Annus Novus

Amici, Americani, Compatriotae,

Today’s Epistle Reading for the 7th Day in the Octave of Christmas is 1st John 2:18-21. Nothing more need be said with regard to the turnover at midnight tonight:

Children, it is the last hour;
and just as you heard that the antichrist was coming,
so now many antichrists have appeared.
Thus we know this is the last hour.
They went out from us, but they were not really of our number;
if they had been, they would have remained with us.
Their desertion shows that none of them was of our number.
But you have the anointing that comes from the Holy One,
and you all have knowledge.
I write to you not because you do not know the truth
but because you do, and because every lie is alien to the truth.

Pro neque Donald Trump neque Hillaria Clinton Censui

Donald Trump
President-Elect of the United States

Amici, Americani, Compatriotae,

As long time readers already know, I voted for neither Donald Trump nor Hillary Clinton. Instead, I cast my vote for Ben Carson during the Republican Primary Election in my home state, and then for Darrell Castle of the Constitution Party in the General Election. I reviewed the platforms of the major parties: Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, Green and Constitution. I voted based on which platform I thought was closest to the teaching of Holy Mother Church. I did not vote based on which candidate was most popular or most likely to win. I also did not vote based on empty promises to serve either economic prosperity and national security, or social justice, the common good and planetary peace. The primary non-negotiable issues were these:

• No abortion
• No homosexual marriage
• No embryonic stem cell research
• No euthanasia
• No human cloning

Promises that politicians make to improve society so as to obviate the need of abortion or other such heinous crime meant nothing to me. Righteous and holiness, conversion and repentance come before, not after health and prosperity. Accusations of racism and homophobia and misogyny likewise meant nothing to me.

• My wife is Filipino and I Caucasian; we are both members of the human race. Differences in the melanin of our skin cells are accidents of birth, and differences in culture are accidents of where we were raised as children. 
• Some of my closest friends in the past and one roommate were homosexual. Several co-workers were likewise homosexual. My friendship with them has nothing to do with their sexual preference, nor does that change the fact that homosexual activity is as sinful as adultery and fornication.
• Feminism and being accused of misogyny likewise meant nothing to me; my favorite heroines include Judith of Biblical fame who decapitated evil Holofernes and St. Joan of Arc; the difference between femininity - true womanhood - and the androgyny of feminism is quite clear. I love women for I am married to one. 

Basically I tried to bear in mind what Pope Benedict XVI wrote in Sacramentum Caritatis:

Here it is important to consider what the Synod Fathers described as eucharistic consistency, a quality which our lives are objectively called to embody. Worship pleasing to God can never be a purely private matter, without consequences for our relationships with others: it demands a public witness to our faith. Evidently, this is true for all the baptized, yet it is especially incumbent upon those who, by virtue of their social or political position, must make decisions regarding fundamental values, such as respect for human life, its defence from conception to natural death, the family built upon marriage between a man and a woman, the freedom to educate one's children and the promotion of the common good in all its forms (230). These values are not negotiable. Consequently, Catholic politicians and legislators, conscious of their grave responsibility before society, must feel particularly bound, on the basis of a properly formed conscience, to introduce and support laws inspired by values grounded in human nature (231). There is an objective connection here with the Eucharist (cf. 1 Cor 11:27-29). Bishops are bound to reaffirm constantly these values as part of their responsibility to the flock entrusted to them (232)....

...As I have had occasion to say, it is not the proper task of the Church to engage in the political work of bringing about the most just society possible; nonetheless she cannot and must not remain on the sidelines in the struggle for justice. The Church "has to play her part through rational argument and she has to reawaken the spiritual energy without which justice, which always demands sacrifice, cannot prevail and prosper.

In a 2002 Doctrinal Note approved by Pope John Paul II called The Participation of Catholics in Political Life, Cardinal Ratzinger wrote “a well-formed Christian conscience does not permit one to vote for a political program or an individual law which contradicts the fundamental contents of faith and morals.” He explained:

When political activity comes up against moral principles that do not admit of exception, compromise or derogation, the Catholic commitment becomes more evident and laden with responsibility. In the face of fundamental and inalienable ethical demands, Christians must recognize that what is at stake is the essence of the moral law, which concerns the integral good of the human person. This is the case with laws concerning abortion and euthanasia (not to be confused with the decision to forgo extraordinary treatments, which is morally legitimate). Such laws must defend the basic right to life from conception to natural death. In the same way, it is necessary to recall the duty to respect and protect the rights of the human embryo. Analogously, the family needs to be safeguarded and promoted, based on monogamous marriage between a man and a woman, and protected in its unity and stability in the face of modern laws on divorce: in no way can other forms of cohabitation be placed on the same level as marriage, nor can they receive legal recognition as such. The same is true for the freedom of parents regarding the education of their children; it is an inalienable right recognized also by the Universal Declaration on Human Rights. In the same way, one must consider society’s protection of minors and freedom from modern forms of slavery (drug abuse and prostitution, for example). In addition, there is the right to religious freedom and the development of an economy that is at the service of the human person and of the common good, with respect for social justice, the principles of human solidarity and subsidiarity, according to which “the rights of all individuals, families, and organizations and their practical implementation must be acknowledged”. Finally, the question of peace must be mentioned. Certain pacifistic and ideological visions tend at times to secularize the value of peace, while, in other cases, there is the problem of summary ethical judgments which forget the complexity of the issues involved. Peace is always “the work of justice and the effect of charity”. It demands the absolute and radical rejection of violence and terrorism and requires a constant and vigilant commitment on the part of all political leaders.

Therefore, having read these and other things, it became clear that voting for the candidates of a political party which advocates the sanctification of homosexual relations as marriage and the legality of the infanticide of the unborn cannot be supported. That eliminated the Democratic, Libertarian and Green Party candidates. Hillary Clinton, Gary Johnson and Jill Stein all openly supported intrinsic moral evils. That left Donald Trump and Darrell Castle. Of the two, I did not trust Trump's newfound conservatism to be authentic, and I was distrustful of RINOs - Republicans in Name Only. So I vote for Darrell Castle (whom I knew would lose).

Now on election night my wife and I stayed awake until the wee hours of the morning watching the returns on Fox News. When it became apparent that Trump won, I did breathe a sigh of relief because while my chosen candidate did not win, I knew that at least we would not have a continuation of the past eight years where Christians are marginalized and sued in the public square, heinous sins like abortion and homosexuality are lauded and paraded about, and borders are opened for terrorists to enter the country in the stream of illegal aliens.

