Isaac Jogues, Jean de Brébeuf and six other missionaries martyred by Native Americans

Isaac Jogues, Jean de Brébeuf and six other missionaries known as the North American Martyrs, were the first martyrs of the North American continent officially recognized by the Church

Isaac Jogues was a French missionary and martyr who traveled and worked among the Iroquois, Huron, and other Native populations in North America.In 1646, Jogues was martyred by the Mohawk at their village of Ossernenon, near the Mohawk River.

Isaac Jogues, Jean de Brébeuf and six other martyred missionaries, all Jesuit priests or laypeople associated with them, were canonized in 1930 by Pope Pius XI. Their feast day is celebrated on 19 October in the General Roman Calendar.
In 1624, at the age of seventeen, he entered the Jesuit novitiate at Rouen in Northern France. Here, his Master of Novices was Louis Lallemant. The Jesuit community had a strong missionary spirit, beginning in 1625 with their first mission to New France, including missionary pioneers, Énemond Massé, and later, Jean de Brébeuf. Lallement had two brothers and a nephew serving as missionaries in the colony of New France. These Jesuit missionaries inspired Jogues, and he aspired to follow in their footsteps

Isaac Jogues, a man of learning and culture, who taught literature in France, gave up that career to work among the Huron Indians in the New World, and in 1636, he and his companions, under the leadership of Jean de Brébeuf, arrived in Quebec. The Hurons were constantly warred upon by the Iroquois, and in a few years Father Jogues was captured by the Iroquois and imprisoned for 13 months. His letters and journals tell how he and his companions were led from village to village, how they were beaten, tortured, and forced to watch as their Huron converts were mangled and killed.

The first of the Jesuit missionaries to be martyred was René Goupil who with Lalande, had offered his services as an oblate. He was tortured along with Isaac Jogues in 1642, and was tomahawked for having made the sign of the cross on the brow of some children.




Father Anthony Daniel, working among Hurons who were gradually becoming Christian, was killed by Iroquois on July 4, 1648. His body was thrown into his chapel, which was set on fire




Jean de Brébeuf composed catechisms and a dictionary in Huron, and saw 7,000 converted before his death in 1649. Having been captured by the Iroquois at Sainte Marie, near Georgian Bay, Canada, Father Brébeuf died after four hours of extreme torture.




Gabriel Lalemant had taken a vow to sacrifice his life for the Native Americans. He was horribly tortured to death along with Father Brébeuf.

Father Charles Garnier was shot to death in 1649 as he baptized children and catechumens during an Iroquois attack.




Father Noel Chabanel found it exceedingly hard to adapt to mission life. He could not learn the language, and the food and life of the Indians revolted him, plus he suffered spiritual dryness during his whole stay in Canada. Yet he made a vow to remain in his mission until death. He was killed inb1649.

On 3 August 1642, Jogues, Guillaume Couture, René Goupil, and a group of Christian Hurons were heading back from Quebec City when they were waylaid by a war party of the Mohawk Nation, part of the Iroquois Confederacy. Jogues allegedly hid in reeds and bushes but decided to leave his hiding place to join the prisoners so that he could comfort them and ensure that their faith in Christianity remained strong. Shortly after that, and in retaliation for comforting a tortured Guillaume Couture, the Mohawk beat Jogues with sticks, tore out his fingernails, then gnawed the ends of his fingers until finger bones were visible.

The war party then took their captives on a journey to a Mohawk village. The villagers marched them through a gauntlet, consisting of rows of Iroquois armed with rods and sticks, beating the prisoners walking in single-file. Afterward, the Iroquois forced Jogues and the prisoners onto an elevated platform where they were mocked. A captive Algonquin woman then cut off Jogues' thumb. At night, the prisoners were tied spread-eagled in a cabin. Children threw burning coals onto their bodies. Three days later, Jogues and the prisoners were marched from one village to another, where the Iroquois flogged them in gauntlets and jabbed sticks into their wounds and sores. At the third village, Jogues was hung from a wooden plank and nearly lost consciousness until an Iroquois had pity on him and cut him free. Throughout his captivity, Jogues comforted, baptized, heard confession from, and absolved the other prisoners.

