Homilia - Triens Dies Solis Adventus

St. Jose Maria Escriva

Amici, Americani et Compatriotae,

This past Sunday - the Third Sunday in Advent - Fr. Kirby gave an excellent homily on St. Jose Maria Escriva at Our Lady of Grace. The liturgical readings may be found here:

Third Sunday of Advent Lectionary: 8

And a 12+ minute audio recording may be found here:

Homily - Our Lady of Grace - December 17, 2017

The sermon was excellent and covered the following points:

• Martyrdom and the Communion of the Saints
• The Spanish Civil War and Communism
• Holiness

Our Lady of Grace has received a First Class Relic of St. Jose Maria Escriva, hence Fr. Kirby's homily. This opened an opportunity to explain how the Church certifies and distributes relics, how great men of old were martyred for their beliefs and the importance of the Communion of the Saints. Protestantism misses much of this, ignoring to its peril Hebrews 12:1-2:

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith. For the sake of the joy that lay before him he endured the cross, despising its shame, and has taken his seat at the right of the throne of God."

Interestingly on the previous Thursday night  I attended a Protestant Bible Study with my wife, and while the faith chapter of Hebrews 11 was duly emphasized, the phrase at the beginning of chapter 12 was ignored:  "We are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses." Strangely Protestants erroneously believe that the Saints being dead have no current function or purpose. But as Fr. Kirby pointed out, this was not the faith of the Church since the beginning. The Tradition of that great cloud of witnesses was preserved and gave us at the Councils of Carthage and Rome in the late 4th century AD our Bible. There was no true Bible before that - just the Greek Septuagint as the Old Testament and different collections of books from the Gospel writers and St. Paul. Individual churches accepted some of these, added others like the Didache and the Shepherd of Hermas, and rejected other like Hebrews, Jude and Revelation. But finally the Church Herself using the living Tradition of the great cloud of witnesses who went before us finally determined the authentic Canon of Sacred Scripture well after the Gospels and Letters in our New Testament had been written. Indeed, I got to explain this to a Baptist co-worker today who had never seen a Catholic Bible until I let her borrow one of my extra ones. She was amazed that such books as Sirach and Wisdom in the Deuterocanonicals (or Apocrypha as Protestants call them) had been rejected by the Protestants in the 16th century regardless that the undivided Church had accepted them for over a thousand years.

Fr. Kirby went on to describe St. Jose Maria Escriva's ministry which took place during the Spanish Civil War. Communists under the disguise of Republicans fought against Nationalists who were mainly Catholic. These communists murdered Catholics - clergy and laity without regard. This lasted from 1936 to 1939. While we may have objections to the style of government which arose under Francisco Franco as the Republicans were defeated, we must remember that the communists in Spain did what their Soviet brethren had done in Russia in the early part of the 20th century. Under communism more than 20 million people were murdered in the last century. Today snowflake airhead millennials cry about how communism will bring about social justice and serve the common good. But as Fr. Kirby explained, this is a lie from Lucifer himself. Communism is evil and must be eradicated from the face of the Earth. Pope Pius XI issued an encyclical against communism called Divini Redemptoris and Pope Paul XII issued a decree against it as a Papal Bull. One cannot be Catholic and be a communist, period.

The last thing that Fr. Kirby discussed was holiness - how holiness isn't just for the clergy but for all of us. As Hebrews 12:14 says:

"Strive for peace with everyone, and for that holiness without which no one will see the Lord." And 1st Peter 1:14-16 says:

"Like obedient children, do not act in compliance with the desires of your former ignorance but, as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in every aspect of your conduct, for it is written, 'Be holy because I [am] holy.'"

Considering that on Monday next week we celebrate the Birth of our Savior, Lord and King, it would do well for all of us to strive for holiness, for the alternative to not seeing God once we die is unacceptable.

Christianitas - Una Vera Religio

Amici, Americani et Compatriotae,

I have once again recently heard the phrase that Christianity is not a religion. That statement truly grates on me: “I am not religious; I am spiritual,” to which I sometimes sarcastically respond, “So are the Wiccans and pagan witches. That doesn’t make them holy.” Now there are two objections to this sentiment of being spiritual and not religious, the first Biblical and linguistic, and the second political.

First, the Biblical reason:  The Epistle of St. James 1:27 states, “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” The Greek word that is used here is θρησκεία which means religious worship, especially external – that which consists of ceremonies, religious discipline, religion. The Latin Vulgate of course translates θρησκεία as religio and states:

“Religio munda et inmaculata apud Deum et Patrem haec est visitare pupillos et viduas in tribulatione eorum inmaculatum se custodire ab hoc saeculo.”

Religio means obligation, bond, reverence and derives from the verb religare which means “to bind together.” This word – θρησκεία for the Greeks and religio for the Romans – was used extensively by all the early Church Fathers who succeeded the Apostles in the first three centuries Anno Domini. The word denotes the binding together of the Assembly or Church (Εκκλησία in lingua Graeca and Ecclesia in lingua Latina) which is often advocated throughout various sermons with great eloquence. Yet there is this continued objection (regardless of denomination - the protest is almost always the same) to the word religion in spite of its Biblical, linguistic and historical basis. It is cognitive dissonance for me to count myself as spiritual yet not religious but still advocating the bonding together – religati – of the Body of Christ. Indeed, what people believe is meant by religion is really not the Christian religion. Perhaps it applies to the Muslim or Hindu or Buddhist religions, but NOT to what St. James wrote. Christianity is in fact the one true religion - the ONLY religion that is true, right and correct. It is a binding together of the faithful into the One Body of Christ, the One Bride of Christ. A personal relationship with Christ is absolutely essential, but that happens within and through the Body of Christ which is the Church, into which we are baptized as believers. It isn't "Christ and me." It's "Christ the Head and His Body the Church." We are bonded together - religati - members of that Body. It's THE religion, Amici!

Second, the political reason: the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States says:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

If one's spirituality is not a religion, then one is not entitled to any protection under the First Amendment for one's spirituality. So in this day and age of post-modern, neo-pagan liberal progressivism which seeks to shove atheism and hedonism down the throats of every authentic orthodox Christian who upholds the sanctity of marriage between one man and one woman and the sanctity of life from conception onward, we ought to be very careful in making statements that say one's spirituality is not a religion. Again, what people often think is meant by the word religion and what it really means are two different things.

Homilia Excellens - Solemnitas Nostri Domini Iesus Christi, Regis Universae - November 26, 2017

Christus Rex

Amici, Americani et Compatriotae,

A visiting priest at Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church gave an excellent homily for the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe almost a month ago. The Scripture readings for this day may be found here:

The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe - Lectionary: 160
A audio recording is now available. I would encourage everyone to listen to this important message:

Homily - Our Lady of Grace - 11/26/2018

Christ did NOT come into the world for social justice, the common good and peace at any price. He came into the world to save souls from the fires of hell. Yes, corporal works of mercy are important, and we do them for our own salvation to keep the focus on loving God with all our heart and our neighbor as ourselves:

1. To feed the hungry.
2. To give water to the thirsty.
3. To clothe the naked.
4. To shelter the homeless.
5. To visit the sick.
6. To visit the imprisoned, or ransom the captive.
7. To bury the dead.

But spiritual works of mercy are even more important, because try as we might to feed the belly with corporal works of mercy, one day the belly will perish and only the soul will remain:

1. To instruct the ignorant.
2. To counsel the doubtful.
3. To admonish the sinners.
4. To bear patiently those who wrong us.
5. To forgive offenses.
6. To comfort the afflicted.
7. To pray for the living and the dead.

