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.

Monday, March 31, 2025

Monday Night at the Movies

Shoes of the Fisherman

Christopher’s Corner

· Eiffel Tower Day!

o It’s funny that as child my dad was in the military in Germany and Belgium (for over 6 years) and both places were about a 2 hour drive from Paris and we never went.

§ My Dad said that it was because it was too dangerous to do with a large family (seven children).

· 30 Days with St. Joseph Day 12-Spouse of Our Lady of Sorrows

· Eat waffles and Pray for the assistance of the Angels

· Developmental Disability Awareness Month

· Try[6]: Artichauts à la Barigoule

· Spirit Hour: National Après Day

· Bucket List trip[7]: Eiffel Tower

· Monday: Litany of Humility

MARCH 31 Monday of the Fourth Week of Lent

Trans Day of Visibility-Rene Descartes

Nehemiah, Chapter 5, Verse 9

I continued: “What you are doing is not good. Should you not conduct yourselves out of FEAR of our God rather than fear of the reproach of our Gentile enemies?

What is good?

Doing God’s justice is the only good.

What is the attitude we should have at heart?

The Old Testament established the seven laws of Noah, or the Noahide Laws which were given by God as binding on all of humanity. Any person who adheres to these is regarded as righteous (even Gentile enemies) and is assured a place in the world to come.

These laws are:

1. Do Not Deny God

2. Do Not Blaspheme God

3. Do Not Murder

4. Do Not Engage in Incestuous, Adulterous or Homosexual Relationships.

5. Do Not Steal

6. Do Not Eat of a Live Animal

7. Establish Functioning Courts of Law

Monday of the Fourth Week of Lent

Prayer.

We beseech Thee, Almighty God, that, keeping with yearly devotion these sacred observances, we may please Thee both in body and mind. Amen

EPISTLE, III Kings iii 16-28.

In those days: There came two women that were harlots to King Solomon and stood before him: and one of them said: I beseech thee, my lord, I and this woman dwelt in one house, and I was delivered of a child with her in the chamber. And the third day after that I was delivered, she also was delivered, and we were together, and no other person with us in the house, only we two. And this woman s child died in the night: for in her sleep, she overlaid him. And rising in the dead time of the night, she took my child from my side, while I thy hand maid was asleep, and laid it in her bosom: and laid her dead child in my bosom. And when I rose in the morning to give my child suck, behold it was dead: but considering him more diligently when it was clear day, I found that it was not mine which I bore. And the other woman answered: It is not so as thou sayest, but thy child is dead, and mine is alive. On the contrary, she said: Thou liest: for my child liveth, and thy child is dead. And in this manner, they strove before the king. Then said the king: This one saith: My child is alive, and thy child is dead. And the other answereth: Nay, but thy child is dead, and mine liveth. The king therefore said: Bring me a sword. And when they had brought a sword before the king, it. divide, said he, the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other. But the woman whose child was alive, said to the king (for her bowels were moved upon her child): I beseech thee, my lord, give her the child alive, and do not kill but the other said: Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it. The king answered and said: Give the living child to this woman, and let it not be killed, for she is the mother thereof. And all Israel heard the judgment which the king had judged, and they feared the king, seeing that the wisdom of God was in him to judgment.

GOSPEL. John ii. 13-25

At that time: the Pasch of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And He found in the temple them that sold oxen and sheep, and doves, and the changers of money sit and when He had made, as it were, a scourge of little cords, He drove them all out of the temple, the sheep also and the oxen, and the money of the changers He poured out, and the written: tables He overthrew. And to them that sold doves He said: Take these things hence and make not the house of My Father a house of traffic. And His disciples remembered that it was the zeal of thy house hath eaten me up. The Jews therefore answered, and said to Him: What sign dost Thou show unto us, seeing Thou dost these things? Jesus answered, and said to them: Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. The Jews then said: Six and forty years was this temple in building, and wilt Thou raise it up in three days? But He spoke of the temple of His body. When therefore He was risen again from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this, and they believed the Scripture, and the word that Jesus had said. Now when He was at Jerusalem at the Pasch, upon the festival-day, many believed in His name, seeing His signs which He did. But Jesus did not trust Himself unto them, for that He knew all men, and because He needed not that any should give testimony of man: for He knew what was in man.

