Keep Your Eyes On The Lord

Lately I have been finding it very depressing going onto Catholic websites and blogs.  It all seems to be just bad news and doom and gloom.  Many seem to think that the Catholic Church is on the brink of implosion and self destruction.  Many moan and carry on about our wayward bishops, priests and religious.  It seems everyone is pointing fingers at everyone else.  The authors of the blogs and websites think they are just fine and everyone else is on the path to hell.

And there certainly are tremendous problems within and outside of the Church.  But this is hardly new.  The Church and the world are populated by sinners, and we tend to have a lot of problems.  It's like looking at a hospital and saying, "Look at all those sick people."

I agree that times are much worse than they have been for several generations.  It wasn't that long ago when it was fairly easy to be a Christian in our society because, at least on the surface, our culture was based on Christian morality.  But that is no longer true for myriad reasons, and the immorality and the loss of the sense of right and wrong has invaded large swaths of the Church.  Just as has happened many times in our 2000 year history, we are at a crisis point for many in the Church, and it is important that we pray and offer up reparations for this situation.

But should we be focusing all our energy and time on looking at all the problems in the Church and in each other?  We are most definitely in the midst of a storm.  But should our focus be on the storm, or should we be looking elsewhere?

One of the greatest Catholics of the 20th Century, and maybe any century, was Venerable Fulton Sheen. He was truly the greatest evangelist of our time, much beloved by Catholics and non-Catholics alike. His talks and writings are widely available all over the Internet, and I would highly suggest that you avail yourself of these materials.

Screen shot of the Fulton Sheen app

One of these Fulton Sheen resources that I would recommend without hesitation is  an absolutely wonderful app that is available on the Iphone/Ipod/Ipad and also on Android devices. It is called the Fulton Sheen Audio Library. Click here to view information about this app. Click here for the link to their website.  From their own description:

Almost 300 audio talks from the great 20th Century Catholic preacher and writer, Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen. Includes many of his retreat talks to priests and laymen, his St. T  herese of Lisieux series, and his incredible 50-part catechism series that outlines all the basic teachings of the Catholic Church, as well as many individual talks on so many important topics relevant today. Grow in your own spiritual life and get to know the life and teachings of Jesus Christ from the man loved and admired by people of all Christian and non-Christian religions for his commanding and sincere preaching via radio and television. He died in 1979, and he is in the process of becoming a canonized saint of the Catholic Church. This is an amazing collection you don't want to be without.

This is not hyperbole. This truly is an amazing collection of talks by Venerable Fulton Sheen that, if listened to in a right and prayerful attitude, is guaranteed to strengthen your faith and bring you closer to your Creator. You can download the app for free which gives you a few sample talks, and for about $8 more you can get all of the almost 300 talks. One is better than the other. I cannot recommend this app highly enough. This developer also has several other apps with some great Catholic speakers on them that you can check out as well. Forget the game apps and get this one.

I recently listened to one of the series of talks from this App which was a retreat given by Bishop Sheen. The last talk in this series is entitled, "Peter's Fall & Rise." Bishop Sheen explains how we are all just like St. Peter, our first Pope, in his foibles and weaknesses and that there is much to learn from Peter. At one point Bishop Sheen talks about the time that Christ came out to the disciples on the water. The apostles were in a boat and Our Lord walked across the water towards them. Impetuous Peter got out of the boat and started, amazingly, to walk on the water towards our Lord. From Bishop Sheen:

[Our Lord, to escape the crowds who wanted to make Him king, had gone up to the mountain top to pray. Our Lord did not want the apostles contaminated by those who wanted to make Christ a political king, so he sent the apostles across the lake]. A storm came up. He sees them from the mountain top and the storm is so great . . . that even these fisherman were frightened. And they see someone coming to them on the water. And they think it is a ghost. Despite all the time they have been with our Lord, they still do not know him. They were not absolutely convinced that He was God and they had not given themselves totally to him. Finally, the Lord said, "It is I." . . . Here we get the impulsiveness of Peter. Is it impulsiveness really? He said, "Lord, bid me come to you upon the waters." He so loved the Lord and he had gone through this storm that he wanted to be with Him immediately. So, "Bid me come to you." . . . The Lord said, "Come." Let us not forget that. The Lord said, "Come." . . . And he walked on the water. Then he began to sink. Why did Peter sink? He began to drown, and Peter could swim because we know that he swam 400 yards on the Sunday after Easter. But he began to drown. Why? Have you ever read the gospels closely enough to know the answer? He took his eyes off Jesus. He took account of the winds. In other words, he began to say, "Oh, have you read that latest survey about the priests? Oh, did you see that article about the Church? Oh, did you hear what is happening to the nuns? Oh, did you read those statistics?" He took account of all the currents of popular opinion and he began to sink. He took his eyes off the Lord.

Peter and the apostles were in the midst of a very real and dangerous storm that was threatening to drown them all.  When Peter got out of the boat and started walking on water towards Jesus, he was doing something that is normally physically impossible.  But if Peter and the other Apostles had kept their eyes, mind and heart on the Lord, the storm would have had no effect on them whatsoever.  Peter would have walked on the water as if he was walking on solid granite.  They were walking by sight, not by faith, and the result was they were fearful and in danger of drowning.

We know that we live in a post-Christian society.  But do we have to focus in on every degenerate, despicable and evil thing that is happening both in and out of the church?  Far too often it isn't even the inherently evil and sinful events around us but just things that we don't personally like that consume people's attention.  Recently a lot of people got themselves all riled up over the bishops doing a dance at World Youth Day in Rio.  Here are some comments from the forum at fisheaters.com, a traditional Catholic forum:

The most nauseating spectacle so far out of WYD 2013. All of the "excellencies" dancing around like pre-schoolers... there are no words 

All the WYD nonsense I am seeing in the news has been really getting to me! 

I wonder if Cardinal Dolan was the lead dancer. Laughing, as he does, and getting into the "spirit of Vatican 2" for the whole world to see. Hey we can be just like the Pentecostals. 