Difficultas Potentatis Atomicae in Civitatibus Confoederatis Americae

Amici, Americani, et Compatriotae,

Nuclear energy has the potential of being the one energy source that doesn't dump toxic refuse to the environment, that has a fuel supply which can last billions of people tens of thousands of years, and that has the lowest mortality rate of any other form of power generation (including wind and solar power). Yet it currently faces a combination of strangulating regulations, low natural gas prices and rabid anti-nuclear activism. Nuclear power isn't successful against these forces because of the following reasons:

• The NRC has been stacked with anti-nuclear activists under the previous Administration
• The NRC has focused its regulations solely on light water reactors without concern for advanced non-light water reactors
• There is a lack of a regulatory playing field between nuclear and the rest of the industry; if fossil fuel were held to the same standard as nuclear - do not release your pollution into the environment - then nuclear would win hands down.
• Solar and wind have unfairly benefited from government handouts by the previous Administration to the almost complete exclusion of nuclear being recognized as so-called "green" energy.
• Every solar and wind plant is a natural gas facility required as spinning reserve for 70% of the time renewable energy does not generate power; this results in natural gas providers financing renewable energy while lobbying Congress to knee-cap nuclear.
• Utilities operating nuclear power plants also operate coal, oil and gas plants; so their interests are divided - as long as they have electricity to sell, it matters little the source.
• Utility executives focus on next quarter's profit for the shareholder instead of on what the country needs in the next 20 years - their motivation is not the national interest but the pecuniary interests of their financiers.
• NSSS company executives focus on golden parachutes for themselves instead of on actually building a new facility; they do the minimum necessary for initial NRC approval and then skim wherever they can.
• The new work force available for utilities and NSSS companies is comprised of millennials who disrespect adherence to regulations, standards and procedures; and who lack an effective work ethic.
• Liberal progressive feminist politicians are reflexively anti-nuclear, cow-towing to the fears of an ignorant, indolent and decadent population; they enact legislation and regulations, and they initiate programs and policies to shut down nuclear power plants and erect useless worthless solar and wind which always necessitate spinning natural gas reserve.

The worst problem however is the last one: The safe use of nuclear power requires regulatory adherence; but a nation of idolaters, adulterers, fornicators, sodomites, murderers and thieves who routinely defy  God's Law will always be incapable of following man's law. Often I read or hear the cry that if we just give people health, wealth and prosperity, then their behavior will change and they will become moral and righteous, that the reason for their evil is because necessities of life are withheld from them. However, that is NEVER the case. A people who murder unborn babies and who cannot distinguish that a male sex organ does not go into a male oral or anal orifice can never be trusted with the fires of creation. Repentance and conversion, righteousness and holiness come BEFORE health, wealth and prosperity. Think about it: do you want a murderer of innocent babies or a sexual pervert operating a nuclear power plant? Or designing one?

Furthermore, the greater the number of free handouts for such people, the greater the addiction to largess from the public treasury and the less the motivation to repent. The sin in man's heart must first be removed before God will bless man. A wicked man cannot be trust with nuclear energy. And such wickedness like abortion or sodomy is indicative of other wickedness like lying and stealing. Do you want a liar or a thief operating a nuclear power plant? Because that's what baby murderers and sodomites are.

So what will happen? We will do what our Cro-magnon ancestors did before us in the caves of France and Germany 45 thousand years ago: we will burn wood, straw, hay; mineral rock (coal), mineral slime (oil) and mineral gas (methane); because that's all we know how to do. We will choke on our carbon fumes because we cannot manage the strong nuclear force because we cannot obey the man-made regulations to manage it safely. And we cannot obey the man-made regulations to manage the strong nuclear force safely because we cannot obey God's Law to manage our personal behavior morally. A people who, unable to use the reason of the brains that God gave them, succumb to the lust of the flesh - every titillation of the genitals, every appetite of the stomach - cannot use that same reason for the safe operation of nuclear power plants. We fully merit what we have sown for ourselves.