Preparing for Battle[1] Know Your Weapons

The weapon of prayer

The Scripture tells us that the fervent prayer of righteous believers has great power in its effects (see Jas 5: 16). Prayer is the indispensable weapon in our battle with Satan. Prayer in the name of Jesus is especially powerful against the Devil. “In my name,” Jesus said of His followers, “they shall cast out devils” (Mk 16: 17). At “the name that is above every name,” St. Paul thundered, “at the name of Jesus, every knee” must bow, “in heaven and on earth and under the earth” (see Phil 2: 9– 10).

We can see how much the Devil fears those who pray, since there’s not a moment of the day when he tempts us more than when we’re at prayer. He does everything he possibly can to prevent us from praying. When the Devil wants to make someone lose his soul, he starts out by inspiring in him a profound distaste for prayer. However good a Christian he may be, if the Devil succeeds in making him either say his prayers badly or neglect them altogether, he’s certain to have that person for himself. (St. John Vianney)

Catechism of the Catholic Church

Day 288 2221-2231

The duties of parents

2221 The fecundity of conjugal love cannot be reduced solely to the procreation of children, but must extend to their moral education and their spiritual formation. "The role of parents in education is of such importance that it is almost impossible to provide an adequate substitute." The right and the duty of parents to educate their children are primordial and inalienable.

2222 Parents must regard their children as children of God and respect them as human persons. Showing themselves obedient to the will of the Father in heaven, they educate their children to fulfill God's law.

2223 Parents have the first responsibility for the education of their children. They bear witness to this responsibility first by creating a home where tenderness, forgiveness, respect, fidelity, and disinterested service are the rule. The home is well suited for education in the virtues. This requires an apprenticeship in self-denial, sound judgment, and self-mastery - the preconditions of all true freedom. Parents should teach their children to subordinate the "material and instinctual dimensions to interior and spiritual ones." Parents have a grave responsibility to give good example to their children. By knowing how to acknowledge their own failings to their children, parents will be better able to guide and correct them:

He who loves his son will not spare the rod.... He who disciplines his son will profit by him.
Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

2224 The home is the natural environment for initiating a human being into solidarity and communal responsibilities. Parents should teach children to avoid the compromising and degrading influences which threaten human societies.

2225 Through the grace of the sacrament of marriage, parents receive the responsibility and privilege of evangelizing their children. Parents should initiate their children at an early age into the mysteries of the faith of which they are the "first heralds" for their children. They should associate them from their tenderest years with the life of the Church. A wholesome family life can foster interior dispositions that are a genuine preparation for a living faith and remain a support for it throughout one's life.

2226 Education in the faith by the parents should begin in the child's earliest years. This already happens when family members help one another to grow in faith by the witness of a Christian life in keeping with the Gospel. Family catechesis precedes, accompanies, and enriches other forms of instruction in the faith. Parents have the mission of teaching their children to pray and to discover their vocation as children of God. The parish is the Eucharistic community and the heart of the liturgical life of Christian families; it is a privileged place for the catechesis of children and parents.

2227 Children in turn contribute to the growth in holiness of their parents. Each and everyone should be generous and tireless in forgiving one another for offenses, quarrels, injustices, and neglect. Mutual affection suggests this. The charity of Christ demands it.

2228 Parents' respect and affection are expressed by the care and attention they devote to bringing up their young children and providing for their physical and spiritual needs. As the children grow up, the same respect and devotion lead parents to educate them in the right use of their reason and freedom.

2229 As those first responsible for the education of their children, parents have the right to choose a school for them which corresponds to their own convictions. This right is fundamental. As far as possible parents have the duty of choosing schools that will best help them in their task as Christian educators. Public authorities have the duty of guaranteeing this parental right and of ensuring the concrete conditions for its exercise.

