Competed Well. Finished the CIY & BIY Podcasts, Kept the Faith

Recalling Saint Paul's Letter to Timothy: "I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith," 2 Timothy 4:7 

We successfully completed Father Mike Schmitz's Catechism In a Year (CIY) Podcast as well as the Bible in a Year (BIY.) and picked up Divine Office along theway,  three times a day: Lauds, Vesper and Compline. While it took some convincing, we couldn't wait and actually completed them (CIY & BIY) last night, and we are thankful for that!

Early in the year, when our youngest daughter brought us the idea about the possibility of starting CIY, I attributed her enthusiasm to naivete. After all, I had previously recommended to our family that whenever there were doubts about Church Teachings, to simply refer to the Catechism-  I even bought them all a printed copy. Then the online version became available. All very convenient, yet there was a caveat: The Catechism was too technical and  it was not easy to read or comprehend.

We reluctantly started our daily dose of CIY & BIY podcasts. But in short notice we were hooked on Father Mike's down to earth engaging style. We found Father Mike's presentations not only easy-to-understand but also informational and entertaining, dispelling many myths along the way.

For added context, I have read different versions of the Bible
Including the KJB version and listened to various Bible expositors, such as Pastor Chuck Smith, Greg Laurie, Rick Warren and others. I Felt so confident on my accumulated wealth of Biblical knowledge that more than once, I have responded "It's not Biblical," to Homilies, art or simply comnents. To only later realize I waswrong after hearing Father Mike Schmitz's BIY Podcast and OR CIY


Couples could use certain sections of Father Mike's CIY for marriage counseling in additional to several reminders from the Church Father's, such as Sin and Prayer are mutually exclusive. Or kex orandi, lex credendi, lex vivendi - as we pray, so we believe, so we pray.


Or, take he Lord's Prayer.Tertullian (CC 2761) said "The Lord's Prayer is truly the summary of the whole gospel."

Father Mike Schmitz, using the Catholic Catechism, deconstructs the Lord's Prayer, using the last twelve episodes of his Catechism In a Year Channel and shows why Tertullian was right.


Then there's the Book of Revelation. In Seven Days, starting in Day 359, Father Mike's treatment of the Book of Revelation took the mystery out of it and made it easier to digest.

Whether you are a Bible neophyte or a Bible expert - like I thought I was - going through Father Mike's Bible In a Year and Catechism In a Year Podcasts cannot only be edifying but get you ready to give an answer:" Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope, but do it with gentleness and reverence, keeping your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who defame your good conduct in Christ may themselves be put to shame." 1 Peter Chapter 3

As Saint Paul charged Timothy: "I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingly power: proclaim the word; be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient; convince, reprimand, encourage through all patience and teaching.

For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine but, following their own desires and insatiable curiosity, will accumulate teachers and will stop listening to the truth and will be diverted to myths.

But you, be self-possessed in all circumstances; put up with hardship; perform the work of an evangelist; fulfill your ministry." 2 Timothy 4:1-5

Dispelling Myths About Mary, Mother of God

Many so-called Christians poke fun at Catholics' veneration, some would say infatuation with the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God.

Even the Beatles call her Mother Mary.

The widely used meme below paraphrased Jesus in John Chapter 14 when He says “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me " But they seem to forget the rest of the Sacred Scriptures:


In the first letter to the Corinthians, Saint Paul rebukes them for sowing discord: "For it has been reported to me about you, my brothers, by Chloe's people, that there are rivalries among you. I mean that each of you is saying, “I belong to* Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.”

Jesus in what is generally known as the Farewell Prayer or the High Priestly Prayer and by far the longest prayer of Jesus in any of the gospels (John 17:1–26,)  He addressed  the earlier parts of the discourse  to His disciples, and in the final part addresses the Father, as He turns his eyes to heaven and He prays for ALL Christians, whether self-described  liberal or conservative, Evangelicals or Protestants. to be united and to follow his example. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” Mark 2:17

In the Beatitudes, Jesus Warns about hate stated, or implied “You have heard that it was said to your ancestors,n ‘You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment. But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment,o and whoever says to his brother, ‘Raqa,’ will be answerable to the Sanhedrin, and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ will be liable to fiery Gehenna. Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift - Matthew Chapter 5





A cursory look at the Catholic Catechism shows that while the Blessed Virgin Mary is addressed properly, as the Mother of God, she is not equal to Gid:

(CCC 487)  What the Catholic faith believes about Mary is based on what it believes about Christ, and what it teaches about Mary illumines in turn its faith in Christ


488 "God sent forth his Son", but to prepare a body for him, he wanted the free co-operation of a creature. For this, from all eternity God chose for the mother of his Son a daughter of Israel, a young Jewish woman of Nazareth in Galilee, "a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary":

The Father of mercies willed that the Incarnation should be preceded by assent on the part of the predestined mother, so that just as a woman had a share in the coming of death, so also should a woman contribute to the coming of life.

490 To become the mother of the Savior, Mary "was enriched by God with gifts appropriate to such a role." The angel Gabriel at the moment of the annunciation salutes her as "full of grace". In fact, in order for Mary to be able to give the free assent of her faith to the announcement of her vocation, it was necessary that she be wholly borne by God's grace.



491 Through the centuries the Church has become ever more aware that Mary, "full of grace" through God, was redeemed from the moment of her conception. That is what the dogma of the Immaculate Conception confesses, as Pope Pius IX proclaimed in 1854:

The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin.

960 The Church is a "communion of saints": this expression refers first to the "holy things" (sancta), above all the Eucharist, by which "the unity of believers, who form one body in Christ, is both represented and brought about" (LG 3).

963 Since the Virgin Mary's role in the mystery of Christ and the Spirit has been treated, it is fitting now to consider her place in the mystery of the Church. "The Virgin Mary . . . is acknowledged and honored as being truly the Mother of God and of the redeemer. . . . She is 'clearly the mother of the members of Christ' . . . since she has by her charity joined in bringing about the birth of believers in the Church, who are members of its head." "Mary, Mother of Christ, Mother of the Church."

964 Mary's role in the Church is inseparable from her union with Christ and flows directly from it. "This union of the mother with the Son in the work of salvation is made manifest from the time of Christ's virginal conception up to his death"; it is made manifest above all at the hour of his Passion:

Thus the Blessed Virgin advanced in her pilgrimage of faith, and faithfully persevered in her union with her Son unto the cross. There she stood, in keeping with the divine plan, enduring with her only begotten Son the intensity of his suffering, joining herself with his sacrifice in her mother's heart, and lovingly consenting to the immolation of this victim, born of her: to be given, by the same Christ Jesus dying on the cross, as a mother to his disciple, with these words: "Woman, behold your son.

965 After her Son's Ascension, Mary "aided the beginnings of the Church by her prayers." In her association with the apostles and several women, "we also see Mary by her prayers imploring the gift of the Spirit, who had already overshadowed her in the Annunciation."


966 "Finally the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of original sin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things, so that she might be the more fully conformed to her Son, the Lord of lords and conqueror of sin and death." The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin is a singular participation in her Son's Resurrection and an anticipation of the resurrection of other Christians:

In giving birth you kept your virginity; in your Dormition you did not leave the world, O Mother of God, but were joined to the source of Life. You conceived the living God and, by your prayers, will deliver our souls from death

967 By her complete adherence to the Father's will, to his Son's redemptive work, and to every prompting of the Holy Spirit, the Virgin Mary is the Church's model of faith and charity. Thus she is a "preeminent and . . . wholly unique member of the Church"; indeed, she is the "exemplary realization" (typus) of the Church.


968 Her role in relation to the Church and to all humanity goes still further. "In a wholly singular way she cooperated by her obedience, faith, hope, and burning charity in the Savior's work of restoring supernatural life to souls. For this reason she is a mother to us in the order of grace."


969 "This motherhood of Mary in the order of grace continues uninterruptedly from the consent which she loyally gave at the Annunciation and which she sustained without wavering beneath the cross, until the eternal fulfillment of all the elect. Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation. . . . Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix."

970 "Mary's function as mother of men in no way obscures or diminishes this unique mediation of Christ, but rather shows its power. But the Blessed Virgin's salutary influence on men . . . flows forth from the superabundance of the merits of Christ, rests on his mediation, depends entirely on it, and draws all its power from it." "No creature could ever be counted along with the Incarnate Word and Redeemer; but just as the priesthood of Christ is shared in various ways both by his ministers and the faithful, and as the one goodness of God is radiated in different ways among his creatures, so also the unique mediation of the Redeemer does not exclude but rather gives rise to a manifold cooperation which is but a sharing in this one source."

971 "All generations will call me blessed": "The Church's devotion to the Blessed Virgin is intrinsic to Christian worship." The Church rightly honors "the Blessed Virgin with special devotion. From the most ancient times the Blessed Virgin has been honored with the title of 'Mother of God,' to whose protection the faithful fly in all their dangers and needs. . . . This very special devotion . . . differs essentially from the adoration which is given to the incarnate Word and equally to the Father and the Holy Spirit, and greatly fosters this adoration." The liturgical feasts dedicated to the Mother of God and Marian prayer, such as the rosary, an "epitome of the whole Gospel," express this devotion to the Virgin Mary





972 After speaking of the Church, her origin, mission, and destiny, we can find no better way to conclude than by looking to Mary. In her we contemplate what the Church already is in her mystery on her own "pilgrimage of faith," and what she will be in the homeland at the end of her journey. There, "in the glory of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity," "in the communion of all the saints," the Church is awaited by the one she venerates as Mother of her Lord and as her own mother.

In the meantime the Mother of Jesus, in the glory which she possesses in body and soul in heaven, is the image and beginning of the Church as it is to be perfected in the world to come. Likewise she shines forth on earth until the day of the Lord shall come, a sign of certain hope and comfort to the pilgrim People of God.







493 The Fathers of the Eastern tradition call the Mother of God "the All-Holy" (Panagia), and celebrate her as "free from any stain of sin, as though fashioned by the Holy Spirit and formed as a new creature". By the grace of God Mary remained free of every personal sin her whole life long

RELATED 

Feast of Our Lady Of Guadalupe

December 12 is the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, one of many Toponymic Marian Titles for Mary, the mother of Jesus. In Christianity, Mary is known by many different titles, epithets, invocations, and several names associated with places where she has appeared. All of these descriptives refer to the same woman named Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ




Liturgy of the Hours in Memoriam of Saint Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin, Miguel Cabrera

Today, December 9 is the Memorial of Saint Juan Diego, while In the Christian tradition, church bells are rung as a call to prayer voluntarily. at the canonical hours prayed at fixed prayer times, as well as at the start of a church service, but typically not referred to as a "call to prayer " 



Feast of the Most Holy Name of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The Feast of the Most Holy Name of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a memorial celebrated on 12 September, to commemorate all the privileges bestowed upon Mary by God and all the graces received through her intercession and mediation. 



Memorial of Jesus's Grandparents

On July 26 the Roman Catholic Church commemorated the parents of the Virgin Mary, Saints Joachim and Anne.

Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

December 12 is the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, one of many Toponymic Marian Titles for Mary, the mother of Jesus. In Christianity, Mary is known by many different titles, epithets, invocations, and several names associated with places where she has appeared. All of these descriptives refer to the same woman named Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ. The Virgin of Guadalupe has been proclaimed "Queen of Mexico", "Patroness of the Americas", "Emppress of Latin America", and "Protectress of Unborn Children" (the latter two titles given by Pope John Paul II in 1999).

Toponymic Marian Titles,  refer to places where Blessed Mary has appeared over the centuries, such as the Madonna of Loreto, the Madonna of Lourdes, Our Lady of Fatima, the Madonna of Medjugorje, or Saint Mary on the Sea, or Our Lady of Guadalupe.   Our Lady of Guadalupe, is often called the "great missionary" or Virgen Morena ("Brown Vurgin) who brought the Gospel to the Americas. Invoked as Star of the Evangelization of Peoples, comforter of indigenous people and the poor, the faithful humbly implore her help on the Tepeyac Hill in Mexico.

The Blessed Virgin of Guadalupe, appeared to Juan Diego, an Aztec who converted to Christianity, at a time when Mexico was shaken by violence and continuous violations of human rights and dignity. Indigenous people, in particular, suffered serious discrimination.

The Marian apparitions consolidated the encounter between the indigenous peoples and Christ. Mary presented herself as the "Mother of the true God" and she chose Juan Diego to be her messenger. Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin, also known simply as Juan Diego  was a Chichimec peasant and Marian visionary. He is said to have been granted apparitions of the Virgin Mary on four occasions in December 1531: three at the hill of Tepeyac and a fourth before don Juan de Zumárraga, then bishop of Mexico. The Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, located at the foot of Tepeyac, houses the cloak (tilmahtli) that is traditionally said to be Juan Diego's, and upon which the image of the Virgin is said to have been miraculously impressed as proof of the authenticity of the apparitions

Besides the numerous titles for our Blessed Mary, there's the Marian Principle:  To explain the structure of the Church, Von Balthasar speaks of several principles. The best known is the "Petrine principle", which refers to its hierarchical structure with the apostolic role of Peter, the Apostles and their successors. Another is the Pauline principle which represents its missionary dimension and so on.