Nevertheless, let me be clear:

• I believe in freedom of religion for Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Taoists, Shintoists or whatever in the public square. I also believe in leaving homosexuals to live their lives in peace. But nowhere in that is it right to force Christians to violate their consciences.
• I also believe in the sanctity of life. A baby's body is not a woman's body. If a woman and the man who wants to have conjugal relations with her do NOT want a baby, then they need to refrain from sexual intercourse. What are we? Wild baboons given to the lust of our passions, having to titillate our genitals and then abdicate our responsibility and evade our accountability for the resulting pregnancy? If we are so logical and scientific and rational, then why are we so incapable of using the brains that God gave us? 
• And lastly I believe in welcoming the alien. I took two Filipina immigrants into my apartment free of charge before I married and provided for their needs without government reimbursement. But they were LEGAL immigrants and therein lies the difference.

So now Donald Trump is President, and I did not chose him. In response young millennials in large cities like Seattle, Portland, LA, NYC, etc. did not just protest but destroyed property, threatened and harmed police, and attacked those on the right of the political spectrum. Then came the excuses about why the left lost the election:

• Jim Comey's re-opening of Hillary's email sever scandal ruined her chances
• Fake news from right wing sources cause Hillary's loss
• The Electoral College caused her loss
• The Russians hacking into DNC email servers did it

Excuse after excuse was offered up, and an end-run to intimidate the Electoral College was made. Now we have cries, "Trump - not my President." Imagine if the right had done that with Barack Obama. St. Paul however tells us what the truth of the matter is in Romans 13:1-7:

Let every person be subordinate to the higher authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been established by God. Therefore, whoever resists authority opposes what God has appointed, and those who oppose it will bring judgment upon themselves. For rulers are not a cause of fear to good conduct, but to evil.b Do you wish to have no fear of authority? Then do what is good and you will receive approval from it, for it is a servant of God for your good. But if you do evil, be afraid, for it does not bear the sword without purpose; it is the servant of God to inflict wrath on the evildoer. Therefore, it is necessary to be subject not only because of the wrath but also because of conscience. This is why you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, devoting themselves to this very thing. Pay to all their dues, taxes to whom taxes are due, toll to whom toll is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.

That means that like it or not, the authority of Donald Trump as President is established by God. We know this to be true because of the precedence established by what the prophet Isaiah said regarding pagan King Cyrus of Persia in Isaiah 45:1-2:

Thus says the LORD to his anointed, Cyrus,
whose right hand I grasp,
Subduing nations before him,
stripping kings of their strength,
Opening doors before him,
leaving the gates unbarred:

I will go before you
and level the mountains;
Bronze doors I will shatter,
iron bars I will snap.

Even our first Pope, St. Peter, writes in 1st Peter 2:13-17 the following:

Be subject to every human institution for the Lord’s sake, whether it be to the king as supreme
or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the approval of those who do good.
For it is the will of God that by doing good you may silence the ignorance of foolish people.
Be free, yet without using freedom as a pretext for evil, but as slaves of God.
Give honor to all, love the community, fear God, honor the king.

And David before he became king acted in this way. King Saul had been chasing him throughout the countryside to kill him, and when David has a chance to retaliate, he said in 1st Samuel 24:7:

The LORD forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the LORD’s anointed, to lay a hand on him, for he is the LORD’s anointed.

Therefore, whether I like him or not, Donald Trump IS our President and as Catholic Christians we are required to respect him and pray for him. Speaking of which, at every Mass at Our Lady of Grace Father Kirby always includes a prayer for the President and the President-Elect. Furthermore, the 1928 Anglican Book of Common Prayer has an excellent prayer for those in authority. It would do well for us to remember this, especially considering that both St. Paul and St. Peter lived in a time when evil Roman Emperors persecuted Christians and yet required Christian obedience to Roman authority.

ALMIGHTY God, whose kingdom is everlasting and power infinite; Have mercy upon this whole land; and so rule the hearts of thy servants THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, The Governor of this State, and all others in authority, that they, knowing whose ministers they are, may above all things seek thy honour and glory; and that we and all the People, duly considering whose authority they bear, may faithfully and obediently honour them, according to thy blessed Word and ordinance; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with thee and the Holy Ghost liveth and reigneth ever, one God, world without end. Amen.

Quintus Dies in Octavo Nativitatis

Amici, Americani, Compatriotae,

Today is the Fifth Day in the Octave of Christmas. The daily Scripture readings include the following:

• Obeying Jesus' Commandments in 1st John 2:3-11
• Praise to God Who Comes in Judgment in Psalm 96:1-6
• Jesus' Presentation in the Temple in Luke 2:22-35

This post will cover the following:

• Today's Homily by Fr. Kirby at Our Lady of Grace
• Loving Our Brother in St. John's Admonition
• The Feast of St. Thomas Becket of Canterbury

Christmas Store Shelves

TODAY'S HOMILY

Fr. Kirby related how he went to a department store yesterday and saw all the main shelves cleared of Christmas decorations. They had been moved to a discount area and the main shelves were now full of items for celebration of St. Valentine's Day. The world had already moved on. Christmas was done and over with. The shopping was finished and the account books were tabulated and closed. Now begins preparation for sales in anticipation of the next great holiday.

However, for us Christians the Christmas Season does not end on the day after Christmas. Rather, it continues for eight days through what is called the Octave of Christmas, and beyond to Epiphany - the time when the Three Magi visited the Christ Child which we will celebrate on January 8th. The miracle of the Incarnation of God as man cannot be distilled into one small day. We need time to reflect upon the gift of God's miracle in salvation history. Therefore, as Christians we still say "Merry Christmas" to each other.

LOVING OUR BROTHER

Yesterday afternoon I went to the gym in the development where my wife and I live in order to exercise some of the calories off that I had consumed over the holiday vacation. There was a white haired man already exercising on the treadmill, then the elliptical trainer, watching the news on the TV. Having already walked a mile or so from my house to the gym, I intended to lift weights only. This man and I began talking. Eventually he led the conversation to politics. It became all too apparent and quite rapidly too that we were not going to agree. Three times I had to ask him that we not discuss politics since we were not going to agree. On the third request he relented. I was very upset by that time and tried not to show my discomfort, simply referring to him as sir. Finally and thankfully the conversation was steered toward more mundane topics: our work out routines, our wives, where we lived before coming to the area, our prior work experiences, etc. We also talked about Church - he attends Mass at St. Matthews and I at Our Lady of Grace. He did try one more time to steer the discussion in a political direction, but thankfully that petered out. When I left the gym to walk the mile back home, I made it a point to shake his hand before I left and wished him well.

The truth is this, amici. I have low (almost non-existent) tolerance for those on the other side of the political spectrum. I have to force myself to remember what St. John wrote in his first epistle that we read today:

Whoever says he is in the light,
yet hates his brother, is still in the darkness.
Whoever loves his brother remains in the light,
and there is nothing in him to cause a fall.
Whoever hates his brother is in darkness;
he walks in darkness
and does not know where he is going
because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

This man at the gym is not just a fellow Christian, but a fellow Catholic. So today when I heard the Epistle reading from the pulpit at Our Lady of Grace I was reminded of what had happened yesterday at the gym. We have been through a raucous and horrible election season. Everyone's nerves are still on edge. We therefore - especially myself - need to go back to St. John's words: whoever hates his brother is in darkness. I spent 10 years of my youth in the darkness of the "ISM" (I, Self and Me) of alcohol-ISM. I don't need to rent any more space in my head to resentment and hatred, especially given what Psalm 146:3-4 says:

Put no trust in princes,
in children of Adam powerless to save.
Who breathing his last, returns to the earth;
that day all his planning comes to nothing.

