Quote of the Day

"The grandeur of love is revealed in taking care of one in need, with fidelity and patience; therefore, great is the love that is able to make itself little for others, like Jesus, who made himself a servant. To love is to come close, to touch the flesh of Christ in the poor and the least, to open to God’s grace the needs, the appeals, the solitude of persons that surround us."

--Pope Francis

Announcing Summer Blowout Sale on St. Michael CDs

 

Thanks to all those who have purchased a copy of my instrumental piano album "Selections from The St. Michael Hymnal" since its release in February 2013. This little two-disc set represented my initial foray as a solo piano artist into the world of music recording, production and distribution. For me as a Catholic pianist, the highest purpose of music is to give glory to God in service to His Church, and that's what I tried to accomplish with this album.

The initial idea for this project was suggested by a zealous lay Catholic friend of mine who holds weekly prayer meetings at the houses of other friends in his area. Back in late 2011, he had discovered The St. Michael Hymnal and decided to have everybody sing a hymn from it at each gathering. He approached me and asked if I could record some of his favorite hymns from the Hymnal onto a CD so they could have some accompaniment to sing to. I agreed to do this on my restored 1966 Wurlitzer spinet piano using The St. Michael Hymnal Organ and Choir book and actually decided to record all fifty of the hymns on his list of favorites. The recorded hymns wouldn't all fit onto a single 80 minute CD, so I had to spread them onto two discs. My friend also suggested that I could make copies of the CDs and market and sell them on the Internet. I decided to do this as well, which necessitated obtaining the required permissions from copyright holders of the four hymns on this album that are copyright protected. I also had to contact the staff of the Hymnal and get permission to use their cover on the CD inserts, which they gladly granted. Then I had to figure out how to burn, test, label, and encase hundreds of CDs and make the final product look attractive enough to sell. It was a bit of a learning curve for me and quite an investment in time and raw materials, but I think the final result was worth all the effort. Given that this was a small independent project, I was pleasantly surprised by the overwhelmingly positive feedback from buyers, and I am grateful to God for the success He has given me.

Now the time has come to clear out my remaining inventory of St. Michael CDs in order to make room for future music projects I have planned. So I am announcing a Summer Blowout Sale that begins today and will run until August 12. Volumes I and II are now available for just $10.00 each (original price was $14.99), and you can now get the two-volume set for only $18.00 (original price was $24.99), and the shipping is on me. Please email all order requests to justin_86 "at" ntelos "dot" net. If you know anyone who is a fan of The St. Michael Hymnal and would like this album, tell them about it or buy them a copy and send it to them. But don't wait--after August 12, 2015, this album will no longer be available for purchase, and quantities are limited. So hurry and get your copy today!

Reflection for Today's Feast

 

"God’s faithful love for His people  was manifested and realized fully in Jesus Christ, who, to honor God’s bond with His people, made Himself our slave, stripped Himself of His glory and assumed the form of a servant. In His love He did not bow before our ingratitude and not even before our rejection. Saint Paul reminds us of this: 'If we are faithless, He – Jesus –  remains faithful , for He cannot deny Himself' (2 Timothy 2:13). Jesus remains faithful, He never betrays, even when we have made a mistake, He always awaits us to forgive us: He is the face of the merciful Father.

"This love, this fidelity of the Lord manifests the humility of His heart. Jesus did not come to conquer men as the kings and powerful of this world, but He came to offer love with meekness and humility. This is how He described Himself: 'learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart' (Matthew 11:29). And the meaning of the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which we celebrate today, is that of discovering increasingly and of letting ourselves be enveloped by the humble fidelity and meekness of the love of Christ, revelation of the Father’s mercy."

--Pope Francis, Homily at Gemelli Hospital, June 27, 2014

America's Mental Illness

by Justin Soutar

(This article originally appeared on the website Intellectual Conservative June 2, 2015 at http://intellectualconservative.com/americas-mental-illness/ )

As we the people of the United States anxiously await yet another historic, momentous, far-reaching, and quite possibly unprecedented Supreme Court decision--this time regarding whether or not homosexual couples possess an inherent constitutional “right” to see their sinful relationships legally recognized as “marriages” throughout the country--it’s a good time to pause and reflect on what is really happening to our nation as it continues to drift away from its traditional Judeo-Christian cultural and social moorings, and, ultimately, away from God and reality.

