tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53001374207947135812024-03-16T02:08:16.172-05:00Deum QuaerensABehmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02303979417051074844noreply@blogger.comBlogger73125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5300137420794713581.post-2100074865443965742011-07-25T18:10:00.000-05:002011-07-25T18:10:08.099-05:00Women Being FORCED To Convert To IslamAn article from <a href="http://theorthodoxchurch.info/blog/news/2011/07/christian-women-in-egypt-being-converted-to-islam-by-force-witness-says/">The Orthodox Church</a>, an Orthodox oriented Media Network, reports on the state of Islamic violence against Christianity in Egypt. What is extra disturbing and outrageous of this Islamic crime is the increased use of sexual abuse and torture against Christian women for the purpose of forced conversion.<br />
<br />
The complete outrage of the attacks, which I'm sorry to say aren't isolated, unsubstantial, nor sparse, is a reality of an Islamic country who will additionally not provide any protection, of any kind, under the law from these attacks.<br />
<br />
You may say Islam is a peaceful religion. However, I'll call your bluff against the violent, unchanging, historical face, that is present from Islamic thinking and communities.<br />
<br />
<br />
<blockquote style="background-color: #301505; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 25px; margin-right: 25px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 15px; padding-right: 20px; padding-top: 10px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Sans', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 1.571em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;">Jean Maher, president of the France-based Egyptian Union for Human Rights Organization, said that nearly 800 Coptic Christian women have been kidnapped, raped and forced to convert to Islam since 2009.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Sans', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 1.571em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;">That number has only increased since the revolution in February, Maher said.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Sans', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 1.571em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;">He said that before the revolution, Muslim kidnappers would have to “seduce” their victims. Now, they “just put them in a taxi and go away with them.”</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Sans', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 1.571em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;">Christian women are an obvious target because they do not wear a veil, which makes them easily identifiable as Christian, said Clark.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Sans', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 1.571em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;">Clark said some women are no longer leaving their homes, for fear of being attacked.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Sans', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 1.571em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;">Clark and Maher suggested that one of the greatest contributors to the abductions is the inactivity of police.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Sans', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 1.571em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;">“Dozens of family members are reporting this,” he said. “They are very badly treated by police.”</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Sans', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 1.571em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;">Maher said most families of victims are already reluctant to come forward because taking away a woman’s virginity also strips the family of its honor. He said families of victims can also be accused of neglecting their daughters.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Sans', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 1.571em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;">“As these victims recognize their voices aren’t being heard, they will no longer come forward,” Clark said.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Sans', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 1.571em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;">Clark suggested this leads to a “cloak of silence, which only exasperates the problem.”</span></div></div></blockquote><a href="http://theorthodoxchurch.info/blog/news/2011/07/christian-women-in-egypt-being-converted-to-islam-by-force-witness-says/">Read More. </a>ABehmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02303979417051074844noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5300137420794713581.post-19940769231583165452011-07-23T11:46:00.000-05:002011-07-23T11:46:47.922-05:00Why Orthodox Men Love Church This very good article from a few years ago, out of the Antiochian magazine "The Word". It describes part of the cultural problem with Western church services, and how these differences are manifest in male attendance and participation within the different traditions. It presents a cultural argument to the Eastern tradition, and I believe to be a strong and accurate argument, especially for men.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif, Helvetica;"><b><i><br />
</i></b></span></div><blockquote style="background-color: #301505; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 25px; margin-right: 25px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 15px; padding-right: 20px; padding-top: 10px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif, Helvetica;"><b><i>"Many men may not love church, but Orthodox men do."</i></b></span></div><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Photo by MPDA.ru" height="265" src="http://www.pravoslavie.ru/sas/image/100341/34141.p.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;">photo by MPDA.r</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;">u</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Geneva, sans-serif, Helvetica; line-height: normal;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"><br />
In a time when churches of every description are faced with Vanishing Male Syndrome, men are showing up at Eastern Orthodox churches in numbers that, if not numerically impressive, are proportionately intriguing. This may be the only church which attracts and holds men in numbers equal to women. As Leon Podles wrote in his 1999 book, "The Church Impotent: The Feminization of Christianity," "The Orthodox are the only Christians who write basso profundo church music, or need to." <br />
<br />
Rather than guess why this is, I emailed a hundred Orthodox men, most of whom joined the Church as adults. What do they think makes this church particularly attractive to men? Their responses, below, may spark some ideas for leaders in other churches, who are looking for ways to keep guys in the church.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Geneva, sans-serif, Helvetica; line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"><b></b></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Geneva, sans-serif, Helvetica; line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"><b><br />
Challenges.</b> The term most commonly cited by these men was "challenging." Orthodoxy is "active and not passive." "It's the only church where you are required to adapt to it, rather than it adapting to you." "The longer you are in it, the more you realize it demands of you."<br />
<br />
The "sheer physicality of Orthodox worship" is part of the appeal. Regular days of fasting from meat and dairy, "standing for hours on end, performing prostrations, going without food and water [before communion]...When you get to the end you feel that you've faced down a challenge." "Orthodoxy appeals to a man's desire for self-mastery through discipline."<br />
<br />
"In Orthodoxy, the theme of spiritual warfare is ubiquitous; saints, including female saints, are warriors. Warfare requires courage, fortitude, and heroism. We are called to be 'strugglers' against sin, to be 'athletes' as St. Paul says. And the prize is given to the victor. The fact that you must 'struggle' during worship by standing up throughout long services is itself a challenge men are willing to take up." <br />
<br />
A recent convert summed up, "Orthodoxy is serious. It is difficult. It is demanding. It is about mercy, but it's also about overcoming oneself. I am challenged in a deep way, not to 'feel good about myself' but to become holy. It is rigorous, and in that rigor I find liberation. And you know, so does my wife."<br />
<br />
<b> Clear Disciplines.</b> Several mentioned that they really appreciated having clarity about the content of these challenges and what they were supposed to do. "Most guys feel a lot more comfortable when they know what's expected of them." "Orthodoxy presents a reasonable set of boundaries." "It's easier for guys to express themselves in worship if there are guidelines about how it's supposed to work—especially when those guidelines are so simple and down-to-earth that you can just set out and start doing something."<br />
<br />
Male choir, seminarians."The prayers the Church provides for us — morning prayers, evening prayers, prayers before and after meals, and so on — give men a way to engage in spirituality without feeling put on the spot, or worrying about looking stupid because they don't know what to say."<br />
<br />
They appreciate learning clear-cut physical actions that are expected to form character and understanding. "People begin learning immediately through ritual and symbolism, for example, by making the sign of the cross. This regimen of discipline makes one mindful of one's relation to the Trinity, to the Church, and to everyone he meets."<br />
<br />
<b> A Goal.</b> Men also appreciate that this challenge has a goal: union with God. One said that in a previous church "I didn't feel I was getting anywhere in my spiritual life (or that there was anywhere to get to — I was already there, right?) But something, who knew what, was missing. Isn't there SOMETHING I should be doing, Lord?"<br />
<br />
Orthodoxy preserves and transmits ancient Christian wisdom about how to progress toward this union, which is called "theosis." Every sacrament or spiritual exercise is designed to bring the person, body and soul, further into continual awareness of the presence of Christ within, and also within every other human being. As a cloth becomes saturated with dye by osmosis, we are saturated with God by theosis.<br />
<br />
A catechumen wrote that he was finding icons helpful in resisting unwanted thoughts. "If you just close your eyes to some visual temptation, there are plenty of stored images to cause problems. But if you surround yourself with icons, you have a choice of whether to look at something tempting or something holy."<br />
<br />
A priest writes, "Men need a challenge, a goal, perhaps an adventure — in primitive terms, a hunt. Western Christianity has lost the ascetic, that is, the athletic aspect of Christian life. This was the purpose of monasticism, which arose in the East largely as a men's movement. Women entered monastic life as well, and our ancient hymns still speak of women martyrs as showing 'manly courage.'"<br />
<br />
"Orthodoxy emphasizes DOING. …. Guys are ACTIVITY oriented."<br />
<br />
<b> No Sentimentality.</b> In "The Church Impotent," cited above (and recommended by several of these men), Leon Podles offers a theory about how Western Christian piety became feminized. In the 12th-13th centuries a particularly tender, even erotic, strain of devotion arose, one which invited the individual believer to picture himself or herself (rather than the Church as a whole) as the Bride of Christ. "Bridal Mysticism" was enthusiastically adopted by devout women, and left an enduring stamp on Western Christianity. It understandably had less appeal for guys. For centuries in the West, men who chose the ministry have been stereotyped as effeminate. A life-long Orthodox layman says that, from the outside, Western Christianity strikes him as "a love story written for women by women." <br />
<br />
The Eastern Church escaped Bridal Mysticism because the great split between East and West had already taken place. The men who wrote me expressed hearty dislike for what they perceive as a soft Western Jesus. "American Christianity in the last two hundred years has been feminized. It presents Jesus as a friend, a lover, someone who 'walks with me and talks with me.' This is fine rapturous imagery for women who need a social life. Or it depicts Jesus whipped, dead on the cross. Neither is the type of Christ the typical male wants much to do with."<br />
<br />
During worship, "men don't want to pray in the Western fashion with hands clasped, lips pressed together, and a facial expression of forced serenity." "It's guys holding hands with other guys and singing campfire songs." "Lines about 'reaching out for His embrace,' 'wanting to touch His face,' while being 'overwhelmed by the power of His love'—those are difficult songs for one man to sing to another Man."<br />
<br />
"A friend of mine told me that the first thing he does when he walks into a church is to look at the curtains. That tells him who is making the decisions in that church, and the type of Christian they want to attract."<br />
<br />
"Guys either want to be challenged to fight for a glorious and honorable cause, and get filthy dirty in the process, or to loaf in our recliners with plenty of beer, pizza, and football. But most churches want us to behave like orderly gentlemen, keeping our hands and mouths nice and clean."<br />
<br />
One man said that worship at his Pentecostal church had been "largely an emotional experience. Feelings. Tears. Repeated rededication of one's life to Christ, in large emotional group settings. Singing emotional songs, swaying hands aloft. Even Scripture reading was supposed to produce an emotional experience. I am basically a do-er, I want to do things, and not talk about or emote my way through them! As a business person I knew that nothing in business comes without effort, energy, and investment. Why would the spiritual life be any different?"<br />
<br />
Another, who visited Catholic churches, says, "They were conventional, easy, and modern, when my wife and I were looking for something traditional, hard, and counter-cultural, something ancient and martial." A catechumen says that at his non-denominational church "worship was shallow, haphazard, cobbled together from whatever was most current; sometimes we'd stand, sometimes we'd sit, without much rhyme or reason to it. I got to thinking about how a stronger grounding in tradition would help."<br />
<br />
"It infuriated me on my last Ash Wednesday that the priest delivered a homily about how the real meaning of Lent is to learn to love ourselves more. It forced me to realize how completely sick I was of bourgeois, feel-good American Christianity."<br />
<br />
A convert priest says that men are drawn to the dangerous element of Orthodoxy, which involves "the self-denial of a warrior, the terrifying risk of loving one's enemies, the unknown frontiers to which a commitment to humility might call us. Lose any of those dangerous qualities and we become the 'JoAnn Fabric Store' of churches: nice colors and a very subdued clientele."<br />
<br />
"Men get pretty cynical when they sense someone's attempting to manipulate their emotions, especially when it's in the name of religion. They appreciate the objectivity of Orthodox worship. It's not aimed at prompting religious feelings but at performing an objective duty."<br />
<br />
Yet there is something in Orthodoxy that offers "a deep masculine romance. Do you understand what I mean by that? Most romance in our age is pink, but this is a romance of swords and gallantry."<br />
<br />
From a deacon: "Evangelical churches call men to be passive and nice (think 'Mr. Rogers'). Orthodox churches call men to be courageous and act (think 'Braveheart').<br />
<br />
<b> Jesus Christ.</b> What draws men to Orthodoxy is not simply that it's challenging or mysterious. What draws them is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the center of everything the Church does or says.<br />
<br />
In contrast to some other churches, "Orthodoxy offers a robust Jesus" (and even a robust Virgin Mary, for that matter, hailed in one hymn as "our Captain, Queen of War"). Several used the term "martial" or referred to Orthodoxy as the "Marine Corps" of Christianity. (The warfare is against self-destructive sin and the unseen spiritual powers, not other people, of course.)<br />
<br />
One contrasted this "robust" quality with "the feminized pictures of Jesus I grew up with. I've never had a male friend who would not have expended serious effort to avoid meeting someone who looked like that." Though drawn to Jesus Christ as a teen, "I felt ashamed of this attraction, as if it were something a red-blooded American boy shouldn't take that seriously, almost akin to playing with dolls."<br />
<br />
A priest writes: "Christ in Orthodoxy is a militant, Jesus takes Hell captive. Orthodox Jesus came to cast fire on the earth. (Males can relate to this.) In Holy Baptism we pray for the newly-enlisted warriors of Christ, male and female, that they may 'be kept ever warriors invincible.'"<br />
<br />
After several years in Orthodoxy, one man found a service of Christmas carols in a Protestant church "shocking, even appalling." Compared to the Orthodox hymns of Christ's Nativity, "'the little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay' has almost nothing to do with the Eternal Logos entering inexorably, silently yet heroically, into the fabric of created reality."<br />
<br />
<img alt="Photo by Alexander Osokin." src="http://www.pravoslavie.ru/sas/image/100341/34142.p.jpg" /><br />
<br />
<b> Continuity.</b> Many intellectually-inclined Orthodox converts began by reading Church history and the early Christian writers, and found it increasingly compelling. Eventually they faced the question of which of the two most ancient churches, the Roman Catholic or the Orthodox, makes the most convincing claim of being the original Church of the Apostles.<br />
<br />
A lifelong Orthodox says that what men like is "stability: Men find they can trust the Orthodox Church because of the consistent and continuous tradition of faith it has maintained over the centuries." A convert says, "The Orthodox Church offers what others do not: continuity with the first followers of Christ." This is continuity, not archeology; the early church still exists, and you can join it.<br />
<br />
"What drew me was Christ's promises to the Church about the gates of hell not prevailing, and the Holy Spirit leading into all truth—and then seeing in Orthodoxy a unity of faith, worship, and doctrine with continuity throughout history."<br />
<br />
Another word for continuity is "tradition." A catechumen writes that he had tried to learn everything necessary to interpret Scripture correctly, including ancient languages. "I expected to dig my way down to the foundation and confirm everything I'd been taught. Instead, the further down I went, the weaker everything seemed. I realized I had only acquired the ability to manipulate the Bible to say pretty much anything I wanted it to. The only alternative to cynicism was tradition. If the Bible was meant to say anything, it was meant to say it within a community, with a tradition to guide the reading. In Orthodoxy I found what I was looking for."<br />
<br />
<b> Men in Balance.</b> A priest writes: "There are only two models for men: be 'manly' and strong, rude, crude, macho, and probably abusive; or be sensitive, kind, repressed and wimpy. But in Orthodoxy, masculine is held together with feminine; it's real and down to earth, 'neither male nor female,' but Christ who 'unites things in heaven and things on earth.'"<br />
<br />