The Murder of St. Thomas Becket

ST. THOMAS BECKET OF CANTERBURY

St. Thomas Becket lived from AD 1118 to 1170 in England. He was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1162 until his murder in 1170. St. Thomas opposed King Henry II's encroachments on the authority of the Church in England. Because of this the King was heard to have said, "Who will rid me of this troublesome priest?" St. Thomas was then killed by four followers of the King on December 29, 1170. He was subsequently canonized as a Saint in 1173. A shrine to his memory was built in Canterbury, but was later destroyed by order of Henry VIII who sadly succeeded in the 16th century where his predecessor Henry II had failed in the 12th, and thus was born the Church of England out of defiance towards Pope Clement VII's prohibition against unlawfully divorcing Catherine of Aragon. The readings for the Feast Day of St. Thomas Becket of Canterbury include the following:

• A Worker Approved by God in 2 Timothy 2:8-13; 3:10-12
• Praise for Deliverance from Trouble in Psalm 34:2-9
• The Cross and Self-Denial in Matthew 16:24-27

Additionally, the following excerpt is from a letter which St. Thomas had written:

If we who are called bishops desire to understand the meaning of our calling and to be worthy of it, we must strive to keep our eyes on him whom God appointed high priest for ever, and to follow in his footsteps. For our sake he offered himself to the Father upon the altar of the cross. He now looks down from heaven on our actions and secret thoughts, and one day he will give each of us the reward his deeds deserve.

As successors of the apostles, we hold the highest rank in our churches; we have accepted the responsibility of acting as Christ's representatives on earth; we receive the honor belonging to that office, and enjoy the temporal benefits of our spiritual labors. It must therefore be our endeavor to destroy the reign of sin and death, and by nurturing faith and uprightness of life, to build up the Church of Christ into a holy temple in the Lord.

There are a great many bishops in the Church, but would to God we were the zealous teachers and pastors that we promised to be at our consecration, and still make profession of being. The harvest is good and one reaper or even several would not suffice to gather all of it into the granary of the Lord. Yet the Roman Church remains the head of all the churches and the source of Catholic teaching. Of this there can be no doubt. Everyone knows that the keys of the kingdom of heaven were given to Peter. Upon his faith and teaching the whole fabric of the Church will continue to be built until we all reach full maturity in Christ and attain to unity in faith and knowledge of the Son of God.

Of course many are needed to plant and many to water now that the faith has spread so far and the population become so great. Even in ancient times when the people of God had only one altar, many teachers were needed; how much more now for an assembly of nations which Lebanon itself could not provide with fuel for sacrifice, and which neither Lebanon nor the whole of Judea could supply with beasts for burnt offerings! Nevertheless, no matter who plants or waters, God gives no harvest unless what he plants is the faith of Peter, and unless he himself assents to Peter's teaching. All important questions that arise among God's people are referred to the judgment of Peter in the person of the Roman Pontiff. Under him the ministers of Mother Church exercise the powers committed to them, each in his own sphere of responsibility.

Remember then how our fathers worked out their salvation; remember the sufferings through which the Church has grown, and the storms the ship of Peter has weathered because it has Christ on board. Remember how the crown was attained by those whose sufferings gave new radiance to their faith. The whole company of saints bears witness to the unfailing truth that without real effort no one wins the crown.

Martyrium Innocentum Sacrorum

Murder of the Holy Innocents

Amici, Americani, Compatriotae,

The title of today's post is "Martyrdom of the Holy Innocents," in memory of the Feast of the Holy Innocents observed on December 28th. The Scripture Readings include the following:

• God is Light in 1st John 1:5-2:2
• Thanksgiving for Israel's Deliverance in Psalm 124:2-8
• The Murder of Bethlehem's Babies in Matthew 2:13-18

Once again, Fr. Kirby at Our Lady of Grace gave an excellent homily full of Scriptural exegesis. I will try to faithfully reproduce what I heard, hopefully without error. I have made a few additions for explanatory purposes, but I am unable to do justice to what I heard at Mass; therefore, any errors are obviously mine.

Our story starts with the Patriarch Jacob whom God named Israel (meaning "God contended") in the Book of Genesis. Jacob had four wives from whom sons were born to form the 12 tribes of the people of Israel:

• Leah (whose sons were Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun, and whose daughter was Dinah)
• Rachel (whose sons were Joseph and Benjamin)
• Ziplah (whose sons were Gad and Asher)
• Bilhah (whose sons were Dan and Naphtali)

Jacob had traveled a great distance to find a kinswoman for a wife from his uncle Laban, the brother of Rebekah who in turn was the wife of Jacob's father Isaac. Laban was father to Leah and Rachel. Jacob loved Rachel immediately on seeing her. So Laban told Jacob that after seven years work, he would be allowed to marry Rachel. However, at the end of seven years, Laban switched the arrangement such that Jacob was given Leah and not Rachel. Once again, Laban told Jacob that if he worked another seven years, then he could have Rachel. Finally he did get to marry her. She gave him two children, Joseph of the multicolored cloak fame and Benjamin the youngest. During Benjamin's birth, Rachel died. The place where she died was at that time an out-of-the-way virtually unknown locale to later become Bethlehem. Of this place Jeremiah 1:15 says:

Thus says the LORD:
In Ramah is heard the sound of sobbing,
bitter weeping!
Rachel mourns for her children,
she refuses to be consoled
for her children—they are no more!

The reference all the way back to the wife whom Israel (i.e., Jacob) loved is clear. This passage of Sacred Scripture is interposed in the text where Jeremiah is prophesying about the eventual return the exiles of the Northern Kingdom (Israel) back to the Promised Land. The Assyrian Empire had deported the children of Israel into captivity in 722 BC (the deportation of the Southern Kingdom of Judah by the Babylonians would happen later, starting in 597 BC), and Jeremiah 1:8 promised the following:

Look! I will bring them back
from the land of the north;
I will gather them from the ends of the earth,
the blind and the lame in their midst,
Pregnant women, together with those in labor—
an immense throng—they shall return.

But it is verse 7 to which Matthew 2:18 points when King Herod orders the murder of all children two years old and under after the visit of the Magi (the Three Wise Men) from the East:

“A voice was heard in Ramah,
sobbing and loud lamentation;
Rachel weeping for her children,
and she would not be consoled,
since they were no more.”

Many people often associate the visit of the Magi with Christmas, but they actually visited some time later when Jesus was around one and half years old. We know this because of the particular Greek word used for child to describe Jesus in Matthew chapter 2 that provides the account of the Magi's visit:

παιδίον - a young child, a little boy or girl, a toddler

Thus, Jesus was no longer an infant babe, but a little boy. We also know that in Luke chapter 1 Jesus was born in a manger within a stable or cave for housing animals, but Matthew 2:11 says that the Magi came to a house where Jesus and his parents were staying. The actual Greek word is:

οἰκία - house, inhabited edifice, dwelling

Therefore, the Magi's visit did NOT happen on or around Christmas, but about one and a half or so years later. For that reason, when Herod heard the Magi's story that they were seeking the new born King of the Jews, he became fearful and jealous, ordering the execution of any male child two years old and under.

Imagine if the police came into the local towns of Lancaster, SC and Waxhaw, NC to shoot dead any child two years old and under. Imagine the devastation that that would wreak on the local community. Now imagine these children of ancient Bethlehem who were forced to give up their lives for our eventual salvation by the Christ child. How often we are ashamed of our Faith. We may say grace over meals at home, but when we dine at a public restaurant, we avoid any prayer and hide our Faith much to the confusion of our own children. Yet the children of Bethlehem without any knowledge had to give up their lives. We need to change course and be proud of the Faith instead of hiding it. We need to tell the truth in love and charity, but tell it nevertheless. And we need to ever be willing to do what these children had to do - give our lives for the Faith. The Holy Innocents died in the House of Bread (which is what Βηθλέεμ in Greek or בֵּית לֶחֶם in Hebrew means) so that we might partake of the Bread of Eternal Life.

Ex Oribus Infantulorum

Rev. Dr. Terry Moore

Amici, Americani, Compatriotae,

The title of this blog post, Ex Oribus Infantulorum, means "Out of the Mouths of Babes."

Because my Filipina wife was raised as Methodist, she wanted to attend Christmas morning service at the church which her niece frequents: the Weddington United Methodist Church. So we went. The senior pastor, Rev. Dr. Terry Moore, officiated. I had heard a few of his sermons previously and he always seems orthodox Wesleyan in doctrine. This morning's service was equally orthodox but in an unusual way. First, the Gospel reading from Luke 2:1-14 was proclaimed. Then a video was shown (see below) which I think speaks for itself. The one thing I note with fascination is that Rev. Dr. Moore deferred to children to explain the Christmas message this morning just as Father Kirby at Our Lady of Grace deferred to children at yesterday evening's Vigil Mass. Surely this is not a coincidence. Indeed, my AA sponsor would say, "Coincidence is just God's way of revealing His anonymity." His sponsor - a Franciscan priest and my priest confessor - always agreed. Therefore, to both Rev. Dr. Moore and Father Kirby I say bravo!

Vigilia Nativitatis Domini Nostri et Salvatoris Iesus Christi

Amici, Americani, Compatriotae,

Felix Nativitas! Merry Christmas! Earlier this evening I attended the Vigil Mass of the Nativity at Our Lady of Grace in Lancaster, SC. The Scripture readings included the following:

• A New Name for Zion in Isaiah 62:1-5
• The Establishment of the Davidic Covenant in Psalm 89:4-29
• St. Paul's Address to the Synogogue at Antioch in Pisidia in Acts 13:16-25
• The Birth of Jesus in Matthew 1:18-25

After the Gospel reading, Father Kirby invited all the young children to come up to the front and sit at where the altar rail would be, facing the congregation. What Jesus said in Matthew 19:14 came to my mind:

Let the children come to me, and do not prevent them; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.

Father Kirby then proceeded to ask the children various questions:

• Who was at the first Christmas? The children answered, "Mary, Jesus' Mother, and Joseph, his foster father."
• Where is Mary? The children pointed to Mary's statue at the Manger scene.
• Where is Joseph? The children pointed again to the Manger scene.
• Who else was there? The children answered, "The Angels and the Shepherds. And the Wise Men are coming too."
• And who else besides people? The children answered, "Sheep and donkeys."

Finally the greatest question came:

Where is Jesus?

The children promptly pointed above the Tabernacle where Jesus Body in the Consecrated Hosts lay:

Crucifix above the Tabernacle
Our Lady of Grace
Lancaster, SC

Father Kirby laughed and pointed to the baby Jesus who is to lay in the Manger. He then asked:

• Why did Jesus come? The children answered, "To save us from our sins."
• And why did Jesus do that? The children said, "Because He loves us."

Father then turned to the congregation and said, "There is nothing more I can add in my homily. Jesus came to a darkened world in turmoil to save us from our sins because He loved us. That is the Christmas message."

As a dear orthodox Anglican friend responded on Facebook where I initially discussed this:

• Christ has died.
• Christ is risen.
• Christ will come again.

Benedictus Dominus Deus Israel

Amici, Americani, Compatriotae,

Today's Scripture readings for the Saturday in the Fourth Week of Advent have so much to unpack:

• Nathan's Admonition to David about the Temple in 2nd Samuel 7:1-6
• The Psalmist on the Davidic Covenant in Psalm 89:2-29
• The Canticle of Zechariah on the Birth of John the Baptist in Luke 1:67-79

ASIDE: Having read the notes in the Navarre Study Bible for each of these Scripture passages, I highly recommend the acquisition of such a study bible. It is expensive but well worth every penny.

Due to time and space limitations, I cannot repeat here everything I learned this morning. But one important thing did occur to me. King David wanted to build a Temple of marble and gold to replace the Tent of the Meeting which the Hebrews used for their worship in the Exodus from Egypt, and to house the Ark of the Old Covenant.

The Mosaic Tabernacle Tent
ESV Study Bible

The Mosaic Tabernacle and Court
ESV Study Bible

Nathan told David, "Thus says the LORD: Should you build me a house to dwell in?" While David's immediate son Solomon did build a Temple, the house in which the Lord would dwell would not be in a physical building made by man, but in the hearts of the Believers comprising the Body of Christ, the Una Sancta Catholica et Apostolica Ecclesia.

King Solomon's Temple
ESV Study Bible

Canticle of Zechariah in Greek

Thus Zechariah declares the following about his son:

You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High,
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,
to give his people knowledge of salvation
by the forgiveness of their sins.
In the tender compassion of our God
the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death,
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.

That dawn is shown in Revelation 12:1 in the Ark of the New Covenant:

A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.

