Links I Like
- Blogs
-
<< # St. Blog's Parish ? >> - Oswald Sobrino's Catholic Analysis
- Dom Bettinelli's Blog
- Mark Shea's Blog
- Catholic Kerry Watch
- Disputations
- Catholic Ragemonkey
- Fr. Rob's Blog
- Times Against Humanity
- The Mighty Barrister
- After Abortion
- Happy Catholic
- Catholic
- The Vatican
- Catholic Exchange
- Spirit Daily
- St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology
- Catholic Answers
- CatholiCity
- Crisis Magazine
- Priests For Life
- Your Catholic Voice
- Catholics Against Kerry
- Christopher West: Theology of the Body
- Scripture Catholic
- Sports
- New England Patriots
- NFL Official Site
- Boston Redsox
Archives
- 04/18/2004 - 04/24/2004
- 04/25/2004 - 05/01/2004
- 05/02/2004 - 05/08/2004
- 05/09/2004 - 05/15/2004
- 05/16/2004 - 05/22/2004
- 05/23/2004 - 05/29/2004
- 07/18/2004 - 07/24/2004
- 07/25/2004 - 07/31/2004
- 08/01/2004 - 08/07/2004
Contact
Site Feed
A blog of a Catholic father and husband, struggling to work out his salvation with fear and trembling in the People's Republic of Massachusetts.
Ad Majoriem Dei GloriamTM
TM - Obligitory Latin Phrase for a Catholic Blog(translation)
Friday, July 23, 2004
Male and Female He Created Them
The current attacks on the culture of life we are witnessing are the culmination of an assault on God's created order. Satan cannot create, he can only twist and destroy. God did not create man to be alone, but for union. In particular, men and women were created for the one-flesh union that is the consummation of the marital covenant. And this is where Satan has attacked with a vengeance.
Many who hold onto traditional Judeo-Christian values lament the recent push for gay marriage. But gay marriage is not the end game. I would dare say that many, if not most, in the gay community have no interest in marriage. Promiscuity is rampant, especially among the male gay community, even among those in "committed" relationships. No the end game is total destruction of the distinction between male and female and a resulting destruction of the life giving marital embrace. Gay marriage is simply a rung in the ladder to achieve this result. If the culture of death is taken to its ultimate conclusion, there will be androgynous people practicing all manner of deviant sexual activities, as long as it is sterile: masturbation, sodomy, bestiality, orgies, pedophilia, etc. Life will be created in test tubes, and implanted in artificial wombs. Those who use sexual intercourse to procreate will be frowned upon as backward barbarians.
The covenant of marriage requires sacrificial love. The ultimate example of which is Jesus' sacrificial love displayed by His passion and death. Instead, the culture of death holds up a mutual utilitarian view. I use you, you use me, as long as we both get something out of, what's the big deal? The chain of events that we are now witnessing can be traced back to a general acceptance of contraception. The unitive and procreative aspects of intercourse are separated(what God has joined, let no man tear asunder). From this contraceptive mentality flows immediately fornication and adultery. From fornication and adultery flows abortion(I can't have a baby, I just wanted to have a little fun). From fornication and adultery also flows acceptance of homosexuality, if two people of the opposite sex can mutually pleasure each other, why not two people of the same sex? From acceptance of homosexuality will flow other sexually deviant behavior, incest, polyamory, pedophilia, etc.
Our culture may have passed the point of no return. Is there no hope? There is always hope. But those of faith will need to repent, fast, and pray like never before. We live in perilous and exciting times. Are we up for the challenge?
Thursday, July 22, 2004
This Sounds About Right
You are Romans.
Which book of the Bible are you?
brought to you by Quizilla
Not too suprised here. My wife always tells me I come across as a know it all ;-)
A Definitive Moment in History Has Come
In case you have not read this article, DO IT NOW!!
I found it inspiring. And in case I have not made it clear in previous postings:
ABORTION IS MURDER!!!
Those who support abortion, fetal stem-cell research, euthanasia, and same-sex marriage support intrinsic EVIL. These things can never be justified.
"But what about the death penalty and war?", you might say. These things are not in the same category. They are not intrinsically evil and are SOMETIMES justifiable. Whether or not a particular case is morally justifiable is up for debate. But with abortion, fetal stem-cell research, euthanasia, and same-sex marriage there can be NO DEBATE!
My prayer is that faithful Catholics will WAKE-UP and decide that enough is enough! In my area we are particularly to blame. Here is our record:
Senators: Ted Kennedy, John Kerry -> PRO-ABORTION
Congressman: Marty Meehan -> PRO-ABORTION
And we(Massachusetts that is) always vote for the pro-abortion candidate for president. The only bright spot is that we elected Mit Romney as governor. Who, although he is not pro-life, is not as virulently pro-abortion as his opponent. This is not a good record for one of the most "Catholic" states in the nation. All faithful Catholics can bear some of the blame for this, but I would think that the priests and bishops of this state should tremble at the thought of standing before the Throne of Judgment when they see this record.
Scandals and Prophecy
In the wake of the sex abuse scandal and now the "To deny or Not to deny" controversy, I am reminded of a prophesy given to nun in Akita, Japan in the 70's:
"The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops."
The denial of the Eucharist controversy in particular is bringing this to light. We have some bishops like Archbishop Burke saying clearly that prominent, pro-choice politicians should be denied Communion. We have some bishops who lean in this direction. Then on the other side we have Cardinal McCarrick saying that he is uncomfortable in using the Eucharist in this manner. There are also many bishops who are in this camp.
