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Last Friday the Los Angeles Dodgers shamelessly went ahead with its plan to mock Catholics giving a national platform to so-called “queer and trans nuns” who dress up in sexually explicit and rainbow-colored “nun” clothing to mock Catholics - the organization allowed two “sisters” on the field to receive their award, quietly, in the dark- an hour before the game … with the stadium empty well before any fans arrived!
Why do you suppose the Dodgers try to hide the big event from the public, after heavily and shamelessly promoting it?
HINT: “The true test of a man's character is what he does when no one is watching.” former UCLA Basketball Coach John Wooden
The Dodgers ducked and dodged hoping the controversy over their blatant anti-Catholic bigotry would soon fade away - it won't go away - ask Anheuser-Busch! The Dodgers' can't Dodge Shame!
Anheuser-Busch finds recently found out it can't serve God and Mammon: One of Minneapolis' most well-known gay bars says it will stop serving Anheuser-Busch beers after the company walked back a marketing campaign featuring a trans spokesperson. Accirding to Matthew 6:24-26 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon [money, possessions, fame, status, or whatever is valued more
Let's be honest, take away the euphemisms, and it’s obvious that we have a full on attack on Christianity by Corporate America, including Bud Light, NorthFace, the US Navy, Kohl’s, Major League Baseball, Target et al as the White House, DOJ, FBI and Main Stream Media are in lock step to promote the Christo-Fascist, America Is Racist narratives
You see, St. John Paul II prayed that all families would look to God, the source of all fatherhood, and not be seduced by the "father of lies."
Sadly, corrupt politicians crowned the Father of Lies & kicked God to the curve, with predictable consequences: Since SCOTUS (1963) kicked God out of public schools these are some of the creeping elegance consequences
[ ] We have mental health crisis [ ] Infanticide turned into #BlackGenocide [ ] African American nuclear family has joined the Sea Turtles in the endangered list [ ] 80% of AA kids are raised in fatherless homes [ ] We have a fatherlesssness crisis [ ] A Girlhood Crisis [ ] A Trans Crisis
Now the White House, DOJ, FBI,MSM, Corporate America, including MLB, are in lock step to promote the #ChristoFascist, #AmericaIsRacist narrative.
And while the Los Angeles Dodgers try to Dodge its Shame, the organization should, like Anheuser-Busch, soon find out it can't serve God and Mammon.
Christianity is counter-intuitive and in harmony with faith and reason. Why it has been used as a punching bag for thousands of years: Take for example Gay men dressing in vulgar and blasphemous nun costumes celebrated by major league sports. The Los Angeles Dodgers gave a national platform to so-called “queer and trans nuns” who…
-Dress up in sexually explicit and rainbow-colored “nun” clothing to mock Catholics
-Mock the Catholic faith with ridiculous stunts like pole dancing on a crucifix
-Tricked an archbishop into giving them communion, then defiled the Eucharist
Then there is Hollywood: One of the most popular film genre is action film, where the inciting incident is revenge: the inciting incident is ‘the reason why the protagonists blows up buildings or kills lots of people, even the innocent," often quoting the Code of Hammurabi:
"An eye for an eye" (Biblical Hebrew: עַיִן תַּחַת עַיִן, ʿayīn taḥaṯ ʿayīn) and a commandment found in the Book of Exodus 21:23–27 expressing the principle of reciprocal justice measure for measure. The earliest known use of the principle appears in the Code of Hammurabi, which predates the Hebrew Bible
But in Matthew 5:38 "Jesus said to his disciples:
"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. When someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other one to him as well. If anyone wants to go to law with you over your tunic, hand him your cloak as well. Should anyone press you into service for one mile, go with him for two miles. Give to the one who asks of you, and do not turn your back on one who wants to borrow."
Pope Benedict XVI says " The Catholic insistence on a close connection between faith and reason is based on the belief that God created human beings and is always close to them."
