1 Maccabees, Chapter
3, Verse 25
Then
Judas and his brothers began to be feared,
and dread fell upon the Gentiles about them.
The Battle of Beth
Horon was fought in 166 BC between Jewish forces led by Judas Maccabaeus
and an army of the Seleucid Empire under the command of Seron. The rebel army
led by Judas Maccabeus was growing in strength. They had just inflicted a
crushing defeat upon the Seleucid General Apollonius and now they faced the
forces of the Syrian Governor Seron, who was widely overconfident. With
Maccabeus' superior knowledge of the terrain, he prepared his forces to ambush
the larger Seleucid force. Seron had anticipated this and spread out his force,
but the Maccabees exhibited superior tactical skill by decimating the general's
leading unit and killing Seron himself. With their leader dead, the shocked and
disconcerted remnants of the Seleucid army took to the hills and ran. The
stubborn Seleucids refused to give up their slow phalanx-based tactics when
compared to the lightweight and quick Maccabean militia thus always creating
problems for them on the battlefield. Another force was soon sent against Maccabaeus,
which led to the Battle of Emmaus.[1]
Reflecting
on this constant struggle between the culture of death and the culture of life;
I have just received a communique that my UNION is endorsing a PRO-CHOICE
candidate. Ah now comes the rub. So begins the battle of sorts. I called 3
times to get a call back. The answer well union dues are not used to support
the candidate (killing of children) but if I want to quit the union 1) I must
draft a letter stating I want out and 2) ask for a window (2 weeks) of when I
can request again the stoppage of my union dues. (We got your money-ha, ha, ha)
or I can divorce myself and remain silent because I am not responsible. Hmm. I
would appreciate getting feedback on this from my readers. My feeling it is
like being silent during the holocaust but please let me know your thoughts.
On the
"Pro-Choice" Position on Abortion[2]
But responsibility
likewise falls on the legislators who have promoted and approved abortion laws,
and, to the extent that they have a say in the matter, on the administrators of
the health-care centers where abortions are performed. ... In this sense
abortion goes beyond the responsibility of individuals and beyond the harm done
to them, and takes on a distinctly social dimension. It is a most serious wound
inflicted on society and its culture by the very people who ought to be
society's promoters and defenders. Pope John Paul II, Evangelium vitae
(1995), no. 59.
When a parliamentary or
social majority decrees that it is legal, at least under certain conditions, to
kill unborn human life, is it not really making a 'tyrannical' decision with
regard to the weakest and most defenseless of human beings?....While public
authority can sometimes choose not to put a stop to something which – were it
prohibited – would cause more serious harm, it can never presume to legitimize
as a right of individuals – even if they are the majority of the members of
society – an offense against other persons caused by the disregard of so
fundamental a right as the right to life. Id., nos. 70, 71.
Laws which legitimize the
direct killing of innocent human beings through abortion or euthanasia are in
complete opposition to the inviolable right to life proper to every individual;
they thus deny the equality of everyone before the law. Id., no. 72.
Utilitarianism is a
civilization of production and of use, a civilization of "things" and
not of "persons", a civilization in which persons are used in the
same way as things are used. In the context of a civilization of use, woman can
become an object for man, children a hindrance to parents, the family an
institution obstructing the freedom of its members. To be convinced that this
is the case, one need only look at certain sexual education programmes
introduced into the schools, often notwithstanding the disagreement and even
the protests of many parents; or pro-abortion tendencies which vainly try to
hide behind the so-called "right to choose" ("pro-choice")
on the part of both spouses, and in particular on the part of the woman. Pope John Paul II,
Letter to Families, February 2, 1994, no. 13
On
"social sin":
Also social is every sin
against the rights of the human person, beginning with the right to life and
including the life of the unborn or against a person's physical integrity...The
term social can be applied to sins of commission or omission-on the part of
political, economic or trade union
leaders, who though in a position to do so, do not work diligently and wisely
for the improvement and transformation of society according to the requirements
and potential of the given historic moment...Whenever the church speaks of
situations of sin or when the condemns as social sins certain situations or the
collective behavior of certain social groups, big or small, or even of whole
nations and blocs of nations, she knows and she proclaims that such cases of
social sin are the result of the accumulation and concentration of many
personal sins. It is a case of the very personal sins of those who cause or
support evil or who exploit it; of those who are in a position to avoid,
eliminate or at least limit certain social evils but who fail to do so out of
laziness, fear or the conspiracy of silence, through secret complicity or
indifference; of those who take refuge in the supposed impossibility of
changing the world and also of those who sidestep the effort and sacrifice
required, producing specious reasons of a higher order. The real
responsibility, then, lies with individuals. Pope John Paul II, Reconciliation
and Penance (1984), no. 16
Dignity-Viktor Frankl[3]
John McCain in his book “Character is Destiny” points out the work of Viktor Frankl as a man who best portrays the virtue of dignity. Viktor before World War II was a prominent Jewish psychiatrist who lost everything during the Nazi takeover of Germany. The Nazis had taken his freedom, his vocation and everyone he loved. They starved him, beaten him, cursed him and worked him almost beyond human endurance. They had set his life upon a precipice from which at any moment they chose, they could push him as they had pushed thousands. Yet as they drove him out one winter morning into the fields like an animal, striking him, his mind rose above his torment and his tormentors, taking leave of the cruelty to contemplate the image of his wife. He did not know if she was alive or dead, but in his heart, he heard the words of the eighth Song of Solomon; Set me like a seal upon thy heart, love is as strong as death. “My mind clung to my wife’s image, imagining it with uncanny acuteness…Real or not, her look was more luminous than the sun which was beginning to rise…Then I grasped the meaning of the greatest secret that human poetry and human thought and belief have to impart: the salvation of man is through love and in love,” Frankl relates in Man’s Search for Meaning. Throughout his captivity he held on to his love and with his love he kept from his captors the thing they thought they destroyed, the one thing that no human being can take from another, for it can only be surrendered, but not taken: his dignity.