Ecstasies And VisionsAn

Ecstasies And VisionsAn ecstatic experience is the state of being in a trance, especially a mystic or prophetic trance. We have see time and tlilme again saints who have ecstatic mystical experiences are usually considered to be mentally unstable. The derivation of our word “ecstasy” (from the Greek ek , out plus stasis , state) suggests an out of body state (2 Corinthians 12:2-3 ) or the state of being out of control.

In the Old Testament, God used visions to reveal His plan through the prophets to His people and to put His people in places of influence. For example, He spoke to Abraham, Moses, Samuel, Solomon, and Daniel. In the New Testament, visions and dreams served to provide information that was unavailable elsewhere.

They are also common in the New Testament. The outpouring of the Spirit in the latter days is associated with sons and daughters prophesying, young men seeing visions and old men dreaming dreams (Acts 2:17). Typical examples are the vision Peter had of heaven opening and something like a large sheet being let down by its four corners (Acts 10:9-15) and the vision Paul had of a man standing and begging him to come over to Macedonia (Acts 16:9).




In 2 Corinthians 12:1, Paul says that he will go on to boast of “visions and revelations of the Lord.” He then speaks in the third person about someone who was caught up to the third heaven and who saw and heard things that ought not to be shared with other humans.

The Bible Gateway Commentary suggests that to understand visions and revelations as a catchall phrase for a wide range of supramundane experiences. Whatever Paul experienced, it was decidedly "of the Lord." The genitive could be objective: "visions and revelations of the Lord himself" (Phillips). Or, more probably, it is subjective: visions and revelations from the Lord

Paul breaks a vow of silence and mentions an ecstatic experience that occurred fourteen years earlier (v. 2). This would place the event during the so-called silent years, when Paul was in the region of Syria and Cilicia (Acts 9:30; Gal 1:21). It happened well before his evangelistic foray in Corinth (c. A.D. 50-52), but not before his Damascus road encounter with the risen Christ (I know a man in Christ).

The story is narrated in the third-person singular. All the details of the story point to its being a personal experience, symptomatic of his aversion to boasting; he did it to avoid suggesting that he was special because of his experiences. He didn't allocate much importance to it; he will speak personally only of things that show weakness; or he is distancing his apostolic self from the self in which he has been forced to boast. But it may simply be that speaking of himself impersonally is the only way he can look at the experience with any kind of detachment. To boast of ecstatic experiences in a personal way may just have been beyond him.

Saint Ignatius of Antioch, The First Catholic. a Convert, fed to the lions in the Circus Maximus, for being a Christian

October 17, Feast Day of Ignatius of Antioch, also known as Ignatius Theophorus. St. Ignatius of Antioch is the patron saint of the Church in the Eastern Mediterranean and in North Africa. As found in his letters, St. Ignatius of Antioch was the first to use the term “Catholic” to describe the whole Church.


Christianity, during Ignatius time was not much different from today: the Christian faith had faced tribulations, persecution, mistreatment, and discrimination, and worst of all, the deaths of men, women, children, and the elderly simply because they believed in Christ.

Ignatius was an early Christian writer and Patriarch of Antioch. While en route to Rome, where he met his martyrdom - where he bravely met the lions in the Circus Maximus - Ignatius wrote a series of letters. This correspondence forms a central part of a later collection of works by the Apostolic Fathers. He is considered one of the three most important of these, together with Clement of Rome and Polycarp. His letters also serve as an example of early Christian theology, and address important topics including ecclesiology, the sacraments, and the role of bishops.

Born in Syria, Ignatius converted to Christianity and eventually became bishop of Antioch. In the year 107, Emperor Trajan visited Antioch and forced the Christians there to choose between death and apostasy. Ignatius would not deny Christ and thus was condemned to be put to death in Rome.

Ignatius is well known for the seven letters he wrote on the long journey from Antioch to Rome. Five of these letters are to churches in Asia Minor; they urge the Christians there to remain faithful to God and to obey their superiors. He warns them against heretical doctrines, providing them with the solid truths of the Christian faith.

The sixth letter was to Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, who was later martyred for the faith. The final letter begs the Christians in Rome not to try to stop his martyrdom. “The only thing I ask of you is to allow me to offer the libation of my blood to God. I am the wheat of the Lord; may I be ground by the teeth of the beasts to become the immaculate bread of Christ.”

Prayer to Saint Ignatius of Antioch

Most holy Saint Ignatius of Antioch, we know that you are a powerful intercessor because you sacrificed your life for your faith in God. We pray, that just as your glorious passion brought you eternal splendor, so it may also be for us unending protection. Help us to live our lives by your example of courage and faith.

NYT Says Night Depression is a thing. It shouldn't be

Sleep is the most dangerous thing we can do. Dr. Rafael Pelayo. .. NOT!

The New York Times'  Christina Caron looked at some reasons people might feel depressed at night and provides some suggestions. She misses the most important one: the spiritual dimension.

Caron writes: "It’s not uncommon for our minds to unleash a torrent of difficult feelings under the cover of darkness: sadness and negative thoughts may surface at night, making sleep hard to come by." On social media and elsewhere people often refer to this as “nighttime depression.” But is that really a thing? And if so, why do some people get blue at night?

Caron mentions anxiety and depression in the same sentence: "While anxiety can also ramp up at night, and tends to make people feel agitated, tense and restless, nighttime depression is best characterized as a low mood." The anxiety link Caron provides. leads to a New York Times piece by Kiera Carter who attempts to answer the question Why Do I Feel More Anxious at Night? Carter cites a study by the American Psychogical Association, which basically says Americans are stressed because they blieve the United States is going 


She also cites Dr. Rafael Pelayo, who claims the purpose of evening anxiety is an evolutionary defense mechanism: "Dr. Rafael Pelayo, a clinical professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences in sleep medicine at Stanford Medicine and author of the book, “How to Sleep.” “Sleep is the most dangerous thing we can do."

Factors Affecting Night Mood Swings

Caron says there are many factors that can tank your mood late at night, including insomnia, loneliness, alcohol, drugs and circadian rhythms, concluding that the night shift may be hazardous to your health: "Studies of night workers, for example, have found that working outside of regular business hours is associated with an increased risk of depression and anxiety, among other health problems."  Although nighttime depression can be a symptom of clinical depression, research suggests that most people, including those without mood disorders, will feel worse as a result of staying up too late or waking up, she adds.

Cause-Effect

Is there a physical reason that impacts you night mood? Did you, for example, have too much coffee today, drink alcohol or eat a heavy meal right before bed? What about television? Sleep Disruption: If watching movies affects your sleep schedule, it could lead to fatigue or other health issues. Social Isolation: If it replaces social activities or interactions, it might lead to feelings of loneliness. Sedentary Lifestyle: Spending too much time sitting can contribute to physical health problems.

Way Forward 

According to Caron. Dr. Sarah L. Chellappa, an associate professor at the University of Southampton who has studied the relationship between circadian rhythms and mood, recommended establishing consistent sleep and wake times, avoiding daytime naps and stashing electronic devices at least an hour before bedtime. But it's not just the electronic devices.  More like self-mastery to achieve  impedance matching, or decompression:

An overstimulated brain is not predisposed to a good night's sleep. So what is an impedance matching activity you may ask? Any activity that can transition your brain status to sleep mode, like no overeating prior to going to bed. Instead turn to meditation or prayer.  Other activities that inhibit sleep mode include attending a late night lecture, a political rally, watching a horror movie, violence or pornography, and so on.