The CHURCH of Vac II not only helps you lose your faith and also entertains..the dumb down catholic who think this is what going to church is entertainment. Because their n.o .mass is boring. They the Bishops can not help themself to make themself look foolish.

There actually was one poster who felt this was much ado about nothing, but still doesn't quite get it:

I saw this as well, and while I do find it annoying and frustrating, I am not going to get all up in arms about it either. It didn't happen in the context of the Mass to my knowledge, or the Divine Office, so there are no teachings or rubrics governing such things. We might argue about its prudence, but outside of Liturgical Prayer, its hard to argue much more than that. There are plenty of things to get up in arms about that are much bigger deals than this from my perspective. Others are, of course, free to disagree.

Even Michael Voris, who never misses a chance to bash bishops and priests, said there was nothing sinful or even wrong about what the bishops did.  He, like many others, thought it looked foolish and sent a wrong message to the world.  So why are we dwelling on it?  Why don't we hear about the good things that happened at Worth Youth Day?  What about the millions who had a truly spiritual experience and developed a greater love for God and the Church?

Like Peter and the other apostles, we focus on the storm, and like Peter, we find ourselves drowning. What did Jesus say to Peter when he started to fall into the water? "You of little faith. Why did you doubt?" We, as Catholics, are given an ironclad promise by our Lord that He will never leave us. We know that He is with us always in the Blessed Sacrament. We know that our Blessed Mother, Mary, is constantly before her Son's throne pleading and interceding on our part. We have communion with the angels and saints who pray for us constantly, and even the poor souls in Purgatory. We know that Satan will have his hour, but that his time is limited and it will come to an end. We have the Sacraments of the church so that we always have access to the Grace of God and His great mercy and forgiveness. The Lord is as much with us as He was with the apostles during the storm on the Sea of Galilee.  

In another message entitled "Hour of Testing" from the same retreat, Bishop Sheen talked about the troubling times that we live in and the fact that our world has become so anti-Christian.  He says that the time we live in (and this was in the 1970's) the majority opinion, even in the Church, is often wrong and like Gideon in the Bible, God's army on this earth is very small.  From Bishop Sheen:

These days, therefore, our ranks are being thinned. God does not expressly say to the Church tell your cowards to leave. They just leave. God doesn't make some kind of papal decision to say that well, the majority opinion is wrong, those that get the ear of the press. No, but he allows things to work out this particular way. And then will come, not in our time but not far after our time and perhaps in the time of some, then will come the battles and the testing. Our Lord said Satan would sift you as wheat, and we're being sifted as wheat. So we can all thank God that we live in these days. Really, it's beautiful. Now we can say aye or nay. And we can bear up under assaults and criticisms and ridicule because this is the lot of the Christian in the days of the spirit of the world.

How are we bearing up under the assaults of the spirit of the world? Are we just moaning and complaining and saying how terrible it all is? Or are we, as Bishop Sheen said, thanking God for allowing us to live in this time when we can truly shine as servants of God? Are we keeping our eyes on the Lord, or are we concentrating on the storms around us?

Read some of the messages given to us in Holy Scripture:

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:28-31)

God has said, never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.  (Heb. 13:5)

For those of us who are concentrating on the storm and not on the Lord, remember, we are to walk by faith, not by sight.  

Psalm 3:

O Lord, look how my enemies have increased!

    Many are attacking me.

 

Many are saying about me,

    “Even with God on his side,

        he won’t be victorious.” Selah

But you, O Lord, are a shield that surrounds me.

    You are my glory.

    You hold my head high.

I call aloud to the Lord,

    and he answers me from his holy mountain. Selah

 

I lie down and sleep.

    I wake up again because the Lord continues to support me.

 

I am not afraid of the tens of thousands

    who have taken positions against me on all sides.

Arise, O Lord!

    Save me, O my God!

    You have slapped all my enemies in the face.

    You have smashed the teeth of wicked people.

 

        May your blessing rest on your people. Selah

Credit:  thedanceoflifewithjenna.blogspot.com 

The Sorrowful Mysteries: Be It Done Unto Me According To Thy Word

Yesterday, August 3, was the First Saturday of the Month. The First Saturday Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary was first mentioned by Our Lady of Fatima on July 13, 1917. After showing the three children a vision of hell she said, "You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace... I shall come to ask for... the Communion of reparation on the first Saturdays..." The First Saturday devotion is as follows:

It consists in going to Confession, receiving Communion, reciting five decades of the Rosary and meditating for a quarter of an hour on the mysteries of the Rosary on the first Saturday of five consecutive months. The Confession may be made during the eight days preceding or following the first Saturday of each month, provided that Holy Communion be received in the state of grace. Should one forget to form the intention of making reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, it may be formed at the next Confession, occasion to go to confession being taken at the first opportunity.

I normally take one mystery of the Rosary, e.g., The Second Sorrowful Mystery, and write a meditation on it.  Today I'm going to do something a little different and take all Five Sorrowful Mysteries and meditate on our Blessed Mother's Role in these mysteries.  The Five Sorrowful Mysteries are:

1. The Agony in the Garden:  Jesus goes to the Garden of Gethsemane pray and prepare himself for the great passion into which he is about to enter.  He contemplates the entire sin of the world, which causes him so much agony that he literally starts to sweat blood.  At this time, Judas, in the ultimate act of betrayal came into the Garden with the Temple guards to arrest Jesus.  Our Lord is arrested and treated as a common criminal.   


2. The Scourging at the Pillar:  In an effort to appease the blood hungry crowd, Pilate had Our Lord scourged at the pillar, a most inhumane and cruel punishment, using whips that literally tore into the skin, exposing bone.  Pilate knew Jesus was not guilty of any crime, but he nonetheless ordered Jesus to be scourged within an inch of his life.


3. The Crowning With Thorns:  In mocking our Lord as King of the Jews, the Roman Soldiers took a crown made from thorns and pushed it into our Blessed Lord's Sacred Head.  If you've ever stuck yourself with a rose thorn, you know how painful this is.  Imagine even larger thorns woven into a "crown" and smashed down upon your head and literally into your brain.  The pain must have been beyond excruciating.  