Virgo Maria Regina Caeli

John the Baptist was the forerunner of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, and from Him came the Church - the Body of Believers - in whom the Lord dwells. Thus is fulfilled 2nd Samuel 7:16:

Your house and your Kingdom shall endure forever before me;
your throne shall stand firm forever

Yahweh Est Gratiosus

Birth of John the Baptist

Amici, Americani, Compatriotae,

There is no daily Mass today at Our Lady of Grace, however, I do have a few thoughts on today's Scripture readings for the Friday in the Fourth Week of Advent. The readings include the following:

• The Prophecy of Malachi concerning John the Baptist in Malachi 3:1-4, 23-24
• The Praise of the Psalmist in Redemption Being Near at Hand in Psalms 25
• The Birth of John the Baptist in Luke 1:57-66

As the reader can see, these passages all related to John the Baptist. And the name John is noteworthy in the context of this Advent season. In Latin it is Ioannes and in Greek Ιωαννης. The name derives from the Hebrew יוֹחָנָן or Yochanan meaning Yahweh is gracious, hence the title of this blog post. This then is a continuation of the theme of grace - Mary full of grace (Luke 1:28) and Hannah or Grace, the mother of Samuel in 1st Samuel 1.

Marriage and Divorce
NIV Archaeological Study Bible

Now on a different tangent, I have never liked the practice of seeing readings taken out of the context in which they were written, or divided up with important text between verses being deleted. Thus, for that reason I reviewed the text in Malachi chapter 2 immediately preceding today's Old Testament reading. Imagine therefore my surprise when I read in verses 10 through 17 what the prophet Malachi wrote, then considering it in light of what John the Baptist told King Herod regarding the sanctity of marriage:

10 Have we not all one father?
Has not one God created us?
Why, then, do we break faith with each other,
profaning the covenant of our ancestors?
11 Judah has broken faith; an abominable thing
has been done in Israel and in Jerusalem.
Judah has profaned the LORD’s holy place, which he loves,
and has married a daughter of a foreign god.
12 May the LORD cut off from the man who does this
both witness and advocate from the tents of Jacob,
and anyone to bring an offering to the LORD of hosts!
13 This also you do: the altar of the LORD you cover
with tears, weeping, and groaning,
Because the Lord no longer takes note of your offering
or accepts it favorably from your hand.
14 And you say, “Why?”—
Because the LORD is witness
between you and the wife of your youth
With whom you have broken faith,
though she is your companion, your covenanted wife.
15 Did he not make them one, with flesh and spirit?
And what does the One require? Godly offspring!
You should be on guard, then, for your life,
and do not break faith with the wife of your youth.
16 For I hate divorce,
says the LORD, the God of Israel,
And the one who covers his garment with violence,
says the LORD of hosts.
You should be on guard, then, for your life,
and you must not break faith.
17 You have wearied the LORD with your words,
yet you say, “How have we wearied him?”
By saying, “All evildoers
are good in the sight of the LORD,
And he is pleased with them,”
or “Where is the just God?”

Marriage and Divorce
NIV New Interpreter's Study Bible

Immediately following this admonition in marriage comes the prophecy in verse 1 of chapter 3, "Now I am sending my messenger—he will prepare the way before me." And what message did that messenger proclaim? Matthew 14:3-4 tells us:

Now Herod had arrested John, bound [him], and put him in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, for John had said to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.”

Herodias had apparently divorced (or had been divorced by) Philip who was Herod's half-brother, and then married Herod, Leviticus 18:16 forbade that with these words:

You shall not have intercourse with your brother’s wife; that would be a disgrace to your brother.

Because John the Baptist upheld the never changing principle of the sanctity of marriage (a principle reiterated and clarified by Christ Himself in Matthew 19:1-12), he was imprisoned and then eventually beheaded. Salome, the daughter of Herodias, brought his decapitated head into the party being held by Herod for inspection by Herodias. To this day that reminds me of what happened to another man who dared to tell the truth in public.

Marcus Tullius Cicero

Back around 43 BC or so Gaius Octavius (later Augustus Caesar), Marcus Antonius and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus formed the Second Triumvirate in the wake of the assassination of Gaius Iulius Caesar. Rome's most famous statesman, Marcus Tullius Cicero, spoke against the dictatorship which Second Triumvirate threatened to establish. He wrote 14 Philippics in defense of the Res Publica. Because he dared to oppose tyranny, he too was decapitated like his spiritual successor John the Baptist. Luvia, the wife of Marcus Antonius is reputed to have taken his head, extracting the tongue and repeatedly stabbing it with needles. Only her spiritual successor Herodias some 70 years later would be as vicious as she.

The point in all this is clear: grace isn't always "luvy duvy, peace 'n flowers, common good and social justice." Sometimes grace demands that men be manly and stand up against evil women (Luvia and Herodias) who eschew the example of Our Lady of Grace. That is what Cicero did, and that is what John the Baptist did. The Lord is gracious, but beware because His grace demands obedience. In the case of Malachi and John the Baptist, it demanded obedience to the principle of the sanctity of marriage.

Gratia et Arca Veti Testamenti

Hannah, Samuel and Eli the Priest

Amici, Americani, Compatriotae,

During daily Mass at Our Lady of Grace today I learned two new things, (a) the meaning of the name Hannah and (b) the end of the Ark of the Old Covenant. Fr. Kirby (whom Gov Nikki Halley has just awarded the Order of the Palmetto - congratulations!) gave the homily for the Thursday in the 4th Week of Advent whose readings included:

• The Account of Hannah Presenting Samuel to Eli in 1st Samuel 1:24-28
• Hannah's Song of Rejoicing in 2nd Samuel 2:1-8
• Mary's Magnificat in Luke 1:46-56

HANNAH MEANING GRACE

Hannah (meaning grace) was one of two wives, the other being Peninnah (meaning jewel), of a man named Elkanah (meaning God has possessed or God has created). These names are significant because of their relation to what would happen a little over a millennium later. Peninnah had many sons and daughter but Hannah had none. In those days it was a mark of shame not to have children (so unlike today). Even though Elkanah would give a double portion of the sacrifices to Hannah, nothing would console her grief except a child. So she prayed silently at Shiloh one day and Eli the priest saw her. Initially he suspected her drunk from seeing her lips move with no sound, but she explained to him the desire of her heart and he said to her in 1st Samuel 1:17, "Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have requested." And Scripture says in verse 19, "When they returned Elkanah had intercourse with his wife Hannah, and the LORD remembered her." Samuel (meaning heard of God) was then born, and after he was weened, she brought him to Eli in dedication to the Lord. It is significant that God created (Elkanah) through Grace (Hannah) the boy child Samuel just as some 1105 years later the Holy Spirit (God) would overshadow the Blessed Virgin Mary (Our Lady of Grace) so that she would conceive the Christ Child (truly heard of God, hence the name Samuel) within her womb. And truly Hannah's song of rejoicing presages Mary's Magnificat in the Gospel of St. Luke.

FATE OF THE ARK OF THE OLD COVENANT

One of the things which has always puzzled Biblical archaeologists and others is the eventual fate of the Old Covenant. But first we have to understand what replaced that Ark. Fr. Kirby explained that just as Mary pregnant with Jesus went to visit Elizabeth in the hill country of Judea for three months, so did a similar thing happen to the Old Ark of the Covenant. 2nd Samuel 6 gives the account of the return of the Ark of the Old Covenant to Jerusalem by King David. Some interesting parallels exist here:

• The Ark of the Old Covenant was holy, being filled with the presence of God, such that Uzzah reached out his hand to steady the ox cart by which it was being transported, God struck him dead on the spot.
• The Ark of the Old Covenant then remained at the House of Obed-edom in the hill country of Judah for three months.
• David the King danced before the Ark of the Old Covenant on its eventual return to Jerusalem.

