ICEMANforChrist

This blog is based on references in the Bible to fear. God wills that we “BE NOT AFRAID”. Many theologians state that the eighth deadly sin is fear. It is fear and its natural animal reaction to fight or flight that is the root cause of our failings to create a Kingdom of God on earth. By “the power of the Holy Spirit” we can be witnesses and “communicators” of a new and redeemed humanity “even to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:7 8). This blog is dedicated to Mary the Mother of God.

Tuesday, February 18, 2025

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn published 1885

February 18 Tuesday

Ezekiel, Chapter 32, Verse 10

I will fill many nations with horror; their kings will shudder at you, when I brandish my sword in their faces. They will tremble violently FEARING for their lives on the day of your fall.

The opposite of fear is love. Love should be the foundation of our lives. However, if we are not filled with love; as a result of the vacuum left in our hearts, we will most likely be filled with fear. A people filled with fear have a real danger of becoming a nation ruled by the cycle of violence and the sword. To avoid this cycle of hate we must be merciful as well as just.

If you have time today would be a good day to pray the Rosary for the United States of America.[1]

Great nations are composed of great families.

Check out “Familiaris Consortio” Here is the introduction.

APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION
FAMILIARIS CONSORTIO
OF POPE
JOHN PAUL II
TO THE EPISCOPATE
TO THE CLERGY AND TO THE FAITHFUL
OF THE WHOLE CATHOLIC CHURCH
ON THE ROLE
OF THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY
IN THE MODERN WORLD

INTRODUCTION

The Church at the Service of the Family

1. The family in the modern world, as much as and perhaps more than any other institution, has been beset by the many profound and rapid changes that have affected society and culture. Many families are living this situation in fidelity to those values that constitute the foundation of the institution of the family. Others have become uncertain and bewildered over their role or even doubtful and almost unaware of the ultimate meaning and truth of conjugal and family life. Finally, there are others who are hindered by various situations of injustice in the realization of their fundamental rights.

Knowing that marriage and the family constitute one of the most precious of human values, the Church wishes to speak and offer her help to those who are already aware of the value of marriage and the family and seek to live it faithfully, to those who are uncertain and anxious and searching for the truth, and to those who are unjustly impeded from living freely their family lives. Supporting the first, illuminating the second and assisting the others, the Church offers her services to every person who wonders about the destiny of marriage and the family.

Catechism of the Catholic Church

Day 248 1865-1876

PART THREE: LIFE IN CHRIST

SECTION ONE-MAN'S VOCATION LIFE IN THE SPIRIT

CHAPTER ONE-THE DIGNITY OF THE HUMAN PERSON

Article 8-SIN

V. The Proliferation of Sin

1865 Sin creates a proclivity to sin; it engenders vice by repetition of the same acts. This results in perverse inclinations which cloud conscience and corrupt the concrete judgment of good and evil. Thus sin tends to reproduce itself and reinforce itself, but it cannot destroy the moral sense at its root.

1866 Vices can be classified according to the virtues they oppose, or also be linked to the capital sins which Christian experience has distinguished, following St. John Cassian and St. Gregory the Great. They are called "capital" because they engender other sins, other vices. They are pride, avarice, envy, wrath, lust, gluttony, and sloth or acedia.

1867 The catechetical tradition also recalls that there are "sins that cry to heaven": the blood of Abel, the sin of the Sodomites, The cry of the people oppressed in Egypt, The cry of the foreigner, the widow, and the orphan, injustice to the wage earner.

1868 Sin is a personal act. Moreover, we have a responsibility for the sins committed by others when we cooperate in them:
- by participating directly and voluntarily in them;
- by ordering, advising, praising, or approving them;
- by not disclosing or not hindering them when we have an obligation to do so;
- by protecting evildoers.

1869 Thus sin makes men accomplices of one another and causes concupiscence, violence, and injustice to reign among them. Sins give rise to social situations and institutions that are contrary to the divine goodness. "Structures of sin" are the expression and effect of personal sins. They lead their victims to do evil in their turn. In an analogous sense, they constitute a "social sin."

IN BRIEF

1870 "God has consigned all men to disobedience, that he may have mercy upon all" (Rom 11:32).

1871 Sin is an utterance, a deed, or a desire contrary to the eternal law (St. Augustine, Faust 22: PL 42, 418). It is an offense against God. It rises up against God in a disobedience contrary to the obedience of Christ.

1872 Sin is an act contrary to reason. It wounds man's nature and injures human solidarity.

1873 The root of all sins lies in man's heart. The kinds and the gravity of sins are determined principally by their objects.

1874 To choose deliberately - that is, both knowing it and willing it - something gravely contrary to the divine law and to the ultimate end of man is to commit a mortal sin. This destroys in us the charity without which eternal beatitude is impossible. Unrepented, it brings eternal death.

1875 Venial sin constitutes a moral disorder that is reparable by charity, which it allows to subsist in us.

1876 The repetition of sins - even venial ones - engenders vices, among which are the capital sins.

THE TREE OF HAPPINESS (Cont.)

“The situation is desperate”, King Richard mentioned to Sir Michael. “The young knights have lost all self-discipline; they have no love or sense of duty for the kingdom and most of the people never attend the churches anymore.” King Richard didn’t mention it to Sir Michael, but his one desire was to have his only daughter, “Dawn Tomorrow”, marry a Knight and see him Crowned King and Dawn be a mother to a Great Nation. Richard was a religious King, but due to the duties of his office he found it difficult to do much else then keep his Knights in check. He wondered if anyone would be found worthy to take the hand of Dawn Tomorrow in marriage. Utopia was a rich nation, and the pleasures were many for all who could afford them. Even with heavy taxes being imposed, most of the peasants in Utopia led lives of relative richness in material things, but sadly most people lacked true happiness and so the King asked Sir Michael for his advice. Sir Michael thought about it and thought about it and could not come up with a solution to the problem. Then at last he came upon an idea. A Quest!

He remembered the legend his mother told him of when he was a small boy. It was the legend of the Tree of Happiness. The Tree of Happiness, according to the legend, was also in the Garden of Eden when God banned Adam & Eve from Eden and although access to the Tree of Life was guarded by the Angels, it is said that man may still have access to the fruit of the Tree of Happiness. “That’s it”, Exclaimed Sir Michael. We will have a crusade to find the Tree of Happiness and bring the fruit back to Utopia. To be continued.

Today is the Feast of St. Bernadette Soubirous (New, Trad.)[2]: