What would Mary say?

 

‘Lies! I was deceived!’


Would the Blessed Virgin, seeing her Son Jesus on the Cross, ever have even the slightest desire to say to God: ‘Lies! I was deceived!’ because He apparently was not given the throne of David to reign forever?
 

You decide.

 Pope Francis, on the silence of Mary at the foot of the Cross:

"She was silent, but in her heart, how many things [she] told the Lord! ‘You, that day . . .  had told me that he would be great, you had told me that you would have given him the throne of David, his forefather, that he would have reigned forever and now I see him there!’ Our Lady was human! And perhaps she even had the desire to say: ‘Lies! I was deceived!’ John Paul II would say this, speaking about Our Lady in that moment. But she, with her silence, hid the mystery that she did not understand and with this silence allowed for this mystery to grow and blossom in hope.”

Vatican Radio, Dec. 20, 2013. From his homily at Mass at the Casa Santa Marta.
http://en.radiovaticana.va/m_articolo.asp?c=757349


On the contrary, she fully understood the mystery. The Blessed Virgin Mary to the mystic Luisa Piccarreta:

          "So, the life of my Son is about to end, and He is about to take flight to His Celestial Fatherland. Ah! dear child, the Divine Fiat gave Him to Me, and in the Divine Fiat I received Him; and now, in the same Fiat, I give Him back. My Heart is torn; immense seas of sorrows inundate Me; I feel life leaving Me because of the atrocious spasm. But nothing could I deny to the Divine Fiat; on the contrary, I felt disposed to sacrifice Him with my own hands, had It wanted it so. The strength of the Divine Will is omnipotent, and I felt such strength by virtue of It, that I would have contented Myself with dying rather than deny anything to the Divine Will.

Now, my child, listen to Me: my maternal Heart is drowned with pains; just thinking that my Son, my God, my Life, must die, is more than death for your Mama. Yet, I know I must live. What torment, what deep gashes form in my Heart, piercing It all the way through with sharp swords. Yet, dear child, I grieve in saying this, but I must say this to you: in these pains and deep gashes, and in the pains of my beloved Son, there was your soul - your human will. Since it would not let itself be dominated by the Will of God, We covered it with pains, We embalmed it, We fortified it with our pains, so that it would dispose itself to receive the life of the Divine Will.

Ah! if the Divine Fiat had not sustained Me and continued Its course with infinite seas of light, of joy, of happiness, along side the seas of my bitter sorrows, I would have died as many times for as many pains as my dear Son suffered. Oh! how tortured I felt, when He made Himself seen for the last time - pale, with a sadness of death on His face, and with trembling voice, as though wanting to burst into sobs, He told me: “Good-bye Mama. Bless your Son, and give Me the obedience to die. My Divine Fiat and Yours made Me be conceived, and my Divine Fiat and Yours must make Me die. Hurry, Oh dear Mama, pronounce your Fiat, and tell Me: ‘I bless You and I give You the obedience to die crucified. So does the Eternal Will want, and so I too want’.”

My child, what a blow to my pierced Heart. Yet, I had to say it, because there were no forced pains in Us, but all voluntary. So We blessed each other, and exchanging that gaze which is not able to detach any more from the beloved, my dear Son, my sweet Life, departed; and I, your sorrowful Mama, stayed. But the eye of my soul never lost sight of Him. I followed Him into the Garden, in His terrible agony, and – oh! how my Heart bled in seeing Him abandoned by all, even by His most faithful and dear Apostles.

The Virgin Mary in the Kingdom of the Divine Will , Day 27.

http://catholicdivinewill.blogspot.com/2008/06/virgin-mary-in-kingdom-of-divine-will.html

Thanks to the Christ or Chaos website for calling this to my attention.  The article on that site quotes from the revelations to Ven. Mary of Agreda, in her opus The City of God, which further describe Mary's true thoughts and feelings at the Crucifixion of her Son.

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Yogi Berra time

 

This is definitely on the lighter side...

Finding Yogi!
Mr. Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra is widely quoted on the Internet these days, and not just in sports stories.  Below are ten famous Yogisms, followed by 10 recent online articles that quoted one of them, not shown in the quote.  And your task is to find Yogi!
 
If you get all ten, then “congratulations, I knew the record would stand until it was broken.”

If you score less than 5, “you've made too many wrong mistakes.”

1. "It's deja vu all over again."
2. "It gets late early out there."
3. "When you come to a fork in the road, take it."
4. “If you don’t know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else.”
5. "Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded."
6. “It ain’t over ’til it’s over.”
7. "The future ain't what it used to be."
8. "Baseball is 90 percent mental; the other half is physical."
9. "It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future."
10. "You can observe a lot just by watching."