4. The Carrying of the Cross:  After being scourged and suffering a great loss of blood and enduring the pain and humiliation of the crown of thorns and losing even more blood, Jesus takes up his cross and walks among the taunting crowds to his place of execution.  Some of the women show great compassion for him, such as Veronica who braved the soldiers to wipe the blood from the face of our Lord.  Some of the women of Jerusalem openly wept for him.  But mostly our Lord had to endure such taunts as "Savior of the world, you can't even save yourself!"  No doubt many in the crowds threw things at him and spat upon our Dear Savior.  


5. The Crucifixion:  Our Lord was nailed to the Cross by his hands and feet where he hung naked for three hours, being bitten by flies and other insects, having to force himself up to breathe, and enduring even more taunting and insults from the crowds while the last of his blood poured out of his body from his innumerable wounds.  

What was the role of Mary, the mother of our Lord in all of this? How did she handle the tremendous cruelty and injustice endured by Her Son? There can be no doubt that she felt each blow herself. There can be no doubt that she would have gladly taken the place of Her Son to spare him this awful agony and torture.  But we can also be sure that our Lord spent a good part of His earthly life preparing His Mother for this moment, explaining to her, just as he tried to explain to his apostles, that this was the very reason he came into the world.  His purpose in life was to die.  Mary carried this pain within herself from the time she took her Son to the temple as a newborn babe and was told by the old man, Simeon, that a sword would pierce her heart.  

Mary suffered every step of the way along with Her Son, starting long before that first Good Friday. She understood in a way that no one else on earth did how those around them completely misunderstood and misinterpreted Jesus. She saw Judas who saw Jesus only as a way to enrich himself. She saw Peter who appeared in many ways to be nothing more than a blowhard, vowing his loyalty to the Lord and then running when there was true danger. She saw the Pharisees and Saducees, the religious leaders of the day, attack her Precious Son, wanting to destroy Him because He seemed to threaten their role in society. She knew, as no one else did, how completely pure and innocent Her Son was and how completely undeserving He was of the barbaric and tortuous death He was forced to endure at the hands of the very ones He had come to save.

If any of the rest of us had been in Mary's place and had to watch such cruelty visited upon our children, we most certainly would have wanted to strike out in some way against the perpetrators of that cruelty.  But we have no record anywhere of Mary ever complaining or speaking against anyone who betrayed her Son in any way.  She lived by her words of the consent she gave to the Angel Gabriel when asked to be the Mother of God: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word".

Mary was the first true disciple of Jesus.  She was the first one to give herself completely and without reserve to Jesus, accepting His rule in her life.  She recognized the Omnipotence of God, acknowledging that He was totally in charge of everything that happened.  No matter how dark and desperate situations in life may have seemed, even at that darkest moment when Our Lord was crucified on Calvary, Mary silently and stoically accepted the Will of God and never once lashed out at any of those who treated her Son so unjustly.  

I am seeing very little of this trusting and faithful attitude in the Catholic Church today.  This lack of trust is not surprising at all from those on the more liberal side.  Liberal is often all about "change" and wanting things the way we want them.  The problem is that far too many on the left want change that is not consistent with Church teaching, such as married priests and women priests.  They are not willing to listen to the Magesterium of the Church and allow the Holy Spirit to guide them but insist on pushing their own beliefs and desires.

What is surprising, at least to me, is that those who call themselves "Traditional Catholics" are really no different from their liberal counterparts. Many traditionalists have very specific ideas about how the Church should be run and they do not tolerate anyone who disagrees with them. Many seem to feel that they have a full and complete understanding of the Will of God and that they, literally, know better than the Pope what is right and wrong. Pope Francis has become a lightening rod to the traditionalists, and even those outside of the Church are becoming very aware of this. There have been more than a few articles in secular publications and websites noting how dissatisfied many Traditionalists are with Pope Francis. Many of these Traditionalists seem to feel that if things are not exactly to their liking, that means the sky is falling and, unlike our Blessed Mother who waited on the Lord, they feel they have to take matters into their own hands and make their own judgments.

Traditionalists are more and more reminding me of the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector.  From Luke 8:9-14:

9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ 

14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

I received an e-mail from a traditionalist friend recently in which she forwarded an e-mail from a friend discussing Pope Francis.  This is how the e-mail began:

Now, on to the Pope. It is a sad state when one wakes up every day filled with dread as to what horrific thing the Pope is going to say today. I called Bergoglio as a “disaster” literally on day one. And a disaster he is.

The author of this e-mail was very upset with Pope Francis' recent comments regarding "gay" priests in which he said that he cannot judge a homosexual priest who is trying to serve the Lord.  The Holy Father's exact words were "If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?"  The author of the e-mail called this comment "stupid".  She says she is not sedevacantist, and fully believes that Pope Francis is a legitimate pope, but she sees his role as a "chastisement" to the Church for all the wrong we have done.  And she feels no qualms at all about harshly criticizing him because he does not live up to her standards.  From the e-mail:

Pope Francis is the Vicar of Christ and is a chastisement. I am not a sede-vacantist (meaning the See of Peter is empty and Francis is not the Pope). That’s the coward’s way out. If I was a sede-vacantist I wouldn’t care what Bergoglio said or did in the same way I don’t care what the Anglican “archbishop” of Canterbury says or does. No. He’s the Pope alright, and he is an absolute disaster, as I said from the beginning. Expect things to get progressively worse.

The self righteousness and scorn in this e-mail is enough to make my skin crawl.  I am sure this person prays the Rosary on a daily basis, would never think of missing Sunday Mass and probably even goes to daily Mass, and from all outward appearances is an upstanding and faithful Catholic.  But her words belie that fact, just as did the Pharisee's words in the parable.