Paraphrasing Goethe: "Tell me what you do before you go to bed and I'll tell you the quality of sleep you experience." 

Meditation 

Meditation may significantly reduce stress, fear, anxiety, depression, and pain, and enhance peace, perception, self-concept, and well-being. 

Prayer

Prayer on the other hand is an integral part of Christian living. We call upon God every time we pray, as stated in Matthew 6:9: "This, then, is how you should pray: 'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.'" By praying to God every day to ask for His help and forgiveness, we get closer to Him. Saint Philip Neri's Maxim for October 9 says; "In saying the Pater Noster, we ought to reflect that we have God for our Father in heaven, and so go on making a sort of meditation of it word by word."

Catholics are fortunate for their prayer tool kit is inexhaustible. In addition to the Paster Noster,  Sacred Scripture is chock full of exhortation to pray for healing, both physical and mental:

• “Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” (James 5:14-16)
• “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7)
• “Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he brought them out of their distress. He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed. They were glad when it grew calm, and he guided them to their desired haven.” (Psalm 107:28-30)
• “And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” (John 14:13-14)
• “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” (Matthew 21:22)
• “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” (Matthew 7:7)
• “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” (Mark 11:24)

In addition to Sacred Scripture, Catholics can resort to intercessors, like the Blessed Virgin Mary and pray the Holy Rosary. 

Or they can go directly to God and ask for mercy by praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet.

They can also pray to the patron saint of the particular ailment. Catholics are encouraged to pray the Divine Office, also known as The Liturgy of the Hours several times daily. The Liturgy of the Hours, like many other forms of the canonical hours, consists primarily of psalms supplemented by hymns, readings, and other prayers and antiphons prayed at fixed prayer times. Together with the Mass, it constitutes the public prayer of the church.

And perhaps most importantly, there are the Holy hours - the Roman Catholic devotional tradition of spending an hour in Eucharistic Adoration in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. 

Certain parishes are open 24 X 7 for Eucharistic Adoration based on available resources. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has put together a List of Holy HoursHoly Hour for Healing
Holy Hour for Divine Mercy Sunday
Holy Hour for Healing and Reparation for the Anniversary of Roe v. Wade
Holy Hour for Life | en español
Holy Hour for Life and Liberty
Holy Hour for Life: Extended Silent Prayer
Holy Hour for Life, Marriage, and Religious Liberty | en español
Holy Hour for Peace | en español
Holy Hour for Vocations
Holy Hour for Vocations, with priest celebrant
Holy Hour for Vocations, without priest celebrant
Holy Hour in Honor of St. Paul | en español
Q&A on Perpetual Exposition

Conclusion

Caron concludes saying: "If you find that your low mood isn’t improving during the day and instead persists continually for weeks, then it’s important to seek help from a health care provider, the experts said." Alternatevly, consider Dymphna, known as the patroness of nervous disorders and mental disease, depression and incest, but she is not the only saint who can help the faithful in times of mental anguish. Those looking for saintly intercession can choose from a pantheon of holy helpers.

Mental Health Prayer to Saints Cosmas & Damian

We suffer from bodily diseases and mental disorders, from physical disabilities and emotional disturbances, from impure desires and from demonic attacks. Help us, Saint Cosmas and Saint Damian, for we are in urgent need of your holy medicine and sacred ointment. With faith in the Almighty and Merciful God, and with hope in your medical aid from Heaven, we call upon you in this manner:

Deliver us, for you are brothers in flesh and in spirit.

Deliver us, for we are distraught in body and in mind.



Deliver us, for you are physicians by training and by the will of God.

Deliver us, for we are stricken by illness and by the stress of society.

Deliver us, for you are gifted with cures and prayers.

Deliver us, for we are perishing with maladies and sins.

Deliver us, Saint Cosmas and Saint Damian, holy brothers and merciful healers of the afflicted.