All the principles of the Church, however, are oriented towards the primary one which is the "Marian principle". It refers to the very reason why the Church exists: To correspond with love to God's infinite love. It is called "Marian" because Mary, with her total FIAT, is the prototype of such love response. To be "the prototype" means that Mary is the first finished model of what all Christians should become. Von Balthasar writes: "Before men were placed into office, the whole Church was present in Mary". Just as Mary lived intimately united to the Trinity, we too are called to respond to the action of the Holy Spirit so that Christ reigns in us and directs us to live in faithful love and obedience to the Father.

This Marian total surrender of love to God is the essence of holiness. All dimensions of the Church, all structures and institutions, including the hierarchy are totally ordered to foster this holiness in her members. Mary is the point of reference. Where the Marian principle is central there is an authentic presence of the Church.   

In the words of the Catechism:

In the Church this communion of men with God, in the "love [that] never ends," is the purpose which governs everything in her that is a sacramental means, tied to this passing world. "[The Church's] structure is totally ordered to the holiness of Christ's members. And holiness is measured according to the 'great mystery' in which the Bride responds with the gift of love to the gift of the Bridegroom." Mary goes before us all in the holiness that is the Church's mystery as "the bride without spot or wrinkle." (Eph 5:27). This is why the "Marian" dimension of the Church precedes the "Petrine."   CCC 773


Marian Titles, names that derive from attributes referring to Mary in the Sacred Scriptures or popular veneration, or that derive from characteristics attributed to her or from ways of saying common language, such as  Madonna, from the L,atin mea dominina, “my Lady”.

Dogmatic names are derived from the presence of Mary in the Gospels and the Liturgy, such as the Virgin, Mother of Christ, Immaculate Conception, Descendant of David, New Eve, Our Lady and so on.

Marian names derived from titles attributed by theologians and Fathers of the Church, such as Regina Caeli, Stellaa -  sort of polar star for Christians, especially for those who travel by sea, or Ivory Tower in the Laurentian Litanies, supplications in the form of litany addressed to God and the Virgin born in the Holy House of Loreto from the first half of the sixteenth century, and who turn to the Virgin Mary invoking her under numerous titles. In this case, the reference is to the Song of Songs and the three main properties of ivory, candour, consistency and value.  Or Mary Sorrowful, or Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows, with reference to the seven sorrows faced by Mary in the Gospels.

 Marian Titles related to popular devotion, sacred images, or apparitions of Our Lady. For example, Our Lady of Grace ,  The miraculous Madonna

Marian Titles linked to natural phenomena, such as Our Lady of Lightning,  Our Lady of the Snow, from the miraculous snowfall that took place on August 5, the day of the dedication of the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, and that prompted Pope Liberius to erect the basilica of Santa Maria a Nives on the Esquiline hill of Rome, the oldest Marian sanctuary in the West.


Marian Titles linked to iconography  such as the Madonna of the Pear, from the painting of the fifteenth century depicting the Virgin while giving a pear to the baby Jesus, the symbol of the latter’s acceptance of the sacrifice for the redemption of humanity, or Mary who unties the knots, from the painting by Johann Georg Schmidtner painted in the eighteenth century from which the famous great Marian devotion originated.

Not Pope Francis. But Pope Saint Damascus

 Pope Francis when criticized, has not objected,  for he is a sinner, he said. But he objects to those who also criticize the Church for his sins. After all, there's a big difference. between impeccability and infallibility. Where Impeccability is the absence of sin, an attribute of God and infallibility is that in specified circumstances the Pope is incapable of error when it comes to Church teaching

Consider that when this pope was elected bishop of Rome; some bishops  didn't like it. They  consecrated another deacon, as pope. The controversy between
Them resulted in  battles in two basilicas, scandalizing the bishops. At the synod that he called on the occasion of his birthday, he asked them to approve his actions. The bishops’ reply was curt: “We assembled for a birthday, not to condemn a man unheard.” Supporters of the antipope even managed to get him accused of a grave crime.  Internal political struggles, doctrinal heresies, uneasy relations with his fellow bishops and the media a marred the peace of his pontificate

As pope, his lifestyle was simple in contrast to other ecclesiastics of Rome, and he was fierce in his denunciation of Arianism and other heresies. A misunderstanding of the Trinitarian terminology used by Rome threatened amicable relations with the Eastern Church, and this pope was only moderately successful in dealing with that challenge


To his secretary this pope was “an incomparable person, learned in the Scriptures, a  doctor of the  Church, who loved chastity and heard its praises with pleasure.”

This pope makes us aware of two qualities of good leadership: alertness to the promptings of the Spirit, and service. His struggles are a reminder that Jesus never promised his Rock protection from hurricane winds nor his followers immunity from difficulties. His only guarantee is final victory.

His encouragement of his secretary's biblical studies led to the Vulgate, the Latin translation of Scripture which 12 centuries later the Council of Trent declared to be “authentic in public readings, disputations, preaching.” His secretary is none other than Saint Jerome. Traditionally, Saint Jerome is regarded as the most learned of the Latin Fathers. Saint Jerome is a person one can easily identify with: As a young man drawn to libertinage, with a curious mind, he learns to stand on principle, eventually becoming an ascetic and a Bible Scholar. Saint Jerome was a Feminist, and an easy target of the noted Porphyry’s accusation that the Christian communities were run by women and that the favor of the ladies decided who could accede to the dignity of the priesthood

Obviously "this pope" is not Pope Francis, but could have been.  This is Pope Saint Damascus I and today, December 11 is his feast day

Pope Damasus I was the bishop of Rome from October 366 to his death. He presided over the Council of Rome of 382 that determined the canon or official list of sacred scripture.He spoke out against major heresie, thus solidifying the faith of the Catholic Church, and encouraged production of the Vulgate Bible with his support for "his secretary" Saint Jerome. He helped reconcile the relations between the Church of Rome and the Church of Antioch, and encouraged the veneration of martyrs

Liturgy of the Hours in Memoriam of Saint Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin, Miguel Cabrera

Today, December 9 is the Memorial of Saint Juan Diego, while In the Christian tradition, church bells are rung as a call to prayer voluntarily. at the canonical hours prayed at fixed prayer times, as well as at the start of a church service, but typically not referred to as a "call to prayer " 

In the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church, for example, canonical hours are also called officium, since it refers to the official prayer of the Church, which is known variously as the officium divinum ("divine service" or "divine duty"), and the opus Dei ("work of God"). Canonical hours mark the divisions of the day in terms of fixed times of prayer at regular intervals. Herein referred to as Liturgy of the Hours.

Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin, also known simply as Juan Diego  was a Chichimec peasant and Marian visionary. He is said to have been granted apparitions of the Virgin Mary on four occasions in December 1531: three at the hill of Tepeyac and a fourth before don Juan de Zumárraga, then bishop of Mexico. The Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, located at the foot of Tepeyac, houses the cloak (tilmahtli) that is traditionally said to be Juan Diego's, and upon which the image of the Virgin is said to have been miraculously impressed as proof of the authenticity of the apparitions

Juan Diego, a simple peasant has come to be known all over the world by the name he received when he was reborn in baptism. Born in 1474 in Cuautitlán, part of Mexico Citywith the name “Cuauhtlatoatzin,” or “the talking eagle.” This member of the Chichimeca people would live up to his name, for eagles see far and well. He and his wife, Maria Lucía, saw enough to understand that the violence of the conquistadors was not the only thing that came to his people when the Spanish set foot upon their land. Along with the soldiers and adventurers there were humble Franciscan friars who taught the indigenous peoples with drawings and with their goodness. Cuauhtlatoatzin and his wife asked for baptism, receiving new names along with their new life in Christ.

In December 1531, some time after his wife died, Juan Diego was walking the long path toward the friars, where he went every Saturday to receive catechetical instruction. But this day was different. As he passed by Tepeyac Hill, he heard strange, beautiful birdsong, and then a voice, calling him using the diminutive of his name: “Juantzin!” “Little Juan!” To his astonishment, he saw a beautiful young woman clothed with a mantle of stars, wearing the black girdle with which indigenous women signify that they are pregnant. She spoke to him in his native Nahuatl language, asking him to go tell the bishop to build a church at this site, so that she could give her Son to all those who came there.

Juan Diego hurried to the bishop, Juan Zumárraga, who reacted to his tale with skepticism. The peasant returned to the beautiful lady, telling her that since he was “a man of no importance” she should choose a better messenger. The “Mother of the true God,” as she called herself, was adamant that she had chosen the correct messenger, however. After a second trip to the bishop, who asked for a sign, the lady asked Juan Diego to return the next day.
The next day Juan Diego’s uncle, Juan Bernardino, fell gravely ill, and Juan Diego stayed home to care for him. On his way to fetch a priest the morning of December 12 to give last rites to his uncle, Juan Diego tried his best to avoid the Virgin, changing his path. She found him, however, and chided him with words that have echoed through the centuries: “Am I not here who am your mother?” Assuring him that his uncle would be well, she asked him to climb the hill, where nothing but cactus and scrub brush grew – especially in winter – and pick the roses he would find there. He did, bundling the flowers in his tilma, or mantle, and brought them to the bishop. When Juan Diego opened his tilma, the bishop, wide-eyed, fell to his knees, for he beheld not only roses, but the image of a beautiful mestiza, or mixed-race girl, clothed like an Indian. She was “clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet” (Rev 12:1), as the Book of Revelation describes. The bishop understood: this humble Indian had really seen the Mother of God and Mother of all believers, who left her likeness imprinted on his mantle.

What happened to that simple Chichimec messenger did what the missionary friars and priests by and large had been unable to do: convince the indigenous peoples that this Gospel, or good news, was also for them. By 1539, only eight years after the apparitions, some 9 million of them had asked for baptism. This lady who spoke in their language and fulfilled Aztec prophecies, was the Mother of the true God. Her Son asked to be born also in their hearts.
When a church was built on the site of the apparition, Juan Diego moved into a small hut nearby in order to clean the premises, care for the pilgrims, instruct others in the faith, and above all, to pray. He remained there until his death in 1548: “a man of no importance” whose life became part of the warp and weft of this singular event in the life of the Church.

News of Bishop Strickland Removal Highly Exaggerated. It Rivals only News of Church welcoming Transsexuals and homosexuals

Pope Francis critics and the Main Stream Media in attempts to disrupt the recently successfully concluded synod, kept poking at the bear hoping to see anger. Didn't happen.

Instead, Pope Francis referred to John 13:34 and said, "To reform the Church, love God and love, others."  

For example, consider ETWN's Daniel Payne's Anti Pope Francis Propaganda: "Read Pope Francis’ response to the dubia presented to him by 5 cardinals - The pope has not responded to the August set of dubia."

Or JD Flynn's Pope Francis answers a dubia — Does inaction speak clearer than words? " Famously, the current synod, in a sense, got underway 48 hours before its formal opening with a set of dubia, or doubts, submitted to the pontiff by five conservative cardinals. In responses to those dubia released by the Vatican, Francis, among other things, offered a cautious “yes” to the blessing of same-sex unions on a case-by-case basis, and a basic “no” to women’s ordination while allowing for the possibility of further study."

Reuters' Philip Pullella
writes "In very rare move, Pope dismisses conservative US bishop Strickland"  Yet, the coverage of the firing of Bishop Strickland pales, in comparison to the scandalous story days earlier about the Church welcoming transsexuals and homosexuals. 

Professional journalists generally abstain from using adjectives. Pallella in using the term "conservative US bishop", he indicts Pope Francis right off the bat. Pullella also reports that "Strickland is 65, 10 years shy of the usual retirement age for bishops. Strickland had said earlier this year that he would refuse to resign if asked." What he doesn't report is that Bishop Strickland was directly entrusted to continue Jesus' mission through Holy Orders. Holy Orders requires faithfulness and obedience: Holy Orders is the sacrament by which bishops, priests and deacons are ordained and receive the power and grace to perform their sacred duties. The sacred rite by which orders are conferred is called ordination. The apostles were ordained by Jesus at the Last Supper so that others could share in his priesthood. According to the Catholic Catechism (1536) Holy Orders is the sacrament through which the mission entrusted by Christ to his apostles continues to be exercised in the Church until the end of time: thus it is the sacrament of apostolic ministry.:

The Church also teaches (CCC 891 ) That the pope " head of the college of bishops, enjoys infallibility in virtue of his office, when, as supreme pastor and teacher of all the faithful - who confirms his brethren in the faith he proclaims by a definitive act a doctrine pertaining to faith or morals. . . . The infallibility promised to the Church is also present in the body of bishops when, together with Peter's successor, they exercise the supreme Magisterium," above all in an Ecumenical Council. When the Church through its supreme Magisterium proposes a doctrine "for belief as being divinely revealed," and as the teaching of Christ, the definitions "must be adhered to with the obedience of faith." This infallibility extends as far as the deposit of divine Revelation itself.


In his piece Pullella continues writing that Bishop Strickland "has been particularly critical of the pope's attempt to make the Church more welcoming to the LGBT community and attempts by Francis to give lay people more responsibility in the Church and opposed a recent synod."

 The unwelcome LGBT rhetoric is close to the one articulated by the 
Head Of Hizbullah's Shari'a Council in Lebanon. He wants to kill gay people, because he is afraid of being infected by them. He accuses elderly Jewish people of spreading homosexuality and compares them to the people of Sodom who were "stoned to death" 

Yet Bishop Strickland's criticism and others is not new, but roughly 2000 years old. In the early years of Christianity, thephilosopher Porphyry, was a major critic. In his book Against the Christians, along with other writers like Celsus and Julian. Porphyry argued that Christianity was based on violence, corruption, superstition, polytheism, homophobia, bigotry, pontification, abuses of women's rights,sectarianism and that women exercised too much power in the Church.