Under the poisonous influence of a radically secularist ideology, vocal homosexual activists are insistently pressuring the High Court to redefine marriage as the union of any two (or more) consenting adults regardless of sex or biological compatibility. Not content to offend their Creator by engaging in gravely immoral behavior in the privacy of their own homes, these shrill extremists are now demanding that their deviant lifestyles be publicly recognized by the federal government of the United States—whose official national motto is still “In God We Trust”—as the equivalent of the Creator’s own sacred institution of marriage that has formed the connective tissue of every flourishing human society from the dawn of civilization throughout history and right up to this moment. In other words, these outspoken sodomites want the High Court to manufacture for them out of whole cloth a brand-new “right” to enjoy all the privileges of marriage in their own irregular relationships. Such legal recognition of morally disordered homosexual unions on a par with normal marital unions would be a slap in the Creator’s face, would contravene His natural law, and would constitute a blanket rejection of the collective wisdom of the ages, also known as tradition and precedent. Furthermore, it would evince a pathetically naïve misunderstanding of the nature of marriage as well as a foolish disregard for the negative social consequences of legitimizing homosexual activity on a national scale. Finally, such a radical High Court decision would insult common sense and flaunt the will of the American people, who in the last twelve years have approved laws in more than thirty states upholding the traditional definition of marriage as the union of a man and a woman.

Should the Supreme Court cave in to these radical homosexual lobbyists and venture to issue such a stupid and misguided decision, it won’t be the first time that several unelected activist justices have waved their magic wand to create a previously nonexistent human “right” out of thin air. Forty-two years ago in Roe v. Wade, seven such justices arbitrarily reinterpreted the Constitution’s due process clause to include the supposed “right” of a woman to kill her unborn child for any reason whatsoever. But no human being ever has any right to violate God’s natural moral law, whether by killing an unborn child in a so-called “health clinic” or by engaging in homosexual activity behind closed doors. Regardless of the circumstances involved, no violation of the natural law can ever properly be called a human “right.” Authentic human rights are not invented and declared by two consenting adults or an immoral lobby group or a court decision or a majority vote; on the contrary, they are given to us by our Creator and must be exercised responsibly in accordance with His laws.

Unfortunately, thanks to the increasingly pervasive influence of America’s radically secularist internal enemies, who are hell-bent on constructing a new America without God and without moral absolutes, the fundamental concepts of inalienable rights, natural law, and ordered liberty that originally formed the basis of American society and the Judeo-Christian cultural tradition within which they developed are rapidly becoming obsolete. America’s Founders believed that human beings are endowed by their Creator with certain inherent rights such as life and liberty that cannot be taken away—basic rights that government must protect. They acknowledged the existence of the Creator’s absolute and unchanging natural law, consisting of basic principles of right and wrong implicitly engraved in the human heart and explicitly encoded in the Ten Commandments. And they understood freedom as the fundamental right to act in accordance with the natural law—i.e., the right to do the right thing. As wise, brilliant, and courageous men of deep Christian faith, unshakable trust in Divine Providence, and sound reason, the Founders grasped the reality and inner logic of these three interrelated fundamental concepts and dared to build a new nation upon their firm foundation. Thus constructed on solid rock, America rose to become the greatest nation in the history of the world.

Now, almost two and a half centuries after her founding, America is in deep trouble because these fundamental philosophical concepts and the Judeo-Christian tradition that gave birth to them no longer form the basis of her society and culture, and thus of her political and legal systems. In place of inalienable rights, we have a relativized, ever-changing list of so-called “rights” based exclusively on whim and convenience, invented and declared on the spur of the moment. In place of natural law, we have moral relativism, the idea that right and wrong are determined solely by individual preference. In place of ordered liberty, we have the strange idea that freedom is the absolute right of each and every individual to do whatever he or she wants to do. And in place of the Judeo-Christian tradition, we now have the novelty of an aggressive and intolerant radically secularist ideology that is determined to completely rob modern America of her traditional Christian identity.

