Tempora Finis

Amici, Americani, Compatriotae,

The night before yesterday I returned from a business trip on the left coast of the United States. I was there for a little more than a week and had the opportunity to attend Mass at one of the local parishes in the area where I was staying. Obviously yesterday I returned to Mass at my hometown Parish. I may as well have stayed on the left coast given the message that issued forth from a substitute priest who admitted from the pulpit to being a product of the 1960s.

Now the Daily Scripture Readings for the 33^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time included Daniel 12:1-3 and Mark 13:24-32, both of which have an eschatological (or end-times) theme. The visiting priest started off his homily innocently enough, explaining that Fundamentalist Christians often take a literal view of almost all of Sacred Scripture without giving sufficient allowance to the fact that the Bible is actually a collection of many different books written by authors of varied experiences over millennia, and as such has literary genres that employ a wide variety of techniques such as parables, allegories, hyperboles, metaphors, similes, etc. He used the example of non-literal meaning by citing a typical sports news report on the television or internet that the Tigers slaughtered the Gamecocks. Would a reader a thousand years in the future assume that a pride of tigers actually slaughtered a flock of chickens in a sports arena? So this point is correct.

But then the priest went far afield when he claimed that Jesus own words that heaven and earth will pass away does not mean that earth will be destroyed because God loves the earth (and us) so much that He would never destroy it (and by extension punish us). This obviously is in direct conflict with what 2^nd Peter 3:10-13 states:

10 But the day of the Lord shall come as a thief, in which the heavens shall pass away with great violence, and the elements shall be melted with heat, and the earth and the works which are in it, shall be burnt up. 11 Seeing then that all these things are to be dissolved, what manner of people ought you to be in holy conversation and godliness? 12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of the Lord, by which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with the burning heat? 13 But we look for new heavens and a new earth according to his promises, in which justice dwelleth.

And the priest ignored precisely what Revelation 21:1 states:

1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth was gone, and the sea is now no more.

Now I do agree with the emphasis placed on Mark 13:32:

32 But of that day or hour no man knoweth, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father.

The Lord could return today, tomorrow, next week, next month, next year or a thousand years from now. No man knows. And any one of us could die tonight, making the timing of the Lord’s return a moot point as we enter our Particular Judgment. But the disregard given to the prophetic aspect of Christ’s own words was (while not surprising since it came from a priest of the 1960s), very disappointing and depressing. We can disagree about various interpretations of events described in Mark chapter 13 and its corollaries in the other two synoptic Gospels (Matthew 24 and Luke 21). For example, some parts of Jesus’ prophecy obviously were fulfilled when Roman General Titus destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem, but others remain yet to be fulfilled. This disagreement among modern commentators is why I default to what the Church Fathers wrote, in this case St. John Chrysostom who wrote about these things in Homilies 75, 76 and 77 on the Gospel of St. Matthew. I really wish that before priests begin to give a homily or sermon, they would at least read what the early Church Fathers said instead of “winging” it with post-Vatican II nonsense.

Purgatorium

Amici, Americani, Compatriotae,

One of the things that is so frustrating about so-called adherents to the doctrine of Sola Scripture is their cherry picking on what they base their man-made theology and their ignoring what is inconvenient to their man-made theology. I really don't understand this cognitive dissonance. The passage of Sacred Scripture between verses 11 and 16 of 1st Corinthians chapter within today's Epistle reading in the Divine Liturgy is a case in point:

12 If anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw,13 the work of each will come to light, for the Day will disclose it. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire [itself] will test the quality of each one’s work.14 If the work stands that someone built upon the foundation, that person will receive a wage.15 But if someone’s work is burned up, that one will suffer loss; the person will be saved, but only as through fire.

It's obvious that this is a reference to Purgatory which is explained by articles 1030 through 1032 in the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

1030 All who die in God's grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.

1031 The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned. The Church formulated her doctrine of faith on Purgatory especially at the Councils of Florence and Trent. The tradition of the Church, by reference to certain texts of Scripture, speaks of a cleansing fire:

As for certain lesser faults, we must believe that, before the Final Judgment, there is a purifying fire. He who is truth says that whoever utters blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will be pardoned neither in this age nor in the age to come. From this sentence we understand that certain offenses can be forgiven in this age, but certain others in the age to come.

1032 This teaching is also based on the practice of prayer for the dead, already mentioned in Sacred Scripture: "Therefore [Judas Maccabeus] made atonement for the dead, that they might be delivered from their sin." [2nd Maccabees 12:46] From the beginning the Church has honored the memory of the dead and offered prayers in suffrage for them, above all the Eucharistic sacrifice, so that, thus purified, they may attain the beatific vision of God. The Church also commends almsgiving, indulgences, and works of penance undertaken on behalf of the dead:

Let us help and commemorate them. If Job's sons were purified by their father's sacrifice [Job 1:5], why would we doubt that our offerings for the dead bring them some consolation? Let us not hesitate to help those who have died and to offer our prayers for them.

St. John Chrysostom (Doctor of the Church, born at Antioch, AD 347; died at Commana in Pontus, 14 September, AD 407) goes on to explain this further in his 41st homily on 1st Corinthians:

Let us then give them aid and perform commemoration for them. For if the children of Job were purged by the sacrifice of their father, why do you doubt that when we too offer for the departed, some consolation arises to them? Since God is wont to grant the petitions of those who ask for others. And this Paul signified saying, that in a manifold Person your gift towards us bestowed by many may be acknowledged with thanksgiving on your behalf. 2 Corinthians 1:11 Let us not then be weary in giving aid to the departed, both by offering on their behalf and obtaining prayers for them: for the common Expiation of the world is even before us. Therefore with boldness do we then intreat for the whole world, and name their names with those of martyrs, of confessors, of priests. For in truth one body are we all, though some members are more glorious than others; and it is possible from every source to gather pardon for them, from our prayers, from our gifts in their behalf, from those whose names are named with theirs. Why therefore do you grieve? Why mourn, when it is in your power to gather so much pardon for the departed?

In his encyclical Spe Salvi Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI explains that the duration of time in Purgatory is not of a terrestrial nature, that is, subject to the laws of physical space and time:

It is clear that we cannot calculate the “duration” of this transforming burning in terms of the chronological measurements of this world. The transforming “moment” of this encounter eludes earthly time-reckoning—it is the heart's time, it is the time of “passage” to communion with God in the Body of Christ...