Another priest comments that, if one spouse is originally more insistent about the family converting to Orthodoxy than the other, "when both spouses are making confessions, over time they both become deepened and neither one is as dominant in the spiritual relationship."<br />
<br />
<b> Men in Leadership.</b> Like it or not, men simply prefer to be led by men. In Orthodoxy, lay women do everything lay men do, including preach, teach, and chair the parish council. But behind the iconostasis, around the altar, it's all men. One respondent summarized what men like in Orthodoxy this way: "Beards!"<br />
<br />
"It's the last place in the world men aren't told they're evil simply for being men." Instead of negativity, they are constantly surrounded by positive role models in the saints, in icons and in the daily round of hymns and stories about saints' lives. This is another concrete element that men appreciate — there are other real human beings to look to, rather than a blur of ethereal terms. "The glory of God is a man fully alive," said St. Irenaeus. One writer adds that "The best way to attract a man to the Orthodox Church is to show him an Orthodox man."<br />
<br />
But no secondary thing, no matter how good, can supplant first place. "A dangerous life is not the goal. Christ is the goal. A free spirit is not the goal. Christ is the goal. He is the towering figure of history around whom all men and women will eventually gather, to whom every knee will bow, and whom every tongue will confess." </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Geneva, sans-serif, Helvetica; line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="font-family: Arial, Geneva, sans-serif, Helvetica; font-style: normal; text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Geneva, sans-serif, Helvetica; line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"> December 2007 issue of <a href="http://www.antiochian.org/theword"><em>The Word</em> magazine</a></span></span></span></div><div align="right" style="font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif, Helvetica; font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Geneva, sans-serif, Helvetica; line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"><a href="http://www.pravoslavie.ru/authors/1344.htm">Frederica Mathewes-Green</a></span></i></span></span></div></div></blockquote><br />
HT: <a href="http://journeytoorthodoxy.com/2010/10/28/why-orthodox-men-love-church/#axzz1SwkrJvEH">Journey to Orthodoxy</a>ABehmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02303979417051074844noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5300137420794713581.post-70077530890732712472011-06-28T10:23:00.001-05:002011-06-28T10:26:31.743-05:00Casualty Report on the Gender WarMy <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #e69138;">emphasis</span>.<br />
My <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">comments</span>. (sarcasm intended)<br />
<br />
<blockquote style="background-color: #301505; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Arial, Verdana; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 25px; margin-right: 25px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 15px; padding-right: 20px; padding-top: 10px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc; font-style: italic;">(<a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2008453/School-bans-bid-stop-children-falling-gender-stereotypes.html?ITO=1490#">Daily Mail</a>) </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #e69138; font-style: italic;">A pre-school in Sweden has decided to stop calling children 'him' or 'her' in a bid to avoid gender stereotypes.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc; font-style: italic;"> The Egalia preschool, in the Sodermalm district of Stockholm, has made the decision as part of the country efforts to engineer equality between the sexes from childhood.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc; font-style: italic;"> As well as the decision to stop using the words, the taxpayer-funded school also carefully plans the colour and placement of toys and the choice of books to assure they do not fall into stereotypes.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc; font-style: italic;"> The school opened last year and is on a mission to break down gender roles - a core mission in the national curriculum for Swedish pre-schools.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc; font-style: italic;"> The option to implement the rules is underpinned by a theory that society gives boys an unfair edge.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc; font-style: italic;"> 'Society expects girls to be girlie, nice and pretty and boys to be manly, rough and outgoing,' says Jenny Johnsson, a 31-year-old teacher. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-style: italic;">(You're right. That is odd...)</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc; font-style: italic;"> 'Egalia gives them a fantastic opportunity to be whoever they want to be.' </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-style: italic;">(No, it gives you the chance to warp innocent children to your perversion.)</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc; font-style: italic;"> At the school, boys and girls play together with a toy kitchen, waving plastic utensils and pretending to cook. One boy hides inside the toy stove, his head popping out through a hole.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc; font-style: italic;"> Lego bricks and other building blocks are intentionally placed next to the kitchen, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #e69138; font-style: italic;">to make sure the children draw no mental barriers between cooking and construction</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc; font-style: italic;">. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-style: italic;">(Have you ever seen a kid's room that's been played in? Toy placement is meaningless.)</span><br />
<br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #e69138;"> Meanwhile, nearly all the children's books deal with homosexual couples, single parents or adopted children. There are no 'Snow White,' 'Cinderella' or other fairy tales. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">(Allowing the kid's to be who </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">they<i> want to be, I see.)</i></span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc; font-style: italic;"> Director Lotta Rajalin notes that Egalia places a special emphasis on fostering an environment tolerant of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. </span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc; font-style: italic;"> Rajalin says the staff also try to help the children discover new ideas when they play. </span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc; font-style: italic;"> 'A concrete example could be when they're playing 'house' and the role of the mom already is taken and they start to squabble,' she says. 'Then we suggest two moms or three moms and so on.' </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-style: italic;">(Because a natural family, the building block of society, is unnatural and destructive...)</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc; font-style: italic;"> Egalia's methods are </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #e69138; font-style: italic;">controversial</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc; font-style: italic;">, with Rajalin claiming the staff have received threats from racists apparently upset about the preschool's use of black dolls.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc; font-style: italic;"> But she says that there's a long waiting list for admission, and that </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #e69138; font-style: italic;">only one couple has pulled a child out of the school</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc; font-style: italic;">. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-style: italic;">(If she's telling the truth, this is sad. Either only one family is paying attention, or everyone else is too warped to care.)</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc; font-style: italic;"> Jukka Korpi, 44, says he and his wife chose Egalia '</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #e69138; font-style: italic;">to give our children all the possibilities based on who they are and not on their gender</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc; font-style: italic;">.' </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-style: italic;">(That's called higher education! Not subjecting your kids to experimentation.)</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc; font-style: italic;"> Staff at the school try to shed masculine and feminine references from their speech, including the pronouns him or her – 'han' or 'hon' in Swedish. Instead, they've have adopted the genderless 'hen'.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc; font-style: italic;"> 'We use the word "Hen" for example when a doctor, police, electrician or plumber or such is coming to the kindergarten,' Rajalin says. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-style: italic;">(Orwell just cried.)</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc; font-style: italic;"> 'We don't know if it's a he or a she so we just say "Hen is coming around 2pm"; then the children can imagine both a man or a woman. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #e69138; font-style: italic;">This widens their view</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc; font-style: italic;">.' </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-style: italic;">(Or confuses the daylights out of them.)</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #e69138; font-style: italic;"> Jay Belsky, a child psychologist</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc; font-style: italic;"> at the University of California, Davis, said he's not aware of any other school like Egalia, and</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #e69138; font-style: italic;"> he questioned whether it was the right way to go. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-style: italic;">(Understatement of the year...)</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">{</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #e69138;">'The kind of things that boys like to do - run around and turn sticks into swords - will soon be disapproved of,' he said. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #e69138; font-style: italic;"> '<u>So gender neutrality at its worst is emasculating maleness</u>.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #e69138; font-style: italic;">'</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-style: italic;">}</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #e69138; font-style: italic;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-style: italic;">(Exactly)</span></span></div></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;">That last sentence says it all. The efforts of this "school" are an attempt by overzealous feminist ideals to remove the 'strong man' from society. Don't forget, this is also one of the most de-Christianised countries in the world.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;">You might be be tempted to call this femi-nazi propaganda and experimentation. You'd be right. This stems from the idea that all boys get an unfair advantage from society for being boys. Therefore, the correction is to transform a boy into a girl, and of course, vice versa. <u>This a perverted ideology with mass human experiments and relentless child indoctrination!</u></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;">Gender stereotypes like calling a child HIM and HER, are no longer acceptable. After all, this will empower the kids to become <strike>gay</strike> normal. Even"<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 21px;">dis-educational, proto-Fascist, chauvinistic literature aimed at consolidating the male supremacy like 'Cinderella' or 'Snow White'" are unacceptable and a 'hindrence' to </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 21px;">their</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 21px;"> 'natural' development. </span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;">Don't be fooled by the change of face, this is still the symptom of an ideology that Lenin and Hitler used to strike such evil on humanity.</span>ABehmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02303979417051074844noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5300137420794713581.post-40004797052072239312011-06-25T16:57:00.001-05:002011-06-25T17:05:44.130-05:00Fr. Michael Rodriguez defends Catholic Teaching in El Paso<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/CLAX8UZ9zoc" width="640"></iframe><br />
<br />
Roman Catholic priest, Fr. Michael Rodriguez, defends the Christian faith and position on homosexuality at an El Paso City Council vote to repeal medical benefits from 'unmarried partners'. He maintains that homosexual behavior is unnatural, and not a valid basis for an identity that opposes the Christian faith handed down from God. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;">We should all desire the care for all people, however, sinful behavior is not a basis of that love.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;">There is a deep rooted belief that implies and instructs that separation of church and state means completely ignoring any reasoning that is religiously derived. This, however, is not the purpose of a </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;">separation</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"> of Church and State. The Church cannot control the State, but out well-founded and true beliefs are still the valid source of our earthly reasoning.</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"><br />
</span><br />
For the full video, go to the link below, and select under City Council Meetings "6/14/2011".<br />
<a href="http://www.elpasotexas.gov/realplayer.asp">http://www.elpasotexas.gov/realplayer.asp</a>ABehmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02303979417051074844noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5300137420794713581.post-43568893434544414492011-06-25T09:36:00.000-05:002011-06-25T09:36:48.103-05:00Wages of Sin: Are Sexual Sins the Worst Sins?<a href="http://frted.wordpress.com/2010/07/06/wages-of-sin-are-sexual-sins-the-worst-sins/">by Fr. Ted</a><br />
<br />
<blockquote style="background-color: #301505; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 25px; margin-right: 25px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 15px; padding-right: 20px; padding-top: 10px;"><div style="font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;">“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).</span></span></div></blockquote><br />
There is no doubt since Christianity began it taught its members to be holy as God is holy. This has sometimes been reduced in people’s minds to referring only to morality, but holiness is not just proper external behavior, it also has to do with the state of a person’s heart, and in fact their very being including their relationship with God. Sometimes Christians reduce the sense of holiness to sexual activity, something which was influenced by ideas presented early on in Christianity by dualists who despised the body and marriage, treating any sexual desire as a disease (St. John Cassian calls it such in his Institutes, though admittedly he is writing for monks not to all Christians). This abhorrence of anything sexual ultimate denies the goodness of creation and is at odds with the Genesis story of God creating humans male and female as well as with the Gospel truth of the incarnation where Jesus is a male not an androgynous being). Today, as in every generation of Christianity, we see these ideas manifesting themselves, in our times especially in claims which make homosexuality to be veritably THE unforgivable sin. In the book IN THE WORLD, OF THE CHURCH, Paul Evdokimov notes:<br />
<br />
Berdiaev [Nikolai Berdiaev, a 19th century Russian religious and political philosopher] stressed with reason that the Gospel is infinitely more severe toward wealth, exploitation, and social disorder than toward any sexual failing. The real problem of social obligation has been repressed and replaced by a veritable obsession with matters sexual, even up to our time. According to the Gospel, it is the rich who will not enter the Kingdom, while repentant prostitutes enter ahead of the righteous and their influence. ( pg. 87)<br />
<br />
We are so often concerned with or obsessed by the sins of others, while holiness tells us when it comes to sin to specifically look at ourselves. Christianity is a self-denying religion, but only when it comes to sin does it traditionally tell us to look at ourselves and judge rather than looking at and judging others.ABehmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02303979417051074844noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5300137420794713581.post-53855989998547497252011-06-25T09:31:00.003-05:002011-06-25T09:39:05.888-05:00Patriarch Kirill: European population will die without Christianity<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="text" style="line-height: 15px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 15px; margin-right: 3px; text-align: left; text-indent: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=8535">Moscow, June 22, Interfax</a> - Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill urged European religious leaders to make collective efforts to pursue the revival of Christianity within the continent.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">"The Russian Orthodox Church proposes that European Christian communities unite to become partners of the states and European civil community in pursuing the revival of tangible connection between the human rights concept and the pan-European spiritual heritage," the Patriarch said at the Moscow meeting of the European Council of Religious Leaders.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">According to him, only economic and political ties in Europe cannot be "a sustainable basis for the well-being of European community" and existing social values of human rights and rule of law and democracy may remain just "the forms which are unlikely to benefit in the conditions of moral relativism and sometimes may even cause harm."</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Patriarch Kirill quoted "the decline of family values causing depopulation in Europe" as an example.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">"How can family values be less important than the above ones, if the destruction of family causes physical reduction of the European population? Who will benefit from political developments, if European peoples cease to be or reduce to such number that their role will fail to have any significance?" he asked.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The Patriarch believes that the Soviet human rights concept involves no "clear and reasonable definition of the term human dignity" which is recognized in religious world view, therefore, Patriarch urged representatives of traditional religious communities of Europe to "make the term human dignity meaningful and establish its relation to virtue and seeking perfection."</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">"This is going to be our investment into generating ethical standards of both personal and social development. Currently, public environment is almost deprived of any moral models or ideals. Mass culture may only offer an image of a prosperous and successful person who can afford to meet every his or her wish," he noted.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The Patriarch expressed hope that the European Council of Religious Leaders will make its contribution to "intellectual enrichment of the European community with traditional religious values which have for centuries encouraged Europeans to seek justice and life under ethical norms generated by this tradition."</span></div><div class="text" style="line-height: 15px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 15px; margin-right: 3px; text-align: left; text-indent: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="text" style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 15px; margin-right: 3px; text-align: left; text-indent: 15px;"><br />