2230 When they become adults, children have the right and duty to choose their profession and state of life. They should assume their new responsibilities within a trusting relationship with their parents, willingly asking and receiving their advice and counsel. Parents should be careful not to exert pressure on their children either in the choice of a profession or in that of a spouse. This necessary restraint does not prevent them - quite the contrary from giving their children judicious advice, particularly when they are planning to start a family.

2231 Some forgo marriage in order to care for their parents or brothers and sisters, to give themselves more completely to a profession, or to serve other honorable ends. They can contribute greatly to the good of the human family.

Today is International Transgender Day of Visibility.

Another way the world and the modernist clerics are attempting to put blinders on us is to bully us into being okay with transgenderism.

· Note as of this date the USCCB has made no statement on the Transgender shooter in Tennessee.

· A collaborative statement from three communities of women religious seeks to offer Catholic support for trans, nonbinary, and gender-expansive people[2]

o On Trans Day of Visibility, the church must be ‘a force for good’.

This is what the catechism of the church states on this subject.[3]

Sexual Identity

(No. 2333) “Everyone, man and woman, should acknowledge and accept his sexual identity. Physical, moral, and spiritual difference and complementarity are oriented toward the goods of marriage and the flourishing of family life. The harmony of the couple and of society depends in part on the way in which the complementarity, needs, and mutual support between the sexes are lived out.”

(No. 2393) “By creating the human being man and woman, God gives personal dignity equally to the one and the other. Each of them, man and woman, should acknowledge and accept his sexual identity.”

Body and Soul

(No. 364) “The human body shares in the dignity of "the image of God": it is a human body precisely because it is animated by a spiritual soul, and it is the whole human person that is intended to become, in the body of Christ, a temple of the Spirit: Man, though made of body and soul, is a unity. Through his very bodily condition he sums up in himself the elements of the material world. Through him they are thus brought to their highest perfection and can raise their voice in praise freely given to the Creator. For this reason man may not despise his bodily life. Rather he is obliged to regard his body as good and to hold it in honor since God has created it and will raise it up on the last day.”

Modesty

(No. 2521) “Purity requires modesty, an integral part of temperance. Modesty protects the intimate center of the person. It means refusing to unveil what should remain hidden. It is ordered to chastity to whose sensitivity it bears witness. It guides how one looks at others and behaves toward them in conformity with the dignity of persons and their solidarity.”

(No. 2522) “Modesty protects the mystery of persons and their love… Modesty is decency. It inspires one's choice of clothing. It keeps silence or reserve where there is evident risk of unhealthy curiosity. It is discreet.”

(No. 2523) “There is a modesty of the feelings as well as of the body. It protests, for example, against the voyeuristic explorations of the human body in certain advertisements, or against the solicitations of certain media that go too far in the exhibition of intimate things. Modesty inspires a way of life which makes it possible to resist the allurements of fashion and the pressures of prevailing ideologies.” Updated August 7, 2019 2

Privacy

(No. 1907) “First, the common good presupposes respect for the person as such. In the name of the common good, public authorities are bound to respect the fundamental and inalienable rights of the human person. Society should permit each of its members to fulfill his vocation. In particular, the common good resides in the conditions for the exercise of the natural freedoms indispensable for the development of the human vocation, such as ‘the right to act according to a sound norm of conscience and to safeguard . . . privacy, and rightful freedom also in matters of religion.’”

Mutilation

(No. 2297) “Except when performed for strictly therapeutic medical reasons, directly intended amputations, mutilations, and sterilizations performed on innocent persons are against the moral law.”

Rene Descartes[4] born March 31, 1596

Rene Descartes (1596-1650), founder of Analytical Geometry and Modern Philosophy

In the beginning of his Meditations (1641) Descartes wrote:

“I have always been of the opinion that the two questions respecting God and the Soul were the chief of those that ought to be determined by help of Philosophy rather than of Theology; for although to us, the faithful, it be sufficient to hold as matters of faith, that the human soul does not perish with the body, and that God exists, it yet assuredly seems impossible ever to persuade infidels of the reality of any religion, or almost even any moral virtue, unless, first of all, those two things be proved to them by natural reason. And since in this life there are frequently greater rewards held out to vice than to virtue, few would prefer the right to the useful, if they were restrained neither by the fear of God nor the expectation of another life.” (Descartes 1901).