A.   Recently I predicted that although Kent Hovind might keep losing in court, he would never give up his tax fight.  As Yogi Berra said – [insert Yogism].  Nonetheless, I was pretty confident based on among other things the extensive file of appeals and other documents that are on Hovind’s website.  Developments in the last 24 hours indicate that he may have given up.  First, I’ll give you some background.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/peterjreilly/2013/09/28/has-kent-hovind-given-up-fight-against-irs/

B.  Yogi Berra once said, [insert Yogism]. This Yogi-ism is the perfect description of the problems facing Brinker International and its Chili's business. The Chili's concept is well known, respected, and it's so popular that people seem to be forgetting to go there.

http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/11/09/3-issues-that-threaten-chilis/

C.  Yogi Berra was right when he so ineloquently professed that [insert Yogism], but let me tell you, the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship is indeed done, over, finished.
http://www.strathmorestandard.com/2013/11/10/jimmie-johnson-all-but-wraps-up-chase-for-the-championship-title

D.  American Economist Paul Samuelson told Newsweek in 1966, “Wall Street indices predicted nine out of the last five recessions.” A teacher once said to Albert Einstein’s father, “It doesn’t matter what [Albert] does, he will never amount to anything.” Maybe attempts to predict the future are irrelevant — anything can happen. Perhaps the only certainty is what the wise Yogi Berra once said, [insert yogism].

http://www.shreveporttimes.com/article/20131103/NEWS05/311020007/

E.   As the beloved piquant paradoxical pin-striper, Yogi Berra, used to pipe – [insert Yogism], it’s precisely that, just two decades or so later, with the same old cast of characters and a few new faces added. One of the unhappy consequences of survival to an ancient age, with one’s mind intact is the remembrance of things one would prefer to have forgotten.
http://wamc.org/post/paul-elisha-reluctant-remembrances

F.  Yes, it's only Week 2. Each NFL team still has 14 regular-season games ahead of them. It's early. But that doesn't mean the stakes aren't already high, especially for teams who opened the 2013 season with a loss. History suggests -- and Yogi Berra would likely agree – [insert Yogism] for Super Bowl hopefuls starting 0-2.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/15/0-2-teams-falcons-packers-ravens_n_3922563.html

G.  Maybe it is the fall season and the race to the World Series that makes me think of Yogi Berra, or maybe it is the actions of my Congressman, Leonard Lance, that reminds me of one of Mr. Berra's great insights, [insert Yogism].  Over his time in Congress I have been watching and observing the Congressman's statements and actions and I guess I should not have been surprised about his most recent vote to shut down the government.  But I was.

http://thealternativepress.com/articles/lance-throws-a-change-up

H.  Remember the classic Yogi Berra line: [insert Yogism].

There is a liberal corollary, no less fatuous: When you come to a dilemma, take the path of least resistance.
http://www.lompocrecord.com/news/opinion/mailbag/the-sad-path-to-destruction/article_af82704a-272f-11e3-b8e8-0019bb2963f4.html

I.  One of my favorite quotes is from Yogi Berra: [insert Yogism].

I often wonder why most people will spend hours upon hours planning a vacation, deciding where to go, how to get there, how much to spend and how do to get the most bang for their buck. Very few people, however, will sit down with their family members and a financial coach.

http://www.argusleader.com/article/20131104/BJUPDATES/311040001/INSIGHT-Follow-six-steps-create-plan-financial-security?nclick_check=1

J.  Dwight Howard is living proof that Yogi Berra's quote, [insert Yogism] is true in basketball as well. Howard, in his first year as center of the Houston Rockets, was video recorded shooting free throws before the Rockets' Nov. 16 home game against the Denver Nuggets.

Howard, a career 57.6 percent free-throw shooter, showed that he can hit foul shots when it doesn't count.
The video, sent in to TheStarters.NBA.com, shows the mercurial all-star making 18 of his 20 attempts, for an impressive 90 percent.
http://www.sportsworldnews.com/articles/6923/20131123/dwight-howard-free-throws-houston-rockets-center-hits-90-percent-of-foul-shots-in-practice-video.htm


Answers below:

A=9
B=5
C=6
D=7
E=1
F=2
G=10
H=3
I=4
J=8

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Do we pray "to" the Pope?

What's wrong with this picture?

As of this date (11/2/13) Pope Francis is still alive on earth, and we don't pray TO him, do we? We pray to God and to the saints. This prayer card is from the Companions of St. Anthony, Ellicott City, MD.  The little medal at the top right says "Pope Francis Pray for Us."


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Animals of Heaven - update

Will we see our favorite pets in heaven?

Of course!  Otherwise, it wouldn't be heaven, would it?

In a way known only to God, we will in some manner encounter our beloved animal friends, in that place of perfect happiness.

How can anyone say animals are not in heaven, when in fact they are a a little bit of heaven sent to the earth [added 01/10/2014].

If animals are not destined for heaven, why did saints preach to them?  St. Francis preached to birds, St. Anthony to fishes. [added 03/02/1918.]
 

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The White Indians

The White Indians

A brilliant and thoroughly researched book by Scott Zesch, called The Captured, reveals the true story of nine white children who were captured by Native American raiding parties in the post-Civil War years. The two girls and seven boys were raised and taught to live as Indians by the Comanches, Apaches and other tribes of the Southern Plains. The author weaves the tales of these captives into a coherent narrative, using hundreds of carefully examined original source materials.

