Toxicomaniacus et Sanctus: Marcus Ji Tianxiang

Mark Ji Tianxiang
Toxicomaniacus
et Sanctus

Amici,

I have finally stumbled across the story of a Chinese man by the name of Mark Ji Tianxiang about whom Deacon Greg Kandra delivered a homily in September of 2011:

"He was a Chinese layman who was executed in 1900, along with dozens of other Catholics in his village during a bloody persecution of Christians. St. Mark was steadfast in his faith, and refused to renounce it – and for that, he gave his life. That is extraordinary enough. But so are the circumstances under which he died. St. Mark, you see, was an addict. An opium addict. In the 19th century, the Church didn’t understand addiction as it does now – and his life was seen as gravely sinful and scandalous. As a result, for 30 years Mark Ji Tianxiang was denied communion. Yet his devotion never wavered. Witnesses say that he sang a litany to the Blessed Mother as he was led to his death."

This story is particularly noteworthy to me since I too am an addict and an alcoholic. While I have been blessed with almost three decades in sobriety, this account of St. Mark reminds me that God does not count the number of years one has been sober as a measure of one's worthiness to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The fact of the matter is that none of us are worthy, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, and the wages of sin are death. So what saved St. Mark, an addict who could not put down the pipe, and who lived a life of utter scandal and disrepute? Only one thing saved him: God's grace through faith. It is however ironic that St. Mark did not have the strength to put the opium pipe down, but he did have the strength to chose death before renouncing his Catholic Christian faith, and he did that even though the clergy of that faith denied him access to the Sacraments for the 30 years of his addiction.

God does not judge by the outside, nor as men judge.

Praeceptum Latinum Hodiernum

Papa Franciscus

Amici,

Today’s Latin Lesson is NOT in how to translate the words, but in recognizing how applicable to today’s situation is something written around AD 1150 (865 years ago). This is from Decretum Gratiani (the Doctrine of Gratian). Gratian (Franciscus Gratianus – oh, the irony of his first name!) was a canon lawyer from Bologna, Italy in the 12th century. He has been acclaimed as  Pater Juris Canonici or Father of Canon Law. The text below is another example of why we should read what the early and medieval Church Fathers and Doctors wrote, for there is nothing new under the sun and if we forget history, then we are doomed to repeat it.

Item ex gestis Bonifacii Martiris.

III. Pars.

Si Papa suae et fraternae salutis negligens reprehenditur inutilis et remissus in operibus suis, et insuper a bono taciturnus, quod magis officit sibi et omnibus, nichilominus innumerabiles populos catervatim secum ducit, primo mancipio gehennae cum ipso plagis multis in eternum vapulaturus. Huius culpas istic redarguere presumit mortalium nullus, quia cunctos ipse iudicaturus a nemine est iudicandus, nisi deprehendatur a fide deuius; pro cuius perpetuo statu uniuersitas fidelium tanto instantius orat, quanto suam salutem post Deum ex illius incolumitate animaduertunt propensius pendere.

Likewise out of the exploits of Bonifacius Martyr

Part III

If the Pope useless and slack in his works is blamed negligent of his and the brethren’s salvation, and in addition silent from the good (which to a greater extent impedes him and everyone), he nonetheless leads numberless people in herds with himself, beaten by himself with many blows in first purchase of Gehenna. None of mortals assumes to refute faults of this there, because he himself judging all will have been judged by no one, unless he is discovered straying from the faith; for whose perpetual stability so great the whole of the faithful insistently pray; by how much their salvation after God depends from him in safety they the more eagerly observe.

Interrete: Nubis sub Mare

Amici,

I came across this fascinating video about undersea cables being the backbone of the internet. The narrator points out the irony that the ubiquitous web cloud about which we always hear is really under the ocean. Delectetis!

Paraphrasis Lectionis Hodiernae Evangelii

Amici,

Below is a paraphrase of the first part of today's Gospel reading:

"In the course of his teaching Jesus said to the crowds, 'Beware of the politicians, who like to go around in fancy suits and ties, and accept greetings on television sets, seats of honor in Congress and the White House, and places of honor at election fundraisers. They devour the houses of widows and, as a pretext recite lengthy orations. They will receive a very severe condemnation.'"

So let us ask ourselves this: why do liberal progressives advocate socialism which places more power into the hands of these avaricious politicians, purportedly as a means of fairly distributing social justice to all, but which only serves to impoverish everyone equally into poverty?