However, if there are no underlying physical conditions that explain your low mood, I'd say, before you turn to a health care provider, turn to mediation or prayer, after all, Jesus came to heal the sick.

Caron also says, if your feelings at night become severe and include fear, paranoia, irritability, impulsivity or suicidal thoughts then it’s necessary to seek care quickly or call 988, the national suicide hotline. I would also suggest you turn to Saint Jude aka Judas Thaddaeus, one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus and the patron saint of desperate cases and lost causes.

St Teresa de Avila, Breaking through the Glass Ceiling in the 16th century as if it was 2024

Teresa of Ávila, OCD (Teresa Sánchez de Cepeda Dávila y Ahumada; also called Saint Teresa of Jesus, (feast day October 15) was a Spanish nun, one of the great mystics and religious women of the Roman Catholic Church, and an author of spiritual classics. She was the originator of the Carmelite Reform, which restored and emphasized the austerity and contemplative character of Carmelite life.

St. Teresa was canonized in 1622 by Pope Gregory XV, abd was elevated to doctor of the church in 1970 by Pope Paul VI, the first of four woman to be so honored.

Teresa lived in an age not unlike 2024, an age of exploration as well as political, social and religious upheaval. The 16th century, like in 2024, was a time of turmoil and reform. Her life began with the culmination of the Protestant Reformation, and ended shortly after the Council of Trent.

Teresa was born in Avila, Castile, Spain, on March 28, 1515 to wealthy parents one of ten brothers and sisters.

From her youth, Teresa showed great zeal and piety, as well as courage and stubbornness. When she was seven years old, Teresa ran away with her brother to the land occupied by the Moors in hopes of attaining the crown of martyrdom. However, they only made it a few miles down the road.


When Teresa was 15 her mother died. Seeing that she needed better guidance, and especially disapproving of the too close relationship between her and her cousin, her father placed Teresa in the care of the Augustinians at Santa Maria de Gracia.


Teresa decided she would enter a convent, but her father would not allow it. As a result of the stress and despair Teresa felt, she became extremely ill. She returned home to become well, and one night she ran away and entered the Carmelite Monastery of the Incarnation in 1535.


She was held back by her attachments to worldly things, as well as her attachments to others. Eventually, with much struggle she overcame her attachments and her pride, and around the age of forty she experienced a conversion and began to conform her life to God. Her faithfulness to living the Gospel deepened her spiritual life. She began to experience extraordinary favors from God.

Teresa realized that the life she lived at the convent of the Incarnation was not the way the Carmelite Fathers had originally intended the Carmelite life to be. She vowed that she herself would follow the rule perfectly and "without mitigation." Her sisters at the Incarnation caused her much pain because they did not approve of her aspirations. However, she soon won a few other sisters over to her side, and despite opposition from her sisters and from the townsfolk, she established the convent of St. Joseph on August 24, 1562. She endured much, including a lawsuit, but eventually the resistance subsided, and Teresa enjoyed several years of peace at her convent of St. Joseph. It was during this time that she wrote her beloved Way of Perfection

Her own conversion was no overnight affair; it was an arduous lifelong struggle, involving ongoing purification and suffering. She was misunderstood, misjudged, opposed in her efforts at reform. Yet she struggled on, courageous and faithful; she struggled with her own mediocrity, her illness, her opposition. And in the midst of all this she clung to God in life and in prayer. Her writings on prayer and contemplation are drawn from her experience: powerful, practical and graceful. A woman of prayer; a woman for God.

Her autobiography, The Life of Teresa of Jesus, and her books The Interior Castle and The Way of Perfection are prominent works on Christian mysticism and Christian meditation practice. In her autobiography, written as a defense of her ecstatic mystical experiences, she discerns four stages in the ascent of the soul to God: mental prayer and meditation; the prayer of quiet; absorption-in-God; ecstatic consciousness. The Interior Castle, written as a spiritual guide for her Carmelite sisters, uses the illustration of seven mansions within the castle of the soul to describe the different states one's soul can be in during life.

