Quote of the Day

"Humility is above all God’s way: God humbles himself to walk with his people, to put up with their infidelity. This is clear when we read the Book of Exodus. How humiliating for the Lord to hear all that grumbling, all those complaints against Moses, but ultimately against him, their Father, who brought them out of slavery and was leading them on the journey through the desert to the land of freedom.

"This week, Holy Week, which leads us to Easter, we will take this path of Jesus’ own humiliation. Only in this way will this week be “holy” for us too!"

--Pope Francis

Reflection for Palm Sunday

Entry of Christ into Jerusalem, Pietro Lorenzetti (1320)

 

"The ultimate goal of Jesus' 'ascent' [to Jerusalem] is his self-offering on the Cross, which supplants the old sacrifices; it is the ascent that the Letter to the Hebrews describes as going up, not to a sanctuary made by human hands, but to heaven itself, into the presence of God (9:24). This ascent into God's presence leads via the Cross--it is the ascent toward 'loving to the end' (cf. Jn 13:1), which is the real mountain of God."

--Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth--Holy Week: From the Entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection (Ignatius Press, 2011), p. 2

Boehner the Traitor

(This article originally appeared on the Intellectual Conservative March 16, 2015 at http://intellectualconservative.com/boehner-the-traitor/ )

House Speaker John Boehner is a traitor to the U.S. Constitution and the American people.

By agreeing to fund ObamaCare as well as President Obama’s Executive Amnesty for illegal immigrants—and by shamefully attacking his Tea Party Republican colleagues who refuse to go along with such travesties—Speaker Boehner has demonstrated beyond a shadow of a doubt that he has abandoned all pretense of being a Tea Party leader (if he ever was in the first place) and that he is now simply part of the corrupt Washington, D.C. political establishment.

Like any well-trained politician, Speaker Boehner talks a great game right before and after an election. But when the time comes to get down to business and actually start delivering on his campaign promises—which would naturally entail a nasty, all-out confrontation with the Obama administration—Boehner instead shows his true colors as a remarkably compliant Obama lackey, a politically correct Republican In Name Only whose chief function is to guard and protect the disastrous, hated, and ultimately unsustainable Washington status quo.

Instead of courageously standing up to President Obama and his Democratic cronies and putting a stop to their malicious and unconstitutional Big Government agenda as he pledged to do and as he ought to do, Boehner simply rolls over and gives our corrupt and lawless Chief Executive exactly what he wants, when he wants it, no questions asked and no strings attached. Furthermore, he seems determined to blackmail as many of his Tea Party colleagues as possible into abandoning their principles, turning their backs on their constituents, and jumping aboard the establishment bandwagon.

At the ballot box last November, we the American people made it unmistakably clear that we are fed up with the moral, fiscal and legal insanity known as “business as usual” in Washington. We elected the largest number of Republican senators and representatives to Congress in seventy years. There are now more Republicans in Congress than before most of us were born, including more Tea Party Republicans than ever before. By overwhelmingly embracing Republican and Tea Party candidates, we the voters sent a powerful message to our elected representatives that we want them to reject President Obama’s radically secularist, unconstitutional, Big-Government socialist agenda and start getting our country back on track in accord with the vision of the Founders.

As Speaker of the House of Representatives, John Boehner’s official role is to represent the American people in that house of Congress and to promote policies that will advance the best interests of this country as a whole. He should be leading the charge against President Obama’s bullying tactics, holding him accountable for his egregious abuses of power. He should be rallying his Republican colleagues to defund and repeal ObamaCare without delay. Instead, Boehner is doing just the opposite: enabling the sinister establishment agenda to progress essentially unhindered, allowing the president’s impeachable offenses to slide as if they never occurred, and bullying his principled colleagues—true statesmen and women, true servants of the people—who rightly refuse to submit to this madness.

In short, Speaker Boehner has become the Obama administration’s Trojan horse in the House. He is a creature of the corrupt Washington establishment; a convenient pawn of the major corporate interests and lobby groups that make the establishment go round. His job is to keep the House functioning effectively under establishment control—i.e., to ensure that it does not throw up any serious roadblocks that would halt the progress of President Obama’s agenda.

Millions of Americans are rightly disappointed and angry with Speaker Boehner’s recent actions, which make a mockery of the true leadership our country so desperately needs at this critical time. Boehner has betrayed the trust of his constituents, ignored the U.S. Constitution, and acted in a manner totally unworthy of an honorable elected representative. For these reasons, he should no longer serve as Speaker of the House.

Make no mistake: Boehner must be held accountable for his immoral and corrupt behavior. We the people did not give Republicans full control of Congress just to have a single establishment loser effectively nullify that control. We must make it clear to Mr. Boehner that his unjust bullying tactics on behalf of President Obama will not be tolerated—that he must either change course or lose his job as Speaker of the House. And if he refuses to change course, we must then demand that our elected representatives replace this establishment career politician with a principled Tea Party leader who will stand up to the reckless Obama administration and facilitate good government on behalf of the American people.