While the Catholic Catechism states that: "Though faith is above reason, there can never be any real discrepancy between faith and reason. Since the same God who reveals mysteries and infuses faith has bestowed the light of reason on the human mind, God cannot deny himself, nor can truth ever contradict truth." "Consequently, methodical research in all branches of knowledge, provided it is carried out in a truly scientific manner and does not override moral laws, can never conflict with the faith, because the things of the world and the things of faith derive from the same God. The humble and persevering investigator of the secrets of nature is being led, as it were, by the hand of God in spite of himself, for it is God, the conserver of all things, who made them what they are." CCC 159
Brings up a rhetorical question: Since human intelligence is surely already capable of finding a response to the question of origins, is it not reasonable then to conclude that Gödel’s Theorem, just like Stephen Hawking’s belief that it’s not possible to find a Theory of Everything due to limitations in human understanding,that all laws are subject to the Creator, including the Algorithm of Life?
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If one was not really to blame then there is nothing to forgive. In that sense forgiveness and excusing are almost opposites - CS Lewis
While the mainstream media typically associates the term "call to prayer" with adhan - the Islamic call to prayer, several religions have their own call to prayer
In the days before clocks, keeping of Canonical Hours was one way to tell time as it was based on the sun rising and setting.
The Islamic call to prayer is the Adhan recited by a muezzin at defined times of the day. The call is recited loudly from the mosque five times a day on most days and all day long during the religious holidays of Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha, traditionally from the minaret. It is the first call summoning Muslims to enter the mosque for obligatory prayer. A second call, known as the iqamah summons those within the mosque to line up for the beginning of the prayers.
Outdoor loudspeakers, usually mounted on tall minarets, are used five times a day for the call to prayer, beginning at dawn. Some loudspeakers are powerful enough to be heard as far as three mikes away and in areas where more than one mosque is present, the loudspeaker sounds overlap one another, especially in the early morning when sounds are more clearly heard.
Sunnis believe that the adhan was not written or said by the Islamic prophet, Muhammad, but by one of his Sahabah (his companions). Abdullah ibn Zayd, a sahabi of Muhammad, had a vision in his dream, in which the call for prayers was revealed to him by God, after it had been decided that Islam should find its own method to announce the time of prayer rather than using those of other religions, such as the use of bells by Christians
Sanctifying Time
From the time of the Mosaic law, the People of God have observed fixed feasts, beginning with Passover, to commemorate the astonishing actions of the Savior God, to give him thanks for them, to perpetuate their remembrance, and to teach new generations to conform their conduct to them. In the age of the Church, between the Passover of Christ already accomplished once for all, and its consummation in the kingdom of God, the liturgy celebrated on fixed days bears the imprint of the newness of the mystery of Christ. CCC 1164
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.
The mystery of Christ, his Incarnation and Passover, which we celebrate in the Eucharist especially at the Sunday assembly, permeates and transfigures the time of each day, through the celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours, "the divine office."This celebration, faithful to the apostolic exhortations to "pray constantly," is "so devised that the whole course of the day and night is made holy by the praise of God." In this "public prayer of the Church," the faithful (clergy, religious, and lay people) exercise the royal priesthood of the baptized. Celebrated in "the form approved" by the Church, the Liturgy of the Hours "is truly the voice of the Bride herself addressed to her Bridegroom. It is the very prayer which Christ himself together with his Body addresses to the Father. CCC 1174
A book of hours, chiefly a breviary, normally contains a version of, or selection from, such prayers for the Liturgy of the Hours. In the early Church, different methods were used to call the worshippers: playing trumpets, hitting wooden planks, shouting, or using a courier. The use of social media apps, such as the Divine Office, makes it easier to refer to the prayers in the Liturgy of the Hours.