...if “Purgatory” is simply purification through fire in the encounter with the Lord, Judge and Saviour, how can a third person intervene, even if he or she is particularly close to the other? When we ask such a question, we should recall that no man is an island, entire of itself. Our lives are involved with one another, through innumerable interactions they are linked together. No one lives alone. No one sins alone. No one is saved alone. The lives of others continually spill over into mine: in what I think, say, do and achieve. And conversely, my life spills over into that of others: for better and for worse. So my prayer for another is not something extraneous to that person, something external, not even after death. In the interconnectedness of Being, my gratitude to the other—my prayer for him—can play a small part in his purification. And for that there is no need to convert earthly time into God's time: in the communion of souls simple terrestrial time is superseded.

For Protestants who may not understand, everyone who goes to Purgatory after death eventually ends up in Heaven after purgation is completed. No one who goes to Purgatory after death ever goes to Hell, and no one in Hell ever escapes to go to either Purgatory or Heaven. And our prayers for those in purgatory are a spiritual act of mercy. Lastly, the doctrine of Purgatory is entirely Biblical as the discussion above demonstrates - those people who are "saved" but in an imperfect state of being marred by the effects of sin will be cleansed by fire, but in a non-terrestrial, spiritual sense where the passage of time does not have the meaning as it does in physical space and time.

Meae Cogitationes de Electione Spatii Medii

Amici, Americani, Compatriotae,

The mid-term election results are summarized here:

Democrats take control of the House, but Trump voters bolster Republicans in the Senate

My thoughts on this mid-term election are simple:

The American people were disgusted with the slander and character assassination leveled by Democratic Senators at Brett Kavanagh during his confirmation hearings to SCOTUS, and with their manipulation of women to falsely accuse him of rape. Similarly, the American people are appalled at the childish temper tantrums of leftists when they don’t get their way, and the constant barrage of hatred and anger against the President by the news media. Thus, the GOP has held onto control of the US Senate.

The American people are equally disgusted with the bombast, demagoguery, vulgarity and insensitivity which daily emanates from the President via his Twitter account and his rallies. He matches word for word, action for action the insanity of the liberal progressive feminist left instead of behaving with the modesty, moderation and equanimity expected of the world’s most powerful leader. Thus, the Democrat Party regained control of the US House of Representatives.

Let us pray:

MOST gracious God, we humbly beseech thee, as for the people of these United States in general, so especially for their Senate and Representatives in Congress assembled; that thou wouldest be pleased to direct and prosper all their consultations, to the advancement of thy glory, the good of thy Church, the safety, honour, and welfare of thy people; that all things may be so ordered and settled by their endeavours, upon the best and surest foundations, that peace and happiness, truth and justice, religion and piety, may be establish among us for all generations. These and all other necessaries, for them, for us, and thy whole Church, we humbly beg in the Name and mediation of Jesus Christ, our most blessed Lord and Saviour. Amen.

Concio LXII Sancti Augustini

Amici, Americani, Compatriotae,

Today’s Gospel reading in the Holy Mass is Luke 14:15-24, the Parable of the Large Banquet. A person dining with Jesus says, “Blessed is the one who will dine in the Kingdom of God.” Jesus then gives the story of a great dinner to which a man invited many. But when the time came for people to attend the banquet, excuse after excuse was given.

The first said to him,

'I have purchased a field and must go to examine it;

I ask you, consider me excused.'

And another said, 'I have purchased five yoke of oxen

and am on my way to evaluate them;

I ask you, consider me excused.'

And another said, 'I have just married a woman,

and therefore I cannot come.'

So the master of the house in a rage demanded that the poor, crippled, blind and lame be invited instead. Who however were those declining to come to the feast? St. Augustine tells us in his 62^nd sermon delivered at the Basilica Restitua:

(1) The man who had to examine a field that he had just purchased is the person subjected to the pride of life. The importance of what he does for himself supersedes the importance of attending the great feast of his master.

(2) The man who had just purchased five yoke of oxen is the person who subjected to the lust of the eyes, for the five yoke of oxen represent the five senses: (a) two eyes, (b) two ears, (c) two nostrils, (d) tongue and palate, and (e) skin inside and out.

(3) The man who had just married a woman is the person subjected to the lust of the flesh, for instead of bringing his new wife to the banquet, he must go home to satisfy his conjugal desires.

Here we see what prevents us from sitting at the Eucharistic Table of our Blessed Lord:

The Pride of Life

The Lust of the Eyes

The Lust of the Flesh.

Everyone is invited. Not everyone will however dine with our Lord and Savior.

Consequens Inobedientiae

Mordecai does not bow to Haman

Amici, Americani, Compatrioate,

Last night's Scripture reading within the Liturgy of the Hours was from Esther chapter 3 where Haman, a newly appointed official to the court of Persian King Ataxerxes, conspired to commit genocide against the entire Jewish people because Mordecai, a Jew in the king's court, would not bow in obeisance to him. As the reader may recall, Esther (Mordecai's niece and the young woman whom King Ataxerxes appointed to replace Vashti as Queen to reign from 479 to 465 BC) would act to prevent this genocide (which is the subject of the book named after her). But in this enmity between Mordecai and Haman there is a great lesson, for Haman was Agagite (3:1) and Mordecai was the great grandson of Kish (of the tribe of Benjamin) (2:5) who had been King Saul's father. And from that we have  history.

In Exodus 17:8-16 (a little later than 1450 BC), right after Moses struck the rock in the wilderness from which sprung water to quench the thirst of the wandering Israelites, a people called the Amalekites attacked. When Moses raised his hands over the battlefield, the Israelites prevailed. When due to weariness his arms dropped, the enemy prevailed. So Aaron and Hur held up Moses' arms and the victory went to Israel; the Amalekites were defeated. But they did not forget this incident and great hatred rose between the the two nations.

In 1st Samuel 15, the prophet Samuel told King Saul (1078 to 1010 BC) to finally eradicate the Amalekites - every man, woman, child, infant and beast - for what had happened during the sojourn of the Israelites in the Sinai desert. King Saul carried out only part of the task, saving as spoils the best of what the Amalekites had instead of destroying everything, and sparing the life of the Amalekite king, a man by the name of Agag (hence was Haman in the Persian court later on called an Agagite for he was a descendant of Agag). As a result of King Saul's disobedience, the kingdom of Israel was ripped from him as he ripped a part of Samuel's garment as Samuel went to leave.