Here are 12 thought-provoking passages from his book:[4]
1.
“Don’t
aim at success — the more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are
going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must
ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side-effect of one’s personal dedication
to a cause greater than oneself, or as the by-product of one’s surrender to a
person other than oneself.”
2.
“Everything
can be taken from a man but one thing; the last of the human freedoms — to
choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances.”
3.
“Everyone
has his own specific vocation or mission in life to carry out a concrete
assignment which demands fulfillment. Therein he cannot be replaced, nor can
his life be repeated. Thus, everyone’s task is as unique as is his specific
opportunity to implement it.”
4.
“Live
as if you were living already for the second time and as if you had acted the
first time as wrongly as you are about to act now!”
5.
“The
prisoner who had lost his faith in the future — his future — was doomed. With
his loss of belief in the future, he also lost his spiritual hold; he let
himself decline and became subject to mental and physical decay.”
6.
“I
consider it a dangerous misconception of mental hygiene to assume that what man
needs in the first place is equilibrium or, as it is called in biology,
“homeostasis,” i.e., a tensionless state but rather the striving and struggling
for a worthwhile goal, a freely chosen task. What he needs is not the discharge
of tension at any cost but the call of a potential meaning waiting to be
fulfilled by him.”
7.
“Life
ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its
problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each
individual.”
8.
“Man
has suffered another loss in his more recent development inasmuch as the
traditions which buttressed his behavior are now rapidly diminishing. No
instinct tells him what he has to do, and no tradition tells him what he ought
to do; sometimes he does not even know what he wishes to do. Instead, he either
wishes to do what other people do (conformism) or he does what other people
wish him to do (totalitarianism).”
9.
“A
man who becomes conscious of the responsibility he bears toward a human being
who affectionately waits for him, or to an unfinished work, will never be able
to throw away his life. He knows the ‘why’ for his existence, and will be able
to bear almost any ‘how.’”
10. “What matters, therefore, is not the meaning
of life in general but rather the specific meaning of a person’s life at a
given moment. To put the question in general terms would be comparable to the
question posed to a chess champion: “Tell me, Master, what is the best move in
the world?” There simply is no such thing as the best or even a good move apart
from a particular situation in a game and the particular personality of one’s
opponent.”
11. “When we are no longer able to change a
situation — just think of an incurable disease such as an inoperable cancer —
we are challenged to change ourselves.”
12. “Freedom, however, is not the last word.
Freedom is only part of the story and half of the truth. Freedom is but the
negative aspect of the whole phenomenon whose positive aspect is
responsibleness. In fact, freedom is in danger of degenerating into mere
arbitrariness unless it is lived in terms of responsibleness. That is why I
recommend that the Statue of Liberty on the East Coast be supplemented by a
Statue of Responsibility on the West Coast.”
Trafalgar Day[5]
A British commemoration of the victory of the Royal Navy over the French and Spanish fleets, Trafalgar Day seeks to pay honor to this important occasion that was a pivotal point in history. History buffs, navy fans, and just average people can all find ways to learn more and enjoy marking this momentous event!
Responsibility-Lord
Horatio Nelson
Lord Nelson who was the personification of a person who
displays the characteristic of RESPONSIBILITY. Nelson was a man who did not
play small he took to heart the adage that to be responsible one must respond
with their ability (response/ability). Sometimes he disobeyed orders when he
knew there was a better and smarter way to defeat the enemy; he had all faith
and all courage. McCain said of Lord Nelson that he was, “The bold and brave
admiral who taught men how to fight and made the British Navy the most powerful
in the world” Nelson was known for his creative disobedience that is the
courage to disobey if the situation was warranted. Nelson never just
ran head long into battle. No, if he disobeyed it was daring and would not have
wasted the precious lives of his men. His men knew this and they had the
greatest trust and regard in him. Lord Nelson also had the greatest
affectionate regard for those with which he served. His men loved him and
followed him into battle willingly.