Scandalous! Can you imagine 2000 years ago Jesus speaking to a lose woman at the well? The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.” Jesus said to her, “Go call your husband and come back.” The woman answered and said to him, “I do not have a husband.” Jesus answered her, “You are right in saying, 'I do not have a husband. John 4:15 

Or what about dinning with sinners?
"The Pharisees and their scribes complained to his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” 31Jesus said to them in reply, “Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do. 32I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners.” Luke Chapter 5:30

According to David L. Gray "Being that both Pagans and Christians were using the art of rhetoric to persuade hearers to follow their way, it is a testament to the divine beauty of Christianity that truth was able to persuade so many, even in the face of persecution prior to the Edict of Toleration (A.D. 260 – 303) and the Edict of Milan (A.D. 313)" Writes 

Pullella's "reporting" is also like a typical politician's guilt by association fallacious reasoning: "Strickland is a strong supporter of former U.S. president Donald Trump and is seen as a hero by conservative U.S. Catholic media outlets that are aligned with Trump"

As previously reported the US Catholic Media outlets Pallella refers to, would have crucified Pope Francis 2000 Years Ago.


Although there's some truth about the "conservative Catholics" LifeSiteNews, a self-described Canadian Catholic conservative anti-abortion advocacy website and news publication, in a post on X announcing the news about Bishop Strickland writes "In removing Bishop Strickland from the Diocese of Tyler, Texas, Pope Francis has canceled one of the most faithful, forthright and vocal bishops in the United States." 

LifeSite got one put of three right: the "vocal" part. A Wikipedia entry reads: "LifeSiteNews has published misleading information and conspiracy theories.

Earlier this year,  Father Mike Schmitz in his daily podcast The Catholic Catechism In a Year Day 115 made a Passionate Plea for Church Unity echoing the letter to Laodicea's where the community is reprimanded for being lukewarm (Rev 3:15–16: To Laodicea.* “To the angel of the church in Laodicea,* write this:
“‘The Amen, the faithful and true witness, the source of God’s creation, says this: “I know your works; I know that you are neither cold nor hot.* I wish you were either cold or hot.

So, because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth."

Surely the media coverage of Bishop Strickland's removal is not what Father Mike had in mind.  As Catholics, we may disagree on policy, never on principle, where the principle is: The Church Christ founded welcomes everyone, particularly the sinners, because we all are.


RELATED 
Certain arguments against Christians:Porphyry, Against the Christians (2004).  Fragments, 

Criticism of Christianity

ARGUMENTS OF CELSUS, PORPHYRY, and THE EMPEROR JULIAN, AGAINST THE CHRISTIANS

Pastoral precedent: Vatican traces blessing distinction to #PopeBenedictXVI

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis' language surrounding pastoral blessings -- which the Vatican said can be spontaneously given to people in same-sex relationships -- is not entirely new for a pope, a Vatican editorial said, and can even be traced back to his immediate predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI.

Breaking! The Church welcomes transsexuals and homosexuals!

The Main Stream Media has not jumped at a story such as this one since January 12, 2010 when Hundreds of thousands of people were killed after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit the island nation of Haiti.

In case you just returned from Mars. The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith responds to questions concerning the participation of transsexual persons and persons with same-sex attraction in the Sacraments of Baptism and Matrimony and related ceremonies ad follows: Transsexual persons, even if they have undergone hormone therapy or sex reassignment surgery, may receive the Sacrament of Baptism. The children of homosexual couples should be baptized even if they are born from a surrogate mother, provided there is a well-founded hope that they will be educated in the Catholic faith.

This Dicastery, formerly called a Congregation, has the specific mission “to promote and safeguard the doctrine on faith and morals in the whole Catholic world. Therefore, those things belong to it which touch this matter in any way


What the MSM does not report is that the story is 2000 years old "Jesus said to them in reply, “Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do. I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners.” Luke Chapter 5

But it is not surprising. We live in an age where people refuse to take responsibility for their own actions but demand apologies and reparations for atrocities they never experienced, from people who never committed them. They like to cancel art, ideas, symbols, language & history they don’t agree with – they even go as far as canceling  names of military bases: In California, Governor Newsom 1pushes billions in euphemistically referred to as reparations payments as state faces budget deficit disaster – neglects to consider that the Ultimate Reparation has already been paid in full, for example.

In the words of James Joyce: "Christianity is the ultimate inclusive set of beliefs" - everybody is welcome. The Church teaches everyone is created for love. Everyone has desires that are not good. Those who identify as gay have dignity Those who experience same-sex attraction are worthwhile. Those who are grappling with their Sexuality as part of the family, that is, part of the human family, and if they are Christian, they are part of the family of God. If you are same-sex attracted person, you belong to the Catholic Church

Invariable the transsexuals and homosexuals "news" is covered through the prism of LGBTQ rights and inclusivity.  But Inalienable  Rights are those endowed by the Creator to all man, inuding those in the womb or in death row. Talk of other rights is merely demagoguery used by corrupt politicians, and propagandists to build a strawman argument, divide the people  and ultimately buy votes. Why the story should be less about rights and more about responsibilities, since the Church, in the words of James Joyce can be characterized as Here Come Everybody. The Church recognizes that (CCC 2358) The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God's will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.

The Church also teaches that everyone made in God's image. "God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them."218 Man occupies a unique place in creation: (I) he is "in the image of God"; (II) in his own nature he unites the spiritual and material worlds; (III) he is created "male and female"; (IV) God established him in his friendship. CCC 355

The Church also teaches everyone is broken. Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered." They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved. CCC 2357


In the area of responsibility, the Church teaches (CCC 2359) the Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection.


The same participants in the current media transsexuals circus,  attempted to get the  circus started by disrupting the just concluded synod " Famously, the current synod, in a sense, got underway 48 hours before its formal opening with a set of dubia, or doubts, submitted to the pontiff by five conservative cardinals. In responses to those dubia released by the Vatican, Francis, among other things, offered a cautious “yes” to the blessing of same-sex unions on a case-by-case basis, and a basic “no” to women’s ordination while allowing for the possibility of further study."

What is clear is that the so-called transsexuals and homosexuals breaking story is not new. It's 2000 years old!

The Golden Circle of Hate

Simon Sinek argues his Golden Circle explains why some leaders are able to inspire, while others aren't.  Likewise, the Golden Circle of Hate explains why some leaders are able to promote hate.