Finally when the people of Judah were deported to Babylon, the last remaining descendant of Amalekite King Agag and the last remaining descendant of the line of Kish (father of King Saul), Mordecai, meet and they hate each other. If King Saul had carried out the Lord's command, then he likely would not have lost the kingdom and there would have been no Amalekite descendants, and all the train of events leading up to and including Haman's plot for genocide would not have occurred. But King Saul saved the best of the spoils of war for himself (using the excuse that he was going to sacrifice the spoils to Samuel's Lord).

You see, the attempt to wipe out all Jews from the face of the Earth occurred a thousand years before Haman resurrected that plot. And God (about five hundred years after the initial attempt and five hundred years before Haman's conspiracy) told King Saul to take care of this problem and Saul did not. The consequences for Saul's disobedience were not however relegated to him along but followed the Jewish people into captivity a half millennium later. Yet God in His eternal wisdom foresaw what would happen and put Esther in the right place at the right time to foul Haman's plans and bring final defeat onto the Amalekites. In spite of our disobedience God will always have the final victory, and from this the Chosen People were preserved for the eventual birth of the Messiah, the Savior of the World.

Prex et Meditatio - Gradus Undecimus

Amici, Americani, Compatiotae,

Today at Holy Mass Father Kirby at Our Lady of Grace gave a homily on prayer, and much of what he said reminded me of what my AA sponsor had told me some three decades ago. We are not supposed to pray for ourselves and what we want. God isn't a slot machine or a sugar daddy. Rather, what Father explained in his homily was very much like the way in which the 11th step in Alcoholics Anonymous is written:

Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for the knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

Father gave the example of that great Patriarch Abraham who in his prayers to God made known his complaints. Father explained that when bad things happen to us, we don't complain to our enemies or to strangers. Rather, we complain to our closest friends for understanding and sympathy, and that is exactly what Abraham did. He was a friend of God and he made known to God his trials and troubles. Maybe that's all we have to offer right now, but if we pray consistently, then God can turn our complaints into thanksgiving.

That reminds me of something else early in sobriety. I would often complain to my sponsor about this, that and the other thing. I would ask him why all this "shit" was happening to me. Then he would say, "Be thankful that God cares about you so much that He is giving you all that Specialized High Intensity Training that you so desperately need. Now get on your knees in prayer and put some gratitude in your attitude. You didn't drink or drug today."

Father was far more diplomatic that my AA sponsor, and exhorted all of us in the congregation to begin small and spend perhaps just five minutes a day in prayer and make it a habit. Yes, while Father didn't directly speak about these, there are always the standard traditional prayers of the Rosary and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy and others. All of those are invaluable and should be regularly practiced. Lord knows that they have kept me sober through thick and thin when the proverbial poop hit the fan. But do I ever really talk with God as Abraham did? Or am I just mouthing the words in those rote prayers and not paying attention to what they really mean? Father ended of course with this excerpt from the Lord's Prayer:

Fiat voluntas tua, sicut in caelo, et in terra.
Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.

That's the whole point of the 11th step in AA - not my will, not what I want because when I got what I wanted, I invariably got drunk. Rather, it's about what God wants and being grateful for that even if I may not like it.

UPDATE: I just finished the readings from the Liturgy of the Hours, and lo and behold, look at what I found:

A letter to Proba by St Augustine

Let us exercise our desire in prayer

Why in our fear of not praying as we should, do we turn to so many things, to find what we should pray for? Why do we not say instead, in the words of the psalm: I have asked one thing from the Lord, this is what I will seek: to dwell in the Lord’s house all the days of my life, to see the graciousness of the Lord, and to visit his temple? There, the days do not come and go in succession, and the beginning of one day does not mean the end of another; all days are one, simultaneously and without end, and the life lived out in these days has itself no end.

  So that we might obtain this life of happiness, he who is true life itself taught us to pray, not in many words as though speaking longer could gain us a hearing. After all, we pray to one who, as the Lord himself tells us, knows what we need before we ask for it.

  Why he should ask us to pray, when he knows what we need before we ask him, may perplex us if we do not realise that our Lord and God does not want to know what we want (for he cannot fail to know it), but wants us rather to exercise our desire through our prayers, so that we may be able to receive what he is preparing to give us. His gift is very great indeed, but our capacity is too small and limited to receive it. That is why we are told: Enlarge your desires, do not bear the yoke with unbelievers.

  The deeper our faith, the stronger our hope, the greater our desire, the larger will be our capacity to receive that gift, which is very great indeed. No eye has seen it; it has no colour. No ear has heard it; it has no sound. It has not entered man’s heart; man’s heart must enter into it.

  In this faith, hope and love we pray always with unwearied desire. However, at set times and seasons we also pray to God in words, so that by these signs we may instruct ourselves and mark the progress we have made in our desire, and spur ourselves on to deepen it. The more fervent the desire, the more worthy will be its fruit. When the Apostle tells us: Pray without ceasing, he means this: Desire unceasingly that life of happiness which is nothing if not eternal, and ask it of him who alone is able to give it.

Prophetes Zechariah Capita I per IV

Amici, Americani, Compatriotae,

Over the past several days the Scripture readings in the Liturgy of the Hours have been extracted from the books of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, whose ministry along with Malachi occurred in the post-exilic period between release of the Jewish captives in Babylon and the rise of the empire of Alexander the Great. Haggai’s ministered from August to December 520 B.C. during the reign of Persian King Darius I. Zechariah ministered during the period of the Temple’s restoration starting in 520 B.C. Haggai’s book consists of the exhortation for the restoration of the Temple (1:1-15) and the oracles of encouragement (2:1-23). Zechariah is longer and composed of two parts, the first being from chapter 1 to chapter 8 and the second from chapter 9 to chapter 14. Zechariah has a somewhat apocalyptic theme to it, and as such certain things in its text correspond to sections in Daniel and Revelation. It also includes messianic prophecy fulfilled during Christ’s earthly ministry in the four Gospels. The discussion below is extracted from study notes in several Catholic and Protestant study Bibles in my collection (the thoughts are not original to me). I have found Zechariah to be a fascinating work that for too long I have neglected. I hope that the reader will find Zechariah as interesting as I have. That Sacred Scripture written by scores of different authors with varying cultural and linguistic backgrounds over millennia is united in the common theme of salvation history is endlessly intriguing.

DISCLAIMER: the notes presented below are just human opinion. If they help you think (whether you agree or not with the presented interpretation), then good – I have achieved my end-goal.

Zechariah 1:1-6

Call for Obedience

Zechariah 1:7-13

First Vision: Horses Patrolling the Earth

Four horsemen are among the myrtle trees. Myrtle may represent the people of Israel. In Hebrew it is the masculine equivalent of Hadassah, the Jewish name of Esther before she was made the Persian queen.

