Monday Night at the Movies
Franco Zefferelli, Brother Sun, Sister Moon, 1972.
MLK-Religious freedom day
Acts, Chapter 23, Verse 6
People
get divided over issues and pick sides. Whose side are you on? Where do you
place your hope in this life? Are you liking the Sadducees who believe there is
no resurrection or are you like the Pharisees who believe in the resurrection?
Yes, like Paul we are on trial for having a hope in the resurrection.
Resurrection[1]
History records
the striking example in Peter Miles, raised from the dead by St. Stanislaus of
Cracow, who preferred to return to Purgatory rather than to live again upon
earth. The celebrated miracle of this resurrection happened in 1070. It is thus
related in the Acta Sanctorum on May 7. St. Stanislaus was Bishop of Cracow
when the Duke Boleslas II governed Poland. He did not neglect to remind this
prince of his duties, who scandalously violated them before all his people.
Boleslas was irritated by the holy liberty of the Prelate, and to revenge
himself he excited against him the heirs of a certain Peter Miles, who had died
three years previously after having sold a piece of ground to the church of
Cracow. The heirs accused the saint of having usurped the ground, without
having paid the owner. Stanislaus declared that he had paid for the land, but
as the witnesses who should have defended him had been either bribed or
intimidated, he was denounced as a usurper of the property of another and
condemned to make restitution. Then, seeing that he had nothing to expect from
human justice, he raised his heart to God, and received a sudden inspiration.
He asked for a delay of three days, promising to make Peter Miles appear in
person, that he might testify to the legal purchase and payment of the lot.
They were granted to him in scorn. The saint fasted, watched, and prayed God to
take up the defense of his cause. The third day, after having celebrated Holy
Mass, he went out accompanied by his clergy and many of the faithful, to the
place where Peter had been interred. By his orders the grave was opened; it
contained nothing but bones. He touched them with his crosier, and in the name
of Him who is the Resurrection and the Life, he commanded the dead man to
arise. Suddenly the bones became reunited, were covered with flesh, and, in
sight of the stupefied people, the dead man was seen to take the bishop by the
hand and walk towards the tribunal. Boleslas, with his court and an immense
crowd of people, were awaiting the result with the liveliest expectation.
“Behold Peter,” said the saint to Boleslas; “he comes, prince, to give
testimony before you. Interrogate him; he will answer you.” It is impossible to
depict the stupefaction of the duke, of his councilors, and of the whole con
course of people. Peter affirmed that he had been paid for the ground; then
turning towards his heirs, he reproached them for having accused the pious
prelate against all rights of justice; then he exhorted them to do penance for
so grievous a sin. It was thus that iniquity, which believed itself already
sure of success, was confounded. Now comes the circumstance which concerns our
subject, and to which we wished to refer. Wishing to complete this great
miracle for the glory of God, Stanislaus proposed to the deceased that, if he
desired to live a few years longer, he would obtain for him this favor from
God. Peter replied that he had no such desire. He was in Purgatory, but he would
rather return thither immediately and endure its pains, than expose himself to
damnation in this terrestrial life. He entreated the saint only to beg of God
to shorten the time of his sufferings, that he might the sooner enter the abode
of the blessed. After that, accompanied by the bishop and a vast multitude,
Peter returned to his grave, laid himself down, his body fell to pieces, and
his bones resumed the same state in which they had first been found. We have
reason to believe that the saint soon obtained the deliverance of his soul.
That which is the most remarkable in this example, and which should most
attract our attention, is that a soul from Purgatory, after having experienced
the most excruciating torments, prefers that state of suffering to the life of
this world; and the reason which he gives for this preference is, that in this
mortal life we are exposed to the danger of being lost and incurring eternal
damnation.
God’s Laws Do Not Depend on Popular Votes of
Approval[2]
Since the French Revolution, revolting from God’s ways has been the norm for governments and people. Before the French Revolution, Emperors and Empresses, Kings and Queens received from God, via the Catholic Church, authority to rule. They were bound to rule by obeying God’s Rules. There were good Catholic popes, bishops’ emperors, and kings. There were also bad popes, bishops, emperors, and kings who abused the authority God had given them to rule. But each one of them, at death, have had to give a detailed account of how they had used the divine authority they had been given to rule. In fact, everyone has some sort of authority, and we will have to give a strict account to God as to how we used His authority for the good or the bad. I as a priest will have to give an account of how I used my priestly authority over the parishioners under my care. I will have to give an account of all the money, buildings and programs that I have had under my care while I was an associate pastor and as pastor. Each one of you, bishops, religious and priests reading this, will also have to give an account of how you used your God given authority over God’s flock. For us who have been vigilant in guiding God’s flock to heaven, there will be a reward. For each one of us who have been lazy, there will be punishment. But each one of us who has abused our God given authority to persecute holy priests and people or mislead our people by telling them not to worry about sin, the devil and eternal damnation, it will be one horrible awakening into eternal chastisement. The road to Hell is paved with skulls of bishops and priests”.
