Wednesday, January 8, 2020

Wednesday after Epiphany

ELVIS’ BIRTHDAY

Mark, Chapter 6, Verse 49-50

⁴⁹ But when they saw him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost and cried out. ⁵⁰ They had all seen him and were terrified. But at once he spoke with them, “Take courage, it is I, do not be afraid!”

Christ compels us to be not afraid. Bravery, Nerve, Pluck, Valor, Daring, Audacity, Mettle and lastly resolution are all synonyms for courage. Which word strikes your heart? For me it is resolution. For I am determined not to invalidate Christ sacrifice for me, I will not stop trying to become the vision He has for me; I am resolute. No matter how many times I fall I will get up; I will not stop. I will remember that the journey before a man tries the measure of his heart long before it tests the strength of his legs. I will remember that a man’s life is likening unto a lake with no outlet in which no life will come. Life giving water is always moving and giving of itself. Man, to be truly a creature of God must give of his essence and run to the sound of battle. In today’s environment Christ and the church His visible head is engaged in a battle with the world. On this date in 1951 the UN headquarters opened in NYC. Is the UN friend or foe in this battle?

The Sounds of Battle[1]

The Holy See and the Catholic Church will, in the near future, be called before the International Court of Justice to answer for its history of crimes against children. The United Nations will be the prime mover in this, but liberal elites in the United States will be doing all they can to bring the Church to Her knees.

WASHINGTON, DC (Catholic Online) - On Wednesday, February 6, 2014, the United Nations dropped a media bomb on the Catholic Church. One might call it the media equivalent of a nuclear attack: Headlines filled the Internet starting with phrases like:

·         "UN panel blasts Vatican handling of clergy sex abuse, church teachings on gays, abortion." (Washington Post)

·         "Kick out those who sexually abuse children, U.N. panel tells Vatican."(CNN)

·         "UN Blasts Vatican on Sex Abuse." (Boston Globe)

·         "Vatican policies allowed priests to rape, molest children, UN committee says." (Detroit Free Press)

·         "Vatican systematically allowed priests to rape children, says UN report."(Toronto Star)

The number of hits after googling the words, UN report-Vatican-sex abuse, goes on for dozens of pages, with not a single headline suggesting the UN's report was inaccurate, nefarious, and, breathtakingly arrogant.

Here are some facts about the 15-page report issued Wednesday by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (with thanks again to Bill Donohue for sorting out this nonsense, but dangerous nonsense nonetheless):

1.    The report makes a series of accusations against the Holy See without supporting evidence of any footnotes, endnotes, or attributions of any kind. In other words, sheer assertion without either argument or evidence. For those who read history, the term "Stalinism" comes to mind. 

2.    The United Nations demands that the Holy See submit itself to UN authority in matters pertaining not only to children's rights but also to homosexuality and abortion.  As Donohue puts it, the report "does provide plenty of evidence as to its real agenda."

3.    The United Nations demands the Catholic Church make changes to Canon Law to bring it into conformity with policies and ideology of guess who? - the United Nations. Just when you think you've seen the worst of this topsy-turvy world, such as the President (Obama) of the United States dismissing the dangers of smoking marijuana, you see this. You shake your head, you clear your throat, and you want to throw up, or laugh, either one or the other.

4.    The report, again I am using Donohue's analysis, says the Holy See should "undertake the necessary steps to withdraw all its reservations and to ensure the [U.N.] Convention's precedence over internal laws and regulations." (the report's emphasis.)

5.    Just in case the implications of #4 weren't clear enough, read this: "The Committee recommends that the Holy See undertake a comprehensive review of its normative framework, in particular Canon Law, with a view to ensuring its full compliance with the Convention." The Catholic Church must bend Her knee to the authority of the United Nations.

As Bill Donohue puts it, "Hubris is too mild a word to describe this unmitigated arrogance." To any fair-minded, informed, sensible person, this report should make a laughingstock of the United Nations. The report itself should raise questions about the integrity of the UN and its ideological will-to-power.  But, alas, the media is all too willing to comply.

6.    The report demands that Catholic schools alter their textbooks to eliminate "gender stereotypes." Although, as Donohue points out, there is no evidence put forward that such stereotypes even exist.

7.    Don't laugh: The report demands the Vatican initiate "awareness programs" for those who work with children. As Donohue points out, there is no mention of any other religious community or the public schools, where the problem goes largely unreported. 

8.    Again, don't laugh: The report tells the Vatican to amend Canon Law and Vatican City State laws to "end corporal punishment." Bill Donohue, indeed, does have a sense of humor when he says the UN is "too busy wondering if Sister Mary Alice is taking a ruler to a miscreant student to mention the 10,000 Syrian children who have been killed and tortured the last three years."