Prayer of Recollection by St. Teresa

“Give me the grace to recollect myself in the little heaven of my soul where You have established Your dwelling. There You let me find You, there I feel that You are closer to me than anywhere else, and there You prepare my soul quickly to enter into intimacy with You … Help me O Lord, to withdraw my senses from exterior things, make them docile to the commands of my will, so that when I want to converse with You, they will retire at once, like bees shutting themselves up in the hive in order to make honey"

From a Young Slave From Rome to Pope Callistus I to Facing the first Anti-Pope to Martyred While Christian

October 14 is Feast Day of Pope Callistus I. He lived during the reigns of the Roman emperors Elagabalus and Alexander Severus. Eusebius and the Liberian catalogue list his episcopate as having lasted five years (217–222). 

Callixtus I's contemporaries and enemies include Tertullian and Hippolytus of Rome, the author of Philosophumena, writes that denounced as a Christian, Callixtus was sentenced to work in the mines of Sardinia. He was released with other Christians at the request of Hyacinthus, a eunuch presbyter, who represented Marcia, the favorite mistress of Emperor Commodus. At this time his health was so weakened that his fellow Christians sent him to Antium to recuperate and he was given a pension by Pope Victor I.

In 199, Callixtus was ordained a deacon by Pope Zephyrinus and appointed superintendent of the Christian cemetery on the Appian Way. That place, which is to this day called the Catacombs of St. Callixtus, became the burial-ground of many popes and was the first land property owned by the Church.

In 217, when Callixtus followed Zephyrinus as Bishop of Rome, he started to admit into the Church converts from sects or schisms who had not done penance. He fought with success the heretics, and established the practice of absolution of all sins, including adultery and murder. Hippolytus found Callixtus's policy of extending forgiveness of sins to cover sexual transgressions shockingly lax and denounced him for allowing believers to regularize liaisons with their own slaves by recognizing them as valid marriages..As a consequence also of doctrinal differences, Hippolytus was elected as a rival bishop of Rome, the first antipope.

Prayer to Saint Callistus

O God, who raised up Pope Saint Callistus the First to serve the Church and attend devoutly to Christ's faithful departed, strengthen us, we pray, by his witness to the faith, so that, rescued from the slavery of corruption, we may merit an incorruptible inheritance. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.

The Inequity of the Pursuit of Equity in the NFL, Over Public Welfare is not only Orwellian, but it's a Lucrative Business

Draft

The prevalence of African Americans in American professional sports such as basketball, football, and
track is self-evident.  And its not restricted to professional sports.  We see it in College, and we are seeing it in High School.

African-American youth more often play sports to chase college, pro dreams.  At the Aspen Institute’s 2019 Project Play Summit, former NBA and University of Michigan star Chris Webber implored parents of youth basketball players to focus less on future stardom – and more on human development – so their child enjoys a positive experience. Webber said youth coaches today often gain their status simply because they are associated with an emerging talent, not because they helped them grow as an athlete or person.

Corollary: Show me your teachers and I'll show you who you will become

The percentage of the players in the National Basketball AssociatIon (NBA) that were African American
in the 2017-2018 season was 73.9% (Lapchik, 2018). Additionally, the percentage of players that were African American in the National Football League (NFL) during the 2016-2017 season was 69.7% (Lapchik, 2018).

The percentage of African Americans at the Division I college level in basketball is 53% and 44.2% in football (Lapchik, 2017). 

Corollary: Show me your teachers and I'll show you who you will become

According to Sportico's  the number of scholarship and starting players yield percentages of black participation much higher than 45%. In fact, more than 70% of starters during the 2021 FBS Bowl Season were black, and in the past three recruiting classes, 84% of signees in the SEC were black. And as the Troy/CSRI study showed, the majority of those athletes were recruited by black coaches.