We don't have to understand everything that goes on around us.  Most likely we won't understand when we are in the middle of a storm, just as I am sure our Blessed Mother did not understand all of the trying and painful circumstances in her life, and most especially the horrendous events on the way to and at Calvary.  But she never struck out at others.  She placed herself completely and without reserve into the hands of God and let Him work it all out.  That is what we must also learn to do.  If we truly believe, as Catholics, that this is the Church founded by Jesus Christ, that the Catholic Church is His Mystical Body upon which the gates of Hell shall never prevail, and if we truly believe that the Pope is the Vicar of Christ, the physical representative of Christ on earth who cannot mislead us in faith and morals, then we have no right to sit as judge and jury over anyone or anything.  This is most especially true concerning the Pope.  We must follow the lead of our Blessed Mother in all things.

Many traditionalists are scornful of Pope Francis because he preaches love and acceptance of all people.  He believes in mercy, not judgment.  That does not mean accepting people's sin, but it does mean accepting people.  We are all sinners, and none of us have escaped our sin except through the mercy of God.  Even though we may not struggle with "big" sins such as homosexuality, we could actually be far worse sinners in the eyes of God than those who do struggle with the "big" sins.  Our Lord said to whom much is given, much is expected.  We who have been given and accepted the grace of God and forgiveness of our sins will be judged by a much harsher standard than those who have not received the Grace of God.  As Christ told the chief priests and elders of his time:  "Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did."  (Matt. 21:31-32)

Jesus forgives the woman caught in adultery

When our Lord walked the earth, many sinners were attracted to Him and wanted to be with Him because he showed them love and acceptance. He didn't wait for them to repent and change. He reached out to them while they were still in their sins, as He did with the woman at the well and the woman caught in adultery.  With many of these people, once they felt the love of Christ, that gave them the courage and strength they need to turn away from their sins.  Pope Francis is following in the ways of our Lord in reaching out to the world, and the world is responding. They see in Pope Francis a man who truly loves them despite their sins, and I believe that many will turn away from their sins as the Pope leads them to the love of Jesus Christ.

You may not believe that.  You may be completely baffled by the actions of the Holy Father and not understand what is going on.  But you need to take the attitude of our Blessed Mother when she was in the midst of the storm of Calvary.  Trust in our Lord that He can work out everything.  Realize that it is not your job to save the Church from itself, it is not your job to sit as judge and juror over the Pope or anyone else.  It is your job to trust in the Lord and to allow His love to flow through you to others, just as our Holy Mother did.  

Be It Done Unto Me According To Thy Word.

Is Racism Alive and Well in America?

MT @kirstiealley: White people used to make black people drink from separate fountains...Now we just shoot their children #Justice4Trayvon
— Liza Sabater (@blogdiva) July 15, 2013

I watched a good part of the George Zimmerman trial and I came to the same conclusion as many legal experts did. Almost all of the legal experts said that the prosecution did not have a case and that if justice was to be done in this particular case, George Zimmerman would have to be found not guilty. And that is exactly what the jury did when they acquitted Mr. Zimmerman.

Yet there is a very vocal group of people in this country who are still claiming that the acquittal of George Zimmerman proves that racism is alive and well in this country. And they are partially right - racism is more rampant, more institutionalized and more lethal in America than it has been at any time in our history, including legalized slavery. But the George Zimmerman case is a sideshow, it is nothing more than a distraction so that the Black community will not see the real insidious racism that is literally destroying them. Trayvon Martin was a victim, not of George Zimmerman, but of the institutional racism that exists in the United States of America.

What are some of the signs of this racism?

Walk into any minority neighborhoods in any big city, and you will first notice the many ads and billboards for beer and alcohol in those neighborhoods. These signs cannot be found in white neighborhoods. This is no accident. According to an article from Huffington Post:

Booze and binge drinking -- it's the stuff hip hop videos are made of, along with a disproportionate number of advertisements African-American youth are exposed to, a new study shows.

Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health are shedding new light on a longstanding concern that alcohol marketers are honing in (and cashing in) on African-American youth and that this population is more exposed to the pervasive messages than any other group.

According to the report:

African-American youth receive substantially more exposure to alcohol advertising in magazines and on television, and more exposure to distilled spirits advertising on radio, than youth in general. This appears to result from two phenomena: brands that are targeting African-Americans generally expose the entire group (including youth) to more advertising per capita than the general population; and African-American media habits (including those of youth) make this population more vulnerable to alcohol advertising because of higher levels of media consumption in general.

Speaking of hip hop, this is a music form which started in the Bronx among African American youths. This was their music created by and for them.  But when it began to spread and become popular, it was taken over by white men. From an article found on Notesfromtheundergroundtv.com:

So, lets get this straight, White people been running hip-hop. Need facts, lets start here. Why do think the word “nigger,” is radio and tv friendly, while the word “bitch” gets bleeped? Understand, you can say “nigger,” nigga,” nicca,” in all kinds of ways and you will get no kind of backlash. Remember, Jadakiss said, “Stack chips like Hebrews,” on “All ABout the Benjamins,” but that Hebrews line was blurred and cut out of every TV and radio version of that song. I wonder, if he would’ve said, “I’m a nigger with an attitude,” if that line would’ve been blurred out? I’m leaning towards no, it wouldn't have been cut out. Matter of fact, it might’ve been the title of the song.

Why do you think drug dealers, pimps and thugs have been propped up to be role models for so long? Why do you think the image of the Black women has gone from being a pillar of our community to someone who twerks in the background and only looks good when they’re bent over or on their knees? Open your eyes. White people have been running this. Do you think if a African-American was running hip-hop we would’ve ever had a group called, “Niggers With Attitudes?” My father used to say, “No Black man with any understanding of where he came from would ever openly call himself a nigger.” White people were handed over the keys to the hip-hop world early. We sold it to them for some magic beans and big gold chains.

We hear over and over about how terrible crime is among the Black community.  The following is from a 2005 report the New Century Foundation entitled, "The Color of Crime":

Crime Rates

• Blacks are seven times more likely than people of other races to commit murder, and eight times more likely to commit robbery.
• When blacks commit crimes of violence, they are nearly three times more likely than non-blacks to use a gun, and more than twice as likely to use a knife.
• Hispanics commit violent crimes at roughly three times the white rate, and Asians commit violent crimes at about one quarter the white rate.
• The single best indicator of violent crime levels in an area is the percentage of the population that is black and Hispanic.

What is the real cause of the explosion in crime in the African American community?  I think it can be traced directly to the destruction of the Black family, which was spurred on by the Welfare State.  The Welfare State, created by the Federal Government in the 1960's, took the place of the father in the home.  When fathers were displaced the family fell apart, and our entire society has been feeling the repercussions ever since.  From discoverthenetworks.org:

The rise of the welfare state in the 1960s contributed greatly to the demise of the black family as a stable institution. The out-of-wedlock birth rate among African Americans today is 73%, three times higher than it was prior to the War on Poverty. Children raised in fatherless homes are far more likely to grow up poor and to eventually engage in criminal behavior, than their peers who are raised in two-parent homes. In 2010, blacks (approximately 13% of the U.S. population) accounted for 48.7% of all arrests for homicide, 31.8% of arrests for forcible rape, 33.5% of arrests for aggravated assault, and 55% of arrests for robbery. Also as of 2010, the black poverty rate was 27.4% (about 3 times higher than the white rate), meaning that 11.5 million blacks in the U.S. were living in poverty.

Read the entire article here.   The family is the building block of any society, and when the family is destroyed, the society and the people in that society are destroyed.

But the most destructive force in destroying the Black family and community, and the most evident form of racism in the United States is, without any question, abortion.

The Federal Government gave $542 million to Planned Parenthood in fiscal 2012. That is over one-half billion dollars to the largest abortion provider in this country.  And where are the vast majority of these clinics located?  In inner cities and/or near major public transportation, giving easy access to inner city residents. Why is that?

La Verne Tolbert, Ph.D. wrote a fascinating report entitled, "Over 20 Million Aborted: WHY PLANNED PARENTHOOD TARGETS THE INNER-CITY." You can read her report here She starts out with the facts about the founder of Planned Parenthood, Margaret Sanger:

In her autobiography, [Margaret Sanger] expresses disdain for the poor whom she calls the wretched of humanity. Eugenics—the improvement of the race through controlled breeding—identifies certain ethnic groups as dysgenic, meaning they are biologically defective or deficient and therefore unworthy of procreation.

Sanger’s mission was to “stop the multiplication of the unfit…[for] race betterment” to guarantee “a cleaner race.” “Birth-control,” said Sanger in 1920, “is nothing more or less than the facilitation of the process of weeding out the unfit, or preventing the birth of defectives, or of those who will become defectives.”

Sanger’s 1939 Negro Project may provide further rationale for the proliferation of Planned Parenthood clinics throughout inner-cities. The proposal, which called for hiring Colored ministers and selecting a Negro Advisory Council who would appear to run a family planning campaign, was to popularize family planning in southern black communities using community people as spokespersons. Although Sanger decried the fact that blacks believed “that God sends them children,” she believed that the best educational approach was through religion. “We do not want the word to get out that we want to exterminate the Negro population, and the Minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members.”

So we know that  Planned Parenthood's founder was an avowed racist who wanted to destroy the Black community because she saw them as the "wretched of humanity."  But as the author of this article points out, Margaret Sanger could never have accomplished the task of wiping out the Black community by herself.

Has her tactic of working in communities and through churches been so successful that clinics abound in our neighborhoods?

Although these combined reasons may provide a backdrop for discussion, the answer is No. Sanger’s personal mission alone did not propel Planned Parenthood to such national status. To do so involves a shared goal, multiple committed partnerships, and the sustained dedication of financial resources—a monumental strategy that only the United States government could achieve.

As Dr. Tolbert says in her report:

As an organization, Planned Parenthood met opportunity. What began with Sanger’s Birth Control Federation in 1916 had, by 1960, become a national movement. Renamed Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), popularizing birth-control for the poor had a three-fold purpose—controlling the growth of the population to preserve a quality of life; (2) producing children of higher intelligence in keeping with the ideals of the Eugenics philosophy; and (3) controlling population growth through the Malthusian strategy of monitoring one’s own fertility.

The organization in place, opportunity surfaced when African American women, who were perceived to be particularly fecund or fertile, became the focus of the government’s national family planning efforts. Reducing the size of traditionally large black families was a priority that eventually would impact other minorities as well.

Dr. Tolbert notes that the government felt that people, and most specifically inner city people, were the enemies of prosperity.  The government felt it had to step in and regulate these people and save them from themselves.  In 1969, the Director of the Health Services and Mental Health Administration (HSMHA) of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (DHEW) (try saying that three times fast) said the following:

In a country of 200 million, a growth rate of one percent per year produces enough additional people to populate a new Washington metropolitan area every year. And we are feeling the impact—in the crowding of cities, the sprawl of suburbia, the vanishing wilderness, the trespass of pollution. Every one of us feels it where it hurts most—in the quality of our lives….

And what is most tragic and most ironic is that we, who need it least, have readily accessible to us and to our wives the means of deciding how many children shall share our large and well-spaced houses and our trips to the beach. Those who lack our ways of buffering the pressure of population on their lives also lack the means to decide how many shall share their lot.

Dr. Tolbert's report then says that these birth control clinics were strategically placed in "high risk communities"  As Dr. Tolbert writes,

“Equal opportunities for the poor” became the catch-phrase for Planned Parenthood’s services to minority women. It was acknowledged that “skill, tact, and innovation” were necessary to make services appealing and non-threatening

Dr. Tolbert says that this "social planning" was moved right into the schools, where "Sex education went hand-in-hand with providing contraceptive and birth-control services for teenagers."  School-based clinics were started.

The SBC was seen as “the best hope of reducing the incidence of the ‘unwed mother syndrome’ among inner-city children.” Schools were encouraged to “prevent unwanted births” by publicizing the “location of contraceptive services for teenagers.”

The first clinic opened in Dallas in 1973.  These clinics, which supplied contraception to teens had the exact opposite effect of preventing teen pregnancies:  there were even more teen pregnancies:

By 1986, there were 60 SBCs throughout the United States. By 1988, there were over 150 SBCs, which is surprising since researchers recognize that SBCs are unsuccessful in impacting pregnancy rates. Additionally, where there are clinics, there is an increase of 120 pregnancies per 1,000 among 15- to-19 year olds. But this did not stop their expansion. By 1991, there were 239 SBCs and SLCs—school-linked clinics (clinics located near school grounds). By 1995, there were 607.

Dr. Tolbert concludes her report:

Abortion—an enterprise that targets minority communities where blacks reside—is big business in America. School administrators lack funds to procure lab equipment or computers or fix crumbling buildings but there’s ample tax and foundation dollars for SBCs. Perhaps it’s time that the government takes another look.

Margaret Sanger, who was beloved by Adolph Hitler, would be very proud of the results of all the "efforts" of the United States government. Here in New York City, three out of every five pregnancies among Black women ends in abortion. A July 17, 2012 International Business Times  article entitled "Black Abortions:  Necessary Health Care or Genocide?" tells us the following:

As of 2006, 50 out of 1,000 black women underwent abortions, according to the Census Bureau, versus 14 for white women and 22 for women of other races.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, black women account for only 13 percent of the total U.S. female population, but undergo more than one-third of all abortions.

In Mississippi, usually ranked the poorest state in the nation, blacks represent about 37 percent of the population, but comprise 75 percent of abortion patients.

A website with the inflammatory name of “BlackGenocide.com” declared that almost 1,800 black babies are aborted on average every day and that black women have had 16 million abortions since 1973 (when the Roe v. Wade decision legalized abortion nationwide).

That figure would represent almost half of the total black population of about 36 million currently living in the U.S.

To put that number of deaths in perspective, consider that since 1973, the number of black Americans who have died from heart disease (2.26 million), cancer (1.64 million), accidents (307,723), violent crimes (306,313) and AIDS (203,649) combined do not equal the number of lives lost to abortions.

All of those protesting about the Zimmerman trial are 100% correct when they say that racism is alive and well in America.   What they don't realize is that they are victims of a shell game.  They are looking in the wrong place.  Abortion, not the George Zimmerman trial, is the true racism of our time.

The Abortion Industry Pulls One Over..on the Pro Life Movement

According to a July 9, 2013 article in the Washington Post, 17 states have recently passed laws restricting abortion.  One state that has gotten a lot of notice is Texas, which has banned most (but not all)  abortions past 20 weeks because, according to a Reuters article, "disputed" research "suggests" a 20-week old fetus "feels pain at that point in a pregnancy".  This is a picture of a 20 week old fetus:

It took research to figure out that a baby as fully developed as this one just might feel pain?  Prior to passage of this bill, abortion in Texas was allowed up to 26 weeks.  This is a 26 week old fetus:

Can anyone look at these pictures and not realize that we have legalized murder in our society, and that it is murder of the most innocent and helpless among us?  Yet, we are suppose to be happy and satisfied when laws "restricting" this legalized murder are passed.

What kind of "restrictions" are being passed? According to the Washington Post article, the most common laws are those that "regulate abortion clinics in a specific way, such as requiring them to become certified as surgical centers." Wow. That is really going to stop abortion if we can make sure that they are certified as surgical centers. It might actually shut down a few clinics, but it certainly won't stop the largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood. 

One of the main reasons that pro lifers think they are actually starting to win is because pro choice people are fighting so hard against these laws.  Abortion proponents get out there and scream and yell that abortion will be banned if any of these laws go into effect, and those who are pro life actually believe it, not realizing they are being conned.  These laws basically mean nothing.

We're suppose to celebrate the fact that it is illegal to abort a 20-week old fetus, but if a woman is able to get an abortion when she is "only" 19 weeks pregnant, it is still okay to kill that baby.  That is a reason to celebrate?  Here is a 19 week old fetus:

Does anyone think that the 19-week old fetus pictured above will not feel pain?  What is the real difference between aborting a 19 week old fetus or a 20 week old fetus?

Here are the real facts about a baby's development in the womb, from the National Right to Life website.  By day 22 of the pregnancy, the baby's heart starts to beat and pump its own blood.  By the 6th week, brain waves can be detected.  By the 8th week, every organ is in place and fingerprints begin to form.  By week 10, all organ systems are functioning. The baby has a skeletal structure, nerves, and circulation.  By week, 12, the spinal cord is completely developed, meaning this is actually the point when the baby can truly feel pain.  Vocal cords are complete and the baby can suck his thumb. This is all during the first trimester, a stage of development when abortion proponents are claiming that the baby is still nothing more than a lump of cells.

I wish I could get excited about all of the "abortion restrictions" being enacted by various states. But what difference does it really make if we kill a baby at 2 weeks, 12 weeks or 20 weeks? That is still the same baby no matter how far developed he is.  We are still killing a human being.  And does anyone really think that there won't continue to be late term abortions? Abortionists are murderers by trade, and serial killers at that. The average abortionist performs thousands of abortions.  We're suppose to trust that a serial killer will abide by any law?

The only time we who are pro life can truly celebrate is when all abortion is once again outlawed. Would there have been reason to celebrate in Hitler's Germany if concentration camps had been more "regulated" and "restricted"? Germany was engaged in killing its own citizens. No one in their right minds would trust that government. We have thousands of Auschwitz's and Dachau's in the United States which are completely approved by our government. These killing fields are known as abortion clinics, or as some states now call them, "surgical centers." Are "regulations" and "restrictions" really going to make any difference? The government is doing no more than throwing a bone at us and expecting us to be happy. Well, I'm not happy. There are still some 80,000 plus abortions in my city, New York City, every year. The abortion rate is still over 40% of all pregnancies, and over 60% in some neighborhoods.

I truly believe that we live in the most evil of any time in all of human history. Sin is no longer sin. There is no such thing as good and evil. The only thing that much of the world sees as wrong is to call sin what it is. Everything is a "choice". We are to live and let live. This, of course, does not apply to anyone who does not agree with this. Those who actually see a difference between right and wrong or good and evil are the true sinners in society. We have completely lost our way, and to use an old expression, the world is quite literally headed to hell in a handbasket.