A red horse is standing in the shadows. Red, sorrel (speckled) and white horses are standing behind the red horse in the shadows and all four have been sent by the Lord to patrol the Earth.

Revelation 6:1-8

Four Horsemen

First Seal – rider on white horse wearing bow and crown rides to victory

Second Seal – rider on red horse takes peace away with the sword

Third Seal – rider on black horse holds a scale and raises food prices to starvation levels

Fourth Seal – rider on pale green horse named death and hades kills a quarter of Earth’s population

Zechariah 1:14-17

Oracular Response

The Lord’s anger towards complacent nations and generosity to Jerusalem

Zechariah 2:1-4

Second Vision: The Four Horns and the Four Workmen (Carpenters or Smiths)

The four horns scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem, symbols of the total political and military might of Judah’s imperial adversaries, probably representing Assyria, Babylonia, Media and Persia which had all existed up to the time of Zechariah’s prophecy. The number four represents universality rather than any specific number of foes. The four could also represent a prophecy of the breakup of the Empire of Alexander the Great into areas controlled by his four successors: Lysimachus, Cassander, Ptolemy and Seleucus. This would make what Zechariah wrote a prophecy to be fulfilled. Alternatively the four could represent the four great empires of the ancient world: Babylonian, Median-Persian, Greek and Roman. This also would require Zechariah’s words to be a prophecy.

The four workmen cut down the horns of the nations that raised their horns to scatter the land of Judah. They are the four agents of God’s power. In Revelation chapters 4 and 5 these could correspond to the four living creatures before God’s throne: the lion, the ox, the man and the eagle symbolizing the four Gospel writers (Mark, Luke, Matthew and John respectively) whose Evangelium (or Good News) brought about the demise of the paganism of the four great earthly empires up to that time: Babylon, Median-Persian, Greek and Roman.

Zechariah 2:5-9

Third Vision: The Man with the Measuring Cord

A man measures Jerusalem to determine the encirclement of fire by which the Lord will protect it because it will be un-walled. This appears to be a future prophecy for modern time when today Jerusalem as the capital of Israel is un-walled “because of the abundance of people and beasts in its midst.” The man seen by Zechariah is interpreted by some to be the pre-incarnate Christ.

Zechariah 2:10-17

Expansion on the Themes of the First Three Visions

Zechariah 3:1-7

Prophetic Vision: Joshua the High Priest

Satan accuses Joshua the High Priest. The Lord’s angel rebukes Satan. The angel orders the removal of Joshua’s filthy garments and their replacement with clean vestments and turban. The angel charges Joshua that if he walks in God’s ways, watching over God’s house, he will be given access to those standing here.

Lesson: Satan is our accuser (see Job chapter 1:6-12). We cannot remove our own filthiness – Jesus cleanses us from all sin (1^st John 1:7). But for us to have access to the courts of the Temple (Jesus), we must walk in His ways (i.e., do good works). Faith without works is dead (James 5:14-26)

Zechariah 3:8-10

Supplementary Oracle

The Lord’s promise of His servant the Branch and the placement of the Stone with seven facets before Joshua are Messianic prophecies. The Branch is a tree metaphor for the expected future ruler as a descendant of the Davidic dynasty. This imagery also appears in Is 11:1, 10; Jer 23:5; 33:15; and Zec 6:12. The stone with seven facets represents both the precious stones that were part of the high priest’s apparel and the building stone (see 4:7, 10) that initiated a major construction project. The seven facets (or “eyes”) indicate the totality of its role as an instrument of God’s vigilance and action. The term inscription can refer both to words engraved on the high priest’s apparel (Ex 28:9, 11) and to words chiseled on a cornerstone.

Revelation 5:6

The Four Living Creatures (Lion, Ox, Man and Eagle) standing before God’s throne represent Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

The Lamb of God has seven horns and sevens eyes which are the seven spirts of God sent out into the whole world. The seven spirits could refer to the seven archangels in 1^st Enoch who are "watching" creation:

1) Uriel (God is light)

2) Raphael (God heals)

3) Raguel (Friend of God)

4) Michael (Who is like God)

5) Sarakiel (God’s Prince)

6) Gabriel (God is strength)

7) Ramiel (Thunder of God)

Alternatively the seven spirits could be the seven graces:

1) Insight (prophecy)

2) Helpfulness (service or ministry)

3) Instruction (teaching)

4) Encouragement

5) Generosity (giving)

6) Guidance (leadership)

7) Compassion.

Zechariah 4:1-5

Fourth Vision: The Lampstand and the Two Olive Trees

Lampstand: receptacle for lamps and one of the furnishings of the main room of the Temple. This visionary object does not correspond to the biblical descriptions of the menorah in either the tabernacle (Ex 25:31–40) or the Solomonic Temple (1 Kgs 7:49) but rather has properties of both. Seven lamps…seven spouts: seven lamps, each with seven pinched wick holes. Such objects were part of the repertoire of cultic vessels throughout the Old Testament period. Here they symbolize God’s eyes, i.e., divine omniscience. The golden lampstand may represent Christ, gold being the purest and noblest of the metals.

Olive trees: visionary image that picks up the botanical language describing the Israelite cultic lampstands, with the olive trees specifically connoting fertility, permanence, and righteousness.

Zechariah 4:6-10a

Oracle to Zerubbabel

“Not by might…but by my spirit” is one of the most quoted verses from the Old Testament, particularly in Jewish tradition, which connects it with the theme of Hanukkah, sometimes called the Festival of Lights.

The term great mountain is part of symbolic imagery for the Temple on Mount Zion, as embodiment of the cosmic mountain where heaven and earth connect. The term plain is leveled ground serving as the foundation area for the construction of the Temple, and symbolizing the foundation of the cosmos. The term first stone is the foundation stone of a major public building. Such stones were laid with great ceremony in foundation rituals when monumental buildings were newly built or rebuilt in the biblical world. St. Paul calls Christ our corner stone in Ephesians 2:19-22.

Capstone is the topmost stone of a structure, which finishes the construction. This translation is based on the context. Other translations read: “stone of distinction,” “plummet,” and “tin-stone.”