In the same Mary is the Ark of the New Covenant:

• Mary was filled with the Christ Child, God Himself, and as such could not be touched by mortal man, hence her perpetual virginity.
• Mary made haste to stay with her cousin Elizabeth in the hill country of Judah for three months.
• John the Baptist leaped - danced - within the womb of Elizabeth upon being in the presence of Mary and Jesus within her womb.

The parallels are very clear. Indeed, Hebrews 9:4 tells us what was within the Ark of the Old Covenant: "...the manna, the staff of Aaron that had sprouted, and the tablets of the covenant." Those things also were within Mary:

• Jesus the Bread of Life - the Manna
• Jesus the High Priest - the staff of Aaron
• Jesus the Fulfillment of the Law - the Tablets of the Covenant

So to make way for the Ark of the New Covenant, what happened to the old Ark? Fr. Kirby said that it was destroyed in the final Babylonian attack against Jerusalem in 2nd Chronicles 36:15-21. However, 2nd Maccabees 2:5-8 says the following:

When Jeremiah arrived there, he found a chamber in a cave in which he put the tent, the ark, and the altar of incense; then he sealed the entrance. Some of those who followed him came up intending to mark the path, but they could not find it. When Jeremiah heard of this, he reproved them: “The place is to remain unknown until God gathers his people together again and shows them mercy. Then the Lord will disclose these things, and the glory of the Lord and the cloud will be seen, just as they appeared in the time of Moses and of Solomon when he prayed that the place might be greatly sanctified.”

So after Mass I asked Fr. Kirby what might actually have happened: did the Babylonians find the hiding spot and destroy the Ark? He explained what Ezekiel 9:3 and Ezekiel 10 indicate: that the Glory of the Lord departed from above the mercy seat, from between the Cherubim on the Ark of the Old Covenant because of the idolatry being committed in the Temple, and then finally left the Temple itself and all Jerusalem as the Babylonians came in to finally level the city. Without the Glory of the Lord there was no Ark. For all intents and purposes it was destroyed at that point. This had to be done in order to make way for the Ark of the New Covenant, for God's final Pact with Mankind - the promise of Grace, hence the name Hannah.

Vocabit Nomen Eius Emmanuel

Amici, Americani, Compatriotae,

The title of this post is taken from the end of verse 14 in Isaiah chapter 7 where the Lord through Isaiah the prophet tells King Ahaz of Judah to ask for a sign, and Ahaz in false piety refuses to "tempt the Lord," whereupon Isaiah prophesies the following in verses 14, 15 and 16:

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign; the young woman, pregnant and about to bear a son, shall name him Emmanuel. Curds and honey he will eat so that he may learn to reject evil and choose good; for before the child learns to reject evil and choose good, the land of those two kings whom you dread shall be deserted.

Isaiah 7:10-14 was the Old Testament reading for Tuesday within the Fourth Week of Advent. I have often disliked how certain Biblical readings are cut off without giving a fuller picture of the entire story of King Ahaz and the prophet Isaiah, so I did some subsequent research into the following related passages of Sacred Scripture:

• The Reign of Ahaz over Judah in 2nd Kings 16
• The Misdeeds and Punishment of Ahaz in 2nd Chronicles 28

Assyrian Empire

The period of time in which Isaiah's prophecy is given is during the time of the Divided Kingdom where 10 of the 12 Tribes form the Northern Kingdom of Israel whose capital is Samaria, and 2 form the southern Kingdom of Judah. Apostasy and the murder of babies filled both kingdoms. Indeed, 2nd Chronicles 28:3 records the following:

Moreover, he [Ahaz] offered sacrifice in the Valley of Ben-hinnom, and immolated his children by fire in accordance with the abominable practices of the nations whom the LORD had dispossessed before the Israelites.

Digression: This is prophetic of today's wicked and adulterous generation in these United States where more than 55 million children since the Roe v Wade decision in SCOTUS in 1973 have been butchered by the ax of the abortionist for the convenience of sexual intercourse without the consequence of child rearing.

During this period of time the Middle East was divided into:

• Egypt under the Pharaohs in the south
• The Southern Kingdom of Judah under Ahaz in Jerusalem
• The Northern Kingdom of Israel (also called Ephraim) under Pekah in Samaria
• Syria (also called Aram - hence the Aramaic language) under Rezin in Damascus
• Assyria stretching across northern Mesopotamia under Tiglath-Pileser III

Syro-Ephraimite War

Pekah and Rezin had formed an alliance against Assyria. Ahaz opposed that alliance. Pekah and Rezin feared a two-prong conflict between Judah to the south and Assyria to the north and east, so they tried to preemptively conquer Judah and replace Ahaz with a puppet king, but that effort failed. Ahaz obviously feared for his kingdom (and his life), so the prophet Isaiah came to him and said in Isaiah 7:9 (right before the prophecy about Emmanuel):

The head of Ephraim is Samaria,
and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah.
Within sixty-five years,
Ephraim shall be crushed, no longer a nation.
Unless your faith is firm,
you shall not be firm!

Note the last part of verse 9 and the forgiveness in the heart of God for the wickedness that Ahaz had done: "Unless you faith is firm, you shall not be firm." Then in verse 11 God tells Ahaz to ask for a sign and Ahaz refuses. Why? Because (as the reader will learn from reading the corresponding passages in 2nd Kings 16 and 2nd Chronicles 28), Ahaz intends to ally himself with Assyria instead of relying on the Lord. Nevertheless, the Lord gives a sign, that of a virgin who will bear a son to be named "God with us."  Isaiah goes on the prophecy in chapter 7 that while Jerusalem herself will be saved, because of Ahaz's lack of faith the surrounding countryside will be leveled, rendering agriculture impossible and leaving only cattle for milk and curds, and bees for honey. Furthermore, the machinations of Israel the Northern Kingdom came to naught, for 2nd Kings 17 records that during the reign of evil Hoseah the people living there were deported and the Northern Kingdom came to an end. In the meantime, Hezekiah succeeded Ahaz in Judah the Southern Kingdom, fulfilling on an immediate basis the prophecy that a young women would given birth to a child named, "God with us," for 2nd Chronicles 29:2 records:

He [Hezekiah] did what was right in the LORD’s sight, just as David his father had done.

And then a little more than 700 years later we would see the ultimately fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy in Matthew 1:22-23:

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:
"Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel,"
which means "God is with us."