</div>ABehmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02303979417051074844noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5300137420794713581.post-24930727007237065832011-06-18T23:43:00.000-05:002011-06-18T23:43:09.881-05:00A Prayer Rule for a Busy Life from St. Seraphim<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ_zAR-RuM29Rj2LtmKRdaUpUQ_kVeb9SJyUiZG7YIM06pooWTttMX03KByawPgUDolfBhaK8SCdmzTuRFynpZycL4wD0KYragXwZlTobe4_rudcv7_ar0SnzV_AegAIuwns_YtM24gGI/s1600/seraphim_3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ_zAR-RuM29Rj2LtmKRdaUpUQ_kVeb9SJyUiZG7YIM06pooWTttMX03KByawPgUDolfBhaK8SCdmzTuRFynpZycL4wD0KYragXwZlTobe4_rudcv7_ar0SnzV_AegAIuwns_YtM24gGI/s320/seraphim_3.jpg" width="225" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The Simple Rule </span><br />
<br />
<i>Many among the simple people told St. Seraphim that on account of their illiteracy or lack of time they could not read the appointed rules of prayer. To such people Fr. Seraphim gave a rule which cold be carried out quite easily.</i><br />
<br />
Let every Christian on rising from sleep, stand before the ikons and say the following:<br />
<br />
<blockquote style="background-color: #301505; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 25px; margin-right: 25px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 15px; padding-right: 20px; padding-top: 10px;"><div style="font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 19px;"><b>Our Father, </b>who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.<b> <br />
(3x, in honour of the Trinity)</b><br />
<br />
<b> Rejoice, O Virgin Theotokos, </b>Mary full of grace, the Lord is with thee, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, for thou hast born the Saviour of our souls.<b> <br />
(3x)</b><br />
<br />
<b> The Creed</b><br />
I believe in one God, the Father Almighty,<br />
Maker of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible.<br />
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God,<br />
the Only-begotten, begotten of the Father before all ages;<br />
Light of Light, true God of true God;<br />
begotten, not made; of one essence with the Father, by Whom all things were made;<br />
Who for us men and for our salvation came down from the heavens, and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and became man;<br />
And was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered and was buried;<br />
And He arose again on the third day according to the Scriptures;<br />
And ascended into heave, and sitteth at the right hand of the Father;<br />
And He shall come again, with glory, to judge the living and the dead;<br />
Whose kingdom shall have no end.<br />
And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life; Who proceedeth from the Father;<br />
Who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified;<br />
Who spake by the prophets.<br />
In One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.<br />
I confess one baptism for the remission of sins.<br />
I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life or the age to come.<br />
<b> Amen.</b></span></span></span></span></div></blockquote><br />
<br />
Having performed this rule, let every Christian go to the work to which he has been appointed or called. But during his work, at home, or on his way to some place, let him say softly,<i> <b>Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner</b></i>. But if he is surrounded by people, while doing whatever he has to do, let him say mentally only,<b><i> Lord, have mercy!</i></b> and continue till lunch-time.<br />
<br />
Before lunch let him again perform the above-mentioned morning rule (three times).<br />
<br />
After lunch let every Christian while going about his business say softly; <b><i>Most holy Mother of God, save me a sinner</i></b>, and let him continue that until bedtime.<br />
<br />
If he happens to spend his time alone, let him say: <b><i>Lord Jesus Christ, through the Mother of God, have mercy on me a sinner.</i></b><br />
<br />
At bedtime let every Christian read again the above-mentioned morning rule. <i>Then let him go to sleep, having protected himself with the sign of the cross.</i><br />
<br />
<i> By keeping this simple rule, it is possible to reach a measure of Christian perfection and divine love.</i> -<a href="http://www.orthodoxwiki.org/Seraphim_of_Sarov">St. Seraphim</a><br />
<br />
From An Extraordinary Peace: St. Seraphim, Flame of Sarov, p. 327-328ABehmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02303979417051074844noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5300137420794713581.post-67274472406661729712011-06-16T13:04:00.000-05:002011-06-16T13:04:10.927-05:00Egyptian Christian Monk PersecutionUnfortunately, the poster of the video does not allow embedding. The link is here:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://vimeo.com/22239744">http://vimeo.com/22239744</a><br />
<br />
The video is a 15 minute 'documentary style' recording of the monks in Egypt who are being persecuted by the Egyptian government. Well worth your time if you are unfamiliar with the situation.<br />
CAUTION: The last five minutes show some injuries.<br />
<br />
This is not an isolated event:<br />
<blockquote style="background-color: #301505; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 25px; margin-right: 25px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 15px; padding-right: 20px; padding-top: 10px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial, Arial, Verdana; line-height: 20px; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial, Arial, Verdana; line-height: 20px; text-align: center;"></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Arial, Verdana; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #cccccc; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 19px;"><b><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;">Assist News Service: The Egyptian uprising has left Coptic Orthodox monasteries exceedingly vulnerable, as the police who normally guard the monasteries have either deserted their posts or been redeployed to the cities. Exploiting the security vacuum, Arab raiders, jihadists and prison escapees have attacked and raided several monasteries. When the monks requested protection at the 5th Century Monastery of St Bishoy in Wadi al-Natroun, some 110km north of Cairo, they were told they would have to fend for themselves. So they built a surrounding security wall, inside their boundary. However, Islamic law mandates that Christians may neither build nor repair churches. (See last week’s RLPB 096 for some examples of consequences.)</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;">On 21 February soldiers arrived at the monastery of St Bishoy in tanks and bulldozers. They had not come to protect the community, but to demolish the security wall. After arguing with the monks and workers, the soldiers opened fire with live ammunition, including rocket-propelled grenades. Father Feltaows was shot in the leg and Father Barnabas in the abdomen. Six monastery workers were also wounded, one critically. The wounded are being treated in the Anglo-Egyptian Hospital in Cairo. The army also attacked the Monastery of St Makarios of Alexandria in Wady el-Rayan, Fayoum, some 130km south-east of Cairo. This monastery likewise had erected a security wall after an attack by armed thugs and Arabs left six monks wounded, one critically. Not only did the military demolish the security wall, they ‘confiscated’ the monastery’s building materials. </span></span></span></b></span></div></div></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small; line-height: 14px;"><a href="http://www.persecution.org/outofegypt/2011/06/06/monk-workers-shot-by-egyptian-army-in-monastery-attack/">Full Article</a></span>ABehmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02303979417051074844noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5300137420794713581.post-58419119055415766292011-06-16T10:01:00.003-05:002011-06-16T10:03:15.412-05:00What is Divine Mercy?<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px;"><strong style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="color: #cc0000; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Divine Mercy: More Than Mercy</span></strong></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', 'Lucida Grande', Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="color: #cccccc; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">By:</span> </em></strong></span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', 'Lucida Grande', Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="color: #cccccc; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Andrew Youssef </span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', 'Lucida Grande', Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="color: #cccccc; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><br />
</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; color: #cccccc; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px;"><strong style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Abstract:</em> </strong></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', 'Lucida Grande', Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="color: #cccccc; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">As a group of Armenian women are publicly humiliated, tortured, and ultimately burnt to death by Turkish soldiers on account of their Armenian identity, they are heard invoking the short yet profound prayer that features most regularly in Oriental Orthodox worship: "Lord, have Mercy." They thereby bear powerful witness to the all-encompassing spirit of Divine Mercy which resonates with its conception in the Oriental Orthodox Tradition as well as the Hebrew Scriptures.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<iframe frameborder="0" height="299" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/25170320?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0" width="398"></iframe><br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://erkohet.com/index.php/fiery-darts-from-the-orient#divinemercy">Source</a>ABehmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02303979417051074844noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5300137420794713581.post-81512256569692250482011-06-06T18:35:00.000-05:002011-06-06T18:35:15.992-05:00Why Humility is So ImportantIn our modern world culture, humbleness is not something that is given a high value. More common is the encouragement to become self assertive, forceful, to act independently. Yet Scripture and the Church Fathers continually emphasize the need for humbleness for our spiritual growth.<br />
<br />
We know God loves us and wants to protect us. He knows our problems. He is omnipotent so there is no problem that he cannot help us with, except for one. That is overcoming our lack of humbleness.<br />
<br />
Elder Paisios says,<br />
<blockquote style="background-color: #301505; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Arial, Verdana; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 25px; margin-right: 25px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 15px; padding-right: 20px; padding-top: 10px;"><div style="font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">The difficulty God faces, and I repeat, it is the only one, is the He “cannot” help us when our soul is not humble. God “feels sad” because, while he sees His creature suffer, He “cannot” offer any help. What ever help He offers, it will harm the person because he lacks a humble mind.</span></span></span></span></div></blockquote><br />
This is when we are overtaken by our passions and God allows this to happen. He cannot help us because our soul is filled with pride and self-centered thoughts. In a sense, in these moments we have rejected God and instead put all our trust in our own being. We are intent on gaining whatever it is we desire.<br />
<br />
The Elder says,<br />
<blockquote style="background-color: #301505; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Arial, Verdana; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 25px; margin-right: 25px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 15px; padding-right: 20px; padding-top: 10px;"><div style="font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">God will not give us what we are asking for, no matter how hard we try, unless we humble ourselves. If our aim is humility, then God will give us everything for free. God desires only one thing from us: our humbleness. He does not need anything else; just humble ourselves, so He can actually make us partakers of his divine grace, which was granted to us through the mystery of Holy Baptism.... He is only asking from us to humble ourselves and respond out of gratefulness and appreciation of His love. Thus, divine grace, will make us love God and get to know Him; it will do everything for us, if we only humble ourselves and allow for it to act.</span></span></span></span></div></blockquote><br />
Saint Peter advises us,<br />
<blockquote style="background-color: #301505; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Arial, Verdana; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 25px; margin-right: 25px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 15px; padding-right: 20px; padding-top: 10px;"><div style="font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">Cloth yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that in due time he may exalt you. Cast all your anxieties on him, for he cares about you. <br />
(1 Peter 5:5-7)</span></span></span></span></div></blockquote><br />
<br />
Source: Elder Paisios of the Holy Mountain, pp 88-89<br />
H/T: <a href="http://orthodoxwayoflife.blogspot.com/2010/10/why-humility-is-so-important.html">Orthodox Way of Life</a>ABehmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02303979417051074844noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5300137420794713581.post-50583902809219896712011-06-05T13:38:00.000-05:002011-06-05T13:38:06.137-05:00An exhortation to humility.<blockquote style="background-color: #301505; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 25px; margin-right: 25px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 15px; padding-right: 20px; padding-top: 10px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial, Arial, Verdana; line-height: 20px; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial, Arial, Verdana; line-height: 20px; text-align: center;"></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Arial, Verdana; line-height: 20px;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2GkT09eSnfsWTCr7FyrLXgYhMFuupyhq5t4vWQfVsWQNOW-Jn_wt9pq2062cK95nSivUenjGFiNXBvrmVo85wyOgx4XYARoy93MKg2c_gcig4z8A8hpGhNPLmuYOhIpxUgfr8fRy-OGk/s1600/Clemens_I.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2GkT09eSnfsWTCr7FyrLXgYhMFuupyhq5t4vWQfVsWQNOW-Jn_wt9pq2062cK95nSivUenjGFiNXBvrmVo85wyOgx4XYARoy93MKg2c_gcig4z8A8hpGhNPLmuYOhIpxUgfr8fRy-OGk/s200/Clemens_I.jpg" width="151" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pope St. Clement I</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #cccccc; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 19px;"><b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px;"> Let us therefore, brethren, be of humble mind, laying aside all haughtiness, and pride, and foolishness, and angry feelings; and let us act according to that which is written (for the Holy Spirit saith, “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, neither let the rich man glory in his riches; but let him that glorieth glory in the Lord, in diligently seeking Him, and doing judgment and righteousness”</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px;">), being especially mindful of the words of the Lord Jesus which He spake, teaching us meekness and long-suffering. For thus He spoke: “Be ye merciful, that ye may obtain mercy; forgive, that it may be forgiven to you; as ye do, so shall it be done unto you; as ye judge, so shall ye be judged; as ye are kind, so shall kindness be shown to you; with what measure ye mete, with the same it shall be measured to you.”</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px;">By this precept and by these rules let us establish ourselves, that we walk with all humility in obedience to His holy words. For the holy word saith, “On whom shall I look, but on him that is meek and peaceable, and that trembleth at My words?”</span></span></span></span></b></span></div></div></blockquote> -St. Clement, Third Bishop of Rome after St. Peter (Died, 98 AD)<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf01.ii.ii.xiii.html#fna_ii.ii.xiii-p1.3">Source</a>.ABehmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02303979417051074844noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5300137420794713581.post-1316110700872066622011-06-01T19:35:00.000-05:002011-06-01T19:35:43.063-05:00The Chaplet of St. Michael the ArchangelThe Chaplet of St. Michael is a wonderful way to honor this great Archangel along with the other nine Choirs of Angels. What do we mean by Choirs? It seems that God has created various orders of Angels. Sacred Scripture distinguishes nine such groupings: Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, Dominations, Powers, Virtues, Principalities, Archangels and Angels (Isa. 6:2; Gen. 3:24; Col. 1:16; Eph. 1:21; Rom. 8:38). There may be more groupings but these are the only ones that have been revealed to us. The Seraphim is believed to be the highest Choir, the most intimately united to God, while the Angelic Choir is the lowest.<br />
<br />
The history of this Chaplet goes back to a devout Servant of God, Antonia d'Astonac, who had a vision of St. Michael. He told Antonia to honor him by nine salutations to the nine Choirs of Angels. St. Michael promised that whoever would practice this devotion in his honor would have, when approaching Holy Communion, an escort of nine angels chosen from each of the nine Choirs. In addition, for those who would recite the Chaplet daily, he promised his continual assistance and that of all the holy angels during life.<br />
<br />
The Chaplet of St. Michael <br />
O God, come to my assistance. O Lord, make haste to help me. Glory be to the Father, etc.<br />
<br />
[Say one Our Father and three Hail Marys after each of the following nine salutations in honor of the nine Choirs of Angels]<br />
<br />
1. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Seraphim may the Lord make us worthy to burn with the fire of perfect charity.<br />
Amen.<br />
<br />
2. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Cherubim may the Lord grant us the grace to leave the ways of sin and run in the paths of Christian perfection.<br />
Amen.<br />
<br />
3. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Thrones may the Lord infuse into our hearts a true and sincere spirit of humility.<br />
Amen.<br />
<br />
4. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Dominations may the Lord give us grace to govern our senses and overcome any unruly passions.<br />
Amen.<br />
<br />
5. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Virtues may the Lord preserve us from evil and falling into temptation. Amen.<br />
<br />
6. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Powers may the Lord protect our souls against the snares and temptations of the devil.<br />
Amen.<br />
<br />
7. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Principalities may God fill our souls with a true spirit of obedience. Amen.<br />
<br />
8. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Archangels may the Lord give us perseverance in faith and in all good works in order that we may attain the glory of Heaven.<br />