I suppose one could say that we can't win the war in one battle and I should be happy and grateful for the battles that we do win.  But this war against legalized abortion has been going on for 40 years in the United States, and we are no closer to once again criminalizing abortion than we have ever been.  Last year when Lila Rose and her organization released an undercover tape showing that Planned Parenthood had no problem with using abortion as a way of sex selection, i.e., a woman wants to abort her baby merely because the baby is not a girl or a boy, there was a lot of public outrage.  The House of Representatives swung into action and presented a bill to make it officially illegal to kill a baby based on gender selection.  The House Republicans used House rules that limited the debate about this bill, and raised the number of votes required to pass it.  Guess what?  The bill didn't pass, but Speaker Boehner promised that they would try again.  That was in May 2012.  We're all still waiting.

Below are some horrific statistics concerning abortion in the United States that are barely affected by all of the "restrictions" and "regulations" that are becoming law in various states.  This is from an article posted on endoftheamericandream.com from February 10, 2012:

#1 There have been more than 53 million abortions performed in the United States since Roe v. Wade was decided back in 1973.  [That number has been revised up to 55 million and counting.]

#2 When you total up all forms of abortion, including those caused by the abortion drug RU 486, the grand total comes to more than a million abortions performed in the United States every single year.

#3 The number of American babies killed by abortion each year is roughly equal to the number of U.S. military deaths that have occurred in all of the wars that the United States has ever been involved in combined.

#4 Approximately 3,000 Americans lost their lives as a result of the destruction of the World Trade Center towers on 9/11.  Every single day, more than 3,000 American babies are killed by abortion.

#5 It has been reported that a staggering 41 percent of all New York City pregnancies end in abortion.

#6 According to Pastor Clenard Childress, approximately 52 percent of all African-American pregnancies now end in abortion.

#7 One very shocking study found that 86 percent of all abortions are done for the sake of convenience.

#8 According to the Guttmacher Institute, the average cost of a first trimester abortion at the ten week mark is $451.

#9 The average cost of a vaginal birth with no complications in the United States is now over $9,000.

#10 A Department of Homeland Security report that was released in January 2012 says that if you are “anti-abortion”, you are a potential terrorist.  Unfortunately, there have also been other government reports that have also identified “anti-abortion” protesters as potential threats.

#11 A while back one Philadelphia abortionist [Kermit Gosnell] was charged with killing seven babies that were born alive, but witnesses claim that he actually slaughtered hundreds “of living, breathing newborn children by severing their spinal cords or slitting their necks.”

#12 Some abortion clinics have been caught selling aborted baby parts to medical researchers.

#13 Planned Parenthood Founder Margaret Sanger once said the following….
“The most merciful thing that a family does to one of its infant members is to kill it.”

#14 In a 1922 book entitled “Woman, Morality, and Birth Control”, Planned Parenthood Founder Margaret Sanger wrote the following….“Birth control must lead ultimately to a cleaner race.”

 #15 Planned Parenthood performs more than 300,000 abortions every single year.  [Planned Parenthood's 2011-2012 report said:  "its affiliated clinics performed 333,964 abortions in fiscal 2011.  That works out to an average of one abortion every 94 seconds."  Read more here.]

#16 Planned Parenthood specifically targets the poor.  A staggering 72 percent of Planned Parenthood’s “customers” have incomes that are either equal to or beneath 150 percent of the federal poverty level.

#17 There are 30 Planned Parenthood executives that make more than $200,000 a year.  A few of them make more than $300,000 a year.  

#18 Planned Parenthood received more than 487 million dollars from the federal government during 2010.

#19 The following is one description of the five steps of a partial birth abortion….

1) Guided by ultrasound, the abortionist grabs the baby’s legs with forceps.2) The baby’s leg is pulled out into the birth canal.3) The abortionist delivers the baby’s entire body, except for the head.4) The abortionist jams scissors into the baby’s skull. The scissors are then opened to enlarge the skull.5) The scissors are removed and a suction catheter is inserted. The child’s brains are sucked out, causing the skull to collapse. The dead baby is then removed.

When these facts start to change and society once again considers abortion to  be murder, then I will find cause to rejoice.  These little bones that are thrown to us and called "victories" are just a way of masking the fact that nothing is changing.  The killing continues unabated.

In the meantime, I mourn for the victims of abortion, both the babies and their mothers and fathers, and pray that God's mercy will lead our country and our world to repentance and a true sense of right and wrong and good and evil.

Meditation on the First Sorrowful Mystery: Not My Will But Thine Be Done

Today, July 5, is the First Saturday of the Month. The First Saturday Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary was first mentioned by Our Lady of Fatima on July 13, 1917. After showing the three children a vision of hell she said, "You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace... I shall come to ask for... the Communion of reparation on the first Saturdays..." The First Saturday devotion is as follows:

It consists in going to Confession, receiving Communion, reciting five decades of the Rosary and meditating for a quarter of an hour on the mysteries of the Rosary on the first Saturday of five consecutive months. The Confession may be made during the eight days preceding or following the first Saturday of each month, provided that Holy Communion be received in the state of grace. Should one forget to form the intention of making reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, it may be formed at the next Confession, occasion to go to confession being taken at the first opportunity.

June 30, 1988

From left to right: Bishops de Galarreta, 

Tissier de Mallerais, 

de Castro Mayer, Archbishop Lefebvre, 

and Bishops Williamson and Fellay

The Society of St. Pius X is a traditional Catholic organization founded by Archbishop Marcel LeFebvre in 1970. They were separated from Rome in 1988 when Archbishop LeFebvre disobeyed Blessed John Paul II and ordained four bishops, at which time Archbishop LeFebvre and the four bishops were excommunicated and the Society became schismatic. Archbishop LeFebvre died in this state in 1991, but Pope Benedict XVI lifted the excommunications of the four bishops in 2009. However, the Society remained schismatic. The Society announced at the end of June of this year that, in effect, they wish to remain separate from Rome because they will not accept the teachings of Vatican II and, in fact, consider the Vatican II documents to be in grave error. From the SSPX website:

Following Archbishop Lefebvre, we affirm that the cause of the grave errors which are in the process of demolishing the Church does not reside in a bad interpretation of the conciliar texts – a “hermeneutic of rupture” which would be opposed to a “hermeneutic of reform in continuity” – but truly in the texts themselves, by virtue of the unheard of choice made by Vatican II.