As the forces of the U.S. Cavalry and Texas Rangers began to prevail in the great Indian wars, one by one these children were eventually recovered and brought home. But astonishingly, with few exceptions, they were unwilling to return to white civilization, since they had learned to prefer the free-spirited Native American way of life.

For the boy captives especially, their repetitive days of drudgery and poverty on the family homestead were soon forgotten. Instead, given over to an Indian family that warmly received them, they quickly adapted to a new way of life – hunting, fishing, horse riding, and training to be a warrior. No more boring and laborious farm and ranch work, and certainly no confinement to a school room.

Soon their Indianized identity became so powerful that they learned to hate the pale-face as much or more than did their Native American captors. The white man was perceived as their most dangerous enemy, driving them further and further from their hunting grounds, attacking their villages, and killing off their primary source for food and clothing – the buffalo.

The story of the capture and return of these nine coincides with the last age of the Plains Indian and their forced relocation to reservations. The author narrates in general chronological order the sad fate of the tribes during the years of the captivity of the white Indians. Then he follows the post-captivity lives of the nine – some re-adjusted more or less to the white ways, but others went back to live with their Indian families on reservations, and one even ended up a hermit in a cave.

By 1878 the last of the captured white Indians were returned, and by 1881, the way of life of the free-roaming Plains Indians came to an end, coinciding with the destruction of the last buffalo herds. It was General William T. Sherman, of Civil War infamy, who was primarily responsible for the decision to decimate the buffalo, since he realized that this was the fastest way to “obliterate” the Indians. He had become commanding General of the U.S. Army. When a small number of enlightened Texans petitioned for a law to protect the remaining buffalo and save them from extinction, Sherman personally testified in the Texas legislature against the bill, “arguing that the extermination of the buffalo was necessary to drive the Indians out of Texas and stop their depredations.”

The Captured, by Scott Zesch, St. Martin's Press, N.Y., 2004. 

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Prayer before Mass

Basic Prayer before Holy Mass

     This is taken from the 1942 Fr. Stedman Sunday Missal, and reflects the four ends prayer: adoration, thanksgiving, atonement, and petition.  
    

Eternal Father, I unite myself with the intentions and affections of Our Lady of Sorrows on Calvary, and I offer Thee the Sacrifice which Thy Beloved Son Jesus made of Himself on the Cross, and now renews on this holy altar: 
  

First:  To adore Thee and give Thee the honor which is due to Thee, confessing Thy supreme dominion over all things, and the absolute dependence of everything upon Thee, Thou Who art our one and last end.
  

Second:  To thank Thee for countless benefits received. 
  

Third:  To appease Thy Justice provoked by so many sins, and to make satisfaction for them.  
 

Fourth:  To implore grace and mercy for myself, for (name),  for all afflicted and sorrowing, for all poor sinners, and for the holy souls in Purgatory.  
 

300 days Indulgence. 

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Bill Steinman UFO conclusions

The "mystery of iniquity" and otherworldly aliens

William Steinman was a premier analyst of the UFO phenomena.  He wrote about alleged crashes of physical UFO objects and governmental cover-ups.  However, he mysteriously withdrew from the UFO scene and towards the end of his life wrote the following statement:

            
                Ultimate Solutions To The UFO Phenomena
                ------------------------------------------------------

        The UFO or Flying Saucer Phenomena is a very complex problem
        which can be simplified by summing it up as follows:


(1) The Flying Saucers originate from an "eternal dimension", not
    subject to space and time, as we know it.


(2) The Flying Saucers "materialize" out of this "eternal dimension"
    into our space time frame, and have been doing so since time
    immemorial.


(3) There is a direct relationship between "The Great Secret" of the
    Occult teachings, "The Mystery of Iniquity" of the Bible, and the
    Flying Saucer Phenomena.


(4) The "Dark Forces" of the Occult, summed up as Satan (Lucifer) in
    the Bible, is the underlying source behind the Flying Saucer
    Phenomena.


(5) The "Dark Forces" are motivating and influencing the so called
    "conspiracy Groups", who really control every world Government,
    through their various Intelligence Agencies.


(6) There does exist in the United States, an alliance between the
    "materialization" of these "Dark Forces" posing as "Alien Beings"
    and a high level Intelligence group, presumably "MJ-12", who in
    turn operates through the N.S.A., C.I.A., F.B.I., D.I.A., etc.


(7) There do exist Above-Top-Secret "saucer bases" in remote portions
    of the United States (and around the world), in which this unholy
    and immoral alliance are developing a very advanced Technology,
    based on Unified Field Physics, Genetic Engineering, and biogenic
    breeding in preparation for the ultimate "materialization" of the
    "Dark Forces" when the "Mystery of Iniquity" is finally culminated
    in "Anti-Christ" or "Ahriman" ("Incarnation of Satan").


(8) This entire subject matter remains the most highly classified and
    most closely guarded secret of all time, under the cloak of
    "National Security".


(9) Faith in God is what protects us against this. Paranoia is what
    allows the "materialization" or Psycho-Physical manifestation of
    the M.I.B. (or other diabolical forms) to "visit" you, If you
    know too much.

       
                        signed:  W.M. Steinman  12/18/86


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