Amen.<br />
<br />
9. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Angels may the Lord grant us to be protected by them in this mortal life and conducted in the life to come to Heaven.<br />
Amen.<br />
<br />
Say one Our Father in honor of each of the following leading Angels: St. Michael, St. Gabriel, St. Raphael and our Guardian Angel.<br />
<br />
Concluding prayers:<br />
<br />
O glorious prince St. Michael, chief and commander of the heavenly hosts, guardian of souls, vanquisher of rebel spirits, servant in the house of the Divine King and our admirable conductor, you who shine with excellence and superhuman virtue deliver us from all evil, who turn to you with confidence and enable us by your gracious protection to serve God more and more faithfully every day.<br />
<br />
Pray for us, O glorious St. Michael, Prince of the Church of Jesus Christ, that we may be made worthy of His promises.<br />
<br />
Almighty and Everlasting God, Who, by a prodigy of goodness and a merciful desire for the salvation of all men, has appointed the most glorious Archangel St. Michael Prince of Your Church, make us worthy, we ask You, to be delivered from all our enemies, that none of them may harass us at the hour of death, but that we may be conducted by him into Your Presence.This we ask through the merits of<br />
Jesus Christ Our Lord.<br />
<br />
Amen.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.ewtn.com/devotionals/prayers/chaplet-of-st-michael.htm">Source</a>.ABehmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02303979417051074844noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5300137420794713581.post-40809575582878874392011-05-30T10:59:00.001-05:002011-05-30T10:59:48.379-05:00Why Not "Open Communion"?A good article on the Orthodox perspective of the Eucharist.<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://www.oca.org/CHRIST-life-article.asp?SID=6&ID=132&MONTH=June&YEAR=2007/">Why Not "Open Communion"?<br />
Written by the Very Rev. John Breck </a></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<blockquote style="background-color: #301505; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 25px; margin-right: 25px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 15px; padding-right: 20px; padding-top: 10px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; line-height: 20px; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; line-height: 20px; text-align: center;"></div><div style="line-height: 20px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtP_mfTl4UPV23fByujh1Z9d0CnWsIkspwwG_oImbZl2CZPIkMxDFSPoRaegL8bopVSM8JKlF4fqGPAvd7LXqRUi9H67imlpUZwT-bSdGwrupT1mA5zF86YKQB6Ic80rlJq1z9kmfXc24/s1600/710145808_e1a047a1cc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtP_mfTl4UPV23fByujh1Z9d0CnWsIkspwwG_oImbZl2CZPIkMxDFSPoRaegL8bopVSM8JKlF4fqGPAvd7LXqRUi9H67imlpUZwT-bSdGwrupT1mA5zF86YKQB6Ic80rlJq1z9kmfXc24/s320/710145808_e1a047a1cc.jpg" width="211" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #cccccc; line-height: 19px;"><b><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">E</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">specially at the feast of Pascha (Easter) non-Orthodox Christians ask why they may not receive Holy Communion in Orthodox parishes. As painful as this refusal is, it is based on our understanding of the true meaning of the sacrament as revealed in Scripture and ecclesial experience.</span></span></span></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: x-small; line-height: 19px;"><b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"> A few months ago someone sent me a posting from an Internet site that spoke to the issue of communion among various Christian confessions. In answer to the question why a Protestant believer was refused the sacrament at Easter in her boyfriend’s Catholic parish, the writer declared that non-Catholics do not believe in "the presence of God’s body in the transubstantiated host." Therefore, "they cannot take communion."</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"> Then the writer added: "There is just one exception to this rule. Orthodox Christians (such as Greek Orthodox Christians) may take communion in all Roman Catholic Churches. The reason for this is that Orthodox Christianity also teaches the actual presence of God in the host."</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #e69138;"> This widespread understanding of the matter is not accurate and needs to be corrected on several counts, theological as well as pastoral.</span></span><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> An entire tome could be written by way of explanation, but here are a few of the most important elements. In the next two columns we’ll explore some others.<br />
<br />
In the first place, we need to acknowledge that many Protestant Christians (including many Anglicans) do believe that Holy Communion offers them a true participation in Christ’s Body and Blood. They may not articulate that belief as Catholics or Orthodox would like; but their faith in Christ’s "real presence in the Eucharist" is genuine and should not be disparaged or denied.<br />
<br />
Then again, Orthodox Eucharistic theology does not explain the change of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ as a result of "transubstantiation," the teaching that the "accidents" (visible properties) of the elements remain unaltered, while their "substance" or inner essence becomes the actual Body and Blood. Orthodox tradition speaks of "change" or "transformation," (metamorphôsis; in the Eucharistic Divine Liturgy metabalôn, "making the change") but always with a concern to preserve the mystery from the probings of human reason. It also speaks of the Body and Blood of the glorified Christ, making the point that our communion is in the personal being of the Resurrected and Exalted Lord, and not in the flesh and blood of the incarnate Jesus, torn and shed on the Cross. The incarnate Jesus and the risen Christ are certainly one and the same Person ("Jesus Christ is Lord," the apostle Paul declares in Philippians 2:11). But our communion is in the radically transformed reality of the risen Christ, who ascended into heaven and makes Himself accessible to us through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit within the Church.<br />
<br />
Another point needs to be stressed. It is true that Orthodox Christians are considered by some Catholic priests to be eligible to receive communion in their parishes; but this practice is not formally sanctioned by the Catholic Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (the Holy Office or Magisterium). On the other hand, the Orthodox Churches, united above all by their Eucharistic faith and practice, accept to communion only baptized Orthodox Christians, and then, theoretically, only when they have prepared themselves by prayer, by appropriate fasting, and -- in most traditions -- by confession of sins. In addition, Orthodox bishops and other teachers make clear to their faithful that they can only properly receive communion from a canonically ordained priest or bishop within the context of the traditional Orthodox Divine Liturgy (which includes communion taken to the sick).<br />
<br />
It is hardly enough, though, simply to state that the Orthodox do not teach "transubstantiation" (despite the term’s appearance in some of our liturgical books) and, if they are faithful to their tradition, do not receive communion outside of their own Church. There is also the crucial matter of "ecclesial identity." No Orthodox Christian receives Holy Communion in isolation. We are incorporated into a universal community of persons, both living and departed, whose common faith and practice unite them in the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. Our existence in the Body of Christ, our ecclesial identity as Orthodox Christians, is such that we represent the Church in all that we are and do. If I defy the ordinances of my ecclesial tradition and receive communion in another Church, or as a priest welcome a non-Orthodox believer to receive the Eucharist in my parish, I am acting in violation of my own tradition, to which I have committed myself before God. And because of my solidarity with all other members of the Orthodox Church, I am implicitly involving them in my act of disobedience.<br />
<br />
The real issue, however, is not one of obedience or disobedience to rules and regulations. </span><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If the Orthodox preserve the sanctity of the Eucharist as a supreme obligation, it is because of the often stated truth that communion in the Body and Blood of Christ is the very end or fulfillment of Christian existence.</span><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> It can not, for example, be reduced to a means by which to achieve "Christian unity." (In any case, Church history has made it clear that sharing of Communion among Churches of conflicting theological teachings never results in lasting unity.)<br />
</span></span></span></b></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #cccccc; font-size: x-small; line-height: 19px;"><b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQGU5WBTT2x1h_dspLAdd0hcFA9OmN70U7alyXbFv38gy1H8gMorTvC7iu8eUn37RA1P7BjzJDK-G3ekJw8s6e8BbsSBg-QmK6fDFdfFV7Lrkm-OQBFwXvn9iBkICx-ImtKMhMLtJJUiU/s1600/HolyCommunion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQGU5WBTT2x1h_dspLAdd0hcFA9OmN70U7alyXbFv38gy1H8gMorTvC7iu8eUn37RA1P7BjzJDK-G3ekJw8s6e8BbsSBg-QmK6fDFdfFV7Lrkm-OQBFwXvn9iBkICx-ImtKMhMLtJJUiU/s1600/HolyCommunion.jpg" /></a></span></span></span></b></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: x-small; line-height: 19px;"><b><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Eucharist is life itself.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"> It is the life of Christ that enables us to live our life in Christ. To participate in the Eucharist as we are called to do requires our acceptance of a doctrinal attitude and commitment that is specifically "orthodox," grounded in the Scriptures and transmitted through the ages under the guidance and inspiration of the Holy Spirit. It requires as well acceptance of an ascetic discipline, which includes personal prayer, liturgical celebration, fasting, confession of sins, and acts of charity: the ingredients of a life of repentance and of an ongoing quest for holiness. And it requires that we honor our particular "ecclesial identity," together with submission to ecclesial authority represented above all by our bishops: persons canonically ordained and established, who are called by their actions and teachings to preserve and transmit the truth of the Orthodox faith while maintaining a bond of unity within the Body of Christ. A unity grounded not in power but in mutual respect and fraternal love, shared by all members of the Church.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #e69138;"> From this perspective, "open communion" -- the welcoming of non-Orthodox to share in the Eucharistic celebration -- is simply not possible without undermining the very meaning of the sacrament.</span></span><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> This implies no particular judgment on the Eucharistic services of other Churches. </span><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> It acknowledges rather that for the Orthodox, the Divine Liturgy is what the name implies. It is both the means and the end of Christian existence, an existence which arises from Orthodox faith, ongoing repentance, ascetic discipline, ecclesial identity and works of love.</span><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> To those who accept this "Orthodox Way," the Eucharist offers a true participation in the very Life of the risen and glorified Christ, just as it offers the forgiveness of sins, the healing of soul and body, and a foretaste of the heavenly Banquet in the eternal presence of God.</span><br />
</span></span></b></span></div></div></blockquote>ABehmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02303979417051074844noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5300137420794713581.post-76164366371773417352011-05-30T10:24:00.003-05:002011-05-30T10:32:09.314-05:00Our Sin Blinds Us<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ; color: #cccccc;">By<span class="Apple-style-span"> <a href="http://sttikhonsmonastery.org/st_tikhon_zadonsk_life.html">St. Tikhon of Zadonsk</a></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;">(Click on the name for more on St. Tikhon)</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #e69138;"> Whatever physical darkness is for the eyes, so is sin for the human soul. The spiritual darkness so darkens and blinds the eyes of the soul, that the sinner walks like the blind: </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">he doesn't know where the path leads him; he doesn't see before him the torment of an eternal death in which he might fall; he doesn't distinguish vice from virtue, evil from good, truth from lies, true good fortune from evil fortune, and, thus, seeing he does not see and acts by touching like the blind.<br />
<br />
Does he live in good fortune? He becomes violent, as an untrained and unrestrained horse, and does not see that with this good fortune God draws him to Himself as a father of a little child draws an apple. Will misfortune visit him? He grumbles, is indignant and blames, that as if he told a lie; he makes complaints and says a malicious word: "Am I a liar? In what have I sinned? Am I really more sinful than others? Am I worthy of this? Does my work deserve this?" He justifies himself, being full of every kind of untruth; he cleanses himself, being all besmirched; he considers himself unworthy of temporal punishment, but worthy of the eternal; he praises his merits, which stand for nothing.<br />
<br />
All of creation, the heaven, the sun, the moon, the stars, the earth and its fulfillment, as if by mouth "tells of the glory of God" (Psalm 16:2); but the blind sinner does not feel the majesty of His glory and does not tremble. God, both through creation and by His word, reveals Himself for everyone; but the sinner, like a deaf person, does not hear His word and does not recognize the Lord. He hears the name of God, but he does not recognize God: he hears the voice of the Lord only with carnal instead of spiritual ears, and therefore, "hearing he does not hear and seeing he does not see".<br />
<br />
When God is preached by His holy word, then His sacred will is also preached; but the sinner doesn't know it and does not make it his own. His omnipotence and majesty is preached, before which the sinner is not humble. His righteousness is preached before which the sinner is not afraid and does not honor. His truth is preached before which the sinner does not believe. His omnipresence is preached, before which the sinner does not show reverence. He does not show it because does not recognize Him. His most wise reason is preached, in which the sinner does not discern. His highest holiness is preached which the sinner does not honor. His supreme authority is preached which the sinner does not obey. His awesome glory is preached which the sinner does not honor. His timeless goodness is preached, in which the sinner makes no effort to participate. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #e69138;">His fearful judgment is preached before which the sinner does not tremble, and so forth. Thus, the sinner is like "the man out of his mind who cannot know, and the stupid who cannot understand" (LXX Psalm 91:7) God and the acts of God.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #e69138;"> And not only in relation to God, but also in relation to his neighbor, i.e. to any human, the blind man is a carnal and unenlightened man. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;">We see that a person does evil to his neighbor, which he himself does not want; and does not do good to him, which he himself wants. We see that he is indignant and angry at the one who offends him; he abuses, abases, blames, discredits, lies about him, steals, kidnaps, takes away that which is his, and does other offenses; but he himself does such evil, or repays evil with evil, and is not ashamed and does not sense this. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #e69138;">On the other hand, he wants his neighbor to be merciful to him and not leave him in need, for example: to quench his thirst and to give him drink when he thirsts, clothe the naked, welcome the stranger into his home and to comfort the sick and visit those in prison and do other works of mercy for him.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #e69138;">All of this he wants, this truth is indisputable, but he himself does not want to do the same for a neighbor.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"> We see that this evil is self-love, an untruth and blindness in Christians, who either silently pass by his neighbors living in misery as if not seeing them, or is ashamed to ask: "what can I do for him?" Many have plentiful food and a magnificent table for themselves, but do not care about a hungry neighbor; others wear all kinds of expensive clothes, and do not care about their naked neighbor; others build rich, large and tall houses and decorate the rest of the building, but for their neighbor who does not have a place to lay his head and to rest they do not care; they have silver, gold and other riches, comfortable for soul and life, that is kept whole and is saved, but there is no care for their neighbor who is burdened with debt and it is torment or prison for him for his shortfalls or sitting debts and suffering. We see this self-love and untruth in Christians: for not only they do evil, but also they don't do good for their neighbors, there is the untruth.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #e69138;"> But, what it is even worse, we see that many Christians are not ashamed and are not afraid to steal, to kidnap and to be cunning, to flatter, to lie, to deceive, to slander, to scandalize, to denounce, to abuse, to commit adultery and make other offenses against their neighbor that they themselves would not want. All this comes from blindness.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
<a href="http://www.transfigcathedral.org/faith/Bulgakov/0595.pdf">Source</a>.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">H/T: <a href="http://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2011/05/spiritual-blindness-of-sin.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Mystagogy+%28MYSTAGOGY%29">Mystagogy</a></span>ABehmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02303979417051074844noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5300137420794713581.post-83410174077234634522011-05-29T16:08:00.000-05:002011-05-29T16:08:01.516-05:00Archbishop Demetrios on Suffering<blockquote style="background-color: #301505; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 25px; margin-right: 25px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 15px; padding-right: 20px; padding-top: 10px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial, Arial, Verdana; line-height: 20px; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial, Arial, Verdana; line-height: 20px; text-align: center;"></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Arial, Verdana; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #cccccc; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 19px;"><b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"If we have the eyes to see, and a heart that is open to God’s movement, suffering helps us delve much deeper than the superficial level of life at which so many of us live. Suffering pushes aside the shallowness of life, and helps us focus solely on what is eternal – God Himself. Taken in this manner, the Christian understanding of suffering is this unique opportunity to see and meet God."</span></span></span></b></span></div></div></blockquote><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #cccccc; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; font-weight: bold; line-height: 19px;"><b><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-style: italic;">-Archbishop Demetrios of America</span></span></span></b></span>ABehmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02303979417051074844noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5300137420794713581.post-8929503274083096482011-05-27T17:18:00.001-05:002011-05-27T17:21:54.397-05:00God's Existence: The Argument from Contingency<blockquote style="background-color: #301505; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Arial, Verdana; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 25px; margin-right: 25px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 15px; padding-right: 20px; padding-top: 10px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 19px;">... as summarized by the great apologist <a href="http://www.ignatiusinsight.com/authors/franksheed.asp">Frank Sheed</a>:</span><br />