Each husband will give an
account of how he ruled over his wife and children. Each parent will have to
give an account of the way they have raised their children. Each teacher, each
principal, each government leader; each Emperor, King, Empress, Queen, and
those under their orders, will also be rewarded or terribly chastised for how
they did or did not implement God’s rules on their subjects. They will also
have to give a detailed account on how they spent God’s money and treated God’s
people placed under their care.
I am totally in favor of
the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. He is the head of the pope, cardinals,
bishops, priests and religious. The Church is head of the Emperors and Kings
and those subject to their authority. Under this system, when the Holy Roman
Empire existed, there was all sorts of great Christian growth as well as
cultural growth: the great cathedrals,
universities, hospitals, buildings, art, all over the world, was created in
this divinely ordered society where God was the center of government and
society. His divinely revealed laws were the laws that men lived by even
though people broke them. This didn’t just start under the great Catholic
Emperor Constantine. We can see it under the rule of the Judges of the Old
Testament, who ruled by God’s authority, enforced His laws, and guided by His
wisdom. Under this divine system these judges/prophets were able to guide the
Jewish people into a flourishing society. Under King David we see the great
development and peace of Israel. When King Solomon ruled on the throne of his
father King David, he did not ask for riches or a long life, but for divine
wisdom. When he was faithful to The True God and lived by His wisdom, he built
the great Temple and palace and had wealth unknown before his time. But when he
became overcome by his lust and all his wives, he succumbed to allowing his
wives to bring into God’s kingdom the abomination of worshipping of devil gods.
From then on, the kingdom of Israel went down and was eventually divided. And
so, his-story (King Saul, King
Solomon and all the other Kings who abused God’s authority) goes on throughout
time.
Jesus, when He showed his
Sacred Heart to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque in 1671, gave an important message to King Louis XIV
of France. He was told to consecrate France to Jesus’ Sacred Heart and there
would be great success in all his battles and in France. He was also instructed
to put the Sacred Heart on the flag of France to remind everyone that France
belongs to God, not the king. King Louis XIV never did what Jesus asked. King
Louis XV also failed to comply with what Jesus asked for. When King Louis XVI
came to rule, again, he did not obey Jesus’ request. After France financed the American
Revolt against Britain, they ended up deep in debt. So, to try to resolve the
problem, King Louis XVI called together the Estate General. From there, the
other Estates were formed to try to solve the financial crisis. The 1st. Estate
consisted of clergy. The 2nd consisted of Nobles. The 3rd. consisted of mostly
bourgeois lawyers and other representatives. This is when democracy took power
away from the king. No longer was its God, from above, who was giving authority
through the His Church, to the kings and queens. Now, through democratic
voting, authority was given to the leaders from below. Whatever was the desire
of the people who had the most power became law and Man became God.
From this democracy came
the “Reign of Terror” in France where thousands and thousands of bishops,
priests, religious and lay people were put to death by the guillotine. King
Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette lost their kingdom and heads. Blood
flowed so profusely in Paris that people could not stand the stench. It
literally saturated the soil and would squish up when walking on the
soil around where they were daily killed. So, when we think of voting on what
is or is not moral, sanctioning what is or is not popular, we are giving into
the authority of people and not the Divine Revealed Laws of God. The
consequences of this are evident every time you watch the news filled with
murders, raping, stealing and wars. And yet everyone, Catholics and non-alike,
want to judge what is and what is not moral by democratic decision. When will
we wake up to the reality, we are selfish.
·
We
want pleasure.
·
We
are greedy.
·
We
will steal and kill to get our drugs.
·
We
will use and then discard our sex partners.
·
We
will kill unborn babies, up to 9 months, because it is lawful and convenient.
·
People
say it is good to blow up innocent people for political reasons.
·
Cartoon
child pornography is ok because of freedom of speech.
Wake up, open your closed
mind, society is leading itself into self-destruction. It is not too late to
humbly recognize what simple common sense is telling us: the world is going to
hell. Now let us admit that popular opinion has led us to where we are, wars,
drugs, violence, crime, and broken families everywhere.
God created us. Jesus died
for us. Let us humbly submit to His divine loving laws while we still have
somewhat of a chance to survive. Let us give Jesus His due and obey Him as our
King and resubmit society under Him and His laws. It is so good to be a
traditional Catholic and believe in the Kingdom of Christ the King. And Mary is
our Queen too.