The fundamental concepts on which America was built are being lost today because we the people are losing faith and trust in God the Creator, Who is Ultimate Reality and the source of all other realities (except evil). As we become increasingly estranged from our infinitely good, wise and loving Creator, we naturally become suspicious of His moral order that governs the universe He created. Falling into the original sin of pride, we dare to exalt ourselves above the Creator and His eternal law, rejecting transcendent truth and taking it upon ourselves to arbitrarily decide what is right and wrong. Instead of humbly accepting the divinely revealed objective realities of inalienable rights and natural law and ordering our lives accordingly, we prefer to construct our own subjective virtual reality and live according to our own wishes, either denying that God exists or simply ignoring His existence as irrelevant to our own.

This is the dangerous building project in which the radically secularist elites are currently engaged: they are hacking vigorously at America’s Judeo-Christian bedrock and demolishing her philosophical foundations laid upon that bedrock in order to construct a new nation on the shifting sands of moral relativism and atheism. Experience offers abundant warning of the end results of such a project: consider the French Revolution, Italian Fascism, German Nazism, Russian Communism and all the bloodshed and human misery spawned by these infamous totalitarian regimes before they were washed into the ocean of history. Attempting to build a nation without God always leads to social chaos and totalitarianism, resulting in the loss of human rights and freedom. It should also be pointed out that a nation’s loss of faith is inevitably followed by a loss of reason, because without faith in the realities of God and His natural law, the world no longer makes sense.

Under the destructive influence of radical secularism, America is losing touch with God and thus also losing touch with reality. Polls now indicate that a majority of Americans favor legally equating the moral abomination of a homosexual union with the sacred institution of marriage. This demonstrates just how far our society and culture have drifted from the religious and moral values of America’s founding generation. We don’t even understand what marriage is anymore. Marriage is the Creator’s own institution, the perfectly designed union of a man and a woman for the good of the spouses, the procreation of children, the good of the children and society, and the growth and continuation of the human race. If we had sufficient common sense, we would simply recognize this fact as self-evident as our ancestors did, respecting and protecting and promoting heterosexual marriage as the lifeblood of a healthy and flourishing society. Our laws and policies would naturally favor and strengthen marriage and nuclear family life. The facts that some people now seriously claim a “right” to have an immoral relationship endowed with the title and privileges of marriage, that we are actually discussing and debating and defining and redefining what marriage is, and that those of us who still cling tenaciously to the age-old definition of marriage must now battle strenuously to preserve and hand it on, all indicate that we as a nation are going insane because we no longer recognize and accept the objective truths of the natural law, natural rights, and ordered liberty. And we no longer recognize and accept these truths because we no longer believe in God Who is Truth itself.

The influence of radical secularism in our culture has become so pervasive that it is now affecting the thinking even of some good and well-respected Catholics. Last year, for example, based on a misguided tolerance and an inordinate desire not to offend homosexual lobbyists, Bill Donohue, President of the Catholic League and Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York both wrongly approved of admitting them into the 2015 Saint Patrick’s Day parade, a Catholic religious and cultural event. Given that their radical agenda is to celebrate their sinful relationships and have them legally recognized as “marriages,” such approval was entirely inappropriate. Apparently Donohue felt that agreeing to homosexual activists’ participation in the event was a useful bargaining chip for getting pro-life activists into the march. And apparently Cardinal Dolan felt that allowing such immoral extremists into this event was an act of Christian charity that could draw them closer to the Church. But the end does not automatically justify the means. It is forbidden to compromise with evil in order to obtain a good. And there can be no moral comparison or equivalence between those who promote a grave moral evil that violates God’s law and wreaks social havoc, and those who defend the inalienable right to life of the innocent unborn, which currently is not protected by law in the United States.

In another example of how radically secularist thought can affect Catholic reasoning, attorney Kyle Duncan of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty recently remarked in an interview on The World Over with Raymond Arroyo that a certain state has the right to broaden the definition of marriage to include same-sex relationships if it so chooses. Such a remark betrays the often subtle and subconscious influence of the radically secularist ideology and the insidious moral relativism and atheism on which it is based. The truth is that the states, the courts, the federal government, and the people have no right to decide to legally alter the Creator’s timeless definition of marriage. On the contrary, it’s the business of the states, the courts, the federal government, and the people to properly understand and accept marriage for what it is and to have their laws reflect that proper understanding and acceptance. As a firm believer in democracy, I do acknowledge and treasure the ancient democratic principle vox populi vox Dei, “the voice of the people is the voice of God.” However, the will of the people is to be respected and carried out only insofar as it accords with the objective truths of the natural law and promotes the true good of society. Thus, laws that acknowledge and reflect the Creator’s definition of marriage and protect the sanctity of the nuclear family should be consistently upheld, while those that attempt to change that definition and assault the sanctity of the nuclear family should be struck down and overturned.