Prex Domini in Linguis Latinis et Graecis

Amici, Americani et Compatriotae,

The following is a literal translation of the Lord's Prayer from Matthew chapter 16. This is done in rebuttal against the wrongful suggestion by Pope Francis that "et ne nos inducas in tentationem" (and lead us not into temptation) ought to be rendered as "et ne cadamus in tentationem" (and let us not fall into temptation).

LINGUA LATINA - LATIN

9b Pater noster, qui es in caelis,
Our Father, who art in the heavens

Sanctificetur nomen tuum,
May thy name be hollowed,

10 Adveniat regnum tuum,
May thy kingdom come (arrive),

Fiat voluntas tua,
May thy will (desire, purpose, wish, favor) be done (become, happen, take place),

Sicut in caelo, et in terra.
Just as in heaven, and in earth.

11 Panem nostrum supersubstantialem (quoditianum) da nobis hodie;
Give to us today our life-sustaining (daily, everyday, usual) bread;

12 Et dimitte nobis debita nostra,
And forgive (send away, scatter, dismiss) our debts (dues, duties)

Sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris;
Just as we forgive (send away, scatter, dismiss) our debtors

13 Et ne inducas nos in tentationem,
And may you not lead us into temptation (trial),

Sed libera nos a Malo.
But free (acquit, absolve, liberate, release) us from Evil (Bad, Wicked)

quia tuum est regnum; et potentia et gloria; in saecula saeculorum. Amen.
For yours in the kingdom, and power and glory, into the ages of ages. Amen,

LINGUA GRAECA - GREEK

9b πατερ ημων ο εν τοις ουρανοις αγιασθητω το ονομα σου
Father of us who [is] in the heavens hallowed be the name of you

10 λθετω η βασιλεια σου;
Let come the kingdom of you;

γενηθητω το θελημα σου
Let be done the will of you

ως εν ουρανω και επι της γης
As in heaven, [so] also upon earth.

11 τον αρτον ημων τον επιουσιον δος ημιν σημερον
The bread of us daily give us today

12 και αφες ημιν τα οφειληματα ημων
And forgive us the debts of us

ως και ημεις αφιεμεν τοις οφειλεταις ημων
As also we forgive the debtors of us

13 και μη εισενεγκης ημας εις πειρασμον
And not lead us into temptation (trial)

αλλα ρυσαι ημας απο του πονηρου
But deliver us from the evil.

οτι σου εστιν η βασιλεια και η δυναμις και η δοξα εις τους αιωνας αμην
For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory for the ages Amen.

Michael Shellenberger pro Gubernatore in Civitate Californiae

Michael Shellenberg

Amici, Americani et Compatriotae,

Michael Shellenberger is running as an Independent Candidate for Governor in the State of California on a primarily (almost exclusively) pro-nuclear power platform. There is an article at Atomic Insights on this:

Michael Shellenberger explains why he is running for governor of California – Part 3
That of course is laudable. But what is NOT mentioned is his position on the murder of pre-born babies in the womb and the sanctification of the sterile putrid filth of homosexual unions. No people who defy God's moral law by murdering pre-born babies and promoting sodomy and lesbianism can possibly have the virtue needed to obey man's regulations in the safe use of nuclear energy. Basically, if you cannot control what you do with your genitals - if you just have to titillate them and then abandon your responsibility for the consequences of said titillation - then you cannot by definition be trusted with the fires of creation which are nuclear energy.