Our country has had enough of Speaker Boehner and his unfortunate policy of subservience and appeasement to President Obama. It’s time to put a true leader in his place.


Copyright © 2015 Justin D. Soutar.

Quote of the Day

"Lent is a favorable time for letting Christ serve us so that we in turn may become more like him. This happens whenever we hear the word of God and receive the sacraments, especially the Eucharist. There we become what we receive: the Body of Christ. In this body there is no room for the indifference which so often seems to possess our hearts. For whoever is of Christ, belongs to one body, and in him we cannot be indifferent to one another. 'If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if one part is honored, all the parts share its joy' (1 Cor 12:26)."

--Pope Francis

The Saint Who Was Stolen Twice

Today is the feast of Saint Patrick (c. 381--456), the legendary Apostle of Ireland and one of the world's best-known Catholic saints. He is right up there with Saint Nicolas in terms of the traditional legends and folklore surrounding his life, the permanence of his impact on Christian culture, and the ubiquity of his popularity among the general public. In fact, as with Saint Nicolas, the legends and culture that have grown up around Saint Patrick sometimes tend to obscure the actual historical facts of his life.

Patrick was not native to Ireland, nor was he even of Irish ancestry. He was born to Scottish parents in pagan Britain, which was part of the declining Roman Empire. At the age of sixteen, he was captured by Irish pirates and sold into slavery in predominantly pagan Ireland, where he worked as a shepherd in captivity for six years. During this period, he underwent a profound change of life and converted to Christianity. He escaped back to Britain, where he heard God calling him to bring the true faith to the Irish people. He was ordained a priest and consecrated a bishop, and then returned to Ireland as a missionary. So we can really say that the Irish stole Patrick twice--first they stole his freedom, and then they stole his heart.

For the next thirty years, Patrick labored unceasingly, often amid great difficulties, to establish the Catholic Church in his adopted country by preaching and teaching, baptizing, ordaining priests and bishops, and founding churches. He was a man of deep faith, profound humility, constant prayer, and great penance to whom God gave the gift of working miracles. According to Fr. Albert J. Hebert, whose research is confined to reliable sources, Saint Patrick raised thirty-three people from the dead during his lifetime. By the time of his death, more than half of Ireland was Catholic. The scope of his monumental achievement is still remarkable today. Saint Patrick built some 700 churches, ordained 5,000 priests, and consecrated 350 bishops. He laid the foundation for Irish Catholicism so well that Ireland has remained a Catholic country for some 1,600 years--more than a millennium and a half. Although today the Emerald Isle is under attack by the forces of radical secularism, pockets of devout Irish Catholics ensure that the true faith will continue to live on in this great country for the foreseeable future.

Saint Patrick was truly one of the greatest missionaries in the history of the Church. It is plainly obvious that Divine Providence raised him up at that particular time and place to convert Ireland to the Catholic faith. A great saint like this should make us all proud to be Catholic. Yet he is just one of the best known of hundreds and hundreds of saints throughout the 2,000-year history of the Church. It is worth taking time to read at least part of the saint's own autobiography, the Confession of Saint Patrick, which has survived to our own day and which offers an unforgettable glimpse into the soul of this great man. I have just been blessed to stumble upon this forgotten classic of ancient Christian literature, which deserves to be rediscovered.

Saint Patrick, pray for us!

A happy Saint Patrick's Day to everyone!

A Step in the Right Direction

The plight of Christians in the Middle East is finally getting the world's attention, thanks in large part to the diplomatic efforts of the Holy See. Yesterday, on March 13, 2015, the United Nations headquarters in Geneva issued a Joint Statement entitled, "Supporting the Human Rights of Christians and Other Communities, Particularly in the Middle East." The statement was drafted by representatives of the Holy See, Lebanon, and Russia and has been signed by the representatives of forty-six other countries, mostly in Europe but also in North and South America, one or two in Asia and Africa, and one in the Middle East (Iraq). This statement is a hopeful sign that the political will among world leaders to stop the barbaric terrorist aggression and persecution of innocent Christians and resolve the terrible humanitarian crisis afflicting the Middle East is beginning to develop and gain momentum. Much more than a UN joint statement is needed to accomplish this, of course, but nonetheless such an official communique  indicates a trend in the right direction.

This statement candidly acknowledges the facts of the situation. It correctly points out that the Middle East is the birthplace of some of the world's great religions, and acknowledges the positive contributions of these religions to human culture and society in the region. It maintains that Christians of the Middle East have the right to practice their faith and unequivocally condemns the horrible violence being perpetrated against them and their church buildings by ISIS and al-Qaeda. And it calls upon the international community to support the deeply rooted historical presence of all ethnic and religious communities in the Middle East.