<div style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding-left: 30px; text-align: left;"><div style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;">If we consider the universe, we find that everything in it bears this mark, that it does exist but might very well not have existed. We ourselves exist, but we would not have existed if a man and a woman had not met and mated. The same mark can be found upon everything. A particular valley exists because a stream of water took that way down, perhaps </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;">because the ice melted up there. If the melting ice had not been there, there would have been no valley. And so with all the things of our experience. They exist, but they would not have existed if some other thing had not been what it was or done what it did.</span></div><div style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"><br />
</span></div><div><a href="http://www.ignatius.com/Products/THAS-P/theology-and-sanity.aspx?src=iinsight" style="clear: right; color: #003366; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-decoration: underline;" target="_self"><img align="right" alt="" height="215" src="http://www.ignatiusinsight.com/images/bookcovers/sheed_theosanity.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px;" width="150" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;">None of these things, therefore, is the explanation of its own existence or the source of its own existence. In other words, their existence is contingent upon something else. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #e69138;">Each thing possesses existence, and can pass on existence; but it did not originate its existence. It is essentially a receiver of existence.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;">Now it is impossible to conceive of a universe consisting exclusively of contingent beings, that is, of beings which are only receivers of existence and not originators. The reader who is taking his role as explorer seriously might very well stop reading at this point and let his mind make for itself the effort to conceive a condition in which nothing should exist save receivers of existence.</span></div><div style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;">Anyone who has taken this suggestion seriously and pondered the matter for himself before reading on, will have seen that the thing is a contradiction in terms and therefore an impossibility.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #e69138;">If nothing exists save beings that receive their existence, how does anything exist at all?</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;">Where do they receive their existence from? In such a system made up exclusively of receivers, one being may have got it from another, and that from still another, but how did existence get into the system at all? </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #e69138;">Even if you tell yourself that this system contains an infinite number of receivers of existence, you still have not accounted for existence.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"> Even an infinite number of beings, if no one of these is the source of its own existence, will not account for existence.</span></div><div style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"><br />
</span></div><div style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;">Thus we are driven to see that the beings of our experience, the contingent beings, could not exist at all unless there is also a being which differs from them by possessing existence in its own right. It does not have to receive existence; it simply has existence. It is not contingent: it simply is. This is the Being that we call God.</span></div></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding-left: 30px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;">All this may seem very simple and matter of course, but in reality we have arrived at a truth of inexhaustible profundity and of inexhaustible fertility in giving birth to other truths.</span></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;">From <em>Theology and Sanity</em> (pp. 54-55), available in both <a href="http://www.ignatius.com/Products/THAS-P/theology-and-sanity.aspx?src=iinsight" style="color: #003366; text-decoration: underline;" target="_self">paperback</a> and <a href="http://www.ignatius.com/Products/THAS-E/theology-and-sanity.aspx?src=iinsight" style="color: #003366; text-decoration: underline;" target="_self">electronic book</a> formats.</span></div></div></blockquote><a href="http://insightscoop.typepad.com/2004/2011/05/the-argument-from-contingency.html">The Ignatius Press </a>ABehmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02303979417051074844noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5300137420794713581.post-50604440585540754762011-05-27T10:52:00.001-05:002011-05-27T10:52:52.696-05:00Religions are NOT equalAll religions are not equal expressions of the Divine nature. The trap of relativism, or the desire to condense diverse mediums of human expression into equal forms, causes us to question that understanding. If God is real, then all methods of expression, understanding, and relating to Him cannot be valid.<br />
<br />
Why does it matter, how you view God? Because How we understand God necessarily affects how we will relate to Him. If we believe that God is loving, then love is our highest virtue. If we believe that God demands retribution for all slights of faith, then we will be violent against unbelievers. If we believe God likes necklaces made from baby fingers, then things quickly get twisted. Therefore, a proper understanding of who God<i> is</i>, and the proper way to <i>relate</i> to Him, not only for our faith, but also for our spiritual fulfillment and maturity.<br />
<br />
The first tenant of orthodoxy must be that there is a <i>single</i> <i>Truth</i> AND it is <i>knowable</i>. The first part, a single truth, is vital because a rejection of truth is a rejection of all reality. Quite simply, we either live in a real and objective reality, or I am a brain in a vat. Because if there is no single reality, then every individual lives in a dream world. Additionally, one must also accept that reality can be grasped, understood, and/or realized. This is a simple concept that we are all intelligent beings, and we are capable of interacting and knowing our environment, both physically and spiritually.<br />
<br />
If this is true, then we must accept that there is only one faith, one religion, that could or does, express the fullness of Truth. To keep it short, some religions may hold SOME truth, but not the FULLNESS of Truth (meaning the rest is fallacy, opinion, or deceit). Certainly, all cultures contain the natural human desire to search, know, and have a relationship with God, but there being only a single Truth, and all religions differ in what that Truth is, there can be only one true faith.<br />
<br />
For a Christian, only Christianity can be that True expression of the Divine reality. We, as Christians, believe that Jesus is God, and His words are a guide to this Truth. In the Bible, Jesus tells us about this single Truth:<br />
<br />
<blockquote style="background-color: #301505; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 25px; margin-right: 25px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 15px; padding-right: 20px; padding-top: 10px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial, Arial, Verdana; font-weight: bold; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial, Arial, Verdana; font-weight: bold; text-align: center;"></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;">John 14 </span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-size: x-small;"><b> 5</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"> Thomas said to him: Lord, we know not whither you go. And how can we know the way? </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-size: x-small;"><b>6 </b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"><b>Jesus said to him: I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father, but by me.</b> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-size: x-small;"><b>7</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"> If you had known me, you would without doubt have known my Father also: and from henceforth you shall know him. And you have seen him.</span></div></blockquote><br />
In effect, He says, I am the way to God, because I AM God. You can't<i> reject</i> <i>God</i>, and still expect to be <i>with God </i>after this life.<br />
<br />
Even within Christianity, however, not all 'denominations' can hold the fullness of this Truth. One denomination may be very secular, believing that a general concept of God is enough for our spiritual lives, while the opposite end may believe that God has already determined your fate, no matter your convictions. The only thing that makes these denominations considered 'Christian' is that they maintain a faith in Jesus. Even then, the understanding of who Jesus is and what His message means, differs. Again, if there is a Truth, and it is knowable, then they cannot <i>all</i> be valid expressions of faith.<br />
<br />
I have tried, in this post, to keep the topic generic to a single Truth. I haven't attempted to proclaim that Truth. However, to find that Truth, one is greatly aided by knowing history. How can that be? Why can finding God be this hard? Because there are real forces that do not desire you to follow God, and you must often follow that desire with a determined effort to find God. Christian history will quickly reveal the fallacy of Protestant positions, often leaving a determination between the Catholic faiths (Roman, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox). When you study, you must remember, men are sinners, but the Church is Divinely installed by God Himself (Jesus). This perspective can help you sift through the 2,000 years of human interaction within Christian history.<br />
<br />
<br />
To end with some humor, I leave you with this video from Andrew Klavan. He expresses that all religions can't be good. After all, if all religions are good and worth expressing, then Satanism, the worship of sin and evil, is good, too.<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/OvdHlsKuBpg?rel=0" width="640"></iframe>ABehmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02303979417051074844noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5300137420794713581.post-28538531858147363512011-05-26T21:15:00.001-05:002011-05-27T11:42:42.273-05:00Scripture and the Use of Relics<blockquote style="background-color: #301505; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 25px; margin-right: 25px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 15px; padding-right: 20px; padding-top: 10px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial, Arial, Verdana; font-weight: bold; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial, Arial, Verdana; font-weight: bold; text-align: center;"></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 25px;"><span id="goog_182263803"></span><a href="http://catholicdefense.blogspot.com/2011/05/what-scripture-says-about-using-relics.html?spref=bl">Shameless Popery</a>: What Scripture Says About Using Relics<span id="goog_182263804"></span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="post-header" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><div class="post-header-line-1"></div></div><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-9214662336964433448" style="line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;">A while back, a Protestant friend of mine wanted to understand what relics were, and how it was different than magic or idolatry. I think the Catholic belief in relics can be traced to Scripture and to the earliest days of the Church, so I thought I'd do my best to lay that out today.</span></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;"><b>What Does the Church Teach?</b></span></div><br />
<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px;">To begin with, what does the Church teach about relics? So far I know, the Catechism has only one entry that mentions them, and <a href="http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/para/1674.htm" style="color: #5588aa; text-decoration: none;">it says</a>:</span></div><blockquote style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 20px; margin-right: 20px; margin-top: 1em;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #274e13;"><b>1674</b> Besides sacramental liturgy and sacramentals, catechesis must take into account the forms of piety and popular devotions among the faithful. The religious sense of the Christian people has always found expression in various forms of piety surrounding the Church's sacramental life, such as <b>the veneration of relics</b>, visits to sanctuaries, pilgrimages, processions, the stations of the cross, religious dances, the rosary, medals, etc.</span></span></div></blockquote><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;">In other words, relics are one way of drawing us closer to God. We're not saying that the veneration of relics is indispensable to salvation, and we're not saying that you should (or may) worship relics. “Veneration,” called <i><a href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05188b.htm" style="color: #5588aa; text-decoration: none;">dulia</a> </i>in the Latin, is a sort of religious honor, the way we're humbled by manifestations of holiness.</span></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;"><br />
</span></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;">Think about it this way. There are folks in this world who you'd be humbled to be next to -- the folks you consider your personal heroes. That's not a bad thing -- in fact, it's a sign of humility. Of course, it<i> can</i> be a bad thing, if your heroes are bad role models. But with the Saints, the Church points us towards heroes of the faith, something of a Hall of Fame of those who have run the race before us. This is all very Scriptural: Hebrews 11 does the example same thing with the heroes of the Old Testament, declaring that “<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #741b47;">the world was not worthy of them</span>” (<a class="lbsBibleRef" data-reference="Heb. 11.38" data-version="NASB" href="http://biblia.com/bible/nasb95/Heb.%2011.38" style="color: #5588aa; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Heb. 11:38</a>). That is, Hebrews 11 praises both God working through the Saints, <i>and</i> the Old Testament Saints themselves.</span></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;"><br />
</span></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;">So that sense of wonderment -- where we see the work of God lived out in a person's life, and we honor and respect that -- that's probably the best way I can describe “veneration.” I should also point out that Catholics venerate the Holy Bible. We don't think it's God, obviously, but we recognize that God is at work in the Bible in a unique way, distinct even from how He's at work in the lives of the Saints. I suspect that most Protestants venerate saints and the Bible in their own private way, they just don't call it that.</span></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;"><br />
</span></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;">So with relics, we've got the same thing. These are the bones, clothes, etc., of the great Saints who have gone to God before us. But beyond simply being an object of religious honor, to remind us of God's work in the world, and those who have gone before us in Faith, we believe that miracles can actually happen through the use of relics. It's this last belief that gets labeled as idolatry or superstition, so let's see what the Bible has to say.</span></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;"><br />
</span></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;"><b>What Does Scripture Say About Relics?</b></span></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;"><br />
</span></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;"><b>(1) </b>The starting point for an examination of Scripture on this point should be <a class="lbsBibleRef" data-reference="Acts 19.11-12" data-version="NASB" href="http://biblia.com/bible/nasb95/Acts%2019.11-12" style="color: #5588aa; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Acts 19:11-12</a>:</span></div><blockquote style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 20px; margin-right: 20px; margin-top: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #741b47;">God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.</span></span></blockquote><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;">That's what Catholics believe about relics, nothing more, nothing less. Look at the elements:</span></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;"><br />
</span></div><ol style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;">The objects in question are <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #741b47;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">“</span>handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him</span>,” what Catholics would call Paul's relics.</span></li>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;">
<li>These relics are producing miraculous healings, <i>without Paul doing anything</i>.</li>
<li>These healings are still a way that God performed <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #741b47;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">“</span>extraordinary miracles through Paul.</span>” </li>
<li>These are actual miracles, not simply some placebo effect.</li>
</span></ol><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;">So the first thing we can say is that what Catholics believe about relics seems very much to be how Scripture describes relics. There are people healed because they got to touch a relic of St. Paul's. But<i>why</i> does God do this? I think that there's a hint in the fact that these are counted as “<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #741b47;">extraordinary miracles <i>through Paul.</i></span>” It's a sign of God's favor on a particular Saint. One of the ways we determine if a given person is in Heaven is if God performs miracles when we pray to that person. If He does, it seems to confirm that His favor is upon them, just as the Resurrection showed that the Father's favor was upon Jesus Christ. Finally, though, the fact that Paul doesn't actually do the miracle -- <i>God</i> does -- shows that while the Saints are honored and blessed by God, He's still the one in the driver's seat. The Saints lead us to God, and always refused any attempt to be made into gods themselves (see <a class="lbsBibleRef" data-reference="Acts 14.11-15" data-version="NASB" href="http://biblia.com/bible/nasb95/Acts%2014.11-15" style="color: #5588aa; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Acts 14:11-15</a>).</span></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;"><br />