“It is absolutely true that we must believe in God, because it is also taught by the Holy Scriptures. On the other hand, we must believe in the Sacred Scriptures because they come from God.” (Descartes 1950, Letter of Dedication).

“And thus, I very clearly see that the certitude and truth of all science depends on the knowledge alone of the true God, insomuch that, before I knew him, I could have no perfect knowledge of any other thing. And now that I know him, I possess the means of acquiring a perfect knowledge respecting innumerable matters, as well relative to God himself and other intellectual objects as to corporeal nature.” (Descartes 1901, Meditation V).

The Seven Sacraments[5]

The English word "sacrament" comes from Latin sacramentum, which means "mystery" or "rite" in classical Latin (although it also came to mean an "obligation" or "oath" in Medieval Latin).
It is related to the Latin adjective sacra ("holy") and verb sacrare ("to devote, consecrate, make holy"). The Latin Vulgate Bible uses sacramentum 16 times (8x OT; 8x NT) to translate Greek mystērion.

On the other hand, the Greek word μυστήριον (mystērion, something "secret" or "hidden"; used 28 times in the NT) is translated by several different words in the Latin Vulgate Bible:

mysterium (19 times in the Vulgate NT: Matt 13:11; Mark 4:11; Luke 8:10; Rom 11:25; 16:25; 1 Cor 2:7; 4:1; 13:2; 14:2; 15:51; Eph 3:4; 6:19; Col 1:26; 2:2; 4:3; 2 Thess 2:7; 1 Tim 3:9; Rev 10:7; 17:5)
sacramentum (8 times: Eph 1:9; 3:3, 9; 5:32; Col 1:27; 1 Tim 3:16; Rev 1:20; 17:7)
testimonium (only once: 1 Cor 2:1)
All three of these Latin words could be translated "mystery," but mysterium more often connotes the invisible or hidden dimensions, while sacramentum more often refers to the visible or symbolic aspects of a spiritual or divine mystery.

In a sense, Jesus Christ himself can be called "the mystery of salvation" or "the sacrament of God," since he, through his incarnation, made visible to us the mystery of the invisible God.
Similarly, the Church as a whole is sometimes called "the sacrament of salvation," since it is "the sign and the instrument of the communion of God and men" (CCC §780; cf. §§774-776).

The word "sacrament" most commonly refers to seven particular rites or rituals performed in and by the Church.

Many older Catholics will still remember the very brief definition from the Baltimore Catechism (1941): "A sacrament is an outward sign instituted by Christ to give grace." (§304).
The current official Catechism of the Catholic Church (1994; 2nd edition 1997), gives a more extended definition:

"The sacraments are efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the church, by which divine life is dispensed to us. The visible rites by which the sacraments are celebrated signify and make present the graces proper to each sacrament. They bear fruit in those who receive them with the required dispositions." (CCC §1131; see also "Sacrament" in the CCC's Glossary).

These sacraments are considered "Sacraments of Christ," "Sacraments of the Church," "Sacraments of Faith," "Sacraments of Salvation," and "Sacraments of Eternal Life" (CCC §§1113-1134).
The seven sacraments can be subdivided into three sub-groups:

three "Sacraments of Christian Initiation" (Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist);
two "Sacraments of Healing" (Penance/Reconciliation and Anointing of the Sick);
two "Sacraments of Vocation" (Holy Orders/Ordination and Matrimony/Marriage; also referred to as "Sacraments at the Service of Communion").

Daily Devotions

· Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them in fasting: Today's Fast: An End to Addictions

· Litany of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus

· Offering to the sacred heart of Jesus

· Drops of Christ’s Blood

· Universal Man Plan

APRIL

Lush and blooming vistas beckon us to take to the road and to explore. As we itch to go out and travel more in springtime, let us reflect on the mixed blessings. Interconnected communities and beautiful scenery are often coupled with air pollution, consumption of scarce petroleum, congestion, excessive mobility, and noise.