Faced with growing attacks on marriage and religious liberty, taxpayer-funded abortions, the HHS anti-life mandate, ballooning national debt, and increasingly corrupt career politicians, many well-intentioned religious and patriotic Americans of good will are now scrambling to bolster the political and legal defenses against our radically secularist internal enemies, with efforts ranging from the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act to state versions of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act to court injunctions to a Balanced Budget Amendment to term limits for senators and representatives. Catholic and Christian lawyers are claiming that individual states have the right to decide for themselves what marriage is without interference from the courts. Although many of these efforts are laudable and deserving of support, the main problem with this whole approach is that it merely treats the political and legal symptoms of a much deeper cultural and social disease infecting our nation. Our current political and legal systems are simply the products of our contemporary culture and society, which has turned virulently anti-Christian in recent years. If our American culture and society are indeed so profoundly afflicted by the mental illness of radical secularism, then we cannot logically expect our federal government and courts to hold out long as bastions of sanity and justice. Not even the Constitution can guarantee protection of our inalienable rights when it is reinterpreted to mean whatever this or that radical lobby group or alliance of activist justices arbitrarily decides it should mean. Any government or court system is only as good as the people who run it. When our politicians and judges are godless, immoral, unjust, and biased, how can we expect them to issue godly, moral, just, and unbiased laws and rulings? Since they are living in a self-constructed fantasy world, how can we expect them to govern and interpret the real world in a sensible and rational manner? As the Supreme Court prepares to issue a landmark decision on whether homosexual relationships should be legally recognized as “marriages,” can we reasonably expect a simple majority of the justices, let alone all nine of them, to make the right decision based on common sense and the Creator’s natural law?

If America is to be rescued from the brink of final and ultimate disaster toward which she is now obliviously hurtling, a profound change of mentality must take place in our culture. We the people need to break out of our beloved self-constructed virtual-reality bubbles and get back in touch with reality. We need to rediscover the fundamental concepts of inalienable rights, natural law, and ordered liberty as the irreplaceable foundations of a great nation. We need to rediscover marriage and the nuclear family as indispensable elements of a healthy society. We need to rediscover and reconnect with our priceless Judeo-Christian cultural heritage. And, most importantly, we need to reaffirm our faith and trust in Almighty God, our infinitely wise and loving Creator, humbly begging His forgiveness on our waywardness and imploring His providential assistance in rebuilding our crumbling nation. “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord” (Ps. 33:12).


Copyright © 2015 Justin D. Soutar. All rights reserved.

Quote of the Day

"In order to successfully oppose the barbarity of those who would make of every difference the occasion and pretext for further unspeakable violence, we need to recognize the fundamental values of human communities, values in the name of which we can and must cooperate, build and dialogue, pardon and grow; this will allow different voices to unite in creating a melody of sublime nobility and beauty, instead of the fanatical cries of hatred."

--Pope Francis

Two Excellent U.S. Archbishops Who Should Be Given the Red Hat

We Catholics here in the United States are currently blessed with an abundance of fine bishops and archbishops, many of whom would undoubtedly make good cardinals. However, there are two high-profile archbishops now offering exemplary service to the Church in this country who, in this layman's opinion, stand out as particularly deserving candidates for the honor and responsibility of the cardinalate. Their unwavering fidelity to the Magisterium, combined with their ability to clearly articulate and defend the Church's teachings and natural law principles both in the pulpit and the public square and their track record as successful and experienced pastors, would seem to render them fit to join the College of Cardinals, the elite inner circle of the Pope's most trusted advisors and collaborators. They are Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia and Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco.