</span></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;"><b>(2) </b>But these miraculous relics weren't limited to Paul. In <a class="lbsBibleRef" data-reference="Acts 5.12-16" data-version="NASB" href="http://biblia.com/bible/nasb95/Acts%205.12-16" style="color: #5588aa; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Acts 5:12-16</a>, we hear</span></div><blockquote style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 20px; margin-right: 20px; margin-top: 1em; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #741b47;">The apostles performed many signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade. No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number. </span></span></blockquote><blockquote style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 20px; margin-right: 20px; margin-top: 1em; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #741b47;">As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so <b>that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. </b>Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by impure spirits, and <b>all of them were healed.</b></span></span></blockquote><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;">Again, we see the same thing: a relic of the Saints (here, the mere <i>shadow</i> of Peter) brings about innumerable blessings, miracles, and healings.And the reason is for the same reason that the Apostles were performing<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #741b47;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"> “</span>signs and wonders among the people</span>.” It showed that these men come from God, and that their message is true.</span></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;"><br />
</span></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;"><b>(3) </b>We see this in the life of Christ Himself. <a class="lbsBibleRef" data-reference="Mark 5.25-34" data-version="NASB" href="http://biblia.com/bible/nasb95/Mark%205.25-34" style="color: #5588aa; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Mark 5:25-34</a>:</span></div><blockquote style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 20px; margin-right: 20px; margin-top: 1em;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #741b47;">And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, “<b>If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. </b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #741b47;"><b>At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him</b>. He turned around in the crowd and asked, <b>“Who touched my clothes?” </b></span></span></div></blockquote><blockquote style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 20px; margin-right: 20px; margin-top: 1em; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #741b47;">“You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’” But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. He said to her, “<b>Daughter, your faith has healed you</b>. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”</span></span></blockquote><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;">This is a very different miracle from the ones we're used to. Here, simply touching the clothing of Christ heals this woman, <i>before He's even aware that she's there</i>. Mark actually makes a point of including the fact that He felt the power go out from Him, but still asked who it was who had touched Him. And Jesus ascribes the healing to the woman's faith, although it's clear that <i>His own power</i>is the operative power of healing. She's got the faith to believe that simply to touch something worn by Christ is sufficient to be healed. Some Protestants consider that superstition, but our Lord apparently does not.</span></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;"><br />
</span></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;"><b>(4)</b> Go back to the Old Testament, to Elisha. <a class="lbsBibleRef" data-reference="2 Kings 13.20-21" data-version="NASB" href="http://biblia.com/bible/nasb95/2%20Kings%2013.20-21" style="color: #5588aa; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">2 Kings 13:20-21</a> says,</span></div><blockquote style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 20px; margin-right: 20px; margin-top: 1em; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #741b47;">Elisha died and was buried. Now Moabite raiders used to enter the country every spring. Once while some Israelites were burying a man, suddenly they saw a band of raiders; so they threw the man’s body into Elisha’s tomb. When the body touched Elisha’s bones, the man came to life and stood up on his feet.</span></span></blockquote><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;">This passage is important, because it shows that the Saint isn't actively performing these, in the way that other miracles are performed. Even after Elisha's dead, God works through him. That's the reason relics work, at the end of the day: because God wills to use all sorts of things to bring about healing and salvation. But He doesn't choose randomly - in every case, it's either been His Son or the Saints who He works through.</span></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;"><br />
</span></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;"><b>(5)</b> Finally, we know that the early Church used relics, as well. That is, just as Elisha's bones show that healing relics <i>pre-date</i> the New Testament, the early Church shows that they continue on <i>after</i>the New Testament. Let's take just a couple example. First, <a href="http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf201.iii.vii.xxvi.html?highlight=caius,trophies#highlight" style="color: #5588aa; text-decoration: none;">through Eusebius</a> (c. 263-339 A.D.) and Caius (early 200s), we know that the early Church kept the “trophies” of St. Peter and St. Paul in the Vatican.</span></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;"><br />
</span></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;">St. Augustine, beloved by Catholics and Protestants alike, said that in Book XXII, Chapter 8 of <i>City of God</i> that:</span></div><blockquote style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 20px; margin-right: 20px; margin-top: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #274e13;">For <b>even now miracles are wrought in the name of Christ</b>, whether by His sacraments or by the prayers <b>or relics of His saints</b>; but they are not so brilliant and conspicuous as to cause them to be published with such glory as accompanied the former miracles.</span></span></blockquote><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;">That's pretty clear. Likewise, St. Ambrose of Milan, writing in the latter half of the fourth century, wrote:</span></div><blockquote style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 20px; margin-right: 20px; margin-top: 1em;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #274e13;">For after I had dedicated the basilica, many, as it were, with one mouth began to address me, and said: Consecrate this as you did the Roman basilica. And I answered: "Certainly I will if I find any relics of martyrs." And at once a kind of prophetic ardour seemed to enter my heart.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #274e13;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #274e13;">Why should I use many words? God favoured us, for even the clergy were afraid who were bidden to clear away the earth from the spot before the chancel screen of SS. Felix and Nabor. I found the fitting signs, and on bringing in some on whom hands were to be laid, the power of the holy martyrs became so manifest, that even whilst I was still silent, one was seized and thrown prostrate at the holy burial-place.</span></span></div></blockquote><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;">The first paragraph refers to a Catholic practice - in consecrating a Church, we embed the relics of a Saint. As you can see, this custom is not new. A little later, in the same letter, Ambrose writes:</span></div><blockquote style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 20px; margin-right: 20px; margin-top: 1em; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #274e13;">On the following day we translated the relics to the basilica called Ambrosian. During the translation a blind man was healed</span> [...] <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #274e13;">They </span>[the Arians]<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #274e13;"> deny that the blind man received sight, but he denies not that he is healed. He says: I who could not see now see. He says: I ceased to be blind, and proves it by the fact.</span></span></blockquote><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;">So relics were widely used, venerated (there are folks falling prostrate!), and are bringing about miraculous cures. What we see is that from the Old Testament, down through the New, through the times of the early Church, all the way to the present, the same central things have been believed about relics. Catholics simply conform with this Scriptural belief. It's not idolatry or superstition. It's good old-fashioned Bible religion.</span></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;"><br />
</span></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;">Finally, note that Catholic Answers has a great list of early Church writings about post-Apostolic miracles, some of which involve relics, <a href="http://www.catholic.com/library/Do_Miracles_Still_Occur.asp" style="color: #5588aa; text-decoration: none;">here</a>; and a helpful entry on relics <a href="http://www.catholic.com/library/Relics.asp" style="color: #5588aa; text-decoration: none;">here</a>.</span></div></div></div></blockquote>ABehmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02303979417051074844noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5300137420794713581.post-63198548780312790502011-05-23T18:56:00.002-05:002011-05-23T18:56:43.178-05:00Apocalypse Now?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-fsHqa2C6hGWpQLnYh_wUiJNgGQQFrMgxLmo3HLrVbwWNQ6uSZA1NbXcvXXYoFteTrEhH955sY_Tm9W_lisatF-RGz08Ufv_D97b9LW3NSYjnppYmE-GNSlSQMQhqKUBCqcr893eCTuk/s1600/billboard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-fsHqa2C6hGWpQLnYh_wUiJNgGQQFrMgxLmo3HLrVbwWNQ6uSZA1NbXcvXXYoFteTrEhH955sY_Tm9W_lisatF-RGz08Ufv_D97b9LW3NSYjnppYmE-GNSlSQMQhqKUBCqcr893eCTuk/s640/billboard.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">LOL.</div>ABehmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02303979417051074844noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5300137420794713581.post-25044892535814307462011-05-23T18:21:00.000-05:002011-05-23T18:21:30.004-05:00On The Holy Spirit<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioZkzfCVWCdUpSJRRM0_QPhxEl-NSScVvCuIUwbQOyjKEZnhAVmm2thrJkFm7_qVPm4qBtqNsTy3qDLp3IYUQYuGUYUlpXyk2S2pFVTRwzQea8g0jxh83HvwLxtUzHL86n4_tUqThbCKM/s1600/HolySpirit-with-Trinity.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="284" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioZkzfCVWCdUpSJRRM0_QPhxEl-NSScVvCuIUwbQOyjKEZnhAVmm2thrJkFm7_qVPm4qBtqNsTy3qDLp3IYUQYuGUYUlpXyk2S2pFVTRwzQea8g0jxh83HvwLxtUzHL86n4_tUqThbCKM/s320/HolySpirit-with-Trinity.gif" width="320" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> The Holy Spirit in the West is often misunderstood or ignored when concerning God. Even when trying to understand the Holy Spirit, a westerner may have trouble understanding the Holy Spirit's role in the Godhead.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The following are excerpts from <a href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08459b.htm">St. John of Damascus</a>' <a href="http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3304.htm" style="text-decoration: none;">Exposition of the Faith</a>. Like all Saints, even though St. John lived during the seventh century, his insight is both timeless and relevant to every age. Human nature is unchanging, in addition to our unchanging God.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="synopsis_focus"><blockquote style="background-color: #301505; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Arial, Verdana; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 25px; margin-right: 25px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 15px; padding-right: 20px; padding-top: 10px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;">Moreover the Word must also possess Spirit. For in fact even our word is not destitute of spirit; but in our case the spirit is something different from our essence. For there is an attraction and movement of the air which is drawn in and poured forth that the body may be sustained. And it is this which in the moment of utterance becomes the articulate word, revealing in itself the force of the word. But in the case of the divine nature, which is simple and uncompound, we must confess in all piety that there exists a Spirit of God, for the Word is not more imperfect than our own word. Now we cannot, in piety, consider the Spirit to be something foreign that gains admission into God from without, as is the case with compound natures like us. Nay, just as, when we heard of the Word of God, we considered it to be not without subsistence, nor the product of learning, nor the mere utterance of voice, nor as passing into the air and perishing, but as being essentially subsisting, endowed with free volition, and energy, and omnipotence: so also, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #e69138;">when we have learned about the Spirit of God, we contemplate it as the companion of the Word and the revealer of His energy, and not as mere breath without subsistence.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"> For to conceive of the Spirit that dwells in God as after the likeness of our own spirit, would be to drag down the greatness of the divine nature to the lowest depths of degradation. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #e69138;">But we must contemplate it as an essential power, existing in its own proper and peculiar subsistence, proceeding from the Father and resting in the Word , and showing forth the Word, neither capable of disjunction from God in Whom it exists, and the Word Whose companion it is, nor poured forth to vanish into nothingness , but being in subsistence in the likeness of the Word, endowed with life, free volition, independent movement, energy, ever willing that which is good, and having power to keep pace with the will in all its decrees , having no beginning and no end.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"> For never was the Father at any time lacking in the Word, nor the Word in the Spirit.</span></div></blockquote><div style="font-weight: bold;"><br />
</div><div style="font-weight: bold;"><br />
</div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The next chapter deals with the Holy Trinity as a whole. This excerpt being on the Holy Spirit more specifically.</span><br />
<div style="font-weight: bold;"><br />
</div><div class="synopsis_focus"><blockquote style="background-color: #301505; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Arial, Verdana; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 25px; margin-right: 25px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 15px; padding-right: 20px; padding-top: 10px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;">Likewise we believe also in one Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life: Who proceeds from the Father and rests in the Son: the object of equal adoration and glorification with the Father and Son, since He is co-essential and co-eternal : the Spirit of God, direct, authoritative, the fountain of wisdom, and life, and holiness: God existing and addressed along with Father and Son: uncreate, full, creative, all-ruling, all-effecting, all-powerful, of infinite power, Lord of all creation and not under any lord : </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #e69138;">deifying, not deified</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;">: </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #e69138;">filling, not filled: shared in, not sharing in: sanctifying, not sanctified: the intercessor, receiving the supplications of all:</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #e69138;">in all things like to the Father and Son: proceeding from the Father and communicated through the Son, and participated in by all creation, through Himself creating, and investing with essence and sanctifying, and maintaining the universe</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;">: having subsistence, existing in its own proper and peculiar subsistence, inseparable and indivisible from Father and Son, and possessing all the qualities that the Father and Son possess, save that of not being begotten or born. For the Father is without cause and unborn: for He is derived from nothing, but derives from Himself His being, nor does He derive a single quality from another. Rather He is Himself the beginning and cause of the existence of all things in a definite and natural manner. But the Son is derived from the Father after the manner of generation, and the Holy Spirit likewise is derived from the Father, yet not after the manner of generation, but after that of procession. And we have learned that there is a difference between generation and procession, but the nature of that difference we in no wise understand. Further, the generation of the Son from the Father and the procession of the Holy Spirit are simultaneous.<br />
<br />
All then that the Son and the Spirit have is from the Father, even their very being: and unless the Father is, neither the Son nor the Spirit is. And unless the Father possesses a certain attribute, neither the Son nor the Spirit possesses it: and through the Father , that is, because of the Father's existence , the Son and the Spirit exist , and through the Father, that is, because of the Father having the qualities, the Son and the Spirit have all their qualities, those of being unbegotten, and of birth and of procession being excepted. </span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #e69138;">For in these hypostatic or personal properties alone do the three holy subsistences differ from each other, being indivisibly divided not by essence but by the distinguishing mark of their proper and peculiar subsistence.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"> Further we say that each of the three has a perfect subsistence, that we may understand not one compound perfect nature made up of three imperfect elements, but one simple essence, surpassing and preceding perfection, existing in three perfect subsistences. For all that is composed of imperfect elements must necessarily be compound. But from perfect subsistences no compound can arise. Wherefore we do not speak of the form as from subsistences, but as in subsistences. But we speak of those things as imperfect which do not preserve the form of that which is completed out of them. For stone and wood and iron are each perfect in its own nature, but with reference to the building that is completed out of them each is imperfect: for none of them is in itself a house.</span></span></div></blockquote><div style="font-weight: bold;"><br />
</div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The </span>Holy Spirit is as much God as the Father or Jesus Christ the Son. His hypostatic person should not be forgotten as he is a revealed nature of God Himself.<br />
<br />
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Both now and ever, and unto the Ages of Ages. Amen.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVPb-3XH5V9CO03ldEXtab-Jlwnu8nsB0FW8xo6JxWOH-cYh1yap6sUVcYm0vWxaPGnjfrCzpG7ZGpYB-yfNaqWcRq5tEpO5r0IolPHopqyX8Ivak5H86-L9t2rnuprfTG0M8TGBA8yJk/s1600/1738027-holy-trinity.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVPb-3XH5V9CO03ldEXtab-Jlwnu8nsB0FW8xo6JxWOH-cYh1yap6sUVcYm0vWxaPGnjfrCzpG7ZGpYB-yfNaqWcRq5tEpO5r0IolPHopqyX8Ivak5H86-L9t2rnuprfTG0M8TGBA8yJk/s320/1738027-holy-trinity.jpg" width="295" /></a></div><br />