The Liturgy of the Hours is intended to become the prayer of the whole People of God. In it Christ himself "continues his priestly work through his Church."50 His members participate according to their own place in the Church and the circumstances of their lives: priests devoted to the pastoral ministry, because they are called to remain diligent in prayer and the service of the word; religious, by the charism of their consecrated lives; all the faithful as much as possible: "Pastors of souls should see to it that the principal hours, especially Vespers, are celebrated in common in church on Sundays and on the more solemn feasts. The laity, too, are encouraged to recite the divine office, either with the priests, or among themselves, or even individually." CCC 1175
The celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours demands not only harmonizing the voice with the praying heart, but also a deeper "understanding of the liturgy and of the Bible, especially of the Psalms." CCC 1176
The hymns and litanies of the Liturgy of the Hours integrate the prayer of the psalms into the age of the Church, expressing the symbolism of the time of day, the liturgical season, or the feast being celebrated. Moreover, the reading from the Word of God at each Hour (with the subsequent responses or troparia) and readings from the Fathers and spiritual masters at certain Hours, reveal more deeply the meaning of the mystery being celebrated, assist in understanding the psalms, and prepare for silent prayer. The lectio divina, where the Word of God is so read and meditated that it becomes prayer, is thus rooted
The Liturgy of the Hours, which is like an extension of the Eucharistic celebration, does not exclude but rather in a complementary way calls forth the various devotions of the People of God, especially adoration and worship of the Blessed Sacrament. CCC 1178
From the time of the early Church, the practice of seven fixed prayer times, being attached to Psalm 119:164, have been taught: Psalm 119:164 states: "Seven times a day I praise you for your righteous laws." Symeon of Thessalonica writes that "the times of prayer and the services are seven in number, like the number of gifts of the Spirit, since the holy prayers are from the Spirit; in Apostolic Tradition, Hippolytus instructed Christians to pray seven times a day "on rising, at the lighting of the evening lamp, at bedtime, at midnight" and "the third, sixth and ninth hours of the day, being hours associated with Christ's Passion In the West, the Rule of Saint Benedict, was modeled on his guidelines for the prayers on the customs of the basilicas of Rome. It was he who expounded the concept in Christian prayer of the inseparability of the spiritual life from the physical life. St. Benedict set down the dictum Ora et labora – "Pray and work". The Order of Saint Benedict began to call the prayers the Opus Dei or "Work of God"
By the 9th century in the West, the canonical hours consisted of daily prayer l liturgies:
Matins (nighttime)
Lauds (early morning)
Prime (first hour of daylight)
Terce (third hour)
Sext (noon)
Nones (ninth hour)
Vespers (sunset evening)
Compline (end of the day
We have heard about sanctifying places and spaces. Now we can also sanctify time.
CIY Day 157 - Justified “The one who sings prays twice”- Saint Augustine.
Two or three years ago my wife and I got into the habit of having Alexa play gospel music in the backround while Chrome randomly display pictures chronicling our life together, in the big screen- it has over 8,000 pictures going as far back as to when we were kids.
Sometime ago, one of our twin granddaughters ask me why we had the gospel music playing in the background all the time, and also when we were in the car. I immediately blurted out: "because when we are singing we are also praying" - I had not heard this until today, so I don't know why I said it, but now I feel justified.No wonder Father Tomassi's first Mass at Holy Redeemer right after his ordination the day before, felt so special. He sang the entire Mass!
Where do you find Catholic Singers? Was the first question that came up - All the Christmas songs we ever heard were sung by popular musicians and mostly not even Christian.
In no time we found John Michael Talbot - came up during the Jesus Freaks era, and Andrew Goldstein who is much younger -I wrote a review when we first met Andrew, in part reads "Needless to say, we were double blessed: Attended a beautiful service and were treated to an outstanding free service. We just had to get Andrew's by donation CD. Life is good! If you want to hear Andrew's music so we can compare notes, perhaps is best to contact him at the Parish."
Now we have Christian gospel music Playlists for every mood - we will also listen Christian music with other artists like Elvis Presley, Alan Jackson, Bill Gaither, The Isaac's and so on. Some Catholics object to gospel music by non-Catholics saying something like "there are a few groups that you should be aware of that do sing songs that are not in line with our faith - Hillsong being one of them. I came from a protestant background and I look up what their beliefs are before I let me kids listen to the music." On the other hand, I love Elvis Presley's rendition of gospel music, including that of other artists who may not be Catholic, including Hilsong.I try to listen to the message, as opposed to the messenger - consistent with CCC 1158 "The harmony of signs (song, music, words, and actions) is all the more expressive and fruitful when expressed in the cultural richness of the People of God who celebrate. Hence "religious singing by the faithful is to be intelligently fostered so that in devotions and sacred exercises as well as in liturgical services," in conformity with the Church's norms, "the voices of the faithful may be heard." But "the texts intended to be sung must always be in conformity with Catholic doctrine. Indeed they should be drawn chiefly from the Sacred Scripture and from liturgical sources.""
Saint Augustine's Commentaries to the Psalms, Psalm 72,: “Whoever sings a praise, not only praises, but only praises with gladness. He that sings praise, not only sings, but also loves him of whom he sings. In praise, there is the speaking forth of one confessing; in singing, the affection of one loving.”
