sons and daughters
Of Your Covenant,
Remaining in this world,
With more,
Not less.

When Your friends
Journey forth,
All the Earth
Is, henceforth, blessed,
And not, otherwise,
Disposed or deprived.

As Your Servants,
Enter Your Realms of Light,
Their charisms become infinite,
In their capacity to bless.

When the smallest of the small
Cries out,
In the name of Your forever Friends,
These other Christs
Answer with Your power to succor.

In the Now of Your Essence,
They share Your Glory.
In Heaven,
There is only one glory,
Which cannot increase.
United to You,
Who, are unchanging,
This new rain falls to
the Earth,
And it’s consenting
creatures, here,
Can and do change,
In the shower
Of Your abundant dew fall.

We are, henceforth,
The beneficiaries of new riches,
Streaming from Your Side,
The Door, by which Your saints
Entered Eternity.

Glory upon glory falls,
As golden droplets,
Upon the land
Of sunrise and sunset.

Your gifts do not cease
With the death
Of those who are Yours.
Heaven is united to earth,
And in the celebration
Of their new birth,
Rejoices.

©2012 Joann Nelander