This statement from the SSPX, in its entirety, is a total repudiation of the Magesterium of the Catholic Church, as can be seen in the following excerpt:

The weakening of faith in Our Lord’s divinity favours a dissolution of the unity of authority in the Church, by introducing a collegial, egalitarian and democratic spirit, (see Lumen Gentium). Christ is no longer the head from which everything flows, in particular the exercise of authority. The Sovereign Pontiff who no longer exercises effectively the fullness of his authority, and the bishops who – contrary to the teaching of Vatican I – esteem that they can collegially and habitually share the fullness of the supreme power, commit themselves thereby, with the priests, to listen to and to follow ‘the people of God,’ the new sovereign. This represents the destruction of authority and in consequence the ruin of Christian institutions: families, seminaries, religious institutes.

The SSPX has declared themselves judge, juror and executioner of the Magesterium of the Catholic Church.  They have declared that they know better than the Pope, the divinely ordained Vicar of Christ. They stand in defiance of Christ's vicar and are saying, "Non Serviam."  I am sure that is not how they view it.  On the contrary, they see the Magesterium of the Church as saying "Non Serviam."  There is just one problem with that:  Our Lord promised us that it is not possible for the Magesterium to rebel against God.  Our Lord said to St. Peter and all of his successors (Matthew 16:18-19):

“I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.  “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.” 

Do I always understand everything that the Church does and says? Not by any means. But as St. Paul told us in II Corinthians 5:7 - "We walk by faith not by sight." I believe our Lord when he declared the Church to be His Mystical Body and said that we can never be misled by the teachings of His Mystical Body. As Christ said, so I say, "Thy will be done."

This takes us to my meditation on this First Saturday in July - the First Sorrowful Mystery:  the agony of our Lord in the Garden just prior to His arrest and crucifixion.  In the Garden, our Lord saw all of the sin of the entire world.  He saw the murders, the hatred, the destruction of humanity and the earth itself brought about by our rejection of God and His Law.  The thought of taking this upon Himself to be our Sacrifice before God was such a daunting prospect that He started to sweat blood and actually said to the Father:  "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me."  The human side of Jesus was completely overwhelmed by the task before Him.  His human side was actually looking for a way out.  But His humility and obedience won out and He ended this statement with, "nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will."  

As followers of Christ, we will all go through a similar scenario at some point in our lives, and maybe on numerous occasions, in which Our Lord will ask to do so something, or not do something, that goes against everything inside of us. A prime biblical example of this was when Our Lord asked Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac. What if Abraham had balked and said, no Lord, that doesn't make sense to me. There has to be a better way. Isaac is the son of promise, the one through whom you will fulfill your covenant. I can't kill him. Besides, it's wrong to kill another human being. You abhor human sacrifice. This can't be right, and I'm not going to do it.

But none of these words came out of Abraham's mouth.  He did not argue with God.  He took his son, Isaac, and went up the mountain to sacrifice him in obedience to God's command.  He was just about to plunge the knife into Isaac when the angel stopped him and said, "Do not lay a hand on the boy, do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son."  Because of this act, Abraham is called the Father of the Faithful.  

Our Lord displayed this kind of faithfulness in the Garden of Gethsemane when He agreed to become the sin sacrifice for all mankind.  "Not my will but thine be done."  This was one of our Lord's greatest lessons to all of us, and one which should be a part of every action in our lives.  Whatever we say or do, we should always ask, am I doing God's will or am I doing my will?  

The greatest enemy within each one of us is our pride, with which we were all tainted when we inherited original sin.  Pride says I know what's best, I'm right and you're wrong.  When pride gets in the way, we become our own god, our own magesterium.  Giving into pride means trusting our own feelings and thoughts.  Proverb 14:12 says, "There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death."  

The SSPX is convinced that they are doing the right thing in rejecting the Magesterium of the Catholic Church.  But they could not be more wrong.  They can say they don't understand the documents of Vatican II and in their opinion, the documents do not seem to be in line with traditional Church teaching, but that is not what is important.  The only thing of any real importance is, do I believe the words of Jesus Christ and am I willing to say, "Not my will but thine be done."  

For a truly excellent article on why the SSPX and those who support them are wrong, please see this article entitled, "Schism, Obedience and the Society of St. Pius X," by John Beaumont and John Walsh, which you can find here.  As this article says, 

[M]any traditional Catholics look at the teaching of the pope and the bishops, at the Second Vatican Council and subsequently, judge it to be contrary to tradition and use this as a justification for disobeying it. However, this position is simply not supportable in the light of Catholic teaching and to adopt it is to undermine the very tradition one is attempting to defend because this approach is inconsistent with the whole notion of papal primacy and what flows from that.

In Matthew 7:21-23, our Lord issued a very ominous warning:

Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?  Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

Unless we are allowing the Holy Spirit to guide us in every action in our lives, our Lord will reject us. Could it ever be our Lord's will that we reject the teachings of His Church and His Vicar on earth?  That is not possible.  We can appear to be righteous and holy and doing the work of the Lord, but unless we have submitted our will to His, He will tell us, "I never knew you.  Away from me, you evildoers!"  

Pray for those in the Society of St. Pius X and for all of those who refuse to humble themselves and submit to the Will of God.  This is not an easy thing to do.  St. Paul said in I Corinthians 9:27, "I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize."  Your understanding and your intelligence, your ability to pose a good argument, will not qualify you for heaven.  The only virtue that qualifies any of us for heaven is obedience:  

Not my will but thine be done.