Catechism of the Catholic
Church
PART TWO: THE CELEBRATION OF THE CHRISTIAN
MYSTERY
SECTION TWO-THE SEVEN
SACRAMENTS OF THE CHURCH
CHAPTER TWO-THE SACRAMENTS OF HEALING
Article 4-THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE AND RECONCILIATION
VI. The Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation
1440 Sin is before all else an
offense against God, a rupture of communion with him. At the same time it
damages communion with the Church. For this reason conversion entails both
God's forgiveness and reconciliation with the Church, which are expressed and
accomplished liturgically by the sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation.
Only God forgives sin.
1441 Only God forgives sins. Since
he is the Son of God, Jesus says of himself, "The Son of man has authority
on earth to forgive sins" and exercises this divine power: "Your sins
are forgiven." Further, by virtue of his divine authority he gives
this power to men to exercise in his name.
1442 Christ has willed that in her
prayer and life and action his whole Church should be the sign and instrument
of the forgiveness and reconciliation that he acquired for us at the price of
his blood. But he entrusted the exercise of the power of absolution to the
apostolic ministry which he charged with the "ministry of
reconciliation." The apostle is sent out "on behalf of
Christ" with "God making his appeal" through him and pleading:
"Be reconciled to God."
Reconciliation with the Church
1443 During his public life Jesus
not only forgave sins, but also made plain the effect of this forgiveness: he
reintegrated forgiven sinners into the community of the People of God from
which sin had alienated or even excluded them. A remarkable sign of this is the
fact that Jesus receives sinners at his table, a gesture that expresses in an
astonishing way both God's forgiveness and the return to the bosom of the
People of God.
1444 In imparting to his apostles
his own power to forgive sins the Lord also gives them the authority to
reconcile sinners with the Church. This ecclesial dimension of their task is
expressed most notably in Christ's solemn words to Simon Peter: "I will
give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth
shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in
heaven." "The office of binding and loosing which was given to
Peter was also assigned to the college of the apostles united to its
head."
1445 The words bind and loose mean:
whomever you exclude from your communion, will be excluded from communion with
God; whomever you receive anew into your communion, God will welcome back into
his. Reconciliation with the Church is inseparable from reconciliation with God.
The sacrament of forgiveness
1446 Christ instituted the
sacrament of Penance for all sinful members of his Church: above all for those
who, since Baptism, have fallen into grave sin, and have thus lost their
baptismal grace and wounded ecclesial communion. It is to them that the
sacrament of Penance offers a new possibility to convert and to recover the
grace of justification. the Fathers of the Church present this sacrament as
"the second plank [of salvation] after the shipwreck which is the loss of
grace."
1447 Over the centuries the
concrete form in which the Church has exercised this power received from the
Lord has varied considerably. During the first centuries the reconciliation of
Christians who had committed particularly grave sins after their Baptism (for
example, idolatry, murder, or adultery) was tied to a very rigorous discipline,
according to which penitents had to do public penance for their sins, often for
years, before receiving reconciliation. To this "order of penitents"
(which concerned only certain grave sins), one was only rarely admitted and in
certain regions only once in a lifetime. During the seventh century Irish
missionaries, inspired by the Eastern monastic tradition, took to continental
Europe the "private" practice of penance, which does not require
public and prolonged completion of penitential works before reconciliation with
the Church. From that time on, the sacrament has been performed in secret
between penitent and priest. This new practice envisioned the possibility of
repetition and so opened the way to a regular frequenting of this sacrament. It
allowed the forgiveness of grave sins and venial sins to be integrated into one
sacramental celebration. In its main lines this is the form of penance that the
Church has practiced down to our day.
1448 Beneath the changes in
discipline and celebration that this sacrament has undergone over the
centuries, the same fundamental structure is to be discerned. It comprises two
equally essential elements: on the one hand, the acts of the man who undergoes
conversion through the action of the Holy Spirit: namely, contrition,
confession, and satisfaction; on the other, God's action through the
intervention of the Church. the Church, who through the bishop and his priests
forgives sins in the name of Jesus Christ and determines the manner of
satisfaction, also prays for the sinner and does penance with him. Thus the
sinner is healed and re-established in ecclesial communion.
1449 The formula of absolution used
in the Latin Church expresses the essential elements of this sacrament: the
Father of mercies is the source of all forgiveness. He effects the
reconciliation of sinners through the Passover of his Son and the gift of his
Spirit, through the prayer and ministry of the Church:
God, the Father of mercies,
through the death and the
resurrection of his Son
has reconciled the world to himself
and sent the Holy Spirit among us
for the forgiveness of sins;
through the ministry of the
Church
may God give you pardon and peace,
and I absolve you from your sins in
the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
This
day in 1964 was the release date of the movie, “My Fair Lady.” It is one of my
daughter Nicole’s favorite movies.
Daily
Devotions
·
Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them
in fasting: Today's Fast: For
the intercession of the angels and saints
· Saturday Litany of the Hours
Invoking the Aid of Mother Mary
·
Religion
in the Home for Preschool: October
·
Litany of the Most Precious
Blood of Jesus
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Have something with Apple
today
·
Rosary
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