I actually think Archbishop Chaput is a little overdue to be named a cardinal, since he has been serving the Church so well for so long. He was archbishop of Denver for a number of years before Pope Benedict moved him to Philly, where he has successfully tackled the challenge of cleaning up the aftermath of the priestly sexual abuse scandal and handling the resulting financial strain on that archdiocese. Meanwhile, he has preached the Gospel faithfully to his flock and written columns for both the archdiocesan and secular newspapers in defense of religious liberty and the right to life of the unborn. He knows how to speak the truth in a charitable way, whether he's talking to fellow Catholics or engaging the secular culture. The upcoming World Meeting of Families, which will be held in Philadelphia this September, should allow Pope Francis to observe Archbishop Chaput's leadership qualities firsthand, and hopefully this will lead to his being named a cardinal in the near future.

When compared to Archbishop Chaput, Archbishop Cordileone may seem a less obvious candidate for the cardinalate, given that he is somewhat younger and less experienced than the former. However, his credentials as a potential cardinal are no less impeccable. In a cosmopolitan West Coast city known for rampant radical secularism, his steadfast adherence to Catholic teaching and joyful witness of the Gospel shine all the brighter. He is a supporter of and participant in the annual Walk for Life, which is now the second largest pro-life demonstration in the nation; he has also participated in the March for Marriage in Washington, D.C. Unjust criticism from a handful of Catholics and radical secularists unhappy with his public defense of traditional marriage and his efforts to keep Catholic schools teaching orthodox doctrine in his archdiocese has only served to highlight the fact that this is a true leader who possesses the courage of his convictions. In my opinion, Archbishop Cordileone would make a fine cardinal.

Of course, it is up to Pope Francis to decide which, if any, American bishops or archbishops will be given the red hat and thus join the upper echelon of Church government. The broad field of the contemporary U.S. hierarchy offers dozens of excellent candidates for the honorable position of being one of the Pope's men. But if I had to name two archbishops in this country whom I sincerely and with good reason considered worthy to join the ranks of the Curia, my personal choices would be Archbishop Chaput and Archbishop Cordileone.

Quote of the Day

"The degree of progress of a civilization is measured by its ability to protect life, especially in its most fragile stages, rather than by the spread of technological means. When we speak of man, let us never forget the attacks on the sacredness of human life. The scourge of abortion is an attack on life. Leaving our brothers on the boats in the Sicilian channel is an attack on life. Death in the workplace is an attack on life because the minimal security conditions are not respected. Death by malnutrition is an attack on life. Terrorism, war, violence and also euthanasia are an attack on life. Loving life means always to take care of the other, to wish him well, to cultivate and respect his transcendent dignity."

--Pope Francis

Quote of the Day

“Tribulations, if we bear them patiently for the love of God, appear bitter at first, but they grow sweet, when one gets accustomed to the taste.”  

--St. Philip Neri

Quote of the Day

"The Church in heaven is not triumphant because she has turned her back on the sufferings of the world and rejoices in splendid isolation. Rather, the saints already joyfully contemplate the fact that, through Jesus’ death and resurrection, they have triumphed once and for all over indifference, hardness of heart and hatred. Until this victory of love penetrates the whole world, the saints continue to accompany us on our pilgrim way....We share in the merits and joy of the saints, even as they share in our struggles and our longing for peace and reconciliation. Their joy in the victory of the Risen Christ gives us strength as we strive to overcome our indifference and hardness of heart."

--Pope Francis

Another Earthquake in Nepal

As most of us know, the densely populated Himalayan country of Nepal was struck by a magnitude 7.8 earthquake on April 25, killing at least 8,000 people and leaving more than one million survivors homeless. Now, just this morning, only seventeen days later, Nepal has suffered another major earthquake, this one magnitude 7.3. I don't know what the odds are of two seventh-magnitude earthquakes striking the same location less than three weeks apart, but I don't think I've ever heard of this happening before. There is considerable evidence (widely touted by creationists, and largely ignored by evolutionists) that the Himalayan mountains themselves are the result of a tremendous collision between two large tectonic plates during the Great Flood of Genesis. Now the Indian plate is slowly pushing northward over time into the larger main Asian plate, and occasional bumps and rough spots in this process can trigger earthquakes in the region. I also know that India and Pakistan, the two powerful rival nations of South Asia, both have nuclear weapons and occasionally perform underground nuclear tests, especially when they are preparing for war, which can also trigger earthquakes in the Himalayas. I'm not sure what the causes of these two particular earthquakes were, but since I'm not aware of any nuclear testing activities or heightened hostility between India and Pakistan at the moment, I will for now assume natural causes were responsible for these two events.