Is this issue coming to a head? Will it precipitate some sort of division in the Church(gasp schism?)? Only time will tell. One thing is certain, we need to pray for our priests and bishops.
Tuesday, July 20, 2004
I'm Back
I haven't blogged in a while. I guess I haven't had much to say.
I wanted to comment on an interpretation of the story of the fall in Genesis by Dr. Scott Hahn. I read this in "First Comes Love". Its been a while since I have read it, so I may not have all the details down.
Many people, myself included, get the impression that Satan, commonly thought of as a snake, persuades Eve to take the fruit and eat. Then Eve goes to find Adam and he stupidly goes along with this and eats too. So we have Eve getting most of the blame and Adam being a buffoon that gets duped. But Dr. Hahn doesn't believe this interpretation of the text holds water.
First, he says the Hebrew word used, that is commonly translated "serpent", is the same as the words in Job translated as Leviathan and behemoth(?sp?). He says it is probably the same as what John refers to in Revelation as Dragon. So right off the bat, Adam of Eve may not be dealing with a lowly snake, but a huge, intimidating dragon.
Second, he deals with the role of Adam. Hahn makes the point that after Eve takes the fruit, she gives it to Adam. Apparently, he was there the whole time. Why was the devil not speaking to him? Dr. Hahn says that Adam's duty as a loving husband was to care for and protect his bride, and he failed miserably. We can infer from the text, that Adam was cowering in fear, leaving his bride, Eve exposed to the deceipt of the devil.
So even though Adam and Eve are both to blame, to some extent, Adam bears more of the blame, since it was his job to protect his wife, even if it cost him his life.
What I find interesting about this interpretation is the contrast it give it what Jesus does, starting in the garden of Gethsemane and ending on the cross. Jesus is in a garden and is faced with offering Himself for his bride, the Church. In "The Passion of the Christ", Mel Gibson puts Satan there with Jesus. Scripture does not explicitly state this, but it would not be unreasonable to assume that the devil was there taunting Jesus. And while Adam disobeyed God, Jesus does the will of the Father. He suffers and dies for his bride. He reverses the selfishness of Adam, with His selfless love. Offering Himself as the fruit on the tree that was taken. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. And with this act of obedient suffering, that great Red Dragon is slain and we are made free of sin, fear, and death!
There is much more about this issue in the book and I recommend reading it. There has been much controversy around Dr. Hahn's suggestion that somehow the Holy Spirit encompasses the feminine in God. One of his positions in support of this hypothesis(and he goes out of his way to say it is a hypothesis and he would submit to the Magisterium on this issue) is that the Holy Spirit is the spirit of the Church, which is the bride of Christ. And since the spirit is the form of the body and the body is feminine, that would make the Holy Spirit feminine. But I am not defending this position, just merely giving a heads up, in case anyone wanted to read the book.
I haven't blogged in a while. I guess I haven't had much to say.
I wanted to comment on an interpretation of the story of the fall in Genesis by Dr. Scott Hahn. I read this in "First Comes Love". Its been a while since I have read it, so I may not have all the details down.
Many people, myself included, get the impression that Satan, commonly thought of as a snake, persuades Eve to take the fruit and eat. Then Eve goes to find Adam and he stupidly goes along with this and eats too. So we have Eve getting most of the blame and Adam being a buffoon that gets duped. But Dr. Hahn doesn't believe this interpretation of the text holds water.
First, he says the Hebrew word used, that is commonly translated "serpent", is the same as the words in Job translated as Leviathan and behemoth(?sp?). He says it is probably the same as what John refers to in Revelation as Dragon. So right off the bat, Adam of Eve may not be dealing with a lowly snake, but a huge, intimidating dragon.
Second, he deals with the role of Adam. Hahn makes the point that after Eve takes the fruit, she gives it to Adam. Apparently, he was there the whole time. Why was the devil not speaking to him? Dr. Hahn says that Adam's duty as a loving husband was to care for and protect his bride, and he failed miserably. We can infer from the text, that Adam was cowering in fear, leaving his bride, Eve exposed to the deceipt of the devil.
So even though Adam and Eve are both to blame, to some extent, Adam bears more of the blame, since it was his job to protect his wife, even if it cost him his life.
What I find interesting about this interpretation is the contrast it give it what Jesus does, starting in the garden of Gethsemane and ending on the cross. Jesus is in a garden and is faced with offering Himself for his bride, the Church. In "The Passion of the Christ", Mel Gibson puts Satan there with Jesus. Scripture does not explicitly state this, but it would not be unreasonable to assume that the devil was there taunting Jesus. And while Adam disobeyed God, Jesus does the will of the Father. He suffers and dies for his bride. He reverses the selfishness of Adam, with His selfless love. Offering Himself as the fruit on the tree that was taken. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. And with this act of obedient suffering, that great Red Dragon is slain and we are made free of sin, fear, and death!
There is much more about this issue in the book and I recommend reading it. There has been much controversy around Dr. Hahn's suggestion that somehow the Holy Spirit encompasses the feminine in God. One of his positions in support of this hypothesis(and he goes out of his way to say it is a hypothesis and he would submit to the Magisterium on this issue) is that the Holy Spirit is the spirit of the Church, which is the bride of Christ. And since the spirit is the form of the body and the body is feminine, that would make the Holy Spirit feminine. But I am not defending this position, just merely giving a heads up, in case anyone wanted to read the book.
Orbitrek