Simon Sinek, the author of several books on the topic of leadership, inncluding 'Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action' first popularized his now-famous Golden Circle concept.
Paraphrasing Sinek all the great inspiring leaders and organizations in the world whether it's Apple, or Martin Luther King or the Wright Brothetrs, Obama, Putin or Palestinian leader, Yousef Makharzah, they all think, act and communicate the same way, and it's complete opposite to everyone else, explaining why some leaders are able to inspire, while others arent. According to Sinek, every single organization in the planet knows what they do, but very few people know why.


For example, Sinek attributes Apple’s success to the fact that it began with “Why.” He claims that, as a result, Apple successfully attracted clients with similar values. This served as the foundation of Apple’s marketing strategy and the fuel behind its operations.

According to Sinek the Wright Brothers were leaders, innovators, and importantly they had a cause and a purpose beyond themselves and why they beat out Pierpoint  Langley in the powered flight race, even though Langley had fame and fortune but a selfish motive.

Sinek says "I think a large part of it is, remember, as social animals, communication is important to us. And how things are expressed really matters. And we can scare people into doing things. And though they may act, it's not sticky because we don't know what we stand for. We only know what we stand against. And so I found remarkable the way Martin Luther King spoke to us. He spoke in terms of what the future looks like in a positive way, in terms so clear that we could imagine it with him."

Liza Rosen link to a video of a Gaza University Professor who appeared on Hamas TV to normalize Jihad against the Jews saying "The Jews Are Human Garbage, Behind Every Conspiracy" explains the "What," using Sinek's terminology.

While, according to Rosen, Palestinian leader, Yousef Makharzah, encourages polygamy, and claims that Christian and Jewish women in the West are immoral for having intimate relationships with animals such as dogs and donkeys who replace their husbands in bed. And, The Head Of Hizbullah's Shari'a Council in Lebanon wants to kill gay people, because he is afraid of being infected by them. He accuses elderly Jewish people of spreading homosexuality and compares them to the people of Sodom who were "stoned to death."


Then Umm Osama, wife of a senior Hamas leader, challenges the Palestinian mothers to hate the Jews more than they love their children, because that is the only way, according to her, that a Palestinian mother can sacrifice her own children for Jihad and send them to carry out suicide attacks against Jews: ״Mother must instill in her children the love of Jihad [Killing infidels for Allah] and martyrdom for the sake of Allah. If every mother were to prevent her son from waging Jihad against Jews for the sake of Allah, who would wage Jihad?״


Meanwhile Female Islamic scholar: "Allah allows Muslim men to rape non-Muslim women to humiliate them." "If we fought Israel, we can take their women and sex slaves." 

President Joe Biden, in an apparent attempt to deflect blame, says not all Palestinians are terrorists. While that might be true, the question is, how do you know who is a terrorist and who is not. After all, Whoopi Goldberg speaking for progressives in the USA says women need to get rid of the Toxic Thing inside them. However, just like Hamas, the Islamic Industrial Complex and its ecosystem the Toxicity is in the heart, not in the womb. A hateful heart generates hateful thoughts. Such thoughts become acts of terrorism. Or if you prefer, Ben Sirach states [4] When a sieve is shaken, the refuse remains; so a man's filth remains in his thoughts. Chapter 27




Take for instance the Palestinian children, relatives of suicide terrorists, who appeared on Hamas TV to glorify self-sacrifice, jihad & martyrdom. The children say they aspire to be the next generation of martyrs. This is what the Palestinians teach their children in Gaza.

Or Hamas leader bragging about the women and children who gather around Hamas terrorists, Hamas headquarters and rocket launchers to prevent Israeli airstrikes.

Palestinian children through years of indoctrination are already programmed to chant “Death to Israel, Death to America, Death to Infidels.” Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi cited this as part of reason the Arab World does not want to take Palestinians


Jordanian-Palestinian religious leader Ahmad Al-Shashouri explains why they hate and want to kill Jews: ״The Jews Are More Dangerous Than Coronavirus, AIDS, and Cholera; Jihad Purifies Our Bodies and Souls, Can Save People from These Diseases״.

It's no surprise that this type of Hate Propaganda, referred herein as the Golden Circle of Hate, with an afterlife reward, produces an endless supply of "martyrs:" A failed Palestinian suicide bomber explains that he was excited to blow himself up and kill Jews because "martyrs" receive 72 virgins in Paradise. Other terrorists explain how Palestinian society glorifies "martyrdom" as part of jihad against Jews. Part of the Why in the Golden Circle of Hate 

is the 72-virgin reward in paradise. - Some say it's only 70. But, if you are willing to lay down your life because you hate someone and the featured attraction in the afterlife is 72 virgins, that implies the after life is subject to the time domain, what happens say one year after you collect your reward? 10 years later? 100? Is the reward simply a scam? Ibn Warraq writes "In August, 2001, the American television channel CBS aired an interview with a Hamas activist Muhammad Abu Wardeh, who recruited terrorists for suicide bombings in Israel. Abu Wardeh was quoted as saying: "I described to him how God would compensate the martyr for sacrificing his life for his land. If you become a martyr, God will give you 70 virgins, 70 wives and everlasting happiness." Wardeh was in fact shortchanging his recruits since the rewards in Paradise for martyrs was 72 virgins"

Compare that to the two criminals crucified with Jesus:  one mocks Jesus, and the second repents and gets an express ticket to paradise sans virgins.  His reward was to see the Father face-to-face: "But the other rebuked him, saying, 'Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong. 'Then he said, 'Jesus, remember me when you come into  your kingdom" He replied to him, “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise." Luke 23:40. In the Judeo-Christian tradition we say that each one of us has a natural desire for happiness, which God has placed in the human heart to draw us nearer to Him. As St. Thomas Aquinas writes, “We all want to live happily. How is it then, that I seek you, Lord? Since in seeking you, my God, I seek a happy life, let me seek you so that my soul may live, for my body draws life from my soul and my soul draws life from you. God alone satisfies.”   All lives matter, whether in the womb or in death row, because in the beginning  "God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them."218 Man occupies a unique place in creation: (I) he is "in the image of God"; (II) in his own nature he unites the spiritual and material worlds; (III) he is created "male and female"; (IV) God established him in his friendship. CCC 355

You have heard that it was said to your ancestors, “You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment.” But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment (Mt 5:21–22)

 

Using Simon Sinek's Golden Circle, the reason the AntiSemitic message is so sticky and motivational  is vividly clear: "God is Love. Allah is Hate:" - The Why is "We Want To Wipe The Jews From The Face Of The Earth Because They Are Evil"

For example, consider the case of two women who were arrested for having their babies circumcised. They were paraded around the city with their babies hung from their breasts; then they were thrown down from the city wall.

Then the story of the mother and seven children who were savagely tortured and killed.