</div></div>ABehmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02303979417051074844noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5300137420794713581.post-35880427254354999522011-05-03T17:58:00.000-05:002011-05-03T17:58:02.124-05:00Shameless Popery: Why (and How) Catholics Pray to Saints<a href="http://catholicdefense.blogspot.com/2011/05/why-and-how-catholics-pray-to-saints.html?spref=bl">Shameless Popery: Why (and How) Catholics Pray to Saints</a>: "A non-Catholic friend of mine who'd been following the news about JPII's beatification wanted to know how prayer to saints worked. Specific..."ABehmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02303979417051074844noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5300137420794713581.post-61262984888775821102011-04-26T07:50:00.001-05:002011-04-26T07:51:01.084-05:00Islamic Charity is NOT Christian Charity<blockquote style="background-color: #301505; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Arial, Verdana; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 25px; margin-right: 25px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 15px; padding-right: 20px; padding-top: 10px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"></div><div style="font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, Georgia; font-size: 16px;"><span class="article_title" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 25px; font-weight: bold; padding-right: 10px;"><span id="goog_1112106018"></span>Uncharitable</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, Georgia; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, Georgia; font-size: 16px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, Georgia; font-size: 16px;"><span class="article_subtitle" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5em;">Zakat is not about charity, but jihad.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, Georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">By Andrew C. McCarthy<span id="goog_1112106019"></span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, Georgia; font-size: 16px;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-size: 13px;"><br />
</div><div class="article_text" id="article_text" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div id="resizetext" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div class="article_text" id="article_text" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-top: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"><span class="drop" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 48px; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: -0.1em; line-height: 0.9em; padding-right: 0.1em;">‘I</span>n the United States, rules on charitable giving have made it harder for Muslims to fulfill their religious obligation,” President Obama claimed during his 2009 Cairo speech. “That is why I am committed to working with American Muslims to ensure that they can fulfill <i>zakat</i>.”</span></div><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #e69138;">This statement contained two falsehoods. One, as I’ve previously detailed, was obvious: There are, in fact, no American laws or rules that make it harder for Muslims to give to charity. What we have are laws against material support of terrorism </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;">— against using devices like charitable fronts to channel money to jihadists. Those laws are not directed at Muslims. They apply to everyone but are applied most often to Muslims, because Muslims carry out most anti-American terrorism.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;">The other falsehood was more subtle: the president’s suggestion that the religious obligation of <i>zakat</i> — one of the “five pillars of Islam” — is the equivalent of “charitable giving.” It is not. <i>Zakat</i> is every Muslim’s obligation to contribute to the fortification of the <i>ummah</i>, the notional worldwide Islamic nation. And that very much includes the funding of violent jihad against non-Muslims.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;">When an earthquake devastated Haiti last year, the West, led as always by the Great Satan, instantly opened its heart and pocketbook. Within days, as the Foundation for Defense of Democracy’s Claudia Rosett reported, the U.S. government had pledged $90 million in public funds, 44 percent of the total anted up by governments worldwide. That was just a fraction of the true American contribution. Despite a deep recession and widespread unemployment, private citizens contributed tens of millions of dollars to the relief efforts. In addition, our armed forces mobilized to provide food, medical treatment, and other humanitarian aid. Untold additional millions in American aid backed relief efforts by the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and the World Bank. The economic downturn was global, but still European, Canadian, Japanese, and South American governments and citizens also donated millions.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;">What of the world’s Muslims? Over the same period of time, they accounted for a whopping </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #e69138;">0.1 percent of the total donations committed by governments</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"> — basically, a rounding error for a Saudi sheikh’s weekend in Vegas. Drawing a telling contrast, Ms. Rosett noted that the House of Saud’s annual contribution to ICRC operations in 2008 came to a grand total of $216,460 — less than a penny per Saudi, though quite generous compared with the $50,000 kicked in by Iran, whose population is three times larger. By contrast, the United States gave $237.8 million<i>.</i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"><i><br />
</i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;">How could it be that the oil-drenched realm of <i>zakat </i>– of what we are to believe is obligatory benevolence — lags so embarrassingly behind Dar al-Greed? </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #e69138;">Very simple: <i>Zakat</i> is not “charity” as we understand that term.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #e69138;">Muslims are taught that charity means Muslims aiding Muslims, for the purpose of fortifying and extending the <i>ummah</i> until all the world is Islam’s domain.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"> “Of their wealth, take alms,” instructs Allah in the Koran (9:103), “that so thou mightest purify and sanctify them.” Thus, </span><i style="color: #cccccc;">zakat</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"> may be given only to Muslims.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"><i>Reliance of the Traveller: The Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law</i>(<i>Umdat al-Salik</i>) was compiled by the renowned Muslim jurisprudent Ahmad ibn Naqib al-Misri in the 14th century. It is the most authoritative source on the subject of sharia (Islamic law), having been certified by al-Azhar University in Cairo — the font of Sunni learning — as conforming “to the practice and faith of the orthodox Sunni community.” In fact, when an English edition of <i>Reliance</i> (now available through Amazon.com) was published in 1994, it won gushing praise from the government of Saudi Arabia (where sharia is the only law), as well as the governments of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria, all of which incorporate sharia in their legal systems.<i>Reliance</i> is quite blunt on the matter: “It is not permissible to give <i>zakat</i> to a non-Muslim.”</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;">That is mainstream Islam, as the Haiti earthquake-relief effort reaffirms. In <i>Social Justice in Islam</i>, the late but still highly influential Muslim Brotherhood theorist Sayyid Qutb explained that <i>zakat</i> is the “share taken by the [Islamic] state and spent on <i>the welfare of Muslims </i>to supply their bodily needs, to preserve their dignity, and to protect their power of conscience.” More recently, Shaykh Faraz Rabbani at Sunni Path, the “Islamic Academy” that has become popular among Muslim web-surfers, observed that in all major schools of Islamic jurisprudence </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #e69138;">“there is consensus . . . that a non-Muslim (<i>dhimmi</i>) cannot be given any <i>zakat</i>.”</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"> We grubby capitalists may see Haitians as suffering beyond calculation, but for Muslims there </span><i style="color: #cccccc;">is</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"> a calculation: The Haitians are infidels. The families of Palestinian suicide bombers and imprisoned al-Qaeda terrorists rate a brotherly helping hand, and the Haitians don’t.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;">In fact an essential purpose of <i>zakat</i> is to underwrite jihad. Americans see it as a dangerous fraud when Islamic charities are used as fronts for terrorist organizations. In mainstream Islam, however, there is no fraud at all — not if your understanding of “charity” is <i>zakat</i>.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;">“It is obligatory,” according to <i>Reliance of the Traveller</i>, “to distribute one’s zakat among eight categories of recipients, one-eighth of the zakat to each category.” The manual goes on to describe these categories, the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #e69138;">seventh of which is “<i>those fighting for Allah</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;">, meaning people engaged in Islamic military operations for whom no salary has been allotted in the army roster.”</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;">Al-Misri, the 14th-century scholar, did not dream that one up — and there was no al-Qaeda around to “hijack” Islam from him. He pulled it right out of the Koran. Sura 9:60, the verse most often associated with <i>zakat</i>, directs that “alms are for the poor and the needy, and those employed to administer the funds; for those whose hearts have recently reconciled to Truth [i.e., to Islam]; for those in bondage [like those imprisoned terrorists] and in debt; <i>in the cause of Allah</i>; and for the wayfarer. Thus is it ordained by Allah.” Echoing <i>Reliance</i>, the official Saudi version of the Koran annotates this verse with the clarification that “in the cause of Allah” refers to “those who are struggling and striving in Allah’s cause by teaching or fighting . . . [and] who are thus unable to earn their ordinary living.”</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;">The stark fact is that </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #e69138;">the Islamic conception of alms unabashedly embraces what the brilliant scholar of Islam Raymond Ibrahim describes as “the money jihad”</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"> (<i>jihad al-mal</i>). A canonical hadith quotes Mohammed’s sentiments: “He who equips a raider so he can wage jihad in Allah’s path . . . is himself a raider.” That is, he achieves the same status as those Mohammed said would be most richly rewarded in the afterlife for having done the greatest service to Allah. Indeed, the Koran actually prioritizes the need to fund violent jihad over the need to fight it. Sura 9:41 declares: “Go forth, light-armed and heavy-armed, and strive with your wealth and your lives in the way of Allah! That is best for you if you but knew.” As Ibrahim elaborates, several other verses “make the same assertion and, more importantly, in the same order: striving with one’s wealth almost always precedes striving with one’s life, thereby prioritizing the former over the latter.”</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;">Ibrahim is quite right when he says the West’s tireless portrayal of Islamic charities as akin to “the Salvation Army, a Christian charity organization whose ‘ministry extends to all, regardless of age, sex, color, or creed,’” is flatly false. In Islam, it’s all about Islam. <i>Zakat</i>, like all Islamic tenets, serves the overarching cause of elevating Islam, to the exclusion and at the expense of nonbelievers. When President Obama proclaims his determination to ensure that Muslims “can fulfill <i>zakat</i>,” and when his Justice Department follows up that proclamation by relaxing the enforcement of federal laws against material support of terrorism, this is the system they are abetting.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"><a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/redirect/amazon.p?j=1594033773" style="color: black; text-decoration: underline;"><em><span class="bioline" style="color: #666666;">— Andrew C. McCarthy, a senior fellow at the National Review Institute, is the author, most recently, of </span></em><span class="bioline" style="color: #666666;">The Grand Jihad: How Islam and the Left Sabotage America.</span></a></span><br />
<div style="font-size: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"><br />
</span></div></div></div></div></div></blockquote><br />
We are all human being created by God and deserving of the same fullness of love and charity. However this charity and love doesn't support a new and current thought that all people and all religions are alike. There are people who want to do you harm for their personal gain. Muhammadanism does not seek support of humanity for all and for God. It seeks the conquering of all peoples with the support of the passions (pride, lust, hate, etc.).ABehmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02303979417051074844noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5300137420794713581.post-52374823210042375162011-04-16T18:18:00.000-05:002011-04-16T18:18:42.921-05:00The Truth of our Desires<div class="synopsis_focus" style="font-size: 11pt; font-weight: bold;"><blockquote style="background-color: #301505; border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(102, 102, 102) rgb(102, 102, 102) rgb(221, 221, 221); border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; font-family: Arial,Arial,Verdana; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px 25px 15px; padding: 10px 20px 0px 15px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;">By John Zmirak</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', serif; font-size: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #e69138; font-style: italic;">The ugly little secret of life, one I hesitate to share with students, is how disappointing all of it is.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc; font-style: italic;"> Indeed, if the reader is under 30, I'm tempted to tell him to click on some other column -- lest I drain from him the sparks of life and energy that are meant to keep him racing forward like a hound, jumping over the hedges and through the flaming hoops, in fervent pursuit of a tasty rabbit that's always just out of reach . . . Why tell the unhappy truth: that if he finally catches the thing, it will turn out to be mechanical, an inedible motorized toy.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #e69138;"> This truth of life emerges with fullest force in the fleshly appetites, but it isn't, alas, restricted to them. How easily we move from fervent hunger to bloated fullness, and end up regretting or even resenting the meal that gleamed so irresistible on the menu. How quickly the flame of eros consumes its material, and the flesh that once obsessed or even possessed us turns into a burdensome, nattering mannequin with an irritating accent. The torrent of even righteous anger congeals into a slimy, stagnant pool once we've thrown the punch and felled our enemy. The objects we have scrimped (or recklessly borrowed) to buy quickly lose that "new car" smell and transubstantiate into white elephants, or else into dull necessities we simply take for granted. Those rare and hard-won vacations from work: Why do they dissolve in dull expanses of sloth and finally boredom, till at length we cannot wait to crawl back down into the mines? The genuine achievements for which we accept the proper credit . . . how long before the gold plate on our Oscar begins to tarnish, and we pick the thing up to shake it, wondering why it is hollow?</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #e69138; font-style: italic;"> In case you haven't noticed, I've just run through six of the Seven Deadly Sins</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc; font-style: italic;"> -- omitting only Envy, since it alone of all the seven has no legitimate outlet: It's evil from top to toe. But each of the others corrupts a real satisfaction we are meant in some sense to pursue. It's in our programming, and since the Fall, we are programmed, it seems, to fail. By this I don't mean "to sin." Even when they are pursued in the proper way, along the Golden Mean between the deadly sin and its opposite neurosis, we will never quite find what we're seeking, and we'll always feel just a twinge of disappointment. I know the standard apologetical answer at this point: "You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you" (Augustine, Confessions). And that is certainly true. But what about when we feel ourselves disappointed with God?</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc; font-style: italic;"> Not that we're resting in Him, so it isn't quite God we really weigh and find wanting. No one's suggesting the saints in glory are kicking tires on the Trinity, undergoing buyer's remorse.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #e69138; font-style: italic;"> But our earthly relationship to God is subject to the same grim alteration of hunger and disappointment as any other experience.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc; font-style: italic;"> If you view God's people, the Jews, as the archetype of humanity, their sacred history shows those dreary ups and downs. No sooner would they achieve -- after earth-shattering miracles, scattered manna, and vanquished pharaohs -- some measure of peace and plenty than they would start to get a little jaded. Those tedious dietary laws and elaborate sin sacrifices began to seem kind of silly, like a third-century B.C. version of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Why exactly was it so important to shun the reverent fertility cults of every people around them? Compared to those glittering, sexy idols and their sacred prostitutes, how dry and abstract was this invisible God, how shrill were all His prophets . . .</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #e69138; font-style: italic;"> We Christians aren't off the hook.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc; font-style: italic;"> If there's one thing Our Lord did all through His public life, it was to disappoint and confuse the people who followed Him. I'm sure it began at the Wedding of Cana, when the last cask of Château Miraculeux ran dry and the now-blotto wedding crashers started schnorring Mary for more. But Christ, like a wise and responsible bartender, cut them off and took their car keys. They probably stumbled out of there cursing His name.<br />
<br />
Things only got worse after that. Christ would no sooner perform a miraculous cure and gather a friendly crowd than He'd slip off into the desert by Himself. It must have seemed autistic. How frustrating for the burgeoning activists among the apostles -- who'd probably started counting heads and comparing their total to John the Baptist's. The rich young man who'd strutted up to Jesus to explain his rectitude was slapped in the face with the call to a vow of poverty. The Pharisees (like good traditionalists) had expected this fiery rabbi to stand with them against the sell-out liberal Sadducees. They scoffed instead to find He was eating with penitent tramps and Roman collaborators.<br />
<br />
Of course, the real bait-and-switch kicked in when we realized </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #e69138; font-style: italic;">what Christ was up to -- that He was overturning all the Messianic promises</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc; font-style: italic;"> that had kept the Jews going for centuries. There would be no earthly kingdom of peace and plenty, from which the Jews would radiate order and justice to a grateful gentile world. Indeed, there would be no peace, but the treachery in the Garden and the horror of the Cross. Only on the other side of death would come Resurrection, and only after an unpredictable stretch of persecution and chaos would come the New Jerusalem, which couldn't rise until the first one had been leveled, stone torn from stone.<br />