Martin Luther King[3]
Today we celebrate the legacy
of a man who died and lived to create a culture of justice that ensures the
dignity of all men, women, and children in America. Our church also recognizes
the need for dignity not only for mankind but also in marriage and it is only
when we recognize the grandeur of His works that we begin to realize that every
man, woman, and child is a wonder wroth by His hands.
The reverend Martin Luther
King, Jr. (1929-1968) championed a movement that was based on love and his
ideal was to obtain justice by nonviolent means as expressed in this speech.
Hate begets
hate; violence begets violence; toughness begets a greater toughness. We must
meet the forces of hate with the power of love. Our aim must never be to defeat
or humiliate the white man, but to win his friendship and understanding. “The
ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral begetting the
very thing it seeks to destroy, instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it.
Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor
establish the truth. Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not
murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate. Returning violence for
violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid
of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate
cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
Character
is Destiny[4]
According
to John McCain a person or nations character determines its destiny. McCain
points out in his book Character is Destiny the person who most exemplifies the
characteristic of fairness is that of Martin Luther King, Jr.
John
said of King:
From a jail cell he wrote a letter that is one of the most celebrated
documents in American history and summoned his country to the cause of justice. “My Dear Fellow Clergymen,” it began. Recognizing that his correspondents
were “men of genuine good will and your criticisms sincerely set forth,” he
promised to respond in patient and reasonable terms. They were reasonable
terms, and undeniably fair, but patient they were not.
We have waited for more than
340 years for our constitutional and God-given rights. . . . Perhaps it is easy
for those who have never felt the stinging dark of
segregation to say, “Wait.” But when
you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown
your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate-filled policemen
curse, kick and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when you see the
vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight
cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find
your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your
six-year-old daughter why she can’t go to the public amusement park that has
just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when
she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds
of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky, and see her
beginning to distort her personality by developing unconscious bitterness
toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a five-year-old son
who is asking: “Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?”; when
you take a cross-country drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night
in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept
you; when you are humiliated day in and
day out by nagging signs reading “white” and “colored”; when your first name
becomes “nigger,” your middle name becomes “boy” (however old you are) and your
last name becomes “John,” and your wife and mother are never given the
respected title “Mrs.”; when you are harried by day and haunted by night by the
fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never quite
knowing what to expect next, and are plagued with inner fears and outer
resentments; when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of “nobodiness”
then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. There comes a time
when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be
plunged into the abyss of despair.
America still struggles internally and externally to arrive at the place
Dr. King had summoned us to, that exalted place that had been the highest
ambition of our Founding Fathers and the highest value we recommend to the rest
of the world; the place where all people are recognized as equal and endowed by
their Creator with inalienable rights. African Americans recognize the debt
they owe Dr. King’s courage, wisdom, and unshakable sense of fairness. But
Americans of European descent owe him a greater one. At the cost of his life,
he helped save us from a terrible disgrace, the betrayal of our country, and
the principles that have ennobled our history. And that is a debt we must happily bear forever.
Martin
Luther King Facts & Quotes[5]
· Martin
Luther King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in
1964. He was 35 years old, which made him the youngest Peace Prize winner
at that time.
· I have a
dream that my four little children will one
day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin,
but by the content of their character.
· Life's
most persistent and urgent question is: 'What are you doing for others?
· Injustice
anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
· Hate is
too great a burden to bear.
Martin
Luther King Top Events and Things to Do
· Visit thekingcenter.org to find out about local events and ways you can
help promote unity, justice, and fight racism.
· Become a
mentor to an underprivileged person in your community through Big Brothers, or
another similar organization.
· Visit the
Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. For more info see the Official memorial website.
· Donate to
the United Negro College Fund or other charities that
promote college degree attainment by minorities.
· Watch a
movie about MLK. Some popular films include: Our Friend Martin (1999), Selma
(2014) and The Witness (2008)
Reflect on what Martin would say about the
“Cancel Culture” and “BLM”.
Religious Freedom Day[6]
Religions and religious organizations
have been responsible for a great deal of good being done in the world, from
the founding of worldwide charity organizations to simply inspiring people to
be kinder and humbler daily, as well as more sympathetic to the plight of his
fellow man. Unfortunately, an often-observed characteristic of many religions
is that their faithful often try to convert others to their faith, and when
those others refuse, the consequences can be grave. From the Roman persecutions
of Christians in the ancient times, to the infamous Spanish Inquisition, to the
witch hunts of Puritan America, to the Islamic Jihads (or secular progressives for that matter) still occurring today, it
is easy to see how dangerous religions can be if not checked, and how
overzealous believers in a certain god or no god at all can be in attempting to
force everyone else to believe as they do. This is why it is enormously
important to make sure religious freedom is granted and protected to all, and
this is why the Founding Fathers of the United States of America saw this as
such.