Or that by public vote of the city when the Jews, wishing to live on friendly terms and not suspecting anything, accepted an invitation from the people who took them out to sea and drowned at least two hundred of them

You may be surprised it was NOT Hamas, but the Greeks, the illuminati of the day, but not unlike Hamas and its ecosystem.

Kamala Harris and Joe Biden are touting what they euphemistically call, the
first US National Strategic Center to Combat Islamophobia- a gag order so Tlaib's comments can be construed as free speech, while Dem Michigan AG's statement and other similar speech could be construed as hate speech and Islamophobic.







Yet, Jew-hating is alive and well in the USA Democratic coalition. Notably, Democratic Socialists of America and Black Lives Matter affiliates have issued statements of support for Hamas: No one in the Biden Administration has condemned the AntiSemitic remarks coming in from the Democrat. Here's a sampling:

Democrat Rep. Pramila Jayapal compares Israel's self-defense to Russia's "siege of Ukraine


Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) antisemitism and disgraceful response to the attacks on Israel is so disgusting that Congressman Jack Berman introduced a resolution to censure her



Or Ilhan Omar rabid antiSemitism that even Adam Schiff was compelled to denounce her "Anti-Semitism has no place in the halls of Congress or civil society, and it’s incumbent upon all of us in leadership positions to speak respectfully and thoughtfully, even about issues as emotionally charged as those involving Israel and Palestine."

Or Haley Campaign Ripping
AOC Over Israel Resolution Snub: 'You Would Fit Great with the Anti-Semites' at UN"

Or Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) is under fundraising and associating with an antisemitic activist who once said she wants to burn “every Israeli” alive.

 

And we all know is not about hate, but about protecting the Ummah Industrial Complex - The Global Islam

The FBI’s own Hate Crime Statistics Report show who is more likely to commit a hate crime. It shows that parents who show up at school board meetings are not likely to be terrorists.

Neither are Mass-attending Catholics, or those who display patriotic symbology or Pro-Life Advocates.

Nevertheless, Attorney General Garland sends the FBI to “protect” school boards and spy on Catholics. The FBI knows which public officials spew hate and call for violence against the police:

The Richmond Calif., City Council voted for state-sponsored AntiSemitism and accused Israel of “ethnic cleansing and collective punishment"

Mr Anh Le was savagely beaten with a bat by two people in Chinatown. Despite the high Hate Crime rate in the city, The San Francisco DA plea-deal so the perpetrators did no get jail time –

While it is relatively easy to understand why Hamas can recruit martyrs, it is much more complicated to understand the antiSemitism by the Islamic Industrial Complex ecosystem.

Gilder, Sowell and Gorky studied the reason for the hate, speculating ir was jealousy or the Jew-gene. But the real reason antiSemitism has not changed in 3000 years is that Jews are God’s Chosen People: When "God put Abraham to the test and said to him: Abraham! “Here I am!” he replied. Then God said: Take your son Isaac, your only one, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. There offer him up as a burnt offering on one of the heights that I will point out to you." Abraham did not hesitate - Genesis Chapter 22


Now consider the impact of the Warren Court's decision. Since (1963) when the Warren SCOTUS, the most liberal court in U.S. history kicked out God out of the schools we have had A mental health crisis. Infanticide turned into a Black Genocide, African American nuclear family has joined the Sea Turtles in the extinct list - compare to 2% divorce rate for couples using NFP. 80% of AA kids are raised in fatherless homes. Replaced faith-based gleaning with SNAP. AIDS epidemic, Opiod crisis. We have a fatherlesssness crisis. A Girlhood Crisis.  A Trans Crisis. A Hate Crisis

Contrast the Golden Circle of Hate with the Jews' Motivation as they
prepare for battle as described on
2 macabees 17 " Encouraged by Judas’ words, so noble and capable of instilling valor and stirring young hearts to courage, they determined not merely to march, but to charge gallantly and decide the issue by hand-to-hand combat with the utmost courage, since city, sanctuary and temple were in danger.
They were not so much concerned about wives and children, or family and relations; their first and foremost fear was for the consecrated sanctuary"


Or the Letter from Saint Paul to the Romans: (Romans 13:8) "Brothers and sisters: Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.
The commandments, You shall not commit adultery;p
you shall not kill;
you shall not steal;
you shall not covet,
and whatever other commandment there may be,
are summed up in this saying, namely, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Love does no evil to the neighbor;
hence, love is the fulfillment of the law"
























While the would-be martyr wants to behead those who insult Islam, Saint Peter says, "If you are insulted for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of God rests upon you." 1 Peter 4. While Saint John writes (John 15:13). "No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends."


In Saint Matthew Chapter 5:38 Jesus says "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. ' But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil. But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment!


Peter Kreeft writes "Many people simply cannot understand the concept of eternity. Eternity does not mean endless time or even infinite time. That is just progressivism in disguise. Eternity means another dimension entirely, a timeless dimension, a vertical dimension, an absolute that judges all horizontal movements in time, both traditionalist and progressivist, by its own standard. For its standard is the true God." How to Destroy Western Civilisation and other Ideas from the Cultural Abyss - Peter Kreeft


If Kreeft is right, it seems the virgin reward is a scam.

The Gaza Conflict - A Legitimate Defense

For over 3000 years, The Middle East has been living in a day of unprecedented anger, vengeance and hatred living by the mantra of a #toothforatooth, often forgetting when or where the tooth was taken out and blinding generations with hate.

Palestinian children through years of indoctrination are already programmed to chant "Death to Israel,  Death to America,  Death to Infidels."  Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi cited this as part of reason the Arab World does not want to take Palestinians, even though they could easily do it with the current level of foreign aid: " .. a mass exodus would risk bringing militants into Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, from where they might launch attacks on Israel." Yet, according to CNN, Biden sides with Hamas - warns Israel against occupying Gaza as ground invasion appears near.  What is required, whether it is a two-state solution or a resettlement is a massive reprogramming effort.  In the 21st century,  Deprogramming has evolved into a nontraumatizing, ethical, and legal approach.

Whoopi Goldberg speaking for progressives says women need to get rid of the  Toxic Thing inside them. However, just like Hamas, the Islamic Industrial Complex and its ecosystem the Toxicity is in the heart, not in the womb. A hateful heart generates hateful thoughts. Such thoughts become acts of terrorism. Or if you prefer, Ben Sirach states [4] When a sieve is shaken, the refuse remains; so a man's filth remains in his thoughts. Chapter 27

Then there's  Professor Russell Rickford of Cornell who  calls the Hamas terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians, which killed children & babies, “exhilarating”





Mohammad Jehad Ahmad, who teaches at Gotham Tech High School, according to his LinkedIn profile, changed his Facebook cover photo to an image of a person paragliding with a Palestinian flag attached to the parachute with "I stand with Palestine" written beneath, according to a screenshot flagged on X, formerly Twitter, by user Justin Spiro. 