I'm amazed at the quality of the Christian music genre and wonder why, with so much talent, local radio station during the Christmas Season resort to mainstream singers.
Sacred music imparts spiritual truth to one's mind, heart, and soul. It displays a dimension of meaning and feeling that mere words cannot. Music makes prayer more pleasing, promotes a sense of congregational unity, and confers greater solemnity upon the sacred rites. Three criteria need to be present for song and music to fulfil their potential: “beauty expressive of prayer, the unanimous participation of the assembly at the designated moments, and the solemn character of the celebration” (CCC 1157
Newly minted priest Father Tomassi celebrated his first Mass at his home parish, Holy Redeemer Church, Vancouver, WA. Established in 2000, Holy Redeemer is fertile ground,as it has already produced two priests, including Father Tomassi.
If you happen to attend Sunday Mass at Holy Redeemer, and witness the procession of altar servers, you might guess why of the fertile ground.
In many Catholic churches, the priest likes to have three to six altar servers. Although once prohibited in the Catholic Church, female altar servers are now allowed to serve provided that the diocesan bishop and the parish priest allow the practice. Altar servers carry the cross and the processional candles. They hold the book for the priest celebrant when he is not at the altar. They carry the incense and censer and present the bread and wine along with the water to the priest during the preparation of the gifts or assist him when he receives the gifts from the people. At Holy Redeemer. Father Nathe usually has fifteen altar servers for Sunday Masses. Father Tomassi was an altar server at Holy Redeemer and entered the Seminary right after High School.
Begs the question. Who celebrates the liturgy? And the answer is everybody! Dead or alive! The pews are not bleachers for expectators but for participants.
"Liturgy is an "action" of the whole Christ (Christus totus). Those who even now celebrate it without signs are already in the heavenly liturgy, where celebration is wholly communion and feast." CCC 1136
""Recapitulated in Christ," these are the ones who take part in the service of the praise of God and the fulfillment of his plan: the heavenly powers, all creation (the four living beings), the servants of the Old and New Covenants (the twenty-four elders), the new People of God (the one hundred and forty-four thousand), especially the martyrs "slain for the word of God," and the all-holy Mother of God (the Woman), the Bride of the Lamb, and finally "a great multitude which no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes, and peoples and tongues."" CCC 1138
Father Tomassi & Holy Redeemer Church illustrate the Law: lex orandi, lex credendi, lex vivendi
"It is in this eternal liturgy that the Spirit and the Church enable us to participate whenever we celebrate the mystery of salvation in the sacraments." CCC 1139
It should not bee too surprising then that Father Tommassi started as an Altar Server at Holy Redeemer.
Argument for infant baptism - its not the one who is being baptized
Sacraments are visible rites seen as signs and efficacious channels of the grace of God to all those who receive them with the proper disposition. The sacraments according to Catholic theology were instituted by Jesus and entrusted to the Church. According to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Sacraments have a visible and invisible reality, a reality open to all the human senses but grasped in its God-given depths with the eyes of faith. When parents hug their children, for example, the visible reality we see is the hug. The invisible reality the hug conveys is love. We cannot "see" the love the hug expresses, though sometimes we can see its nurturing effect in the child. USCCB
[ ] Celebrated worthily in faith, the sacraments confer the grace that they signify.
[ ] Sacranents are efficacious because in them Christ himself is at work: it is he who baptizes, he who acts in his sacraments in order to communicate the grace that each sacrament signifies CCC 1127
[ ] By virtue of the saving work of Christ, the sacramental graceis not a function of the celebrant or the recipient, but by the power of God. CCC 1128
[ ] The fruits of the sacraments also depend on the disposition of the one who receives them. CCC 1128
[ ] The Church affirms that for believers the sacraments of the New Covenant are necessary for salvation CCC 1129
From the moment that a sacrament is celebrated in accordance with the
1127 Celebrated worthily in faith, the sacraments confer the grace that they signify. They are efficacious because in them Christ himself is at work: it is he who baptizes, he who acts in his sacraments in order to communicate the grace that each sacrament signifies. The Father always hears the prayer of his Son's Church which, in the epiclesis of each sacrament, expresses her faith in the power of the Spirit. As fire transforms into itself everything it touches, so the Holy Spirit transforms into the divine life whatever is subjected to his power.