I like the manner in which the Latin Vulgate translates the last part of Isaiah 7:9: "Si non credideritis, non permanebitis." "If you have not believed, you will not endure." Neither the Northern Kingdom nor the Southern Kingdom endured. The inhabitants of the former were deported into captivity of Assyria and of the later by Babylon because both had fallen into unbelief and apostasy. Yet the promise of the Christ Child remained in spite of man's rebellion.

Gratia Praeveniens

The Visitation

Amici, Americani, Compatriotae,

Today I learned something new (at least to me) at Daily Mass which I have been able to attend while on Christmas vacation. First, the readings for Wednesday in the Fourth Sunday of Advent include the account of the Visitation in Luke 1:39-45:

Mary set out in those days
and traveled to the hill country in haste
to a town of Judah,
where she entered the house of Zechariah
and greeted Elizabeth.
When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting,
the infant leaped in her womb,
and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit,
cried out in a loud voice and said,
“Most blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
And how does this happen to me,
that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears,
the infant in my womb leaped for joy.
Blessed are you who believed
that what was spoken to you by the Lord
would be fulfilled.”

Father Kirby at Our Lady of Grace discussed three important observations that he saw in this passage of Sacred Scripture:

1. Mary made haste to the Judean countryside, for Mary's visit with Elizabeth occurs immediately after Mary declared to the Angel Gabriel in the account of the Annunciation in Luke 1:38, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word." There was no delay to share the Good News (Evangelium) with her cousin Elizabeth.
2. Elizabeth who is elder to Mary uncharacteristically greets Mary as her senior with the words, "Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb." In Middle Eastern cultures, particularly at that time in history, it was customary for the younger woman (Mary) to give deference to the elder (Elizabeth), but here we see the opposite happening. Some paintings of this scene even depict Elizabeth bowing before Mary.
3. St. John the Baptist in the womb leaped for joy in the womb of Elizabeth upon the arrival of Jesus in the womb of Mary. This shows us the sanctity of new pre-born life from the start. It also indicates that by prevenient grace John the Baptist was saved from original sin at that point, and thus born without sin. He was not immaculately conceived as was Mary (the Ark of the New Covenant miraculously kept from original sin at conception). But as Luke 1:41 states, he was "...filled with the Holy Spirit" at that moment and the Holy Spirit cannot fill an unclean vessel.

I had never heard of the term, "Prevenient Grace," but I recognized the word "prevenient" since it derives from the present participle "praeveniens" of the Latin verb "praevenio" which means:

"I arrive / occur / come first / before / too soon; precede; surpass; anticipate / forestall"

The term prevenient grace occurs in both Catholic and Ariminian / Weslyan theology. The Wikipedia entry on this topic states:

"It is divine grace that precedes human decision. It exists prior to and without reference to anything humans may have done. As humans are corrupted by the effects of sin, prevenient grace allows persons to engage their God-given free will to choose the salvation offered by God in Jesus Christ or to reject that salvific offer...."

"...The Second Council of Orange of AD 529 stated that faith, though a free act, resulted even in its beginnings from the grace of God, enlightening the human mind and enabling belief. In canon 23 it is said that God prepares our wills that they may desire the good. Canon 25 states, 'In every good work, it is not we who begin . . . but He (God) first inspires us with faith and love of Him, through no preceding merit on our part.' Prevenient grace (from the Latin 'to come before') was discussed in the fifth chapter of the sixth session of the Council of Trent (1545-1563) which used the phrase: 'a Dei per dominum Christum Iesum praeveniente gratia' (rendered 'a predisposing grace of God through Jesus Christ'.) Those who turned from God by sins are disposed by God's grace to turn back and become justified by freely assenting to that grace."

In the case of John the Baptist, within a Q&A at EWTN on this topic the following is provided:

"The Church teaches that it was at this moment that the Baptist was freed from original sin and that he never sinned personally in the course of his life. Specifically, Pope Innocent III (1208 AD, DS 790) wrote: 'Iohannemque Baptistam ab eo missum esse sanctum et iustum et in utero matris suae Spiritu Sancto repletum' ('and John the Baptist had been sent from Him [God] holy and righteous and filled with the Holy Spirit in the womb of his own mother'). Furthermore, St. Augustine commented that we properly celebrate the birthday of the Baptist in addition to his day of martyrdom, since he came into the world without sin. Hence it is only properly said of Mary that she was conceived free of original sin, as proclaimed in the Immaculate Conception. But the Baptist was granted the privilege of freedom from original sin in the womb which is singular in its own right and by the same grace of Christ, but in anticipation of the crucifixion in which that grace was won for us."

I had not known anything about this topic of the sinless birth of John the Baptist by means of prevenient grace. That is why I think it is so important to pay attention to the homilies at Mass - you never know what you may learn.

Homilia Hodierna a Patre Kirby aput Dominam Nostram Gratiae

Amici, Americani, Compatriotae,

Today's Daily Readings for the Tuesday in the 4th week of Advent included the account of the Annunciation as recorded in Luke 1:26-38. Father Kirby at Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church gave a homily specifically on what the angel Gabriel declared to Mary in verses 31 through 33:

"...Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end."

Jesus is the son of David and David was the greatest ruler which Israel had ever had. Likewise Israel under David was the most powerful that it had ever been in both antiquity and modern times, and thus the Star of David remains the symbol of the Jewish State. David in a sense was a "son" (de-capitalized "s) of God (and certainly called a man after God's own heart). Jesus was the only begotten Son (capitalized "s") of God. David ruled over the 12 Tribes of Israel and Jesus surrounded Himself with 12 Disciples. David's mother would in the practice of the ancient Hebrew kings be the Queen, not David's wife for he had many wives. This we know was the case when in 1st Kings 2:19-21 when Bathsheba, the mother of King Solomon, went to her son for Adonijah's request that he be granted Abishag the Shunamite as his wife. Verse 19 states:

"Then Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah, and the king stood up to meet her and paid her homage. Then he sat down upon his throne, and a throne was provided for the king’s mother, who sat at his right."

In the same fashion the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Jesus, would become Queen of Heaven and Earth, something we see visualized in Revelation 12:1:

"A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars."

Jesus was also promised to rule over the House of Jacob forever. In the story of Joseph and the Multicolored Cloak, and its aftermath in the Book of Genesis, Jacob and his 12 sons (whose progeny would become the 12 Tribes of Israel) ended up in the land of Egypt. Jacob, to whom God gave the name Israel (meaning "God contended," a reference to the time when Jacob wrestled with God in Genesis 32:23-33) of course eventually died, requesting his bones to be returned to the land which God had promised him and his descendants. These descendants became the Hebrews who grew numerous Egypt. When finally after 400 years they left under Moses, they remembered the request of Jacob their father and returned his bones to the land which God had promised to him. From that land would then come David and then David's descendant Jesus who "would rule over the house of Jacob forever." The House of Jacob, the House of David is Mary's House (she being Queen Mother) and hence is Jesus' House (He being the one "of whose kingdom there will be no end").