9.    This fact is very telling: The report tells the Catholic Church to eliminate "baby boxes," those boxes next to orphanages where women who cannot care for their newborns make sure that they will be raised and nurtured. What's the alternative to a "baby box?" None, other than abortion, which is what the United Nations aggressively promotes worldwide with U.S tax dollars.

10.    Final fact: Call this a prediction that I bet will come true: The Holy See and the Catholic Church will, in the near future, be called before the International Court of Justice to answer for its history of crimes against children. The United Nations will be the prime mover in this, but liberal elites in the United States will be doing all they can to bring the Church to Her knees.

Time after Epiphany[2]

The central theme of Advent and Christmastide, the manifestation, or epiphany, of Jesus Christ, also dominates the Weeks after Epiphany. That manifestation began selectively, first to Mary (Ember Wednesday, Annunciation), then to Elizabeth and John the Baptist (Ember Friday, Visitation), and then to Joseph (Vigil of Christmas). Next it grew stronger with the adoration of the Shepherds (Christmas), the Magi at the Manger (Epiphany), Simeon, Anna, and the Doctors in the Temple (Sunday after Christmas, and Holy Family), and even to John the Baptist's disciples (Octave of Epiphany). But the epiphanies of Jesus Christ did not end with these events. On the contrary, everything that our Lord did and said during His public ministry was designed to manifest His divine nature. It is the Time after Epiphany that corresponds to this period of our Lord's life. The Epistle selections, mostly from Paul's letter to the Romans, stress the calling of both Jew and Gentile to the new revelations, while the Gospel selections narrate the words and deeds of our Lord during His adult ministry in Galilee, the northern region of Israel that was the scene of most of His public life. All of these readings give witness to the astonishing fact that this itinerant preacher was the coeternal Word of God, the Word who spoke as only God can speak and who worked miracles that only the God of heaven and earth can work. Thus, even though these weeks, with their green vestments and annum (what is called "Ordinary Time" in the new rite), they are more properly seen as continuing the Christmas cycle's focus on "theophany". By helping us to heed the words of Christ and understand the significance of His miracles, the Time after Epiphany deepens our meditation on the mystery of the Incarnation.

Candles[3]Day Fifteen

Candles are a symbol of Christ, the Light of the World. The wax is regarded as typifying in a most appropriate way the flesh of Jesus Christ born of a virgin mother. From this has sprung the further conception that the wick symbolizes more particularly the soul of Jesus Christ and the flame the Divinity which absorbs and dominates both. — Catholic Encyclopedia

• Day Fifteen activity (Mexican Christmas)
• Day Fifteen recipe (Little Mince Pies)

Celebrate Elvis' Birthday[4]

On Jan. 8, 1935, Elvis Presley was born in a two-room house in Tupelo, Miss. Every year, Graceland — Elvis' estate in Memphis — hosts a five-day-long birthday celebration. Rise bright and early for the Elvis Birthday Proclamation Ceremony on Graceland’s North Lawn, and stay for the birthday-cake cutting.

Elvis and the Nun[5]

Dolores Hart began her career as an actress when she was only 19 years old, making her screen debut in 1957 as Elvis' sweetheart in Loving You. Dolores became an overnight success story and starred with Elvis again in King Creole the following year in 1958. She then took on Broadway, starring in The Pleasure of His Company in 1959, for which she won a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress. Further movie hits followed, including the hugely popular Where the Boys Are and Lisa, the story of a young Holocaust survivor, which earned her a nomination for a Golden Globe for Best Picture/Drama. By now one of Hollywood's rising stars, she went on to make six more films, among them St. Francis of Assisi, where she portrayed Clare, a woman who gives up everything to follow Saint Francis and founds the Order of Poor Clare’s. Dolores' last film role was opposite Hugh O'Brien in 1963 in Come Fly with Me.

At the height of her career, Dolores stunned the world by making the decision to become a cloistered nun and enter the Abbey of Regina Laudis. "I just knew that this was what God wanted from me," she said years later. Mother Dolores' mission as an actress did not end, but rather took a contemplative turn. "I never felt I was 'walking away from Hollywood'" she said recently. "I felt I was walking into something more significant and by that, I took Hollywood with me."

Daily Devotions

·         Drops of Christ’s Blood

·         Offering to the sacred heart of Jesus

·         Make reparations to the Holy Face

·         Reflect on Day 27 of 30 days with St. Joseph

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[1]https://www.catholic.org/news/national/story.php?id=54141

[2]http://www.holytrinitygerman.org/postepiphany.html

[3]https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2019-01-08

[4]https://www.travelchannel.com/interests/travels-best/photos/awesome-things-to-do-in-january

[5] https://abbeyofreginalaudis.org/community-mdh.html