Zechariah 4:10b-14

Resumption of the Fourth Vision: Explanation of Lamps and Trees

Revelation 11:1-14

Two Witnesses

The two olive trees are the two anointed ones. At the time of Zechariah’s writing, they would be Joshua the High Priest (the religious authority) and Zerubbabel the governor (the political authority). Christ would later personify this as High Priest and King. These anointed ones could also refer to the two witnesses who prophesy for twelve hundred and sixty days, wearing sackcloth. We do not know from Zechariah and Revelation whether they represent:

1) Enoch and Elijah (who were assumed bodily into heaven prior to death)

2) Moses and Elijah (who were at the Transfiguration of our Blessed Lord)

3) The Law and the Prophets (which Jesus came to fulfill)

4) Saints Peter and Paul (the first Pope and the great New Testament expositor of the Faith).

5) High Priest Aaron and political leader Moses

6) The Davidic and Levitical Messiah

Vir Verus

Amici, Americani, Compatriotae,

Today is the Memorial of St. Ignatius of Antioch, one of my favorite saints, a man who with St. Polycarp likely studied at the feet of St. John the author of the Book of Revelation in the New Testament. He was a manly man, nothing like effeminate, androgynous, hermaphroditic sexual perverts infecting and infesting both the Body of Christ and the body politic. Here is an excerpt from his letter to the Romans:

I am God's wheat and shall be ground by the teeth of wild animals

I am writing to all the churches to let it be known that I will gladly die for God if only you do not stand in my way. I plead with you: show me no untimely kindness. Let me be food for the wild beasts, for they are my way to God. I am God’s wheat and shall be ground by their teeth so that I may become Christ’s pure bread. Pray to Christ for me that the animals will be the means of making me a sacrificial victim for God.

No earthly pleasures, no kingdoms of this world can benefit me in any way. I prefer death in Christ Jesus to power over the farthest limits of the earth. He who died in place of us is the one object of my quest. He who rose for our sakes is my one desire.

The time for my birth is close at hand. Forgive me, my brothers. Do not stand in the way of my birth to real life; do not wish me stillborn. My desire is to belong to God. Do not, then, hand me back to the world. Do not try to tempt me with material things. Let me attain pure light. Only on my arrival there can I be fully a human being. Give me the privilege of imitating the passion of my God. If you have him in your heart, you will understand what I wish. You will sympathise with me because you will know what urges me on.

The prince of this world is determined to lay hold of me and to undermine my will which is intent on God. Let none of you here help him; instead show yourselves on my side, which is also God’s side. Do not talk about Jesus Christ as long as you love this world. Do not harbour envious thoughts. And supposing I should see you, if then I should beg you to intervene on my behalf, do not believe what I say. Believe instead what I am now writing to you. For though I am alive as I write to you, still my real desire is to die. My love of this life has been crucified, and there is no yearning in me for any earthly thing. Rather within me is the living water which says deep inside me: “Come to the Father.” I no longer take pleasure in perishable food or in the delights of this world. I want only God’s bread, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, formed of the seed of David, and for drink I crave his blood, which is love that cannot perish.

I am no longer willing to live a merely human life, and you can bring about my wish if you will. Please, then, do me this favour, so that you in turn may meet with equal kindness. Put briefly, this is my request: believe what I am saying to you. Jesus Christ himself will make it clear to you that I am saying the truth. Only truth can come from that mouth by which the Father has truly spoken. Pray for me that I may obtain my desire. I have not written to you as a mere man would, but as one who knows the mind of God. If I am condemned to suffer, I will take it that you wish me well. If my case is postponed, I can only think that you wish me harm.

Rod Adams Democrata

Rod Adams Feministria

Amici, Americanae, Compatriotae,

During the US Senate hearings on the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court of the United States, Rod Adams (self-appointed guru of all things nuclear) at Atomic Insights repeatedly denigrated the judge and extolled the slander of the Democrats at his twitter page:

Previously Rod Adams demonstrated his anti-Semitism and his disregard for history with the following tweet:

And Rod Adams has demonstrated his disrespect for Trump voters and the President himself.

Further, Rod Adams has openly supported that sterile sexual filth of sodomy:

Now Rod Adams voices support for giving our nuclear technology away to the communist regime in China.

Should anyone give any credence to man who does the following? Should you trust such a man with the power of the atom?

• Nullifies the presumption of innocence until proof of guilt
• Disseminates slander
• Denigrates the voters of the candidate whom he opposes
• Supports sodomy
• Advocates giving away our nuclear technology to a godless atheist regime

Evangelizator Protestens Andrew Brunson Orans pro Praefeco Trump

Amici, Americani, Compatriotae,

Something that one would NEVER see in the Obama White House where gangster Jay-Z and booty twerking Beyonce partied in decadent abandon: US pastor freed from Turkey prays with Trump in Oval Office. For all his faults and marital infidelities, Donald Trump has invited God back into the White House, and the Musloids and gangster sex perverts with whom Obama ingratiated himself are out. Maybe Donald Trump is more like King David than we may have originally thought. After all, King David was well known for his adulterous affair with Bathsheba and his murder of Uriah the Hittite, as Donald Trump is well known for his womanizing and crudity. Yet King David was called a man after God's own heart because he repented. Maybe Donald Trump repented. Look at that photograph below. What does it say? Yes, this is an excellent thing, regardless that one is a Catholic or Orthodox or Protestant. God is back in the White House and the liberal progressive feminist demons are out.

Pastor Protestens Andrew Brunson cum Praefeco Donald Trump

Custos Vinetorum

Pope St. Gregory the Great
AD 590 to 604

Amici, Americani, Compatriotae,

Dr. Kurland at the American Catholic blog has a great post entitled:

“They made me a keeper of the vineyards, but my own vineyard I have not kept.”

He quotes from today's office of readings in the Liturgy of the Hours. That citation - from a homily by Pope St Gregory the Great on the performance of the ministry - while written some 1400 years ago is so appropriate to the condition and state of the Church in these post modern, neo-pagan times:

Let us listen to what the Lord says as he sends the preachers forth: The harvest is great but the labourers are few. Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send labourers into his harvest. We can speak only with a heavy heart of so few labourers for such a great harvest, for although there are many to hear the good news there are only a few to preach it. Look about you and see how full the world is of priests, yet in God’s harvest a labourer is rarely to be found; for although we have accepted the priestly office, we do not fulfill its demands.

Beloved brothers, consider what has been said: Pray the Lord of the harvest to send labourers into his harvest. Pray for us so that we may have the strength to work on your behalf, that our tongue may not grow weary of exhortation, and that after we have accepted the office of preaching, our silence may not condemn us before the just judge. For frequently the preacher’s tongue is bound fast on account of his own wickedness; while on the other hand it sometimes happens that because of the people’s sins, the word of preaching is withdrawn from those who preside over the assembly.