Although I felt several tremors when I was growing up in California and experienced the magnitude 5.9 quake that shook Virginia on August 23, 2011 at my home more than 100 miles from the epicenter, I have been blessed so far to have never directly experienced a truly destructive earthquake. I can only imagine the gut-wrenching situation in which the people of Nepal now find themselves and what they must be going through at this moment, having lost homes and loved ones just weeks ago, and now with their lives and nerves having been shattered yet again while recovery and rebuilding efforts from the first quake had only just begun. Let's keep the victims of this rare double earthquake in our prayers and compassion and do what we can to help them. Thankfully, Catholic Relief Services has responded to the initial disaster with its accustomed timely, well-organized and professional approach to humanitarian relief, and the agency is now redoubling its efforts to address the latest crisis. I cannot recommend their work highly enough, and I encourage all readers who are able to do so to donate to CRS earthquake relief.

Quote of the Day

"The exodus experience is paradigmatic of the Christian life, particularly in the case of those who have embraced a vocation of special dedication to the Gospel. This calls for a constantly renewed attitude of conversion and transformation, an incessant moving forward, a passage from death to life like that celebrated in every liturgy, an experience of passover. From the call of Abraham to that of Moses, from Israel’s pilgrim journey through the desert to the conversion preached by the prophets, up to the missionary journey of Jesus which culminates in his death and resurrection, vocation is always a work of God. He leads us beyond our initial situation, frees us from every enslavement, breaks down our habits and our indifference, and brings us to the joy of communion with him and with our brothers and sisters. Responding to God’s call, then, means allowing him to help us leave ourselves and our false security behind, and to strike out on the path which leads to Jesus Christ, the origin and destiny of our life and our happiness."

--Pope Francis

Reflection for Today

"'The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep' (John 10:11). While Jesus was saying these words, the Apostles did not realize that he was referring to himself. Not even his beloved Apostle John knew it. He understood on Calvary, at the foot of the Cross, when he saw Jesus silently giving up his life for 'his sheep.' When the time came for John and the other Apostles to assume this same mission, they then remembered his words. They realized that they would be able to fulfill their mission only because he had assured them that he himself would be working among them."

--St. John Paul II, October 16, 2003

Quote of the Day

"The Apostles, who saw with their own eyes the Risen Christ, could not keep silent about their extraordinary experience. He had revealed himself to them so that the truth of his resurrection could reach everyone through their witness. And the Church has the duty to prolong this mission, every baptized person is called to give witness, with their words and with their lives, that Jesus is risen, that He is alive and present among us. We all are called to give witness that Jesus is alive! We can ask ourselves: who is the witness? The witness is one who has seen, who remembers and who recounts. To see, to remember and to tell are the three verbs that describes the identity and mission....

"May Mary, our Mother, sustain us through Her intercession, so that we can become, with our limitations, but with the grace of faith, witnesses of the Risen Lord, bringing to the people who we find the Easter gifts of joy and peace."

--Pope Francis

Global Warming Is a Hoax

Deep down I have felt and believed for a number of years now that the ongoing global warming hysteria, much like the Darwinian theory of evolution, was a convenient, politically correct, money-driven and agenda-driven scientific hoax. Now my hunch has been confirmed by the compelling new research of a former U.S. government insider named John Casey, a retired NASA scientist and well-respected climate change expert. In his recently released book entitled Dark Winter, Casey debunks the entire global warming hypothesis using NASA weather and climate data that actually indicate a worldwide cooling trend in recent years, and he convincingly demonstrates that fluctuations in solar activity are the leading cause of global climate change. Furthermore, Casey’s book blows the lid off a disturbing conspiracy by corrupt U.S. government officials, corporate CEOs and global warming “experts” to discredit the truth of his findings while fostering the myth of a dramatic and irreversible increase in global temperatures fueled by increasing carbon emissions, also known as the “runaway greenhouse effect,” for their own profit to the tune of $22 billion a year.