These statistics clearly show that African Americans represent the
majority of the players in these respective sports at a professional level, a subject that is often discussed and debated. Often times these discussions extend further as to why African Americans represent the majority of these leagues. There are two prominent theories as to why African Americans represent the majority of players in certain sports; one attributing it to their genetics and other attributing to
their environment. This paper is not about the  nurture versus nature polemic, but about the Inequity of the Pursuit of Equity Over Public Welfare.   Others have discussed the two prominent theories that offer explanations as why

African Americans constitute the majority in specific sports and have suggests that their athletic abilities and prevalence in certain sports is attributed to genetic differences, others attribute it to environmental factirs.

Why do you think the NFL promotes the so-called Black National Anthem? To keep African American players in the plantation - which represent over 70% of players in the National Football League (NFL) during the 2016-2017 season (Lapchik, 2018).

And guess what? the
Pareto Rule of College Sports says 99% of college players never make it to the professional league.

Wait, there's more: more than 70% of starters during the 2021 FBS Bowl Season were black, and in the past three recruiting classes, 84% of signees in the SEC were black. And as the Troy/CSRI study showed, the majority of those athletes were recruited by black coaches.

Get it?


https://cotobuzz.blogspot.com/2024/10/the-inequity-of-pursuit-of-excellence.html

References
Allison, R., Davis, A., & Barranco, R. (2018). A comparison of hometown
socioeconomics and demographics for black and white elite football players in
the US. International Review for the Sociology of Sport 53(5), 615-629
Kerr, I. B. (2010). The myth of racial superiority in sports. The Hilltop Review 4(1)
Lapchik, R. E. (2018). College sport: racial & gender report card. TIDES: The Institute
for Diversity and Ethics in Sport.
Lapchik, R. E. (2017). The 2017 racial and gender report card: Major League Baseball.
TIDES: The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport.
Lapchik, R. E. (2018). The 2018 racial and gender report card: National Basketball
Association. TIDES: The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport.
Lapchik, R. E. (2017). The 2017 racial and gender report card: National Football
League. TIDES: The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport.
Sheldon, J. P., Jayaratne, T. E., & Petty, E. M. (2007). White Americans’ genetic
explanations for a perceived race difference in athleticism: the relation to
prejudice toward and stereotyping of blacks. Athletic Insight: The Online Journal
of Sport Psychology 9(3), 31-54
United States Census Bureau. (2018) Income and poverty in the United States: 2017
U.S. Department of Commerce: Economics and Statistics Administration.
van Sterkenburg, J., & Knoppers, A. (2004). Dominant discourses about race/ethnicity
and gender in sport practice and performance. International Review for the
Sociology of Sport 39(3),

The Catholic Guilt is a Thing, So is Divine Mercy

The Catholic Guilt is a Thing.  So is Divine Mercy.

The Dictionary of Oxford Languages defines catholic guilt as "

1. a generalized feeling of irrational or
2.  excessive guilt, as stereotypically associated with Catholics.

   "I definitely have a lot of Catholic guilt"

The rational guilt is real and its not just a catholic thing. It's about 3 000 years old, for we know, we are all sinners.  We also  recognize that there are different worldviews:

Hindu sees the human person as a soul trapped in a body.

The Buddhist sees the person as neither a body nor a soul.

The atheist views the person as a body without a soul.  For the atheist it is impossible to sin, so she can engage in the most despicable acts, feel and feel proud about it. But because they can't sin, they can't partake of the joy that comes from a personal relationship with the Creator.

We’re each free to believe whatever we want to believe. Sacred Scriptures say life is short, death is real, Hell is hot, eternity is long, and Jesus saves!