Overview of April[1]

As our Lenten journey comes to a close, we prepare to follow Christ all the way to the cross and to witness His glorious Resurrection. Hopefully we have sacrificed and prayed so that we are now able to more fully reap the fruits of a well spent Lent. After our solemn commemoration of the last days and death of Our Lord we will spend the remainder of the month of April celebrating. As Spring breaks forth even nature will join us as buds and blooms begin to surface and we spend this month basking in the joy of the Resurrection. We continue throughout the entire month our cry, "Christ is risen, Christ is truly risen."

The Feast of Divine Mercy offers us the opportunity to begin again as though we were newly baptized. The unfathomable mercy of God is made manifest today if we but accept His most gracious offer. Easter is the feast of feasts, the unalloyed joy and gladness of all Christians. This truly is "the day that the Lord has made." From Sunday to Sunday, from year to year, the Easters of this earth will lead us to that blessed day on which Christ has promised that He will come again with glory to take us with Him into the kingdom of His Father.

A Time of New Life

April boasts the most solemn and sublime events of human history: the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ – the Paschal mystery. Though the way to the Resurrection was the Via Crucis, the Sacrificial Lamb of God is now and forever Christ our Light, the Eternal high priest of the New Covenant. And his sorrowful mother, the Stabat Mater of Good Friday, is now the jubilant Mother of the Regina Caeli.

We the members of Christ’s Mystical Body exalt in the mystery by which we were redeemed. If in Baptism we were buried with Christ, so also will we share in his resurrection. By his death we were reborn; “by his stripes we were healed.” (Is 53:5) Easter, the epicenter of time, is the event that links time and eternity. It is indeed “the day the Lord has made; let us be glad and rejoice in it.” (Ps 118:24)

April is also:[2]

· Autism Awareness Month

· Jazz Appreciation Month

· Garden Month

· Month of the Military Child

APRIL TIMETABLE

April Travel?[3]

· Masters Golf Tournament--April 7-13--Tee up for the granddaddy of all golf tournaments. The Masters Tournament kicks off the first of 4 major championships, with plenty of betting odds. Head to Augusta, GA!

· Scarborough Renaissance Festival--April 5-May 26^th --Travel back to the 16th century at the Scarborough Renaissance Festival. This annual fest in Waxahachie, TX, kicks off the first weekend in April, drawing crowds upwards of 200,000 to view some 200 performances.

· Coachella--April 11-13 & 18-20--Get your music fill at the annual Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. The annual 2-weekend, 3-day fest kicks off in Indio, CA, with more than 150 performances.

· Boston Marathon--April 21--Show your Boston pride and find something for everyone to enjoy. The annual Boston Marathon kicks off with a fitness expo featuring more than 200 exhibitors, followed by a 5K set to draw an estimated 10,000 participants as well as a relay challenge -- all topped by the grand celebration of city spirit.

· King’s Day in Amsterdam--April 27--Enjoy a ride along Amsterdam’s canals, and don your brightest orange, for the Netherlands’ annual King’s Day. The national holiday celebrates the Dutch royal house (and current King Willem-Alexander) with plenty of “orange madness,” in keeping with the Dutch national colors.

· New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival--April 24-May 4--Love jazz? Join fellow music lovers at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. Held every year since 1970, the annual Jazz Fest, as it’s called, showcases nearly every music genre, from blues to R&B, and everything else in between. It’s all performed across 12 stages during the last weekend in April.

Iceman’s Calendar

· Mar 26^th Start Novena to the Holy Face for First Friday

· Apr 1^st Tuesday-All Fool’s Day

· Apr 2^nd MASS First Wednesday

· Apr 4^th First Friday

o Friday after Passion Sunday: Feast of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

· Apr 5^th MASS First Saturday

· Apr 6^th Fifth Sunday of Lent

o Passion Sunday