Now Shellenberger's views on these more important issues - the intrinsic right to life from conception onward and the sanctity of marriage between one man and one woman - are not readily apparent in publicly available information to date. Indeed, his position on most other issues - illegal immigration, socialist health care, etc. - is unstated. However, he is associated with the usual liberal progressive feminist institutions such as Third Way, Breakthrough Institute and Generation Atomic, and liberal progressive feminism openly advocates and promotes evil. Therefore, for all of Michael Shellenberger's advocacy of safe, clean, economical nuclear energy, if he supports the murder of unborn babies and the sanctification of homosexual unions, then he is as wicked and as depraved as the current Governor, Jerry Brown, and he must be defeated, because moral issues always and everywhere trump prosperity issues. God Almighty is very clear about this:

2nd Chronicles 7:14 - And my people, upon whom my name is called, being converted, shall make supplication to me, and seek out my face, and do penance for their most wicked ways: then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sins and will heal their land.

Matthew 6:33 - Seek ye therefore first the kingdom of God, and his justice, and all these things shall be added unto you.

Pater Noster

Pope Francis
The Heretic from Argenina

Amici, Americani et Compatriotae,

I tried posting the following analysis at The American Catholic, but it had too many hyperlinks to references to get through automatic moderation. It will probably appear pretty soon. Nevertheless, it was written in response to a post by Dr. Bob Kurland entitled, "PopeWatch: Pope Francis Wants to Change 'The Lord’s Prayer.'"Here is the essential text of my response:

“The phrase ‘do not let us fall into temptation,’ which the Catholic Church in France has previously decided to use, would be a more appropriate alternative, Francis said.”

My little research is consistent with what another commenter pointed out (who may correct me if I err). Neither the Greek nor the Latin says, “Do not let us fall into temptation.” Analysis is below.

REFERENCES

Parsed Greek New Testament:

http://www.greekbible.com/index.php

Strong’s dictionary:

http://www.eliyah.com/lexicon.html

Blue Letter Bible parsed with Strong’s numbers hyperlinked to individual Greek words:

https://www.blueletterbible.org/

William Whittaker’s Words

http://archives.nd.edu/words.html

Nova Vulgata Bibliorum Sacrorum

http://www.vatican.va/archive/bible/nova_vulgata/documents/nova-vulgata_index_lt.html

ANALYSIS

Matthew 6:13 is here:

https://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/mat/6/1/ss1/s_935001

καὶ μὴ εἰσενέγκῃς ἡμᾶς εἰς πειρασμόν
KJV and Douay-Rheims: And lead us not into temptation
Literal: And may you not lead us into temptation

The verb εἰσφέρω,v \{ice-fer'-o} is written in the 2nd person, active tense, aorist voice, subjunctive mood singular, singular person. It means:

1) to bring into, in or to 2) to lead into

The noun πειρασμός,n \{pi-ras-mos'} is written in the accusative case, singular person, masculine gender. It means:

1) an experiment, attempt, trial, proving 1a) trial, proving: the trial made of you by my bodily condition, since condition served as to test the love of the Galatians toward Paul (Gal. 4:14) 1b) the trial of man's fidelity, integrity, virtue, constancy 1b1) an enticement to sin, temptation, whether arising from the desires or from the outward circumstances 1b2) an internal temptation to sin 1b2a) of the temptation by which the devil sought to divert Jesus the Messiah from his divine errand 1b3) of the condition of things, or a mental state, by which we are enticed to sin, or to a lapse from the faith and holiness 1b4) adversity, affliction, trouble: sent by God and serving to test or prove one's character, faith, holiness 1c) temptation (i.e. trial) of God by men 1c1) rebellion against God, by which his power and justice are, as it were, put to the proof and challenged to show themselves

The Latin Nova Vulgata reads as follows:

et ne inducas nos in tentationem

Induco is written in the 2nd person active subjective present tense. It means:

lead in, bring in (performers); induce, influence; introduce

Tentationem is 3rd declension and written in the accusative case, singular person, feminine. It means:

temptation; trial

A literal reading of “et ne inducas nos in tentationem” is this:

And may you not lead us into temptation

A reading like this, “let us not fall into temptation,” would look like this:

Et ne cadamus in tentationem

CONCLUSION

As usual, Jorge Bergoglio is a sentimental old fool full of excrementum fetens