With reference to the wickedness of the preacher, the psalmist says: But God asks the sinner: Why do you recite my commandments? And with reference to the latter, the Lord tells Ezekiel: I will make your tongue cleave to the roof of your mouth, so that you shall be dumb and unable to reprove them, for they are a rebellious house. He clearly means this: the word of preaching will be taken away from you because as long as this people irritates me by their deeds, they are unworthy to hear the exhortation of truth. It is not easy to know for whose sinfulness the preacher’s word is withheld, but it is indisputable that the shepherd’s silence while often injurious to himself will always harm his flock.

There is something else about the life of the shepherds, dearest brothers, which discourages me greatly. But lest what I claim should seem unjust to anyone, I accuse myself of the very same thing, although I fall into it unwillingly – compelled by the urgency of these barbarous times. I speak of our absorption in external affairs; we accept the duties of office, but by our actions we show that we are attentive to other things. We abandon the ministry of preaching and, in my opinion, are called bishops to our detriment, for we retain the honourable office but fail to practise the virtues proper to it. Those who have been entrusted to us abandon God, and we are silent. They fall into sin, and we do not extend a hand of rebuke.

But how can we who neglect ourselves be able to correct someone else? We are wrapped up in worldly concerns, and the more we devote ourselves to external things, the more insensitive we become in spirit.

For this reason the Church rightfully says about her own feeble members: They made me keeper of the vineyards, but my own vineyard I have not kept. We are set to guard the vineyards but do not guard our own, for we get involved in irrelevant pursuits and neglect the performance of our ministry.

Cur Virgo Maria Vocabatur Beata?

Amici, Americani, Compatriotiae,

Elizabeth, the cousin of the Virgin Mary, said to her the following in Luke 1:42:

Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
Why was the Virgin Mary called blessed? Today's Gospel Reading in the Divine Liturgy tells us why in Luke 11:27-28 which states:

While Jesus was speaking,
a woman from the crowd called out and said to him,
"Blessed is the womb that carried you
and the breasts at which you nursed."
He replied, "Rather, blessed are those
who hear the word of God and observe it."

The Virgin Mary heard the Word of God from the Angel Gabriel and what was her response? Luke 1:38 tells us:

Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.

It wasn't the Virgin Mary's womb which was blessed, nor the breasts at which Jesus had nursed while an infant; rather, it was the Virgin Mary Herself Who is blessed because She heard God's Word and observed it.

Conloquium de Angore Ponderis Superfluae Temperationis Nuclearis

Amici, Americani, Compatriotae,

A friend on Facebook differed with a statement on unswerving compliance with regulation that I had made in yesterday's post and that necessitated a revision. The conversation we had is reproduced below for the reader's benefit. My friend is correct. I should have explained that I hate hearing the statement, "We're gonna' push back on the Regulator because we know better." Can't you hear the egotistical arrogant pride in that declaration? Now should we have regulations changed that are frankly stupid and out of date? You bet, and as you will see from reading below, there are sadly plenty of them! But you don't get to defy the Regulator with that arrogant hubris which so often typifies today's genius liberal progressive feminist graduates from Academia in the northeast and on the left coast. There is a process for changing regulation, and if that means going to your senator and congressman and following the process available in a free Republic, then do so. That's your civic duty. But you don't get to defy lawful authority, and like it or not, the US NRC is lawful authority when it comes to commercial nuclear energy. 1st Peter 2:13-17 says the following, and this was written when an evil Emperor - Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus - was on the throne persecuting Christians throughout the Empire (for those who think Donald Trump is bad, he's got nothing on Nero):

13 Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, 14 or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to praise those who do right. 15 For it is God’s will that by doing right you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish men. 16 Live as free men, yet without using your freedom as a pretext for evil; but live as servants of God. 17 Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

Now without further delay here is the conversation that my friend and I had.

FRIEND

Working in the industry “requires unswerving compliance with regulation”? I beg to differ.

If the deterministic regulatory model continues to be adopted (lack of attrition in the Staff demonstrates this to be so), then the industry will never compete with the rest of the power industry which either has little to no regulation, or which works to the risk-informed, performance-based model of functional safety. I think the higher-ups at the NRC understand the traps with this mode of thinking, but because you cannot get rid of a government employee without a simultaneous act of God and Congress, their hands are tied to the consistency with the poor standards promulgated by the IEEE, whose focus on personnel protection from the hazards of electricity, but whose consistent understanding of functionality I find sorely lacking.

Even if the NRC has influence over the IEEE committee standards, they are one lone voice on the respective committees... and I have found the understanding of functional safety and of modeling the real world to be sorely lacking from the balance of committees. What good is it that standards dictate a design, rather than a design process? Such standards need to be dumped in favor of letting the engineering process itself be conducted in conformance with its consensus standard. It is only when standards are adopted as consensus with the rest of the industry that the regulatory playing field will be leveled, and the diverse energy sources can truly compete with each other.

MYSELF

You have a valid point. I should reword my statement. I should have said that you don't get to disobediently thumb your nose at the regulations, and if they're wrong, then there is a process for changing them. But many are based on decades of experience where people screwed up and the Regulator responded. But these millennial must stop being ego-driven know-it-alls exempt from Regulatory compliance. Otherwise, good point.

FRIEND

I completely agree to your point above, my friend — “that’s the way we’ve always done it” has never flown well with me when the logic to why we’ve always done it this way has severe flaws to it. Unfortunately, revising the regulatory framework will take years. Has the Staff/Commission followed up on that revision to the regulatory framework since 2016? I’ve been badly out of touch since I’ve been working on building plants for other industries.

MYSELF

The NRC us a glacier immune to global warming. The Reg Framework revision typifies glacial pace of improvement.

FRIEND

In other words, IEEE 603-2018 will be 10-15 years old by the time they reject endorsement of that standard, and those who were born in the year of the endorsed standard (1991) will be approaching their 40’s.

MYSELF

IEEE std 1008-1987 endorsed in RG-1.170 was around when you were a child and I was a nuke newbee.

FRIEND

Truth. There are standards with 30 years of industry experience which need to be accounted for.

Feminae in Energia Atomica

Amici, Americani, Compatriotae,

I have worked with all manner of people in my 40+ years within the nuclear power industry - many different kinds of people from both sexes varying in race, cultural origin, religion, etc. In general the overwhelming majority were professional regardless of whatever characteristic they may have possessed, for usually the incompetent got ejected sooner or later based on their unsatisfactory work or their lack of work. I have worked with white, black, brown, red and yellow people (so far no green or purple or orange ones - ha! ha!). I have worked with Christians of all kinds of denominations, as well as Jews, Shiite and Sunni Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and atheists. I have worked with people born in America and from other countries: Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Bolivia, Britain, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Iraq, Egypt, Nigeria, Pakistan, India, China, Japan, Korea, Philippines, etc. ad nauseam. Intelligence and capability are agnostic to the wide diversity of people within the nuclear power industry.