Based on my own research in recent years, I have come to the conviction that man-made carbon dioxide emissions play only a minor role in affecting Earth's climate, while changes in solar activity and the sunspot cycle are in fact the leading cause of climate change over periods of decades and centuries. Furthermore, as an amateur weather and climate observer, it has dawned on me that the noticeable and undeniable slight warming trend we experienced in the first decade of this century reached its peak in 2010 and has been followed by an equally noticeable and undeniable, if perhaps a bit sharper, cooling trend over the last few years. Nor is mine an isolated observation: faced with extremely precise and reliable meteorological and climatological data from our network of highly advanced Earth-orbiting weather and climate satellites, many honest professional climate scientists around the world are now candidly acknowledging the “inconvenient truth” of a recent drop in average global temperatures (my apologies to Al Gore for stealing his favorite catchphrase) and openly challenging the once-sacrosanct global warming dogma. Casey’s research also confirms what I have intuitively come to realize and understand regarding the seemingly complex science of climate change.

Thanks to a thorough brainwashing by several decades’ worth of human-induced global warming nonsense at a time when the amount of carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere is the highest it has ever been, this unexpected phenomenon of global cooling has caught most of us completely off guard. There was a somewhat humorous news blurb in the March/April issue of the Crusade last year (a magazine of America Needs Fatima and the Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property) about global warming scientists in Antarctica who had gotten stuck in ice that was thicker than they had expected, delaying their return to the inhabited continents. Newsmax ran a story last summer about the first six months of 2014 being the coolest first half of a year for the U.S. so far this century, with recorded temperatures hovering just one-tenth of a degree above the twentieth-century average. Also last summer, a related Newsmax story mentioned the interesting fact that Death Valley, California, the hottest place in the country, was experiencing an unusually cool summer: in fact, on August 3, the high temperature there was only 87 degrees Fahrenheit, the lowest high for that date since 1915. And then there has been my personal experience of cooler weather here in the southern Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Last summer was noticeably cooler than average, with high temperatures mainly in the upper 60s to middle 80s, and a few days in July with highs of just 60 to 65 degrees (mid 70s to mid 90s being more typical readings for midsummer), while we broke multiple record lows across the state this past winter, which was much colder than average for this area, and so far this spring has been the coolest since I have lived here, with the trees still 90 percent bare as of mid-April.

As Casey demonstrates in his book, NASA weather, climate and solar activity data show that while Earth did undergo a slight (.35 degree) warming trend from 1979 to 1998, our planet has been experiencing a general but unmistakable cooling trend since 1998; these trends parallel a general but unmistakable rise and decline in the solar sunspot cycle over the same period of time. According to Casey, the sun has recently entered a multi-decadal phase of reduced activity that astrophysicists call the solar minimum, which is characterized by an unusual scarcity of sunspots; the last such phase occurred in the late 1800s and early 1900s, resulting in severe winters around the world. Although the reasons for the intriguing link and how it works are still shrouded in mystery, it is nonetheless a well-established historical and scientific fact that, generally speaking, more sunspots always result in warmer weather for the Earth as a whole, while fewer sunspots always result in cooler weather. Based on this information, Casey predicts that worldwide temperatures will dip somewhat below their twentieth-century average for the next few decades as the current solar minimum runs its course.

In short, all the hard scientific data and my own rather limited observations indicate that our planet has now entered a cooling down phase, in blatant contradiction and defiance of the shrill claims of global warming alarmists. So much for the wild-eyed predictions of a catastrophic increase in global temperatures that will do away with polar ice and submerge the Florida peninsula if we don’t act now to drastically reduce our carbon emissions. Such claims can now be safely relegated to the dustbin of scientific history alongside Ptolemy’s epicycles, Martian canals, and spontaneous generation. Human-induced global warming having now been exposed for the hoax that it is, it would be wise to begin making preparations for the next few decades of cooler weather.

 

Copyright © 2015 Justin D. Soutar. All rights reserved.