1128 This is the meaning of the Church's affirmation that the sacraments act ex opere operato (literally: "by the very fact of the action's being performed"), i.e., by virtue of the saving work of Christ, accomplished once for all. It follows that "the sacrament is not wrought by the righteousness of either the celebrant or the recipient, but by the power of God." From the moment that a sacrament is celebrated in accordance with the intention of the Church, the power of Christ and his Spirit acts in and through it, independently of the personal holiness of the minister. Nevertheless, the fruits of the sacraments also depend on the disposition of the one who receives them.
1129 The Church affirms that for believers the sacraments of the New Covenant are necessary for salvation. "Sacramental grace" is the grace of the Holy Spirit, given by Christ and proper to each sacrament. The Spirit heals and transforms those who receive him by conforming them to the Son of God. The fruit of the sacramental life is that the Spirit of adoption makes the faithful partakers in the divine nature by uniting them in a living union with the only Son, the Savior.
Analogous to creeping elegance in software development, by design or happenstance progressive policies have had a regressive impact on the American culture. Not unlike the deleterious effects on Native Americas & Alaska Natives
In software development, creeping elegance is related to creeping featurism and second-system effect. The tendency of programmers to disproportionately emphasize elegance in software at the expense of other requirements such as functionality, shipping schedule, and usability. Consider that since SCOTUS (1963) kicked God out of public schools - School District of Abington Township, Pennsylvania v. Schempp (1963) is a U.S. Supreme Court case holding that mandatory religious activity as part of a public school's curriculum, such as Bible readings and the recitation of the Lord's Prayer, violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
You may recall that during Jesus' ministry, He not only cured physical ailments, but also mental and spiritual sickness. These are some of the creeping elegance consequences
[ ] We have mental health crisis [ ] Infanticide turned into #BlackGenocide [ ] African American nuclear family has joined the Sea Turtles in the endangered list [ ] 80% of AA kids are raised in fatherless homes [ ] We have a fatherlesssness crisis [ ] A Girlhood Crisis [ ] A Trans Crisis
Now compare to the recent Washington Sate firong of Office of Equity Director Dr. Karen Johnson’s. According to investigation, she was fired for a number of reasons including, micromanagement, lack of organization, lack of adequate structure and processes, made unreasonable requests of staff, made inappropriate or insensitive comments to some staff members and publicly criticized some staff members regarding issues unrelated to protected classes, including "credible examples" of Johnson making inappropriate comments about the personal appearances of staff, their bodies, as well as "comments about a staff person’s ethnicity, race, and/or veteran status." Get it?
And then it gets even more regressive: The college majors that pay the most right after college are STEM-based. Except for a BS In Race Hustling - the highest paid: The University of Michigan has 163 DEI officers. Ohio State & U of Virginia have 94. Georgia Tech has 41, but only 13 history teachers. The Highest-paid diversity and inclusion employees rake in substantially more than the average full-time professor. While the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill offers Racially Exclusive-Programs and Scholarships. Even as the University Of Minnesota PhD's were forced to retract an article they wrote about "structural racism in the Journal Of Health Services Research - The authors, UM employees are focused on racial equity: Stuart Grande, senior Lecturer, Janette Dill, an associate professor, and Tongtan Chantarat, a research scientist. The retraction is because its claims were "inaccurate, misleading, or false," according to a note on the withdrawn article.
Not to be undone, Targets diversity Chief Kiera Fernandez said that it’s the role of white women to call out transgressions, and continued to single out a white employee and said that because of her race her voice carries more weight and she has a responsibility. She runs Targets Racial Equity Action and Change. Her task force focuses on engaging with black customers and hiring more black employees. Target is also shifting to more black owned suppliers and ending contracts with white owned companies. She was hired internally from the Human Resources department.
And a FSU professor abruptly left his 190K job after faking data to make racism seem more common and having six research papers retracted.
It can't get worse, right? Wrong! The California legislature's LGBTQ Caucus join the Los Angeles Dodgers in their War On Christianity as they are set to honor anti-Catholic Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence member, despite Dodgers backlash
Progressive policies are not only regressive, but if you take away the euphemisms, it's obvious that we have a full on attack on Christianity by Corporate America,
including #BudLight, #NorthFace, the #USNavy, #Kohl’s, Major League Baseball, as the White House, DOJ, FBI and Main Stream Media are in lock step to promote the Christo-Fascist, America Is Racist narratives