Indeed, one of the best system engineers with whom I worked was by accident of birth a woman. Almost always she came into work early in the morning and left late. She went out into the field with the maintenance mechanics and electricians, getting her hands dirty in doing real work with the men. She was conscientious and patient and persistent. The equipment and systems under her care had never functioned so well. Then after an incident with some idiot managers, she left for a better paying position in the non-nuclear industry and sadly I never heard from her again. But I shall never ever forget her. And there are many other women like her in the nuclear power industry.

But what I cannot stand is this: hiring a eco-wacko, enviro-nazi, climate-change activist, millennial snowflake feminist with zero naval or commercial nuclear power experience into a directorship position for which she is demonstrably not qualified, or promoting an intern from Academia likewise with zero experience into a supervisory position over reactor safety analysis. First, doing this sets these women up for eventual failure; they don't have the experience to be doing what they are doing, and no hard-nosed utility executive is going to ever take them seriously because what they propose is laughably idealistic and unworkable. Second, it takes decades of experience to lose that unrealistic wide-eyed youthful brashness in order to embrace the fact that nuclear power is serious work not for the faint of heart and requires an attitude of regulatory compliance, not push-back with the kinds of dumb idiot ideas by which Leslie Dewan torpedoed her own company, Transatomic Power.

Whether you're a man or a woman in nuclear power, whether you're Christian, Jew, Muslim, Buddhist or Hindu, whether you're American, Indian, Hispanic, African, Japanese, Chinese, or whatever, you need real-world experience, not just a degree in Academia and friends in high places. So work hard at a real nuclear power plant, and get you're hands dirty for a decade or two doing the real work that no one else wants to do. Then you'll be worthy of promotion and finally able to change the world. One of the best experiences that I had was cleaning the bilges beneath the Feedwater Regulating Valves on a nuclear submarine in the North Atlantic. That taught me the most valuable commodity of all - HUMILITY. It's about time you millennials start grabbing some before the reality of failure smashes you into the ground. And that's ironic because humility comes form the Latin word humis which means dirt. As the Book of Genesis says, from dirt we were made and to dirt we will return.

Rita Baranwal

Dr. Rita Baranwal

Amici, Americani, Compatriotae,

On October, 2018, the President nominated Dr. Rita Baranwal of Pennsylvania, to be an Assistant Secretary of Energy (Nuclear Energy) at the Department of Energy:

President Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Nominate Personnel to Key Administration Posts

Dr. Baranwal currently serves as the Director of the Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN) initiative at the U.S. Department of Energy. She has a long history of nuclear power experience. Both that and personal conversations with people who actually know her indicated that she is more than qualified for the position.

Now by accident of birth her gender is female and her racial and cultural origin is India. Those characteristics neither qualify nor disqualify her for a position in the President’s Administration. She is qualified by virtue of education, training, experience and temperament.

However, the leftist liberal progressive feminist wing of pro-nuclear activism immediately erupted into applause because a woman in a racial minority is being appointed to a significant position of authority in government. How over 1.2 billion Indians on planet Earth constitute a minority when compared with 850 million white people goes unexplained. How being a woman qualifies a person more than a man for a position in government is likewise unexplained. The bottom line is this: the appointment is not a middle aged white conservative man and that’s all that matters to leftist liberal progressive feminists. Indeed, one pro-nuclear feminist said the following (as though, while unspoken, the appointment of eminently qualified Brett Kavanaugh, a middle aged white man, to SCOTUS was unacceptable):

We live in times dangerous for middle aged white conservative men who literally gave the world nuclear energy. Great men like Admiral Hyman Rickover and Alvin Weinberg are forgotten, while climate-change feminist activists clad in pink pussy hats and wrapped in rainbow colored blankets are lauded as the “titans of nuclear.” I am disgusted, and while I have spent all my 4+ decades of adult life working in nuclear energy, I fear to ever trust these androgynized, feminized activists with the power of the atom.

Once again: Dr. Baranwal is qualified because of her education, training, experience and temperament, NOT because of her gender or race or cultural origin. I certainly wish her well and she will be in my prayers. Likewise, I pray for the defeat and eradication of liberal progressive feminism from the face of the Earth, and a restoration of the recognition that Jesus Christ the God-Man is King and Lord, not goddess Gaia (environmentalism), not Caesar Augustus (government).

Leslie Dewan: Vultus Adrogantiae et Superbiae Feministriae

Amici, Americani, Compatriotae,

Leslie Dewan, a young millennial graduate from MIT, started up a company called Transatomic in the 2010s, making the claim that her design could generate 75 times more energy from mined uranium than a light water reactor. It turns out that her claim was wrong. She did not have her calculations independently verified before issuing her claim. See Nuclear Energy Startup Transatomic Backtracks on Key Promises at MIT Technology Review. Now her company is closing business. See A nuclear startup will fold after failing to deliver reactors that run on spent fuel also at MIT Technology Review.

I was talking with a gentleman at work today who met Ms. Dewan at a conference some months ago. He was accompanied by a reactor engineer whom I know very well to be quite competent and diligent. Both Ms. Dewan and my reactor engineer friend had to give presentations. After her presentation, the gentleman (who knew little about reactor engineering) asked my reactor engineer friend if Ms. Dewan’s presentation made any sense or was just a lot of fluff and puff. My reactor engineer friend said what she presented was flawed and wrong – a lot of technobabble and no substance.

I was informed that during break between presentations my reactor engineer friend tried to discuss these matters directly with Ms. Dewan. She begged off with the excuse that she had meetings to attend. She went into the ladies room. At the beginning of the next presentation, she exited and scrupulously avoided him. Obviously she wasn’t ready for some tough questions from a real reactor engineer.

Now whether everything I just reported above is completely accurate or not I do not know. But what is the factual case remains: Ms. Dewan failed to have her calculations independently verified before making her bold claim that her reactor design was so much better than everyone else’s. Then when the calculations were checked, the error (however innocent it was initially) became readily apparent. Now her company is belly-up, but she has promised to open-source all her design work. My advice to one and all: leave that work sit where it is in the garbage heap. It isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on (or the electrons representing it inside a computer).