P.S. My appetite for a truthful alternative to the global warming nonsense having now been whetted, I eagerly look forward to reading Casey’s book cover to cover. Stay tuned for my review of Dark Winter. In the meantime, additional interesting facts about the author, the compelling scientific basis for his claims, and the conspiracy by certain government officials, corporate CEOs and global warming “experts” to discredit the truth of his findings can be found here:
https://w3.newsmax.com/LP/Finance/RWL/RWL-Dark-Winter?ns_mail_uid=84163529&ns_mail_job=1616402_04102015&s=al&dkt_nbr=i1ktjqej

Quote of the Day

"Faced with the tragic events of human history we can feel crushed at times, asking ourselves, 'Why?' Humanity’s evil can appear in the world like an abyss, a great void: empty of love, empty of goodness, empty of life.  And so we ask: how can we fill this abyss?  For us it is impossible; only God can fill this emptiness that evil brings to our hearts and to human history.  It is Jesus, God made man, who died on the Cross and who fills the abyss of sin with the depth of his mercy."

--Pope Francis

Easter Reflection

Women at the Empty Tomb, Fra Angelico (ca. 1440)

 "Easter is the feast of the new creation. Jesus is risen and dies no more. He has opened the door to a new life, one that no longer knows illness and death. He has taken mankind up into God himself. 'Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God', Saint Paul says in the First Letter to the Corinthians (15:50). On the subject of Christ’s resurrection and our resurrection, the Church writer Tertullian in the third century was bold enough to write: 'Rest assured, flesh and blood, through Christ you have gained your place in heaven and in the Kingdom of God' (CCL II, 994). A new dimension has opened up for mankind. Creation has become greater and broader. Easter Day ushers in a new creation....

"Jesus rises from the grave. Life is stronger than death. Good is stronger than evil. Love is stronger than hate. Truth is stronger than lies. The darkness of the previous days is driven away the moment Jesus rises from the grave and himself becomes God’s pure light. But this applies not only to him, not only to the darkness of those days. With the resurrection of Jesus, light itself is created anew. He draws all of us after him into the new light of the resurrection and he conquers all darkness. He is God’s new day, new for all of us."

--Benedict XVI, Homily at Easter Vigil, April 7, 2012

Reflection for Holy Thursday

Today is Holy Thursday, the sacred day on which we commemorate Jesus' institution of the Holy Eucharist and the priesthood and give thanks to our loving God for the abundant graces he so generously showers upon us through these two sacraments of the Church. Today, April 2, also marks the tenth anniversary of the passing of Saint John Paul II. In the Gospel reading for tonight's Mass of the Lord's Supper, it says of Jesus, "having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end" (Jn 13:1). These words can be fittingly applied to John Paul II as well. He was such a Christ-like pope who generously gave of himself and spent himself for the good of the Church and the world. He was truly a loving father to all of us who loved us right to the very end--and now he is in Heaven praying and interceding for us.


In honor of this holy day and this great champion of our faith, I would like to offer for reflection a brief passage from one of his final written works, the book Rise, Let Us Be on our Way (Warner Books, 2004), which offers a beautiful and intensely personal teaching on the vocation, ministry, and responsibilities of a Catholic bishop. This wonderful book, written from the heart of a man of deep faith, courageous hope, and fatherly love, offers an unforgettable glimpse into the soul of John Paul II. Marked by the profound spiritual intensity, penetrating theological vision, and untiring pastoral solicitude for which he was so well known, it is a  lost treasure that deserves to be rediscovered. The following passage is taken from pages 215--216:

"When 'His hour' had come, Jesus said to those who were with Him in the Garden of Gethsemane, to Peter, James, and John, his closest disciples: 'Rise, let us be on our way' (Mark 14:42). Not only must He 'be on his way' to fulfill His Father's will: they too must go with Him.

"That invitation, 'Rise, let us be on our way,' is addressed particularly to us bishops, His chosen friends. Even if these words indicate a time of trial, great effort, and a painful cross, we must not allow ourselves to give way to fear. They are also words of peace and joy, the fruit of faith. On another occasion, to the same three disciples, Jesus said: 'Rise, and do not be afraid!' (Matt. 17:7). God's love does not impose burdens on us that we cannot carry, nor make demands of us that we cannot fulfill. For whatever He asks of us, He provides the help that is needed.

"I say this from the place to which the love of Christ Our Savior has led me, asking of me that I should leave my native land so as to bring forth fruit elsewhere through his grace--fruit that will last (John 15:16). Echoing the words of our Lord and Master, I, too, say to each one of you, dear brothers in the episcopate: 'Rise, let us be on our way!' Let us go forth full of trust in Christ. He will accompany us as we journey toward the goal that He alone knows."

A blessed Triduum and Easter to everyone!

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)