The Christian view is that humans are bodies and souls, created in the image and likeness of God. Every human being has a unique and rational soul that animates his human body, whether in the womb or a jail cell 

Divine Mercy is when God's love meets us and helps us in the midst of our suffering and sin. In fact, because this side of eternity we're all sinners and because suffering is our lot in life, God's love for us here always takes the form of mercy.

Lorelei Savaryn, a Protestant convert, in the piece titled What’s The Deal with Catholic Guilt?, discusses how she discovered the rational catholic guilt: Before becoming Catholic, I didn’t spend a lot of time thinking about the ways I rejected or blocked God (Love) out of my life. Some of the churches I attended would have a moment for such reflections. But it was usually just that, a moment. And, to be honest, in those moments I most often thought “meh- I think I’m doing pretty good, comparatively speaking.” I shake my head at my past self now. And I’m still not exactly sure who I was comparing myself to… those convicted of crimes against humanity? The people in pews beside me, as some sort of holiness version of keeping up with the Joneses? Just the general sense that, in the grand scale of humanity, I was doing okay?

And then the service would move on and I would move on and I continue along my merry way. I knew I could ask God for forgiveness, but as someone who had come from a Once Saved, Always Saved tradition (for much of my life), I didn’t have an ingrained sense that my confession mattered. I had ‘invited Jesus into my heart’ as a child. And if you are Once Saved, Always Saved, then the moment you say that prayer, it’s a done deal.

Father Mike Schmitz supports Lorelei's argument in his YouTube video: First, when it comes to “Catholic guilt,” it might be helpful to cut through this right away. I’m sure that all of us have heard of “Catholic guilt.” But is that really a thing? My mom used to say, “There is nothing ‘Catholic’ about guilt … it’s just guilt. If I’ve done something wrong, then I ought to feel guilty; there is nothing specifically ‘Catholic’ about it!” That always made sense to me.

So if the rational guilt is real, is not just catholic, and is 3 000 years old, for we know, we are all sinners, isn't that just slicing and dicing?

No! Because we also know that where sin abounds, grace abounds even more. Saint Philip Neri's Maxim for October 9 says: "In saying the Pater Noster, we ought to reflect that we have God for our Father in heaven, and so go on making a sort of meditation of it word by word." Why, you might ask.  Because it is a big deal. In fact, it’s such a big deal that the Lord’s Prayer has often been called the “summary of the whole gospel.”  Michael Rossmann, SJ in the Jesuit Post writes that " We don’t start the Lord’s Prayer by saying, “Almighty God” or “Lord God,” or even just “God.” Instead,  we pray, “Our Father.” The creator of the universe is not far-off and impersonal. Instead, Jesus shows us that God is as close to us as our own family members."  If God is our Father, then all people are our brothers and sisters.

 Christ said as much at the crucifixion:  "Mother, behold your son." 

Each time we pray the Our Father, we ask for God to give us all that sustains us, to forgive us our sins, to guide us away from temptation, and to deliver us from evil. 

The Truth About Dishonesty & The Catholic Confession

God’s kingdom is God’s kingdom; it’s first and foremost a gift and an initiative of the Lord. But our Father invites us to participate partially in that kingdom right now, and to pray that it might become fully present soon.

You might recall that even after Job had lost everything instead of cursing Good, he exclaimed: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.” (Job 1:21). Perhaps Burt  F. Bacharach was having a Job Moment when he wrote: Raindrops are falling on my head:  … But there's one thing I know The blues they send to meet me Won't defeat me, it won't be long till happiness steps up to greet me.." Job answered the LORD and said: I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be hindered. I have dealt with great things that I do not understand; things too wonderful for me, which I cannot know. I had heard of you by word of mouth, but now my eye has seen you. Therefore I disown what I have said, and repent in dust and ashes. Thus the LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his earlier ones ( JB 42:1-3, 5-6, 12-17 ).  

Yes, the Catholic guilt is a thing, it is not just catholic, though. Where sin abounds, grace abounds even more.

No wonder empirically, anecdotally and scientifically, we are a happy bunch!