On January 16, 1786, soon after the
United States of America came into existence as a sovereign nation, the Virginia
General Assembly adopted Thomas Jefferson’s landmark Virginia Statute for
Religious Freedom. This statute then became the basis for what we know today as
the First Amendment, which guarantees religious freedom to all people residing
in the U.S.A. Every year since then, a statement is released on this same day
by the president of the United States officially proclaiming Religious Freedom
Day.
How to Celebrate Religious Freedom Day
A good way to celebrate Religious
Freedom Day is to do some research about what life used to be like before
religious freedom was protected, and every person had the right to believe as
he or she chose.
·
“The Name of the Rose” is both an excellent book
and an excellent movie, which quite accurately depicts what life was like during
the Inquisition, and how far the inquisitors were willing to go to find and
punish people they suspected of sorcery.
· The young adult novel titled, “The Witch of Blackbird Pond” can also help one understand what it was like to be the least bit different from the rest of the villagers in 17th century New England, and just how dangerous it was to avoid church.
·
1951’s Quo Vadis, on the other hand,
demonstrates how badly Christian were persecuted during the reign of the
Emperor Nero in Ancient Rome.
· “The Diary of a Young Girl”, written by Jewish teenager Anne Frank during the height of the Nazi persecution of Europe’s Jewish population is both interesting a heartbreaking when one thinks about all the other innocent children like Anne who died horrible deaths for simply being of the wrong religion.
·
The works of Salman Rushdie could also prove to
be a very insightful read, as the author himself received years of death
threats after the release of his acclaimed novel “The Satanic Verses”, which
was critical of Islam was published.
·
Now. What if you refuse abortion tainted
vaccines?
It could also be an interesting idea
to have several of your friends of different faiths get together for coffee and
discuss how positively religious freedom and the freedom to not practice any
religion at all impact all your lives and help make them better. Religious
freedom is a wonderful thing, that should be fully appreciated and celebrated.
Today is my sister’s birthday; Denise
Gail (her name means “To be devoted …to the joy of the father); please pray for
her intentions.
Catechism of the Catholic Church
IV.
OFFENSES AGAINST THE DIGNITY OF MARRIAGE
Divorce
2382
The
Lord Jesus insisted on the original intention of the Creator who willed that
marriage be indissoluble. He
abrogates the accommodations that had slipped into the old Law. Between the
baptized, "a ratified and consummated marriage cannot be dissolved by any
human power or for any reason other than death."
2383 The separation of spouses while maintaining the marriage bond can be
legitimate in certain cases provided for by canon law. If civil divorce
remains the only possible way of ensuring certain legal rights, the care of the
children, or the protection of inheritance, it can be tolerated and does not
constitute a moral offense.
2384 Divorce is a grave offense against the natural law. It claims to
break the contract, to which the spouses freely consented, to live with each
other till death. Divorce does injury to the covenant of salvation, of which
sacramental marriage is the sign. Contracting a new union, even if it is
recognized by civil law, adds to the gravity of the rupture: the remarried
spouse is then in a situation of public and permanent adultery: If a husband,
separated from his wife, approaches another woman, he is an adulterer because
he makes that woman commit adultery, and the woman who lives with him is an
adulteress, because she has drawn another's husband to herself.
2385 Divorce is immoral also because it introduces disorder into the family
and into society. This disorder brings grave harm to the deserted spouse,
to children traumatized by the separation of their parents and often torn between
them, and because of its contagious effect which makes it truly a plague on
society.
2386
It
can happen that one of the spouses is the innocent victim of a divorce decreed
by civil law; this spouse therefore has not contravened the moral law. There is a considerable
difference between a spouse who has sincerely tried to be faithful to the
sacrament of marriage and is unjustly abandoned, and one who through his own
grave fault destroys a canonically valid marriage.
Daily Devotions
·
Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them
in fasting: Today's Fast: For
the Poor and Suffering
·
Religion
in the Home for Preschool: January
·
Carnival
Time begins in Catholic Countries.
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
· Monday: Litany of
Humility
·
Rosary
total consecration to st. joseph day 2
Litany of St. Joseph
[1]Schouppe
S.J., Rev. Fr. F. X.. Purgatory Explained (with Supplemental Reading: What Will
Hell Be Like?)
[2]http://www.traditionalcatholicpriest.com/2014/04/06/gods-laws-do-not-depend-on-votes-of-approval-or-disapproval/
[4] McCain, John and Salter, Mark. (2005) Character is destiny. Random
House, New York.
[6]https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/religious-freedom-day/
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