I have found Fr. Kirby's homilies to be informative, thought provoking and orthodox. I would therefore encourage anyone living in the area of Lancaster, SC to visit Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church.

Conloquium cum Cardinale Burke de Amoris Laetitia et Quinque Dubiis

Amici, Americani, Compatriotae,

The following video is the interview of Raymond Cardinal Burke by EWTN's Raymond Burke on Amoris Laetitia and the Five Dubia.

Avia Constitutionum Nuntiorum contra Donald Trump

Amici, Americani, Compatriotae,

The title of this post in Latin means, "The Prejudice of the News Organizations against Donald Trump." Avia denotes in Latin a deep-seated, deeply rooted prejudice. About this is what I wish to talk.

President-Elect Donald Trump

Normally after awakening in the morning I review the news on the usual set of purveyors, including Yahoo and those organizations feeding news into Yahoo such as AP, Reuters, ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC, etc. Without fail what these organizations report about Donald Trump is uniformly biased against him, his family and his staff. Never did these organizations treat Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton in this manner. While negative articles may have been published, they were rare and in a minority. But the articles on Trump and those associated with him are invariably vicious, mean-spirited and full of calumny. While Obama and Hillary are given the benefit of the doubt, imputed to Trump is the certainty of guilt of avarice and malice. And one excuse after another is being raised for the Democrats' loss of the election:

• James Comey caused the loss by re-opening the email investigation into Hillary Clinton because of Anthony Weiner and his wife, Hillary's adviser, Huma Abedin (never mind that Democrats praised him when he refused to charge Hillary with jeopardizing national security by using private email servers for classified information)
• The electoral college arrangement is unfair and anti-Democratic in that it allows a candidate to win via succeeding in a majority of sovereign States even while he loses the popular vote (never mind that the USA is NOT a Democracy but a Federated Constitutional Republic of separate sovereign States where each individual One has an equal say in the Federal Government regardless its size - winning in a few few major cities should not dictatorially determine the government for the rest of the nation)
• The Russians caused the loss by hacking into Clinton's email and doing some unspecified something that resulted in eventual defeat (never mind that Clinton herself and the Democrats in general never properly secured her email - besides, what are the Russians going to do with the hacking? Release to the American public what Hillary really said about the deplorables whom she so self-righteously despised?)

Yet the abounding examples of the legacy of Obama and Hillary which led to Hillary's defeat are ignored. Both supported, advocated and worked for the murder of the unborn and the sanctification of sterile sexual perversion. And both those things the news media regards as sacraments under the specious pretexts of the right to choose and marriage equality. Both these persons have weakened the United States throughout the world, emasculated our local police and the military, increased the scope and power of big government, aided and abetted illegal immigration and the influx of unvetted Muslims who could be terrorist, ingratiated our nation with principalities of Islamic fanaticism, alienated our friends such as the UK and Israel, interfered with free elections in Israel (where thankfully Benjamin Netanayahu won regardless of Obama machinations to the contrary), fanned the flames of discontent and racial prejudice among black populations.....the list is seemingly without end.

Now what has Donald Trump done? He has said mean, sexist and sometimes idiotic things. But what has he done? He has run a successful business for decades and has raised a successful family whose children love and adore him. That is what he has done. Yes, he is thrice married, which (based on what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 19) technically makes him an adulterer and no better than William Jefferson Clinton (Hillary's husband) who himself had sexual encounters with Monica Lewinski in the Oval Office when he was President (the reporting of which his wife Hillary called a vast right wing conspiracy).

So what is Trump doing now regardless of his adultery? He is selecting people to his cabinet from the military and big business who have proven to be successful themselves. Are those from the military anti-Islamic? Thankfully yes; with some happy exceptions like righteous King Abdullah II and his wife Queen Rania of Jordan, Muslims have spread their hateful religion by the sword since the mid seventh century AD. North Africa and the Middle East were all once Christian, and Muslims changed that not by dialog and persuasion but by the sword, indiscriminately murdering Christians and Jews in their wake or placing them under the servitude of dhimmitude. Are those from big business whom Trump selected rich and well-known elsewhere in the world? Again, thankfully yes; we need successful people with real world experience across the globe to represent and defend our interests. Limp-wrist, lackadaisical politicians who never had a real job in their life (like current Secretary of State John Kerry) have failed and given economic ascendancy to enemies such as communist China which forces abortions for any second baby, and persecutes and maligns the Church, controlling who may be bishop and who may not. It is time therefore that adults are put in charge instead of starry-eyed idealists who never matured out of the "hippie-ism" of their teenage years.

Now all this said, I publicly declare that I never voted for Donald Trump. In the primaries I voted for Ben Carson and in the General Election I voted for Darrell Castle of the Constitution Party. I did so because of the positions those men held on the issues; their stance was the most Christian I could find. And their platforms were closest to the teaching of Holy Mother Church. And yes, while I regarded Hillary Clinton as a resurrected Livia Drusilla Augusta Caesar, I saw Donald Trump as a resurrected Marcus Licinius Crassus. The later may be an unprincipled, foul mouthed, wheeling-dealing, playboy gambler. But the former is surely a murderous pathological liar. Therefore, realizing my selected candidate could not win (I was under no illusions), I was relieved that Trump won the general election instead of Hillary. More babies would be saved from vivisection in the womb, their internal organs being sold on the open market by Planned Parenthood which is funded by tax dollars arranged by Barack Obama. Sodomites would be less able to shove their filth down the throats of others. The military and police would be restored to their rightful places of honor and respect. Islam would be confronted and stopped. The flames of racism would be doused with water. And the free market would be allowed to function as intended.

Donald Trump is no paragon of virtue and certainly cannot accomplish all that he has promised. But neither was Cyrus, King of Persia in the Bible, likewise himself paragon of virtue either. Yet in spite of the fact that Cyrus was a pagan, had many wives and concubines (the ultimate misogynist), and would execute without trial those opposed to his rule (sort of like Rodrigo Duterte on steroids), he set things up to allow the Jews to return from exile in Babylon to their homeland in Judea, rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem and the great Temple itself when Yahweh was worshiped. Thus the prophet Isaiah called him the Lord's Anointed. In the sense that (as St Paul says in one of his epistles) all authority comes from God, Trump is the Lord's Anointed even as Hillary is like Jezebel, wife of King Ahab, who arranged for the murder of righteous Naboth the Jezreelite so that she and her husband could take possession of his vineyard. To the extent therefore that Trump executes his duty as President consistent with that anointing will he be judged as leader. The same is true of Obama. To the extent that Obama has governed consistent with the principle that all authority comes from God will he be judged, first by history in this world and finally by God Himself in the next. Obama's track record is not so good. Let that be a warning to Trump or any would-be leader. But let us at least give Trump a chance to govern. Let us give him the benefit of the doubt. God gave pagan King Cyrus a chance. Are we any better than He?