Heroicitas Invisitata, Sanctitas Incognita: Confutatio Finalis contra Socialismum

Folks,

The American Catholic blog has a great entry yesterday entitled, "Unsung Hero Open Thread," hence the title to this blog entry here: "Heroism Unseen, Holiness Untried: the Ultimate Refuation against Socialism." The videos below are copied from that blog entry, so no credit can be taken by your blogmagister. Nevertheless, these videos demonstrate that the discharge of the individual's personal responsibility for acts of charity is the proper implementation of the parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25:31-46. Foisting onto Caesar what the people in the videos below do will neither benefit the poor nor ensure the salvation of one's soul; all it does is empower and enrich avaricious and power hungry politicians (like Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton) whose concupiscence is every bit as vile and depraved as that of the worst corporate executive beholden to nanny government for the next round of largess from the public treasury. Collectivism, socialism, liberalism, and progressivism are always and everywhere contrary to what God commands and demands: personal responsibility and accountability.

Fabricatio Nuclearis Fitzpatricius Stative Cludetur in Anno Domini MMXVII

James A Fitzpatrick
Nuclear Power Plant

Amici,

With heavy heart I report that Entergy Nuclear has decided to add the James Fitzpatrick nuclear power plant in NY State to the other two nuclear power plants, Pilgrim in Massachusetts and Vermont Yankee in Vermont, that it is permanently shutting down. Ostensibly the reason for shutdown is lack economic competitiveness against natural gas fired electrical generation. This is compounded by the overwhelming political and environmental opposition to nuclear energy that exists in the northeast corner (and left coast) of the United States.

I do not have much commentary to offer the reader. For four decades I have worked in naval and commercial nuclear power variously as submarine reactor operator, I&C technician and instructor, I&C systems engineer, etc. I was at Fitzpatrick for seven years first as an engineering training instructor, then as a digital design engineer and finally as a plant process computer specialist. During this period of time I have seen the country descend from the height of morality and nobility that existed during the Republic of the Reagan Administration to the depth of idolatry, sexual depravity and infanticide of the unborn that exists now during the National Corporate Socialism of the current Obama Administration. I am tired and discouraged. But I must remind myself that despair is a sin, and to keep my hope in God. I am reminded of an ancient saying by Marcus Aurelius in Book IV, Paragraph 10 of his Meditationes written between AD 161 and 180:

“Quidquid accidit, iuste accidit, idque, si diligenter animadverteris, reperies…”

Literally translated, it means:

“Whatever happens, happens justly, and you will discover this if you diligently observe…”

Nevertheless, I find what is happening to be beyond fathomable. Natural gas prices will rebound as supply is inevitably depleted, resulting in exorbitant rise in electric prices. Furthermore, anti-nuclear sentiment is based on the twin politics of fear of one's mortality and the pagan worship of goddess Gaia. But these things together are succeeding in removing three nuclear power plants producing a total of about 2000 MWe of safe, clean electrical power from the electric grid, to be replaced by polluting and explosive natural gas supplied from corporations who lie in bed with the Democrat politicians of Washington, DC. Now we will choke on the refuse of the excrement of the burning of fossil fuels. This is of great irony for the following reasons:

(1) Environmentalists (who are invariably liberal progressive Democrats) oppose anthropogenic global warming from the green house gas emissions of the burning of fossil fuels, but equally oppose the only thing that can provide stable, base-load replacement power - nuclear.

(2) The Democrats say they favor keeping jobs and NY Governor Cuomo is even on record opposing Fitzpatrick's closure; yet he and his party equally oppose the greater provider of jobs in downstate NY - the more than twice as large Indian Point Energy Center - on the basis of population evacuation; one guesses that if an accident happens upstate, then the population of Syracuse does not need to be evacuated, but if an accident happens downstate, then NYC does need to be evacuated. Never mind the fact that the toxic industries and the Knesico Dam in Westchester County, NY both necessitate evacuation plans in and of themselves, regardless of Indian Point. Similar concerns exist upstate regardless of Ginna, Nine Mile 1 and 2, and Fitzpatrick.

The truth needs to be known. The Republican southeast is building new nuclear power plants: Vogtle Units 3 and 4, and Virgil C Summer Units 2 and 3 are all Westinghouse AP-1000 pressurized water reactors. Meanwhile, the Democrat northeast is shutting down Fitzpatrick, Vermont Yankee and Pilgrim, and is aching to shutdown Indian Point Units 2 and 3. And the left coast (otherwise known as California and its northern neighbors, Oregon and Washington State) has shutdown San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station Units 2 and 3 (more than 2000 MWe of safe clean electricity forever removed from the electric grid, only to be replaced by what the Democrats say they oppose: pollution from natural gas burning).