<br />
But we don't want some heavenly city on the other side of death. We are still those faded, smudgy Xerox copies of Adam whose hearts pine after restful times spent under Eden's trees heavy with fruit. We use our bulky brains to figure out back doors and forgotten tunnels back into the Garden, or technological means to disable the flaming sword. We prefer the disappointments to which we're resigned to the terrifying transformation that is demanded, and when He gently explains to us that simple innocence no longer is an option, we look deep in His eyes -- and like the rich young man, we go away sad.</span></span></div></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><a href="http://www.insidecatholic.com/feature/disappointed-by-truth.html">Inside Catholic</a></div>ABehmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02303979417051074844noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5300137420794713581.post-33726540048270207162011-04-15T22:49:00.003-05:002011-04-15T23:00:26.772-05:00Psalm 50 (51)<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="510" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Cn39RzlhSao" title="YouTube video player" width="640"></iframe><br />
<br />
An important prayer for all of us sinners, of whom I am the greatest.<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #e69138;">In Latin:</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"><span class="verse" style="color: red; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: top;">3</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> Miserere mei, Deus, secundum magnam misericordiam tuam; et secundum multitudinem miserationum tuarum, dele iniquitatem meam.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"><span class="verse" style="color: red; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: top;">4</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> Amplius lava me ab iniquitate mea, et a peccato meo munda me.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"><span class="verse" style="color: red; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: top;">5</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> Quoniam iniquitatem meam ego cognosco, et peccatum meum contra me est semper.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"><span class="verse" style="color: red; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: top;">6</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> Tibi soli peccavi, et malum coram te feci; ut justificeris in sermonibus tuis, et vincas cum judicaris.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"><span class="verse" style="color: red; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: top;">7</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> Ecce enim in iniquitatibus conceptus sum, et in peccatis concepit me mater mea.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"><span class="verse" style="color: red; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: top;">8</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> Ecce enim veritatem dilexisti; incerta et occulta sapientiæ tuæ manifestasti mihi.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"><span class="verse" style="color: red; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: top;">9</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> Asperges me hyssopo, et mundabor; lavabis me, et super nivem dealbabor.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"><span class="verse" style="color: red; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: top;">10</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> Auditui meo dabis gaudium et lætitiam, et exsultabunt ossa humiliata.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"><span class="verse" style="color: red; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: top;">11</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> Averte faciem tuam a peccatis meis, et omnes iniquitates meas dele.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"><span class="verse" style="color: red; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: top;">12</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> Cor mundum crea in me, Deus, et spiritum rectum innova in visceribus meis.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"><span class="verse" style="color: red; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: top;">13</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> Ne projicias me a facie tua, et spiritum sanctum tuum ne auferas a me.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"><span class="verse" style="color: red; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: top;">14</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> Redde mihi lætitiam salutaris tui, et spiritu principali confirma me.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"><span class="verse" style="color: red; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: top;">15</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> Docebo iniquos vias tuas, et impii ad te convertentur.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"><span class="verse" style="color: red; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: top;">16</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> Libera me de sanguinibus, Deus, Deus salutis meæ, et exsultabit lingua mea justitiam tuam.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"><span class="verse" style="color: red; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: top;">17</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> Domine, labia mea aperies, et os meum annuntiabit laudem tuam.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"><span class="verse" style="color: red; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: top;">18</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> Quoniam si voluisses sacrificium, dedissem utique; holocaustis non delectaberis.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"><span class="verse" style="color: red; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: top;">19</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> Sacrificium Deo spiritus contribulatus; cor contritum et humiliatum, Deus, non despicies.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"><span class="verse" style="color: red; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: top;">20</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> Benigne fac, Domine, in bona voluntate tua Sion, ut ædificentur muri Jerusalem.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"><span class="verse" style="color: red; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: top;">21</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> Tunc acceptabis sacrificium justitiæ, oblationes et holocausta; tunc imponent super altare tuum vitulos.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #e69138;">In English:</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"><span class="verse" style="color: red; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: top;">3</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> Have mercy on me, O</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">God</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">, according to your great mercy. And according to the multitude of your tender mercies blot out my</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">iniquity</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"><span class="verse" style="color: red; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: top;">4</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> Wash me yet more from my</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">iniquity</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">, and cleanse me from my</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">sin</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"><span class="verse" style="color: red; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: top;">5</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> For I know my</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">iniquity</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">, and my</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">sin</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">is always before me.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"><span class="verse" style="color: red; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: top;">6</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> To you only have I</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">sinned</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">, and have done</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">evil</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">before you: that you may be justified in your words, and may overcome when you are judged.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"><span class="verse" style="color: red; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: top;">7</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> For behold I was conceived in</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">iniquities</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">; and in</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">sins</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">did my mother conceive me.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"><span class="verse" style="color: red; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: top;">8</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> For behold you have</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">loved </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">truth</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">: the uncertain and hidden things of your wisdom you have made manifest to me.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"><span class="verse" style="color: red; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: top;">9</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> You shall sprinkle me with</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">hyssop</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">, and I shall be cleansed: you shall wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"><span class="verse" style="color: red; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: top;">10</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> To my hearing you shall give</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">joy and gladness</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">: and the bones that have been</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">humbled</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">shall rejoice.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"><span class="verse" style="color: red; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: top;">11</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> Turn away your face from my</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">sins</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">, and blot out all my</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">iniquities</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"><span class="verse" style="color: red; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: top;">12</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> Create a clean heart in me, O</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">God</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">: and renew a right spirit within my bowels.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"><span class="verse" style="color: red; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: top;">13</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> Cast me not away from your face; and take not your</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">holy</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">spirit from me.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"><span class="verse" style="color: red; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: top;">14</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> Restore unto me the</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">joy</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">of your</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">salvation</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">, and strengthen me with a perfect spirit.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"><span class="verse" style="color: red; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: top;">15</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> I will teach the unjust your ways: and the wicked shall be converted to you.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"><span class="verse" style="color: red; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: top;">16</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> Deliver me from blood, O</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">God</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">, you</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">God</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">of my </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">salvation</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">: and my tongue shall extol your</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">justice</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"><span class="verse" style="color: red; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: top;">17</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> O</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">Lord</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">, you will open my lips: and my mouth shall declare your praise.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"><span class="verse" style="color: red; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: top;">18</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> For if you had desired</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">sacrifice</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">, I would indeed have given it: with burnt</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">offerings</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">you will not be delighted.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"><span class="verse" style="color: red; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: top;">19</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> A</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">sacrifice</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">to</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">God</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">is an afflicted spirit: a </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">contrite</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">and</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">humbled</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">heart, O</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">God</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">, you will not</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">despise</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"><span class="verse" style="color: red; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: top;">20</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> Deal favourably, O</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">Lord</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">, in your </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">good</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">will with Sion; that the walls of</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">Jerusalem</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">may be built up.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"><span class="verse" style="color: red; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: top;">21</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> Then shall you accept the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">sacrifice</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">of</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">justice</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">,</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">oblations</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">and</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">whole burnt offerings</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">: then shall they lay calves upon your </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">altar</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Times CY', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">.</span>ABehmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02303979417051074844noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5300137420794713581.post-45255378176499886932011-04-15T21:43:00.001-05:002011-04-15T21:44:10.688-05:00Who is our ideal?<div class="synopsis_focus"><blockquote style="background-color: #301505; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Arial, Verdana; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 25px; margin-right: 25px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 15px; padding-right: 20px; padding-top: 10px;"><div style="font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"> Who is our ideal? A player of a percussion instrument, a .398 batter, a soldier, a patriot, a saint? The higher the love, the more demands will be made on us to conform to that ideal. To a great extent the level of any civilization is the level of its womanhood. When a man loves a woman, he has to become worthy of her. The higher her virtue, the more noble her character, the more devoted she is to truth, justice, goodness, the more a man has to aspire to be worthy of her. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #e69138;">The history of civilization could actually be written in terms of the level of its women.</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; font-style: normal; line-height: 19px;"></span></span></span></span></div></blockquote><div style="font-weight: bold;"><br />
</div><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=S5XQ07LEagsC&pg=PA61&lpg=PA61&dq=To+a+great+extent+the+level+of+any+civilization+is+the+level+of+its+womanhood.+When+a+man+loves+a+woman,+he+has+to+become+worthy+of+her.+The+higher+her+virtue,+the+more+noble+her+character,+the+more+devoted+she+is+to+truth,+justice,+goodness,+the+more+a+man+has+to+aspire+to+be+worthy+of+her.+The+history+of+civilization+could+actually+be+written+in+terms+of+the+level+of+its+women.&source=bl&ots=UkJKuTSbrA&sig=EqgmJwG4lnNH2kc-JFKZF4uZf_k&hl=en&ei=lQCpTYrcC5GesQPu15n5DA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBQQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=To%20a%20great%20extent%20the%20level%20of%20any%20civilization%20is%20the%20level%20of%20its%20womanhood.%20When%20a%20man%20loves%20a%20woman%2C%20he%20has%20to%20become%20worthy%20of%20her.%20The%20higher%20her%20virtue%2C%20the%20more%20noble%20her%20character%2C%20the%20more%20devoted%20she%20is%20to%20truth%2C%20justice%2C%20goodness%2C%20the%20more%20a%20man%20has%20to%20aspire%20to%20be%20worthy%20of%20her.%20The%20history%20of%20civilization%20could%20actually%20be%20written%20in%20terms%20of%20the%20level%20of%20its%20women.&f=false">"Life is Worth Living" by Fulton Sheen</a></div>ABehmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02303979417051074844noreply@blogger.com0