Ask yourself: Why is it the Arab World won't take Palestinians 

The same image, also widely shared by a Black Lives Matter chapter after Hamas' surprise attack last weekend, references how terrorists descended onto Israeli communities with parachutes and gliders, killing hundreds of people and taking civilian hostages. 

Biden's statement "We remain committed to speaking out against anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab, and anti-Muslim hate and violence."   viewed through the
lens of history  is #antiSemitic

Its not just the media distributing antiSemitic, pro Hamas propaganda, but also the illuminati - those whose level of hate for the USA far exceeds their love for terrorists. The self-described illuminati, include, WaPo, NYT, Students  at Harvard, at UCLA, at Washington, Professors at Stanford at Cornell, RFK, Liz Cheney, Biden, McCarthy, Cori Bush. McConnell, Pelosi. Fox News, Kerry, Jarret, Ellison, Obama, Spartacus , IlhanOmar, Rashida Tlaib & the Squad, the Military Industrial Complex et al,  to name a few.

But, Jesus changes the tooth for tooth paradigm: "In the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord recalls the commandment, "You shall not kill," and adds to it the proscription of anger, hatred, and vengeance. Going further, Christ asks his disciples to turn the other cheek, to love their enemies. He did not defend himself and told Peter to leave his sword in its sheath. CCC 2262

CS Lewis tells us "Do not waste time bothering whether you ‘love’ your neighbor; act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him."

However; legitimate defense can be not only a right but a grave duty for one who is responsible for the lives of others. The defense of the common good requires that an unjust aggressor be rendered unable to cause harm. For this reason, those who legitimately hold authority also have the right to use arms to repel aggressors against the civil community entrusted to their responsibility.  CCC 2265


The efforts of the state to curb the spread of behavior harmful to people's rights and to the basic rules of civil society correspond to the requirement of safeguarding the common good. Legitimate public authority has the right and duty to inflict punishment proportionate to the gravity of the offense. Punishment has the primary aim of redressing the disorder introduced by the offense. When it is willingly accepted by the guilty party, it assumes the value of expiation. Punishment then, in addition to defending public order and protecting people's safety, has a medicinal purpose: as far as possible, it must contribute to the correction of the guilty party. 2266

A reasonable solution to the Gaza Conflict must take into consideration the radical Islam programming and the  3000 years culture of  anger, vengeance and hatred living by the mantra of tooth for a tooth. Sympathizer using Selective Historicity wrongly call Israel an Occupying Force:  Israel  is the only nation on earth that inhabits the same land, bears the same name, speaks the same language, and worships the same God that it did 3,000 years ago.

 

What is required, whether it is a two-state solution or a resettlement is a massive reprogramming effort.  In the 21st century,  Deprogramming has evolved into a nontraumatizing, ethical, and legal approach.

RELATED

A day after EU Guterres blamed Israel for the Gaza Conflict, he has a "Harvard Student Josh Willcox Moment" - Wilcox  leads Harvard Palestinian group behind outrageous letter that blamed Israel for Hamas massacre.  Wilcox eventually sort of apologized :  “My organizing has always been an explicit support of non-violent advocacy in the hope of achieving dignity for Palestinians living under an internationally-recognized Occupation,”  - operative words "internationally-recognized Occupation" not only shows selective historicity, but also what's in his heart.

Guterres said he was "shocked by the misinterpretations" of his address made before the U.N. Security Council.

Just like Whoopi Goldberg speaking for progressives says women need to get rid of the  Toxic Thing inside them. However, just like Hamas, the Islamic Industrial Complex and its ecosystem the Toxicity is in the heart, not in the womb. A hateful heart generates hateful thoughts. Such thoughts become acts of terrorism.

Peter Kreeft was spot on:  

Hamas leader, Fathi Hammad, says Palestinians should murder Jews as an act of worship for "Allah". He compares Jews to cancer that must be eradicated and calls for the establishment of an Islamic state which will commit genocide against the Jews. While Sacred Scripture reads:

"Sin must not reign over your mortal bodies

so that you obey their desires.

And do not present the parts of your bodies to sinas weapons for wickedness,

but present yourselves to God as raised from the dead to life and the parts of your bodies to God as weapons for righteousness."

"The fact that Europeans do not admit the culture war exists proves, more than anything else, that they have already lost it. The continent that used to be called Christendom is fast becoming a Muslim continent, and not by shedding blood in wars—we stopped that attempt at Poitiers and at Vienna and at Lepanto—but by shedding menstrual blood, that is, by a far harder, costlier, and nobler sacrifice than war: by having children. And I candidly have to say they deserve it, and we deserve to lose it. - 

How to Destroy Western Civilisation and other Ideas from the Cultural Abyss  - Peter Kreef

RELATED

Breaking! - NOT!


Anti-Semitism is alive and well in the Democratic coalition. Notably, Democratic Socialists of America and Black Lives Matter affiliates have issued statements of support for Hamas


Democrat Rep. Pramila Jayapal compares Israel's self-defense to Russia's "siege of Ukraine

https://x.com/simonateba/status/1718631081547604029?s=20
⁰

Far-Left California says state-sponsored antiSemitism is OK- The White House &  #GavinNewsom's silence on the issue is deafening:  it can only mean they agree:


#RichmondCalif., City Council voted to support the Palestinian terrorists of the Gaza Strip with a resolution that accuses Israel of “ethnic cleansing and collective punishment”


George Soros has donated millions of dollars to far-left groups who have launched pro-Palestine protests..Nearly $14 million owas donated through #TidesCenter,' which sponsored nonprofits that publicly justified the Hamas attacks. (NYP). #IfNotNow and #JewishVoiceForPeace co-sponsored the event that stormed the U.S. Capitol complex on October 18th. Jewish Voice for Peace directly blamed the Hamas attacks on Israel.

#Muslims are conducting Ethnic Cleansing  in #NagornoKarabakh. Where is #RashidaTlaib,  #IlhanOmar, #CoriBush, Biden, Obama,#Ellison, Jarrett et al - where's the media & illuminati?




anti-Semitism is alive and well in the Democratic coalition.





#Democrats = #AntiSemites

https://www.independent.org/issues/article.asp

https://www.ocregister.com/2023/10/20/anti-semitism-is-alive-and-well-in-the-democratic-coalition/



https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2023-10-23/israel-hamas-war-american-jewish-left


https://www.conservativedailynews.com/2023/10/the-israel-gaza-conflict-a-legitimate-defense/

https://www.conservativedailynews.com/2023/10/gilder-sowell-and-gorky-reason-for-antisemitism-jews-are-gods-chosen-people/











https://www.ocregister.com/2023/10/20/anti-semitism-is-alive-and-well-in-the-democratic-coalition/