This is typical of feminism: ignore the advice and counsel of those with decades more experience than you simply because they are middle aged white men and you’re an enlightened, awakened millennial feminist genius who’s going to change the world! Really, folks, do you trust people like this controlling the power of the atom? Look at that face. Stare into it. Ecce Vultum Adrogantiae et Superbiae Feministriae!

Anxietas et Sollicitudo

Amici, Americani, Compatriotae,

For those of you who follow the daily Scripture readings in the Divine Liturgy, did you notice that today’s episode of Jesus telling workaholic Martha that Mary sitting at His feet had chosen the better course (Luke 10:25-37) comes directly on the heels of the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:38-42)? Yesterday we are given an example of the salutary nature and essentialness of good works done for others. Today we are given an example that being an attentive disciple at the Master’s feet, not good works, counts for value. So why the difference? It rests in motives. In the case of the Good Samaritan, the Sacred Text tells us that he was “moved with compassion” and that is why he rescued the wounded man lying in the ditch. In the case of Martha, she was “anxious and worried about many things,” and thus was “burdened with much serving.” Do we do good works because we are moved with compassion or do we do good works because we are anxious and worried? To sit at Jesus’ feet as Mary did, listening to Him speak, let us be moved with compassion. There is no room for anxiety and worry.

PS, tomorrow’s Gospel reading in the Divine Liturgy will be the Lord’s Prayer in Luke 11:1-4, the parallel passage being Matthew 6:9-15. How appropriate!

Iesus contra Feminismum et pro Matrimonio

Jesus and the Little Children

Amici, Americani, Compatriotae,

Today's homily at Sunday Mass was especially noteworthy. First, the daily readings include the following:

Creation of Woman - Genesis 2:1-24
Blessings of Those Who Fear the Lord - Psalm 128
Jesus Calling Us Brothers - Hebrews 2:9-11
Marriage and Divorce - Mark 10:2-16

Father (the priest officiating) explained how in ancient Jewish custom a man could for no reason divorce his wife and throw her out of the home, and the pagans were worse: a wife who displeased her husband could be summarily executed with no trial, no appeal. But Jesus elevated marriage to a Sacrament. Since Eve was taken from Adam's rib, she was of his very own flesh, and thus Scripture says, "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." The woman and the man are one flesh, and no man has authority to cast his wife aside. Divorce is not an option.

Yes, there are instances of physical abuse, alcoholism, drug addiction, etc., which may make separation necessary for safety of spouse and children. But those are exceptions to the rule. Furthermore, those who have been through the carnage of divorce can best testify to the wisdom of Jesus' admonition on the indissolubility of the marital bond.

The bottom line is this: today's feminist culture that treats divorce as normal, even inevitable is as bad (if not worse) than the ancient Greco-Roman culture where divorce threw the wife away with no means provided for her support. Why? Because today's no fault divorce culture says a woman can contracept and abort her way from husband to husband to husband, dispensing her sexual wares with nary a guilty thought, nor any moral concern over her children. That denigrates and debases both women and children as they were debased and denigrated in the ancient cultures. It subjects them to an enslavement that the ancients could only imagine their their nightmares.

In fact, Father made specific mention of children in his homily because today's Gospel reading says the following right after Jesus forbade divorce: "And people were bringing children to him that he might touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this he became indignant and said to them, 'Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these...'" In ancient times children were regarded as mere chattel to be used as servants of production and without any worth intrinsic to themselves - how like today's contraceptive, abortive culture where pre-born babies are murdered in the womb because their presence is inconvenient to the happiness of the would-be parents, and their internal organs are harvested and sold at profit for scientific research. In ancient Roman new-born babies were left exposed on hilltops for wild animals to devout them, but today we play one-up-man-ship with that and assimilate their organs into our own bodies to extend our own miserable lives on this planet, and we call that science. We openly glorify contraception as the means of achieving personal happiness through irresponsible hedonistic sexual promiscuity. But Jesus taught something different: we must love our wives as our own flesh, and we must become like children if we are to inherit eternal life in the Kingdom of God. This is the means by which we can have any degree of happiness, joy and serenity in this life. Indeed Father was adamant in his homily: God proscribes contraception inasmuch as every use thereof will destroy a family by thwarting the openness to the new life that God wants to give us. Since when did God repeal His commandment to Adam and Eve, "Be fruitful and multiply?" (Genesis 1:28)

Yes, things are tough for the family in today's neo-pagan, post-modern society, and that's no different than how things were in Greco-Roman society. But what does Psalm 128 in today's Scripture reading say? I point that out because on Facebook I saw that the Pentecostal church of my youth was coincidentally going to have a sermon on that Psalm today (well, there are no coincidences in God's planning). While Father didn't speak directly about the Psalm reading, everything he said revolved around it. So here is the reading - note what makes for real blessing, real joy, real happiness - it's picking up our Cross and following Him:

Protestant Meme

1 A song of ascents.
Blessed are all who fear the LORD,
and who walk in his ways.

2 What your hands provide you will enjoy;
you will be blessed and prosper:

3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine
within your home,
Your children like young olive plants
around your table.

4 Just so will the man be blessed
who fears the LORD.

5 May the LORD bless you from Zion;
may you see Jerusalem’s prosperity
all the days of your life,

6 and live to see your children’s children.
Peace upon Israel!

What gives happiness, joy and prosperity? Not feminism, not gender equality, not the contraceptive, abortive sexual revolution. But rather:

Fear of the Lord

The fruit of one's own labor (personal responsibility)

One's wife

One's children, and

One's grand children

All those things we found exemplified in the reading from the Book of Job during the daily Divine Liturgy this last week . Never once did Job, persecuted and afflicted by Satan, retaliate against his wife when she told him in Job 2:9, "Are you still holding to your innocence? Curse God and die!" Indeed, the Sacred Text from Job 42, beginning at verse 10, tells the end of the story:

10 The LORD also restored the prosperity of Job, after he had prayed for his friends; the LORD even gave to Job twice as much as he had before.11 Then all his brothers and sisters came to him, and all his former acquaintances, and they dined with him in his house. They consoled and comforted him for all the evil the LORD had brought upon him, and each one gave him a piece of money and a gold ring.

12 Thus the LORD blessed the later days of Job more than his earlier ones. Now he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she-donkeys.13 He also had seven sons and three daughters:14 the first daughter he called Jemimah, the second Keziah, and the third Keren-happuch. 15 In all the land no other women were as beautiful as the daughters of Job; and their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers.

16 After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; and he saw his children, his grandchildren, and even his great-grandchildren. 17 Then Job died, old and full of years