I mention these things to reinforce on the reader that a vote for Democrat as President in November of 2016 will be the death knell for commercial nuclear power in this nation, especially if Socialist Bernie Sanders (who was instrumental in the shutdown of Vermont Yankee in his home state) is elected. The criminal Hillary Clinton who allowed our men to be murdered in Benghazi, Libya is no better; Livia Drusila Iulia Augusta Caesar would be green with envy. Clinton's advocacy of so-called renewable energy (wind and solar power which have capacity factors of less than 30%) necessitates polluting and explosive natural gas spinning reserve at all times. The saying goes like this: green power, black death (with apologies to the wife of Augustus Caesar).

All of the preening that Democrat Governor Cuomo and Democrat Senator Chuck Schumer do about loss of jobs with a shutdown of Fitzpatrick is posturing for the voters upstate, because in downstate both are trying to remove Indian Point from the grid. Every step of the way it has been a Democrat politician along with a natural gas corporate executive who has benefited from shutting down a nuclear power plant. The politicians in question include Massachusetts Representative Ed Markey who benefits from the Pilgrim shutdown, California Governor Jerry Brown who benefits from the SONGS shutdown, Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders who benefits from the VY shutdown, and Governor Andy Cuomo who would benefit from an IPEC shutdown. He follows in the footsteps of his father, Governor Mario Cuomo, who successfully stopped the Shoreham nuclear power plant on Long Island in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

And the corporate recipients of benefit are all those natural gas suppliers who provide their hazardous methane to gas turbine power plants. Yet the Democrats want to give the politicians who arranged this situation more power ostensibly because they do not trust corporate executives, but they do trust the politicians. Oh the irony! Both politician and corporate executive are avaricious, greedy and power hungry men. Their positions do not matter; their concupiscence as men unrestrained by morality does matter. They are Democrats! Therefore, the reader must educate and inform himself, and then vote based on that informed conscience.

Divortium et Matrimonium Iterum

Amici,

There has been a lot of discussion in the Catholic blogosphere about the reception of the Eucharist by those who are divorced and remarried. This post is intended to clarify the issue.

In Matthew 19:1-12 the Pharisees came to ask Jesus about this issue. Jesus clearly stated that Moses allowed divorce and remarriage because of the hardness of people's heart. Additionally, Jesus stated that anyone who divorces and remarries another commits adultery which is a mortal sin.

St. Paul in 1st Corinthians 11:27-32 stated that anyone who eats Jesus' body or drinks His blood unworthily (i.e., in a state of mortal sin) eats and drinks damnation to himself. That means that anyone who is divorced and remarried may NOT receive Holy Communion because he or she is in a state of mortal sin, that of adultery.

Now there are two caveats to this. The first caveat goes as follows. IF a man has remarried after divorce AND does NOT engage in conjugal relations, THEN that man is NOT committing adultery AND after Confession he may receive the Holy Eucharist. But IF he is NOT refraining from conjugal action, THEN he is committing adultery AND under that circumstance it is impermissible for him to receive to the Holy Eucharist.

The second caveat goes as follows. IF a man has divorced and is remarried sacramentally, AND his first marriage is null (i.e., the Church has declared the first marriage is null - this is called annulment), THEN after Confession he may receive the Holy Eucharist even while engaging in conjugal relations with his second wife. This is because there was in effect NO first marriage, AND she to whom he is now married is NOT his SECOND wife BUT really his FIRST wife. That is what a declaration of nullity means.

All of this applies equally to the woman who is divorced and remarried. As St Paul explains in Galatians 3:28, there is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female, for the same rules apply to everyone without discrimination. God does not show partiality as Romans 2:11 states.

This is very different from what the law of Moses permitted because of the hardness of people's hearts. That Law allowed a man to send his wife away in divorce to fend for herself as best she could in the desert, and never allowed the woman any recourse. Recall that the Law of Moses was given when the Children of Israel were wandering in the desert, and Israel being a very Patriarchal society gave all authority to the man with no rights to the woman. So when Pope Francis accuses those who oppose divorce and remarriage of sitting in Moses' seat and being unmerciful, he is actually supporting what is just the opposite of what merciful Jesus clearly stated. Jesus was demanding that husbands and wives work out their differences and act like responsible adults for the good the children whom they brought into the world. Jesus opposed sending a woman away in divorce to fend for herself, and leaving the children either fatherless or motherless, depending on with whom they would be remaining. Jesus demanded real mercy, and real mercy is while simple a very difficult thing to do.