How this will be accomplished is another question, but as the old saying goes, "Where there's a will, there's a way." I believe strongly that the international community, including our country which is largely responsible for the current situation in the Middle East, should work together through the UN to find ways to resolve it for the good of everyone. Let's keep world leaders in our prayers, that they collaborate in taking morally sound and effective measures to halt the violence and restore some measure of stability to the Middle East. And, of course, let's keep praying for the embattled and weary Christians of the Middle East.

Here is the text of the statement entitled "Supporting the Human Rights of Christians and Other Communities, Particularly in the Middle East":

The Middle East is living in a situation of instability and conflict that recently have been aggravated. The consequences are disastrous for the entire population of the region. The existence of many religious communities is seriously threatened. Christians are now especially affected. These days even their survival is in question.

Efforts to build a better future for all are frustrated. We witness a situation where violence, religious and ethnic hatred, fundamentalist radicalism, extremism, intolerance, exclusion, destruction of the social fabric of whole societies and communities are becoming the features of a non-viable political and social model, endangering the very existence of many communities, the Christian community in particular.

Millions of people have been either displaced or forced to leave their ancestral lands. Those who stay in conflict zones or areas controlled by terrorist groups live under the permanent threat of human rights violations, repression and abuses. Both communities and individuals fall victim to barbaric acts of violence: they are deprived of homes, driven from their native lands, sold into slavery, killed, beheaded and burnt alive. Dozens of Christian churches, and ancient shrines of all religions have been destroyed. The situation of Christians in the Middle East, a land on which they are living for centuries and have the right to remain, raises deep concerns. There are more and more reasons to fear seriously for the future of the Christian communities that have more than two thousand years of existence in this region, where Christianity has its full place, and began its long history. The positive contributions of Christians in the different countries and societies of the Middle East are well known and creative.

We are confident that governments, all civic and religious leaders in the Middle East, will join us in addressing this alarming situation by building together a culture of peaceful coexistence. In our globalized world, pluralism is an enrichment. The presence and the contributions of ethnic and religious communities reflect an ancient diversity and a common heritage. A future without the different communities in the Middle East will run a high risk of new forms of violence, exclusion, and the absence of peace and development.

We call upon the international community to support the deeply rooted historical presence of all ethnic and religious communities in the Middle East. Here world religions appeared, including Christianity. Now, they live a serious existential threat from the so-called "Islamic State" (Daesh) and Alqaida, and affiliated terrorist groups, which disrupts the life of all these communities, and creates the risk of complete disappearance for the Christians. This support will help the countries of the region to rebuild healthy plural societies and sound political systems, ensuring human rights and fundamental freedoms for all. Therefore we ask all States to reaffirm their commitment to respect the rights of everyone, in particular the right to freedom of religion, which is enshrined in the fundamental international human rights instruments.


© Copyright - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

The states endorsing the Joint Statement on "Supporting the Human Rights of Christians and Other Communities, particularly in the Middle East" are: Russian Federation, Lebanon, Holy See, Andorra, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Congo, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Denmark, El Salvador, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxemburg, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Somalia, Sovereign Military Order of Malta, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and the United States of America.

Happy Second Anniversary, Pope Francis!

Today, March 13, marks the second anniversary of the election of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, S.J., the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina, as Pope Francis. Like millions of others, I will never forget that historic late winter day two years ago when, on the second day of the conclave to elect a successor to Benedict XVI, the College of Cardinals stunned the media and the world by quickly settling on one of their own who was not considered a likely candidate for the modern papacy: an older Jesuit cardinal from South America who could not speak English. Although many of us were initially unfamiliar with Bergoglio, he quickly won us over with his profound humility, his beautiful smile, his simple and direct style of preaching on any subject but especially on God's great mercy, his simplicity of life, and his love for the poor and the sick. The power of his authentic and courageous example of holiness in fidelity to the Gospel enables Pope Francis to transcend all barriers of language, race, religion, and culture in order to touch billions of human hearts with the love of Christ. Through word and example, he is recalling the Church to her roots and guiding her to more effectively carry out her mission of salvation in the third millennium. Through his unique personal style, Francis is building on and continuing the great reform efforts of the last several Popes since the Second Vatican Council. He wants a Church that is closer to the people, that knows their problems and can help resolve them. And he wants the light of Christ's merciful love and peace to illuminate and heal a dark and wounded world torn by selfishness, indifference, division, hostility, and conflict.

Time has certainly proven the wisdom and brilliance of the cardinals' choice in 2013, which was clearly inspired by the Holy Spirit. Pope Francis is a holy man, a great teacher, a talented communicator, and a genius, and we should thank God that he is leading our Church at the present time. God willing, his remarkable papacy will continue for at least several more years. Let us pray that the Lord will continue to bless him with the health, strength and graces necessary to carry out his mission of service to the Church and the world. And may we entrust him daily to the loving protection and watchful care of our Blessed Mother Mary and the Angels.

Quote of the Day

"It is within my power either to serve God or not to serve Him. Serving Him, I add to my own good and the good of the whole world. Not serving Him, I forfeit my own good and deprive the world of that good, which was in my power to create."  

--Leo Tolstoy (1828--1910)